Anyone shopping at WHS?

Perhaps you could keep a little look out for this sort of thing. Thanks.

Update: Read here

Things the postman brings...

– isn’t that just beautiful? 100g of Blue-Faced Leicester – Before the Storm – dyed by Jessie – do go and have a look at her shop: (Go on, I’ll wait… Hang on! Stop! No! I don’t think she’s got anything that I don’t want – I’ve been drooling over her stuff for months – I want it all for me… )

And I’ve had a little play – so far I’ve got
(and yes, I remember now, something to give an idea of scale is a good idea in that sort of photo… ah well… maybe next time… – it’s pretty fine – I’m having grandiose notions of spinning me the makings of a lace shawl… on a spindle… we’ll see… )

Crinkle-cut yarn and other stories...

Diane has started a Sunday Spin-a-long

This week we are encouraged to have a go at Crinkle cut yarn, so here is my attempt:
– which is hideously difficult to see, so here’s a close-up:
(click on the image to see its full slubby yumminess).

This was great fun to spin – as a newbie spinner I tend to try to think of the knitted project before I start spinning, which means that I don’t play around much with different ways of spinning – I’m just concentrating on keeping some sort of consistency so that I’m not trying to make mittens in a mixture of laceweight and ultra chunky. So having the prompt to play about with the way I made (albeit just a tiny bit) of yarn was “good for me”. I put loads of twist in the singles, and plenty of slub in the chunky single. Then when I was plying, because I had such tiny quantities, I was able to hold them both in my hand and control how much I allowed out at one time – I fed out the chunky single faster than the thin one, so the chunky wrapped round the thin.

Other stories…

My family is good at parties – all we need is food, people and enough space. On Sunday we had all of those, and a good time was had by all – the main course food was provided by Emma’s – trout pasta primavera, Coronation chicken, quinoa with roast vegetables and feta cheese and sweetcorn, red onion and mangetout salad – all gluten-free and absolutely wonderful. I’d asked people living locally to provide desserts, which they did in abundance. I’m not good with food at events like this. I don’t get the “you’ve had enough, stop eating now” signal until I’m in pain, and when we get together as a family (now with 6 diagnosed Coeliacs) there is always a wide range of gf food, and I tend to get slightly panicky at the idea of missing out on anything. So this time I gave myself a firm talking-to before the event – I was NOT going to need to spend an hour sitting groaning in the corner like I did at my cousin’s 40th last year… So I only had one plate of dessert
– but I made sure I had a bit of everything!

And some more stuff...

I’ve acquired a few things today:

Exhibit A:
– my new shopping trolley. Now Ruth is getting too big to use the pushchair all the time, I still need more grocery-carrying capacity than my arms can cope with. So… a designer trolley it is. (Funnily enough, now I’ve got it, I’m getting somewhat resistant to the phrase “granny trolley” (heh – who’d have thought it – there is no Wikipedia entry for granny trolley!) Continuing to go off on a tangent, we are becoming rather a designer family – what with my Rolser, our Eglu and our latest footwear ... )

Exhibit B:
– in fact I received this yesterday, but strictly speaking it was for today. At a first browse it looks pretty good.

Exhibit C:
– er, this arrived a month or so ago, and I started using it straight away…

There were other things – a beautiful bunch of flowers from Ruth, a bag of fudge from Adam; yesterday a gluten-free cake appeared in the maths department at break…

It is (as Big Ruth described it) a “noughty” birthday. And it’s been a good day on the whole. I’ve been feeling grim for the last week or so – I don’t think I’ve been glutened, but I’ve been very tired, migrainey and grumpy – not the best way to approach my fifth decade. And I’m surprised that it has turned out to be a big deal. Maybe it’s just feeling off colour and a little over-faced that has done it, but given a choice between having a 40th birthday and not having one, well on the whole, just at the moment I’d rather pass. Which is silly – if I try to think of truly amazing women, they are all over 40, and if I think about where I am in life, it’s a good place. In fact it’s a very good place. And if my mother still doesn’t feel grown up, then who am I to try to beat her to it. It can’t only be me who feels that everyone else has the answer to being grown up, and that I’m simply being slow on the uptake?

