Mandala

During the Tour de Fleece, I spun up some SW Cheviot. I was extraordinarily proud of it as it came out super fine - the best I've ever spun!

I knew by the time I'd finished it that it was going to be Mandala. This shawl is fascinating to knit! There are four sections and on each section you can choose from four different charts, so the possibilities are endless. You get a different shawl everytime you knit it!

Labour of Love

I started knitting this shawl on 1st September and focused on little else - even my spindles got abandoned.

I got toward the end, started the edging and started to panic; would I have enough yarn to finish? What would I do if I ran out?

I made some calculations and reassured that I had more than enough; I plowed on with the edging border.

I got about halfway round and then suddenly had one of those lightbulb holyshit moments! I had calculated that I cast off 11 stitches for every repeat of the edging chart, when in fact; I only cast off 6.

I felt extremely sick!

So I went back and calculated again - apparently I would still have enough!

I finished today - I had 214cm of yarn left!!!

I set about blocking it - my mats weren't big enough, so I had to use Alex's kingsize bed. Blocking a circle evenly is hard!

Pattern: Mandala
Yarn: Handspun Cheviot
Time: 1-09-10 - 15-10-10

The one where I slag off Table Table

Our knitting group has been meeting for two years now and for most of those two years we've met in Table Table in Newport, we meet on the first and the third Monday of every month. We even booked Christmas dinner in there the first year!

Over these years; we've seen staff come and go, but the current staff in there just take the biscuit. I swear they're all quite young except for maybe three of them.

Several times we've arrived to find people sitting at the table that we have reserved, the excuse is usually something along the lines of 'they've been here for a few hours, thought they'd be gone by now' to our bookings mysteriously disappearing from the diary. As it's never chronically busy in there, we've just shrugged our shoulders and sat somewhere else.

Last time we went in there we were actually asked to move to another table so they could set up for breakfast as the waiters 'are all students who have to go to college early tomorrow'. They start vacuuming around the customers at 10pm to try and force them to leave early.

Then there are the instances where Kathy & Fançoise will order coffee and it'll take 20 minutes to arrive, Kaz orders something and part of the order won't turn up, food may be cold because it's been sat on the bar for ten minutes before someone remembers to bring it round. Tonight was the final straw.

We got in there tonight to find that our table wasn't reserved - again. I ordered sausage & mash for Jake, chilli con carne, chips & a side salad for myself and took my drink over to our table. Kaz ordered some onion rings, dough balls and chips. She also order a pint of Best Bitter only to be told they'd run out!

My dinner arrived about ten minutes later, but I'd almost finished it before Kaz's dinner arrived! After we'd finished eating, we sat and chatted and knit.

After 20 minutes or so, deciding we were still hungry, Kaz and I both went to the bar and ordered some profiteroles and another drink each. When we got back to the table; there was already one portion of profiteroles there. Kaz told me to eat them as we assumed her's would be along pretty quick.

After 15 minutes I called the waiter over (who hadn't once asked if our meals were ok or cleared our table!) and asked when Kaz could expect her dessert. He went off to check. When he came back, he admitted that her ticket had 'disappeared' in the kitchen and they were just being "sorted now".

They duly arrived and were frozen solid in the middle, so I took them up to the bar and explained what was going on to the manageress. She was rather blunt, picked up the plate and prodded one of the profiteroles with the spoon then said "I'll get you some more" in an exasperated tone.

What we got back were - well, quite frankly - disgusting! The profiteroles had been placed in a microwave and nuked on a high setting! They were warm and the whipped cream inside had completely melted.

I was furious and demanded that Kaz be given a refund and also asked to see the manager. She claimed that she had apologised the first time I'd taken them back, yet neither Kaz nor I had heard her, I told her I was furious that I'd had to demand a refund and that I wasn't impressed with the level of service we get in there. The apology I eventually got was extremely half hearted.

Normally we're there until near on closing time, but I would still expect a restaurant to wait until all the customers had left before vacuuming the premesis. Last time they even asked us to move to another table so the staff could sort our table for breakfast!

The waiting staff rarely come and clear our table and hardly ever ask if everything is alright with our meals - the one young man who used to do this has been conspicuously absent over the last month or so!

