Monday, June 08, 2009

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.

20 comments:

LittleBerry said...

WOW! that was speedy... it looks stunning...

Which shawl are you planning to knit with the remaining yarn?

fleegle said...

Magnificent! Yeah, which shawl? We all want to know.

Gertieanne said...

Very pretty, which Anna Burda issue has this pattern?

Lacefreak said...

Dear LittleBerry,

thank you! I'm not sure what to knit with it. Perhaps "Lotus Flower"? I am willing to entertain suggestions if you have a favorite :-)

Lacefreak said...

Dear fleegle,

I had been thinking of Lotus Flower or Federdole but Queer Joe has already knit Federdolde beautifully so maybe not that one. Perhaps "Maria" ? Not sure. I'm still looking over the patterns for something that would look nice. I'm open to suggestions from you but not from Harry. That bug is a Sadist!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Gertieanne,

This is from Anna August 1996 which I had to bid for on E-Bay. it comes up from time to time but it has 3 lace patterns so the one they display on E-Bay is usually the larger tablecloth. All three are knit in this candy pink color in the photograph.

Carol said...

Handspunnn?????!!!! LOVELY!!!!!!!

MoniqueB. said...

Amazing grace.. er.. lace!
Love the colour, even if it is still wet or a little lighter here and there.
No flaws here! is it also soft enough to wear as a shawl? (I have no idea how fleece/roving feels).

Maia said...

A lovely test of the yarn. I adore Wensleydale and spinning from the lock.

Maureen said...

Love love love the lace someday hope to spindle enough laceweight to do my own lace shawl

But PLEASE tell us where you got that lovely ruler

Opal said...

oh how lovely! your handspun is just perfect too!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Carol,

Thank you! Yep! It's a handspun. I've been practicint!

Lacefreak said...

Dear MoniqueB,

Actually, since I spun from the locks and there is variation in the color of the coat,the sample is not a solid color. I used darker locks for the flowers and lighter grey for the edge so it's not just because it's wet :-) I would have to process the whole fleece to make it all uniform but I'd rather have the option to use different shades in one piece. This is quite a hairy yarn is best as an outer garment rather than next to the skin like a cashmere, silk or superfine merino. It's much more like spinning with fine hair.

Lacefreak said...

Dear Maia,

I've become very fond of spinning from the locks if they are long enough too :-) The test sample really told me a lot about how I might use this yarn. I need to avoid those areas of binding or this is not going to lay flat and that outer edge is more ruffled once it is off the blocking pins than I would like so I will look for patterns that don't have that type of detail or change it myself.

Lacefreak said...

Dear maureen,

I don't think I'd ever be able to come up with enough spindle spun yarn for lace but you are likely better with the spindle than I am :-)
I bought the ruler at a local crafts fair from

Phillip Van Ornum 408-910-9690 He does not have a website I'm afraid

Lacefreak said...

Dear Opal,

Thank you! I've really been practicing on spinning lace weight and I think I'm slowly improving. The Niebling, as usual, was plain fun to knit so no hardship there :-)

Teri said...

Really lovely work, both spinning and knitting! I really should tackle a few doilies. I used to do them for fun but haven't done one in years. I've got a Niebling pattern kicking around somewhere too.

Colette said...

Beautiful spinning and knitting as always. Now that I've started spinning, I appreciate your work even more.

Lacefreak said...

Dear Teri,

Thank you! I hope you give one of those Nieblings a try. I find them very entertaining to knit even when I'm not making them into a doily. Good Knitting!

Lacefreak said...

Dear Colette,

Welcome to the Dark Side! I hope you still have time to knit since I've found that spinning does tend to eat up a lot of my time. I'm knitting away right now and avoiding my wheels and spindles. I want to finish up a bit more lace. It's the end of June already!