Early April Showers

    Its raining today, first rains we've had in a couple of weeks I think. I'm filling the last water barrel ready for summer, will have over 150 gallons which should be enough as it will get replaced as its used.

   I haven't started on my woven clothespin peg bag yet, I was hoping I could sew inkle bands side by side with the sewing machine but have no clue how or even if it can be done. I guess I'll have to do it by hand. I could do one in 3 pieces easy enough on the frame loom, I might combine the frame loom and inkle loom weaving.

  Not got anything to knit right now, think I will start a Iphone sock tonight. I do want to use up that chunky yarn I got before Christmas so I'll dig my knitting book out and have a go at knitting a vest/body warmer/gillet for myself. I also still have those socks on the needles, forgot about those again.

  I spun half a batt last night, could of done more but towards the end the yarn made a grab for the fleece and made a mess. I'll get the rest of that batt spun up today.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Clothespin peg bag update.

    The clothespin peg bag is coming along but I'm not liking the cables, because I'm knitting with cotton theres no elasticity to the yarn and knitting so many stitches in the round is causing me problems. The purl stitches between the cable panels look like there laddering and because the bags going to get a lot of heavy use I think this will become a bigger problem. At the moment I'm seriously thinking of frogging the whole thing again.
    
      If I do frog the clothespin peg bag I'm not sure what to do, I need a peg bag but don't want a plain knit one. I could do one with slip stitch colour work that would look interesting or I could have a go at weaving one. 
    Right now I'm leaning towards having a go at weaving a peg bag, I've weaved a lot but never made anything out of it so this would be a good first project. Ok then thats my mind made up, one of the good things about blogging and writing stuff down helps clarify the mind. Now to decide whether to do it in inkle bands, frame loom or both.

   I unwound the drop spindle at the weekend and wrapped it around a tupperware box until I get the rest spun up. The last time I did some spinning I was getting approx. 150yrds before I had to unwind the spindle, this time I've gotten 379 yards. Not sure if I've suddenly gotten good or if its the blend I've made but increasing the amount by more than double is pretty good either way. I think this yarn will make a nice 3 ply yarn for my aran sweater.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Census fun

   I must confess to a compulsion to colour the white lines in on bar codes, not all of them just random ones. I also like to change numbers and letters, J to I, 7 to 2. I'm also a very messy form filler, usually spilling my coffee then rubbing it vigorously, smudging stuff as I go along. 
   A weired thing too, I'm very neat and stay between the lines when colouring bar codes in but I can't stay in the lines in those little boxes that you have to write letters in. I'm optical softwares worse nightmare. I've obeyed the letter of the law and filled my census in, dated it April 1st. I hope .gov and Lockheed martin are happy.

Belt up

   I tried one of the eyelets in the band I had on the inkle loom yesterday. I might need to rethink the whole belt concept as the eyelet wasn't completely enclosed by the woven fabric. I'll get some of the washer type eyelets and try again, also have a play around with my technique.
    I had a long look around for the sort of buckles you get on canvas belts but didn't really have much luck, lots in china but with min orders and some of the workmanship looked bad. I did find one place in America that I need to look into more, not as cheap as china but I don't think there are min orders. If I can get the military style canvas belt buckles cheap enough I think that will be the way to go.

   I've put the batts. on charge today, I know, I know, its about time but I should have some picture posts for the next couple of Saturdays. Not a lot planned today, I will be having a go at tablet weaving once I figure a good way to put holes in the cards, think a drill might be best. I also want to get some spinning done, I think I need to take off what I already have on the drop spindle and begin afresh. Hopefully I can make a dent in the bag of batts I have so that I can start plying soon.

  Not been getting a lot of knitting done the last few days, I am trying to get at least one full round done a day but I really should be doing much more if I want to finish the clothespin peg bag before winter. Once I start knitting the cables it will probably slow me down even more.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Holes on my mind

   Got some 3mm eyelets today and a counter punch for notches in belts but there not working out as planned, think I need to spend a little more and find eyelets with washers for the back. The counter punch would work with the eyelet washers, the pliers I've seen for closing normal eyelets I'm unsure of the sizes. Think the washers is the way to go, would look more tidy too I imagine. I was hoping to make a belt on the inkle loom for mothers day but I'm not going to be able to now. Not sure what I'm going to do and times fast running out.

