A wonderful weekend

Hello everyone,

I have had the best weekend in a long time!

Three of four times a year I organise a spin retreat in my house.

We have a big basement that is actually a one family apartment I would say.

Three bedrooms, a big kitchen and a very spacious living room.

Normally we gather on Friday night and for those who wants to earlier, that's ok too.

This year was different. 

I planned this weekend the same weekend as there was a Wool Festival going on.

And that Wool Festival is about a 40 minutes drive from my house.

So a couple of the girls came on Thursday night and we all drove to the Festival and meet up with the others their!

Well, it was a mad house. A lot of people!

They came from all over the country and as I was a vendor for a couple of years a lot of people came to me for a talk. 

Very nice!

One of the vendors stayed the night with me as well.

Renee Darley, she is really wonderful and she came all the way from the northern part of Sweden.

You can read about her here and here.

Ofcourse there was a lot to see and I only bought some stuff for tablet weaving. 

I have to say, I really behaved!

I got some presents too, part because tomorrow is my birthday and part to say thanks for being here. 

Totally not necessary but really nice anyway!

And because we bought some new dye from here we had to try it right? 

We dyed in a ricecooker and that I didn't figure it myself is a mystery to me.

I mostly dye in a pasteuriser and a ricecooker is just the little version of that. 

Just awesome!

I had some Austermann Merino Lace that I have been wanted to dye for ages and now I did!

The plan is to knit this out of it. 

Hope my arms will be better soon so that I can start on that one.

Although, I promised myself to finish my husbands blanket first.

The boat is really coming along now and she is definitely going in the water this year and I want to have his blanket finished by then. 

So here is my dyed yarn:

These colors are actually quit right.

All and all a great weekend!
I did a bit of spinning too and very pleased with it and already looking forward to the new retreat!
Until next time!

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Productive weekend

I have had a productive couple of days.
Last week I did some soap making and I not sure yet if the recipe turned out ok.
This is what my shampoo bar looks like right now.

I tried to put a stamp on them but they were to soft. So I will try it out in a couple of weeks.

This week I did a lot of weaving.
Projects with techniques I thought I could never master.
Some I did and some I didn't.
I am very pleased with this one.
I think started this one about a year ago maybe more.
Trying to right letters in the double weave technique.
Now I don't why I haven't looked at it for so long.
It is actually pretty basic once you get the hang of it.

My glue can in as well.
It is called bookbinders glue and I have used it on the pink strap as well as on my husband to be guitar strap.
It give such a good ending and it is kind of flexibel as it is hard.

Last Friday it had been two weeks ago my dear friend past away and as it turned out I was in the basement looking for something else and there it was the strap she started and have given to me to finish because card weaving was not here cup of tea.
You have to know that she was a very good weaver, spinner, craftswoman in general and made beautiful things.
Always looking for something new to learn.
So Friday it was time to finish it and I did. The lower part is the piece that she did and the upper part is my work.
I will treasure it for ever!

And then today I finished also a card weaving project approximately from the same era as my pink strap.
I could not and stil cannot get my head around this pattern.
It looks so good in the book from Louis Ström and I have to learn how to read the pattern.
She is giving a class again at my place in april so then I'm going to master this.
Definetely! I will not give up!
I made so many mistakes and the wool was hard to handle as well.
I'm still happy with the colours.
It didn't came out right in the picture because it is dark so early here and I wanted to write the blog right now.

So today I finished this strap and I can't remember when I got this fiber from my friend that passed away and had spun this like a couple of months ago on a spin retreat and today I plied it on my Hansen E-spinner.
Still haven't made a skein of it.
Maybe later.
This is what it turned out on the bobbin.

Until we meet again!

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Perfect combination!

What is a better combination then snowing outside and spinning?

That is what has happened the last couple of days!

On Saturday I had a very early morning, 5am!

I dropped my mom and my eldest daughter of in Karlstad because they had to catch the 6.45am train to Stockholm and it was on my way to my youngest daughter.who had a national basketbal games where she lives. 4 hours away from us and I planned to drive home again the dame evening.

So my Sunday should be my rest-doing-nothing-day!

