It just felt right.

Well now. I've just pulled the bag out of the washing machine where it's been along with my work clothes (40 deg) and it's felted very slightly. This is good as the texture has remained, but I think it's probably a bit stronger. It may still require lining though. I'll just have to see how it goes. I decided on the randomly shaped wooden button for it as suggested by Miss Janelle in last week's comments. Thanks Janelle.

I did start to crochet a mat in the remaining wool but haven't got very far with it yet. I bought a new TV a while ago and it sits on a large wooden chest in the living room. Sometimes the sound seems to reverberate a bit and I think it may need some damping so I thought I'd do a mat for it. Good crochet practice.

This week I went to exciting new places as we lost the driver of our Shropshire / Gloucestershire run at short notice. I had five drops from Shrop/Glocs put onto my run (which luckily was not too busy). So having finished all my regular drops and pick ups on the Tuesday I set off from Bourton on the Water on Wednesday morning for new horizons.

My first drop was a deli and wine bar in the village of Newnham on Severn called Hunter & Todd which looked very nice. The second drop was a cafe just over the road from there called the George Cafe which as well as the cafe contained a lovely surprise. A weaving studio.

I couldn't resist asking if I could take some pictures of the studio and was told that I could, so here they are. Unfortunately none of the weavers was there so I wasn't able to find out more about what they do, or where they're from. When Jeannie, the regular driver gets back from her hols I'll have to ask her about it.

After Newnham I went to a trading estate in Newent then up to Ross on Wye to a wholefood shop Field Fayre and a cafe Nature's Choice next door to each other. I'd printed off a map of where they were before leaving so I was confident about finding them. I came off the end of the M50 onto the A40, then took the road down into the town centre. Over two mini roundabouts and into the end of the street where the shops were. I got a bit anxious as I couldn't see a road sign so I pulled over just inside the end of the road to ask if I was in the right place. That was the point at which I was told that the road I wanted was indeed straight ahead but alas it was one way, and NOT the way I was pointing.

I have to tell you that reversing an eighteen ton truck out of the wrong street across two mini roundabouts (traffic approaching from at least five different directions) is not to be recommended as a method of reducing blood pressure. People can be remarkably unhelpful as even with my hazards on as well as my reversing lights and warning bleeper it took ages for someone to actually stop and let me out even though I was coming towards them. Once I was out it all became much easier and though the centre of Ross on Wye is a bit tight and crowded I did get to where I wanted to be and even managed to score a parking space opposite the shop, (a big bonus when you have to carry stuff).

F.O. (well almost)

Here's the bag I finished crocheting last night. It's an adaptation of the pattern for the Horse Around Purse by Carol Ventura from Crochet Me Magazine. In actual fact I only used the shaping and not the tapestry technique. I've made the bag out of the yarn that I spun from the Haldane roving that came with my Orkney (plus some on the bottom from a fleece I prepared myself, can't remember which one!). The Haldane was a bit compacted and strangely "bitty" but it's probably quite old and I managed. I spun it up and plied it on the Orkney.

Once I started working with it I realised that it's quite underspun and underplied too and a bit thick and thin so I'm considering felting the bag to give it a bit more strength. It's fairly dense fabric anyway as the whole bag is done in single crochet so it probably won't shrink an enormous amount but I feel that it would mean that any weak spots would be strengthened, and you don't really need weak spots in a bag. In a way it's a shame as I like the texture of the bag and I know that felting will lose that.

I also need to choose a button for the fastening. These are a selection of the possibles. I guess it's going to depend partly on how much the loop shrinks when (if) I felt it. If I don't felt it I'm going to need to block it as the strap has a tendency to curl at the edges.

I quite like this bag, and people at work like it too. They seemed quite interested, lots of them asked what I was knitting!! One asked if I took orders, I said that I didn't as she couldn't afford it but I'd teach her to crochet for free. She declined though!

One of my friends is keen to learn to knit socks though as she has found that she seems to be allergic to the elastic in bought ones. I'm going to put together a kit for her to get started.

As if I haven't enough hobbies on my plate I've signed up for a bra making course in Leicester at the beginning of October. The course is run by Michelle Pye and is for one day. I tried to book it a couple of weeks ago but it was full, luckily for me she's had a cancellation and I'm in!

