Gallery

Monday 7th October 2024.  Had a busy day dyeing sock wool ready for orders, this lovely wool was supplied by Jenny from The Chester Wool Co.

Summer holidays this year were spent in North Cornwall, well worth a visit by the way, and time in the caravan was put to good use knitting this cardigan for myself which is finished off with porcelain buttons.  I`m quite pleased with this!

Sunday 26th. and Monday 27th August 2023 saw me once again at the Shrewsbury Steam Rally in the crafts tent with my stall and trusty Legare sock knitting machine.  Two rather long days but well worth the effort, plenty of interested people about, and it was a dry warm weekend as an added bonus!

It is a big show and well worth visiting with plenty to see and do for all.  A big thank you must go to the organisers who must work very hard throughout the year to put on such a spectacular event.

With my cup of tea nearby, production gets under way.

3rd June 2023

I was invited to attend a small classic car & craft fair to raise money for Hope House in Oswestry.  The fair was held at Ellesmere College, the cars first did a 2hr run returning to the college at 12:30 and the event then continued until 16:30.  It was a lovely day andhopefully raised a lot of money for this very worthy cause.

My stall set up and ready to go!

Next door was From Fleece to Finish

A couple of other exhibitors on site on the day.

Some of the beautiful classic cars on display, eventually there were around ninety cars to be seen.

<<<<  The craft marquee.

Our guild (The North Shropshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers) was invited to put a stand up at the British Alpaca Society show at Telford on the 18/19th March.  It was a lovely couple of days with much to see and inspire.  Highly recommended!

14th March 2023.

   I was pleased to have come home from the meeting of the North Shropshire Guild of Dyers,Spinners, & Weavers with this little trophy having won the annual challenge with my entry which was the blanket in the picture below.

   The challenge was to make something for use in the home.  The blanket has been crocheted using handspun Jacob`s fleece which was locally obtained which I have left in it`s natural colours.  The trophy will stay with me until next year`s challenge, which means it won`t have to be dusted for too long!

Saturday 17th. September 2022 was Worldwide Spin in Public day, so I with three other ladies from the North Shropshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers & Dyers did our bit at Carrog Station on the Llangollen Railway.  There also happened to be a Steam Punk event (Cogwarts) at Llangollen which the railway was supporting, there were plenty of visitors who showed a lot of interest in what we were doing and many questions asked.  All in all, a very enjoyable day!

August 28/29 2022 saw me and my husband at the Shrewsbury Steam Fair at Onslow Park, Shrewsbury.  This was the first one for three years because of the pandemic and to say it was busy would be an understatement.  I had my stand in the craft tent and took along my Legare sock machine so that I could demonstrate how I make them, there was plenty of interest especially in the machine which caught the eye of many of the exhibitors who had themselves brought their vintage and classic vehicles as part of the show.

All quiet in the craft tent before Joe Public was let in, it didn`t stay like this for long!

All set up and ready to go.

Machine now set up and ready for action.

Public now let in so time to get cranking!

Plenty of interest was shown by the public and lots of questions asked.

Even some of the sheep were interested!

The Llanvalley stall run by a friend of mine selling goat`s milk based soaps and balms. Llanvalley/Natural Skincare / Soaps/ecofriendly/sustainable

Another stand belonging to a friend, From Fleece to Finish, this can be found on Facebook and ETSY.

Our 2022 summer holiday was spent in Scotland, on the 25th June we visited the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh and here are a few of the sheepy photo`s taken that day.  The show is highly recommended by the way!

Jacob`s sheep.

A very friendly Jacob`s, I would have loved to have brought this one home with me!

Valais Blacknose

Valais Blacknose.

Zwartles.

Not the prettiest, but I expect her mother loved her!

The sheep shearing competition.

Some of the money made at the craft fair on the 28th. November is being used to sponsor two puppies, meet Kevin who is training to be a guide dog for the blind and Arthur who is training to be a hearing dog.  

A blanket I made from woven squares of my spun & dyed wool

Another blanket made from my handspun wool but this one has been crocheted.

I attended a sock knitting machine convention in Kegworth today (13th March 2022), this being the first one since the pandemic. Lovely to see faces there from previous years and one or two new ones as well. A good day, picked up a few new tips and techniques to try and also had a great talk on the history of these machines in this country.

Did my first craft fair since lockdown started last year yesterday (28th November 2021) at Pentredŵr, near Llangollen, made all the more interesting because of the aftermath of storm Arwen. Luckily the power was unaffected so we had heat+lighting and most importantly plenty of visitors who were happy to buy. A big thank you to the organisers from me for such a good day.

Spent a day at Carrog Station on the Llangollen Railway today (7th October 2021) with a friend spinning in the sun.  The second time this month I have come here, it`s great to be able to socialise a bit more now before the winter sets in again.

A selection of tops & dresses I have made

A rug nearing completion on the Brinkley Loom

Some finished rugs

A close up of some finished yarn.

A bit `o carding.

My husband made a sign to go above my workshop door.

A couple of Christmas decorations, the bulk of which was made on a sock machine

This is my entry for my local guild`s annual challenge which is to create something from fibre given to us.  This was 100g mixed bag consisting of pearl, rose, bamboo, tencel and a small amount of silknoil.  It has been dyed, spun then knitted into a cowl.

A new lockdown project, 14 Minute or Lined Slippers made on my flatbed chunky knitting machine using handspun wool. Made from a pattern by Sarah Coates which is available on Ravelry.

Cardigan made from Gotland wool, handspun & hand knitted.  Beautifully soft!

Cardigan number 2, made for a relative in Pembrokeshire, number 3 on the needles. Beautiful Gotland and alpaca.

When I`m sorting fleeces ready for spinning, the waste pieces are thrown onto the garden for the birds to use.  Our local jackdaws love `em for their nests.

The victoria c.s.m.

My Victoria C.S.M. was bought in March 2018 at a bargain price that reflected it`s condition, believed to have come from a factory which was cleared out along with a few other machines.  Collecting it meant a day out to Holmfirth in Yorkshire (about two hours away from us here in North East Wales).  Once home, my husband set about stripping it down and getting it back to working condition.

Note the trusty can of WD40, there wasn`t a lot left by the time he`d finished!

Nearly there, all the shiny bits had been wire brushed to within an inch of their lives, the black bits were sandblasted and then painted and the wooden handle sanded and then waxed.  Everything then oiled and reassembled.  Just waiting for the needles to arrive from the U.S.A..

Two and a half years on and it works like a dream,  it has been fitted with a mast which was adapted from one off a flatbed knitting machine (it`s original was missing), and fitted with an electronic row counter.  It could do with being re-chromed as some of it is flaking off in places but as it doesn`t affect the operation of the machine (yet) it`s not a priority.

Having a 108 needle cylinder it is capable of very fine work and was probably used originally for making silk stockings, because of this I`m unable to use my handspun yarn on it.