the view from the hill

Going, Going, Gone...

2012-01-25T19:28:00.004Z

This last week has been a little busy, lots of fibre going to people's homes all over the world. I'm also going to be meeting up with some fellow knitters/spinnner from one of my Ravelry groups in York this weekend, so I've been making sure I'm organised to go away for a few days.

Last weekend we got the tree surgeons in. We tend to do most small scale tree felling ourselves, but these trees were scarily close to the main road so it seemed wise to get the tree surgeons in. They did the whole thing in a roaring gale in just one morning. Definitely worth the cash!

Just as they were starting...

Nearly finished....

And finally the view down the valley is opened up. The trees were only sycamore and Ash from an overgrown hedge, they blocked this lovely view, and put the whole garden in shade in the afternoon.

Wonderwool

2012-01-20T17:04:00.002Z

A few days ago I got some rather exciting news, I mentioned it on Twitter, and I mentioned it in my Ravelry group but I completely forgot to talk about it here.

I'm going to be a stall holder at Wonderwool, if you fancy making the trip to Wales at the end of April I'd love to say hello to some of you. It's on the 28th-29th April, and is at the Royal Welsh show ground in Builth Wells.
It will be my first big show as a stall holder, I've been a few times as a visitor, and it's a fantastic place to go and see the best of the British fibre industry. I'm already making plans for what the stall will look like, and I've started carding fibre and prepping roving. It's very much a little and often thing, too much in one day and my body starts to complain a little, there's only so long you can turn a carder handle for before your arm starts to feel like it's dropping off! The big dream is to end up with an electric carder, but for now it's muscle power only.

Barn progress

2012-01-16T16:48:00.002Z

The barn is becoming less like a barn, and looking more and more like somewhere someone can live there. The walls are now insulated, and the upstairs is plastered. Things like the kitchen and bathroom fittings are all in storage, ready for installation. This last part seems to be taking forever, but it will all get done eventually!

I'm no starting to have to make decisions about things tiles, which is driving me a bit potty, I'd almost like to wave a magic wand and it be all decided, but this will be the last time I can make these decisions so they need to be right!

Apologies if this is a bit incoherent, everyone is trying to talk to me, and I need to go and make a decision about door handles...

Frosty Morning

2012-01-13T19:27:00.002Z

It's been an unusually warm winter, hardly any frosts, and certainly no snow.
I was woken up this morning not by the sun rising, but by the moon setting. It had been a very clear night, which meant it actually got cold.
I didn't manage to venture out with the camera until around 9.30, but everywhere was still glittering.

I'd just lit the fire and there was a slight temperature inversion, the smoke was sinking in to the valley rather than floating away.

The melt was starting though. Before long this patch of moss in a wooden bench will be free of the ice.

Tonight is meant to be even colder, though we're still a long way off the temperatures of last year, the icicles from the guttering nearly reached the floor.

Clever Spinners

2012-01-11T19:16:00.006Z

There have been some very clever spinners at work recently. Even better they're been sharing their pictures in my Ravelry group, I absolutely love seeing what people make with my fibre. In an idea world I'd keep and spin it all, but this is reality, and it going to new homes, and becoming yarn, and then finished items is the next best thing!

The lovely Handa bought some of my Light Rainbow roving.

This is 70% British Shetland, 30% Silk, I card it up on my drum carder to make a rainbow batt, but then I use a diz to pull it off as a strip of roving rather than a batt. This way you get a length of fibre that changes colour gradually, and it's super light, fluffy, and easy to draft.

When you spin it up you end up with a skein of yarn like this

Pretty, but nothing remarkable, what Helen did next is the breath taking part.

The pattern is Boneyard for those that need to know.

2012-01-08T19:30:00.002Z

A whole week of taking a photo every day. So far I'm enjoying it, it's a bit of a challenge finding something new to photograph each day, but sometime I see something and think "I must photograph that", previously I probably wouldn't have bothered, deciding it was too much of a faff, but now I know I have to take a picture every day, so I make sure I bother!
Of course, being able to snap photos using my ageing iPhone helps, it means I can upload things straight from it, rather than having to bother connecting my camera to my computer.

www.flickr.com

Wild and Windy

2012-01-05T21:37:00.002Z

The weather here has been wild recently. While we've not experienced the structural damage sustained by many, at times it has felt like the house will be swept away. We live in quite an exposed spot, and there's not much shelter as the wind whistles up the valley and hits the end of the house. I don't feel like I've had a good nights sleep in a few days, and the noise during the daytime has driven me batty. We're just inland from Aberystwyth where the roof was peeled off the National Library of Wales by the high winds.

Another downside of the wind is the rate at which the fire burns wood. Normally the fire glows away gently, but with gale force winds drawing it you end up with something similar to a raging inferno!

Tonight the wind has dyed down a lot, thank goodness, maybe I can get a good nights sleep, now would it be too much to ask for some properly cold winter weather?

Here's to 2012

2012-01-01T11:54:00.005Z

2011 was a year of big changes, I'm sat writing this post on a friend's sofa in Sheffield, it seems slightly appropriate, given that the biggest change I made this year was to leave Sheffield where I'd lived for the past 7 years, and move to Wales.

At times I miss it dreadfully, mostly when I have a craving for takeaway food, but I think the things I've gained more than make up for it.

This will be the view from the upstairs window of my new home (once the builders have finished with it), my Mum says Wales is good for the soul, and I think she's right, everyday the view from the window changes, and inspires me, I'm willing to put up with alot to live somewhere as beautiful as this.

It was also the year I left teaching, I still have a lot of friends who are teaching and the feelings of hurt, pressure and anxiety weren't just things I was feeling, but I was lucky to be in the position to be able to leave. I am very fortunate that I could go and live with Mum and Dad in Wales and launch in to a new career. Selling something you make is scary, even after 6 months of people telling me how wonderful they think my fibre is, I still worry about someone out there who won't like it. I can honestly say though, that I am proud of what I do, I'm proud of the business I'm building, and I'm happy and glad I made the choice to change my life.

Proudest moment of this year though, has to be seeing my own name in print and my pattern on the front cover of Yarnmaker, I'd only ever dabbled in writing patterns, and I'll probably continue to only dabble, but this front cover was one of the best endings to 2011 I could have hoped for.

Happy 2012 everyone, Thank You for all the support and advice I've been given, may the New Year treat you kindly.

The New Year also brings new challenges, I just signed up for Photo Stash, it's a slightly more flexible, free and easy version of the 365 photo a day challenge, organised by the lovely Natalie from the The Yarn Yard, and Ann (Pixeldiva). Natalie's blogpost explains far better than I could.

A new lease of life

2011-12-30T18:22:00.005Z

I love buying things at our local auction, it's a treasure trove of all sorts of goodies. A lot of the items that get entered for sale really ought to go straight to the local recycling centre, but every now and again a real gem appears, you also get some real bargains, I bought a whole box full of ceramic jugs for £1 recently.

This little beauty of a sewing box had obviously been much used and loved, there were still pins, and pattern pieces lurking about inside it, however it was in need of a bit of a refurb, the lining was falling out, the varnish flaking off, and it was just looking a little tired.

I sanded off the old varnish (though I kept the original Murco brand mark), gave her a coat of oil, and re-glued the lining. She now sits beside the sofa and holds all my knitting notions (yes, I do have a lot of bits!).

In total she cost the princely sum of £16, an awful lot less than what I'd pay for a new box, and it wouldn't be anywhere near as lovely!

New website

2011-12-29T17:20:00.003Z

While the carder has sat unused for the last few days I've still been tinkering away on new ideas. A few emails have been sent sorting out new things for the New Year, but most excitingly HilltopCloud now has it's very own website.

For now it's a self designed job, so is very, very bare bones, however, it will give me a permanent base. There's a mini version of the Etsy shop on there (I'll still be using Etsy to sell most things), along with all my patterns, and some info about things I don't sell on Etsy. It's also going to be the new base for the fibre club.

Because I want to offer a variety of options for the club Etsy isn't really a very good home for it, the sidebar of the blog worked ok, but this way, it has it's very own home, and it's much easier for me to run.

I'm enjoying my last few days off, I'm going back to Sheffield to visit friends over the New Year, and plan on coming back to work refreshed and ready to go! First on the list is the fibre club parcels, the fibre has arrived and is sat looking at me waiting to be magicked in to something yummy!

Happy New Year to all of you, and thank you for making this year the best I've had in quite a while.

New Pattern- Cwm

2011-12-26T09:37:00.007Z

I have a new pattern out, and it's my first ever published one. I started working on this pattern when I first moved to Wales back in April, and I'm so happy I can finally share it with you.

