Echoes of a Dream

Clearing Out ....................

Firstly, thank you so much for all your warm wishes and sympathy about my fall in the garden. I really appreciated it and desperately needed some 'poor you's'. As the days went by the bruise came out more and although I have stopped aching all over my cheekbone is still a bit sore. I've never been one of those rush to the doctor sorts and I keep thinking even if something has cracked what can they do about it? I'm tempted to just go and get some bone-set, or symphitum as it's called homepathically and to take that. Oh, well I'll see how I am over the weekend (ought to find out where the local hospital is at any least).

So this week has seen me taking it easy on my pins and I've spent a lot of time reading. Managed to finish Jane Eye which I hadn't read for over twenty years and I started a very interesting biography about the Mitford family. It's called The Mitford Girls by Mary S Lovell. I got it for Amber really as she's been reading Love In A Cold Climate and a few other titles by Nancy Mitford.

By this morning though I was getting a bit restless and a sudden urge overcame me to go into the annexe and sort through my craft stuff with a view to getting rid of some of it. If I felt oppressed by my stuff when I was busy using it you can imagine how I feel now.

So I started off with the plant dyed fibre and dumped bags of it on the floor:

and then I took some cellophane bags, grabbed handfuls of different colours and stuffed 'em in. I now have about twenty bags all weighing around 100g of mostly cotswold fleece (with a bit of BFL thrown in).

I also went through my plant dyed silk squares:

I have some undyed silk squares too. Found a basket of lovely undyed blue faced leicester knitting wool, sock wool and lots of Kool Aid. Some oddments of plant dyed blanket too:

In the next few days I'm going to go through my felted jumpers and fabric. I'll also look out for anything that didn't sell at Christmas and put them up for sale (might do Etsy too if I have the energy).

So look in next week for my massive clearance. Everything must go. I feel liberated just saying the words.

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Tomorrow is Rohan's 12th birthday. Sadly, Amber is away on a school trip but my sister and her children are coming over for the day so that will make it nice and special. On Sunday he's going bowling with three friends and then for a cycle ride (after a sumptuous tea that he's requested).  Presents are bought, waiting to be wrapped tonight. Can't wait to see his face in the morning ...............................

WIP's and abandoned projects

Wow - thank you all for those helpful, and dare I say supportive comments about hoarding supplies. As you can imagine from this comment left by Tom it's a sore point around here:

Go on girls (and you all are, it just might be a factor here) GET RID OF IT ALL. Someone once said to me: "you know I was really happy when I could pack my whole life into a Ford Escort and just go". Just an idea, back from London, wondering how we're ever going to get all this stuff from one side of the country to the other.......

I woke up to that on Friday morning (and enjoyed telling the children that some loon had left a really unhelpful comment to my last post). He assures me that he was just being provocative!

So stuff is a bone of contention. Tom reckons he's a minimalist but he's forgetting that when I first met him in 1989 he still had all his Lloyds Bank chequebook stubbs which he carted around the country. And then there was .......... No, I won't try and score points (for once) but we'll just leave it there shall we dear!

Anyway, I did manage to go through my stuff and on the advice of many of you I chucked out the tatty, never-going-to-use-that-ever stuff and it does look a lot more manageable. It also means that I have less stuff which I'm more likely to use. I think I need to have a few 'use what you have' months in the near future.

It was inevitable that in my clearing up I would find a quite a few WIP's that were carefully hidden away so that I could forget about them. What did I find?

Well, there is a jumper for Raj (in Debbie Bliss Merino) that I will never finish because a) it will now be too small for him and b) he won't wear hand knits anymore:

a hand towel in a gorgeous green but I ran out of the cotton:

a baby's bib (who on earth was I knitting that for?):

boot socks from a few posts back with Briggs and Little 2 ply:

ordinary socks with Regia:

Rohan's jumper with Colinette dk that I bought last August. I've done both sides and am now on sleeve one:

a scarf with some leftover Noro Silk garden:

and finally one side of a bag made with felted jumpers:

Aghhhhhhh - I hate WIP's especially abandoned ones. I just can't seem to capture the enthusiasm of a once desirable project after I leave it for a while. I know that I am never going to finish that purple jersey for Raj or the hand towel unless someone gets me the yarn from America and sends it to me. The boot socks - can I be bothered? The scarf - I wear my lovely green curlicue one all the time so I'm never going to wear this and everyone in our house seems to have at least two/three scarves each. Must, must, must finish the turquoise jersey for Rohan (but when). Ditto the Regia socks and the bag.

