Not at a loss for things to do.

I have knitted the above items in the last couple of months, mostly from wool tops that I have dyed. The mauve stole was from carded fleece bought in Australia ten years ago. The last is the initial tension trial for a cable knit cowl. I have finished the cowl it was intended for but I will post that later as I've not yet taken a photograph.
Cables seem to feature large in fashion knitwear at the moment and I used to dislike cable patterns, stopping to pick up the cable needle frustrated my urge to get on with the project. Now that I can see the varied options I am more enthusiastic about the possibilities.
Having recently tried on a number of knit-wear items, from a very popular high street store, finding them to have a knitting fault in prominent places, I have decided that I should spin sufficient yarn to knit one myself. How long will it take? I have to get the fibre first, dye and then spin it. Shall I go more chunky than I usually do? The knitting would take less time, especially if I want to wear it while it is still fashionable. Something soft and snuggly is my aim!
I have embarked on a project/investigation, of my own, into the ways of using and combining, spaced dyed tops, hand and drum carded fibres and the results achieved.
The cowl mentioned above is part of this.

First Weaving

Last month I led a weaving workshop for Bedfordshire Guild of Weavers, Spinner and Dyers and wasn't sure how the participants would receive it because non of them had woven before.
We used rigid heddle table looms, many of which were over 30 years old, and this meant that my hubby and I spent many hours checking them and making sure they were all in good working order. The last thing I wanted was for the equipment to let us down or make the weaving more laborious than it needed to be. The aim was that everyone could produce a wearable wild silk scarf. The yarn used had been hand dyed the month before.
The photograph above is the result of one members weaving started at the workshop.
If no-one else finishes their piece I consider the workshop a success, because Carol, the weaver of the above scarf, wants to weave more and is looking to buy a loom of her own. Carol dyed the silk at home using natural madder and still has some left to begin her second project. Very well done Carol!
I hope that, at next Tuesday's meeting, I shall see more from the workshop.

Fibre to Yarn

It's such a long time since I posted. I have been busy but didn't find time to post about my activities.
I thought I had posted this entry several days ago but my internet connection must have broken just as it was downloading!!
I have spent a great deal of time dyeing woollen tops, roving, both to use myself and to sell to other spinners and crafters. Knitting certainly has had a revival and members of the Bedfordshire Guild of Weavers Spinners, and Dyers have managed to drum up interest in our crafts, so much so that our membership has doubled in less than two years. (I think this statement is accurate) The result being, I have been able to sell my hand dyed tops to other members as well as at a Ravelry event held in Flitwick Village Hall in August.
The photo below show two spirally wrapped rovings which I acid dyed in similar colour ranges, next to which are the prepared fibres, stripped lengthwise from the roving and a skein of yarn similar to, what I hope will be, the resulting yarn


This photo is of a scarf knit in a Shetland pattern, inspired by an Online Guild WSD workshop, using a yarn prepared in the same way as the one above.
A couple of weeks ago we spent time with our son and girlfriend in Warwick, site seeing and looking for craft supplies. This led to me having an idea for dyed yarn which involved me having a knitting machine to make the process practical time wise.
I had the idea one day. The next day:- I met a potential customer, at local event, she told me that she had a knitting machine to give away a.s.a.p. She is having a hoard clearance. We were asked to go the next day to collect the machine! An omen or not? I am to have lessons from someone who attends the same line dancing group as myself!
Since last posting I have knitted a number of items which I willl post when I have taken photos

Bad manners

As a child I was always taught that it was bad manners to make a noise while eating.
Since raising silkworms I have read many times that during a visit to a silk farm you could actually hear the worms eating. I have never heard this sound, until recently!!
For the last four weeks I have been feeding 140 silkworms which hatched unexpectedly because I didn't get the eggs into the fridge quickly enough after they were laid and shown to be fertile.
When they are first laid the pin head size eggs are white and almost invisible on kitchen paper. Within a couple of days the eggs start to darken - if they are fertile - then they are stored in the fridge, as they are supposed to need a cold period before they will hatch. Mine hatched in double quick time, probably due to the extra hot spell we had a month ago.
I have never reared so many caterpillars at one time, my poor old mulberry trees have lost a lot of leaves, but I started collecting them from the bottom of the branches which needed pruning anyway so the lawn mower could get under.
Last week, each time the caterpillars were fed, I heard the noise written about. I guess 140 mouths chomping on the freshest, crispest mulberry leaves is the difference. Our sons girlfriend likened it to the sound of rice crispies when the milk is poured on.

