Acquisitions/Stash Management
With some Christmas money, I have bought an Electric Eel Wheel Nano 2! (See the spinning section below for more details). It will be great having such a light portable wheel to take to holiday cottages or friends’ to spin.
Knitting
Jumpers/cardigans
I’m now on the 3rd of 5 skeins of yarn needed for my 3rd Turtle Dove! I’ve cast on a shawl now so that may slow progress on my jumper a little.
Shawls
Back in July 2019 I knitted an Easy Goes It shawl by Finicky Creations in my first handspun baby camel and silk yarn. There’s now a DK version of this pattern, and long term followers will know I like repeating projects…so I have cast on the Easy Goes It DK in my 4th batch of handspun baby camel and silk. Both patterns are free on Ravelry.
Socks
I forgot to mention, on last week’s post, in our new washing machine there was a shrinking incident!
My lovely Sweet and Tartan socks, made using a combination of merino/alpaca/nylon, merino/nylon and BFL/nylon. All yarns were superwash…or so I’d thought! They’d been in the old washing machine many times before. Anyhoo! They are now going to be ornaments!
Spinning
Lots more spinning this week with 4 x 2 hour spinning social zoom calls. I plied the Manx Loaghtan, spun some Herdwick which was horrendous (barbed wire like hairs in it), some Norwegian which was slightly better.
I also spun 100g of superfine merino which was a little challenging but has produced a beautifully soft barber pole looking yarn.
On my new e-spinner I used some random sheep fibre from a World of Wool lap waste bag and have spun a little 2 ply yarn just for practice. The take up (it pulling the yarn in and winding itself on the bobbin) is a little challenging to master. It only arrived yesterday so I’m sure I’ll get more practice this week.
If you aren’t bored of all the spinning news then I published a new post about my breed study earlier this week, with some details of the first 12 breeds I have spun.
Other News
I had a second attempt at baking the Swiss Three Kings cake from my 2023 Almanac and it was more successful, tasty but I’ll wait for February’s bun of the month before I do more baking. Clearly neither of us could wait for me to take a photo before scoffing 2 rolls each. We had 7″ of snow this week so it was perfect eat carbs weather. 😂🤣
I also forgot to mention last week about a book I got called “Every Day Nature” by Andy Beer (published by the National Trust Books). Each day there is a paragraph or two about some nature (UK based), something to look for or notice when you are outside. It has some lovely illustrations and is a pleasure to read each day. I notice a few sellers have 2nd hand copies for sale, I think I’d happily re-read it each year. I’ve shared a wee photo from today which is about Hazel Catkins. If you are in the UK I definitely recommend it.
This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 12th year, but this is my 5th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry.
HighlandHeffalump 
Your sweater’s going to be so pretty!
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Thanks, I do love the colour.
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That’s a cautionary tale on your shrunk sock. Have you tried washing any other hand knit socks in your new machine yet?
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Yes all the ones which were in the same wash and were just merino/nylon and they are fine, so I guess it was the alpaca 🦙
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I hope you enjoy your espinner! I have a Hansen and actually got rid of my big traditional wheel a while back so it’s all I spin on these days. Lots of fun things in progress right now. Hope you’ll be able to recreate those very fun socks!
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Oh I didn’t realise you were just using the E spinner now. This is amazingly lightweight and fits in your palm. A friend has one and an Ashford E spinner and she says the weight difference is huge. I don’t think chain plying on the nano would be very easy but so far so good.
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How sad about your socks as they were lovely. But an excuse to knit more. Love the idea about the book to learn more about the nature around you. Also would help motivate me to take a walk to see what I can find. We have wonderful parks and trails in Cincinnati. I got hubby interested in The Great British Baking Show so we are watching past seasons. Now he wants to bake!! Last night’s episode the contestants were making twist and share bread and also cut designs bread. So he’s trying his hand at a savory twist and pull that will also have cut designs!! Purple and turquoise shawl. Didn’t see that coming 😉 Your pink turtle dove is really coming along.
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I long for the day my husband wants to take up baking 😉
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That book sounds really cool, I wish there was one for South Dakota.
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Our knit group has a woman who brings her e-spinner nano to group, and loves it. It was fun to watch her stretch the limits on one of the bobbins, plying yarn and trying (and succeeding) to get it all on one.
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On my original wheels I always challenge myself to really fill my bobbins to the max. I don’t yet have confidence in my nano to try that but I had another play with it yesterday.
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Your sweater is gorgeous! I love all your yarns that you are spinning. The shawl is really pretty and I might give it a go as I have some handspun DK that I would like to use. Congrats on your new wheel! Great for your holidays. I listen to Miranda Mills book podcast and she recommended that nature book. I don’t care that it is about the U.K. in fact , I love the U.K. I’m an angliophile? I’m slowly gathering some the British Library’s Women’s Writer series and also their Classic Crime series. I think some of the older books are so good.
Your buns look mighty tasty!
Enjoy your week!
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Thanks Sam, I’ll have a look for that podcast and have a look for that book list.
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Ooohhhh….the sweater is drop dead gorgeous. But your socks are sad. Maybe Ylva could wear them lol. Your new spinning wheel sounds great for travel. I have a friend coming to Scotland in April. To Edinburgh. Will it be chilly there like where you live?
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There’s no rhyme or reason to the weather here in Scotland. Today in Aberdeen they had Scottish summer temperatures. Tell them to pack layers including warm ones and waterproofs. Edinburgh is about 4 hours south of us. It could be 65°F if they are lucky but equally it could be 45°F. It’s all about layers here.
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I think my comment got lost in the ether. Sorry about your sock mishap, but yay it can be used as a lovely ornament. Something similar happened to me last winter with my advent socks and now they are lovely advent decorations. Congrats on you e-spinner. What fun!
You are inspiring me with your knitting projects using your handspun. THat is something I want to do this coming year. I am hoping I have enough for a Cowichan inspired sweater/jacket. Stay tuned.
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Sounds interesting. I have spun just one sweater quantity and I’m yet to do anything with it.
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Congratulations on your new e-wheel! All your yarn is lovely, and your sweater is such a cheery pink!
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