Meantime, the postie arrived today with a special box all the way from the USA -the Sheep Shed Studio who just happen to be my favourite trans-Atlantic shopping spot! I decided to give a try to the Wildefoote Sock Yarn - and its gorgeous. See below. The economics was - 124 GBP for 54 balls (this includes postage) which should make 36 pairs of socks. Plus £31.54 to H M Revenue & Customs (£8 parcelforce handling fee and £23.54 VAT). This works out at £4.32 per pair for materials. Look out on the blog for news as to how I get on with it on the CSM.
Also today I had a visit from Eileen Bell who is editing "Heb Magazine" for Intermedia Services Ltd. this year. Scalpay Linen is taking a quarter page ad this year, in colour so Eileen came over to take some photos and get some info for a little write-up. The magazine is always well worth buying and looks like it is going to be extra good this year. I set up a selection of my stock for the photos and took a piccie myself before I put it all back on the shelves again!
On Tuesday, we went to Shawbost Mill - Harris Tweed Hebrides - and picked up the Linsey-Woolsey I dropped off last time we were there. It's the blue and white vertical herringbone stripes with a weft of grey and brown Hebridean wool.
This one is a real beauty - very tweedy looking but lovely and soft too. Below is what it looks like on the roll. We dropped in another while we were there - this one is red and white - same pattern. Now I've almost run out of grey Hebridean wool, so the "Stripes" collection of Hebridean Linsey Woolsey will stand at three for now. It's been great weaving them.
Bramble was rounding up the guinea fowl today and one of them landed on the handrail of the path which leads down to the loomshed . It was very near and I happened to have the camera handy so couldn't resist taking a piccie. Aren't they just the weirdest looking birds?
5 comments:
love the sock wool - fab colours - would make an amazing stripey sock
If you call in next time you are passing maybe we will have a complimentary pair for you!
Hi Sheila,
I love the green shade. Are you knitting this on the 72? I would be interested to know how you found it. The revues on Ravelry for this yarn mostly moaned about it being splitty but I'd be interested to know how our little machines handles it. What sort of Selvedge will you use?
Patricia
Hi Patricia, Yes, I'm knitting it on "our" 72 cylinder. It's a nice yarn and I'm not noticing any splitting - however, it's maybe a tad too fine for the 72 as I don't like fiddling about too much with the tensioners since I always forget what they were originally set to and end up with loads of socks all at different tensions! The only drawback I can see to the yarn is that its difficult to knit off the supplied package - which slows things down a lot. I've managed so far by catching a bit of the outside of the ball on one of the cone supports on the machine table and this works ok, but you still have to keep a close eye on it. Also, its knitting up less than I thought - one pair of medium socks took nearly 2 balls whereas you are supposed to get 2 pairs out of 3 balls.
Is the selvedge the bit at the top of the ribbing? If so, I'm doing the usual "move the ribber needles out of play, do 3 rounds on the cylinder needles only, then bring back the ribber needles for the ribbing proper. When making up the socks unravel the waste and darn in the end". Is there another way to do it I wonder?
How's the weather where you are? Still a bit of snow here and ice on the chookies water pots in the morning, but seeing the sun makes up for it!
"So, it's over a week since my last blog." This sounds like a confession!!
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