Is it just me or do I have the patience of a gnat (is that the phrase?). How come I can abandon so many things half way and go on to other things? I also have a doll's head waiting for a body, a lamb without ears, half finished scotty, a couple of brooches. Flipping heck - wish I could just chuck 'em all out and resolve to not start anything in the future unless I'm really passionate about it and am going to finish it in one go. Maybe that's unrealistic - maybe it's just what we crafters do - have lots of things on the go at one time. (I'm not sure that is actually the case with me and these WIP's. I've certainly abandoned a few those projects above.)

What do you reckon? Have you got lots of hidden away, half-finished projects? Do you feel guilty about them? Are you ever going to finish them and if not why not? And what do you do if you're really not going to go back to something? You can't just chuck things out when you've invested time and money in them?Shame we can't have a 'swap my never-going-to-finish' thing for yours .....................

 

A little Christmas gift for you

I know you're going to say "does she ever stop" when I tell you that we've been making Christmas cards the last few evenings. But I do enjoy crafting guys and I love making cards each year. This year I seem to have more time on my hands because Amber, bless her has already made the Christmas cake:

and a trillion jars of mincemeat too. So that's a huge job out of the way and, bless her even more she spent a sick day off school last week going through various cooking magazines and books and she's planned the menu for the festive season. We have godparents coming up on 16th and she's planned what we'll cook and she's done Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day too. Mind you I am going to put on about two stone with all the things she wants to have.

So food lists and whatnot over we sat and made some cards which I finished off this morning:

as usual I'm using old Christmas stamps:

but I've made the cards more elaborate this year (last year's are here). Amber has actually made some to sell if anyone is interested. I thought I might take them down to one of the shops in town and see if they wanted any.

Looking at the mountain of stamps I seem to have acculmulated I thought it might be nice to share a few so with that in mind I rushed around and put together this:

a jar of mincemeat (with a recipe for mince pies of course); some dried orange slices, a handful of old stamps and a Christmas card. Here's a close up of the card and stamps:

If you'd like this little lot just leave a comment at the end of this post and I'll send it off to you on Monday morning so's you can get it in time to make some pies and cards.

I'm away this weekend visiting parents on Saturday and on Sunday the highlight of our week has to be a trip to the theatre to see The Nutcracker Ballet. I've been waiting until the children were old enough for this and finally it's come. I am so excited and we're going to make a day of it in Brum because there's a German Market in the City that weekend. Ooh I hope they have lots of Lebkuchen there.

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PS Email me if you're interested in buying Amber's cards. They are basically like mine and are £1.50 or $3 each plus p&p. I'll can send you some pics of the different sorts. Here are a couple though:

Excuse the bad pics in this post today but - guess what - it's bucketing outside and nice and dark inside. If it weren't Christmastime I'd be mighty depressed about the weather ....................

Anyone for a few swaps?

We're off to my parents for the weekend as my Dad will be 88 on Saturday and you know how I feel about leaving my house tidy before I go anywhere (see six weird things about me). So in between tidying up the kitchen, baking a birthday cake to take with me I'm writing this post! Mad or what? The cake has been in the oven for 35 minutes and the inside is still uncooked and I couldn't find one skewer in the house. I know what sort of day this is going to be.

As you can see the table is full of last night's stuff with a bit of this morning's thrown in like the milk bottles. The boys have been making a snail school with plasticine:

That's the teacher on the left and a pupil on the right with his lunch - a ham sandwich and a banana.