It's called Cwm, and was designed with handspun in mind. It uses 210m of Aran weight yarn in total, but to get the best from the pattern you need 140m of slightly smooth yarn (I used a worsted spun 2-ply), and 70m of a softer fluffier yarn (I spun woollen singles using a long draw method). If you don't spin you can of course use a commercial yarn, for the samples I used Drops Alaska and Drops Nepal, but you could use any yarns that give you that change in texture, how about combining yarns, KidSilk Haze would give a lovely fluffy effect.

As to why it's called Cwm, (pronounced Coom), it means valley in Welsh, the pattern is designed to create valleys surrounded by ridges of garter stitch. Down in the valleys you use your softer fluffier yarn, up on the hills your tougher, smoother yarn. This is just how it is with sheep, where I live, up in the hills, the sheep are tough hardy things, for the most part their fleece is used for insulation and carpets (though with a bit of careful selection I managed to spin something soft enough for a hat crown). Down in the valleys however, the sheep are far more pampered, their fleece is much softer, the sort we're far more used to spinning, and seeing as yarn to knit with.

The pattern doesn't produce a large shawl, though it would be very easy to enlarge it, and produce something bigger.
You can either wear it in a traditional way with the points at the front, though you'll need a shawl pin to hold it closed, or I tend to wear my shawls of this shape like this.

Turned around the other way, with the point to the front and the ends wrapped around my neck. It keeps me warm where I want keeping warm, but without adding too much bulk round the back of my neck.
If you like it, and would like to knit it, you'll need to buy a copy of Yarnmaker magazine. Yarnmaker is a British published spinning magazine, it features articles written by all sorts of people, about things that are of interest to anyone who works with fibre in anyway. Dot(the Editor) is committed to getting real people to write the articles (and is very helpful to first time writers), and as a result there are articles about all sorts of things that wouldn't necessarily appear in a bigger, more commercial publication.

I will be making it available as a download when the rights return to me, but for now, I really recommend you get your hands on a copy of the magazine. You can buy single copies, or a subscription here.

December 24th

2011-12-24T18:21:00.000Z

I'm old school when it comes to advent calendars, they end on December 24th, after all we get plenty of excitement n the 25th.
I'm also traditional when it comes to my advent calendar blogposts. I always finish the posts with a bit of a request.
In this most commercial time of year, take a look at the world around us, appreciate how wonderful it is.

We live in a beautiful planet, do your bit to help. Walk instead of drive, buy less stuff in packaging that can't be re-used or recycled, volunteer your time to help others less fortunate than yourself.

If you can't do any of that, and feel like Christmas has been generous to you and yours maybe spare a bit of cash for your favourite charity. You may have your charity of choice you donate to, and that's fab, but if you've enjoyed the last month of posts then I'd love it if you donated something to the p/hop project, there's a little widget over on the sidebar to the right, and all the money goes to MSF, a charity who I trust to spend my cash wisely, to help as many people as possible.

December 23rd

2011-12-23T19:12:00.003Z

Right about now I'm settling back with the cooking, my favourite drinks, and some Christmas TV.
I'm probably also thinking what I might get for myself for Christmas (lets face it, sometimes some lovely relatives choose to give much welcome cash rather than a gift, it only seems right to spend it on something nice!)
I make no secret of the fact that I love my Knit picks/Pro interchangeable needles, I bought them when I first started knitting, and I think they're one of the wisest investments I ever made.

However the case supplied is a but "meh" it does the job, but it's not pretty.

The wonderful picperfic makes beautiful needle cases, so much detail and thought has been put in to these, they'd be something to bring you pleasure for years to come.

December 22nd

2011-12-22T19:03:00.000Z

Today I'm going to share a couple of my photos, Meg is your classically beautiful border collie, and she loves the snow.
This is her and Gwen last December, when they had a whale of a time in the foot of snow we got.

We had some of these pictures made in to cards to sell on our market stall in Machynlleth, Meg goes with us, and people get a bit of a shock when they realise the dog peeking out from under the stall is the same as the one in the cards!

Meg and Gwen love playing in the snow and while this year isn't looking like being a white Christmas, here's hoping we get some snow, because I can't wait to watch them playing.

December 21st

2011-12-21T18:52:00.001Z

What's not to like about these pretty flowers, done in red they'd look like Poinsettia flowers, done in white they look sort of like snowflakes.

You can find the link to the blog for instructions here.

The last fresh fibre for this year went up on Etsy last night, I shall be posting parcels on the 22nd December, and hopefully on the 27th (though I'm not 100% certain my post office will be open). I'll also send them on the 29th, things will get back to normal on the 3rd January.
First thing on my list will be the fibre for the first Fibre Club parcels.
Merry Christmas everyone, and thank you for helping to make HilltopCloud such a success this year.

December 20th

2011-12-20T09:42:00.002Z

We have 2 bird feeders hanging outside our window, we get so many birds coming to them, that it makes for great entertainment. At this time of year it tends to be flocks of blue tits and great tits, later on in the year we also get visits from siskins, and our family of woodpeckers.
We sell handmade bird feeders on our market stall, and they make a great present for people who are hard to buy for, these treats don't need a bird feeder, though as the recipe is from an American sit I'm not sure how well they'd cope with getting wet.
You could probably apply the same idea to making fat balls, but in a pretty shape.

You can find the recipe here

December 19th

2011-12-19T09:40:00.002Z

These look delicous, though I think I might leave out the bacon part.... however I'm a sucker for marshmallow goo, chuck in some whisky, and I'm happy!
You can find the recipe here

December 18th

2011-12-18T09:27:00.000Z

I mentioned Paper snowflakes a few days ago, but I've long since lost my link for the site where I found the print outs you can use to make them. However I've managed to track down some different tutorials. Making the snowflakes this way is super easy, it tels you how to fold the paper, and you just cut along the lines.

You can find one set of printouts here, and some more here

December 17th

2011-12-17T09:05:00.002Z

If you're the sort of person who makes their christmas cake then around now you're probably thinking about icing it.
This cake just ticks all my boxes, super simple, elegant, and rather unusual.

You can find the original photo here

December 16th

2011-12-16T09:03:00.002Z

Today brings an idea for a decoration. Some very sweet snowmen, you could make the scarves out of colours to match your Christmas colour scheme, which in our house just so happens to be, anything goes....

You can find the full pattern here

December 15th

2011-12-15T08:33:00.002Z

If you're in to handmade gifts and know people who like to create and make things this blog has a great collection of things to gift in jars, not so great if you need to post your presents, but a really sweet gifting idea.

This would be a really useful, yet pretty way to gift someone a sewing kit, usable amounts of thread rather than the tiny amounts you get in some kits, some proper size safety pins, buttons that you wouldn't mind sewing on to something, and scissors that will actually cut!

This idea I could see being transformed for some friends I have that are in to biking, a few energy gels, some nice flapjack, and a bit of investigation to find out the size and make of inner tube they use and you have a present that is actually useful, and nicely presented. If you wanted you could throw in a subscription to a good magazine, I've bought Singletrack subscriptions for a few people and they've all been really pleased with it.

December 14th

2011-12-14T08:31:00.002Z

I love good hot chocolate, I love it even more topped with marshmallows, so this is my idea of heaven!

You can find full details of how to make (though I'm sure you could work it out anyway) by looking here

December 13th

2011-12-13T08:24:00.002Z

It never quite gets cold enough here for this to happen, though last year was pretty chilly!
This beautiful photo is of Frozen bubbles in the Canadian Rockies. Photo by Emmanuel Coupe, and originally came from here

December 12th

2011-12-12T08:17:00.002Z

Another recipe today, how about some homemade fudge as a Christmas present, much better than yet another box of commercial chocolates.

You can fine 3 different recipes (including a fool proof one) here

December 11th

2011-12-11T08:15:00.002Z

Another Make for today, these look really quick and easy, and should store well for future years.

You can find the pdf pattern, and instructions here

December 10th

2011-12-10T13:44:00.000Z

A drink for today, something good for young and old, for the young serve just as it is, for the slightly older, a swig of Baileys might make this in to something even more yummy.
You need to drag out some of the French you learnt at school to translate the recipe, but it's nothing too complicated!

You can find the original recipe here

December 9th

2011-12-09T13:40:00.002Z

This might not quite make it in time for Christmas, but this is a perfect gift for a knitter!
It's a decent size, and a reminder, that with a bit of faith, anything is possible.

You can buy it from School House Press, jus scroll down the page a little.

December 8th

2011-12-08T13:33:00.000Z

How about a Stocking Filler for any Harry Potter fan?
Even better, providing you're handy with a pair of scissors, and have a printer you can make it for free!

Your very own, Marauders Map.

