Murmuring Wheel

2012-02-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

So there we are, 2011 in no more than half a dozen posts. I must make an effort to keep this blog more up to date in future, but it's amazing how time runs away with you when you're having fun!

The below posts were just some of the highlights of course.

I've been surprised by the popularity of the spinning and felting workshops at Amber Valley Alpacas, it's been a pleasure to meet and teach so many enthusiastic, creative people. We are now trialling beginners knitting and crochet days and are looking into other crafts and skills.

The Black Sheep meetings are still going incredibly well. Our 2nd birthday party in November was attended by around 30 people and we keep getting new faces ( who normally end up becoming regulars) popping in all the time.

The Arkwright Spinsters group went through a period of change recently but as a result, our meetings on the 3rd Sunday of every month are so happy, friendly and welcoming and it's clear that everyone really enjoys attending.

Both groups are open to all, whether experienced spinners, beginners or interested observers. For more information, see below or feel free to contact me.

Black Sheep Spinners, meet 3rd Wednesday of every month, 1pm - 4.30pm at Blaze Farm, Wildboarclough, SK11 0BL

The Arkwright Spinsters, meet 3rd Sunday of every month, 11am - 4pm in the Gothic Wharf building, Cromford Mill, DE4 3RQ

Bakewell, York and the Green Fair

2012-02-12T02:01:00.000-08:00

Bakewell Show

We had a great time at the 2011 Bakewell Show, again in the Food and Farming area, with The Sheep Show, NFU Let's Talk Farming Roadshow and Bakewell Young Farmers to name a few.

The weather kept us on our toes, scorching hot the first day and showers of rain on the second, both of which made me very glad that we took an extra, small gazebo to cover the area of our pitch which would normally be bare ground, with us sat/stood spinning exposed to the elements. We are learning - slowly.

I'm amazed at the amount of people who come back to see us year after year. It's a lovely feeling to be recognised, and to be told how much people enjoy seeing our display.

As we speak the papers for this years Bakewell Show are halfway to being filled in, so hopefully we will be back again - if they will have us.

York Food and Drink Festival

I was very pleased to be invited by the lovely Rachael from NFU Northeast, to demonstrate on their stall for York Food and Drink Festival on the 20th of September. The theme of the day was sheep and the display also included a couple of lambs, brought along by farmer Rosey Dunn. The lambs certainly got plenty of attention. I suppose it's not often you see sheep in the middle of York ( excepting Nobby and friends the previous year - obviously)

Rachael had also brought along my flag, as part of the display. I was pleased to see it again, and to hear that it has been used for lots of events, including Great British Beef Week.

The event was certainly well attended, not surprising with so much yummy food on offer!

Rachael, Rosey and I even got interviewed for Radio York, by Dougie, who bravely had a quick drop spindling lesson, broadcast live while he was talking to me. See photo at the top of this post, my fantastic photographer/mother even got the flag in the background.

It was a really enjoyable day overall. I must admit I'm getting very fond of York and would love to be asked to work up there again.

Green Fair

Chesterfield's first Green Fair was held on Saturday 24th September, organised by Alastair and the Buzz team.
It was a very different atmosphere from other Buzz events we have attended but certainly brought the event to the attention of a lot more people, some of whom seemed surprised to see some "extra" stalls on market day.

The reaction from the public and the regular stallholders was - on the whole - very positive. There were even a few people interested in booking for our spinning courses at Heage.
Feedback after the day sounds to have been very good and I'm told that a similar event is being planned for later this year.

Spinning Newspaper

2012-02-08T12:47:00.000-08:00

I did do some actual work through the summer too, as well as gallivanting all over the place demonstrating. As well as the usual sheep, alpaca dog and cat I was asked to spin 5kg of newspaper for a fashion student in London. It seemed like an enormous task - especially as I was only contacted about it at the end of June and it was needed by mid to late July!! But, me being the sort of person that can't resist an unusual project, had to try my best anyway.

It soon became obvious that I wasn't going to be able to manage on my trusty Ashford Traveller but after a look through the wheel collection I finally settled on the Louet S17, which worked perfectly.

The paper had to be cut into strips exactly 1cm wide, which I (stupidly?) decided to do by hand with scissors. Ouch, the blisters! I worked out from the length and weight of the particular publication that I was using, I had cut and spun around 20,000 strips to get to the 5kg target.
The strips had to be spun in to singles - not too much twist or they would snap suddenly, but not too little or the joins would fall apart. It took a bit of practice to get the technique right.

I did just manage to get the whole lot spun by the end on July ( I actually finished late morning on the 31st) but had posted the first 2kg earlier in the month, so the very talented designer could get to work.

The finished items that she knitted from the newspaper are truly impressive and I'm so happy that I was able to help. I have seen photographs of the whole collection but have been told that I'm not allowed to share them with anyone for the time being.

Seeing the pictures and handling the yarn, I have been inspired to do some knitting and crochet from newspaper myself in the future. I did do some sample pieces just to see how it worked up, it certainly has an interesting texture, it feels almost rubbery. I'd like to try a sunhat, hoping the paper would be rigid enough to hold a nice big brim. I might even post the results here..... watch this space.

Wool Experience 2011

2012-02-08T03:28:00.000-08:00

Wool Experience 2011

Deserves a whole post to itself I think.

