knit-tigger

Colour Blending Workshop

2010-10-18T17:41:00.010+01:00

On Saturday the theme of the Bradford Guild meeting was colour blending . Alison Daykin came to give us a talk and lead a workshop on the topic.

We'd been asked to bring a selection of fibre in the three primary colours plus black and white; an inspirational picture; our hand carders and a spinning wheel.

Being me I forgot my inspirational picture but luckily Alison had some to spare so I borrowed one of hers; a picture of the Australian outback.

The idea was to pick four or five colours from the picture and work out what proportions of the primaries we'd need to blend to get the fibre to match the colours as closely as possible.

From the picture I chose the reddish brown of the earth; the sage green of the brush; the dark green of the leaf shadows and the yellowish white stripe across the landscape.

Having chosen the colours we laid the correct proportions of the primaries onto the carders and blended the fibre 'till we had the correct shade. If the shade wasn't quite right we adjusted the quantities. These are my second lot of rolags; the first lot weren't quite right.

Once we were happy with the rolags we spun them up and roughly plied them. I was pretty pleased with the final results and when we put them all together on the table at the end it was surprising what a range of colours people had succeeded in achieving with a very limited initial palette.

Art Yarn

2009-12-27T17:33:00.003Z

This is my first attempt at an art yarn. Spun it on my sister's Traditional with a jumbo flyer fitted following Jacey Boggs' instructions in her article in the Winter 2009 Spin Off.

New baby

2009-11-29T19:01:00.004Z

This is my new baby; it's a Louet hatbox wheel which I bought from someone on Ravelry. The transaction wasn't without incident as I live in Yorkshire and the seller lives in Swansea; getting the wheel from one to the other took a little longer than anticipated.

Originally I decided to ask the SUMA driver who does the South Wales run to collect it for me. I found out where seller lived (not far from one of the SUMA customers) and she agreed to drop the wheel to him if he rang to let her know when he'd be at the drop. Unfortunately this didn't work out as he didn't ring her!

Grrrrrrr!

Still, she had a friend who was coming up to Sheffield the following week and he drove up to Elland where I work and dropped it off for me. Thank you very much to Mark, you're a sweetie Mark!

I tried the wheel out when I got her home on Thursday and I spun this (Shetland?? BFL??) out of a grab bag I bought from World of Wool. I decided as the ratio on the wheel is quite low (she's a direct drive) 4:1 to spin it as low twist thin 'n thin singles. I'm pleased with the result as I didn't really know what I was doing but having subsequently looked at some instructions on t'internet I found that I was doing it right. Once I'd spun it I washed it in alternate baths of hot and cold water then hung it up with an empty shampoo bottle as a (very light) weight.

Spinning this month

2009-10-30T14:26:00.002Z

Spinning this month, Shetland spun whilst demonstrating on the Guild stand at the Countryside Live show last weekend.

And some merino from the grab bag I scored at World of Wool.

Botany Lap Waste

2009-10-06T17:12:00.003+01:00

From World of Wool. Yummy!

I'm so lucky that I live near enough to just drop in after work (I was on a six / two shift today).

Not sure what some of it is but it's lovely!

Finished Bag

2009-09-06T12:11:00.004+01:00

Well, except for lining it. That could wait for some time knowing me! Anyhow I've pictured it against the fabric I'm intending to use for the lining so you can use your imagination!

Close up of the detail. All the information about it is on my project page in Ravelry.

I'm already planning the next project. There was an open weekend at Texere this weekend, so being contrary I went to Coldspring Mill. I was hoping to get some Noro Sock or Silk Garden as I've seen some pretty nice finished projects using them. But they didn't have any Noro except that odd stringy stuff.

I did walk out with this though.

And this. Both are a cotton / hemp blend I'm thinking of a Ruana in a houndstooth weave. I believe that hemp softens up and drapes quite nicely when it's washed.

New Project

2009-08-28T11:25:00.004+01:00

I've decided to weave another Tibetan Bag as I liked the last one I made. I wanted it to be a bit brighter than the last one so I've done a bit of stash diving and came up with this. For the warp I'm using some scarlet chenille, crimson boucle, a last little bit of green cashmerino and a tiny sliver of some lurex that a friend gave me.

The weft is the boucle and the chenille with a smidge of some fun fur as a trim. I quite like it but have to say I didn't fully think through the implications of using boucle as a warp. Now that I've got going it's not so bad but to start with I was having trouble beating the weft in. I used an afro comb as a beater for the first few inches though and now I'm okay and back to using the heddle.

Can't wait to finish it and get it sewn up, but I'm going down to Ro's this weekend and I don't think she's got room for me to take it with me. (I can see a twelve inch knitters loom in my future!)

In love with BFL

2009-08-20T18:14:00.004+01:00

This is what the Blue Face Leicester fleece looked like when I bought it (together with free yellow flanelette pillow case).

You can see in my previous post what it looked like when I'd dyed some of it.

But this is what it looks like now I've run it through the drum carder twice. Isn't it beautiful?

To be honest I wasn't entirely convinced it was going to come out very well, it was very tightly curled and seemed a bit dense after I'd washed it. I did wonder if I'd felted it.

Once I'd picked through it though it went through the drum carder beautifully; much better than any other fleece I'd processed myself. Of course this could have something to do with a guild meeting I attended where Freyalyn showed us the correct way to use a drum carder (I'd been doing it wrong!)

I'm really looking forward to spinning this fibre, I bought some hand dyed BFL tops from Wheeldale Woolcrafts earlier in the year and loved it. I think this may be as nice as that. I can't decide whether to card it into a multicoloured batt and spin it as it comes or if I should spin the colours separately.

Suggestions?

Guild Meeting

2009-08-15T16:55:00.006+01:00

Today I've been to the Victoria Hall in Queensbury for the Bradford Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers August away day meeting.

Freyalyn; one of our members was giving a taster session on dying which was great fun and not a little messy. I've done a spot of dying before using Kool Aid but that's pretty much as far as I'd gone so it was great fun to be able to do some more outside my own kitchen.

I took along a skein of undyed sock wool that I'd bought some years ago and some Blue Faced Leicester that I'd bought as a raw fleece and scoured at home. I quite liked how the sock wool came out but I love how the BFL came out.

It's scrummy! I'm so inspired that I'm going to do some more of this at home. A couple of weeks ago i got a very cheap knitting machine on ebay so I'm planning on knitting up some blanks and dying them.

More pictures of our dying day on Flickr.

Spinning

2009-06-19T13:32:00.004+01:00

This is some BFL that I bought from Wheeldale Woolcraft. I got a50g of the dark blue and 50g of the variegated light blue. I spun them then plied them together (had a bit of the dark blue left so I Andean plyed that using my home made cardboard Andean plying tool).

I've never spun BFL before and bought these tops so I could try it out. I have to report that all the stuff I've read about it is true. It was fantastic to spin; very easy to draft. I'm not absolutely sure what I'm going to make with it. I've ended up with over 400yards of the variegated and just under 100 yards of the dark blue at about twenty WPI. I'm considering using it for weaving rather than knitting, but I'm not wedded to anything in particular as yet.

Just in time for Wimbledon

2009-06-17T19:23:00.007+01:00

I've been stuck on the reception desk at work for the past two days rather than out driving because I have had a recurrence of the tennis elbow that I had last year. Unfortunately this time it doesn't seem to show any inclination to go away. So two weeks ago I told the transport manager that I wouldn't be able to drive my run (can't do the unloading). Then when they couldn't find a cover driver I said I'd drive but I'd need someone with me to to the unloading. We managed this for two weeks but then they got a cover driver so I'm stuck back at work still trying to avoid lifting things.

I hadn't done reception before yesterday but once I'd got the hang of the switchboard it was okay. I had a bit of paperwork that I could get on with and I had trusty Ravelry to dip into when I got particularly fed up. One certainly gets to see what's going on in the place; who's talking to who, and who takes the most cigarette breaks. I miss being out on the road though (my run was particularly easy this week, only eleven drops and nice weather. Typical!). I'm probably going to be doing some price comparison work tomorrow and next week I'm starting a project monitoring and improving supplier compliance on goods into the warehouse. One of the good things about working at SUMA; once they cotton on to the fact that there's a problem with your normal work (which has taken a bit longer than it could have) there's plenty of opportunity to do something different.

I'm a little bit concerned that although the original damage may have come from lifting heavy stuff, knitting and spinning may not be helping matters. still, I'm not getting actual pain whilst I'm doing either so I could be wrong.

On Saturday I went to the Piece Hall in Halifax to meet up with other Yorkshire knitters from Ravelry for World Wide Knitting in Public Day. WWKIPD coincided with the Halifax Gala and a food festival which was also taking place in the Piece Hall, so it was quite busy. The weather was fantastic (got a bit sunburned) and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. I know I did. We decided that it would be fun to do something similar again so we may be having a picknit later in the summer. I have to admit that I didn't get a great deal of knitting done; I'd taken the socks that I'm knitting (Glynis from Cookie A's "Sock Innovation"). I'd finished one of the pair and had just started the second. Unfortunately this is the stage at which I think I know what I'm doing so I kept going wrong. In the end I gave up knitting and just nattered instead.

Handspun mittens and Prairie Boots

2009-02-13T20:00:00.005Z

Last weekend I made these mittens. The pattern is Fern by Anniken Allis from the March issue of Yarn Forward.

The yarn I used was some that I'd spun myself on my drop spindle. It was some Jacob cross that I'd carded together with a little red and a little violet commercially dyed merino.

I'm really pleased with the way that they turned out and they're toasty warm.

The other knitting I've been on recently (well actually I finished them a few weeks ago) are these Prairie Boots. They were knitted from some Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed that I've had in my stash for some time (I love stashbusting). They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Despite using smaller needles that specified in the pattern in order to get the tension right they still seem a bit loose (and I made the smallest size). On the other hand they do the job that they're intended to do very well indeed. I made them because I was getting cold ankles from the howling gale that was blowing across my living room floor and they are brilliant at keeping my legs and feet from frostbite.

The buttons are some that I made myself from left over yarn. Unfortunately I can't remember where I got the idea from.

Short and sweet (?)

2009-02-01T11:20:00.005Z

I'm not going to post a whole lot of stuff this week because it hasn't been one of my best weeks. I had a bit of a rubbish time on my run this week which involved;

leaving my sack trolley behind at my first customer so it wasn't available for the delivery where I can't park near the shop and have to take the order (three quarters of a ton) by hand off the truck and along the road into the shop;
having an argument with a driver who just as I was about to leave said drop reversed right up to the front of the truck so I hadn't got room to pull round her car and when I tried to draw her attention to it just walked off and ignored me!!!! (I was quite rude to her);
and to top it all when I stopped at the services on the way home because I was literally falling asleep at the wheel my truck got clamped because I'd inadvertently parked in a caravan bay rather than a truck bay (recently reallocated space, I hadn't noticed). It cost £250 to get un-clamped and I was raging as I'd been in the building less than ten minutes (toilet and a take out coffee) and it just seems so sneaky, they must watch out for it and pounce as soon as your back's turned.

Needless to say I was pleased to get home this week but there's talk of a "snow incident" later this week so that should be fun too. :(

I've been doing a little bit of fibrey stuff this weekend. I'm working on my longdraw technique using some Torwen that was given to me by a fellow Raveler and some stuff that came free with my Orkney when I bought it. This, together with a chunk of Herdwick which I won in the raffle at a guild meeting last year is going to be woven into a small rug. I need to get a new heddle for the loom, 5dpi or 7.5, not sure yet. Ro gave me some warping thread a while ago so that's what I'll be up to next.

I'm also spinning up some silk hanky that I bought from Wingham, but I'm doing that on my drop spindle. It's a really pretty colour, very deep plum, black and brown. Here it is together with some silk that I spun from a hanky before on the spindle and another (cerise coloured) hanky. Bit wild eh? I thought they might knit or weave up into a nice little bag or something?

My first (woven) scarf

2009-01-23T11:33:00.003Z

And I'm soooo proud of it. I took it in to work and showed it to everyone (even the ones who weren't interested!). Mostly people were very polite and said nice things. One said he thought I'd cut up and dyed an old sack but that's about what I expected from him and I think he was quite impressed really!!!!

The edges are a wee bit wonky and the fringe went sort of floofy when I tossed it into the washing machine to full it but I'm quite pleased with it. It has a very nice drape to it.

Now I have to decide what my next project will be. I quite fancy a bag using old plastic bags, but I also quite fancy tea towels or something a bit different. We shall see.

Following my post about Turtle Bags last week I was pleased to see when I stopped at the service station on the M6 this week that the M&S food shop there was selling them. I'd sort of got the impression that it was a bit of a cottage industry but if they're in M&S they're obviously bigger than I thought. Way to Go.

New toys and turtles

2009-01-16T22:40:00.007Z

Last weekend I finally crumbled and went to Wingham Woolwork on my way home from Ro's. I deserved a treat as we'd gone to Northampton to watch Tigers play the Saints and not only had we sat for more than two hours in the freezing cold, but the Tigers had played pretty poorly and been beaten by the Saintanists (boo hiss).

So in view of the fact that I was in serious need of cheering up I went and splashed some cash and came home with a loom!!! I am now the proud owner of a Kromski 24" rigid heddle loom plus stand. I spent Sunday evening putting the loom together but couldn't finish the stand as there were a couple of bits of hardware missing. I wasn't too pissed off as I knew that I wouldn't be able to start anything before getting back from driving on Wednesday and I was pretty sure that Wingham would get the missing parts to me by then. I wasn't disappointed in them, the envelope was waiting for me on the mat when I got home.

Strangely enough having completed the construction of the stand I was a bit nervous about actually using the damned thing. I was in a paralysis of indecision about exactly what I was going to start with. I had some nice German sock wool that I'd bought some time ago from Astrid's Dutch Obsession and was going to use this for a scarf, but I'd also got some pink sock wool that I'd bought when on holiday in Norfolk which matched some of the colour in the german wool and I wasn't sure if I should use some of that too or just go for the simple option. In the end I decided to be brave and do a few narrow stripes of pink in among the warp.

I've been weaving most of this afternoon and evening and I'm not getting on too badly though my selvages leave a bit to be desired. I've got a few floats too but I'm fairly pleased with my first effort. Don't think I'll be wearing it tomorrow though.

I meet some interesting people with some interesting stories whilst I'm out doing my deliveries and this week I was talking to one of my customers about her business Turtle Bags which grew out of her involvement with the Marine Stewardship Council. Because leatherback turtles mistake discarded plastic bags for their favourite food (jellyfish) Turtlebags, by selling alternatives to plastic bags hope to reduce the number of plastic bags finding their way into turtles.

I particularly like the one made by a Bangladeshi womens' co-operative from recycled cement bags, very funky! Ooooh, wonder how it would perform as a knitting bag?

Well who'd have thought it?

2009-01-07T15:40:00.005Z

When I spin on the wheel I spin S \ wise and ply Z / wise. I discovered at the weekend that when I spin on my drop spindle I spin Z / wise.

Go on, ask me how I discovered this. Was it perchance when I was plying (on the wheel) the two bobbins containing miles and miles of very fine Shetland/silk that I had painstakingly spindle spun? Why yes, I believe it was.

I decided it would be easier to ply on the wheel than on the spindle. I'd already wound my first single (green slubby) on to a bobbin by hand as I only have the one spindle. I wound the second one (gold shiny) using the bobbin winder I'd bought at a guild meeting (bargain it was too) and I just began plying. I wasn't too happy with the way it was looking but it wasn't until I was about two thirds of the way through that I realised what the problem was; I was plying it in the same direction as I'd spun it!!!!!!!!!!

After a bit of a panic I decided to carry on as I was and then run it back through the flyer spinning twice as much in the opposite direction. Luckily it seems to have worked, though I think it could have taken a bit more twist. I have 452 yards there. It's a bit brighter in real life (picture's washed out) and it's beautifully soft. Just have to find a project for it now.

Finished yarn is 60gms of about sixteen WPI (ish). Spun from some of the palest Shetland grey katmogget I bought at Woolfest. One single was carded together with some lime green tussah silk and some white silk noil. The second single was carded together with some gold mulberry tops (no tussah silk the right colour at Wingham when I went). There are about eight twists per inch (again this is very "ish" as it's not very regular due to plying cock up).

ETA: Hmm I wonder if that's what happened to the last lot? I just thought it had sprung into a disgusting mess because I forgot to tie it properly before taking it off the niddy noddy but I reckon it wouldn't have gone as ubertwisty from just that as it did. (no pics of that one; too embarrassing)!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-30T11:09:00.004Z

I'm just dropping in to make sure the blog stays active. I've just read on Ravelry about someone whose blog disappeared without warning. (Gulp)

I don't suppose that anyone is still reading this as I've been so very bad at updating it but I'll start by wishing everyone who is a very

Happy New Year.

Hope you all had a good Christmas (if you do Christmas) and jolly holiday of other variety if you do that!

I seem to spend all my spare time on Ravelry nowadays which is why I've not blogged in a while, it's even more of a time suck than this is, and having a laptop doesn't help as it's there all the time unlike my old pooter which I had to go upstairs to use.

Since talking to you last I have started going to meetings of the Bradford Weavers Spinners and Dyers Guild and have met many lovely new people (in real life!!). I'm planning on joining this year. The Online Guild was great and some of their workshops were fabulous but I wasn't taking proper advantage of it.

My latest knitting is a pair of Pararie Boots to keep my poor cold tootsies warm. Because they're quite long they should stop the drafts that whistle across my living room floor from biting my ankles. The first one is a bit loose around the foot so I'm doing the next one on smaller needles. I may have to scoot over to the Texere open day and get me another 5.5mm circular.

Love to all

Bin spinning

2008-08-10T12:24:00.004+01:00

When I went to Woolfest I took some wool/silk mix which I'd bought at Wingham ages ago to play with at the spin in. Since then I've been sporadically going back to it and spinning a bit more. This weekend I made a concerted effort and finally finished it off and plied it up.

I have to say that I'm really pleased with it, it's very soft and lovely and quite fine with occasional slubby bits. I'm thinking of a lacy scarf or something similar. There's 100g of it but I haven't measured the mileage yet. (Have now, it's 605 yards)

My second weekend project was finishing off some rainbow merino (also from Wingham) which I'd spun up and plied with some of the Manx Loghtan I'd had left on a bobbin. I spun the remains of the merino and plied it up with the remainder of the (already spun) Manx. It was almost a perfect match. Only a few yards of the merino left over which I used to practice my Navajo plying which is a bit crap.

There's not a lot of this (53 yards) but I really like the colour which is a greeny tan colour overall but has areas of other colours too. I've loads of the manx still but none of the merino left, may have to get some more and do enough for a project.

The Navajo plying was a lot better than previous efforts thanks to advice from some helpful Ravelers to the effect that I may do better if I slackened off the tension. Tried it and it worked. Hurrah for Ravelry.

Nice pic of both my finished efforts drying off.

