new year, more blogging?

well, I had planned to do more blogging, but that was not to be. shortly before christmas I started to write a new entry - but before I could finish and add pix - our computer was attacked by ransomware - which made me loose all pictures and files that I didn't save elsewhere - quite a lot, because I neglected moving things to other media - and got punished for this! we refused to give in and pay, which of course meant that everything that was encrypted was lost:( by now the "box" is working again, but of course all the old files remain lost. I was furious (still am, though less vocal about it:) - but decided to try and find a positive side to this: loosing all the stuff means that I don't have to sort through the whole collection to decide what to keep, what to print etc...

 

of course it also means that I lost the pictures of the stuff I made during the last few months, so what you see here is only the very recent stuff that was still in the camera.

Because I don't have a local yarn shop, I tend to buy my sock yarns in batches. this is the latest haul. the red and red/green/white is a special edition from here - I liked the free pattern provided, so decided to order some for a sock knitting friend in germany and for myself - we can share the red!  

I also bought some sock yarn with angora, two balls of sock yarn with cotton (not for socks, but for baby "dolls") and a sock yarn, where the photo on the homepage looked more purple and the name - something with grapes or wine? - sounded more purple as well:) turned out more blue than anything, but never mind, it will be used eventually... just not for myself I'd say!

 

the yarn with angora was used to knit bed socks as a gift - very cushy, soft and warm - though maybe less durable than normal sock yarn? 

before christmas I had made a seasonal wreath as a gift - but of course the photo of that one is lost. never mind, I have to admit that I like this one for spring much better anyway:) I tried to find spring flowers, daffodils, bluebells, forget-me-nots, a fat bumble bee and of course - living in ireland - a shamrock won't go amiss. the idea is to make other flowers that can be added - or exchanged depending on the seasons (sunflowers, poppies, fuchsias etc. come to mind). the flowers are only attached with pins, easy to exchange. I have quite a lot of sock yarn in storage, in colours suitable for flowers, but I think I have to dye a nice green or two myself, because I haven't found suitable greens - I don't want to pay a fortune for indie-dyed yarns, when I only need a few meters for a leaf or two!

 

 

this project took some time to finish - a denim vest for my grandnephew. it turned out to be a bit too large, but I am quite sure he will grow into it:) the yarn is real denim yarn = will change colour during washing and wearing. the problem wasn't in the knitting - I just couldn't find a suitable zipper that opens at the bottom, in the right length and colour. eventually I admitted defeat and asked a friend in germany to get one for me...  

I have made quite a few wrist warmers in similar style. for the first one I followed the pattern "elf clobber" , but with every pair I made I changed it slightly. the red is a simple k2/p2 rib, alpaca dyed with lac, the grey is a mix of silk and merino. this is the last in the series, and here I left out the crochet bit altogether to replace it with ruffles, simple increases of purl sts in between the k2 from the rib. the grey is finished with an attached i-cord, to keep the edge from rolling up.

 

may I introduce you to another adoptee in this household? before christmas, on a dreary, wet, windy and cold day DS came home late from school - carrying a little bundle in his bag, a bedraggled, wet and half-starved kitten! of course we couldn't just throw the little fellow out, so my son had to cycle back to town in the yucky weather to by cat food for kittens! that has been about 3 months ago - see the result:) after a bit of debate we named him Mr Pringles (part of it is from "the green mile" and the mouse mr jingles, the other part from my sons's favourite snack - pringles). he is quite affectionate, loves cuddles and purrs as if he had swallowed a small car:) of course he has silly ideas and is up to no good when bored - but he's so cute with it that it's hard to be annoyed at him for long! I did learn my lesson though and started to pack away beads, tools, yarn balls etc. when pausing in my work! too much temptation for a cat teenager maybe?:)

 

I also joined the online guild of weavers, spinners and dyers again. the land group, where we meet every second month, is alright, but doesn't give me much in the way of inspiration and certainly not much in learning new techniques. we seem to cater mostly for beginners of all kinds of crafts these days - and given that I dabble in most of them myself, I rarely find anything that interests me and provides a challenge. so I am looking forward to several of the courses online during the coming year - and hope that I'll find enough time to try my hand at some new things!

