Cotswold

Whoops, it's been a wee while hasn't it? Time seems to be slipping by faster than I realised :( So what have we been up to since we last spoke? Well, things have been rather quiet at work (here we go again...) so I started crocheting some squares:



It's amazing how much you can get done while you're waiting for a scanner to chew through 40 double-sided pages. This is all lovely squeaky acrylic ☺ apart from the green which is a blend. It was taking up good stash space, what can I say?

We went to Bristol, but it was so busy we didn't stop to look round other than a visit to Brislington, to nowhere other than Get Knitted ☺ Really nice shop, though it's in a totally random place. I behaved myself mightily well and came out with two Rowan magazines, a free (!) Debbie Bliss mag, ordered some blocking wires and got a ball of Zauberball Lace:



I went for a restrained colourway, though I did consider the lurid rainbow one. The blocking wires came in the post this week, they're very nice and come packed in a handy strong cardboard tube with T-pins and a yardstick. Shame the wires don't interlock together somehow to make long runs but it's not really necessary, I'd recommend them anyway.

We saw the Clifton Bridge, drove past the SS Great Britain (smaller than I thought) and ended up in the Cotswolds, because we like random on our days out ☺ I think Steve may have been plotting though, because we ended up at the Motor Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water:



James Hunt's car



Hillman Imp - my Mum had one of these!



Fab advertising signs



A fantastic very early caravan, from the 20's I think - check those leaded windows!



I think I need some of this stuff. I'm definitely suffering brain-fag.

Fleeces

I've been faffing with the fleeces I bought. I started carding the Shropshire, but triggered my tennis elbow so I've laid off on that for the moment. I had a look at the Cotswold, and realised just how deeply dirty it is, even the batches that went through the washer. I've started going over them again, focussing on the tips. This is a problem with locky longwool fleeces - the grot gets ground in to the long locks and getting it out is a bloody nightmare. I've resorted to soak in washing soda / soap flakes mix (the water here is horribly hard) then washing-up liquid, then clean water rinse, finishing up with a vinegar soak. Some parts are still mucky :( I think the worst bits will have to be dyed. It seems to have a yellow stain in certain areas, from what I can gather this isn't unusual for Cotswold. It might be yolk, I'm not sure, but it certainly isn't coming out!

And that's about it, I'm up to my eyes in paperwork, tax stuff :( and general Things That Need Doing, I still haven't got any chests of drawers (too skinted), the dust bunnies have started roaming the floors like herds of wildebeest across the veldt and the ironing basket went critical yesterday. Fairly normal then ☺

♥

Woolfest 2011

I went, I shopped, I drank a lot of coffee, missed my man and did a lot of driving - 650 miles (ouch)

Worth it? Naturally ☺ So what did I get? Well, some hand-dyed tops from Freyalyn and FSUK, silk brick from Oliver Twist, carding stuffs from Wingham, some yarn from Texere, an Andean plyer from the Mulberry Dyer, a spindle from IST, some tops from P&M Woolcraft (I think) a Kucha Kucha scarf kit and some books. Result.

When I can get some decent daylight I'll take some proper pictures.

Some musings on Woolfest
They really need a bigger venue. I was queuing on the A66 to get in, at 10.30 on Friday...and it was packed inside all morning, you couldn't get near some of the stands.
They also need more places to get a drink and something to eat. The café is very good but simply can't cope with weight of numbers. Their veggie lasagne was darn tasty mind, but they were two hours late with the sausage supper :(

There seemed to be a bit more weaving this year, but no pin looms (Hazel Rose type, shame cause I wanted one), and there seemed to be less hand-dyed yarn and crazy carding / art yarn stuff. I think this is more of a change of emphasis on the part of the organisers rather than a shift in customer taste. The focus seemed to be more on sustainability, pure British wool and natural dyes. Which is all good, but a bigger venue would allow for both camps...

ANYWAY. I wanted to tell you about the book I got - The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.

