Introducing Orla...

About 18 months a go I had an idea.  I added the things I needed to various online shopping carts and then did absolutely sod all about them.  I do that a lot!

Then, after seeing one of said items in my eBay basket last month I decided to actually do the thing.  And voila....introducing Orla!

Okay, she's not much to look at here but she was the base of the idea.  I wanted something to photograph (and possibly block) hats on and had considering how best to turn the above, naked and quite sinister, head into something more photogenic and "Nyree-like".  My solution...

Oh yes - Mod Podge.   And Orla Kiely wrapping paper.  Which actually pained me to cut up because...well, it's pretty!  Thankfully for the next part, I own a paper guillotine from long past days of paper crafting.

The design lends itself to pretty even squares which my OCD tendencies delighted in!  Next came the messy part.  Well, it was messy after R and O joined in! 

The whole process was completed over several days - I did the main head on the first day, followed by the more difficult face on the second and the neck and base on the third.  This ensured that I wasn't over handling any wet areas as I found this made the paper fuzz up.  The OK wrapping paper is really thick (and lovely - did I mention it was lovely!) and for the face areas I soaked it in water to make it more malleable.  The whole head was then given a really good couple of coats of Mod Podge all over and voila - Orla!

Stash Enhancement - Dye Candy

I'm not the most adventurous when it comes to stash enhancement and have to confess, I'm not particularly likely to sign up for yarn clubs.  Whilst I actually do love surprises, I have such a narrow spectrum of yarn colours and dye styles I love, that the thought of ending up with numerous skeins I wouldn't use with my current pittance of yarn funds most definitely puts me off!

However, there is one thing I do love and that's S P E C K L E S!  

Now, don't get me wrong, I was pretty reluctant when they first appeared.  Over the years I have pretty much totally stopped using variegated yarn and a lot of speckles seemed more akin to short variegation than actual speckles.  And often the base colour was pale.  I so don't do pale!

And then I discovered Hedgehog Fibres and fell in love.  Between HHF and Martin's Lab, I built up quite a nice (and very pink themed, since most were for my FYF shawl!) Speckles Stash.

Hedgehog Fibres Stash 2017

Despite my fussiness, I do follow a huge amount of Indie Dyers and have long loved the colours and style of Hutch at Dye Candy.  I nabbed a skein of Beetlejuice on High Twist Sock in a destash last year and the colour saturation is fantastic!

Dye Candy High Twist Sock "Beetlejuice"

After lusting over several colourways, I saw a post about November's Speckle Club on Instagram and HAD to have a skein.  "Poison" is actually even more gorgeous in the flesh, with a fantastic purple you can just see under the label.  Best of all, Hutch has totally nailed speckles the exact way I like them!

Dye Candy Super Sock "Poison" November 2017 Speckles Club

I caved after that and signed up for Speckles Club!  I've since had December and January's skeins and am most definitely not disappointed.

Dye Candy GlitterBug Sock "Pass the Cranberry Sauce!" December 2017 Speckles Club

Dye Candy Singlings "Medusa" January 2018 Speckles Club

Dye Candy Speckles Club November 2017 - January 2018

Fab huh!   I've also had my eye on a couple of colourways that, luckily for me as it meant I didn't have to do the whole messaging thing (talking to people, even online, is scary AF!), have been restocked over the last month and I love them all - especially Winter Run and Doll Parts which are just perfection in yarn form!  I highly recommend you go and spend all your monies (but leave some for me!)

  

Dye Candy Super Sock "Winter Run"

Dye Candy Super Sock "Doll Parts"

Dye Candy Super Sock "Seasick"

Dye Candy Stash January 2018

Absolutely no apologies for the photo heavy yarn porn from me!  

Sizzle Pop Shawl

Not only am I waaaay behind on blogging, but I am also behind on taking (halfway decent!) photos of finished items!  Since I took pictures of my Sizzle Pop shawl today, I figured a blog post about it wouldn't hurt!

My Sizzle Pop started life as two skeins of truly uh-maze-balls Merino/Yak/Silk Singles from Chester Wool which I dyed last year (I even blogged about it!)  This base is just beautiful!  After deciding to use them for this pattern I overdyed the lighter skein black.

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

This was only my second attempt at brioche but I'd wanted to make a Sizzle Pop since it was released so figured I'd just go for it!  Apart from needing the charts to refer to every MC row, I found it quite an easy knit - just not TV knitting, so it took me a while (especially as it hibernated for about 6 months!)

