RIP Jules

May 2002 - December 11 2015

Aurevoir Jules.

Sweet and gentle cat you will be missed.

RIP

Will always keep you in my heart.

Baa-ble Hat

Usually I don't follow trends but this was too cute to not hop on the wagon.

http://www.shetlandwoolweek.com/free-knitting-pattern/

This is a free download.

My own version.

First of all when reading the pattern 96 increasing to 120 stitches was looking more than what I would normally do, I didn't want to modified the pattern, I didn't change to larger needles neither.

I have use John Arbon KBN56 for the ribbing and some of my own handspun for the background, leftover bouclé for the sheep with some black cotton.

Here is the resulting hat.

Fall in Sheep

It was nice but way too large so instead of unravel and redo I have opted for felting/shrinking it.

making it thicker and warmer, so I place it in a laundry bag and in the washing machine it went.

Now it fits perfectly.

Le poinçonneur des lilas...

I was looking at this skein and

though it would make a nice shawl, it's only 100 grams

I did a search on Ravelry and found this pattern:

Mousseux

A nice shawl with a lacy border, fast and easy to knit on the go you can put it down and take 

back exactly where you were at easily.

Before blocking.

While blocking

The little ball is what I got left from the skein. 

After blocking

While knitting all those little holes this made me think of Serge Gaingsbourg and his song

Le poinçonneur des lilas.

I found this video on youtube with the English translation.

West Coast Colour...

This was my prize from Team Canada 

on the TDF2015.

The colourway name is:   P.M.S.

65% Polwarth, 10% Silk, 25% Yearling Mohair.

100grams

It's an absolute soft delight to spin never a dull moment while the colours keep changing and it's keeping you spinning.

This was so much fun to spin.

I have opted for  Navajo plying for this beautiful yarn.

I like this resulting skein, it was a real pleasure working this top.

I would love to buy some more in the future.

I did check the website it's under construction so I guess it would be easier

to contact her directly on Ravelry:   Sheepkeeper.

Thanks for the wonderful prize.

Mill Membership

I'm a mill member at John Arbon Textiles

 My membership spinner package,

Mini skein (knit by number), card/needle gauge, 2 buttons, 200g top

and a cute project bag.

This top included is absolutely fantastic.

200g Top

Captain PolD'arles

80% Organically Farmed Polwarth

10% Merino D'arles driftwood

10% Merino D'arles chestnut

This top is simply amazing soft and bouncy processed to perfection, no nepps.

It's pure pleasure to spin this fiber.

The natural colours are gorgeous.

The resulting yarn is beautiful.

212 grams, 2 plies, 992 yards of bouncy soft yarn.

This was delight, I can recommend this mill for their great tops, way better than the most well known large companies tops I have spun so far.

This is my own opinion and this is not a sponsored post.

Lavender Merino

This was a TDF prize

from: Fiber Detours Boutique

Ashford

100% Merino Lavender  100 grams

Really soft but I found the fibers were quite irregular on the short side.

Not what I'm used to from Ashford.

 It was a little tricky to spin fine as there was some very short fibers mixed with longer ones,

 after washing the skein I whacked it good to full the fibers, I think it turned out ok.

Made almost 400 yards. The color is nice and it is soft as a baby skin.

I don't know yet what I will do with it yet.... back to the wheel for more spinning.

Christy's Challenge part 2

Of course I couldn't wait long to start knitting the beautiful yarn.

I have picked the same pattern I have knitted last as it was on the list of patterns to choose from.

Dragonfly wings by Boo Knits

It was just a perfect match for my yarn.

I have started it on Friday September 4th as it was a long weekend I knew I could be done quite fast.

It was finished by September 9th.

The blocking went well and with the weather collaboration it was dry in about an hour.

I just love how it turned out, feather light with a nice drape.

It took me a while to post it as my computer was having hiccups now it is fixed, I'm glad to have a geeky son that could help installing the hardware for me and clean the dust bunnies.

Now it runs like new.

Christy's challenge...

While browsing on Ravelry I found this challenge.

I received about 100 grams of beautiful Cotswold locks.

Already washed and ready to card.  I decided to card instead of combing because most of the locks were a little too short and It would have wasted too much and I would have ended up with a very skinny skein.

I turned it into a huge batt.

Started spinning away...

and plied...

Then it went for a colorful bath...

Here is the resulting skein for the contest entry.

I really love how it turned out beautiful and lustrous.

Now I wonder how long I'm going to be able to wait before I start knitting this yarn...it's just so tempting.

Just a little spinning

I have been back to spinning.

This is some fibers prizes from the TDF 2015

team Fibre Detours

Northern Lights in violet colorway.

Here is my resulting skein,

73 grams, 2 plies, 208 yards.

This was fun to spin, the colors are nice, the poling is good and pleasant to the eye.

It makes me think of the palette from some Monet's paintings.

