What I have been doing

1. Designing - fairisle in Cashmere Soft



2. A shop update - been and gone.

3. Attempting spinning
Alpaca fleece - fawn from Teddy plied with white from Bubble. Attempts to retain the softness ended up in thick and thin again and I found it much easier to spin which the fawn. The white had very short bits and I found it tricky to get anything out of it. Am looking forward to trying the black - might be able to get a better length out of it. I need to be more vigilant in taking out the guard hairs.

And a practice attempt which a mixture of rovings carded by Skein Princess - she absolutely loves carding! I started this at the meeting of the Kennet Valley Spinners, Weavers and Dyers guild meeting where a wonderful lady called Linda, who has over 30 years' spinning experience, attempted to show me the basics. She started by oiling up my wheel which made a huge difference - I could actually get it to turn with just my feet but we discovered that it needs a pin replacing. She was wonderfully patient and a great teacher.

4. Went up to East Hendred today where Wingham Wool were having an open weekend. There was heaps of fibre to choose from and lots of spinning going on. I met Yvette and Shazspun from Ravelry who I'd met at the guild meeting the week before. I came away with this little lot for the princely sum of £6 due to a handy voucher I'd stowed away from when I'd purchased my wheel from them.


5. A night out with the girls

Karen, Jackie, Sue, Sandra, me, Michelle and Karen.

What a fantastic night we had. An Italian meal and then we boogied at a local bar til 2.30am. I thought I was too old for that malarky, but I was mistaken. We had a scream!

6. A spot of gardening - working towards a Brownie badge.

7. Checking out the Bentleys and Zondas


How kind was the manager from Pangbourne Bentley garage. He knew he had no hope of a sale (unless there's a spare £500,000 lurking in a spare bank account somewhere that I don't know about) but let Skein Prince hang out and try all the cars for as long as he wanted. He was in his element!

8. Confirming I Knit Weekender as a vendor in September bites nails in nervous anticipation. Also Blush and SQuee! sock clubs made an appearance in Let's Knit magazine this month - they were kind enough to send me a copy - there was also an interview with Ysolda Teague and a photo of the UK DIY exhibition that alabamawhirly and rockpoolcandy were exhibiting at - and a lovely photo of rockpoolcandy!