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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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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Wilton's food dye/ Wiltons kleurstoffen/ Wilton färg

Today I decided to try out my Wilton's food dye because I have had them for a while.
I lost the paper with the recipe, searched the internet and tried a mixture of a couple of ideas.

Vandaag besloot ik om eens aan de gang te gaan met Wilton's kleurstoffen die gebruikt worden om taarten mee te bakken en die ik al geruime tijd thuis had liggen.
Ik kon natuurlijk de beschrijving niet meer vinden en ben op zoek gegaan op het internet voor een recept en vond verschillende recepten die ik heb gecombineerd.

Idag var det dags att färga med Wilton's matfärg som jag har haft hemma länge.
Självklart kunde inte jag hitta beskrivningen och letade på nätet efter en "recept" och hittade några som jag blandade ihop och gjorde mitt eget.

What did I do exactly?
I had a cup of warm water and 1 black spoon of gel dye and 1 tablespoon with vinegar and this solution I put in icecube molds. I made 4 colors and they are now waiting in the freezer to set.
The colors are: green, blue, dark yellow and dark red.
And I also made a pot with purple and 100 grams of Cheviot.

Wat heb ik gedaan?
Ik heb 1 kopje water en 1 zwarte lepel van de gelkleurstof en een eetlepel azijn bij elkaar gedaan en dit verfbad heb ik in ijsblokjeshouders gegoten. Ik heb een mengsel gemaakt van 4 kleuren en staan nu in de vriezer. De kleuren die ik in de vriezer heb staan zijn: groen, blauw, donkergeel en donkerrood.
Ook heb ik een pan met paarse verf gemaakt en daar heb ik 100 gram Cheviot in gedaan.

Hur gjorde jag?
1 kopp varm vatten och 1 svart sked med Wilton's färg och en matsked vinäger och denna blandning gick i en gjutform för is och dem väntar nu i frysen. Jag har gjord 4 färger: grön, blå, mörkgul och mörkröd och i en kastrul har jag gjord en blanding med lila och 100 gram Cheviot.

I prefer dyeing with Jeaba colddye and this I just had to test.
Ik geef de voorkeur aan Jeaba koudverven en ik moest dit gewoon eens proberen.
Jag föredrar Jeaba Kallfärg och jag behövde testa det här.

Tomorrow more about the project.
Morgen meer over mijn project.
Imorgon mer om projektet.

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Kerry Hill

Is was a couple of weeks ago I got 20 gram of Kerry Hill wool from a very sweet lady from the Netherlands. We have never met and some lovely day we will. 

I fell in love with Kerry Hill immediately after I had spun the 20 gram.

So I decided to go look for a fleece. Nothing here in Sweden so I tried Denmark and yes I found one. 

Last week a got a bag in the mail and ohhh my gosh it was dirty !

This is the water from the first wash. I forgot to take a picture from the unwashed wool. 

Typically me. I was so eager to start.

Een paar weken geleden kreeg ik van een schat uit Nederland 20 gram Kerry Hill wol om te proberen. 

Ik was gelijk verliefd! Wat een heerlijk materiaal om mee te werken.

De dame in kwestie heb ik nog nooit ontmoet en ik hoop dat dat er zeker een keer van gaat komen!

Nadat ik de wol had gesponnen ben ik gelijk op zoek gegaan naar een vel. 

Dat valt natuurlijk niet mee in deze tijd, want iedereen is al van zijn wol af zeg maar.

Hier in Zweden is niks te vinden en ik kwam onder andere uit in Denemarken. 

En ineens had ik een zak wol liggen in de brievenbus. 

Wat een gore bende was dat die wol, maar goed! 

Dit is het spoelwater van de eerste keer. 

Ben natuurlijk vergeten een foto te maken van de vuile wol, want ik wilde gelijk aan de gang!

Ett par veckor sen fick jag av en snäll människor i Nederländerna 20 gram ull, tvättad och kardad och jag var förälskad i ullen direkt.Vi har aldrig träffats och jag vet att en vacker dag kommer vi att träffs.

Jag har letad efter denna ullen och förra vecka fick jag en påse från Danmark. 

Ullen var väldigt skitigt och mycket skräp i. 

Det här är första vatten och jag glömde att tag en bild av den otvättade ullen. Typiskt mig för jag kunde inte vänta med att sätta igång. 

