Glasgow School of Yarn

I've just got back from a lovely weekend in Glasgow at an event called Glasgow School of Yarn. The event is organised by the wonderful Antje, owner of The Yarn Cake. In comparison to the big events like Wonderwool and Woolfest this is more compact, more friendly,  more relaxed. There are some wonderful classes that take place from world renowned tutors (we'll gloss over the part where I didn't recognise Amy Singer....), and there is lots of wonderful cake.

This is the view as you enter the marketplace, the tables in the middle were filled all day with people sitting, knitting, chatting, spinning, learning....

As ever, the Learn to Spin Kits proved to be popular, one of the nice things about this event is that it was relaxed enough to let me give people a hand as they took their first steps with a drop spindle. Normally at shows it's so busy that I don't know which way is up, let alone have chance to teach people. 

One of my challenges for the event was to squeeze everything on to a 6 foot table, not for the first time I was green with envy as I watched the yarn vendors stack up yarn, batts in plastic bags are sloppy and take up lots of space!

There were a few new things that I took to the event, I had thought I might bring some of them back with me, but they all sold. One of the most popular new things were some dyed silk. Amy Singer (off of Knitty) ran a silk spinning workshop, and at lunchtime her class descended on the stall like a hoard of vultures.

 I have one pack of silk hankies left, rather than photograph them and add them to the shop, you can won them by leaving a comment here. On the 30th October I'll randomly draw a name from a hat, and send the winner a message (make sure you don't comment anonymously). 

I'll be doing more silk dyeing soon, so keep an eye out for it in the shop.

The event is held in the Mackintosh Church, this was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and everywhere you look there are examples of his design, the same motifs appear everywhere, even on the toilet doors. 

If you can make it to Glasgow next year, Antje was heard to mutter that she'd be running another event,  then I hope to see you there.

The Beach

Summer is over, the tourists have mostly gone home, and we can reclaim our beaches.
The dogs love the beach, nothing beats an open stretch of sand and some waves, and of course, a tennis ball!

The beach we go to most often is Aberdyfi, it's about 30 minutes drive from our house, and is also a great source of driftwood for making things. We always end up taking a rucsac full of wood back home with us, Dad takes them in to the garage and turns them in to mirrors and candle holders for our market stall. 

Meg will chase after her tennis ball all day if we let her, Gwen however prefers to play with the tennis ball thrower, even if you're trying to use it to throw the ball. 

The weather on Friday was beautiful, blue skies and high fluffy clouds, the beach acted like a mirror.

This is the view back towards the Dyfi estuary, well worth taking a morning off, we've not had many days like this during the summer!

Sheep to Yarn to Sheep

More ideas of what to do with your first handspun, or even a scrap of leftover handspun.  This idea comes from the lovely Linda. she bought one of my basic Learn to Spin Kits .

Her yarn is pretty good for a first attempt, as she says in her project notes, plying evens out the finished yarn quite dramatically. 

She then crocheted it in to her very own little sheep. 

You can find the pattern here. The original sheep was designed to be stuffed with a scented sachet, and with Christmas on the way it strikes me that these might be ideal quick Christmas gifts to use up scraps of handspun. The knobbly crochet just seems to suit the texture of the sheep perfectly. I don't really crochet, but I might have to give one of these a go to take with me to Glasgow School of Yarn. 

Learn to Spin

One of the frequent questions I get asked in relation to my Learn to Spin kits is "what can I make with the yarn I've spun"

The answer, is as ever, it depends. It depends on how quickly you grasp the technique, how consistent your yarn is, and what you like making.

Some people, it has to be said, are naturals, this is Pip's 3rd ever yarn, made using the batt and handblended roving from the kits

I want to hate her, but she such a lovely person that I can't quite manage it!

That's 85g of fibre turned in to 156m of sport weight yarn. 

And then a pair of flip top mittens. Knitted quite densely to keep the chill off.

Perfection!

For anyone who's wondering about what to make with first skeins of handspun, mittens are a pretty good answer. They don't need much yardage, and tend to get worn in quite quickly. Moving the fabric as you move your hands evens out the stitches and fluff fills any slightly looser sections. 

Just 100g

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic. Just before I wrote the last post I went down to Pembrokeshire Guild of Weavers and Dyers for their open day (if you would like me to visit your guild with the shop, or to run a workshop then get in touch). Just 5 days later I was heading in to the Peak District to BOB the Underground festival. It was a great weekend, but all shows are tiring and the work keep piling up while you're not at home. I've spent the rest of the week unpacking, organising, and dyeing for my Best of British club. 

However, this is not a moan, just gives you an idea about why occasionally things fall a bit silent on the blog!

When I'm at shows I often get comments of "oooh it's lovely, but what can I make with 100g', so over the winter I'm hoping to make a few samples to answer just that question. I'm particularly after things that aren't shawls.

Here's one of my new samples-

 It's less than 100g, in fact  I had some yarn leftiver so it's only took about 70g of fibre. The fibre was  some of my handcarded batts containing BFL, Merino and Angora, I spun them up longdraw in to a fluffy worsted weight yarn.

The finished yarn has a beautiful halo, and yes it would be handwash only, but I think more and more parents are appreciating how to care for more delicate garments. Most washing machines now have a handwash cycle, I use it for my handknits all the time and it works beautifully. 

The pattern, if you would like to create your own version, is One Baby Sweater. I think it's a lovely little versatile pattern, that would work for boys and girls.

Tour

Yesterday I drove over to Welshpool to watch the start of Tour of Britain cycle race. For the non-clycling fans out there it's pretty similar to the Tour de France, except it doesn't last for as many days, not as many of the big teams compete, and the hills aren't as big as the Alps or Pyrenees. 

The Welsh stage of the race traditionally leaves from Powis Castle which is down the road from me, and this year I decided to make the effort to go and watch the start of the race. British cycling has never been more popular, and it showed, the number of fans there was huge, and getting off the car park at the end was something of a competitive event in itself!

The team buses, cars and vans all pulled up in to the main car park, and most people milled around, waiting to spot famous rider, and pointing at very expensive bikes. Highlight of the morning was when one of the Garmin cars reversed over a bike that had been left leaning on the back bumper. I suspect that was a rather expensive oops...

Until however, the Sky bus pulled up. It was the only bus to have it's own barriers erected round it, and with in seconds the crowds were 10 deep...

This was about as close as I got to Mark Cavendish, however, I'm so glad I went because having a British road racing champion is pretty special. 

Even getting in a position to see the start line was something of a competitive event.

There are still a couple of days racing left and if you live near the route then it's well worth popping out for half an hour to watch them go past.

Decked

My younger brother is home for the weekend, and his first comment was "you've not shown the pictures of the finished deck on your blog", so just for you Nick, and because you worked very hard building it, here's the finished decking.

I no longer have a 2 metre drop out of the door, instead I can stroll out and sit in the sunshine. 

Of course, Nick doesn't get to come home and just have a relaxing weekend, he and Dad are currently on the roof of the workshop replacing the roofing. Maybe someday we'll finish all the jobs that need doing...