Here 'tis and where am I?

I did manage to finish my puff yarn and I'm quite happy about it! I did have one of those, 'gee I'm glad I bought that' moments, when I'm sitting at my lovely little poly wheel, happily plying without any hitches, and still not quite filling the very large bobbin.

English Leicester, being what it is, a fibre that has the loveliest lustre, that dyes beautifully, but is a strong wool, which means it's not going to feel nice against the skin. This yarn is not going to make a scarf or neckwarmer, so I'm going to have to think about it a bit. Therefore the yarn is going to sit around a bit more, I think it's used to it!

Now, as for me, I've just been accepted into the Rose St market for the next two months, the first market being this Sunday. Yes, I know it's Mothers' Day, well I did after saying 'Yes' to the stall on Sunday, and checking the dates......

I'm just about to update the blog page with the dates, etc. So come and say hello, come out for a trip, it's Mothers' Day!

On the edge of a disaster?

These two bobbins have been living with me for quite a while and it's time to finish things off.


The first big bobbin is full of the first half of a puff yarn. I learnt this yarn from the HWSG Country Conference and really like it. It consists of wrapping a fibre, in this case some dyed English Leicester fleece, around a core yarn. At intervals it is wrapped much more thickly to create a 'puff' ball.



The resulting single is then plyed with a fine binder yarn. In the process the 'puff ball' 'puffs' out as it is untwisted in the process. Lovely.

In my wisdom, I've decided to spin the binder yarn in the same fibre...I have plenty! However, there has been no effort to colour match, how could I? and so, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, could be the worst barber pole ever!

To add to the difficulty, because, the bobbins have been sitting around for awhile, apart from the last bits that I've spun, they've settled, which means that I might have to second guess the plying.

Oh well, that's tonights problems, now I'm off to Snb to just sit and knit a rib band.....no thinking!

Puff yarn scarf

I think I'm in love. I took my Country Conference puff yarn down to the beach, just to knit it up quickly and see how it looks. It looks wonderful. I'm definitely going to make more of this yarn.

I knit on 15mm needles for this scarf as it proved to give a reasonably dense fabric.

I did try on 20mm needles, it was very open and if there was enough yarn, this would make a great shawl as it was very bouncy.

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