Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Not a lot to report

The sheep have been sheared (shorn?) and I've found out that washing fleece knackers me. Still, I've washed half of Sunshine's fleece - she is the weirdest looking sheep I've ever seen but her fleece is lush. I'll post pics of how it's spinning up in a couple of days.

This is Didge





















Smiling for the camera while he had his haircut - lol

Saturday, May 27, 2006

'Normal' service is resumed

Well, thank you to everyone who left sympathetic mesages yesterday. My plan was for this blog never to get that personal, more to just be a place to record my spinning and knitting. But seeing as my visitor stats went through the roof yesterday maybe having the occasional hissy pink bitch-fit isn't so bad.

Yesterday I had a good cry, a bath, a mars bar and a cup of tea. Then I set to spinning 125 grams of 2 ply dorset and a bobbin full of alpaca. I also finished sewing up the small bag I knitted on the way to the dentist.





















It's made from some Gotland that I got from a stall called Moral Fibre and some of our own Polled Dorset. I spun singles on my new drop spindle





















And then just knitted. There was no pattern, I just knitted. I pinched a pebble from next doors driveway and used it as a button - lol. I've never really 'got' why people bother with drop spindles - until I tried it. Now it's something else to add to the addiction pile - sigh.

My certificates came a couple of days ago - I took a picture of them.


















Saddo ain't I? lol

I know I'm overtired and I've been really struggling to hear the alarm let alone get up when it goes off. I promised myself a good long lie in today. I've been awake since 6.10.

Anyway in the words of my fellow hysteric Scarlett O - Hara 'Tomorrow is another day' and tomorrow is today already so I suppose I'd better get on with it .










That's the beautiful rainbow that came out when we were packing away the tent in Wales. Nice innit?

BTW I found a supplier of ethical (and British) merino when I was at Wonderwool and bought two bags of fleece from her. They're called Chrysalis Alpaca and the fleece is beautiful.


Friday, May 26, 2006

Life

I'm sorry I still haven't got round to posting any photo's - life is getting in the way a bit. I had my last mercury amalgam removed yesterday (200 mile round trip and near surgical procedures)and the trip to Wales has really kocked me out. Added to that I stupidly decided to book a stall for our local festival Golowan. It's in 4 weeks time which would maybe be alright but next week is half term and my friend is down from London for a week after that which means I have 2 weeks in actual fact to make yarn, bags, shawls, anything that'll sell so we can keep a roof over our heads. I know I'm not really well enough yet but my sickness benefits are about to stop and a girl has to make ends meet somehow or we'll be homeless by the end of next month.

Anyway, it's been commented on that I haven't really been around and I've been removed from the friends list of a blog I used to read. There haven't been many comments on my blog lately so I can only assume that I've broken some kind of 'bloggers code'. Fuck knows why I let the internet get to me so much but it does.

So, I'm sorry I'm ill.
I'm sorry I haven't got time or energy to post on everyones blog all the time.
I'm sorry I don't fit in.
I'm sorry I bothered with this blog

Monday, May 22, 2006

I'd like to thank my mother, my dog and Bod

I'm absolutely shattered and have just got back but I thought I'd pop in to quickly tell you all that I won 1st prize with my tea cosy and my hat was exhibited in the winners section as well. I'm quietly chuffed, no-one laughed :) Total donk that I am I didn't get any pics of them. They should post them back soon (I hope) and then (if they aren't too battered) I'll be able to take some pictures and post them up.

I'll post pics of what fell into my shopping bag when I've recovered lol.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Batten down the hatches!

We're off to Wales first thing and it's blowing a hoolie! I don't relish putting the tent up in a howling gale and pissing rain but it's a holiday, who am I to complain?

I'll be back on Monday with photees of the fun and hopefully all my new goodies. No, darling I promise I won't fill the hire car with smelly fleece *uncrosses fingers*

See ya Monday!

Monday, May 15, 2006

Silky Silky

It was a weird day yesterday. We were driving down the track when I spotted one of the new lambs lying in the gateway. It wasn't well at all. We think it may have eaten something poisonous as it's mother and sister are fine but it wasn't good and it died. It's a horrible feeling - helpless. You do what you can but sometimes, despite your best efforts, nature takes its course. Anyway - within an hour of it dieing the ewe who we were waiting for produced her first lamb. A tiny black one. So it was bad news and good news. Ho hum such is life on a smallholding I guess.

