From Fleece to Fantastic

Summer's End

2009-10-22T09:42:00.013+01:00

I haven't blogged for MONTHS... and I miss blogging. Just been so busy with work and stuff.

Since my trip to Horsham I've been up to quite a bit knitting/craft-wise.

In May I went to Wonderwool Wales and had a great day chatting to folk from Welsh Guilds and making a few discerning purchases, mostly spinning fibre.

May and June I was working on a mega lace project for my Mum's birthday. This is the North Roë Shawl by Dodile on Ravelry modelled by my friend H, who is about the same height as my Mum, so I think I went one repeat too far!

This was a laceweight handspun merino, an autumnal blend I bought from Wingham Woolwork a couple of years ago when they came to our local Guild.

This was spun on my Kromski Sonata when I first bought it, which I must admit hasn't seen much action lately, so I must get her out again and oil her up.

June was the annual pilgrimage North to the folks for a short break and a trip to Woolfest, and the folks took me to Bodnant Gardens in North Wales which was stunning.

I also managed to cram in a trip to 3 Mills in East Lancashire. Helmshore, which has a water wheel and HUGE fulling hammers which I have never seen before. Queen Street, which still has all of its original weaving looms and equipment, a 'Fred Dibnah' chimney, huge steam engine and stunning views of the surrounding moors. Finally, Oswaldtwistle (which is now a shopping outlet) which still displays some unusual jacquard looms and miscellaneous paraphanalia.

Lace and flowers

2009-03-28T08:02:00.005Z

Last Saturday I ventured out on the train to Horsham in West Sussex to the Annual Lace Fair. Spent a good hour chatting on the train to a friend from my Guild and our local Knit & Natter group. A nice surprise to have a travelling companion for one part of the journey.

I worked on my baby jacket for a work colleague who is due off on maternity shortly, and J worked on yet another sock in her own hand dyed sock yarn. The sock siren has yet to call me.......

It was a truly gorgeous day, and I was conspicuous wearing a wool coat, but leaving home early in the morning meant being a little bit sensible.

This time round I was able to shop with confidence now that I know a little more about the whole lace thing, and I picked up some more bobbins and threads. I also replaced my Needle Tatting book which I gave to my Mum for Mother's Day. It is a needlecraft she has failed to master over the years using the leaf-shaped shuttle, so maybe she can get on with the needle technique. I am sure she'll attempt a doily or two for her dolls house.

I want to have a go at some cuffs that I saw in an issue of Piecework Magazine. I need to get motivated again as I seem to have fallen out of love with knitting and spinning generally.

I walked through the park into town after exhausting my budget at the show. You can see how dry the ground is after so little rain this winter.

The town was covered in flower sellers - it being the day before Mothering Sunday. Enjoyed a browse through the shops, bought some second hand paperbacks and devoured some delicious Orange Polenta Cake and rested my weary legs.

In the centre of town and appearing as a new feature since my last visit was this sculpture...

Quite a departure from this very old part of the town. A very narrow alleyway between two old buildings.

And here is how the town planners get over developing around an old architectural feature....

Yes,the newer building really is just a gnat's whisker width away from the spire.

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I have Guild today, so must do my secretarial duties and get my bag sorted with the necessary paperwork. I've decided against taking my wheel, and will continue with my Weave-it project. Nice and small and portable. Off now to make salad and get organised. Funny how I have been up since before 6am and I still manage to run late!!!

Clocks go forward tonight, so an hour of my weekend robbed already.....sob!

2008 - A Retrospective

2009-02-23T19:46:00.023Z

After a whole year's neglect the blog needs to catch up with things from 2008, including our local bi-annual Guild Exhibition.

We usually exhibit at the Echium Terrace at Ventnor Botanic Garden which has a wonderful view across the grounds. Stewarding is no hardship in the lovely surroundings. Plus, the cheese scones in the cafe are HUGE.

Here's a selection of the exhibits:

Broadband here I come.....

2009-02-13T14:04:00.002Z

After dithering about ISP providers for the past 5 years :rollseyes: I've finally signed up for Broadband today, so the blog will get busy again.

I went to the Creative Stitches and Needlecraft show last weekend in Brighton, a lovely train ride along the edge of the South Downs capped with snow.

Lots of stalls, lots of exhibits and my favourite things - mini workshops and Lectures.

Eliza McClelland was on top form and her beaded embroidery was sumptuous and inspiring. Jane Callender's presentation of Indigo and Shibori was very interesting.

I had a go at Knitting with Wire and Beads and also at Lacemaking again, which has spurred me on to get my pillow and bobbins out and have a go.

On the knitting front, I'm currently working on a drop sleeved tank top - a Debbie Bliss pattern. Need to concentrate on the aran pattern, so not one to mindlessly work at while watching TV.

I have to work on my spinning this weekend and have a go at carding some poonies ready for our next Guild Meeting. Not used cotton before, so this will be a challenge!

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-22T15:14:00.002Z

A Very Merry Christmas to all who pass by.......

and a Happy New Year.

Who are you again......?

2008-06-02T19:17:00.002+01:00

....... said my blog.

It's a wonder I still remember how to drive Blogger after all of this time, but dear Reader, there is a simple explanation. Blogger has been blocked by my employer (bah!), so I am reduced to the torture of Dial-up at home. 15 minutes just to get to the New Post section - with the speed of a striking slug.

So until I sort out Broadband, entries will be sporadic and probably devoid of pictures.

So no evidence of my trips to the various craft shows, including Wonderwool 2008. No pictures of WIPs or FOs for the time being.

Some news though, I am now the proud owner of a Mk1 Ashford Elizabeth, courtesy of birthday money, and eBay. Getting used to the weird orifice arrangement still, but it does hum along, being my first experience with double-drive. All in all, I like it.

My first spinning demo of the season was yesterday, where I rubbed shoulders with Alan Titchmarsh who is now High Sheriff of our fair Isle. I even sold a handspun/knitted Shetland beanie hat, so thanks to that lady who rushed back to buy it in secret for her friend....aaah.

Supersaver

2008-01-07T14:50:00.001Z

This year I am trying to curb my enthusiasm for emptying my purse of all its contents in exchange for yarn, fibre and crafting equipment. I am keeping a dreaded Spending Diary which serves to make me think more than twice when I'm siren-called by bargain Rowan yarn languishing seductively in the John Lewis Sale.

This weekend I had planned ahead for a trip to London to see the John Everett Millais exhibition at Tate Britain before it closes on the 13th January. I managed a brilliantly cheap coach fare on National Express - £2 return from Portsmouth by booking last month.

The queues were forming by the time I got there a little after 10am, but it was still easy enough to view the paintings, and after 90 minutes, my plan to find somewhere to sit and write a few notes were abandoned due to lack of seating and pure exhaustion. I'd been wavering on whether to make the trip due to shortage of funds, but I'm glad I did now, as there were several paintings from private collections and from the States which I could never hope to see in real life away from the exhibition. There were a lot of drawings and prints and especially charming were the exhibit of the actual child's bonnet and shoes worn for the painting of 'Cherry Ripe' which still belong to the model's family.

Most splendid was the portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson - a resident of the Isle of Wight, and poet laureate to Queen Victoria.

After a restorative sandwich and banana on a bench at the Millbank entrance, enjoying the winter sun, I decided that I'd try walking around London for the first time since I was a schoolchild instead of using the Tube. Saving money and getting exercise and fresh air into the bargain. I was amazed to discover just how close everything is to everything else, and was snapping away like a demented tourist.

View from the Thames - Lambeth Palace, and just making out the Gherkin towards the right of the frame.

Then around the corner - the London Eye

Swiftly followed by the Houses of Parliament

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Anti War protestors in Parliament Square

Nelson's Column (Nelson's been on the drink! or is that just my lousy camera work?)

Trafalgar Square, where New Year revellers used to jump into the fountain. (The National Gallery in the background)

Street Art

The home of delectable fabrics, trims, buttons and knitting yarn......Liberty

I weakened here when I spotted some rarely-seen 2mm double pointed needles, so I blew a whole £2.70.

Then some after-dark pictures as I bravely walked back from Oxford Street to Victoria. Eek!!

South Molton Street with its angel decorations.

Buckingham Palace (particularly difficult to get a good shot without being run over!)

and finally.........

Some knitting.

Now armed with the correct size needles, I made my first sock.

Sized for fairies!

I was dreading socks after reading so much about the hell of 'turning the heel', but it was a piece of cake. Hurrah for socks!

Now to get back into my spinning for 2008. So much fibre.....so little time.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T13:23:00.000Z

Here we are in 2008 and I haven't managed to organise myself enough to post until now.

I managed to make my sister's beaded jewellery in time for Christmas, despite losing the sterling silver clasps I bought in a big hurry on eBay. (They turned up last night in the salad drawer of my fridge!) :worrying: I can only guess that it's the onset of senility, or the pixies have been moving stuff around again indoors. The one thing I forgot to do was take a photo of the completed set.

Christmas passed, unusually for me, with lots of family visiting and far too much eating and drinking - my poor liver is currently in detox mode. I made a date with my sister to get out and about on the Thursday and we went to Manchester on the train. £4.40 for a two-hour return trip - total bargain!

I haven't been to Manchester since my dad died, and certainly not to the city centre since it was bombed by the IRA in 1996. What a difference. It's now a very metropolitan shopping area, with lots of pedestrianised sections. I took these snaps as we walked back to the train.

The Big Wheel.

The Old Wellington Inn and the corner of the Triangle (formerly the Corn Exchange).

Extract from www.touruk.co.uk:

"Dating from 1552, the Old Wellington Inn is the oldest public house in Manchester. The black and white Tudor building in Shambles Square is its third location, being moved twice to make way for new buildings. It was first moved when the Arndale Centre was built over 'The Shambles', its original rundown location. In 1996 the IRA bombing of Manchester city centre devastated buildings around it but fortunately it was protected by another building and suffered minor damage. With the rebuilding and the creation of Exchange Square, the pub was moved to its present position. Extensively refurbished and has an à la carte restaurant. Next door is Sinclair's Oyster Bar, another survivor of The Shambles".

Interestingly, the road these buildings are on is called Hanging Ditch, which sounds a little gruesome when you think about it.

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I got on with some more beading over the Christmas break, and also met up with a lovely lady called Cathy (and her folks) who I 'met' on Ravelry. We have a shared interest in spinning and knitting, and she runs her own website selling fibre and yarn with two friends, here - LazyKate

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~Merry Christmas~

2007-12-17T16:43:00.000Z

Well, that's me for this year. I'm now off-line until after the Holidays.

I'm just deciding which projects I'll be concentrating on over Christmas.

One will be the sock-blocker keyring I bought from the Interknit Cafe in Farnham recently shown here with a couple off odd balls of yarn I couldn't resist.

Some beading which I've found I really enjoy, and some weaving with my Weave-It - a nice portable project.

I've still got two gifts to make over the next two days, so the pressure is on.

It just remains to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of my readers.

See you in the New Year.

Winter Knitting

2007-12-14T10:49:00.000Z

I recently picked up a copy of the latest Vogue Knitting, as unusually there are a few interesting patterns in it that I might want to knit. Possibly because it's a Brits issue, and there are designs that look more British in there.

My favourites:

Including this last one (above) from Alice Starmore.

In November I went off-craft as I had some leave to use up from work and took a trip to Esher to the Beading Show, and joined the throng clamouring for seed beads.

I came away with a modest haul:

and have so far made up this set for a Christmas present:

I have been having some disasters with my winter knitting. I made up a garment from yarn that I bought at Ally Pally, but it is far too huge, so that will have to be unsewn and frogged. Very annoying, but also good in a way as I wasn't really keen on the neckline, so I'll have to do a scary bit of pattern altering - somthing I've never attempted before.

In the meantime I've gone back to this garment:

and have done the back, one front, and am just completing the sleeves.

Craft Sale - The Aftermath

2007-11-19T11:10:00.000Z

Well, what a wet and miserable day it turned out to be on Saturday. Enough to dampen anyone's spirits.

Here is my set-up at the hall:

I had some extra bits and bobs for sale - some drop spindle kits, knitting needles, a fulled bag made from Colinette Skye, and some jewellery from a sale I did a while ago. Also some spiral scarves made from recycled sari yarn.

Trade was ponderously slow due to the location and the weather, and I'd given up hope of selling anything after the first four hours, but then I had a small flurry and managed to sell 4 of my felted corsages. Hurrah! At least I wasn't totally out of pocket.

One lady buyer told me that I wasn't charging enough for my items (I know this, but people on the Island seem to want something for nothing, which is very disheartening for crafts people). The other buyer wanted to know if there was a discount for buying two items (!!!) and then asked for them to be wrapped (!!! x a million).

I always wrap my items nicely in tissue, but this is an extra little touch, not a given! It amazes me that people will take the shirt off ones back and still want jam on it - to totally mix my metaphors.

Bah!

My next plan is to start selling on Etsy, and I need to get to work on some decent photographs and list these articles in my shop which is: http:/fleece2fantastic.etsy.com although empty at present. I may also dip my toe into eBay, to sell some kits.

Lesson's learnt from Saturday.

1. Get organised earlier - pricing and labelling were a nightmare to do and I was still awake at 1am the night before trying to get it all finished.

2. Try and publicise the Sale more widely. Although I didn't organise the event, I'm sure that having just one ad in the local paper was reflected in the small number of people who crossed the threshold.

3. Stand firm on my prices/increase prices. Devaluing my work, just adds to the devaluation of crafting on the Island in general. Other crafts people have cut back so much that they are barely covering the cost of materials. I can't see the point in that at all. Yes, it allows them to continue with their creativity, but at what cost? I'm sure if they were asked to work at a regular day job for no wages, that they'd flatly refuse.

Take art, craft and design out of the everyday world and our internal surroundings and personal appearance would be very bland indeed.

Fibre Frenzy

2007-11-15T09:00:00.000Z

I've been really busy over the last three weeks getting up enough stock to sell at a local craft sale.

Last night I very nearly fell asleep standing up after an arduous felting session which resulted in the creation of these:

They're currently drying out ready for the pins to be sewn onto the back.

I've also been knitting hats from my handspun, and creating designer yarns, wet and needle-felted some Christmas tree decorations, and have some old stock of recycled sari silk crocheted scarves and other bits and bobs including a wet-felted bag, and a knitted and fulled bag made from Colinette Skye which felts up excellently.

I'll try to remember to shoot some pics when I run a full inventory of items tonight.

First, some felted Christmas Puds:

A felted bag - Front: Back:
Inside:
Several Beanies - handspun and knitted:

A neckwarmer knitted in handspun 'Black Forest Gateau' - merino and beads - DK/Aran weight. Faux leather button as a closure.

Finally, my designer handspun yarn:

First up - 'Strawberries and Cream' and 'Jaded' - two-ply merino and silk - DK weight.

'Love-in-the-Mist' and 'Violas' - two-ply merino - DK/Aran weight

'Meadow' - two-ply merino - DK/Aran weight.

'British Marble' and 'Francophile' - two-ply merino - DK/Aran weight

'Passionelle' - two-ply merino & silk, and 'Forest' - two-ply English Wool - DK weight.

Hovis Deliveries and my latest output

2007-11-01T17:55:00.000Z

Two weeks ago I succumbed to a bargain Ashford Tapestry Frame on eBay (early Christmas present) and went to Dorset to collect it from a lovely lady with an enviable purpose-built workshop in her back garden. After drooling over her lovely family kitchen and Aga stove, I eventually prised myself away and drove on into Dorset.

I ended up in Shaftesbury, an ancient Saxon stronghold, and this time actually found the famous Gold Hill, unexpectedly tucked just behind the Town Hall in the main street.

For UK readers, you may remember a Hovis bread advert where a young boy whizzes down a hill on a delivery bicycle. Believe me - he had nerves of steel!!!

Look at this breathtaking view - take in the steep incline of the hill - and then wonder like I did, how the people living in the cottages get into town in the winter on icy cobblestones at such an impossible angle....

