Cygnus the swan is a constellation with truly ancient origins. Long identified as a bird, it may well be the constellation show in  the Babylonian Clay tablet depicting the map of the world from around 600 BCE. 

The right triangular segment is labelled "Beyond the flight of birds" and this may refer to the constellation we call Cygnus as a way of orientating the map.
There are many myths linked to this constellation, we owe the name to the Romans, who adopted Greek mythology to explain the name, The Greeks had called it Ornis, meaning Bird. 
Cycnus, son of Poseidon, was friends with Phaethon (mortal son of Helios the Sun God). Phaethon persuaded is father to let him drive his  Sun chariot across the skies. Alas, the four horses that drew the chariot were not familiar with Phaeton and they soon ran wild. Phaeton let go with the reins and the horses ran off, running wild through the heavens, and perilously close to Earth, causing the land and sky to burst in to flames. Zeus averted disaster, and sent down lightning bolts to correct the course of the chariot, but by then it was too late for Phaeton. He fell to Earth, landing in the river Eridanus. Cygnus was distraught and repeatedly tried to retrieve his friends body, Zeus was so moved by this act of devotion he transformed Cycnus in to a swan, and gave him a spot in the heavens to forever look down on the remains of his beloved Phaethon. 
We can still see the path of Phaethon's doomed ride, the Cygnus rift is visible across the Milky Way. 

We have already encountered Andromeda, the chained maiden. She was the one sacrificed by her father King Cepheus to the sea monster Cetus. Thankfully for Andromeda she was rescued by Perseus. The tale depicts her as being the paragon of the Greek ideals of femininity, at first being too shy to even answer Perseus, and refusing to say why she was chained to the rock. Despite her impending doom Perseus even has time to ask her parents for her hand in marriage should he slay Cetus, which he duly did. 
Andromeda and Perseus do marry and have six children. The goddess Athena placed her image in the skies, where she lies next to Perseus, and only separated from Cetus by the constellation Pisces. 

If I have worked my magic on the website then the spare Merino & Silk fibre from each 12 Days of Christmas parcel will be going in the online shop each day. This is the same base as all the other Superfine Merino & Silk fibre that's available, so you can mix and match with any other colour that's in stock, and also benefit from the same offer of "Buy any 2 and get the 3rd half price".
The whole range of fibre is available here.

The fibre this year has a theme of the Stars. In the northern hemisphere, at this darkest time of the year starlight can feel magical. Humanity has always looked to the heavens, and created stories around the patterns that they can see from these glowing balls of gas so far away from our own little planet.

If you fancy trying to find the stars linked to the fibre then there are some great apps that use the camera in your phone, assisted reality, and the internal compass to help you identify where to look.

In the Northern skies is a charioteer with no chariot. His hands grasp the reins, but his chariot is no longer his to drive. Our charioteer appears in various different stories, the most popular identifies him as Erichthonius, King of Athens. Erichthonious was the son Hephastus, but was raised by the goddess Athena. She taught him many skills, including horsemanship. Legend goes that he was the first to harness four horses to a single chariot in imitation of the Sun's Chariot drawn by four horses. This drew the admiration of Zeus, who then placed him in the night skies. 

Alternatively the charioteer is sometimes identified as Myrtilus, son of Hermes. Myrtilus was the charioteer of Oenomaus a Greek King. His chariot was destroyed in a race between the suitors of Oenomaus's daughter Hippodamia. Myrtilus was placed in the sky by his father Hermes, when he was killed Hippodamia's successful suitor Pelops.

If I have worked my magic on the website then the spare Merino & Silk fibre from each 12 Days of Christmas parcel will be going in the online shop each day. This is the same base as all the other Superfine Merino & Silk fibre that's available, so you can mix and match with any other colour that's in stock, and also benefit from the same offer of "Buy any 2 and get the 3rd half price". 
The whole range of fibre is available here.

The fibre this year has a theme of the Stars. In the northern hemisphere, at this darkest time of the year starlight can feel magical. Humanity has always looked to the heavens, and created stories around the patterns that they can see from these glowing balls of gas so far away from our own little planet. 

