Spot the Difference

Precious Parasols on Mandala quilt

Pesky embroidery. To think that I was excited about adding the embellishments to the Mandala quilt! Well, the precious parasols were not too bad despite the fact they were completed when watching uninterrupted Marchlands and Upstairs Downstairs.

Things, however, started to go horribly wrong when I finally got around to starting on Deadwood, a box set that has been sitting in the back of the cupboard for at least 4 years. I did try it once before but couldn't get into the whole Western thing after watching Battlestar Galactica. So it took a minor DVD drought for me to finally try it again - akin to eating the leftover golden Quality Street toffees.

Well, not many people I know have watched Deadwood, but be warned there is quite a bit of cussing. I reckon that this was the reason for the wandering needle when sewing the Victory Banners:

Victory Banners on Mandala quilt

A note on Victory Banners - this, along with the Parasol, is one of the 'Eight Symbols of Good Fortune'. It symbolises 'victory over all disagreements, disharmonies and hindrances', 'victory of knowledge over ignorance...the attainment of happiness'*.

So instead of meditating on this noble sentiment, I was mesmerised by Calamity Jane. Boy oh boy. No wonder my lines got wiggly.

Anyway, I am fed up with embroidery now, because I messed up a lotus blossom and in unpicking it shredded part of the quilt and now have to come up with a fix. I tried darning it, but unlike this 140 year old darning sample done by my great great grandma in 1871, I doubt my darning will stand the test of time: 

Darning: sampler book, Helena Hallisey 1871

* Buddhist symbols in Tibetan Culture, Dagyab Rinpoche ISBN 0-86171-047-9

Rainbow quilts

Colour-wheel Rainbow Quilt

My common-law mother-in-law (what a mouthful!) sent me a few bundles of unusual vintage American FQs after a recent holiday. I keep meaning to photograph them but have been sidetracked.

This blog is getting a bit dusty and neglected so I thought a picture of the quilt I made for my nephew would brighten things up a bit. I was going through a colour-wheel phase at the time and spent many a happy hour sorting fabric squares into colours. I usually allow my carefully sorted fabrics to get jumbled up again over time so that I can have the pleasure of sorting them again.

I read an article in Sew Hip about a woman who collected swatches of fabric from her daughter's clothes from childhood through to adulthood and over 25 years or so stitched an English style patchwork quilt, which she presented to her daughter on her wedding day. I thought this was a lovely idea - now I just have to convince my sister to let me cut up her daughter's best frocks...

"This again!"

Is there such a thing as too many hobbies?

Remember spinning? Well, I got so excited about it that my NeverEndingMandalaQuilt was put on hold for a bit....which made me feel guilty about that and also about the fact that I have temporarily put on hold my SECRET project which i can't talk about because it is a secret...and also on hold is the crocheted Afghan and all the other crochet projects plus the jumper that I have been knitting for the last 2 years. That is not to mention my quilted Castlehead panorama project which I have to say never really left the ground but made me feel very happy and a little bit excited for several weeks last year. Oh and lets not mention the novel (embarrassed cough), the embryonic idea of which helped me while away a few happy hours when sunbathing covered from head to toe in factor 30 on one of the 4 sunny days of summer this year. 

So this is how far I have got with the spinning:

To the uninitiated this is 2-ply Herdwick. A very lucky person may find the occasional beetle spun up and twisted in amongst the fibres.

The final twine:

  above - on the Niddy Noddy; below - the Dingly Dangly

I still have quite a bit to spin and am looking forward to knitting it up into itchy garments...

...but for the last week I have gone back to embroidery, except that I keep getting distracted and why, oh why, did I ever open the Pandora's box of ancestry.co.uk?

washing wool on a rainy day

so a nice lady at work gave me a steaming bag of Herdwick which I was very excited about. I checked out a few websites for advice on washing fleece. The more I read the more mixed up I got (wash HOT, wash COLD) but the gist seemed to be don't agitate the wool (it gets upset), don't rinse in water colder than the wash water and don't keep any bits that you wouldn't want to spin.

Above - raw Herdwick fleece; Below: washing in shampoo in the bath

A happy afternoon was spent picking out poo and spiders (or giant ticks?) then washing in tea tree shampoo (which I thought might make it smell a little less sheepy). In order to get enough hot water for each wash and 2 rinses I had a big pan on the stove for about 5 hours (taking woman hours of labour and energy expenditure into account I calculate this wool will be worth more than Saffron).

So the other big No No is the washing machine worst luck, so spinning involved  swinging a mesh bag of wet wool around my head like a cowgirl. In the rain. With Marigolds. The neighbours probably think I am a fetishist of some kind.

Spin cycle Calamity Jane style

Try not to let go

Then I spread it out on an old sheet and waited for it to dry....and waited....and waited...and smelled of wet sheep for days. Our friend Elvis popped round for a sniff and seemed to approve. I wonder if a blanket made from ripe Herdwick would make a dog happy.

Clean wool (well, cleaner wool)

Climbing fairly safely up the rickety ladder of Fame and Fortune

Advert from Girl's Own Paper and Woman's Magazine 1922

Rumplestilskin is my name

What a lucky fish I am - I got a surprise birthday present - a spinning wheel!! Now I wish I had paid more attention at Woolfest as I was mystified about how to use it (I still thought the wool went round the big wheel, duh!).

I went over to The Wool Clip in Caldbeck to buy some wool tops and when I got there I realised I had no clue just how much I needed and how indeed to make sheep into wool.  Serendipitously the lady I asked was a Spinning teacher not a spinning Teacher and she suggested a lesson may not be bad thing.

She was a very nice teacher (and there is something reassuring about a Spinning teacher with the name Woolcott, like Mr Bun the Baker) and with her expert help after a couple of hours I managed this:

My first 2 ply yarn

 which she (kindly) said was VERY ACCEPTABLE for a beginner.

So I made this yarn using 2 separately spun strands and then PLYING them together - ie 2 ply. Now don't be put off by the fact it veers alarmingly between finger thick and nanometre thin- this is a much prized effect that beginners produce with ease and expert spinners struggle to produce - I think she called the thick bits slub and she seemed quite happy about it. Or maybe she was just being nice.

So off home I trotted with my bag of Rolags (!) and spun some pretty fine yarn.

First spinning on my own wheel

Only when I tried plying it (whilst watching the Watchmen) I got all twisted up and made some dreadlocks. I have since watched a video of PLYING and realise I forgot some important things.

 

At this rate I will be making spider silk by Christmas.