The String Bag

30 April: Stitchwort

2011-04-30T08:48:00.000+01:00

The cold winter and dry spring are producing an abundance of wild flowers. The stitchwort is plentiful by local hedges -

- along with celandines, violets, garlic mustard, dandelions, bluebells, vetch, speedwell, primroses, wild strawberries ....

27 April: Spun skeins

2011-04-27T09:01:00.000+01:00

Over the weekend I spun up the BFL fibre dyed last week. 150 gms of orange and 200 gms of purple -

Wish I could knit faster.

20 April: Dyeing

2011-04-20T08:55:00.000+01:00

This fine weather is just right for doing a bit of dyeing and hanging yarn and fibre up to dry. So that was what I did yesterday morning.

Here's the result -

It's all BFL - some tops bought fairly recently, plus 3 skeins of undyed yarn that must have been spun some time last year. Apart from trying out 2 new dye shades (Maize and Alfalfa), I chose to do shades of orange and purple, mixing different dyes for each piece. The coffee colour was a lurid pinky-purple, rather over-modified with a bit too much browny-yellow. It'll spin in with the purples OK though, just adding to the variety.

17 April: Chaffinch

2011-04-17T08:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday early evening I went out to water the newly-planted seedlings in the back garden - lobelias and calendulas. The potted trees needed a drink too, and as I was watering the gingko something moved in its branches and startled me. It was a chaffinch, and he sat there while I was standing right next to it.

Birds don't normally do that, so I wondered if he had flown into the window and stunned himself (they do that). I said Hello - he just looked at me. Eventually I reached out a hand and touched his tail very gently; he still didn't move. It was only when I mentioned he should be careful of the sparrowhawk that he flew off.

11 April: Painting

2011-04-11T15:35:00.000+01:00

Decorating used to be easy - down to the DIY shop, buy a tin of paint, and slap it on the wall.

Now there are dozens of ranges of paint, all with slightly different shades (or perhaps the same shades, but with different names). No wonder most people chicken out and buy magnolia again.

But we wanted a bit of a change from magnolia and cream in the bedroom, though as I didn't fancy painting the entire room, it was to be just one wall - very 60's. Those of us in our 60's who remember the 1960's, that is.

Having marked several possibilities on the shade cards, off we went to buy tester pots. Only to find that several of the colours we fancied were not represented in the tester range, and one or two not even in the tins on the shelves. Fortunately a larger shop stocked what we wanted, and after consideration of half a dozen patches of colour on the wall, we plumped for a dangerously strong cocoa colour.

It looks good; didn't take too long to do, and the tin did 2 coats easily, in spite of a panic half way through the first coat. Now we're thinking of doing a wall in the sitting room. Perhaps Antique Gold.

7 April: Two more bands

2011-04-07T09:32:00.001+01:00

These little bands are quite addictive! For the first of these two, I spun some dark navy and some cherry red from a parcel of lucky-dip mixed wool fibre from World of Wool. The design was adapted from a band by Laverne Waddington, which she got from a Russian band.

I thought there were no mistakes in the weaving until I turned the finished band over - and found a couple of misplaced warps which didn't show on the front.

But the second band has no weaving mistakes that I can see! It's one of the designs in Sue Foulkes' book Sami Band Weaving, and I love the asymmetric pattern. This one is done in handspun natural coloured wools (Shetland and "black" Wensleydale) with an accent of dyed green Shetland.

There's a slight snag in that the pattern section, with its warp floats, is woven a little more tightly than the spotted border, so the band forms a gentle spiral. Firm steam pressing will probably sort that out.

Now I really must get back to knitting the sock that was cast on a week ago.

5 April: Blossom

2011-04-05T13:34:00.000+01:00

Suddenly, all those scruffy bits of roadside hedge are alight with blossom! Rather dull banks are sprinkled with flowers, and the birds are over enthusiastic at 4 a.m. There was plenty of this where we walked this morning -

And this is what passing traffic missed -

It's blackthorn, I think.

29 March: Two very different woven bands

2011-03-29T15:44:00.000+01:00

Filled with enthusiasm from the weekend workshop, I have been weaving a couple of bands on my backstrap with rigid heddle.

First was a wide plain woven band, using some very textured early spinning, to see how wide a band the heddle would make. It came out 2.5 to 3 inches wide (variable tension control!), and 69 inches long.

Then one in finer yarns, crochet threads, in one of the patterns in Sue Foulkes' book about Sami band weaving; this is a pattern that looks good on both sides. This one is 47 inches long and 0.75 inches wide.

Here they are -

And Happy Birthday brother!

27 March: Workshop

2011-03-27T10:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to a Guild workshop taught by Sue Foulkes, one of our SDW Guild members. She is a highly skilled weaver who has researched bands woven by the Sami peoples of Scandinavia, and produced a little book. This workshop is based on her book.

It was an excellent workshop, even for those of us who had already made bands in this style. It was remarked at the end of the day how quiet we'd been (most unusual!), but that was because we were all concentrating and/or being challenged.

Sue also showed us some slides of a trip to Sweden, and was most generous with materials, expertise, and attention.

Here's some of what I brought home -

The blue and white band had 5 pattern threads and 3 designs, the red and blue one had 9 pattern threads, and only 1 and a half pattern repeats.

Now I'm off to the garage to look for some bits of wood to make a clamp for my backstrap like Sue's.

23 March: More spring creatures

2011-03-24T08:04:00.000Z

This morning I watched a wren in the back garden, busily checking for insects in most of the usual places, plus a few more unusual (the potted pine tree for one).

And the bumble bee I saw yesterday was again floating round the hellebores and the comfrey, which has just started to flower. The comfrey is a favourite of the wren too, as there are lots of little spiders on it.

21 March: Lambs

2011-03-21T15:19:00.000Z

Out for one of our favourite local walks, we saw lots of lambs. This group included a couple of darker ones.

Back at home, the bathroom smells of sheep (Eau de Ewe?), as I've been spinning some BFL tops, and the skeins have been washed and are hanging up to dry.

11 March: It'll be all right when it's pressed

2011-03-11T15:58:00.000Z

That's what my mother used to say when her dress-making looked a bit rough and ready. And it works for inkles too.

The light-bulb moment the other day was to make a bag to carry my collection of backstrap stuff in - the bag itself being made of inkles. The inkle strips sewn together looked very lumpy and uneven, but a few minutes with the steam iron resulted in a thick and even fabric.

A quick walk to the shops for a zip and a bit of ribbon (to cover the raw edges inside), and hours of sewing, and here's the finished item with some of the kit to go in it -

And here it is with all that stuff inside. It's 22' long and 10.5" deep. I used inkles I had already made, 4 altogether, which were cut into 11 strips. The zigzag inkle is just about long enough to go all the way round and make handles, and the zip pull is made with part of the band made the other day on my double hole rigid heddle (the other bit has been made into a bowsling for my recurve bow).

9 March: Another rigid heddle

2011-03-09T09:49:00.000Z

This rigid heddle is made from a heddle intended for an Ashford Knitter's Loom - a 40 cm heddle cut in half. This gives the facility to use up to 59 threads, and the large holes will allow thick or lumpy (sorry, textured) threads to pass through.

This time I measured the warp before weaving, then measured the finished band and the amount of waste at each end. The chosen pattern was a simple 5 pattern thread design, but this time with rather more fancy borders. 57 threads altogether, came out just over 2 inches wide.

The advantage of the rigid heddles over the inkle loom is that you can start warping in the middle, and then add borders afterwards, and it's much easier to change threads when warping than on the inkle loom. Plus, of course, the length can be anything you want, as long as you can keep the warp tidy. On the down side, tension is more variable, and wastage is more.

There's quite a few pieces added to the backstrap kit now, and the original bag is not big enough for them all. The need for a larger bag could be tied in with the large number of woven bands hanging over the cupboard door. Perhaps another light-bulb moment?

6 March: Tape loom

2011-03-06T11:04:00.000Z

Back with the weaving again. The semi-rigid heddle was a good experiment, but I wanted to explore more options with the rigid heddle and backstrap arrangement.

Here's the first band in progress on my hew double hole rigid heddle -

Rather rough to begin with, but I'm getting the hang of the tension and rhythm. I can tell myself the unevenness is partly down to the handspun wool yarn, and the varied colours of the yarn that makes up the pattern threads.

(And of course, there are also some mistakes in the weaving.)

25 February: Spring in the air

2011-02-25T15:34:00.000Z

A bit of sunshine works wonders! Shoots are shooting and buds are budding, and the crocuses under the apple tree are flowering -

There are a couple of primulas. the first lungworts, and the viburnum bodnantense dawn all in flower too, and the miniature daffodils are nearly ready to open. Each year spring seems more exciting. Probably my age.

23 February: Experimental weaving

2011-02-23T15:17:00.000Z

A half-term visit from my primary school age great-nieces, who are interested in crafts. Katy tried my spinning wheel, and produced some very creditable first-attempt art yarn.

