Travel, Fibre and Thread

2012-01-25T18:30:00.000Z

another slice of history

One of my friends has a special word for me , apparently I'm a Clutter Monkey and I think he is quite right about this. Tidiness and organisation are most definitely NOT two of my strong points. I always claim the excuse of being so creative that I don't have time or inclination to tidy away every little thing. The out come of this is that I periodically have to clear out my workroom and try and prevent too much of my stuff overtaking the next room as well. Obviously I have to store the tools of my trade somewhere but a passion for textiles has resulted in several hundred books, two (sometimes three) spinning wheels, five sewing machines, one embellisher and several small looms, not to mention nine lace pillow although some of these are out on loan.
So, today was a sort out day ( needed to see the floor even if only for a few hours) and I uncovered this...

I suspect it dates from the 60's but I am open to suggestions and features many sewing aids but I've picked out a few knitting related items just to compare prices.

Priced at £3.00 seems quite a bargain!!!

Now we all like to have a ball winder and they are getting to be quite an expensive item ( I jointly own one with a friend, an old knitmaster cone winder) invaluable asset for any spinner!!

This isn't really a knitting item but I inherited one.................................

..................... and use it as a blocking board

Most of these item are by a company called Dritz and many of the sewing products can be found in my work room even today .

Taking a breath

2012-01-24T06:53:00.000Z

Part of me says I should be stitching, I have stitching to do but at the moment all I can manage is a bit of knitting. I think its the weather, time of year, going out in the dark and coming home in the dark all having an impact on peoples lives at the moment. An easy knit becomes a comfort blanket, an easy spin becomes something to get lost in. Does anyone else have books that they read for comfort? you read them so many times that you know the plot line inside out and the covers are all tattered?

I have really enjoyed the process from fleece to knitted scarf and have sort of bought another fleece to play with, more on that later :-)

Sunday round up

2012-01-22T21:45:00.000Z

HI, well its been a long busy week but not a lot to show for it! Yesterday spinnotts met at the new Art Exchange in Nottingham for a bobbin lace taster session and we were very happy to have help from Heather who is a lace teacher and member of the Nottingham Bobbin Lace Society.

And I followed this up with a bit of shopping today, essential shopping for me !!

Bin workin hard

2012-01-19T22:12:00.000Z

as we have a spinning and bobbin lace session on Saturday. Hopefully normal service will resume next week :-)

Nearly Sunday round up

2012-01-14T21:30:00.001Z

Hi, its been a strange week, busy at work and dogged by a raging headache by the end of the week resulting in bloodshot eyes and time off ill. Hopefully that is all behind me now but it means that blog posts have been a little lacking so this is an attempt to bring things up to date. Firstly a quickly snatched photo of Eleanor of Knit Nottingham wearing a shawl that she knitted from my handspun ( the orange) She never stays still long enough when I have my camera out !

Next, the guys in my local coffee shop were concerned that I only had water instead of my usual latte on Thursday morning and made me a special drink when I called in later to escape from my day job for a few mins.

Next weekend our spinning group 'spinnotts' are having a spin and lace day, that is bobbin lace not knitted lace and I am digging out my spare lace pillows and working on an easy pattern for beginners to play with . We will be at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham next Saturday and hopefully some will get to have a go with this bookmark pattern.
For anyone looking for this weeks TAST sample, well I haven't stitched it yet but here is the buttonhole stitch from last time to keep you going.

Saturday saw me feeling a bit better, doing the usual housework then visiting a friend for coffee (and dinner as it turned out) We washed some fleece.......

Did a little spinning and a lot of chatting and giggling as usual. Admired the results from our last dye session , merino and angora..yum yum

Then wikkidknitter demonstrated the latest in spinning footwear!!

Hoping you all had a good week and that the spell checker decides to work before I publish this post!!

Sunday round up

2012-01-08T20:25:00.000Z

So here we are on Sunday evening, one whole week into January!!! What have I done this week? well I knitted Charlie again...ongoing bus/coffee/dinner break knit....stitched the ATC for take a stitch Tuesday, made fruit loaf sultana scones and cheese biscuits and started to spin the rainbow dyed merino from the New Year Eve dying session.

Earlier today I wandered down to Costa ( hubby now works some Sundays :-( ) with my inkle loom and a selection of yarn ready to waep up another Sami band.

The only problem with working in the coffee shop is having to come home on the bus. Todays prize qquestion came from a woman waiting at the bus stop....what does that machine make? no excuse me or niceties so I told her it was a waeving loom. Next question...can you knit jumpers on it??? I really was too tired to explain why not!!

From the mouths of babes...

2012-01-07T11:16:00.000Z

I meant to share this with you last year but sort of missed it out.towards the end of last year we took the shop stall to the Nottingham Bead Fair to let people know about the newly launched on line shop. A usual I took my spinning wheel and provided entertainment for the husbands...This always happens to me, they all want to know how it works etc and sometimes I pass the time chatting about bikes and trains with them.

On this occasion a mother and daughter stopped to watch and I listened to the mother carefully explain to her daughter ( late teens) what a spinning wheel was, how it worked etc,,etc,,etc only to hear the daughter reply.............OOhh Muuuum, I know all about them, theres a lady spinning in Costa every Saturday !!!

Made me smile and own up to being 'the lady'

Take a stitch Tuesday...week one... fly stitch

2012-01-04T21:03:00.000Z

OK, so its been quite some time since I stitched but hopefully this challenge will get things moving again. Anyone who knows me will be aware that I'm not a big fan of stitching on plain fabric or even weave so for the first stitch I have stayed with my spinning fibres that were dyed last weekend.

As for format, I've stuck with ATC size (3.5 inch x 2.5 inch ) which is handy and fits in with previous samples. Also I managed to find plastic wallets at our local supermarket so I can easily file and display them.

The background was made on my embellisher using selected small amounts of the dyed fibres.

Sorry about the weird lighting in the photo but my workroom is not brilliant in the winter time.

I then spun small amounts of thread on a drop spindle.

and used them to stitch the sample.

So , here it is, Fly Stitch.

biker chocs

2012-01-04T20:49:00.001Z

nom, nom :-)

weird yarny bits #1

2012-01-03T06:53:00.000Z

I wrote this post for the Knit Nottingham Blog but thought that you may be interested in it :-)

What to do with yarn other than just knit with it....

Hi, this is the first of an occasional series on things to do with yarn, some serious and some just long lost fads. If you want to challenge me to try any unusual technique please feel free to do so.

I'm starting with Jiffy lace simply because someone passed me a leaflet of instructions which totally confused me. No idea of the publication date but priced at $1.50 so obviously an import. Now this looks very much like broomstick crochet and I suspect Jiffy Lace is simply an American cover story for it. You use a big needle and a crochet hook to make the stitches, I found it very fiddly to do and certainly not relaxing for me but maybe with practise?? or maybe not! I mean, I can't see me wearing this...can you?

So I've made three small samples, two in acrylic, one in handspun and I suspect that may be the end of this experiment unless anyone wants to educate me further? I throw the challenge out to you, the readers.....

So , let me know what you think and I'll stick to the knitting for a little while longer xx

Knitting Charlie :-)

2012-01-02T13:24:00.000Z

If you remember this picture....

and the post 'spinning Charlie'

well here's the update......

