Spinning around...........................

Ok time to confess that over the last 3 weeks under the expert tuition of Diane Mulholland I have been learning to do a bit of hand spinning.
I am addicted, there is no other way to put it. Diane very kindly offered to let me have a go with one of her many spindles. Actually no, that's not how it happened. We were at the Natural Dye Studio for the open day and Diane said you need a bag of this........



.....well I didn't want to argue so I did as I was told and bought some. It is so, so soft. I had been talking about wanting to give spinning a go but was unable to book onto Diane's recent course as I knew I was away on holiday for one of the days. Diane needs no encouragement to enable people to become spinners and I became the next immediate convert.

So not wanting to spoil the lovely roving I had purchased merely to practice with I was supplied with the loan of a spindle and some fibre that Diane gave me.

Attempt number one.......





See at least one piece wasn't too bad. At least I know I can spin that thick, slubby yarn!

By now I already had some of the vocabulary under my belt too such as drafting and plying. My next aim was to get things a little less on the chunky side and more even.

Next was an additional session on my break from knitting hats at the Innocent Village Fete, where Diane provided me with yet more practice fibre.

Attempt number two.......





It was certainly improving and getting more even but I was finding the spindle a little on the heavy side to try and get a finer thread (what I mean was it kept breaking because I was drafting it too thinly).

So after a few emails backwards and forwards I had ordered these two little lovelies.....(purchased at P&M Woolcraft)





and two 500grm bags of undyed tops from Andy at Bluefaced.com, one was a lovely bag of the best ever British Merino and a bag of Bluefaced Leicester as was recommended to practice with. All arrived just in time for leaving for the Lakes for my holiday.

Well the problem is I have already got ideas well beyond my spinning capabilities so while away, as it doesn't count as stash as it is not yet truly yarn I made the following purchases...........



A 500grm bag of Alpaca fleece, which I now know needs washing before I can do anything with it.



A book on spinning, 2 bags of hand dyed merino tops and 2 bags of Mohair tops and 28 grms of Cashmere. I don't even know if spinning these fibres is any different. I have a lot to learn but I am looking forward to every minute of it.

I have also found myself looking at the adverts for spinning wheels and I am sure it is now only a matter of time before I come to own one.

So if you are now inspired to have a go at spinning and you live in the London area why not book one of Diane's courses. You can find them on the Socktopus website or visit Diane's blog Needles on the move where you can see what she has been up to and what she will be up to next. Diane is also going to have a series of downloadable spinning tutorials so even if you aren't in London you can benefit from her expertise.

Ravelympics. Crossing the finishing line and reaching the podium..............

Ok so I made it. In fact I finished a lot sooner but lack of internet access while away on holiday meant I was unable to post straight away.
So here is my finished entry for the baby dressage as part of team socktopus.......

Cumbrian Fibre Adventures..............................

So one week in the Lakes to go and search out anything made of yarn, selling yarn on bearing yarn on its back.
So first off I was denied a trip to Colinette on the way, I was not allowed to venture to the new home of Stash fine Yarns in Chester on our stop over, I was beginning to get the feeling that this trip was not going to be going my way.
However there was a turn for the good early on when on Day 2 I managed to persuade everyone that what we really needed was a trip out to the Alpaca centre. No, I promised it wasn't a yarn shop and I accepted no responsibility what so ever if they had inadvertantly decided to stock a bit of yarn. It was just a short drive away from the beautiful cottage we were staying in and it had a tearoom which reported to have the best coffee in the Lakes (quoted from their promotional leaflet).

We paid our pound each to venture down to see the Alpacas themselves. They really are truly beautiful animals. Did you know you can't just keep one you have to have a minimum of three.







After spending quite a lot of time admiring these beautiful animals we set off back up to the centre to have some refreshments and a little browse around the shop.

I left with a bag of this...........



(Actually two bags but one was for a friend for her birthday so it doesn't count as a purchase.)
Oh and just to clarify it does not count as stash either as it is not yet properly spun into yarn.

I have another photo from this day out but watch the blog later on for this as I will be running a little competition.

Monday was a trip to Trotters World of animals which sadly meant no real yarny goodness for me that day, although the family knowing me well did ask if I wanted to stay in the cafe and knit while they took a little walk up to see the Birds of Prey display, I had to think for a minute, should I go and watch these lovely animals fly in the rain or sit in the warm, comfy cafe with my pot of tea and knit, as you might guess I was really torn and had to think hard, which knitting project should I do while I sat there. I did go up and join them later and take great fun in trying to catch a picture of the Red Panda. No luck there it was too quick for me.

Tuesday evening I was lucky enough to meet up with the lovely Cecilia who invited me to come and join her and try to meet up with Keswick knitters. Unfortunately no Keswick Knitters arrived but I did get to meet Laal Bear (she dyes fabulous yarn) and her partner and the four of us had a lovely evening knitting in a very pleasant cafe, whose name I forgot to note down as Cecilia had been kind enough to pick me up on route. So far knitting wasn't doing too badly on the list of things to do.

