Weaving

I've been weaving these napkins. The loom is borrowed from the class I began back in June. I had only managed to weave 90% of one napkin by October when I needed to pay for another 10 lessons at a cost of £50, they were already the most expensive napkins known to man so I said, 'forget it', I'll pay for the yarn and leave. When I was told they hire out looms for a £ a week, no contest. Today I finished the 4th, I think I've made them too short by a couple of inches, there is quite a lot of warp left but a couple of threads broke and they are tied together, now they've reached the cross sticks so I could only weave about another 6". I know I could have/should have joined yarn, but I didn't. It's possible I might tie more warp onto the broken threads as I have a feeling there might be a few comments about 'waste' if I take it back with 20" of warp left.

She who scoffs....

I began making myself a pair of Monkeys a couple of days ago using double pointers. The pattern calls for 2.5mm, the ball band said use 3.25 - 3.5mm. I found the little packet of Clover needles on which I'd stuck a label which stated "2.5mm" and off I knit.
The pattern was coming out fine, I was very pleased with my choice, the short colour sequences of the yarn pooled, in a good way. I like to use 4 needles with socks as there is one less swop per round, but I always find it tricky with patterns, as they rarely divide into 3, but I persevered. The knit fabric was just right, "3.25 my *ss, " I scoffed.

The designer didn't ask for heel stitch which I invariably use, for heels. But, I went with it, thought it looked sort of baggy but maybe the extra fabric would prevent the lace stitch stretching over my high instep. Sock completed da da! Okay, it's a tad too short, you need to end on a pattern repeat and I went for the 'lets stop now' option and not knit another 8 rows. But with a tug the shaping reaches my heel..., the pattern isn't in the slightest bit stretched, in fact there is a lot of room.

Not completely happy with it now, I decided I would use heel stitch for the second sock and re-knit the 1st. I began knitting with 5 double pointed to better follow the lace pattern, but soon got fed up with changing every 16 stitches so I dug out some addi turbo circs. I found the 2.5mm and ...... they were a lot smaller than the clovers I was using. Getting the needle gauge out, the clovers were...3.5mm. The real 2.5 were bundled in an elastic bag in my needle box.

Not so bad, I was going to re-knit the 1st sock anyway. As the top of the sock is a good fit, I stayed with the first 1" knitted on the 3.5mm. I meant to do that all along.

Signs of spring

Two Good Things.

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States today, we've just watched it on the TV and listened to his speech. I thought it a very good speech, thoughtful and honest, with no rhetoric; refreshing. God bless and guide him, the world needs it. Oh, and God keep him and his family safe.

I met my old and good friend Sabina, in Marks and Spencer today. I saw her browsing the clothes and called out to her. We hugged, so pleased to see one another. I haven't had any contact with her for years, maybe more than 6. That was my fault, I didn't respond to an email, and when we moved she didn't have our address, and I didn't contact her. Embarrassed that I'd 'cut' her. I was immersed in a depression at the time, and, I don't know why, couldn't bring myself to speak with her, she was a big part of the life I had before..

I've been trying to follow advice that, we can be what we want to be, we are in charge of our own destiny, we can only change ourselves, no-one else. I've been actively seeking out old acquaintances, and somehow, fate popped Sabina back into my life today. Thank you, Lynda Field

Wheels are spining again

It has been 14 months since I posted, life is a bit different now. Life has been very boring, in the sense that there seems to be little purpose to life, no animals, no work. That's a pretty criminal and ungrateful state of mind, so I'm trying to make it less so. There didn't seem to be much point in blogging, but I just feel the need to. We are about to buy another house, so, there should be something to write about.

I can summerise what has happened since that last post when the alpaca moved to Brittany.

• Moved out of Le Pommier on 29th November.
• My lovely Dad died that evening in Yeovil Hospital, I had seen him just 4 days before, he had been slowly deteriorating for months.
• Moved to a gite in Brittany, lovely area, most beautiful coastline. If we'd found it when we visited Brittany before moving to France I don't think we would have settled in Normandy.
  
  
  
  
  • Moved back to the UK early spring, taking the same boat as the alpaca. Rented a small bungalow in a quiet village in Somerset.
  • Alpaca travelled to Alpaca Power in South Gloucester where they have been every since, in the expert care of Helen.
  • Travelled around visiting family and spending some quality time with them.
  • April, signs of banking world going pear shaped. Lots of 'I told you so' from most ordinary people who knew that endless credit, and huge mortgages, was not sustainable.
    
