The Neala Hood

My second pattern! So as soon as I'd finished my Riverbanks, Neala decided she wanted one her self. Which brought out my creative skills again! Well I can't help it lol I do have another pattern in the works but that will have to wait!
So I give you....

The Neala Hood

This is designed to fit a 4/5 year old child, tho I did try it on my 6 year old and it fit him too, so it will fit a few, best thing is to try it on the recipient as you go along!
Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:
100g Sirdar Click Chunky in Bloom

4.5mm 24inch circs (yes I know this is small for the yarn, it give a nice dense fabric and is actually quite a nice feel!)

1 Stitch marker

Tapestry needle

Spare circ for grafting

4.5mm Crochet hook (optional)

Gauge er... well I tend to knit loose, so if you are a tight knitter go up a needle size lol

The Pattern:

Cast on 80 stitches, place marker, join in the round, careful not to twist

Row 1 Knit

Row 2 Purl

Row 3 K2tog 3 times, K1 (YO K1) 6 times, K2tog 3 times, K1

Row 4 Knit

Repeat these 4 rows twice more (3 times in total)

Knit until piece measure 5inches from the cast on (from the bottom of a wave if you catch my drift lol)

Cast off 24 stitches and knit to the end of the row

You'll now be working the piece flat

Row 1 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, purl to last 5 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Row 2 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, knit to last 5 stitches, K1 P1, K1, P1, K1

Repeat these two rows until the piece measures 14inches in total from cast on edge

Place 28 stitches on a spare circ and graft the two sides together using Kitchener stitch

Weave in your ends and you are done!

For the sake of looking neat, on the cast off edge, I did two rows of double crochet (american single) with a 4.5 hook, to stop the edge from curling over and used a couple of stitches to attach it to the sides of the hood but this is entirely optional and purely for aesthetic reasons, if you don't mind the curling edge then leave it!

If there are any problems in the pattern or you have any questions, give me a shout and I'll do my best to sort it out!
Hope you enjoy the pattern!




Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Must be time for another blog post!

Well at least I'm consistent with being infrequent! Its not too bad at the moment, one a month isn't a sin I'm sure!
I've actually been quite busy recently, I finished my wollmeise clapotis (which is going to be the subject of another blog post when I've actually taken decent photos of it, watch this space!), started another one involving beads (I swear its going to be worth it, even if it is lace weight and I have to stop every few stitches..) and done a bit of crochet for birthday pressies and my self, and done a pattern from the new Knitty!
The crochet first! Every few days I get one of those emails from Knitting Daily, most of the time I give it a cursory look over as mainly its patterns they are trying to sell, but some times it contains free patterns and useful hints and tips. This pattern caught my eye. Hmm stripy! And I decided I must give it ago, and made one for my lovely friend Kirsty for her birthday.

I never go hiking with out my knitting bag made in Patons sorbet

I really enjoyed doing it, and me being me and having a slight bag fetish, I stared at my sorbet yarn, wondering what colour combo to use, until it occurred to me, didn't have to follow their stripe pattern (yeah some times I'm not that quick off the mark!) and using the general bag construction, I made this:

I love it, its so cool and cute at the same time! And of course, the perfect size for an on the go knitting project (tho currently it holds my beaded clapotis for safe keeping!)

I mentioned knitting some thing from the new Knitty, now its not often I see some thing and I think omg I have to knit that right now this moment, but this one really inspired me!

Riverbanks from Knitty, in Noro vintage.
(and please meet my new model Martin hehe)

Callum wanted a go too..

The Riverbanks from Knitty just really made me want to knit it, it was just the idea of it, its basically a cowl with a hood, but it just looked so unique. Of course, I didn't do it in the same colours as the one on Knitty but I did use the same yarn, Noro Vintage, and despite a few usual Noro hiccups of knots and an entire colour missing from one place, it feels really nice and I'm glad I went with it.
A word about the pattern tho, the way it is written on Knitty is that you start with a provisional cast on and start on the upper neck and go back and do the bottom later, which is a huge faff, and ultimately pointless, luckily I had a look at other project on Ravelry before I started mine and noticed people mentioning not doing it the way it was written, so I took a closer look, and if you swap the two row patterns from the lower neck around and cast on the 78 stitches and knit those two rows, it makes no difference to the over all look, and saves much messing around later! Can't argue with that! My only problem is that Neala wants one, so I've got to work on scaling it down for her. I'm too good to my kids..

