Grumpy Old Man - Update

No photo I am afraid.

But this morning as it was so cold and dark outside, he said he would like to spend the morning in bed reading his book and the rest of the day knitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far he has done an inch and a half, its not perfect but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impressed, can't believe how well he has done, minimal help from me - he had a dropped stitch crisis last night, which is all mended now - :-)

Will try and remember an update photo tonight.

Grumpy Old Man Knitting

His first pair of socks, his first time using DPN's, his first time using needles under size 5mm

Just because I offered to teach him how to knit socks with 2 sets of circulars!

The knitting stayed firmly in his hands and not thrown across the room as I had expected, the football was un-watched and he couldn't come to bed as he had to finish his row!

Ally Pally

The chaos of Ally Pally has now died down, its almost under control.

Every time I do a big show I plan to write about it on the blog. But it never happens as soon as I get back to the farm I am surrounded by boxes that I have to sort through, yarn to put on-line, orders to fill, people to contact.

So here is Ally Pally - the only 2 photos I took in 5 days, both are taken early morning before the show, peaceful and blue, looking beautiful.
The rest of the time we were inside with you and our wool and chaos.



And our evenings were spent with our bestest woolly freinds eating, drinking and laughing lots, as always they make the shows a very special time.

Thank you woolly freinds - see you soon
Love Amanda
.

Dear All

We are off to Ally Pally in about an hour, need to pack the van and go - very very excited - :-)
See you all there.

love Amanda

Bloody stupid cow!

Won't shut up, its not like she is ill or anything as the herd had a vet visit yesterday, she is just a gobby cow. And its not because she is shut in the barn as I can hear her from here when she is out on the marshes...

It took me a while to work out who the culprit was, as once she starts all the others join in.

It is the black one, as you can see from the photo, she is all sweetness and light, as soon as she thinks no-one will notice she starts again.

But they are very pretty girls, 7 calves this year, one of them last night, all 7 are boys, not a very good herd building execise, but this time next year there will be plenty of organic beef.

I wish I could say I was going to turn vegetarian because of them, as I will watch these little boys grow up, I guess knowing their destiny almost makes it ok. At least they have a happy life and will stay with their mummys until they are grown.

I just wish the bloody stupid black cow would shut up, but maybe I should be kinder maybe she knows the fate in store for her baby boy and is protesting to the world.

And....

There would be photos of cows but my posh new camera doesn't like its batteries, so will write that post later when I have new batteries....................

Clubs warning & THE show

Like a lot of woolly people at this moment in time we only have one thing on our minds..

THE BIG ONE - or Ally Pally as its better known

I dyed the 100 kilo's in 2 weeks!!!! and even better Val re-wound the 100 kilo's in 2 weeks - she really is superwoman. But I am still dyeing roving and yarn for kits.

We have 2 new sock designs, one is the super snuggly "Queenie's idiot sock" which you can buy as a kit and the other is "Dragon scales" I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked for the pattern and now thanks to a much appreciated brave designer I have it!
And the new Watercolour Bessie, the original (which I still haven't finished sewing up) is another group effort made by the Ravelry Bessie Knitters - what would I do without them??
So all this means, patterns to print, kits to make up, labels, sticky hook thingies etc etc etc
And then there's planning the stand, booking the van and so much more I can't even begin to think about!

And all the day to day stuff to do and wholesale

So the club warning is that the yarn is mordanted by as yet has been no where near a dye bath, I am hopeing to get it done over the weekend, but it might not be until we get back in which case they will be late this month.

Fab weekend

Had a fab open weekend at mr Bluefaced's HQ, yummy scones and lots of woolly freinds and lots of new woolly freinds.
Spent the evenings with extra special woolly freinds and laughed a lot.
Just what I needed after leaving my last baby in Bolton.
Thank you extra special woolly friends for helping us get through the first couple of day's of being childrenless parents.
Would show you lots of photo's but was too busy eating scones and talking.
So have a look at Claire's blog and Mr Bluefaced's raverly group

Ba Ba Black Sheep where did all the wool go?

Want to know what happened to last weeks 100 kilo's?
Well here it is...

Half of stock that is off to the Bluefaced.com open weekend tomorrow.

Some of the Ally Pally stock, which is still building

What came off the line yesterday and still isn't dry.

And a dye room with about another 8 - 10 kilos left to dye.

Bad, Naughty Merino Roving

Normally Merino sheep don’t grow in this country - they don’t like the weather, however somewhere in the UK there is a small flock or maybe a slightly small medium flock. They only produce a small quantity of fleece and I know a man, who knows a man who has all of last years (I think) crop.

