The first age of my Tolkien yarn

Here's my first handspun from my Tolkien project.
The white is a 2 ply with one ply alpaca and one play romney. The blue/grey is different shades of dyed and undyed grey Cotswold.





Here's another shot of the alpaca/Romney. I wanted something like a twilight moonshine for this yarn.
















The yarn all started like this:














Just as reminder, here's Tolkien's description of the elvish cloaks that were gifted to the fellowhip in Lord of the Rings that serves as one of my inspirations for this yarn project:
"...of the light but warm silken stuff that Galadhrim wove. It was hard to say of what colour they were: grey with the hue of twilight under the trees they seemed to be; and yet if they moved, or set in another light, they were green as shadowed leaves, or brown as fallow fields by night, dusk silver as water under the stars....Leaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under twilight of Lorien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make...they are light to wear, and warm enough or cool enough at need."

-p481, Lord of the Rings, Farwell to Lórien

So to achieve a 'Twilight' colourway, I threw three shades of grey Cotswold, some of the white Romney and a bit of the black Icelandic into a pot with some Gunmetal (jacquard dye) at half strength. I then topped it with half strength of Purple (jacquard dye) and brought it all up to a simmer. Towards the end, I dumped in another handful of light Cotwold to take on just a touch of colour. In total, about I ended up dyeing up about 1 1/2 lbs of fleece.
Here's what came out:














I took some of the lighter gunmetal and some undyed grey Cotswold and spun this:














I'm madly in love with how the gunmetal and purple danced and mingled together. It looks like nebula in all that fluffed up fleece.














Here are some of the lighter Cotswold that I dumped in at the end.














Batts ready for more blending and spinning.



























That's it for now. I've got a lot more carding, blending and spinning to do!

The Mysterious Wisdom of Yarn

I just finished this baby last night while cuddling with DH and watching "300".














It's made with local fleece and leftover yarn from my stash, including this handspun:














Here's a couple more shots:




























It was an unplanned project. In fact I wasn't even aware I was making a Healing Shawl until these last few days. This yarn just kept beckoning me and so over the holidays I began working a round shawl. At first I had planned to make a round shawl cardigan but the universe knew better and thwarted me at every turn. Eventually it dawned on me that these colours aren't really my colours and when I thought I had finished it, it didn't agree with me so I continued knitting more. Then a few nights ago, it revealed itself to me. It's meant to be a Healing Shawl for my cousin who's in dire need of some of the universe's healing powers. Once it was apparent to me what it was, it was obvious. Duh! It's a good thing my yarn is smarter than me :P

*****
I've now decided on the wools for my Tolkien Projects:














The grey/silver fleeces are from 3 different Cotswold sheep including the locks off of this little streaker:

















I opted for Cotswold as my main wool because it has quite a bit of lustre in it and is hard wearing. For much of history, it's been used for outerwear and upholstery making it a sturdy candidate for my cape. I chose three different values of grey to provide depth in the colour. All these fleeces were from Margaret Thomson at Windrush Farm on Saltspring Island

The black fleece is Fjola, an Icelandic sheep, also from Margaret's farm. Margaret and all her lovely sheep can be reached at Windrush Farm on 1432 North Beach Road in Saltspring Island, 250-537-4669.
Another great place on Saltspring Island for fleece is at the Bullock Lake Farm.



Icelandic fleece is warm and soft and her graceful and fine nature will help balance out the harder wearing Cotswold.

The puffy white stuff in the centre is Romney fleece from Elaine Duncan in Errington. Romney is the finest of all the longwool breeds. It will not only lend a bit of loft and lightness but also lustre to the yarn. Elaine and her sheep can be found at the Weaver's Rose Cottage in Errington, BC, 250-248-1270. During the summer she sell at the Errington Farmer's Market, one of the coolest farmer's markets on the island.

The creamy white roving on the bottom right hand corner is alpaca from my guild sister, Kathy McDonald in Cedar. It's from her Fiber Boys:














Aren't they they cutest things?
Alpaca is super warm, soft and silky. It will lend a touch of luxury to my Tolkien Yarn.
Alpacas can be found all over this island and at farmer's markets.

So now that I have my fleeces picked I guess I should figure out the design for my Tolkien capelet.

Cheers!

Gallery of Favorites

My wonderful MIL has requested a gallery of my knitting. So here are some of favorites from these last couple of years:
Healing Shawl:















Jewel & Wine Socks












































Carved Jade Socks











DH's foot cozies.

















