Having a Wheel of a time!!

Well it's Tour de Fleece time again and yet again I'm joining in with 'Team Raw Power' on Ravelry to encourage myself to spin up some of my fleece mountain with a challenge of preparing and spinning 1lb of fibre or just under 500g to us in the UK!

So far the fleece I've spun this first week has included alpaca (with added angora rabbit), Icelandic, batts of random dyed fleece including Suffolk shearling and Wensleydale. this last lot has been in the form of extra lock dyed locks that I've been tail-spinning which I'm thoroughly enjoying - so much so that I just had to film the process... not a sensible 'how-to' film but a 'watch that fluff whizz round' silly kind of film :)

Not sure if this will work but it amused me at the time!

Doesn't Time Fly?

Life seems to whizz by.

I don't know if having a small child in the house makes it go quicker but it seems as if the weeks disappear as soon as they arrive. I was going to say before you know it it'll will be March.... oh dear! Proof that I am loosing my grip on the awareness of the passage of time if ever I had it!

Of course I do know it was St Davids day yesterday. I'm Welsh therefore how could I not know! Yesterday was also the first time that spring seemed to be marching closer to us (no pun

intended). Seemingly everywhere I went yesterday there were fields being mown, or mowed which ever is right, the smell of cut grass was in the air and the sun was warm on your back.

Shame I can't say the same today, the wind is biting so it'd not quite time to put any mittens into hibernation yet!

This Winter, despite saying that time flies by, seems to have dragged. Now I like Winter, to a certain degree, because as a knitter it is a season that seems to justify the purpose of being a knitter. I will not be cold - I will be wrapped in as many layers of hand-knit woolliness as I can manage for I am a knitter! But after a while the novelty wears off and I've missed those fresh new leaf greens which are only now just starting to show themselves. Still, we're not going to have one of those Narnian Winters that last for hundreds of years, Spring is coming so I shall keep my eyes peeled!

Spring as we know is a time of new life and new beginnings. As I type I'm currently having new glass put in our windows - a new era for our little old house! No more rotten frames! And I've been embracing new ideas and joining Mum in trying out some Art Yarns - no pictures today but really good fun to play with.

My lovely knitting friends have also been dragged into this era of newness with a little bit of dying as Birthday treats. Both recently had Birthdays and a hand-dyed present seemed a novel idea and something they were excited to try. So last Sunday we invaded Nadine's kitchen and got the dyes out...

The results are lovely and each of them are happy with their efforts (I dyed one as a demo and then let them dye their own) and rightly so. I think there may be some people buying dyes at Wonder Wool later this Spring :)

And the new skill learning didn't stop there. Last night Jude tried out spinning with a spindle after having tried, and not enjoyed, spinning with a wheel. And she went for it!! The concentration was immense and before long she'd nearly filled the spindle. I think there might be a new spinner out there now!

The only thing we could do with now is more practice, both in spinning and in skein winding....

I'd like to say that Tilly the cat helped but I can't! Still it looks lovely wound into a cake and is now ready to knit which is all that matters.

On a final note I'll go back to it being St Davids day yesterday. One of the items in our Etsy shop was featured in a St Davids day treasury which is a lovely compliment and I love how it looks in amongst all the other lovely green Welsh themed items.

So to my Welsh readers (if there are any other than my Mum!) I wish you all a belated Happy St Davids day and to everyone else Happy Spring watching!

Don't Panic but...

I'm posting again!! That's twice in one month! It is amid a post-WoolFest excitement that I'm posting but never mind! We had some fantastic weather all weekend and the Thursday night on the campsite there were some lovely clouds and the sunset was truly lovely and kept us all entertained for ages - at one stage it seemed streaked with almost fluorescent pink. And there were shapes in the clouds for us to try and identify too - top left below I sure is a footballer leaping to head the ball!

