bittersweet

Ripe sloe berries out in the hedgerows then in our foraging basket are a sure sign that summer's coming to an end...but that sloe gin (or patxaran) for Christmas is in sight. 

jacob's ladder sweater (CO)

The days are getting steadily shorter, but not any colder. If it weren't for the ferns turning the mountainside russet red, or field trips with N collecting basketfulls of walnuts, I'd swear we were at the start of summer, not autumn. 

There was only thing for it. Put on a flowery frock, walk barefoot in the summer meadows and cast on a pretty summer sweater in some recycled 4 ply cotton whilst we wait for the north wind to start blowing the leaves off the trees! 

(Not that I'm in any hurry for the snow to arrive by the way, even if I would quite like to try on my new hat...)

early morning sounds

 

A rumble of distant thunder. The pitter patter of rain on the rooftop. The coffee pot gurgling on the stove. The snip snip snip of my scissors. The whirring of the sewing machine as it wakes up after it's long hibernation.

cotton

Whilst tidying up my yarn basket the other day, I came across a wonderful discovery right at the bottom: seventeen balls of gorgeous cotton four ply from an unknown yarn brand. I'd found them early in the year whilst on a rummage at one of our favourite second hand shops down the valley and forgotten about it until now. Just goes to show, sometimes it's a good idea to have a tidy-up...

Fibre: Cotton

Yarn weight: Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi)

Stash: 17 skeins, 850g (giving 2040m) 

Price: Part of a large basket of recycled/second hand yarn costing 20€ in total. (So probably the whole lot cost me no more than a euro!)

shwook hat (spun & knitted)

Morning tea in the grey light of dawn. The last twinkles of the stars in the sky. Slowly the day breaks, pink and orange behind the summits. 

All the while, my needles are clicking back and forth. As a small patch of pale blue sky arrives, I have cast off. 

By the time the first rays of the hot sun reach our balcony an hour later, my tea has grown cold. But all the ends are woven in, and my hat is finished. 

All I need now is for this hot wind to die down and I'll be able to start wearing it!  

Pattern: Shwook hat,* knitted in honour of Shetland Wool Week, joining in with Melody's KAL.
Needles: 3.75 mm and 4.5 mm
Yarn: my own (hand-spun):

néou
nère
pinha
nougèr
mesclats

*Because the yarn didn't turn out quite as expected, I ended up having "hack" the pattern a little to make it work. Once I've properly finished ravelling the project, I'll put the details up over there.

chestnuts

He often comes back from his mountain walks pockets bulging with gifts for me, his girl. Today, there were bilberries, rose-hips, parasol mushrooms (my favourite). And chestnuts. Our first chestnuts. Autumn must be coming after all.

walnuts

Walnuts all over. All sizes and colours. Some hiding in their green jackets, some waving to us from high in the trees' branches, some hidden amongst the golden leaves that carpet the ground. Baskets, pockets, bags and hands full. Fingers stained black. Basket-fulls of walnuts. Bucketfulls of black husks, gradually ready for a dye bath in a few weeks. Not yet chilly autumn air that is filled with the scent of early autumn.

shwook hat (KAL)

Shetland Wool Week is finally here! And against all the odds, I've managed to get all my yarn spun, finished (and almost dry!) ready to cast on my Shwook Hat over the weekend.  

Yarn-wise, things haven't exactly turn out as I had expected when I first starting planning this project in August. I was really pleased with my first samples and especially my swatches and had decided to embark on a woolen spin as the gorgeous lofty finish and airy quality seemed more in keeping with the spirit of Shetland yarn and Fair Isle knitting.  However something must have happened from then until now and somehow without meaning to, I ended up not only spinning semi-worsted, but also in a heavier yarn weight than I was supposed to! (If you haven't already had enough technical jargon, somehow I jumped from fingering (14 wpi) to worsted-weight (9 wpi)!)

Still, c'est pas grave! I've cast on regardless, having first taken a good bit of time working out my own version of the Shwook hat...to fit my larger-than-expected yarns.

 It's looking good so far, I'm just a little concerned about the crown...

mesclats (spun)

My first time blending two colours of fibre together with my hand combs to produce a mixed yarn - “mesclats” - yarn. I’m delighted with the fuzzy texture and espeacially the colourway.

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"mesclats"

Ingredients: 35g of washed fleece, blended together whilst carding. The fleeces used were  white (20g) and brown (crossed) (15g) Berrichon du Cher, from Gèdre.

Carding:The two fleeces were blended together whilst on the handcombs before being rolled into rolags.

 

Spinning: Two singles spun from rolags in the Z direction, using a semi-worsted technique.

 

Plying: two singles plied in the S direction until balanced. 

Finishing: Wound off into a skein, washed and dried weighted to set the ply.

Quantity: 44g giving 44m of finished yarn

WPI: 9

Yarn Weight: DK

 

nougèr (spun)

After spinning and plying, I dyed the finished yarn using a natural plant dye prepared from the late summer leaves of the walnut tree, “nougèr” in the local dialect.

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"nougèr"

Ingredients: 32g of washed and carded wool. The fibre used was white Berrichon du Cher, from Gèdre.

Spinning: Two singles spun from rolags in the Z direction, using a semi-worsted technique. 

Plying: two singles plied in the S direction until balanced. 

Finishing: Wound off into a skein, washed and dried weighted to set the ply. Naturally dyed with foraged walnut leaves.

Quantity: 30g giving 32m of finished yarn

WPI: 9

Yarn Weight: DK