In the town I visited the two lovely bead shops, rummaged in an antiques place, and popped into Little Red Hen, a charming gift shop that sells Rowan yarn.

Here I bought some lovely old fashioned cotton tape to dress up a Christmas gift for my sister.

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On Friday I took another epic (and cheap) 10 hour round trip on public transport to visit the East Sussex Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers bi-annual show.

The exhibits were lovely, but I was too tired to remember to take any photos. There were demonstrations and a sale of work, an equipment sale, and stalls. I gazed longingly at a basket of vividly dyed silk which a lady was spinning on her Joy. I just wanted to sit down and join her. I had some lovely conversations with Guild members and stall holders, and came away with some modest swag.

Amongst it was this 100g of viscose mix fibre from Ewe Too Spinners - Firework - seen here in a ball of tops, and as the finished yarn on my noste.

This was quickly turned into a vegan-friendly beanie which I'm hoping to sell at a Craft Sale in two weeks time.

Here are some other beanie hats knitted in a wool and silk mix, spun some time ago.

My latest DK weight yarn, a merino and silk mix which I'm calling Strawberries and Cream.

and finally....... this evening's sunset from my office window at work.

The weather has been so warm and unusual for November, grass is still growing, and I still have geraniums throwing buds up in the pots in my garden. Long may it continue. The winters are wet, cold and dismal enough.

Knitting & Stitching - The Aftermath

2007-10-16T12:09:00.000+01:00

It was an exhausting trip to London on Sunday for the Knitting & Stitching Show. Left home at 06:40 and returned at 23:30. Quite a long day.

London was packed - so much more so than in previous years when I've visited the show. I was totally squished in on the coach on the way home.

On the outbound trip I made several hats for the Innocent campaign for Age Concern (see my sidebar). They're lacking pompoms at the moment, but I'll need to finish them at the weekend as they need to be in the post on Monday. I managed 40 last year, but I've been too busy this time. I need to get myself organised earlier in the year.

While at the show, I took a short workshop making silk paper. The workshops had been sited right next to the cafe and the noise levels were very high. The Tutors were shouting to be heard. It was a bit manic. I've yet to iron my paper, so a pic will follow later.

My modest and bargain haul from the show:

Some variegated mohair for using with my weave-it loom, silver angelina, grey and black silk roving, various threads, some mega-fine silk from Habu and some bargain ultra-fine cotton, and silk throwsters waste from Texere.

Some nymo and bargain seed beads, some sequins, lobster clasps, a couple of buttons to finish off two hats I've knitted with my handspun, and a cone-end of Hemp yarn from The House of Hemp to practice some rainbow dyeing. Finally some huge balls of acrylic to knit a jacket on 15mm needles using all 4 strands. The garment looked great on the stand at the show, and it will be a quick knit that I may even actually finish!

I trotted off to Borders in Oxford Street and bought the latest edition of Spin-Off, as there's an article in there using mini-combs to prep fleece.

I bought some majacraft combs last year, but am a bit clueless on how to use them as they have round handles and can't be clamped to the table.

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I am still working on that baby cardigan for a colleague, at this rate he'll have started school by the time I get it finished.........

Wingham, Winchester and Woven Wicker

2007-10-08T13:24:00.000+01:00

Late last month our Guild arranged a weekend visit from Wingham Woolwork, a fibre business based in Rotherham in South Yorkshire. There was a Try and Buy day on the Saturday and a Spinning Workshop on the Sunday.

I was spinning like a demon on the Saturday, and having a go with small amounts of allsorts of fibre I'd not had the opportunity to handle much. I managed to spin and ply this skein.

The fibres are:
100 count merino
Luminous space-dyed synthetic
Ramie
Variegated merino in autumn shades
Bamboo
Variegated merino and silk blend in red shades
Milk protein
Jacob humbug
Viscose
Jacob humbug and silk blend
Linen
Multicoloured trilobal
Light tussah silk
Black mohair
Merino and soya blend
Camel
Cheviot
Black alpaca and silk blend
Soya bean fibre
Fawn alpaca
Tencel

and finally........Possum.

I bought a couple of spare bobbins for my Sonata, some coloured merino for felting, and a humbug blend of Shetland, along with some small samples and some of the variegated autumn mix which is here, with one lot of singles on the bobbin.

I'm currently plying this into a laceweight, and was intending to knit something from Victorian Lace Today with it until I spotted the Muir pattern on the cover page of the Fall 2007 issue of Knitty.com.

Picture from www.knitty.com

The subtle autumnal shades of the yarn should suit the leaf pattern of this stole perfectly.

I've also started spinning up some eye-popping lime coloured Corriedale in laceweight, which is definitely destined to be a shawl/stole from Victorian Lace.

I had some startled reactions when I started spinning such a loud colour, but the pictures in Victorian Lace show quite a few bright modern colours and they look fantastic knitted up as lace.

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I had a week off work last week and after a shaky start, the weather was really glorious. For October, it has been really sunny and relatively mild. I took a quick jaunt to Winchester and enjoyed the sunshine in the grounds of the Cathedral Close. You can just see the very small tree in the middle ground turning to stunning autumn reds and golds.

It was the sort of warmth that makes you want to lie out and snooze on some grass while listening to the distant drone of light aircraft passing overhead. (Pity the grass was so wet!)

I visited my favourite craft shop in Winchester Creative Crafts who have a lot more stuffed into their store than their website would suggest. I came away with some sequins, thread and beads for some art yarn I have in mind.

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Also while I was at home I visited our local Art Gallery, Quay Arts to visit the 'East Weaves West - Basketry from Japan and Britain' Exhibition.

Some of the Exhibits were stunning:

If you live near Hove, you can catch this exhibition later in the year, then it goes to Holland.

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I'm eagerly anticipating my trip to Ally Pally on Sunday for the Knitting and Stitching Show.

Got all of my tickets booked for the coach and the Show and the Show Guide is through. I'm doing one of the workshops on making silk paper which is around lunchtime, and I'll also be trying to squeeze in John Lewis and Liberty before the shops shut.

Not that I end up buying anything much there, but it's nice to see yarns like Noro and Louisa Harding 'in the flesh' for when you see a lovely pattern on-line and wonder what it would be like knitted up.

Weave-it!

2007-09-19T08:02:00.000+01:00

I've now completed my quest to acquire a couple of these little weaving looms, via eBay in the States. I'm still amazed at how cheaply and quickly things get to the UK from the US by airmail. It makes the world seem very small.

At my spinning group I picked up an old Spring 1996 copy of Spin Off magazine which contains an article describing wistfully, the demise of the Weave-It loom. In the latest issue of Handwoven, there is an article which uses a similar rectangular loom to make a small shoulder bag.

Here are the two looms I successfully bought, sitting on top of the Spin Off article. The 4" wooden one is an older model than the plastic 2" loom.

There is a fabulous website - eloomanation.com - which allows you to download old pattern books for the Weave-it, including patterns for baby clothes, coats and suits, along with afghans and other household items. Check out the blog and links also, for some really advanced uses for the woven squares.

Here are my first squares made with Garnstudio's Vivaldi, a variegated 76% mohair, wool and polyamide mix yarn (rather hairy/itchy) which I bought on sale for £2 a ball at the InterKnit Cafe in Farnham on my recent visit.

I'm planning to make a throw, as large as the amount of yarn allows.

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More Dyeing

2007-09-13T11:36:00.000+01:00

On Saturday at my spinning group we had another dyeing day, this time using Indigo and Goldenrod.

The Goldenrod was split into a dye bath of flowers, and a dye bath of leaves and stalks. The indigo was very strong at the first attempt, but then we got dipping and watched the green-to-blue colour-change happen as it hit the oxygen in the air.

Some folk did some over-dyeing on previous skeins that hadn't turned out as expected or liked, and they mostly got greens. Here are some drying outside on the fence:

I dipped some spun merino and some tops into the Indigo, and added some laceweight shetland to each of the Goldenrod pots.

Sue A. from the group brought her husband along in the afternoon - weighed down by a sack of this season's fleeces. As they're moving house, she 'wasn't allowed' to keep them all, so we had a free fall all - 'ooohing' and 'aaahing' and having a good rummage. I chose a grey/brown cream-tipped fleece - of indeterminate breed - to the cries of 'NO WILLPOWER!!'. This will join the two white Poll Dorset shearling fleeces that I already have stashed at home (not to mention the Moorit Shetland in the loft!)

Something tells me I'm going to have to get to work on fleece prep this winter in a serious way. Where are those carders....................?

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My knitting has slowed up a little recently, but this is probably because I have any number of projects on the go at once. I've recently started a very simple baby cardigan for a work colleague:

and have made a hat from my own handspun mystery wool plied with a variegated silk cap:

This looks a bit like a turquoise dumpling, but with the lack of anyone to model it - I had to stuff it with roving to get some sort of head shape.

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I'm slowly getting my plans together for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in October. I've bought my bargain basement coach ticket already, and have attempted to book a class and buy my show tickets, but the website is i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y s-l-o-w. I've got to the payment stage twice now and the whole thing has crashed. At this rate there'll be no courses left to book onto....

KidSilk Krazy

2007-09-06T12:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I reached levels of palpable excitement as I read my bulletin from Knitting Daily.

There was a review of a new book release from Interweave - Folk Style by Mags Kandis.

In it, is a Modern Quilt Wrap, and joy of joys, it's knitted in Kidsilk Haze:

Regular readers might remember the Chantal stole by Kim Heargreaves that I crocheted for my Mum in June/July.

There was yarn over from that, but I didn't want to repeat the crochet, so this will be a perfect way to use up my odds and ends. Hurrah! I may have to increase the colours or substitute, cos some of my part-balls are very small.

I've pre-ordered the book from Waterstones, so should get it as soon as it emerges in UK bookshops.

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Jolly Japes and Jewellery

2007-09-05T12:29:00.000+01:00

On Friday I played hooky from work and went to the mainland.

First stop - Guildford. Straight to Pandora's in the High St. A great little shop with needlework, patchwork, knitting and craft supplies. Picked up a baby cardigan pattern and these lovely big buttons which had just come into the store:

I'm thinking they'd be great as a handbag closure or on a chunky knit with just one big button.

I picked up a Traditional Knitted Guernsey book in Oxfam - in German! Thank god for Babelfish! It's weird looking at a book all about the history of knitting on the North East Coast of the UK and not being able to read a word of it.

Off to Fibrecrafts for some much needed extra bobbins for my Ashford Trav. Also bought a little fibre in the way of some chambray shaded linen and 100g of bamboo. Bought a couple of skeins of Sari Silk to do a weaving Project that I have in mind - sparked by the latest issue of Handwoven. Not that I have any sort of proper loom or anything.

Next stop was Farnham (major hold up in the roadworks) to visit the Interknit Cafe. Kareen has a fantastic yarn shop, a great atmosphere, and stacked full of unusual yarns, knitting notions, buttons and books. I picked up some bargain shaded Mohair yarn - again for a weaving project, and a few balls of damson-coloured soft merino mix for an autumn scarf.

While I was in the shop I was having a look at Kareen's yarn storage (pic here from her Blog when the shop was being fitted out).

My suspicions were correct - the units are from IKEA.

I'd been toying with the idea of driving over to IKEA at Croydon to pick up a smaller version of one of these units, but was feeling tired. Seeing it in the flesh though, I was convinced enough to make the trip. I'm in dire need of storage for books and craft materials, and this looks just the job.

The unit pictured is 5 x 5 sections. The one I went for is 4 x 4 sections. Not only wouldn't the larger one fit in the car, but I wouldn't have been able to lift the boxes on my own.

A nice man came to the rescue while I was heaving the second of the packs onto the trolley in store, but I had to wrestle it in and out of the car on my own. Let's just say I won't be doing THAT again in a hurry!

Now I need to make enough space at home to lay it all out and build it.

Where's a big strong husband when you need one. Any spare? Send them my way!

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On Sunday I was demonstrating spinning with other members of the Guild at Woolverton Manor Fair. We didn't see as much of the Tudor re-enactment people this year and I missed seeing the dancing in the Great Hall yet again. I was a bit disgruntled with my spinning fibre (Ryeland), but still managed to get a bobbin filled on the Sonata. It's an incredibly springy wool, not something I'm very used to.

We chatted to a lot of different people who's family members had worked in the weaving industry in the North of England. It's really interesting what you find out at the shows we attend.

I had a mini Reflexology session, and my sinuses are much improved since.

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Tuesday I played truant from work again (flexi days are the best) and had a wonderful day at a Guild colleague's cottage where we took a course in Beaded Jewellery.

The cottage used to belong to Lord Tennyson's Estate Manager in Victorian times, and allegedly, Tennyson used to sit on the doorstep and discuss what needed doing around the Estate.

Standing in the footsteps of the author of the Lady of Shalott? Incredible. I used to swoon over pre-Raphaelite images inspired by this poem when I was at Art College.

Here is my finished project from the day - a bracelet with a beaded loop and lobster-claw closure. Fire polished faceted beads and size 11/0 seed beads.

I also started a spiral bracelet and have the beads for another. We were warned. It can be very addictive.

It was a glorious day. Sitting in the garden at lunchtime eating home grown cherry tomatoes, herb bread, profiteroles and lemon drizzle cake; and spending a whole day on a new creative pursuit. Absolute heaven.

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Checkerboard?

2007-08-29T11:28:00.000+01:00

Been working on both knitting and spinning over the Bank Holiday.

This is the latest from the Freedom Spirit book - the Kimono Jacket. At some point in the armhole decrease, the pattern changed and put some weird L-shaped pieces of block colour in - instead of the alternating strips of colour. I thought this incredibly weird and ignored it and kept with the pattern as set. Now I'm wondering if it looks far too checkerboard ????

There is an I-cord in the red-orange which goes across the back at shoulder-blade level to divide it up a bit, but I'm wondering if frogging is in order.

What do you think?

Elsewhere............ on the Sonata, I've continued to spin up the Corriedale. I now have about 300g spun up in what looks like varying weights!

This is all due to me getting tired at Chale Show - I tend to get sloppy in my drafting. Hey-ho. It all adds to the texture and look of handspun. When I was very new at spinning, I was sometimes criticised for mimicking commercially prepared yarn. Is it a bad thing?

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On Saturday I began another public transport odyssey by bus to see how far I can get away from Portsmouth on a Day Rover Ticket (usually £6.50). After stopping off in Chichester, I got too tired to go further than Midhurst in West Sussex.

So far I've reached:

Brighton to the East (50 miles)
Guildford to the North East (50 miles)
Bath to the North West (80 miles!!)

OK, I spend a LOT of time on a bus, but it gets me out and about for very little outlay, and I get to read a lot of novels.

How about having this great building for your local library? The people of Midhurst do.

Midhurst is the sort of place where people drive cars which cost more than my house - and men wander around in chinos, navy blazers and straw panama hats.

There was one wool shop, but it was closed for the Bank Holiday......typical.

My only craft related purchase of the day was some baby wool to make a cardigan for an expectant colleague's new baby when he/she arrives at the end of September. I haven't done any baby knitting since the 90's when all my friends were having kids, so I'll have to get back into the swing of tiny garments.

I also bought some mega-cheap audio books on tape from a charity chop after reading on CRAFTSTER that some people like to listen while they spin.

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Christmas

2007-08-22T08:18:00.000+01:00

Here are my skeins from Monday, still a little damp, and still in need of a proper soapy wash and condition before they're ready for use. On their second plain water rinse, the colour was leeching out of some of them like mad. The beige skein is nearly back to its original creamy white. Not sure which dye bath that was in - perhaps walnut?

I made up small skeins of very fine Shetland and some double-knit weight Merino.

No plans for the merino exactly, but I did seem to get a variety of milk chocolate shades which might be nice to knit or crochet up 'something' small in future.

I'm especially liking the two shades of purple at the top of the pic (logwood and huckleberries) which I'm hoping will be enough to do some coloured bands in some natural cream Shetland in a lacy scarf.

The bright yellow skein at the bottom is annatto - this is most commonly used as a food colouring in margarine and the like.

