I've Got It Pegged!

Now in its 25th year, the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival recently hosted 700 events over 6 days.  Central to the festival is the burgh of Dufftown, the malt whisky capital of the world!

Dufftown is also home to local yarn store, 3 Bags Wool, the venue for craft events in the festival programme.  As Dufftown is only a 45 minute drive away (and a very scenic drive at that) I signed up for one of the craft workshops last Saturday afternoon.

3 Bags Wool is a very well stocked yarn emporium with balls of wool for every pocket lining the walls from floor to ceiling.

Shop owner and textile artist, Sarah Fraser, has taken full advantage of the shop's quirky layout to display her beautiful needle felted landscapes.  Kits are available so you can make your own and Sarah runs a wide range of craft workshops throughout the year at her in-store 'Wool Skool'.

Amongst all the wool, I also spotted this super-cute needle felted mouse nestled on a hand-kit sample sweater, a gorgeous floral handbag and a completely bonkers sheep!

As well as housing a fantastic range of supplies for knitters, crocheters and felters, 3 Bags Wool sells a less well known product for textile crafts called thrums.  Thrums are the narrow selvedges from woven fabrics and are usually discarded by the nearby Scottish mills but Sarah has turned their use into an art form.  You can't beat a bit of beautiful upcycling!

She showed us a range of rugs she'd woven from thrums to get an idea of what we were about to make.

The workshop I'd joined was peg loom weaving with thrums to make a sitting mat, basically a mini rug which could be completed in the two hour session!

After choosing some colours we set about warping up our peg looms.  I was using a chunky blue wool which was wound around the pegs 36 times then cut into 18 lengths.

The pegs were threaded with the lengths of wool before being reinserted into the loom.

Then the weaving could begin.  I'd chosen a jolly blue and yellow thrum which reminded us all of Doddie Weir's tartan.  The weaving itself was very therapeutic.

When the woven fabric reached the top of the pegs, they could be removed from the loom and the wool length pulled through.  A big knot was tied in the wool at the opposite end so I didn't pull it all the way out.  That would have been a total disaster!  Sarah was on hand throughout, guiding us gently through the weaving process, and encouraging us even when we thought we'd gone wrong.

Freshly brewed coffee and frangipane cake provided a welcome break mid session.

Once the weaving was finished, the woolly lengths were knotted to their neighbour at each end of the mat and neatly trimmed to finish them off.  I teased out the woolly lengths of mine to make a fringe.

With our mats complete, we were able to admire each other's work.

From L to R  Laura and her Mum, Irene, Me, Rose and Jesse, a lovely couple from The Netherlands

My sitting mat will be perfect for my favourite outdoor knitting spot - just need some sun!

You can contact Sarah Fraser of 3 Bags Wool here

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/3bagswool

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/3bagswool/

Thanks to Sarah for a lovely day.

A New Angle on Stained Glass

I was thrilled to receive a gift voucher for a stained glass session with Claire Gaunt Art at Christmas.

Not least because I'd dropped heavy hints to my husband, and left Claire's business card casually lying around.  I'd met Claire at a Christmas Fair at Haddo House last November and loved the pieces she had on display.  Her garden studio in Aberdeen was adorned with many of the gorgeous stained glass items she sells.  

I loved the coloured light filtering through these geometric hangings at each window in Claire's workspace.

Just the inspiration I needed - but was it too ambitious for a beginner's workshop?  

I needn't have worried as Claire encouraged me to go for it!  

First up I chose some coloured glass.  Here's a wee selection of the array of options.  

I settled for a palette inspired by my recent lounge makeover featuring a newly painted yellow green accent wall and reupholstered turquoise chair.  Isn't the blue rippled glass gorgeous?

Claire drew a template for me to follow and I traced the shapes and cut the glass, numbering the pieces as I went.

The circle was most challenging.  Thankfully the grinder helped smooth off those rough edges.

I'd never used these finger guards, or cots, before.  They provide protection whilst grinding glass without diminishing dexterity, helping me keep my pre-holiday sparkly manicure intact!  

