Angora Cheese Cake

Popped a partial cake of Orkney 100% Angora into this tiny cheese bell, I find them to be the cutest things ever, and this little one made me squee when I saw it :)

I am now using it as desk decoration.

Winter blues

On Monday, I decided to dye a light blue handknit sweater that was a hand-me-down from someone when I was 15 or so. It was knitted by a lady in Hong-Kong, I know that much. I was told it was wool, and it is certainly quite warm. Pastel sky blue with an intarsia scene of a tree, some guys fishing and a fence, in white and navy. I guess it is much what could be considered a slightly ugly 80's sweater, although fortunately quite fitted. It does fit very well, but has been langhishing for decades in a box due to the colour scheme.

I landed a job in a cold wokshop so I decided to dye it. I prepared a dye bath with some yellow and some blue, hoping for teal. After dyeing, which was partly successful, I got some sort of undefined greyish, darkish robin's-egg blue. Wearable. In a cold, dusty workshop. I also think now that this sweater has some synthetic blended it in, it didn't take the dye well, and I see some sort of shininess on the fibers. It is still warm enough. I think the right sleeve is also shorter than the left (both fairly short, probably little-chinese-lady sized, but I am very small in the upper body so the rest fits ok), which is all right since I do dusty work and I wear a light wrist brace on the right arm.

Teeswater worsted in front
Texere 2 ply at back

Anyway :) with the leftover dye water I dyed some yarn! I still have about 3 litres worth of (not very saturated) dye bath in plastic bottles, that can perhaps be used at a later date (the bath I used was already partially recycled).

I dyed one skein of Teeswater 4-Ply Worsted Wool from Higher Gills Farm that I have been treasuring for a while. It takes the dye beautifully as my experience was when I dyed a pair of my Esporòfits mittens after knitting them (ombré, from dark to light green, seen at right). The yarn is glossy and a bit hairy. I still have about half a skein of natural white, and I may or may not use both the teal-ish and the natural together (note to self: if you do, check for leaks first).

So I just held the unfurled skein as a loop, dipped it in the dye bath quickly, brought it up, and then squeezed well the upper portion while leaving the bottom of the loop in the bath. I kept dipping the lower portion a few times, wrapped the loop carefully in a bowl with the darker loop at the bottom, as a bit of the dye bath, and nuked, then repeated the operation, adding a little bit more blue acid dye to the bowl. The result is a skein that is ombré dyed from the bottom to the top of the loop. The contrast between light and dark is a little more intense than it shows on this picture. Sort of Robin's-egg blue to teal.

Now, I have to admit that I am not a great fan of variegated yarns. I rather dislike quick and strong colour changes such as the yarn I used in this project. It can be seen in the bottom picture, since I overdyed it. In this case it looks sort-of-like camo print, which is a slight redeeming quality, but still, not a fan. I do like subtle changes as in semi-solids. I am not a fan of self-striping either. I love solids. And I love ombré, which of course works best when dyeing after knitting as I did with the mitts (yes I know there are graduated-colour knitting yarns, but the choice is rather small, and sometimes the change is quite sudden).

So, perhaps I will regret having dyed this yarn like I did. Perhaps not. Will depend on the project, I guess, and if I mix it in stripes. We will see. I still love the tones.

I also wound a little (19g) center-pull ball of Texere Pure Lambswool 2ply laceweight and dyed it too. I absolutely love this super fine but still fluffy yarn. I knitted my Lucy's Wreath with it.

After winding it, I realised I should have skeined, duh! but then I thought, let's experiment instead :) I dipped the little ball in the bath briefly, squeezed it, put it in a little bowl with some dye water, nuked it, repeated, put a very tiny bit of black in the bowl, dipped the outside of the ball, nuked... I don't even remember anymore all the abuse. Then I washed it best I could, squeezed well and left it over the heating for a bit before I wound it into a skein to dry. Once dry I wound it again. the colour, a lightly variegated greyish blue-green. I am pleased. Now I have to figure out what can I do with such a small amount of laceweight!