Oh oh and I've been fiddling with some script and came up with my finished object gallery! Check it out! Tis very cool :-D (obviously if you are viewing this from Facebook, you'll have to come and visit my actual blog to see it ;-) )

Crafting space

Growing up, I had a room to my self several times on and off, being one of 3, some times I shared a room with my sister, some times I had a room to my self, for a while, all three of us slept together! But naturally I never really had the chance to make it my own. Now I find my self as an adult with a very large room with a view, I can do as I please with it!
The room is very me, its full of little bits, trinkets, parts of my life, I recently had to hide a few things away after splitting up from Dave (his choice, not mine, and not a choice I would have made) and looking at these things just hurt to see, thats a problem of making the room part of my life I guess!
Thankfully it acts more as my little sanctuary, and because I'm such a crafty little soul, it looks like one big work room as well!


This is the main part of the room, all my gorgeous (mainly) sock and lace yarn is crammed in to the ikea shelves, when I bought them I had no idea I'd be eventually filling it! It does act as a bit awe inspiring tho, I like to sit on my couch and just stare some times, alot of the time I'll reach out and stroke a bit of yarn sticking out and it has been inspirational too!
Naturally you notice the overflowing box of fibre next to the shelves, I've been meaning to either get a bigger box, or at least another one to try and contain it, but so far I just add to the top of it, I do attempt to spin alot of it, looking at the table at the front of the picture, thats all the yarn I spun during the tour de fleece, that I haven't managed to make room for yet (back to the more boxes talk..) its catching no harm there in the mean time!
Another thing is I tend to have my finished objects lying around, my stripey star on the couch, my blue jeans shawl on the arm, you can't see it very well but my cherry clapotis is on the footstool on the left, well what else am I supposed to do with them lol
Its just a nice area, I like it very much.


I suppose you could call this the main focal point of the room, its the first thing you see when you walk in my door, my shelves with some of my fav books on there, cds, knitting needles, my sheepy money tin, Sims house and of course my knitting books! Its a strange arrangement I know, but it looks nice and nothing falls off the ends!
Underneath is my coat hooks, currently housing my booga bag, my general little knitting bag (complete with domiknitrix badge) and my woolfest bag, plus a few coats that just adorn my wall.


Ah my bed, best place in the world! Before you ask, yes I've read all the books in that pile, I just keep adding to it instead of putting away, naughty!
But as you can see, the yarn is spreading here as well, I have two of the same size tubs that holds my fibre full to the brim with assorted yarn underneath there, one is my "cheap" yarn and the other is the yarn that doesn't fit on my shelves, or assorted odd balls, great for quick projects type yarn! Also you see my blocking boards (need more of them £4 from tesco..) my sewing box and yarn that I haven't put in a box. I will do one day..


And finally, just to make sure every part of my room is crafty, this is where my swift and ball winder live! Teddies on the rocking chair I've had since I was a dot and they are looking after my Forest canopy shawl. I've actually tided the table up a bit as I've got several labels and yarn ends lying around on it, plus it could do with a dust! Its in a good place as I plonk my self down on the end of the bed and wind till my heart is content!

So that was a brief whistle stop tour of my room! You really needed to see all that didn't you lol Well I think you can indulge me, I'm going through a very rough time at the moment, as I mentioned before I split up from my partner of 5 years which was extremely distressing, it wasn't through choice, and I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I don't have any choice but to live with whats happened. Daft thing is I still love him very much and the thought of starting all over again with some one else fills me with a cold horror. We have resolved to remain close friends, and I'm hoping that means more than the occasional chat on msn!
I'll be ok eventually, we actually spoke for the first time properly since it happened, and it made me feel alot better, probably more than he realises!
Oops I'm now going personal on my knitting blog, well I guess as long as I don't make a habit out of it! In the mean time, send love!

Tour de Fleece finale!

Not bad for some one who flaked out half way thru!
Yes I did manage my final yarn, it was being plyed as Mark Cavandish crossed the finish line to win his 6th stage of the tour (Go Mark!) and was all done and dusted as Alberto did his speech on the podium.


I love this alpaca silk, it bloody sheds every where, but is really soft! Still got a 50g bag left that I've yet to spin but felt I'd done enough with it (plus I was getting tired of scrapping hairs off every thing).

