Cleaning Lleyn and the rugged farmer

What, August already? Need to start thinking about Christmas! Got two organic Lleyn fleeces from Manor Farm. What a performance washing in bowlsful. No way was I going to put it in the bath and get a bad back, or all that scrubbing out afterwards. Did some dyeing with organic beetroot and o. onion skins plus some very inorganic copper sulphate to get a good olive green from the onion. And my one woad palnt for very pale blue and pinky-tan from the spend leaves. Half an hour per evening carding, then some spinning. Woollen spinning method is not my forte and I reckon this fleece is a bit rough, so I plied it with some o. merino tops I found (to try and keep the organic theme going).

Decided to make the farmer and his wife some form of handwarmers this year. First effort is 40 sts in 2x2 rib on size 4mm needles. Three inches or 22 rounds in olive, 22 back and forth rows in golden onion and last inch or 7 rounds again in beetroot. So here they are - the rugged farmer's handwarmers, or should that be the farmer's rugged handwarmers?

News on Skoleppar Cushion

No entry for May - I was ill on and off for six weeks and on hols in France. Came back to find wonderful news - Helene Magnusson has asked for my cushion pattern for the new webzine Knitting Iceland due out in the autumn - find it on www.knittingiceland.com. This has entailed a total re-write of the pattern to their guidelines and has rather exercised the brain! Plus I have had to send the cushion itself off by post to a photographer in Iceland, presumably to be pictured in front of a volcano.

While in France, I dreamt up some more items to be made for this same shape. One has been inspired by the Uzbek bag in Vicki Square's book, although the final effect will be more Peruvian!

New Crochet edging?

I was making more skoleppar (shoe inserts) and dithering over which colour to use for the simple double crochet edging. I decided to use both. Not wanting to keep twisting the yarns over each other, I thought of the Fair Isle stranding technique in knitting, where the yarns are kept apart.

Attach both colours. Keep green higher, or nearer finger tip than orange. With green, work one chain. *Hook into edge of work, pick up orange, draw through, complete stitch in orange. Hook into edge of work, over orange strand to pick up green, draw through, and complete stitch in green. Repeat from *

An unexpected bonus was that the reverse of the work (the top edge in the photo) looks rather like a braid. Sample here done in dishcloth cotton. In wool, on a smaller scale and fulled in the washing machine, the stitch definition will not be so great.

Cushion finished

And doesn't it look at home?

Cushion back and front

I'm getting there! The top is the front. Now to join with 4-stitch applied I-cord. Thanks to the workshop I did with Tricia Holman last year (Elizabeth Zimmermann's niece), I now know to work this from the back and to introduce extra rows when is seems to pull in.

Skoleppar Cushion

Thought I would do a bigger skoleppar cushion before I go to France in May. Coming along nicely. Took a pix of the halfway stage. about 20 different lengths of colour hanging off it. Glad I had done smaller projects previously!

New Year's Resolution gone to pot

Well, I did get the Spring Thaw Socks finished, then got side-tracked with K's new cardi, a brimmed hat, church offering mitts, 4ply kilthose, Ten stitch patterns for a workshop, bunny blanket buddies, tea cosy with a Yorkshire theme, fingerless gloves for local wool shop ...

Details - K's cardi is Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumperweight, machine knitted.
Brimmed hat is from an old Sirdar pattern and not very good, in my opinion, as the band is too narrow and flares too much.
The socks look really odd if left to their own devices - I think this is because it is twisted rib stich with smooth stocking stitch underfoot.
Teacosy is machine knit the magic "card 2" then thrown in the washing machine.
Scarf is double crochet through backs of loops only, except for fringe ends which are crocheted through two loops as normal. I rather think it looks like a drippy waterfall.
Bunny blanket buddies are a free Lion Brand pattern, they say should be twice this size!