I noticed a few months ago that I was getting a bruise under my left arm where the wiring in my bra was rubbing and it occurred to me that although I'd put on a significant amount of weight I was still wearing the same bras. After taking a long hard look at myself I also realised that I had bulges over the tops of the cups on my bra. Now I just HATE to see this, I think it looks as if women are trying to look smaller than they are but of course it just makes you look like a slattern (great word!) and so I went to get re measured and buy me some new bras. Unfortunately I seemed to catch M&S at their busiest time so although I got measured I didn't get any help with fitting and I couldn't find anything that fit me. I left feeling fat and depressed and continued to squeeze into my old bras. I have since succeeded in having two successful shopping trips one to BHS and one to M&S where I've managed to get some bras that fit. But at BHS I tried on EIGHT different bras, all the same size, and only TWO of them fitted me.

So I've decided that I may try making my own, that way you can get a bra that you like, that fits you AND you can have matching knickers too if you want. I've found a blog run by and for lingerie makers. It's called Bra Makers and I've put the link in my sidebar as well as here.

I must admit I did think that everyone would think I was a loony wasting my time making underwear but almost EVERYONE I've mentioned it to seems to think it's a great idea. (I suspect this is 'cos they think I'm going to make their bras for them but even so!). This just proves to me that yet another one of the more basic things that all women (or nearly all) have to do is a complete pain in the arse!

What a surprise!

Watch this space.....

Hoping there should be an F.O. here tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a pig I made earlier.








Quite a lot earlier.

Between 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south.

Well yes that's me, languishing in the doldrums, no wind in my sails and not a lot to report. Must be the time of year, I don't think I'm alone in my disinclination for blogging activities.

Last weekend I went down to Ro's and we went to Tigers' second pre season friendly match, which was against Bedford. The first was in Cornwall but that was a little far to go as getting time off work in July and August is a bit problematical unless you book really early (like last year!!!). Chronic shortage of cover drivers (nothing to do with cricket!). It was nice getting back to rugby but a little warm for a game which should really be watched in the teeth of a howling gale with snow falling.

SAY NO TO SUMMER RUGBY!!!!!

Tigers won the game comfortably (which was to be expected as Bedford are in a lower league than them) and a good time was had by all.

Last night I made a pair of earrings and a matching necklace. I'm wearing the earrings as we speak, but will save the necklace for more dressy occasions I think. I've also done my hair since I took that picture and thusly am less witchy looking now. I'm going into town soon to do some shopping and to visit the Huddersfield Food Festival .

I will try to resist the lure of the Kirkwood Hospice shop at which I am compelled to buy those little round things with holes in of which we are not allowed to speak in front of Ro as she has a phobia about them. (Oh, okay, buttons for those of you who haven't worked it out yet!).

I have been knitting. In fact I've knitted Coachella twice. The first time I misunderstood the instructions and it was too small, the second time it's big enough but I'm not entirely happy about the way it fits. I think it's one of those jobs that looks okay when you arrange it and stand in front of the mirror but as soon as you try to breathe or walk or move your arms it goes funny. So it's sitting in a bag waiting to be frogged or finished. I really need a second opinion but I forgot to take it down to Ro's last weekend.

I've also been spinning (no pictures) more of the Haldane roving which came with my Orkney. This in the second colour, a sort of salmony orange. This together with the brown is destined to become a crocheted bag (possibly). I was even considering a touch of beading on it which is why I got the beads out last night which led to the earrings.

Are you getting a theme here? Bit of this, bit of that? no real planning, nothing getting finished? Zooming off at tangents all over the place? Think a bit of discipline may be in order. We'll see.

for the record Ling has had her baby; a little girl called Zoe, and she's beautiful. Congratulations Ling!

Anyhoo, catch you later.

Crashed!

I'm afraid I have bad news. This week I was bounced from the Tour de Fleece having tested positive for testosterone. I thought I'd hidden it quite well but as you can see from the picture, I must have forgotten to shave on Wednesday morning. (Thought I was getting funny looks from the customers). I'm hoping to clean up my act before next year but they're coming down pretty hard on this sort of thing this year.

On to better news. I've been slaving over a lukewarm bath this week and can show you the results here. A lovely clean Manx Loaghtan fleece which I bought at Woolfest. Apparently the name means mouse brown in Manx. It's currently drying on the airer in the spare room (computer room/ stash room/ junk room). I have a feeling that this could prove to be a bit of a problem spin; it has a very short staple of about an inch, an inch and a half. More fluffy than woolly. Should be interesting. (Better get on with the Jacob Ro, I'm gonna need the carder for this little lot soon!).

I'm looking for a project today as well, we've got our all day QGM (Quarterly General Meeting) tomorrow at SUMA so if I'm to stay sane I'll require some nice straightforward knitting to be going on with. I'm not sure yet what it's going to be but I'm sort of leaning towards
Coachella from the latest issue of Knitty. I've got some yarn (somewhere) in the stash which I think may work for it so I'll need to find it and swatch today if that's going to work out. Otherwise it's socks.

Thanks for your responses to my last post and the Bleu de Maine yarn. I am ridiculously proud of it and may be doing a touch of swatching of that today as well.

In response to Annie's question there's about 250g in total (plus there's a wee bit more of the white left to spin).

Kath: We do do deliveries to North Wales but that's on Gordon's run. I've never done it, it goes out on the same days that I do (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Ling: Tiger isn't Ro's pony, he belongs to my other sister Annie and her husband (the ones with the cattle). BiL thinks that he's useful for herding the cattle and on last weeks evidence he could be right. (ps have you had that baby yet???)

Ramblings

Well here at last is the result of my labours during the Tour de Fleece so far. I'm really pleased with the end product. This is the Bleu de Maine that I bought last year. I separated it into the darker and lighter parts of the fleece and carded and spun them separately. I've plied three singles together as I read somewhere (can't remember where) that this makes for a yarn which knits up better. It's certainly more rounded than the two plys that I've spun previously. It seems more even as well.

I have in mind a cardigan knitted on largeish needles so it's a bit lacey but I'm not sure if I'll have enough. I must do all the weighing and measuring and wraps per inch dohickey so I can work it out, but I can't be arsed at the moment.


At the weekend I went down to Ro's as she wanted to borrow my drum carder to do some more of the never ending Jacob. On Saturday we went out for lunch with Annie (another sister) and then we went for a walk. Ro insisted on taking Tiger who is very well behaved on a lead, a bit like a dog! We went along a gated road through a field of cattle who were fascinated by the proceedings and decided that they'd follow us. It was a bit like grandmothers footsteps. When we stopped and turned round they stopped too, when we walked on they followed us. Spooky!

A quiet week

All round. I'm still spinning along in the Tour de Fleece, though I have to say that the mountain stages have rather taken it out of me this week. I had a few technical difficulties on Saturday last (tension) and my team car was nowhere to be seen. Still, managed to overcome it and have been doing a little each day but it's certainly going slower than last week. I'm working on the darker stuff now and have spun one bobbin of it and am half way through the second.

My run was very quiet this week, I was back in the yard by half past one on the Wednesday. This is in stark contrast to a couple of weeks ago when I did 29 hours in two days (talk about wiped out!). This week was a mere 21 hours, easy peasy. I parked up overnight in Worcester for the first time. The lorry park is right next to the river and the racecourse in the centre of the city. Looks quite scenic doesn't it? I was one of the first to get there, but it soon filled up. I don't think I'll park there again though, it was a bit noisy (there's a railway viaduct running along the side of the parking area and there were trains going over quite regularly). Luckily I have my earplugs with me so I slept okay.

My roof is finished and waterproof (I think). Should get to find out today, forecast is for two months worth of rain in the next twentyfour hours (oh joy!!). And I'm driving down to Ro's this afternoon, hope I don't get washed away in the deluge. I'm taking my wheel so I can carry on spinning and the drum carder so that Ro can card some more of her Jacob fleece and get on with her bag. I should also take the Montego Bay Scarf which has hit the wall about two inches from the end.

Get and finish it girl!!!!

Tour de Fleece

I've decided that I'm going to dedicate my "Tour de Fleece" to Marco Pantani "The Pirate"; one of the greatest of hill climbers of all time and winner of both the Tour de France and Giro D'Italia in 1998.