On Friday I bought a book at the Oxfam second hand bookshop by Nicholas Crane (Coast, Mapman on the BBC) called "Clear Waters Rising: a mountain walk across Europe" ; an account of his seventeen month journey on foot from Finisterre to Istanbul. I have to say it's a fascinating read but the man is completely bonkers.

just stuff

2008-07-25T14:31:00.002+01:00

Went to Ro's last weekend and we had a bit of a play with some scrummy Wensleydale that she'd bought at Woolfest. We wanted to wash it so that the structure of the locks was preserved so we set up a couple of bowls of hot water, one with washing liquid and one for rinsing and washed it lock by lock and laid it out on a towel.

When it was dry I showed her how to flick card it on one of her carders and we laid it out in a box so she can spin it worsted style.

This is it in it's finished state. Aint it lovely?

On the knitting front I've completed my latest pair of "left overs" socks. I decided that there was no way I was going to manage to match the stripes up on them as I'd pretty much just changed shades at random so I decided to go for a completely asymmetric look instead. I quite like them.

I'm really into knitting my socks toe up now. So much so that I've started knitting the tilting cable socks from Interweave knits but I've adapted the pattern to toe up. Seems to be working out okay so far and I got lots done last night as we had a co-op meeting which I knitted through. I'm enjoying the actual knitting but I dunno that I'm particularly thrilled with the finished object. I'll carry on though.

I was very chuffed this week as I had a delivery on my run which necessitated my driving past Get Knitted. As the run was pretty quiet I had time to pull over and go in. I bought a new cable needle (can't find mine anywhere) and some Regia silk solid sock wool in Tigers colours. I fancy me some silk socks to wear at the rugby this winter to keep my tootsies nice and warm.

Pastures new

2008-07-18T11:31:00.005+01:00

This is where I parked up on Tuesday night. It's a lay by on the main road between Worcester and Hereford. I haven't parked up overnight in a lay by before, but it was okay. Bit noisy with traffic going past but I had my earplugs so I slept pretty well.

I was there because I'd been given a couple of drops off another driver's run because she was busy but my run was quite quiet. So I went to Hereford and beyond on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately I neglected to get any pictures of Hereford itself which is a bit of a shame because it's quite nice and the Cathedral is very impressive. I did get a shot of the farm shop on the road to Brecon that I delivered to. It's HUGE!!! I was driving along, hoping that I wouldn't miss the turning when I came round a corner and saw it. Not much chance of missing it really?

On the fibre front I started having a proper look at the book I bought at Woolfest; Cat Bordhi's "New Pathway's for sock knitters". Here's a picture of one of the trial socks that I knitted from it last weekend. It's quite interesting constructing a sock in a completely different way from usual and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into a real pair that will actually fit me. The book itself is quite difficult to deal with though and requires a lot of flipping back and forth to get the information you require. I guess this is because it's an enabling book which explains individual stages rather than a series of set instructions which one follows strictly to the letter. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. There's a ravelry group devoted to the book and a number of the people on that have had the book spiral bound in order to make it easier to use. Worth thinking about perhaps?

Busy bunny

2008-07-05T11:56:00.003+01:00

I've had all this week off work so I've mostly been doing fibrey things.

I've separated the Shetland fleece I bought at Woolfest out into four piles of distinct shades and have been washing them in batches in the bath.

here's the lightest stuff drying on the airer

and here's some darker airing off in front of the gas fire. Some more intermediate shade is already finished and bagged up (uncarded) and the darkest from the legs and belly is still waiting to be washed.

I've also been playing with my new drop spindle. I did a bit of Manx on it and then after plying that using the handy plying technique from Knitty I started on some of the silk caps which I'd bought at Woolfest last year but not done anything with yet. It's very uneven so far and it's hell on the fingers trying to draft it but I'm going to ply it up into an interesting slubby art yarn and make some sort of a scarf out of it I think.

I was very sad to hear of the death of Charles Wheeler earlier this week. He was the most amazing broadcast journalist. Listen again has broadcast an interview that Jeremy Paxman did with him when he was eighty. It's well worth a listen.

Woolfest

2008-06-30T12:20:00.006+01:00

Firstly an apology; I forgot to take my camera with me to Woolfest so no pictures this year. Very very sorry.

Despite my inability to work out how many days there are in a week I managed to get myself organised in time (apart from the camera!). I was back from my run quite early as I only had two drops left to do on the Wednesday and a couple of pick ups. I was pleased to find that my parcel from Texere had arrived when I got home and that it had been put through the door as well so I didn't have to go back into town and pick it up from the sorting office either. I was able to carry on plying and emptied two bobbins to take with me for the spin in on the Friday night.

We had a pretty good journey up, though the weather was a bit horrible and we arrived at about four o'clock.

The actual show was great fun again, lots to see and do. I was a bit more restrained than I was last year as far as purchases were concerned. I bought a raw shetland fleece (a katmogget; white on the back and dark on the legs and belly.); a drop spindle so I can learn to spindle; Cat Bhordi's book "New Pathways for sock knitters"; twenty vintage buttons (five matching) and a Herdy the Herdwick mug. I also "helped" Ro to buy a black Wensleydale fleece as she was showing signs of not getting one!!!

We watched the parade of sheep which was interesting and educational as well as quite funny when the chap on the mike from the rare breeds survival trust offered to hold a Manx Loughtan whilst her owner said a bit about the breed. She decided that she wasn't keen on him and tried to leap out of his arms (for small sheep they can jump quite high!). The Alpacas also took exception to the Herdwick sniffing their bottoms, but in the main everyone was pretty well behaved.

We watched the sheep shearing but alas this year there was no audience participation (health and safety, not sure if this was in the interests of the volunteer or the sheep). And we went to the sheep auction which was such good fun. The auctioneer clearly thought that we were all completely bonkers, but he joined in with the spirit of the occasion in fine fashion and didn't turn a hair at someone bidding and breastfeeding at the same time (which I imagine was a first for him). Some of the sheep went for up to sixty pounds prompting the old boy who breeds Herdwicks who was sitting next to me to say that he thought he'd bring some dead ones down next time as they got better prices stuffed than they do live!!!

I didn't see as many people that I knew as I had in previous years but we met a friend from last year and met lots of new people. I also managed to say a quick hello to CarolL as I was shooting off on saturday evening. Oh AND as well as finding someone who will make bobbins to order from an existing one (Woodland Turnery) the chap on the Scottish Fibres stand told me that he adapts Ashford bobbins to fit Haldanes so I may be able to get some spare bobbins for the Orkney after all.

Got back home about four o'clock on Sunday absolutely shattered, but glad I went again. Roll on next year.

Managed a picture of my fleece after all, aint it a beut?

Rats, rats, rats!!!

2008-06-21T09:44:00.004+01:00

I'm a bit harassed this weekend as I've realised that It's WOOLFEST NEXT WEEKEND!!! (gulp). Being my usual organised self I was not worried. Oh no. I'd booked time off at the end of the week so had it all planned that I'd do my run as usual, have the whole of the next day to get myself sorted out for when Als and Ro arrived that evening and we'd gently toddle up to Cumbria the following day.

Unfortunately I was working on the eight day week.

I still don't know how this happened but when I spoke to Ro the other night she pointed out that she and Als are actually coming up on the Wednesday evening (of course) because we're driving up to Cumbria on the Thursday. Well I'm driving on the Tuesday / Wednesday and have no idea when I'm going to get back as it's wholly dependent on how busy the run is and what the traffic is like on the way back up. So I'll get back at some time; have a bath (absolute necessity after being on the road for two days), get a meal ready for my guests (have to sort that this weekend as I'll have no time to shop on Wednesday) and prepare myself for the weekend away when all I'm likely to want to do is go to sleep.

How do I manage to mess things up quite so effectively? Never mind, at least I realised before Wednesday so I can spend this weekend getting organised. I've managed to borrow an air bed inflater that plugs into the car cigarette lighter so I won't have to cripple myself blowing up the spare mattress with a foot pump like I did for the Commonwealth Games so that's a bonus.

I also decided that I needed to finish plying the singles that I had on the bobbins of my Orkney as I'll need it for the spin in on Friday night. Don't know if anyone remembers that I was having a certain amount of trouble with this what with trying to ply from two lazy kates at the same time. (see here for details). I decided that it would be much easier if I had one lazy kate with all four plys on it so last night I got a bit of two by four that I had lying around; cut it to size and drilled holes in it to accept the metal parts of the two kates I have.

Brilliant! It worked like a charm and I didn't even need to tension it. I set about plying my singles. Half a bobbin later I ran out of the glitter thread that I'd been plying with the singles! AAAARGGGGHHHHHH! Of course I'd bought the stuff from Texere and they aren't open at the weekend so I can't get any more straight away! I've ordered some online but I dunno if it will arrive in time and if it does that'll be another thing to sort out on Wednesday evening.

Sorry this is such a downer of a post, I'm actually quite cheerful really. Who wouldn't be with next weekend in prospect? The thought of all that lovely fibrey goodness waiting for us would cheer even the most miserable person up. And who cares if I don't manage to get everything done? As long as we get there that's all that matters.

PS Dee, hope you're feeling better soon.
Oooooh Oooooh PPS I forgot to say that my "Sprout" is going to be on display on the Online Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers stand at Woolfest. I'm sooo excited.

I am a bad blogger, I am a bad blogger, I am a.....

2008-06-07T14:40:00.006+01:00

Think you get the picture.

A lot has happened since the PINK!! Monkeys. In fact so much has happened I've probably forgotten half of it.

I've finished two more pairs of socks; firstly:

Elfine's socks from "My Fashionable Life" by Amela Raitte. I'm teaching myself to knit socks from the toe up and I'm particularly pleased to have finished these as many years ago when I first begam blogging I attempted to knit a pair of these but gave up at the short row heel. This time I had help from Ann Budds instructions published in Interweave Knits on how to knit socks from the toe up, which I found quite helpful.

I've finished my travelling sock (Basic top down Opal pattern in Trekking XXL)

And I've knitted a blanket from stash wool (what a good girl!) 7 skeins of Rowanspun Chunky Jenifer Crawfords "Feather and Fan Afghan".

PINK!!!!!!!! Monkeys

2008-04-19T20:35:00.006+01:00

They're a bit more fluorescent than they appear here.

And I wore them to the rugby today as it was breast cancer awareness day so we were wearing pink.

They're lucky socks, we won the game!!!

And we don't talk about last weekend.
Oh dear no.
It might never have happened we're ignoring it so hard!

I want you all to go Here and try this. It's fun (if you're like me and love words) and you'll be doing something good too (as well as wasting a bit of time).

Little bit of busy, little bit of bad.....

2008-04-04T15:59:00.003+01:00

Well as per the title of this weeks post I've done a bit of the former and a bit of the latter. Firstly was my "Fidget" by Robin Dodge of One sheep hill ; which I made last weekend to wear to the rugby to keep the drafts out. I used up some Patons Funky Chunky (now discontinued) that I had in my stash (what a good girl!) which goes nicely with my tigers shirt.
I made it about twenty inches long, but I had to frog the end and take a couple of inches off as it was a bit loose.

Buttons were stash buttons too from the Kirkwood Hospice shop.

Nice quick knit and I love the texture of the twisted moss stitch.

Next the little bit bad. Having used two 50g balls from my stash I then followed up a posting on one of the Ravelry message boards and went to look at the Violet Green website. Needless to say the lure of beautiful, reasonably priced sock wool combined with free delivery was not to be resisted. This lovely little lot was waiting for me on the mat when I got back from work on Tuesday. (No driving this week, I've had a bad back).

More busyness on Wednesday and Thursday night in the form of a little bit of combing. This is some of the Wensleydale fleece that I mentioned washing a couple of weeks ago. It was sat staring at me so on Wednesday evening I got a (nylon) comb out and had a go at it. The nylon comb isn't ideal for the task. For one thing I've broken a fair number of the teeth already. I had a go at flick carding it on one of my carders and that seems to speed things up a bit. Now I'm considering a weekend trip to Wingham Wool Work in order to invest in a proper set of combs.

Why is it so easy to find things to spend money on?

BFF socks finished

2008-03-28T10:34:00.002Z

Love them.

What I did on my Easter Holiday

2008-03-25T19:02:00.007Z

No prizes for guessing where I spent the Easter weekend.

Yep, that's right. Saturday afternoon was spent in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff watching the Tigers go through to the finals of the EDF Cup.

We've been to matches in Cardiff a number of times before but this is the first time they've played the game with the roof open. It was great, much better than with it closed. The weather for our game was lovely if cold, but during the second game (Saracens v. Ospreys) it snowed some.

We didn't stay at the Hilton this year but at the Holiday Inn which was pretty good and the view from the window was spectacular.

It was a great weekend made even better by the fact that the Tigers won a game which I seriously thought they could lose. It was a hell of a game too, nip and tuck all the way.

I realise that I don't have a huge number of readers who are interested in rugby (well, I don't have a huge number of readers at all!) so here's a picture of my BFF socks which are coming on nicely. I'm still enjoying them hugely, and am getting on okay with the cables without a cable needle.

Yesterday we went to visit my other sister and went over to see how the sheep were getting on with lambing. Here are two who had got disowned by their mum. We brought them home to be bottle reared. I did some other stuff so if anyone asks me what I did on Easter Monday I can casually say "Oh, I helped castrate some lambs". I wasn't involved with the business end though, I just helped to hold them! I think both these two are girls.

I also waded through, how can I put this, ummm, cowshit to help feed the cattle. Luckily I'd been able to borrow a pair of wellingtons. I did smell a bit of sheep and pooh by the time I'd finished, but it makes a change.

Cookie A

2008-03-14T09:03:00.008Z

Warning: the following post contains descriptions of some of the more unpleasant realities of a truck drivers life. Those of a sensitive disposition may not wish to read the last few paragraphs of the post!

I've never really thought much about a "favourite designer"; not being a "designer clothes" kind of gal it didn't seem something that was particularly relevant to me. Last weekend though I suddenly realised that I'd enjoyed knitting Pomatomus, Hedera and Monkey and that they were all designed by the same person; Cookie A. I wondered what else she'd done that I might enjoy knitting so via Ravelry I went to her website to have a look.

The pattern that I found was the BFF socks (BFF stands for Best Friend Forever; that's who she originally made them for). So I printed off the pattern to get started. I'd bought some cygnet 4ply single colour sock wool from Texere Yarns the last time I was there which I thought would be perfect for showing off the cable pattern. I decided that they were probably a tad complicated to take with me in the truck so I started a plain vanilla pair of "travelling sock" on Monday night but on Thursday when I was home and recovered from this week's run (tell you later) I cast on for the BFF.

Well it's been a while since my knitting has made me smile whilst I'm doing it, but I was this morning. I love a simple pattern that you can enjoy watching as it develops under your fingers and this certainly does that. I'm using it to teach myself to cable without a cable needle which may not have been a wise move using 2.25 mm needles (think I may need bi-focals) but what the heck.

So I think I may put Cookie A on my (brand new) list of favourite designers for inventive and interesting sock patterns. I may even have a look at other things that she's designed.

I managed to get a fair bit of my "plain vanilla" sock knitted this week as I had a bit of trouble sleeping on Tuesday night. Anyone who regularly reads my blog will know that this is very unusual. I get up at two am on a Tuesday morning and work a fifteen hour day driving and unloading my truck in the Bristol area. Come bedtime (about 8-00 pm) I'm ready to drop.

This week I parked up at the service station on the Evesham byepass. It's a bit exposed there but I suspect that I'd have had the same problem wherever I'd parked. I was woken at about eleven o'clock by the truck being buffeted by the seventy mile an hour winds that were sweeping the south west of the country.

The wind dropped briefly at about two and I caught another hour or so of sleep but I woke up again and then didn't get off after that. At four I decided that if the truck was going to blow over I'd rather have my clothes on; didn't fancy having to clamber out in me vest and knickers. So I got dressed, went and got a cup of coffee and sat up most of the rest of the night knitting and listening to the BBC World service on the radio.

I didn't feel like the brightest button in the box the next morning and when I got back on Wednesday I went to bed at eight and slept through till a quarter to seven the following day when the alarm went off for me to go back to work again.

Minor rant
I was deeply p!ssed off on Wednesday when I stopped at the service station at junction 2 of the M42. I pulled into the truck park, got down from the truck and looked to see where I had to go to get a cup of coffee and use the loo.

As you can imagine I wasn't best pleased to discover that I'd have to go for a half mile hike to reach the "amenity building" (as it was quaintly titled). You can just see it in the distance (indicated by the arrow in the picture).

One of the most unpleasant parts of driving a truck is the fact that the truck stops reek in the summer because (male) drivers have a tendency to relieve themselves against the wheel of their truck rather than bothering to use the toilets. On Wednesday I felt like doing the same!! Unfortunately it's a bit of an unfeasible trick so I had to bite the bullet and take a hike. I had a quarter of an hour break which was completely taken up by walking over, using the loo, buying a cup of coffee and walking back. Had to drink it whilst driving along! Of course car drivers can park right in front of the building. Who designs these bloody places?

Scouring longwool

2008-03-09T12:23:00.007Z

I spent most of yesterday (on and off) attempting to scour part of the Wensleydale fleece that Ro and I bought at Woolfest last year. It's been languishing in a plastic sheep feed sack (no not feed for plastic sheep; don't be smart) in Ro's garage. But I asked her to bring it to the match last weekend so I could have a go at scouring a longwool fleece.

You can see how it looked when I pulled it out of it's sack. I've seen cleaner fleeces but I would imagine it's pretty tricky keeping these babies clean with hair in lovely long ringlets. It's pretty greasy too; more so I'd think than the other fleeces I've processed at home. I decided to try the technique that the Yarn Harlot detailed on her blog here.

I won't go into a great deal of detail here as she does it so much better but it involves a roasting tin and the hob of the cooker and BIG LOTS OF WATER!

It wasn't an unqualifed success. As you can see there's still a quantity of crud left on the tips in places, but the bits that did come clean are absolutely gorgeous.

This is a close up of the butt ends; which did come clean. It's like angels hair and positively gleams in the light.

Here's a few locks that I combed out. I've subsequently read about another technique for scouring fleeces to maintain the structure of the locks on Spinning Spider Jenny's blog. So I may give that a try next time. Whichever method I use I reckon I need to spend more time teasing out the tips than I did this time.

Hurrah, back online!!

2008-03-01T07:54:00.003Z

So I've been without t'internet from Monday to Friday (bet nobody even noticed) and I still don't know why. At first I thought it was my service provider but Thursday evening I replaced the new router with the old modem and all was well. Put the router back and nada again. It wasn't the wireless that was the problem as I tried the PC (which the router is plugged in to) as well as the laptop and still nothing. Friday morning I tried it again and BINGO, all was well again.

Sometimes I hate technology.

Have to say that I miss the Internet when it's not there. I'm on a couple of message boards and like to think that my rude comments (must learn to control my more acerbic inclinations) are appreciated by some if not all the contributors. Have had to spend the week being rude to real people instead!

