What a beautiful day - hey hey!

That's the view from my house - how lucky am I? It's a beautiful day here in Kernow - a day that promises Spring is just around the corner. It's impossible to feel anything but uplifted and hopeful on a day like this.















These are 2 of the piggly snorkers born over Christmas. They're hilarious, cute and virtually impossible to get a decent picture of.















These are the twin lambs who caused me so much grief and sleepless nights. They're down to 3 bottles a day now but you can hear them bleating right accross the valley as if they're being starved. They look badly fed don't they - lol.
They look cute but they are utter thugs who would trample you to death for a bottle of milk. I've named them ASBO lambs. I was giving them their bottles the other day and their mother wandered over and bit me! Drew blood she did. I blame the parents.
















No yarn stuff today. I'm unravelling some woollen garments I bought yesterday to make more shawls. A whole bin bag of crocheted jumpers and stuff for 70p....70p - I can hardly believe it! lol

Yer tiz

The hat:















It started off as a watch cap but as the wool was so chunky it ended up looking really feminine and didn't suit him at all. So, I felted it into a kind of beanie. It suits him but yet again the anal retentive in me is screaming, 'But it's wobbly'. I wish she'd bugger off - lol

Cash the stash

My stash basket was overflowing so I decided to make shawl this week (sod that one orange sock, I'll get back to that dreckly)

I had some handspun, some recycled unravelled yarn from jumpers I didn't like and some odds and sods from other projects. Here it is:
















I tried not to think about which colours should go together and just add whichever yarn came to hand. The perfectionist ( I must think of a name for her) in me is still screaming 'Nooooooooo' at some of the colour combinations but in general I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I'm going to add more fringing down the sides later today.

Ailen Loonan

My youngest (Dougal) spent Sunday making an alien from shoeboxes and junk. Here it is:





















Isn't it fab? He's called Ailen Loonan (which is what my eldest used to call aliens) Dougal asked if I could put a picture of Ailen on my blog and I said 'Of course!........... but only if I can post this one as well'
















Who could be unhappy with those two around? lol

It's like buses innit?

No posts for weeks then three come along at once!

As much as I've enjoyed spinning the cotton I found myself itching to get some proper fleece out. Last night it proved too much and I dug out a bag of shetland and spun up a couple of bobbins. It was lovely, I never tire of that wool. The plan is to make it into a chunky hat for my husband and his poor baldy head. I was pleased with the way it came out:



















I'm really enjoying the ability to be spontaneous with the spinning. I have yarn that I've spun for socks and things which is really fine and even but lately I feel the need to splurge and have a bit of a 'speed-spin'. I love the thick and thin textures that I get and more than anything else, after 40 years of being a perfectionist who is never satisfied with anything she produces, it's a relief to 'find the designer within' - lol.

I'll be back drekkly with pictures of the hat (if it turns out ok)

Is it that time already?

2006 eh? Jamie (my edest boy) says he doesn't like the shape of 2006 and he misses 2005. I'm ambivalent about it as yet. The end of 2005 had so many twists and turns that I haven't really taken much notice of 2006 yet.

Two weeks before the end of December I decided enough was enough and it was time to be single (I'm pretty positive that whoever wrote the script of my life went on to a lucrative career writing Eastenders Christmas specials.) Faced with a chronic illness, 3 kids, 5 acres, a pig about to farrow, a pregnant ewe who always produces twins who need to be bottle fed and something else.... what was it?.....oh yes..... Christmas, I settled myself down to cave in and weep like the forlorn herione I undoubtedly was. I would awake on a bleak Christmas day, swollen of eye and limp of wrist as I bravely prepared Christmas dinner for all. Instead I found that I was just plain bloody furious and I got my head down, my ass up and got on with it. I don't have the build for a weeping heroine and the bodice kept splitting so I figured it was best to rip it off, get my wellies on and scat to 'un. And I did.

Peace talks have taken place and lots of changes are being made. We'll see.

Someone asked me what prompted my decision to separate from my husband. 'I got a dog' I replied. We laughed but there's truth in it. Here's the fella in question:




















He's called Caspar and he moved in about 4 months ago. He brought the kind of unconditional love that only a dog can and he has set himself up as my chief protector. Although he's as soft as butter he lets people know he's watching out for me with a gentle growl here and there; he's never far from my side. He's enabled me to realise that emotionally unavailable males have been a pattern in my life so far. Not any more. Thanks Caspar - you pong a bit but I love ya - lol.

A load of balls

Cotton wool balls that is. Last week at the Online Guild Amanda was teaching us how to spin cotton yarn using cotton wool balls. It was fab. She even produced some small 'how to' videos on her site. The project appealed to the recycler in me. Anything that we usually associate with junk being made into something beautiful appeals to me. I love papier mache, rag rugs and making a luxury yarn out of something we usually associate with babies bums really tickled me.

I haven't found it the easiest thing to spin. I unrolled the balls and separated them into 4 tiny rolag type strips. I ended up doing a strange sort of back-twist shuffle thing which didn't resemble any spinning I've come accross yet but it gets the job done so, matter do it?

Here's how it looks so far:
















That's how 40 balls looks. The plan is to maybe spin up a couple of bags dye it and use the yarn to crochet a summer shawl of some kind. If anyone knows of a nice shawl pattern for chunky cotton give me a shout please.

Bad Cledry

It's been over a month since I was able to post anything as life got a bit twitchy for a while. If any of you are still bothering to check in I promise I'll be posting an update on life in the valley very soon.