looking for an Ashford traveller spinning wheel

I'm looking for another ashford traveller spinning wheel. Single drive double treadle if anyone has one and wants to sell or trade. I can offer an ashford style traditional in part exchange.

Paths a quote and shawls

A quote from Alexandra Stoddard

Once you find your path you want to stay on it and live it fully each day.
There will never be enough time but there will be the time you need.

I love that:)

I'm making space and have a few shawls I'd like to pass on to new homes. All new.

Music

I definitely can't turn the music down
Its playing in my head
It swirls around and through my brain
until its time for bed.

Why?

Why am I not my parent's child?
Why am I not my siblings sister?
I am a person full grown and relatively mature.
I have habits good and bad.
Yet I am not a ..
I do not think, live act like a ...
I have a brain that thinks.
I have a mind that imagines
Oh how it can imagine when it likes.
But for all I am there is one thing I am not. A ...
They are different, narrow minded individuals who love to gloat.
Who live for tragedies, bad days and bad things.
Who like to pick the bones from an argument, not once but several times and then before they spit them out they do it all again.
I'm not a .. am I?
No, I can't be a ..
I take joy from simple things of nature. A squirrel running across the path in front of me.
A flower i see blooming for the first time.
The sound of bird song waking me in the early dawn.
They don't hear or see this.
Why?
What gene was in me and lost by them?
What gene in them that didn't start in me?
I'm not sorry.
I'm glad.
But still, it makes me think.

And so the add1ction grows, even to the extent of tempting others.

Why did no one tell me how addictive spinning could be? Why did they let me walk into it with eyes closed, not knowing the torment that would ensue? Who knew just those few short weeks ago that I'd be addicted? What is more not just addicted but forcing(VBG) my husband to take up the self same craft.
We went to the local guild yesterday morning and there was an ad for an Ashford traddy from one of the members.
Yes I know, I have one already BUT I want to put a jumbo flier on it for plying yarns because I can't put one on my double drive traveller. Then said husband pulled a face and said "But I want to learn to spin" After all we had tentatively agreed this was going to be his wheel to practice on.

The upshot is we are now a 3 wheel family, 2 for me and 1 for him. Well 1 .5 each if we are being exact as we will both use the jumbo to ply on.
Meet Claudia the newest member of the family. Why Claudia? Do you remember the song Laudy Miss Claudie? That is exactly what I thought when seeing them posing so prettily for their picture to be taken.
So we now have Myrtle the original traddy, Claudia the new one and Tilly the travelling one:)

I have warned him that he needs to keep his hands off my fibre stash though.

Magpies and balance.

Today has been a Magpie day. Everywhere I looked magpies were flying or sitting. At one stage 7 of them. They were on our roof, across the ways roof, in our tree and in the park when we went to catch up on the progress of Autumn in the woods.
This was in the park, there were many more but this was the one who wanted to be photographed.
At one time I was quite bothered if I saw magpies around. The old fables and tales were uppermost in my mind. Bad luck, evil all the old superstitious tales.

Then I started to rethink,what if?
What if -
Magpie was there to help me?
What if-
Magpie could teach me something?
Food for thought so I started to read up on the old lore about these birds.

Some of their other names were Two tone ambler, Pioden, Snag Break.
They are associated with Hermes, The Pleides. Allied with Hawthorn and the elements of fire and air.
Their festival is reputed to be Beltaine. That would be right if you think that the year starts to grow at Beltaine and this in turn initiates it's death at Samhain.
These birds were once important in augury, just think of the old rhymes.
One for sorrow
two for joy
three for a girl
four for a boy
five for silver
six for gold
seven for a secret never to be told
eights a wish
nine is a kiss
10? a bird you must not miss (Magpie song from children's program that used to be on here in UK)
There are many versions of this rhyme across the UK.

So going back to magpies, for me I found that they taught the secret of balance, you have to have the dark and light sides to balance each other. Nothing is grey after all. It made me realise I was off balance. I was seeing only what I wanted to see, avoiding the dark side that was also possible in my situation or with people and events.

I've had magpie in my life for a long long time, from my fears as a child and into adulthood. I always had to see a second if I saw one. One was bad and struck fear in me. I always said good morning or hello when I saw one. Actually I still do that:)
So what did magpie say to me?
Fear , trickery, thief, bright bird, worry, evil, pain.
BUT
What if?
Trickery, all is not what it seems.
Black and white? A magpies plumage has many other colours in it.
So it isn't always cut and dried, right or wrong.
There is a middle ground, a balance.
I started to explore my knowledge of magpie.


