Videocast Episode 1 - Something a Bit Different

Well, I know it's been a while since I last recorded an audio podcast and still wasn't really up to doing a full audio podcast with the level of show notes I normally do, so I did a video episode instead using my iPad. It's a bit of an experiment, so please let me know what you think and whether you enjoyed it or not.

Knitting Finished Objects

Rikke Hat by Sarah Young - My project page
Mayura by CrystalRose - My project page
Antarktis by Janina Kallio - My project page

I talked about using Knit Pro Knit Blockers, Pack of 20 (UK Link) or Knitter's Pride Knit Blocker (US Link)

Knitting WIPs

Cool Clavicle Cover by Megan Williams (Stockinette Zombies Podcast) - My project page
Vanilla Socks using my own pattern
Crocheted Monster using my own pattern

I talk about ChiaoGoo Interchangeable TWIST Red Lace needles.


Spinning WIPs

Fondant Fibre Organic Merino being plied on a Wildcraft Spindle - My project page
Babylonglegs BFL spun on an Enid Ashcroft Spindle - My project page
John Arbon Merino/Alpaca/Silk/ spun on a Spanish Peacock Spindle - My project page

I talk about a project bag from NicsKnots.
I talk about a blog post I wrote about my trip to Fibre East.
I talk about some spinning guide cards I bought.

Purchases

Rambouillet in the Circus colourway from Spun Right Round
BFL/Masham in the Men Being So Bored of Music and Bad Girl's Club colourways from Countess Ablaze
Silk Hankies in One Tequila, Two Tequila..... colourway, Organic Merino Silk/Baby Llama in the Beach Hut colourway, and Foxes bag all from Fondant Fibre.
MCN DK in Old Photograph colourway from Lioness Arts (Who organised Unwind Brighton) I blame the yarn purchase on greentrianglegirl from A Playful Day Podcast.

I mention Amy Beth of The Fat Squirrel.

Episode 14 - I'm Just a Little Bit Obsessed

Full show notes are always available at www.stitchedtogether.co.uk, under the Podcast Button.

Plotting

I drew the winners for the STSAL2014, they are on Ravelry on the FO Thread. They are as follows; rosebob won the PLY Magazines,  patternwhisperer won the Fondant Fibre Project Bag and Fibre mariamc67 won the Camel/Silk Punis from Elly’s Knit (in)Sanity.

I was recently asked to talk about where I live on the podcast, which has inspired the next craft a long. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about where our community lives. Essentially you need to craft something that relates to where you live and describe how it relates to your home. eg Using locally dyed yarn or knitting a pattern with a name that reminds you of a local landmark. The craft is flexible, it can be knitted, crocheted, spun or woven (basically any craft on Ravelry).

The Where I Live CAL (Craft-A-Long) will start on Saturday 30th June and will end on Sunday 31st August 2014. The project must be started AFTER the start date and be posted into the FO Thread before midnight on the end date. WIPs and UFOs cannot be used for this. You must be a member of the group and you should post a photo of your finished object and link to your project page on Ravelry. You must explain WHY and HOW your project relates to where you live. The FO Thread will open on Ravelry on the start date, but I will open a chat thread when this podcast episode goes live where you can discuss your ideas and ask for feedback about your choices. You should tag your project STWILCAL and you can use the same tag as a hashtag on Twitter and Instagram or any blog posts. You are free to double dip. I will talk about where I live closer to the start date. Prizes are to be determined once I have a rummage through my stash,

I am joining in with Fiber Trek's Island KAL and the In A sKnit Got sKnit to Do KAL,

I am doing Stash Dash with The Knit Girllls this year again. I am going to try and force myself to abstain from yarn and fibre purchase until I've achieved my 5000m target, unless it is required for a specific project that is obligation related eg birthday presents.  I need to get a handle on this stash!

Done and Dusted

I finished my 8th pair of socks this year. This time they weren't striped! Made from Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock, bought from The Golden Skein. My first of BFL socks and they won't be my last, especially if they have a high twist.

I love the stitch pattern and how it works with this yarn. Thanks to Jo from the Shinybees Podcast for the mention about my socks in her latest episode.

The other knit I finished was the Cattywampus Hat that I talked about making in the last episode, using my handspun BFL yarn made from Gale's Art fibre. Elizabeth Green Musselman of Dark Matter Knits Podcast kindly gifted me the pattern and I just had to cast on straight away. I could NOT be happier with this hat.