Pattern: Sizzle Pop by Lesley Anne Robinson (Knit Graffiti)

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

I then decided I *had* to wear it to Nottingham Yarn Expo...so had a few frantic weeks of knitting!  I completely fell in love with it all over again whilst I was knitting - the squish of brioche, the yarn, the pattern!  

Then as I was on the last few rows of the last repeat, disaster struck and the cable of my needle snapped, dropping all but a few of the stitches.  I'm not ashamed to admit I cried! 

I picked up all the stitches and then spent a couple of hours the following day ensuring they were all in the right place, picking up any dropped yarn overs and fixing it as I went.  Not a task for the faint hearted but it was a HUGE sense of achievement when it was done and all put to rights again (but I definitely don't recommend dropped a couple of hundred brioche stitches!)   Thankfully it was cast off, washed and blocked with plenty of time to spare for the Yarn Expo!

Pattern: Sizzle Pop by Lesley Anne Robinson (Knit Graffiti)

Yarn: Chester Wool Merino/Yak/Silk Singles (dyed by me)

I have worn this to death since I cast it off and it's most definitely one of my favourite knits!  Obviously it helps that it matches my hair and most of my wardrobe but it's made me fall in love with brioche in a major way and I can't wait to cast on my next brioche shawl!

All Hail the Hat Queen

I can remember, very tentatively, attempting to knit my first hat - way back in October 2009.  It was actually the first thing I had knitted since I was about 7/8 years old and also the first time I had ever knitted in the round and used either circular needles or DPN's.  Very much a learning curve but a successful one and that hat is still kicking around here somewhere!!

Since then I have made a fair few hats and I, without fail, turn to Woolly Wormhead patterns when I need one.  I took part in both the 2014 and 2015 MKAL and when the sign ups for 2017 came around I decided to make both Hat A and Hat B.  Obviously the patterns have long since been revealed since the MKAL clues are released during November, but I've been considerably lax at blogging so am playing catch up!!

So...here we have Hat A - later revealed as the pattern Joyce.  I knitted this in the recommended yarn (very much against my rebellious streak) which was Stolen Stitches Nua.  A truly heavenly blend of merino, yak and linen - really a complete joy to work with, or just fondle!  I went for Frog on the Wall and Kitten Fluff,

 

 

 

Gorgeous huh!!  And for Hat B - Sette Vele - I chose CoopKnits Socks Yeah! DK in the Aeacus colourway (not surprisingly, it's green)  Again, another amazing pattern.  I very rarely knit in anything thicker than sock weight (or 4 Ply/Fingering if you can say the latter without sniggering!) so these were a nice change for me!  Sette Vele has the added bonus of a really ingenious cast on.

I couldn't stop there though - I was itching to cast on one of the patterns from the new Elemental collection from Woolly.  I'd already knit a sideways hat from the Circled book so knew how innovational the technique was - if you haven't tried a Woolly sideways knit hat, do!!

Deterred only by lack of suitable yarn, I picked up a few skeins of Crazy Eight DK from Chester Wool Company and dyed them in my favourite colours in the hope they would work together!  I'd already decided that my first hat would be the Toph pattern as I had swatched with a few different yarns but had been unhappy with the colours/yarn substitutions I had made.  Turned out that my favourite colours combined have a very Eighties throwback vibe!  It's a wonderfully squishy knit due to the construction and completely ideal for the current cold snap.  I'm already itching to cast on the rest of the collection!

NB - the hat queen is Woolly Wormhead in case my slightly stalkerish, fangirl post has not made that totally apparent!  

Year of Colour

Absolutely loving this fantastic tool from Makelight, which takes the colours from your Instagram photos over the last year to form a unique, and quite frankly beautiful collage!

Here's mine - not remotely difficult to tell what me favourite colours are!

Dyeing Up A Storm

Seems quite an apt title given that Storm Ophelia is currently blowing away and we've had the weirdest orange sun and sepia skies today!

But I was more referring to yarn, of course.  I've loved dyeing my own yarn for quite a while (would one day love to delve into becoming an indie dyer should the 48 hour day ever be invented) and am finding more and more at the moment that I will dye my own yarn unless I see something that I *have* to have!

So, recent (how on earth has it been 5 months since I blogged?!) dye jobs include...

A trio of Merino Singles Sock Yarn dyed with Dharma Fluorescent Dyes.  No plans at all for these as I was just testing the dye out but they do look rather good together!