Then an improvised warp was arranged on an embroidery frame, and she set about weaving -

Julia selected colours from some of my handspun, and another warp was quickly improvised on a soft-back book -

Their concentration and patience was amazing, and both finished small pieces. This is Katy's finished hairband, made with her own first handspun -

She may have a spinning wheel on her Christmas wish list!

18 February: New toy

2011-02-18T16:30:00.000Z

As well as the "string" connected with spinning, knitting, weaving, and so on, I have another string to my bow, literally, as I do archery as well as all the fibre stuff.

I really only started to encourage my Dear Husband to take up a new interest in retirement, but of course the bug has bitten me as much as him, and we are both trying hard to improve. He replaced his first recurve bow a little while ago, but it was only recently that I felt the need to have a better bow.

My new riser arrived this afternoon, from Italy via a company in the Midlands - it's beautiful. I'll try it out this evening, and make any adjustments needed. I'm very much hoping I'll shoot more accurately with it, as well as more stylishly.

12 February: Twining

2011-02-12T16:02:00.000Z

Happy birthdays to DD today and DDiL yesterday!

Meanwhile, the weaving theme continues. I was browsing through 'Byways in Hand-weaving' by Mary Meigs Atwater again, trying to make some sense of her instructions for weaving narrow bands; but it's all written with the assumption that you are a proper weaver, and have a loom with shafts and treadles (whatever they are), so it's mostly just incomprehensible to me. But the illustrations are excellent.

Anyway, there's a section on 'Twined Weaving', and this is done with a free-hanging warp. This intrigued me, so a sample was started. The actual weaving is very easy, but keeping the piece an even width is tricky; and after a short while it became difficult to hold. While wondering how to fasten it differently, I spotted my peg loom.

A second sample was started on the peg loom - again it's very easy to twine 2 strands round the pegs, but the effect is much coarser. And what a lot of yarn goes into anything on a peg loom!

Here are the results -

The smaller piece is done on a linen warp with rug yarn and a bit of handspun, the larger peg loom piece has rug yarn for warp, and again rug yarn and a bit of handspun for weft.

7 February: Semi-rigid heddle

2011-02-07T20:50:00.000Z

An e-mail brought some details of a forthcoming Guild workshop that I hope to attend, weaving narrow bands on a backstrap loom with rigid heddle.

I made a backstrap loom from some sticks, bits of string and rubber bands a while ago, but got in a tangle trying to put an organised striped warp onto it, and put it aside in favour of my inkle loom, which is so easy to warp.

The information for the workshop suggests that you can bring your own rigid heddle, or borrow one for the day from the tutor. No specification for the heddle, how many slot and holes, nor the size of those slots and holes, though a band with 5 pattern threads was mentioned.

Now I have rigid heddles for my Kromski Harp loom, but they are 32" long - a bit unwieldy for use with a backstrap set-up. I began to wonder if I could improvise something with card, and went looking for stout card. There was some with my old patchwork stuff, to make templates, but with it were some pieces of plastic template material. One of those lightbulb moments!

I traced slots and holes from one of my large rigid heddles onto a piece of plastic, and a couple of hours with a craft knife and a cutting board, and I had a small heddle; 8" by 5", with 15 slots and 14 holes.

I warped it with some handspun in the same way I do tablets for weaving - involves long threads trailing all over the floor - and knotted the ends of the threads together as for tablet weaving. Here it is, not actually in action, but in a lull in the action -

(Photographed with flash.) The slots and holes are really too widely spaced, and the plastic is too bendy, but as an experiment it seems a success. Now I need a better way to deal with the length of warp behind the heddle, and perhaps somewhere better to hitch it than the door-handle. Oh, and a more rigid heddle.

4 February: Hemp

2011-02-04T14:04:00.000Z

A recent fibre order included some hemp; I like to try something different now and then.

It had been in my workroom for a while before I opened the plastic bag it was sealed in. And reeled back from the smell! Pig manure? Cow slurry? It was definitely something farmyard-y. (My apologies to readers of a delicate nature.)

So the bag was returned to the corner for another while, in the hope that the smell would dissipate. It did a little, so today it was examined more closely. First impression was "straw", but I took a handful and started up the wheel. It spun like straw. Threw that bit away and browsed the interweb.

The stuff people were spinning in videos doesn't look much like what I have, and there was a definite mention of a short staple - mine is about as long as the whole bunch. But never say die. I put some through the drum carder. And again.

It certainly looked more spinnable, so I divided it in two and spun it. Much better, it actually drafted and I can see how it could be spun quite finely with a bit more practice. Here it is after washing - the water was a dreadful colour.

Hey look - I spun string!!

But why does it smell so bad? Perhaps to stop anyone thinking of smoking it? It needs to be cleaner and sweeter smelling. Should it be soaked in boiling water for a while? Or just boiled? Or will my garden be the only one with hand-spun string?

27 January: Sewing machine

2011-01-27T15:21:00.000Z

My sewing machine was bought in 1992, after I had cancer; if I was going to die, at least I would have had a decent sewing machine.

I survived, and the sewing machine saw a lot of action over the years. Not so much since spinning and related activities took over from quilting and embroidery. And the last time it came out, the tension would not adjust properly. So I sewed that item by hand, and kept an eye open for sewing machine service. And last week it went to be serviced for the first time in over 18 years.

It came home on Tuesday, and it just so happened that I have a new bowstringer which needs a little bag to keep it tidy in the kit case, so it was the ideal opportunity to try out the machine.

Photo taken after the power lead had been put away. The bowstringer is the black strap by the machine, and here is the finished drawstring bag -

Cotton fabrics from the old quilting stash (it's lined with a dark green patterned fabric), and the drawstring is 2 lucet cords made from handspun ramie, home-dyed. Result!

18 January: A Tuesday walk

2011-01-18T15:45:00.000Z

A bright sunny afternoon, clear and cold. We thought that one of the muddy paths in the woods might still be frozen after last night's hard frost, so we set out.

It was muddy in places, but lovely to be out. From the path across a field we could see Brancepeth Castle in the distance -

Not as sharp as it could be, but it's only a small and old camera (about 3 or 4 megapixels, I can't remember), and it was on maximum zoom. It's much better for the close-up shot, like this interesting bark we saw further on -

To follow up the previous post, my sciatica cleared up quickly, as quickly as I regained a pound in weight. Hmmm.

12 January: You can't have your joys ...

2011-01-12T10:07:00.000Z

...without your sorrows, as my mother used to say.

So yesterday I lost a pound and a half of that extra Christmas weight, set a new personal best in archery practice, and had a violent attack of sciatica.

Oh well, it makes life more interesting, I suppose.

8 January: A whole sheep-ful

2011-01-08T19:43:00.003Z

of fleece has been combed, carded and spun into 741 gms of moorit shetland yarn:

And since this photo was taken, this morning, it's all been wound into balls, ready for heaven knows what. This was the last of the fleeces waiting to be processed, the 6th or 7th I've done this summer (short term memory loss), and probably the best processed.

Now I'm slightly bored with combing and carding, and fancy doing something else.

31 December: Thaw

2010-12-31T15:12:00.005Z

It's been warmer (well OK, less cold) for a few days, so the snow and ice are slowly melting. The pavements are less icy today than yesterday, although the ice that remains is dirty and oily, so they still need care!

Anyway, we were able to get out for a proper walk today, rather than just round the block, and feel much better for the fresh air and exercise. Along the old railway line was a small flock of goldfinches, chaffinches and tits, the little birds darting in and out of the trees and bushes. In a crop field on one side were a whole lot of thrush look-alikes that we think were probably fieldfares, though getting the camera out unfortunately frightened them away.

All the ditches were full, and water ran along the lane. A boggy bit of wood pasture at the bottom of one field has a ditch more like a stream.

Still some scraps of snow under the trees further away.

24 December: Cactus

2010-12-24T12:30:00.002Z

On the kitchen window sill is is a Christmas cactus -

Probably not really a cactus, and doesn't often flower at Christmas. But this year...

21 December: Bored

2010-12-21T16:01:00.002Z

So I thought I'd change some colours. Spring ones are good. There might be more changes. Will anyone notice?

20 December: Cold

2010-12-20T09:33:00.005Z

Round here the temperature has barely crept above zero for days. This morning the thermometer in the conservatory (unheated since last winter) showed just above zero, when it has been hovering at 4 or 5 degrees. The windows were pretty, though -

Fortunately I have just finished a lap blanket which has been in progress for a couple of months.

The grey Shetland is handspun from a fleece bought at Woolfest, and the coloured squares (because there wasn't quite enough grey) are knitted from handspun Shetland yarn, home-dyed, from the stash.

Another cold-beating item is this cowl or neckwarmer knitted from some handspun merino. The drop-stitch pattern makes it stretchy and extra warm.

15 December: Ice wave

2010-12-15T10:10:00.003Z

The snow and ice are gradually melting away (except on the pavements locally).