We'd already been muttering about looking for somewhere else to meet and tonight has just made it all the more....urgent!

No Table Table, Isle of Wight Fibre Crafts won't be back in two weeks!

Spindles! Spindles! Spindles

New spindle

Oh dear, spindles - support spindles - seem to be taking over! I now own a Mexican Bocote from Gripping Yarn and a Tibetan from A Spinner's Lair, I've recently ordered a gorgeous support spindle from Grizzly Mountain Arts too.

IST Spindles

Then a couple of weeks ago, Ian mentioned that he wanted to start making Russian support spindles, so I went over to show him the one I had and we talked about weight and how well they spun.  Then he asked me to test a couple for him.

Look at these beauties!  They both spin really well and I love them both!  On the left is Kingwood and Mexican Bocote on the right.

I have projects on all of my spindles now - I think my wheel is a bit jealous!

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write an article on dyeing yarn and fibre for Creative Crafting magazine, the magazine went live on the 1st October and my article covers four pages!!

How cool is that?  You can go and read the Creative Crafting here - my article starts on page 54.

Sigh

If you read my blog regularly; you'll know I don't really think much of Hampshire & Isle of Wight police - well, Friday really took the biscuit!

We decided to take the van up on the downs to have a cup of tea, see how it performed going up hills and whether it was comfortable to sit in while stationary and moving.

As there was no water in the tank; I pulled up outside the house and ran the hose round (no, I don't have off road parking right outside my house!) - I usually do this at night as I live quite near the lights and on a busy road. Not gridlocked, but constant traffic.

So, I pull up, Mum pulls the hose round and I stick it in the filling hole. Of course, 30 seconds later a police car went sailing past.

I watched it drive up the road and turn around - I thought 'Oh, here we go!' But it drove straight past without slowing or even acknowledgement from the people inside. I thought 'Cool! It's obvious what we're doing and that we're not going to be here long.' After all, I wasn't vacuuming it out or anything.

Then another police car comes down the road with three....officers inside. They pulled up next to my van, causing all the traffic going in both directions to stop as they could no longer get past so that the officer could wind his window down and ask:

"Do you have to do that here?" I blinked at him.
"Um, yes. I live here."
"Well, you can't do that here, you're causing an obstruction." UM...WTF?!?!?!?! I bit my tongue and asked how else I was supposed to fill it
"Take it to a petrol station or something." Yeah, cos that water's clean NOT!

I mean really! The only vehicles that wouldn't have got past me were buses or lorries, cars and vans were having no problem at all.

Well, not until that police car stopped right in the middle of the road, anyway!

WWSIP

Yes, it's the time of year again when spinners all around the world come out of the woodwork and dare to spin where everyone can see them!

I met up with Rachel and made her sit right in the middle of St Thomas' Square, Newport where everybody could see us (that was the point, right?).

We were immediately accosted by these three:


But they let us go after seeing how fabulous we were. (I actually know the one in the middle LOL)

Then a bit later on, this guy turned up.


Then one of the other Rachels arrived (there are 3 in our group!) and we had our picture taken by the local newpaper photographer. Then the first Rachel left and the other Rachel and I settled in for an afternoon of spinning.

Then I heard a familiar sound and when I turned around I discovered that the stormtroopers and Jedi had been joined by Darth Vadar too!


They were all there collecting for the British Heart Foundation and they stayed all day!

There were a lot of families about and this little brother and sister act took a huge fascination with Rachels wheel.


The boy asked a lot of questions and the girl just couldn't resist helping the wheel to turn. They were adorable but the parents annoyed me, they went and sat at a table (quite a distance away) and totally ignored what their children were doing, they never asked if the kids were bothering us - never once asked if it was ok for the girl to touch Rachel's wheel and then never thanked us for entertaining the kids for over half an hour while they scoffed their lunch; just rounded up the kids and left!

