baa humbug

we don't really do Christmas and since the incident at the out door skating rink I have tended to avoid the market square around Christmas time but this year I checked it out and found NO SKATING !! Instead, we have this.....

smile time :-)

Eden Project 2011

Confused

The tablet weaving must have been playing on my mind as I woke in the middle of the night and realised where I had gone wrong :-) yes, I managed to warp up the tablets upside down!!

confused!

A couple of years ago I bought some cards for tablet weaving, had two very unsuccessful attempts and gave up! Today, after seeing some in use at the guild and speaking to another fibre nut who uses them, I warped them up on my inkle loom.

 

 

So far, so good

So the problems are : I used wool and the card wears it away very quickly
                                 : I cannot keep track of where I am in the sequence if I have to leave it for any reason
                                  : The design I'm working shows on the reverse of the work, it that normal???

 

 


So back to the drawing board, I'm open to ideas, anyone ?

belated fire photos

Yes, so busy that some of these posts will be in a weird order!! So this was bonfire night :-)









An excellent example of why NOT to make your own fire works!!

Spin-Work-Shop-Fun

Recently( at Knit Nottingham) we held another of our occasional spinning workshops aimed at brand new spinners. During the day we looked at fibres and learnt how to use a basic drop spindle. There was great excitement when the students were allowed to investigate the contents of their project bags which contained fibres and the spindle together with some secret ingredients.

After grasping the basics and realising that dropping the spindle is really part of the learning process, they went on to create their own yarn using a drum carder to blend their own choice of colours into a batt ready for spinning.
 Their first yarns were beautiful, brightly coloured and textured and I am sure that they will be treasured.
Later everyone had chance to play on a spinning wheel although some thought that it was too much like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time!!
We all had a great time, including Pete and myself and we thank everyone for coming ( and for bringing the biscuits!!!)

A few updates

Hi, Ok I got  a little lax about posting again, too much to do and too little time as usual. Also since the dark nights started I seem to be lacking in energy a bit BUT I am still creating even if on a slightly smaller scale.

I am still playing with the inkle loom, the first sami braid was great fun using acrylic yarns, I had a play with hearts and now have some cotton thread sitting ready to go on next...thinking maybe using yarn for the pattern threads and trying a Celtic pattern. ( simple one)





And I'm still playing with bobbin lace especially after buying more lace pillows, bobbins and threads from a fellow spinner a couple of weeks ago.Since I had all the new toys, I had to play and have found a good number of people who also want to have a go at lace making so I'm thinking that we will all have to get together real soon :-)

Must admit that I'm a little out of practise and have spotted the odd mistake but hopefully this will help get me up and running again :-)