Wind, rain, sleet, snow, hail and sunshine outside; meanwhile back at the ranch...

Monday has arrived again in the wake of a weekend where the weather seems to have thrown everything it could think of at us. We had wind, rain, sleet, snow and hail all interspersed with periods of glorious sunshine which made you think Spring had arrived... Except of course it was so cold outside that if you weren't wearing gloves all sensation in fingers was lost within seconds!

No snow pictures because I didn't think of it until this morning and if I had I don't think my camera's batteries are changed so disappointment would have followed.

This weekend was a slow one where nothing much seems to have happened, although I know I spent most of the time being busy in one way or another.

Friday, I went for a long-ish bike ride after work, deciding to cycle towards my place of work and see how far I got - I actually did OK, getting within the last mile before deciding to go home.

One downside of this was I got to see that not only drivers but pedestrians can be a problem when you're on a bicycle, with one youth in particular letting off a foul mouthed tirade when I stopped at a junction and dithered for a moment while trying to find the peddles to start again. Totally oblivious of the large white van waiting patiently (no really, he was no problem at all) behind me or my gender, this lad seemed rather put out that I was there when he wanted to cross the road. I also got beeped at by a white purgeot for no apparent reason that I can think of, but that was less shocking since I kind of expect that.

The other downside of this is that I've been in pain, knee-wise, all weekend with it still persisting today, and I really didn't peddle all that hard. The challenge now is how to build up stamina so that I can get to work and back without crippling myself...

Saturday we walked into town, intending to go swimming but discovered the pool was closed, which will teach me not to check the website before setting off. We bumped into Evelyn123 en route and Dave persuaded the lucky lady that what she really needs is a rhubarb plant cutting (now potted and ready to go) in his efforts to tame the beast which regularly dominates the back step, Triffid style.

I bought wool. I'm thinking of trying to knit a waistcoat or something similar, which will be a departure from the norm for me.

I also did some spinning, both on Saturday and Sunday, with the spindle getting heavier and the bag of fluff getting noticeably smaller, so I'm slowly making progress there. The yarn is still very variable, going between perfect to overspun, to slightly blobby, to laceweight with each additional meter... But I am getting up speed now and I have started standing up to increase my reach. Dave asked me what I'm going to make with the yarn last night and the answer is I have no idea as I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

Otherwise, this weekend I did some knitting, strung the amulet pouch I made last week, did some housework and pulled another couple of bags of bits together for the charity shop and thought about making some of these... Which are of course row counter, abacus bracelets...

It's all in the spin...

Last night I headed off to the Knit-Wit's knitting group as I normally do on a Wednesday night, unexploded WWII bombs permitting, where we had a spinning workshop scheduled. Kellie (who sadly doesn't get to make it as often as we'd all like) was along to show us how it should be done, bringing with her a basket full of bits of fleece, hooks, spindles and samples of handspun yarn.

We started out with a table full of interested potential spinners, as Kellie took us through using a hook to practice drafting/spinning on. I'm afraid I couldn't get it. I had no problems with drafting, but I just couldn't maintain tension using a hook to set the spin - I just ran out hands! After staring at my hands and the hook in bafflement for a good fifteen minutes, exchanging bemused glances with an equally baffled Mandy, I reverted to my spindle after which all was good.

Kellie showed me a new technique for applying the Park and Draft method of spinning which was considerably more fluid than my previous attempts. I also learnt a more stable way of attaching and wrapping the yarn around the spindle than the one I'd been using, as well as being shown me how far I could draft out the fibre before spinning, which helped no end.

What a difference having someone show you rather than just reading about how to do something makes!

By the end of the evening I was making good progress, doubling the amount of spun yarn on my spindle. I even managed to join new some new roving without making a complete hash of it and as always, watching the fluff turn into yarn was fascinating.

I was also interested to see the difference between a re-enactment spindle (which both of mine and all of Kellie's are) and a modern American style spindle, which Mandy was using.

The whorl on Mandy's was much larger than either of the ones on my spindles and it's position was more central - although not completely centred, it was definitely a bottom whorl spindle. There was also a little hook set into the top, to help keep the yarn in place I guess, whereas my spindles just have a notch to give the half hitch knot something to catch on. The modern spindle was also far more ornate and highly decorated, with someone having spent a lot of time making it pretty to look at. The re-enactment spindles have a certain simple beauty about them (I like them) but are functional items first and foremost.

