Acquisitions/Collection Curation
With some birthday money I have ordered a kit (yarns and pattern) from River Knits to make a pair of blue fingerless gloves. (Yes I am half way through knitting another pair of fingerless gloves with blue in, but ignore that.) I’ll show the yarn when it arrives. Its non-superwash and so pretty. More about that when it arrives.
I also had enough left to buy a special shuttle for doing band weaving. I’m booked on a band weaving course in October so I should be able to get some practice with it before then. The tool is made by Fergus at Bunloit Woolery so I also bought those other 5 skeins of the New Lanark Aran in Blue John colour (dark blue with tiny flecks of paler silk) that I had previously just bought one skein of.
Felting
On Tuesday and after work on Wednesday I laid out the fibres for the 2 x 20cm and the 35cm shades that have been requested. On Thursday I managed to felt the smaller two before heading off for afternoon tea at a nearby hotel, for my birthday treat. On Friday I constructed the 20cm ceiling ones. Next week I’ll be felting and constructing the 35cm one.
Years ago when I used merino wool (usually imported into the UK from Australia or other distant countries) the lampshades took me an hour to felt one. Since switching to mostly UK bred wool and lots of locally sourced wools, they now take 2 hours to felt. For me it’s worth it though, I like the fact it’s reducing the carbon footprint and I love the depth of the textures you get from felting lots of different breeds together. It seems to work well for the styles I mostly do. These lampshades both include fibres that were fleeces sourced, washed and dyed by a good friend when she was living on the Isle of Skye.
Knitting
Jumpers/cardigans
I need to remind myself how to do German Short rows and didn’t find the time, so Avena has been packed away for a bit. Thanks to all of you who said such nice things about it on last week’s post.
Socks
The socks I’d pulled out of my husband’s car last week got some attention. I did the heel flap and gusset then stopped. I then found the end of the yarn in the centre of the ball and wound a 50g ball, ready to make the 2nd sock. it’s easier for me to get matching length socks if I knit the foot section two at a time. They aren’t exactly pairs…just slightly off.
If this was your knitting, would you start the heel after the same amount of rows as the first sock or would you add a few rows so you start the heel at the same colour join part? The latter option then would appear better matched so long as you couldn’t see the cuff.
Other News
For my birthday I got a rotating compost bin, some new garden tools, a garden centre gift card, some cinema vouchers & gift card and some chocolates. 😊
The weather has been quite winter like. It was colder on my birthday than its been on Christmas Day here. I’ve been having to wrap fleece around the potatoes and courgettes to stop them getting frost damage! On the plus side I’m getting more use out of my knitwear.
On my other blogs
I finally got around to writing a post about our holiday to Islay (and Jura) we took last October. Here’s a link to my travel blog post.
On Friday I added a small video to the Islay post, nothing fancy but gives a bit more views and information.
I have also done a post on our 2nd visit to Kingairloch we did in March this year.
This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 13th year, but this is my 6th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, as you’d be very welcome to join us. (There are 53 Sundays this YOP year, it happens sometimes!).
HighlandHeffalump 
your lampshades never cease to amaze me, they are just gorgeous!!!😍
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Thank you x
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Happy birthday! 🎉
Your felting work is gorgeous, and I think it’s wonderful to use locally sourced fiber, particularly when you have a personal connection to that source.
As for the socks, perhaps consider breaking the yarn to skip to the matching part. I did this on the second of my super long socks because my gauge was off at the start of the foot. I took a course on sock knitting with self-striping yarns years ago, and the instructor pointed out that breaking the yarn is always an option. Now that I use the Weavin’ Stephen method of switching yarns, I’m more inclined to consider this.
And on German Short Rows, they’re not that difficult so don’t let it slow you down on the sweater! Also, if there’s another short row technique you’re more familiar with, you could always substitute it for the GSR technique. Knitting is like cooking in that you have some flexibility in getting to the final product. ☺️
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Thanks, I’ve done GSR before it’s how to do them on the purl side I always forget so I always watch the Very Pink Knits video of it then it comes back to me. Funny how easy it is to have a mental block on things.
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Yeah, I hear ya! If you don’t use it, you lose it! I’m that way about the Icelandic bind off. Love VP’s tutorials, too!
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That’s interesting about the UK wool taking longer to felt, but I guess I’m not surprised. Bob washed my blanket from The Croft, and it didn’t felt. Then I realized it was Shetland and not merino. I told him not to do that anymore, because eventually I’m sure it would felt. Anyway, I’m sure people who purchase your lampshades also appreciate that the wool is UK sourced. You have had a productive week! And I love that blue yarn.
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Yes I use a lot of Shetland and it will definitely felt…just no where near as fast as merino.
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Happy Birthday Liz!
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Thanks Laura 😀
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Your lampshades are so pretty. I think these two look like stormy skies. It was ungodly hot here Wednesday (90F), when we were outside planting. It cooled off nicely and has been chilly here now. I wore a sweatshirt outside yesterday to plant some of the tulips.
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I bet your chilly is my roasting. 😂 We just walked the dog with hat scarf and gloves on. Its 48⁰F here. During the day it was only a few degrees warmer. For me 65⁰C is perfect. 70⁰ is roasting and anything above that is a prickly heat rash nightmare.
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I prefer “chilly”, it’s been in the 50s since Thursday and it’s perfect IMO.
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Oh that sounds good then. 😀
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Sounds like you had a wonderful birthday! Happy belated Birthday!
I took a needle felting class a little over a year ago, lots of work to felt those lamp shades girl!!! I wouldn’t have realized if I hadn’t take a class.
Love the color on the socks, I’ve only knit 2 pair of socks so I am not very helpful for sock advise :P.
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I needle felt my fairies, wreaths and baubles, the lampshades I wet felt with olive oil soap and lots of rubbing and rolling. 💪🏻
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Happy Birthday, fellow Gemini! You certainly got some lovely gifts for your special day. That lampshade is HUGE! I here you about using locally sourced products. We do the same here for produce. (Not a lot of sheep farmers here LOL) We do have a few Alpaca farms though, in the mountains. As for the socks……….I love to be matchy matchy. However, my hubby keeps pointing out no one is going to see the socks once they are in shoes. So, I am becoming better at just letting them happen.
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That weather sounds… quite brisk! I hope you get a bit of a proper summer at some point before the actual winter returns!
I would do the same number of rows before the heel. The slight difference in color placement likely wouldn’t bother me, but you’ll have to see if that’s true for you!
As always, those felted shades are extraordinary! I love the colors you’ve used.
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Happy very belated birthday! Afternoon tea sounds perfect. It has finally started to warm up down here, so hopefully, the vegetables will pick up now!
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Sounds like some lovely and useful birthday gifts! Your lampshades are lovely, as always 🙂
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