Before I forget...

...it's my Mum's birthday tomorrow, friday 28th July.

Happy Birthday Gloria!

Go check out her new website, which is her present from me.

See, daughters can be nice sometimes. See ya the other side of the festy, in a couple of weeks time! xx

Eek eek eek!

Another photoless post, sorry. Am running around like a mad woman trying to get things ready for the festy. We're leaving for Brighton tomorrow evening to join the others, then we're all heading off friday early morning.

Have stacks of washing to do, bags to pack and all that. There are a whole load of new yarns I want to photo, and a funky bag has been made for the Hitch-Hiker. Righ now though, making sure I've got everything I need for the next 10 or so days is my priority. Tom can't make it all now down to the Big Chill, so it's gonna be a bit weird with the boot on the other foot... him the one staying at home, cat-sitting, whilst I'm away doing the festival work.....

Pattern for Wormhead's Runnin' Beanie

This pattern has been updated, and is now available to download directly from my main website - clicky here!

Incidental naval gazing

I'm starting to wonder if I have a problem with dreaming. Have always been a vivid dreamer, and dreams & sleep have always intriqued me. These days I dream every time I fall asleep, always in colour, often in lucid technicolour. And they're not just forgetful dreams, these are the type that stay with you, that you can still feel for a long time afterwards.

The real problem, I think, lies with the flashbacks. I'm sure it's normal to remember random fragments of dreams. But I get them frequently throughout my day, and not just of the most recent ones. Sometimes these flashbacks can last for many minutes, taking me through various dreams that all seem to contain the same message. I get lost in them, lose concentration, and completely forget whatever I might have been doing.

Being chased, flying, or teeth don't occur here. My recurrent them is homes. Moving homes, to be precise. Think they started in my early 20's, and over the last 10 years or so I could recall at least 20 different ones. Some are clearer than others in their fine detail and colours, but I could tell you the layout of the house for each one. I remember them all.

I had another one yesterday, during my compulsary afternoon sleep. Parts of it are very vivid right now, and so want to write as much as I can and share it here. These dreams are never bad, in fact I find them reassurring. Think I'll have to type and save it as I go, so I can write as much detail as possible. This one was quite different from the others in lots of ways, and therefore significant. This could be a very long post!

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I don't recall the start of the dream, and how it all came to be. It involved our truck, which was supposed to be my home. Tom wasn't there, he didn't appear at all. The only familiar person was me, don't think I even saw any other faces. Something wasn't right; there was someone making me feel uncomfortable. I think my home felt insecure, and that someone was cheating me out of it, or threatening my ownership, can't be more precise. Then I found out that a caravan had been bought, and it was to be my new home.

Normally, I never see the outside of the home I'm moving to. The house represents you and your soul. Each part of it inside, each room, represents an aspect of the dreamer. Moving, obviously means change. So you could say that I'm in a state of constant change, which would be about right.

When you do see the outside of the house, it's meant to represent how you (the dreamer) think other people see you. I only saw the outside of this caravan once, and it was like a brochure photo. It was an old caravan, 1960's stylee. Old it may have been but it wasn't falling apart. The aluminium strips had tarnished through age, but there was no rust or mould, it wasn't damp. It was like it had been in storage for years and years. It didn't have the awful tinted plastic windows that modern caravans have, they may have been glass and were flush with the body. You couldn't see inside, even though there were lots of windows and no curtains. The way the outside was painted was very subtle - just white and a pale creamy yellow, seemed to me like they were it's original colours. The overall shape of it was distinct, in that classic 1960's car way. It wasn't grand or particuarly elegant, but it was distinct. And solid and clean. No broken windows or locks, all secure and intact.

Neither was it huge, it was modest in size. And in that true deam like tardis way, it was bigger inside than you'd expect. Again, not huge, but big enough for me. As I looked around inside, it was clean and tidy. It seemed empty, ready and waiting for someone to live in it. There was no mess, the layout was perfect, it felt very warm and suitable. At one end, there was plenty of storage places, under the seat, even a wardrobe which I quickly found out folded out into the bed. I loved the use of space, as it meant I could sleep when needed without having to put things away or lose any seating. I noticed quickly that there was ample space for all my books and all my wool, and it was as if it was designed for me. I was happy.

At the other end was the kitchen area, more seats and storage. The storage this time was more like the high cupboards and shelving that you find in caravans edging the ceilings. Looking closer and opening some of the cupboards, there was evidence that someone else had lived there some time ago. There were belongings and crockery in most of the cupboards at this end, even though at the other end (the bed end) all the cupboards were empty.

Cupboards, closests and drawers represent your memories and your past. In every single one of my moving dreams, the storage and cupboards of the home I'm moving into have always been the most noticeable aspect. Occassionally, they have been bare or there have been no cupboards. But nearly every time there is an abundance of storage. Cupboards and drawers from floor to ceiling, lining the walls. Every where I turn, there's another closed cupboard. And they are not normal looking, no oak finish or Ikea flatpacks. They are always wonky or curvy, often colourful but always odd and never matching to any other cupboard around it.