Next it was time for some foiling.  I found it very satisfying to apply the adhesive foil strip to each edge and see my artwork start to come together.

In readiness for soldering, Claire used horse-shoe nails to anchor the foiled glass pieces and keep them in place.

She then applied Flux followed by dabs of solder onto the back to stabilise the window hanging finally creating one piece.

After demonstrating how to solder in a straight line, Claire told me it was my turn!  I was quite nervous but Claire made me feel completely at ease and I was soon soldering away to my heart's content.  I can definitely tell which bits I did but I was pretty pleased with my results overall.  

Claire then helped to solder all the way round the edges, as that required more precision than I currently possess, and the finishing touch was to attach a hanging ring and chain.

Here's our tah-dah moment together!

I was delighted with the stained glass artwork I made at my workshop with Claire and I couldn't wait to see it at home.

Here's my artwork in situ with the upholstered chair and accent wall which inspired my colour choice

If you'd like the opportunity to create your own stained glass artwork, Claire can be reached here:

Email : clairegauntart@gmail.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ClaireThereseGauntArtist/

Mobile : 07939 999329

I can make myself flowers

My path first crossed with Katie at NEOS 2022.  North East Open Studios is a nine day event held each year in September showcasing makers and artists in the North East of Scotland and allowing them to fling open the doors of their making spaces and welcome the world!  In Katie's covetable garden room studio, I particularly admired her flowery mosaic table tops.

This year Katie has realised a dream and opened her very own studio in the Aberdeenshire village of Durno allowing her to manage her craft business close to her home.  MAKE Craft and Design Studio is now open for craft workshops.  I was thrilled to be invited to the very first one.  

Katie has created a bright, inviting space in the former vintage shop premises of Louis Little Haven (which has now relocated to Insch).  As a textile lover, I was immediately drawn to the bright cubbies of wool Katie is using to make her vibrant floral tufted rug seen here in the background on its frame.  

Centre stage though, amid a felt fabric rainbow, was a vase of fabulous felt flowers - and that's what I'd come to make, along with three other participants.  The table was laid out with individual workstations with everything at hand and plenty of space.  It all looked so appealing, I couldn't wait to get going.

First up was this rose made from circles cut with precision snips following Katie's card template and her gentle guidance.  I went a bit rogue with my colour choice and produced a blue rose!

Next we made forget-me-nots.  My centres look suspiciously like Liquorice Allsorts but adding the petals made a recognisable bloom.  The florist wire stalks twisted easily to make a pretty spray.

Following Katie's clear instructions I managed to make a couple of daisies in yellow and white to add to my growing bouquet.  Still drawn to the blues I then added a couple of pale turquoise flowers.

Key to our successful flower construction was this funky hot-glue gun.  I'd never come across a rechargeable one before but Katie had a bank of them for us to use which meant we never got tangled in cables and never ran out of charge.  What a game changer when multiple glue-guns are in use!

As we became more competent at cutting and gluing, Katie showed us how to create a stem of lavender as well as some foliage.

She then produced this sweetie-jar of felt balls she'd made.  

They look adorable altogether but Katie suggested we incorporate them into our bouquets.  After completing a few more leafy stems, we placed our finished floral sprays together to be admired.  

Here's the beautiful work of tutor, Katie, and the other attendees, Jade, Joanne and Ethmay.  Everyone's work was so impressive.  We'd enjoyed a relaxing day of craft at Katie's MAKE - Craft and Design Studio and all made something lovely to take home.

I was delighted with my wee posy and can't thank Katie enough for inviting me along.

Katie and I posing with our posies!

My flowers enjoying their new home on my kitchen window ledge

Find out more about future workshops at MAKE - Craft and Design Studio

or by contacting Katie directly at make.craft.design@gmail.com

Last Christmas I gave you... something hand knitted

Nothing puts me off knitting more than a deadline.  

So it might surprise you to learn that I knitted five gifts for my nearest and dearest in time for  Christmas.  There's no more stressful deadline than 25th December, as we're all packing in so much else in the run up to the festive period.  What was I thinking?

Start early.  That's what I was thinking.  

So I began knitting for my Mum way back in August when we were on holiday in London looking after my daughter's puppy.  

