fibre update

Ok, Bikers, you may want to skip this post as its about the wrong type of spinning wheels!

So here we have a quick update on the fluffy bits that I've been playing with for the last month or so.

Firstly, I managed to pack a little knitting amongst the holiday luggage although its had to go on the back burner for a while as other project have overtaken it but is a nice mix of silk and merino and was knitted in various place including hotel balconies and mountain cable car stations. More of that later.



The September guild meeting centered around dyeing using natural and acid dyes which proved to be very interesting and as a result fellow spinnotts member Pete and myself ended up going straight to Nottingham Contemporary afterwards to grab a coffee and do some spinning as very little got done between the chat at the meeting. It also appears that the staff there like to have us set up camp with the wheels and knittng etc and we are affectionally known as the yogurt weavers!!



We also attend Ashfield guild hospitality day and enjoyed the opportunity to meet other spinners and partake of a wonderful buffet including the squishy chocolate cake that somehow survived the bus journey back to Nottingham.





The shop has had some new stock in and we also had a stall at Nottingham newest WI fair where two fellow ravellers learnt to use drop spindles.



I'm busy knitting a shawlette and writing out the pattern, the original was knitted in Riot wool in a masculine grey, red combination No photo yet, sorry! So my version is hand spun Shetland/merino for a different look.



Friends are also busy writing and knitting for Knit Nottingham forthcoming pattern release at the beginning of November.





that about it folks, next post will be back out and about on the bike in Germany/Austria.

Hoping you all have a wonderful weekend:-)

Sorry it's been so long

I bet you all think that I've abandoned you! Well, you don't get rid of me that easy!

Life has been a little hectic since we got back from Germany but here are a few photos from the beginning of our holiday.

We travelled down to Dover and stayed overnight with the intention of catching the early ferry which me missed due to a combination of chatting to a fellow biker for too long at the hotel and the person on front of us in the ferry queue messing about with his bike. Result was that he caught the ferry and we had to wait for the next one.




We took things steady on the first day, not our usual must get there mode and stopped overnight in France.



The Sunday saw us heading for Fussen on the German/Austrian border where we have stayed in the past.







More holiday photos to come once I've sorted them out and Bikerted will be posting about the holiday in detail on his travel blog soon, The next post will be back to my usual mix of spinning, knitting etc, honest!!

Have a great weekend :-)

I'm Back!!

Firstly, thanks for all your wonderful comments about the shop. It's going to be hard work especially for the girls running it but it's a really comfy friendly place and four of us sat knitting after a spinning session there yesterday. We had the wheels set up near the bus stop so spent a lot of time waving at bemused passengers :-)



The reason that I've been a little quiet for the last two weeks is that we had a little run out on the bike, around 2500 miles around Germany and Austria....more about this later.



Will have to dash, dyeing to do, computer ink to buy and bobbin lace equipment to pick up.
Hope you having a great weekend!

SCARY!! but nice

We all have to do scary things from time to time, get married, divorce, buying a house, having children(missed that one out). Today I signed a partnership agreement with friends Eleanor and Liese for a knitting shop, scary but exciting!

The shop knit nottingham opens at 12 tomorrow at 91 Mansfield Road, Nottingham selling wool, knitting and crochet accessories and some spinning fibres and accessories with more to come.

I will continue to work full time at my usual job and help out at the occassional workshop, Eleanor and Liese are the backbone of the company and will be running the shop etc.

The shop sign went up today and the stock is being sorted and displayed

AS I said, it's all a little scary but nice.

knit nottingham !!!!

Hello all and welcome to Knit Nottingham; the loveliest yarn shop in Nottingham city centre. We want to be the hub of your creative experiments, catering for the experienced crafter through to beginners and even to those who don’t knit (though we’ll try our hardest to get you hooked…).

We stock a wide range of basic work-horse yarns, patterns, needles and notions as well as small injections of hand-dyed and spun yarn, hand crafted needles and locally designed patterns. For you non-knitters out there we’ll also be stocking a range of locally produced products like knitted and crocheted clothing and accessories, hand-made jewellery and beautiful cards (products to be added all the time so watch this space!).

We will be offering a wide range of workshops including the basics, socks, lace knitting and colour theory amongst many others and Eleanor will be on hand six days a week to offer one-to-one help and advice. If you don’t fancy anything structured, how about just dropping in for a cup of tea and a knit?

Starting straight away there will be easy ways of getting involved with charity knitting; the first project will be a group-knitted blanket for Afghans for Afghans, all we ask is that you knit a row or two.

We’re a friendly pair and we’d love to meet you so come along to the Grand Opening on Saturday 4^th September, 12pm– there’ll be cake and a prize draw!

---

Opening Times:
Monday – Saturday – 10.30am – 6.30pm.
Sunday – 10.30am – 3pm.

Stockists:
Cygnet, King Cole, Crochetta Cotton, Prym Whitecroft and a full range of vintage patterns and needles. Local designers and artisans include: Eleanor Burke, Kate Bolin, GuzziSue, Wikkidknitter and many more.

Don’t be a stranger:
Pop into the shop from the 4^th September onwards.
Check the website – www.knitnottingham.co.uk
Email us at - knit@knitnottingham.com
Or phone on 07710978907 (landline to follow).
Search us on Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry.

Update

Hi

How come its already 2/3 the way though August!!! where does the time go? Well, at the end of July we headed up to Yorkshire for the Dalesman Rally run by Dean Valley Motorcycle club and enjoyed sunshine and beer with many friends that we had not seen for a few years.








I attended Nottingham Mela and listened the music whilst spinning some merino on one of the drop spindles.




