I think the yarn produced from your family's fleeces is lovely! So soft and lightweight. It crochets up beautifully, and the colours blend well together. I will send you a photograph of the shawl I'm crocheting once I've finished it and added a fringe.
Posted by jill@sheepdragons.co.uk (2) Comments Add Comment
Re: Home Produced Yarn
Jan 1, 2010 2:01 PM
Dear Thor,
I have finished the shawl now, so here is a photo of it. It weighs just 175 grms, and much of that is in the fringe!
We'd like to hear about your experiences working with the various types of Lopi. We recommend the continental method for knitting with Lopi but this isn't always to everyone's liking. Have you tried an alternative?
If you've tried plotulopi, let us know how you got on. This is a fantastic yarn in ... More
Having said in a previous email that I found it easier to put a slight twist into the plotulopi before crocheting it, I tried keeping the wool plate on my knee this time as I crocheted. No yarn breakage this time, and it crocheted up so quickly! I was making a felted red rose with the wool (my first attempt!) and was delighted that the felting process only took a few minutes. The rose is to form part of the fastening for the shawl I've made with Carreg Yarns home grown Icelandic wool.
I'm working on a yolk sweater with plotulopi at the moment. I can't believe how far the plates of yarn go! I don't knit using the continental method but I've found as long as you're careful that the yarn is pretty forgiving - and if it breaks it's just a matter of spit-splicing and away you go again. I've also just finished a seed stitch beret in gold plotulopi which my daughter has pinched, so it must be ok!
I have found plotulopi easier to crochet with if I put a slight twist into it first by feeding it through my spinning wheel. There is such a choice of yarn thicknesses and colour blends then!
I have been knitting a jerkin with plotulopi in garter stitch, double stranded at about 3.5 sts to 1 inch on 6mm needles (14 sts to 10 cm) for those of you who went metric.I prefer to knit the British method and have not had any problems with the yarn breaking. If it does break I just twist up the two ends and carry on. The yarn can break if you pull it out from the centre to abruptly when the plate is still quite full. I pull out a couple of yards gingerly and unwind the same from the outside. This works well. I have almost finished it, (other Christmas small items having temporarily got in the way). I will attach an I-Cord edge. It is lovely and warm and light.
I should like to make a shawl in single ply and wondered if anyone has any experience of this. I am not sure if the lace holes would be vulnerable to breaking if they caught. Best wishes for Christmas
Deborah
We regularly receive requests for patterns and are continually adding to our kit selection to give customers an increasing supply of free designs to compliment our yarn. However, for copyright reasons, all our kits are taken from Istex books and we know there are hundreds of others out there! If ... More
Thor writes 'It is with deep sadness that I have to report the sudden death of my mother, Hilda. As she said in her one and only post (!) she was very much the matriarch of the herd. However she was very old and frail and sadly she collapsed and died from a suspected stroke. As her youngest son, I ... More
So sorry to hear about Hilda's death. We have had various pet goats for some years, in our back garden, and know how much you ruminants become family members! We had a tragic little billy who was your namesake, who died aged 2 and 1/2, and we were gutted! Now, though, we have the"3 amigos" our lovely pygmy wethers. They all say "Hi!" to you all! A big pat from Sheila T.
Hello. I'm Hilda. I'm 9 years old and the matriarch of the Icelandic sheep here at Carreg-y-Frain. Sadly, time hasn't been kind to me and I now need quite a bit of TLC. So I live in a special field with a lovely barn to shelter in if it gets wet and cold and with some goats to keep me company. Best ... More
Dear Thor,
I used a combination of Continental and European.
We regularly receive requests for patterns and are continually adding to our kit selection to give customers an increasing supply of free designs to compliment our yarn. However, for copyright reasons, all our kits are taken from Istex books and we know there are hundreds of others out there! If 
Hello. I'm Hilda. I'm 9 years old and the matriarch of the Icelandic sheep here at Carreg-y-Frain. Sadly, time hasn't been kind to me and I now need quite a bit of TLC. So I live in a special field with a lovely barn to shelter in if it gets wet and cold and with some goats to keep me company. Best