A busy spinning weekend including the great SPINNOTTS reunion

 Many years ago there was a group of spinners who would demonstrate at local events and generally spin in public whenever they got the chance. We disbanded about fourteen years ago as people moved out of the area, went away to uni or had family responsibilities. Some continued as Woolly Outlaws, others joined local guilds and some hung up their wheels.

Recently two of the ringleaders decided that it was time to hold a reunion and see if there is any interest in having social spinning get togethers.

And that is how I fond myself heading into town rather early on Saturday morning.

It was the first time that I had travelled by train for quite some time.

I took the opportunity to grab a coffee and knit a few rows before jumping on the train.

Not many more photos as I was too busy catching up with everyone but Pete (Pete's Fibre Studio ) had some amazing hand dyed fibres and yarns. I may have indulged haha

I did grab a shot of two of some of the wheels though I'm not sure how much spinning anyone managed.

The day was a great success and plans have been made for the next meeting, 

The very next day I was out and about with the local guild outreach group at Greens Windmill, not many visitors due to the fact that the mill is undergoing renovations at the moment but still not a bad way to spend the day.

Exploring the Cumbria coast - Silloth motorcycle museum

 Even though I don't have much to do with bikes these days I still love them so the chance to visit Silloth Motorcycle Museum was a bonus.

Owned by  racer Jim Snaith it contains his collection of race bikes, memorabilia and history of the local racetrack. Our visit was a very pleasent way to spend the morning, unfortunately I've forgotten the name of the person looking after the museum when we arrived but the conversation was bike, bikes, bikes from our era 70s onwards. Jim also popped in for a chat so the quick visit became a few hours.

The Museum is small but crammed full of interest and my photos don't really do it justice.

I couldn't get all the trophies in the same shot, so many ! if you read the photo above, they had been left unopened in the UK by an Austalian racer Casey Stoner in 2001

Tour de Fleece 2026 prep and chat

 I know that it is only June but its less than a month until the start of the 2026 TDF and I really don't have  a lot of fleece prepped at all !

I have some washed ready for combing, I have lots that needs a wash including this large bag that I found on my doorstep last week. Nearly 5 kilos of what I suspect ( from previous fleece from the same source) is going to be texel. I am waiting for a dry day to make a start on washing and maybe even dyeing it ready to spin. Seriously, its rained pretty much everyday since it turned up

My plans for TDF are the same as ever, work on spinning down the stash, make use of my wheels and maybe finish a couple of half spun projects before it starts.

I could just use the texel as my challenge but I may get bored spinning the same breed for three weeks. I do plan to take my wheel to as many local destinations as possible, we won't be going away as Ian will probably be doing his bike thing down south and the van will be back at the dealers for annual service, mot etc but I will be getting my bus pass halfway through so I might see where else I can get with it.

later

between showers today I popped 300gm or so of raw fleece into a net bag and started to wash it.

Surprisingly its really not that dirty and not looking to bad considering the fact that someone who knows absolutely nothing about fleece volunteered to grab me a bag full just after the sheep were sheared.

Once washed and rinsed I'm left with this which will go in the dye pot for a change.

It looks like I am going to busy over the next couple of weeks or so prepping ready for the big spin. Also I'm hoping to get out and about most days with a wheel of some kind or maybe even just a spindle.

Now out of the dye pot weighing in at 250gm 

Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty two

Week 22 finished and I need to get around to hemming the next piece of material very soon.

Exploring the Cumbria coast - Maryport street art

 

Exploring the Cumbria coast - Maryport

 Maryport, an eighteenth centaury town with a Roman fort and that is really all we knew about it. We try and choose places that are not so much on the beaten track for part of our tours and since neither of us had really ever heard of Maryport other than in connection with Hadrian's wall we thought that we would give it a shot.

The first intriguing thing was the location of the campsite, this is the first time that we have stayed on a harbour complete with grass, electric, water, toilet block and even washing machine and dryer.

As you can probably imagine, inspite of the blue skies it was cold and windy most of the time, In fact we didn't really warm up until the late May bank holiday when suddenly the temperature rose into the 30's but more about that later, At this point I was still wearing jumpers and gloves.

The view from the campsite, that is Scotland in the distance.

For a small town I found a good choice of coffee shops/cafes within 10 minutes walk or so from the site . Hiding in one of these from time to time gave me chance to warm up although I suspect the real reason for feeling cold is more to do with my recent weight loss than anything else.

The walk to town took us through the harbour ( we had the commercial harbour on one side and the marina on the other) past the aquarium and up the hill. I would have stopped at the Maritime museum but it was closed, We visited the Roman museum but failed to take any photos.

Past the monument to lives lost on the Aquilia, piles of nets, statues and mosaics

and onwards up into town where the old cinema is being converted into an arts centre (looking very good)

    An abandoned hotel appears to be growing its own garden

 There's always something that reminds me of my former life, I suspect this one is more decorative that practical these days.

at night we settled down to the sound of the boats swaying in the wind