Amber and I have started new projects. I received a copy of Interweave Knits in the post from Harriet and Amber fell in love with the beret. She decided to go for the wool leftover from Raj's green jersey and I started her off last night. I've never knit a pattern like this before so I hope I'm doing it right:

The blooming markers keep falling off the needles though. I've had to use blue wool as I don't have eight markers and anyway when I put one on the needle it too slid off even more easily than the wool.

Me, I've started some socks for myself - I think you can see the ball of Opal wool in the top pic just below the milk bottles. Having mucked up Rohan's jumper which is now Raj's I did want to knit my big boy something but he has assured me that he's happy with his fleece - "I'm not a knitted jumper type of boy anymore Mum - sorry". That's fine aslong as I know you don't feel left out I said. I'll just keep knitting for Raj until he becomes the same type of boy!

Before I go I want to just ask if anyone wants to do a swap or a few swaps with me? I had a clear out last month and have four books and some wool I'd like to pass on - they're a bit too nice to go to the charity shop. Here are pics of the things I have to swap. The first is a 400g of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran dyelot 987. I've taken two pics to show you the colour:

It's not as bright as the one on the right. It's a sort of old gold colour, a warm yellow - heck I'm not good at describing colours, sorry. Anyway, the books are:

 

This last one is described here on Amazon but it's the 1949 edition.

The books are all used ofcourse but the wool is brand new. Not sure how to do this. Do I bunch it all together or do it seperately? Perhaps you could tell me which item you want? On my part I would like any of the following: Martha Stewart mag, Interweave Knits, Spin Off, Peaches and Creme dishcloth cotton, some balsam fir from Maine for filling hearts etc, cotton velour for dollies, old patterned (woollen) cardigan/jumper that I can felt to make some more of these, some brown or grey wool in dk or aran to knit some more of these, old cotton and lace napkins to make some more of these, a skein of undyed sock wool, or even odd bits of retro fabric.

I hope that's not being too specific!!!  I just thought if anyone has any of the above lurking in their cupboards we could swap - my cast-offs for yours. However, if you have something you think I might use please say won't you.

So come on then  - let's clear our clutter or rather let's replace it with each other's!

Hope you have a great weekend and please don't eat as much as I will tomorrow.

How to make a simple angel

Well, I managed to keep myself going all weekend and then on Monday night it all caught up with me and I went to bed at 9pm. I don't know how I kept my eyes open until then actually. So after a few early nights and mornings when I haven't had the need to finish things off I feel great - really refreshed. Time and space to get on with our christmas now and I need to get on with making my christmas cards. I haven't put much thought into that one this year so I'm going to redo a theme I did two years ago - I'm sure no-one will notice.

Aside from tidying up my workroom after all that activity I've listed my things on etsy (and sold some already) and I just wanted to tell you that Ruby and Lucy are looking for a new home too. I sold a lot of things at the fair but big dolls was not what the folks around here wanted this year. So if you're interested click on the Etsy link on the left - they will make someone a lovely present.

Last night was our making evening and Amber started knitting something with cables in it - I can't say what incase certain people read this, Raj made his christmas cards and Rohan was patiently working away at his dishcloth - I wonder who that's for?  All done with a bit of arguing about whose turn it was to chose the next christmas song - that is until I lost it with them all and then we had a nice, calm evening.

Each christmas I make another host of heavenly angels but these are much simpler than the sewn ones. If you'd like to try them you will need some roving  (I use merino or merino/silk) and some gold thread. If you're in the UK you might try Moral Fibre for some - she's also got some kid mohair which might be nice.

So take a piece of roving about 16 ins long and pull it apart longways so you have two 16ins long bits and tie a knot in the middle of one. The other piece is for the arms and wings:

Double the knotted one on itself and tie off the head. Leave a good long piece of thread dangling:

Take the other piece of roving and pull apart in the middle so that you have two 8ins peices. Put one aside for the wings. Take the other 8ins piece and pull apart longways so you have two 8ins pieces - are you still with me? Take one of these and twist it in the middle and then double it over and hold tight and tie off a hand:

The twist is captured in the hand. Now take the main body part and place it head down on the table and lift up the back and place the arms in the middle like so: (a stone is holding down the top part).

