Fab day - shopping?

Have had a bit of an indulgent week so far - went to the cinema on Monday to see Last Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, rather poignant about two misfits who get together, rather nice and not the usual cliched ending. Went to knitting - Pins and Needles, it used to be called Stitch and Bitch but some of the ladies objected to that so it was changed. Most of the knitting is for prem babies but they also knit gowns for stillborn babies - so sad but very beautiful work. I have finished another pair of socks - adult size 5 - 7 in kaffe fassett designed sock yarn that doesn't seem to have a repeat pattern at all, just one long pattern from end to end! I am now knitting a bag on a circular needle, this is something I saw Joan (bags) do whilst I was living on Harris, the base gets knitted on the circular as two needles then you pick up stitches around the side and knit upwards, it sounds difficult but Joan always makes knitting look so easy, she is so clever, does vegetable dyeing as well - amazing. Joan's blog is Calanacrafts - you can get onto it from here . I am knitting some more of these funny little sheep and heilan coos for some craft fairs I have booked myself into over near Bridlington, the 'Lamsey' sheep and brooches were really popular at the Sassygael craft fairs we held in Taigh mo Shenair last year (and they are happening again this year keep an eye on De Tha Dol)
Anyway back to my week - I am so sad as I got really excited about going to Waitrose... haven't shopped in Waitrose for about eight years or so since I left Lymington and of course filled a trolley - a little one!
I spent this morning with a medical student - mystery patienting a bit like mystery shopping but different! She was doing her final exams and she had me to 'deal with'. I get invited to do this as I had an acoustic neuroma. Acoustic neuromas are quite unusual - only 1:80000 people have them and as far as brain tumours go it is the one to have cos it's removable! Anyway she asked the right questions and did the right tests and I was able to promote acoustic neuromas to another budding doctor - AN's are nearly always missed and misdiagnosed so this is my little contribution to doctor education!
Onto more cheerful stuff! I am off to Leicester to Lizzie's Graduate Show on friday. She has printed some amazing fabrics and I am really looking forward to seeing them - will take the camera and get some pics. A lot of her inspiration for this final work came from the beach huts at Southwold and also the funfair at Bridlington. One of her designs incorporates appliqued merry go rounds! Lizzie has always loved the beach and beach huts - we had a lovely old hut on the beach at Milford on Sea for a number of years before she and I moved north to Manchester, we used to have great fun there as a family - early morning breakfasts and late evening barbecues, midnight swims before going home salty and tired. We took great pride in decorating it - all very vintage and distressed, absolutely delightful with lots of shells and rope, stencils - it was all great fun!

Buna

Pics of Buna, some from the house, from the garden and outside Roddy's house. The dry stane wall was going to be refurbed but the dykers said it was made of the wrong sort of stone and the whole wall would have to be replaced with new stone so we left the wall with the willows growing out of it and around it. There is a corner of the Tin Shed in one of the pics with Joan's house in the distance. The island was rescued, when we moved to the house it was very overgrown, we risked the midge and cleared it and then a friend - Dave Perry, built the bridge and we had a party to celebrate the bridge opening - needless to say it poured and poured and everyone got soaked and I forgot to take the camera out! We had great fun building and filling the raised beds - here are some lettuce and courgettes. The growing of veg became quite competitive as our neighbour - Joan and I vied for the 'best of' to go in the annual North Harris show. On the actual day I couldn't go as I had been bitten by a claic and was having a bad time with it so Joan walked off with most of the prizes! That was the 2008 show when Sheila's duck - Baggy, won first prize because he is just so handsome! Joan has moved onto bigger things with a polytunnel - she should be supplying the whole of Harris with salad this year if the tunnel doesn't disappear over the Clisham in the wind!

Mills and Daisy.

