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. 
​

Another day, another fight to make sure that the rights of marginalised groups are respected. 

Last week Ravelry was given a brand new "surprise" face lift....
I happened to be on the computer when the tweet announcing that something had changed pooped up on my feed so I clicked through. 
My first thought was that it was ugly, dated and in a hideous colour scheme. As I browsed the forums as normal I started to feel a bit giddy. Since my Menieres diagnosis I'm no stranger to the world being a bit of a flexible environment. It's rare that I will have a day go by at the moment without a sensation that up is no longer completely up. It's never stopped me from doing anything, and it generally just requires a bit more concentration so that I'm aware of my own feet and where my body is in space. As someone who always used to have excellent balance it's an inconvenience, but one I am used to. 
However, I could use the site, though on my big desktop computer it was an incentive to stop messing around on the internet and do some work/spin/knit/weave. On my iPad it was still ugly, but didn't make me feel ill. 

As the day went on many people posted that the new design was leading to headaches, migraines, balance issues and seizures. Then it became apparent that the new site no longer functioned with screen readers and assistive software. 
This is the point at which my reaction to the site changed from "ugly but I'll live with it", to "why on earth are you sticking with this design". 
Old Ravelry wasn't perfect with regards to accessibility. however, for most people it worked ok, and they had work arounds in place that allowed them to access it. All of that disappeared with the new site. Now let's add in the current global situation. Many people who use assistive software to access the internet have had help to get everything set up for them, in many parts of the world there are still laws in place limiting physical interactions. Many of the people who need assistive software also have health issues that mean they need to be particularly careful about contracting Covid-19. 
They can't easily access help, and have now been shut out of a site where they had a large support network of friends, and which was a substantial part of their social life.

Several days later, after much pressure from users the option has now been put in place to toggle your interface back to Classic Ravelry, but in order to do this you do still need to access the site in it's new version, and the log-in screen still features an animation. 

If you are at risk of seizures, or migraines you may wish to have a friend or family member access Ravelry for you and switch your account to Classic Ravelry. If you don't think you have anyone you can trust to do that for you then I am happy to help. Send me an email and we'll try and get you sorted. 
If you use assistive software and cannot currently access the drop down menu in Ravelry then again, I am happy to help.
If you don't wish to go on Ravelry but would like to leave a post in the Feedback threads stating your issues, and are unable/unwilling to post yourself then I am happy to post on your behalf. 

This blog post from Louise at WoolWork explains how to check links before you click on them, and contains screen shots on how to switch to the Classic Ravelry view. 


I am so cross and upset that Ravelry, a business that supposedly championed inclusivity and highlighted the discrimination faced by marginalised groups,  is acting in this way. 
If I am to continue to look at myself in a mirror then I cannot continue to support them as a business. I am not alone in this. 
As of this morning I have turned off my monthly donation that I made as a "thank you" for providing a space for the Hilltop Cloud community. I have also turned off my advertising budget. I will not give money to a site that believes that it is preferable to enforce a new visual design on users, even when users are reporting that it causes them harm. 

The links to Ravelry that are scattered all over this site will remain, because as a single-person business I don't think it's logistically possible for me to manage to go through and edit all of them. 

On Saturday we are due to start the Tour de Fleece, and I am tying myself up in knots about this. 
I do not have time to set up an alternative space that is accessible to all, not least because I don't even know where to start (if anyone has any suggestions then I'm open to hearing them). Facebook is not an option, for the same reason that companies like Ben & Jerry's , North Face and Patagonia have stopped adverting there. Many people rightly have privacy issue with Facebook, and choose not to have an account, and I respect their choice, I only use Facebook via my business account, and have contemplating removing myself from the site completely on many occasions. 

The best option that I can come up with, based on 2 days notice, is this. 
- We will continue to use our thread in the Ravelry group.
- If you need help swapping to Classic Rav then I will do that for you. 
- I will also post our daily stage highlight tit-bits on this blog. 
- If you choose not to access Ravelry then you can also submit your daily progress reports in reply to their posts. There is not currently the option to add images, so this will be on an honesty basis. This will make you eligible for the same prizes that were on offer for posting on Ravelry. 


I am so sad and angry because I had built a community of people and database of knowledge on Ravelry. But if all of my customers can’t access that then I am being no better than Ravelry by continuing to plan to use their site as the basis of that community. 
As of today I am actively looking for a new space for Hilltop Cloud to use to host our discussions.

I have posted this in a different form in the feedback threads on Ravelry, and have suggested the following as a response that will lead to me re-evaluating my decision. 