  • In May we bought a motorhome.
    
    
    
    
  • In June I joined the committee of the local guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. Realise that this wasn't such a wise move as may conflict with my travelling plans.
  • In July we went to the Larmer Tree Festival, had splendid time, will go in '09 but as volunteer so get free entry!
    
  • August more financial chaos
  • In September we spent a month in France. A week with old friends cycling around the Loire, and then 3 weeks in the south, travelling in our van. This included visiting with Wendy and Jim in Beziers. It was a lovely 4 weeks.
  • November, banks disappearing, savings threatened. Brief concern in our household as all our cash in related organisation, proved to be safe.
  • Interest rates plumeting.
  • Searching for a house as living here is getting us down, feel in limbo.
  • Find house, needs lots of work, put in silly offer.
  • December, silly offer accepted.
  • Christmas spent quietly on beautiful site on Stourhead Estate, lovely weather, lovely walks, good pub 500 yds away.
  • Very quiet New Year, efforts to get onto a campsite foiled as all previously booked. Will be quicker off the mark next year.

My Alpaca's New Home

With invaluable help from a friend we loaded up 8 alpaca into his double horse box. There was just enough room for them to kush down comfortably, alpacas don't travel standing up. Then we put the two males into our smaller trailer with a partition between them as they would normally have a go at one another!

We then set off for the 4 hour plus trip to their new home in Brittany. We pulled up to their new fields and I lead Max to his seperate paddock next to the girls, then we let the rest out, and they immediately explored their new quarters. Running here and there, grabbing a mouth of grass on the way. They all seemed very happy, pleased to be out of the trailer.





I miss them terribly. Although they still belong to me, this is the last time I will care for them directly. I think we have more or less decided to settle in the Stroud area of England, which is close to where they will be settling once all the movement and import restrictions have been lifted.

Even our chickens have gone to a new home, the Peafowl are being kept in as we have to catch them tomorrow and deliver them to new keepers. The place is deserted, barren and cold now.

Packing, sorting, clearing out and generally downsizing is carrying on a pace. We have managed to sell and give away a lot of stuff we just won't have room for and don't need anymore. We are even getting rid of things that we will need but we don't like, like our living room furniture! It is liberating.

I have several boxes of fibre, wool, and general spinning and knitting equipment to keep me occupied in Brittany for the 3 months we will spend there until we move to England. I think I might have too much....

This weekend we have a mad dash over to the UK with our trailer packed full of things to deliver to children that they are taking, then we sell the trailer. A quick lunch with friends, stay overnight in Stroud to further explore the locality. Sunday will be spent visiting my parents, Dad in hospital, (he's getting better thanks), Mum, staying in a care home for people with mental health needs, and my poor brother who is trying to cope with all of this. Then back on the overnight ferry.

That leaves 4 days to tidy up loose ends, Thursday the removal company descend, Friday, we spend 2 hours in the Notaires signing everything off before driving into the sunset to Brittany.

All I want is a simple life

We intend to take our alpaca back to England with us. This has proved very difficult because there was another outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK just after they declared the first outbreak 'over'. We feel it's too risky to assume that when it is time to move them we will be able to, it's not something you can leave to the last minute. There are tests to be done, licences to be got, transporters and ferries etc etc. So we had a brainwave, lets see if there is another alpaca breeder who would like to give them a home for a few months and then we can move them late winter or early spring when it's all over. And we found one in Brittany, another English couple. Hooray, we can relax. They have even exported alpaca to England themselves so understand the process so will be able to deal with it all when the time comes.

There is another threat now Blue Tongue There are restrictions on animal movements but until this morning they didn't involve this area. Now they do. We spoke to our vet and he rang the Orne Departements veterinary service and the answer to the question, 'Can we move our alpaca to Brittany' was 'non'. Our hearts sank, but then, after more discussion we can if we treat them with a specific anti parasite and get their blood tested in 28 days.

Our completion date for moving out has been extended to the 30th November, so you could say everything is working out. It's just that sometimes it doesn't feel like it!

