Thank You

It was another great week at Quarr Abbey, thank you to all. Christmas is nearly upon us and the end of the year approaches.
  It's been a busy 2016, there has been so much I didn't get around to blogging about! Rather than some festive photos I thought I would share these three pictures with you:
Picture one - some Black Welsh Mountain sheep under a huge tree at Woodchester Park near Stroud. A super place to visit for a good walk there's a lovely flock of Jacob sheep in the grounds too.
Beautiful wool and wood.
 

 Picture two- looking forward to "some more views like these", at the helm sailing in Greece

Picture three- exploring the Greek Isles.

Thank you for reading my blog.


I will be Casting On and Casting Off  in  2017 
Hope you will pop back to read more of my woolly tales in spinning, weaving, knitting, natural dyes and salty sea tales of sailing days.


Merry Christmas and very Happy and Peaceful New Year.
Sending Good Wishes to you all,
love Sue


 

My Next Event

Keeping The Balance

Balance stones

 Sometimes it's just good to take time, slow down, live in the moment and enjoy this beautiful life.
With our sailing season drawing to a close, we start to explore our Island on foot. We have so many different places to visit here from Downs, woodlands to coastlines and countryside.

 A sunny Autumn day brings us to Freshwater Bay. With its beach of pebbles, small rock pools to discover and clear calm waters. A day to absorb the sun's rays and dream of good things.

Weaving Baby Blankets - Follow the Process Part 3

 Here is the final part of my "follow the process" to show you a little of how my hand woven blankets are created. The above photo shows me winding a bobbin ready to go in the boat shuttle, this is what I use to weave the weft - the thread that travels across the warp to form the fabric.

 As I weave there is a rhythm to my work.
I press the right treadle/ pedal to open the shed - the path for the shuttle, pass the shuttle through and gentle beat the weft in place. I press the left treadle/pedal, pass the shuttle back through the shed and gently beat. The above photo shows the cloth roller which is turned as I weave to store the new cloth.

I work the colours in as blocks and stripes, enjoying the different effects and blends it creates.

When each blanket is woven the cloth is then ready to be removed from the loom and the exciting reveal is at last on view! 

I then twist the ends into colourful tassels and wash the blanket to set the fabric, this "fulling" completes the process and gives a wonderful soft finish.

Two sweet baby blankets, unique and special just like their new owners.

Weaving Baby Blankets - Follow The Process Part 2

 Summer has taken over here, it has been a busy one with plenty of sunshine for sailing and woolly adventures. But first I must get back to a project I have been "Showing the Process" of (back in May) so here is Part 2 of my Baby Blankets woven on my Saori loom.

Once I have threaded the reed it is time to thread the heddles

This task is very satisfying as I start to see the warp colours take shape and spread out across the loom.

Beaming the Warp

The ends are tied to a tying rod which is attached to the roller

  I need to wind the warp through the loom, towards the back, over the back beam and check the tension ready to weave.

The roller holds the warp neatly and every few turns I insert some card to make sure the warp doesn't develop any tangles.

At the front of the loom the warp is then ready to be attached to another tying rod and clipped to the front cloth roller, again I need to adjust the tension and of course check that all the heddles and reed threads are correctly set.

Now I am ready to weave.

I chose to weave different colourways on the weft, which makes each blanket unique.

Part 3 will show you the weaving and finishing process for the completed blankets.

I will be back very soon!

Casting Off- Sailing The Saronic Islands and Argolic Gulf

 We are just back from another sailing holiday in Greece. We explored the Saronic area this time and it was absolutely wonderful! Beautiful sea and coastline, plenty of good sailing winds and perfect little harbours and hideaways. In the top photo see if you can spot our yacht- it's the one with our little yellow MMA burgee flying happily in the hot sunshine.

 We were on a little voyage as we started in Navplion and finished in Palaia Epidavros
We called in at Astrous, Plaka, Tiros, Ermioni, Hydra, Poros, Methana, Perkika, Angistri and Vathi

 The sea was lumpy and bumpy some days with little wavelets and rolling swell but most of the time it was perfect for easy comfortable sailing with a steady breeze so as we could get 4- 6 knots of speed making our Beneteau 331 a joy to handle for the two of us. When all was calm I tried to capture the colours of the Med with the camera, so amazing all the shades of blue and lavender.
 

 So it was days of planning our route, a course to steer, some days were longer journey days giving us plenty of sailing time. Other days were shorter hops so great for finding a little bay to anchor up for a refreshing swim on route.

 Making our way...

... anchoring for a spot of lunch and a swim, here you can see the anchor chain at the bow of the boat.

 Here a photo taken from the deck looking into the cockpit with the bimini up for a little shade.

From Sunrise to Sunset  

Another Day, Another Bay

Winning The Cup And Woolfest

My Handwoven Saori Styled  Black and White Shawl Wrap won

"The Marleen Upson Memorial Cup For Weaving"

at I.O.W Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild this year. 

Here is a photo of my winning shawl modelled with a WrightTurned Wooden Brooch & Pin set.

I so enjoyed weaving this piece as I used different weaving methods with different textures and types of yarn along with soft blends of coloured tones in plums, greys, charcoals, blacks and whites. It is rich and luxurious giving a lightness and softness to the touch.

This item along with several of my other scarves, accessories and homeware will be available to purchase at Woolfest.

http://www.woolfest.co.uk/

Kim of The Saori Shed  will kindly be displaying and selling my saori work.

She can be found at stand H162-163.

http://www.thesaorished.co.uk/

 

If you are able to go to the event she will be offering an opportunity for people to weave on a saori loom and a chance to win a saori banner.

Pop along to her website and Woolfest website for more details.

Please contact me through my online shops at Folksy or Etsy by clicking on my links in the right hand column of this blog if you are interested in having an unique SWH saori weaving made especially for you or a WT brooch/pin.

Alternatively browse our shops for new pieces being added which will be ready to purchase.

Weaving Baby Blankets, Follow The Process - Part 1

April came and went and we are well into May! and I haven't got around to writing my blog so - before I show you the weaving process for some baby blankets I told you about in my last posting,  I want to do a quick catch up with the hand spun yarn I was working too. It has been washed and  is now being woven up Saori Style.

Okay sort of caught up, let's get blogging...

 

Baby Blankets Part 1

In my previous post I told you about the inspiration, planning and practicality of these blankets. Now I will try to give you a snapshot of each stage in their making.

Before I start there is always a bit of maths to work out such things as length, width, density and of course the exciting bit yarn, colour and pattern. Once I have got this sorted I start to wind a warp.

Here is my warping frame, note the centre pegs where the cross is formed as I wind the threads. 

Once I have my warp made, I need to remove it without it getting in a tangle! to keep the cross in place, I secure it with ties of strong cord ( shoe laces are brilliant for this). then I chain off the warp which also keeps all the threads in an orderly bunch.

I can now transfer my warp to  my weaving loom. I tie it to the top frame so as it doesn't slip or pull while I'm sleying the reed.

I hold all the threads of the cross in my hand as the photo below shows, this keeps the threads in the correct order and I'm able to take the topmost thread each time and put it through the reed.

This is the loom's reed and my reed tool 

Here you can see the sleying of the reed.

Come back soon  I will show you what happens next.