Silk and spin and dye

Today was the most beautiful one I have seen in quite a while. The weathr was frosty and the wind icy, but I had a date with my spinning guild.

We were taught to dye silk today. It was great fun, and took us all back to our childhoods. The pictures are my attempts, but I think the attempts of others were much moe beautiful. I've now got to spin this up and will put pictures on when I have a completed article to show

Wool week - part two

Today saw me travelling to the wharf at Burscough in Lancashire for a fibre festival organised by The Wool Boat. It was a brilliant day, where the friendship was welcoming, the amount of different yarn was amazing and the willingness to share skills showed exactly what a great thing the knitting community is.

On a personal note, the event was made even more enjoyable by seeing some people I haven't seen for years - one acquaintance from the NCT days 20 years ago, one I used to work with around 10 years ago, and best of all, my friend Liz, who I went to school with - and to avoid her blushes, I won't say how many years ago! It was great to see you all!

Wool week - part one

Today, as part of wool week I attended a church hall in Lancaster. There were stalls and activities all involving wool. On offer were spinning, weaving, felting, knitting, crochet and lots of wooly goodness to buy.

Amongst my usual fibre offerings were some of my latest creations:

Hand spun cardigan

Hand knitted and felted scarf

Hand spun, dyed and knitted hat

 

 

It was a fantastic crafty day, and I'd like to thank the organisers - especially as they kept me well supplied with hot cups of tea - thank you ladies!

Book Review - Knitting in Circles

I am having a book buying spree right now and have bougt several books of late. They're all knitting related, of course! The second one is the book about knitting in circles by Nicky Epstein. This book is a great reference volume and has several projects I am keen to tackle - mostly I want to try the bag - it looks challenging, but also quirky. I think using this knowledge will challenge me but develop me at the same time - this is another book I would highly recommend....

Pure Wool by Sue Blacker

So I bought this book... Pure Wool by Sue Blacker. I expected it to be a reference book, with information about different wool types. It was much more than that. I can't praise this book enough - not only does it give information about the differing UK wool types, but it also includes wonderful pictures and patterns too - this book is an absolute delight - and I would highly recommend it to others.

The tale of two wheels

I own 2 spinning wheels currently. Both are double treadle - ie they have two pedals. The picture on the right id my first baby - the one I learned my craft on. The second is a fairly new purchase, but one I will use for teaching and for spinning on.

The ashford kiwi
 

 

The Ashford Traveller