Pre Tour Blog

Awakening blog pre USA and CAnada cricket tour.

Making Monday

 After many months of neglect I have revisited my blog, inspired by N who can be found here
http://theyarnyard.co.uk/blog/

This photo shows me 'making a mess' last Monday. I took advantage of the fine few days we had last week to tidy the hedge in my garden. Unfortunately, this year, due to several incidents, many things in my life have been neglected. This hedge had grown so big, I needed a chain saw for some bits. One of the trees had died so that was taken out and I have 2 small conifers to go in the gap. One is a Thuga and one is a yew.

After many hours hard work, the garden looked like this the next day. Order was restored once more and I also had time to wash some fleece - the sun went in though and this fleece is now on the floor of my craft room.

This Monday, the weather is not so good so I am having an indoor day. I have made bran loaves - one for this week and one to be put away for when we visit friends next week. Very easy recipe, 1 cup of each of the following , all bran, dried fruit, brown sugar, milk (with an egg in it) SRflour, mix and bake at gas mark 3 for an hour or so.

I managed to pick some sloes while I was in my ambulance sitting waiting for a call last week. We have to sit in the middle of Salisbury Plain and whilst many of my colleagues do not appreciate this, I am more than happy. There are plenty of them this year so I was able to pick them quite quickly. I kept them in the fridge and then today I have put them and some sugar in some gin and now just have to wait for 3 months !

I also made some birthday cards, but they have been put into envelopes ready for sending and I found a place on line that makes calendars from your own photos so I have made some of those and they will be used for presents. There has also been knitting but no photos of that either as it is a very long ongoing project which I have mentioned before. Hopefully it will soon be finished but I have just worked out that the border alone will take 40 hours to knit!

Lyme Regis

 Rog has not been too well following his knee operation so I decided that after yesterday's appt with the GP we would go out for the afternoon. We visited the GP in the camper van and then as the weather was fine, we headed for Lyme Regis. As you can see from the first photo, it was lovely down there. It was hazy but warm and the tide was in. We managed to park down by the harbour and then after some lunch, I left Rog sitting in the sun and went for a wander.

I love to see a working harbour and these nets were on the wall drying in the sun.

In between hospital visits and GP appts I have beeen crafting. I spun this yarn first and then knitted it into a simple scarf. It is fairly rustic when viewed close up but it is very soft and comfortable to wear. I had to guess when to change direction (the pattern has very specific weight instructions, but my digital scales only arrived this morning) but I made a good guess and ended up with about 2 ft spare after the sewn cast off.

This was the start of it, I actually pulled it back to the narrow bit and lengthened it.

I have also been sewing - my machine has come back from a much needed service. When we were in New Zealand a couple of years ago I bought a 'jellyroll' of typical New Zealand fabric and the other day I found a pattern that I liked. This is the start of it  - I bought some green fabric to go with the roll and cut it into 2 inch strips. I like the effect so far but I think putting the squares together might be a bit of a nightmare.

I have made some changes to the settings on this blog and I did it in the middle of this post. The last two photographs enlarge if you click on them, but the first two do not. Hopefully in the future, they will all enlarge when clicked on.

One a Day

I have decided this year to take a photo a day and try and keep a record of our life for a year. It is difficult at this time of year to always take a photo in day light as I am not often home during daylight hours. I am also going to try and get a little fitter - I set myself a target each week as I give up easily. This week's target is to use my indoor rowing machine 3 times. I have rowed twice so one more to go. I find it very difficult to row when I work as I am too tired when I get home.

Photo number 1. This was a Christmas present from Andy and Carrie. It stands at the top of the stairs but in a very dark corner so it was difficult to capture.

Photo number 2. This was taken from our bathroom window and I intend to take one each month from here to show the seasonal changes.

Photo number 3. This is the river that runs alongside our garden. Not much water in it for this time of year but it looks very cold.

Photo number 4. The feeders outside our back door. The log has holes bored in it and I fill it with nuts, seeds, scraps and fat. The woodpeckers visit, but are very sneaky and hide behind the log, using the holes on the back. The tray under the feeder is to catch the seed that the nuthatch throws out when he is looking for his sunflower hearts.

There has been knitting - presents for friends and family and started this week, socks for Rog as he gets cold feet in bed and is due to have his knes replace so will need easy on socks.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/paraknit This is where I record all my projects, and is the group where I have made many new friends. It is the time of year when we will be meeting at York again and I am very much looking forward to it.

Simple and Free

At the beginning of the summer this year, I deceded that each week we (Rog and I ) should set aside one day and do something together. I work shifts and Rog is theoretically retired so it should be possible for us to find one day. It has worked out well and we have taken advantage of cheap train travel, using our camper van, going on a paddle steamer and various day trips.. Recently we camper vanned in mid Wales which was bitterly cold but beautiful and last week we went down to Lyme Regis to see a friend. The last two trips have given me an opportunity to do some walking and I relised how much I have missed it.

