rockpool candy

Fibre, Fibre, More Fibre and Travelling....lots of travelling.....NI, England & Wales

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you'll have read my post about trolling around Northern Ireland with Pom Pom International,

Cue a bum shot of Miss Amy Lamé.

And I must admit, on that tour, I had the best time I've had since I moved over to the Province. And got to meet just the best people.

Thanks go out to Derry Pride organisers and ball goers.

Here's the yarn you helped me to spin. I'll make and extra-special pom pom with it.

But that wasn't the only bit of travelling I got up to in the UK.

After the tour, I caught the sunny Belfast ferry cross the angry body of water better known as the Irish sea.

Ah.....summer......

I picked up the fabulous Ildi and we had a brill couple of days driving down to London, eating delish kebabs and staying in dodgy hotels to drop off one of my 'Great White' reefs for the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft shows that are touring the UK.

It's for part of their Reclaim, Re-use, Recycle show and it opens for the first time today in Exeter and goes on until early next year. The reef is just one of the elements I've created especially for the show cabinet they've given me. I can't wait to see the final underwater scene.

Next stop, London and I Knit.

Me and my mucker mate, moonspinning . Hanging out, meeting other complete loons, like alabamawhirly and bringing fibre fiddlers over to the dark side of spinning. Come on, can you really resist ferreting in this and getting creative? (even if I do say so myself!)

 

Whizz bang and I'm in Ross on Wye, rumaging through beach detritus to finish my jellyfish.

  

And may I be so bold to suggest that, should you feel the desire to begin untangling neon fishing line and crocheting it... don't. It's a madness not best visited.

And so to Wrexham, Wales. Yale College to be precise. And their recycling exhibition. The poster is in both English and Welsh, in case you're wondering.

And within minutes, like ants around a just-dropped ice-cream, we fibre fiddlers are circling two spinning wheels and sharing techniques.

I even taught Marcus to make plastic-bag yarn and to spin moonlight, all against a back drop of my jellyfish and second 'Great White' reef. Now that doesn't happen very often.

And finally back home. To rest my weary spinning muscles and enjoy a bit of colour therapy.

Yarn is good........

Fibre frenzy

Long time, no post. This is due to me being head down, fingers a blur, getting ready for several up-coming shows.
I'm delighted to have been invited to show my work in a cabinet at the ICHF Creative Stitching and Hobbycraft shows as they tour around Britain. This meant a new reef had to be created. I'd been dreaming of making a white and yellow one for ages so here it is.

It's 1m 30cm wide and weighs a tonne (or feels like it).
But... in my enthusiasm back in the spring, I decided not to make one, but two of these reefs.

Lucky for me, I was also invited to show at Wrexham Yale's Recycling and Sustainability Show.
So here's the second reef in the pair.

They stand on their own, but also act as a pair, giving them a different dimension.

 

They're so huge, I had to hang out of my upstairs window to take this picture.

But two reefs wasn't enough.

I'd also promised Jimbo that I'd make him a reef with his Friedrich's Ataxia travelling hook. (It's the most beautiful hook I've ever had the pleasure to hold.) So I dyed, spun and crocheted like a mad thing to create a very unique wall hanging.

 

It'll be auctioned on the 12th September, along with many other wonderful creations to raise money for research into a cure. PLEASE go along and bid.

All this, and the Coral Collective Hospital Project is going from strength to strength. I received a beautiful coral from someone who'd picked up one of my packs in the hospital.

It made me SO happy to receive it and can't wait to add it to the artwork hanging in the waiting room. Thank you to the anonymous crocheter.

Is that all I've been up to? Nah! I don't sleep. I've got Pom Pom International and I Knit London coming up.

So I've been washing texel fleece and dyeing it;

Dyeing up merino roving;

Creating my own fibre blends that will soon sell through my site and at I Knit London's shop;

 

Carding British Breeds Batts for I Knit London's fetes and Bestival;

Spinning some of my exotic multi-fibre batts;

 

And then there was all the fun I had hanging out a Woolfest with the wonderful Moonspinning;

Here she's teaching Gerard to spin with a drop spindle.

