Cooooeeeeeeee Jenny

Hi Jenny :) better late than never LOL

For those of you who do not know, Jenny and I had a challenge which was to spin 5ogm of cashmere/wool tops and see what we could knit with it and this is what I eventually ended up with. I say eventually as I tried a few attempts at getting the gauge and size right. Using my niddy noddy which is 72inches I had roughly 116yds and 19wpi and I dyed it this pinky lilac colour to wear with a coat I have.I eventually found a pattern online(Knitting Pattern Central I think )that you enter the gauge and measure your hand and voila , the pattern bit came form one of my books. I do have a little ball left and I guess I should have included that in the photo !! I did think of using it to crochet some flowers to go on top , but I am not sure they need it.




I also did some felting with Jenny and this is my first attempt and I have to say I am really pleased with it ; I used the book 'Simply Felt by Docherty & Emerson ' for the design and I have to say I love the colour combination. I lined it and made a little pocket for a phone with some silk I found in the charity shop . I can see how addictive felting can be ,so am looking forward to doing something else.






This is the Rollin'Beret from Woolly Wormhead which I really like. I used to wear a beret as part of my school uniform and never thought I would wear one again but after trying a few on lately I have decided I like them.
Had to try it on this plant pot first though !!

I did knit it longer than the pattern as for me it didn't have enough 'rollin' for me,or I've got a big head !! I liked the quirky 'tail'



Last but not least this is a piccie of Tony's spinning ; isn't he doing well. This is some Gotland tops which I bought recently and hopefully enough to knit into a jumper for him ....and NO he is not taking up knitting ( might have been handy to get some help with the back log of UFO's !! ) but does fancy weaving (more about that later )




I have had a busy couple of weeks lately and even had a trip to Winghams where I spent a small fortune on goodies which you will turn up here in one form or another at some point . At the moment on my wheel I have a treat of some merino, rainbow dyed which I am using to make a friend a beret . I have to say it is a treat to use the prepared rovings/tops but as I have a few more fleece arriving in the next few weeks I will have to make the most of this luxury. I have decided that from now on before I spin any thing I am spinning for a project ; lovely though these one off mixtures I have done are, my ambition is and always has been to spin to knit so that I have the satisfaction of seeing something from start to finish. Mind ,it is lovely sometimes to just 'play' to see what you can come up with !!

Blogger has been a pain, as I have tried to do this post for the last couple of days and I wanted to post a photo of a moebius scarf I have knitted in homespun yarn but it won't let me, plus some yummy yarns I have dyed.... Ah well another day .

His'n'Hers

Well we have another exciting day . As I said in my previous post DH has taken to spinning and we went to see the wheel and now he is the proud owner of a lovely chunky, manly wheel !! handmade locally years ago by the father of one of my guild members . It is a tad smaller than my Ashford Traveler , which will be great for when we are in our motorhome, as we can both take our wheels .It spins like a dream and is such a simple and practical wheel for us , or should I say him :)

Piccie of both wheels side by side BIG Ahhhhhhhhhh !! I'm tall and fair and DH is shorter and dark haired ; can you see who's wheel is who's?

It came with a niddy noddy ,a lazy kate, a pair of large hand carders , 7 bags of fleece (Jacobs, Kent, Cotswold, Suffolk, Texel and Texel cross, & Corriedale :all washed and just need carding )

ALSO I bought a rigid heddle loom and book . I know absolutely nothing about weaving but being in the guild I am sure I will have plenty to teach me; I was also given a book about them

I have been busy ......Honest

I warn you this post is photo laden and I am doing this under duress as Kath keeps nagging me to show piccies ;-) and I don't know why but I have messed up photies and text but I am too tired to re-do this post.


This is my first attempt at dyeing using Easy Peasy dyes and some bought 4 ply wool and it turned out the exact shade of lavender I wanted and will probably be used to make a shawly thing to match some yummy purple kid mohair I have in mind for a jumper .



My first homespun and hand dyed yarn .Its alpaca and the shade again has turned out to be what I was after to make a moeibus scarf/shawl. I spun 200gm of this and I have to say that by the end my spinning had improved so of course its is uneven but I WILL knit it as its my first attempt and its so soft and yummy and I love blue.




This is the felting I made with

Jenny this week and I had such fun; it may not look like much now but it will hopefully be transformed into a bucket bag which is featured in'Simply Felt' by
Docherty and Emerson This is one of two felting books I have just got from Amazon ; the other is 'Complete Feltmaking 'by Gillian Harris . The dark blue will be the bag itself and the decorated lighter blue will be the cut outs to decorate.





I did finish 'Lucky' in time for DH birthday but in this light this photo does not do it justice. (I told you Kath I wanted to wait till daylight grrr) The Malabrigio yarn is so soft and DH is thrilled with it .



These are some charity shop goodies I got this week . 17 back issues of Vogue knitting, loads of other patterns , some lovely old buttons and buckles ,a piece of yummy silk to maybe line my new bag and a huge kilt pin , all for pennies . The lady said she had loads more patterns in the back and I said 'I will be back '

And last but not least on the needles at the moment a frilly scarf for my niece as a belated birthday pressie.So as you can see I have been busy ; on my wheel at the moment I am spinning a challenge with my friend Jenny. We both have 50gm of Wool, silk & cashmere blend and we are going to see what we can make with it . The only thing I can guarantee is that mine will weigh the same !!

Oh and I am losing my wheel to my DH who has taken up spinning !! how dare he !! . He had fancied a go , took to it and loved it and wants his own wheel if you please.

So tomorrow morning we are off to see a member of my SWD guild who is selling a load of her stuff and has a wheel for sale . So we may be a two wheel family by tomorrow night, if its the right one . She has lots of goodies for sale including two weaving looms going cheap so I might come back with a loom ........or two. Oh my , if we buy this wheel it will be the third one we have bought in about a month. This is getting wheely, wheely , wheely mad but its such great fun . Oh and I came home with yet another freebie fleece a Lleyn x Shetland; well I wasn't going to say no was I ? And it will knit up lovely and soft.

I haven't even mentioned the silk I got in the post this morning off E-Bay and will space dye to knit up or the kid mohair, again off E-bay and the new Rowan mag , and another mixed bag of various tops and rovings which I have spent hours blending on the drum carder to make my own unique handspun.

So you see I am rather tired so am going to collapse on the sofa now with my DH until another day comes full of new adventures. Isn't life wonderful ?