And now I have some roving!!!!!

It will be going to The Bluefaced. com weekend and will be unveiled in all its full glory at Ally Pally and if there is any left; then home to the website mid October.

But it is very naughty!!! So fluffy I can’t get it in its bag, I end up in a huge fight, with the Merino winning, takes about 10 mins to get it in its bag and then when I have I discover it is full of bits, which it has picked up from the clean table.

I think it secretly calls to the bits which fall out of the sky when I am not concentrating. I don’t notice them until the bag is sealed, so then I have to go through the whole bag shoving trauma again!

And here is the bad, naughty Merino pre-bag.

Photo

And as I haven't posted a photo for ages, I have chosen one at random from my files, its Bracken - The Natural Dye Studio's sponsored sheep, she lives on the heathland in the forest and is a very good mum.

Bored..

Far too much work to do, have to write invoices, dye roving, organise the yarn for this weekend's open day at Bluefaced.com's HQ, labeling, dry 8 kilos in the wet rain, be inspired for next month's club photo, dye for the club and sell my house contents on ebay - :-)

And I am bored!!! going to drink tea and look at wet wool.

Before I go to drink tea, here are the Bluefaced open weekend details....

In Mr Bluefaced's own words

"Hi All

Jeni is joining in the bluefaced open weekend on the 27th and 28th of this month in Chester.

Amanda from the Natural Dye Studio will also be there with their hand painted yarns and fibres

DT Crafts will be bringing along their dyes

Laughing Hens will have all their goodies as well.

So everyone is welcome to come and sit and knit or spin chat and relax , and of course spend a little cash if something takes your fancy.

There will be scones and tea on each day.

Hope that loads of you can make it , cant wait !!

Andy PS

The full address is The Croft Stables Station Lane Great Barrow Cheshire CH3 7JN Its easy to find , its next to the cricket ground."

Dazzle Aran & Alpaca/Merino

I have about 5 kilo's of BFL Dazzle Aran to take to Ally Pally this year, again it is a wholesale yarn.

BUT if you ask for it nicely I might put it on the site when we get back - :-)

I have decided to discontinue our alpaca/merino sock and DK yarns, as I have far too many different retail yarns to cope with.

As with the Nino Merino and Mirage sock yarns the alpaca/merino will still feature in the clubs and will also be sold wholesale.
The alpaca/merino will be on the site until we go to Ally Pally and will be removed sometime on the 6th or 7th of october.
So if you were thinking of buying some, now is the time before it disappears -:-)

Alpaca/Merino Sock

Alpaca/Merino DK

Precious

We took Precious to I Knit with us and when we came home it was left on the showroom floor.

Diane wrote a review on her blog which made me remember it was hiding under a set of shelves.

So you have Diane to thank for Precious being in the Weekly Sale, I will let you read her review - :-)

Not hysterical

This post was going to be me screaming hysterically and tearing all my hair out.

I have or rather had 100 kilos (give or take) to dye for Ally Pally, as you can see from the photo below I still have an awful lot of wool to dye, each one of the skeins is 500 gms. I think I have probably dyed 30 or 40 kilos this week already.

And today I heard a click and went into a huge panic as I thought another one of my dye vat's had blown up, as it is I am down to only 3 out of 5, was being lazy and keep forgetting to tell Phil they need mending. If no 3 went today I would have been hysterical. As it was the click was when the vat came up to temperature - why do I not know this, why am I so stupid at times??????

Guess I have a head full of steam and blue feet...............

The cotton has arrived...............

Lovely soft, sheeny Sparkle is now in the shop

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/sparkle---organic-cottontencel-4plysock-yarn-195-c.asp

This weeks sale is.....

Angel sock, Angel Lace, Chi, Dazzle Sock and Alpaca/Silk DK.

http://www.dyestudiowoolshop.co.uk/weekly-new-this-week-sale-142-c.asp

And the winners are..............

The Toilet Dolly competition was judged on saturday at I Knit, by a very exhausted Gerard. We had a collection of 28 dollys all of them stunning as you can see from the photo's on tuesdays blog.
Thanks to all who entered and congratulations to the winners.

Don't forget the auctions start the first week of november on ebay, I will load the auction links on the individual dolly pages on the web site. That way you can find them easily. There will be 3 prizes for the 3 dolly's who raise the most money, so please do lots and lots of bidding.

Bogpuss by Jane


And The Shearer by Gill

As promised

How not to save the planet!!