It's been a funny first week without social media, I'll be honest it hasn't been easy but I'm finding I have more time to do constructive things and therefore have achieved a lot more than I usually do, that's a definite positive.

I have felt a little disconnected but I'll get through that, I'm hoping folk will enjoy these blogs.

Following me conquering my sea swimming fears and completing the Lamlash Splash back in September (I raised money for the environmental charity COAST) I wanted to keep up the momentum, so have set up a WhatsApp group, 'SASS' - South Arran Sea Swimmers. I love that two sisters in their 70's are planning to join they swim at least a mile in the sea three times a week and are faster than me! Just say if you're interested and I'll get you the details. 

It's been a steady week on the Cherrydidi Online Shop, lots of Cherrydidi orders to keep on top of - I always feel the need to thank our continued support - THANK YOU!

Been busy organising stock as Zak the Collie Dog & Co has a spot in a pop-up, the Boat House in Brodick, this has been a delightful experience so I'll tell you all about this in my next blog...

I've finally personalised my BBC news app and have been spending my first cuppa catching up on what's going on in the world, this has been a breakthrough as I chose what I want to read rather than the aimless scrolling.

And I've gone a little 'TED-talk' mad....been absolutely loving the inspirational speakers around Climate Change, Net-Zero, Sustainability in small communities etc!

I've worked out how to share my blogs (without going on social media) - that took some doing, still haven't worked out how to embed videos though - anyone know?

Whilst Mr H has been cracking on with his pallet shed, I've found time to be in my pottery shed throwing pots twice this week, hoping to up that this coming week as I am getting a lot better... I love how using the creative part of my brain is so meditative - I always feel at ease after a sesh!

Of course there's been many adventures with Jack, Jesse & Rescue Ru...I'll pop in some photos as I know that's what you all want to see :).

A sprinkling of snow has arrived on Arran.

Mr H wants to use as many up-cycled materials as possible…

Which dog is this? 😂

I'll stop now so I don't ramble on however I do I want to tell you about a wonderful lady....

A hand spinner of alpaca, Sara Spinner - I connected with Sara at the local school fundraiser event, admired her alpaca hats and gloves and couldn't believe she started the process from scratch with the alpaca fleece. I'm always in awe of people whose creations are a dedicated labour of love. Sara invited me around to her house to hear all about it and of course was a perfect addition to the Cherrydidi Online Shop.

All about Sara Spinner - I am a hand spinner of alpaca. I work the entire start to finish process with my products. I buy in alpaca fleece and I am fortunate to know some lovely people with alpacas. I also select from different breeders so that I can get a good range of colours. This means that the quality and the length of fibre vary. I blend together short staple length fibre with longer ones to give a better yarn and more colour variety. Once I receive the fleece I lay it out and discard the outer edges as these are generally poorer quality. I then manually pick out as much vegetable matter as possible.  

The next stage is washing. The fleece is soaked overnight in a gentle organic laundry liquid and rinsed carefully. I air dry it in gardening nets. The next step is to card the fleece to make the fibres easier to spin. The spun yarn is washed again and hung with weights to set in the twist.

I have designed patterns for simple hats and wrist warmers, which I then knit on four or more needles to avoid a bulky joining seam. After the product is knitted I wash it again but despite all this washing it is still possible to find small  pieces of straw or vegetable matter in your item.

My yarn I describe as fine and slubby, as I like the effect that thick and thin gives in the knitting. As each fleece is different, the yarn varies in thickness which may make my products vary in size.