The heap of snow in our back garden is making some strange shapes as it thaws. This one is rather interesting -

11 December: Recent knitting and a small success

2010-12-11T16:16:00.004Z

The snow has meant we haven't been getting out much. So a fair amount of knitting has been done. A couple of larger projects are still in progress, but here are some small finished items -

This is a scarflet (short scarf), knitted as a tube, in one-row helical stripes, with the ends closed to make it double thickness. Handspun BFL - super soft and silky.

And 2 sideways short-row hats knitted from the recent batches of spinning and dyeing -

Nice texture, soft yarn, and lovely mixed colours. The plainer green one was done first, but if one colour's good, then 2 are better, so a quarter of the second hat is done in a yarn with colour in common with the larger yellow section.

And, finally - last Sunday's 18M FITA archery competition gave me a winning gold medal -

Not exactly a huge victory, though; I was the only archer shooting bare-bow. And that's the bow that's bare, NOT the archer!

6 December: Silver (well, more skewbald*) surfers

2010-12-06T16:08:00.006Z

My brain hurts.

My Dear Husband has got a new laptop, and we have been learning lots about transferring files and applications. And there's a lot to learn about asking the right question - tricky when you only have a vague idea of what you want to do, and not the correct words for it in computer-speak.

Although we have a big fat instruction book about the OS, it is still very difficult to find the bit that refers to the problem you are trying to solve. And of course, there's the side-tracking; like the hour or so spent trying to find out why the book refers to, and illustrates, a mailbox called "Junk", and there isn't one on our computer. And, apparently, no way of finding out why.

He's got the laptop connected to the Internet OK, but there's still the problem of how to use it to access the e-mails that are on the desktop computer.

Anyway, in the end we got the Family History programme onto the laptop, along with the file of his FamHist. And I managed to retrieve several weeks' worth of work on my own FamHist file from the Trash .....

(*one grey head, one brown.)

29 November: Snow

2010-11-29T10:48:00.004Z

Another snow picture.

Our garden bench, in the sheltered corner. I knocked some snow off the shrubs and trees in the garden and topped up the bird feeders, while my Dear Husband dug the car out and cleared the front drive.

Our estate is always difficult when it's icy and snowy, so I waded up to the main road to see what conditions were like there. Just about passable, though there was an abandoned vehicle. The were buses getting along OK but cautiously.

Very few cars have even tried to go up our street, but there are plenty of people out, all cheerful in adversity. And a day off work, from the look of it.

Plenty more to come. How fortunate that we have a large supply of woolly hats, mittens and scarves.

24 November: Another marker

2010-11-24T13:19:00.002Z

Have you had your first Christmas card yet? We have.

Any minute now the neighbours will be out with their stepladders, hanging up the outdoor Christmas lights.

All together now - Bah! Humbug!

22 November: Winter draws on

2010-11-22T11:12:00.003Z

Just as the first lawn-mower indicates spring, so the first snow-plough indicates winter. There was a snow-plough going along the A167 near Croxdale this morning - be warned!

16 November: Botanic Garden

2010-11-16T14:33:00.005Z

Happy Birthday, Dear Son!

A trip to the Botanic garden in Durham, in brilliant sunshine. An early lunch in the cafe - new sofas since our last visit - then a wander round. We passed a man with a camera on a tripod, photographing a hat and coat artfully arranged on a bench. He could have been anywhere.

I took a few snaps - white birches along the stream -

Underfoot, some seeds, shoots and leaves -

Lichens on a rope by the path -

Oh look ! There are some rare breed sheep grazing in the arboretum -

Manx Loghtans and Hebrideans. This Manx Loghtan ewe let me take a closer view -

15 November: Batts now skeins

2010-11-15T10:24:00.005Z

Those deeper dyed batts are now skeins of yarn. This time the colour combinations were varied, so that half the skeins are the more obvious blends, and half are different mixes.

It might take some time to get round to knitting them, though, as I've just started on a shawl, and there's little time to knit anyway when you're playing with colours.

November 8: More yarn

2010-11-08T11:56:00.002Z

The batts that were dyed recently are now yarn. They were carded together in pairs, spun and then the different coloured singles plyed together to produce interesting coloured yarn -

The resulting colours were not exactly as might have been predicted from the original batt colours; a demonstration of how much colours affect each other when put together! There's a skein of undyed yarn from the same fleeces, and yes, all of them are full of slubs and nepps, or "texture".

Anyway, that was so much fun that I've done another batch, slightly deeper colours this time -

They will sit for a while to be contemplated before a decision is made about colour combinations.

1 November: Apple Ginger

2010-11-01T12:07:00.004Z

After drying out clothing and equipment from yesterday's Roving Mark and Novelty Clout shoot (aiming arrows at pumpkins about 150 yards away across a deer park), I spent the morning slaving over a hot stove trying to reduce the huge quantity of apples from our 2 little trees.

There was a recipe in a 1940s booklet of my mother's which looked interesting, so 3 lbs of apples have become 5 lbs of Apple Ginger.

Having plenty of ground ginger and none of the root ginger listed in the recipe, I substituted, guessing the amount. Well, even if there's too much for other people, I like ginger.

29 October: Dyed batts, and a close encounter?

2010-10-29T11:39:00.004+01:00

First, Happy Birthday to OGS (Older GrandSon)!

Remember those carded batts piled up in my work-room? Well, some of them have been dyed -

The orange shades are particularly yummy. Each batt is quite small, about 30 gms, so I am now wondering whether to card several together to make a bigger skein of yarn; if so, which colours should I blend together; and then should I spin different coloured singles; and then how should I ply them together. So many options.

To change the subject completely, a couple of evenings ago, this vapour trail appeared over nearby houses -

Perhaps the pilot changed his mind about where he was going, or practicing the air equivalent of a handbrake turn, or perhaps the satnav was throwing a wobbler - or was it Visitors from Outer Space?

24 October: Carding - done?

2010-10-24T09:47:00.003+01:00

So now there's no bits of fleece all over my workroom, but a huge pile of batts.

These batts are a blend of the 2 fleeces I started with, and the plan was to blend the batts together further with another pass through the carder (they've been through twice so far), then dye some or all of them. But the amount is rather more than expected.

And there's still another fleece to be dealt with ....

Perhaps the next step will be clearer after a cup of coffee.

22 October: TV knitting

2010-10-22T15:15:00.004+01:00

That is, knitting which is simple and straightforward, and requires no thinking or working out the pattern while it's being done.

First are these simple mitts -

Handspun Shetland yarn, helical stripes, easy thumb shaping; they're a bit big for me, but a gorilla might like them.

Then there's that good old stand-by for simple knitting - a scarf -

Handspun merino/silk in Old Shale pattern, sometimes called Feather and Fan (I don't know if there's a difference). It worked out eventually about 6 inches wide and 57 inches long, but isn't as soft as I would have expected. Perhaps it's the garter rows.

The mitts weigh 42 gms and the scarf 100 gms - so not even a small dent in the stash.

And there wasn't much TV involved either, as few of the the programmes recently have appealed.

19 October: Carding

2010-10-19T09:20:00.004+01:00

Had to stop for a moment - slight carding mishap, don't want to get blood on the fleece. Now there's a sticking plaster on my thumb, I can take a photo of the work in progress -

Three-legged stool at the back to sit on, drum carder on low stool, tray on table with current pieces of fleece and doffing needle, remains of fleeces on floor behind stool, and on jersey-drying trays at the front, carded batts in big paper bag, small bin for rubbish. The fleece on the floor is whiter and more Shetland, the one on the drying racks is more BFL and very light fawn/silver with brown patches. The aim is to blend them. The BFL one apparently liked rolling in sand, judging from the amount of it left after washing.

Must speak to Dear Husband about lack of coffee mug.

I'd like to dye some of these batts, but can't find any information about dyeing fleece before scouring and spinning. It must be possible, as I have spun some Estonian batts of varied colours that were still greasy.

The only thing to do is try it - when the carding's all done, of course.

17 October: Yarn problem

2010-10-17T16:04:00.004+01:00

There's so much of it. The new wheel seemed a bit strange, with a tension device that works (the Little Gem had grown a bit slack), so it has taken a few days to get used to it. And 500 grams of black Shetland tops that happened to be in the stash. Now 500 grams of yarn.

Now there's still that black Shetland fleece, all carded and ready to be spun, in a bag. And since Tuesday's Wool Event at Lanehead, there are 3 more fleeces waiting in line.

2 have been washed; they are Shetland/BFL crosses, maybe white eventually, but one has a patch of brown in it. Perhaps they will be dyed. The third is a pale moorit Shetland, which hasn't even got washed yet - waiting its turn while the bathroom is still full of damp Shetland/BFL.

Meanwhile there are 6 plastic crates packed with yarn (and the odd bit of roving), still not yet worked up into anything. I'm knitting like mad, but there's years' worth of yarn to get through. In fact, I'm in a good situation if I can't afford to buy more yarn, thanks to our dear government.