The weather was sunny - if a bit drafty and I had a really good day. Unfortunately, I finished the day on a migraine (which I think I've managed to squash!) and I'm planning on going out again today. I'm debating taking the wheel - I might just take my Russian support spindle instead (the weather looks ominous and it's easier to cover a Russian support spindle than it is to cover a wheel when it's raining LOL)

So, if you're in Newport on the Isle of Wight today, come to St James Square and find me!

Support Spindling

I have recently purchased a Russian Support Spindle and I love it, then I was nosing around Ravelry and spotted a Tibetan style spindle, so I bought that too.

I must say, I actually prefer the Tibetan to the Russian - it spins so effortlessly and for longer than the Russian!

Recently a conversation on spinning with support spindles started up between fleegle and myself. I'd seen a video on youtube showing a woman support spindling, but she wasn't even touching the spindle.



I just couldn't figure out how it was done, so fleegle made me a vid :D



This video is great and has already helped me immensely!

Nine Years Ago...

I remember that afternoon very clearly - I don't remember what I did in the morning, or what film Simon and I went to see that night, but I remember the afternoon.

I was at home, Simon (my partner at the time) had popped back to his for a shower and a change of clothes and to do some shopping. I was tidying up as my friend Lou was bringing her two boys, Owen & Daniel, around for a play date.

Simon and I were texting back and forth discussing what film we were going to see that night at the cinema.

Then I received a text - most people found out the same way - Simon had written 'have you seen the attack on America?'

I sent back 'no, who's in it?'

He sent back 'turn the TV on...any channel'

I turned on in time to see the fires, the screams, the smoke.

I stood shock still in the middle of my lounge, phone in hand, staring at the TV in horror.

Lou arrived and as the boys raced upstairs I asked her: 'have you seen?' She nodded her face white.

I sent a txt to my father and I'm pretty sure I sent it to the majority of my address book (I don't remember) then Lou and I sat on the sofa, staring at the TV holding hands while tears streamed down our faces.

We watched in horror as the second plane hit and heard the screams and the stunned silence of the reporters. We heard the sirens, saw the smoke, the fire. We saw the stranded people jump...

We sobbed.

I didn't know anyone who was there that day, (but I had a friend who had a family member who should've been there. They had a tense few days before they heard that she was safe.) but I felt so much pain at what happened.

The World Trade Centre is gone now, there are few - if any - signs of what happened on that dreadful day that has become universally known as '9/11'.

But everyone remembers.

We won't ever forget.

Customer photos

Do you remember the Salami Socks? Well, Tasha is getting married and her friend Emma offered to knit her some knee high socks for her wedding day.

Well, Tasha chose yarn from me and as they were knee high socks, asked me to dye up two skeins. I did this and sent them free of charge - my wedding gift - and Emma got knitting!

Look at these fabulous socks!

Aren't they great?

Emma had quite a lot of yarn left over so she made some mittens too!

After all that, she still had 50-60g left

and has sent the rest to Tasha who, apparently, is going to do something with them.

Can't wait to see what!

Some photos for you from Norway

There were so many things we saw and I took a lot of photos. Unfortunately, the camera clock had reset itself and I can't remember what day I plugged the batteries back into it and the date on the photos reads January 2005!

So I'm going to through a whole load of photos at you for you to enjoy! If you want to see the entire album, the click here

We were driving along the road and suddenly spotted a lot of cars parked by the roadside, we had no idea why and I almost crashed when I rounded a bend and saw this gorgeous waterfall!

Which led into this gorgeous rushing river.

This lighthouse was very near to the bridges and tunnels leading into/outof Copenhagen





The freshwater lake where the 'Wikings' swim!

They have Lion Bar icecream in Norway!!!



"Hmmm? What tub of ice cream?"





Lakes, mountains, snow and waterfalls



It was all too much for some!

We had a lovely relaxing weekend, even the kids didn't moan that they were bored!

On Sunday morning, we got packed up, emptied tanks, refilled other tanks and set off again. We drove for several hours then had to look for another site as our gas bottle was empty and we had no method of cooking except for our induction hob. The induction hob is powered by regular plug and the regular sockets only work if we have electric hook-up! I need to look into changing the regulator valve in the van to more European friendly, so I can buy a bottle abroad next time!

