Third Time Lucky Perhaps?

Along with other members of the SpinDyeWeavers I demonstrated the art of spinning at the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show yesterday and like last year it rained.  Yesterday's rain was more like a monsoon deluge than British summer rain - for nigh on 4 hours the heavens open and discharged enough water to re-hydrate the Sahara Desert on a small corner of Dorset countryside.

Although we were in a marque and sheltered from the rain, the water came up through the ground and turned the grass to a mud-bath.  Our tent was one of the drier ones - in others it was reminiscent of  Fibre East, although no worms drowned.....to my knowledge!

Despite the rain we had a fab time, got to talk to loads of interested and interesting people - the most common question was 'I have a wheel do you know anyone that wants to buy one and how much is it worth?'  Well we are pretty clued up on wheels but pricing an unseen wheel is not something than can be done with any acuracy!  If you ask does it spin, the response is generally I don't know it hasn't got any string (drive band) well that pretty well answers that question - a spinning wheel with no drive band doesn't spin...

The second most common question/statement is about fleece - usually alpaca (no surprises there) and often of dubious quality.  Well August is pretty late for fleece sales - most shepherds shear in June/July and sell soon after.  One man had unwashed fleeces that were 20 years old and in 'perfect' condition - rather him than me that's all I can say.

Biggest surprise was that we won Second Prize in the Action Crafts section - which was amazing and totally unexpected especially as we didn't know there was such a competition!

Also got talking to a lovely lady who spins in Verwood who was fascinated by my Calendar Wheel (may go down to meet them in the Autumn) - in fact the wheel did get a lot of attention, especially from the men and Mr S did a lot chatting which was good, because it must be a bit boring spending the day with a group of spinners when you don't spin....  

Have finally managed to throw the spun yarn on the wheel rather than stopping, doing a quarter turn back and then winding on....there is no stopping me now..............!.

10 little known things about the Olympics

There was a big thing on Ravelry regarding the use of the name Ravalympics for a competition that ran at the same time as the actual Olympics.  Knitting apparently disparaged the work of athletes, but the US Olympic Committee missed the fact that until 1948 Arts and Crafts were part of the Games - so perhaps we should pushed for the re-introduction of such competitions for 2018......

Anyway as part of my research into the Arts and Crafts side of the Games I came up with these little known facts:

 

One.    The 1944 Olympics was due to be held in London, but because of the war only a small event was held at Lausanne – the IOC HQ

Two.    Arts and Crafts were included in the 1948 Games for the last time, because it was considered that the participants were actually professionals

Three.  The 126^th annual Wenlock Olympian Games was held this year.  Much Wenlock was the home of the true founder of the modern games.  This year the Games included ‘Kwik Cricket’ and Gliding

Four.    There were only 9 sports in the original 1896 games.  Here should have been 11 but rowing and yachting not held because of the weather

Five.    Launceston Elliot – a Scot – won gold in the one armed weightlifting having only got silver in the lift now known as clean and jerk – his style was not as good as the winner!

Six.      Motor boating was included only in 1908

Seven. Oscar Swahn, a Swede, won silver in 1920, he was the oldest sport medallist at 72 – in double-shot running deer – he was also the oldest sports competitor and was nominated in 1924 but didn’t compete – he would have been 76!

Eight.   John Copley, a British graphic artist won silver for his ‘Polo Player’ work of art in 1948, at 73yrs 11 months oldest Olympic medallist.  Crafts featured 1920 to 1948.

Nine.    Youngest male medallist was in 1896 in the team gymnastics, he was 10yrs and 9mths.  But it is thought that a cox in a gold winning pairs oar boat was only 7 years old

Ten.     In 1900 more athletes took part than spectators who watched.

Other stupid things connected with the Olympics

In Much Wenlock this summer the local children took part in the ECOlympics - LOCOQG obviously missed this.......

The owner of The Olympic Cafe when told he couldn't use the name simply removed the 'O'.

An acquaintance who lives in Much Wenlock told me that LOCOG had told the Parish Council that they couldn't use the name, because it was the 'official' name of the mascot...................

It was reported that suppliers of food within the Olympic Park are not allowed to sell chips (french fries) unless as part of a meal - because you know who sell bags of dried out cardboard at exorbitant prices that they call french fries.....

It was rumoured that anyone wearing a Pepsi T Shirt and Nike trainers wouldn't be permitted entry - this drew the anger of IOC who stated that LOCOG had over stepped the mark - and they had too rigorously interpreted the rules regarding copyright issues and their sponsors.......................

There were sheep in the Opening Ceremony

Its nice to go travelling....

