A Busy Summer Ahead

Since my last post I have had word from my friend Helen that she will be going with My Fine Weaving Yarns to all the fibre events that she had applied to. Yippee! So I shall be going along with her to lend a hand again. I can't wait! Our first event will be Wonderwool Wales on the weekend of 26 - 27 April. I hope the weather will be kind to us this year as it was very cold last time.

Wonderwool Wales 2013

 

 

 

Woolfest 2013

 

We are also off to Woolfest at the end of June. This should be quite special as the organisers will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the show. At the end of July I shall be off to Fibre East which I haven't been able to go to in previous years. Hopefully I will be attending one of their workshops but I will post about that nearer the date. Another new show is Bristol Wool Fair which is due to be held at the beginning of September, closely followed by Yarndale at the end of that month. All the accommodation has been booked and paid for, so I just need to start saving my spending money! I wonder what treats I can buy this year?

 

 

Late Winter Blooms

I know that it has been along while since my last post - apologies once more - but not a lot has been happening here so far in 2014 apart from the incessant rainfall and roaring gale force winds that is.  My netbook decided to die on me in January which left me with a couple of weeks without a computer then we all caught the flu. So my Babette blanket was perfect for snuggling under whilst lying on the settee. Not much weaving has been done since the end of last year as I think my weaving muse has gone on a holiday to sunnier climes for a while, but I have been doing a lot of knitting in front of the log burner trying not to notice the lashing rain on the windows. 

I knitted this cardigan over the Christmas holiday period finishing just before New Year. It is a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern which I downloaded from Patternfish and is my first top down project. It was lovely to knit and I will certainly be using the pattern again. The yarn is some of my hand spun which is a rough blend of one of my own sheep's fleeces and some kid mohair. I spun the yarn quite a long time ago and I had tried knitting a couple of things before with it but wasn't happy with the results so I unravelled it. The stuff has been sitting in my stash for about two years and each time I came across it I didn't now what to knit with it. However after a quick swatch it turned out to be perfect for this project! And it knitted up lovely and the mohair should hopefully bloom a bit once I start wearing it. I just need to get some buttons.

Other knitting projects at the moment include a trio of Elizabeth Zimmerman items, two jumpers which have reached the armhole stage and one shawl which is halfway through. I have also done loads of spinning and drum carding trying to work my way through the enormous pile of fleeces that I have amassed before this years shearing is upon us. Quite what I shall do with all the yarn when it's spun up I don't know but I enjoy spinning so much I don't really care!
The garden is looking quite dreadful at the moment. It has been raining so much since the end of last year that the ground it totally waterlogged. Some of the border edges have been flooded several times. I just hope we haven't lost too many plants. Here are a few examples of flowers which are braving the elements at the moment here in my garden.

 

This double primrose has been in flower since Christmas.

 

 

 

 

Surely the rain has to stop soon? I find it hard to imagine myself mowing the lawn ever again! At least the evenings are getting lighter. I hope we have a dry Spring the year.

 

Finished Projects and Christmas Greetings.

It's been awhile since my last post, apologies yet again! But with Christmas zooming upon us the time left to enjoy myself in the loom room disappeared too quickly. However I have managed to finish off a few projects already written about on this blog. Remember my version of the Babette Blanket?

 

Well here it is! Finished at long last after a break from the endless joining of the squares. I'm quite pleased with it and I even had enough fine yarn left in my hand spun stash to make the last strip of squares, something that I thought I would have to miss out doing. I fancy doing another one but this time with some hand dyed yarn. What do you think?

 

 

I have also managed to finish both of the cardigans I was knitting, again from my hand spun yarn.

 

 

 

This is the Fylingdales cardy from the Lisa Lloyd book "A Fine Fleece" which I managed to complete by the end of Wovember. I also struck lucky and found that I had just the right buttons in my stash! I can't remember where I got them from - probably from a quilt show - but they were perfect. I have worn it on a couple of outings and it is very cosy and no doubt will be a firm favourite! I spun the yarn from one of my own sheep which is a Shetland crossbreed and this is what she looked like before shearing this year.

 

Poppet

 

You may recall that I did a post about some Portland fleece I was working on? Well I have also finished that project too apart from finding the right buttons.

 

 

 

 

For this cardy I used the pattern recipe from "The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater patterns" by Ann Budd. This looks like it will be cosy to wear once I can find the right buttons of course. I have another knitting project on the pins at the moment but more about that after Christmas. I won't be doing anymore spinning for the next couple of weeks as my wheels have been put away for the time being to make room for the Christmas tree. Maybe I will find something to spin on a drop spindle?

 

 

As the wet and very windy weather is lashing the UK at the moment with no chance of snow for Christmas may I wish everybody a Happy Christmas and I look forward to sharing my fibre exploits when the festive season is over.

Best wishes from us all at Deerfold.

 



Autumn colours and distant views.

