The Natural Way

I heard about Sheep and Wool Day at the Vauxhall City Farm via Ravelry, but didn't hold out much hope of making it along, what with it being on a Saturday, K and I both having hayfever and K being allergic to most furry animals and dust, but without having to do anything in the way of arm twisting, he agreed that we could pop in to see what was going on.

We must been there later than Jane was there, as the sheep that we saw being sheared was white, and considerably less than happy to be suddenly naked than one might expect, given the warmth of the day.

If I'd been less hayfevered up (all hail the great God Clarytin for allowing me to get out of the house) I'd have taken my camera with me, but I wasn't so I don't have any actual pictures from the day (0 out of 10, MUST try harder).

I did take some pictures the last time I was there though, with my niece (who was maybe 14 months old at the time and fell soundly asleep in the car, and remained so during the time we were there, only to wake up on the way home - typical!) and took the following photo and posted it to flickr earlier with the intention of including it with this post. Now, having read Jane's post, I wonder if it's the same sheep she saw being shorn? (or maybe Lamby is the straw covered mop top I posted about months ago?)

Sheep aside, I had a great hour there, chatting to spinners (Hi Helena!) and dyers, and getting predictably excited about the potential for using natural dyes rather than the acid dyes I currently use.

After talking for a while I'm still unconvinced I could get away with natural dyeing at home, but they do have a group who meet (and spin, dye and weave) every Saturday and since the bus goes from here to there directly, I plan on doing my best to get there and get involved, not just for the chance to play with dye, but for the chance to learn from people who clearly really know their stuff.

I left with a gift - a cutting of woad seeds.

Okay, so I'm probably never going to get as far as growing the plants and then using them to dye fibre while in this house, but the idea of a Scot (who was probably descended from Picts, who allegedly used woad to paint themselves when going to war a la Mel Gibson in Braveheart (ish)) growing woad in a flat in Brixton just appealed to me.

I Did It

I'm going to let you into a big secret.

I'm a big scaredy cat, and I'm scared of failing.

I've wanted to do something fibrey for over a year now, and I've been umming and aahing about it, and talking myself out of it every day, and watching with jealousy as others stood up and took their ideas forward while I came up with excuse after excuse for why I couldn't be among them.

I love my day job - I really do - to know that what I do each day could make a difference to someone's life is something that gives me an immense sense of both purpose and satisfaction, but it's hard sometimes, because that job is more than a job - it's a vocation, and that makes it so very difficult to switch off when I leave the office.

Which is one of the reasons I took up knitting, because I needed something that I could do away from a computer, because I was slowly going mad from not being able to switch off, and while it solved that problem, it also filled holes in me I didn't know I had, and through it, I've found opportunities, enjoyment and friends I'd never have found otherwise, and I absolutely love it.

I get such a buzz out of knowing I can go anywhere in the world - anywhere - and find a yarn shop, and it'll feel like home, because no matter the language barrier, there's a commonality to the experience of being a knitter (or crocheter, or spinner, or felter, or whateverer).

I look back on the first night I went along to Angelknits, to join this knitting group I'd read about, and how I hid in the DVD section in Borders for 20 minutes before I got up the guts to go over and ask to join them and can't believe how scared I was.

Now, after the adrenaline of Saturday has died down, I'm looking back and wondering why I was so terrified of doing this - and I really was - I was literally shaking for the first three hours of the show - from fear, from excitement, from relief when the first person bought fibre from me. I could have hugged her. I actually thought my head would burst open and explode with the emotion - mostly relief - of it all.

I had an amazing day on Saturday. I'm never going to be rich running this little fledgling (for the moment) fibre business of mine, but then I don't need to. I'm running it to support my habit, and because it gives me a indulge even more in the alchemy that is taking the clippings from a sheep and turning it into something else.

I can't thank Nikki enough for sharing her space with me, and giving me the chance that I'd never have taken by myself, and Gerard and Craig for putting together an event where so many people came along and the atmosphere was just right for those of us starting out on this fabulous rollercoaster ride.

I met so many wonderful people and had such a good time that I don't even really mind that I didn't get a chance to shop for myself.

I've got a lot to learn, and a long way to go before I can consider it an overwhelming success, but even a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and now I'm on that road, there's no turning back now.