Knitting Charlie :-)

beautifully soft, this has been my easy knit on the bus for the last couple of weeks :-)

what we did on New Years Eve.......

2012-01-01T22:00:00.000Z

.....was have a bit of fun, fluffy fibre style whilst hubby was out with Biker Ted shopping and visiting friends. Firstly we raided the fluff stash as I had bought a bag of off white merino at a bargain price a few months ago and fancied trying to dye it. Some superwash merino yarn was added to the pile and Wikkidknitter bought along some merino/angora to add to the pot.

first we had a quick check on the colour combinations

seems to work ok

Then we start the chocolates

Then we eat the cheese biscuits fresh from the oven

and bake some cakes whilst the dyes are cooking

I'm thinking this may be my next spinning project, just need something to ply it with...any ideas?

and this may just go to the shop :-)

We had fun as usual, stocked up on a bit of fibre and giggled the day away as good friends often do :-)
Now down to earth with a bump with a spinnotts event to arrange in Nottingham for January 21st where the spinners will be spinning and also looking at bobbin lace.

perfect present for spinning friends......

2012-01-01T10:23:00.000Z

Sheep on a stick!!!

Have a great N'ewe Year xx

Wild and Woolly Boxing Day

2011-12-28T07:04:00.000Z

OK, I freely admit that we are not big on Christmas, to the extent of not buying presents for each other or having the usual tree etc. Christmas Eve was spent with a friend dyeing yarn and baking biscuits. No photos of the baking but one of the yarn ( all hand spun by wikkidknitter) :-)

Christmas Day saw us visit family only to find that they had been playing the Queens speech game ie take a drink each time the Queen mentions family, community, commonwealth and spirit!The result being that they were all rather drunk by the time we got there :-)

So on Boxing Day we abducted our Niece and Nephew and took them to the Wild and Woolly Scramble meet near Market Harborough, good open air entertainment to blow the cobwebs away. Mud everywhere, even in my pockets, in our hair, on our faces and our clothes!!!

So here's the pics for any bikers who still read my blog!!

More Photos here

I hope you all had a stress free Christmas xx

Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre

2011-12-27T14:24:00.000Z

Hi, The cinema organ in the last post is to be found at the Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre in Cornwall, they have preserved rides and sideshows that you can have a really good look around as well as ride on them. We have visited before but I thought that a few photos may show the progress since our last visit.

So.. whats behind the door??

and when did carousel horses get this scary?

The rides were in action but unfortnately neither of us like things that go round and round and round and round...

However we happily sat in this little train and enjoyed the GHOST RIDE!

and played in the hall of mirrors

We love theme parks and fairgrounds and although a collection like this can never recapture the atmosphere, the lights and colours never fail to make me grin like a cheshire cat. We will return time and time again :-)

Film Trip

2011-12-24T09:29:00.000Z

Had a rare trip out to see the lastest film...Buster Keaton...why invent talkies when the cinema organ can do the work?

Road Trip

2011-12-21T20:08:00.000Z

Just a little drive down to join our biker friends for a Christmas get together............only 600 plus miles to sleep in a frozen tent!! Cheated and went in the car :-)

more scary decorations

2011-12-13T21:29:00.000Z

Hi, just a quick post as I have some photos to sort out still from last weekend ......here's the rest of the anti xmas crowd seem in a group shot shortly before being re homed with many of my friends.

anti christmas gifts

2011-12-08T11:24:00.000Z

Hehe :-)

time to stitch?

2011-12-07T16:55:00.000Z

I've spent much of the last two years learning to spin, learning about fibres, learning the basics of knitting and weaving but I am now starting to feel the call of embroidery again. After all I spent 7 years studying creative embroidery City and Guild and feel the need to put it to use even if in a small way, so I have signed up for Take a Stitch Tuesday which is being rerun in the new year. I know I won't do every one but I feel that I need to get back to the stitch thing again if you know what I mean.

So we will see how it goes, see if I still have any inspiration in me :-)

If you feel the urge to join in, more info here,

a quick blast from the past, some of my previous attempts...

Herringbone stitch

Cretan stitch

out for a stroll

2011-12-05T21:51:00.000Z

Hi, first the fleece, now dry and ready to comb...so far so good.... the only thing is now I've combed out a few locks it looks like I've scalped a yorkshire terrier !!

Earlier on I took a stroll across to the shop after visiting the New Art Exchange to arrange a date for a bobbin lace taster session. I cut through the arboretum...

spotted this little chappy busy gathering food...

and took a photo of Darth Vadar, at least thats who Biker Ted reckons it is!!

In the wash bucket

2011-12-04T13:46:00.000Z

In the wash bucket today is Leicester Longwool and this fleece seems to be black/grey/dark brown/light brown..not as long staple as the sample I'm spinning at the moment so may even drum card rather than comb, will make my mind up once its dry and I can see exactly what I have to play with. This is just half of my part of the fleece :-)

Also. I am developing a strange desire to do some embroidery.....more to follow on this diversion...

Have a great weekend!

Spinning Charlie :-)

2011-12-02T13:40:00.000Z

On and off over the last few months I have been spinning a bag of Polworth fleece from a sheep named Charlie and I have finally got around to plying some of the bobbins and a further skein is drying at present.

I have still have some left to spin over the next few weeks. The big decision is whether to knit something really easy, more for the softness than anything else or save it for a big project. However my concentration tends to die after a bit on the big projects .

Also, I think a major sort out is needed in my craft room once my energy levels tops themselves up again!!

baa humbug

2011-11-30T06:52:00.000Z

we don't really do Christmas and since the incident at the out door skating rink I have tended to avoid the market square around Christmas time but this year I checked it out and found NO SKATING !! Instead, we have this.....

smile time :-)

2011-11-29T07:05:00.000Z

Eden Project 2011

Confused

2011-11-28T06:46:00.000Z

The tablet weaving must have been playing on my mind as I woke in the middle of the night and realised where I had gone wrong :-) yes, I managed to warp up the tablets upside down!!

confused!

2011-11-27T20:24:00.000Z

A couple of years ago I bought some cards for tablet weaving, had two very unsuccessful attempts and gave up! Today, after seeing some in use at the guild and speaking to another fibre nut who uses them, I warped them up on my inkle loom.

So far, so good

So the problems are : I used wool and the card wears it away very quickly
: I cannot keep track of where I am in the sequence if I have to leave it for any reason
: The design I'm working shows on the reverse of the work, it that normal???

So back to the drawing board, I'm open to ideas, anyone ?

belated fire photos

2011-11-27T10:06:00.000Z

Yes, so busy that some of these posts will be in a weird order!! So this was bonfire night :-)

An excellent example of why NOT to make your own fire works!!

Spin-Work-Shop-Fun

2011-11-25T22:55:00.001Z

Recently( at Knit Nottingham) we held another of our occasional spinning workshops aimed at brand new spinners. During the day we looked at fibres and learnt how to use a basic drop spindle. There was great excitement when the students were allowed to investigate the contents of their project bags which contained fibres and the spindle together with some secret ingredients.

After grasping the basics and realising that dropping the spindle is really part of the learning process, they went on to create their own yarn using a drum carder to blend their own choice of colours into a batt ready for spinning.
Their first yarns were beautiful, brightly coloured and textured and I am sure that they will be treasured.
Later everyone had chance to play on a spinning wheel although some thought that it was too much like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time!!
We all had a great time, including Pete and myself and we thank everyone for coming ( and for bringing the biscuits!!!)