  Almost finished the band on the inkle loom and have read some of the tablet weaving book and am ready to try that once this band is finished. I think I'll try and set the tablet weaving up on the inkle loom and see how that goes. I'm not 100% happy with the tension bar on my inkle loom, it seems to be bending a little. I've seen another inkle loom on on ebay with a sliding tension bar instead of this twist type tension bar that I think might be better or I could get some wood and try and make a larger loom with a sliding tension bar, not sure that would be any cheaper though.

  If the inkle looms to small for tablet weaving I've got a couple of c clamps I could set up on the coffee table or I could set up a hook on the wall and use a belt and do some backstrap weaving. I think a trip to the lumber yard might be in order so that I could make an new inkle loom and something for tablet weaving thats adjustable.

  All the plants are outside in the afternoon sun again, its getting to be a bit of a chore taking them out and in every day. At the moment I'm leaving the lettuce outside in the mini green house and they seem to be loving it and just bringing the the tomatoes and tobacco inside of a night. Its still a pain though, the weekend is meant to be colder but we'll see.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Still nice out

   Still lovely days out, warm and bright. The temps are meant to drop back down to seasonal averages this weekend which will be a little colder but I hope the sun keeps shinning. Put the solar water batch heater out last night so I might have warm water for a wash this morning but its not warm enough. Theres not enough time for it to heat up yet, unless I have a two hour lie in. Its too warm of a night to heat the water with the kero heater so over my morning coffee I fire up the kelly kettle for some very hot washing water.

  I got about half of the band woven on the inkle loom, I'm very impressed with this pattern but can see how I could improve it slightly. My starts now are very good, even if I do say so myself and my edges are alot better for the most part. More consistency is needed there. I still haven't had time to read my new book on tablet weaving, I'll try and put 30 mins aside today for that.

  Only got two rows knitted on the clothespin peg bag, about an inch along so far. I think another inch of moss/seed stitch and I might start working on the cables. I've been thinking about weaving a clothespin peg bag as well, think it would be much faster than knitting one. I could combine the inkle bands with some frame loom weaving for some very interesting results.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Walking the plants

   Another lovely day out so I've taken the plants out into the garden for some full sunshine. I'll leave the lettuce and the spare tray with more tomatoes, lettuce and salad/spring onions out in the mini green house tonight now that its had a chance to warm up. If the temps drop at the weekend to much I can always bring them back inside. When I get a couple of hours to spare I'll put up the poly tunnel.

   I haven't gotten much else done, did a little knitting but thats it. The inkle loom is warped but I haven't touched it since Monday, I think I'll get that woven today. I got a stack of pub beer mats today that I think will make good tablets for card weaving with, my card weaving book arrived yesterday but haven't had a close look at it yet.

   I might light up the bbq again this evening and finish off the buns I have. Yesterday I did some burgers and wrapped the chicken in foil with butter and lemon juice with a few herbs and let it slowly cook off to one side, then took it out of the foil and let it finish over the coals. Not sure what herbs I used but it tasted very sweet and was really nice. Just burgers tonight though.

  Well I'm off to talk to my plants while the weathers nice. Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Its frogged

   Frogged the clothespin peg bag last night and dropped the two rope cables from the design. Apart from that I will be doing it the same, couple of inches of moss/seed stitch then stocking stitch all around with two simple plait cables and a five fold aran braid cable on the front.

   Dull yesterday has turned into an almost summers day today. I've put all the plants outside and might now start leaving some of the lettuce out, now would be a good time to set up the poly tunnel me thinks or throw the plastic over the mini greenhouse I have already set up as shelving. I'll be back in the garden in a little while, I need to transplant some more tomatoes and lettuce and look at moving some of the tobacco seedlings.

  I got my seed potatoes this morning and there already chitting but I'll wait a week before I plant them and let them chit a little more. Plus theres still always a risk of frosts this time of year and moving pots inside is easy but I wouldn't be able to move the potatoes inside to be safe so its best to wait.

   BBQ for tea tonight while the weather is this nice.I got a chicken quarter before and some buns to go with the burgers. Got lettuce and onion  in already, would be nice to start eating my own grown food again but I'll have to wait. I think this winter I'll try and grow one of the cold variety lettuces.

   I'd love to stay and chat but its too nice out. Have a great day and take care folks.

