Time for a fibre stock take

Its nearly the end of February and hopefully we will get some warmer, drier weather soon. With this in mind I decided to take a quick stock take of my raw fleece waiting to be washed. Some of this fleece has been hanging around for a while and its quite possible that it will not all make it as far as the spinning wheel,

Raw fleece (whole) 1 of each.

white highlander

hebridian

shetland

ryeland 

unknown white

Raw fleece small amounts ( at least 500gm)

black cheviot

unknown white x 4

brown/grey ryeland

light grey ryeland

mystery fleece ( possibly very sun bleached black cheviot )

white cheviot

jacob .

The plan is to wash and hopefully spin all of these by the end of the year. Its quite possible that I may acquire some more but I do need to clear the back log. Some of the small bags are simply oddments that may not actually worth spinning so I will sort these as I go.

I have been prepping and spinning this week and the wash bag now contains over 1 kilo of spun yarn ready for a nice sunny day.

I have two bags of yarn for my personal use, a few bags of clean fleece ready to process and a bag of knitted items waiting to be washed and blocked.

Latest knitting has been fingerless mitts ( again)

In other news, I have found the missing cross stitch project and put in a few more stitches and I am also working on the big red thing again as it is stitched on 28 count so easier on the eyes when stitching in the evenings,

As I had to make some repairs to someones work trousers 😀😂 I took the opportunity to quickly turn the crows gather cross stitch into a small 'pillow' to go with the others. I'm slowly filling a basket with them.

That's about it for now, I'm going to try and get some spinning in later today and wash the grey ryeland fleece tomorrow if it looks like the weather will stay dry.

Speak soon xx

'

'B-utiful' stitch along band sampler

 I've been playing catch up with this stitch as I only found out about it about two weeks ago !

So far I have completed the January band and will start on the February one this week. The aim is to be on track by the beginning of April. Its rather pretty and different to what I usually stitch so it will be interesting to see what's in store for March ( February is butterflies ) I'm hoping that the mix of blackwork and cross stitch will hold my interest.

Back in the real world, we have had three winter storms in the last five days with possibly one more at the end of this week. Fortunately the only damage so far is six fence panels, four of which are our neighbours responsibility and two from the bottom of the garden where its looking like the whole fence needs to be replaced as the fence posts are rotting from the bottom.

I have been knitting ( photos next blog), and I've also managed to get my hair cut for the first time since covid started so its no longer long and straggly :-)

We have also started booking campsites for this year, nine sorted so far ( we don't stay long on each one ) with three or four more and a festival to book this week

Thats about it for now ( short and sweet) speak soon xx

Still having a fluffy time

 When I spin, the resulting skeins are generally around 110gm as I prefer to be on the generous side for yardage .As a result I often have combed fibres left over, just 20 or 30 gram, which go into a bag until I get the drumcarder out.

I then blend these together to make batts, the mix of breeds varies each time but this ensures that I get the most from my fleece.

These are spun up as a fairly rustic yarn.

The resulting skeins will have to wait for a dry day when I can wash and then dye them ready for knitting.

Anyway back to my knitting, will update again in a few days xx

It's still Winter ,,,,

 Hi,

I know that it hasn't been the coldest or snowiest of winters here in the Midlands but I'm feeling ready for some proper sun, the chance to leave the washing out and all the windows open.

I have managed to wash some fleece, letting it dry a little on the line then huddle up near the radiator to finish off  and as a consequence I have two more skeins spun and four bobbins waiting to be plied into another couple of skeins.

 there is 60gm on each bobbin, they are large bobbins 😀

All of this means I've been knitting headbands between working on other things and, after car load of boxes was delivered last Friday to the charity shop, my workroom is beginning to look a lot more organised.

The cross stitch started during our stay in Bridlington has been finished and is waiting to be turned into another small pillow and the Quaker ABC has been getting some attention and is coming along nicely. Since the beginning of the new year I have been watching people stitch on an assortment of SALs ( stitch a longs ) where you have a section released to you each month.

I've not been able to make up my mind whether to take part in one of these, at least not until a few days ago when I found one that really caught my eye. Its a free download from one point mind as long as you sign up by February 22.

I'll keep you posted on this as I will be playing catch up as the first two parts have been released. It's a band sampler and so far seems to be a mixture of blackwork and cross stitch.

That really is about all for now, speak soon xx