“On the Road“ Reversible headwear now for sale

The first version of the On The Road reversible headwear is now for sale here in my Folksy shop.
It’s made from Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect yarn, the colours giving it a nice winter feel.
Happy wearing! 🙂

“On the Road” Reversible Headwear

Update: 
The “On the Road” pattern is now for sale on Ravelry!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/on-the-road-reversible-head-wear


My husband and I are planning a long cycle tour through Europe before Brexit kicks in.
What knitting project to take? I figured that 4-ply yarn will be the easiest and lightest to take. I am trying to design some easy and versatile patterns.

My first is an open hat, which doubles as a head band and a cowl. I have road tested it this week and it is warm, fits under a cycling helmet and has not lost its shape.

Hoping to write up the pattern for Ravelry soon.

The importance of grading alpaca fibres

Having spun my first skeins of alpaca, I have learned the hard way that there is a huge variation of soft and coarse fibre across the fleece, and that just a small amount of coarse fibres carded and spun in, can make the whole skein coarse and prickly. 😨

YouTube confirms that alpaca should be sorted and graded.
Check out this video  by the Butterfield Alpaca Ranch.
I’ll be looking for a local shearing and grading course in the spring.

Back to basics - Spinning alpaca

My lovely Ashford spinning wheel has been gathering dust behind the bedroom door for years, but not any more! I dusted it down last week and gave it a go, spinning an alpaca fleece which my mother-in-law gave me a couple of years ago.
Turns out spinning is like riding a bike - you never lose the knack!

What a joy to get carding, spinning, plying and washing the alpaca fibre.

Question is, what shall I turn it into now?

Cotton and washable items

I have been working increasingly with cotton yarns - partly because it is lovely material to work with and partly for environmental reasons.

At the moment I am making washable and reusable items, such as washable make-up remover pads and face cloths. Being able to reuse these items saves so much waste.

Here are a few recent items I have made,

Please check out my new Folksy shop too!

Stash reduction 2018 - the bits and bobs blanket

Almost exactly five years after starting the bits and bobs blanket, I have finally finished it! The mitred squares were added by picking up the stitches from the edged of previous squares, so there was virtually no sewing involved. I added two crocheted rows as edging. It measures 1x1.4m and fits our sofa almost perfectly.

My stash is HUGE! *

I'm shocked to see that I have not blogged for over a year! I promise that I have been knitting, just not writing about it.

Have you ever decided "not to buy any more yarn until you have used up your stash"? Well, I did, but that was before I sorted it all out and realised just how much yarn I had stashed away. Even after sorting out and giving away two large bag full, I am left with this:

Something definitely has to be done!

I guess I know that promising not to buy any more yarn until this lot is gone, is unrealistic, but perhaps I should resolve to not let it grow, and to give some away if I get more?
How do you control your stash?

My firat stash reducing effort is to continue (and hopefully finish) the mitred square blanket which I started on December 29th 2012 and which I add to every year when my Christmas knitting is done.

I will try to update here how much stash reduction is going... 

HAPPY KNITTING!