Wednesday 31 December 2008

Happy new year

Just cooking for tonight, lots of wooly people coming for dinner, so so excited!!

Happy new years, sale will start on sat :-)

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Tuesday 23 December 2008

All in the mind....A knitting prescription

OK, so you might be interested to listen to All in the mind on Radio 4 this evening at 9pm, or tomorrow at 4.30pm.

In this weeks programme, there is a section called 'a knitting prescription', which looks at the work that Bestan and Ulrich are doing into knitting and its benefits, remember I was doing the knitting experiment? Well that was for that research :-)

I might be in it somewhere, might not be though, I only spoke briefly  because I organised a small knitting group to be interviewed, lol.

I think it will be really interesting to listen to if you love knitting or crochet, Bestan and Ulrich are very knowledgable

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Monday 22 December 2008

So many fun things to talk about....

Hmm, played with sock machine all afternoon, trying to get the ribber to work, but then some needles broke and I am one ribber needle down, so I might change the formation of the rib, and add some more, but I was hoping to make some last minute socks as presents :-(, anyway we'll see.

Posting for items purchased in the shop.....Shop never closes by the way - nor do I, so there is no reason I will stop blogging or packing parcels!

If you order I will send things out as I get to the post office, and I will slowly update the shop with all the things that are in the stock room, but I'll do it when I am in the mood, lol. There are more things to go in the sale, so I will have  a January sale, and then after that probably no sales for a very long time, lol!!!! That will start on the 2nd.

I am very excited, I am getting a spinning wheel for Christmas, and so in preparation I purchased some fixing things for my Patrick green drum carder, which means if it gets fixed there might be some gorgeous carded/blended batts in the shop, one thing I LOVE making, lol. If it doesn't work, then I have been stashing fibres for a little while, so there is no way I am going to run out hehehehehe.

So seeing as for once I might actually have some time off from working, there will be project photo's and progress, carding, spinning, sock machines, knitting - I want to design and knit a scrumptious cabled tank.  There will also be a serious amount of cooking going on, if you want to read about that I would keep an eye out on the dinner at the chapel blog, festivities start tomorrow, and so all my cooking trauma success will be recorded there, hehehe. There are some visits from some woolyheads you might recognise, especially on new years, ........

Ok, off to pack last packages, wash linen, tidy chapel, and make myself stay away from fiddling with the evil sock machine.....

Happy winter solstice folks, I hope you all have a good one.....

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Tuesday 16 December 2008

OMG, ITS UP!!!!!!!!!

OK, hope not to many of you read the last post I deleted which was full of expletives,

The website is up

www.fyberspates.co.uk

I have lots more things to add, and there might be one or two oddities, but we are about there :-) you can now pay by credit card as well as paypal, and you don't need an account to log in.

Also, until midnight tomorrow if you would like to buy something there is an introductory 10% off if you use the code 'new shop' at the checkout.........

Have fun, I am going for a gin and tonic before I upload more stock.

Oh!!!! I forgot the most important thing!!!!!!

browse by colour!

have a look here


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Monday 15 December 2008

so damned close....

OK, everything is nearly finished on new site, but I need to tweak a few things,add some more products, and so Official day of unveiling is tomorrow, which is a relief because I was slightly loosing my mind trying to finish everything and sort out all the orders, lol.

It will be in the same place as the old shop, it will just look a thousand times more gorgeous, lol!!! I will post here when it goes live. I am so so excited, it looks gorgeous as it is now, let alone by tomorrow when I have tweaked my heart out.

I am also going to look at dyeing premises this afternoon, very exciting.

Off to make a huge bacon buttie, have 10 minutes to Calm down, and then  back to work it is, and maybe even a little dyeing this afternoon, I am actually getting withdrawal from dyeing now, that's a really really good sign, lol!

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Friday 12 December 2008

Nearly there with new fyberspates shop.......

Its getting there!! All I have to do is add lots of stock onto it, get the credit card thing to work properly, because I am not too sure yet if its OK or not, and correct all the little glitches and spelling mistakes, lol. I would really like for it to go live on Monday, but seeing as its 3.30 already on Friday, and the credit card people are not talking to me, who knows whats likely. Anyway, if it gets fixed this afternoon, then fingers crossed.

This website does not use an account system like my old one, but to be honest, that should make it easier.

Think its tea and cake time, am in snug with fire on, its quite nice really.....hmmm, I had a question to ask you but can't remember what it was..........

AHH! I know, do you prefer patterns in a pdf form that you can access straight away once you order them, or are you happy for them to be emailed to you? leave a comment if you have a view on this, the new webite has the capacity to do this, but it costs me a monthly fee, and I am just debating whether to do it or not...I do have lots of new scrumptious patterns to put on the website.....yay
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Thursday 11 December 2008

new blog - dinner at the chapel....and dyeing club yarns today

ok, ok, I have to dye, its freezing outside, so I am going to have to be creative today and not get cold. Fingers crossed clubs will be posted tomorrow, sorry for the delay folks. New website is nearly done....just have to upload things and finish off shipping and do some

Have new food blog its aptly named 'dinner at the chapel' thanks Elly for the name! I'll put the link on the side somewhere, lol.