We started off well with a large group gathering without organisation on an empty pitch next to Mums camper van and this photo shows the evening off well! It was lovely to meet up again with so many familiar faces especially Kath, Becky and Carrie Anne who I'd not seen for 2 years - we will definitely have to do better next time and meet up sooner! The last ones finally called it a night around 11pm - wonder who they were? ;)

And of course we were all excited and woke up early the next day ready to hit the show!

Clockwise from top left: Tony learns Long Draw spinning,

Skye in the van, sheep shearing, the Happy Weaver,

Nadine learns hand-carding, spinning on a Great Wheel, Nadine spins on a Lendrum.

As always there were a load of animals to see and I finally managed to see the sheep shearing which was worth the wait. The lady doing it had a pen full of Rough Fell sheep (the ones with the speckled faces and horns in the feeding trough pictured below) four of which were Hogs (one year olds) and the fifth a large ram with huge spiraling horns who unsurprisingly she left until last! She really did seem to wrestle with the sheep and managed to give a full commentary with all of them other than the ram - definitely a tough job to do. There was also a lady from Denmark doing a workshop on 'Knitting directly from Spelsau fleece' who was fascinating. Pity we couldn't get on her course but we did end up leaving with a bag of raw Spelsau fleece ready to be knitted up at the next Knitting evening - I can't imagine the reaction with myself, Chris and Nadine all sat knitting from bags of fleece but it'll be fun!

Top row, left to right: Angora Rabbits, Rough Fell sheep, Katmoget

Shetland sheep, Herdwick sheep;

Centre Row, left to right: Manx Loughton sheep, Gotland sheep, Hebridean sheep;

Bottom Row, left to right: Angora Rabbit, sheared Alpacas, more Gotland sheep.

The stalls as always were a riot of colour with plenty to inspire and temp you with as always. 'Oliver Twists' were there and after seeing them at WonderWool I knew exactly what I wanted and got it - a sumptuous dyed silk brick in toasty burnt reds on oranges, yummy! I was pretty restrained with my spending coming home with only 1 fleece, some more dyes, a shetland batt, some dyed merino for some felting projects and the softest grey Alpaca/BFL lace weight from 'UK Alpaca's bargain bin - at 70p and 80p per hank I couldn't say no! The only downside to the day was the heat (I was stupidly pig-headed and insisted on wearing my hand spun Green Gable - it was not the day to wear wool!) and the crowds. The aisles do seem narrower than at WonderWool which seems to make the difference in being able to get around the show with ease but at least I wasn't hampered with tonnes of shopping - see being frugal has it's good points!

Clockwise from top left : Wensledale lock Wedding dress,

WoolFest anniversary cake, Freyalyns handspun exhibit,

Shetland 'chocolates' and 'cake', weaving, FeltStudioUK, handknit waistcoat, Oliver Twists,

WoolFest 'shed', handspun yarns.

Nadine and Chris were there from the New Brighton Knitters and I ended up going back to the show on the Saturday with Nadine before picking Chris up from her course. Its was fun going round the show with a 'novice' spinner (she is improving daily!) and seeing her face light up with it all and pointing out all the bargains and stopping her unintentionally shop lifting in Winghams although it was pointed out that most people would try to steal cashmere rather than light grey herdwick!

But for me the bits of the weekend which were most fun were spent sat at the camp site knitting and spinning with like minded people and making new crafty friends even if it did involve late nights!

All in all a really fun weekend which I'd happily do all over again as long as the temperature was turned down a bit! There has been more knitting completed and started but I'll not go into details with those now, after all that could be the basis on my next post!

And Baby Came Too!

I'm ashamed to say that I've forgotten to tell you something that I've been really excited about but somehow seem to manage by the time it comes to blogging. I know I really should do this whilst I'm wide awake and not when I'm half asleep and that way I'd not forget the exciting bits and inflict you with a load of waffle instead. Well, I'm awake now so you'll have the news (as well as some waffle!).

A month or so ago I took part in a Spinners Swap on Ravelry, my first ever swap and I had a whale of a time picking out goodies and dyeing stuff up for my swap partner and after sending out my parcel I almost forgot about that fact that someone else would be sending me a parcel in return! And when I got my parcel I was thrilled with the goodies inside which 'Manicgirl'
from Sweden sent.

