Spring is on it's way, but Winter refuses to leave!

The grey hairy one and I are both enjoying the warmth of my kitchen. I am lucky enough to have an Aga cooker, which warms the house (especially the kitchen) and in turn keeps us cosy. On days, such as today where the weather is wild and windy, I can spend the majority of the day happily in the kitchen with the grey hairy one curled up on his bed and me spinning away. It's time for a tea break and here is a photo of my new spotty cup that I was given at Christmas.

I can sit spinning and see the bird table through the kitchen window with it's visitors. I have filled the table with lots of goodies to attract the birds and we have a steady stream of birds each day. Regulars include a Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, pair of Blackbirds, Dunnock, Hedge Sparrow, several noisy Starlings, Woodpigeon, but the most regular of all is a Collared Dove who coos at us if the table is low on supplies, it will even peck indignantly at the kitchen window to remind me to fill the table. This dove has almost become tame and sits on the roof of bird table whilst I put out the food, inches away from me, not seeming in the least bit frightened of me. When not on the bird table this Dove sits in the branches of the cherry tree. Last year it built what can only be described as the most feeble looking nest I have ever seen within the tree just above our heads and the pathway under the tree. It sat there weeks and eventually hatched an egg. After a few weeks the young dove vanished, I don't know what happened to it but hope that it made it to adulthood. Meanwhile it's parent (it's such a regular visitor that I have named this bird Selena, on the assumption it is a female) continues to live in my garden, cooing at us.


Whilst on the subject of the flowering cherry tree in  the garden, I can see the sign of buds on the branches, added to which there are now snowdrops and crocus flowering on the village green,  definitely give an clear indication that spring is on the way, despite to continuing bad weather. No snow yet this year in East Anglia but that often arrives in February. Never mind, the flowers and buds are a happy sight and certainly cheered me up to see them.

I have finished the Cherry Blossom yarn and it is ready to go on my Etsy shop. I had to thread the freshwater pearls onto linen thread and ply that with the Mawatta and Throwsters silk. Here are some photos of the yarn through it's preparation of making rovings of the pink mawatta silk and punies of the throwsters silk. Following on from that, they were spun separately, using the worsted technique, on my Victoria wheel and plied together with the freshwater pearls threaded onto the linen thread. Once plied I wound the yarn onto a niddy noddy to make a skein. The skein was hand washed to set the twist and remove any excess dye from the mawatta silk. Once dried  I measured and weighed the skein and now it is finished. An interesting project which was enjoyable to do. I think it would make a nice light crocheted wrap for a special occasion. I will certainly spin more like this one. Here are a couple of photos taken of my cherry tree in blossom last year which was the inspiration for the yarn along with fond memories of a trip to Japan.

 

Fibre Stash Discovered!

First of all a Happy New Year, one and all. The grey hairy one and myself have at last recovered from our ailments, although the grey hairy one does give an occasional yelp when he tries to shake his head. The vet and ourselves were mystified as to the root cause of his discomfort. I keep a close watch on him but for the most part he is back to his usual cheerful self. I must admit it's hard to come to terms with the fact that he is now classed as a 'senior' as he celebrated his seventh birthday at the start of December.


As for me, Christmas not only brought me some lovely 'spinning themed presents' but best of all the dreadful debilitating nerve pain in my back, shoulder and arm diminished and now has faded away. This means I can begin spinning again and have returned to spinning the red, white and blue merino for the Union Jack mittens. I have also started to spin some of the beautiful silk fibres that I have ready to restock my shop on Etsy in the next couple of months. Over the past few months of inactivity I have been adding a glorious rainbow of fibre colours to my silk stash, shades of Pistachio, apple, purple, a sandy beach, a red/orange sunset and a few more. So spoilt for choice, I don't know where to start - I want to spin them all at the same time. The two cupboards, in the house, where my silk stash is stored, is nearly overflowing.


