World Wide Knit in Public Day and Some Spinning

Saturday was world wide knit in public day and Dublin joined in at Stephen's Green. Sinead from Knit Inc and Diane from Chicwithstix were both involved with the organizing. Some of the knitting bloggers who made it there were Teaandcakes, bridin, Gerry Berry, She knit up that ball, ktreu and others. If I've missed you and you were there let me know in the comments and I'll link to your blog.

In the morning people met in This Is Knit in Powerscourt for some knitting on a sunny balcony. When I arrived it was all in full swing. My jumper that I knit was admired and I got on with admiring the various knits people were wearing. Hand made knits are so much nicer and more interesting than stuff you get in shops. There were some fabulous shawls on show. This Is Knit had a prize draw for the occasion too.

After a quick pit stop to get a picnic we headed for Stephen's Green. The knitters set up across from the band stand, there was a big brass band playing there so we had the perfect spot. One of the girls had made some great WWKiPD posters. It was such a fun afternoon sitting in the sun, knitting, chatting to fellow knitters, making new friends and listening to the music. We got many confused looks from passers by. Many people stopped to chat and look at what we were making. Loads of people treated us a bit like a zoo exhibit though, looking at us, taking photos but not talking to us. We're knitters, we're friendly and willing to bore you with all the details if you ask!

There were a few spinners there too. It was great to see other people spinning and it got many funny looks too. Chicwithstix is a whizz with a drop spindle. The day had to come to an end eventually and we all drifted off. It was great to meet all the other knitters and know that I'm not alone, there are other knitters about and they're making beautiful things.

I also finished off my second yarn on my spinning wheel. It was made from cloud like blue faced leicester(bfl from now on) combed top from Wingham. I spun it sort of thick and thin. I was looking for a low enough twist wool that would be all fluffy and poofy and preserve the qualities of the fluffy top. I've found that spinning is the ideal thing to do while watching tv, keeps me occupied but it doesn't take all my attention. I did two full bobbins of the bfl and then plied them together. I ended up with 178m of about 11wpi wool.



I wound the yarn off the bobbin using a set square to wrap the wool around. You can use a device called a niddy-noddy for this but I don't have one so the set square worked really well. I tied it up and took it off, washed and dried it. It's funny the finished wool changes when you ply it and finish it off. This turned into the most amazing beautiful soft wool.

I can't believe I made this myself. It's not scratchy and the thick and thin bits add lovely texture. I've never seen something like this in a commerical yarn. Machines don't make mistakes and the yarn produced from them is consistent and perfect. Which is good for certain things but I'm now seeing the charm of non perfect textured yarn. It's got such charm and life to it. Anyway I'll stop now before I sound mad. Here's the wool but really you need to squish it to get the full effect. I'm hoping to knit this into a cosy cabled hot water bottle cover.