We had a larger number of stalls this time around, which took a bit more organising. My fingernails suffered quite a bit of chewing in the lead up to the event but on the whole, I'm happy to say that the day went very well!

This time around we had some lovely new exhibitors, including: Paul Crookes from Halifax Spinning Company - who was very popular with the visitors! Some even came and thanked me for inviting him as he was so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

Amanda from Pedwardine Gotlands, who seemed to have lots of interest from our spinning visitors,
Emstead Leicester Longwools, who also had lots of fleeces snapped up by the visitors,
Amber Valley and Farhill Farm Alpacas -this stall too, fleeces selling like hotcakes!

Forest Crafters from Nottinghamshire,
Mum and daughter team Weave Knit It,
and local dyer Judith from The Wonder of Woolies.

Also back by popular demand, Dot Lumb and Yarnmaker magazine, and a shearing display by the Singing Shearer. I was also very happy that Carole from Skeins could come along for the day too, her stall was certainly very popular.

The weather turned out to be just perfect, which resulted in lots of visitors. We raised a good sum on the door, which was split between the local church, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute and Medeciens sans Frontiers.

Plans are underway for the 2012 event, already looking like it will be bigger and better, with many stalls already booked, although I am on the lookout for anything slightly unusual or interesting and wool related, so please feel free to make suggestions.

Thanks to Jayne and Nancy Fisher for the photos in this post.

April, May and June 2011

2012-02-08T01:31:00.001-08:00

CountryTastic 2011
at the Three Counties Showground was a huge success. The event attracted over 5000 children and their families.

We took 12 spinning wheels down this year and spent most of the day letting people "have a go" for themselves. As it was even more hectic than last year, we didn't get many photos ( again!) but above is one before it got too busy.

Wetlands
We spent both Bank Holidays in May at Wetlands Animal Park. Two very different days they were too! The 2nd of May was a beautiful sunshiney day spent spinning near the Meerkats, who provided lots of entertainment in the moments when we weren't talking to visitors. I even got my photo taken, and the photographer very kindly sent me copies, see my gallery page:

On the 30th of May, unfortunately Wetlands really lived up to its name, it absolutely poured with rain, but the staff had been very thoughtful and put us right near the entrance this time so we kept quite dry and were well supplied with cups of tea ( thankyou Sheila!) The park had plenty of visitors, even in the damp weather and we still ended up talking to lots of people who were interested in what we were doing.

Idle Valley Summer Fair

In June, two of the Murmuring Wheel team were invited to spin at a Summer Fair held at the Idle Valley Rural Learning Centre, near Retford. The fair consisted of a select group of interesting stalls and exhibits, including Lound Bird Club, The British Trust of Ornithology and local artist Ross Spencer who created fascinating sculptures from litter found in Retford. We even managed to get a couple of the other exhibitors drop spindling during the day, but sadly didn't get photographic evidence!

We were also lucky enough to have a stunning view to look out at during the event as the centre has a wall of windows on one side, which overlook a lake on the reserve.

Spinning Workshops

2011-03-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

We have now run many successful spinning workshops at Amber Valley Alpacas, Heage, Derbyshire.

We keep numbers small so that everyone gets plenty of individual attention and people always seem to go away happy, having learnt new skills, made new friends and been well fed on Ingrid's delicious cooking!

Our next workshop will be held on Saturday 2nd April, with more dates to be arranged in the future.

Any enquiries about further workshops welcome. We are hoping to cover other subjects such as felting and dyeing in the summer months, details to be published here soon!

For further details contact myself or Ingrid, more details here

Black Sheep Birthday

2011-03-07T12:16:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 17th November 2010 was the first anniversary of our Black Sheep Spinners!

To celebrate the occasion we had a bit of a party, all the members brought along tasty treats, many of them home-made, and the Blaze Farm staff very kindly made us a cake (see above)

We are thrilled that the group has been meeting for a year and seems to be going from strength to strength, we have lots of lovely regular visitors and it's always a friendly, fun atmosphere at meetings.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us for the last year.

Wool Week, York Minster, Nobby and the Union Jack.

2010-10-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

I think I've said before that I like odd requests. I enjoy a challenge, and an excuse to do something a bit out of the ordinary.

Sometimes though, I have moments where I wonder what I've let myself in for!

The idea for my most interesting project this year started at Bakewell Show. Richard from The Sheep Show casually strode over and asked if I thought I could make a Union Flag from wool. " I don't see any reason why not"...... I said.

I didn't really expect to hear anything more about it, but a few weeks later I got an email from the NFU's Regional Public Relations Officer for the North East. They wanted the flag making as part of their campaign to have wool included in the 2012 Olympics ( more information here) a campaign which Richard had been supporting all summer.

We swapped a few ideas and what followed was about 5 weeks of sketches, charts, samples, spinning, dyeing and crochet. I decided on crochet rather than knitting so that I could easily make the pattern the same on both sides.

The final result can be seen below, as well as more impressive shots here and here

The photos were taken at a special Wool Week event at York Minster on October 12th. The event was part of the national Campaign for Wool but also to celebrate the success of the NFU petiton.

We spent the day spinning outside the South Door of the Minster while Richard and Ed drew the crowds with The Mini Sheep Show. A full write up of the event can be found here.

We also managed to find a use for that 40ft scarf knitted at Bakewell. Emperor Constantine made a great model for the day!

