If you listened to my interview with the lovely Lara Neel, you might remember me mentioning that I have been trying to convince my parents to go into hand-dyeing in their (impending) retirement. Well, today I tried hand-dyeing myself for the first time, and I now have an increased admiration for dyers and a better understanding of why those gorgeous skeins command such a high price.
I hadn’t tried dyeing before because I thought it required lots of extra equipment and careful measuring. Then I came across this etsy video which made it look sooo easy (not to mention that the resulting lavender is one of my favourite colours) that I had to try it right away. Since you’re only using regular foodstuffs, you don’t need special pans or protective gear. I picked up a red cabbage at the supermarket and found myself on Saturday morning getting ready for a morning of dyeing. Well, that morning turned into two days of boiling, rinsing, waiting, and blow drying, but it was all great fun.
So first of all I chopped up one whole red cabbage as small as I could, and boiled it with 2 tablespoons of salt for 30mins. Purple fingers, once again!
Meanwhile I let the yarn sit in a warm bowl of water, as instructed. The yarn is the lace/fingering-weight cotton I bought at the seaside this summer.
I didn’t use any mordants. I had considered using lemon juice, as that’s what I mix in with the henna for my hair, but apparently that’s only for animal fibres, whereas plant fibres like cotton and silk require an alkaline mordant (so says one commenter, anyway!). As for cream of tartar or alum, I have little idea of what they are or where I can get them in Turkey. So alas, no mordant.
After 30mins I strained the cabbage, leaving the purple cabbage juice in the pan. I felt a bit bad throwing all that cabbage away, but I didn’t know what I could do with a colander full of too-salty cabbage. :/
So once I brought the pan up to boil again, I added the soaked yarn and boiled it for nearly an hour. I prodded and turned the yarn around every so often to make sure it was thoroughly soaked. The pan got rather short on water around 30mins in, so I boiled some more water in the kettle and poured it in.
The yarn looked a delicious pinky purple in the water, but when I pulled it out it was a pale lavender.
Then came the most exciting part! Having read this cool KnitPicks article the day before I had divided my large hank into 3: 1 big part that would remain lilac, 1 smaller part that would be over-dyed green, and one tiny “transitional” part that I was going to try to make a lighter green. A little ambitious, I know…
Having fished out my hank, I added a packet of baking powder to the pot. It fizzled and looked a bit green, but when I dipped the spoon in it was still quite purple. So I drained some of the liquid away, and added another packet. Then I brought it up to boil and voila, green! Excitement!
So I placed my small hank in, and left it to boil for about 30mins. I could have left it longer, but most of the water had evaporated and I didn’t want to add any more in case I lightened the colour. The smallest hank I dipped in and drew out immediately. It turned a very pretty light teal colour.
Since I had quite a bit of the dye liquids left over, I couldn’t resist one last experiment. I brewed some very strong Turkish tea in a small saucepan and popped another hank in for about 40mins. It turned a lovely tan colour. I used loose tea, and some of it got past my strainer, but it wasn’t a big deal. I just gave it a good shake when it was a little dryer, and most of the tea leaves fell out.
I wanted to try some yarn painting, so I lay my hank out on a piece of aluminium foil and dripped pools of the red cabbage + baking powder mixture over it.
It looked really pretty at this stage, so I dried it with a hair dryer to try and keep the colours from moving too much. That didn’t work, unfortunately, the green and tea-colour merged together and I ended up with this semi-solid colour, with streaks of dull green and somehow also purple! It’s very subtle but I love the way it looks. In the end it’ll be easier to knit into a pattern than the splotchy brown/green would have been.
The final result:
tea + “green cabbage”:
green cabbage on the left, red cabbage on the right (all still damp). The streaks of dark colour are from fibres that were touching the side of the hot pan. Interesting, no?
Strangely the hank with the red cabbage turned from a pale blue when damp, to a pretty pale lavender, with streaks of green, when dry. The green didn’t change in hue, and in fact there’s hardly any difference between the hank I dipped in & pulled out, and the one I left to boil for half an hour! Also, the baking powder’s made the green yarn a bit “crunchy”. Hopefully another rinse in some Eucalan will soften it up once more.
