Life is more than just knitting - just about!!

Although I run a yarn business, spend much of my life thinking about yarn or knitting with it, I do love lots of other creative arts - sewing, and quilt making being up there as quite fab!!  Also, whenever I get the chance I'm always up to try something new - bit of a crafty tart really..so in that vein, I will be starting a Stained Glass course in September and today I went on a one day workshop about silver PMC - Precious Metal Clay.

What an absolute revelation and the most fun I have had in one day since...well..since forever it seems and was run by Janet Richardson, an experienced Silversmith.

At the beginning of the day Janet explained that we would have the opportunity to produce three pieces of jewellery out of a small packet of Silver Clay – something none of us could actually believe we would achieve!  The three examples she gave us were a small pair of earrings, a pendant and a charm but we could also choose to make one large item or whatever we liked.

First of all we practised on plasticine before using the clay itself, as it is quite expensive and none of us was keen to make mistakes!  We then rolled out the clay before adding texture to it with items such as stampers, lace, leaves and buttons.  We then created a shape by using a cutter, for example, a leaf or flower shape or something more freeform.  The clay pieces were then left to dry while we enjoyed a delicious lunch.

After lunch, Janet showed us all how to fire the pieces using a blow torch- a process know as sintering, as well as how to solder on fixings before all our pieces were put into the polisher.  When the pieces were added to the polisher, they still looked like clay, but what a transformation took place in the fifteen minutes they were tumbled in the polishing machine.  They all came out as highly polished pieces of pure silver which we were totally thrilled with!  We were all so inspired that we have asked Diz if she can organise another workshop where we could perhaps make a ring.  Examples of Janet’s work can be seen on her website at http://www.janetrichardson.co.uk/

Three of the pendants I made out of a ball of clay-don't do earrings!!

A Colourful week

What a hectic couple of weeks..Half term..not the greatest of weather at the start..stuck on the first Saturday, in the car on a closed M6 for 2 hours with three small and upset children..two of who were desperate for the loo but refused to use the hard shoulder (can't we just walk to the next Services..no, it's 14 miles away!!) until a steady stream of other children were seen not to be bothered by the whole experience, and then it suddenly ceased to be an issue.  Two lovely but wet days followed with Grandparents in Lancashire before we flew back down the motorway to Bucks at which point I unloaded all the luggage and plants raided from Dad's garden and reloaded up the car with lovely yarn to go and visit a fab knitting group organised by my friend Big Tangle.  They meet every fortnight in Marston, Oxford to knit, crochet or even sew.  Visit the website www.bigtangle.co.uk for more details if you fancy joining them.  The biggest seller that night was Manos Del Uruguay's Maxima yarn - a hand dyed Aran weight merino yarn that is available in the most fabuloso colours.  Katie bought this:

I wonder what she is going to knit with it..can't wait to see.
I had left my latest knitting project, a ripple pattern scarf, on the chair in the living room so Katie offered to teach me to crochet.  I wasn't very optimistic about the chances of success - I have tried to learn numerous times over the last couple of years, spent a fortune on a Learn to Crochet magazine series that seems to be in about 200 weekly parts and taunts me from the bookcase about the amount of money I have spent on something that I am totally and utterly rubbish at!  Anyway, to get back to the story, Katie lent me a crochet hook and some chunky yarn and showed me the way she had been taught which was different to all the ways I had been shown in the past but seems to work for knitters.  You hold the crochet hook in your left hand and the wool is wound around your right hand as it would be when knitting (if you are right handed!)..you then take the wool around the crochet hook from front to back and pull the stitches through..sure this doesn't make sense when you read it but having been shown it, it works for me and I am now attempting to crochet a very simple scarf using Artesano's Superwash Merino in Sea Blue:

I have also finished my Ripple scarf which was also knitted with lots of different colours of Merino..it has actually ended up as a neck warmer because it was knitted, as a raffle prize, for my neighbour's MS fund raiser which took place last Friday.

Another colourful event last week involved a trip to Beth Chatto's Garden, in Colchester, Essex with the Horticultural Society from my village. The Garden is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary this year.  From an overgrown wasteland with poor gravel soil and boggy hollows it has been transformed into an informal garden harmonising with the surrounding countryside.   Admission into the garden is £6.00 which is a bargain as it is a really fantastic space with some beautiful planting and lots of water.

There is a really fantastic nursery and they do mail order.  I had been sent with strict instructions not to spend any money on plants as with the building work which is going on there is no room for any more plants..However, I did sneak a couple back in (quite easy as E, my husband doesn't do gardening) and they are hidden in the vegetable garden which is currently home to all my rescued plants.

Finally, talking about the building work, we are now into week 8 and the roof is going on..only an other 4 weeks until they knock through into the rest of the house and chaos reigns..but then only another 8 weeks until it is finished.  In the first eight weeks we have gone from this:

to this:

Speak soon

Love

Moss Stitchxx

A gardening tale..

