Frisian Frillies

While eating lunch, consisting of toast with stinky cheese and with the doors to the living room closed (let's just say the kids are less enamoured with livarot cheese than I am), time for an update on the hap! Yes, it's been done for a while and yes, I've been wearing it as well, but something with life taking over and bla bla. Two weeks ago, we had a glorious Saturday - the first one of the year, basically - and we decided to go and do a good garden Spring clean. And while we were at it, I got out the bamboo sticks and built a frame for my hap. The frame building was the easy bit... I then had to string up all the points of the hap. And then I saw the frame could have been a bit bigger. Ach well, next time I want it blocked a bit bigger and tighter, I'll just have to use long-sized bamboo sticks only, as I was a bit limited to the length of the shorter ones this time.   But it did the job! I rested it against the clothes line, where it would not be in the ...

I was SHOCKED when I saw the date of my last post. Really??? Three-and-a-half years??? Not that I haven't done any crafting, as I've knit, crocheted, spun and sewed lots, but when you combine a move to a cool house with a huge garden, a family, a busy business - something falls by the wayside... But it is such a shame not to have a place to put my stuff on show, apart from my Ravelry project pages! The desire to restart the blog was ignited by a short message on Facebook, inviting people to join a #sohapalong. A what? Yup, my reaction exactly! And then I realised that I actually bought a book on Haps when I was on Shetland, had always planned to spin and knit one, but never got around to it. And as I had no projects on the needles (...), I decided to run up the stairs to my stash attic and dive in. Yup, enough brown to use as a base colour, and I decided to go for purples as a contrast... That would work! The brown was probably a Frisian milk sheep, or something else. N...

To get some sewing done! First, there was the idea to make an advent calendar, with 24 little felt mittens. I started a week before advent, giving myself plenty of time until Xmas eve for the last one. It started out according to plan, but, like all the best-laid plans, this went horribly wrong. It was just way, way, way too addictive!!! Honestly, as soon as I had a pair done, I was cutting a new pair, and just ate, drank and slept colour-coordinated mittens. Sad really. But FUN! So, numbers 1 and 2 were quickly followed by numbers 3 and 4. And before I knew it... I was a third done. Wait. Hang on. Three more nights before December 1st? I can do this!!! All done!!! And now it's December 7 and the first 7 are up. Enjoying this immensely!!! Actually, I enjoyed that small-scale stuff so much, I got out the scraps from Jamieson's of Shetland and the sewing machine... and then this happened... Step 1... Try and fit your shell pieces onto scra...

And then the week was nearly over... We'd made lots of trips, saw beautiful knitting, and only had 1 more full day for more experiences and activities. For Monique, this meant a trip to Eshaness , for me, it meant a bus trip down to Sandwick. Taking bus trips abroad, is always scary in the beginning, but once you're on the bus, and you realize that everyone else (well, the two other persons apart from the two that are obviously going to the airport) is heading the same way, it's fine! We were going to Sandwick for a carding workshop, given by the endlessly enthusiastic and energic, very talented and creative Niela: and pattern, knitting, dyeing, spinning and carding diva Liz: Some of the participants had spent the previous days up to their elbows in dye, but for those who hadn't, there was plenty of fiber deliciousness for use. Well, not the stuff in the foreground (that was Niela's (core)spun and carded stuff), but the masses and masses in the backgro...