April stash update

 Hi,

Time for a quick fibre update. I have been continuing to try and wash all my raw fleece and I am now down to just four bags ( one of which arrived yesterday )

I still have a lot to prep and spin but at least it is now in the house where I can see it.

April spinning looks like this, the two white skeins are due to hit the dye pot tomorrow and the light grey skein will probably be on the needles later this week.

April Knitting- not so much due to the amount of spinning !

There has been some sporadic stitching but not a lot of progress so will update this next month.

I have given in and purchased a couple of fleeces this month, one of which is ready to process, The other one arrived yesterday packed in a cotton bag inside the plastic one.

This is a 2'5 kilo, well skirted Jacob and when I tried to unroll it, it fell apart !

The plan is to wash this tomorrow, card into batts and pop in the van on our next trip together with the e-spinner, I have temporarily banned myself from using the treadle wheel due to it increasing the pain in my knee (last assessment said ligament damage )

My raw fleece stash list now looks a lot like this ( some fleece was found to be simply not suitable for spinning ) hopefully it will soon list only new purchases

Raw fleece (whole) 1 of each.

white highlander

hebridian

shetland

Ryeland

unknown white {galway)

April purchase texel cross

April purchase jacob

Raw fleece small amounts ( at least 500gm)

black cheviot

unknown white x 4 3 2 1

brown/grey ryeland

light grey ryeland

mystery fleece ( possibly very sun bleached black cheviot )

white cheviot

Balwen

I o s jacob

Plans for May are pretty much the same as ever, spin down the washed stash, knit and stitch, Maybe a bit of lacemaking along the way and I'd love to find time to get an inkle loom out for a bit but that may be me being optimistic.

Speak soon x

Days out

Hi,

I was at a loose end on Saturday so packed up my wheel and headed off into town, first stop was at the independent traders market for a coffee (accompanied by an Easter chocolate)

I sat spinning for an hour or so enjoying the sunshine before heading up to an Art Exhibition at the Nottingham Society of Artists.

Leaving the gallery, I realised that I could hear music coming from the castle so headed up to the cafe to have coffee and cake in the sun.

On Sunday we visited Papplewick Pumping station, our regular haunt on an Easter Sunday as that is when our membership is due.

Previous posts about the pumping station are here

As usual I took more photos but this time I decided to film a few seconds of the inside. WARNING you may want to turn down the volume for this one.

quick update

 Hi,

Just a quick update on fluffy things. I currently have more bags of fleece drying on the line ready to continue with the stash spin down as most of the yarn in the previous post has reached its new home which in turn means that I can buy some more dyes.

I forgot to take photos of the dyed yarn but will try and remember to do so with the next lot.

I have a very new, close neighbour who seems to be spending a lot of time peering into my kitchen window whilst moving in.

Yarn bombing seems to be in evidence round our local post office, I'm not sure who the culprits are but it made me smile.

In other fluffy goings on I seem to have volunteered myself to spin in a shop window, something that I haven't done for a few years. So Tuesday morning ,12 April , I will be sat in the window of Tiger Community Hub, Listergate, Nottingham with my trusty wheel.

I called in during the week as they only opened on Monday and had tea and cake ( red velvet cheesecake nom nom ) and spent some time knitting and chatting to the volunteers.

The community hub has been opened to create a welcoming, safe space for the community , with wellbeing activities and training for young people.

I will let you know how it goes.

Speak soon x

Stash spin down update

Some of you may remember that I wrote a post at the end of February listing all my raw fleece that needed to be washed or tossed. 

Its now one month later so I thought that I would give you a quick update. Spinning in the last month has amounted to nearly a kilo and I did take a photo before popping it into the 'waiting to wash bag' which has unfortunately disappeared into the ether.

The weather suddenly turned warm so I took the opportunity to wash all my recent handspun from this year together with some knitwear and get it all out onto the line.

I have more fibre prepped and ready to spin .

The stock list currently looks like this, I'm really pleased with the progress so far.

Raw fleece (whole) 1 of each.

white highlander

hebridian

shetland

Ryeland

unknown white (galway ?)