As well as some beautiful hand dyed merino and some luscious hand dyed silk hankies were some beautiful hand spun yarns which I'll have to find something special to use in. The middle item in the photo is the one I'm most impressed with as it's so beautiful it's almost a shame to use it! It's some flax tied in the traditional Swedish way which really does look fantastic and the smell is wonderful - my Grandad would have been interested in this I'm sure as he was from Belfast where a lot of linen is produced.

I've decided to dedicate this post to my spinning as there's been a fair bit going on lately as well as all the dyeing I've been churning out for the shop. This first yarn was from some Fybrespates fibre, I can't remember what it is as it didn't have a label on but it's lovely and soft and has a lovely sheen. I plied the singles with some rayon thread in a toning shade and there's enough yarn here to make myself another Forest Canopy shawl!

This one is a blend of Alpaca, Mohair and Wool from the lovely 'Wool For Brains' etsy shop and it was a lovely fibre to spin and there's just possibly enough for a pair of socks by I'm going to spin something complimentary for the heels and toes I think to make the yarn go farther. The colours in this are really lovey and don't really show well here.

There is more hand spun to show but I've not take any pictures of them - one of which I'm really happy with is a three ply Alpaca/Nylon blend yarn which is destined to become socks - and there's plenty of yarn for them!

Recently Emily has been getting involved with spinning too. Firstly I took her to the Frodsham Friendship Day which was help by one of the Cheshire Spinning Guilds. She was really excited when we walked in to the main hall which was full of loads of spinners and their wheels and asked if she could start spinning there and then! She even decided which wheel she wanted and virtually claimed someones Louet wheel! We met up with the lovely Jackie and her girls, who Emily loved, and I was surprised that Emily didn't protest and let me stay nearly all afternoon!

By the time we left she was very tired and upset that I'd left 'her' wheel and her new friends behind!

After such a successful day out with her I tried her out again with a trip to the Abergele Guilds spinning afternoons which again she was most impressed with. Even after packing some snacks (bribes really!), jigsaws and colouring bits I didn't see myself being able to do much in the way of spinning but to my amazement she let me get on with it. I can't say that she let one of the other ladies do much spinning, Lynne became a temporary childminder and seemed to enjoy herself being taken on riverside walks and walks on 'squelchy' fields. And the final vote of approval from Emily came when she saw our tea-time cakes - I think I'll be allowed to go again with her and the other members didn't seem to mind her at all either!

So now Emily wants me to teach her to spin, we've a spindle all ready for her but I think I'm more likely to get eyes poked out rather than yarn spun so far! I think Emily really wants to have a go soon - she's been sitting on my lap and 'helping spinning'. I don't think she's quite ready yet but she thinks she is!

I'll leave you with a shot of yet another small person who's been 'helping' me to spin - not sure if he's ready to learn or not either!

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz...

... Busy little Bee!! Apologies for the photo heavy post that follows!

Well my spinning wheel has been keeping me busy lately and the garden has been calling too. Poor neglected knitting - Yeah playing with fibres!!

Been busy chucking various fibres and bits at the drum carder and then having fun with the results, plying with whatever was to hand (namely sewing thread) and 'boufant boucle'ing the yarn - definitely fun after spinning 75g of Merino silk blend and producing 256m!

Primula Vialii

Aquilegia 'Norah Barlow'

Look at those yummy swirls of snipped silk threads!

Octopus and Jellyfish boucle tendrils!

More Jellyfish tendrils of boucle coils - full of sparkle and glitz!

Finest yarn I've ever spun - 256m approx from 75g of Merino/Silk blend!

260 Miles and a Whole lot of Fibre!!

Okay, I'm in writing about it but I managed to get to WonderWoolWales (via Mums house and travelling in convoy!!) at the end of April and boy was it Fun!! Needless to say I returned home laden with new fibres and yarns and a head full of ideas from the lovely Prudence Mapstones workshop. The atmosphere was lovely there - so relaxed and plenty of space to wander round in - not as claustrophobic as WoolFest seemed last year.

