January

December and then January got very busy, going on holiday in November was lovely, but then left me with lots of catching up to do to get things organised before Christmas!

So far winter has felt decidedly un-wintery. It's been mild, though mercifully dry, with Wales only receiving 45% of it's average January rainfall. Given the leakiness of my dye studio roof I am not complaining too much about that, but it would be nice to get some snow!

Over Christmas I sewed together the quilt top that I was working on all last year as part of a Moda Quilt-Along. I had an epic size fail on this, in that it is huge. So huge that I will be waiting to create the top-batting-backing sandwich until I can get in to the village hall with my guild meeting, as there is no floor space here large enough. I'm not at all certain about how I'm going to quilt it either. I'm choosing to blame imperial measurements for this, as the size was given in inches, and whilst I can visual 4 inches, I can't visualise 99 inches and realise that this is actually a 2.5m x 2m quilt! 
For now it's in time out, and I shall tackle it when I have the backing and wadding sorted. I've moved on to the next project, and have decided that I fancy doing some small things this year, so I've bought a Yoko Saito book focusing around making small bags, pouches and containers. 

For the first time in ages I am settling down to do some fancy patterned socks. Socks were the thing I made most when I first learned to knit. The late 2000's seemed to be filled with designers who created fancy sock pattern after fancy sock pattern, and I made so many pairs with beautiful stitch patterns. As time went on though socks because my no-thinking knitting, and I've pretty much only made plain ones for the past few years. Bring somewhat out of the loop when it comes to sock patterns, I ended up heading to the archives on Knitty, and am busy turning this yarn (Wisteria in the Eco Sock blend) in to a pair of Eternal Spring socks. 
These will be on display on the stand at Wonderwool Wales this spring. I'm very pleased to be going back to my local show, there have been lots of new products launched since I last sold in-person. Tickets are only available in advance, and won't be for sale on the door. This will be my only in-person show in 2022, so cross your fingers that all goes well with the covid situation and do your bit by carrying on wearing your mask no matter what the idiotic English government might be making up as they go along. Wonderwool is thankfully based in Wales, so will be held in accordance with Welsh Covid rules which have always been aimed at trying to keep us all safe and well. 

Nellie celebrated her first birthday last week, and finally seems to be moving out of her troublesome teenage months, and is settling down in to being a really loving and affectionate energetic dog. We took her out Mantrailing  last weekend, which she thinks is great fun, and as we're moving in to spring she's booked on to more classes with our local dog school. She loves going to the training barn, and it gives us something to focus on to make sure she's as happy and well behaved as possible!
Speaking of learning, I'm offering my first open enrolment live online class at the end of this month. Focusing on silk spinning, it's aimed to get your happier at spinning silk yarns, and give you experience at using the different kinds of silk on offer. We'll also look at how silk is made, and what all the different sorts available actually are. It's being held on 2 evening sessions, on Monday 28th February and Tuesday 1st March. Each session covers something different, but you don't have to take part in both, and session 1 isn't required in order to do session 2. One of the many bright spots to come out of the past 2 years is the advancement in teaching spinning classes online, and whilst I might not be able to get hands-on to help, being able to set up a camera to really focus on my hands is a lot easier to see than being stood in a large group of people peering over each others shoulders. It also lets me teach internationally at a cost that's affordable to everyone.