tuesday show and tell….

I’ve been very lax in my blogging of late, so felt I should show you what I’ve been up to.  I’ve been experimenting with new bits and bobs, including hand spun yarn and buttons…..

single printed buttons to spell out words…..’cosy’

hand-dyed, handspun BFL fleece…..

handwoven, tabby weave covered button.

possible design for cushion cover.

I’m also glad to report that Elena Costella‘s lovely yarn emporium is open again after all the dreadful flooding we had recently.  Elena, Leslie and all the willing helpers really worked hard to get the shop open again as soon as possible, so I hope everyone rushes down to replenish their yarn stash.

My loom is unfolded and ready for action.  I’m going to have a bash at some warp dyeing and have a folder of design ideas to try out.  Not all my activities have been wool related.  I made some yummy scones, using the River Cottage recipe, but replaced the cream with milk, and apple, rhubarb and ginger jam to top them off.  There was also some oranges in need of using, so they were turned into spiced marmalade.

Check out these bad boys!!  Big and crunchy on the outside and fluffy as a fluffy thing in the middle.

I was never keen on Rhubarb and Ginger as a child, but the addition of Apple made this lighter and really more-ish.

I spiced up the marmalade with some nutmeg, two cloves, and a little mixed spice.  I don’t like sweet marmalade, so the spices soften the sharpness of the fruit.

They are all residing in a wee cupboard in the kitchen, which Alan has renamed, ‘Bob Marley’……well there is jammin’.

land and sea cape….

As you know from my previous post, I’m one of the Maker’s of the Month for Concrete Wardrobe, in Broughton Street, Edinburgh.  When James and Fiona invited me, it was suggested that I could design something special for the window.  Well…where to start? My collection is mostly accessories, so I didn’t want to stray too far from that area.  I fiddled around with ideas, and finally came up with a design for a cape.   The definition of words is commonly a starting point for my work.  Cape works well on two levels,  not only as a ‘sleeveless outer garment fastened at the throat, and worn hanging over the shoulders’, but also as, ‘a point or head of land projecting into a body of water.’

The colours, textures and form of the cape were directly inspired by the coastal headland around Auchmithie, on the East coast of Scotland.  It was my favourite beach when I was growing up.

It’s a pebble beach, covered in some of the most beautiful stones.  I recently spent 3 whole days there recording the sound of the sea, collecting, photographing and making small site specific yarn related things.

……hand dyed yarn, found pebble and seaweed.

…..natural yarn, crocheted and attached.

…..abandoned boat, with the mist lifting.

You never grow out of looking for ‘stuff’ in rock pools.  Although the weather was pretty poor with the haar off the water taking hours to clear, it was still a wonderful experience.  It was very much a case of….to sea, but not seen.

As usual, most of my pictures were of the macro variety, leaving Alan to take some wonderful seascapes.

The resulting cape design consists of a combination of azure knitted felt, vintage checked tweed and some gorgeous self-coloured Harris Tweed, finished off with a wooden button.  I hand dyed the silk lining to create an effect redolent of water ripples.

This cape is a one off never to be repeated design, and I have to say that I found it difficult to part with!  I hope it finds a lovely home and is enjoyed by whoever buys it.

funky friday is brought to you by frogs and fibre…..

It’s been ages and I apologise.  I still need to sort out my time priorities, but I’m working on it…slowly.   Around this time of year we are always on the look out for some special visitors in the garden.  We are fortunate enough to be surrounded by countryside and love watching all the creatures, big, small, feathered and furry, but there is one species that appear in abundance, practically overnight……..

I’m not exaggerating when I say that we get hundreds of wee toads and frogs migrating through our garden.  With all the heavy rain we’ve been having lately, their journey hasn’t been so difficult.  Usually we have to pick them up into containers and transport them over to the burn that leads to the lade where they will grow and eventually spawn.  However, because it hasn’t been too hot, there has been less danger of them drying out or hiding somewhere damp until it’s safe to move.  The only downside is for about 2 weeks we can’t cut the grass and have to be very careful where we walk…..not that we miss cutting the grass!

I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time in the studio.  I have been dying yarn on and off for quite a while for myself and as commissions, and the feedback has been really good, so I decided to take the next step and design some colour ranges to sell.  I’ve been experimenting and am really happy with the results so far.  My own handspun yarn is particularly yummy!

Once I had played about with some other colourways and different fibres, I sat down to work out how they would work together, and which yarns would be most suited for the collections, by season, project and cost.

Over the next wee while I’ll be designing patterns to go with the collections, and hopefully offering them in kit form, as well as individual skeins…..so watch this space.  They will be available on Ravelry, I am wildwoolwifey, and I will be opening a Folksy shop, too.

In the meantime, I am dreaming up some lovely handpainted warps for my loom, which I will be breaking out very soon.  I’m also knitting a long waited for cable hooded jumper for my hubby.  I’m using handspun oatmeal Blue faced Leicester, which is so soft and gorgeous, with brilliant sheen and stitch definition……my favourite fibre.  Other WIP’s are a blue cardigan for myself, which is nearly there, and tension squares of all the lovely yarn I have been dying.  I like them all so much, I’m not sure how I’m going to part with them.