No news is not Good News

I have to report that I am still waiting for delivery of my Bliss spinning wheel 10 days since I ordered it and 7 days since it was dispatched................... 

As you can guess I am not a very happy bunny, although I have been told that it will definitely be here by Friday - if it isn't expect an eruption of volcanic proportions over the West Country.  Despite the tracking stuck at 'sorting for country of destination' I have had to wait until today to get any sense at all out of the suppliers and TNTPost Netherlands - the man at TNTPost UK was very helpful, but unable to actually to do anything because the parcel was still in the Netherlands and until the tracking change to arrived in country of destination he couldn't chase it up!  It does come to something when I can remember the long tracking number, so many times I have entered it....  Currently nothing has changed.........................

This situation was made worse by the fact that wheels ordered after mine were all delivered last week! So it wasn't much fun reading all the excited posts as wheel after wheel arrived, was unpacked and put together.....................

There were a lot of very disappointed faces when it failed to show at the spinning evening last night.

Not being able to play with my new toy I did make progress on the St Kilda Shawl

This the main part completed so not a small shawl by any means - before the border it is about 30" deep and 68" wide.  I say 'about' because it is impossible to stretch it out even though it is on my longest cable.  It has been a real labour of love the pattern isn't easy to memorise and because it is in garter stitch not easy to see a mistake until you run out/or have too many stitches when you hit the marker.  Am now on the Old Shale border which is easy to remember but I am waiting for another ball of yarn to arrive having decided not to do the border in the first darker Boreray/Soay.

I am going to use that for another shawl this time done in a traditional Shetland style which begins with a garter stitch triangle with a wide border knitted from stitches pick up around the two long sides and finished with a picot edge.......

Hopefully I shall have GOOD NEWS very soon................

Will power - what's that?

Well I gave in and ordered a Bliss - I have absolutely no will-power and Mr S was making encouraging noises in the background - so I did the deed.  I was going to wait until they set up a better payment system, but I was sent a link to TransferWise for a free transaction so all fight just drained away................... by the end of this week this should be joining my ever growing collection of spinning wheels......

Mr S is keen to see how it is made and I am keen to see how it spins!  It seems to be about the same size as a Schacht Ladybug but with a single treadle.  Also it seems very sturdy and has a wipe down surface, so seems ideal for demos on wet grass etc.............

There's a hole in my yarn pot Dear 'Liza a Hole!

Picture the scene I am sat happily carding on my new wide carder, Mr S is contently watching cycling on the TV and on the stove my yarn pot is gently coming up to a simmer.  The cat is gently snoring on the arm of my chair (her preferred place is my wheelchair is occupied) and the log burner is keeping the room at a ambient temperature.  Afternoon tea has just been served so all is harmony and in nearly every way everything is generally perfect, and fairly productive (well Mr S isn't actually doing anything!)

Then from the stove comes a very loud hissing noise as water vapourises - immediate thought is that the pot has boiled over - tragedy, but no - not not even near to boiling!  Investigation finds that there is a hole in the side of my pot, the size of a pin prick but enough for water to be pouring out - gaffer tape doesn't seal the hole and the water is too hot for me to safely remove the fibre without risking some felting!  Nightmare - I can't be certain that the dye has set on the fibre, although the water gradually seeping into the hob is almost clear.... 

Now this wasn't the most expensive of stock pots, possibly around £20 at a well known Swedish store.... but not heavily used and certainly not thrown around and dented in any way.  Immediate reaction is 'how much is a new one going to cost?'  Then whilst looking in another well known DIY store for something to dissolve super glue I came upon some epoxy putty for metal.

I have mixed, and applied and am now waiting to see whether I have achieved a repair - fingers crossed. Quick update - it worked! !

But why was I looking for something to dissolve super glue?  Well some bright spark has super-glued a distaff into a spinning wheel as well as nailing the Mother of All!!

This is a lovely little wheel that I am doing a bit of restoration work on for a friend - its probably a flax wheel, but I am not 100% sure on that!

It does spin despite all that the previous owners have put it through.  The wheel has been well covered in varnish, both the uprights that form the Mother of All have been nailed and the leather orifice support split as it was completely dried out.  But we did managed to spin a little - with me holding the leather together. New leather and a bit of TLC will probably see this sweetie spinning very fine......

The observant will have noticed my passing mention of a new wide carder - brownie points for those who did!  Well truth be told I haven't been a great user of my drum carder, as I never, until now, enjoyed spinning woollen.  But all has changed thanks to Fibrefrog - who patiently took me through the process of producing a fibre puni or a faux rolag - I prefer puni................

Punis are usually made for cotton spinning, but it is possible to make wool fibre punis using a puni stick made from a wooden dowel by. who else but Mr S.

These are my puni sticks the smaller one is 15mm and the other larger one is 25mm, I also have a 12mm one (well if you have a wood turner for a husband you might as well make good use of his skills).

Preparing punis for woollen spinning - first card some fibre - I have been blending to get a tweed effect

This are the colours for Bramble Wood Tweed, which I carded 4 times making sure that I had some little silk nupps as I went

Then I made punis you need a grippy surface, this is D-C-Fix which you put in drawers and the like to stop things slipping around

First roll the fibre around the puni stick one and half to two times then holding the fibre down with the right hand gently pull the fibre apart 

and then roll the fibre around the stick making sure that all the ends are well rolled in

like this....

some finished punis

And here are lots punis waiting to be spun

The finished yarn