Carding with Colour

My garden is a source of inspiration as it takes on it's summer colours. I love to work outside when I can and today I wanted to work with some colour!

So with my drum carder I  blend some hand dyed wool fibres into some interesting colour combinations for spinning some yarn. 

Here I build up the layers of fibre on the drum, thinking about the effect I want to achieve. Experimenting with making long stripes in a batt and being careful not to muddy the colours but rather maintaining the clarity of each and let the colours sing together. 

Batts fresh off the drum, ready to be layered and pulled into rovings ready to spin.

I really love the colour blending in this one. I hope it spins up well too.

By the time Skipper appeared from his Wright Turned workshop with a cup of tea and delicious slice of carrot cake for us both I had made a sweet, soft bundle of blended woolly colour.

Waiting For The Tide, Weather and Time

Here are our two little dinghies patiently waiting for the tide, weather and time down by the river. They wait in their scruffy covers and doze in the spring sunshine. As soon as Skipper and I get some free time together we will be rigging up their sails, pushing them off  their trolleys and sploshing them into the river Medina.

The Mirror dinghy (on the right of the photo) is good for two people to sail- helm and crew. She can also be rowed, used with an outboard and great for picnics and exploring the river. 

Peewit our little self build PBO dinghy is good for single handed sailing or takes two of us rowing/fishing and pottering. Both boats have  a very small draught when the centreboard is raised so are ideal for beaching and exploring shallow parts of the river. 

 

I don't often take photos from the shore looking out to the river as I'm usually on a boat! But last week it was such a beautiful spring day,  I needed to go to Newport so instead of jumping in the car I decided to walk there instead, a distance of 3 miles following the river valley. The tide was low, there was no breeze and the river looked lovely with the fresh greens and blues of spring. (photo is a view across to the Rowing Club house looking downstream).

This wood sculpture is the new entrance for the cycle and riverside footpath. 

Looking forward to the summer days on the water and hope you enjoy reading about them here.