I decided to knit a few colour squares with the new Gotland wool from Blacker Yarns, to show how the colours could work together. My first idea was to simply knit some Fair Isle patterns, but the colours seemed to inspire me to follow the theme of English woodland.
I am thinking of ways that I can work these designs into some patterns.
We have a new range of Gotland DK wool out at Blacker Yarns, and the subtle colours of this range just led me immediately to think rural woodland, which lucky there is plenty of this around near me. Gotland sheep originated from the Swedish island of Gotland over a thousand years ago and were imported into the UK in the 1970s.
My secret for the robin photos was that behind the wool is a small pile of bird seed. A few blue tits rushed in and out, and below the table at one stage there was a grey squirrel, who I was hoping would jump up. But the robin was the animal who seemed to want to pose, and perhaps knew I had picked the colours with him in mind.
The primroses are in full flower on the bank at the front of my house. I love this time of year, when everything is starting up again in nature.
This slate wall seemed the ideal place to photograph the full range of the wools, but I had to use another trick. Although there were a few catkins behind, they were not really in the right place or very bright, so my husband is holding this branch of more lush catkins for me.
Blacker Yarns have a number of project kits just out using the Gotland DK yarn. You can click on the names to go to each kit: Simple Sweater, Guernsey-style Tunic, and Long Cardy.
I will be doing another post on these wools, with some little samples I have knitted to show how the colours look together, also themed around English woodland.
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One the reasons that I did a short course on linoprinting, was with the idea to make my own labels. This is my first effort to make some labels for our Bramble Wine. Trying to reverse carve the lettering was really quite difficult, so I have sort of gone for a rustic homemade look. My blackberry also looks a little bit like a pineapple, but I had fun making these.
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Yes, I know there are alot of bottles there, and now I am going to get going on the elderberry wine!
Following on from our linoprinting course, my son and I signed up for a short wire art course. Some of my London friends said there would be nothing to do in the country, and I would say they are wrong, as there seems just as much, although perhaps you have to hunt a bit harder.
We started off learning different techniques to shape the wire. We used pliers, and were also taught how to shape the wire around other forms. Then we were taught some different ways to join the wire, and the piece below is really all my learning pieces joined together. I was quite pleased when it was held up to the class, and the word "Picasso-like" was used!
That week we then all went on to work on flowers. Mine on the left is meant to be a poppy seedhead, and my son's is more cowslip. He had the inspired idea for twisting the wire at the base to make a stand, which most of the class then copied.
The following week we moved on to other projects, although still guided by the teacher. My son and I both decided to make a fish, and in this project a 2-dimensional fish was made, and then built outwards to make him 3-D.
Below is my son's fish, who is now hanging in the kitchen under a trailing plant. Mine is not quite as good, but you can see the edge of his fin.
Next we were allowed to move onto our own projects, and although the course is now finished, I still have to add legs to my creature. My son has gone for something very ambitious, which I am really hoping he will finish so I can show you in a few weeks.
I wrote a few weeks ago about the linoprinting course that my son and and I were doing, but forgot to show you our final prints. I had decided to try to make Christmas cards, so sorry family, but hopefully by next year you may have forgotten. I was quite pleased with my single colour prints, but then the teacher showed me how to cut a piece out of the lino and use it as a stamp for the red breast.
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My son was more ambitious and did his prints with two sheets of lino, and several layers of colour by masking out certain sections. His prints are of Hornet, who is a character from Hollow Knight.
On the last week I thought I would have a go at doing a two sheet print, which although I think the concept was not too bad, I was not careful enough linking up my two prints. As you can see below. But now the course is over I have ordered a roller and some paint, and am going to try again at home.
Moths in a woollen mill are a very bad thing. I have been told that they can very quickly reduce fleece or wool to a pile of dust, and so the wool stocks are kept sealed in what are essentially like large plastic sandwich bags, and I think every so often the whole building is fumigated.
But moths at home are not much better, and I recently found that the one bear I had kept from my Teddy Bear pattern had been nibbled by moths. Poor Ted had to spend a while in my freezer, as this is meant to kill the moths, and any grubs or eggs too. (I probably should have warned my daughter that I had put him there!) I decided that darning was the best solution, and as my darning skills are not great, it was best to just going with making the darns very obvious. On his bottom he has two tradional woven darns, and the arms are my attempt at swiss darning. Even his little scarf had a hole.
The house has now been scattered with cedar balls, as I don't really like the smell of traditional moth balls, and I have lavender hanging in the airing cupboard. But I don't want to put off all the moths.
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Just to show that moths are not all bad, here are a few pictures of moths I have taken in my house in the last year. I think, but am not totally sure, that these bigger moths are not the main culprits for eating wool, so all of them were carefully put out doors. The first one is an elephant hawk moth, next a drinker, the yellow one a brimstone, the one on the green leaf might be a buff ermine, I think the last one is another type of ermine moth. Happy to be corrected on any of this!
Bam-boozle is the new range of wool at Blacker Yarns. (The name kind of makes me laugh, as I just keep imagining Joey from Friends saying let's play Bam-boozle - such a cool name! Please use your wicked wango card if making a purchase. My daughter has just told me that this will make no sense, even to people like us who have Friends Trivial Pursuit, so click on Friends if you want an explanation.)
Initially this is available in three colours, but the range may be extended if it is received well. Bamboo is a great substitute fibre to use in sock knitting, as it is antibacterial, hypoallergenic, thermo-regulating and absorbs moisture. Ideal for socks, lacey knits or light weight sweaters.
For the photographs I started off with the idea of finding some growing bamboo as a background, but this proved very difficult. We visited my daughter in Brighton, and I thought I had a perfect backdrop, as there was some lovely bamboo in the local park. My family all seemed to disappear, as I climbed a little fence to get near the bamboo, but somehow it was impossible to place the wool anywhere except near the base of the plant, where it was too dark, and not very bamboo looking.
So plan B was once back home to use some of my bamboo beanpoles. Much easier to control the lighting, and I was really pleased with the final shots.
Taking these shots for the website and social media is my favourite part of my new job. It is really fun thinking of a way to highlight the lovely wools in an appropriate way, and I still get a bit of a thrill when I see my photos used.
There are already two lovely kits available on the website, one for socks Fish Trail Socks and the other for a lacy scarf, Olsok Scarf, using this wool.
