Blue Monday

The third Monday in January is, according to statistics, the most depressing day of the year! Mmm, maybe they are right!

To banish those blues, I decided to put some pics on my blog and cheer myself up!

I've finally taken a photo of Ians Christmas socks, not the best picture, but where are all the foot models when you need them?

These were knit in Lana Grossa mega boot stretch, or mega stretch boot or something!!

I haven't done much knitting this week so my hottie cover isn't growing too fast but I'm nearing the ribbed neck bit so it shouldn't take too much longer.

My art journal is filling up nicely too, I'm really enjoying this creative release where there is no right or wrong and everything is experimental. I've put a few pages here but I'm also a member of http://artjournaling.ning.com/. This is a fab site, full of inspiration from fellow journallers and I have my own Artyfartykat page on there where I upload my journal pics. Heres a few of my latest ones.

And in true artyfarty style, the next pic is upside down!!

Now I know why it's called Blue Monday!! Aaaaaaarrrrrgggggg! Maybe uploading pics wasn't the best way to cheer myself up!!
Carrie.......... help!!

Journals

I've had the dreaded flu bug this week and whilst I think I'm over the worst of it, I just don't have any energy for housework........well thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!

So to pass the time, I've been forced *smirks* to journal!! Here are a few of the pages.

This page was in my last post with only the background completed. I'm not sure if its finished yet, but this is how it looks at the moment.

This is a page about my inability to recall the word I want, when I want ! I've called it word soup.

This next one is my motto for 2011

After stuffing my face with anything remotely edible over Christmas, the next page describes how I feel. Its called Shrek with lipstick. Only I can't be bothered to put on the lipstick!

I thought I'd have a go at actually drawing something and after watching videotutorials on Youtube, thought I'd try a whimsical self portrait, using lots of artistic license as you'll see !!

Then I got really brave and tried painting a picture. And there were no numbers to follow or lines to stay within, it was just me, a loaded paintbrush and my journal! Now you know how c**p I am with technology, but this next photo of the finished masterpiece WAS the right way round and I don't know how to change it!

And on a similar theme, I don't know why theres two of this page, but I can't work out how to delete it!!

I thought I was doing so well!!

OMG! Is it that long since I blogged!!

Where does the time go?! It doesn't seem a year since I last posted and I can't promise it won't be another year till the next one, but I'm in a' finishing ' mode at the moment so I'm trying to finish all the various crafty projects that are either half done or waiting to start. And theres quite a few!!

For Christmas,my friend Becky gave me her hand dyed yarn and pattern to create a stash bag for Woolfest. Hows that for forward planning!! So I knit it as big as I could and it looks fab, even if I say so myself.

The pattern is the Grrlfriend market bag which is free on Ravelry. Its a really simple pattern, a bit fiddly at the start but worth it.

I actually finished a pair of socks for Ian too. They were meant for Christmas but only one got finished, so I wrapped it up with an IOU for one sock and cracked on with the other which he got a couple of days later. I don't have a photo yet as they are in the wash because Ian wore the one I'd finished on Christmas day with an odd sock on his other foot!! I thought it was a good look!

I've also hit the art journal with renewed enthusiasm and finished a couple of pages that I started an age ago.

This was just using felt tipped pens,I love colouring in, it takes me back to my childhood!

OOps! I did turn it, honest! On this one I used a dye ink pad and some magazine clippings. Then I got the urge to splash some paint about, so out came the acrylics and stencils and bits off envelopes.

This is one of the backgrounds I painted, but its yet to be finished! It's on the list!!

Its going to be a page moaning about our postal service and the snarl ups that snow caused. I'll get it all off my chest!!

I love the freedom of creating art journal pages and it is very cathartic. Its a great outlet for emotions I don't want to inflict on others!!

So I'm off now to start a hot water cover with some merino I spun early this year. It was destined to become a scarf, but I am sick of burning my back when I use my hottie to ease my back problems, so the scarf was frogged and hopefully a supersoft cover will emerge!!

So Happy New Year, may it be a happy, healthy one and no promises but I'll try not to leave it so long till next time!!

Journaling Addiction!

Just when I thought there couldn't possibly be any other crafts crammed into my life, up pops journaling and I lay the blame firmly at the door of the fab Lynn aka http://inkyartitude.blogspot.com/! And I am SO grateful!! It is wonderfully relaxing and freeing and I love it!

I must also mention another lady whose blog is http://www.thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/. I find her art work SO inspirational, especially her use of colour and it has encouraged me to become much more adventurous.

