All Golden

The Summer sun seems, finally, to be creeping over the horizon. spring is definitely in the air and, due to being held back by the harsh winter, Cornwall is painted with golden fields of early daffodils. we are literally smothered in them down here, you cant go for a walk without falling over the things. the beaches are beautiful and the water is clear, if bone chillingly cold. the wintry winds are still roaming around though leaving a toasty day to turn chilly very fast, so keep that coat on a little longer, you might just need it.

I think i may have finally figured out why I've been in such a slump with the spinning, I started a spinning journal the other day (something I've been meaning to do for ages) and suddenly realised I'm making the same yarn over and over ...semi worsted, slubbed, aran, 2ply, spun short draw,  ....I'm am the proverbial record stuck on a scratch. so i consciously chose to do something new, something i haven't tried before, something that would push the envelope so to speak. and this is what i ended up with...

And I Loved it! i had so much fun and really enjoyed it, even when i overdid the uneven plying and one of the singles gave up the ghost it didn't phase me. well, OK, i did swear a bit when it wouldn't splice back together but a nice square knot sorted that out a treat.

Since i haven't blogged in a while (yes, yes, very bad me) i have loads of lovely yarns to show you. and this one (Weedy Seadragon), and its identical twin, are going to be a lovely scarf in this pattern. I've got the yarn, I've found the knitting needles, now all i need to do is work out what on earth a YO and TURN consist of and I'm in business.
Anyway, enough of that for now...Bring on the eye candy!!

 Cherry Red, hand dyed Falkland spun super bulky

 Sweet surprise, hand dyed Falkland spun bulky

Perfect Day, merino, nylon, mohair, throwsters spun bulky

Dyeing days

Wow, its been ages since I've done one of these. Just to let you all know, I haven't actually fallen off the planet (so far anyway). January has just been, in keeping with national average, a very slow month for me. but now its February and though the weather is still pretty bleak its betting warmer  the first signs that spring is actually coming after all are appearing and  life is finally starting to get back to some sort of normal rhythm.

The finger Crochet is going well, sadly still no pictures though I'm hoping to get something up on the shop in the near future so keep your eyes peeled. But the big news of the week is that I have finally fallen off the wagon and brought a spinning wheel. Ive never used one before (its all been spindles up till now) so needless to say I'm pretty intimidated by it and everything I've managed to produce on it looks like its been mangled by a dog. but I'll get there in the end (just don't expect any photos of anything I've made on it for quite a while).

Last week A group of friends and I got together and had a weekend dyeing party, needless to say we all ended up with hands of one colour or another even though we were wearing gloves. sadly i have very few photos of this as the camera decided to play up and ate most of them, for reasons that are , as usual, beyond my comprehension. those that follow are the best of what I managed to salvage from the camera.

 we must have dyed some where around 3kg of fiber over the course of 2 days. this is my stash, 300g of Falkland top and about the same of a mix of Mohair, Romney and Texel X fleece. which is now picked and waiting to be carded into awesome textured batts with a whole stash of other goodies.

Colour my world

I've been a busy bee this week, yesterday i woke with the overwhelming desire to dye some fibre. so, I got the kit out and mix the stock solutions with no clear idea of what colours I wanted, and this is what came out the other end...

I was a bit enthusiastic with the chopstick when it was in the pan and accidentally felted it ever so slightly in a couple of places, I've definitely learned to be more gentle next time. It finally dried overnight and I ran it through the ram carder this morning with some other goodies to turn out this beauty

I found the perfect pattern for my next knitting adventure, a lovely pair of fingerless gloves I found on Ravelry. My hands always get cold when I'm spinning in the winter and these look perfect, you knit them flat and then sew them up leaving a thumb hole. sounds nice and strait forward, especially as its got some stitches in the pattern i haven't used before. I've spun up 100g of  falkland/merino top dyed by BabyLonglegs, in a lovely turquoise/purple/blue colourway (Its actually brighter in real life) 

I've also spun a slightly chunkier skein in a matching colour, think I may knit it into a hat. I swear I'm going to end up with more hats than I'll know what to do with, maybe I should consider making some as Christmas presents or something.

I started spinning up some of my new silk batts, fresh off the carder. they were so nice i just couldn't keep my hands off them. I think I'm going to call them "nothing but blue skies"

the bee's are gathering up the last of the summers nectar, its getting cold and they're becoming less active, soon they'll go into hibernation in their burrows, snuggled up warm against the cold. I know how they feel, the sudden cold is making me want to curl up on the sofa in front of the fire with a nice cup of hot chocolate and stay there till spring comes round.

Dreaming of Dubai

Ive been carding like mad, both my orders of fibre arrived practically on the same day so I have 20 batts worth to get through (about 2kg worth). so far I've managed 10, and I'm dyeing to start the next colour, but I'm trying not to overload myself (i tend to bite off more than i can chew, and that leads to trouble), so I'm taking a little break today.
anyway, here are some sneaky peaks of what will soon be in the shop. hope you all like them. I've been thinking about foreign climbs, so several are named after cities.

this one is called Dreaming of Dubai

and this one is called Damasdus, maybe ill make one called Istanbul to go with them.

the weather cant seem to make up its mind at the moment, right now its blustery and cold but very sunny (when the clouds don't sneak over) yesterday it was absolutely baking in the morning, then decided to downpour, even though it had been stormy overnight. very odd. more sunshine would be nice, then all the tomatoes will be nice and ripe, just ready for picking. the chicks have inherited their mothers Houdini like traits and are now living in the veg patch (we cant get them to stay in the run, they just escape every time we shoo them back in), this is good news as far as pests go, but bad news for my pak choi, as they seem to have taken a liking to it. they are incredibly cute though, so i can probably forgive them munching my stir fry staples.
I finally finished the 4 ply that is eventually going to be the strap for my bag, all i need to do now is sow everything together and then put the button on and it will be done.

hopefully it will be ready to wear very very soon.

