Summer at last!

No, not the weather, the Summer Sizzler Shawl is FINISHED!

Cleaning Lleyn and the rugged farmer

What, August already? Need to start thinking about Christmas! Got two organic Lleyn fleeces from Manor Farm. What a performance washing in bowlsful. No way was I going to put it in the bath and get a bad back, or all that scrubbing out afterwards. Did some dyeing with organic beetroot and o. onion skins plus some very inorganic copper sulphate to get a good olive green from the onion. And my one woad palnt for very pale blue and pinky-tan from the spend leaves. Half an hour per evening carding, then some spinning. Woollen spinning method is not my forte and I reckon this fleece is a bit rough, so I plied it with some o. merino tops I found (to try and keep the organic theme going).

Decided to make the farmer and his wife some form of handwarmers this year. First effort is 40 sts in 2x2 rib on size 4mm needles. Three inches or 22 rounds in olive, 22 back and forth rows in golden onion and last inch or 7 rounds again in beetroot. So here they are - the rugged farmer's handwarmers, or should that be the farmer's rugged handwarmers?