So what am I going to do with all my newly spun yarn? Well with my shiney purple one (the fyberspates alpaca silk or at least thats what I think it is!) I see a pair of gloves with that, the jacobs humbug isn't really next to skin wearable so that will prob make a nice little bag, as for the rest of it, well it looks nice of my shelf for now, I'll think of some thing!
Now what to spin next...

So we had a bit of a TDF fail...

I tried! Honest I did, that pesky thing called life got in the way during week two, I felt like I didn't sit still for 5 mins and then this week, I felt "guilty" for not spinning last week and just didn't get round to doing much, but having said that, I'm pretty happy with what I've achieved over all, it wasn't about doing the most, it was about creating lovely yarn and to me, I've done just that!



This is all that I've spun and finished, my fav has got to be the bottom one, the shine is just wonderful! My second fav is the one in the middle, as when it is knit up, it will have a complete colour change which will be cool!

I have got one, possible two yarns I could finish by tomorrow, the one on my spindle from the previous post and this one

<

Which is a natural alpaca and silk, its really nice to spin with, but the alpaca hairs get every where! Does not help when I wear predominately black... But I'm hoping I can get in a last minute push and finish this yarn (and maybe the other one!) in time for the race finish tomorrow!
Watch this space..

Tour De Fleece Day 8

More progress!
Was no point posting yesterday as it would have looked the same as day 6, so left it till today, it was worth it I think!

So I finished the yarn I was working on, I was rather pleased with it!


Started my next lot!




Then I considered tomorrow and realised I'm going to be out for most of the day seeing as its Callums birthday, so if I want to spin, I need it portable! Enter my trusted spindle and some of the unprocessed naturally dyed yarn I got from woolfest (idea being its supposed to look rustic so I don't have to be as precise!)


How much I actually get done tomorrow remains to be seen, but at least I will have done some thing and kept up spinning roll!

Tour De Fleece Day 6

While I'm still in shock about Tourchwood, I'll post what I've done today!
Not managed to do much today, been out for the first time since last Friday, to shop for Callums 6th Birthday, he opted for a Skateboard (those who know him will know how dangerous he is without wheels (for festival going friends, Callum is the little blonde one who bounces every where..)) and a new set of clothes and shoes to complete the "look" (half price sale in asda..) so he's a happy bunny!
So any way, you want fibre...






Half my fibre is done, not bad for two hours work! This is going to look good when it is plied because its already a mix of black and what ever colour is there at the time, so when its plied its going to look very cool!
My bathroom is resembling a yarn finishing room tho, at the moment I seem to have some thing constantly in the sink and/or hanging to dry in the shower, good job only I go in there, or else things could have been difficult!
More progress tomorrow!

Tour De Fleece Day 5

Bored yet? I'm not! Enjoying this spinning every day lark, not that I'm knitting much...

Todays efforts where from a 64g batt called "The Mexican" very cool name..


All torn up and ready to go! I divided this in to two again, and kept the order in an attempt to match it up..




Very happy with my plying today! Colourmatching didnt quite work out but who cares!


Well I like it any way!!

Tour De Fleece Day 4

Quick one before Torchwood comes on! (what do you mean you are not watching it?!)

Nice progress for today, its currently twist setting in the shower as we speak (next door must wonder what the hell I'm doing when I whack it against the wall!

More tomorrow!

Tour De Fleece Day 3

Slow day today as not had the energy, but still managed to get half of my fleece done, looks pretty nice if I do say so my self!

Hope to finish it off tomorrow!

Spinning thru the flu..

So the Tour De France has finally begun and I have decided to take part in the Tour De Fleece (idea being you spin on every day of the race, set your self goals if you want etc etc Ravelry users see here!)
But as my title suggests, I have a tiny wee problem, some one, some where was kind enough to share Swine flu with me *sigh* Now the doctors won't confirm it because I don't actually know which kind stranger it was by name but because I've done a few high volumes of people things in the last week or so (Woolfest and a Nine black Alps concert) I'm on Tamiflu as a precaution! Which also means I'm not allowed to leave the house, joy! (Good job the kids no longer go to school eh?)
But despite that, I started spinning yesterday, only got a tiny bit done before I gave up (and collapsed in a sweaty heap!) but today I'm feeling perkier and so have finished my first lot of fleece!

(Thats before setting, its soaking as we speak!)

Was concerned the colourway wasn't looking too great but its turned out rather nice! I do have a different blend of fibres (this is shetland tops) in a similar colourway so its nice to see how it will eventually turn out!

