New year

New year, new cushion covers.  There is nothing like being in the sitting room in daylight to make you notice the cushions need updating.

Carding tastic

I have to confess that carding is my least favourite part of the spinning process.  Today's session was carding Kerry Hill fleece.  Google them, they look really funny!  My lovely husband and daughters helped me along by singing and playing carols on the piano.

Knitting at the pool.

Have taken my daughter and her friends to the local pool, bit of a win/win situation as I get to be nice mum and get an hours knitting time. ( plus meanwhile dh is cooking roast dinner!)

Cotwold Jumper

I have abandoned the first pattern for this jumper as the stitch definition wasn't good enough in the handspun, so am instead going for a plainer jumper knitted in the round with  a cabled yoke. Well that's the plan anyway.  Have managed some indigo dying this week also, with the focus on variagation.  More to come tomorrow on a madder/walnut/onion skin theme.

New jumper

Next project is a jumper in homespun Cotswold. 

New yarn

There is nothing quite so lovely freshly dyed yarn drying in the sun. All ready for saturday at the Roadshow in Brackley.

Travelling

I have taken the opportunity to indulge in some crafting on the go today. We are visiting my mum in Cornwall as it is half term. I am making use of the 5 hours in the car to get some knitting done. A pair of fingerless gloves in home spun jacob, a pair of baby socks in zwartbless and one slipper sock in jacob done so far. :-)

Busy in Banbury.

We have been pretty busy here at the folk festival craft fair. Here is a picture of the first sale of the day. 

Shop update.

New lace yarn has now been added to the shop! 5 different colours. To see them in the flesh, come to Banbury town hall on Saturday between 10.30 and 4 or Kings Sutton Memorial Hall on Sunday between 10 and 4.

Todays colours

I have been dying lace yarn today, which will shortly be appearing in the shop. First was the turn of tbe humble onion skin.  Two skeins of BFL lace weight went in, and one was modified with iron to give a lovely green.  Other dyeing today was done with walnut, yarn isn't out yet but looks promising- a lovely chocolate.

And because i am not quite ready to leave the blues behind, I painted our bedroom window frame blue!

Die another day.

After yesterdays variable results, I revived the vat again this morning and things have been much better. I am getting some nice blues.

50 things to do before you die.

Paint window frames,
Do the shopping,
Have lunch,
Ebay shopping for daughter's hobby

then and only then can I get some dying done! Having joined the  weavers, spinners and dyers online guild last month, i was really excited to join in the indigo workshop, but with all tbe other things there are to do it has taken me the best part of the month to get to the part where I get to put yarn in the indigo vat. The first batch has been done and serms to be teal coloured. very pretty, but not blue!

Knitting in Northampton

A big thank you to the knitting ladies of Northampton for being so welcoming this morning. I had the fabbest time knitting at A Most Marvellous Place to Shop.  Look out for more dates next month.

peglooming at chacombe

I have just finished the second peglooming session at a local care home. Now I am going to combine all the pieces into one hanging to represent the craft group.  Next months sessions include making necklaces and broaches.

update on jumper

john's jumper has progressed to the neck. looking good.

Jumper for John

Well it has been a great summer, lots of camping, folking and familying - just generally having a great time. But I have had time for a few project in between all the fun. My projects this summer have all been alliterative:

Jumper for John (not finished yet, so more on that later)

(This has progressed significantly further than this, and I will go and take an up to date picture the minute I finish this blog!)

Ruby's Rabbit (This little fellow is being sent all the way to Australia!)

.... and finally: Socks for Simon('s dad)

Feltballs and blocking

I have been having lots of fun this last week. I made felt balls from some jacob fleece. They were felted in the washing machine and then needle felted to decorate. They are nominally pincushions, but I might just have them casually sitting somewhere looking pretty! They could even go outside in the flower bed as they will just slowly compost down.

Then it was Folk in the Park, and Pin Money were out in force, providing a craft fair, with lots of lovely goodies. It was very hot, but we kept going with ice-cream and lots of fantastic music to listen to. Infact the entertainment was so good, that I forgot to take many photos, so here is one of us setting up!

Yesterday I finally finished the lace shawl that I have been knitting since July 2009. It has been put aside many times in the last two years, so I am really pleased to have finished it. Here it is blocking:

All done

Well I finished the jumper for Harriet. Started it in January, so it has been a while in the making, but that is also because I find it hard just to work on one project.

I collected fleece from Yew Tree Farm in Hinton in the Hedges and it is lovely. I can't wait to get it washed and on the spinning machine.

I will have a couple of fleeces with me on my stall at Folk in the Park, in Brackley Park on Sunday 26th June from 12 - 5pm.

Jacobs have also been shorn, so I really need to finish carding last years shearling! So back to work.

Summer

Well summer has come, and it is a very busy time of year. I am desperately fighting a loosing battle to card and spin all of last years fleeces. I am going to fail!! New fleece is on the horizon, with the Zwartbless sheep from Yew Tree Farm already having been shorn and the Hammer Vale Jacobs being shorn on Tuesday.

