I've written a version of this post for the past couple of years. Think of it as the link to send to family members and friends to point them in the right direction. 
Over on the Mighty Networks group we've got a thread going with great suggestions for smaller businesses and organisations who would really appreciate your money this year, with loads of beautiful gift ideas for lots of different people, even if they are not a spinner or a crafter. 


These are the dates that Royal Mail have put out for Christmas delivery. The international ones in particular seem overly optimistic to me, so I would allow at least an extra week on top of these dates...

Friday 4th December- Australia, New Zealand
Wednesday 9th December- Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central and South America, Far and Middle East
Thursday 10th December- Canada, Cyprus, Malta
Friday 11th December- Greece, Eastern Europe (except Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia) and Turkey
Saturday 12th December- Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA
Wednesday 16th December- Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland
Friday 18th December- Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg
Friday 18th December-  UK 2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For
Monday 21st December- UK 1st Class and 1st Class Signed For and Royal Mail Tracked 48*
Tuesday 22nd December- UK Royal Mail Tracked 24*

Also, remember, if you're buying from a small business it's not unrealistic for them not to offer same day or next day despatch. All my items are in stock and ready to be shipped, but I still only post orders on Monday and Thursday morning. 

Some of this information is copied from last year, because I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel!

Firstly, if your spinner has a favourite dyer then don't be afraid to send that dyer an email with a budget and ask them to put together a parcel of fibre related treats for you. They'll be happy to help, and will be able to give the spinner something new to try, but also check their previous orders to see if they have any colour preferences.

I'm always happy to help people out in this way.... 
​
However, if you leave it too late (because the postal system has it's limits), then a subscription to a fibre club is an excellent present. You can set up a gift subscription to my Time Travellers Club really easily, just tick the "This is a Gift" box and the system will do the rest. You an choose to let the subscription run for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, and the payment gets taken every month rather than 1 large sum up front, so it's a nice way to spread the cost out. So long as you order before the 23rd then the first parcel will be sent during January. A 100g subscription in the UK for 3 months works out at just over £30.
You won't get a fancy gift card through the post, so you might have to get creative with the way you hand over the present, but I'm sure if you pop in to a local shop you'll be able to find a nice card to  write in. ​

Tools are always useful, and they're also a great low budget gift, things like my WPI tool are the sort of thing you can slip into a card, and post for very little money. 

Extra bobbins are rarely something that any spinner will turn down, particularly if they are some of the lovely  £D printed flat pack ones. In the past I've pointed people towards Akerworks, but I'm pleased to say there's now a UK based supplier, offering a similar product. I've not tried them personally, but I have spoken to others that have, and they've all said positive things. If you're buying these for someone else, make sure you're buying them for the right spinning wheel, and because they're made to order you will need to allow a good window of time. 

In further shameless self promotion (which to be frank, after the blog ate this post the first time round, I'm not exactly feeling shameful about). ​If they're a spinner they're probably also a knitter or a crocheter. In which case an organiser for their needles or hooks is a lovely present. Or you could go for a case to hold their hand carders together. 
There are lots of lovely bags and cases  in the Quince Pie etsy shop. 

Alternatively if they're a sewer then how about a handmade pin cushion, or a deluxe stitch ripper. 
The Wood Beach Etsy shop is also filled with orifice hooks, niddy noddy's and yarn bowls, all of which make excellent gifts, and new this year Dad's also learned how to carve spoons. 

There can be few greater pleasures in life than a nice pair of scissors. I bought myself a pair to use with my weaving in the spring, and every time I use them they delight me. Treat purchases like this are the sort that it's often hard to justify to yourself, and to anyone who is a non-crafter it can be hard to understand the joy we get from a piece of beautiful equipment that works so perfectly. Beyond Measure has a beautiful range of high end scissors.

​Now for the books.... books make excellent presents! Check the spinners book shelf first, as they may already own some of these. 
Where possible I've linked to the Bookshop.org, as they distribute some profits to local booksellers. If you have a local bookshop, please support them, they'll be able to order in many of these titles from Gardners who are the main UK book wholesalers.  If that option doesn't work for you then both Wordery and Blackwells are good non-amazon alternatives. 

The Spinners Book of Yarn Design If you only own one spinning book this should be it! 
The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook For the spinner who loves learning more about sheep and the quality of their wool
​Yarnitecture For the spinner who wants to get better at analysing the sort of yarn they are spinning, and be more in control of the results. 
A Guide to Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre My own small book, ideal for a spinner who likes working with hand dyed combed top. 

Non-spinning books, but interesting for anyone who has a love of textiles. 
Women's Work- The First 20,000 years.
The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History
The Human Thread
Threads Around the World

Dyeing Books
True Colours: World Masters of Natural Dyes and Pigments Not a technical how-to book, but a lovely look at people around the world using natural dyes. 
Art and Science of Natural Dyes: Principles, Experiments and Results This one is pricey, but is probably the best science-based natural dyeing book I have ever seen. If someone is in to natural dyes, then this is a book they need to own. 
Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece If they use synthetic dyes then this is probably the best book there is, though I really disagree with the way she applies to dye to fibre, great for yarn dyeing detail though. Unfortunately there's a big gap in the market for good books dealing with synthetic dyes, and fibre dyeing  is particularly poorly covered.

