Just a little bit addicted......

To spinning at the moment! Yes you did read that correctly! It would seem that finally me and Mabel are making friends...

If you remember, Mabel was a fabulous Christmas gift from a lovely lovely friend. She's a refurbished Louet S10....and clearly has a lot of history!

Now I'm being perfectly honest here....Mabel and I have fallen out of love of numerous occasions since Christmas. Lots and lots of REALLY bad words have been uttered in sheer frustration. I think it's fair to say I'm not a natural when it comes to this spinning malarkey! For a kick off....I have no co-ordination whatsoever!!! I still struggle to catch a ball. Seriously. 

But....I was totally determined to master spinning. 

I started with some very coarse and scratchy mountain sheep fibres. Easy to control so I could concentrate on drafting and treadling at the same time. Not so worried about the finished result at this stage. Getting the co-ordination going and controlling the wheel was my main goal.

This is my first go at plying yarn. Not exactly the most consistent of specimens....but hey! I made it!!! Plenty time to work on technique and finish later.

Next came some merino. Wow! This isn't so easy to spin. There were plenty bad words uttered and I admit to a couple of MAJOR tantrums. Its pretty thick and thin but definitely getting better.

*almost* useable!!! Maybe I'm finally getting hang of it????

Erm.....maybe not! More merino, but this time squished into a tantrum fuelled ball. Damn you merino and Mabel!!!!

And breathe....deep breaths....and a glass of wine ;-)

Step away from the spinning wheel and leave it for a bit....

Another go....with some beautifully blended fibres sent in the post from a lovely lovely friend :-)

What's this??? Is that a bobbin full of tantrum free singles I see?

Yup...me and Mabel are finally bonding. I'm actually relaxing when I spin rather than being a mass of tension and hand cramps. 

Check this out!!! Still a little thick and thin but much much better.

Sooooooo while waiting for more fibres in the post, I was doing a little blog hopping and stumbled across this blog. What's this??? A spin a long??? Oooooo now that sounds perfect! So I popped over to Ravelry and joined up :-) Obviously I would need some fibres for this (hehehe) so off shopping I went and purchased 300g of this...

A BFL, Shetland, Merino and Baby Alpaca blend. And boy is it soft and snuggly!!!! I got it from Spin City. It's beautifully prepared and just check out those colours!

This is where I'm up to. 2 bobbins ready to ply. I've ran out of bobbins. I've ordered 2 more. So the plying will have to wait a bit. How frustrating!!! But how weird! I'm now frustrated because I WANT to spin. I'm finding it wonderfully relaxing. I find myself going into a trancelike state when I'm treadling. Is this normal? Hopefully I'll have some plyed yarn to show you soon. 

Til next time

Mx

Getting older....

Ah yes...age is creeping up on me. I'll be 47 years young this year and all of a sudden things are starting show signs of age! My eyesight is shocking! I can see long distances great but close up stuff is proving to be a real struggle...even with my reading glasses. Time for an appointment at the opticians methinks!

Apart from the eyesight everything else is starting to head south. Gravity is winning this race!!! To be fair I've always had skin akin to old knicker elastic. Once stretched it never springs back into shape. hehe. Anyways, I've noticed over the last 6 months or so that the crinkles on my face have somewhat developed into proper lines. Not good! I've had a rough year or so and my strict skincare regime has slid into something a little more adhoc, when I can be bothered thing. Last year I bought myself a Clarisonic in the hope that it would be the miracle solution I needed. Unfortunately it wasn't. And I really didn't like that you had to keep buying pretty pricey replacement brushes fairly often.
So where's all this going I hear you ask???

3 weeks ago I had an email spotlighting this new and apparently fantastic new gadget to cleanse and care for your skin. The results were amazing the email said!! Yeah yeah right...I've heard all of that before! Well...on account that I'm nosey and had a spare few minutes I did a little online research and read up on this miracle worker. I read blogs, customer reviews and forum posts. All were saying the same thing....it's fantastic! I couldn't resist and ordered it!

Meet the Foreo Luna!

You can read more about this amazing little gadget here!

