Beach, sun, music, festival ... fun!

Ah what a great day.

We took the train to Hove for the Paddle Round The Pier beach festival, Alex was playing with the ukes and there was fun to be had with friends.

It was hot, sunny and a wonderful day, I'll let the pictures tell you

Ready to go on the Big Wheel

 Here we go

 Screaming loudly at the top

 Having a great time

 View from the ride

 Cool number plate Hey Ho Lets Go

 Training at the Tae Kwondo display

After this punch I lifted Imogen and she gave the rubber model a big kick across the head to a big cheer from the crew there.

 Trying out surf moves

The surf boards were on wobble discs to replicate the movement of waves when surfing, Imogen was pretty good on the balancing.

 The ukes, and my spindle (no didn't do much)

Trip to the beach before heading for the train station via the chip shop

July Spinning in the Tour de Fleece ...

Woolly Wednesday is perfectly placed this month just a few days into the Tour de Fleece, and will be great to compare with Augusts when it's all over to see what was achieved. This is how my bobbins looked at the start of the TDF.

Basketful of bobbins

 I took part in my first TDF last year after watching from the sidelines the previous couple of years on Ravelry. It was a lot of fun, at least spinning every day, setting myself some loose targets and being inspired by what everyone else was spinning. So I have joined in again this year and again my aim is to spin every day, however much that is - some days will be more than others. My targets are pretty loose again too as I am prone to changing my mind what I want to spin!

 

 BFL naturally dyed with Weld

My first spinning was the above BFL space dyed with Weld a while ago so I thought lets get it spun, I'm looking at all the odd bits of this and that to spin up for the TDF. As at the end of Day 4 (yesterday) this was all spun and plied and I love the resulting yarn, golden and soft.

 2 bobbins ready to ply

 2 plied bobbins

2 Golden Skeins

My next yarn is some un-dyed fibre being spun ready for a dyeing workshop day next weekend, something I am really looking forward to. Then it will be time to dive into the stash again to see what to spin next, maybe some bits of part fleeces if I get them washed and dried, and maybe some dyed if I can find a little time to dye it too. 

Other spinning prior to the TDF starting was the blue Corriedale in my last blog post all plied, now in skeins. All the Purple Haze yarn is spun and plied and in skeins too and I love how the grey has blended with the other colours in this yarn.

 Blue Corriedale Big skein from the Louet bobbin, 

smaller skein from the Wee Peggy bobbin

 close up of the Corriedale

Purple Haze Spinning close up

Happily I also discovered 3 more batts of the separated colours of Jacobs fleece so have spun and navajo plied those too to add to the yardage of this yarn - fantastic as now I can look at a larger project for this.

 5 lovely skeins of Jacobs

 Enjoying the TDF, will enjoy the rest of the tour, being inspired, spinning and sharing the fun. I look forward to sharing my TDF spinning total next month.

Woolly Wednesday July 2013

Welcome to the Woolly Wednesday gathering for July. Already July! So what are you up to this month? Are you taking part in the Tour de Fleece?

Whether you are a regular or a new visitor - come and share what you have been doing with wool or fibres in the last month, or plans for the month(s) ahead. All crafts and inspiration welcome. I ook forward to regularly sharing this space with you here.

 Woolly Wednesday falls on the first Wednesday of every month. Think of it as a creative gathering, or a virtual guild meeting. Bring along any fibre-related project, whatever it may be. If you are starting out in fibre arts, share what you are interested in pursuing. Let's show each other our projects, share any tips, tutorials, ask questions, seek advice. Add your post to the Linky below and we can visit one another and share, support, encourage, be inspired!. 

 Please feel free to add the button to your blog's sidebar with a link to Woolly Wednesday, a lovely way for us all to link together. Just copy the image to your desktop and then in your blog design - add a gadget, add picture - upload the picture and then add the url (http://raisingseedlings.blogspot.co.uk/) and the image will link to here. Join in with the linky below, link to a recent blog post of your woolly adventures in the last month or to a post in the month ahead, I look forward to seeing you, no time limits just join in when you can.

 I shall enjoy reading all about your woolly days x