We had a lot of fun with the tourists and also children from the nearby Minster school, who all had a go at spinning for themselves.

We were especially honoured to have been invited to this event as I'm told that this area of York is not a designated event area, and so the event was a the first of its kind.

So, in short, even if I was slightly upstaged by a Norfolk Horn, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Thanks must go to the NFU who looked after us so well, and especially to Rachael who made such a great job of organising the whole thing. Also to the Minster staff who made us very welcome.

And if you still want to see more, there are many more pictures: Mini Sheep Show Murmuring Wheel and York Minster

Gotland fleece

2010-10-18T05:03:00.001-07:00

Trying to get some interest for a friend of mine, Phil has just sheared her flock and she has some beautiful Gotland fleece available.

Pedigree Gotland Ewe fleeces from the Pedwardine flock based in South Lincolnshire. Shorn twice per year.
Full or half skirted fleeces. Price £6 per kg - average weight 1.5 -2kg Postage at cost.

Smaller quantities available at £1.50 per 100g for ewe fleece. 21 ewes sheared in all.
£2 per 100g for lamb curls ( any quantity). 30+ lambs sheared.

Anyone who is interested can contact me and I will pass on her details.

Hand Spinning Workshops

2010-10-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

Dates for our next Spinning Workshops at Amber Valley Alpacas have been arranged, they are ;

Wednesday 10th November 2010

Tuesday 7th December 2010

Thursday 6th January 2011

Sunday 23rd January 2011.

Cost of workshop is £37, a Gift Voucher can be purchased for Birthdays and Xmas.
A deposit of £20 per person is required which will be returned if the workshop does not go ahead.

The workshop runs from 10am - 4pm, all equipment and materials provided, but if you have your own wheel or fibre please feel free to bring them along.

Light cooked lunch will be provided, vegetarian alternatives are available, please let us know beforehand of your preference.

Please contact to book your place. Details here

Bakewell Show 2010

2010-10-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Our third year at Bakewell Show, what can I say that isn't like repeating myself?

Fun, friendly and muddy as usual!

The oversized scarf idea came into action again, it came to over 40ft this time, see future posts for what we did with it!

Here it is in progress, photo kindly supplied by Dot Lumb:

We enjoyed working with The Sheep Show again of course.

How many sheep shearers does it take to spin a yarn?

Don't worry, my wheel did survive the experience!

Shearing for the Lions

2010-08-13T02:43:00.000-07:00

The demonstrations seem to be getting further afield, Worcestershire in April, and now Cumbria in August!

We had been invited by a fellow Accidental Smallholder foum member to do a sheep shearing and spinning demonstration for the Windermere and Ambleside Lions Club Family Fun Festival at Bowness-on Windermere on the 1st of August.

We have demonstrated in some lovely settings, but this one will take some beating for views:

We were in the bandstand at the top of the hill so had a good view straight over the top of everyone else's stalls and over the lake. Apart from a bit of drizzle first thing, the weather stayed good too and the event attracted lots of interested visitors.

Philip was shearing Herdwicks, the native sheep of the area. We were told to be careful as they were a bit wild, but they all behaved pretty well.

We would like to say many thanks to David for inviting us and we hope that the event was a big success for the Lions club

Inkerman Buzz 2010

2010-08-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not exaggerating when I say we were delighted to be asked to demonstrate at the 2nd Inkerman Buzz, in Inkerman Park, Chesterfield this year.

We loved it last year so were really pleased that they wanted us to go again. It's a great setting for an event and attracted plenty of visitors, many more than last year. The weather was just right too.

We didn't get any photo's though! Tut!

The Inkerman Buzz is all about the theme of Sustainability, Well Being and Community. Visit the Buzz website for more information about the day, photos and details of their other events this year.

Wonderful Wool Experience

2010-08-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday 3rd July 2010. The Wool Experience at Blaze Farm.

I was honoured to be allowed to have a hand in the organising of the event this year. I was lucky enough to be able to arrange for some very exciting stallholders, including WildFibres with their SpinOlution wheels, which they were kind enough to let lots of us have a play on during the day.

Other exhibitors included our Black Sheep Spinners, Edale Woolworks, Newtoft Woodcraft, ELF feltmaking demonstrations and The Amoré Group with their fancy yarns. Also one of the Black Sheep flock, our good friend Dot Lumb, promoting her new YarnMaker magazine, the first edition of which is in the post to me as I type!!

We all had a really good day, lots of spinning and chatting going on and lots of icecreams eaten ( of course!)
Philip helped out with the shearing demonstration again, and even did a few with the blade shears, which seemed to draw a crowd.

Here's hoping that it is as good, if not better next year. Most of the exhibitors have already said that they would like to come back again, and a few more people have asked to be squeezed in too, so it's looking like the barn will be pretty full. Can't wait!

Sherwood Forest Farm Park - post 2

2010-07-07T03:28:00.001-07:00

The weekend of the 5th and 6th of June was a while ago now, yet I haven't blogged despite having great fun and getting some brilliant photos.

The weather didn't play completely fair but despite heavy rain and thunder, the sheep were still dry enough to all get sheared, and several fleeces left in the clutches of rather excited spinners. They have no doubt all been put to good uses by now!

