Tuesday 27 September 2011

Jacob Fleece- Follow The Process Part Three



I am experimenting with my Jacob fleece and spinning a two tone yarn. In Parts one and two I showed you how I prepared a small sample ready to spin (please view previous posts).
Here you can see me spinning with the black rolags on my wheel and then on another bobbin I spin with the cream rolags.




The cream sample naturally wants to spin to a thicker texture and was harder to work than the more silken feel of the black.




This should make for an interesting yarn with some strength, but also with a lovely warmth and softness.





The two bobbins are loaded on my Lazy Kate ready to Ply.



I rotate the spinning wheel anti clockwise and feed the two threads onto the bobbin together. This plying allows the two parts to twist together in the opposite direction from which they were first spun. This releasing some of the twist and give a balanced and lofty yarn.




I now have a new yarn of two tone colour on a bobbin. It looks and feels as if it will be varying in texture as well as subtle shades. I look forward to completing the process to discover its potential.

Part four will show you skeining,washing and balling up the sample ready to use.


Tuesday 6 September 2011

September Sleep Aboard


When it get into September our sailing season is beginning to draw to a close, so any days or nights on board are precious and always special.
Skipper and I went to our little Sunstar 18 to sail and spend the night afloat.
The weather forecast for the weekend was SwF3-4 with a heavy hail shower expected 07.00hrs . As we would be tucked up in our bunks at that time of the morning , that sounded rather fun!

We motored up the river Medina, turned around raising the jib only and we sailed casually back down river. Eventually picking up our swinging mooring around 18.30







Look who ate our fishing bait! a little mud crab, he was very lively, we threw him back in.




As the sun began to set we cooked our supper on board; a delicious chilli and opened a lovely bottle of red.


The wind died and the river takes on a magical quality as the tide goes out and the wading birds feed along the riverbanks and mudflats.




The sunset is beautiful colouring the river in the warm soft hues of pinks and mauves.





And when it is dark the crescent moon reflects in the water which has become so still and quiet.


I was amazed to see so many birds feeding at night, I suppose to them it doesn't matter what time of day it is as they need to feed by the ebb and flow of the tides.


It was lovely just to sit at the bow of my boat, snuggled up in my woolly, a glass of wine in hand watching the river,wildfowl and enjoying the stars filling the sky.



The hail shower at 07.00hrs on Sunday never arrived! The day dawned leaded skies and it started to rain around 09.00. We cooked breakfast and ate in the cabin. We hoped that the wind would blow in and clear the skies so as we could have another sail, but it just got wetter with little or no wind so about midday we made for the shore.


It was a great mini holiday all the same!


Today as I write this the Island is being battered by a gale with F7-8 winds. A good day to be ashore, a good day to stay indoors and get on with some knitting I think!