A lovely Stay at Plas Cwta
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- Published on Sunday, 17 February 2013 14:07
We have had a wonderful few days staying at sheepskinlife's very cosy cottage Plas Cwta in North Wales.
With Spectacular views towards Snowdonia from the cottage, you really have a wonderful sense of feeing away from it all.
The cottage was so comfortable we could have stayed indoors for our whole stay... with a deep freestanding roll top bath, thick cotton dressing gowns for each one of us, crisp cotton sheets and log burner you almost have to make yourself leave the house.
Who wouldn't want to spend hours in this bath?
On the first morning I spent 3 hours spinning beautiful wool with a lovely local lady called Helen. We spun wool from her own sheep as she described each sheep's individual characters.
Helen runs short spinning courses from her home, perfect in combination with a fantastic stay in North Wales, particularly Plas Cwta.
I had a wonderful morning with Helen and came back to Plas Cwta cottage with some lovely hand spun wool for my travelling blanket. I spent the evening making crochet squares in front of the fire.
We ate well from two local farm shops. Rhug Estate who have bison roaming in the fields nearby have a large shop and restaurant, the children tried Bison Burgers from the shop there. Also Bodnant Welsh Food which is a really lovely farm shop very near to the cottage selling almost predominantly welsh local produce.
Any knitters wanting to spend an indulgent break away that combines spinning and fabulous food couldn't go wrong with a stay at Plas Cwta!
E-Textiles
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- Published on Saturday, 24 November 2012 15:42
After doing some research for my college course I discovered e-textiles... the ability to use electrical components within garments or textiles. The special thread acts as a conductor and so the stitches are the electrical connection.
I have made a start with my first basic sample using 3 LED's, a battery and a push switch but my mind is spinning with all the further possibilities.
My sewn electrical Circuit
My hand felted sample from the front (lights off)
And finally my e-textile sample with lights on!
I am so excited about the possibilities. More lights, different switches, program the lights to do different patterns, motion sensors to switch them on and off...
If you are interested in e-textiles as well, you can purchase some components from Kitronik.
Liverpool Love
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- Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 17:27
We had an amazing weekend last weekend at the Liverool Love Gala Event at the Museum of Liverpool.
"Liverpool Love is a unique Art exhibition raising money for charity. The exhibition culminates in an auction from which 90% of the profits will go to Claire House Children’s Hospice and the remaining 10% will go to the National Museum’s Liverpool."
£75,000 was raised for Children's Hospice Claire House, a fantastic result. £1,500 of which was paid for the wonderful work of 3 amazing boys from Claire House. See Liverpool Echo
We met so many amazing Artists it was a huge privilage to be there.
Essaouira - Morocco
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- Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 17:18
The last part of my Morocco entries (Finally!)
Learnt a new crochet technique from a lovely moroccan man outside a shop in Essaouira! And also bought a handmade wooden crochet hook from him, made by his father.
Fabulously hairy wool carpet in a carpet shop on the way to Essaouira.
The detail of embroidery on a garment in a museum.
Patterns of mussels on the sea bed as the tide came in...
Treking in The Atlas Mountains
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- Published on Saturday, 25 August 2012 15:29
After Marrakech we left for the Atlas Mountains...
We treked to the highest inhabited berber village Tacheddirt (2314 meters)... with the kids on mules the whole way up.
We were lucky enough to visit a berber family in their home whilst staying in Tacheddirt, and we took excercise books as well as pens and pencils for the family as lack of basics is often all that stops children from being able to go to school.
There was textile inspiration everywhere from natural textures to simple furnishings and functional items such as the woven saddles on the mules...
But after a fabulous stay in the mountains we had to get back...
According to the Trip Dossier the way back is 'downhill all the way'! but this is what we had to climb. The red arrow is the small drink stall we were aiming for.
Morocco
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- Published on Monday, 20 August 2012 09:22
We have just got back from a truly amazing holiday in Morocco with adventure holiday company Families Worldwide. We did the 10 day 'Atlas Mule Train' holiday which included several days in Marrakech, mountain trekking (with the children riding mules) and a couple of days at the end of the holiday in Essaouira a magnificent costal town with a beach.
I am going to try and blog about our adventure in possibly 3 posts so I will start with Marrakech.
Straight off the plane Marrakech can seem like an overwhelming assault to your senses. Arriving in July the temperature was around 47 degrees, it is noisy a bit smelly and you are constantly bombarded by requests, but I love this part of travelling. Completely immersed in a new culture everything is so different to the UK.
My kids did remarkably well, they were engaged and asking questions straight away, though the temperature needed some time to get used to for all of us.
I was very keen to visit the dyers souk in Marrakech, where all the wool is dyed for carpets and I wasn't disappointed. Skeins of dyed yarn hung from the ceilings and there were pots of natural dyes all lined up.
We visited during Ramadan so sadly no one was actually doing any dying but I was kindly shown the wood fired dying pots and was able to buy some dyes and a skein of yarn to take home.
Wherever you look in Marrakech there is inspiration... from the huge array of colours to the wonderful geometric patterns on buildings.
Marrakech is an amazing city... vibrant and full of life.