1. Apologise.
2. Hire someone who is a genuine expert in making sites accessible (you pledge to do that, I am more than happy to increase my monthly donation).
3. Switch off the animation on the log in screen.
4. Make Classic Rav the default and New Rav the opt-in
5. Sandbox New Rav and develop it with a large pool of beta testers.
6. When you think New Rav is ready you announce it in less of a “surprise” manner.

I don't think there's anything in that list that is particularly unachievable.
I am not saying that Ravelry shouldn't have a new site design, I simply feel that it needs to have accessibility and usability for all at the heart of the rebuild, and that it shouldn't have accessibility applied as a series of patches once the site is live as the default for all users. 


I use basic plug and play website builders for the business. This site is based on Weebly, and the shop is based on Shopify. That leaves me with limited options for altering the underlying structure of the site. However, if anyone every finds that a function of the site doesn't work with assistive software please tell me and I will try to get it fixed. 
Going forward I am going to try to be better about adding alt image descriptions to images used on this part of the website. The repeatable stock of Tussah Silk, Merino & Silk, Ramie & Cotton and other fibres that are professionally dyed already contains a description of the colour. Describing the hand dyed fibre is trickier because they often contain complex mixtures of many, many shades, so realistically those will remain without a colour description. 

This  appeared on my twitter feed and is a reminder about why speaking up against discrimination is important. 

Equal rights for others does not, in any way, diminish your own. The only way such a proposition can be logical is if you derive your worth from an unfair advantage over others. That's not victimhood. That's the noise your selfishness makes when exposed to a better light.
Stephen McGann

Someone on a Ravelry thread who is an expert at implementing accessible websites made the following point. Websites that are designed with accessibility at their core usually provide a better experience for all users. The same is true in real life. For example,  if we campaign for better wheelchair accessibility then parents with pushchairs benefit.
Design with accessibility as your core value and everybody's life becomes better. 

Too often people with disabilities are just viewed as being awkward, or there's an attitude of "they just need to try a bit harder, and put up with more inconvenience".  People who have been vocal about discrimination towards many other marginalised groups have being expressing opinions that are ableist. Fighting to end discrimination towards one marginalised group does not give you a free pass on this issue. 


Edit- Thursday June 25th. 
Ravelry have now suspended the daily feedback threads and put a poorly designed feedback form in its place. Again, if you don't feel safe accessing Ravelry at present then send me a message and I am happy to pass on your feedback. 
I have set up an alternative Tour de Fleece thread on Groups.io and will share all the details on the blogpost that will be published later today. 
This Twitter thread highlights the issue already raised in the comments below. This is not the first time that ableism has been an issue on Ravelry. 


On a personal note, I apologise for this. I thought that by putting content on Ravelry I was putting it in a place where everyone could access it and interact with it. That was my mistake and I apologise. I think this issue has highlighted that I would like to have better control over the resources that I create and share, so finding an alternative home for it is a priority in the coming weeks. 

This site details many of the ongoing issues, and contains resources that you may find helpful including information on how to download all of your patterns in one go.
Again, if you need help with this then let me know. 

Raverly has a tiny staff number for the size of their site. They underinvested in staff for many years, instead relying on the good will and emotional labour of others. 
The entire handling of this new site has placed a huge burden on the very people who support them financially. Designers, dyers and other industry professionals are doing the work to alert users to issues, whilst trying to find ways to keep their business afloat, and allow people to still access their content.
Add in the pressures of Covid-19, the lingering threat of Brexit, and the fact that we had no notice about this means that for many of us we are feeling increasingly frazzled. 
It didn't have to be this way, and that lack of care and consideration for the people who have paid their wages for the past few years is not acceptable. 
Classic Ravelry still works, and if they’re to be believed in yesterday’s announcement thread, will work for the next 6 months. Revert everyone back to the ravelry of 10 days ago. Work on the new site in private beta with an accessibility consultant. It’s not rocket science, and goes a long way towards relieving the pressure from the Ravelry staff and all of those currently doing the unpaid labour for them. 
Instagram, as ever is a nightmare when it comes to finding content again and interacting with it in a nuanced way, but this post makes some very valid points around the unpaid labour that is currently being done to help out Ravelry as a business. 

True to the rhyme, the Cuckoo came in April, he sung his song in May, and in June he has changed his tune. The cuckoo was the constant back ground noise to May, stepping outside in the glorious weather and pausing for minute was almost a guarantee that you'd hear the calling. We think we may have seen one flying up and down the valley a few times... but at a distance, and to our inexperienced eyes it's hard to work out what could be cuckoo and what could be pigeon!
The garden has enjoyed the sunshine, but the almost complete lack of rain in May has led to a lot of work trying to keep things watered, and we're starting to cast nervous glances at our water supply. A neighbour who relies on a small stream has already run dry, but thankfully our marsh and spring seem to be more reliable. 

