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 

S is for....Summer School

... or the Association of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers Summer School to be more precise.

I was delighted to be invited to teach again this year and I had an awesome time. The students were fantastic, the organisation and venue brilliant and the inspiration provided by all the tutors' exhibition work and the work of their students was breathtaking. Seeing all the submissions for the various Certificates of Achievement was wonderful. It really was a great week.

A huge thank you to all my students, to conveners Doreen and Margaret, to Queen Margaret University and to everyone who participated - oh, and not forgetting my lovely other half who would have won an Olympic gold for washing yarn, setting up and running the trade stall, fetching and carrying and driving the van. What a superstar! (Erm, sort of wondering what I actually did now!)

There is so much more to see in the photo album so do go along and have a look at the fabulous work the students did, but here is a small selection...

Self-striping yarn - winding those long skeins!

Never let it be said that dyers aren't a resourceful bunch....

And painting

Aren't the results amazing?

 

Work in progress

Creating colourways

Taking advantage of the fire alarm for a quick team photo : )

Still busy!

My exhibition work

At the end of a busy week!

My right-hand man and all-round superstar in a rare moment with his hands not in the sink

And all nicely rounded off with a ceilidh : )

Phew!

R is for...."R & R"

..."Rest & Relaxation" aka a quick holiday-related post....

Cornwall this year was fab as ever. We were hugely lucky with the weather and we stayed in the same house as last year so we had all our creature comforts (three large bedrooms and a shower/loo each!), nearby pub, best restaurant in Cornwall 5 mins away, our fave boarding beach and Padstow all within easy reach. Perfect!

I know photos of other people's hols are never as exciting as your own so I'll spare you the full album and share just a few of highlights of the week...

Clotted cream tea on arrival - nom nom : )

Dinner at the Journeyman - the best restaurant in Cornwall 

Sandcastle #1 (the first of many!)

Poldark Mine

The Eden Project

A trip up the biome platform - very high, very hot, super-humid (but worth the three trips round the dome to see if it was open!)

Not one to do if you suffer from vertigo!

 (Note my rather rosy cheeks!)

Labyrinth Circus at the Eden Project - awesome!

  And the Juggling Skills Workshop...

(Also note the obligatory tongue sticking out - an essential aid to any act requiring concentration!)

 The subject matter for my first "proper" watercolour  - there may be a pic of the acutal watercolour later but it's a bit "rudimentary"

Caaaaake! (At Pauline's in Newquay) And that pic does not convey the scale of those pieces, believe me!

And for you texture/colour lovers out there, I've uploaded some of the plants/buildings/rocks etc. onto my Pinterest page but here are a couple of my favourites...

"P" is for Proud Parent

This post is definitely a "double P" event!

GCSE results were out shortly before we went on hols and it was a time of nailbiting, sleepless nights and nervousness (me and the DH not the DS I hasten to add - he was reassuringly confident). The booking of a holiday not 24 hours after results day was starting to feel rather ill-advised and it was hard to concentrate on the packing.

Results were out at 10am and when I hadn't heard anything by 10.20am I was getting panicky. Deep breaths, happy thoughts (and tea) were in order. 10.28am and the news was in - 2A*s, 5As, 1B and 2Cs. All the right grades were in the right places (sciences) so a place at SGS was secured : )

Not being ones for leaving things to the last minute (!), this necessitated a Betty's Mad Dash to the Trafford Centre for suit shopping (6th formers wear proper suits) so he'd have at least one suit to wear when we got back. Pleased to say we weren't the only ones as we bumped into his bff in Topman, also purchasing suits!

(I know this may not strike you as us being overly confident about the results but we like to think of it as not tempting fate!).

Seeing Will in a full-on three-piece (suit not suite) was amazing. It was like someone had stolen my little boy and replaced him with a young man overnight. What happened to those first 16 years? He'll always be my baby of course, but I feel truly blessed to have such a great young man for a son. Well done, Will : )))

A rather out-of-sequence post brought to you by the ABC meme (I blame not being able to find the photos!)

