Where has the year gone!

I'm ashamed to say that I have been very bad on the blogging front, but in my defence, there has been a lot going on. There have been a number of trips to Somerset and Cornwall to visit the aged relatives and although we haven't had an actual holiday, there have been other treats.

However, I've still not been spinning because as soon as my back got better, I fell and hurt my foot and treadling is a bit of a problem. So, I bit the bullet and bought a spindle, but soon discovered that even with twenty years spinning experience using a wheel, you have to start from scratch to learn how to spin with a spindle! That is on the back burner for now, but perhaps I'll pick it up later.

My big news though is on the weaving front. I decided that I wanted to weave an IKAT scarf and as I was booked to do an indigo dyeing workshop with Magie Relph, I thought it would be nice to use it to dye a cotton warp.  Why did I decide it would be a good idea to make a five metre warp which would use most of the 24 inch weaving width of the Harris loom? All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The yarn is cotton 3/14, sett at 32 epi. It is a little soft, but will drape nicely and I hope it would take the indigo dye very well. So the warp was wound, the cross securely tied and strips of plastic carrier bags tied around in what I hoped would be a pleasing pattern. It did take the dye well, but I hadn't realised just how much a bunch of yarn would resist the dye even in the gaps between the plastic bags. So there was nothing for it but to get the hands in the bucket and wiggle the yarn around to get it throroughly soaked.

If I had known beforehand how many problems I would encounter, I think I would have had second thoughts, but I don't like giving up! It is staggering how ignorant I was of simple weaving techniques. I just didn't know how much I  didn't know! So here it is, warts and all!

So, after the traumas my DH and I suffered getting the warp on the loom, we decided we needed lessons. This is how I came to be spending last weekend with Stacey Harvey-Brown learning the basics and some not so basics. Stacey is a very well known weaver and is an excellent teacher. She helped me get to grips with all the arithmetic you need in planning a project, something I confess I  didn't pay enough attention to! Never again will I take my warp to the loom, only to discover I have more threads than heddles and no idea how to prevent a horrible tangled mess!

My IKAT warp is still on the loom, but is now waiting for me to finish it, but as I have warped up my little Louet with a nice warp, that is taking priority at the moment!

It's a knitting frenzy

Not able to spin because of a bad back, I'm into a knitting frenzy! I have no less than 5 active projects on the go and am giving them each a turn every time I sink back into my chair after little forays to stop my back seizing up altogether!

It is taking me several goes to update my projects on Ravelry, but I will get there and include photos.

The camel and silk sample has been navajo plyed and despite all my efforts to make it really thin, it's not really as thin as I wanted. Still, I have only used around 20grams, so will have plenty left to experiment. Quite what I will make with the 250 grms I was given as a present from the Guild I'm not sure. I would like to make a very lacy beaded shawl, but I ask myself, "Is life too short?" I will consider!

Bits and Batts

My latest yarn has been spun, plied and washed and is now waiting for me to decide what colour to dye it. It is a 50/50 blend of cashmere and tussah silk bought from Adelaide Walker of Otley. I was lucky enough to have been given a voucher to spend there as a present from The Bradford Guild following my year as chairman. The fibre is lovely and has a wonderful sheen, but is not all that easy to spin evenly. I decided to spin before dyeing as I feared it might felt. I chose to spin it on my Timbertops Leicester wheel using the slowest ratio (8:1) as I was aiming for a soft yarn that would drape well.

The yarn has turned out to be a bit uneven. I was aiming for a laceweight, but I have ended up with something nearer a 4 ply. Even so it does seem to drape well and isn't over twisted and the beautiful sheen seems to have been preserved. I have found a lovely pattern for a shawl and I think it will do very well although I'm not sure it will be good enough to have the "Wow Factor".

The next step will be to dye it and I have decided to use the Kemtex easy dyes as they are very easy to use and there are some lovely colours.

I still have another 150 g to spin, but I think I will use a higher ratio to make a thinner and hopefully more even yarn. I doubt that it will be strong enough to use as a warp, you never know! The sheen would show off beautifully in a twill weaved scarf.Yum!

Sadly I missed the guild meeting on Satuday, so didn't get an opportunity to make my piece of half felt to use at the Jackie Lunn workshop next month. So I got out my drum carder and had a go at some batts. I have a huge bagful of Merino tops in all sorts of colours and ended up with some really lovely colour blends.

So, my next job will be to get out the bubble wrap, bamboo mat, rolling pin and soapy water and get the elbow grease going! Watch this space!

New tricks for an old dog

You know you're getting on a bit when you sit down to watch a tv programme and wake up to find that you've slept through most of it. Thank heaven for the I Player, although watching day time tv remains my dirty little secret! So, I've taken to knitting while watching tv, using the theory that, you can't fall asleep while your hands are busy. It may be that science will want to undertake an important investigation of this in due course, but  meanwhile, I can report my own results. It's not true. I can and do fall asleep while knitting, Indeed, it can happen mid stitch, until roused by some loud background music to illustrate splitting the atom etc, when I  awake and carry on as if nothing had happened! Something had to be done, but what?