I took the option of adding an extra 5 sts to the cast on, as I wanted a slouchier hat than some of the projects I'd seen, as recommended in the pattern. After blocking the hat is drapey and soft and is light enough to wear in slightly warm weather. I won't be able to wear it much longer though.

I spun some Fondant Fibre rolags I bought last year and was scared to spin in case I ruined them. I finally felt confident enough to try them and spun them long draw.  The resulting yarn is a 2-ply fingering/4-ply weight yarn and I have 348 m/380 yds.

I used the Enid Ashcroft Ebony Whorl/Bocote Shaft Tibetan Spindle, which I love. The yarn is fluffy light and soft. As this was spun from my oldest rolags or punis I decided to enter this project into the Oldest Anything Craft Along being run by Emily of the Watcha Swatchin Podcast and Molly of the Deepbluerenegade Podcast.

I started and finished two more spinning projects. The first was Paintbox from Spin City. I spun it worsted with 3 plies and got 144m of worsted weight. I am thinking of knitting some Masonry Mitts by Vera Brosgol.

The second project used Fondant Fibre pre-drafted nests of organic merino in the colourway Smoke Screen. I spun it worsted as a true 3 ply.

It was sport weight and I got around 166m/181yds from 100g/3.5oz. It is very soft and bouncy and it was a dream to spin. It was the first time I'd spun this particular fibre blend from Deb and it is gorgeous. It feels like it has more crimp than regular merino which makes it loftier.

I cast on and finished was Starshower by Hilary Smith Callis. It is a shawly cowl in an interesting lace stitch. I have wanted one for a while and then when I bought a new skein of yarn from Countess Ablaze, Lord Kitchener 4 ply in the Come Back in The Seventh Year colourway, I knew it would be perfect for the project and cast on. I blogged about it here.

Nose to the Grindstone

With the Simene Stole, I have decided to extend the number of pattern repeats I do in each side of the stole. I have finished the first half and I'm about to start the main chart on the second half. I decided to do 7 repeats of the main chart, instead of 6 and I think this extra length will be more comfortable for me as I have quite a long arm span for an average height girl.

My Sleeves project has stalled a bit, but that was always going to be a reasonably long term project, along with Simene Stole.

I've cast on two pairs of vanilla socks. The first is pair of socks is in a Regia yarn that I got from The Sock Yarn Shop. I haven't knit many socks in machine washable yarn recently and I decided to cast these socks, in Design Line Ombre Stripes in the 377 colourway, on Rosewood Cubics KnitPro Double Pointed Needles.

The second pair is knit in Knitters Nightmare Boogieman Sock in the Seashore colourway. I managed to get my hands on another oops in this base of yarn as my favourite socks are in this yarn.

The project for the Island KAL is a pattern from a new book I bought, Coop Knits Toasty Volume 1 by Rachel Coopey. It's a great book and there are at least 4 projects I want to knit from it. I cast on Ripon, which is a hat knit in Titus 4-Ply, as are all the patterns in this book. It is cabled and slouchy and I knew I wanted to wear it with my new bag. I had a skein of Titus but I wanted something brighter. I bought some Jamieson & Smith 2-Ply Jumper Weight in the 132 Very Bright Turquoise colourway, I've used this yarn before and I knew it would work well as a Titus replacement.

In the spirit of stash dash I decided to cast on a yarn eater type project. I'm using 4 different strands of yarn to knit a cushion cover for use in the garden.

It's nice and sturdy and I think it will hold up well to garden use. Once this is done, if I have enough yarn left over I will cover another cushion we already use in the garden too.

I'm knitting a shawl from the Fondant Fibre rolags I finished.  It's Demiluna by Lhevinne Amor. This is my entry into the Got sKnit to do KAL, provided I can get it cast off and blocked in time.

I'm plying up some pretty fibre from Countess Ablaze in the Baby It's Cold Outside colourway. I'm spinning at as 3-ply as I enjoy the appearance of this type of yarn.

I'll talk about the spindle in Toolbox!

I'm also spinning some rolags I made myself, which I'll talk about in Quest for Knowledge!

Toolbox

I got a blending board for my birthday. I used birthday money to buy lots of fibre to use.