Like most crafters, I have squirrel like tendencies. Over the years cupboards, shelves, corners and drawers have been filled with equipment, yarn, fibres, patterns, books. I pretend that this does not
get in anyone's way, after all it's out of sight and on the whole my stash is well behaved, but I have reached the stage where opening the cupboard door is done carefully so that the contents do not have a chance to burst out at speed and propel me backwards. As the grey hairy has a habit of creeping up behind to see what I am doing there is the added risk of injury to us both. So, a cupboard spring clean now looms before the stash becomes malevolent.


Well that was my thinking until the large shed sprung a leak, several actually, over the Christmas holiday period. The UK has had a lot of rain over the last few weeks and a great many people have had their homes flooded, which must be a truly dreadful experience to go through. Although I live in a village on the edge of the fenland area of the UK, we have not been greatly affected. Sure, the surrounding fields are flooded and walks with the grey hairy one definitely requires boots and waterproofs. The ground is either like walking across a water filled sponge or you sink in deep squelchy sticky mud. Neither of us are enjoying walks much at the moment.


I had need to visit the large garden shed to find my crochet hooks for a workshop I am attending next week and I thought my hook set was with the 'bigger general craft stash' down there with the spiders. I took backup to help me delve into long forgotten boxes and cobwebs. Looking at the shed roof I remarked that the roof could do with being re-felted in the spring. What we didn't expect was when we opened the door, everything in the shed being wet through. After moving old bikes and various cobwebbed camping equipment we realised that this was going to be a major task. The light was already fading so we decided that buying roof felt and mending the shed a matter of urgency and fled back to the house, to warm up and make a plan of action over a hot drink, to mend the roof and make the shed watertight. As soon as the good weather arrives we will empty the shed and clear out any items that can't be rescued.


The rain goes on and on, leaving no gap within the short winter days to make good the repairs. A temporary repair of waterproof plastic nailed on has made a huge difference. Somewhere in the back of the shed lurks the 'large' stash, sooner or later I will have to deal with this and salvage what I can. Unfortunately, this has brought my stash to the attention of my nearest and dearest and there is no way I can ignore it. any longer!

We are poorly

At present the grey hairy one and I are watching the advancing weather front as the predicted storm gathers momentum across the UK. As I speak the daylight is diminishing quickly as we switched to winter hours last night when the clocks went back an hour. It adds to the melancholy the grey hairy one and I feel at the moment, as due to circumstances beyond my control we are both inactive - by that I mean there is:-
No spinning, no knitting, no dog walking, no housework (as disasters go this particular one probably doesn't count), no baking (I am told that watching the Great British Bake Off Final this week also does not count), no driving and not at work.

(The grey hairy one enjoying our lovely summer weather a couple of months ago. Note he had been stiffing the flowers and is oblivious to the evidence of a petal stuck to the end of his nose!)

The reason for the inactivity? We are both poorly, taking it in turns to yelp, whimper and gaze at each other in sympathy as we attempt movement to find a more comfortable way of sitting or lying. My dear grey hairy one has hurt his neck and despite several visits to the Vet is not really improving. He has a cocktail of painkillers to take (as have I) and if there is no change then our Vet is going to arrange for the grey hairy one to have a scan to see if we can find the cause and mend the problem.

As for me, last week I had a flu vaccination at work for the first time. No problem except the next day I woke with backache which persisted throughout the day. As it was an 'office day' I wasn't overly concerned but as the day on went the pain got worse. By Saturday I was in quite a state and by Sunday I resorted to seeing the emergency Doctor as by now the pain was shooting across my shoulder and down my arm. It also felt remarkably similar to the pain I experienced a few years ago when I developed Shingles and in the same place. Sure enough, it's Shingles and I have spent the week tucked up indoors.

As I resume my ramblings the night has been and gone and so to the storm has passed us by, with little damage here thank goodness! There was a lot of rain during the night and this morning the wind was noisy and the garden took a battering but all seems fine. I am signed off work this week, the pain in my back, shoulder and arm shows no sign of abating so I guess it's going to be another week of inactivity ahead. The grey hairy one had a peaceful night with little yelping and following a bracing walk this morning in the wind and rain (not with me I hasten to add, I was still tucked up under my duvet) he is contently curled up asleep on his bed beside me. I think the painkillers are helping him so fingers and paws crossed that his neck will ease.

