Wonderful Wonderwool Wales

We had the most fantastic weekend at WW last weekend and I have to say the best fibre fest I have been to so far, bigger that Woolfest , well there were over 140 stalls there.It didn't feel as cramped and frantic as Woolfest either as the aisles were wider which was a blessing for me but then its a much bigger building so they have room to grow. Okay there was no Winghams or P&M but who knows, next year? I heard that Ruth from Winghams was there ;-) I have to say they weren't missed by me this time as I had bought stuff from them recently and I do love to see the smaller more diverse sellers at these shows. The likes of Freyalyn and Fyberspates, Forest Fibers (which I have bought off from E-Bay ) and so many more which get better each year in the range they sell.
The weekend started on Friday when we arrived at the show and we, and friends of ours were parked so close that it was an easy walk (200 yds )from the van. We were also lucky that we bumped into Wye Sue who told us to look authoritative and just walk in , which we did so we had a 'preview' of what was on offer when the doors opened the following day . So it was mad dash the following morning and in fact before the doors we officially opened that we were standing at Posh Yarns stall. It was amazing to see so much of that lush yarn and to be able to pick just what you wanted without it all having been sold . I haven't been lucky enough lately with their Sunday sales for yarns that I really wanted so it was a treat to get just the right shades I was looking for.



I have enough to keep me busy for a bit now in the shawl department;) and in fact I have cast on and nearly finished a Forest Canopy shawl after Kath was nagging me at what an easy pattern it was and boy it is. Totally mindless which is nice as I have just finished 'Laminaria' which wasn't difficult but needed concentration for the last part. Concentration is not my strong point at the moment due to this new medication but more on that later.
This is my haul, well apart from three bags full of fleece, which are still in the shed waiting for a sunny day and energy to wash them.



