Saxon Merino, a small sample update

 Any sort of  Merino is generally quite greasy so I was quite generous with the washing liquid and the very hot water when washing this small sample.

I didn't agitate it, blotted out the excess water and separated the locks to dry.

It is gorgeous and I will pop it on a spindle in the next few days. I won't get round to washing any quantity for a month or so but I think that it will be worth the effort.

Later....

A quick spindle spin, looking at around 24WPI with this, not super even as its a while since I've spindle spun and I was unsure how much it would fluff up.

it is so, so soft !!!

a random day in the life of a fibre crafter

 Well, that was the plan but the clocks changed and its 8am and I've only just got up. So its coffee time !!

 The weather is overcast and windy so other than the usual clothes wash I'm going to wash some fleece, prep fleece, work on a hat, take part in a bobbin lace zoom and I'm not really sure what else although at the moment its coffee, Facebook and YouTube for the next 10 mins whilst I wake up properly.

Whilst on Skye, I was given a bag of fleece, not a big bag due to being in a small car with all our gear but we got a lot of fleece stuffed into it!! Jacob, Dutch spotted and Cheviot, I'll hopefully get a skein or two from each.

Jacob having a soak in very hot water and detergent. In-between the timed soaks/washes I usually challenge myself to get on with the house work so I'm hunting round all the rooms for dirty washing and dirty mugs :-)

Why the mad fleece washing? two reasons really.

1 I have a lot of fleece to clear out, I'd ideally like to empty the shed ready for fresh fleece at some point.

2 I have a couple of road trips planned so need fibre to spin whilst away along with yarn to knit

3 Since I no longer have a single 100gm skein of yarn, only oddments, I'm getting a bit desperate. 

Midday and I'm having a drink. three bags of Jacob on the line, two bags of Ryeland in their final rinse, kitchen tidied, dinner in slow cooker so I deserve a break for a few mins.I have my Sunday YouTube vid to watch now. During lockdown I followed quite a few knitters and crossstitchers on YT, I now only regularly watch one channel. MommalovesyouGB mainly because I like her presentation style, she's a teacher in real life and she has an interest in historical samplers especially welsh ones.

Next, whilst watching the vid, I start plying the two bobbins of Shetland that were spun on my nano during the week.

and make a skein using my niddy noddy before giving it a good wash.

The big question now is do I comb fibre or spin for the next hour ? I think I'll comb the remainder of the Ryeland  which I washed a few days ago. That will give me an empty pillow case for the fleece that is on the line. Its turned into a windy and sunny day so I'm hopeful of getting things dry.

I managed to get the Shetland washed and dried, 60 gm , lovely and soft, destined to be part of a hat.

The Jacob is actually really fine, may try it on the nano at knit on Monday.

and the oddments of Ryeland are now combed and on the wheel, sort of :-)

The day finished with a 2 1/2 hour lace chat zoom, I actually got some lace made amongst the chat.

Alas, no knitting was undertaken !

Back to the crafts

 Hi,

I've been taking a bit of a break from my usual crafting, I had started to get pains in my hands when knitting so stopped, put down the pins and picked up a sewing needle, I later found a similar problem when spinning so I have been on a self imposed break from that as well.

Things seem to be fine now so I have stared sorting through my stash of washed fleece from last year and processing it ready to spin on our next long road trip. Several bags of oddments have been lurking for some time, some simply were the odd and sods left after spinning most of the fleece and not worth bothering with, These will get recycled as stuffing etc, Others have had enough decent fleece to make it worth combing or carding ready to spin.

suffolk x bfl

I have also picked up my lace making again and even found a latch hook kit in a charity shop so I am also playing with that from time to time.

My sampler has grown slightly, I've added my initial using cross stitch patterns from my great Grandmothers sampler together with a chain stitch sample.

I've also picked up the Fox and Rabbit 2023 SAL that I started last year but gave up on after a couple of months.