Dull days

   Its dull again, hope its not going to be dull all year like last year. My plants want sunshine. I haven't done anything else to the garden this weekend. Keeping an eye on my tobacco seedlings, there extremely tiny things and I'm not sure about transplanting them.

   This weekend I pretty much got everything done that I was planning to do. Saturday I did some blending, knitting and some work on the inkle loom. Sunday I did some spinning, knitting and some more work on the inkle loom.

   I'm starting to think about frogging the clothespin peg bag and starting from scratch, its too wide I think. I could decrease some stitches and see how that looks and redesign the cables I wanted to use. But at the moment I'm really thinking frog it and start again.

  Busy day today so this is all I'm posting, hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Spring has sprung

   Another nice day out, nights are still cold though with last night down to -1c(approx 30F). I think I'll set up the poly tunnel next week and start acclimatising some of my plants. Will still have to be careful of any frosty nights but they should be fewer and fewer from now on, I hope.

   Apart from the garden I didn't get much done yesterday, no knitting or spinning. I did do the bookmark on the inkle loom and warped it for another bookmark. I need to work on my starts still and my finishes as well, I'll read my book more today on the finishing section. Warping the loom for bookmarks this way might save some yarn but seems to take twice as long, though this time I was a little quicker as the holding yarns were already cut.

   I'm going to do some blending today with the carder as well as some knitting and weave this bookmark. I'd also like to get some more spinning done if I have time, if not today then I will definitely get some spinning done on Sunday. If I can remember I'll charge the batts. tomorrow and get caught up on some pictures so I can get back to doing some Saturday pictures posts.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Sprouts

   Ordered some maris piper seed potatoes today, there a main crop that make great chips(most chippies use maris piper). I'll get them started beginning of next week. My little gem lettuce is coming up great, got a couple of tomatoes coming up too and my tobacco is sprouting as well. No salad onions yet though, wasn't sure if they would or not as the seeds were a little old. Once I transplant the tomatoes I'll plant some more salad onions seeds but use a fresh lot.
  Edit to add I've just transplanted some tomatoes and lettuce to pots,its nice and sunny out so didn't want to sit inside writing this.

   I warped the inkle loom to weave a book mark in a check pattern, the warping took forever and I haven't started weaving yet, I'll make a start on that later today. I think the way I've warped the loom should make an ok sized bookmark and don't see that I'll run into any problems though being new to this I might have overlooked something, time will tell.

   I didn't start an Iphone sock yet but will do soon, promise. I only got a few rows knitted on the clothespin peg bag, I forgot how tangled up you can get knitting in the round. It will be easier once I have a couple of inches knitted.

Off back in the garden now, hope you all have a great day,take care folks.

1, 2, 4, 9, 23, D'oh

     I took a short break last weekend from knitting because of all the simple mistakes I was making. My knitting is now ok but I can no longer count. Made a cast on mistake and added an extra 20 stitches and now my counting has messed up my moss/seed stitch on the clothespin peg bag. Instead of undoing the lot I went back a little bit and have about 1cm of 1*1 ribbing then the moss/seed stitch.

    Today I want to try and weave a bookmark on my inkle loom, I need to figure a way to warp the loom so that I don't use loads of yarn but can also use the heddles. I'm thinking of cutting the warp for the bookmark then tying the pieces to yarns to make a full loop of the loom so that I have room to work and the bookmark will still slide along so the heddles will be easier to use. Not sure that makes sense but in my head I think it will work, I'll let you folks know tomorrow.

    I should get some spinning done today or very soon as I haven't done any in about a week. I've nearly got the drop spindle filled, think another batt or two will have it filled and ready to wind off. Once I start on an empty spindle it seems to make me want to spin more to try and fill it up.

    I'd also like to start a Iphone sock even though I have a knitting project going on right now. I think the clothespin peg bag will take a while to finish so a quick knitting project would be nice to do. I have the design for one and know what yarn I want to use I just hope I can count the stitches correctly this time.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Clothespin / peg bag.

    Made a start knitting the clothespin/peg* bag(from here on out it will be called a peg bag) last night, twice as I messed up my counting the first time by nearly 20 stitches. No idea how I over counted 20 stitches. I haven't written a pattern out but did a couple of drawings and made some notes, I did write out the cable panels I'll be using.

