It's beginning to look a lot like .......sssssshhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ohmygoodness, I've been so busy with knitting and the Crafters' Barn and normal work and trying to keep the house clean. - Did you miss me?  The Barn has of course got quite busy as we near Christmas, and I am trying to share one product a day on our Facebook page to encourage people to move outside of their normal sellers, it's been good fun tho' perusing through the sellers directory or searching for strange things in the search box to try to find items that are a bit different.

So, just a really quick summary of how the last couple of weeks have been:

I've been playing with the knitting machine (excuse the bathroom mirror photo!) - it's a reversible hat with a contrasting brim, so you can wear it with a folded up brim, in all red stripes:

 Or inside out with an unfolded brim, in blue with red

 and of course both other options inside out and right side in, brim up or down.  The idea worked well, but the finished article is HUUUUUUUUGE, so i need to re-calculate the tension as this would have fit Shrek :D

In Spot-dog news, we went out and bought her a new bed this week. She needed one anyway but I saw this one which has a thermally reflective inside, so it's great for dogs with arthritis or other joint issues as they benefit from their own body warmth as it's reflected back to them. The bed was thin and rectangular around 3ft x 2ft with a brown fleece top and a sort of mesh/polyester bottom.



Or






It's just a screwed up pile of stuff:

Really, you have to wonder why you bother don't you?  And just look at the look on her face *rolls eyes*  

She's also had a bath this week - that was fun (not) although to be fair she didn't move a muscle whilst in the bath....... too petrified i think? LOL

Right, I'm off now to try to make the brim for a Camden Cap that i'm making in Alpaca. Although I can be very technical in my approach to crafting (i have to be as artistic skills are somewhat lacking in my repetoire, so technicality is all I have) but i'm just not envisaging this very well. So i'm just going to bite the bullet and have a go - what could possibly go wrong?!

T'il soon ♥

Jointcare+ Challenge 3 and 4 - By Spot

Ha ha, these were fun. There's no photos though and no video......... I'll explain!......

Challenge 3 was to get photos and video of me fetching the yellow ball from the thrower than Mum got in the challenge package - well turns out I'm not a big fan of yellow.  I went after one and just sat by it - it didn't seem to taste nice like my 7 year old dummy that I fetch. Then Mum tried again and I didn't even bother - wanted her to get the message. She didn't and fetched it herself and tried a third time - we lost the ball! (I say we, i mean she of course, if she had listened in the first place and realised I wan't interested we'd still have it.) - So we kind of failed at challenge 3.

Challenge 4 was a 2 week challenge of photos and videos of me being active.  Well the first week we went to the beach, and we had sooo much fun. I ran and ran on the soft sand and Mum and Dad tried to get me to swim across a small pool that forms, and I ran more, and Mum chased me and we laughed.... but we had so much fun Mum forgot to take photos. And if she thought I was doing it all again ..... HaHa, no chance! I might be feeling good, but I'm not 4!!

Then we went for a long walk up at my favourite place, Newlands corner. Mum had her camera ready, she threw the dummy, i chased rabbits, we romped through muddy puddles..... and all mum got was photos of my bum!! - i was toooooo fast for her (she says it was the camera not being fast enough but we all know a poor workman blames his tools) so no photos there either. (Quietly i'm beginning to think Mum isn't quite as good at stuff as she makes out)

Anyway, it only leaves me to tell you at the end of the trial, how I feel.  Well this is no magic cure, I still ache if I over do it, and I still sometimes need a bit more rest than i used to when I was a spritely young thing. But once I warm up and get out I definitely find it a lot easier to move around and jumping in and out the back of Mum's car is no problem at all.  I still find if i have been laying in my bed for a few hours I'm stiff and it's hard to get up at first but again once I'm up life is a lot easier than it used to be. I've tried demonstrating this to mum by standing up against the trunk of the plum tree to steal ripe plums, and dancing round and round in giddy circles when dinner is nearly ready, and jumping up at Dad when he comes in from work, and jumping up at the table to steal a bonio that got left there. I *think* Mum is getting the message, but I'm not sure she's totally pleased about it, it seems to be making her shout quite a bit.

Honestly there's no pleasing some people.

Love and licks, Spot

Jointcare+ - Challenge 2 by Spot

Hey everyone, Spot here again. Mum hasn't got time to write - she appears to be stuck to the sofa watching that square box - there's lots of screaming and shouting and tears going on here!