I chose to spin up the Bleu de Maine fleece that I bought from Sandie at Yorkshire Woolybacks last year (I felt that the name of the breed was sufficient "French connection"). I'd already prepared the fleece for spinning and carded it when I bought my drum carder so I was all ready to roll when the Prologue began last Saturday.

This fleece is an absolute joy to spin, it practically does all the work itself. I'm spinning it long draw on my Orkney and had decided to spin onto the three Orkney bobbins then ply the three singles on the Elizabeth (I have to be able to justify having two wheels!). The fleece is lively and springy and handles beautifully and the whole of the Prologue just flew by.

Day two was more of the same for me, though the real Tour was out on the open roads of Kent. The weather was terrific, the English countryside was looking beautiful and the sprint at the end was as exciting as anything I've seen with Robbie McEwan coming from nowhere to take the stage win.

By Monday the Tour was on French soil (if only briefly) with the majority of the day's stage happening in Belgium. I was beginning to feel the strain of the first couple of days by then and coasted along in the peleton, happy not to loose too much time by sticking with the main field. I was far enough back not to get brought down by the nasty crash just before the end of the stage and although we were all held up by it no-one lost time as it was within 3k of the finish.

Tuesday was an enforced rest day I'm afraid. It's going to be throughout the whole Tour as I drive on a Tuesday and Wednesday so I'm not only sleeping in the truck on a Tuesday night and have no room for my wheel but after an early start and a fifteen hour day I don't have the energy to do anything but eat and sleep at the end of the day.

Got home nice and early on Wednesday though so put in some extra spinning time that afternoon. I was delighted when I got home to find a man on my roof (regular readers will know that I've been awaiting this for some time). No it wasn't Santa it was John; the roofer. With a bit of luck I'll be able to remove the empty containers that I've had sitting around catching drips when it rains, any day soon.

Thursday I completed the last of the three bobbins. I was going to ply them today, but I couldn't wait so last night I began. This is the first skein. It looks overplied, but I know that when I've washed it and hung it to dry it will be fine.

I'm really pleased with the way it's turning out. It really is the most beautiful wool. It has an almost pearly sheen to it and I believe that it will fluff up nicely when finished. The main colour is white but it has touches of fawns and greys. I have a few batts which are darker in colour and decided to spin these separately rather than card it all together. I'm hoping to use the different shades as a feature in whatever I make out of the finished yarn.

My only concern is that I'm failing to pace myself and I'll run out of fleece before the end of the Tour and be forced to withdraw. Still, this is my first Tour and it's no disgrace not to finish it.

Where to begin?

I'm sure you all know why I haven't blogged for a wee while? Yup bin away in Cumbria for a couple of days. My excuse for not getting back to y'all sooner was that I've been at work since then (almost constantly, or so it feels!)

So Woolfest. As the title says, "where to begin?". Well thought I'd do it in pictures as I took so many. These are just a small sample from the weekend.

Swaledales at Priests Mill off for a walk in the rain. (They may not be Swaledales they may be Rough Fell).

The Wool Clip, organisers of Woolfest (hurrah!!!).

From the Watermill Cafe at Priests Mill Caldbeck.

View from our bedroom window at Byresteads B&B, Friday evening? Lovely B&B & full of fellow fibre addicts. We've booked again for next year (thought it wise as four others already had!). Oh and Als, we've booked a room for three next year!

Ro (with back to camera) choosing a fleece. She persuaded me to share a Leicester Longwool with her.

Llamas in a field above Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Centre (seen on our way to the farm shop and cafe up the lane). We'd seen the sign by the roundabout as we drove in so decided to walk up there for lunch on the Friday. It was a tad further than expected, but worth the walk.

The spin in (highlight of the weekend). This was just amazing. We met some lovely people including Catherine and Susan who had flown over from Ireland to be there. Susan is a spinner but didn't have her wheel with her, she was sussing out which kind she wanted to buy (think she's going for the Majacraft). Catherine is a weaver but apparently her son is keen on getting a wheel and learning to spin.

Beautiful designer knitwear by Makepiece of Todmorden West Yorkshire. Ro's got a colleague who is getting married next year and she's going to persuade her she should have one of their dresses.

Silk/angora/mohair knitted knickers by Rose Ashley on the Woolclip stand. (If persuasion in the dress department fails maybe she'd go for a pair of these!)