  Decided the peg bag will be knitted in the round using magic loop starting at the bottom with an inch or two of moss/seed stitch then a couple of rows of reverse stocking stitch then I'll knit the cable panels with a couple of stocking stitches inbetween. The back is going to be the same moss/seed stitch then just plain stocking stitch.

   The cables I'm using are 6 stitch rope cable (back), simple plait cable, 5 fold aran braid, simple plait cable and another 6 stitch rope cable (front). I'm going to put the slit to get the pegs/clothespins out in the middle ish somewhere, sort of doing that part on the fly at the moment until I come up with an idea. Not sure if the 5 fold aran braid panel will be wide enough but if it is I'll stop the braid and do a reverse stocking stitch row there then pick up a second yarn to knit with then do another reverse stocking stitch row for the top of the slit and carry on to the top.

  Finishing off the peg bag I'll probably put half the stitches on a bit of string and knit another inch, cast/bind off the front then knit the back an inch and sew the top together with a gap to slip a coat hanger in and leaving the side inch open to allow a coat hanger to pass through the sides.

  I'm knitting the peg bag in a blueish steel colour cotton yarn(dk), the same as used in the bookmark and bib patterns. Using a long cable with 4mm or 4.5mm needles, I forget the size at the moment. Hows all that sound? I'm open to any ideas or comments. Once its finished I'll take pictures and write up the pattern.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

*In the Uk most folks call clothes pins pegs.

Cricked neck

   Woke up this morning with a stiff neck on one side, probably slept the wrong way on it last night or I may have done it shaking the beer barrel about during cleaning. It wouldn't be the first time I've hurt myself cleaning the beer barrel but usually its the shoulders or chest, I really shouldn't put so much water in there and try and shake it about.

   Bottling the beer took a lot longer than I had planned, it always does so I don't know why I never take that into account. I did manage to finish off the 2 inch check cross band on the inkle loom but didn't start another one, I will today though. 
    I didn't manage to get anything else done apart from a little designing for a clothespin/peg bag but even that was slow going. I'm getting distracted with cable designs for it instead of working on the overall design. I have it all worked out in my head now, just need to get it on paper now.

   Nothing else to write really so I hope you all have a great day, take care folks.  

Weaving weekend

   Hope you all had a relaxing weekend, I did. I didn't get much done this weekend, no knitting and no blending. I did get a tiny little bit of spinning done, less than half a batt. I did weave a fair amount on the inkle loom though.

   I did a check band weave in the yellow and pink acrylic yarn. No idea why I went back to using this acrylic as its a bit of a pain to weave with, guess I'm sick of weaving in shades of blue. I did use some of my new cottons, red and white. 
   The red is pretty thin so I doubled it when doing the warp and weft. With the red and white I did dashes but made the band wider, I'm used to doing 1 inch bands. At the moment on my inkle loom I have a 2 inch blue white check cross pattern. My edges are a lot better but I need to be more consistent when pulling in so the width is equal all a long the band. My starts still need a lot of work though.

   Thats about it really, slow relaxing weekend. Today I need to get the bitter bottled, 14 days to fully ferment, not sure why its been so slow but should taste great. I'll finish the band I have on the inkle loom and start another one, not sure what yet though. I really need to start knitting an Iphone sock. If I have time I'll also do a little spinning.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Check mate

   Almost had it but theres a line down the middle of the band that spoils the check pattern. I do have checks on each side of the line and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I really shouldn't try and warp the inkle loom late at night I guess. Also have a tiny bit of the weft show through every so often, not sure if thats because I've made a mistake on the warp or if I'm not beating down hard enough. Its right in the middle where this troublesome line is. I'll finish this band and have another go but I'll try a different pattern.

   Not sure what my weekend plans are, not really in the mood to do much this morning. I'll play with the inkle loom some and do some spinning as well I think. I'll also make a start on some knitting, if not a Iphone sock then another bookmark. I might have a look at other cable patterns and see if another one takes my fancy.

   If I have something to knit I wouldn't try warping the inkle loom so late at night. It can get a little confusing warping the loom, so far my favorite pattern has been the first time I used cotton and warped it on the fly. Not sure I could repeat that pattern, I'll have to learn how to write them down when I do things on the fly.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks.

