Shellseeker Numero 2

As I discovered with Thea, ten weeks post birth + breastfeeding does not equal a good figure in which to pose in a newly knitted garment. However, since I have no idea how long it will take to reclaim my post baby figure (or indeed, if I will), here are some slightly reluctantly posted photos of my finally finished Shellseeker, almost completely reknitted as I frogged the whole body but hadn't knitted the arms.

This pocket is absolute genius. When you read ahead in the patttern, you haven't a clue how it's going to work, but it all becomes so clear once you arrive there.

I wasn't sure how the neck would hang, and considered adding a ribbed collar to give it some shape and structure, but it actually works perfectly now the ends are woven in.

 It's exactly what I wanted - a jumper that is casual, cosy and warm; that can be used for outdoor activities, but has the comfort of gorgeous, soft yarn (in this case, alpaca) that you can snuggle into on a cold evening. It was fun to knit, particularly due to the many "ah-ha" moments, and the rounds went quickly because of the divisions in each one of the front, back and pocket - it felt like there were targets constantly, pushing me on to the next one.

I'd definitely recommend this knit. The original is in cotton, which may, in the long term, be the best fibre due to the drapey nature of the finished garment, but at least I'll be warm in my alpaca!

Splitting Hairs or Three Bags Full

After plying my Shetland (post to come), I was eager to start experimenting with some of the fibres I bought at Wonderwool. I purchased a load (as in, I've totally forgotten the weight!) of Falkland top, which I want to spin to a 4-ply weight to knit the Low Tide cardigan, but I don't feel I'm accomplished enough yet (a hideous understatement) to begin on such a large amount. I bought three 50g balls of combed Merino top from Wingham Woolwork, which I had been hoping to resist as I've been struggling with some Merino I purchased from them last year - my incompetence, not the quality of their products - but the colours were irresistible to me...

I had planned to use them to practise 3-ply, each colour spun separately on three bobbins and then plied together, but having purchased Judith MacKenzie's The Intentional Spinner the other week, and discovered the sock yarn project, I was inspired to be slightly more radical (yes, that is ironic) and work out some kind of colour splitting pattern to make it more interesting.

I began by splitting each length into three, as in the above photo, then splitting both the darkest and lightest tops into eighths, but one "third" at a time, so preparing one bobbin at a time. Hopefully the photos will make more sense than my description.

Then, because I wanted an undulating gradient - light to medium to dark to medium to light - but I had the same amount of each colour, I had to split the medium turquoise into 16ths. 

Quarters

Eighths

Sixteenths

Progress shots for each row...

... ending up with this...

... which became these...

... three little sandwich bags (!) full of lovely, separated fibre.

It was a really enjoyable exercise. I think the design is exceptionally simple - aside from the initial splitting into thirds due to wanting to 3-ply, the rest of the splitting was based on halving, halving and halving again - what could be simpler? Obviously, to anyone who is actually an experienced spinner, that will sound ridiculous and entirely ameteur, but everyone has to start somewhere. The first bobbin has commenced; I'm hoping to end up with sock yarn weight so I'm trying to keep my singles nice and tight to make allowance for plying, as they'll need to be hardwearing for socks, but I'm not sure the consistency is going to be fabulous. We shall see.

xxx Sam

One thing leads to another...

Hello blog! I havent forgotten aboout you, I promise. In fact, I think of you frequently and with longing, wishing I had some time to devote to you and some more love to give you, but with and two and a half year old and a nine week old, you don't figure highly in my list of priorities. C'est la vie. However, even as I'm typing, my fingers still instinctively know where the letters are on the keyboard, so all is not lost. And there was no way I could fail to record my most recent acquisition.

Back in September, the Midnight Sheep paid a visit with a new acquisition she had made. Picked up from a charity shop for £50 following a tip-off, this beautiful Haldane Shetland spinning wheel.