On the fibre front I continue to spin, and spin, and spin, (and card a bit) and spin. Sunday I may do some more plying having spun three more bobbins worth. At least it makes me feel as if I'm doing something productive whilst I'm watching the TV; and I MAY be improving slightly I suppose. I just hope that I'm keeping it fairly consistent with the first batch. I know you're supposed to card the whole lot, then spin the whole lot, then ply the first with the last etc etc etc but No one really does that do they? At least I haven't started knitting yet (though tempted).

The "Left Over Blankie"

2008-02-22T13:59:00.006Z

My new knitting project is a long term one. It's designed to use up those irritating little bits and pieces that are left over after completing something or that you have after trying new spinning techniques. It's the knitting equivalent of those meals that are designed to empty the detritus out of the fridge (but it will probably taste better!)

I decided that a colour theme would make it more coherent than just using whatever comes to hand; so this one will be predominantly blue. I seem to have quite a lot of left over blue. I'm knitting strips about five inches wide, changing shade when the particular yarn runs out. The strips are about three feet long. When I have enough of them I'll arrange them and sew them together. If it's not wide enough I'll knit a border. It's going to take a while; I have a few left overs but not enough for a complete blanket. There's a member of the KCG on Ravelry who's offering yarn to KCG members in an effort to destash. I haven't worked out if it's a personal destash or the KCG yarn mountain that she's trying to reduce. I had to resist the temptation to contact her and ask for odd bits of blue DK for the blankie. The idea is to use up my own leftovers not attract more into the house.

Those of you with VERY sharp eyesight may notice that the strip of knitting in the picture is being held on a stitch holder from a set of Denise interchangeable needles. This set (the pink Breast Cancer awareness set) was a Christmas pressie from my little sis; Ro. They're grrrrreat!

Having said that I could do with a new blanket. I thought I was going to freeze on Tuesday night; the duvet that I use in the truck isn't really thick enough for this cold weather. I have a night heater in the cab but I don't like to leave it on overnight. I was okay when I went to sleep but I woke up about 2-00am and had trouble getting warm again despite piling on more clothes.

The spinning is continuing slowly. I need to work out what I'm going to make with the yarn, then I'll have some idea how much I need. I don't think three skeins will cut the mustard as far as anything worthwhile is concerned. I quite fancy the idea of a big chunky cardigan or jacket of some sort. Time to start trawling through the patterns on Ravelry for a few ideas.

I've had a quick look and I'm quite keen on this, though I'd make it longer than in this illustration. I love the collar though. It's called "Kyra" and is a free Berroco pattern.

Spinning

2008-02-15T10:00:00.007Z

Has been what I've been mostly doing this week, textilewise. Following a great deal of useful feedback from a query I made on one of the Ravelry forums I screwed cuphooks into the base of both my lazy kates and fed a length of string with an elastic band on the end round the base of the bobbins to give some tension when plying. It DID work, but it took a while to get the tension correct; particularly as I was plying from two Kates with two bobbins on each.

The other problem I had was that the singles seemed to get caught up in themselves somethimes and would snap, or the Kate would move. At first I thought this was because the tension was too strong, but I think it may have something to do with the way I'm filling the bobbins as I'm spinning. If I lose track of what I'm doing and get a large build up of yarn in one place rather than moving along the hooks regularly it affects the way that the yarn reels off the bobbin when plying which in turn has an effect on the tension when plying. I guess it's all trial and error. I spent a fair amount of time swearing, a fair amount of time rejoining the singles where one of them had snapped and most of the time sort of lying treadling with my right leg with my left leg splayed out in an attempt to hold (two) Kates still with the toes of my left foot. It was quite uncomfortable; but I've ended up with three skeins of three ply (plus a ply of the shiny stuff). I soaked it overnight and have hung it up to dry and am quite pleased with the finished result though I guess it could be more even. Still got a lot more to do if I'm going to have enough for a garment.

I think that part of the problem is that in using two lazy kates rather than one the tension isn't even across the four bobbins. I also think that because they are quite light they move about too easily. I may have to go back to the drawing board and either make or buy something that's more effective. In the meantime I'll soldier on.

TuttleyMuttley has tagged me for a meme but I think I may have already done it; or one very similar. I thought it would be interesting to see if anything had changed in the last two years. Then (scroll down to feb 3rd post) and now:

4 jobs I have held:
Barmaid/waitress
Housing Officer
Truck driver
Shop assistant

4 movies I like:
Fargo
Guys and dolls
Singin' in the rain
Went the day well?

4 Places I've been:
Moreton Underhill
West Malvern
Chipping Sodbury
Bourton on the Water

4 places I have lived:
Coventry
Clifton Upon Dunsmore
Sunderland
Huddersfield

4 TV shows/programs I watch:
Life in Cold Blood
The twenties in colour-The Wonderful world of Albert Kahn
The West Wing
Neighbours (Susan Kinski has some fabulous knitwear!)

4 Radio-shows I listen to:
Today Programme
The Archers
The Now show / Newsquiz whichever is on on Friday night at 6-30
The food programme

4 favorite foods:
Bread
Cheese
Roast dinner
chocolate ice cream

4 places I'd rather be:
In bed
welford Road
Somewhere a bit warmer (but not HOT!)
On the road somewhere nice on a nice day

A very English obsession

2008-02-08T08:29:00.000Z

It's reckoned that the English are obsessed with the weather and are incapable of holding a conversation that doesn't include reference to it. I'm going to reinforce that idea by once again beginning my post with reference to it. Sorry!

My luck held this week and after last weekend's sighting the snow had disappeared by the following day. On Tuesday morning as I drove down the M6 and M5 it was very windy and wet but by the time I got to my first drop it was beginning to clear up a bit and I hardly got wet at all as I unloaded my deliveries during the day. Wednesday was absolutely beautiful again and my spirits rose as I drove up to Evesham, across to Mickleton and back to Ledbury and Colwall. Gloucestershire and Worcestershire are lovely counties and driving round them cheers me up no end. Beats working in the warehouse where the sun doesn't shine (no windows of course); though I couldn't manage a full week of uloading and early mornings. It was a long run this week; fifteen hours on Tuesday and another twelve on Wednesday. I'm ready for my long weekend now!

On the fabric front I spent last weekend (when I wasn't wincing at the implosion of the England rugby team) spinning.

Some time ago I spun up a bobbin full of the Manx Loghtan I bought at Woolfest last year. Since then it's been sitting there looking reproachful and waiting for me to get on with the remainder of it. Last weekend I dragged the Orkney out and spun another 100g of it into singles. I then plied three singles together with some stuff I bought at Texere Yarns when I took Ro there. It's a metalic gold thread on a brown binder which has blended in with the loghtan really nicely, giving a very subtle sparkly effect. Unfortunately coping with plying four separate singles proved too much for me and I only managed a very small amount before I got HORRIBLY tangled up!!! I've finished the sample I did and it's lovely and soft and SQUOOSHY so I just need to work out how to ply the damned stuff (oh yea and spin up some more!). I'm thinking that a tensioned lazy kate may be the answer and I've had some great advice from the Spinning group on Ravelry about how to sort that out. I'm hopeful that I may get this to work. Wish me luck.

Visitor in the night.

2008-02-02T10:18:00.000Z

Well it's finally arrived. I looked out of the window this morning and there it was. It wasn't there last night when I went to bed, I'm pretty sure of that.

SNOW!!!!

It's typical that it snowed the day after my niece flew back to Wellington (NZ) from the UK. She always seems to miss it! (Sorry Jenn!!!).

Now I'm not much of a big fan of weather as my job forces me to be out in it. Hearing stories of trucks blown over on the M6 last week couldn't help but put the wind up me (no pun intended). But a judicious smattering of snow on a weekend I can handle; as long as it's gone by the time I set out on Tuesday and it isn't replaced by anything worse!

I'm aware that to those of you in the States and Canada and various other parts of the world what we have barely counts as snowfall, but I guess it's all relative. I've been watching a series thats just started on channel5 called "Ice Road Truckers" and nothing on earth would induce me to do THAT however well paid it is! I'm just a wuss when it comes to weather, and not ashamed to admit it.

I've been doing exciting things with my new laptop again. Yesterday I connected it to my TV and watched "The Wonderful World Of Albert Kahn" over the BBC iplayer, but on my TV screen. I need to get the sound sorted out as that's still coming through the laptop speakers but I think I have the hardware to do that lying around somewhere. I'm so chuffed that it's working.

I also spent money yesterday on knitty things. Not a huge expenditure though; from the Oxfam shop I bought Patricia Roberts' "Variations" (sans dust jacket) and from the Kirkwood Hospice Shop the "Traditional Sweater Book". The pair of them for under a fiver! They will be added to my collection of books that I look at pictures in but never use. In actual fact some of the patterns in the Patricia Roberts book are quite nice once you get past the intarsia decoration. I like the two jumpers on the page in the photo above (I'd give the leggings a miss nowadays though I'm told they're fashionable again!!!). There are some beautiful ganseys in the other book and a lovely shetland shawl pattern too. I may even try Fair Isle one day; though it doesn't do anything for me yet. Never say never!

I've also completed another pair of socks. Bog standard free Opal pattern on 2.25mm circulars in Opal undyed which I dyed myself. The colour is a bit insistent so it's ideal for socks as I won't see much of them. They're looking a bit flobby as I wore them before I took the picture.

I fancy starting something a bit more challenging but I'm not sure what yet. I bought some yarn from Texere before Christmas to make the "Brushed Lace Cardigan" from the Winter issue of IK but I fear it may be bit too hairy for the lace pattern. The dark gray is what I bought and the bluey gray is from the stash. I was going to do just one or two repeats of the lighter colour rater than the number of stripes in the original. Any suggestions welcome.

A wet week

2008-01-25T07:41:00.000Z

But luckily I was mainly unaffected by it. Despite torrential rain in West Yorkshire on Monday and widespread flooding about the area, my house (on top of a hill) remained mostly watertight. I say mostly as my roof has leaked slightly where the waterproofing in the gully along the bottom has deteriorated. But this has been sorted now so (fingers crossed) it should stop now. And I MUST remember to get it redone every now and again rather than waiting for it to leak again!!!

Many people were less lucky and some people in Armitage Bridge; the village at the bottom of the hill had the River Holme through their houses. In Calderdale where many of my work colleagues live the situation was similar with many getting calls from neighbours telling them that the water was lapping up against front doors. The situation wasn't improved by someone having reversed an articulated lorry INTO the river.

By two thirty am when I left the house on Tuesday morning the rain had stopped and there was a coating of frost on the windows of the car (inside as well as out). Bit too much weather for my taste! Despite all this the roads were okay and my run went quite smoothly. I was diverted in Upton-on-Severn (clue's in the name Rachel) where a road was underwater but apart from tat no problems. As promised I took some pictures of the flooding round Worcester, but they're not brilliant.

I was able to spread a little knitterly wisdom on Tuesday. A shop assistants at one of my customers is a knitter and was talking about knitted bikinis, so I told her about the knitted knickers I saw at Woolfest. She was intrigued; both by the knickers and by Woolfest which was entirely new to her. I told her there was a similar thing in Wales (Wonderwool) and went on to tell her about Get Knitted which despite living in Bristol she didn't know about!!! She's quite young and fashionable so it's nice that she's enthusiastic. Another one in the eye for the people who think knitting is confined to grandmotherly types in rocking chairs.

I'm sort of mentoring a new knitter at work as well. She's only very recently started but is very keen and I was able to tell her about Coldspring Mill's wool cellar. She went there last weekend and got some stuff for a scarf. She's bringing it to the co-op general meeting this evening for me to cast an eye over and a spot of KIPing. I'm taking my latest sock!

Lastly I was talking to a male colleague at work yesterday and Penelope Cruz came up. I said that whilst not generally being particularly interested in Hollywood stars I was a little envious of her as I consider her to be particularly attractive. "Bet she can't knit though!" was his response. (I know she probably can, but I appreciated the thought anyway! And I bet she can't drive a truck!!!)

blogging in bed (new laptop). Excellent!!!

Action Packed Weekend

2008-01-20T15:52:00.000Z

Sorry chicks, no pictures again. I really must get the old camera out and take some, but the light is so bloody awful. Mind you having said that I really wished that I'd had it with me last Wednesday morning as I drove from Inkberrow to Leigh; a distance of no more than twenty miles. I made the mistake of doing it between eight and half nine in the morning and that's about how long it took. It was an absolutely beautiful morning though, clear and clean; probably because of the torrential rain of the previous night. I'd have loved to be able to post pictures of the floods around Worcester, I had plenty of time as I sat stationary in the rush hour traffic to take any number of pictures, but alas I'd neglected to pack my camera. I'll try to remember to take it with me in future.

The weekend has been action packed as I splashed out and bought myself a laptop and a wireless router on Friday and have spent the best part of Friday and Sunday setting the damn thing up. Still it's done now, security all sorted out after a (second) trip to PC World in order to ensure that I had the right end of the stick re: how to protect my network from unwanted intruders. And I've just finished rearranging the living room so that there's a table (with a handy socket) for it to live on when I'm not carting it around. Why is it that when you move stuff around you're always left with a load of junk that you can't find a home for? This is currently in a pile in the middle of the living room. And there's a chair in front of the TV. No, it's RIGHT in front of the TV.

So now I will be able to listen to the Tigers' away games in the comfort of my living room instead of upstairs in the computer room (chilly) and I can watch TV progs that I've missed when out driving (I bought a cable to link the laptop to the TV as well so that I can view stuff again on a decent sized screen). Don't really know that it's enough to justify the expense but I know that I'll use it; I'll probably just be like Ro though and never use the PC again!!!

ha, gotta photo. Over Christmas I Knitted the "Lighthouse Gansey Socks" from Knitty for my neice from New Zealand. Just checked up on my email and Ro has sent me a picture of them being modelled by Jenn.

Another of them being modelled by jenn and a ferret (Ron). They said in Ikea that they're weasles but I've seen a weasel and they're far smaller than that.

I've also found a picture of "My so called scarf" by Sheep in the city, which I knitted for big sis (Jenns mum) recently returned from the land of the long white cloud.

Now I feel bad!

2008-01-13T11:57:00.000Z

I've just been reading a discussion on Ravelry and one of the things that came up was how much the poster hates it when a blogger just drops off the scene. In particular she says ones that are part of a web ring so you're happily trolling along and you come across a blog that was last updated in June 2006. Well it's not quite that long since I updated but it's going that way and I appologise to anyone who feels that way about my blog.

I was seriously considering folding it up and taking it away as I seemed to have lost the will to update and I'm not sure why. I have a feeling that people are now spending time on Ravelry that they once spent reading and writing their blogs. I'm sure that I am. This is a bit sad because Ravelry is still an invitation only site so a lot of people are probably getting left out.

A very merry one!

2007-12-21T15:21:00.000Z

Happy Christmas one and all.

No I'm not drunk, just trying to look a little animated whilst I model the hat I've knitted myself. I wore it round the warehouse yesterday with a safety pin holding the end, then frogged half of it last night to improve the shaping and now I'm happy with it. Folk at work said it needs a pom pom, but I'm just not a pom pom kinda girl, so that's it, finished!

(An' I warn you Ro, I'm going to be wearing it at the London Irish game after Christmas!!) Ho Ho Ho!!!

Bag stuff

2007-11-16T12:20:00.000Z

Well I finished knitting the bag (did I mention the bag? I can't remember) and I'm disappointed in how little it has felted (though not particularly surprised!). However there is an up side to it in that the straps stretched out all skinny and were neither use nor ornament and I was able to frog them.

I've washed the yarn and hung it up to dry and I'm going to re knit it into straps held together with the Adriafil Graphic from stash that I used round the top. I'm very pleased with the colour match between the two. The Graphic has more wool and has felted better so should make the straps more sturdy. I'll keep you posted.

The second bit of excitement is that I've had a very nice chap round this morning looking at my hedge (see picture). This picture is taken from my back bedroom window where the computer lives and as you can see, it's a bit out of hand.

Every year I get a snotty letter from the council telling me off because it's encroaching on the pavement, but I'm more concerned about the height of it. Anyhoo this chap is going to cut and lay it for me which is a technique used on agricultural hedges in order to make them stockproof. It involves partially cutting through the main trunk of the plant and bending it down so it's laying at an angle which encourages new shoots to form from low down making the hedge bushier at the bottom.

There's rather more to it than that, but that's basically how it works. Anyone interested can get more info here.

Woooooo Hoooooo!! Holiday time!

2007-11-05T15:56:00.000Z

Well, off work anyhoo. I'm not doing anything as dramatic as going away (haven't planned it anyway). In fact I've only just got back from Ro's for the weekend.

I decided to take the scenic route home. We went into Fosse Park yesterday and I bought two knitting magazines; "Simply Knitting" and "Knitting". I had to buy them both because I couldn't decide which one to get!! It does irritate me a bit that they have them done up in plastic bags so that you can't see what you're getting for your money until you've shelled out!

Anyway I wasn't expecting too much; buying UK knitting magazines is SUCH a triumph of optimism over experience, but there were a couple of things that I may knit so I wasn't too disappointed. I think the thing that bothers me most about them isn't necessarily the patterns which DO seem to have improved a bit, but the desperately condescending way that they're written.

"Interweave Knits" is a grown up magazine for grown up people who are interested in knitting. If they have an article about a knitting related topic it's properly researched and written, but the articles in both the above magazines seem to be simply there as padding. They don't appear to want to challenge the reader in any way, as if what they're writing about it beyond our fluffy little brains. As an example, an article on podcasts included the line "Don't be put off by the odd name, or the fact that you may have to get your computer to do something new for you." Heavens to Betsy, we aren't bloody five year olds. I know that not everyone is familiar with technology but it would be good if they could assume a certain level of intelligence in their readership.

Anyway I'm rambling somewhat. The point is that I was looking at the adverts in the back and decided to take the scenic route back up to Huddersfield and take in a new yarn shop (purely in the interests of research you understand). So I set off for New Ollerton near Sherwood Forest. (No I'd never heard of it either).

On the way I saw a number of signs to Melton Mowbray and recalling that there was a fairly new yarn store (as well as a famous pork pie shop!) there I decided to take a detour. I made this decision AFTER passing the turning to Melton Mowbray, so I just took the next turning instead. Ten minutes later I was in a village with no idea where I was. But that's okay, gotta map book and with a map book you're never lost (honest Dee, it's true!) you may not know where you are, but you're not lost.

The shop in Melton is called Purl (2, Bowley Court, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 1XY
Tel: 01664 566347. no web site) and it seems a nice shop. Good selection of yarns there, some more unusual ones including the Araucania range, as well as the more obvious Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Sirdar etc. and the people seemed friendly though both were busy when I went in. I managed to resist the temptation to buy anything and continued on my way. Have to admit that I took in the famous pork pie shop too.