If they've never tried dyeing before then it's an interesting thing to have a go at doing. My first experience of dyeing was using a set of acid dyes and a sock blank kit I'd bought my Mum for Christmas. 
​Debbie at D&T Crafts has some great starter kits for acid dyes and also for natural dyeing. Helen Melvin also offers some lovely natural dyeing kits.

A subscription to Ply magazine would also be a lovely gift. If you're outside the US then it may be better to buy a subscription from one of their stockists. They also now offer a digital subscription, which removes all postage anxiety.

Finally, if they spin the chances are they wear a lot of wool, and that eventually leads to bobbly jumpers. This tool is what I use to revive my hand knits, I've linked to Lakeland, but is available on Amazon, Ebay, or various other places.



If you have anymore gift suggestions, please feel free to add them below, and please share this post, there's lots of great small businesses included in it, and this year it's more important than ever to support independent retailers. 

I love my skein winder. A niddy noddy is a lovely tool, but all too often I'd put off winding yarn from a bobbin because I just couldn't be bothered to do it. So a skein winder is a really useful tool if you can afford one, and if you procrastinate on winding skeins. 
Now I have been through several skein winders in my quest for the one true device. 
I owned an Ashford Skein Winder, the mark 1 version. And to be frank, Ashford should be ashamed of themselves, because at £80 it was a shockingly poor piece of kit. The method of securing the the upright to the base resulted in a device that wobbled as soon as you used it for a moderate length of time. The adjustment able arms often didn't hold their tension, and the non-adjustable pegs ended up falling out regularly for me. There was no tensioning device either, and the arms were fixed in position making it a pain to store when not in use. The new Mark 2 version is much better, but comes with a hefty rise in price, currently it's around £180.
I also owned a Majacraft skeiner, which wasn't really any better, with the added inconvenience of a triangular base that meant to matter where you put it there was also something sticking out to impale you, and again... the pegs in the arms weren't the best of fits. The free-standing option doesn't seem to be on the Majacraft website anymore, but I did find a few places with stock, and at £150 it's a lot of money for a tool that isn't great. 

​But this isn't a series about tools I think could be better... it's about bits of kit that I really love. 

It's from here.
​He's a German maker, I am lucky enough to own one his spinning wheels, which is what led me to the site. It's really well made and feels really solid. Now the site is only in German, but I only spent 1 year studying German at school, and the joy of Google Translate is that it's not that hard to work out what you need to do in order to place an order. 
Payment is unfortunately only by bank transfer, so bear that in mind when working out the price (some banks will charge extra for international bank transfers). At the moment here in the UK you can order and won't need to pay extra to receive your order, but that will change after January 1st. 

When you're not using it the arms fold up to reduce the space it takes up, this is also how you adjust the diameter of the skein. There's also a built in rotation counter (so you know how many turns you've done, and can then use this method to calculate your yardage), and on the base there's a lazy kate with a tensioning device. 

I also use it as a swift to then wind skeins in to balls of yarn. I just reduce the circumference of the skeiner by moving the arms closer together and have slackened the screw holding the flipper on the counter so I can rotate it out of the way so it doesn't click as I rotate the winder. 
The centre uses a proper sealed bearing so you never need to worry about nuts tightening or coming undone. The base is heavy, I use this on the floor whilst seated on the sofa, and have never felt the need to clamp it down. The pegs in the arms are completely solid, even after years of abuse there's no hint of a wobble, or danger of them going loose. 

It's been the tool I've used to skein miles and miles of yarn, and at no point have I ended up threatening to throw it across the room. It's a little bit more expensive than the new Ashford one, but it's a much better bit of kit, and something you'd prize from my cold dead hands!

We're a few days away from getting to the end of our 2 week Firebreak lockdown here in Wales. The weather, to be blunt, has been dreadful for most of the 2 weeks. Not really conducive to getting out of the house even if you were allowed to get out and about. Meg has had the right attitude for the current state of play here. 

My quilting bug shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon. I finished this one this month, using up lots of oddments, combined with a couple of metres of neutral fabric. This is not the best beauty shot, but outside is not the place to be photographing anything at the moment and the only room with enough floor space is too dark to take good photos. 

There's another top that's finished, and another one with the quilt blocks sewn, but still needing to be joined. Throughout October Moda Fabrics were hosted a Stitch Pink Block-a-Day sew-along. I didn't quite managed to sew a block each day, but on Sunday I did have all 30 blocks sewn, plus 2 alternatives for ones I didn't like in the original layout. The original design uses shades of pink and white... not the most practical colours for this household. So I swapped to using navy, and then scraps of pink and green. This is the half-way progress...

