It was another beautiful Spring weekend and another fantastic folk festival. Somehow the sun nearly always seems to shine on this weekend. Thing 2 performed again with the Ukelele Orchestra… because he’s learning drumming he does percussion for them now and this year he had a big African Djembe to play. I have some lovely video but have strict instructions not to post it here. All posts have to be previewed by small and tall boys (especially the tall ones) now I’m afraid.
It’s my favourite local festival of the year and you can read more about it here, here and here. There were a few different dance groups compared to previous years which was good to see. I wanted to stay longer but Thing 2 wasn’t keen this year. Did you spot the crochet in the costume above??? So there’s the “folk” of the title.
And here are the “tails”…
The spinning has moved along a little. I completed two full spindles of singles then plied them, via my homemade shoebox lazy kate. This skein is 75.8 yards long and weighs 67g. It works out at an average of 9 WPI (something I have learned about since my last spinning post – wraps per inch – this is how you work out the weight of the yarn) which makes it “worsted” according to Ravelry. We don’t really have worsted yarn in the UK so it’s most likely similar to Aran weight.
I have had further thoughts on what to do with it too. I would like to make a garment so initially thought about the Calm Cowl, a crochet pattern I have already used here and here. It’s nice and simple to let the yarn be the star (as opposed to the pattern). Then I had a google around and found a few simple knitted mitts/gloves patterns – Tiny Dino’s Chunky Mitten pattern, Tempe Croke’s Bulky Fingerless Gloves (on 2 Straights), and Tin Can Knits’ World’s Simplest Mittens.
Yes they are patterns for chunky/bulky yarns because even though mine has worked out to be Aran/worsted I think its pretty thick so it would probably work.
I also looked at these patterns too – Darn Knit Kinetic Cowl – I like the open, loose style of the knit and think it shows off the yarn well, Yarn Harlot’s One Row Handspun Scarf – specifically written for handspun it’s simple yet easily adaptable to use the amount of yarn you have.
I am sort of edging towards knitting it. I think handspun looks better knitted as opposed to crocheted, it seems to show off the thick and thin better. But we’ll see. I have still not decided! Think I’ll spin some more though as 75 yards is still not very much. I am limited by how much my spindle can hold before it is full really. There is some single left from one of the spindlefulls so I may as well do more and use it up!
It’s looking like it’s going to be another beautiful weekend. Not sure what we are getting up to, especially as we haven’t been invited to THAT wedding. I think there maybe some barbecue on the horizon instead!!
madebypatch 
I love the look of all those mittens but the idea of DPNs makes me want to throw up. Don’t know why I have such an aversion.
Those are some pretty weird costumes those peeps were wearing. I thought you lot were such a nice, normal sane bunch….. 😉
Thought of DPNs makes me throw up too!!! There are just too many places for stitches to fall off…. and that happens to me regularly anyway!!! I would be using a long circular instead.
Like I keep telling my boys…. normal and sane is boring!!!