rockpool candy

A Little Bluebird Sings Again

Over the last few years, I've leapt on any unattended loom in my vicinity and relished weaving. But I knew that a loom of my own was a long way off. Extra-wide, 8-shaft countermarch looms aren't cheap, or that readily available on this side of the Irish Sea.

Then a little, brown sparrow of a loom came into my life.

Woodworm-ridden, rusty 

and delapidated after 30 years in a stable, it had lost its voice.

But I treated her wounds, painted her metal-work gold, and gave her a new coat of blue.

Missing pieces were replaced using reclaimed mill bobbins and timber.

Pretty bows

And lace bobbins now adorn her limbs.

Spare findings hang in her basket.

And she's started to sing again. Her voice was as rusty as her heddles had been.

But the cloth is starting to flow, winding around.

We've a way to go. The weavers amongst you will spot that the harnesses are hanging too high and need adjustment; and that my tension in the 30-year old warp that was on her isn't even.

But Rome wasn't built in a day. And wings take a while to get back their strength. And one day, I plan to turn her into an 8-shaft too.

But for now, in the early-morning autumnal mornings, she and I are humming away together, enjoying our new friendship and getting to know each other; making our new slice of Ulster history.

So I never made it to the end of the week of favourite things

....my angioedema decided that I needed a few bed days....and when Ange decides that I need to lie down, I lie down.

As a consequence, I've let a few people down. I HATE doing that. In my heart I'm never a slacker, but in my body, well, I have no choice but to fail.

But hey, I've progressed to the sofa!
So here's a delve into what else I've been up to over International Crochet Month (and a bit before)!

I've been snuggling up in 1 of 3, yes 3, beautiful present swaps I received from the lovely Ina of Tante Sophie in NYC. (Isn't she just such a stunning lady?).

There's this gorgeous scarflet, which is like a warm cloud around my neck.

A cowl-come skater slouch that's been keeping my hub toasty.

And the softest cowl that I've been wearing around my house to keep out the chills. Don't be fooled by my bad pic, it looks wonderful on.

I think that I came off best in this swap.... as in return all I did was make her a jumbo skein of navy and white, irregular candy-stripe, as these are her fave things. I of course forgot to photograph it before I sent it, but you can see it here.

And I kept a little skein for reference.

I also found myself spinning up what turned out to be 'Blue Moustache' yarn.

So called because there was lots of prancing about with one of my blended batts one night.

It just HAD to be for JohnK, another US fibre artist I'm pleased to have visit my inbox. If you don't know this 'funny uncle' then drop by and see just why this yarn was always destined for him.

So what else?

Well..... The lovely Kathleen Greco sent me a copy of her Jelly Yarn book. Haven't tried this weird and wonderful yarn yet? The stuff above glows in the dark you know! Get some here.

And I've been battling with giant balls of my own plastic bag yarn for another project. It's so quick using my method (see the you tube link on top left of blog), but I really wish it was more pleasant to work with. Nothing can beat a bit of fleece for me.

I'm an old-fashioned Dorset girl, ooo-arrr.

Family connections

Sunday's favourite thing?

Well, let me give you a bit of explanation first.
I married a Norn Irish boy, I'm English, we are both from the United Kingdom, but the country that he grew up in and the one that I grew up in are very, very different places. Many of the customs of this province, in which I now live, are alien to me.

And yet it is a gift from my mother-in-law, nearly 5 years after I moved over, that has made me feel most at home.
It is the table from her mother's sewing machine; my husband's maternal grandmother - a woman whom he never met.

Grandma Alice was a stitcher in a factory here, her husband bought her a sewing machine and she dearly loved it. When she died, the machine was left to her daughters, who equally love it, and I am honoured to say, that a few weeks ago, my husband's mother gifted it to me.

Due to woodworm, the woodwork had to be removed, but I had a piece of marble that fits it perfectly, if not that prettily.

Why does it feel so right? Well, my father was a sewing machine engineer (amongst other things) and I grew up surrounded by sewing machines in various states of repair. There is something very homely about the old Singers and I love them.

I have never felt so rooted here as when I sit in my studio at this treadle table. When the weather is finer I plan to repaint it and gild it.

But for now, it signifies the beautiful thing that is having my husband's parents as my parents-in-law and reminds me of my long-passed father.

xx

A blog entry every day? Whose idea was this?

