30 September: Finished jersey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....