If you fancy trying to find the stars linked to the fibre then there are some great apps that use the camera in your phone, assisted reality, and the internal compass to help you identify where to look. ​

A comparatively modern constellation, instead of being named by the Ancient Greeks, this one was introduced by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687. Sadly this leaves us with no lovely myth, but the star atlas which originally identified the constellation does contain some beautiful illustrations. 

If I have worked my magic on the website then the spare Merino & Silk fibre from each 12 Days of Christmas parcel will be going in the online shop each day. This is the same base as all the other Superfine Merino & Silk fibre that's available, so you can mix and match with any other colour that's in stock, and also benefit from the same offer of "Buy any 2 and get the 3rd half price". 
The whole range of fibre is available here.

The fibre this year has a theme of the Stars. In the northern hemisphere, at this darkest time of the year starlight can feel magical. Humanity has always looked to the heavens, and created stories around the patterns that they can see from these glowing balls of gas so far away from our own little planet. 

If you fancy trying to find the stars linked to the fibre then there are some great apps that use the camera in your phone, assisted reality, and the internal compass to help you identify where to look. ​

One of the easiest constellations to see in the sky, and on clear nights will definitely be one you can step outside and see. I'm lucky enough to live on the edge of a Dark Sky Reserve, so my views of the night sky are pretty incredible, but Orion contains such bright stars that it will be visible in all but the most light polluted locations. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, and the 10th brightest star in the night sky, and is at Orions right shoulder. It contrasts very clearly with Rigel, the 6th brightest star in the night sky, which is a blue supergiant. If you want to know more about the types of stars then this is a nice starting point. It's very easy to see the difference in their colours. 

This constellation features in the mythology of many cultures, but under the name Orion, the Greeks describe him as the hunter. Orion is the son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Euryale, His father gave him the gift of being able to walk on water, and using his powers Orion walked to the island of Chios. He then had too much to drink, and made unwanted advances to Merope, daughter of King Oenopion. As punishment the king blinded Orion, Orion managed to return home, where Hephastus (the god of fire and blacksmithing) took pity on him, and made his servant Cedalion accompany Orion to Helios (god of the sun), who restored Orion's site. 
Orion however didn't learn his lesson. He boasted that he would conquer every creature on Earth. This angered the Earth goddess Gaia, who sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion. In death Orion was placed in the stars alog=ngside the scorpion who had killed him.

If I have worked my magic on the website then the spare Merino & Silk fibre from each 12 Days of Christmas parcel will be going in the online shop each day. This is the same base as all the other Superfine Merino & Silk fibre that's available, so you can mix and match with any other colour that's in stock, and also benefit from the same offer of "Buy any 2 and get the 3rd half price". 
The whole range of fibre is available here.

The fibre this year has a theme of the Stars. In the northern hemisphere, at this darkest time of the year starlight can feel magical. Humanity has always looked to the heavens, and created stories around the patterns that they can see from these glowing balls of gas so far away from our own little planet. 

If you fancy trying to find the stars linked to the fibre then there are some great apps that use the camera in your phone, assisted reality, and the internal compass to help you identify where to look. 

Cetus is sometimes called The Whale, but would maybe be more accurately be described as a sea monster. It's  found in the same area of the sky as many of the other water based constellations. 
​
Cetus was a monster created by Poseidon after Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereid nymphs. Cetus ravaged the coastline of Ethiopia, kingdom of King Cepheus and Queen Casseiopeia. 
In order to kill the monster Cepheus sacrificed his daughter Andromeda, she was chained to cliffs at Joppa (modern day Tel-Aviv), and left to await her fate. Luckily for Andromeda she was rescued by Perseus, the hero arrived, and saved the day by slaying the monster. 

One of the reasons I had for getting this years 12 Days of Christmas Parcels sent out so early was because I knew that November was going to be a really busy month for me and I want them to get through the postal system before everything starts to get really busy. And November did duly deliver, it was a really busy month, and a great holiday at the very end of it. 

Speaking of Christmas, if you are ordering and want something arrive before Christmas, these are the dates issued by Royal Mail (we use Royal Mail 48 and International Standard services). I always regard these as being highly optimistic, and I can't guarantee delivery times. 