Not quite up to The Natural Dye Studio, but I’m pleased with my first attempt. :) How colourfast they will be, I don’t know. I’m going to swatch & wash the yarn soon, and I’ll blog about my results. Hopefully I can make a nice shawl out of my first hand-dyed yarn.
other resources you might like to check out
I didn’t want to interrupt my Knitting & Crochet Blog Week posts, so this has been a little delayed. As I mentioned, I went to Istanbul the weekend before last, and here’s how I found the yarn market…
First we took the tram to Çemberlitaş. The next stop says “Grand Bazaar” but the tram was so packed we couldn’t stand another stop. Don’t go on saturday afternoons!
At Çemberlitaş we asked for directions, and a shopkeeper told us to follow the mosque round until we got to Mahmutpaşa Street. Following the mosque around is fairly easy, but figuring out what street you’re on, is not. Your best bet, if you’re a foreigner, is to have “Kürkçü Han” written on a piece of paper, and show it to someone every few steps. According to my friend, it’s best not to take just one person’s word for it.
Walking down Vezirhan Street…
Passing Nuru Osmaniye Mosque on the left…
Turning left here…
Having entered Kapalı Çarşı by the Kürçüler entrance, we turned right, and this is the street we were on.
At the end of this street we turned right…
…and were finally on Mahmutpaşa. We asked directions again, and someone pointed out the tiny corner of red building in the distance. There it is!
So close…
…and yet so far.
Here at last. The entrance is right below the sign. You can see the Nako advertisement that everyone mentioned on the Ravelry forums. It’s actually an advert for one of the shops upstairs, which is where I ended up going.
Squuueeezing through the narrow entrance…
… and into the courtyard. We couldn’t see much yarn at first glance, so we headed upstairs.
A view from upstairs, with a lovely display of acrylic fun fur. Mmm…
Gülüm Yün was the first shop we came across when we went upstairs (after the acrylic fun fur), so I dove in. There wasn’t anything very different from what I get in Ankara, though there was more choice in colour. They did have some oddments of yarns which are produced in Turkey, such as King Cole, and some Lion Brand (not much Alpine about Alpine Wool, I’m afraid), but I doubt that will tempt tourists all that much. :) Here’s what I got (without duplicates):
Fridica wrote a fascinating post about Unitas yarns that are different but have the same label, and someone commented that they did the same thing in Turkey with the “export” label. You can see from my “haul” that I have 2 yarns that are “Ormo Export” but are completely different. I’ve also seen a “Nako Export” label. I think these are just surplus yarns that they package up and sell any-which-way. From left to right: Nako Saf Yün (pure wool), King Cole Riot (70% “premium” acrylic, 30% wool), Ormo Export (nothing on the label), & Ormo Export (85% wool, 15% acrylic). The unidentified Export yarn knits up very soft and has nice colour transitions. It’s similar to the Riot, which I also bought purely on account of its colours. It’s a bit like a cheap acrylic version of Rowan Tapestry. The turquoise yarn is actually very nice too, and about 4ply weight. I really look forward to knitting with it.
On the Map
Cemberlitas Tram Station to Mahmutpasa St
The red spot marks the “Kürçüler” entrance to Kapalı Çarşı (sounds about right!).
Down Mahmutpasa to the Kürkcu Han
Of course, you don’t necessarily have to go the way we did. If possible, avoid going at the weekend, too. As you can see, all the streets are very narrow. We were so tired of being jostled, that we didn’t look anywhere else. Unfortunately getting out of the Kapalı Çarşı area took us almost longer than getting in! It’s still a great experience though, and if you have the time & perseverance to look around, I’m sure you’ll grab many good bargains.
What to Buy in Turkey?
- Cotton. Everyone says this & it’s true. There’s some really nice cotton around, though most of it is mercerised. A brand called Rozetti recently released an aran-weight natural cotton that is really nice (I used it for some potholders). I’ve noticed some nice bamboo yarn too, though I haven’t tried knitting with any.
- Accessories. You’ll find some really cheap & colourful notions in Turkish yarn shops. Some of the local knitting needles & crochet hooks can be a bit rubbish, but there’s plenty of really nice, cute stuff. Surprisingly, I’ve also come across a lot of Clover products here!
- Embellishments. Turkish haberdasheries are wonderful. Buttons, ribbons, lace, and loads more is to be found in profusion. I recommend you fill your boots. :)
Other things to do in Istanbul
Have mint gelato on Istiklal Street.
Have a late breakfast at the weekend. This was at Savoy in Cihangir. We also went to Midpoint on Istiklal which had a beautiful view, and unlimited tea.
I hope this post was helpful, and that you’ll visit Istanbul soon. If you know of any other good yarn shopping destinations, let me know in the comments!