I came away with a couple of pieces of merino fleece to practice with, so I can try out spinning with something other than the Blue Faced Leicester silver tops that I picked up from the Mulberry Dyers. Although I have to say that I like the Blue Faced Leicester... When I draw a fibre out, it's typical length is something like 9cm which means it is very easy to spin. It's also soft, fluffy and feels nice.

Of course, that doesn't mean that any yarn I'm spinning at the moment will knit up nicely, given my beginner status, the quality and spin on the resulting yarn is very variable. Hopefully, when I get to having a go at plying, some of that will sort itself out but if it doesn't, I'm not too worried as I'm treating this as very much a learning exercise at the moment.

I have found myself starting to look at online sources for fibre, with Blue Faced Direct, The Yarn Yard, Shunklies and Violet Green all catching my eye.

So far I'm resisting though...

By way of experimentation...

Dave has been safely returned from camping at the Maelstrom event last night and many thanks are due to Sarah who gallantly stepped in as his substitute lift, after his first ride had repeated car trouble. I was on the verge of going to fetch him myself (shoes on, directions from website in hand) when she kindly stepped into the breech, which saved me a two hour round trip. Dave himself is slowly recovering, no longer looks so plasticky (ye gods, the horrors of makeup!) but has a cold to show for his exploits.

Myself, I spent the weekend pottering around the house, running errands and experimenting in a fibery way.

I bravely dodged snow, sleet and hail showers to visit Coventry market in search of frogs. The habberdashery stall there does a range of very pretty, if horribly expensive, frogs and was where I found the originals I'm trying to replace, so it seemed a logical place to start. Sadly, it wasn't to be with nothing even remotely suitable on offer and so I'm preparing to canibalise the jacket I made last year so I can repair my kit in time for the next Ascendancy event.

I'm thinking of stealing the frogs under the arms and replacing them with plain black ones, which shouldn't be too jarring to the eye should I ever wear it again. Looking at the forums, it seems I'm going to have to make an amulet of some sort as well, so I anticipate I will be doing a spot of sewing next weekend.

Feeling an urge for experimentation, I decided to have a tentative first stab at felting knitted fabric. I've been curious for a while now as to how easy it is to hand felt as opposed to machine felting and I wanted to know if an acrylic/wool mix would felt or not. I've not been able to find a definite answer on this one, with opinions being varied and so I decided there was nothing for it but to resort to the swatch...

This rather dashing green Katia Azteca is a 50% Wool/50% Acrylic yarn of about Aran weight...

It knitted up into this 13cm square on 6.5mm needles as everything I've heard suggests that felting is more likely with a looser stitch guage...

The result was actually quite nice; while the stitches weren't overly tight, they weren't terribly loose either and felt good in the hand, with a very soft drape.

For the felting part, I set to work in the kitchen sink alternating between hot tap water, cold water and occasional input from the kettle, as I attacked the fabric square with my agitator (a whisk). It took about two minutes for the first sign of felting to appear and I stopped after about 30 minutes, satisfied the little square did indeed look like felt now...

So to answer my own question, yes, a 50:50 acrylic/wool mix will felt.

Although in this case, I also discovered that I don't particularly like the result.

Unfelted, this yarn produced a nice fabric but felted it looks like nothing so much as one of my kitchen scouring pads - which is of course a good thing to find out now before I try to use it in a proper felting project!

My plan for this little square is to give it a trim, as it may look a bit tidier with fewer fluffy, straggly bits and then I may needlefelt on a spiral or something similar... After which I should have a coaster.

On a more positive note, I finally seem to be getting somewhere on the spinning front!

After Mandy mentioned the 'park and draft' method of spinning, I googled and hit on this tutorial. I gave it a go and this is the result!

(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.)

Pretty in pink

Yesterday and today have been spent at home, as I had a couple of days leave to use up or I'd lose them. I'm back to work tomorrow and Thursday and then of course it's Easter so I have a long bank holiday weekend to look forward to.

The theme for yesterday was looking at forum software and trying to remember how to install it. Fortunately, I am a compulsive note taker so once I'd dug out my scribbles I was away and had a fairly productive day. Still lots to do as I want to set up a test bed, so I need to bring it in line with the forums I set up earlier at www.ascendancylrp.co.uk... Then... I shall be able to play with impunity and not worry about breaking anything, which will be good as I have a few tweaks I want to make to the Ascendancy boards. Nothing too drastic initially, but I want to see what I can do to further inconvenience that particular breed of internet pest called the SPAMbot.