Our local walks have continued to show how much the beauty round here makes up for the inconveniences of a non-guaranteed water supply. The Bluebells are all over now, but for a brief while lit up the patches of ancient woodland that remain the steep valley bottoms. 

There's been weekend crafting going on.... I'm working on a secret quilt project, so no photos of that. And, using my tried and tested method of buying/making things for summer I sewed a pair of shorts. 
Well actually I sewed 2 pair of shorts. The first pair suffered from size delusion, so actually fit Mum, though this will mean checking outfits before we leave the house together.

Rubbish, non-modelled photo, but they have beautiful pockets, and an elasticated back waist, and the pattern also includes instructions for trousers. I added length to the legs, because I like more thigh coverage, which was simple enough, but you need to do it lower in the leg than shown on the pattern as the "add length" marking is to change the amount of rise.  The pattern is Pietra Shorts & Pants from Closet Case Patterns.  
On a side rant.... pattern designers, I get that you want to show off that your design has pockets, but please just give me one shot of the model without hands shoved in pockets. I typically don't wander round with my hands in my pockets all the time, so that means I want to see what things sit like without a hand shoved in to the pocket. 

I also sewed a couple of these, and I like the end result, and it does what I want it to do, but the actual pattern is a car crash of questionable sewing choices. I made the one on the left first as a birthday present exactly as written, and then made the second one for myself with heavy modifications to the construction method. It still didn't go together perfectly, but was a much easier sew than the first one. Mine now hangs from my loom and holds my wound paper quills.

And finally at the every end of the month. A bit of brightness to distract me through the next month. Three new baby chickens, and their trusty Mum Ebony.  They're few days old now, and looking really good. All 3 are currently black and fluffy, it will be a while until we know wether they're male or female, so fo now they remain nameless, until inspiration strikes, or I come up with some good gender neutral names, or inspiration strikes and that's how I ended up with a cockerel called Lilley...
The last week has felt tough. The constant feeling that your own government is actively working against the people of the country gets somewhat wearing. On top of the mess of Corona Virus, we're also less than a month away from the deadline to sign an  extension to the negation for the extension period for Brexit. The Conservatives seem determined that it's all going to be just fine, and if they say it loudly enough then course it's going to happen. I have friends in the civil service, staff that were working on no-deal Brexit planning have needed to be redeployed to managed the Corona Virus response. If you think the food shortages this spring were bad then just wait until December and January. We are not ready to leave without a deal, and businesses are so busy battling to survive than any forward planning capabilities they had have been eaten up by virus response. 
The website They Work for You is an excellent resource for checking up on your local MP, and providing contact details to urge them to push for an extension to the Brexit deal negotiations.  The food and agriculture standards that are currently up for negotiation are horrifying, and this is just the start. 
And then of course there have been the Black Lives Matter protests. If you're new here.... go read the archive. I've made my views on this known repeatedly over previous months. 
If you're in the UK and looking on at the horrors in the US know that the UK is by no means a land free from racism. It's different, but people who are not white, are discriminated against on a daily basis.  Here's a thread of concrete actions you can take that will have an impact in the UK. If you're in another country go away and do your research, don't be that person who posts a black square on social media and then goes back to your comfy quiet life. 

On a business front it's going to be a case of making monad from  lemons. I always hold a good stock of the bases I use, but many of them are custom made for me, and the mills aren't currently back to full time production. As a realist expect to see a few more unusual guest bases popping up over the coming months. I did enough advance planning at the beginning of March to ensure supplies of fibre for the Time Travellers Club up until June, and hopefully have already got plans in place for July. On 1st July the price for US postage will be rising dramatically, costs have risen to Royal Mail by 50%, and they have to pass these prices on to their customers, and I'm afraid I need to pass those prices on as well. I always charge as close to cost as possible. One thing that has changed is that the gap between standard postage and tracked postage has narrowed, so I have now turned on the option to pay extra and get international tracking (this option is  now available for all international parcels, not just US ones).