Anyway for challenge 2 i had to show a trick that i would do for my Jointcare+ chew.  I do love my chew but i don't really do tricks (let's face it, i barely do good behaviour really, so a trick is probably beyond my ability)  So here i am doing what i do best - Looking cute!

I'm feeling good at the moment, I seem to be a bit more springy out of my bed, but it's early days so I'm not counting my chickens (well i do, everyday i count the ones in the garden in case any are missing but that's a whole different story)

See you next week for challenge 3

and wham!!! 2 weeks have passed

Seriously, I blinked and missed 'em! ;)

My beautiful cousin was here for a couple of days - all the way up from Devon so she could visit the Chelsea Flower show. She stayed here two nights, coming up after work one day, going to Chelsea the next, and then driving home the third day. It was wonderful to spend a little time in the evenings chatting whilst sitting on my deck under my beautiful fairy lights. Listening to the hens clucking themselves to sleep. I feel very lucky that I come from such an awesome family. We don't get to see each other all that often as we are spread far and wide, but it never affects our relationships, we are as close now as we were when we were children.  It's interesting to see those personality traits that obviously come from genetics rather than background!! (misplaced your keys lately anyone?!)  Anyway, it was an honour to be able to help her meet her Chelsea dream, I hope we get to do it again one year.

In other news........ I've been knitting, and working hard on the Crafters' Barn (the new site, so I won't link)  It's coming along swimmingly and I've got someone in to do the T&C's now as well, so I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.  It feels it's been a long time coming, but it's been such a dream of mine to offer this website to all small business crafters out there.  Won't be long folks!

I have loads of knitting to do too. Laika is finished and it's beautiful, but it needs buttons so I'm not showing it until it's done (despite the fact that it's been worn several times already)  I'm now knitting some men's socks for a client, just plain vanilla type gardening socks.  Nice summer knitting really, quite mindless and not lots of heavy yarn sitting in your lap!

So a photoless post, that's not good is it??????

Spo-oht?!

She's always happy to oblige ;)

Perfect Sunday ....(and what I has been up to!)

So here am I, sitting in the garden, with my laptop on my lap! I can't see a thing on the screen, but I'm hoping to get the gist of a blog down, and correct it later (or maybe just leave it for the heck of it!)  The weather is fabulous, a spring chill in the air, but warm enough to be sitting out in just a cardi and track suit bottoms (Sundays are for slobbing a little aren't the?) Spot is at my side

(and just as I typed that she got up and moved! LOL - she sooooo has to have the last word) and I'm noticing that it won't be long before i have to start mowing the lawn.  I can see a robin sitting on the edge of my incinerator (mostly used for red-mite infested bedding! - sigh) and the church bell is tolling 2 o'clock. I also started (well started isn't quite right as it was 11 o'clock) but I "started" my Sunday with the most perfect brunch courtesy of Attic24, and her recently posted instructions on how to poach an egg.  As a chicken keeper i do love a poached egg on toast, and mine often come out ok, but sometimes really don't, Turns out I had all the right ingredients (water, eggs, vinegar) but in slightly the wrong ratios. - Poached eggs on toasted homemade seed bread is a good way to start a Sunday:- All pretty awesome eh?

So, the week has been pretty busy. Started on Monday with a trip up to the NEC to the CHSI trade show. (as per my last blog post!) Not much for a small trader to be able to get as all the minimum order values were really quite high, but it was good to look around and see what is available, and how the coming seasons are being interpreted.  And the feedback from the magazines was really encouraging about the Crafters' Barn, so that made me feel good about that too. (it's always so scary thinking about starting a business and then realising how much it's going to cost - It makes it a bit easier when other people think it's a good idea too!

On Tuesday, i went to visit Bruce at SKD to get some yarn for my latest commission. This is something that has been on my order books for a while but I haven't been able to source good yarn for it, as it needed to be super-bulky, specific colours, and non-itchy! Not much of a task then?! Luckily Bruce and Birgitte have just started with a new range of yarns from Sandnes-Garn and their Easy Merino fit the bill perfectly.  I decided to drive over and see SKD though as it saved on postage and meant I could have a bit of a squish of some of the rest of their range. (Who can honestly resist the opportunity to squish??!) - I also came home with 2 balls of Alfa, and 2 balls of Kashmir/Alpaca - just for research *ahem* (The kashmir/alpaca is soooooo soft and lovely, I couldn't stop picking it up and stroking it)

Finally, yesterday I went to Unravel. - Fab day, met friends, had lots of hugs, lots of squishing, and not much purchasing (which was good as I really am running out of yarn storing room!)  Saw a fabulous new range called Ruth and Belinda, really lovely yarns and accompanying patterns, well worth a look. And relented on a 24mm pair of knitting needles so I can use one for some broomstick knitting and crocheting trials.

