Designer Yarn Play

Posted on August 16, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

Near the end of May I received an email from Black Sheep Wools asking if I would like to review some new designer yarn. Well of course the answer was yes! Who isn’t going to want to try brand new designer yarn, for free? Then I was told I’d need to complete a non-disclosure agreement, I was not to tell anyone about the yarn or even that I was to be doing a review. How secret squirrel was that?! I’ve been sent yarn and other products before from various companies and have never seen a disclosure form. I admit that I felt quite excited and started to look around for crochet patterns; this would be the time to start on my first crochet garment, no more blankets, hats or scarves for me, this was obviously going to be a lovely big bale of yarn, suitable for a cardie, jumper or huge wrap, otherwise why all the secrecy and legally binding paperwork?

At the beginning of June a little parcel was popped through my letterbox, just as I was heading out. Oh…

I’d obviously been very convinced and convincing about the quantity of yarn due to arrive, as Someone said “Is that it?!” “Mmmmm, yes it seems to be.”

Shortly after that an email came full of guidelines for the blog post; must be no shorter than xxx words, must contain no more than 4 links to the website, but should include one to x and x and x, the review must contain both positives and negatives, though obviously more positives than negatives, an original design could be submitted to the company website and would be appreciated, along with the blog post etc, etc, etc…

I may be about to fail short of some of these guidelines but this is my space, I have used the yarn and will tell you as many details about it as I can, given the quantity. The moral of the story is that sometimes bloggers get free things to play and have fun with, other times freebies come with expectations. Be prepared. But Black Sheep Wools seem like a good company and obviously have very discerning tastes in craft bloggers (the need for a winking smiley feels strong here, but I will not break my no emoticons in a post rule) also I can’t imagine ever writing a ‘review’ which wasn’t honest. If you want an honest opinion I’m your girl.

I’ve never used any Louisa Harding yarns before so this was a new experience.

Here goes…

Yarn details:

Louisa Harding – Esquel
60% merino, 20% llama, 20% silk
50g ball, 106 yards (97 mts)
Suggested neeedles: US 8 (5mm)
Suggested tension 18 sts x 24 rows

This lovely yarn feels quite soft but also due to its thickness of the strand (and the silk?) it’s strong. The band doesn’t say, but I think it’s aran as it needs 5mm needles and is thicker than other designer DK yarns I’ve used. I decided to make more fingerless mitts as it seemed just the right amount of yarn for a pair. I’m going to give these away as a present.

I used much smaller needles than the recommended 5mm, but the resulting fabric is thick and makes warm mitts.

Although it’s really annoying it seems that it’s sometimes inevitable that wool yarns have knots in them. This is one disadvantage to using woolen blends, unlike acrylics which rarely have this problem, but most synthetic fibres do not have the quality feel of yarn like this. Unlike a ball of baby cashermino I once used which once had 4 or 5 knots in one 50g ball, this ball of Esquel had only the one. I decided to cut the yarn and start the cuff again, the fewer darned ends in a pair of mitts which will see plenty of wear and tear, the better.

Lots of gratuitous tomato pics today I’m afraid, in my search for better light they seemed as good a backdrop as any. It’s great to come home after a hol to 8 plants groaning with ripe and nearly ripe red and yellows! Sorry – back to the yarn…

I would recommend Esquel, because it comes in such lovely colours, the feel of the knitted material is fairly soft and also seems as if it will be hard-wearing and warm. I bet a knitted, or crocheted, jumper would be super toasty in the winter.

If you’d like to check out Louisa Harding’s Esquel in Black Sheep Wool’s online yarn shop it’s currently £5.35 a ball.

As I photographed the mitts outside on my emergency-stepladder-storm-resistant-stand-up-tomato-plants-please-don’t-fall-over-device look at what I saw…I’ve grown a rabbit!

Here endeth the review. A Manhattan is waiting for me on the other side. Happy ~~cocktail hour~~ weekend everyone!

The knitty gritty and reading

Posted on February 4, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

I experienced a strong sense of déjà vu as I finished off the thumb of the second fingerless mitt of the second pair. It only takes an evening to knit one mitt and is so economical on wool. I’ve still got 34g of a 50g ball of Rowan Tweed left! That’s 4 mitts out of 2 50g balls, with more than half of one left over. I know – it occurs to me too that I could retype that much more simply!

I’m going to have another go at mattress stitch and make sure I line up each stitch really carefully. The tweeter of Inside Crochet and I had a good ole chat about it. Apparently Claire Montgomerie, the magazine’s editor, is obsessed with MS. I can see why – it’s so fiddly but produces a really good seam.
I’ve got a few relatives with little hands so I have a recipient lined up to offer this pair to at the weekend. But it would be easy enough to use a larger size pair of needles, or scale the pattern up by a couple of stitches if you haven’t got small hands!

