Northern Exposure

Heading up to Dingwall on Friday with a jam-packed car in readiness for Saturday's HIGHLAND WOOL FESTIVAL. Such a wealth of textile talent will be on display, and as makers keep posting sneak peaks of their products online I find myself saying 'must go and see them.... and their stall and ...ooh, look at that, I just have to meet that weaver, that stitcher, that dyer...'
Fortunately my good friend will be there to help The Border Tart so I can make sorties out to other stalls during the day.

I was delighted by sales of hand spun at Art@Ancrum but it does mean that although I have spun for long hours in the last fortnight my stock of skeins is not overly generous.

the yellow skein on the left only just made it in - it was still on the line at 3pm

On the other hand I have dyed a lake's worth of indigo so Blue Moon yarns will be well represented. And I have lots of lovely buttons, of course, including some delicious new lampwork glass buttons that I collected from Laughinglass today right here in the Borders.

I made the momentous (for me) decision to cut up the fabrics I brought back from India into fat quarters and half metre lengths, and they are heading north with me too. I wonder if Dingwall is ready for block prints...

Today has been...

...a mixture of some of this

chunky merino yarn emerging from indigo dyebath

    
and this

lightweight blockprinted cotton tied, indigo dyed and drying on the line

 and a little of this

washed skeins of handspun in the breeze

 and quite a bit of this

grateful thanks that some things here happen by themselves

Tomorrow will be more of the same and getting organised for an early start on Saturday. Warped will be off to the North East Embroiderers Guild Regional Day with our wares. 
Little plug - still some spaces left on the Warped workshops coming up next Saturday 31st, both involving block printing so lots of opportunity to get messy....
And on Sunday a Woolgathering -  It will be lovely to catch up over stitching, knitting and cake!

Washing Blues

So happy that it was dry and breezy today. 
Twenty two blue skeins hanging on the line, from palest 'summer sky with clouds' to deep ocean shades. All had a fine airing and are almost ready to twist together and label up. 
A batch of new indigo products was also drying quietly but I am not ready to reveal them yet..... ;)

Last weekend was great! I had a fine time at Art@Ancrum, welcoming a wide range of visitors into the little barn beside the shop. Lots of oohs and aahs at the pile of indigo yarns on display but some lovely appreciative comments about my framed artwork too. I spent my days spinning and chatting, with occasional forays to the shop for coffee. All of the artist participants were pleased at the sheer numbers of visitors and I was very chuffed by surprise visits from far-travelled textile friends on each of the three days. Thank you all for coming to see me!

Hugh had a strenuous weekend of biking and hiking for Maggie's Cancer Care Centres. He and his team mate managed the undertaking in a very creditable time. He suffered no ill effects except tiredness and is now considering a different bike/walk challenge for next year...