Handspun sock(s)!

Remember the gorgeous fibre I received from Helen at My Heart Exposed in a Christmas Secret Santa Swap?

I proudly give you... (drum roll) the socks!

I had two 100g braids of naturally dyed BFL in similar shades from Helen so I split them into thin strips. I pre-drafted the fibres as I knew I needed a fine singles to make up my finished 2ply sock weight yarn. The strips of extenuated fibre were spun at random to further distribute the subtle colour variations and the plying was a standard 2ply (2 singles yarns spun Z twist, plied S twist).

The spinning wasn't terribly scientific, measuring tpi, wpi and degree of twist by eye (with apologies to Mabel Ross!). Nonetheless, by the time all the combining and plying had been done it seems to have evened itself out and the socks look like they'll be pretty hardwearing.

The pattern for the socks is my simple 2 x 2 rib groovy sock pattern. A basic heel flap, cuff-down affair with a nice star toe (I have pointy toes!). Being a dpns girl they're done on a set of 5 (very well-used!) Brittany dpns. I had several skeins, each slightly different so I knitted in stripes to create the extra colour variations and avoid blocks of colour. The flash has over-exposed this shot a little but I've included it because it shows the amazing lustre in the BFL.

The shot below shows the subtlety of the colour variations better. I have to say the sock looks pretty uninspiring when it's not sporting a leg but I haven't worked out how to photograph my own feet yet and no-one in the house has hobbit feet as small as mine!

My spinning mojo...

...is back!

After receiving two lovely braids of fibre from Helen at MyHeartExposed in the Christmas Ravelry Swap 2010, I got off to a great start and quickly notched up my initial skein. Then life happened and this was accompanied by no time/inclination to spin.

I am pleased to report, however, that I am now back on the horse. This year I'm determined to be disciplined and make some time for myself to go our Guild meetings and I'm actually enjoying spinning again.

So much so that I have now spun one braid and am making good headway into braid two. In theory there is enough fibre to make two pairs of socks, however, having plied the first braid, I'm not sure if it's fine enough to give me the yardage I'll need. This is both good news and bad - bad because I can't get started on my socks (boo), but good because it's an excellent incentive to get on and finish braid two (yaay!).

My plan is to knit in random stripes from each skein such that any colour variations will be artistically intentional rather than an "oh dear she obviously ran out of yarn" moment. We shall see.

So we started with this....

Double it to create this.....

And then ply into this.....

"Photo-story" - or a catch up in photos

(pic-heavy post - you have been warned!)

Anyone remember photo-stories in Jackie and Blue Jeans (erm, am I showing my age a bit here)? Well, as I'm so far behind with my blogging I thought I'd do a photo-story of my own...(no speech bubbles, dramatic expressions or dodgy 80's outfits you'll be pleased to hear). Oh, if you have no idea what I'm talking about (or want a sneaky reminder here you go (promise I won't tell anyone!).

So, the last few months there have been....

A fab dyeing workshop at Purl City Yarns- many thanks to the lovely students who attended and to PCY for inviting me to teach at their lovely venue : ) 

You may recall I joined The Textile Club at the Creative Recycling Gallery in Chorlton? It is such a lovely creative hideaway in the Sculpture Garden, a tranquil courtyard full of exciting art. And of course, being in Chorlton there's no shortage of yummy cafes to visit, as well as the essential shopping trip to Unicorn Grocery and the Barbakan Deli. Takes me back to being a student (sighs wistfully).

For the first meeting we made tassels....

The second meeting was a general gathering, sharing work in progress,

 and discussing projects (oh, and tea and homemade biscuits)

A spot of volunteering next at Creative Stitches in Liverpool....

No photos of us (that's Julia and I), but, far more interesting, some of the exhibits.

On the Beadworkers' Guild stand, one for the DH and Dr Who geeks fans everywhere...

A Dr Who scene made entirely in beadwork - how awesome is that?

Next up the knitted Above and Below the Waves exhibition, masterminded by creative genius Alison Murray.

Thank you to UKHandknitting and to KnittyFred for his hard work co-ordinating proceedings : )

And a very civilised "Ladies What Lunch" meet-up for shopping and lunch with Caroline and Tracey

We must do this again soon : ))

And this is one for Helen (aka My Heart Exposed). A braid of beautiful fibre I received from her in a Secret Santa Swap. I haven't forgotten it Helen, it will be socks, honest! It is proving lovely to spin and the colours are gorgeous.

Well, we'll call that episode one before you all keel over with boredom (or your iphones crash). Clubs, Summer School, workshops and more to come....!