Some more Shetland fleece is on order from Ullapool, due to arrive next week so that will probably be my spring time spinning project.

Thats about it for now, we have a quick night away planned then maybe a break in the van,Watch this space. x

Spinning update and a day out in my home town.

 Hi,

I mentioned a few posts ago that Nottingham Castle has reopened and you can now purchase a ticket that is valid for the year. Another part of the castle complex is Brewhouse yard, a museum that is slowly being renovated and is now open to the public on weekends, school holidays and bank holidays.

You can see the roofs of the building from the castle as you look across Nottingham.

Inside has now been stripped back to represent a textile workers cottage with information about spinning, knitting and lace. The back of the cottage has been opened up so that you can enter the caves which would have been used as storage. There are caves under a lot of the city centre, people once lived and worked in them and many of the older buildings have caves systems under them. The building I used to work in had tunnels and rooms used for storage .

Not surprisingly, I had a conversation with the volunteers about the idea of live fibre events or hands on workshops so watch this space.

On the spinning front, some of the TDF yarn finally made it to the dye pot and I washed the bits and pieces of knitting from July and realised just how busy I had been. I've kept back some of the undyed yarn for future dyeing and knitting and started on the prep for the next big spinning session.

Thats about it for now, life is back to some sort of normal but I'm still hobbling more than usual haha.

Speak soon xx

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

Still having a fluffy time

 When I spin, the resulting skeins are generally around 110gm as I prefer to be on the generous side for yardage .As a result I often have combed fibres left over, just 20 or 30 gram, which go into a bag until I get the drumcarder out.

I then blend these together to make batts, the mix of breeds varies each time but this ensures that I get the most from my fleece.

These are spun up as a fairly rustic yarn.

The resulting skeins will have to wait for a dry day when I can wash and then dye them ready for knitting.

Anyway back to my knitting, will update again in a few days xx

2022 Craftyness: update, stash, plans

 I've finally managed to sit down and think about fibre plans for 2022. I've not set any real goals although an American spinner has invited me to join the 365 spin challenge which is to spin 10 min a day. As the challenge started at the beginning of the year I'm about 3 hours behind haha. I may  join in , not sure yet but maybe 10 min a day on a drop spindle would be interesting ? easily portable, always ready and I have a rather nice fine Shetland fleece that would be perfect for this apart from the fact that it needs washing.

This fleece was gifted to me by a close friend and a note in the box revealed that it is from the Derwent flock so fingers crossed that it washes up well.

I'm thinking maybe 10 min a day on my lightest spindle, what do you think ?

Now on to knitting, since the beginning of the year I've knitted a couple of headbands and a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves.

The top pair of mitts are the same length, just need blocking as they curled inwards slightly, These are now in my coffee shop bag. When the bag is full I find a coffee shop and sit weaving the ends in whilst I watch the world go by.

My scraps stash is still a little on the large side and my full skein stash ( ones less than 100gm, have a knot in them or are finer spun than usual) is healthy but I think I need to dye some as its mostly white yarn.

Going forward, more hats, mitts over winter then spin up a couple of fleeces for a friend.

I have actually snatched a few mins to process fibre over the last couple of weeks so this bag is waiting for me to get one of the spinning wheels out.

Cross stitch, yep still stitching although I do seem to have mislaid a project. Hopefully I will find it later today as I sort out the workroom.

First, the big red thing. I have put in a few more stitches and hope to finish it sometime this year. I've popped a six inch ruler in the photo to give some idea of the scale of this project.

The Quaker sampler is coming along slowly, again a ruler to show the difference in scale.

This is really more colourful in real life and on white aida, the camera makes it look a little dull.

This is a quick project that I took to the coast with us, its about 75% complete and will be finished into a small pillow to go with two that I stitched last year. All by Sub Rosa and offered for free on the blog.

The missing project hasn't resurfaced yet, it may be in the van or just hiding well in the workroom !

Anyway, that's it for today, speak soon  xx