Gnome spotting;

And getting emails from lovely slebs who've been crocheting with my yarns at their events.

I thank you, Miss Amy Lamé for making a corsage from my lemon and lime handspun.

Stay tuned for the next installment - this is only a teeny bit of what I've been up to! I haven't told you about Castlewellan show (you can read about it on Moonspinning's blog) or any of the other groovy stuff I've been up to.
Next stop LA, New York, London and touring Northern Ireland.
I'm international, me!

The lightest hook on Earth

London picked me up, wrung me out and left me pooped. I'm one tired lady - too tired to even hold the weight of my crochet the last few days.
And then a little angel arrived.

It appeared in the shape of the most beautiful hook, hand carved by Jimbo from a dead aspen branch behind his cabin. He whittled the whole thing whilst sitting on his front porch, overlooking a meadow, so it has relaxation running through its grain!
It's sensuously soft, beautifully smooth and weighs less than a gnat's sneeze! And it's tempting me towards my yarn stash again.

I'm so flattered that Jimbo should take the time to carve me such an object and all inspired by a small piece of lichen that looked like coral. (See how he found it by clicking here.)

LIFE IS IN THE DETAIL. I shall attempt to crochet my own homage to that little piece of lichen tonight.

Thank you Jimbo.

And if you haven't yet tried his chophook, what's keeping you? It's another fantastic creation from the hands of a master. The one pictured here is especially carved for bullion stitches - and we all need help with those little blighters. And do you know what? All you have to do is make a small donation of at least $10- (which is nothing in pounds nowadays!) to the Freidreich's Ataxia Research Alliance through the button on his site and he'll make you one. A good cause AND a bargain. Win win.

He's also got a "gob o hooks" like the one he carved me up for grabs in his auction. Believe me, they'll change your crocheting experience. They're sexy hooks.

Making plastic bag yarn/yarn from a tube

Now, whilst I need to keep some things a secret - like the patterns to some of my corals so that I can continue to make a living. (rants: Can't believe how bare-faced some people are about ripping off other artists' designs and ideas. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) I do want to share my craft knowledge with other people and get them passionate about free materials. And by free, I mean just lying around, unwanted stuff; old clothes, worn out pillowcases, sacks, plastic bags etc.
So here's how to make them into yarn. The fabric yarn is great for kids to learn finger crochet, as it's chunky and grows quickly and the plastic bag stuff works well for outdoor pieces they might like to make.

Watch the slightly bitmappy video that I've posted on youtube and then have a go yourself.

Don't blame me if your fellas end up with Daisy Duke shorts!

Guardian G2 Arts section article

I'll be the woolly-fibre fiddler mentioned!

You can read the full article by ferreting around in last week's recycling, or by clicking here.
Mine are the wall mounds.

I'm a lax blogger!

It's wonderful to be SO busy with all the events coming up, but it does mean that I just don't get time to tell everyone about them. So apologies for being so tardy!

First! Did you know that 8th June is World Ocean Day?

There's a link here to the petition. Sign it and you'll add your voice to the many others asking the UN to recognise the day and bring about a greater awareness of the oceans' plight.

The summer is busy, busy, busy. There's the Hayward, (Darling!)  opening on the 11th June, with a private viewing on the 10th (ooer!)

Where you'll be able to see two of my reefs in my wall reef series; pink and green. And also a smack of my jellyfish.

On the 13th June,  I'll also be 'engaging people in craft' at the Southbank's symposium, 'The Art and Craft of Saving The Planet'. I really can't wait to spend a day with so many like-minded people (whom all happen to be at the pinnacle of their chosen field.) I feel priviliged to have been invited to take part. It promises to be a unique gathering of very exciting uber-boffins! Oh, and nervous wee me!

Please come along and see what we're all up to. And make sure you say hi when you're there.

Then finally, after Much, Much, Much anticipation, it's WOOLFEST!

