Spinning Madness

I love spindles and have been stalking a specific spindle maker for a while on Ravelry.

Well, after seeing some of Bristlecone's recent commission work, I had to take the plunge and put in a custom order. He is a wood and glass maker and has joined these skills to make a unique spindle which he named a 'Glindle'. His glindles fly, both when spinning and when they are listed in his shop so it was proving impossible to catch one.

After a brief discussion and a short wait, I was shown pictures of my glindle and, once I approved it I then had to wait for the post man to deliver this:

Which contained  (there was also a chocolate but that didn't last long)

 

Further unwrapping lead to

 So now you need some closeups of this beauty

It was important to give it a quick dress in the lovely which fibre it came with, just to get to know it.

Then it was time to choose the batt for it's new dress. The batt is from the lovely Lavender Cottage and I purchased it at Unravel.

See, they were meant to go together. And my glindle asked to be named, she is called Sprite.

I also purchased an Ann Grout Turnip with bowl this month. I had been after one for ages and finally decided I had to buy one. I purchased mine from Phylleri at Steam Valley Fibre and after some discussion I decided to purchase mine based on colour alone, not having seen a photo of it. She kindly held on to it for a week and a half as I was going away on holiday. Now I call that service.

The spindle came with 30g (yes, that's right - 30g) of her own fibre, from her goats. What is more she colourmatched it to the spindle.

The fibre is beautiful, it spins like a dream and the colour is so lush. Called Summer Sky it is a 50/50 blend of Border Leicester wool and fine Mohair. The goats that donate their fibre for this yarn are called Ginny & Lavender. I want some more but I am trying my hardest to be good as I have so much fibre.

See, it is so beautiful. Again, this spindle insisted on being named and is Denim.

Yorkshire ... here we come!

My goodness, time flies past at the speed of Concord. I have so much to say but have already been sucked into playing on Ravelry for hours more than I should.

Summer holidays have come to the Cave and DH and I are having a fabulous summer holiday together - nearly 5 whole weeks of fun, chores and a smidgen of work to keep us sane.

We have used this time to GO AWAY. We flew up the motorway with our bikes on the back of our mini and spent nearly two weeks in Yorkshire. It was lovely and I really enjoyed thinking about visits to my grand parents and driving over the moors with my siblings and parents.

We had some lovely days out including a visit to the lovely but ruined Rieveulx Abbey.

We then spent a lovely day out in York and went to the Jorvik Viking Centre which I have wanted to visit for ages. It was great fun and I'm really pleased we went. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the outside of the Minster, sitting in the Minster gardens and a visit to the very lovely Merchant Adventurer's Hall. I just love old buildings and the interior of this one is stunning.

I also really liked the stained glass.

The colours were gorgeous and reminded me of natural dyes.

We also had dinner at El Piano, which was yummy and left us very very full.

It would have been wrong for us to be in the moors without taking a walk to Mallyan Spout. Well, most of it was a walk but there was a fair scramble along the stream but was delightful and we had a picnic amoungst the heather.

Of course we couldn't be so close to the coast without visiting the three most famous seaside towns: Scarborough, Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay. They are all different and charming in their own way.

Whitby has a fantastic flight of stairs which lead to the parish church, sort of like the Stairway to Heaven. The road that runs by the steps is unbelievably steep so we took the stairs.

The views from the top were worth the climb, such a lovely place to linger and enjoy the view.

We also spent a lovely afternoon in Robin Hood's Bay, a place packed full of charm. We spent the most fun time rockpooling.

I found the COOLEST thing ever - a real live sea urchin. It was so funky and was waving its feeding tubes. I claim to be the winner in "best finds in a rock pool", can't wait to see how DH trumps it.

We also visited what I believe to be the most beautiful village in England - Hutton le Hole.

It just seems completely idyllic and I would be happy to live here.

I have to admit, Hutton le Hole also has one of the most charming museum I've been in for a long time - Ryedale Folk Museum. Packed full of buildings and items from Ryedale it was such a pleasure to stroll around and investigate. They also have three looms set up so people can try their hand at weaving - an iron age inspired upright loom, an 8-shaft table loom and a 8-shaft floor loom with treadles, each warped with hand spun yarn. They also carry out re-enactments on certain days.

I hope you have enjoyed revisiting some of my holiday highlights.