Q is for....Quiet

In a bid to catch up on matters blog/IT-related I've come along to the new Manchester Jelly. Mostly I'm very happy working at home but just occasionally I need to be taken away from the distractions of housework and gardening (not doing them you understand, just looking at them and thinking I should be doing them).

So here I am, armed with laptop, patterns to type up and photos to upload. Free tea and coffee, whizzy wifi and no distractions. Nice. I could get used to this.....

This week's (even later than normal) Q is brought to you by the ABC meme

"O" is for OCA... an update

Still working on Assignment One of the OCA Textiles Degree but plugging on and trying to make myself sketch. Last night's exciting subjects were my living room lamp and a felted basket with some spinning bobbins in! In a rash departure from pens/pencils I went full-on mad and got out the coloured pencils! Phew! I set myself a target of no edges as I'm a bit of a one for drawing the outline then filling it in - a throwback to kid's colouring books I think. It wasn't an outstanding success but a start at least. The DS is being awesomely encouraging and keeps telling me not to get behind with sketching as it is really important. Mrs Bleakley (Will's art teacher) has obviously done a good job there!

If you promise not to laugh I'll post pics of the sketches - hopefully you can tell which is which (!) but I warn you, they really are dire   : (  

Thank goodness my dyeing skills exceed my drawing skills is all I can say.....

 (ps. There are lots more sketches but I don't want to scare you all away! - and the separate OCA blog is under construction).

The lettter "O" has been brought to you by An Accidental Knitter's ABC meme - find more "O"s here.....

N is for Not Enough Hours in the Day....

Nothing serious to report just a pre-Summer School/OCA/pre-holiday/hospital/pre-GCSE results kind of week when everything seemed to come at the same time and nothing seemed to come together iykwim!

Anyway, back from Summer School where we had an awesome time (more of which later as it deserves a nice post of its own!). Some progress on the OCA front (also more later), signed off by one of the hospitals (two down, one to go - yaay!), so just Christie's left on the list. GCSE results are out on Thursday so we're all on pins here still for that one.

Now tackling a world-grade washing mountain that would put the average laundry to shame. Why does a pre-holiday laundry call cause almost every garment possessed by the OH and the DS to miraculously appear, resulting in a deluge of dirty t-shirts/trousers and other garments (about which the less said the better)? - yuck. Thank heavens for the new washing line - which, I'm pleased to say, I put up all by myself : )

Off now to get more done before it rains......


" N" was brought to you by the ABC meme - you can find the timely ABC memers here and their current posts here (the observant among you will see that I am still on N whilst they are up to P - perhaps my P should be "Promise to keep up!")

L & M are for.... Last Minute....

From Summer School - Wednesday - Sock blanks

...preparations for Summer School. Cheating here and catching up with both L and M in the ABC meme but it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks! I'm whizzing round measuring/packing/weighing/skeining/labelling and writing handouts for my course next week so I hope you'll forgive a rather "functional" blog post this week.

I'll be teaching "Dip, Paint, Print, Resist" - a full week's dyeing extravaganza. I have lots of exciting projects and exercises planned and a full complement of 15 lovely students to work with so it should be lots of fun. We'll be "immersing" ourselves (sorry, terrible dyer's pun there!) in dip-dyeing, handpainting, self-striping, resist dyeing, faux fairisle, ball-dyeing and anything else I can squeeze into the timetable!

If you're in the Edinburgh area there's a supplier's fair on the Saturday (10am-4pm) with some of your favourite traders, including Pete and my good self, The Yarn Yard, Ripples, Scottish Fibres, Don Porritt and Michael Williams. There will also be an exhibition of students' work and the work from the Certificate of Achievement so do come along to St Margaret's University (Capital Campus) and say hello!

In other news - work is progressing on the OCA Textiles Degree Course - still on Assignment One and wrestling with the unfamiliar territory that is sketching but making some headway. There'll be a separate blog for the OCA work for those who might be interested but I'll post a link here when I find a few moments to get things up and running.

And last but not least, catch up on other (more timely) ABC memer's here