I really can't believe it is the middle of September. What a year, already! Phew. Today I thought I would share another product of my yarny divergence. I fibbed a bit I am only partially warped! I hope to be fully warped over the next couple of days. Last year I bought one of these from a charity shop:
I was lucky enough to buy it for £1.00. It was priced up at £2.00 but I bought it on a 'half price special' day. I think these little looms are great. I loved playing with it and was amazed at the unique beauty of the fabric I could make. Every sample I made I would would love a suit made out of it.
It took just a couple of hours to make a scarf. Not to everyone's taste, but I loved it.
This warp was a mixture of solid brown, hand dyed Autumnal yarn and gold metallic thread.
I also experimented with black and neons which I thought was cool. I made a little purse type of thing! It is a cover for the i phone I don't own!
I made some other little purses but they have hidden themselves somewhere. They are destined to become 'needle cases'. So this £1.00 loom got my enthusiasm going for weaving. When I saw this baby appear for sale 'pre-owned' I couldn't resist:
It is an Ashford 24" Rigid Heddle Loom. I am yet to put it to work. Needless to say it is slightly more complicated than the £1.00 children's loom. Currently I am running totally on guess work. I am partially 'Warped'. Not one for doing things by halves, I have chosen to warp it up and go for a wrap type of thing, rather than start 'easy' with another scarf. Fingers crossed and the yarn God's be willing! I have high hopes for this! Can you imagine what my small town house looks like? It is squished to the brim with Yarn, fibre, fleece from various animals and origins, boxes of yarn and unfinished projects, spinning wheels and looms! I have spinning on the go, knitting on the go (two projects), crochet on the go (currently three projects) one sewing project on the go...I am always on the look out for more. I saw a badge once that said 'Yarn is Cheaper than Therapy.' Hmmm I don't think so! I am sure a stay at 'The Priory' would be cheaper! It would probably be much much less fun though!
(Edit I must point those of you who are interested in Weaving in the direction of Knits and Crosses. Sarah is new to weaving but has made some great fabrics already...she has inspired me to get cracking on my loom and have a go. She has even written a Tutorial explaining how she warps her loom which is very helpful...)
I didn't bake home made goodies baddies to take to the Guild meeting this weekend. I made these 'Mini Fruit Kebabs' to take and share. They do look pretty on the plate and they did go down very well with everyone. Me and diets healthy eating plans just don't seem to get along. I am on day five and it feels like year five! It is like trying to quit smoking. I have been crabby with a capital 'C'. If I have not lost a pound this week you will hear my tantrum! What makes it worse is I know this has to be long term!!! I read somewhere that psychologists reckon it takes 66 days to change a habit! Just another 61 to go then!
Today I went to Birmingham and District Guild of Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing. There has been a couple of months break for the Summer and we are now back to monthly meetings. Today was a days workshop with the very talented Linda Rudkin. I knew the workshop was on 'Flower Pounding' but other than that I had no idea what to expect apart from a lot of noise. I really didn't think this workshop would be for me.
Here is one sample of Linda's fabulous textile work;
This one is beautiful;
Linda bought many inspirational pieces to share with us of her examples of 'Flower Pounding'. Flower Pounding is literally that! You pound with a hammer to extract the natural pigment of fresh flowers and foliage to create a print on fabric. Essentially it is very simple to work on a sampler, experimenting with which flowers and foliage work well. Linda's book is very concise and beautiful and will explain step by step what you need to do to create fairly instant gratification of stunning, unique and natural prints. If you are skilled in hand embroidery or machine embroidery or quilting, then the sky is the limit for how you can use and enhance your prints.
The above is the result of me playing and experimenting for about an hour and a half. Can you imagine the noise of twenty people flower pounding at once? The blobs that look like squashed blackberry and squashed tomato are from flowers with quite fleshy petals. Linda has an amazing knowledge of flowers and had no problem naming them, for me however it was more that is a nice 'Red One' and that is a nice 'Purple one'. I loved the ferns, and the Pansy turned out well, so did a small Primula. Very interesting results were gained in a short amount of time. 'Flower Pounding' does not create fixed dyes and they cannot be washed but they can be dry cleaned. In the afternoon we tried something much quieter, 'Flower trapping'. A method of 'Trapping' the flowers into fabric, using a fixing web and chiffon. I used some fern and beautiful blue Hydrangea.