B is for Black Welsh Mountain (or not)

Wikimedia Commons image by Alan Levine

Week two of the ABC meme and my B is for the Black Welsh Mountain sheep. Or at least kind of. You see, I was gifted a fleece by a friend's Mum and I was informed that it was from a Black Welsh Mountain sheep so it should have looked like the feisty beastie above. Now, what would a dyer want with a black fleece I hear you ask? Well, I do like a black fleece as they are very useful for blending and for contrasts in yarn, black being a difficult colour to achieve when dyeing fleece. So as I wasn't expecting to dye my new acquisition, I put it in the cupboard ready for when it was needed.

So I was not a little surprised when I was having a fleecy stock-take and found that my black fleece was in fact, white!

 (It was in a thick sack hence why I hadn't noticed beforehand). Mmm, well not so much white as a rather mucky brown.

Added to that the fact that is had been at the back of my cupboard for...let's just say a while shall we?... and I wasn't wildly optimistic.

Here's what I had when I opened the sack.....

And in the bucket (think yourselves lucky the internet hasn't got smell-o-vision).

But, after several washes, I ended up with this.....

Sure there are some daggy bits but it is actually beautifully soft with a nice crimpy staple (about 4" give or take). There's no kemp and the best areas are bright white. Of course now I a) can't wait to dye it and spin it and b) am intrigued to know what it is! Any suggestions anyone? (Oh, and it is a large fleece - we are talking Wensleydale size here - The pic above is barely a quarter of it!).

Here's the staple for you fleece sleuths out there....

(For more info about the real Black Welsh Mountain sheep, check the breed website, here

Club pics - Midnight Sun

Wow, lots to catch up on!

Here are pics from May's clubs:

Sock club in soft and squishy superwash Merino/nylon


And, Roving medley, a lovely soft roving of pure British Bluefaced Leicester


And for Fibre Adventure club members, BFL roving, Soy silk and some beautiful Suri alpaca fleece.


And in case you were wondering why I chose this name for the colourway, check out the photo that was the inspiration, a fabulous photo of a Norwegian sunset taken by Thomas Laupstad. Isn't it just beautiful?

May clubs - on their way tomorrow : )

Just to let all my lovely club members know that all the clubs have been dyed and are just finishing off drying ready for posting tomorrow. And I haven't forgotten that there aren't any pictures of last month's clubs. This is because all the extras sold before I'd taken any pics so I'll be dyeing some extra this week.

Now for a quick quiz.

Debbie will be dyeing up extra yarn and fibre because:
a) she likes to have pics of all her club fibres on the blog
b) it is good practice for repeating colours and testing her recipe-writing skills
c) she had her eye on some of the yarn for a new sock pattern and the fibre for a hat.
or d) all of the above ; )

Answers on a postcard please.....

Oh crikey - is it really Wonderwool already???

Very quick post to say that sock and fibre clubs were posted today, so it's postie-stalking time : )

Don't want to spoil the surprise but sock club members are getting a special treat this month - an exclusive preview of my brand new sock yarn! No clues but I just love it - softness, squishiness and total sock-knitability. There's a DK version too, perfect for slightly thicker socks and for those who find regular sock yarn too fine to work with. I've two DK patterns ready and two more on the way - more news of which to follow so watch this space!

Am panicking like mad about Wonderwool - so far, forgot to order more credit card slips (hopefully now on the way), ran out of gripseal bags and carrier bags and kit bags - aaargh! Had to buy (lots) more plastic storage boxes because....

....Yes, we have a brand new range of acid dyes and dye kits launching at Wonderwool!

Lots of new yarns (and dyes of course), so need lots more storage space, new display stands etc. etc.

Our new catalogue will also be available so make sure you pick up a copy.

Have lots of photos and news of recent events, but if I don't crack on I won't be sleeping between now and Wonderwool, so I'll sign off and hope to see you at the weekend!

February club pics - Midnight and Stormy Skies

Bit of a proverbial with last month's sock club as I forgot to take any pics at all and the extras were snapped up before I realised they'd all gone. So, if you have a pic (yarn or knitted up!) that you wouldn't mind me using, I'd be eternally grateful : )

I did, however, get my act together for the fibre clubs....

Roving medley (in merino/tencel), colourway "Stormy Skies" (no prizes for guessing the inspiration for this month!).


And Fibre Adventure club in a yummy combination of bamboo roving, merino/tencel and some gorgeous Romney fleece.

January clubs - don your sunglasses!

The theme for this month was something of a contrast from December. "Fruit Salad" is inspired by one of my favourite sweeties from childhood. I just loved those brightly coloured, fruity chews (who am I kidding, I still buy them as my little treat after posting the parcels!).

We had a good laugh when discussing these with friends - I remember them being three for halfpence, then being scandalised when they went up to three for a penny. This led to discussions about the price of mars bars and milky ways, spangles, pacers, flying saucers and kop kopps. Ok, now I feel old so I'm going to stop....

Crikey, nearly forgot the fibres in all that reminiscing!

Here's the sock yarn, soft and luxurious alpaca/nylon....