The arm pieces are quite long so I place then in an upside down L shape - my finger is holding down half of the arm otherwise it would stick out in front of the other arm -so you want it to become part of the skirt. Do the same with the other arm and then take the wing piece and place that on top of the arms.

Excuse my wrinkly hands - I never knew they looked like that! Anyway, put the other half of the body over the wings and arms (the bit that is sticking up on the top of the pic) and turn the whole thing around and hold it tight under the arms and wings:

Now take that piece of dangling gold thread and go back and forth over and around the angel, crossing over the chest and back and under the arms to secure it all. Then come back to the neck and tie it to the other end of the gold thread that tied off the neck. Thread a needle with it and take it through the top of the head. Fluff out the wings and the skirt and voila:

You can make them in any colour you like (I prefer them white actually) and I think they look lovely hanging off a branch over the table, the nativity, over someones bed even. They make a nice gift too. As usual if I haven't explained it very well do email me.

Next time I'll show you how to make these stars which look really in the window - ours have been up all year). So get yourself some kite paper ready.

Do my windows need cleaning or what?

How to make a fairy figure

Rowan from CircleoftheYear emailed me at the weekend to apologise for not being in touch. She said there just weren't enough hours in the day to blog, read other people's blogs and to get everything else done too. That's just the way my life is at the moment. As you know I have the school fair this weekend and I'm busy trying to make things to fill up my table. On top of that I'm spending a lot of time dyeing more fibre, carding it, bagging it up AND listing it which seems to take ages. Ofcourse, my main priority is the family and the rest of the stuff fits in around my daily chores. Maybe that's why I'm so knackered at the moment. I seem to spend portions of the day dreaming about what I should be doing and drifting. Maybe I just have too much on...........roll on Saturday night I say!

It's funny the fair has been a bit of a labour of love this year and I didn't even manage the get the Mums together for a making morning. Maybe I should have had a break especially as I'm preferring the dyeing at the moment. Anyway, I didn't and don't mean to spend my time moaning here. I wanted to say Hi and show you a few things.

I wasn't going to mention Christmas until advent but I bought this lovely book at the weekend. It's choc full of lovely things. Here is a pic of the back and the contents page (click on the images for a better look):

There is masses to do isn't there and all so tasteful and steiner-y as the children would say.

Some people have asked me for ideas for the plant dyed wool I'm selling and apart from using it for wet or needlefelting I've made a few of these fairy-like figures that a German friend showed me how to make:

So if you fancy making a few here's how to - I may double up the pics as there are so many steps:

You will need: some coloured wool for the overdress and hair, white merino for main body, any old sheeps wool for the head, a pipe cleaner and some thread and a needlefelting needle.

First off roll a little ball with plain old sheeps wool and then take a length of white merino about 40 cms long.  Take some thread and tie up the middle of this white strip:

Then place the ball on top of the tied bit and encase it with the white strip. Take some thread and tie off the head:

Take a pipe cleaner about 16 cms long and wrap some very thin slivers of the white merino around it. Start off with thin pieces as the arms will get too fat otherwise. Slightly bend in the ends of the pipe cleaner to make hands and then wrap a bit more fibre over them like so:

Lift the fairy's top half up and put in this arm piece and then bind around the chest to secure the arms:

Now take a bit of the plant dyed wool and wrap a little sliver around the arms leaving the hands white. Take the rest of the coloured wool and spread it in a layer and make hole in the middle and place over the head of the fairy like so and tie some more coloured wool under her chest:

At this point it looks awful and you're probably wondering if it's worth the effort! Persevere and put the fairy on a piece of sponge and needlefelt her overdress together and the bit on her chest and the arms whilst you're at it. You don't have to needle too much - it'll come together quite quickly:

After that needle in a bit of hair (I used some of the plant dyed curls). Again you don't have to needle too much as these are not playthings. Tie something gold around her head and hang her up. Then make some more with the other colours.

You can make these with merino which is commercially dyed and they look like this but I think they look more fairy like, more ethereal with this wool.