I think the rolags I made as my first "proper" rolags are too dense. They have the density of punis, whilst being the size of rolags! Any tips are gratefully received.

New spindle from Spanish Peacock. It is made from walnut and wenge. Thanks to Emily from the Fibre Town podcast for getting it for me.

Quest for Knowledge

I have been trying to find out more about blending boards. I have made a couple of trial sets of rolags and I now have a set that I am working my way through, with the hope of getting usable yarn.

There doesn't seem to be much information about how to use a blending board beyond videos like the one below.

It is hard to gauge how much to put on. Any tips would be gratefully received.

Crafting Library

I got an email on Earth Day from Interweave saying all digital downloads were deeply discounted. I bought The Gentle Art of Plying with Judith MacKenzie McCuin. It's a superb video that taught me lots. I highly recommend it.

Online Community

MaryQEP won the Countess Ablaze Giveaway. Thank you for all the entries, this was our most popular giveaway to date, and I'm not surprised.

I was delighted to hear that my inspiration photo in The Golden Skein contest came first. This means my photo (show above). This means that the yarn dyed for the first quarter of 2015 will be inspired by my photo. I also get the yarn, which is very exciting for me. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the dyers do with this photo as there are some interesting colours in the photo.

Episode 13 - Unlucky For Some

Full show notes are always available at www.stitchedtogether.co.uk, under the Podcast Button.

Plotting

The STSAL2014 finishes on 30th April 2014, so there is still time to get your spinning of 100g/3.5oz of fibre finished.  There have been some amazing entries posted in the FO Thread, so even if you haven't joined in I highly recommend taking a peek for inspiration.

I finished my Fondant Fibre punis in the Malachite colourway and I loved spinning them on my Enid Ashcroft Bocote Tibetan Spindle.  The final yarn is a true 3-ply and is a light fingering weight. There are 267 m/292 yds and I am really happy with how my long draw technique is still improving. The yarn is nice and lofty as a woollen spun yarn should be.

I took part in Sarah's KAL, #CFTCSPRINGKAL. Sarah's blog is Crafts from the Cwtch. The KAL started on 15th March and runs until 30th April 2014 and the pattern I knit was Miss Winkle by Martina Behm. I'm using some old stash yarn, Flinders Sock by The Thylacine in the Pepperberry Colourway.  The yarn is 70% merino and 30% seacell.  I bought this yarn in January 2011!

I also plan on knitting the Spate mitts from Journey by Shannon Cook and Jane Richmond.  I was lucky enough to win the book from Stockinette Zombies a while ago.  I have wound the yarn I plan to use, Dream in Color Classy in Plum.

I have got the yarn from Alafoss, in Iceland, to start the Maren cardigan, which is from a Craftsy class, Top Down Icelandic Sweater, with Ragga Eiriksdottir. I'm now a Craftsy Affiliate so if you buy the class after following the link, I will receive a small payment.  The class was excellent and covers stranded colourwork, and steeking the sweater as well as lots of other little tricks, such as adding ribbon to stabilise the button band and crocheting on button loops.

My main colour is rich navy colour with, soft very light grey for the contrast colour. The light aqua colour will be for the accents.

I'm playing around with some lace patterns as I would really like to design another big(ish) shawl. I think it will have some vague Faroese influences to it's shape. The shawl I knit in this style was by Anne Hanson and it is called Maplewing.

Done and Dusted

The fibre I was spinning in the last episode has resulted in some gorgeous yarn.  It is a 2-ply construction and it is roughly a light fingering/3-ply weight.  It is 350 m/283 yds in length.  The Fondant Fibre MCN is delicious and I want more! I blogged about it here.

As I have been ill, I have lots of basic knitting and spinning. After finishing the STSAL2014 project I wanted to do something mindless and without much thought. I spun up some BFL fibre from Gale's Art I bought before Christmas. I spun the yarn as a 2-ply, worsted style, keeping it lofty to ensure a smooth yarn which retained some of the bounce of the original fibre.  I got 221 m/243 yds of a DK weight yarn, that self stripes. I blogged about it here. Elizabeth Green Musselman of the Dark Matter Knits Podcast kindly gifted me the Cattywampus Hat to knit with yarn.

I finished some Twisted Limone Tangy Sock socks, in the Find The River colourway.

I shortened the length of the foot on these socks as an experiment to prevent baggy heels after wearing for a day.  It worked but the first day was rather snug.  I probably won't repeat the experiment.

