Mandyz Maker

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Mandyz Maker

Mandy is a Winnipeg-based maker of fine hand-knits and spinning. Available for custom requests of quality items.

04/10/2022

Resistance Is Futile.
Truly, how could I resist a Star Trek mystery fibre subscription from one of my fav local dyers, Cloud 9 Fiberworks

04/03/2022

Having tried out the Brittany tapestry loom with a couple of small projects to figure out the basics, I decided to play with a bigger project.
All these mini skeins of handspun wool sitting around the spinning room are very useful for making the locks.

03/21/2022

First quarter of a Year of Gnomes with Imagined Landscapes is complete.
In January I used some yarns from the 2021 Pembina Fibre Shed project.
In February I made my teen a gnome, with a backpack, and her soccer number on the back.
In March I made my mommy a(nother) colourful gnome - with icecream.

In April -- I should treat myself to a new gnome for my birthday.
I've knit a lot of gnomes, including a tiny lace weight gnome. Perhaps it's time for a giant (relatively speaking) gnome.

03/14/2022

It's Pi Day.
Enjoy your tasty food pies. I will.
But don't forget that Pi is a math thing 😉..like knitting - especially Pi Shawls.

I'm not sure how I only have two Pi Shawls in my collection, but it may be related to the knit on borders. ☺️
I certainly was optimistic when I started beading the edge of the blue shawl. It didn't take long until I regretted how many beads I was placing each row.
You will note that the later-made shawl (green) does not have beads. 😂 I could have chosen to add beads...

Both are based on Pi math for shawls, but the green does not use eyelet rounds to double the stitch count, so it doesn't have the classic "pi shawl" banding look.
(Or is it just me that sees those as bands/rings?)

Who can name a design here? I suspect most can guess the blue. I see it come up often enough.

03/10/2022

The sweater is coming along beautifully, if I do say so.
After some swatching (that's knitting samples), I decided to work the lace insert for the sleeves in Daphne's light grey yarn. (Daphne is the name of the Shetland sheep.)
I chose to use the white, cable-plied wool for a cabled sleeve cuff at the end of my 3/4 length sleeves.

03/01/2022

How about a dive into some of my creative process.

Photos 1 & 2:
Look at these three pretties together. I've just been informed (by the yarns) that they need to be worked together. I tend to not argue with my handspun yarn - they already contain a part of me, so it would be quite useless to argue. I/Yarn know what's good.
Here I have:
*117m of short local Dorset wool cable-plied - because who doesn't love a crisp cable ply to really lock in those short fibres. The stitch definition is going to be delightful too.
*163m of local alpaca - also cable plied because these were also short fibres and I particularly love cable-plying alpaca to make it more resilient and crisp.
*And, because it said "pick me too", 190m of a yarn that used up leftover unplied pieces sitting around. There are 2 plies of Shetland wool and one ply of a merino-silk blend. This yarn is not cable plied, but that's okay - they can play together.

All told, about 400m. That's not a ton. More than a hat but I wasn't planning a hat to begin with... Hmm...

Hold up.
Photo 3:
There are a few more skeins from the 2021 One Year One Outfit project, using all local resources, that could fit in. Some have lost their tags after use, but I'd estimate there's another 300m with the mohair and the wool from Carmen, MB I dyed from my yard.
That brings me to 700m.

Photo 4:
At this point, do we make the leap to garment-volume and add the remaining Shetland yarn provided by Daphne? Looks to be about another 500m.
That brings my meterage to 1200

The single ply with merino-silk purchased from a local dyer means that this won't be 💯 from the Pembina Fibre Shed -- but I can fudge this little bit for myself. I am using up leftovers, which fulfills the environmental ethic of the movement.

It appears that I'm knitting a garment.

Stay tuned.

This is how everyone starts a project, right?

02/13/2022

Every now and then I like to question my own sanity by timing how long a project will take. (I think I should actually be questioning the sanity of doing these calculations.)
The double knit scarf pictured here (the other side is blue with silver) is 800 rows long, worked in lace weight yarn on small needles, and the pattern is fully charted.
I used a stopwatch to time myself working two rather simple rows and then did some simple math to conclude the knitting will take at least 117 hours.
That's before working a finishing edge (which will be relatively quick, especially if I work as crochet) and does not include the time spent spinning the silver alpaca-silk yarn (it took forever, but less than 117 hours 😁).

I started in June 2020 and I recently passed the quarter mark. It's extra slow because this is not a social project, nor is it TV knitting, nor is it very portable, so I don't pick it up as often as I should.
Still, I can't wait to show everyone the finished scarf in 2026 🤣

02/01/2022

Sometimes you just have to frog a whole bunch of things not being used ever - to create something to wrap up in.
After pulling apart a sweater my kid didn't like the fit of, a shawl, and a few hats, the yarn had to be skeined and washed to lay more straight again.
The sweater included a handspun yarn in yellow and purple. That's what set the colour palette for this project.
Making small and large squares for a blanket is very satisfying (and quick and portable).

01/29/2022

Sometimes a spinner just needs to spin.
So I grabbed a batt of Shetland wool in mixed browns to spin up. I had a bit of merino-silk leftover from the green yarn spinning (left) and decided to ply it with the Shetland (right). When I ran out of the golden ply, I finished up the Shetland alone for a mini skein.

Haven't decided what the Shetland will be used for. The green (Falkland and merino-silk) is part of a larger stash that will be a ribbed sweater.

01/13/2022

Well that was fun! One Year, One Outfit! And then some. I only regret that I didn't get around to making any wool leggings (yet).
My local fibre shed in the Pembina Valley initiated a challenge to create (at least) 3 clothing items from local materials.
For me, that meant a lot of raw wool, some alpaca blankets, as well as some locally processed wool and alpaca (saved me some steps).
Some folks worked with leather or furs; there were tanning workshops. I imagine there were some wood, bone, and antler buttons for some folks. There has been a concurrent project to grow flax for linen, and someone may have been able to spin and create something before the end of the year challenge.

In the end, I made a sweater, two hats, a shawl, a woven bag, socks, and mittens. I also knit a lamb (not yet finished with assembly), a gnome, and started a lace curtain panel for the kitchen.
I dyed wool with garden plants, I cleaned and processed a lot of wool and alpaca, I spun a lot... I used two large fluffy batts prepared by another local shepherdess and one skein of yarn prepared by our local mill using local wool.
I primarily knit, but there's a wee bit of crochet accent and I learned two weaving techniques.

01/12/2022

I've been working on a project that reminds me of my favourite, brightly coloured hoodie that I've had for a couple decades. I hadn't intended to pair these two colours together when I purchased the fibre to spin, but one day I saw them side by side and I knew they had to be knit together. I spun the two yarns as breaks from working with raw fleeces.❤️💙❤️💙

11/16/2021

Who doesn't enjoy a button collection.

I only vaguely remember knitting that fabric, but I can tell that it's a form of "squiggle" knit by alternating a thick and thin handspun with a fine thread. I should play with that technique again.

Address

965 Henderson Highway
Winnipeg, MB
R2K2M3

Website

http://MandyzMoon.wordpress.com/

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