A few updates

2011-11-24T20:43:00.000Z

Hi, Ok I got a little lax about posting again, too much to do and too little time as usual. Also since the dark nights started I seem to be lacking in energy a bit BUT I am still creating even if on a slightly smaller scale.

I am still playing with the inkle loom, the first sami braid was great fun using acrylic yarns, I had a play with hearts and now have some cotton thread sitting ready to go on next...thinking maybe using yarn for the pattern threads and trying a Celtic pattern. ( simple one)

And I'm still playing with bobbin lace especially after buying more lace pillows, bobbins and threads from a fellow spinner a couple of weeks ago.Since I had all the new toys, I had to play and have found a good number of people who also want to have a go at lace making so I'm thinking that we will all have to get together real soon :-)

Must admit that I'm a little out of practise and have spotted the odd mistake but hopefully this will help get me up and running again :-)

2011-10-23T09:28:00.000+01:00

Whilst on holiday recently in Cornwall we visited Flambards, a small theme park with a very good display about about war time Britain and I spotted this amongst the displays. The gloves and scarfs I could cope with but the knitted vest? no way, would never have the patience or the time.

I also spotted this in the wartime exhibition,really miss shops like these

somewhere to buy your knitting patterns along with the groceries

Until I saw this, I never realised that Sunny Jim was an advertising slogan! always thought it was just a saying/nickname.

Sunny Jim cloth doll, you would save the coupons and send away for him.

Knitted critters

2011-10-22T09:11:00.000+01:00

I promised knitted critter so here they are :-)

As many of you know, I am a member of the Notts and District branch of the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. Which sounds very official but basically boils down to a good old chat and lots of fibre fun on the last Saturday of the month. Occasionally we get to meet other guilds and recently we mooched on up to Mansfield to take part in the Ashfield Guild Hospitality days and in amongst the usual lines of spinners and stalls were....... little knitted thingies!!

There was a farm.

complete with duck pond, fields and trees. The family were outside the house and the horses in the stables.

And an ark complete with animals and family . Sadly there was a bit of a blood bath later in the day when all the animals were found lying on their sides and the crocodiles had a decidedly evil look about them.look if you dare!!!

and I loved the tortoise/turtles :-)

nudged into posting again

2011-10-21T13:30:00.000+01:00

Hi, I've been busy and sort of ill ( tooth, extreme insect bite reaction both being treated) and hadn't realised how long it was since I last posted until my mum phoned up and asked what I was up to because I hadn't updated my blog!

So here I am with an update on the inkle loom which is proving a bit addictive. Progress so far....
first venture into pick up techniques.

next experiment with sami band patterns.

I'm really pleased with this and will be playing much more with this loom, plus it's portable and has already made an appearance in a certain coffee shop in town!
As for the spinning, spinnotts had an outing to Mansfield Museum where we spent the afternoon spinning and chatting ( yes there was cake as usual)

Which reminds me, I have a post to write about some knitted critters :-)

more soon x

Another hobby loomin?

2011-09-21T06:44:00.000+01:00

I’m well known for going to our guild on the bus and the bus drivers are quite used to Wikkidknitter and myself carting our wheels around to various venues. In fact we have often joked about spinning on the tram here in Nottingham.

So knowing that I have to negotiate steps and door, why do I always come back from guild meeting with more than I take?? This happens so often that I tend to take an empty bag for the odd fleece that might come my way.

However, at the last meeting I turned up with two wheels fully expecting to leave empty handed as the herring wheel was going on to a new home. But I still managed to come home with a loom!! It was an old inkle loom, looking rather dirty and handmade with an abandoned piece of work on it where someone had tried to weave and failed.

After giving it a quick clean and disposing of the rough string heddles I gave it a go. Took a few experiments to get the hang of it and using an old plastic ruler as a beater didn’t really help but I think I am getting there now especially as I have found that an old heavy letter opener from my day job makes a fine beater.

My first few attempts were.. Er.. Interesting but I soon got the hang of it but I am finding the edges a bit of a challenge to keep neat.

Locating a pattern generator on the Internet helped in placing the colours but I really want to try the pickup method to give me more scope for pattern design.

Any advice on the best threads to use etc would be appreciated.thanks.

Ist Birthday party

2011-09-19T06:52:00.000+01:00

I nearly missed the party, in fact we should have been in France but problems with the bike meant that I had an hour or so to spare on the first Saturday in September to help celebrate the shops first birthday.

For those of you that are not regular readers, I am one of the partners in a knitting shop called Knit Nottingham and we opened a year ago. The shop has grown over the last year and we are now on line with knitting yarn, hand spun yarn and accessories including drop spindles listed for sale. This is mainly due to the hard work of Eleanor, the shop manager. I have no idea where she gets the energy from to put in the hours that she does!!!

As I work full time elsewhere, my role has been very much one of giving what support I can from attending craft fairs,

teaching the occasional workshop

writing the odd blog post

taking part in charity fund raisers

and counting stock.

Maybe one day this will be my main job, but for the time being I'm loving being involved with this enterprise.

So due to the bike mishap I was able to deliver some chocolates to the shop and even have my photo taken with the other partners ( well nearly all of them) but was soon dragged away by a phone call to say that things were OK and we were going to head south to catch a ferry.....more of that story in a later post.

Hi, I've been a bit busy but the bad news is that I'm BACK :-)

2011-09-18T09:34:00.000+01:00

Hi,life sort of overtook everything for a bit so the next few posts are going to be a bit of a random mix of holiday and craft.
Do you remember me saying that I wanted a new camera a few months ago? well I ended up with a Canon powershot SX220 HS which I am just getting to grips with and having a bit of fun with. So this post is going to to be short on the writing but big on photos shot through glass at an aqaurium in Cornwall. I will explain why Cornwall and not France in the next few days.

So here we have pretty fish...............and the odd other water lovin creature.

I am liking this camera and it's nice and compact :-) what do you think ?

Playing again

2011-08-20T09:44:00.000+01:00

have a good weekend :-)

post carnival chill out

2011-08-18T19:08:00.000+01:00

After the carnival we needed to chill with a large cup of coffee and sat enjoying the early evening sun, watching the world go by.

people were still playing on the beach

enjoying the rides

and the water from the fountains sparkled in the sun

Not a bad way to pass the time :-)

Caribbean Colour

2011-08-17T18:28:00.000+01:00

Hi, on Sunday Nottingham hosted the annual Caribbean Carnival which I usually manage to miss due to bike club activities but the year I headed down with my camera and after a much needed cup of coffee I started snapping :-)

The costumes were amazing, the music loud and the little ones were adorable especially when you caught sight of a small group busy practising their dance routines.

The parade meanders around the city centre then makes its was to the Forest site where food stalls and a stage were set out. Each group in the parade also performed a dance at the end with awards for the best one.

The dance teams will also take part in other carnivals around the country.

Riverside Festival Day three, Rain Dance

2011-08-09T22:24:00.000+01:00

The weather was iffy on Sunday with heavy rain at times but we decided to take a chance on it, picked up our wheels and headed back to the music. We had coffee and biscuits, purchased lager and cider and settled down for the afternoon.