The granny squares throw has been finished. - Would you like to see photos?????...... No???........ well look away then cos I want to show this off! :-)

(Actually not the best photos as the sun has gone in every single time I've got this baby out to photgraph it, but you get the gist!) - It's big enough for a double bed, and is crocheted in Rowan Renew.  As per usual Rowan got the pattern wrong and i sent back (luckily I finished it quickly enough that the same dye lots were still in circulation) 2 balls of Digger, and 2 balls of Trailer. I needed 3 extra balls of Tractor *rolls eyes*.  I've told Rowan, as the quantities in the book in hindsight can't possibly be correct due to the colour sequencing, and if you wanted to take your time over this project (which would be understandable as it's huge!) you'd be a bit stuffed at the end to find all the qty's are wrong. Rowan have apologised and acknowledged the mistake, so it should be in the errata soon.

Right, this post is becoming a little too epic, so it's time to draw to a close for another week or so, before I bore you all to tears. Have a good week everyone, and I hope that a little spring comes to you all this week one way or another.  'Til soon ♥

ooh P.S. Just 2 days left to vote in the poll below, please do if you haven't already. And if you have..... thank you everso x

Winter Finally....

So a few weeks ago I put some frosty pictures on my blog background in anticipation of a bit of the white stuff - and IT WORKED! (*go me, I'm magic*)

I unashamedly love snow and winter, as previously declared) So yesterday Spot and I set out on a snowy adventure over at Newlands Corner.

Spot is perfectly camouflaged in this weather:

We love getting out and off the beaten track, Spot is hard to stop when she's out there - Generally I'm happy if she's in the same county, but here she stood for a photo call knowing she looked pretty:

We got away from the main paths (which were treacherously icy) and out to the bracken bit where the deer hide (I did see them, but couldn't get the camera out quick enough with all my winter clothing on!) Despite Newlands having been packed with visitors at the weekend when the snow first arrived, we still found that no one had been to our little special area:

The only other footprints were from the deer:

It was perfect, and cold and wonderful. My cheeks ached with smiling by the time we had finished, and when I saw that little path above that was all ours, I might have even *squeeeed* out loud! ;)

The blanket is nearly finished, and in true Rowan style the pattern quantities of yarn are way out.  I have 2 full balls over of 2 of the colours, and am 4 short of the border. It's on order though and should be here tomorrow or Saturday, so this marathon could be over by the weekend. (another smaller *sqeeeeee*!!)

T'il soon, xx

Been over a week since I posted?! Gosh lots has happened.

Time can fly by so quickly can't it.

Firstly an update on the gorgeous blanket. It's now big enough to keep my knees warm as I knit it, always a good thing.

It's also now big enough to drape over my rocking chair (and it looks very nice there I must say! LOL)

So that has been consuming a lot of my time. Other than that I've had a bit of a week with Spot who needed the emergency vet on Saturday as she couldn't stand up, and has since been on anti-inflammatories and bed rest - she's not impressed!  Huge improvement though and seems ok again now, although the vet has today said there is definitely impaired mobility around her spine/hind legs, but seemingly no pain, so difficult to locate the exact problem.  We don't know what happened and are now going to get her off the meds to see if it happens again or what the situation is.  Trouble with Spot is she only has two speeds:- Asleep and 100mph! there's nothing in the middle for her.  We're trying to learn the command "steady" but I'm not having a lot of success .  She's 9 years old, so not ancient by any stretch but also it could just be the beginnng of old age arthritis.  I kind of hope it is rather than a nerve problem........ Oh well best just not to think about the possibilities until we know more.

So, there's been that to keep me busy (I've insisted on lots of spaniel cuddles!), a quick trip to London to see TJ Johnson and The Fallen Heroes  on Sunday (that was fun :D) and a bit of house tidying as I have 11 knitters, spinners and sewers round on Saturday for a craft day. (Sewers as in with a sewing machine, not sewers as in underground pipework!)  Not that the house tidying has got very far - I keep getting waylaid by dog cuddling. Oh well, I'm afraid I'm very much a "Take as you find" kind of girl, if none of them turn up to the next one I'll know the state of the house was a step too far! (it's not really that bad, just winter with a dog on house arrest and piles of yarn and fabric all over the place)

Right well it's getting dark here, so time to pull the curtains and get the knitting out........ 'Til soon xx

Week 1 of the Tweed Throw

This week has gone in a blur of knitting. I can't deny I am LOVING knitting the throw. The colours are deep and mirror the amazing Autumness (ok i know that's not a word) that we are experiencing here in the uk at the moment.