It may appear that Murphy is taking a keen interest in my knitting, but he's really just hoping for a pat - or a treat!

My Mum had admired the colours in this jumper I made a year ago, and I still had some of the gorgeous pink dyed by my friend Helen of Ripplescrafts.  I paired it with a mohair in a colour called Mother Knows Best from local dyer Claire of Cookston Crafts.  They just had to be made into something for my Mum.

This lighter-than-air shawl with its picot edge of golden beads feels luxurious but is surprisingly warm.  

Five shawls - two for me and three gifts

I should know - I've knitted this pattern, the Winter Wander Shawl by Helen Stewart, five times now and it's one of my wardrobe favourites, as well as making a lovely present.

So, that was one Christmas gift completed - and autumn barely begun. 

I next turned my attention to some souvenir yarn purchased in Amsterdam last May.

The Dutch yarn store Stephen and Penelope is something of a mecca for knitters and I was pleased my daughter Maddy was happy to accompany me on a visit during our minibreak - and took lots of photos whilst I was drooling over the wool!  I asked Maddy to choose something she liked and she picked a pretty skein of mohair silk by German hand-dye company Walk Collection in this delicate colour called Cloudy Sky.

Throughout October I transformed the skein into a shrug similar to one I'd seen Maddy wear, following a pattern called Sleeve vibes by designer Sachiko Burgin.

Here's Maddy wearing her knitted Christmas gift, back home in London.  It's an ideal layering piece.

If anyone in my family admires knitwear, especially anything I've made, I pay close attention.

Three hats ready to post to Crisis UK

When Geoff said he liked one of these chunky hats I'd knitted for a charity initiative supporting the homeless in Edinburgh, I noted the colour and bought another ball.  I chose the Suffolk Hat pattern by Jo Storie Knits.  This pattern had been in my library for ages just waiting for the right wool.  All the hats are knitted in ReCreate Chunky from Stylecraft, a blended yarn made entirely from recycled fibres.  Though it's 40% wool, it can still be machine washed.  That ticks a lot of boxes for me and I can buy it in person locally from both Baa! and Cookston Crafts.

Here's Maddy admiring Geoff's finished hat during a woodland walk at Haddo Country Park just after Christmas.  I didn't make a pompom for Geoff as I made his hat slightly bigger than the charity ones and only had this tiny nubbin left.  He's not really a pompom kind of guy!

It's fair to say that when I find a knitting pattern I really like, I can become a bit fixated.  

I first knit the Bamboo Field Mitts as a shop sample for my local yarn store, Baa! in Stonehaven, last September to see if it was possible to make a pair from one ball of beautiful North Country Cheviot Hills Lambswool from The Border Mill.  It's a lovely pattern generously provided free by designer Holly Terrell.  With my mission accomplished - mitts finished from just one ball and safely delivered to Baa! - I made a pair for myself.  Then my attention turned to other leftovers in my stash for my final family gift.

After I made Maddy a Rosa Cardigan in Rowan Felted Tweed for her birthday in 2021, I made myself a grey one in the same yarn.  Remembering I'd some of the tweedy grey wool leftover, through November I knitted Eilidh a pair of the Bamboo Field Mitts to keep her cosy on her dog walks back in London with Murphy.

At the end of the day, when the Christmas hype is past, gifts are given and all I really want for them is to be worn, and worn, and worn again.

Geoff's hat on our hall table awaiting its next outing

But wait - that's only four and I mentioned five hand knit gifts...

With three weeks 'til Christmas, I made a late decision to make one more pair of Bamboo Field mitts, this time for my friend Lorna.  We'd a lunch date on December 18th when I knew we'd be exchanging gifts.  Made from her own alpaca yarn (which I've written about here) held with beautiful mauve mohair lace from Henny Penny Makes, I was in such a hurry to knit, finish, wrap and present these that this is my only photo!

Hand knit work in progress - not an instrument of torture!

I can't say I'll be making that number of knitted Christmas gifts every year but knowing those I love are wrapped in beautiful yarns from the work of my hands gives not only me a warm fuzzy feeling!