Mitteldecke (Fast Test Knit)

Hand spun 2 ply lace weight yarn made from Wensleydale X fleece purchased from Lowder Colours Farm. Spun on Majacraft Rose on the smallest whorl using the lace flyer and fat core bobbins. Knit on US 1 needles. Pattern from Anna Magazine 1996. Fast, easy and a test to see how this yarn works up. I plan to make a shawl with it. It's still wet so I will have a few shots of it when it is dry. It is a lighter color of grey than this and some sections are lighter than others since I spun worsted from flick carded locks and did not do any sorting for color variations.

Easily Distracted (Oooh! Shiney!)

It has been some time since I've posted and that is primarily because I've been spinning more than knitting. I admit that I can become easily distracted and the spinning took up a lot more time over the last month or so that I had anticipated. The little wheel I got from New Zealand has been given away since it just did not spin fast enough for me. I loved how it looked and if I had been a more patient person I could have just made lace weight singles very very slowly on it. Grass grows faster! So off it went. In the mean time, I picked up some Wensleydale X and Teeswater X fleece from Lowder Colours Farm . The grey fleece is the Wensleydale and the sheep was named Madonna. The White fleece is the Teeswater X and that sheep's name as Tal. I don't know why it matters to me that I know their names but it actually adds a little something to the spinning experience :-) That's not all the fleece I've got lately but I'll show them as I actually get to using them. I used a flick carder on the locks and spun from the tips for a nice two ply lace weight. As an experiment I'm making a doily pattern on US 1 needles and I can already tell that twisted stitches don't stand up with this as they might with thread which is more rigid. The detail on the flowers is lost. If I make a shawl with this yarn I will change the twisted stitches and perhaps replace them with a cable cross so they stand out more. The pattern is from an old Anna magazine from August 1996 and is referred to only as "Mitteldecke" I've also been spinning a nice lace weight from batts of "Goblin Market" that I bought from Enchanted Knowl Farm that has Merino, Angelina, Silk and bits of Sari silk. I have continued to buy spindles at a frightening rate but I just can't help myself. I purchased the first two from Spunky Eclectic. The first is a spindle by True Creations in Chakte-Koh the next a Jenkins Turkish in Ambonya. Next we have two IST spindles. The first is Oak burl with brass shavings in the cracks in the wood and the second is Ambonya, The next three are by Brandywine Woodworking and are labeled. The last one is a Spalted Tamarind Turkish Delight purchased from The Wheel Thing. Whew!

As you may have noticed, I have done a little housekeeping. I have given up on the Princess Shawl for now and also trashed the Dragon of Happiness shawl that I was going to make for my niece. I just could not get interested in either so my niece will be getting a version of Aeolian instead. I'm still working on Goldregen but have a long way to go on those US 000 needles. I'm going to try to force myself to stop with the spinning and weaving so I can get a little more lace done!