January Fibre Club yummies

Now I have the tax return out of the way I can tell you how much fun I had with this month's Fibre Club. As you know, I have two fibre clubs. One is the Roving Medley, a different fibre and an exclusive colourway each month. The other, which I just love doing, is my Fibre Adventure Club.

For this club I get to hunt out lots of interesting and exciting fibres, dye them all up in scrumptious, harmonious colourways, then send them out into the world and wait to see what my lovely members do with them. This month's Adventure was a luscious parcel of silk hankies, merino/tencel roving and Shetland fleece. I dyed a little extra (oops!), so I'm keeping that for myself as a sample (well, you have to, really - you know, in case anyone wants to know what they might get). When I've spun up my samples, I'll post pics - there, I've committed now, so I'll actually have to do it (and you can nag me if I don't!).

Tax return done - yaaay - go me!!!

I finished the last bit of the tax returns yesterday, whacked that enter button, watched it disappear into the internet ether and sat back feeling very relieved. I won't even try to promise that I'll do it earlier next year. I so know it won't happen.....

Off for a celebratory steaming hot mug of tea and a Krispy Kreme (chocolate dreamcake in case you were wondering) - what do they put in those things? They are addictive : )

UK DIY - celebrating crafting!

Knitters of the North (and beyond!), UK DIY need your wool! Want to know more? Here's a quick summary, or find out more at the UK DIY blog.

"UK DIY - a celebration of the DIY craft movement and it’s development here on these shores. UK DIY will be bringing exhibitions, projects and events to a lovely spot near you from February onwards.

In preparation the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh is working with some fantastically exciting and talented people to bring you pompoms, crocheted bacteria and other knitted wonders - and they’d like your unwanted wool please.

Any colours and weights of wool will be very gratefully received. All donated wool will be used as part of the make-and-do area of our forthcoming exhibition UK DIY (February - April 2009) giving visitors to the exhibition the opportunity to try some hands-on knitting and crocheting.

Please post your unwanted wool to: Louise Clennell, Turnpike Gallery, Civic Square, Leigh, WN7 1EB
If you need any help with postage costs/jiffy bags, please email l.clennell@wlct.org or call 01942 404469".

Fibre Friday

On Friday I sorely needed a break from the tax returns as my brain was fit to burst with numbers and calculations!

My two spinning wheels have been looking a bit neglected and I've been promising myself a spinning session since before Christmas. But before spinning must come fibre, so Julia and I collected together the large bag of natural dyed fleece from my experimentation session with Earthues and our Hue & Dye extracts (which those of you with good memories will remember I started dyeing last September - oops!). Although the fleece quality was a bit variable, I couldn't bear to part with it as the colours were so lovely.

We set up the drum carder and spent a very enjoyable and productive afternoon producing a lovely big pile of multi-blended natural dyed batts. There was madder for reds and oranges, weld for clear, bright yellow, persian berries for golden ochre yellow and gorgeous olive green which I'd made by modifying the weld with iron sulphate. The teals, pinks and purples I've kept to one side for later.

My plan is to make a new blankie for our living room. I'm going to spin up a batch of natural-coloured jacob fleece (I daren't tell you how old that is!), and combine this with the dyed fleece in a slip-stitch mosaic pattern......

Fiber Baristas!

If you'd told me 4 months ago that I'd now be part of an exciting "global" sock club, I'd have just laughed. But, thanks to the hard work of an enthusiastic bunch of indie dyers, the Fiber Baristas launched on 1 January.

"Postcards from Home" is the theme of our first sock club. Each month members will receive a skein of sock scrumptiousness, hand-dyed by one of the nine Baristas. Colourways will be exclusive to members and will be inspired by the local region of that month's dyer. It's a unique opportunity to sample the talents of nine different dyers, each with their own signature style, and I'm so excited to be part of it!

So, who are my fellow Baristas? Most of you will know them already, but may not yet have sampled their lovely wares. In no particular order we have.....(drum roll!)

Meg of Hoobody Fibers
Catherine of Knitting Notions
Libby from Northwood Dyeworks
Jenny of Bare Sheep Yarns
Ruth from PennyRose Yarns
Lindsay of Woolen Dyeworks (formerly whimzypinzy creations)
Brooke of The Painted Tiger
Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden
(oh, and me!).

If you are on Ravelry (and if not, do check it out, it's a fantastic free knitting and crochet online "world"), do drop by our Ravelry group and say hi. To find out more about us and to join in the fun, check out the Fiber Baristas blog - enjoy a world of yarn without leaving your armchair!!