Take a guess

- and you can win a skein of my handspun yarns!

I am SO excited - as of next Wednesday, a new spinning wheel will come to live with me.
I have been saving for this for some time and even though my piggy bank isn't nearly fat enough I couldn't pass the opportunity when I saw someone offer the wheel I want last week.

Name the brand and model of the wheel you think I will get in the comments section. From the correct entries I will randomly choose a name, and send the winner one skein of my handspun yarns. Please include your favorite colours or the colours you like least and I will try to send you something appropriate.

Just one hint - it's definitely not made for artyarn.

There are only two people who know for sure what wheel it is, the seller and a spinning friend. If my spinning friend comments she well deserves a skein of yarn for enabling me :-) !!

Finished the Blues

Finally, I am back behind the spinning wheel on a regular basis and not only 5 minutes here and there!
After 12 months of issues with my back I feel reborn:-)

The one I just finished last night is from a merino/silk batt hand carded by All the Pretty Fibers that I spun into a super soft and squishy 2-ply yarn.

 
The first yarn I worked on after the break is made of beautiful Superfine Baby Alpaca, hand dyed by Amanda.from www.MandaCrafts.co.uk.
I spun it into N-plied, sock weight yarn.

Since it has been dreadfully grey and dull here in Rotterdam for weeks, I next grabbed a very colorful club shipment from Spunky Eclectic, colorway Field of Dreams.
I split the tops lengthwise for a 2-plied yarn without mixing colors. As you can see that only worked for one of the skeins :-)

First Bloom II on its way to the USA

iMake has randomly chosen a winner from all the entries in her blog post about the May giveaway.

Thank you all so much for the wonderful, kind and encouraging comments!

The winner chose First Bloom II, which is already packaged to leave for its journey to the US.

It is a lovely blend of Merino and silk, the fiber was dyed by Squoosh Fiberarts.
I spun it into a light fingering weight yarn that would make a beautiful shawlette. I am excited to see what it will grow up to be!

Last day of May Giveaway Offer

Remember to enter the iMake May giveaway for which I am offering up one skein of the handspun yarn listed in my Etsy shop.
For instructions on entering please read this blog post, but also listen to the podcast   - it's well worth it!

May Giveaway - 1 skein of handspun

One of my favourite podcasts is iMake. The host, Martine, not only shares her knitting adventures but many other crafts including papercrafts, sewing, jewellery making, photography, amongst others. And she provides the listeners with a little insight into Guernsey culture, a place I have never been to but now desperately want to visit!

Every month iMake offers a giveaway to listeners - and this month I am sponsoring the giveaway by offering up one skein of the handspun yarn listed in my Etsy shop.
For instructions on entering please read this blog post, but also listen to the podcast   - it's well worth it!

Hernia is bad for spinning

After 4 months, I am finally spinning again, jipieh!
I suffered from a ruptured disk in mid December, and unfortunately sitting was and still is more painful than any other position. I was able to knit lying on the couch, and I did spin on my spindle walking around the house, but my beautiful Rose sat neglected in a corner of the living room.
But finally, the pain is bearable and being able to spin again makes up for it.

This is what I produced over the past 2 weeks:

Spun from a Merino/silk batt handcarded by All the Pretty Fibers.

 Spun from a Merino batt handcarded by Lady's Turn.

 Spun from a Shetland/Silk batt handcarded by Enchanted Knoll Farm

Spun from a Merino/Tencel/Silk batt handcarded by Enchanted Knoll Farm

Reversible knitting

Cowls, cowls, cowls....

I recently made my first Moebius cowl following Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cast-On instructions on Youtube.
What a genius technique!

The pattern for this cowl was Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings Cowl, a beautiful cowl pattern using the Moebius Cast-on method.

I used some worsted weight yarn, which I had handspun from handpainted Targhee top.




Even though the pattern is absolutely wonderful, I did want to make a few changes to the fit.

So I cast on for another Moebius cowl, shaping it slightly differently and trying out different stitch patters.
Since these cowls show the 'right' and the 'wrong' side of the knitted piece a reversible pattern is required.

Unfortunately I do not own any of the Reversible Knitting books available, for example Lynne Barr's Reversible Knitting - which would have sped up choosing stitch patterns, I guess - but I still came up with a few stitch patterns that work well.

If you want to try this too, my tip is to use ribs; ribs in many shapes or formats. The cowls in the picture at the top all look quite different but the patterns are all based on ribs - alternating knit and purl stitches or rows.

From left to right:
1: 1x1 rib, broken up by a few garter stitch rows
2: simple 2x2 rib
3: horizontal ribs by alternating a few rows of stockinette stitch with a few rows reverse stockinette stitch
4: simple 1x1 rib in chunky yarn
5: 2 rows of 2x2 rib, 1 purl row, 1 knit row
6: simple 1x1 rib in worsted yarn
7: reversible cables combined with 1x1 rib


My latest one is a more refined reversible cable pattern - in progress here:

I now have far too many cowls for me to wear, so some of them are available in my Etsy shop :-)

What I learned from participating in a designer market

As I posted before I was invited to participate in the Handmade December Gifts market put on by Karin Roeling who owns Gesamt Galerie and sells her handmade products on Etsy.


My primary goal for the weekend was to connect with other designers and crafters. This was a great success! (it was nice to sell a few items, too :-).
Unfortunately I do not have everyone's contact details but check out the wonderful ceramic items made by Noot en zo.


I learned a lot from the others and from the experience itself.

Something important I learned is that I should not mix my handwoven shawls with handspun yarn. Having the yarn displayed next to the shawls made the stand appear like a yarn store aimed at crafters rather than the high-end clothing / accessory booth I like to aim for. Having my spinning wheel there didn't help in that department either :-)

And another thing was that I am so immersed in the world of hand spinning, knitting and weaving that I was very surprised that those activities (with the exception of knitting) mean very little to the majority of people. I think a lot of the visitors were wondering why a yarn store owner would present yarn at a designers market...
So, I very much need to improve how I present my different products!

Usch Engelmann at Gesamt Galerie

I will participate in the Handmade December Gifts / Designer Market put on by Gesamt Galerie in Rotterdam.

Saturday and Sunday, 26 and 27 November 2011, 12pm - 6pm.
Pijnackerplein 2a, Rotterdam


Looking for original gifts these Holidays?
Stop by at Gesamt Galerie from 26-27 November and let
the designers seduce you with their handmade products.
Each piece is original and small-scale produced.

designers:
Notenboom Ceramics / Porcelain & Stoneware jewelry and tableware
Studio Lilesadi / Screen printed pillows, accessories & illustrations
Astronaud / Leather bags & accessories
Usch Engelmann / Usch's handwoven, handspun, handknit
Nov'82 architecten / products made with laser-cutter
---stiksel--- / Home textiles, bags & accessories
La Lisette / Bags and accessories
GriezeligGoed / buttons for KIKA
Annebet Philips / I like it. What is it? lamp
Mind What You Wear / WASH YOUR PROBLEMS AWAY, ritual soaps

Come and stop by!