Fibre Friday #43

The thing I like best about writing this blog - is that when I feel like I haven't achieved much, writing Fibre Friday every week puts things into perspective - and we all need a little perspective now and again.

I finished my Bonfire Night Socks! This is my 24th finished pair of socks this year! These are toe up vanilla socks with a sixty percent short row heel, that I knit using my Paradise MCN fingering weight yarn in the 'Bonfire Night' colourway. I love how this colour looks knitted up - I'm planning a sweater in the same colour...

I have also knit a couple more Birds of Happiness - from a lovely free pattern by Sara Elizabeth Kellner. The top one is knit out of some leftover hand spun yarn by LimeGreenJelly, the blue bird is leftover Eden Cottage Yarns 'Oakworth DK' in the 'Midnight' colourway. Below is a bird knit out of some Sirdar Crofter DK from deep stash - it's waiting for some catnip to arrive so I can make some toys for the kitty cats for Christmas.

I've put a couple of inches on my second sparkly rainbow sock - out of locally dyed yarn. This is the last sock of my 25 pairs in 2015! I'm excited to be done - I'm not overly enjoying this sock, but it's perfect take along knitting.

 

I swatched for my Insouciant tee! Insouciant is a pattern by Julie Hoover. I knit Julie's Docklight sweater last year and her patterns are very well written. I'm using the suggested yarn - Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk in the '03 Charcoal' colourway. I don't usually make projects in the yarns suggested, but Habu Textiles don't make standard blends so they're not as easy to switch out. I wanted to get the same drape and tweedy texture, so I stuck to the suggested 100% silk blend. The yarn is held double and knit at a loose gauge. Knitting with double strands is not my favourite - you have to make sure you pick up both strands each stitch - but I think it'll be worth it when it's done!

I cast on with the 5mm (US 8) needles recommended and knit a few rows of the rib. I was planning to save it until the beginning of 2016 and The Year Of Sweaters, but hey, I make the rules. If I finish it in 2016, it still counts!

My Pomme de Pin is finished! No glamour shots because it's blocking, but I just need to sew in the grosgrain ribbon to stabilise the button bands, so it should be done by next week. Pomme de Pin is a pattern by Amy Christoffers that I've knit with Madeline Tosh Pashmina in the 'Leopard' colourway.

I also did a little bit of accidental stash enhancement - I stopped into the local yarn and fabric store to get some calico for a project (I don't usually shop there, they don't really sell wool, just acrylic yarns and lots of sewing stuff) and I saw this roving tucked away under a bench of fabric bolts. It's described as Felting Wool, in the colourway 'Strawberries and Cream' - I'm not sure how well it'll spin up, but it's 100% Merino and I liked the colour. It was only £3 per 50g so I bought all three! We shall see. I need to take the silk I have on the wheel off, so I can actually start spinning again!

All in all, not a bad week! I have a couple of days off coming up - so I'm hoping to get some more dyeing done and mail out some Christmas packages! I hope you have a lovely weekend.


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