Summer has arrived.

Is it really that long since I blogged? Many apologies! And thanks for the recent emails from various people asking how I am. I'm fine, it's just that summer has sneaked up on me a bit and I'm now crazy-busy.

Summer here means two things only....allotment and camping. (And a ton of school trips and activities but I try not to think about these.) April is peak season when it comes to allotmenting...everything needs planted at once and you suddenly realise that whatever you thought, no, you weren't quite ready for this. The weeds have started growing, everything else has burst into life and there's just not enough time, especially as the weather is still variable here ie when I've got time to go to the allotment, it's usually raining. Bah. but I'm getting there. And my new wildlife pond is almost built!

Secondly it's camping season. First trip of the year will be next weekend, to a campsite in Peebles only 23 miles away. We tend to camp local so that Hubby can still get to work during the week (It's a Monday& Tuesday school holiday here next weekend)and the kids can make their rugby matches and other social activities easily. Peebles is a gorgeous little place with a goood campsite though so no hardship.

All this takes organisation. The camping kit is still in a bit of a shambles from last year's final outing, I'm embarrassed to say, though as that particular trip involved six boys, Princess, three adults, two tents and an on-site birthday party I'm amazed I'm ever going camping again! This coming weekend we're tenting though, so I have to get the lightweight camping gear seperated out.

This is my definition of a "lightweight" tent, btw....a Vango Oregon 800. (2005 version.) Yeah, it's not a titchy mountain tent I admit. (Though we do own three of these too.) But it goes up in half an hour, sleeps eight comfortably or six with luxury and has plenty of room inside for rainy days.



"Lightweight" only makes sense though if you compare it to the mighty Conway Camargue, my main long term camping unit....!




This is what we take if we're going anywhere longer than a week. One year we spent seven weeks camping in France in this tent, and were very comfortable I must say. It's a fabulous piece of kit, still going strong despite being nineteen years old. Cotton canvas frame-type tents last forever.

This year? We're going to France for six weeks in the above, which is why I'm spending my less than abundant time starting to get organised for the trip. It's amazing how many planning and packing chores there are for a six week camping holiday! This one is especially complicated as Hubby will be coming home for part of the time leaving me and the kids in France alone. We're not planning an ambitious itininary because Lad isn't quite tall and strong enough to help me pack the Camargue down so we'll have to stay on the same campsite when Hubby is away...oh, the hardship! But this is a trial run for future years...we've always planned to spend the summers this way as the kids get older, with Hubby dotting back and forwards to nursemaid his students while the kids and I spend the summer abroad. Nexy year I confidently expect Lad to be taller than me, lol, so he'll be more use with the pitching. He's pretty good at pitching the lightweight tents already.

One thing I don't have to arrange for the summer is a cattery, alas. Our second cat Theo got run over and killed on the road a couple of weeks ago, only a few months after the same happened to his sister. I don't know exactly how this accident happened as basically he just went missing, we did a big search for him with leaflets and a reward offered and then he was found dead near the road. I don't think he was lying anywhere hurt and suffering for a long while though, given how little time he'd been missing and how very dead he was when we found him.



He was a nice cat...quite quiet compared to his sister, very fond of his meals and sleeping but affectionate and not above doing his share of rodent-killing...though he ate his, unlike Missy who brought them back as presents for us. (Live presents..)

Poor cats, both of them. They loved their outside life and were very happy ranging free, but we've decided that it's obviously just not safe around here for cats to get out. I don't think house cats get anywhere near as good a life, but there's no denying they live longer! Theo and Missy never even made their second birthday. We all really miss having a cat around so we will be getting more but not till after the long holiday of course. Not a good idea to get new kittens or cats, get them settled in then have to put them into a cattery for two or three weeks. After the summer. And they'll be house cats from now.

Fire.

It's the school Easter holidays, so I've been busy. How is it that two weeks holiday seems like endless amounts of free time at the start, laden with limitless opportunities for cinema trips, parks, outdoor stuff etc...then next thing you know it's almost over. Where did the time go?

Well, much of Easter weekend I spend on the allotment. Recent weather had meant I was behind with the spring preparation work, but three days of hard labour has almost brought me up to speed again. I was helped by the completely unexpected offer of assistance with some heavy lifting from my Hubby. When I tell you I've had the allotment for eleven years now and Hubby has visited it perhaps five times you'll understand why this offer was so unexpected!

It snowed here on Easter Monday. I wasn't going to let him off on a technicality like this though. And the kids thought it was great.



Hubby lugged a years supply of bags of mushroom compost to various beds, dig out an entire cubic metre compost bin and barrowed it to other beds and finished digging out the wildlife pond the kids and I are making. It took him about an hour in all. It would have taken me about two weeks, given the current state of my increasingly fragile back. I hope he comes back again next year!



