A quick woolly interruption

 Wednesday 1 June was shearing day at our local inner city farm and when I saw their advertisement on Facebook I contacted them to check that they had some Guild spinners attending. As it turned out, they did not have any spinners that were free so I offered my services as I had met the shearer last year.

I just grabbed a few photos ( and a fleece) and spent the next four hours explaining to very small children and a good few adults what I was doing with the (washed fleece) on the spinning wheel.

As they only have eight sheep the shearing was spread out during the morning with time for explanations about how and why the sheep are sheared.

This is Frances? the Jacob  meeting the clippers and below is the fleece that will be my challenge next week.

Fingers crossed for dry sunny weather next week so I can get this out on the line.

Behind the scenes

 Short and sweet post, whilst at the museum we were lucky to be offered a tour behind the scenes, chance to see the unrestored rides some of which we have never seen before and a sneak peek inside the showmans wagons. 

I love this little stove, we did offer to trade our camper for a wagon but for some reason they weren't interested Haha !

Carousel poles stored on the outside of the lorry whilst the horses travelled inside.

Overboats

More swing boats however these will never be operational as self propelled and will not meet H&S standards today !

More random restoration projects.

All of a sudden our allotted time was up and it was time to pitch up on a pub camp site for a couple of nights before heading further down south, fairly uneventful apart from Ian finding a reservoir, a swamp and a puncture in his bike whilst cycling over the disused airfield near the pub.

Speak soon xx

Fairground fun

 Hi,

Today is Sunday and since my other half has decided to take his motorcycle and travel up to Yorkshire on his Round Britain Rally (visit points of interest in each county on a given list ) which he  partakes in every year, I have relocated to Cafe Nero with my laptop.

So, on with the holiday story, recap, photos etc.

In the last post I left you with us camped up at Exeter racecourse in Devon, the next morning we crossed the border to revisit one of our favourite museums, Dingall fairground heritage centre, We had intended visiting last year but the centre remained closed due to Covid.

We were able to pre book a 3 hour visit for the Saturday morning and as usual arrived early which gave us chance to admire the big new carpark. We had been a little concerned about parking as the visitor park used to be more suitable for cars and I had been ready to sweet talk the staff into finding us a spot.

The Museum is in the progress of moving from the original building into a new one with further improvements planned for later in the year and renovated rides are in operation.

For many people, the real stars of any fair are the gallopers, these beauties had star place in the centre of the hall although we found another herd awaiting restoration behind some of the hoarding.

In this museum, one of our favourite rides is the Chariot Racer Ark,,,, I wonder why ?

Confession, neither of us enjoy going on the rides these days but we just love the art, light and mechanics on these monsters.

Moon rocket from the 1930's still promises a thrill.

and we decided to recreate a photo opportunity from 2011

2022, not the most flattering but fun.

Oops, I almost forgot the Dodgems!

 

 I think that I am going to split this post in two as it's getting quite long and the photos are taking a while to upload, Part two on the way shortly, I hope you don't mind.

I'm back !!

Hi,

I'm sorry, I really didn't realise that it had been so long since to I posted on here. My original idea of weekly posts went astray due to a bit of travel and other things.

So, quick update, at the beginning of the month I was busy knitting following a request for hats and mitts. Then I was busy packing and shopping for an upcoming trip to Cornwall 😀

Two weeks into May we packed the van and headed south for a week or so, a much needed break for both of us. I think I will do separate posts for the locations as there are many photos to share but we started at Exeter Racecourse and finished at Tewkesbury.

This was the third time that we have stopped overnight at a race course campsite and we will use this one again as it was  a good distance from home for an overnight break and close to the first location that we wanted to visit.

Over the next 9 nights we managed to avoid the lovely hot weather that everyone enjoyed !! still we had a wonderful time and can't wait to get out and about again.

Next up, we revisit a favourite museum and have a guided tour behind the scenes.

Speak soon, xx

April stash update

 Hi,

Time for a quick fibre update. I have been continuing to try and wash all my raw fleece and I am now down to just four bags ( one of which arrived yesterday )

I still have a lot to prep and spin but at least it is now in the house where I can see it.

April spinning looks like this, the two white skeins are due to hit the dye pot tomorrow and the light grey skein will probably be on the needles later this week.

April Knitting- not so much due to the amount of spinning !

There has been some sporadic stitching but not a lot of progress so will update this next month.

I have given in and purchased a couple of fleeces this month, one of which is ready to process, The other one arrived yesterday packed in a cotton bag inside the plastic one.

This is a 2'5 kilo, well skirted Jacob and when I tried to unroll it, it fell apart !

The plan is to wash this tomorrow, card into batts and pop in the van on our next trip together with the e-spinner, I have temporarily banned myself from using the treadle wheel due to it increasing the pain in my knee (last assessment said ligament damage )

My raw fleece stash list now looks a lot like this ( some fleece was found to be simply not suitable for spinning ) hopefully it will soon list only new purchases

Raw fleece (whole) 1 of each.

white highlander

hebridian

shetland

Ryeland

unknown white {galway)

April purchase texel cross

April purchase jacob

Raw fleece small amounts ( at least 500gm)

black cheviot

unknown white x 4 3 2 1

brown/grey ryeland

light grey ryeland

mystery fleece ( possibly very sun bleached black cheviot )

white cheviot

Balwen

I o s jacob

Plans for May are pretty much the same as ever, spin down the washed stash, knit and stitch, Maybe a bit of lacemaking along the way and I'd love to find time to get an inkle loom out for a bit but that may be me being optimistic.

Speak soon x

Days out

Hi,

I was at a loose end on Saturday so packed up my wheel and headed off into town, first stop was at the independent traders market for a coffee (accompanied by an Easter chocolate)

I sat spinning for an hour or so enjoying the sunshine before heading up to an Art Exhibition at the Nottingham Society of Artists.

Leaving the gallery, I realised that I could hear music coming from the castle so headed up to the cafe to have coffee and cake in the sun.

On Sunday we visited Papplewick Pumping station, our regular haunt on an Easter Sunday as that is when our membership is due.

Previous posts about the pumping station are here

As usual I took more photos but this time I decided to film a few seconds of the inside. WARNING you may want to turn down the volume for this one.

quick update

 Hi,

Just a quick update on fluffy things. I currently have more bags of fleece drying on the line ready to continue with the stash spin down as most of the yarn in the previous post has reached its new home which in turn means that I can buy some more dyes.

I forgot to take photos of the dyed yarn but will try and remember to do so with the next lot.

I have a very new, close neighbour who seems to be spending a lot of time peering into my kitchen window whilst moving in.

Yarn bombing seems to be in evidence round our local post office, I'm not sure who the culprits are but it made me smile.

In other fluffy goings on I seem to have volunteered myself to spin in a shop window, something that I haven't done for a few years. So Tuesday morning ,12 April , I will be sat in the window of Tiger Community Hub, Listergate, Nottingham with my trusty wheel.

I called in during the week as they only opened on Monday and had tea and cake ( red velvet cheesecake nom nom ) and spent some time knitting and chatting to the volunteers.

The community hub has been opened to create a welcoming, safe space for the community , with wellbeing activities and training for young people.

I will let you know how it goes.

Speak soon x