Last week saw Mr S, Molly, my Ravellenic2012 Shawl and me on the road again and once again we headed for London this time for the Olympics.  We had been lucky enough to get tickets for the Velodrome, but Mr S wanted to watch the Road Time Trials and the location he plumped for was Kingston Bridge. 

Here we (me and the shawl) are on Kingston Bridge in the rain, an example of true dedication both to knitting and cycling - we arrived in Kingston and bagged a place on the bridge at around 10.45am, the Ladies Time Trial started at 12.30pm and the Men's Time Trial at 2.15pm - the last rider went past at approximately 3.35pm. 

This is Chris Froome and it is the only picture taken by Mr S in which you can actually see that it is a cyclist - all the others are a lovely view of the corner by John Lewis.................  for those interested Chris Froome took the Bronze Medal and, of course, Bradley Wiggins the Gold.  I did see him (Wiggo) for the brief three seconds that it took him to cross the bridge - honest.....

Another reason for visiting the capital was to return the Woolsack cushions I had taken to Nottingham along with a further two that I had made from the left overs at Fibre East.

This one is knitted in some beautiful yarn from Sparkle Duck and was a joy to knit with, lovely and soft and of course in my favourite colour........  I may have got lighter in the cushion department, but I came away from 'J's' with enough yarn for another cushion..............................  Having been inspired by the two beautiful cushions she had made especially for two paralympic cyclists, one is blind so J had used Braille writing on the cushion - absolutely brilliant, I am knitting another Union Jack cushion in natural shades.

Saturday we collected our Games Maker's Uniforms - have to say a very slick operation and not too much trouble getting artound on the trains and tube - the BIG event was Sunday and the Velodrome.

Arrived as the heavens opened and the trusty cape came into its own again, but then the sun came out and we ambled through the Olympic Park along an awful gravel surface that reduced me to using Mr S's socks as pushing gloves..........   The Velodrome is truly amazing and we had a great view of the GB riders, particularly Vicky Pendleton! 

and I took my shawl too...... although I only managed two rows in the Velodrome, I did knit on the train.

A truly brilliant day and an experience of a lifetime!

In Thunder, Lightning and in Rain

and finally in sunshine we holidayed in the UK.............. well every day is a holiday when you are a retired person, but we were away from home so - on holiday...

The English weather certainly threw everything that it could at us over the last three weeks as we toured the country in Mr Bond.  Week One was Wimbledon - fortunately we had Centre Court Tickets so had a full days play - four matches and a finish that had been rained off Number One Court.  Friday we had tickets so that we could watch the wheelchair tennis and guess what? It rained, finally clearing at around 3pm and the British duo won their match in three sets - a real fight.

Week two saw us in Bedfordshire, for Fibre East the weather was fairly good up to the Friday night - when the heavens opened for just over two hours, declining to a heavy drizzle for the rest of the night, we woke to find the caravan in a lake of bubbling water - very weird indeed.  The show field was a swamp but the event went ahead - a true example of the British determination to enjoy themselves despite anything that Mother Nature could throw at them.  I was stuffing and sewing Woolsack cushions in the 'have a go marquee' - this meant that I sate and gradually sank into the mire - but it was fun and everyone was cheerful - but the faces of the Maldivians Olympic Team were a picture - they had never seen mud on this scale before and they were all wearing pristine white trainers!  But they all loved their cushions and spent ages making felt.  Sunday the sun shone and the ground outside dried out very quickly, but not inside the Marquees where the ground was a sea of mud - fortunately I had a personal shopper in the form of Mr S.................  Best was I got Patience - my much waited for Haldane Orkney and she is everything I hoped for - more on Patience later

Week Three - Ashby de la Zouch, near Nottingham for the 23rd British Open Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, for the regular meeting of the girls (we all played together at the tournament for many years and now with only one still playing competitively, the rest of us turn up to support and catch up on the gossip, a meal and fun).  I also arranged to display some Woolsack cushions and attempt to make contact with as many Paralympicans as possible.

This was also the day that the weather finally turn for the better - it was so hot that the sweets melted although I did managed to match three paralympicans with their chosen cushions - Jordanne Whiley, Louise Hunt and Alex Jewitt.  I also had a go in the All Play display and hit a tennis ball for the first time in many a month!!

My Calendar Wheel or the £15 Spinning Wheel......

This post is going to be very heavy on pics as I try to describe how Mr S and I made this fantastic wheel from a 10 foot length of timber some nuts, bolts and a selection of screws. 

First off here is the link to the inspiration.  It is a spindle spinning wheel and the US version cost just under $7 to make.  Timber here in the UK is more expensive, but I estimate that it easily comes in under £15!

