Ally Pally!

Yesterday, eight of our group went to the Alexandra Palace Knit and Stitch Show. Five of us went by Harrod's coach and five went by train. We all got there about 1/4 to 11, and arranged to meet at 1 for lunch under the large blue window in the main hall.

Cherry, Pat, Coral, Brenda, Donna, Sheila, Pat and Tricia

It was quite an experience! Plenty of diversity to keep us all happy all day. I was pleased to meet up with Stewart and Richard (Maid Fibre) who were sharing Alpaca Select's stall. Bellow is Isabel, with Sheila and Richard.

 

The coach passengers came away at 4.30 and were home for 7.15. The train travellers caught a later train, and got back to Downham at 9.40! A very long day.

Maid of Fibre boat trip with yarn - Downham Market

Maid of Fibre is a 60ft narrow boat, custom fitted to be a sanctuary for knitters!  Brothers, Richard & Stewart Ellis invite knitters on board to sit, relax and view next season's yarns whilst wending your way along the river.  We first met them 3 weeks ago at our Knit in Public Day and now we were taking advantage of them being moored here in Downham Market overnight, before heading off to the south of England. Although the guys are often in East Anglia with their van, it has been 4 years since they last brought the boat here, and it will probably be another 4 years before it returns.  Six members of the group were free to visit the boat today, plus we invited local talented craftswoman  and author Sue Welfare, and local reporter for the Lynn News, Jo Garner, who were both delighted to join us for our jaunt.

First group excitedly about to embark. Weather grey, windy and impending rain.

 Sheila, Sue, Pat and Donna snugly seated onboard, with coffee. Bring on the yarn!

next season's scarf yarn

Wonderful Peruvian alpaca loveliness.

Will  Donna choose the purple?

 Sue and Pat watch Donna's choice.

yarn storage on the boat

Stewart, the perfect host and salesman

           Cap'n Richard, who drew the short straw today!

2nd group about to embark (Nik, Sheila, Tricia and Pat-Jo has yet to arrive)

Nik and Jo in the bow of the boat

Sheila finishes Stewart's scarf !

fab hand-dyed Chilean cotton yarn

Pat and Tricia are renowned for having similar tastes. They often go out wearing the same colour (like today). So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that they both fell in love with the same pattern and the same yarn!!  We all had a fabulous day and feel very blessed that we were able to make contact with the guys and visit their wonderful workplace!! Looking forward to seeing them again at the Ally Pally in October.

Spinning adventures in Lincolnshire

The Spinning Wheel

'Lazy Kate'

'Wool'!

 Hi All, Fengirl has asked me to blog about my adventures into the world of spinning. This all began with a friend's Alpacas and an unused spinning wheel found in a relative's loft. I jokingly said I would learn how to knit then learn how to spin. That was about 18 months ago and since then I've joined St Edmund's Knit and Crochet Group and last weekend I went on my first spinning course.
It was a fab day spent with a great teacher (Kim) in a rather upmarket log cabin in the wilds of Lincolnshire (www.alpacathingz.co.uk). It was tipping down outside but the woodburner inside kept us warm and cosy and so my adventure began.
We were spinning with Alpaca fleece which unlike Sheep fleece contains no lanolin and so can be a little more difficult to spin but first it had to be prepared. We were using fleece from 'Leo' a cream Alpaca and I was amazed that there was no odour with the fleece. Leo had been sheared last summer and his fleece had been kept in an old pillowcase under the stairs ever since. Unlike sheep fleece you don't have to wash Alpaca fleece before spinning, just make sure that it is kept dry and away from moths in either paper bags or cotton pillowcases.
To begin the fleece has to be 'carded' where small amounts of the sheared fleece are placed onto carding paddles (they look like large slicker brushes to those of you familiar with dog grooming). The idea is that you comb through the fleece so that all the fibres lie in one direction and become light and airy. Hand carding takes a long time especially when you consider how much fleece has to be carded before you get on to the process of spinning. Fortunately, my teacher had a drum carder which allows you to card a significant amount of fleece at any one time with minimum effort. We probably spent around 2 hours carding the fleece!
Finally, the time for spinning had arrived - I must go back to read my fairytales again as there was no needle on the spinning wheel, so no fear of falling asleep!
If you can pat your head with one hand whilst rubbing circles on your tummy with the other you can probably spin. The main idea is to treadle with your feet (propel the wheel) whilst feeding in the fleece onto the spindle. This takes a bit of getting used to as you have to be able to stop/start the wheel with your feet, and feed and separate the fleece with your hands at the same time, whilst making sure the wheel only spins clockwise. After what seemed like forever I finally managed to get the hang of it and ended up with a bobbin of what looked like a cross between rope and gardener's string. I was chuffed to bits and reliably informed that my 'wool' looked like most first timer's. Thinking that that was that, I then got to spin some of 'Alfie's' fleece, a brown Alpaca. Having finally ended up with two bobbins of 'wool' these were then fixed to a 'lazy kate' and spun together on the wheel counter clockwise to produce a two tone 2ply 'wool'. Wow! I was hooked. It was so amazing to think that the small ball of wool I was left with had started out as 'raw' fleece earlier that day.
My day was great and I'm definitely hooked. All I have to do now is put my spinning wheel together and try again. To be continued .......................