Knitting Feathers

Woolly craft and pet chickens. Mostly!

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Bank holiday weekend… we had few lovely sunshine but Monday came the storm - rain and cold windy!

Sunday we went to collect my summer plants from the scouts in Sinfin.. all monies went to raise money for the scout to cover activities and overheads. They are lovely, especially the marigolds. I’ve put them safe away from the chickens and Ebony the bunny.

Whole weekend was spent on dye 4 skeins of wools for my daughter Emily. She asked for DK BFL with pink and yellow as the main colours, with a dash of teal and grey. Not quite there.. a bit too much grey and not enough teal me think. It come nicely when I cake them. Now gone via Hermes to get to Emily before Thursday. Fingers cross!!

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Im so excited!

Last Friday I ordered from EBay. I had a few recommendations from people on Facebook CSM group to buy from Dantib on eBay.

I ordered Legare 400 Circular Sock Knitting Machine. I asked specifically for purple colour. It is very expensive as it’s refurbished and got everything I need for working on it. It worked out cheaper and better in the long run.. as you could buy the base for about £500 but you have to search and buy the bits to go with. I wanted working machine that I could use straight away.

I just found out Legare 400 is the best CSM to use. I’m so glad I picked the right one!

Do you know what it means? It means my waiting list for knitted socks will reduce! I have many requests for socks.

Knitted socks are much better for your feet. Less risk of getting sweating feet, and athletic foot. Don’t imagine them to be thick socks like walking socks. They are thin enough to wear all the time. You can request thick socks to wear with walking boots or wellies, or even house socks!

We have bought good solid table ready for the CSM to go on. CSM is made from cast iron, very heavy! Any lightweight table will collapse. I got Singer sewing table but with oak worktop.

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There are some new skeins in Etsy shop. Lovely choice of colours

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Very happy Chicken gang!

The enclosure was so muddy.. I was worried about the little silkie group, they have feathers on their legs.

One of the silkies, I had to give her a bath, just water cover her legs and bum... mud was a ball like golf ball, covered her toes.. poor hen. Mind you, after the bath, I used hairdryer.. she absolutely love the warm air. Resting on my chest with head up in the air to get warm air to it.

I used “comfy bed” from a shop in Derby, RE Farm. They were cheap £21 for 3 huge bags (24kg)

The Gang were scratching in the bedding, a few were having “dust bath” in it.

The enclosure is under cover, definitely will keep it dry as I’ve put hardwearing clear/see through tarpaulin over the enclosure.

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So excited!! I thought I failed the hatching of the eggs because the old incubator I got was difficult to use, I move them to new incubator that I bought with my Christmas money.

It was a nice surprise to wake up this morning to chirping of the new chick. Oh boy it was loud enough to get my attention!

Just waiting for 2nd one to hatch, and leaving the incubator runnning until the weekend in case the others want to join us. There is no hint of others hatching.

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Autumn Fire socks #woollysocks #handmadesocks #knittingaddict #knittersofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CIY-avEFadQ/?igshid=bq34rt54ppxm

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Hand knitted socks - medium size #socks #handknitsocks #handknit #handknitted #knittingaddict #indiedyer (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIY9UXjl_Pt/?igshid=1gid57f9dn068

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The Coldest Path

It was a lovely walk along the path at Chester Green. I Walked with friends and 2 Labradors and border collie. These dogs were very interested in sniffing the scents of the foxes.

I haven’t been there since they started to build walls to help prevent the flood from the Derwent getting to Chester Green housings.

A lot of colourful leaves, different colour from yellow, orange and brown. It would make lovely colours for wool hand dyeing.

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Last two days have been very day for us and our three cats.

Sam our deaf cat, we had to PTS as he had massive blood clot and burst, cause paralysis. It was not very nice. He was 6 years old

We have asked for the ash back, in scatter tube so we can bury the ash under the lovely rose with a memorial stone to remind us he still with us.

Over the rainbow now, playing with other cats.

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Never again! Buy yarn in a ball. Yes a ball, not a cake!

It means I cannot do TAAT with knitting socks. I absolutely love knit both socks at the same time. I’m OCD, both socks got to match in size and length.. exactly the same. The only way to do this is to knit both at same time. (TAAT)

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I was busy last Friday, it was so miserable with all the rain and feeling cold.

I had the opportunity to try out the dyes and it turn out lovely. I thought, do 1 green and 1 purple.. turned out brilliant, I should’ve done 2 skeins each colour rather just one colour.. then I could make, 1 skein and 1 yarn cake to allow customers to choose which one to get if not both! I will need to take proper photo and put on Facebook to sell.

I absolutely hate twisting the yarn into skeins, it’s so hard as I’m new to this twisting. One lady suggest chopstick... put the yarn on door handle, use chopstick to twist as tight as possible... I haven’t got a chopstick.. what to use?

I was thinking about PayPal, as they take off money to pay the fee if people don’t click friend and family. I will need to add £1 to cover the fee. It’s awful for people like us, who just started to sell indie dye wools to find that it’s less what they ask for when customers using PayPal, for example a customer ask me to reduce postage because she buying 2 yarn cakes, I was asking for £3 each.. so I took to post office to weight properly and said to the customer, £4 for postage.. she paid via PayPal, without tick friends and family (it’s fair as I’m a stranger) and I got £3.25 instead of £4 so I’m losing out on this. I should’ve asked for £5 to cover PayPal fees. This is something we have to think about.

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Shade of green and pink Similar to shade of green but with a touch of pink to make it warm. 4ply sock yarn 75% merino and 25% nylon £13 Postage £3 It would be a lovely additional to gloves and socks, as scarf. There’s a lot of patterns to make pretty scarves on website Ravelry #indiedyeyarn #wool #knitting #indieyarn #handdyedyarn (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvEWfDFk0P/?igshid=ceg7cry9a4e0

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Shade of green Gorgeous colour to go with autumn. 4ply sock yarn 75% merino and 25% nylon £13 Postage £3 It would be a lovely as gloves and socks. If you need a pattern for winwick socks, join and ask for pattern: https://www.facebook.com/groups/642084589269882/ #sockyarn #wool #knitting #crochet #indiedyeyarn #handdyeyarn #indieyarn (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvENXWFy24/?igshid=1vzq14d4biqlq

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Deep Blue Very nice deep blue with touch of brown 4ply sock yarn 75% merino 25% nylon £13 (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvDofGF_gh/?igshid=3acceywssbtk

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Freckle Lilac OOAK 4ply sock yarn 75% merino and 25% nylon £13 Postage £3 (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvDseTF7EE/?igshid=1s0r8rxgyuoxm

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OOAK solar Rose This is one of my solar dye yarn that I did last March, using herbs to bring out the lovely rose colour - 2 different shades 4ply sock yarn 75% merino and 25% nylon £13 (at Derby) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFvCl09FySe/?igshid=1rrht67l4o2r5