Hand dyed yarn for the dolls.

This lambswool yarn has been hand-dyed, using indigo and madder, amongst others and I am going to be knitting it up as the edging for a doll's dress. Also included is a photo showing details of where it came from.  It is only a small amount of yarn, but beautiful and will enhance the dolly dress.

Wool winder

Thanks to the loan of a wool winder I was able to wind this yarn from the many cones of wool I had acquired.  There are now more manageable balls of yarn for me to start being creative with.  The trouble is now having to decide what to make!  It is mostly 4ply, so I could follow a Fair Isle pattern and make a hat with red, blue and brown.

Activities

The wind is now coming from the North and last night we had the log burner going.  Not that the weather is going to stop me from going on a sponsored walk Saturday afternoon, with the reward of a bowl of cawl (soup) when we all get back.  There will be a camp fire and music too.  Narberth Food Festival is also on and this year they have crafters.  I was not organised this time around so am going to miss out on sales, but lookout Narberth FF next year!  My intention is to take lots of photos of both these events, to add to my stories here.

winding wool

This is how I am going to be occupying myself this week-end.  Well almost.  I have borrowed a small wool winder so that I can wind a huge cone of red lambswool, 4 ply, into manageable balls of yarn.  It does look silly when I have to start carrying around huge amounts of wool on a cone for my knitty exploits.

Felt brooch

A few weeks ago, when it was sunny and warm in these parts, I went to Newport, Pembrokeshire to enjoy the beach and have a picnic.  There is a lovely craft shop there selling products made by local crafters.  The shop was full of lovely things such as teddies, wicker baskets, paintings and jewellery.  I bought this felted star, which could be worn as a brooch but I have it attached to my willow basket.  The artists other felt brooches include puffins and hearts and would make a great present for the up and coming end of year festival (not actually going to say the word as it is far too early!).

Willow weaving

This looks simple to make doesn't it?  I haven't tried willow weaving as I already have enough activities to get along with, but something like this would like really good in the garden.  Perhaps with flowers growing around it, such as sweet peas.

Peg loom

These yarns were hand dyed with natural dyes but members of the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.  Last night I went to the monthly meeting and we were given a demonstration on how to use a peg loom.  It is such a simple device and method yet you can produce useful products such as rugs, chair seats and bags.  All sorts of materials can be used on the peg loom, such as chunky yarn, raw fleece, selvedge etc.  This is going to be a good way to use all those bags of fleece I have in my craft room.  Now I will have to think about what colour scheme to use so that a really nice item is made.  We have a show and tell meeting at the Guild in March (such a long way off) and I would like to take a peg loom item to show.

Bunting

Bunting is everywhere these days, but it is still a cheerful sight to see.  This could be made with some recycled fabric and ribbon.  I have been knitting bunting with similar colours to the ones in the picture.  Perhaps autumn colours would be appropriate now.

New Folksy shop

This week-end I set up my folksy shop with recycled haberdashery, fabric, yarn and other ephemera - www.folksy.com/shops/geranium.  We all have bits and pieces that could be used again for our crafting projects and I hope to be able to supply them to you lovely customers.

Even more yarn.

Bought some more yarn at St David's, last week-end.  Natural grey, indigo and some brown rare breeds yarn.  Not sure what I am going to make with it but I do know that I don't have spare time to indulge in knitting for fun.

Commissions

The Really Wild Festival was good fun but not a success as far as sales of my crafty items.  £1.00 was the final total, but someone did commission me to make 2 dolls.  The dolls are for Christmas presents so I had better get knitting.

End of Summer?

Has summer finished with us?  How would I know?  At the Really Wild Festival, St David's yesterday it really felt like it had.  There was rain and wind but plenty of people were there enjoying Welsh produce - plenty of beer, cider and yummy cake.  I do think that my fire pit will be put away for a while until the weather improves.

More fleece.

At the dye day the other week I used dryed heather flowers on this small piece of fleece and it came out a disappointing dirty yellow shade.  There was a vat of indigo so I popped the fleece in and it came out this lovely shade of green.  The photograph here doesn't show its lovely colour so well, but it is a pleasing shade.

Mill near the beach.

The Bank Holiday and the lovely weather we are having right now have distracted me from blog life.  Over the week-end I went for picnics on the coast and dropped by Melin Tregwynt.  They have their mill, a shop and tea rooms close to a quiet beach.  Sometimes they have bargains on offer in the shop, such as cones of wool and off cuts of woollen fabric, but unfortunately this time I could not find any oddments to purchase.  In the workshop the looms were set to make traditional double weave Welsh quilts in lime green and purple and looked fabulous.