And as that's nearly a month ago now some of that lovely pile of new yarns and fibres have been played with and knitted up. I've been wanting to knit up a Forest Canopy shawl after seeing one of Joy's lovely creations back at the Ravelers meet-up in Colinette all those months ago! And having acquired some pretty Posh Yarn Lei at WonderWool (shortly before meeting Joy again as it happened!!) it seemed the right time to have a go. And what a great pattern it is! Such a quick and satisfying knit that I can see why Joy has knit up so many and I can see myself knitting more too!

The colours don't really show up well there but they really are more jewel like and similar to oil on water except on a green background (if that makes any sense!!).

And is one shawl ever enough? Never!! I'd dug some Jaeger Alpaca 4ply out of the stash to knit up Norah Gaugan's modular shawl from Vogue Knitting's Winter or Spring issue (can you tell I can't remember which one!!) anyway the details are here. It was a fun knit too and nice to knit modules even if it needed more construction in the end. Plus it tested my crochet skills so all in all a good project and finished in plenty of time for our holiday which is what I intended it for!

Not the best photo but you get the idea! The plan was to possibly dye this a different colour if I ever work out what colour I wanted in the first place but I've actually come to love the creamy neutrality of it - at least I goes with everything!!

Another quick knit (and again fiddly to assemble) was a little something for Emily's birthday. Meet Joanna knitted from the 'Knitted Babes' book complete with 2 outfits (so far!) and I'm pleased to say that Emily loves her. So much so that Joanna already needs surgery to put her arms back on!! Serves me right for forgetting to actually sew them on properly!! Plus I think her hair is too heavy and her neck under stuffed so there will be the possible addition of some cotton wool buds to act as a spine for her neck!

I think I got carried away with the accessories but then why shouldn't a girl have some bling ear-rings and a feather boa?!!

The last couple of months seem to have been crammed full of spinning, dyeing and knitting which is why the blog has been neglected (plus that naughty Ravelry keeps distracting me too!!) and my favorite thing was the dyeing session that Mum had at her house with myself and Christina. Great fun was had by all and lovely coloured yarns were made using both naturals and chemical dyes. My favorite does have to be the red onion/weld combination though which is destined to be..... why another shawl of course!!

Red Onion (green) and Weld (yellow) natural dyed Alpaca Lace weight

Cochineal natural dyed merino lace weight

BFL sock yarn dyed with Landscapes dyes, over dyed with blue Easy Peasy dyes

Assorted hand-spun yarns - top to bottom:

Fyberspates Alpaca rovings; hand-dyed BFL fleece; Teeswater plied with Cotswold/Texel blend

FO Flashing!

Well as promised I would give you all the full details of my latest knitting as soon as it was finished and here you have it! It was finished last Tuesday/Wednesday and I'm pleased with it - it really is warm but being such a heavy chunky wool has given me a case of Knitters Elbow with my left elbow and wrist being painful. So there was no knitting for a few days to ease the ache!
The pattern comes from N.Y. Yarns but mine has been modified due to lack of yarn. The original had a fold down collar which I didn't do. Instead I did some short row shaping around where the collar would have been and I also added another button hole to stop the from gaping open quite so much. In these pictures there are only 3 buttons because I didn't buy enough (typical!).

I went to visit Mum for her birthday the other week which was the perfect chance for a photo shoot! Mums treat was a pic-nic to a local beach, Black Rock Sands, where we had chip in the camper van. We had a great time going for a walk as well even if it was a wet and blustery day.

And I even braved the weather to 'flash' my FO!!

Mum called this my 'Norman Wisdom' pose!

Well in my defense it was cold and wet!!

Here's a 'normal' pose for you! It had a brilliant test drive on the beach - it's lovely and warm and cosy and I've been wearing it loads since! Definitely a success which I'll be knitting up again but will try and spin enough for a collar as well next time!

