Update on the Crafty Collaboration

Back in May, when we still had hopes that this Irish summer would be a good one *sigh*, Sue from Amazing Beads showed a lovely picture of her Scottish Mountain Sheep on her blog.

The conversation that followed resulted in a big parcel of lovely raw wool winging its way from Cork to Belfast.

I washed the wool, dyed some and finally managed to spin a small hank of yarn on my Turkish drop spindle as shown in the picture above. I plied the wool with some lavender blue merino and strips of denim, and it is lovely and tactile. Not too sure what I will knit with it yet, but when I do, there will be more pictures. There will also be definitely more spinning.

Thanks Sue for the gorgeous yarn. And good health to your sheep!

Shear Maaadness

On Thursday, I went to the Stitch and Creative Crafts Show at the King's Hall, Belfast, with Maura from Irish Bounty. While she was interested in all things card making, I was looking for lots and lots of woolly delights. Just when I told Maura wisely, that I was keeping a tight budget and would not engage in spontaneous shopping, but in fact would look at all the stalls before making a decision to purchase, something caught my eye. It was bright and it was woolly! I zoomed towards it like a pin to a magnet.

Fleece!

Dyed fleece!

Dyed in colours of the rainbow!

MINE!!!

Greedily, I claimed possession of this beautiful fleece shaped like a feather boa..., and its neighbour, too. When the lady at the stall of the  Ulster Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers told me that she had more, my eyes were gleeming with fleecy gluttony.

I ended up with a rucksack full of three large dyed fleeces plus one roving, and I felt as if I was carrying half a sheep on my back.

So we went on and looked at many things, and I bought a few bits of stationary and some card making material, had a coffee with Maura's family before they all went home, and met an interesting French lady who told me her a fascinating life story, which had some weird coincidental parallels to my family history.

I went on to look at more stalls, but my feet started to ache. There were also not enough wool stalls for my liking, although I loved to look at all things crafty, sore feet or not.

Still, there comes a time when one wants to go home, put the feet up and admire one's purchases. There was this tenner left in my purse that I should have saved for food or new business cards. But I hadn't bought any yarn at all...! And there was one fleece still left at the Spinners and Dyers...yes, I had not totally cleared them out yet.

Needless to say, that lonely fleece went also home with me, plus another roving. My fibre trunk is now bursting at the seams, and I probably have fibre and fleece for years to come, while I don't even have a wheel, just two Turkish drop spindles and a Mother Marian. Those fleeces are pretty though, like works of art, and I am very tempted to just hang them up in my studio for the time being until they are spun...

They will be spun!

Watch this space for updates on spinning these fleeces!

Yarnbombing

Some beautiful acts of yarnbombing happend to the 'Sheep on the Road' sculpture outside the Waterfront Hall, Belfast this weekend.



Very appropriate, since it was a mucky sort of a weather, and the sheep might have missed their fleece...



No, it wasn't me...I love it though!


However, the act of yarn bombing, yarnbombing, graffiti knitting or yarnstorming isn't that well known in Belfast, and I had to explain it to some punters who were admiring those fashionably-clad sheep and shepherd. Basically, yarnbombing is a a type of graffiti or street art that uses colorful displays of knitted or crocheted items or simply yarn rather than paint or chalk. Yarn installations – called yarn bombs or knit bombs – can last for years, but can also be easily removed. They don't harm, but rather warm the trees, street signs, lamp posts, buses, sculptures and public buildings!
Blame the Texans - that's where yarnbombing apparently started!




This graffiti knitting was part of the street art at the Base Festival in St Anne's Square.