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My Scallop Edged Jacket is still progressing slowly. The sleeves are at half length now. Progress is slow because I'm only knitting in my half-hour lunch break. Plus I have so many other things on the needles and on the bobbins!

I've already started another garment in the Twilleys Freedom Spirit. I wish I was less ~~scatterbrained~~ ~~unfocused~~ fickle when it comes to projects.

The jacket is knitted in shades 502 (Fire) and 506 (Air). This is a project for sitting down at home with the yarn around me. Rather than cut random lengths of yarn to make the blocks, I'm just knitting up from the balls.

This means on the back section currently, having 11 balls of wool tangled up around me. Not the easiest of methods, but I don't want to run out of yarn because I've made too many bad judgements on guessing how much yarn to cut off for each section. Plus I'm hoping it will be less to darn in at the end!

So far it's looking good, and the fabric is nice and firm. I have no idea when all of these Projects are going to cease being WIPs and turn into FOs. Everything I put into my blog sidebar has stalled right were it was at that time. Progress = 0%!!!!

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My trip to Dorchester on Saturday was wet and windy and I came home drenched to the skin after battling through the horizontal rain in summer clothes with an inadequate girly umbrella. The ferry was lurching from side to side - in over 20 years, I've never known the car ferry to pitch in such a way. The Commander came over the PA and said it was a combination of wind against the tide. Quite exhilarating for those who like that sort of thing.

My haul from Frank Herring was very modest. I bought a small foam pad for needle felting, and a few spares for my Ashford to have in just in case. Also, some more of the white Corriedale tops to spin up, and a little bleached linen. Our Guild challenge this Christmas is to produce an item not made from wool. I thought I might have a go with some other fibres and actually take part this year.

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I know I've mentioned the dreaded 'C' word in August, but really I should be turning my thoughts to making gifts. Certainly the weather at the moment has prompted longings for winter casseroles, mashed potato, and an extra quilt on the bed. I'm stoically still dressing for summer, but my sandalled feet are begging for socks and boots......

Last year I had loads of plans to make presents which were all abandoned due to lack of time. I still have the pre-felt I made for my sister's felted bag. So at least I have made a start there!

I survived..........

2007-08-21T11:28:00.000+01:00

Contrary to startled reactions at work when I said I was 'dyeing' on Monday - I'm still in the land of the living.

The weather was incredibly kind, despite the unpredictable cloud movement, and we had a dry day right up until we had all packed up to leave.

Coffee was drunk, cake was devoured, and we all had a marvellous time. I was treadling my legs off trying to finish the merino I started to make skeins for dyeing, as I really want to get back to the mammoth Corriedale production as soon as poss. I really need to invest in another couple of bobbins for my Sonata.

Here are the pics, starting with a good selection of spinning wheels:

This year we didn't seem to have as much variety in the colours we yeilded. From what I can remember we used the following dyestuffs:

Logwood
Brazilwood
Mugure
Walnut
Goldenrod
Annetto
Oregano
Huckleberries
Fustic
Griselinia

There were a lot of brown shades. More pics to follow when my skeins have dried. Some of the colours came out very patchy which is a bit annoying after all those hours spent spinning the yarn.

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The vendor list for FIBREFEST is now up on their website. I'm wavering a bit now about travelling down to Devon for it, as there doesn't seem to be much on offer to tempt the spinner. There are a lot of yarn producers and crafts people, but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of 'raw materials'.

Perhaps I'm just suffering from an attack of gloom as the weather here resembles a day in March, and is cold enough to boot. Brrrrrrr and Bah!

Latest Read

2007-08-17T12:32:00.000+01:00

My latest acquisition - courtesy of an Amazon voucher:

Weaving is a whole new ball game and one I haven't even begun to get involved with as yet.

We are lucky enough to have a workshop later on this year with Martin Weatherhead at the Guild. I've only got a 'toy' loom at the moment, but I hope I can learn the principles.

The projects in this book are varied, but a few of them look achievable as a beginner.

I'll have my nose stuck in this over the weekend to work out the sorts of yarn I'll need to spin up for the job.

Cream of the Crop

2007-08-15T08:24:00.000+01:00

My spinning activity continues unabated. I've really got the bug at the moment.

Indigo dyeing was deferred on Saturday as the group was somewhat depleted by folk being off on holiday. Instead we had the usual good natter and a laugh and got a whole lot of spinning done.

I picked up a lonely Ashford Jumbo bobbin that was for sale on the Bring and Buy table. You can never have enough bobbins, that's what I say! It's always the way - you finish spinning two bobbins full and find you don't have an empty one to ply onto.

I was pondering recently about all white fleece being equal - colourwise - and I certainly thought so as my experience of prepared fleece has been Merino, Blue-Faced Leicester, Shetland and Corriedale. When I was spinning with Jane at Chale, she remarked on the honey colour of the Wensleydale, and at the time I couldn't see much to shout about.

Here are the two skeins of Corriedale I plied up last night next to the Wensleydale. The difference in colour of the Wensleydale really looks apparent next to the creamy whiteness of the other skeins. It would definitely be a shame to dye over it despite it being a bit scratchy.

Now I'm wondering if the colour contrast in my eyes is on the blink, or whether I'd just got tent-blind at the time - sitting in a marquee all day being invaded by the smell of garlic and cheese. (Don't ask me why we were demonstrating spinning in the food tent!)

Next on the production line is the moorit Shetland in fine laceweight, seen here in a very out of focus shot!

As I've been spinning for just over a year, I'm still getting a feel for all of the different fibre out there and trying to spin up as much as I can get my hands on to determine which qualities suit which application - ie knitting to be worn close to the skin - suitable for lace - hardwearing for a coat - easy to felt - resistant to pilling etc etc.

Next in line for the spinning experience is some Ryeland. While browsing, I read on an eBay auction recently that this fleece does not felt, which would be a good quality for a garment to have.

Jacky got talking to a chap at Chale Show who in previous years has shorn his Ryeland flock and burned the fleece!!!! Yikes...... I will be giving him a call tonight in an attempt to liberate this year's fleeces as I'm sure some of the newbie spinners like me would love to get their hands on some free fibre to practice with.

I've become really lazy already and have mostly gone for the easy option of spinning ready prepared tops. I need to get myself into a proper routine to wash and prepare my own fleece, as there is usually plenty around on the Island to be had. Some of it is from smallholders who have 'pet' sheep of indeterminate mixed breed, but this is still good to help perfect technique, and use for natural dyeing experiments.

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On the knitting side, I'm still beavering away in my lunch break on the Freedom Spirit jacket. Slowly working my way up the sleeves.

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This Saturday I'm planning a trip to Dorchester to Frank Herring & Son on the train.

I usually have a wander around and look at all of the looms and other equipment I'd like to be able to afford (and house!). Usually I console myself with a restrained purchase of fibre and dyestuff.

It's a really good store for all sorts of arts and crafts - choc-a-block with materials and specialist books. Highly recommended if you're in Dorset anytime.

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A Walk through Cowes

2007-08-10T09:43:00.000+01:00

A slightly busier view of the Cowes Week Regatta.

Join me for an evening wander up the High Street.

The barbecue outside the Pier View:

On The Parade:

The gleaming cannon at the Royal Yacht Squadron:

At the Yacht Haven. You can just spot the iconic Union Jack doors of the old British Hovercraft Building through the penants. This is now the business home of pioneering yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur:

The evening's featured band on the Marina:

More High Street:

'Ello, 'ello, 'ello.......

Waiting for the Floating Bridge to cross the river Medina:

The hoards disembark for a night amongst the revellers:

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The County Show appearance is definitely off, so I will be indigo dyeing at my spinning group tomorrow. Results here next week!

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Sunset over Cowes

2007-08-09T08:10:00.000+01:00

Away from the hustle and bustle of the Cowes Week Regatta where the High Street pubs and restaurants disgorge revellers onto the streets to enjoy the carnival atmosphere; Cowes shows its tranquil side with the sun setting slowly over the Royal Yacht Squadron as the water laps up against the harbour wall and the town is slowly engulfed in dusk.

Long may the fine weather continue!

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On the wheel this week is some lovely fawn Shetland tops which I bought from the Coloured Sheep Breeders Association at Wonderwool Wales.

I'm back on my Ashford Traveller for this job, as I want to keep the skein sizes similar to the other Shetland I've spun up so far.

This is all laceweight in cream, grey and black. The fibre just begs to be spun so finely.

My outing to the County Show looks doubtful this weekend, what with the Foot and Mouth epidemic banning the unnecessary movement of livestock.

My spinning group are planning a day of indigo dyeing, so it would be nice to attend that instead. I need to make up some small skeins for the dye pot before Saturday.

There's some cream merino on some spindles which could be wound off to do the job. I need to improvise a Lazy Kate in a shoebox this evening or next.

The Handmade Factor

2007-08-06T12:57:00.000+01:00

Chale Show was a scorcher on Saturday and Sunday, but not as busy as last year.

I persevered with some Wensleydale I bought in 2006. The people selling it had had it processed into a washed roving at a small mill on the mainland, but there was a lot of VM (Vegetable Matter) amongst it and it was quite matted in parts. I bought it when I was newbie spinner. I know better nowadays. It was hardly worth the effort it took to get it to this state.

It felt very itchy as I wound it into a skein. As a colleague suggested, it might improve with washing and a lot of fabric softener. I thought I might dye it, but it's a nice warm cream colour so it seems a shame. The processing seems to have ruined the qualities of the fleece somewhat. Of course I'm not sure if this was a shearling fleece or not, so it could be the innate quality of the fleece. Although most Wensleydale I've encountered during my time as a spinner has been as soft as Blue-faced Leicester to the touch.

While at the show I was approached by a rep from a local company looking to supplement sales from its store in Ryde with natural Island-made products. She was interested in natural dyed handspun knitting yarn, and whether as a group we generated any handspun yarn for sale. I gave her my card and finally agreed that I'd mention it at our next meeting. I'm not sure she quite grasped what I told her about the labour-intensive process of hand produced yarn and the prohibitive costs it would entail.

As this is a particular soap-box subject dear to my heart, I sat and actually thought about it.

Working things out roughly in my head:

Material Costs: Fibre, dyestuff, mordant.

Labour: Spinning, pre-mordant of yarn(?), prep of dyebath, dyeing, washing, drying, labelling.

Overheads: Heating, lighting, transportation.

The selling price of 50 grams of hand-dyed handspun produced this way would be at least half a days work + costs + overheads. As I said before, unrealistically prohibitive.

What sort of return would you get once the retailer had battled you down to a wholesale price? You'd be paying them to take the yarn off your hands!!

Hence the reason that hardly any yarn or fabric is produced in the UK today, despite us being the main producer of wool for centuries and the industrial North churning out millions of yards of cotton and woollen fabric in the 19th century.

It's a sad fact that many people's buying experiences are of ridiculously inexpensive mass produced imports, and they are so far removed from the actual 'making' processes that take place in textile production; they simply can't imagine why you couldn't hand over a beautiful ball of handcrafted yarn for £3.50.

How often I've heard people walking around Craft Fairs commenting incredulously at the prices being asked for handcrafted items. As a maker, it can be totally disheartening, and it only seems to either drive people out of the creative arts altogether with the eventual loss of the traditional skills; or drive the prices down ridiculously low to selling the items at the cost of materials with no labour charged at all!

I look forward to the time when running with the herd is no longer de rigeur, and people seek out the unique and the handmade and are willing to pay a fair price for the privilege.........

*end of rant*

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My latest spinning includes the finished silk cap I prepared on the tutorial last week plied with some merino. I then plied the excess merino with some left over kingfisher silk for a contrast (just a small skein of this).

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On Friday I visited the exhibition of Vectis Quilters at the beautiful Botanic Gardens at Ventnor.

Unfortunately my camera battery died shortly after I took these shots, so I can't show the variety of quilts on show, more's the pity. There were some beautiful examples, and the hours of labour were very evident in all of them.

Impossible Picot

2007-08-03T08:31:00.000+01:00

I'm used to adding a decorative edge to my knitting after the construction of the main garment piece.

The Freedom Spirit jacket I'm working on uses a scalloped edging pattern which is laid down before the main knitting starts.

What a struggle! Immediately after the cast on, I found myself attempting to yf, k6, pass previous 5 knitted stitches over the first one. It was impossibly tight and I had to resort to fingers to assist. I'm still not convinced it looks the same as the pattern photo.

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At our last Guild meeting we had a demonstration on making Thai jewellery. This was very interesting. From very basic tools and components - waxed thread, fish bones, stones and shells - the Thai chap made really attractive necklaces with pendant beads. Each necklace took around 3 hours to complete. The main knotting principles were macrame based with variations.

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This weeekend I am demonstrating at Chale Show, and it will be my first outing with the Kromski Sonata. Hopefully lugging my kit from field to field will be a breeze with the rucksack arrangement. Projects to do on the day will be to spin up some natural white yarns to skein up for our dyeing day later this month.

The weather forecast looks good, so it should be a fun day for everyone.

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Our Guild swept the board again at the Weald and Downland Rare Breeds competition and came home with 17 rosettes, including the Show champion.

Well done to all of the ladies who entered.

The standard of entries was reportedly higher across all classes this year so it was a good challenge.

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Spun silk

2007-07-26T08:23:00.000+01:00

The product of my silk cap preparation spun up on the bobbin.

Alongside the complementary merino I'll be plying it with.

Should be cheerful enough, and good to display in amongst the more subtle tones of natural coloured wools. I think the skein will be around 60g at a guess and a DK on the fine side.

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This weekend will be the last relatively clear one before the Festival season begins in earnest on the Island.

Last night I volunteered to demonstrate at the County Show, locally known as the Ag Show, on the 11th August. This is the show to visit if you like seeing animals. A new experience for me will be spinning in a tent alongside some real live sheep. Baaaaaa!

The weekend prior to that is Chale Show on the 4th & 5th August. This has become one of the major tent-events on the Island. Lots to see and do, including helicopter rides out over the English Channel, steam traction engines, kids rides and an assortment of stalls and craftspeople.

Last year I came home with a huge bag of sweetcorn cobs that the traders were selling off at the end. Delicious!

Local celebrity, Geoff Hughes - 'Twiggy' in The Royle Family is always quite close to us at the Shows promoting his timber products business.

He's a very friendly chap and always seems willing to pose for photos with the holidaymakers.

Preparing a Silk Cap for Spinning

2007-07-25T09:44:00.000+01:00

Last night I got to work on the silk cap I bought at the Rare Breeds Show. So I thought I'd do a bit of a tutorial on preparing a silk cap for spinning.

The cap is made by soaking the silk cocoon in water and then teasing it out and stretching it over a bamboo hoop. The cap contains many layers. Usually they're white, but the ones I buy from P&M Woolcraft have been rainbow dyed.

Here is the silk cap in its entirety:

At the lower edge of the cap is a thicker crinkly edge which you can see forms the layers:

Start to work around the cap, separating a thin layer from the rest of the cap by peeling it away:

Not all layers come away cleanly, and they may look a bit holey, but this doesn't matter.

Once you've worked your way around the cap, you can pull the layer away:

Each layer will be very filmy. The thinner it is, the easier it will be to draft and less hard on your hands. Silk is tough stuff!

Keep peeling away the layers of the cap until you have a pile of shimmering jewel-like jellyfish. This cap yield was 32 layers.

Place your hands inside each cap layer, and at the crown, work a hole in it with your fingers:

With both hands begin to firmly pull and tease the silk filaments into a loop:

I prepare all of the cap layers this way initially:

It's then up to you how finely you want to draft the roving. I go quite fine, as I usually ply the silk with another fibre like merino. Firmly pull and tug the loop, holding about 6 inches of length between your hands at a time, until the roving is at the desired thickness. Work around the loop until it's nice and even.