It was nice to meet quite a few members of Ravelry who had come along after seeing my mentions of the event on several groups. We made some new friends and had a "guest" spinner with us on each day.

We even managed to get farmer Simon to have a go at shearing:

and spinning:

We had a lovely weekend and are looking into possibly having a spin in day at the farm later in the year, watch this space for more information.

BIG thankyou to Simon and Felicity for letting us invade for the weekend.

Sherwood Forest Farm Park

2010-04-26T03:32:00.000-07:00

Get in a Spin as the Sherwood Sheep Strip for Summer.

Not a bad title for an event don't you think? My first idea was Sherwood Forest Farm Park Strippers but maybe that gives the wrong impression!

What I'm going on about is our forthcoming Shearing and Spinning Demonstration at Sherwood Forest Farm Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire on the 5th and 6th of June. The poster above should tell you all you need to know, and feel free to send it to anyone you think might be interested as we want this to be a brilliant family event.

Philip will be shearing the park's sheep and we will be rifling through the fleeces to find a nice one to spin and knit.

For the spinners out there, you will have the opportunity to buy a lovely fresh fleece to take home with you. Any budding spinners are welcome to come along and have a go too!

We have been visiting Sherwood Forest Farm Park ever since I was really young so I'm thrilled to be able to demonstrate there. There is plenty more to see once you have got bored of us, including Pigs, Cows, Goats, Llama, Water Buffalo, Wallabies, Sheep (obviously!) Poultry, Waterfowl, Rabbits, Indoor and Outdoor play areas and a miniature railway. Something for everyone.

Mangalitza pig and piglets, their hair can also be spun, in fact I was asked to do some once, but that's another story. Wouldn't mind an excuse to spin some though!

Odd looking spinner?

2010-04-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

The more observant of you will have noticed that the above photo is NOT one of us spinning, yes it is in fact a meerkat. A meerkat at Wetlands Animal Park near Retford where we did the last of our Easter "batch" of demonstrations on the 11th of April.

We love being invited back to demonstrate at Wetlands as it is a great place run by lovely people and the visitors are always happy to stop for a chat on their way around. We like it so much that we are going back again, on the 31st of May - put it in your diaries!

We will be doing our usual spinning demo in our favourite spot, under the trees near the deer pen, but you will also be able to catch a shearing display from The Singing Shearer too, shearing all five of the Wetlands Sheep, including the famous Knobby!

Too good a day to miss!

Countrytastic!!

2010-04-17T02:29:00.000-07:00

This was it, the big event that I had been planning for ( and stressing about) for months.... After a 2.30am wake up to make sure we got everything done in time, The Murmuring Wheel set off down the motorway at 3.45 am on our way to Countrytastic at the Three Counties Showground. We arrived on the showground just before 7am and just had time for a bit of breakfast before setting up.

We had taken 11 spinning wheels down with us. It was the first outing for one of them, our 17th century English Great Wheel, which was operated all day by Nancy.

We had lots of other equipment with us too to give the kids plenty to have a go at.

We were set up and ready by 9am and had time to chat to a few of the other exhibitors before the gates opened at 10am, a good thing we took the opportunity really as when the visitors started to arrive we got VERY busy - hence the lack of photographs, nobody had a free minute to take any. We found out afterwards that there had been over 4000 visitors!

Lots of children and their parents and grandparents had taken advantage of the glorious sunshine to enjoy a day out and we discovered quite a few promising young spinners and weavers among them. When they had been around our stand there was plenty more to keep the kids entertained, including The Sheep Show presented this time by Stuart Barnes, who we hadn't worked with before but who went down a treat with the audience.

Other attractions include a sheepdog display, terrier racing and a play area of hay bales and sawdust ( I think most of the kids liked the last one best of all!)

Adam Henson from The Cotswold Farm Park and BBC Countryfile was also at the event with his family, I persuaded Adam to have a go on my Great Wheel, which he did, producing a very........ interesting yarn. His daughter Ella also tried on mum's wheel and spun a bit of very nice wool.

If Adam happens to come across this blog ( not likely I know!) then we have a message for him:

" We hope your spinning has improved by next year as we will be back again. Get that spinning wheel out of the loft and get some practice in, who knows maybe we will save you a chair and you ( or Ella) can come and join in the demonstration!"

And if I get a reply to that I will be rather shocked!

We had a fantastic time and did actually get some work done. After seeing the sheep sheared on the Sheep Show, visitors could see us spinning and crocheting. We managed to make a crocheted a shawl during the day which we gave to Show Manager Doreen Smillie.

We want to say a big thankyou to everyone who organised the event, particularly to Doreen and to Education Officer Sue Hodgson-Jones. We were honoured to be part of such a well organised, fun and educational event and it was clear that you had put such a lot of work into making it the success it was.

We are looking forward to next year, it's the 21st April 2011 for anyone who missed this year and wants to catch it next time around.

Sorry that this post is a bit lacking in photos readers, but if you look here: Newsdesk there is a very nice one of Philip at the bottom of the article, we hope that the Countrytastic Gallery will be up on the TCAS website soon too.

Easter Saturday and Sunday

2010-04-17T01:49:00.001-07:00

Easter Saturday and Sunday was spent out in Lincolnshire at St Stephens Church, Hatton for the Srping Fling, organised by Artinvision.

