Colour my World

Last week I had my colours done!  It was something that I had wanted to do for ages, many years in fact, ever since I was told by a colour consultant in Marks and Spencer that I was a Spring person.  But as this was a 2 minute consultation done in artificial light I was never completely convinced.

Well I am not Spring I am a Sprinter Winter, which means I lean to the brighter Spring colours but within a Winter Palette of strong colours.  It was a very interesting process - first you are adorned with a big white bib, and then lots of chiffon scarves are placed around your neck.  First is the question blue or yellow - thankfully I was blue, the yellow shades just drained my face and made me look sallow.

These are my colours

and guess what - these are the colours in my wardrobe.............  So I have naturally gone for the right colours instinctively!

But then rules are made to be broken aren't they - recently I knitted this Ravello sweater

Which according to the 'rules' I shouldn't wear - but everyone says I look fantastic in it!  Its right out of my comfort zone and I wasn't at all sure, but it works, and quite honestly I don't think I could spend all day and every day in eye popping colours.

But there are colours in there that I love and over the last few weeks I have got my weaving mojo back!  At Wonderwool, in April, I bought some 8/2 Toika Tencel from My Fine Weaving Yarn with the idea of weaving some fabric which I could sew with and the colours are perfect for me. 

This a terrible photo, I have tried several times to get a better image, but the yarn has a sheen which seems to bounce the light - hopefully when its off the loom I will be able to get a better one.

This yarn comes in the most amazing, me, colours and really want to expand my weaving knowledge and expertise.  So on recommendation from a friend I bought Twill Thrills which full of the most amazing fabric and even more you are encourage to make things from the fabric, not just weave scarves, stoles or tea towels.... So as soon a the ordered boat shuttle arrives I am going to warp my eight shaft loom. 

Note to self, do try one of the simpler ones to start with............

When you could do with a TARDIS....

Seems an age since we got home from our northern travels and since then Mr S has a small contretemps with a table saw...

To begin at the beginning - amongst the pile of mail awaiting our return was a flyer promoting a table saw!  Apparently an essential item for the serious wood turner and missing from his extensive equipment.  Not wanting to stand in the way of his productive genius I agreed.  Then another flyer popped through the door, promoting another bigger and better one and it was on special offer!

So it was ordered and two days later a large pallet was wheeled down the drive - this was a serious piece of kit!  The idea had been to store said table saw in my wool store and bring it out when needed - this with a something that weighed in at 80kgs....  Obviously this wasn't going to be a available option...

Light bulb moment......  A few weeks ago I remembered a DIY program where a couple extended their kitchen into a outside passage and while the space was only a metre deep the space it created was quite impressive.  So we came up with a solution - between Mr S's workshop and the rear of the garage there was a similar space where up to now we had stored the bikes under cover.  Why I said don't you extend your workshop/shed into that space.............

That was a 11am, by 2.30pm the side of the shed was gone and since then the 'extension' has taken shape gradually.  There was a slight delay when we both succumbed to a bug, but this week things have really come along.

The speed in which the space was emptied etc meant that I didn't get a chance to take before photos, but today it isn't raining so I got out the camera...

And inside..

this is no ordinary shed, it is insulated and lined to match the rest...

And the bikes - well they have there own new place - the most nifty little bike cave that we normally use when we are away in the caravan....

This super, easy to put tent is currently home to my hand-cranked bike and chair and both of Mr S's cycles and the caravan awning...  Of course it can't really live permanently on the decking but for now it will do - far more important to have a happy wood turner!

Northern Wanderings - week one......

September a month of Indian summer days and our favourite month for travelling...........

Our travels began on September 9th when we travelled up to Bury and spent a couple of days at Burrs Country Park on the Caravan Club site - no surprises that we were pitched right next to a railway line - preserved steam of course......

Of course we had to have a ride on said train, and I managed to get a little knitting while waiting for the train

But the main reason for the journey north was to visit the Sheepfest in Sedburg - it was the most amazing day, the whole community had engaged with the project, even the assistant in the local shop was dressed up as a sheep!  My favourite was the Post Office sheep a parcel addressed to:

Mrs BaarBarr Ewing at the Lambington Maternity Hospital, Fleece Street, Ramsbottom-on-Hay, Sufolk, SH3 3PS

Besides the sheep the was the most amazing dress of many colours in the church - made by the local school children..

