With all the fibre prepped, it was just a case of deciding how I wanted to spin it up and what kind of yarn I wanted to make. My default setting is spinning a somewhat thin fingering weight two-ply but I wanted to challenge myself to do something different and get the practice and control that comes with expanding your spinning repertoire. Even if it is something you only spin as a sampler.
…This hat really is proving to be quite the disaster, isn’t it? To start today’s post, I’d really like to thank yarnmama10 for very kindly taking the time to point out on my last post that what I had claimed (and thought) was stockinette stitch on my hat was actually garter… Whoops. I am very, very grateful for someone pointing this out to me before I picked up one of those ‘lifelong mistakes’. In my excitement to knit on with the project and rushing to remind myself the pattern for stockinette I had forgotten to pause, breathe, and think about what I was trying to do. Whoops indeed. Here is a note to myself with a helpful guide on the differences between knitting flat and in the round.
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time on my last post about this knitting project to take the time to share advice, tips and a lot of encouragement. It was so much appreciated that I’ve gone from having a row of cast-on stitches to a whole 11 cm of material now!
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A book about knitting in the New York Times Bestseller list? Apparently not as outrageous as it sounds. Welcome to ‘Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World’, Clara Parkes’s collection of tales of knitting conventions and events across the world.
I am not the most confident knitter in the world. When I see fellow bloggers like bonnyknits and Quite A Yarn blazing through project after project, I do have to wonder what magic it is that blesses their needles. It’s probably far less glamorous and down to years of practice, experience and learning but I am always amazed with tales of grandmothers who can whip up a pair of socks in a day.
Oh summer, where hast thou gone? The bright mornings and the long evenings, not stumbling to and from work in the dark, and the general piece and quiet of being in a city that seems to lose a significant proportion of its inhabitants over the summer vacation… All gone… Seemingly in an instant. As I’m doing most of my dyeing outside now, it’s probably also coming towards the end of dyeing season and the start of needing the daylight lamp for any fine embroidery work. I think I start to understand why some people are seasonal silk shaders, it’s much easier when you can actually see what you’re doing!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you purchase the book through these links, I receive a small commission that contributes to the running costs of the blog. However, any recommendations and opinions in this review are my own. For more information, please click here.
‘The BIG Book of Fibery Rainbows: Creating and Working with Multi Colored Fibers and Palettes’ by Suzy Brown and Arlene Thayer of Fiberygooness was always going to be one of those books that someone would have to actively dissuade me from buying after reading the title. Fibre, colours and books, what was there going to be not to love?
Kiel is a charming city in the north of Germany, only about an hour and half from Denmark, with plenty of beautiful waterfronts. Maybe inspired by the slightly… brisk weather during the winter though, it also seems to be home to a surprising amount of spinning, weaving and wooly goodness.
My first adventure of 2019 was to St Gallen, a Swiss town famous for its bustling textile trade and, if you want to be fair to all the official Swiss languages, otherwise known as Sankt Gallen/Saint-Gall/San Gallo/Son Gagl. As you might guess, its history in the embroidery, lacemaking and fashion industries has left a footprint of the city of great interest to anyone with a passing interest in textiles, crafts and art and this charming little place has plenty more feasts for the eyes as well.
After a visit to Stonemountain & Daughters Fabrics, I headed towards the water and The Black Squirrel, a store promising yarn, fabric and excellent design. This was not the most logical way to do my trip (I should have headed to Lacis first as it’s less than a fifteen minute walk from Stonemountain) but I didn’t realise this until afterwards. Poor planning on my part! I was curious though to see exactly what The Black Squirrel was all about.