Things have not been quiet on a work-front. Two batches of 12 Days of Christmas parcels have now left the building. They account of most of the total that I'd planned to sell, however, I still have a few of the bags (I made less mistakes when printing than usual!), and plenty of the Merino & Silk, so there will be another small batch available soon with a different hand dyed fibre. If those all sell I can probably make a further batch, but they'll need to use the spindle bags from last year (I have lots of those spare). 

I've also been busy writing and filming. I've been doing some work on another article for Ply magazine, this time on dyeing. I'm not completely sure what edition it's ear marked for, because I've been asked if I can get everything done ahead of the schedule for the edition I'd originally proposed the article. The results, I think are really interesting, and left me wishing I had more than 1200 words!

So in that spirit, because I always have more to say than I can ever fit in to articles I've got to work making the first of my new online workshops. ​I went through my list of workshops, picked out the most popular, and decided to focus on the aspect of it that most people highlight as being the thing they want to improve. So, if you'd like to get more control over the thickness of your yarn, there's now a new online course.

I'm still quietly knitting and spinning away, but it's nearly all in the pretty boring category, plain socks, normal jumpers, though I have been carrying on enjoying getting to know plant fibres better.

This is a skein of 2-ply cotton. I started it at the end of the Tour de France, then finished it off during the Giro. I've already woven with some of it, because the next batch of tea towels from the warp I was sampling last month are now off the loom!

They still need cutting up and hemming, so I'll leave sharing photos of those for another time. 
The shop will carry on having new things added it regularly, I should have a big box of fibres arriving from Italy in the next couple of weeks. 
Brexit continues to loom over my head... adverts on the TV telling you to "Get Ready" "Make the Changes" just leave me wanting to throw things, because it's very hard to get ready for anything when you don't know what you're getting ready for.
If you're in the UK, nothing will change for you.
If you're outside the EU, nothing will change for you.
If you're in the EU its very likely you will no longer pay VAT to me when you make your purchase, and will instead pay it to your postal service to pass on to your own government. As we get closer to January 1st I'll make sure to get things set up so that you are not left paying VAT twice, particularly for club payments. Once I have a little bit more clarity about exactly what I'm going to do I'll write it all out, in part I am waiting to see what the companies I use to process financial payments will do. It's all a bit of a nightmare, but please bear with me. 

Moving in to October really feels like summer is over, it's noticeable how much earlier I'm having to put the chickens to bed, and I lit my fire for the first time last night. Drying fibre is starting to take longer, and it won't be long beforeI need to start using the dehumidifier in the drying shed, because otherwise I end up with more damp fibre than I have space to hang it!
The first batch of 12 Days of Christmas parcels that I talked about in the last post are nearly ready to go. The bags are printed, the small parcels are packed, and tomorrow I'll be dyeing the fibre for Christmas Day. Make sure you subscribe to the email newsletter to hear when thy go on sale next week. If you miss out on this first batch then I will be listing more at the end of October.

I took some time off last week to enjoy the last of the sunshine before winter arrives. Not doing anything really adventurous (the furthest away from home I've been since February is to the garden centre in Welshpool!) but spending some time with the loom, with the sewing machine, in the garden, and out in the countryside local to home. 

This is the rather wonky panorama looking down on the Mawddach estuary (between balance issues, and a bright sun on the screen I have no chance of turning whilst holding the phone in a level manner!). This is a walk we normally do at the height of spring when the woods are filled with Bluebells, at that point we were on a strict stay local lockdown, and this was further away than we could justify as local. The woods are very different as we go in to Autumn, but still stunning, filled with ancient oak trees, and when you come out on to the top of the hill you're greeted with this magnificent view.

 If you managed to watch my Mid-Wales Textile Trade talk at Fiberworld in August, then this is the fertile valley bottom that leads up to Cwmer Abbey. It's now one of the talks that's on my list of online talks, demonstrations and workshops. If you belong to a guild or spinning group then I am now available for online bookings. Send me an email if you want to find out more, even if you're outside the UK (because that's the joy of online!)
If you don't currently have a guild or group then I am looking at how to offer courses, workshops and talks that you can access any time. I had a conversation with my accountants earlier this week because I need to make sure I get everything set up correctly for taxation purposes. Plans are in the pipeline though!

Of course during September we did a second version of the Tour de Fleece, and this time I decided to focus on getting my plant fibre spinning skills up to scratch. There's nothing like spending a 3 week block of time tackling a newer skill to really get to grips with it. I mostly focused on spinning ramie, because I have weaving plans for these skeins, but at the end of the time I also got some cotton spun. I'm planning on getting the rest of it finished when watching the Giro starting this weekend. One of these skeins has already gone on the loom, because the great tea towel weaving mania seems to show no sign of ending. Aside from that I feel somewhat adrift with my urge to cast on for anything. I am amply provisioned with jumpers, socks, shawls and hats, as are most of my nearest and dearest. So for now I'm carrying on chipping away at the mitre square blanket I started in 2009. It's now king sized, and within 2 rows of squares of being finished. 
After that.... I am awaiting inspiration. I may just end up knitting more gnomes.