Spot wanted to show you what I mean by Autumness!












I've finished the first tweed panel, and started the second.  The photos don't really do the colour or texture justice. The colours are deeper and warmer. My camera seems to want to brighten the whole thing so I've taken down the exposure level in picnik, but that's changed the intensity a bit. These are the best representations I can get tho'








I've managed to knit quite a bit this week, but I think progress will slow a little now. It's beginning to get that wonderful heaviness that only a wool blanket can have but it does mean I can't knit for more than about an hour and a half at a time without needing to give my shoulders a break.  This will be the case for about another 2 weeks, then it will magically become big enough to sit in my lap without the need to lift and turn every row. I already miss the warmth of it when I stop knitting and get up tho' as it sits on my thigh keeping the chill off.

There are other things going on Chez Noo, but they are drifting into the background as I just love making this.......... Bonfire night has been and gone, and Spot spent the night in usual terror. In the end I took her out for a drive which seemed to work rather well.

Right I really must get on - I'm wasting valuable knitting time!

My world has gone just a little bit crazy!

I'll be back properly soon I promise. But in the meantime - the chicks have moved next door. The fence has a lovely new trellis top. My boiler has been fixed. The crafters barn is coming on in leaps and bounds, Spot is lovely. I have 4 new hens who are all seemingly laying, Job2 finishes 26 Sept and I'm happy about that cos i want to move on now.  My neighbour is 90 tomorrow! (which seems quite an achievement to me) I have this week made 14 portions of bolognese and 12 portions of pulse chilli for the freezer - the house smells mostly of garlic!

'Til soon friends xx

A weekend!

So, here's the garden extension:

I spent 4 hours in it yesterday afternoon, and it doesn't look much different...... although I did find 2 paths! LOL

before I got out there tho' it had rained quite heavily, so whilst waiting for that to ease,  I made a notebook:

Very slap-dash but kind of fun. It's 4 signatures (which I sewed together on a sewing machine cos I was in a rush and couldn't find a needle <<< I'm soo bad)  but it'll do for my purpose for now! And by the time I was placing a book on it to hold it while the PVA dried, the rain had stopped.

Other than that, life has been fairly normal:
We walked and Spot got hot, so we stopped for a sit:

But evidently for just a bit too long:

Right, time to go and see what Sunday has to offer.

Have a great weekend and week everyone x

Quick round up

We went to the beach and Spot got beach hair.




I finished the quilt top but am waiting for the fleece to arrive for the backing:-



I started my April challenge socks.... Completed one... Then frogged it cos I didn't like it. Have now nearly finished the replacement:- (needles conveniently cropped from photo). I like these much better.





Saw my first spring ducklings while on my run last weekend




And am now on week4 of my raceforlife training ( where it all begins to get a bit serious as you hear me wheezing from the next county! )

So there you have it! What you been up to?

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Double Trouble!!

Everything was in two's yesterday.  Long walk, 2 sleepy dogs. Perfect Sunday really!

Why “being prepared” always means the inevitable won’t happen

Look at her little innocent face -

You’d think butter wouldn’t melt wouldn’t you!

Well I can assure you it would not only melt but it would probably cause belly upset and other unfortunate instances.

My Little Spot-dog is not so much of an angel – this photo taken this morning is her waiting for her morning biscuit (half a bonio if you’re interested) and that look is always present when there’s food about. To put it mildly the army of Spot walks on her stomach!

To this end I do have to be careful when we’re out walking. We walk in a large area of common ground, littered with wildlife (and strangely empty coke cans?) and as unfortunately nature does sometimes have a cruel course…. Some of the wildlife is sometimes – well…… dead! When I first got Spot she was partly trained as a gundog, and as such would bring me a dummy (cutely wrapped in a rabbit skin to mimic the real article) and drop it at my feet, sit nicely, and wait for me to throw it again. At some point the rabbit skin fell off, and whilst we still play the fetch game (particularly with my nephews who love throwing it and making spot bring it back) it is now a plain green dummy. I think this is possibly where my mistake lies? You see there was a time when if Spot found, how can I delicately put this? A portion of wildlife? She would bring it to me….. not the nicest thing to have to deal with but lob it deep into the woods, and tell your dog to walk on in the other direction and no harm is done. At some point tho’ and I’m not really sure when, the sequence of events changed. She picks up the “portion” I call her to me, she ignores me and runs in the exact opposite direction trying to avoid me and eat her prey. And thus it was last week….. only this time it was feathered, probably a pigeon (or what was left of one after presumable a fox or something had had their fill).
So I called her, she looked in my direction…… I called her a little more sternly…. She made a slight move towards me….. and then…… Swallowed the whole dam thing in one gulp. At this point I am thanking all that is good in the world (and my own common sense) that I have pet insurance, as I am pretty sure that an entire feathered wing swallowed in one go is going to have a pretty drastic effect on Spot’s stomach, and is likely to make an unannounced re-appearance at some time. Or possibly not, but cause an obstruction or illness (my mind was racing a bit!) I shouted! She knew she’d been bad and lay down looking up at me with her ears dropped – fat good it did being repentant then, as well she knew!...... I swear I actually saw her tail wag at one point!