Yarn swift and winder

Being a bit tired of winding hanks of yarn by hand, some time ago I started looking for an umbrella swift and a yarn winder.

I wanted a wooden umbrella swift because I love how they look, to be honest, but they also seem to be sturdy and useful. I prefer to spend a little more money and get a more durable item that performs well, so regarding the wool winder it wasn't at all clear to me which one to go for. I found a couple of great-looking ones, but the cost is a bit prohibitive for me at the moment. I wasn't convinced by the little plastic ones that pop up often either. I am not a fan of plastic moving parts, and I read reports of them wearing off or breaking.

Several weeks ago I found a relatively local source for the umbrella swift (in the NL), and the price + shipping was good. I bought it from stormopzolder.nl/ (here, at the very bottom of the page, as "wolhaspel") and received it promptly. Good service, I recommend it! The swift in particular is a Glimakra, made in Sweden out of birch wood.

There are a couple of wire girdles and the poles are tied with string, for the rest it is entirely and nicely made out of wood.

Loki needs to inspect everything...

When I received it, the finish was pretty good, but I still sanded the central parts where the wool would rest with a 600 grit emery paper (this is pretty fine-grained), since very thin wool was still catching slightly on it. I also rubbed a piece of white soap along the wooden parts that have friction to make movement easier.

This project is an Ugh

The second (yellow), slightly better

For a while I did wind by hand out if it, which was already an improvement from having the wool resting on some chair backs. I also tried an improvised nostepinne, out of a tool I use in the jewellery workshop, which admittedly is a little too short. This made nice(r) cakes, at least after trying a few times, but honestly, it was still a pain!

So tedious!

This was epic, 875 yards of Drops Lace yarn. Gah.
By the end you can see I got kind of lazy... but I swear it is nicer inside ;P

So I continued researching yarn winders, and it wasn't too easy to find reviews. Eventually, scouring German Ebay for "wollwickler", I found an expired (sold) listing for a vintage yarn winder that looked pretty solid: Knittax wollwickler (wool winder). I also found a handful of mentions via Google searches and people seemed to be happy with this item. I found a listing on Ebay.com (from the US) for a reasonable price (including the shipping, more than a plastic winder, a lot less than a modern wooden winder), so I went ahead and bought it.

I received it just today! I am very happy with the construction. It is built around a sturdy cast iron body, with machined gears, other metal moving parts, a wooden handle and cone for the wool (smooth and varnished) which also has rubber ring at its base.

In fact, there was some sort of lightweight metal swift in the box as well, but missing the clamp for the table, and I am not very interested in it anyway so I put it away in its box.

I impatiently put it to the test! first I wound was a skein of 50g of Drops Karisma DK weight (which totally didn't need to be wound but I had just received it this morning and was thus very much at hand!). Next were a couple of partial (less than 50g) hanks of Cascade 220 sport-weight wool. All of them went like a dream.

Winding the yarn a few times, then inserting it into the slit.
This way you will find the strand for a center pull cake.

Next was another 50g of Isager Spinni Tweed, which is like a light fingering weight and very sticky yarn (I love the texture of this yarn, but it is so annoying to wind by hand!). This also went well, although there was more resistance. I felt I needed to feed the yarn from the swift somewhat to avoid a cake that was too tensely wound. Here the Spinni Tweed, Karisma, and both Cascade 220 (green and brown cakes).

On to more serious matters, next was a 100gr hank of Marine Silk from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, a heavy hank (the instructions of the winder recommend max. 50gr of yarn) of a slightly slippery, generous fingering wool weight yarn. This most definitely needed help along the way. I found some sort of rhythm that worked well and rather quick. I made a little video:

Once there was less yarn in the swift, it went along easier.