Also finished some more yarn just before TDF started, as I had to clear off my bobbins so I could spin! This stuff nearly made me loose the will to live because it was so fragile! The shetland I've just done was so easy to handle, I had minimal problems with it, but this was merino and silk, and I swear at one point I was ready to unwind the whole lot and bin it, but I persevered and it has turned out lovely, good job too!


Not knitting much at the moment, just haven't got the inclination, don't ask me why, but the TDF will give me an excuse to blog, so look out for progress reports as the weeks go on!

Woolfest 2009

You know, if I only did one thing every year, it would be Woolfest! Its just such a fab day out, the people there are just so nice, stall holders and buyers, bumping in to people you "know" from Ravelry and other forums, its weird spending the day staring at peoples chests to see what their name is!
So here it is..the haul..



Oh so many nice things! So from top left, there is some black alpaca roving from UK alpaca & fibre harvest, a selection of naturally dyed fibre from Artisan Threads, dark grey broken tops from Uk Alpaca, from botton left, hand dyed merino from Limegreenjelly, hand dyed merino sock yarn from The Laal Bear, 3 Skeins of sock yarn from Knitwitches, and finally hand dyed shetland tops from Wheeldale Woolcraft.
I'm seriously wanting to have a spin of the alpaca, it is super super soft and the colour is just wonderful, the fibre from Artisan threads is going to be interesting to use as its uncombed but can still be spun in to a textured yarn, I was just taken in by the colours and seeing what was possible with it, I wanted to try!
The whole day was just fantastic, spent several hours at woolfest, wish I could have spent longer! Not that the day was over when we left, we drove down the road to St Bees, unloaded our extensive picnic and was still on the beach playing in the sea till 6pm! Didn't get home till gone 10pm!


All I can say now is, roll on next year!!

I come bearing gifts!

Yes, I know, I've not blogged for a while, feel like I'm forever apologising for not posting! There has been alot going on, internet problems, kids switching to home schooling and just a general lack of some thing to say, but, I bring a peace offering, I've written a pattern :-D
I knew my stash would come in handy one day, I certainly was taken by a moment of inspiration whilst staring at my shelves one day, well that and a lack of right needles for a pattern I did want to knit!

Show off Stranded Cowl

(It is an adult sized cowl, Ewan was just my nearest model!)

Inspired by the Show off Stranded Socks (which are very cool also, so go make them too!) this quick knit uses up that odd ball of dk yarn, either left over from a project, or like me, that must have skein of malabrigo! The cowl is knitted flat, with a provisional cast on at the start, which you use to graft the two ends together when finished to give the cowl a seamless look, naturally you can use a normal cast on and seam both ends together when finished, but I like it this way (read as I'm terrible and seaming, but I like grafting lol)

Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:
50g Variegated DK yarn, I used Malabrigo Merino Silky in Bahia

4mm Needles

Waste yarn

Tapestry needle

2 Stitch markers (optional I use them to mark the first and last two stitches, so I remember to do them!)


Gauge, Doesn't matter!


Stitch pattern is in multiples of 4


The pattern:

Cast on 40 stitches using a provisional cast on (I like this one )

Row 1, K2, purl across till last 2 stitches, K2

Row 2, K2, *YO, K2, pass YO over the two stitches, K2, repeat from * till last two stitches, K2

Row 3, K2, purl across till last 2 stitches, K2

Row 4, K2 *K2, YO, K2, pass YO over the two stitches, repeat from * till last two stitches, K2

Repeat these 4 Rows, until piece measures 21inches from cast on edge.

Set up for grafting, leaving your stitches on the needle, take your other needle and carefully unpick your provisional cast on edge, so now you have 80 stitches divided over two needles, with your working yarn on the back needle, on the right hand side, just as you would for a sock. This does mean you have the wrong side of your work facing you, so you have to do purl side kitchener stitch, which sounds scary, but its not! I found these directions here to be very helpful, it is easy once you get in to it, basically instead of knit 1 off, purl, purl 1 off, knit, you do purl 1 off, knit, knit 1 off, purl, its the opposite of normal kitchener. Very clever is grafting!

And voilà! You are done!


If there are any problems in the pattern or you have any questions, give me a shout and I'll do my best to sort it out!
Hope you enjoy the pattern, you never know, I might do some more one day :-)

(Its Woolfest this weekend, and you can put good money on the fact I'll blog about that, hopefully it will give me a good kick up the bum to blog more!)



Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Its not yarn, its an experience!

Never in my life have I really been taken in by some thing "popular", I was never really a omg must have that right now this second. Yes I might get it months and months later after the popularity has died down, but never at its peak.
Now when I started knitting, little did I know some thing like this was brewing, almost 2 years a go, some one mentioned this yarn site, we all had a look and thought oh nice yarns, pity none is in stock, I don't any of us quite realised what it was.
That site, of course, was Wollmeise. Since then the popularity of this yarn has grown and grown and is now almost a must have in your stash. Naturally I was curious, I loved the colours, and as time went by and more and more people talked about it, the more I wanted a look in.
Egged on by my good friend Tinks, I started stalking the site for updates (which happen once a week, with a limited stock going up for sale, as Claudia is a one woman show!) and trying desperately to bag some.
The first week I failed, I had so many in my cart to jump out before I could check out, I got so close! But ultimately, I failed. Disheartened, but thought well first week, couldn't expect miracles. I tried not to think much of it, but then the following week, Tinks sent me a text early that morning, saying it looked like there was going to be an update (screen goes grey) but nothing happened. All day we refreshed the site, but nothing happened, later that day, I had to restart my laptop (common occurance, its always losing my net connection!) and as firefox came back to life, I checked on the site, found it was back, clicked instock to find the yarn was there! I pretty much flew in to a blind panic, I wasn't logged on to the site, the update was well underway, I had to move fast. I saw a colourway I knew I liked the look of, put it in my cart, flew thru logging in and I was so lucky, the site only timed out once and as the final screen came up, I'd done it, I'd actually managed to buy some! 7th Heaven doesn't even come close!
I was still all happy the next day when I found out there was an easter egg hunt going on, random yarn is put up, and doesn't show on the instock page, you've just got to find it. Some one on the Wollmeise Ravelry group said there was one in stock and gave the name. Not expecting any thing, I went to see, it was still there, I put it in my cart, it was still there, I didn't rush, I didn't panic, I did all the steps and in the end, it didn't go any where, fate! I couldn't believe it! Twice in one weekend? Didn't seem possible, but it was!
Over a week has past, I've been stalking my postman almost every day, only to find bills and junk mail..until today!

Huge knock on my front door, nearly frightend the life out of me, Martin answered and took delivery of...


It was here! Carefully composed, I opened up my packages..


Very pretty, neat bags, covered in a knitting motif and german to english knitting terms, very neat (and useful too!) The next bit was the best..

Totally and utterly gorgeous, I can't explain how nice it is in real life, the colours are so vibrant and deep, and the yarn its self feels so nice and the smell is very unique (yes I'm a yarn sniffer!) It is totally worth the hype! If the yarn wasn't enough there is also a leaflet with more german to english knitting terms, and a pack of gummy bears!

Its all very unreal, its here on the couch next to me and I still can't believe its mine! Def going to earn pride of place on my shelf thats for sure.

Persona Non Grata

Well thats what it feels like at times! Both with my knitting and people. I try and come over as nice, I really do, but some thing must get lost in translation some where, maybe its my spelling letting me down some where…  Please, if I do offend you in some way, please tell me! Its not intentional!

And my knitting too!  I’ve knitted next to nothing recently, just lacking in inspiration, I’m not tempted by my current projects enough (no matter how much I like them and want to keep doing them) and I’m not seeing much that makes me sit up and think yes, thats what I want to do! *sigh* Its tough some times lol

Any way, what is getting me happy is my spinning, I feel like I’ve really come on lately, spinning some thing that really does come across as yarn. My most latest offering I did for my self, was some hand dyed fibre that I dyed my self with some koolaid, and then spun up on Sorsha

 

I named it tropics as it reminded me of a tropical fruit punch of some description, don’t ask me what weight it is, but its a single ply (as I liked the way it looked!)  but came to roughly 322 yards and I’ve just remembered I’ve not weighed yet!

I’ve also had to do some spinning for a swap, which meant *gulp* some one else had to see my spinning! I chose a colourway that my swap person had stated a preference for, but it spun up a bit lighter in colour than expected. Overall I was happy with my ultra very best attempt to make some thing nice for some one!