I love making books

This book was made at about the same time as that in 'Scraps of brown Paper'.
I had bought a notebook with a plastic cover to keep craft notes but the cover annoyed me and the corner broke off so I decided to make it more personnal and good to handle.
I cut and covered a large cardboard envelope to make a new cover for the notebook and then used a 3D card envelope/package that had been used to send me a book.
I brayered ink from a 'rainbow' ink pad onto pieces of brown paper that were to cover the cardboard glued them onto and around the cardboard. I added a card 'pocket' to the inside back of the cover so that the back cover of the notebook could be slotted in. This means that the outside cover, should it wear well, can be used again when the notebook is full.

I decorated the notebook and cover with my favourite wild flower rubber stamps from Graphicus. Today, I added butterflies to the decoration in 'honour' of the butterfly count sponsored by Marks and Spencer. www.bigbutterflycount.com
At the moment only cabbage white butterflies are visiting my garden and other years we have seen peacocks and tortoiseshells. I think that next year I will rear some from Worldwide Butterflies and hope to help increase the population.

I dyed some more wool roving yesterday. This time it was superwash merino and I made an effort to use new colour combinations.
Now, I have to think of interesting, exotic and decriptive names for the colourways with the hope that someone will be enticed into paying money for them!!! Any suggestions?

Feeling proud

Several months ago I agreed to write an item for the Journal of Weaver's Spinners and Dyers about Fibre Reactive Dyeing. (www.thejournalforwsd.org.uk. www.wsd.org.uk)
I have been dyeing silk and other fibre and yarn with these dyes for several years and thought I'd like to share my experience.

When the Summer 2010 issue had been published I was very pleasantly surprised to see a photo of my weaving on the cover. I had sent photos of the process and finished spun and woven items but never dreamed of my work being shown on the cover. My photos were obviously of a better quality than I realised. I often get things out of focus but maybe so do professionals!!! There are also several photos of my finished work inside the magazine.


Most of my clothes are cotton or linen and I don't enjoy wearing synthetic fabrics, woollens irritate my skin, so I only work with wool for someone else.
Yesterday, I decided to dye some woollen fibre with acid dyes, some of which I have had for years. For this I used the microwave as it's too hot to stand over a heat source at the moment and the time taken to fix the dye is shorter.
Next I am searching for some new colour combinations as I so often realise that I have returned to old favourite combinations like purple, blue and green.



Some time ago I posted about a shawl that I was weaving for our younger son's girlfriend to wear to her sister's wedding. I have a photo of them at the wedding but must get a close up of the shawl.
They have bought a lovely thatched cottage and begin moving in this weekend. What an exciting time for them. Perhaps in the not too distant future a shawl for another wedding day will be needed!!!

Scraps of brown paper

I use brown paper to separate the layers when I wind a warp onto my loom. After a time it becomes torn and distressed, waste material as far as a weaver is concerned, but, for a paper crafter a useful resource. The distressed look is good, has charm and character and can be a useful way to recyle 'materials'.
Since childhood I have been interested in making books and now because of my interest in card making using rubber stamps, embossing powder and all manner of colouring mediums, I have started to make spiral bound notebooks, shopping list booklets and all manner of books in which to record my craft notes/processes etc.
The pictures here are one of my latest 'creations'. I love red and I am always very pleased to see fields full of red poppies at this time of year. This inspired my to make the 'Poppy notebook cover'.
The cover is made from recycled boxes, which once held such things as photo paper and printable labels or a book ordered on the web, covered with brown paper and decorated with a rubber stamps on the poppy theme, hitherto unused. The fastening is two recycled leather buttons with a silk twisted cord.



This was designed as a recording/planning book for another weaver who also likes red. Some of the notebook pages are for inspirational sketches, others for weave draft planning and some for project notes. It is removable and can be replaced in the future by a bought shorthand notebook.