It started snowing heavily yesterday and it stopped around 3 pm.

A perfect day to pick up spinning again on my Ashford Joy.

In between I decided to take a walk with the dog!

The poor thing has to go out even if it was my layback day, right?

Yesterday I finished the first bobbin and today during my (Aussie) hangout I spun the second bobbin today. 

Tonight I will start the third one and then hope that it will fit all nicely together. 

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Spinning weekend

And again it is Friday. What happened with the rest of the week? Last weekend I had Spinning classes and I had three students. I had a great day and so did they.
My three students all had a different goal. One had already participated in a Drop Spindle class a couple of months ago and another one wanted to learn how to spin on a Turkish spindle and the third one wanted to learn it all! As said, I had a great time.

We started of with a Handspinner and soon everyone had the hang of it and in the mean time I tried out the Turkish Spindle. What a pleasure and so convenient with Andean Plying.

Time flew by and in the end one was spinning on her own Turkish Spindle and the other two were spinning on a Spinning Wheel.
One on my Ashford Joy and another one on a Ashford Traveller

All very happy to have accomplished something.
I am already working on another class.

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Spin in Public Day

Today has been Spin in Public Day.
I have been in the library of Arvika and I think it has been a very successful day. We were with 10 spinning people and we (mostly Chatarina and Maria) have been putting together an exhibition in the library with wool.
Now I am spinning at home to finish what I started. Here some picture of today:

Christina is concentrating hard

On my way home!!

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Tour de Fleece

Everyone in Europe has been under the spell of European football and on top of that the Tour de France has started as well.
As most of you know are there a lot of Tour de Fleece groups on Ravelry to participate with.
We have a Tour de Fleece of our own on Facebook.

What is that? Tour de Fleece?
It is an event that is all about spinning.
Every group has is own goal so to speak and in our group everything is very relaxed.
You do what you can and everyone can have a goal of there own which everyone can subscribe in a document.

I have 200 grams BFL (70)/Silk (30) mix to spin in a green color range from Willow Fair Wool.
130 grams of rainbow tops from Susses Spindehjørne, which I already have span but not sure how to ply it.
Suggestions more then welcome.
I have two bobbins of a Mediterranean 56's English tops (swapped it with a friend) which I want to ply with a blend of my own.
I am note sure though if that is what I really want, because the blend is kind of a dark blueish and I am afraid that it will take the colors down instead of complementing them.
So we will see how it goes about that.
And then I have two 50 grams tops lying.
One very pink and one lilac blend. Merino/Silk and I am going to experiment with that one.

I bought a DVD from Spinning Daily from Jacey Boggs and what to try something from that video. 

And I am sure that I will have some more projects. 

Ohh, already comes one to mind. I got a request of dyeing wool and spin it for someone so I think I am going to add that to the list.

And I have spun 100 grams Merino/silk blend for a customer. 

So it is all about spinning the coming month and I did the green skein on my electric Babe and that was not easy and a lot of noise. I am kind of more friends with it know then ever before but I must say that I love my Ashford Joy more!!

       

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Saltum

Weeks are going by like crazy!
It has been almost two weeks since I went to the woolfestival in Saltum.
I have not blogged about it and feeling bad about it as well.
What happened? I don't know
It is hard to understand that it has been such bad weather when I left to Saltum because the last couple of days has been sunny and warm. Almost too warm.
Back to Saltum.
I left friday morning about 4 am to the ferry in Gothenburg.

It was raining and cold and I was caught in a traffic jam there. My, was that a long time ago I found myself in a traffic jam!
No panic because I had counted on that.
Arrived at the ferry and I accidently took the wrong lane. Lucky me !!!
I was getting on and off first. So I was soon on my way in Danmark.
It was kind of crazy on the ferry. I lot of screaming kids and of course I had my knitting with me. So no problem waiting.
I was on the other site at 12 noon and was at destination at 1 pm att Anja Sørensen.
She showed me the cottage and I was on my one.

Maybe some other felting women would join me in the cottage but that did not happen so I was on my one the first night and then I had Renee to accompany me on saturdaynight.