If you have any interest in wool, sheep, other fibre animals, spinning, weaving, felting or breed history, you need this book ☺ You don't need to be a spinner to find it interesting and informative, though it might turn you into a devoted "from-raw-fleece" spinner! Although it is American (what gave it away??) it covers the British breeds in great detail and explains the differences (where they exist) between American and British varieties of the same breeds. Handily, for most breeds, it shows a lock, one or more spun samples, a knitted swatch and a "weavie" square. For some breeds it shows a colour range too, and has a general description of each type of fibre, e.g. longwools.

For particular favourite breeds they go into more detail. They even touch on the interesting, and not very well-known, fact about commercial "Shetland" yarns - the term only means the wool has all been SOURCED on the Isles, NOT that it is all from Shetland breed sheep. So in theory it can be a mixture of breeds. Not a lot of people know that, and funnily enough, the wool brokers don't make a major point of it ☺

There's some interesting thoughts in the book on Down type breeds, so I thought I'd share my limited experience ☺ I have a Shropshire fleece I'm working with at the moment, and I've also had Oxford Down and Texel, which is not strictly a Down breed but is damn close. I think they're underrated as spinners' fleeces. They have good elasticity and crimp, they wash up easily as they don't seem inclined to felt and they spin up nicely into a bouncy, passably hard-wearing yarn. The downside is finding a decent one - Down sheep are mainly meat breeds, so the shearing is often decidedly utilitarian - second cuts and disorganised shearing are the norm it would appear. They're also often filthy and marked with shepherd's paint. They don't hold onto the yuk as badly as a locky longwool, but they do seem to act like Velcro for bits of the landscape. However once you get it clean, they're easy to process with cards or a drum carder, but you might want to use Viking or mini-combs on one if it has a lot of second cuts. I've even English combed some Texel and it made a lovely, floofy, crimpy top with lots of bounce and airiness. Massive amount of waste though as you'd expect.

So in short, don't ignore the Down breeds! Just don't buy all the good ones before I get there ☺

And now I'll finish off with some more pictures from Woolfest:


Breakfast


Wensleydales


Teeny Ouessant sheep


Pitiful-looking alpacas


Some of the Clyde Coast Guild on tour


Innes trying out her new Mayan spinner


Spinning in the Travelodge bar

~♥~

Fleeeeeeeeeece again

The Oxford Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers were having their annual Fleece Fair at the weekend, so I loaded up the beloved as co-driver (poor man, he was very patient) and headed off into the wilds of Oxfordshire.

Score! Really nice selection of fleeces, mainly rare breeds and nearly all local-ish. I eventually settled on two fleeces, both from prizewinning flocks, a Cotswold and a Shropshire (which was actually from Shropshire, which is rather nice I thought.)

See?





The Shropshire (second pic) is a ram fleece (his name is Bradman apparently, probably a cricket fan) and is enormous, and the Cotswold isn't exactly compact either!

I'm washing the Shroppie as we speak, the washing machine is doing the dirty work on that one for me :-) but I've already sampled both a little bit:





I tried machine washing the Cotswold but it wasn't really satisfactory - it's general very clean apart from the tips, so I need to tease out the locks either before or during washing. It also tangled it a bit, so I think that's one for the washing-up bowls (sigh)

I made a dishcloth (hold on to your hat)



(worst phone photo ever)

and a crocheted wrap from a Lion Brand pattern:



These were entirely inspired by the stash toss - I have a ridiculous amount of random balls of cotton (and I hate working with most cottons) and a need for some dishcloths! I re-discovered the thrifted mohair / cotton blend that I recycled from a half-finished sweater that was stuffed in with a bag of yarn from a car boot sale. I overdyed it ages ago in blues and purples. I think it can go in the Xmas Gifting collection ☺ I'm getting a start on it now!

I finished the Iced cardigan, apart from buttons:



They'll get sewn on this week ready for...

WOOLFEST

Woohoo! Looking forward to it - I'm not looking forward to a weekend without the Mr, but I didn't really think it was fair to drag him all the way to Cumbria to look at yarn ☺

~♥~

Stash Toss 2011

In pictures...







