Knitting

I have been knitting my Hitchhiker shawl for a few weeks now, so time to share my (slow) progress.  As a reminder this is being knitted with handspun BFL and silk.  I am using an adapted version with eyelets to give it more drape.

Spinning

Tour de Fleece started on 4th July and our Guild has a team, including one previous member who had moved away, so that’s lovely to still be able to catch up with her.

We had another call on Monday evening and one was planned for Thursday afternoon, but because of covering absence at work I couldn’t make it.

First up on my wheel was a blend of Polwarth and Yak dyed by Hilltop Cloud. The colours went from grass green, forest green, teal, to purples. I had thought about a fractal spin but didn’t want to risk muddying the colours, as they are quite deep shades.  I have finished spinning it as a single and will chain ply it. As it just looks like purple on the bobbin I will wait until its plied before I share a photo.

This week we have another zoom and a lunch out & spin which should be lovely.

Weaving

8-Shaft Loom

Last week I had rubbed bees wax on all the wooden pieces of my new Lojan Flex 8 Shaft loom. This week it was time to build it!  I am having a little problem lining up my shafts correctly but will try again and have some tips I can try, failing that I have a friend who is very experienced with looms and she is available to help me later in the week.

Guild friends have recommended I sign up to the Jane Stafford Weaving School online, both to get me started and to expand my skills as I go on.  I haven’t signed up yet.

In the meantime, I have purchased a digital subscription to Handwoven magazine and that comes with access to all their previous issues going back to the 1970s!!  Lots of brown and orange in their editions back then 😆

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Other News

Its been a pretty light week for crafting.  I trimmed a couple of conifers and a hawthorn bush, which fought back and resulted in me needing to get a tetanus booster.  We put in our new rotary washing line and used a spirit level but it is so wonky.  Its the leaning tower of laundry!  But we had one dry day this week and it dried some clothes.

Our No Mow May is ongoing and we haven’t cut our front lawn since 30th April!  The wild orchids in the lawn are just finishing, as are the clover and other wild flowers, so later this week we will cut it.  The bees have loved these last 10 weeks.

We had our 2nd week of dog sitting which has continued to be lovely.  She has merrily been helping herself to our wild strawberries and jostaberries growing in the garden!!  Good job she will be gone before our blueberries fruit.

I went to see Nikita Kuzmin’s live dance show on Wednesday night and on Friday afternoon I went out with a friend paddleboarding!   This is the first time I have been out in over 2 years.  My wetsuits no longer fit so I wore shorts and a UV/swim top.  It was drizzling with rain but you wouldn’t get anything done this year if you don’t like rain.  It is allegedly drying and warming up during the week, maybe I will get out again!

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This was a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group has just finished its 16th year, my 9th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, as you’d be very welcome to join us.

Year 16 list.