View from bedroom window Saturday evening.

Hands up everyone that knew Ayres Rock was in Cumbria then?

Young Herdwick sheep in her natural habitat.

We had a fantastic weekend, met loads of lovely people, some whose blogs I read and who read mine (wore me SUMA T shirt so folk could recognise me) and some who were stallholders. I can hardly wait for next year, though we've decided that a practice run at Wonderwool Wales next year may be a good plan! (They're holding it in conjunction with a food festival so I really do think that SUMA should get a stall!!)

Ay Caramba, nearly forgot the stash!!!!!!

Manx Loughtan fleece (mine, all mine!)

500g from a Gotland ewe (currently washed and drying over the airer. It bears a striking resemblance to a furball coughed up by a VERY BIG CAT at the moment! But I'm sure it's going to be fine).

Handmade basket to keep my spinning accoutrements in.

Two lots of Shetland in different colours (yes they are too different!) along with a free bag of samples from Lenice Bell at Todhill Shetlands at Lockerbie (go easy on this link there's loud highland music!). Lenice actually remembered Ro from last year when she bought one of her sheepskins. What a memory!

Two silk caps from P&M Woolcraft. We were told about these by somone who was spinning them at the spin in so we HAD to go back on the Saturday to get some. At £2.25 each it would have been a crime not to. Of course we made most of our other purchases on Saturday too, despite spending from 10-30 am till 5-oopm on Friday there!

And that really is just about it. I hope no-one's computer has crashed under the weight of pictures in my post. See you all next year.

Okay, I was going to talk about Woolfest.

But!

I am so bloody angry that I feel the need to have a rant first.

I got back from my run this week to find a card through my door saying that the postman had tried to deliver a parcel. Yippee; the Ecco boots that I'd bought on ebay to replace the much loved pair that had died some time ago after many years of good service but which Ecco no longer manufacture.

Resisting the temptation to collect them before work yesterday I decided to do it on my day off as I'd be going shopping anyway. So this morning I made a list of all the things I needed to do in town (efficient) and drove in, only realising as I got out of the car in Tesco's car park that I'd forgotten to bring the card (marginally less efficient).

"Damn" I thought, "bet I haven't got any proof of ID either". So I looked in my purse and discovered that I had my digital Tacho card. Now bear in mind that a digital tacho card is an official government document from the DVLA. It bears not only my name, address, driving details but a photograph of me as well! Okay it's not a particularly good photograph, it's certainly not a flattering photograph, but you CAN tell that it's ME!

Was this good enough for the parcels office at the post office? Of course not. "You'll have to come back with the card." They said.

I asked why when I had proof positive that I was the person to whom the parcel was addressed I needed to have the card as well. Apparently it's in case I'd just picked up the ID in the street.
"BUT" I pointed out "If I'd picked up the ID in the street I wouldn't know that there was a parcel waiting for me AND it wouldn't have my photograph on it." Not good enough, "The Rules" say that I have to have the card and no-one is going to override "The Rules", not the minion on the desk, not his equally brain dead supervisor.

What's to stop someone finding the card in the street and going in to collect the parcel? The answer is that they have to check IDs too (of which a credit card is an example, no photograph on a credit card of course). They don't keep a record of the id that's used to pick up the parcel or the name of the person that picks it up, just a signature. Can YOU read other peoples signatures?

Basically "The Rules" are there to cover their arses if they give a parcel out to the wrong person, it won't prevent a thief picking a parcel up but it will be proof that they've done everything possible to ensure that they've done "The right thing". Which I could just about accept if it were true. But it's so obviously NOT BLOODY LOGICAL!!!!!

I can have the parcel re-delivered, but I'm supposed to be going to Ro's this weekend and I'll be driving again next week (such a drag having to work for a living isn't it dahlings!). Oh, not going to be in? Perhaps I can arrange for someone to be in when the parcel comes; a friend or neighbour or member of my family. No they can't say what time it'll be delivered. I can (get this) have it delivered to ANOTHER ADDRESS! This without them even checking that I'm who I say I am. Despite the fact that I have ID, they are so wedded to "The Rules" that nobody has even asked to see it!