The Gift Guide for Spinners is on the website, and is filled with non-fibre based gifts, but I'm always happy to help pick out items when given a budget to work with, or there's always the option of a Gift Voucher. The Time Travellers Club also makes a great present, and spreads the cost and the fun over a longer period of time!

The last date that orders will be sent out is Monday 20th December and then I will hold everything until I go back to work in the first week of January. (I need to check with our postman if they're working on January 3rd as it's meant to be a public holiday, but the business collection form suggested that they would be collecting that date?)

On to more interesting things....
at the end of the month we had our first holiday away from home since before Covid arrived, and my little brother managed to come with us as well. It's the first time we've all been away as a family for a very long time. 

We have beautiful beaches over here on the west coast, but the Northumbrian coast over on the East of the country is somewhere we've always loved. We were absolutely spoilt with a week of wonderful weather, and practically no rain. Storm Arwen arrived just as we were leaving, but we managed to get home with only minor diversions, and arrived back to Wales to discover that we'd somehow been sheltered from the worst of the weather so still had power, phone, and no destruction of anything in the garden. 

The dogs, particularly Nellie had a tremendously good time. They arrived back at the holiday cottage most nights and fell fast asleep for the rest of the evening. It was lovely to be in civilisation for a while, with access to take aways, and cafes, and restaurants with outside seating. We ate much seafood, and cake, and tried such delights as Seabuckthorn ice cream. 
My creative efforts this month have all been for super secret projects...
But before we went away we did manage to hold another Speed Dating Zoom session, this time to discuss Spinning Accessories. This was done 2 days before we left, in the middle of a really busy week, so I have a technology fail and forgot to turn my screen off gallery view when I did the recording. We're having a break in December, but will be back in January to discuss all things processing, everything from carders, combs, blending boards, slickers, pet combs...

May the rest of your month be peaceful and safe, it's unlikely I'll find time to write a blogpost again this month, but over the course of the 12 Days of Christmas I will have some posts pre-written to share the fibres that are in this years 12 Days of Christmas parcels. 

As is now traditional here's my gift guide for spinners this year. If you have loved ones who are always a bit uncertain about what to buy, point them in this direction!
Some of these recommendations are repeats from previous years... there will always be new people reading this, and if my family are anything to go by, you sometimes need to ask for something a few times for it to sink in that this is really, really what you want!

I'm going to start off with books, books are such a great present, if you can, order via your local independent bookshop, if you can't then use bookshop.org, or a company like Wordery or Blackwells (they're often price matched to Amazon anyway, and have delivery times that are just as quick). 

The Spinners Book of Yarn Design- A modern classic, filled with spinning essentials in addition to a complete reference on how to make just about every type of fancy yarn you can possible imagine. 
Yarnitecture- A great book covering how to do just about everything in a really down to earth way. 
The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook- An encyclopaedia of so many sheep breeds, worth having even if you only spin per-prepared fibre. 


If dyeing and gardening is on the cards then this gift pack from Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft is delightful containing seeds, and a copy of Ethel Mairets book. 
Or if synthetic dyes, and more instant gratification are preferred then D&T Crafts have some great kits.

What about useful tools and devices....
​I would be remiss in not mentioning my own WPI tool, even things like oil bottles are something that might seem like an odd gift, but are very much needed by most spinners!

​This is my favourite lazy kate, it's not cheap, but when I take it to workshops everyone falls in love with the simple elegance of how it works, ad how much easier plying becomes. Or your spinner may like a travel sized option, this one from Ashford seems pretty popular when I go out teaching. 

On last nights video call with The Fellowship of Yarn, when we talked all things accessories, this tool came up as something to use to wind a plying bracelet. I find my hand works well, but I know plenty of people who use tools like this and find them really useful.  This device for holding skeins so you can knit straight from them looks like a really clever thing (any of my relatives reading this, one in Magenta please). 

Another thing that came up were breakdown bobbins, and how useful we found them, particularly if storage space is tight. I've recommended Akerworks ones for years, and they're still the Rolls Royce option, but there is now a UK based shop printing them. If you're reading this as a non-spinner double check the wheel manufacturer, model, and flyer type before ordering. These are also made to order, so don't leave it too long. 

