The London Knitting and Stitching Show 2016

I thought you might like to see some pictures from this year's Knitting and Stitching show.
I decided to take up the offer of returning to the same spot as last year, but this time I made sure I made enough batts and spindles to last me the whole week! I was so overrun last year with customers that I all but sold out of things on the last day.
The Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally is a five day show at the beginning of October in North London, and was always the highlight of my year as a visitor for many years.

Bright coloured batts on my vintage dresser

I really liked my little corner of the show- which is MASSIVE by the way, in case you have never been before. The Knitting and Stitching show is made up of four ginormous halls full of exhibitors of all genres in the craft world - sewing machines, yarn, fabric, artist exhibitions, haberdashery, books, felting supplies, needles and notions and so much more. I was surprised anyone found me at all, so thank you to everyone who came to see me and supported me.

My stall - batts, spindles, spinning wheels, art yarns, roving, weaving looms! 

I started preparing for this show three months before. I made 250 batts for the show- Thats 25 kilos of fluffiness! I also made a similar number of drop spindles, and dyed up 50 rovings in fake cashmere and my favourite- polwarth too. I loved making and designing all my handspun yarns, full of texture and hand collected fleece.

My handmade drop spindles 

Relaxing with mum at the end of day three, spinning of course! 

We offered to teach people how to spin on the stall, with a little difference from last year- this time we brought our spinning wheels too! Mum was so lovely teaching people on the (blue) wheel while I mostly showed visitors how to use a drop spindle.

There is always time for more spinning - we were kicked out most nights by the security guards for being the last ones there! 

Everyone loved my "Ice Crystal" batt - I think because the gold glittery angelina in the batt sparkled so much under the lights!

Ice Crystal Batts

I was surprised and excited to meet American superstar crochet designer Vickie Howell (http://vickiehowell.com) who popped by my stall on the Saturday with her film crew (eeep!) and got me to show her a few spindle moves. I also met the lovely team behind VAV magazine, a specialist weaving periodical made in Sweden with beautiful pictures and articles about the modern weaving community.

A shelf stuffed full of my hand carded batts

It was nice to be opposite my show pal textile artist Katie Essam again, who I met for the first time last year. Katie makes gorgeous embroidered and mixed media art pieces and it was lovely to catch up in-between the crowds.
We packed up after our five days in London and travelled home to Cambridge in no time at all. I can't wait to be back next year!
I will be taking my wares up to Harrogate later this month, so if you are nearby, come along because I'm sure you will have a fantastic day out.

Tour De Fleece 2016

It's that time of year again - The Tour De Fleece!

I look forward to the tour all year, saving up my most coveted of fibres and clearing bobbins in anticipation. For those of you who are reading this and thinking to yourselves, "tour de WHAt? let me explain. 

The Tour De Fleece is an annual event which runs concurrently with the (ever so slightly more famous) Tour De France. For every day the competitors take to their bikes, thousands of spinners around the globe take to their treadles and spindles and spin yarns as vigorously and with as much passion as the riders cycling up mountains and battling along rainy roadsides. Honestly- this is a thing!

Us spinners don't just spin during the tour - perhaps the best bit is the sharing of the spinning with other fleecers, on all the social medias you can imagine. Everyday, it is encouraged that people taking part in the tour share an image of their days work, with a light comment on how they feel they are progressing. In the weeks leading up to the tour, we might share our goals and what we hope we might achieve. For example, I set myself the challenge to spin art yarns in a variety of techniques, including lock yarns and coils. 

 It technically started as an event run through Ravelry, however you will find people posting updates on facebook, instagram and twitter. I decided to run a team for UK based spinners, feel free to join in with our chatting and discussions - even my international friends.  

The tour has now ended and I've completed several art yarns on my wheel and spun several hundreds of metres on my drop spindle while i've been out and about. I spun my "Garden Roses" Batt on my spindle which had a mixture of merino, hand dyed ramie, soya silk, hand dyed firestar and corridale in warm corals, pale yellow, peaches and pinks.  Of course I had to choose a spindle to match.

My first art yarn of the tour was made using a hand dyed braid of fake cashmere plus a blended roving in my "dolly mixture" colourway, which I decided I'd make into a core spun coil yarn. It turned out deliciously. 

I spun my yarn using my Ashford country spinner and a mohair/nylon core. The fake cashmere wrapped brilliantly and looked silky, smooth and puffed up just nicely to make a soft yarn.

The coiled blended roving turned out much cooler than I imagined! Definitely something I'd like to make again.

 The next few yarns I made using fibre in a "cloud". Spinning from a Cloud is a fun and easy way to spin textured yarns. I mixed hand dyed farm fleeces, angelina sparkle, excel, bamboo, BFL and wensleydale locks, hand dyed recycled silk, merino, mohair locks and cotton in a big floofy (thats a word, honest) pile and spun a thick 'n' think singles as the fibres came to me.

