Knit, Crochet and Natter 8: Keep Calm and Carry Yarn!

[crazyjinglist]

A thread for woolly crafters. All welcome, from total beginners to experts!

Previous thread here

Yes, I'd be a bit worried about it travelling!

I feel it should be brought to you in a donkey cart.

Up the M6. Yes, definitely .
We have arranged to pick it up on 21st May. I'd forgotten that we are down south that weekend anyway, so it's the perfect opportunity.

You could always get the flyer and bobbins sent to your parents house if your Dad likes tinkering with things, he could have it fixed up and ready for you

I might actually be tempted to do that, except that I'm loath to spend money on parts until I've seen the wheel myself and am sure there's nothing wrong with it!

What’s going on here! Who’s been enabling the spinning wheel?! I’m looking at you @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound. Honestly I turn my back for a day

Hey, don’t look at me NiceCardigan, it was all FairIsle herself

Yes, I'm afraid I can't really blame @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - I don't think she's posted any tempting links to wheels for sale for a while! I'd begun to think I probably wouldn't end up buying one. But £50 for a £500 wheel was too good to resist, even if I do need to buy a couple of parts for it!

You’ll be buying your own alpaca for wool at this rate!

To be fair, I haven’t seen anything worth posting for a while, they were all £££!
This guy might be useful when you get to examine your wheel @Fairislefandango, he sells replacement leather connectors for the foot pedal and other bits for Ashfords www.facebook.com/groups/1046007922083052/permalink/5605362592814206/?sale_post_id=5605362592814206

Now who’s enabling @NiceCardigan? I haven’t once suggested livestock

The dc would love an alpaca...
Thanks @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - that link may well be useful!

"The dc would love an alpaca ... "

It's a slippery slope from here...

Yes, probably.... I think ddog would like an alpaca too actually. Well, he'd probably be petrified of it at first, but I'm sure they'd soon be firm friends.

I'd like an alpaca!!! And a llama. And a goat.

I feel like I'm making very slow progress on this test. My eyes, and my fingers, do not like 4-ply.

Ooh that’s lovely CrochetBug! It’s like flowers on top!

You can keep angora rabbits for fibre, maybe you could start small with them and move onto alpacas? Though for all I know rabbits are higher maintenance than alpacas

I have half joked with DH about getting an alpaca. We have a very large garden and some stables (although they are currently missing a rooof and doors). I think dog2 would love an alpaca but I think dog1 would just remember the good old days before dog2, baby and alpaca.

Crochetbug that’s really pretty but my eyes and fingers also can’t deal with 4ply.

That's looking very pretty, @CrochetBug! I'm not sure I've ever used 4-ply. I'm making a little basket for the bathroom with aran held double and a 9 mm hook and I'm finding that a bit tough on the hands because it goes too floppy if you don't do it really tightly. It doesn't help that I also re-did the sealant around the shower yesterday and the big sealant gun was also a bit stuff and heavy for my poor little hands!

In other news in the Fandango household, dd is nearly all better from covid, and none of the rest of us seem to have caught it so far! Dh is applying for two jobs, both of which he likes the look of. And I've got a spinning wheel (I might have already mentioned that one ). Hoping that things are beginning to look up!

Brilliant FairIsle!

The holiday’s have started for one of mine this morning and I’ve been tidying up the house my craft stuff and finally got my purple wool off the door handle it’s been drying on It was worth the faff of doing a 3 ply, it’s pretty much spot on a match for the black I want to knit it with 🥳

That's lovely, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound! I've achieved nothing so far today except a dog walk. I've lounged about a lot watching cooking videos on TikTok when I could have been watching spinning videos crafting.

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - I'm currently trying to work out how old the spinning wheel is! It looks as if Ashford made a lot of changes to the model over the years, and I'm wondering if that means there's anything I need to be aware of in terms of buying parts or how to use it. I found a timeline... I think mine might be the 1981 model, as it has less ornate spokes. I've asked my dad to send me some photos!

Meant to link to timeline here

Katie of Hilltop Cloud does pre recorded online spinning courses online, I did one called Spinning With a Purpose and it was brilliant, it really improved my spinning.

Craftsy’s $2 offer is probably still on and they have some good spinning classes too.

There, I’ve done my enabling for the day

I think you might be right from what I can remember about the pic on the listing! Jillian Eve does a video about repairing the model before that one that might be handy…

Thanks @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound they are meant to be flowers so I'm glad they look like they are. My mum said they looked like prawns in a bowl
That yarn is beautiful. When I'm rich (ha) I'll spin and dye my own.

@Fairislefandango I find amigurumi hard on the hands because it has to be tight. I do want to make some baskets for my bathroom though. The first time I used 4-ply I said never again. But I actually use it quite often. It's my preference for socks.