Tour de Fleece day four, 2026

 Today has been another wait in and hang around with the builders and fencing contractors (for next door) turning up. The kitchen now has a plaster board ceiling, no cupboards or lights.

First job was to finish a headband that's been in progress for a while. I still need to darn in the ends and give it  block but it looks ok

Next I dug out around 50gm of  white faced woodland that I popped in a dye bath a couple of weeks ago along with some texel.

Later I got the louet out and finished up the World of Wool carded wool, very neppy but It did spin up ok in the end.

Both of these are now ready to go in the wash at the weekend.

I have a few more oddments to spin alongside the regular 100gm bags that I have made up. I'm thinking something naturally dark next.

No posh coffee today, maybe later in the week, I have plans to travel around a bit more next week although it may depend on how long it takes me to sort out the kitchen once they have finished, all of this is due to a plastic waste pipe resting on a metal hot water pipe and slowly melting over time.

Tour de Fleece day three, 2026

Not a very productive day due to have to clear out the kitchen so that the builders could access ceiling but I tried . This is going to be the case over the next few days.

We now have 100gm plyed Ryeland making a total of 200gm of fibre finished so far.

The builders finished early as they are now waiting for the electrician before they can go any further so I escaped to Costa for an hour and treated myself to a free drink ( I've been saving drinks on all the apps )

Of course, I took a wheel with me, this is the progress on the Polworth from Petes Fibre Studio.

As for the kitchen, this is where we are at now. We are hoping that the cupboards will survive to be put back on the walls as we don't want to have to replace them.

The problem has been caused by a water leak ( now fixed) which has left the ceiling damaged.

Tour de Fleece day two, 2026

 Hi, to pick up from yesterday evening, I spun some Ryeland and then remembered that it was Saturday so checked my cross stitch pattern for this week. I had been hoping for a straight forward cross stitch band that wouldn't take too long to stitch.

Wrong, what I have is three pattern darning block all stitched in one thread over one thread. This is going to be  a challenge.

This is going to need good natural light.

Todays plan is to head out for coffee and then find an outdoor space to sit and spin for a while. I'm conscious of the fact that I may be confined to the house for the next few days and its going to get hot again so I'm making the most of the cooler days.

 

I remembered to take photos of the newer pieces of graffiti on the remains of the old shopping centre.

Before settling down in Coffee #1 which is one of my favourite morning haunts. They are quite used to me turning up with assorted crafts to work on.

I'm wearing my turtle trousers today and spinning some carded wool from World of Wool. This is a bit of a challenge for me as I usually wash and process fleece myself but I liked the colours and ordered a few 50gm bags to play with.

Its dyed on a base of grey/dark fibres so gives a muted almost tweedy look which I'm hoping will work with fair isle patterns.

My next port of call was an alternative and occult craft fair to touch base with a stained glass maker and woodworker who I know.

Then it was off up to Nottingham castle for a pot of tea and chance to sit in the sun for a while.

This sign made me smile

Once back home it was time to stitch  for a while more then carry on with the ryeland. 

Have a good evening, I'll catch up on Day three.

Tour de Fleece day one, 2026

Well, here we are again, I'm thinking about spinning natural coloured fleece that I have prepped myself on the Ashford 3, The World of wool dyed 50gm packs on the Louet Victoria, the dyed fibre from Petes Fibre Studio on the Argonaut and if I happen to need to take a spindle anywhere I will have some Shetland to hand.

I may reassess at some point but I have plenty of bobbins for the Argonaut and the Ashford so I will be able to swap around if needed.

quick update, builders turning up on Monday so replace kitchen ceiling so it looks like I won't be spinning in public quite as much as anticipated!

Also my senior !! bus pass has turned up, not sure if I have to wait until actual retirement date to use it but will try on the bus on Saturday, fingers crossed. Update... it works :-)

Day one

 New T-shirts and empty bobbins, let the games commence.

I was awake early so I had a little practise and spun 100gm Texel quite thick but tested out new brake band etc.

My plan for today was to head into town, grab a coffee then catch a bus over to Wollaton Hall and Deer park as they are holding an open weekend in the walled garden which isn't often open to the public.

Coffee done, off to the garden. I arrived a little early so wandered round with my camera for a few minutes.

There are a few old tree stumps scattered around, the decaying remains revealing interesting patterns.

Once inside the walls I explored the gardens and grabbed a few pics of the flowers before buying a cup of tea and getting my wheel out.

However, once my wheel was out on the table, I had a steady stream of people wanting to ask about it and the spinning, my brief tea break lasted for two hours !

As I made my way from the park I spotted a squirrel and he obviously saw me, ran up the tree and froze. Not a flicker until I passed by,

I'm home now, trying to decide whether to stitch or spin tonight, whichever it is will be revealed in the next post.

Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty six

 Week twenty six complete and additional band added for the start of Tour de Fleece on Saturday. As you can see I'm nearly ready to start a new band which will be attached at some point in the future.

Final TDF prep 2026

 Here we are, poised to start spinning on Saturday morning. Most of my bobbins are empty, just one on the Victoria that I need to finish and ply but I will be ready.

My fibre choices are  a little different this year, I have the usual selection of Ryeland, Jacob, texel, Shetland etc all combed and ready to go.

I also have some more commercial fibres ( I know, so not like me ! ) including this selection from world of wool as I couldn't resist the colours. 50gm of each to be spun as a 4ply weight for some fair isle knitting.

I also have a selection from Petes Fibre Studio on facebook just because I love how his dyeing has progressed over the years. These may end up as a holiday spin later in the year if I don't get round to them during TDF

Usually we end up with a couple of festivals in July but this year they are later in the year so I will be looking at local locations to spin. I will be getting my senior bus pass halfway through so I may be heading out a little further around Nottingham.

As usual posts will be either daily or 2/3 days depending on how busy I am, wish me luck :-)

Nottingham Puppet Festival

 We may have been experiencing a heatwave here in the UK but the temperature dropped slightly on Saturday making it more tolerable for wandering round with my camera. I must admit that my camera is now over eight years old and at some point will need replacing but its survived being dropped multiple times, being shoved into any old bag, pocket etc regardless of whatever else is in there and is showing some battle wounds these days. 

I've been looking for a replacement but most of the cameras that I like are really to heavy for me to carry or even hold steady so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one keeps on going. The local camera shop has recommended that I repair rather than replace as these sort of compact cameras with multiple features are now longer around having been superseded by camera phones. I don't want something that does all the work for me, sometimes I like to play with shutter speed, Fstop etc.

Anyway, back to the puppets. May I introduce the Worker Bee and Queen Bee by Global Groves

The amazing Queen Bee

Icarus Wings by Laura Mathews Art

a wandering dragon , I think by Keep Drawing Charlie

Wild Beasts of Silly by Made by Raccoons

The Hare by Global Grooves

Now, I'm really not sure who these guys are but the fish was entertaining, I even got to pat his/her head.

Free Flying Giant Puppet Birds by City Arts, The silk feathers were hand painted in workshops led by Jessica and celebrate community collaboration.

not to forget Kantaben the Roller Bird by Global Grooves

My apologises to all the other wonderful puppets that were around, I didn't get to see them all and eventually gave up due to needing coffee haha

I did make a new friend though whilst enjoying the green space near the library.