Cloud Fibre

 Oh man I was addicted. I mixed up a batch of green and blue Clouds and spun spun spun spun spun!
I think this may be my favourite way of spinning art yarns now. I love the unpredictability of spinning like this. It can be a little tricky if you are used to evenly prepared fibre as the drafting changes quickly (super fast for plant fibres, slower for farm fleece) but the results were magical for me as it spun onto the bobbin.

 I ended up spinning slightly less than I had planned, as the tour coincided with my making time for Fibre East, but I loved being part of the community and I felt so inspired by everyone who took part. I can't wait for next year!

Yarndale - And My Spin City Stall!

All ready at Yarndale!

What a weekend! What a show! I have just got back to my lovely sunny Cambridge house after a crazy fabulous weekend away in Yorkshire for Yarndale!  

Me and Mum in matching outfits on our stall.  

 Mum (the beautiful Karen Player) and I set off on Friday morning bright and early and headed north with our trailer in tow stuffed to the roof with all my colourful hand carded batts, spindles and hand spun yarns - as well as my trusty vintage dresser, birdcage, shelves and fabric walls!

After many a traffic jam and jam sandwiches we arrived about five hours later, and quickly set about erecting fabric walls and putting everything in place. I love seeing everything come together. Putting together a show stand for me is like owning a little shop for a couple of days, which is a dream of mine! The icing on the cake of me is putting up our polka dot bunting as I think it makes our stall look so festive.

I made quite a few new batts for this show, with bright colours in! They didn't last long. :-D
The most popular batt was "E Numbers" made from merino, faux cashmere and silk in a neon rainbow!  I also made a series of batts inspired by the planets. At the top of the picture below is "Saturn." I was so surprised to see a few friends from instagram meet me first thing on Saturday - saying they had to get to my stall quickly before my batts sold out!

Colourful batts on my stall

 I also brought with me my selection of drop spindles with pressed flowers, glitter, lace and pretty pictures trapped inside. Here's my spindle table all set up in my teapot collection!

Drop spindles in my teapot collection

 Mum and I are always happy to teach newbies how to spin. In fact - it is a total joy for me to teach people, because I love spinning so much and I love passing that on to others! I was bitten by the spinning bug about six years ago now, and I don't think a day goes by without my picking up a spindle. It's totally addictive and rewarding.
One of the best things about Yarndale for me this year was teaching people how to spin - and then those people coming back to me a couple of hours later or even the next day to show me how far they had come along! They had gone from complete beginner- some not even knowing what a drop spindle was- to fully fledged spinstars in just a few hours! I've even had an email from a textiles student with pictures of her newly spun yarn on the knitting machine on her first day back at Uni. I felt very proud of her. :-)

I think I might have a glitter addiction!

 The first day at Yarndale was my most successful show day ever. Thank you to everyone who came along and supported me, I feel so blessed. :-) We were pretty rushed off our feet the whole day - although we did manage to sneak in a couple of chocolate bars and tea breaks.

 After we closed on the Saturday we drove to our gorgeous Air BnB cottage in Barnnoldswick a few miles down the road and kicked off our shoes and settled down to eat nice healthy meal and watched "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie. Then I was up bright and early again on Sunday to straighten our stall out again for day two of Yarndale!

Blended rovings all stacked up

My handspun yarns

 When we got to our stall on the Sunday morning we were greeted by a herd of massive Swalesdale sheep!  They had the most gorgeous lacey fleeces and made such pretty sheep noises. I wonder who the breeder was? ;-)

Swaledale sheep at Yarndale

Herded by a friendly sheepdog!

We packed down at 4.30 when the show closed and headed back to our cottage for another night of film watching. I was so tired I went to bed before 10 - but I was woken up at 3 am by Mum excitedly because the Lunar eclipse was in full swing. We sat up and watched it together from the attic room with skylights flung open- a magical way to finish our weekend away.
I can't wait to go back next year.

Here's a little video of the show by the blogger +Helpful Mum  which features my spindles. Enjoy!

Iknit Fandango 2015

50's dresses at the fandango!

I have just come back from my first London wool show- the Iknit Fandango! 

This show was organised and run by the guys from the Iknit London shop in Waterloo, a marvellous Aladdin's cave of knitty delights- and where I purchased my first set of chunky knitting needles to knit my handspun yarn on about 8 years ago! 

The fandango was held in the amazingly light and beautiful Lindley Hall, owned by the RHS, which is usually filled with plant exhibitions! 

Over 50 sellers came from across Europe and the UK, including my friend Bogga  from Knitting In France who jumped across the North Sea from France to sell her lovely stitch markers and hand dyed yarns. 

I packed up my dresser and wares and was in London in a jiffy. 

The show had an exciting atmosphere for me, everyone was in high spirits and the ladies of the WI kept us feed and watered with their delicious cakes and read from their pop up cafe.

I met a couple of returning customers and introduced others to the art of spinning! 

Spin City drop spindles displayed in my teapot collection

I brought along my friends Corrie from the Plutonium Muffins blog and Clare from Clarebearknitwear to help me out over the two days of the show, which was great fun!

