Crochet slippers!

I have been meaning to try this for ages - knit or crochet simple ballerina style slippers.  I decided that crochet was less likely to stretch (a problem I've found with shop-bought knitted slippers in the past), and scoured Ravelry for a suitable pattern.  I was surprised that there were not more of the kind of thing I was looking for, but I did eventually find an adjustable sizing crochet pattern, found about a ball and a half of grey wool Donegal (from a mill in Bradford!) in the stash, and a 4mm crochet hook, and set to.

Well, it didn't work, because although the pattern was actually for thicker yarn and a larger needle, following the basic pattern which should have fitted my shoe size came out HUGE, so I pulled it all out and started again, adapting the pattern and only doing about half the increase rows.  This, and adapting the number of stitches for the foot part proportionately, resulted in the right size of slipper.  I further adapted the pattern by deciding to crochet the back seam, rather than sewing it, and I found that the slipper was still too stretchy - I got round this by adding a row of crochet round the opening of the slipper to make it more stable.  And here are the results:

As I have laminate floors and limited skating ability, I used efco Sock Stop to create anti-slip patterns on the soles, which are very effective - it's a really good product and easy to apply.  So I now have snug, stylish and safe feet!

More spinning - this time in Somerset

Yesterday I got to spend yet more quality time with Winnie (my spinning wheel) as I was on another one-day spinning course with Sarah Harris at The Spinning Weal in Clevedon, Somerset www.spinningweal.co.uk.  This shop and workshop venue is a real Aladdin's cave of all things wool and fibre, well worth a visit if you are in the area.  Sarah and David are incredibly knowledgeable about all manner of wheels - as indicated by them instantly recognising Winnie's pedigree, which has most people very confused!  (She's a Mark I Ashford Traveller, which were only made between 1977 and 1979, so there's not many about).

Sarah decided that I needed to be technically stretched, so she got me spinning tussah silk, which was lovely and produced beautiful fine lustrous singles which I plied with a Corriedale single (shades of magenta and fuchsia pink blended on the carder to give a luminous berry colour), resulting in a wonderful 'raspberry ripple' yarn.  She also handed me a supply of cotton, on the principle that if you can spin cotton you can spin anything - after a certain amount of colourful language I did manage to produce a reasonably amount of a consistent cotton yarn without actually having a nervous breakdown, but I don't think it's an exercise I shall be repeating any time soon!

I also spun some of the Ryeland which I had scoured and carded recently, it is full of noils so takes a while to pick over but when spun woollen makes a really nice, lofty, springy yarn in a glowing white.  I quite fancy trying out some natural dyeing on this sometime, as I think it would make lovely winter woollies...

In search of Ryeland fleece - medieval history on the hoof

My latest quest is for Ryeland fleece - I have a contact consulting the flock book for me to track down a source for me!  Why am I pursuing Ryeland fleece?  Well, my current project is connected with Tretower, a historic manor house north of the Brecon Beacons, and I am looking to use some wool in the felting process from a breed of sheep which would have been familiar in the house's heyday between the 14th and 17th centuries.  The Ryeland sheep (named after the rye-growing area around Archenfield in South Herefordshire which was its heartland) was developed by the monks of Leominster in the 12th or 13th century, producing a remarkably fine wool which was greatly in demand - its value was such that its alternative name was 'Leominster Ore'.  As a high-status dwelling in the later Middle Ages, only a relatively short distance west of Herefordshire, it is very likely that Ryeland wool would have found its way to Tretower, which is why I am keen to use this breed in my Tretower project.  Few breeds of sheep in the UK now, other than the 'primitives' such as Soays, can trace their origins back as far as the Ryeland - the 'improvement' of native breeds which resulted in the breeds we now have was largely a product of the 18th century onwards, and continues even now - as with, for example, the Beltex!