This blog is dedicated to my Aunt Yvonne.
My favourite crafting is my knitting and here I share my ideas, projects, pitfalls and successes.
Vancouver, Canada
Welcome to another stream! The leaves haven’t quite turned here yet but Pumpkin Spice Lattes are being sold, Hallowe’en (and Christmas, let’s be honest) decorations have entered the stores and I am excited to share some of my works-in-progress with you today!
Live Stream: Tuesday, September 19th @ 10am Pacific / 12noon Central / 1pm Eastern / 6pm GMT
FO Thread here – share your finished shawls for prizes!
Deadline to submit your FO photos is September 30th – prize draw NEXT EPISODE!
Attune Shawl by Andrea Mowry – Organic Polwarth singles spin (Ravelry Project Page here) & Hello Yarn Falkland singles spin (Ravelry Project Page here); 2.75mm // US 2 needles
Ask Anything
Ravelry thread here to ask questions, bounce ideas & comment
From Magda: The braid I want to use is this it is Merino, Bamboo and Nylon, colour-way called Panda Sock so I figured I’d spin it for socks (?) It this a good mix for socks at all??? I know merino being so soft, maybe is not the best choice?
From Samantha: Hi all, would appreciate some opinions on what main colour to use with this as cc for the pressed flowers pullover. I can’t seem to figure out what would work best – initial thought was some kind of grey but I haven’t loved that in reality. It’s a fractal 3 ply BFL. Thanks!
Ongoing throughout the summer until the Autumnal Equinox – be sure to share your progress! Ravelry Link here & Slack channel #spindlespunstitches
FatCatKnits – Falkland in London Fog, 6oz total (spinning first 2oz at present); divided in nests and just randomly spinning, Turtlemade & Bosworth spindles so far (Ravelry Project Page here)
On & Off the Needles
K-nitting
Trinigan by Andrea Mowry – Three Waters Farm & unlabelled Falkland combo spin {Ravelry Project Page here} with Gathering Yarns Haynes Creek Heathers DK in 411 Pink; 3.5mm & 4.00mm (US 6 & 7) needles {Ravelry Projects Page here}
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
FO Thread here – share your finished shawls for prizes!
Ask Anything
Ravelry thread here to ask questions, bounce ideas & comment
On & Off the Bobbins
Spinning
Crafty Jaks Boutique Targhee in Pacific Blue with Smith & Ewe Polwarth + Silk blend; carded in 50/50 combination for Lenu by Ankestrick {Ravelry Project Page here; for Lenu here}
Fun combination of fibres from my stash that has been percolating for a looong time!! Sampling in the show!
On & Off the Needles
K-nitting
Attune Shawl by Andrea Mowry – Organic Polwarth singles spin (Ravelry Project Page here) & Hello Yarn Falkland singles spin (Ravelry Project Page here); 2.75mm // US 2 needles
Combination of yarns for the Attune shawl spin & knit-along
Community Inspiration // Participation
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
Welcome to another stream! We have a mountain of things to cover today – I have been experiencing castonitis, startitis and all the -itis of a fast-approaching Fall, feeling inspired and fresh.
Live Stream: Tuesday, August 22nd @ 10am Pacific / 12noon Central / 1pm Eastern / 6pm GMT
FO Thread here – share your finished shawls for prizes!
Ask Anything
Ravelry thread here to ask questions, bounce ideas & comment
On & Off the Bobbins
Skeined!
SweetGeorgia Yarns Polwarth + Silk, in “Tea Party”, “Woodland”, “Grouse”; not original idea – spun this yarn for Dye to Spin and Knit by Felicia Lo {Ravelry Project Page here}
Swatching for Weekender Light by Andrea Mowry; 3.5mm (US 7) needles
Kainuu Harmaa from Amber; lock pop to open the locks, then carded, spun continuous backwards with gentle smoothing; Lendrum DT, 2-ply {Ravelry Project Page here}
Sampled by creating a 3-ply yarn to see where to go from here
Lock popped open, then combed
Used Peter Teal’s approach to combing – 6ml water : 6ml oil
Spun as singles: Majacraft 27:1
Thought I was putting way too much twist into the yarn!
Chain-plied – Perfect post washing!
