The Redford sweater is off the needles! Two new projects have now been cast on. Plus we have a look into my craft room, share a couple of sample spins, and chat about my crafty evolution.
08:21 Handy Dandy - Redford is complete!
16:53 - Flared Pullover and messy maths
28:38 - MiniMint (swatches gotta settle)
39:20 Multicrafty - Handspun fibre sampler
44:47 - First sample spin from Beylor Blacks, Corriedale fleece
56:10 Thanks!
Transcript
Greetings, knitting neighbours and crafty comrades. I'm so glad to have you back here with me for another episode of Bobolog.
Welcome back to those of you who have been watching along already and a very hearty hello to any of you newer viewers or subscribers out there. I know that there are a few of you who have recently come on board so hello and welcome and I hope you enjoy what I have to share.
My name is Bobbie Olan and I am a knitter and fibre crafts explorer in Victoria, Australia. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live and create - the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people - and I would like to pay my respects to their Elders past, present and future. And I'd also like to extend that acknowledgement and respect to all Aboriginal peoples across Australia.
Just a few quick admin things. As usual, you can find links below in the YouTube description to everything that I discuss. If there is anything missing please just let me know and I will add it in. But I'll do my best to include all of the patterns and yarns and any other things that I might mention there.
Eye Candy
I thought that we would start this video with just a little window tour of my craft room since this is a sort of new view. It's the second time I'm filming with this sort of backdrop. So I thought I might just point out a few things that you can see here in my craft room.
Window tour of my craft room
This scarf here is - I think - the first thing that I ever knit back when I first taught myself how to knit many, many years ago. That would have been in in 2008 because it was in my third year of university. So I made that in 2008. It is absolutely terrible. You can see that the shape - the edges are all over the place.
I don't think back then I could even tell apart my knits and my purls and I would get confused about which rows I was on. And I made- I just made a whole bunch of the little patches of all of the colours and then I seamed them together. It's all garter stitch. It's all terrible. And I made enough of those little segments to make two scarves and the second scarf I gifted to my- my bestie. We're both big Harry Potter fans. So that's that.
Below it is just a calendar that I made using old manila folder divider things and trying to use up washi tape and some random stickers that I had. That was a lot of fun to do. But it turns out it's not the best backdrop for a calendar because some of the colours are so dark that when I write on it I can't really read what I put in there. And I'm also just terrible at using it so that's that.
The bags here on the shelves - There was a point of time where my mum was really into Mimco bags. So she bought a lot for herself but then she was also gifting them to me and my sisters. So I have four Mimco bags on the shelves there and I haven't used them in years and years and years. But I still think that they're so pretty and I liked them so much that I didn't have the heart to get rid of them. So they are now actually my yarn storage.
I also have- The books here are my vintage knitting books, which I will try to remember to show you in some other episode. I've got Harry Potter books, Lord of the Rings books and - which way am I going? - these are some other knitting books. So they are more focused on design and they are also knitting magazines. And then I just have a few jars back there that are leftover balls of yarn and that kind of thing.
This ugly looking basket here is one of those plastic laundry baskets. It's just falling apart. The handles broken off. It's got cracks through it. But I didn't want to be wasteful and get rid of it. So I actually found a really simple crochet pattern that I modified for a basket and it kind of just sits in this really terribly crocheted basket so that at least gives me handles and a way to keep using it and carry it around.
And then the blue tub that that is sitting in is a tub that I found in Bunnings which is a hardware store here in Australia. And it's great because it has like a plug at the bottom of it. So when I wash bigger items like sweaters, I soak them in that tub. And then when I'm ready to take it out of the water, instead of pulling it out and having all of that wet weight dragging on the sweater, I just sort of hold the sweater to one side and drain the tub as much as I can using that plug and that's really handy.
This is the hat that I made earlier in the year using yarns that I had dyed at the natural dyeing course at Tarndwarncoort. Below it - or in front of it, I should say - I can't get the hang of this finger thing - are just some old knitting needles that I don't really use anymore but I kind of like still having around. I- I really like the- the tortoise shell needles in particular. They're just nice. And then I've got my flicker there which I picked up after the first class I did for learning how to spin on a spinning wheel. And just random other crafty bits on there.