Also dropped in at Pagan Pride with some friends and Wikkidknitter demonstrated a different form of spinning to that usually seen :-)










The Nottingham Riverside Festival saw The first meeting of the Ravelry 'spinnotts' group. We are a bunch of spinners who like to go out and spin anywhere and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the afternoon spinning and listening to music.




I've finished some spinning so this....

became this...



and this......


became this...



Oh nearly forgot, we had a lively meeting at the guild as all the spinners decided to try and sit together and catch up with the gossip.



Finally, In my next post, I will have some news for knitters and spinners in and around the Nottingham area :-)

I've not disappeared!!

just not been doing too much over the last two weeks, the house and garden have needed our attention although we did get out to listen to some world music (good and bad) a couple of weekends ago.



Last weekend fellow raveler Wikkidknitter and myself had a fluff day, sorting, washing and carding fleece, dyeing tops and fleece and a spot of bobbin lace (Hubby went away for the weekend to get away from all this fluffiness, his spinning wheels are on his motorbike) We now have Superwash merino tops to start spinning later today and some merino/silk and Shetland waiting in the wings.



We have been continuing with our spin in public events, in a couple of the bars in town and hopefully later today at the castle. Recent drop spinning in the centre of Nottingham resulted in having photos taken by the tourists :-) the first appearance of a spinning wheel ( Petes) at the Contemporary bar was interesting especially as we were both taking turns to use it. The lovely staff never batted an eyelid and made sure we had chairs, table, pots of tea etc.



I will be back in biker mode soon, a trip to yorkshire is coming up and later in the summer we will head over the channel. The ferry tickets were so cheap this year!! shame about the exchange rate. Yes, I get to unpack the bike, usually as Ian tracks down a drink :-)

Below the surface

Below the surface,Below the surface,Below the surface, this has been going round in my brain for the last couple to weeks. It's the subject chosen for my Art House sketchbook and I'm having a hard time focusing on just one or two aspects of it. Each time I think I've got it nailed, another idea sails into my head!!
Even Biker Ted is getting in on this one, explained what I was doing and he went out for the day, coming back with photos of a cutaway motorcycle engine!!! Yes, all the gears, piston etc are below the surface.
Gggrrr, everything I look at now is making me think what happens if I cut it, peel it, break it up and put it under a microscope ( fortunately I don't own one).
Need to start to play so I think I will be boring for the time being and stick with buried items, from fossils to a particular favourite of mine,bog people. The bodies that are preserved in peat bogs for hundreds of years. Will also look to include something like Skara Brae in Orkney, a Neolithic settlement that was buried by rubbish and sand.

That is until I slice the next vegetable in half and think.....so that's what's 'Below the surface' !!!

Meanwhile, a friend kindly gave me some laceweight yarn to play with so here is the obligatory knitting photo :-)

spinning update

OK, here are my latest spinning efforts.

Polwarth dyed by Babylonglegs.









Shetland dyed by Wheeldale Woolcrafts plyed with white merino




Ravelry are currently running Tour De Fleece which is a personal challenge that runs along the Tour De France. For the duration on the Tour De France, you undertake to either knit an object, spin a given amount etc. You set your own goals for this so I'm just going to try and spin everyday.
The first day was Saturday so Wikkidknitter and myself headed to Wollaton park to start the challenge by spinning in public.
We nearly fell off the starting block when we spotted the carrot cake and the start was delayed somewhat but we soon recovered enough to do some spinning and an impromptu demo to adults and children in outdoor cafe area.






We had a really good day which was rounded off by a little dragonfly looking insect landing on my finger, just not quick enough with the camera and ice creams whist looking round the global market in Nottingham.



oh and I seem to have a bucket of fleece soaking outside hehe

East Bridgford Show

Hi, I have a few posts to do over the next few days regarding sketchbooks and spinning but for the time being I will share a few photos from last weekends show.
Our branch of Weavers , Spinners and Dyers put on a demo and display at this annual show and this year I was able to join them and had a very enjoyable day spinning, watching Zulu dancers, one mad and his dog herding ducks!! meeting very friendly sheep (and buying their fleece) not to mention countless cups of tea from the local WI.







Spinning and chatting is one of my favourite chill activities and I am very conscious that I have been ignoring embroidery for a while and even the lace has gone untouched. But we have a bobbin lace session pencilled in for later this month so watch this space.

new neighbour

Hi, not really got a lot to say this week except that we seem to have a new neighbour :-)



oh, and I did sign up for the sketchbook project with the theme below the surface. Hopefully this will spark off some creativity again.

Have a good weekend everyone :-)

World wide knit in public day

Not that I need an excuse to sit and knit :-)This spinning lark seems to have been my obsession for a while and just when I think my knitting skill are sufficient for my needs ie basic grounding in knit and purl, someone throws a challenge in my face!!

So we packed our bags and headed off to Nottingham Contemporary Cafe which has become a favourite with us. Fellow Raveler Wikkidknitter produced this ball of mystery fibre



and said 'you should knit this pattern next' Ok, lets have a look at it,



see what I mean about a challenge, isn't it pretty!!!! the patterns is echo flower shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen and I think it will be on my needles at some point soon.



We spent the afternoon quietly knitting and spinning on drop spindles, drinking tea and catching up with the gossip. It wasn't until we were on the way back into town that we realised that we hadn't a photo of us!! But I have got a very blurrey photo of me spinning in a bar in Nottingham two weeks ago so that will have to do.



Thanks Peter, I had a great time and hopefully will do it all again real soon :-)

Just one more thing, LOOK what they have done to our council house, is this the biggest England flag in the country?



I hope you all have a good weekend and find time for a cup of tea and a few moments relaxation