scrap bag challenge

 Over the years I've been reluctant  to throw out oddments of hand spun even when the balls are really small.. Mitts and headbands have been knitted from them but I still have a large amount of mixed weight oddments that are too small to use up in knitting.

My choices so far have been to weave on a pin loom but I'm not in love with the end result as I'm not sure what to do with the squares.

Wind into a large ball and knit but that only works really if its all 4 ply or dk not a range from lace to bulky.

After playing around with the latch hook kit the other day I wondered whether that was the answer. 

A quick scroll through ebay through up some cushion covers with the canvas already in place. it would be portable and easy to pick up anywhere.

So, here we go.

Back to the crafts

 Hi,

I've been taking a bit of a break from my usual crafting, I had started to get pains in my hands when knitting so stopped, put down the pins and picked up a sewing needle, I later found a similar problem when spinning so I have been on a self imposed break from that as well.

Things seem to be fine now so I have stared sorting through my stash of washed fleece from last year and processing it ready to spin on our next long road trip. Several bags of oddments have been lurking for some time, some simply were the odd and sods left after spinning most of the fleece and not worth bothering with, These will get recycled as stuffing etc, Others have had enough decent fleece to make it worth combing or carding ready to spin.

suffolk x bfl

I have also picked up my lace making again and even found a latch hook kit in a charity shop so I am also playing with that from time to time.

My sampler has grown slightly, I've added my initial using cross stitch patterns from my great Grandmothers sampler together with a chain stitch sample.

I've also picked up the Fox and Rabbit 2023 SAL that I started last year but gave up on after a couple of months.

Some more Shetland fleece is on order from Ullapool, due to arrive next week so that will probably be my spring time spinning project.

Thats about it for now, we have a quick night away planned then maybe a break in the van,Watch this space. x

Cornwall , slightly spinning related.

 Hi

We had been back from Bridlington for a week before we packed our bags and headed down to Cornwall. This time we rented a small cabin on a campsite for five nights then moved in with friends for a couple of extra nights so that we could attend the local pub quiz ( our team won)

Not many photos of Cornwall, weather wet, windy but not too cold. We visited the Tate Gallery at St Ives,

walked down to Marazion

and generally sat and watched the sea.

Eventually we were driven inside Helston Museum of cornish life to shelter and there I encountered some more fibre'y' things.

Starting with spindle whorls

Then a very interesting spinning wheel, I would have loved to get to grips with this one. !!

I would also like to sort out this sorry mess and the labelling.

We are finding that many small museums house community quilts and this was no exception.

we are now back home, washing machine on almost constantly, planning the next couple of trips and prepping fibre (more about that next time)

Propagansey , Yes, it is spelt correctly

 Hi,

Last week we popped up the coast to Whitby whilst staying in nearby Bridlington. Beautiful old fishing town that we have visited many times in the past.

and up in the town, at the back of a health food shop is Propagansey, sorry for the weird photo but the lighting was in the way.

Please check out the link to the shop for more information about ganseys from the east coast, There is also a facebook page which is well worth having a look at.

I was made very welcome by the owner and spent some time talking about knitting, ganseys and other people who also knit and design ganseys around the country and I would encourage anyone who knits to pop in and have a look round. There are handknitted items for sale, patterns yarn and old photos of the sailors wearing their ganseys.

For a more in depth look at the knitting and exhibitions covered by the shop, this is a link to their Facebook Photo page, just scroll down to see some amazing items ( and follow if you like what you see )

Out and about it Whitby there are several statues of people doing what people do, knitting, gutting fish, taking a break etc. They are part of an art trail however we just caught up with a few down by the harbour.

That sort of rounds up our time in Yorkshire, we allowed ourselves a few days to recover and wash some clothes before hitting the road again.

Speak soon x