In the bag that you can see hanging here, I have a years long [crochet] project that I pick up maybe once or twice a year and do a little bit on and then it gets put away again. I'm so terrible with that.
That's just a basket of yarn for a project that I'll be talking about in a little bit.
And we have- This terrible cushion cover here was my first attempt at quilting. Ahich I quite enjoyed, but I was so sort of excited by it that I kind of rushed the whole process and just did a very sloppy job just because I was so keen to get to the outcome. So it is terrible. But I'm still quite fond of it and I still think it looks alright.
And then this here is a tote bag that I got from one of my local yarn stores which is called Craftee Cottage. It's in Oakleigh, if anyone is watching from Melbourne and maybe wants to check out a new yarn store. Or if maybe it's your local yarn store, let me know down below. Maybe you even have the same bag. That'd be pretty cool.
One more thing - this. That's the sweater that I was designing earlier in the year. I haven't had a chance to get back to it. I'm still sort of low on the inspiration for that sweater after having to rip it back a few times and redo the same section over again. I do think I have all of the calculations right now but I'm in the middle of other projects that I have to get done. So that's going to- that'll stay still just sitting there for a while I guess.
Handy Dandy
Redford is complete!
Our first segment for today is Handy Dandy and I am very very happy to share with you that I have finished - finally - the Redford sweater by Julie Hoover that I was making for my partner's birthday. And was late.
It's all good. It wasn't too late. It was only a couple of weeks late. And he's really happy with it and so am I.
So here it is. I love so many things about this sweater. I am definitely going to make it for him again. I love this V detail here. I love the expressed seams on it. I think they look really good. I love this side panel in reverse stockinette stitch. And unfortunately there is one other feature of it that I really love but ended up losing because...
I don't know what happened with my gauge on this project. But it always just seemed to not be quite right. And I did all of these calculations and I tried to like sort it all out mathematically and plan ahead that way and figure out all of the rows I needed to do and the rates of the decreases and all of that because that is my preferred way of doing it rather than measuring it as I go. But it came up short.
I pinned it out - when I blocked it - to the exact specifications - to the exact dimensions of the pattern. And I should actually check if maybe my partner has a long torso or maybe it just sprung back after I'd taken it off the blocking mat, but I wasn't- I didn't feel like I was stretching it when I was blocking it out. It felt like it was just sort of pretty close to the right length. So I'm not sure what happened there. But when I make it again, if the yarn that I use for the second iteration has the same gauge as this I'm going to have to add pretty much 10cm or so to the length of the sweater.
The sleeves are okay. They're a little bit on the short side. He actually thinks that they're fine, but I think- I think it would just look a bit better and I'm- I'm sure he's just being lovely but I- I'm sure - or I think - that he would find them a bit more comfortable if they were- if they reached his wrist basically. They stop maybe about here. So that's the sleeves. The sleeves are okay.
The thing that I lost which is something that I had described wrong about the sweater when I talked about it in the last episode - I believe I had said that ribbing will need to be done on the neckband, the cuffs and the bottom hem. But actually - I love that expressed seam on the cuff there too.
Anyway, I was saying - this sweater didn't actually have ribbing on the hem. I don't know. I was just not paying attention to the photos or something when I talked about it. But there's very clearly - when you look at the photos - there isn't ribbing at the bottom of it.
And I actually thought that looked really good without ribbing there. It suited the style of the sweater really well. But because it was short and because it's knit from the bottom up, I ended up picking up stitches and adding ribbing to the bottom of it.
One thing that I thought was kind of interesting is the neckband was done at approximately half the length of the cuff. And now the way that I've had to do it, the the cuff is approximately half the length of the hem. Which I think is kind of neat. I sort of like that progression of it.
But while I do think it still does look good with that ribbing at the bottom, it - I think it definitely did look better without it. At least that's my personal preference. And that is how the pattern was done. So you know, no surprises in that.
I think one of the things that I mentioned in the last episode is that I was concerned about how the seaming would go with my twisted stitch slip stitch selvedge - whatever it was called - because one side was nice and tight and firm and the other side was really loose and sloppy. I actually ended up finding that the loose side was so much easier to seam. I could much more easily get my needle between the stitches and see that I was picking up the right strand of yarn to seam together in mattress stitch.