I was surprised to meet a colleague driving a SUMA truck coming the other way whilst zooming up the A46, though I suspect not half as surprised as she was to see me. We waved! I got to New Ollerton and found Heath's Country Store without too much trouble. My gosh, what a surprise. In addition to yarn they have a quilting section in the shop, but it doesn't matter because despite not looking large from the front it goes back miles so there's plenty of room for both. They had some absolutely gorgeous yarns as well as loads of LOVELY felted bags and examples of the various yarns knitted up into garments. They had the most amazing selection of buttons for sale and I seriously want to move to New Ollerton despite the fact that apart from this shop it looks like a complete hole in the ground (sorry if anyone who loves the place is reading this).

This shop is well worth a visit! Even if you have to go out of your way to do so (and believe me you will have to). I managed to escape quite lightly only buying three balls of Sirdar Peru; a wool/ acrylic/ alpaca blend which I'm told will felt nicely. My only criticism is that they sell smelly stuff too, like incense etc. which I'm not keen on and the place pongs a bit, but I realise most people look on this as a good thing rather than a bad.

Complete!

2007-11-02T08:31:00.000Z

Heart sachet. I actually finished the knitting last weekend but didn't stuff it and sew it up until last night. I'm not mad keen on the colour! Technical details can be found here (possibly). Please can someone let me know if the link doesn't work .

Luckily we sell dried lavender as mine in the garden is way past it and would be no use to anyone. Unfortunately we sell it in 500g bags so I have quite a bit left.

Anyone want to score some lavender?

I may be making lavender bags for some time yet!

I have all of next week off work (hurrah!!), but haven't decided what to do with the time yet. depends a lot on the weather. If it rains it may be inside (even in bed) stuff all week. If it's fine I may venture out. We shall see.

Last week end I made my christmas cake, dosed it liberally with brandy and put it into hibernation for a month or two. I love christmas cake.

(Crumbs I just remembered I bought some little onions last weekend too for pickling, best get on with that too!)

I'm sure that I'll find plenty to get on with.

ps I've just been reminded from reading Tutleymutley's blog that I was astounded to realise as a result of a discussion on Ravelry about copyright that a book I bought for £1.99 at the Oxfam shop is selling for £60.00 second hand on Amazon. Amazing!

who would have thought

2007-10-27T10:39:00.000+01:00

That such a small project would be such a pain in the bum?

This is the heart sachet from Knitting Daily. It measures about three inches by three inches and I thought it would be a nice little project to get on with as a bit of a potboiler.

Ha!

I've not done domino knitting before (though I have done mitred squares) but it didn't look too complicated. Of course I have to admit that it can help, particularly if you're trying a new technique to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! And I may have had a warning when I read that someone had started it with the yarn and needles recommended but given it up and re started with larger needles and thicker yarn.

But no, I just jumped in. I have now frogged it at least twice and tinked back a number of times and I may just be on the home straight. I took it to the co-op meeting last night and it kept me entertained (knit, knit, knit, tink, tink, tink!).

Only four more squares to go!

I've also been (not) spinning some of the Manx Loaghtan fleece. I weighed it out in 100g lots with measured amounts of commercially dyed merino, and I've blended one lot on the carder. I've even spun nearly a bobbin full but then I came to a full stop! Haven't had the wheel out for a while now and it's sitting looking reproachful.

Maybe later today!

I just want to make it clear that the picture is the one that appears in Knitting Daily with the pattern, not my sad effort!

Still here

2007-10-13T13:23:00.000+01:00

No, not here as in my truck outside this Hotel in Bourton on the Water, here as in still alive.

You may have thought that I'd disappeared but no, I'm still here. having a hard time finding things to blog about as mostly I've been doing stuff in my head rather than in real life. So, no knitting to show I'm afraid.

I did go to Sileby for my bra making workshop last Friday though so I have one finished object to show.

Okay before everyone runs screaming from the room I'm NOT wearing it. I realise that there are sites that cater to people who like to look at that sort of thing (fat birds in bras) but rest assured gentle reader, this is not one of them. So here's my first home (well nearly) made bra. It aint fancy but it FITS!!! AND it looks like a bra too. Some of the stitchings a tad wonky but considering how long it is since I last used my sewing machine I think that I (and it) did a pretty good job. Now I'm well keen to make some more.

What do you think of the fabric that I've pictured it on? It's a vest top which I bought when I was a good deal thinner than I am now, so alas it no longer fits. Certainly enough fabric in it to make a bra though (but not matching knickers). I'm looking at stretch fabric from a whole new perspective nowadays.

Isn't life fun!?

Completed socks

2007-09-28T14:31:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I went down to Ro's. I travelled on the Friday as I was going to have my fitting for my bra making class in Leicester. Michelle, the woman who is taking the class was very nice and turned out to be a Tigers fan too, so as well as the fitting we had a bit of a chat about rugby. We were both looking forward to the Tigers' first home game of the season the following day (in which they beat Baaaaath which is always nice!!).

I finished my socks on Monday and wore them for my run this week. I was a bit unimpressed with the finished result at first as I thought the Trekking XXL was a bit harsh feeling at first, but I have to say that they were very comfortable to wear. They should stand up to some work too, which is good. I'm sure angora socks are fine and dandy but I wouldn't think they'd be up to wearing in big steel toe capped boots on a regular basis.

Got this picture on Wednesday morning in Bourton on the Water when I rolled out of the truck. I'm not sure how well I've captured the light which looked amazing on the leaves of the trees against the dark of the sky. My run was quite busy this week and I didn't get back to the yard until gone seven o'clock on Wednesday night. I was pretty tired! Glad I have Fridays off, particularly this week as I'm going in on Saturday for the stock take.

On Sunday last weekend we went to an open day at Claybrooke Mill, one of the oldest working water mills in Leicestershire. I took the opportunity to do a little sales pitch to one of the stallholders there on behalf of SUMA and took his business card to pass on to our "new sales prospects" team. I also bought some raffle tickets for the Air Ambulance. Imagine my delight when I got a call on my mobile on Tuesday to tell me that I'd won eighth prize; a meal for two at the Ullesthorpe Court Hotel. I thought that for an eighth prize it was pretty good. Dunno quite when I'll get round to using it, but I'm sure I will. I sent Ro to collect the tickets as I'm not down there for another week or so and I didn't want them to think I didn't want it. Suppose I'll have to take her with me as she has custody of the tickets!!!

I'm off to do some carding now. I bought myself a set of digital scales this morning as I want to do some blending and I want to get the quantities right.

So much going on

2007-09-20T16:55:00.000+01:00

So I'm going to start with a gratuitous kitty shot. These three are a mother and two of her (three) kittens who appeared at work earlier this year. We think that the mother was a kitten here last year and she's been living wild about the place. When her kittens were old enough she brought them out into the open where we sit out and have lunch when the weather is good.

They've got themself a nice little nest next to the pond and they sit and sun themselves. Mum was captured earlier when the kittens were big enough to look after themselves and taken to the vet to be spayed. The other kitten has been captured and taken to live with one of the SUMA workers and the other two are going in a few days time to live with another. Mum is still looking for a home. I'm sorely tempted but being away one night a week plus regular weekends makes it impractical.

I've started a new pair of socks which were cast on on Tuesday morning when my truck made a horrible noise and gave off copious amounts of smoke as I drove into Cheltenham. I got a fair bit done whilst I waited at the garage for them to find out what was wrong (they couldn't). Luckily it still seemed to be running so I carried on with my run and there were no further incidents. Garage thought there may be some sort of blockage in the fuel system.

Talking of socks I have to show you how Nick has been getting on with hers. It's a bit difficult to see from this picture but after my showing her how to knit, purl and SSK (and why you SSK in some places and K2tog in others) she proceeded to finish the heel flap, turn the heel, pick up the stitches up one side and down the other and start decreasing round the gusset all by herself! I'm well impressed, she's obviously a "Natural Born Knitter". I told her she should get a T shirt with that printed on it but she said she didn't think people would be impressed. I told her that Muggles may not be, but the people that mattered most certainly would!

Last item on Show and Tell is this yarn gauge that I made for myself last weekend. It's the second one I've made as I gave one to Ro a while ago but forgot to take a picture of it first. It's very tactile.

Finished

2007-09-14T14:25:00.000+01:00

Phew, what a process that turned out to be. Thanks to you all for your feedback on the choice of buttons. The majority went for the buttons on the right hand side, and they were my choice too. Unfortunately Cris was right (typical bloody man) and they were too small.

Soooooo, this morning I went into town to have another look in the charity shop and failing that to go to the shop in the Queensgate Market that sells such things. It's called the Sewing Box and they have a good selection of buttons amongst other sewing stuff.

And these are the ones that I chose in the end. Lovely.

Here's a picture of the finished cardigan on me.

And here's one of it on the floor. I think it suits me better than the floor, but I couldn't get a particularly good picture.

I took it in to work yesterday and nearly lost it to a colleague who tried to run off with it. Luckily I managed to catch her and wrestle her to the ground before she escaped.

In reply to some of the questions on my previous post; it wasn't difficult to knit with hand spun, it was quite nice wool to knit with (she said modestly) I'll put that down to the sheep rather than me though. I plied three singles together as I'd read that this creates a better yarn for knitting and it came out at about 12 WPI.

I found a link to the pattern on Abby Franquemont's blog Abby's Yarns though there are a couple of other people on Ravelry that are knitting it. I knitted the medium size and just had enough of the light coloured wool to complete it, to the extent of missing the last two rows at the neckline and breaking off the tails of yarn under the arms to complete the last row!!! I have nearly a whole ball of the dark grey left though. It's a tiny bit tight on my butch truckers arms but apart from that I'm happy with the fit. The only adaptation to the pattern that I made was that when cabling I cabled to front on one side and to the back on the other which the pattern didn't specify. This was probably a tad anal of me.

I got a text from a friend yesterday telling me a balloon with 90 on it had landed in his garden and it had come all the way from Formby.

I was quite excited at this being a big fan of balloons, in fact I took a picture of this one that had just taken off in Bourton on the Water when I parked the truck up on Tuesday night. Imagine my disappointment when he revealed that it was only a party balloon that had landed! He said that the old boy who'd released it was quite excited when he rang him to tell him where it had landed though.

I had quite an exciting run this week as I met the Tour of Britain going over the Malvern hills on Wednesday. Unfortunately going through the Wyche Cutting I met an Eddie Stobart truck with a trailer on the back coming in the other direction just as the race had passed and floods of spectators were attempting to get back to their cars. I managed not to run over any spectators despite the road being particularly narrow and windy at that point but managed to take out one of the barriers or flags or something and bent the under run bar on the truck! RATS!!!!

Finally here's a picture of the little beggars that are trying to destroy my house. It has wood cladding on the top half and wooden window frames (mostly) and I think they come for the insects that live in the cracks. I'll be sitting at the computer of lying in bed and I'll hear a tap, tap, tap, tapping noise; and there they are! Cheek!

ps, you may need to click on the picture, apparently you can't see who (or what) is destroying the house otherwise.

Another difficult button decision

2007-09-09T18:40:00.000+01:00

There you go, Sprout is now finished (bar blocking) but I can't decide which buttons. So I'm asking you!

The fifth emergency service

2007-09-07T09:11:00.000+01:00

(I believe that the coast guard is the real fourth) and I am the fifth this weekend; emergency sock back up.

I bought some sock wool and needles at Playful; the toy shop on Gloucester Road and gave it to my friend at work who wants to learn to knit socks, along with the basic sock pattern that came with the yarn. She's recently discovered that she's getting a rash from her bought socks and thinks she may be allergic to elastic. She has knitted before, but not for a while and "never got on with purl" so we've adapted the pattern to a sock with a rolled top a la Crusoe, rather than a ribbed top (I'll worry about the heel flap when we get to it!). When she dropped me off at home after work yesterday we'd got as far as the second round. Her husband and son were out for the evening and she was looking forward to some quality time with her sock! I told her that if she needed any help to give me a ring or pop up and I'd help her but as I haven't heard anything I assume that things are going well.

My current work in progress is "Sprout" by Amy King (Spunky Eclectic). I'm knitting it in the yarn that I spun from the Bleu de Maine Fleece from Yorkshire Woolybacks.

I'd got to the bit where the sleeves are joined to the body before I realised that there be cables!! Hey I never won prizes for being observant! We're coping though, and I'm pretty pleased with progress so far, had a two hour meeting first thing Monday morning at work and made significant progress then.

It's funny but I find that if I'm knitting in a meeting I feel that I have to take an active part in said meeting so people realise that I'm not just knitting but paying attention too. If I'm just there I tend not to make as many comments as I don't have to prove I'm concentrating on what's going on. I think people are pretty used to it now, no-one comments unfavourably (at least not to my face).

I had my annual member review at work yesterday and was on the whole pretty happy with the feedback I received from my colleagues. I did get a couple of people who said I should do more driving, and another who said that I should do more desk based work and less manual work so I'm probably getting things about right on the whole!

Oh I forgot to mention that I've received my invitation to Ravelry and I'm called Tigggr (couldn't be knit-tigger as you can't have hyphens!). My notebook's a bit empty at the moment, but I'll get there eventually I guess!

It just felt right.

2007-08-31T12:36:00.000+01:00

Well now. I've just pulled the bag out of the washing machine where it's been along with my work clothes (40 deg) and it's felted very slightly. This is good as the texture has remained, but I think it's probably a bit stronger. It may still require lining though. I'll just have to see how it goes. I decided on the randomly shaped wooden button for it as suggested by Miss Janelle in last week's comments. Thanks Janelle.

I did start to crochet a mat in the remaining wool but haven't got very far with it yet. I bought a new TV a while ago and it sits on a large wooden chest in the living room. Sometimes the sound seems to reverberate a bit and I think it may need some damping so I thought I'd do a mat for it. Good crochet practice.

This week I went to exciting new places as we lost the driver of our Shropshire / Gloucestershire run at short notice. I had five drops from Shrop/Glocs put onto my run (which luckily was not too busy). So having finished all my regular drops and pick ups on the Tuesday I set off from Bourton on the Water on Wednesday morning for new horizons.

My first drop was a deli and wine bar in the village of Newnham on Severn called Hunter & Todd which looked very nice. The second drop was a cafe just over the road from there called the George Cafe which as well as the cafe contained a lovely surprise. A weaving studio.

I couldn't resist asking if I could take some pictures of the studio and was told that I could, so here they are. Unfortunately none of the weavers was there so I wasn't able to find out more about what they do, or where they're from. When Jeannie, the regular driver gets back from her hols I'll have to ask her about it.

After Newnham I went to a trading estate in Newent then up to Ross on Wye to a wholefood shop Field Fayre and a cafe Nature's Choice next door to each other. I'd printed off a map of where they were before leaving so I was confident about finding them. I came off the end of the M50 onto the A40, then took the road down into the town centre. Over two mini roundabouts and into the end of the street where the shops were. I got a bit anxious as I couldn't see a road sign so I pulled over just inside the end of the road to ask if I was in the right place. That was the point at which I was told that the road I wanted was indeed straight ahead but alas it was one way, and NOT the way I was pointing.

I have to tell you that reversing an eighteen ton truck out of the wrong street across two mini roundabouts (traffic approaching from at least five different directions) is not to be recommended as a method of reducing blood pressure. People can be remarkably unhelpful as even with my hazards on as well as my reversing lights and warning bleeper it took ages for someone to actually stop and let me out even though I was coming towards them. Once I was out it all became much easier and though the centre of Ross on Wye is a bit tight and crowded I did get to where I wanted to be and even managed to score a parking space opposite the shop, (a big bonus when you have to carry stuff).

F.O. (well almost)

2007-08-25T09:02:00.001+01:00

Here's the bag I finished crocheting last night. It's an adaptation of the pattern for the Horse Around Purse by Carol Ventura from Crochet Me Magazine. In actual fact I only used the shaping and not the tapestry technique. I've made the bag out of the yarn that I spun from the Haldane roving that came with my Orkney (plus some on the bottom from a fleece I prepared myself, can't remember which one!). The Haldane was a bit compacted and strangely "bitty" but it's probably quite old and I managed. I spun it up and plied it on the Orkney.

Once I started working with it I realised that it's quite underspun and underplied too and a bit thick and thin so I'm considering felting the bag to give it a bit more strength. It's fairly dense fabric anyway as the whole bag is done in single crochet so it probably won't shrink an enormous amount but I feel that it would mean that any weak spots would be strengthened, and you don't really need weak spots in a bag. In a way it's a shame as I like the texture of the bag and I know that felting will lose that.

I also need to choose a button for the fastening. These are a selection of the possibles. I guess it's going to depend partly on how much the loop shrinks when (if) I felt it. If I don't felt it I'm going to need to block it as the strap has a tendency to curl at the edges.

I quite like this bag, and people at work like it too. They seemed quite interested, lots of them asked what I was knitting!! One asked if I took orders, I said that I didn't as she couldn't afford it but I'd teach her to crochet for free. She declined though!

One of my friends is keen to learn to knit socks though as she has found that she seems to be allergic to the elastic in bought ones. I'm going to put together a kit for her to get started.

As if I haven't enough hobbies on my plate I've signed up for a bra making course in Leicester at the beginning of October. The course is run by Michelle Pye and is for one day. I tried to book it a couple of weeks ago but it was full, luckily for me she's had a cancellation and I'm in!

I noticed a few months ago that I was getting a bruise under my left arm where the wiring in my bra was rubbing and it occurred to me that although I'd put on a significant amount of weight I was still wearing the same bras. After taking a long hard look at myself I also realised that I had bulges over the tops of the cups on my bra. Now I just HATE to see this, I think it looks as if women are trying to look smaller than they are but of course it just makes you look like a slattern (great word!) and so I went to get re measured and buy me some new bras. Unfortunately I seemed to catch M&S at their busiest time so although I got measured I didn't get any help with fitting and I couldn't find anything that fit me. I left feeling fat and depressed and continued to squeeze into my old bras. I have since succeeded in having two successful shopping trips one to BHS and one to M&S where I've managed to get some bras that fit. But at BHS I tried on EIGHT different bras, all the same size, and only TWO of them fitted me.

So I've decided that I may try making my own, that way you can get a bra that you like, that fits you AND you can have matching knickers too if you want. I've found a blog run by and for lingerie makers. It's called Bra Makers and I've put the link in my sidebar as well as here.

I must admit I did think that everyone would think I was a loony wasting my time making underwear but almost EVERYONE I've mentioned it to seems to think it's a great idea. (I suspect this is 'cos they think I'm going to make their bras for them but even so!). This just proves to me that yet another one of the more basic things that all women (or nearly all) have to do is a complete pain in the arse!

What a surprise!

Watch this space.....

2007-08-24T17:09:00.000+01:00

Hoping there should be an F.O. here tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a pig I made earlier.

Quite a lot earlier.

Between 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south.

2007-08-17T09:44:00.000+01:00

Well yes that's me, languishing in the doldrums, no wind in my sails and not a lot to report. Must be the time of year, I don't think I'm alone in my disinclination for blogging activities.

