All I ever seem to do is moan!

Reading back over the last few weeks it seems that I have done nothing but rant and moan! I'm really not that bad, but if something really annoys then better out than keep it in than let it fester......that's what my grandfather always used to say anyway!


Well here's another little moan - I bought 3 balls of a very well known brand of yarn to make a simple cowl - it had cashmere in the blend and it was very soft - that's probably enough clues - and in every ball there was a knot, one was less than a metre and a half from the start of the ball, just hidden and in the other two the knots were further in. When you pay nearly £5 for a 50 gram ball of yarn that says it is 85 metres - I expect to get 85 metres, not 80 metres and another five after a knot - nuff said, rant over.

For the last few days I have been dyeing, lots of dyeing! I resolved that after some pretty poor results with ready mixed colours that I would go back to basics and the primaries. Nothing to do with the Americna electoral system - primary colours!

I have bought two reds, one bright and one soft, two blues, again bright and soft, two yellows (bright and soft) and black, and so that I can make even more shades a magenta (fuschia) and a turquoise - that's it the basics, just like a colour printer! It isn't a quick method, well not at first, because you have to mix up all your dye stock - that's 500ml of each, but once you have those the rest is easy and repeatable, just as long as you keep notes and I am, copious and meticulous ones.

And look what I dyed today (still drying) on the radiator!





















There are a couple that aren't exactly what I hoped to get, but mostly I am dead chuffed with the results!

Here are some earlier attempts













As you can see I am trying to get away from pink, just had to slip one in for luck!

I know how difficult my life is!

Over the last few weeks several people - ordinary people that can walk - have very carefully explained to me (sat in a wheelchair) how difficult it is to get around in a wheelchair! The first time this happened I was so surprised that I didn't say a thing - I was gob-smacked to be honest..

Again on Friday when I was in Bath - a woman with a perfectly serious face said, and I quote 'It is very difficult to get around Bath in a wheelchair', not is it? but It is - really I'd never have known if she hadn' told me! Actually I do know I have tried to get around the centre of Bath and believe me it isn't easy! But do I need a complete stranger to tell me this? No I don't! Mr S says that she didn't really mean it that way, but that's exactly what she said and it riled me. Just like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall did when he became a vegetarian for six months and spent several programmes telling everyone how it was possible to have a meal without meat and then rather condenscendingly showed a lifelong veggie how to make a veggie meal...... how we all managed before Hugh I don't know.....

I digress - back to the shabby way that the disabled are treated. For example in Wells (Somerset) (Again this is an old city and definitely built before wheelchairs, not an easy place to get around - lack of drop kerbs is a major factor and shops with steps and no ramp is a bug-bear.) I went into a wool shop to be confronted with a sets of steps to main shop - the assistant ask me what I wanted -(not can I help you?)! Well I had gone in there to possibly buy some wool - in a wool shop what a surprise! When I said that I was looking for yarn and pointed out that I couldn't actually get into the main part of the shop she shrugged her shoulders and turned away! What a way to treat a potential customer - but then people in wheelchairs shouldn't go shopping on their own - now should they?

Re-reading this is does sound a bit of a rant, but consider the last time steps in a shop stopped you getting from getting around. I don't expect to get everywhere that an able body person can - but I do expect to be treated with the same courtesy. Life in a wheelchair does require a lot more organisation - you don't just pop out on a whim - some forward planning is needed to avoid wasted journeys, especially if think the venue might have a problem - so you check before you go - get me a mantra - not 'try before you buy', but 'check before you go' - this could catch on!

For example on Easter Saturday I have a table at a Craft Fair - but before I booked I checked out the venue - was accessable - yes it was and so Mr S and I will be there selling - this is a first and a bit scary, but it will be an experience and that's what life is all about!

Gone Live......

After a rather fraught week I have finally gone live with my new shop at http://www.thesassyspinner.co.uk/shop/.

I decided to start with a few select items, but I will be having regular updates and adding new lines weekly. On the drawing board I have a simple needle roll for dpns (double pointed needles)and circular needles and a bag in a bag which I hope to have completed in the next month.

Currently I some beautiful sparke yarn which would be perfect for small shawls dyed up in repeatable colours and some one offs in self-striping sock yarns in superwash wool.

My needle tip clutch made under the Bags4Ewe banner is also there, but as these are rather a personal item I prefer to make these to specific requirements. The generic version is available, and I have made two with the optional numbers (US sizes only, as I can't get the 'UK' millimetres to fit the space).




















I am particularly please with my Lizzie Bag which I think makes a perfect project bag for sock size knitting - and this one with knitting sheep is a favourite of mine! Due soon one with knitting cats!!!



















A larger version the Betty Bag will added in the next week or so.

And Mr S is making buttons, nostepinnes, yarn bowls and spindles, can't have him slacking now can I?