Suffering for my Art (or blog to be precise...)

Considering quite how much I got through yesterday, I was lucky to get away with a stonking headache and stiff legs but these things must be borne in order to bring a little something special to the blog...namely the 5th International Kite Festival held nearby at New Brighton.

Bizarrely, it would have past me by but for a chance comment from my Mum when we visited them on Saturday. It had been my birthday 2 days previously (and a grand time was had by both, a meal and a movie made a fab day) and I was catching up and sharing a chinese meal with them. The previous year, we'd nipped over to the festival on the Sunday morning which was wet and windy and basically miserable but as the weather was very nice yesterday, I persuaded hub to drop me there on the way to his mates. Arriving early meant I could avoid the mad crowds that arrived in their droves later on and could get unrestricted photos just for you all...


...There were the static kites tethered and fluttering in the breeze, some wild 'n' wacky shapes...

...Some pretty stained-glass kites from a designer in Tasmania...

...and these colourful numbers looked like patchwork or woven crafts...

...There were stunt kites making amazing shapes in the air...

...And moored crazy shaped twirly things wheeling in the wind...

Over in the next area were some huge kites...



And I even managed to stay for the 60 second sprint where the kite highest in the air at the exact 60th second is the winner. This one didn't win, but what amazing workmanship!


After a pleasant hour covering the event for your delectation, there followed the hour-long walk home which, while relaxing to trundle along the side of the river, bacame a little arduous as the sun rose ever higher, I got a massive thirst and in typical forgetting my sunglasses a thumper of a headache...

...Not like I let that stop me whan I got home though...further fleece washing and the culmination of a rather early dyeing episode.

In some bizarre fashion I'd woke earlier than usual and raring to go so I was applying dye to these previously wetted skeins whilst hubbie was walking the dogs and they were merrily steaming away in the electric steamer whilst I went on my adventures. Taking advantage of the good weather, they dried outside shich meant that by this morning they were almost there. I had to try a more artistic showing this time!



Unusually for me, this is my first venture into more pastelly shades, I had a specific project in mind, namely the Rivendell sock pattern so was looking for a more semi-solid effect which would not drown out cable patterns. The yarns on the left and right are Knitpicks Gloss, a silk-and-wool yarn whilst the one in the middle is a luxury alpaca nylon number from Fyberspates. The left hand one will become Rivendell, a mixture of turquoise and 2 green dyes whilst the others will find their place in time.

It's been a bit of a motif of the week, actually as I got a wee bit of dyeing in on my birthday too...



...This is four skeins of Fyberspates merino-tencel yarn kettle dyed for Mystic Meadows shawl. There are slight variations within the skeins but nothing that would muddy any pattern. It's been an interesting yarn to dye as the tencel has not really absorbed the dye in the same way so it has a shimmering quality to it which is difficult to capture the true colours of on a photograph. This one's not bad though!

As I type, the kilo of raw Bleu-du-maine yarn that was washed yesterday has been split into 3 and is being kettle dyed in my stockpot. There will be 3 shades, turquoise, deep purple and possibly pink for a future self-striping yarn. Fingers crossed it doesn't felt into an unusable mass!



As we haven't had a poochie pic in a while, I thought I'd give you a little variation, a friend's brood, all Papillons, all trouble and unique personalities. Guess what they're waiting for?