NOTE: Watch your hands, as the silk can cut into your fingers if you get a particularly resistant bit. I find that if this happens and you move your hands further apart and tug a little, the fibres will release:

Snap the loop, so that you have one long length:

Through trial and error, I've found the best way to sort the roving is to make a butterfly, winding a figure-of-eight around your thumb and little finger. This minimises the silk's tendency to cling back together again:

And VOILA! A pile of roving ready to spin:

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My latest Spinning

2007-07-24T10:20:00.000+01:00

Last night I finished the first skein coming off my new Kromski Sonata.

This was some peacock blue silk/merino blend I bought from Scottish Fibres at Woolfest.

Although I still currently prefer my Ashford Traveller to spin on - an advantage of the Sonata is the incredible smooth quality of the bobbins.

So often the Ashford bobbins snag when I'm plying and it can be SO ~~bloody annoying~~ frustrating. The Kromski bobbins are as smooth as a baby's bottom.

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Progress on the Scalloped Jacket in Twilleys Freedom continues and I'm now knitting up both sleeves at once. I'm thinking that if I do have extra yarn due to ditching the patch pockets and the back trim, I may have some frogging to do on the body pieces so I can get a few extra rows in as the length looks a bit short, at least on the model in the pattern.

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I'm attending my first committee meeting of the Guild this week.

We're discussing the 2008 programme, and I've been racking my brains to try and think of something I could suggest - either a speaker or a fibre-related workshop. Trouble is - most of the Guild have been around since the year dot - so they've seen it, done it, and bought the tee-shirt!

If anyone knows of any good UK speakers out there that my colleagues might not have encountered, then please let me know.

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Rare Breeds Show - Singleton

2007-07-23T13:19:00.000+01:00

So, the weather held for the Weald & Downland Show on Sunday. Some UK residents haven't been so lucky with the floods spreading , and the television flood shots from Gloucestershire have been really shocking. It makes me thankful that I live near the top of a hill, nowhere near a river at times like this.

I arrived early, so was in time to see some of the judging in the Sheep section.

There was so much bleating that it was like being trapped in an episode of Shaun the Sheep... very funny!

These cattle were magnificent. Look how short they are. Like a folk art painting.

I managed to take a couple of shots of the Alpaca on display - looking a little less cute than usual as they'd all been shorn.

Love the hairdo on this little chap!

My haul was discreet from this show. Not as much for the spinner as there was last year, and even P&M Woolcraft's stall was a little depleted. I bought another silk cap [I'm addicted] and some toning merino to ply with. A small 20g ball of dyed bamboo to play around with from the High Weald Fibre Factory and a miniature niddy noddy from an independent woodturner which will come in handy when I'm making up finer or smaller skeins for the dyepot.

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Oh blogger!

2007-07-18T15:24:00.000+01:00

I was just thinking yesterday that Blogger had been extraordinarily well behaved lately.

Now changes to my Template don't appear on the blog, but they're there on the template. Comment counts are showing zero when there are comments to the post.

Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon. STOP PRESS.: Yay! It's fixed.

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Not sure if I mentioned previously, but I've acquired a new wheel thanks to an unexpected mini-windfall of cash from work.

Weary of humping around my super little workhorse, the Ashford Trav, plus chair, plus basket & bags from the car to the middle of fields on demonstration days; I resolved to buy myself a proper folding wheel.

Ladies at my Guild have an assortment of folding wheels - Ashford Joy - Louet - Lendrum. The Ashford Joy is way too low for the way I work, and the other wheels just didn't appeal somehow - looks or price-wise. I wanted something with an orifice at a comfortable height.

The Kromski Sonata spec looked like it might fit the bill, the price was very reasonable and the rucksack was free. So I'm now a novice owner after buying one from Winghams.

The wheel is pretty straight forward to set up, but I'm having to get used to one of those stretchy plastic drive bands and double treadle which seem a bit weird at first. I haven't spun anything up on it as yet, despite it being taken up North and back in the boot of the car [blame the crochet]. It's all ready to go now, and I really need to get to grips with it as I'll be using it at our next demo which is at the beginning of August at Chale Show.

The thing I'm liking especially about it is the rucksack - both hands free - and the capacity of the bobbins. They'll hold more than the regular Ashford size, so that'll be good for getting a better length skein when I'm spinning laceweight.

I picked up some chestnut Shetland at Wonderwool and I want to spin some of that up to go with my cream, grey and chocolate. I then plan to attempt a 4-coloured lace shawl in the natural shades.

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Singleton Rare Breeds Show is this Sunday at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. I wasn't sure whether I'd be free to go or not, so if I do, it won't be with the rest of the Guild who've hired a coach, but on public transport. I've discovered a bargain combined ticket on Stagecoach from Portsmouth which includes all day bus travel and entrance to the site.

Despite winning my class in the spinning competition last year and bagging a rosette for my Novice skein, I'll now be up against all of the more established spinners. Far too daunting a prospect this time around, so I've not entered anything.

The weather forecast looks promising, but I'll make up my mind for sure when I see the sky on Sunday. It's an outdoor event with marquees, and would be pretty miserable traipsing around in the rain.

Singers, Salty Sea Dogs and Sailing Ships

2007-07-17T11:53:00.000+01:00

On my last trip to the mainland, Queen Mary 2 was in port.

Cruising holds no appeal for me - but the huge liners that come into port are very impressive.

Previously I took this photo of Sea Princess, berthed in Southampton, looking across from the West Quay shopping centre.

QM2 is even better looking than the QE2 in my opinion. It has a more classic line. I still miss the sight of the Royal Yacht Britannia and the accompanying Royal Navy battleship berthed off Cowes during Cowes Week.

It got me thinking about how lucky I am to live so near to the sea. Sometimes living on an island can get me down a bit. Even though I've lived most of my life here, I still like to escape and spread my wings in the wide open spaces of the mainland. Even then it's hard to stray far from the coast.

I had a trawl through some of my archived pics. Here's a couple of Weymouth - around the old harbour area - looking to all intents and purposes as if a tall ship from The Onedin Line is just off shot, about to sail into port. [Aside from the 21st century people walking about of course.] The actual location for the TV series was Bayards Quay in Dartmouth. A bit far west for my daily meanderings.

As a very small child, this cult ocean going TV series of the 1970's had me totally enthralled and 'in lurve' with Peter Gilmore as Captain James Onedin - [must have been those mutton-chop sideburns] He completely rivalled french singer Sacha Distel as my One True Love. There's no figuring out the individual nature of attraction when one is so young and impressionable.

The memorable theme tune to The Onedin Line was Spartacus Suite No. 2: Adagio of Spartacus & Phrygia by Khachaturian. A really great stirring piece of music.

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As July races through its final weeks, the preparations for Skandia Cowes Week build, and Cowes fills up with yachty types down for the sailing, spilling out of the pubs onto the pavement, emptying the cashtills and filling the streets with people clad in crew clothing, deck shoes and waterproofs.

When my family first moved over here we begged to be taken to Cowes, but as it was off-season, you could have safely fired a cannon down the High Street and gathered no casualties. Let's just say we were seriously underwhelmed!

Now things are more year-round, and sailing seems to be even more popular. Cramming onto the Parade for the Friday night fireworks is still the big Cowes Week tradition. Not to be missed if you're over for a visit during early August.

Scallop Trim Jacket - Progress

2007-07-16T12:17:00.000+01:00

I've completed the back and am now onto the left front of the jacket.

The yarn is a bit tricky as it's two distinct singles plied up, and the twist in each single is very loose. Split stitches stand out like a sore thumb, so I can't fly along in stocking stitch like I would normally.

I'm liking the random striping of the yarn so far, and the fabric is nice and firm and should be warm to wear.

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I missed my regular spinning group again this month due to a diary clash, so instead I thought I'd check out the Southampton Stitch and Bitch group that meet in Borders. I wonder where they were??? I lurked in the Starbucks area for quite a time, but gave up in the end.

I've toyed with the idea of trying to get a knitting group going on the Island, but don't know how many takers I'd get, or if I could find a suitable venue. I should look into this a bit more......

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Flowers from an Admirer?

2007-07-11T08:26:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I received a message at work to pop down to main Reception. When I arrived, there was a small bouquet of flowers waiting.

Be still my beating heart?

No...... they were from some of the team I work for, thanking me for the complicated event I organised before I went on leave.

Here they are inexpertly crammed into the only tall vase I own. The poor things were fighting for space all evening as I heard rustling sounds from time to time as I sat knitting.

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I completed my tension square for the Freedom Spirit Jacket last evening, and it was almost spot on. Result! it seems ages since I knitted with needles as small as 3.25 and 4mm - such is the popularity of chunky wool.

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Latest Knitting

2007-07-10T14:02:00.000+01:00

One of the easier projects I have underway at the moment is what I'm calling a Scrap Stole.

This is made from random yarns in complementary shades and knitted lengthways on a circular needle in garter stitch. I don't have enough yarn to make a fringe from each different ball - so I'll be making that from a fresh one to blend in.

It had a good reception at the last Guild meeting, so it must have looked OK.... there was much debate as to whether a fringe was required and the concensus was 'yes'. That'll be the final stage.

Next to go on the needles is a jacket in Twilleys Freedom Spirit.

Oh that I was that thin, and that young again! :o)

Not sure about the patch pockets on the front - I'd rather add that extra yarn to the length of the jacket, but I like the picot-style edged trim around the shawl collar. This is also across the back of the jacket to make a yoke - not sure about that either! But I love the way the striping yarn is mismatched and contrasts on the lacy edges.

I've chosen shade 508, the Bliss colourway. It's pure wool and only £2.90 a ball. Not bad.

I'll definitely have to do a tension square for this (I'm naughty and usually don't bother.) It's been a while since I've knitted something that's produced such a stable fabric - it will really make a difference if I'm not matching the stated tension.

Hopefully it won't get consigned to my On The Needles 'percentage bar limbo' that all the other jackets have ended up in.

Chantel complete - woo hoo! ......and WOOLFEST 2007

2007-07-09T12:26:00.001+01:00

There's been silence on the blog for some time now. This has been due to pressure of work in the Day Job [damned inconvenient!]

There was so much to do on the run up to my 7 days off work, plus I was valiantly trying to finish Chantel for my Mum's birthday. It was designed by my favourite of Rowan's designers, Kim Hargreaves. This is unusually colourful for Kim, as she tends to favour the decorative element of her designs to come from the stitch pattern. She's also an advocate of moss-stich (seed-stitch) which I adore.

Chantel takes 10 assorted balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I built up my stash by cannily buying KSH up in the Sales.

Every spare minute I was whipping out the crochet hook and getting on with another of the 100 granny squares that make up the stole. On the ferry, on the bus, on the train, in my lunch break, in Starbucks........

This is my first crochet project, and allowing for a slow start [45 mins work per square, which got faster to 30 mins per square when more competent] a very conservative estimate for the time spent on this project was 110 hours of work. My Mum rightly called it a 'labour of love'. It's certainly what you'd call an heirloom piece.

I had to confess to Mum that I was working on it when I arrived for my 'holiday' as I needed every spare minute of my visit to work on it [including car journeys and during a sit-down at Woolfest], and didn't actually finish it until the day after her birthday, when I woke at 05:30 to finish the fringing in time for her to take it away on holiday with her.

Some squares 'in the raw' - complete with wildly differing tension!

The completed garment.

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While I was up North I went to Wonderwool in Cockermouth, Cumbria. I chose to go on the Friday again this year, and weatherwise, it turned out to be a good decision as it stayed dry while I was there. Even so, the skies were ever-threatening:

It was equally as enjoyable as last year, with a good variety of stalls to suit all interests, crochet, knitting, spinning and weaving. A show like this is ideal if you're thinking of investing in a new wheel or loom and aren't sure what to go for. There was a lot of knitting yarn, and plenty of inspiring exhibits. I was fascinated by the antique sock machines on display, like a tiny circular knitting machine.

My haul from this year's show was miniscule compared to last year, but I'm almost complete in the spinning equipment area now after 12 months of working out what I needed, so I just bought a few things that caught my eye and a couple of Wishlist items.

Clockwise from the top left: Stahman's Shawls & Scarves by Myrna Stahman (wishlist no. 1), some kingfisher Silk and Merino Blend from Scottish Fibres, some red, navy and gold Baby Camel and Silk Blend, some cream and pink Cashmere yarn; one green and one sky-blue silk cap from P&M Woolcraft, a supported spindle (only previously glimpsed in US ads in Spin-Off - wishlist no. 2) and a lucet with detachable bobbin. Finally, after seeing a lovely moebius scarf made up in Alpaca at the Lewes Needlework Festival earlier in the year, the Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bhordi ended up in the pile too. I also bought some reduced price odd shades of Merino fibre from Winghams to add to my felting stash.

So far I've been working on the green silk cap, turning it into skinny roving ready to spin, and have cut my little finger up at the joint - ouch! - that silk is STRONG. I also made a centre-pull ball of the cream cashmere on my noste'.

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Jane Austen's House - Chawton

2007-06-07T15:50:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-06T13:30:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

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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Welsh Odyssey - 2. Scary Armchair to Woven Treasure

2007-05-22T17:09:00.000+01:00

My journey then took me from mid Wales into Snowdonia and North Wales.

I was really impressed with the Welsh roads. From my childhood memory they were as bad as the roads on the Island (and that's bad!). Now they are all smooth and well maintained. Speeds are clearly shown and the road signage is the best. You won't get lost in Wales.

I had a bit of a scary moment going through one village, a car towing a trailer pulled out from a side road and went on ahead of me - half a mile down the road he was accelerating, being familiar with the roads, and I was so glad he'd made some distance between us. The next thing that happened was a large armchair bounced out of the trailer and bounded down the road towards me. Luckily I'd spotted what was going to happen as if in slow motion, as the chair first began its escape from the trailer, so I was almost at a stop. My guardian angel was definitely looking after me that day.

I reached Trefriw mid afternoon and was delighted to be given a lovely special tour by Morgan Williams, who showed me the carding, spinning, plying and weaving processes. It was so much more involved than I'd imagined and the machinery was on such a massive scale.

Bales of wool in the lower shed:

The wool is 'blown' upstairs into large holding bins - this is a mix which turns out a soft grey:

Then loaded into the hopper on the carding machine:

Then carded on increasingly fine-toothed heavy rollers:

Cunningly scraped off the rollers into a sliver which is hoisted into the air transported overhead, and laid down crosswise:

Then to be passed through a second set of carding rollers. This wool is CARDED!

Here's a shot of Morgan fixing a drive band - this shows the huge scale of the carding machine - this shot shows only half of the length of machinery that the fibre is passed through. The rollers are heavy mahogany.

Here's a shot of a roller totally gunked up with grease (the dark skinny one in the middle). Cleaning this is a BIG heavy job as the rollers have to be manhandled off the supports and the clogged roller scraped manually .

The yarn is eventually drawn off into fine pencil rovings - sadly my shots of this didn't come out.

Then it's off to be spun on a huge spinning mule, the whole width of the factory floor.

Then the cops are drawn off onto cones:

Then the cones are plied:

After this the yarn is too tight on the bobbins to take dye, so they are drawn off into hanks and tied by hand.

The first stage of the weaving process is winding the warp:

Here are several shots of the looms, with tweed and traditional Welsh patterns in production:

After such an interesting and informative tour, I was also shown the nearby small spinning and weaving workshop which is open during the summer months, and browsed around the large shop.

There were a lot of antique spinning wheels on show. Here's one display:

All in all Trefriw Mill is well worth a visit, I received such a warm welcome. Lots to see if you're a bit of a fibre processing anorak like myself, and a nice large tea room. If I'd have had time I could have taken the footpath up into the hills and looked down from the site of the old mill higher up. The Williams family have done a lot of research into the history of the mill and this can be seen in the Turbine Room.

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My Welsh Odyssey - 1. The Curse of Colinette

2007-05-22T16:33:00.001+01:00

I was up with the lark last Thursday, on the 06:15 ferry and off on my journey to Colinette.

I usually use Multimap.com directions which have been really reliable in the past, but this time even driving a Porsche on an open road wouldn't have got me to my destination in their timescale. Phew!

I finally reached the little trading estate alongside the Llanfair to Welshpool Light Railway around noon.

