Absorbing Nature and Her Colours

This September I spent a lovely day with WSD Guild Isle of Wight naturally dyeing our wools. Brewing up wonderful colours from Nature working outdoors on an open fire. It always feels magical when an old madder root or some dry old leaves and stalks give up some beautiful colours! 

absorbing Nature in the wool

Skipper and I also made our way to Devon for a most relaxing week in the hills.

I took my water colour paints and tried to capture the ever changing moods and colours of Nature,

quite impossible!! but I had a great time doing something different from my wool spinning, weaving and hand knitting.

However we were still in our element as we stayed on a working sheep farm in really lovely accommodation and we had the exclusive use of the summer house and fishing lake with a boat!

The sheep would come down to the lake to drink.

The water reflecting, the colours amazing. The Lake was buzzing with wildlife. water boat men, dragon flies of many colours, mayflies, kingfishers and swallows ever busy.

In the lake were so many different fish ranging from the tiniest minnow, small trout to big carp. 

We both managed to catch a few and admired their most detailed colourful scales and tails, simmering and full of life.

Absorbing Nature all around us

Putting them back in the lake gently saying "thank you" for the privilege. with a flick of their tails they dive back down to the depths of the water.

It is so good to "just be"

Taking some time to recharge, relax and be absorbed in Nature. no need to watch the clock, the Sun will tell you when to rise and sleep, your body will tell you when to eat.

I feel my colour senses have been  re-awakened. My energy levels topped up and I just can't wait to get the Saori Loom warped up to start a colourful weave using my newly dyed yarns.

Autumn Winter is the busiest time for my business, with craft events booked and supply of new stock for shops to organise. Projects to knit and weave and with my weaving workshops now up and running I shall enjoy being absorbed snug and warm in all the woolly colours of nature!

At the summer house

The link to where we stayed 

https://www.independentcottages.co.uk/devon/oakwood-farm-ref1371

Solar Dyeing, Using the Sun to Natural Dye Wool in the Garden

 This is the first time I have had a go at Solar Dyeing some wool. It was so easy and great fun watching the colour deepen and very satisfying to achieve such a lovely sunshine colour from my garden.

The method to solar dyeing is so simple,
1st
Find a glass jar, this is an old coffee jar, make sure it is clean.
2nd
 Pick / gather fresh flowerheads, I chose calendulas and coreopsis from the garden, both are very good plants for natural dyeing.
3rd
Fill jar with very hot water, a pinch of alum, a pinch of cream of tartar, a pinch of soda ash (to mordent the wool). Add wool.

Leave jar in full Sun for about two weeks, turning and gently shaking every few days. I added a new flower bloom now and again too just for fun!

The Sun would warm the water each day and the dye colour deepened.

When I was happy with the colour I rinsed the contents of the jar in fresh cool water, removing the old flowerheads and leaving the wool out to dry.

Now I have a small sample of Shetland fleece ready to be carded and spun. I just know this will look amazing in some Saori weaving.

I'm now collecting glass jars so as I can have a full row of Colour Dyes made by the Sun in my garden next year.

Italy- Verona and Lake Garda

 Back from Italy, we spent a few days in Verona and then went up to Lake Garda. We had a lovely holiday. Verona is a beautiful place and with so many things to see.We visited all the tourist spots. Below a photo of the famous Juliette House. Our hotel was a minutes walk from the Arena- the Roman Amphitheatre, very central to all the sights so great for us as we could walk and explore.

Now you know me, I'm always on the look out for anything yarn related and a little search online before we went walking meant we could explore the quiet streets and tucked away places where the residents of Verona live and find this beautiful yarn shop!
I love the yarn bombed window with a rather lovely woolly tree and rainbow design. Inside such a warm welcome and some lovely quality yarns to choose from. I treated myself to a few balls of Italian wool.

https://www.facebook.com/jennyklaerfilatiericami.it/

After a good few days of walking and enjoying Verona with plenty of stops for coffee and gelato I might add!! We headed up to our next hotel on the banks of Lake Garda. Here we spent a wonderfully relaxing time swimming, sun bathing and exploring the little towns.

One day we took the ferry across to Limone. It was market day and we had been told it would get very busy, so we took the early ferry, brilliant as being "early birds" it was only us and another couple on the crossing! We sat at the bow, it was a breezy morning and quite choppy so really good fun with splendid views across the lake.

Limone is such a pretty harbour with lots of lemon groves. The market was vibrant. There was a sweet little museum which was full of amazing old photographs well worth a visit.

And in the museum I spied this very ancient spinning wheel displayed with some weaving shuttles. There was no information about it and the museum attendant didn't really know about it and I sadly speak very little Italian.

A view of Malcesine Castle on our ferry crossing back.

Ancient and Modern

Blue Woven Cloth

I have been busy weaving some cloth on my Saori Loom, enjoying the process, using my blues, purples and grey hued yarn to blend together in the warp and weft to make a soft subtle colourway. Adding handspun and hand dyed slubs as I weave to create texture and interest making my cloth unique.

My weaving has a modern twist, but the method of weaving cloth is an ancient craft.

