Tag: Handspun

Couldn’t think of a pun, so rhyming it is today!

A long time ago I knit a mounted Jackalope head for some good friends, and they asked if it was possible to have a second mounted cryptid head at some point, possibly tying in with a North American theme they have going on in the spare room…

But what Cryptid?

After much discussion, and a lot of help from my dear sis Rabbie, I settled on a Caleygreyhound. A creature described as having the head of a wildcat, the body of an antelope, the fore-claws of an eagle, the tail of lion, and the hind legs and hooves of an ox. More importantly for me though, often depicted with ram-like horns…

And if its a North American theme, well, the wildcat should be a mountain lion, right?

Like the Jackalope, this is knit entirely from Jacobs sheep fleece I have washed, dyed with beetroot for the orange, left plain for the white and browns, and spun myself.

The ram horns are sadly plastic in this case, but Engel kindly painted them to look fairly realistic for me. And there’s a second set of horns, ready and painted, for when I get a chance to spin some grey and more white wool for the Scottish wildcat version of this I want on my wall…

No wool count this week as no changes.

Till next post, stay safe!

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I would love to promise that this is the last of the fox related things, but the urge to use this knitted fur technique to make more and more is incredibly powerful!

and without further ado, fox ears:

So very cute! Although the cats seem to think that they’re either a toy just for them, or a small furry animal just begging to be pounced on…

Here you can see Outbreak “helping” within three seconds of my placing the ears in the floor for a photograph. I suspect I will need to knit them something using the same knitted fur technique I have used for the ears…

Oh, normally at this point I would link a pattern but…there isn’t one. This is me just playing around…

In other wooly news, I finally spun and plyed the Shetland fleece I have been playing with for the last few weeks – it was a challenge for myself to spin as fine as possible, as consistently as possible. Having been 2 plyed it has come out at 150m of lace weight yarn. It’s a little thinner in places, but not thicker, so it’s definitely getting there!!

No idea what it will be. However, I have plans and ideas in the works that require me to spin yarn, so more shall be spun, but with intention.

…am I the only one that think that sounded unnecessarily aggressive? Spinning with intention?

Anyhoo, very busy week at work, no gaming but Inkling did get to go to a trampoline birthday party and as he is under five, I had to go with him and ‘supervise’. The sore muscles today were worth it. Felix didn’t miss out as she got to have an adventure with Engel on the motorbike.

After so much excitement, we finished the weekend with board games and cleaning up some Battletech miniatures that the terrors are looking forward to painting.

Until next week, take care!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 20 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –0
Wool handspun – 1

Total – 831 (Net difference: -12)

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Its been a long time coming, but after travelling a ridiculous number of miles, the wool I spun:

Moonlit Missy (Top) Missy in the Meadow (Bottom)

In honour of the amazing Missy:

Who is the bestest girl? You are!

Has been turned into a finished garment!!!

The cardigan is based off an actual 1940s cardigan pattern, but due to the weight of the wool, the maths from the free Knitty pattern Tempest by Ann Weaver was used.

I spun this wool for my sister, Rabbie, in honour of her beautiful fur baby, Missy. The wool was dispatched 300 miles up north and, after a few attempts, was sent back down 300 miles to be finished into the cardigan in the above photo. Rabbie has always ended up with sore fingers after knitting, and with the courseness of the hand spun wool…

Yeah. It looked painful. But oddly enough the wool doesn’t bother any of the rest of her skin…just in case it’s had a good gentle wool wash, and a nice soak in fabric conditioner and is all nice and soft now!

It just needs to journey back up north 300 miles again…

The reason behind going for a 1940s inspired cardigan is that there are plans afoot for some semi serious but mostly casual 1940s/50s jubilee party…but more on that nearer the time!

In non knitting news, it’s been a busy week, besides the usual things we had some friends round for board games, ate dim sum and got very, very competitive at Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. I believe plans afoot for a girls gaming night but I will leave that to one of my friends to organise!

I also managed to give blood again this week, so feeling proud of myself for getting my iron levels up high enough to do so!!!

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 18 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 844 (Net difference: -11)

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