Drips

   The hot water tap in the kitchen has developed a slow drip. Its probably an easy washer change but a year or two ago I had to swap the cold water tap as it was dripping and the internals where pretty messed up. So I have a nice new hot water tap just sitting around I may as well just change the tap. Its an easy job, or it would be an easy job if the cupboard and shelf wasn't in the way and turning the water off was apita last time. Normally I wouldn't be in any rush, its a very slow drip at the moment but I'm on a water meter and those drips soon add up. Slowly, very slowly.

  Not having much fun knitting the last couple of days, I keep making mistakes and some of then are very simple stupid ones. Its annoying and very frustrating. I might take a small break from knitting and concentrate on blending, spinning and weaving for a little while. Or not.

  I sort of messed up warping my inkle loom yesterday, I was aiming for a checked pattern but ended up with a stripped pattern instead. It does look pretty good though and its all practise and I need that. I also missed picking up all the warps on one pass and have ended up with a c shape but its given me an idea to do it on purpose seeing as its only a practice piece. Instead of stripes I'm going to do a few squares for the last bit, its nearly finished now but will give me an idea on pick ups.

  I got my inkle weaving book today so will have a good read of that and have a go at a few more patterns and work on my starts and edges. The cover has a great looking pattern I really want to try out but I might have another go at checks first. I think I know what I did wrong to get the stripes.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Time to knit something else

   Well thats enough bookmarks for awhile, I messed up a cable row and when I tried to unknit the row I really messed up the row even more. Things went downhill fast from there so I frogged the lot. I did knit some of it before I messed up so that counts towards yesterdays plans.

  Talking of yesterdays plans I also got half a batt spun, it was one of my bigger batts so I'm happy with doing half of it. I didn't get anything done with any Iphone socks, no designs or knitting but I'll make a start on that today now I'm taking a break from bookmarks. Going to keep it simple for now and do a slip stitch colour one but using variegated yarn just to see how it looks.

  I warped the inkle loom with cotton yesterday and had a good day of weaving, my starts are very dodgy but once settled down alls good. My edges are looking a lot better now. I got a lot of dark/light blue striped cotton in the bunch I bought so I used that for the edges and weft, its not as bad looking as I feared. I used a navy blue for single lines and they highlight the other two blues that I did in a sort of check pattern really well. I'm very happy with the way I'm coming along and I haven't gotten the inkle weaving book yet, fingers crossed that should come today.

  I'm hoping to bottle some bitter today but the fermenting seems to be taking forever, 12 days and I'm still not sure its ready for bottles. I might just put it in a barrel so its not sitting on the sludge and let it finish fermenting for a few more days.

  The winds really howling here today, I woke up to find my gate had blown down and watching the fencing its really bending in the wind so not sure how well that will hold up today. Weatherman says 65mph gusts but haven't seen any local readings yet, I don't think the weather man is far off though. Not seen it this windy during daylight in a while.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

March hail

   The weathers being very changeable today, I was woken this morning by hail stones bashing my bedroom window. Its rained, suns out, suns in, suns out, suns in and so on and its also very windy. The wind feels cold but its doesn't seem to be that cold out and last night wasn't as cold either.

  Had a good play on the inkle loom yesterday, I warped it with the yellow and pink acrylic yarn instead of the cotton. I used the yellow for the edges and weft with the pink in the middle, solid double line, wavy single line and a few dashes. My edges still need work but are already looking better. I think when I use the cotton there will be a big improvement, this yarn tends to stick together in places when opening the sheds.

  I didn't get any spinning done yesterday but started another bookmark, I frogged the last one as I didn't like the border so am going with an all round moss/seed stitch border. I want to put pen to paper today and make a start on some Iphone socks, I need to knit a couple of swatches as well to sort out there sizes. I have several ideas for designs, think that might be my problem, instead of working on one I have too many floating around my head. I need to let them out.

  So todays plans are to play some more on the inkle loom, spin a batt, knit a little on the new bookmark, design and start an Iphone sock. If I can get half of that done and I'll be happy.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Chilly nights

   Getting a little better on the inkle loom, my edges are still far from perfect. I think I might now be pulling the edges in too tight, I'll watch a few more videos later and see. I got all my cotton today, pretty fast considering I bought it at the weekend. One of the balls is red crochet cotton and the others are just cotton and look about double knit, I can always knit stuff with those ones if I don't weave them. I now need to buy more crochet cotton to go with the red, I can't find a measurement apart from length on the packet so will just look for the same make.

