It's a Stitch Up

Yesterday I suffered the most traumatic experience of my knitting life. So traumatic in fact that even non-knitting friends empathised with my distress. Read full post…

Mooncalf has declared 1 April official Flash Your Stash Day, so here are my highlights: Read full post…

The last time I saw any of my work in print I was about 7 years old, a poem I wrote was published in the South Cambridgeshire Education Bulletin. Sadly that was the end of my poetry career. Imagine my excitement when I heard from @KLgrant1971 that It’s A Stitch Up had been featured in this month’s issue (45) of Knit Today. Read full post…

In general, I’m not keen on surprises. I guess that’s why sock clubs/yarn clubs have never really appealed. But somehow, I managed to sign up for one of Fyberspates‘ many clubs back in January. Well… it seemed like a guilt-free way to acquire some very nice yarn – by the time each parcel arrived I would have used up some of my stash (or something). I’m very pleased that I did, I love what I have received so far.

Fyberspates offered a wide selection of clubs – single skeins to jumper quantities delivered monthly, you choose the yarn and whether you want semi-solid or variegated colourways, ensuring that all the surprises are the kind you like. I went for Sheila’s sock (4 ply superwash merino), in semi-solid colours.

February’s parcel was a sophisticated shade of pale blue (not a baby blue), something I would never have chosen for myself but I love it.

March’s parcel was very much something I would have chosen, a deep plum.

The two colours go so well together, initially I was thinking of combining them for some stripy socks or handwarmers, but I’ve decided to wait and see what I receive in April!

If you’re tempted to join, Fyberspates will be taking sign-ups for the next three months soon, keep checking here. Postage works out free, as if you need persuading…

I enjoyed Saturday’s dyeing session so much I couldn’t resist doing a bit more on Sunday. Here are the results:

The logwood purple extract gave a good strong indigo-purple. My book told me that with alum mordant, the logwood purple is not very washfast, so I added iron sulphate to the pan. The dye bath was very dark, especially after the iron went in, but all the dye was absorbed after an hour of simmering. During rinsing most of it came back out again! However, it only took a couple of rinses to run clear so I’m confident it will stay this colour. I think it would look great mixed or overdyed with some lac or brazilwood.

Remember that peachy-orange skein of handspun from my spinning update. Well now… it’s still orange, but I think it’s better than it was.

I put it in a dyebath of lac, but it didn’t absorb much of it as it was unmordanted (I didn’t want to risk felting). I am still at a bit of a loss as to what to make with it. The current favourite is the Japanese Feather Scarf by Anne Hanson.

I used the exhaust from the lac bath mixed with the exhaust from the logwood purple bath on another skein of superwash.

It’s quite unusual and rather pretty I think.

Just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who entered the competition with Stitch and Bitch London. It was really encouraging to have so much interest in my pattern.

Three runners up Frederica Eckstrom, Sarah Griffiths and Jan Pratt received copies of the Aduki hat pattern, and two grand prize winners, Sophie Barnes and Lizzie Page also have parcels of hand dyed yarn on the way to them. I do hope you enjoy your prizes and I’m really looking forward to seeing some new Aduki Hats.

Thanks again to the lovely SnB Stitchettes for hosting the competition, and for all their hard work running London’s best knitting group.

Yesterday, I had a couple of friends round for a day of dyeing experiments. I have spent the last few weeks procuring and preparing. It was very hard to resist dipping into the supplies until the big day.

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I had an exciting idea a few days ago, and set about designing a credit-card sized, metric needle gauge with 5 cm / 2 inch rule and WPI gauge. After much battling with Illustrator the design is ready. I was planning to use these as promotional items, but it seems that getting them laser cut will cost much more than I hoped so I’ll have to get quite a few in order to make it worthwhile.

My questions are:

• Would you buy one?
• Would you prefer it to be made of recycled board (so it would fit in your wallet), 3 mm tough acrylic, or 6 mm wood?
• How much would you be prepared to pay for such a thing?

Either comment below, PM me on Ravelry (suziesparkle), or use the contact form.

I’ll put everyone who has responded into a draw for a free one if I get them made.

Thanks!

When I bought my wheel back in April 2009, although I ordered a range of fibres, I got hooked on spinning dyed merino top because of the amazing range of colours available. With hindsight this wasn’t the easiest thing to learn with – it has a tendency to make a wirey, compacted yarn, even after carding. It’s taken me a while, but now I’ve tried out everything in my fibre stash, with mixed results… Read full post…

I hinted about it last week and now I’m excited to be able to reveal the details…

Stitch and Bitch London - my fantastic local knitting group – are running a competition to give away five copies of my latest pattern, Aduki hat, and two grand prize winners will win some very special yarn to go with it. I have hand-dyed a wool and bamboo blend, ideal for the Aduki Hat, especially for the competition. Read full post…