The site we ended up on was huge! But the map we were given for it was very informative and stated there was a beach right next to the site. Once we were all hooked up, we all went exploring. As it wasn't a dog friendly beach, Mum, Isis and I waited while the kids went investigating.

They came racing back to inform us that the beach stretched for miles - well 6km actually - and was just like beaches at home! We raced back to the camper, Alex and I got changed and went for a sunset swim - we were the only ones there and it was great!

On Monday, we drove down the rest of the Swedish coast, across the bridges and through the tunnels of Copenhagen and down the majority of Denmark before stopping.

The site we stayed on that night is lovely! Very clean and tidy, quiet and well spaced out. There are also free showers so we've all had a good clean up before tea.

Unfortunately, I then managed to knock a full, very boiling hot, cup of tea and the tea went all over me. I jumped up and ripped my clothes off before getting scalded, but in the rush to clean up, I kicked the metal leg of the pull out bed in the van and broke my little toe!

I'm fed up, in pain and exhausted. Going for a very early night tonight. It's raining....again. We're about 900km from Calais and we have 48 hours to get there!

Tuesday - the race is on, we have to be in Calais for the 8pm train through the tunnel, we have to get Isis passed through border control first and I have no idea how long that takes! My foot is absolute agony and disturbed my sleep a lot, but I've managed to get my boot on - I can't really drive the camper in flip-flops, the pedals are high and it's rather like driving a tank; my ankles and feet need the support that my New Rocks give me!

We got under way reasonably early and decided as we drove that we'd grab a takeaway this evening and crash in a resting place as we'd used sites for the past few nights due to needing the hook up.

The day passed in much of a blur to be honest, my foot hurt a lot and I was bloody exhausted. It has rained all day and now we're back below Sweden, the roads are busier, with a lot more lorries! That's terrifying to drive through in heavy rain!

I can't remember exactly where we slept (I'd stopped making notes by this point), but it was very near the Belgium border and we all slept in the camper as it was too bloody wet to put the tent up. It was cramped, but we made it through the night ok.

I drove all day and we made it back to Calais at 3pm! We got on the 5.20pm train and we were home by 9pm!

I had a fantastic holiday, I saw so much gorgeous scenery, I drove over mountains, through the longest road tunnel in the world and had a really good time.

But I'm so glad to be home!

Wednesday - Saturday

Wednesday - Drove a lot today - more mountains! We're camping by a lake this evening off the 35. We're all tired, crabby and fed up with each other. We've agreed to go back to Oslo Fjord tomorrow for 2 nights so I can have a day of no driving before heading back towards Calais.

Thursday - We changed our mind and headed for a site near a fjord on the map. There were signs saying swimming, but when we got there; the beach was stony. By the end of the day; Alex had slipped and sliced open his hand and Jess had been stung by a jellyfish! Moving on tomorrow!!

Friday 13th - Groan at the date! Shortly after going to bed last night, a huge storm settled in above us for the entire night! It was still raining this morning and stuff in the tent was wet! The skies here lie! It was a very red sky last night!

We're heading towards Bremmen, we'll decide what to do once there. We're all a bit fed up of rain and want to go home - but even logic dictates that if I drove all day; it would still take a few days to get back to Calais and we still have five more nights to go before we can go back through the tunnel!

We found a nice quiet park in Sweden, very clean and tidy. A beach - with sand - just around the corner and a water slide in the park itself.

Perfect!

I need the rest badly! My legs ache and my calves keep cramping so badly, I can barely walk!

I added to that by standing on a bee while putting the tent up! I'm looking forward to not driving tomorrow!

Saturday - famous last words! The first thing mum said to me this morning was: "We've run out of teabags!" So, I had to get dressed and drive 4km into Lysekil and 4km back before I could even have my morning cuppa!

We went down and had a dip in the sea after I'd drunk my fill of tea and eaten breakfast, it was ok, but the water wasn't anywhere near as nice as Norway - probably because it was the sea and not a fjord or lake!

I then spent the rest of the day lying in the sun, while the kids made friends with a local Swedish lad and a German family camped next to us!

Monday 9th August

I drove over a mountain today!

