very large egg...

...from a little hen

wow, one of the biggest eggs I have ever seen, laid today

think it is from jubilee, one of our rescue hens

it weighed 100g!

I have put it next to an average size egg and one from a newbie layer...

a hen we reared from last season

will get together some pictures of our hens sometime soon

weaving workshop...

...today

using an old Harris table loom

the lovely Alice Evans showed my spinning and weaving group

how easy! warping up a loom can be...

once we had got our heads around dents per inch and simple maths

time to set about wrapping yarn around a warping frame

this took a lot of concentration

and an exercise involving my 8 times table

then time to put this yarn on the loom

now this took a lot of patience, good eyesight and a few cups of tea

just to ease off the back!

its a fairly long process before you can weave

but like most things, the preparation is about 2/3rd of the work

but then it was time to weave a first piece of yarn through shafts 1 and 3

and away you go

surprisingly it grows very quickly

and by the end of the day I had the beginnings of a sample piece of woven fabric

Thank you Alice for your expert tuition and patience

had a great day

just hope I remember it all!

spring is in the ...

...air

the gorgeous simplicity of the snowdrop
bowing its tiny head to the coming of spring
...and to a happy promise of the year ahead

xxx

too pretty ...

...for washing dishes?

i had some spare coloured commercial yarn hanging around

and thought i would use it up by crocheting these cute wash cloths

here's the very easy pattern

foundation chain 25 stitches, turn

treble into the 2nd stitch from hook

treble to the end, chain 2, turn

continue for 15 rows, taking care at each end to treble into the turning 2 chain
finish off work.

frilly edge
change to another colour, slip stitch into one corner of your work

*chain 3, (counts as one treble) treble 2 into same stitch

slip stitch into next stitch* continue from ** all the way around your wash cloth

slip stitch at end, tie of yarn and weave in ends.

do hope that all sounds clear...

it does in my head, but sometimes it's quite hard to write out a pattern so that everyone can understand it

you now have your own wash cloth or maybe use it for the dishes? or a little place mat

you get the idea

cotton or acrylic mix yarns work best as they wash better and are long lasting...for once my beloved pure wool doesn't really work as it mostly felts when using

they make sweet gifts too, make a trio and tie with string

have fun

gathered online...

...a weekly mini mag, full of gorgeous things to make, inspiring crafters and more

from the lovely people at Mollie Makes

if you have an iPad and you love crafts, pretty interiors and the like, then subscribe to Gathered

you can even see my crochet valentines hearts featured on the 'show and tell' page this week