  I'll be doing more weaving on the inkle loom today, I'm going to warp it again but this time I'll use a lot more threads so I can get a better idea on how the colours show through. With luck my book on inkle weaving should be here tomorrow or the day after, just hope I'm not picking up any bad habits.

  I got another batt spun up yesterday and will get another one done today, my batts are pretty small so I should be able to do at least one a day without much trouble, maybe even two a day. If I have time I might do some blending, I want to try and get back to using more white Falkland than the oatmeal BFL.

  Got another bookmark started, I did try and design an Iphone sock but my head wasn't co operating so I gave up and went back to bookmarks. I'll do a couple of pattern repeats and see how it is but have a feeling the border might be wrong, if so I'll frog it and go with another idea I have for a border.

  The days are lovely and warm with lots of sunshine at the moment but the nights are chilly again, last night it was down to -1c(approx. 30F). No sign of any seedlings yet, just hope there ok with these night temps.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

What I did this weekend.

     Saturday was spent mainly blending the Falkland and oatmeal BFL roving, its getting much greyer now. I think I need scales to measure the contents correctly, I was going for 75% Falkland and 25% BFL but as I've gone along I think its now more like 50/50 now. All the yarn is still on one spindle as well, hoping that plying it 3 times will sort out any inconsistencies.

  I spun up several batts and have loads more to be getting on with, I need to start spinning every day. The weekends spinning seems slightly thicker than previous but still thin enough for 3 ply. I'm wondering if its thicker because I've added more BFL to the mix, it certainly feels different when I'm drafting it. I'll have to force myself to try and get back to the original mix, think I'll order some more Falkland today.
  The spindle is about two thirds full now and at a wild guess I'd say there was about 200 yards on it, maybe more or that might be wishful thinking. I am spinning a lot thinner these days though.

  Sunday was spent playing with my inkle loom and doing a little more spinning. I should of finished off what was on the inkle loom but was itching to get started all on my own so I cut off what was done and warped it myself. The warping went fine, I used the already made heddles but next time I will make my own and make them a little longer. One small problem I had with the heddles was that I was threading the yarn through them instead of folding the heddle over, makes no difference really, just a little awkward.
  I went through my yarn stash looking for none stretchy yarns and used some stuff that can best be described as string, nasty itchy stuff. Weaving with the string didn't go very well and I gave up after a couple of inches and cut the warp off. At least I got to practise warping the loom and learnt to fold the heddles over so not really a wasted effort.

  I warped the inkle loom again but using an acrylic wool, yes its stretchy and probably not the best yarn to be learning with but I don't have  a lot of cotton and none the same weight/size. Warping went much better this time, now I had figured to fold the heddle over instead of passing the yarn through them. I probably need to look into tying off more, changing colours and tying was easy enough but tying the whole bunch I'm not sure I'm doing it right but it does seem to work.

  I'm not 100% happy with the colours I currently have on the inkle loom but will finish the whole band as I really need to practise my edges. Its not that the colours are bad just that I've used pink for the edges and weaving and yellow in the middle and the yellow is hard to see in anything but good clear light. I havn't done the yellow in a solid band, I did a single line of dashes and two lines of alternative dashes surrounded by pink. I should of used the yellow on the edges and for weaving and the pink in the middle.

  Coming from frame loom weaving I'm having a hard time getting the edges on the inkle loom right, I think they need to be much tighter and pulling then in tight seems odd to me at the moment.

  I've got several odd balls of cotton heading my way, I should of gone with crochet cotton but have no idea on how that stuff is measured. I'll have a better understanding when I get my book on inkle weaving this week.

  Over all a pretty good weekend, oh I did some knitting as well. I got the variegated cable plait bookmark finished but haven't started another one yet, I'll do that today as well as some more weaving on the inkle loom.

Hope you all had a good weekend, have a great day folks and take care.

Council waste

   Got a letter from the council this morning regarding some waste thats been dumped outside my property(not by me) so have been hunting an email address to contact the "assistant waste awareness officer". And folks wonder why there council tax bills are so high. Sent a general email to the help desk because I couldn't find any other email addresses, it must be nice to work a 9 to 5 Mon to Fri job and have all the weekends off.

  The weathers dull today and I don't think it will brighten up like its been doing the past few days, its chilly as well. I'm starting to wonder if I've jumped the gun a little with my seeds. Maybe I should of waited another week or two. Time will tell I guess, they are indoors but the house gets chilly too.