Here's the new prices for the USA-
 Up to 250g -  £10.00 standard £13 tracked
 Up to 500g - £15.00 standard £17 tracked
Up to 750g-  £18.00 standard £20 tracked
Up to 1kg - £21.00 standard £23 tracked
 1kg Plus- £25.00 standard £27 tracked

Club parcels, as ever, are particularly effected by postage price rises. I now need to add a £3 postage surcharge for all USA parcels. If you're a current Time Travellers Club member your subscription has already been edited, and I've emailed to let you know. If you're a Gradient Club member then I will be editing your subscriptions next week before your July payment is taken. If you're joining as a new member then there's now an extra question in the checkout process to allow me to collect this extra amount to cover postage. 

We're gearing up for the Tour de Fleece in the Ravelry group. Our team fibre is now ready to be purchased, we've got a beautiful collection of colours of 14.5 micron Merino. As ever we'll be donating some money to Qhubeka from some of the proceeds from this fibre (25p per 50g between now and the end of the Tour). We've supported this charity, which aims to put people on bikes to allow them better access to education, work and healthcare, for a number of years now. Our donation in 2019 was used as part of their Learn to Earn work in Giyana High Schools.

Life at the moment seems to fall in to 2 categories, those with too much time to fill, and those with no enough time. It could be argued that those with too much time to fill need to find themselves an all absorbing hobby (I could gently suggest they try spinning!). At present I am firmly in the category not enough time to fill. 
I am fortunate in that I can carry on with my business pretty much as normal, a few potential issues got side-stepped by some forward planning I did at the beginning of March when I could see the storm clouds building. The good weather has also dragged me out in to the garden more than usual, with the feeling that I should appreciate the sun on my back and soil that isn't like a quagmire. 
But at the end of March I ordered myself a new loom. I've woven on a rigid heddle loom for years now, and have always been very content with what I could produce. But with the dyeing of warps came the discovering a whole new skill, and a thought of "I'll take a look at some 4-shaft table looms at Wonderwool" turned in to a clicking of a button, and a new Erica 50cm 4 shaft loom was now mine. 

I put the first warp on last Friday, rading the stash for something I had in a sensible quantity, and that I had no fixed plan for. Despite winding the warps for the shop for a few months now I made a right mess of winding this one! 
The usual case of "it's only for me, and it doesn't have to be perfect" combined with more haste, less speed. Yes, winding it from skein to ball would have been a very sensible idea, and maybe picking a bouncy merino wasn't my best plan either. By the end of the warp the inconsistencies in tension were causing real difficulties, and thank heavens it was only a 2m warp to mess around with. 

This was fresh off the loom... and it is a very dodgy looking piece of cloth!

Thankfully fulling is a great leveller... though also revealed another newbie mistake as the sett was far too dense for this thickness of yarn, despite what it looked like on the loom under tension. However, it's still usable, and will be chopped up to make a project bag. 
At the very end I let myself mess around with the thing that I'm really looking forward to exploring most on the new loom.... twill!
I didn't bother changing the sett (density of the warp threads) for this, so it's not very technically correct, but I just wanted to experiment with how the process works so that I can do it better when I tie on a warp for this technique properly. I used some hand-spun skeins of Shetland for the weft, which pulled in dramatically when fulled the cloth (it's also possibly overfulled because I still need to get to know our new washing machine), that really hid a lot of the twill pattern. 

Inspired by the feeling that I was flailing around in the dark to a certain extent I bought myself a subscription to the Jane Stafford online guild, which I can't remcomned highly enough. I now have a lighted candle to at least let me see where the door is, even though I am definitely not capable of walking through it!
After much video watching I've put on a colour and weave warp in 2/8 cotton to weave some tea towels. My warp still went a bit squiffy towards the end (more haste, less speed, think before rushing to a fix for a problem...), but is so much better, andproved that counting isn't my strong point. The warps I wind to dye are all in one colour, and set up in a way that are quick to count and check ( 3 cones of yarn, 150 ends, I count in groups of 30!). This warp has lots of changing groups of colours, and each section contains a different number of ends. So no, it's not an optical illusion, the 2nd group from the right is bigger than the others.  I was already doing some fudging maths because my reed doesn't quite allow me to get the 18epi sett called for in the pattern instructions, and is only just wide enough, so that extra number of ends sent things really awry as I was threading the reed. However, I improvised, and the middle stripe, and the one to the left is threaded at 20epi, and it's only for tea towels, so all will be fine!
I'm doing this first towel just using 1 colour because never having woven on cotton as well it seemed to be a bit ambitious to immediately launch in to a true colour and weave of getting the weft to match the warp pattern. However, that will come next! 

All of this rambling is just to say, take pleasure in getting things wrong, the mistakes teach you what not to do the next time. And then the satisfaction of getting it right is all the sweeter.