And just a note to them - instead of messing about with Child Benefit (one of its purposes, if you remember, was to put some cash into the hands of mothers whose husbands hold tight to the purse-strings, and that problem can affect all income groups), and replacing it for the rich with some tax complication, why don't they just take more tax from the better-off? Or even get the money back they gave to the bankers.

9 October: New wheel

2010-10-09T14:12:00.004+01:00

My new Suzie Pro arrived yesterday tea-time. I wasn't expecting quite so much assembly to be needed, but it didn't take long (and there were only a few screws left over!).

Here she is -

I spun a very small skein from Shetland tops as soon as everything was together. In comparison with my Little Gem, the new wheel is much smoother, and the draw-in is more sensitive - it'll take some getting used to.

And there just happens to be a whole Shetland fleece freshly drum-carded, waiting in a bag on the other side of my newly tidied and re-arranged work-room - or should I say play-room.

4 October: Kingfisher!

2010-10-04T13:07:00.003+01:00

As we walked across the road bridge over the River Wear at Sunderland Bridge this morning, my Dear Husband and I watched a kingfisher repeatedly darting across the river and diving into the flow (deep, fast, and brown after all the rain at the weekend).

We were delighted - the first time he has ever seen a kingfisher alive and flying, and only the third time I've seen one. I saw one many years ago near the Uni playing fields in Durham, and one last summer at Low Barns, a Durham Wildlife Trust place.

30 September: Finished jersey

2010-09-30T09:33:00.003+01:00

The first version of this jersey was begun in June, but after knitting the top-down circular yoke all the way to the armholes, I decided I didn't like it, unravelled it and started again.

The yarn was spun from a mixed batt of fibres, labelled "90% wool 10% other natural fibres", and the wool was pretty mixed. By the time I had knitted halfway down the body, it looked as if there wouldn't be enough yarn to complete long sleeves, so the stripes were added, in sort-of matching shades of handspun BFL. After completing the cuffs, bottom ribbing, and the neckband, there were about 40 gms of the main yarn left.

I'm very pleased with it - it's lightweight (522 gms) and warm, and a completely unique pullover.

22 September: Grey Shetland

2010-09-22T14:29:00.004+01:00

The last skein spun from the grey Shetland fleece from Woolfest was drying when we went away for the weekend. When we were at Wicken Fen, I bought a lovely basket, woven by Nadine Anderson from rushes from the Fen. Here they are together in the garden -

The fleece was spun in the grease (and dirt!) and the skeins washed after plying, using M & S's Wools Silks and Cashmere non-bio laundry liquid. The fleece was different shades and different softness in different areas, so I mixed bits from various parts together. There is a pleasing variation in the colour.

There's 653 gms altogether, and I have no idea what it will become, or when.

21 September: Cambridge

2010-09-21T19:42:00.003+01:00

A weekend visit to the family. We explored Wicken Fen -

- where there is a wooden windmill that looks like a proper windmill.

There was a walk around Cambridge, where there are punts on the river -

(bet you didn't know that....)
And we went to the village show. Dear Grand-daughter won a second place with her flapjack (and we can vouch for the excellent flavour!), and Dear Daughter won a first place for her Spiced Damson Chutney -

12 September: Busy

2010-09-12T13:54:00.004+01:00

It was a hectic week - 2 long journeys in search of archery equipment, then for me a day demonstrating spinning; and yesterday I went to a Guild workshop, while my Dear Husband went to an archery competition.

The spinning demonstration was fairly quiet, and I got plenty of spinning done - I had dyed 3 pieces of fibre and they were spun randomly, then plyed and wound into this ball of yarn -

It's 121 gms, with a further 3 gms in the small skein, all about 19 w.p.i.

This morning I was doing some trimming in the garden, and decided to use some of the leaves to experiment with solar dyeing. There are leaves from the rosemary bush and a Japanese acer in this jar, along with about 30 gms of wool fibre. The jar is on the sunny windowsill in the conservatory, and will remain there for some time - don't hold your breath!

7 September: Surprise

2010-09-07T11:54:00.003+01:00

Yesterday evening my Dear Husband was watching a programme on BBC HD, about the architecture of Durham Cathedral. The presenter, with a climber and the cameraman, all climbed up ropes on the outside of the nave, then later across the interior below the roof, and round the corner of one of the towers above the river.

When they were dangling from the wall of the nave, there was a shot back to the main doorway, and who should be standing there, taking a photo of the climbers, but bob the bolder - go see his photo here.

28 August: Wild Yarn

2010-08-28T08:15:00.003+01:00

The Wild Fibre was plyed with the pale yellow single. There wasn't enough of the yellow, so the rest was plyed with a black Shetland single left over from the other batch of Wild Fibre. Here's the result -

There's a total of 183 gms of yarn there - what shall become of it?

There was another bag of fibre, which was plyed with black Shetland, producing this somewhat quieter yarn -

- of which there is 156 gms. Interesting to spin, and definitely a welcome change.

26 August: Wild fibre

2010-08-26T18:06:00.004+01:00

It was time for a bit of a change - a fawn and white fleece bought at Woolfest has been spun (in the grease, and then the skeins washed)) -

- and a black Shetland fleece, from RSPB Saltholme, has been washed (love that wet sheep smell in the bathroom!) -

- and I needed a bit of colour. So I spun a 100 gm bag of Wingham WoolWork's "Wild Fibre" -

Some basic English fibre, from P & M, has been dyed and spun to make the other ply; I have no idea how it will turn out, nor what it might be used for.

20 August: A century

2010-08-20T08:28:00.002+01:00

My mother was born 100 years ago today. Here are some pictures of her -

In this first one she was probably about 6 or 7, and it was probably taken when she was staying with her grandfather or an aunt and uncle. Wonderful outfit! I'm not sure if the finishing touch is the lace trim round the knees of her drawers, or the ribbons tying her shoes.

The next one is perhaps a little later, but not much, as her father is wearing the uniform of the RFC, which became the RAF in 1918.

And here she is with her children, my brother and me (I'm the cute one), in 1947. Those shorts look knitted to me.

8 August: The Saltholme bags

2010-08-08T13:43:00.006+01:00

This project started back on 27 June, when Guild members were demonstrating spinning at the RSPB place at Saltholme - they have a small flock of Shetland sheep keeping the grass short, and it was shearing day.

I returned from there with a black Shetland fleece, a black Hebridean fleece, and half a grey Shetland fleece. (To add to the 2 Shetland fleeces bought from Woolfest.) My fibre preparation skills have had a good deal of practice since then!

The grey Shetland and the black Hebridean produced some tough yarn, so weaving seemed best.The warps were arranged in groups, black at the edges, then 4 grey alternating with 4 black, then a middle section of 2 grey alternating with 2 black. 3 separate sections were woven, the first one with black and grey wefts in varying groups; one with an inch of black weft alternating with 3 inches of weft in a multi-colour wool/linen yarn; and the 3rd section with a weft consisting of one strand of black together with one strand of grey.

The first 2 sections have now been made up into bags -

The straps are the same yarns woven on the inkle loom, in a tweedy stripe for the black and grey bag, and in an interwoven pattern for the multi-coloured one - this inkle has a narrow stripe of the multi-coloured wool/linen yarn between the border and the central pattern.

Both bags are lined with home-dyed cotton fabric from the quilting stash - purple for the black and grey bag, and green for the multi-colour one. Hand-stitched.

The button box yielded a suitable large button for a closure for the black and grey bag, but a search of the Durham shops had to be undertaken for the black horn bead that forms the closure on the multi-colour one.

They will have an outing to Gateshead next month, as part of a Guild exhibition.

29 July: A Wednesday Walk

2010-07-29T09:00:00.005+01:00

Another in the occasional series of walks - this one was in Weardale, starting from Wolsingham. The route took in Tunstall Reservoir, seen here to the right of the dam -

The water level had been low for long enough that plants had grown round the overflow area -

The weather was fairly kind, just a few drops of rain (the magic overtrousers needed only to be carried); we had an excellent picnic lunch, eaten as we sat on rocks and contemplated the rain clouds at the bottom end of the dale; and the route provided plenty of interest and a few challenges, as well as wonderful views.

We returned to tea and birthday cake, a good hot soak and a lie down.

27 July: Holiday socks

2010-07-27T09:46:00.003+01:00

Socks are a good project to take away on holiday - simple, portable, and small. Here are 2 pairs from our recent trips, finished at home-

For my Dear Husband, absolutely plain and in manly colours from the Yarn Yard, bought at the Woolfest, these socks replace some older ones which are now past it.

24 July: Catching up

2010-07-24T09:47:00.005+01:00

Recent projects have mostly been rather uninteresting to photograph - spinning fleece mostly, but there have been a few small items now rounded up into a picture -

There are some inkle bands - two narrow ones done on the old loom, and the green/blue one done on the new moon loom. The ball of off-white yarn is spun from an Estonian batt from Wingham at Woolfest (I spun that one evening when bored with Le Tour), the dull purple sock yarn is from the Yarn Yard - a plain sock in progress for my Dear Husband - and the beaded row counters were made very quickly, after seeing something about them on Ravelry, and finding the instructions on eHow; I tried out various wooden and glass beads, and several different types of yarn.

