Since last week we've had an anniversary Ceidlah.  We hired a local farmers barn, they let us have straw bails to sit on and I spent any spare time last week making bunting - which I absolutely loved doing.  Jinny and I went a little bit bunting crazy to be honest and we have a couple of hundred triangles still to be sewn so  I would imagine any celebration between now and death will be covered in the stuff.  It was great fun though, with a fantastic hot pot supper and a warm evening and then wobbling down to the campsite after it was all over. If we had managed any sleep at all it would have been perfect.  But you know, camping, children, chickens etc

On the lazykate.net front Jinny has been busy with this scarf for our site.  The sequins and beads match beautifully and it's all very lady like and delicate.  The fibre is a bluefaced leicester /silk mix spun as four ply and took what seemed like a few years to spin but the concentration was worth it because it has come out very even. 

This is also the same fibre mix and is for a beret for Winnie to knit for her mother in law.  It's double knitting and so didn't take as long.  The silk gives the finished wool a beautiful sheen and is very soft.  I'd definately recommend it if you're looking for a change.

 

There is a huge spider in the lazykate shed and although I'm not scared of spiders and am glad of the chance of keeping moths away it does freak my out ever so slightly to go in there.  So I didn't hang around when getting this fibre out.  I can't wait to start spinning it, the colours are so deep and lush and I think I might do a chunky yarn for a change after all the thin stuff.  Variety is the spice of life after all.

The barge was officially started on the 1st of August which is really exciting and we're still collecting all manner of barge related items round the house.  Today we've ordered a compost toilet and although I'm glad to be embracing the green ethic from the top to literally the bottom, I'm also aware that we may never have visitors who stay longer than a few hours. True friends be warned!

We had a great time last night at knitting club - my daughter came along with me and we brought our spinning wheels.  Her spinning is coming along so well that I think it won't belong before I have my own little sweat shop going.

As I haven't posted pictures for a while, here are a few that have been waiting patiently in the camera.  The first is of an experimental dye lot which came good.  I was inspired by blackberry colours and as usual as I stared at the un spun wool a smell of gas look came over my face.  But lo and behold I the spun wool is lovely and was immediatley snapped up by Winnie who has gone and knitted a beautiful beret.  I will show you when I have clearance from the top levels.

Here are a few pics of the land where we're going to moor our boat. This is the proposed vegetable plot, I'm hoping that in clearing the area I can lose the pounds I've put on while being sat on my backside for the past 18 months.  My dad found out he is being made redundant this morning so I will press gang him to helping me.  I'm going to need all the encouragement I can get!

This is the view from the barge and how we will get from the water to the land.  It looks so picturesque.  Not sure how I'll feel about it in the middle of winter when I'm up to my welly tops in slutch.

And here is the view down the canal against the brooding Rufford sky.

We have had delivery of the wind turbine and also the generator for the boat which is sitting on a pallet in our drive.  So after almost two years it really feels like it's going to happen.  This is our new home.  I predict green will be the inspirational colour of the moment.

Today me and mini me will be doing some dyeing.  Now that Mimi's spinning is getting so much better, I think it will be nice for her to pick her own colours and spin them up.  Who knows, maybe she will knit it up afterwards.    Anything to get her away from the telly while she's on holiday.

First of all I would like to apologise for disappearing at the end of May. My work pattern and our other responsibilities, not least of which are moving to live from a house to a boat made it nigh on impossible to blog regularly.  Along with the extremely poor reception that we are able to get from our rented house which involved me screaming regularly at the computer and kicking the dog* meant that I lost my rag and took my ball home.

But as from yesterday I am no longer employed and can have my life back!!!!  I am more excited than you could ever know.  So I can blog from here when the signal is good and then I can nip over to Jinny's and post some pics.

We have been working as hard as we could over the last couple of months, Jinny designed and spun the silk for the Looby Loo garment which is in the lastest issue of knitonthenet.com which if you haven't looked, you really should.  I think it is the best one to date, it has summer all over it, which is a bonus because we here in the UK definately haven't.