 

part two

I don't know why blogger doesn't want me to keep going, but I'll try my luck with a 2nd post.

very close by is another manufacturer, "Studio Donegal". they use the yarn produced by Donegal Yarns to weave fabrics for all kinds of projects, garments, furnishings etc. they do have a shop - and lots of lovely yarns for sale, too. we were given a tour here as well, and we found out that not only do they weave with the tweed yarns, they also produce their own, to be woven into gorgeous, multi-coloured fabrics. I only took one photo - this is the spinning mule, that produces the yarn on a more old-fashioned machine than the modern spinners of Donegal Yarns (and into quite a differnt yarn). it reminds me of lots of little spindles, which all produce a yarn at the same time, and that's what it really is. the part in front, where the spindles are attached, moves quite far out and draws out the fibres, then twist is added and the part moves back again, while the yarn is wound onto the spindles. lots of handspinners - all packed into one machine:) this was invented because during the industrial revolution the output of all the handspinners simply wasn't hight enough anymore to keep up with demand.

 

 

like the big spinning machines of Donegal Yarns the spindles work with pencil roving. on both sides of the machine there are "cheeses" that form during winding, which don't end up on the main beam. if they are nice and tidy, they can be used as a predrafted yarn like this. there is no twist added - so I can either choose to draft it out finer - or I could let it run into the wheel to make a chunkier yarn. I found two of those "cheeses" in the shop and couldn't resist them. normally this would be a waste product that goes back into yarn production, but every now and then nice looking packs can be found in the shop. they aren't "cheap", but I think they're worth their price, because they are special. Studio Donegal doesn't sell this yarn in the shop (at least I didn't see it there), they do sell skeins of Donegal Tweed there though, and lots of their other products. have a look at their website, lots of eye candy to see:) so I can make a really special yarn with this pencil roving - and I hope for more, but maybe I should spin these two first?:)

we also watched handweaving on the upper floor, where again I was so busy watching that I forgot to take out my camera (good thing I am not a photo journalist:). but you can see a handweaver at his loom on their page (and on their card in the picture above). and we checked out the cutting and sewing room, where no pictures were allowed, for obvious reasons.

 

on the whole I found it very interesting, to see where all this yarn is produced. it's a long drive, but the scenery has been very beautiful and we were lucky with the weather as well. after all this fibrey stuff we were very hungry and thirsty and raided the cafe of "Donegal Craft Village" first of all. hmmmm, lovely food and cakes and good coffee/tea as well - really recommendable for hungry crafters:) there are several small houses, where different crafters can show their trade and sell their goods. when we went, there was a painter, a metal worker, a wood turner, a potter, a glass maker (lampwork) and a weaver. quite interesting to see, too - esp. because we were able to see how things are made. I bought that small pottery "jug" in the picture above. I plan to attach it to my wheel, when I spin linen - to wet my fingers in between. of course I am a sucker for celtic patterns anyway....

 

on our way home we passed "the crafter's basket", where the poor bus driver was forced to take another stop, while we all flooded out of the bus and into the store.... the ladies in the shop probably already thought about going home, when we raided their shop in their final hour:) here's my haul:

I finally found some freezer paper, so I bought what was left of the roll:) and some buttons, some mill hill beads in christmassy colours, some glitter yarn, a bit of glitter - and a small acrylic block for stamping.... 

fabric stiffener, several balls of green yarn to crochet a christmas tree, some white cotton for snowflakes, some ribbon, printed like a measuring tape - and two balls of rico cotton, which I need to crochet add-ons for a t-shirt.

 

and a large panel of "12 days of christmas" fabric - which I'd like to work into a simple wall hanging. and just now I realized that I must have forgotten to take pictures of the fat quarters of christmas fabric I bought - overwhelmed by all the stuff maybe?

of course I took some knitting with me on the bus (6 hours of driving can't just be wasted!), but when I came home I didn't really like the pattern so much anymore, so I frogged it all and started again.

