From fleece to Yarn.

For quite a while now I have enjoyed knitting and crocheting and generally making things using yarns/wool. I have made things for myself such as jumpers and cardigans

              

I have also enjoyed making stuffed toys and children's clothes

                                            

                                             

                                    

                                                             

Since getting our house in Ireland I have become more interested in sourcing my own yarn and after speaking with our neighbours there who farm sheep and know only too well the fact that the cost of shearing a sheep is more than the price of the fleece.

Sheep need to be sheared but the farmer usually makes a loss in doing so. Our neighbours are fortunate in that they have 3 sons who are all able to shear sheep, in fact two of their sons have won shearing competitions and have very recently represented Ireland in sheep shearing competitions.

I have been very lucky too that in the new house I am able to have a whole room for me to use as a craft room - to me that means all my crafts can live in one room and when I finish at the end of the day I can close the door and leave it and not have to clear away to make room for something else.

Last week I spent a lovely day out in Wales learning a new skill.

The course was entitled Spinning - the basics and I have to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. 

I drove about an hour and a half south from where I live to a place not far from Hay on Wye.  My destination was a sheep farm high up in the Brecon Beacons and boy what a view they have.

 

                                                                                                 

Dunja at All in a spin was our host for the day and me and 3 other budding spinners  were definitely in safe hands. She started off explaining about the different types of fleeces there were and we were able to look and feel the fleeces. In fact from the studio we could look out and look at a some of the sheep that the fleeces had come from. 

                             

We then learnt how to prepare the fleeces for spinning, which part of the fleeces were the best and how to wash them.

Then we learnt how to card the fleece. Carding involves separating and straightening sheep’s wool with two brushes so that it can be used to make yarn for knitting. These brushes closely resemble pet hair brushes but are made specifically for preparing wool fibres.

                               

Next we got to grips with a spinning wheel and learnt how to use our feet to spin the wheel and our hands to feed the fleece slowly on and turn it into a single ply yarn. This process took a little while to master and could be likened to trying to rub your stomach at the time as patting the top of your head......it takes a while.

It was a lovely environment to work in and Dunja was incredibly patient with us as we did seem to be slow learners. 

                                    

                           

Once we had managed to fill two bobbins with a single yarn it was time to ply them together to make them resemble  what I would know as 2ply yarn. 

Once this was done and we had each got a bobbin of 2 ply yarn we used a Niddy Noddy to move the yarn from the bobbin into a skein of yarn. What is a niddy noddy? Well Wikipedia explains it perfectly 

"A niddy-noddy (plural niddy-noddies) is a tool used to make skeins from yarn. It consists of a central bar, with crossbars at each end, offset from each other by 90°. The central bar is generally carved to make it easier to hold.

                      

After a really informative day I came away with my own skein of hand spun yarn. I so enjoyed it, I would love to be able to get my own spinning wheel and do some more spinning. 

                                                     

It's a jungle out there!

It's been a while since I've blogged but life has continued a pace, days have merged into weeks into months.It really doesn't seem like six months since we spent our first Christmas in our Irish house.

Hubby has been working hard both on the house and also on our house and garden in UK, whilst I have been working two jobs meaning usually only having one day off every ten days.

It's been exhausting and family and friend catch up time has unfortunately gone by the wayside.

We spent the full month of April in Ireland and the weather was really kind to us again, meaning that we made great progress on painting the outside of the house.

We have just had another week there with equally favourable weather and we've finally finished the outside.

When you compare it to what it looked like when we first voted the place, the difference it makes is so heartening and hopefully it looks a lot more friendly and welcoming than it did.

 

  

                                                                                        

As well as trying to get some decorating done we have also welcomed quite a few guests already this year.

It's great to be able to entertain at last but it does mean that decorating has taken a bit of a back seat, the house is in the sort of state now that everything has been painted and needs its top coat and final touches. To the unknowing guest it looks ok and I suppose it sort of means we don't feel the urge to paint so strongly! To be honest its nice to sit and enjoy it rather than be working all the time.

With such good weather our attentions have also turned to the outside space. The site our house stands on is apparently 1.3 acres. Essentially it was a field with house built on it and as such it still looks like that. Over the winter everything had obviously died off but when we came back this last time, with the recent run of hot weather, it came as no surprise that everything had grown slightly.

It can be a bit daunting but we have enlisted the help of a local garden designer. He runs a local garden centre and we first came across him when we were listening to the local radio station on a Saturday morning. He does an hour long gardening Q&A show and as his garden centre was fairly local we decided to pay a visit. We found out he offered a garden design service and we decided it would be a good idea. Hubby and I like a nice garden but we are no experts. We have a fairly small garden in the UK which doesn't take too much work to maintain and have over the years developed some raised vegetable beds. 

With such a large area of land we knew we needed some help and really felt that we would end up saving ourselves money too. Trees, plants and other things for gardens can be so expensive and we could easily have bought loads of things and found that they didn't grow properly resulting in a large waste of money.

So Padraic from the garden centre has visited and we have discussed our ideas with him. He seemed very positive and we await his first set of plans. Once we have agreed on a design we like he will put together a 3 years plan for us to follow in order to achieve it.  

So hopefully we wont be looking at this 'field' for too much longer.

                 

                  

Maisie has enjoyed exploring the garden. She runs off and hides and waits for you throw her ball, sometimes its a bit hard to see her properly.....

 

Fuelled up ready for winter

Its very important when living in a  cold climate to have ample fuel to keep you warm.
In our new house we have opted for two lovely multi fuel stoves as part of our heating system and this last time we visited it was time to stock up on fuel.
After talking to local friends and neighbours hubby had tracked down the man to supply it and had ordered half a lorry load of wood and half a lorry load of turf (peat). 