The music was provided by dance workshops and a brass band, two of our party did not need any excuse to stop spinning and knitting and dance instead.

but the heavens opened, enableing Sue to show off the dance of the blue groundsheet whilst Wikkidknitter decided to simply hide.

but soon recovered enough to show off the latest way to wear a wheelie big bin liner and carry on dancing.

We had a great time in spite of the rain, met some interesting people and confiscated a football ( long story)

Riverside Festival Day Two

2011-08-08T07:07:00.000+01:00

The highlight of Saturday at the Festival was watching the Nottingham Ukulele group of with Biker Ted is a member. This group has been together since September last year and have a lot of fun playing and singing together.

<p>&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;Th</p>

This was followed by a walk to the pub where we watched an amazing double rainbow form.

A walk back along by the canal

to watch some of the boat parade.

These photos were taken with my bigger camera and the difference is getting very pronounced. Thanks for the camera suggestions, I will be taking time in my local camera shops to have a play with the various makes.

Wash Day

2011-08-07T21:50:00.000+01:00

What do you do when you have a couple of hours to spare between housework and going out? have a cup of coffee? play on Facebook?

No, you head off to your mates house to play with fleece that's in need of washing.

First up was the Shetland cross which was duly inspected by the cat who has never come across raw fleece before, suspect he didn't like it!!

Then the blue texel better known as bear....hope to show these again once spun up.

Riverside Festival Day One

2011-08-07T08:18:00.000+01:00

We have an annual Riverside Festival in Nottingham down by the River Trent, a mixture of music, fairground and street performers. We went down to the first evening of entertainment to see our favourite local band, Seven Little Sisters play.

As we crossed the bridge we noticed that the boats were gathering reading for the boat parade on Saturday night.

The band had one of the best sound mixs that we have heard from them in a long time.

The stalls stayed open into the night

and the rides looked amazing all lit up.

The Festival continues all weekend and we will be having a picnic there later.

( with the wheels of course)

Nottingham by the Sea

2011-08-06T17:30:00.000+01:00

On the way to the Guild meeting, I sneaked up on the beach and caught it still fast asleep!

Also I spotted some of Nottingham's police horses on their way to the annual Pride festival, all dressed up and shiny.

These photos have also made me realise that my camera is beginning to get a bit tired so I'm going to start to shop around for a new one, looking at a Canon at the moment, any recommendations would be welcomed.

Evicted!

2011-08-06T07:43:00.000+01:00

At the last guild meeting we found ourselves evicted from our usual room due to the floor being waxed so we decamped outside to enjoy some rare sunshine. This proved to be an intriguing sight for users of the nearby park :-)

As usual we were chatting, swapping fibres and drinking tea. I found myself fixing a spinning wheel which is fast becoming part of my job description. Amongst the fibres being spun was cat fur, Now I have a problem with spinning cat and dog fur, just don't like it!! more because of what it is than how it feels/spins up. However Wikkidknitter had a go and said it was fine so maybe I'm being unnecessarily squeamish?

We had a rummage through a couple of fleeces which we will hopefully wash this weekend, one of them being this beautiful Shetland cross belonging to my mate, hard to resist pinching some of it for myself!

You may remember that I have been testing some prototype spindles for a local spindle maker. They tend to be a bit heavy for me, mostly 30gm plus but look amazing and spin for ever. I have one of the originals that I stripped down of all the metal extras ( and some of the wood) and I have used is at demos etc for the last few months, no matter what I do to it, its still spins like a dream so I have no hesitation in them being stocked in our shop.

I use one with the small holes in the whorl, this latest batch have been made without the metal collars (the bit I removed) and they have straight shafts for sliding your finished cop off.

Steve is also starting to make some spindle jewellery, just to test the waters.

and a very interesting version on a tensioned lazy kate for spindles which I haven't tried yet.

If you want to know more about the Nottingham branch of the Weavers Spinners and Dyers you can read our newsletters on line here.

Dalesman Rally 2011 ( one for the bikers)

2011-07-29T23:58:00.001+01:00

OK, for the few bikers who still read this blog, here are a few pics from last weeks rally. Held at Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales and organised by the Dean Vally MCC. Leyburn is a very pleasent market town, quiet and fairly sedate, popular with the tourists.

with a few pubs and restaurants including the Sandpiper where we had an excellent meal on the Saturday night.

As for the bikes.....there were old ones, newer ones

some with sidecars

Trikes with tiny sleeping trailers.

In the next field there stood the remains of a tree that had possibly been hit by lightning.

and wandering round the site early on the Saturday morning... a lone spinner still working on her Tour de Fleece challenge.

Have a great weekend, whatever you may be doing :-)

Wensleydale Railway

2011-07-28T18:32:00.001+01:00

Ok, the reason I've been a little quiet............we had a weekend away at a bike rally in Yorkshire. On the Saturday we went out to play on the Wensleydale Railway which runs along 16 miles of track from Leeming Bar to Redmire.

We waited for the train at Leyburn to start our journey.

I'm not sure why the man was standing on the engine, maybe something to do with taking on water.
The carriages retained a lot of their original features but sadly they still had their original springs in the seats.This made knitting almost impossible due to the bouncing around.Some of the other compartments looked like they had been restored.

The passing scenery was beautiful as ever and we all took the opportunity to enjoy it without the hindrance of crash helmets etc.

We stopped at Redmire so the engine could be placed at the rear of the train to pull us back up to Leeming Bar.

Then we travelled back to Leeming bar and Bedale where we stopped for lunch and a pint.

Then we boarded the train again for the run back to Leyburn and the steady trudge back to the rally site.

pattern suggestion?

2011-07-22T06:40:00.000+01:00

Hi, as part of tour de fleece I'm plying this beauty, 100gram, 4 plyish, prob 400 ish yard ( still plying)

Now looking for a holiday knit project to take away when we tour on the bike, nothing too complicated though!

Any ideas????

Have a great weekend!

tour de fleece

2011-07-20T21:46:00.000+01:00

OK, I'll admit that I've lost count of the days but I am still spinning and have now finished the falkland singles ready for plying.

amazing how different they look coming off the two wheels even though they both have the same amount of fibre on.

I'm busy working out how to pack my spindle and knitting onto the bike for our next holiday, last year I just took my knitting but really missed having my drop spindle so hopefully I will find a place for it this year.

As I mentioned. my mum turned 80 last week and she had a party on Sunday for her family and friends, doesn't she look amazing!!

tour de fleece

2011-07-18T06:59:00.000+01:00

spinning for texture ?

rainy day Tour de Fleece catch up

2011-07-16T22:53:00.000+01:00

Not the sort of day that I had hoped for, wet and dreary when I got into town.

The food market was making a brave attempt to attract customers but nobody was really in the mood to buy much, least of all stand around to eat it, although I would recommend the roast potatoes. The workmen are putting together the decking for Nottingham Riviera which looks like it may be a wash out if the summer doesn't arrive soon !

The fountains just added to the dampness of the day.

So I trundled down to Costa and had a quiet spin with occasional company from small children asking what I was doing. Managed to fill a bobbin the ply up two more, not my best spin/ply but I rarely spin from fleece and these two skeins still need a good wash.

Finished the day by calling in for tea with Wikkidknitter and one of his friends and took the opportunity to tidy and tie off his bobbin lace sample

so neat :-)

Then bumped into an Indian customer of mine from my day job on the way home who wanted to know what was in the bag, I explained it was a spinning wheel and we embarked on a discussion about Gandhi , sadly I had to decline the offer of coffee and make a dash for my bus.