Then yesterday I was reorganising my archery stuff, and decided to make a cloth bag for my recurve bow, so that I can carry it in one piece, rather than keep on taking it to bits and re-assembling it every time I use it. The piece of fabric in the box that was large enough also happens to be bright red, and made of microfibre. It is, therefore, very tough. It had also been in the fabric box for about 25 years, since I bought it in Peterlee when I was working over there.

Anyway, last time the sewing machine was used, there was a problem with the tension, so I decided to sew this by hand. It was hard work, but at least there's the feeling that it's done satisfactorily.The tie is a narrow inkle band, originally an experiment for shoelaces, but I failed to get the ends narrow enough to thread them through the lace-holes. Still, it's just right for this purpose!

One and a half fleeces have been spun, and some of the resulting yarn has been woven and is now waiting to be made up into the planned bags - more experiments.

14 July: Summer in the city

2010-07-14T18:31:00.002+01:00

Our recent short trip Down South included a glorious walk in the Weald (the clegs down there bite just as hard as up here), a visit to Penshurst Place, and on the hottest day of the year, a trip into London to see the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy.

While many of the exhibits left me thinking of the Emperor's New Clothes, there were a couple of dozen I actually liked, and even one or two I might have been able to stand on the walls at home - if the walls were big enough, that is. Many of the pictures were enormous. So were many prices.

I was intrigued to see that nearly all the artists, who evidently strive to be individual in their work, are completely uniform in the rectangular format; the few non-rectangular pieces were generally much more interesting.

As well as paintings and sculptures/assemblages, there were books (interesting) and architectural models (mostly very boring); and photographs, mostly interesting, though personally I found it slightly irritating that David Hockney didn't stand in exactly the same place every time he photographed The Twenty Five Trees etc.

Of course, with so many items to display, not all of them get a good position - two of my favourites were quite difficult to see properly - one was a huge collage of Babel Towers, which was partly obscured by a gigantic gorilla made of coat hangers, and another was a photo of a Northumberland Beach, which was high up above the end of a wall where a film was being projected.

I was able to knit on the train home yesterday, getting part way up the leg of the second of a pair of socks for my Dear Husband. Now I must get back to the fleece that was being spun before our trip; 6 skeins done already and 2 or 3 more to do.

5 July: The new inkle loom

2010-07-05T11:11:00.004+01:00

Last night it had to be done - try out the new inkle loom, made by Michael Williams and collected from the Woolfest.

The yarn is a ball of merino/tencel sock yarn from the stash which will never be socks, and which will probably make a very nice little woven pouch. There are 71 warp threads , and plenty of width left for a wider band. Not all the pegs are used for this band.

I find it's a bit high to work at when it's on the table, but it will fit on my lap, resting against the table at the back, and that is very comfortable. The warp is moved on quite easily; the shed is not as wide (high?) as on my Ashford inkle loom, but I expect I'll get used to that.

So now there's a weaving project started, as well as 2 knitting projects, and a Hebridean fleece partly spun. And Le Tour has started. What a good thing I don't have to go out to work any more!

28 June: Lake District part 2 - Woolfest

2010-06-28T11:55:00.004+01:00

One of the reasons for our week in the Lake District was to visit Woolfest for a little stocking up on fibre and fibre-related items.

I collected my new inkle loom from Michael Williams - isn't it gorgeous? Really substantial, made from oak and maple.

There is the usual assortment of sock yarn, undyed and dyed from the Yarn Yard (I wound it into balls when we got home), some batts and "wild fibre" from Wingham, and some plain white fibre from P & M to blend it into, a lucet with bobbin from Ziggy Rytka (who was later spotted playing a hurdy-gurdy in the music area), a circular knitting needle, some buttons, and a book.

Oh, and 2 Shetland fleeces, straight from the sheep-owner. After my adverse experience with fleece when a novice spinner, I have avoided it and used prepared fibres, but these fleeces are so lovely that I decided it was time to have another try.

Then yesterday I was demonstrating spinning at an event which included sheep-shearing, and seem to have come home with a further 2 and a half fleeces - the half because 2 of us liked that particular grey colour. The grey and one black one are Shetland and the other black one is Hebridean.

The rest of today I shall be in the garden, combing and spinning fleece.

27 June: Lake District

2010-06-27T07:49:00.003+01:00

The weather was glorious in the Lake District all week, with farmers making hay in every valley.
We were staying near Tarn Hows, so that was part of our first day's walking -

Another day we walked from Hawkshead over Latterbarrow to Lake Windermere, then returned up through the woods of Claife and across fields. This peaceful-looking lunch spot was actually beside a path popular with walkers and cyclists.

This was near Coniston - again, admiring the fells from the valley below -

Another walk in the woods, another attack by clegs; this time Grizedale Forest, with its sculptures.

See how it comes back round to sheep and wool again? Of course, Friday was spent at the Woolfest in Cockermouth, where I collected my Michael Williams inkle loom, and bought a quantity of tools and fibre, including 2 Shetland fleeces! Dipping a toe into fleece preparation again, this time with a bit more idea of what I'm doing.

13 June: World Championship

2010-06-13T18:27:00.006+01:00

Today we competed in the Fifth World Wand Championship at Raby Castle, a longbow competition. It rained. The morning was taken up with the Championship itself - 13 ends of 3 arrows each, shot from various distances from 20 yards to 50 yards.

This is the set-up before shooting started -

The wands are 4 inches wide and the scoring area is about 40 inches top to bottom. The winner scored 18 hits, and was presented with the magnificent silver trophy. My Dear Husband and I did not distinguish ourselves, nor did we disgrace ourselves; we enjoyed both the shooting and meeting friendly archers from other clubs, some of whom we met at the last shoot at Raby.

The Castle made a scenic backdrop to the event, and the staff laid on an excellent lunch for us.

After lunch we had first a proper wand shoot, with everyone trying to hit inch wide and about 3 feet tall sticks stuck into the ground, from a distance of about 25 yards; there were a surprising number of hits.

Then it was the sudden death competition, in which everyone shot an end at 20 yards, then non-scorers dropped out and scorers went on to shoot at 30 yards; repeat at increasing distances until there is only one archer left. This took a while, as it reached a point where the few left in the competition all missed, and then there were several more ends needed to decide the second and third places.

It took far less time to dismantle and pack up the wet equipment than it had done to set it all out in the morning, then we came home to dry out our own kit and have a nice lie down after all the excitement.

6 June: Back to the wool

2010-06-06T08:50:00.004+01:00

A few more inkle bands have been woven - here are two of them in use securing my carders -

Recent spinning has included a bag of wool/linen , which was not very easy to spin, but which has an interesting texture. It has now been dyed and wound into balls, ready for making into something or other.

More spinning, this time a bag of Jamieson and Smith's Shetland fibre in a range of 14 different shades. About 25 gms in each little skein, about 20 w.p.i.

And then yesterday was spent demonstrating spinning with the Guild at a local Medieval Fair - a sure sign of summer. Unfortunately, I have no photos.

28 May: Bike race

2010-05-28T12:29:00.004+01:00

Yesterday evening we went into Durham to see the bike race. It was a short circuit of about a mile, with 10 teams of five riders hurtling round for over an hour.

Many people were watching by the nasty corner at the bottom of South Street -

- with a backdrop of the Castle.

At the top of the steep part, none of the riders were looking to their left, at the Cathedral across the river.

On the other side of the circuit, there were fewer spectators, but just as many barriers. This was the leading group, who lapped lots of the slower riders.

There were more crowds along the finish straight, by Durham School, although the PA was deafening.

The oldest rider won; if you want to see it all, it's on ITV4 tonight (Friday).

17 May: More knitting and weaving

2010-05-17T16:35:00.003+01:00

This neckwarmer is knitted in a stitch shown to me by a fellow Guild member - but her instructions were in French, and it took a while to identify the same stitch with English instructions.

The yarn is handspun and home-dyed BFL, and both stitch and yarn are very good for a thick soft yummy scarf.

Back to the inkles. These two are plain weave, but with varied yarns. The broad one is some multi-colour scraps of merino, and the narrow one is Suffolk and BFL.

Two more pick-up patterns. It's a bit annoying to find a small mistake in the weaving on practically every band, but I suppose few of us are actually perfect....

8 May: Playing with patterns

2010-05-08T18:12:00.004+01:00

Pattern + colour = great fun.

Next in the exploration of woven bands is this double chevron one -

woven in handspun Shetland yarns, 2 inches wide.

Then there's these 2 zigzag ones, different colour combinations but the same pattern -

Handspun yarns again, each band is an inch and a quarter wide. Both sides of all the bands are shown - the patterns are reversed on the back.