August went by with no monthly round up...
For someone who is mostly staying at home it's amazing how busy life has been. We've had visits from family, who have been making the most of the opportunity to get out of the city and spend the time with us in the countryside. I'm not feeling very positive about our chances of not needing further restrictions as we go in to winter so we grasped the opportunity to see them and spend time with them.
I was also really busy making sure all the things I needed to do for my Fiberworld booth were in place, and of course there's been the building of the new Mighty Networks Group. Speaking of the new group, it's also our new home for all things Tour de Fleece, which we are doing again for the second time as the riders race. Please come and join us, here's lots of beautiful spinning going on.

In addition to Gin, Tonic and Not-A-Squirel we also have 3 new young females chicken which were purchased a few weeks ago. All 3 are complete characters, who escaped their isolation cage less than 12 hours after arriving, and have carried on their Dugoed life in much the same spirit of adventure!
All 6 have formed one large gang, and have settled in really well, and have decided that the outdoor furniture was purchased purely for them to have somewhere comfortable to hang out. The new babies are still hanging around with Ebony, weeks after most female chickens usually give up on mothering their babies! She's slightly less protective of them, but will still find food for them, and they go everywhere together. 
​

We're reasonably confident that both are females, though it's hard to tell with the Polish genes that are still running through the flock, so have gone for Juniper for the baby with the quiff (that's the questionable female), and Myrtle for the other one. 

I'm still plugging away at a secret sewing project, so nothing to show off on that front, but I have woven another of the projects from Jane Stafford's Online Guild, this is the gamp from Episode 1, which is just a simple 2 colour stripe to experiment with 2/2, 3/1, 1/3 and basket weave. 

The original sample of just done in grey and white, but as ever I went off piste and introduced more colours to give me more options to play around with patterns. This set go perfectly with our kitchen, so they're already in use!
The next warp is wound, I thought I'd be clever and use up the cone of blue I'd used as its of weft in these towels.... and then ran short with a quarter of the warp left to wind. So I had to order another... and then to make the most of the postage I added a few more colours. This weaving thing is leading to serious stash multiplication! 
Now all I need is a day with enough energy and brain power to get the warp on the loom and threaded. Hopefully this weekend.

I have got a shop update of fibre in the drying shed that is waiting for photos. I'd hoped to do it today, but I'm not sure I'll be able to fit it in... keep an eye on your inboxes!
​I've also been planning ahead. 

Yes, the 12 Days of Christmas parcels will be back again. The fibre is ordered, and this is going to be the design on the hand printed bags. I'd done some sketching around, and not come up with anything satisfactory, and then a friend shared an instagram account with me and everything fell in to place. Wash your hands seems to have been the theme of this year, along with all the helping hands, and the pointing fingers highlighting governments not doing the right things.... As creative people our hands are our tools, I can make yarn on just about any piece of equipment because my hands are the most important thing in my tool box. Anyway, they've all been set in a festive bauble, my hand drawn version of printers manicules that will then be carved on a block of lino ready for hand printing. 

The contents of the parcels... well that's a surprise as ever, but there will only be one colour choice this year. The fibre is already ordered and once it's here I'll be able to make them available to purchase. It should be sometime in October. There will be 100g of hand dyed luxury fibre, and then 11 parcels of  20g of co-ordinating fibre. All parcelled up individually and in a hand printed cotton drawstring bag. They're going to cost £37.50 (ex VAT), £40 (inc VAT), and will be posted to you in good time to arrive before December 25th when you are scheduled to open your first parcel, and you then get a parcel every day after that until January 5th. 

I've been writing away about doing things to make you a better spinner for a few years now, and recently filmed an hour long lecture for Fiberworld, that may be available in the near future for people who weren't at the event, either through Fiberworld, or if they choose not to take up the first refusal rights in my contract (or I decide that I'd like to go in my own direction). Meanwhile, because as always I have more things I'd like to do than I have hours in the day, I've written an article for Ply Magazine about using a control card. The Basics issue is out now, and is filled with things that will make everyone a better spinner, no matter your level of experience. Digital copes are available direct from Ply, as are printed copies and subscriptions, or they have distributors in most parts of the world. 

I've not been out and about talking all things fibre since February...
and in part, for this introvert, who much prefers her own home to anywhere else, and finds crowds and noise and talking to people hard, it's actually been quite nice. 
However, even I am getting to the point where I'm missing talking about fibre type stuff in person. Now, because I am not insane, there's no way you'll get me at an event in the UK anytime in the near future.  At the moment I have one date left in my 2020 workshop calendar in late autumn, but I'm not feeling particularly positive about it going ahead, because it just seems like an unnecessary risk. For those of us who are self-employed we only get statutory sick pay. For that reason, staying healthy is a particular priority, if I get ill, I can't work. If I can't work then my income practically disappears. 

