I'm always on the look out for patterns which work well in handspun, partly for stall samples, but also because I happen to spin rather a lot of yarn.... I tend to like patterns with flexible yardage, or ones that allow you to combine smaller amounts of differnt colours, I also love how 2-ply handspun looks when knitted up in garter stitch. This particular pattern was released during Wovember last year. It's a baby version of a very nice looking adult jacket called Blayter. The original was in beautiful natural shades, and when I saw it I have a feeling it would work well using smaller bits of handpsun, at the time I was thinking of the Birds and Queens sample packs. But then of course I came up with the Rainbow Sprinkles, and they work perfectly for this! My Mum, ever the practical one, looked at it and despaired of the white sleeves... but you could swap them for black. I made the smallest size, but on a larger needle as my yarn was slightly thicker than commercial fingering weight. I made a few other modifications to the stitch count as well (full details on my project page). It's a really clever pattern with very little traditional seaming, you mostly join the pieces using kitchener stitch, or pick up live stitches. I suspect you could make the next size up using the fibre in the pack, but probably not any of the larger sizes.
Right now I'm still on a bit of a Rainbow kick, I'm spinning up some BFL that was a prototype for the Sludgy Rainbow colourway that I dyed for the Hilltop Cloud team to spin during the Ravellenic games. It's all a bit more subtle though, as the colours blend as you draft. I've got 3 different base shades of BFL to work with so fingers crossed I'll be turning it in to this pattern. What's your favourite pattern(s) for handspun? Eventually I will have something else to talk about, but for now bear with me, things are busy round here and there's little else going on but sleeping, carding and eating. Luckily I have friends who are kindly doing things that I can blog about! This is one of the new luxury wool free blends, a mix of 65% Silk, 35% Kid Mohair. Spun up it turns in to a very grown up subtle kind of colourway, greeny gold, with hints of turning leaf. And here's the clever bit... You can turn it in to your own version of a Brushed Mohair yarn. It's not quite as fluffy as most of the commercial yarns, as they have a far hgher mohair content, but it has a lovely delicate feel, and just enough fuzz, but not so much that you'll lose all the stitch definition. You can however leave it as a smooth sleak shiny yarn, and knit something with drape that's more silk like, but with slightly more body than pure silk. The pattern is Darling, Darling, Stay with me, and is great for handspun, a few customers have now knitted it and every version looks lovely.
The new blends should be heading in to the shop just after the New Year. The summer raspberry canes are just outside my window, and I walk past them when I go to the chicken house. At this time of year it's covered with bees, so hopes are high for a good raspberry crop. Meanwhile, to wet my appetite I just finished knitting this. The pattern is Out of Darkness by Boo Knits. Knitted in my Superwash BFL/Ramie blend. I had to leave off the picot edging as I did an extra repeat of one of the charts and then nearly ran out of yarn. I love the feel of this blend, it's almost crisp feeling, without being scratchy or harsh. Very different to a BFL/Silk blend. Despite being in my usual tonal dyeing style I made the decision to fractally spin the yarn. You split the braid in half down the middle, spin one half as it is, then split the other half in half again. The idea is that one ply changes colours twice as fast as the other. It's a great effect for toning down brightly coloured braids, but can also work for more subtle colours if you want to jumble things up in a slightly more ordered way.
This picture shows the stripes quite clearly. |
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Hilltop CloudHilltop Cloud- Spin Different
Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. Established 2011 VAT Reg- 209 4066 19 Dugoed Bach, Mallwyd, Machynlleth,
Powys, SY20 9HR |