Ello folks, a pretty slow week this week, got a little bit of this done and a little bit of that done but overall not much done really. I have been carding and blending some white and grey fleece, its all kind of mixed up with some dirty whites and various shades of grey. Once its all spun and plied the colours should be some what more uniform but not perfect, not that I want perfect. I do like the natural colours of some fleeces and with blending you can get some interesting greys, browns and blacks. Not to mention dirty whites. Once I've spun and plied this fleece I'll be knitting my fingerless gloves, Lord knows I could do with them here lately and for next month too.
Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.
Showing posts with label blending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blending. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Monday, 7 March 2011
What I did this weekend.
Saturday was spent mainly blending the Falkland and oatmeal BFL roving, its getting much greyer now. I think I need scales to measure the contents correctly, I was going for 75% Falkland and 25% BFL but as I've gone along I think its now more like 50/50 now. All the yarn is still on one spindle as well, hoping that plying it 3 times will sort out any inconsistencies.
I spun up several batts and have loads more to be getting on with, I need to start spinning every day. The weekends spinning seems slightly thicker than previous but still thin enough for 3 ply. I'm wondering if its thicker because I've added more BFL to the mix, it certainly feels different when I'm drafting it. I'll have to force myself to try and get back to the original mix, think I'll order some more Falkland today.
The spindle is about two thirds full now and at a wild guess I'd say there was about 200 yards on it, maybe more or that might be wishful thinking. I am spinning a lot thinner these days though.
Sunday was spent playing with my inkle loom and doing a little more spinning. I should of finished off what was on the inkle loom but was itching to get started all on my own so I cut off what was done and warped it myself. The warping went fine, I used the already made heddles but next time I will make my own and make them a little longer. One small problem I had with the heddles was that I was threading the yarn through them instead of folding the heddle over, makes no difference really, just a little awkward.
I went through my yarn stash looking for none stretchy yarns and used some stuff that can best be described as string, nasty itchy stuff. Weaving with the string didn't go very well and I gave up after a couple of inches and cut the warp off. At least I got to practise warping the loom and learnt to fold the heddles over so not really a wasted effort.
I warped the inkle loom again but using an acrylic wool, yes its stretchy and probably not the best yarn to be learning with but I don't have a lot of cotton and none the same weight/size. Warping went much better this time, now I had figured to fold the heddle over instead of passing the yarn through them. I probably need to look into tying off more, changing colours and tying was easy enough but tying the whole bunch I'm not sure I'm doing it right but it does seem to work.
I'm not 100% happy with the colours I currently have on the inkle loom but will finish the whole band as I really need to practise my edges. Its not that the colours are bad just that I've used pink for the edges and weaving and yellow in the middle and the yellow is hard to see in anything but good clear light. I havn't done the yellow in a solid band, I did a single line of dashes and two lines of alternative dashes surrounded by pink. I should of used the yellow on the edges and for weaving and the pink in the middle.
Coming from frame loom weaving I'm having a hard time getting the edges on the inkle loom right, I think they need to be much tighter and pulling then in tight seems odd to me at the moment.
I've got several odd balls of cotton heading my way, I should of gone with crochet cotton but have no idea on how that stuff is measured. I'll have a better understanding when I get my book on inkle weaving this week.
Over all a pretty good weekend, oh I did some knitting as well. I got the variegated cable plait bookmark finished but haven't started another one yet, I'll do that today as well as some more weaving on the inkle loom.
Hope you all had a good weekend, have a great day folks and take care.
I spun up several batts and have loads more to be getting on with, I need to start spinning every day. The weekends spinning seems slightly thicker than previous but still thin enough for 3 ply. I'm wondering if its thicker because I've added more BFL to the mix, it certainly feels different when I'm drafting it. I'll have to force myself to try and get back to the original mix, think I'll order some more Falkland today.
The spindle is about two thirds full now and at a wild guess I'd say there was about 200 yards on it, maybe more or that might be wishful thinking. I am spinning a lot thinner these days though.
Sunday was spent playing with my inkle loom and doing a little more spinning. I should of finished off what was on the inkle loom but was itching to get started all on my own so I cut off what was done and warped it myself. The warping went fine, I used the already made heddles but next time I will make my own and make them a little longer. One small problem I had with the heddles was that I was threading the yarn through them instead of folding the heddle over, makes no difference really, just a little awkward.
I went through my yarn stash looking for none stretchy yarns and used some stuff that can best be described as string, nasty itchy stuff. Weaving with the string didn't go very well and I gave up after a couple of inches and cut the warp off. At least I got to practise warping the loom and learnt to fold the heddles over so not really a wasted effort.
I warped the inkle loom again but using an acrylic wool, yes its stretchy and probably not the best yarn to be learning with but I don't have a lot of cotton and none the same weight/size. Warping went much better this time, now I had figured to fold the heddle over instead of passing the yarn through them. I probably need to look into tying off more, changing colours and tying was easy enough but tying the whole bunch I'm not sure I'm doing it right but it does seem to work.
I'm not 100% happy with the colours I currently have on the inkle loom but will finish the whole band as I really need to practise my edges. Its not that the colours are bad just that I've used pink for the edges and weaving and yellow in the middle and the yellow is hard to see in anything but good clear light. I havn't done the yellow in a solid band, I did a single line of dashes and two lines of alternative dashes surrounded by pink. I should of used the yellow on the edges and for weaving and the pink in the middle.
Coming from frame loom weaving I'm having a hard time getting the edges on the inkle loom right, I think they need to be much tighter and pulling then in tight seems odd to me at the moment.
I've got several odd balls of cotton heading my way, I should of gone with crochet cotton but have no idea on how that stuff is measured. I'll have a better understanding when I get my book on inkle weaving this week.