Anyway, one thing that has happened is that there are now opportunities popping up all over the place to do things online. And in many ways it's a much better way of doing things, it's less pollution from people driving, it can be more accessible for those who struggle with in-person events, and it allows massive amounts of flexibility particularly for those with caring responsibilities, and lets us experience things from parts of the world we'd never normally travel to. 

One such event, happening over this weekend (Thursday-Sunday) is Fiberworld. I can't entirely remember where I first saw the information... but I do know that when I saw what they were planning to do I thought it sounded amazing. Innovative, bringing the best of technology to make it possible for people to have something more like a real fiber festival experience, and a great opportunity. 

And I think it's going to be exactly that. There are vendors, just like there are at a physical show, but instead of just having a website listing them, or a Facebook group where it all becomes a bit chaotic, or timed slots for vendors to promote themselves, this is going to be set up like a real show. Within each vendor booth is going to be a Zoom call, and a text chat box. If you want to talk to someone about their products you can just join in with the Zoom meeting, or ask a question in the chat box. You can get online at a time that suits you, and talk to the vendors you're actually interested in hearing from. 

Tickets are $15 or $25, and that gives you access to all the vendor booths, many of whom are hosting special events throughout the show in their booths. It also gives you access to a MainStage, and throughout the show will be talks, demonstrations and discussion panels. The higher price ticket gives you access to a second Superfine Stage, with even more content to watch.
Personally, I think the ticket price for the amount of content you can watch and take part in is an absolute bargain. Here's the full schedule... I already have a huge list of things that I'm hoping to sneak out of my booth to watch... and none of those things include my lectures and demonstrations. I will definitely be online, and available in my booth Zoom call from 9am-5pm (UK time), which is a very odd sounding 4am-12 noon EDT. Well, I'll be online apart from when I need to go to the loo, get something to eat... or some other probable family crisis which will no doubt drag me away from the computer! For the rest of the time I'll have a video running that you can watch if you just join the call (I'll disable the waiting room), and set it to run on a loop via screen sharing. I might be around for longer periods than this, but if you definitely want to speak to me, those are your time slots!

Yep... if you're one of the people who's always said that they wished they could come along to one of the workshops I teach, now is your chance! 
All my content is pre-recorded, but I'm happy to chat further if you come along to my booth during opening hours.  
I shall be lecturing on Spinning with a Purpose, a talk designed to give you real confidence in how to spin yarn that works for the job you're using it for. 
I'll also be talking about the Textile Trade in Mid-Wales. This lecture draws on the knowledge I acquired as part of the team who re-opened Newtown Textile Museum, and discusses the spinning, weaving and selling of wool cloth in this part of the world over the past 800 years. 
Finally, I'll be giving away all my trade secrets in a dyeing demonstration. I'll show you how I dye my Fade Packs...

All my content has been fully subtitled, so it will be accessible to anyone who might struggle to follow along with the spoken word.
The team behind the show are trying to make sure things are as accessible as possible, but I know that they are really up against it with the tech deadlines, they have asked lecturers and demonstrators to provide subtitled videos or alternatively provide transcripts. Live content in Zoom calls is probably not going to have subtitles. The team know this is an issue, but they just haven't managed to get things in place for this year. If the event is a success they want to repeat it, and it will be the sort of thing that is on their list of things to improve.
The site itself looks to be clean, easy to navigate, with no clashing colours or visual elements that make it hard to look at. 


Finally... as an extra to the stuff you can get just with a standard entry ticket are classes. These are extra, but there's an excellent list of things you can learn how to do. 
This is the simple list, once you have registered and log in to the site you can access a page where you can filter by date, time, and the areas you are interested in. There are people on that list who are incredibly well respected as teachers, and it's unlikely that most of us will ever manage to be in the same physical space with them. 

If you're particularly interested in hearing me speak, then here's the times I'll be on stage. The main stage is accessible with a standard ticket, the Superfine stage is one you need an Access Plus ticket to see. 
The times are all in EDT, east coast of the USA... so that's 5 hours behind us in the UK, here's a convertor for other time zones.  For the UK and Europe most of the content will be watchable from mid-afternoon onwards, and in to our evening, so even if you have things that are on during the day, you will be able to get access to a huge variety of topics. 

