Down On The River

A lovely sunny weekend was spent "Down on the River" just messing about on the boats.

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” 
 - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows.

We motored our little yacht down the river for about a nautical mile and then turned up river so as we could sail under jib on the Light Northerly breeze back passed our mooring  to "Windy Corner." It was such a leisurely sail. We sipped our morning coffee as we glided along,  gently sailing in with the High Tide. A pair of  Little Egrets flew over us.





















Sometimes the jib sail was on port, sometimes on starboard as the river meanders up to Newport.





































As the tide slackened, so the wind died for a while so we motored to our mooring to enjoy our picnic lunch and a bit of sun bathing.
 When the wind blew in again this time from the South and West we raised the sails on our little Mirror dinghy tied up alongside and had a happy sail around Windy corner.
Just simply; A lovely way to spend the day.

Down By The Solent

I'm happy to report that our little yacht is now on her swing mooring on the river Medina. The weather was lovely over the holiday weekend but the tides were rather strong in the Solent for our little craft to venture out so we decided to enjoy the beach instead.
 The Solent is a very tidal water and is particularly tricky to sail in as there are many strong currents often running West and East, there is also a sandbank to watch out for and of course all the different sailing vessels from canoes and jet skiers to huge cruise ships and tankers!

  As a sailor I'm always watching the weather of course, but also I take particular interest in the moon phases effecting the Neaps and Spring tides thus choosing the best time and course to sail by.
As a gardener I'm also interested in the moon phases to plant by. It just feels right that for centuries people have worked with the natural rhythms of nature to live by; sail, grow crops, fish and so on. For the past few years I have been "planting by the moon" and have discovered that not only do my organic veggies grow better but it's so much easier and  more simple to plan and do the work in the garden with this system.

So after pottering in the garden a while Skipper and I headed for Cowes beach to enjoy the day.

These are racing yachts on a spinnaker run home from Gurnard after fighting the tide.
 It's great to see them so close to shore.

We were entertained with a "fly by" An old Lancaster Bomber was splendid sight in the beautiful blue sky.

A very relaxing afternoon in the Sun.

Back in my work room I have been knitting some new pieces, some cotton hand warmers with lace stitch detailing for those summer evenings/ special garden parties and weddings and some seaside inspired tea cosies with fish tab detailing.

Also do you remember this "warp waiting" on my loom? (March post) well I have started weaving the cloth.
 Enjoying watching the water lap with small wavelets on to the shore at Cowes help me choose the coloured yarn to weave by and I came home, went straight to my loom and began to work the threads.

Organic Black Welsh Mountian Wool

I having been working on a commission. It is a hand knitted man's sweater in Organic Black Welsh Mountain Wool. I have enjoyed knitting with this very much and was particularly pleased to be working on this order through the month of March, (which has been the coldest here for 50 years) as it has kept me warm as it grew on my knitting needles  into the sweater you see here!

The wool is soft but sturdy too. My client wanted to have it knitted into a replica of a faithful old sweater, so I borrowed the sweater to be reproduced and worked out the design from it. Checking a match as I worked, note the old sweater underneath the new piece of knitting.








































After blocking and sewing up.

 An item of clothing that will last for years, looks good and feels wonderful to wear. My client is thrilled.
It feels so right choosing beautiful natural real wool from British farms to hand knit in the traditional way. 

 

Sailing Soon!

Work has finally been happening on our little yacht. Skipper has been able to apply the anti-foul paint to her keel,  work on the deck and rigging done and mainsail fitted ready to sail. As you can just make out in the photo we had a sunny day with blue skies for fitting her out. I joined Skipper down at the harbour and although it was a cold crisp day we were able to get a lot done.



















 

Of course it is very important to get the kettle and stove up and running so as to keep us sailors topped up with a hot drink or two!
  Our little Sunstar18 is just about ready for her "Lifting In" Day

 BUT there are two items that she will need before we are sailing once more, I don't know what I have done with them, Skipper is always teasing me as I often say "I've put it in a safe place" and then I generally forget which safe place I have actually stored things!
 Well firstly I need to find her curtains! I do remember  they were not stored with all the boat cushions at the time because I washed them, so what have I done with them? I will have to turn out a cupboard or two...
secondly where o where did I put the chocolate bar tin!! We simply can't go sailing until she has got her curtains hung and we are well stocked with "Ship's rations of chocolate goodies".

I'm wishing for a warm Summer with plenty of light breezy sunny sailing days, just waiting to Cast off once more   

An Afternoon Spin - 3 Ply

Just for fun I decided to spin up these last end of fibres together and construct a 3 ply yarn from them.
I spun the dark fleece as lumpy and bumpy as I could so as to give a chunky texture and body to the yarn. I spun the lilac merino tops finely and the mixed fibre as normal, to balance the final yarn thickness and weight.



Here they all are on my Lazy Kate ready to ply together.

Here is the finished yarn of 3 ply washed and balled ready for use. I think I will add it to my stash for now as I'm bound to need a little chunky handspun for something!

Boats Update

It's an extremely cold Spring, March has been dismal for getting any work done on any of the boats. Skipper has been trying to do a few jobs ready for "Lift In Day" for our yacht, which is booked for April. She still needs her anti-foul coat of paint, varnish and re-fit, we have usually done all these tasks by now!
 These are weather permitting type work and the temperatures need to be at least 10- 15 degrees for paint and varnish to be applied properly. No hope of that at present.
Let's hope April bodes better,it's going to be a very busy couple of weeks!
I will blog some photos on the progress soon... I hope...

Peg Looms and Warp Waiting

 










Peg Loom- ready to thread a warp


Peg Looms are very simple to use and are an easy way to start weaving giving you endless possibilities to create a fabric.







Here I am weaving a test sample with DK weight yarns;
six altogether to create a multi coloured weave.





When I have woven halfway up the pegs I remove the pegs from the frame and slide the piece of work down the warp.

Then the pegs are replaced in their holes in the frame and I continue to weave.

 

Here are some more peg looms in action - mixes of fluffy and novelty yarns.

 

 

 

 

 

- some gorgeous chunky weight handspun yarn.

 

 

- warp waiting
just thought I would show you the warp I have put on my Ashford loom, this is waiting to be woven into some fabric,
I will blog about the finished results soon!

New Drum Carder and Old Spinning Chair

Two rather exciting new pieces of kit to show you! Firstly I have decided to invest in a brand new Drum Carder. I have been considering purchasing one for a long time and finally took the plunge and bought an Ashford carder which I'm thrilled with. It will speed up my fleece preparation as I have been using hand carders for this task up til now and  I often found I needed to "card" little and often to keep up with my spinning,  I will now be able to prepare plenty of rolags in advance  to keep my wheel turning.
I also want to experiment with yarn blending and colour blending so my new drum carder will be put to good use.
I have attached my drum carder to a small table so as it is always ready to use and can be easily handled while sitting at my chair.

The second item to show you is my sweet spinning chair. I went to an antique and collectors fair at the weekend and spotted this lovely chair. Made of  solid wood with three chunky legs and a simple styled back rest. I have been looking for one for ages so am thrilled to find such a good one. I really liked it's simplicity. It is practical, functional and looks good and best of all it is extremely comfortable to sit on and spin a yarn.














































I will make a smaller cushion for it when I get time, something handspun and handwoven will look nice.