Dragonfly wings

Few months ago I have participated to a giveaway from:

www.plutoniummuffins.com

I have won

a skein of Knit by Numbers

by 

John Arbon of Fibre Harvest

link to the yarn at John Arbon.com

This yarn is 100% merino, it is dreamy soft the twist is just perfect and the colour is yummy.

I have been looking for a while at a beautiful shawl/wrap from Boo Knits

Dragonfly wings

and it is a free to download on Ravelry

It was the perfect timing I would be a little short on yarn but in my stash there was some of my handspun merino/silk darker but would work perfectly to make the border.

Lucky there was some pearly pink beads too and I was having enough to complete the project.

Here it is blocked/drying no sun... so I guess the beauty shots will have to wait.

This pattern was a charm, very well written usually I use the charts but this time I just kept going with the written instructions, it looks absolutely gorgeous and it is easy if you know how to use YO to increase and K2tog to decrease, I used a 1mm crochet to place the beads on the stitches easy as pie.

Tour de Fleece finish line...

It was my first TDF

After a difficult first week start it went like a charm.

I really enjoyed the challenge and now I have a lot of yarn to pet and to choose some nice projects to enjoy.

Crossing the finish line and stumbling with that bounty.

This was my last stage, some white english leicester I combed and a little bit of corriedale left over.

Next year I will make sure I have some washed, dyed and ready to spin fleece for this event if I'm participating, it is more rewarding and pleasing to spin something I have prepared, no more bad surprises when it's too late to get something more appropriate to really enjoy spinning that many days and hours.

Louet and Karaoke

Here is a copy/paste of my comment to their blog as it might never get published on theirs:

Diane F July 11, 2015 at 5:14 pm | Permalink | Reply

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

I have spun two different colorways of your Karaoke and those two tops are the worst I ever bought/encounter, I noticed my seller about it and I’m very disappointed with the answer you gave her, it is shameful when knowing your product is of very bad quality to mix it in a pack, in addition of letting down your sellers to deal with the complaints. I can assure you I’m totally unhappy with your ways to do business and I won’t buy any of your products in the future.

I'm posting it here because I doubt it will be published on their blog and to make clear the person whom sell it to me did received complaints from other customers too.... I'm not alone she offered me some fibers of my choice at her own expense... I refused as she won't be compensated for it, it's not her fault but LOUET's fault.

The fact is the fiber is part of a  pack is not an excuse to hide from the customers that some part of it is badly processed at a mill in China where nobody regularly tested the quality before shipping it to their sellers whom will take the hit is totally unfair.  It's not an honest way to treat sellers and customers.

cross posted on Ravelry.

Tour de Fleece

First week.

Louet North America

Karaoke Tiger Shrimp

50% wool/50% soysilk

225 grams

Made in China

I'm going to be frank here.... 

The colours were very nice, but it's been a real pain in the ....

the fibers were impossible to draft like regular tops, It was like felt and the only way I could start to do anything with it was to open the roll separate the fibers in 4 length wise and then it was the tug war to loose up the fibers... this is time consuming as one tug nothing happens and I really do tug fast and hard few times before a small part started to move.

Spinning the fiber wasn't really enjoyable part of it is rough and still couldn't draft as fine as I would like.

Now it is a 2 plies and when I washed it in cold water to set the twist it bleeds..............

At the moment I'm spinning the same fiber in the Angelfish colorway

The colours are nice but I'm finding the same problems as the previous I got to do the same steps to get to spin this one too.

Believe me this got nothing of the silk softness, it got some luster but it's about all it got.

I will finish spinning what I got and I won't recommend this to anyone ever.

I can say it's not only one batch problem as it was two different colors = two different batches.

It's not worth the pain and aggravation, I won't buy this fiber ever again.

This is my opinion from my experience with this fiber.

It's not the quality of fibers I'm used to from Louet, very disappointing.

I'll be happy to start something else next.

Getting ready for The Tour de Fleece...

This year I'm a participant in The Tour de Fleece, my first year so I'm a rookie at this I decided to buy some prepared fibers as I didn't received any Pickwick fleece yet.

I have pick the June Spinzilla Fibre Packs from Louet at the  Boutique Fibre Detours  it's a very nice assortment of fibers.

Merino/silk

Karaoke... wool/soysilk

wool/mohair

Tencel

Llama

and of course some silk

plus 4 packs of 100g of  colourful merino this should keep me spinning this July.

I'm cleaning the wheel wiping all oil residues and getting it all clean and ready for more oil.

Gail... aka Nightsongs

This was my first attempt at a shawl without a spine...

Here is my project bag and the pickwick yarn I used for the main body.

A very entertaining knitting and reading...

I really enjoyed how the yarn luster keeps giving with this design.

It is completed but the weather is not cooperating today and probably for few more days...so no blocking yet.

For the border I have been using a skein of my "unloved" handspun merino.

The garden fabulous poppies will be taken down by the rain too...

Wishing the sunshine and some quite warmer weather soon, because it's been cold even the tomatoes and cucumbers are refusing to grow much.