These are now preserved in the fabric. The prints from flower pounding fade with time, where as with flower trapping the colour should not fade to the same degree. I can recommend both for methods for a fun bit of experimentation, for pounding you need a hammer, a wooden board, masking tape, cotton and fresh flowers. You tape your flowers to the cotton and pound with your hammer on the reverse, when you remove the tape the print is left on the cotton. It really is that simple. Trapping flowers in fabric is a little more complicated, using a sandwich of baking parchment, cotton, fine bonding web, your flower design, more fine bonding web, fine chiffon, and baking parchment. You then use an iron on the cotton setting to seal it all. Ironing, not pressing as you do not want to singe your flowers. Flowers need to be as flat as possible so you may need to snip bumps and lumps off prior to sealing your design, tweezers are also very useful.
This is a sample of a piece of work that has been outlined with a fine etching pen. It looks amazing and really highlights the detail.
Everyone who took part had something attractive to take home and feel proud of.
All the different designs displayed on one table looked fantastic.
This was my favourite. It reflects what is happening outside at the moment, everything is turning decidedly Autumnal. The nights are drawing in and as if by magic more crafting time appears.
This is the last delicious Steamed Suet Pudding with Homemade Raspberry Jam that will be passing my lips for a good while! After puffing and panting up hill and down dale during my Summer Hols I met a few of my Demons and I came to a few conclusions! I will be trading the pudding for more more of these:
I have not weighed myself for about three years! Silly Billy! It is now official I have done something that I have resisted for so long, I have joined 'Slimming World', my target weight is about 2 stone over what I weighed the last time I jumped on some scales! When I reach that target I will still have about 3 stone to lose! That is pretty heavy! No wonder I have been puffing and panting. Where did all that weight come from? Aaah! Must be the love of baking. Hopefully I can still blog delicious recipes but they won't cause a cardiac calamity. Today I have been busy making 'Low Fat' Turkey Burgers, and 'Sin Free' Meatloaf to put in the freezer. Henry said "But Mom you won't be you, if your not. . . . . . " "Not what, Henry?" He was actually gonna use the 'F' word! Euan doesn't quite know what has hit him as we went out yesterday me walking and him on his bike and today I left the car behind for the school run and carried his scooter when I went to collect him. He loved scooting home, while I puffed and panted behind. Day 2 of Diet Healthy Eating Plan, I am not seeing any results yet!!!
It has been a while since I have shared a crochet post, so I thought it is time to show what I have been up to. I love starting new projects and have great difficulty completing them! I may adopt the 'One a Day' method which appears to be getting very popular. I can manage one 'Mini Granny Square' a Day and still dabble with the numerous other projects I have on the go. I was inspired by the scarf I spotted in a shop window in Glastonbury High Street.
Part of me wishes I had bought this scarf, but if I had of bought it I would be thinking I should have made my own....can you see what type of person I am? I dread to think who made the scarf because whoever it was, wherever they are, they were not paid enough if it can be sold at that price! I don't know if machines can make Granny squares, if they can I want one!!! I have to admit with all my crafting projects there is something comforting, therapeutic and gratifying about the good old Granny. I love the Granny look. I didn't have the colours to replicate the 'Shop Window Scarf' but somehow in my stash I have collected several shades of purple, it wasn't deliberate and I don't know how it happened. Somehow purples have infiltrated my stash more than any other colour. Good job I like 'The Colour Purple'. I am hoping to be wearing my Granny Scarf with pride some time over the next couple of months. Yin and Yang, I love Granny Squares but Oh sewing in all those ends....
Euan was very proud of his big pile of sand, it is called 'The big mountain'! Has you ever seen 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'?
Henry was very proud of his 'Big Hole' I think he was trying to reach The Antipodes.
Lacey loves the beach too.
The Cornish coast is excellent for swimming, once you are all kitted out. Beach shoes are necessary to avoid Weever Fish. They have spines that can give a painful sting if they are trodden on. Does anyone actually know if they can sting through shoes? There are a lot of surfers, body boarders and Surf Schools in Cornwall. The Life Guards did a brilliant job keeping everyone safe.
