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CAROLINE’S February & March

Spinning& Knitting:

FEBRUARY BLOG

 

 

CAROLINE’S MARCH 2009 BLOG

SPINNING AND WEAVING

At Yandiah, (a weekend retreat at Nowra, write to Cheryl Fletcher, PO Box 2181, Tomerong, NSW if you wish to attend) I saw these gorgeous, sensuous bundles of fluff, which Gerda calls Scrappy Bats, and I spent the Saturday, in between demonstrations and other activities, overspinning it, which was a delightful sensation.

I decided to leave it as a single ply, and weave it as a weft, as I have only done this once before.

After a rest on the bobbin, it was washed in Softly, and rinsed in Cuddly and wound onto a blocker; when dry, the fibre was wound onto a ball winder, for weaving.

Several different colours from my stash were used as a warp, and the Scrappy Bat fibre was woven as weft.

The finished product was washed in very hot water and Softly and agitated for four minutes, then rinsed in cold water. The aim was to slightly felt the single floats, and the result was quite interesting. The floats did felt, but because of the overspin, some doubled back, giving an interesting texture to the fabric. The width halved!

 

The alpaca/angora rabbit scarf, with a wool/polyester warp, has been woven, and has a beautiful ‘feel’. The floats felted well, (it’s the same pattern as the Scrappy Bat Scarf) and the warp provides a good colour contrast.

While at the Bendigo Show last year, I also took the opportunity to purchase a Polwarth Fleece from Wendy Dennis, which has been dyed together with silk, and the combined fibres have been beautifully blended and carded by Gerda. When spun, this fibre will hopefully eventuate into a colourful jacket!

CROCHET

Another Monmartre scarf has been completed, and this was done in a slightly thicker wool; in future, I’ll keep to the finer fibres for this scarf. Since teaching it at Yandiah, I have added to the pattern.

Monmartre Scarf

At the foot of the steps of Monmartre, in Paris, there are hundreds of stalls, selling a wide variety of the most colourful goods. It was at one of these stalls, that I bought the same machine knitted scarf, in several different colour ways. To this day, they remain my favourites. This pattern is as close as you can get, in crochet, to the scarves.

Please use a crochet hook to suit your yarn; about 20 wraps per inch (wpi) seems a good weight.

Pattern: 12 + 7

At Yandiah 2009:

Pink and blue scarf: Crochet hook: 4mm, fibre 20 wpi, measured when finished and washed, 2 m x 14cm. Very comfortable to wear.

Green scarf: Crochet hook 2mm, fibre 34 wpi, only measured 120 cms with 271 ch sts; needs at least 121 more ch.

Changing or alternating yarn colours works well with this scarf.

ch chain

dc double crochet

tr treble crochet

sl st slip stitch

wpi wraps per inch

Foundation row: Loosely ch 271, turn. Starting in second ch from hook, work I dc in each ch (270 dc) 6 ch, turn.

Row 1: Starting in second ch from the hook, work one sl st in each of next 5 chain, work 1 sl st in first dc, ch 3 (counts as 1 tr), work one tr in each of next 5 dc *ch 6, skip next 6 dc, work 1 tr in each of next 6 dc, repeat from * to end of row, 6 ch, turn.

Row 2: Starting in second ch from the hook, work one sl st in each of next 5 ch, work 1 sl st in first tr, ch 3 (counts as 1 tr) work 1 tr in each of next 5 tr, *ch 6, skip over ch from previous row, work 1 tr in each of next 6 tr; repeat from * to end of row, ch 6, turn.

Repeat Row 2 for the desired width of the scarf.

Final row: Starting in second ch from hook, work 1 sl st in each of next 5 ch, work 1 sl st in 1^{st tr, the work 1 dc in same tr, work 1 dc in each of next 5 tr * work 1 dc in each of next 6 ch, work 1 dc in each of the next 6 tr; repeat from * to end of row, fasten off.}

Steam into shape.

©Caroline Baker 2009

 

 

 

KNITTING

The alpaca so carefully spun, and dyed for a domino square style jacket just did not work for me, and the squares have been relegated to fishermen’s hats. They should be warm!

Some of the rest of the pure alpaca fibre is being knitted into a sideways vest, which should be finished next month. I’ve had to readjust the figures, as the alpaca is much finer than the sport weight wool described.

Susan Esser’s Midnight Express Vest, a free pattern from Sue and Ample-Knitters

 

Ample-lister and designer Susan Esser was kind enough to provide one of her great patterns for free download from Ample-Knitters. The “Midnight Express Vest” is worked from side to side in heavy worsted on fairly large needles. It’s a quick knit with no seams, and is easy to size up or down.

Check out Sue’s website, She Knits.

 

Picture below shows vest laid out flat before working I-cord edging (which also joins the shoulders).

 

 

DYEING

I purchased some gorgeous, lustrous English Leicester from Ethel Stephenson (E: estephenson@mcmedia.com.au) at the Bendigo Show last year, and I’ve cold pad dyed some with accompanying silk to teach spinning boucle later this year.

Happy spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting and crochet until next month!

Kind regards,

Caroline

 

Thanks To Caroline Baker for her valuable input...

Gerda