Club piccies!

More pics of this year's clubs....

March...Teal Green Agate

Fibre Adventure - Some lovely Merino roving, Romney fleece and some very interesting (and rather nice to dye) Chitin fibre.


Roving medley was a swirl of squooshy Merino


And for Sock Club members, my custom-spun Merino twist

Day 5 of the Christmas Countdown!

Visit the Countdown Christmas tree and click on the bauble for Day 5 to see what today's special offer will bring!

On a related note, a couple of people have asked whether they can order their Countdown goodies and wait to have them all shipped together later to save on postage.

Absolutely! If you don't want to miss out on the day's offer but are waiting to see what's still to come, that's no problem at all. Order as normal on promotion day then when you get to the payment page on Paypal there's a box for message to merchant (it doesn't appear until right before payment). Just type in there that you'd like me to hang onto your order and combine the postage (or email me) and I'll keep your goodies until you're ready.

Simply drop me an email when you've finished shopping and I'll parcel up all your goodies and you'll only pay the postage for the total combined order. (Excess postage will be refunded via paypal when your parcel is posted).

U is for...Updates

...sock and fibre club updates to be specific.

It was actually someone else who mentioned that I haven't posted any pics of my club yarns and fibres for absolutely ages and when I looked back in the archives (brushes off cobwebs and sneezes at rising dust cloud), I haven't done an update since January! My bad : (

Rather than crash everyone's internet with the pic-heavy post of the year, I'll do this tranches over the next couple of days. Starting with February then we had...

My Funny Valentine


(sock club inexplicably missing - if anyone has a pic, either the yarn or finished project, do let me know!)

Roving Medley - sproingy Corriedale


 Fibre Adventure Club - Corriedale roving, Portland fleece, silk throwsters waste and merino silk roving


 Red!

X is for,,,Xmas

...Newsletter just out!

(Yes, a little predictable, I know, but it is quite true, the Christmas Newsletter is out today!).

There's still time to sign up and receive this issue's Subscriber-only Offer so if you would like up-to-date news of new products, what's happening and when, you can sign up on the homepage on the website at www.dtcrafts.co.uk or email me at subscribe@dtcrafts.co.uk.

If you signed up for the newsletter but haven't received it, it may have been captured by the spam filter. If it isn't hiding in your spam folder (or, shock horror, your trash can), please let me know and I'll check I have your correct details on the mailing list.

(And of course, I don't want to pester you with unwanted emails so any time you want to be removed from the list, a quick email to unsubscribe@dtcrafts.co.uk or click on the link at the bottom of any newsletter, and I'll action it straightaway).

W is for.....Woo Hoo!

Ha ha, no, not wool! Any why? Because I had some fantastic news recently. I’ve just signed a new book and video deal! Squeeeee!

I’ve been bursting to tell everyone about this exciting new project but had to keep myself in check until I had confirmation that the book would be going ahead. As we've now got the green light I can stop feeling fit to pop and tell you all about it.

Back in the summer I was approached by Quarto publishing to see if I’d like to write a knitting book. But this was to be a book with a difference. Have you seen the little black patterned squares that are popping up everywhere? Apparently they are called QR codes and they allow you to scan the code (like a barcode) into your smartphone and then when you click on it, it takes you to the relevant website. So, the new book will have QR codes for each knitting technique and you’ll be able to go directly to a video tutorial which will show the technique in action – amazing, no? And I’ll be writing the words and doing the video tutorials!

After submitting the précis, Pete and I did a test shoot, complete with live commentary. We then went to London for a photo and video shoot with the publisher. It was very interesting to work with another photographer and see things from a different perspective.

The funniest part was then doing a voiceover for the clips. Rather than record live I had to record the voiceover whilst watching my clips. I had no idea how hard this would be! Even though it was my hands, getting the timing right with all the right words in the right places was quite the challenge. The best part was, having decided on about my 20^th attempt that I’d finally got it, I left it for Pete to review, only to hear him laughing his head off from the study as he listened to my dulcet Yorskhire tones. And what was the cause of all this amusement? The aeroplane flying over in full throttle part way through the soundtrack! I was so busy concentrating I was completely oblivious. Oops.

So here are a couple of shots from the day in London.

Lunch in Camden.... 

And a view over the lock...

A walk around one of my fave spots in London - Camden Lock's funky shops..

And in the studio...



I've been down to London this week for the first planning meeting so keep tuned in for progress updates...... : )

"W" was brought to you by the ABC meme

T is for....Textiles in Sussex

Another lovely visit to Lewes for the East Sussex Guild’s biennial exhibition and sale. The members’ work was as beautiful as ever and we had an excellent time. We were rather busy so not much time to take photos but I did sneak off the stall for a few minutes for a bit of “retail therapy” ; )

And here’s a quick peak at my little stash of goodies:

Buttons & fasteners from Textile Garden

Nettle yarn from the Transrural Trust

Sari fabric strips from Janet at the Threshing Barn for my OCA course (you have no idea how long it took me to choose the colours, they were all so pretty!)

Threads from the Handweavers’ Gallery (also for the OCA course – I never bought anything this exciting for my Classics degree!)

And, the piece de la resistance, a Russian spindle and ceramic bowl from Ian Tait at IST Spindles. This one is being wrapped back up as it may yet be a Christmas present but  I’m not sure if I can wait that long…..

Many thanks to the Guild for inviting us back this year and a huge thank you to all the members who helped us ferrying boxes in and out of the car, supplied us with regular teas, coffees and biscuits and even provided lunch orders to keep us fed and watered. Oh, and Pete says I mustn’t forget to mention the scrumptious homemade cakes : )

T is today's catch-up post for the ABC meme 

Movember needs you!

My Mobro's (the DH and DS) have been taking part in Movember this month. If you haven't encountered Movember yet, you can find out more here. Essentially, throughout November guys grow Moustaches to raise vital funds for research into treatments for men's cancers and raising awareness of men's health issues.

As they go into the final week, the Mobro's would really appreciate some moral support (they are getting a bit fed up with having itchy fuzzies!). So, if you're on twitter,  a tweet to @punkduck66 would be fantastic, or a comment here on the blog would give them a much-needed boost.

And if you have a 50p gathering its own fuzzy fluff in the bottom of your handbag/pocket or down a settee cushion, the team would be able to put it to good use for a great cause at their justgiving page. You can turn your fuzzy 50p into a valuable donation here at Team Moustaches of the Living Dead

Strangely, I'm getting rather attached to the facial fuzz so I'm kinda hoping it may stay, but in case it doesn't here's a pic of the "Mo" to date.....

Go Mo!