Hue & Dye

Time well-spent

2012-03-07T11:30:00.000Z

A night away with friends is sometimes just what the doctor ordered but when one of you works shifts, one works weekends, the other works a "regular job" and the other is a teacher, finding time when you're all off is a major achievement!

But we did it. We managed a lovely weekend away and had some well-deserved r&r at the Last Drop Village in Bolton. Yes, I know Pete works in Bolton and I know it's only 20 minutes away from home, but seriously when you have the Lancashire hills on your doorstep, why feel you have to travel miles?

We went to the Last Drop for Pete's Xmas do at work and we were really impressed - large pool, beauty spa, a full suite of different steam rooms and saunas and an indoor/outdoor hot-tub. And the food was great, too. So when they ran a special offer for an overnight stay with brekkie, 3-course evening meal (inc. wine) and use of the leisure facilities, all for £50 each it was just too good to pass up!

Despite the short journey it was looking a bit iffy because we set off just as the snows were really coming down. By the time we got to the hotel, the snow had really laid and it was touch and go whether we'd get up the hill to the carpark. Thanks to Pete's awesome driving skills we negotiated the tricky reverse park in deep snow between two very expensive 4x4's, and he even helped someone else reverse their car out of another space.

To relax from our rather hairy journey, Pete had his first ever spa treatment (a massage) and I went for the facial, then it was a dip in the pool, a full tour of the steam rooms and saunas, finishing off in the hot tub as we watched the snow fall as we looked out over the hills - fabulous!(Snow is much nicer when you are looking at it from the warmth of a hot tub rather than from behind a steering wheel!).

Dinnner was lovely - lots of catching up, laughs and putting the world to rights.

And the couple on the next table were getting engaged so it was nice to share their special evening too....

Sunday dawned bright and clear and we headed off out on a very nice walk from the hotel

around the reservoir,

to Turton Tower (truly a hidden gem for any architecture/history buffs out there!),

to Bromley Cross via the Strawberry Duck pub (v nice) where Pete was very excited to find a recipe for local Lancashire delicacy, butter pie.....

Then it was a short hop on the train back to the hotel - tired but happy!

And it was indeed, just what we needed - see you again soon, guys!

My spinning mojo...

2012-03-05T12:30:00.000Z

...is back!

After receiving two lovely braids of fibre from Helen at MyHeartExposed in the Christmas Ravelry Swap 2010, I got off to a great start and quickly notched up my initial skein. Then life happened and this was accompanied by no time/inclination to spin.

I am pleased to report, however, that I am now back on the horse. This year I'm determined to be disciplined and make some time for myself to go our Guild meetings and I'm actually enjoying spinning again.

So much so that I have now spun one braid and am making good headway into braid two. In theory there is enough fibre to make two pairs of socks, however, having plied the first braid, I'm not sure if it's fine enough to give me the yardage I'll need. This is both good news and bad - bad because I can't get started on my socks (boo), but good because it's an excellent incentive to get on and finish braid two (yaay!).

My plan is to knit in random stripes from each skein such that any colour variations will be artistically intentional rather than an "oh dear she obviously ran out of yarn" moment. We shall see.

So we started with this....

Double it to create this.....

And then ply into this.....

Two photoshoots in two weeks!

2012-03-03T15:00:00.000Z

Super-exciting and super-tiring! Since leaving the world of accountancy I'd forgotten how it feels to be making regular trips to London so the last two weeks have been a bit of a shock to the system. I've definitely got out of the habit of the crack-of-dawn starts, last-thing-at-night trips home and drinking too much coffee!

It's been exhilarating, though, too, because I'm so excited to be getting on with the book. Seeing the first batch of text and photos last week is making it seem real and more than makes up for the long journeys.

Naturally I can't show you any book shots yet, but here are a couple of pics of me in the studio. I don't think I can recall knitting so many sample swatches in one day! A big thank you to Simon, Jo, Katie and everyone at Quarto for all their hard work and look forward to seeing you all for the video shoot next week : )

OCA Textiles Blog goes live!

2012-03-01T14:03:00.000Z

After several false starts I've finally got my OCA Textiles blog up and running : )

I was hoping to be able to combine this blog and the OCA one but it doesn't appear to be possible, so rather than clutter up this blog with all the OCA pics etc. I'll be putting all the OCA-related posts here

If you'd like to keep up to date with my progress on the course I'd love to read your comments, observations and thoughts. No need to be an OCA student, all visitors will be very welcome!