The kids were also there to help, but got distracted.



Not often they're allowed to do this sort of thing!



But it was a good family outing and pretty cheap labour...it cost me three Cream eggs, two Cokes and a bottle of beer.



On a knitting front, I also finished the Forest Canopy over Easter weekend.



This took 260g of HipKnits Aran Silk, so about 450yards. Lovely stuff to knit with...I did this on 5.5mm needles and for me, it was a very fast knit at 11 days in total. It measures about 30" long at the back and 60" across the wingspan but this is unblocked....I'm not expecting it to expand significantly when blocked, given that it's silk. I do love the colourway but have no idea as to the name...this silk was a gift from the lovely WyeSue at SkipNorth. Thanks again, Sue!

I'll definately make the Forest Canopy again. It was a fun knit...each repeat is only eight rows and four of these are mostly purl so it rattles along and you really feel you're getting somewhere after each repeat. I might make a bigger one from a nice sock yarn or 4ply as my holiday knitting project. Just as a note, however, I calculated that the border repeat + two row cast off takes 1.5 times the amount of yarn as your last main repeat...I had to rip back six rows of my last optimistic repeat and knitted the rest with the remaining yarn sitting on my digital scales. There was a little bit left over, but nothing useful so I was pleased to have made this shawl to the maximum size for my yarn.

I've also been knitting a Noro scarf from the Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf pattern. This is my second scarf from this pattern and I have to say it's the ultimate in max effect for least effort scarf knitting I've ever come across, and just perfect for showing off colour transitions in Noro or indead handspun. I'm knitting this one really long and am halfway through the third ball of three, so pictures soon.

Apart from that I've only got a sock on the needles (Violet Green Sock Generator, Lorna's Laces in Rainbow) and have stalled on my Noro waistcoat, alas. I want to finish the scarf asap and start on a lacy cotton cardigan for summer soon though. I want to knit Sirdar 5103 (will have to take a picture of the pattern as can't find it on the web) in Sirdar Indigo, which is one of these denim type yarns that shrinks and fades after washing. I have a lot of this stuff in stash, bought when it got discounted to about 50p per ball a couple of years back and it's about time I used some up.

Finally, in response to some of the comments on my doomed Noro Bettna jacket in my last post. Diane, it's not that it's too big (though it is, a bit), it's just that it's the wrong shape for my shape, period. And Anne, nothing short of radical surgery is going to change that, let alone the removal of the button. Easier to do the radical surgery on Bettna than me, I feel. Helen sums it up with this immortal quote "That awful moment when the garment you thought you were knitting turns into the garment you were really knitting." Yup, that's it in a nutshell, Helen!

Saturday etc.

Kids are quite astonishingly resiliant. This was my sick Little Miss Princess last night.



(Take a moment to admire the positioning of the opportunistic cat at the end of the sofa. This is one of his favourite sleeping places, so he couldn't belive his luck when he found a feather quilt on it. Even after LMP went back to bed, he was hanging on in there grimly. We gave up and she took a different quilt to bed. That cat has us trained.....we iz it's cats slavezes. )

Anyway, LMP bounced out of bed at 6.30am today demanding breakfast and to be taken swimming. So she seems to be over her lurgy as quickly as it descended. Good. This means I can go to the allotment this afternoon rather than staying at home washing out puke bowls.I did try going yesterday but as I stood at the gate leading into the site I could see part of the roof of my neighbour's shed cartwheeling around in the strong gale force winds we had here yesterday. At this point a strong memory of the day part of a glass greenhouse came flying over the dividing hedge in a similar gale came back to me. Also how it shattered when it landed not six feet from me and how I was still picking up glass from the plot weeks later. So I went shopping instead yesterday. An allotment full of loose, spikey, potentially dangerous flying objects is no place to go in a gale. But the weather is calmer today so I will try again.

Which does lead me on in a way to my next topic. Bettna. I started knitting this over a year ago, before the last SkipNorth. It was an easy knit and most enjoyable but I hate finishing, so it went into a drawer for six months. I thought though I'd finish it for SkipNorth 2008 so got it out and with much labour got it all grafted together and blocked the day before I went.





Nice, isn't it? It's in Noro Shinano, which is a discontinued silk and wool blend. Nice colour, nice yarn, pretty well knitted and finished. (Sez she modestly.) Did I wear it to SkipNorth? No I did not. It does not suit me, not one little bit. It is horrible on me. It makes me look like a dwarvish quarterback.