Tonight we have tried to reserve a room on a French Hotel only to find that Great Britain, UK, England, Angleterre, Grande Bretagne etc not listed as a country that we can travel from!

Tour de Fleece Day twelve

2011-07-14T07:26:00.000+01:00

Not a lot of spinning going on today, just a bit on the spindle. The reason is that my Mum is starting to celebrate a big birthday and we visited last night to take a card and present. As the celebrations take place over the next few days I suspect that the next major spin session will be on Saturday.

On a totally different note, we will be in France later in the year, around the Nantes area so I wondered if anyone has any recommendations of any places to visit/stay?

Tour de Fleece Day Eleven

2011-07-13T06:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterdays spinning took place at knit club amongst a buzz of conversation about motorbikes. I was still fighting with the teeswater, wikkidknitter had a gorgeous braid from feltstudiouk to work with and acadlia is working from her own batts to spin enough for a jumper. We are are all also spinnotts members so there was also chat about the next spinnotts gathering which will be at the Riverside festival in Nottingham (Julie, are you reading this? hope to see you there again)

A quick apology to non- spinning folks, I know the blog has been very biased towards the tour de fleece and I will try to rectify this :-) the challenge finishes in two weeks time coinciding with a bike rally so things will get back to normal. Whatever normal is !!

Tour de fleece day ten

2011-07-12T06:42:00.000+01:00

OK, back at work so just a little spinning

and a little plying

thats all folks

xx

stonebridge city farm

2011-07-11T21:44:00.000+01:00

I'm always up for finding new places to spin so on Sunday I hopped off the bus a couple of stops early and found myself at Nottinghams Stonebridge city farm where there are rumoured to be sheep and goats.

The rumours are true there are goats

sheep

cows

donkeys with hair nets

ponies, pigs, ducks, hens, rabbits and a tortoise

and flowers

add to that a decent cup of tea and a cheese roll, money well spent!!

Tour de Fleece day nine

2011-07-11T07:29:00.000+01:00

very little spinning, some experimental plying and a few animals ( see next post )

I have a project in mind that means some texture adding to it so this should give it a lift :-)

Tour de Fleece Day Eight.

2011-07-10T09:03:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a chill and spin session in one of Nottingham Costa Coffee shops. The guys there are now quite used to the strange people who turn up with spinning wheels. knitting and sometimes bobbin lace!!

I managed to almost fill a bobbin of thick/thin merino/tencel from FeltstudioUK before I headed out and whilst I was there as well as a little more spinning on the falkland braid which I forgot to photograph.

Wikkidknitter joined me with his Kiwi and a braid of merino nylon.

I played with the fleece

and we both stopped for coffee mmmm...iced mocha !!

note the oil can in the pic, true spinners :-)

Running around

2011-07-10T08:15:00.001+01:00

There always seems to be something happening in the centre of Nottingham, yesterday it was the Street Racing running event for young people organised through a partnership with Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire Police and Notts Athletic Club.

Tour de Fleece day seven, excuses, excuses, excuses..........

2011-07-09T06:49:00.001+01:00

OK, the idea was to spin everyday but this is pathetic!! total yardage yesterday on day seven maybe one yard!!!!events just conspired against me but I hope to make up for it on day eight when I've allowed a few hours over coffee in the afternoon.

The saga of the wheel bobbins continues, I don't think I've said this but the bobbins that turned up weren't the ones that I ordered and the replacements arrived yesterday. One of the replacements fits but the other is about 3mm too long so it simply will not slide into place. Suspect this is one of the 'joys' of working with an older wheel. Still, I now have two working bobbins so hope to be spinning on it next week.

So here is my excuse, when I picked up my parcels from the sorting office, this was amongst them.

Good excuse ? I think so!

The Big Screen and Tour de Fleece day six

2011-07-08T07:02:00.000+01:00

Last night we went out together, I know this will come as a shock to people that know us but it does happen sometimes. As usual, the reason for the outing was motorbikes ( somehow spinning just doesn't cut it with him) and we went to see TT3D close to the edge, Brilliant film!!! and the 3 D is used well without the silly special effects often seen in this type of film.

If you are interested in the knid of motorcycling we do and a look at some of Europe's interesting places, have a glance at BikerTed Diaries.

Back to day six of Tour de fleece, I finally finished the first 50gm on the bobbin,

and had another do at plying some teeswater, this time a lot softer twist, giving a much better result :-)

I'm planning a spin session in Costa Coffee in Nottingham tomorrow afternoon, have you all have a good weekend x

Tour de Fleece day five

2011-07-07T07:31:00.000+01:00

Still on a works course over at Derby so day five was once again the spindle at dinnertime (more strange looks) and a little on the wheel at night before falling asleep rather early.

as you can see, I didn't quite finish the first bobbin!!!

Going to cinema on day six so maybe not a lot of fluff stuff going on :-)

Tour de Fleece Day Four

2011-07-06T21:00:00.000+01:00

Day four saw me having to travel to Derby for a course so spinning was restricted to 15 mins on a drop spindle at dinnertime,

and a very limited amount at knit club due to chatting too much with fellow spinnotts members also taking part in the Tour de Fleece.

I also confess that I also had several of these which may be why my spinning was mainly unsuccessful in the evening.

we will see what happens on day five
:-)

Nottingham in Bloom, part three

2011-07-06T19:04:00.000+01:00

I've been wandering round Nottingham desperately trying to find the missing flower statue, I had already located the scent bottle but the last one was proving elusive! that is until I caught it out of the corner of my eye on the way out of town yesterday. At least I know where it is, what it is but the photo may have to wait a little while until I can get over to snap it!

In the meantime, here is the scent bottle.

Tour de Fleece Day Three

2011-07-05T06:11:00.000+01:00

Continuing with the Teeswater experiment.
Back at work so spinning time is severely curtailed so I had a quick go at a two ply which simply showed how badly i had spun it. I then decided to Navajo ply which is something that I usually do on the spindle but not on the wheel.

Not my best spinning by any means but better than the string I produced with my attempt last year :-)

Tour de Fleece Day Two

2011-07-04T07:26:00.000+01:00

Todays challenge was twofold, first part was to get round Nottingham Food Festival without buying anything.

The second was to work out how to spin this

using this

and a touch of this

will hopefully have some answers for you in a couple of days time.

Tour de Fleece Day one.

2011-07-03T12:00:00.001+01:00

This is turning out to be a strange weekend, originally I was set to be out and about but instead I have found myself at home more than I intended. This has meant that I have made a start on my spinning on both spindle and one of the wheels. I have also found some spinning music that is spurring me on :-)

Not sure if this link will work, If not, here is an earlier vid.

Anyway, here is the spinning, 25 gram of Feltsudio UK fluff on the wheel.

Random amount of Merino/silk on the spindle.

Spot the sellotape on the spindle, I have been testing this one for the last few months and I mean testing!!! It has been on the floor, on the concrete, on the bike, kick started when wearing an assortment of boots and still spins like a dream :-)

Nottingham in Bloom, part two

2011-07-03T06:16:00.005+01:00

Following this post, I have been wandering round with my camera and have found a few more sculptures....

Just two more to photo, I know where the scent bottle is but I am at a loss as to where the other one is!!

