I'm back

Well, I've not really been gone, just haven't had the time to blog for a while. The rest of Bible Week (when I last posted) went really well. We all had a great week and were exhausted when we came back.

Last Saturday was my birthday and I had a fantastic present from my Crafty Threads swappee, Donna. Here's a pic:

It was my only present that I knew would be knitting related and I love it all. Also had two small stick of rock in it which the girls grabbed. Other presents included money and gift vouchers, bracelet from Em and two tapes from church from Ness and Simon got me the Boye Needlemaster set which I've ordered from the Woolly Workshop but it hasn't arrived yet, only ordered it a couple of days ago. Some of my money I spent on a new mobile phone. It's really cool.

The rest of my birthday money was spent today at Fibre Fest. This is the first year for FibreFest. The FibreFest marquee was very good although I had expected more stalls. The outside bits which were part of the Bridwell Country Fair were a bit rubbish really. Apparently they had to cancel the livestock exhibits because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak a few weeks ago. We did go on a tour of Cold Harbour Mill though which was excellent. It was very interesting to see how the yarn used to be spun and all the various processes it goes through. The mill still spins yarn which they sell in their gift shop. I was very tempted by some of the merino yarn but stuck to getting two bags of dyed merino tops,

I also got some merino silk from Fybrespates today

some pale pink silk dk from Knitting 4 Fun (Forgot to save the pic after editing it and then delted all the pics on the camera so a pic another day).

Some gorgeous alpaca/bfl from Brightdyes and another pack of Yarnimals. arent' they cute? I already ahve some pigs, sheep, ducks and horses and some sheep earrings. They're sold on Etsy and at the Woolly Workshop and were recently mentioned in Simply Knitting.

I also got to meet Chrissy of Bright Dyes, The Woolly Warbler Tracy and Kathryn from Knitting Haven. They're all very nice people and it was really nice to meet them. Kathryn and I had a look around the stalls together and it was nice to have another knitter to look at yarn with. Simon looked around with me when we first arrived but he wasn't that keen. He liked the looms and spinning wheels though. I think he fancied getting a loom.

I also chatted to Clare Crompton who is the author of the Knitting Bible (which is a brill book btw) and also teaches workshops at Spin A Yarn in Devon. I've done 3 workshops with Clare and she's a brilliant teacher. Talking of Spin Yarn, they had a stall there too which was manned by a lady who lives in Cornwall and it was lovel ychatting to her too. She told me about a local spinning group in the town where we live so my next thing is to track them down.

Which nicely leads me on to a parcel which arrived today. Luckily the post lady was kind enough to put it in my recycling bin and it was my Drop Spindle from Cazzie. We did a swap, she had some merino lace from me and I had a drop spindle and some tops from her. I ripped it open and had a go and well, lets just say that I don't think you can call the result yarn. My 2nd go, as seen in the pic, is looking slightly better but still quite thick. I'd like to eventually spin the merino tops I got today into sock yarn but think I will practice on other stuff first. Simon has plans for me spinning my own yarn, dyeing it and selling it. Perhaps in 10 years time. I'd like to get in touch with hte spinning group thoug has they may be willing to teach me how to spin on a proper wheel.

The pics today are a bit rubbish. Our camera takes really bad pics in poor light and it was already getting dark by the time I took the pics.