This next one, though only an inch and a half wide, needed a lot of threads, and the finest yarn in the stash is mill-spun. When used together with handspun, they seem to snag against each other - anyway, the weaving was "sticky", and the shed had to be coaxed open all the way along (including acres of unpicking and re-weaving.....);

but it's turned out very well, and the two small mistakes in the weaving aren't noticeable on the front. (It was only as the wrong side passed along under the loom that they became apparent - much too late to unpick.)

And then a first attempt at putting different patterns together - as a bit of light relief after the last one, they are all very easy patterns.

This one's got some sock yarn (home-dyed) along with the handspun Shetland and Black Wensleydale yarns, and it's an inch and a half wide. The photo doesn't show clearly that the striped border is yellow and brown, while the spotted border is green and brown.

5 May: Broken specs

2010-05-05T20:04:00.004+01:00

This morning, as I sat down to browse the Interweb, I took my specs off - not needed for the computer - and they fell apart.

It looked as if the metal prongs holding the soft bit that goes over my nose had snapped away from the frame. I found my spare pair and wore them all day, thinking I would have to go and buy some new frames - an expense I wasn't planning on this month.

Then just now, when I'd hunted about and found my last prescription, I had another look at the broken specs, through the lenses of the spare pair, and spotted that there were tiny screws in the soft-bit-that-goes-over-my nose. The screws had simply come unscrewed! Half a minute with a tiny screwdriver, and I've just saved myself a few hundred pounds! I think I'll go and order some Shetland tops instead.

30 April: A cunning plan

2010-04-30T12:53:00.006+01:00

There are now lots of inkles piled up in my ~~playroom~~ workroom.

So it seemed a good idea to make something from them. Like a bag. After fiddling about with ways of constructing a bag without having to hem too many ends, I worked out a sort of spiral, which forms a lop-sided tube; still needed to join the long sides together, and several ways of finishing the ends were considered before I chose to hem the narrow end at the bottom, and finish the top end by passing the cut threads through the weaving and braiding them on the front.

I had to cut the narrow inkle and stitch it to make the loops, though.

The bag is about 8" wide and 7" high with the top folded over. And at last I found a use for a boxwood acorn cut off a roller blind over 30 years ago - I knew it would come in handy one day!

The idea is that the sash will be simply knotted round me, and the bag is big enough for the essentials, while the clip can take keys if needed. The sash could also be knotted shorter, to make it a shoulder-bag or an across-the-body bag. Will the theory work out in practice?

23 April: Inkling on

2010-04-23T12:29:00.004+01:00

- which sounds like something P.G.Wodehouse might have written.

The guild library last week yielded a small book called "Inkle Weaving" by Lavinia Bradley. It has a slightly different approach from my other books on the topic. One was to use up all those short bits of yarn that get thrown into a bag as too big to throw away, but too small to make anything with. They are simply knotted together and used to warp up the inkle loom - the knots get woven into the band, and an interesting texture and colour results -

The chapter titled "Bolivian Pebble Weave" looked interesting. The technique is illustrated by a typically South American Navajo design (!), which I wove in handspun BFL .

The suggestion in the book was that the technique could be adapted to produce more English designs like Christmas trees, horses and dogs.

I tried making up a meander-type design, but I don't think it's successful, either in the sugared-almond colours of BFL, or in the sludge colours of sock yarn -

Then, using the "Baltic-style" warping (one thick pattern thread followed by two thin background threads), I wove some handspun Shetland into a chevron pattern inkle which I love -

To make the pattern threads thicker, I needed 2 strands of yarn; as there was only one ball of each colour, I put a blue strand and a green strand together. It was dead easy to weave, the yarn was good to work with, and the finished band is very satisfying. There may be more.

(What do I mean, "may"?)

21 April: Wednesday Walk in Hamsterley Forest

2010-04-21T17:09:00.004+01:00

Bright and sunny, though still a bit chilly, today, so off we went to Hamsterley Forest for one of our regular walks.

This tree looked as if it was draped with velvet -

- and this plant growing strongly beside the path surprised us -

I think it's skunk cabbage, but it's not listed in my usual handbook of British wild flowers, so I'm not really sure.

Down by the river, many of the trees have had the ground eroded away from around their roots -

The river itself was quiet today, as was the Forest - we saw only a few people, and those mostly in the car park.

18 April: Spring

2010-04-18T12:34:00.004+01:00

The lawn has had its first cut of the year. Some flower seeds have been sown in pots and trays, and two or three plants that seem not to have survived the winter have been threatened - start putting out shoots, or go straight to the compost heap, do not pass Go, etc.

There's been time for some inkle weaving -

These are all in handspun wool, 3 plain weave bands and one, the green and yellow one in merino, a very time-consuming pick-up pattern which makes it the same on both sides.

That one was still in progress when I went to the Guild's monthly workshop day; out of less than a dozen people there, 3 of us were working on inkles! Must be something in the air (apart from volcanic ash, of course).

And a parcel of fibre came from Wingham Wool Works, some merino/tencel blend, some wool/linen blend, and 3 little Estonian wool batts. So far I have spun up one of the Estonian batts and a bit of the wool/linen, which is quite heavily textured - that's "lumpy" viewed from the other side. Not sure what they might be used for, perhaps an inkle or two?

But with the lighter evenings, archery has moved out of the sports halls and onto the playing fields. After shooting at 25 yards all winter, it's wonderful to have a target a hundred yards away. And this week the summer schedule starts, with shooting 3 times a week instead of twice.

11 April: Inkle exploration

2010-04-11T17:14:00.004+01:00

The low-tech weaving has shifted into inkle-weaving. (For those with no inkling about that, an inkle is a narrow woven band, in the shoe-lace to cummerbund width range.)

The pink and grey wool one at the top is woven to a design by Laverne at Backstrap Weaving - she took the pattern from a yurt band and wove it on her backstrap loom; my version was done on an inkle loom.

The lavender and gray interlaced pattern is another one woven in my handspun wool on the inkle loom.

The pile sample was woven on my backstrap loom, with a warp of handspun linen and pile knotted on in rug wool. Different spacings and pile lengths were explored, before I decided that life is probably too short to go any further with this. At least it shows it can be done on a backstrap loom.

The green and cream interlaced pattern one is done in cotton in 2 thicknesses. This pattern needed a lot of concentration, and even after unpicking several bits (and several times too!), there are mistakes in the weaving.

The bottom band is woven on the inkle loom in mill-spun Shetland wool (spun in Shetland), and was an attempt to finish up a bagful of leftover small skeins. The warp threads clung to each other, and opening every shed was an effort, but the finished band is worth it - lovely subtle colours and a solid feel, and at over 2 inches wide and 6 feet 3 inches long, a useful size. In fact I like it so much, I think I'll go and make another one.

6 April: Wednesday walk on Tuesday

2010-04-06T14:58:00.003+01:00

Today we did something we'd spoken about idly several times since getting the Bus Passes - we took the bus from the end of our street, got off at a convenient place for coffee and a bun, then walked home. It took less than 2 and a half hours.

We managed to walk down one path we've never been along before, and found that another track through the woods has been repaired and a footbridge improved since we last came that way.

We walked through fields where skylarks were flying up on both sides, singing as they hung on the breeze. The bumble bees are just emerging this week, too, so spring is really under way.

Crossing this field, we wondered if we were missing something -

- but there was no invisible fence. It might have been a magic stile, the entrance to another world. We went round it, just in case.

2 April: Gardening begins

2010-04-02T13:14:00.004+01:00

The event that really marks the start of the gardening season is -

digging out the compost bin!

Which was done this morning, much to the delight of one robin, who actually dared to come into the garden while I was there (very unusual for our local robins), and later on a varied selection of dunnocks, blackbirds, tits and chaffinches.

It is clear that eggshells don't biodegrade as quickly as expected, though the little red worms cluster round them even more thickly than other compost components - we seem to have a very healthy and growing population of little red worms.

The first primroses are coming out, yellow as well as purple, and the hellebores are doing well -

- and the miniature daffs are at their best -

27 March: Shuttles!

2010-03-27T17:07:00.004Z

This week has been a bit of a non-event, as I've been laid low with the lurgy; even stayed in bed one day. So there has not been a lot of fibre activity.

This afternoon, though, a couple of happy hours were spent in the garage, making 2 small shuttles. When my lovely large band shuttle arrived, it was packed between some bits of scrap wood, which then waited patiently in my work-room to be used for something. There was a nasty knot in one bit, but it was big enough to turn into 2 little shuttles.

I drew round the one that came with my inkle loom, and used a variety of tools, saw, chisel, hand drill, jigsaw, and lots of sandpaper. I'm ridiculously pleased with them.

21 March: Still knitting

2010-03-21T15:10:00.006Z

As well as the current interest in low-tech weaving, there is still knitting going on. This shawl has just been finished -

- and it was bright and (just) warm enough to take it into the garden to photograph.

It's knitted from a pattern in Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman, in my own handspun green merino/silk and grey wool/silk; as I had never knitted a half-circle shawl before, I wanted to see how the shaping worked. Also I wanted something to knit while watching TV, and to take to the Guild meetings, where talking takes priority over following a complicated pattern.