And then I moved along to the last ordeal: 100g of lace-weight, single ply wool, a whopping 1100y. I love this wool! It is Tanhu from Wetterhoff, a Finnish brand. This yarn is temporarily unavailable, and I do hope it comes back in stock soon because it is delicious. 

This time I mounted the swift horizontally (and had to clamp it on the cat tree since I couldn't do that on any of my tables!), since this may help the unwinding along, and it did.

Perhaps it would have been best to help the yarn along as well, but I wanted to try not doing so, and the skein ended up a little bit tight, such that it wasn't as easy to remove from the winder once finished. The cone is wide, however, and once out, with the yarn relaxing inwards and a little massage, the cake does not feel particularly tight to me.

Tanhu and Marine Silk

All in all, I am very happy with this team! :) I do recommend this winder, they still pop up now and then on Ebay.

European Online Yarn Shops Directory

This is a non-comprehensive list of European Online Yarn Shops.
At the end of the list, a few Overseas shops are listed, which offer worldwide free shipping or reduced shipping costs.

Under the hyperlink to the shop, you can find the yarn brands each shop offers. This may not be up to date. To search a particular yarn brand within this page, use your browser search (F3, CTLR+F, / etc). To go to shops in a particular country, use the navigation below.

This list is obviously incomplete, and it may not be up to date. Please feel free to suggest shops to be added, report broken links, changes in yarns stocked, etc.

Go to: BE DE DK EE ES FI FR GB (UK) IE NL PT TR /// AU CA US
(these links above are broken right now, I'll be fixing them hopefully sooner rather than later, meanwhile just scroll down ;P)

----

BE

http://www.dolcelana.be/
BC Garn, Bergère de France, Drops, Fyberspates, Katia, Lang Yarns, Malabrigo Yarn, Bergère de France, Regia, Rowan, Sirdar, Sublime

http://shop.catherinejanssens.be/
Manos Del Uruguay, Knit Collage, BC Garn, Järbo, Artesano

DE

http://www.wollbox.de/
ALPACA YARN COMPANY, ASLANTRENDS Yarn, BROWN SHEEP Yarn, CARIAD Yarn, CASCADE Yarn, CONJOINED CREATIONS Yarn, CRYSTAL PALACE Yarn, FILCOLANA Garn, FLEECE ARTIST Yarn, HANDMAIDEN Yarn, FYBERSPATES Yarn, GRIGNASCO-MADIL Garn, JOJOLAND Yarn, LACE Garne, LOTUS Yarn, PEACHES & CREME Yarn, PLYMOUTH Yarn, SILKE / BERTAGNA by ARVIER, SIRDAR Yarn, SUBLIME Yarn, SIRDAR & SUBLIME Bücher, TILLI TOMAS Yarn, WETTERHOFF Lace-Garn, ZITRON Garn & Strickhefte, RELLANA, Online & Co., SCHACHENMAYR Garn, SOCKENWOLLE

http://www.woll-sucht.de/
GGH und Colinette, Drops / Garnstudio, Design Club, Noro, Karen Noe,
Mirasol, Araucania, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, Rowan, Zitron, Schoppel, Regia, Opal, Trekking, Kauni, Evilla

http://www.mariannes-opalwolle.de
Zitron, Lang, Malabrigo, Drops Garnstudio, Evilla, Lana Grossa, Opal

http://www.sockenwolle.de/
Opal

http://www.strickstduschon.de/
Lang, Opal, Schachenmayr, Schöller&Stahl, Colinette, Debbie Bliss, Gedifra, Horstia, Islandwolle, Katia, Lang, Noro, Rowan

http://www.knittybitty.de/index.php
Knitpicks, Koigu, South West Trading Company

https://eshop.t-online.de/epages/Store4.sf/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Shop38135
Debbie Bliss, NORO, Handgefärbte Garne (hand dyed yarn), Schoppel, Araucania, Zitron, ProLana, Bremont

