Spammed and a quick update

HI

I eventually made it back to work on Wednesday but I've still not shaken off-- the tiredness caused by the Virus. Also I'm really struggling to remember that we are no longer in 2019 when writing the date.

I have just removed around a dozen comments on here which linked to Chinese porn sites !! fortunately I set all comments to be moderated first so I can catch this sort of thing.

I'm still taking part in the Instagram lace challenge, there have been a couple of headings that still have me foxed so I will come back to the once inspiration strikes.

I have 3!! hats on the needles at the moment which is unusual for me but it will give me plenty of knitting to pop in the van on our next run out.

This one is simply oddments that were left on the bobbins, I may keep it for my self, not sure yet.

This one is mainly Jacob and the design has a masculine feel to it, its an easy repeat so I should get it finished soon.
Spinning.. I'm working on the last of the brown Shetland fleece, 60 gram on the bobbin and another 60 ready to spin onto the next. This will be used for knitting rather than selling as yarn.

My knitting/spinning mojo went into retirement with being ill so hopefully will return soon, the brighter if colder weather is helping a bit.

One thing that I have found is that I'm starting to bake cakes and biscuits and quite enjoying the process.

Speak Soon xx

Its Just a Virus...

But it knocked me off my feet and I'm still exhausted !!

Anyway, I managed to start the January Lace Challenge, several days late and using photos pinched from this very blog.

here are the challenge words..

I suspect that I may have to skip some of them unless Inspiration strikes, yep, that is no 31.!

Its made me think about to spend my time once work no longer plays such a big part, although I love the spinning/knitting, I don't want to burn out on it.

So , the challenge so far is documented on my Instagram pages.https://www.instagram.com/guzzisue/

rather than repeat the photos that can already by found on the blog.

On the spinning front, I busy prepping the last of a brown Shetland and I have a couple of simple hats on the needles waiting to be finished.

I have a large amount of material scarps to be used up so I'll be looking at making some drop spindle project bags which will be handy if I'm ever asked about workshops. Also they can double as knitting bags :-)

Long term, I'm looking to use up/downsize a lot of my craft materials as they are taking up too much valuable space at the moment.

I hope you are all having a great week, watch this space xx

belated New Year Greetings

May I wish everyone a very belated happy New Year :-) The bug got me, went to bed 9.30 New Years Eve, didn't suface until yesterday and then only long enough for a shower and a small bite to eat!

I've been mooching around today as all the unintentional rest has sent my body clock wrappy and I've been awake since 3am except for a short nap.

So to all my friends who I haven't caught up with, I'm not ignoring you, and will try to get the year off to a better start next week.

On the upside, we did catch some bike racing on Sunday before all this happened :-)

looking forward...2020, a year of change

Hi

I know this is usually a New Year Eve kind of post but its 4.50 am and I'm wide awake so its a wee bit early :-)

 I've been thinking about next year for a while now as it means that a landmark birthday is pending and with it the chance of changing the amount of crafting time I have.

I've even made a list of how I'd like to spend the extra time ( In an ideal world ! )

1,  Blog more, This would give me a record of my progress since I started this blog back in 2007.

                                          --------------------------------------

Wednesday, 27 June 2007

testing, testing

First attempt at posting only to find that I cannot load photos or maybe it is just that having dial up still makes it take forever.

                                               -----------------------------------

2, try and design more knitted hats, I love knitting hats but I'm pretty bad a recording the details of them and once they are sold I simply end up with a bad photo of them.

3, carrying on the photo theme, I have had my lovely small Canon a year now and I'm just finding out what it really does so I want to get back into the photography habit.

4, Get to grips with both my e-spinner and my kromski loom that has yet to come out of the bag.

 

5, conquer my fear? of knitting mitts For some reason I only ever manage to knit one! definite second mitt syndrome.

6, spin down the stash before it takes over the house.

6 Make some lace

                                     

And travel more :-)

so, will this happen? shorter working hours, a little self care and hopefully a few changes in the pipeline should help make 2020 the gateway to a better, hopefully healthier life.

and the blogging ?, hopefully a little more frequent than it has been.

Wishing everyone a peaceful New Year.

knitting...