We had to stop on the way up as the engine was starting to overheat and then stop on the way down to cool off the brakes, but the camper made it up and over! I was gobsmacked! I honestly thought it was going to fail at the first mountain we came too!

Check out me knitting on top of a mountain!

How cool is that!?

We also drove through a lot of tunnels! The most notable being the Lærdalstunnelen which is just under 25km long and the longest road tunnel in the world!

That night we stopped at a resting place which had loads of picnic tables on all different levels and on the last/lowest level was a little circular area just the ideal size for a tent!

We had a good night sleep and in the morning we emptied the waste and chemical before setting off along the E13.

The E13 is a delightful little road! (Yes, read sarcasm there!) One minute, you'll be driving along an ordinary two lane road with a central line, then all of a sudden; you're on an extremely narrow road with no road markings whatsoever, lots of hills and sharp turns! We almost had a head-on collision with a lorry. Scared the crap out of me and I slammed the brakes on really hard!

The scenery was stunning, lots of water, tunnels and orchards! We bought cherries from a roadside seller - they were scrummy!

I wrote these notes that night:

I am so tired! I ache all over, my legs, feet, back and hips are agony! Although I'm enjoying this; the thought of driving for another week makes me want to cry!

We stayed at a site in Røldal that night and I slept like a log! We woke up to low lying clouds and another mountain!

We were starting to head back towards Oslo by now.

Oslo!

We reached Oslo Fjord early on Saturday evening. We checked out Oslo FjordKamp but weren't impressed by it so we camped in the carpark opposite. We wandered down to have a quick look at the fjord.

It was awesome! The sun was just setting and it was beautiful! There were rays of light off in the distance and the water was sooo still!

We sat and enjoyed the scenery for a bit before going to bed and the next morning got up very early so we'd have the fjord to ourselves.....which we did, more or less. There were a few people fishing, who sighed and packed up their poles once we hit the beach!

The view was just as stunning by day as it was by night!

The sun was already warm, the water still and inviting - we just couldn't resist so we rushed down to the beach and plowed into the water. It was like bathing in silk and so clear! We could see crabs pootling along the bottom, fish darting about and starfish too!

Isis was not impressed by all this, barked at us madly for being in the water and then - determined to rescue her mummy - plunged into the water to save me! She swam very well, considering it was her first try, but shook like a leaf once she'd reached me and I picked her up, so I left the water and stood on the beach with her so she could dry off and calm down.

I cast on a sock while the kids swum! Then, regretfully, we had a late breakfast and set off.

I drove for most of the day, with the obligatory loo and food stops and that night, Sunday, we stopped in a site right on the E16 by a freshwater lake.

We had a brief swim, after some discussion with a couple who would periodically emerge from their caravan, jump in the water a few times, then go and sit outside their van in the sun. He told me the water was warm - he lied, but then he declared "We are tough! We are Wikings!" He was a lovely little man, not much taller than me, balding dark hair and a little round belly LOL.

We had an enjoyable evening playing Scrabble and Canasta - Alex loved Canasta and we played it almost every evening after that!

We didn't bother with the tent that night and we slept under the camper awning, it was cold but lovely as we were very snug with sleeping bags, blanket and a duvet! Even Isis loved snuggling under that lot.

I awoke next morning to a huge muscle spasm in my right calf - of course, I couldn't get up from under that lot and it was agony (a few days later; a huge bruise appeared on my calf). We had a lovely swim in the lake before leaving!

We're off on holiday!

I am going to write a long list of posts about our holiday in Norway and I'm going to try and write them in chronological order.

This is post one!

We left home early enough to catch the 8am ferry to Portsmouth and we made excellent time to Folkestone. We arrived in time to catch the 12.50pm train through the Channel Tunnel to Calais. This was my first time through the tunnel.

It was.....weird. You drive your vehicle onto the train, then you just sit there while the train drives through to the other side. I felt slightly motion sick and my ears kept popping.

We arrived in Calais at 1.15pm and - while muttering 'drive on the right, drive on the right' - set off for our first campsite which is in Belgium. We got there around 3pm.

Everyone spoke passable English on the site, the oldest son spoke excellent English and I later heard him on the phone speaking Spanish. His mother managed to convey to me that he deals with most of the bookings as he understands a wider range of people!