I gotta go now. Amber has cooked supper thank goodness and I'm starving.  I'll leave you with a few (more) pics of some stuff I've made for Saturday. A fairy ring (times 4):

and I've finished the angels. I now have a host of heavenly angels hanging over the autumn table. This is one of them:

I think I might put a couple on etsy tomorrow (until Friday) if anyone is interested. They're made from vintage cotton and lace, waldorf heads and they have curly hair. We have one that hangs over the nativity at christmas and Amber has one over her bed too. They're family heirlooms already. Gotta go...............

Wednesday: Managed to take a pic this morning of all the angels hanging from the branch. It's not a great pic as they kept twirling. I'm listing them on etsy this evening if you want one - but hurry though.

Dyes and books..............

Well, the good news is that I did find a cotswold fleece - can you believe it? I suppose after all that phoning around I deserved one and funnily enough it was local too. So it's been back to washing fleece, boiling up pans of dye, drying things on the Aga as you can see. So much so that I don't think we should eat tonight because I have to get this stuff dry in order to send it off tomorrow.  I love the colours up there - the pink, the purple and that orangey red. I had a great experiment with turmeric yesterday - look here:

I boiled both lots of fleece in pomegranate and turmeric and then I put some of the dye in the right hand pot and added IRON. It went very dark. I popped in some of the bright yellow which went instantly olive-y green. WOW. The colour has darkened upon drying but still - a green without overdyeing yellow and blue.

I must take this oppo to thank all of you who came up with some great names for my little dyeing business. You're all amazing. There were some great suggestions like Wild and Woolly which I loved (but is taken by a wool shop),  Dream Dyes, From Wool to Wonderful, A Sheep of Many Colours, Dyed in the Wool (also taken), Nature's Fibres. Tom thinks I ought to have a name that I can use for a website too - hence trying to find something that isn't taken. Amber (inspired by Wild and Woolly) came up with Wild About Wool. Tom on the otherhand thinks we ought to cash in on the fact that we live in the Cotswolds so he suggests something like Cotswold Natural Fibres - me I've far too many deadlines in my head to think of anything. So ladies what do you think - any more ideas? A bag of plant dyed wool for the best name...........

Talking of deadlines there are just two weeks to our chistmas fair and I'm beginning to panic. Most of my spare time this week has been taken up with dyeing and bagging up fibres and going to the post office. I still haven't finished the angels and I was planning on making another felted jumpers bag like this one and a couple of these fairy rings - what to do? I suppose I have to be single minded for two weeks and tell myself each day that I have to acheive such and such. Hmmm.....Oh just remembered that I did make a book though on Thursday with a friend. Here it is:

and this is the inside cover:

Cor - I was dead pleased with it. I've always wanted to make a little book. I would love to show you how to make one too but I didn't take any photographs. So what I'll do is make another one next Thursday with said friend and take some pics and guide you through it. It's so simple - all you need is some fabric, bondaweb, sugar paper for the inside, mount board for the cover and some thread. I reckon they'd make nice presents especially as a photo album. Ofcourse, what I want to do next is make a book from this tutorial.........

Well, I have to love you and leave you. It's lancashire hotpot today and I think Tom may want me to move some of the fibre so he can cook some vegetables. Also poor old Amber has the flu, she's been ill since Thursday night and is calling for a hot lemon and honey. Must just tell you that she entered a short story competition run by a (very) local radio station and she won first prize. It was a rodent's view of a particular town. Her story was about a mouse in the supermarket and it was very good. Anyway, she was supposed to go and read it out on the radio yesterday afternoon but she just couldn't go. She felt too dizzy and weak. Poor thing she was very sad about it. She was also asked to take along a copy of her favourite song - well,  if you click here you can hear it. Must, must go I can hear muttering in the kitchen.............(tell me if the link doesn't work as I tried the link we had before and it's been removed from youtube it says for violtaing some term or other).

Sunday morning...........