30 March, 2011 |
Home,
Life,
Yarn |
tags: 2KCBWDAY3,
blog week,
craft room,
craft studio,
hat,
organisation,
room,
storage,
Yarn.
I’m not tidy, but I’m organised. These images have been carefully framed to illustrate my organisation & craftily evade the piles and deluges of mess as-yet-unorganised-matter. I like having layers of clothes and yarns lying around, because they are a constant source of inspiration, suggesting new colour-combinations, and textures. At the same time I love being organised, because then I can find out what is unnecessary or what doesn’t belong, and I can (hopefully) become more efficient. Efficiency is closely related to grace and elegance for me, two values I strive towards.
Luckily, I’ve recently come to notice that I have a very good visual memory when it comes to putting things in places; I rarely ever lose anything. Unfortunately this applies to biscuits as much as it does to keys. It also applies to other people’s biscuits…
Anyway, yarn! I mentioned on Monday’s post that I recently moved house, and this was a great opportunity to re-organise. I have been going through a bit of a pink phase / pink haze, so I covered my files in stripey pink, to match some old sheets I found, and decided to arrange some of my yarn to match. These shelves divide my sleep area from my “work area” & can be accessed from both sides, which is very handy. At the top is a plastic wig-stand that I recently spray-painted; it used to be a very obnoxious green. Right now it holds my penultimate Minty (I really need to blog about my Minty obsession); my other hats are artfully scattered and layered on available furniture.
I have a pop-up laundry basket that holds my “bundles” of yarn. These are all in their own plastic bags, which look ugly, so I leave a few odd balls on top. Another plastic laundry basket has a few bags of random yarn, and two needle-boxes on top. There’s also an old copy-paper box under my desk that has some old WIPs. Any current knitting is usually on top of my desk. Unfortunately, pretty much everything is on top of my desk, so sometimes I pin things to my corkboard, just so I can see them.
I also have four crates, which hold odd-balls (the bottom one has my stamp collection). I must mention that a good deal of my stash is still in the UK. I travel around a lot & have no idea where I will “settle”, so some elements of my knitting paraphernalia reflect this. For example, I still use an old Graze box to keep my notions, needles, bits & bobs, because it’s light & won’t break. I almost exclusively use circular needles, because they’re easier to squash into a suitcase. I really need to get a bag to store them though, or invest in some interchangeable circulars. DPNs are in jars on my desk. I’ll show you those when I get around to knitting some of those cute cabled covers for them. I’ve scanned the interesting bits from most of my knitting magazines / books. Books are the worst to carry, so this is really worth doing! Vacuum bags are great for storing / transporting yarn too. Of course, all knitters know that the most space-efficient way to store yarn is to knit it! :)
P.S. My summer work space is pretty dreamy, and always tidy. ;)
It’s difficult to find good yarn in Turkey. This might surprise a lot of knitters, especially when it’s so commonplace to see “Made in Turkey” printed on ball-bands, but it’s true. It’s a recent innovation – no doubt fuelled by the demands of the new generation of knitters – to have yarns that are 100% wool, and 4ply has only been available for a season or two. I’ve been able to find some sock yarn, imported from Germany and available in uninspiring muted hues, or garish leftover colourways, but nothing that would sate most knitters these days. You can’t imagine the envy I feel at seeing all the delicious hand-dyed yarns that appear in my Ravelry friend stream every day.
You might think that Turkey (especially Ankara) would be rich in angora, being famous for its angora goats, but even that comes plied with acrylic, or polyamide, or nylon. I was amused when I found this ball of “vintage” Nako yarn when we were moving a few months ago. Mum thinks it’s left over from a slipover she knit in the 70s. The label says “Lüks Moher” (Luxury Mohair), which is funny because, as you can see, the yarn is 15% angora & 85% acrylic. “Tiftik”, from what I can gather, is technically the term for angora mohair, but can also be used to denote any fuzzy wool; “kalın” means “thick”. Nako is probably the largest yarn manufacturer in Turkey, and you will be comforted to learn that it is still keeping up this tradition of misleading yarn naming; they currently have a yarn called “Süper Angora”, which is made up of 35% Mohair & 65% Acrylic, while their regular “Angora” is 50% mohair & 50% acrylic. Even worse, their so-called “Ankara Tiftik” has only 20% mohair.