As promised a while back here is a photo of the finished skein of the Cherry Blossom Yarn complete with freshwater pearls. I took this photo just after I had washed the finished skein to 'set' the twist and so it still looks a bit scrunched up and not at it's best. It was an interesting project.

To keep me going during this period of non-spinning time I am going to read some more of Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee's excellent books on knitting and follow her blog www.yarnharlot.ca which yesterday had some gorgeous pictures of rainbow dyed yarn packs.
Bernie.

'Be careful what you wish for!'

Apologies, my blog has been a bit neglected over the past six months. I blame the candles on my birthday cake. I made a wish and almost immediately my little world was turned upside down! I took a secondment at work and found myself propelled into study and exams to qualify for the new role. My entire spare time was spent learning and practising new skills. I attended tuition classes, read manuals, completed projects and most amazing of all went on a study trip to the USA, my first ever visit to the States.

The trip was short (five days inclusive of travelling) and filled with attending class at the company headquarters. My colleagues and myself had an enjoyable few days, even though it was very hard work. I travelled to Madison, Wisconsin, a lovely town, I even found the sort of shop I feel at home in - of course, it is a craft based shop selling the work of 100 local and indie artisans. A treasure trove of beautiful work. The shop was called 'Anthology, a paper and craft shop' run by a charming, helpful lady. I see from the bag that there is a website : www.anthology.typepad.com Well worth a visit if you ever go to Madison. Wisconsin was a lovely area to visit, the countryside pretty and lots of green landscapes. Madison and the surrounding area had beautiful houses, a picturesque lake, and an amazing capitol building that resembled the White House. We visited a particularly nice restaurant down by the lake with the American team who are seeing us through the next 18months of the build of our new computer system. I found everyone friendly and helpful. For anyone reading this blog who might live in Wisconsin you will know what I mean when I say that my trip to your county was an 'Epic' experience!

As my blog and life in general has been on hold, so has spinning. I have managed to do small amounts but hopefully as the training of my new secondment role diminishes I will be able to spend far more time spinning and walking out with the grey hairy one, who at present is under the weather. He is suffering from neck pain and after a visit to the vets earlier this week is resting and taking medication to ease things (we hope), though the vet is not sure what has caused this to occur. Walks have been shorter than usual, and the grey hairy one seems to tire easily, no way his normal bouncy, curious self.

After the amazingly warm summer in the UK we have entered a warm golden Autumn. Leaves are beginning to turn colour and drop, there has been a bumper crop of apples, blackberries and horse chestnuts (or as we know them in the UK, conkers) falling in large quantities. Beautiful shiny rust coloured jewels hidden beneath their hard spiky green shells. As I write this the sky is blue and the sun is shining and I still have geraniums in bloom in the garden. After lunch I will see if the grey hairy one would like a gentle stroll down to the lode and across the fields, which are all ploughed and ready for the winter crops.

I did finish spinning my Cherry Blossom yarn and there will be a photo soon of that. Unusually, I am going to spin some merino tops for a project. I have had a request to make someone a pair of mittens, not just any mittens, but a pair that are knitted with the Union (Jack) Flag. I found a suitable pattern on the Ravelry website which fits the bill! I have just ordered merino tops in red, white and blue. I am not a knitter, spinning, yes, knitting - well at the last spinning guild meeting I told my friend about this project. My friend looked at me in stunned silence and then began to laugh. My friend is a knitter, I am not. I love knitting. I read books about knitting. I buy patterns and books of knitting patterns. I avidly read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's books and her brilliant blog: www.yarnharlot.ca and I know how to knit but the practical reality is that my knitting is slow (actually slow is fast compared to my attempts at knitting). It gives me a headache, although I'm not sure why. I look at fellow spinners who knit and am filled with envy that their projects, with seemingly little effort grows at an alarming rate of inches compared to my painfully slow one row.

