All set up for another Sprang session with our new teaching frames as an alternative to my more usual bent stick method. Another fantastic hall to work in today!
At Viking Valley Gudvangen
It's finally here! Official publication day for my new book.
'Nalbinding - it's not knitting' is published by Herbert Press in association with the Heritage Crafts Association on January 15th 2026.
UK pre orders should be arriving on your doormat anytime now, and overseas release dates following soon afterwards.
Available from all good booksellers. Have you got your copy yet?
A massive thanks to the team at Herbert Press for making this book a reality. I can't wait to share it with you all.
Have been at Chepstow Castle this weekend talking to visitors about medieval food. Someone arranged the weather just right, it started to rain just as we packed down after two lovely sunny days.
It's been a lovely day talking 18th century soap, hygiene, cosmetics and more. There's something very satisfying about a bowl of beautiful fresh soap flakes, ready to make washballs with.
What a glorious afternoon for a spot of hedgebothering! The trees are greening up fast, meaning I'm mostly noting good locations for next winter's thorns and sprang frames, but it is a perfect time to look for marble galls on oak trees before the new leaves obscure them.
This gall, (the result of a tiny iridescent wasp laying its eggs on an oak shoot so the gall protects the developing larvae) are now empty of last year's residents, and are a perfect source of tannin for ink making, dyeing and tanning purposes.
Fancy making your own medieval style ink? There is a tutorial in the archives on my YouTube channel where we also discuss some of the different gall types found in Britain.
It's a day before the Spring Equinox, and the hedges are almost bursting with excitement. Even in the dustiest, muddiest bits of my morning walk, new shoots are appearing almost by the minute.
Today, the new stinging nettles were looking particularly fetching, glowing against the morning light with the stinging hairs clearly showing up. A few more days, and I'll be picking sprigs of nettle, from less dusty areas, to go into a breakfast herb omelette, and as soon as the summer solstice approaches, the fibre will be ripening and harvesting for textiles can begin.
Over the last week or so the Blackthorn (prunus spinosa, sloe) has really burst into flower.
It's a clear sign that the sap is rising everywhere, and although it signals an end to the chance to collect long strong thorns for use as pins, needles and fibre hackles this season, it does also make it really easy to identify good areas to be remembered for next winter's foraging.
#hedgebothering
More preparations for TORM, which is only just over a week away now.
I've just sliced up a huge batch of my all olive oil hot processed Castile soap, a style that has been in use since the Medieval period and which is still a classic today.
Also almost ready for next week is a batch of 18th century inspired citrus washballs, drenched in oils of lemon, neroli and bergamot with a sprinkling of oatmeal. I suspect these will be popular, so if you fancy trying them, head over to my stall for a sniff nice and early!
If you've ever attended one of my workshops, you'll know that we occasionally get up to some quite obscure things in the name of experimentation.
I've just been sent this picture from a workshop more years ago than I care to remember.
What do you reckon we were exploring here? Silly answers are as good as serious ones today 😁!
Today is all about stripes. I've been alternating finishing a nalbound hat in a lovely cheerful variegated yarn with working on some Victorian style striped stockings on one of the stocking machines.