The Looby Loo silk top is plain and simple, can be dressed up or down, which is what we wanted to achieve.  We're really proud of it so please take a look.  We're spinning the silk to order, so please email me at cathy.lazykate@gmail.com if you would like to order some.  Also, the column is there too with my fascination of Lucinda Ledgerwood shared with the world.

It'll take a week or so to get back on track with regards to www.lazykate.net but we have some great ideas and can't wait to get going and it all starts tonight with a trip to knitting club in Southport!  Man, it's good to be free!

*didn't really kick the dog, kicked the husband instead

Only a little while now until our boat starts to be built and it can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.  We might as well be in Siberia for all the good the internet connection is here, our mobiles are sketchy, we have to do the Peter Kay waving the phone in the air technique to get any service and I don't like it!

So no photos at the moment and it is the reason the blogging has been frankly sporadic over the last couple of weeks.  It certainly is true that often you only know what you want by eliminating the things you don't want.  I WANT GOOD INTERNET CONNECTION! (and more shoes.)

Our knitting spinning has been pretty busy though.  Jinny has been working on a pattern in silk for the next issue of Knit on the Net and it is nearly finished - just measuring up yesterday.  The beauty of silk in a knitted item is that it is so cool to wear for the summer.  Also, the new garment is very plain but can be dressed up or dressed down.  I really like it.  Who wouldn't like silk?

I've finished my cushion with wooden squares.  The dury is out on it just at the present time, dury being me, until I can get a second opinion.  It's so difficult to see things objectively that you've made yourself isn't it?  I like the wool, I'm just not sure about the knitting....  anyway will let you know.

There is also spinning on the go in teal and black, bluefaced leicester and alpaca mix and golds and creams for Jinny's next project and summer holiday knitting.  So despite the lack of blog entries I promise we have been very busy.  Will post photos as soon as I can.

Tonight we are going to a cocktail party.  Get us!  We will probably never be the same again. 

It's been a   more »

Sorry that I seem to have disappeared for a little while - talk about work/life balance, I seem to have a work/life plate spinning existence where I lurch from one just about to fall plate to another.  But I'm busy and it keeps me out of trouble,

We're wick with red Freya wool which I love but is all over the cream stairs and tiled white floor of our rented house.  I believe that this information should be given to people at the time of marriage - make your life easier, don't have a tiled white kitchen or bathroom floor you fools!  I'm also liking the fibres that get stuck on socks and go into the washing machine and felt onto clothes.  Makes for interesting ironing. ( I realise that I talk about ironing WAY to much on this blog!)

Jinny and I will be dyeing in the next few days so there should be some rainbowtastic photos to share. x

Well I'm very happy to be back to this freezing windy country.  I think four days holiday suits me fine and then I'm itching to get back.

Have you seen the new issue of knit on the net?  The Miss Scarlett garment modelled beautifully by Melissa is in our Freya yarn and can be purchased from the lazykate site at www.lazykate.net  Each ball of yarn is hand spun and hand dyed, so every dye lot is original, so each knitted garment will have it's own unique shading.

Another reason to be proud is that the gorgeous model in the Jess garment is my very own daughter Jessamy!  She is obviously destined for greatness (we knew this already). The Jess dress was beautiful and a credit to the designer Aruba Blue.

The photo shoot day was really interesting, we all learnt a huge amount, especially Jessamy who was taken under Zoe the photographer's wing.  She was wonderful with her small 'assistant' and allowed her to photograph constantly alongside her.  It gave  Jessamy a great deal of confidence and she has been photographing anything and everything since.  Something I wasn't particuarly grateful while in my costume on the beach.  Hooray for the delete button.

The photographs on the site have been sorted out, thanks to Jon the wonder boy. So no more slow downloading.  The wonders of modern technology - who knew?

So congratulations to Sue and Gavin and everyone involved in knitonthenet.  And happy knitting everyone else! 

I can hardly believe I´m doing this but I´m blogging from Majorca (or Majorkshire as my four year old neice calls it).  I meant to blog before I came away just to explain the absence but couldn´t get into the blogware.  Same old same old I´m afraid.