Eeek - I've done it. The fleece is on etsy. I spent a bit of time yesterday seeing what else was listed and what sort of prices people charged. I couldn't find any plant dyed fleece and no cotswold and prices ranged from $12 for 2oz and some lower. So I decided to pitch my wool at $10 for the packet and guess what? I've had my first sale. It was Lucia. I love her.

Did I tell you what a good felting fleece cotswold is? I found this info on google: "Much quicker to felt than the other lustrous longwools. The finished felt is full of movement and texture created by the long curly staple and the surface has a slight sheen. Although this is an exceptionally soft fleece it will harden to a fairly firm felt. It is a creamy white shade – much richer than most white fleece". I'm wondering if I should make if I should make up a few kits to include some felting needles, some foam and the fibre. However, I don't have any instructions for anything and I think that would help too. Do you think a kit without instructions is OK?

Look what I made yesterday:

They're bunnies made with my dyed blanket and filled with a sachet of lavender. I found the free pattern here and thought it would be a lovely thing for the children to have in bed to help them sleep. The lady with the pattern used a plain fabric I think because hers was a wheat bag but as you know I need to use up my blanket. I used fabric for the middles so that the smell of lavender would come through. Oh, and the lavender is contained in a sachet/bag that I made using the same fabric as the middles. The bunnies are filled with sheep's fleece otherwise. If you want to know what the colours are: brazilwood on the left, then logwood, indigo and cochineal.

It's Sunday morning but I have to dash because I'm taking Amber to the hairdressers. She's decided that she's fed up with long hair and wants a change. I think it's just going to be shorter with some layers that's all. The hairdresser won't let her cut it off I'm sure.

11.25am. I'm back. Stupidly I waited with her rather than coming back home and we were there for what seemed like all morning. Still the haircut is lovely but she looks like she's sixteen not just thirteen. Here are before and after pics from the back - she had it straightened too.

A feast of colours

My Thursday afternoon get-togther with two crafting friends is becoming quite regular. It started off as a time for us to try some different dyes but now that I've run out of things to dye we thought we'd carry on and actually do something with all the dyed fibre.

First off though I had been intructed by one of them to get most of the fleece carded which I obediently did. So then all we had to do yesterday was make up little rolls of some of the colours and package them. The colours looked so scrummy together that I had to get out and do a quick photoshoot to catch them at their best. I also wanted to get a pic to make up some proper labels. Then we packed them into cellophane bags and later in the evening I made two quick labels to go on the front and the back.

I'm hoping to make a label with all the colours on and with writing over the top - maybe something like 'fibre to dye for' - does that sound a bit corny? Anyway, I was dead chuffed seeing all those bags lined up and now all I have to do is sell the stuff. I'm going to try etsy, eBay and a waldorf type shop nearby. The only trouble with selling through a shop being how much they want to sell your stuff for and how much they'll give you. I was thinking of about £4 or £5 if I sell direct (the bag weighs 2oz/50g). I'll do some research first to see what else is about. Do you think I'm pitching it about right? I think nicer labels on the front might help with the presentation.

The friend that came yesterday is really good at felted pictures and I was telling her how I had bought a couple of notebooks in a sale and Amber was planning to cover them with blanket and either embroider the cover or needlefelt something. So what does she do - takes a piece of blanket and some fleece and minutes later produces this picture on the left. It's so lovely and infact too nice to adorn the front of a book. So when she finishes it I might put it on my wall.

I am so crap at this sort of thing. I just don't have the imagination or colour sense and my confidence wasn't helped by the fact that Raj decided to make a picture later in the evening having watched my friend closely. Here's his effort on the right. I passed him the colours as he couldn't pull off the fleece finely enough but the rest he did. I'm going to have to have a go this weekend even if it's only to use up some darned blanket.

By the way the notebooks are for Christmas presents. I'm telling the children that they have to make presents this year using my dyed blanket. Ofcourse, I'm not really but it would be good if we could use them up. I thought it might be an idea if the children felted some more of these pictures and we put little calendars on the bottom. That's a few gifts for teachers then and possibly aunties and godparents.