We were rather subdued for the first day as we had been separated!!! We were spread out into two different marquees, so couldn't banter like usual, we rebelled on day two though and all grouped together up near the church.

We shared the marquee with a very friendly woodworker who had come along with the Lincolnshire Tree Services team.

The weather had turned out beautiful and a lovely lady from the refreshments tent ( Jenny?) kept us well supplied with tea and cake. Like last year we spoke to lots of interested people, including some who were spinners already. For such a small village it is surprising how well attended this event has been for the last two years.

Good Friday

2010-04-17T01:19:00.001-07:00

Good Friday was a Smallholders day at CWG Worksop. The warehouse was filled with various creatures including sheep, pigs, alpacas and poultry, while we were spinning just near the entrance of the shop.

We were well looked after by the staff who were fantastic - we couldn't persuade any of them to have a go at spinning though.

The place was incredibly busy, in fact I had a permenant spectator!

We really enjoyed the day, and bumped into lots of people we hadn't seen for a long time. Hopefully we will be spinning there again soon.

Easter events

2010-03-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

We're gearing up to a very busy Easter here. I'm spending every spare moment preparing and am sure that I'm never going to get everything done that needs doing.

If anyone fancies coming along to see us when we are out and about, we will be at the following:

2nd April - Good Friday - Open Day at Central Wool Growers, Worksop Branch, Nottinghamshire

3rd and 4th April - Easter Saturday and Sunday - The Spring Fling, organised by Artinvision
at St Stephens Church, Hatton, nr Wragby, Lincolnshire.

then a few days rest until.....

8th April -CountryTastic! at The Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire. We are working with The Sheep Show at this one, which always proves an interesting experience!

11th April - Wetlands Animal Park, Sutton-cum-Lound, nr Retford, Nottinghamshire. We will be spinning near the deer enclosure.

We will also be at the Arkwright Spinsters meeting on the 18th and Black Sheep meeting on the 21st, so April will probably pass pretty quickly!

New Year and more to keep me busy

2010-01-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

2010 seems to be disappearing as quickly as 2009 did. Almost a month gone already!

The Black Sheep meetings continue to be successful, we did have a few worries about the January one after such a lot of snow up near the farm, but we still managed to get across, as did many others.

The diary is filling up at an amazing rate at the moment, some dates have been added to my Events page but lots more will be added in the near future. It's looking like this will be our busiest year yet.

The first workshop at Amber Valley Alpacas went very well indeed and seemed to have been enjoyed by everyone who attended. I'm going to write a seperate post about the day when I've tracked down some photos.

The date for the February workshop is fully booked and the March date is getting plenty of interest too so we may have to look at arranging more dates later in the year to meet demand. Anyone looking for spinning courses, felting courses or workshops any other related crafts please get in touch and we will see what we can arrange.

Ah well, must get some work done, back soon.....

Spinning and Felting Workshops, Derbyshire

2009-11-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

We are currently taking bookings for 1 day spinning and felting workshops, early in 2010 at Amber Valley Alapacas, Heage, Derbyshire. Bookings can be made through myself or Ingrid at Amber Valley Alpacas.

Dates so far are 24th January, 28th February and 28th March 2010 from 10am - 4pm

Cost of workshop will be £35 and will include light refreshments. A deposit of £20 per person is required which will be returned if the course does not go ahead.

Places are filling up quickly so please register your interest now to make sure you don't miss out.

Further information and contact details on the poster above, and as always, please contact me if you have any questions.

Activity Update

2009-11-25T07:19:00.001-08:00

I think it's about time I updated the blog with what else I have been up to, other than planning workshops and social groups!

I'm working on lots of commissions in time for Christmas and at the moment I'm in the middle of a big batch of Alpaca hats. I've also just enjoyed spinning some samples for a Leeds University Student to knit, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she creates with them.

I also got a nice local (for once!) booking thanks to a friend of mine. Mum and I went out to do a spinning demo and hands on session for the Kiveton Sew -n- Sews who all seemed to enjoy having a play with the wheels. It was a really enjoyable evening and was nice to be able to demonstrate somewhere closer to home. I fact it's a real treat to be demonstrating in the same county as home!

Must get some knitting done now, hopefully I will get everything done in time for Christmas, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed - although not during knitting, obviously!

The Black Sheep Spinners, 1st meeting

2009-11-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

I think I have just about recovered enough now to blog about yesterday! What a fantastic, friendly, fun, tiring day it was too.

I think I can safely say that the first meeting of the Black Sheep Spinners went well. We had far more people come and join us than we had ever imagined and the room was totally packed for most of the day, we think that, aside from the 8 of us who organised it, there were about 20 people!

It was great to see lots of new faces, who we hope will become good friends in the future, and also to see some old friends that we hadn't met for a while. Such as Sally and her family, home educating friends of ours who fitted in perfectly. Her girls were a delight to have with us and both Lani and Freya produced some very neat spinning.

Lani even helped out, teaching needlefelting to two children who visited after school. We hope to have lots more home-ed children, and children in general at future meetings.

Sally has already written a lovely post about the day on her own blog here Thanks Sally!

We had our own Black Sheep Banner, ready in time for the day, thanks to the hard work of Florence. It looked fantastic and shows just what a talented lady she is.

Both the banner and our badges sport our logo, George Clooney II of Camall, the Black Sheep. His image is used with the kind permission of Mr James Graham.