Moving on – there’s been knitting – I’ve done one of John’s felted clogs:

Only a blogger would hammer at the washing machine door wailing “Nooooooooo!!!!!” as she realised that she’d just started to felt her stupidly big flipper slipper thing without photographing it… But there’s always the second one… (Or have a look here)

And I’ve started a pea pod baby jacket (scroll down)
– I even had the specified yarn in my stash! (Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, that I bought over the phone from Coldspring Mill over a year ago)

Oh, and I’ve been under a certain amount of pressure to join The Mothers’ Union, which, to be honest, I’m happy to do – provided that it is firmly understood that I will be a very occasional attender, and simply turning up once does not mean that I’m automatically the area secretary… There is a meeting tonight – a meeting that on any other evening I would have been genuinely interested in attending – the wife of one of the local vicars will be talking about embroidered “church stuff” (altar cloths, vestments, etc etc) – right up my street, but on my 40th birthday? No, I’m sorry, I just can’t!

To be going on with...

Hmm – I’m a blogger, right? So I should do some blogging?

Well, here’s a little something to be going on with:

Swatches:
– handspun Jacob’s fleece from Liz (who kindly gave me a big bag of dirty fleece, and a small bag of pre-washed so I could “get on” with it!) – this is how far I’ve “got on” so far.

– first trial at felting wool bought at The Skep to make clogs for John

And some handspun:
– it’s going to be mittens one day…

Poorly Chooks

Yesterday they Martha and Kirsty put themselves to bed at about 4pm (a good 4 hours earlier than usual). This morning when we opened up the Eglu they weren’t the slightest bit interested in coming out to feed (usually it’s a mad scramble to get to the feeding station). Lola did emerge, but looked a little lost and confused without her friends.

When I got home from work they were still in the Eglu – it certainly didn’t look as though they’d moved at all. But I also saw that there were rather a lot of tiny moving light-coloured specks on their feathers. I’m thinking they’ve got lice

So we’ve given them a good dusting with Diatomaceous Earth and given the Eglu a thorough cleaning. (During which we made them get up for a bit, and they did at least have a bit of a drink.) Once the Eglu was dry and back together, Kirsty and Martha soon toddled back to bed.

A poorly chicken is not a happy sight – tail all droopy, head all shrunken into her neck

Oh, and there’s the droppings… I can see that chicken droppings could emotionally be just like dirty nappies. (And if you’ve never had a newborn infant whose speciality is converting milk into chopped spinach, just don’t worry about it… )

Update: Much better this morning – Martha and Lola ran straight to the feeding station, and Kirsty came out, tail all perky, but decided that she’d rather munch on bedding than food. Still no eggs, but I’ll settle for healthy chooks

Milking it...

There are several stories in the news at the moment that have brought me to tears, but this one brings me closer to shrieks of outrage. (Thanks to Annie for the link.)

Contest

No, not one I’m running myself, but a fantastic one from Ali – do go and see (just don’t forget to tell her that it was ME who sent you…)

OK, so my summer knitting goals:

1) Finish the Shetland Garden shawl. (I’m on the last chart, I’m on the last chart… )
2) Finish the socks for my mother (pictured in the same post)
3) Finish the zebra socks (also in the same post… )
4) Spin, design and knit a pair of mittens.
5) Make a decent start on Bettna

That’s probably enough, right?

I mean there’s also:
Make felted slippers/clogs for John, knit blue jumper for Adam, design and knit tank top for me (I’m thinking something using a chicken wire stitch would be appropriate), pink socks for Ruth, finish Pentecost socks for me, spin and knit garter shawl for me… etc etc etc…

Oh why not...

I’ve seen this in rather a lot of places now, but I think I saw it first on Nic’s blog:

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing. (And I’ve added my own – bold italics for WsIP!)

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran) (enough to know I don’t enjoy it!)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit (Adam’s keen, and he’s got finger-knitting sussed, but needles are a bit trickier for a 5 year old… )
Bobbles (been there, done that, don’t have to do it again!)
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO (Oh yeah!)
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

(And I love that whenever I see this in Bloglines all the formatting disappears – so it looks like the relevant blogger has done none of these and doesn’t want to do any of them, so why do they have a knitting blog…!)

Uh?!

