Messing about on the railway

 We decided to have a couple of days away last week and took advantage of a free nights camping with one of our favourite campsites in Shropshire. We stayed there last year but the railway wasn't running due to a landslip on the line,

This year, however, we made it to the Severn Valley Railway on what was the wettest day for some time.

We spent the day riding on the trains, visiting the museum, drinking coffee and hiding from the constant drizzle.

mail train carriage

Soed Idee Jubileum week twenty nine and thirty

 I made it just by the skin of my teeth, week thirty completed over coffee in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. I think I will put todays date at the end of the strip and start the next one with the town name before stitching week thirty one which is due out tomorrow.

and a reminder how the whole thing looks so far..........................

From Field to Fashion, Derby Museum of Making

 

I've had it in mind for a while to hop on a train to Derby and visit the Museum of Making which features many, many different items that were made locally from motorbikes to ceramics and the fact that this exhibition was on made it a possibility. Honestly, anything with a sheep in the picture will make me glance twice.

Fortunately the museum is a pleasant walk from the train station with a footpath/cyclepath hugging the River Derwent and even at my slow pace only took twenty minutes or so.

The museum is housed in an old silk mill sat by the side of the river and easy to spot. The mural of Falcons by the entrance was commissioned by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and design and painted by Sarah Yates in 2022

The exhibition is on the third floor with its own shop showcasing local fibre crafts, craft kits, handspun yarn etc.

The exhibits aim to show different uses for wool ranging from clothing to seating along with reusing and recycling. 

I particularly liked the signage at the beginning giving details of the characteristics of different breed and the explanation of words that I use regularly but probably confound many people. There were also several sacks of raw fleece, labelled with the breed, that you could dive you hands into ( and the all important notice also there to wash hands ) along with examples of processed fleece so that you could feel the difference between washed, carded and and combed fibres.

I could happily taken this grey mule fleece home with me, it would soon be on the wheel !

As usual, put accessible fleece near almost anyone and they will instinctively rub it on their cheek to check the softness and a surreptitious glance across the room a couple of times confirmed that this is still the case.

A rainbow of hand dyed yarns by Carrie Warr on Bleatingbecka Derbyshire Gritstone yarn. This is one breed that I have yet to spin, it's on the list in case I spot a fleece being sold.

From the traditional use of fleece to the more obscure, I hadn't envisaged furniture being on display but if you mix fleece and bio resin then this is what happens.

Black and white welsh mountain fleece , chair by Solid Wool and Roger Oates Design.

 

The art of Felting wool was represented by several pieces by Valerie Wartelle which reminded me of a cross between Turner and Monet.

Amongst other exhibits I spotted this community project

and these amazing lightshades by Janie knitted textiles.

All in all , worth a visit and the exhibition is on until 4 October and a quick look at the website shows a number of workshops also relating to fibre and thread. In fact there is one in October on Sashiko embroidery which is tempting me.

The main museum also holds examples of textiles etc so look out for another post from myself soon and I nearly forgot, there is a cafe so I had a coffee and ciabatta, both very good !!

Day 21 and 22, The end of Tour de Fleece 2026

 That's it, spinning done . I'm going to give it a break for a few days, even though its tempting to continue we have other things in the pipeline over the next week or so.

Therefore I declare the bag FULL.

The final bobbin was spun at guild yesterday.

And plied last night.

So, how much did I spin? well it came in at a similar amount to last year 1.706 Kilo or  3.7 lbs Not too shabby and at least I now have yarn to knit with when we return to Scotland later in the year. For now I'm going to play catch up on my stitching and lace making.

We have Texel, dyed Texel, Shetland, whiteface woodland, ryeland (white and coloured) Romney, wensleydale x zwartble, falkland polworth, wool from world of wool, unknown breed and border leicester cross. I don't think I've missed any out.

Well done to anyone else taking part and I hope to do the same next year as I have for the last 15/16 years.

Tour de Fleece day twenty, ( I think )

 I finally finished the Argonaut spin !

I plied it up this morning, gave it a bath and popped it on the line. No idea what this will become so it will sit in my stash waiting for inspiration.

The colours are stronger in real life, the sun is bleaching them out a bit in the photo.

Tomorrow I will weigh and label this weeks spinning, I'm not sure if I will do anymore, we will see how I feel.

Tour de Fleece day nineteen , and a taster of Field to Fashion Exhibition

 Wednesday saw me up early to ply the Texel and get it on the line before heading out to catch a train.

I've added it to the TDF bag which is now weighing in at about 1500gm so I've made a small dent in the stash but I really need to keep this up for a while longer especially since the weather is so goo for drying yarn as some of it is destined for the dyepot.

I headed over to Derby to see the Field to Fashion exhibition at the Museum of Making. I did cast on a headband whilst waiting for the train. I'm still trying to use up my oddments so this is mainly polworth left over from some hats knitted up last year.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and will re writing a post on it over the next couple of days. I will also be retuning to the museum as there is plenty more to see.

Tour de Fleece day Seventeen and Eighteen , Argonaut takes a trip to Southwell

Day 17, Monday was my usual knit group meeting so no photos but I did take my Argonaut and carried on spinning the Polwarth as I really want to finish it by the weekend.

Once back home I carried on with the Romney, finished the second bobbin and plied them

                                      

                                                     I then did the same with the blue fluff

Both of these were washed and dried on Tuesday and are now in the bag awaiting labels.

both are darker in real life, the camera isn't reading the light very well as its so bright even with the blinds shut.

On Tuesday I went over to Southwell, mainly to visit the sweet shop so you can imagine my shock when I found that it had closed down. It was our nearest place for buying Dutch salted liquorice so it looks like I may have to buy on line in the future :-(

Breakfast was in the cafe at the Minster although its under temporary management at the moment and I'm not a fan of paper/plastic cups for coffee especially when they make your coffee taste sort of plastic. Hopefully new owners will be in place before my next visit.

as usual, I can't resist taking a few photos

Ooops, nearly forgot, another four bobbins of Texel ready to be plied in the morning.