I mean, they both look good. But the way that it worked as well, because this side panel is reverse stockinette stitch - because that one was flipped it ended up working out so that instead of what you would normally get if you were seaming together is -if this was the tight stitch and this was the loose stitch, then you'd have it so that you'd have one loose edge joining in with one tight edge. But with this one, it ended up working out so the tight edges were seamed together and the loose edges were seamed together.
But you know you can't really tell. I mean, if you look closely you can tell that one side of it - whoopsies - that one side of it has sort of a- a bit of a fluffier seam - expressed seam - and the other side of it has a bit of a neater expressed seam. But I don't think it's obvious, especially from a distance.
And I think with all of my recalculations as well, I don't think I got the sleeve cap quite right. Because you can kind of see here, the sleeve cap is a bit big. Like it's got extra fabric - a bit of extra fabric there.
So just things to consider and think about when I- when I do the next one. Which I am sure I will definitely be doing.
Anyway. That is the Redford sweater. It fits my partner well. It fits him really well. I'm so happy with how it fits and he's really happy too. I think we both looked at it and were concerned that this neckband was really small. But I mean, I was able to get it over my head and he was able to get it over his head quite easily. And it looks good on. It doesn't look too snug, and it's obviously not really loose either. So I think that worked really well.
One funny thing that I discovered in making this actually is also that my partner and I somehow have the same chest circumference. So I'm able to sort of try this on for fit as well. Not... It's not going to be a complete match of course, because he's a lot broader. He's taller, he obviously has a different body shape than I do. But yeah, we have the same chest circumference so I could sort of still put it on and sort of check that it wasn't going to be really loose or really tight in that section.
Yes, so that's Redford done and dusted. Yay!
Flared Pullover and messy maths
The next one that I want to talk about is the Flared Pullover, which I was in the middle of swatching for in the previous episode.
So I finished the swatch. Here it is. So in the last episode, I believe I had done that much of it. And- And I said that I wanted to do an extra pattern repeat because I thought that this was a bit too bold and it didn't really match this main panel as well as it could have. So I re-did that and I am much happier - just hold it in front of me, I think that's easiest - I am much happier with how... This... When it's- When the cables are closer together. And I feel like it sort of does match this a bit better because this doesn't necessarily look like an extra big wide panel, how it looks on the bottom part where I elongated it.
And- And also you know I went back and looked at the original chart because as I had said in the previous episode, I elongated this a bit so that the row count would match the row count for this pattern here. But the chart is called Medallion and obviously that doesn't look like a medallion. So changing it so that it was closer gives it more of the look that I had originally wanted - more of that medallion look. It's still not exactly how the pattern was. But yeah, it's a lot closer and I think it works a lot better. So I'm going to do that.
And then I started doing- I did a bunch of decreases. And I started doing stockinette stitch - which I think looks gorgeous in that tweed yarn. I love tweed yarn so much. But clearly as you can see I got- I got lazy with doing the stockinette stitch, and I didn't do a decent section of that. So that's my swatch there.
So when I had blocked this swatch and measured it, I was actually getting the right stockinette stitch gauge, but my cable gauge was just completely wrong. I can't remember exactly what it was. And originally I started really stressing about all of the math that I would have to do to try to figure out how to recalculate all of that to make it work.
But Norah Gaughan is just brilliant. She's just brilliant and the patterns in her book just give so much information.
So here's the book again here - the Knitted Cable Sourcebook. And this is the sweater that I am making here but I'm doing cable substitutions. And she has a system in here called the Stockinette Stitch Equivalent which is just amazing, which is such a fantastic helpful resource.
So what it said was- Let me show you this again. So main panel, and then two side panels. And the pattern gives the gauge for each of those panels. So for me, this side panel here actually matched the gauge of the side panel in the pattern. But the- my main panel gauge - my main panel gauge was narrower than the main panel gauge for this.
But because the pattern gives you the gauge for each of those cables separately, I was able to look again at the chart for this pattern and- and realise that if I just did one extra repeat of the centre part of it, that would actually give me the width that I need. So that was actually just a really easy fix. A really easy solution to a problem that I thought was going to be really complicated and messy.