I'm still finding time to put pen to paper but here's some knitting to keep you going.

Yep, I'm still knitting up the oddments !! speak soon xx

just letting you know... I've not given up, just a little busy

Random update plus fibre stuff :-)

HI

I haven't completely abandoned this blog but we've been rather busy with work etc.

On the travel side, we have been down to Minehead, over to Morton, to  Hawes in Yorkshire and Rutland in the van. Isle of Skye and the tall ships festival in Gloucester were visited by car.

I will detail more of these trips when I get chance but safe to say the only reason I get time to blog today is because I hake picked up a chest infection that has kept me off work for the last few days.

On the fibre front, I have continued to spin and knit. I somehow lost count of the number of breeds so will check my Instagram as I'm sure I mentioned them on there.

The start of Tour de Fleece is only 3 weeks away and as usual I will spin and take my wheel out with me at weekends.

Sorry for this brief post. More will follow shortly :-)

Photos just to whet the appertite….

This years fibre challenge

So here we are, 3 March and my last post was way back in January.

We have been a bit busy and will fill you in with our recent travels soon.

As for the spinning ….

Norfolk Horn X

I've been feeling that I need a challenge, to keep me spinning which in turn will enable me to keep knitting.

The one that I've come across is Twelve in Twelve which is running on the Create with fFibre Facebook group.

The idea is to prep and spin 12 different fleeces in the year (only one skein per breed is really needed and I really don't think that I could get through 12 in a year) and if possible use the yarn in some way.

Ok, its a big ask or at least I thought it was but its the beginning of March and I have 5 in the bag as far as spinning is concerned, all from raw fleece although its possible that I will sell some skeins rather than knit with them.

Black Welsh Mountain x Lleyn

So far I've managed South Down, borerey, Mule (poss NC) an unknown breed (random donated fleece but really nice, and Kerry Hill.
Waiting for more prep are a bobbin of Black welsh mountain cross lleyn and a bobbin of Norfolk Horn x Charolais.

unknown breed, Kerry Hill (dyed)

I have a white cheviot to check out, hopefully some black cheviot ( I suppose that counts as just one breed) some hebridean, ryland and Shetland.

South Down

The wish list includes Romney, Portland and I'm keeping my eyes open for a nice Jacob.

I may exceed the 12 breeds !!

I had to knit one of them, mule knitted up into a scarf.

What I like to spin

October/November spinning

I'm a bit of a lazy spinner, don't get me wrong, I love to process a fleece but once I'm spinning I generally use a semi long draw drafting style. I hold the fibre in my left hand and pull away from the wheel. My right hand does little apart from pinch the twist occasionally to control the amount of fibre going into the twist.

As for the prep, I love combed fibre. I have a set of valkryie wool combs and process most fleeces with these whilst watching box sets on the computer. I have hand carders which I never really got to grips with and a drum carder which is rarely used.

I've found that up to now I don't really like Blueface Leicester or Wensleydale for spinning. Jacob, Ryland, Romney and most of the down breeds are more fun to spin. Since I knit hats etc these are often fine enough and certainly warm enough.

I have a chart of endangered British sheep breeds and I'm slowly making my way through them but I tend to choose fleeces more for their colour.

Its some time since |I dyed any fibre and my last attempt was not brilliant. I suspect that this may have been down to ageing dyes more than anything else so I've taken them plunge and bought some new stock. Not being too sure which colours I would want to use, I've ended up with 24 10gm bottles. 24 different colours to play with..

December spinning waiting for a wash.

How many photos???

Last November we had a short trip out in the van for Bonfire night ( Nov 5)

We found a good campsite in Tewkesbury  next to the Abbey and after breakfast we spent the daytime wandering round the shops and taking a few photos.

The old buildings were fascinating and there were so any of them that we will be going back at some point to explore more.

After a quick meal in the van we headed off to the fireworks and this is where the photo problem started... I was merrily taking photos of all the pretty lights and casually mentioned when I got back that I had taken around 250 pictures..... plugged the camera in when we got back and....956 photos of fireworks and bonfires !!!

Here are the best handful.

Podcasts

I've been getting more interested in Podcasts over the last few months, firstly listening to Knit British then picking up on Fruity Knitting on You-Tube.