Last weekend I went down to Ro's and we went to Tigers' second pre season friendly match, which was against Bedford. The first was in Cornwall but that was a little far to go as getting time off work in July and August is a bit problematical unless you book really early (like last year!!!). Chronic shortage of cover drivers (nothing to do with cricket!). It was nice getting back to rugby but a little warm for a game which should really be watched in the teeth of a howling gale with snow falling.

SAY NO TO SUMMER RUGBY!!!!!

Tigers won the game comfortably (which was to be expected as Bedford are in a lower league than them) and a good time was had by all.

Last night I made a pair of earrings and a matching necklace. I'm wearing the earrings as we speak, but will save the necklace for more dressy occasions I think. I've also done my hair since I took that picture and thusly am less witchy looking now. I'm going into town soon to do some shopping and to visit the Huddersfield Food Festival .

I will try to resist the lure of the Kirkwood Hospice shop at which I am compelled to buy those little round things with holes in of which we are not allowed to speak in front of Ro as she has a phobia about them. (Oh, okay, buttons for those of you who haven't worked it out yet!).

I have been knitting. In fact I've knitted Coachella twice. The first time I misunderstood the instructions and it was too small, the second time it's big enough but I'm not entirely happy about the way it fits. I think it's one of those jobs that looks okay when you arrange it and stand in front of the mirror but as soon as you try to breathe or walk or move your arms it goes funny. So it's sitting in a bag waiting to be frogged or finished. I really need a second opinion but I forgot to take it down to Ro's last weekend.

I've also been spinning (no pictures) more of the Haldane roving which came with my Orkney. This in the second colour, a sort of salmony orange. This together with the brown is destined to become a crocheted bag (possibly). I was even considering a touch of beading on it which is why I got the beads out last night which led to the earrings.

Are you getting a theme here? Bit of this, bit of that? no real planning, nothing getting finished? Zooming off at tangents all over the place? Think a bit of discipline may be in order. We'll see.

for the record Ling has had her baby; a little girl called Zoe, and she's beautiful. Congratulations Ling!

Anyhoo, catch you later.

Crashed!

2007-07-28T09:11:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid I have bad news. This week I was bounced from the Tour de Fleece having tested positive for testosterone. I thought I'd hidden it quite well but as you can see from the picture, I must have forgotten to shave on Wednesday morning. (Thought I was getting funny looks from the customers). I'm hoping to clean up my act before next year but they're coming down pretty hard on this sort of thing this year.

On to better news. I've been slaving over a lukewarm bath this week and can show you the results here. A lovely clean Manx Loaghtan fleece which I bought at Woolfest. Apparently the name means mouse brown in Manx. It's currently drying on the airer in the spare room (computer room/ stash room/ junk room). I have a feeling that this could prove to be a bit of a problem spin; it has a very short staple of about an inch, an inch and a half. More fluffy than woolly. Should be interesting. (Better get on with the Jacob Ro, I'm gonna need the carder for this little lot soon!).

I'm looking for a project today as well, we've got our all day QGM (Quarterly General Meeting) tomorrow at SUMA so if I'm to stay sane I'll require some nice straightforward knitting to be going on with. I'm not sure yet what it's going to be but I'm sort of leaning towards
Coachella from the latest issue of Knitty. I've got some yarn (somewhere) in the stash which I think may work for it so I'll need to find it and swatch today if that's going to work out. Otherwise it's socks.

Thanks for your responses to my last post and the Bleu de Maine yarn. I am ridiculously proud of it and may be doing a touch of swatching of that today as well.

In response to Annie's question there's about 250g in total (plus there's a wee bit more of the white left to spin).

Kath: We do do deliveries to North Wales but that's on Gordon's run. I've never done it, it goes out on the same days that I do (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Ling: Tiger isn't Ro's pony, he belongs to my other sister Annie and her husband (the ones with the cattle). BiL thinks that he's useful for herding the cattle and on last weeks evidence he could be right. (ps have you had that baby yet???)

Ramblings

2007-07-25T21:41:00.000+01:00

Well here at last is the result of my labours during the Tour de Fleece so far. I'm really pleased with the end product. This is the Bleu de Maine that I bought last year. I separated it into the darker and lighter parts of the fleece and carded and spun them separately. I've plied three singles together as I read somewhere (can't remember where) that this makes for a yarn which knits up better. It's certainly more rounded than the two plys that I've spun previously. It seems more even as well.

I have in mind a cardigan knitted on largeish needles so it's a bit lacey but I'm not sure if I'll have enough. I must do all the weighing and measuring and wraps per inch dohickey so I can work it out, but I can't be arsed at the moment.

At the weekend I went down to Ro's as she wanted to borrow my drum carder to do some more of the never ending Jacob. On Saturday we went out for lunch with Annie (another sister) and then we went for a walk. Ro insisted on taking Tiger who is very well behaved on a lead, a bit like a dog! We went along a gated road through a field of cattle who were fascinated by the proceedings and decided that they'd follow us. It was a bit like grandmothers footsteps. When we stopped and turned round they stopped too, when we walked on they followed us. Spooky!

A quiet week

2007-07-20T08:37:00.000+01:00

All round. I'm still spinning along in the Tour de Fleece, though I have to say that the mountain stages have rather taken it out of me this week. I had a few technical difficulties on Saturday last (tension) and my team car was nowhere to be seen. Still, managed to overcome it and have been doing a little each day but it's certainly going slower than last week. I'm working on the darker stuff now and have spun one bobbin of it and am half way through the second.

My run was very quiet this week, I was back in the yard by half past one on the Wednesday. This is in stark contrast to a couple of weeks ago when I did 29 hours in two days (talk about wiped out!). This week was a mere 21 hours, easy peasy. I parked up overnight in Worcester for the first time. The lorry park is right next to the river and the racecourse in the centre of the city. Looks quite scenic doesn't it? I was one of the first to get there, but it soon filled up. I don't think I'll park there again though, it was a bit noisy (there's a railway viaduct running along the side of the parking area and there were trains going over quite regularly). Luckily I have my earplugs with me so I slept okay.

My roof is finished and waterproof (I think). Should get to find out today, forecast is for two months worth of rain in the next twentyfour hours (oh joy!!). And I'm driving down to Ro's this afternoon, hope I don't get washed away in the deluge. I'm taking my wheel so I can carry on spinning and the drum carder so that Ro can card some more of her Jacob fleece and get on with her bag. I should also take the Montego Bay Scarf which has hit the wall about two inches from the end.

Get and finish it girl!!!!

Tour de Fleece

2007-07-13T08:49:00.000+01:00

I've decided that I'm going to dedicate my "Tour de Fleece" to Marco Pantani "The Pirate"; one of the greatest of hill climbers of all time and winner of both the Tour de France and Giro D'Italia in 1998.

I chose to spin up the Bleu de Maine fleece that I bought from Sandie at Yorkshire Woolybacks last year (I felt that the name of the breed was sufficient "French connection"). I'd already prepared the fleece for spinning and carded it when I bought my drum carder so I was all ready to roll when the Prologue began last Saturday.

This fleece is an absolute joy to spin, it practically does all the work itself. I'm spinning it long draw on my Orkney and had decided to spin onto the three Orkney bobbins then ply the three singles on the Elizabeth (I have to be able to justify having two wheels!). The fleece is lively and springy and handles beautifully and the whole of the Prologue just flew by.

Day two was more of the same for me, though the real Tour was out on the open roads of Kent. The weather was terrific, the English countryside was looking beautiful and the sprint at the end was as exciting as anything I've seen with Robbie McEwan coming from nowhere to take the stage win.

By Monday the Tour was on French soil (if only briefly) with the majority of the day's stage happening in Belgium. I was beginning to feel the strain of the first couple of days by then and coasted along in the peleton, happy not to loose too much time by sticking with the main field. I was far enough back not to get brought down by the nasty crash just before the end of the stage and although we were all held up by it no-one lost time as it was within 3k of the finish.

Tuesday was an enforced rest day I'm afraid. It's going to be throughout the whole Tour as I drive on a Tuesday and Wednesday so I'm not only sleeping in the truck on a Tuesday night and have no room for my wheel but after an early start and a fifteen hour day I don't have the energy to do anything but eat and sleep at the end of the day.

Got home nice and early on Wednesday though so put in some extra spinning time that afternoon. I was delighted when I got home to find a man on my roof (regular readers will know that I've been awaiting this for some time). No it wasn't Santa it was John; the roofer. With a bit of luck I'll be able to remove the empty containers that I've had sitting around catching drips when it rains, any day soon.

Thursday I completed the last of the three bobbins. I was going to ply them today, but I couldn't wait so last night I began. This is the first skein. It looks overplied, but I know that when I've washed it and hung it to dry it will be fine.

I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out. It really is the most beautiful wool. It has an almost pearly sheen to it and I believe that it will fluff up nicely when finished. The main colour is white but it has touches of fawns and greys. I have a few batts which are darker in colour and decided to spin these separately rather than card it all together. I'm hoping to use the different shades as a feature in whatever I make out of the finished yarn.

My only concern is that I'm failing to pace myself and I'll run out of fleece before the end of the Tour and be forced to withdraw. Still, this is my first Tour and it's no disgrace not to finish it.

Where to begin?

2007-07-07T09:15:00.001+01:00

I'm sure you all know why I haven't blogged for a wee while? Yup bin away in Cumbria for a couple of days. My excuse for not getting back to y'all sooner was that I've been at work since then (almost constantly, or so it feels!)

So Woolfest. As the title says, "where to begin?". Well thought I'd do it in pictures as I took so many. These are just a small sample from the weekend.

Swaledales at Priests Mill off for a walk in the rain. (They may not be Swaledales they may be Rough Fell).

The Wool Clip, organisers of Woolfest (hurrah!!!).

From the Watermill Cafe at Priests Mill Caldbeck.

View from our bedroom window at Byresteads B&B, Friday evening? Lovely B&B & full of fellow fibre addicts. We've booked again for next year (thought it wise as four others already had!). Oh and Als, we've booked a room for three next year!

Ro (with back to camera) choosing a fleece. She persuaded me to share a Leicester Longwool with her.

Llamas in a field above Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Centre (seen on our way to the farm shop and cafe up the lane). We'd seen the sign by the roundabout as we drove in so decided to walk up there for lunch on the Friday. It was a tad further than expected, but worth the walk.

The spin in (highlight of the weekend). This was just amazing. We met some lovely people including Catherine and Susan who had flown over from Ireland to be there. Susan is a spinner but didn't have her wheel with her, she was sussing out which kind she wanted to buy (think she's going for the Majacraft). Catherine is a weaver but apparently her son is keen on getting a wheel and learning to spin.

Beautiful designer knitwear by Makepiece of Todmorden West Yorkshire. Ro's got a colleague who is getting married next year and she's going to persuade her she should have one of their dresses.

Silk/angora/mohair knitted knickers by Rose Ashley on the Woolclip stand. (If persuasion in the dress department fails maybe she'd go for a pair of these!)

View from bedroom window Saturday evening.

Hands up everyone that knew Ayres Rock was in Cumbria then?

Young Herdwick sheep in her natural habitat.

We had a fantastic weekend, met loads of lovely people, some whose blogs I read and who read mine (wore me SUMA T shirt so folk could recognise me) and some who were stallholders. I can hardly wait for next year, though we've decided that a practice run at Wonderwool Wales next year may be a good plan! (They're holding it in conjunction with a food festival so I really do think that SUMA should get a stall!!)

Ay Caramba, nearly forgot the stash!!!!!!

Manx Loughtan fleece (mine, all mine!)

500g from a Gotland ewe (currently washed and drying over the airer. It bears a striking resemblance to a furball coughed up by a VERY BIG CAT at the moment! But I'm sure it's going to be fine).

Handmade basket to keep my spinning accoutrements in.

Two lots of Shetland in different colours (yes they are too different!) along with a free bag of samples from Lenice Bell at Todhill Shetlands at Lockerbie (go easy on this link there's loud highland music!). Lenice actually remembered Ro from last year when she bought one of her sheepskins. What a memory!

Two silk caps from P&M Woolcraft. We were told about these by somone who was spinning them at the spin in so we HAD to go back on the Saturday to get some. At £2.25 each it would have been a crime not to. Of course we made most of our other purchases on Saturday too, despite spending from 10-30 am till 5-oopm on Friday there!

And that really is just about it. I hope no-one's computer has crashed under the weight of pictures in my post. See you all next year.

Okay, I was going to talk about Woolfest.

2007-07-06T12:25:00.000+01:00

But!

I am so bloody angry that I feel the need to have a rant first.

I got back from my run this week to find a card through my door saying that the postman had tried to deliver a parcel. Yippee; the Ecco boots that I'd bought on ebay to replace the much loved pair that had died some time ago after many years of good service but which Ecco no longer manufacture.

Resisting the temptation to collect them before work yesterday I decided to do it on my day off as I'd be going shopping anyway. So this morning I made a list of all the things I needed to do in town (efficient) and drove in, only realising as I got out of the car in Tesco's car park that I'd forgotten to bring the card (marginally less efficient).

"Damn" I thought, "bet I haven't got any proof of ID either". So I looked in my purse and discovered that I had my digital Tacho card. Now bear in mind that a digital tacho card is an official government document from the DVLA. It bears not only my name, address, driving details but a photograph of me as well! Okay it's not a particularly good photograph, it's certainly not a flattering photograph, but you CAN tell that it's ME!

Was this good enough for the parcels office at the post office? Of course not. "You'll have to come back with the card." They said.

I asked why when I had proof positive that I was the person to whom the parcel was addressed I needed to have the card as well. Apparently it's in case I'd just picked up the ID in the street.
"BUT" I pointed out "If I'd picked up the ID in the street I wouldn't know that there was a parcel waiting for me AND it wouldn't have my photograph on it." Not good enough, "The Rules" say that I have to have the card and no-one is going to override "The Rules", not the minion on the desk, not his equally brain dead supervisor.

What's to stop someone finding the card in the street and going in to collect the parcel? The answer is that they have to check IDs too (of which a credit card is an example, no photograph on a credit card of course). They don't keep a record of the id that's used to pick up the parcel or the name of the person that picks it up, just a signature. Can YOU read other peoples signatures?

Basically "The Rules" are there to cover their arses if they give a parcel out to the wrong person, it won't prevent a thief picking a parcel up but it will be proof that they've done everything possible to ensure that they've done "The right thing". Which I could just about accept if it were true. But it's so obviously NOT BLOODY LOGICAL!!!!!

I can have the parcel re-delivered, but I'm supposed to be going to Ro's this weekend and I'll be driving again next week (such a drag having to work for a living isn't it dahlings!). Oh, not going to be in? Perhaps I can arrange for someone to be in when the parcel comes; a friend or neighbour or member of my family. No they can't say what time it'll be delivered. I can (get this) have it delivered to ANOTHER ADDRESS! This without them even checking that I'm who I say I am. Despite the fact that I have ID, they are so wedded to "The Rules" that nobody has even asked to see it!

I used to think that privitisation was a bad thing but I'm starting to have a re-think. These people are supposed to be fighting for their jobs and expect the public to support them FAT BLOODY CHANCE! I am so glad that I have a job that allows me to make decisions based on the facts before me and that if I screw up or make a bad decision I have to take responsibility for it, but at least I CAN TAKE A DECISION. If I piss off my customers they know that it's me doing it, not "The Rules". When I refuse to take payments in cash it's because I'm not happy with carrying cash around in the truck, not 'cos I'm told I can't, and I tell people that.

Right! Okay! That's it! Rant over, I can feel a letter to the Postmaster General coming on next (I think I'm turning into my dad, he and the PG were practically pen pals towards the end of his life!) Tomorrow Woolfest (or possibly even later today, lots of pics to sort out!)

So many posts in a single week

2007-06-27T13:00:00.001+01:00

I just got back from shopping and I saw these and had to buy them (no not the eggs). They're just so cute and they remind me of the brightly coloured plastic cups and saucers etc. that we used to have when we were little.

I was a bit surprised when I took them out of the packet and found that instead of being rigid plastic they were rubbery and bendy. Well cool though!

Roofer's just been round to tell me he'll start on my roof next week. There was a bit of a mix up. I thought we'd arranged for him to start this week, but apparently the last time I spoke to him I said that I'd have to start saving up, so he thought the job was on hold. Luckily I rang him on Monday or neither of us would have been any the wiser.

I have no idea what I said to him the last time we spoke as he (rather foolishly) rang me at nine thirty on a Tuesday evening at which time (as my regular readers will know) I am tucked up in my duvet having worked a fifteen hour day which starts at three in the morning. Scared the life out of me when my mobile went off as I was fast asleep! He wasn't to know though.

Anyhoo, whole thing now sorted and roof will be off next week (gulp), hope the weather's improved by then!

Things seem to be getting back to normal and luckily the M1 has re-opened this morning after being closed all day yesterday due to the threat of inundation should the Ulley reservoir dam burst. I hope that all the SUMA drivers made it home last night from the Monday/Tuesday runs, most of them come back up the M1 so god knows how they managed. Imagine that the Sheffield run was something of a washout on Monday too.

I say luckily because Ro is driving up today, she'll be coming up the motorway and we don't want anything to stand in the way of our setting out tomorrow for Cumbria. Woolfest here we come.

I'm still not sure.....

2007-06-25T11:48:00.000+01:00

...........about this scarf. I loved the picture of the finished item in I.K. and I like the stitch pattern and love the colour of the yarn (which I am having real trouble getting a good picture of as the light is so awful at the moment) but I'm not entirely convinced by the shape of the scarf in real life.

Here's a reasonable shot of the colours!

The problem is that the scarf is, well, it's a scarf. And I'm not sure that yarn as luxurious as this wants to be just a scarf. I think it wants to be a stole or a wrap.

A scarf's a bit dull

a bit everyday

a bit mundane

and a bit long and thin. My concern is that it'll just look like a long thin stringy thing.

Thing is that I'm not really a wrap or a stole kinda gal. I can see me wearing it as a scarf, but probably not as a stole or a wrap. I guess I may as well finish it now (it's nearly done) and see how I feel then, rather than frog it right away. It may only need to be a bit wider and shorter than it is now.

Told you Ro; the blue toque of indecision!!!

Oh by the way re. the fringe problem. I measured off the whole length required for the fringe and just cut that off in one piece rather than in 200 pieces; that's the small ball on the right in the first picture.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot. I'm entering the "Tour de Fleece" this year (see also button in sidebar). I realise that it's a gruelling challenge and I suspect that I'll be way back in the pelleton if not the lanterne rouge rather than up with the tete de la course. Anyone else up for it? Lets see those wheels spinning!

That's me done for the next week

2007-06-22T09:07:00.000+01:00

Yes! Hurrah! The holiday starts here!!!!

And not a moment too soon, this has been one of the less enjoyable weeks of my life. Lack of sleep; problems with my run; general ennui. But now I have nothing to do except look forward to

WOOLFEST

Complaining continues for most of the rest of this post so if you can't face it just ignore the rest of it and wait for the next one instead!