So, back to all things fibrey. The silk sample skein has been burning a hole in me every time I walk past it. I tried hiding it in the stash bowl but it was no good - lol. At 10pm last night I caved in and knitted an amulet pouch that I first saw on acrylik's blog. I think I'll give it to my eldest son who is always stashing stuff in little bags - hippy that he is.
















I've never knitted silk before and it was fun. I have to say I preferred it before I blocked it - are you supposed to block silk?

I did some more of the sample blends from the silk workshop at the online guild yesterday. It was fun and I really enjoyed just playing. Here is some Blue Face Leicester and tussah silk which came already blended:














I seem to have managed to make that look like a dog turd.

And some tussah silk noils carded with some shetland I found kicking about in a bag in my workroom:















I really like that one. I kept it as a single as I though it would look just too messy plyed. It's just the right level of random for me right now. I'll definitely be doing that again and will stock up on tussah noils when Wingham come to Praa Sands in June.

Today we're doing some shopping to make sure we have all the necessaries for our trip to The Smallholder Show/Wonderwool in Wales. I wonder if 'himself' is prepared for just how much I'm planning on spending? He hasn't questioned he fact that I've hired an estate car - rofl!

Saturday, May 13, 2006

I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger :(
Every time I switch on the computer I think 'I must post on the blog today' but to no avail. I seem to have had some kind of mental block. Anyway - I'm forcing myself to post today so quality control may go out the window - lol.
So, what have the last 2 weeks been like? I've been busy, too busy probably. I bought a second hand Ashford Country Spinner from someone at the online guild. It's a beast with its 2lb bobbins





















I'm getting the hang of it slowly but surely and am starting to crank out some thick n thin singles. It's a very fast wheel and very heavy so it's easy to overspin. I'm using the singles to practice dyeing things the same colours that have a semblance of regularity. I still can't recreate that bright skein I did a month or so back. The colours seem to be much tamer than my original attempts but I'm not losing as much excess dye. People who've seen them seem to like them so maybe it's just the critical beyatch who resides permanently in the front of my head who's unhappy with them.















Re: Wonderwool. I had a letter yesterday with a complimentary exhibitors pass for the Saturday so it looks like my hat and/or tea cosy are being exhibited at the show. There was no explanation in the letter - just the pass. Peculiar. I'll get some photos of them while I'm up there and post them when I get back.

What else has been going on? Oh yeah, I've been dipping in and out of the guild workshop which, this month, is Silk Spinning. I've never spun silk before and was expecting it to be trickier than it was. I've really enjoyed the little bit I've done (not the smell though - it stinks) It was easier than the soy silk or tencel that I've been playing with. I think I'll definitely do some more another time.















Last Saturday I took my middle boy, Murphy to another chess tournament. There were two competitions running concurrently. One for the UK Land Chess Challenge and one for the Penwith Cup (local schools competing for the cup) He was playing on the school team as well as on his own behalf and the clever little smorgler got a perfect score (won every game he played) which meant that he's under 10's champ and his school won the cup. These tournaments are always a mixed blessing. It's fantastic that he wins stuff and I'm so proud of him but when they get over that 4 point qualification score you can see the mums going 'Oh god I've got to take him/her to Manchester for the next stage now' lol. Anyway - here's a pic of his trophy. It's a beauty this time.




















And here's just a gratuitous pic of my youngest playing with the young nanny Bracken while her (very pregnant) mum looks on.
He gets jealous if he's left out - lol.

















I think I can definitely say I've been overdoing it. I just wish I was able to listen to the warning signs I get and not just plough on regardless. By the afternoon I feel like I've been sucked dry and am running on empty.

Still, it's almost Summer, the trees are in leaf and the meadowsweet is in flower. I love it when the meadowsweet and the campions blossom. I've made this years batch of Oil of Swallows (Green elder ointment) which gets used to help heal cuts and bruises of livestock and small boys and the elder flowers are starting to bud so it won't be long before I'm up to my elbows in elderflower cordial - yum. We've got one ewe left to lamb - a first time mum who we're concerned about lambing while we're away. Hopefully she'll have it tonight on the full moon or I don't know what we'll do. We're off to Wales early on Friday morning - so she needs to have had it by then. The other lambs are at their nicest stage. There's something about lambs at that age that just looks inherently naughty. They charge around the field looking for all the world like they're playing tag. There's always one who's more naughty than the rest. And for some reason that one's always my favourite ;)

Blogger being it's usual crap self

I've typed a long post with photos but for some reason the photos won't appear. I'll try again later.
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