Emptier Nest!

:( One of my chicks has left the nest, and flown all the way to Ayr in Scotland.
Well when I say flown, Ian didn't drive that fast, probably because we were so laden with 'essential stuff'' he couldn't have even tried! It was a miracle it all fitted in! All those years of going camping and trying to fit everything including the kitchen sink into a small car, obviously paid off! Anyway, Tom's settled in and is looking forward to his course in countryside management, but the house seems so empty, especially as Kate is never in! Speaking of Kate, she finally got an interview for an admin post after hundreds of applications, and she got the job! Its only for a few months, but its a start.

Amongst all the mayhem ,I somehow got the string bag finished last week. I really enjoyed knitting it, it's so simple you don't have to think, which suits my brain at the moment!

It stretches loads, the picture shows it with a BIG box of cornflakes in and there was still lots of space. Have a look at Queen Of The Froggers version in the bright orangy yarn, it looks fab!

I've decided to start pressie knitting for Christmas too. I'm in the process of knitting an item using some Posh Yarn Lucia for one project, but can't reveal what or for whom! And today, my order from Dragon Yarns came with the Dalegarn Halk, so now I'm ready to start a hat for my brother.

I'm going to attempt They Call Em Pirates! I've never tried fairisle before, but I'm looking forward to trying it. Any tips gratefully received!!

My Pomatomus sock was coming along fine too UNTIL I tried it on!

I'd rounded the heel and thought the foot was looking a bit tight, so carefully tried to put it on and found they were TOO SMALL!!! AARRRRGGGG!! My big fat size sevens just wouldn't squeeze in no matter how I wiggled the DPN's and in disgust I pulled them off the needles and sent it to the big frog pond in the sky!! I've decided I like sock knitting best when I don't have to think about it, so I'm going to do some ordinary and boring plain ones! It probably won't last, especially as I love Kaths log cabin socks!

I finished spinning the Gotland I bought at Woolfest but I'm really disappointed with my spinning. I seem to naturally spin a very fine yarn and find it hard to spin thicker stuff, I start off OK but as my concentration wavers, I seem to have a thin yarn default!! I feel the Gotland is spun way too thin and doesn't show the variation in colours like I had hoped. I also think I over twisted it when I plied it, so all in all I'm not a happy bunny!!

So I'm going to have to practise spinning thicker yarn. I wonder if it's because I find carding hard work and sub-consciously I'm trying to eek out the rolag?! I've just got drum carder envy I think!!
The garden is coming to the end of it's growing season now. At the weekend, we picked the last of the tomatoes and lettuce. The frost will get the green beans soon and there aren't too many courgettes left growing. But saying that, the Brussel sprouts are fattening up nicely and the leeks are getting bigger, so maybe it's not all over yet!

I'd like to thank......

Artis-Anne for awarding me this;

Wow!

I feel like Anne, that I'm more of a crock girl than a rockin' girl! Anne, maybe we should start up a new club ?! Perhaps our button could have a crocodile logo?! ;)

The next bit is the hardest, as I have to nominate blogs that I feel 'rock'. There are so many blogs I love to read, many of which have been nominated already, but I do love the following;

Frog In Knots, whose blog is funny and witty and who can create the most amazing things with wool and pointy sticks

and

Seahorse, who in a warm and friendly way, shares aspects of her life with us and who I feel deserves the award for her nettle fertilizer recipe alone!

Due to the thumb situation, ( which this very day has been relieved of it's stitches!), I have nothing to report on the knitting front, hopefully that should soon be remedied. On the garden front, we are eating tomatoes with just about every meal as we have such a good crop this year. The apple tree is also groaning under the weight of it's crop, so Ian decided to make some cider! Just so the tree didn't suffer you understand!

Ian peeled and chopped the apples, while I was in charge of the food processor, I could just about manage pushing the button down for 10 seconds!

So the grated apples are now lanquishing in the fermenting bin, with the yeast and sugar, and in a few weeks, we'll be able to bottle it and hopefully produce some drinkable cider. I don't drink very much at all, so poor Ian will have to drink it all himself, poor thing!! It's a hard job, but someone's got to do it! And, we still have a load of apples left on the tree and you can't even tell that any have been picked! Mmm, apple pie, apple crumble......any ideas?!