(And the latest news is that my first assignment is about to be submitted so fingers crossed it goes ok!)

And finally - the last club of 2012!

2012-02-03T17:15:00.001Z

Inspired by Vicky and by watching the amazing Frozen Planet with David Attenborough over Christmas, December's club was "No Two Snowflakes Alike"...

Corriedale roving for Roving Medley members...

Silk hankies, Corriedale and Teeswater for my Fibre Adventure Club

And some squooshy alpaca/wool/nylon for Supersock Medley members

Dyes Past and Present

2012-02-02T13:00:00.000Z

Our final outing of the year was to Buckinghamshire Guild for a talk and natural dyeing demo.

I'm fascinated by dye history but in particular, modern dye history, and over the last couple of years I've been amassing an interesting and much beloved collection of sample cards, samples books and recipes, dyes and all kinds of dyeing memorabilia. I realise that this wouldn't light most people's fire but I love researching old dyeworks and tracing the development of today's dyes from the early days of natural dyeing through William Perkin's revolutionary discovery of mauveine to the dyes we use today.

On which subject, one of my recent acquisitions was an original letter from William Perkin to fellow scientist, Dr Gladstone, from 1876, just 20 years after Perkin discovered Mauveine.

I don't have photos of many of the items in my collection but I'll try and take some and share them with you when I get a few minutes. (Don't worry, I'll flag up the post so that if this is about as exciting to you as someone else's holiday photos you can skip it!).

Anyway, I digress. The visit was most enjoyable - a lovely Guild and a very pleasant session. The mystery tour that was our journey home after a complete closure of the M40 was a different story but we got home safe and sound and that's what counts!

Thank you to the Guild for the invitation and for a lovely afternoon.

Nearly caught up - November clubs..

2012-02-01T11:00:00.000Z

Almost there with the club catch-up pics!

November was inspired by fireworks but not, as you might think, the pop/bang/exploding kind. In a fantastic book at my in-laws I found pictures of the Fireworks Galaxy and it was so beautiful I thought it would make a terrific colourway.

This is the fireworks galaxy...

And this is the colourway it inspired...

Sparkly merino/nylon yarn with star-bright silvery stellina...

Softest grey Merino roving...

Silk noil, Suri alpaca fleece, black Shetland and a little swirl of sparkly trilobal nylon...

I have to say that for a bit of extra glitz I was very impressed with the dye take-up on the trilobal nylon using my procion dyes (acid dye method). I've only just started stocking this undyed and the colours were so rich and intense - yummy!

Bonfire Night

2012-01-24T13:44:00.001Z

I'm planning to use some of these photos for my sketchbooks. Fireworks (when you can capture them!) are an obvious choice for interpretation into textiles but the photos of the bonfire have some fabulous movement, texture and shade that I think will be very interesting to explore.

This one was just for fun! I think it's called the frog - but it was very funny!

And one of my lovely niece and great-niece (none of my nephew as I couldn't catch him!)

And the grown-ups - yes, we got sparklers too : )

October Clubs - Jack O'Lantern

2012-01-23T10:14:00.004Z

A warm and spicy shade for Autumn!

Shetland humbug...

And alpaca/nylon sock...

Northern Quarter Art

2012-01-22T10:39:00.002Z

On a wander to meet the lovely Tracey for a bit of retail therapy (and an essential stop at the Sugar Junction, naturally), I spotted this...

Isn't it fantastic?

Hydrangeas in Bloom - September club colourway

2012-01-20T16:46:00.000Z

Keeping up the momentum (and nearly up to date!), September's colourway was "Hydrangeas in Bloom".

By September a lot of our flowers have finished and we’re busy deadheading in the garden. However, we are still enjoying the lovely hydrangeas. I find it quite fascinating that colours can be changed purely by altering the quality of the soil. I use my alum mordant to get the blue-y purple shades in my garden as these are my favourites (and it’s a good use for my buckets of mordant water!).

And here is my interpretation of our hydrangeas, a lovely Merino Superwash sock yarn.

Making books, boxes and journals!

2012-01-20T10:20:00.001Z

Can't believe I nearly forgot to post about this!