I doubt that they read my blog, but if they do: thank you to Chris from Donegal Yarns and Tristan from Studio Donegal for their tours and patience in explaining their work to all of us. and thank you to the poor bus driver, who was very patient and helpful all day long (and probably glad to be back home again in one piece:).

 

 

 

solution

a bit delayed - but here comes the solution to the riddle of my last post. yes, those weird things are yarn cones - lots of them....

our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters, did a trip 2 weeks ago, up north to Donegal. the famous Donegal Tweed yarn is produced here:

unfortunately I didn't take pictures outside the factory, but you can find more details on their homepage, www.donegalyarns.com.

 of course you need fibres to make yarn - lots of it. some come in huge, white bales - others are already dyed, in single colours....

 to end up in blends like this. lots of little nups and locks that make up the tweedy yarn Donegal tweed is famous for.

they dye the stuff, too - in slightly larger batches than mine:) the fibres are pressed into large "kettles", and apparently dyed under pressure (like a pressure cooker really). no stirring involved...

this is the stage before the carding - where the fibres are pre-mixed. the metal "bin" on top blows air in, so that the small, loose fibres mix...

...before they end on a huge drum carder. unlike on my household sized drum carder you don't have to pull out your batt and start again to blend it more.

instead the batt moves from roller to roller to form a large, continuous batt ...

... like this. I wish I had a few metres of this! not necessarily in orange though.....

eventually the batt is pre-drafted into finer pencil rovings, which are wound on large beams like this. at this stage they look like lots of flat balls, sitting side by side on the beam.works in purple, too!

which is moved to the spinning machine. each roving is fed into the spinners ...

.. and ends up as yarn on those large cones.

or those - couldn't resist them because they are purple! I could knit so many purple sweaters out of this load....

the yarn isn't finished yet, it contains oils and has to be washed before winding it on cones again. this lady here can double-tie one whole skein faster than I can tie skeins in one spot on my niddynoddy... but she has about 30 years of practice:) for some reason I didn't take a picture of the washing area.... but the yarn runs automatically through different large tanks, where it is washed and rinsed - and of course dried again.

eventually the yarn ends up on those 2 kg cones for sale. I found the whole tour around the mill very interesting - our handspinning, really. just on a very large scale! this is a factory, a wholesale company, no shop with shelves full of wool to buy....

 

for some reason blogger doesn't want me to show you the rest of the pix:( off to another entry....

 

 

preview

no, not books this time (it's getting closer to christmas, but not that close!)... our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters, went on a trip last tuesday - guess where:

we saw this: 



 ...and just around the corner there was this:

of course we saw other things, too:) I did take some more telling pictures, but I'll show those later.

 

as much as I love eating - when I do so in a bistro or restaurant, I never remember to take photos (too greedy, I suppose:). which I should have on tuesday, because we had some lovely food. all I can show you is a photo of something we had a few days ago:

hm, blackberry crumble. some of our fruit trees look empty - and not because I picked everything! strawberries were pretty good, but raspberries are next to non-existant (only the yellow variety has produced some, but not a lot). but blackberries? I don't think I've had a year that good since I came! they are big, ripe and very tasty - or at least they have been until yesterday. we had a lot of rain last night and strong gales - so maybe the overripe ones have dropped already. I spent my evening walking up our road and picking - 4.5 kg of blackberries. a small amount will go into a blackberry almond pie today, but most of them will end up in my steam juicer later. I am not terribly fond of blackberry jam, because I don't like the seeds so much. but I do like blackberry jelly, yum! I only make a small amount immediately and finish the rest from juice bit by bit. which of course means that we could still use it in another way - e.g. hot blackberry juice with a bit of lemon, a drop of rum and hot water - like a "grog", but fruity! or blended with brandy, very tasty (with a bit of brown sugar). if the wind calms down a bit I might go for another browse, but we'll see..... most of the time over the year I curse the overgrown road - but at this time I love it, because I only have to step out the front door to go picking:)

 

of course I've done other things - textile stuff. I had planned to use a bit of my sockwool remnants for hexipuffs. but a friend of mine steadfastly refuses to learn knitting in the round (she claims she can't do it...) and when I found the same project in crochet in ravelry I thought I'd give it a try.

