Late to the party

 Apologies for having been absent these last couple of Woolly Wednesdays, and then late to this one.  The only excuse I have is life getting in the way!  I have a completed project to show you.  Every year, our guild have a light hearted competition to create something, and then we vote on our favourite one at the AGM.  This last year we were to create a cushion.  I found a pattern I liked over on Ravelry, ie the Aran Leaf Pillow by patons.  And thenset about creating the yarn.  I have a real trouble in creating anything much thicker than a DK weight, but tried to spin a bit thicker than normal anad made a three ply yarn, one bobbin was a blended merino I got from World of Wool in their lapwaste bags, and the other two were from the alpaca I got from our local farm shop.  I tried to have one bobbin of lighter fibres, and one of the darker fibres.  And then plyed all three bobbin together to create this wonderful yarn that I am so proud of,

 What drew me to the pattern was the design on the flap.  There were various knitting techniques I had never tried before, so I wanted to challenge myself.  I started and finished the flap on the way down to the Guild exhibition in Hampshire at the end of July 2012.  I figured that 6 or so hours on the coach with no children to distract me was the perfect time to tackle those stitches!!

Then the rest of the cushion was finished, also whilst travelling.  It was my travelling knit, as the pattern was simple and repetitive, so easily worked on when travelling as a passenger in the car, or on the train.

 I finished it off with a covered button, instead of the tassle they suggested in the pattern. 

 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the AGM, but my cushion did!  It didn't win, I didn't expect it to, as there is so much amazing talent within the guild, but I learned a few things along the way, and created a cushion that I am very, very pleased with.



Woolly Wednesday returns ... October 2012

Whoosh and we're back! Hope everyone has had a lovely Summer.
There have been some changes here at Spinspiration. Kelly has now returned to her homeland and is enjoying life back there with her family, we wish her well and hope to see her spinning again in the future.
With that in mind I would like to welcome new blog writers on Spinspiration -  Lydia (blogging today below) and Claire (hopefully joining in soon) and look forward to sharing this space with them and with you all, they have both linked up with our Woolly Wednesdays for a while.


So welcome to our Woolly Wednesday gathering for October, whether you are a regular or a new visitor - come and share with us all what you have been doing with wool or fibres in the last month. All crafts and inspiration welcome.It's a little quiet here some months, we would love to hear from you. Have you been spinning, knitting, felting, crochet, etc

Woolly Wednesday falls on the first Wednesday of every month. Think of it as a creative gathering, or a virtual guild meeting. Bring along any fibre-related project, whatever it may be. If you are starting out in fibre arts, share what you are interested in pursuing. Let's show each other our projects, share any tips, tutorials, ask questions, seek advice. Add your post to the Linky below and we can visit one another and share, support, encourage, be inspired!.

Please feel free to add the button to your blog's sidebar with a link to Spinspiration, a lovely way for us all to link together. Just copy the image to your desktop and then in your blog design - add a gadget, add picture -  upload the picture and then add the url (http://spinwheelspin.blogspot.com/) and the image will link to here. Join us with the linky below, link to a recent blog post of your woolly adventures in the last month or to a post in the month ahead, we look forward to seeing you, no time limits just join us when you can.

Planning a woolly Christmas!

First of all I ought to say "Hi" and introduce myself.  I'm Claire, and have been taking part in Spinspirations monthly get togethers since the offset, but now am helping with Spinspiration in a more formal sense.  I blog over at Simply...Life as well as at Aisling Designs.  I'm a mother to four children, and have been spinning for what will be two years this coming Christmas.

As a crafter, my mind is already turning to Christmas, things to make, mainly for others, and possibly a little for myself. I am currently spinning up more wool (Zwartble/Suffolk cross from Dawn) for a macBook cover commission, based on the iPad cover I made for someone.

 Earlier this year I was making a couple of rings for the Guild Exhibition that was held in July.  The Robin was the one that was eventually sent down there, and it has now made it's way back home, and yesterday I was able to give it to my Mum for her birthday present, as she was rather taken with it as I was making it.

 I also made a seascape one, which has had lots of interest in it over on Etsy.

 As I enjoyed making them so much, and as I had so many other ideas going round in my head for designs, I bought the rest of the rings from our local guild, so that I can continue playing with spinning, felting, knitting, crocheting, all to create new pictures (hopefully some in time for Christmas)

 More woolly goings on for Christmas include a batch of soaps and wool!  I think I will have very clean hands after felting this lot (and that's only half the soaps!!)

 

I've also been approached by our guild to see if I have any small things that I can sell at a show they are at in November.  I haven't been able to think of many small scale things to make, but the other day I came up with the idea of some embellished flowers using handspun wool.  These will be turned into brooches, hair clips, bobby pins and hair bobbles.  A nice satisfyingly quick thing to make amongst the bigger projects.

 

 

As ever, with me, so many ideas, so little time.  But it is safe to say, I will be spending the next couple of months working with alot of wool!

Off to see what everyone else is up to.