A sweater quantity of Merino Sock Yarn (purchased at Yarndale 2016) to make a Polaris jumper.  I couldn't decide between green or pink but eventually decided to stick with my original plan of eye searing pink!

Spooky Sparkle Mini's in Sparkle Singles Sock.  Halloween is by far my favourite time of year and couldn't resist dyeing up a set of mini skeins in Halloween inspired colours.  The singles sparkle sock base looks amazing dyed up (I was slightly unsure of it when undyed!) 

And last but not least...

Black Pumpkin Self Striping Sock Yarn.  This was this weekends project and I loved dyeing it - did not love winding it quite as much!!  Destined to be yet another pair of Sod Socks! Gloves which I am just casting on.  

I have another few skeins of sock weight left to play around with and have plans for some neon speckles.  I've also got a few hat pattern that require DK on my wish list so think I'll have to pick up some more undyed skeins for those too.    

Making Cakes

Back in April 2010 I purchased my first ball winder.   A vintage £6 eBay bargain - it arrived in the original box, which was battered, dusty but otherwise as new.  That little winder has since wound a hell of a lot of yarn!

A couple of years ago I decided to upgrade,  the little winder had started clunking a bit and I needed a jumbo winder to tackle a 300g skein of Wollmeise Lace.  I had been lusting after a wooden winder since my first, but the only options were very expensive and had few UK stockists.  I eventually settled on a Brother Jumbo L2 Winder which I have been really happy with (although it always takes me a few turns to remember which was to thread the yarn through the second arm!)

As happy as I was though, my heart still lusted after a wooden winder.  After the unfortunate issue last year with waiting almost a year on a custom waiting list and eventually giving in on the seller (I'd lost faith in the customer service anyway)  I had all but given in on getting one.
Then a few weeks ago I saw the winder I wanted appear for sale, completely as new, and at a great price.  After some gentle persuasion from a certain best friend and the added bonus of birthday money covering half of the cost, I took the plunge and  purchased a Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder.

 

It is truly a thing of beauty!! 

Initial thoughts were tainted slightly as there was a bit of a grinding sound - cue panic and sadness!!   However, there was just a drop of lubricant needed and wow - ball winding perfection!!  I wound just over 700g of sock yarn for my Fade Shawl in an afternoon with absolutely no shoulder/wrist pain and it really was yarn winding joy!!  I actually take huge pleasure in winding yarn cakes (although only wind yarn as requires - my stash is all stored in skeins!) and I am so, so happy I took the plunge as I can see this lasting for many, many years to come.

Stash Enhancement aka Confessions of a Yarn Addict

I've done a fair bit of stash refining over the last few months and destashed a yarn that, as beautiful as it is, I just will not use.   I've discovered I'm increasingly sensitive to alpaca and recently found I couldn't knit with Wensleydale without skin irritation.

I'm never able to keep a balance in my Yarn Funds account for long though and as yarn is also my go-to present request for myself (as well as my self prescribed fluffy Prozac!), my stash has been healthily increasing of late back to "burst out of the storage" levels!

One of the reasons for this is a bit of a crush on Hedgehog Fibres at the moment!  After snaffling a skein of  Sock  in "Jelly" in a destash at the end of last year I have slowly been acquiring all my favourite colourways.   I received a beautiful skein of "Pesto" in Skinny Singles for Mother's Day earlier this year and the rest have sneaked in over the last month. (I do very much  still need Boombox though!)

Since we had some gloriously sunny weather this weekend, I finally managed to take some photos - so commence the yarn porn!

Top Row (Left to Right): Skinny Singles in Pesto, Merino/Silk Lace in Monet
Middle Row (Left to Right): Sock in Aroma, Budgie and Night Ride
Bottom Row (Left to Right): Skinny Singles in Film Noir, Sock in Genie, Pinky Swear and Jelly

 

Not hard to see why I am quite so in love!  I've also managed to finally snag some yarn from Martin's Lab which I have been lusting after for aggggges and I was so excited to see is now also being stocked over at Tangled Yarn (so much so I had to buy a skein of Fairy Dust in Bouncy Merino!).  There's still a few colourways I *need* (Candy Sparrow!) so I'm stalking for a restock!

From Left to Right: Bouncy Merino in Fairy Dust, Merino Singles in Cuteness Overload and Baby Flamingo

There is a reason behind quite so much new pink stash of late - I'm been attempting to Find My Fade!!

