Holiday Knitting!

All I can think about at the moment is holiday knitting. If you're American you probably think I'm mad as you probably think holiday knitting is for Christmas time but I'm talking about the knitting i'm taking on our summer holiday with me. 

But first, I'll show you my hand spun. I plyed the green sparkly handspun. I bought the batt from Felt Studio UK at Woolfest last year and it was a blend of lots of different fibres including some gold sparkle.

 I tried spinning the batt as fine as possible but I did find it a struggle. Parts of the batt were better blended than others which is what you'd expect from a hand-carded batt. it's not quite as even as I wanted but I'm pretty happy with it.

 I've not worked out wraps per inch and roughly how many meters I've got but I think it's a light fingering weight (or '3 ply' thickness). I'll check it sometime over the weekend. I'm thinking I'd like Simon to weave me a scarf with this. He hasn't agreed yet.

 So last night I started spinning The Thylacine Optim. Optim is a merino fibre and I think it's been stretched or treated somehow to make it closer to cashmere in micron. I may be wrong about that though but I do know that this fibre is amazing to spin. It feels very elastic and is easy to draft. I'm trying to spin it as fine and as even as I possibly can. I'm aiming for a 2ply laceweight.

 I'm amazed at how fine the singles are. I tried to capture it.

 Here is the light blue Optim next to Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace which is a medium lace with 1000m per 100gr. I think my plyback piece (which won't be exactly the same as the final 2ply) is slightly finer. I'm thinking this is going to be a great yarn. I'd definitely like to take this on holiday with me. One of the projects I want to work on on holiday is a shawl for an autumn mystery KAL and I may choose this yarn. I just need to finish spinning it before we go. I've got 2 weeks.

 So back to the holiday yarn. I've been pulling stuff out of my stash. I'm determined not to take any work knitting (which means deadline knitting, for some reason I don't count self-published designs as work knitting). I will be taking Simon's cardigan which I started about 3 years ago. I must dig it out next week to work out where I am and how much I've got left to do. I'm hoping it'll just be one front and sleeves which would make good holiday knitting as the pieces are small.

 I got this ball of Noro Kureyon Sock because i love the colour. A friend is knitting a cardigan in it and I am thinking of doing a shawlette.

I dyed this skein of Supreme Sock before Woolfest and i just loved the colour so I kept 2 skeins for myself. I also got some miracle/illusion beads in a matching colour. Not sure exactly what I'm doing yet but I've got some vague ideas.

 

 I need a pair of socks on the needles to knit on the beach. Knitting wool socks on a Spanish beach in nearly 40 degree (that's Celsius) heat sounds silly but it's perfect beach knitting because it's so small. Not decided exactly what I'm doing yet but there may be a new pattern. This is Merino Plus. I may dig out another skein of Merino Plus to take too. We'll be spending a lot of time on the beach.

 I recently got these 2 skeins of Solemate from Lornas Laces and they are gorgeous. I'm thinking a shawl, maybe combining both colours for a bigger shawl.

 I've had 2 cones of Habu. I think this is silk and stainless steel. I've also got wool and stainless steel. It's an intriguing yarn. The skein on the right is Sweet Georgia Lacey Lamb and i'm thinking of combining the two into one design. I'm still not quite sure about that though.

This isn't my final short list which is why I haven't wound them yet. How much knitting will I need for a 2 week holiday? Simon and i only have one 15 kg suitcase between us, so I can't take too much.

I've got to finish a knitting deadline this weekend and there is quite a bit of knitting left to do. It's laceweight on 3.5mm needles. Once that's done I'll be casting on a chunky garment on 10mm needles. I rang Spin A Yarn yesterday to order the needles and Joyce (the owner) was surprised I wanted 10mm needles. I don't normally do chunky but I'm using Debbie Bliss Paloma for this design and Paloma is gorgeous. Very light weight for a chunky. I'd better not say anything more until the design is published. I do have to knit it in a week though. Actually by the time I can start it it'll probably be about 5 days. Can i knit a chunky size 10 sweater in 5 days? I hope so.

What are you doing this weekend? And does it involve knitting or spinning?

Have a lovely weekend xx