Challenge Navajo/chain plying

In order to maintain the beautiful colour separations which come with spinning a handpainted fleece or roving, I always wanted to know how to Navajo/chain ply. Still, as rather a newbie, this is not exactly the first thing you're giving a try at ...



Well, now I felt ready to deal with this challenge - and thanks to YouTube ;-), it wasn't even that difficult!



What you need is a slightly overtwisted single, three times the length you wish your yarn to be, and if you don't want the final yarn to bee too bulky, try spinning the single quite thin.

Set your whorl on big and slow, select a strong uptake, put your single on a lazy kate, make a loop with the single and the leader on your bobbin. Then it's basically just 'finger-crocheting' your single through the loop with your left hand - making real big loops -, while your right hand is pinching the three strands to form the twist.

Sounds more complicated than it actually is - just take a look at that video and I guess it will come perfectly clear!

Another funny little thing which I found at YouTube was an i-cord earphone wrapping tutorial, showing how to knit a colourful i-cord around the cables of your earphones, to prevent them from tangling. Of course I couldn't resist, these are mine:



(German summary: Jetzt habe ich mich ans Navajo/chain-Verzwirnen gewagt - und mit Hilfe des YouTube tutorials, war es gar nicht einmal so schwer. Der große Vorteil ist natürlich, daß die Farbsequenzen vom handgefärbten Vlies oder Kammzug viel besser erhalten bleiben.

Bei YouTube habe ich auch das lustige Einstricken der Kabeln gefunden - jetzt ist kein Kabel mehr vor diesem privaten 'guerilla-knitting' sicher!)

Challenge core-spinning

I love spinning - for so many reasons - and even if I still very much enjoy the very plain spinning of a simple roving into a normal single, then plying it into a basic balanced two-ply yarn, I can now feel tempted trying out new challenges, like core-spinning, f.e.

A short while ago I suddenly held a beautifully hand-dyed fleece in my hands with the hint, that it is quite possible to spin directly from the fleece, without carding or preparing it much further, and at about the same time, I had also seen a sequence regarding core-spinning in Jacey Boggs' book and DVD 'Spin Art'.

So I tried it out with this Polwarth fleece and BFL locks -



- and with this Romney fleece -



- and it was great fun!

Normal spinning from the fleece (below showing milksheep fleece, still a bit greasy) - was fun too, somehow it made me feel much 'closer to the sheep' than with the carded roving.



But back to core-spinning: it's such a pleasure spinning and creating this fluffy, delicate yarn, it's just a feast to the eye and a wonderful feeling for your hands ... but what do you do with it? How can you work with it and use it, without destroying the lightness of its texture? And the small amount of yarn I had - just a bobbin full - limited the range of projects furthermore ...

I guess you can either first choose a project and then design your handspun yarn to fit in - or you can choose to have your fun while spinning and must then use your imagination finding a project suitable for your fancy yarn ...

Anyway, I realized this yarn needed an uncomplicated pattern and really big needles or hook to perform well - and was very happy to pick out my crochet hook 19 mm (!) for it, my absolutely biggest one -

and after some experimenting, I decided to crochet a moebius scarf, just single crochets in a twisted loop ...



- I used the yarn up to the very last inch, and had great pleasure in crocheting with it too!

What would you use your core-spun or bulky art yarn for? Any ideas or experiences to share?

(German summary: Ich spinne so gern - auch ein ganz normales Garn - aber diesmal wollte ich etwas neues probieren, core-spinning, direkt aus dem gefärbten Vlies heraus.

Eine reine Wonne, sowohl das Spinnen an sich als auch das Ergebnis! Aber was macht man daraus, so daß auch das Flauschige, Leichte erhalten bleibt?

Ich habe einen einfachen Möbius-Schal gehäkelt, mit Häkelnadel Nr 19 und normale feste Maschen - aber ich würde gerne mehr Vorschläge und Ideen sammeln! Was macht ihr mit eurem Artyarn?)

Blue mohair wrist warmers

When I stumbled upon this beautiful handpainted blue mohair roving at Etsy, I just couldn't resist it ... I had never spun mohair before, but it's so silky and long-fibered that it almost span itself into a very thin and shiny yarn.

To make the luxury complete, I plied it with a hand-dyed royal baby alpaca lace yarn (from Susa) and decided to knit myself a pair of super-soft - and very warm! - wrist warmers. Yes, I know, spring is here, but my wrists still do ache for a lot of warmth.

