Secret Sister mittens

For christmas this year my "Secret Sister" gave me some Leicester fibre she purchased at WoolTyme.  It was dyed and then twisted into a braide.  The color is called ablaze and it actually reminds me of a blaze/fire.  Very pretty colorway!  Bev isn't a spinner but she is a knitter.  She knew where to go to buy yarn but not fibre.  She told me at our "Secret sister' dinner/gift exchange that she just walked into WoolTyme and said I want something that a friend can spin. I was very impressed not only with her but also with WoolTyme!  Great that they are starting to meets the needs of spinners as well as knitters.  Great big plus for the store.
I chose this pattern because of yardage.  These mittens pattern called Maplewood only require 200 yards.  The weight of the fibre was only 100 grams just enough for mittens or a cowl.  Also the pattern was free over at Ravelry
The mittens took only two days to knit  Although I am not being quite honest, I've only knit one mitt!

                                                         
I decided to spin the fibre worsted (keeping the twist out of the draft zone) making it less fuzzy.  By spinning it worsted also I wanted to show the stitch definition more clearly.  Until now I haven't noticed a big difference between spinning worsted and spinning woolen, just the fuzz.  But something I noticed when I was setting the twist this time, the yarn sunk to the bottom of the sink by itself.  It didn't stay afloat as when I spin woolen.  So I guess there is more air in woolen spun yarn than worsted spun yarn.  Something to think about!!
Now I had better get at that second mitten!!
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Knit Knackers

A couple of weeks ago a great friend took me on a road trip to Ottawa, Ontario.  We visited the Byward Market, had lunch in one of the cafe' stores and then we went to knitknackersyarnwarehouse.  This place is a spinners/weavers dream come true.  Wall to wall yarn, knitting supplies, patterns, and at the very back of the store a lineup of spinning wheels just sitting there for anyone to give them a spin.  And even a line up of different fibres to test spin with.  I don't remember anything else about the store because as soon as I rounded the corner and my eyes saw the bins and cupboards of fibre on display, I was awestruck, and I quickly made my way to the back of the store.  My friend was interested in yarn, which was there also and at great prices but I was interested in the the spinning fibre which was priced at  unbelievably low prices.  For instance Suri Alpaca $7.25/100 grams, I bought 400 grams.  There was mulberry silk in bins which I also bought, with a relatively long staple length, South African fine wool which the clerk tells me spins beautifully.  Black alpaca for $12.50/100 grams, purple corriedale which cost $5.95/100 grams. There was so much more, love that store. We were like two kids in a candy store! 
 I couldn't wait to get home to start spinning.  I wanted to try spinning the suri alpaca first, it has a long staple length and is very fuzzy. I'm spinning it worsted which means keeping the twist out of the fibre zone.  Hoping to keep the fuzz down and also there is cabling in the project that I have in mind to make and I want the stitch definition to stand out. It really wanted to be spun woolen, which means letting the twist enter the draft zone, but this made it too fuzzy.  I'm not an expert at this and this is just trial and error for me at this point.  After Spunning/plying and setting the twist I have 280 yard finished for this sweater. My yarn turned out a bit heavy, wondering if  maybe I should have spun it woolen.  Can't seem to find that middle ground! 
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Ta-dah!

   Another lace project, what a surprise!!  I just can't get enough of this lace, it is so addicting!  This one's not a shawl, it's a sun hat for my niece's upcoming summer, cottage  wedding!  She plans to marry in the sunshine and I thought I would carry my shade around with me.
The hat's from the book "A gathering of lace" gathered by Meg Swansen.  Another reason for the hat, my niece's fiance is from UK and his family is from England so I was thinking I would wear this hat in their honour.  Crazy eh?
The pattern knit up fairly easy and quickly.  My handspun is 23 wpi.  Pattern called for crochet cotton or fine linen so my yarn was a bit thicker than called for so I used size 2.5 mm needles.  Pattern wanted size 3.25.  I found using this tighter knitting gauge kept the hat together more when blocking, and wow did I block!

Progress so far!!

 I was worried while I was knitting, wondering what sort of hat block I would use.  But, I found  a plastic pretzel container that I had saved for some reason, I guess this is the reason.  My dh used a dremel tool and cut the top off the container @ 3" in height and the circumfrence of the container was 22", just my headsize.

I used other ravelry's advice and mixed a concoction of distilled water, cornstarch and fabric stiffener.  Plunked the wet knitted hat into the container, squeezed out the excess, saved the excess for spraying on later after blocking, took the whole thing to the blocking board and blocked it out to circumfrence of 36".
It took a few days to dry completely but to my surprise it was stiff, really stiff.  I added a white bow, later I may change this to black as my wedding outfit is black and white.  And ta-dah here is my finished hat......