This is What I've Been Up to

Because I know you are all dying to see a glimpse of the chaos, I didn't bother with a nice backdrop. This is my latest idea, winter weight peaked caps, unisex.
Below is some of what is in the shop;

Little girls apron.

Boys shirt, made from a vintage (unused) pillowslip.

Man shirt, vintage fabric.

Horsey skirt.

Spotty dress, (SOLD, YAY!) and a glimpse of some of other people's stuff.

Photography is not my strong point.

Tickled Pink

Finally my camera has batteries! Does anyone know the difference between a hank and a skein?
Here we have some more hanks from the spinning course, the one on the left is a combination of tussah silk, silk caps, cotton and camel. The brown bit is the camel, camel is very, very soft and lovely to spin. I had such small amounts, I just plied them all together and now I have no idea what to do with it. The one on the right is alpaca plied with merino tops, also a tiny amount.
This is a picture of my home made niddy noddy and lazy Kate. The wool is from a merino cross corriedale, it hasn't been washed in this photo. I have washed it and it comes up a beautiful creamy white, the transformation is amazing and very satisfying.
This is the wool tops I told you I had waiting to be dyed with food colours. The best thing about using food colours is that the monkeys can help. The finished garment is going to be for Middle Monkey, and she had lots of fun pouring the colours on. The tops are non-feltable superfine merino, and I now understand the meaning of 'buttery soft' when describing fibre. As I bought it from a shop that mainly supplies felters, this was a bargain. It is sold as stuffing. I had envisaged a bit more bleeding of the pink and yellow, and was hoping for more of a soft apricotty result. Oh well I thought I'll see how it spins up, and overdye if I don't like it.Here is the spun single:Here it is plied. I call this colourway 'tickled pink', because that's how I feel about it! I just love how it turned out, no overdying necessary. I sat and stared at it for a good 10 minutes. It is incredibly soft.


I have also had some luck at The Op Shop lately. (Any and all charity/secondhand goods shops are The Op Shop to me.) The burgundy jumper is 100% cashmere and brand new with tags (ebay or keep?) The blue jumper is 100% merino and looks new, the orangey red jumper is a bit worn but is also 100% cashmere. What else? Oh yes, four complete sets of knitting needles in different sizes and a bee costume!And here are the finished (almost) overalls.