I used to think that privitisation was a bad thing but I'm starting to have a re-think. These people are supposed to be fighting for their jobs and expect the public to support them FAT BLOODY CHANCE! I am so glad that I have a job that allows me to make decisions based on the facts before me and that if I screw up or make a bad decision I have to take responsibility for it, but at least I CAN TAKE A DECISION. If I piss off my customers they know that it's me doing it, not "The Rules". When I refuse to take payments in cash it's because I'm not happy with carrying cash around in the truck, not 'cos I'm told I can't, and I tell people that.

Right! Okay! That's it! Rant over, I can feel a letter to the Postmaster General coming on next (I think I'm turning into my dad, he and the PG were practically pen pals towards the end of his life!) Tomorrow Woolfest (or possibly even later today, lots of pics to sort out!)

So many posts in a single week

I just got back from shopping and I saw these and had to buy them (no not the eggs). They're just so cute and they remind me of the brightly coloured plastic cups and saucers etc. that we used to have when we were little.

I was a bit surprised when I took them out of the packet and found that instead of being rigid plastic they were rubbery and bendy. Well cool though!

Roofer's just been round to tell me he'll start on my roof next week. There was a bit of a mix up. I thought we'd arranged for him to start this week, but apparently the last time I spoke to him I said that I'd have to start saving up, so he thought the job was on hold. Luckily I rang him on Monday or neither of us would have been any the wiser.

I have no idea what I said to him the last time we spoke as he (rather foolishly) rang me at nine thirty on a Tuesday evening at which time (as my regular readers will know) I am tucked up in my duvet having worked a fifteen hour day which starts at three in the morning. Scared the life out of me when my mobile went off as I was fast asleep! He wasn't to know though.

Anyhoo, whole thing now sorted and roof will be off next week (gulp), hope the weather's improved by then!

Things seem to be getting back to normal and luckily the M1 has re-opened this morning after being closed all day yesterday due to the threat of inundation should the Ulley reservoir dam burst. I hope that all the SUMA drivers made it home last night from the Monday/Tuesday runs, most of them come back up the M1 so god knows how they managed. Imagine that the Sheffield run was something of a washout on Monday too.

I say luckily because Ro is driving up today, she'll be coming up the motorway and we don't want anything to stand in the way of our setting out tomorrow for Cumbria. Woolfest here we come.

I'm still not sure.....

...........about this scarf. I loved the picture of the finished item in I.K. and I like the stitch pattern and love the colour of the yarn (which I am having real trouble getting a good picture of as the light is so awful at the moment) but I'm not entirely convinced by the shape of the scarf in real life.

Here's a reasonable shot of the colours!

The problem is that the scarf is, well, it's a scarf. And I'm not sure that yarn as luxurious as this wants to be just a scarf. I think it wants to be a stole or a wrap.

A scarf's a bit dull

a bit everyday

a bit mundane

and a bit long and thin. My concern is that it'll just look like a long thin stringy thing.

Thing is that I'm not really a wrap or a stole kinda gal. I can see me wearing it as a scarf, but probably not as a stole or a wrap. I guess I may as well finish it now (it's nearly done) and see how I feel then, rather than frog it right away. It may only need to be a bit wider and shorter than it is now.

Told you Ro; the blue toque of indecision!!!

Oh by the way re. the fringe problem. I measured off the whole length required for the fringe and just cut that off in one piece rather than in 200 pieces; that's the small ball on the right in the first picture.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot. I'm entering the "Tour de Fleece" this year (see also button in sidebar). I realise that it's a gruelling challenge and I suspect that I'll be way back in the pelleton if not the lanterne rouge rather than up with the tete de la course. Anyone else up for it? Lets see those wheels spinning!

That's me done for the next week

Yes! Hurrah! The holiday starts here!!!!

And not a moment too soon, this has been one of the less enjoyable weeks of my life. Lack of sleep; problems with my run; general ennui. But now I have nothing to do except look forward to

WOOLFEST

Complaining continues for most of the rest of this post so if you can't face it just ignore the rest of it and wait for the next one instead!