Which I'm so glad of because there is another problem that is actually much more complicated and messy and I'm sort of winging it a bit. So in the previous episode, I believe I had mentioned that the back - there's a panel at the back of this sweater that is done pretty much in stockinette stitch but I want to put a cable in there. And I also want to put pockets in there so I'm just making this really difficult for myself.
But I have had to do a big messy amount of maths to figure out... I'm getting lost and confused even just trying to think of and remember what I did. Because I did actually cast on on the cast on day of the knitalong which was the winter solstice. And it's the Colours of Fall knitalong by the Yarniacs. So I cast on on cast on day but because I'm doing all these other projects I haven't done much more - I haven't done any more other than the ribbing that I did on that cast on day.
Anyway. I- What I had to do is I had to figure out the Stockinette Stitch Equivalent for the cable that I'm substituting into the back of the garment.
I've just realised I've left my heater on and it's really noisy so I'm just going to turn it off.
Okay, so what I had to do - there were a few different things that I had to work out for the cable that I'm putting into the back. So it is the cable called Meander if anyone else has the book. So it is - it is this one here.
So the first thing that I had to figure out was how- how big of a pocket did I want? Because it has to fit into this width here. So I need to lengthen this first portion here. So that is one thing that I had to figure out. And I also had to make sure that that width was enough for a pocket, which it kind of just is. It's a bit- going to be on a bit of a narrow side for a pocket but it's going to work fine for me. So I needed to figure out that - how long I had to make that to get a decent sized pocket.
And then I also wanted to make sure that the top of the pocket would line up with one of these cable repeats so that if I wanted to, I have the option of having this little cable along the top of the pocket and it would line up. So that was one thing. I had to figure that out.
And then I also had to sort of guesstimate based on this- this- the gauge for this cable here, how long this would be with that extension. And then I had to look at the pattern and figure out... So if - say for example - say this is the back panel of the sweater. It's - I feel like this is a bit tricky to explain because it is an unusual construction.
So the back panel is kind of like this shape at the bottom and then the top of the sweater is like - that's too big - is like that. And then the front gets seamed along this bit here so that this kind of like folds and flares around the hips. Can you kind of see how it's doing that there?
Anyway, this- this whole thing is stockinette stitch. So the cable that I want - I'm just going to draw on this because why not? This is really terrible and you'll have to ignore this grey bit here because I couldn't write over that section. This is the back- lower back panel. This is the cable so it's got that narrow portion there. This is stockinette switch and then this is all cable.
So what I had to do is I had to figure out how long that would be. And then I had to look at the pattern and see - well, what is the length of this whole thing? And with my lengthening of this section here is it going to actually fit to be half of- half of the back. Because I think for simplicity's sake, what I'm going to have to do is I'm going to have to knit each end inwards and then graft them together. So I had to make sure that one repeat of the whole cable plus, you know, the little repeats that I'm doing in there wasn't going to make this whole thing too long. I really hope I'm making sense.
Anyway, I think with my guesstimate based on this - I think that it's actually just going to be just right. The pocket is going to be a little bit on the short side. But because I will still be having to add like the top - the ribbing/cabled top of the pocket - it will help make it just that little bit longer. I hope.
I got so confused and it was a lot of calculations and a lot of like second guessing if I was doing the right calculations and just crossing my fingers and hoping that this gauge is going to give me the right sort of approximations for the gauge of the cable that I want to do. And it's going to be a big messy experiment. So... Wish me luck.
Okay, I think- I think that's enough of nattering on and getting confused with that one there. Let's move on to the next pattern.
MiniMint (swatches gotta settle)
A couple of weeks ago, I teased that there was a secret test knit that I had signed up for but we still had not been allowed to talk about it for a while. But now we can share it and I have done next to nothing on the actual project itself because it took a lot of swatching.
So a bit of background about the pattern. It is called MiniMint. And it's by Natalie Sheldon of Remember- Remembrances Pottery who I believe I have shared on a previous episode because she makes the most beautiful mugs that I really, really, really want except that shipping over here from Canada - where I believe she is - would cost as much as the mug itself and it would just be a ridiculously expensive mug. But they're so- they're so beautiful.
