Busy September Spinning and Knitting

Wow these months are disappearing fast this year. September has been a busy month with a new school year starting, a little persons birthday and some lovely woolly Spinning days too, so I have some things to share this month. I rarely seem to be able to blog in between though, even about not woolly things, Instagram has taken over a little - so easy to just share a moment, a picture and a few words there. But I do like my blog so I shall get on with todays post.

I had been knitting away on a special gift for my daughter for her 8th birthday, only able to do on evenings after she was in bed, and occasionally hidden under a cushion if she came back downstairs for something! So here is her knitted Harry Potter, I am very pleased with how it came out and she loves him too. A list of other characters is being drawn up!

Knitted Harry Potter

Another quick knit for a friends birthday was a phone cover similar to my own, and I have since made another for a friend who had admired mine. Such a quick and easy seamless knit, only need a needle to sew on the button and it's done.

 Phone cover gifts

On to the spinning of the month. Well it's been a busy one. It started with the Romsey Show, an agricultural show nearby, which the Guild attends each year to demonstrate the skills of the guild and we have an interactive area for children to try things out like braid making and peg looming.
Our events organiser this year raised the idea of spinning and knitting a jumper in a day. So it was an early start for us, a raw fleece was on show and a washed fleece was ready to card and spin into the yarn for the knitters to knit.

I had a near disaster about 10 minutes before we started when I was setting up and started treadling to check the tension and the treadle bar fell off! I discovered that the clip holding it on had come off and was nowhere to be seen. Some string came to the rescue, it wasn't perfect but it meant that I could spin on it okay.(You can see my repairs in the picture below)

Spinning in my Camden Cap at the Romsey Show

So there were 4 of us spinning the Jacobs fleece into singles, 2 ladies plying our singles as soon as there was enough to get going, and then 5 people knitting the various parts of the jumper. There was a little bit of swapping about as the day went on and the knitting was finished just in time for the end of the show. It was only then taken home to sew together and block. It was a lot of fun, and we were spurred on by each other.

The finished jumper! (well jacket)

We had to wait a week to see the finished item, luckily a guild meeting the following Saturday, and our open day for visitors to come and try out the crafts we all love. Here is the finished article, which has been donated to Scotty's Little Soldiers charity for an auction. Such a worthy cause, they support the children of men and women killed whilst serving in the armed forces.

Spinning in the Tower

And finally another day out spinning, a week later at a local Tudor history event. Here I spun some Falkland woodland greens fibre that I had started at home, and also plied some of the yarn that I had wound into a centre pull ball. The remaining singles were plied later at home.

Woodland greens 

2 skeins of loveliness (need a better photo, this was from my phone)

Towards the end of the day I started a new braid of fibre I have had a while, gorgeous Masham fibre in a rainbow of colours. This is delightful to spin, I continued to spin some at home and have one bobbin full and another to do. I have some Tussah silk in a rainbow of colours so I think I may spin this up and see how it would ply together with the Masham.

Gorgeous Rainbow Masham fibre

Plenty of projects in my head, some for gifts, some for Christmas, some just for fun. I have some socks in progress out of my handspun, probably a gift for a friend. I also have a cowl in progress for a friends birthday. I'm also hoping to get in some charity knitting this month before the Christmas knits become more urgent.

Knitting a cowl for a friend out of a thick and thin singles yarn

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to, come and share your woolly days with me.

Woolly Wednesday October 2013 - come and share your woolly days

Welcome to the Woolly Wednesday gathering for October. Come along and link up to with a crafty post on your blog.

Whether you are a regular or a new visitor - come and share what you have been doing with wool or fibres in the last month, or plans for the month(s) ahead. All crafts and inspiration welcome. I look forward to regularly sharing this space with you here.

 Woolly Wednesday falls on the first Wednesday of every month. Think of it as a creative gathering, or a virtual guild meeting. Bring along any fibre-related project, whatever it may be. If you are starting out in fibre arts, share what you are interested in pursuing. Let's show each other our projects, share any tips, tutorials, ask questions, seek advice. Add your post to the Linky below and we can visit one another and share, support, encourage, be inspired!. 

 Please feel free to add the button to your blog's sidebar with a link to Woolly Wednesday, a lovely way for us all to link together. Just copy the image to your desktop and then in your blog design - add a gadget, add picture - upload the picture and then add the url (http://raisingseedlings.blogspot.co.uk/) and the image will link to here. Join in with the linky below, link to a recent blog post of your woolly adventures in the last month or to a post in the month ahead, I look forward to seeing you, no time limits just join in when you can.

 I shall enjoy reading all about your woolly days soon x