On the subject of blankets I made a little rosehip candle-ring/holder out of green blanket. The pattern came in the package that jademond sent a few weeks ago. I made the first head too big so the whole thing took longer than it ought to have:

I couldn't find anything small to put the nightlight in and in my hunt I found a red diva (remember Divali) so I covered the nightlight with green blanket and popped it in. I'm so pleased with it all as it was a bit fiddly.

So now it's Friday. The days are suddenly very cold but bright. I much prefer it that way to the dull, grey and cold days we usually have. The blue sky just lifts the spirits. I must must make christmas cake this weekend - oh and I must let myself go and try my hand at a felt picture. There's a how to here on flickr if your'e interested in having a go. I'll provide the fibre.

Half term busyness

I remembered last night that today was Halloween so we hastily carved our pumpkin and put a night light in it and I hung up this cutout this morning. I think as far as celebrating halloween goes that may be it. I'm not sure but I don't think Halloween is such a big thing over here is it? But then I live in sticksville and I don't know what the townies get up to. How do you celebrate Halloween? It never was a big thing when I was a child because Bonfire night was the biggie. However, I get the impression that most children these days go trick-or-treating which I HATE. I remember opening the door to some people years ago in a big town I lived in and their masks were so scarey. Poor Amber who had come to the door with me was terrified and I never opened my door again. Sorry I can be a bit of a party pooper.

Anyway, I opened my copy of 'Festivals, Family and Food' ( great book by the way) and learned this "Corresponding to the Celtic feast of Beltaine or May day which ushered in the heat and vegetation of summer was the Eve of Samhain which marked November 1st as the first day of winter's cold and barrenness. The transition period from autumn to winter was thought in ancient times to include the return of the souls of the departed to mischief, witchcraft, magic and hobgoblins of very sort.... Interesting stuff. Maybe we'll do some applebobbing and have some pumpkin soup.

As you know it was half term last week and Tom took the week off too. I think after so much time in London he needed a break. Not that he got to rest much as he was in full demand to make up a football game kit that I had bought for Rohan. Now this chap had wanted subbuteo and I wasn't too sure about it. Luckily I found a kit to make up a subbeteo type game in the Opitec catalogue and when poor Tom read the instructions he started to sweat. However, after a whole day in the shed plus some more look what they produced. Rohan has since spent hours making up the advertising on the sides. Incase you're wondering the ball is a marble and the players are those white and red things with sticks poking out of their heads. To kick the marble you pull back a stick and the (red/white) ball which is on a rubber band kicks the football.

Apparently, it's much better than subbeteo according to Dad and the boys know no better and love it.

Saturday was my day in the shed because I realised that I could put off no longer the sorting out of the dyed fleece and fibre. So I bagged everything into different colours/dyes and I got to on my my friend's drum carder. Thank goodness I have that to work on. I've decided that I'm going to bag up a range of colours and sell them. However, I'm not too sure to try them on etsy or just wait until our christmas fair. Maybe when I discover that I have 50 bags of fibre I'll be more proactive in selling it! By the way some of it is cotswold and some of it is blue faced leicester and it's good for felting. So if you fancy a bag let me know? Actually what you could help me with is which tags to use on etsy like plant dyed, roving etc. What would you type in to get fibre to felt with?

Other than that I got Ruby and Lucy ready for selling. I made a jacket for Ruby and a bag with knitting in for Lucy:

and then I made a pumpkin child to go on the seasonal table. Our last one had been nibbled by a mouse and in a very timely way I received a pattern from Ramona in our swap last week and turkeyfeathers posted up this pattern which she made up with some dyed blanket I'd sent her. So there was no excuse. Here's the little chap - (again I've made a small waldorf head).

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a pic of some curtains that I found in the charity shop (not a cheappie bargain they were £3, but still):

Vintage Magic Roundabout would you believe. I nabbed them pretty quickly. However, I'm not totally sure what to make with them. I did think about using them as curtains but they need lining and making up and after my last bout of making curtains for the WHOLE house I CANNOT make another curtain. The fabric is cotton, thickish and you can see the weave. So come on you creative types any ideas you can give me?  I'm very happy to give some of the fabric away too if you fancy a piece?