Next step – swatch
Lock popping Dorset Fleece
On & Off the Needles
K-nitting
Trinigan by Andrea Mowry – Three Waters Farm & unlabelled Falkland combo spin {Ravelry Project Page here} with Gathering Yarns Haynes Creek Heathers DK in 411 Pink; 3.5mm & 4.00mm (US 6 & 7) needles {Ravelry Projects Page here}
Amalia Cardigan by Shiny Super Hero – combination of many yarns from my stash in fingering weight; intarsia method of construction; 4.5mm (US 7) needles {Ravelry Project Page here}
Community Inspiration // Participation
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
This summer is passing in a complete and utter blur! Has it been really hot where you are? Has the heat been tolerable? I sure hope so. The podcast, spinning & making has been truckin’ along here at Casa de Welford. We carved some time away from the house and our town in July, taking the trailer and truck to Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. It’s about 7.5-hours from our house but 9-hours with stops. It’s just the right amount of time for the kids to start fighting in the last 30-minutes or so.
Above: Norah and I at one of the many lakes and hikes that we took throughout the week away. Family Selfie & Biking to The Great Beyond (ended up being about 17km).
Remember that we are getting down to the wire for knitting your Attune Shawls – share your progress, spinning & knitting in the Ravelry thread here and submit your FO photos here (chatter-free) for Prizes!
Attune Shawl by Andrea Mowry
We have already had a Live Stream this month because I am writing this a little later than I normally would – it was a Spindle-Heavy show. We talked about slowing down, intentional making & celebrating long-term projects.
This month, I sat down with the lovely, exuberant and kind Crystal Hesser to talk about all things handspun yar, from textured to conventional and everything in between. It was a pleasure to talk to her – stay tuned for a Spin-Along in Early Fall.
Subscribe to Wool n’ Spinning Radio on all your podcast providers to stay up to date on the conversation! Click here to listen.
Do you want to be on Wool n’ Spinning Radio? Reach out and send Rachel a note – she’d love to hear from you!
YearofColour| Spinning Purls
Rebecca and I introduced our Year of Colour idea back in the fall but now it’s time to really dive in. Getting started with colour:
I started off this post last week, leaving you with my finished Pressed Flowers and Newspaper Pullover in Part I. The post was just too long to wax poetic about the next two sweaters that I finished this summer, again one handspun and the other commercial yarn. I love them both and it’s hard to chose which to share with you first but I think the handspun has to be showcased first off!
First, the yarn was spun from deep stash last year. From Elfenwolle, Tina located in Germany is no longer dyeing (to my knowledge), this fibre was an interesting blend of Shetland, Banana Fibre and Tussah silk. Lovely combination but in unknown quanitities. I had spun a 3-ply fractal with the fibre so a lovely drape but a round yarn, compared to what I would have achieved with a 2-ply. I’d thought shawl at the time I spun it but instead, it languished in my stash …
I shared more photos on the podcast recently, specifically this epsiode here, of the original fibre and yarn.
I saw the most adorable tank on Instagram recently and it just stuck in my mind. I went hunting through my stash, stumbling on this yarn. There was more than enough yardage at 552 yards in the 120 gram skein. In the end, I used 367.5 yards.
The yarn was specifically chosen to work with the skirt I am wearing here due to the subtle blue in the yarn.
Unable to erase the tank from my mind after seeing it, I did some sleuthing and found it again! The pattern is the Mini-Mock Neck Tank by Jessie Maed Designs. It is brilliantly simple – the finishing around the arms is the absolute best part. And it’s a fast knit. Very fast. This was finished in about 3 days. Honest. It took longer to do the tubular bind off (not really, but you know what I mean).
My version of the mini-mock neck tank in a 3-p[ly handspun fractal yarn containing Shetland, Banana fibre & Tussah silk
If I were to make one modification now, knowing what I know, I would lengthen the body by another 1-2 inches. It pulls up as I am moving. I hadn’t lengthen it based on my try-on while still knitting but after wearing this, I would add to it. The tubular bind-off keeps me from doing this – the thought of unraveling that bind off (especially since I did it on my Pink Velvet years ago) is daunting but I’ll wear this a couple of times and reassess.
Trust the pattern sizing for chosing your size – it works and the fit is close, very neat.