it's simple, just sc (or dc in uk) in the round. a few increases, later a few decreases, that's it. but to be honest - I'd rather do it in knitting:) she can have the pattern!            

and yes, I have done quite a lot of knitting and spinning, too. some of it was the dyed yarns and fibres from my last entries. I also started a moebius on the bus trip - but decided I don't like it too much, so I ripped it yesterday morning - to start a different pattern with the same yarn. and I brought something from our trip - see next entry:)

 

in the garden I've been collecting seeds. nero di toscana kale, some dahlia sp. and quite a lot of seeds from the purple lupin I bought in june. this plant was a brilliant buy - 4 euros for a big plant that has been producing gorgeous flower stalks non-stop from the day I bought it! plus lots of seeds on the side... I wanted to try dyeing with lupins, and hope that the strong purple will yield colour as well. but for this I have to grow a few more than just my parent plant! if anybody wants lupin seeds - beep (or my garden will grow nothing else next year:).

I do find the pods quite interesting (and wish I had a better camera for this!)

each seed had a "room" of its own plus a nice cozy lining to keep it safe. and when the pod is ripe it magically splits open and shakes its inhabitants out of their cozy apartments.... but I won't leave it to chance, I collected all the seed pods so far, and will only leave the last stalk to try self-seeding, too.

 and now I am off to dig out the steamer - the blackberries are so juicy that I can't leave them for more than a few hours before using them!

bad conscience

I had planned to do a blog entry yesterday - it would have matched the date of my last entry. but as usual I got waylaid somehow and woosh, the day was gone:( there is so much to do that my days are never long enough - and blog entries are the first victims... on top of that the last 2 weeks have been murder for me. I can't stand heat, anything over 20 deg. C is too much for me - and we've been having a rather unusual summer this time - 2 weeks without a drop of rain and temperatures of around 28 to 30 deg. C - in the shade! gardening time has been reduced to 2 hours in the morning and mad watering in the evening hours. even just putting the washing on the line has me in sweat and I was lucky that we had a bit of a respite on the one day last week, where I had no choice but to go to Castlebar (I have to admit that being on the train was heaven, though - AC on, nice and cool - perfect:). and of course it doesn't help that DS is on holidays - he is hogging the computer night and day and I wait for the moment, where he'll grow roots up here....

 

anyway, of course I have done some textile bits, but knitting has been down in this heat, because the yarn just clings to the sweaty hands. I managed socks - several pairs of them, mainly during the late evening. 

 this one is a sneaker, I didn't even have enough left to finish the few pattern rows and add a rib, so I used a leftover to do the latter. they look a bit odd in the pic, but that is due to the pattern on top of the foot, which pulls together a bit, when not worn. they are very comfy, though I haven't worn socks for quite some time now (too hot). I realised too late that the reddish yarn was handdyed with madder, and I was a bit anxious, when I took them out of the machine - but they didn't change colour at all, phhh.... the main yarn is regia, but I don't have the ball band anymore, no idea which colour line.

 this one is a singles, Color Flow sockwool, which I bought here, some time back. it knits up nicely, but I am not sure that the heels will last long with me. I think I might add a layer of yarn that is "woven" into the purl stitches from the inside, which hopefully adds a bit of wearing time. but I couldn't resist the colours, so it had to "move in":) I have two more balls in my stash, if it wears ok, they'll make socks - if not, I am sure I can find another use for them.

 

 they were normal socks, but instead of a rib I started with the pattern immediately (k2, yo, k1, k2tog), which gave a nice edge that rolls up and forms little waves. I have used this as a rib pattern for another pair I started a few days ago, where the leg is knitted in 4 colours.

then I used up yarn from my stash to knit a "bread and butter" pair - very unusual for me to knit socks without any pattern whatsoever - but it made for very relaxed knitting during the heat wave:)

 

this is another pair made from stash yarn, regia, my favourite sock yarn. I do prefer yarn colours with less jacquard effect. in hindsight I should have made this pair for me and the one above for DH, but now it's done (I prefer this colour way). the foot is stockinette...

