Introducing Dan

Meet Maudie's new friend Dan, the fisherman.

Since Reggie's move to Hong Kong, Maudie has been quite lonely.  She's got a new friend now. I've got a feeling that he's not going to stick around long.

Not only is he ruggedly handsome with a spiffy cabled jumper and roll down sou'wester, the girls will be impressed with his full organic beard.

He likes to stand at the harbourside and show off his catch. Today is not a good day. He's managed to trawl in one tiny fish, a family of starfish and a couple of strands of seaweed. The girls won't be impressed with his fishing skills. Dan said, 'You should see the one that got away.'

Maudie replied' 'So should you!'

We all remember how dapper Reginald was.

If you want to find out more about Dan you can find him here.

Crochet Suffolk puffs

I know there are fans of crochet yoyos out there. It's time for another fix.

I had wool left over after making my MHZZ blanket and used  it up making yoyos. The best thing about crochet is watching the piles grow. When you run out of room in the box you know it's time to start to lay out your random pattern. Random is not easy when you only have four colours.

If you fancy having a go there is a free pattern here. It's a how I do it rather than how it should be done. For that you'll have to buy "Crocheted Throws and Wraps" by Melody Griffiths.

The finished blanket can be found on Etsy

Crochet cookies

Happy Saturday! After two days of gale force winds and torrential rain the sun has finally come out. I tell you, I'm not enjoying this drought!

This week I've been mostly decorating and flicking through Pinterest to cheer myself up. Love the pins of some of my contacts. These are simply too good not to share. They made me look twice because I thought they were some new type of granny square and I got really excited. Better than than they're biscuits and truly are good enough to eat. You can find them and lots of other great ideas on I Feel Cook

I have to rush off now to buy square biscuit cutters! Where are my wellies?

Happy Saturday

My blogging has been sparse since the whole Blogger update. For that I'm truly sorry. As a way of making it up to you I give you a little vid.

The first film made me smile when I saw it on Fondant Fibre. Thanks for sharing, Deborah.

It's the story of sustainable wool production. Here's the final cut from Wools of New Zealand. 

Art Party - May

This month's Etsian Artists Art Party theme is cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is not a concept that I'm familiar with. Punk to me is the Sex Pistols, Clash et al, spitting and pogoing. Not easy to portray through crochet!

I watched Blade Runner, again, was very tempted to watch the Matrix but it still hurts my brain. In the end I came up with two creations. One was more successful than the other.

My eyebot was top heavy even though he's reinforced with metal legs. He's going to be minus legs cos that's the way he rolls!

My second is a little punky, goth, emo. You decide! You can find him here on Etsy

You all know my love of amigurumi. He was more fun to do. I might end up hooked!

Manta Hueco Zig Zag

I had always intended to crochet a matching blanket when way back when I finished my souk style, cushion cover. I wrote about the inspiration for it in Invite to an Art Party. The weather has been so cold here that making a blanket seemed a sensible course of action. So here's my ta da moment!

Ta da!!

You can find a full description here on Etsy.

Wonderwool 2012

Yarn fanatics brought a huge crowd to Builth Wells last month for the annual Wonderwool.  The best part of it for me is an insight of the process from animal to garment. This year we had Blue Texels, alpacas and Shetlands. There were beautiful angora bunnies too but I stayed away from them for fear of wheezing. It's not a good look to be hugging on an inhaler. Not a good advert for them either.

I'm very focused when I go to these events. My only purchase was an Aran weight, organic wool and alpaca from Uppingham Yarns. It will make a great cowl for next winter. Although the way the weather has been I might start making it now.

The reason for this year's visit was to try my hand at dyeing. It's great fun getting messing but I'm sure that was not intended. We had plenty of time and space to try out different methods.

The final stages were carried out at home with a microwave. These wrapped up like a sausage hanks had to be cooked, then rinsed and put out to dry.

All the wools are organic. The pink and purple nearest are 4 ply Wensleydale. I love the way they shimmer and can't wait to knit them up. Any suggestions for one skein patterns?

I leave you with the real stars. In no particular order; Shetlands, alpaca (who look perpetually bored) and the lovely Blue Texel. Ahww!