Anyway, she also designs knitwear and there was a pattern that she came up with - I believe last year - called MerryMint, which was an all over colourwork Christmasy sweater for adults. So she has now made MiniMint as a mini version of that sweater. And I alr- I had that sweater already in my queue and my favourites because I want to make it for myself. But when I saw that she made a mini version, I just- I just jumped on and I am doing a test of the 12 month size.
This is going to be the first garment that I have done that will be all over colourwork. I really want to get the gauge right. I mean, I also just want to get the gauge right because it's a test knit and you know you want to get- you want to be accurate with those.
So this is my swatch here. I did it as a fake in-the-round so I have all of these terrible hideous floats around the back of it. This is the swatch of some of the designs that are in the sweater itself.
I started with swatching in the recommended needles - had to go down a size, had to go down a size, had to go down a size, had to go down a size. I was having so much trouble getting gauge and I knew that my measurements wouldn't be quite right because I was trying to do measurements on the fly while I was knitting.
Which I sometimes try to do so that I know if I'm going to need to try a different needle size, I don't need to do a whole new swatch. So I'll sometimes have swatches that just get really long because I'm putting multiple- using multiple needle sizes to make the same swatch.
So I went through quite a few needle sizes here and then I blocked it and then I measured it and I found that I was getting gauge on the smallest size needle. The pattern recommends 3.25mm. I had to go all the way down to 2mm to get gauge in colourwork.
Yeah, so I put it- I didn't work on it for a while because I was finishing Redford and also because I was just - I think I was just not looking forward to doing colourwork on such tiny needles. Anyway, I cast on. It's top down so I cast on the neck and I did the ribbing but then before I started doing the colourwork, I thought I just wanted to double check again that I'm going to be using the right needle sizes.
So it'd- it's been a while since this has been washed and blocked. It's been, you know, sitting in that basket back there. It's been getting like scrunched up with all the wool balls, thrown around, moved around, and stuff. It's kind of settled, in a way. So I measured it again this morning. And now I'm getting the right gauge on 3mm needles. So who knows what's going on?
That does make more sense to me though because I have used some of these yarns for colourwork socks in the past and they were on 2.75mm needles, and my gauge for those was just a little bit tighter than what I need to get for this sweater. And I was confused initially when I thought I had to go all the way down to 2mm needles because that's smaller needles, which should give me a tighter gauge but I was wanting to get something looser. So using 3mm needles makes more sense because it's going to give me a looser gauge than what I got on the socks, which was using smaller needles and tighter gauge.
I feel like I'm just getting confused today. I'm going to stop going on in that vein.
Anyway. This pattern is designed to be able to use scrap. So that is what I'm trying to do. I'm really trying to just use scrap yarn and not buy any yarn for this. The problem is, because it's for a baby I do want to use superwash yarns so that it can just be thrown in the washing machine because it's definitely going to get dirty and need to be washed. And I don't expect any parents to - any parents of like a n- of a new baby to be hand washing their sweaters for their baby so I want it to be able to go in the washing machine.
And initially I thought that I had more yarns to choose from because I have quite a few solid colours - mini skeins and leftover yarns from Tarndwarncoort - which are 4 ply fingering weight yarns that I- that would have come out beautifully in this. But then I realised that they're not super wash treated and they can't go in the washing machine.
So I was limited then to only using the sock yarns that I have in my stash and half of them are variegated. So it's really hard to match them to to the solid colours that I have and not have sections where the- the difference between the two yarns just gets completely lost.
And you can see that here. You can see like in this grey panel here, these are meant to be circles and things but so much information is just lost because the blues - which are part of the variegated yarn - are just such a similar value to the grey - which is this solid grey here - that you just lose the pattern.
So the best combination of the variegated yarn... I mean, this is- this is pretty decent. It's okay. It's still not the best but it's pretty good. And then this kind of- this kind of works as well. This here - so this- the variegated yarn that is the lighter colour here - it doesn't have as much difference in values within it. Whereas most of the sock yarns I have are- are like this one here where it goes from really dark to really light. So that's the same as this one here. This one that has orange and blue and white and grey. It does have a bit of value difference in it but I feel like it still is working against this maroon colour.