"Peat is commonly known by the Irish as 'turf' and has been harvested for centuries by a method known as 'cutting.' Peat has been an invaluable source of heat and energy throughout history in Ireland. It was found to be a useful alternative to firewood for cooking and heating throughout Ireland and other parts of the European continent. Harvested from the bogs scattered throughout the Irish landscape, peat forms over time from decaying vegetation"(Irishfirelogs.com)

Given that we didn't know how big the lorry was so didn't really have an idea how much fuel we would be expecting!
Luckily on the day it arrived I was there and my parents were also over visiting us too. 
First the wood arrived and was dumped by the garage and the man kindly and probably quite wisely said "I won't come straight back with the turf".

We started a chain of log throwing from pile to garage and in no time at all (probably an hour or two) we had piled the logs neatly in the garage and so we rang the man to come back with the turf.

I had seen turf before but when its delivered in such a large volume it is quite daunting. We set about moving it but it seemed to take ages to feel like we were making any sort of progress.

Finally it was all stacked neatly with the logs in the garage. One project for next year is to build a proper wood/turf store at the side of the garage so that it can be covered but also get sufficient air to it to dry it out for burning.

Even Maisie dog is in in awe of the fuel mountain

It was very nice to sit down in front of a real fire that evening

Its a proper home....at last!

It has been a long coming but finally we have got not just a house but a home!

Since the summer hubby has been over in Ireland quite a lot, chasing up workmen to finish their jobs before we could start on our bit...the decorating.

At the end of August I got some leave from work and spent 10 days out there. It was great feeling I could finally take part, have a go and make a difference.
I had spent months deciding what colours I liked and once hubby had agreed we had chosen paints and set to.  There were a few changes though because when I arrived hubby had already painted our room and unfortunately I didn't really like the colour of one wall. I wanted a statement colour and the colour i had chosen wasn't 'statement' enough. There was a bit of a discussion and finally I was able to go and buy a better colour and when it was applied it was agreed that yes it probably did look better than before.

Goodness yes its bright but now all the furniture is in the room it does look better.

We also managed to finish another bedroom in time for a short visit from my parents who came over to see the house and to lend a hand. OK so there are no curtains yet but to be honest the only thing likely to be looking through that window is a cow in the field.

My mum helped me giving three rooms their first coat of paint and my dad did a brilliant job clearing out the garage which had become a dumping ground for packaging. At last we could see the back of the garage.

Once Mum and Dad had left we had a few days and we set about starting painting outside. The weather was good and so it was a great opportunity to get at least one coat of paint on before winter comes. It takes a lot of paint.

      

Before

After

Hubby got a good job!

We have also got the heating working, a fitted a working kitchen and bathrooms so we can live in it quite easily now whilst we finish off the painting.
This week has seen the last of the flooring fitted so finally no more dust!

Thought you would like to see some before and after photos:

The kitchen - before

The kitchen - now

The sunroom - before

The sun room - now

Dining area - before

Dining area - now

Upstairs roof space - before

Upstairs - two rooms and a shower room - now

Sunroom to dining room - before

Sunroom to dining room - now

Project Shanvallybeg

We have been over to Ireland again to start work on the interior painting. I could only stay for about 5 days before having to head home for work so I have left hubby and Maisie dog over in Ireland. 

The new heating tank has arrived and is in situ, we have painted the room and have had flooring fitted. It does look like a rocket doesn't it!

We went to town and bought some paint. We are giving everywhere a coat of white paint and then have had the pleasure of choosing colours! 

Some new furniture arrived whilst we were there, we managed to put it into the middle of one of the rooms so we can still paint round it.

I managed to give our bedroom and ensuite a coat of white paint and since I've left hubby has managed to finish painting both of the large rooms upstairs. 

So over to hubby for a few words about Ireland..............

The Shanvallybeg Project

So Monday Sharla and I arrived here in Drummin.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday washing all the walls and painting.

Friday I kicked a bucket of paint over and later that day the handle on my bucket decided to part, depositing a solution of Borax and water all down the stairs!

Saturday I had to take my best friend and work partner to the airport in Knock, as Sharla was back to work on Sunday in Shrewsbury.

So far two rooms under coated, 20 litres of paint gone and 13 more rooms plus a massive hallway to undercoat before two top coats!

Neighbours invited me for a drink Saturday evening, Martin had got a bottle of Bushmills in and Mary Jo had prepared loads of food.

However this was not before I finished Saturday off. Sharla had returned to Shropshire and Maisie with her broken leg was left to comfort me. Let's check the garage I thought. The key was really difficult to get in the lock. After about 5 minutes of trying bingo, turned the key pushed up the roller door but forgot to take the key out. Snap the key was now in two pieces one of which was still inside the lock.

My brilliant neighbours have given me the key to a house down the lane to get a shower, the only thing I currently don't have, whilst camping out here. Ah cotton wool buds I saw on the side. Must get some dust out of my ears before the shower. Snap, WTF, the cotton wool bud had just snapped in two. Better remove the other half I though, snap, now 25% of the stick left in my ear. Shower and shave, down to see Mary Jo and her medical skills to remove the bud from my ear! The cotton wool buds apparently have been there many years so very brittle as I found out!

Sunday, breakfast, some washing on the line and now two weeks or more of painting, apart from finding somebody to sort the garage door out! Currently electrics in the house but no heating or water, the latter coming from a tap in the back garden from a well on the hillside.

So as you can read it seems hubby is having quite a time of it.