It was great to see so many people, spinning, knitting, chatting, swapping tips and having a go at different aspects of their crafts.

Dorothy doing very well on the Great Wheel there, I know who to leave in charge whan I want a break!

We all want to say thanks to all at Blaze Farm who took such good care of us, especially Katy who did so much to help us prepare in the lead up to the first meeting.

We are now eagerly looking forward to next month's meeting, 16th of December. We are anticipating even more people coming as almost everyone who came this time said that they would be telling friends. Hope the room will hold us all!

We intend meeting on the third Wednesday of each month from now on, I will post list of dates for next year eventually. Everyone welcome, all ages. £3 per session with refreshments.

If you are not a crafter, why not come for a look around ( free admission) and see what we get up to. You might just find that last minute Christmas present, as some members will have lovingly created items for sale. And of course it's never too cold for an icecream before you leave.

I will leave you with a taste of what we had on display, if you want to see more, then come along and visit us.

Announcement

2009-10-09T06:23:00.000-07:00

The five of us and a couple of friends have decided to start a new spinning group.

So, we would like to introduce........ The Black Sheep Spinners.
We will be based at Blaze Farm, near Wildboarclough in Cheshire.

We hope that this will be of interest to lots of people, not just spinners, all knitters, weavers, crocheters, lacemakers etc are quite welcome to come along and join us.

We are starting this group because we know people with young children, who want to learn to spin, or their children want to learn but have had difficulty finding a child friendly setting and also as a social gathering for crafters who don't like the idea of evening meetings.

It's free for anyone who just wants to come and have a look around and a chat or £3 per session if you want to sit and spin/knit/weave etc. Your first session is free.

If you are wanting to learn any of these crafts, we can arrange tuition at the group by prior arrangement but will have to charge a little extra for use of our equipment and materials.

All the information you need should be on the poster above, any questions please feel free to get in touch - TheHappySpinster@aol.com

We look forward to seeing you all.

End of the summer season

2009-10-09T02:11:00.000-07:00

Phew, at last I have caught up with blogging about our summer adventures. We finished off with our usual weekend at Cromford Mill for Heritage Open Days, which was quieter than previous years but still lots of fun, and of course, we have demonstrated every month with The Arkwright Spinsters, also at Cromford.

We did have chance to squeeze in a few day out for ourselves too, we visited Hope Show in Derbyshire at the end of August and enjoyed catching up with lots of friends that we hadn't seen lately.

We also went up to Masham Sheep Fair for a look around, I always like to see what has been entered in the spinning competitions in the Town Hall. We bumped into a friend of ours who was showing some of her sheep and of course we had to watch a Sheep Show, and find a few minutes to chat to Richard.

I have also been working on lots of commmission jobs through the year, plus making new items which I will have out for sale at next years events, if they haven't all been snapped up before then. I have also found the time to do a lot more experimenting with natural dyes recently, something I have dabbled in for a while but never had the time to really play around with. I have been getting much better results after a few tips from a friend of mine who does a lot of dyeing.

The diary for next year is filling up fast, it looks like we will be out at more places than ever. I have also been working on a few exciting new projects, news about some of them will be publised here in the coming weeks, so please keep checking back.

Late August

2009-10-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

Friday the 21st of August we demonstrated for the Avocet Trust's Summer Hoedown at Neat Marsh Farm, Preston, near Hull. Philip had sheared their sheep a few months previously and they had saved the fleeces for us to spin at this event ( great for us as it meant we didn't have to squeeze as many sacks of wool in the car with all our other equipment!)

The event was for the trust's clients and their families and was a very fun and enjoyble day with many of the staff and vistors in costume as cowboys and indians. We met some fantastic people, all the staff, clients and families were lovely to talk to, we had one young man who sat with us all day, so we must have been interesting!

To find out more about The Avocet Trust and the work that they do, please visit their website: Avocet Trust

A few days later, on Wednesday the 26th we had been booked to demonstrate in the Joiners Shop at Home Farm, Temple Newsam at Leeds. It was a quiet day, probably due to the cold, drizzly weather but the few visitors that were there all came in for a look around and a chat and we enjoyed working in such an interesting setting.

One of the locals coming for a look around:

Bakewell Show 2009

2009-10-01T03:49:00.001-07:00

As we had been so busy through the summer, August seemed to creep up on me and before I knew it it was time for Bakewell Show again. I must admit it was the event I had been really looking forward to as it was the place that our Murmuring Wheel Group made it's first proper appearance.

The problem being, we had such a great time last year, we had been wondering how on earth to top it this year.

Things didn't look too promising when we arrived the night before to set up our stand, the ground was already quite wet and several of the other exhibitors seemed to be having difficulties which made it difficult for us to set up where we intended, meaning we had to have a 4.30am start the next day to get sorted out in time for the show opening. Things improved from then though and the ground dried up pretty quickly in our corner.

We had arranged to work with Richard and his Sheep Show again, which was always going to be interesting! We had already been and had a chat with him when we visited the Great Yorkshire Show back in July so had a few ideas of what we were going to get up to.

We decided that we would stretch ourselves this year and worked on two different projects, a mystery item in segments for each day plus a special surprise for Janet Bailey, the lovely Show Manager, who we thought deserved a bit of thanks for all the hard work she puts in all year round, making the Bakewell Show such a popular and enjoyable event.