Tour de Fleece

2011-07-01T21:39:00.000+01:00

Hold on to your hats, wheels at the ready and Start!! Yes, Its the annual Tour de Fleece spin-along during the Tour de France starting Saturday July 2nd and running until Sunday July 24th, 2011.

I will be trying to spin every day along with other members of Team spinnotts 2011.

Will you be spinning?

Conroi De Vey

2011-07-01T06:34:00.000+01:00

Whilst visiting the Armed Forces Weekend at Nottingham Castle I bumped into a group of strangely clothed people encamped the other side of the flower beds. Sensing a textile theme, I approached to ask about their tunics only to be greeted by a cry of 'you're Guzzisue, you must be, you have a spinning wheel with you' A fellow Ravelry and spinnotts member had recognised me even though we had never me before but I suppose the fact that I had my Kromski wheel with me was a bit of a give away. ( and the loud trousers) After this brief encounter I arranged to call back the next day and talk some more about dyeing, historical dress etc, to be honest I don't think they could stop me asking questions!

So, here is my impression of Convoi De Vey , in pictures as usual.

We came to the conclusion that Anglo Saxon dress was a touch too warm when the temperature reaches 29C

spinnotts in action again

2011-06-30T18:27:00.001+01:00

this time at Colston Bassett village fete where they kindly provided a marque to protect us from the rain. A lot of interest especially from people with sheep, alpacas and dogs, all asking if we could spin for them. Highlight for me was watching a grumpy little girl in a pink tutu drag a dog also dressed in a pink tutu in and out of a line of cones. Will not post the picture for obvious reasons but it did make me smile.

We are enjoying these demos, having the chance to speak to people about what we do and why and look forward to doing more of them

Armed Forces Weekend, Nottingham Castle

2011-06-29T06:42:00.000+01:00

Armed Forces Day

Lace update

2011-06-28T06:52:00.001+01:00

My poor lace pillow has been abandoned since I finished the bookmark commission so I have made another bookmark just to keep my fingers moving the bobbins.

I'm as happy to take my lace pillow to a cafe bar as I am to take my wheel and many of my younger friends are expressing a desire to learm. Many of these friends already spin and knit is this part of a trend to return to tradional craft skills?

((OOpps looks like this and the previous lace post came out in the wrong order, Sorry))

White Rabbit and another new knitter?

2011-06-27T06:45:00.000+01:00

As many of you know I am happy to knit, spin, and make lace pretty much anywhere as long as there is coffee and cake. So much so that I thought I would mention some of the smaller cafes in Nottingham as I find them. So the latest eatery to be explore was the White Rabbit Teahouse on Houndsgate.

A tiny cafe tucked away just out of the main throng of shops. Due to the small size I would not take the usual fluffy bits , just use it as somewhere to sit and enjoy coffee with friends. I love the flowery china and accessories, sort of reminds me of Sunday teas at my Grans when I was small.

We settled for coffee followed by breakfast and a good gossip.

What did we do for the rest of the day? we window shopped some beautiful shops , found furniture we loved but couldn't afford in Nash.

Stopping for tea in the afternoon in Lee Rosy's, I decided that it was time for my friend to learn to knit in spite of him saying that he couldn't do it!

What do you think? didn't he do well!!!!

spindle spun singles update

2011-06-26T08:14:00.000+01:00

Quick update on the dyeing experiments mentioned in this post. Remember the dyed spindle cops? well I knitted the calais shawl from them :-)

this prompted me to try a different colour scheme

progress so far ...

I'm loving the randomness of the colours and plan to try this with a 2 ply next, when I have chance to spin one :-)

lacemaking in Public

2011-06-25T08:50:00.001+01:00

this time at Costa, Nottingham

where do you make your lace?

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn

2011-06-24T07:43:00.044+01:00

This year spinnotts are finding ourselves at organised events almost as often as the ones we gatecrash and we are slowly getting organised with signs and contact information for ourselves, we even have an e-mail address now.

Spinnotts on tour, although packing the car can be a work of art!!

Recently we attended Keep Calm and Carry Yarn at the HUB in Sleaford, lincolnshire. This was an event organised to highlight Knit2gether Lincs which is a collaborative knitting project which captures the inclusivity and celebration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

They are aiming to knit a running track and are holding knitting events around the Lincoln area. They also seem to be quite proficient at yarn bombing!

As for spinnotts, we kept up the tradition of gossip,coffee and cakes and abandoned spinning wheels.

although the navajo spindle created some interest, enough to put the coffee cups down :-)

What did I do? well a young couple came down asking for help with their wheel, apparently it had some damage in spite of them being told that it was fully working. I got to their shop to find that the flyer was lying in two pieces so improvised with some blue tape, popped the drive band onto the correct whorls and hey presto, a lovely wheel that seems to be a replica of an ashford with pencil measurement marks still very much in evidence.

After a quick lesson, the owner already spins on a spindle, all was well. A proper repair will be made soon.

Nottingham in Bloom

2011-06-23T21:05:00.000+01:00

...............................strange things have been growing in Nottingham...............

.............they are appearing all over the city

...............................apparently there are eight of them................

.....................I only found 3 of them today, may find more tomorrow...........( was distracted by coffee)

Motoguzzi lovers.

2011-06-23T09:35:00.000+01:00

HI, just a short note to say hi to anyone wandering over from the guzzi forum where the chat has been about hand knitted jumpers :-) I'm not on the forum as haven't belonged to the guzzi club for around 14 years but we still have the Cali, much loved and used for mainly holidays and long distance rallies.

bad, bad, blogger (me)

2011-06-22T07:42:00.000+01:00

nearly a month since I blogged here!!!! so sorry, been busy, been a bit under the weather. Enough of excuses! I'm back and hopefully will have a few posts up over the next few days. I will try and keep them short:-)

The weekend after the bike rally in Cornwall was a meeting of the Nottingham and District Weavers, Spinners and Dyers with the subject being Dyeing. The meeting was very much a show and tell covering some natural dyeing, acid dyes and kool aid dyeing and prompted two of us to have another get together to play with some dyes the following weekend.

( the polar bear at the back of the meeting is not a member although several comments were passed about spinning his fur)

These days we have a very active guild with a good cross section of ages and ability. Spinnotts members now act almost as an outreach group, taking our wheels and spindles out into the community as well as helping teach newcomers at guild meetings.

Sue bought in a selection of spindles made by her husband and Pete unearthed a swift from the guild cupboards which helped make short work of balling up his handspun welsh mountain wool.

Dye samples were examined and the carder pressed into service by a young member who spindle spins from fleece, each meeting becomes a major carding session for her :-)

One lovely lady bought in an American spindle that was a present, she was having a few problems using it and wondered if the spindle was at fault. Very pretty spindle with an unusual hook which kept the yarn firmly in the right place. I played, it worked, did offer to adopt it but was turned down!

I finished the day by quietly spinning at one of Nottingham's bars, such a waste when you take your wheel out to a guild meeting and don't use it!

Laneast Church

2011-05-30T10:27:00.002+01:00

At some point during Friday nights pub session in Cornwall I spotted an advert for a craft fair and flower festival in a nearby village. Laneast is a very small village not far from our Rally site in Cornwall and the fair was being held at the St Sidwell and St Gulval Parish Church.

