Frisian Frillies

Only a little while to go before the Tour de Fleece starts! I know we first have lots of football to endure, but still, you can't look forward to fun things enough. It was great success last year, I spun up quite a few miles of yarn, and to make sure I don't suffer nasty injuries - such as spinner's knee, which shouldn't be too much of a problem now I've got a two-peddle spinning wheel - I've started practicising hard and heavy... First, I spun up 300 grams of this yummy goodness, merino with tencel, plied with lock yarn. It's called Damiane... It is soooo unbelievably soft... I have around 800 m of this, and I'm looking for a project to make. But first: a swatch, to see what my gauge is... Thank you very much, my yarn enabler, Dutch Wool Diva ! More yarn goodness... The roving by Pass-Partout (merino/silk) has also been spun up, as Pinky Jeans. With n-ply, it turned out at 430 m. Also looking for a project, probably a cuddly toy... And s...

Honestly, forced I was! There was no free will involved here at all. No bidding by myself on Marktplaats on a small-ish (table) loom, no jealous looks whenever I was over at Giny's place for spinning group, who has a beautiful loom in her living room... Really, I couldn't help buying it... A 4-shaft, 70 cm loom, to try and see if weaving is for me... After watching a YouTube video on warps and wefts (once) and putting my thumb up in the air to calculate where to pull the threads through the heddle, I got weaving... As just starting wasn't difficult enough, I decided on doing herringbone instead of linen stitch. Using a cheap sock yarn (losing quite a few on the sides on the way, as they just rubbed and rubbed and then broke), with my lovely Borealis handspun yarn. A small scarf, or something to wrap around my hair. Looking good... And because it's a 30% silk blend, the shimmer is soooo nice! But look, looms are worse than rabbits... Blink and...

Last weekend, we enjoyed a few days away, and because I (almost) always get my way, I got to choose the destination. We went to Avifauna (birds) on the first day and the second day was totally dedicated to Archeon. In this park, they have sections dedicated to the Prehistoric period, Roman times and the Middle Ages. For me, the Prehistoric was just one big salivating trip. Yes, they didn't have electricity, yes, the houses were tiny, they slept with their animals ánd the smoke would suffocate anyone sitting next to the fire, but look at this for a place to spin, weave and craft! You can see the loom on the left and baskets with wool scattered about, with spindles inside. There was nobody to demonstrate at the time, and I just sat there and breathed in the atmosphere. They had a fashion show, showing what amazing clothes they could make even before we invented sewing machines and carding drums. Here you can see fashion in chronological order (from right to left): seal and bea...

Do you remember that media silence, the months of very little activity here on the blog, because I was working 'on something big'? Well, the boycot has been lifted by the arrival of a little boy: Bram. I think you can see that I'm actually rather proud of this wee fella. My sis did very well! A superspeedy delivery of a supercute boy. As is quite normal here, we as relatives make up new-born boxes, with gifts for mother and baby for the first ten days. I wanted to include a few home knits, so the hunt for cool things to make was on. I wanted to make a toy, an outfit and a blanket. The first two were fairly straight-forward, but the last one required a bit more thoughtwork, and time. It all started with a post in our my Ravelry-threads early February, where someone mentioned she had started 'this blanket with Escheresque fish'. I was immediately intrigued, and without even looking at what it would entail, bought the pattern . Boy, was I in for some hard wor...