New yarn launch - Shetland Heritage

Reblogged from Jamieson & Smith:

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Today we’re launching Shetland Heritage yarn, the newest addition to the collection.

Shetland Heritage yarn recreates the original characteristics of handspun ‘wursit’ used in old Fair Isle garments. The yarn is replicated from that found in knitted Fair Isle garments in the collection of Shetland Museum and Archives.

Wool experts, specialist dyers, curators and knitters have worked together to develop and trial Shetland Heritage yarn, which is worsted spun from Jamieson & Smith’s combed tops to give a soft feel, and a smooth finish.

Read more… 188 more words

I have seen this yarn. And it ROCKS. Get your pre-orders in!

Happy birthday dad!

It’s my dad’s 65th birthday today. We’re seeing him tomorrow, so I have to keep his present under wraps til then, but yes, I have been making something for him….

I love secret projects.

In the meantime, a few pictures. My dad rocks. Happy birthday dad! (And yes, that is a proper CBE. Like I said…)

 

Make your own seed bombs DIY

Reblogged from Pepperbox Couture:

Remember the last garden post I did with that 'nifty thrifty trick' for saving seeds?

Well as luck would have it, Mademoiselle Chaos over at blogspot has developed a seed bomb tutorial that would work perfectly with that seed saving tip!!

This is a clever and cute way to save and store seeds and they would also make perfect gifts, or to keep for your own garden.

Read more… 91 more words

This is completely amazing, and will definitely feature in my home-made pressies this year!

Normal service will resume shortly – Flt Lt Jon Egging

I try to keep this blog as a little corner of the world that is just about knitting, and gardening, and cooking, and sewing and my little crafty domestic life. So much of the planet is a pretty rough place, and there’s plenty enough about that for people to read  elsewhere.

So I apologise in advance for going off topic, and also if this seems a little trite, compared to ‘the big picture’, but to hear about the death of Red Arrows pilot Red Four Flt Lt Jon Egging today was somehow particularly shocking,

When I was a kid growing up in Cirencester we often saw the Red Arrows fly.

They were based a few miles away at RAF Kemble and practised regularly over the town. No matter how many times we spotted them, and it was many, we would stop in our tracks and stand transfixed, face to the sky. My abiding memory is of standing in the playground at lunchtimes, fastened to the spot by the incredible aerobatics above.

We knew one of the Red Arrows pilots a little bit, for a little while – his daughter went to a local school and my parents were friendly with him. I remember him just ‘having a go’ on my favourite computer game, which he’d never played before, and getting the highest score I’d ever seen.  He – and the rest of those pilots – were superhuman to us kids.

In the summer it felt like they flew every weekend, trailing coloured smoke and dancing through the stratosphere. They were simply awe inspiring. We had heard stories of pilots dying (there were a few over the years), but that seemed like something impossible when you saw those red flashes in the summer sun.

The whole town was sad when they moved away to RAF Scampton in the mid-80s, and I was just crazy thrilled when one of the Red Arrows from the Bristol Balloon Fiesta display flew low over our house last weekend, so close (and so loud), crimson against the sky.

So RIP sir. I never knew you, and yet, in a small way, you were a little part of me.

Normal service will resume shortly: the London riots

Before you label the London looters as ‘mindless thugs’ remember that they didn’t get the chances you did, or had the parents you had, or probably ever felt safe walking down their own street.
Imagine what it’s like to grow up bombarded by a mainstream culture obsessed with wealth, where the only rich people you know are criminals. Are you so sure you’d be strong enough to rise above that, living in a borough where there is only 1 job for every 54 people applying for it?

I met kids like this when I worked in newspapers. The world they live in brutalises them before they even make it to their local under-funded, under-subscribed, failing school.
The London looters are freaking scary, and shouldn’t go unpunished, but they don’t just pop up as fully formed ‘mindless thugs’.

They are grown that way.

Weather to dye for…

Excuse the terrible pun, but when the sun is shining this much it often makes me want to get my yarn dyes out. The heat makes getting soaking wet wool dry a much easier task!

This time I had a go at kettle-dyeing with some organic merino 4ply from Yarnundyed whose owner sent some samples into us at The Knitter to play with. That’s on the left in this picture.

On the right is a fairly high twist laceweight angora merino blend, which I got from the lovely Jeni of Fyberspates at Wonderwool.

I normally get my white yarn from the excellent Bluefaced.com so it’s been interesting to have a go with some new things. The organic yarn had a lovely texture and bloom after colouring, while the laceweight took the deep red particularly well.

I’d bought a large amount of the laceweight from Jeni, thinking I’d use it when I teach a dyeing class at Get Knitted in September so I’m pleased with the results, and I’m keen to try some more from Yarnundyed too.

During the class we’ll be creating custom-dyed self-striping sock and semi-solid laceweight yarns, and experimenting with all sorts of other yarns too, so if you fancy having a go at dyeing you can sign up now!

Small. Perfectly formed.

Having recently written about being a minimalist, I fell off the wagon a little on Saturday on an outing to Frome with my friend Jen…

However, while I did come away with fabric, yarn and vintage buttons (swoon), everything was bought with a purpose in mind, rather than ‘just because it was pretty’. Being a bit more pragmatic about buying makes it a lot easier to stop before you run out of money!

So here’s the mini haul…