Spinning yarns

Today, surprisingly, has been a little chilly, just as well, as I have been spinning yarns in preparation for making them into neckwarmers for the coming Winter (or current Winter, if you're in the middle of it!).



There are blacks and greys, both in thick singles and slubby yarns.

They're destined to be shocked. Not a big shock, they'll be plunged into hot water, just to encourage the fibres to stay together and not stray onto a coat when they're later worn.

Then there are the creams, again, thick and slubby yarns. They'll be dyed, not sure what colours yet, but that will achieve the small shock needed to keep them together, but because of the dye time required, I will be a bit careful. I just want to shock them a little, not felt them!

When that's done, hopefully they'll turn into something like this:

I only have a few left, and they're now all in my Etsy shop!

Sponge cake hat

Some relief from the weather. It's a bit cooler and is only getting up to 37deg C today.........

I did realise, yesterday, that I hadn't shown you the sponge cake hat. Well....

Remember this.

I turned it into this.

Then I did this, as well.

I decided I wanted to knit a sponge cake hat.

I have a very old pattern, early 50's, late 40's, which I've used before which uses stocking st and reverse stocking stitch to create layers, and has a very flat top. So I thought I would use that to create this hat.

I love it. It's just what I wanted and is suitably fun and suitably practical. It's now for sale on Etsy, as is the very large skein of the slubby stuff.

Australia Day Weekend

The Australia Day weekend is always a good excuse to catch up with friends and to think about this country of ours. It's always a bit difficult and again controversy has arisen at the suggestion that this is not the most appropriate date to celebrate Australia day.

January 26 commemorates the day the British flag was raised at Sydney Cove proclaiming a new settlement and the beginning of European civilization in Australia. It is easy to see that some of the original inhabitants may not see this as necessarily positive. I agree with Mick Dodson, Australian of the Year, that we need a conversation on this issue...we can do better.

I would like to propose another way of thinking about dates. Not new, but perhaps more in keeping with who we really are and would like to think of ourselves.

31st July - the date when Western Australian held a referendum and agreed to join the federation with the five other colonies, the last state to do so. Western Australians might not agree that this is a good date.

21st May - the date when the British House of Commons passed the Bill that sanctioned the union of Australia and its' independance. (I think this is the date, would need more checking) I like this date because of the supreme act of successful democracy that this displays. Six separate colonial governments and the British House of Commons both voted, on one hand to join together and become a nation and on the other, voted to allow this to occur.

Few other countries have achieved independance without bloodshed. It is something to be extremely proud of, that this could be done. With all the competing interests, democracy won.

1st January - the actual date of Federation. A good date, but already the New Year has taken that date, and pershaps could be viewed as a merely ceremonial date.

Anyway, discussion should be had and maybe we can do better......

Sunday was spent on an Australia Day weekend tradition - the Handweavers and Spinners Guild Spin-in at Yarra Bend in Melbourne, one of our lovely inner city parks. We are indeed a lucky city. This is only the second time I have attended, and, again, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

How good is it to sit, with friends, under the trees, on a beautifully sunny day spinning.

If you look carefully, the empty chair is mine and my new wheel had its first outing. Perhaps not in the best condition yet, but supportive comments were passed and happily received. A gentle first outing.

Still did manage to get this spun.

Enough of politics, off to SnB.

Skeins at Incube8r

I finished these two skeins that were started at Country Conference, working at Incube8r on the weekend. That does sound sort of weird, but I did go in on both afternoons and sat there and spun. Talked to people and had an all round good time.


It was interesting packing up all my gear and trundling down Smith St. with a trolley, consisting of spinning wheel, assorted equipment and finished product. Not quite a bag lady yet. Saturday was quite busy with one sale and hopefully a new person keen to join Experimental spinning.

Sunday was quieter, but a friend dropped in which made for a pleasant break, and, I was able to get both skeins finished.....just....I'd forgotton the shopped closed right on 4pm on a Sunday. Fortunately, a late rush of shoppers didn't make me look too bad!

Both skeins worked out well, but the puff yarn was definitely my favourite. This was the new yarn I learnt at Country Conference and I really like the effect. Add in that you seem to get quite good meterage for such a textured yarn, I'll definitely be doing this again!

The other is a slubby yarn, knot plied then plied to balance. The last orange binder, is perhaps a bit too orange and the yarn is a bit busy. I do love the slubs, which were created with a new technique.

Definitely, an interesting weekend, but far too busy.

PS. Welcome Spring