Getting Off The Pot

I've dropped a few hints about super secret projects I've been working on, and the time has come to share one of them.

For a long time now, I've wanted to do more with fibre and dye, after a few experiments last year revealed the joyful alchemy of the dye pot.

I've also wanted to see if I could perhaps make a little money while having fun (because I just couldn't justify buying all that fibre and dye just for personal use), but I was a bit nervous about the whole "business" side of things.

Anyway, after a lot of faffing, a lot of thinking, a lot of planning and a lot of help and encouragement, I've actually done it.

I dyed some fibre, I've packaged it all up, I've made a website, and I'm all ready to go claim my corner of Nikki's Fluffenstuff table at the UK Stitch and Bitch day and see if this bird is ready to fly.

Do you have fibrelust?

Cos I definitely do.

Ally Pally

Two years ago (about six months into my newly acquired knitting addiction) on a whim, I decided to volunteer to help out at the Knit and Relax stand at the Alexandra Palace (aka Ally Pally) Knitting and Stitching show.

I really had no idea what I was letting myself in for.

I spent the best part of four days crocheting and finger knitting, and teaching other people to crochet and finger knit (I think I maxed out at 15 people at once) and quite literally reveling in the absolute joy of being amongst people who understood my urges to stroke yarn, in a place filled with more yarn and other fibery things than I'd ever seen in my life.

Last year I went for one day, and came home exhausted and energised again.

This year I went for only one day again and I had both a plan, and a man, in tow.

Rather than making faces, and shooing me off in the direction of North London with instructions not to break the bank manager's heart, my lovely boyfriend braved the eostragen overload and came with me. He even helped with the plan.

The plan was to meet Nikki and her boyfriend, go round the show, look at the wares, take note of amounts and costs and then, when I'd seen everything, calculate what I wanted to get and go get it.

It worked pretty well, for a couple of hours... we walked round, K took notes, I learned to felt and card, we walked round some more, then we got to a certain stand and I had a rather major falling down in the plan department.

After the major falling down, I went next door to the Fyberspates stand and had another falling down, this time in the silk hankie department. It was only a little one - 50g of silk hankies, spread across three colourways.

I managed to get hold of myself long enough to make it to the Knit and Relax stand where it was wonderful to catch up with Sue, Jane and Yvonne, who I haven't seen in a long time. It was also nice to have a quick chat with Mary-Lou and meet her other daughter (the one that *doesn't* think my boyfriend has a cute bum) and Gaz from the UK Handknitters Yahoo group (and his wonderful spindle).

With only an hour to go (and having lost the boys to the bar) Nikki and I did a quick trawl through the last half of the great hall, and at the end of the day, I headed back to the place I had my major falling down, and fell down again there, and at Fyberspates again, where I fell hard for a braid of 55% blue-faced leicester/45% silk fiber in berry colours (with a little hint of cream here and there).

I literally can't wait to show off everything I got, but the rest will have to wait, because it's for a super secret project and the time isn't quite right to reveal all.

In the meantime though, enjoy the fiber porn above :)

Pretty Skeins All In A Row

I've been hearing about Yarn Yard quite a lot lately, and finally succumbed to curiosity and went to check out the site.

Before I knew what happened, four skeins of pencil roving were wending their way to me, all ready for spinning up into (what I hope will be) sock yarn.

The picture doesn't even come close to getting across just how soft and squishy these are, or the depth (and subtlety) of the colours.

There's one varigated in shades of yellow/pale green/pale brown and sky blue/teal, one solid turquoisey/teal/blue, one solid pale green (not ordinarily my kind of colour at all but this just grabbed me, and one solid bright pink/cerise.

What I can't decide is whether I should mix and match, or try and make a pair of socks out of each skein of roving.

What I do know is that I'm really going to need to hope the birthday fairy brings me more bobbins on Friday.

Some Assembly Required

Back at work and it's predictably manic.

Rushing to try and get my already late sockapalooza socks done and on their way halfway across the world to my very patient and understanding sock pal.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of this little guy when I made a visit to Vauxhall City Farm yesterday.

We went there, because we thought my 11 month old niece would get a kick out of seeing the animals. Predictably, she slept through the whole thing, even when right next to this guy's friend, who was loud and proud to be a black sheep.