So, having destroyed the slow cooker

 I took to using the steamer for the last few skeins along with using the remaining cooker. This time I decided to paint the dye onto the yarn, wrap it up in cling film and pop it into the three tier steamer.

                                                          these are all Cheviot skeins.

 Different effect but it works just fine. I have a few more skeins to dye during the week and I'm now back up to two cookers thanks to hubby doing the weekly shop.

                the darker skein is mixed breeds and dyed in the remaining slow cooker :-)

My wash line yesterday...

Today I'm being ruthless with my washed fleece stash, if its been hanging around more than a couple of years I will be either prepping it ready for our next road trip, Prepping it for spinning next month or discarding it. I have also gathered together all my empty pillow cases that I use for fleece storage and chucked them in the washer.

This is my prepped fleece stash so far, I prepped this over the last few days whilst re-watching Downton Abbey.

Large bag of cheviot and the darker fibre is from the Isle of Skye, breed unknown but I suspect that its either Jacob or a Jacob cross.

A Little bit of stitching this week, just a small sampler pillow on the go.

And that's about it for now, speak soon xx

It was all going so well ......

 Hi,

Minor disaster today. I had decided to dye some of my spun yarn, particularly the mixed fleece yarn which I spun up from the oddments

I set up my slower cookers in the outhouse and dyed the first two skeins a lovely magenta / pink.

Then I set up the cookers to dye some dark Jacob with a navy dye which usually

 looks good as it catches any lighter fibres.

Whilst one of the cookers quietly got on with the job, the other strangely lost the liquid and further investigation revealed a hairline crack around the bottom of the pot.

This means my next challenge will be to seek out another cooker in a charity shop if possible  ( often people will buy and try then discard them)

Next project will be to paint some yarn with dye and pop in the steamer whilst waiting for another slow cooker.

Speak soon xx

crafty update

 I washed the yarn !! finally a nice warm day to wash yarn. Filled the bucket with hot, soapy water, gave it a soak and a  really good few rinses (taking care not to felt it )and popped it on the line. I tend to spin my fleece with a bit of grease still in after the first wash. I'm really  please with all of it, the light grey Jacob is a little underplyed the rest is good enough.

Jacob/Dorset

Jacob

                                                                           Cheviot

I must confess to doing a little facebook shopping and picked up this book.

My Dad loved steam engines and this little kit reminded me of when we would go around the country hunting them down.

I also finished my mini red sampler.

Both sampler and latest cross stitch now completed.

I'm now starting to prep fleece for our next break and make up my mind which spinning wheel to take with us.

We had a ride round today to make sure that everything had survived the winter, need to pop the summer kit back in ready for an adventure (hopefully)

speak soon xx

another day in a park

 Hi,

The weather is proper spring like this week so on Tuesday I ventured out to Ruddington on the outskirts of Nottingham. As the main attractions (museums ) weren't open I crossed the village green and headed to the country park for some fresh air.

I'm not sure whether I've already mentioned this but the places that I am visiting at the moment are all within a day rider ticket on the busses in Nottingham ie £4.20 fare.

Again, this is a park with a railway running through it. The big difference is that in non-covid times the railway still runs at weekends.

After lunching near the small lake I headed back via the local charity shop :-) I will be returning to Ruddington later in the summer once more restrictions have been lifted.

Speak soon xx

Spinning mojo on the way back?

 Hi,

Spring is well and truly here and I've finally packed away my thick leggings and big woolly jumpers. I've turned the wardrobe around and looked for my summer clothes only to realise that I still don't have many. A combination of previously wearing a uniform for work and losing a bit of weight last summer has left me with a lot of oversize t shirts and cotton trousers. Great excuse to go charity shopping again this week especially since I didn't find anything last time.

Our pretty cherry tree is in bloom, most years the blossom gets knocked off by heavy rain so I grabbed a photo at the weekend.

Unfortunately the sun means that we also have plenty of dandelions around the place.

On the crafting front, I have a small pile of yarn to wash later today and a couple of bobbins still to ply.

The cream is cheviot, the light gray is Jacob and the dark is Jacob X Dorset. I'm emptying a few bags of fleece oddments before shearing season.

