Jane Austen's House - Chawton

Nestled in between some fast moving dual carriageways, I found the chocolate-box picturesque village of Chawton.

Imagine the villages in Midsomer Murders and you've got the look of this place.

Jane's house:

How it used to look as Estate Workers' cottages in the 1920's:



Today:



Inside the charming Georgian style building with creaky polished wood floors, many of Jane's treasures donated by her descendants are on display.



Her writing table:



Costumes from the film Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Walters and Maggie Smith were on display:







Some other views of the house:







I can just imagine Mr Darcy riding down this hill on an afternoon visit:

My one purchase in the gift shop was an apron, which I'll use to protect my clothes from fluff whilst spinning.



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Whitchurch Silk Mill

During my week off, I had a birthday jaunt to Hampshire, specifically to see the Silk Mill at Whitchurch

I was the first customer there, waiting for the Mill to open at 10:30 prompt, and dodged the showers for my tour which started in the Gift Shop with a 5 minute video. This was very comprehensive and showed the intricate and time consuming labour involved in the weaving process.

The grounds and buildings are immaculate - a real credit to the folk who run the Mill. I can imagine on a fine day it would be lovely to sit in the gardens and watch the ducks with the River Test rushing by.

Some interior shots showing exhibits, the winding machines, the warping frame and miscellaneous weaving items.









The size of these waists were ridiculous, I could have got both hands around them they were so small. The written commentary told of all sorts of terrible diseases and death that women suffered from wearing such tight corsetry. Internal bodily organs were crushed and moved into totally the wrong places!



One of the two full time weavers at work at the loom.

I was especially interested to learn how silk moire is made - the sort with the lovely watermark in the weave. This happens when a silk warp and a cotton weft are crushed under pressure from heavy rollers, hence the lovely marks.

Some of the silk was very fine, and in the gift shop I bought a small sample pack, some of which is destined for my Mum's dolls house - she's just finishing a dress shop which is her latest project, so I'm sure it will make a fine garment.

I could have run amock amongsts the gorgeous colours of reeled silk that were dotted around the place. This cabinet full for instance ....... I'm sure they wouldn't have noticed me heaving it into the back of my car.

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My next port of call was the small town of Alton. I'd read in the latest issue of Simply Knitting that they had a good wool shop - Alton Knitting & Woolcraft.

The lady had just started to relocate from 17 High Street to the Alton Sewing Centre next door at 15a. Now there are sewing machines, dress fabrics, haberdashery and yarn all under the same roof. A real haven for creativity.

I made off with a small haul of bargain odd balls of Rowan and some bag handles.

It was on the way out of town that I spotted a road sign...... "Jane Austen's House"



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Welsh Odyssey - 3. Wonder Wool

I'm playing catch up with the blog, having been away from the blogging PC for 10 days or so, hence, posts may lag behind for a while yet.......




After spending a day with my folks in Lancashire, I set off early on Saturday morning and headed for Builth Wells in central Wales.

The mountain roads in the Brecons twisted and turned until I was almost lulled to sleep at the wheel. Eventually I arrived at my destination. The rain clouds overhead gave everyone a regular dousing throughout the day.

There was a lot to see, for as well as Wonderwool, it was a smallholder's festival, and there were masses of livestock to see, a food hall, plant stalls and events happening in the central ring.

I concentrated my visit on the yarn and fibre. There was a whole building full of goats, and showcases of competition entries.








This was an exceedingly fine skein. Pity I'd got rain all over my camera lens for this one.



Nearby was a pen of camelids. Not sure how they differ from alpaca.



Then it was onto the Wonderwool building, and some serious retail therapy with my as yet unreceived birthday money!

A HUGE Bo-Peep with Shaun the Sheep in her basket greeted visitors at the entrance.



Demonstration by Gracie Tyller - spinning on a Great Wheel. She also had a large loom very like the one made by Joy at our Guild.



Lastly, my abundant haul. Guess who's having a cerise moment......

Some skeins of lovely cashmerino from Eirwen at Knit Witches Yarns in the Luscious Pinks Colourway.



I bought this laceweight from Jen at Fyber Spates



Then some merino from Moral Fibre. The fleshy pink colour is for my felting stash, and the cherry is to spin up for a garment - obviously the ball of cherry is a lot bigger - this is just a wee sample!



I found some lovely gingery shetland fibre to extend my laceweight spinning obsession. This was from a member of the British Coloured Sheep Breeders Association.



I bought some white silk from Sally Pointer



to dye with this Kool-Aid from D T Crafts

Finally, two wooden items. First, a Braiding Disc kit from The Mulberry Dyer



Second, a plying tool from a stall I can't remember the name of (sorry!).



So there we are. Quite a bit to be going on with, and a perfect use for my birthday cash.

At this rate I'll be going to Woolfest purely for a look around.......... well, my poor purse can dream can't it........? ;o)



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