Not a proper tree, but, who needs pine needles?

I had been looking out for the perfect way to display my ever growing and very nearly out of control collection of toy sheep!

When I came across I very nifty idea - the original was decorated with the usual bauble and tinsel, but I could see the potential for something that wasn't massy thingy at all

First a trip to B&Q for three lengths of lathe, one 2.5cm wide this is for the trunk  and two 2cm wide for the branches - total cost £4.50.  You will need a junior hacksaw, wood glue, clamps and pin nails.

First off decide the height of your tree - I went for three feet or 95cm, then cut various lengths from the narrower lathe - making a 45 degree cut at one end and a 90 degree cut at the other.  Then lay them out to decide the best look for you.

                                                     

If you place the 45 degree angled cut on the trunk and branches you get a better look.  Then comes the time consuming bit, each joint needs to be glued and clamped!  I did a branch at a time and once they were dry I glued and clamped the branches to the trunk.  Really it only took about an hour and I did go off and do other things in between.

Then you need to decided where to put your tree, for stability it needs to be against a wall.  I drill a hole near the top and hung the tree on a picture hook.

Then decorate!  You can use glittery baubles if you really, really want, or go for more environmentally friendly decorations.  I think it would look great with wooden objects - but I used sheep and spinning related objects (well actually there is one orifice hook at the moment - but Mr S is going to make me some mini items soon)...

Finished Tree

At the front the latest member of the flock a beautiful felted Jacob ewe - a gift from a very dear friend.

(Un)Apologetic Self Advertisement...........

They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of  flattery - especially when it comes to ideas............

In this month's Hand-spinning News under Tips and Tutorials there is a link to an article in Knittyspin in which yours truly is given a mention!  Fame at last?

You may remember, or you may well not, as it was two years ago I was experimenting with ways to produce gradient roving - well Laurie Osborne took some of my ideas and has produced some really gorgeous gradient roving which she has spun up and made the most stunning cowl - her Kayak Cowl which is available free in the same issue.

Advertisement over on to more mundane things.........

If like me, you spin far more yarn than you can ever knit, then weaving is the perfect answer to your storage problems.  Hand spun yarn makes for fabulous scarves, but better than table mats and the like you can weave material - material that can be cut and sewn!  This eureka moment, has I hope, brought a new enthusiasm for the craft. 

Before I get out my big loom and all that entails  I have been experimenting with my 16" rigid heddle loom.  And although this was fine, I found that it was very time consuming to warp.  So, just because we are staying home this December, thus saving a considerable sum, I bought one of the 'sample it looms' just for playing with colours.

  

And for this I tried some 'new to me' dyes - and result!

Highlighter pink

Highlighter Yellow

These were quite hard to exhaust(I did use the same amounts as I normally use with Landscape and Gaywool Dyes, less next time!) so I have some roving that's just a bit lighter in hue and this is what I have done so far using pick up sticks for the fibre.

Its not the photo that yellow really pops out!  Next the pink, and then who knows.............

Finally for those who don't want all the hype of the massy thingy etc

The Winter Solstice is on Sunday, 21 December 2014, 23:03 GMT - the sun starts is journey back to summer............

Happy New Year!

Wasn't my fault honest, mister....

Yesterday I decided to clean some of my jewellery, not using the old barmaid trick of soaking in gin, but just a soak, wash with a soft tooth brush and rinse in warm soapy water!  Now I've done this loads of times and I am always careful to make sure that the plug is in the sink............

Last night I did the final rinse and there was an earring missing - Mr S was convinced that it was in the u-bend and insisted on removing said pipe to retrieve the missing item.  By this time I was just a little bit upset, as I knew that I had been so very careful and the missing earring was one that we had bought at the same time as we replaced our wedding rings.......  So not just any old earring, something with a bit of romantic meaning

The u-bend was removed and carefully washed out, but no earring, he look both up and down the pipes and finally declared it lost..........  I was berated for using the sink - I should have used a larger bowl, but I knew that it couldn't possibly jumped out of the container and down the drain - I protested in vain - I was just plain careless.............

The u-bend was replaced and tested and I was left to clear up the mess - and there in the soft tooth brush I espied the missing earring..............

But as least I have a beautifully clean u-bend..............

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses............

Why can't people admit a fault and not try to put the blame back on the the consumer?

Recently I was the fortunate recipient of 900grams of Plucky sweater DK yarn!  I was so excited as I had been wanting to try some of this dyers yarn so ages, but with the cost of importing on top of the yarn it was crazy money.  I spent ages searching for the right pattern and finally decided on this KC [Kynance Cove] by Isabel Kraemer.  Not wanting to look like a barber's pole I was going to knit in one colour!

First off the first skein I wound off had three knots, one only two metres from the start of the skein!  This really makes me very cross (for very cross read 'b' angry) The second skein had only two, so some improvement.

So after removing the useless two metres I cast on and as with all of Isabel's patterns it was a really easy knit.  But, the yarn kept twisting back on itself

and there was a definite kink in the yarn.  Was this normal? I asked my friends on Ravelry - try the Plucky forum they said - so I did!

I wasn't the only knitter experiencing this it seemed.  Several knitters had posted saying how difficult it was to knit when the yarn kept twisting back on itself!  I read on...

Now here's where the fun starts - it seems that 'the yarn is perfect' it is the way we knitters wind the yarn for knitting - who do they think they are kidding?

What a load of utter baloney, I couldn't believe that people were actually believing this nonsense. Surely common sense tells you that it is impossible to put that much twist in a yarn with a ball winder. If it was you could put spinning mills out of business....

But just to prove a point I did some experiments!  According to the experts if your swift goes clockwise and your wind your ball winder clockwise you are putting twist into a balanced yarn.  You were supposed to have the swift goes anti-clockwise and the ball winder clockwise?  Well I tried - if fact I wound a skein three times in a clockwise direction and it was still the same balanced yarn that I had started with. 

Bearing in mind that this yarn had been purchased from the same update, they weren't well matched for colour either.  If little me with in my kitchen can dye 10 well matched skeins, why can't 'professional dyers' do the same?

Not sure whether it is clear from this photo, but the second skein was darker and less mottled than the first - yes I should have alternated, but why? I don't have to with my dyed yarn..


And finally - why can't these 'professionals' produce a decent/untangled skein?  I have just spent over an hour winding yarn off a badly tied skein - absolute nightmare and there are three more to go - so that's the afternoon gone, when I could have been doing something productive...