A friend from one of the local bike clubs saw me knitting during the evening and offered to pick me up on Saturday morning so we could visit the yarn shops in Launceston so we spent the morning shopping followed by a quick visit to The Natural Fibre Company to see what they were up to. After much petting of wool Helen dropped me off in Laneast.

The craft fair was also to celebrate the completion of the Church wall hanging, this having been finished in May of this year and the panels represent parts of the church, local buildings and buildings and bridge. The local children added the bats to represent the colony resident in the church.

The flower displays were amazing, the food fantastic and I felt duty bound to sample the pasty, cake and tea whilst knitting quietly and listening to the wonderful local accents. When it was time to leave it was raining heavily so I felt that I simply had to retreat back inside and enjoy a cream tea whilst spinning on my drop spindle.

The next few minutes were spent in conversation with an author living in the area who writes books based in medieval times, looking at the drop spindle for inclusion as part of the village life in that time.

I eventually dragged myself away and had a pleasant if somewhat damp walk back to the bikers but had really appreciated the glimpse of local village life.

Obligatory spinners shot of sheep on the walk back

Cornwall

2011-05-29T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've split this post in two, The second part will follow tomorrow.

Last weekend we headed down to Cornwall for our clubs Summer rally, this was the usual mix of bikes and booze with a raffle and a little improvised spinning.

We hadn't intended to cover ourselves in mud on Sunday morning but the bike decided to part company with us and we ended up lying in a pool of mud in the middle of a country lane! nothing injured apart from our pride.

Music and Fluff

2011-05-29T08:28:00.000+01:00

Hi, seems ages since I blogged here, so sorry but I've been a little busy recently as the next few posts will show.

In the meantime, here's a couple of photos from two weeks ago when we found ourselves in a pub not far from Knit Nottingham enjoying music from a band that we first met in Scotland many years ago.

Seven Little Sisters have reformed recently and are very busy but still found time to play in a local pub even though they had played a festival and a late gig the previous two days.

As usual, we were there with knitting and spindles and these days the band would be disppointed if we didn't spin whilst enjoying their music!!

This is the Blueface Leicester that was dyed with landscape dyes ( see previous post) and spun by Wikkidknitter.

We enjoy a drink but please note that the whisky container is used for transporting spindle and fibre!!

The beer was very appropriate!

and the band played on.

when hubbys away.....

2011-05-08T15:10:00.000+01:00

Have a FLUFF day!!!!

yesterday three ravelry/spinnotts friends called round for a bit of fluff fun, we had a show and tell.

We had biscuits.

Pete did some carding.

Followed by a spot of spinning and pizza

then some dyeing, Blue Face Leicester fleece with Landscape dyes

including these kops fresh off the drop spindle dyed with acid dyes

and Stashfairy did some more spinning

Good time was had by all as usual and I still have a bag of dyed fibre drying out on the line and a bucket of blue face leicester fleece soaking in the garden. The spindle spun singles seem to be holding together so will try and knit them, see if they hold together after the dyeing and steaming.

Steam and sheep!!

2011-05-02T09:44:00.000+01:00

As hubby drove off on his bike yesterday I decided to have a day out by myself, packed a picnic, knitting and drop spindle and headed for the bus. Over the bank holiday weekend Wollaton Park near Nottingham has been hosting a country and steam show with pleanty of steam engines, vintage cars and motorbikes. Just the place for a sunny afternoon picnic.
Spent most of my time breathing in the scent of the steam as a lot of my childhood was spent visiting preserved steam railways with my Dad and I just love the smell of hot steam and oil.

I took the opportunity to compare notes with some bikers, one of them mentioned that his oldest bike was 1905 so had no brakes, gears etc which made it a little difficult to ride!

After the steam engines had paraded round the arena ( ever seen a really big engine wheel spin?) some shire horses took their place.

Inspite of all the attractions, the one I really enjoyed was the sheep show complete with dancing sheep.

I did offer to take the Blue Face Leicester home with me or even just the fleece!!!

Hope you all had good weekend.

Quackers

2011-05-01T07:42:00.004+01:00

knit and stitch

2011-04-30T20:47:00.000+01:00

As many people know, I am really a spinner more than a knitter (still probably more of an embroiderer really) and as a result I occasionally have spinning disasters as well as knitting ones. This yarn is hand dyed, hand spun super wash merino, love the colours but not so keen on the feel of it so seemed an ideal candidate for a bit of experimentation.

I've always had a fear of DPN's mainly as a result of trying to knit a pair of wrist warmers and constantly taking out the wrong needle so I cast on a few stitches and knitted until I had the rhythm.
Brilliant except that it left me with a tube of rough knitting!!! so I cast off, washed in hot water and tried to felt it BIG mistake, super wash doesn't felt( I forgot) so I dried it off using a rough towel which softened the knitting giving it a slightly worn appearance.

Waht to do next? well I machine stitched two lines and cut the tube open. That seemed to work ok :-)
So I cut it in half again, and fished out my embroidery threads, adding a few simple stitches and backing the knitting with fuseable quilting wadding. I ended up with a phone sock for my new phone.

Interesting experiment, knitting technique nailed, inspiration gained for further projects and some unpromising handspun used up.

Beneath the surface

2011-04-30T07:04:00.000+01:00

Papplewick Pumping Station is a favourite place of ours to visit for a couple of hours just to watch the huge beam engines in steam. This in turn means that we always visit over the Easter period to renew our annual membership and have a wander round. They are getting quite used to the crazy woman who spins on a drop spindle as she walks round the grounds.

In the grounds there is a large pond that supplies the water and this is used by a model boat club and we stopped to watch the boats drift quietly by.

All appeared calm and serene until ........as the owner said, he gets to play in all the water, not just on the surface!!

Have a good weekend :-)

little baby lambsies, aaahhh

2011-04-28T19:12:00.000+01:00

Over the Easter break, spinnotts had the chance to provide spinning demonstrations alongside the Clumber Park Easter lambing event so I thought I would post a couple of pics just to prove that we were there :-)

baby jacobs, all together now, AAAAHHHHHH aren't they cute!!!

getting ourselves organised before the onslaught! we had a good time but I was somewhat put out by the behaviour of some of the parents who seemed to think that we were part of a theme park. One woman even put her child on the treadles of one of the wheels and encouraged him to jump up and down. When politely asked to remove him her comment was that she thought it was there for demonstration suspect she meant demolition which would have been the result if he had not been spotted! Others stood watching whilst their children tried to get on to the wheels even when they were being used so next time there will be keep off notices.Even though I hate to do it but it will be safer than having to unravel one of the little darlings from the yarn being spun.

I must say that this is the first time we have encountered this behaivour and I am hoping that it will be the last but I am not that confident.

Wonderwool....the pics.....the shopping

2011-04-16T10:34:00.002+01:00

we worked, we shopped

we helped raise £225 for the air ambulance

as for the shopping....

1kg plus of organic merino from John Arbon
200gm green falkland from Mandacrafts
2 braids from feltstudio UK
more knit pro needle tips and cables
1kg alpaca--split with spin buddy
100grm angora- split with spin buddy

there may be more but that is all I'm confessing to at the moment

Have a great weekend everyone, I'm busy trying to organise the next spinning outing/demonstration with the help of friends, its the spring lambing at Clumber Park and hopefully some of us will be there over the Easter weekend.

