Just a girl who can't say no

Oh, help me, knitty fiends! No sooner do I have a big, organised de-stash, than I spot something I just can't refuse. This was yarn-lust at first sight...

I've treated myself to two balls of Absolu angora from France. It was hopeless really... not only do I have a weakness for angora, but the idea of yarn that comes in a box was too much for me!

This is 100% angora in a natural grey. (According to the PR material for the yarn, these balls are a limited edition due to the rarity of the bunnies). The weight is DK and, by god, it is as light as air and fondle-worthy beyond description. I’ve also heard on the grapevine that it doesn’t shed as badly as you’d expect from angora. (I guess time will tell on that)

So... what to make?

Ideally I’d like it to become something special for myself - something to caress the neck and maybe a little bit lacey. But I’m entirely open to ideas and have plenty of time to ponder before I’ll have time to knit it. (I have approx 350 yards)

Any suggestions v. welcome…

In case any of you are curious to know more, the yarn is by Anny Blatt and if you're in the UK it can be purchased online from this French supplier. I believe a limited amount is also available in the US from Yarnmarket.

De-stash update

Just a quickie to let you know that I have posted off all of the yarn today (phew!)

I used second class postage for the UK parcels, so hopefully they will reach you before next weekend.

De-Stash Giveaway Results

Wow, thanks to everyone who expressed an interest in my random act of de-stash. The closing date for yarn requests has now passed and I had a lot more takers than I was expecting, with some of the yarns proving very popular indeed.

So... as promised, I have resorted to pulling random names out of hats.

Congratulations to those of you who will shortly be on the receiving end of yarn! I'm sorry I could not send a ball to everyone who commented (but never mind - I may well have a book destash sometime in future!)

The lucky yarn recipients are as follows:

Yogic Knitter will receive 4 balls of Jaeger Natural Fleece

Trinitystar will receive 8 balls of Sublime Kid Mohair

blottedcopybook will receive 3 balls of undyed Lopi

Lintilla, Fifelass and Darth_Tigger will each receive a ball of Patons Divine in Oatmeal

Bitbat, Miguida and Champy will each receive a ball of Patons Divine in Grey

Warboyswitch will receive the two matching skeins of sari silk

Atropinesulfate will receive the other skein of sari silk

Sarah will receive three balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk

Katie Will receive 3 skeins of cream natural mohair

Vicki will receive the mixed bag of mohair oddments

Scusi - I am pretty sure I have a few oddments in grey and black that I can send you for your donkeys :-)

Sushidog - I also have something extra to send you., which I failed to list as part of my destash post. (This is partly because I will NEVER say no to home-made crunchies!)

Happy knitting all,
Susie F

De-stash giveaway / RAK

Good evening fellow crafters, would any of you interested in being on the receiving end of a yarn-related freebie?

For those of you who do not already know, I am due to produce a small human being in June 2o11. And now that Christmas is over... I am starting to look at my small residence and wonder how on earth I will fit in a baby and all of its paraphernalia, amid a sea of yarn, sticks and other crafty clutter.

So, inspired by the trend for random acts of kindness, I've decided to de-clutter and offer some of the excess yarn out to you lovely readers on the interwebs, where I am sure it will be appreciated. If you'd like any of the yarns listed below, please leave a comment, specifying which yarn(s) you are interested in and leaving a contact email address.

For the sake of fairness, I will set a closing date of 6pm Wednesday, GMT. If I get multiple requests for the same yarn, I will select names randomly from a hat. If you are selected, I will contact you privately for your address and then post the yarn to you completely free of charge. (Please note - although I am willing to post overseas, you may get charged by customs!)

OK - here are the yarns...


4 balls of Jaeger Natural Flece in Granite This is a super-chunky pure wool yarn that would knit up into a nice chunky wrap or scarves. Ravelry info here: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/jaeger-natural-fleece





8 balls of Sublime Kid Mohair Blend in Black This is a soft, non-itchy mohair in DK weight. Ravelry info here: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/sublime-yarns-kid-mohair-blend




3 balls of chunky wool lopi (undyed) This was sold as unbranded yarn, so there is no ball band or Ravelry info. The vendor described it as pure wool lopi. I think it would knit up very chunky and would probably felt, if desired.