This morning I was lying in bed and listening to Radio 2 - it was Aled Jones and his theme was 'Simple and Free' so I decided to make use of the extra hour and go for a walk. I think that I, probably like many others, forget that I live in a beautiful area and there is no need to 'go' somewhere.




This boundary marker is a couple of hundred metres up the road from me. I didn't think that we lived in the Cotswolds, but there it is , set in stone, so I must. As it was a wet morning, I decided to try and find a circular route of about an hour that would not be too muddy. Unless I walk along the canal, I am faced with a hill in whatever direction I walk. I decided to go up to a place called Muirhill and on the way, stopped to get my breath back and look at 'my' valley.




This is the village where I live but my house is over to the right , off camera. Just above the lowest trees is the old railway station, no longer functioning as a station but is lived in. This is where the film 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' was set. I had a lovely walk and discovered many footpath possibilities for another day.


This is on the way home again and although this is a main road, it was empty at 8 o,clok on a Sunday morning and very pretty to walk along. When Andy was at playgroup, 22 years ago, I walked this route every day with him. When he was tiny, he sat on the back of my bike and I pushed him up the hill and then rode on the flatter part. The footpath that you can see was wide enough in those days to walk along and have room for my bike beside me. Today it is hardly wide enough to walk along.

I was out for about an hour and had a really lovely time. I came back and had a mug of tea and planned the rest of my day. I could spin some more, knit some more of this blanket (which I re-discovered yesterday while looking for something else)

knit some more Christmas presents, get ready for my November socks and November Cranford KAL http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cranford-mitts - Oh so many things I would like to do...............

Then the dream ended and back to reality, bed for me this afternoon ready for a night shift, but I have at least achieved my aim for today, an activity which was 'Simple and Free'.

Frome Show

No excuses for lack of blogging - I have been enjoying my summer and we have taken every oportunity to go away in the camper van.

I went to The Royal Welsh Show back in July and was very disappointed at the lack of entries in the handicraft section. I decided to start entering my knitting in shows again and start with my local show. I did not get the schedule until August so did not have much time but I entered 7 different classes. I entered a scarf, a shawl, a pair of socks, a bag, a lavender bag (crocheted ! ), a summer top and a baby jacket. I had to burn the midnight oil a couple of nights but finally it was all ready. I could not get to the setting up day so my friend Chris and other half Rog took my items for me.

The day of the Show and I was at home doing some jobs before going for the afternoon and I got a text from my friend to say my socks had won! I was very excited because I nearly didn't enter them as I thought I could see a definite 'ladder' line in the purl stitches. We went to the show and I found I had won 2 firsts, a second and a very highly commended. There were some very high quality items there and I was pleased I had entered and also peased that knitting once again seems to be on the up. I also met some knitters from a local knitting group that I did not know existed so I am now going to join them when I can - shifts do get in the way.




Winning Socks



Baby Jacket

Summer Top

I am in a knitting group on Ravelry which is run by

Natalie http://theyarnyard.co.uk/index.php and one of the things we are doing is a 12 in 12 challenge. We are trying to knit 12 pairs of socks in 12 Months and there are very few rules. Some of the socks must be in YY yarn and the socks must be wholly knitted in the calendar month but they do not have to be a pair . This is my 'pair' for the month of September, a work sock in Regia and a lace sock in Yarn Yard Clan.

The cricket has just started so off to do the ironing and get ready for tonight's shift.

Busy

Life has been very busy recently but there has always been time for knitting. I decided to use some of my stash from The Yarn Yard and make a modular jumper. I have 2 of these skeins and 2 other skeins that I thought were of a similar colouring, that is until I wound the skein into a ball! Natalie had hidden some bright yellow in the skein. The picture shows the skein, the ball with a part knitted octagon and a complete octagon. The original pattern uses DK and I am using 4 ply and it is also too small so I have decided to enlarge each module and end up with something that fits.


Here is the first completed octagon but when I pinned it out, it is a bit big so I will make the next one a bit smaller and pull back some of this. I love the swirls of colour that this yarn makes.

Last week it was the smallholders show in Wales and we paid a visit. It was a lot bigger than the first year I visited and I had a lovely time wandering around the animals on show.

Some 'regal' looking llamas

A beautiful ram

An adorable angora goat kid.

Some days before the show we were guests at a wedding and I decided to knit a shawl. Unfortunately the weather was not warm enough for my planned outfit so the shawl did not get worn. We were however going out to dinner on another day so it did get an outing. The original pattern is for a small shawl but I extended each section and used three shades of purple yarn and I am very pleased with the result. I usually end up knitting shawls for other people, but this time I am keeping this one.