~♥~

didn't we have a lovely day...

the day we went to London?



Yup, the Ravelry LSG UK Hoars Meet Up.

Look! Tweasels in their natural environment (the pub):







Now, I am the first to admit that I dislike London. I love some of the things IN London - the yarn shops, the V&A, the British Museum, the Doc Martens shop (is that still there?) but London generally you can keep. It's too busy, too dirty, too noisy and there isn't enough greenery. No, Hyde Park doesn't count. Really, no, it doesn't. It's a field.

However, it has some compensations.



Need I say any more on this matter? I thought not.

Also:



The coned yarns are from the Handweaver's Studio, where I met up with a few other weaving-minded souls in the morning. It's a great shop, see:



Well worth the short trip up to Finsbury Park.

I actually had a really good time, it's the first time I've been into the Smoke since I moved, and it was weird coming into Paddington on the Great Western, I'm so used to landing at Euston. I kind of felt like I hadn't arrived properly, if that makes sense. What absolutely gobsmacked me, and this is one for the railway buffs, is that the Paddington trains from Reading had slam doors. SERIOUSLY? I thought Southerners were all advanced and posh?! SLAM DOORS??!? Haven't seen them in years. Even the Clyde Coast line trains have sliding push-button doors.

ANYWAY. I digress, as usual.

There are other good things to tell you about. My date has rekindled (hurray) so I'm all happy about that. I'm not telling you any more :-)

I have a new chair! A spinning chair! You may envy me now:



Isn't it awesome? I love it. This means I can sit properly and spin, rather than sinking into the sofa and wrecking my back.

I was given an incredibly generous present. I'm still rather overcome to be honest.



That's a Don Porritt tapestry loom. Oh my. I don't actually know how to make it work yet, but I'm going to find out! As far as I can tell, everything is there ready to go, just the reed needs a clean as it's gone a bit rusty. A soak in some Coca-Cola and a going over with some wire wool should sort that out. I just need to put aside some time to devote to sorting and learning.

I think that's it, I've just been to the dentist for a super-deep clean and I feel like I've been smacked in the mouth with a cricket bat. Hopefully though this will make my gums better - I'm not convinced personally, they've always been a bit dubious, but hey, I'll give it a try and see what happens. I get a week off then go back for the other side to be done. Can't wait...at least the anaesthetic has worn off enough so I can drink without dribbling, and the bleeding seems to have abated somewhat. Ouch. Soup for dinner again :-(

~♥~

Well that was the year that was

Well 2010 is nearly done. Can't say I'm going to miss it too much, especially the first half. The second half was okay. I'm hoping the improvement will carry on into the shiny new year :-)

So, a quick roundup of 2010, lets see how far I've come (ha) and what happened through one of the more stressful years of my life :-/

In January I was on the dole, having been made redundant for the second time in my life. That was weird, and hard when you're the only person paying the bills and putting food on the table. It lasted until April. I also had the chimney fire, and had no heating until May. In the coldest winter for god-knows-how-many years. I got really good at chopping logs.

In February I split up with the other half. That was hard. Really hard. It took a long time to recover from that, and a lot of soul-searching and general suckage.

March I had to give notice on my little cottage. That was just a mighty kick in the teeth - no work = no money = no house. Fortunately my ass was saved a few weeks later. I did however forecast Seb Vettel as a future F1 World Champion :-)

In April I got a new job, at the shipyard in Govan. It was good, the money was hugely welcome and I got to climb up an aircraft carrier. I also visited my first major fibre festival, Wonderwool. Around now things started to slowly look up.

The next few months were pretty quiet. I focused on earning some money, chilling out about a lot of stuff, a lot of crafting, a little decluttering and watching motorsport and cricket. In August I went to the PicKnit in Glasgow with Casey and Jess, which was so cool.

In 2010 I also took part in the Ravelympics, scoring seven medals, and did the Tour de Fleece which was pretty neat too.