Completely down to the many, many beautiful photos on IG, I just had to buy the Find Your Fade pattern by Andrea Mowray of Drea Renee Knits.  I really wanted a Fade that showcased beautiful speckles and various shades of pink - a bit of variation from my usual hot, hot pink and in your face green.

From left to right: Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Genie, Martin's Lab Merino Singles in Baby Flamingo, Easyknits Dusted Dreams in Betty Boo, Martin's Lab Merino Singles in Cuteness Attack, Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Pinky Swear followed by Jelly and finally, Easyknits Deeply Wicked in Pinky

I really can't wait to cast on - but have to cake all the skeins first.  But I have a new toy for that which I think deserves it's own blog post!

Rainbow Layer Me Up Mitts

In my current attempt to complete old WIP's, I dug out my Layer Me Up Mitts which had been languishing in my WIP basket since the end of last year.

I saw these fabulous mitts on Instagram and offered to test knit them for Toni of Woolgasm.  Whilst I managed to finish the first mitt in a few days, the second has been half finished for the last few months!

I decided to use sock yarn I had leftover from my Pop Spots shawl - I'd dyed several individual skeins in solids to form a rainbow and, with a fair amount of each colour leftover, they were ideal for this project.

The pattern calls for a both a German Twisted Cast on and German Short Rows - which ironically are currently both my favourite cast on and favourite short row method.  The finished mitt gives the impression that you are wearing several layers (hence the name!) by the separate colours being knitted together - a really easy technique which gives fantastic results, I think it would also look great on the hem of a slouchy sweater!

Pattern: Layer Me Up Mitts by Toni Bing

Yarn:  Sock skeins dyed in Rainbow Solids by Me

The best part about these mitts is that you can have SO much fun with the colours!  They use so little yardage per pair that it's an ideal project for mini skeins or leftovers.  My yarn was a heavier weight sock with 344m per 100g and I used the following amounts per pair:
Red:  12.4g
Orange: 10g (inc thumb)
Yellow: 9.2g
Green: 7.2g
Blue: 8g
Purple: 5.8g

 Pattern: Layer Me Up Mitts by Toni Bing

Yarn:  Sock skeins dyed in Rainbow Solids by Me

I can definitely see more of these on the needles in the future - I think a gradient of a single colour would be perfect!

Spring Brioche

At the beginning of the month I was at a bit of a loose end with my WIP's and decided I needed to cast on something new - whilst I was intent on finishing all my current projects, my mojo was fading somewhat and I wanted a challenge.

I have been admiring several brioche knitted shawls on Ravelry but had never tried the technique.  Whilst browsing I found a free pattern for a brioche cowl in DK and decided it was a good opportunity to, well buy more yarn!  I have hardly any DK in my stash as I rarely use anything other than sock weight now so I brought some lovely West Yorkshire Spinners Wensleydale Gems DK in Tourmaline (Pink) and Peridot (Green) - I've been wanting to branch out of my usual fibre comfort zones but generally fail miserably!

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Wensleydale Gems DK in Peridot & Tourmaline

Unfortunately, after caking and casting on, I started getting hives along my fingers and a few rows in my hands were extremely sore so I had to abandon the lovely Wensleydale.  I dithered over whether to order in some undyed yarn but didn't want to wait so found some Merino/Cashmere DK in my stash and dyed them up - pink and green, because I'm slightly predictable and I think they go so well together!

 

  
After a quick read of the fabulous instruction on the Brioche Stitch website I found the brioche incredibly easy and SO much fun!  (Please ignore the inconsistent colours - my camera hates this shade of pink!)

 

Pattern: Tistou Cowl by Nadege Dereppe

Yarn: Kingcraig Merino/Cashmere DK (dyed by me)

I find learning new techniques really satisfying and enjoyable - this literally flew off the needles and and was such a great pattern for learning two colour Brioche techniques!  I love the texture that the brioche lends to the finished fabric and have to say I found it much squishier pre-blocking so may consider soaking again and letting this dry without any blocking for a cushier feel.  I reduced the width of the cowl pattern - only casting on 176 stitches and I think if I were to remake this I would knit an extra pattern repeat to make it taller. 

Pattern: Tistou Cowl by Nadege Dereppe

Yarn: Kingcraig Merino/Cashmere DK (dyed by me)

I can't wait now to cast on the Sizzle Pop shawl that I have had on Ravelry queue for ages.  The plan is to use a skein of the Merino/Yak/Silk singles that I dyed green and another I've dyed black - because matching your shawls to your hair is totally acceptable hehe!