Here’s a little photo frame I made with the girls for my mum’s birthday this week-end … It was easy, quick and fun.
I wrote a little tutorial to make a similar photo frame with felt appliqués if you want some fun too…! :-) Plus Mother’s day is still a week or so ahead here in France, you could make one as a mother’s day last minute present.. ;-)

I have to say it wasn’t that easy to make the girls “help” though, so before I got crazy I gave them each a box of buttons, which kept busy long enough for me to keep my sanity.. :-)

I dyed some roving this week. The top colorfull ones are for me (how surprising!! ;-) and the bottom one was for my friend Berry.. I taught her to spindle spin and of course she loved it ! Ha, I feel like a drug dealer offering the first dose of crack .. ;-) Check out her crochet patterns on Etsy btw !

So I did ply my single with a strand of lilac Aurore. I really like the outcome (and I got 92 m this time, Yay !!). So much so that I ended up listing it on Etsy (not as in “I don’t like it so let’s sell it” but rather as in “wow, it’s actually good enough to sell” ! ;-) .
If it doesn’t sell, I’ll have fun playing with it…

I also plied another single with a strand of yellow Aurore. Not as exciting, but still interesting: Makes a different yarn, plus it’s very gratifying to get so much yardage (107 m) in half the time. I’ll probably spin the rest of this batt in a worsted weight single.
As usual, details and more pics on Flickr or Ravelry.

I had heard that spinning your own yarns gets you to learn so much more about yarn, and it’s so true !! I really don’t look at yarn the same way any more. And part of the excitement of spinning is to discover what yarn will come out of my experiments.. :-P

In other news, I’ve decided I need to work on all those patterns that are so close to being ready (let’s see how long this resolution stands.. ;- ) and I’ve nearly finished the pattern for my Wee Booties. I’ll be looking for a few testers soon. A good time to sign up for my testers’ Newsletter if you’re interested …

In France, May is a series of bank holidays one after the other. This week Prune had school on monday and tuesday, and then, nothing until next tuesday ! Along with the gorgeous weather, it feels like holiday big time.

The long week-end was great, of course. Perfect weather, outside all day, what else would you ask for ? It was hard to come back but we’ll probably go again in June. :-P
And yesterday I bought a little inflatable pool to put in our tiny yard for the girls. Tee-shirts, summer shorts and dresses, it’s starting to feel like summer ! : -)
I’d like to finish some of my WIPs first, esp the dancing poppies stole. But I’ll probably switch to cotton projects soon ! :-)

Got a little more spinning done too: I had dyed this little bit of leftover Merino with food coloring and koolaid, as usual. Two of my favourite colors, orange and plum. I love it and can’t wait to knit/crochet it to see how it looks.. :-)
It’s only about 65 m though, so I’ll have to think of the right project.. of mix it with some other cool yarn.

For now I’m trying to spin this real old roving, thrifted ages ago (as in, probably 15 years ago or so). The colours are pretty but man, it’s probably never seen a carder and the fibers are real short. Not soft, and there’s some VM leftover in places. But I can deal with that. I’ll just have to keep it for myself.. ;-)
I’m still hesitating between plying it with the second single or with a strand of Phildar Aurore, (super thin mohair) to add some softness and a bit of fluff. And also to get more yardage.
In an ideal world I wanted to string tiny red beads on the mohair, but it would probably shave all the fluff, not good. So I might do without the beads, and with the lilac mohair. Any thoughts ? (click for the larger pics)

hello, just a quick note to say we’re leaving this afternoon for an extended week-end in my parent’s bungalow on the Riviera. Wish us some sun and warm weather.. :-P

Of course I’m taking my spindle with me and some colorful fiber. Those were spun from my Pancake and lulu kit. Love them but not quite my colors .. You’ll find them in my Etsy store !

This week we went to my parents to see my brother and his family before they leave again for their home away on a sunny island.. It was my niece’s 4th birthday, perfect occasion to give her the Roselette I made for her with some variagated cotton yarn from Ebay. It’s a tad large but at least she’ll wear it longer..

My SIL said she loved the colors and I chose special red heart-shaped buttons for my niece.. Everybody seemed happy so it’s all good ! :-) That said, it was my first Roselette made with 100% cotton yarn and I would rather recommend a lighter cotton-acrylic blend if you were to make a “summer Roselette”: this one weighs about 250 g, quite heavy for a summer top IMO.
NB: notice little Lucie and her blankie in the background ?

I did play with my wheel. We improvised some drive bands with cotton yarn. Laurent and my brother helped me understand what had to go where.. And with laurent’s help to turn the wheel, I kinda spun a few yards of very uneven yarn. Yay !
I didn’t resist and actually brought it back home, but it probably won’t stay long. I realised I don’t have the time, space and energy to adjust it and sit to spin on it for now.
Plus with my newly acquired books I’m thinking I actually love spindling and it’s acceptable to spin “only” with a spindle. The thing is, it’s SO portable. I can afford to spindle-spin while watching the girls out and about but I couldn’t sit in front of my wheel all this time. At the end of the day, even with a faster wheel I’ll probably get a lot more done with the spindle ! :-)

And speaking of the spindle, I finished my first Merino mini skein yesterday. I read Merino was slightly more difficult to spin so I was a bit aprehensive but after a little adjustment the first meters it went fine.
I’m quite happy with it because it’s quite perfectly balanced, pretty even, and I quite like the color combo (hand-dyed with food coloring and a little koolaid). Also, I’m getting nearly 50 m this time, Yay ! :-D