Our mystery items went down well with the visitors, turning out to be a sheep on the first day:

And a teddy bear on the second, complete with costume, does it look like anyone familiar do you think?

We also managed to finish the project we had been working on for Janet, a crocheted woollen shawl, and were honoured that - although she was very busy - she found the time to come down and see us so that we could present it to her in person.

Many thanks to Lesley and Kirsty in the show office for helping us plan the surprise.

As we expected we had a brilliant time at the show, we enjoyed seeing friends that we hadn't seen in a while, who had come for a day out, and also meeting new people, lots of whom we hope to see again in the future.

We also really enjoyed working with Richard and The Sheep Show again, it's always nice to have someone else to have laugh with. Sooner or later we will know his show off-by-heart too, in fact I think I could recite most of it already!

We are already looking forward to next year and trying hard to come up with new ideas. Any suggestions welcome.

The Inkerman Buzz

2009-10-01T03:39:00.001-07:00

On Saturday the 18th of July we demonstrated at an exciting new event in Inkerman Park, Chesterfield. The Inkerman Buzz was a community event, celebrating sustainability, environment and well-being.

The event had been organised jointly by Friends of The Inkerman, Transition Chesterfield, Chesterfield Cycle Campaign and Walton and West Community Forum.

We had been invited by a fellow home-educating family who we had met while doing a spinning workshop for Chesterfield Home Educators Group.

All the other stalls were really interesting ( though we didn't have much time to look around) and included, V3Power with - among other things - a home made wind turbine, which really fascinated us.

We were all very impressed by how well organised the event was, in fact we had absolutely nothing to complain about! We particularly liked the gazebos ( which had already been put up when we got there, what a bonus!)

It was a pleasure to meet so many people who were genuinely interested in what we were doing, including the Mayor of Chesterfield and his lovely wife who stayed for a chat with us during their visit.

We want to say a big thanks to the Buzz team who all worked so hard to make the day the success it undoubtedly was, we hope that you are able to run more events like this, and hope you will invite us again too!

The Wool Experience

2009-08-23T03:39:00.000-07:00

Another update of our antics, as usual we have been so busy that I have neglected the blogging again.

Saturday 4th of July we were up at Blaze Farm, Wildboarclough in Cheshire spinning at their annual Wool Experience event. We first spun at Blaze Farm in 2007 and always pop in when we are passing, for one of their famous ( and delicious) Hilly Billy Ice Creams.

Although he was in his Murmuring Wheel outfit, Phil still got roped in to helping with the shearing demonstration, which seemed to be one of the highlights of the day for a lot of visitors.

There were a lot of interested visitors and we spent a lot of time taking to lots of lovely people. Plenty of kids - and adults - were brave enough to have a go at spinning for themselves too, which we always like to see, and we even gave a quick spinning lesson to farmers wife Caroline.

In between all this we still managed to find time to spin and crochet a shoulder shawl which we hope found its way to Blaze Farm's Katy who had been working hard all day in the cafe and also providing a commentary on the shearing display.

Open Farm Sunday

2009-07-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday 7th of June saw us heading up to Dovedale for Open Farm Sunday at The Peak District Farm Shop Grove Farm, Stanshope.

It was lovely weather - for ducks! And the thunder kept everyone awake too! The event attracted an amazing number of visitors though, who braved the bad weather to see the various demonstrations on offer. Phil's shearing demo went down well, as did an impromptu shearing lesson during the worst of the thunderstorm:

Nevertheless, we had a nice - if damp - day and had plenty of chance to talk (as always) Thanks to Nick, Helen, John, Janet and David for inviting us. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a dry day next year!

White Post Farm

2009-07-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Must keep up with this blogging thing, I'm letting myself fall behind. I was supposed to be blogging about our latest adventures a while ago but have been so busy I never got round to it.

My diary is usually full up for summer events well in advance but just occasionally I get a job come up at short notice. This was just what happened near the end of May. I knew that Phil was going to be shearing for White Post Farm at the end of the month, what I didn't expect was a phonecall from the Farm on the Wednesday, asking if we would all go and spin for them while the shearing was going on Saturday and Sunday! Never one to turn down a day out, I agreed and so we ended up going along and spinning for the weekend in the Silver Barn ( under a sign that said "Chickens" - don't know of that is relevant!)

We thought that as we were there for two days we would work on another big project and decided on a crocheted blanket. Philip had his orders to find us a good fleece, so he selected, and sheared a lovely soft, colourful Jacobs.

We were all pretty content as we were all doing what we do best, Philip shearing, and the rest of us spinning and having a good natter to the visitors, and the staff.

By the middle of the second day, we were a bit worried that it wouldn't get the blanket finished - maybe we spend too much time talking - but we did mange to get the finishing touches done in time, and here was the result:

We left it with the farm, not sure what they will be doing with it, perhaps they will have to use it to keep the sheep warm now that they have had their coats taken off!

So, for a short notice booking, we had a pretty good weekend, we were really impressed with how helpful and friendly the staff were and want to say a big thankyou to everyone, especially to Simon for inviting us and to Rebecca and Emily for looking after us so well.

Summer is really here

2009-05-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Summer really seems to be here now, the group and I have been out and about demonstrating in the sunshine.

