Sunday 4 August 2013

Third Year of Projects Week 5

I've got quite a few projects to share this week. The first was the successful conclusion of all my spinning experiments last week

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This is 15 skeins of different yarns, some dyed with Wilton's Icing Dye and some with Colourfast All-in-one Ultramarine. 8 of these skeins started as the same colour of greeny-turquoise, the dark blue on the right was yellow, and the middle skeins are variegated sock yarn overdyed with blue to make them fit into my colour scheme. All of them are going to become hexipuffs, and I've already started knitting with one of the sock yarns (the stripy blue in the picture below). I tried different methods include using different concentrations of the same dye, and tying the skein in knots to get 15 different skeins, all of which will eventually all become little puffs.

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This is this weeks supply of hexipuffs, the blanket is going well, I have about 40 puffs now, only 344 to go...

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I also found four 50cm strands of art yarn hanging around in my stash box when sorting to try and fit everything in. (Yes everything fits, except the stuff that’s in the other box, and the for sale bag, and the baby yarn bag, and the stuff for my next project, ooh and that random skein I found lying around…..) So I decided to play with my spinning wheel and see what I could do it. I tried deconstructing it, drafting and respinning it, then practised Andean plying to get a barber pole effect. And I love it! It’s only 22 yards, but it’s a pretty 22 yards.

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I have also finished Tubby, after a marathon bubble knitting session, followed by 50 (FIFTY!) french knots for bubble eyes. I finished this about about 1am, as I decided I wasn't going to bed until it was finished!

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I've also started Arielle, but not got very far yet! Can you tell what it is yet?

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And final yarny goodness. I got out my lovely Shetland fleece to have a look at. It seems to be really good quality, and I'm planning to have a go at washing and carding some of it to see how long it will take me to do the whole lot.

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I'm currently at my parents' for the weekend, as my consultant is on holiday next week, so I get almost a week off placement. I have an hour lecture on both Wednesday and Thursday, but that's all I have to do, so I though I'd take the opportunity to go see the family, since Connor has work experience in Leeds this week, so I could give him a lift. I also got to see my god-daughter, who has grown so much! I love seeing her, and we were a team playing bingo and won, though I can't guarantee we won since she kept marking off numbers when I wasn't looking. She's got really chatty now!

Then today, my Mum finally got her birthday present, doing some laps in a Lamborghini. It was hilarious because they had to get the booster seat that was there for the small children who were having rides in a race car, as she couldn't see over the steering wheel!

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I also got a lovely gift in the post this week. I'm doing some sewing and blocking for a lady on Ravelry who is sending two shawls to her nephew's new baby, and she sent me my very first pair of hand knit socks that I didn't knit myself! I'm so excited, no one ever knits for me!

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I'm going to knit and relax for the rest of the week, until I start a next placement a week on Monday, it's going to be lovely!

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11 comments:

  1. Oooh Tubby is soooo cute! And that fleece looks awesome. LOVE the curly locks !!!

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  2. I think I'm in love with Tubby :) Little Man was entertained by the bubbles.

    The yarn is lovely, too :) Just an FYI...

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  3. Amazing !
    The little tubbie guy is cute…. But those dye jobs…. Breathtaking
    I would love for someone to knit me something.... Has yet to happen though...

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  4. Tubbie is brilliant- well worth the effort doing the bubbles!! The blues of that yarn are gorgeous and will look lovely in puff form!!

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  5. Tubby is insanely cute - I can see why you'd stay awake to complete it! Your handspun, food dyed yarns is so beautiful. Your Beekeeper's Quilt is going to be lovely.

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  6. Where to start, I love so many things here this week. I suppose first awesome job on the dying. It turned out so great you must be so pleased ! The hexipuffs will look great in that yarn as they are starting to already. Mr Tubby is so so so cute and I know how annoying 50 french knots would be, as a stitcher also I've had my share of them. I guess you either love them now or don't ever want to see a french knot again but I do thin he was worth it as he's so cute. Enjoy your week off.

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  7. Tubby is SO cute! And wow on driving a Lamborghini! Enjoy your week off :)

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  8. Love the blues!!!!!
    And Tubby is the cutest thing ever!

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  9. I love your dyed skeins, such a lovely set of balanced colours!
    And your excitement about having some socks knitted for you made me smile. I have a couple of shawls that were knitted for me and a couple of years ago and I still feel the same about these now!

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  10. I don't even know where to start on this post - there is SO much! I love the dying and the colors and hexi's and that is going to look SOOO put together! Gorgeous work. Lovin' the fleece and wish I had time to do that too.... makes me want to, but I know I'd get frustrated for lack of time.

    Socks knit for you but not by you!!!! ooooo *jealous*

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  11. Those shades of blue are beautiful and the stripy ones are so fun! Your mum knows how to celebrate! So how did she like handling the ride? Your tub of bubbles is so cute. The bubbles must have really taken patience with so many to knit up. The fellow Raveler knitted terrific socks for you!

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