Now, this one here - this variegated blues and greens - is mohair. It's not fingering. I am using it because I really did want to have these leaves in a colour that was greenish because they're leaves. Other people have done them in non green colours and they do still look really good. But I feel like I want that. Plus, you know without that green, the colours are all a bit dull and it is for a child so I want it to be a bright happy garment.
So- So this swatch - not only was it a swatch for making sure I could get gauge, it was also an opportunity for me to play around with how I could actually pair the yarns together. So there's some combinations in here that I'm definitely not using. But there are some other combinations that I think work. And obviously of course you know this - the solids - the solids work best with each other because there isn't as much variation in there.
I'm keen to really get going on this one. I do feel like I can trust the swatch a bit more now that it has sort of settled into place and I'm going to go with the 3mm needles. So once again, wish me luck. Yeah, we'll see how- we'll see how that- we'll see how that goes.
I am excited about doing my first all over colourwork garment. Have you guys done the- done that kind of thing before? Did you find it really hard? What was your tension like? Did it work well for you? Let me know in the comments below. I'm a bit nervous so I'd love to hear what you all think of this kind of design. I'm, yeah. I'm- I think it's gonna look lovely once it comes out. I am just a bit nervous about my floats, my tension, and all of that kind of thing. So if you have any tips you'd like to share that would be lovely.
Multicrafty
Handspun fibre sampler
Next up is Multicrafty. So I had finished the Guild class - the- the beginners spinning class at the Guild nearly a month ago now. But there- I think there was one yarn that I did on the last day that I hadn't actually finished so I didn't have an opportunity to show you and I really wanted to.
This is the yarn here and I know that you can see that there are quite different colours within that skein there. But what I'm hoping that you can also see is the different sheen and the different textures that are in there. The reason that those are there is because we had the opportunity to explore different fibres which was really exciting.
So this skein includes things that we had worked with previously such as combed top. So just wool. I'm pretty sure it would have just been 100% Merino. But then we also got to use things like flax, silk, angora, there was a wool silk blend. What else is in here? I'm sure I am missing some things but if you go and find me on Ravelry, this is in my handspun and I have listed all of the fibres in there.
So the way that I spun this up is I sort of would spin one fibre, and then I would spin a combination of the first fibre and the next fibre that I wanted to use and I would just be holding the two separate fibres in my hand and trying to draft them together evenly, and then the next thing would be just that second fibre on its own. So I was trying to do that kind of thing just to see how different fibres played together, how they felt in my hands, and what I liked and what I didn't like.
Oh cotton! There was also some cotton, which I found really difficult to spin actually. So I completely understand now why there are sometimes like very specialised wheels for spinning cotton because it's a very different fibre.
My favourite was probably the flax, or I'm sort of more interested in exploring more spinning with flax. So spinning it on its own was tricky. There is a recommendation that you dampen your hands, or you wet your hands, or you wet the yarn, or something like that, a little bit when you're spinning with flax. And that sort of helps with the control I believe. So I forgot to do that even though they had just told us because I got- I get too excited and I just- sometimes I just don't listen. Or I- you know it goes in one ear and out the other because I'm just too eager to get into the thing.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the flax and that's the darkest colour that you can see in this skein here. And then, my next favourite - I also really liked the wool silk blend. So because I was spinning silk on its own as well - and it was - I can't remember what kind of silk it was but it was pretty raw. It had- It wasn't combed... Was it combed? No, I think it was like a- it looked like a combed top but it was silk.
Anyway, that was really tricky to spin on its own because it's so smooth and I believe it needs a lot of twist. But I did like the wool silk blend better than spinning wool and silk separately and drafting them together. It was still, you know, nice to kind of try them together but I liked them better when they were pretty blended, professionally. Not my experimental way of doing it. Anyway.
I also really liked bam...boo.... I had wanted to avoid trying to spin with the bamboo and the soy and the tencel. They're fibres that I'm interested in but I'm also a bit put off by the amount of processing that goes into them and how much resources they eat up to turn them into fibre. But it was really nice to to work with. So I'm sure at some point I'll do it again. But yeah, I would probably just focus initially on working with wools, blending in some flax and maybe a bit of silk in there.