My latest small pillow is nearly finished so I'm planning the next one ( or two)

Free pattern from Beth Twist of Heartstring Samplery.

And that's about brought things up to date, its 6am so I'm off to make a cuppa, pop the washing on and start the day :-)

Take care, speak soon xx

revisiting old haunts

 Tuesday arrived with a bright blue sky so after pegging out the washing I went out for a walk. I'm limited to 1-2 miles ( 3 at a push) before things get painful which is much better than last summer and has meant that I can now choose a destination as long as I'm near a bus route.

Heading out up the hill I even remembered to take a photo of the old road cobbles that are now visible through the broken road surface, I have passed these so many times thinking that I need to grab a pic so here it is. Not exciting but interesting to me .

At the top of the hill is the house that I always wanted to live in when I was younger, I believe that it is now flats but sometimes I still hanker over it :-)

Nearby is the Church that attended until my mid teens, now up for sale so I'm keeping an eye open to see what becomes of it. There is a stage in the basement where the church concert party used to perform music evenings and Gilbert and Sullivan operetta's in the 60's

Walking home from Guides or Sunday School took us down through the local park so I retraced my steps.

This park was the placed where I spent the long school holidays especially as a young teenager when we would hide in the disused railway tunnels from the smaller kids. The tunnels are now filled in and overgrown but the evidence remains.

I tried to photograph the numerous birds but they were uncooperative ( too busy with food and nests ) however the squirrel posed for me.

I headed down into Sherwood to check out the charity (thrift ) shops that reopened on Monday. Nothing really caught my eye so came back empty handed.

I'm not sure if other cities have these, electric scooters to get around on !

This was pretty much the furthest that I've been for months ! I now have a list of places to visit when the good weather strikes.

Speak soon x

oops, published without a title

 I'm writing this on Monday 5 April and after wearing my tatty, patched crop trousers for 3 out of the last 4 days I'm now sat looking at it trying to snow and yearning to get back on the road.

I'm currently spinning some cheviot which I may naturally dye if I can find my dye stock ( and havent already thrown it out) if not it will go into an acid dye dye once the weather improves.

I did get as far as tea dyeing some more fabric for future project and at the moment I'm sat with a cup of tea undecided whether to have breakfast or turn on the spinning wheel.

Mon 12 April, still cool/cold, tried to snow yesterday but I've been brave and packed away the biggest of my winter woolies and my fleece leggings will hopefully go away after their next wash.

The next in my line of small pillows ( again, a free pattern from Sub Rosa ) is finished and the black sheep pillow has been received by my friend.

A new pattern is being stitched, this time from Beth Twist 

This will also be a small pillow, just because :-)  ....

The major event of the week was going over to the van, checking everything out and making a list of what needs replacing in the bathroom and the first aid kit. Eventually, after jumpstarting from the battery pack, we headed out for a drive. Although campsites reopen in England from today, we will not be away for a few weeks and even then we will be keeping our fingers crossed that we will be allowed to cross into Scotland and that their campsites will also be open.

Have a great week everyone, speak soon xx

Sunshine and stitches

Hi :-)

 A couple of finishes, the witch ( design from Sub Rosa see previous post ) and my black sheep design which  is my first cross stitch design attempt in over 25 years :-)

We've had 3 days of sunshine and reasonable temperatures (at the time of writing) but the weather is forecast to cool down again and possibly by the time I upload this it may even be snowing again !!However, for the time being it's forecast 21C today and I'm making the most of it by doing the washing haha.

Yesterday I went out for a walk to the post office and discovered that someone had yarn bombed the post box.

Another interesting sight was the community library. I had not walked through this area since I left work so assume that this was possibly set up during the first lockdown.

As you have probably gathered, we live in a valley, the post office is up on the hill ( more of a ridge really as it drops back down again the other side. If the weather is good you can see for miles from the post office.

The tower blocks in the distance are Nottingham city centre.

Over the Easter break, my main task is to try and match the sampler colour to the DMC ranges. I've stitched a swatch and I'm waiting for the light to be reasonable to see which is the closest. The sampler has faded in places so I'm looking for a happy medium on this.

That's it for this weeks round up, I'm publishing this a little early on Saturday rather than Monday as I've actually had something to write about!

Speak soon, xx