I’m not a huge fan of stripes but the subtle striping of the fractal is pleasing in this. I had compliments from my neice, sister-in-law and daughter about it, which I call a win. There is a part of me that wants to knit another one immediately as I have a perfect skein of handspun but I’m a bit concerned about yardage of the skein … not for the faint of the heart wishing to play Yarn Chicken for the entire the knit … hmmmm (insert thoughtful emoji here).
Next, a sweater that I fell in love with as soon as it was off the needles. I am so pleased with this that I have actually worn it several times already. Friends have tried it on to see what size they might make themselves. And it seems to get softer everytime I wear it (in the best way possible).
Have you noticed a theme with the sweaters I knit? A friend of mine pointed it out to me this morning and she’s right – I knit a lot of Amy’s patterns. I just love them. To date, I have knit Mandolin, Pressed Flowers, Williamette, Larch (one & two), Felix Cardigan (one & two), Acer, Cote-Nord Cap, Lunenberg Pullover, Farmhouse Cardigan & Dama hat. Some never got their own blog post but they certainly were talked about on the podcast!
My favourite sweaters of all time, that I’ve made, have been Acer and Williamette. They have been worn sooooo much. Williamette needed a bunch of repairs last winter actually.
What got my about this sweater was the all-over lace with a bulky yarn. Swoon!
The first time I saw this combination was in a LYS in Vancouver that is closed now: They had paired Cascade Ecological (which was a new yarn at the time) with an Evelyn A. Clark shawl, Swallowtail. Remember how incredibly populare those two things were? Cascade Eco and Evelyn Clark’s shawl patterns?! Am I dating myself in the knitting world? Regardless. This combination undid me. I loved it. I proceeded to knit a few worsted-weight shawls and loved them.
Disdero Ranch CVMco Worsted in Moss (webshop here). Be sure to wash the yarn prior to working with it for true gauge and fabric.
Because this sweater is way to big for me (and I love it anyhow), I’m actually really tempted to knit it again in a smaller gauge yarn on slightly smaller needles. This would give a totally different look and some variety in my wardrobe … which I need like a bullet to the brain but still! It would be lovely. Easy-peasy chart repeat — although those knit-a-million-togethers are KILLER.
One note, the sleeves are quite long. Because it’s a drop-shoulder, I didn’t need to knit to my regular length (19″) as the pattern calls for — 16″ with ribbing included would have been more than enough. This would be a modification for future!
Regardless, with rolled cuffs, I am incredibly happy with how this sweater turned out. It will be a much-worn staple in my wardrobe, especially as we enter the Early Fall. Whether it will fit under my parka as we move into Deep Fall, I’m not so sure.
A note about blocking this sweater – I didn’t block it per se. But I did intentionally lay it out and ensure that the lace was spread out nicely. It dried exactly as I wanted but as I have worn it, the lace has pulled in, especially in the sleeves, which I expected. The body of the sweater has remained nicely blocked. It will just need a gentle re-blocking every so often to ensure the lace remains open and … well, lacey!
One aspect of this post that strikes me is the contrast between these two sweaters. One is a very summery, light-weight tank with a light, breezy skirt, while the other is a heavy, rustic and very warm cardigan paired with a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. The contrast between them is completely lovely as things like that, that are just so opposite, make my heart sing. What are you working on that are opposites at the moment?
There is a sad lack of blog posts that people are writing these days and I am as guilty as the next person – we use Instagram and other social media sites to post our projects, spins and makes. It’s nice to get back to basics, though, and post on a site that is mine. That I have control over!
This year has not been a particularly prolific year of making thus far – I have not spent a ton of time making. I have been reading books, spinning yarn and weaving a few projects. Overall, I have felt really satisfied with this level of output.
Steadily, though, there have been a few finished sweaters over the past couple of months. I thought I would share them with you here, as I am really pleased with them all.
First, Pressed Flowers {Ravelry Link to project page} was actually started in early November 2022. It was my primary knit throughout the winter and plagued me enough to go on a couple of time outs, rest moments and more. The pattern, by Amy Christoffers, is wonderful — there was no reason from a pattern perspective that it needed a timeout. It was the maker, for sure.