You scored as absinthe. you are artistic and creative, but a little unstable. you are magical and can have dillusions, and are a little mysterious. vodka 67% absinthe 67% champagne 67% wine 63% bourbon 58% daiquaries 50% midori 46% rum 38% beer 38% whiskey 33% what alcoholic drink are you (pictures) created with QuizFarm.com

Another FO

But this time it’s acrylic (well, mostly, it’s Phildar Oxygene which is 40% acrylic, 35% chlorofibre (?) and 25% wool) and it’s white, and it’s a baby jacket!

I think it’s kind of cute – and Charlie arrived yesterday – one day early, after a 4 hour labour – sounds like a good boy to me!

A very special FO

All spun and knitted by my very own self. See the pretty felted bead – great fun to make!

Oh, and the lining – taken from the trousers I ripped when I fell off my bike.

How to waste a LOT of time...

See – Meez have knitting!

Things growing in our garden...

Now I know you all know about the chooks already, so I’m not going to be all coy about them, but I think it’s time I introduced them all properly:

This is Martha – the prettiest chicken (which is why I chose that she should have the name I wanted ) sadly however she is bottom of the pecking order. Not that she gets a lot of grief, it’s just that whenever we give them kitchen scraps she gets pushed to the back of the queue. (Ooh and lightly microwaved potato peelings – they are the BEST!) But she’s a feisty young woman and has been seen to sneak the largest piece and run off to the corner by herself with it.

This is Kirsty. Probably top of the pecking order – they have all grown up together, so there’s very little actual pecking in evidence as they have the order established already. The others don’t seem to argue with her though.

And finally Lola – the most pushy of the three, and also the youngest (look at her comb – much smaller than the others’, although it’s visibly growing by the day).

Having chickens to go and meditate over (they are strangely addictive – just as bad at eating time as surfing the web) means we’re getting out in the garden a lot more – we’ve even re-established the compost heap. (Well, we need somewhere to put the droppings when John cleans out the Eglu.—Mind you, this does make sorting kitchen waste quite a palaver – scraps suitable for chickens, scraps suitable for the compost heap and everything else for the council compost collection.)

So a question – what is the correct way to address a flock of hens? “Hello girls” seems rather demeaning – granted they aren’t quite laying yet, but still they are approaching adulthood, infantilising them is inappropriate… “Hello ladies” – these chickens work for a living – they ain’t no ladies… – and yes, I know I’m over-thinking this one.

Being in the garden more means that I’ve been looking at things in the garden more:

All the usual sort of thing – blossom, fruit setting etc, but it was rather a surprise to find this growing next to the path…

Very tasty it was too roast alongside the sausages we had for dinner. (And yes, I ate it )

The chickens are here! The chickens are here!

I’ve been annoying my colleagues for the last few days by muttering things like “The chickens arrive at noon.” and “The chickens are coming, the chickens are coming.”

But now they’re here!

Welcome to the new members of the family:

From L to R we have Lola, Kirsty and Martha – aren’t they just the prettiest chooks you ever did see?

They came with their own designer dwelling:
– it’s an Eglu, but instead of being straightforward and buying one of the Omlet chicken runs to go with it, we’re giving them a … er… well, let’s just call it a different living experience:

Yup – it’s a greenhouse. There is a story behind it, involving next-door neighbours and strong winds, but this post is about CHICKENS!

And because I’m already 30 min late with dinner, I’ll just leave you with more photos of chickens. Chickens are FAB!!

(Oh, and if you want more pictures and stories about chickens, and turkeys and peafowl, go and visit Jessie)

Knitting is the new reading...

Most nights I settle myself to sleep with either a Sudoku puzzle or a book. Most nights John rescues the pencil from my clutch, removes my specs and puts my book down for me as I incoherently snuggle further under the duvet.

I still haven’t learnt that I can’t read with my eyes shut. Which is annoying if it’s true, because it would be a truely awesome skill.

But last night I discovered that I can knit with my eyes shut – two whole rows (of white acrylic baby kimono, not purple merino lace ) without a single error. But then my arms got too sleepy too…

Laundry maths

4 people in the household, 7 days in a week makes 28 pairs of knickers on the line… (and 56 socks) Sigh.