Anyone and EVERYONE who has any fibre fiddling urges is going to be there. And as it's my birthday just a week before, I'm heading that way with NO restrictions on my purchasing.
It will be fibre gluttony in it's most beautiful form.

I can't wait.

New York, New York: Part II

So, leaving NYC behind, we headed upstate to pick up a car in Albany. (If you ever want to film an alien abduction scene, this is your city. Hardly a soul on the street and yet it was the middle of the afternoon on a working day.) Maybe it has something to do with the Egg - yep, that's its real name. Couldn't get out of this place fast enough. And did you know, it's the true capital of New York state (go figure) it was eerie.

If you want fibre, then you have to head up state and have a chat with the lovely Nancy

at Stitchin Post in Saratoga Springs. She is just the sort of fellow fibre fiddler that I'd love to spend more time with, hanging out, sitting on the front step of the shop. Alas, time was short and we had to rush on. A whistle stop tour of

And I have the first few local yarns to start my New York State travelling reef. (I spent the evening winding it on Adirondeck chair backs.) Here it sits in the woodpile next to a roaring fire.

And what a place to start crocheting it the next day, sitting on the edge of a frozen Mirror Lake, cosied up to an open fire. bliss

Get me! I'm a Goddess!

I can't tell you how honoured I was this morning to be named Chophook Goddess by the lovely Jimbo.

And all I did was have a bit of fun crocheting in order to all to raise awareness of Freidreich's Ataxia. Please read about it here.

It's such a wonderful thing to get feedback from people about what I do. And the warm glow that having such nice words heaped upon me has lifted my otherwise creaky body this morning.
Thanks, Jimbo!

New York, New York: Part I

It's been a while since I posted, but those of you who know me, know it's because I've been crocheting my way across the beautiful state of New York.

My main reason for being in NYC was to set up my artwork in the WFC (World Financial Centre) for the IFF. Yep - it was a festival of abbreviations!
Here's a snapshot of my plastic creations through the tendrils of my jellyfish cloud. It's all hovering over the Chicago crocheted coral reef. (Unfortunately my crocheted work didn't feature in this exhibition in the end.)

But the opening was a great place to meet other artists.

Here, right to left; the breathtakingly-talented Helle Jorgensen, putting on her coral hat; the mathematical machine knitter, John K, into whose brain I can't wait to pick, plunder and delve deeper; the wonderful Molly, without whose determination, good humour and hard work (not to mention resilient liver) the show wouldn't have taken place; and my gorgeous husband, Andy.

Another wonderful high of the trip was hanging out with the beautiful Subway Hooker. Oddly, even after two cocktail-filled nights out with this intelligent and funny lady, the only thing I can show you is her card and an embarrassingly-large bar bill (only because I haven't yet found a way of photographing mojito-induced hangover thuds). But take it from me, it was FUN!

I don't know if it's some fibrey pheromone that I give off, but fellow fiddlers were literally coming out of the walls around me. Even the barman at our hotel turned out to be a class act on the sewing machine.  Not only does Nate make the meanest PINTS of margarita (oh yes, I was drinking them by the pint) but his stitchery is bewitching.

I'm hoping that the little crochet demo that I gave him and Kelly at the opening will inspire him to go 3D, too. Far too good an artist to be pulling pints.

Part II soon.

xx

Axing Ataxia with a chophook

The gorgeous Jimbo sent me a chophook whittled by his own fair hands a while ago.
Whenever I've had a few spare moments (and I mean moments) lately, I've been grabbing the chophook and making a little urchin. I chose to use just odds and ends of cream yarns that I had in a bag; perfect for these little puddings.

I'm especially in love with the little mohair ones, even though they make my eyes run and I keep dropping stitches when they make me sneeze uncontrollably.

I plan to keep on crocheting any bits of creamy yarn I can find and see how big this cluster can become.
And lest anyone has missed the previous blogs on why Jimbo gave me the chophook, then please go to his site and read all how in each of our own little ways, we are trying to axe ataxia. A rotten condition for which we need a cure.