I saw an advert from Interweave press for a email newsletter called Knitting Daily . This is really just to get you to subscribe to various magazines or buy products they are advertising, but there are some free patterns and some really useful hints and tips. One of their recent  emails was all about "Old Nowegian Cast On"! Until recently, I thought there was only one way to cast on stitches, but that was before I became a Knitter rather than just someone who knitted! There were diagrams, but even standing on one leg and closing one eye, they seemed impossible to follow, and then there was the video! Wow, having watched it several times, and tried to follow it with yarn and needles at the ready. I just couldn't do it! How could I ever go along to Thursday knit night at Baaramewe when I was so ignorant and inept!

Although it is possible to spend hours watching knitting videos on You Tube, some of which are so bad that you end up rocking with laughter, there is no substitute for practise. So that's what I did., and now after a week of screaming frustration, I can do Old Norwegian cast on, longtail cast on, contintental knitting, [knit and purl including yarnovers etc], cable cast on and magic loop knitting!!! All this in just one week!

Would this solve my problem? I decided to put it to the test. So last night we started watching dear Jim Al-Khalili telling us all about man-made elements and the Periodic Table and I made use of the newly acquired talent and cast on for a sock with a result any Old Norwegian would have been proud of and guess what? Yep, woke up to find I'd slept through most of the programme!

Anyway, at least now I don't feel quite as inadequate in the knitting department. I just wish I wasn't sleeping through so many tv programmes about important scientific discoveries. I wonder if there are any videos I could watch on Youtube? How to make your own nuclear bomb for instance!!! I wonder what the Old Norwegian method for doing that is!

It's a long time!

I have been busy, so haven't posted here for a while. Well, more than a while, but I thought it would be good to start blogging here again.

One activity that has taken up a great deal of my time, is being Chairman of the Bradford Guild .  My term of office came to an end last weekend and I have to say that it is a relief! Acting as Chairman and speakerfinder was a real strain and I discovered that I am not really a committee person. Some of my fellow committee members were very helpful, but some were not and as I am so inexperienced in the way of these things, mistakes were made! However, everyone was very complementary and I got a lovely present so no harm done.

Having acquired a lovely Timbertops Leicester wheel, I feel guilty that I have done so little spinning over the summer. So I'm making up for lost time now as I'm spinning some wonderful Cashmere/ silk blend that I got from Adelaide Walker. Their service is excellent and their prices are very reasonable. I decided that it would probalby not be a good idea to dye the fibre before spinning it, so will spin first and dye later. I'm trying to spin it into a fine laceweight so I can knit a lovely drapey shawl! Photos will follow in due course!

Busy Busy busy

It's been a busy time chez moi. I have finished my lacy scarf and after blocking it does look lovely. I am pleased that the rather uneven nature of the yarn doesn't show up too badly!

The quilt to be donated to Project Linus has also been finished and handed over. In the end, I was pleased with it and I learned a lot from making it. Mitred corners, double binding and above all, that fancy stitches and a walking foot do not go together. Anyway, I am sure that it will be loved and will give comfort to the child who gets it.

All the onions, potatoes, peas and beans are in the ground on the allotment. Carrots, radish and lettuce have been sown.

The website we are building for the Bradford Guild is taking shape and will soon be uploaded onto the web.

I will shortly have finished spinning the yarn for the secret woolly hat for the DH's birthday and will have to find a way to take it away with me without his knowing!

So off to sunny Cornwall next week, to draw, paint, walk on the cliffs and above all get this darned hat finished!

Is it a plane?

Picked the DGD up from school on Friday afternoon and brought her home to give the DD a rest and a chance to recover from her sore throat. We're all dropping like flies at the moment with whatever this horrible bug is that's doing the rounds.

As the afternoon was so warm and sunny, we spent it outside in the garden and when our interest in horticulture flagged, we enlisted GD in making a see-saw out of old bits of wood and this then morphed into an areoplane! See below, for the inflight photos!



We would have loved her to have stayed a bit longer, but as it was Bradford Guild on Saturday and the DH had lots to do, we had to take her back home to Mum. She is becoming a lovely little girl and is a real pleasure to have around. Her imagination seems to have no bounds and I hope we can encourage her to use it to the full.

So to the guild meeting where I discovered that I am not very good at AGM issues and due to all that and a committee meeting, I didn't get to spin. I did get some lovely fibre from Freyalyn. http://freyalyn.blogspot.com/ Camel and silk in her poppy and murex colourway; merino and silk in murex and some lovely Bluefaced Leicester in a mixed colourway. The latter is destined to be the happy birthday surprise hat for the DH's big 60 in May! I have spun the first bobbins worth and am very pleased with the result. The only question is, have I bought enough to finish the job, or will I be forced to buy more fibre!

Then to mother's day and a visit from the DD and the DGD with a card and a lovely group hug which included GD and that made his day too. Then sinking into the sofa, with a glass or two of wine to watch England beat Scotland at Rugby.
Perfect!