Finished scarf - based on the Snow Queen Snood

My scarf is based on the Snow Queen Snood and in a couple of previous posts I showed the process of making the Zoom Loom squares. The creamy-white is handspun from some fleece which I believe was a gift. The teal is Norfolk Horn from Jenn at fibreworkshop.co.uk that I sent to Freyalyn for dyeing. I made 48 squares altogether which makes a nice large scarf. I chose not to join the ends.

Some of these are two-colour. This turns out to be easy. You usually make four layers with the Zoom Loom so all you need to do is to change colour so that you have 1 and 3 or 2 and 2. I made some squares 1/4 blue and 3/4 white, and some 1/4 white and 3/4 blue. 

I enjoyed cross-stitching the snowflakes using a design I found online. This could have been a little larger but hey. Cross-stitching onto pin-loom squares works extremely well and is something I want to explore further. 

Previously I have made a blanket by crocheting the edges together. This makes quite a heavy join which is effective, but in this case I wanted it to look more continuous and I chose a stitch that's like mattress stitch. 

It was quite puckered after stitching but flattened out after a soak. I didn't go to the trouble of getting out the blocking mat and wires (I was also concerned about pulling loops out all the way around the edge) so I simply pulled it flat and let it dry.  Pressing it flat between two towels (just by walking on it, not using an iron) was very effective at flattening it. 

I haven't (yet) fulled it at all, just soaked it. I do feel that it needs a little more softening so I may give it the 'waulking' treatment to see what happens. I'm also tempted to add a faux fringe.

My stack o'squares is growing

I've been randomly making the blue or white squares to add interest but haven't yet looked into how to make the the two-colour ones or tried stitching the snowflake. 

Hello, old friend

 The title applies to both my spinning wheel and my Zoom Loom. It's been too long since I used either.

I finished spinning the white mystery fleece. It's not as consistent as I'd like and parts of it are a little thin but it's OK and I do have around 200yds which I think is what I need.

I did enjoy doing the longdraw. It's a fast way to spin and when it goes right it's very satisfying and produces a nice bouncy yarn. I began by pulling handfuls from my nests but I found it went better if I took the trouble to pull it out a bit and roll it around a 1" rod to make rolags, then pinch off sections as I spun. 

With the white finished and wound into balls, it was time to reacquaint myself with the Zoom Loom. The instructions are clear but the first square took a little longer than I remembered. However, I did remember to wind the first layers with no tension at all, because the weaving tightens them up and can get difficult when you reach the end. I'm sure I'll get faster at making them, but with 48 to produce, and learning how to use two colours, I won't be wearing my scarf until the Spring!

Back to spinning!

 If you've seen the January '25 issue of HSN then you'll know that I'm quite taken by the Snow Queen Snood.

I'm itching to do some spinning because I've been occupied for months now on a knitting project. It's quite relaxing to do late at night now that I've reached the body, which is long rows of stockinette with a short section of lace at each end. But all the same, it's going to take ages to finish. (Especially if I get distracted by other projects. Monogamous? Me? Never!)

The snood is a Zoom Loom project (or other square pin loom). I'm also keen to use that tool again. It's a quick and fun way to use handspun yarn. 

I had a rummage and found this yarn, left over from my Fulton Shrug. I bought the yarn (undyed) from my friend Jenn at fibreworkshop.co.uk. She studied the Norfolk Horn breed, found local flocks, bought the fleece and had it processed and spun.  It really is beautiful yarn. I asked Freyalyn to dye it for me in teal.  My phone's camera doesn't like the colour and tried to correct it to grey. I've done my best to correct it to something like how it looks in real life.

I also found these nests which are obviously fleece that I've processed myself. I've lost track of where it came from. It may be the last of this fleece but I'm not sure about that. It's not particularly fine and I think it will match the Norfolk Horn quite well if spun to the same thickness. 

I'm not sure whether the quantity I have here is enough. A quick calculation based on 8 yards per Zoom Loom square means that I'll need around 380 yards of yarn altogether (blue and white). I guess I have plenty of the blue, probably not the white. I'll make the yarn and see what I have. It may mean altering the pattern (more of the plain blue squares).

I'm trying to spin longdraw, since the Norfolk Horn yarn is very bouncy. I'm having to pick out some VM as I go. 

casting on Madragoa

A few months ago Mum was given a bag containing a half-finished project and the accompanying balls of yarn. 