FEAR. In old days Magpies were supposed to bring or foretell death. If you saw them around the roof woe betide you or your family.

THIEF. They love bright glittery things. Silver paper, jewels, glass. But also all that glitters is not gold as the saying goes. They are attracted to bright things, they take them to their nests. Do they do this when they are mating? Is it a display ritual? Maybe.

Bright Bird. They are easy to see, they stand out. Does that help them or is it a disadvantage in hunting? No, they can devastate the small bird population.
So colourful is not necessarily a bad thing(Note to self, there is a reason for your bright colours)
It doesn't stop them surviving and very well at that.
So could it be that my fear of magpies was a test?
Do I acknowledge it and them?
Yes I do and welcome their presence in my life.

So for me Magpie is a teacher. I just need to listen to the lesson he brings. Am I learning it yet? I do hope so. Can I embrace Magpies lesson? Can I then use it to move on to the next part of the wheel and the spiral?
Magpie brings me courage and a warrior spirit. How will I use this?
Will I be able to?
YES. I will use it to grow, to open myself, to take down the invisible shields. I will still shield when necessary but with the knowledge I am doing so.
Not with a rebuff built in.
MAGPIE, black and white carries all the colours of the spectrum between. So a rainbow between black and white? All the colours but we only see those two.
Is that because they are stronger, brighter, more dominant?
At this dark half of the year magpie gives me hope. It gives me a sense of the balance of life. No I don't like the way it decimates small bird populations but that is its way of life and I can't change it. I can only look on and accept that Nature isn't all fluffy bunnies and love and light. She has a darker clawed side and that balances the light.

We have our dark and light sides, for me being a witch means trying to balance those to the best of my ability. Do you?
What will you take into this dark half of the year and what will you discard? What have you grown and what has failed for you?
One of the prompts on an artist board I was on was My Hat.
I wrote this:-
My hat has feathers several.
A magpie, a rook, an owl and a fun feather.
My hat has a brim, it has charisma.
My hat is black.
It has ribbons dangling and a cat on it.
My hat is me.
What is your hat?

Full moon helps spinning official:)

It is official, the full moon helps spinning. Don't believe me? Wait until you scroll down.

This was the most fabulous full moon the other night.
Doesn't she look luscious? It seems to have been an odd moon phase this to say the least. I know I am not alone in thinking this many of my friends have had the same month. It was a case of "phew" when she reached full.
Lots of different stuff, mainly health I'm afraid although the rotten rat who stole from my debit card didn't help. And BW I don't have a credit card, I'm one of the strange people who doesn't. I prefer to use my debit card or paypal. Or did until now.

But as I said in the title I've been spinning. I had a lot of problems this time as my hands are playing up. Quite often I can't feel the fibre so it doesn't draft at all smoothly. It is either stuck in my hands or running too freely because I can't grip.
I haven't given up as you can see:-

This was merino given to me by Laal Bear. Now merino isn't a good fibre to spin as a beginner apparently. That probably didn't help.

Doesn't look bad does it? I'm thinking of making a moebius cowl with it as it is very soft.

Honest blogger award, because SHIfT happens

I've been awarded the Honest Blogger award by the Purple Pixie:) If you click on the link you will see more about why she inaugurated it:)

What is it?

WE ARE Honest Bloggers!
the Sisterhood of
SHIfT HAPPENS!

As honest bloggers we:

(Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Add To...As You Wish)

* Speak our truth from the heart and tell it like it is.

* Share openly and honestly our true feelings without fear of judgement, Blame or shame.

* We write to share our achievements so others can also share our joy.

* We write about our bad times too, knowing that the love and support of others is around us and perhaps heal another’s pain in the process..

*We are human beings will real feelings and emotions and REFUSE to hide behind a mask.

* We dare to be different

* We are Free Spirits

* We realise that by spilling out, we lighten our load.

* We acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses and don't see them in terms of success or failure.

* We laugh together and cry together

* We are all following our own journey in our own unique way

* Above all else, we may lie on the floor, screaming and kicking, or feel like life is collapsing around us once in a while….but at the end of the day, we drag ourselves up, dust ourselves off and rise to fight another day.