My big passion, other than knitting and sewing is my garden.  I have to admit that I am a bit of a fair weather gardener..you don't often see me out there when it's raining or freezing cold..but when the temperature rises above 10 degrees I spend as much time as I can outside.  This means that during the summer, knitting gets squeezed into a couple of hours in the evening.. so the jumper I'm knitting for a friend  is taking a bit longer than anticipated.. and the gorgeous lace shrug that I am knitting for myself in Rowan Kid Haze will probably be ready for next summer if I'm lucky!

We moved into our current house 5 years ago and I have to admit that the garden was a big factor in my decision to buy it - husband didn't have any say!  We live on top of a ridge in Buckinghamshire and are really lucky to have a flat garden as a lot of the houses are situated on the steep hills that lead in and out of the village.

Two years ago, I decided to make a really large herbaceous border at the side of the house and spent loads of time and a bit of money planting it up with all my favourite cottage garden plants, many of which I had grown from seed or swapped with friends.

Then a year later I found out I was pregnant and all of a sudden the house is not big enough and we need to build an extension..arghh..and after much faffing about..delays and saving up, the builders have moved in and guess where the extension is going - yes, right over the border I created.

Now the border looks like this..I don't go round this part of the house much anymore - it's too traumatic!

Builder's rubbish including a lovely portaloo!!

I have saved as many plants as I can and that I have space for and most of them are now taking up residence in the vegetable garden which means we can't grow any veg this summer, except what we can stuff into pots.  The good thing about all this though is that a lot of the garden is going to need to be redesigned after the extension is finished  - yipee!!  Lots more new plants and the summerhouse which is in the picture below is going to be my garden studio.  It may only be small but it will be all mine and a place to escape to away from the boys - I am the only female in this house with 3 sons and even the dog is male!!

Anyway the sun is out, the boys are back from the supermarket and there is gardening to do in the little patch not taken over by breeze blocks, cement mixers and scaffolding boards.  I might nick those and build some more raised beds.

Big Glass of Red Please..day in the life of a not so yummy (more of a tummy) mummy

Life is proving to be a bit of an up hill battle at the moment.  The blog challenge has definitely come off the rails - day's 3 and 4 challenges never arrived.  Day 5 has to be a guest blog which won't appear here and I wonder if I'll ever get it written; Day 6 should have been done yesterday.. and so here we are..on Day 7 writing about a day in the life of me - who wants to read about that I think.  A day of trying to get children to school without resorting to sending them out of the door half dressed and without shouting too much..trying to cook meals that everyone will eat (this never happens - whatever I make has someone saying "Yuck, I don't like mushrooms..I don't like potatoes done like that..and me saying "Well pick it out then".."No, it's touched the other food on my plate". ARRGGH!!!!!!!!!  A day spent trying to answer questions that I don't know the answer too such as "Which is the biggest star in the universe?".  AND, when I say I don't know, being informed by my eldest son that "You don't know very much, do you Mamma".  Thanks for that!  A day when I try not to eat biscuits or cheese because nearly a year after having my third son, I still weigh more than before I had him and cannot get rid of my tummy even though I attempt to do situps every day  (perhaps that's where I am going wrong.. not attempting enough.. and being tempted too much!

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I thought, today would be different.  The sun was shining, it was the weekend and my husband was home to share the load, it was the start of the Easter holidays...

And although at 4pm it has had it's share of tantrums, screaming fits (that's from me!) and children breaking whirly gig washing lines ("it just fell over Mamma") which caused the shouty screaming of "How can a metal pole holding up mounds of washing just fall over!!"  it has also been a lovely day of being out in the garden, having a gorgeous lunch in the village church grounds to celebrate the Golden Wedding Anniversary of our lovely vicar, and her husband and just generally enjoying being at home.

And actually, when I think about it seriously, most days are a mixture of good and not so good but at the end of the day there is always a bit of time, when the children have gone to bed, to have a glass of wine and fall into a deep blissful sleep at 9pm before the baby wakes up teething, or someone has a bad dream.. or leg ache.. or just needs a cuddle and I love it all.

Have to go.. the baby is crying.........and I'm half way through mowing the lawns.  Also, nearly forgot, I actually run a yarn business in the midst of all this chaos!!!

Button It!

After regretting that I had ever signed myself up to do the 30 day Blog Challenge..struggling to write anything of merit on Day 1..things did improve on Day 2 and I was starting to think that I actually may enjoy doing this, in a weird kind of way.  So there I was this morning, eargerly logging onto my e-mail, in between tweeting and facebooking (I'd rather do anything than get on with doing the housework) awaiting what the challenge would be and ..nothing!!!

Why is this, I start to ask myself.. was I so rubbish that they have dumped me off the programme for crimes against blogging..is there a problem with my e-mail (No, that's ok as I have received three messages from Vistaprint today telling me that it is my absolute last chance to get a million business cards for free) or am I going to get the challenge at 11pm tonight saying that I need to draft something wonderful and mind provoking by midnight.