Anyway, we came home, and I waited, I had my own dinner (which she showed more than a passing interest in!)……. And I waited….and I watched the tv,…. And I waited……. And I let her out for her late night ablutions, and I waited………. And I went to bed and barely slept as I waited….. and I got up the next morning… and she greeted me with a wagging tail and asked for her biscuit!

This was a week ago! She is fine and has been all that time. No upset stomach, no belly aches, no loss of appetite (!!), a little extra water drunk for a day or two, but that was all the evidence that something out of the ordinary had happened.

I think the moral of the story is, that if I hadn’t kept up the insurance, then surely all hell would have broken loose (possibly almost literally) and as she gets older and the premiums gets higher it is a hard decision to make sometimes. It’s not just about the illnesses that they can get, but for this kind of eventuality – an accident or something that isn’t really an ongoing problem…….. you can’t beat having that reassuring knowledge that any treatment would have been covered. I mean a dog is a dog and as well trained as they might usually be, they all have a weakness (in her case feather and fur!) and that can so easily get you all into trouble!

Spotley came too! ;)

I forgot to say - Spot came to Scotland too:-

Latest update, 20 squares done

I'm not blogging about much else at the moment am I?

I'm trying to be really random with the colours, but it's funny how difficult random is when it comes down to it!

In other news, I have silky sitting on a few eggs, poor love keeps going broody and it seemed only fair to give her a chance to be a mum again.  I don't hold out a lot of hope on these tho' as I'm not sure the cockerel has been doing his rounds lately!, but we'll see what happens. Heavens knows where I'll put them if they hatch, they may well have to come indoors in a box for a while!

There's not much else to tell you at the moment, life is ticking along as normal. The veg patch is doing ok, but i've had to stop watering all my pots and window boxes. It's coming to the end of the season anyway and they did so well early on, but I'm on a water meter and we haven't had any decent rain since early May (and even then it wasn't really a lot) so my water butts emptied a long long time ago. So now I'm just finishing off my veg then I'll call it a day for this summer. I've done well, courgettes, bean, a few peas, and plenty of potatoes. So no complaints and definitely cheaper than the supermarket!

Spot and I haven't walked quite as much as usual, it's really incredibly hot for a dog with a long fur coat, and she still hasn't learnt that she'll last longer if she doesn't run round like her a*s is on fire. But we have walked a few evenings along by the river where I did my 5k training and that's lovely, and usually ends up with me rescuing her from the river where she dives in and then realises it's too high to get back out!  I swear she'd jump off a cliff face without a seconds thought if that was what took her fancy at the time!

All of these walk photos have been taken during July - very late for little ducklings (which probably explains why there's only one) I expect it was a second brood?

Right another coffee, and then.............. well who knows, the sun is trying to peek through so maybe a walk if it's not too hot, although I really should do some work................. sometime!

Spot

2 Minutes out in the rain and I can't do a thing with my hair

Argghhhhh!

Damm Dog just ate my first ripe strawberry – she is not popular!

It snowed!

I know that for most people in the country, these pictures are not particularly exciting. But these are for an old school friend, who having moved back home to Hong Kong, misses our English Winters. (Bearing in mind how cold our old school building could be I am surprised “missing” is an appropriate word, but still it is one she uses, not one I have foisted upon her! )  So, here for all those who have missed a good winter………..

The Hill at Newlands Corner looking Left towards Albury and Shere (ish!!)

Spot got a bit chilly while I was trying to be artistic!!!

Standing on the Hill at Newlands corner looking right, back towards Merrow/Guildford

The path squeaked as only proper snow can!

And what you do when it’s all over and your tired and happy:-