Spinning and a giveaway

I haven't had a giveaway for quite a while now and I thought it was about time:) 

This yarn is my handspun. it is the November hooves club batts from enchanted knoll.

I joined this club in October after waiting a while for a space. I've had 3 lots of fibre now from them and all have been stunning. I've had other sellers batts before and they can be a little like the curates egg

They can look beautiful on the top but when you open them up they can sometimes have less than perfect stuff there. Doesn't often happen but I have been disappointed several times. Enchanted Knoll look exactly the same inside as they do on the outside and what I particularly like is there is no preparation needed. You can just spin:) 

Meet Common Grackle, the November batt offering. This was my first batt from the club and I loved spinning it. The sparkle and the various colours that were part of it. 

There is 118g approx and approximately 755yards. So why a giveaway? I'll be honest I have tried the beginning of 7 different shawl  patterns and none felt right. I've only actually used 2 or 3 yards, if that ,you can just see it wound round the middle there. It obviously does not want to stay with me so who would like it for Imbolc? I will leave the comments open until Friday then choose a winner. You will hopefully get it in time for Imbolc and I'd love to see what you make with it:)

I've also been knitting. This is another Dragonfly wings and the yarn is some I dyed 2 years ago I think?

 This is yet another Wingspan shawl. I do love this pattern. The purple yarn is some left over Posh Elinor I think? and the yellow mix is some left over sock that I dyed a while ago.This is quite large as you can see.

 Then on Ravelry we had a hat challenge and as I hadn't made one for a while I got the needles out. The pattern is Propello from Woolly Wormhead and the yarn is some of my handspun. The fibre was a gift from a good friend and my attempt at spinning thicker than my default lace to 4ply.

 waiting blocking

then blocked. I think this needs a light felting to finish off.

Then finally there is this

This is my December batts from Enchanted Knoll, colourway Rusty Cockerel.

 
860yards from just 94g. So pleased with the yardage on this.

Not sure what to make yet.

Belief,faith, believer

You can't have a faith unless you believe, really believe in something and don't just go through the motions.
You can't have a faith then flit from religion to religion. The faith is what's inside you, really inside you.
The tiny part of you that is buried beneath the day to day and the mechanical doing that makes up the biggest part of us all.
But inside this is the belief, the heart and the thing that keeps us ticking.
The Buddhists practice a thing called mindfulness.They also believe in an empty mind open  for meditation and a space for nothingness.
Within that quiet can be found the belief and the core, Your inner faith. It may not be an established religion, it may not be clothed in incense,rich robes or song.
But it doesn't have to be.
A faith in who or what we are/ can  be.
Established religions are just that, money and  influence that gives them respectability and power.
But within that there can be someones faith.
It is a personal thing.
My beliefs may not match yours nor should they. We are all different.
But for me my faith,my beliefs resonate within my heart and inner child.
They make me who and what I am or strive to be.
I don't always listen because I am human, but when I do its there just waiting to be heard
By me

New year

Happy new year again:)

The new year has started with sunshine, I am hoping that is a start of brighter days with a little less rain

 

As it was so bright we decided to have a little stroll in the local park and feed the birds. The chestnut buds are starting to grow and the fungi as you can see

I love primulas, they bring a welcome glow to the woodlands at this time of year

 We weren't just feeding the birds, the squirrels have to eat as well and they loved the peanuts in shells. They always amuse me as they try to fit several into their mouths at the same time

This tree is so vibrant it lights up the undergrowth

 and so do these

 in all the colours. They have been growing under the trees in the park for many years

I also decided it was time to show you some of the shawls I have finished lately.

