Autumn Loving

I love autumn!!!  On the way home from work this morning (in a slightly delirious sleep-deprived state) I couldn't help but marvel at this time of year.

The sun was out, the brisk wind pulling at my scarf (handknit, ofc).  Chestnuts fall from the trees above as squirrels begin to prepare for winter.  Crunching, crisp leaves underfoot rustle and spiral and dance in the eddying wind.  

It's a time of year when all my favourite colours - the oranges, greens & browns - are out everywhere and so inspiring for new knits and musings :)  I'm currently trying to make items for my new flat on my days off - cushions, blankets and the like.  It;s coming along!  If a little slower than I'd like.  Is it just me who has no patience when it comes to this sort of thing?  Or, saying that, no patience at all, ever, really.  

This is my bedroom.  It is rundown and damp and I'm pretty sure all the neighbours can see straight in.  Forgiving all of that; I love to sit in my cozy feather bed with a book or some knitting, watching the trees and plants outside the window sway in the wind.  We have little bird feeders hanging from the branches, and the way the little creatures move is mesmerising.   It's the perfect spot to curl up with a hot water bottle for storied & daydreams.

I also love this photo, because it's not difficult to spot which side of the bed belongs to who.  On my partners side, the basic ikea bedside table, with a spare desk lamp and clock, watch, other useful items.  In contrast, I have a little white table which I love, and although you can't see it the shelves are filled with pretty yarn baskets and books I've yet to read.  And the owl lamp.  Oh goodness the owl lamp.  It is pretty, and girly, and not at all functional (I'm not sure anything which would be useful overnight is actually in that thing).  

We need some prints or something for those hooks above the bed - it's definitely a little bare in there!!

I've just fallen in love (and so promptly bought) this amazing print from Sarah Ray, though am sure it will fit better in the kitchen...

Again, I've been experimenting with dyeing different fibre in the same manner.  Today was massam and teeswater top.  Both come from lovely curly looking sheep - aren't they the cutest kind?!   The teeswater is so shiiiiiiny, definitely my favourite of the two!!  Both available in my etsy shop :)  

Massam

Massam

Teeswater

Teeswater

What do you have planned for this week??  I have the week off!! Cannot wait to sit and do nothing for a day or two!!  Hehe :)

Any suggestions for some awesome artisty types I can nosey at for a new picture for my wall?

xx

Dyeing Spree & Too Much Fluff

As you've probably noticed from the many (many) previous posts, I've been experimenting with dyeing for months now, and have finally reached the stage where there is no way I'll ever use it in my lifetime.

I've been so restless today - probably something to do with the excitement of my hat in the Knit Now Magazine!!

I love the different effects you can achieve just by adding the same dye to different types of fibre.  The following fibre is an over-dyed humbug oatmeal BFL / Tussah Silk blend.  This was dyed in exactly the same way as the Alpaca / Tussah Silk blend after, but the effect is totally different!

The next example is the difference in uptake between wensleydale top & yak!  Ohmygoodness Yak is amazing.  Why does no-one use it more?!  It's amazing!!  So fluffehhh.   Yakyakyakyakyak  I looooooove it!!

The blue Merino/Bamboo 70/30 mix at the bottom of the page was dyed in several colours of blue, which didn't take to the bamboo and came out wonderfully crisp - like icebergs in the cold north sea!  There may have been some more info posted about it yesterday :p

And since I have far too many - there might be a few piles of fluff for sale on etsy :D

BFL & Tussah Silk

Alpaca & Tussah Silk

Wensleydale

Wensleydale

Yak

Merino & Bamboo

The Little Yarn Detective Agency

My first days off in ages - and all the pretty new books I ordered have arrived in the meantime!!  

After settling down to flick though my parcel, I couldn't put this lovely book down - Icelandic Handknits, by Helene Magnusson (There were lots of little extra symbols in there, but our british keyboards do murder them).  It's filled with gorgeous knits I'd want to keep forever, along with stunning little items I'd be happy to make as gifts.  

The pictures inside were just so captivating, all the snow & ice & warm lovely jumpers.  After thinking about them all day, I sat down to hand-dye some fleece to spin & knit into this heirloom shawl.  I'm so happy with the result!!  It's a merino/bamboo mix and, though I'd hoped the bamboo would only absorb a little bit of the colour for an icy effect, it took in none at all, staying gloriously crisp & white - like little icebergs on a deep cold blue sea!   

The little foxy stitch markers have been stolen from the shop stock - they were too adorable to resist.  Mine.  Mineminemine.  Oh, and the little blue milk jug?  It's another of the lovely little wren pottery collection.  

As ever, I may have spent far too many hours bothering the lovely people at The Yarn Cake.  And I fear I may have scared some customers - though they did stay for coffee so I really think I helped, in the end.  

So they walked through the door. Cautious, wary, the intrepid novice yarn explorers.

Quicker than a spinner to a pile of silk I was upon them. In retrospect, it may have been a tad overwhelming. Discounting the fact that I don't work there, I had within a couple of minutes elicited who he was buying for and found her on ravelry. It's not stalking if it's helping.  We shall not discuss the fact that Antje and I may or may not have been stalking detectiving educationally & helpfully looking people up earlier in the day.  

None of this happened within five minutes... It wasn't a whirlwind of two scary ladies getting really excited over someone else's birthday present...

I blame the coffee.

Panda x

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Spinning Hand-dyed, Studying & Newspapers from Gramps

This week, I've had an awful lot of important things to be getting on with.  As a result, I have instead spent the week playing with fluff.  'To motivate myself'.  Yup.

Back to the things I'm supposed to be doing, my finals begin in a month or so.  Which is very, very, very scary.  To aid this, my grandad has started trying to educate me by posting me semi-relevant newspaper clippings :p  Love my gramps.  Who does this sort of thing except grampies?  Crazy Grampies.

Awesome grampies who do things such as ask the window cleaner to put owl statues into his gutters to keep the crows away.  That's those crows taught a lesson...  

To be fair, my yarny week was brilliant fun.  I recently bought some acid dye for my fluff stash, and mixing them to find different results was great.  My pot may be ruined, my floor may still be red, but check out how yummy this looks!!  The spun yarn ended up at 450metres of singles, so squishy :)

You might have read the lovely 'Cuppa & Cake' with Deborah last week!  If you haven't I'd go see now, she's lovely!   This is yet another skein from her amazing fluff, I really could (and have done) spin it all day.  

And that gradient cheviot yarn I've shown you already from Fondant Fibre?  It may be turning into a shawl...

Right.  I am off to study.  I am.

What're you doing this weekend?  Fill me in on your awesome fun stuff so I can live through you whilst sitting at my desk :p

x