December 7th

2011-12-07T13:29:00.000Z

Aren't these Christmassy?
They're traditional German biscuits, sort of a cross between a macaroon and a meringue, the original recipe has cinnamon in it, we can't stand cinnamon here, so I'm thinking with nutmeg they might be nice.

You can find the recipe here

December 6th

2011-12-06T13:21:00.002Z

I like my food, in fact I more than like my food, I love really good food!
I also like my sweets, but I'm quite fussy about them, I'd rather not eat chocolate than eat rubbish ones!!

And these happen to look like very good ones.

You can buy them from this Edinburgh based Etsy shop- ZukrBoutique

December 5th

2011-12-05T09:28:00.000Z

It was around this time last year that I ended up snowed in for nearly a week...

The snow combined with a chest infection meant that I went a little stir crazy stuck inside. Every year I make paper snowflakes to stick on the window, but this year maybe I'll change it up a little and make some paper chains.

December 4th

2011-12-04T09:21:00.000Z

Both an idea for a make if you're crafty, or a place to buy it if you're short on time.

Rice filled fleece pockets, you put them in the microwave for 25 seconds, and you have re-usable handwarmers, perfect for keeping your hands warm in chilly weather. If you're handy with a sewing machine these would be dead quick to make, if not you can buy them for a really reasonable sum here

December 3rd

2011-12-03T09:17:00.000Z

Making an entire large scale Christmas Stocking on this short notice might be pushing it a little, however, stockings on this scale would be very do-able.

You can find the pattern, by the lovely coopknits (Rachel Coopey) here.

December 2nd

2011-12-02T09:12:00.003Z

This will be the view from my workshop next year, it's looking across our valley on to the hillside opposite. It's a pretty typical winter view, with that half light you get when the sun never really rises very high in the sky.
I am so very lucky to be surrounded by beautiful scenery, some of it will be inspiring my fibre club in the New Year, it might be a few more months before I'll be prepping the fibre in my new workspace though.

December 1st

2011-12-01T09:03:00.004Z

Long time readers will know I do this every year, for the next 23 days there will be a post a day slowly counting down to Christmas. There'll be a mixture of things, pretty pictures, tutorials, shopping ideas, recipes....

How about a little Christmas Mouse? Handmade in the UK, he'd make a lovely keepsake Christmas decoration.

Fibre Clubs

2011-11-30T07:57:00.003Z

Just in time for the holidays I'm launching my first fibre club. Perfect as a christmas present!
You'll get the parcel in mid-January (providing I'm not buried under 6 foot of snow in our little Welsh valley!), so perfect for shaking off those mid-winter blues.
You can either buy it through the Etsy shop, or if a listing is out of stock over there you can buy it directly by clicking on the links on the sidebar.

It comes in 100g, and 200g options, for a single month, or 3 month subscription. For the 3 month subscription you'll get further parcels in February and March.
Places are limited, in each 3 month period you'll get a variety of different fibre prep, in a variety of colour palettes, and no more than 1 month out of the 3 will be something with sparkle.

At the start of January I'll make the single month places for February's parcel available, the 3 month memberships won't re-open until March.

If you're struggling on Christmas ideas, there might be a few other things in the shop you might like as well....
You could maybe enable a new spinner, Learn to Spin Kits are £15

Or some Stocking Filler buttons, handmade from Welsh wood, these would post really well to somebody you might not see between now and the big day.

Or, just in case we don't get any snow this year, how about Felt Snowman craft kit, along with a few others, these are kiddie friendly, though they'll need some adult help with threading the balls together. Could be perfect for occupying small hands during the holidays.

All fibre club members will be added to a mailing list so I can send you info about the club, and the occasional newsletter, if this is a problem please let me know.

Bad blogger...

2011-11-28T08:09:00.002Z

I'm a bad blogger right now, I know it, I keep meaning to do something about it, and before I know it, it's bed time!

Lot's of work is going on behind the scenes getting ready for my fibre club, places open later this week, the first place I'll announce the subscriptions are on sale is via the mailing list, you can sign up over on the left. We've also been at lots of Christmas fairs and markets, the stock I take to these events is slightly different to what's in the Etsy shop, but it all takes time to prepare and put together!

Added to that, on Saturday I managed to reverse my car in to a telegraph pole, I have no idea how I didn't see it, I can live with a few dents on my car, but I've managed to smash the rear windscreen, so today is going to be spent ringing people to sort out that little mess! Time I don't really have right now, but never mind.

Hopefully today there will be some new british breeds and blends, but no fresh batts or hackle blends for the next couple of days while I get everything organised here! However if you ever have anything specific in mind, and there;s nothing you like in the shop you're more than welcome to send me a message about a custom blend.

My christmas knitting is now moving on a-pace (after the disaster of my brother's slippers shrinking so much they're now elf sized), and speaking of Christmas, Royal Mail has put out these dates for when items need to be sent to reach places in time for Christmas-
Mon 5th December- South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand
Fri 9th December- Eastern Europe, USA and Canada
Mon 12th December- Western Europe
Tue 20th December- UK
I never make any guarantees about things arriving in time, and the sooner you order the better the chance that something will make it in time!

More spinning

2011-11-19T08:31:00.007Z

Not from me this time, but from one of my lovely customers. I love seeing pictures of what people make with my fibre, particularly because my own spinning time has become somewhat limited!

The lovely mono (whose stuff is beautiful, go take a look), bought some of this-

40% British Shetland, 40% Merino, 20% Tussah Silk, and turned it in to this.

By the way, exciting things are happening at HilltopCloud, the best way to keep abreast of fresh things is either by following my on twitter (hilltopkatie), or by signing up to my newsletter, there's a link over on the right.

Coedlan

2011-11-10T09:14:00.002Z

Christmas is coming up on us rather quickly, if like me you make most of your presents, the diminishing number of weeks tends to sharpen the mind and speed up the needles rather....

If you're still not sure what to make for your nearest and dearest then I have a solution, meet Coedlan.

It's a short, textured scarf held closed by a single large button, it won't curl, and works well with handspun yarn, the green version above was spun by my Mum using some batts I carded for her.

Here's a slightly less arty shot.

If I still had the sort of job where I was required to look presentable here's how I'd probably wear it, I have a huge collection of these jackets, but they definitely need a scarf in winter, but because they're close fitting it needs to be short.

It uses 140m of bulky weight yarn so it's a quick knit. If you would like to make one you can download the pattern- buy now from Ravelry.

Or, I'll be putting together some more kits for the shop in the next few days, some with batts to spin, others with handspun yarn. The kits will also come with a handmade wooden button.

Coeurs et Flocons

2011-11-06T12:25:00.004Z

I've been working on this for the past 8 months, admittedly I've neglected it for large chunks of time, but even so, it's a big piece of knitting, nearly the size of a single bed.

The pattern is called Coeurs et Flocons, and it's from an edition of Marie Clair Idees. The original pattern is just knitted in red and white which looks stunning, but I'm pretty pleased with my version as well.

Also, it's heading towards the next round of Fibreholics, a UK based collection of fibre artists, we all send in samples of our work, you buy a box containing an assortment of those samples. It's a great way to try new fibres, and new suppliers. If you want to take a sneak peak of what I've sent in then take a look here.

New pattern

2011-10-30T09:56:00.003Z

The observant of you will notice that there is something new over to to the right. I've been working on a few things in the background for a while now, and the first of them is finally ready.

Meet Rhwyd (pronounced Rrrud), whihc is Welsh for net.

It's designed to work well with handspun yarns, and heavily variegated commercial yarns. It's reversible, and won't curl, and features stitch patterns that aim to break up pooling.

The pattern features charts, and written directions, and has been test knitted by the wonderful Julie from Button Button.
It's available to buy now from Ravelry, and I'll also be doing kits for the HilltopCloud Etsy shop with fibre only options (the blue version was made using some of handblended roving), or handspun yarn options.

Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy

2011-10-18T07:30:00.002+01:00

Not fibre related this time, instead gardening related. I fully admit my input on the gardening is minimal, though I do sometime provide some digging labour! the real gardenner in the family is my Mum, since we moved to Wales we've had enough space to grow as much of certain vegetables as we like.
We planted enough potatoes this year to feed us for (hopefully) the entire year, most were the usual varieties Charlotte, and Desiree, but my friend SpinningFishwife had given us 3 seed potatoes of an old variety called Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy it's an old variety dating back to about 1899, and is rather rare, so by growing a few plants in our garden hopefully we'll help avoid it disappearing.

It's skin is a beautiful purple colour, and apparently it's rather tasty, though we're saving this years crop to plant for next year.