This one is a pattern called wingspan and is a fabulously simple design but looks stunning finished as I'm sure you will agree

 This yarn is from the Knitting Goddess and is her same difference yarn in the bumble bee colourway

 This shawl is my favourite pattern Pamuya and the yarn is from a fabulous new dyer Woo sheeps.
I love the colour ways not just for the colour but for the unusual names both of the  yarn bases and the colour ways. This is Dick yarn and the colourway is Stupid Boy. Why stupid boy? The colour way is lavenders, anyone remember Dads Army? Pike (Ian Lavender) was always called stupid boy by the captain:) It is refreshing to see a dyer with a sense of humour as well as a great sense of colour. Other yarn bases up to now are Tom, George, Cyril. I think you get the idea? Go and check them out, you wont be disappointed. I am looking forward to the fibre that they hope to have on sale soon. I particularly like that  there will be repeatable colourways as well as one off colours.

This next shawl is Dragonfly wings pattern and made in Faery wings mohair/silk from Fyberspates. Isn't it lush?

I haven't made any resolutions as such but I do hope to blog more regularly as well as get back to creating fabric and paper art. And you never know maybe even some femmes.

Happy new year

As the new year takes its first faltering steps we know not what will evolve. But I hope that what ever transpires it will bring you much joy.
A dear friend posted earlier on Facebook and I am blatantly copying her post with a little addition:)
I wish you and yours all that you wish me and mine
BUT with the witchly addition. I send you all you send me  but thrice fold :)
Happy new year may you take it for your own, harming none

Winter Solstice

It is 21st December,, the Winter Solstice, Midwinter,Yule call it what you will:)

It has been a very long time since I have blogged but this morning I woke with the need to mark this longest night and shortest day.

 I had the need to feel the words beneath my pen again. I haven't felt like blogging for a long while or indeed for any writing in my journal.

 I do miss it somewhat and obviously more today, hence this post. As usual I don't have anything particular in mind but just the need for words to flow from pen to paper(or from keyboard to screen as I am now copying this onto blogger)

 It is a need to write as opposed to type and that is what I have always loved, the act of writing and not just the content.

 So with that in mind maybe I will try a page a day in my journal as the days grow longer. Words or art but most likely words, for words I am. The art being merely the illustration of the page where words are the star.

 For others the art is the important thing, the colour that runs wild over paper or is genteelly placed, a dab at a time.

 My art when it comes is wild,untamed, a way of writing the words that must spill. But with colour sometimes instead of letters.

 My other crafts mean much to me as colour escaping from its box, a wilder form of words in visual form.
But the words are still there. They are always there, waiting their chance to play upon the pristine paper. To spill as jumbled,windswept ideas.
Or to march purposefully one by one in straight lines.

 Does it matter which form my thoughts choose? Not at all. As long as they dance their way into form from dreams I care not. Just letting them free is an act of beauty, a way of meditation and of ritual. A way of being that is all they need to be, nothing more and nothing less is required.
Just a beginning, a middle but not an end. A spiral, not a circle. Always moving up and on.

So Winter Solstice, a dark time but with the promise of  more light to come  each day. An introspective time. We all need this time of quiet, even with Christmas and all its gaiety our hearts are still and our minds thoughtful.

Mr Mog had his latest oncology appointment this week and they are very pleased with him. The drug trial is keeping the cancer static.It hasn't spread any further. It hasn't  gone any less but we aren't bothered. As long as the drugs keep it in stasis, long may it last.

We are both currently nursing the latest flu virus which isn't good. This time of year I think we are more susceptible to bugs and it isn't helped by those who insist on coughing and sneezing without covering mouths and noses. 

May I wish you all a peaceful solstice. 

Samhain

Samhain, a time to remember our family and friends who have gone before us. To remember all our ancestors at this time when the veil is at its thinnest. 

 In our belief Samhain is the end of a year and the beginning of a new one. Where the wheel of the year has completed its travel and is ready for a new start.

 New beginnings and a chance to reflect on the past year. Both its good and bad points.

 Good, well Mr Mog is still going strong and fighting the cancer all the way.
We have met up with friends old and new at various events, not the least being Mogfest in all its glory:)

 Bad, my health is getting worse. My body is not liking the damp and cold that this year has been filled with.

 But new year new attitude. I am not going to let it stop me creating or having fun.