The Goat's new home

We took our goats to their new home yesterday. They are joining two other goats belonging to Ruan and David. It was very funny to watch them eyeing one another up, ours stayed very close to one another, looking very alert and apprehensive in the strange field. Ruan's goats weren't quite sure what to do with the intruders, then thought they should asert their authority so proceeded to chase them around the orchard. This only lasted about 30 seconds as, on Ruan's own admission, her goats are too fat and they very shortly became winded! They would catch their breath, then start chasing again, round in circles. Our's easily out ran them, being superior goats of course lol. We had to make another trip as we donated what was left of our straw, some old tyres and doors, stuff we construct platforms for the goats to get on. When we returned they had all settled down, Ruan's two had become bored with chasing and had gone off to their stable.

I miss them. I still glance across automatically to their old paddock, and now it's empty. But I am sure they will be very happy in their new home, they will be loved.

Trying to be a good blogger.

.. and post more often.

Max, my stud alpaca, has an abscess on his foot. It's nasty and he needs treatment 3 times a day. This was okay when he was feeling very sorry for himself and slow, but after 5 days it's a bit better and he's thinking he doesn't want to put his foot in a bucket of betadine solution and keep it there for 5 minutes, then let me squeeze any gunk out then have an IM injection of penicillin. Nope, he doesn't want to do that anymore. And I can't put much effort into holding him with this pesky rib. So it's down to once a day now. Although he is weight bearing and not hobbling anymore, it is obviously still very sore and still producing muck, but I am trying to irrigate it with normal saline (salt solution) rather than put pressure on it.

Tomorrow is a big day, vets ( I really hope it is more than one), are coming to carry out the TB and brucellosis test on the alpaca prior to moving them back to the UK. We've already cancelled them coming once as there were more cases of F&M, and there has been another one over the weekend. They are all in the same area but we are taking a chance that in a months time we will be able to ship them. If not, we have to start the process again. And look for somewhere temporary to house them here as we should move out by November 15th. Oh, and alpaca do not have their veins in the same place as cows and horses and I really really hope the vet's have done their homework. I can't tell them where as I've not seen it done before and my efforts to find diagrams on the web have failed, all I've had is a description of where from other 'paca owners. It's done all the time in the UK and US, I just can't help but be a worry guts at the moment.

This to, shall pass.

Whoops a daisy

 

These are my ribs, one of them is broken. It's not displaced so it's very difficult to see, (10th on the left). I don't have a light box and my scanner isn't connected, so had to make do with the window, hence the view of the alpaca behind, neat.

Yes, it does hurt and it's a damn nuisance when I should be packing.

I slipped on the stairs when I was carrying a skein of handspun and noticed a grass seed in it, went to pluck it out and, whamn. Our stairs are just wood, no covering, and the edge of the treads are sharp. But I can still spin so it's a great opportunity to catch up without feeling I should be getting on with a lot of other chores. And of course I'm excused alpaca poo-collecting! And I'll try to blog more lol.

Only 2 months to go ....

..... until we move out.

I can't believe it is happening really. From feeling we would never find a buyer to suddenly having to sort a mountain of stuff. We are not really into to full sorting and packing mode as weddings, family gatherings and holidays are getting in the way. We are well on the way to sorting out the exporting of the alpaca back to England though because this is dependent on getting the correct licenses, certificates and testing on the alpaca syncronised.

We've found a place for the alpaca at Alpaca Power in south Gloucestershire; we visited last week and really liked the set-up and the owner's approach to alpaca care. Now we are trying to make sense out of the exporting requirements - we can't track them down in the French system! We've asked our vets, searched the web, finally rang the department's veterinary service today, and finally it is becoming clearer. I've found a carrier, it will cost a lot of money but it is well spent to know that they will be traveling with people who are used to caring for animals on long road trips.

Pictures:

Wedding: E's son Sam, and his bride Lydia, they are a lovely couple, the weather was awful but it didn't prevent them and us, from having a fabulous day.







I like this photo of the bridesmaids, they were just outside the door of the church and I was well inside, it was taken using the zoom on my little camera. Although the picture quality is poor, I cropped it and added even more graininess. I think it's lovely, imho.


And this is what the weather was like!!

Bugger

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, my mind has been totally distracted by other stuff.

I'll be brief.

We have sold our farm.