I was for many years, whilst my children were growing up, a member of a group of friends collectively know as 'The Knits'. Meeting at each others houses one afternoon a month, the hostess providing soup and lunch. Since returning to work full time I am unable to attend but the group still meet. The Knits, eats, chats and knits, except in my case I would often bring my wheel and spin as the knitting thing did not progress from one month till the next. So dear blog reader, I hear you cry "Why is mad woman going to attempt to knit mittens?" Mittens that will require; skills in the art of knitting, chart reading, knitting in the round. working with three colours, stranded knitting (I'm not sure what that is yet) and a deadline of this Christmas.

And so dear reader, we come full circle in this blog entry. The reason is my secondment. The young gentleman in question is one of the American team helping with my secondment team at work. His eyes lit up when he found out I was a spinner. Despite mentioning that I only spin silk, he excitedly requested could I knit him a pair of mittens. I weakly said yes, having a crazy thought that mittens aren't that big, how difficult could it be? Therein lies my mistake, because in the next breath he said "Can they please have a Union Jack pattern?" So there you have it, wish me luck and watch this space, updates soon on progress or lack of it.

Today is my Birthday.
It was an exciting start to the day as for the first time ever I watched a pair of Goldfinches visit my garden. They didn't come to eat the tasty niger seed in the feeders (set out just for the purpose of attracting goldfinches to my garden), but to hunt for nesting material. They ignored the bird table and the feeders completely, but it was wonderful to see them and I felt very honoured to have them come today. A birthday cake arrived - the candles don't give much away with regard to age but suffice to say I have reached an age where there isn't enough room for the candles needed, but I did manage to blow the candles out in one go and make a wish!




 
The Goldfinches didn't stay more than a few minutes, no time to fetch a camera and sadly didn't return again.

The weather here today was very dull and there was a bitter wind but we did go for a nice walk around Wandlebury Ring which the grey hairy one enjoyed and our walk took us past the small herd of Aberdeen Angus cattles' enclosure. The grey hairy one refused to get too close which I am not sure is a wariness of the cattle or the fence around the enclosure, which has an electric wire along the top. The cattle are always curious about the grey hairy one and will often follow us along the length of their enclosure until we leave them behind. I always think their hair looks as though it could be spun and it reminds me of Tussah silk in looks. The cattle seem to range in colour from cream to a gorgeous ginger. During the walk we spooked a large male hare who leapt out from the undergrowth darting this way and that, very close to us and quickly sped away bounding through the trees.

Here is a picture of the small rolags of the Throwsters Waste ready for spinning and my little bunny dish to store the freshwater pearls which I have threaded onto a linen thread to make ready to ply with the Mawatta and Throwsters Waste silks.

I spent the rest of the day quietly and now the Throwsters Waste Silk has been spun and the pearls threaded I have begun to ply the three strands together. It's going to be the first time I have added 'foreign objects' to my yarns so it will be an interesting exercise.

A Happy Easter from me and the grey hairy one.

As a disguise I don't think this is going work!

Bernie

 

Japanese Cherry Tree Blossom inspired yarn and Snow Dog.
This weekend has brought snow again to the UK. We woke to light snow on Saturday morning and kept the curtains closed until after breakfast. The reason? The grey hairy one LOVES snow! For a dog who detests rain (he won't put a paw outside the door, just retreats backwards), and dislikes the wind and summer heat it came as a big surprise to find he adores snow. He stands at the back door whining until we go outside and races around in circles trying to eat snow, but ends up inhaling it and sneezing. He also loves to walk across ice and every puddle has to be stood on. Below are a couple of photos I took this morning while we were out after more snow overnight.

"Honestly, I wasn't eating the snow, it just sort of stuck to my nose"








Of course, multiple walks to explore the Narnia landscape mean less time for spinning indoors so here are a couple of photos I have been taking of the 'Japanese Cherry Blossom' Silk Yarn I talked about in my last blog entry. Why Japanese Cherry Blossom? Well I was lucky enough to visit Japan a few years ago just as the first Cherry Blossom was blooming and this week the news has shown pictures of the Cherry trees, in Japanese parks, in bloom.