As this gorgeous yarn reminds me so much of water and of the sea, I crocheted a row of 'shells' with the thin alpaca as a side border. And what would be more suitable for decoration than a couple of those miniature shells, which Elizabeth/Landanna had collected on her Danish seashore and sent to me as a gift last Christmas?



I'm so happy with these, they warm up my wrists and my heart!

(German summary: Ich habe zum ersten mal wunderbar weiche, handgefärbte Mohairwolle versponnen und mir daraus sehr luxuriöse Handgelenkswärmer gestrickt. Als Krönung habe ich noch - mit Hilfe einer Drahtschlinge - einige der winzigen Muscheln draufgenäht, die mir meine Blogfreundin Elizabeth/Landanna zu Weihnachten geschickt hat.)

Blue batts and a 'denim' yarn

One of the best things about our blogworld is the mutual inspiration - how one idea leads to another, like in a relay ...

My dear blog friend Elizabeth/Landanna is working on a big jeans project, where she is unseaming piles of worn jeans and then handsewing them together for new shapes with a bright red thread. This combination of faded blue shades and the red stitches is really awesome, and I just adore the fresh and beautiful look of it.

Having had these pictures in mind, I've been pondering over how to integrate these colours in a project of my own.

And a few days ago I found what I've been searching for - the 'Shizuku' scarf pattern by Angela Tong (free Ravelry download). Shizuku means drops of water, I've learned, and so I think these shades of blue will be a perfect match.

(I admit I'm not really the only one loving this pattern - if you go visit Lavendelblau or MelinoLiesl f.e., you will see other beautiful versions of it.)



To create the feeling of worn jeans, I carded the different blues I had stashed - a little green and white too - together with some red sheep locks I've dyed myself.

I carded the wool quite roughly and only once, then spun the batts into an irregular and a bit bumpy worsted yarn. I decided to ply with a ball of the new Noro Sekku (yes, also stashed!), a very thin cotton/wool/nylon/silk blend, which emphazises the casual denim look quite well, I think.

(German summary: Seit einiger Zeit folge ich meiner Freundin Elizabeth's Jeansprojekt und überlege, wie ich die schöne Kombination ihrer blauen Jeanstöne mit leuchtendem Rot auf ein Strickprojekt übertragen kann. Das nette 'Shizuku'-Muster von Angela Tong gab mir dann den Anstoß zum Kardieren, Spinnen und Stricken ...)

Spinning for leisure, felting for pleasure

This orange flower just had to be made, celebrating the first warm and sunny spring days!

I added a couple of beads and French knots for embellishment and a safety pin on the back - a brooch for a spring jacket or as a closure for a shawl or a wrap. It's a small present for a friend of mine.



I've been spinning a little too - just for the fun of it, no special project in mind. 'Spinning is good for the soul' - Anke at WolleNaturFarben often reminds me of that in her blog postings - and yes, spinning is like meditating, it soothens your mind and calms your thoughts - and at the same time, your hands produce a lovely yarn out of the soft wool on your lap.

I still had a roving left of the New Zealand wool I dyed myself two summers ago - not a very spectacular one, but I did like the red dots in between:



It's funny, how serendipity often decides how a yarn will turn out - sometimes a most beautiful roving turns out to become a quite regular yarn, sometimes it's just the other way round ...

You make your decisions about the wool, the blending, to card or not to card, about the thickness and the whorl when spinning, how and with which material to ply - and still there is a randomness which keeps surprising you until the end.

Even if I have been spinning enthusiastically for a couple of years and know that I can control the handling a lot more now than in the beginning, I still feel there's a lot left to be learned. I remain a seeker and beginner in my experiments.

It seems every new yarn teaches me something I didn't observe before - in this case, it was the colour of the plying. When plying with a thin thread, I usually try 'hiding' it by choosing the dominant colour of the roving - this time, I took a shiny blue silk thread instead and a dark red woolen one, referring to the red spots on the wool -



and in my opinion, this was exactly what made this yarn arise. (Meeting the colours with the camera would need improved skills though, I'm afraid - the first photo above, with the felt flower in the front, shows the 'glow' better ...)