I have to say, I still like Nako yarns though. For all their inconsistency, their 50% wool, 50% acrylic “Nakolen” is my go-to yarn (last time I used it for my Parasol Stole), because it feels nice, doesn’t pill, and comes in a wide range of colours. It’s common in Turkish to spell out foreign words phonetically, so I’m assuming the “-len” here is a transliteration of “laine”, again, not entirely accurate. Their “Merino”, though, you will be glad to hear, is in fact 100% merino (I used it for my pink hottie cover). And not to be too harsh on Nako, even our beloved Rowan isn’t above wily naming tricks. Their “Cashsoft” collection is a little short on “cashmere”, and high on “cash” for my liking.
As my second yarn, I thought I would choose a contemporary yarn that shows the “modern face of knitting” in Turkey. This is “Derya’s Choice”. Not only mine, but my namesake, Derya Baykal’s. Quoted on the ball-band she says “I’m certain you’ll enjoy knitting as much as I do, with this yarn.” This “Super Pearl” certainly isn’t a bad yarn, and I love the colours that are available. I can’t help wondering how many colours were available when Mum was knitting her slipover in the 70s. I’m sure there was nothing like this on TV back then:
“‘Derya’s World’ from 14 March onwards, every weekday from 3pm – 6pm”! She looks rather sedate in the ball-band photo in comparison, doesn’t she? Her daily TV program (which has been going for years) is a whirlwind of crafts, cooking, and discussion, and is probably partly responsible for the rising popularity of knitting and crochet in Turkey. And consequently the growing variety in yarns. Personally, I’m looking forward to more wool. Thanks, Derya! :)
Note: This post is part of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2011.
Hello! Welcome to those of you who found me last weekend thanks to the lovely Julia. I hope I won’t disappoint! It’s Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK (a 3-day weekend, basically). I haven’t enjoyed weekends very much since I left school (whatever happened to saturday night?). For a start, I always get the urge to order yarn on Friday evening, just when I’ll have longest to wait for it. Then if I decide to go to the library, or to the supermarket, it’s always extra crowded. And then the internet is always so quiet (where do you all go? sniff). Besides, I’m not going to stop “working” just because it’s not a “workday” for most people! But well, thanks to Julia and the Twist Collective, this weekend was devoid of its usual tedium, and I was bouncing around in excitement instead. So welcome! :)
It’s another grey day here, but I hope you’re making the most of your long weekend (if you have one) to do some knitting. I felt like something quick and cosy yesterday & found this in my stash. I love Colinette so much. This is One Zero in the colourway ‘Banwy’ (I wish their website still had those charming blurbs, remember those?). I found myself driving (well, being driven) through Banwy the other day, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and scout out the Colinette workshop. Anyway, I absolutely adore this colourway (though no photos can do it justice), in particular the inky blacks that look like they’ve been dripped onto a light mossy green pool. Welsh slate, mossy rocks, tenebrous woods, and (this is pure genius) the rosy glow of morning sunshine on limewash. How did they do it? How did those clever Colinette dyers manage to put all this in a yarn?
You really don’t need to work hard to show it off. Sometimes the simplest thing is the best: stocking stitch (stockinette for Colinette, you might say). Wide and loose cowls seem to be in fashion this winter, but I like mine to actually keep my neck warm! And this is the perfect width for that. It’s jolly tricky taking photos of yourself with a manual focus 50mm lens, by the way.
There were so many sixes in this pattern, I decided to call it the Sixes Cowl, maybe it’ll make it easier for you to remember if you decide to knit one.
Simple Instructions for the Sixes Cowl
You might just be able to squeeze a cowl out of one hank of One Zero, but get a couple (or 6) just to be sure.
Gauge is also a bit tricky since One Zero is a thick & thin yarn, but mine is approx. 12 sts / 19 rows to 10cm/4in of stocking st.
Using 6mm 60cm circular needles,
Cast on 66 sts & join to work in the round.
Work in 1×1 rib for 6 rows.
Work in stocking stitch for 30cm / 12in (or however long you desire).
Work 6 rows in 1×1 rib.
Cast off in rib.
Weave in ends (my cowl is still umbilical).
Easy, eh? Look at that sweet wobbly cast off! Because of the uneven nature of the yarn, your stocking stitch will have gentle waves. I recommend you enjoy it that way, rather than trying to block it flat. If you need help with circular knitting, read All About Circular Knitting. And did I mention you can wear it either way out?
