tie our love in a double knot

Well the dyeing has been happening today. Stockpots and puddles everywhere, the washing machine going, strangely coloured fingers. Being the first day of autumn it was probably a good day to get as much done as possible. The blotch rate is down, except for the coral dyepot I forgot to put the grill in the bottom of, this batch is going to be messy. I sometimes think that I don't have enough patience for dyeing, unlike the Clever Girl! Nikki's dyeing is always lovely!

The photos on Nikki's blog of her new range are looking simply beautiful. 

Nik sent through a link to the Pluckyfluff site and I got excited and the next thing I knew I had the spinning wheel whirring around.........

It's here I have to admit that when I was a youngster I was a member of the Handweavers and Spinners Guild, in fact their youngest member. I used to do a lot of weaving and we had looms and spinning wheels and all that sort of stuff at home. So it's been quite a few years (gulp) since I did any spinning but it's amazing how craft remains in one's fingers

A couple of skeins later.............

....... and I just need the time to do more.

 

I forgot how meditative spinning is. I had been in the need of some 'craft for the soul' and the making of such an elemental thing as yarn is really quite joyous. Nikki recently posted about 'slow fashion', a sister movement to 'slow food' and espoused by makers and designers like Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin. In this financial climate, as we watch businesses like Pacific Brands move off-shore and go for profits over all else, we should stop to think of the 'soul' in the clothing we put on our backs. 

p.s. the post title is because I was listening to Dolly Parton whilst working this morning and it's one of those song lines that just stick in your head. You know how it is!