New Year

Sitting here with thick snow outside, the first of the Winter. We did our grocery shopping yesterday so we didn't have to go out today. No snow last night so the roads are clear. Spinners Guild was cancelled, craft group yesterday was cancelled.

New Year Resolution - brush my bunnies more often, good for them as they won't get knotty and for me as not so much wool will be wasted. I have been spinning with Thistle angora (pale chinchilla grey), mixed with dark grey and black alpaca. The resulting Aran weight yarn I have used to knit 2 cable hats, one for Phil when he's fishing, the other went down to Devon. Sarah said it kept sliding off and Casie thought it was too girly as it was fluffy. Rowan likes it though and Sarah's friend Nicola who crochets, also likes it. I will be sending Nicola some of that yarn when I have spun some more. Also some odds and ends of Jacobs left over from my jacket.

New Year Resolution - Do more spinning/knitting/crochet, I have plans to spin some Leicester Longwool (Sue Bailey's Duke) to make Sarah a jacket as I have used all the Jacobs and I can't find anymore, although I should be getting a new shearling Jacob at the end of January. Rowan wants some new multicolour jumpers, just waiting for measurements to start those. Also making her a poncho in multicolour DK and blue eyelash yarn.

New Year Resolution - restore all my old sewing machines which have been sitting there for years. These are the ones which need a lot of work to either machine or case/base, mostly the woodwork, although I am running out of hand cranks now. I don't intend to buy any more electric machines as hand cranks are expensive to buy on eBay. I will be looking to import some from the US, from Cindy Peters. I did buy a machine in a table, Singer 15 electric with Sphinx decals. I actually only wanted the table to put my Singer 306 in so I can have access to it anytime. I need to sell 3 Singer 201 treadles, starting with one this week. That will make room in the big sewing room, the knitting room and the dining room. The extra room in the sewing room will be taken by the table I bought this week.

The Alpacas are in the field directly opposite which is nice. I love to watch them when I'm working up in the sewing room.

Alpacas

About 4 weeks ago, we had Alpacas move in in the field opposite our house. we know the owner quite well after 15 years of chatting when he works on the land, so we went over to have a look. They have 20 Alpacas, male, female and 3 x 3 month old Crias (babies). Mostly white, but about 3 of varying brown shades, including a male called Cadbury. They will be breeding them, in fact several of the females are pregnant again and should produce next June. They will also be keeping pigs, chickens and opening up the lakes for fishing. Nice little enterprise.

Toft Alpacas will be taking their fleeces, I have been wanting to go over there for ages, so this gave me an extra incentive now we have the car back on the road (such a relief). We went Tuesday, it was raining when we got there so we browsed round the shop looking at all the lovely yarns, carded fleece and sample garments, They mainly deal in kits, supplying the yarn and pattern, also needles if you need those. Very expensive, but beautiful. They also supply raw fleece, although the majority is sent to Banbury to be spun. Harriet, the young lady who has just started working there, was on her own, so as she had to get some orders labelled for the courier, we went for a walk and looked at all the Alpacas, taking some photos. They have 250 animals. Harriet then took us over to the barn so I could look at the fleece. Uncarded it is £15 for 500 gms, so I had 500 of black and grey respectively. As it is so light, there is a surprising amount of fleece there. I plan to blend these and spin singles to ply with the North Ronaldsay wool which I am spinning at the moment. This should make a lovely soft, warm grey/black yarn. Not sure what I'll be doing with it, sweater maybe.

Toft also run workshops, they have one on dyeing in February which I might treat myself to.

Spinning Guild

Todau was Spinning Guild day, I didn't think I would be able to go as we are still waiting for a part for the car, but lovely Sue Bailey gave me a lift.

A great day as usual, we had a lady demonstrating silk painting which was very interesting and I would love to be able to do the fantastic work she does on silk scarves, but I have far too many other things to do.