Raw fleece small amounts ( at least 500gm)

black cheviot

unknown white x 4 3 2

brown/grey ryeland

light grey ryeland

mystery fleece ( possibly very sun bleached black cheviot )

white cheviot

Balwen

I o s jacob

I also spun a little of the fleece that was already washed as well as majority of the ones crossed off.

The goal is still to clear the backlog completely to make way for any fresh fleece this year,

NB today it is snowing !!

I'm back, shaking the sand from my shoes.

 Hi,

Sorry for being a little more quiet than usual but I've been up to my neck in wool and yarn (separate spinning post coming soon ) and we took advantage of the recent unusually warm weather and grabbed a few days away in the van.

We headed out to the east coast, Skegness to be precise. Not our usual choice of seaside place but we found a campsite just a little out of the town and a few yards from the beach. The beach was pretty deserted and the local amenities amounted to a bar, cafe, amusement arcade and in the other direction, a spar shop so it suited us nicely.

As the summer season hasn't yet started, the two attractions we had hoped to see were closed, one  only operating in school holidays  and the other closed due to covid.

The Village, a farm museum in Skegness looks really interesting but as covid had caught up with the staff we marked it down as somewhere to have a look round next time.

The Lincolnshire coast railway, narrow gauge diesel and steam line only open in the summer but the volunteers were more than happy for us to have a look round.

In the airfield next door it looked like a restoration project underway on the Lightning aircraft parked up to one side.

We spent a few hours in Skegness, wandering round the shops but staying out of the arcades that had opened up to take advantage of the warm weather, 

Hot chocolate and Lincolnshire sausage rolls made a a rather unhealthy but very tasty lunch break

On Saturday we walked over to the railway then on to Ingoldmells to see if the market was on as we are looking for some new throws to go on the seats in the van.

The coasters were just starting up as we walked along. We scoured the market but couldn't find what we were looking for but Ian did spot this sign, replica weapons and educational toys??

We returned to our quiet beach and got the kites out for a while then I managed to win yet another small model campervan to add to the ever growing collection on the penny falls and surprisingly it took less than 50 p in 2ps to rescue it from the machine.

The campsite was pretty full but very friendly, possibly because most people were from our part of the country. Facilities immaculate as you would expect from a Caravan Club affiliated site,

All too soon we had to go from this

To this,,,,

 and make our way home. (new rugs have been added )

Speak soon, xx

Just a quick update !

 Busy, busy, busy

First spinning demo for two years later this morning, I was going to just sit and spin but we've thrown it open as a demo / have a go session so I've been grabbing fibre and spindles etc ready. I also carded some squishy batts of Jacob and Texel.

We have the van back from the furnishings company, yippee !!

Before photos, this is the original furnishing, 14 years of wear and tear has left the foam almost completely broken down, more so in the five year that we have had it.

After.......

It's looking like new van !! and the curtains are practical rather than about a foot wide and decorative.

Other than that, its been a round of fleece washing and prep whenever the weather has looked good and grabbing a few minutes to work on the big red thing.

That's about it for, I have to dash for the bus so will update further in the next post x

Start of spring ?

 It was cold and frosty this morning but the sky was clear so three bags of fleece are blowing around on the line.

I took myself off into town for a wander round and a coffee, first stop was the train station to see if there was any new art in installations in the foyer,

This is a memorial to people who have lost their lives to prostate cancer.

I then headed down to the canal and this time headed off in the opposite direction to normal, the difference in canalside buildings is well marked.

Tradional

Modern

   The canal side is a hive of building activity which means more hoarding screens for the graffiti artists.

Next time I will follow the towpath further but for now this is as far as I went as the steps to rejoin the path are temporary on the other side and I may wait until there is something more solid or my poor old legs feel up to it (random ligament problems at present )

I left the canal at this point and circled back to Hopkinsons which is an antique shop/cafe /haunted museum near the railway station.

A mocha was very welcome as inspite of the sun the wind had been quite bitter down on the towpath, I sat inside shaded by the shutters , quietly knitting and listening to another x files audio book..

Even my stitching has a spring feeling about it, spot the yellow rabbit :-)

Speak soon xx