You can't shout at me - it's my birthday

I'm 41 today. Not quite sure how I feel about that but I'm certainly having a nice day. I got a cup of tea in bed and some nice presents from Dave and the boys and my next door neighbour has just been round with a lush chocloate cake. My husband has also bought me a cake so never mind two - shags Prescott, I'm two - cakes Cledry!

I've been a bad blogger because I decided (in my wisdom) to enter a couple of pieces into the Wonderwool competition and I left myself 3 days to do it (rolls eyes @ self). I've entered a felted hat and a tea cosy made from some lovely Llanwenog wool bought from Garthenor Organic in Ceredigion. As well as super speedy delivery the wool was absolutely stunning. It's a relief to find a British wool that will felt as you all know my thoughts on merino. It took longer to felt and didn't shrink as much as merino so the hat came out different to what I expected. I actually prefer it to what I originally had in mind so it's all gravy! I have no doubt that the pieces I sent will be sent straight back but I thought it was time to step out of the comfort zone and 'put something out there' Anyway - it was all done in such a rush that I didn't take any photos. I'll take some when they come back and post them on here. So, dear bloggers this is a photoless post :(

Anyway - the sun is out, it's my birthday, I make that Pimms o-clock!

In which we review our behaviour

Why did no-one tell me that my entire life was going to revolve around wool? I look out of the window and eye up the sheeps fleeces, envisioning them carded and spun into glorious skeins of woolly yumminess. I see colour combinations and think 'Ooh, that would look great on some sock yarn!' From the moment I get up until the moment I go to sleep (and then I'm quite often dreaming about wool) I'm plotting and planning colours, textures and how I can spend the maximum time in my workroom without anyone disturbing me.

It would all be well and good if I actually ever made anything! I just end up with loads and loads of sample skeins.

Look:















That was Easter. The plain orange roving and the plain purple skein at the front were my first attempts at natural dyeing, the rest are good old acid dyes in one guise or another. Am I destined to be a 100g wonder? I have enough raw/white wool to make a yurt theme park so why can't I pin myself down to making enough of one thing so I could at least make a garment?

Answers on a postcard please :)

Arse! Arse! And thrice Arse!

I didn't want to be a dyer anyway :(

Yesterday I decided to try a new way of dyeing some skeins. I wondered what would happen if I sprinkled the dye in its powder form directly onto the wet yarn. So, I chucked it on, microwaved it and hung it out to dry. This morning I skeined it up again and fell in love! Here it is:




















I've spent all this afternoon trying to recreate it. Have I managed? Have I buggery! I've used the same colours in the same order, the same technique and everything to absolutely no avail. Here's what the rest have come out like:




















Arse!

Here's what they looked like as little sausages waiting to go into the microwave:
















I will valiantly carry on trying to recreate the wonder that is my beautiful skein if I have to use the entire 20 kilos to do it!

Happy Easter everyone!

I know I've been a bad blogger. I've had a cold, it's school holidays yada yada yada - lol.

So, to make it up to you all here's a pic of our brand new lambs born less than half an hour ago on Good Friday. Almost better than chocolate.

*Note I said almost *


















Normal yarn-based natter will resume very shortly.
Have a happy Easter folks.

What a fab two days

I am absolutely kernackered but boy was it worth it. I managed to do both days of the workshop despite it being really physical. I had a few hairy moments where I thought it was going to prove too much and the floor was going to come up to meet my head but thankfully I remained conscious throughout the entire two days! The first day we made a beret which could either be round or square. I chose round and added a bit of silk and a 'dreadlock' and it came out
like this:























It's a nice enough hat but I can't get it to look quite right on me. I think I need to make it a bit less 'puffy' and perhaps a bit smaller. Still, for a first attempt I'm really pleased with it.
Day two saw us moving onto much more adventurous territory and making 'fancy hats'. Everyones hats turned out beautifully but we were all wondering where we can wear them in Cornwall! I love mine and although I may never wear it I will definitely stroke it at least once a day - lol!





















It was a fantastic 2 days and throughout the whole event I had to keep reminding myself that this was an artist of international reknown and she was in a tiny village in West Cornwall teaching a group of mad women. Here's the lady herself helping someone put the finishing touches to their hat:















The whole thing had a really special feel about it and it'll be a very happy memory for me for a long time to come.

A robin some socks and Chad Alice Hagen!

First off, here's a pic of a British robin for Cyndy. I couldn't get a snap of our resident one as he seems to have gone awol for the tme being. Maybe he's flown off to his Summer pad, who knows? So, I pinched one off the Net :)




















Re the self striping sock wool. They're coming on nicely. The colours aren't as subtle as I'd maybe have chosen but for a first attempt I'm quite pleased. It's stripey, it's sock wool, what did I expect!




















Now, onto my exciting news. I picked up the local paper on Thursday and tucked away at the bottom of the 'What's On' page was a tiny article saying that a feltmaker was coming to town for a two day hat-making workshop on Wednesday and Thursday. I thought, ooh that looks quite interesting and read on. It's only Chad Alice Hagen!!! Coming to a tiny village up the road from me! I phoned up and asked if there were any places left but at less than a week to go I thought they'd definitely be oversubscribed. The lady said they had places left so I asked how much it was. '£85' she said. 'Per day?' asked I 'No' she said, 'for both days.' I sort of squeaked and she said 'Do you still want to book?' I said I definitely did it but I was expecting it to cost much more than that. She said 'Ahhhh, I take it you know who she is.' Apparently people have been complaining about the price! I dunno, people eh? lol

Anyway, I'm excited, can you tell?!