This was one of the highlights of the Guild calendar for me last year. Although we are essentially a Guild of Spinners, Weavers & Dyers we like to mix it up occasionally with something a little different. Judith Fearnley is a lovely lady who makes the most awesome journals, handmade books and boxes. I had a fantastic day making books with her in 2010 so I was delighted to hear she was visiting again in 2011.

This is how the day started (note how tidy and organised we were)...

A couple of hours later - not so organised but Julia and I were having a great time...

My work in progress - this will be a sketchbook for my OCA course

And our completed project for the day - cute boxes covered with old maps!

And two finished projects from Judith's last class..

August clubs - Wheatfield at Sunset

2012-01-19T13:47:00.000Z

Mmm, that glowing sunset is making me feel warm despite the cold weather!

Clubs for August were Superwash Bluefaced Leicester/nylon sock yarn

And a lovely Whitefaced Woodland roving....

I don't mind the winter because it brings its own beauty and without it we wouldn't enjoy the lovely plants and flowers and landscape that we do but seeing that picture does make me think "Roll on Summer"!

Club socks courtesy of Susanne : )

2012-01-19T08:47:00.000Z

A special thank you to Susanne who came to my rescue in the hunt for the July colourway!

Here are some fab socks she knitted with her parcel...

Thanks so much for the pics, Susanne and love the socks!

Club pics July, sort of - Scots Pine

2012-01-12T11:30:00.000Z

The observant among you will notice the absence of July yarn and fibre pics (!). Not only do I not know what happened to the pics, other than knowing that the colourway was Scots Pine, I have no recollection of what it even looked like! What I do know is that the inspiration was my trip to Summer School in Edinburgh and that this was the photo-inspiration...

and this is how I described the colourway...

"The Scots pine is a particularly beautiful shade of blue-green, and is, as I discovered, quite elusive to capture in a dye. I have used a merino/tencel yarn to create the reflective quality of the pine needles and gentle combinations of dyes to give a subtly variegated colourway".

So club members, if you have a photo of your parcel, please do let me know, and for everyone else, I'm afraid I shall have to leave it to your imagination!

(And I do have photos for the rest of the year - I have checked!).

Dyeing across the Pennines

2012-01-10T13:08:00.000Z

More trips across the M62 in November for dyeing workshops at Baa Ram Ewe in Leeds and Spun in Huddersfield. (It takes a lot to keep a Yorkshire lass in Lancashire for too long!).

Getting busy with lots of laughs and richest rainbows in Leeds....

And creative fun and the best ever use for disposable plastic beakers in Huddersfield....

Thanks for two great days, girls - I do like to end the year on a colourful note!

And if you're feeling inspired by all these colour-filled adventures, you can catch me at Purl City Yarns in Manchester this Saturday (14th)

Year-End Gig Round-up!

2012-01-10T10:02:00.001Z

Bit of a theme to gigs towards the end of 2011. As you know Pete and I are big fans of the King Blues (vis a vis the link. The King Blues' style is quite upfront so if you are not cool with bad language or you have youngsters nearby, you may prefer to give the link a miss).

We took the opportunity to see them in Manchester at the Academy 2, then found out that they were one of the bands playing with Billy Bragg as part of his Leftfield in Motion tour back in my home town of Leeds so we got a second bite at the cherry, notwithstanding seeing Billy Bragg, too!

What a great gig! So, one way and another we started and ended 2011 with a King Blues/Billy Bragg sandwich.

Not forgetting Kate Tempest and fellow Londoners Sound of Rum who are another great band, well worth seeing if you get the chance.

Oh, and I get my official groupie award for having my copy Billy Bragg's new CD Fight Songs

...signed by the man himself! Yeay!

Onto June Clubs - Forest Fells

2012-01-09T10:00:00.001Z

Apologies, only seem to be able to find one pic for this month!

June 2011 Roving Medley Club - Forest Fells

Soft merino blended with lustrous tencel

Not sure what happened to pics of the Sock and Fibre Adventure Clubs so if anyone has any piccies (of the originals or what you made from them - please let me know!).

Clubs catch-up - May 2011 - Stained Glass

2012-01-08T15:12:00.000Z

Hot on the heels of April's offering, I give you May club piccies -

Stained Glass...
(sunglasses recommended for the delicate of vision - or those with large, hi-res monitors!)

Roving Medley - Falkland roving

Sock club - Superwash wool/nylon

Fibre Adventure Club - Falkand roving, baby alpaca fleece (I could curl up and hibernate in this stuff!) and silk hankies.