The felting ladies have slept in this wonderfull thing:

I left to go into Løkken, went to the beach as well, not that it was sunny but I love the coast when it is windy.

It is so very different in Denmark then it is here in Sweden.
It reminded me a bit of The Netherlands.

We could not build up untill the next day.
The same day the market was starting at 10.00 am.
So best to get up early and get going.
As you can see did i had a lot of merchandise in the car.
I have been spinning the most of the days on my Ashford spinning wheel the Joy.
I had a lot of admirers.

My neighbours on my right and on my left I had some lovely ladies from the Danish Spinning Association.

I have had a great time and it was also good to be back home again.

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Doghair

The first time ever I have spun dog hair.
I went very smoothly I have to say!
This is the dog:

And this is what I spun. 25 gram and 62 meter.
I say: "not bad!"

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Spinningcourse

Last weekend I had a spinning course with two lovely ladies, Anna and Helena.
We started right away and had some tea sometime later and had to almost force them because they were so dedicated.
This time it was a dropspindle course and I began with spinning with very smal tops.
Here in Sweden we call it förgarn!

When they got the hang of it we did some spinning with tops and that was a bit harder.
We used Cheviot and is a very good beginnerstops.

After spinning singles it is time to ply and make some yarn.
I have told them to Andean ply from a drop spindle.
If you only have one spindle that is the way to do it.
My myself tried out some Navajo plying on the fly and that worked like a charm.
Was very amazed and proud of myself :)

And here the result of the course:

I think then can both be very proud of the work they have done.

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What to do?

It has been a wonderful Easter and I was home alone with my eldest daughter and I should just count the buttonholes I knitted on my Tant Kofta's Kofta when I discovered a mistake and I cannot live with mistakes.

Second Easter day I had a wonderful knitting meeting at Ateljé Norrgården/Ostbiten and decided to take out just the stripe were the mistake was but that was more complicated then I thought (it took the whole afternoon and a part of the evening) so I ripped out the whole cardigan and have now began again from the beginning. I lot of people were chocked by me doing it but I would not been satisfied if I left it that way. 

So today I have begun again.

My daughter and I went to the yarn store today and bought some yarn for her shrug for her ball dress.

This is the one I am going to knit.

I am not knitting it with the recommended mohair yarn but with Drops Lace (alpaca with silk) and it is very nice to knit in and I have to say fairly easy knitting and not a job to be done in front of the TV.

My third project to start up is to spin 100 grams of black angora for Rebecka who won a lottery at the online knittingcafé.
So I have a busy week ahead of me and I have ordered a mini washer to wash my wool in. They are expected to have them in at the end of April and was kind of a bummer because my husband is in the Netherlands and it would be perfect for him to pick it up. Unfortunately not meant to be!

Bye for now!

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A nice weekend/Een goed weekend/En härligt helg

You will find the dutch and Swedish version below the English.

The girls were alone this weekend because dad had to work in Finland and mom was off to a spinning-weekend.
E was celebrating her birthday and we were expected to be there Saturday at 18.00!
I drove south at 11 am or so and as I did I called P to ask if she wanted to meet me earlier on and that we could drive together to E and so we did. I was almost when my oldest daughter rang to tell me that I forgot a black bag and that bag was my weekend-bag with all of my clothes, toothbrush etc.
So P and I went to the nearest store to buy me some knickers, T-shirts, toothbrush and deodorant.
I had my important stuff with me, read knitting-projects, spinning-wheel, E's present! The rest you can buy and so I did.

We were welcomed at E's with some nice recipe of wine and I am not fond of wine and I liked it very much and no, I did not get drunk!
I met some very nice people there as well.
I had a great time. Everybody was knitting and chatting and it was over 1 am when we finally went to sleep.
Thank you E for a nice birthday party!

The next day we had breakfast and a nice walk and then it was time to drop off P again at home and I was of to my next visit to S.
I arrived in the afternoon and began knitting almost directly. S has so many nice knitting-books so I spend some time looking in them and got inspired once again.
During the evening we looked at several podcast which i normally do not do and definitely  are going too and I spun in the meantime my yak project. It is finished so all what is left to do is plying. That will be a job for tonight.