We had a few bargains like the 2.8 kilo of black alpaca pencil roving from Andy at Blueface.com. 5oogm of undyed 4ply superwash Shetland wool from Scottish Fibre for £12, Two skeins of alapaca laceweight for £3 from UK Alapaca . I bought a few skeins of undyed laceweight including a lovely one , again from Andy which consisted of baby alpaca., silk and cashmere. I needed a few shuttles to go with the inkle loom which I bought a few weeks ago from someone at our guild , a book on weaving using the rigid heddle loom ,latest copy of Yarn Forward which is really good, one of Prudence Mapstones book which she signed for me. So many lovely things for sale and so many talented folks out there. The atmosphere was really friendly and again more laid back than Woolfest due again I think to being more space and I saw so many people that I knew and so many Ravellers and Bloggers as well. It was also lovely to meet up with new folks and make new contacts as well . The only downside for me was the Hogg Roast which was disapointing with hardly any meat at all and in fact they ran out of hogg :( but again the company was wonderful and we topped up with food later !!
A group of us went to Prudence Mapstone's workshop and it was brilliant. What a lady she is , always smiling, always gracious and generous with her time and I just wish that the workshop lasted longer , maybe next time. I bought another of her books which she signed for me, along with the other book I had brought with me and I also bought a handbag form to make my own funky bag.
I am glad that we were there for the two days and being on site I could retire when I was tired but even so I still didn't get to see it all thoroughly as I kept getting waylaid with chatting to various folks and going in the opposite direction I intended to. Then that is the fun of these events I think , the meeting and chatting with folks which is like a big family gathering and if we do go to Woolfest then that is what I will go for, the meeting up with folks .I certainly don't need any more 'stuff' as I have more than plenty to keep me going for years. I am really, really trying now to buy just what I need as I have arrived at saturation point with 'stuff' I have been really good and have organized my stash of yarns and Tony has built me a cupboard which covers a wall in the small bedroom and now I can see what I have which is a great help as things got 'lost' before and I forgot half the stuff I had .
One of the interesting observations I have made in these fibre fests , shops etc and indeed in my own stash is the increase of exotic fibres like alpaca , cashmere , silk etc and how we all lust after them I do wonder how ecologically sound they are when we have lovely 'homegrown ' stuff . I did read on Ravelry how one stall holder overheard someone commenting on how she thought the yarn was expensive and there were replies that said, rather nastily,that if she wanted acrylic then she had come to the wrong place. Now I too love these luxury fibers but that is what they are , luxury,and there will come a time when I can no longer afford them and indeed a lot of folks I know and admire in their handicrafts grew up in a time were things like this were unheard of but their skills more than made up for their lack of material choice. It seems as if there has developed a snobbery about yarn as in other things in that what you have been able to 'get' somehow classes you as better but these yarns are just another acquisition of what you have and not what you are and indeed some never get used or see the light of day again. What a waste and how sad a world we live in and I too have been just as guilty of it and of course the Internet feeds this 'must have' mentality as each new pattern yarn etc is released. My excuse was 'it's a bargain ' well I am afraid its only a bargain if it gets used and so from now on I am committed to buying only what I need.
Right end of grumpy old woman rant and lets talk about what I 'needed' LOL.
I wanted to spin my own yarn from my teenage years after seeing photos of my Hen Nain (great gran )spinning and I guess its in my Welsh blood ;-) but I could never afford it whilst the children were growing up and so now is 'my time' My ambition was and still is to be able to spin all my own yarn , something that has got a little lost lately . When I see garments that some of the guild members both male and female have made from scratch I am in total awe. So when I bought my Ashford Travellar I was thrilled , a dream come true at last . Now I had tried lots of wheels but there was one I hadn't and the very week after I bought my new wheel I knew I had made a mistake . The wheel was a Lendrum and it was the smoothest wheel to treadle that I have ever used. You don't see that many of them but those you do all the owners are thrilled with them. True I have created lots of lovely yarns on my Ashford but there were things that always annoyed me. I kept knocking my legs of the bar , it really isn't as portable as all that but it does 'travel' well when spinning at speed !! I also could never find a comfortable enough chair to spin in for long periods . Well the opportunity presented itself when in passing I mentioned to someone that I was thinking of selling it and she said she would buy it . Thankfully I didn't lose much on it as it was just over a year old and the lady is well pleased too. So there I was without a wheel apart from borrowing Tony's . So I phoned P&M Woolcraft and spoke to Martin and said I wanted a Lendrum but that I also did like the Majacraft Suzie and he said, go for the Lendrum and that I would not be disappointed .I thought that was really good of him as I would have spent more if I had gone for the whole deal on a Suzie. So I bought the deal where you had the jumbo and fast flyer as well and I also bought the bag to carry it all. Now I have the perfct wheel for me, that does it all and packs down brilliantly for taking in the motorhome and guilds. The fast flyer is superb and I have never been able to spin yarn so fine and have I said how smooth it is to spin, so easy ;-)? Oh and I can spin whilst sitting on the sofa watching TV which I am so happy about . It is also very quiet unless I am spinning at speed then the flyer humms and as Kath says , it sounds like a bee . The one thing I have had to get used to is to slow down my treadling as I was used to treadling more on the Ashford so now I can spin for longer without the aches and pains. I also love its solid clean , uncluttered,contemporary look which is far more solid than the Ashford and the bobbins are so much smoother. Have I convinced you yet that I love this wheel ?
Here she is


I have had a spinning frenzy of course since I received her a couple of weeks ago and we have already created some lovely yarns which of course I haven't photographed (must get more organized )

This is 100gm of merino/tencel tops which I have spun 2ply and there is 385yds so enough for socks but sadly not enough for making the shoulder version of Laminaria which is what I had hoped. Talking of Laminaria here it is



I do have other FO's which I haven't taken pics of or put on Ravelry either so will try and remember to at least put them on Rav for my own record at least.
Next week we have a dyeing (acid) day with the Meirionedd Guild which should be fun and I am taking loads of lovely soft homespun to dye up. Then two weeks later it will be Ziggy, the famous lucet tutor at the Lleyn guild. So many things to learn and look forward to.