Sorry it's a bit short and sweet this time. I'm feeling a bit anti-computers lately and have been avoiding it a fair bit. Yes, even avoiding Ravelry. No Computers, no blogging, no Knitting even - what's come over me? I think it's a case of the blues right now but DH has promised me a week away at my Mums without Emily at some point in the near future!!!! Bless him, he's good and I certainly feel due to escape and switch off for a while! Right I'd better go and get ready for week 2 of my course - so far so good. I promise I will try and be a good blogger this week and attempt to catch up with all your blogs ASAP, thanks for sticking with me!

Edited to add: The yarn I used was my own chunky handspun Merino/Silk from the giant batt I got in WoolFest. I'd decided to set myself a challenge of spinning enough yarn for a garment and knitting it up before the 31st October as that will be a year from when I first had my spinning wheel and I thought it would be a good way to see how much Id learnt in that time! I am really pleased with the result and the thought of spinning for garments now doesn't seems as daunting anymore!

A Measure of FO's

There are times when I am in love with my Finished Objects and there are times when I wonder why on earth I even bother knitting at times. 'Lacy Waves' has been finished but I'm sorry to say that it has a tale of woe for you.

For once I actually decided to block all the finished pieces out to the stated measurements before I even started sewing 'Lacy Waves' up. I was so pleased with myself for being professional (so I thought) and taking the time and effort to do things properly. I did make a little adjustment to the pattern in that I did a three needle bind off at the shoulders and was pleased with the result. It was when I washed the pieces that I had a bit of a surprise - the wool decided to grow despite all my careful washing. The body length up to the armhole had grown from the 14" I'd knitted to 17.5" and the body width was also larger than intended. The arms were longer but I wasn't bothered by this as in the pattern photos they did look like 3/4 length and I rathered longer sleeves. And at any point in my careful blocking did I realise what lay before me? Not at all.

Lace Insert detail.

Impatient for everything to dry and realising that Emily would soon be back from Nursery to trample over my knitting blocked out on the floor I started sewing the damp mass up. At this stage I was still pleased with how soft the washed wool was and how neatly I was sewing the garment up but as I sewed the last seam it dawned on my that the stupid thing looked massive. I knew the pattern wasn't going to be my usual fitted garment anyway but this was bigger than it should have been.

The fitted sleeves were loose and baggy and the body was overly wide threatening to fall down all the time. Admittedly I had yet to crochet round the neck but at this stage I knew that 2 rows of crochet were not going to save this. 'Lacy Waves' had drowned to become a Bagpuss jumper - saggy and baggy but not loved. Well, I lie - I did/do love the lace insert which was a clever piece of textural knitting combining lace and cables but the rest of the jumper is an utter waste of time. And what cheap and badly behaved yarn was this knitted in? Jaeger Matchmaker DK so I can't even blame that. What happened with the tension square you may very well ask? I hang my head in shame here and know my downfall - no tension square. It was the right sized needles - why bother?

With no smaller size 'Lacy Waves' pattern I'm not sure what I'll do now about reknitting this again. And the yarn itself worries me a little - will it grow again after reknitting? So far the plan is possibly to knit 'Daphne' the lovely little cardi that Mum has just finished and hope that the smaller needle size will keep the yarn in check but for now that yarn is going to sit in a corner out of my way until I'm less disappointed with the whole fiasco.

On a brighter note I do have some photos I promised you last time of some Monkeys I found hanging round in the woods by Mum last week - thank goodness no-one saw me with my feet up a tree taking photos of my socks! I'm still really pleased with these even if they have a tendency to fall down a bit for what ever reason. The Lana Grossa Mellienweit is lovely and woolly and such lovely soft colour blending - will be interesting to see how it wears.

