Another Moggie

Not a furry one this time though. My partner Keith is helping out a friend by fixing the master cylinder (whatever that is) and stuff on his Morris Traveller. We used to have one exactly the same as this (but better naturally) years ago, so it feels very nostalgic. Notice the old landrover behind also undergoing surgery. It needed converting to disc brakes to get through the controle technique (MOT) here. Of course one of the new bits is faulty and he is waiting for a replacement.

In fact we still have an old moggie, a Morris Van that Keith drove over years ago and then abandoned in the garden. It has been a sort of shed installation here for about 10 years. Now since working on the traveller he has been dreaming about restoring the van. C'est possible?

Project Spectrum Update

Well it is July and July is for purples but before we go there, i can finally wind June up. The long awaited parcel from my Project Spectrum Swap Pal arrived today exactly one month to the day since it was sent. But it was so worth waiting for, take a look.



A lovely scented candle in glass holder, a sweet note on butterfly stationary and this beautiful, beautiful self striping yarn that feels so soft I have already started winding it into a ball. Here is a close up of the yarn.



This maybe the yarn I finally make a pair of Jaywalkers with.

Thank you so much Michelle from Ontario!

Le Tour

Today the Tour de France passed near by and we tootled of to catch a look.

My email outbox is playing up so though I can receive I cannot at present send. So for my brother and wife, Gareth and Holly, in Seattle, and my son's co-worker, Brian, in Bristol UK, all of whom are keen followers, here are the pictures I cannot email.

The nearest point to us was Ambrières-les-Vallées but we opted to go for Oisseau a little further on as we were running late and being a smaller place we thought we would get a better look.

We arrived an hour and a half before the leaders but it was not boring. The many forerunners, sponsors I suppose, had already started coming through in funny vehicles chucking out advertising freebies which seemed to bear no relation to the Tour. We even got sprayed down by one of the bottled water companies (luckily I covered the camera).





Then came 2 bikes in the lead with a huge entourage of cars and motorbikes surrounding them (it was hard to see the bikes). Then after a short pause everyone else in a big group. Then loads more cars with bikes on top. Then it was all over.

Dye-O-Rama Luckout

I really lucked out with my goodies from Dye-O-Rama Pal Brooklyn Handspun. She has an online shop with lots of lovelies and sent me this gorgeous yarn (500 yards of it) AND some mouthwatering pink merino with sparklie bits to spin. How great is that?

On the downside still no sign of my June Project Spectrum yarn although I know it was sent weeks ago and my pal is as anxiously awaiting it's arrival as I am. Still it will be such a lovely surprise when it arrives (it will, it will arrive).

Ambermoggie

This is a picture for Ambermoggie. Maybe some of this yarn would be useful to you. There is 200g of Handspun Shetland (I spun this over 15 years ago it came off a ram on Snowdonia, but I guess after all this time I am not likely to be using it); 4x50g of variegated browns and greys 100% wool by Carlos Lecoutre; 1 x 100g of mid brown 100% wool called Savoyarde by chat botté and 1 x 50 of 80% wool/20% chlorofibre called Petrouchka also by chat botté. I'm not very good at guaging yarn thickness but I would say they are all aran weight or thicker.

One Skein Secret Pal

I had a parcel from my One Skein Secret Pal and it came all the way from Japan. I love that these exchanges are so international. The yarn is the most gorgeous red wool/silk and so soft to touch. It deserves to be worn next to the skin so what shall I make - gloves? arm-warmers? a hat? a small scarf (they call them cache-cou here, literally something that hides your neck). The colourful card has a picture of rows of geta (Japanese sandals). Thank you pal, I hope your pal sent you something as interesting.

Under Construction

For those of you who are interested, we live in two yurts with additional bits. The latest additional bit which has been under construction, for some considerable time, is the cabin joining the two yurts. We wanted it to be made from recycled (and if possible free) materials - so far we have only bought lime, nails and crochets for the roof tiles. This will eventually house all the books now in boxes and be a kind of hallway for coats, shoes etc.
This is the view from the outside.



The walls are constructed from the trunks of an overgrown leylandii hedge that Keith removed for someone and the roof tiles are reclaimed from buildings where we live. The little 'door' at the bottom is for the cats.This is what it looks like from the front.


The mortar/plaster is made from lime and clay dug on site. The door was being thrown out (it is a bit ugly but maybe we can do something about that later). The structure is bits and pieces, mostly coppiced hazel and lathes cut from local oak.

Inside the walls are all different.
This is mainly cordwood from the leylandii hedge.