http://www.mylys.de
Artesano, Lollipop.yarns, Louet, Malabrigo, Schoppel Wolle, ShibuiKnits, Sublime

http://www.wolle-traub.de/
Traub Wolle

http://www.wollinchen.de/
Harrisville, Hjertegarn, Noro, Ashford, Wollinchen, Sandnes Garn, Zitron

http://www.wollstoff.de/index.php/cat/c60_Wollgarn.html
Wollgarn

DK

http://www.garn.dk

http://karen-noe.dk/
Karen Noe

EE

http://www.hobipunkt.ee/pood/lang-en/5-Yarn
Aade Lõng, Drops, Evilla, Hapsalu shawl / Estonian natural wool yarn, Midara, Novita, Four Seasons Gründl

ES

http://www.tiradelovillo.com/catalogo.php
South West Trading Company, Rowan, Gedifra, Schachenmayr nomotta (Regia), Manos, Artesano, Opal

http://lamaisonbisoux.bigcartel.com/
Abuelita, Wetterhoff, Katia, Kauni, Holst

http://www.xisqueta.cat/
Obrador Xisqueta

FI

http://www.titityy.fi/nettikauppa
Araucania, BC Garn, Fleece Artist, Handu, Kollage, Hemp for Knitting, Natural Dye Studio, Noro, O-Wool, Patons, Peace Fleece, Pirtin kehräämö, Rowan, Schoppel-Wolle, Shibui Knits, South West Trading Company

http://shop.wetterhoff.fi/index.php?id=462&lang=2
Wetterhoff

FR

http://leslaines.com/
Rowan, Noro, Mission Falls, Debbie Bliss, Araucania, Kauni, COPROCA, Gedifra, Regia, Malabrigo, Katia, Namaste Sathi

http://www.albayarns.com // http://www.knitnaturelle.com
BERGERE de France, Debbie Bliss, SIRDAR, Opal, King Cole, Alba Yarns

http://www.toutesenlaine.com/shop-toutesenlaine-home.html

http://www.boutiquedelaine.com/
Kartopu, Ice Yarns

http://www.tricotin.com/
Adriafil, Feza, Knit Picks, Lammy, Ligne Noire, Madame Wombat, Mondial Filati, Noro, Orenbourg, Renaissance Dyeing, Tilli Tomas
Addi, knitpro needles...

GB (UK)

http://www.loveknitting.com/
Debbie Bliss, Hayfield Bonus, Louisa Harding, MillaMia, Noro, Peter Pan, Regia , Rowan, Sirdar, Snuggly, Sublime, Wendy


http://www.newlanarkshop.co.uk/shop.php
New Lanark

http://www.knitwell.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
Sirdar, Patons, Twilleys of Stamford, Hayfield, Wendy, Rowan, Regia, Stylecraft

http://www.kempswoolshop.com/
Jarol, Patons, Rico, Robin, Rowan, Sirdar, Sublime, Stylecraft, Twilleys, Wendy, Woolcraft

http://www.purlescence.co.uk/
Fleece Artist, Cariad Yarn, The Natural Dye Studio, Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, Handmaiden Fine Yarn, Artyarns, Vinnis Colours, Fyberspates

http://www.wightyarns.webeden.co.uk/
Rowan

http://www.first4yarns.com/
Adriafil Yarns, Araucania Yarns, Artesano Yarns,Artist Palette Yarns, Aslan Trends,Bowmont Braf Knitting Yarn,Cariad Yarn,Cascade Yarns,Colinette Yarns, Crystal Palace Mini Mochi,Debbie Bliss Yarns,Dream in Color,Louet Yarns,Madelinetosh,Malabrigo Yarns,Manos del Uruguay Yarns,MillaMia,Nia Handpainted Yarns,Noro Yarns,Opal Sock Yarn,Peaches & Creme,Rowan,Schoppel Wolle - Zauberball Sock Yarn,Sirdar,Sublime Yarns,Twilleys Yarns,Zen Yarn Garden,King Cole