I have been using it twice daily for two weeks and my skin feels amazing. Not only does it feel good, it looks great! AND...my lines are back to crinkles!!! The first time I tried it out, I have to admit that the sensation was a little strange. But immediately my skin felt like I'd just had a salon facial. Normally I would wait a good month before I expected to see results due to cell renewal blah blah so I was delighted to see such good results so soon. I've now added some Elemis Bliss Capsules into the mix to give my skin a super boost. If I wasn't such a vain so and so...I'd do some before and after close up shots....but I am!!! I shall keep you informed on how it's working out :-)

Anyways onto some crafty stuff! 

Cue spinning disaster!!!! Oh my!!! What a tantrum I had last night! Granted trying out some new spinning techniques following a migraine was probably not the brightest idea I've ever had ;-)

I've been having some trouble drafting and I wanted to try something new. As the picture above shows...it didn't quite work out. When it comes to learning something new I have zero patience. I want to be able to do it perfectly straight away. No learning curve for me thank you very much! Clearly this is not going to happen. Cue MAJOR tantrum with much shouting of VERY EXTREMELY bad words. I did throw a few things and then ripped the whole lot off the bobbin, put the wheel away, poured a glass of wine and did some hooky....ah much much better. Calm restored. 

I will try again at the weekend. Spinning yarn will not beat me! I WILL GET IT RIGHT EVENTUALLY!!!!

Til next time

Mx

I'm Back!!!!

Blimey!!! Can someone please explain where on earth the last 2 months have gone? I seem to have totally mislaid December and January!
Well, to be fair, it's been a little hectic round these parts. Work has taken over most of that time but gladly, things seem to be settling down. I say that with bated breath. It rarely happens!

So what's been happening since I last managed to squeeze a blog post into my busy life?
Well...I had a lovely break in Holland. Wow! That seems like a lifetime ago. It was early December. I really really needed a break as I was exhausted. I love my Holland visits. Time to totally relax and recharge the batteries.

Check out that sunset in the clouds....it was totally breathtaking and made me feel quite giddy...

Or maybe that was the wine ;-) My flight was delayed on account of the very high winds in Europe. Well what's a girl to do when delayed....duty free shopping, choke on a blueberry muffin (don't even go there!!!) and have a glass of wine after said traumatic choking episode.

 

We took in a Christmas Market... the donkey totally stole the show! He was a little feisty!!!

The rest of the nativity scene were a little cautious of the diva donkey!

There was freshly baked bread. Oh. My. God. The smell of this stall was totally amazing! No wonder they were overwhelmed. The raisin bread was the nicest I've ever tasted. Delicious.

The market was packed to the rafters. There were out of control fire pits at every corner. The smells were amazing. We had hot chocolate/mulled wine. There was even an ice rink! 

I didn't have any real plans for this holiday other than to relax. I did exactly that! Oh and I had my very first spinning lesson! I've wanted to learn to spin for ages. My friend had a lesson booked while we were there, and thankfully the teacher happened to speak very good english so I booked a beginners lesson! 

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Check out the concentration on my face!!!! I'm not known for my fantastic co-ordination! She was the most patient teacher ever! The picture doesn't include the fabulous log burner that warmed the barn. Oh that place is heavenly. The smell was quite something. Wool fibres have a delicious smell! We spent a very happy couple of hours there before heading off into town then lunch and of course shopping!

I managed to amass a huge amount of Christmas decorations while over there. The dutch do Christmas really well and there are no end of gorgeous bargains to be had. And as per usual, it didn't fit in the suitcase! The packing morning was the most stressful yet! No way was this fitting in the case. Cue hand luggage! Anyways we managed. Thank god for KLM hand luggage allowance. Christmas was duly transported home!

Gorgeous tree decorations.

Pretty tea lights.

Love my newly purchased ceramic house.

Cute little Christmas Tree.

The Christmas hanger.

Christmas came and went. It was lovely. A few days off work. Some down time. Lots of time to relax and sound time with family and friends. Happy days.

Best Christmas present ever????

Meet Mabel! My very own Louet S10. It came in the biggest box ever and I've never seen so many polystyrene chips!!! I love her. 

I've been practising. I think it's safe to say I'm not a natural. But I'm getting better. Luckily, Whitley Bay has a spinning group! Who'd have thought! It would seem that spinning isn't that obscure after all!

Apart from spinning, I've been very busy on the hooky front too. Lots of projects to share. I think 2014 is going to be very productive!

Til next time

Mx