The cupboards in my new caravan were as you'd expect, clean lines and normal doors. This is a first; there was perhaps a little more storage at the bed end than you'd expect but otherwise it was all very normal and unintrusive.

So I set about sorting out the cupboards that had things in them. Possessions, mine or of others, never appear normally in my dreams - the cupboards always remain closed, so it feels very refreshing to have been clearing out. Inside these cupboards I found many things I didn't want. They weren't bursting with clutter and it wasn't difficult to sort them out. I cleared out and boxed up anything that seemed breakable - all glass and crockery went. I kept some of the non-breakable kitcheny things (which I'm currently doing in real life for the truck) and kept everything to a minimum.

The kitchen area, where I found most of the cupboards full, represents the dreamer's family, often the mother, and the nuturing side of you. I think it's quite interesting that I was discarding all the breakable things and clearing the clutter, keeping only the bare essentials. The only other time I have dreamt of objects in a kitchen was in a drawer, which was full of sharp knives and rusty cutlery. This time I didn't see any knives, although there seemed to be several dinner sets, tacky and seemingly very smashable (although I didn't smash them) There was also someone helping me clear out at this point, otherwise I was the only one in the caravan at any other time. I remember pointing to all of the crockery, telling them it was going, as I was being ruthless about what I was keeping (no pun intended) There were also lots of breakfast cereals and cakes, all out of date so they went straight in the bin.

The other cupboards above the seating seemed to have bric-a-brac kinda things in them. In one corner I found a cupboard full of old electrical items, none of them working. When I took everything out I noticed that the cupboard was very dusty with a few cobwebs - all of the others were clean and light after emptying. I pressume that the electric items, or rather the storage of, relates to my own energy so it figures that this should be in need of cleaning.

Whilst I was doing all this tidying and clearing, it dawned on me that there may still be things in the truck that belonged to me and I started to worry about them. The truck was parked nearby and so I went over to reclaim what I could.

Now, not only is it rare for me to see the outside of the home I am moving to, I have never ever seen or felt the home I am moving from in my dreams. Not only that, but I saw the outside of it too. At this point, I stood back and was able to see both the caravan and truck in one view. Two very distinct parts of me. Moving out of the truck doesn't mean I'm not interested in it anymore, it means that I'm moving out of my safety zone, taking a risk.

When I got inside the truck, it was full of people, all sitting on the many seats. As in any caravan or motorhome, most of the storage is under the seats, and so it was here. All of the people were strangers, never saw their faces, and many of them found me trying to get in the under-sorage cupboards quite an inconvenience. It was uncomfortable, asking them to move so I could thoroughly go through everything, hoping not to miss anything important. Even though I was supposed to have lived there, all of the belongings and objects I found were alien. I recognised nothing.

The truck and it's storage was messy and untidy. Dirty floors and poor lighting, unlike the caravan which was clean and bright. I started to fret a little, as I was so sure that I still had things there that were of value to me, yet couldn't find everything. I was going through every cupboard so thoroughly and methodically. There was one person I was seemingly trying to get away from, the same person at the beginning of the dream that seemed to threaten my privacy and safety. Have no idea who this was, but they were now the new lodger in the truck. Minky was sitting on one seat in the truck, looking very scared. I said to this person that she needed to come with me, and that she found all the moving very unsettling. I was going to wrap her in a blanket, to make the transition easier. My last cat, Twiggy, was jet black like Minky and moved house so many times with me. She's normally the animal I'm trying to rescue in my dreams so it could have been her instead.

Towards the end of the dream, I realised I didn't have my car with my, and that it didn't have a towbar anyway. I wasn't able to move the location of my new home, but that didn't feel permanent, more a temporary glitch. By this time, the caravan was more distant from the truck. The site I was on was now full of other tents, trucks and caravans, and couldn't see my old truck. I knew it was there, across the other side, as I had to go over there just to double check that I'd not left anything behind. But it was out of view. I seemed able to cope with it being there for a while, until I moved my new home.

And so the dream ended. I was never completly satisfied that I'd retrieved everything from the truck. Nor did I fully unpack and settle into the new caravan, although that was in process. The caravan was warm, safe and home. The only home that has ever felt like 'home' in any of my moving dreams.

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Make of that what you will! It's meaning is crystal clear to me, and it all feels positive. I feel so incredibly light of mind today, and chirpy.

Peering out from under the stone, momentarily.

So many comments and emails - thank you - not sure what else to say. Feel embarrassed and rather stupid for that last post.

I am sorry, too. I do try and keep this blog as my positive space, so that when complete chaos rules my head I can sit back and see that I can achieve something. So am beratting myself in true style for tainting it, and imposing my downers and head wobbles on anyone passing through. I would try and explain myself, the depression but that would be a never ending story and I'd only dig myself a deeper hole. So shall keep reminding myself that it's the chemicals in my brain playing up, the same chemicals that are responsible for all my creativity. It's all part of the fun process.