I say there's nothing to do but I have quite a lot of stuff to organise and loads of money to spend before then. The car is being M.O.T.d as we speak (failed first time on several bulbs and a leaking CV joint on the offside front!). They also told me that there's a problem with the ignition, but I don't believe them. I gave them the spare key which I never use and they say they're having trouble starting it. I used that key to drive to the garage yesterday morning and had no trouble at all. Never do with the usual key either!!

Once that's sorted I have to tax it, renew the breakdown cover and probably insure it as well (these things all come together when you buy a car from a garage of course as tax and MOT are done when you buy it!!). I have a guy coming to mend my kitchen roof next week (I hope he's coming next week anyway) as it's been leaking since last Autumn. I'm not even going to tell you how much that will cost!

Two weeks ago my oven stopped working so I had to get that fixed. The first week the guy came to look at it he didn't have the part, had to order it. So while he was there I thought he may as well service my gas fire and boiler as neither had been done since my moving in (in 2000) in the first instance, and fitting (in 2002) in the second. So he did them and the following week returned to fit the part. Suffice it to say that what he made from me will go some way towards paying for his holiday in Costa Rica!

It's jolly lucky that I'm normally such a tight git or I wouldn't have the money to pay for all this. However I am a tight git so I do (I just resent having to).

Sorry to go on about money, I can afford it all so it's not as if I'm in a particularly tight spot but I just need to get this moan off my chest then I can be all glad and holiday like and start looking forward to four days in Cumbria full of scenery, knitting, spinning and like minded folk.

Oh yeah, speaking of which we've got a new contract worker at SUMA who's come in over the summer to help cover the driving rota. She's going to be driving my run next week. She asked me if I was going anywhere nice and I said (a little sheepishly (pun intended) as you don't know how muggles will react to this kind of information) "I'm going to a wool festival".

"Ooooh" she said "Like for knitting?" Turns out that she was wearing one of her own creations (knitting machine) and that she'd done a textiles course then worked for a (commercial) spinning company previously. hah hah, us textile types get everywhere!

You can call me chicken...

... but I'm finding it very difficult to start the "Montego Bay Scarf" I mentioned from the latest Interweave Knits. This has something to do with the fact that I'm using Handmaiden Sea Silk (£17 per skein) and the first instruction in the pattern reads;
"Cut 200 12" lengths of yarn" (for the fringe at the ends).

Do you think I'm being unreasonable?

Should I just bite the bullet?

or

Should I find another pattern?

p.s. do you like the girls? They're supposed to be garden ornaments I think, but if I put them out in the garden the fox might get them!

Cotswold Farm Park

Saw a sign on Wednesday as I drove out of Bourton-on-the-Water advertising a "Wool Weekend" at the Cotswold Farm Park. Dunno if there's anyone near there this weekend who reads this that may be interested.

From their website:
"The Cotswold Farm Park is hosting a WOOL WEEKEND on 16 & 17th June 2007 to celebrate sheep, their fleece and all things woollen.Come along and find out about the history of sheep. See the sheep being shorn using hand shears and machines. Watch the craft of spinning and weaving in action. Peruse the shearing equipment and bygones. See what products can be made from wool. Take the opportunity to purchase fleeces and woollen products"

Honley Show and UFO

Well we went to Honley Show yesterday as promised and had a lovely time. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I only have one picture which I took using Ro's camera.

Highland cow and calf. Aint he a cutie? They were both a bit naughty and didn't want to be led round the ring, but in those coats and in that weather who could blame them?

The show was smaller than I expected, lots of classes but not a lot of entries in them. I imagine this is probably down to the problems with farming nowadays, hard enough to keep your head above water at the best of times. This was a shame I thought, especially as there were loads of spectators there, so clearly an interest in the event.

There was a stand with some Alpacas on from Holmfirth, they'd just been shorn so looked a bit odd. they were the same as the one's I saw at the farm shop, but they had some friends with them too.

Sandy was there, of Yorkshire Woolybacks fame showing her Ryeland sheep (who have little wooly faces so are also kinda cute and teddy bear looking.) There were horse classes, dog classes, cattle, goat, pig, and sheep classes. There were vintage tractors and vintage car and motorcycle displays. There was all sorts of stuff going on.

There was a tent with handicraft competitions in including (scary) soft toys and ........

...........things made out of vegetables?????

