Happy New Year! First Weave and Spin for 2024!

The holidays are over and it is back to work.  Happy New Year Everyone! 🙂

I finished weaving a scarf that I started in 2023.

This is a monochrome unisex scarf created with mainly hand spun yarn.  We have alpaca, merino and a bit of BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) which means it is very soft.  There is a twisted fringe with the odd fringe at the sides.  The weather has been really rubbish so I can’t take it outside to photograph and there is no room in my house!  I shall take more photos when the weather gets better so I can upload to the shop.  I have so much yarn left over I may make some handwarmers in these colors.

I also have a very big project in my brain that is finally going to see the light of day.  I think I may have enough yarn for it now.  I recently spun these two skeins to add to my project.

I made up a 100g brown batt of Merino & Bling and spun this lovely chunky yarn on the left.  The yarn on the right is a cabled Sirdar tweed blend.  I only had one skein of it.  I really love how chunky it is now.  I am really looking forward to using these in my next project.

I have also tried something new this year.  I made bread.  Though making bread in the bread machine is not a new thing for me, I actually made a no knead bread for the first time and it turned out great!

The recipe is from Nancy Birtwhistle’s book, Green Living Made Easy.  This bread is akin to a sour dough and is more the type of bread I like to eat.  I have another batch on the go already.  I really like the book and it has given me a lot to think about and what changes I could make in my home to help the environment.

This year is about making small changes and trying (more) new things.  I am eating more plant based and not buying meat.  I used to be a vegetarian, so this isn’t a new thing for me, but I am very excited to try eating in a different way than I had been when I was a veggie.  People are very creative with food these days and the recipes are much better.  The hubs is going along with it for now.  We are not going vegan, just less meat.  We need to eat what is in the freezer and be really selective about what we buy in the future.  I just wish I could get on board with raw kale, but I can’t and I really dislike tofu in the UK.  It was and continues to be such a disappointment to me these last 35 years, and I have tried them all!  🙂

So, here we are with big plans in my head for so many things to make.  I wonder how many I will actually complete.

Let me know if you have plans to try something new or if you have already done it.  It’s great to share ideas!