YarnBombing etc.

Not only was June 11th Worldwide Knit in Public day it was also International Yarn bombing day. Yarn bombing? A search online brings up loads of pages on the subject and Ravelry and Facebook has it's fair share of items too so it seems to be on the rise. The author of the book "Yarnbombing" Leanne Prane says:

"We consider it positive graffiti, it's not there to be ill-intentioned, or to give anyone a bad day, It is supposed to be a force of positivity in the world."

Who could argue with that? I'm sure that there are people out there who see it a blatant vandalism but hopefully most will see it as it's intended. So in an attempt to add a bit of fun to the world certain people might have joined in!

I did see it getting some interested looks from passers by and so far it's still there. It does brighten up a dull corner of some railings and at least it's making the culprits happy if on-one else!

Lots has happened since I last wrote including rather a lot of knitting. Which is good as my knitting mojo hadn't been good for a while. My mission to knit 11 pairs of socks in 2011 is progressing well - I'm now up to pair number 8 thanks to a couple of socks for my mini-me which take next to no time to knit up especially if you're stuck in the car for 4 hours driving down to Devon! As a passenger of course :) I've also finished off some of my numerous WIP's including finishing off my Haruni shawl which took a surprisingly small amount of time to finish and not as much effort as I'd thought and as a result really made me wonder why it took me so long to pick it back up again.

Wonder Wool Wales was the usual fun day out but the major change for us this year was that rather than stay for the whole weekend and visit both days we only visited one day of the show and travelled back that same day exhausted by it all. I don't feel this was a bad thing - Mum and I were both out of money by then and we'd seen pretty much everything we'd wanted to. I came home with exactly what I wanted which was one of IST's Turkish spindle so I can still spin while I'm camping - while it's not really a flashy fancy wood I love it to bits as it's gleaming black Bog Oak that's thousands of years old and spins like a dream.

I suppose I should finish with a picture of my dress that was occupying so much of my time the last time I wrote - it's not the best one but here you go!

Stop and Look

There are many reasons to 'Stop and Look' the main one I'd say is when crossing the road as part of our hectic lifestyles. Sometimes the world around us has plenty to offer when we simply stop and look.

It's taking the time to stop and pay attention to what's going on around you. I'm not sure if you've ever done the same but on more than one occasion I've jumped in the car going somewhere or another and been half way down the road before I've realised that my 'Autopilot' has kicked in and I'm busily headed off to work or school when I was supposed to be going to somewhere else in completely the opposite direction.

My time lately has been taken up with an awful lot of sewing and very little knitting at all. The main culprit has been this:

Butterick Retro pattern B6582 - the really full skirted option and not the 'wiggle' dress. I've not disliked the experience - on the whole I've really been enjoying it all and have got the sewing bug again. But my life seems to have been swallowed up whole by this and my brothers upcoming wedding (10 days to go now!!) and as such I've noticed very little else.

Until today when I was out in the garden and low and behold the huge Lime trees that back on to our garden have the beginnings of leaves on them. Not buds but fresh spring green leaves shooting out and lots of them too. Now when did that happen?! I see then everyday from my lounge windows and have only just noticed. Either Spring moves at light speed or really I'm seeing without seeing if you catch my drift.

So I made the time today to Stop and Look and saw with fresh eyes how everything has developed and that the buds on my lilac tree, which I think will have a wonderful display this year, look about set to flower.... right over the weekend of Wonder Wool Wales. Hmmm... I hope there'll be something left for me to enjoy once I get home on the Sunday.

Anyway - if any of you get to Builth Wells this weekend for a good old dose of Wool Fumes like I intend doing, I hope you all have fun. If not then I shall tell you all about it next time!!

I'd best be off now - the other thing I spotted when I stopped and looked was that I need to hover and dust the place!!

Wonderful Wonder Wool!

Well I've not been terribly successful at keeping up with my blog lately - too many other bits to be getting on with I suppose!What better way to get back in the flow of things by giving a review of the wonderful weekend that's just finished namely Wonder Wool Wales down in Builth Wells. And it really was great fun - so much to see, so much to buy and so many people to catch up with and meet! As always we didn't mange to meet everyone, some like 'Remote Knitter' we've been trying to meet with for years now and still failing miserably - must try harder I think!!

It was a real riot of colour which always gets me excited and inspired - 'Oliver Twists' stand was like shopping in a rainbow and was just so stunning it made you want to buy it all! The fantastic Prudence Mapstone was there again and as well as being so lovely her work makes me want to grab a crochet hook and yarn right away and start freeforming something!

I could go on all day telling you about all the lovely things there were on show and the stands too - highlights included 'Artists Palette's stall which was a wonderful show of colour with her fibres and yarns (including some stunning silk yarn which I'd have loved to rehome!) and also

 Spindlefrog's stand which as well as being a blaze of colour had the lovely Helix who I was so pleased to catch up with as she's so nice!

There were so many people I bumped into, some old friends, some new and I'll try my best to remember names! First off was No1AliCat, followed by Wye Sue, AmberMoggie (and Mr Mog of course!!), Laal Bear,the lovely Freyalyn and Sarah (YarnSpider), bloggless lurker Katie (who was surrounded at one point by three of her bloggers she was looking for without realising it!), CraftyMandy, the aforementioned Helix, Toffees Mum, Bluefaced Andy and Fybrespates Jenny as well as members of my spinning guild and Mum's spinning guild. I could go on and I'm afraid my brain is failing me - I knew I should have written down who I'd met! Sorry if I haven't mentioned anyones name it really is down to my shoddy memory!

There were some livestock on show as well which is always lovely to see but not as much as in WoolFest, mind you more sheep will have been shorn by then and I'm sure that would make the animals more comfortable in the show - the Wenselydale and Teeswater all looked rather warm! Compared with last years purchases I have come home with less but this year it's quality rather than quantity - plus they were more expensive buys! Main buy was a fantastic new Majacraft Suzi Pro which I am loving every second of and in no way regretting buying! And of course to go with it I needed a new (competition!) lazy kate and 2 more bobbins. That blew most of my budget so the rest didn't last long after buying a Corriedale/Ryland cross fleece from Olwen Veevers called 'Polka' (lovely knowing the name of the sheep your fleece came from!), some alpaca rovings from UK Alpaca (chocolate, coffee and white!) and some dyed kid mohair from Freyalyn. Feels like there should be more with the amount I spent but there you go! No pictures of my goodies - I'll sort that out later!

As with last year I'd run out of money by the time I got to the MidWales Mouthful section which is a real shame as there was some great looking food on show including some highly tempting Scotch eggs! And I had to take a picture of Dr Who's 'house' (as DD says) on top of the BBC Cymru building to amuse DD.

All in all it's a long weekend with all the driving but the atmosphere, colour and most importantly the people more than make up for being stuck in traffic getting there! Plus I'm going to have to keep an eye open for when Google Street Map updates as I was caught on the road between Newtown and Llandridnod Wells - permanent proof of my drive to Wonder Wool Wales! Maybe I'll have to get a screen shot of it (even if I do know what my car looks like!)

I'll be back (hopefully with less of a gap than before) with an update of all my knitting, spinning, etc as soon as I can stop playing with my new wheel!!

Update - some of you may ahve seen someone elses pictures instead of my Wonderwool ones - not sure what happened there but I've now replaced them with ones that shouldn't dissapear!

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