Roving - squishy Falkland


and, at the top, Fibre Adventure - Falkland roving, baby camel/silk blend and Jacob fleece.

Don't adjust your sets folks, I have something subtle and sultry planned for next month....

December club pics

Catching up with clubs next, here are the pics for December's clubs....

Lovely lichen was this month's theme, inspired (not surprisingly), by lichens and mosses.

Now I have a confession to make - all the extras for this club sold out so quickly I only have the little sample I kept for myself and I'd already started spinning it before I realised I hadn't taken any photos! So at the top of the post is the last extra skein of December's sock yarn in 100% merino superwash yarn, which I did manage to photograph just before I posted it.

Only a little bit of the Bluefaced Leicester roving left, but here it is....


And here is the Fibre Adventure club, throwsters waste, Bluefaced Leicester roving and Shropshire x BFL fleece.


And here is the spinning so far!

I took lengths of the roving in sections to preserve the colours and stripped them lengthways. After predrafting I spun z twist for a single ply at around a fingering weight. I interspersed the roving with carded rolags of the fleece, blended with the throwsters. I cut the throwsters to give short lengths and trapped them in the yarn as I spun it. The second bobbin will be a single ply of the roving and I'm aiming for a yarn with smooth sections alternating with textured highlights.

Firecracker!! - November club piccies

Snuggle up warm with "Firecracker", November's Super Sock Medley club yarn......


Who can resist an ooh or an aaahh when they see a firework going off? Well, not me anyway ; )

So for November, I thought a bold and sassy fireworks theme was in order. Set against a deep midnight blue sky are flashes of gold, scarlet and fiery orange. And for club members, this month I thought everyone should have a pre-Christmas treat. For roving medley members I added a little free gift of a lovely sparkly mini-batt of shades of deep blue lambswool with wisps of grey-blue tencel and some rich, angelina to give that firework sparkle. And for Fibre Adventurers an extra special blend of pure British mohair in a fiery cascade of colour, blended with gold angelina.

And here are the piccies...

At the top, the Super Sock Medley Club yarn, in supersoft, superwash merino/nylon, layer-dyed to create rich depth and tone.

November's Roving Medley in pure, soft merino.


And Fibre Adventures for November brought to you by beautiful, fine merino roving, gorgeous Portland fleece, a sparkly midnight batt and a lovely mini-batt of softest, shiny mohair and angelina.

Club pics - Autumn Feast

While everything is soaking for the clubs, I thought I'd have a catch up with pics from October (shortly to be followed by November with any luck!).

October's theme was somewhat influenced by the gigantic pumpkin we bought and pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin... well, you get the idea. "Autumn feast" was the resulting colourway. At the top we have the Super Sock medley.

And the Roving medley - a lovely, springy Whitefaced Woodland roving...

And for Fibre Adventurers, Whitefaced Woodland roving, Romney shearling fleece and a lovely helping of merino/silk roving.

Fiber Baristas - Flora & Fauna Fiber Club

First the teaser....

September was my turn as the dyer of the month for the Fiber Baristas Flora & Fauna Fiber Club and as everyone now has their parcels I can show you the fibre in all its technicolour glory.

The crowning glory of our small garden is a beautiful Copper Beech tree. The colours in this tree are a constant source of pleasure and inspiration. One minute there are just bare branches then seemingly before our eyes, the young green leaves unfurl, signalling the arrival of spring. As the spring progresses into summer, the leaves turn a fabulous shade of purply copper, then in autumn, copper gives way to rich reds, golds and oranges.

So you can imagine that just this one tree gave me lots of ideas for colourways! As we are on the cusp of summer and autumn, I decided to share this mid-season change with two braids – one capturing late summer, the second early autumn. Blended together, as they are just now on our tree, these two braids were designed to make a beautiful combination for a special fibre project.

The fibre I chose was my beautiful British 100% kid mohair combed top. It is a fantastic luxury fibre with a natural sheen that brings a project to life. I thought it really captured the sunlight reflecting off the glossy leaves. I hope you agree : )

And the full colour version.....

And for the lucky prize winners who guessed that I was the dyer of the month, there was a little extra gift of hand-dyed Teeswater fleece in co-ordinating shades.....

September clubs - Wild Pansies

I think we might be on for a bit of a blogathon this week as there is lots to tell!

So without further ado, here are the goodies which went out for September's fibre and sock clubs.

Fibre Adventure club - a tantalising mixture of Dorset Horn roving, Teeswater fleece and yummy silk hankies (pictured above)

Socks in fabulous 100% Superwash Merino....


And roving medley in sproingy, bouncy British rare breed, Dorset Horn


The observant among you who follow my Twitter account, dtcrafts, will notice that this month's colourway is currently gracing my account as my background wallpaper. Couldn't you just dive into these lovely locks? These are luscious British Teeswater locks, part of this month's Fibre Adventure club....