Felting
I made 3 scarves, one of which I seem to have forgotten to photograph! Anyhoo, here are 2 of the scarves which both have some sparkly angelina in. The deep red has gold and red sparkles and the rose pink has silver sparkles but it is hard to get the sparkles to show on camera. These, and an ocean blues scarf, are all in the Fuzzy Thistle shop in Strathpeffer.
Another item I made this week is an autumnal wreath, which includes handspun yarn, hand dyed and hand blended fibre that has been freehand needle felted into the leaf shapes. I wasn’t sure about putting it in the shop as I really like it, but I have put it in with a price that represents the amount of work that went into it and it comes with its own box for storage. If it doesn’t sell I will be very happy to keep it as part of my autumn decorations.
I have ordered some cookie cutters in Christmas, Halloween and leaf shapes so that I can make some more wreaths and make some decorations. Using the cutters to felt inside would significantly cut down the amount of time and effort and then would reduce the price I’d charge. She would also like me to make some Christmas fairies for the shop too.
Knitting
I finished blocking my Nurmilintu shawl and what a transformation, it was pretty before but now it’s soooo lovely. There’s a separate post I did earlier this week with a project overview with more details and post blocking photos.
I started knitting my Such a Winter’s Day jumper again and goodness me the size is way off. I have reached out to the designer for help but need to get back to her with some more details of my gauge etc. At least 3 other people have knit this pattern with the same yarn so I’m not sure how I’ve ended up with such tiny arm holes and mahoosive front and back sections. I may frog and re-start, I only realised I was totally off base after I’d cut the yarn and cast on the 3 stitches for the underarm…I thought hmmm this looks like it will need a heck of a lot more then 3 stitches and then tried it on! Doh! I have the safety line in but perhaps I need to rip back further. I’ll see what Heidi suggests after I’ve sent her more details. Perhaps my maths was totally off.
I have made a decision to continue further with my Void shawl…because I bought the pattern and have the yarn to keep going. If it takes me 10 years to finish who is there to judge me…lol!
I’ve bought some Sugar and Cream Christmas coloured cotton to make up some dish clothes and I think for the next few weeks I’m just going to do my advent smitten mittens and dish cloths as a nice break from larger projects.
Spinning
I met a lady called Sheila at the Highland Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers on Saturday. She was recommended to me as someone who knows how to spin on a supported spindle. Sheila recommended I spin rolags on it, so I’m going to make up some rolags and get in touch for some 1-2-1 assistance. It turns out Sheila follows me via my Facebook page and I also met another lady called Glenda who has also been following me too. So that was lovely to get to meet them both face-to-face.
Weaving
Talking of the Guild, after having a part fall off my spinning wheel, last time I went along, I thought it best to leave the spinning wheel at home and instead took along my loom. I had warped it with the 8/2ne unmercerised cotton double threaded on the warp and single thread on the warp. I didn’t finish the tea towel length whilst there, so it will need finishing this week. The plan is to cut and hem it into multiple small towels.
I also met the lady who, earlier this year, I’d bought the yarn from for the Winter’s Day jumper, her husband makes various weaving and spinning related tools out of wood and I have one of their niddy noddys. I made some suggestions for future ideas, like a bobbin winding tool for the tiny bobbins you get in a boat shuttle, and even boat shuttles too and the weights that you can hang on the back to get tension tight on the edges whilst your weaving. The Ashford bobbin winders are a ridiculous price for something that looks a simple construction. I said I’ll be front of the queue for one. At the moment I am just flicking the bobbin around and around to load it with yarn!!! Not ideal. I met a lady who said she’d made one out of a hand drill, so I’m going to dig around in the garage and see what I can find. People were very complimentary about my weaving being even although as I was getting tired towards the end of the day it went a bit wonky.
Other News
So, still on the Guild day subject but not under a particular category, I have some stash enhancements!
The first, is a challenge bag, where we’ve been given some Corriedale, BFL and Seacell blended fibre and some sari silk. The challenge is to do something with it and then in February’s Meeting to bring along what you did. My friend Caroline came up with a brilliant idea of what I could try but I need to test the principle with some other fibre first and test it is going to work and if not have a re-think. So there’ll be more news on that idea to follow!
The second, is a lady came with bags of fleece from BFL/Shetland cross sheep and some other fleeces. I bought one for the bargain price of £5! I bought a dog comb on my way home to start processing it with, as I don’t have the big heavy proper combs. My plan is to save the best bits for spinning and the rest will be fine for wet and needle felting with and ideal for using to make Christmas bauble basic balls to then needle felt details on. Another idea is to make some dryer balls wih it too. I wish I’d bought 2 bags now. The lady said she may come along to the felting group so I said bring some fleeces with you there and I may get some more. The fleece I got is from a sheep called Roxy! How cool will that be to make things and pop the name of the sheep it came from!!! I know you don’t wash fleece and pour the water down the drain (as it clogs them with the lanolin) so I need to think where best to empty water out on. This bag is big!
On the non-crafting front, my husband’s brother is over from Australia so they’ve been touring around and drinking lots and playing cards and Perudo in the evenings. They’ll be off doing the North Coast 500 route from Monday onwards so another craft heavy week ahead for me and an opportunity to get familiar with Roxy’s wool. It’s so easy to get lots of different things going when you can leave everything out for days. If I was single my house would be such a crafting mess!!
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.
HighlandHeffalump 
I love your void shawl !
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Thanks, I will persist with it…it’s just it takes over an hour to do one row and as I progress that is likely to increase upto 2 hours per row….eek!
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You are so impressive as you get so much done! And yes as a single crafter- my house is often a crafty mess
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Needle felting is so fascinating to me. I had never heard of it until you talked about it on you blog. Since then, I have seen several people doing it. I so wish I wasn’t allergic to wool so I could try other crafts like that! I love the idea of knowing the name of the sheep your wool came from. How fun it will be to see what Roxie becomes. I had to chuckle about the crafty mess if you were single. I think all of us would be in that type of house if we were single. My craftroom is very organized to me yet others go in there and think it is a blasted mess. Hence the reason the door is closed when company comes LOL. Enjoy your week alone! I bet you get copious amounts of crafting done.
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It’s ok to take 10 years to finish a shawl. “Stash enhancements” LOL
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I love the idea of a challenge bag. Can’t wait to see what you do with it.
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I adore that wreath!!!!! I hope the sweater gets sorted out…you have so many crafty pursuits that yes I could see your house being a big ole craft binge…go from one thing to another without having to put anything away!!!
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You are making such great progress with all of your projects! That wreath is lovely – love it! And your weaving does look great – very crisp and even 🙂 Looking forward to seeing all the things you make with Roxie’s wool 🙂
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I love that wreath too! The challenge bag sounds fun. Can’t wait to see what you do with the fiber. AND I look forward to seeing what you make with Roxie’s fleece. 🙂 I can totally relate to the thought that if I lived alone my house would be a mess with projects in various places.
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Where do I start? I can certainly see why you don’t want to part with your fall wreath! Gorgeous! You weren’t kidding either when you said the Nurmilintu blocked out nicely…what a beauty and it really shows the design off. It turned out so great! I also love the red and pink colored scarves and I hope you get the jumper problem sorted out. I can’t wait to see you do more on your Void . I do live alone and yes, my house is a mess! LOL!
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[…] wreath ✅ week 11. This was in the shop last autumn, but as it didn’t sell, this year I will be hanging it as part […]
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