Over all a pretty good weekend, oh I did some knitting as well. I got the variegated cable plait bookmark finished but haven't started another one yet, I'll do that today as well as some more weaving on the inkle loom.
Hope you all had a good weekend, have a great day folks and take care.
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Council waste
Got a letter from the council this morning regarding some waste thats been dumped outside my property(not by me) so have been hunting an email address to contact the "assistant waste awareness officer". And folks wonder why there council tax bills are so high. Sent a general email to the help desk because I couldn't find any other email addresses, it must be nice to work a 9 to 5 Mon to Fri job and have all the weekends off.
The weathers dull today and I don't think it will brighten up like its been doing the past few days, its chilly as well. I'm starting to wonder if I've jumped the gun a little with my seeds. Maybe I should of waited another week or two. Time will tell I guess, they are indoors but the house gets chilly too.
Today I'm going to be blending and spinning mainly with a little knitting to finish up this bookmark. I'll also start another bookmark in sock yarn with a five fold cable, I need to get some smaller needles, 2mm would be nice I think. I also want to do some more work on my inkle loom, have a hunt around my yarns to see what I have and maybe set up the loom myself. I might leave that until tomorrow, I'm in the mood for blending today.
Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.
The weathers dull today and I don't think it will brighten up like its been doing the past few days, its chilly as well. I'm starting to wonder if I've jumped the gun a little with my seeds. Maybe I should of waited another week or two. Time will tell I guess, they are indoors but the house gets chilly too.
Today I'm going to be blending and spinning mainly with a little knitting to finish up this bookmark. I'll also start another bookmark in sock yarn with a five fold cable, I need to get some smaller needles, 2mm would be nice I think. I also want to do some more work on my inkle loom, have a hunt around my yarns to see what I have and maybe set up the loom myself. I might leave that until tomorrow, I'm in the mood for blending today.
Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Crack the whip
Didn't get much done yesterday, this is becoming a habit it seems. I have all day today to do stuff but do want to kick back and relax as well . I'll set the drum carder up after this coffee and spend some time blending, I think the next roving I buy will be coloured stuff. I should get some dye and have a go a dyeing batts, I need to learn how to handle them sometime without felting them.
I need to spend more time spinning rather than blending really, I have a fair few small batts already blended and ready to be spun. I'd like to get a spindle full but don't think I will this weekend. If I can keep spinning the way I have been doing I'll have a go at 3 ply with this yarn.
Didn't get the Iphone sock finished but only because I decided it needed to be longer, I should get that finished today. I didn't get any knitting done on the pair of socks but will hit those again this weekend as well. I also want to start another small project, which will probably be a knitted cable bookmark. I've been itching to do some cable work for awhile now.
I didn't get any snow and don't think I will now, just rain and more rain. At least its not as cold as I thought it would be but I did put the central heating on last night for a short while, first time in over a week. I need to take gas and electric readings to work out what I owe, I've been putting it off due to the cold start to winter. I did get my metered water bill the other day which was a lot lower than I was expecting, happy dance.
Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.
I need to spend more time spinning rather than blending really, I have a fair few small batts already blended and ready to be spun. I'd like to get a spindle full but don't think I will this weekend. If I can keep spinning the way I have been doing I'll have a go at 3 ply with this yarn.
Didn't get the Iphone sock finished but only because I decided it needed to be longer, I should get that finished today. I didn't get any knitting done on the pair of socks but will hit those again this weekend as well. I also want to start another small project, which will probably be a knitted cable bookmark. I've been itching to do some cable work for awhile now.
I didn't get any snow and don't think I will now, just rain and more rain. At least its not as cold as I thought it would be but I did put the central heating on last night for a short while, first time in over a week. I need to take gas and electric readings to work out what I owe, I've been putting it off due to the cold start to winter. I did get my metered water bill the other day which was a lot lower than I was expecting, happy dance.
Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Blending today
Its another nice warm day out, even better than yesterday. It did rain all night last night so the grounds muddy, other wise I'd have the washing on the line today. I can't put the washing on the line when its too muddy because when the dog runs around the garden he flicks mud spots all over my nice clean washing.
If I'm hungry around 3 I might fire the bbq up, I have buns and burgers in but no green stuff apart from a little cress. Suppose I could see if theres any dandelions up in the front garden or even go the little shop. Nothing wrong with just eating meat though, theres steak and pork chops in the fridge and freezer and I have potatoes. Hmmm might fire the bbq up after this cup of coffee.
I'm going to set the carder up today to blend the oatmeal bfl and the white Falkland tops I have, 200g of Falkland and 100g + left overs of bfl. I should be able to see whats going on clearly but think using dyed tops might of been a better idea to start with. I got the ashford book of carding awhile back and theres loads of information in there on blending and using the carder so I shouldn't have any major problems. I hope. I'm sure I'll have a lot to post on Monday about how I got on, with luck it will be a good post and not a nightmare of ripped yarn.
Have a great weekend and take care folks.
If I'm hungry around 3 I might fire the bbq up, I have buns and burgers in but no green stuff apart from a little cress. Suppose I could see if theres any dandelions up in the front garden or even go the little shop. Nothing wrong with just eating meat though, theres steak and pork chops in the fridge and freezer and I have potatoes. Hmmm might fire the bbq up after this cup of coffee.
I'm going to set the carder up today to blend the oatmeal bfl and the white Falkland tops I have, 200g of Falkland and 100g + left overs of bfl. I should be able to see whats going on clearly but think using dyed tops might of been a better idea to start with. I got the ashford book of carding awhile back and theres loads of information in there on blending and using the carder so I shouldn't have any major problems. I hope. I'm sure I'll have a lot to post on Monday about how I got on, with luck it will be a good post and not a nightmare of ripped yarn.
Have a great weekend and take care folks.
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