Gradient Spinning

Hi everyone, well, I'm back on line again with my super-duper brand new MacBook Air (RIP old MBA) and ready to deluge you with all the things I've been doing since then.  I was about 6 weeks without a computer, so it's really nice to be back.

A while ago we had a little holiday just north of Bordeaux staying in a chateau with lots of old friends, some of whom we hadn't seen for over 20 years.  Realising that I might just have a bit of spare time here and there, I took my Louet Victoria and some fleece to spin.  I'd been hoarding some really nice merino in various contrasting colours from Barber Black Sheep (it was actually from a "Build a Batt" box that I'd bought and hadn't gotten around to using) so I grabbed that and teamed it with some other fleece that matched quite well from a World of Wool Botany Lap Waste bag.  I like to have an "easy to spin" project when we're travelling so I don't need to take a lot of other equipment with me for preparing it.

I managed to spin every day we were there, but still didn't manage to finish this until about a week after we'd returned home.

This next shot shows how well the colours go together, I really love the deep pink.

Because I wanted to keep the colours true when I plied it, I had to n-ply it and it turned out a bit thicker than I normally spin - probably about double knitting thickness - and consequently I didn't get as much yardage as I would have liked.  However, I think this will go really nicely in a project I started in the winter.  I think it was probably about November/December I went through all my handspun stash and picked out all the skeins of double knitting to make a lap blanket.

Not a very good photo as it's being knit on a circular needle, but I started by knitting a large rectangle in seed stitch with some art yarn I made a while ago, which included lots of yummy colors and . . . feathers!

I love to put feathers into my handspun, but I'm always a bit concerned they might be scratchy.  That's why I thought of using this for a lap blanket because it won't be used next-to-skin.  I still have a nice selection to choose from, but I'm not sure I'll use them all.

Hopefully the new yarn will finish it off nicely :-

but I can't decide which end to start knitting with.  I think it might be best to start on the outside of the one on the left and then start the second one on the outside too.  Of course, that will probably change multiple times before I actually knit with it.

Modelling Job!

A few weeks ago a friend of ours, Colette, asked me to take my spinning wheel to her art gallery and model for her art class.  Eric thought I might catch a chill spinning naked, but thankfully Colette insisted I keep my clothes on (thanks Colette!!!).  Anyway, today was the day.

Sunday I spent all afternoon carding up batts on my drum carder to take with me to spin.

I haven't a clue what most of this fibre is as it was part of my "floor sweepings" that I bought from World of Wool in the UK.  I mixed all the very dark colours together, then topped with blue and a mix of different blues/white, and a bit of sparkle (Angelina fibres).

The class was a mix of French- and English-speaking students, one of which was 98 YEARS OLD!!!!!  She really didn't look it, and there was obviously nothing wrong with her eyesight either.

No, this isn't the 98 year old!!

They started off with three 10-minute sketches, one of the wheel, one of my face, and one of my hands.

After that we had a little break, and then they had a final hour drawing the whole thing, or just what they wanted.

The morning sped by incredibly quickly, and ended with a "critique" by teacher Colette.

The 98-year-old is second from the left!

I know I shouldn't have had favourites, but this one I thought was just gorgeous :-

She's made me look like Dusty Springfield!  Wish I had her voice.

I liked this one so much that she gave it to me at the end of the class.  Apparently she doesn't keep anything she does in the classes.  That amazed me because, if I could do anything as good as this, you wouldn't be able to see my walls!

TdF Day 6

Yesterday's progress : another bobbin of the Falkland completed.  Only one more to go.

Spinning in the sun, taken by Caroline on Day 1 of the Tour :-

and then she sketched me (from the side - big mistake!)  Look at that double chin!

On Your Marks, Get Set . . .

GO!!

Today is the first day of the Tour de France, and therefore the first day of the Tour de Fleece.  So this morning I got up bright and early and sat in the sun with my spinning wheel for two hours.

Not a very exciting photo, but it's a start.  This is my first time spinning Falkland fleece, and it was really nice to spin.  This is going to be a shawl for my friend who gave me the fleece.  It will eventually be dyed blue, but for now it looks pretty boring!  Today I managed to spin about 25g.  I'm not sure exactly how much I'll have to spin for this project, but I need at least 500 yards of yarn, so probably between 150g and 200g.