Good news just in. I'll be off to The Big Chill festy this year. Sheila (MIL) is supervising the build for the Lost Vagueness tent, so I'm going along to help out keep her company and get a freebie ticket (obviously). A whole bunch of us are going down in a truck a week early, so shall have a full week away. Tom can't make it until the weekend of the festy - it doesn't look like he'll be doing much festival work this year. I'll probably come back with even itchier feet, desperate to get our truck finished and get on the road, but at least I'll feel at home for a while. I've been told to take my Hitch-Hiker and some hand-spun, so if anyone else is going, look out for a crazy woman with dreadlocks spinning in the midday sun. Think the Natural Dye Studio will be there too?

For Swapna, some promised photos of Minky and Spook. Because cat photos always cheer us up :) Enjoy the weekend xx

Please don't pay any attention, ok? Well, not to some of it. (should read:- it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to)

Susoolu was thinking about tapestry weaving a while back. Acrylik has bought herself a table loom and is well on her way. Sue would like one, and Isabella uses hers a great deal. And I'm heading into a massive downer with the inferiority complex** showing up first. I'm jealous. Yes, jealous of all the weaving that's going on. Actually, I'm completely envious of everyone with any skill.

I've been (sporadically) photographing pieces of my work, so that I can (finally) get my portfolio in order. So in that classic "please, please, look at me and what I can do" text book insecure personna way, I'm gonna share a couple of pieces of tapestry weaving made by these hands. Now, some folk may know that I've had a lot of training and experience with most of the Textile Arts. Weaving is one of them. I'm not too great with weaving per say, unless it's tapestry weaving. I've worked on all sorts of floor looms including dobby's and jaquards, can strip a dobby down and put it back together again (well, I could, but I've smoked a lot of dope since then) But tapestry weaving always tugs at me. It's it's fluidity, it's freedom to let loose the reigns and get creative that appeals. Regular weaving becomes, for me, like knitting large sections of stocking stitch for months on end. I love the look of it, all that patience and skill woven into a piece of cloth and greatly admire anyone who does it on a regular basis. But it's not for me.

Now, having said all this, the 2 pieces that have been photographed (the only 2 I could find) probably aren't the best examples. See how desperate I am? One of them certainly isn't mainstream, by a long shot. But then I suppose I'm not mainstream. Well, that's a good thing in my eyes. Maybe I'd better shut up and upload these photos, eh? You know the clicking to make biggable thing.

Ok. Only a small piece, made during a workshop when I was doing my degree at Goldsmiths. It has a monofilament warp, chosen specifically to allow the wire and hair to stand forward. The 'hair' is a few of my old dreadlocks, from my first ever crop. I was doing a lot of work with hair at the time (it's always fascinated me. I made a brick moulded from hair too, although it didn't really felt like wool and it got a bit icky even for me, working my hands in the water trying to get the hair to matt)

This piece is framed and hangs on my living room wall - I like it. Hair always seemed to make people react in a 'urghh' sorta way, which I always found daft as we wear wool, which is basically just the same. We're just another animal that produces hair, right? I mean, for my final installation for my degree show I spun and knitted a 7ft square patchwork blanket made from cat and dog hair, which was draped over an armchair that was 'purring' (I recorded my last cat, Twiggy, purring, put it on a loop and wired up the armchair). Folk wouldn't go near it. I was also heavily into the artist Emily Bates, who made a series of installations, elongated dresses knitted from human hair. I wish folk wouldn't be so squeamish.

This next piece is far more tame, and heading for the 18yr old mark. Made from mercerised cotton tapestry threads, on an old A4 Dryad weaving frame that I'd found in a charity shop. It's not great weaving, as the edges are wonky, and at the time (being young) I didn't know it was tapestry weaving - I was just 'making stuff'. There are loads of silver beads and chains worked in, long tarnished beyond salvation. The main silver piece with the eye bead is one I made myself during a short silversmithing course. It was damn fiddly soldering those tiny beads on the ends of the points, just so that I could incorporate it. Even though it reminds me of my naivety towards weaving at the time, it's still out and about and gathering dust.

Right, I think I need to go and buy beer, as there's a need for something to shut up the ramblings of my over active brain.