I rang the bell and was admitted to the yarn version of Aladdin's Cave. After staring at the sumptious yarns on offer, I decided to be very businesslike and track down my most wanted yarn and fight off the lure of any other.

Hence my purchase of some Skye - this makes excellent felted bags - the destination of this little lot.

Of course, resistance is futile, and I was drawn by the siren-call of some cotton chenille in the Forest colourway. I needed 6 to make a boxy jacket. That's when the Curse of Colinette struck. Whenever I've decided on making a garment - they're always one skein short of my preferred colour. I quit while I was ahead and exited, stage-left, clutching my bag of Skye before I committed myself to another colour that I was bound to hate when I got it home.

I then headed off to my next port of call - Trefriw Woollen Mill........

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Spinning for a full 12 months

2007-05-11T10:54:00.001+01:00

Well I did it - I gathered all of my production since I first picked up a spindle last May for a photo shoot.

First we have the cream Merino - STILL on the spindles....

Just remembered I have some chocolate brown Merino on another spindle which has eluded my roll call.

Various weights of Blue-Faced Leicester:

Various natural shades of laceweight Shetland:

My recent Silk & Wool mixes:

Finally my mini-skeins from various dyeing days. (My first attempts at spinning on an Ashford Trad are the 'textured' skeins at the top):

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National Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Week

2007-05-10T14:01:00.000+01:00

I'm really into the construction of yarn, and whenever companies like Rowan bring out a new line I stand in John Lewis and surreptitiously tease the ply apart to see how it's been constructed. One of their 2006 summer range, Natural Silk Aran, was so incredibly detailed. Four-plied, with one of the plies highly coloured with tiny little flecks. How they get machines to manufacture it I just can't imagine. I think a trip to Rowan HQ may be in order, perhaps a mini-break idea for 2008........?

I used to think that high-end yarns like Colinette and Rowan were really expensive, but now I'm involved in the whole yarn making process, I realise the amount of effort that goes into some of these products.

I've had this book for a long time, but dug it out last night determined to immerse myself in some technical detail in honour of National Spinning Week.

The Yarn Book by Penny Walsh has just the right mix of history, technical detail (for yarn geeks like me) and technique. There's a fair bit about S and Z twist and their effects in plied yarn - something that I'm still not sure I've grasped completely. Lots of different types of fibres and techniques for making snarled yarns, over twisted, boucle effects, some colour effects in the carding process too. All in all a really good little reference book which I recommend.

Robin Hill Garden Show

2007-05-09T18:27:00.000+01:00

Well, the weather couldn't have been more unfortunate for this event. Gale force winds in the Channel meant that the exposed parts of the Island were hit by fairly gusty winds and drizzle.

I attended Sunday and Monday in the end. Sunday was a breezy day, but the rain held off. We were positioned in the Craft Tent, and it was a bit draughty. I was woefully under-dressed in summery clothes where it has been so temperate recently. I ended up making use of one of Sue's exhibits - a merino and alpaca shawl - nice and cosy. Shame about my feet, chilling in their flip-flops.

Here's our set up, with my abandoned Traveller to the far right of the pictures.

I was going to take some pictures of the other tents and exhibits on the Monday - but it wasn't the sort of weather you wanted to stand out in for any number of minutes. We had to take down all of the display we'd hung on the walls of the marquee as they'd become wet in the overnight downpour.

I managed to spin and ply another full bobbin of lace-weight grey shetland, and a half-skein of the turqoise silk and wool. One of these days I may take a peg loom with me to a demonstration day and get more into my weaving.

Several people approached us and asked about giving talks in schools and to groups - that would be such a dream job - waffling on about the joy of fibre for a living. While I'm stuck on the treadmill of full time work, servicing my mortgage - that time looks a long way off!

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As I never get to go on what you'd call a proper holiday (a full-board week in the sun type-of-thing), I'm planning some mini-breaks this year that incorporate finding out more about my current love - fibre and spinning.

With this in mind I'm in the process of planning a weekend break to encompass Wonder Wool Wales and while I'm up country try to get to Trefriw Woollen Mill to see mechanised wool production from start to finish and the Brynkir Woollen Mill near Porthmadog. Then Colinette's Millshop for the headrush of all that colour. Finally the Cambrian Woollen Mill in Llanwrtyd Wells with Winder Wool in between.

I'm hoping I can fit this all into 3 days, but may have to stretch to 3 nights away if it looks too impossible. There don't seem to be many direct roads in Wales and I'm sure I can remember from my childhood that it's exceptionally twisty, bumpy and mountainous. Scary!

If Artis-Anne or any other Welsh residents stop by and read this, please could you let me know if these places are worth a visit, or indeed if my plans to drive all over Wales in 3 days are extremely naive! :o)

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I'm finding it hard to contain my excitement, as after some months of umm-ing and aah-ing, penny pinching and saving, I've decided to buy myself a proper travelling wheel that folds up.

I've gone for the Kromski Sonata from Wingham Woolwork and can't wait for it to arrive. No more struggling to carry a folding chair, an Ashford Traveller, a basket and a carrier bag from field to Showground. Wheel in a backpack - both hands free! It'll also fit neatly into the car when I'm travelling and not take up all of the boot space.

I'm not sure how I'll get on with double-treadling, but after the burning sensation in my right leg on Sunday night after 6 hours spinning I'm hoping it'll even out the stress on my poor old knees. Here's hoping.

I may do something mad tonight - gather up all of my spinning so far - almost 12 months worth and shock myself into starting to knit something up. I think there may be quite a lot.

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Colour Production

2007-05-01T17:26:00.001+01:00

After my endless yards of natural spun fleece, I've gone colourful.

Last year at the Weald & Downland Rare Breeds Show, I bought some silk caps and a hankie.

You can see above that I've already prepped the orange cap.

On Saturday at the Guild AGM, I bought some tangerine merino from Ann & Jill (Ewe Too) which blended perfectly with the single of silk.

I whipped the merino into a single in double quick time watching re-runs of Inspector Morse on Freeview.

The resulting plied yarn looks startlingly colourful, but nice, in an orangey way.

I also prepped my silk hankies from the Lewes purchases at Guild, and got to work on the blotchy one - plying that with some burgundy merino(?) from my fibre stash.

At the Guild AGM I was voted onto the committee - but apparently my committments won't be much more than my currrent involvement.

We also had a workshop with Ewe Too making Dorset Buttons. These were tricky to get into the swing of, but once we'd grasped the concept it was just a case of getting into a rhythm. We made a crosswheel.

There are a lot of pattern varieties, and we saw some beautiful examples made by Marion Howitt.

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Surfing around yesterday, I was dismayed (not) to see a website promoting another UK fibre festival (my purse, and the mileage on my car winced as my eyes lit up.....)

Fibrefest will be held in Devon on the 1st & 2nd September this year, neatly dovetailing at the end of the Great Dorset Steam Fair which is, afterall, only in the neighbouring county!

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This weekend I'll be demonstrating at the Robin Hill Garden Show so we're hoping that the weather will continue to be dry (an overnight shower might be nice for the garden in the meantime!) This is a new outing for the Guild, and it'll be interesting to have a walk around when we get to stretch our legs.

I haven't decided what to take to spin yet, but I did acquire a couple of local Dorset shearling fleeces last evening which will need washing and some work before I can get going. That might be something interesting to do, as I usually spin from prepped tops, so folk only get to see the spinning part of the process.

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Lewes Needlework Festival

2007-04-27T12:07:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I escaped from work and took an epic journey by Bus to Lewes for the Needlework Festival.

I was very restrained and came away with a few remnants, threads and silk fibre.

I plan to make a bag with the dark green velvet and the leaf patterned fabric.

I had a conversation with Jay from the East Sussex Guild, they're holding an Exhibition in the Autumn which is usually attended by the Island Guild - not heard news of this yet though.

Having a walk around Lewes afterwards my nose was alerted by a strong malty smell, and sure enough I was very close to a local Brewery.

The town was awash with curio and antique shops with multiple floors of collectables - so many that even I started to flag after a while!

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Last weekend was the Queen's birthday - so Osborne House was flying the Union Jack. I wish that us locals could get closer, but the estate is quite large, hence the misty shot across the fields.

On my way home later I noticed that the summer site of the local car boot sale had some new inhabitants and I couldn't resist a closer look.

Mum was very wary in this shot and stood giving me hard stare for quite a while. The little black lambs are so sweet.

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Toworrow is the Guild AGM, and also we're being taught Dorset Buttons by Ewe Too who are visiting. I haven't any completed work for the Challenge Cups this year, so I'll be doing a lot of admiring instead.

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Long Weekend

2007-04-05T15:44:00.001+01:00

Hurrah! 4 whole days off work start tomorrow...... the sun is shining.... the weather is warm. It's all looking good for an excellent Island Bank Holiday weekend. Buckets and spades at the ready. not that I'll be appearing on any beach anytime soon - unless I'm collecting driftwood or shells.

The latest issue of Interweave Knits for Spring 2007 dropped onto my mat from the US yesterday.

That will keep me busy over several cups of coffee this weekend. I'll be attempting to finally dye up some yarn and actually knit something from my handspun at long last.

I'll also be trying to set up my wheel with the Jumbo Flyer that I borrowed from the Guild and spinning something textural. Anything to draw me away from laceweight!

A very Happy Easter to all readers of my blog.

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Laid Low by Lurgy

2007-03-29T14:49:00.000+01:00

I've given up on my new look blog style as visitors to my blog have declined to a big fat zero since I swapped to the new style and lost most of my sidebar info. It's supposed to be easier in the new format? My brain must be wired up the wrong way in that case. I'll try and master some more html and stick with this look for now.

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Back in the land of the living having been confined to bed for the past 72 hours with a terrible head-cold. Daytime re-runs of Lovejoy, Midsomer Murders and Poirot. Plenty of something-on-toast until the bread ran out. Necessity forced me out of the house into the gloriously hot temperature where I was completely overdressed in jumper and winter coat. So, now back at work and it's as if I've never been away.

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Work on my projects has not progressed at all due to illness and not being able to concentrate on keeping knitting patterns on the straight and narrow.

This Saturday is the monthly Guild meeting. We have a speaker this month talking to us about Flax Preparation and Traditional Rope Making. This will be very interesting as I'm quite into the history of the whole business of yarn and fabric production.

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A quick mention for my friend Gill who has just found out she's to become a grandmother for the first time. Congrats to her and John! I'd better find my baby patterns........

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Alum Conundrum

2007-03-22T11:17:00.000Z

Well, I bought some Alum on special order from a local chemists as nowhere seems to stock it locally. When it arrived it looked unlike the Alum I'd seen on the web - not white powder at all - but like tiny clear granules. I was worried then... what if it wasn't the right thing? Did I really want to go boiling this stuff up when it might have disasterous consequences?

A quick question posed on a science forum thankfully allayed my fears - the stuff I have is the same, but it's been purified to reach European standards, hence the clarity. I can mordant at the weekend with confidence! (I hope)

I won't go recommending it to anyone until I can show my results though.

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The weather remains cold and drizzly on the Island, and I feel like I'm definitely coming down with a cold. Curses....... Just when I thought I'd avoided all the plagues of lurgy that had been going around at work. That's air conditioning for you. THERE IS NO ESCAPE. The most unhealthy environment for human beings - ever. Pah!

In my old office, with old-fashioned radiators and windows that you could open for fresh air, I survived month after month without falling prey to any germs.

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A Vintage Wool Shop and very Vintage Felting

2007-03-20T11:02:00.000Z

At the weekend, I happened to be on the mainland, so I took advantage of the opportunity to check out a so far unvisited town on the South Coast.

I headed off to Christchurch in Dorset, as I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a wool shop in town.

Behold! Honora Wool Specialists in the High Street.

What an Aladin's Cave for the knitter - a survivor since the 1940's. Chocked floor to ceiling with knitting yarns of every description, notions, buttons.... just like the wool shops of my childhood - and they put wool by for you, so you can spread the cost. Purchases were rung up on an old style cash register which rang as you pushed down the keys - like an old typewriter action. (Showing my age now!) I told the lady behind the counter that I must be in heaven.

After a few restrained purchases (cerise shell buttons, a bodkin, and a shawl pin) I explored the rest of the town and was lucky enough to find a wooden maiden (aka a clothes horse) in a charity shop - just the thing for drying yarn. Then I made my way back to the car park adjacent to the Priory and happened across Place Mill on the Quay.

The Mill is now a Craft Centre, but my time was short, so further investigations will have to wait until another time.

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I'm now onto the cast off of My So Called Scarf - so one of my creative objectives is complete from last weeks list.

I'm ready to take delivery of some alum, so will have my first go at mordanting some wool at the weekend, when I plan to do some actual dyeing and not just talk about it!

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Trying to get to grips with the new blogger format, but am having to get my head around coding the new template. Every time I change it I lose loads of my side bar and can't work out how to replace the info yet.... bah........ need a more techy-head on my shoulders.

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Knitting Progress

2007-03-14T13:38:00.000Z

Here's some of my knitting progress. First up - latest version of My So-Called Scarf knitted in Debbie Bliss Maya:

Next, the back and sleeve of the Malabrigo Jacket knitting up to a Colinette Point Five pattern. Not sure on the shade, but it might be Damask. I'm using this doubled, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have enough to complete it!

Then a cardigan in Colinette Tagliatelle (Venezia), this is almost complete:

Lastly, the Barra jacket in Rowan Soft Tweed (005 Twig) from the Classic Winter booklet that I started back last Summer... hardly any progress (and not a good picture either).

My obsession with Moss Stitch (Seed Stitch) continues apace.

I have all of the buttons sorted for these knits too - so there is no excuse to finish other than long dark evenings which sap enthusiasm and motivation.

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Recently I took delivery of some Easy Dye yarns from Ros at 'Forest Fibres' on eBay. Some lovely muted shades which should suit the scarf project I have planned for the Guild Challenge.

When I looked out my KoolAid - the colours would have been far too strong.

Lambs and the Lunar Eclipse

2007-03-08T18:10:00.000Z

I'm lucky enough to see a lot of wildlife on my lunchtime walk.

Currently we have lambs in the fields adjacent to my work place. Here are a few shots I took of them last week sheltering from the wind.

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Last weekend there was a lunar eclipse, and I captured a couple of amateurish shots with my little cybershot.

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This weekend I'm planning to do some dyeing of my laceweight Shetland. I'm planning to knit a lace scarf as an entry into one of the challenge cups at the Guild AGM in April.

I've actually been progressing on some of my knitting, so must take some photos during daylight hours.

Red Sky in the Morning

2007-02-27T13:56:00.000Z

A gratuitous shot of an early morning Isle of Wight sky to make this post more visually interesting.

The nights are getting shorter now thank goodness, and there's a real feeling of Spring in the air. That should herald the onset of snow! lol.

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At our monthly Guild meeting on Saturday we were planning the calendar for this year, talking about the Shows we'll be attending this Summer and about WonderWool Wales and Woolfest. Our Secretary announced that this year might be the last Woolfest due to funding running out - not sure if anyone has heard similar?

I'm hoping to attend both Mainland wool festivals, and building in a trip to a mill or two while I'm at it.

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Progress is slow on the knitting and spinning currently. I'm still trapped in 'Laceweight Land' spinning yards and yards for hours and hours. I need to get on and do some dyeing of my natural Shetland and knit up a lace scarf for the competitions which are held at the AGM in April.

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I'm now on the New Blogger, but haven't had time to investigate the potential for improving my Blog. I fancy a new look, but not sure if this will be easy to do or will result in much gnashing of teeth.

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Spindle Tuition

2007-02-06T08:42:00.000Z

Eeeek! Last night I gave my very first pupil a lesson in spindle spinning.

A new lady who's been coming to the Guild meetings was interested in getting into making her own yarn, and a spindle was the space-saving, portable option that attracted her.

Needless to say, I had teething problems with the rather coarse prepared fleece she'd acquired, and the fleece slipped from the leader on my first attempt to wind-on. After a few false starts we were underway, and she managed to spin a few metres by the end of the evening.