This is Horsey Mill - looked after by the National Trust and is on the North Norfolk coast. It is a drainage mill used to raise and pump water. It is so peaceful - sat here for hours just watching the world go by.
Have heard that Daisy (the sheep that I raised from orphaned lamb this time last year) has been sheared and the fleece is now waiting to have something done with it. Have asked Sheila - Daisy's new owner to spin it for me - you can see Sheila, Daisy and the others on her Scalpay Linen blog. Pics are of Daisy 3 or 4 days old and then at 7 months just before she moved to the Outend.
I have been choosing fruit trees - have opted for three apple trees and two plums. I didn't realise how complicated all the pollination stuff is, how you have to combine trees with different ways of pollinating - I hope I have got it right! I thought you just bought them and dug a hole put them in and that was that - no! I want to develop my hedgerow a bit, sow some wild flowers in amongst all the undergrowth, there are poppies in a field hedge just down the lane and they look delightful anyway that's the plan so fingers crossed for some more dry weather over the next few days.

Time flies when you are having fun! Have been busy with a holiday to Norfolk, my father in law having surgery and some 'sweatshop' work for daughter Lizzie who had a pile of appliqueing to do on one of her fabric designs - Mum was just the person to do it!
Went off to Norfolk thinking wellies and umbrellas but in actual fact had a lovely sunny week and had to go off and buy suncream. We (Tony, Hamish and I) stayed in a converted boatshed at the end of a broad, much entertainment outside as the big holidaymaker boats struggled to execute 3 point turns under the balcony. The boatshed was upside down with the bedrooms downstairs and the sitting room, kitchen and balcony upstairs. We had a relaxing time spent drifitng around - there were some lovely out of the way places - Horsey Mill and Waxham Barn that were absolutely delightful. We also had a trip on the Bure Light Railway - here is Hamish on the little train. The Shire Horse Sanctuary nr. Aylsham was wonderful, huge area to wander around in and lots of rescued animals - battery hens, alpacas (the wool would be wonderful!!), pigs, turkeys rescued from the 'bootifull' man - a lovely relaxed space to be in and a veggie cafe!
Back to the real world - the wool destash is going well, I am sending wool to all parts - Sweden, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Ireland and the UK, still got a lot but the pile is going down. I am making bags - a shopper/tote mainly from vintage fabrics, they are nice to use as a summer bag, for crafting or for shopping instead of the plastic handouts - they are fun - pink flamingos, strawberries, lighthouses, stripes and Harris Tweed. I have called them Tinshedbags as I want to keep the name going. Will get some pictures done and on line. I am knitting socks - of course and beach huts - did you watch Kirsty's Home Made Home? Mine are a bit bigger than the 'draught excluder' that was made for her and are more like cushions! They look quite good balancing on the back of the sofa. It was knitting group last week - I still don't think they 'get' me with my offbeat designs - still part of life's rich tapestry. My cousin Hil, who is a ceramicist, makes little knitted shoes that sells with her own design nursery set - porringer and mug, she is now making porcelain buttons - daisies and stars, when I lay my hands on some I will get them on here - she is down in Dorset but will hopefully be moving north to Derbyshire.
I am off down to Leicester again next week for Lizzie's graduate show. I had a demand for old deckchairs to recanvas - thank goodness for carboot sales! I want the vintage canvas that comes off though - lovely washed out stripes. Lizzie is replacing them with new printed canvas she has designed, she is keeping the wooden frames vintage not painting them. Looking forward to seeing the show!
I am busy choosing fruit trees for my orchard - planning on planting 5 trees (which is apparently an orchard) in the hen pen. The hen ark will hopefully be put up this week and I will get it painted - I thought wishy washy blue or pale green. Bit of fencing to do and I have told Tony I want him to pee around the perimeter of the hen pen as that keeps the foxes away and on that note I shall go - breakfast calling!

Destashing ......

I am having a major destash firstly of wool and then later vintage fabrics. Firstly wool, I have got a lot of hanks of 100% aran weight tweed wool that is an overrun on a well known manufacturers order. However it is not in those nice little balls that cost a lot of money but in hanks that are approx 630gms which should be sufficient for an adult sweater knitted on 5 mm needles but do a tension test first! It is handwash or dry clean and available in various colours - it is on e bay for sale - put in Scottish aran weight 100% wool and it will come up. It is lovely to knit with whether jumper, socks, hats, scarves or tea cosies! I need the space back in my store room so the wool has to go and then I have some vintage Harris Tweed and some Islay tweed and tartan plus lots of vintage fabrics that I will put on e bay.
Lovely day here today in the East Riding, the bluebells are out and the hedgerow is looking luscious - will get some pictures tomorrow. Foxgloves are shooting up and the gooseberry bush is covered in fruit - not that I like gooseberries but hopefully someone will. I don't like the seeds for some reason they always remind me of okra! The apple blossom is lovely too and smells absolutely delightful.
I am busy knitting fat fish and beach huts - I am going to have a lot of pics to take!