It was of interest to me because the yarn felt really special. I've temporarily misplaced the other balls and can't check a label but it has a good percentage of real wool.

The natural first thought was to complete the project but there were some problems with that. Several patterns were present but we couldn't establish which was being used. There were some mistakes in the work, and it was obviously being made to a specific size which would be unlikely to fit either of us. 

So I decided to use the yarn to knit a similar cardy in a style and size to suit me. I'm not sure how far the unopened balls will go, whether I'll have to also unravel the unfinished work, or even whether there's enough yarn to finish what I've chosen, but I've started anyway! (I have chosen something very open and light, so I think the yarn should go a long way.)

The pattern I've chosen is Madragoa by Filipa Carneiro. By coincidence the pattern shows one in a very similar colour but the style is one that I'll want to wear. The construction isn't straightforward but this is a plus because it keeps it interesting.  You start with the lacework at the back of the collar with a provisional cast-on, work so far one way and hold the stitches, then work from the provisional cast-on the other way for the same distance before adding picked-up stitches along the side of what you've done. That's where I'm at, and you can see that I'm about to add the markers.

'jelly roll' placemats finished

 I fell in love with this project when I saw it:

Schact's pattern is here.

I'm not a sewer and wasn't familiar with the term 'jelly roll' but the idea of weaving scraps of fabric cut into strips with a thin cotton warp appealed to me.

Mum had been given some cotton which she had tried to crochet. I felt it was perfect for my project and the quantity seemed about right, so she was happy to pass that on. After a rummage in my rag bag and not finding the colourful fabric I thought I might find there, she also sent me some scraps including a skirt which was perfect.

I'm not one for following patterns to the letter. I used the heddle that seemed most suitable which I think is an 8-dent. My rigid-heddle loom is the smaller (12") width. These pictures show the warping and the cotton.

I had to learn to hemstitch and I'm glad I have that skill under my belt now.

I wasn't particular about cutting the strips of fabric. The pattern gives 5/8" as the width of the 'jelly roll' strips, so I tried to bear that in mind but in reality it varied a bit. Of course it was going to roll so I didn't think a rough edge would matter, and it didn't.

I enjoyed the weaving very much. My selvedges became neater and the pull-in became less as I got through the four placemats that I'd planned. When I lost track of whether the heddle should be up or down, it was soon obvious, as you can see in the picture above, and was easy to backtrack.

The palette and pattern in the skirt played out nicely in the weaving. Most of the time it was compliant and rolled nicely so you see the right side of the material whichever way up the mat is.

More by luck than judgement, both the warp and the weft lasted almost exactly for the four mats, which 13.5", a size I decided on when the first one looked about right.

Here they are finished and in use. 

Spellcaster socks - finished

When Pantone announced the colour of the year for 2024, I realised that I had to get a wiggle on and finish these socks before Viva Magenta stopped being the colour of the year.

I love the colour and the pattern. The problems have been distractions by other projects and a new craft and the fact that spinning a 3-ply yarn by spindle took a long time. (A habit such as #spin15aday could have really helped here.)

The fibre is 'Aries' from the Fibre Hut, a wool/silk mix (which I can no longer see on the Fibre Hut site but is available from World of Wool). It was the closest colour I could find at the time to Viva Magenta. Hopefully the silk will give the yarn some strength. It's 3-ply and I tried to spin the singles more tighly than usual.  

The pattern is Spellcaster Adventure Socks by Clair Wyvern. Many of the pattern choices are made with the roll of a die, so no two pairs will be alike. This is a great idea which I enjoyed very much and I'll look for more such patterns.

I did make a mistake on the second sock, the very last of the triangular patterns isn't the right one. That's not very obvious and I was so keen to get them finished in time for the holiday that I didn't want to rip back and repeat so many rounds. 

A tip for anyone making these socks is that if you roll the 'added chaos' option of knitting the charts upside-down as I did, then the cable crossings as charted don't work. It's kinda noted in the pattern and obvious with hindsight but I didn't spot that when I started. I *think* left crosses have to be right crosses and vice versa, but it makes my head hurt to try to visualise it.  Either way, I didn't reverse the direction of my cables and they didn't really work as intended. I didn't realise this until halfway down the first sock and continued with what I was doing.