Yesterday evening I started to comb the wool because there was a lot of dirt in it that I do not want in my carding machine. You cannot avoid dirt in the carding machine as you will notice on the picture.

Gisteren ben ik begonnen met de wol te kammen want er zat zoveel rotzooi in en dat wilde ik niet in mijn kaardmachine hebben. Je voorkomt toch niet dat er rotzooi in je kaardmachine komt zoals je op de foto wel kunt zien. 

Igår började jag med att kamma ullen för att sen karda den för att jag inte vill ha så mycket skräp i kardmaskinen. Man kan inte undvika detta men endå.

This is the first batt and I took the picture last night so the color is a bit off.

Dit is de eerste batt en de foto is gisteravond genomen dus de kleur is niet helemaal precies.

Denna kardflor gjorde jag igår så färgen är inte som den är.

This is the roving I did the second time on the Ashford carding machine and it came out pretty nice and even.
So my work payed off.

Dit is de lontwol die ik voor de tweede keer door de Ashford kaardmachine heb gehaald en ik ben erg tevreden met het resultaat.

Denna har jag kardad för andra gången på min Ashford kardmaskin och gjorde en ullveke av denna och jag är supernöjd med resultatet.

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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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Knittingmeeting

Last weekend we had a knittingmeeting at my place.
We were with three in the beginning and later on P joined us.
It was a lot of talking, spinning, knitting and a lot of fun!
S tried out my Majacraft Little Gem and was delighted with it. She also brought her Majacraft Rose and so did P and BM had her Ashford Traveller with her which I am going to fix asap.
My living room looked like this:

I was working on a project and was not quite satisfied with it. The project was to spin 100 grams of black angora wool.
The thing is that I had to give it away as a price and I wanted the yarn to be equal and balanced and unfortunately that did not happen. I begin with spinning on my Ashford Joy just from the fiber as it was and that gave a very uneven yarn. The next I tried with rolags and that was much better.
Here a picture of my rolags, the two bobbins and the skein.

S learned me a wonderful trick. As you have two bobbins to ply with and have some left on one bobbin just make some preparations as if you would andean ply your bobbin and then ply them together again. Isn't that wonderful? Then you have no left overs!

And what is life without a Chai Latte?

Today I have some spinners coming over for some lessons.
So I have to hurry now.
Have a nice weekend with a lot of crafts!

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Before and after

It is time to give the rabbits a good haircut man what it is hard!
I was very glad not to cut in him.
The family left this morning for a short vacation and I am staying home to prepare for the sheep festival next weekend and in spirit of that I thought it would be nice to have a bit of my own rabbits wool with me.
I started with Linus and I am going to finished the sheering tomorrow with help of a friend, because Linus was not so cooperative with lying on his back so I need someone to hold him.
He is a very sweet rabbit so I do not think it is a very big problem.
Some of the very fine wool got stock in my throat so I have a bit of a hairball situation!
Tomorrow I will start with Adam and he is not that calm so that be a challenge.
Here some photo's of Linus:

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A great day !

Yesterday was a great day.
After weeks of having no warmwaterpreasure, it finally got fixed yesterday.
How you can appreciate a good shower with a lot of water!
And before I got to bed yesterday I checked my email and got a surprise.
A couple of weeks ago we went to the weavers fair in Borås and at the stand of Färgkraft you could write down your emailadres for a lottery and guess what?.......... I won.
This is my price. I could pick something from their webshop.
So yes, I would call yesterday a great day !!

Igår har varit en toppendag.
I flera veckor har vi inte haft något tryck på varm vatten.
I måndags blev det fixad efter vi har väntat i flera veckor på underdelar.
Vad man längtar efter en bra douche med mycket varm vatten och tryck efter ett tag.
Det var så härligt att doucha igår kväll. Blev väldigt uppskattat.

Och innan jag skulla lägga mig kollade jag på mejlen och fick en överraskning.
Jag hadde vunnit lotteriet på Vävmässa i Borås. Det var nämligen så här att vid Färgkraft´s monter fick vi skriva ner vårt epostadress och då skulle dom drar sen.
Och jag var den som fick priset.
Jag fick välja bland deras härvar i webbutiken och jag valde denna.
Så jag skulle säga att igår var en väldigt lyckat dag!!