Now there are thirty-three Bettnas on Ravelry. Several of them knitted by people of much the same build as me ie short, fat, busty and with big shoulders. How come then that they look fine in this jacket and I look so awful? I don't think I'm being hypercritical over how bad it looks, really. But the words "dog blanket" come to mind, in all meanings of the phrase. Maybe I should give it to the cat to sleep on?

Bah.

Bit of a shame really. The yarn cost a lot, even at sale prices, so yes, I'll frog it and turn it into something else. Too expensive just to dump into the back of the wardrobe and forget about till the next charity shop run. Every so often a project does turn and bite you back. That's life. But it's disappointing, no?

Tidy Girl.

First day of the school Easter break today, and with superb timing Little Miss Princess has got the lurgy. There seems to be two versions going around...the adult one where you have a sore throat and temperature for a couple of days followed by two weeks of coughing your lungs up and feeling knackered all the time (that will be me and Hubby) and the child version that comes with pukes. Fortunately LMP is a very neat puker and is quite happy to use the nearest dustbin, bowl or toilet. (All parents should train their kids from about 18 months old in this skill, IMHO.) So while it's going to be a sad thing for her to be ill in the holiday, at least it's not too much hassle for me.

(Yeah, I'm a mean mummy. Lowish on overfussy sympathy, very high on practicality. She's No3 child, remember?? Dragged up rather than carefully nurtured! Somehow she's turning out at least as well balanced as her brother, lol.)


And on the knitting front...well, I seem to be currently obsessed with the Forest Canopy Shawl. It's a nice pattern, with just enough rhythym in the rows to keep you interested but simple enough to be able to spot a miscount. I'll be on the border in another repeat or two.

Burnish.

Just at the right time to distract me from the ongoing building work hassles, this gorgeous little parcel has arrived from Natalie at The Yarn Yard.




This is hand dyed 100% silk in "Burnish". At £11 for 80g/200m approximately of a unique colourway of hand dyed DK silk it is an absolute steal, and Natalie still has some of it left in other colours. (Limited Edition though, so it won't be there long.) It is smooth and heavy and totally lovely. It tells me it wants to be
Branching Out, so will be next on the needles after the Forest Canopy is finished, I think. I like knitting with silk.

Fizzing.

Yeah, I am p***ed off with my builders. Again. I am positively fizzing......

Last Thursday we had what is called the snagging inspection. It is one year ago that the main building work was completed, but a percentage of the total payment is retained for a year after completion and the inspection is supposed to flag up any faults which have developed, or pinpoint jobs that have not been completed.

Now I'm not going to bore you with the lengthy details but I had a small team of builders arrive Friday and nearly complete the short list of very small outstanding jobs. So far so good...except there is one job remaining. Something that will take approximately one half hour of a joiners time. Except one of the building company's joiners walked out on Friday and they are short handed.

So? I'm happy enough to wait. It is not an urgent job. But Mr Boss Builder has taken it upon himself to decide that despite what my architect, his No2 boss and The Man From The Council decided on Thursday, this job does not need done. They have done a cosmetic repair, while this job is structural. Good enough, sez Boss No1. Not good enough, sez me. (And my architect, if anyone is in any doubt.)

So Mr Boss Builder Man is coming again this afternoon to "decide" on the problem. My sweet a**e he isn't. The bloody man tried to browbeat me over this on Friday already and I've no patience left for a rerun. I also suspect he wouldn't be trying on this particular bit of builders' skullduggery if my large and glowering (he can't help it, it's his eyebrows) Hubby was here, and this makes me even crosser, if that is possible. I dislike being treated like I was a wee wifie of no intelligence and less consequence, and I stopped being the simpering type when I was about five.

Bottom line though is until I am happy that the works have been completed, I don't authorise my architect to write the letter to The Man From The Council telling him to release the rest of the cash. So ultimately I will win this one. But it's just the hassle. Given the amount of work that's been done ...and done well...on this house by these builders, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar as they say?

Stupid man. He's quite ruined my day, and I resent that more than anything. So instead of going to Zen out on the allotment (not in the mood for Zenning)I am off for some retail therapy. Or, at least, the grocery run.

As promised, a list of what I bought at SkipNorth. This is not all of it because I bought a couple of things for presents and have already given them away, but it's most of it. Not as much in volume as previous years, have to say. I'm not sure whether this is because I was being more selective or that some individual items did take a biggish slice of the budget. Budget???I hear you ask? Yes, I do go with a budget. I make a point of clearing out unwanted stash from time to time on Ebay and the proceeds go back into the yarn fund. Plus my mum still gives me money for yarn, now and again, just like she gives the kids sweetie money!

First stop, Coldspring Mill.



Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon. There was just this one skein in this colourway but I love her stuff. I'm a real magpie at heart....show me a yarn with a bit of flash and I just can't resist.




Louisa Harding Coquette. The labels are off but it's the real stuff. They were selling this for 50p per ball, or a twenty ball pack for £7.99 so I bought a pack in this coral colour for a summer cardi. Several other SkipNorthers got packs too. There was a great turquoise and a coffee colour as well, but I liked the coral.



Four balls of Noro Silk Garden Lite. I've never used the Lite before so I was pleased to get these at half price. The two balls on the left are the same colourway and dyelot, would you belive? I think they will become some sort of scarf or shawlette, with the other two for hat and mitts.




Noro Kochoron. I bought three big skeins of this, a total of about 750 grams. It wasn't as cheap as the Coldspring Noro was last year but it was still a bargain. I just loved the colour....perfect for a certain little Miss Princess, don't you think?
I also bought a daypack at Coldspring. They have a camping and outdoor equipment warehouse upstairs from the yarn store, which is an interesting combination I think. Nice daypack with lots of pockets to store essentials in, including knitting. In fact now I think about it I suspect I saw a knitting bag first and a daypack second....

Next stop, RL & CM Bond, Haberdasherer extraordinaire....

It was a short stop and I was just so amazed at the place I hardly bought anything. Too busy marvelling at all the vintage haberdashery. The pink needles were for Princess again, plus I got some totally over the top bling pink and metallic brocade ribbon for her. 3 metres for 50p? You can't go wrong.

The Skep.

Surprisingly I didn't buy any yarn at The Skep, despite there being some very tempting offerings. No, I spent most of my time there rummaging through their bags of mill-end fabric offcuts, looking for nice patchwork pieces. The Skep stocks a lot of very nice patchwork and quilting fabrics by the yard and fat quarter, but they also sell non-standard pieces by weight at £10 per kilo. And belive me, you get a lot of patchwork fabric in a kilo. The smallest of these pieces is about 15" x 15".



The Knitting & Crochet Guild.



Vogue magazines from 1990 and 1998.

A great find dating from about 1998 as well. I remember looking at this in the shops at the time, but being too skint to buy it!



Sock yarn, of course. I got two batches of this, one being for a present.

100% synthetic goodness-knows-what-it's-for yarn, from the 1p per gram Yarn Mountain. I just loved the colours.

I also found a copy of a Ladybird childrens book called "Learn to Crochet", printed in the 70's. I bought this as a present for thereyougothen, confidently expecting her to fall about laughing at it given that she's amazingly good at crochet. Much to my amusement she actually loved it, because she's already got the companion knitting Ladybird from the same era. Was I pleased with myself or what?

Wingham Wool Work, nirvana for UK spinners.

Here I bought myself a long-desired tensioned Lazy Kate, specifically for use with the smaller bobbins some of my wheels use. Plus four extra bobbins for my early version Kromski Mazurka. To the best of my knowledge Wingham is the only place you can still get these bobbins. The modern Mazurka bobbins don't fit my old girl.

Blended merino and plain dyed tops. Plus some dyed silk carrier rods, because I loved the colours.

And my Wingham Swag Bag, free when you spend over £50. Perfect for carrying all your SkipNorth stash home.

I was also lucky enough to find a slightly sundamaged copy of "Vogue Knitting:Socks" in Wingham, a book which my knitting crony Gourdongirl has been seeking for ages. So I felt I had to phone her from Wingham and wake her up from her Sunday am snooze to tell her about it.....*grin*



Finally, some gifts from the ever-generous Wye Sue who was having a major destash. There were a lot of lucky people at SkipNorth that night!



HipKnits Silk Aran, in an amazing pink/orange colourway. I've already cast on the Forest Canopy Shawl in this.




Some truely scrumptious Giotto, also from Sue. You're too good to us all, Sue!

I also came back with a bag of dyed silk threads for spinning from Natalie, but I'm darned if I can find the photo on my PC and I've not got time or light to take another one at the moment. Belive me though, lovely colours.

And finally, some dyeing of my own. Base yarn is Trekking sock yarn and I dyed it myself in the SkipNorth Kool-Aid dyeing workshop.I'm very proud of it, have to say!



So that's all. Not as much as from
SkipNorth 2007 or SkipNorth 2006. Or is there?????

PS. Zippiknits, thanks for the comment you left on my last post, but I can assure you that the lady in the white sweater is not me. That's Heather...she's an American knitter living in the UK, is the mother of the baby on the right in the baby picture, is twenty years younger than me and has the sort of fabulous auburn hair I've always wanted. So while I would like to pretend to be her, sadly, it's not the case.