Club catch-up pics - April - strawberrry truffle

2012-01-08T14:16:00.000Z

As I am making way for what is arguably the most embarrassing blogpost ever, I'm going to get busy with a series of quick posts to round off 2011....

Clubs for April - Strawberry Truffle

Supersock Medley - Alpaca/nylon squooshiness

Roving Medley -70% natural champagne alpaca/30% organic merino - softness to dye for!

Fibre Adventure Club - Alpaca/merino roving, Exmoor x BFL fleece and baby silk/camel blend.

(and the embarrasing blogpost? Well, you'll just have to wait - but it involves designing...)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2012-01-05T11:31:00.000Z

I hope everyone had a lovely break! We had a few day's rest and relaxation, spending family time together, catching up on a 97% full hard-drive of recorded tv (!), eating more chocolate and cake than was strictly healthy and generally taking some time out.

2012 looks set to be a busy year with workshops and shows already filling up the diary - look out for details on the website soon. Writing on the book re-commenced as of yesterday ( 6 8 spreads written so far!) and some OCA sketching. We've also got an awesome new video camera so watch this space for news of some exciting developments on the teaching front!

I have a couple of posts to round off last year then it'll be full steam ahead for 2012. I don't really do New Year's Resolutions but I have got lots of ideas to share with you and I do have a couple of "old faithfuls" that will be on my list this year (more exercise, better diet, more early nights - sound familiar?). How about you? What's on your list for 2012?

Looking forward to reading your blogs, meeting up with you wherever/whenever possible and generally sharing our goings-on!

Debbie
x

Club piccies!

2011-12-06T12:20:00.000Z

More pics of this year's clubs....

March...Teal Green Agate

Fibre Adventure - Some lovely Merino roving, Romney fleece and some very interesting (and rather nice to dye) Chitin fibre.

Roving medley was a swirl of squooshy Merino

And for Sock Club members, my custom-spun Merino twist

Day 5 of the Christmas Countdown!

2011-12-05T16:59:00.000Z

Visit the Countdown Christmas tree and click on the bauble for Day 5 to see what today's special offer will bring!

On a related note, a couple of people have asked whether they can order their Countdown goodies and wait to have them all shipped together later to save on postage.

Absolutely! If you don't want to miss out on the day's offer but are waiting to see what's still to come, that's no problem at all. Order as normal on promotion day then when you get to the payment page on Paypal there's a box for message to merchant (it doesn't appear until right before payment). Just type in there that you'd like me to hang onto your order and combine the postage (or email me) and I'll keep your goodies until you're ready.

Simply drop me an email when you've finished shopping and I'll parcel up all your goodies and you'll only pay the postage for the total combined order. (Excess postage will be refunded via paypal when your parcel is posted).

U is for...Updates

2011-12-01T15:26:00.000Z

...sock and fibre club updates to be specific.

It was actually someone else who mentioned that I haven't posted any pics of my club yarns and fibres for absolutely ages and when I looked back in the archives (brushes off cobwebs and sneezes at rising dust cloud), I haven't done an update since January! My bad : (

Rather than crash everyone's internet with the pic-heavy post of the year, I'll do this tranches over the next couple of days. Starting with February then we had...

My Funny Valentine

(sock club inexplicably missing - if anyone has a pic, either the yarn or finished project, do let me know!)

Roving Medley - sproingy Corriedale

Fibre Adventure Club - Corriedale roving, Portland fleece, silk throwsters waste and merino silk roving

Red!

X is for,,,Xmas

2011-12-01T14:16:00.000Z

...Newsletter just out!

(Yes, a little predictable, I know, but it is quite true, the Christmas Newsletter is out today!).

There's still time to sign up and receive this issue's Subscriber-only Offer so if you would like up-to-date news of new products, what's happening and when, you can sign up on the homepage on the website at www.dtcrafts.co.uk or email me at subscribe@dtcrafts.co.uk.

If you signed up for the newsletter but haven't received it, it may have been captured by the spam filter. If it isn't hiding in your spam folder (or, shock horror, your trash can), please let me know and I'll check I have your correct details on the mailing list.

(And of course, I don't want to pester you with unwanted emails so any time you want to be removed from the list, a quick email to unsubscribe@dtcrafts.co.uk or click on the link at the bottom of any newsletter, and I'll action it straightaway).