A Knitterly Update

Quite a while ago I posted about my wish to make a jumper for one of my girls inspired by this wee fellow:



About this time last year I had purchased a glorious shetland fleece. It was silver grey, with darker grey patches. I washed it ready to spin, once I had decided what I wanted to create with it:



I went backwards & forwards between a jumper & a tank top & in the end, decided to go with a tank top.
I wanted the fair isle design to be isnspired by the colours of the two wee robins that we see on our nature walks (& that try as I might, I can never get a photo of them both together!)
Soft greys, deeper grey, brown, off white & that glorious deep red - orange.

The fleece has patches of charcoal grey - I combed all the fibre & then drum carded to blend the different colours within the one fleece. Some of the fibre was set aside to dye in the browns & reddish orange.



The colours I got from the natural fleece where as follows:

Off-white - from combing the lightest parts of the fleece - the combing removed the grey hairs leaving me with off white.

Silver - Blending the off white with the charcoal

Charcoal - from the darkest parts of the fleece

Brown - I hand dyed some of the off - white

Robin Redbreast Orange - again hand dyed off - white.

I was so nervous about dyeing this! I wanted it to be just right & did not have enough fleece to try over if I made a mistake! I mixed Orange Scarlet & Bright Turquoise Procion Dyes
I was delighted with the results - a perfect Robin - Red! I then drum carded the dyed fleece with some sparkly angelina fibre in 'rusty nail' to give the sweater a very subtle sparkle.

So, onto the yarn! I spun this up on my spinning wheel into a 2 ply yarn. Just a little heavier than a fingering weight. I spun in a 'woolen' method, which produces a lovely, lofty, cuddly yarn, perfect for Fair Isle designs.



I charted out a few fair isle patterns, decided on a winner & cast on a swatch. Essential! This gave me the info I needed for sizing, needle size, the look of the design knit up etc etc.



Once I cast on 'for real' I knit & knit, round & round using steeks for the neck & arm holes. Truthfully though, I am lazy & I do not sew up the areas to be steeked first, I just have at it with the scissors, assuming the fuzziness of the yarn will do its job & hold everything together : )

And here it is! Rosie's Robin Redbreast Tank Top







These photos are not the greatest - it hasnt been blocked here& I really need to get a photo of Rosie wearing said jumper.
I enjoyed creating this so much. I has brought me a lot of joy!

Lazy Day..

We have had a glorious sun-shiny weekend, which I have taken advantage of!

I have washed one of my four new shetland fleeces, purchased from Jamieson & Smith
Now washed & dried I have begun the slow & theraputic carding process.



Here are some of the rolags, all ready to spin. Soft as can be, like wee puffs of air!



I picked a pot full of dandelion heads. My intentions are to spin a 2 ply jumper yarn from all my shetland fleeces & take advantage of the natural colours. I have one fawn, one pale grey, one white & one that is possibly white, or could be more of a natural or beige, or - who knows, 'till it is washed!



The dandelions are all cooked & I will leave them in the cooking liquid for a day or two to steep, before straining & reserving the liquid for dyeing at a later date.



I found an inspiring blog post detailing dyeing with dandelions.
Liberty's Yarn, has a great tutorial for dyeing yarn.

Well, I am back off into the garden to carry on carding.
Have a super day whatever the weather.

An update:
My friend Helen owner of My Heart Exposed Yarns left me some wonderful tips for dyeing with dandelions in the comments section.
Here they are:

"I am very excited you are trying dandelion dye Lynn, some tips for you, after your flower heads have been steeping for about 24 hours, pop in either a sliced lime or a sliced lemon without the pips and allow to steep for as long as possible, minimum of 24 hours more though.

The lime and lemon give the liquid a beautiful glowing delicate yellow colour causing the pigment in the dandelion stamens to really come alive when applied to fibre for dyeing.

Also, next time instead of using alum mordant, soak your fibre in a cold tea solution made by boiling about six tea bags on the cooker in some water then allowing to cool to room temperature before soaking the fibre. When you then apply the dandelion and citrus liquid to the pot the fibre turns a beautiful amazing burnt sun gold colour which is so unique it cant be described or repeated, will be different each time because using tea bags is not an exact science as you personally dont know the precise measurement of ingredients which make up each tea bag."