Wednesday was a boat trip on Derwent water and I was able to sit and knit for the whole journey which pleased me no end and Thursday was a trip over to the Wool Clip which is part of the co-operative that Cecilia belongs to in the area and we went to visit her in the shop. I will be doing a separate post on this visit. If you are in the vicinity of the Lakes or are even passing by on the M6 close to Penrith it is definately worth the detour to Caldbeck.

Friday was a trip into Penrith to the famous Toffee Shop to buy fudge (no I did get that right) and I had a chance to pop into Inidgo a little yarn boutique in the Devonshire Arcade.



I was very restrained, mainly because I had spent a fair bit in the wool clip the day before but I did get.......



Yes I am going to be knitting a couple of dishcloths I need something to restore my sanity after dreaming about cable pattern repeats in my sleep.

The afternoon was spent up at Osterich World, just outside of Penrith where we met these woolly friends and of course and Osterich or two.....







These guys were just so friendly.





Just look at their lovely fleeces........





Oh and the osterich....



So apart from spending Friday night in Carlisle hospital before venturing home we had a good week. I just want to say a big thank you to all the staff at both Penrith and Carlisle hospitals who looked after us last week.

I also have to mention that I got the chance to go and visit Andy at Bluefaced.com on the way home and go and see his huge barns of yarn, and fleece and all things yarny. So all in all a good fibery holiday.

Have I finally learned my lesson...............

Well you would think I have by now wouldn't you. Yep we are back to the on going saga of the pairs of socks that only end up with one toe while I start a worldwide hunt for more yarn.

It all started off with the Slouch socks in Evolution sunrise



Please ignore disgusting toes this photo was taken pre online pedicure! This was solved with the lovely Alice of socktopus asking the yarn company to dye another batch so I could swap skeins for ones from the original dye batch with a friend of Alice, complicated, I don't like to make things easy.

........then it was Carl's cable socks in the Cherrytree Hill ......



.....they finally ended up a ladies size five having to cut the toe of the first sock, unwind and use the yarn to knit the toe of the second. Not something I want to reapeat. I think this was more frustrating as I did actually weigh the yarn after knitting one sock and had 51grms left, I was blissfully unaware of the 4oz skein!

Oh not forgetting the Karenina version II where at one point I had odd toes..



......and then still not satisfied it was the Jaywalkers in Kasbah........



thanks to Dalesgirl who very kindly agreed to swap her skein of Rainbow that was from the same batch as mine I am now able to go and finish them.



Yes these two are the same colourway but as with all handyed no two are the same but these were particularly far apart in fact the top one missing the pink out all together, it just goes to show you should always read the label...



Anyway, thankfully they are now finished and ready to wear, but will I have learned my lesson? Will I have learned toe up? Who knows? Watch this space.

Ravelympics.......................................

Yes it's just a few days to go to the start of the Ravleympics 2008 and I will be competing for Teamsocktopus.



So what are the Ravelympics?
Your challenge should you choose to accept it, is to start and finish a project during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games.
Official Start: 8pm Opening Ceremonies, Beijing time
Official End: 11:59 pm, apx. end of Closing Ceremonies, Beijing time

Basically cast on for your chosen event during the opening ceremony and make sure you have completed knitting your item by the end of the closing ceremony. Pictures of your finished item must appear up on the Finishers line thread and your project page on Ravelry. Should be great fun.

What do You Get?

All Ravthletes will get a “I did It! Ravelympic ‘08” badge, or something along those lines. Finishers get a badge for their blog. Medals are presented on the Podium by our fearless leader, Caesar Augustus Bobicus.


Caesar Augustus Bobicus, our Master of Ceremonies of the First International Ravelympic Games, Summer 2008

I will just be competing in one event this year due to wrestling with WIPs.
I shall be taking part in the Baby Dressage.


That will mean knitting up this little fleece artist kit.......





......so that's a hat, sweater and little bootees all to be completed during the period of the games.

So watch this space and see if I get to go up to the Podium.

Totally Innocent................................................

I spent Saturday up in Regents park at the Innocent Village Fete helping out at the Big Knit. Gerard(Iknit) had arranged for a group of knitters to go along and help teach anyone who wanted to learn to knit. You can find free patterns to knit some hats here.

Despite the early rain we all had a fantastic time and as well as teaching loads of people to knit, four at a time in one case. I also managed to knit five hats along the way too.

I was really impressed with the sheer volume of people wanting to have a go at learning to knit and knitters who came by and bought a kit and went off to knit while they listened to the bands.

Anyway here is what we got up to........











If you want to get involved you need to knit up your hats and send them to the nice people at Innocent by 17th October. They would like you to include your name, address and the number of hats that you have knitted and then send them to:

The Big Knit
Fruit Towers
1 the Goldhawk Estate
London
W6 OBA

If you have any questions you can contact them at thebigknit@innocentdrinks.co.uk or call them on 0208 600 3939 and ask for Big Knit Joe or Meera.

They would also love you to upload pictures of your hats to their flickr site or write up your patterns and add them to their blog. So go on whats stopping you!

Every smoothie sold with a hat on when they go on the shelves in Sainsburys in October is a 50p donation to Age concern to help keep the elderly warm this winter and with heating bills going up this year this is going to be even more important this year.