In Stitches!

Literally.....but more on that later!

Following a visit to my GP, I now know that my lack of oomph has a physical cause, my ever low iron levels having reached a record low! I feel much better knowing that there is a reason for it and am now throwing iron tablets into the system as fast as possible!

I'm not a 'cooky' type of person(kookie...possibly!), but I managed to bake some Bara brith and banana bread this week! It was such a momentous and rare occasion, I took a pic of the Bara brith!

I've also managed this week to start washing the fleeces I bought at Woolfest. I thought I'd tackle the smallest first, so the BFL and the Shetland hit the bucket!

This is the Shetland, srewn over 3 chairs on the patio! It was only half a fleece but it seemed HUGE! The BFL was only small in comparison, but much dirtier. It took bucket after bucket of water before it was anywhere near being clean. I also washed the Gotland too, though this was a

much more manageable affair as I only bought a few hundred grams.

BFL and Gotland drying on the table!

While the various fleeces were soaking, I gave the handspun yarns (with many thanks to Norman!) a wash, so when I get round to dyeing them they'll be ready to go.

On the line also is a mini skein of the Wensleydale that we dyed at the spinning group, using the logwood chips with alum mordant. I love the colour, even though it's not that visible on the pic.

By the time I'd finished all the rinsing, my hands were like an old washer womans!! It made me think about my maternal grandmother who would often talk about Mondays being THE washing day in the house, with all the clothes washed by hand. I can still remember the old mangle in her backyard, even trying to turn that was exhausting, let alone all the other bleaching and scrubbing that she did. It made me feel quite pampered with my washing machine and tumble dryer, let alone all those fabrics that dry faster and iron easier. And more appreciative.

I wanted to get the fleeces done because on Friday, I had to have a biopsy taken from this growth thingy on my thumb. Using some very blunt (ouch!) instruments, they managed to remove a piece and after a couple of stitches, wrapped up my finger. Using a small plaster? No........a huge, cartoon type looking bandage that Tom or Jerry would be proud of!! (slight exaggeration!) It's only been on 2 days and it's filthy already! What is it going to look like after 10 days!? I can't do a darned thing either! I didn't realise just how much I used my thumb, until I couldn't!! So the black cloud is, I can't knit or spin, but the silver lining is, I can't do housework either, so its quite evenly balanced!!

I was going to post some pics of flowers in my garden, but the first one I uploaded, I made a boo-boo!

Can you spot the deliberate mistake? Ooops! I've spent too much time with Becky, her photo uploading style is beginning to rub off! ;)

The insects were out in force and I couldn't resist taking some pics of them.

Thank you for all your lovely comments, they really do mean alot and cheered me up loads.

How Does Your Garden Grow!

Quickly, I think the answer is! I can't keep up with the speed things are growing and seem to spend loads of time repotting things into bigger pots. Unlike the balmy South, Ooop North we can't put tender plants outside yet, so the greenhouse is looking decidedly cramped!

It really feels as if the garden is coming alive again after the long winter sleep. Lots of flowers are blooming, despite Paddy and Alfies best attempts to eradicate them, either by trampling or eating!

Unlike the garden, things have been quiet on the knitting front. I'm progressing slowly on the Regia socks. I love these colours, they are so cheerful and put a smile on my face each time I look at them.

I couldn't resist sale bargains at Hipknits either, I think it was the colours that called me again.

I really shouldn't buy any more yarn for several reasons,

• I have plenty in my stash to last me years!
• I'm going to Fair Isle to learn to spin, so I can make my OWN yarn.
• I'm also going to Woolfest and should be saving, instead of spending!

BUT

• There are some gorgeous yarns out there.
• Even when I can spin, I'll have to learn how to dye to get some of the yummy colours!
• Knit shops keep having sales!!
• I NEED to try different yarns, patterns, books, magazines.............!

There's more things in the second list, so I reckon that means I'll just HAVE to keep on buying!

I don't know, life is SO tough!