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


 

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

3 Bobbins Full

3 Bobbins Full!

Just messing about with colour and texture. Spinning my very own yarn. It's a great way to free my mind, absorbed in the task of gentle pedalling the treadle, spinning the wheel, controlling the fibres through my fingers, watching the colours blend together. I have on the bobbins 3 very different 2 ply yarns which are now to be wound off into a skein and be washed ready for use.

1 Bobbin  is White Faced Woodland Fleece- this is the natural colour and I intend to keep it for some natural dyeing of colour I wish to do later on this year.

2 Bobbin  is a happy mix of various carded blends I had in the basket! odds and ends and leftovers, nothing goes to waste in my studio as this unique spin up will be used to weave colour, texture and slubby pieces of joy and interest in my Saori Weavings.  

3 Bobbin  is a combination of  merino, silk and mixed wools. I love the depth and range of blue/green colours it has given me with flecks of white. It reminds me of the Mediterranean sea and  sunny sailing days. This yarn will be for my knitting needles, I'm not sure what I will knit with it yet as there is only a small amount but I know I will enjoy knitting it up. 

Here is a close up of the yarns, I will show you again when they are finished by washing and setting, then you will be able to see the difference and softness this process will give.

Walking around my village it is so lovely to see so many colours of Spring,