 I continued with the silk hankies and spun what I thought was enough to finish the ply - and do you know, I was right! I only had about 50 cm of silk singles left at the end. As the last plying endeavour left me with about 40 cm of the camel on the bobbin, I'm pretty happy with my estimation skills. The 50 gr of camel yielded 82 gr plied with the silk - so it doesn't take a genius to work out that I used around 30 gr of silk in all. I still have a few layers of silk left over ( but only about 10 gr), so I will have to think about what I'm going to do with it. The final tally is 280m at 18 wpi (yes, I know I've mixed measurements but wpi seems to be more logical than wpc). So now I have to find a pattern to do it justice. I'm very impressed by the beautiful Stellaria by Susanna IC on Ravelry*, but I haven't got anywhere near enough yarn to make a big item, so I may combine it with something else - 1st contender Jared Flood's Rock Island, which could be made in two colours: the camel/silk for the lace and another toning colour for the solid areas. I particularly like the way the garter stitch pattern reflects the light on the solid areas. *you will need to be a logged-in Ravelry member to follow this link.  And back to the Falkland...
Just continuing with this lovely easy-to-spin fibre. It's a finewool similar to NZ Halfbred or Polwarth, grown on the Falkland Islands where the sheep graze among penguins! Beautiful fiery shades of red, burnt pink and orange make it a perfect candidate for Stephen West's Akimbo*, paired with charcoal NZ Halfbred. The pattern calls for 398m of 4-ply so I think I'll be right on track for that. *you will need to be a logged-in Ravelry member to follow this link. Tomorrow is a rest day, but I still have half of today at my disposal (slept in), so possibly I'll be able to spin the rest of the Falkland in between doing the washing, visiting the dump and preparing and cooking a roast chicken dinner.
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 I sat down yesterday and spun this beautiful lustrous silk from a hanky which I had previously dyed in this gorgeous vibrant fuchsia to match the baby camel down I'd spun earlier. Just to get this much on the bobbin took several hours... Psst: keep reading!  Then I plied it with this: the baby camel down from days one and two of the Tour... Psst: keep reading!  And I ended up with this: 52grams of pur luxury! A beautiful, drapey, lustrous yarn that flows like water. So rewarding, after all the struggle with the camel down! I'm expecting it to bloom as it knits... Psst: keep reading! Have you been keeping up? It's the end of the Tour de Fleece week; if you've been following me so far, you deserve a little something in return! Send me a message with the words: TOUR SUPPORTER for a 10% discount voucher to be used towards your next purchase.
The Holden Shawlette After searching high and low on the internet for a free pattern that I could use with this Sea Anemone yarn, I found the delightful Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes on Ravelry (you will need to create an account to view this site, but don't worry - it's very user friendly and doesn't send you spam). I was not alone; over 2,400 other people have used this pattern! The pattern knitted up quickly to begin with as it is knitted from the top down, starting with only four stitches with increases at the middle and edges .  Saturday Morning at Nina Hut! Here are some notes from my Ravelry project page:I’ve slightly adapted the pattern by making it larger (added on an extra repeat of the pattern making it longer/wider) and adding beads into the lace area. The tricky part about adding beads was knowing where they’ll look good before I'd tried out the pattern. That and putting all my beads on the yarn at the beginning of the ball and then having to move them all the time. That was a pain, but also a learning experience. Some of this project was knitted at the Nina Hut near Lewis Pass. It even survived my falling right into a bog and getting me and my pack covered in mud on the walk in. Other trampers who arrived at the hut were surprised to see me knitting in the wilderness! We had three days there; it snowed a lot and I was glad I had brought something to do.  Finished and blocked. For once I blocked a project properly, using large rustproof display pins (like normal pins only about 5x as big) and a sheet of 5cm thick polystyrene insulation. Lucky to have that lying around the house! The bonus of the polystyrene was that the knitting clung to it slightly, making it really easy to position. The shawlette went from being a wrinkled sea creature to an elegant lace accessory in a few short hours. My yarn was quite lightweight, so the finished shawlette only weighs 120g (about 4oz) and feels really comfy to wear. It has a lovely drape and is cozy to wear without being heavy. It makes a nice large scarf and can be draped and tied around my head as well. Other things... You may be wondering what happened to the Spring Challenge. Unfortunately there were not enough entries for it to go ahead.
But, on the bright side, I have finished my own craft-along 'Renewal' project and I'm pretty pleased with the results. The only snagis I haven't decided what to do with the buttons. So the finished items are sitting in my living room waiting for that final touch. As soon as that happens, I'll take some photos and post the final images. Newsletter! Yes, with the end of Spring fast approaching it will be time for another newsletter. I have some exciting stuff happening at HW right now, so I'll be telling you all about that then - and there will be at least one Christmas surprise. |
 AuthorKate is a photographer, writer, web author and craft dyer who lives in North Canterbury, New Zealand. Archives
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