Sorry that I was so quiet all week, I’ve just been spinning every chance I had and was always feeling I’d post .. you know, right after this skein so I can show it off ! :-P

I won’t bore you with the details (available on Flickr or Ravelry), but most of those are spun from hand-dyed roving, exept the top bulkier one in the second pic. My latest hank is the rust-and-yellow one in the middle of the second pic. Getting much more even and less bulky (I’m probably around a worsted weight on this one) so each new endeavour is exciting as I see that I’m making progress. The yardage keeps being VERY frustrating though (always under 30 m). I’m hoping it would be better on a wheel. Fingers crossed that I can make mine work on wednesday when I go and visit my parents.. :-P

My friend Jette also caught the spinnign bug last thursday during our SnB session.. HaHa, so glad I won’t be the only one spinning around Annecy ! :-P It will be nice to share tips … and order fiber together to share the shipping costs ! :-) You can even see a (sideways) video of her here.

And apart from all this spinning.. yes I’ve been crocheting, mostly on my Dancing Poppies stole which progresses steadily. And also on my little elfin kiddie hoodie. Nothing picture worthy though, so we’ll do that next time. Okay, and now I’ll try to work some on my sizing of the Violaine..

Have a great week !

Yay, after a little practise yesterday I’m getting the hang of it ! So glad I found the videos on Youtube too, it’s funny how I had a totally different idea of how it worked.. I especially liked this video, and also this picture tutorial. So far I’m using the park and draft technique. And of course this first single is very uneven as it went thinner and thinner by the time I got the hang of it..

Now to learn how to ply it ! :-P And until I receive the other rovings/tops/batts (don’t expect too precise vocabulary yet) I’ll probalby dive in and try to spin that yummy colorful roving thrifted ages ago… :-P

And now that I’ve “begun”, I want to have a closer look at my “wheel” (a true antique given by my grandparents) and see if it works and give it a try next week when I go to my parents where it’s stored !! :-P
There’s no way I can bring it here because our place is already too small for my yarn, but I could still use it when I visit them…

ETA: Look, I spun another single and plied it: my first ever mini-skein ! :-P
I hate(d) the colors (so I overdyed it) and it’s pretty uneven but it should be knittable.. I actually tried to mix the colors from my kit which was interesting. I’ll now try to dye the roving to get more interesting color combos.. or maybe start spinning those other nice colorfull rovings ! But I just don’t want to spoil them so I might keep practising for a bit …

The Dancing Poppies stole is coming along nicely. I love working on it both because of the yummy yarn and because I don’t have to “think” on that project.
Also pictured is a new project/pattern I’m working on, for a kid’s pixie hoodie sweater with long sleeves. Of course you’ve noticed that I started on the basis of the Roselette. But I swear, it should look pretty different in the end.. ;-)
ETA: just after I posted this pic I realised I used a wrong size hook since even before separating sleeves !! :-/ Frogged it back to there, will start again.
I seem to keep making “mistakes” lately, guess that’s what happens when you try to sneak in a few extra rows whenever possible while watching the girls.. Not enough concentration !! :-P

As for the spinning, that’s it, I’ve spent my yearly yarn-allowance on spinning stuff (and a few more hooks, let’s admit it) !!!! There is so much beautiful stuff on Etsy that it was too hard to resist. :-P
I so can’t wait for it all to arrive so I can try my hand at it! Meanwhile, I scour the Ravelry spinning forums and drool over other people’s yarn …
Finally, in order to kick myself I’ll confess I still haven’t worked on those larger sizes for the Violaine. Yes I know, I’m bad !! I swear I think about it all the time, just need to take the time and devote an evening to it !

I know I said I’d be knitting again, but you guessed it, I’m still crocheting.. ;-P
Yesterday I skeined this huuuuuuuge hank of Fleece Artist Merino (there’s 800 m in there!) given by the generous Stephanie when I wrote the “knitting from the french” article. And started a Dancing Poppies Stole. I really need a stole to keep my neck and shoulders warm when I work on the comp and this is going to work perfectly. The yarn is so nice, I’m totally smitten with it so far and can’t wait to see more of my stole now that I’ve sorted the design.

Also, I’m about to succumb and order a spindle kit. Yes, I want to make my own yarn like everybody else !! :-P
Of course I don’t know a thing about it yet, so I’d really appreciate any advice from you experienced spinners:
What is the thing between a top/bottom whorl ? I’m probably not going to focus on thin yarns anyway, so should I rather get a bottom whorl spindle ?
So far I’m hesitating between this one, this one or this one .. Any thoughts ?
I’m also discovering a whole new world with beautiful rovings.. Oh my, Oh my, I’m drooling… :-P
Oh and finally, along with the latest issue of Marie Claire Idées there was this minuscule (10cm /4 ” square) “Mon bébé” Cross stitch kit. I really don’t see myself using it, so leave me a comment if you want it ! ETA: Gone to a new home !

We saw my niece last week-end. I’m so glad she used her new blankie right away ! :-)
I started some little flowers because they’re so gorgeous. Might use them to patch a pair of jeans, or maybe as appliqués on a cushion or something. Tweaking the pattern lightly, details on Ravelry.

I finally got laurent to take better pics of my new kureyon Violaine. What can I say, I love it and have been wearing it most of last week ! :-)

And finally, look at this cute Roselette top, made in only one day by akwardgrl ! I love her comment :“What a gorgeous pattern to use on bright eyed little ladies, and fellas too. Simple, but not simple looking. I’m making a zillion more!”

You can also see more Violaine tops either directly in Ravelry, or here and here.. :-)