The sensible side of me knows that all these outcomes are totally ridiculous and there is probably some technical issue at the other end which means I will get my challenge at some point, probably tomorrow, just before the Day 4 Challenge, and I will then have to try and write 2 blogs - perhaps I will just cheat and join them together.  Anyway in the spirit of trying to be self motivated  - with help from the biscuit tin - I have set my own Day 3 Challenge and am going to dedicate this  blog to all things buttons and the lovely hadmade buttons made by Wendy Fowler, which are now avaliable to buy from Moss Stitch's market stall and will soon be avaliable to buy from the website.

Wendy is a Ceramicist based in High Wycombe.  She makes the most wonderful pots, the most recent of which, is inspired by the view from her studio window, of the old furniture factories of High Wycombe, and also makes a selection of porcelain buttons which come in sets of one, two, four or six.

A single button from Wendy Fowler





A set of six buttons from Wendy Fowler

Wendy's work can be viewed at http://www.wendyfowler.com/

PS - Excuse the spelling in this blog.  The spell checker does not seem to be working or perhaps everything is spelt perfectly - doubt this!!



Surving as a Mummypreneur - Tips, tips and felt tips

It never ceases to amaze me, how many Mums there are like me, starting up their own businesses while being totally immersed in the often stressful business of  looking after children, partners, pets, trying to cook meals, clean the house, do the shopping.. re- landscape the garden, rebuild the house...I think you get my drift that there really aren't enough hours in the day and yet so many of us seem to be making a success of running a business alongside looking after lots of other things.

So in praise of all things mummyprenurial (I made that up!!) here are my tips for how I have survived the first six months of running my own (be it very weeny) yarn business, and perhaps they may help you:

 - Make sure you are passionate about what you are doing.  That may sound like common sense but it is so much easier to sell your product or skill if you really believe in and are passionate about it.  Back before children when I used to be a proper grown up with a corporate career I was convinced that I was useless at selling.  I never seemed to be able to sell on additonal work to clients and it always came up as a "development issue" on the dreaded appraisal form.  However, when I look back now I can see that I just didn't believe in what I was doing, so why would anyone else??  Now I talk about the yarn I sell whenever I can, as much as I can without boring people and loosing friends (hopefully); I wear garments made from the yarn I sell in the hope that people will say "Ohhh, how lovely is that..please teach me to knit.. so I can make one too" etc etc;

- Research, Research and more Research. Research your market and find out if anyone else is doing what you are planning on doing; if so, how are you going to compete?  On price, quality etc?  How are you going to finance your venture - yourself, bank or other private finance, and if so how do you plan to pay it back?  I decided on a crafty loan from the other half but he is already demanding that I start to pay the loan back and he is always asking to see the accounts  I wish I had looked into other options now!  Also, you need to think about your sales channel - bricks and mortar shop, on line only, or an combination of both?  I have a market stall in our local town, one a week as well as selling online and over the phone.  The market stall has allowed me to test the market without having huge overheads and outlays and it also works really well around the boys as I can do school and nursery drop off and pick up on market day and still get to the market on time;

- Be professional.  Before you actually launch make sure you have everything you need in place such as a dedicated business phone number; ability to take card payments etc.  This is particularly important if you are planning an Internet and mail order business based from your home.  I didn't have a dedicated phone number at first which meant that everyone who answered the phone had to answer with "Good morning/afternoon, how can I help you.."  Bit tricky when your six year old always seems to get to the phone first and shouts "Who is it".."Is that you Grandma"  down the line, regardless of who is at the other end;

..and oh , one final tip, never leave the felt tips hanging around when you are sorting out stock, especially undyed wool..my little "helper" got hold of them and I now have some bright purple blodgy wool.  Perhaps it might catch on as a new way of wool dying but I very much doubt it!


What felt tips?? I really don't know what you mean..



First of the 30 day blog challenge: Feeling Topical

Today I am trying to relate my blog to something topical; something that is newsworthy and really rates telling you about..something yarn or wool related??? Ummh I hear you say.. it's not the most exciting of things is it... world wool prices may be at an all time high but I'm more worried about petrol prices and the fact that my supermarket food bill gets more expensive every week!

And, yes all this is very true but actually wool and the sheep they come from, and that relationship with the environment, particulary here in the UK is very important and something we should all have an awareness of.  In a way, an increase in wool prices is a good thing for Birtish Sheep Farmers as it means they are receiving more income for each fleece sold.  However, this is still not at the level it once was, and we are all guilty of not buying enough of our home grown wool, preferring cashmere from abroad, and wooden or laminate floors over carpet.  Actually, I'm going back to carpet when we have finished building our extension as it is so much more cosy underfoot and it will muffle some of the crashing and bashing sounds that come from my sons' bedrooms when they are playing.

If you are interested in finding out more about british wool and wool products visit http://www.britishwool.org.uk/. 

And if you are bored with all that, you can always watch 'Lambing Live' which starts tonight on BBC2, and indulge in some Ahhh moments.