In October I got word of the new job, and in November got made an offer AND moved house. I moved over 400 miles, from rural Ayrshire to the Royal County of Berkshire, and started a job which I hope will last a good long time. I still don't really know my way around very well, but I'm planning, as spring approaches, to get out and about a bit more and get a feel for the lie of the land. It seems really pretty here, there's a great big forest to explore, lots of archaeology to go and see, a canal, some promising towns to visit and London is only a short train journey away too. My house is warm and cosy, if a bit on the small side. I'm struggling to find a place for everything, so I've been decluttering and generally getting used to a smaller space. My poor living room is stuffed with furniture :-) I may have to despatch my old horrible armchairs to the tip and either move in the smaller ones I ganked from my Mum (which I was going to put in the "garden room" - an icebox in winter and, I imagine, a sauna in summer) or get a couple from IKEA. The carder and combs don't have a home yet, and might have to be kept in their boxes except when I'm using them, which is a shame but you know, it could be a lot worse :-)

So all in all, I'm looking forward to a new year. I've pretty much had the new start already, moving down here, so now it's just a case of building on that.

Enough of this frivolity, I have some fibre content for you.



I've been doing some thread crochet. I finally found some colourful crochet cotton while I was in Stoke. Dunno what it will all be yet, but I'm quite enjoying it. 1.25mm hook, hoars. Fear the doily. I should add, the last piece (in white) isn't my work, I acquired it in a bag of crochet cottons from a car boot sale. Pretty ain't it?

While I was up in Stoke, I took lots of knitting (naturally):



Sweater in Scottish Tweed chunky, no pattern. I ripped back about four inches when I realised the waist shaping I'd done was total arse, but I'm now back on track. I think.

I knitted a sock!



This is from Wendy's book, Socks from the Toe Up, and it's the basic slipped stitch heel version. The yarn is what I dyed at the workshop Ange and I did with Lilith. Merino cashmere baby. Second one is on the needles and well up the foot already. Not washed yet, and my first attempt at working on two circs which I LOVE.

I bought a little bit of yarn:



Regia Hand-dyed Effect in a lovely peacock colour which I can't get to photograph properly.

I also swatched for an Epic Project:



This will become Jules' Sweater. Fifty-three inch chest, not including ease. I'm not saying any more, I'm just going to go and sob quietly in a corner for a while.

I've been spinning:



Mohair / BFL, also dyed by me at Lilith's. I'm spinning it into a soft single, then I'm going to knit myself a wrap in it. Hopefully. If there's enough. Hmmm.

Finally, in a nod to my former life as a potter (sigh) I treated myself to this:



Moorland Pottery, it's one of their Stokie range. It actually says on it:
"Ay up ow at oraight"
which won't make any sense at all unless you're from Stoke-on-Trent. I love it and want most of them. They need to start making tea and coffee jars to match. It's just a shame it's not bone china, which I actually prefer for mugs. I intend to take this to work and confuse the life out of my Southern colleagues.

Well that's it for 2010. It's quarter to eight at night, I've had no dinner yet (oops) so I'd best go fix myself something and settle in for a quiet evening on eBay looking for curtains. As it's new year I might treat myself to a wee dram of Laphroaig as well.

Happy New Year xxx

~♥~

THE KNITTER HAS LANDED

Well, a wee while ago actually (just entering the third week), but thanks to BT being their usual efficient selves (cough) and them screwing up my lovely broadband providers, it's taken a couple of weeks to actually get online. But I am BACK and SO FUCKING RELIEVED to have a proper internet connection again.

Eight Megabytes.

Oh yeah baby. Now I know those of you on fibre are getting 20Mb and are just laughing your asses off, in the last place I was getting 768Kbps so it's like going from a Suzuki Liana to a Red Bull Renault. Sweet.

I had 378 emails and about the same number of unread blog posts in Google Reader (gulp). Yeah. Epic. I've barely scratched the surface of the blogs.

Anyway I know you're all just SLAVERING to know how the move went. Well, no-one died, the only injuries were to me (one set of squashed fingers and one gashed finger, oh and my fingernails are just hideous)and my bank accounts now have a quite spectacular dent in them.

