On knitting and wool in France...

   Those who know me well know that I'm just as passionate about crafts as I am about cooking and eating. It's total joy having more free time than I used to because it means I've been able to set to with my knitting needles and begin to consume a yarn stash that literally fills an entire armoire.
    A true cupboard of delights. it's crammed with gorgeously coloured skeins collected over the years in the UK and in North America. I've bought from yarn shops, from thrift stores, from flea markets, and even recycled wool from secondhand sweaters and cardigans that I've ripped apart.
   In the unlikely event that I do ever run short (and even if I don't) I can sleep at night knowing that I have an extraordinary source right in my neighbourhood.
   Specializing in lusciously soft wools tinted with natural plant dyes, my friend Andie Luijk runs Renaissance Dyeing http://www.renaissancedyeing.com/en/ in Lieurac, a hilltop village on the back road to Foix. Want to mend the rips in a medieval tapestry, or knit a pair of heirloom socks? She's the person to turn to.
    Among the many French crafts magazines, Marie-Claire Idées is probably the most inspirational. A couple of copies ago, an entire page featured the most gorgeous blanket crocheted from Andie's wools.
    It's available as a kit and, if you're tempted, know that she send mail orders all over the world.

Photo: Valerie Lhomme, Marie Claire Idées

 
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Gaston and I Are About to Get Cozy

The back story. Last December, I met Gaston and les girls, a flock belonging to our Airstream-owning friends Perry and Coline. I asked them what happened to the fleeces. They said they gave them away to be used as insulation. I asked if I could have one. 

   Long story short. After yesterday's cricket match, Coline took me over to a giant, plastic-covered mound and pulled out Gaston's fleece which is dark and enormous (not unlike Gaston himself). We picked another soft, paler one for a friend who is also along on this project. Total beginners at this, she and I plan to wash, card, spin and--in my case--knit. Right now, Gaston's fleece is tied up in a very large black plastic bag. Information on-line suggests using washing-up liquid and a washing machine but I don't think it means the diminutive French washing machines which accommodate a few pairs of socks but not much more. If it came to a stand-off between Gaston and our Zanussi, I wouldn't bet money on the Zanussi. 

    I'll keep you posted.

Feeling Blue (and Gorgeous Yarns)

The vide grenier at Dun on Sunday also promised crafts but I wasn't expecting to see a vat of woad simmering away, or some of the most glorious knitting yarns ever. 

  Behind both is Andie Luijkwho runs Renaissance Yarns (www.renaissancedyeing.com)

You can buy her totally wonderful yarns on-line, also kits for shawls which make me want to abandon all the reno work I'm supposed to be doing and just knit and knit. Joy of joys, it turns out she lives only a couple of villages away. 

  When someone offers free woad-dyeing, you immediately hare off in search of something white, cotton and preferably vintage. Voila! A blouse for a euro. As with indigo, anything tinted with woad only turns blue when it's exposed to air. Mine wasn't in the vat that long so it's very pale.