 

...and the leg is 2 rows of k stitches and two rows of slipped stitches - but I've already forgotten how exactly I did those. the pattern is from "the sock knitter's handbook". The slipped stitches form an interesting pattern from the inside. it looks a bit like wet, rippled sand on a beach... (forgot to take a pic of the inside)

I worked a teensy bit on the DK border, but not a lot, some other things came in between.

 

 this one for example: I dyed some viscose fibres with the berries of alderbuckthorn. some of it turned greyish blue, another batch was more greenish in colour (when the berries are unripe, they dye yellow!). I had the tops for years, before I decided to spin them up into a fine singles. I also had a cone of fine white linen and I plied both together into this yarn - not sure if I should call it glacier or glacialis:) it looks a bit like the greenish-blue ice of a glacier..

 ...and it feels heavenly cool just now to knit with. I found the pattern for a shawl "frost flowers" on ravelry. at first I thought I might knit up a "summer scarf" - but I hardly ever wear scarves - and certainly not during summer, when it's warm anyway! I started knitting anyway - my second idea was a summery shrug. all the while I spun and plied more of the yarn - until it hit me that I have more than enough to make a sweater. the sleeves/shoulders would run horizontally, the lower part vertically. I'd have the lovely pattern on both lower sleeves and the bottom! not sure if I follow through with it, because I'd have to wear something underneath - but that's the plan for now anyway:) I loved knitting the pattern - and I am nearly finished with the one arm, though most of it has only lines of faggoting now.

not having done any blog entries recently, I still haven't shown the potholder I made to show the Connacht Textile Crafters a finished project in Double Knitting. I needed new potholders and had ordered some cotton last year. the spirals on the sides are "stolen" from the Fia pattern above, the horizontal ones were added to make a square (similar pattern, just a row more in the middle). the triskele I drew on paper myself. I'll add the chart on my new pattern page later - I sorted through my files and put it away too well:)

Edit: found the file, put it up as my first pattern on the pattern page (see above)

some time back the "leg" of my colander fell off - the metal ring at the bottom. it's not very practical to use, when the base is round and the gadget rolls around in the sink - but I didn't want to throw it away either. then the upcycling bug hit me, when I saw a guy in the local hardware shop taking off the chains of a bird feeder... they were easy to attach and I have a new hanging basket for one of my fuchsias. which looks much better now, thanks to all the sun and my diligent watering:) (twice a day...)

one of the ash trees started to grow huge fungi last year! I left them on and they fell apart very quickly. then I read about dyeing with tree fungi in a german blog and thought I might give this one a try. I am not 100 % sure that it is the same fungus, but it looks very similar and the colour on wool is lovely. I managed to take off all of the large shapes and left them outside to dry - one thing all that heat was good for! Anke only used 5 g for her dyeing - I'd have several hundred grams! I am going to give them a try later in the year, at the moment there are too many other dye plants I have to collect. I don't have all that much undyed material left just now, because next saturday I am doing a demonstration about dyeing with acid dyes for the Connacht Texile Crafters - and need all my yarns and fibres for that. there are still black violas, delphinium and a lot of dyer's chamomile waiting to be picked. then there's tansy coming up soon as well... and I have aquilegia and the first dahlia flowers in the freezer. and mahonia berries...never a dull moment for a dyer:)

 

one of the things I'd like to dye during the demo is a sock blank. the photo in the header is my inspiration. I'd like to do another picture sock, the tree in black and the part of the foot, too and the rest of the leg in the colours of a sunset. I don't know if it will work out the way I intended, but I made two sock blanks. one is just as wide as a row for a sock in circular knitting. the other one is about double the width... not sure which one will work better, but I knitted with doubled up yarn to end up with two identical socks, if at all possible.

and I changed the look of my blog a bit - when I saw the nice background water feature I couldn't resist - made me feel a bit cooler during the heat we're having:)