It didn't all fit, by the way. Yeah. Let's just say that through a miracle of packing engineering, an unexpected trip back to Scotland, dumping stuff on Ange and simply dumping some other stuff, it all got done, sort of. I knew a 7.5 tonne van would have been better :-) I DEFINITELY couldn't have done it without the awesome assistance of Ange and Jules, neither of whom I fell out with in the process. Amazingly they didn't fall out with me either. I love you guys.

So I am here in freezing Berkshire! It's really rather nice. I've not had much chance to explore yet as I'm still unpacking (I only found my slippers last week) and the first couple of weeks it's been so cold and icy that I haven't really fancied going far (also skint, see bank account mention above...)I've found Sainsbury's (vital), the petrol station and the local hardware shop, the railway station and my office (handy). I can't get over having a shop 5 minutes walk away where I can buy milk! Cigarettes! A loaf! I don't need to get the car out!

In fact, the only thing missing as far as I can see is a yarn shop. The nearest "proper" one is John Lewis which really doesn't count. Typical. A lovely shop opens in Gourock and not all that long after I have to move. Huh. However, after having packed all the stash, and now unpacked it all into boxes, I realised something.



I have a lot of yarn.

I may not need to buy much for a while.

Yeah, right.

Interesting Times

Well, I'm moving.

Assuming my credit checks go through and nothing goes pear-shaped that is, *cross fingers* I'll be off down to Berkshire in a couple of weeks.

AAARGH.

I've started packing (slowly), I'm sorting out paperwork and forms and writing emails and shelling out the £££ and trying to work out what to do with utilities and bleargh. Head = Mince. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, but all I can see at the moment is OMG EXPENSE and OMG HOW THE FUCK AM I GOING TO FIT ALL THIS CRAP IN A VAN???

The wonderful Jules is sorting out transport - I've told him we're gonna need a BIG van. I'm leaving that one in his capable paws - if it won't all fit, guess who's going to have to do two runs? :-D (love ya chick!!!)

So it's all a bit epic here atm. I can't seem to get motivated to pack much, mainly because I'm full of cold and a headful of snot is not conducive to box-packing. However, I have made a small start and tomorrow will be a trip to the big B&Q on the way home for a sack truck and more storage boxes for the stash. I'm also going to run a cardboard box mission to Sainsbury's. I've even ordered some of those vac-pack bags off eBay for the bedlinen and clothes and what-have-yous.

It's going to be fun.

Anyway, last week was exhaustingly good. Went down to the parentals, ate cake, went to Fibre Flurry (very good), went house-hunting in Berks (successful on the 1st attempt, see disclaimer above *grin*), went to two Jane Thornley workshops in Glossop (great fun and AMAZING food and lovely yarn and Jane is adorable), went out with Jules in his new old Mini (it's so cute!), got given a very large toy sheep (thanks R, only you could think of that), got a new Golding (!!!) drop spindle off a Raveler and finally got my hot, sticky little mitts on the Alice Starmore books I've been jonesing after since January. Phew. Here's some pictures, and with that I'm away to pack another box before settling in with some knitting and the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Scurf and Sandals

Lots to catch up on! Here we go...

Tour de Fleece round-up

Well, the Tour is over for another year. I didn't particularly set myself a target, as I knew I would be working long shifts and I didn't want to set myself impossible challenges. It's too easy for me to start beating myself up over it when I don't make it! However, I am quite pleased with my efforts. I wanted to experiment and dig into the stash a little bit. I tried some raw fleece for the first time, I spun silk hankies (also a first for me) and successfully plied on a spindle. I used beads in plying for the first time and I also made a small dent in the stash :-) So all in all, a good Tour and my spinning has improved somewhat!

