A flying visit

Sitting, back in Yeovil, after a nice few days away.  It has to be said, I was feeling pretty knackered and somewhat lacking in my usual drive and energy to see everyone - so sorry for that my dear Derby friends.

But I did still manage to catch up with my parents, have a lovely steak dinner for my dad's birthday, see Emma's new house (yay!), spend some quality chilling and knitting time at Sarah's, wonder round town with Sarah, have a nice lunch out with Lorri (how I've missed her!) and go Christmas shopping with her, go to a baby bump blessing, go out for a drink with friends and catch up on some episodes of House which my mum has been recording on Sky+.  I suppose that's not too bad going for 4days.

And finally, a few photos, because I'm still tired and couldn't be bothered so much with the words.

 Because handspun toddlers are just so darned cute!

 The girls getting henna

 Henna on my shoulder (above) courtesy of Lorri, and on my right leg (below) courtesy of Sarah.  My other leg got doodled on by SamSam, Jenna and Morgan.  I love walking around knowing discretely tucked under my clothes are lovely works of art and creativity from my friends.

 The focus, of course was Sarah's bump, and most people got stuck in, including Sarah herself, from her upside down view.  She was highly decorated by the end!

 And a fun first for me, batik silk painting (using child friendly PVA glue).  I can't wait to see the finished, dried, washed silks.

 

And finally, some shots of my drinks out with Sam, Kev and Lorri.

 

Knitting into the inky sky

Yay! Two days of annual leave and I'm speeding my way back to derby for my dad's birthday and Sarah's baby blessing. After a few hiccups in the journey, I'm about 20mins away (God bless iPhones and their apps for allowing me to blog on the go). I'm finally making headway on my mum's shawl after a spinning binge break. And it's been delightful company for this journey - albeit only 6 rows done, they are epic rows now!

Meet Maggie

When I moved recently, I realised just how much yarn and fibre I had amassed and put myself on a very strict yarn and fibre diet until at least the new year.  There were three exceptions - my two fibre clubs which I adore, and should the possibility arise, some coloured ryeland fleece.  One of my clubs and very fave group over on Ravelry is that of Wildcraft.  Karen is the person behind this, and not only does she make the most gorgeous spindles and have a fantastic eye for dying, she also has a small herd of sheep, a mix of coloured Ryeland and some Shetland.  These sheep are the source for endless conversations on Ravelry, especially around lambing season.  And I've become a little attached to them, and always wanted to get some of their fleece to be my first every sheep's wool fibre prep experience.  Hence, the exception to the diet.

I posted recently about starting this process, and tonight, I finally finished hand-carding it.  It's taken a few weeks, but so totally worth it.  I'm so in love with this fleece.  It's from a shearling ewe called Maggie, and Karen had mentioned that she thought Maggie's was the best fleece she had from this year, so I count myself very lucky to have secured this half fleece.  I'm totally in love with it, the crazy sheepy smell in my flat when I've been working on it.  And most of all, I love going through the whole process of raw fleece to yarn to knitted garment.  I'm already envisioning a huge cosy and somewhat rustic shawl to snuggle under over the colder months ahead. 

I know that some of these photos are repeated, but I'm going to link this on Spinspiration, so they're here to document all the stages so far.

 *The* package - 1.1kg of delightful unknown

 Laying it out for that first feel and to do a bit of sorting - got rid of a lot of VM and second cuts, why bother washing things you're just gonna chuck later

 Washing

 Dry and ready for the next step

 The lock definition wasn't great by the end of washing, but this was one of the better little locks.

 The carding starts...

... And grows...

 ...and grows...

...and is now all done, ready to be spun, which will no doubt take several more weeks, but who cares when you're having this much fun!