Photo of the "Gaston" mountaineering socks for DH. The next in the knitting queue.














My handspun local yarn for the Gaston Socks.














Arachne capelet made with local alpaca.


















Broken Brocade Sweater


















Midsummer Night's Dream sweater























The back























The sleeve cuff
























Patricia's hooded scarf













T's fingerless mitts

















A shawl from my Flight of Fuschia Series
























Blossom Cape


















Fiddlehead Jacket























The Kimonoette


















The Honeymoon Sweater.























The back.
























Fire & Ice Sweater made with my own local hand-dyed, handspun yarn























The back























MIL Cabled Sweater


















Pat's Capelet made with my own handspun local alpaca

















The back detail.














For more information, just check out the "Labels" on the left panel. Some of the pieces are also on my other blog, Crave.
I also have most of these in my Ravelry Projects page. My Ravelry name is AlphaMango.
I hope you enjoy the gallery.

The Season for Giving

Last week we had out Christmas potluck for the Mid-Island's Weavers and Spinners Guild. My friend, Karin, and I also ran a charity clothing drive for hand knit and gently used clothing that we cold donate to the Sally Ann.
We were overwelmed with the response. Members were bringing bags of warm clothing and some wonderful handknits to donate. We ended up with 2 table filled with cozies for donation.














Thank you too my sister member of the Mid-Island Weavers and Spinners Guild. For all those that are interested, we are alway looking for new members. Our next meeting is January 2nd, 2008. Meetings are held at St. Paul's Anglican Church (100 Chapel Street) and begins at 7:30pm.

Everyone but Pat is allowed to continue reading. Pat, go away, go calculate something!!!!!!
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Is she gone yet? OK. I've finally finished my sisters Pat's Capelet. Here's some pics.
Da Front:














Da Back:














Me modeling da capelet:

This is my second from Fleece to Knit 100 Mile Fiber Diet project. It's an asymmetrical capelet that I designed for my kid sister, Pat. I got the alpaca from a local farm (literally just down the road from me). I used both black and white fleece. I dyed some of the white into a light and dark grey. I wanted some depth to the finished yarn colour and not a flat color. I blended the dyed and natural rovings twice through with hand carders so it would be mixed but not homogeneous colour.

She wanted something modern but classic (I don't know where she gets such strange ideas about fashion :P). Because of the dark colour of the yarn and my sister's general preference for simple lines, I opted for an overall stitch pattern that provided clean lines with a bit of texture. The back panel is the same pattern for a scarf that I made her.

The stitch pattern for the body of the capelet is "Overlapping Waves" from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns from Sterling. The back panel is "Column of Leaves" from the same book.

I aimed to make a structured capelet, as opposed to flat, drapey piece like a poncho or shawl. She wanted something she could wear in her perpetually AC-blasting office. By literally sculpting in shoulders with short rows, she could just throw this on just to keep the chill off and it would stay on without needed to be pinned closed. It also won't slide all around.

Also, because like me, my sister is short (though way cuter than me), most shawls and capes make us look stumpy, I made sure that the overall length of the capelet wouldn't swallow her. By making it asymmetrical and having a bit of length in the front, it elongates the central body line. However, because the sides are shorter, and the bottom hem is a diagonal upward, it accentuates the torso and doesn't chop her body up into pieces.

I also made her a hooded scarf with some Aran wool I found in my stash:

The scarf pattern is "Column of Leaves" from Sterling's Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. It's the same pattern that I used for her capelet back panel and one that she really loves. The hood was formed by picking up stitched along the edge of the scarf. Just wrap the scarf around your head and that's how much of the scarf edge you pick up. Knit up a few inches then start forming the hood with short rows. Decrease 2 stitches per row until you reach the centre. Wrap the stitches if you want, don't bother if you don't want to. Then start increasing, 2 stitches per row until you've pick up all the stitches again. Knit up a couple more inches just to provide an ample brim.
The brim edge is from The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting. It's pattern 4.7 and 4.8 which are mirrored versions of it. I used one for one half the brim (from scarf edge to centre) and the other one for the half. It makes for a symmetrical edging for the brim that probably only I will notice. The pattern naturally folds and so it provides a nice textured rolled rim which makes for a nicer finish for an edge.
I hope she loves them as much as I loved making them for her :)
Have a great season of giving!

Jen