(That's a Desiree next to it)

Down on the Beach

2011-10-14T16:09:00.002+01:00

We live a short drive away from some rather good, deserted beaches. The dogs love the beach so we try to go down quite often. They must run miles chasing after balls, and there are so many good smells...

We also wanted to go down to the beach to collect some driftwood. Dad has been making "things" with it which he's been selling at local markets, and supplies were running low.

In the end we maybe got a little enthusiastic, carrying several bags of driftwood back to the car was rather hard work!

Next time, we'll check the tides as well, there's only so many times you can put up with a wave overflowing your wellies!

My first handspun

2011-10-13T07:56:00.002+01:00

I appear to be enabling a few newbie spinners right now, so I thought it would be nice to put my first spinning attempts out there...

The brown at the front was my first ever skein, and suffers from that typical beginners problem of chronic under-plying, it's a bit lumpy bumpy, but actually most of the unevenness would be much improved by a good plying job.

The other skeins were originally white, but were attacked with some leftover dye from dyeing a sock blank a few years ago. They're far more even, but in comparison with my efforts now are maybe a little dense...

Spinning really is like riding a bike, at first you'll fall off, and it all seems a bit wobbly, and you have to concentrate, then muscle memory develops and becomes something you can do without thinking.

Making Monday- Trick or Treat

2011-10-10T08:04:00.004+01:00

Thank heavens for Making Mondays, without them my poor blog would be completely abandoned.
On Friday a very large box arrived, out of it came my new wheel. She was a little dirty, but I put her together and she span. However the more I looked at her the more I realised that she'd been a little neglected in her past. So I spent Saturday cleaning her up, and giving her a good coat of Danish oil. She now glows.

She's an EasySpin, made in Devon by in the 80's by a man whose wife was in the Devon Guild of Weavers and Spinners and Dyers. They moved away from the area, and no one really knows a great deal more about them. There seem to be a few about in the UK, though not a great number.

I bought her because I want to get in to doing more yarns like this-

A ply of Black Welsh Mountain and Silk, with a coiled ply of Merino and Silk. It's super bulky and was great fun to spin (it went up in shop called Trick or Treat and disappeared off the shelf almost immediately). Though in the process of spinning it I did manage to trap my finger between the drive wheel and the upright, which still really hurts...

Not quite Making Monday

2011-09-27T12:26:00.002+01:00

So it's a day late, but I got side tracked yesterday and before I knew it, it was too dark to take photos!
Following on from the successful fleece washing (it's now all dry and in pillow cases under my bed), here's an idea for non-successful fleece washing.

Back when I first started becoming interested in preparing my own fleece to spin, I lived in a small flat in Sheffield. Not very handy for fleece washing or drying. My fleece washing was limited to visits home, I'd bought 2 fleeces from Woolfest that year, one I managed to wash and dry during the summer holidays, the other I had to leave for Mum to finish off. When I next made it home in October it turned out Mum had got a bit enthusiastic with the washing and somehow managed to felt the fleece.
Rather than just chuck it on the compost heap we decided to salvage some of it, our floors are solid slate slabs that rest directly on the earth floor (our reward for a 200 year old house is permanently cold feet!). It's particularly bad in the kitchen as the cold seaps through whatever you have on your feet.

Which is where this comes in!

A peg loom woven rug from rescued felted fleece. As time goes on it will compact and squash down, but will be rather welcome to insulate our toes from the floor when we're standing cooking or washing up. When it gets too grubby it can go in the washing machine (and maybe felt a bit more!)

Fleeeece!

2011-09-23T16:40:00.004+01:00

Despite spending all day every day working with fibre, I somehow can't seem to get enough of the stuff. Today was the first dry day we've had in this part of Wales for a while, and the next dry day had been ear marked as fleece washing day.
I've had a Speckle Face fleece from a local farmer in soak for longer than I care to remember. I cold water soak all my fleeces for at least a week before I wash them. It really helps to get the worst of the dirt out, and softens up any particularly crusty bits.
As well as the Speckle Face ( which I can get more of so was willing to be a bit rough with), I'd also got 250g of black gold! Some Bond that has been imported from Australia, while it wasn't particularly expensive, getting hold of it involved a 3 month wait for the fleeces to take the boat from Down Under.

The Speckle Face was hauled out of soak (I have a huge mesh bag that makes soaking fleeces much easier), and gently (you can still felt with cold water if you agitate enough) rinsed with the hosepipe, just enough for the dirty water to rinse out. We have some decking in front of the caravan which lets the dirty water drain off.

After that I pull off sections, and they go in to soak with a good glug of washing up liquid.

It stews for a while, and then I rinse in more hot water (about the same temperature as the original soapy water). This fleece wasn't particularly grubby (though does have lots of vegetation stuck in it) so I left it at that, by keeping the amount of fleece in the water low, I got away without doing further washes and rinses.

While the Speckle face got the rough treatment, the Bond was well and truly cosseted. I pulled off small chunks, and put about 5 or 6 in the sink in as hot water as I could get (a blend of hot water from the kettle, and very hot water from the tap) with a very big glug of washing up liquid, after about 5 minutes I pulled out the chunks, and rinsed them in a bowl of water of the same temperature. Again, this fleece wasn't very dirty, the sheep are kept coated which keeps the worst of the dirt off, so it was just to get some of the grease out.

The end result of a whole day of washing, beautiful soft piles of fluff that I plan on spinning just as they are

And this is why I buy commercially prepped stuff for the shop.... a whole day, to wash just over a kilo of fleece.

Clyd

2011-09-20T17:27:00.003+01:00

The observant of you will notice that there is a new link in the side bar to the right. My new pattern for p/hop has actually been around for a while now, but life has been so busy I've not had the energy to go fiddling around with html coding to make it magically appear over there.
p/hop (for the uninitiated) stands for pennies per hour of pleasure, and is a fibre based fundraiser for MSF also known as Doctors without Borders. I've been involved in the project since the start, and have donated a number of patterns to them. The basic principle is that you donate based on the pleasure a pattern gives you, and the amount you can afford. MSF is one of the few charities that I trust to spend my money wisely, and the p/hop principle is fantastic (it won an award at the Just Giving awards a few months ago).

A little about the new pattern- Clyd (Definition: Clyd: 1. warm n.m. sheltered n.m. snug n.m. cosy n.m. pronounced kleed. Welsh) is a simple garter stitch headband. I think it would make a great first project for a beginner knitter (certainly better the endless garter stitch scarf). There's no purling, a few simple increases and decreases, and a yarn over button hole.
It also show cases hand spun yarn fantastically, you only need 60m of Aran weight for the whole pattern.

I wear a headband of a similar design lots when the weather gets colder, I have lots of hair, so hats never fit very well, and the shaping on the headband minimises bulk at the back of your head so the headband doesn't end up falling over your eyes every time you look up.

I think they'd make fab Christmas presents (I have a couple of the test knits saved up for just this), if you're a quick knitter you could make one in under 2 hours knitting time (my personal best is just over an hour). I hope you like it, and I hope it gives you pleasure!

Making Monday 7- Laceweight

2011-09-12T07:50:00.003+01:00

This is the finest I have ever spun..
Proper, proper laceweight, not very thin fingering weight, but proper laceweight. It's been a rocky road making it this far, I somehow managed to ply the wrong way without realising (I have no idea how I didn't notice...), which meant I needed to reply the entire skein.
I still haven't worked out how many metres I had to ply twice, but the original braid of fibre was 100g, so I feel confident in saying there's a lot of yarn there!

The fibre was superwash merino I dyed at the start of my forays in to natural dyeing.

I'm already thinking about knitting Rock Island with it..

You can find all the other Making Monday posts at The Yarn Yard.

Wool Week

2011-09-06T13:21:00.002+01:00

This week is National Wool Week.... though you may be forgiven for not knowing about it, the publicity so far has been somewhat limited.
As you might have gathered, I love Wool, I love it in all it's forms from raw fleece to finished item, I love scratchy Herdwick to superfine Bond.
I like it dyed, and I love it in its huge variety of natural shades. I value it for it's warmth, breathability,and waterproofness. Wool really is a fantastic resource, and thankful we're starting to realise it, and use more of it. Raw fleece prices have increased this year, which is great, but it's actually starting to make fleece profitable for the farmers local to me. For the first time in many years the farmers round here will get a wool cheque that pays for the cost of the shearing, and that's got to be a good thing!

Hidden Treasures

2011-09-03T20:14:00.004+01:00

One of the ~~bad~~ good things about selling on Etsy is the inspiration you get, and the amount of fantastic stuff, by ver clever people that's out there is unbelievable.
Every now and again I put together treasuries (collections of items based on a theme), sometimes these finds lead me further to to a persons shop, and the inspiration I find is unbelievable.