Wonderwool...the sheep, the camping, the fluff!!! Part One

2011-04-16T08:08:00.002+01:00

Well, we did it all again!! You would have thought we would have learnt the first time round, Wonderwool is full of fluff, sheep, spinning wheels... terrible place to spend your weekend! This was a trip that had been on and off for a few weeks due to both of my regular spinning friends moving house at the same time. Sadly, Toadoftoadhall couldn't make it but Wikkidknitter managed to at the last minute. Ravelry friends helped us with the transport and we arrived in Wales early Friday evening in order to be ready for work and play on the Saturday the Ravelry Interactive area. The trip also gave me the chance to try out my new tent although my mate considered it more important to get his spinning wheel reassembled before putting his tent up. We camped nearby by the river starting the day on bacon sarnies and gallons of coffee to warm us up after a cold night.

We did shop, but also spent most of our time showing people how spinning wheels and other pieces of equipment worked.

As promised, photos of sheep, more photos to come :-)

spotted by my Mum

2011-03-14T07:05:00.000Z

Should cider ever be this colour?

2011-03-13T21:41:00.000Z

Just asking?

on the road again

2011-03-07T21:29:00.000Z

but cheating and traveling by car! as this was our club rally, we travelled to Cornwall by car so we would have transport if required for food shopping etc.
The rally in question was the Deja Vu held by Drake MCC, usual tent in a muddy field event, drinking evening on Friday followed by a band and Vicars n Tarts party on Saturday I will spare you the photos of hairy men drssed as tarts though :-)

So , it was a cold and frosty weekend as the photos will testify!!

not a good time to stay outside with your bike!! however this frozen biker turned out to be a little less alarming close up.

but it was easily cold enough for the bikes to grow a frosty overcoat.

I occupied myself with a bag of the mystery fleece to sort and comb out and a play on my drop spindle. Fun was had as alcohol was consumed and I have many blurry pictures that will not mean anything unless you were there yourself! On the way home we stopped off in Honiton to grab a paper and I spotted several tiled pictures including these two.

I now have the challenge of spinning 100 gm of wool that was sorted etc under the influence of alcohol, maybe not such a good idea but who can resist partying with these guys?

Hope you all had a good weekend :-)

worth saving?

2011-03-05T11:17:00.000Z

As I left the guild on Saturday, a carrier bag was pressed into my hand with the words....I was going to put this on the compost heat but then I thought maybe you could do something with it!! So here it is,

what do you think?

unexpected knitting encounter

2011-03-04T11:05:00.000Z

After the guild meeting on Saturday we made our way to the Round Britain Rally (RBR to those in the know) presentation dinner. The RBR is a challenge to visit landmarks in every county of the country using a list of memorials, places of interest etc supplied by the organisers. The idea is to locate the landmark which involves a fair amount of research, visiting it and taking a photo of your motorbike by it. This keeps my hubby busy most weekend through the summer whilst I am out spinning etc.
So, as you would imagine, I was surprise to find fellow spinners there and wished that I had taken my wheel. Watch out next year, the wheels will be there, we have made arrangements!!

we caught the sunset on the way across.

Knitting made a surprise appearance in the form of a auction prize, do I didn't win it!

and I ended the evening in true spinnotts style, spinning in the bar.

OK, photo taken with empty spindle but I did do some spinning, honest!!!

Wheely good at the guild

2011-03-03T11:00:00.000Z

Saturday was guild day and although I had to leave early to attend another 'do' we managed to have a lot of fun, chat and laughter. So less of the chat from me and more of the pictures....Firstly one of the small group of spinners, I think if we all tried to sit in a circle it would be too big for the room some months so now we tend to spin in groups when there are a lot of wheels around.

Odette bought in her aeolian shawl to share, hand spun and knitted...jealous, really need to practise my knitting!!

Also accompanying Odette was this cute dragon.

We also had a visit fronm Steve from Anglersgifts.co.uk who is just starting to make drop spindles from recycled materials. The spindles are designed to to used as top or bottom whorl and have weights that can be added in 5gm increments. I have two of the spindles on trial so the spinnotts peeps can have a play at the next meeting. The general concensous was that, with a few minor adjustments, these are very nice spidles, have a nice long steady spin.

Mablethorpe Sand Racing

2011-02-20T20:25:00.000Z

Freezing, dull and breezy. Not a good combination for taking photos at a race meeting! Big thick gloves on , hat on, large coffee to warm hands on and a dash to the chippy after watching for instant hot food (chip butty) A few photos but nothing spectacular compared with previous ones taken there.

Hope you all had a good weekend xx

Nottingham Light Night 2011

2011-02-19T18:04:00.000Z

Its back, Nottingham Light Night, the festival to aimed to try and shed the winter blues. First night was last night and it continues again tonight. Warning, this will be a long, photo heavy post!! This is the fourth Light Night and once again the buildings were lit up and the city centre was dotted with street performers,art installations and light projections. Indoor and outdoor events for all ages were proving popular especially as the temperatures rapidly dropped.

As ever, the big wheel was back in the square, I love having the wheel in Nottingham especially as it can been seen from several miles away.

This year it was accompanied by a crazy golf course!

One of the large car manufactures came up with a very pink car.

The opportunity to put graffiti on the castle walls was proving popular though I must point out that this was achieved with light projection rather than cans of paint...this dinosaur slowly appeared as we stood watching.

Ian, from 'what a palaver ' was having a few problems with the fire juggling simply because it was dark and the light from the fiery end of the sticks made it difficult to see the cold end! but they were proving to be as entertaining as ever.

Down at Brewhouse Yard, the aliens had landed and were making friends with the crowd.

These were amazing puppets, each operated by three people.

In keeping with the spirit of the night, the trees were lit up and light sculptures abounded. The local Morris Men also put in their traditional appearance but as some of the musicians commented, its b****y cold on the fingers !!

There is a secret garden in the centre of Nottingham behind Bromley house and last night it was home to Prodigal sunbeams, an installation by Tim Haynes.

Inspired by landscape, identity and place.

The castle put on music and light displays in the grounds.

We didn't get to see everything and look forward to doing it all again next year.

As we wondered home down atmospheric streets we decided that this post will finish with some music provided by the Nottingham Ukulele Club in the council house arcade last night.

Thanks to BikerTed for the video.

still a knitting newbie

2011-02-16T06:44:00.003Z

I have been tried to improve my knitting skills since being involved with the shop, just seems to make sense that if you are a partner in a knitting shop, you at least need to have some knitting ability! I conquered magic loop last year and made a hat but DPNs have been a sticking point, too many needles at the same time. So on Sunday I sat down with 4 needles and some hand spun that had turned out to be a bit of a disaster and started to knit,I did pull out the wrong needle a few times but eventually I found my rhythm. This is not going to make any thing, just a tube but I feel a little more confident on 4 needles now.

The yarn is over spun wenslydale and quite coarse to the touch but I am liking the colours so may rescue the finish piece and use it somehow.

another lacey post

2011-02-14T22:19:00.000Z

I've been trying to make some sort of sense of my bobbins especially the now overflowing tin full of odd ones which deserve more love and attention. So here are a few of them, not sure how old they are.

the spangles are obviously an after thought

these have rings on them

these have sadly lost their beads

although some are still hanging on

I have a feeling that some of these may have been homemade

I must find a better home for them and my newer bobbins which are probably 15-3o years old now.