While there was a lot of sheep on our travels, there were several trains rides and while we in the area we just had to ride the train over the Ribbleshead Viaducton the line from Settle to Carisle

Lovely on a warm Autumn day - but guess it would bleak and cold in the winter..............

So ends the first week of our Northern Perambulation ........... next stop Blackshaw Moor!

Out and About - Sedbergh Sheepfest

Miss Bliss and I are on the road again! This time we are in Cumbria for Sedbergh's
Sheepfest

When knitting gets in the way of spininng...............

Question do you spin to knit, or knit because you spin?  Just recently I just seem to have got the balance between the two quite right...  OK for the past couple of years I have knitted shawls as cover ups - which is a wrong reason for knitting shawls!  Last year my GP told me that I had to lose weight, or risk becoming a diabetic.  Perhaps that was the wake up I needed. In my heart I knew that I wasn't happy as I was which was why I hid behind the shawls..

Well, I have been a good girl - as of Sunday I have lost 13 kilos and I rediscovered my knitting sweater/cardigan mojo - garments that I want to be seen in, not something to hide in.

So my spinning wheels are feeling a little neglected as the knitting needles are my constant companion in the evenings.............

As time goes by............

When you no longer have a regular commitment to work or family weekends no longer have the same significance, in fact some days if it wasn't for the fact that my medication says today is Thursday I would be hard put to say what day of the week it is!  And has for the date - well that's something to be checked up on my smart phone...

And that's it, technology love it or hate it, in today's modern world you cannot get by without recourse to it.  It struck me yesterday as I was ordering my new car the salesman asked if I had access to a scanner so that I could email him a copy of the one document I had forgotten to take with me.  If I had been younger would he have even asked!  In today's world access to the Internet at all times is not a luxury but an essential and even when away from home you still expect to send and receive emails all the time.

I can remember my Grandfather had a little routine that he went through every time he left the house, he checked to see that he had his keys, his pipe and matches and his camera if not going to work, gave Gran a peck on the cheek and left the house, stopping on the front step to put on his hat.  Today I never leave home without my phone, iPad, car keys (although these just have to be in my bag) and my knitting or drop spindle!

Since Fibre East I have been indulging my passion for sewing! Intrigued by a friends large project bag I set out to recreate one for myself and in true sassy fashion I didn't just make one I made lots.............

There are a couple more, but I gave them away before I took a pic!  Each of the large bags has a smaller one inside which is attached to the large bag so you can't lose it and for some I have made a medium sized bag to match!  And they all have beaded pulls for the zips - just because I like making them.....

Now Mr S wants to know what are they all for............ 

What a silly question, bags are for stuff and I have rather a lot of stuff, so need bags for my stuff!  The more stuff you have the more bags you need, so you have buy more stash to enable you to make the bags for the stuff you already have and the stuff you bought to make the bags for the stuff! 

Have wheel will travel - on the road again!

After her holiday in Yorkshire for Le Tour, Miss Bliss demanded another!  So I took her to Fibre East..

Fibre East for those not in the fibre loop, is a festival of yarn and fibre held for the last four years near Bedford - hence the name!  This being the only event of its kind held on the eastern side of the UK.

I have been involved from the very first - taking part in the Back to Back Challenge in 2011, sitting sewing up Woolsack cushions in a waterlogged Marquee in 2012 and sweltering in the heat at the new venue of Redbourne Community College in 2013!  This year it was bigger and in my opinion even better - this year we had workshops!  Deb Robson, Sarah Lamb, Sarah Anderson, Abby Franquemont and Ann Kingstone.  All were very well attended and from speaking to the participants afterwards it seems that everyone had a great time and learnt loads!

Unfortunately because I was so busy I forgot to take many photos...........

Ampthill was festooned with knitted bunting as was the walkway leading to the main entrance, where visitors were confronted with a knitted bike,  

a decorated spinning wheel and

 a ram with attitude who presided over the information desk.....

I did manage a 'quick' tour of the marquees catching up with old friends and chatting with new ones! 

This cushion I think really represents the colour of the whole event - it was on My Fine Weaving Yarn's stall, which was a riot of colour as it always is, but this caught my eye!  I really must get out my loom - think I said that after Wonderwool too!

Miss Bliss was a little disappointed that she didn't get out and about much, but after the stresses of a day volunteering she and I did managed half an hour spinning each evening and I finished my final challenge for the Tour de Fleece with this gorgeous skein of Southern Cross Fibre's Polwarth, Cashmere and Silk in the colourway Bushy Tailed!

Next year?  Yes of course.........................