There are pages in my journal that I like better than others and some I just don't like at all. Some I keep going back to and doodling, some I might paint over, but what I love about it is, IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!

Heres a few pics, a mixture of finished and unfinished pages and even just painted backgrounds, some I like, some I don't but I don't care, I allow myself not to like them!!

At last the snow has melted away but as I uploaded the journal pics from my camera, I found some snowy ones I'd forgotton I'd taken. I love the differences in light.

I also found these photos of our poor underfed pooches, who are so starved, they have to dig for bird food that has been covered up by the snow!! Please don't phone the RSPCA, I promise to feed them honest!

Paddy digging for any morsels he can find!

You can see just how thin Alfie is!! Ha!

Back to the journaling then!

Happy New Year!!!

Where did 2009 go? It seems that as I'm getting older, the years just seem to fly by quicker and quicker!

We had a quiet and peaceful white Christmas, the snow gave it such a magical feel and brought back fond childhood memories of Christmases past. We did go on a mad jaunt in the snow to Tan Hill, where there were spectacular views

and lots of snow drifts!

But we made it.........to the pub!!

The pub up there (which, by the way, is the highest in Britain and has featured in the Everest double glazing ads!) provided some very welcome food and drink, all of which was enhanced by a roaring coal fire and two gorgeous kittens!

The drive back was even hairier than the one there, but Ian, who is a brill driver anyway, excelled himself, and we got home safely.

I know it wasn't the most sensible thing to do, especially as I'm usually Mrs Sensible with added anxiety, but for once I threw caution to the wind, it was exhilarating and I loved it!!

Wishing everyone a healthy, peaceful and happy New Year!

Wooly stuff

Warning; This post was written ages ago and has been slumbering in the draft box, waiting for the photos to be uploaded, so beware, there will be another post coming soon!!

I've finally taken some photos of my Forest Canopy shawl, that I finished early September. It was a really easy pattern but as the number of stitches increased, knitting even one row became a bit of a marathon! I was keen to finish it as I used my own handspun merino and silk yarn in a bright, zingy, orangey, tomatoey colour, and so for me it was finished pretty quickly!!

I'm quite pleased with the result and I do feel a sense of achievement making something from a bag of fluff. But I must spin more evenly! When knitting the shawl, the wool thickness varied from lace weight to super chunky in the space of 10 stitches, so I need some practice!!

I also was at In Stitches, Beckys knitting cafe, on Friday, where Carrie kindly guided me through a crochet pattern, with much (needed) patience may I add, thanks Carrie!! And when the knitting cafe finished, Becky,Bev,Carrie and I found a local cafe for a coffee, bacon sarnie and, as you can imagine, just a little talking!! All in all, a lovely day!

And I must post this picture of Alfie, who managed to climb to the highest point in the dog basket, that is on top of Paddy, to lie in the sunshine!

Brass bands and belly dancers!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being around all things sheepy! And I don't include Carrie and Becky in that description!!
It was the weekend of Masham sheep fair and the weather was glorious for late September. Carrie and I met up with Becky and her girls and spent the whole day oooing and aaahing over various breeds of sheep, fleeces and fibres.
We watched the sheep race, (or should I say we watched a man running with a bucket of food in front of four sheep and three men behind them trying to stop them from running back to the pen, not always successfully) sheepdogs rounding up ducks and geese, brass bands and bellydancers and even found time to have a fab picnic in the autumn sunshine.
I was so pleased that we met up with the wonderful Artis-Anne and Tony, ( many thanks to Amber for passing on the S. O. S.!!) it was so nice to see them again and as usual, I could have spent all day chatting to them. Daniela from FeltStudioUK was spinning her wonderful art yarns and I just couldn't resist some of her gorgeous fibres. And I just HAD to buy a 'Know your sheep ' book after puzzling over the many and varied breeds on show!
The day was rounded off with a lip lickingly scrummy ice cream with a special low calorie flake! (Gone off on a chocoholic tangent now, low calorie flakes, mmmm! wish there were such things, apart from in my imagination!!)
So all in all, it was a brill day, with good company, good food, good weather and when I got home exhausted, it was Goodnight!!

Out Of Quarantine!

I'm now officially swine flu free and to celebrate the fact, we took off on a last minute camping trip to Ullswater! Yes I did say camping, not the luxury of the caravan or even a tent that you could sit up in but a tent about the size of a coffin! It was supposedly a 2 man size tent but I'm thinking of sueing them under the Trade Descriptions Act!! It was very cosy, cramped, snug and any other euphamisms for too bloody little!! We were like sardines in a tin but with not as much space! But it was so funny! My highlight of the trip was lying in the tent, watching Ian as he tried to take his shoes off and get in without a) kicking me b) rupturing a disc c) putting his head through the tent or d) waking the campsite with loudly expressed expletives!! It took me 10 minutes to stop crying with laughter. Luckily the weather was glorious and while Ian and the dogs went walking, I sat and knitted!