**yep, it's a downer for sure. Inferiority complexes are tricky and a right pain in the bum. I know that at some point I will wake up and be grateful for being me, but right now I can't see that. This is normal so no panic - I have clinical depression, anxiety disorder and a way too complex brain. 'Nuff said. Oh, whilst on the subject... a word of caution to any parents reading who have kids showing an above normal intelligence. If your child is showing a particular aptitude for something academic, please encourage, not push. If your child is also showing an interest in something you're not sure about, please explore, not discourage. I don't resent my parents for pushing me in certain directions, not now, it's fairly normal parent behaviour. But these kinda kids have pretty developed, curious brains and are easily bored. They could end up rebelling and exploring all sorts of things that could upset you; turn to booze and drugs just as a way of escaping from theirselves. You could hate them (although love them too) for a long time, spend far too long worrying about 'what might have been' and how you have failed, and feel disappointed. If you are lucky and open-minded enough you might, one day, be proud of the fact that your kid has turned out to be an adult with a good moral ground and an independant thinker. But it will be at a cost. Such lessons are only ever learnt the hard way.

Breaking News

Have uploaded some of my hand-spun yarns to my shop. All prices include postage and packing. And thanks for Tom for naming them all. Shall see how these ones go (or not) before I add any more, or set up another page for some hand-dyed.

Talking of Tom, he's been nagging about getting to hospital to get my head checked out (in the collision with glass door way, not in the mental way) Anyhow, turns out that I've probably got a hairline crack in my nose! Does that mean I can brag about breaking my nose? Being as it's still symmetrical and I'm not looking as if I've gone 20 rounds in a boxing ring, there's little they can do. Just gotta let it heal by itself. That would explain why it still hurts after nearly a week....

Some Fo's

Socks! Not a common sight on this 'ere blog. I could take a photo of them on my feet, but somehow that don't seem my style. Nice and long, perfect boot socks. Knitted from the yarn my DOR buddy dyed for me, which is a superwash double knit. Aren't they cool? Maybe a tad bright for everyday wear, so these shall be my special socks, for those days when I don my big boots, stick a loud Hat on and march down the street. Don't see meself getting into self striping yarns much, not of the sock variety, but hand-dyed is cool.

Now some Hats. As if I could go for too long without making a Hat. Some of them still have to remain secret for now for various reasons, yet these I can share.

'Runnin' Beanie' - shall write the pattern up and post it here - a really quick knit. Designed and made it on the train up to Sheffield - that quick.
Made from my own hand-dyed chunky, it uses the old favourite drop-that-stitch pattern which not only makes for good fun near completion, but also means you cast on much fewer stitches. I might tweek the pattern a tad before posting - need to find my notes again....

This was one I was trying out for different crown shapes, only it's not worked as I thought. Think I should have increased less stitches for the body, so that the dinky peak would be more noticeable and pert. The yarn is from handpaintedyarns, and the colours are lovely - I like the way the stripes change with the increases/decreases. I might try it again, so there's more of a pixie feel to it.

Another use for granny squares! I do like this one, gotta say. Composed of 5 largish squaures, each one having a gentle peak. Just stitched 'em together, DC around the rim, and hey presto. The colours alternate in each square, and the colours are worked in continous srtiped rounds, spiral fashion. Green and purple work nice together, don't you think?

And some yarn. Weighing in at 3.75oz/95g, which is a bit strange as I'm sure I bought 40z of the merino used in one of the plies...oh well. 111m of roughly chunky weight, and I really like how the colours have mixed - plain terracota for one ply, the other is a random mix of red's, greens, oranges etc. Might sort some of my dyed and spun yarns and add an extra page to my shop.. or could list some on Etsy. What do folk think - sell my yarns? Would help me stash a little....

Back now to crocheting loads of little horns all over a Hat. A Hat. I'm making another Hat. Fancy that.

Big Brother has arrived

Jeez, this concussion business isn't fun. Ok, so it's only mild concussion but still. The 'cotton-wool-head' I can deal with as my meds do that. Some would say that space cadet mode is rather normal for me. But the restlessness and agitation? And the confusion and weird sleep patterns? No thanks. Thankfully it's subsiding now, but I sill have the bumps above my eyebrow and on the bridge of my nose - is it normal for bumps to last this long? And then there's the constant headache. Tsk. The door I hit is of the heavy duty glass, sliding variety. So no surprise it bloody hurt. And having never had a black eye, I was secretly hoping this would be my my moment but the bruises faded quickly. Oh well.

So. Big Brother. Well, he's the new jumbo flyer! Yey! Now, you wouldn't think getting a mega flyer for spinning thick novelty yarns and getting extra yardage from a skein would be difficult. By enquiring, I managed to cause some confusion and disagreement between two very knowledgable and experienced wheel knowers. A tad embarrassing, to say the least. But I have learnt a heck of a lot about Ashford spare parts! Turns out that my flyer unit is actually from a Joy. And there isn't a jumbo flyer available for a Joy. To cut a very long story short, Martin of P&M WoolCraft has been my hero. He told me we could fashion one from the body of a Kiwi jumbo, with the shaft of a Joy flyer. A little bit of fiddling and adjusting from Tom, and now my Hitch-Hiker has a new attachment. Thank you Martin, I'm extremely grateful. If you ever need help with your Ashford, he's the man to talk to.

And now we're ready for some seriously funky yarns.

