unboxing Saxony merino

 I spotted an advert on a friends Facebook page, she was destashing some Saxony merino. half a fleece and a few oddments totalling around 1.5 k

Now I know that I'm on a fibre diet and really shouldn't be adding to the stack of fleece to be washed but I couldn't resist the chance to play with this and I also justified it by needing fine fibres to spin on the Nano.

The parcel has arrived, nice and squidgy

Did I mention that Sarah is a fibre artist? some of the fibres had been washed, and some had been dyed beautiful colours.

Some of the locks had been sorted ready for washing and the rest of the fleece is intact.

Plenty for me to play with over winter if not before.

Peggy's workbox, Memory cafe activity

 Two sewing boxes were donated to Connect café before it was closed due to the building being unsafe. We opened one of the in the café and had a lovely afternoon picking through the contents and reminiscing about mending tight and stockings, hand sewing and also about the shops that were in the area 40 or so years ago.

An idea sprang up from this, would this be an interesting thing to take to the local memory café to spark some conversation? I was volunteered to take this on as I have family ties to the area and also lived and worked there in the eighties.

I have taken the liberty of adding a few older items to the boxes, a Sketchleys sewing kit ( they had a shop in the town) some old sock kitting needles, french knitting doll and old threads from my own collection.

and inside them

and a few extras from my stash

there are paper bags to open, tins to explore and hopefully conversations to have about knitting and sewing.

We had a lovely time and I've been asked to go back in the New year. I may have some easy weaving projects tucked away that will be popular including a round loom that can be passed around the table for people to weave a row or two.

prepping bfl x texel fleece

 

This fleece was cheap, in fact the postage cost more than the fleece ! Still its not bad but some staining which became more apparent as I spun the first three skeins. They will be overdyed but will probably still stripe once knitted.

This time I combed as usual then blended further on the drum carder so fingers crossed.

There is about 580gm here so I'll probably prep a bit more tomorrow and hopefully spin it up during the week.

back to the stitching

 Back in 2021, Jacob from Modern Folk Embroidery started Black Sampler month in Novevember, simply start to stitch a black sampler during the month, which I did.

Needless to say, the progress has been slow but yesterday afternoon (2 November) I started to go through the cross stitch basket and decided that it may as well get finished this Novermber.

I did take it with me on our last trip in September and there is less than 25% to complete. I spent some time stitching yesterday and will have it as my ongoing project for the next few days to give my wrist ( old injury flare up) a rest from the knitting.

Edit.. just to add that the pattern is from the gift of stitching magazine, June 2008. I purchased the complete set of magazines on a dvd  a couple of years ago for about £25 for the full 72 issues.

and so it starts.... raw fleece inventory

 I had hoped to get much more fleece washed but its been a lousy summer and when the weather has been good we were generally at the other end of the country!.

I will still wash over the winter if we get some sunny windy days but otherwise the fleece list will stay pretty much the same for the time being.

So ( mainly for my records) the outhouse currently contains a black box of oddments and the following.

Saxony merino   1/2 fleece, more about this in the next post.

bfl/texel    part fleece, a little less than 1/2

jacob 'scrumpy' full fleece

jacob 'okey'  part fleece

ryeland (white) 1-2 fleece

Border leicester cross 1-2 fleece

Shetland  assortment small amounts

Bowmont  about 400 gm

grey romney 3/4 fleece

small bag alpaca

I've seen longer lists over the years !

Indoor fleece washed fleece stash currently unlisted but amount to several pillowcases full waiting to be carded or combed.

The general plan is to process and spin these before bringing more into the workroom.

Crafty November

 I have a lot to do, wash fleece if we ever get another dry day, spin, knit, sort out and even destash. I'm thinking that maybe if I share what I have and do then you could help me make some decisions as to what to keep.

My craft room is again full to the brim, well maybe not as bad as it has been in the past but still causing me some anxiety. I know that I have too many interests to downscale much but I need to keep it under control.

So, shall  I blog a little more than usual about what I'm doing? I think it may be mainly spinning and sorting but who knows what we will come across?

Update, its 6.30 on 1st November, I'm sitting with a cup of coffee staring at the amount of work to be done this month to sort out this room and how difficult its going to be to do it without starting new projects with all the goodies discovered along the way haha.

September tour - the fibre version part 4/4

 The first and last stop was our favourite seaside town of Bridlington and this time we took the opportunity to call into the Bridlington Harbour museum after saying hello to the gansey girl.

The museum has a small display of ganseys as expected on the east coast, not the best for taking photos but I tried.

and a quick plug for Debs at Propagansey, pop in and see her if you are ever up at Whitby.

I can't see myself ever knitting a gansey, at least not a full size one but maybe a sample one? teddy bear size?

Knitting and spinning round up for September and October.

 Hi,

Just a quick roudn up of my knitting and spinning for the last two months, more of a record for myself than anything else.

Spinning, this is what hasn't yet been knitted. 3 skeins of bfl/texel, one skein bowmont (white) two skeins Shetland and two skeins Jacob

..Knitting, the blue and white all over fair isele and the headbands are bowmont, the rest are assorted handspun.

This hat should be off the needles tomorrow (31 October) so qualifies as a future October finish. Knitted from the bag of oddments which I am still trying to use up.

My needles should be empty by the first on November except a shawl that may or may not be finished :-)

September tour - the fibre version part 3/4

 Not so much fibre as thread, Bellingham in Northumberland proved to be a lovely small village and we have already booked the site for a return visit next year yo attend there annual music festival.

Lots of history to look track down around the buildings and a very good small museum containing a multiplication sampler,

a precariously placed sheep

Knitting memorabilia from WW11

We also spotted some patchwork adorning the wall near the reference desks.

Steam

 I forgot to mention that the day before I was confined to bed, I travelled just outside of Nottingham to see a steam locomotive hauling a special train along the main line.

So many people gathered at the stations and crossings, who would not normally have known about it had it not been for social media, resulting in lots of happy faces of all ages.

Morris with a difference, Black Pig Border Morris

 On Saturday I headed down t the Pagan market to see Black Pig Border Morris.

Definitely noisier than the traditional Morris dancing usually seen locally :-)

Great energy bouncing off them :-)