Too busy to post?

I have these great intentions about blogging, mentally writing posts when out walking or gardening.
I know, I've said it before, and had good intentions of posting more often.

So, all urgent things dealt with, here I am at the computer, putting off going out to do some tidying up in the garden.

The only thing that should be done this weekend is going in to Derby to continue viewing the Format festival of photography.

Last week, when we had visitors we took in the displays at the museum and some outlying venues.
This time we intend to concentrate on the chocolate factory.

And now back to some recent activities:

The Online Guild January 2013 workshop was on UFO's. 

Rather than finishing off items already started I decided to tidy up the house and re-assign yarn that had been knitted or crocheted as samples and then been abandoned. 

I do masses of sampling before making anything, and when I have sufficient yarn often rip it off the needles once I have tried out the stitch or colour variation. 

Consequently I was able to find many bits and pieces to use in a couple of projects.

I undertook to gather up loads of samples I no longer needed to preserve, and use them.

Going around the house I found small amounts of handspun which I then knitted up into a small scarf.

I did not sort the snippets, unravelling and using them as I came across them.

The central line is loosely cast on, and stitches are picked up on both sides.

The curious shaping is made by increasing at each corner on each row.

The scarf itself is knit in a k2 , p2 moving rib which gently blends the colours.

The samples I have found so far in commercial yarn were unravelled and crocheted into a giant granny square.

It has currently reached 1.2 m (nearly 4 foot) square, and weighs 650 gm (1 lb. 7 oz.), and I am still finding suitable yarn.

The colour scheme in both was taken as it comes, the exception being the cast-off yarn on the handspun scarf.

This was not a neglected sample, but part of the sampling process for a spinning project.

I had to be sure I had enough to effectively finish it off.

All in all a fun on-going project showing how much yarn gets left effectively useless when I am designing items!

Exchanges

Suddenly it is nearly the end of the year, and here is a little about a couple of exchanges I have taken part in.

I can now reveal my downstream pal in SP11. Despite releasing the parcel into the Christmas post, the final reveal has happened. Gisela lives in northern Germany, near the border with the Netherlands. Rather like Jenn did for me, I managed to find exactly the yarn that Gisela had looked at. We even went to the same shop about a month apart, and picked out the same items. I didn't know that she had been there.

The Online Guild has had a stash exchange in December. I received this fantastic parcel from Doreen in Wales. The box has been tied with paper string in two shades.Inside the box is a selection of fibres, yarns and fabric, mostly indigo dyed.

Accompanying it is a list of the items with information about how they have been dyed.

Some items were dyed with fresh leaves (home-grown) of Japanese indigo (Polygonum Tinctoria).

This surely is much more satisfying than the selection boxes containing chocolates that we were given as children. It will certainly last much longer.

And then there is the other exchange that has taken up so much of my time lately. Here in Long Eaton, the Art Room has been moving into much larger premises. We have the opportunity to expand, and to provide more opportunities for local artists whatever their experience. For the first time we will be able to make all our equipment available, without having to constantly shift things around. Of course it will mean more work, but mostly it will be FUN!!
I want a couple of days at home, then to get back in there to organize all the items that have just been moved into the new premises. All of this must happen before a private party on 6th January, and we open to the public again on 7th January 2008.