Thanks Helen!

A Goal for Knitting & Spinning

I keep an inspiration book. A very simple book, into which I glue any photographs, clippings from magazines, ribbons, anything that inspires me!
I have a lot of nature photographs in there & the one that keeps catching my eye is the photograph at the top of this blog post.
Isnt he a sweetheart!

Earlier this year I purchased a wonderful silver shetland fleece from Jamiesons. It is the softest, cuddliest fibre & I have high hopes for that fleece!

My plan is to make a Seamless Yoke jumper using Elizabeth Zimmermann's Percentage System. To the yoke of the jumper, I would like to add some simple fair isle detail, inspired by - wait for it! - the colours of the wee robin!
So the body of the jumper will be a soft grey & the fair isle a combination of deeper grey, browns, off white & that glorious deep red - orange.

The fleece has patches of charcoal grey - I am combing the fleece right now - a laborious but worthwhile task. Once combed, I plan to drum card the lighter fibre with the darker fibre to get an even blend of light grey. Some of the fibre will be set aside to dye in the browns & red - orange.

Resources I will be using to help me are as follows:

Knitting in the Old Way

Knitting without Tears

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop

Knitting around: or Knitting without a License

Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting

'till next time : )

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like..... A Birthday!

Tomorrow my eldest daughter will be 8 years old.
Where does the time go????? I am going to take this opportunity to post a gratuitous baby shot : )



Here she is, my brand new babe, almost eight short years ago.

Today our world is white. And very busy!



We headed off to the park, nice & early.





The mittens I have been spinning & knitting for Rosie are done



They are made with 'Thrumms'



And are super-warm, I am told : )



Back home to the fireside & hot chocolate : )

Yesterday I baked Elianna's birthday cake & today I iced it.
Filled with buttercream,



his name is Walter. He is rather appropriate for this weather





This afternoon promises to be as busy in a lovely, happy, productive way. We have party food to prepare & presents to wrap. The girls have Christmas cards to be working on. (I shall be giving these lovely cards a post of their own, in the next week, hopefully) & I have lots of Christmas knitting to be getting on with.

I will leave you with some ideas of how we celebrate birthdays in our home - & our favourite birthday recipes too!

Birthday’s

The essence of our celebration; you are an important member of our family, we love you & our lives would not be the same without you!

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psalm 139:14

Birthday to-do’s & good things to eat.

Find balloons tied to your bed when you wake
Be greeted by kisses, the same number as your age
No chores today!
Birthday gifts & always a book
Find a balloon on your chair at breakfast time
A prayer of thanks for you
A special birthday muffin for breakfast, with a number candle
Your height measured & marked
Birthday party tea
Homemade birthday cake with candles...we sing happy birthday, you make a wish!
Number (of your age) sugar cookies
You get to wear your very own birthday crown
A letter for you written in your journal

Read: Happy Birthday to You! by Dr Seuss

Classic Birthday Cake
(makes one tier)
4oz self raising flour 4 oz caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder 2 large eggs
4oz soft butter 2-3 drops pure vanilla essence

Pre-heat oven to GM 3
grease & line cake tin
sift flour & baking powder into a roomy mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients & whisk till thoroughly combined. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of tap-warm water. Whisk again.
Add the mixture to the tin, level off & bake on the centre shelf for about 30 minutes.
When cooked remove to a cooling rack.
The cake can be sliced in half, layered with jam & buttercream or stacked.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
(Fills & frosts a 8/9” cake.)
3 cups icing sugar 2 tsp vanilla
3 oz softened butter 3 oz chocolate, melted & cooled
3-4 tblsp milk

Mix sugar & butter in a medium bowl on a low speed. Stir in vanilla & chocolate.
Gradually beat in enough milk to make frosting spreadable.

Sugar Cookies
2 cups plain flour 6 oz softened butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Pre-heat oven to GM 3

Cream the butter & sugar. Add the egg & vanilla, beating well until mixed. Add flour on very low speed: do not over mix.
Gather dough into a ball & wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour. Allow dough to sit for 10 mins before rolling. Roll on a floured counter to 1/4” thick. Cut with cookie cutters & place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-15 mins.
Can be frozen.

Etsy Shop!

I have just opened my very own Etsy Shop!