Thursday-
10:00am – 11:00am
Lecture Location: Superfine Stage (Recorded)
The Textile Trade in Mid-Wales – Katie Weston

Friday-
11:00am
Lecture Location: Mainstage (Recorded)
The Textile Trade in Mid-Wales – Katie Weston


3:00pm – 4:00pm
Theme: Lecture Location: Superfine Stage (Recorded)
Spinning with a purpose – Katie Weston


9:00pm
Theme: Demo Location: Superfine Stage (Recorded)
Hand-dyeing Fiber for bigger projects – Katie Weston


Saturday-
12:00pm
Theme: Lecture Location: Mainstage (Recorded)
Spinning with a purpose – Katie Weston


1:00pm
Theme: Demo Location: Mainstage (Recorded)
Hand-dyeing Fiber for bigger projects – Katie Weston


Sunday-
12:00pm
Theme: Lecture Location: Mainstage (Recorded)
The Textile Trade in Mid-Wales – Katie Weston



Finally, I'm also going to do a few things in my Vendor Booth during the event. These are in the evening, UK time. You'll just need to come along and log on to the Zoom call embedded in the booth, which you can access with a standard ticket. 
Things happening in the Hilltop Cloud Booth during the event-

Friday 2pm (EST) and Sunday 2pm (EST)  [7pm UK time]- A Warped Sense of Fun
Come and talk to Hilltop Cloud about all things weaving. Eyeing up some hand painted warps, but are not sure about how they work? Worrying about what to use as weft? Struggling to see how you’d get a warp chain on a rigid heddle loom? All these things and more. I’ll have lots of samples, and will even try and get some real-time weaving demonstrations set up.


Saturday 3pm (EST) [8pm [UK time]- Quiz time! 
Come and take part in a proper British pub quiz. Know your Niddy Noddy from your Nostepinne? Come and prove your knowledge over 5 rounds of quizzing! Some textile rounds, along with some general knowledge. The bar is open, and the landlord has offered to do a virtual buffet for all quiz participants. And yes… there will be prizes!



The team behind the event have put in a huge amount of work to get all the infrastructure built in an incredibly short time frame. The line up of speakers, presenters and patrons is incredible. As a community we need events like this to succeed. If we don't, we risk loosing the chance to access this knowledge and expertise in the future. I think the tickets are already incredibly reasonably priced, but in addition they've also offered all Hilltop Cloud customers a group discount code. If you would like $10 off the cost of your ticket, and $15 off the cost of a class leave me a comment, and I will email you the code. 

This is a follow up to my desktop guide to the new Hilltop Cloud community group of Might Networks.
The desktop guide can be found here-
www.hilltopcloud.co.uk/blog/a-mighty-fine-looking-future-desktop-guide

As interfaces go it's pretty straightforward, and I'll emphasise again, there's no "wrong" way to do this. Just hit some buttons, see what they do, there's nothing disastrous that you can manage to delete or change! 
If you have a question about spinning or other textile crafts, or even life, the universe and everything then just ask it, if there's a better fit in a certain part of the group then I might send you in that direction, but my host powers are pretty mighty over there, so I can do lots to help move things around. 

If you like using apps for things, then the app for this space is really good to use, and unusually for me I would recommend it. I'm not normally an app fan, but this one works. 
This is the Apple Store link- id1081683081
And the Google Store link- details

Once you've got the app downloaded you'll be end up on this screen, and then you need to click on Find a Might Network, type in Hilltop Cloud and it should pop up in the list. Add your name, and you also need to provide your email address, keep going through the process and you'll end up on a screen to request access. 

The space is set up to be private, ie. I have to manually approve members, but in essence you should treat it like any other internet space. Only share things that you are happy for anyone (including employers and family members) to read. It uses Firstname Lastname as your user ID, but if you prefer to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons I am absolutely fine with that. ​

You can add an image as your avatar, but don't worry if you can't do it straight away, you can edit it in your profile later, or you can just leave it blank. Once you've added your email address (this is private and only hosts can access it), you'll then be asked why you want to join, don't over think this part, just saying "I'm a spinner" is absolutely fine!
Once you're done click the green button at the top of the screen, and then you'll need to wait for me (or Kate who has moderated the Ravelry group for years) to approve you. 

Once that's done (we're both in the UK so sometimes this might take a few hours), you'll get an email to confirm your membership. 
When you click on the link in that email (if you don't get it after 24 hours check your spam/junk folder) you'll be greeted with this screen. ​

The 2 buttons at the top of the screen are the ones you can use to post, if you have something you want to chat about then go ahead and start talking! You can do this as a short post, or if you want to add more formatting, or more than one picture then use the option to Create Article. Click on the camera icon above your keyboard to add a picture. 

The home screen on the left is the one you'll see whenever you log on. Scroll down to see posts that have had the most recent activity. 
To access the navigation menu click on the 3 lines in the top left corner. 

Discovery is a way to navigate around all the different sections of the group, you can scroll around to access topics, and other sections. To get back to the menu click on the white arrow at the top left. 
​One of the thing you will probably want to alter is the notifications you get of new activity. 

Click on Personal Settings, then Notifications, and use that menu to set up what mobile and email alerts you want to receive. This is  the same menu you can also use to get your profile set up. 