The boys enjoyed splashing around.
They practiced their swimming, while I enjoyed the views...
and breathed in the sea air.
The Beach at Bude was very busy. My Mom was well organised so we could enjoy a flask of coffee on the beach. I was happy not to swim in the sea, I did consider it though as I liked the idea of being rescued by a Life Guard. The furthest I got was to roll my trousers up and have a paddle. We had to have the customary 'Fish and Chips' at the seaside on one occasion. On other trips we indulged in the odd Proppa Cornish pasty or two! It may be a while before we visit Cornwall again so it really had to be done.
We also had a trip to the small Cornish village of Boscastle. This was an interesting little place. I loved the stone houses and the setting. Boscastle had a terrible flood in August 2004. It has been predicted as a once every four hundred years event. It was hard to imagine the devastation seven years ago, on our visit in August 2011.
The village has recovered well and it was a thriving little tourist village on the day of our visit. We enjoyed Cornish ice cream. Euan had 'Charlie Chocolate' Flavour, Mom and I were more adventurous with 'Lavender and Honey' Flavour. Dad stuck with good old 'Rum and Raisin'. Euan and I visited the Witchcraft Museum. We enjoyed looking at the Mandrake roots and strange artifacts. It was interesting to learn about the history of the persecution of 'Witches' and to read accounts of witchcraft trials. Much of the museum was destroyed in the flood, but 90% of the artifacts were saved.
The flood level is marked on the door of the Museum, you can just about make out the green rectangle on the left hand white door.
As I start back to work tomorrow after a Summer of adventures, I have decided to make this a bumper post and share my holiday snaps. I have one more visit I would like to share with you. In a previous post I talked about the Grave of King Arthur at Glastonbury Abbey. This was a visit to discover the place of King Arthur's Birth, Tintagel Castle. We parked the car in 'King Arthur's Car park, walk past King Arthur's tea shops and gift shops and started a steep decent down a hill past some classic Cornish views.
I have a few sprigs of Montbretia that grows in my garden. In Cornwall it is a prolific wildflower. Beautiful.
This flower always makes me think of Cornwall, it lines almost every road you drive down.
English Heritage own the site at Tintagel. Which has a Website here. This is one of the sites that is said to be Camelot Castle, home of King Uther Pendragon, King Arthur's Father. Many pilgrims visit the site and attempt to search out the truth. I am not sure I discovered the truth, but if I thought climbing Glastonbury Tor was hard work this place made it look like small fry! When you had climbed down the steep hill, you had by my definition a massive climb up to the Castle. I saw about half the site and was more than happy to leave it at that! Besides they have a Facebook page Here I can learn more from that! Poor Euan seems to have inherited my Vertigo and got quite upset, he refused to go any further and was only happy on flat, solid ground away from the edge! Even the beautiful view of 'Merlin's Cave' didn't wash with him.
It certainly is a magical place.
How it was built right up there I will never know and more to the point who would want to?
I am not sure if the gentleman in the left of the picture is real or not, he seems to be carrying a sword and a knights helmet. I may have captured a photograph of an apparition!
My parents managed to get to the summit, but kindly assured me I did not really miss anything. There was however a 'Well' right at the top. I have a thing for wells.
I can't quite believe I managed to take this photograph from such an elevation. I do not put myself in the situation to get a 'bird's eye view' very often and of course 'What goes up, must come down!' I am not too ashamed about the traffic jam I caused on the decent as Euan and I clung to the handrails and crawled like crabs, slowly all the way to the Gift shop! We very sensibly paid through the nose to take a Land Rover trip back up the very steep hill to 'King Arthur's Car Park', where we purchased another Cornish Pasty, Cornish Clotted Cream, Scones and Strawberry Preserve. You gotta keep your strength up in these situations.
I think it is about now I end my story of Summer holidays and Adventure, I have my work bag to sort and my shoes to clean for tomorrow. The boys are back to school on Wednesday. It is sad, but in a strange kind of way I can settle down, back into routine and have a bit of a rest! Bob the budgie and the chickens are glad to have us back. I may even squeeze in some craft time again.