http://www.getknitted.com/
Araucania, Artesano Alpaca, Blue Sky Alpacas, Spud and Chloe, Brown Sheep, Lamb's Pride, Cascade Yarns, Colinette, Debbie Bliss, Filz-it!, Fyberspates, Wool2dye4, King Cole, Knitwitches Yarn, Lorna's Laces, Louisa Harding, Malabrigo, Manos Del Uruguay, Mirasol, Natural Dye Studio, Noro, Opal, Patons, Regia, Rico, Rowan , Sirdar, Sublime, Zitron

http://www.paviyarns.co.uk
Artesano Alpaca Yarns, Bloomsbury Retro Gimp, Cariad Yarns, Cascade Yarns, Crystal Palace , Knitting Yarns, Debbie Bliss Yarns, Feza Knitting Yarns, Filatura di Crosa, Gedifra, Knitglobal Knitting Yarns, Lane Borgosesia Knitting Yarns, Louet North America Yarns, Louisa Harding Yarns, Manos del Uruguay Knitting Yarns, Noro, Rowan Knitting Yarns, RYC Knitting Yarns, Sirdar Knitting Yarns, South West Trading Knitting Yarns, Sublime Knitting Yarns, Teo's Handspun and Hand Dyed Cashmere, Tilli Tomas Knitting Yarns, Trendsetter Yarns, Twilleys Knitting Yarns of Stamford, Zitron Knitting Yarns

http://www.texere.co.uk
Texere Yarns, Artesano, Cygnet, Debbie Bliss, Elle, J C Brett, King Cole, Laines Du Nord, Louisa Harding, Mango Moon, Mirasol, Noro, Sirdar, Sublime, Twilleys, Wendy

http://thewoolshed.co.uk/
Colinette, Rowan, Exotica, Noro, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, Araucania, Artesano , Opal, Gedifra, Scottish yarns, Mirasol, Manos, Garn Studio, Sublime, Twilleys, Adriafil

http://www.greatbritishyarns.co.uk/
Rowan, British Breed Yarns, Coldharbour Mill, Old Maiden Aunt, King Cole, UK Alpaca, Sublime, Knitpicks

http://www.banyantreeyarns.com
Lion Brand

http://www.yarnundyed.com
Yarnundyed

http://www.blackerdesigns.co.uk
organic undyed wool from British sheep

http://www.organicpurewool.co.uk
organic undyed wool from British sheep

http://www.shilasdair-yarns.co.uk
producer of plant-dyed wool in Scotland

http://www.loopknittingshop.com/
Adriafil, Alchemy Yarns, Be Sweet, Berroco, Blue Sky Alpacas, Cascade Yarns, Colinette, Debbie Bliss, Frog Tree, GGH , Habu, Hand Maiden, Hand Jive, High Fibre, Imperial Stock Ranch, Jade Sapphire, Knit Collage, Knitting Goddess, Koigu, Lana Grossa, Lantern Moon, Louisa Harding, Madelinetosh, Malabrigo, Mango Moon, Misti Alpacas , Meunch Yarns, Noro, Opal, Old Maiden Aunt, Ozark Handspun, Peria, Punta Yarns, Rico, Rowan, Schoppel Wolle, Sublime, Tilli Tomas, Wagtail Yarns

http://www.knitwithattitude.com/
Viking of Norway, Du Store Alpakka, Mango Moon Yarns, Mirasol

http://www.hulucrafts.co.uk/
Adriafil, Debbie Bliss Yarn, Fyberspates, Lily Sugar n' Cream, Louisa Harding, Manos Del Uruguay, Noro, Rico Design, Rowan, Sirdar, Sock Yarn, Sublime, The Natural Dye Studio, Twilleys, Zealana Possum Yarn, Opal, Regia, Trekking

http://handmadenestshop.co.uk
Araucania, Artesano, Austermann, Debbie Bliss, Buffalo Gold, Drops, HW Hammand, Fibre Harvest, Fyberspates, JC Rennie, John Arbon, Excelana, Louisa Harding, Malabrigo, Mirasol, Natural Dye Studio, Nest Naturals, Noro, Opal, Rachel John, Rico, Rooster, Rowan, Silk Indian, Skein Queen, Trekking, Wing Mohair, Isle of Auskerry


