Handspun Orenburg lace - wrap pattern done!

Those of you who know me will know that fine lace knitting is not really my "thing", but since we've started selling the (absolutely gorgeous) handspun silk and goat down Orenburg lace yarn I have been trying to resist an unexpected desire to design and knit a lace shawl.

Anyway, I've finally taken the plunge and the finished design will be featured in Simply Knitting in June (hence no piccie). I have exciting plans for a range of hand-dyeds to complement the design (here are a couple of the initial trial skeins, jet and misty mountain hop)

When I've decided on the best colourways (and I might have to do lots of testing : grins: they will be on offer for SK readers, so keep checking the newspage on the site.

For those of you who, like me, like to know a bit about their yarns, this unique yarn is handspun from the softest down of goats which are native only to this part of the world. Bred to survive the cold temperatures of the Orenburg region, in the shadow of the Ural mountains, the goats have a downy undercoat which is gently handcombed once per season. This down is then spun by hand around a silk thread, which gives the yarn strength and a beautiful sheen. The fine yarns are then used to make the world-renowned Orenburg lace shawls. As I knit my shawl I feel honoured to share just a tiny part in bringing this fabulous tradition to the UK. I'm also marvelling that anyone has the patience and skill to spin anything so fine - it puts my earlier spinning post to shame : Blushes :

Pre-Wonderwool quickies 2 - Chester zoo

All work and no play makes Debbie a dull girl so we took a well-earned trip out to Chester Zoo over the Easter hols. We hadn't been since Will was small so it was amazing to see so many changes and improvements there have been to the habitats. Although I have reservations about zoos, Chester does everything it can to make the animals lives as interesting as possible and does lots of beneficial work re-introducing animals to the wild. I guess given the plight of many of our most familiar animals it's a trade-off we have to live with until animals' native habitats are restored and protected. (Hops off soap box).

Highlight of the visit was the twilight zone. The bats were amazing and were so active we could feel them whooshing past us in the semi-darkness. Watching them swoop and dive between the visitors was incredible. The elephants were great, wallowing in a huge mudbath and spraying each other with mud. When the babies (ok, calves), followed the mums out of the bath they all trooped off in a line - it was like a scene from a disney movie!

Candy floss was the order of the day for the boys (hot coffee for me, thank you very much!) - how they weren't sick on the way home I'll never know....

Pre-Wonderwool quickies - first Earthues workshop

A couple of quick updates before Wonderwool fever takes over completely...

The first Earthues workshop in our new venue in Sale was great fun. The hall is massive so we had plenty of elbow room, which is just as well as everyone was very busy producing sample sets and scrummy yarns. A special thank you to my first visitors Vicky, Ceri and Rachel who made it such an enjoyable day.

As ever the girls put me to shame with fabulous pics and completed items in near-record time. I put this down to the fact that I can't teach and take photos at the same time (put me down as a fail for multi-tasking abilities).

Vicky brought along some gorgeous knitted hearts made after our last workshop. Inspired by these are the cute little hearts which Ceri made from her naturally dyed yarns.

Spinning (or, rather, not spinning!)

The observant among you will have noticed that I mentioned dusting off my spinning wheel in an earlier post. In case you thought I was kidding, here is my wheel just as it came out of the spare bedroom.... (!!)

Stitches International Birmingham

We recently went to the Stitches International trade fair in Birmingham. It was our first visit there and it was a real change to attend a show as a visitor and to be able to mooch round looking at everyone else's exciting goodies for sale! The hard bit was keeping my credit card firmly stashed away in my bag!

Although we didn't see lots of yarn, we did see some interesting organic yarn and it was lovely to meet up with Tom from Artesano. I was very tempted by their new Manos del Uruguay range. Each skein is handspun and signed by the maker - how cool is that? There were some fantastic accessories so I have plans for lots of new projects with wonderfully exotic beads and embellishments. There were some fab handbag clasps, fasteners etc. too so I can feel some interesting bags and the like coming along soon. (This might not seem terribly exciting, but it's the little things like clasps and straps that really set bags apart for me and give them the designer look).

We signed up for a Search Press account so we'll soon be stocking lots of their gorgeous titles. What was a bit embarrassing was looking through the catalogue and realising how many of their books I already own in my crafty "library"! (Didn't tell Pete this so mum's the word).