3 balls of Patons Divine in Oatmeal This is a very soft, super-chunky acrylic mohair. It feels nice against the skin with no itch factor whatsoever and a single ball will make a large, chunky neckwarmer. (If there are multiple takers, I will be willing to let these go as single balls). Ravelry info here: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/patons-divine

3 balls of Patons Divine in Charcoal Grey As above, this is a very soft, super-chunky acrylic mohair. It feels nice against the skin with no itch factor whatsoever and a single ball will make a large, chunky neckwarmer. (If there are multiple takers, I will be willing to let these go as single balls). Ravelry info here: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/patons-divine


3 skeins of sari silk (mixed) This is made from recycled Indian saris. It's a little rougher than silk yarn, so I think it is ideal for bags and purses. I can't remember where I got it, but here is a link to Ravelry info about a similar yarn: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/hipknits-recycled-sari-silk




3 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (2 cream, one black) This is a supremely soft yarn in aran weight, that would feel lovely against the skin. Ravelry info here: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/debbie-bliss-alpaca-silk-aran




Mixed stash of mohair yarns (various colours) This mixed lot includes 3 full skeins of natural mohair in cream, a couple of vintage balls in silver/grey, some soft hand-spun in black, and a range of other oddments including some acrylics in bright colours. In honesty, I'd say a lot of these are going to be too itchy to wear against the skin but they'd be ideal for doll's clothes, knitted corsages, toys or other small projects.



I hope you find something to take your fancy!

Posh yarn and Tactile knitting

Last week my universe converged in an unexpected way when Knit Nation turned up at my work... in my very own office building. A place usually overrun with students and academics was suddenly awash with knitters. (For me it was a dream to watch the ground floor of my building get converted into a giant yarn store!) I also spent a few pleasant lunchtimes sitting outside with my newfound knitting homies.

So... the universe clearly wanted me to purchase yarn, and who am I to argue?

Especially when luxury yarn such as this is pushed under my nose...


This is Knitwitch "Seriously Gorgeous" cashmere and silk, in 4ply weight. It pains me that I cannot post a touch-screen version of this photo, because the yarn really has to be felt to be believed. It is SOFT!

The lighter shade is called Silver Seas, and is a pale, silver-grey with occasional streaks of aquamarine. The darker one is called Winter Sky, and is primarily a slate grey, with occasional streaks of deep red.

Since I bought these I have spent quite a lot of time rummaging through books (and almost every 4ply pattern on ravelry) for a suitable pattern. I was seriously considering a lace pattern for one or both of these, until it came to me that the beauty of this yarn really lies in how it feels. I think it wants to be something simple.

Then the fact that the two colours complement each other made me think about stripes. So with that I abandoned my pattern search and cast on 38 stitches.... and started striping.


I am calling this my "Seriously Soft" scarf and I think it is going to be my favourite thing, come Autumn. Until then I hope it will make a good, mindless, project to work on while watching TV. A few rows in, I like the way that the stocking stitch curls in at the edges. I think this is the sort of thing I would wear at a weekend, when it is just beginning to get chilly, wrapped several times around my neck.




Moving on... those of you who like to knit socks may be familiar with the German yarn phenomenen that is Wollmeise. Not being especially into socks, I was introduced to this phenomen at Knit Nation, when I saw 1000 crazed knitters go into scrum-mode at the Wollmeise stall.

I think the craze is due to the amazing colours, and when I finally got near the stall, I could see why. We're talking about every colour of the rainbow, pure and bright... in 100% merino 4ply and lace weight. Very nice indeed... so I bought two skeins (Lavenden and Fuchia). No idea yet what I will do with it.



Well that's all from me... will report back later when I've done something.

Pre-washing colourmart cashmere

A few years ago I went on a mad spree at Colourmart and purchased various cones of cashmere in different weights. For anyone not in the know, this cashmere is sold as remainders from industrial production batches, which means that it comes on cones and is slightly oiled for
machine knitting. It also means you get cashmere at a bargain price!

My resulting stash looked a bit like this...







There have been various discussions on the Colourmart Yahoo forum about whether it is better to wash the yarn before using it for hand knitting. The answer is that it is really a matter of personal preference.

