Hold on to your (knitted) hats

I have a lot to share today, partly due to be disorganised and having missed a couple of weeks.

Last week I was doing some holiday cover at work, which meant no blogging, just a  little knitting but lots of this:

And plenty of cuddles:

On the needles:

I am currently an almost monogamous knitter! Ignoring the hibernating WIPs and long term blankets.

The second sleeve was begun and they are both now well under way. I am about at the elbow point and this works up quite fast, so hopefully onto the yoke by next week.

Working them at the same time makes it feel like a long time per sleeve, but you get to the end and boom! Two sleeves! More importantly if I make a mistake on the increase spacing the error is the same on both sleeves.

Off the needles:

The petal sock in Regia 4 ply is done.

I wasn't sure about this at first, I found the lace panel a little large to memorise easily but had it by the time I made it to the foot. Overall I am quite pleased with them.

Some of the leftovers from the socks were made into a barn raising square.

Spinning around:

Random, unknown blue single has been navajo plied to give a three ply of about sock weight. 

Next up on the bobbins is a recent purchase- merino and silk top.

Divided into three to make a three ply. It is underway as a fine single.

Out and about:

Yesterday saw and exciting day trip in the company of three other lovely spinning ladies. We visited Wingham wool work in Wentworth, where you can try out the tools and fibres they have for sale.

Four wheels were tried.

I had a go on an Ashford kiwi and learnt that the amount of noise my own wheel makes is perfectly normal.

I did feel bad wearing shoes while I was using a wheel, but the treadles showed that this was the norm here and it was way to cold to go barefoot.

Fibre samples from the British breeds shed:

I tested them all on the wheel and with needle felting.

Needle felted balls made from each fibre. The superwash wensleydale is missing and there is a bonus Ile de France at the bottom. Obviously i didn't pick evenly sized fibre samples!

There was cake too (purchased at the local garden centre and brought back for tea time).

Of course, there was shopping too. No photos but I picked up a sweater quantity of Portland, 100g of first clip Corriedale and 100g of Ile de France (favourites from the sampling) and some pretty blended tops (see above on the wheel, couldn't wait!).

What ya listenin' to?:

I have had some podcasts on the go as I ahve been working. Current favourites are Craftlit- always good, working through the Counte of Monte Cristo at the minute.

Also recently discovered Lore podcast. One for the fans of creepy movies!