Late evening on Ullswater

I'm still on with the Forest Canopy shawl that I'm knitting using my handspun merino/silk yarn. I'm pleased with it so far but the yarn is more 'rustic' than I would have liked!! I'll hopefully get it finished while we are in Cornwall, which is very soon, this Friday in fact. We are going in the caravan( luxury!) for two weeks, staying near Perranporth , so fingers crossed for good weather!

I'm off now to start the mammoth list writing that precedes any of our holidays! I'll leave you with a pic of Ian, Paddy and Alfie after their Helvellyn expedition last weekend! Maybe the tent should be recategorised, 1 man, 2 dog size!!

Surprise!!

Yes it is me! Honest!
I can't believe where the time has gone since I last blogged! But I just had to say what a fantastic time I had at Woolfest, along with Carrie, Becky, ArtisAnne, Krafty Kath,Bev and several hundred others!! I spun, knitted and talked to lots of fellow fibre freaks, laughed till I cried, buggered up Ians sock cos I couldn't concentrate and generally fondled lots of fleeces!! And that was before we even got to Woolfest!!
Woolfest was fab, as always but the greatest pleasure of Woolfest for me, is meeting up with friends, new and old, listening to and sharing experience and laughing till my face ached!
So thank you to all those I shared my Woolfest experience with, long may it continue!!

I'm Confused!

Just for a change!!

Is it me or was it autumn last week and now.....it's summer! It doesn't take much to confuse me, so deciding what to wear is a nightmare. I either seem to wear too much and feel hot and chewed, or I wear too little and end up wet and wind blasted! Oh I suppose it's the joy of living in England!!

The knitting is still plodding along, I'm desperate to finish the hat but due to the headaches, it's very slow progress. My GP thinks its migraines, but to be on the safe side, I've got to have a MRI scan. I think I'm working my way through having every bit of my body scanned!! They'll be giving me my own chair in the waiting room if I go much more!

End of moan!

I went to the spinning group and had a lovely time. It was brill to meet up with old friends and get cracking with the wheel. At Woolfest, I bought some merino/silk tops, so I took this to have a go with. After a dodgy start and some timely tuition from Veronica, I was away. It is beautiful to spin and I'm pleased with the colour, especially as I tried to choose a different colour to what I normally choose! I fancy knitting a shawl cum scarf with it, but I haven't decided on a pattern yet.

I also intend to get cracking with Christmas card production, but my intentions don't always develop as I'd like!
Many thanks for all your comments too, they are much appreciated.

Us Ladies Wot Lunch!

I had the most brilliant day on Friday, when I went to the Wensleydale Longwool shop, near Leyburn, with Carrie and Hazel. We were met there by Becky and Bev , and last but not least,Silvia, who had a fab pressie for Carrie!

In the shop ,we drooled over the gorgeous yarns and accessories and formed a long queue to pay for our purchases, I've never seen the little place so full! I was very good and only bought some aran to knit a beret pattern I've had for ages.

We then moved into the carpark, where we caused major congestion looking at Carries pressie from Silvia, a gorgeous spinning wheel!! I think we were as excited as Carrie! Unfortunately Silvia had to go to work, so we waved her off, then went into Leyburn, to a lovely little tearoom above Serendipity.

Carrie and Bev


Once again we caused chaos, as the tables sat four and we were a five! So after some minor furniture rearrangement, we eventually got settled and became ladies wot lunched!

Becky and Hazel

After lunch we sauntered around Leyburn and Becky took us on a mystery diversion to The Shawl. This turned out to be a beautiful hidden gem, the site of the original settlement of Leyburn, with stunning views and, as an extra bonus, sheep!

And en route toThe Shawl, I spotted this....

The photo isn't very good as I used my phone, but it was a trompe l'oeil painting of a cat on a coal hole door and in the very top left corner, a little bird! I loved it!!

Thanks to all the girlies for a fab day out, with special thanks to Carrie for taking me and putting up with my blethering all the way thee and back!

On the knitting front, Ian's hat is coming along nicely, it's a quick knit,but I've been having blinding headaches, which have slowed down my progress, but I'm plodding along!!