You can certainly use it 'as is' for handknitting. Some knitters prefer to because it means that their finished stitches meld
together more tightly after blooming, making for a stronger fabric. It doesn't feel quite as nice as cashmere bought on the ball would, and it often has a slight smell of machine oil. But when you wash the finished item, it blooms like a butterfly and becomes a thing of gorgeous, plush softness. It also tends to shrink a little in length (and sometimes grows in width) which has to be factored in by the knitter. The golden rule when doing this is to wash a swatch before starting.

Other knitters (and I have decided that I am one of these) prefer to pre-wash the yarn before knitting. This way you get to knit with the unoiled version of the yarn, which feels lovely and soft while knitting. Also you get a more predictable result, with less shrinkage and blooming in the finished product.

So... having hidden the above stash in a cupboard for eons, I decided it was high time to do a big batch of pre-washing. This post is simply to share my method and results with any Colourmart fans out there who have not yet given it a go.

So here goes...


1. Step 1 - Wind the yarn into skeins

I used my swift to do this, because (as the name implies) I find it much quicker than using a niddy noddy. Once they were wound, I tied them in at least 4 places to keep the threads nice and straight.



2. Step 2 - pre-soak the skeins

Here is where you might gasp in horror... I like to pre-soak the yarn in none other than Fairy liquid, diluted in lukewarm water.
Whatever you may think about cashmere, it is actually quite a hardy fibre and copes with this very well. Fairy liquid does a
lovely job of removing the machine oil in a first pass and leaves the skeins remarkably soft. I soaked the skeins for 5 mins
before wringing out gently.

Step 3 - mashine wash the skeins

My washing machine has a wool cycle, which is an ideal way to wash the skeins and get out any remaining traces of machine oil. First of all, I placed the skeins inside some zip-up washing bags (the sort used to wash delicate underwear). Then I added a good amount of wool-friendly washing detergent and a dose of fabric conditioner. (My cycle washes at 40 degrees C, takes 50 mins and has a spin speed of 800).

When the skeins came out, they were extremely plumped up and soft. A couple of them came out a little puckered, like the one shown below, but a good stretch was all it took to revert them to a taut, flat state.



Step 4 - dry the skeins

The skeins seem to dry pretty quickly over a radiator or even a well aired banister. I like to turn them every couple of hours to help them dry evenly. I also removed the ties to avoid getting kinks in the fibre.

Step 5 - admire!

The finished skeins are lovely and soft and considerably plumper than the oiled thread that I had when I started. They can now
be wound into balls, and will be a pleasure to knit with. I just need to decide what to use them for...

Here are a few pics of the dried skeins

Blocking my Raspberry Beret

Just popping in to share some pics of my latest beret and - more specifically - to mention the blocking technique that I used for this.


























The beret and flower were made from one skein of Sublime Kid Mohair, using a free pattern by Susan Power called Baroness Beret (Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baroness-beret).

I will definitely use this pattern again. As for the yarn, I find it soft and light and almost barely there when wearing the hat. I'm totally in love with the colour. It's such a luscious shade of red... bright like raspberry coulis and a little pinker than pillarbox. The flower was not part of the pattern, but I think it works well, edged with a fine chain of kidsilk haze in black.


My ravelry page for this project is here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/flockhartsl/baroness-beret



Anyway, onto blocking techniques...



Having made a whole load of lace berets recently, I've got into the habit of blocking them over a dinner plate, which works very nicely for giving that proper beret shape, and really opens out the lace. However I think that this beret has the best blocking result of all - and I think that it is due to having taken an extra bit of care over the ribbing. I've posted a few explanatory pics below...

• The first pic shows the beret before blocking.
• The second pic shows the beret stretched over a dinner plate
• The third pic shows something new - this time I basted the ribbing to pull it into shape over the plate. This made a difference and resulted in a snug, unstretched ribbing
• The final pic shows how I like to leave the beret to dry overnight.

Kool and the Gang... Part 2

In my last post I showed the results of my first Kool Aid experiments (using five skeins of superwash sock yarn). I promised to elaborate on a couple of things, so here we go...

Firstly, I want to show the before and after pics for the overdying that I did on the deeper red...

You may recall that this skein was initially dyed using 1 part Grape to 2 parts Cherry. The result was a pretty shade, but patchy coverage, with several undyed sections that did not look good.


So I overdyed it the following day using a madcap mixture of cherry, black cherry tropical punch and grape.






As it turns out, that was far more dye than I needed, and the skein did not soak it all up - but I did get a lovely rich red at the end of it - and all of the bare patches soaked up the red beautifully...