Just in case you haven’t got any One Zero handy though, and you can’t bear the wait, how about having a picture of it to warm up your desktop? You can download a large copy of the photo above from Flickr, which should shrink to size when you apply it to your desktop. If it doesn’t work though, let me know your screen resolution & I’ll see if I can whip up some specific sizes. :)
P.S. I was very tempted to call this ‘Cawl’ (pronounced ‘cowl’), which is a hearty Welsh soup made with leftovers. Just the thing after a long damp walk. But then I thought (cowls being addictive) that maybe I’ll knit another cowl to call Cawl, what do you think? ;)
A gift is not worth giving unless you’d rather keep it yourself.
I read this long ago in a novel and since then I’m reminded of it every time I’m buying a gift, or trying hard to convince myself not to part with it. For example, I bought a couple skeins of Debbie Bliss SoHo the other day, which I believe is now discontinued. It’s in that ingenius blue/lilac combination and oh, what a cool hat I could make with it. Something floppy for an autumn pallette of browns, blues, and purples. Siigh.
But I restrained myself (really, I did!). They were the last two left in the yarn shop, and they’re now safe in the hands of a very capable knitter, who will doubtless make something fabulous out of them.
You may remember the gift tags (with garment care symbols on the back) from a while back. They were one of my gifts to you. :) Well you loved them so much that I decided to extend them into a whole range of printable knitty goodies for gift-giving. You can download it here. The PDF file is stuffed with everything I could think of that you could possibly need to give, send, present, yield, lend, donate, surrender, devote, label, write, organise, entrust, relinquish, pass down, bequeath or swap:
- Labels
- Gift Tags
- Writing paper
- Notecards
- Envelope
- Stickers
- Bookmarks
- Bookplates
- Wrappers
- Sleeves
- Small sleeves
- Pillowboxes
- Straight sheaths
- DPN sheaths
- Yarn bag
- Tips & tricks for printing, cutting, and construction.
You can view all the photos here on Flickr. I hope you enjoy them. I have at least one more collection planned, with useful things like calendars, index cards, invites, etc. Suggestions are most welcome!
It’s sweltering on the Aegean today! If you’re travelling to the sun this summer (perhaps escaping the gloomy torrents of British rain?), you’ll want to do a little thinking and preparation before you get there, to ensure you get the most out of your knitting time. Even if you live somewhere where it regularly gets hot in summer, you might find some of these tips helpful in keeping you cool and keeping you knitting.
What to Knit
- Naturally, something light and lacy is better than a big, thick piece of knitting.
- Loosen up. Thin yarn with large needles is perfect. Knitting too tightly can be hard work at the best of times, let alone when it’s too hot to move.
- Knit something circular, so you don’t have to keep turning rows. Basic socks, hats, and other accessories are just the thing.
- Knit something that you can wear even in the heat. Summer hats, sleeveless tops, and lacy beach wraps are about all you’ll want to wear if it’s really hot.
- Avoid knitting anything complicated. I know we all get tricked into thinking that the summer holidays are the perfect time to catch up on knitting, but if the weather’s hot, chances are you won’t feel like working on much at all. There are several reasons for this:
- The heat can add to your frustration if you’re knitting something too fiddly, especially if you make a mistake! Even if you’re not a tight knitter, 20 K3togs in a row are enough to make anyone’s brain boil.
- If you’re knitting outside, in bright sunlight, it will be very tiring for your eyes to be scrutinising your knitting & the pattern all the time.
- You’re meant to be relaxing!
- It’s more fun if you don’t have to keep referring to instructions, and you don’t have to carry them around and make sure they don’t blow away.
- If it’s hot, it’s too hot to think. Take it easy.
Read on for more summer knitting advice
Well may you ask! When I came back to Turkey for a few months, I hadn’t realised that a combination of heat, intermittent internet, and a general lassitude would keep me away from work for so long. Many events have passed unrecorded, including my birthday, and the Skein Queen contest I won, to name one of her gorgeous colourways. The name I entered was ‘Summerhouse Love’, and it’s fairly descriptive of my current state. Ironically, I must await my return to Wales to fondle the Plushness, but the cool colours will be a reminder of my indolent summer days. I had already treated myself to a hank of Skein Queen yarn for my birthday (look at Deb’s gorgeous packaging! I admired it for a long time before I let myself open it), along with a tiny hank of Artist’s Palette ‘Glisten’. Really, the difficulty of the larger questions of life (its meaning, what one should do with it, etc.) pale in comparison with the painful hours of deciding which colourway of handpainted yarn to purchase.