(German summary: Eine gefilzte Blumenbrosche zum Einläuten des Frühlings - und einige Gedanken darüber, wie jedes handgesponnene Garn mir neue Erkenntnisse und Aha-Erlebnisse bringt - diesmal war es die farbliche Akzentuierung beim Verzwirnen.)

Hibernating in a pile of sockwool ...

Oh dear, this year seems to run even faster than the last one ... and although hibernating regarding my postings (and I'm sorry for that!), I haven't been idle at all, but quite industrious -

So where shall I begin?

Well, it started with me finding an on-line provider of high-quality and non-expensive sock wool ... and as you know I love making anything but socks with that interesting, variegated yarn, I was tempted enough to buy a couple of kilos ...

As I had bought packages of unspecified colours, it was an even bigger challenge to find suitable projects - pink/rosé isn't really what I use to wear, but in combination with that green ...



anyway, it turned out to become a vest, a very comfortable one, which I'm already wearing.

The pattern, which is actually a kind of 'granny square' with distinct 'holes' at the corners, not only shows the colour variegation well but also produces a diagonal pattern which I find quite attractive. I found it in 'Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders' by Judith Durant, where it's originally used for a shoulder bag.

Then I had some of that greenish 6-ply wool left - and together with some scraps of Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn from my stash, I decided to crochet a little neck bag, using Lucy's 'Granny Wheel' at Attic24.



My bag is about 14 x 13 cm, and I can use it both sides.

The next thing I want to show you is the second version of the 'Japanese Flower Shawl' - exactly the same pattern as in my previous posting, still very different-looking as I used a 4-ply sock wool with very long colour sequences this time (found at a local shop) and a smaller hook. I also deliberately made a colour change for each round to get a more distinct appearance.



Here you have another picture featuring the Noro shawl to the left, the sock wool shawl to the right, for comparison.



As you can see, I've become really hooked on crocheting with variegated sock yarn - both the 4-ply and the 6-ply yarns are very comfortable for that purpose, and choosing smaller and bigger hooks makes the work pieces sturdy or soft, whatever intended.

And of course I started more projects than these just presented ... but I will show them later on, when accomplished.

Finally just another triangle shawl which I've just finished - knitted with a multi-coloured yarn I spun myself - a dear friend of mine will receive it as a birthday present.



(German summary: Es tut mir leid, daß ich wieder einmal so lange gebraucht habe, um aus dem 'Blog-Winterschlaf' zu finden - gefaulenzt habe ich trotzdem nicht, sondern mich vor allem mit Sockenwolle und verschiedenen Häkelprojekten beschäftigt: eine Weste, eine kleine Häkeltasche und noch eine zweite Version des Blumenschals - ja, und ein gestricktes Tuch aus selbstgesponnener Wolle ist auch noch dabei.)

Mongolian Warrior Pullover/Mongolischer Kriegerpullover

At last, at last - I've finally managed to finish that Mongolian Warrior Pullover, which I promised my daughter more than a year (shame, shame!) ago ...



When she saw the design in Nicki Epstein's book 'Knitting On Top of the World', she asked me to knit one for her too - but in black, with just a bit of olive green - and if possible, with detachable sleeves (which is of course not in the pattern), so that she can wear it both as a pullover and as a sleeveless vest/waistcoat.

As I had already knitted a red vest for myself using this pattern, I wasn't that eager to make another one (I hate knitting the same pattern twice!) - but nevertheless I bought some nice wool & bamboo yarn and started on it -



Well, now it's finished, at last! (And when I finally started, it didn't even take that long ...)

For the detachable sleeves, I crocheted a row of single crochet along the outer strips, working some short chains as 'buttonholes' on the shoulders - which you would hardly notice when the sleeves are off. The buttons themselves were spread onto the top of the sleeves.

The buttons on the hips are just for decoration - I thought it would look nice to repeat the brass buttons there, giving it a slightly 'military' touch - well, it is after all a warrior pullover, isn't it?

And - I've got a big parcel from Susa again - wonderful handdyed wool, to knit and to spin -

this one makes me think of an old fisherboat, lying on the shore:



- and the spinning wool (I've already begun spinning it!) - which Susa dyed upon my request, on Wensleydale sheep wool - will become a wonderful, soft 'deep lake in the forest'-sweater ...



