Because the exhibition was in town I thought I had better enter something in the National Exhibition, So I literally dusted off my ancient spinning wheel and spun up some Ashford's Silk and Merino fibre into a gradient yarn using my mini-combs.
I spun a number of mini-skeins with increasing amounts of purple fibre (Juniper) as can be seen below
And knitted one of my patterns - Sea Fog.
As you can see I left the gradient until the very last few rows - I think it's more dramatic that way - like it's been dipped in the ocean, or dare I say, something poisonous!
I was really surprised when I won a prize for best entry using handspun fibre. It was all very exciting - it will probably be years before Christchurch hosts the festival again, and I'll be able to make it in person.
Also, I was very privileged to be Margaret Stove's gopher at her knitting lace class. In case you don't know, Margaret Stove is a local woman, and internationally recognised knitting expert, who spins superfine merino and designs super fabulous wraps. She's travelled the world teaching her lace knitting techniques and her superfine spinning. It was very interesting to see how she approaches lace design, not to mention see up close all of her gorgeous designs - many knit in superfine laceweight handspun yarn. Here's a link to some of her books. So, all in all, a very good weekend indeed.
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