Much of my time has been spent reading, listening to Cole Porter songs, taking photos of congruous colours, and of course, doing a lot of mindless knitting. These socks are now finished, though it’s too hot to wear them.
I mentioned in my entry to the Skein Queen competition, how much I love summerhouse novels. Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Proust’s Swann’s Way (the only one of the series I’ve managed to read so far), and Colette’s Ripening Seed are the chief ones that occur to me. To a lesser extent perhaps von Arnim’s The Enchanted April (which I suppose is not summer), Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, Forster’s A Room with a View, and maybe even Bellow’s Herzog, though they’re all very different books. Admittedly A Room with a View doesn’t even involve a house, but it is still one of my favourites.
And if you’re looking for musical accompaniment, here is my Cole Porter mixtape:
- I Concentrate on You by Frances Wayne
- I Loved Him but He Didn’t Love Me by Kaye Ballard
- Get Out of Town by Chris Connor
- Night and Day by Ella Fitzgerald
- Just One of Those Things by Diana Krall
- I’m in Love Again by Bobby Short
- The Laziest Gal in Town by Marlene Dietrich
- Where Have You Been? by Judy Holliday
So close to your side I’ll stay,
You can never say,
“Baby, where have you been?”
I was at Wonderwool Wales on Sunday, and it was such a treat! Living in the Welsh countryside I’m surrounded by sheep, but I have yet to find a yarn shop close by that stocks anything inspiring. I spend ages looking at yarn (longingly) online, but to actually be able to see and TOUCH it all was simply overwhelming. Seeing all the Ravelry badges, the smiling faces, and finally meeting some of the lovely people I follow on the internet was also very exciting, and I even spotted Sasha Kagan holding a workshop! I’d love to share my small purchases, but most of them are intended as gifts, and I must be a little secretive. I did get some Faery Lace from Fyberspates though, which is all my own.
I have known for a long time that if I ever tried spinning, I would be hooked, and I really didn’t want anything else taking away from my knitting time (and fund!). Well, all such prudence vanished from my mind when I spotted a lovely spinning starter kit at the Blueberry Angoras stand. Angora! Having grown up in Ankara, I decided it was fate that I should start spinning with angora mohair. I could hardly wait to get home to try it out, but on sunday evening the only winding I managed was to wind myself up. I could spin about 2 inches of yarn which just grew kinkier and kinkier. But knitting hasn’t taught me anything if it hasn’t taught me patience, so I calmly put the spindle aside.
I spun all night, metre after metre flying through my dreams. On Monday I watched all the Youtube videos on the subject again, and realised my problem was with the elusive term, ‘drafting’. Spinners throw this word out with much abandon, but it took me a while to understand it, and even now I’m not sure I’ve fully grokked it. I do know that I was trying to spin a thin yarn with way too much fiber though, and separating the roving out into thinner strips helped a lot. I still do a lot of stopping and frantic drafting, but I managed a vaguely consistent yarn. It’s magic watching the spindle spin and spin and spin, the twist shoot like electric up the fiber, and the way the spinning thread will pull everything (fiber, hair) into it, like a small tornado. Having spun all my fiber I tried to ’set the twist’, but the twist has no intention of settling just yet. The yarn writhes with energy, too full of my novice over-enthusiasm, and its own life. The angora is gorgeous, so soft and nice-smelling, and I would love to travel over every inch of yarn again with my knitting needles, but I think perhaps my first handspun is fated for a small hank, to mark the beginning of another journey.
Participating in Fiber Arts Friday.
Last night I was sitting on the sofa by a lovely roaring fire, typing away at my blog post. My boyfriend had gone down to the pub with his friend, and I was all alone in the small Welsh cottage. As I got up to get myself a mug of tea, I glanced at the woodburner and noticed that the candle that had been left on top of it (note use of passive) looked a bit lopsided, so I thought I’d better take it off there and put it to one side. The saucer was full of hot melted wax though, so it was rather tricky to do, and I noticed that the flames were licking away at that side of the burner, making it even hotter. Not knowing a whole lot about fires, I opened the woodburner door to try to rearrange the logs. Woosh! The flames licked out of the hinge and one side of the woodburner caught fire. It finally clicked that there was hot hot wax dripping down that entire side of the woodburner. In a few brief moments, many thoughts ran through my head:
- My God, the fire is outside the woodburner.
- Maybe if I leave it, it’ll just burn up.
- I can’t call my boyfriend.
- How am I going to tell him I burnt his house down?
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