The Final Buds

At last, I've found time (and incentive!) to block out the Buds of May shawlette I finished recently.  It took me ages to pin it all out to shape, i.e. getting it the right shape!  But it was all worth it in the end.

Here it is airing off in the sunshine today.

And then our neighbours turned up just in time for a photo shoot.  This is Tammy showing off the shawl as it's meant to be.

Not quite full wingspan!

The whole thing, and a bit of detail :-

Hopefully, tomorrow this will be winging it's way north to my friend May.  Hope she likes it - it's scary spinning for a spinner!

Butterflies and Buds

Found this gorgeous caterpillar the other day on my fennel in the garden.

I've been searching the internet to try and find out which butterfly it will become, and all information seemed to point to it being a black swallowtail.  The problem is, I've only ever seen white swallowtails here, so maybe that's what it is.

The other news is, I've finally finished the Buds of May shawl.  I've had lots of problems with this pattern, mainly because the whole thing was a series of charts, which I find very difficult to follow, especially when they have you constantly referring to other charts for parts of each row.  I'd rather have a written pattern any day.  It was pretty accurate though (my problems usually stemmed from my lack of understanding of the pattern, and I'm not what you would call a "beginner" by any means), but I did find a few errors in the last 4 or 5 rows.  I just followed my instincts there, and it worked out OK.

Preliminary photo (there'll be a final "showy" one when I've had time to sew in the ends and block it) :-

I only realised when I got near to the end of this, just how much wool I have left.  I think I could easily have done the next size up, but there's no way I'm taking it back now!

The next shawl is definitely for me - just have to work out which fleece I'll use, then spin it!  Will it be a Buds of May?  Probably, because I do really like the pattern.  Next time, though, it'll be a lot easier . . . I wrote out the pattern as I went along (a real labour of love that was!) so it definitely should be easier to do.

Catching Up

Posts have been a bit sparse on here of late, not because I've not been doing anything worth writing about, more because there's just been too much going on.  So, here's what's been happening lately to keep us so busy.

There were gigs to be played :-

Sud Rock Festival

Look at the size of that stage!

Jeff, the bass player was to the right, Steve in the centre, Eric left, and Geoff the drummer is just visible in the background!  It's got to be the largest stage Eric's ever played on.  They had sound engineers too:-

and their own air-conditioned porta-cabin kitted out with settees, cool drinks etc.


The next day we went to visit Sarah and Paul of La Maison des Chameaux, to (finally!!!!) deliver her sweater.  I was a bit worried whether it would still fit her, as she's lost weight since we last saw her.  Luckily, she likes them "sloppy"!

We had a fabulous lunch with them outside in the shade (ankles got bitten to death though!), and ogled their kittens,

Basket of Fun!

My favourite

Their mother was killed on the road last week, so Hershey the dog has adopted them and regularly gives them a good clean and keeps them in order.

She's very protective of them, and sees off any other inquisitive cats.

As usual, it's impossible to visit Sarah and not come away with something.  Like half a ton of camel, llama, alpaca and sheep's wool!

I don't have enough lifetime left to spin all of this!


The cotton bolls are growing like mad - can't be too long now before they start to open.

They're still flowering too

These are such pretty plants, even if you're not interested in spinning the cotton.


This was a little dyeing project I did a while ago.  I found lots of these red dock seeds in and around the garden, and thought there must be some potential for colour.  So I collected them, just put the seeds in a pan of water, and soaked them for a day or two.

The dye was quite a deep colour and I was hopeful it may give a reddish orange.  I mordanted some fleece with alum and cream of tartar and heated it up slowly in the dye bath.  The results weren't quite what I'd expected, but it's still a nice colour.  That's it on the right below, next to a second-dip in the madder dye bath.

2nd dip madder on left, red dock seed on right

My current knitting project, the Buds of May shawl, has reached a standstill - I'm stuck! I'm about 60% through, and the pattern has become quite ambiguous and confusing.  So it's sitting in a bag, abandoned, until I manage to find some time to sit and work it out. This pattern would definitely not suit a beginner.  No photo, because I'm pretty disgusted with it at the moment.


Finally, the garden is producing lots at the moment.  I harvested this lot yesterday.

Yes, there are 26 cucumbers there!  Some of these will be pickled in jars, hopefully today, and I think some chilled cucumber soup is in order.

A few days ago I bottled 15 jars of tomatoes, and the next lot are ready for processing. Then yesterday I was given a large bucket of yellow plums, so they need bottling today too.  Maybe it would be a good idea to get out of bed and get on with it!!

Buds Is Growing

No, that's not meant to be bad English - it actually means the Buds of May shawl is growing.  It's taking a bit longer than I'd hoped, mainly because I'm writing out the pattern (from a chart) as I go, so next time I knit one it'll be a doddle!

Here it is so far, just about half way there :-

I really like the way this is turning out, and the variegation in the colour which goes from very pale blue, to mid blue, to teal, to dark blue.  The finished pattern is lovely, I think I'll be making another one of these before too long.

Buds of May

A wee posting to show you that I can knit as well as spin.  The Buds of May shawl (using the Falkland wool) is coming on a little bit slowly for various reasons, but here's a little glimpse.