Apologies for the lack of posts just lately, it's not through inactivity more the lack of subject matter! As the rain continued to fall for days I have got into a bit of a routine where I can manage to get into the loom room for a couple of mornings weaving each week. I have woven a couple of scarves from some Tencel yarn following a pattern found in the latest edition of Handwoven magazine. These will be for wearing at next years show as we sell the yarn required....more about these in a future post once the fringes have been sorted out. Not wanting a "naked" loom I have put a warp on for two scarves in a block design using some very fine silk yarn that I was able to buy from my weaving teacher a few years back when she sold her stock. I've never worked with such fine yarn before but, so far it's been ok. While sitting at the loom I have been thinking about what to make for selling at the craft show Helen is going to next Easter....watch this space!
On a recent sunny afternoon whilst playing with the dogs on the back field I amused myself taking some photos of the lovely colours of the autumn leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather has turned distinctly chilly and the wind is coming from the north! Snow showers are forecast. Better get those winter woollies finished!

 

 

New Books

Earlier this week I had a delivery of new knitting books to add to my already overflowing collection.

 

"The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting" by Elizabeth Lovick, Search Press, 2013 (top right). This is a lovely book showing the traditional patterns used in Shetland lace with colour illustrations of each pattern and using both written and charted instructions. I have always been interested in traditional knitting techniques and one day I will get around to spinning some fine yarn to make something special - I have enough books on the subject!!!! For more information contact Elizabeth Lovick. The book on the left in the picture above is "Real Shetland Yarns : a collection of woolly tales and memories" published by Shetland Amenity Trust, Lerwick, 2012. This is another well produced book and just the sort of thing to curl up and read on a wet day with a nice cup of tea and maybe a few biscuits! It isn't the sort of book to read cover to cover, more of a book to dip into.

 

 

And finally "Shetland Textiles : 800 BC to the present " edited by Sarah Laurenson, published by Shetland Amenity Trust, Lerwick,2013. What a lovely book! It covers everything from the archaeology and history of textile finds on Shetland through to modern knitwear design and production. The book is full of wonderful pictures of the stunning Shetland scenery and also its wonderful sheep. If you are at all interested in the subject you must get this book - its a bit expensive but well worth it. Get it on your Christmas present list!

 

 

 

For more information on both these books see here. 

Rainy Monday

When a Monday turns out to be very wet and dark what should a doggy do then, poor things! Well Dan sat with his head on my knee...

 

Jack took it easy in the conservatory and had a nap on the sofa....

 

 

Whilst Toby crashed out in the kitchen and tried to forget his recent trip to the vets to have some bad teeth removed!

 

 

I, dear reader, played with my new Inkle Loom which my friend Helen kindly gave me as a thank you for helping out at all the shows this year. I've been gradually working through a few samples from the latest book The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon. So far I have done a few Baltic Braids in different weights of cotton yarn.

 

 

Hopefully these will be used as samples at next years shows.



Yarndale 2013

This past weekend saw Helen and myself attending a new show with My Fine Weaving Yarn. This was Yarndale aimed at the knitter and crocheter mostly, and held in the Auction Mart at Skipton in Yorkshire. We did get a few weavers visit our stand and buy yarn, some were regular customers and some were discovering us for the first time. It was nice to catch up with our regulars and see what they had made with the yarns they had bought which is always inspirational. I was pleased to meet quite a few men who were either already weaving/knitting/crocheting as well as ones who wanted to have a go. I met one man who wanted to try inkle weaving as a change from hardanger embroidery!

 

Here is MFWY before opening.

 

 

Once the doors opened at 10am it was very, very busy! It was so busy we didn't stop for even a little break until 3.30pm. I think the organisers had underestimated how well their advertising of the event had been! The next day it was reported that there had been 6,000 visitors on day one!! No wonder the car parks were full and the queue for the toilets was a long one! I took the next photo to give you an idea of the view we had all day!

 

 

 Sunday was a bit quieter so we both had the chance to walk around and buy a few things for ourselves. I added to my ever growing collection of spindles.

 

 

The one in the centre I bought from The Mulberry Dyer and the other two I got from Sheepfold Wheels, the one on the left being the heavier and longer of the two.

 

 

I bought this set of double row wool combs with clamp from Wingham  Woolwork as well as some roving - a camel/merino blend and merino/possum blend.

 

 

L. to R. - Merino/camel blend, Ile de France roving, Merino/possum blend.

 

 

I also got a finishing brush to put on my carder from Classic Carder. But the finds of the day for me was some extra special fibre. The stall next to us was Wheeldale Woolcrafts which is run by Phillippa Joad and her brother Harry helping out. I spied some bumps of fibre poking out of a basket which I had to buy, namely Ile de France. I remembered seeing this sheep breed mentioned in the Deb Robson book and thought it looked interesting but probably never get the chance to spin. There it was on the stall next to ours....I had to buy some and I took some back to our cottage that evening to have a play with it on my new drop spindles. What lovely fibre! So I went back next morning and bought the remaining bundles - a kilo in total. I have since found out that Ile de France is a cross between Dishley  Leicesters and French Merino, so that explains why its so nice! I also sought out The Little Grey Sheep stall as I follow Emma's blog and wanted to buy some fibre.

 

 

I got two packs of Gotland lambs wool locks and six packs of beautifully hand-dyed European Merino. I must say that this is the best hand-dyed merino I have ever spun! Merino is very susceptible to felting when heated so dyeing it can be tricky, but there was no sign of any felting when I had a trial spin back at the cottage. I'm really pleased with all my purchases which have all been taken to my workroom as I have now started to spend more creative time up there with the onset of autumn. Yes its raining again!!! Looking forward to Yarndale 2014 already.