Spindle spinning can be frustrating when you're a beginner - the broken yarn - the tangles - but if you can persevere through this stage it gets to be quite a relaxing and therapeutic activity. Just the thing to do when you're looking at the TV and don't really need to pay too much attention to the programme, or chatting with friends.

All I need to do now is get on with plying the spindles I've filled with merino and get something knitted up. I may even do something with my stash of Kool Aid - a bit of rainbow dyeing perhaps?

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Post-Christmas Teddies

2007-01-31T12:45:00.000Z

Our Monthly Guild meeting was held on Saturday.

Last autumn, we were asked to create tiny teddies for one of the many Chrismas Trees that are decorated every year in the village church of Brighstone

Here they all are waiting to be returned to their owners. Knitted or crocheted from handspun, or needle felted from fleece.

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We also had a talk from Alan Flux, a fashion designer who currently works with the VSO in Bangladesh, India and Mongolia.

He showed us many examples of the needlework, weaving and feltmaking from these regions of the world.

You can read about Alan's work here and see the fairtraded felted bags that are produced in Mongolia here on the Ganesha website.

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Spinning and Knitting prduction has been shelved recently in favour of very early Spring Cleaning and/or general Hibernation.

Today it is brilliant sunshine, but the nights are still long and dark. Daylight hours are spent at work toiling over a hot PC and telephone.

Roll on that lottery win!

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Sunshine, and the Calm after the Storm

2007-01-19T10:52:00.000Z

Yesterday was an exciting weather day all over the UK with Storm Force winds battering the country.

The BBC had a news reporter down in Portsmouth, and I had phone calls from relatives expecting tales akin to the Hurricane of 1987. Apparently the BBC had reported that the Island was cut off, and that no ferries were operating. This was a touch of media sensationalism, as the Wightlink car ferry was running all day - albeit on an odd sort of timetable.

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Finally I've found my camera lead. So here are some pics from the Guild Christmas party.

First off is Joy, weaving on an Iron Age replica loom that she and her husband built.

Next is the Christmas challenge - to make and decorate a mask using handspun or fleece.

The winner was Carol with her Geisha mask - strung on a woven frame made during a one-day basket making class.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

Bright Sunshine

2007-01-10T14:52:00.000Z

Sun streaming into the office today, and my first post of 2007.

Still not found my camera lead, so I have pictures stranded on there of the Guild Christmas challenge participants and my WIPs on the needles.

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Christmas passed quietly, and my planned trip to London was cancelled due to technical problems on the very ferry I needed to take to make my coach connection in Portsmouth. That put paid to any Stash building at John Lewis and Liberty.

I consoled myself with a trip to Dorchester in a howling gale, and bought some Shetland tops to start spinning for a project I have in mind.

I was very restrained in the yarn sales and bought some Rowan Cotton Glace using a refund voucher at John Lewis.

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Our first Spinsters meeting on Saturday was affected again by terrible weather conditions. I spent a good few hours listening to everyone's conversations and spinning up some laceweight black shetland (which is really a bitter chocolate colour). I'm beginning to think that the wise words from the Guild ladies is true - once you can spin very finely, you can't go back to thick! I'm hoping that this depends on the fibre you're spinning with..... watch this space.

A Very Merry Christmas.......

2006-12-22T11:44:00.000Z

..... and a Happy New Year.

To all readers of my blog.

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In 2007, I resolve to post more regularly, with more pics!

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Long time no blog!

2006-12-13T11:58:00.000Z

I can't quite believe that I haven't posted to the blog for nearly a month.

Work has been fraught, and lot of things have been happening healthwise too. Turns out I have numerous food intolernaces after being tested. So now I'm trying to get well and avoid the excesses of Christmas with all of its dairy, eggs, nuts and yeast!

On the creative front, a lot of things have gone by the wayside in my plans for Christmas makes. I still have my sister's felted bag to make, and I've so far made part of the clasp and some pre-felt for the poppy on the front. My kidsilk crocheted stole has been moved to become a birthday present for my Mum next year.

Happily I am nearly sorted with all of my Christmas shopping, so I can avoid the last minute Christmas crush in the shops. Cards are mostly posted, and gifts need wrapping. I try and leave that until the last minute, as it really makes me feel Christmassy.

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The Guild Christmas lunch was last Saturday. I was worried that I'd find myself with little choice on my new restrictive eating regime, but the spread was fabulous. Everyone brought things in - quiches, terrines, cooked meats, and the variety of salads were stunning. Puddings were a bit trickier for me, but there was a large fruit jelly and chopped fruit platter. I ate like a queen!

There was a competition for the best handspun/felted mask. I took some pics on my other camera, and when I get the lead sorted I'll post the evidence. The mask I voted for won. It was a geisha face on a handwoven twig frame, with skein hair and knitting needles. Sounds bizarre, but looked fab!

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Currently on the needles is a Colinette cardigan in Tagliatelli. I'm almost finished, and near to the dreaded bit I hate - sewing up!

On my wheel, I'm spinning up some 'black' Shetland tops. They actually come up a lovely deep chocolate brown. After my hundreds of metres of cream Shetland laceweight, I'm now trying to make more chunky fibre again, so I'm going for an aran-weight.

Not much on....

2006-11-16T16:00:00.000Z

Very slow on the knitting and spinning front. Too busy studying this week - having to hit the books with a vengance tonight. Hopefully next week I'll be able to get back to some crafting.

I made some body scrub last night for a birthday gift, that was nice and quick to do. I much prefer cosmetics which are as natural as possible.

In the interim, here's another scarf:

This one is in Wendy Frizzante in the Porpora shade, I used stocking stitch, and ripped it out after the first time as it was far too long and skinny! This didn't have the same tendency to curl as the heavy eyelash yarns.

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We're having a Book Sale at work for Children in Need tomorrow, and I'm hoping I'll spot some needlework books to buy, but it's usually all novels. People tend to hang on to their non-fiction.

The Briary - George Frederick Watts

2006-11-13T15:07:00.000Z

After my trip to Compton a week or so ago, I was musing on the existence of The Briary - the house that GF Watts built on the Island in Freshwater.

On Friday I thought I'd take a trip over to the West Wight and look around for it. After drawing a blank I thought I'd go to Dimbola Lodge and ask there.

As fate would have it I was introduced to Elizabeth Hutchings who has written a book about GF Watts - Discovering the Sculptures of George Frederick Watts, OM, RA - which is on sale at Dimbola and at Compton. She told me she had a picture of The Briary on her PC at home, and that I was welcome to go along and have a look.

So, here is the The Briary, built by Watts for his friends the Prinseps. He stayed here whilst painting landscapes of the Island. Sadly it burned down in 1934.

I'd have been impossibly lucky to find it by just randomly driving around!

Another day, another scarf

2006-11-09T11:37:00.000Z

The sun is dazzling today, but still cold enough for another scarf.....

This one is made with Louise Harding yarn from last winter - Kimono Angora and Kimono Ribbon. Both in the complementary Shade 01. I knitted it sideways on a circular needle and cast on loads of stiches and knitted in garter stitch stripes until I ran out of yarn. Some ripping was required to work out the best use of the yarn.

Unfortunately this has stretched alarmingly and is now v-e-r-y long, so I'm half tempted to rip it out and make it shorter but wider.

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I have a spinning day in the diary for this Saturday, but have an overdue essay to write and two birthday presents to think of and buy this weekend. I don't think I can allow myself the luxury of a whole day spinning - no matter how tempting it is.

Better to get the more onerous tasks done and at least be able to sleep easy at night!

Watts Mortuary Chapel - Compton, Surrey

2006-11-08T09:50:00.000Z

My photos from the trip to Compton.

The Ceiling

Close-up of the lower frieze.

The decoration is very lavish inside and out.

Innocent Hats - Bon Voyage!

2006-11-06T13:16:00.000Z

My Innocent hats have gone off in the post today, through the fog and the murk. Look out for them hitting the shelves, in a Sainsbury's or Eat, near you soon.

Today's scarf, braving the weather:

This is a ubiquitous eyelash yarn, Patons Whisper, in the Velvet colourway. I knitted this in k1, p1 rib, as it has a tendency to curl up when you use stocking stitch.

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On Friday I'd had such a bad week, that I took myself off for a day on the mainland. I went to Guildford, a town I'd never visited before.

I used the excellent Park & Ride scheme 10 minutes outside the town centre. In the town I discovered Pandora at 196 High Street, an excellent needlework and knitting shop. They stock Rowan, Debbie Bliss and Gedifra yarn amongst others, and Anchor, Paterna and Appletons tapisserie wools, patchwork fabrics, needlework kits, books and haberdashery. A real gem.

I took the opportunity to visit Fibrecrafts just outside town, and bought some Deka Fabric Paint, some cloured tops for felting, and some white Blue Faced Leicester fibre. Their prices are not as keen as other UK suppliers.

Then I went on to Compton nearby, to visit the runner up in the BBC's Restoration 2006 programme - Watts Gallery. As a teenaged art student, I was totally obsessed with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and Watts' paintings often appeared in my reading about them. A pervading smell of damp was about the place, but it's in an idyllic setting in the Surrey countryside, and well worth the Heritage Lottery Grant that they are working to secure. Admission is free, take a trip and visit.....

I bought a small pamphlet referring to the friendship Watts had with Tennyson and Julia Margaret Cameron on the Island, and noted that Watts had a house designed by Philip Webb built for himself in Freshwater called The Briary. Julia lived at Dimbola Lodge rescued from demolition and now a photography museum with famous patrons such as Charlton Heston. Tennyson lived down the road at Farringford which is now a country house hotel. I will have to see if The Briary still exists.

My last port of call was to the Watts Mortuary Chapel just along the road. Built by Mary Watts, with the help of locals, this is a breathtaking, richly decorated little wonder. I took some photos on my other camera which I'll post later, but which probably won't do it justice. The interior is shaped like a bullet and is heavily decorated with gesso and painted with cherub heads, angels, waves and trees all in the Arts and Crafts style.

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Currently on some big 12mm needles is a scarf for my sister's birthday next week. I raided my stash for some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in the Petrol colourway. The yarn is soooo soft!

The pattern is one that I saw on a display scarf in Pandoras in Guildford. They knitted it up in Rowan Little Big Wool. Theirs had a fringe, but I'm not a fan of fringes.

Cast on 15 stitches. Every row = k1, (yfwd k2tog) to end.

Brrrr! and Today's Scarf

2006-11-02T09:26:00.000Z

Winter and the accompanying frost has reached the Island this morning.

I hear there is snow in Scotland already. Snow here is catastrophic. We're not geared up for cold weather, and substantial snowfall makes driving impossible in a lot of places. This is due to the condition of the roads, the hills, and the lack of expertise of the driving population. I have been here for 21 years, and have only known snow deep and persistent enough to build a snowman 3 times in those two decades.

For the nippy weather I have donned my first scarf of the season.

This is easy garter stitch, using two mismatched balls of Rowan Biggy Print from a Sale bin that I liberated in the summer. I thought they blended quite well, so did alternate double rows. It's very warm.

My So-Called Scarf was on the needles at the Guild meeting on Tuesday and was much admired. Promises of copies of the pattern followed.

I also took along my marbled fabric that I did at the Knitting & Stitching Show workshop. Murmurs of 'You could do us a workshop' came from the Committee who are currently planning next year’s calendar. Eeek! That would be a challenge. Perhaps they'll forget.....

Bah!

2006-10-30T11:48:00.000Z

I emailed Blogger about my mysterious disappearing post. Written in the morning, successfully published for all to see and strangely deleted late that same evening when I was miles away from a computer. I have been underwhelmed by their usual non-response. Grrrr.....

I suppose I will have to re-write the whole post from memory when I get a spare hour.

Boo and Hiss to Blogger.

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Back in August I signed up for an 8-week Plumbing course at the local college. It was on a Monday evening. Unfortunately the Tutor was ill and the start of the course was delayed. It started again 3 weeks ago on a Tuesday evening (?!) so tomorrow I have an interesting choice - weilding my gas torch and cutting copper pipe, or attending my monthly WSD Guild meeting.

I think the Guild will have to win, even though I am embarrassed to say that I haven't produced anything of note since last month. I haven't touched my wheel or spindles. I think I must have overdosed during the Summer. I have many outstanding Projects due for the Guild. I think this is the down-side of having to work full-time. Many of my Guild colleagues are retired and have 24/7 to work on their projects. I feel like making a big sign for my office saying:

I'D RATHER BE CRAFTING

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Currently on the needles is a version of My So-Called Scarf which I perch on a stool and knit whilst my evening meal cooks away. I bought a few balls of Wendy Fusion in the Cajun colourway. This goes from scarlet to orange and pink and is half wool/half synthetic. Feels soft. The pattern won't be quite as good as using a really well space-dyed yarn, like the original version, but interesting all the same. The stitch pattern gives the scarf a fairly solid construction, doubling the thickness in effect.

Where has yesterday's Post gone?

2006-10-25T09:48:00.000+01:00

Come on Blogger! What have you done to my last post 'New Books'? :o(

New Books (Rewritten)

2006-10-24T22:06:00.000+01:00

Hopefully I can remember and recreate what was originally here before Blogger ate it.

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I received two new books in the post recently.

The first one is the eagerly awaited Complete Feltmaking by Gillian Harris which I bought with an Amazon voucher. Plus they knocked off the postage costs as I've had to wait over 6 weeks for it. Almost a book for free.....

Contents:

1. Introduction; History of Felt, Properties of Wool Fleece, Equipment.
2. Simple Flat Felt; Flower hair tie, Greeting Card, Table Runner, Sheep Wallhanging, Heart-shaped Rug.
3. 3d Shapes; Felt Bead Necklace, Handbag (pictured on the cover), Baby Booties, Tea Cosy, Cloche Hat.
4. Knitted Felting; Flower Corsage, Handbag, Spiral Patterned Cushion, Patchwork Scarf, Cot Blanket.
5. Needle Felting; Tooth Fairy Cushion, Heart Pincusion, Photo Album Cover, Cat Toy, Fish Mobile.
6. Advanced techniques: Cobweb Scarf, Nuno Shawl, Adult Slippers, Embellished Bowl, Poppy Wallhanging.
7. Templates, Glossary, Resources & Stockists.

At first glance, not all of the projects could be tackled by a novice feltmaker. The flat felt projects have a lot of step-by-step pictures, but the more progressive projects are not as well illustrated so you'd have to know what you were trying to achieve.

My favourite Projects to try are a variation on the Spotty Bag and the Tea Cosy (Christmas Presents).

Gillian has used Colinette Skye for the Baby Blanket Project in the 'Jamboree' and 'Fire' colourways. This yarn is an Aran-weight and a dream to felt - I really recommend it.

All in all a great book to add to your Feltmaking Library.

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The second book received is a copy of Wild Color by Jenny Dean which is currently out of print.

I was browsing on eBay and spotted it.

I read this extensively on the Guild's Dyeing Day back in the Summer while my skeins were simmering away. It shows how you can make 25 shades from just one dye bath with the use of different mordants. A really good reference book for natural dyes, a lot of which you can find in your garden. We had excellent results with annoying old bindweed!

Knitting and Stitching - after the event

2006-10-19T09:30:00.000+01:00

Finally taken some pics of my makes and purchases at Ally Pally last Thursday.

It was a very tiring day after being up at 03:30 to catch an early ferry. Luckily it wasn't foggy, so the trip went like a dream, apart for the broken heating on the coach....Brrrrrr!

Visiting the first day of the Show, for the first time - hmmmm - on reflection I wouldn't do this again. Too many teething troubles and hold-ups. I prefer attending at the weekend.

I got a big shock walking through the Foyer on the way to the Exhibition Halls and seeing this piece of my work on the wall. Didn't have my camera with me though.

It was part of the display for the competition run by Hipknits that I entered back in the Summer. I'd forgotten all about it!

Which reminds me that I have another competition entry to complete for the Embroiderer's Guild before the end of November..... must get myself organised. My diary is chock-a-block with things to do. If only there was a fairy out there to pay the bills while I stayed at home and got on with my creativity. Work gets in the way such a lot!