Ik had gisteren een geweldig dag.
Al een paar weken zaten we met warmwater zonder druk.
Koud water was niks mis mee.
We hadden al eerder met dat bijltje gehakt dus een warmteregelaar besteld en gisteren was het dan zover dat deze geïnstalleerd werd.
Wat is het toch heerlijk om te douchen met normale druk in het water.
Voordat ik gisteren naar bed ging nog even mijn email gecheckt en wat bleek?
Ik had een loterij gewonnen! Ik win nooit wat, dus dit was dubbel geslaagd.
Een paar weken geleden was ik op de weefbeurs in Borås en bij de stand van Färgkraft kon je je emailadres opschrijven en daaruit zou dan een winnaar getrokken worden en ik was de gelukkige.
In hun webshop kon ik een keuze maken uit een streng garen en dit is het geworden, dus ja, gisteren was een topdag !!

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Gothenburg

Last wednesday I went off to Gothenburg to stay with Elin till Sunday.
My youngest daughter hada Basketbal tournement there so I took the time to combine those two.
The car was filled with goodies and with goodies I mean wool and that kind of thing.
Elin asked me to take the carder with me and I took with me Värmlands wool and a lot of other things.
It was like an invasion when I came to Elin:

I had my own corner :)
The next day I went to see my youngest play Basketbal and I am very proud to say that I went with the tram into town and to the hall she was playing. I am so used to use my car.
I even managed to find my way back again!

We (Elin and I) spend the afternoon with sorting wool and it was a lot !!!

You will understand that this is woolheaven for us!!

Some of the wool was in great condition and a lot wasn´t.

We do not agree on all of the wool though so Elin has to proof something!!
I´ll hope see managed because then I will save also a bit more wool than I used too.

We will see.

In the evenings I made a new friend: Frasse !

Here he is lying on my lap while I was spinning.
He sure loves the rhythm of the spinningwheel and my lap.

So relaxed and cosey.

The days went by so fast and now I am home again.

Elin offered to wash my Värmlandwool so that was staying behind, together with my Ashford Joy that she wants to test. So I am forced to spinn on my Majacraft Little Gem.

My värmland wool

Will be very nice to see here again. 

Love that girl !!

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Dirty wool!

What can be more rewarding then dirty wool!!!
Yesterday I heard of a man who had a lot of sheep and I drove by and got home with a bag of Rya wool.

Isn´t that nice?
My camera is not all that great and Pieter will soon be home.
It will be too late for this one and I have more to wash so......

I washed it with salt and the results are fabulous!!!

I cannot decide what to do with it!!!
If I shall dye it and then spin it or first spin it and then dye it.
We will see.
I love the result and I have not weighed it yet.
I will keep you informed !!!

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my treasures

Today I had to drive Noortje into town because she had a basketbalgame.
So I took the chance to drive by my adress who had some wool lying for me!
A lot fits in my very small car.
This is wool from the Swedish Värmlandssheep.
We will see what I will be able to do this week!!
Have to work on Thursday and Friday!!
So hopefully before that I have done something.

In the meantime I began spinning again from my Alpacka wool.

I think I have 6 baskets in the basement and after spending a whole they on the computer it is definitely time for something else. 

And then my hens!!!

I do not have to colour any egg this year!!! 

Just look at that.

Smal, thin, big, fet, gorgeous eggs.

We always had one hen to lay blueish/greenish eggs and I think one of her daughters does it too.

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A white world again !!

It looked like it would be lovely weather today and I was so wrong!!
Pieter told me so and I would not listen.
It began round 11.00 c´clock, big white snowflakes and I was thinking about springtime!
Pieter had send me a picture of our boat on the trailer

Isn´t she lovely?

Nothing to do about the weather and I decided to have a look at what I took with me.
A whole basket full of stuff.
Some knitting, some crochet and a spindle with wool.
Where to begin first?
Opening the shop ofcourse...... how could I forget? :)
I hadn´t much to do so I did a lot of handcrafting.
Mostly spinning on Lena´s spindle I must say and when I came home I did a lot of Navajo plying with the wool I had spun, because Pieter already made diner so I didn´t have to do much.

It looks like my camera has had it´s time.
I will make some better pictures tomorrow by daylight.
Not bad for one day´s work. So I worked and I didn´t !!!!!!
Good night you all and sweet dreams

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