Kochkor tea cosy

I made a tea cosy for a friend on the Silk Road trip. I was supposed to finish it and give it to him on the trip, but ran out of time. So here it is, finished today (unless I decide to put leaves on it, but it barely looks like the daffodil pattern so I wonder if there is any point).

 I started this birch in Kyrgyzstan, right after I finished the blue Lacey Baktus. But from there on there was a lot of desert and hot and prickly and I put it away and barely looked at it until we got to the relative cool of Turkey.

Here I took it balloon riding in Cappadocia.























 Here we are in the Aya Sofia in Istanbul.

 And outside the Blue Mosque.

I finished it on the train from Istanbul to Bucharest, which is a shame, because I wanted to give it to a friend on the trip.

Not to worry, I shall carry it around until I find it a home.

Lacy Baktus

It has been so hot that my knitting has slowed considerably. But I finished a lacy baktus and it is modelled here by its recipient. The order of photos is: 1. Looking at the baktus. 2. Demonstrating the manly way to wear the lacy baktus. 3 & 4. Demonstrating the 'high street' way of wearing it.

Traditional life in Kochkor in Kyrgyzstan.

We saw traditional felt making in Kyrgyzstan and I added it to the other blog.

Some crafty things in Kyrgyzstan

We went to the felt museum in Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan. These are some of the things I didn't buy. If they'd taken credit cards, I'd may have been seriously impulsive.

I am still mainly blogging over here, but I have another post of crafty stuff coming up.

Spinning wheel hiatus

Remember that fleece? I spun three bobbins worth and then plyed them on a spindle.

I ended up with 160g of delicious squooshy grey yarn in a fat skein I didn't take a picture of. But all that is on hold now. I have started travelling and couldn't take the wheel with me.

I did take my drop spindles, though, and I am hoping that, when I get to Uzbekistan, I am going to find lots of women to teach me more about spindle spinning.

I am travelling overland from Singapore to Scotland and have four spindles, 450 grams of assorted unspun fibre (including 200g of Wendy Dennis polwarth/silk and 50g of some cashmere silk I picked up at the 2009 Sock Summit), two skeins of sock yarn, three balls of kidsilk haze and a ball of cashmere that I nearly finished knitting on the plane. I will be mainly updating somewhere else. If you are interested the blog is over here.

Good Fridays in Port Fairy

Rain rain

This morning I left the apartment in pouring rain, arriving at work drenched to my knees.

















Tonight I went to see Sir Terry Pratchett OBE and it was marvellous

Then I went up to someone to ask if that was an Ishbel she was wearing and had she made it herself. She had, out of some Tosh Sock. She, in turn, complemented me on my Lacy Baktus and Rose Red.

Gosh, I love cold weather.

I'm so happy that someone built this

Nobody tell my mother, k?

Corriedale fleece for handspinning. Wilanjie Coloured Sheep. I am spinning straight from the bag, haven't even washed it. (And it turns out I remember a lot from when I was a little girl living on a farm with coloured sheep - I put down a drop cloth under the wheel before I started to catch all the stuff that falls out and I am finding it much easier to spin the raw fleece than carefully prepared roving).

I can't tell you how much fun I'm having

 I was getting up earlier anyway because of the change from daylight savings, so I decided to use that extra hour a day changing this:

















 To this:

















Then this:

Trying new things (also known as, slavishly copying the Harlot)

In which I saw a squirril and rescued a just-hatched butterfly from being trodden on

What I did on the weekend.

Meet my new wheel, Doris Rolland

A few months ago, a friend was at the Woodend tip and saw a spinning wheel. She bought it from the nice tip men and gave it to me for my birthday.


















I took it to the new home of the hand weavers and spinners guild yesterday morning (655 Nicholson Street [just as well I won't be in Melbourne much longer]) and it turns out that there was nothing wrong with it that a screw driver, a new drive band, two springs, some fishing line, candle wax, some sand paper, some machine oil and two hours of elbow grease wouldn't fix.

I had a lovely time restoring it [part way] to its former glory (I couldn't find any furniture polish - they didn't have any in the supermarkets I went to. I figure I will wait until I get home. Mum is bound to have stuff like that about somewhere).

And then a perfectly splendid time spinning. It is So Much Faster than the drop spindle (though I spin a much more consistent thread on the spindle at the moment, and Doris will not fit in my pack to go to Uzbekistan).

Green Spindle

The next lot of yarn I am spinning on the spindle is from fibre I bought many many years ago.

















 I want to be able to add to this thread on ravelry, so I am taking pictures as I go.

It is taking a Very Long Time. But I got my spinning wheel fixed this morning, so as soon as I have finished getting the rust off/out and fix the drive band and the bit that goes over the spool, I'll see how that goes.

Spindle

I've kind of stopped knitting so much

I've been spinning instead. I am hoping to use the spindle as communication device in Uzbekistan.

I have discovered a great thread on ravelry that has made me resolve to take before, during and after pictures of my spinning and knitting. This started out as some 70/30 merino/silk blend from Marta's yarns and ended as a cowl for mum.

Afternoons in Port Fairy

Learning

Having learned what happens when you cook squash in the microwave, I now find myself wondering what happens when you put an egg in the freezer.

Disturbing

I always regard Easter eggs on the second of January with disbelief. I try to continue to not believe in them until the day before Good Friday because I have a terrible weakness for Red Tulip Elegant Rabbits and the best way to avoid buying them is to pretend that they are not there.

I felt safe acknowledging the existence of these:

Girl

Olive and Harry

 Having made one for my great aunt, I promptly followed it up with one for her friend Peg.

 My great aunt named them Harry (orange) and Olive (white) after her parents (my great grand parents).
 

I have Harry's nose, in case you were wondering.

Lamp - jibs

Commonwealth Sheepdog Trials

I missed the famous performing ducks in Monday's parade, but I'm hoping to see some good sheep herding tomorrow.

Old Life

I have moved out of my flat. Moved most of my stuff into storage. Partly moved home and partly moved into a friend's flat. Started a new job.

I am not sure how much of my current contentment is due to not going back to a job I found trying, or because of having fun things to plan, but I am enjoying it a big lot.

Daffodils for aunty.