It's a nice shape and size - 50" across, 25" deep - enough to keep the back and shoulders warm without the long tails of a triangular shawl dangling in everything. Just right for a little old lady, and I'm none of those 3 things.

15 March: 2 new things before breakfast

2010-03-15T09:26:00.005Z

Awake early, thinking about a weaving project, I started to think about some braids I'd seen on Laverne's blog. They looked a bit like Japanese kumihimo braids , and I had tried those a couple of times, so I had an idea how they might work.

Cut some strands of cotton and did a 4-strand braid, then got ambitious, and violà!* here's a multi-colour 6-strand braid as well.

You can see quite clearly where I started to get the hang of proper tension.

* Yes, I know it's really "voilà", but I saw this mis-spelling recently, and it amuses me.

14 March: Family

2010-03-14T21:06:00.003Z

After last week's roving mark, I decided to make some arrows that suited my light bow rather better. Well, not so much "make" as "assemble". All the bits came in the post from various suppliers, and hours were spent trimming and gluing. I tried them out - the bow-string needed a slight amendment, which was easily done - then spent some more happy hours painting them with odds and ends of paint found in the garage. At least I should be able to spot them in the grass!

Then most of today went in following up some recent family history research. At last I have found a trace of my Dad's "uncle who was a police officer", who appeared (with a tight collar and toothbrush moustache) at the back of a 1925 wedding photo. He had the same name as both his father and my Dad, and then the 1911 census revealed that he had given almost the same name to his son!

It was interesting to find that both a newly-discovered great-great-aunt and the wife of this newly-found great-uncle had the same first name as my Dear Grand-daughter.

Then this evening, just as I'd put the phone down from a nice long chat with my Dear Daughter, the door-bell rang, and my Dear Son was here for a nice long chat.

8 March: Roving mark

2010-03-08T13:00:00.005Z

It was a glorious day yesterday for the first outdoor shoot of the season, a roving mark competition.

Here is a view of the shooting line; the previous target was the post with the banner on top, and the next target is a similar one some 100 to 150 yards away. Landing an arrow within a bow's length of the mark scored a point - landing an arrow in the mark scored 5 points.

Although we were shooting in a deer park, the herd kept well away, and no animals were inconvenienced in any way by our shooting. A good time was had by all, with a picnic on the grass at lunch time, followed by a second competition in the afternoon. Only 2 arrows stuck into trees, and one of those was (mostly) recovered.

A magic day - although I failed to trouble the scorer, I can't wait till the next one!

4 March: More bits of weaving

2010-03-04T16:20:00.005Z

When I made the inkle for the loom bag pocket, I enjoyed the process, so I made a few more.

The green and white one is handspun bamboo; the purple, blue, green and brown one is some cotton samples from Texere; the blue, turquoise and lavender one is crochet cotton; the charcoal, orange and blue one is handspun BFL/tencel; the coral and green one is Natural Dye Studio sock yarn in merino and bamboo; and the grey and pink one is handspun Shetland. They are all different in feel, and I love them all!

Then back to the backstrap loom for an experiment in sprang, something I'd been meaning to try for ages.

Brief instructions in a paragraph and 3 diagrams in a 1974 book, Off the Loom by Shirley Marein. Unfortunately, it forgot to mention that some of your earliest handspun wool yarn is perhaps not the best material to use for your first attempt. On the other hand, though, there was no need for sticks to hold the twist in the upper part of the work - the yarn stuck together by itself, very securely. Only really a problem when mistakes were made, and un-weaving had to be done. But that was more often than I would have wished.

And then, looking on the positive side again, that's the last scrap of the awful hairy Wensleydale used up (that's the bluish colour). This is how it looks relaxed -

- and this is how it looks spread out -

The instructions for finishing it off were vague, so I turned to my friend Google, who brought me straight to Phiala's String Page; where I discovered that my use of bamboo kebab skewers had already been thought of, and the method of closing the middle of the woven piece was one I had come across before in tri-loom weaving.

It is, of course, the ideal method for making a string bag.......

28 February: Another sort of skein

2010-02-28T15:38:00.003Z

At about a quarter part one this afternoon, a large skein of geese, perhaps 50 or 60, flew high over our house, honking gently and heading North.

There is colour at the tips of the crocus buds, in our garden and in the municipal roadside plantings.

But it's snowing again.

26 February: A project from the backstrap loom

2010-02-26T14:03:00.003Z

The piece of weaving on the backstrap loom in the previous picture is now part of a finished bag - a bag to store my backstrap loom.

The front and back were made separately, the front having a white tencel warp and a green ramie weft, and the back having a green tencel warp and a white ramie weft. The tencel is wonderfully silky, and the ramie is much softer than the linen used for my bow bag.

A pocket for the front (to keep rubber bands and bits of string in) is 2 pieces of a strip woven from bamboo yarns on an inkle loom and joined together. The button loop is plaited bamboo yarns, and the hanging strap is plaited ramie.

All the yarns are my own handspun. The button is one of hundreds from my button box.

20 February: More low tech

2010-02-21T11:32:00.005Z

This week I have been mostly playing at weaving with a backstrap loom.

Some sticks and rubber bands, plus a couple of bits of string, made an improvised loom, on which was woven a backstrap. Lots was learnt from mistakes - crossing warps is not a good idea, nor is using soft cotton (probably only dishcloth cotton, but plenty of it in my stash).

Anyway, in spite of all that, the backstrap was made, and then a sample strip gave the chance to try out some variations, like twining, twill weave, and pile.

The current project is to weave a bag to keep the bits of stick, string, and rubber bands in, tidy and together. Here is a picture of work in progress (obviously without a body in the way) -

The body sits on the stool, with the orange backstrap round the back of the hips, and the loops on the ends round the large stick. As the fabric is woven, it is wound round the near stick and held in place with a dowel and rubber bands.

I went to the local old-fashioned ironmongers to buy a broom-handle. The assistant corrected me - a broom is very large, for sweeping yards, what I wanted was a brush-handle, a smaller item for sweeping indoors. I stood corrected, and paid my pound for a 4 foot long, 1 inch diameter stick.

That makes the 2 sturdy end bits; lengths of dowel help keep the warp in place. The lovely tool with the weft wound onto it is a large netting/band shuttle from Michael Williams, fine woodworker.

The warp in the photo is handspun tencel, and the weft is handspun ramie, one of the skeins dyed last week.

Full instructions for making your own backstrap loom can be found on WeaveZine. Yours doesn't have to be orange.

13 February: All hand-made

2010-02-13T10:00:00.005Z

And here is the project that those dyed yarns weren't suitable for.

A bag for my longbow -

It is not the easiest object to photograph. This is the top end, showing the tie -

And here it is untied, with the bow -

The bag fabric was woven on my rigid heddle loom, with handspun linen warp and handspun wool/silk weft. Unsure how much take-up there would be, then shrinkage when fulled, I allowed plenty of length and width, weaving a piece 11" wide and about 8'3" long. After washing and pressing this became 9" wide by 7'10" long. The final bag is 4.5" wide and 7'6" long.

The tie is finger-woven from 8 strands of handspun (and home-dyed) BFL leftovers from previous knitting. Actually the weft is also leftovers, from a cardigan knitted last year. The warp took nearly 3 skeins of undyed linen, and the weft took nearly 2 big balls of yarn - much more than I realised would be needed.

This was the first project making a piece of fabric for a specific purpose; putting the warp onto the loom was very difficult, even with 2 of us working together; the weaving was simple and quicker than expected; and the final sewing up and finishing was much more straightforward than anticipated. I am very pleased with the result.

The bow's pretty brilliant too - hickory, lemonwood and purple heart, lightweight at 33 lbs at 28", made by a local bowyer.

9 February: 6 of those 5-a-day

2010-02-09T10:27:00.005Z

Textiles again! This time though, no wool, and no knitting.

With a specific project in mind, I spun some of my non-wool fibres; these had been bought at various times out of curiosity, some (tencel and soy) had been blended with wool and spun, some of the bamboo had been spun and plyed with cotton for knitting.

On the whole, I feel they negate the proper "feel" of wool, and don't care for these fibres in knitting. This project, however, is weaving.

Piles of spun skeins, all beautiful plain white, except the soy, which is a pleasant creamy brown. So out come the Procion dyes, and a morning is spent dyeing a half-dozen skeins. And the results -

The ramie (top left) and bamboo (bottom centre) are similar in texture, but the ramie is slightly shinier; on the negative side, the ramie fibres were very fine and fly-away, and loose ones irritated my eyes and skin. (None of the spun yarns are irritating, it was just those odd fibres that escape while spinning.)

The linen is hard, but very interesting. I found it tricky to spin, but more practice would produce finer and more even yarn. For my current ideas, though, the more "textured" yarn is fine.

The tencel is silky and shiny, and was easy to spin. Depending on how it weaves and wears, this could easily become a favourite.