First off you have to cut 12 blocks four inches long that are chamfered on one side and lay them out in a circle - we screwed them together (Mr S doesn't like nails, screws he says can always be removed but nails can't!!) 

Here is the wheel with the cross pieces in place - the axle goes through the centre where the cross braces meet - very simple and of course it is a dodecahedron which is why it is known as the Dodec Wheel....

Next the base and treadle.  Here I must emphasise the neatness of the design as all these pieces were cut from one length of timber, the angles making the the base.  You can see the cutting diagrams here but all I can say is 'that it was real simple'............

The upright slips into the slot formed in the base.  We had to make some adjustments here because the upright is made out of thicker timber than the base - the next one will be made with the same size timber for everything which will eliminate the need for adjustments. lol...

Here is Mr S about to attached the wheel to the upright - you need a M8 bolt, washers and nuts for this bit and a lots of candle wax to ensure that the wheel spins nicely.........

And here is the wheel attached..................  Next is the receiver or spindle this a nifty idea and the specs for cutting the bits for this are here

This is the receiver or spindle attached to wheel the bolts under the spindle allow for adjustment - and in order to ply you need three spindles, so we made two more

And finally the completed wheel

on which I have spun this

Not the best yarn I have ever produced, but it is the first on a spindle wheel!  The hardest bit I am finding in the quarter turn back so that you can wind on the yarn - but that's my mobility problems not the wheel.

Monday is Washing Day...

So is Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday if you are washing a big fleece.  This undertaking began on Saturday at the North Somerset Fleece Fair where I collected my pre-ordered fleece from Yvonne Hoskins of  Woolastons Woolly Wonders   This was a Polwarth/Merino Cross and he had grown somewhat from last year when I was pipped by K when we came to choose fleeces.

As you can see Molly approved!

Saturday had been cold and wet, but Sunday dawned bright and sunny so I began washing the fleece - now named Baldwin, because Baldwin Steam Engines are called Big Boys in the US and my sheep was a very big boy!  Over the years I have tried many methods of washing fleece, mainly by dividing it up into manageable pieces and soaking and washing before separating the locks for spinning.  Not anymore - last year I watch a video 'Spinning for Lace' by Margaret Stove in which she washes her fleece lock by lock in boiling water.............. but it works and I have now perfected a technique using Teflon chip trays!! 

I lay locks of fleece in a basket created from the tray and put them into a bowl of boiling water and Power Scour and squeege with a potato masher, then the tray is transfer into another bowl, again with boiling water but this time I add a dash of Ecover Washing Liquid, squeege again and then rinse in near boiling water, spin and leave to dry.  Sounds time consuming, well yes it is, but the results are worth it!

The washed locks are ready for combing and take very little preparation - so although the washing does take a while it is compensated by the ease of prepping - and look at the gorgeous top that results from all this work - a fibre that spins like a dream..................

Also on Monday Mr S and I washed the windows - no big thing really, but not a job that we do very often - Mr S claims to be useless at cleaning windows so I bought him a Karcher Window Vac and guess what he can clean windows.............................  But in the process I all this cleaning frenzy I managed to close the front door on my thumb resulting in a fairly stunning bruise.........................

Never speak to strangers.........

Well that was what I was told as a girl.............this fact was probably one of the first things that was drummed into me when I started to go out alone - yes in the 1950s and 60s children were allowed out on their own - I was often absent from home for hours at a time and no one really worried unless you missed a meal - but the one thing that we were never, ever to do was to speak to a stranger, the only exception to this rule was a policeman.........

Well yesterday afternoon I spent the entire time talking to complete strangers - knitters (and one crocheter) in the Arnofini Cafe.  The meeting had been organised on Ravelry through a group known as The Friends of.......... I am not going to go into the reasons for the formation of this group, there are plenty of blogs that go into the KALMedia/ACM debacle - the best one is here, and in some way we must be grateful to KA for bringing us all together............  It was a little reminiscent of the 'wearing a red rose and carrying The Times', except that we all had our knitting and our nom de plumes!

The main reason was to meet up with Pompom who is over here for a few weeks, but the other was to discuss the shenanigans of ACM and the new editorship and rebirth of the magazine once known as Yarn Forward - and a great time was had by all........................and by 4 o'clock we weren't strangers but friends.

On Saturday I will breaking the not speaking rule again - at the North Somerset Fleece Fair, where the SpinDyeWeavers will be demonstrating spinning and combing and other sheepy things from 2-6pm. 

Best of all we will get first dips into the fleeces - well I won't be doing that because I've already reserved my fleece and I AM NOT BUYING ANYMORE fleeces until I have processed the 12 already hanging in the loft...........................................