(German summary: Endlich habe ich den 'Mongolischen Krieger'-Pullover fertig, den sich meine Tochter schon seit einem Jahr wünscht - wir haben ihn mit abknöpfbaren Ärmeln abgeändert. Und dann habe ich noch wieder wunderschöne, handgefärbte Strick- und Spinnwolle von Susa bekommen - und natürlich schon angefangen zu spinnen ...)

Spinning a rainbow/Regenbogen spinnen

I'm spinning again - enjoing the very, very last late summer days with the spinnig wheel outside in the garden - spinning more of that beautiful handdyed wool from Susa (earlier posting here).



It's funny how different a yarn can turn out, depending on the plying thread used. For the rainbow roving, I first used a thin matching thread for plying - and wasn't convinced at all:



So I searched my stash and found a ball of lace yarn (Schoppel Crazy Ball) and plied my rainbow Masham wool once more with that (ah yes, I mixed in some dark blue wool at an end too) - and suddenly, I could really see the rainbow coming through!

Due to the different colour sequences in the plying yarn, there were exciting new colour combinations - made me think of the Hundertwasser colour scheme here and there -



The next is a very light-coloured Cheviot roving, which I'm planning to use for a plain Victorian lace shawl - I'm plying it with a vintage rosé silk thread (one more of those rayon silk threads dated 1936 which I found in my mother's cellar a couple of years ago!) It will be a gift for a friend of mine.



And for the last one, a Falkland wool - the colours are deeper and more 'cloudy' in real! - I've spun it in a soft thick & thin manner, plying it with two skinny wool threads.

I'm not sure what to knit out of this yet - it's very fluffy and delicate, so it would be quite suitable for some kind of shoulder shawl too - and even if I already have some, I still adore those kind of wraps now that the nights are getting colder ...



Of course, I'm not a spinning artist like Jana, who I admire very much indeed - but at least I'm beginning to feel that I'm getting closer to controlling the spinning wheel (and not vice versa :-) - and that I can at least roughly make it produce the yarn I'm aiming at. I'm so glad I bought that wheel and just kept on trying until it worked out!

(German summary: Ich spinne wieder - wunderbar gefärbte Wolle von Susa - und freue mich, daß ich damals das Spinnrad gekauft und einfach so lange herumprobiert habe, bis ich annehmbar spinnen konnte - es ist so eine Freude!)

Hooked on those colourful African flowers/Kleines Häkelprojekt zum 'Drüberstreuen' ...

Oh dear, I can't help that I just have to start this little extra project as well ...



I read about the 'African Flower' pattern on Sara's blog and followed her link to the South-African Moxycrochet Project - and then I thought I'd try out just one of those little colourful flowers myself ... and I was literally hooked! The only comfort is that I can re-use some of those stashed yarns and yarn ends of mine ... (By the way, I think the only thing I'm not using my sock-wool for, is for knitting socks ;-)!

I don't know yet what it will turn out to be - thought of some kind of jacket, maybe ... if I can stick to it that long ... Or a fancy bag ... But seven of them, sewn together, would look nice as a small potholder - for a teacup or so - too, wouldn't they?

But faster than I can de-stash, I'm up-stashing again: I made the 'mistake' to have a look at Dornröschen's online-shop right after she'd done some new dyeing:



Well - what can I say? This parcel arrived yesterday! There will be plenty to spin and to knit now, during the long autumn evenings ...

(German summary: Tja, was soll ich sagen - diese kleinen bunten Blumen sind so entzückend, daß ich einfach ein kleines Nebenprojekt noch starten mußte ... aber mit 'lagerndem Material', zumindest! Und dann kam noch die frische Lieferung von Dornröschen ... da hab' ich auch noch ein paar Ideen für die langen Herbstabende ...)

A bunch of shawls/Drei Tücher

Well, I haven't been quite as lazy as it may seem: Three shawls have been knitted during the last few weeks, and today the weather was fine enough to make some photos of them - my daughter Emily is the model with the beautiful back!



This first one (above) is knitted with a Schoppel Crazy Ball (Colour: Frische Fische) in a simple pattern, starting at the upper middle and proceeding as long as your yarn ball allows -



the second one is a variation on the same pattern idea, but this time knitted with a self-dyed yarn, one of my first experiments on variegated sock wool -



and for the third one, I chose a multi-coloured, hand-dyed silk- and wool roving which I bought from Dornröschen and then spun myself. This shawl is knitted in stockinette stitch from one side to the other, increasing (and after the center: decreasing) on one side only. As half of the fibers are Tussah silk, this is an extremely soft and delicate shawl!