I did get a gorgeous package back from my swap friend, along with a lovely spun up skein, that I’ve now got to attempt to match (I don’t have to but I want to!) Its all split and ready to go on my couch, but I’ve not been brave enough to start yet!

 

And, if that wasn’t enough to get on with, I was tempted in to buying some fibre with the name First and Last and Always, which those in the know will, well know its a Sisters of Mercy song/album. How exactly was I supposed to not buy it? If, and this is a big if, I can pin down my skills, I’m going to spin this up for a project, I see gloves, most certainly with a gothic feel! Its gorgeous stuff, of shades of purple and a touch of crimson (must piccy it!) uber soft, if I do it right, its going to look great! (and I’ve got enough to cope with a huge margin of error, which is never a bad thing!)

 

Right I’d better get back to being the person people avoid!

Just a quick one, Angel Yarns forum

Yes I know I promised to post more, but that life thing keeps getting in the way, its so annoying!
Ok, quick knitting project pic, just to keep you happy!


There see, first ever more than one colour at the same time project, my endpaper mitts! Even avoided second glove syndrome and did them both one after the other, yeay for me!

Right main reason for being here is to let people know that the lovely (not!) admin over on the Angel Yarns forum pulled the plug on the whole thing without warning or explanation, leaving all the members and mods a bit stunned, but with true british spirit, every one regrouped on Ravelry and some lovely people took on the job of recreating the old forum, under a new name and have been trying to locate all the old members, so heres me doing my bit!
New forum, Phoenix knitters (as in rising from the ashes!) is here http://www.knittingforums.org.uk/

Please come and join us and stick two fingers up and the people at Angel Yarns who thought it was ok to do this sort of thing to us!

Finishy type things

Well I did think for the new year I'd try to blog a bit more..hmm day 18 and this is my first post! Oh well! I will try tho..
Will start with my last project of 2008, suddenly found a nice pattern for some yarn I'd had knocking around in my stash since Black Sheep had a closing down sale, it was 50p a skein for Rowan R2 Braid, so its like a soft ribbon, very soft, but kinda hard to find a pattern for. Me being me, I'd bought all the black and white ones, and whilst browsing that wonderful resource that is Ravelry, I saw some one elses project that involved making a bag and I was like, aha! Thats the one for me! Just a simple bag, I finished it in a day, big drumstick needles job, its been christened the Guinness bag, for obvious reasons...

Recycle in Rowan R2 Braid

I've finally managed to finish my Japanese Feathers scarf which was nice to finally get done, seen as its been on the needles since last March! Its not as long as I probably should have done it, but I was attempting to be creative-ish, I cast on when the yarn was in a dark stripe phase and I've knitted it until its gone through the whole sequence back to dark again at the other end, it looks good, just not hugely long. Picutures are not brilliant but the light quality at the moment is just pitiful and the flash just bleeches out the lovely blues, but you'll get the idea.

Japanese Feather scarf in Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 Ez

Since Christmas I've also been trying to perfect my spinning, I'd started on this blue merino before christmas and it was looking good, and apart from a few wheel problems (I'm still getting used to adjusting it!) I've done some thing that compares to aran weight! It was entirely spun and plied on Evangeline (yes I know I said Sorsha but there is a reason for that!)


The pic below shows what I'm aiming for, its what Jamman did on my wheel before I arrived and it looks so thin and even, I can only dream! The blue is what I had left over from plying and makes a good comparrison, I can dream, but it is some thing to aim for. I'm assuming its all down to how I draft, and at the moment I predraft every thing so I only have to concentrate on one thing at once, I did have a go at drafting as I spun but I was letting the wheel take it before it was spun enough and when it broke, I couldn't get it going again, so went back to predrafting. It will all come with practise I'm sure.


And last but not least, I mentioned in a previous blog that I was going to call my wheel Sorsha, like a character in my fav book who has to spin shirts out of a stinging plant to save her 6 brothers, but it never felt quite right, I liked the idea, but it didn't fit the wheel and my ashford traddy being a dark finish, struck me more as a gothy one and I've lent more towards calling her Evangline for a while, and I think I know why, cause this is Sorsha...

A dinky double drive pre 1999 Kromski, which is very much like the current Mazurka from their range. Its so small in comparrison to my traddy but spins very nicely and I was totally smitten on first sight! Kate was lovely (as was her cat, Sabbath!) and I even got a bag of fibre to play with as well, so thats me busy for a while. Good day today! Must make time for knitting tho..