Please pop along & have a look - I will be adding more fibre & yarn over the coming days

If you decide to treat yourself to something from my shop, please mention my blog in the comments section for a 10% discount!

Dyeing with Gorse

Hello all!
in between fighting various illnesses, Rosie & I dyed up some sock yarn with Gorse

Here it is in the pan:



& here it is all dyed up:



I am so pleased with the pretty shade! I am planning to knit up Child's Lovely Lace Socks for my girls for Easter.

For more on natural dyeing, look here & here.

More from the dyepot

More 'rainbow' than the last two, these have been claimed by the girls already : )

I am waiting impatiently for some alpaca/silk blend (my favorite fibre!) to arrive, so I can dye some more.

Some dyeing

Spent the afternoon yesterday dyeing these two fine merino & tussah silk slivers.
So have aptly named the colourway 'Candlemas' : )

This morning we woke up to find...

...a wonderful white world!



We dressed fast, grabbed juice boxes & banana's & headed off to buy coal, as we were very short on supplies.
Once home again, we set off on foot to our local park, calling for our neighbour freinds.
We spent a few hours in the park, building a snowman, snowballing, sledging & generally having fun. And I forgot my camera.

Here is a shot of the park on a day last year. Today we have lots more snow!



We had a late breakfast of hot chocolate, porridge, fruit & toast then settled to our own activities.

Rosie went into the garden to play









Elianna made a fine zoo for all the little wooden animals in our home



















Hubby read & I napped, did a little spinning & knitted.







Somewhere in the midst of all this we ate a simple lunch

The bright sun of earlier in the day is fading now, I am blogging, the girls are playing 'zoo' & hubby is still reading : )
Soon the girls will have their evening bath & tonight is 'pizza night' We will be watching The Sound Of Music

Thank you friends for the many emails & messages I have received to ask' why so quiet'? - we have had a lot of illness & my uncle had passed away - his funeral is tomorrow.
I hope to post our February circle time plans either tonight or tomorrow.
I hope you all have had a super day, whatever the weather : )

Of Snowmen, Sausage Rolls, Stollen & Sewing

The snow came down even heavier today & was much enjoyed by my girls.
Aided by Daddy, they made a tiny snowman named Luke.





Daddy picked the Holly berries for his eyes & buttons : )



Two very proud girls!



Here you see him sporting a bow tie!



At this point the girls came in & had a warming lunch - home made potato & leek soup & warm apple juice. Quiet time was abandoned in honor of this special day & whilst Rosie came to help in the kitchen, Elianna went outside to play with her snowman. Her you can see 'Princess Leah' that she made to keep Luke company ; )



Rosie & I busied ourselves in the kitchen, baking our usual 'Saturday Loaves'. We also made some Sausage Rolls to freeze ahead, ready for Christmas & a loaf of seasonal Stollen as a special treat for tomorrow's breakfast.

A tired & cold Elianna joined us for our weekly 'Pizza & movie night' & disaster struck - down came the rain - cold & bitter.
Luke & Leah were offered protection:



But, we had to face the fact that rain does not bode well for those of snow origin...

My poor, poor girl. Her heart truly broken. My girls are always tucked up in their beds by 7pm - tonight, Rosie went alone & Elianna & I cosied up on my bed - she with her spinning, I with my knitting. We chatted & cried &, eventually, laughed.
Then I remembered the wee surprise I had tucked away as a Christmas gift Girls' Best Book of Knitting, Sewing, and Embroidery by Virginie Desmoulins



This is a lovely little book that I would encourage you to take a look at, if you have daughters who are interested in crafting.
I made my excuses & nipped off to retrieve the book from its hiding place. Oh, you should have seen the smiles & the curiosity when I presented the book to my daughter!
The cover of the book actually has a cardboard Dolly that you 'pop out' of the cover - & lots of lovely ideas inside the book for making clothes for her, along with many other wonderful embroidery, knitting & sewing projects.

At 9pm a very tired, but much more peaceful Elianna went to bed, taking with her the new book. As i kissed her goodnight, she asked to have the lamp left on, so she could browse the book for a while before she went to sleep. It is so wonderful to connect with my child over a shared hobby. I love the times we knit, spin, sew & craft together.

It is good for the soul.

Goodnight & wishing you sweet, creative dreams : )