You know you've got a good man when.........

........ you can convince him to climb a very precariously placed ladder to return to a nest some little fledgling birds that you found cold and abandoned in the back garden. And which you managed to rescue from the very brink of death with a hot water bottle and a bit of mashed up bread and milk, (especially when he's not that good with heights!).

Unfortunately due to the spontanious nature of this dramatic tree top rescue I didn't have time to grab the camera so here's some random photo's of some wool to keep you all happy :-)

Second attempt at the Thankyou sock (much better)

As we have had some fantastic weather I have been Plying and Dyeing in the garden

Normal duty has resumed!

I'm sure you are all deeply concered about my poorly status of the last post so I thought I had better update you on my current health.

It would appear that I have slightly over-reacted somewhat. The delibitating illness I was experiencing turned out to be just a little one day cold and now I am practically recovered.

I think it was at the point when The Man in my Life made an un-solicited offer to take children to school that I realised I had laid it on a bit thick and felt a bit guilty.

So I am back to firing on all cylinders. I have taken exercise (two days running) and I shall spend the afternoon working on th school allotment.

I also undid all the sock knitting as I it was ridiculously too big and started again..........

unfortunately unlike me the camera has just died so pics will have have to wait.

Happy knitting, spinning, growing etc etc x

Sniffle, whimper, moan.......

I have noticed a worrying trend of late of not being able to cope very well with illness. Gone are the days when I could stride through a cold, ignoring the aches and pains, with cry's of

"I don't have time to be ill!"

Now I am resorting to shuffling about making odd little squeaks of discomfort and unhappiness, bemoaning the fact that no-one cares about me.

I have been pondering this situation and I have come to the conclusion it must be down to a general dislike of housework. My main ocupation at the moment is to feed and water the family and stop us all from drowning in a see of tat, wool and paper, therefore I'm finding its quite difficult to ignore those minor discomforts (I fear I'm sufering from a serious case of man-cold (sorry men!))

Instead I tell myself I need to take it easy, sit on the sofa, take care of myself.......oh and while I'm sat there I might as well do things like this........

and this......

And I have finished the main part of the Hey Teach top. All I have to do now (without too much procrastinating) is sew it all together. My incentive to get it off the needles was so that I could start on the Thankyou Socks. They are coming out a bit big but I could felt them slightly in the wash.

The wool is divine, so lovely in fact that even though I'm only half way through the sack, I'm already getting anxious abut running out!

Right, I'm off to drink hot lemon drinks, sniff and dribble into tissues, and take it easy while I can. I hope I can get a bit more resilient when I'm doing my teacher training :-(

New Love.

For the last year I've had my eye on a flock of sheep near by and I finally plucked up the courage to approach the owner the other day. It must have been a synchronistic event as she had just had her flock shorn that very day! She let me go back the next day and have a rumage through the fleeces, and my god I was in woolly heaven. I came back with this........

This is possibly the most lushious stuff I have ever had the good fortune to pick up. It's a Shetland Icelandic cross flock and in beautiful shades of light and dark browns and greys. It is so soft and fine and dripping in lanolin that it spins straight from the bag (every spinners dream I'm sure). I just pull handfulls out of the bag and in no time at all I can do this......and this...........

We agreed payment for this woolly gold would be a pair of hand knitted socks, and I can't wait to get this stuff on the needles.

Talking of bartering, the adults of this household have been scaring ourselves a bit lately by watching this.....

YouTube - Zeitgeist - The Movie - 1 of 13 (Introduction)

The parts on religion are absolutely fascinating, the parts on banking and The Federal Reserve are down right terrifying.

Can we live without money? There's only so many things a pair of hand knitted socks can get you!

Oh well, here's hoping anyhow.

I apologise for bumming anyone out, but the most important thing I got from this film is the importance of living in harmony with the natural world, and if that makes me a sad old hippy so so be it!

p.s I shall sooth myself with thinking of all the things I can knit with this lushious wool, I urge you all to do something similar x

Got any Stuff?

I had a really good day at college yesterday. Lately we've been looking at the power of the object. I'm sure we all do it, imbue items with special meaning, power and memories. I'm sure it was my Pants of Confidence that got me through my teacher training interview!

So after looking at how I we all relate to eachother during my counselling training, now I am looking at how we all relate to our Stuff.

I have to admit, I'm a hoarder. I'm always looking at things and thinking 'that'll come in handy' or 'I can make something with that' (just the other day I found myself collecting the lids from tins - I saw them conected together hanging on a wall somewhere).

Hence I've been thinking about my Stuff

Does our stuff represent our homes, our memories, our selves?

Are we are stuff? If we are, what about the Stuff We Can't See. Old kiddy stuff in the attic, the boxes squished into the cupboard under the stairs. I wonder why I can't let go of this stuff? My relationship with my children won't change just because I recycled old school books.

I think part of the problem is we mix up the important stuff with the un-important. To sort through would take time, so we put in a box, shove it somewhere out the way for later.

If you think hard enough it could be a metaphor for something, couldn't it!?

Anyway here's my Art -

I feel a little uneasy about those unseen boxes but I'm not sure why. I feel that I have a bit too much stuff.

Of course its not going to help bringing home three Balwen fleeces from Wales last weekend. I almost had to leave a child behind just to get it into the car!

I think I need to think this through a bit more while I go and sort through some stuff and put some other stuff away.

Ta ta x

A Quickie

Here's just a quick photo update of the dyeing I did the other week.

It was a hit and miss affair, and I made rather a lot of mess........

But, it was fun, I shall ply these balls. The wool is pretty harsh, I won't be able to make anything wearable (maybe I could make some socks for someone whose wronged me, a silent protest!) but they will probably go into the Wall Hanging.

Now sadly I must do some housework. We've been away for the weekend and I swear someone/thing has come in and mussed up my home!!

I bet it was those pesky rabbits .

This final shot is one of the best things about my village, its very brief and when they fall I like to pretend I'm in a fairy land!

T T F N x