Spring is sprung...

......some seeds are finally in the ground. The temperature is easing up oh so slowly, lambs are fattening, trees are budding and the fact that the boiler is broken again is not quite as painful as it would have been a few weeks ago!

I've been dyeing more scrumptious sock yarns which I'll post up here as soon as they are dried, reskeined and ready to go in the shop. It's 75%wool/25%nylon for harder wearing socks. I've also acquired some wool/bamboo sock yarn and have dyed one skein so far - it takes dye beautifully.

I did knit a mad wee teacosy from some of the multicoloured yarn balls I made - just have not remembered to photograph it yet. Here instead is a delicious colour feast of Noro yarn that I am using in my stripey jumper. Only the back done so far as I haven't sat down to knit for a while.

Another year by...

My birthday's been and gone but it was FUN! Ahhh, friends know me so well....
Marie (my niece) raided Thornton's for little bags of chocolate sweets and posted them off to me, Susan gave me posh Montezuma's chocolate and the lovely vintage trug with old terracotta plant pots, other kind friends the wartime cookery book, the Chocolate Fund money box, a girlie tool set and more. Hugh spoiled me too, including a 3 CD set of music from the movies which I am enjoying.
I already mentioned the yarns I bought last month. well, here's proof I have started the stripey sweater (only frogged once when I realised it was going to be a LOT too big). The yarn balls are all my scraps of blue faced leicester and pale yellow tapestry yarns dyed in various combinations with food colouring and knotted together! At least some of it is going to be a slightly mad teacosy I think.
I bought myself a present - this print from the talented Hermitage- she has such a delicious colour sense that I have resisted long enough. Besides, I love grids, colours, alphabets and most of the items illustrating the individual letters so it was obviously meant to be.

Wet Windy Wet Windy Wet....

March rolls into April and there's no sign of improvement in the weather - odd half days when it is quite pleasant, then it all just dissolves in the rain....
Last weekend Hugh and I went to three new exhibitions by Borders artists in Hawick Museum - [i] photographs taken along St Cuthbert's Way (100km walk from the Scottish Borders to the Northumberland coast) by David Taylor - lovely crisp images which capture the quiet beauty of our countryside, [ii] new pastels by Sandy Milligan - this delightfully unassuming gentleman has a stunning way with pastels, producing incredible detail in whatever subject matter he turns his hand to. I had not seen any of his work with boats and harbour scenes before and was very impressed, and [iii] Land Escapes, a big exhibition of work in various media by Siobhan O'Hehir. First time I had seen her almost abstract interpretations of landscapes and I really liked them.

From the museum we had a quick jaunt up to the Hub to catch the end of a Continental Market - too late for fresh cooked paellas and fancy breads but still time to succumb to a tempting offer of French cheeses. We over-indulged (I am a sucker for labels...) and have been eating rather cheesily ever since (including a very up-market Cauliflower Cheese one night!)

As for textiles - it's been another month of hats. I've been quietly knitting beanies from some commercial double knitting in various colours combined with stripes in various of my handspuns - I have stopped now, honest. The ones above are Nos 4-7. But my little passion for simple knitting continues so I am making myself a big stripey sweater using extravagant Noro yarn combined with cheap-as-chips pure organic wool yarn spun on the old mill machinery at New Lanark. It will take me a while since I don't knit more than a couple of evenings in a week but I may post w.i.p. shots. Apart from that I have dyed a couple more yarns for the shop.

On Sunday we had a good Woolgathering in the village hall. I proved quite incapable of getting the fire going but Anne's Girl Guide training came to the rescue and then we all warmed up. Lots of knitting going on this time, with a little fine stitchery by Anne and Lorraine. Janice sold a few yarn bargains from her stash, Anne some fabric for quilting and I sold eggs!