(German summary: So, endlich sind meine drei Tücher fotografiert, die ich in den letzten Wochen gestrickt habe - einmal Schoppel Crazy Ball, einmal Selbstgefärbtes, einmal Dornröschen's Seide/Wollfasern, die ich dann versponnen habe! Sehr angenehm, sowohl zum Spinnen als auch zum Verstricken!)

Spinning and knitting hand-dyed silk and wool/Handgefärbte Seide und Wolle spinnen und stricken

I have a new passion.
I've put all other projects aside for spinning the hand-dyed silk & wool rovings from Dornröschen.



I found the link to Christine/Dornröschen and her hand-dyed rovings and yarns on Jana's wonderful blog - 'Anaj's kreatives Tagebuch'. Jana is a most talented master spinner, dyer and felter, and her beautiful artyarns seduced me to trying out this hand-dyed silk wool as well.

Feeling the soft silk running through my fingers while spinning, plying and knitting makes me happy. The colours come out so rich in the spun yarn, shining warm and precious when hit by the light.

I've started knitting two shoulder shawls, one in green and purple, which remind me of crocus, lilacs, hyacinths, asparagus, bulbs and sprouts ...



... the other one in oriental reds, resembling herbs and spices in an exotic bazaar - or maybe the red, ripe fruits and berries in the midst of the summer heat:



The classic feather & fan pattern which I've used looks intricate but is yet quite simple, one row changing between 6 times k2tog and 6 yok1, one row knitted, one row purled inbetween. You can find the complete pattern in "Beautiful Knits" by Alison Dupernex, which holds several easy patterns.



Though this yarn was a new purchase - which I just couldn't resist - I've promised myself not to start another project without incorporating recycling or stash material. Even for this 'precious' silk I was glad to use the - almost antique! - rayon silk thread bobbins for plying, which I found in my mother's cellar about a year ago.

And I'm sure my stash will provide some beads and maybe some of that Indian recycled Sari silk for the finishing as well ...

Speaking about other projects - look what I received from Elizabeth at Landanna last week: driftwood!



This lucky girl lives on an island in Denmark with the beach nearby, thus being able to collect wonderful driftwood on her daily walk ... At the moment, she is taking us on a virtual walk with her in her blog.

And this is what Carolyn is doing with her beach finds - so beautiful! - another lucky girl, living close to the sea ...

Emily's green and orange bag/Emily's grünorange Tasche

My daughter Emily celebrated her 11th birthday today and she had asked me to make her a small bag in her favourite colours green-orange-and black.

I spun the wool, plied it with an orange thread, knitted it - except for the black edge and the strap, which are crocheted - and finally punched it with the embellisher (but only from the front side). I found a lovely flower button to suit it as well!

She had also asked for a scarf some time ago, so I crocheted it (with sock wool!) in the green and orange colour scheme as well ...

When she got it this afternoon, she was so happy and content and wore it the rest of the day - it's a wonderful thing to do something for her, as she appreciates it so very much ... I'm a very lucky mum!



I'm also knitting on my 'Stone Age Project' - I guess it's going to be a sweater when it's ready - although I've been thinking about doing a pullunder with loose sleeves to button on, too ... don't know yet. Nevertheless, it's a funny way spinning small amounts out of the raw wool, then winding it onto the niddy-noddy, washing it several times in hot soap water, drying, winding into balls, knitting - and spinning again ...

The wool turns out very soft, very natural, clean but with a tiny, tiny smell of sheep, which I must admit I love, if it's discrete enough ...



I've also found a gorgeous book, a bible for all knitters who want to work freely, not wanting to be bound by rigid knitting patterns and special yarns recommended but shaping their own personal sweaters:



And tomorrow Sara is coming ...!

(German summary: Meine Tochter Emily hat sich zu ihrem 11. Geburtstag eine von mir gemachte Tasche und einen Schal in ihren Lieblingsfarben gewünscht. Die Tasche ist hauptsächlich gestrickt - aus selbstgesponnener Wolle -, ein kleiner Teil gehäkelt, dann mit dem Embellisher gepuncht/verfilzt. Ich stricke auch an meinem Steinzeitpullover - d.h. ich spinne die Rohwolle direkt, so wie sie ist, dann erst wasche ich sie und stricke weiter ...)