A little hint of Spring

in the  garden

It is lovely to see  a bit of colour.

The blackbird is here again.

And just in case it turns cold again a jazzy pair of fingerless mitts. I shall make another set with the colours reversed.

weather and stuff

The UK continues to be battered by wind, rain  and flooding.  The south west of England has born the brunt of this onslaught but now the Thames valley has began to suffer as well. Luckily here things are not too bad and despite the rain being more than a nuisance we are OK. Last year some were complaining about the freezing cold and the snow disruption but give me snow any day.

Last Saturday was a surprisingly nice day and so we took a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park. So now we have seen it in three seasons, summer, autumn and winter.

I particularly wanted to see the exhibition by Angie Lewin it is only on for one more week so you will have to be quick. I spent my Christmas money on a tote bag in the YSP shop. My bag collection is growing.

I am in the process of making my latest woven bag. It is progressing but the woven strap is shorter than the ones I have knitted in the past. Consequently I have been researching warping boards so that I can weave longer pieces of fabric. At the moment I can weave just under the length of the kitchen table.

The hat I am knitting is on hold because I ran out of yarn. I did not check that particular style needed two 50gram balls. I have managed to order another ball and I am not too worried about dye lots as it is one of those variagated types so it won't notice too much.

My Mother Nature summer tree is coming along nicely. She needs assembling so I can start embellishing.
There are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I want to do.

It's February

and nearly a week has gone already. The weather continues in its unseasonal pattern. No sign of any snow (well the odd flake) but endless rain over great parts of the UK although here we have had a couple of sunny days.

The latest sample of weaving showed me that I must put a band of yellow either side of the green when making a bag otherwise it is upside down when the fabric is folded. I should have known that really considering the number of  paper patterns I have laid out on fabric in the past. I experimented with the strap usually I knit a strap in the same yarn but this time decided to try a narrow band on the rigid heddle loom.  What I didn't realise was that it would be a much tighter weave. This is good in one respect because it means the strap is firmer. However I wondered why it happened.

This is the fabric I think will be used for the lining. If you know me well you will realise that this will be my bag.