WestCoast Colour Karma 50/50 Merino-Yak on my Lendrum Saxony
After a few false starts with yarn that I knew I would be playing Yarn Chicken with throughout the entire project, I got started with Disdero Ranch’s Copaca Fingering in a natural taupe-brown paired with my handspun, WestCoast Colour Karma. This is a 50/50 Merino-Yak that I spun for almost a year from September 2020 – August 2021. It was a labour of love, let me tell you. The difference in staple length is significant and I waxed poetic about this in various Patreon vlogs and videos:
I don’t have a great photo of the yarn unfortunately but it is incredibly soft, both the fibres and the spinning. It would have been a lovely 3-ply becuase the roundness of the 3-ply structure would have added some strength to the relatively flat, slightly oval shape of the 2-ply. I had to hold and draft incredibly lightly to ensure I didn’t separate the Yak fibres from the Merino as I was spinning.
Snapshot of a photo from the above Vlog of my spinning off the distaff due to the light hold I had to use to spin this fibre.
A couple of modifications to the sweater included lengthening the body a couple of inches – I actually wish I had added about 2″ more to the sweater. It would have fit my longer torso just a bit better. Regardless, it’s lovely to wear and moves well around my hips.
The overall colourwork of the back is just lovely!
I have not put buttons on this yet – ask me the 1000 reasons why! I have them. They are in my stash. I just need to sew them on!
Knit using the Mosaic Knitting method, there are other Pressed Flowers patterns that Amy has in her Ravelry shop here.
Overall, Pressed Flowers was a huge win and I’m glad I stuck with it to finish it. In hindsight, leaving it to languish until I was ready to finish it was the right thing to do!
Next, I found yarn at Fibres West in March 2023 while my dear friend Rebecca was here that I just couldn’t pass up. It kept calling to me and after discussing colours (Gathering Yarn Brook Farm Fingering in Dark Brown and Coral), I purchased a couple of skeins of each.
Newspaper (Pullover) by Joji Locatelli
I have had this sweater in my Queue on Ravelry since it was published. Joji knit hers in different greys – one dark and one light. Truly a study in the Contrast of Value, which we studied as a community in April 2023. I chose colour for mine but ensured there was still that contrast between light and dark. The coral was perfect, giving me just that hint of colour that I wanted. Next to the Dark Brown, the overall sweater is warm and inviting.
Brioche in a sweater is not for the faint of heart! This was time-consuming but knits quickly.
I’ve done brioche over the years but in a sweater, I had to keep track of my rows. I definitely felt like I was really knitting every stitch, as I did with Pressed Flowers above, because in-the-round, you need two times round to complete one row of brioche. I learned how to ‘read’ my knitting in brioche stitch though! Making mistakes meant I had to actually figure out where the strands of yarn needed to go and how. This was great learning and it became easier as I worked away at the sweater.
Overall, I’m extremely happy with this sweater and excited to wear it when the weather starts to turn in the Fall. I’ve finished up two more sweaters this year and I’m excited to share them with you next week in a follow-up post. In the meantime, what have you completed this year?
FatCatKnits – Falkland in London Fog, 6oz total (spinning first 2oz at present); divided in nests and just randomly spinning, Turtlemade & Bosworth spindles so far (Ravelry Project Page here)
Crafty Jaks Boutique Rolags – Organic Polwarth & Sari Silk; Mirkwood Support Spindle (Ravelry Project Pagehere)
Spinning
SweetGeorgia Yarns Polwarth + Silk – not original idea – spun this yarn for Dye to Spin and Knit by Felicia Lo; Colourways Tea Party, Woodland, Grouse; Divided each in half, stripped to 8 nests of fibre; Divided each nest in half lengthwise again, drum carded each colourway together for cohesive spinning {Ravelry Project Page here}
On & Off the Needles
K-nitting
Trinigan by Andrea Mowry – Three Waters Farm & unlabelled Falkland combo spin {Ravelry Project Page here} with Gathering Yarns Haynes Creek Heathers DK in 411 Pink; 3.5mm & 4.00mm (US 6 & 7) needles {Ravelry Projects Page here}
As always, thank you to those who share in the community, uploading photos and thoughts about what you are working on! I appreciate it – it’s my pleasure to be able to share!
