This morning was the first cold one here this winter. You know it’s chilly when you’re woken by the sound of the next door neighbours scraping ice off both of their cars before they head out to work! It was only 3°C when I walked the children to school at 8.15am so I’m guessing 6.45 it had been close to zero.
On days like that you need warm accessories, and I was glad of the samples for the patterns I will be launching this week. Watch out on Wednesday 1st November for two new patterns in my Ravelry Store, Soft Honeycomb hat and Soft Honeycomb cowl.

Both are knitted in chunky/bulky weight yarn - my own used my handspun and the stitch pattern lends itself well to the thick-and-thin yarn that less experienced spinners might produce, especially for the cowl. The patterns themselves will go live on Wednesday 1st, and please feel free to pass the message on to any knitting friends who might want a speedy hat and/or cowl pattern for gifts or for themselves. Both of these knit up fast, just in time for winter!

Last month I decided to move on with my spinning. I started out with a drop spindle last November and immediately took to the craft. Five spindles later I began to get frustrated with the speed limit that a spindle has. Having to keep stopping to wind the yarn on every few feet, the relatively small amount of plied yarn that a drop spindle can hold, needing to wind the singles off on to holders to spin the second one, then plying. It was taking months to make a decent length of yarn. I finally caved and bought a spinning wheel, and I’m pleased that I love it! And here it is!

A Louet S10C with Scotch tension, double-treadle. My husband had been concerned that a wheel would take up a lot of space in our home, and wouldn’t get used. Wrong on both counts! It fits neatly in what was unused space between the sideboard and a bookcase (it will even tuck behind a door if necessary) and so far I’ve spun two skeins of plied and finished yarn and am working on my third.
Here are those skeins..

The pink one (which tends more towards purple than the photo but I just can’t get my camera to pick it up) is a 2-plied Merino, roughly DK weight and about 200 yards in length.
The second is the first part of a pack of undyed Shetland fibre I was given for my birthday in four natural colours. The finished yarn is chain-plied to a fingering weight, about 150 yards. I’m now working on the black fibre from the same pack, and will then spin up the grey (fourth is moorit, a lighter brown) and plan to use them for colourwork.
Here is the black so far.

As for my spindles though, they’re not being retired just yet. I have two projects in progress on those with designs in mind for each.

I seem to be falling behind in here, because I have two patterns out this month already and it's only mid-month!

The first one is a colourwork design that I've loved since the moment the idea popped into my head.

Fear the Firedrake! are colourwork socks (you don't say!) worked from the cuff down to the toe. I have short feet so the chart ends where my feet do (!) but it's easy to add more red (or whatever colour you choose) or busk it and add more flames if you need to lengthen the foot. They take a bit of concentration, not least because the colourwork on the back of the leg extends into the heel flap so you'll need to be able to work stranded colourwork flat as well as in the round, but I hope you'll agree the overall effect is worth it. I love the potato-chip nature of stranded colourwork (just one more round to see the next bit of the picture appear) but tend to use it on hats and mitts rather than socks. I do love a stranded colourwork sock though.


And the other pattern this month, which just went live today, is Corrie Cornflower.

This one was designed for my own handspun yarn, which was also the inspiration for the name. I started spinning at the end of last year, and like many newbies my early handspun was really quite chunky. Smooshy, warm, a bit thick-and-thin, very useable, but not what I usually knit with. It was a personal milestone reached when I successfully spun a 2-ply fingering weight yarn in sufficient quantity and quality to be able to knit a full project and this shawlette design was the result. The yarn was spun from some dyed Corriedale fibre in a colourway called Cornflower. Corriedale wool isn't quite as soft as merino but it is comfortable against the skin, and is easier to spin for a beginner as the fibres are longer and less slippery so easier to work with.
Don't worry, though, the pattern will knit up beautifully in commercial fingering weight yarn too. The design isn't beaded, but it wouldn't be difficult to add beads if you wanted to. Or try a gentle gradient-dyed yarn for a different effect. Enjoy!