I say there's nothing to do but I have quite a lot of stuff to organise and loads of money to spend before then. The car is being M.O.T.d as we speak (failed first time on several bulbs and a leaking CV joint on the offside front!). They also told me that there's a problem with the ignition, but I don't believe them. I gave them the spare key which I never use and they say they're having trouble starting it. I used that key to drive to the garage yesterday morning and had no trouble at all. Never do with the usual key either!!

Once that's sorted I have to tax it, renew the breakdown cover and probably insure it as well (these things all come together when you buy a car from a garage of course as tax and MOT are done when you buy it!!). I have a guy coming to mend my kitchen roof next week (I hope he's coming next week anyway) as it's been leaking since last Autumn. I'm not even going to tell you how much that will cost!

Two weeks ago my oven stopped working so I had to get that fixed. The first week the guy came to look at it he didn't have the part, had to order it. So while he was there I thought he may as well service my gas fire and boiler as neither had been done since my moving in (in 2000) in the first instance, and fitting (in 2002) in the second. So he did them and the following week returned to fit the part. Suffice it to say that what he made from me will go some way towards paying for his holiday in Costa Rica!

It's jolly lucky that I'm normally such a tight git or I wouldn't have the money to pay for all this. However I am a tight git so I do (I just resent having to).

Sorry to go on about money, I can afford it all so it's not as if I'm in a particularly tight spot but I just need to get this moan off my chest then I can be all glad and holiday like and start looking forward to four days in Cumbria full of scenery, knitting, spinning and like minded folk.

Oh yeah, speaking of which we've got a new contract worker at SUMA who's come in over the summer to help cover the driving rota. She's going to be driving my run next week. She asked me if I was going anywhere nice and I said (a little sheepishly (pun intended) as you don't know how muggles will react to this kind of information) "I'm going to a wool festival".

"Ooooh" she said "Like for knitting?" Turns out that she was wearing one of her own creations (knitting machine) and that she'd done a textiles course then worked for a (commercial) spinning company previously. hah hah, us textile types get everywhere!

You can call me chicken...

2007-06-15T14:17:00.000+01:00

... but I'm finding it very difficult to start the "Montego Bay Scarf" I mentioned from the latest Interweave Knits. This has something to do with the fact that I'm using Handmaiden Sea Silk (£17 per skein) and the first instruction in the pattern reads;
"Cut 200 12" lengths of yarn" (for the fringe at the ends).

Do you think I'm being unreasonable?

Should I just bite the bullet?

or

Should I find another pattern?

p.s. do you like the girls? They're supposed to be garden ornaments I think, but if I put them out in the garden the fox might get them!

Cotswold Farm Park

2007-06-14T18:38:00.000+01:00

Saw a sign on Wednesday as I drove out of Bourton-on-the-Water advertising a "Wool Weekend" at the Cotswold Farm Park. Dunno if there's anyone near there this weekend who reads this that may be interested.

From their website:
"The Cotswold Farm Park is hosting a WOOL WEEKEND on 16 & 17th June 2007 to celebrate sheep, their fleece and all things woollen.Come along and find out about the history of sheep. See the sheep being shorn using hand shears and machines. Watch the craft of spinning and weaving in action. Peruse the shearing equipment and bygones. See what products can be made from wool. Take the opportunity to purchase fleeces and woollen products"

Honley Show and UFO

2007-06-10T10:04:00.000+01:00

Well we went to Honley Show yesterday as promised and had a lovely time. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I only have one picture which I took using Ro's camera.

Highland cow and calf. Aint he a cutie? They were both a bit naughty and didn't want to be led round the ring, but in those coats and in that weather who could blame them?

The show was smaller than I expected, lots of classes but not a lot of entries in them. I imagine this is probably down to the problems with farming nowadays, hard enough to keep your head above water at the best of times. This was a shame I thought, especially as there were loads of spectators there, so clearly an interest in the event.

There was a stand with some Alpacas on from Holmfirth, they'd just been shorn so looked a bit odd. they were the same as the one's I saw at the farm shop, but they had some friends with them too.

Sandy was there, of Yorkshire Woolybacks fame showing her Ryeland sheep (who have little wooly faces so are also kinda cute and teddy bear looking.) There were horse classes, dog classes, cattle, goat, pig, and sheep classes. There were vintage tractors and vintage car and motorcycle displays. There was all sorts of stuff going on.

There was a tent with handicraft competitions in including (scary) soft toys and ........

...........things made out of vegetables?????

We were very good and hardly bought anything (I nearly bought some alpaca but Ro wouldn't let me!) Got lotsa fun cheese from the cheese stall including Yorkshire Blue; some Wensleydale made in the traditional manner from ewe's milk; another ewe's milk cheese called Yorkshire Fettle (I'm very fond of ewe's milk cheese, in particular a hard cheese called Berkswell) and some Swaledale. Anyone recognise the theme?

It was a baking hot day and not a whiff of a breeze so we were forced to have ice cream (yummm). By the time we got home we were exhausted and unable to do much more for the day than loll about.

Earlier yesterday before Ro came I'd been pootling about tidying up rooms that I seldom use except to chuck junk into (one of which is the room that Ro sleeps in when she comes up), when I unearthed probably my oldest ever UFO.

This is a romper suit I began knitting for my sister when she was expecting her first baby. Unfortunately the evil ungrateful witch took one look at it and said words to the effect "If you think I'm putting my baby in that....." So I stopped knitting it.

Said child has just celebrated his eighteenth birthday!

Very quick post

2007-06-08T14:17:00.000+01:00

Finished pair of "Leftovers socks" These have been a bit of a hit at work, not so much because of the inverted nature of the colour scheme but because I knitted them both at the same time. Many people found this rather a difficult one to get their head round, but it's very straightforward and simple. The worst bit is making sure that the yarn doesn't get horribly tangled.

I think I mentioned that I was using the pattern for toe up socks from the latest IK. Toe up is ideal for these socks as you can just carry on until the smaller amount or yarn runs out. Perfect!

Ro's coming up tomorrow and we're going to Honley Show. It's ages since I've been to a proper agricultural show and I'm looking forward to it. I believe that Sandy Davison of Yorkshire Woolybacks of Kilburn (from whom I bought the fleece that I've been playing with recently) will be showing her sheep there, and there's also an Alpacca display (wonder if they're the one's I saw at the farm shop the other weekend?). I've been living in Huddersfield for many years now and this is the first time that I'll have been to this show though I intend to go every year I just don't get round to it. Managed the Harden Moss Sheepdog Trials one year which was quite good fun.

Just stuff..........

2007-06-02T08:48:00.000+01:00

Well I've been quite a busy little bee but in true bee mode I've been flitting from one thing to another without settling down to anything much. The only finished object that I have to show is a second felted soap (thank you Cledry Yarner for the method). I like the colours on this one better than the first. They are more my colours but they don't match my bathroom which is still the same bilious shade of , ................. hmm, kinda lost for words on that one! Anyhhoo, the same shade it was when I bought the house.

On the spinning front I've been playing around with carding colour into natural coloured fleece again. These are two samples of the Ryeland/Jacob that I bought last year carded together with

firstly some bronze coloured roving and

secondly some greenery browny bluey (with whitish blobs) wool/silk. The next challenge is to card enough to make something with. I've taken advice on the best way of doing this whilst maintaining consistency of colour across the whole amount from the Online Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. The Internet is truly amazing, post a question and get an (almost) immediate response from half a dozen people.

Lastly I've started another (yes yet another) pair of socks. This time I'm knitting them toe up together. Yup, one circular, two socks. It's pretty cool and easier than I expected but would be easier still with two circulars. Unfortunately I only have the one in the right size at the moment.

I'm knitting them from left over yarn. I had about enough of the Trekking XXL no.28 from the Falling Leaves socks left for one more sock (I think), and enough of the Kool Aid dyed stuff I did ages ago for my Pomatomus' for one sock so decided to knit up a pair using both and alternating them . Bit odd but fun (well I think so) and a great way of using up left over sock yarn.

I'm using the pattern from the article in IK which I mentioned in my last post, which has charts for various sizes and you just choose the ones that apply to you foot size/needle size gauge etc. Nice little bit of mindless knitting.

I'm very keen to get back on the spinning, particularly as Ro has booked us into the Friday night spin in at Woolfest (gulp!) and I need the practice. So I was pleased to find this on Diane's site. The Sunday Spin along (see also link in sidebar). I got there via Annie's site Up Knit Creek. Thanks Annie. I may not go through all the techniques that she's going to post, but I like the idea of putting some time each week aside for spinning. Believe the Yarn Harlot does the same on a Tuesday so we're all in good company.

Breaking news: Ro has succumbed and started her own blog which you can find here: Tiggerish Tails way to go sis!

Seven random things

2007-05-28T11:36:00.000+01:00

Kath has tagged me for "seven random things about me" so here you go:

I have a funny lobe on my left ear.
I have never given a car I owned a name (and I’m vehemently resisting the plan to give our trucks names!)
I HATE throwing things away.
My hair needs cutting
I have no pets, children or significant other
I hate it when people call me Raych (and you’d be surprised how many people do!) what’s wrong with calling me by my given name? Is that extra syllable such an effort????
I’m currently listening to TMS* (rain has stopped play)

* TMS = Test Match Special. Ball by ball commentary of the cricket broadcast by the BBC. Equally interesting whether or not there is any cricket happening.

If anyone is unfamiliar with TMS you may be interested to hear the Archive Hour's special about the programme. You will find it here.

Serendipity

2007-05-25T18:47:00.000+01:00

Well, after the completion of the Dublin Bay socks and various teeny mitred squares I've started another pair of socks. This time Falling Leaves Socks from Knitty Autumn 05.

This has been an exciting departure for me as they are my first toe up socks. Ta taaaa!!! Have to say that I am somewhat less than overwhelmed by the crochet cast on which is, not to put too fine a point on it, a complete pain in the arse. I say this because however I pick up and knit the stitches the original chain ALWAYS fails to unravell gracefully when I want it to and I end up sweating and cursing as I try to unpick it without dropping the stitches.

As I had to rip out the first attempt anyway to use smaller needles than recomended and change the yarn (first lot too self stripey) I used a knitted provisional cast on for the second attempt after which things went much better.

I've got to the cast off stage on the first sock having negotiated the delights of a short row heel when what should fall through my letterbox than the Summer edition of Interweave Knits which contains an article by Ann Budd called "Working socks from the toe up." from which I've learned an alternative method of casting on; the Eastern cast-on, which involves no crochet or knitted provisional cast on. She also uses the sewn method of casting off for her socks. Dunno what sort of a top this leaves and if it's suitably stretchy for big calves!!! When I knit socks top down I cast on over two needles so that the leg has enough "give" in it.

The other serendipitous aspect of IK was a pattern by Amy Singer for the "Montego Bay Scarf" which uses one skein of Sea silk. I bought a skein of sea silk from Get Knitted when we went down to Cardiff and have been wondering what to do with it. Now I know.

Other patterns in the magazine which I liked are the following;

1824 Blouson. Mari Lynn Patrick

Oriel Lace Blouse. Shirley Paden.

Origami Cardi. Norah Gaughan.

and Spiral Boot Socks. Veronik Avery.

I don't imagine that I'll make all these or that they would suit me if I did, but I do like them.

My only slight concern is that I thought that my subscription to IK had run out and I hadn't renewed it but that I had renewed for "Spin-Off". Now I'm starting to wonder if they've cancelled Spin-Off by accident. Or perhaps I renewed both. My memory is just awful.

I'd also like to tell you that I deleted my previous post re; Mark Thomas' "My life in serious organised crime" as the listen again link had expired. The show was again not available as a podcast much to my sorrow (boo hiss to the powers that be at the BEEB) but I have to report that the lovely Colin Anderson, producer of the programme and self styled "BBC head of getting my programmes heard one CD at a time", sent me (and no doubt hundreds of others) a CD of the show. What a hero!

I'm not even going to mention what happened at Twickenham last Sunday when Tigers went down to Wasps in the final of the European Cup. Ooops too late. Never mind, two trophys out of a possible three isn't the mark of an unsuccessful season and tho' it pains me to say so Wasps were the better team (but only on the day!).

Congratulations Wasps!

New neighbours

2007-05-17T20:05:00.000+01:00

See who I discovered had moved in at my local farm shop (Hinchcliffes in Netherton).

I dropped in on my way back from Ro's last weekend to buy a tub of Dixon's Chocolate muddy fudge ice cream only to find that these two had taken up residence. They don't belong to the farm but to someone else and are just living there for the time being. Nice to see them tho'. I must find out what the owner is intending to do with the fleece.

Other news is that I finished my Dublin Bay socks and they are lovely; wore them to drive this week and I haven't washed them so they haven't faded yet. I've been knitting little mitred squares out of left over sock wool with a sort of vague long term aim of a jacket of some sort but it's very hazy and unformed idea wise as yet.

The other crafty thing that I've done is felted soap, yep that's right felted soap. Got the instructions from Cledry Yarner's blog. What a great idea. My first attempt (wrapped round a Rose and Geranium flavoured SUMA soap, which is the perfect shape for felting) and I quite like it. Got another soap at the ready to try again. I've given this one to Ro.

By popular request.....

2007-05-11T07:34:00.000+01:00

.....I'm back. My public has been baying for an update (well one person asked what had happened to my blog) so I thought I'd better do me a post.

I've actually finished off a project that had stalled; to whit my second pair of slippers from the Fibretrends pattern I bought at Get Knitted.

You may remember that I'd knitted a pair using the yarn double but thought I'd try a pair using it single too. It's worked pretty well, certainly shrank more than the first pair, not quite as comfy to wear as they're thinner but I'm happy with them.

I did make them in the Mary Jane Style but cut the straps off after felting as my ankles are a bit too thick for them to be comfortable (particularly the left one, which is full of metal).

So now I have a pair to wear at home and a pair to wear at Ro's. She has made a pair too which she gave to a friend but alas I have no picture of them.

I took the picture last night but when I looked at it my legs looked a bit unshaven and bristly and I wasn't going to post it then I had the idea of going over it with PhotoFiltre Studio. I downloaded this for free (for thirty days I think) and it's very good. So I can now airbrush my photos!! (wish shaving my legs was as quick and easy as airbrushing the stubble away!)

The second project that was on hold was my second pair of Dublin Bay socks which I'd started with the remainder of the Cherry Tree Hill "Fall Foliage". I'd completed the first sock, started the second and then hit a wall. I take them along with me everywhere but never get them out!! Poooh!

So on Wednesday I had a delivery at HMP Bla******st (official secrets dontcha know) and I rolled up at nine fifteen, booked in to deliver and was told to queue up behind the Hovis truck and wait. Of course because of security they can only let one vehicle in at a time so I was in for the long haul. Out came the knitting and I sat and waited. I waited about three quarters of an hour so I got plenty done and have carried on since then. Second sock should be finished very soon. watch this space!

I've never done a delivery to a prison before and wasn't sure what to expect. I got patted down, had a very nice (if slightly dim) spaniel hoiked into the truck to check for drugs or something, which went something like:

Handler lifts dog onto back of truck;
Dog (staring out of the back of the truck)- I wanna get down!!!
Handler - Good boy go on.
Dog - I wanna get down!!!!!
Handler - go on, find it.
Dog - I wanna get down, let me out!!!!!!!!!
Handler - Go on, I'm not coming up there.
Dog - let me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rachel helpfully points out the pull down ladder, handler gets up onto the truck and attempts to enthuse dog.
Dog - okay I've pretended to be interested NOW will you let me get down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Handler - come on then!
Rachel - Do you want to look in the chiller unit?
receives dirty look from handler.

I then handed in my mobile phone and penknife (didn't tell them about my knitting needles) and was admitted to the inner sanctum. I didn't actually see any prisoners whilst unloading which took about ten minutes. Still at least it kick started my knitting again.

Is it just me????

2007-04-20T08:33:00.000+01:00

Or does the new blogger keep stopping other people logging on too. It says that the password is wrong, but I know that it's not!! Just had to re set it (again) in order to access my account.

Sorry I've been absent for so long but it's getting to a very busy time of year in the rugby calendar and fibrecrafts and blogging are having to take second place. It'd be much easier if I didn't have to keep on going in to work!!

Ro and I decided not to go to Twickenham for the EDF Cup final last weekend so I was all set for a quiet weekend at home when I got a 'phone call from her on saturday morning. She'd won two tickets for the game from BBC Radio Leicester!! Had to make haste and get myself down to Leicestershire so that we could get down to London on Sunday. I managed to clear it with my area co-ordinator at SUMA to work a three quarter day on the Monday so I had time to get back from Ro's on the Monday morning. Phew!!! (Oh the boys won the game too hurrah!!!!! First silverware for FIVE YEARS!!)

Other things I did on the Saturday.

Went to see my other sister and helped feed the cade (orphan) lambs (there's a regional term for you Purlpower).

Met one of their new calves who's having a bit of trouble sucking so needs to be taught how to go on (alas failed to get photo of sister and BIL down on hands and knees in cow muck trying to teach him!!!)

All quiet on the knitting front I fear; still halfway through a pair of socks, halfway through a second pair of slippers which I'm knitting with the remainder of the Freedom Spirit but single thread this time rather than double to see if it will shrink more in the felting process (I think it will).

And finally another picture from our weekend in Wales just 'cos I like the picture. (Ro was driving by the way!)

And as an afterthought I bought a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk that weekend and I'm looking for a pattern for a lacy scarf or stole to knit with it. Any ideas?

omigosh!!!!!

2007-04-06T09:27:00.000+01:00

Saw these at Claudia's site Heal my life and loved them so much I had to share.

On another topic. I can't quite remember how long ago I finished my "Monkeys", but it's not that long and I'd be surprised if I've washed them more than two or three times. That being the case I was a bit taken aback to compare them to the Dublin Bay Socks that I'm currently knitting from the same yarn; Cherry tree Hill Supersock, Fall Foliage.

I only use Ecover washing liquid which doesn't contain bleach, but the socks have faded terribly. Not impressed Cherry Tree Hill!!!

New toy

2007-03-31T10:14:00.000+01:00

Ha ha, at last I've managed to upload pictures to my blog. I've been having one heck of a time; first getting them from camera to PC (software kept hanging), then getting them from PC to Blogger the right way up. THEN tried to delete the one that was on it's side and the whole lot disappeared!!!!

But now I can show you the picture of my new baby. This is my new Haldane Orkney which I purchased on ebay last week. (Time off work you see, it just goes straight to my head and I do silly things!). Mind you when I saw that the seller lives about a mile and a half from where I live I thought it must be fate!

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks to Ali for your help and advice and sending pictures of your wheel (also an Orkney) so I could compare and contrast. The odd bits (like the leather supports for the flyer unit) look as though they are part of the original so that's okay.

I got two large bags of roving with the wheel as well as a niddy noddy and the Ashford Book of Spinning so I've been having a bit of a play around with it this week and it's rather nice to use. (okay Ro I will bring it down so you can have a play with it, just not this weekend, get on with your gardening!!!).