I haven't looked at these photos for a while actually, and looking now, I can again see why I loved this wheel so much. It has a beautiful, antiqued finish, and the wood from which it's made is solid with a lovely grain. The wheel is simple, but with strong attention to detail. I particularly love the maidens and flyer; the maidens (for the spinning uninitiated, the upright posts on either side of the bobbin in the first photo) aren't excessively turned, but have enough detail to look interesting - I think that is the beauty of this wood actually; too much turning detail would take away from that beauty. Goodness, I'm sounding like a spinning wheel critic! I'm certainly not qualified to take that position! The thing I loved best about this wheel though, to cut a long story short, was the fact that it's upright. I found the height of the flyer, in comparison to my wheel, much more comfortable and convenient. I was lucky enough to babysit this wheel overnight, as it wasn't working properly and I offered Marno's services to Helena (the Sheep) to fix it for her. This turned out to be a very simple task. She'd known it wasn't working properly, but intuition told her to go for it, and it turns out she was right. So I had the pleasure of using it that evening once it had been fixed.

Although, as is evident from my lack of blog posts, I haven't had a tremendous amount of time to produce craft of any sort, Marno had been saying he wanted to buy me a new wheel, as mine hadn't been working properly since I took it to Brecon Bible School to do a demonstration last August. It had never been able to reach it's potential anyway, but I wasn't sure this was the year to replace it. But two weeks before Wonderwool, I happened to mention to Marno that it was on, and he responded, "Aren't we going?" I had just assumed we would be unable to because of having a new baby, but weare very blessed in that Laurie is delightful, and very good. So I started to think that maybe we could go, and Marno said we could look at a new wheel. So, thenceforth, all my ideas of saving it until I'm less busy went out of the proverbial window. I became ridiculously excited at the prospect, and started trawling the Ravelry spinning group for possibilities. My prerequisites were that it should be double drive and upright, and preferably a light finish. Oh, and there was a price limit too!

It wasn't long before I came upon the Kromski make, through recommendations on Ravelry. The Minstrel sounded exactly what I was looking for, and I was able to view it on Youtube through the fantastic Tim Horschler from New Voyager Trading, who did a full, in depth, and very informative review of it. Enough for me to decide, after a little more research, that this was the wheel for me! I then looked on Ebay, and, lo and behold, there was "one left in stock". Well, stuff waiting for Wonderwool, I thought, where they may not be available to take away on the day; lets get this thing NOW! As you can see, my attitude changed somewhat!

So, two working days later, it arrived. Unfortunately I had had the MMR vaccine the week before, and was suffering a bad reaction from it - bad enough to not even open the box on the day it arrived. So it wasn't until two days later that Marno assembled it for me, with a small amount of my help, and another Tim Horschler video, this time on how to assemble a Kromski Minstrel - thanks Tim!

So, finally, here is my new wheel, already broken in with some Shetland, which I've nearly finished plying.

I love that it has a lazy kate incorporated - makes plying so easy.

As you can imagine, I left Wonderwool with a massive amount of fibre. I actually bought no yarn this year, instead I bought fibre to spin into yarn for projects I have on my Rav queue... hmmm, when I'll be wearing those items is anyone's guess!

Wonderwool stash.

Me sitting at the wheel, immersed in Judith MacKenzie's The Intentional Spinner.

Have to go, as Noah has awoken from his slumber. Funnily enough, I have been reminded of why I haven't posted for so long - it's taken me an hour to write this post, half of it one handed with a suckling baby on my lap!

So long until next time, whenever that may be... xxx

Why, what a lovely sack you are wearing!

After speeding (for me) through my lovely Shellseeker, I finally reached the end of the front and decided now would be a good time to try it on (pause for derisive laughter). I had tried it when I got past the armholes, which was quite some time ago in terms of the length of the garment, but had neglected to since then. Items turning out too short is usually my problem; I certainly didn't anticipate an item being far longer than intended...

