All things new and old

I have two passions in life, one is science and in particular entomology, my second and more recent passion is fibre crafts. It all started in 2010 during the summer between my 2nd and 3rd year of university were shear boredom struck, which lead to me taking up crochet. My hobbies have taken leaps and bounds since then! The following summer after I took up crochet I dived into knitting and I also did a course on spinning. A year after that I have finally got my own wheel and I even got a rigid heddle loom! I've also got my hands on some dyes too!

My new motto in life is Spin. Weave. Knit. Dye.     (oh! and crochet!)  

I love my spinning wheel, its an Ashford Traditional

An this is all the fibre I got to spin on it!

I have currently spun the green and pink yarn, you can definitely see my improvement between the pink and the green (with the green being spun 2nd)

I have also bought some Alpaca fleece to spin but it occurred to me that I have no idea what to do with fleece! I'm pretty sure it will need washing and carding. But once its carded how do I make it into roving ready to spin! I have so much to learn but it is all so exciting at the same time.

I haven't done much weaving yet, I set it all up and then realised I had done it wrong (FACEPALM). Its fair to say I was pretty miffed at it. Never the less I corrected it and wove a small amount of cloth. I have declared that its a placemat. I don't like it very much because I used yarn which I didn't like, but I did that purposefully so I didn't waste nice yarn when I messed up. I am really pleased with it in terms of weaving. I enjoyed it and have spent alot of time browsing other peoples projects trying to decide what I would like to do next! I have finally decided and I am really excited!

This is the yarn from my stash that I will use for weaving a shawl. The pattern I am using is from one of the books I bought on weaving

I can't believe how much I love fibre crafts, my family are all shocked they never thought I would ever take up crochet 3 years ago and they certainly can't believe how its all progressed. What can I say, it kept me sane throughout university. Now 6 months into the real world I miss university! But at least I still have my fibre crafts!