I hadn't got much Portland carded, so I grabbed the North Ronaldsay carded batts which I hadn't for some reason been able to spin up until now. Today it worked straightaway and I was spinning a lovely two tone cream and black yarn. The North Ronaldsay fibre had black guard hairs which aren't really noticable in the batts, but spun it comes up quite a bit darker. I will take some pictures and post later.

I bought Sarah some embroidery thread from Sue. She had several bags with what looked like samples threaded onto cards, along with some embroidery fabric. They should be suitable for Sarah to make embroidered cards or embroidery on pictures,  Advent Calendars, etc.

I have decided I need to spend more time spinning so need to sort out the little bedroom and make room for spinning wheels again. I also need to sort out some of the knitting machines, repair a couple so I can use them. I sold my Brother KH260 as I haven't used it in 4 years. I tried to use it the other day and after spending several hours doing tension squares and not getting very far as I couldn't match it up to the pattern I wanted to use, I decided to sell it. I still have a Singer chunky and a Knitmaster Zippy 90 which needs the carriage repaired. My spinning is getting sufficiently thin and non lumpy that I might be able to use handspun on those machines as long as I wax the wool first.

We got a planning application letter from Harborough District Council last week, apparently we have Alpacas coming to live in the fields opposite as they want to put up a hay barn, an agricultural storage shed and a temporary agricultural workers dwelling. This is very exciting, I wonder if they will need any help in exchange for fleeces.

New washing machine and car starting

Good day today, the new washing machine arrived. I haven't had a brand new washing machine for over 15 years, so it is a real treat to have a shiny new one which is really quiet and has a time delay on it, no more timers. I have put the first load of hot wash stuff in to see how it comes out.

Better still, today we got the car started. It wouldn't start after Phil replaced the clutch so I posted a message on the Peugeot Forum asking for ideas. We got one, saying to check the engine speed sensor on the gearbox in case it was damaged or we forgot to put it back. We found the hole and bolt where it was supposed to be, no sensor. So Phil crawled underneath and had a look for it. It's a sensor so had to have wires on it. He found it, he had bolted it to another bracket because he couldn't remember where it went. After he replaced it, he turned the car over and it fired straight away. Then it came off power save mode and the windows work. Only one problem, the battery needs recharging as it is flat from him keep trying to start it over the last few days. We should have a car next week, as it will take some time for Phil to put everything back together, plus we need money for the Car Tax which should come from the knitting machine.

The knitting machine and ribber I put on eBay yesterday have a lot of watchers already, and I have had people asking for 'Buy It Now' prices and shipping costs to Denmark and Singapore, also Russia.

Clovelly in North Devon, near where Sarah lives has been flooded with water pouring down the cobbled streets on its way to the harbour. The sea is stained with all the mud from the run off.

Off to feed us and bunnies now, then sit and do some knitting. Heating is on as it is really cold here. Also need to check the washing from the new machine.

Car problems, WI and more

We are having terrible trouble with our Peugeot 607. After getting it through it's MOT which cost £440 mainly because we had to get a brand new headlight at £200 because someone had bodged the old one and it wasn't adjustable any more, in fact fell apart when Phil took it out to look at it. $ weeks after the MOT, the clutch went. Garage quotes varied from £450 to £160, but we weren't sure of the garage in Coventry, even though it was the brother of one of our friends. Phil decided he would do it, even though it was a huge job.

He has been doing it for 5 weeks now, not every day, gaps in between. Lots of problems as everything underneath the car had to be removed to drop the gearbox. He managed eventually to get it all apart with lots of help from the service manual we bought online. Then, putting it back together he managed to push the steering rod through the pipes for the heating and when he filled the water up, it poured out into the foot well. To get to that, he had to remove the dashboard, another 4 day job with wiring looms everywhere. He has started putting it back together and it doesn't leak any more, but in the meantime, the car won't start and it is in power save mode (because the battery has been off). To get it out of power save mode you need to start it, vicious circle!