And I hope that you were able to see in that close up how shiny the silk was. It's- It's beautiful. It's- It's so shiny. It's so pretty. Yeah, like I said cotton was really difficult. I just found it really hard to draft and just- it came out really slubby and all over the place. But yeah, that was a really great thing to be included in the- in the course. So I'm really happy about that.
First sample spin from Baylor Blacks, Corriedale fleece
And then the- the other spinning thing that I just want to show you quickly is this little skein here. This is my first sample yarn of the fleece that I bought at the Coburg Yarn Market a while ago and I'm so happy with how it has turned out. I think the colours are just beautiful.
It's a 3 ply. I chain plied this one because just for the samples I figured the easiest thing would just be to spin a single and then chain ply it rather than spin two or three separate bobbins and then ply them together, just to make sure that I was using up all of the fibre for the samples.
I've kind of been feeling like my goal in spinning is to be able to produce a DK weight yarn, because I like to work with DK weight yarns. But in all of my experiences so far, I was just feeling like it's gonna take me so long and so much practice to get to a DK weight yarn. Because I guess I'm just not at the skill level yet to be able to spin fine enough to be able to ply something up that would be a DK weight yarn.
I like the properties of a 3 ply better than a 2 ply as well. I think it's something that I will use more. So that's what I'm aiming for, which is why I need to spin finer because obviously if you're putting three things together, it's going to be fatter than something that- when you're- where you're just spinning two things together. Which is also why I'm doing these samples as a chain ply because why would I sample for something that I'm not trying to produce?
So yes, anyway. This- This Corriedale - it drafts so easily and it comes out so finely and it's just so easy to work with and it's just so smooth. I actually have here - the first time I ever spun with it, I made a little sample card of what I was coming up with - this is that here - so that when I continue to spin I could try to match it and do my best to get a consistent yarn. So I've got singles. When I'm spinning, I can just lay it across those and see if it's matching those see- singles. You can see how thin they are.
And then I sampled like a little 2 ply there and then a 3 ply. And aiming for DK - this has come out sport weight. Amazing! So amazing! I'm so- I'm so happy. I'm so happy with how this is working and...
I don't have a spinning wheel anymore because my time was up with the- the wheel that I had borrowed during the course and I'm really keen to get my own. The first one that I'm planning to get is the Electric Eel Wheel 6 by Dreaming Robots. So I'm kind of saving up here and there - trying to sell a few other bits and pieces that I don't need - to help me fund getting that wheel.
Right now I only have my Turkish spindle to spin on. Which is great. And I'm still- I still have plans for using that, but I really enjoyed spinning this up on the wheel and I really want to do the rest of the samples that I have planned on a wheel.
Oh, I just wanted to show really quickly as well. I made myself a terrible little tool. So in the class, one of the instructions- instructors mentioned to us that the little bobbins that you can get for putting embroidery floss on - the gap in the bobbin where you're winding the thread is actually one inch long. I think they said it's only one inch for the cardboard ones and not the plastic ones.
Earlier this year, I needed some more of those. But I had some old notebooks with plastic covers that I thought I would upcycle into them by tracing around some old bobbins that I had, and I would make my own instead of getting new ones. So I took one of those and I had to shave it a little bit inside here to make sure that that is one inch. And then I got a protractor and I drew a centre line and then angles going each way just as a dodgy little tool that I can use for my spinning. So I can check my wraps per inch on it. And I can also check my twist angle on it.
That's just my little makeshift thing there but that is something that I'm going to be looking for when I go to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show very soon. So yeah, in the meantime, I have this little thing that I've made.
Craft for Thought (can I let it go?)
This is going to be a long episode so let's move on to Craft for Thought. I wanted to talk about my crafting evolution and about my struggles in letting go.
I feel like letting go of things that I have done in the past and really given my heart to in the past - it feels like letting a part of myself go. And I still don't feel ready to do that in certain situations, even though these are crafts that I haven't done in years and years and years. Seriously, years and years.
So the very first craft that I ever took up as a child was cross stitch, and that is something that I still periodically go back to. There was a point in high school where I went back to cross stitch and I was doing it quite a bit and then I put it away again. And then you know like I said earlier, this bag holds a cross stitch project that I started... I started it in 2008 actually, I believe. And it's still going now because I keep putting it away but I do still keep coming back to it. So that's one.