The workshop with Ursula Schmidt-Troschke - Marbling on Cotton, was good after a shaky start. The organisers had only given her access to the room 30 mins before the start, so that ate into our time somewhat while she finished setting up. Here are the 5 pieces of fabric that I produced.....

I was rather restrained in my purchases this year. I bought this dyed fibre for felting or spinning from Piiku a couple of Finnish ladies. They also did prepared roving, but I wanted to leave my options open.

I bought these tiny knots of space-dyed tussah silk from a silk lady - can't remember her details.

I also bought some little bits and bobs from The Handweavers Studio some little knots of dyed merino for felting, and some silk and sparkly fibres.

A trawl of the bookshops at the Show and in the West End drew a blank on Gill Harris's new felt book - my order at Amazon is still awaiting stock, so I'm not sure what the problem is on availability. I'm eager to make plans for some felted Christmas gifts and get going, otherwise time is going to run out pretty swiftly.

UPDATE: From the Publisher's website I've discovered that the publication date for this book has slipped to 26th October 2006. 7 weeks later than first announced. No wonder neither I nor Amazon can find it anywhere.

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Some ladies from the Guild are planning a whole weekend of spinning, fibre prep etc for Beginners near the end of November. Not sure if I can give up a whole weekend at the moment. I'll have to see how I get on with everything else, and if I can afford the cost.

From rattling around having nothing much to do at the beginning of the year, I seem to have gone to the other extreme and am now overwhelmed with classes, study, knitting, meetings, tutorials...... it's all go! No time to be bored.

Innocent Hats

2006-10-11T07:47:00.000+01:00

Here's my first batch. Nothing too adventurous as yet. I managed to work out a cable one (at the front of the pic). Might try some fair isle if I get time.

I'd love to do a tam, but as I've never knitted one I'm not familiar with the method for those. Perhaps next year!

Knitting & Stitching Show - Ally Pally

2006-10-10T10:46:00.000+01:00

I am off to the show this week, and for a change I am going on the first day, Thursday.

I have always gone on the Sunday in the past, so I thought it'd make a change to see what it's like on 'opening day'. My guess is that it could be manic from the perspective of stallholders, but quieter from the perspective of the public as it's a work day. But I could be very wrong......

I'm booked onto just one workshop this year through the Learning Curve:

URSULA SCHMIDT TROSCHKE PRESENTS - Marbling Made Easy
A practical lesson to show you how easy it is to marble on cotton.

I quite fancied this other course, but was late booking it up, and it was full.

DI GILPIN PRESENTS - Freeform Design in Knitting
Explore freeform knitting, a style Di has developed over the last few years. Working in single colour, with texture and form we will explore ideas in an ‘organic’ way. Needs knowledge of different stitches including cabling. Bring photo of a natural form eg tree bark, rock, water.

In the past I've done Indigo Dyeing, Slashing with Grids and Beads, and some of the quick knitting workshops. They've all been really enjoyable, so if you've never done one - perhaps next year - have a go.

I'll be leaving the Island at silly o'clock on Thursday morning, so here's hoping I can kip on the coach both ways. I'm aiming to get the show polished off in good time, and then head to Oxford Street later to check out all of the book shops, John Lewis and Liberty. I'm sure with 11 hours in London I'll just about manage it.

Lost my mojo

2006-10-10T08:54:00.000+01:00

I think I've lost my spinning mojo :o(

I haven't done any spinning for days and days. Favouring instead the knitting of tiny bobble hats for Innocent's Supergran appeal.

I've been totally addicted to spinning.

Perhaps the marathon laceweight production has taken its toll.

I've a lot of 'stuff' going on at the moment, and an overfull diary. I'm thinking that evenings will be used a lot more for rest and recuperation from now until the end of the year.

On the needles

2006-10-04T10:12:00.000+01:00

Some work in progress.

Another couple of hats for the British & International Sailor's Society. Reckon I should get my hats parcelled off soon, seeing as the weather has turned a bit nippy.

The grey one is a plain double knit, the tweedy one is aran-weight in a cable and rib pattern.

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Seeing as it's October now, thoughts are turning towards creating for Christmas. (I know, the 'c' word, sorry)

I've lots of ideas - I just need to plan my time carefully. In the summer I took some Rowan Kidsilk Haze along when I visited my Mum - a veritable doyene of the crochet hook. I am a crochet virgin, but the lure of Chantel, from Rowan's book Vintage Stylehad me stashing KSH and reaching for my hook.

After some motherly tuition I was off and hooking, and Mum was eyeing the pattern and the colours with a glint of longing in her eye. I'm reckoning on having enough yarn to complete two, so one will be her Christmas gift.

For my sister, I'm planning on making a felted handbag from Gillian Harris's new book Complete Feltmakingwhen Amazon deliver my copy.

I did a feltmaking day-course with Gill a couple of years ago. A very satisfying day's work. Everyone went away with a lovely item. I made a shoulder bag, must take some photos and let you have a look.

See Gill's Website for info. I really recommend it, she makes some beautiful stuff, and she has a lovely eclectic terraced home in Surrey, with a conservatory workroom looking out onto the garden. Envious, moi?

Here is one of her designs to give you a flavour of her own style.

Autumn Watch with Bill Oddie

2006-10-03T10:20:00.000+01:00

I tuned in to a little of this on BBC2 last night to discover it's being filmed down the road from my Mum at Martin Mere Wildfowl Sanctuary in Lancashire. It's a bit early in the year for the main migration of geese. They usually come over in huge droves in November/December, honking overhead in V-formation. A stunning sight.

I went there this year in early July when the weather was sweltering. I was dismayed to discover that the whole place was covered in security measures and the park was patrolled by security guards these days. Mind you, after what happened on the Island with Tonga the baby penguin being snatched from Amazon World last Christmas, animal sanctuaries can't be too careful these days. A very sad sign of the times.

Here are some of the pictures I took on the day. Flamingoes.....

Mum feeding one of the many geese we encountered. They certainly weren't backward in coming forward.

A Duck with her cute ducklings.

A baby moorhen. There were masses of these, like tiny black cotton wool balls.

A special breeding pen full of goslings. A noise had just sent them hurtling down the grass!

WooHoo!! I gave blood!!

2006-09-27T15:57:00.000+01:00

I did it.

I'm so proud of myself. I've been pondering about this for years, cos my brother has donated loads. I always thought I'd be too scared/squeamish, but I managed it.

There are far worse medical things a girl has to go through routinely I can tell you. This was a veritable walk in the park in comparison.

Here's my war wound.

I did go a bit wobbly afterwards, but the care I received from the blood ladies was exemplary. I think I should have drunk more water and eaten something much closer to the appointment - 4 hours since breakfast, so my blood sugars dropped off sharply.

A good lie down, a litre of water and a restorative wedge of chocolate cake soon had me back at my desk.

The young temp chap in the office reckons I should drink Guinness for a few days prior to my next donation. Sound advice from an ex-uni student ;o)

Indian Summer

2006-09-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

We're still sweltering in the heat down here, at this late stage in September.

Just when you think it's time for a cardigan or sweater, the sun comes out and everyone's back in shorts and t-shirts.

As usual I forgot to take my camera to the Apple Day so can't show you pictures of the rare breed white baby calf or the two adorable alpacas.

I was continuing with my fine spinning for the demonstration which is taking an age.

Here is my first large skein of laceweight shetland.

In close up, with a penny to show the scale.

The next challenge will be some chunky yarn. I'm slowly waxing and building my Traditional Ashford wheel in order to attach the jumbo flyer that Sue S. has lent me. Then I'll be spinning something big and bold.

Knitting has been put on the back burner lately, but I need to get going on some projects and get them done in my lunch break. Usually I end up grabbing a bite to eat and drifting back into working after 10 minutes which is not good.

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It's our monthly Guild meeting tonight, and I'm on the tea rota. I've had a bit off the end of the sultana loaf that I've made and it seems a bit dry. Hope the middle is better! Haven't made a cake for over 12 months so I'm totally out of practice.

At least on this occasion I have something for Show and Tell. I think we may have picked up a few new people interested in joining the Guild at the summer shows, so it might be quite busy. Tonight we have a speaker coming to talk about Indian Textiles.

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Tomorrow is d-day for giving blood. I'm perfectly calm about it today, but tomorrow will be a different story. I'm thinking of a blindfold and ear plugs so I'm totally unaware of anything! I just hope they'll want my blood after all the anticipation. I might be anaemic or something. As the saying goes - every little helps. I'll be so proud if I go through with it.

Dyeing, apples and more hats

2006-09-12T16:16:00.000+01:00

At Spinsters on Saturday I lost my Baby of the Group status. I was usurped by a girl in her early 30's. What a liberty! ;o)

We did some more dyeing as it was such a lovely day, and I was hurriedly spinning up some merino to ply up and make mini skeins for this on Friday night.

The last event of the season for the Guild is the Apple Day Festival at Afton, near Freshwater. I'm demonstrating on the Sunday.

I thought about getting into the theme and making a knitted apple cosy from Knitorama featured here on Casey's blog

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I have decided to move out of my comfort zone this month and do something brave. Giving blood. I'm quite squeamish and prone to fainting, but hopefully if I don't look, and sing a little tune in my head, then I'll be OK. Plus we are force-fed cake afterwards, courtesy of one of our colleagues at work - well someone has to do it.

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Following on from my charity hat knitting, I spotted this appeal from Innocent the drinks people.

It's their Supergran appeal. You knit a tiny bobble hat for the top of one of their drinks and then Eat outlets and Sainsbury's donate 50p to Age Concern for every one sold.

The bottles go on sale between the end of November and Christmas, so get knitting!

Windswept Woolverton

2006-09-04T11:07:00.000+01:00

What a horrible weekend's worth of weather!

The strong winds and rain made the event very trying for the exhibitors. Brave members of the public still attended though.

I ventured out of our barn and took a few snaps.

A celtic band playing, with a couple of Tudor re-enactment folk right at the back.

A few of the plant stalls, being tested by the winds

Half of the Guild members who attended, and my Ashford Traveller on the right.

The other half of the group.

I made up a couple of drop spindle kits for the show with some natural and coloured merino and managed to sell one of them. All adds to the dwindled coffers!

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My mum's now out of hospital and learning to cope at home with her new hip. I was so pleased to talk to her after 6 days silence. I was reassured she was well and on the mend.

Woolverton Manor Country Garden Fair

2006-08-31T12:13:00.000+01:00

The next date in the Guild's Diary is this coming weekend. We are demonstrating in a Barn in the grounds of the Tudor Manor.

I'm demonstrating on Sunday, and at least we won't get wet if the weather turns inclement. I've never been to this Fair, so it will be good to take a break and have a look around.

Can't decide what to take with me to spin up. I'll take my wheel and some spindles, and I might even take some weaving sticks. I have some ready prepared Shetland, and would like to spin that finely to make a shawl.

Hopefully I won't forget my camera this time.

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My mum was in the operating theatre this morning for a hip replacement, so I was trying not to get mega-stressed. Thankfully my step father has spoken to her and apart from the expected grogginess from the anaesthetic it all seems to have gone well.

I now have to not stress out about her catching anything dodgy like MRSA from the hospital! Hopefully the next week will pass quickly and she'll be home safe.

Time to check the car over for a weekend trip up North in the near future.

Finished projects

2006-08-30T11:44:00.000+01:00

At last, some finished items.

First off, my entry for the Hipknits competition 'Shoreline' - with the addition of some seashells and driftwood. I tried to simulate a strip of shoreline with the waves and foam breaking on the sand.

Three hats for BISS - some more to knit up yet:

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Yesterday the Guild held a dyeing day in Judy's garden. I forgot my camera yet again, so can't show the amount of skeins we produced, or the lovely garden.

Here are my mini skeins and fibre:

We used logwood, sanderswood, brazilwood, cochineal, bindweed, weld, cutch, and some other wood chips that we were given by a wood-turner at Chale Show. We also did a pot of passion flower fruit, but I had already dunked my skeins so didn't get to use that. Some dye pots had mordants added later on, hence the range of colours.

Apparently the dye will leach when I first wash the yarn, so I'll end up with a more pastel palette. Looking forward to spinning the coloured tops. Not sure what to do with the miniskeins, perhaps make a patchwork of squares for demonstration days.

Nearly there

2006-08-25T10:21:00.000+01:00

Here's my basket of double knit and the remaining fibre to spin. Not sure if I'll have enough for the cardigan afterall, so I may have to buy more fibre.

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I had my regular monthly reiki session yesterday with the lovely Rhona. She's a wee twinkly scottish lady who looks like an archetypal fairy godmother. I came out floating on a cloud, but my joints were still cracking alarmingly after a heavy spinning week. Rhona told me the cracking noise is a build up of gas in the joints dispersing. I really need to do some yoga!

Jolly Robin

2006-08-22T10:42:00.000+01:00

My office is on the first floor of the building and I'm lucky to have a lovely copper-leaved tree outside my window.

This little chap has just been singing his heart out. (Blurrily taken through the window, so's not to scare him off)

I'm so lucky in my surroundings. Soon we'll be moving to another building where I'll look out onto rooftops and this one will be closed. I'm making the most of the wildlife while I can.

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I did a bit more spinning last night and sat in a different position which helped a lot. I've now completed 4 hanks of double knit, they weigh around 250g. I'm hoping I can get enough to knit up the cardigan without ordering more tops, but that remains to be seen.

Spinning Injury

2006-08-21T15:56:00.000+01:00

No, I didn't prick my finger and fall asleep for a hundred years..... I strained my shoulder (trapezium?) muscles! Not sure whether this was exacerbated by washing the car beforehand, but crikey IT HURT! So much so it woke me up in the early hours and I had to resort to painkillers.

I'm not sure whether I've been overdoing it, or sitting incorrectly, or both. I'll have to slow the progress on my double knit blue-faced Leicester down a bit. At least I've now managed to obtain a more accurate gauge. Hurrah!

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I fell in love with this Frank Herring spinning wheel being offered on ebay.

I just love the huge curved arc of the flyer, the lovely round ended bobbins and horizontal in-built Lazy Kate, but I was outbid on it last night by a long way. My Guardian Angel knows I couldn't really afford it - but it was nice to dream. Sigh...........

Two Hats

2006-08-15T13:35:00.000+01:00

Just finished my second hat for BISS. I'll get a third one out of the yarn I had which is a good result.

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Have today started an ideas sketchbook related to knitting and fibre crafts in general. I still have my entry to Kerrie at Hipknits' Alexandra Palace competition to make up. I've been scribbling some ideas down over the last few days. Just hope I have enough yarn to complete one of them. Here are the mini skeins I was sent to transform.

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My spinning is coming along. I was trying to achieve a DK weight yarn rather than the 4-ply I managed for the Rare Breeds show, but have gone too far the other way and ended up with Aran. I guess it's all trial and error to start with. I'm aiming to knit up an old favourite cardigan pattern that I loved as a teenager. I have still to stumble across this however and am praying I have kept it in the loft.

Charity Knits

2006-08-14T11:14:00.000+01:00

I've now got my pattern from BISS (British & International Sailor's Society) and have been knitting up the plain red hat in some spare double knit. I'd love to do the cabled hat, but couldn't find any Aran during my intial Stash search. I might also knit a couple of beanie hats too, to go in the parcel that I send back.

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I'm also going to take part in the Knit A River appeal to raise awareness for Wateraid. You knit a 15cm square in blue yarn which will be stitched together to make a yarn river - a visual statement to the 'powers that be'.

Chale Show

2006-08-07T15:16:00.000+01:00

A really successful event. That is apart from me forgetting to take my camera! Lots of people attended, and we drew a lot of interest from the locals and holidaymakers.

I was really tired and aching by the end of it. Treadling for 7 hours solid - I'm just not used to spinning for such long periods yet. I filled a bobbin and a half of singles ready for some double-knit I'm planning to use for a cardigan. Things got a bit sticky as the tent reached 28 degrees C, so fibre wasn't gliding through our hands very easily. Ruth advised talc, so I'll remember to buy a tiny tub of baby powder to take to my next event.