I finished the Lerryn Mittens by Rachael Coopey that I originally started for the Winter Warmer KAL.  The pattern was from the book The Scrumptious Collection Volume 3 published by Fyberspates and reviewed by me on the blog, in January 2014.

The mittens are knit in The English Gentleman DK by Countess Ablaze in the Shiver colourway.  The 50% BFL/50% Masham of the yarn gives a really interesting texture. I talked about Rachel Coopey's new book Toasty Vol. 1. The book uses Titus yarn made by Baa Ram Ewe.

I finished the cowl that I originally designed for my Mum's birthday. I used Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Saffron colourway, that was a gift from the lovely Tara. Thank you Tara!

I went back to working on Ridgeland by Marc Smollin. I started it in October and it got put to a side when Christmas knitting became important.  I never picked it back up, but as I decided I wanted to to finish off some of the WIPs that I've got laying around, I got on with it. I blogged about it here.

I finished some vanilla socks knit in the Nicole C. Méndez striped yarn I talked about in the last episode.  I love these zingy colours.

With these socks I used a trick suggested by Emily of the Watcha Swatchin Podcast, in order to maintain the stripes I knit the heels using the other end of the yarn and after it's finished switch back to the end I knit the rest of the sock with. I means there is no disruption on the stripes.

I knit a Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer for my friend Rachael.  She fell in love with a rainbow one that she saw on the Great British Sewing Bee.  She asked if I knew what it was and it's Sarah's version knit in Kauni Effektgarn, in the EQ colourway.  She's getting it as a late birthday present as she only spotted it a week before her birthday, but she liked the wip on the needles that she got in a gift bag.

I manage to start and finish another pair of socks since the last podcast. These, once again, are knit to my vanilla pattern and the yarn is from Penguin Soup and was an oops. I don't care because I love this yarn, Tuxedo Glitz, and it meant I could afford to buy it and get it shipped from the US.

Finally, I have released my Ribbon and Rings Cowl pattern for purchase.  It's on Ravelry, priced at £1.75.

Nose to the Grindstone

I started the Simene Stole I liked from the Scrumptious Collection Vol. 3, the yarn I bought, Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in the Teal colourway, is gorgeous. The lace pattern is easily read and I'm enjoying doing a bit of lace that isn't too challenging.

I decided to work on some socks, other than vanilla, so I found a pattern from The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook: An Essential Collection of 300 Designer Stitches and Techniques to add to my normal sock pattern. The pattern is called Little Boxes and it has made the socks even more squishy than I hoped. The socks are knit from Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock in the Tornado Over London colourway.  The yarn is BFL and nylon and has a very high twist. The yarn was bought from The Golden Skein as a spare skein after the club shipments had gone out. It is cheaper to buy the club shipment, but as I have a finite budget I  was happy to buy just my favourite skein.

I've just cast on Sleeves by Martina Behm.  I bought the pattern a while ago and I've finally collected enough sock yarn scraps from my stash that I think will work together for this pattern. Some of the scraps are more like half skeins.  They fit very nicely in my gorgeous new bag from Fondant Fibres.

My sock yarn blanket squares are progressing nicely. I have 24 now. 

Splashed Out

Another 2 skeins of Countess Ablaze The English Gentleman DK in the You Keep Me on the Edge of My Seat colourway. It's a DK weight, measuring 262 yds/240 m in length made of 50% BFL/50% Masham. It's a 2-ply woolen construction,

There was a free postage offer on Stockinette Zombies a couple of weeks ago for Juno Fibre Arts, so I bought Milly Singles in the Peacock colourway. It's a 4ply/fingering weight yarn, 400 yds/365 m in length and comprised of 100% merino.

I got an Oops from Penguin Soup in the Tuxedo Glitz base.  It's black, green and yellow striped.  I loved this base and the socks knit from it are one of my favourite pairs.  I was delighted to find the base discounted in a colourway I liked, even if there is an oops! It's 430 yds/393 m in length, comprised of 75% merino/20% nylon/5% stellina and is a 2-ply construction.

I also ordered some fibre from Spin City quite a while ago.  It took a little longer than expected to get here, however the vendor added an extra batt to compensate, along with a lovely apology.