Obviously there's knitting. When I first took up knitting, I wasn't really that into it. And you know, I bought all this stuff. I bought yarn and I bought needles and I, you know, sort of tried to get into it and I made a couple of scarves and I- but I wasn't- I wasn't in love with it. So I packed things away and I sold lots of those yarns. And then I don't know what made me pick it back up again. But I did maybe around 2013 or something like that. And that was when I really fell in love with it. And it consumed me.
But somewhere in between all of that I have also worked as a bookbinder. So I got interested in traditional bookbinding - so sewing up books by hand and doing all of that kind of thing - towards the end of university where I had been studying multimedia design. So you know, I was studying all of these very computer focused technical things. And when I finished the course and had realised that A) I wasn't very good at multimedia. And B) that I just wasn't that interested in working in that field - I just I went and pursued the hobby that I had found instead. And I ended up working as a as a traditional bookbinder at a small company for quite a few years.
And I love that. I loved it. It was like a drafty old warehouse with all of this really old equipment and you know, we're sewing up the books by hand and- and you know, like glueing everything up and I don't know. I just I really- I really enjoyed it. And there are skills that I picked up there that I have sort of taken with me and used here and there.
But because I liked it so much, even while I was working in the field I did also pick up bits and pieces of equipment to have at home so that I could keep doing it at home. And I still have some of that equipment. And I still have some of the materials. I have books that are half made that are sewn up and are just waiting to be put together with covers and turned into actual books. And I keep telling myself that one day I'll get back to it. One day I'll finish those off and I'll make more books because I really do enjoy it and there have been times that I have missed it. But I haven't gone back and done it.
So the question is will I ever go back to do it? And then in really wanting to buy myself a spinning wheel, I considered getting rid of some of that equipment that I have and trying to sell it. But I just- I'm really struggling with that because I still really like it. I mean, I don't love it as much as knitting obviously. But it's always going to have a place in my heart and the idea of it also still just makes me really happy. So yeah, that's something that I'm pondering lately.
Do any of you have a similar sort of thing? Do you have old crafts or old hobbies that you don't do anymore but still can't let go of? Or maybe you did let go of it and do you miss it? Do you regret it? Did you end up going back to it? Yeah, I'm really curious. Let me know your experiences in the comments.
Heart Full of Craft (new use for an old tool)
And the other thing as well - and this leads into Heart Full of Craft - is that this past week, I actually found a new way to use some of that equipment.
So one of the items is a book press. So it's kind of just like a big giant clamp, but it's all wooden and it's beautiful. So anyway, I was making these other products and I needed to do some drilling with a little hand drill that I've got. And I was able to clamp the products into that press so that I could use the drill, because it's a handheld drill so I can't hold the item in place and drill. I need both hands to work the drill so I needed to hold the items in something and I used the book press and it just made me so happy to find another way to use it. So that was really nice.
And then it just reinforced, you know, the idea of keeping all of these things because you never know when they're gonna come in handy. And sure, if I really needed a clamp I could buy a vice or something like that from Bunnings and that would be fine. But I also love having these beautiful old items that have you know, history. And they have history with me as well as- as- as on their own in what they have been used for in the past.
So it is a Heart Full of Craft and it's something that I'm grateful for. It made me really happy to find a new use for an old tool. I guess that's all I have to say about that. Keen to you what you think.
Thanks!
So that's it for another rambling episode.
If you're still here, thank you so much. I'm so glad that you've joined me and that you've stuck around and I hope that you've enjoyed and gotten something out of my ramblings. Thank you so much for choosing to spend your time here with me today.
I hope that you're finding time for your family and friends, for your crafting and - most importantly - for yourself. Take care and I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Fare thee well.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Resources
Mentions
Tarndwarncoort (Tarndie)
Craftee Cottage (LYS)
Yarniacs podcast
Patterns (on Ravelry)
Redford by Julie Hoover, Brooklyn Tweed
Sourcebook Flared Pullover
MerryMint by Natalie Sheldon
Yarns & Fibres (from my LYS, or on Ravelry)
Tarndwarncoort yarns from Polwarth sheep
Bendigo Woollen Mills yarns