Skipnorth Part III

Sunday’s shop was Wingham wool which had changed a bit since my only other visit ten years ago. They produce a good assortment of yarn now, but unless they were hiding it, I couldn’t see the interesting mixes I had been after for spinning (not rainbow rovings). I have memories of lovely wool with cotton which was like candy floss rather than like sterile roving. Didn’t stop me buying rovings: clockwise Cheviot in the large bag, possum/merino (just because of Sue from New Zealand), a history book on silk, some divine BFL/silk mix, and a small amount of Wensleydale curls

Then we returned to the hostel for a final chilling out time, and Wye Sue drove me home.
Lixie and Nic did a fab job of counting us at regular intervals, herding us and organising the whole shebang which made some woolly people very happy. Thank you to both. And to my fellow Skipnorthers – thanks for your company.

Skipnorth Part II

On Saturday our first stop was Coldspring Mill

where I bought blue for a cardi for Niece Number Three, bright red Aran for me and some Twilleys, just because it was a lovely colour.

And then to the Skep where we split into two groups as though the room might possibly have held us all but we wouldn’t have been able to breathe. I went for a cup of tea with Fred before buying some fabulous red/purple/dusky pink light chunky which is already several inches of a top down raglan jumper, some pinky Aran, and some dark purple and red sock yarn which is also a WIP as a baby blanket. Do you spot a colour theme here?

And then it was onto the Knitting and Crochet Guild and its fab yarn mountain (this is only a small portion).

I have been here a few times so am on first name terms with a couple of those there. I haven’t yet joined the Guild but consider myself a Groupie as I do go to the local meetings and have helped on their stands. They had a small amount of their collection on display, including some socks.

Just to confuse my gentle readers, we have cones of green yarn and books, two of which were from the streamlining of their library. I already have the Montse Stanley but it is one of the two books I always buy if I see it at a reasonable price to give away to friends. And a couple of Addi turbos.

And then it was back to the hostel for dinner. The four of us in our dorm ate with the sixth form teenagers who were also staying as we missed the announcement about having a later sitting (I was still first in the queue).

On Saturday night a little informal spinning class was taken by Sheila from America. Anne took to it like a duck to water.

Elaine was not so sure it was for her. And we crocheted some of the Afghan together.

Skipnorth Part I

I went with a shopping list and bought all four things on it. And a little bit more. It all added up to about 7kilos of wool, about a tenth of that is stuff to spin.

And then I came home to find a friend has sent me the link to Shaun the Sheep website and is recording it on DVD for me. I don’t have a telly so this is good news.

First stop – Texere which was actually en route. I’d already checked the website and knew what I wanted. Troon for Rogue, white 4ply lambswool to dye, 4ply merino for a birthday cardi for my mum, plus a little bit of Freedom wool to felt.

Second stop – Procion dyeing workshop in the members’ kitchen at the youth hostel, hosted by Liz. My skein was very sorry looking after I’d dyed it as I was far too mean with the amount and numbers of dye I used. Other people’s skeins were luscious, but I took no photos of them - the dyed yarn is what Liz brought with her.

And a view from the back of the hostel towards Haworth itself.

As a committed non-dieter I think I managed to be at the front of the dinner queue for every meal. My mother would have been mortified.

Take Two

I’ve always been a bit bored by other people writing about their problems with the technical side of their blogs, but I now understand. This is the picture which was put in the post but failed to appear. I am not bothering to edit the post itself as when I tried last week it didn’t mend things.

Mitts

These were finished in about three days, but I have been a slow blogger at showing them. The picture is a bit dark, and you can’t see the cabling very well. These are from the lovely bluey/purpley yarn from Emma. I took the opportunity to get my mum to model them. While the parents were staying dad enquired what was the thing next to the kettle. I wearily said it was a warping post, for winding longer skeins than my niddy noddy will allow. The words pass dad by. If ever I start to talk about textiles on our weekly phone call he says “I’ll get your mum”. I personally see it as retaliation for the obscure things he tells me about chapels, trains and 19th century non-conformists.

Now I must start writing a shopping list for Skipnorth. This won't preclude impulse buys but I have a couple of projects to do including the Rogue which Kadi sent me.