I have spun the dyed Mawatta Silk Hankies first after stretching the fibres into rovings and will then spin the Throwsters Waste after having carded the fibres into small rolags. I love this textured silk, it has so much character.

The finished bobbin of Mawatta.  Now to start on the Throwsters Waste.
Before I go here is one more photo of the grey hairy one enjoying himself in the snow today, unlike me who was freezing and longing to go back inside.
Bernie.                                          
                                                                                  

INSPIRATION FOR YARNS
Hello again,
Sorry about the hiatus during the winter months but Christmas crept up on me and my New Year resoultions fell by the wayside (less TV, more spinning and listening to radio whilst peddling and regular blog entries). I have however managed to set up my Etsy shop and go for some lovely dog walks with the grey hairy one. I have even remembered to take along my camera to take snapshots of colours and things that inspire me. Here on the right is such a photo taken looking up through the beautiful vivid red berries on the hedgerow to the wispy blue sky beyond. A shock of colour in an otherwise grey winters walk.

This picture on the left was taken on a trip to the Lake District last autumn, whilst walking along the shore of Lake Windermere. A lovely dry stone wall covered in Lichens and Ivy. I love how the pattern of the stones is softened by the greenery inhabiting the wall. Its not only on dog walks that I find inspiration but from all sorts of other things. For instance I love the world as seen through the eyes of Claude Monet. Since first seeing his work as a teenager, I have been enthralled with his use of colour. I have visited his garden at Giverney in France and each time I go there I have never wanted to leave. Walking round the gardens it feels as if I have wondered into one of his paintings and if I turn quickly there he will be with his paintbrushes and easel. I have some lovely photos of Giverney and will put my favourite up on here at a later date. I like to listen to music when spinning, generally something soothing, peaceful and uplifting.

I find other Spinners very inspirational. A couple of years ago I purchased a book by Alison Daykin and Jane Deane called 'Creative Spinning' published by gaia traditional crafts. This is a lovely book which I often leaf through to admire Alison and Janes'  yarn creations. Alison has written several articles on creative spinning of yarns in 'Yarnmaker' magazine (which by the way if you haven't come across is a superb read and well worth supporting). In 'Creative Spinning' is a yarn called blossom in the silk mix section of the book. At the moment I am spinning some hand dyed Pink Mawatta silk hankies (instead of the Tussah recommended) and some undyed cream Throwsters waste. To give my yarn my own twist I am adding fresh water pearls threaded onto linen thread and will ply them all together to make a yarn. I have been taking photos of this work in progress and will post its story as we go along.

To leave you here is the grey, hairy one looking out over a very cold, choppy Lake Windermere. (Just after this was taken he turned around and promptly stepped backwards resulting in a cold wet back leg! As is usual with Deerhounds he unceremoniously belched and looked round at me as if it was my fault his leg got wet.)

Silk Fibres

Who can resist silk? It is the ultimate in luxury fibres, even cashmere pales against the beauty of silk and as can be seen from todays post photo, silk comes in a range of texture and colours.

Silk Fibres

This photo shows some silk fibres in natural colours. Towards the front of the photo is Throwsters Waste. The name does not do the fibre justice as it has a beautiful sheen and is fun to spin, resulting in a yarn full of interesting texture. The lovely golden colour silk in the middle of the photo is Tussah Silk fibre. At the back of the photo is Bombyx Silk fibre or Mulberry Leaf or Cultivated Silk.


Bombyx Silk
This fibre is commercially reared and harvested from the cocoon fibres of the Bombyx Mori Moth who in the Larvae stage are fed only on mulberry leaves. It's nearly always the whitest of available silk fibres and has the highest lustre. The fibres are very fine and a bit slippery making it the most difficult silk to spin. This is the most luxurious of the range of silk fibres available and also the most expensive.

Tussah Silk
This fibre is from several species of moth and the larvae may have eaten other leaves besides Mulberry, which causes the colour to vary. The colour can range from a cream off white to a deep honey which is lovely. It's not as shiny in appearance as Bombyx and has a softer, woolly texture. This makes it easier to spin and the lustre shows up more after it has been spun.