Happy Easter

I can't believe that it's april already - though the weather still doesn't let up. windier than the last few days - still as cold and unfriendly as it was.... yesterday morning I hoped that DS might be too old for an easter egg hunt outside - he may be a cool teenager, but with stuff like that  he still behaves like a five year old:) luckily Dobby is too lazy now to "help" with the egg hunt - when she was younger you could always hear her successes - loud crunching meant that she had found an egg:) when I see all the work people go through to colour their eggs I have a bad conscience - but I don't like cold boiled eggs, so I have to do the job right before breakfast on easter sunday. not enough time to go fancy with tights, leaves etc. - just enough to use food colours and a simple dip:

 I put some food colourings into a mug, add a bit of water and some vinegar and dye the hot, just-boiled eggs for maybe 2 minutes. the yellow needs a bit more of the dye, because all the eggs I can buy here are brown. and I never get proper purples - they always turn out brown with a purple tinge:) luckily we found all the eggs - a few years ago we missed one and much later, when Michael cut the grass he hit it with the mower - you wouldn't believe the disgusting smell! the dogs were delighted though....

 the leftover dyes work well on wool - this is teeswater top that I "painted" and steamed after breakfast....

 and to prove that the lemon tree didn't only do one lemon (and to make you envious:)  - my whole harvest:) for now.... the last one is still a bit green - but what I find odd is that apparently all the fruits ripen now - even though some are still extremely small. we discussed our first pickings for some time - and decided to do a marmelade with it..... they are untreated, so there's no problem with using the peel in it.

 

on saturday we had a group meeting with the Connacht Textile Crafters again. the demo this time was the making and decorating of felt beads. not the usual round felt balls; you first make the bead from a piece of dyed felt (like the paper beads kids make), roll it up into different shapes and then start decorating. with metallic yarns, fine wires, beads etc... I am not really a jewelry buff, so I decided to skip making a necklace - and just made two beads, for a pair of earrings. I finished the first, but ran out of time for the second. I still have to do the embroidery and put everything together, but I can do this at home, because I took some materials with me. other than that I was extremely unproductive at the meeting!:( I already know that I never finish much, but making a single crochet hexagon must be the absolute low point for me:( and even though they are extremely simple to make - I even managed to choose a wrong colour once:) maybe I shouldn't take anything at all and just chatter and watch and do nothing at all?

bits and pieces

there's not much to show here just now! I finally finished the fletta cardigan, but I didn't upload the pictures - yet. it was late at night and with a flash, so I think I might have to adjust the pix a lot to show the true colours (or at least as true as I can make them....). the finished cardigan was packed up and sent away only a few hours after I added the last touches and there was no time to wait for sunshine or even just daylight:) talking about last minute gifts....

 

I also finished two other knitted gifts - which I can't show before christmas. and I did another project - which has to wait after the pattern is published, because it was a test crochet.

 

I did however change the header picture - this is what the last few mornings looked like! below zero temperatures meant that everything was white with rime, but it all melted away quickly during the day. today we woke up with rain - but at least it meant that the roads had no icy patches! it looks nice - but can be rather dangerous for bicycle riders! the weather forecasters are funny guys (and girls) - some of them predict more of the same, some colder spells, but a lot of rain and no real snow etc. for some time to come. others however predict a very cold, icy and snowy spell for all of us for a prolonged time - actually it should already be here and last until the new year! what to believe now?

 

at least I have plenty of materials to do the christmas baking - and it's high time now! I made two sorts, peanut butter cookies - one of our absolute favourites (recipe on page above). and mocca-hazelnut macaroons - which are ok, but won't make it on our list, because they flattened out a bit and don't really taste very special. and now I am off to do more - not sure which ones, but I have to do coconut macaroons at least!:) and I started a new knitting project - to be enjoyed this evening. it's the best stage of knitting - when you are still full of enthusiasm about the project and can't wait to get your hands on those needles:) best of all - when it's a project that will be finished before the absolute boredom sets in that usually befalls me, when I am working on a larger project!

rain, rain - go away....