The wonderful Maylin sent over a welcome present for the new wheel - check these fibres! Mohair clipped from her own goats, and dyed by her own fair hands. These are so incredibly soft, and weighing in at 250g in total, I am so incredibly thankful! Aren't they beautiful? Maylin, you're a star.

Despite the jumbo not being ready at the time, I had to have a play with these fibres. I set about core spinning, using a black single, about 4ply gauge to wrap the mohair onto. It did keep getting stuck on the hooks of my normal flyer, yet I'm really liking the result. Now that I've got the right tool for the job, there'll be much more experimentation along these lines. Quick to spin and amazingly fluffy, this stuff is cool. Love it.

This is the yarn I was spinning wednesday evening at my Dad's barbecue. I was trying for a deliberate thick n'thin texture, and managed it rather well considering I was a) drinking wine and b) it got dark. There's 100g, hand-dyed (not by me) English wool in shades of jade, turquoise and wine. The fatter slubs aren't evenly spaced yet that's not an issue - I managed to control the wheel enough to get the texture I wanted. Feel like a proper spinner now!

This next one is even lengths of blue and green merino, and then plied with a purchased silk which combines both colours. It's not as constant in gauge as I'd like, but I'm definitely getting better. Not sure of weight or yardage, will need to measure those. It will self stripe too, so should make a nice Hat. Am quite pleased with my plying also.

Late addition:- My Dad has emailed over this photo from wednesday night, of me showing off spinning in the dark (prior to head injury, obviously) Maybe I should call the resultant skein 'drunk and disorderly' or 'dutch courage'? Suggestions welcome ;) That's my mate Sara to the left - we've known each other since school and she is wonderfully tolerant of my sometimes strange behaviour.

Now I really must have more coffee and wake up. There's a serious amount of housework to do and as much as I'd rather play with fibrey things, the mess in this flat is doing my head in.

Just call me daft...

Nobody told me they'd closed the glass patio doors at my Dad's last night. So obviously I skip merrily straight into them, head first. I didn't manage to knock myself out completely, and I landed safely between the terracota plant pots. There's a wonderful bump above my left eyebrow, and a lovely bruise on the bridge of my nose. More bruising to follow no doubt, and thankfully the fat lip has gone down. However there are signs of concussion.

Serves me right, for showing off by spinning in my Dad's garden, in the semi dark under the influence of wine. And now I must get to my bed, as the pain caused a lack of sleep last night.

Don't mind me....

Yet more apologies for being a slacker with emails and such, but I'm sure you'll forgive me for not being able to stop spinning! My new wheel is working a treat, and I've sooo many ideas for yarns that I need to try some of them out...

My free patterns are now up at Hand Painted Yarns! There are a few teething problems, bear with us. I'm so chuffed to be associated with them - they make wonderful yarns, and their ethos is spot on. New link & button in sidebar.

Have fun ;)

All dressed up and ready to go!

Remember how my new wheel looked when she first arrived? Well here she is now - check her out!










The colours are fairly acurate in the photos - blues into jade on the front, purples into blue on the back, with silver detail and grey/black trim. The foot is a mottled purple, otherwise the wheel itself has my 'classic' vortex colour blending - have never shown any of my paintings here, but folk that know them will recognise the style.

The lettering on the front of the wheel is definitions & descriptions of spinning, yarn and wool. They spiral out, so that when it's in motion it has a full on hypnotic effect - my own idea and damn chuffed with it ;)

The back of the wheel blahs on about spinning, although methinks the back framework needs something else, and I can't decide. I was thinking of a funky sheep sticker or something, but stickers are like tattoos - as soon as you have one, you want another. Shall leave it as it is for now until the right idea comes to me.

I made a slight modification to the wheel - having ordered a jumbo flyer from P&M Woolcraft, I need to shorten the 'peak' at the top that holds the tension adjuster knob. This ensures enough clearance for the much wider flyer (Ian from UKSpinners, you were right!) - it wasn't a difficult job and hasn't affected how the tension works.

I could moan on about all the imperfections (there are some, trust me) but I won't - am really happy with the finished effect. I *love* it! It's not as surreal as I originally thought it might be, which is cool. Some parts of the wheel, such as the flyer, were painted and stripped back more times than I care to count until I was happy with the colour and design. Acrylic paint is very easy and forgiving, quick to dry too so once the primer was dry there wasn't much sitting around and waiting. Didn't initially want a gloss varnish, but they don't do satin for acrylic, and matt was too...matt, so gloss it was. It's alright, really, not too shiny.

Now, isn't this another good reason to buy a Hitch-Hiker - to personalise it? I'm so smitten it's daft. She's working beautifully too - wasn't sure if taking her apart and painting would affect the resulting yarn, but it doesn't. Infact, she's slightly better. So to answer Tangelled Angel, yes, I would highly recommend this for a first wheel. I've quickly got the nack of stopping and starting the wheel without using my hands, which makes me look like a pro ;)

Tom's away early in the morning for a couple of days, off to the Lake District with his best mate. So I'm gonna make full use of that time, wash the Ronaldsay fleece and spin, baby, spin!