We have asked on the Peugeot Forum and they have suggested several things, but most of them seem to end up with 'get it diagnosed'. Problem! We can't take it anywhere to get it diagnosed. So, we have bitten the bullet and bought the hardware from eBay for £85 which has cleared out my Paypal account. That should arrive next week and we can plug it in and find out what is wrong with the car. Phil found several bodge jobs while he was taking it apart, so I don't think it was very well looked after. It is a very nice car, and hopefully with the software we can get it sorted out.

Once we know we can use the software, we can be put on the Peugeot Planet map on the forum and charge people to diagnose their cars. Most members who have these kits say they pay for themselves in a few weeks. We have several people waiting for us to ge this software so we can do their cars.

On to better things, went to the Peatling Parva WI last night for a talk by Sue Taylor on her Manx Loaghtan and Soay sheep. She lives on the edge of the village. Sue sends her fleeces and some of her friends to the mill in Launceston for spinning up. She then knits the wool into teddy bears, sheep, lap throws, jacket and all sort of lovely knitted articles. It was an interesting talk, I felt very tempted to buy a kit from her for a Louisa bear, but at £40 I can't justify that. I wish I had the time to develop my spinning and be able to make and sell things, but I need the money now and restoring sewing machines is a lot quicker.

I have decided to sell my Brother KH260 chunky knitting machine and ribber, it a lovely very expensive machine, but I have had it for about 4 years and never made anything on it. I cleaned it up, replaced the sponge bar and tested it. I found the punch card mechanism wasn't working, so dismantled the card reader, cleaned and oiled it, replaced it and it works fine now. When I have made chunky jumpers, I have used the Singer hobby chunky machine, which needs 3 of the flow combs repaired with plastic, but it makes good jumpers and I just have to fiddle round the flow comb thingy. I also have a Zippy 90 which needs the carriage repaired, also plastic to be replaced. I have the plastic repair kit, just haven't managed to get around to using it.

I have just bought a very old Knitmaster Super 4500 from our local auction for £12. I found instructions online for it, and also directions for stripping it down. It was very dirty! The bed is in sections like the Bond knitting machine, but maroon bakelite, it has that burnt smell which takes me back many years. It comes with a ribber, but the tension mast and yarn holder are missing. It seems as if they are extras as the instructions show it used like the Bond, just laying the yarn across the needles. I have stripped it right down, scrubbed the plastic sections, the metal strips which go across the bed and the retaining bar. The needles have been soaked in white spirit and washed. I'll oil them before I put them back by wiping them with an oily cloth.
This is the machine, courtesy of Susy Ranner at wordpress.com

 

Hopefully I should be able to re-assemble it tomorrow after I have packed a sewing machine to go to Ireland and cleaned out some of the rabbits.

Dyeing handspun yarn

I spun some Portland (cream) fleece a few months ago, about 160gms, about Aran weight. I was intending to dye it with onion skins but didn't get around to it until last week, mainly due to the length of time it takes to do the whole process, from making the dye, mordanting the yarn and then dyeing it.

So, last week, finally having a few hours to spare (doesn't happen often) I decided to go for it. I weighed the onion skins, about 100gms, which wasn't really enough. According to my dyeing book. I should have the same weight of onion skins as yarn. So, I thought oh well, it will come out a paler yellow. I set the onion skins in a large pan with plenty of water to cover them, brought it to the boil and left it to simmer on a timer (60 minutes). Once boiled it has to cool down in the pan.

Boiling onion skins

  Then I had to mordant the yarn, I was using Alum and needed 3% with 2% cream of tartar which fixes the dye better. You have to dissolve the mordant and cream of tartar in a little warm water, then add plenty of cold so the wool woukld have room to move as it simmered. The whole pan had to be brought to the boil over one hour, then simmered for 40 minutes and left to cool in the pan. Once cool, it has to be rinsed well to remove any excess mordant.