Scouring
Also as (sort-of) part of the Tour, I tried out the fermented suint method of scouring fleece. In a nutshell, you take a greasy fleece, soak it in soft water for a week and you end up with a viciously stinky natural soap solution. It works! So far, anyway...
I made my bath up with leftover BFL. After a week it had a distinct white scum on the top and smelled like an open sewer with a dead sheep in it. I fished out the fleece and gave it a thorough rinse. This was effectively scrap fleece when I started, but after this it looked like it might be salvageable. However, the main aim was to get the bath of FSM (makes me think of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) to experiment with.

I decided to test if I could get rid of scurf using the FSM. I threw in some Balwen, and left it for about 36 hours. I fished that out, rinsed it, then checked it for scurf. It was still there, but very clean - white scurf instead of brown :-) So I then rinsed the fleece with very hot water, to see if any of the scurf was actually lanolin. No dice. Finally I made up a very strong bath of washing soda. On dropping the fleece in, the water went almost black. I left it for about 5 minutes, turning it over halfway through and swooshing it about a bit. I then rinsed it with lots of clean water and finally with vinegar. Once it was dry I had a good look at it. Where the fleece was open and fairly well picked / teased, the scurf had gone. It was just lurking inside a few clumpy, compressed parts of the fleece. So...FSM and washing soda combined can shift scurf! Yay! If you want to try it, go careful with the soda - don't kill the wool or your hands! Rubber gloves STRONGLY recommended, and don't let the fleece sit too long in soda, it will weaken it.

Knitting and weaving progress
I have finished the Travelling Woman shawl! I need to block it, but I want to clean the dining room floor first. I also made a good chunk of progress on my Hap shawl, and I'm about ready to start sewing together the SAORI blanket.

Trip down south & Woolly Wormhead

I was down visiting the parental units over the weekend, and the car went to visit its family at the Mazda dealer for its annual checkup :-) I managed to find time to:
* make a large dent in Marks and Spencer's underwear department (a girl can only take so many saggy bras)
*score brownie points with my Dad by finding him soda farls and buying an entire shelf's worth (their local supermarket doesn't have them)
*finally find and purchase some cute sandals...
*...which meant I had to paint my toenails, for the first time in about 5 years...I had to buy polish!



*get my hair cut (by Mum, bless her) and get her to teach me a new, cute way of putting my hair up



*spend the day with mah best buddy Jules
*and meet Woolly Wormhead! Whee!

See?



That's Woolly and Jeanette, who owns the yarn shop.

We met up at Yarn Gathering in Stone, which is a smashing wee shop (yes I bought yarn. Bite me.) There were drinks and cakes and lots of hats to try on, and Woolly was answering questions and helping us work out yarn subs and the best way to wear a hat. It was really good fun, and I now have a few more patterns in my queue..."Dulcie" was amazing in that it suited everybody who tried it on. It's like a magic hat of flatteringness. Look! Even I don't look like a total dork in one:



Well, a bit of a dork maybe.

Saturday was spent trolling about the Staffordshire Moorlands with Jules, playing with the sat nav, listening to the Pet Shop Boys (that's just dated me...and I STILL know all the words to "It's a Sin") and visiting the Threshing Barn, where shopping occurred...naturally :-) I finally got a peg loom, and a small pin loom, similar to a Weave-It. I also got some lovely rainbow-dyed mohair, some Ryeland for adding to crazy batts, some dyes and a book. I also got some small samples of unusual fibres to try out. Jules gets special mention for following me around carrying all my purchases and not complaining :-) We also spotted the cutest little piglets you ever did see. I don't know what breed they were, I meant to ask but was overcome by wool fumes, but they were black with the cutest liddle pink wrinkly noses. I wants one. Jules took pictures, I of course left my camera at home. Duh.

Then finally on Monday I drove home, to a pile of mail and a laundry basket at bursting point. I did bring back another purchase though, I'd ordered online and had the parcel delivered to Mum and Dad's. Meet the new love of my life:



Henry, how I love thee. After borrowing one from the landlord, I had to have one of my very own. Revelation. If you're in the market for a new vacuum, may I suggest you get yourself a Henry.

You know you're getting old when you're excited about a new household appliance...

~*~