New book

I received today my copy of Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and I can't wait to get my teeth stuck in it. That would explain why day 12 of the tour de Fleece didn't see much action, a little, but not much. That said, after a long day at work I wanted to browse the book more than settle for spinning.



Monday was the rest day so no spinning and no pictures. Here's a picture from yesterday.

Tour de Fleece, day 9 and Callie Tee

My right shoulder is starting to ache from holding up the spindle and drafting. The rest day will be welcome. So I mostly did some sewing up on my Callie Tee. I love how it turned out though I probably would do it smaller in width and a tiny bit longer if I did it again. Actually, I'm thinking of making a long sleeve verstion for the winter.

I managed to finish a spindle full on Friday and I'm quite pleased with the result. It's about 20g of yarn.





And then I started a new spindle yesterday.





And finally, today's little spinning along with the Callie tee.

Tour de Fleece, day 6

After 6 days, I have almost 1 ounce on my spindle and I'm quite happy. I'm improving my drafting and I'm also happy about the amount I'm managing to store on my spindle. Before, I wouldn't dare store a lot on my spindles but this mini keeps going and going and going! I'm also improving on my joins, they're flowing much more and aren't as bulky as they used to be.

Even if I can't finish the tour (as I miscalculated my holidays) at least those two weeks will have helped me improve my spinning technique. Next will be trying plying other than ply on the fly.

Now for some pictures of the last few days.

Tour de Fleece, day 2

My Tour de Fleece is going really well I think. The fiber is a dream to spin with: easy enough to draft yet not too slippery and quite long staples. Here a few pics from day 1 and 2.





Yes, Sam wanted to "help" today.

Tour de France, Tour de Fleece

Today is the first stage of the tour de France which starts in 45 minutes. Along with watching the Tour de France, I'll be taking part in the Ravelry Tour de Fleece. I'll be racing for Team Keegan Lane and the Rookies. Fiber is ready. It'll be Finn Top in Golden Gate colourway from Girls on the Rocks on Etsy. I'll be spinning it with my mini Bosworth in Zebrawood.

Same family, different techniques

After reading Lani's post last night I went to see my mum and she was knitting. It's fun to see that we are the same family and that we do knit quite differently. First she holds her needles above her thumbs while I hold them from above. She told me my grandma held them like I do. I think something went wrong with my mum. ;) I thought she had a weird way of casting on. It was the long tail but using two hands. She had the tail yarn in her left hand and her working yarn in her right hand as she would while knitting. Last night I couldn't get my head round it. But just a few minutes ago I was casting on something myself and realised it was the exact same thing I was doing.

It's fun to see all the variations of techniques in knitting. And yet we all achieve the same thing! What a crazy world the knitting world is!

I didn't forget you!

I know I promised you all a knitting post last weekend but I was quite tired and didn't have the energy to blog. But now I have!

Today I'll present you with the Swallowtail shawl. I knit it with the Malabrigo Silky Merino in Raspberry I got in the May Malabrigo club shipment. That yarn is just like crack to knit. I literrally couldn't put that shawl down. That might explain why I knit it in just 3 days! I think I'll do one for my MIL and maybe one for my mum too. It just takes 3 skeins so it's quite an affordable project.

Before blocking it measured 110cm across and 58cm from the nape to the point. After blocking it was 150cm across and 80cm from the nape to the point. A pretty nice growth. And now, on to the pictures.

















And now I have some fiber to attend to in the kitchen, waiting for me to dye it.