Don't misunderstand - I had been looking at Shellseeker with a critical eye and wondering if not only the length but also the width were somewhat more than intended as I got closer and closer to the end, but I somehow managed to sweep this possible issue to the corner of my mind.  I didn't think it possible for one of my garments to be so drastically large in comparison to the schematic. I notoriously need to go up a whole mm in order to get gauge as I knit so tightly.

Well, as you may possible have inferred from this post title, miracles can happen, and my lovely, soft, alpaca Shellseeker is a lovely, soft, alpaca sack!

I don't think I need to elaborate on how unimpressed I am with this fact - my expression says it all - the front is a whole 12cm too long!

You can't really appreciate from the photos just how large, unshapely and unflattering this jumper is. Because there is no side shaping anyway, and the only shaping consists of side decreases and centre increases to form the pocket, unless the garment turns out exactly the intended size, you risk looking as if you are, indeed, wearing a sack.

On the first of these back views you can see the size of the jumper in all it's rectangular glory. On the lower photo, you can see how, when one's arms are by one's sides, the fabric forms protrusive folds on each far side around the armholes, which Marno kindly pointed out to me, due to my not being able to see the back!

I knew Shellseeker had no body shaping and relied on the pocket shaping to create interest and, well, shape, and I was fine with that, but I think this jumper can only work if its exactly the right size for the wearer. With that thought in mind, I have taken drastic action. For the first time ever, I have entirely frogged (for the knitting uninitiated, ripped out) Shellseeker. Well, not entirely, as I hadn't anticipated it taking so long and didn't have time to rip it all out during Noah's nap, so I'm about two thirds through, but make no mistake, it will all be gone and I will start again, from the very beginning, with a 1mm smaller needle (I did go up a needle size and a half)! Its funny actually, because even when I did my tension swatch I wasn't entirely happy with the looseness of the stitches, so hopefully with Shellseeker mark 2, it will be a little stiffer (though not much as its alpaca) and just hold together better.

I am entirely blown away but the pattern though, and can only say good things about it. It is sheer genius. So utterly simple yet you can't imagine how on earth something is going to work, in this case, particularly the pocket, until you get to it. Then the method, which you've read through so many times before you arrived at that point, just falls into place and uses such obvious yet subtle ways to achieve it's aim.

So I hope to have a me-sized Shellseeker very soon, although ironically it would be better at this point in time to keep the large version, as I will be expanding in the next six months to accommodate Noah's little brother or sister!!! (Pause for gasps and "ahhs"). Yes, I'm 14 weeks pregnant, and its certainly very exciting. We are so very blessed and thankful for all God has given us.

But I seem to have created a little pattern of making clothes too big for myself lately. I made a dress quite a few months ago that ended up looking like maternity wear, which I decided to keep for when I became pregnant again, so photos of that to come in a few months when I have a bump to fill it with! I also didn't pull it apart because I was actually really pleased with how it turned out, even though it is a tent.

So, all in all, not a particularly successful couple of months in the clothes making department. A sack for a jumper and a tent for a dress. Surely it can only get better from here...

xxx Sam

2 ply

I hereby proudly unveil my second ever plied yarn! With a bit of inspiration from my friend the Midnight Sheep, who was a great help in recommending which rovings to ply, I have finally produced another 2 ply yarn. I can't remember whether I ever posted about my lovely MIL's trip to the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace last year, and the stash of dyed roving she brought back for me - I know I took photos with the intention of, but I may have got waylaid. Aaaanyway... I was showing said stash to Helena, who immediately saw a fantastic pairing that I just hadn't thought of. One roving was lilac with no varigation, the other was mainly green, with lights and darks, but also, as it happened, a little of the same lilac. An obvious pairing, but maybe I didn't think of it because I must admit to being far more drawn to block colours then varigated. So after many months, I can finally reveal the finished yarn, complete with progress shots just to give an idea of the individual colours.

And the finished skein...

