2011 – What Next?

At the start of the new year and as I gradually feel more settled here in our new home, I have begun to ask myself what I plan to do with any free time I may have and which new craft projects I’d like to embark on. I have to admit that there are times when I find it difficult to motivate myself to start dyeing again. I don’t produce items for sale and, with the exception of yarns dyed for my own personal projects, most of my dyeing is done as experiments for whatever article or book I am working on currently. As I still have so many naturally-dyed yarns waiting to be used, I feel reluctant to add even more to my stock, especially when I recall how much I gave away when we moved.

My main interest has for some time been the textile traditions of the past and I am working on some more Anglo-Saxon style dyeing experiments. I realise this is a very loose description, as what I have been doing is considering the colour range that might have been available to ordinary people living during the Anglo-Saxon period, particularly those who may not have had access to alum mordants. So I shall be writing more about this at a later date.

I have also decided that it is about time I learned some new skills, as well as trying to improve some old ones. As I am so interested in the textile skills of the past, I plan to teach myself card (or tablet) weaving and with that in mind I’ve purchased a book to guide me through the processes involved. I also hope to improve my spindle-spinning and my naalbinding techniques. As an added encouragement, for Christmas my friend Chris Dobson, who shares my interest in ancient textile techniques, sent me some lovely wooden weaving tablets, together with a shuttle and a beater, and also a bone naalbinding needle.  So, having committed my intentions to print in this post, and with the equipment I need ready at hand, perhaps this will give me the incentive I need to get started. Indeed, as the photos below show, I have actually managed to thread my tablets ready for weaving, using blue and tan yarns dyed with woad. Now I must follow the next pages of instruction and actually do some weaving! (Thank you, Chris, for getting me started!)

Of course, when the weather improves we shall begin to make some changes here in the garden, probably starting with two new beds for herbs and dye plants and we also plan to plant some roses. I do miss my old garden, especially when I think of all the hellebores and bulbs that will soon be flowering there. But I have already noticed some bulbs beginning to emerge from the ground here and we have created some spaces for hellebores too, so eventually this new garden should hopefully bring as much pleasure into our lives as did our garden in Shefford.

On a personal note, our daughter is expecting her second child in early March, so I am also knitting one or two items for the baby. As these will use up only a tiny part of my yarn stock, I suspect I may also need to embark on other knitting projects – perhaps more cushions? – as the year progresses.

Tablet weaving set up on our old Italian fruitwood chest

A closer view of the tablets threaded ready for weaving