Playing with colour

I went to one of my guilds on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed a mini workshop on Tones, Tints and Shades.  It was given by Pam Austin, who always entertains me.  (She taught me to long draw by smacking my hand when I tried to control everything worsted style - something that horrified me at the time, but amuses me greatly now.)  Pam explained how blending colours with different neutrals changes their appearance and we used hand carders to produce the effects she talked about.  I won't go into too much detail as it's her workshop and living.

So, fired with enthusiasm, I spent some time on Sunday experimenting.  Here are the fibres I used  that were in my bit bag - yellow with a streak of purple that had clung to it, lime milkshake harshness, deep navy blue, natural that somehow looks pink, and grey drier lint (not really, but it was peculiar stuff)

Here's a taste of the shades I carded up.  Look as those airy rolags!

 Want to see some blending shots?

I put a mix of fibres on the card

One pass

The other carder

Action! (very hard to take all of these pictures with one pair of hands and one crappy, very crappy camera phone)  Look how the awful short grey stuff was clumping at this point.

Still struggling to get it blended at this point

But after some more work.....

I am so looking forward to plying this!

And yes, that is a mirror underneath the flyer - this way I can see the nearest end of my bobbin without having to half stand

Dyeing to have fun

I spent a very happy Sunday afternoon last month with my friend, the inimitable Knitting Mongoose where she taught me a bit about dyeing.  I don't know what came over me as I'm not usually a brights person, but obviously my subconscious desperately needed two rainbows

Dried and wound, the cakes of yarn look very different and I thought I would knit them up into a pair of socks

However, I decided that I really needed a big, multicoloured beret so off I went, following the instructions in the Knitter's Handy book of Patterns.  It's currently at the finished, bathed and drying stage, so you will have to wait for the finished result and my commentary.  I will say no more at this point!

A day with a friend is like a holiday for the soul

Jill and I went out for the day, poking around the charity shops of Long Eaton.  We hoped to find lots of knitting and crochet related things, but it was an almost yarn free town.  We managed to pick up a copy of Have You Any Wool and I was delighted to find a barely used Royal wool winder (why yes, I do already have a different ball winder, thank you for paying attention - now I have a spare!). 

One shop had a dedicated retro and vintage area which was truly wonderful. I was a bit over stimulated, so forgot to take pictures of such wonders as the 1940s cooker in mint condition, the old milk rack, the sledges, the old ice skates, the typewriters......  Jill and I agreed that we were in heaven picking out things from our childhood/teendom.

It was in this shop that I found something that I've been looking for over the past 8 years or so. As an accountant I often have to explain budgeting to people who just don't get it. As a prop to illustrate the principles I've had in mind something that my auntie had when I was a child

Ta da - a thrift box!  I just love the labels on this one.

Something else found its way onto the counter.  

The heaviest iron in the world, ideal for dressmaking when instructed to PRESS rather than iron.  It's wonderful and comes PAT tested

We both adored the old fashioned drapers in the town - Rowells. I was mentally transported to the top of Grimsby's Freeman Street in the 70s and 80s -  Swabys?  Think of the famous Two Ronnie's fork handles sketch but with linens.  Again, no photos, but there is a great set on flickr, here

We rounded off the outing with lunch at The Beetroot Tree.  New to Jill but just her kind of thing. I was so pleased as I thought it would appeal to her

Back at her house, she kindly gave me some plants, so my garden is starting to fill nicely

Printing

OK, the red stuff is - jelly!

Almost a week ago I finally got round to using up some out of date jelly and made it extra thick so I could do some gelatine printing.  Life kind of took over and I didn't get to it, so it has sat waiting quite happily in the fridge until this afternoon.

I followed various instructions on the internet and must say that I really enjoyed this initial foray.  Unfortunately my phone decided to have a dicky fit, so here are some mangled photos before it got its proverbial knickers untangled from the twist it had them in!

Then finally the phone got its act together so

and

DD joined in with the second half of the prints and after the very quick clean up, arrived with a very clear statement:

We're going to edit the prints and work more on them during the week - seeing how long the jelly will last, what else we can print on and with, so watch this space!

Summer Party

We went to a fabulous party - a DIY barbecue, Pimms, inflatables and the most glorious weather. The dress code for women was hilarious - posh frocks and big pants, so I equipped myself and DD with the biggest pants of all - bloomers! She looked cute, I looked more like a pantomime dame, but it was so worth it for the giggle