I also started spinning my pink silk which I'd prepared from the hankies. I did this on a new spindle I picked up from the Rare Breeds show. It's a lot easier to work on something in the slow motion of the spindle, as the silk is so hard to draw. Sue S from the Guild was spinning directly from a cap which was impressive. She also had her Great Wheel in the tent which she was demonstrating from time to time. Here's a page all about the Great Wheel from Wikepedia. It really is a large beast.

Rowan Autumn Collection Preview

2006-08-03T17:46:00.000+01:00

Have been having a nosey around at the new yarns and patterns for autumn. This great website always shows patterns from the books, and also has pictures up of the yarns. It loads a lot more easily than Rowan's own site and is easier to navigate.

I'm loving the Tapestry yarn. I'll have to start saving up now, and ask for John Lewis vouchers for Christmas.

Anyone got a hankie?

2006-08-01T09:56:00.000+01:00

Scouting around in my Fibre Stash for something colourful, I unearthed this silk that I bought from PM Woolcraft at a show.

The turquoise is a full cap, the orange cap, I've already prepared and wound into slim roving. The pink are hankies.

Not sure what I'll do with it once I've spun it up. I guess I'll need to check the yardage.

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At the last Guild meeting we had a group photo taken of our winning entries for the Rare Breeds Show - turns out we won 16 prizes between us, including Best in Show and Judges Favourite.

(Stop Press: This was reported in the local paper, fame at last!)

Cecilia, originally from Colombia, gave us a talk about her travels around South America and showed us a whole mass of textiles she'd bought on her travels. Mostly weaving. The colours were very vibrant.

The next outing relating to the Guild is this weekend at Chale Show. Chale is a small village on the bottom tip of the Island which holds one of the annual shows held here during the summer. I have volunteered to do the Sunday, demonstrating spinning in the craft tent. The weather is supposed to get warm again by the weekend, and less blustery. I'll still be taking my fleece along just in case. Been caught out in the sea mist rolling in off the Channel up there too many times before!

Singleton Successes

2006-07-24T15:05:00.000+01:00

The trip to the Rare Breeds show couldn't have been better. Slightly overcast weather which made it easier on animals and humans. Little traffic on the roads to hinder the journey. All topped off with the beautiful surroundings of the Open Air Museum.

The day was topped of by a surprise success in the spinning competition. I was totally made up to win First in my class.

Our Guild did very well on the rosette front, bringing home half a dozen. At last I have something for 'show and tell' at our monthly meeting.

Plying without (water) wings

2006-07-19T10:26:00.000+01:00

Here's my skein for the Rare Breeds show. Plied without the aid of an experienced spinner at my side. Not sure how it stacks up technically, but it looks OK to me, so that's all that matters. It's 40 yards, tied in 4 places, and weighs less than 2ozs as required. You're supposed to wash it to set the twist. I'm really nervous about this though in case I muck it all up and it goes frizzy.

Rare Breeds Show - Singleton

2006-07-18T15:26:00.000+01:00

This Sunday I'm off to the Rare Breeds show at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton near Chichester in West Sussex. The Guild are running a small coach up and we're hoping to get everyone in for free as we're taking part in the competitions for spinning, felting and handmade items from rare breed wools.

I'm entering the Novice class for a spun skein. I've plumped for some Blue-faced Leicester tops, as ready prepared fibre is far easier for beginners to handle. It's lovely and soft, and a greyish-oatmeal colour.

I'm hoping for good weather. Apparently last year the show was deluged and everyone got soaked. The centre has saved historic buildings and rebuilt them on the site, and in dry weather it's a lovely day out. There's a working water mill, and they sell flour that's milled on site.

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I'll be working on projects from my yarn stash for the forseeable future. At the moment I'm knitting a jacket for the autumn, it's from the Rowan Classic Winter booklet. The design is Barra, and is knitted in Soft Tweed. It's mostly in moss stitch which is one of my favourite stitches.

I've got the Twig colourway on the needles and am now keeping an eye out for a nice big button that will suit the design.

It may seem a bit mad knitting woollies at this time of the year, but at least I'll be ready for the first cold snap. It seems a long way off as we all swelter in the intense July heat. It's 80 degrees F in the office today and I've got every window possible open really wide.

I wish I had a garden.....

2006-07-17T14:29:00.000+01:00

After being at my Mum's for a week in her lovely garden, I've really been hankering after my own outdoor space.

Here are some pics of her oasis (note the lack of Hosepipe Ban up North enabling it to look so lush and green).

Due to a very weird and aggressive set of neighbours that moved in next door I abandoned my garden for several years as they wouldn't stop staring at me over the low fences whenever I was outside. (Thankfully they moved on recently.) Consequently my trees have totally overgrown my little space and the garden birds have found lovely homes. This means I'll be waiting until the end of summer and nesting before I can chop it all back and start again.

A raised veggie patch would be good to have in a new scheme. A lot nicer to grow all of my own salad veg and cheaper too.

Woolfest 2006

2006-07-12T17:55:00.000+01:00

It was a bright and sunny day as I wended my way from Standish up the M6 and then through the dramatic scenery of Kendal, Windermere, Ambleside and Keswick to my destination in Cockermouth.

A long line of wool-worshippers was already forming outside the venue pre the 10:00 opening.

Once inside I took in the scene - it was like the Knitting & Stitching Show in miniature and held in a cattle pen. Despite the gently pervading odour of animals, it all looked very much like I thought it would.

Here are snaps of a display of some Lithuanian woolcrafts with some very beautiful beaded knitting in progress.

I saw some beautiful felted work around, but I know some artists don't like people taking photos of their work at shows, so I played safe and resisted.

However the lovely sheep breeds, alpacas and goats were very accommodating as we all snapped away. There were also angora rabbits, but no space to take photos.

Some of the well known retailers were there, Wingham Woolwork, PM Woolcraft, Haldanes, and a lot of smaller businesses. Wood turning, basket making, yarn, prepared fibres of all sorts, wheels, looms, whole fleeces, books and felt. Stands of organisations - with the Wool Marketing Board, Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers amongst them.

I stayed all day, (with a quick run into Cockermouth to get some cash as not many stallholders were taking cards). There was a traditional band playing music, a cafe and a sheeps milk ice cream seller, plenty of chairs to sit down and take a break. Plus the usual queue for the ladies loo!

At 15:10 the building sank into the gloom and the heavens opened, rain sounding like a drumroll on the corrugated roof. I don't think it dampened anyone's enthusiasm. I could have spent a fortune - increasing my yarn and fibre stash to mammoth proportions, but I reigned myself in and was quite good. :halo:

Back in the South

2006-07-09T12:38:00.000+01:00

Back home after my combined trip North to see my folks and go to Woolfest. Lots to tell about both. Also some pics of the trip.

A nasty surprise awaited me on my return - a speeding ticket! I am now an official 'criminal' and I'm not very happy with my stupidity, especially as it was on my daily route, minutes from home. I am now driving around like a model citizen and wondering how much this is all going to cost.

Looks like I'll really have to think long and hard about getting a second job, as lots of unforseen expenditure has been popping out of the woodwork recently. I wish they'd hurry up and ban smoking in bars, as some evening work would suit me best.

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I went to my regular spinning day yesterday with my newly refurbished (second-hand bargain) Ashford Traveller Wheel. This pops into the boot of the car as it's quite compact. I tried to get started with some Cotswold fleece I bought on ebay, but it is such a long staple length, that I couldn't get it to draw, so went back to my spindle. Then one of the Sues in the group came to my rescue and showed me how to prepare the fibre differently, and I eventually managed to spin for several hours. Everyone agreed that the fleece I bought was probably one of the trickiest for a beginner - who knew? I have so much to learn. I'll do a lot more reading and observing before I buy any more materials.

Via the Guild I picked up two fleeces at our last meeting. One was £2, and one was free - both are better for beginners. The only problem is storage to start with, so processing it would be a good idea, as the bulk reduces by about half once you wash and prepare the wool. I'll be very busy for the rest of the year, on top of work and household chores.

Preparations for Woolfest

2006-06-27T07:56:00.000+01:00

On leave from work now, preparing for my big trek North.

Luckily I can stay at my Mum's overnight otherwise it would be a 400 mile drive from A to B. Something I just don't relish the thought of.

Looking forward to increasing my fleece stash, picking up some wool combs and generally checking out what's on offer. There's a large list of exhibitors, so there should be plenty to see.

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The weather has been a tad cooler lately and we had rain yesterday, but it looks like a dry one on the Island this morning. I have a Guild meeting tonight, so I need to get something up together for 'show and tell' and also take a project to work on. I'm still spinning away on my second spindle so I have enough yarn to attempt my first spindle-plying which should be interesting to say the least.

My wheel is still in the box wrapped up in its parts. I really must get the pieces waxed and find it a permanent home for when I eventually build it. So much to do, so little time!

The Knitting & Stitching Show - Ally Pally

2006-06-21T16:15:00.000+01:00

This is almost like a post about Christmas...... I received my advanced literature from Twisted Thread through my letterbox yesterday with a few details about the show.

It lists all of the workshops being held at all 3 venues, but no details, so I don't think I'll be booking up in advance of it all hitting the website nearer to October. Some of the titles are a little too vague to guess what they'll actually be about.

STOP PRESS!!! Crikey, all the workshops are listed on the website already, talk about forward planning.

I'll take a look into hotel bookings in London earlier though, as I might do a stop-over seeing as the ferry timetable will be off season.

Debbie Bliss - Pure Silk

2006-06-20T13:17:00.000+01:00

I spotted this shimmering in John Lewis several weeks back and had to grab a few skeins. It really is as soft as butter and luxurious.

The lady at the till asked me what I was going to make with so few skeins, so she obviously hadn't seen the Pure Silk pattern book which has a skinny scarf for those of us who daren't buy enough for a garment.

I've finished the Aqua (Shade 07) which needs blocking. The Coral (Shade 12) needs winding from the skein, and I'll find a different lace repeat to do for that one. They should be nice with summer shades. Here's one ball on my nostepinne.

You can wind a centre-pull ball using one of these, so your yarn doesn't hurtle around the room when you're knitting. I bought mine from Laura and Peter at Twist Fibre Craft it's listed under Spinning Accessories.

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Yesterday the postman brought me my latest spinning related book, it's Spinning Designer Yarns by Diane Varney. There are a few colour plates, but it's mostly reading, so I'll have to concentrate on that when I feel a little more compos mentis. Plenty of info about plying and dyeing yarn at first glance.

30 things about me - (Hipknits Competition)

2006-06-19T10:18:00.000+01:00

Kerrie of Hipknits is turning 30 this month and has a list of 30 things about her on her blog. She's offering the chance to win some yarn if we reciprocate, so here are mine:

1. I adore cats.

2. I was born in the same Maternity hospital as Sir Paul McCartney (the nearest claim to fame I'll probably ever have!!)

3. I've been knitting and sewing since I was 5 - my dolls were very well dressed.

4. I'm potentially a fully trained über-housewife, but I'm still single and have no children.

5. As a child, my career ambition was to work on the till in Marks & Spencer - it looked so interesting, and you got to see all the lovely food.

6. Aaaah, food. I love food.

7. I am not thin. No shock there then.....

8. I'm very good with my hands, and pick up new crafts quite easily.

9. When I was 7 I was in love with Sacha Distel I thought he was sooo handsome, and his lovely French accent, ooh la la!

10. At my infant school we had a cat called Beauty, she used to casually parade through the dinner hall every lunchtime and bask in the mass adoration of 150 small children. My first experience of Feline Superior Power.

11. I mourn the loss of 'proper' penny sweets. Since they took the horrible colouring out of candy shrimps - they just don't taste the same any more.

12. My mum was a very sophisticated cook ( for the 1970's) and loved to dish up european cuisine. I used to beg to go to my friend's house where her mum made some weird dish from Bachelor's Golden Savoury Rice, eggs and cheese. Kids!

13. I'm an avid reader, and have inherited the book-hoarding-gene from my dad. It's chick-lit at bedtime, and more challenging fiction during the day. I also have a big collection of needlecraft books.

14. I was born on the feastday of St Joan of Arc. The original exponent of Girl Power!

15. I'm a qualified Manicure and Pedicurist.

16. My favourite actor is Alan Bates - a lovely bit of Northern rough in his youth. Sadly, now in heaven with Sacha.

17. I met my last boyfriend via an online dating site. It hasn't put me off online dating, but I'm fine by myself for now.

18. I'm half way through an Open University degree in Psychology that I started in 1993.

19. I moved to the Isle of Wight from Liverpool (no Scouse jokes please) in 1980, and now sound like a very posh Northerner.

20. I always use a cable cast-on in my knitting.

21. I love the internet. I get to interact with people who are into the same stuff as me, which I never get to do irl.

22. I always thought that Virgil was the most handsome on Thunderbirds. Scott was such a poser.

23. My first full time job was as a bus conductress. It was a really good experience. I miss working with the public as I'm now in an office.

24. One of my treasures is a limited edition print of Noggin the Nog. signed by those great animators, Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Creators of Pogles Wood, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and The Clangers. What a class act.

25. My yarn stash is considerable. My fleece stash is currently tiny in comparison.

26. I love people with strange/funny names - probably because I have one. I scour the credits of films for good examples. I now find it handy to have an odd name, but at school it was hell.

27. I went to Art college, and still dabble with watercolours and acrylics.

28. I would love to walk the Pennine Way and visit Florence.

29. I have double-jointed thumbs.

30. I could not live without; books, yarn, bird-song, the change in seasons, cheese, my freedom.

From Fleece to Fantastic

Summer's End

Lace and flowers

2008 - A Retrospective

Broadband here I come.....

Season's Greetings!

Who are you again......?

Supersaver

Happy New Year!

*~Merry Christmas~*

Winter Knitting

Craft Sale - The Aftermath

Fibre Frenzy

Hovis Deliveries and my latest output

Knitting & Stitching - The Aftermath

Wingham, Winchester and Woven Wicker

Weave-it!

More Dyeing

KidSilk Krazy

Jolly Japes and Jewellery

Checkerboard?

Christmas

I survived..........

Latest Read

Cream of the Crop

A Walk through Cowes

Sunset over Cowes

The Handmade Factor

Impossible Picot

Spun silk

Preparing a Silk Cap for Spinning

My latest Spinning

Rare Breeds Show - Singleton

Oh blogger!

Singers, Salty Sea Dogs and Sailing Ships

Scallop Trim Jacket - Progress

Flowers from an Admirer?

Latest Knitting

Chantel complete - woo hoo! ......and WOOLFEST 2007

Jane Austen's House - Chawton

Whitchurch Silk Mill

Welsh Odyssey - 3. Wonder Wool

Welsh Odyssey - 2. Scary Armchair to Woven Treasure

My Welsh Odyssey - 1. The Curse of Colinette

Spinning for a full 12 months

National Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Week

Robin Hill Garden Show

Colour Production

Lewes Needlework Festival

Long Weekend

Laid Low by Lurgy

Alum Conundrum

A Vintage Wool Shop and very Vintage Felting

Knitting Progress

Lambs and the Lunar Eclipse

Red Sky in the Morning

Spindle Tuition

Post-Christmas Teddies

Sunshine, and the Calm after the Storm

Bright Sunshine

A Very Merry Christmas.......

Long time no blog!

Not much on....

The Briary - George Frederick Watts

Another day, another scarf

Watts Mortuary Chapel - Compton, Surrey

Innocent Hats - Bon Voyage!

Brrrr! and Today's Scarf

Bah!

Where has yesterday's Post gone?

New Books (Rewritten)

Knitting and Stitching - after the event

Innocent Hats

Knitting & Stitching Show - Ally Pally

Lost my mojo

On the needles

Autumn Watch with Bill Oddie

WooHoo!! I gave blood!!

Indian Summer

Dyeing, apples and more hats

~Merry Christmas~