Knit British is pretty self explanatory, Louise concentrates on British wool, single farm yarns and generally anything Woolley related which extends to spinning, knitting, yarn shows and interviews with people involved with sheep and the processing of wool. The podcast is backed up with a blog and a ravelry group with various challenges including the wool exploration, where people taking part purchase or spin a specific breed and then put the knitted sample to the test re softness, stitch definition etc.

I have now listened to most of the back catalogue whilst doing housework and sitting spinning.

At present there is generally one episode each month.

Fruity knitting on You-tube follows the standard pattern of news/finished items/work in progress interspersed with useful tutorials and interviews with knitters and knitwear designers.

I find this enjoyable as the often have fair isle knitters/designers showcasing their work so I make a date to catch up with each episode released on a Monday every two weeks.

Recent finds have been Babbles Travelling Yarns, lovely Irish girl named Grace who is a spinner, knitter and dyer with a real passion for fibre, her rather tall husband and her cat.

Green Bean podcast, gentle knitting with artist and author Katie Green.

Tiny Fibre Studio. by Becks, I've only just found this one as she recently visited John Arbons mill along with Grace from Babbles travelling yarns. However I'm just starting on her older videos as she is a spinner and spent 2017 knitting only with her hand spun.

For me, one of my favourite podcasts is TJFrog based on the isle of Skye. Tania updates the listening community with what is happening on the island with a very strong bias towards yarn, crafts and textile.

 Tania herself makes Dorset Buttons , an old traditional way of making button with wool.

I listen to every episode and often find Tania interviewing people I know on the island :-)

If you have any other suggestions, I look forward to hearing them particularly one that are based in the UK.

I'm leaving you with a photo of the Isle of Skye, our bolthole from our working lives.

Happy New Year xx

So, I did some thinking, I need to document our travels, my knitting and spinning and if I don't do it here, where will I do it?

I will try and update at lease once a month but hopefully a little more often even if its just an odd photo to say where we have been or what's on the needles.

I'm still wanting to share some of our September trip and subsequent  weekends away up to and including xmas, no broken bones etc so far this time :-)

I have a bobbin to finish and ply whilst we still have some daylight so I'm signing off for now but will be back soon with a longer update.

The bobbin holds Ryland, the knitting is Ryland and Southdown and the cups are empty :-)

Happy New Year xx

Do I stay or do I go ?

This is so difficult, do I carry on with the blog or let it go.

My blogging mojo has been at a low ebb, I have plenty to blog about but the inclination to post it is missing.

Also I'm beginning to wonder how many people still read blogs?

I've reached this point before and always carried on but I do think that a blog has to have regular updates and I've failed rather miserably at that.

So the options are...

1 end it here
2 try and schedule a monthly update or round up.
3 update after each trip, crafting success etc.

I will be giving it some thought and decide on New Years day how I plan to go forward.

I hope you all had a greet Christmas xx

Travels with my spinning wheel, accross the sea to France.

Sunday morning found us up and about early on but as our ferry wasn't until 8.45 we were pretty much the last van off the ferry pitches on the site ( pitches near the site entrance resrved for people getting early ferries)

First time on the ferry for puffin, first time for us for a few years :-) the ferry was busy so we grabbed a sandwich at the bar and chilled for an hour. We were joined by another traveller who was very familiar with Skye so the journey was passed most enjoyably, exchanging tales of good and bad experiences when traveling.

Our first destination in France was La Coupole, a former V2 launch site which is now a museum. As we arrived early afternoon we had a light meal in the café and asked if it would be possible to park overnight and visit the museum in the morning. They were happy for us to do this, filled our drinking water container and directed us to the overflow car park.

As you can see we were joined by another van. I spent a pleasant afternoon spinning in the sunshine.

We visited the museum the next day, I would suggest that you follow the link above for more details as I find it hard to put into words anything about the destruction caused buy these weapons.

I've posted some photos, I don't think they really need descriptions.

                                    

                From the cab of the van you can see the original trackway for the rockets.

We left the museum mid afternoon and headed south, stopping at an old campsite that had seen better days but did deliver bread to your door in the morning.