Wool mordanting

 By the time I had done the dye and the mordanting, I decided I should leave the actual dyeing process until the following day. You can leave the mordanted wool in a plastic bag for up to three days. Apparently it is difficult to wet once it has dried.

The next day I drained the liquid from the onion skins.

Drained onion skins

Then added enough warm water to enable the yarn to move freely in the dye bath. This time it had to be brought to the boil over 30 minutes.

Wool in dye bath

Then it had to be simmered for 30-45 minutes. As I thought it would be weak, I simmered it for 45 minutes. The resulting yarn had to be rinsed well and air dried.

Dyed wool being rinsed

Rinsed wool

I was surprised at the depth of colour, it was a lovely golden brown.

Wool being air dried

It dried out to this colour -

Balls of dyed yarn

I was so pleased with it. It is such a feeling of satisfaction to make your own knitting yarn. I was going to make something for the WI competition for next month's speaker (Sue Taylor on her rare breed Soay and Manx Loagthan sheep), which was a small knitted item. I was going to knit a cat, but it would have been quite big, so I decided to knit a pair of wrist warmers to the pattern we used a lot last year. This is a cable pattern, free from Ravelry.

So far I have knitted one wrist warmer. Hopefully I should have enough yarn to make a hat as well.

Wristwarmer before sewing up

Update

Well, I haven't posted for 3 months, been very busy, so now for an update.

We had to have Mollie put to sleep as she was having difficulty getting in the litter tray and wasn't eating very much, losing weight again, so we took her to the vet in Lutterworth. She said her time had definitely come, so I stayed with her. The vet put a cannula in and then the drug. She was gone instantly, obviously clinging onto life by a very thin thread. A shame, but we gave her an extra 18 months after her owner died, and although in the first few months she didn't seem to be really interested in whether she lived or died, she gradually settled in. After 6 months, she was part of the family, and was a stubborn old lady, very determined. We were sorry to lose her, but she was ready to go. Down to 8 cats now, very strange.

Eddie has been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease due to chronic diarrhoea. He has been with the PDSA for the last 3 months and they gave him 3 different antibiotics, steroids, worm tablets and said put him on chicken and fish. Nothing made any difference, so they eventually put him on a stronger dose of steroids. After a week on these, he was much better so they are keeping him on the steroids, just trying to get him onto as low a dose as possible.

We have been selling quite a few sewing machines through Sarah's website which is very good. Lots of hits from Google so we have to keep up the number of machines on the site. I did a Google search on vintage sewing machines for sale and Rowan Tree Studio came up third, which was very pleasing.

We put the Peugeot through it's MOT and it failed on a few monor things and we thought we got away with £220 including the cost of the MOT, but then we had to buy a headlight which was £190. Now last Saturday the clutch release bearing went. For a garage to do it would be about £450 which we don't have, so we got a brand new clutch kit from eBay for £60 and Phil is trying to fit it. It's a big job as the sub frame has to be dropped, the drive shafts come out and the gearbox dropped. I'm sure he can do it, but it is a worry as he has never done such a complicated job before. We have been calling in a few favours from friends for transport to Claybrooke Animal Feeds. We don'r need anything now for a couple of weeks, we can order from Tesco on Saturday or go in to Lutterworth on the Post Bus to get urgent food.

On a lighter note, we have both been going to the craft group at St. Mary's Church in Lutterworth. Phil has learnt to use a knitting loom and made Rowan a scarf, He has also learnt to crochet, which I would never have thought possible. I have just started using one of the knitting looms to make myself a scarf in a nice red pure wool which I bought to do some felted slippes and never made them.

We went down to Devon in August as Rowan was Carnival Princess in Hartland Carnival. I ended up having to dress her as Sarah was stewarding and Casie got caught up in the Carnival traffic and couldn't reach the house where we were waiting. She looked gorgeous in her long white dress and tiara.