 Today I am wearing black and Green. Black for those who are no longer with us and for the end of the year and green for new beginnings. The wheel moves on and brings new as it takes away the old

Oh and I thought you would like to see some finished items:)

 Wingspan shawl in same difference sock yarn from Knitting Goddess, colourway is bumble bee:)

 Yet another Pamuya shawl in zauberball sock yarn

and another Elsewhere jacket in Austermann

Of this and that

It is getting really cool now at night and we have had ground frost the past few days. All the leaves are starting to change colours and everything looks so different. I have been busy spinning and knitting as usual but also taken a class in felting with the embellisher which was good fun. I find it hard to wet felt now with my joint problems so the embellisher helps.
Mr Mog had his oncology appointment last week and they are really pleased with his progress. He is now into the 7th cycle of his drug trial and fingers crossed the cancer has not spread any further which is wonderful.
I am sorry I have been quiet life seems to have got in the way.

Autumn equinox

Almost at Autumn Equinox and the weather has changed suddenly. Last night I was cold most of the night, the duvet providing very little warmth at all. The trees are losing their leaves now, some are bare already whilst others are just starting the colour change.

I feel my body starting to slow down, I feel more reflective, reaching inwards

I have an urge to study, to read my tarot cards. To go deeper into meanings. To compare the various packs and their imagery.

To create more.

I know this year has been a bad one for me health wise. I am much slower and in far more pain than last year. The pain is more or less constant lately and it is hard to ignore it when every movement hurts.

But I won't be beaten , I will keep pushing. It's what I do and what I need to do.

My equinox meditation will focus on what can be, and how I can make it happen

A thank you also to the Goddess and the Green Man for their presence in my life.

Fascinating colour(again)

I have a fascination with colour, it attracts me and it changes my mood. The brighter the better normally,

Sometimes I have to go out of my comfort zone though. A challenge to my senses.

I also have to leave my comfort zone in creating and for the same reasons.

I decided to try drop spindling again.  I liked the portability of a spindle, it can go places where you wouldn't necessarily want to take a spinning wheel.

A friend was destashing a trindle, a sort of drop spindle but with arms. A strange beast, especially when you aren't a spindler. But it attracted me so I thought I'd give it a go.

This is one of the earlier trindles with fixed arms. Jeremy now makes detachable arms so you can change the weight you use. A brilliant idea.

 This is my first trindlespun yarn, here you see it on the noddy noddy after plying. My first success at using one of those also:)

 Here it is skeined up ready for use. It is just a small skein but my first proper spindle spun so precious for that reason.

 This is my current spinning on Tilly the traveller, this was me going  out of the comfort zone. I couldn't resist Freyalyns silver skies colour way, there is such a lovely sheen to it. Reminds me of the moonlight on water.

 Lola the Lendrum has the start of a batt from Danielle at the felt studio. I don't often spin batts, like the curates egg they can be good in parts. But this attracted me when I went to Andyfest the other week, put on by Andy from Bluefaced.com . A fund raising weekend for a local hospital . Had a great time meeting up with friends and this had to come home with me. It is spinning up beautifully.

 This is the current attempt at weaving, not sure the tassels will stay though as they aren't right. It is going to be a piece for the element of air.

 This is my latest knitting, yet another Pamuya shawl , the link takes you to the Ravelry page. The yarn is zauberball and the colour  is more purple than blue in real life. A vibrant choice for dark nights.

 These are my current spindle spinning yarns, waiting on bobbins to be plyed or added to before plying. Aren't the bobbins gorgeous? A friend sent me some for my birthday.

 This is the current spinning on my trindles. The back one is Mandacrafts falkland in the ultraviolet colour way as seen on the bobbin above. Gorgeous to spin, I love Amanda's fibres.The trindle is the ebony shaft,batik agate arms

The middle Trindle is the micro with mixed fluorite arms and Freyalyns merino silk and the tiny front one is the nano with hematite arms:) The nano is very lightweight and ideal for silk. The fibre is tussah silk from Freyalyn. My first time spinning pure silk also.

So a little view at current inspiration and creativity. I am very sore today and despite strong painkillers, anti inflammatory gel and a heat pillow I can't  create. No matter there is always tomorrow.