In the naughty corner on the right are soy (above) and ingeo, or corn fibre (below). The soy is very slightly stained with the green, but the ingeo is as white as it started. All my fault, of course - as they originate from vegetable material, I thought them to be "vegetable fibres", but of course soy is better treated as a protein fibre and dyed with acid dyes, and ingeo apparently needs disperse dyes, which I don't intend to start getting into.

The soy has a lovely silky feel and look, and was easy to spin. The ingeo, while easy to spin, has a definite "plasticky" feel, mildly unpleasant. Unless it turns out to be brilliant in use, I think I may not return to that one.

Out of practice with using Procion dyes, these skeins all came out much too pale for the intended project! So Plan B has gone into action, and plain white handspun linen warp is being woven with some handspun yarn that is wool with some silk. Pictures of that later, perhaps.

1 February: Woodland walk

2010-02-01T22:34:00.005Z

The hard frost last night meant that all the clarty bits of the path through the woods were frozen. In the trees we were sheltered from the wind, which was still chilly.

And there was sunshine! We had intended just a short walk for some air, but it was so pleasant we went further, so it was getting gloomy and cold by the time we got home. An unexpected chat with a man walking his dog delayed us more, and we needed our nice cup of tea when we got indoors.

In the garden earlier, when I was sweeping the remnants of yesterday's snow off the path, I noticed several bulbs pushing strong fat shoots above the ground.

29 January: Busy, busy

2010-01-29T15:06:00.003Z

How time flies when you're busy! After discovering the new cousin, I was prompted to tidy up a lot of the family history, and then of course got interested in another bit, and started following leads, and ending up with a lot more bits of paper and notes that needed sorting out.

Our pile of snow in the front garden has finally gone, though there's still a hillock of ice 3 or 4 feet high at the dead end of the street.

Recent spinning has been non-wool fibres - tencel, milk protein fibre, and flax. Maybe for weaving, when there's enough, and they are dyed - though I might just leave the milk protein fibre as natural cream. :)

And there's been knitting - another hat -

A simple stranded pattern in handspun Shetland yarns, very easy and satisfying to knit.

20 January: A new branch

2010-01-20T22:23:00.003Z

Recently I've been collaborating with a second cousin on some family history research, trying to find out more about our grandfathers' other siblings.

She is in touch with several sisters (our great-aunts) in Canada, but the youngest brother had been a bit of a mystery. The mention of his name had brought out a rash of pursed lips, head-shakes and tuts from older relatives, so of course we were dying to know!

I spotted him in the 1911 census, with a wife, which was a bit of a surprise, as his marriage certificate dated 1926 describes him as a bachelor.

Then Cousin P found a record of a birth following on from the 1926 marriage, and we we on the trail!

In the last week we have found details of 3 children of this marriage, then a marriage of one of the 3 children, and children and a grandchild. And this evening Cousin P has rung me to say she has been speaking on the phone to a grandson of our "black sheep" great-uncle! His mother and father may be able to give us more family information, too, and possibly even photographs.

It's all quite exciting.

17 January: ....can Spring be far behind

2010-01-17T10:23:00.004Z

The snow has cleared enough to get down the path to the compost heap. On my way there this morning I saw these -

Couldn't get nearer for a clearer picture, I'm afarid, but you get the idea.

13 January: Spindle spinning

2010-01-13T23:09:00.007Z

Today we have mostly black ice, so I spent the morning playing spinning with a hand spindle.

I have tried before, and know why it's called a "drop spindle", but I have a new book with improved instructions. It took all morning, but I did produce 2 (very) small skeins of yarn, about as much as I can spin in ten minutes on my wheel.

Probably Corriedale wasn't the best fibre to start with, but it was all I had to hand. There are issues to be resolved, like how to keep the fibre under control while drafting, and leaving the centre-pull ball on the nostepinne while plying, but on the whole I was pleased.

It's called Curate's Egg yarn.

10 January: More snow tonight?

2010-01-10T15:04:00.002Z

The slight thaw we've had all day must be official now - a snow-plough came round the estate.

Pushed all the snow off the road into everyone's carefully-cleared drives.....

7 January: When icicles hang by the wall

2010-01-07T15:31:00.007Z

Prompted by Durham Daily Photo, I have tried to take a snap of our best icicle -

Not easy, as it's right outside the window, and behind it is white render and snow. It is beautifully rippled and about 3 feet long.

Edit 8 January: This morning The Icicle has grown to 4 feet long and twice as thick as yesterday. My Dear Husband has moved the car from underneath it.

3 January: Normality soon?

2010-01-04T09:29:00.004Z

The regular suspension of normal life over the Christmas period, combined with weather that hampers outdoor activity, has led to a concentration on stash-reducing.

There's been another double cap made, plain brown with variegated yellow/apricot/green, and 2 triangular scarves, and a couple of "bags" - the first is knitted from Jamieson and Smith's millspun 2-ply Shetland yarn, and then felted, using a pattern called "Numbers" from knitty -

and the second is crocheted from yarn I spun a couple of years ago, from recycled plastic bottle fibre. I find the yarn is nasty to knit, but fine for crochet, and this little bag is just the right size to keep one of my bowstringers tidy -

The trouble is that this took only 15 grams out of the 200.....

(If you want to see the other knitting, pictures are on my Flickr page.)

1 January: Deep and crisp

2010-01-01T10:48:00.003Z

This morning we were the only walkers without a newspaper or a dog.

Even the trees that are normally completely unremarkable make an interesting pattern -

There was a bit of blue sky towards the south -

- though it looks to be snowing to the north of the Wear valley.

When life returns to normal again next week after the holiday hiatus, I do hope the snow is not going to hamper our activities.

31 December: Irresolute

2009-12-31T18:50:00.003Z

A White Christmas - snow fell on 17 December and is still here; there have been a few starts at a thaw, but never enough to clear the packed and frozen snow before more has fallen again. The only consolation of a fresh fall of another inch of snow this evening is that it reduces the chances of being woken in the middle of the night by post-pub fireworks.

Now that neither of us has to go to work (we stay at home and they just pop the money into the bank for us), we have a whole fresh New Year ahead, full of all sorts of possibilities. My Dear Husband has found a new interest, and who knows where that will lead; I have just turned 21 again, and have a list of things to try out at least as long as my arm.

But no New Year resolutions. That's just courting disappointment. Hope for the best, expect the worst, and life is full of delightful little surprises.

25 December: A breath of fresh air

2009-12-25T15:13:00.003Z

We finally braved the snow and ice, and got out for a walk. After yesterday morning's fall of about 3 inches of snow, there had been a slight thaw, then a freeze overnight. But the sun shone on the path through the wood -

And the pond was sheltered from the wind -

Apart from three or four cars and two dogs taking themselves for an unaccompanied walk, we saw nobody; it was lovely and quiet.

17 December: A rug - and yet another hat

2009-12-17T11:27:00.003Z

Winter time is just right for making a rug - thick and heavy spread over your lap as you work. Even after my attempts to use up all my stash of rug wool, there was an awful lot left; perhaps something to do with my carrying home an enormous bag full of old Durham Carpets yarn from the Guild one day. They acquired a lot of carpet yarn when the factory closed, and I liked some of the colours.

It's made by hooking lengths of wool into knots on rug canvas, using a latchet hook. Each knot is worked individually. There are 23 rows of 6 sections, and each section is 20 stitches wide and 5 rows deep. Each knot has 2 strands of wool, which have to be cut from the ball or cone. It took nearly 3 weeks to make (not a lot worth watching on TV lately).

The design is simple, based on a couple of carpets seen recently. One was sampler in John Lewis, showing all the available colours in one carpet range, and the other was seen in a shop window in York when we were having coffee in the cafe opposite. My version is 3 feet each way.

There's another hat, too. This one is the Joined Up Thinking hat - it needed a lot of thought (and many pages of squared paper) to work out how the design would carry into the top shaping.

It's come out rather small, though.

13 December: Holly, ivy, and sloes

2009-12-13T14:54:00.003Z

Part of this afternoon's walk was along a sunlit hedge, festively decorated with holly -

- ivy, and lichen -

- and sloes! This is the first time we've seen fruit on these sloe trees, though they have plenty of blossom every year.

Perhaps the birds find them too sour to eat until everything else has gone.

10 December: More knitted hats

2009-12-10T19:17:00.004Z

The knitted hat seems to be the current favourite project - a good way to try out a new stranded pattern, but quick to knit and using modest amounts of yarn. Here are two more recent ones -

They are called Choc button hats, because the pattern reminds me of chocolate buttons, and the purple/brownish coloured yarn reminds me of Cadbury's chocolate wrappers.

The black one has a slightly higher crown, as I absent-mindedly decreased in a different way from the intended one. So now it would suit a wearer with bigger hair.

6 December: Welcome sunshine

2009-12-06T17:28:00.003Z

The sun shone on our walk round Gibside today. Look at the clear blue sky -

and here is a photo of the sun shining over the pond -

This one shows rather better what the afternoon was like -