Anyway I´m sure you´re all desperate to hear that the weather has been lovely today - a bit hit and miss up to now but we´re all pink and shiny after today. 

We´re back on Thursday when it will be nose to the grindstone in preparation for the next issue of knit on the net.  I´m really excited about the garment that´s going to be in there using my yarn(!) so I need to make sure I have enough in case of unprecedented sales.  The yarn will be sold as the full 500g amount and it can be seen on the site now. www.lazykate.net   When we return I will also be sorting out the picutres on the site.  Sorry if it drives you mad, it won´t be for much longer.

Anyway Adios Amigos  my sangria is calling!

It's a feast or a famine with blog entries here at the moment.  I promised some pics and here are a few of our day today.  We've been dyeing most of the day for existing projects and also for new projects that are floating round in the ether and Jinny's head.  Also  there has been experimenting of spinning fibres to go onto the site. 

 

 

I love trying new dyes and as I think I have mentioned before, am trying not to be so heavy handed with the dye so that I can get delicate colours and well as the ones that sock you in the face and leave you seeing stars.  (The barbietastic pink just as an example).  Although I had loads of fun dyeing and spinning that one into the Mimi Cushion for knitonthenet.  The restraint that is needed when looking into that big pot with a tub of dye in your hands is incredible.  So I have ordered a set of very very small spoons in order to help me with my efforts of restraint.  And is the above picture just the epitome of restraint.  There could be no paler fibres.  But I could very easily rebel  and luckily I can do that with the new red dye lot for a garment that is coming up soon.  The pot looks like someone bled to death in there.  It's fabulously gory!

The most annoying thing that's happened recently is that the flyer of my spinning wheel has gone awol.  There is no sign of it whatsoever.  Thankfully Jinny has let me borrow hers which fits exactly as luck would have it.  So back to the grindstone...

 

 

 

 

 

My posts have been a little bit erratic of late - for which I apologise.  We are waiting for the broadband to be connected in our rented house and it's taking ages!  What did we do before the internet?  How did life happen?

So no pics at the moment, something I hope to rectify tomorrow when Jinny and I spend a day dyeing and creating and doing all things woolly.  I'm very excited about it, we've got some new dye lots to experiment with and loads of spinning to be done.  A WHOLE DAY.  Fab.

Our boat is now ordered and should be ready to be launched in August.  We're having what's called a lined sailaway so it will be launched into the marina and then we can do all the fitting out. So there are a lot of decisions to be made about what type of kitchen, bathroom etc to choose. But it's definately going to be navy blue and cream.  How very nautical.  And classy!  From there, when it's all finished we can sail our new home to our mooring out in the countryside at the edge of a large field.  Seems eons away, but at least we're one step closer.

Some pics tomorrow - I promise!

I've been away for a week or so because after over 18 months of too-ing and fro-ing we have finally moved house.  I thought I would be very organised and cleaned up by the time a gang of friends arrived to help us move with the promise of unending bacon butties but in true me- style I was totally underprepared.  I don't know what we would have done without the people power (probably have still been there now actually).

Anyway, we are deposited in our little rented place which is lovely and will do us very well until we have to do it all again in six months.  I feel a bit sick just thinking about it in all honesty.

We're trying to make an appointment for Friday with the boat people so that we can get a slot for our boat to start being built, but here is a link to what we hope it will look like once its done. www.metrofloat.co.uk

On the spinning and knitting front, from my perspective as you can imagine it's been a little bit quiet, I've finished my column for the new issue of www.knitonthenet.com which will be out any time soon but Jinny is busy designing flowers for new projects.

She had been working on the silk cami and I have to report that it hasn't worked out and has been frogged!!  The pattern was awful and it didn't fit properly on our model.  Well, you live and learn and now the spun silk can be reincarnated as something even more wonderful.  That's what we're saying anyway.

A little diversion from the usual blog today, but first here is a picture of the wool that I am STILL spinning.  I have to look at it constantly and I think you should too.  It just doesn't seem to get any less!



