Edinburgh and Wool

We've just come back from a few days away in the beautiful city of Edinburgh.  My motive for going was to attend the Edinburgh Yarn Festival which I had found out about recently.  I lured my long suffering husband along with promises of lots of photo opportunities.  Actually he didn't take much luring and he even came to the Festival with me to act as pack-horse, but more of that in a bit.

We let the train take the strain and had a very pleasant journey up, enjoying the views of the Northumberland coast.

We caught a glimpse of the Angel of the North as we passed Newcastle and Gateshead.

We'd no sooner arrived at our hotel than we all had to troop out as the fire alarm went off.

Happily it was a false alarm but we still stood around in the cold for about quarter of an hour.

Friday found us at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, or rather, queueing to get in.  The organisation of the show was excellent and there was a good atmosphere in the queue with everyone being very patient.  I think it took about half an hour for us to get in but the queue moved steadily so it wasn't a chore.  The organisers did a great job all round.

Ironically, I went again on the Saturday, having a weekend ticket, and the queue for ticket holders was longer than the queue for non-ticket holders.  If you click on the photo above you can see the little finger post announcing the Festival.

Hubby, who has little interest in wool, amused himself taking a couple of videos,

Since I had Mr Muscle with me I bought the heaviest items on my list on Friday.  I bought an art flyer for my Louet Victoria spinning wheel and an inklette loom for making straps and narrow weaves on.

The art flyer is a different colour from the original wheel but I'm not bothered.  It is really simple to change over to this larger flyer and I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of it.  I've had a treadle with it this afternoon and it doesn't affect the stability of the wheel.  Happy, happy!

There wasn't a lot of fibre available at the Festival as it's set up with knitters in mind but John Arbon of Devon were doing a roaring trade as ever.

The cafe was extremely busy and I didn't bother fighting my way in.

Hubby very generously suggested that I go back on my own on Saturday so I gave up fairly quickly on Friday as it was very busy.  Saturday I had a lovely few hours browsing the stalls and getting way too tempted with all the beautiful yarns on offer.

Eden Cottage Yarns, Ripples Crafts, Watercolours & Lace and A Yarn Story all tempted me.

The lovely textured pack is by Añañuca and I'll enjoy either weaving or spinning it.  The mohair was a bargain at £2.50 and may get some dye added to some it.

The Threshing Barn not only sold me the Inklette loom but also tempted me with a sumptuous batt and some ribbons that will appear in some art yarns soon, to be spun on my new gadget.  I was delighted to find some Colinette bulky yarns in a shop on the way back to the hotel (as if I hadn't bought enough yarn already!).  Colinette no longer produce their beautiful yarns so once the available stocks have gone that will be it. (sad face here).

Edited to add a YouTube video of the show:


If  you're really interested there are several more on YouTube (you might want to turn the soundtrack off).

Once I'd worn myself out at the Festival on Saturday I headed back into Edinburgh to visit the Dovecot Studio and gallery.  To quote their brochure, they are "a landmark centre for contemporary art, craft and design built around a leading international tapestry studio."  I have an interest in tapestry weaving so I was keen to visit, especially as the viewing balcony was open.  I'll make a separate post of the visit so I don't bore you to death if you're not interested.  More to follow too of meanderings around Edinburgh and a visit to the Rosslyn Chapel.

February Already and Nearly Gone

Time has done its usual trick of rushing past way too quickly and now it's nearly the end of February.  Since last checking in here DH and I have fought off two horrible snotty colds each but have still managed to achieve quite a bit for this time of year. 

Weaving has kept me busy both on the new Saori loom and on my little SampleIt rigid heddle.  I've done about 2 and a half metres on the Saori but the light is too poor to photograph it today being as it's 5.00pm and getting dark.  I have made a scarf on the rigid heddle though and forced it onto my stepson's partner.  Happily she liked it, enthusiastically!

On the quilting front I have made two smallish quilts since Christmas.  One for our impendng grandchild and one for the dog!  Sadly the only photograph I have is of the dog's quilt in progress.

In fact I only used the left section of 4x5 squares and have 16 remaining to make a Linus quilt with.  I did it QAYG with a fleece backing and it turned out really well and was well received.

Returning to Saori, at the beginning of February and despite being full of colds, I dragged DH to Norwich to see the display forming part of Makers Month at Norwich Forum.   The first week of Makers Month focussed on Fibre and as part of that The Saori Shed displayed all the banners people, including me, had made as well as letting the public have a play on Saori looms.