Beyond Measure is a shop I often turn to when I need a gift for a creative person. Grace stocks a shop full of  beautiful, well made tools. Anyone who does anything with textiles will appreciate a pair of sharp well made scissors, you can't go wrong with something from this selection. 

I'm friends and acquaintances with lots of small business owners, and the one common theme from most of them is how tough this year has been. 2020 was hard, but with so much time at home, and so little else to do lots of people were supporting indie shops, who were managing to adapt quicker than the big brands. This year has been just as challenging, even those of us who have manage to pay the IOSS EU VAT still spent over half the year with dramatically reduced orders from EU customers until that system went live, and for most of us, orders have never recovered back to what they were previously. Domestically it's been a horrible balancing act of deciding what events to commit to, and trying to predict the future.
In short, this has been a tough year to be a small business. If you can, try and buy local and or indie, it's one little thing, but to the business you buy from it means the world. 

Some housekeeping to begin with...
Later this month I am going away (first time on holiday since December 2019!), so there will be no orders posted on Monday 22nd November, and Thursday 25th November. After that things will be back to normal until I stop for a break over the Christmas holidays. These are the Royal Mail Christmas posting dates. I always regard these as slightly optimistic, so if you are ordering anything as a gift sooner is always better and less likely to cause stress!
Because I am away at the end of November the Gradient Club will be posted earlier than usual on 18th November, so if you are a member, and usually order something to be sent with your parcel please bear that in mind. 

Gifts for Spinners (and weavers and other yarn lovers) will be back again later this year. If you run a business, and you sell something that you think would be a great item for me to include in this post please leave a comment/send me a message. To get a feel for what sort of thing I often highlight here' the post from last year, and the year before.

October has been so unusually warm, the garden feels like it's in a waiting game, it feels wrong to tidy up plants that are still green and flowering, but there are things that need to be moved, and the winter's here are usually so wet that leaving things until later is often a case of not being able to do it until spring! I picked the last of the dahlias yesterday, and finally gave in and pulled out the summer bedding from the planters so I could put in some more pansies and violas. Though Nellie has been helping with digging things up... pity this wasn't actually a bush we wanted to move! 

There have also been trips to the beach... This photo is a bit like a version of spot the ball, except you're looking for a small black dog with a very independent streak!

And at the very end of the month a lovely day spent at Oriel Davies  (Davies Gallery) in Newtown, demonstrating with Montgomeryshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers as part of their new exhibitions. Both Blanket Coverage, and the work by Steve Attwood Wright are well worth a visit if you can make it to Newtown before Christmas, they're beautiful example of contemporary, practical, handmade textiles. We're hoping to arrange another date in December, as it was so great to talk about the practicalities of making cloth surrounded by such stunning finished examples. 

The eagle eyed amongst you will spot a new logo at the bottom of the screen, the Wales Ambassador scheme is a series of interactive learning modules designed to help people learn a bit more about certain areas of Wales, including the Snowdonia National Park. I love sharing the beautiful part of the world where I live and work with you all, and whilst I knew lots of things already, there have also been lots of new discoveries. The scheme is open to anyone, and you can sign up to have a got at the modules here. As well as Snowdonia there re options for other part of Wales, and more look to be coming online soon. If you are ever coming to this part of the world on holiday and want some recommendations about some off-the-beaten track  places to visit I'm always happy to help. 

​Plans are being made for my first in-person show at Wonderwool Wales next spring, and theoretically I have a full diary of workshop bookings next year, I hope to be able to see some of you in-person for the first time in 2 years. However, if in-person still isn't happening for you there are still lots of online things happening in The Fellowship of Yarn. All my self-paced online courses are still live, and we're still running monthly Zoom sessions to chat with fellow spinners.  

Following on from the great session we had looking at treadle wheels this month we had a session on e-spinners. There's now lots of choice available for this type of wheel, and at a really wide range of price points. So if you've ever wondered about what they're like, and want to hear the opinions of the people that actually use them, the recording is available to watch later. 

These are completely free sessions that I host for members of The Fellowship of Yarn. We're currently picking a date for our session next month, which will focus on accessories. If you want to come and join us, then come and vote for the dates you can attend.