Anyway, if all goes well we are moving house next Friday which is Good Friday.  Luckily we get the keys to our rented house this Thursday so we can start moving things in in dribs and drab which will make life a whole lot easier. It also means I can clean under couches and on top of cupboards in order to give the impression of a domestic goddess by the time our friends turn up on Friday to help.

I've been listening to Woman's Hour this week, you know I love frightening the men who work with me, and have been following the blog of Karen Cannard who is trying to reduce her waste to nothing.  If we're going to live on a barge, reducing our waste is vital.  So we can get a composter for our veg peelings, paper, teabags etc, a wormery for pasta, rice and bread and a Bokashi bin for meat, fish and dairy products.  This bin uses a special bran which starts to cause the leftovers to ferment and after two weeks the waste can be put into your normal composter.  I've done a little bit of research and the cheapest Bokashi bin is thirty pounds from www.evergreener.com. 

But before we even get to the stage where the food is wasted, there is another fantastic website, www.lovefoodhatewaste.com where there are meal planners, help with portion sizes and recipes for leftovers. I can hardly wait to get started. 

Unfortunately, I have to be honest and say that with moving and all the palaver that goes with it that I can imagine us frequenting the local chip shop.  I think there will be no food wasted then and I promise I will compost the paper!

This is a camisole that Jinny has been knitting from spun silk.  It's driven her round the bend as anyone who has spun silk will know - it gets EVERYWHERE! 



This pattern was saved from donkeys years ago from a magazine possibly Woman (from late 70’s).  It's strange to think of Woman magazine having knitting patterns in it, in comparison to the 'I gave birth to my own dog' stories that are in there now. So it's all finished and ready to be photographed on Saturday.  The flower shown here is the Lydia flower, I'm going to spin some from these fibres to go on a ribbon round the model's neck.  The ribbon around the middle of the camisole is pink too - I think it's going to look lovely.  V. excited.



The survey on the house when ahead without a hitch and we have a meeting tomorrow with our buyers, hopefully to discuss a moving date.  Then it's all systems go.  There are two exciting things about the house we are renting - it has raised beds(!) and A UTILITY ROOM!!  I may never want to leave. This means only one thing.  I can hide more ironing than I've ever been able to before. 

First things first, I received an enquiry about sock yarn to the site on Monday but have not been able to reply for unknown reasons - I've sent it about ten times and have had it returned each and every one, so for you Sandra, the sock yarn is 400m and 437 yards long.  I hope that helps and sorry for the delay.

Do we all get the same idea at the same time?  I've been banging on for a little while now about the definitive square necked knitted top.  For a million reasons I haven't been able to get it down on paper and begin but since then I've seen the exact thing I've been talking about.  It's on www.blueskyalpaca.com website.  Unfortunately I can't copy the picture due to the restrictions on the site but please have a look, it's called Fitted Evening Top and it's lovely.  It's quite low though, you might have a problem keeping everything from escaping but it would be easy enough to shorted the straps.

So what's the deal?  Are our ideas just not original enough or is the zeitgeist just hitting us all at the same time?  Does that make us unoriginal or mean our finger is on the button?

I don't know. Obviously.  If you work it out, email me and let me know.

Did you do the personality quiz from yesterday's blog.  Are you a little freaked out. Mmmm.

I'm spinning and knitting like mad at the moment, hoping to try and meet deadlines.  If I'm honest I'm failing.  Not particularly miserably because spinning plates is what makes the world go round!  N'est pas (as Poirot would say).

I've taken part in Violet Green's knitting personality quiz and found it fascinating.  Have a go and see deep into your knitting psyche.  www.violetgreen.co.uk .  Some of it might be nice - some of it a little bit nasty.  Isn't there a little bit nasty in us all though?

Also, if any of you have seen the Interweave Knits magazine for Spring you will have seen the Aleita Shell.  I love it.  With a long floaty on the bias skirt and some heeled Mary Janes it would look fantastic. 

The colours in the magazine in general, apart from this one of course in grey are bright and summery, oranges and lemons mainly and it heralds the arrival of spring.  It's well worth a look, if you're after summer inspiration!