Health wise I am still up and down . I inject myself every 15 days and now that it's down to one dose I don't get the headaches as bad but they still last about four days. Not sure as yet if this treatment is doing me any good and I am trying to weigh up the pros and cons of it. As far as my joints are concerned as it is originally a medicine for arthritis,it hasn't shown much improvements which is a shame as I was hoping for more mobility and boy I need it after Wonderwool . I have paid for all my hyper energy at the weekend!! Still I will keep at it for a while longer as I really don't want to go back on steroids if I can help it Oh and the nurse came to visit me the other day to make sure I was injecting myself correctly and said that each dose cost £400 yikes !!

Time out

Sorry folks however much I may want to , I am just not getting the time or energy to post these days so I am taking time out . My new medication is wiping me out !!
See you at Wonderwool Wales maybe :)

Weeks....months fly by !!!

Well I can't believe were the time has gone to and how much of a back-seat blogger I have become ;shame on me when I have been awarded this by:

Mrs J
Lynne
Kath (my darling daughter )
and Christina
What can I say folks ? I am so touched by all your kind words and I will try harder to keep this blog up. I am so late with this post that forwarding this award to any one who hasn't already had it is impossible but to all those who read my blog and to those who's blogs I read , you all make my day and although I have not been posting it's the Blogging/Ravelry world that I owe a huge debt to for keeping me crafting on .

And I have been busy crafting whilst I have been AWOL and have been waiting to get some decent photos but again we seem to have been too busy with one thing or another.

Well here are my FO's even if the photos are not up too much :(
First I made a waistcoat using Sirdar Click and why this took me so long heaven knows . The only thing I can say is that the majority of it was moss stitch and after 'Roam' I was fed up with doing moss stitch. Still it's a great waistcoat and I am pleased with it.



Next I made 'Jawbreaker 'out of Interweave Knits and I love this cardi even if I did run out of yarn doing the collar;it should have been a tad longer but I did do the body longer . The yarn is the lovely Manos del Uruguay and I have come to the conclusion that I rather this sort of variegated yarn instead of the stripey 'Noro type'. I have more of this yarn in a different colour so I think I might make another Jawbreaker with it.


Oh and a pair of socks . Yarn ,Colinette Jitterbug and pattern from SKNS.Wonder how these will wash/wear ? !!


On the needles now I am making a jumper out of Colinette's Parisienne and I will be glad when that is done as I am doing it on straight needles.(can't you tell I am trying to use ALL my Colinette yarns up !!) I DON'T do straight needles any more but this pattern calls for 4mm needles and one 10mm needle . Its a pain and I am so slow doing it grrrrr feels like one big banana in my hand and the other needle just gets in the way too.

Being 3/4 sleeve the Jawbreaker was exactly what I need to wear when I was making this next lot . Both of the SWD Guilds that I am in had felting days this last month and I really had fun at both and have been doing a lot more since. I have also borrowed an embellishing machine which is great ; apart from the fact that I broke four needles in the space of half an hour !!
This is a pair of slippers for me and I have a pair to make for DH and hopefully will make some for Miss Emily also.


A pot/urn ? !!



These cobweb scarfs are so quick to make




I have been finding it hard to concentrate on doing one thing at a time lately and have had a few things on the go at the same time which is not like me. I usually like to start something and finish it before going on to something else . BUT I have a new passion, crochet :) I am hooked (pardon the pun )
Well it all stared with the fact a few of us are going to Prudence Mapstone's workshop at Wonderwool . So I thought I would have a go at doing some freeform . Now the hooks I had were fine but I was finding they really hurt me so I have invested in some Clover Soft Touch hooks and they are superb so much easier on painful joints.
I have made a few of these in these colours and want to try and incorporate them in a shawl in some way.


Then I thought I would make a freeform waistcoat so I knitted the back and then I made a template for the front and have done loads of bullion shapes .





I love these bullion shapes they feel so organic and done in my chunky spun yarn I think they look lovely.The next thing is to get them together !! Mmmm will have to think about that.
In the meantime I really wanted a red crochet cardi I saw in the shops but couldn't really afford. I have never worn red but I fancy it for some reason . But I just could not justify buying any more yarn either
; lets face it I do have too much and I am trying to work my way through it. So when I won a pack of chunky red yarn at the Guild raffle prize I was thrilled . Okay I didn't really want chunky but hey its free and its 50% merino !!
So I am trying to do this cardi out of 'Happy Hooker'. Well the pattern any way and I want it longer and possibly with longer sleeves also.