We stayed in a little cabin that first night, it was quite cute really. Inside the door is the front half of the cabin which has two tables (one with a two hob cooker and one with a small fridge on) and a single bed with a pull out bed underneath. There is a partition and behind that was a set of bunk beds. The kids and I slept in there and Mum slept in the camper for the first night.

Isis was fascinated by the site and spent most of the evening peeking out from under the curtain which went across the door!

We left the site late the following morning after a good night sleep and drove along the A2 through to Germany. Unfortunately, there was a horrific 5 lorry pile-up and we were caught in a 3 mile tailback for a few hours. I hope no one was hurt badly. The Autobahns were horrendous, everyone drove so close to each other - I'd forgotten what it was like! - and nipped in and out of the lanes. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents to be honest!

We stopped in an A1 rastplatz for a dinner of bolognaise.

The rastplatz are great! We have nothing like them here! Some of them are just little alcoves off the motorway, with a lane for the truckers, but some are really elaborate and have another lane behind the truckers lane for cars, then behind that will be a green area with picnic tables, toilets, all sorts - one was even situated next to a lake! Some of them also have caravan fascilities too - you can empty your waste water tank, the toilet tank and refill with clean water! England is just so behind on this!

We camped in a few of those and although the traffic was loud, we managed to sleep once we'd adjusted to it being there!

The next day we drove for most of the day along the autobahns in Germany and through to Denmark and we spent Thursday night in another motorway resting place. Unfortunately, the traffic was very loud and it was a very busy resting place, so we didn't get a complete night sleep, then a noise (which sounded like someone jet washing a car) started up about 5am. Naturally, it stopped once we were all up!

We drove about 100 miles and stopped in Sweden for lunch at the side of the road. I was stressed and tired and Mum was snapping, so I took Isis out of the van and sat in the sun for a while. It was gorgeous! Fields of (some sort of) corn as far as the eye could see, it was a beautiful day and the fields smelled gorgeous!

I made these notes:

Corn files as far as the eye can see. No cars for the past ten minutes. I am sitting with Isis away from the van while they're eating lunch - everyone is snapping and yelling. I'm the only one doing anything tiring! I could just stay here for the next 10 days! The wind is warm, fields smell soooo good!

Of course, I didn't stay there all day and we set off again after lunch. We stopped at Bjorksgang (um, not sure on the spelling) campsite on Friday night so that I could get a decent sleep. A nice park, but very big! We saw hedgehogs!

Unfortunately, the sea smelled awful and the kids decided not to go swimming!

We reached Norway the following afternoon!

The Craftofax!

After an inspiring conversation with Sharon on twitter recently, I decided to convert my old Filofax into a crafting journal. I wanted something similar to Ravelry; a place to list my finished projects, my handspun, make notes about these specific things along with pictures so that in future years I can look back at it and remember a bit easier!

I started last night and finished this afternoon.

I did this all in Pages on my Mac. First of all I went into Page Setup and I changed the size of the paper. Then I clicked inspector and I set all the margins to 0.63cm except for the edge that have the holes for the rings, they're set to 1.3cm.

Then I created a template - one for knitting, one for crochet and one for spinning - Start date, finish date, weight, fibre, size, needles/hook size and so on depending on which section it's going in!

The picture on the right shows the page about my felted bucket, on the left is the picture and on the right is the information I've written about that particular project.

I've also added a Notes section and I'm considering a calendar section to keep a list of crafting events around the country!

I won an award!

In fact, I've won two thngs this week!

First, I won the Creative Crafting Blog of Month award from the Creative Crafting group. Go on over and have a look at their site.

A bunch of women got together and decided to create an online crafting magazine. This months magazine is only issue 6 and I'm very honoured to have been given a prize! I've also been mentioned in the magazine by Diane who's written an article about drop spindling. Go through to the blog and click the little magazine and it will open up full size, Diane's article is on page 22-23!

Then I got a message via Ravelry to say I'd won a prize in the Tour de Fleece! I've won 100g of 70% BFL/30% Silk!

Yay!