It's all been a little bit too busy at the moment, we had a survey this morning which was supposed to be between 9 and 12 and at five to nine the man was at the door!  If only fridges arrived like that.  Of course we weren't properly ready but I'm hoping that if he chooses to put comments like 'socks left on radiator' it won't put the buyers off.

This tealy/blue yarn that I've been spinning madly I can now say is for the revised edition of 'A Stitch in Time' by Jane Waller.  Jinny spent the morning carding for me and I've been ignoring the ironing (again, I know, any excuse) and spinning since Mimi went to school this morning.  My back is killing me and I'm having a break before I go and pick her up again.





I'm really pleased with the colour, it's nice and 'springy'.  I'd carded quite a lot of it with hand carders but it's so much easier to spin from a drum carder.  I had borrowed one from the guild but had to return it, now I've borrowed another from friends which is speeding up the whole process.    I've mentioned the book on a few occasions and have spun three different dye lots to try and get the best one.  I really like the colour of this one, I could keep trying different colours till the cows come home so the deadline having come is probably a blessing in disguise.

Are you watching Masterchef?  I think James is a cert for the winner but my personal favourite is Emily.  She's an inspiration, her attitude is fantastic and she's destined for wonderful things I'm sure.

Thursday night was very exciting in our house, as it was half term, my daughter Mimi was able to come to the knitting club and the ladies (& gent) were very kind to have a small child gatecrash their evening.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, she is lefthanded and it's been a little bit hit and miss with teaching her as I am right handed. ( We had a 'Should left handed people be forced to do things in a right handed way? debate for many weeks which resulted in a big fat nothing done).  Anyway, a lovely lady called Dorothy kindly and patiently helped her through (in a right handed way) and she loved it so much that she tried to knit all the way home in the car in the dark.  Thank you Dorothy - I do believe a star has been born! (I'm the mother, I'm allowed to think that).

We dyed on Friday, with some new friends who are barge dwellers.  I taught them to dye and they are letting me borrow their drum carder!  Fabulous and Free!  So Sarah and Fuschia who are mum and daughter each did a dye lot each and both turned out beautifully. The dye worked it's magic and their choices of dyes were something I will be stealing shortly.

Looking decidedly murky in the pan.  Smelling strongly of vinegar and keeping husbands and children away - not all bad then.

Look at the way the gold and chestnut run into each other and imagine spinning it up - I was having to sit on my hands not to keep the thing for myself!  I hope that when it has been spun I'll be able to get hold of a photo to show you how it's turned out.

I've been spinning some new yarn lately.  I want to get 600g of usable yarn to knit a substantial garment, a jumper or something like that.  I'd dyed two pots of yarn with the exact same amount of dye but you know how it is and no two dye lots  are the same. One of them was slightly darker than the other. So I've ended up with 6 lengths of  fibre, three dark and three light and I've carded a dark and light one together (all experimental you know).  I'm hoping that when it's spun I can use it for a larger garment than we've been doing up to now.  This is what it looked like on the bobbin.




And the first 50g skein looks like this.  I'm really pleased with the delicate shading of it and I'm desperately keeping my fingers crossed that they all turn out the same and are usable.



I've been watching the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice.  I watched the Kiera Knightley version about two weeks ago and LOVED it but was told that it was nothing in comparison.  I LOVE THAT ONE TOO!  How did the prissy Victorians not object to bosoms falling out left right and centre?  It's a complete mystery to me.  I'm just thankful they were all 32a because of poor nutrition.  Imagine now with our 36D's and E's, if not lives lost, definatley eyes would be!

I've put some new fibres on the website,  the one I particularly like is called Ellery.  It's very delicate, in blues, lilacs and silver grey.  I have to say even with the super camera the colours have come out a bit harsher than they really are.  There is just 100g of this one but now it's come out so nice I think I'll do some more!  It's very easy with acid dyes to over do it, the colours can be quite strong so a steady hand and plenty of restraint is often in order.





have a look at www.lazykate.net

We have a rental property lined up for when we move which is great because of having the dog, lots of places understandably don't want dogs but we have friends who have just moved to France and are looking for tennants so it's all worked out really well.