I am not sure if its working as its not as lacy as I would like and I am not sure if blocking it will help. So there is another pattern that I have just found so I will try that and if I rather it then I will frog this one.

Well that's me done for , ready for a cuppa now and a collapse on the sofa.Catch you all soon and I promise it will be soon ;-)

Sometimes I wonder why !!

Another week goes flying by and last week was really busy and Kath and Emily came over for a couple of days too. My hospital appointment was cancelled due to the fact my nurse was off on hols this week and she didn't want me to have these jabs until she is there in case I get some severe reactions !! Apparently I will have four the first week ,then three the following and so forth until it's down to one and thereby it will be one weekly for as long as it agrees with me and of course gives benefit.So a new date has been set for Feb 5th. I was all geared up for it and now its cancelled if feels like a bit of a reprieve in a way. I know its silly after all the various drugs I have been on and am still on but I am a bit apprehensive of this new one . I shouldn't have read the side effects and of course it's new so I feel a bit like a guinea pig. On the other hand nursie sounds really excited as I am her 'first one ' !!

Back to my title . I do sometimes wonder why I bother knitting and especially when I have a FO like Roam. Now it was a great fit with plenty of stretch and I really liked it and then I washed it, and now its lost all of the stretch and the sleeves are way too long and overall it's just limp and the collar weighs it down.Posed it looks okay until I move and then it just flops and gapes.




It was done in Colinette Cadenza and I have come to the conclusion that my love affair with Colinette is coming to an end. I am always seduced by their colours at the mill shop and I forget the other disasters I have had with a few of their yarns ( how can I forget Silky Chic ? for one !!) plus even at sale prices it's not cheap yarn. The quality is not that great either in my opinion and as for losing colour when you knit it , my hands were black with this one after knitting it, and washing it even stained the sink !! Why can't they fix their dyes properly or rinse the excess off ? So this is for the frog pond with the other two Colinette FO's which is so annoying after spending precious time and agonizing joint pain to knit it,as well as money. So I vow never to buy any more Colinette to knit a garment with again ; it might be okay for socks scarves,shawls etc but I am not going to be disappointed again. I still have some Colinette yarns to knit up , Giotto and Parisienne and the one which has a big question mark,Jitterbug ,to be knitted up as a cardigan. Will that too drop or lose so much colour that its not as vibrant as the colour I fell in love with ? I think I will knit some socks in it before making a garment . I am just hoping that now that the yarn has dropped in both this yarn and in the Tagliatelli that it will knit up okay second time around. Now I know there are other makes of yarns that have done this and Kath had the same experience with a Jaeger yarn. I also bought some of the same yarn in a different colour but after her experience I have yet to even try it. So it begs the question , do we need to skein and wash our yarns before knitting them up just in case they 'grow' or do we just dry clean them? I don't think so !! unless the yarn is labelled as such.
I was so fed up with my FO and of course Kath was here and had finished her gorgeous new knit and so when we went shopping I actually bought a new cardigan as a compensation. Tony said it was lovely and also said 'surely you could have knitted that' my reply was 'Yes, but I want it now and this fits and looks nice ' Plus at the sale price I couldn't have bought yarn that cheap. It's only my love of spinning and knitting that pushes me to keep trying to accomplish the perfect, unique to me, garment.

Right rant over, here is FO I do like and will make again.




I also made Penny , as Emily has named her some new clothes.Not sure what Islay thinks of her though .



