Spinning and sewings by turns

This week I enjoyed a long overdue weekend in my home county of Donegal (Moville and Carndonagh to be precise). On Saturday I joined my best friend at the knitting group she created and got some spinning with my drop spindle done. I finished spinning a bag of white Bluefaced Leicester wool roving I'd bought at thisisknit in Dublin. I'd heard this wool was good for beginners and having worked with it, I'd definately agree. I might not have agreed so emphatically if I had not then gone on to spin with some different fibre on a spindle Ruth had with her. I don't know exactly what this fibre is made of - it was part of a goody bag that came with my spindle, but it didn't draft as nicely or as evenly as the Blueface. Still really pleased with the results though.

I have another bag of the BlueFace knocking about somewhere, so when I get around to spinning that I'll ply them together and dye them. As you can see, there's quite a bit on there, so I should have enough to make something useful.

There is, obviously, less of the purple (which came to me as it was, with that lovely marbled purple) so I'm not sure what it's destined for yet. A few bits on it are spun reaaal thin where I predrafted too much (if anyone wants to know more about the spinning techniques I;m mentioning, please leave a comment and ask. I just don't want to bore people by going on about them when no-one may care that much!), which I'm a bit annoyed form than because otherwise the weight and color reminds me a lot of a hank of Colinette Art I was gifted.

 

And now, to sewing. It's my friend Brenda's birthday this week. While she doesn't bake a lot, she does make some damn good brownies. Recently, she had a housemate who she didn't get on with very much. The girl moved out eventually.....and took Brenda's brownie pan with her! How frickin' mean! So naturally, I've got her a new brownie pan for her birthday, and I decided to make her a girly apron to go with it (she's pretty girly). I couldn't decide which fabric from my stash to use - the plain pink, or the purple gingham? Plain pink or purple gingham, plain pink or purple gingham......I couldn't make up my mind so I decided to make a reversible apron employing both. As I only had this one evening to make it I didn't put any pockets or embellishments on in case I messed them up, as I wouldn't have time to fix it. I do like the mis-matched (yet matching?) straps though. As it's to be reversible I couldn't do a basic hem by folding over as I normally would. I pressed the raw edges inside the apron really flat, then used the one fancy-ish stitch on my basic yet awesome machine to add another touch of girliness.

I hope she likes it!

Apologies for the crappy pictures, I had to take them myself using the self-timer function. Also, it's the end of a long day, I'm in my comfy pants, I look dreadful hence the "disguise".

Have a great weekend everyone!