The suddenness of it caught me by surprise, two visits (the second with a tape measure, always a giveaway), first a silly offer then following quickly on the heels of our guffaws a sensible one. We signed contracts within a week.

We have agreed to complete the purchase on 31st October.

The dog and cat will not have valid passports (so that they can travel within the EU without quarantine) until mid February 08. Duh.

For pets to have a passport they need to have a rabies jab, then a blood test 30 days later. If that shows they have immunity, the passport is issued 6 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE TEST. It makes no difference, apparently, if the pet has had regular rabies jabs for 3 years. You have to wait 6 months. After that then the animal can come and go at anytime, they just need to keep up with the rabies vaccinations. This is every 2 years in the UK, annually in France, 3 years in neigbouring Belgium - it's nonsense.

I don't know why I haven't had them done, I know the rules, we knew we were going to move sometime, there is no reason why I shouldn't have just popped down to the vets and had the test. But I didn't. I sort of thought we wouldn't sell the farm for months and months and then it would be 6 months before we moved out.

But, I think things will work out okay. We were going to rent a house in the UK initially in order to take our time house hunting. So we will just rent in France, it's cheaper anyway. There is also the potential threat of foot and mouth disease in the UK with all ruminant animals banned from any transportation. Unless this is lifted by early October I wouldn't be able to move the alpaca back anyway. I'm sure the spread of the disease will be contained this time unlike back in 2002, but if it isn't it won't be a problem, we can rent a place with land here.

I can go on at length about foot and mouth, I will another time.

For the people who think this is a knitting blog....



This is supposed to be a Clapotis for Sam. It's in Sea Silk from Fleece Artist in the Woodland colour way. I love the way the yarns look in the hank. I hate the way this is knitting up. I find it so disappointing that knitting does these type of hand painted yarns absolutely no favours at all - in my very humble opinion. I'm trying to think of how these beautiful hanks can be shown off to advantage. I think weaving is perhaps the best way - this obviously not what they are designed for, and a very expensive option, these yarns are not cheap. Perhaps used for stranded knitting with another plain yarn which picks up one of the main hues might work. I will just have to try it to see if it works. In the meantime I don't know whether to finish the Clapotis and hope Sam likes it, or rip it out now. I wait and ponder.....

Noro Cashmere Flavor

You probably know this already, but I've just stumbled upon this beautiful yarn! It's actually a knitting machine yarn, and works out at 900mtrs for 100gs. Makes a stunning lace weight.



You can buy it online here, home of the Secret Knitting Podcast.

The I found the complete shade card here. The trouble is I've just ordered two lots of Seasilk to knit a couple more Clapotis'. I can dream.

Dreams are made of this..

Our (well okay, my thoughts) are straying to maybe, when we move, perhaps, buying a motorhome and spending some time on the move. Maybe it's a reaction to spending the last 3 years 8 months more or less rooted to the spot. I do love to travel and would like to spend a lot of time really exploring the UK. Some may think after someone has lived there for 50 years + there can't be much left to see, but not so. One thing about the UK, especially England, is the landscape and general style can change within a few miles. There is just so much going on. Finances won't let us run to a luxury model such as the Knaus above, and to cope with tiny roads and difficult parking something like this may be more useful...


for sale here
I am spending too much time browsing motorhome websites, especially the forums where you get user's views and not just advertising speel. My knowledge base is expanding into previously unknown territory. For instance, I bet you don't know what a SOG loo is do you! That's one of the downsides of motor homing eliminated.

I'm on Ravelry!

Woo hoo! I put my name down here weeks ago but when I read there were 9000 in the queue I shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it. Then I got the invitation email just now, so that's my evening sorted.

Ages ago I finally got around to knitting a Clapotis



I'd resisted for some time, having swatched a bit I didn't really like the reverse side. Then needing a summer weight shawl/scarf I chose some fine mercerised crochet cotton sold in the supermarket, only 6 euros for 750 metres! I used 3.5mm needles so did a few more diagonals to compensate before the straight section. It came out definitely a scarf and not a shawl as it is long and narrow, having a natural tendency to elongate.

The yarn is very light and I thought the drape would be enhanced with a bit of weight on the ends so I added some beads on a crocheted edge - I also continued a single crochet along the long sides.

