Friday 29 June 2012

FO Friday- Finally a use for handspun

I find handspun is a bit like the odd 50g ball of commercial yarn, it is really hard to find a project for it.

Often you have 100g of lovliness, which when spun up has a fairly low yardage as I can never get similar yardage to commercial spun.

And there are only so many hats you can wear.

I found a great project in the most recent Knitty, it is designed for handspun and works perfectly.


Pattern: Unleaving by Lee Juvan
Yarn: Merino fibre spun into approx 4 ply weight after navajo plying.
Needles: 4mm

The lace section means you feel like you have a decent width but still allows a good length of scarf from just a little yarn.

For some reason I struggle with starting lace projects. The first four repeats of this took over three hours of car journey. I kept making mistakes and getting lost (on the pattern, not in the car). Once you get going it is actually quite simple, by the end I had it memorised although it did take a while. It is also a quick knit once you get going, the decrease section was done in a little more than an evening.

This pattern is genius for using up yarn. You can increase to the mid point then start decreasing to get the most out of your yarn. I did try this, weighed the ball and marked the centre point. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the second half of my yarn is noticably thicker than the first part.
I ran out with five repeats to go. For a while I thought about leaving it, but in the end ripped back and took out a repeat from before the increases, I am much happier with the end product than I would have been, but frogging is always a sad thing.

The fibre was a birthday purchase a few years ago. I started spinning it on a drop spindle then switched to my wheel later. The wheel spun part was a little thicker than the spindle spun so I kept them as two seperate yarns (this was 63g of the fibre). This was the wheel spun yarn which navajo plied giving something around a 4 ply weight. The colours are lovely, although they did make me really want a chocolate orange.

It could do with blocking, lace is the one this I do tend to block. However, it has been the kind of week where if the ends are sewn in I am calling it done (which they are, so it is).

3 comments:

  1. That is a pretty pattern. I'll have to keep that in mind. I know what you mean about finding projects for that lower yardage handspun. I have been getting better about finding patterns that combine the handspun with commercial. It really makes the handspun POP yet gives you the required yardage. Even then, you have to hunt.

    I love the color of your shawl.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the pattern - it's always nice to see how patterns work up in real life. I also struggle with finding patterns for low yardage handspun - I enjoy spinning, but not in bulk amounts, it's usually just a few ounces here or there.

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  3. Lovely pattern. Why is it that handspun comes out in such low yardage?

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