OK, so it's my own fault. It's late, I've been at the Guild all day learning the history of spinning wheels and how to spin on a great wheel (to a fibre nerd like me this is VERY exciting).

So this entry is typed with my eyes out on stalks.

But to the matter in hand. Another of my fave things.

Miniature in abundance

- as demonstrated in our garden

House leeks; perfectly formed and repetitive in pattern.

The little jewel-coloured fish in our pond. There's Darryl, Darryl, other Darryl, his sister Darryl and their offspring Darryl and Darryl. It makes things easier.....

Snowdrops - this variety is actually called Inga - obviously named by a botanist with taste. And that's a miniature Buddha head that I sculpted behind it, all under our tree fern. Clashing cultures, moi?

And finally the gorgeous miniature narcissus that I planted just outside my studio window. They herald spring, especially when the blue of the grape hyacinths (which are late this year) come up to join them.

See you tomorrow.

I'm turning into my mother!

Wow - this 'week of favourite things' is meant to be a fun blogging exercise; listing stuff I love..... but instead, I'm racing headlong into the horrible truth....
After years of living a minimalist, white lifestyle, with few possessions, I seem to have hit the phase of my life where I turn into my mother, kleptomania sets in, everything that doesn't move I wallpaper with mad patterns and hang upon said paper more mirrors than are strictly necessary.

Yes, it took this exercise to realise that I LOVE mad, ornate wallpaper and even madder mirrors.

My living room paper is the same linen, but in 3 different colours (just the pink and brown here - the other is aqua).

This vintage 70's paper adorns my bathroom wall.

On which I hang vintage bevel-edge mirrors.

9 of them - in a tiny little room...

And then there's my dining room wallpaper.

On which I hang, yep, you guessed it, more mirrors - sunburst this time.

And in my studio? Well, it's awaiting decoration at the mo (I have 2 rolls of vintage 60's wallpaper still in their wrap for this).

But yeah, true to form, there's a myriad of mad mirrors multiplying in there, too.

And another thing I have realised through this post, despite all those mirrors, my mother never had a reflection......

Luckily I do! [sigh of relief]

Thursday's favourite things

Lady beachcomber that I am, I love picking up Mother Nature's little gifts of texture and colour.
So many of her combinations inspire my yarns and fibre mixtures.

The warm honeyed tones of a dried piece of kelp root beside a bleached sea potato and a sage-green urchin, ummmmmmm yum.

The slatey greys of a stone overwhelmed with soft, whipped-cream casts.

The soft, silky greens blending into pinky yellows on a piece of driftwood with a deep, rotted brown.

The bronzey, metallic charring of firewood against sugar-coated pebbles

The sprinklings of natural white deposits bursting on synthetic colours.

Warm hues of orangey, pinky, browny, reds melding into creamy, greys and green.

Zingy lime against white and brick.

And I love these things more because they almost turn my rather frightening cataract into a gently helpful  blending tool. My right-eye sight may be getting fuzzier by the week, but look what it does to the beautiful colour combos in my pocket.....

 

How I wish we could all meet at mikes!

A gorgeous friend introduced me to the equally gorgeous site, meet me at mikes. 

Oh, how I wish I could. Mike would be my bestest friend. I would dream of being Mrs Mike.

I would fall into that banner if I could.

Sometimes my heart aches to take me back to the time when I crawled on the floor with crayons, frilly-knickered bottom in the air and tongue poking from the corner of my mouth in concentration. But I know from trying, that I would crack and creak and be unable to stand back up!

But something I can do, is take part in their 'week of favourite things'.

Now I know it's Wednesday, and I'm starting mid-week, but heck to convention!

So my first favourite thing....well, I'm gonna cheat and make it two things in one entry.

My vintage brooches.

It'll be a rare day not to find me with at least one of these little beauties pinned on and adding sparkle to my day. They are movement and light and decadence and glamour encapsulated.

And the other - well, empirical maps. Now, this is not the place to discuss the good and the bad of the British Empire, but oh, I do love that it's usually printed in pink. And 70's pink at that - such a strange colour to pick, but its vibrancy against the oranges, greens and yellows of other empires sing out to me.

It filled my grey old geography lessons with pattern and interest. (I put the reason that I learnt so little in these lessons down to the fact that I was always too busy losing myself in the richness of the colour and daydreaming marshmallowy daydreams.)

More tomorrow....