Cross stitch, spinning update for December

 At the beginning of December I said that I was done with knitting because I needed to spin some more yarn. I am am slowly making inroads into the fleece stash and the wash bag is filling up ready for a sunny, breezy day when I can get all the skeins on the line.

some of these will go in the dye pot but again I will be waiting on the weather.

I may have lied about the knitting 😁 I have occasionally had my needles to hand, especially when visiting the local cafe.

One thing I am up to date on is the Cliffside stitches tiles SAL, we are on week 14 and I have just finished stitching week 14. 

You may remember that I was thinking about condemning the Blackwork SAL to the bin after the first square, I'm still not sure but have done a little work on it.

Three projects that I would like to finish in 2023 are the big red thing, mainly because I can't start another really big project until this one is done.

The black sampler that I started for Black Sampler November 2021

And this small Quaker sampler which is languishing because I'm not too keen on the colours, I'm even wandering if it would be better as a monochrome ?

There is lace on my pillows but as yet nothing on any of my looms so this is about it at the moment.

There are a few very old projects lurking and I'll will probably leave them exactly where they are !!

As usual I have a lot of fleece to deal with over the next couple of months and the spinning and knitting are very much my main focus at the moment however I will keep you update.

In case you missed it in my last post, the charity shop haul was amazing  and I may use some

 of it to make up small kits for friends.

So, have a great New Year and we will speak soon xx

last trip of the year

 

Christmas is always a good excuse to grab two or three nights away and this year was no different. Van packed we headed back to the Norfolk coast and pitched up at Cromer on the Norfolk coast. The drive down was wet and dreary but it did get better.

Last year we had Christmas and boxing day here, this year its Christmas eve and Christmas day giving us an opportunity to check out some shops. In the meantime we hunkered down with a couple of episodes of Dr who.

Christmas eve was sunshine all day although rather cool nowhere as cold as the last week or so, we even sat with the van door and window open in the afternoon ( not bad for December)

Ian grabbed my camera and charged off to get a photo of the local Banksy whilst I enjoyed a coffee and the chance to knit a few rows in the latest hat.

The biggest disappointment was a small spinning wheel shaped ornament in an antique shop, sign on the door said gone to lunch ( it was 11.30 ) shop open times 10-2. We returned a 1,15 to try to buy it and the shop had already closed for the holidays :-(

However I did score in one of the charity shops with a bag of 60 DMC skeins, 18 Anchor skeins and a reasonable size piece of aida all for £3

Christmas day was cloudy but the sun tried to break through and we had another stroll round the town still discovering new things.

The story of Henry Blogg

A plaque to Priscilla Buxton whose father founded the anti-slavery society although, as a woman, she was not allowed to join. There is a monument to her father in Weymouth.

One of the famous Cromer goats that live on the cliff face above the beach huts.

When we came around to packing up the cab, we found that Puffin had obviously had a good time and that our newest addition ( the highland coo) was a little legless !!

We are now back at home, Ian's is back at work and the van is absolutely filthy on the outside with spray from the road so it seems that our new year will be spent up a ladder in the cold washing it down..

Till my next post (December crafty round up) take care and speak soon xx

I've had it with knitting !!

 Just joking, I'm taking a break simply because I'm running out of yarn so the next couple of weeks will be focused on spinning.

My knitting tally for the last two months is seven hats, five pair of mitts and four head bands, I still have plenty of oddments for headbands and mitts but I'm running really short of skeins for hats.

        (Sorry, terrible photo, if I close the blind, it doesn't make much difference this time of year)

I also want to put some time into the big red thing and try and get it finished as I'm aching to start a new project.

I've had this on my wish list for ever but its really big, however I'm really (much to my surprise) enjoying stitching on 18 ct aida at the moment and when I spotted that it was half price recently, I grabbed a piece big enough. I just need to decide on the thread colour as it is charted in this magazine using a burnt umbre but traditionally it would be stitched in black. I suspect that this will be a 10-year project haha.

If you are unfamiliar with this magazine, it is no longer published but you can buy a cd containing all the published issues. It's a mixture of patterns and needlework history and the cd contains 80 issues.

I've made a start on the spinning, one skein of mixed breeds i.e. all the odds and ends from my spinning where I've prepped the fibre but there is a lot less than 100gm left to spin.

So, for now, I'll pop the kettle on, get some housework done, finish last weeks cross stitch square then get the fleece done.

Have a great week xx