Isn't this hat and scarf set just lovely?  It's  from Dreamwoven, she has an etsy shop but is also on ravelry.  She has the most beautiful knitted head gear.  It just shows how the right embellishment can make all the difference as well, the brooch at the side is perfect for the hat.  Very inspiring!

I can't believe it!  We've sold our house!! After eighteen months of keeping the house tidier than tidy, viewings at all hours, carrying copious amounts of washing and ironing in my car, it has finally sold.  Obviously nothing is guaranteed until we sign on the dotted line, but I have a feeling about this....

Of course I had to eat humble pie, I swore this couple would not buy our house so we decided on Saturday to stay put and took all our boxes that we'd saved down to the dump.  Ah well.

I've been laying off all things woolly for a few days which is completely driving me round the bend.  I have an allergy that I'm trying to find the cause of and I've got RSI so I've had to give things a rest.  I'm relieved that it doesn't look like it's wool that I'm allergic to.

So tomorrow I'm back to it and will be busy on the wheel - tonight we're having a celebratory meal and meeting the couple who are buying our house to shake on it!  Wide beam barge here we come!!!!!

I'm keeping up with spinning and knitting the Beatrice wool for the cushion.  It's very frustrating because knitting gives me RSI, it doesn't seem to matter how little or much I do, my wrists ache.  I'm sure that there's loads of knitters with the same problem and I'd love to hear any suggestions.  I know that it is a pain to leave a comment (nigh on impossible) on this site because people have told me.  So I may post something on Ravelry and see what is suggested.

Another problem with this blogware is that I used to be able to cut and paste pictures from other sites and since the problems with Fasthosts, that facility seems to have gone.  So I will just post this for you to have a look at.  www.nickythomson.co.uk  It's a beautiful site full of knitted textiles, clothing, flowers, scarves.  Her designs are ultra feminine, exude class but are quirky too.  I love them.

The new camera arrived!  I'm still getting to grips with it but it looks like it's going to be great already.

Jinny came round yesterday and we did a new dye lot to go with some beads she has in turquoise and gold.  I tried to be a bit easier with the dye, just a tiny sprinkle and when it was done it looked like this, which is much lighter than I normally do, even so, I think we could have done even less and got a totally different look. 





This is also a work in progress that I will be putting on Ravelry.  The wool is dyed with a touch of chocolate brown and cream.  It's a little bit darker than the Beatrice dye lot but it's the same colours.  I've spun it quite chunky, aran weight and I thought it would make a nice cushion with some beads.  I'm pleased with how it's going so far. 



I've also spun some green yarn for a friend to knit while she's away for two weeks.  It's soooo thin but I've loved spinning it.  Once I got into eeeking the fibres out I could spin pretty fast but going back to the Beatrice aran weight is going to be tricky!  You know what it's like, once you've got into being thin you can't go back to fat.  If only life was like that.....

I had a crazily busy weekend which finished this morning at 8am when we had a house viewing!  I have to admit that there are about five or six bags of ironing hiding in my car in order to give the impression of a well run domestic haven.  The lady, who was from Essex was commenting on the fact that a lot of the houses she'd been looking at had been on the market for over a year.  Unfortunately that's the case with us - the market where we live is soooo slow. 

Friday night was spent with Jinny and Ruby of www.justcallmeruby.com swapping ideas and learning techniques from a very patient Ruby.  It was great!  We came home brimming with ideas and unable to sleep.  The problem will be working through everything in an orderly fashion.  So I'm implementing a state of the art sytem at Lazykate called Finish What You Start  - I know, it's scary isn't it.  I began last night by plying the last bits of Ugg wool from weeks ago and I'm determined to finish it.

I'm also starting new stuff this week, firstly experimenting with dk green hand dyed and handspun wool for a project coming up in the summer.  If there is anything exciting to tell, I surely will.



Our camera is also on order, it's a Nikon DX40 which looks good from where I'm standing (which is admittedly from no camera knowledge whatsoever).  The blurb says that the zoom is magnificent which will be great for close up yarn shots.  So hopefully, the blurry Miss Elly effect above will be a thing of the past. Can't wait.

