October 12, 2008

Look what I've got:) A floor standing swift.

Just look what my wonderful Mr Mog made for me:) We went to visit Cecelia a few weeks ago in Cumbria and she very kindly wound my sea drift mohair on her antique floor standing swift. We decided that something like that would be ideal for lofty yarns such as the mohair which won't fit on my normal swift and obviously couldn't afford to buy one. Mr Mog took a couple of photos and came home to work out how to make his own version.
The hardest part was making the circles for the bobbins, a hole cutter for 6inch circles would have been way beyond out cost, we asked. So Mr Mog cut 4x 6inch circles out himself by hand. A lot of hard work you will agree. We have now purchased a handy kit for making circles up to 3inch so the smaller swifts Mr Mog wants to make will be much easier(I hope)



Here you see it with the autumn mohair on that I dyed several weeks ago.
There is a 200gm hank there which would normally take a good while to wind. 25 minutes from start to finish, swift to ball winder:) It would have been quicker but the mohair was matted slightly to start.
I made 3 balls of it as I don't have a jumbo ball winder yet and my little one soon gets full.

Here you see the finished balls. The colour looks so different when it is wound.
The double knit I dyed took minutes:) Can you see this as socks for me?

This was the sock yarn I dyed, it has dried beautifully and below you see the other side of it.
I am not knitting this up, it is going to a friend to be given as a prize at her knitting event.

Then I wound the purple yarn, oh the colours in this are exactly what I aimed for. This will make a wonderful samhain shawl I think. Time to wind 200 gm of slightly matted mohair? 25 minutes again. Makes it so much easier for me than around 2 chairs or over Mr Mog's hands.

Just look at the richness. It is actually slightly darker than it looks. The sun was shining:)
Well done Mr Mog, I'm sure you will have many orders for these:)
In answer to your question on pattern Jean. I cast on 88 stitches for the smaller cowl and 96 for the larger one using the moebius cast on from Cat bordhi. Then I just did K2 P2 until it was long enough. Finally I cast off in the same rib.
Have a go it is fun.
Now I just need a jumbo ball winder if anyone has one spare?

14 comments:

Artis-Anne said...

Great work Bob :)and so much easier to wind too, ey Amber ? LOVE the new mohair colours and so glad we have solved the dye uptake too . Will have to have go myself now LOL

Anonymous said...

How fantastic! What a clever husband you have!
I can see that dk as socks for *me*!! ;-) Purple and green are my colours!
~SP (building up to sending your last parcel this week)

Anonymous said...

Really Amber, you are quite an artist in dying! I love all the colours, especially the dark purple.

BabyLongLegs said...

Marvellous work, Mr Mog :)
Let me know when you start selling them...hehehe

I am lovin' your dyeing, Amber....

The pictures of Heysham bring back a lot of fond memories for me, being from Barrow-in-furness originally...we used to visit Heysham alot....

Big 'uggs

S xXx

Kath said...

What a great gadget - clever Bob! Love the colours of your latest dye jobs - can't wait to see what they turn into!

Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns said...

Mr. Mog, you are a treasure! Are you going to be going into the mega-swift business? If so, let me know!

Love your Samhain colours, Amber. Just working on some magical skeins myself so as to be ready for the Celtic New Year...

Lah Lah said...

Well done Mr Mog!

And well done Mrs Mog for such fab colours.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that just ACE! :) I bet it doesn't squeak like mine too!

I love the yarn as well :)

Cecilia :)

Joy said...

What a wonderful swift :-)

And such fabulous colours too, they will mke great socks :-).

Herzblut said...

that is wonderful! Clever Mr Mog(and gorgeous dyeing shades)
Now, all it needs is one(or two) little extras.....a pair of kittens to climb up it while you're using it, all in the name of helping, of course...... ;)

>^..^< >^..^<

enthusiastic crochetoholic said...

Well done Mr Mog.
My father was just like you - he would weigh something up from all angles and then go home and make it. My mother used to machine knit on an industrial machine and he made all kinds of motorised cone winders and swifts for her. I am just so sorry that I never kept any of them.
The colours look great now they ae wound into balls.
Well done to both of you.

LizzieK8 said...

Can you please show a series of pics on how you put the skein on it? And would it have made any difference if the ends were round? Really? ;)

Diane said...

That Mr Mog is such a talented fellow. If necessity is the mother of invention then Mr Mog is the constructor of it.

maylin said...

So when are you opening your Etsy Shop?

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