Spinning in the 1st half of February

Whilst watching some TV series on DVD's I have managed a lot of spinning so far this month.  500grams+. Thankfully the air conditioner is working well, and in 35+ days, I can still spin in the evenings.

I really need to start knitting some more...otherwise there is going to be an overflow!

Möbius scarves

More, Woodland Grave by Luise O'Neill,

 

This one is a gift for a friend for her birthday.

 The green one is mine!

 Both have been knit with handspun yarn

Spinning in January

Kept myself busy with 500+grams of spinning and plying in January.

Table Runners

Back to the UFO's and a few more table runners to finish.

Japanese fabric lap quilt

This quilt top has been sitting in the stash for quite a long time (at least 10 years).  So it was time to finish it.  Silly really there wasn't a lot that needed to be done.  I lost interest as I didn't like all the fabrics together, even though I loved all the fabrics....does that make sense? 10 years later, seeing it finished, I really love it.

Quilt and table runners for our loungeroom.

After seeing lots of Scrappy Trips Around the World blocks and quilts, Pattern from Quiltville, on Instagram, I couldn't help but go through the stash and try the pattern out. So much fun, and easy to do.
I started off doing 3 table runners for the nesting tables in our loungeroom

 Then I thought, maybe I will just make a small quilt with the leftover fabric, rather than put it back on the shelf.  Enough fabric "left-over for a large quilt, that covers the 2 1/2 seater couch.  Cameron thought the blocks were great, and he wanted to put them together into a pattern.  So after laying it out on the floor and him playing with the blocks for 1/2 hour, this is what he came up with.  It is now his favourite quilt.

I didn't put any fabric back on the shelf, I used up some extra blocks on the backing as well!

Last primary school teacher gift

The last primary school teacher present I will have to make.  It is Cameron's s final year at primary school.  I love this pattern, Woodland Grace, by Luise O'Neill. Using handspun merino yarn.

Spring Shawl.

 

 

The original pattern is called Spring Shawl, by Emma Fassio. It's a gorgeous shawl pattern (when you read it correctly! I made a mistake in reading the original pattern, and decided to make the error into a design feature, instead of ripping back 10-15 rows. This is handspun merino and black silk.

3 Hour cowl, that took me 6 hours

Obviously I am not the world's fastest knitter, and this project was a good indictation that I must be a slow knitter, (although I wouldn't have thought so), anyway, this cowl is lovely.

I bought this handspun silk on the Isle of Skye at The Shilasdair Shop. The silk has been sitting in the stash for a long time, as I have not found a pattern that I thought would show of beauty of the yarn.

Pattern 3 Hour Cowl by Ijeoma Oluo

It was a fun pattern to do, and knits up really quickly. I think this pattern would be interesting made up with some art yarn.

Art Yarn Handwarmers

I knit the art yarn into hand warmers to see how they look and feel.

No pattern, just played around until I found the "right" amount of stitches to put on the needle for a comfortable fit over my wrists.

I love the randomness of the colours

University Blues

I'm still here creating things, but university work got in the way, and wow, has there been a lot of reading this year.  I have enjoyed it, but sadly my grade results do not reflect the effort and enjoyment in the subjects I did, However I passed, (so far, just waiting for 1 more assignment result).  Gutted when you think you have done a really great job, to get the feedback that you have missed something..  Assignment marks aside, this year I have really enjoyed the subjects that I did. 
Here is Fergus...who is a joy to have in our house!! 

Charly Visits

Charly from Ixchel Angora Bunny and Fibre   came to visit us at our Spinning group.  
It was so much fun, and Charly had so much amazing hand dyed fibre to choose from. 

 Charly bought Tilda along and demonstrated how to remove the fibre from a bunny.

 

So, for the scientific purpose of trying everything at least once, I bought 1 fibre plait of each different type.

That should keep me going for awhile!

Claudia's 18th birthday present, my Möbius #2

Möbius #2.
This möbius scarf is very addictive.
Handspun, chain plied merino top

At the end I added a simple K2tog, YO for the lacework pattern

Möbius #1

Taught by Bernadette how to cast on the Cat Bordhi way, I have fallen in love with the Möbius scarf.

This one is using handspun yarn I chain plied.

Onion Market Wrist Warmers

Love these, made with handspun merino top, hand dyed by Carmel.  Spun by me.

Onion Market Wrist Warmers by Sybil Ramkin

 

 

 

Semester 2 spinning

After full on days of study, modules read, and assignments submitted, it was a relief to sit down after dinner in the evenings and spin for a few hours.
Again, I surprised myself with how much spinning I managed to get done this semester.
I tried my hand at some art yarn, in particular core spinning which I really love doing.  A bobbin fills up quickly, and I am going to knit some hand warmers with the art yarn.

Just before the semester began, we moved house.  We are now very proud home owners, and are very happy with the place we have bought.  Phil installed some rails above the sink in the laundry, and I am able to hang up skeins of yarn.  So here is this semester's hand spun yarn ready to wash, when the weather is nice, and the last assignment is sent off for the semester.

Majacraft Magic Camp

What a great weekend I had at the Majacraft Magic Camp, run by Mandie and Janet.  Caroline and I drove up to the back of Bacchus Marsh (detour at Gisborne for a needed coffee break).

I did a few different workshops, how to cast on for a Möbius, using the Cat Bordhi method.  That was great fun.  I cast on 2 Möbius scarves to keep me going, so I could check with Bernadette if I had cast on properly.  I also did a workshop on spinning yarn for socks with Carmel, Combs with Glynis, and weaving with Donni.

 The fibre sandwich everyone contributed to. 

  Everyone took home 100grams of fibre

 My messy experiment with weaving techniques.  I managed all this in less than an hour.  I can see why weaving is so addictive....it's so quick once the loom is warped up.

This is the stash I brought home.  This should keep me going for awhile!

2012 Tour de France project.

This year while watching the Tour de France, I knit this vest.  It's been on the to do list for many years.

The pattern is from Patons book, #1235, called Asymmetric Wrap Vest.

Lacy Rib Socks

These socks have been on the needles for a few years.
Finally completed them.

Pattern, Lacy Ribs Socks by Wendy Johnson

Left over blankets...

So I have a leftover sock wool blanket, for the left over sock wool I have from projects, and balls of sockyarn I bought, but don't want to use it for socks.
Pattern is Ten Stitch Blanket by Frankie Brown (I am only using 5 sttiches on this one)

and, I have a leftover-leftover sock wool blanket for the small bits of leftover wook from the 1st blanket.
Patterns is Ten Stitch Twist by Frankie Brown

Now I have started my 3rd leftover blanket, using handspun yarn I have leftover from projects, as there is no way I can possibly throw out left over yarn that I have spun.
Pattern is called Lizard Ridge by Laura Aylor