for once the forecast has been right - rain all day, sometimes very heavy! yep, you could say that - if there were a few dry seconds today, I must have missed them. and more to come for tomorrow. together with 12 deg. C it doesn't exactly give a summery feeling - more like end of october and winter at the front door.... the good thing is that I don't have a bad conscience sitting at my spinning wheel! I did a spinning demonstration in Ballyhaunis (the small town close to our village) last sunday, where I (or rather we, all the participants alike) were very lucky. it was quite cool, but the fine drizzle stopped later in the morning and it dried up nicely. not much in the way of sun, but better than nothing. anyway, last year I had to hide in a shop entrance to escape the rain. this year I asked for a small stall and got one. I only demonstrate, I don't sell, so the guys who put up the stalls took the "table" board down and fixed it to the back of the stall. I knew from last year that it can be quite gusty (the stalls are on the parking "lane", along the town's mainroad), so I bought a cheap shower curtain, which I tacked to the stall and weighed it down with the little bags I normally use for my garden tablecloth. not perfect, but better than no wind shelter at all! I strung up some of my handspun skeins for decoration, put my wheel down, a basket with fibres beside me and off I went. I spun for seven hours - and managed to fill two (large) bobbins on my Louet. I've had the idea of spinning "fairy-tale yarns" some time back and finally put together some mixed bags for this. the fairy-tale is not very well known in english speaking countries, I think it's called "Snow-white and Rose-red". there's only one dwarf in it, and a mean one at that. but of course there has to be a bit of drama and a prince, too:) snow-white and rose-red are two nice girls, who live with their mother close to the forest. one winter night they hear a knock at the door. when they open, there's a bear standing outside. he asks for shelter from the cold and they let him in. he comes all winter, but in spring he has to leave. he tells the girls that he has to go and find his treasure, because a dwarf stole it all. the girls meet that dwarf in the woods several time, and even though they help him out of trouble several times, he is very mean and curses at the girls. (no red hat for that fellow!). when the girls meet him for the last time, the bear comes too and kills the dwarf, because not only did he steal the bear's treasure, he also told him that he should eat the girls and not him! of course, the bear isn't really a bear; the dwarf cursed him - he really is a prince! and because every fairy-tale has to have a happy ending, the happy prince marries snow-white - and as luck will have it, he has a brother, who marries rose-red. and of course - they all live happily ever after:)

to make a long story short - I put together 5 bags full of fibres, lots of  white of course and "rose reds", brown and wild for the bear, blue and gold for the prince and lots of earthy colours with grey for the dwarf. I plan to ply them with beads and gold etc... but so far I've only finished three, so pix will come, when I've done all yarns. not sure what I'll use them for - I just liked the idea to follow the characters of a story and make a yarn for each of them.

I also received two new books:

this one is very inspirational - and comes with a dvd to show how to spin those fabulous art yarns. it's not very hard to tempt me into making more yarns, but even a friend of mine, who barely spins these days, got itchy fingers to try some of the yarns out:) thanks, Uli, for giving this to me!

this is a german book about basket weaving. I wanted to try this out for ages, but I esp. like the book, because it shows how to use lots of materials, not only willows. we do have a lot of stuff growing here, such as iris leaves, blackberry vines etc... which can be used for making all kinds of baskets. now I just have to find spare time to try out a few of the new ideas!

this is a felted dog I received from a friend. when I saw the title of a british magazine (mollie makes) I told her that I'd like one of those dogs shown on the cover. I didn't expect to receive one, but here it is - Dobby with a purple hat. our real dog Dobby doesn't like this dog, she seems to think that it is competition for her:) she did try to chew on the felted bone, though...

before the rainy season set in here, I managed to pick a few flowers in the garden. blue geraniums, and white, frilly aquilegias. very pretty, though they tend to shed their petals everywhere at the lightest touch. I do hope that they spread out a bit more - usually they self-seed everywhere (not always in nice colours though, some tend to be rather "wishy-washy"). the rose is the highlight though - it fills the whole kitchen with a heady scent - lovely, even though the variety doesn't have a very pronounced rose shape.  and if we do get hungry, we could even eat the sweet cicely leaves I put in:)             

I hope there are a few flowers left after all that rain, but in the meantime I'll go back to my knitting and spinning. but before that - I have to start baking a bread, because we ran out of that - and who knows, if I can go shopping tomorrow - maybe I should invest in a rubber boat?