Hawes part one ...Finding Fluff, Sticks and String in the Yorkshire dales

 

We have recently stayed in the Yorkshire town of Hawes for a few days to escape from reality and collapsing ceilings. This seemed like a good time to charge up my camera and go in hunt of anything textile related in this small town.

The first place to start is the The Dales Countryside Museum who kindly gave me permission to take photos and post here with a link to their site.

(This post will possibly be split into two or three as I was having so much fun with my camera)

The countryside museum has a small gallery celebrating their knitting heritage as well as other crafts like rope making and braid weaving.

In the past, this would have been a common sight along with water mills dotted along the rivers to power the machinery needed for spinning yarn .

 If you want to delve into the history of socks, caps. jerseys and bonnets being knitted in the Dales then The Old Hand Knitters of the Dales written by Marie Hartley and Joan Ingilby is a book to read. The book is available at the museum and on some second hand book sites ( hunt around as some versions are going for silly money but as far as I can see they are all the same book with different covers , I have seen it for £5.95 on one of the second hand book sites,

Knitting sticks/sheaths ( providing an anchor for a needle like a Shetland knitting belt ) were used to hold a needle so knitting whilst walking was possible. These varied from purely utilitarian to extremely ornate as given a love tokens at times. (I may have acquired one, more about this later)

Interesting also were the legwarmers used by the lead miners

A nice touch was the addition of information about the fleece.

 

and the dyes

and the pattern source

                 Examples of socks were also on show with the same helpful information.

Interestingly the museum does not have any of the Dales gloves in their collection , these knitted gloves always remind me of the Sanquhar glove in Scotland.

          I do have a book about the gloves and plan to attempt a pair at some point.There was a scattering of spinning wheels and associated fibre tools along with examples of other local crafts.

I will continue in the next post. The Museum does a week long ticket with concessions for over 60s and a discount if you belong to the caravan club. I certainly got my £3.50 worth !!

 

Soed Idee Jubileum week sixteen

 We have just added some spring bunnies to the band, I wonder what is next ?

am I still knitting?

 Hi, Sorry I've been quiet but we've had a bit of house drama which I will fill you in on in another post.

Back to the fibre crafts, I have actually been spinning and knitting and more importantly prepping fleece ready for or next trip.

There's a bit of everything in here, Romney, Shetland, Jacob and some of Pete's dyed fibres. I'm not sure how much will be spun up but it doesn't weigh much.

On the Argonaut I have some Portland, one bobbin down so far and its nestling on a rather colourful hat that I'm thinking of embroidering with tapestry wools that I've been hanging on to for years.

On the needles I have mitten, I'm still using up a lot of old hand spun that been lying around for years.

My last spin of Jacob and white faced woodland has now morphed into a couple of hats ( nearly) and there should be enough yarn left over for another one.

Also on the needles is something rather unusual for me, some commercial yarn which I will review in another post as I have had a few thoughts about it. This is the first time I've knit with anything other than my own yarn for a good long time but I'm knitting these mitts as a KAL with some friends as they venture into stranded knitting.

I will gift them once finished and that has dictated the colour choice. The pattern is Starla Mitts by Traci Scott, a free pattern on Ravelry.

Soed Idee Jubileum weeks one to fifteen

 A quick update, as I forgot to post week 14 I've decided to show all of the sampler stitched so far. This is up to date including this weeks band.

                    I think that I will have to start hemming the next piece of fabric soon.

New Colours to spin

 A few days ago I spotted a giveaway on a good friends facebook page. Some of you may remember Wikkidknitter who would feature on this page some years ago, after uni and starting a career he still hasn't lost his love of fibre, spinning and knitting.

Pete now has a facebook page selling dyed fibres and a couple of days ago I received a box from him.

                                                Beautifully wrapped inside was some goodies

the gorgeous fibre

 

                                              and a couple of extras, tea and stitch markers.

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the Easter egg hiding in the box as well as the draw was made on Easter Sunday. Thanks Pete x

I now have two of his braids to spin on our next trip and one on the nano which I really need to finish up soon.

First Fleece wash of the year

 I ordered this fleece a couple of weeks ago but its been sitting in the kitchen untouched due to a minor domestic disaster involving water and a ceiling!

Today, the forecast isn't too bad and in fact next week is looking even better so I thought that I had better get my finger out and wash it. Also, having had to remove the raw fleece stash from its hiding place ( the disused outside loo) it has become apparent to both of us how much I actually have.

This is a Shetland fleece, just over a kilo in weight. It looks pretty clean and open so hopefully it will be an easy spin. 

sorry if the photos aren't brilliant but I had to use my phone as the battery had run out on my camera.

It washed up pretty clean and very soft.

In the meantime I found another box, this one dated July  2025 containing a black cheviot shearling so guess what I'm doing tomorrow.

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirteen

 Friday, 3.30pm I finally finished with the crowns whilst relaxing with a coffee, No special additions this week but I have a few ideas in mind for future stitching.

I am enjoying this Stitch - a - long and hope to keep up with the instalments ( 50 in total )

the sampler that isn't cross stitch

 Home now and I've had chance to take the sampler out of the frame. As I thought, its stitched on needlepoint canvas in wool rather than cross stitch with cotton.

The actual sampler has been glued to the backing board at some point but the glue was so dry that it came away at the corners .

after this sneak preview of the back I carefully eased away as much as I dare to reveal the true colours.

Interestingly, the light grey at the bottom has smudges of purple in it and when I compared it to the alphabet it shows as a purple grey.

The stitches are a bit chaotic but I think that I will chart it and at some point stitch it as a cross stitch in the original colours to hang alongside it once I've had it reframed.

Back on the road, day nine

 The last two days were spent travelling home but I have a photo or two to share. First a moody goodbye to Skye.

and a quick stop at the Falls of Dochart

Now to catch up with things at home before we head out again.

Back on the road, day eight

 For the first time this week we woke up to a clear blue sky, also rather frosty but definitely dry. So on the last day on the island I will just leave a few photos from our morning walk.

Tomorrow we head home but will be stopping in Scotland for one more night.