Topics are a way of organising information, and discussion threads, so you can choose which ones you want to Follow, and that way posts from those threads will be prioritised in your feed. If there's a topic you're really not interested in then clicking on the 3 white dots gives you the option to ignore. 
To read on the posts in a topic just click on the background picture, and you'll be able to read everything posted in that topic. If you want to reply to something that's already posted just click on the icon that looks like a speech bubble at the bottom of a post. 

Below Topics in the menu system is something called Spaces. This is where I'll put posts that I don't want to be viewable unless you choose to access them. There's no option to do Spoilers, so for things like the Time Travellers Club I want to set it up so you have to go looking for information, not stumble upon it!
If you're an international customer who has to wait a while for your parcels you may want to leave and join this space in order to access it once your parcel has arrived. 
Once inside the layout is the same as in the rest of the group.... again, access at your own risk, there will be spoilers here, you choose when you want to look, but if you do look you will possibly see discussion and photos of fibre that might not have arrived yet. 

At the bottom of the screen is a row of icons, the small Hilltop Cloud logo will always take you back to the main home screen, the speech bubbles take you to the chat part of the group. 
You can use this for large group chats, or you can pick to have a private conversation with any other group member. The chat section is private, and a way to have a one-to-one conversation with other members.  You can see a full member list by clicking the + icon in the top right. (I've blanked out the details below as I don't have permission to share names and photos here) 

The plus button is another way to make a post, or write an article. Click on that and you ned up on the same screen above. The bell takes you to your notifications, so that's the quick way to access any replies, or other content that will be specific to you. The circle on the right takes you to your profile. 

From lemons we shall make lemonade!
I'm not going to go in to all the details here, because it's a whole blogpost in itself, but I am very glad that I took the decision to get a new community space set up when I did. I've been inviting people in phases (having all of you arrive at the same time didn't seem very wise), but if you've only just heard about it, don't worry, it's intended to be a group that anyone can join in with at any time. 
The Hilltop Cloud Ravelry group will be retired, and any future community spin-alongs, prize threads and other group activities will be hosted in our new Mighty Network. This space has far more flexibility than the Ravelry group, and makes it much easier to pick out the parts that you are interested in. One of the options that it gives me is the ability to do some online teaching, and I will be investigating that more in coming months. The version I'm using isn't free to use, so teaching min-workshops and courses may well be one of the ways that I recoup this expense, and it will allow me to teach people who I'd never be able to go and teach in person. 


The space is set up to be private, ie. I have to manually approve members, but in essence you should treat it like any other internet space. Only share things that you are happy for anyone (including employers and family members) to read. It uses Firstname Lastname as your user ID, but if you prefer to use a pseudonym for privacy reasons I am absolutely fine with that. 

I'm going to do a brief guided tour below to show you how to get set up, this version is for desktop, but there's also a great mobile app. I'm normally very app resistant... if you can't make your website work on mobile then I'm not going to clutter up my phone... but I've found myself using this app lots over the past week. If you're using a mobile phone or tablet then the specific guide using the Mighty Networks app is here, but the basic function and icons are exactly the same. 

Here's the screen you'll be greeted with when you follow this link.
Click on the Aqua button says "Request to Join"

Type in your chosen name in the boxes that say First name, Last name, and if you want you can add an avatar by clicking on the + symbol in the round circle (you can also do this later).

The next screen will ask for your email address, this remains private and only group hosts can access it.
You'll then be asked why you want to join, don't over think this part, just saying "I'm a spinner" is absolutely fine!
Once you're done click the green button at the top of the screen, and then you'll need to wait for me (or Kate who has moderated the Ravelry group for years) to approve you. 
Once that's done (we're both in the UK so sometimes this might take a few hours), you'll get an email to confirm your membership. 
When you click on the link in that email (if you don't get it after 24 hours check your spam/junk folder) you'll be greeted with this screen. 

This is the home page, and where you'll end up whenever you log in. If you scroll down you'll see the latest posts made on the group. 
If you want to start a new conversation then you can click on the text box at the top of the screen and start writing. 
On the top right is all the things relating you your account. Here you can add your profile (you may want to include your old Ravelry username), and any other detail about yourself. You can also configure your notification options... 
by default the option is to get notifications for lots of things, but you can configure that to suit the number of emails that works for you. 

If you click on the Topics tab on the left  hand side you'll find a series of sub-boards. If you're interested in something in particular then you can choose to "Follow" and you'll see that discussion thread as a priority in your feed. 

If you click on one of those topics you'll be taken in to a thread of articles and posts. By default the feed view will show you the expanded view, but if you click on the icon on the right you can swap to a list view which gives you a summary of all the posts within that topic. 

The 3 dots on the corner of any post allow you to save it to your account to refer back to. 
​You can comment in response to a specific post or article by using the speech bubble icon, or by typing in the text box below the post. If you just want to show your appreciation to a comment or any other content, click the heart symbol, which is called a Cheer! You can also reply to a comment that someone else has made by clicking on the text that says Reply when you hover over the bottom of their post. 

