Sleigh Bells

I don't know if its the cold making me sluggish, but all i want to do at the moment is curl up with my crochet/spinning in front of the fire. It snowed again in the night, and the garden is dusted white with it, looks like we may get a white Christmas! I've put all the decorations up in my room and am feeling really christmassy, I may even spin a Christmas yarn to celebrate (I'm thinking something along the lines of "sleigh bells")

I finished the Hat/Scarf (still haven't come up with a better name for it though), and I'm so happy with it. its really comfortable to wear and really really warm. just what the doctor ordered in this cold weather. I sewed some lovely vintage buttons on it and also left some of the ends on as little tassels, which i think gives a really nice effect.

I had my birthday at the beginning of the month, so have a lovely new pile of fibre (and some books) to add to my stash. right now I'm half way through Debbie Stoller's "Happy hooker" crochet guide ( i thought i  might as well see what I'm actually supposed to be doing as up 'till now all I've had is an A4 sheet with the basic stitches on it and a couple of very nice ladies who taught me the basics), I'm really enjoying it and have even bought one of her other totals "Stitch and bitch, the knitters hand book" to see if i cant get a hang of this knitting lark.
I must have made about 10 hats by now the scarf/hat is number 6 or something (I'll take some photos next week of some of the others), some I've given away, but I'll have to start doing something with them very soon, before they take over my what little space i have left that isn't full of wool, yarn or fibre equipment







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A Crocheter at Heart.

the snow has been coming down in sheets..well sheets for round here anyway. we've had at least 2-3", and its bitterly cold. everything is frozen, even the doors and hand brake on the car were frozen yesterday, and my father had a rather nasty moment with the brakes as well. thankfully I'm keeping myself warm with hot drinks, copious amounts of clothing and the toasty cat sitting on my lap. I've also been finger knitting neck warmers and hats to keep myself busy. I'm halfway through making a hat with a scarf attached (I know, not the catchiest name in the world. I'll come up with something better eventually).

me in my finger crochet hat from last week and my snazzy new neck warmer which is super toasty, now if only i could work out how to make gloves with fingers and id be set.

my half done scarf/hat thing. its the first hat I've crochet from the top down, rather than from the bottom up, and i think i definitely prefer this technique. you get a hat that fits much better.

the bag i knitted ages ago, but neglected to photograph till now

I feel like I've really hit my stride with finger crochet. its funny, it never really clicked for me when i was using a hook. I suppose i just work better when i get hands on. with knitting, I found I'm doing it for the end object, with finger crochet, I'm doing it to enjoy the process of making something. Ive heard people say that your either a knitter or a crocheter (a saying i always thought couldn't be right, why couldn't you be good at both), I just suppose I'm a crocheter at heart.

Camera Troubles

I have just spent the last 4 hours in an epic battle of wills with my brothers new camera, in an attempt to get at my photos. But I've finally succeeded and here are the fruits of my labors, photos of some of my newly spun yarn.

I've been very busy, it seems to be the trend this winter, making things, spinning yarn and getting organised. I even discovered a new craft to fall in love with...Finger Crochet, which is great as crochet has never really clicked for me before and I'm now hooked on making crochet hats. As Ive finally got the camera to talk to my computer I'll have to take some photos so everyone can have a look. As I seem to have finally reached a lull point in all the busyness, hopefully I will be able to update the blog on a more regular basis.

                                                

Just couldn't resist this batt

Autumn Chrysanthemums, hand dyed by me, I'm very happy with the colours I maneged to get 

Love those neps, such a bright colour

Buisy, buisy, buisy

Life has gone nuts recently, Ive got a couple of fairs coming up and I suddenly realised i didn't have enough stock. so, as is traditional, I've been working like mad to make everything I think I'll need. the good news is that there should be some up dates to the shop very soon as I've been spinning skeins, dyeing top and knitting some pretty funky gloves. as i cant fit everything I've made into a post i thought id put up a small selection of my favourites for everyone to drool over. enjoy!

these are some of the Mad Mitts I've been knitting, their so textured and gorgeously soft. the ones on the right are hand dyed by me, the others are going to be my mothers Christmas present.

some of the Falkland I've been dyeing

one of my newest hotch potch batts, which will make an awesome hat when its done.

anyway, back to the madness that is currently my life.

If you fancy seeing my shop in person I'll be at the following fairs.

23rd Nov, Lizard Christmas market, Lizard reading room.

6th Dec, Helston Eco fair, coinage hall.

If any ones passing by, stick your head in and say hi.

Drained

Unfortunately, this week i have succeeded in contracting a lovely cold bug that my brother very thoughtfully brought home. due to this wool production has ground to a halt, which is very annoying as i was planning to do some dyeing. I wanted to dye a whole slew of reds, and so far the fibre has been sitting in a bucket of vinegar water for 4 days now as Ive been unable to manage it. I've spun some beautiful yarn as well and was planning to set it (again, something that isn't currently happening). hopefully by next week, I'll be over this enough to take some pictures as they're relay lovely. including these batts, which have been transformed into a lovely thin single full of unexpected goodies.

so, till next week everyone! 

Keep warm, Keep knitting

OK, I'll admit it, I may be addicted to knitting gloves. In the last week Ive managed about seven pairs and am now on my eighth (which is pretty decent for someone who only a few weeks ago hated knitting). After the first couple I even got confident enough to start writing my own patterns, which, surprisingly, wasn't actually as complicated as i thought it would be. I've got a couple of local shows lined for December, so have been making things like mad. I even started making some very nice beachcombers jewelry, which I love, even though I have managed to glue my fingers to just about everything in the process (bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase "sticking with you"). I need to get it together and do some spinning (the knitting has taken over slightly), maybe the dyeing I've got planned for the weekend will kick it into gear (I'm thinking deep reds, though I'm pretty spontaneous with the colour mixing, so i might get something serendipitously unexpected).
Its definitely cold outside now (and that's saying something for Cornwall) So I hope everyone is wrapped up nice and warm. We've started lighting the wood burner in the evenings and its lovely to sit and work in front of its flickering warmth and watch the dancing flames float across the glowing logs. soon we'll have this years first frosts, so keep warm everyone, and keep knitting.

All Blue

Happy Wool Week everyone!
I finally finished the gloves, they're lovely (if a bit loose), I had to adjust the pattern for the yarn, but i obviously didn't get it quite right. never the less, they're lovely and warm, and super soft. I even made a pair for a friends birthday.

Ive had blue fingers all this week, but its not from the cold, its because I've been dyeing . so far I've come out of it with 500g of some lovely falkland top and 200g of fleece, all of which I love.

some of the colours didn't quite come out as i thought they would, mainly as i hadn't squeezed quite enough water out, but they're beautiful and i cant wait to spin them