Spring is Springing

Whoops, I forgot to send you a newsletter in March?

Apr 19, 2023

Katie the human stands on a stile halfway up a mountain, holding Jack the dog in their right arm, with a splendorous panoramic view of rolling hills and wooded slopes in the background. The sky is bright blue and speckled with fluffy white clouds. Katie is wearing a woolly hat, sunglasses, woolly jumper, green dress that is billowing in the wind, green leggings, woolly socks and walking boots. Jack is gazing off left towards the sheep.

Here in the Bannau Brycheiniog it’s starting to feel like spring. The sun is shining (as I write, at least), there are lambs bleating in the fields and all the wildflowers and hawthorn trees are just coming to life.

I, too, feel a bit like I’m waking up from a long winter slumber. Apparently the last time I sent you an update was back in February, and so much has happened since then. I can hardly believe I have been living in Wales for almost six months already. Actually, it feels like the dust is only beginning to settle enough for me to feel it: I’ve arrived in my new home.

March flew by in a bit of a whirlwind. I had a couple of tiny holidays, first to the Yorkshire Dales - a landscape very close to my heart. This trip included my first cold swim of the season, some very friendly red squirrels feeding right outside my hut, and every single different kind of weather the British Isles has to offer.

Following that, I had a few days on the Isle of Wight, somewhere I had never travelled before which turns out to have been remiss of me, as a dinosaur enthusiast. I was completely enthralled by these huge iguanodon footprints found lying on Compton Beach. Jack was…less reverent.

A trio of photos. Clockwise from top left: 1) A photo from above of two human feet in walking boots, standing on the sand before a huge - 60cm - fossilised cast of a three-toed iguandon footprint, covered in algae. To the right of frame is the lapping foam of a wave creeping up the beach. 2) A similar photo: same feet, different but similar foot cast, but this time a tiny dog on a lead sniffs the middle toe. 3) another similar photo, another different footprint. This one has more algae, and is on drier sand, further up the beach. Jack the dog, er, cocks his leg to pay his respects.

Since arriving back in Wales, it has been on with my usual adventures: working on some illustration commmissions, keeping up to date with my shop (I’m happy to say sheep washi tape is back in stock after a short absence), generally obsessing over lichens and, well, climbing mountains!

I’ve also added two new episodes to my YouTube channel and a further two to Patreon since my last missive, detailing a new tea towel design I’ve been working hard on, as well as a frankly astonishing number of finished knitting, crochet and even spinning projects.

A duo of photos. 1) Katie the human and Jack the dog are on some rocks on the bank of a fast flowing stream. Katie crouches down, looking adoringly at Jack, who is in the foreground gazing off into the wind. 2) A close up photo of an astonishing lichen, pale green but covered in bright scarlet tips, growing upon a mossy rock, with dew drops showing on the grass in the background.

Here in the studio, preparations are afoot for some lovely events over the coming months. Starting this very weekend, I will be at Wonderwool Wales - now my local show - and I’m very much looking forward to it. One of my personal highlights of Wonderwool is always the excellent street food, but of course I also love the people, the sheep, the celebration of fibre and yarn and general friendly atmosphere of this lovely show.

Image description: a tower of washi tape rolls stacked on top of a fence post, with a piece of green lichen next to them and bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds behind. The washi tape rolls depict a variety of sheep, including in this photo: Shetland, Dorset Horn, Torddu Badger Face and Boreray. The tapes have different background colours, from the bottom of the stack they go white, black, brown, black, white, brown. — My sheep washi tape - back in stock just in time for Wonderwool!

Next month, although really only a few weeks away now, I’m honoured to have been invited back to the RiverKnits open day in Northamptonshire. On Sunday 14th May, RiverKnits will open their studios for a day of festivities including a mini marketplace of vendors, local sheep to pet, food and drink… and of course it wouldn’t be RiverKnits without a bit of live folk music from Becci, Markus and friends!

Then in June, I’ll be back down in lovely Devon for the John Arbon Mill Open Weekend. I’m excited, both to have the excuse to return to some of my old favourite spots in the south west, but also to spend time with the lovely mill folk and other guests at this fab event. Also, perhaps (shhhh), we might have some exciting little collaborations up our collective sleeve… This year there are so many inspiring talks and workshops, with tickets on sale already. I am having a hard time choosing between them all, but I think I have to seize the chance to learn some intarsia in the round from the intarsia queen herself, Sylvia Watts-Cherry: such an inspiring designer!

That’s all for this update. Thank you so much for your interest in and continued support of my work. Jack says hi and thanks for your continued interest in and support of his adventures. He like Wales very much, and is especially enjoying sunbathing in the garden on his favourite cushion.

Katie :)

Jack the dog, a scruffy black and tan terrier, lies flopped sideways on a blue cushion in the sunshine.

The Green Bean

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