So moving on from sock yarn, I'd like to show what happened when I progressed to two beautiful 100g skeins of lace weight merino/silk (80% merino / 20% silk). Each skein has about 1200 yards - easily enough for a shawl, so I was looking for shawl-friendly colours.... or something less psychedelic than my sock yarns anyway.




When these raw skeins arrived through the post, I was so taken with the beautful, silky texture of their undyed state that I was tempted not to risk dyeing them at all. But then.... you only live once, right?

So having become comfortable with Knitty's recommended microwave technique, I decided to go straight ahead with the first batch of laceweight. So I mixed up one part each of Black Cherry and Tropical Punch - with a little Grape thrown in also and bunged it in the microwave for 2 mins.

When I took it back out, I started to feel a little nervous. It occurred to me that the water and glass bowl felt far hotter than the max wash temperature would be for this yarn. So to minimise damage, I took the yarn straight out of the water and left it in the sink to cool, then rinsed it and hung it up to dry. At this point I was already noticing that the texture of the yarn had changed... it no longer seemed silky - more like "felty" (argh!) and the strands were sticking together somewhat.

As it dried it started to look like this... still a little on the felty side for my liking.



After several days, it was fully dry and the colour was a sort of matte, pinkish red. I'm not sure how exactly to describe this colour - but it calls to mind the sort of dusky hue that you would find in a heritage range of wall paint, aimed at traditional dining rooms. It's really very pretty.





The really good news is that when I came to wind the ball, it was not felted after all - hoorah! It had simply changed texture slightly - effectively it had 'bloomed' and is still very soft.





For the second skein, I wanted a pale apple green, and managed to get exactly what I was after by using just one sachet of Lemon & Lime Kool Aid for the whole batch. This time I only gave the yarn one minute in the microwave, and I think it has retained more of the silky sheen than the other skein did. It has a slightly variegated finish, which is subtle enough to be very pleasing to me :-)







Right now it is being wound via my swift and trusty nostepinne.
















So, finally.... I thought I would finish up with gratuitous yarn shots.

The kool aid's so bright I gotta wear shades

Gentle yarn fetishists, I have something to show you...

However, before we start, you may wish to turn down the colour settings on your computer. Lets just say that Subtlety, your name is not Kool Aid...

As you may have guessed, I have been hand dying yarn, using nothing other than Kool Aid (which I ordered off the interwebs), a glass bowl and a microwave. Instructions for this are available on Knitty.com.


The resulting colours are, ahem, zingy. Ideal if you want to knit for Oompa Loompas and just can't get that psychedelic hit from your LYS.

So are you ready?

Ok... here we go...















































I have to confess I did not keep a perfect track of what I used... but it was more or less as follows:

• Skein 1 dyed using 1 part Lemon & Lime to 2 parts Berry Blue


• Skein 2 dyed using 2 parts Lemon & Lime


• Skein 3 dyed using 2 parts Orange


• Skein 4 dyed using 3 parts Cherry


• Skein 5 dyed twice (the first batch using 1 part Grape to 2 parts Cherry - then overdyed using a crazy mixture of cherry, black cherry tropical punch and grape)

Things I learned about Dying...

1. The first skein I dyed was the Lemon & Lime and it took me several seconds to dip the second half of the skein into the dye ...this has resulted in a variegated finish - where half of the skein is a brighter green than the other half. So if you prefer a regular coverage, I think it is better to try and dip the whole skein in at once.


2. After its first dying, I noticed that the deep red skein had a few irregular patches where the dye had not taken, and it did not look good. So I overdyed the skein, this time using loads of koolaid. The interesting bit its that it didn't really take up that much dye the second time around. I think there may be a limit to how much dye a single skein can realistically absorb. The already dyed parts went a slighty deeper red, while the irregular patches took up a full soaking of dye to blend in with the rest.


3. All of the above skeins are superwash sock yarn, and the microwave method worked beautifully. So much so that I got a little carried away and progressed immediately to two skeins of lace weight Merino/silk. I am not sure these skeins reacted very well to the microwave (will blog the results of that later).

UPDATE... I have posted some follow-on ramblings about kool aid dyeing here: http://susiefhandmade.blogspot.com/2009/08/kool-and-gang-part-2.html