Not much in the way of spinning as such, but a plan for a big project!
The other day I saw my neighbour wearing this lovely knitted dress in a really chunky knit, and my initial reaction was, I bet that would be easy to knit! So I asked to borrow it to see if I could work out the pattern. It is only 119 rows from shoulder to skirt hem.
So pattern hopefully figured out, my next task was to price up the yarn. But it was over £40 for the yarn (in the sale), and I bet the dress was less than that bought in the shops ready made up. I had promised myself not to buy any yarn now, and just spin my own, and the lure of doing this from scratch became too much! After all, I still have the best part of an alpaca sat in the dining room, and an alpaca dress really would be lovely and soft, and the brown colour is definitely a colour I would wear. Soooo, my plan for this...
...is this!
I just have to work out how to spin chunky wool now! I am hoping that perhaps spinning it slightly thicker than I usually do, and doing three ply would result in the right guage. It's a heck of a lot of spinning, and will probably take up the good part of a year, but it is a challenge, and ultimately creates a dress that is local, handmade and hopefully one that fits!!
Check out other projects on the go this Woolly Wednesday at Spinspiration
Wow, what a project ... but great to have something to aim for. That will look lovely in alpaca. Good luck with this, shall watch with interest. Just keep thinking what a fabulous achievement it will be when you wear it.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be late posting to Spinspiration this week - haven't done a lot of spinning either.
Lovely to hear your plans x
Ooh, that'll be lovely when it's done xxx
ReplyDeleteOh what a lovely task you have set yourself. I have often made up patterns after spotting a beautiful shop bought woolie but to start right at the beginning - wow. Hope you post up regularly so we can follow this with you. Maybe you need to come up here and give me a kick to try spinning again - I have all the requirements except time and determination right now :)
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Claire, what a challenging but fun project! For you to come up with the pattern, spin the wool and knit it up - fantastic. I will be eagerly watching how you get along. How good it is to have a particular project to create yarn for. Most of my handspun knits so far have been relatively small so far as I tend to focus on building up a resonable stash.
ReplyDeleteOooooo I want one of those dresses! Let me know if you start taking orders. Much love and belated Samhain blessings to you too X X X
ReplyDeleteA fun project can't wait to see it progress!
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