Clematis and Daisy

Yesterday our clematis looked absolutely glorious, so I took a photo. My late mother chose it but sadly didn't live to see it bloom - everytime it tried to grow a little lamb would come and nibble the top off! This year there were no bottle fed lambs in this part of the garden, so it made up for lost time. My mum would have loved it! I hope she is enjoying it, wherever she is now.

Last night I finished spinning up Daisy. 650g greasy weight in total. 1 hank of Peruvian plied, 3 hanks of 2-ply - one slightly thicker than the other two, and 1 hank of single seconds which should appeal to the hair-shirt market! I washed it all today - 1 hour steeping in a bucket of hand-hot water with 100ml Hebridean Soap Company liquid soap (lemon & eucalyptus), a quick spin in the cylinder spin-drier, then 15 minutes soak in hand-hot water with 1 capful of Merino wool Wash (available from Skyeskins, Isle of Skye). Then another spin and a whirl round in the garden to loosen up the hanks before hanging them in the bathroom to dry. It has come out very creamy and lovely. Though it does have a bit of kempiness associated with the blackface part of Daisy's genetic inheritance, it still has a whole lot of cheviotness in the yarn which is a delight.
Leda will be here at the end of the month to collect it, so I hope she will be pleased with it.

This afternoon, after a quick dash across the bridge to Calana Crafts to collect some black dye powder, I dyed up some falkland roving. Sadly, though I followed the instructions it was not a huge success, though it is a gorgeous dark grey colour. Will have to consult with Joan as to where I went wrong. Never mind though, nothing is wasted here......