My loom is a modern style, designed by  Misao Jo, but there are hundreds of different ways to weave and many different looms that have been made.

http://www.saorinomori.com/eng/index.html  

On a recent visit to Cardiff we spent an enjoyable morning looking around St Fagans Museum of Rural Life. It is a work in progress and well worth a visit, unfortunately the weaving mill wasn't open for our visit which was disappointing, but here is a loom set up in a Round House setting.

https://museum.wales/stfagans/

We were pleased to find while staying in the area the (forest and rivers) far Open Studios was on. So of course we had a little tour of galleries and studios, chatting to the artists and makers and being inspired by the work produced, particularly enjoyed spending some time with two lovely weavers.

Here are the links to their websites. Really beautiful work and it is so wonderful to see the energy, skill and enthusiasm of these talented young women. 

https://www.rhianwymandesign.co.uk/

  

https://www.gabydevitt.co.uk/

 Weaving from the Ancient to the Modern is an absorbing craft, the more I learn the more I want to learn, to improve and develop my skills. Hand weaving to make slow cloth - many hours, carefully made by hand and with thought and love.   

With the weather being so glorious Skipper and I just had to get on the River Wye again.
We hired a canoe for the day, took a picnic and made our way gently down the river around 14 miles of meandering bends and sparkling shallow shingle banks, watching the fish jump, herons sleep, swans and geese glide and seeing the hundreds of damselflies in countless colours dance above the water's surface.

Casting Off- On the Water

Skipper and I have just returned from a lovely little holiday in Herefordshire.

We set off on an early ferry from Yarmouth to Lymington so as we could view the "Round the Island Yacht Race" in fact our ferry had to weave it's way through the fleet across the Solent, so we had a great view of the competitors although as it was a breezy morning the large racing yachts had already made it around to The Needles, however there was still a good many yachts to enjoy.  

 The weather was amazing for this holiday "Herefordshire Heatwave" so of course we simply had to get on the water! We hired a canoe for the day. We paddled downstream on the River Wye.

 Stopping off on shingle shores for refreshments, absorbing the views and beautiful scenery, watching the wildlife on the river and generally having a fantastic day! In places the river was shaded by trees, calm and slow flowing, cooling and soft. Along the route there were bubbling rocky runs, light rapids of lively water sparkling in the sunshine. Exhilarating, energy giving refreshing little rides over the rocks.

Canoe The Wye

http://www.canoethewye.co.uk/

Super day on the river from these folks.

Other news

As a little taster, I want to let you know about my "search for colour"   I held a Natural Dyeing day in my garden with my sister. Jude has written a super blog post at

http://potsandpaint.blogspot.co.uk/

  

I will be blogging more about this day myself and another day coming up after I have harvested my Woad and will let you know how it works!

Time To Grow

 March has been a time to get things started. A time to grow. Here is a photo of a woad plant I have left to grow on and hopefully produce seeds for my next year's stock. The photo below shows my woad seed collected from last year's plants. (Woad is biennial)

 I planted some in seed trays in the greenhouse and some direct in the ground under a cloche, as you can see in just a week the ones in the greenhouse have grown into tiny seedlings! the hope and promise of wonderful homegrown natural blue dye for my wool this year.

 While things grow, Skipper and I decided to spend a few days in Devon and enjoy the spring weather, fresh air and beautiful scenery.
A time to relax and be inspired, grow and nurture our own ideas for this year's projects.
 We visited  Arts and Craft centres and explored Dartmoor, walked up to Haytor and did some coastal hopping all along the South coast on our way home -Teignmouth, Exmouth, Sidmouth, Bridport and West Bay.

HAYTOR

 While in Bovey Tracey I made sure my stash this year continues to grow too! I called in at
Spin A Yarn

http://www.spinayarndevon.co.uk/

and treated myself to a gorgeous collection of roving and various yummy yarns.

 Then for my hand painted yarn and dyeing projects I bought a steamer and a good selection of tools to go with it.

I aim to grow my knowledge and experience, develop my skills in producing more of my own yarns, hand spun, hand dyed, hand knitted and hand woven.

The End Of An Era

The End Of an Era

We have sold our little yacht.  We have been the proud owners of our dear little Sunstar18 for the past 12 years. She has been so much fun and we have really enjoyed lots of sailing, picnics, days out, fishing, family gatherings, weekend sleep- on-boards and days knit-on -boards. She has kept us safe in all weathers and given us many, many  happy memories.

But we felt that it was time to let her go as we are doing much more sailing around the Med. We are pleased her new owners are local and we know they will have an amazing and wonderful time and it's really nice to see they are so excited to take her on.

So as the Sun sets and the Riding Lantern is lit for the end of  a lovely sailing time.

We look forward to new adventures sailing on fine sea breezes, blue seas, sunny skies. Of course we are NOT giving up the great sailing here on the Island as we still have our two dinghies!

We will be out enjoying the river Medina whenever we get the chance and take part in a few Mirror dinghy races as the season gets going, so there will be plenty to tell you about "on the water".

 

Happy sailing,

 little "Georgina" and Thank you for 12 fantastic years aboard!