I am fetching Zwartbless fleece on Monday, so will take my camera along, so you can all have a look. This means that if you have already ordered fleece, I will be contacting you with payment details and asking for your address. If you didn't know about this great oppertunity to get your hands on some rare-breed fleece which is said to be great for spinning, then please let me know asap and there should be fleece left for you too! They are all shearling fleece and a good size (about 4kg) and only £5 + p&p per fleece.

Here is what some of last years fleece has been used for. This fleece comes from an older ewe and is not so soft for handspinning:

We took advantage of the good weather and went to Exmoor camping. Ofcourse the knitting came too, but the spinning had to be left at home as there really was NO room in the car!

Indigo Star....

...is the title of one of my fav books. I love the thought of calling your children names inspired by a paint chart. Maybe mine should have been inspired by sheep breeds: Jacob, Lincoln, Lleyn, Radnor, Beulah,... Wensleydale, Schwarzbless, Blue Face..... (maybe not!)

Anyway the point of this blog was to show you some of the indigo dyed yarn, up close:

Next project is to try and collect some colour from the oak and ash bark, that we picked up in the woods last week!

The power of the humble onion.

The return of slightly warmer weather has got me dyeing again. And here are a selection of colours all achieved with onion skins combined with different amounts of iron.

Here is a little preview of what today's effort......

More pictures when skeins are all dry.

The Joy of Sox

What a great title for a book of sock patterns.

The patterns in the book are great for solid/ semi-solid yarns. Infact just perfect for the yarns that I have been dying.

I was nearly seduced by ' A roll in the hay' as I have yarn that pretty much perfectly matches.

but after a conversation with Rachael (who was next on the sock knitting list) I have in fact cast on 'Making up socks' After a false start due to a mistake in the wording in the pattern, I am underway. This is a toe up sock, not my favorite method of construction, but I am willing to give it a go and it is knitting up very nicely.

Picking and throwing!

Just had a fab weekend in Cornwall with my mum. The great thing with a 4 hour journey is plenty of knitting time and then more time to sit around knitting and cosying in front of the fire.

I just wanted to share with you a colour work technique that my mum was using: Working a two colour pattern she was throwing (knitting english style) with one colour and picking (knitting european style) with the other. This results in much quicker colour work and less tangles.

Here is what it looks like:

Not a great picture to be fair, but you get the idea!

Peg doll fairies

I have been experimenting today with making peg dolls. We are running a drop in workshop on making peg dolls at the Syresham Community Crafting Roadshow on the 5th September.

I have decided to name my fairies after flowers.

Forget-me-not:



Rose:




Thistle:

Bloggin' in the Cafe.

well my home network connection has let me down, so I have taken myself to the cafe and am using their internet connection. Couldn't resist a capucino and a spot of lunch!

Plans for February's craft extravaganza are well underway. We are collecting a variety of stalls, with lots of different crafts for sale: wool, glass, jewellery, cross stitch cards and home textiles. Something there for everyone! But there are still tables available, so if you would like to book a table at £10, please e-mail me on mail@pinmoneycrafts.co.uk

We are also getting the timetable of events sorted out and I can announce the first two Craft classes: Learn to crochet a Valentine's heart and a Make a button bracelet.

Drop in sessions so far: Tassle making, Learn to knit for kids (absolute basics!) and Peg doll making.

If you have a craft skill that you would like to share please contact me on the e-mail address above, to discuss running a crafts class or drop in session in February (or indeed March or May). Equally if there is a particular craft that you would like to have a go at, please let me know and I will try and find a tutor and put on a class.

Well that is all for now, coffee is drunk and panini eaten, I had better get on with other jobs on the list. Those socks won't knit themselves.........

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a very happy New Year and I hope you had a great crafty Christmas. I did find some time to set down in among the hectic and get a bit of knitting done. ( I had to try out the new sock needles given to me by my husband!:-) )


I have one event to catch you up with:

...........the 1st Community Crafting Roadshow on 4th Dec 2010 in Brackley. A really good day was had by the stall holders and craft class attendees. The snow and rain, didn't quite keep all the punters at bay, so there was also a great deal of mooching, shoppping, chatting and tea drinking going on.

And one event to tell you about:

.........0ur next Community Crafting Roadshow is happening on the 5th February in Syresham Village Hall. Again the day will run from 10 am until 4.30pm, with drop in sessions, craft classes and lots of handmade goodies to browse and spend any left over Christmas money on. (Chance would be a fine thing, but it will be nearly Valentine's day, and so there is an excuse!)

Speaking of Valentine's - what better way would there to show your appreciation of a loved one than to go on the 'Crochet a Valentine's heart' Craft Class? You will learn a few of the basic stitches and leave with at least one heart completed and the skill to make more - or indeed crochet other things, as the stitches are used in most crochet projects. Book on our website.