On Thursday I went to the Lleyn Guild which was great,even if I didn't manage to stay as long as I would have liked. I love these guilds as you meet so many talented folks ,and I come home with so many new ideas. It was a spinning day and I was able to do some, albeit boring white tops . My wound is healing at last so I will be able to spin 'proper wool' soon. I have just ordered another of those yummy coloured Corriedale fleece which was so well prepped; you can tell she is a spinner herself. The last one spun up so well and in fact was the best fleece I have bought so far.It is so soft and I need another for the commission I have been given. The lady who owns them ,shears usually in January so booking a fleece is essential as she doesn't have that many and they get snapped up quickly.I may not get it until Wonderwool though unless a friend of mine sees her before then, I am too mean to pay for the postage;)

I also had a lovely surprise this week from Amber



Isn't she fab? I totally love her and her fiery aura inspires me to be positive and just looking at her cheers me up. Thank you so much Amber , that was so kind of you,I will treasure her; what a talented lady you are.
It never ceases to amaze me , the kindness of Bloggers and thank you all who commented on my last post. Its so lovely to know that there are folks out there who care enough to post. Thank you all

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Happy New Year to you all and may 2008 be a great year for us all. It wasn't such a great start for me as I ended up in A&E in Haverfordwest on New Years day after being bitten by the farm dog. Not the best of places to spend the day I can tell you; just glad it isn't my local hospital !!
I had gone to wish our host a happy new year and she came to the door with her Jack Russell on its lead ; now she never brings it to the door usually as it's not a friendly dog at all, but a great little guard dog, which she needs living were she does . She is an elderly lady and the dog pulled her and she stumbled , so I reached to support her with my right hand and the dog got my left hand , that easy. Flippin painful too and also a great hindrance !! She was more upset than I and I just cursed the little 'B' for 'biting the hand that feeds'. It is now on the mend and I will have a lovely scar as a holiday memento.

This is were we were , right on the coast by Strumble Head .






It was a mixed Christmas really and I was glad to get home as I wasn't too well all in all. I had an appointment with my consultant this week and I am going to start a new treatment next week. This is a new drug and I will be the first in our area to try it out. I will have to inject myself weekly with it and although there are possible awful side effects I must give it a go and also it can help arthritis as well so fingers crossed. Who knows I might be able to whizz through all my knitting in a few weeks time :)

On the knitting front I have finished Roam and it just needs a zip .I have also done a few other bits like Ice Queen but the thing that is fascinating me at the moment and bringing out the 'child' in me is knitting this.........



She is from the book 'Knitted Babes' by Claire Garland and I love her .
I never had a doll when I was a child as I was too much of a tomboy , having four brothers I had no choice !! Of course these are for Emily ;) but I am so enjoying making clothes for her and plan to make a couple more dolls too. Such quick little knits and great for using oddments of yarn up and I have bits of fabric lined up to make clothes for them also.

I have started knitting a waistcoat for myself and I so want to get to do some spinning too but until this wound on my hand has healed I will have to wait.

Days of dyeing

Kath and I had a great time last week with our dyeing , carding and spinning
It was good to have some time together and just 'play', although 'Miss Emily' was much missed ( but not at 6 am !!).
This is a photo of all the dyeing that took place; although not all of the fleece we dyed are on display , just bits of them to show the colours.
At the very front is a plain washed and extremely soft BFL x fleece which we picked up from the Wool Board at Porthmadog.That's a story for another post ;)



At the right is a collection of the yarns using natural dyes. The dyes we used this time were onion skins, madder and copper/ammonia. Its amazing how many hues you can get with only a few dyes. I need to get more pans for natural dyeing as we had hoped to do some weld, red cabbage and cochineal but ran out of time. The yarns we used were some hand spun and some undyed boucle . I love the way that all natural dyes blend so well together. Some are destined to be a waistcoat and I don't know what Kath is going to do with hers.





To the left are all the acid dyeing we did. Some were sock yarns and others are more hand spun.There are some gorgeous colours here I think, but as usual the camera never quite gets them all right.
Having the large boiler means I can now dye up large quantities of fleece to made a solid colour for a garment which is a bonus. Although some of this is destined to be used as a single ply for lace knitting.It's a Teeswater fleece which has a minimum staple length of 10 inches and the lady I bought it from has given me some tips re spinning a single ply.





We also had a go at the English Combs and although they do look lethal they make a fantastic thin roving which makes spinning a breeze.
The stand is clamped to the table and then one of the combs is secured to it . The fleece is then flicked on to the tines either on the tips ,which I think is easiest or the butt. I then move the comb to the side position as I find it easier. It's then a matter of combing it until the majority is off the clamped comb.