My other activity this week has been knitting my slippers. This has been just great because they were sooo quick to knit that they were almost finished before I'd started. This is the kind of project I like.

I used the Fibertrends pattern that I bought at Get Knitted last week and I used the Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit that I bought to knit them. I used the yarn double on 6.5mm needles and each slipper took less than two balls for the smallest adult size.

I felted them on a 60 degree cycle on the washing machine along with a pair of jeans and sundry other bits and bobs. They're still a bit large for me and I don't think they'll felt down any more, they're certainly very sturdy. I may try another one with the left over yarn but knitted singly to see if it shrinks any more. They're certainly wearable though (or will be when I've put the buttons on) and I think they're quite cute. I like the colour particularly. Nice yarn to work with, very soft.

Finally best wishes to Als who lives in New Zealand. I'm thinking of you chick!!

just seen this on another blog Rachel's Fibres and Yarns and thought folk may be interested.

Home again

2007-03-26T20:51:00.000+01:00

Just got back from a weekend in Cardiff for the EDF cup semi finals. Lovely time and the boys won so that's at least one trip to Twickenham this year (out of a possible three).

I would be happier about this if I didn't hate going to Twickenham so much, it's one of the most soulless stadia I've ever been to. Still if the boys go, then I have to go too! Ho hum.

Used the trip down to take advantage of a chance to visit Get Knitted in Bristol. Now I know that I'm in Bristol every single week, but I'm on a bit of a tight timescale when I'm doing deliveries and unfortunately Not one single one of my customers is anywhere near where Get Knitted live, so to date I've not had the chance to go there.

However with an afternoon to kill on Friday Ro and I made the most of our opportunity and went wild. This is a picture of what I bought.

Fibretrends patterns for felted ballerina slippers and for a felted hat. Twilleys Freedom Spirit in varigated blue to make said slippers, two skeins of Celestial Merino in Rose/Green/Yellow etc to make a Clapotis as a gift (I think) and a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk at the front to make a scarf.

Ro bought a skein of the sea silk too along with a pattern for a scarf and we wound hers earlier today. Have to say that it's just a wee bit scrumptious.

Finally I've bin and gone and bought another spinning wheel off ebay. This one's a Haldane traveller (if there is such a thing, you get the idea). Anyone out there got one? Think it may require a tiny bit of TLC and I'd like to get some close up pictures of the business bits, just to make sure it's all there.

Tuesday update. I think the wheel is called the Haldane Orkney. It's a portable wheel; looks a bit similar to the Ashford Traveller but is a double band wheel. My Elizabeth can be used as double band or single band with scotch tension and I usually use it as the latter. No problems with the double band on the Haldane though and according to the Ashford Book of spinning this method requires less adjustment as the bobbin fills than the scotch tension. Because the wheel is smaller than the Elizabeth it spins a softer yarn with less twist in it. I quite like it. tends to sqeak a bit so I'll have to get the oil out to it. I would like some advice on how to fine tune it so if anyone out there has any experience of one of these I would be grateful.

And finally, yes we did stay at the Hilton in Cardiff and very nice it was too. I was however shattered to discover that even there they have INSTANT BLOODY COFFEE on the hospitality tray in the room. Pretty poor show I thought.

Happy Birthday .......

2007-03-15T09:55:00.000Z

........ to me. Fortysix today (and feeling a tad older due to aching limbs from yesterday!)

However I've swapped my Friday off for a Thursday off and so am having a leisurely day of R&R.

The last post I put up proved to be somewhat less than helpful, my links weren't working which I have now corrected thanks to Annie pointing out where I had gone wrong (thanks Annie).

I also rather foolishly made the link from the Online Guild to their Yahoo group rather than their website. This led to a spot of confusion as you can't access the Yahoo group until you've joined the guild and Annie (again) got a less than helpful email pointing this out. I've amended the link now so it takes you to the Online Guild's site with details of subscriptions etc. (Sorry Annie).

I also failed to mention that Europa Wools do mail order so you don't have to visit them in person, you can ring or email them.

I finished my spinning on Sunday evening and am quite plesed with the result. I carded the white cheviot that I bought off ebay a while back with some multi coloured green merino from Wingham.

I then spun it into singles

and then plied it and set it in the skein. I'm happy with the result and I have about 210 yards of a double knitting weight. The colour doesn't show very well in these pictures which are a bit bleached out. The green is more pronounced in real life. Though still subtle.

I'm not sure what to use it for, it's a bit scratchy for a scarf or a hat, I'm considering felted slippers but I'm not sure if there's enough.

If in doubt I guess I could always start another blankie. LoL!

A quiet week

2007-03-10T09:44:00.000Z

I haven't got a deal to talk about today and no recent pictures, but I can't be doing with picture free posts, so I'm throwing in a couple from the archive.

I'm still knitting socks but for some reason seem to be finding them heavy going.

Omigosh, tired of socks, tired of life!

I'm using up the remainder of the Cherrytree Hill supersock that I knitted "Monkey" out of to do a pair of Dublin Bay socks. Now I have done this pattern before and I'm starting to think that I only have the attention span to knit one pair of each pattern of sock in my lifetime and I can't ever repeat them. Strange but apparently true. I will keep soldiering on but I haven't even finished the first sock and I'm already flagging.

I don't know if I mentioned that I decided to join the online Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers a couple of weeks back (on the grounds that I don't weave, seldom dye and haven't done any spinning since I bought the drum carder. Done plenty of carding though!). I've added their button to my sidebar and it takes you to their yahoo page. They're set up as a Yahoo group and they have some very interesting workshops as well as lively messageboard discussions and pictures of members work.

One of the useful pieces of information that I found on there was a pricelist for a company called Europa Wool; merchants and processors of wool, waste and synthetic fibres. They live in Slaithwaite up the Colne valley from Huddersfield, pretty much on my doorstep. I went to have a look round yesterday and although it's not fancy their prices are very reasonable. They've not been in the craft market very long being mainly a supplier to spinning mills. I emailed before going and was told that they prefer that rather than folk just turning up on spec. I was very good and didn't buy anything at all, just coming away with a price list and a shade card. A useful one for the future though and very convenient.

I did actually do some spinning last night after being inspired by an article by Lorraine Smith in Knittyspin about blending colour on hand carders. Now I know it sounds dull to be going back to the hand carders having bought the drum carder but the whole process was rendered more simple by the fact that I'd already carded the Cheviot that I used on the drum carder, making the subsequent blending more easy. This is a bit of an extension of what I was doing before, carding commercially dyed stuff with the fleece I'd prepared myself. Love that experimenting though.

I've just discovered that none of the links that I've put into this post are working, I think it's a problem with blogger as I had the same linking from some other peoples pages earlier this morning. I'll have another look at it later and see if it's working by then. Till then sorry.

Rain, Wind and socks

2007-03-02T12:25:00.000Z

If last week was what I love about my job this week was what I hate about it. Tuesday the weather was horrible; rainy and windy and generally bleaugh! My least favourite thing is unloading three quarters of a ton of gear off the truck to a shop that I can't park near so I have to trolley it all in the PISSING RAIN!!! I do get help from the shop owner but even so, the drop takes about an hour and a half which is a bit boring on a normal day but trudging back and forth in the rain is just the pits! I also had a delay on the first day so I didn't roll in to the yard until seven thirty on Wednesday evening and I was knackered.

Still it's swings and roundabouts I guess. Some weeks are good and some are bad, the good usually outweighs the bad (I think!).

On a more exciting (and knitting related) note, I've just got a parcel through the post! This little lot of loveliness is from Astrid's Dutch Obsessions, an online yarn store in the Netherlands. I have to say that Astrid is an absolute star. I went online a couple of weeks ago and tried to score some sock yarn but having chosen the ten balls that I wanted I went to the checkout only to be told that my trolley was empty! Boo, hiss!

Undeterred I tried again, and again. But it wasn't having it. I emailed Astrid and told her I was having problems but she wasn't able to shed any light on it as other customers weren't experiencing any difficulty but she was able to see what it was I wanted to order. When I tried again a week later it still wouldn't work so I contacted Astrid again. Now it would seem pretty clear that I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what, probably to do with cookies or summat. Anyhow, to cut a long story short Astrid emailed me a manual paypal invoice which I was able to authorise and before long the yarn was on it's way to me and I received it today (miraculously on my day off!). I'd seen the Trekking wool knitted up on someone else's blog and liked it (very understated) it makes a bit of a change from the wild and whacky coloured sock yarn that I usually use (though I got a couple of wild and whackys too). I even got a free ball of wool. A satisfied customer (eventually).

Eat your heart out Ro!! (she's given up buying anything over the internet for Lent.)

Next knitterly news is the completed Monkeys by Cookie A. in the latest Knitty. (Talking of wild and whacky colourways) These are in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Fall Foliage. I do like it (in fact I have a pair of Dublin Bay socks on the needles as we speak using up the remainder of the yarn) but I think that these more detailed patters look better in a plainer coloured yarn.

Close up of the pattern.

I suspect that for the next few months I will be mostly knitting socks!

Spring Cleaning

2007-02-23T09:04:00.000Z

I feel very virtuous as I've just spent some time tidying up the "my pictures" folder on my PC. I've deleted shedloads of stuff, mostly smaller copies for uploading to the internet and strange pictures of my knees, or a corner of the living room that I've taken to try out the camera. Also gone are the endless pictures of half finished projects; useful for posting to show progress but once I have a picture of the finished work why bother with the work in progress (unless it's a particularly delightful detail).

I've also tried to organise the sub folders and their contents into some sort of sensible order so that I can find things more easily. I know that it won't last but it'll do to be going on with.

Having said all that, my latest knitting is a pair of "Monkey" socks from the latest issue of Knitty and guess what? I don't have a picture of them to post! typical! I'm knitting than in some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in "Fall Foliage". I'm halfway down the foot of the second sock, so they're coming on quite well.

After I posted last weekend I made another felt panel. Thanks to you all for your response to the first one. Everyone was so complimentary. I have to admit that I was pretty chuffed with the result myself.

Here's number two, together with a closeup of the detail. A friend came round yesterday morning to pick me up to go to work and asked to see the felt I'd made. She's decided that she wants to have a try so I've said when it gets warmer we'll give it a go. She seems very keen.

The picture at the top of the post is somewhere I went on Wednesday to do a drop, I won't say where in deference to my customers' privacy. It was a beautiful day and I saw some lovely countryside. When it's like that I love my job, despite it being bloomin' hard work.

This is the end of the road where I have to turn round

and this is the duck pond I have to drive past. Note the edge crumbling away! I'm convinced that before many more years have passed there's going to be a SUMA truck stuck in that pond! Hope I'm not the one who's driving it.

It's usually pretty quiet down this road as it doesn't really go anywhere but this week I met a Travis Perkins truck coming down as I was going out! LoL! (I was going to take a picture of the situation but I didn't feel that the driver would have been very amused, so I just reversed up and let him pass).

First steps in felting

2007-02-17T11:44:00.000Z

Just made this, my first attempt at felting. It's supposed to be a little bit Rothko. I'm quite pleased with it. I'm thinking of doing a series in the same colours to hang on my bedroom wall.

Here's a bit of detail. I have to say felting is great fun and very messy. It's probably better done in the garden when the weather gets warmer rather than in the kitchen which isn't very tidy. (Ro believe me, you don't have room!!!)

Cinzia

2007-02-09T11:18:00.000Z

Is completed and I'm very happy with it. I even did the right thing and blocked it. The things we go through for our loved ones!

Knitted in Rowan something or other (see earlier post on the topic, I can't be bothered to go and find the ball bands). It does look as if the left hand side is shorter than the right but believe me when I say that it's the way I'm standing. I took a picture facing the other way and the right hand side looked shorter in that one. I love the slip stitch pattern on the band, cuffs and collar, it's beautiful but very easy to do. I liked it so much that when I'd finished the cardigan I used the remaining blue yarn to knit a river square in the same pattern.

I think that it will fit Annie okay and if it doesn't I'll just have to keep it for myself. I'm not too sure about the short sleeves but she particularly liked them as she's an infant school teacher and is always having to push her sleeves up (nasty sticky things children!).

Other news involves me washing and carding the fleece I bought the other weekend.

Here's the Ryeland /Jacob still draining in the bath.

Here's the Ryeland /Corriedale /Manx.

And here's the Bleu du Maine. I just love the variety of shades in this it's gorgeous.

Of course the hive of activity that has been going on has nothing to do with the crazy purchase of this little darling last Sunday.

I am still repeating "I am bad, I am bad, I am wicked and I will die a pauper".

But I don't really care!

Been shopping again

2007-02-02T15:00:00.000Z

Last weekend I took a trip out to Kilburn in North Yorkshire. I'd bought some raw fleece on ebay and rather than getting it posted I asked if I could pick it up instead. Boy am I glad I took the trouble to do so.

The day started miserable, wet and windy and I wasn't too happy about driving up there having driven down to Leicester and back the day before. (Bit of a busman's holiday for me!) But by the time I hit the A1 the sun had come out and I was cursing leaving my sunglasses behind.

I'd bid for two lots of wool (or rather Ro had bid on my behalf; the auction had ended on Tuesday evening whilst I was parked up for the night in Bourton on the Water without access to the internet.) I'd won 500g of Coloured Bleu-du-Maine and 500g of coloured Ryeland/Jacob cross (both raw fleece).

I'd arrived a bit early and took a turn round the village and a couple of pictures for my blog. I was quite surprised to see the white horse on the hill behind the houses. I knew there was one there but didn't realise I was so close to it.

Sandie who was selling the fleece met me at half twelve and when we got back to her house proceeded to pull out sacks from all over the place with different kinds of fleece in them and chat about sheep, spinning, knitting and the Maryland sheep festival which she's planning to attend later this year. It was amazing. Needless to say I didn't come away with only the gear I'd bought on ebay. I was pretty restrained though. An hour and a half later I left with my two ebay purchases plus 300g of Colored Ryeland/Corriedale/Manx cross, some of which was raw fleece and some of which had been washed and carded. Sandie was able to get back to keeping an eye on her ewes which are currently lambing.

Here's a picture of one of the raw locks of the Ryeland/Corriedale/Manx fleece. Isn't it lovely?

I've washed and dried the remainder of that and the Bleu-du-Maine is currently soaking in an Ecovery bath.

Sandie says she doesn't even bother carding this, she just teases it out and spins it in the grease, but I've been thoroughly indoctrinated now and I wash my fleece first like a good girl! It is beautiful though, even without washing.

Knitting news is that the cardigan is coming along nicely. I've just got about three inches of the collar left to knit and the underarm seams to sew up. I'm well pleased with it, though I'm not sure if it will be big enough for the intended recipient. Being a bit of a twit I neglected to take her measurements before I started. I just thought "Yeah, she's about the same size as me".

Ro says she isn't!

Oooops!

New year, new project.

2007-01-19T10:15:00.000Z

I told my older sister Ann that I'd knit her a cardigan and I intended to knit it for Christmas but never got round to it. Her birthday is at the beginning of February and I have started it but I'm not sure it will be ready by then, we'll see!

Here it is anyway, as far as I've got. It's called Cinzia by Mary Burr. I showed Ann the cardigans in the Knitty archive and this was the one that she chose.

It's an interesting knit, quite textural. You can see the detail in this picture of the slip stitch pattern on the band round the bottom. This stitch is repeated on the collar and cuffs. The main body of the cardigan is knitted in twisted stocking stitch. The full effect of this is probably not very clear given the yarn (Rowanspun Aran from my stash) that I'm knitting it in is pretty textured too. I only have four skeins of the gray (one from a different dye lot which I'm saving for the arms) so I'm doing the band, cuffs and collar in the blue which I think goes quite nicely with it.

It's quite hard work to knit as the size of the needles is smaller than that recommended on the ball band giving a close textured fabric, more like a jacket than a cardigan. Hope she appreciates the effort!!!

I was VERY GOOD last weekend as on the way back up from Ro's I went to Wingham Woolworks and looked at a drum carder but didn't buy it! I'm thinking about it, but I'm not sure that I can justify the expense. I have therefore decided that if the Tigers win their game this weekend against Munster in Limerick (which is so unlikely that we are more likely to be spinning unicorn hair next year) I will splash out and get it but if they don't I won't. This is reverse psychology as although I DO want the drum carder I really DON'T want to spend £225 on it (and I would like the Tigers to win although I know that they won't). Does any of that make sense?

update: 19.24pm saturday
anyone know where I can get me some unicorn hair then?

Meme

2007-01-12T11:59:00.000Z

Oh lord, I've been tagged for my first meme by Annie of "Up Knit Creek". I've been kinda looking forward to this since I started blogging as it means that someone out there interacting with you on a different level. I'm finding it a bit tricky though as I don't think there are six weird things about me. I'm just too normal!

Here goes though:

I have a double lobe on my left ear.

I'm a stationary fetishist. That doesn't mean I like sitting still (though I do like sitting still). It means that I love buying notepads and pencils and stuff but seldom use them.

The same seems to apply with yarn in that I seem to prefer yarn to what I make with it. This has become particularly apparent since I began spinning. I suspect that it's not at all unusual but I seem to view my handspun as an end product in itself and whatever I make with it is a step down rather than an improvement. I'm looking for a craft that enhances it instead (toying with the idea of weaving!?!)

I don't do "abroad" and use love of the ozone layer as an excuse for staying at home. I think the old chestnut that travel broadens the mind is rubbish (having known a number of people who don't think they've had a break unless they've sat in an airport lounge on the way to it three times a year who have minds so narrow you couldn't get a cigarette paper through the gap). I travel via literature instead.

I tell lies. I don't do it for personal gain but just for the pleasure of talking b*****cks and seeing how long I can go on for before someone twigs. I always own up to it though, and I haven't done it on my blog. I did consider making up my six weird things though as I couldn't think of any at all at first. They would have been doozeys too!

I like the taste of raw meat, particularly raw liver, though I haven't eaten any for a long time now as you know less about where it comes from now. (We used to rear our own when I was a child).

There you go, I'm not going to tag anyone else 'cos I think that everyone else has been done. I may post some more stuff (including pictures) later today but I really should go and get washed and dressed now!! (the shame!)

Saturday update:

thought I'd liven things up with some pictures of more of my spinning. This is the white cheviot I got on ebay carded together with some commercially dyed merino. I'm still playing so have only done sample amounts of each one.

And this is part of a christmas present from one of my customers. It's a solid block of chocolate (300 grams, note the cassette for scale). It's made by Montezuma and is coffee flavoured (my favorite) though they do other flavours too, and it's scrummy. It's a testament to it's hugeness that although it was given to me on Tuesday morning there's still more than half of it left!

I want to know why although SUMA stocks Montezuma chocolate we don't stock these!!!

Bye the way, whilst I can't believe that there's still a knitter out there who doesn't know about this I'm posting a link just in case. I'm just speechless!

