More spinning

Not from me this time, but from one of my lovely customers. I love seeing pictures of what people make with my fibre, particularly because my own spinning time has become somewhat limited!

The lovely mono (whose stuff is beautiful, go take a look), bought some of this-

40% British Shetland, 40% Merino, 20% Tussah Silk, and turned it in to this.

By the way, exciting things are happening at HilltopCloud, the best way to keep abreast of fresh things is either by following my on twitter (hilltopkatie), or by signing up to my newsletter, there's a link over on the right.

Coedlan

Christmas is coming up on us rather quickly, if like me you make most of your presents, the diminishing number of weeks tends to sharpen the mind and speed up the needles rather....

If you're still not sure what to make for your nearest and dearest then I have a solution, meet Coedlan.

It's a short, textured scarf held closed by a single large button, it won't curl, and works well with handspun yarn, the green version above was spun by my Mum using some batts I carded for her.

Here's a slightly less arty shot.

If I still had the sort of job where I was required to look presentable here's how I'd probably wear it, I have a huge collection of these jackets, but they definitely need a scarf in winter, but because they're close fitting it needs to be short.

It uses 140m of bulky weight yarn so it's a quick knit. If you would like to make one you can download the pattern- buy now from Ravelry.

Or, I'll be putting together some more kits for the shop in the next few days, some with batts to spin, others with handspun yarn. The kits will also come with a handmade wooden button.

Coeurs et Flocons

I've been working on this for the past 8 months, admittedly I've neglected it for large chunks of time, but even so, it's a big piece of knitting, nearly the size of a single bed.

The pattern is called Coeurs et Flocons, and it's from an edition of Marie Clair Idees. The original pattern is just knitted in red and white which looks stunning, but I'm pretty pleased with my version as well.

Also, it's heading towards the next round of Fibreholics, a UK based collection of fibre artists, we all send in samples of our work, you buy a box containing an assortment of those samples. It's a great way to try new fibres, and new suppliers. If you want to take a sneak peak of what I've sent in then take a look here.

New pattern

The observant of you will notice that there is something new over to to the right. I've been working on a few things in the background for a while now, and the first of them is finally ready.

Meet Rhwyd (pronounced Rrrud), whihc is Welsh for net.



It's designed to work well with handspun yarns, and heavily variegated commercial yarns. It's reversible, and won't curl, and features stitch patterns that aim to break up pooling.



The pattern features charts, and written directions, and has been test knitted by the wonderful Julie from Button Button.
It's available to buy now from Ravelry, and I'll also be doing kits for the HilltopCloud Etsy shop with fibre only options (the blue version was made using some of handblended roving), or handspun yarn options.

Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy

Not fibre related this time, instead gardening related. I fully admit my input on the gardening is minimal, though I do sometime provide some digging labour! the real gardenner in the family is my Mum, since we moved to Wales we've had enough space to grow as much of certain vegetables as we like.
We planted enough potatoes this year to feed us for (hopefully) the entire year, most were the usual varieties Charlotte, and Desiree, but my friend SpinningFishwife had given us 3 seed potatoes of an old variety called Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy it's an old variety dating back to about 1899, and is rather rare, so by growing a few plants in our garden hopefully we'll help avoid it disappearing.

It's skin is a beautiful purple colour, and apparently it's rather tasty, though we're saving this years crop to plant for next year.



(That's a Desiree next to it)

Down on the Beach

We live a short drive away from some rather good, deserted beaches. The dogs love the beach so we try to go down quite often. They must run miles chasing after balls, and there are so many good smells...



We also wanted to go down to the beach to collect some driftwood. Dad has been making "things" with it which he's been selling at local markets, and supplies were running low.



In the end we maybe got a little enthusiastic, carrying several bags of driftwood back to the car was rather hard work!

Next time, we'll check the tides as well, there's only so many times you can put up with a wave overflowing your wellies!

My first handspun

I appear to be enabling a few newbie spinners right now, so I thought it would be nice to put my first spinning attempts out there...



The brown at the front was my first ever skein, and suffers from that typical beginners problem of chronic under-plying, it's a bit lumpy bumpy, but actually most of the unevenness would be much improved by a good plying job.

The other skeins were originally white, but were attacked with some leftover dye from dyeing a sock blank a few years ago. They're far more even, but in comparison with my efforts now are maybe a little dense...

Spinning really is like riding a bike, at first you'll fall off, and it all seems a bit wobbly, and you have to concentrate, then muscle memory develops and becomes something you can do without thinking.