Wild Silk
 As the name suggests this is not cultivated silk. Like the Tussah fibre, Wild Silk fibre has a range of colours from honey through to dark brown. It has a shorter fibre due to the cocoons being harvested post hatching. The result of this is that the quality of this fibre may vary widely.

Throwster's Waste
This is the fibres left over from the silk reeling process. Made up from all sorts, reeled silk, the inside of cocoons and degummed cocoons. Even on occasion bits of the moth chrysalis (bet you didn't want to know that!). This is primarily used in feltmaking and papermaking to add texture but I like the result in a hand spun yarn which is extremely textured and pleasing to the eye.

Silk Noil
Mostly these short fibres are used mixed with other fibres to give texture and sheen. It is very difficult to spin on it's own. My view is why spin something that is not a relaxing or a fun experience. I spin to relax, there's plenty of other stressful things going on in life without adding another!

Mawatta Silk ( I have never been entirely sure of the correct spelling of this)
A collective term for silk fibres from degummed cocoons which have been opened and layered onto a block shaped like a bell and this produces Silk Caps or laid flat in layers to make Silk Hankies. Next to Bombyx Silk this is my favourite silk fibre to spin, After dying I peel the layers and stretch the layer out into a long roving in preparation for spinning. This process can be exhausting and will certainly build muscles and cause bruises and you need to have really smooth skin to touch it so hand cream and a manicure is essential, but the resulting spun yarn is stunning. I like to leave the natural slubs and narls in all my hand spun silk yarns as they add interesting texture but none more so than in a Mawatta Silk yarn. You can see an example above in my Earth Moods heading. It's the left hand green yarn and I called it 'Spring Greens'.

Why Silk?
I started to spin when my children were small, but soon had to find an alternative to sheeps fleece as two of my children were asthmatic and I found even the smallest amount of raw fleece brought into the house could aggravate the condition. I tried using commercially cleaned fleece, as well as sneaking fleece in to spin after they had gone to bed so they had no idea it was in the house, all to no avail and so began my quest to find a fibre that I could use to continue my newly aquired skill of spinning. I tried many different fibres and came to silk last of all, having been put of trying it as other spinners and spinning books had all agreed that handspinning silk was a very difficult task. I found silk caused no reactions in my children's Asthma symptoms.


I have been smitten with silk fibres from the moment I sat at the wheel and peddled, managing to spin an acceptable length of silk yarn that first time. I have tried to go back to spinning other fibres as my children have grown but never feel comfortable with the results, as to me, wool yarns lack the lustre and beauty of spun silk and I also find I dislike the feel of wool and most other fibres. So I have had to admit that for me no other fibre will do.

I have am setting up a shop on the Etsy site to sell my hand dyed, hand spun, silk yarns and once ready to open I will place a link on the Earth Moods blog. In the meantime until my next post, outside it's raining, I've just lit a fire in the hearth which my faithful spinning companion has curled up in front of (and who will have many a mention on here but here is a photo to be going on with, he's big, grey and hairy as well as adorable) and my wheel beckons.
Bernie

                                                 " Is it time for tea and one of those delicious
                                                  scones that just came out of the oven?"

My spinning story begins........

Well hello,
Thanks for dropping by to find out about my collection of silk yarns, handspun by me, at home.
I have called my yarns "Earth Moods" because I find the colours of nature inspirational. Above is a photo of my beautiful spinning wheel. It is a Louet 'Victoria' in an oak finish. Victoria is a lovely wheel who, when not in use, packs flat and fits into her own rucksack carrier. I can then pop the rucksack into my bicycle basket and cycle off to spin with friends in my village or attend a spinners guild meeting in the next village. In front of Victoria is a bobbin of single yarn Tussah silk that I am spinning a second bobbin of at the moment to make a 2ply yarn. Just behind the bobbin is a glimpse of a completed 2ply silk yarn that I have wound onto a Niddy Noddy to produce a skein of yarn. Over the next few posts I will talk more about the joy of hand spinning and the equipement and the process from silk fibres to finished yarn.
Bernie