The batts concerned are gradients in the Meteor colourway. They are made of bamboo,corriedale and merino.  I have 200g/7oz of fibre running from grey through to navy blue.

I also got a lovely blend, in the Paintbox colourway. It's comprised of alpaca, merino and BFL and weighs 100g/3.5oz. Funnily enough, one of the participants in the SAL, mariamc67, is spinning this exact blend.

I went a bit nuts last week and ordered some amazing organic merino fibre, in the Inked colourway from Fondant Fibre.  I got 100g and it feels really different from normal merino.

I also pre-ordered some laceweight in the same colourway. It's 100% Mulberry Silk and is 900 m/984 yds.

In my week of madness I also ordered some yarn from Countess Ablaze, both from this March's 12 Caesars Collection. The first is Viscount of Spark in the Riots and Revolts colourway.  This a 4ply/fingering weight yarn in 75% merino/20% nylon/5% stellina, 400m/437yds.

The other skein was Count Cashmerino Worsted in the If They Deserve This Honour colourway. It's 80% merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon, in a worsted weight, 210m/230yds.

I managed to score another Enid Ashcroft spindle.  This time it's a Compact Tibetan made with a Thuja Burl whorl and an Ebony shaft.  It weighs 25g and is beautifully balanced and spins incredibly fast.

Lastly I bought some yarn from John Arbon Textiles, two skeins of Alpaca Sock, one in Charcoal and the other in Sapphire. The yarn is a 4ply/fingering weight made of 60% alpaca/20% merino/20% nylon. There is 309m/338yds in each skein.

I bought this yarn with the intention of making a colourwork hat or cowl. I'd not used it before, but it really appealed to me.  I'm getting into "woolly" yarn lately.

Of course there is the bag from Fondant Fibre.

I went on a bit of a bag spree and bought two from Daisy Bun Boo, one was a regular size project bag with pretty bunting on it.

The second bag is Extra Large and has camper vans on it. I couldn't resist as we had camper vans when I was a child and I loved them.  This bag is HUGE and is perfect for storing my sock yarn blanket and yarn scraps.

Toolbox & Quest for Knowledge & 
Crafting Library

These are all in one this week as I talk about Craftsy.com.  I love the Craftsy format and have tried lots of different classes and they all have been incredibly useful, as I talked about earlier. As I rave about the site so much I decided to become a Craftsy Affliate, because I really believe in their product and would be recommending them anyway, and by becoming an Affliate there is the possibility of earning something towards the running costs of the podcast.  So, if you want to support the podcast you can join Craftsy, which is free, using this link and I will receive a small payment. If you use this link and you buy anything within 30 days, I will also receive payment. These payments will hopefully go some way to offsetting my running costs and postage bills!  I've also joined the Amazon Associate program and I've provided a page on the podcast and blog websites called "Support the Podcast and Blog". This goes into more detail about how I'm hoping to carry on funding the podcast.

Online Community

I'd just like to thank publicly the person (who wanted to remain anonymous) who made the first donation I've ever received.  It will go towards paying postage on the STSAL2014 prizes.  If anyone wants to contribute to the costs of running the podcast and sending out prizes, there is a drop down menu on the right of the podcast part of the website.  It's a drop down menu to select how much you want to donate as I'm not set up as charity and therefore I am unable to put a donate button on the site.

Lyndsey of Countess Ablaze has very kindly offered a great prize to you. TWO skeins of This Ain't A Scene on Tia Merino (single ply superwash merino fingering weight - 400 yards / 366m) and a black tote bag (380mm wide x 410mm deep) with long handles, to put it in. Lyndsey has kindly offered to post these items worldwide to the winner.

I love this colourway and used it to make one of my many Sockhead Hats. It's bright and fun, just in time for the warmer weather. As you have two skeins you could make a matching set of hat and long mitts, or maybe a large shawl. I think Concavus would work brilliantly as a showcase for this yarn.

I have opened a thread on the Ravelry Board, and the contest closes on Friday 16th May 2014 (to give International entrants a chance I'll close the thread when I get up on Saturday morning. To enter you have to be a member of the group and state what your favourite colourway and base would be from Countess Ablaze, if you could choose from any of her current work.

Lyndsey very rarely does giveaways, so I'm especially grateful to her for being so generous.  I hope I can tempt you all as much as I've been tempted by her yarns over the last couple of years, they are wonderful to work with and her colour sense is incredible.