The last one is taken in super vivid, just to emphasize the colours a little more, but actually the previous photos are quite a good representation of the true colours. If I were to name this yarn, it would have to be called Lilac Tree in Spring, as that is exactly what it reminds me of. We have a lilac tree at the bottom of our garden, but the blooms are always over so soon.

On a sadder note, and talking of the bottom of our garden which is where our rabbit's hutch is, we came back from a weeks holiday on Monday to find our previously healthy Little Bun in a state of unwellness. He had hardly touched his food or water since we'd been away, and his eyes were all red rimmed. We kept an eye on him yesterday, and he did venture outside his hutch (he isn't usually shut in so has full reign of the garden and only goes in to escape from Noah or to eat and drink) last night. But he seemed worse again this morning, so Marno took him to the vet this evening, who immediately diagnosed him as having myxomatosis, and recommended he be put down, as treatment is difficult for the rabbit and only has a 3% success rate. So Little Bun went to the vet with what I imagined to be overgrown back teeth, and didn't, in fact, come back. A very sad evening altogether. I know Noah will be very confused, as he adores Little Bun and spends many minutes standing at the patio door shouting "Bun, bun", and pointing at him, as well as trying to stroke him at every possible opportunity.

Having said all that, I don't really know how to end this post, so I'm just going to sign off I think - a cop out I'm afraid.

xxx Sam

Baking Backlog

I seem to remember in a previous post saying that I would be introducing a lot more baking into my blog, and now, time has passed, I've done a lot of baking, but I haven't blogged about it. So this is going to be a bit of a list type post, with lots of photos of cakes and me trying to remember what they are and from which baking resource I obtained them.

It seems the easiest way of going about this task is to begin with the most recent bake and work backwards, scanning the mists of my memory, which will no doubt become ever more vague the more cakes I record. So, here goes...

Moist walnut cupcakes, made for the Bible study group we have at our house every Tuesday evening - they are my guinea pigs! From Marks and Spencer "Scrumptious Cupcakes".

Coffee sponge drops from Low-fat Baking.

These have a merangue like consistency, due to lots of beating of egg before adding the remainder of the ingredients. They are incredibly light. I just made a butter icing filling, but the one in the book uses root ginger in syrup - unfortunately I didn't have any to hand (!), and Marno isn't a huge ginger fan, although that doesn't usually stop me from including it in quite a few meals!

Chocolate fudge cake from Chocolate Box.

This was one of those books on the very cheap book stand you often get at garden centres, full of delicious cookbooks, ridiculously reduced. It is a gorgeous book, and looking at the link I've given to Amazon, the only reviewer has given it one star. I cannot believe this - the recipes are stunning; ok, I have only made this one so far, but it turned out beautifully, and I have more planned for the not too distant future. I totally recommend this book and refute the one star rating as written by somebody who was frustrated their baking endeavour didn't work out - goodness knows that's happened to me before!

Wholemeal orange cake with Earl Grey icing from River Cottage Handbook No. 8 Cakes.

My version of this cake looks somewhat dishevelled, and as I made it back in May (I don't remember that because I have a photographic cake-eating memory, but because I looked at the properties of the photograph), I don't recall exactly how good it was. I seem to remember the Earl Grey icing not being pungent enough, but the sponge being incredibly moist. Certainly a pleasant cake though.

Apple and walnut cake with treacle icing from BBCGoodFood.

At least I think that's what it was... my icing looks decicedly different from that in the recipe. Made for Marno's birthday quite some time ago. Can't really remember what it was like at all - that is a sad thing.

Chocolate souffle, also from BBCGoodFood

A very easy and very yummy dessert I made when we had friends for dinner a while ago. It's a nice touch making them in teacups.

Probably the best cake in the world, Nigel Slater's Coffee and Walnut cake, from here.

