The search for the perfect partner!

Well having sorted, carded and spun my fibre sandwich, I now have to decide what to do about plying. I'm not the only one. Knitspingirl is having similar problems!

Anyway, here is my lovely bobbin full of colour.

There are a number of options for my plying dilemma that don't use another yarn. I could just use the yarn asis. If I wash it and hang it, the kinks will lose their bite, or I could use it, kinks and all. I could also navajo ply, which would create a three ply yarn by itself and the colours would remain distinct. But I'm looking at making a hat with this yarn and for reasons of frugality, I want a thicker yarn with length to ensure my hat has enough yarn. I can't have too much, but I can have too little.

So my options are to ply it with something. Here they are:

- the neverending purple, but this works better with a yarn with more indefinite colour

- the crazy multi colour yarn, that is too green

- the fine wool cream boucle, which will show up a bit too much

There are a number of other options, but they take time and I need to get on with making shawls for my summer markets. What to do??.........

Carding beautiful batts.

I would have posted this yesterday, but, the printer wouldn't transfer the picture, I have a cold and I was getting ready for today, which is my Rose St. Artists' Market day for September.

I've drum carded each colour separately. My drum carder is not fine toothed, so it performs pretty well with these sorts of batts. Sometimes it would be nice for it to be finer for a better product, but for this purpose I think, they've turned out rather well!

If my head stops thumping and my body aching, I might just start spinning. I wonder how knitspingirl is going...........

The Spin-in continues...

The spin-in continues, now I've found my camera! Not that knitspingirl hasn't been busy. She's already SPUN A SAMPLE and isn't it a gorgeous yarn. I was all ready to post my sorted samples when the NEXT POST went up. Those rolags do look good and it will be a very interesting yarn.

So, where am I? I did decide to sort my bag of stuff into colours and this is what turned up:

I'm going to card each of these colours, hoping that they'll retain the beautiful colours. I'm not quite sure, yet, what to do with the black, white and brown. Hopefully, during the carding process something will  inspire me.

Plying is still weighing on my mind as I usually ply with the 'neverending purple'. This time, however, I really don't think this will work. Again, hopefully, inspiration will strike me.

Isn't it fun?

Fibre Sandwich spin along

My fibre sandwich from this years' Harrietville has been sitting around just defying me to spin it up. Along with that has been a friends that I have finally sent off to her in far off climes.

We've decided to spin it up together and post along the way and see what comes up. It's always hard when a friend is far away, hopefully, we'll at least feel that we're in the same place as we spin this communal bunch of fibres.

This is my stash and this http://knitspingirl.blogspot.com/2010/09/long-distance-spin-in.html is hers!

Another friend, shall we call her 'Doris' does not like the very random, crazy effect, so this year she sorted her 100gms into colours and is spinning it up. I haven't seen it yet, but I thought I might just give it a go!

So off we go!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I inadvertantly booked myself into Rose St. Artists' Market and Ivanhoe Makers Market on the same weekend. This is not my preferred option as it means that I'm behind in such vital things as the weekly shopping and the washing. However, having made the mistake I just kept on going!

As it happened the Ivanhoe Makers Market was on election day, and given that it is in a position where a good proportion of the voters at the nearest electoral booth have to pass us by, we hoped for a good day.



Here is my friend Mary, who comes along with some of her work and helps me out at Ivanhoe. Our sons have been friends since prep and we've been friends since she noticed me wearing one of my jumpers in the schoolyard. Always fun to have her there and on Saturday we both had a great day. It was my best day so far and I was pretty happy.

It was also pretty good for the market as a whole, as we handed out plenty of information about the market. Hopefully, we can build on all that good will.

And so to Rose St.

What the picture doesn't show is how windy it was. There were plenty of people hanging on to their stalls with each gust of wind. Despite that it was a lovely sunny day.

If not somewhat quiet! I guess the day after an indecisive election left people feeling very quiet. So quiet, up to around 1/4 to 4 I had had one sale, and didn't look like getting any more at that time of the day. Very strange though, I had a further four sales and came away quite happy.

Now I have to make more for September......

Books

Tuesday afternoons are spent in a variety of 'Workshops'. The last workshop was 'Portraiture' where we had a live model and painted her portrait over five weeks.

Our current workshops is making books. Because of the short period of time, this is not a formal book making workshop. What it is, is challenging us to think about the form of the book and how we can make a personal statement. Along the way, we're being taught simple techniques, but more importantly, we're being challenged to put a great deal of thought and effort into this book.

I have managed to quite successfully, cover the form of the book:

but I'm having trouble with the content. Not an unusual point for me to be at. Our lovely teacher has suggested that I look at black and white photographs that might surprise as you open each 'page' of my book. I like this idea, but am still at a loss regarding the topic.

I must keep looking.

Just a few 'Works in Progress'

I seem to have started quite a few little projects, attempting to work on them all at the same time! It might be the frightening prospect of two markets on the one weekend - Ivanhoe on Saturday and Rose St. on Sunday - that has prompted this, however, I suspect deeper and darker neurosis coming into play?


Firstly, there's the scarf in the beautiful Wendy Dennis yarn and the lovelyely drop stitch pattern that's popping up, not just in my work, but in quite a few knitting magazines....we do read the same stitch pattern books. I know I've said that scarves aren't selling this year and I wasn't going to knit any more.....but the yarn is so gorgeous and it's nearly done, and I didn't have an easy project for the train.......


Then there's the "toothpaste" yarn I just had to finish spinning...I needed the bobbins! Even though I have no idea what I'm going to make with it.

And, the fingerless mittens in the crazy handspun yarn. This is for a friend, but do I have to do two? and do I have to try one as a new design?


Then, there's more thick singles for the MUST do neckwarmers in 'Melbourne' colours. (Sorry about the photo...no time!)

And, I've started a hat that the guys in my favourite Ivanhoe coffee shop 'might' be interested in.

And then there are scarves on my new loom, in hand-dyed yarn in lovely 8-shaft colour and weave patterns.

AND, the prototype for a new neckwarmer....

Now, I'm off to Stitch 'n Bitch to work on my own jumper!