SMC, Wash + Filz It!, Katia, Sublime, Noro, Stylecraft, Sirdar, Debbie Bliss, Regia, Rico, Twilleys Goldfingering, Twilleys, Patons, Wendy, Rowan

http://www.knittingwoolandyarnshop.co.uk/
Catherine Earnshaw, Bremont, Malabrigo, Cascade Yarns, Fyberspates, MillaMia, Alpaca Dreams, Twilleys of Stamford, GGH Garn, Louisa Harding Collection, Noro Collection, Debbie Bliss Collection, Wendy, The Knitting Shop, Rowan, Araucania Collection, Mirasol collection, Sublime, Zitron, Opal, Schoeller+Stahl

http://nuttyknittingsupplies.co.uk/
Artesano, Cascade, Lang, Malabrigo, Manos Del Uruguay, Opal, Stylecraft

IE

http://www.theyarnroom.com
Artesano, Manos Del Uruguay, Noro, Rowan, Schoppel Wolle, Cushendale Irish Woollen Mills, Regia Designer Sock Yarn, Icelandic Lopi, Opal Sock Yarn, Debbie Bliss, Austermann, Schoeller + Stahl Filzi, Studio Donegal (Kilcarra of Donegal),DMC

http://thisisknit.ie/
BLUE SKY ALPACAS, BROWN SHEEP, DEBBIE BLISS, DUBLIN DYE COMPANY, GAIETY GIRL, KILCARRA ARAN TWEED, LOUISA HARDING, MALABRIGO, MIRASOL, NORO, OPAL, ROWAN, SPUD & CHLOE, SUBLIME, TILLI TOMAS,
TWILLEYS OF STAMFORD, WENDY

NL

http://www.wolhemel.nl/
Drops, Jaggerspun, Malabrigo, Schoppel Wolle

http://www.astridsdutchobsessions.com/scripts/default.asp
(fleece) Zitron, Evilla, Filitaly-Lab, Kauni, Rowan, DebbieBliss, Garnstudio, Gedifra, Lang, Louisa Harding, Noro

http://wolhalla.nl/
Debbie Bliss, Natural Dye Studio, Schoppel, Araucania, Austermann, Chrystal Palace, Colinette, Dream in Color, Lorna's Laces, Natural Dye Studio, Noro, Opal, Regia, Schoeller & Stahl, Schoppel

http://www.craft4you.nl
(fleece), "Wool from Denmark", Scheepjes, Rico

http://www.stormopzolder.nl
Storm in the Attic

http://www.penelopecraft.com
Cascade, Noro, GGH

PT

http://www.crossedcrafts.com/
Debbie Bliss, Katia, Rosários 4, Sirdar, Noro, Schachenmayr nomotta (Regia), Adriafil, BMG Affinitas, Gedifra

http://www.ovelha-negra.com
Artesano, Debbie Bliss, Manos del Uruguay, Noro, Rowan, Phildar, Regia

http://retrosaria.rosapomar.com/
ATELIER ZITRON, DEBBIE BLISS, KATIA, LOPO XAVIER, MALABRIGO, NORO, OBRADOR XISQUETA, ROSA POMAR, ROSáRIOS4, SCHOPPEL WOLLE, SOTAVE

TR

http://www.yarn-paradise.com/
Kartopu, Ice Yarns


OVERSEAS


AU

http://www.theknittery.com/

CA

http://www.make1yarns.com/
free shipping over $50

US

http://www.littleknits.com/
marks low customs price

http://www.yarnandfiber.com/
no shipping charges