Also as requested here is my bobbin of handspun. Blended on the drumcarder predominantly using shades of purple, blue and pink hand-dyed Texel and Cotswold curls with odd bits of yellow and red thrown in for good measure. The photo doesn't really do the colours justice as there is so much more variety in the colours than can really be seen here. Still need to finish the other bobbin to ply this up with so will report back later with the finished yarn and it's details.

Whilst at Mums I cast on for yet another project - not something I really needed to do as there are so many around the house. Can you tell what it is?

Can you tell where the deliberate knots in yarn end and the unintentional ones start?

Okay - it's a 'Scarf with the Striped Border' (not the most exciting title!) from 'Victorian Lace Today' knitted in some HipKnits lace weight silk which is such a slippery thing it will not stay in a ball and is permanently making it self into knots whether I like it or not!

More pretty things for you all - goodies from our trip to the Colinette Millshop! I did very well and resisted most admirably (could this be due to a certain 2 year old causing major distractions?!) and came home armed with this small offering:

The blue and yellow are both 'Jitterbug' from the sale room in unknown colourways and, as always, another cone of 4ply wool for my collection - such good value I can not resist! And all lovely bright colours for happy socks!

Whilst at Mums we had a lovely walk round a local lake that I've driven past so many times but have never actually walked round. What a pleasant surprise that was. Emily had a whale of a time running round with the dogs and playing 'Pooh Sticks' on the bridges and it was such a lovely day - we even managed a pic-nic!

Emily plays 'Pooh Sticks'

And why the surprise at the lovely location? Can you see the building in the photo below? That is the decommissioned Trawsfynydd Nuclear power station, something I've always grumbled at and never really before seen what really surrounded it. The only drawback to it going is that the funding has gone for the visitor centre for the lake and so there are no more details available on all the lovely walks surrounding it all.

Well, all those photos have put me in a better mood now. I shall ignore that pile of green for a while and forget the excitement of a lovely lacy jumper gone sour. Ah, knitting - why do we inflict ourselves with it?! Sorry about the photo heavy post will try to keep it brief next time!

The Stocking Stitch Slog

Well as I feel like I'm virtually up to date with every ones blogs again I'll allow myself to post. Saying that there's not an enormous amount to blog about right now. I'm trying to do two things at once as always and am working on Norah Gaughans 'Lacy Waves Top' from 'Lace Style' again. Now I've not shown you this before as quite honestly there's not a lot to see. The back is plain stocking stitch - no shaping until the armholes and neck / shoulder. The front is much the same - 14" of plain stocking stitch, nice mindless knitting but not exactly the most exciting photo in the world. But just to show I have been doing some knitting here is a dull photo of stocking stitch for you all.

The pattern does get more exciting later on with the lace sleeves and lace insert panel for the front of the jumper but for now it is a little dull and a bit slow growing as a result. I've decided that I do like my knitting to keep me thinking to some extent or another and so these 14" have been a bit of a chore at times, still not far to go till the armholes bringing shaping and things to think about!

WIP number 2 at the moment (obviously not including those lost in the UFO pile) is another pair of 'Log Cabin Socks' from Hand Knit Holidays but these are the larger size this time which will hopefully fit my Dad. I wanted to make him some thick warm socks as he does Motor Racing Marshaling (those guys in the orange suits round race tracks) and stands round in the cold for hours - these will hopefully do the trick for him! Knitted in a chunky yarn on 4mm needles (I'm doing the magic loop as usual) I'm using some Sirdar Denim Chunky as I don't think I could trust Dad not to sling hand wash only socks in the washing machine so at least these will be safe in the machine and not shrink on him but still have some wool content.

It is a great pattern - quick growing and a straightforward cable pattern that whilst easy is enough to keep you from being too bored. I'm on the heel flap right now so am whizzing through them - pity not everyone is having chunky socks for Christmas!! I think I'm safe to post about Dad's socks here as well but other Christmas socks may have to be kept secret for a while!

My Monkeys have of course been finished and unfortunately the camera battery ran out as I was about to photograph them for you so a bit of a delay for that.