This bunting is just fantastic, and such a clever idea. If I had a wedding or special occasion I was looking for decorations for I'd buy it in an instant.

I've been busy with local fairs and markets for the last couple of days, and the inspiration there has been equally fantastic. If you have a craft fair local to you, it's well worth a visit.
(If you are ever in my bit of Wales, I'm at Builth Wells on the first Saturday of every month, come and say hello)

Making Monday

2011-08-29T17:55:00.002+01:00

Autumn is on it's way... it never really felt like we had summer, but round here leaves are turning colours, and the fruit trees are starting to ripen.
This is our Damson tree, we didn't plant it, by the looks of it this tree has been here for many years. This year it has so many fruits they're grouped on the tree like grapes!
All being well this will be it's last year of fruiting, the barn you can see in the background is going to be converted in to living space, and a big wooden deck will fill the space where the tree is now.

It's sad, but thew views up the valley are as beautiful as the views down it, and it will block out the view. We can always plant another tree, and the next one will produce a fruit that's bigger and easier to pick, as we suspect this might be a wild damson, the fruit on it is small, and ripens very variably!
So what do you do with all these damsons? Well there's jam, and crumble, and wine....
Not quite made yet, we're collecting the ripe ones in the freezer until we're ready, but the intention is there!

Tal-y-Bont show

2011-08-27T18:12:00.003+01:00

My friend Jane and I met up today at Tal-y-Bont show, I love local shows, I love the livestock the crafts, the cake, the giant veg...
I entered some of my knitting in a local show last year, but my new local show only had classes for a knitted cushion or a bag (and I make neither of those), and Tal-y-Bont technically isn't local to me so I didn't bother entering. I may get organised and do it next year though as some of the hand crafts classes were of an amazingly high standard, but unfortunately the knitting wasn't one of those classes, and it would be nice to show people some of the lovely designs and ideas that are now about.

This show had a lovely selection of local sheep, none of them are the super soft fleece breeds that we commonly know in knitting, but the climate around here doesn't suit that sort of sheep.
There were some Black Welsh Mountain though, which is definitely a breed that's worth trying, unlike the white version it's fleece is much softer, and with much less kemp (thicker hairs). I have a few different blends with this fibre in the shop, it's particularly nice blended with silk.

There were also a few of the classic handspinners sheep, Jacobs. I have a washed Jacob fleece under my bed that I really must do something with!

Plenty more photos to have a look at on my Flickr stream if you like that sort of thing.
There was also a handcraft tent, and in there was an old man who was hand plaiting headcollars for sheep and cattle out of cord and twine, beautiful work.

They also held a shearing competition, though disappointingly it seemed to be about the way the sheep looked at the end, rather than the quality of the fleece as an end product, the sheared fleeces would be useless to a handspinner, and as they were only from Welsh Mountain sheep I didn't even bother to try and scrounge a freebie.
There was blade shearing, which left the sheep with rather more dignity than the electric clipper shearing!

This sheep didn't seem to appreciate it's haircut, can't say I blamed it, 12degrees centigrade is not a pleasant temperature for an August day!

Making Monday- Weaving

2011-08-22T16:29:00.002+01:00

Todays Making Monday has got me inspired to get my loom out.
The last weaving project I did looks lovely, but I miscalculated my warp length dramatically, leaving me with a scarf that was nearly 3m long...

This time I'm not going to use laceweight (not only was the last one 3m long, I also used laceweight...), instead I've got 4 skeins of Drops Silke- Tweed, I'm not quite sure what pattern I'm going to weave in. After I finish this post I'm off to browse my copy of The weavers Idea Book and see if I get inspired.

My loom is a Cricket, and it's the perfect size for weaving in front of the TV because it's quite narrow. I've o desire to weave anything bigger than a scarf so it's perfect.

Testing, testing 1,2,3

2011-08-17T07:49:00.003+01:00

Testing fibres is important to me, I sample lots of my blends, this picture is of some of my pick n mix batts spun and knitted.
Each ply is made of one of the different colour batts, when you knit with it you get a tweedy type fabric.
All the colours above were made with variations of just 6 batts, each is a blend of Merino, Shetland and nylon for strength. If you knit it up at the sort of tension I have then you would get great socks, but you could do lot's more than that as it's still a relatively soft blend.

If you can't decide what colours you like I've put some ideas as the last photos of the listings, or I'm more than happy to take photos of 3 colours you have in mind.
You can buy pick n mix batts by clicking on the link to the right.

Making Monday- Mojitos

2011-08-15T08:26:00.002+01:00

This post will be sadly lacking in pictures, for which I apologise, but we drunk the drinks I made last night before I remembered to get the camera out...oops!

I love a nice cocktail, living in rural mid-Wales my opportunities for cocktails are rather slim unless I make them myself. At this time of year nothing beats a mojito, minty, limey, refreshing, and made out of ingredients that aren't that hard to keep around the house.

To make 2 large tall glasses you need-

A handful of mint leaves
2 Limes
Some white rum
Soda Water
Sugar
Ice

I start by grinding up the mint leaves in a pestle and mortar with 2 teaspoons of sugar (I don't like it too sweet, feel free to add more sugar). When the the leaves and sugar have formed a paste divide the paste between the 2 glasses, squeeze a lime in to each glass, add a slug of rum, 6 ice cubes, top up with soda water and give a good stir.

Not quite as good as the ones in a cocktail bar, but quite close, and definitely cheaper!

A little bit of custom spinning

2011-08-13T08:20:00.002+01:00

A friend on Ravelry doesn't spin, but she fell in love with the Slytherin colourway (sorry it's out of stock until I do a fresh fibre order), so asked if I would spin it up for her. It span up surprisingly quickly, and reminded me how much I love spinning with hackled roving.
She's planning on knitting Maja with it, which I think will look fabulous.

I can custom spin anything in the shop if you really want something but don't spin, just get in touch for prices and an idea on timescale. I also sell a Learn to Spin Kit, the main fibre in those is some gorgeous North Ronaldsay, an ancient breed of sheep from the Orkney Islands, that mainly has a diet of seaweed. How cool is that!
The link to take you to the fluffy goodness is just over to the right.

Use it or loose it...

2011-08-10T17:12:00.002+01:00

We joined the local library a month ago. The first visit we browsed the shelves and picked out all sorts of interesting books (that you'd never buy because you wouldn't read more than once) like this one on Lost country Crafts, and one on historical folk clothing including how making clothing has evolved, that I can't remember the title of...

Modern library catalogues are online now, so before we returned those books I reserved loads of books that I'd been meaning to red for ages, or just sounded interesting when I searched for the things I'm interested in...

An eclectic selection....

Anyway, my point being, we're all feeling a bit short of cash right now, if like me you have books in your amazon wish list that you'll never be able to buy, why not see if your library has them?

Summer

2011-08-06T09:04:00.002+01:00

Summer means green for me, August is when the plants really seem to take off. We had a hot April, and a damp May and June, it's taken the plants a while to work out that this really is summer!
There's lots of inspiration for colour at this time of year. I love Sweet Peas, not just for their delicate colours but also for their beautiful scent.

The colours in these beauties, inspired this roving, unfortunately while I can capture colour, I can't work the same magic on scent!

For today, how about some Honeysuckle?

Or some Nasturtiums (which also taste rather nice in salads)?

Or a Sunflower?

Of course all this growth also means plenty of dye material, there's a few fresh braids of fibre that just need to dry so I can upload them in to the shop.

Bilberries

2011-08-01T12:59:00.002+01:00

This spring the hillsides turned lime green, the leaves on bilberry bushes when they first come out are bright green, if you painted a picture of it you wouldn't think it was an accurate portrayal...
A few months down the line and all those leaves have photosynthesised lots, and the bushes are covered with berries. We've always called them bilberries, but I think over the border in Scotland they're called Blaeberries, and from what I can tell they're related to Blueberries. I ate wild Blueberries when I was in America last year and they tasted and looked identical to what I know of as a Bilberry.

One of our regular dog walks takes us right past a big patch of Bilberry bushes so last week we took some boxes with us picked away. Even though we ate quite a few, and the dog did as well (she likes berries...) we filled our boxes very quickly. The stains on our fingers were quite spectacular, and lasted for a couple of days.

Well worth it though because the pie we made was rather yummy...

My little brother

2011-07-27T07:57:00.002+01:00

We're a competitive family... for years my brother and I competed about GCSE and A-Level results. My parents were the first generation of their families to go on to further education, they met at teaching training college, pretty impressive considering my Dad still doesn't have a Maths O-Level.
It was always expected that my brother and I would go to university, I went to Sheffield and got my BSC in Biology with a 2:1, Nick however had to go one better. A week ago he graduated, a First Class Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering. He starts his PhD in September.
The Boy done good...

