Friday Roundup #4-19

I finally remembered to take a huge hank of yarn, 1552 metres in fact, to my LYS and get it loaded on the swift and balled up. It sat in my stash for almost a year, looking gorgeous but unusable. The mere thought of having to put it around two chairs and wind by hand in to balls filled me with dread.

The yarn name is Teal Temptation and is a 100% cotton slub 4-ply. The colour is lovely. It’s reminiscent of green colours of the sea around Cornwall and Devon. The yarn, in fact, comes from Perran Yarns based out of Cornwall.

So, what will this be and how will it be crochet, knit or weave. I am unsure just now, but hope to decide after another trawl through Ravelry.

Over the next couple of weeks or so, I am working on a new layout and design for my blog site. I have brought a new URL and made a new logo and images and currently doing the redesign offline. I’m keeping it all under wraps at the moment, but might slip the odd teaser in to the next post or two. :). But, I am not rushing it this time; slow and steady.

If the setup goes to plan, you shouldn’t notice much difference other than a name change to the site and the layout.

I am pleased as my jumper yarn has arrived. It’s 100% Shetland woollen spun yarn. I chose a lovely rust colour and have 15 balls, which I am hoping is enough with a bit leftover. It arrived all boxed up lovely from Judith at Fine Fettle Fibres. Judith has been great on email, helping me get the right yarn and everything. Sometimes, you cannot beat the small independents for quality of service.

So, I’ll be more than likely knitting a little swatch to check my gauge, this weekend. You can tell the difference between a woollen and a worsted spun yarn by pulling it apart. Due to the manufacturing process, woollen spun is less strong than a worsted. Slowly, it will pull apart with frayed ends. Whereas worsted, you can pull and it will break with a ‘pop’. The ends will be A clean break. This yarn is fine for knitting, crochet and for weaving as weft. But no good for the warp or if you plan to put the yarn under stress.

This is the pattern I am going to knit; Redford by a Julie Hoover. I am sure it will challenge me, but will also help in learning some new skills. I shall take my time on it, so there may be infrequent posts about it over the coming months.

I also picked up a circular 3.25 pair of needles with a short cord so that I can try out some socks. Into my basket fell some sock yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners’s Signature range. Not sure how that occurred. This yarn is a 75% wool, 25% nylon mix, in a blue/green striped combo. I am hoping it knits up well. Although, now I have it home and have pulled some out, it looks like the colour run is about 6 feet. So, I am imagining blocks of stripes a couple of rounds thick each.

I think that’s about it for this weeks update.

Have a great weekend.