Cabin Fever

Hi

So I've now been off work since 24th December and by now I was hoping to go out for a few steps each day but since Saturday I've not stepped out of the door. The forecast is for more snow until next week. Its not causing any major problems where we live but the footpaths are slippery and I'm not really wanting to fall again.

We have put our next trip to the camper van on hold until the weather improves:-( and I'm just getting a little fed up now with being stuck indoors.

I decided to knit something different as I had a couple of skeins of Rouge de L'ouest  sitting around doing nothing. I've cast on a Stormy sky shawl on size 6mm needles, Well, I really had problems with the circulars to start with and had to cast on using some dpns and then transfer to the circulars once I had a few rows done. 

I've given in and started to wash some of my recent spinning as its beginning to pile up and I will be wanting to use some of it soon.

Please excuse the torn wall paper, years of drying textiles and fibres have taken their toll :-)

I've also finished the beanie which is now washed and fits me quite nicely although I doubt that I will be keeping it. I've found that hats look fine until I put my glasses on then I tend to just look a bit daft in them.

Its still snowing so I'm going to tidy the kitchen, have a shower and change into comfy, snuggle clothes, make a coffee and knit xx

Help, what to knit next?

I only knit small things, hats mainly :-) using my hand spun yarn. I'm looking for ideas of other things to knit but keeping it small scale as I get bored easily!

I have an unused stock of notebooks so maybe book covers? tablet covers, kindle covers? I want to keep it fair isle style but just fancy doing something a wee bit different.

In the fibre front, I managed to wash the Shetland skeins.

although I'm not sure what to do with them yet!

Yesterday we went over to the caravan and motor home show at Birmingham to do some shopping, Ever since we bought the van we have had a list of stuff that we need, the list now only has about 4 items on it so hopefully we are at the end of spending money on 'things' and can now concentrate on using it without suddenly realising that we don't have a corkscrew or tin opener.

Apart from essentials like mirror guards etc we bought a collapsible water container, fold down basket so I can carry mugs and things to the wash block without putting them in a bucket and also for moving things in and out of the van as it will hold my mug, knitting etc .

Because it was such a long day, I hired a mobility scooter to save being on crutches all day. Whilst it helped me I hated being invisible and hope that it will be many years before I need one again.

fleece wash day

Hi

A quick, short post. The sun is out and I've unpacked the two parcels that have been sat around since Friday. One is a light grey Shetland, very well skirted and it looks like the spine has been removed so presumably it was a bit felted.

it looks goods and should be nice and soft once spun.

The brown fleece is in pieces, but I love the colour so it will be washed very soon, again very well skirted with no rubbish that I could see.

I have noticed from my photos that I may be in need of a new camera, I will be looking a buying one in the summer.

At the same time, I dug out a bag of Ryland

but decided that I would never get the fleece back in its packing so it will have to wait for another day.

On the needles is another beanie, Ryland and mule ( I was just told mule so not sure exactly what it is, presumably BFL cross by the crimp and feel)

and on the wheel is Ryland/Zwarbles, I was given this fleece and its not the best but not too bad once spun up but I suspect it may be sold rather than knitted up by myself.

On the foot front, another long chat at the hospital and it seems that I did more damage than anticipated, recovery time is now set at a year plus although I'm looking at going back to work in a month or so.

I'm making the most of the free time that I have ( as long as I don't have to stand for too long or use my foot) and becoming friends with my crutches! We are off to a big camping show soon and I've booked a mobility scooter for the day to make life a little easier :-)

Speak soon xx

waiting for wash day :-)

I have been busy and now I'm waiting for a wash day, one that's dry, sunny and a little breezy. I know its a big ask in February but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In the last couple of days I've washed some Shetland and I'm just starting to prep it (this isn't the new stuff, that hasn't arrived yet)

and I've had a hunt through my fleece looking for any I can get rid of and came across this.

washed maybe 3 years ago, compacted at the bottom of my large fibre bag and a mix of two, possibly three unknown breeds. It was halfway to the bin but I thought I'd give it a shot just in case.

Actually its not too bad, I'll probably get 2/3 skeins from it and chuck out the worst bits. Definitely feels like a down breed in there somewhere.

So, these are the skeins waiting for a dunk at the moment.

Nice selection, even if I say so myself :-)

Hampshire down

Mule

unknown x 2

Shetland merino

ryeland

Jacob x texel

Shetland

ryeland/zwarble

Shetland

cheviot

Speak soon x

fleecy post

HI
I'm still off work, went back for 1 1/2 days but the foot began to be painful and swollen so I'm back at home with a further fracture clinic appointment later this week.

This means I am busy making friends with the electric spinner and prepping fibre ready for spinning.

To save me from getting too bored with the spinning, I'm prepping a bag of each fleece at a time. This means I am slowly getting through some of the pillow cases that just had some remnants in. All the fleece is combed simply because this is my favourite prep to spin from and excess yarn will be sold but my stocks are so low that I suspect that I will be using it all.

At the moment I have some Jacob/Texel on the Electric Eel, a bit coarse but interesting shade.

Next up will probably be some dark Shetland that I had forgotten about, not a brilliant fleece but I'm get a skein or two from it.

Its a lot darker than this photo shows :-)

So far I have skeins ( some of the quite small) of Hampshire Down, mule, Shetland/Merino, Cheviot, Shetland and Ryland waiting for a good washing day.

I may just have ordered a couple more Shetland fleeces, ssshh don't tell anyone.

On the travel front, we have booked a campsite for a couple of days for our next trip North of the Border and the ferry for a mooch around Europe much later in the year.

Speak soon xx

knitting update , as promised.

Okay,

Quick update, I really knuckled down and finished a couple of hats which have been hanging around.

Beanie, Manx and Norfolk horn fleeces.

Kep, bfl cross, Shetland and Norfolk/Suffolk cross

I've now just about run out of yarn and I'm steadily knitting up oddments between prepping more fleece ready for getting the wheel out again.

I'm still off work, hoping to go back early next week :-)