Koigu Yarn

Can anyone tell me where to buy Koigi yarn in the UK? I really want to make a charlottes web shawl.

Well, I just checked my stats and I have had 999 viewings on my knit blog! I am so chuffed, although I think most of them are Anth and Marie. I have started knitting a denim top from the magazine which starts with alot of increases, and for the first time ever I did them properly and there were no holes. Its great to noticably improve. (it was the lace project and socks that have really stretched my knitting). Note here, I still have the sleeves to do on the lace but I will have some time in June to do it.

That's it no pictures today. Probably no knitting either over the weekend because I have a wedding saturday and a 14 hour waitressing shift sunday and another one monday, but my fingers might still work on tuesday.

What to knit?

So with my 100gms I was at a loss with what to knit, I didn't fancy socks because the merino isn't really that hardy, and no one would get to see them. So I Just cast on with 12mm and started knitting, its qiute lacey because its quite fine wool and here is the result!





The wool stripes really nicely, although there is quite a variation in the colours. I used a button that my lovely uncle made on his wood turning machine for me and it goes really well with all the browns. I will try another picture so you can see the colours better at the front because they are lucious. I think it will be lovely to put over summery clothes, (it doesn't look to good with what I have got on) I will definatelywear it, my creations don't always work but I am pleased with this one!

I was going to write stuff about wedding prep but that isn't very interesting, however I am a little stuck about what to put on my wedding list. I think I will have three, Argos, House of Fraser and perhaps I might get away with a wool list perhaps???? (he he)

I just lost a huge post so I may have to cut this one down cause I need to do some work!

Here are the pictues of my spun rovings. I forgot to take a picure of the unspun rovings, but I'll take one tomorow and post it.

These pictures are not particularly accurate colourwise there are much more purples in there but I gave up after ten pictures. I have plyed brights with dark, I've never done anything like that before because I thought it would look horrible but actually the yarn is very different, I love it. There is about 100gms and so hopefully there will be enough to make a pair of socks. I realised that to get a more consistent yarn I need to be dyeing rovings of less felt loving wools. I love merino but it's just felt city when ever it comes in ten meters of water. Although this batch wasn't too bad because I'm so anal about temperatures, its not so easy to spin consistently, so I will try my wendslydale rovings next, and probably some of my silk, and see what happens!!

Finally A dyeing Success!

Well, I still have a headache, however, I disovered Spinning it actually quite soothing. On friday I was reading Knitting notes and she posted about dyeing some rovings, and linked to The Dye pot which has some great instructions for Crockpot dyeing. Creating my own yarn has to be nearly the most exciting thing on the planet, so I read the instructions, and because it is dyeing, I remebered them to the last 't', (I wish this would happen when I read psychology literature, but it's not exciting enough!!)

So I found a crappy old stew pot and soaked my rovings and poured my dyes on and popped them on the cooker, and left them to it. I cleaned the house, and when I had finished and the rovings had cooled, I got them out and they are absolutely beautiful. However the problem I normally have is the fact that although the colours are great, the rovings have felted so much you can't even tease them apart to spin them.

So all night I was tossing and turning whilst the rovings were drying just incase they might be ruined. Thankfully they were fine!

Sunday morning I started spinning them. The colours at the bottom of the pot are really really dark, and get lighter towards the top, and apart from the very bottom one the Rainbow dyeing has worked a treat.

I will post a picture of the rovings and the yarn I have spun when I get home this evening, because I was late for work so I couldn't take any pictures.

Its definately not the colours I would normally use, they are interestingly dramaticaly better than anything I have ever done before.

Only 6 hours before I can go home and spin some more!! Pic's soon!!

Phew!

An unbeleivable work schedule accompanied by a maigraine has meant a whole three days with out knitting or spinning, and I can tell you I am having major withdrawal symptoms. I think about what I am going to do with My noro silk garden at at least once every couple of minutes; oh to have a cool pair of needles between my hands. :-(, However, if I do this now it may very well mean a whole free june which means the potential to knit tonnes.

Oh I can only dream.

A great trip to Swansea.

I went on a great trip on Saturday with Marie to Swansea. We went to a massive book store and got knitting books and magazines, and then went onto the Mumbles in Swansea and visited this fantastic wool shop which was fabulous, and the lady who owned it was so enthusiastic and lovely.

I brought loads of Noro, one hank of (I'm not sure which one, but I crocheted the bag out of it below on Saturday evening whilst I was watching Eurovision, incidently talking of Eurovision, my mother's words were 'we didn't get many votes because of that damned war!' I thought this was not far from the truth, the voting was rediculously political, but so much so it was funny!)

Here is the bag, the striping is beautiful, I just need to line it now.



I also bought 10 balls of silk garden, which I am saving for something special, pictures of this tomorrow.

After we went to the wool shop we went to a knitting and crochet guild meeting, the lady who's house it was in, nearly turned us away because she thought we were selling something, we looked to young to be coming to the group! We were the youngest by about twenty years, but it was great, I really enjoyed it, and the chitter chatter. I think there are lots of lady's which I will be able to learn lots of skills from.

Sunday we went shopping and Anth brought his wedding suit, which is linen, its georgous, so now all the extra's are gonna have to wear linen as well!!! Yeah!!

Finally, it has been pointed out to me that in a previous post I mentioned I was spinning weaving and dying, I wasn't actually dying, I was dyeing, however I'm not going to change it because it caused much mirth :-)

A fibre weekend coming up!

An exciting weekend ahead!! Starting with this evening, we are having a stitch and Bitch at Marie's and then tomorrow Marie and I are taking a trip to Swansea to check out the wool shops, and to visit an american book shop Bookers to see what we can find that we can't normally get in the UK. Then hopefully lunch in the mumbles and a knitting and crochet guild meeting in the afternoon. How exciting!!

I'm hoping sunday will be knitting on the beach, if the weather is good enough.

I decided i'm going to frog my sock because its too big, I was intending to felt it in the wash, but I will start again.

A small bit of wedding news, we are going this morning to meet the registra to officially book and pay for the legal bit! yeah!!

A's Jumper

Here's Anth's picture that he took of the back peice of his jumper.

I ran out of wool yesterday for the sock, so I plied the wool this morning that I dyed last night. Its not quite the same colour, a bit more blue, but it complements the other colours, it should look fine.

Have a really busy week this week, so probably not much knitting news until the weekend.

Happy knitting

Back to work.

I had a fantastic week off, spent most of it knitting,spinning and dying. Suffice to say I have finished the stripey top, well nearly, because there was so many colour changes the edges are a little messy, however I have a solution to fix that now, here are the pictures:



I feel so pleased I have finished something properly for once. I have adjusted the pattern quite alot, and I am pleased with the result. I am also so pleased about my first colour experiment. Although I think in the future I will do things a little differently, by having a one colour border around the edges so the stripes don't come to the edge, I would also be tempted to knit stripey things in circular needles to minimise edges.

Anth is knitting the front, and even took pictures of the back himself so I could put it up here!! I feel an addiction coming on! Anyway I'll post those pictures tomorrow!

Virus Has Gone!

Had a the virus on my laptop, but it's gone now!! Week off = Loads of knitting.

Saturday was stitch'n bitch Cardiff, mainly Marie and me, although hannah came for an hour. Its amazing that you can talk about knitting for 4 hours!

Anyway, Spun a linen wool mix and dyed it, I am on the second part of the back of my stripey top hopefully I will have finished it today, pictures tomorrow.