New yarns and Project Spectrum

The colours for Project Spectrum this month are purples and violets - perfect. I have been lazy some months with the colours, but this one is right up my alley. Gives the ideal excuse to showcase and catch up on a few creations from the last week or so.

Purple Spiral Hat. Some folk may have spied this at WoolFest. It's a simple shape, with a subtle detail of 3 small spirals at the back of the neck. Trimmed with a lush angora. There's plenty of this colourway in my stash, yet thought I'd try something more basic in shape.... I've heard rumours on the grapevine that despite the red and green versions having their own fanclubs, some folk don't see them as wearable. Boring! ;)

Other Hats are on the make, but need to remain secret for now, so let's talk about spinning. Yeah!

After saturday's workshop, and prior to stripping my baby down for painting, I tried a couple of plied skeins (which is when I decided I must have a jumbo bobbin - can't stand having knots or joins) The first one was spun from one of the hand-dyed tops I bought at WoolFest in shades of lilac and purple - it spun beautifully! So smooth and quick. 100g, English wool. The colours have blended and become a bit muted, but that's fine. Plying was a dream - it was a nightmare with the spinning drill, but now I have an on-board lazy kate and I'm a happy bunny.

Then I dug out some Shetland Moorit that's been sitting in my fibre stash for some 7 years (!) It's one of those browns that could so easily look really naff, so I plied it with some fine boucle mohair that I bought a while back from Handweavers when I was out with Flossie. The mohair is soft shades of purple through to heathers, and works really nicely against the natural colour of the Shetland. Again, it spun wonderfully though I did get a bit tangled at one point when plying (I've discovered there is a knack to plying with the on-board lazy kates - using your hands to tension, and making sure the yarns roll of the bobbins in the same clockwise direction) Didn't use all of the 100g of the Shetland, so with the mohair there maybe about 70g? Not sure. Can say though that these yarns are loftier than the first single I spun on the baby, and so have much better yardage.

Stashalong hasn't been mentioned here for some time - kinda find it easier not to keep mentioning that I'm trying not to buy yarn, else I'll get tempted. From the start of April, I was a very good girl. Apart from the one day out, I didn't buy anything for 2 months! No frittering, not even any temptation. Infact when I tried to online shop, I could only browse.

The rules state that you're allowed one day per month to relieve tension and grab yerself some new yarn. So, towards the end of June I did manage to place a couple of orders online, on the same day although they arrived seperately. WoolFest mega shop was on the 1st July, so I'm still playing the game by the rules (just).

First we have some hand-spun and some hand-dyed from this Etsy seller. The hand-spun is a mixture of wools, mainly merino in parrot shades - lovely! The hand-dyed is a merino and alpaca mix and is wonderfully soft. Have completely forgotten how much there is of each, but probably enough for Hats. I know I could do these meself, but you gotta buy other folks' creations, don't you think? Apart from supporting the community, it's lovely to buy something made by another.

The one thing I'm always in need of is plain dyed regular yarns. I never seem to have enough, and the spiral Hats have eaten a fair chunk of what I had. So I go this little lot from Elizabeth's Fibers.

Lamb's Pride Worsted and Bulky - have never used these yarns before, but straight away I can tell these are my kinda yarns - love the feel of them! (hint, hint, SP ;)

Then some Brown Sheep Nature Spun and merino roving. The Nature Spun feels like any other good quality Aran, light and lofty. But it is the Lamb's Pride that I'm smitten with. It's gauge and texture is similar to Maya and my all time faves, handpainted yarns (except in plain colours). A lovely soft, single ply which always wins me over. Why can't we get more yarns like this this side of the water? It ain't fair, I tell you.

Blimey, think I'm now up to date with creations and purchases. Right, I'm off to do the last few bits of painting on my baby and then an acrylic varnish - she'll up and running with her new outfit very soon!

Primming and Flyer indentification

My Hitch-Hiker has been stripped down, primmed, ready for painting. Just needs a light sanding before I can be let loose with the acrylic paints. I hate primming. Loathe it with a passion - it requires time and patience, and so instead of primming one side, then drying flat and leaving for a ridiculous 16 hours before I can prime the other sides, it's done all in one and hung out to dry (obviously) (and no, there are no drips as I can paint too) But it's worth doing, and worth doing well, to get a good finish.

The flyer unit and bobbins are Ashford, and I suspect are for a Kiwi wheel. I'm thinking about getting a jumbo flyer, for those chunkier yarns and a bobbin that holds a decent quantity of yarn. I've emailed the makers, but no reply yet.... can anyone tell me for certain which unit this is?

The end of the flyer screws into the friction drive, and so is probably the most important part to look out for in a new flyer.. I can't see that the maker has machined this himself (too tricky) and so pressume this comes as standard. This is all I need of the flyer unit, along with a bobbin - my wheel has no belt. Any help or advice would be gratefully recieved!