Thank you

2007-01-07T14:15:00.000Z

For all your kind comments about me yarn. Not sure what I'm going to make yet but I have a few ideas which I'm keeping to myself for the time being. No time for more blogging today, busy tidying the house; I'm getting a cleaner and to be honest I'm embarrassed to let her past the front door it's such a tip. This despite the fact that she knows me and is familiar with the state the place is in. I'm hoping that having someone coming in every week to clean will give me the incentive to keep it tidyer than I do. Dunno if it will work or not!!

I know that it's a bit disgraceful paying someone to clean when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself but the fact is that I'll do amost anything to avoid cleaning and if I don't feel bad about paying someone to do DIY type stuff round the house I don't see why I Should feel bad about paying someone to clean. I'd rather spend my free time doing more fun things and get paid to do things I'd prefer not to.

Glow of pride

2007-01-02T11:09:00.000Z

from this
to this.
I'm very proud of it.

I forgot to mention. I took my lap blanket with me to the match on Monday and it kept my poor old knees toasty and warm throughout (and I arrived an hour before kick off too). That was a project that was well worth knitting!

Christmas

2006-12-30T10:47:00.000Z

Last year I knitted all of my Christmas presents this year I knitted none! Wonder what that says about me. Probably just that I have a short attention span. This year alas I have been rather too involved in spinning to have much time left for knitting. I'm sure that it will even it self out though.

I have finished my blankie which I was making out of all the odds and ends that I'd been practicing spinning and I'm very pleased with the result. Here it is being modeled by Gracie (prior to all the ends being sewn in. I have now done this).

I am particularly in love with the last two stripes, the pinky purple and the brown. These are the cheviot that I bought from jazzyhills on ebay, both carded into rollags with commercial pre-dyed merino from Wingham and plyed. It doesn't show up too well in the photo but the dark red that I carded in with the brown gives it the most incredible glints of colour here and there and the green does the same in the opposite direction. I'm definitely going to spin up some more of that.

Here's the arty shot featuring Gracie's bum.

Nextly is Ro playing with her pressie from me. You can't see a right lot of Ro in the picture as she complained that I was taking 'photos of her before she'd brushed her hair. You do get a particularly good view of the jumbo flyer though. Ro will now be spinning BIG WOOL!!!

I have more news but alas blogger is getting arsey about me uploading more pictures so I'll save that for later.

all the best!

HA HA, I may have discovered how to circumvent blogger when it's being arsey!!

Here is the extra news together with pictures....

Firstly a picture of Ro's christmas present to me. It's a Poole Pottery coffee set in the "Pebble" design and I was so not expecting it. A couple of months ago she bought herself a Poole coffee set from ebay in a different design. I saw it and said "Yes I like it, but I like this one better. If I were going to get one I'd get this one." And she went and got it for me bless her. I love it.

Second bit of extra news is another ebay tale. I said before that Ro would now be spinning BIG yarn 'cos of her jumbo flyer. She will be alternating this with spinning teeny tiny yarn having bought this .............. (also on ebay).

Have to admit that we weren't entirely convinced that it was a working wheel, but decided that as we won it for a fairly low price and didn't have the expense of postage as I was able to pick it up from Brighouse (nobbut a spit from Huddersfield) we may as well go for it, and if it was purely decorative we could re-auction it.

Having got it home I was even more convinced that there was something wrong with it as, although all the bits moved the flyer stayed still and the band from the wheel turned the bobbin instead.

I sent some close up shots of the moving parts down to Ro and she did some research and lo and behold it works on the same principal as a Louet.

And it does work, here's the proof.

It's quite a nice little wheel, but boy is it little. When I went to pick it up I had my steelies (steel toecapped boots) on as I was going in to work as well. I could barely get my toe onto the pedal. I'm taking it down to Ro's on Monday when I go to the match and we'll see how she gets on with it.

2006-12-21T07:30:00.000Z

No time for a big post this week (It is nearly Christmas you know!!!) But I wanted to let anyone who hasn't already heard about the Yarn Harlot's challenge to knitters to raise money for M.S.F. Read all about it here at the home of the Yarn harlot.

Happy Hols!

Update

2006-12-15T10:09:00.000Z

This is the washed fleece drying on my airer. I found that it only dries properly if there's air circulating underneath it. If it's on a towel on the floor however much you turn it any water just drains back through. It will dry eventually but this is quicker.

I pegged a piece of muslin (no home should be without a piece of muslin) across the top of the airer and spread the fleece over the top of it.

I just love the way the white looks like a cumulus cloud.

It is a cumulus that looks like that isn't it?

I've begun carding it now. The brown seems a tiny bit matted, don't know if it came like that or if I did it when I washed it. Most likely the latter, but it's carding out okay. Need me drum carder now, it's slow progress doing it by hand and I want to get on with spinning (not a Christmas present hint me duck, I know what they cost!)

Here are the rollags I prepared last night (before I gave up and began spinning some tops I bought from Wingham the other weekend.)

For the benefit of Artis Anne who asked I bought the fleece from Jazzyhills on ebay. Her feedback has been mostly positive, a few complaints about fleece not being clean. It's a bit of a tricky one, if you are buying raw fleece then it will be mucky to an extent. It will require cleaning. Being a novice I don't know what is reasonable. This needed a bit more attention than the fleece Ro gave me, but as I said before most sheep live outside and they will collect debris in their fleece. I've been very amused by some of the articles in Spin Off which talk about keeping sheep in coats to keep the fleece clean. Somehow I don't see that catching on in this country.

Wormhead, I found that the Ecover was sufficient to get the lanolin out with a soak in hand warm water and repeated rinsing in same. In fact there seemed to be very little grease in this fleece to start off with, though it did require cleaning. I did consider getting some of that stuff that you recommended but I have access to Ecover at work (staff discount) so thought I'd try that to start with and so far I've been happy with it.

Fleece Preparation

2006-12-10T12:21:00.000Z

This is the white cheviot fleece I bought off ebay. In fact it's only half of it. Wasn't sure I'd have the space to dry all of it in one go.

Here it is soaking in the bath. The first rinse released some sand and grit but after that it was pretty clean. There was a certain amount of vegetation in it which I've had to pick out but this doesn't surprise me too much. Sheep live out in fields after all!

Here it is after draining the water off after the final rinse. Don't it look lovely?

This is the brown as it arrived (again only half of it). This had much less vegetation in it but did contain part which had a certain amount of poo in it. This went down the loo (I know, I know I should have saved it to line my bean trenches next spring! )

Here's the brown soaking in it's Ecover bath. Haven't got a picture of it drained off but it's now sitting on an old sheet in front of the gas fire drying out.

Bye the way I've re-organised my sidebar to include links to podcasts, both knitting and non knitting. Anyone unfamiliar with it who enjoys political satire do give the "Now Show" podcast a go. It's very funny!

2006-12-08T09:37:00.000Z

Hmm, here's a thing. I spun this up from rollags made from the fleece that Ro gave me (the gray bit) and merino/silk commercial predyed tops from Wingham Wool Works. Then plied the two together.

Because the dyed stuff was combed in varying colours I spun it as worsted, whilst the other was spun as woolen. When I soaked it to set the ply the woolen ply "bloomed" more than the worsted, though before that they were a similar thickness. I'm assuming this is because there is more air trapped inside it. Is this normal?

I'm not particularly bothered by it as I quite like the effect, though I think it's worked better on this than it did on the one I plied with green. (no picture of that as I've already knitted it into the blankie) I would like to know why certain things happen so that I can reproduce it or avoid it next time though.

I've got some plain predyed merino which I can card into rollags and try out plied with the gray/brown fleece and see if that reacts the same way.

I've also bought 400g of white raw cheviot fleece and 400g of brown raw cheviot fleece on ebay which was waiting for me at the post office collection place yesterday. It looks as if it's in good clean condition and I think it was a snip at about six quid (including postage). I'll keep you informed on how it turns out.

Progress

2006-12-01T13:22:00.000Z

On my blankie. I really like it. There's no pattern to it I'm pretty much just knitting up the yarns that I've been spinning (with a couple of bits that Ro's spun added to make it grow a bit quicker) but I like the randomness of it.

I also like to see what the various yarns knit up like once they've been spun and plied. Have to keep it up though, the plan is that when I've finished it I can take it along to the rugby to keep my knees warm. However at the rate I'm going it'll be a couple of seasons before it's finished!

Thank you for your concern about my leg. It's much better now. I was back to driving this week and behold, carrying someone's order into their living room I spotted a spinning wheel in the corner. Spinners are clearly taking over the world, or maybe just the parts of it that I move in.

Happy days!

2006-11-21T10:03:00.000Z

I appear to have been the victim of a "freak sitting down accident". This is an expression my ex used to use if I suffered a twinge of any description whilst doing not very much. (There was also the "freak lying down accident" which could be equally risky).

Unfortunately this one isn't a joke. Many of you will know that I shouldn't be blogging on a Tuesday morning, I should be in Bristol unloading a truck. However last night I suffered what I suspect may be a trapped nerve in my left hip, possibly brought on by spinning. Whilst I was fine when I got home from work by the time I got into bed at 8-00pm (for my 2-00am start) I was in absolute agony. After trying and failing to get some sleep I finally realised that there was no way that I was up for two days driving/ unloading/ and jumping up and down off the back of a truck. I reluctantly rang one of the transport co-ordinators and gave him the bad news (how to win friends and influence people!).

Luckily despite an acute driver shortage they have managed to find a replacement driver at very short notice (Thanks Sharpey for stepping in to the breach). I'm now not too bad as long as I don't move (or for some strange reason, sit on the loo!).

I think that this came about as a result of sitting on too soft a seat whilst spinning. Having my right foot on the treadle must have put a twisty strain on my left hand side and I think that's what has done it. No more sofa spinning for me. I'll have to find a chair that offers a little more support. I hope this will work, don't want to have to give it up completely. Who knew that spinning could be so risky!?!

blankie

2006-11-12T16:44:00.000Z

decided to go for the lap blanket option for using up my bits and bobs of spinning. Here's the progress so far.

Colours look better in the second 'photo I think, but neither are brilliant 'cos it's artificial light.

I quite like it.

This spinning business

2006-11-11T09:09:00.000Z

Seems to be addictive!

Here's what I've been up to since I finished knitting my jumper.

We have clockwise from the top left:

Kool Aid dyed Corriedale. I dyed small amounts of fleece, prepared it into individually coloured rollags and spun them in colour rotation. I then Navajo plied the resulting single.

Black Welsh Mountain and Blue Faced Leicester. I prepared rollags with stripes of the two then spun them so that the colours alternated in the single then Andean plied the resulting single.

Commercially dyed green Merino plied with undyed Corriedale.

Commercially dyed blue Merino / silk mix plied with undyed Corriedale.

I am enjoying the experience of trying out different things but with no end product in mind I fear that I'm going to end up with loads of little bits of yarn that I don't know what to do with. So any ideas would be welcome. I have a lap blanket in mind as a possibility. I have also considered sending the little bits to Wormhead for her collection of bits, but I don't really want to get rid of them. I know this sounds selfish, but I'm in love with my little bits of yarn. (Also they are a learning resource which I feel I should keep for future reference!). I've already found that I need more practice Navajo plying, I'm tending to do it in a rush and panic so the finished yarn is getting bleps (technical term!) in it and tending to be overplied.

I did the Kool aid dying in my bargain steamer, which is turning out to be quite a good buy, though there's not room for an enormous amount in it, you can do more than one colour at a time. (there's another basket that I didn't use.)

Here's the roving after dying still drying off.

P.S. Wore my new jumper to work on Thursday and got lots of compliments.

The incredible custom fit raglan sweater

2006-11-05T11:30:00.000Z

Completed. I'm quite pleased with the way that this has turned out. I'd originally planned that it would be a bigger, baggier jumper but I quite like it as it is and I've plenty of yarn left if I want to make another.

It was knitted in the cashgora that I got for a pound a skein from Stow's of Sowerby on 4.5mm needles (3.75 for the ribbing). I think I used about 3 skeins of the yarn to complete it. I started with 95 stitches round the neckline and increased to 210 for the torso. The pattern was from the Woolworks site. I had to adapt it a bit as the instructions regarding how to distribute the original stitches round the neckline were a tad confusing. (I've just re read them and I think they make sense now. TYPICAL!!!!).

I will almost certainly use this pattern again, it's given me a nice everyday jumper that's quick to knit, comfortable to wear and looks good. (Well I think so anyhow, imagine someone thinner inside it!).

Other FO that I hadn't posted yet was my second pair of Socktoberfest socks which I finished a few weeks ago.

These are just a plain pair of top down socks with a roll top (no ribbing) but knitted with some yarn that I dyed with Kool Aid at the end of September. I'm quite pleased with how the yarn turned out, it looked a bit rubbish whilst I was dying it.

And finally my first home attempts at spinning unaided by teachers, sisters etc.

This was 100g of pre dyed merino roving that I bought from Wingham Woolworks after the course I did there. I have no idea what I'm going to make from it, it's very very PINK!!!!!!!! But I'm very proud of it!

Now I need a niddynoddy!

This is for Woolywormhead in her search for sheep images . The Pink Ba-Ba's are a ladies rugby team and their website features pink sheep drinking pink beer (which I'm sure Wormhead would approve of!)

Now I just know that there's some smart arse out there (probably Ro, it would be me if it weren't me who'd posted it) who will kindly point out that there shouldn't be an apostrophe in their title. In actual fact ba ba's has nothing to do with sheep, referring as it does to the original Ba' ba's which is a male rugby team made up of players from different countries mostly internationals but traditionally one uncapped player is also selected. Their correct name is the Barbarians so I think it is actually correct to place an apostrophe.

Maybe they'd like my homespun!!

Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

2006-10-27T09:31:00.000+01:00

Okay so I'm sat in the canteen at work yesterday afternoon knitting away at my Top down Raglan. I've done the body, picked up and knitted the collar. Picked up the right sleeve and am half way down it when a friend sitting opposite me says "Should there be a hole in it there?"

Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

I've dropped a stitch about two inches below the left armhole and failed to notice it. I must have done it when I was trying it on for size and putting it on to and taking it off a second circular.

So what would you do in the circs? Well I'm not ashamed to admit that when I got home I used a crochet hook to pick up the rows that had unravelled, pull the loose stitch through to the back and tied it off with some spare yarn. No way was I going to frog the damned thing and reknit the body!

Sorry about the break

2006-10-13T13:04:00.000+01:00

I prepared this post last Friday and was going to put it up then, but I was in a bit of a rush (despite having been off work all week) and couldn't get blogger to behave. So I saved it and am posting it now instead. As a result of this you will have to wait for another week for this weeks news! And you should get a report of my Christmas around about the second week in January!

Hope you're all suitably confused. I am!

So remember this is the news from last week not the week just gone!

Ro's handspun and plyed yarn, pre knitting.

As you may remember I bought a spinning wheel on ebay a couple of weeks ago and having got it home was having a bit of trouble getting the damned thing to work. Well I decided that it may be a good idea if I had some lessons so I booked onto a mini spin course at Wingham Wool Works in Wentworth near Rotherham (and I booked a place for Ro too!). Ro has been spinning for a long time but is a little out of practice.

My handspun & plyed yarn, pre knitting

Well the course was on Tuesday and Wednesday this week and it was FAB! I learned so many things and I feel much more confident now, able to identify what is going wrong when it's not working properly. How to set the wheel up to optimise it's performance.

Both of our yarns knitted up, Ro's on the left mine on the right.

I can spin short draw, extended draw, and long draw. I can spin from roving, from tops, from rollags (I can card rollags). I can spin from the fan, from the fold. I can ply from two bobbins, I can Navajo ply, I can Andean ply. All this in two days.

Close up of mine knitted up.

I know how to work out the gearing of my wheel and how to make it work for me when spinning and plying.

Ro's other two yarns that she spun.

My other three yarns that I spun (one on the far right was a bit over twisted I think!.

I know (in theory) how to work out how many treadles I need to the length of draw and the amount of fibre I allow through to spin specific weights of yarn. I'm a very happy bunny, and Ro found it really useful too despite her greater experience.

Finally Ro's silk spun & plyed.

She spun some silk tops that I'd bought for her at Harrogate last year, she'd been a bit anxious of using them as she didn't want to spoil it.
Well worth the cost of the course and HIGHLY reccomended!

And this is this week .

Since then Ro has spun up , plied and knitted into a pair of socks some more stuff and I've been practicing with some coloured tops I bought at Wingham and some undyed Corriedale that Ro gave me. It seems to be working still so something must have taken! Problem now is that I find that I'm torn between spinning and knitting (I'm halfway through a top down raglan at present.). Tricky one that. I may have to give up working so that I have time for both!

Shameless Begging Post

2006-10-05T19:15:00.000+01:00

Well I've done it, I've agreed to do a sponsored walk!

Every year for the past four years the Northampton Saints supporters group "Saints with Heart" have walked the seventeen miles from Wolverton to their ground at Franklin's Gardens in Northampton before a match in order to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

This year they decided that in order to get more people to join in they would also organise a number of shorter walks from various places but all ending at Franklin's Gardens before their match against Borders on 28th October.

I decided that even I could manage the few miles from Old Northamptonians R.F.C. to F.G. so I'm joining in despite the fact that as a Leicester Tigers supporter all Saintanists are my sworn enemy!!(I have to say that it's the law!!!). Of course the real punishment isn't the walk, it's having to sit through a Saints match without the pleasure of watching them being beaten by Tigers.

Anyhoo, to the begging bit. I have a webpage which you can reach by clicking here where you can pledge money to this worthy cause should you so wish. Or you can access it by clicking on the Saints With Heart 5 logo in the sidebar. Please give generously!

Secret project

2006-09-29T17:12:00.000+01:00

I had to keep it secret in case someone from work saw it before it was finished but they've seen it now so I can post the pics.

I'm not entirely satisfied with the end result but here it is anyhow. You see at work I have to wear a high-vis vest in the warehouse so I don't get run over by a picking machine or a reach truck, you can see my standard issue yellow vis vest hanging over the back of the living room door in this first photo.

However I fancied something slightly different but they only come in yellow and orange so when I saw some fluorescent pink yarn on my last visit to Coldspring Mill I had to snap up a skein. I am now the proud owner of a bright pink high-vis. vest (or a high-vis cardi as one of my workmates put it).

I did buy some reflective tape to sew onto it so I can wear it in the goods yard too but the vest is strechy and the tape is not so I haven't managed to attach it in a satisfactory manner!

I probably will wear it, only when I'm strolling around the warehouse in a stock control capacity not when I'm doing manual work; I don't want it getting dirty or getting snagged on a pallet. It's also a bit warm at the moment but will be perfect in the winter, gets a bit nippy in there don'tcha know?

PS. I remembered reading on someone's blog a while ago that she was using welding rods for blocking lace so yesterday I asked a chum at work if he had any welding rods and he's agreed to bring some in for me to try.

His comment "huh, should have guessed it was something to do with knitting!" Bless.

If you decide to try this, when they ask if you want gas welding rods or electric it sounds as if gas ones are better being finer than the electric ones and copper coated to stop them rusting, apparently!