Question

Spotted on the bucket list wall in Nottingham

Great Big Wheel

It started off as a general guild meeting with a talk on spinning wheel maintenance followed by a session on using hand carders then a session on long draw. Interesting  but I'm really not a huge fan of hand carders and I seem to spin woollen with a sort of modified long draw when I need to. Still , chance to take my wheel and have a gossip with everyone.
We were told about ratios and oiling your wheel although you could probably guess that I oil mine from the colour of it!! poor sonata, used and abused. There was laughter when someone asking to borrow the oil from the demo to oil the hall doors.
All was good until we realised that Dora had not bought her usual wheel, in fact she needed a couple of pairs of hands to get the new wheel into the hall!

It's about as tall as me!! and a real sleeping beauty type wheel, yes it has a spindle with which to prick your finger. Several of us had a play, I enjoyed spinning on it but suspect that hubby wouldn't be too keen if I bought one home.

As usual, Pete made it look really easy............

I came home with a small bag of Shetland x something.....watch this space.

Especially for Star

this is what my steamer looks like, 100-150 grm in each dish.

I am so excited....

I have a new toy.........

Shopping list for today..... banjo strings, banjo finger picks, banjo tuner (hubby wants his back) and how to play banjo book......Did I tell you that I have a banjo!!!!!!!

Romney fleece..what came next

So here I talked about washing the fleece, so here is what came next.

Whilst the fleece was still damp I placed it in a large cat litter tray which is one of my standard pieces of dyeing equipment ready to add the dyes. I generally use either colour craft all in one acid dyes or Landscape dyes depending on the colour needed although I will soon be in need of a restock so will expand the colour range at that point.  I mix a little of the dye powder/crystals with hot water in a jar then top it up with cold water. Now I know that people would like to know how much dye powder but I generally dilute and mix until I get a shade I want!!!

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Care should be taken when handling dyes and associated chemicals - rubber gloves and protective clothing should be worn when necessary.  Precautions should be taken to avoid accidental ingestion, inhalation and skin & eye contact.  Keep containers closed and away from young children.  

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Once I've added the dyes, taking care not to get  the fleece too wet, I wrap it in cling film ready to go in the steamer.

My electric steamer has three units so I can steam quite a large quantity in one go, it is also kept for dyeing only. Once the fleece has cooled completely, I give it a good rinse, a quick spin in the washer and hang it out to dry or near a radiator in this case.

I'm sorry that this photo is a little dark and doesn't show that the dye doesn't penetrate all the fibre in this case.

this is a little better, shows the variation of colour.

using the wool combs produces lovely little nests of fibre ready to be spun

resulting in this..................

washed and hanging out to dry

waiting to be balled up and sent to its new home

I hope this wasn't too boring for you, I had promised to show how I coloured the fleece xx

been quiet...

found a bag of Bond fleece.....

                                  Been playing..................xx

Nottingham light night

Last Friday night was the annual Nottingham light night so we headed off into town straight after work. My man was playing with the Uke Orchestra  from 7-9 so I had a wander round a few of the attractions before meeting up again and heading for the pub.

This year there were not so many buildings lit up and although the castle had a big event on, admission was by ticket only and they had sold out 2 weeks ago ( free entrance but ticket still required)

But I still found plenty to look at......

Nottingham Trent University Students produced short films to light up the Newton Building

The Daleks staged their own invasion outside the Theatre Royal

 

This is the Corner House Cinema complex,

 

Part of the Adams Building in the Lace Market

 

Stella Corralls lace lampshades at Debbie Bryan shop in the Lace Market

 

Willow Figures outside St Marys Church by Wildworks and young people of Nottingham

Stepping stones by Andy McKeown

The Bottle Family by Sarah Turner

The Architectural Pavillion by Nottingham University Architect students

Then back to the Ukes :-)

A great night out topped off with a few drinks in the King Billy

Snowday

This weekend we travelled over to Glossop in Derbyshire on the edge of the Peak District to see a band who regularly play in Nottingham. We decided to make it a weekend away and booked a room in a new Travel lodge ( budget hotel chain) that had been opened just six months ago in a converted mill in the centre of Glossop.

Very friendly customer service and a great budget price for our one night. Getting to Glossop from where we live means either taking the boring main roads or heading off into the dales and over the higher roads that are often closed by snow although on Saturday they were open with just a little snow left from earlier in the week.

Once there we shopped, had a lovely Chinese meal then headed off to see the band. John, a very talented banjo/accordion/whistle/mandolin etc player, came over to sit with us before their set and handed me his new  banjo. I was amazed at how heavy it was !!! Now I don't know anything about banjos but used to play guitar so I had a quick strum and still fancy learning to play one.

The band were good, tight , probably one of the best gigs we've been to and we have known them for over 20 years!!

I sat to the side with my little camera for most of the night a grabbed a couple of shots

 

then a few more.

 

 

 

 

The band are called Seven Little Sisters and you can here tracks from their new CD here. The next morning we awoke to rain which rapidly became snow giving a beautiful drive back, even got to stop at our favourite book shop !

Hope you all had as good a weekend as we did ! xx

RomneyTest knit/spin

Yes, blended together I got this spring green, soft 4 ply weight yarn, just need to finish combing, weigh it and possible sort the shades out into some sort of order before spinning.

Long ago, north of the border...

This is a blog post that I meant to write about three years ago but must have got distracted. Last time we were in Scotland we revisited the Isle of Skye which used to be a regular holiday destination for us. Every time we had visited in the past we had driven or ridden past the Skye Museum of Island Life but had ignored it and carried on. This time we decided to stop and explore..

It was a misty morning that was making everything damp and wet

The cottages were almost hidden from view and a little bit spooky

They contained the usual tourist artifacts and unlife like dummies

But they also contained there........I was a very newbie spinner..........I wanted to take it all home!!

Hubby had to tear me away, back into the misty landscape

Strange how I'd forgotten about many of these photos, will probably share more over the next few weeks xx