Spinning....and Edible crochet?

In case you were wondering what the Kermit thing was about, its for anyone struggling to come up with something for the St. Patrick's Day Yarn Competition on Ravelry...May I remind you it doesn't have to be green...but I know its hard to think Irish and not green...

So, what have I been up to...well..my new thing is spinning

Last year I was very lucky, and found a spinning wheel in the Buy and Sell...It doesn't happen often, but it was one opportunity I couldn't pass up. The lady selling it lived about an hour away from my mum (the other side of the country from me), so mum kindly picked it up for me. It was a month or so before I actually got up there to collect it. It was a bit of a gamble, buying before seeing, but it was a risk I thought I would take, and it paid off...As my ma said, its beautiful..it really is a nice looking wheel. I know its an Ashford Traditional, but I don't know what kind. The wood is quite dark compared to other wheels I have seen.


So my poor wheel, sat neglected as I crocheted coral reefs, and fish, and various other things, but I finally got it together to dig it out, and say, now is the time to learn. Thanks to Ravelry, I made contact with Mairead Sharry, a lovely woman, and a very experienced spinner. She kindly came over to my house and set up my wheel, and gave me a lesson. Thank you so much Mairead!!

Not only did she help me with the spinning, she loved my wheel! I discovered I was incredibly fortunate to get a box of bits with the wheel. I just thought they were bits, but Mairead said they were a great find. These bits included a jumbo flyer, niddy noddy, spare reels, lazy kate, 2 sets of carders, and a lovely book on spinning. I now feel very ungrateful, if I had know how fortunate I was with my buy, I prob wouldn't have haggled so much....

Flyers

My box of bits

So, after my lesson from Mairead, and watching a few videos on YouTube, I feel like I'm finally getting the grasp of my new gadget...In fact I've gone a bit overboard..I got a nice big bag of carded wool from Kerry Woollen Mills, thinking, it'll take me ages to get through this, and I'm nearly through it already! There are somethings you just know you will love. I remember feeling giddy the first time I set up a tapestry frame, knowing it would be something I would love, and I feel like this again...Its funny, who would have thought YouTube would be the saving grace of traditional crafts..

All I have to do now, is learn how to ply, and then decide what to make out of my lovely hand-spun wool!




OK, the edible crochet bit...mmm, whats to say. I was chatting nonsense with Camanomade, leader of the Crochet Liberation Front, and the notion came into my head, has anyone ever tried doing edible crochet? She said someone had crocheted red licorice and spaghetti. I thought, these days its hard to come up with an original thought, and she goaded me on by saying you'll come up with something different... Talk about a challenge. I had to think of something now! I blame her for always pushing us to crochet out of the box..not only making me think these crazy things, but actually doing them, and showing them in public!

So here you go, Fearless Leader, I dedicate this crocheted pretzel/bread to you!!

Crochet Foundation Chain

1 Row of US sc/UK dc