The takeaway was fine, it all turned out ok, I realise that you all lost sleep over it, but you  know, it's all ok.

I read the article about Joan McGowan Michael and it was fascinating, well worth buying the magazine for.  I think she is my new hero, she has a very interesting background in design which includes designing lingerie for Fredericks of Hollywood and having her own lingerie and bridal design companies.  It's interesting to note that before she found her feet in knitwear design some of her ideas didn't work out.  So if you have ideas that aren't particularly working out (and don't we all )  we need to keep going until we get it right!  It's difficult to have things fail at times but she has obviously learned from the things that have gone wrong and used it to succeed the next time. 

She also designs for women who are shaped like women and not small boys which is always a bonus and her garments are timeless which is handy if you take as long to knit as I do.

Himself has taken some photos of my yarn for the website, I think they are better than what we have already but we have discussed the matter and are going to invest in a better camera for more accurate close ups.  Did you hear that - invest, I always think that is an excellent word to use when persuading someone to make a purchase.

This is the photo of the Guinevere handspun wool.  It shows up the wool better than before.  This is the Marianne wool, firstly draped on our trusty wood stumps and then in close up.

I love the contrast of the pink/navy/plum in this wool, it's truer colour is the top photo.  If you like these wools, they are available from the site either as single skeins or more!

www.lazykate.net

It's my ten year anniversary today.

In a Masterchef style schoolgirl error I have decided to cook something that I now realise will only be ready at 5 o clock tomorrow. Hhhmmm. I'm hoping that a good quality Indian take away will do instead.  Thinking probably not but lost for any other options.  Still, the man has been married to me for ten years now, I think he's way past thinking I'm ever going to be organised.

In other news... the drum carder has been going ten to the dozen and has produced some lovely rolags which I will photograph asap.  Jinny is going to spin it up and has some great ideas for it.  I was tempted to put it on the site to sell but to be honest, it's not going to get past us because it's LOVELY! and we want it.

I bought Knitting Magazine today (can't find a photo of it for you - sorry).  Anyway, there are a few of the Knitting Lingerie Style patterns in there and also an interview with the author, Joan McGowan Michael.  I haven't had a proper read of it yet but I'm looking forward to it, she is obviously a very interesting creative woman.  I'd like to know how her mind ticks.  Will report.

It's my ten year anniversary tomorrow and I've just realised I'm totally unprepared.  Not my daughter though, no, she is well ahead of the game having made me a new bag out of a bisto tin and some wool.  Unfortunately the wool was out of my basket and is a sample of organic wool that I'm taking to show Sue from knitonthenet on Friday night.  The mixed emotions of panic and feigned delight were hard to deal with both at the same time, I can tell you.  I am going to use my new bag to transport tea bags to work and the brown of the bisto tin goes with my winter coat. 



I've gone as far as I can with the Silk & Pearls Cami from the Knitted Lingerie Book and am now at a bit of a loss at work.  I knit/spun last night depending on what was on the television and CSI, which was a bit scary has caused my tension to be a little tighter than usual.  I think it's ok though.  I like the stripe in the wool and as long as it's worn with something plain, I think it can look ok.  There is a pair of brown linen trousers in the book, worn with the shaped lace tee.  These are serious flares, accident inducing health and safety nightmare trousers but would look fab! 

First things first, the knitting club was great!  The cafe where it is held is lovely and the lady who runs it makes her own cakes.  The company was fab and very helpful to a novice knitter like myself.  There is a lot to be said for getting together and sharing knowledge. My sharing was smaller than others but we all have to start somewhere!

Friday was Alston Hall spinning day where I learnt how to Navajo ply - might come in useful who knows, but it does mean that when other people are talking about it I can nod my head and actually know what they're talking about (just been nodding my head up to now).  We also tried to spin short staple fibres.  Hate it Hate it Hate it.  Hate Cotton, yak, cashmere and particularly Shetland Moorit.  Sorry Shetland Moorit.  But it is such hard work.  It's a lovely day out though, Alston Hall so if you're umming and ahhing about visiting, then go for it, you'll love it.