Sunday the 24th of May we were out as members of the Arkwright Spinsters at Hardwick Park Farm

It was an absolute scorcher of a day which seemed to attract the visitors. They had a team of shearers in, shearing their sheep, so we picked a nice looking fleece and got to work.

Laying the fleece out in the sun kept the lanolin warm which made it much easier to spin and the fleece was soon knitted up -

into a lovely ( although slightly greasy and smelly) shawl, for farmer's wife Clare.

They had a fantastic barbeque cooking too, we can recommend the beefburgers!

Bank Holiday Monday saw us at Wetlands Wildlife and Waterfowl Reserve at Sutton-cum-Lound, near Retford, which, by the way, is a great place to visit if you like to get a good look at unusual types of creatures, or just fancy a country walk around the lakes.

We had a nice shady spot, under the trees at the end of the deer pen and not far from their one sheep, Knobby, who was sheared by Philip in the afternoon ( the 100th sheep he had sheared this year!)

We managed to talk a few of the visitors into having a go at spinning too with some pretty impressive results.

Sheep Shearer

2009-05-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

Sheep Keepers, are you having problems finding a shearer this summer?

Sheep shearer available for work around the UK

My brother is just setting up shearing sheep, he is based in the South Yorkshire area but will travel. He is specialising in small flocks but will tackle larger jobs, his motto is "I've never slummed a pen".

He has experience of shearing all sizes of sheep from Lincoln Longwool down to Ouessant.

Philip Fisher http://www.singingshearer.co.uk/

Easter Weekend

2009-04-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

The demonstration season seems to be coming around again. The Murmuring Wheel and I had a busy three days over Easter at two very different but very enjoyable events.

Easter Saturday we had been invited to the "Spring Fling" at Hatton Church in Lincolnshire, organised by
The Invitation.

The day started off rainy, but that didn't put off the visitors, in fact for such a small village, the turnout was amazing. As we were in Lincolnshire, we had decided that it would be appropriate to be spinning Lincoln Longwool fleece ( kindly supplied by Sharon of Greengate Wools) which many local people noticed. We had a really nice day, thanks to Margaret and Sheila for inviting us and hope we can come back again soon.

Easter Sunday and Monday we represented The Arkwright Spinsters at a Georgian Re-enactment and Living History event at Cromford Mill in Derbyshire. We were right up on the top floor of the main mill, which was new for us as we are more used to being on the ground floor of the wharf building, just across the road from the mill. Being so high up gave us a great view of what was happening in the mill yard though.

We thought that being up on the top floor, we wouldn't get many visitors, but were surprised at just how many people came in, partly due, on the Sunday, to David, the tour guide, bringing his tour groups in to see the spinning process. The other exhibitions in the same building as us were fascinating, unfortunately I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked.

Me, looking busy...........

So, a good start to our summer demonstrations, fingers crossed that the rest of the year goes this well.

Advent Gathering

2008-12-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

On the 6th of December the Murmuring Wheel Group and I attended the Advent Gathering of the Staffordshire Moorlands Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers at Cheddleton.

It's always nice to see the Staffordshire Moorlands Guild as they are all such lovely people and this year, like last, they put on a fantastic event which was enjoyed by everyone who went.

We had a great time catching up with friends we hadn't seen in a while and making new ones.

Catching up

2008-12-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it's all very well starting a blog if I never update it!

I have been so busy over the last few months that I have hardly been near the computer. I have however managed to make a start on a website: Murmuring Wheel which I will be working on in the future.

So, a quick catch up of the last few months:

Bakewell Show for a start as I previously mentioned it.

We demonstrated spinning with the Peak Wool Heritage Group in the Farming, Food and Fun section. We did a very succesful link up with The Sheep Show spinning and knitting a fleece that was shorn by Richard Savory, the presenter of the show on the first morning, and by the end of the second day of the show had knitted a scarf the length of his stage. This was all from raw fleece of course so we smelled a bit by the end of the second day!

As it turns out we were having too much fun to actually get any photos of us in action but did manage to get one of Richard having a go at spinning between performances. Surprisingly he turned out to be a pretty good spinner too.

We also demonstrated at the Heritage Open Days event at Cromford Mill on the 13th and 14th of September, representing the Arkwright Spinsters. It was a quiet weekend but we were visited by some friends and their children, which livened things up a lot!. If anyone in the Derbyshire area or nearby would like to come and see us at the Mill, the Arkwright Spinsters meet there on the third Sunday in every month.

At the end of September we had a day out and visited the Masham Sheep Fair, we met a lovely lady from the Craven Guild who was spinning there and also caught up with the Sheep Show again and saw that Richard was still using our scarf in the show.

In between times, I have been doing a lot of spinning for customers and the occasional bit just for fun and we have made a few trips to The Threshing Barn where Janet, the owner always makes us very welcome.

More posts to follow, hopefully more regularly from now on.

First post

2008-08-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hello, welcome to the first post of Murmuring Wheel, my name is Diane, I am a handspinner in South Yorkshire, England, providing custom handspinning, knitting and crocheting services and spinning demonstrations at various events.

My family and I have been demonstrating spinning for five years as members of the Arkwright Spinsters but have recently started demonstrating as a group known as The Murmuring Wheel, some photos of our first demonstration, at the Bakewell Show, will follow shortly.