We were very good and hardly bought anything (I nearly bought some alpaca but Ro wouldn't let me!) Got lotsa fun cheese from the cheese stall including Yorkshire Blue; some Wensleydale made in the traditional manner from ewe's milk; another ewe's milk cheese called Yorkshire Fettle (I'm very fond of ewe's milk cheese, in particular a hard cheese called Berkswell) and some Swaledale. Anyone recognise the theme?

It was a baking hot day and not a whiff of a breeze so we were forced to have ice cream (yummm). By the time we got home we were exhausted and unable to do much more for the day than loll about.

Earlier yesterday before Ro came I'd been pootling about tidying up rooms that I seldom use except to chuck junk into (one of which is the room that Ro sleeps in when she comes up), when I unearthed probably my oldest ever UFO.

This is a romper suit I began knitting for my sister when she was expecting her first baby. Unfortunately the evil ungrateful witch took one look at it and said words to the effect "If you think I'm putting my baby in that....." So I stopped knitting it.

Said child has just celebrated his eighteenth birthday!

Very quick post

Finished pair of "Leftovers socks" These have been a bit of a hit at work, not so much because of the inverted nature of the colour scheme but because I knitted them both at the same time. Many people found this rather a difficult one to get their head round, but it's very straightforward and simple. The worst bit is making sure that the yarn doesn't get horribly tangled.

I think I mentioned that I was using the pattern for toe up socks from the latest IK. Toe up is ideal for these socks as you can just carry on until the smaller amount or yarn runs out. Perfect!

Ro's coming up tomorrow and we're going to Honley Show. It's ages since I've been to a proper agricultural show and I'm looking forward to it. I believe that Sandy Davison of Yorkshire Woolybacks of Kilburn (from whom I bought the fleece that I've been playing with recently) will be showing her sheep there, and there's also an Alpacca display (wonder if they're the one's I saw at the farm shop the other weekend?). I've been living in Huddersfield for many years now and this is the first time that I'll have been to this show though I intend to go every year I just don't get round to it. Managed the Harden Moss Sheepdog Trials one year which was quite good fun.

Just stuff..........

Well I've been quite a busy little bee but in true bee mode I've been flitting from one thing to another without settling down to anything much. The only finished object that I have to show is a second felted soap (thank you Cledry Yarner for the method). I like the colours on this one better than the first. They are more my colours but they don't match my bathroom which is still the same bilious shade of , ................. hmm, kinda lost for words on that one! Anyhhoo, the same shade it was when I bought the house.

On the spinning front I've been playing around with carding colour into natural coloured fleece again. These are two samples of the Ryeland/Jacob that I bought last year carded together with

firstly some bronze coloured roving and

secondly some greenery browny bluey (with whitish blobs) wool/silk. The next challenge is to card enough to make something with. I've taken advice on the best way of doing this whilst maintaining consistency of colour across the whole amount from the Online Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. The Internet is truly amazing, post a question and get an (almost) immediate response from half a dozen people.

Lastly I've started another (yes yet another) pair of socks. This time I'm knitting them toe up together. Yup, one circular, two socks. It's pretty cool and easier than I expected but would be easier still with two circulars. Unfortunately I only have the one in the right size at the moment.

I'm knitting them from left over yarn. I had about enough of the Trekking XXL no.28 from the Falling Leaves socks left for one more sock (I think), and enough of the Kool Aid dyed stuff I did ages ago for my Pomatomus' for one sock so decided to knit up a pair using both and alternating them . Bit odd but fun (well I think so) and a great way of using up left over sock yarn.

I'm using the pattern from the article in IK which I mentioned in my last post, which has charts for various sizes and you just choose the ones that apply to you foot size/needle size gauge etc. Nice little bit of mindless knitting.

I'm very keen to get back on the spinning, particularly as Ro has booked us into the Friday night spin in at Woolfest (gulp!) and I need the practice. So I was pleased to find this on Diane's site. The Sunday Spin along (see also link in sidebar). I got there via Annie's site Up Knit Creek. Thanks Annie. I may not go through all the techniques that she's going to post, but I like the idea of putting some time each week aside for spinning. Believe the Yarn Harlot does the same on a Tuesday so we're all in good company.

Breaking news: Ro has succumbed and started her own blog which you can find here: Tiggerish Tails way to go sis!