  Today I'm going to be blending and spinning mainly with a little knitting to finish up this bookmark. I'll also start another bookmark in sock yarn with a five fold cable, I need to get some smaller needles, 2mm would be nice I think. I also want to do some more work on my inkle loom, have a hunt around my yarns to see what I have and maybe set up the loom myself. I might leave that until tomorrow, I'm in the mood for blending today.

  Hope you all have a great weekend, take care folks. 

Inkle loom

   Got some washing drying on the line, gardens still a little muddy so I'm hoping the dog doesn't flick mud all over my nice clean sheets. The mornings are still pretty cold but the afternoons are pretty warm and sunny. I started some tobacco seeds, tomatoes, little gem lettuce and some old salad/green onion seeds I found from 2009. I'm not sure the onions will all grow, onion seeds don't age very well. I could do with another propagator so I can start some more seeds and I still need to buy some potato seeds and some big pots.

  Had a play on my new inkle loom, the person who built it had wound the warp and had started weaving a little bit making it easier for me to see whats going on. Its pretty simple really but I need to work on my edges so there not to tight or as is the case not too loose. I ordered a book today on inkle weaving and am bidding on some cotton yarns so I should be able to make a real start inkle weaving next week, for now I will finish off whats already started and work on my edges and tightness.

  Got a little more done on the cable plait bookmark in variegated yarn, I'm sort of in two minds on how the cable looks with this yarn. I don't want it to blend into the background to much. I'll finish it off tomorrow and judge it then. Also for tomorrow I'll be spinning and blending more of this roving I have, I need to start thinking on what I want next, the same blend or something else then ply it all together. No rush at the moment I guess. Now the weather is improving I can start thinking about getting a raw fleece and doing the whole process myself.

  Hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

2nd BBQ

   Had some nice chicken and a couple of burgers on the bbq last night, burnt a couple of burgers for the dog as well. The weather is nice and sunny again and its warming up as well, still a little cold at times. I'm going to get some seeds started this afternoon for the window ledge, I'll set up the poly tunnel next week.

  Didn't get much done yarn wise yesterday, did start another cable plait bookmark in a variegated yarn just to see what the cables look like using that sort of yarn. I also spun up another batt, still haven't filled the spindle yet. I think I'll blend some more this weekend and keep on spinning, I'll need to get some more roving soon too.

  Heh the postmans just delivered my inkle loom. I've no idea what to do with it and luckily there is yarn wound onto it. I'll have a play with it once I've got the seeds started and let you know how I get on. I'll order a inkle weaving book at the weekend and learn all about it.

  Hope you all have a great, have fun and take care.

Nice day again

  Another lovely day out, still a bit chilly of a night though and some early morning frosts. I've got the vets today but when I get back I'll start preparing some compost ready for some seeds. I still need to get some main crop seed potatoes and I left a packet of onion seeds at my moms I need to retrieve.

  I finished the red plait cable bookmark, thinking I need to do some Iphone socks now. My eureka thing was knitting a live Icord as a button loop, started well on one side but didn't look good on the other side. 
   I have another plan for it that might work, knit half a row, turn cast off to the middle, knit Icord, slip Icord stitches back onto the needle, knit half a row, turn cast off remaining stitches. No that wouldn't work, first part would need knitting twice, then the second part would need knitting twice too but at least that way I finish at the end and not the middle. I need to experiment.
  I did find another method for making loops for button holes that might be better, the Icord might be a little thick for a button loop so I might go with the other method. I'll still have a go at doing a live Icord though, just to see if it can be done.

  I didn't bbq the chicken yesterday but didn't eat it either so I can bbq tonight. Was thinking what I paid for the chicken I should of got a whole one and cut it up myself, heck of a lot cheaper and I'd be left with the carcass to make stock and the dog would be happy with the bits he'd get too.

  Vet time, hope you all have a great day, take care folks.

Headache

   I've got a blinding headache so a short post today. Weathers really nice today, if this headache shifts I'll be bbqing some chicken later. I'll get the garden started this week by planting some seeds indoors and maybe setting up the poly tunnel.

  I've nearly finished the red cable plait bookmark, got a couple of ideas for a few more. I also had a eureka moment for the Iphone sock fastenings, more about that another time though. Going to lie down for a bit.

  Have a great day folks, take care.