Texture

2011-07-24T07:36:00.004+01:00

Just up the road from us is Lake Vyrnwy, it was built by the Victorians to provide fresh drinking water for Liverpool, in true Victorian fashion even the water tower is ornate. Doesn't the photo above look like something from Europe?

Everywhere around here is "off the beaten track" very few people walk the footpaths through these hills, stiles are old and falling down. Lots of the fence posts were covered in Lichen. Such beautiful colours and textures.

The dogs had a great time pouncing through the grass pretending to be wolves, at times all your could see was Gwen's wagging tail!

Some more spinning

2011-07-20T07:46:00.004+01:00

But not by me, it's some more yarn from one of my customers, and it's so gorgeous that I had to share.

This is one of the batts I made for the Tour de France this year called Maillot Vert, it's not available right now, but might make a re-appearance for next year's tour. It's a blend of Merino, Gotland Wool, Tussah Silk and Yak down, Elin, who spun it said that it was softer than she expected with a lovely halo (which will be from the Yak down).

Thank Elin for permission to use the photos, your spinning is wonderful. Elin blogs here if you would like to see more photos of her beautiful spinning- http://theknittingseaman.blogspot.com/

Mynydd

2011-07-14T11:23:00.005+01:00

I've been a bit quiet on the knitting front recently. Lots of things going on behind the scene, but one of those things can now come out in to the open.
Meet Mynydd (welsh for mountain) it has a twisted stitch panel down either side of the leg and then rather cleverly (in my humble opinion!) splits at the heel to become a bit different as it goes along the side of the foot.
It's a really simple knit (the charts look harder than they are, but there are written directions as well), that works best in semi solids yarns.

The pink yarn is some rather bright pink from Collinette (I live 15 minutes from the factory), and the green is some Merino Dream from Fyberspates. If you like it then it's available to buy from Ravelry (you don't need a Ravelry account).

Gwen certainly seemed to like it as we were taking the photos!

Finished Objects

2011-07-05T08:25:00.003+01:00

Now that my shop has been open for a while it's been really nice to see some finished things made with my fibre. My friend Jane was one of the first people to hear about my plans for my shop after I decided to leave teaching, she was also one of my first customers.

She bought this fibre

Some Merino, Alpaca and Silk, and spun it in to this yarn.

This is typical of how my fibres spin up, random patches of different fibres, to create something that's quite tweedy looking. I was amazed about how quickly she spun it up, I was even more amazed 2 days ago when she posted a picture of the finished shawl on Ravelry!

The pattern is Holden, and as ever with Jane's knitting is really beautiful. Go and have a look at her Blog, you won't regret it!

Gardens

2011-07-01T17:11:00.003+01:00

I gave myself the day off today, partly because I needed a break (there's only so much fluff you can inhale in a week before you start to get high on the fibre fumes!), and partly because we needed to go food shopping.
Our nearest supermarket is 35 minutes drive away so we try not to go too often. We also call in the butchers in town. He wins lots of awards for his meat, and the service is fantastic, they always give us a bag of bones for the dogs too.
We also called in at the garden centre, the garden was a wilderness when we bough the house, and while there are some hidden gems, the brambles and nettles had taken over. Apparently our house used to be famous for the rhubarb it produced, and we did find a few very sorry looking plants hiding in the undergrowth, we're slowly nursing it back to health, but these things take time, as does filling 3/4 of an acre. We keep going back to the garden centre, and car boot full at a time it's filling out.

This was when we moved in, you can't see the giant conifer tree just out of shot, but a sense of the undergrowth is there just above the house. The drive was also a grassy, muddy mess, it took 18 tonnes of slate chippings to solve that problem!

Eighteen months later and the shrubs are becoming under control and the giant tree is gone.

Some of the few surviving plants were roses that were positively thriving despite years of neglect, after a good prune, they're growing really well.

This winter we dug a pond, the garden is full of springs, and has loads of land drains hidden away so we designed it to be filled with spring water, and have a natural overflow in to the other end of the land drain. The constant flow of water keeps the pond really clear, and the wildlife seem to love it.

In this picture you can see the gaps though, and gaps mean the weeds just keep growing, so the gaps have to go.
I think it will take a few more car loads though!

This time of year

2011-06-25T19:06:00.003+01:00

I love this time of year, the days are at their longest, the garden is starting to grow, and it's time for the Tour de France. Now I don't really do physical exertion of the kid that involves riding a bike, but I love watching other people push their bodies to extremes. I've managed to watch most of the coverage for the past couple of years, one year I managed to contract something that was suspected to be Swine Flu so was kept off work so I didn't contaminate the whole school, and last year I was off sick.
This year of course I can pick my own working hours, and I can definitely sit and drum card while following the early stages of the race. If we get some sprints like last year though all activity requiring concentration is definitely off the cards!

I also love this time of year as I can sign up for some different kinds of challenges, while the cyclists are travelling around France, I'll be trying to spin something for every day that they're riding. I want to see just how much of this Shetland fleece I can spin up. I've already washed it, but I'll be carding it as I go along, so I don't expect to get the whole thing done. Sounds like fun, the Tour de FleeceGroup is on Ravelry.

If you feel like really getting in to the spirit of Le Tour then maybe you might fancy the Tour de France jersey's in batt form. The winners of various competitions with in the race get to wear jersey's of various colours, Maillot Jaune for the race leader, Maillot Vert for the best sprinter, and Maillot a Pois Rouges for the best mountain climber. If you buy the Tour de France batt set from the Shop then you get free postage.

I'm also doing the Tour de France knitalong again. I started knitting a lovely blanket pattern back in February, but since then progress has stalled so I'm using this as incentive to try and finish it off. I've done 2 of the 7 panels, so again I might not finish it.

Nothing much

2011-06-21T19:15:00.003+01:00

That about sums it up really, nothing much happening here.
I've finally finished marking GCSE exam papers, which wasn't a pleasant task, but paid well enough over the couple of weeks to mean I can survive with to other income for a while longer. It did however provide some comedy answers, my favourite one being "stem cells are omnipotent"
Meg our bouncy collie has been spayed. So much of the last few days has been spent trying to stop her haring round the house like usual. 24 hours after the operation she thought nothing was wrong with her, and is most upset that she's not getting any walks or her tennis ball thrown. To placate her Mum and I drove over to Llanidloes to see the Wool and Willow Festival, we also snuck in a cup of coffee. As an added bonus Meg thought she's been out somewhere, where as in reality all she did was walk 20 m down by the river to stretch her legs before we dove back home!

I'm now busy stoking the shop back up again, as it got rather empty while I was on a deadline exam marking, hopefully we'll get some better weather soon as well, it seems to have done nothing but rain recently.

Whales and Churches

2011-06-14T19:46:00.003+01:00

Not two words that you often read in the same sentence, but on the walk this morning to post the shop parcels (most parcels get delivered to the local post office 2 miles away as we walk the dogs), we called in at our local church where the two things are definitely linked!

When they were doing work on the Mallwyd village church in the 1700's they found some old whale bones. Some claim they're a tusk and a patella, but dragging up my memories form Biology degree they look more like a rib and some other joint, but definitely not a patella. Either way they're pretty unusual objects, who knows how they got 10 miles inland?

The rest of the church is pretty unusual as well, the wood at the top of the bell tower has holes in it which spell out a phrase in Latin, unfortunately my GCSE latin is far too rusty to make a bash at translating it. There's also a lovely old gravestone, with a fantastic example of olde english.

Interestingly the older gravestones are in English and it's not until the 1800's that they start to be written in Welsh. We live in a very welsh speaking area, though nearly 50% of the population are incomers from England (mostly the West Midlands), so English is pretty commonly spoken as well.

Riding in Wales

2011-06-11T08:57:00.002+01:00

Mum and I just got back from a weeks riding. We started at Hay-On-Wye and ended up nearly back at home on the beach at Ynyslas. We only got very wet on one day, and on the others we had a few showers, but some fantastic sunshine and beautiful views.

This photo in particular makes me smile so much.

The weather was rather cold for June though, I only rode in a T-Shirt on the first day.

By the end of the holiday going along the beach I was well wrapped up in my waterproof!

We go from hotel/B&B to hotel/B&B carrying everything in the saddle bags, it's amazing how little you can get away with taking when you really try. You ride in one set of clothes, and have another set for the evening, add in a couple of books and some knitting and you're all set!
The horses we ride belong to the company who organise the holiday, and are really fantastic, they're very hard to spook, forward going, and will go for miles (the longest we did was 25 miles).
Now I'm back home I'm finishing off marking exam papers and then it's back to stocking up the shop.

Everything in the garden was lovely...