Have commissioned Himself today to photograph some decent pictures for the site, it's been so dark lately and rained constantly so pics have been a bit rubbish but I'm trying my best to get something to replace the sadly lacking photos on there at the moment.  Please bear with me - I'll see if I can get things done by this evening.

Another problem with the ridiculous weather is that fibres are taking longer to dry but I suppose we're all suffering that aren't we?  Hopefully the rain will stop before we develop webbed feet so keep your wellies on and your rain hood fastened!

I have a free afternoon so I've got my dye pots on the go, the house stinks, there is wool everywhere and Himself has vacated the area.  I've always done my dyeing in what I would like to think is a bohemian way and it's turned out well, I've no complaints but now I would like to do something a little bit more measured, more delicate and I have to admit I'm like a fairy elephant.  The photo on the top is supposed to be pale and interesting greys and lilacs.  I know it's all hot and steamy and not particularly clear but it gives you the idea. I just struggle with being heavy handed.  I quite like the colours if I'm honest, but I want to be able to dye things paler if I want.  Self control, it's never been a strength, money, food, shoes, you know, what can I say.





I'm doing a bit of research into Virginia Creepers, especially in the autumn, those reds, russets and deep greens, I'd like to be able to dye those colours.  So I'm going to have a go at that this afternoon too.  The very thin fibres I was spinning have turned out ok, I tried to photo them but it's just a thin green fibre.  Can you just imagine it for now.  Kind of pea green.  I'm disappointed with the colour so I may dye it again but I'm pleased to have ended up with something I can sew with.  The pea green may be useful in the future, who knows?

Tonight I'm attending Just Call Me Ruby's knitting club.  I'm looking forward to it and hope that I'm not the only one who knits like a starter (Jinny is hugely disappointed with my knitting style, she practically winces while I knit.  I just want to keep the knitting on the needle)  I will report on the club asap, maybe not tomorrow as I'm going to Alston Hall for spinning tuition, gossip and lots of lovely food.  YUM!

It's typical isn't it, as soon as I post all the things I'm going to do on this blog, I'm scuppered.  I've been ill for the last few days with the lurgy and have been completely floored, so I've been nowhere near the drum carder or the spinning wheel so my aims remain the same.

I've been able to knit today which has been lovely and I've got quite far with the front of the camisole.  By the time I get to where it's too difficult I'll be visiting a new knitting group in Southport so if any of you live near there and want some more info, send me a message and I'll let you know.  cathy.lazykate@gmail.com.

In our local charity shop there are two spinning wheels, made by a craftsman and a friend has asked me to check it out, which I wasn't able to do because of being ill, but Jinny popped in and it seems that there have been quite a few in our local shop and also some in Bold Street, Liverpool and it seems they are flying out!  Spinning is the big thing of the moment!  It's such a brilliant thing that all forms of textiles are gaining popularity and very exciting to be a part of, which we all are with our knitting and spinning - so go for it in public, on the train, at work, in the dentists, there are secret spinners out there and they need our help!  It's a public service.

I've finished one side of the Silk and Pearls Cami from Knitted Lingerie Style or Cathy's Deviant Book as it's known in work.  I'm really pleased that I've got this far with it and am now on the look out for some little beads that will go with the yarn. 

It's obviously very striped which is nice for one or two items in your wardrobe but I would imagine would become boring very quickly if it was on every garment.  So for my next project, I think I'll use the drum carder and try and get a more even variation.  It is, as you spinners and dyers will know difficult to get a totally solid dye and I'm not sure I'd particularly want it, because I can buy wool like that.  Hand dyed has a uniqueness not available anywhere else, so I would like to keep the individuality but maybe tone it down somewhat.

I've also started to spin the thin wool, which is in shades of green.  I've been concentrating on making sure it's EXTREMELY thin and I think it's OK.  I will know when it's plied whether I can use it.  This wool is spinning up very stripey so may not be usable with regards to the colour.  I need quite a lot of control over where the shading is going to be so I might set the drum carder on that as well.  I'm going to be drum carder happy - let that be a warning to anyone sitting still in my house!