It's growing a little each day as I snatch a bit of time to sit down with it, but the main thing that is slowing me down is the way the pattern is written.  It's a chart.  With lots of squares containing little symbols.  Like a crossword puzzle with squiggles instead of letters.  I think I'm chart-dyslexic.  Help!

The only way I can cope with this pattern is by sitting down with a pen and paper and "translating/transcribing" each row into written knitting instructions.  This takes a while. So far I have four A4 sheets of instructions.  These will probably get me a quarter of the way through.  On the other hand, maybe that's why it's written as a chart - imagine the size of the pattern otherwise!

Here's another photo, just to prove it's grown a bit more, which also happens to be the final line-up of spinning achieved during the Tour de Fleece.

It doesn't look an awful lot for three weeks of spinning.

Still Pedalling

Yesterday was day 13 of the Tour de Fleece (it feels like it was today actually, but it is after midnight now).  On day 12 I finished the first bobbin of this :-

. . . Hey!  Come back with that, it's not for you!

Ah, that's better . . .

On Day 13 I made more batts, and started spinning the 2nd bobbin.

This one is being spun a little differently.  For the first bobbin, the batts were split lengthwise into their individual colours (more or less), then each strip was halved and the colours spun in turn.  For this bobbin, each individual colour strip will be split into 4 and then spun.  This should give a bit of variation when the two bobbins are plied together and, hopefully, add interest.

Last night I also started knitting this wool :-

into a shawl for my friend, May.  Haven't taken any photos, because there's not a lot to show yet.  I'll post a photo in a day or two when it's grown.

Day 11 - Rest Day

Today is a rest day for all the Tour de France cyclists - they don't ride today, so neither do we in the Tour de Fleece.

Yesterday my two skeins of Falkland changed colour a wee bit . . .

Haven't worked out the yardage yet, but I'm pretty sure there'll be enough for the shawl I want to knit.

Also made more of these

and carried on spinning them.

This afternoon Eric has a band rehearsal.  They're trying out a new singer (Steve has left the band - the Steve Walton Band is no more!  Sad day) and Eric wants me to go and listen and see what I think.  I'll probably take some fleece with me and carry on carding for the colour batts in the photo above.  I find it very difficult to sit and do nothing, so that's a nice little project to take with me.

TdF Days 8 and 9

I finally finished spinning the white Falkland and then plied it.

The two skeins are now soaking in water ready for tomorrow's (Monday) dyeing session.

Then I started carding up batts with a selection of naturally dyed fleece.

These are the ones I chose - there are two types of fleece here, British Friesland and Merino.  The dyes I used were nettles, lichen, madder and apricot bark, and lastly I added some banana fibre.

I then split the batt lengthwise into the different colours, halved them, and spun them in turn.
The finished yarn should make stripes when it's knit.

Not a very good photograph - it had gone dark by this time.  I prefer to photograph things in natural light, the colours don't show up very well here.

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!

Day 5

Today was day 5 of the Tour de Fleece.  I know I haven't posted every day, but I think if I had it would have been pretty boring reading.  Today I reached the milestone of finishing my first skein of the Falkland fleece.

I've ended up with 80g, and approximately 332 yards.  I need to spin another skein similar to this one to have enough for the shawl I want to knit.

Also today I've mordanted some merino fleece, and have some black beans and some madder root soaking in water to extract the dye.  The black beans normally give a lovely blue colour, but sometimes violet, and the madder gives a range of reds/oranges.  I want to blend some of these colours with the fleece I have dyed already, and then spin something colourful.  The Falkland has left me yearning for colour!

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.

Falklands

A very topical post this one.  UK TV is at present full of the 30 year anniversary of the Falklands war with Argentina which started on 2nd April 1982 and lasted 74 days, ending in June.

Yesterday we visited friends in the Lot department of France, two and a half hours north of us.  Ian and May used to live in the Falklands, and May is a spinner.  Last year she said she would order us both a Falkland fleece, which duly arrived in September.  She's been hanging onto it ever since until we finally got up there to collect it.

Unfortunately, two weeks ago May slipped on a wet tiled floor and broke her arm.  She's plastered (literally!) from her thumb to above her elbow and doesn't think she'll be able to spin again for quite a long time.  Guess what?  I came home with both fleeces!  Her son is visiting the Falklands later this year, so she's going to get him to bring her another one which, hopefully, she'll then be fit and able to spin.

Today I opened them up and spread one of them out on our outside table, which it totally filled.

It looks pretty manky and dirty doesn't it?  But look at this :-

It's absolutely gorgeous.  This is unwashed too.  You can see how soft it is.

I separated some of the cleaner bits and washed them this afternoon.  It'll probably be dry tomorrow.  I'm dying to spin some of this, but I have to wait probably until June when we get back from our UK visit.

I think the first batch has to be for May - I'll spin some of it and make something for her. I'm not sure what yet, but I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in!  I've got a pretty good idea of what I might make, but just haven't decided properly.  Think I'll have to spin some so it can tell me what it wants to be!

So, who's a lucky girl then??  Especially as there's a second untouched fleece still in the bag!  When am I going to get time to spin all of this?