I've also been playing with my drum carder making my own batts out of my hand dyed fleece and playing with blending colours with really satisfactory results, well at least I'm pleased with them! As with Monkeys no photo so far but I'll get one done as soon as possible. I've one bobbin of purpley mauve shades and I've started spinning up a bobbin to ply these with. Original plans were for some plain Welsh Black but I'm now thinking of blending some more coloured fleece in with this to see if I can get subtle flecks of colour coming through the black. It's proving to be a good way of getting used to the drum carder and figuring the best way to use it and is fun seeing what happens to these pretty batts once they're spun up. Not sure what the yarn will end up as but so far it's nice and fine so depending on the yardage possibly socks - now there's a surprise!

Bargains in B*******!

(The name has been hidden to prevent embarrassment as you will find out!)

I am so behind with everyones blogs since coming back from our holiday and I don't seem to have had any time to remedy that. I will try to catch up with everyone as soon as possible.

After a mad-cap non stop week after coming back from Devon I had 3 days in work, rather than my usual 2, and then was straight over to stay with Mum without pausing to draw breath!

It was a lovely break as always and Emily ran us both ragged, as usual, and we before we knew it it was time to go home again. Not before we found some lambs at a local Rabbit Farm (and lots of other animals!) in an attempt to entertain young Emily who after running round came back and excitedly told us she'd found some poo! Bless her!

Cute Lambs.

We did manage to get to Mum's local charity shops and found the bargains of the titles. In the same shop where Mum found a huge pile of 'Vogue Knitting' back issues we found a set of five folders full of knitting patterns which have some little gems in them and which were only £1.50 for the lot. We also found a complete set of 'Golden Hands complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide' books. We asked the lady how much they were and she said "£2". Her colleague then piped up and said "Well it says here 6 books for £1, so 18 books... that's £2". We didn't argue, Emily was starting to get bored and it was time to haul all our goodies back to the car. It was only when we got to the car that we realised that Emily had acquired a new little car and little toy car - Oooops!

Anyway back to the books. There are loads of lovely ideas in amongst this set of books and lots of really mad seventies stuff which I'll try and find some choice selections for you. None the less I can see myself spending hours browsing through this lot!

There hasn't been much knitting going on as I've been spinning like a dervish and enjoying every minute of it all. I've just over 140g left to spin up before I can finish all the plying and get things worked out for my project. I've set myself the challenge of trying to finish the spinning and knitting up by the 31st of October which will be a year from when I first got my wheel and for me a marker of how much I've learnt in a year - we shall see! Hopefully this yarn will knit up with subtle variations of colour - each skein so far is different and yet toning as you can see. Those white parts are luscious lumps of silk!

The other news I suppose I should tell you all about is my lovely parcel I received. Can you tell what it is yet?Maybe this shot will help you!

That is it - my spinning equipment supply is complete with my lovely new drum carder. What with all these fleeces I've got in the shed I decided it was a must have if I'm ever to work my way through it all within my lifetime (I exaggerate of course!). Haven't really stopped long enough to have a really good play with it yet but all the ladies in Mum's guild have said the Ashford is the best out there to go for and with all their experience and talent who am I to disagree with them?! What I have done with it I am pleased with but really want to get this project out of the way before biting off another thing right now.

Oh and one of the girls I work with brought me a shearling Suffolk Mule fleece from her sisters small flock in West Kirby so I now have two local fleeces to play with ( and wash ASAP!) as if I needed more! But bless her it was going free and she thought of me!

Right, as I'm really waffling about nothing I shall leave you with some pretty pictures from our Devon trip as a reward. These were amongst the few that don't have Emily in and I hope you enjoy them!

Beesands beach, Start Bay.

Slapton Ley, also Start Bay.

Streete Gate.

Looking along Slapton Ley to Torcross.

As you may have guessed these are all in Start Bay and local to where we were staying. For those of you who don't know the area it's South Devon down the coast from Torquay and Paignton and so peaceful and beautiful with all these pebbly beaches and rolling hillsides. Well recommended for a visit if you're ever down that way.