3KCBWDAY2 – Photography Challenge

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Apr 24, 2012 in Blog | 2 comments

Well I’m not going to be winning any photography awards with this one, so instead here is a cute little puppy:

This is Gaius, a Kerry Beagle (yes, geek factor alert – he’s named after Gaius Baltar from BSG but if anybody asks, it’s because I’m a Classicist). He’s about 12 weeks old here and he is in the patio doors at our old house, refusing to go out into the snow.

And here is Gaius now at 18 months old. These may not be adventurous photos of yarn or fibre (my creative streak is really at a loss today) but who can resist photos of a puppy!

3KCBWDAY1 – Colour Lovers

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Apr 23, 2012 in Blog | 4 comments

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects – do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d participate in the Blog Week this year. My blog posts have been on the spartan side and I’ve felt bereft of anything inspiring to write. But that is the point of this Blog Week, isn’t it? To fire up those writing juices and write about something a little differently.

When it comes to colour, I am very predictable in the clothing colours that I wear. Black is flattering, as is blue and dark purples. I like to wear greens and occasionally reds, but it has to be the right shade of red (fake red head). I love bold, solid, saturated jewel colours.

Lots of people talk about accessories being what can “make or break” an outfit and that is when I go a little more adventurous with my colours. I especially love bold mustard yellows.

I have remained faithful to solid and semi solid colours until recently. Knitting with variegated yarns and skeins with long colour changes always made me feel very uneasy. I often thought the colours looked wonderful in the skein but I wouldn’t know how to wear an item in so many colours. I decided to experiment late last year and I came up with this, which was worn religiously over the winter and admired greatly. I definitely changed my mind about working with colour. I think I love this so much because the dark grey breaks up the colours to show them off properly:

I dye a lot of yarn and I find the process incredibly rewarding. I especially love experimenting with different colours to create a skein that to me, is really special.  I generally dye by the eye rather than using a colour wheel. More often than not, what I consider to be my best skeins are the ones that are just on the fly experiments. These are two of my favourites:

Northern Lights:

When Dragons Fly:

To read other peoples’ blog entries on colour from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY1.

Like Podcasts?

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Mar 23, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

Clare at Studentknits has been doing a knitting podcast for a while and each week she focusses on a UK based independent yarnie.

Guess who was this week?!

To watch Clare talk about Countess Ablaze yarn head over to Episode 19 – School’s Out and watch carefully for a 10% off code valid until March 31st. Clare also has a Studentknits group on Ravelry and hosts KALs if you fancy joining in!

I’ve updated the shop today and here is a sneak preview (there’s even self striping sock yarn now!) Enjoy!

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spinning!

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Mar 20, 2012 in Blog | 4 comments

I’ve become so obsessed with my spinning wheel, that when I close my eyes, I can visualise myself drafting. So here is my latest three, all showing definite signs of improvement:

Forest Fibres merino in magenta and black. 91 grams, 55 metres approximately, 10 wpi at finest and 7wpi at thickest:

Blaze merino from Sara’s Texture Crafts and an undyed merino from my stash. 179 grams, 103 metres approx, 8 wpi:

Shamrock Yarn spun from Mallard and Moss Glitzy fibres from World of Wool. 145 grams, 160 metres approx, 12 wpi:

The giveaway of Countess Ablaze yarn held by Madewithloveuk is now over. Many thanks to everybody who took part. x

Fancy winning a skein of Countess Ablaze yarn?

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Mar 16, 2012 in Blog | 1 comment

Madewithloveuk is hosting a giveaway on her blog of any skein of your choice from my shop. Even better is that it is worldwide too!

For full details on how to win, see here and check out how to enter.

Good luck and with a big shop update today, there is even more to choose from!

Countess Ablaze in a magazine – who’d have thunk it!

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Mar 9, 2012 in Blog | 6 comments

My subscription to Knit Now magazine has dropped through the letterbox this morning and browsing through it, look what I found:

How exciting is that?!

Spinning Wheel!

Posted by Countess Ablaze on Feb 29, 2012 in Blog | 7 comments

For my birthday, I got a spinning wheel. It’s a Kromski Prelude in a walnut finish and she is named Athena. I’m one of those crazy people who names objects lovingly in the hope that that they will work as intended. Why Athena? Well I love  a bit of ancient history (I study it too!) and the goddess Athena was a patron of textile crafts. Now they might not have had a spinning wheel knocking about back then but I’m going with the premise of bigging up my wheel to goddess stature might mean she’ll lovingly oblige in spinning some gorgeous yarns for me. We shall see how this goes!

This is my first wheel spin. It is a chocolate brown Shetland wool and it is terrible yet I shall love it like a mother loves an ugly child:

My second attempt has shown a huge improvement. I guess this is the way with spinning, lots of practice to build up muscle memory and technique.  This one is a superwash merino that I have dyed myself in shades of blue and indigo. It is still very thick and thin but definitely more yarn-like than the first. I have since knitted it up into a cowl which is currently drying off but those thick and thin consistencies have sorted themselves out in the fabric and are barely noticeable.

As you can see, it is a long way from being perfect. Some areas are overspun, some underspun, the plying is hit and miss but most importantly, I’m really enjoying being at the wheel. I’ve been using a spindle for a while now and have found that I can draft rather finely using it but translating that across to the wheel which goes a bit faster is something I hope to achieve with practice.

Another picture? Oh go on … I’m quite proud of this really, imperfections and all: