Whatcha knitting?

The question was asked at work when I placed two balls of yarn on the table as I emptied my bag to find my keys. Two balls of acrylic DK yarn that I had just bought from Knit Nottingham whilst dropping off some postal receipts with them, one cream and one black. Now, anyone who knows me will be aware that this is not my usual knitting material as I generally knit with my own hand spun.

So the answer to 'watcha knitting' was 'I'm not going to knit anything with it' Why do people always assume that balls of yarn=knitting, why not crochet or as in my case, weaving?

I have the urge to weave a long band with Celtic knot work on it so the next step is to sort out some new heddles for my inkle loom ( lost the last lot or maybe threw them out by accident)

The next day I turned up at my usual coffee shop before going to work with the loom ( yes, I take weaving to knit club sometimes-rebel that I am) and started to make heddles with pink cotton.

I don't like PINK!!!! says the coffee shop manager, 'it's not for you!!' I reply and enter into a conversation about weaving carpets and learn the Italian word for heddle which I promptly forgot.sorry Franco x

The heddle making continues into lunch break much to the bemusement if the young people that I work with, they have just about got their heads around seeing a spinning wheel in the staff room most Tuesdays but this is something more confusing!

I started to warp up the loom and continued this at knit club ending up with 67 threads which made the design look more like a bar code that anything else :-)

I found a pattern on the Internet although I would like to design my own at some point soon just so I can put my own 'stamp' on it.

This is the progress so far .

Having a panic

Its Wikkidknitters first craft fair tomorrow and we are both running round like mad trying to make sure that everything is ready for the big day. Every time either one of us thinks its sorted, a text comes through saying have you got ......

One of Wikkidknitters shawls will be raffled on the stall to raise funds for one of the featured charities and last night I was running round Morrisons knowing that I had seen raffle tickets for sale there somewhere but they were on the top shelf and I kept missing them. Then I had to chose which colour!!!

So I'm taking a few mins to think about calm thought before entering the fray again and to help everyone concerned, here are some pictures taken after the rain last weekend in my Mums beautiful garden.

 

Have a great weekend and I will let you know how everything went :-)

Spinning wheel

getting crafty!!!

Sometimes you just fancy doing something different and when Wikkidknitter suggested doing a craft fair or two to showcase his dyed fibres and yarns I was up for the challenge. So on Sunday 15 July we will be at the Purple Bean Craft Fair in Nottingham with fibres, spinning and weaving. There will also be some jewellery and textile bits and pieces. We are treating this more as a demo to show people how wool is spun into yarn and then woven into a fabric although we are taking an inkle loom simply because it is more portable.

I has been really difficult deciding what to try and sell and in the end we simply went with the things we like and would wear ourselves,

I'll let you know how we get on!!!

Little Shop of Horrors

It was a normal Saturday, nothing unusual was expected, just a date to meet Wikkidknitter for coffee and visit my Mum in the afternoon, just a normal Saturday like any other until....

The clock in the shopping centre struck one and someone started singing....

and there was the dancing, and the singing....

I stood there with a silly grin on my face, love anything like this , when  a flyer given to me explaining what was going on and a request not to film which is fair enough. I explained that I would blog the event if they wanted as I am always happy to support things happening in Nottingham and this was met with a broad smile :-) So here are the pictures if young people having fun and here is the reason.

One if my favourite musicals along with the Rocky Horror Show!!! So if you live in the Nottingham area you will find more details here about the Lakeside Arts Centre and New Street Theatre Company have a Facebook page here

Tour de fleece

Hi, as some of you may know , the tour de fleece is a event held by Ravelry for spinners and it is very much a personal challenge to spin every day whilst the Tour de France is taking place. I have taken part in the past but was loath to sign up again this year due to family commitments but at the last minute I decided that it would be good to try and spin everyday even if its just a few yards.

So This is my first post at the end of week one, not a huge amount to show though :-)

 This is Bond fleece, imported from Australia as a special treat as I would not normally pay this amount for raw fleece BUT it is amazing and soft and really does not need any prep before spinning, I just separate the fibres and remove any second cuts ( short bits where the shearer has cut the fleece twice) with a dog comb. So far there has been very little wastage.

Bond locks, tips slightly sun bleached.

1st bobbin on the wheel, lovely to spin, aiming for a soft woollen yarn this time

 Hand dyed merino/silk, I have already spun one bobbin so I am looking to spin and ply this asap

OK not strictly spinning but it is, sort of, I have had a bobbin of Falkland singles sitting around for ages and really need the bobbin for some other spinning so over the last two nights I've been Navajo plying it onto one of my large spindles, hoping to knit hand warmers from it for next winter !!

So thats my update for the first week, will be in touch real soon, Sue x

oops...saw the torch

Hi, as many of you know I work in the centre of Nottingham so events like the Olympic torch relay are often more of an inconvenience that anything else. I wasn't really that bothered about seeing the torch but was staying on into the evening to watch my hubby play with the Nottingham Ukulele orchestra. So after he met me at work we tried walking up to St Mary’s Church in the lace market only to be turned away due to the Torch Relay. I hadn't even looked at the route that it was taking, I knew it was going to the Old Market Square and that was already closed and packed with people waving flags and blowing weird little horns.

 

We backtracked and eventually found ourselves in the graveyard of St Mary’s and joined a select few to watch the Torch as it went through the lace market. I say select few as majority of the people with us were also carrying the small black cases the ukuleles come in. We cheered; we cheered the random pushbike, the photographer walking up the road, the kids picking up the mementos from the procession buses. The bells tolled, the bells stopped, the crowd were now cheering anything that moved. Eventually a person in a white tracksuit suddenly appeared by the side of the road holding a torch, non-fiery torch so we guessed that he was part of the relay.

Then there were MOTORBIKES!!! well that was me happy for a few mins :-)

Then the torch bearer appeared and we got to see them hand the flame over.

Other torch bearers passed by in a coach with big grins on their faces.

Having cheered the bit of fire and waved it on its way, we entered the Church for the concert, a beautiful building and the guys sounded really good.

we ended the night in the pub.....all in all not a bad evening.

Have a great weekend, Suexx

Introducing......Wikkidknitter

My young friend Pete is about to step into the world of craft fairs with his fibre dyeing and spinning . Also he is looking into weaving small items for sale like friendship bands, keyrings etc incorporating handspun yarns.

Pete (aka wikkidknitter) dyeing.

Pete will be documenting his journey into fibre and fluff on his blog Wikkidknitter

He will be attending local craft fairs and also selling through Etsy in due course and you will probably find me around helping out. Looks like my life is going to get a little busier!!

Here he is demonstrating with the spinnotts team with a Navajo Spindle.

 

quick spinning update

recent spinning from fleece.........polled Dorest gray, Jacob gray, polled Dorset brown, Jacob brown, Mystery Black.

Dorest Horn white, Jacob white.

 This is the jacob before washing and seperating the colours.

 

and this is the mystery black before washing

amd this Cotswold followed me home recently and I have some polworth on order...please can I also order a few extra days in the week!!! I've been enjoying prepping and spinning fleece and I have also found that I am less likely to by fibres dyed by other people except for one or two very special peeps who can work with colour so much better than I can.

Have a great weekend folks :-)

on the needles today....

Hi, just a quick update as to what is on my knitting sticks at the moment. I bought this fibre at wonderwool 2011 from FeltstudioUK simply because I love Daniela's fibres and her colour choices are always different to the ones that I dye myself.

on the wheel during tour de fleece last year

as a skein

  

now slowly becoming a shawlette for next winter  :-)

Inkle loom workshop with Anne Dixon

Oops nearly forgot to post this but a recent thread on the Ravelry reminded me that I still had the photos to sort out. The last meeting at our local guild of weavers, spinners and dyers was a beginners inkle loom workshop run by Anne Dixon. As usual Pete aka Wikkidknitter and myself were really excited about this as he has not tried weaving on an inkle loom and I was just after hints and tips as I had thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Sami Band patterns........so excited that we missed the Bus and arrived an hour late!!

By the time we crept into the hall, everyone was sat around the tables, each with a loom and looking desperate to start.

After a talk on inkle loom weaving through history (most of which we missed) everyone made a start, having a go at one or two simple techniques.

Anne bought a selection of work an inkle looms with her, I was quite taken with this loom :-)

more importantly, she bought these, the samples for her forthcoming book   The Weavers Inkle Pattern Directory which is due out shortly ( hopefully next month) In fact if you follow the link you will be able to pick out a few of these bands as being the ones on the cover.

After the workshop,Pete and myself retired to a local bar so that we could both have a play on our looms, yes he succumbed and bought himself one....another addiction for this young fibre addict!!

UkeFest Cont'd

So , you thought it all finished on the Saturday night?Wrong!! Sunday morning saw the massed ranks of ukulele players gathering in the centre of Cheltenham. A definite show stopper!

 see the three rather brightly coloured peeps? they are part of the Nottingham Ukulele Orchestra contingent, spot the union flag uke and and my other half in his deadhead T shirt :-)

 loved the fact that the major wore his chain of office over a zip up fleece and bought his own ukulele!

A lamppost makes a good music stand for these youngsters!!

The celebrations continued on into the afternoon with burgers, beer, stalls and an open mic session at the designated pub in spite of the torrential rain....yes we were all outside hiding in gazebos.

The one thing that I did notice was that most of the acts were mingling with the crowd and we spoke to Manitoba Hal as he stood in the line for the burgers and mentioned that we hadn't seem him at the big busk earlier. No, he said he'd been helping out getting everything set up for the afternoon, no big egos on these guys, just down to earth and friendly.

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend xx

One for the bikers.

Ok, I know its a while since there have been any bikes around on this blog, simply the way this year has been so far . A combination of health issues and commitments have meant that neither of us have been far on two wheels. In fact, I haven't been anywhere since last September when the bike broke down in France.
So just in case you are having withdrawal symptoms and without me having to dig up some old photos, here is the latest bike to be seen in our street.

I hasten to add that it wasn't our car having the problems but couldn't resist grabbing the shot!