Yesterday we had visitors arrive here - Ted, our friend from Germany, and Caroline, his daughter.  Unfortunately, Caroline can only stay until Tuesday as she has to go back to work, but this evening she found time to give me a painting lesson.  Well, mainly a drawing lesson - the "colouring-in" was pretty easy.  First we ventured into the field which surrounds our house, and "acquired" a couple of sunflowers (don't tell the farmer!), then we sat and drew them (Caroline did hers in a quarter of the time it took me).  Here's the finished painting, I was actually quite pleased with the way it turned out.

You'll notice I haven't posted a photo of Caroline's sunflowers (she did two) - hers was much better than mine so I'm not going to tempt a comparison!

Right - off to bed now.  I have to be up early again in the morning to do more spinning. We've been invited to a birthday party in the afternoon, and then Eric has a band rehearsal in the evening, so I may not get much time to spin.

Nightmare Night Out II

Saturday night was party night at Colette's local village hall - a fund-raiser for her art for development association.  This was a follow-on from one she ran last year which was very successful.

Why "Nightmare Night Out II"?  Well, last year one of the "guests" was an English journalist who very kindly published a report on the night afterwards.  The "English kids" were unruly and totally out of control (actually some of them were French, and the French like to include their children in anything that's going on, and they're allowed to enjoy themselves), the French were totally bemused and didn't enjoy themselves (so why did they come back this year?) or the English food (bangers and beans - actually the sausages were English), and the band were terrible - that's us (Dolly Blues) in case you didn't know.

Needless to say, she wasn't invited back this year, but we thought the title was quite apt!

Anyway, this year there was chilli con carne and a veggie chilli for non-meat eaters, plus all the accompaniments - creme fraiche, tortillas, chill sauce etc.  Colette had organised an art competition for "les infants terrible", with a medal for each child and prizes for the best pictures.  She had also organised a raffle with lots of prizes, and the awful band played until 1 a.m. (without being booed off!).  Another successful night.

Ready to rock

Lionnel, our French bass player, showing off his new jacket

The lovely Colette!

Wilco, alias "Animal"!

Dolly Blues

Now where do I put my fingers again?

A big thank you to Colette and all her helpers who worked really hard to make the night work.

Blogoversary!

Today is my first blogoversary - I can't believe it's 12 months since I started on this journey.  To celebrate, I thought I'd do a post about our friend's daughter who has just spent a week over here with us.

Meet the Artist

Caroline is Ted's daughter.  Ted is an old friend of ours who lives in southern Germany.  Two years ago they met for the first time in 40 years at our house here in France - there's a story here to tell, but I'll save that for another post.

They were both here last week for a short holiday together, and Caroline had brought some work with her.  She has been commissioned to paint some murals for a restaurant in Marbella, Spain and thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little bit of painting in the sunshine on our patio.

Action Shot!

The restaurant is called Picasso, so they wanted all the paintings to reflect him, his life, his family, his work etc.

She finished this one in a day.

I was amazed at how 3D the painting looked when it was finished.  These are based on Picasso's pottery.

The next one is one of Picasso's mistresses; the fish are so colourful because it will be put in a children's area along with some of the others.

The paintings she did here were all relatively small in comparison to the main murals.  The following one has already been delivered and (I think) installed at the restaurant :-

This one must have taken weeks.  The detail is amazing.  Note the Picasso-like objects on the table.  Picasso is shown as a small boy on the left of the painting, and the little girl next to him was his sister, who died quite young. Above are his mother and father (he was also an artist, but, when he saw the quality of young Picasso's painting, said he would never paint again - the picture shows him discarding his palette and dripping paint onto the shoulder of the man seated at the table).

The next mural isn't finished yet - Caroline's gone home to re-start work on it.

After this one is completed, she still has two major murals to paint - lots of work to keep her busy until the deadline in December.  If you're interested in art, other work and updates on this project can be seen on her website www.carolinemarsland.co.uk.  But if you're ever in Marbella, you could always drop in on the Picasso restaurant and have a look for yourselves.

As a parting gift, Caroline painted this for us.  She really is a cat person (she has three of her own), which my cat spotted immediately and rarely left her side the whole time she was here!

She accentuated his girth a little bit, but not much, ha ha!!  Little slob! (Jak, that is)

So, that's my first blogoversary post . . . no cake, no candles, no cards . . . but the painting of Jak more than makes up for it!  Thanks Caroline.