I also blocked the Victorian lace scarf which I finished a couple of weeks ago, but was waiting for a clear run (and a clear floor) of days when I didn't have other commitments.

A straightforward shot of it lying on the bed and here are a couple of close ups of the pattern.


I also hung it up in front of the window to see if I could show how the light is coming through the weave as I'm not convinced the photographs are doing it justice.

This is taken from Victorian Lace Today and is "Scarf with the striped boarder from Weldon's, Volume 5 1890". I knitted it in a 4-ply Merino from Tess Dawson, which I bought from Angel Yarns a while back and the colour is cherry.

The result is very light and floaty; it looked good straight off the needles but really came to life once I'd blocked it. It looks equally pretty as a head scarf or worn around the neck and I just love the way the light shines through it making it look like proper lace.

My one reservation is not with the pattern but my blocking technique. After gently hand washing the scarf, wrapping it in a towel and stomping up and down on it to get the water out, I duly pinned it out to dry (i.e. blocking it). Unfortunately, the points where I pinned it seem to have distorted the stitches so the edge is no where near as smooth as I wanted it to be. I steamed the edge after blocking which relaxed things somewhat, but I can still see where the pins were. Any suggestions for how you pin something out to dry so this doesn't happen?

In other news, I can report that I do remember how to ride a bicycle. I took the new bike to the park on Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of a brief let up in the rain. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that once I'd pushed off, I had no problems with cycling, other than being a bit wobbly if I wasn't moving very fast and gears remain a mystery to me but I think I'll get there with a little more practice.

Not quite so successful were my first attempts at spinning using my newly acquired spindles. I tried out the smaller one, thinking it would be easier to handle and so far I'm not having much success. At the moment, my problem is trying to keep the spindle spinning and not back spinning while at the same time trying to tease a small amount of wool out so I can allow the twist into it. I appear to have a distinct lack of hands, with the invariable result being that I can't keep the spindle going, it spins the other way undoing the tentative spin in the wool and then crashing to the ground. Suggestions on how I acquire more hands (or better use the two I've got) gratefully received!

And to answer Frizbe's question - I don't know where I'll find the time and suspect that mostly I won't, but I'm optimistic and do like to try new crafts, you know? Especially if they're pretty, involve yarn, sewing, beads, buttons or sparkly things. :)

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions...

So now I have a spindle or two...

So far this weekend is turning into one of those expensive ones, where I seem to be falling over myself to spend money.

Yesterday afternoon, with a few hours off work at my disposal I headed off to the camping shop to stock up on gas and buy a new single airbed, so we're sorted for the beginning of season.

Then I had an unexpected visit from an electrician to deal with a dodgy socket and light switch. Unexpected in that I'd actually booked him for Monday, but he had an empty slot so wanted to come there and then.

Next up, I hurried over to a cycling shop where I took a good hour or so to pick out and buy a bicycle. This is something of a gamble for me, since I haven't been on a bike since my teens... Then, low and behold if Dave (who'd dropped in to see what I was up to) didn't decide to buy one as well!

Then today, to top it off we headed to the Re-enactors Market where I acquired these...

I picked up two spindles of differing weights because I wanted to see what they feel like, along with a little booklet explaining the basics and a couple of 50g bags of wool 'tops'. I've no idea at this point whether I'll take to using a spindle, but I'm determined to have a go.

I also picked up a costume book called "Historic Costumes and How to Make Them" which caught my eye. It's a generic instruction book covering the fifth century through to late eighteenth so I'm hoping might be useful.

Hopefully that's about it for spending money for a while!

Knitting wise this week, I've been working on this...

It's a mock cable scarf in pink mohair taken from Stitch N'Bitch Nation, which is a book I bought right back when I started to teach myself knitting. I remember when I first looked at most of the patterns in this book, I classified them as scary - meaning they looked far too complicated for me to even consider. Having picked it up again, it's comforting to be able to say that there are actually things in there I'd think about making now, which shows how far I've come since Christmas 2006.

Anyhow, I picked out the mock cable scarf because it's pretty, pink and girly, which I'm hoping will suit the intended recipient. It's a fairly mindless knit, which has suited me well this week as I'm feeling rather brain dead after being force fed project management jargon for three days. All of which means, that half way in I'm pleased with it so far.