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!