New spaces

This is where all the fibres in the shop are now going to be coming from. Not a great picture, and not quite everything is in the right place. The downstairs is still waiting for the floor to be laid so still looks like a building site. A few things that are up here will be finding space downstairs. The silver pipe in the corner is the chimney from the wood burning stove, and even though it's double walled it still gets nice and toasty!

 This is my new stock storage, good old Ikea provided a shelving unit that fitted in perfectly, though we had to take off the towel rail to get it in, and take a chunk out of the oak beam that stuck out further than the wall. 

This is my favourite part of the whole place, above the stairs is a huge panel of windows, they let in a huge amount of light. I've spent the past few days varnishing and oiling all the wood on the stairs, but the end result is lovely

Now I just need to wait for the builders to come back, fix all the snags, install the shower, and lay the floor....

Making space

Progress with the barn has no reached the point where moving in and starting to use the upstairs as a work place is becoming a reality. For months I've known that I will be moving in, but it's only now that it actually seems real!
The work space and storage has been tentatively planned, I'm not sure about the actual logistics until I try to move everything in, and actually use the space.
However, one thing has become apparent, there are certain things that need to go!

When I blend fibres on my hackle I'm left with a small section of fluff on the tines. These are the shorter lengths of fibre, they're still lovely and soft, and just fine to use. I've mostly been using them to create my hand spun yarns, and some of them go in various felting kits. However, as I've stepped up production in preparation for Wonderwool, the amount of fluff has been piling up faster than I can use it.

I've listed it in 100g lots, priced at £3. The actual fibres are of the same quality as the rest of the things in the shop, it just doesn't look as neat and pretty!

I spin straight from the cloud of fibre when I create corespun yarns, but you can also card this fibre really successfully. If you wanted a larger quantity, I probably have more....

Barn progress

The barn is so very nearly finished...

It has plastered (and painted, though not in the final colours) walls, running water, and a source of heat. The major missing thing is the floor downstairs, but the end is finally in sight.

I'm off to spinning guild tomorrow and am leaving Mum and Dad to crack on with painting the walls in the right colours. Since I took these photos we've had the wood burning stove installed, and have started the tiles by the bath.

The kitchen isn't that blue colour, that's just the protective coating we're leaving on until we finish doing anything that might scratch the unit. The other major thing we're waiting for is the gas to be connected to the stove, and the shower to be plumbed in. I've been brave a picked a bright lime paint to go on 2 of the walls in the kitchen, everywhere else, apart from the bathroom is going to be a very neutral off white. 

I'm hoping to be able to start working in the upstairs space sometime very soon (maybe even next week), I'm already looking forward to having space to work immensely!

Freezing Fog

The snow missed Wales. I've had a few people place orders from the shop saying not to worry about rushing out to post, but alas, we got the rain, cooled down the air nicely in time for it to snow over the Midlands.

The exact same thing is meant to happen today, so yet again we'll get rain falling on frozen ground which should make for a pleasant driving experience. It was cold last night, colder than we realised, because yet again our water pipes have frozen. Our water comes from a spring 2 fields behind our house, comes down via a skinny pipe that is sot of buried, somewhere...
Turns out that somewhere isn't quite deep enough when it drops below -5C, if we forget to leave a tap running overnight we have no water in the morning.

In exchange for no snow, we have had some rather cold weather and some freezing fog, it's made everywhere look very pretty, if a little eerie.

Socks

This post is my 600th since I started blogging, in that time I've been a student, had a professional job, and am now self employed. The blog has seen boyfriends come, and then go, and seen the start of new hobbies. Those hobbies have become, to a certain extent, life consuming. One of them now forms the basis of how I earn a living. However, the things that led me down this path was the desire to knit socks. These were my first ever socks- Just a basic top down pattern in Regia 4ply. 600 posts on, and I'm still knitting socks.

I've got a bit quicker, one of these socks was knitted in 24 hours, it only took a week to finish the second one because I took time out to finish a cardigan (photos of that when I take time out to find the right buttons). The yarn is still Regia, I've come to the conclusion recently that nothing beats a 75% wool, 25% nylon mix for socks that last, and wash. The original socks (knitted in 2008) have been washed and worn, and washed and worn, and still look nearly as good as new, while other socks have long since given up the ghost. The only exception is that this is a 6ply yarn, Kemps currently have it on offer for £4 for a 150g ball. I'm going to be able to make 3 socks out of that one ball, and as you can see I've made them nice and long. Please save me from myself and buy it, before I go back and buy more! One thing also hasn't changed, I still don't knit stripy socks to match!

Busy bees

York was everything it always is. A weekend filled with laughter, occasional sharing of sorrows, but mostly sharing of joys. Lot's of teaching, and plenty of learning. A small mountain of knitting and spinning, and just a little stash enabling. We raised money for p/hop (widget on the sidebar) and MSF by bringing along our unwanted stash yarn and swapping it with others who felt they could use it.

I'm now back home, after yet another trip to Ikea. My barn is now looking so close to being finished, there is a kitchen, and nearly a bathroom, and there are lights. Just the flooring, and the wood burning stove, and a few minor details left, then it will need decorating and I can move in!

I'm busy working on the parcels for February's fibre club, and I've just sent out the email letting people know that they can get buy a space for March.
Just before I went to York I also heard that I've got a stall at Woolfest in the Lake District at the end of June. I've been several times as a customer, but I'm very excited to be there as a stall holder. I hope to see some of you there!

Going, Going, Gone...

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.