If you go over to the left  hand menu and click on Interests you can connect with other people who have selected their "Interest" in their profile. You can only pick one, but you can change it at any time, and if there's an interest you'd like me to add then I can do so!
I've blanked out some personal information as I don't have members permission to post that information here, but you'll be able see all of it as a member. Just use the text input box at the top of the screen to start talking. 

Then below Interests is something called Spaces. This is where I'll put posts that I don't want to be viewable unless you choose to access them. There's no option to do Spoilers, so for things like the Time Travellers Club I want to set it up so you have to go looking for information, not stumble upon it!

If you're an international customer who has to wait a while for your parcels you may want to leave and join this space in order to access it once your parcel has arrived. 

Once inside the layout is the same as in the rest of the group.... again, access at your own risk, there will be spoilers here, you choose when you want to look, but if you do look you will possibly see discussion and photos of fibre that might not have arrived yet. 

Finally in the top left is the speech bubble icon which is the chat part of the group. You can use this for large group chats, or you can pick to have a private conversation with any other group member, just click on the plus icon and type in their name to search for them. (Again I've blurred out names for posting on this site). The chat section is private, and a way to have a one-to-one conversation with other members. 

Please come and join us... there's lots of options, but you can use it in a way that works for you, and hopefully allows you to stay connected with other spinners. If you're not sure what to do then don't be afraid to press some buttons and see what they do. I promise that you can't break anything important... I'm the only one who can do that by clicking things!

If you're using the app then I'll get that guide written shortly. 

New chickens continue to be a delightful distraction from all the things that currently have me grinding my teeth in anger and frustration. 
Ebony has raised 2 chicks in to little monsters who are never still, and know exactly where the food comes from in this household. 

They're currently in the phase where they run round at ridiculous speeds, and that combined with them being so low to the ground, and a tricky colour for the camera to pick out means that this is a very out of date photo. They're now fully feathered, and one is developing something of a Cav style top knot!

They're not the only new things in chicken land however... there was a really shortage of female chickens in the flock, so I collected 3 new lemon Pekins. They have made themselves very much at home, and are now known as Gin, Tonic and Not-A-Squirrel.

We've had a squirrel problem, so have been trying to catch the naughty creatures who have ate all the unripe strawberries, and have destroyed my chicken food bucket. However a squirrel trap is almost the perfect size to catch a greedy Pekin chicken. I ended up releasing this one from the trap on several occasions... each time telling her that she was Not-A-Squirrel.

I cut my first proper weaving project off the loom. These are 6 different tea-towels using 2/8 cotton based on the Jane Stafford Online Guild Season 2 Colour and Weave gamp. The original uses white and navy with an apricot accent... but I switched it up to use navy, lime and hot pink. 

It's felt like June has been a bit never ending, with lots of unplanned things to work around. I last had some time off and got away from work properly for a few days at the end of February, and the last time I took off for more than 3 days was Christmas... 
Going away isn't really on the cards, but one of the reasons I try to get away from home to take time off is to stop me getting sucked in to "just sorting out x so I can do y..."
So I will be packing the Time Travellers Club at the end of this week, which will be posted on Monday. I also have a shop update ready to be photographed and listed in Monday. After that I will be turning on the auto-responders on my email, and probably deleting social media apps from my phone so I can take a weeks holiday.
We have a few trips planned to go out for the day now our 5 mile rule in Wales has been lifted. You may see me about in a few places, probably in the Tour de Fleece groups. Parcels will be sent on Thursday 9th July, Monday 13th July, but not on Thursday 16th July. 
Stay safe everyone, do things outside if you can. Wear a mask if you can't. This disease hasn't gone away, and we need to be just as cautious with our behaviour now as we were in March.

Right.... it has taken more time staring at a computer screen than I was hoping to use today, but I believe I have an alternative set up for the Tour de Fleece for anyone who wishes to stay away from Ravelry. 
Even if you are happy to go on Ravelry I would appreciate people popping in there and posting . Those who aren’t able to access the space on Ravelry also deserve the Tour de Fleece experience.
You are welcome to post there  and join in even if you are not spinning Hilltop Cloud fibre. 

The Tour de Fleece starts on Saturday 27th June. 
We normally spin for every day that the riders race, and the Tour de France last 3 weeks, ending on Sunday 19th July. The riders aren’t riding this year, but we’re all still spinning.

Our Ravelry alternative will be hosted on Groups.io
I'm still feeling my way around there, but the site does function, and so far as I can tell there are no glaring issues that will lead to problems for anyone. 
It's set up to be a private group, and I will need to approve members before they can join. Posts will only be visible to group members. 

Information about the site, and what they do with your information can be found here.

Edit- 26th June
Groups.io works in a similar way to the old Yahoo groups, and your email address is visible to other group members. 
If this is a concern for you I recommend setting up a temporary email address and using that to set up your account. 
​