I stayed at Clare's house in London, and after all our hard work teaching people to spin, talking about spinning, and hand spinning on spindles all day - what did we decide to do on our day off? SPIN of course! 

We plyed a few of the cops spun up during the show, listening to a replay of Radio Two's Folk Show in the boiling sunshine - very satisfying to get so much done, and to see the fruits of ours and other's labour over the weekend! Then we spent some time spinning some basic colour singles for some tapestry weaving we plan on doing as project in a few weeks. 

Plying in the sunshine in Clare's Garden

Thanks for coming to see me at my spring wool shows! I won't be doing another show now until July, as I'm getting married in June! Yay!

:-)

Wonderwool Wales 2015

Ive just come back from Wonderwool!

Wonderwool was amazing this year! It was my second time showing there and I was in hall 3, which was new last year.

I took a massive stall and filled it with all my usual furniture, fluff and spindles!

Spinning on my stall

Wonderwool had such a great atmosphere, the people who I met were just as enthusiastic as me when it comes to fibre and spinning! 

One of the best bits for me was meeting some of my customers from last year, who came back to share what they had done or learnt! 

Here a customer of mine came back to show me what she did with a single (yes a single!!) mermaid batt, which she spin and plied with a commercial silk thread and then knitted into a gorgeous waterfall shawl! 

Waterfall shawl made from a single batt!

Lace pattern

Detail - spun from my Mermaid Batt

I love the way the colours stripe! 

My second favourite thing about ring part of Wonderwool is actually being in Wales! 

It's such a beautiful country- full of hills and greenery and sheep! Heaven! 

Below is a picture of Builth Wells where the show is held, which I snapped just before leaving for Suffolk again. 

I hope to go again next year! 

Builth Wells

Making spindles!

I thought I would post a quick couple of pictures of some spindles I have been making recently! This is the season of sparkle and I certainly haven't limited myself with the glitter!

People tell me my fibre blends are like unicorn hair... Well these look like fairy wands! 

Ive started using a more shock resistant resin for my spindles, which will be much better for newbies to learn on. I'm really pleased with how they have turned out

I've also made two art yarns from hand carded batts, they really compliment each other well. 

It is a really busy time for me in my shop at the moment- lots of Christmas orders to post out and custom orders to finish. I'm looking forward to some quiet time with my spinning wheel in the new year. 

My week with fluff, resin and spring

This week I have been a busy spring bee.  Not only have I been working hard getting things ready for wonderwool, but I've been doing it sporting a beehive hairstyle (my current hairstyle obsession) so I think that counts doubly towards me being a busy spring bee!

So, I've been making some lovely spindles whorls for the show, concentrating on using up some pressed flowers that I gathered last summer from my garden.

They are looking really pretty! I've also been experimenting with embedding pictures in my resin- I can't wait to show you the results. I've made spindles with maps in, illustrations and vintage fabric... 

I've also been spinning and dyeing yarn for my shop. Since I've got my new addition to my fleet (Maple the Lendrum) you cant stop me! 

The weather has been wonderful for drying yarn outside too.

I've also been really enjoying reading a retro favourite - "a country diary of an Edwardian lady" recently. I love comparing the way spring unfolds in 1902 compared with today, and learning wildflower names at the same time. Spring is about a month ahead right now! 

Why Do I Spin My Own Yarn?

Ok I admit it! I love spinning lumpy bumpy thick and thin, squishible, fluff balls of yummy yarn. Or any yarn for that matter, as long as I can feel the fibres through my finger tips. 

I've been thinking alot recently about WHY I love spinning. 

I think it comes down to a love of knitting, which gripped me when I was a teenager and gave me my obsession for textiles and design.  I picked up my first ball of rainbow acrylic 4ply when I was 14, and instantly I was struck with this lust for yarn- It wasn't necessarily about the knitting in the beginning, but the overwhelming sense of possibility and free creativity that this yarn represented to me.  I never made anything with it, but kept it to look at and to knit a few lines of knotted, holey garter stitch- I was totally in love and thrilled to the core.  I think spinning holds this same excitement for me- the idea that I can create anything, any colour, texture or amount- but I also love the free organic nature of spinning- where you can let the fibres tell you what to do and how it want's to be spun.

I love the satisfaction of making something from nothing- from a sheep in a field, to the dye pot, to the carder to the wheel or spindle.

It is calming and addictive at the same time. I always have a spindle or two on the go next to the kettle or in my handbag to whip out when there is a few minutes to play!

When I'm spinning a yarn, i'm constantly trying to better myself with every twist of fibre, constantly enjoying the colours interplay and surprise me.

New feature in YarnMaker magazine

Wohu! My oh-so-purdy hand poured resin drop spindles have featured in the latest edition of the fabulous Yarn Maker magazine!

This is a proud moment for me! I have been selling these spindles officially since August this year, and only a month or so down the road I am getting press in a high profile magazine such as Yarn Maker.

I have lots of ideas to come and I am hopefully going to experiment with different types of wood for the shafts., keep watching for updates!