I'm not so much out of knitting mojo but definitely out of picture taking mojo.
And so there isn't much blog fudder at the moment. But I can at least write what I knitted during the last weeks.
A twinset for my niece - sleeveless top and bolero; I hope I guessed right on the size
And because my daughter liked to top so much - a variation of it for her; I'm writing down the pattern for it
A ribbed sweater for my son - which won't be of any use until fall
A sleeveless top for me - empire style with a very fitted top; I started writing down the pattern.
A short cardigan for my daughter, because the weather forecast for the weekend (when we will attend a wedding) wasn't very good - one sleeve missing.
And a lot of spindling in between.
Really a lot - but I really, really hate take pictures at the moment.
The little cardigan is worked after a pattern, but with a lot of changes - and maybe even an invention? I found a way of attaching a normal button during working the piece. No sewing of buttons afterwards - hurray!.
Originally I didn't plan to participate, because knitting at a timetable always drives away my knitting mojo and I assumed I would not have time on my hands anyway.
But now I have very conviently a project with a deadline on August, 23rd. We are invited to a wedding on that day and my daughter needs a chic cardigan for her even more chic dress.
Just perfect, don't you think so?
I joined Team Germany and signed up for babydressage.
And not only with me. My children wanted spindles, too. To keep things simple I made some for them myself using some wooden wheels with rubber tyres from the hardware store (you can use them to build toy trucks etc.), kebob skewers, a little band aid and a bended paper clip. I also want to make some from old CD's but haven't gotten to it, yet. And I still need some really small hooks for the spindles, I haven't found them in my hardware store.
And then I needed some wool. I only had some merino roving and that didn't seem the approbriate fibre for children to start with. So I ordered some Bergschaf (a German / European breed) and now they can start. It isn't easy at all - spinning the spindle itself seems to be the easiest part and they already tried this because the spindles were finished long before the yarn arrived. But drafting is really not easy for 5 and 7 yo children.
But I'm sure they'll get it.
I also included a little for me to experiment with. Amongst it was some Gotland sheep. Not easy at all - sooo sleek, so also the staple length is rather long I have problems to keep everything together. I'm sure, my slow spinning cross spindle wasn't the best choice for this fibre but there was no other free.
Then there is some multicoloured multicolour merino that I tried on one of the childrens spindles. Nice effect, looks like Trekking 100.
And to make things complete I also ordered some yarn for felting - ordered again from Wollknoll.
I'm making quite good progress on my spinning project.
That's what about 220 g of finished yarn look like.
etwa 220 g / about 220 g
While spinning this yarn I learned a new technique: thigh spinning. Result: works great (also I've always read you can't do this with a bottom whorl) and I can fit much more yarn on the spindle.
With my former technique the spindle grew too heavy once there were about 30 g on it. It did hurt my wrists to drive the spindle so much I had to stop. With the new technique I can easily fit 60 g and more on it. Makes for much nicer balls of yarn.
Not much happening here. Main reason I'm not spending that much time in front of my computer and the remaining time is mostly reserved for other things. For writing patterns, calculate, recalculate, etc. I have some ideas in my mind and I really want to bring them into some publishable form rather soon.
The second try, 2ply this time. I spun the single more so I had more twist to go into the ply (does this sentence make any sense at all? I'm still learning spinner's Engish ...). I also improved the spindle a little by adding a hook. I used a stapler bracket (?) and some band-aid. Thanks to Christiane for your tip in the comments on my first post about the mini spindle. Yardage here is about 600 m / 100 g - so the singles are a rather constant 1200 m / 100 g with this spindle.
A few days ago my son suddenly decided he wanted to learn how to knit. At the daycare after school fingerknitting is very popular at the moment. Over the weekend he worked his way through my sockyarn leftovers and made a tube of about 20 m length. After that I thought he was prepared to take up "real" knitting with needles. It takes lots of concentration but knit stitch work already rather well.
Now my daughter wants to learn how to use a spindle ...
Okay, technically I already own two spindels - the two models offered from Wollknoll. But in the end I only used the basic drop spindle because I don't get along with the cross spindle at all.
All my spinning experience is with heavy, very heavy spindles. Mine has about 65 to 70 g. Reading alot (of course on ravelry) lead to the conclusion that lightweight spindles would be very interesting, too. And as I was not able to get my hands on one easily I started being creative.
The construction is rather simple.
a skewer (as used for shish kebab)
a piece of paper towel
a donut shaped bead
Originally a wanted a stone donut. But the local craft shop didn't have them and I was late and didn't want to run around the city any longer. So I took the a bit irregular bead.
Assembly was rather quick: cut a long small piece from the paper towel and wrap around skewer where the whorl is to sit. Wrap until the whorl fits snugly. Finished.
The wood isn't polished or super slick so the half hitch holds up very well without a rim or the like.
It's a completely different experience spinning with this light spindle.
How else could I have come up with the idea to spindle enough yarn for a sweater on my drop spindle?
gesponnen / single
That's the single, balled and ready to ply.
gezwirnt und gewaschen / plied and washed
About 25 g, ready to knit - now there are only about 25 - 30 more of them missing.
auf der Spindel / on my spindle
But I'm really busy with this. 4 skeins are already finished (but not all of them washed) and the spindle is nearly full again.
Let's see, how long I can keep my motivation up. Luckily on ravelry there is a group of people taking the challenge together. This maybe helps through times with less motivation.
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