This wall is woven oak slats, the wall is packed with rubble.



The small arched window slit here is made from tumbled recalimed bricks. I am making a stained glass panel to fit in it.



Once it is finished, watertight, tidied and packed with books I will post some more photos.

Curious about the house we are restoring and hope to live in one day? Well thats another story, for another day, but when you see it you will understand the appeal of living in a tent!

Hippy Cat

Some years ago we bought a catnep plant from a nursery stall. This is no ordinary catnep. Cats go wild for this. We have passed on cuttings to numerous friends who have had to resort to growing it in hanging baskets or similar so that their cats do not demolish it. We grow ours in a cage outdoors but pot it up and bring it in for the winter. It was recently in bud so we nipped out the ends to let it bush out. Here is our cat Painter getting the scent.

Sew and sew

Last Sunday I went with the group 'Doigts Agiles' to a quilt exhibition at Flamanville (near to Cherbourg and proposed site of a controversial new nuclear power station). As usual some of the work was stunning. The detailed, expert work produced by ordinary women in their 'spare time' beggars belief sometimes. I particularly liked the use of colour in this one, the detailed quilting on top of the patchwork probably wont show well in the photo but believe me it was stunning.


My favorite was much simpler, obviously influenced by Klimt.



Here is a more detailed shot.



I love the fabrics and the whole effect was so rich. Considering brown is probably my least favorite colour it just goes to show how little that means when it is used well.

There was also a bag in similar fabrics shaped like a scarab beetle. Sorry the photo is a little blurry I obviously got too close.



Wouldn't that make a divine project bag?

Talking of bags the pattern for the patchwork bag which everyone in 'Doigts Agiles' seems to be making is still the project of the moment in all sorts of styles, sizes and crocheted as well as sewn. I finally succumbed and made one.



Aren't the fabrics lovely? I got them from Dale a wonderful woman originally from the US now living over here. She is retired but has a 'quilting barn' where she runs classes. It is reputedly full of yummy fabric. I am plotting to visit with a few friends as soon as funds allow.

In the meantime I received this yarn from Les Laine



six skeins of mercerised cotton and one skein of lace weight wool in ‘Barbie Rose’

Thanks to my Secret Pal

At last you get to see a photo of all the goodies my Secret Pal sent. Just as well the photo was still in the camera when it came back as the Peanut Butter Cups (yes I had already started them at this point) are long gone, the soap is fast disappearing and the supersoft roving is half spun. I have also started the Lacy Leaf Cocoon from the Crochet booklet (in SWTC bamboo, photos another time).

Thank you so much Secret Pal.

Time to Dye

I have done quite alot of dying for one project or another over the last couple of weeks and thought you might like to see some of the results. It has mostly been sock wool, some of which has gone off for swaps.


I have gone back to using the long skein method. It may be tedious but I didn't make half as much mess as when I used a warping board (I obviously didn't tie off in enough places) but I painted the yarn anyway and I will attempt to skein it... sometime.

These are the yarns I have sent off for my swaps this month. The one in shades of blue is for my June Project Spectrum Dyed Sock Wool partner and the other is for my Dye-O-Rama swap partner.

Here are some samples of them knitted up too.

Incidentally they are inside my first Kitty Pi for which I also dyed the wool. It is mostly used by Jenkins, seen here in complete abandon.

I have dyed up some more of this yarn as I have 4 more Kitty Pi's to go. I really like the rainbow one.


This is the same yarn I used to make my Olympic knitting. I bought 5 Kg from ebay in white. It is not the softest or most even yarn but dyes and felts beautifully. Here is the coat I made for the Olympics it is from Noro pattern #746 from Vol #18

Here is a detail of the cable pattern. This was my first cable garment and I really enjoyed it.



...and some more examples of sock yarn I have dyed.

Blue June

Just had to take a pic of the Love-in-a-Mist that thrives in the rough patches of the garden. This is my sort of flower, it comes back year after year with no effort on my part.

Sorry Secret Pal

A big apology to my secret parcel who sent me the most wonderful parcel of goodies, including roving to spin, a crochet book I coveted, notelets, soap and lovely smelly things and a packet of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I took a picture of it all and have just realised that my partner, Keith has gone off to Holland with a friend for a few days and taken that camera with him and I hadn't downloaded it yet! How stupid can I be? It will have to wait for the weekend to see the goodies in all their glory. Well just to liven up the post here is a picture of one of the black cats, Marge, in her current favorite sleep-in-the-shade place.