I'm itching to personalise my wheel - watch out for bizzare, surrealist painting in the next few posts...

Update 6/7...

The plot thickens. My flyer unit is definitely a Kiwi but AShford discontinued the screw-in mechanism some years back, and now make them all push in. Which means that I now need to hunt for a 2nd hand jumbo flyer... the plus side is that I'm told all the flyers with the screw-in fitting were interchangeable, so I don't have to search purely for a Kiwi jumbo, just any jumbo with a screw fitting so all I need now is to make sure there's enough clearance for the jumbo. A huge thanks to Ian from UKSpinners for his help and tolerance ;) ... and all because the lady wants to spin more yarn...

WoolFest - part 2

The Haul... I was in full on fibre mode shopping wise, being as I'd had my first ever spinning lesson and my new wheel keeps beckoning me. You don't have to be a spinner to get the most out of WoolFest, yarns were a plenty, though I'd reckon you'd leave wanting to learn the twisting art.

2 skeins from Eden Valley SWD Guild - 100g in purples and reds, 150g in blues and greens, both Cheviot plied with silk (won't tell you how cheap they were) and a gift from Susoolu - a skein of Hello Mango handspun - thank you so much! Have no idea what I'll do with these yet, so shall just continue to stroke them for the time being.

Left - 500g of Blue Faced Leicester and Superfine Alpaca blend - a kinda fluffy boucle yarn from www.bluefaced.com and yummily soft! Right is 900g of lush Alpaca, a soft ply of aran gauge, from UK Alpaca Ltd. Both of these will be dyed up for a craft fairs later in the year. If I'd have been in my car rather than on the train, loads more of these would have found their way home.

100g quantities of hand dyed tops, English wool, from the Spindlers2 stall. There was also a lilac/purple one, but that's already been spun! (it's setting) Then we have 190g of hand dyed Wenslydale tops from the Wenselydale Sheep Shop. This was one of my more frivolous treats... am definiely getting more frugal these days... even still, these fibres weren't over priced and good value for money. Those Wenslydale fibres are going to be so wonderful to spin - imagine all those colours!

95g of hand dyed Shetland.... a subtle mix of shades. All dyed with red cabbage, each one with a different mordant. Yet again I have absolutely no idea who I bought this from... my head was getting a bit frazzled saturday afternoon. I'm really intriqued to see how this spins up... have an idea, being as the shades are so soft, and methinks it will be a bit of a special yarn.

120g of Cotswold, 160g of Black Welsh and 155g of Blue Faced Leicester. All carded and really good quality from Moral Fibre.

100gs each of Merino... there's loads of Merino floating around, and I do prefer to try as many different fibres and breeds as I can, but this stuff is handy for colourful novelty yarns. Not sure why the community goes so mad for it - Blue Faced Leicester is easily comparable and it's home grown!

Some raw Alpaca fleece - couldn't resist buying knowing the name of the animal they came from! There's about 100g each, and will probably dye them. There was a funny moment saturday afternoon, as we wandered around the livestock looking at the fleeces.... seeing a farmer selling her Alpaca fleeces, and me asking how much they were, was dumbstruck when she said they were £3.50 a kilo... come again? Poor woman realised what she said, and corrected herself.. bless. On the left we have fleece from Esther, and on the right we have Ghilli (with photo).. both live in North Yorkshire.

Scoured and bleached tops, ready for dyeing and spinning. 500g of Blue Faced Leicester, 500g of Wenslydale and 200g of Alpaca. Have only just realised that here are my 3 fave fibres, all nestling together.... awww. All of these were loads cheaper than you'd expect - the Alpaca was £1.50 a 100g, £8 each for the Bluey and Wensles. Bargain.

Some slate buttons (treated so they won't flake or chip), a pewter Sheep pin, 5mm ebony & 6mm rosewood DPN's (just as a treat) a black sheep tape measure (my white one is looking a bit worse for wear) The skipping rope is made from Herdwick wool, with old mill bobbins for handles. Love it.

And finally (I think) the North Ronaldsay fleece. Weighing in at 1.25kg, there should be around 1.1kg left after scouring or there abouts, as it's a pretty clean fleece. These fella's are rare breeds, although this one didn't come from the Orkney Isles or have a diet of seaweed (although it's still had specialist care and a careful diet) After my first raw fleece, am gonna need to book the bathroom as Mr Tom complained about the bath being out of action for a couple of days (it was a filthy fleece, mind) He doesn't like the smell of warm lanolin either, but tough luck matey ;)

Well, I did buy a lot, eh? It's not all for me, much of it will become Hats or yarns for selling at craft fairs. Can you imagine the fun I had yeserday, trying to cross London in this heat on the tube, with my spinning wheel, suitcase and this lot? Am still really exhausted... the last few days have been such fun and am so glad I made it, but like SkipNorth, it's gonna take me a while to recover. Think I need sleep *again*....

