Sheep to Yarn to Sheep

More ideas of what to do with your first handspun, or even a scrap of leftover handspun.  This idea comes from the lovely Linda. she bought one of my basic Learn to Spin Kits .

Her yarn is pretty good for a first attempt, as she says in her project notes, plying evens out the finished yarn quite dramatically. 

She then crocheted it in to her very own little sheep. 

You can find the pattern here. The original sheep was designed to be stuffed with a scented sachet, and with Christmas on the way it strikes me that these might be ideal quick Christmas gifts to use up scraps of handspun. The knobbly crochet just seems to suit the texture of the sheep perfectly. I don't really crochet, but I might have to give one of these a go to take with me to Glasgow School of Yarn. 

Learn to Spin

One of the frequent questions I get asked in relation to my Learn to Spin kits is "what can I make with the yarn I've spun"

The answer, is as ever, it depends. It depends on how quickly you grasp the technique, how consistent your yarn is, and what you like making.

Some people, it has to be said, are naturals, this is Pip's 3rd ever yarn, made using the batt and handblended roving from the kits

I want to hate her, but she such a lovely person that I can't quite manage it!

That's 85g of fibre turned in to 156m of sport weight yarn. 

And then a pair of flip top mittens. Knitted quite densely to keep the chill off.

Perfection!

For anyone who's wondering about what to make with first skeins of handspun, mittens are a pretty good answer. They don't need much yardage, and tend to get worn in quite quickly. Moving the fabric as you move your hands evens out the stitches and fluff fills any slightly looser sections. 

Just 100g

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic. Just before I wrote the last post I went down to Pembrokeshire Guild of Weavers and Dyers for their open day (if you would like me to visit your guild with the shop, or to run a workshop then get in touch). Just 5 days later I was heading in to the Peak District to BOB the Underground festival. It was a great weekend, but all shows are tiring and the work keep piling up while you're not at home. I've spent the rest of the week unpacking, organising, and dyeing for my Best of British club. 

However, this is not a moan, just gives you an idea about why occasionally things fall a bit silent on the blog!

When I'm at shows I often get comments of "oooh it's lovely, but what can I make with 100g', so over the winter I'm hoping to make a few samples to answer just that question. I'm particularly after things that aren't shawls.

Here's one of my new samples-

 It's less than 100g, in fact  I had some yarn leftiver so it's only took about 70g of fibre. The fibre was  some of my handcarded batts containing BFL, Merino and Angora, I spun them up longdraw in to a fluffy worsted weight yarn.

The finished yarn has a beautiful halo, and yes it would be handwash only, but I think more and more parents are appreciating how to care for more delicate garments. Most washing machines now have a handwash cycle, I use it for my handknits all the time and it works beautifully. 

The pattern, if you would like to create your own version, is One Baby Sweater. I think it's a lovely little versatile pattern, that would work for boys and girls.

Tour

Yesterday I drove over to Welshpool to watch the start of Tour of Britain cycle race. For the non-clycling fans out there it's pretty similar to the Tour de France, except it doesn't last for as many days, not as many of the big teams compete, and the hills aren't as big as the Alps or Pyrenees. 

The Welsh stage of the race traditionally leaves from Powis Castle which is down the road from me, and this year I decided to make the effort to go and watch the start of the race. British cycling has never been more popular, and it showed, the number of fans there was huge, and getting off the car park at the end was something of a competitive event in itself!

The team buses, cars and vans all pulled up in to the main car park, and most people milled around, waiting to spot famous rider, and pointing at very expensive bikes. Highlight of the morning was when one of the Garmin cars reversed over a bike that had been left leaning on the back bumper. I suspect that was a rather expensive oops...

Until however, the Sky bus pulled up. It was the only bus to have it's own barriers erected round it, and with in seconds the crowds were 10 deep...

This was about as close as I got to Mark Cavendish, however, I'm so glad I went because having a British road racing champion is pretty special. 

Even getting in a position to see the start line was something of a competitive event.

There are still a couple of days racing left and if you live near the route then it's well worth popping out for half an hour to watch them go past.

Decked

My younger brother is home for the weekend, and his first comment was "you've not shown the pictures of the finished deck on your blog", so just for you Nick, and because you worked very hard building it, here's the finished decking.

I no longer have a 2 metre drop out of the door, instead I can stroll out and sit in the sunshine. 

Of course, Nick doesn't get to come home and just have a relaxing weekend, he and Dad are currently on the roof of the workshop replacing the roofing. Maybe someday we'll finish all the jobs that need doing...

Colours of Autumn

Some people think of autumn as being about leaves turning from green to brown, but for me, this colour is what autumn is all about.

The sunsets at the end of the valley, at this time of year they have a very special beauty.

I took this a couple of nights ago as I went out to shut the chicken run. This is looking down our valley, you can just see the light reflecting off the caravan and the polytunnel.

I've been busy in both over the last few days. The caravan is where I do all my dyeing, I've been taking advantage of the good weather to dye up some fibre for my upcoming shows. It then all goes off to the polytunnel to dry off. I've spent this afternoon labelling, so I'll be back to turning the carder tomorrow.

Mad Chickens

The chickens have been absent from the blog for far too long.

They still spend most of their time marauding round the garden seeing what yummy things they can find to eat. I see an awful lot of their fluffy bottoms poking skywards!

The observant among you will notice that there are only 3 in the picture above, fear not, the others are still alive and well, just a little pre-occupied.

They have decided that they are brooding a clutch of eggs, except they're not, because all the eggs get taken out of the nest box.... This is why people who want lots of eggs don't have pretty, fluffy, posh chickens. 

One of them has become so broody that even when you evict her from the nest box she still refuses to accept that she's not sat on a clutch of eggs. She just sits there on the lawn in a trance, eventually she wakes up a little, but it takes her a while!

We've tried most of the methods that are supposed to get them to stop being broody and they're having none of it. I kick them off the nest box now and again to get some food, and once the other hens have laid their eggs they get shut out from the nest box, and go off as a little gang to see what adventures they can have.