When I downloaded the photos from my phone, I found a couple of pictures of some canvases I painted a few months ago, mainly to fill a space on our bedroom wall!

I really enjoyed doing them and would love to do some mixed media canvases, all I need is another 24 hours in a day!!

The Dirty 'Diet' Word!

This is a low fat post!
I only do low fat at the moment, well since I joined my local Slimming World group a couple of weeks ago actually! And so far, I've been so good you can see the shine from my halo at fifty paces! At last my weight is going in the right direction, DOWN!!

I had a fab time at the Graphicus open day on Friday, bought a plate of gorgeous Christmas stamps called Snow Is Falling, amongst other things! The stamps are beautiful and so I had to have a play with them on Saturday afternoon!

I've started Ian's hat too. I'm knitting They call em Pirates pattern using Dalegarn halk, which is water resistant. I think it may be useful when dog walking coincides with horizontal rain and Force 9 gales, which seems to have happened quite often this summer, never mind the winter!

I'm really looking forward to Friday too, when in the company of and courtesy of the wonderful Carrie , we and hopefully a few friends, will be visiting the Wensleydale Longwool shop and possibly having lunch in Leyburn. I never thought I'd be a lady wot lunched!!

Excuses, Excuses!

There's no excuse really for not keeping up this blog, other than gallivanting around the countryside in our dear old caravan!

I have so much to write about......lovely holidays, fabulous Woolfest and feeling so much better than I've felt for a long time, that I think it's put me off starting. But NO MORE EXCUSES!!


We have actually spent this weekend at home, we needed to cos both the front and back garden was knee high in weeds, and the veggie garden..........well... the least said the better! Despite its sorry, neglected state, we have had a good year for veg, especially courgettes. In fact we have eaten courgettes with almost every meal. We have frozen them, made soup with them, eaten them in stir frys, curries and salads, given them away to family, friends and workmates and they still keep on coming!! It's great!!!!


I have also discovered a previously hidden obsession too! Photographing mushrooms!!!
They look so cute I just can't resist taking a pic! Here's a couple of my 'babies'!!


I love this one!





This one has a friend!

And this ones having a party!!

Simple things please simple minds eh!!

Woolfest!

Its been a long time since I visited my blog but I'm still a fibre fiend and currently looking forward to Woolfest! Becky, Bev and I are staying at Graysonside in a caravan. I'm going to put a Ravelry sign in the window, so if anyone wants a cuppa and a chat, come on down!!

Back To The Blog!

Its been too long since I last blogged, but I'm hoping to get back in the swing! I think I put off blogging because of the time it takes, I'm so slow at typing. So I'm going to try to do shorter posts, but saying that, this ones probably going to be quite big because of all the pics!

I've really lost my knitting mojo at the moment, well ALL my mojos seem a dim and distant memory at present. Hopefully the lighter, longer days will lift the gloom and I'll feel more up to doing things. I have done one quick knit. I realised a few days before we went to Prague that I didn't have a hat, so a quick dash to my LYS ensued! Using Woolly Wormheads Rolling beret pattern, I quickly dashed off this natty little hat in Sirdar Peru. When I say quickly, I MEAN quickly! It materialised before my eyes. And it kept me nice and snug on our weekend away.

We went to Prague with my brother and his wife. Flying from Newcastle, the flight was only an hour and a half so we were there in no time. We stayed in a gorgeous pension not far from the Old Town square. The beautiful old buildings were everywhere, a real mix of Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau, I think I wandered around open mouthed at the sheer size and number of them.


The old town square was breathtakingly beautiful and the cafes in the square breathtakingly expensive, but we did go into one just to experience the atmosphere.

While we were drinking our coffee, a guy with a pair of scissors, cut our silhouettes! Mine was very flattering so I bought it!

Ian's didn't look like him at all, it looked more like Benny Hill, so we had to get that one too!

It was chilly at times and Carol bought a hat to keep her ears warm!


This is a view of Prague castle from the Charles bridge.

The Charles bridge which we crossed en route to Prague Castle, was gorgeous with religious statues along the parapets and arts and craft stalls dotted along its length.

Every view was spectacular and I took hundreds of photos, most of which I won't inflict on you but a couple of favourites, first the astronomical clock which was stunning

but Tyn church in the square was my favourite of all, not just during the day when it looked so imposing and majestic, even when I got all arty and took black and white pics

But also at night, when all the turrets were lit from inside, it looked like a fairy tale castle. The photos aren't very good but to give an idea I'll post just one


I would definitely recommend Prague, but make sure you wear comfy shoes, there's a lot of walking!

'