It makes a very nice scarf, the cotton softened and bloomed a bit after washing which made it even nicer. Another time if I use the same yarn I would knit it about 20% wider. My daughter Sam liked it so much I am going to knit her one in Seasilk from Coloursong, she's chosen the Woodland colour way.

I wove!

I have a small Harris, sampling loom. It's used rarely, my one and only previous attempt ended in disaster when I attempted to dress the loom with sticky and rough thin silk yarn (cheap in a sale...) That went in the bin. I've always thought that my handspun wouldn't be strong enough for a warp, but I realised that the combined strength of several threads probably would be, something Deborah Chandler pointed out. Plus you can buy knitting looms specifically for knitting yarn, and, finally, I really do have to pull hard to break a plied yarn that I've spun from alpaca, much more so than the equivalent with wool. All this preamble leads me to this!



I am inordinately pleased with it, it's really very ordinary and full of mistakes. Intended as a scarf, I soon realised it wasn't going to be long enough so half way through I started playing with other yarns and patterns. I learnt so much from doing it and enjoyed the learning, rather than feeling frustrated. I think because my errors were typical beginners ones and once I realised where I had gone wrong they were simply solved. I don't think I will ever be a true weaver, I am not one of those people who describe the first time they sat at a loom as finding their true vocation, but I can actually see an alternative use for my yarn now and will definitely do it again.

I will make a separate page of the whole process with more pictures at some point, it will be long and boring but a good record for me, and will give you the option of skipping it!

One more thing,

Dear Blogger (Beta), I've been slow with praise and quick to criticise in the past, mainly because you could be a RPITA most times, but thank you, from the bottom of my heart for introducing the 'automatic save' feature. (((((hugs)))))

I need a holiday

I want a holiday. We haven't had a holiday for 4 years. Okay, I did get to cycle for 10 days with my mate Annette last year so, yes, I suppose that definitely was a break. But I want one of those lie by the pool in the sun and then wander down to the bar in the evenings type of holiday. Without other people to consider (God I'm just so horrible!). But you know what? If someone waved a magic wand and we were off on a holiday to Crete next week, you know what my first thought would be?

Bugger, much weight can I lose in 5 days.....

Introducing ...

Lu Lu. She's a mate for Brian, hopefully they will have eggs together!

The first time she was let out after about 10 days she wandered around for an hour, then flew off. Cursing ourselves for being over confident she would stay, we searched but couldn't find her. All we could do was hope she would find her way to her previous home. Then early one morning a couple of days later, I spotted her amongst the long grass, I guess she'd been around all the time, making us feel rotten. She's a lot more cautious than Brian and kept to the far corners of our farm, but slowly she's become more confident and now wanders around with the rest of the hens. It has had the desired effect on Brian of reducing his deafening call, but it's not stopped completely. And he still sits on the roof of the car and chases us down the drive when we go out!

The Summer Solstice June 21 2007 18:06 GMT

I love midsummer, stone circles, dawn. Perhaps I'm a druid.









Photo by KimM-O

Yup, I'm old

The day before yesterday, Asda (large chain of British supermarkets (now owned by Walmart?)) announced that sales of clothes pegs had risen by 1000%. This was attributed to the increasing awareness of global warming and that, perhaps, you could forsake the dryer and dry your clothes out of doors.

Then yesterday, two separate channels ran items about HOW TO HANG YOUR WASHING OUT. I remember that a colleague once related a story, of how her neigbour turned down her offer to use said colleagues washing line when the neigbours dryer had broken (this was summer) with a snooty "but that's like a peasant". Peasants? Is it me?

The weather here has been wet, very wet. We had a long, grey wet winter, then April was absolutely glorious. We started to make contingency plans for watering the garden, saving grey water, maybe buying a pump for the well. But from May onwards, it's been 90% wet. It's still been getting warmer so the humidity is very high and we get thunderstorms. The hay can't be made, after seeing the grass go to early seed in April, now it can't be cut and dried. And the torrential rain is flattening it.

The little cria, now called Consuela for posh and Connie for short, very soon learnt how to dash for the field shelter. She's doing very very well, the best thing is just to watch her in the evening sprinting at top speed around the paddock, and yesterday she was even pinging, or pronking I've heard it called. It's a sort of effortless bounce on all four feet at once, they seem to just flick their feet, with hardly any movement in their legs, heads and tails up, they do it when they're happy.