These arrived last night from jumbukjulie! I'm particularly excited about the Jade and ruby colourway - in my mind I call it toffee apple ^_^

Jade and ruby


Concrete


Inky

New crochet plans are taking shape...

Hi all, I've finally written a new pattern. It's been great to get back into the creative process. Enjoy!


A big thank you to testers Elizek and Steelelady, who created lovely versions which I will hopefully feature in future posts.

These simple, cosy linen stitch gloves make the perfect gift for winter. Knit from the fingers down, a woven effect is easily created in a cosy and stretchy fabric. Slipped stitches provide a useful recipe for breaking up variegated yarn, while the regular stitch provides an elegant design for both men and women.
Needle size: US 8 - 5.0 mm
Yarn weight: DK / 8 ply
Sizes: Small - 16cm 6.25” | Medium - 20cm 8” | Large - 23cm 9” around knuckles

This turquoise, celadon and lavender yarn started as milk fibre from moonlightandlaughter and has a little story behind it...

After favouring the fibre on Etsy, I returned to look at the listing many times over several months, hoping for a discount that would justify buying it. It was so shiny with interesting greens and browns (not colours I usually am attracted to).


The day I returned to find it sold was very sad, and wished I'd bought it while I had the chance.

Then one day before Christmas I was at my friend's house and I spotted some shiny green fibre tucked away on a shelf. She had bought the fibre for my Christmas present! (as a chance gift without even knowing how much I had wanted it).
I spun the fibre into singles then plied it with cotton in an attempt to keep the colour true to the original braid. The best way to do this seemed to be to hold the single tight and allow the cotton to wrap around it. I don't think I quite did justice to the original, but the colour is mostly reflected in the finished yarn.

The last part of this fibre's journey is to find the perfect project. It's been at least a year and I still haven't discovered what it wants to be...

I previously made a Ceres Scarf out of bamboo handspun, and while that project didn't turn out quite as planned, this one is much closer to the intended pattern.
This project took about a year and half to complete, but felt much longer. It's a lovely pattern, but more and more I am requiring a high level of variety or complexity to keep interested in projects. I finish almost everything I start (and choose projects and yarn carefully), but this one was a very long haul!

The scarf was intended as a gift, but the finished product feels a bit scratchy :/ Knitting something yourself gives you a higher tolerance for its uncomfortable elements (scratchiness), so I will likely enjoy the scarf myself when the weather gets a little colder.


Experimenting with linen stitch has shown it to be quite useful for breaking up variegated yarn, but tricky for increasing and decreasing. Working with the stitch inspired my new linen stitch gloves pattern project, so all the time spent knitting this scarf has also resulted in something creative.

Hi all, today I wanted to show you these gloves made by Sarahj417 on Ravelry (login required). Aren't they lovely?

They are based on the Fezzes are cool pattern (.pdf), but I love the changes that have been made - adding the "cherry red" trim to match the bow tie, and removing the flip-top mitts for a different style.

Thanks for allowing me to share these Sarah!

Like my bluestone and kookaburra handspun, this yarn started out from two complementary braids from jumbukjulie.

The braids were separated into piles of corresponding colours (three colours for this yarn), then spun into singles and double plied.



I tried a little sample of Navajo plying again with the scraps from this project, and it actually worked. Next time I get some coloured yarn I plan to try this type of plying for the full project. Any tips?

Happy 2014!
This week I'm celebrating 100 Ravelry projects for my Eleventh Doctor Big and Cuddly (crochet) pattern ^_^


Many thanks to all those who have taken the time to upload or email photos of their creations. It's a lovely way to finish Matt Smith's era, with an army of crocheted Doctors protecting the universe with woolly mops and fezzes. I've loved seeing all the other non-Eleventh Doctor characters people have created also.