Down on the farm.... I spy with my little eye

a viking fighting

a girl with a very long bow

a metal bird

a chic scarecrow

chickens hiding from the sun

a man with an owl

some strange slow motion martial arts

all down at Stonebridge City Farm Grand Open Day

saturday chillin

just in case you wonder how I generally spend my Saturdays afternoons, the answer is having fun where ever we end up! today it was at Fade and the hard to find cafe in Nottingham, a pint of cider, a mug of coffee, what more do you need. erm, yes, an Inkle loom :-)

guerrilla spinners are now guerrilla weavers !!

The Beach is Back !!

Although the idea of a sunny summer seems very Alien this year, the beach is on it's way back to Nottingham City Centre.

Slowly decking, fairground rides and sand are making an appearance and hopefully the sun will come.

School holidays have just started and the opening of  the beach has been put back a day because of the bad weather that has been with us for the last few weeks.

This photo was taken yesterday with more storm clouds coming in, hopefully today the sun will shine and everything will be up and running...watch this space.

BTW I have just read my post for this evet last year which reads pretty much the same about the weather!!!

What a difference a day makes!!

The beach is BACK!!

Geting Crafty

So the day for the craft show dawned and after a quick meeting in the coffee shop we made our way down to the pub where the fair was to be held.
To be honest there were not many visitors to the fair but having previously experienced standing behind the shop stall at a craft fair in the freezing cold for a whole day and not taking a penny we felt that things could not be any worse. We had our toys, a inkle loom and a spinning wheel to play with, so we were quite happy and giggly.

So we didn't make our fortunes but we did sell some items and the verdict from Wikkidknitter was that we will do it all again!!

Whatcha knitting?

The question was asked at work when I placed two balls of yarn on the table as I emptied my bag to find my keys. Two balls of acrylic DK yarn that I had just bought from Knit Nottingham whilst dropping off some postal receipts with them, one cream and one black. Now, anyone who knows me will be aware that this is not my usual knitting material as I generally knit with my own hand spun.

So the answer to 'watcha knitting' was 'I'm not going to knit anything with it' Why do people always assume that balls of yarn=knitting, why not crochet or as in my case, weaving?

I have the urge to weave a long band with Celtic knot work on it so the next step is to sort out some new heddles for my inkle loom ( lost the last lot or maybe threw them out by accident)

The next day I turned up at my usual coffee shop before going to work with the loom ( yes, I take weaving to knit club sometimes-rebel that I am) and started to make heddles with pink cotton.

I don't like PINK!!!! says the coffee shop manager, 'it's not for you!!' I reply and enter into a conversation about weaving carpets and learn the Italian word for heddle which I promptly forgot.sorry Franco x

The heddle making continues into lunch break much to the bemusement if the young people that I work with, they have just about got their heads around seeing a spinning wheel in the staff room most Tuesdays but this is something more confusing!

I started to warp up the loom and continued this at knit club ending up with 67 threads which made the design look more like a bar code that anything else :-)

I found a pattern on the Internet although I would like to design my own at some point soon just so I can put my own 'stamp' on it.

This is the progress so far .

Having a panic

Its Wikkidknitters first craft fair tomorrow and we are both running round like mad trying to make sure that everything is ready for the big day. Every time either one of us thinks its sorted, a text comes through saying have you got ......

One of Wikkidknitters shawls will be raffled on the stall to raise funds for one of the featured charities and last night I was running round Morrisons knowing that I had seen raffle tickets for sale there somewhere but they were on the top shelf and I kept missing them. Then I had to chose which colour!!!

So I'm taking a few mins to think about calm thought before entering the fray again and to help everyone concerned, here are some pictures taken after the rain last weekend in my Mums beautiful garden.

 

Have a great weekend and I will let you know how everything went :-)

Spinning wheel

getting crafty!!!

Sometimes you just fancy doing something different and when Wikkidknitter suggested doing a craft fair or two to showcase his dyed fibres and yarns I was up for the challenge. So on Sunday 15 July we will be at the Purple Bean Craft Fair in Nottingham with fibres, spinning and weaving. There will also be some jewellery and textile bits and pieces. We are treating this more as a demo to show people how wool is spun into yarn and then woven into a fabric although we are taking an inkle loom simply because it is more portable.

I has been really difficult deciding what to try and sell and in the end we simply went with the things we like and would wear ourselves,

I'll let you know how we get on!!!

Little Shop of Horrors

It was a normal Saturday, nothing unusual was expected, just a date to meet Wikkidknitter for coffee and visit my Mum in the afternoon, just a normal Saturday like any other until....

The clock in the shopping centre struck one and someone started singing....

and there was the dancing, and the singing....

I stood there with a silly grin on my face, love anything like this , when  a flyer given to me explaining what was going on and a request not to film which is fair enough. I explained that I would blog the event if they wanted as I am always happy to support things happening in Nottingham and this was met with a broad smile :-) So here are the pictures if young people having fun and here is the reason.

One if my favourite musicals along with the Rocky Horror Show!!! So if you live in the Nottingham area you will find more details here about the Lakeside Arts Centre and New Street Theatre Company have a Facebook page here

Tour de fleece

Hi, as some of you may know , the tour de fleece is a event held by Ravelry for spinners and it is very much a personal challenge to spin every day whilst the Tour de France is taking place. I have taken part in the past but was loath to sign up again this year due to family commitments but at the last minute I decided that it would be good to try and spin everyday even if its just a few yards.

So This is my first post at the end of week one, not a huge amount to show though :-)

 This is Bond fleece, imported from Australia as a special treat as I would not normally pay this amount for raw fleece BUT it is amazing and soft and really does not need any prep before spinning, I just separate the fibres and remove any second cuts ( short bits where the shearer has cut the fleece twice) with a dog comb. So far there has been very little wastage.

Bond locks, tips slightly sun bleached.

1st bobbin on the wheel, lovely to spin, aiming for a soft woollen yarn this time

 Hand dyed merino/silk, I have already spun one bobbin so I am looking to spin and ply this asap

OK not strictly spinning but it is, sort of, I have had a bobbin of Falkland singles sitting around for ages and really need the bobbin for some other spinning so over the last two nights I've been Navajo plying it onto one of my large spindles, hoping to knit hand warmers from it for next winter !!

So thats my update for the first week, will be in touch real soon, Sue x