Pigeons and elbows

Busy busy today as a pigeon came to visit down the chimney in Lizzie's bedroom which doesn't get used except when Lizzie is here so by the time we realised there was a pigeon in the bedroom it was dead and what a mess it left behind. I have been scrubbing, disinfecting, cleaning the carpet and washing everything that will fit into the washing machine. Anyway the room is clean and fresh, the last moving boxes are empty and the pigeon has gone. However all that scrubbing has irritated my poor elbow, it feels stretched and achey and lifting saucepans or the kettle is so painful. In need of rest I think, I am going to heat up the wheat/lavender thing and put that over it and massage some tiger balm into it. If it doesn't feel better tomorrow then I shall sit and rest it by knitting! The perils of getting old! No pics today - only dead pigeons and nackety elbows but here is one of a lovely rusty metal heart I found in the garden and some very bright socks knitted in regia sock wool that I took a few days ago.

Hamish on strike, knitting, Teds and hens

Hamish the westie is on food strike again! Nothing new but turning his nose up at home made beef stew is a bit brutal! For those of you who don't know Hamish - he has always been rather particular about his food - very particular about not eating it! He'll eat mine and anything that is handed to him under the table but not in a dish on the floor. Other dogs don't seem to have any problem eating from dishes on the floor but not Hamish. We have been in situations where we have visited other dogs' houses and the food is guarded (Bramble @ Scalpay Linen does this) but Hamish couldn't give two hoots and when Bramble visited us she woofed down Hamish's food. I know of another westie who is even fussier - that's Chico at Aird Ashaig, she has lamb cutlets for tea every night - well I am not going that far! He will have to go hungry until he decides to eat, I am sure he won't fade away!
Was in Pocklington twice today - once for the market and the woolshop and then later for the craft group. Bought some Regia sock wool, this time in pinks and fair isle, which will knit up in stripes and another sock wool by King Cole which is white/pink/green/peach, it looks nice in the ball but has a rather dated effect when knitted up rather like those early random knits - very disappointing and bland - not the impact that the Regia and Opal wools have - so won't use that again!
At the craft group lots of stuff going on - some proddy, some knitting and crocheting with plastic bags, a lot of socks, hats and tiny body warmers being knitted for the special care baby unit in York - these are really tiny little ribbed beanies and little body warmers that open on the front and on the shoulder for little ones who weigh about 2lbs, some of the little hats have eyelets around the rim to allow all the tubes to be passed through whilst keeping the baby's head warm. I will get some pics of the hats and bodywarmers. They are so lovely.
I am knitting Teds again. Did a lot when I was on Harris for Harris Voluntary Services who were organising Teds for use on emergency vehicles, the idea being that if a child or older person was in distress they would be given a Ted as theirs to keep. The Teds were knitted to a standard pattern in one long length, folded over, stuffed and embellished. Really effective. Here is a Ted that I knitted recently although this one is not for passing on as he is rather fluffy and has a ribbon rather than the sewn on knitted scarf. This time the Teds are for use in A&E departments same as the emergency vehicles, will post a pic of the group when done! But here is one to be going on with.
I won the ark on e bay and it arrived today in a big box weighing 34 kgs, the next jobs are the fencing and the hens themselves. There is a farm supplier down in Market Weighton - will trot off down there and see what I can find. Mick (the ploughman) reckons the posts are going to be difficult to get in - none of that softish Hebridean peat here just rock hard chalk! The hens will come from the Livestock market that is held in York on Mondays. Apparently the bank holiday markets are the best ones but we won't be ready in time for next Monday! I thought I would like pure bred but think that maybe Heinz 57 type hens will be best to start with although I would like some Arucanas, the eggs that I used to get from Sheila were wonderful and so pretty!
Anyway off to see if Hamish has scoffed his tea - watch this space!