What's left on the clamped comb can either be teased and carded again or used for felting or disposed of. You then put the full comb on the stand and comb again. I usually do three passes but it depends on the fleece.
You then use the Diz and with a crochet hook to pull a thin roving through the hole and gently pull through all the fleece into a fine roving and wind into a ball and 'voila' your good to go.



I have been doing more spinning than knitting lately due to the fact that my joints but especially my right shoulder and arm have been too painful.I have been doing a little Xmas knitting but even knitting a few rows is uncomfortable so it only frustrates me more. I just hope that resting will help as I have so much I want to knit. I can't take any more painkillers so I guess a trip back to the rheumy doc will have to be done if things don't improve. Either that or I will have to commission someone to knit all my lovely hand spun up :(
I do have some FO pics to show you but I think I have gone into photo overload in this post !!
X fingers that by next week normal knitting will resume !!

I'm still here , lurking !!

I thought I would just pop in to let you know that I am still here and still busy. If anything busier than ever; it is amazing just how much you can do by cutting down time spent online. I have made a few FO's but no photos !! Some have been sold at a stall I had which was very encouraging and some are wrapped up for Xmas gifts. I totally got out of the habit of taking photos of every knitting and spinning task I did/doing.
I have been spending a lot more time spinning as well and have made some yummy yarns, again some were knitted up and sold and I have even been commissioned to spin enough coloured Corridale fleece to make an Aran sweater !! All of this came after I was invited to do a talk about my year of spinning and dyeing to a group of ladies, paid of course , yikes!!. I have to say that even if I was a teacher in the past, I was a bit nervous in the beginning,seeing a wall of faces looking at me .There were over 40 apparently but thankfully I soon relaxed and got lost in my enthusiasm of all things fleecy. I had really lovely feedback after and have been asked would I go back again at some point . I have also been asked to do a talk and demo to some A'Level students by their Art teacher and a group of ladies have asked if I would do a spinning workshop. I guess once a teacher always a teacher ;) It has all been most flattering and I have said 'yes' to all but after Xmas and it depends upon my health ;which is still not brill at the moment , good days and bad :( but hey I'm still not on steroids so that's positive .
So after doing all the work for that talk and sale table I can now relax and concentrate on yet more Xmas gifts . I am in the middle of a pair of socks and have a few other things to knit for others and then I can think about knits for myself. I have still not completed 'Roam' , the back and the fronts are done but that it. I nearly frogged it a week or so ago as I wasn't sure I wanted a hoodie but then I thought I could leave the hood off if I want .
Kath is coming over today for a few days without Emily and we are going to have a spinning and dyeing few days . I have on loan from the SWD Guild a set of English Comb's and they are brilliant, if a lethal looking, so I will take some photos of how we use them . I am tempted to buy some but for now I think I will stick to using the guild's as they are quite expensive . They are brilliant for the Teeswater fleece that I am using for single ply lace weight and you can spin it fine blindfolded , its that well prepped.
Other than that , what have I been up to ? I met up with some Ravellers at Colinette a few weeks ago ,see the lovely Joy's Blog and it was great fun , with us all yakking and laughing . Of course I came home with some yarn, Jitterbug to make a jacket and Kath bought me some Cadenza as a Xmas gift to make a Forest Canopy shawl . I have never been inspired to make this shawl before but I loved the one Joy was wearing and she 'enabled' me to buy the yarn as I enabled her and Chris to make the same jacket that I am going to make . So a lot of enabling went on all round :)
Oh and whilst we were on holiday we went to 'The Wool Clip' and I spent a lovely couple of hours doing yet more talking to the ladies there about Woolfest etc and I suggested that a 'Blogger's Corner' might be a good idea at the next one. I think they are going to try and do one and it will be by the knitting section I think and also I suggested that maybe a notice board would be good, to see if there are any names that we will recognize . What do you think ?
Well that's it for now but I will be back soon and this time with photos of our efforts of this following week. I have been reading a few blogs and I promise I will now try and catch up with you all gradually and I bet you have all been busy as well.