Yarn Update

Just a small selection of some beautiful yarns I've had cooking for a while.

I really need to get spinning, I have so much fibre (all of it deserving to become something beautiful) and only limited storage space. I just don't seem to be able to find the moments to spin it, life keeps interrupting.

I have a great batt mixture in the works though, very middle eastern colours, cant wait to see how it cards up. but for now I'll sneak you a peak at some of the yarn ive been making.

the tomatoes are starting to drop of the branches in the greenhouse, and everything is bountiful in the veg patch. I love this time of year, when everything on our plates (except the meat) is our own home grown. I hope everyone else is having a good harvest season, with enough veg to enjoy some next year.

Bountiful Promise

Another scorcher of a day and the veg are beginning to look a bit desperate, have to get the watering can out this evening or wave goodbye to any hope of fresh salad in the near future. Really reminds you how close starvation is if you rely totally on what you yourself grow, drought suddenly becomes a much bigger problem than "oh dear, the lettuce have copped it, have to pop down the shop and buy one instead". On the bright side, we have baby veg appearing, cant wait till its all big enough to be picked and eaten.

I've been drum carding again, and though more pics may appear soon, this one is so lovely i had to share.

think i may call it something like Candyfloss Carnival, Its so lovely and fluffy, all cormo and alpaca and throwsters, with a big handful of merino thrown in for good measure

I'm also currently working my way through 200g of Falkland (isn't it lovely), spinning it nice and thin, just right for summer.

Wavering Heat

I have been extremely lazy this week, the weather in Cornwall at the moment is currently reminiscent of Greece and it is baking when your out of the sea breeze,the light has that quality where it leaches the colour out of everything making the whole world seem slightly ethereal and distant, like a faded photograph. I don't know how the tomato plants (which are only about 2 foot high) can stand it in the hottest of the green houses, it was at least 40'C in there today, even with all the windows and the door wide open. we could really do with some rain right now, the water barrel (my way of measuring rainfall) is half empty and the soil is so dry its like its been cooked. thankfully most of the plants are either big enough to cope, or are verities I've selected for resistance to our local climate (Cherokee trail of tears french beans rock, they cope with droughts really well). I really want to get on with dying, I've finally managed to buy, scrounge and generally collect all the kit, now all i need is a decent opportunity and I'm going to have a crack at it. more on this, hopefully,  soon.

Merino Medly

Cor, today is a real scorcher, its almost too hot to sit in the sun and then only for a short while. on the up side the last of the fibre is dry! thanks mainly to the sun and a now rather damp towel.

This fleece is gorgeous, its so deliciously soft. I also love the bubblegum colours which came out really well, especially considering it could have done with more time in the dye. the candyfloss pink is Falkland and the beautiful turquoise is blue faced Leicester.

this is my colourway called desert (the arid wasteland not the pudding), and though it didn't quite come out as i imagined it (though to be fair, that's half the fun of it) its going to make a wonderfully soft  batt (or two if i lucky)

I think my favourite (if i had to pick one) is this kid mohair, I'm severely wishing id dyed two bags instead of just the one. I can't wait to blend this, its going to be so beautiful.

the silk cocoons (my favourite silk preparation) are so soft, they are going to be really nice to spin. I think i may have to think up something special to spin with them.

and last but not least, 100g of wool neps (in my opinion, an essential ingredient in a textured batt) and in case your wondering, no they didn't go back in the bag they came out of. these dried surprisingly quickly (they would have been dry at the same time as top if i hadn't run out of mesh bags and resorted to putting them in a colander).

I went mad with the camera yesterday and suffice to say that the super macro setting and i are now firm friends. Ive put several of the best on my flicker, but this picture is by far my favourite (just in case you can't guess what it is, its the flower bud of a walking/Egyptian onion), I love the way all the stalks seem to be reaching towards something unseen. life should be like that, always reaching to grasp the unknown.

Dyeing for Colour

I have so many things to write about today, Yesterday I went on a dyeing course with Amanda Hanniford of Mandacrafts and had a great time. I must have a kilo of brightly coloured goodies drying in the bathroom (sadly I'll have to wait till its dry to take photos of it), It's so beautiful I cant wait to blend and spin it all, especially the silk cocoons (my favourites).

also big news, The chicks have hatched! they're a bit camera shy at the moment so I'll wait for a nice sunny day to try and get some photos, but they are incredibly cute, all 11 of them have come out slightly different colours and every single one is adorable. Bob (never let my brother name the animals, he has a unique sense of humour) is a brilliant mother hen,  I wish she was handtrained though as she doesn't like anyone touching her at the moment so checking on the chicks is going to be a bit tricky.  

also, the crimson flowered broad beans are in bloom (aren't they lovely)!  wont be long till they have lovely fat pods for me to pick. I saved all the seed from last years plants, grown from a packet  I received through the garden organic Heirloom seed library.

Alfresco fibre

The weather is so beautiful at the moment, there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature in the warmest of the green houses is topping the high thirties (in degrees anyway) even with both the windows and the door open.

It’s so beautiful I thought I’d set the drumcarder up in the potting shed so I could enjoy the sunshine whilst making some batts, gives me a wonderful view over the veg patch.

 

Everything has gone mad in the garden, if its not dripping with flowers then its growing like crazy, this runner bean was planted out from its pot in the green house yesterday and already its halfway up the cane,I swear its grown about 2 feet overnight! Another nice surprise were the 6 self set tomato plants in the greenhouse, no propagation required, which is ok with me.