brr, definitely Autumn

 Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks or so, I managed to catch a bad cold which kept me in bed and seems to have sapped my energy a bit along with some of my crafting mojo.

I did make it to the Bakewell Wool gathering with my friends, my only purchase being more bobbins for my e-spinner so I can have more than one project on the go. We travelled by bus, taking advantage of the cheap bus fare currently available across the country.

On the way to the festival from the centre of Bakewell, we had to cross a 'lock bridge' covered in thousands of padlocks inscribed with names of loved ones, pets etc.

Once inside I was intoxicated by the wool fumes and forgot to take phots , haha. I was really too busy looking at what was for sale and chatting to people who I rarely see these days.

Nancys Graceful fibres had some lovely reconditioned wheels for sale.

and Diane from Murmuring wheel was captivating people with her spinning on a great wheel.

Other than that, I've attempted some bobbin lace only to find that my brain is not functioning enough to work it out and playing around with a couple of pin looms.

again, brain fog caused a few problems but I may have another go ( I borrowed the looms)

I rounded off the last couple of weeks with a visit to our local museum with my wheel for a couple of hours or so chatting to the visitors.

I'll leave you with Nottingham on a quiet Sunday morning last week.

Makes a change from the usual guitar busking.

Speak soon xx

Spinning update and a day out in my home town.

 Hi,

I mentioned a few posts ago that Nottingham Castle has reopened and you can now purchase a ticket that is valid for the year. Another part of the castle complex is Brewhouse yard, a museum that is slowly being renovated and is now open to the public on weekends, school holidays and bank holidays.

You can see the roofs of the building from the castle as you look across Nottingham.

Inside has now been stripped back to represent a textile workers cottage with information about spinning, knitting and lace. The back of the cottage has been opened up so that you can enter the caves which would have been used as storage. There are caves under a lot of the city centre, people once lived and worked in them and many of the older buildings have caves systems under them. The building I used to work in had tunnels and rooms used for storage .

Not surprisingly, I had a conversation with the volunteers about the idea of live fibre events or hands on workshops so watch this space.

On the spinning front, some of the TDF yarn finally made it to the dye pot and I washed the bits and pieces of knitting from July and realised just how busy I had been. I've kept back some of the undyed yarn for future dyeing and knitting and started on the prep for the next big spinning session.

Thats about it for now, life is back to some sort of normal but I'm still hobbling more than usual haha.

Speak soon xx