More handspun

I managed to fit in a bit of spinning this weekend. I'd already done half of some Dragonfiber bamboo/merino and on Saturday evening I was on my own. Simon was doing night time charity walk on Dartmoor and girls were in bed so I put on a chick flick (the Holiday) and spun up the second bobbin. Had to stay up late (length of film plus an extra half an hour) to finish it but I was keen to finish the rest of the fibre.

On Sunday night I sat down and plyed it .I tend to put too little twist in when plying and I'm also not very consistent with the amount of twist I put in. So this time I put in more twist than I htought was right and I counted my treaddles all the way through. It's paid off as this is my best handspun yet. The twist is perfect (or hte way I like it). It's fairly even and I love it. Not checked WPI yet as its still not completely dry but I reckon it's between 4ply and dk which is what my yarns tend to come out at.Here's the fiber it was spun from:

On Sunday after church I cast onfor the Sockamania August socks after 'arguing' with hte pattern for a couple of days. My first idea didn't work out, then I wasn't happy with hte yarn and the cuff I chose. On SAturday I dyed a trial skein of the colourway for Augsut and on Sunday after church I cast on. I finished by teatime. I thought I'd knitted the foot long enough for my feet but it's a tiny bit short so I need to frog the toe and redo it at some point. But I want to get photos done first. I love the pattern and colourway though. No pics obviously as until 1st August it's a secret.

The Sockamania PLUS yarn for August is dyed and nearly dry now. Parcels will be going out tomorrow and Thursday. It's a new yarn this time, 80% merino and 20% nylon blend. Iwas a little hesitant about using a new yarn as I love my regular merino but this yarn is gorgeous. As soft as the merino but with nylon it should be harder wearing. And it's gorgeous to knit with. A little bit more twist than my regular merino I think. I love it anyway. And the best hting is that i comes in skeins so no skeining off cones. Makes a huge difference.

Las night another project came off the needles. Unfortunately I can't tell you what it is or show nay photos. It's been blocked this morning and I wish I could share phtos as it looks gorgeous . I love it but you'll wait till next winter sometime and keep an eye on Yarn Forward magazine to find out what it is. I did hit a tiny snag at the end. Either I've made a mistake during knitting or my maths is wrong. I'm trying to work out the problm with my test knitter, Pixie. I'm hoping it's me who's made a mistake rather than the pattern being wrong. So annoying though. Better not say anything more about it as I don't want to give anything away. It'll all be correct when it's sent off to the editor.

And we've got sunshine again. Can't remember wha Saturday was like now but Sunday was lovley and so was yesterday adn today it's quite warm. Might see if I can sneak in some knitting time in the garden before dinner time.

Handspun

I've got some more handspun yarn to show you. First this lot of gorgeous fiber is from Dragon Fibers on Etsy. Aren't they gorgeous. One is merino/tencel and hte other two are bamboo/merino. I decided to spin one of the merino/bamboo rovings. Although I do like pastels I tend to go for brighter colours but I just loved the delicateness of this pastel roving. And it was a beauty to spin. Look how gorgeous it looks. I didn't put as much twist in this one as I normally do. It's roughly a fingering weight/4ply weight yarn. I've got it wound into a ball already ready to knit. not quite decided what to cast on yet but think it's going to be a scarf of some sort.

Also finished this lovely YarnYard merino/silk handspun. this is roughly 4ply/fingering weight too and with quite a high twist.
Next on the wheel is the gorgeous baby camel I got from Twisted Hare Fiber Arts a while back. I was advised by the teacher on the spinning workshop I attended the other week to mix it with some longer fiber to make it easier to spin. I wanted to blend it with some Tussah silk but wasn't happy with hte undyed silk blend so the ohter day I tried blending some purple tussah silk and the natural baby camel and it looked gorgeous in the rolag so i'm going to try spinning it to see if the yarn will look just as gorgeous. I'll let you know.

I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself these days. Have had a dreadful cold since Wednesday. It's got a bit better but it's just not clearing up. Because of the cold and my back/neck pain I've not slept very well again and spent hours awake last night, it gave me the chance to make a start on the Sockamania May socks. But now I'm SO tired. Early night I think.

Most of the Sockamania PLUS parcels have gone out now. There are only about 7 left to be posted tomorrow. They're all UK and a couple of European ones. The rest of the parcels went on Saturday. I wasn't very popular when I dropped my bags of parcels off at my local post office. It's a small post office with only one staff on duty at a time. The 3 members of staff there are so lovely and very helpful and let me leave my parcels there and come back later to pay rather than holding up the queue for ages. But on Saturday it was very busy and I wasn't sure the clerk was going to have time to do them all but he did.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.