2011-06-03T17:06:00.002+01:00

After the hot spell in April, most of the plants in the garden were really struggling, we've then had a wet May (though not everywhere in the country was so lucky), and now June is warming up again and everything is bursting in to bloom.

Mum and I go off horseriding for a week tomorrow, and when we come back the garden will be awash with colour. All these foxgloves will definitely be out...

The poppies are starting to appear, and the Honeysuckle is just teasing us.

We're fully expecting the hedgerows to be beautiful as we ride along the country lanes. Speaking of Hedgerows I'm leaving the shop up while I'm away, anything sold will be sent out when I get back. Once I'm back I need to spend a few more days marking exam papers, then I'll be settling down with the fluff to create some brand new colours.

The Beach

2011-05-26T18:52:00.003+01:00

I've not posted for a while, sorry about that...
I've been busy building up stock in the shop (I start exam marking in a week, and then go on holiday so will be too busy to play with fluff and sparkle for a while), and I went back to Sheffield for a weekend. BeforeI made the decision to leave work I booked my Rainbows to go on an overnight trip, and I felt like I couldn't let them down. I also got to catch up with some friends which was nice. The Rainbows were as lovely as ever, though I finished the weekend exhausted.
We made some gorgeous Fairy Houses though.

I spent the next few days catching up with things, and yesterday we took the dogs out for the morning. We went up to a place called The Blue Lagoon, which is a flooded slate mine above Fairbourne. The water is very very deep, and in the sunshne really is bright blue. The dogs had a lovely time fetching sticks, though Meg had a shock when she went out of her depth.

After that we went down to the beach, the dogs ran themselves ragged chasing after balls, and we waded through the streams trying not to go above welly height. Topped off by coffee and homemade jam tarts in the sand dune, and then chips at lunch it was a rather lovely day.

The Biggest Waterfall in Wales

2011-05-17T14:28:00.002+01:00

We went for a walk yesterday up a beautiful valley to see a waterfall. apparently it's the biggest waterfall in Wales. We're not quite sure what makes it the biggest (is it most water, tallest biggest drop...) but it was certainly very impressive!

It was very very windy though, we ended up changing our route back down as the ridge we were trying to walk down was very unpleasant with the wind right in your face.
In a way that had it's own bonuses though as we found these pine cones. They're this years cones, and are a beautiful shade of maroon, which contrasts beautifully against the lime green needles. I'm tempted to use it as inspiration for the shop, but I fear that once spun up it would turn in to mucky sludge!

However, I think some roving in theses colours would produce some gorgeous yarn...

Mum and I have been watching these buds for the past week as we couldn't quite remember what colour they were... turns out they look like this!

Slow Worms

2011-05-13T21:04:00.002+01:00

We found slow worms in our garden last year, and they're turned up again this year. We found one dead on the drive a couple of weeks ago, and 2 days ago we found some live ones under some bark. We must have a breeding population which is fantastic news as they eat those pesky slugs. Now we've finally got some rain the slug population has started breeding, and don't the plants know it!

Experimenting

2011-05-10T20:30:00.002+01:00

I'm having real fun at the moment experimenting with natural dyes. We've always made home made wines and to a certain extent it's Chemistry, which of course I love!
You do have to take care with things, some people seem to get very scared by using chemicals, but I handled chemicals on a daily basis for the last few years, a lot of which were more dangerous than the ones I'm using now. Whats interesting is how many dye plants are also ones we use for wines.
Speaking of wines, here was my first experiment, we had some blackcurrant wine which had turned to vinegar in the bottles, I mordanted the fibre in alum and then simmered it in the wine for a while. The resulting colour is a lovely dusky pink, somewhere between the colours in these pictures. It will stand up to gentle washing just like any other dye job, and seems light fast. I've had it in full sunshine for a week and haven't noticed any colour loss. People seem to get their knickers in a twist about natural dyes fading, but all dyes will fade if left in bright sunlight for long enough, natural dyes are probably more prone to fading, but that doesn't mean they don't have their place.

Emboldened by that success I've also been playing with the Birch leaves from the Birch tree that grows by our pond. I also tried out modifying the colours with iron solution.

The kitchen and the utility room are currently resembling a witch's cave according to my Dad with various pans bubbling away with various leaves and fibres, and several jars filled with bark soaking.
I'm about to start marking GCSE and A-Level exam papers and will be rather busy for a while so am indulging while I can!

Doing what you love

2011-05-06T21:42:00.000+01:00

I uploaded things to my Etsy shop for the first time tonight. I've been beavering away for a couple of days now blending up fibres.
Within minutes of posting on Ravelry some fantastic people had made purchases.
I feel so very lucky, I am happier now than I've been in ages, I'm getting to be creative designing things, blending colours, and the scientist in me is being kept happy by trying natural dyeing. More on the dyeing later, I'm waiting for things to dry... a bit tricky now the rain has finally started falling in Wales!

Being able to go out for walks where I get to see the Bluebells underneath the Beech leaves is wonderful.

It's pretty inspirational as well.

This is Bluebell Wood, it's still in the shop if you like it.

In the oaks

2011-05-01T07:47:00.003+01:00

How has a week gone by already?
Much busy-ness here in Wales, I've been busy varnishing floors, painting doors, making cakes, cutting grass, preparing to mark exam papers and trying to get a new business started!
However I do have pictures for you, yesterday we went for a walk through some disused gold mines above Barmouth. Seemed fitting as all royal wedding rings are made from Welsh Gold, all the mines are now closed, and the Queen has some of the last of the reserves, maybe by the time she runs out the mines will have become economical to work again, after all, there is a finite amount of gold in the world.
These mines are now owned by the RSPB and are run as a reserve, it made a really nice change to walk through open deciduous woodland, rather than the more common conifer plantations.

The dogs were rather happy we found them a river to swim in, the hot weather here is continuing. A bit of rain would be rather useful, the garden needs water, and our water supply comes off a spring.

The end of the walk gave us views down in to the Mawddach estuary, with Cadair Idris in the background. The bridge you can just make out is Penmaenpool, where we canoed along to last week, and where I took these photos back in January. The weather's changed a little since then!

A reminder

2011-04-23T08:35:00.003+01:00

For now the sun has disappeared from this corner of Wales. Not before time, the garden was starting to look a little parched. However I still have the photos (and the suntan) to remind me that it really did happen.
Any idea what this is?

One thing's for certain, the dogs will be happy that it's cool again, and that their drinking spots on walks have water again.

Particularly as they spend large amounts of time on forest walks doing this!

Mawddach

2011-04-21T20:21:00.002+01:00

We seem to be having an early summer (and probably the only summer we'll get) so we've been making the most of it. Today we went kayaking on the Mawddach estuary. It was a beautiful day, and the tides fell right so we could go out in the morning before it got too hot.

The sun was rather bright though, and once we got home I ended up retreating to bed with a headache despite the sunglasses and hat.

It seems like everyone is heading to the coast to enjoy the sunny weather for the Easter weekend. The cars have been going past the house all afternoon, we'll be avoiding the busy spots over the weekend, and in my case staying out of the sun!

Worn out

2011-04-15T19:19:00.002+01:00

How can not having a day job be so exhausting?
Today has involved walking the dogs, making Lardy Cake (so bad for you, but tastes fantastic!), chocolate brownies, and tarte tatin.
I've also washed an entire Shetland fleece, and helped Dad start some Nettle Wine, and helped Mum repot some of my pot plants...
The dogs are knackered too, Gwen is snoring next to me on the sofa!

Put's you in mind of The Good Life somehow doesn't it...

I can spin a Rainbow

2011-04-14T20:12:00.002+01:00

I fell in love with the colours in this lovely Baby Camel/Silk blend from FeltstudioUK. It's spinning like a dream, I've split it up to try fractal spinning, not sure if it's going to work or not, but I'd love to keep these colours sparkly and not turn it to sludge...

Iridescent green

2011-04-10T13:18:00.002+01:00

I'm not normally a fan of bright things, but I saw this fibre when I visited the Wonderwool Wales festival yesterday and had to have it.

Now I bet you're thinking "that's not bright", and the dark bits of Shetland aren't, but it's blended with silk, and the Shetland is a very very dark green, and the silk is the same shades but lighter. There were more versions in different colours, and I had to be restrained from buying all of them! The fibre is from Freyalyn's Fibre, her shop is empty right now as she's still at the festival, but it will be updated when she get's back.

When we sat in the sunshine enjoying lunch, this little guy came to say hello. His colours (why are beetles always boys in my mind?) remind me of the fibre I'd just bought. I can't wait to spin it up.

