Arghhhhhh two post in one day !!!

Well I was shamed into taking photos of something that I have made to justify my poor old blog and before they wear out !!
Tony's jumper

Its a grey day here today after all the sunshine and I think he blends well with the background !!
Take your hands out of your pocket Tobo

That's better sweetie :)
One pair of hand dyed , hand spun socks in BFL superwash;the other pair is in the wash. Heck what do you want ?

I love these odd socks that I dye up for a quick spin/knit and they are turned out in three days tops . Also I spin them DK weight for the same reason, instant gratification.
Right I might be gone for some time now :)

you get what you need

I have to say that I am pretty happy and content with my life and okay it would be lovely to have financial security in this un-certain world as we are facing yet more redundancy's in Tonys workplace BUT why is it at times we always fancy what we can't have ?
For example :
We went for a walk last week in all this lovely sunshine we have been having lately and I managed to walk for far longer than I thought I would be able to. We started from a lake near us called Llyn Mair(Mary's Lake)

We slowly climbed up and the views get better and better the higher you get

It was a bit hazy so we couldn't quite see our village on the opposite side of the valley but it is practically in the middle of this photo

Then in the middle of nowhere with a dirt track going to it ( we still can't figure how you get to it )was this cute little cottage and we both thought the same 'Wouldn't it be heaven to live in a place like this ? '

Don't the dogs blend in well and look at home ?
No electricity but they had a wind generator and solar panels plus a great log store

It was lovely to see that it wasn't a holiday home as so many of these out of the way places often are here . I have to quickly add, in case you think I am anti holiday homes that I have nothing against incomers at all in fact I welcome them but its sad to see villages dying due to so many part time occupancy homes. We could see that this home was much loved but we had to turn back the way we had come as the dirt road ended there and try and find out were we had got lost on the path we had intended to go on.
We had planed to go to the top lake Hafod y Llyn but I was getting tired by now so it was back down through the woods and we sat a while on this seat which I was certainly glad of and it had a babbling stream nearby which the dogs enjoyed playing in too cool off.

Then we followed the river down

until we caught sight again of Llyn Mair

It was a really lovely walk and totally unexpected in many ways, a real tonic for the soul . It's days like this that make life special for us both when you get the gift of being a part of the beauty around us for however briefly and its enough to satisfy a need and make us happy with what we have.

On the spinning front I had two deliveries of Cormo fleece last week, one was a kilo and came from Sue Macnivern which apparently comes from Tasmania and the other weighs 2 lbs and is from the USA and is a coated fleece. These purchases are a treat really as they are quite expensive for my purse but oh my they are both quite gorgeous
Here they are unwashed

The coated one (on the right) is so very much cleaner and far easier to prep but the other is finer . I am being very careful in washing these both , a little at a time in a small bowl and its paying off as they are the softest fleece I have ever had and feel just like cashmere . I am really looking forward to spinning them .
I also had delivery of the high speed head for the Suzie Pro last week and what can I say but WOW . I though the wheel was fast before but now its amazing and with even lower ratios it makes spinning laceweight yarn even simpler if that's at all possible. Tony says after trying the new set up that he thinks spinning on this wheel is cheating as it so simple to produce yarn and he may be right ;) I am spinning another yummy fibre at the moment , some Pygora which again I bought from the US. Now there is nothing wrong with all the lovely fleece we have in this country in fact I love them all,its just that ...... 'I want what I can't get' thing again !! I read on the net about fleece from Targhee , Rambouilett, Cormo ,Pygora etc etc and you think why can't we have that , what's it like , why can't I have ? Now I guess I can't have it all but I guess I will be happy with what I have and get what I need and enjoy it while I can :)
Oh and I still haven't taken a photo of Tony in his new jumper or the two pairs of handspun socks that I have done .What can I say, I am hopeless but perhaps one day ;)

I am still here !!

There are times when I feel that I should quit blogging as I can't keep up with the photo taking, writing etc but then I think no, I really would miss it and it is a record of 'some ' of the things that I am up to. Ravelry takes up way too much time & energy these days and although I had been good at limiting my time there I find lately that its creeping up again so I am going to try and curb it once more. I go to look for a pattern etc and then get embroiled and then I am too tired to do anything else on the computer.

Right, what have I been up to ? knitting wise I have nearly finished Tony's jumper, I think sadly that I am going to have to frog my 'bog'jacket as its huge (not given up on it though). I have made a couple of pairs of socks and given them away without any decent photos !!
Here is one which I di take a photo of and which my little niece dyed the yarn for. We had a great time with her and Emily dyeing with Kool Aid over the half term.



Ffion also had a play on the drum carder and made a blend for me to spin so I made her a cowl with the yarn . So interesting to watch her choose which colours and fibres she put in too.

I have been dyeing a fair bit for myself too but alas no photos ;hopefully I will show you them in the knitting process. I have a thing for limey spring green at the moment , that and purple :)

I have also been doing a lot of spinning on the new wheel of course. It has been lovely now that we can both sit on the sofa side by side, nattering and listening to music :)


I love this new wheel its so well built and is such a speed demon ; this particular yarn I am really quite proud of.

Its 3ply and with 396yds plus another 40yds left over from the two bobbins from 100gms. has to be the most I have ever got from that weight. It was so effortless though ,which is what amazed me. I have always believed that you can spin any yarn on most wheels but I have to say that there are some wheels that its far easier on, and that's what I need with my joint problems.I have spun quite a few other skeins as well but no photos. The same day the wheel arrived so did a book I had on order. I have been after this book for a few years as its out of print.Its called 'Spinning for Softness and Speed by Paula Simmons 'and I managed to get a really cheap copy from Canada ; imagine my surprise to get a signed copy no less. I am thrilled with it and so I have been practising how to do it , very handy as you only use one hand leaving the other free for a G+T :)just need to practise now !!!

We had a great guild day last week making silk paper and these photos really aren't very good but I am including them any way; the two vessels look lovely with night lights in them . I can see that this craft will be very useful for a lot of things I have in mind for gifts etc



Right off to empty my dye pot, I have 500gms of cashmere bubbling away in a purple dye :)

Oh and I ave just remebered Amber gave me an award which I still need to put on the blog but I promise I will do that next time and it will be soooooooooon :) Thanks Amber but I really don't think I desrve it ;)