Sorry for the dodgy photos this week!
Felting
So I can now show the scarf I felted for my dad’s 80th. It is predominantly blues with a hint of red and grey. Not a great photo as it was gift wrapped and I’d unwrapped it for a quick snap. He is very happy with both this one (for everyday use) and the woven one I gave him (for when he needs a smarter scarf).
In August I sold 2 more scarves at the shop and she’s asked me to make some things for Christmas stock so I have some ideas and will get started on those this week hopefully.
No progress on my 3D Ylva this week.
Knitting
I finished the Nurmilintu shawl, although it isn’t yet blocked because I wanted to wear it on Saturday and it wouldn’t be dry in time. The bottom left image shows the colours best, it’s deep green with hints of blue and bronze. Super soft as it is 50% Yak/50% Silk. I managed to find the designer’s group on Facebook and found lots of people mentioning about row 11 of the lace, so I feel better it wasn’t just me that struggled with it.
On the train to Perth and back I knit 2 smitten mittens in the art yarn I had a go at a few months ago. You can’t see the sparkle very well in the photos. These are great for travel knitting as they are quick and small.
Spinning
I made up some gorgeous looking rolags which I forgot to take a photo of ☹️. I spun them woollen but the yarn isn’t set yet. This week I will make up some more rolags and do some photos of it all next week. This week is already photo heavy!
Weaving
Attempt number 4 at a tea towel. This time I am using 8/2 cotton double threaded on the warp (vertical) and single thread on the weft (horizontal). It’s obviously not finished yet, so I won’t really know if the fabric is right until it is washed and tumble dried. Someone recommended using the wee sushi roll mats for when you are rolling the woven fabric on and that does seem to work very well at keeping the tension even when you wind it on.
Other News
On Saturday I went down to Perth Festival of Yarn. My husband drove me to Inverness station and it’s a 2 hour train journey each way. I was booked on a Portuguese Knitting course with André de Castro. He is Portuguese and was an excellent teacher, who took time to go around each of us regularly to make sure we were all comfortable with the Portuguese method of knitting, purling, SSK, yarn overs. He is teaching at Knoble Festival in Colorado next year for any of my Colorado based readers/friends. I am looking forward to going back to knitting my Such a Winter’s Day jumper now I am comfortable with the switching between knit and purl stitches. He was telling us that he does brioche using Portuguese style knitting and it means rather than doing 2 separate full rows each time he does both yarn stitches at the same time and it suits it very well. He said that for Intarsia and Twin Knitting it isn’t suitable to use Portuguese as there you are twisting the yarns, but he said it is great for colour-work and regular knitting.
It isn’t a yarn festival I will go to again, next year I’m giving them all a miss but the year after I will go to Fibre East again. It was cheaper and had hundreds more vendors and is close to my sister’s. Or maybe my local festival instead, Loch Ness Knit Fest that also is cheaper and is much nearer.
I did manage to get some things on my shopping list;
- some weaving yarn (I bought 2 shades of lilac linen but the photos look grey!)
- enough DK yarn to make Fine Sand (the DK version of the Quick Sand pattern). 10 balls of Rowan alpaca merino DK which had £30 off retail price and was in their bargain bin. It’s a charcoal grey.
- some stitch markers to fit larger needles (my homemade ones are for smaller sock needles).
Plus some things not on my list;
- another set of slipper bottoms (for making a pair of felted mule style slippers)
- some thread to sew them together
- a thick felted circle…you can use for making the base of a bag, rucksack or a basket etc.
- a tea towel with British sheep breeds on!!!
- a multiple needle felting tool, which should make it much quicker doing larger felting projects.
- a lovely red and black speckle yarn from Mothy and the Squid. I swore I wouldn’t buy any single skeins of fingering weight but 3 times it shouted to me.
- a skein of tencel super shiny yarn, no idea what for but the sheen on it was irresistible.
- 2 packets of throwster silk for using in wet felting.
My husband’s brother is over from Australia for the next few weeks so it will be a mix of us having him here and me being home alone with the dog and parrot whilst they do some touring around. I’m hoping to do quite a bit of shop stock making whilst I’m home alone.
This is a Year of Projects update. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, or you’d like to join in, please follow the link for details. To read what the other members of the YOP Group have been getting up to please click on the latest weekly folder and follow the links to their blog posts. This is a friendly group with a wide mix of skills and crafting interests.
I would love to learn Portuguese knitting. Maybe something like that will pop up at a festival near me!
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I’m glad you liked the class, but sorry you didn’t enjoy the festival. But it seems like you have a few to choose from…I have several in my area….but Rhinebeck is the biggest in about a month…it’s about a two hour car ride for me…
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I’ve seen Rhinebeck on a few podcasts, like Kristy Glass Knits and Caroline from Knitting Vicariously is going to be there this year.
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I want to learn more about brioche and portuguese knitting. Both rows at same time? What? That would be a game changer for sure!
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Portuguese knitting is my favorite way to purl large projects. I want to learn how to SSK and YO in it also so I can do an entire project using it. How fortunate to have someone that taught it at your festival. I am not THAT far from Colorado. Might need to look into that fiber fest. Looking at all your photos of your acquisitions, the black and red speckled yarn just jumped off the page for me! Love it! You are doing quite well selling your felted scarves. What will you be making for the Christmas season to sell?
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It’s interesting as for the yarn overs it is all about what the previous and before stitch is going to be. I’ll need more practice with them as some of mine were accidental yarn overs because I had the yarn in the wrong position lol. I have some wire wreaths I am going to make up, maybe one autumnal and 2 Christmas. So make some felt holly, ivy, berries etc. I thought about making some more fairies for people to hang on their trees. And some scarves with sparkles!
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Oh lovely, your shawl is gorgeous and is just what’s needed now. Love the little mittens and the weaving looks wonderful.
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I can imagine how much your dad will enjoy his new warm scarf come the chilly weather! 🙂 And Nurmilintu is a pretty shawl/scarf – the yarn is perfect for it! What a lot of fun and beautiful acquisitions you’ve gotten recently. I look forward to seeing your new woven project when it’s finished.
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What a great week you had! Sounds like the festival was a pretty good one – that class sounds really interesting, and you got some great finds there as well! Your dad’s scarf and your shawl both look wonderful, also your tea towel is looking great 🙂 Yay on your sales and being asked to make some more – that is wonderful!
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What a busy week! Love the shawl and your dads scarf, and the weaving looks stunning. Those mittens are so cute.
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Your smitten mittens look so sweet. And your dad’s scarf is brilliant. Nurmilintu looks great, too.
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What lovely gifts for your father. Who wouldn’t appreciate a beautiful handmade gift like that? The Nurmilintu turned out so pretty. The weaving and spinning is over my head but your weaving project is looking good! The smitten mittens are tiny? Tree decorations or advent? I wish we had yarn festivals. I can just imagine how much fun that must be. Have a good week! I love all the “treasures” you got.
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Thanks, they are going to be an advent of 24 wee smitten mittens all from homespun yarn is the plan.
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The Festival sounds like fun if only for the class. Wow! That Nurmilintu shawl is beautiful, both the knitting and the yarn.
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