Another weekend, another show

Hi,

This time we were at Lowdham Horticultural Show near Nottingham and it stayed dry!! In fact it was a beautiful day to sit and spin.

As usual we were with our friend Nina and the sheep, here's Mabel...

and the other side of us we had some new friends :-)

during the day we took time to wonder round, we visited the local Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers ( we used to belong to left but left a few years ago) and Pete (aka wikidknitter) got to play on a slightly bigger wheel for a change.

The flower and produce display was up to the usual standard but we missed the birds of prey.

The day was frequently punctuated with tea and cake, serve in green cups and saucers which always reminds me of church events. I think this sort of crockery must be in every village hall round the country!!

Spinning to the sound of a brass band on a sunny afternoon,lovely way to pass the time.

Its been quiet

Hi,
Confession, I've not really done a great deal except work and sleep!! At the moment we are both on a count down to our next holiday in a few weeks time and I suspect that I will blog about it at length when we get back.
I've found that more and more I am using this blog as a diary for myself. It documents my fibre adventures, my fleece purchases and our travels which although restricted at the moment do to circumstances .
Last weekend I made an effort to try and sort out my desk and succeeded in going from this

to this

not completely clear but a lot more organised!! I've also made a start on the caramel fleece, breed unknown. There's not a lot of vm in this one but it is slightly cotted, I tried to pull it apart when wet but it is a challenge.

but the combed nest are beautiful and soft. I think this is one to process whilst watching a film on a dark dismal night !

 I did find a couple more balls of hand spun from 2 or 3 years back so I'm knitting this...

possibly portland and jacob? anyway its just a quick knit to keep my fingers busy :-)

Have a great weekend x

spinning goodies

Hi

I had this blog post all written out on a piece of paper then I tidyed up my desk......

anyway, such a busy weekend meant that I spent the last week feeling washed out and didn't get round to posting photos of this lovely gift from a spinner in the states.

I took part on the tour de fleece as a member of two teams, one being UK spinners and the other was team Ambridge. Several members of Team Amdridge offered up prizes to be awarded at random to the spinners taking part.

I was lucky enough to have my name pulled out of the hat and a parcel was gifted to me by Annarch ( Ravelry Name)

The fibre is from sheep local to her in Boulder, Colorado.....

and the book is just perfect to go into my spinning wheel case!!! I Love it and I'm so grateful to have been picked xx

lazy sunday

Hi,
Pagan pride takes place in the Arboretum in Nottingham each August so I took the opportunity to head down there for the afternoon.
As I got off the tram a fellow spinner spotted the drop spindle in my backpack and we had a quick chat about wheels, spinning etc as we all do We swapped cards and I noticed that she sells her yarns at MidgardYarn on Etsy.

As we entered the park, live music filled the air and several teams of belly dancers, hoop dancers and some very young Irish dancers were in action.

There were some very interesting outfits around together with colourful hair dos

I wondered round the stalls, trying not to be tempted by the clothes and eventually settled under  a tree for some gentle spinning.

Within 10 mins of setting up a photographer approached me with a big film camera on a body harness and asked of he could film me. I've no idea what this was for, maybe local TV but he actually concentrated on the wheel and my hands. I'll let you know if I spot this anywhere! maybe my hands will get famous hehe.

The view from my wheel.

As with any event like this, all the local photographers were out on force although none of them asked permission. I have found my photo on the face book site so I borrowed it, its by AJ Jamieson but I can't find a link to them. Still I hope they don't mind too much. ( it did say I could share etc as long as I gave credit)

Between catching up with friends and yet another spinner spotted the wheel I managed to finish the Jacob, about 2/3 of a bobbin which I will ply later this week. I must start looking for patterns for the next kep.

I was told that spinning and weaving were very spiritual things to do and were becoming very popular with the pagan community.

At some point in the afternoon a small girl built a shrine in front of the wheel complete with crocheted spider and webs.

And the photo?  well here it is.....

....I really don't like seeing photos of myself!!!

a mixed weekend

Hi
Friday night proved to be restless so I was up early doing some more fleece prep and a little spinning. This time it was some Norfolk Horn that has been hanging around in my stash for a few years but bit by bit I'm slowly whittleing it down although some of it feels a bit sticky so may get another wash soon.

The plan for the day was to spend some time in the garden, sort out the washing etc and head off out to the Riverside Festival at around 1 o'clock.This should have been an easy journey bus from outside our house, get off in Town, walk to next bus stop and catch on down to the Trent embankment.

I hadn't taken into account the fact that there was a big protest march that closed the centre of town and the buses were taking the diversion route. Unfortunately they were pulling onto the diversion route too early and missing out the pickup stop for the festival. Temperatures rose, there were angry voices all aimed at the poor bus company employees who were trying their best to get the buses back on track.

This jorney should have taken well under than an hour but ended up taken over two!! The EDL had planned their protest for the busiest saturday with both a Festival and the first football match of the season taking place.

Once there I headed for the folk tent so I could do some knitting :-)

I then had a wander round before heading back as it gets really busy in the evening with people claiming their vantage points for watching the fireworks.

Part of this festival takes place on the river as the boats put out flags and light up in the evening.

This years there were 5 music stages and the fairground rides lined the street as usual.

I left just as the football finished and crowds of fans heading my way made me find the bus back into town.

There's another event on tomorrow so fingers crossed that the good weather holds out.

Post tour de fleece

Hi,

Well, I gave myself a week off from spinning everyday although I did finish off the last bit of dark ryland.

Took some time to potter round the garden

prepped some more fibre

went to Nottingham pride but my camera wouldn't talk to the memory card and my phone was about dead so only one photo :-(

I was already to take it easy until I spotted a comment on my blog this morning that said...

"See you at the opening ceremony of the Ravelympics (I refuse to call it Ravellenics!)" from Shelia

I'm now busy looking this up on Ravelry.......