WoolFest - part 1

Where do I start?! WoolFest was brilliant. Loved it. Those that camped all had the right idea - you do need the two days there. The site isn't huge, just so many things to see.

PurlPower had booked herself onto a spinning course first thing saturday, but wasn't feeling up to it and so offered me the ticket. What would you say to such an offer? And so my wheel had it's first outing (and she's going to get a yummy pressie in return for her generosity) Even though I was itching to get in and fondle all that fibery goodness and behave like a kid in a giant sweetshop, I wasn't gonna turn down a lesson on longdraw and hope for a little help with my wheel.

All the other spinners on the course had big wheels, mainly Ashfords. And it didn't take long before I felt like a blundering fool trying to get my wheel to play nicely. Y'know how it is, when you start making silly mistakes with your imaginary dunces Hat on... you just keep making more. Turns out the main problem I had was that I hadn't thought to turn the tension completely off.... duh. Now it runs so smoothly and doesn't even grab. So even though I didn't manage as much as the others in the workshop, I did come out knowing my wheel better. A few gaps in my knowledge were also filled in (for instance, my wheel is scotch tension) and now feel like I know what I'm doing. Brilliant. I have confidence with my spinning again. Thanks again Helen - you're such a star! And here she is in the green pixie Hat.

After the course, it was time to meet people and get shopping! And man, there was a lot to see. Wool and fibres and yarns and wheels and sheep and more sheep.... I just didn't manage it all. 2 days are needed, for those planning next year. And what I liked the most was that this was a 'proper' show - not just about stash enhancement, but a chance to learn and revel in wool. Few commercial yarns and a chance to buy directly from the craftsman or farmer, which is right up my street. Ally Pally and Harrogate don't compare for quality and value. This show is the real macoy.

Let's not forget the sheep! Sheep rock. I refuse to eat lamb on principle. Anyhow, there were shearing demonstrations, and even a chance to try yourself except I didn't manage any of these :( Lots of breeds in pens to chat too (well, I chat to them) Raw fleeces were in abundance, and even though I resisted I came home with a North Ronaldsay fleece for a bargain price of £8, 1.25kg. The Wenslydales were my faves - dreadlock sheep - yey! It was mightily hot and it unsettled me seeing them all panting in their pens - wanted to get inside, give them loads of water and a cuddle.

Lots of fibre artists and exhibitions to see - missed most of these, which is a shame. Infact, I hardly took any photos so if anyone else has shots they don't mind letting me have a copy of, please let me know... I'm a bit anal about keeing a full account of such shows, including picking up all the leaflets, getting samples, taking photos and so on.... one day I'll share all my notes and the mass of files, all sorted by category...;)

Spent a fair bit of time hanging out with Susoolu and BlueAdt, which was cool. I'd not met Susoolu before, even though we've become rather pally via email, and she's just as lovely in person (btw, your cardy looked great, so stop moaning about the blocking and finishing) She did have the advantage at spotting me (damn hair is a give-away), as she is rather good at avoiding photos of herself. I could say loads more about our chats but I'll honour privacy and keep schtum ;)

Apart from Helen, Flossie was also there as part of the Newcastle clan. GlittrGirl was there but I missed her. It was great to meet the Scottish clan again in the form of Spinning Fishwife and Gourdon Girl. Isabella did make the most of the show, so I'm hoping she'll share about playing on the giant wheels and shearing sheep. Ra spotted me (or rather she spotted my dreads) and I spied Mary too. I'm sure there were plenty more bloggers there - lost count of who I said hello too!

I seemed to be having trouble spending my full budget (!) (and more on that later) - time ran out. At one point I dashed off to hide my Hitch-Hiker in my Mum's car, as it was getting so much attention (don't get me wrong, it was cool to have a little crowd gathering each time I got her out of her bag) but I needed to shop! So can you believe I came home with money in my pocket? Sunday, me and Mum chilled and spun, obviously. As you may remember, Mum's got my Ashford Traditional, and here's a shot of my 2 wheels together - spot the difference. Must confess tho, doubt I'll get the Ashford back. I don't mind, as I've no space for it and Mum needs a wheel.... we'll just have to come to some arrangement ;)

Now I need to dash off to the sorting office to pick up a parcel (more yarn!) and then methinks another stint in bed is needed. Coming up in Part 2 - The Haul.

4kg heavier...

I am back, honest! Arrived home this afternoon... being as I was staying with my Mum in Sheffield, I kinda figured that it'd be less stressful to come back today.

Friday's meeting was a formality, and went as you'd expect. Except that they've still not had a report from my consultant, so another meeting has been scheduled for sept 15th. I've had the 'job at risk warning', which is all part of the procedure - knew it was coming. No major stress, surprisingly.

Anyhow's, me need more sleep - full lowdown on WoolFest tomorrow!