theMADEproject feature!

Very excited today - theMADEproject, with whom I have been communicating for a while on Twitter, have featured me as their seller of the week - have a look at their website at www.themadeproject.com for the full interview! I am also hoping to get involved in their MADE markets which are starting up in 2012. theMADEproject describe themselves as a 'creative online showcase of all that is homemade and wonderful in the UK' and it's really great to be part of this initiative.

Christmas Eve!

Having finished and delivered my tiny godson's Christmas present, I can look forward to a Christmas Eve spent knitting the cat's present, eating mince pies and listening to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Radio 3 at 3pm - it's been a feature of ever Christmas Eve since I was very small, apart from a couple of years when I was working in retail and had to be at work.

The godson's chair came from Ikea, and has been decoupaged with papers and glue varnish from Decopatch. The legs and back are in a red marbled with gold, the seat is green with adorable dancing teddy bears. When I was a toddler, my grandparents brought me back, from a holiday in Spain, a little rush-seated chair to be my very own, and I still have it to this day - I remember how special I felt having my own chair, and I wanted Thomas to have that too! Decorating it has been great fun - I've not done decoupage before. Next project - turning my boring wooden bead box into a decoupage masterpiece!

I recently knitted a waistcoat for myself from Zwartbles wool, and Sophie the cat made it quite plain that she considered it hers by right. I disagreed, and reclaimed my waistcoat, but as I had a 150 grams or so of the yarn spare, I thought I would make her a small blanket as a Christmas present - it is almost done, ready to be boxed up and put under the tree. I'm sure she will love it - my only concern is that she will try to eat it!

Talking of eating, I am looking forward to the mince pies with interest - they are the fancy Waitrose ones by Heston Blumenthal, which apparently have pine-scented icing sugar to dust over them when they come out of the oven - hmmm.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Wheels and collars

There has been great excitement in the house (not least on the part of the cat, who thinks it's her new toy!) with the arrival of a Haldane spinning wheel, which is on loan from the Brecknock Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers which I joined recently. It has been a steep learning curve, as I have never used a double drive wheel before, but I am seeing an improvement in my yarn (and my temper!) already. It does, however, confirm me in my conviction that when I buy my own wheel it must be a double treadle one, as this single treadle is really very bad for my back and thoroughly un-ergonomic. This means I have to limit spinning to about 15 minutes at a time, which is probably no bad thing as I would otherwise be in danger of doing nothing else!

I have been researching spinning wheels, and in view of what I have learned over the last few weeks about what the important factors for me are (mostly to do with my back, and involving working height and the symmetry of the design and ease of pedalling) my current front runners are the Louët Julia www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/KSjuliareview.html and the Kromski Sonata www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/eqp_spn_whl_wheels.php. Although the Louët, which is made in the Netherlands, would appeal to my Dutch heritage, my preference is for the Polish-made Kromski at the moment because a) it's about £100 cheaper and comes with its padded carrying bag included in the price, b) the height of the orifice is 3" higher (less stooping = less backache, which is a major consideration for me), c) it has two footmen connecting the treadles to the wheel, as against one on the Louët, which should make it easier to pedal, d)it is solid wood, whereas the Louët is partly laminate, and I am old-fashioned enough to want solid wood, and e) the Kromski looks more like a traditional wheel and is arguably more ornamental than the utilitarian Louët, which is a consideration as it will be out on view in the living room at all times. The only thing really against the Kromski is that the Lazy Kate for two bobbins is on the 'wrong' side for me for plying - I'd prefer a freestanding Lazy Kate (which comes with the Louët) which I can place on the floor behind me and to the left.

So - it seems likely that, unless my researches come up with any further options, all my Christmas and birthday money will be going towards a Kromski fund...

Meanwhle, I have been knitting - I am part way through a waistcoat of Zwartbles wool, of which more when it's done, but meanwhile, I have made a rather gorgeous collar from 100 grams of Twilley's Freedom Spirit which I happened to have in the stash (matches my very first mittens!), it's a very simple pattern of K1, P1 and K2, P2 ribbing with some increases, and is incredibly cosy - in fact I have worn it continually since it came off the needles!