A weekend of contrasts

2011-03-20T18:56:00.000Z

I've spent the weekend visiting a friend who lives on the outside of Cardiff, it was a weekend of contrasts, and a reminder that moving away from a city doesn't mean the end of doing all the things I love doing in cities!
We had amazing Chinese food, and then wandered around looking at amazing architecture.

Today we drove to Barry Island before I had to head home, it was busy, but it felt good to be walking around in the sunshine feeling the sand beneath my feet for the first time this year.
I even braved the chilly March Atlantic and got my feet wet.

Spin spider spin...

2011-03-09T17:15:00.000Z

Or actually, maybe not... if I was a spider I'd make very few webs.
This latest yarn has taken me ages to spin, it's a blend of merino, silk, nylon and real silver strands in a luminous blue.

So blue, it's nearly impossible to photograph, throw in the silver reflecting all the light and this was the best I could manage.

As a finished yarn though I love it, nearly 2 years after I started spinning I feel like I'm getting to the point where I can make the finished yarn I could see in my head. Good job really, as there might be more spinning in my future....

Anyone want a party ring?

2011-03-06T15:55:00.001Z

Yet again I spent the first weekend in March helping out with the High Peak Marathon this is my 7th year helping with the event, and my first time manning a check point for several years.
I met up with some old friends from uni, and we spent the night crammed in to a tent up on Bleaklow catching up and appreciating some of my Mum's homemade wine.
We eventually decided some sleep was in order, as the first runners start coming through our checkpoint at about 4am....

Having already run over 20 miles we welcomed them to our wild west themed checkpoint with offers of Party Rings , most seemed a little confused, though not nearly as confused as us when we saw a team emerge out of the mist accompanied by a collie dog (who seemed in better shape than most of the team!), I think they eventually finished in a time of about 10 hours, that is one fit dog!

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures as the mist rolled in as the dawn broke, making everything rather grey looking, however plans are already afoot for next year, any suggestions for our theme?
The lone ranger would like to know!

Now with even fewer coherent sentences

2011-02-28T16:20:00.000Z

I possibly shouldn't be trying to write this now as I just had a tooth extracted, my mental state may be somewhat questionable...

However, we can but try.

As you may have noticed I have a bit of a thing about churches, it's not the fact that they are a church so much, as the architecture, and that they are places of extraordinary beauty.
No churches survive from the time of this cross, but even it has a simple beauty, something about the proportions and the setting speaks to me.

Some of them are just plain magnificent, and come complete with a crypt.

Others are far more traditional, yet still have there own unique features, this screen is just fantastic.

We often plan a day out and then visit a church as part of that day, mostly with the help of this book, we definitely didn't pay £140 for it, and I'm fairly certain you can get it from somewhere, but if not there are probably other equally good books.

I'm now off to work out what I might be able to eat tonight.... the answer could well be, not much. I knew I should have found time for lunch before I went to the dentist, even if it meant eating in front of a class!

Up on the moors

2011-02-27T10:54:00.000Z

I've spent the last week in the the North York Moors National Park, for the most part February is a horrible time of year to be in the countryside. After the harsh winter we've had everything is very grey, brown and dead looking.
Some things were still beautiful though.

The dogs met their first grouse, much to our amusement as Gwen tried to chase one through a pond and emerged dripping in pond weed.

Not everything is grey and brown though, the first signs of spring, some Snowdrops.

A sign of things to come

2011-02-12T15:42:00.000Z

There might be chance to do rather more of this in the future...
Earlier this week I handed in my notice to leave teaching, it was starting to make me unhappy again, and no job is worth that.
I'm heading to WAles to live with Mum and Dad for a bit... I'm trying to work out if I can turn the things I love in to a living.
The future is sounding exciting!

One of the few perks

2011-02-02T17:45:00.001Z

Crazy pink sky!
Originally uploaded by hilltopkatie

I am having a nightmare getting out of bed at the moment. Admittedly 6am is never the time of day when I'm at my best, but recently.....urgggghhhh!

There are however a few perks about getting up so early, this was the colour of the sky as I left for work this morning, isn't it gorgeous. Even the terraced houses looked beautiful with their bricks all lit up in the pink light.

At last!

2011-01-22T17:19:00.000Z

This orchid came to live with me nearly 2 years ago, during that time I have neglected it to within an inch of it's life. I had despaired of it ever flowering, this morning I opened the curtains and was amazed by what I saw!

Inspired by that I felt like a bit of spring cheer was required in the living room.

Tulips and daffodils, just the thing for a dull January day.

Learning

2011-01-15T16:20:00.000Z

You would think that being surrounded by learning all day would mean that I have had enough of learning in my spare time. However I can't seem to get enough of it. The more I read and discover about fibre crafts the more I want to know.
It started with learning to knit, then I decided to learn to spin, then I wanted to learn to crochet, then I wanted to learn how to prepare my own fibres for spinning, then I wanted to weave.... who knows what I'll do next, maybe if I had a bigger kitchen I'd try my hand at dying...

Yet again I am off to Wonderwool Wales this April, Mum and I used to make a weekend of it but she now lives close enough that we can go as a day trip. Previous years I've simply made a good job of spending my hard earned cash but this year I decided I fancied learning something.
Everything I know about fibre preparation I've picked up from the internet, I've never really been shown what to do, or what to look for in good raw fibre. Hopefully by the end of April I'll have learnt a little bit more.

For now, I am getting on with my knitting, I have been freed from gift knitting and have enjoyed casting on things that are just for me! I'm sat on the sofa listening to the wind, with a pot of sparkly beads beside me. I reckon if I bash on I can get this shawl finished this weekend!

Good habits

2011-01-10T17:32:00.002Z

I don't do new years resolutions but this January has seen me decide to start some new good habits. The festive period took it's toll on my waist line and my trousers were a little snugger than I would have liked.
Luckily my fancy new lab coat hides most of the damage while I'm at work!
Mum made me a lab coat for Christmas and I love it. At the moment it's been worn every day, partly because my classroom is freezing but partly because I love it (and it has pockets!). She simply embroidered this pattern (and a few others) on to it.

Pattern available from this etsy shop, or the sellers website. I'm already making plans for additions to my existing set if I ever get any free time!

In summary

2011-01-01T09:26:00.000Z

2010 has been a year of creativity, I learnt to weave, I published another pattern,

In terms of knitting (and weaving)
10 pairs of socks
8 hats
8 cardigans/ jumpers / shrugs
7 pairs of mittens
7 scarves
3 pairs of slippers
7 shawls

and assorted other goodies, all in my spare time!

Here's to a productive 2011.

The Thaw

2010-12-30T11:19:00.000Z

The thaw has finally set in here. I'm currently in Wales visiting my parents, the reckon we've had nearly a month of bellow freezing temperatures. We were driving down to the beach for a walk 2 days ago and spotted this from the road.

This is the toll bridge at Penmaenpool, the sea is only a couple of miles away, as the river goes past the bridge it slows down and ice must have formed in the cold weather. Now the weather is warming up the ice is starting to melt, and in the warm air was steaming!

Skiing

2010-12-28T10:20:00.000Z

I've just got back from a fantastic weeks skiing in France. We stayed in a chalet that was 2 minutes away from the slopes and had some fantastic days skiing, with falling snow for the last 2 days.

December 24th

2010-12-24T19:59:00.000Z

Every year I use the same video as the final post in my advent calendar. It's my little way of reminding myself that it's not all about me, and that sometimes more is less.

If you can, maybe give a Christmas present to someone less fortunate than us, if you're feeling lazy the p/hop widget is just to the right, there aren't many charities who I unconditionally trust to spend my money wisely but MSF is one of them.

December 23rd

2010-12-23T18:27:00.001Z

We'll just be coming up to the finale of one of my favourite TV shows, Strictly Come Dancing. Every year a bunch of celebrities learn to dance, each year some of them are always dreadful, some start off poor, and get better, and other are stars from the beginning.
One of my favourite ever dances is from Series 2 by Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennet, just watching it makes me smile!

December 22nd

2010-12-22T19:54:00.000Z

Christmas is a time to be merry, this justifies the consumption of many festive tipples in our house. In order for many tipples to be enjoyed at their best they need to be chilled, and why not chill them in a pretty way!

December 21st

2010-12-21T19:50:00.000Z

Go on treat yourself, put your feet up, read a book, listen to the radio. Make a mug of hot chocolate, the proper stuff, made with milk, none of this instant rubbish!

Photo from Gino LoCascio

December 20th

2010-12-20T19:35:00.000Z

Its not too late to add some more decorations... in my opinion a house isn't decorated enough until you can't move for the bling!

This door wreath is lovely, unfortunately I can't show you how lovely as I can't copy any of the images to show you...
However it could be a rather useful thing to do with all your yarn scraps.