I'd been wanting to make a coffee and walnut cake for a very long time, and when I searched for a recipe, this one came up pretty much immediately. It is the utmost in indulgence, being smothered in the most incredible coffee flavoured butter icing on every available outer surface. Mmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it :) This really is a fantastic recipe, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Well I'm trawling my photos and I can't seem to find many more bakes, though I know what I've shown above isn't a fraction of what I've baked recently. However, I think that is plenty to be getting on with. If anybody has a go at the Coffee and Walnut, I'd love to know how you got on and if you loved it as much as I did.

I have two lovely knitting projects on the go at the moment, as you may know, but I seem to have lost my motivation momentarily. For the last couple of weeks I've just not felt like doing much at all when the evening comes and I have my few hours of free time. I've had an awful cough and husky voice for that time as well, which perhaps hasn't helped, but I don't want to waste the precious time I have by not making the most of it. I hope to be feeling back to normal soon.

Happy baking!

xxx Sam

Under the Apple Tree

We've reached the stage with our house where we're running out of projects and looking for what to do next. It's funny when doing up your house becomes a hobby and you start to think, "What shall we do when we've done everything?" Of course, that will never happen, however, we have made two new projects for ourselves, both rather large, though one more so than the other. The first is that we are going to replace the bathroom. Only the suite and the floor, as the whole room is tiled and it would be a mammoth and expensive job to replace them. They are large and white with bevelled edges, and there is a row of coloured mosaic tiles around the centre. Perfectly inoffensive, and plenty of potential for improvement.

The other, somewhat larger job is that we have begun to strip the paint of the front of the house. It began when Marno, after a few weeks of saying what a bad state the paint on the bay windows was in, took a chisel out to the front garden to see how easily the paint would come off. Low and behold, it stripped off like wallpaper over most of the surface, revealing very well preserved sandstone, typical of the majority of houses in Cardiff and one of my favourite features. We are hoping to be able to keep the sandstone bare and just treat it with a weatherproofing finish, but I want to paint the sills, which are currently black gloss, a nice matt charcoal grey, rather more period I think!

Here's a progress shot;  it's not particularly clear, but you can see where we've removed the paint on the bottom bay (n.b. not all of it came off like wallpaper - there's still a fair bit to remove from that one!)

So what was I doing under the apple tree? Well the point I was getting to with the above is that, what with all these projects suddenly piling up around our ears, you'd think we'd make the most of the weather and get on with it, but it's been so gorgeous here, we spent a lot of Saturday sitting on the picnic mat in the shade of our beautiful apple tree, chatting, (me) knitting and reading, and generally chilling, followed by a lovely barbeque at a friend's house in the evening.

 View from the picnic mat


 I made a little progress on my Shellseeker, which is charging along, for me. I'm so glad I changed my technique, it's made such a massive difference to my speed, and the alpaca couldn't be more perfect for this project.

So all in all, a rather pleasant weekend with far too much relaxing and certainly not enough work, but you just have to make the most of these rare moments of warmth and sunlight I think.

There's what I'm reading - The Help. A fantasic book, which, on this very rare occasion, I'm glad to have seen the film of before I read the book, because it's written in the accent of the narrators of the story, and it really helps to have that fresh in your head. I can imagine it would read rather peculiarly otherwise.

Last Friday I was due to have some friends over from our church with their little ones. There were supposed to be four of us mummies and six babies and children, but in the end, only one friend could make it with her two - a seven month old and three year old. Anyway, in anticipation of such a crowd, I hastened to the kitchen to make a gargantuan chocolate fudge cake. There would be plenty for all for us, but hopefully not too much left for Marno and me to have to finish. Unfortunately, as I was in the process of making, which was the day before, the friend who did come texted me to say it would only be her. Oh dear! I foresaw myself wrestling inside for the next week until the chocolate cake was finished, as there was no way it was going to be demolished the following afternoon...

 Several slices later, I packed it off to work with Marno yesterday, to remove the temptation once and for all. It went down very well with his boss!

xxx Sam