Een heerlijk weekend is weer achter de rug. De meisjes waren deze keer alleen thuis, want papa was naar Finland en mama was ook de hort op.
E vierde haar 30ste verjaardag zaterdagavond en aangezien P in de buurt woonde had ik eerst met haar afgesproken zodat we later samen naar E haar verjaardag zouden gaan.
Ik was bijna op bestemming toen Sanne belde dat ik mijn weekendtas vergeten was.
Lekker bijdehand, al mijn kleding en toiletspullen, maar goed, het belangrijkste had ik bij me: mijn breispullen, spinnewiel en E's cadeautje!
Voordat ik en P op weg gingen heb ik dus nog wat T-shirtjes, toiletspullen en een pyama gekocht en ik vergeet eigenlijk nooit wat!

We werden bij E verwelkomt met een wijntje waar iets speciaals mee was gedaan. Ik hou niet van wijn en dit was erg lekker en nee, ik ben niet dronken geworden. Na 1 glaasje lekker over op water!
Het was hartstikke gezellig en al gauw zat iedereen met een breiwerkje gezellig te kletsen.
Zo heb ik nog nooit eerder een verjaardag gevierd en beviel mij prima en weer leuke mensen ontmoet.
We lagen om 01.00 uur op bed en ik ging voldaan slapen.

De volgende ochtend ontbeten met degene die bleven slapen en een wandeling gemaakt voordat ik weer vertrok naar mijn volgende locatie, S.
P op de weg daar naartoe thuis gebracht en ik was ongeveer 14.30 uur bij S.
Erg gezellig. Ze heeft een heleboel mooie breiboeken en kon natuurlijk niet nalaten om daar lekker in te snuffelen. Heerlijk, 's avonds lekker het spinnewieltje erbij om mijn Yak projekt af te spinnen en vanavond ga ik die navajo twijnen en een heerlijk weekend is weer voorbij!

Tjererna har varit hem ensam denna helgen. Papa reste till Finland och mama åkte till en födelsedagkalas/stickfest.
Innan jag åkte till E's födelsedagskalas åkte jag till P en liten stund och tillsammans åkte vi till E.
Jag var nästan när min älsta dotter ringde att jag hadde glömt reseväska.
Det var typiskt. Den viktigaste hadde jag väll med mig: Stickprojekter, spinnrock och E's present. Resten kan man köpa som jag också gjorde.
Vi fick jättegot mat hos E och vinet var något alldeles speciellt. Jag gillar inte vin och det här var jättegott. Mums, får fråga efter receptet.
Där var några som jag inte hadde träffats förut och vi hadde jättetrevligt.
All stickning kom snabbt fram med mycket prat och skoj.
Tack E för en underbart kväll.

Frukosten morgonen därpå började med vaktelägg och dem är så fina och gott också!
Efter frukost tog vi en promenad och åkte vidare till nästa destination, S.
Jag var där rund tvåtiden tror jag och efter en kopp te gick vi till vardagsrummet för att prata och sticka.
Hon har så många finna böcker så jag tid att kolla på alla och fick såklart inspiration också.
Har inte bestämmt mig en vad nästa projektet blir!
Tack alla för en underbart helg!!

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Workshop

How time flies!!!

Yesterday it was a week ago that we started the workshop spinning and dyeing.

We have had a marvelous, productive week with beautiful weather, good food and good company

Our participants has done a lot of different things like felting, dyeing with different methods, weaving and even how to learn to spin.

We have also visited Klässbols Linen Mill and the ladies loved it. 

We went on a saturday and the machines were not running so it was nice and quiet and we had all the time of the world to admire the work.

Shopping in Arvika was also one of the events on the agenda and you have a lot of small second hand shops and the ladies bought a lot of weaving cloths.

In the evenings we chatted and knitted and sometimes span as well on the veranda with a good glas of wine. 

I had a fantastic week and if you want a week like this as well. Just let me know!

A small photo impression!!

Enjoying the view

Lunch at Olssons Brygga in Arvika

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