Lucky Me!!!

I have been very remiss as I need to post about the Newbury Coat and some other exciting stuff that has happened but first, I really must tell you about a bit of luck that came my way.

As most of you know I tweet away and it regularly seduces me away from my blog. A couple of weeks ago, well the 24th June to be exact I won a prize. Yep, there was a competition on Twitter and I won and my prize is beautiful!

The lovely Seasparkle ... what are you still here? Click on her name and go and have a look at her super lush website. I'll wait.

Told you it was good.

Anyway, as I was saying Seasparkle ran a competition to win a pendant. What a beaut it is. I wear it lots. The quality of the pendant is fantastic and I can't wait to wear my sea jewels to the beach this summer.

I guess I should let you see my pretties. I feel royally spoilt.

And a closeup to show the detail.

Thank you so very much, Seasparkle.

All set for Newbury

Oh, my goodness. I can't believe this Saturday I'm going to be in Newbury at a stupid early time, leaving home about 6.30am!

I and Elle (of Miss Elle Knits fame) will be joining the Kennet Valley Guild and members of other local guilds to participate in a totally mad challenge - to recreate the making of the Newbury Coat. I'm already feeling nervous as anything (gulp)!

Here is a link to the original Newbury Coat challenge.

Here is a link to the madness that is taking place this weekend.

I may faint!

To every season ...

So summer is acting a lot like spring. Seems fitting as spring was like summer.

Yesterday was guild day and there was a fleece sale at Steeple Ashton. I managed not to purchase any fleece or yarn. Despite there being some lovely Zwartbles, Alpaca and exceedingly lovely Shetland. I really love Shetland. I didn't dare linger as I already have several fleeces lined up for spinning.

Don't think I didn't spend a little bit of money at the Guild though. Joan and Clive were visiting from Woodland Turnery and I couldn't resist buying a mini niddy noddy for those little sample skeins of yarn.

Joan gave a talk detailing how Woodland Turnery came into existance and they had bought her Leicester wheel as well as the chair wheel. I really love the chair wheel, it is so comfortable. Joan also showed samples of her pyrograph art.

As always, it was lovely to see Joan and Clive and have the opportunity for a chat, especially as I won't be attending Woolfest or Fibre East.

Just so you know I have started spinning some lovely fawn Alpaca. Last night I put the remainder of the fawn through my drum carder. I am planning to ply the fawn with some yummy chocolate and hopefully have enough yarn for a top by the time I've finished.

By all rights, I should finish this post with at least one picture. So I have decided to share a place I drive pass every time I go to the Wiltshire Guild in Steeple Ashton. It catches my eye every time I drive by.

And the details are fantastic.

Oh, no mojo!

I've had a strange week in the Cave and by Friday evening I had only managed to crochet a couple of rows on a shawl and knit a couple of rows on a sock in the whole week. Totally not like me at all.

Friday evening came around and my crafting mojo returned. I finally completed  a couple of projects. I do need to take good photos but managed to grab a shot of a very cute Lisa Lam purse I made last night.This was made from a kit which was really clear, great fun and I can't believe how professional it looks.

I also finished some bunting I made from a kit by GillianGladraggs which I purchased recently from the very lovely new shop in Bradford on Avon, JumbleJelly. I haven't had the opportunity to take good photos of the completed bunting yet, but this is what a couple of the felted sheets looked like before I cut them up.

 
I am really happy to have the mojo back.

Knitting in the Sun

JumbleJelly, the fab new haberdashery and wool shop iin Bradford on Avon hosted a Knit in Public event in the park yesterday.

They provided a gazebo for us to sit under and I took my newly completed quilt to sit on. It was a wonderful afternoon full of fun and laughter. I met lots of lovely new crafter's and chatted away.

I'm not sure too much actual 'work' was done even though there were plenty of scrummy projects on view.

At one point I was trying to explain spinning from washing a newly shorn fleece through to plying including explaining the differences between plied and cabled yarns. I think poor Chris's head might have exploded but he did keep asking questions and I do like to provide answers.

My friend Elle took time to interview fellow public knitters yesterday and these can be found in her podcast (http://misselleknits.blogspot.com).

So, as I mentioned, I have finished my quilt and I love it. The picture will be at the start of the post because that is what happens if I use my phone to post an entry.
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