knitting neels

It has been a long, busy month. I had a lecture recital exam at the beginning of the month. Then Dublin Feis started and between participating in my own competitions (won one, second in the other) and working for others, it’s been very hectic. Unsurprisingly, I came down with a cold in the middle of it all! Everything finished up yesterday for Easter break. Even though I am working for Sligo Feis the week after Easter, it is still good to have time to myself to regroup and get back to normal.

I have been mostly spinning. I got 215g of Falkland fibre from Laura Hogan and gradually spun it all up into a DK 3-ply.

I spun it using a backwards long draw; it drafted really easily and was easy to keep smooth. I plied it using my jumbo bobbin, which worked out great. I was able to fit about 100g on a bobbin. This just would not have been possible on the regular bobbins.

The 3-ply turned out really spoingy, I am very pleased with it and quite curious to see what it will be like to knit up. I’ll have to see what sort of yardage I have – I was thinking of making Frost Diamonds with it.

Speaking of bobbins, I was so excited about the jumbo flyer, I just had to try out some sort of crazy art yarn. I swung by Beads and Bling on my way home one day and picked up a pile of feathers. I had a fair bit of leftover undyed Wenslydale so I spun one ply quite finely. The other ply, I didn’t spin at all. When I plied the two together, I stuck the feathers into the thicker, unspun ply and let the fine ply wrap itself around it and secure it.

Overall, it was successful and a heckuva lot of fun to do. Maybe I overdid the feathers a bit… but really, can you blame me?!

I was thinking about knitting a hat with some of this, if only to say that I have many feathers in my cap. (Sorry.) (Who am I kidding? I’m not sorry! It’s worth it!)

I haven’t been doing a huge amount on the knitting front, mostly because I simply haven’t had sufficient brain space to concentrate for any length of time. I did, however, manage to finally finish off that mohair Swallowtail shawl. I got through a few rows of those nupps – and if you’ve ever knit this pattern, you’ll know what I’m talking about – which involve many, many ‘purl 5 togethers’. It was literally sucking the life force out of me, so I ripped it out and replaced the nupps with beads. Far, far more fun.

I haven’t it blocked out yet but that gives you an idea. I just used green beads because that’s what I had lying around but I really like the combination with the colour yarn. I think when I have it blocked out properly, I will post more detailed photos.

What else have I got for you? Oh yes, my March batt club (also from Laura) arrived on Wednesday. I didn’t see it until I got in from what was a very, very long day and let me tell you, it was a lovely thing to open. (Especially since my other post consisted only of yet more music!)

There were three in my package but I have already spun one up. The colours are so varied and so contrasting, I figured the best thing to do was to chain ply it on itself. I haven’t set the twist in it yet but when it’s dry, I’ll show you. It’s pretty crazy looking but I have to say, I just love that hot pink!

I hope all of you are having a hot pink weekend and are looking forward to the Easter break as much as I am!