A knitting group friend wants to accomplish her goal of learning to knit fair isle this year. I knew I had various patterns tucked away in my magazine hoard in The Little Room so had a good few minutes flicking though copies. It’s so worth holding on to patterns because you never know when you’re going to need inspiration. Hmmmm I am running out of space for magazine holders though! I’ll have to move over to all didgey copies soon. I found a selection of patterns for her but also distracted myself with the Knit Now mag (issue 25) pattern above. The colours are not me, not at all, but I fancy some lace knitting. I did say I wouldn’t make anymore scarves, but hey over the course of a year you end up wearing them all really, don’t you? It fits in with my plan to use up more of my modest stash too. I’ve got a few balls of my favourite purple DK yarn Tosca Light so I’m going to use 4.5 mm needles and see how it goes. The pattern is for 3.75mm needles and 4 ply but suggests trying all different weights of yarn.

Somebody went to Cuba for a week and on the first day I had a knock at the door early in the morning. It was an Amazon delivery of a Kindle Paperwhite and accessories, no doubt meant to distract me from remembering to nag about too many cigars, rum and sun from fishing! I’ve got a few Kindle books already as I’ve tried them on the ipad app. I’m addicted to scouring the Kindle Daily Deals and have bought stunningly good books for 99p or less (49p has been the cheapest so far.)

At the moment I’m reading House of Silence by Linda Gillard (98p/$1.61!) It’s hard to put it down.

“A country house mystery… A family drama… A Gothic romantic comedy…
REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM in Linda Gillard’s complex new novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE.” Amazon.co.uk

It has sewing (patchwork) too. What’s not to like?

I must get on with casting on the scarf as I’m going to another knit group and want to get to grips with the pattern before I go. I’d like to blog about my knit group crawl, trying out all the local groups, along with various friends, but it’s potentially social suicide. How could I resist telling you about some of the characters and (bit weird) happenings without maybe shooting myself in the foot? I’ll have to write a novel one day….

What are you reading? Can you recommend any good Kindle reads?

Conquering mattress stitch

Posted on January 31, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

Terrible light so rubbish photos I’m afraid….

I’m determined to conquer mattress stitch. I’ve heard it’s one of the trickiest sewing-up methods but I’m persevering. It’s also not straightforward when the Rowan Tweed breaks off because of the weaker, thinner parts of the strand. Argh!

The Knitting Answer book (see link on the sidebar) diagram has made sense of the method. There are a few different ways to use mattress stitch, depending on what you’re sewing up, and I’ve chosen this one. It seems like a good choice as the seam isn’t too thick or uncomfortable when you’re wearing the mitt.

I found I really got into a rhythm and ended up enjoying the sewing up. I’ve always liked hand sewing but the little voice in your head that says you’re going to find a new thing hard (especially when other people say how hard it is) needs to be silenced at times. Or stamped on. Then covered with a good layer of something.

I’ve sewn up both mitts now. Hurrah! The light’s gone now so no more (awful) photos. I will be wearing the mitts, they’re fine, but if you do own a copy of Cute and Easy Knitting and want to knit them I’d suggest trying a tension swatch. I know, I’ve never done one in my life either but they did come out fairly small. I have little hands but I reckon the mitts might be a little snug for others.

Can’t wait to have a sip of G&T and a glass of wine Saturday, after doing Dry January. I reckon I’m going to be a very cheap date!

Which method(s) of sewing up do you use for knitting?

Getting knitty, again

Posted on January 9, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

The last week or so I’ve been whipping around my twelve huge Granny Squares in a bid to finish them and use up my leftovers of Stylecraft special DK. I’m rather bored with the same palate after a longtime using those colours and want to start afresh, which is exciting. The ironic thing is I can already see that I’m going to need to buy more to complete the blanket! My goal is to complete a square a day, they’re all at different stages and each needs to be twenty rounds. Sorry…I’m actually boring myself typing this detail! It’s more amusing to listen to the neighbour trying to coax his new (Christmas) dog out into the garden. The same dog that woke me up at 04:30 this morning barking to be let into the garden. Oh sheesh, dogs!

So last night to give my aching left thumb a crochet rest I started a new fast make from my new Christmas book, Cute and Easy Knitting (far superior to a barking present IMHO.)

This is as far as I got last night. It’s looking glove shaped which must be a good thing.

I’m using Rowan tweed which is a new yarn, though I’ve seen it many times I’ve never crocheted or knitted it. Although wool is touted as best for all sorts of reasons, which is undoubtably true in many cases, what is rarely mentioned is that, besides being expensive, it can be damned scratchy. Rowan tweed looks gorgeous, it’s the real deal in that it feels like it’s really been spun rather than composed of plastic. As you knit it goes from thin to thick which makes it an interestingly tactile experience, but I have to say that I wouldn’t want to wear it. Unless as a hat or gloves. I feel the same about Noro, but to a more extreme degree – yes it’s lovely colours but I don’t want to touch it. Do you relate?

Are you trying anything new?