 You can probably see from the photo above how vast The Forum building is.  My skinny banner is up there next to the blue banner.

 The White and Blue banners above were made by the same lady and interpret Air and Water. 

 The red and the brown banners above were made by the same lady as above and picture Fire and Earth.  I particularly like the sectioned parts of Earth.

 Other fibre crafts were featured and there were more through in the auditorium.

 This technique was fascinating.  The banners have remained on display all month and can still be seen up to this weekend. 

Norwich is a beautiful city and we stayed over so we had time to explore.

 Click on the image above to see how lovely this view is of Norwich Cathedral across the field.  It reminded me very much of Salisbury Cathedral from this distance.

 Norwich Cathedral has some beautiful stained glass,

 from modern,

 to mediaeval.  The glass above is mediaeval made from recovered broken pieces.

On our way back to the station we passed some interesting shops, 

 and a beautiful art nouveau arcade which housed the Colmans Mustard Museum.

If you're not fed up yet I'll just mention that we also saw Brian Conley at Norwich Playhouse while we were there (very funny show) and have since been to the Royal Albert Hall in London (on a coach trip) to see Cirque du Soleil in their amazing show Amaluna.  Wow!  What an experience!  I think I might believe in magic!



Do watch the amazing video above, it's worth the time.  Suffice to say, in the atmosphere of the Albert Hall we were mesmerised.



Last but not least, today we've watched The Flying Scotsman on its inaugural journey through our home town on its way to York.  I'll post that separately.

That was the Year That Was

Two posts in a week?  That's a good way to end the year.  Probably won't be able to keep it up but we'll see.

So, since I missed so many chances to post over the course of the year I thought I would make a bit of a photo review here so we can all catch up. 

January, we started the year off in Mousehole in Cornwall. 

February - We enjoyed our local stately home, Belton House and I repurposed a friend's hexagon quilt top.

March was a busy month.  A trip to the NEC for the Sewing For Pleasure Show and a visit to St Agnes in Cornwall.

Time for a little sewing too.

April saw quilt making and a trip to Killarney.

May was a time for sea-themed embroidery, walks in Belton parkland and an online class.

June, halfway through, and a trip to Scarborough, a quilt show at Spalding, a trip to York to the quilt museum for one of its last exhibitions,

 Working on my quilt inspired by my online course,

 And best of all a trip to Cumbria for Woolfest.

June saw mum reach 90 too.

That was a busy month!

July, family time and friends time on a trip to Yorkshire to house and dog sit.  Time for days out with friends.

A purchase that you've seen already.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Bolton Abbey.  Nearly forgot, we went to Birmingham for a theatre trip and a look at the architecture and canal.

 Are you still keeping up?  5 months to go.

August, it was stitching with friends at a local garden and the inevitable Festival of Quilts.

August saw us returning to Ireland to visit the Giant's Causeway, where I've always wanted to go,

September saw us back in a special place.

September also saw us saying goodbye to my lovely mum who had been living with dementia and being so stoic about it.

The friends who I ran away to Yorkshire with also got me into more trouble to help me with my grief for mum,

We were on our way out of the Big Textile Show at Leicester, my first vist.  The fence was between us and the shortest route to the car and we were tired.  Happily none of us fell off it!
 
October found us back at Belton House waiting for the final flyover of the last flying Vulcan.  If you peer very hard at the photo you will see a little speck that is the Vulcan.  It did fly right over our heads but my camera makes it look like a gnat.  

October also saw me doing a workshop with Mandy Pattullo at Stoke Rochford.  Photos of Mandy's work.

November took us to Belton again for some leaf kicking,

And some creativity with leaves,

We had another trip wth our local coach company down to West Sussex where we were able to see my lovely stepdaughter and her husband. 

While we were there we had news of a new great neice being born in Australia,

Meet Charlotte Lucy, the newest member of our clan soon to be followed by our first grandchild next April (Ssssh!  Don't say it too loud, we're not old enough! But we are delighted VBG)  Ii wish mum could have lived long enough to greet these new arrivals.

November also took me to Harrogate for the Knitting and Stitching Show where I was able to see the chess set that won at Festival of Quilts up close.

Our parish church had its first ever Christmas tree festival and an ice rink,

And finally, December! You must be exhausted if you've got this far.  You'll be pleased to know that I've already told you about December and my weaving so you can now go and collapse into a glass of your favourite tipple.

May I wish you a very Happy and Healthy 2016 and leave you with a blessing that I borrowed from the internet.