For we are Warrior Women and we write not to please others, stroke our own egos or be judged, we blog because we care!
Our blogs are our therapy, and through sharing SHIfT HAPPENS!

Thanks Pixie, I appreciate it:)

The call of the open door

Mr Mog has just opened the back door and I can smell Autumn clearly now. That mix of leaf mold, damp and Summer's fading heat.

A smell reminiscent of forests and woods.
When I was young I used to spend as often as I could in the woods, or just in a tree.
Backing on to our home was a small coppice which had a dip in the middle with horses in it.
I always used to sneak away there when I didn't have to baby sit my siblings, or sometimes even when I did. The curse of having many younger brothers and sisters was that I invariably had to look after them.
I always had this need to spend some part of every day there. I used to ride bareback on the horses and just amble around this little space on them.
Then I would go and sit in a branch of a tree to read or daydream. My other, more enjoyable world.

When I grew up and became a young mother it became more of an urgency to be out of the house on my own for at least a small part of each day.
Even if it was up to the beach to watch the tides and not into the woods.
Being in nature helped stave off the horrors of my life. It put a barrier between my inner real me and the one who had to function daily.

My greatest joy now is to be in woodlands. Sadly no tree climbing or horse riding nowadays but a seat in the forest of greenery is coming home for me.

I listen to the murmur of the leaves above me, the bird song and the unknown rustlings.
It is a place of splendour, a place for being part of the glory that the Goddess gives freely to those who choose to share her beauty.

On this day at the beginning of October I reflect on all the trees I have shared sacred moments with. I will find the place of peace. Touch the spirit of the woodlands and be one with nature.
It is too precious to ignore. Sometimes we have to remember who we are and what we are part of.
The great mystery is there for all of us if we approach it with the respect it deserves.
The journey is well worth it.
The first touch of the crunchy leaves beneath your feet, or chair. The first tang of the mould and damp. The first soft fall of leaf on ground.

Sunny socks and winter skies.

A weird tree we saw at Chester Zoo last time we visited. At first I thought it was elderberry until we got nearer. Chester Zoo have electric wheelchairs you can borrow which are a boon. Saves taking the push me one:)

I've started the Winter Skies elsewhere jacket. What do you think of the colours?
The above is probably the nearer to the true colour.
I finished my sunny skies socks for me. Yarn is hand dyed alpaca merino double knit.
These will keep me warm of an evening which is when I feel the cold most.
Spinning is going slowly, I can't feel the fibre at the moment so I'm not able to spin smoothly as it either gets away from me or doesn't move at all. Very frustrating when you have a body that doesn't want to co-operate.

Must just add that I've been browsing the internet and my friend Laal Bear has just updated her shop. some fabulous yarns and fibre there for autumn knitting. I'm especially keen on the Autumn Equinox and bluebell fibre (naturally), Beltaine luxury batt and the Winter Solstice yarns.
Well a girl can dream can't she:)

Rotten somebody compromised my card:(

I checked my bank account yesterday as I do at least once a week. There was a payment to a supermarket home shopping that I hadn't made. £130+ at that:( I immediately rang the bank and they had several other amounts awaiting going out for £1 each. Also the home shopping one had apparently been a larger amount then reduced to a smaller one. They hadn't sent the £1 payments but had let the shop one go, obviously I suppose as it could have been genuine. They said the £1 payments were dry runs someone had done to see if they could get away with it.So my debit card is compromised as they say.
Now before you all ask, I don't give my pin out, only me knows it. I don't shop on insecure sites and if I use my debit card at shops I cover the machine while I insert the pin number.
The bank have stopped my card and will send a new one in a few days, the fraud department will investigate the unauthorised £130+. Hopefully the supermarket will tell them the address. It really shook me up, I felt violated does that sound daft? I think I'll get the cash back once they investigate. It could have been much worse I suppose. I felt quite ill last night after finding it, jittery, shaking and very sick.
I've been trying to work out where it happened and I think it may be Amazon. I paid for a book on Friday. Got an email from them saying bank had declined payment. Now I am not foolish I didn't click on any links but I did go to amazon and check my details. Wish I hadn't now as these events happened just a few hours afterwards. I know at least 2 other people who have had this happen and both times on amazon. In fact the bank asked one of them if they had been on Amazon, why would they do that if it wasn't a problem?
That is me now for purchasing there. I do sign out each time I go on the site but it is obviously not enough.
Next post some knitting.