Wednesday 10 December 2008

Food Bllllloooooging

As you all know, I love blogging; its good for me to get things out of my head, its my communication to the world, a chance to air my dirty laundry to the masses, and generally practice my spelling and grammar.

So I was thinking, I now live with a vegetarian, yes I know shock horror, I actually agreed to live with a vegetarian, what will my mother say? Actually I used to be vegan and then became allergic to wheat, and well, couldn't eat much and so I got over-myself tucked into an organic bacon sandwich (with gluten free bread obvioulsly) and never looked back ;-).

    So back to the point, the vegetarian....we have a sort of deal, I do the cooking, and he does the clearing up, think I got the good side of that bargain as Elly will tell you, and also seeing as I now have a kitchen that Nigella would envy, I am really putting my cooking skills to the test, and quite frankly loving every moment of it.

I am loving it so much I was thinking maybe I should start a cooking/restuarant review cooking blog, mainly because I want to document my cooking and also I want some damned answers to my cooking questions, for example, why did my pastry case shrink when I baked it blind? Imagine if that had happened at a dinner party, eek, and no-one has succesfully given me a decent answer as to why, NOT EVEN MUM!!!  I know!!!!; the roast potato queen doesn't even have the answer!!!!

And I can take photo's of my yummy things and use it as somewhere to put my recipes on, and I drool over other peoples food blogs, so what the hell, I always wanted to be a restaurant critique in my next life, so whats stopping me? Um nothing .....apart from I can't decide on a name, any suggestions? ...................

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Tuesday 9 December 2008

Broadband has landed in the Chapel

What a blimin relief! It's here, and I am going to start putting things in the sale from the rather large sale box I need to clear.

At the same time, I will be working on the new shop, so we can get it up in the next few days, I suspect that some yarns will be missed out on the transfer, but I will get most of the main things that sell on, if they are not, just email me, lol.

So, in the mean time I will show you some pics of the chapel, its not quite tidy enough this morning for a photoshoot, but I have some to show you:

Outside of chapel

This is the outside, lol!!! It is a touch on the huge side hehehehehe!

From gallery into kitchen

Thats the view into the kitchen, obviously these are pics without any furnishings, it looks really quite different now, lol.

Gallery 

This is the gallery hall, and is gorgeous.

Thing I was reckoning about this house/chapel, is that it would be really cold, but actually, its extremely toasty, the insulation is amazing!  I will wander around this afternoon and take photos of the windows, because when the sun shines through they are stunning.

ok, so thats enough for now.

Is so so good to be back!!! :-)

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Wednesday 3 December 2008

Its so quiet.....

ok, going to the internet cafe is a good thing!


It mean, I have to do all my emails in 45 minutes, and write orders down, which means no messing about getting caught up in wasting time on stuff. I might have to apply this to my new working days!


Its so quiet here, apart from the farm next door. Its divine, the sound of nothing, no shouting, screaming, fighting, screeching cars or traffic! Really quite odd.


I am knackered though, it feels like my first week at a new job, getting my bearings, and computing all the new information.


I investigated the local village/town today, in addition to takeaways and indian food, lol, there  is a proper fish and chip shop, gorgeous deli's, veg shops, and a proper sweet shop!! I love it!


ok, better go and do some work, oh forgot to say...... have now properly done the new store room out, and well, there is lots of yarn which needs to go on sale, so, on monday when I get broadband (please universe I need it to go smoothly!), I will be putting it all on sale, so I don't have to put it on the new website....there is quite alot... the space dyed sale will continue onto the new wesbite, because there is about another 100 kilos to go, lol.




new website nearly ready....just sorting out payment things etc.


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Tuesday 2 December 2008

Hello Shropshire!!!

I am here, pretty much unpacked and ready for business!! Yay!!


Well actually, thats not quite true, we don't get internet until the 8th, but there is a gorgeous cafe/farmshop/internet/garage about 4 miles away from the house, and I am here drinking coffee and writing all my orders down, so we are back in business!!!! (and already worked out where the local pub is, and which is the best place to have indain food, and Amanda; they DELIVER!!!!!!!!!! YIPPPPPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!


I am living in a chapel, yep, a huge amazing chapel!! It is a little bit mind blowing, and gorgeous, and huge (3600 sqft), but I have so much stuff, I am a bit shocked about how I could have ever fitted into my little splott house, but what I have noticed is that it feels so different to have space and organisation, I think half my stress before was to do with that, its so easy now to walk into my store room and just pick everything of the shelves, i feel so calm!!


I will take some pictures this week, and post them up when we get the broadband.


Infact the stained windows, original oak doors, and just general gorgeousness of it, has slightly overwhelmed me really.




Ok, had better go, got lots to do and see.


See you at the same time tomorrow!!!




xxxx