Sheep Shearing Day

Hector the Big Tup waiting his turn.

On Friday 10th July my friend Pat called me to let me know her little flock of Ryeland sheep were being sheared that morning, so Jim and I grabbed our camera's and took off for the farm. The Ryelands have very thick, soft fleece, it covers their eyes so the can't see where they are going most of the time, and it also goes all the way down their legs to their feet. Pat has two Tups, Jamie and Hector, plus four Ewes and a number of lambs born this year. The lambs are adorable, a couple had to be given extra milk by bottle and one earned itself the name Safeway, and I think another is called Morrison! I bought both Jamie and Hector's fleece, so now I need to learn how to clean and wash them etc., Followed by carding and spinning.

One of the lambs:

"Am I next?"

"Hey Maa, you do look funny!"

"I don't think we want to go there!"

Hector is almost shorn.

Hector leaving with Jamie following.

Mock Cable Socks

I started the Mock Cable socks, a toe-up pattern from Wendy D. Johnson's book, 'Socks from the Toe-up' on the 19th May. I was hoping to have them finished by the KAL deadline on the Ravelry group named after the book, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. I finished them today, the 31st May. I did a variation of the stitch pattern, so they are not strictly a cable, but more like a Celtic plait. As I was knitting them for my husband Jim, I knitted them extra long, he's not keen on short socks.

I started off with one 100gr skein of Araucania, but thought I might need another as I was knitting them extra long, as it turned out I only needed a tiny amount extra, so I have enough left to make a pair of socks for myself .

I used two 3.00mm circulars, but when I make him a second pair with another skein of Araucania that I have in Multi shades of cream and brown I think I will drop down a size.

With them being extra long, and working them both at the same time, they didn't seem to be growing very fast, anyway I am happy with them and glad that they are finished. They are the first pair I have made for Jim.

Lilac

Lilac is one of my favourite flowers, I have three bushes in my gardens, the one in my front garden is a rambling, spreading kind of bush that my husband keeps threatening to cut right back. He will take his life in his hands if he does!!

It has now spread it's branches to the pathway, the birds love to perch in it when waiting for a space on the bird table, or trying to avoid next doors cat! The close up on the right was taken last year, the photo on the left I took this morning, unfortunately the beautiful blossoms have been beaten up by the wind and rain we have had recently and are beginning to die off.

The dead tree behind it was a beautiful ornemental Cherry that up and died on us a couple of years ago, we should have removed it, but again it is a favourite perch for the numerous birds that flock to our feeders. So now I am training a Clematis around it's trunk, but sooner or later some of the tallest branches will have to be removed.

The lilac in our back garden is a deeper colour and the blossoms are not as big and showy as the one pictured. Down in our lower garden there is a third one, similar to the back garden bush. They all have a glorious scent, I'd like to put some in a vase but they never seem to last more than a few days, so I leave the blossoms on the tree/bush, that way we can enjoy them a little longer.

My New Tricycle!

A week ago I bought a Tricycle, (I always wanted one as a child, but never got one, so now I've made that wish come true, in my second childhood!!) and rode it home, a journey of just under 5 miles. I was tired and expected to ache next day, but I didn't. Wonder of wonders!

It takes a bit of getting used to on the narrow country roads, they mostly have a dodgy camber, which can pull the wheels where you don't wish to go, not to mention the steep hills around us. But I'm hoping to go out early mornings as often as possible, and try to get fit.

This morning I went for an early morning ride and Jim accompanied me on his bicycle, we only did a couple of miles this time, we had a longish steep hill to climb and I rode most of the way up before having to stop for a breather. On the way back home I coasted down that hill and the wind on my face felt good, a big white Barn Owl flew over the top of my head. I didn't see him but Jim, who was behind me, did.

I was ready for breakfast when we got back home. Glad we went out early as it started to rain again.

More Socks!

Well I am truly hooked on socks now, I finished my second pair, top down Pomatomus socks by Cookie A. I used Araucania Ranco Multi for these, I love the pattern but found chart B rather confusing.

I am now working on my third pair, this time for Jim, also in Araucania Ranco, supposedly a Solid PT490, but it does have slight variations of shading in it. I would call it a Teal colour. This pair are worked from the toe up, and the Mock Cable pattern is from Wendy D Johnson's book 'Socks from the Toe Up.' Instead of the reverse cables I have used a variation of the stitch to create a Mock Celtic Cable.

In my 'Stash' I have another 100gr skein of Araucania Ranco Multi PT500, shades of browns and creams, for another pair of socks for Jim, but will have to buy another 100gr as he likes his socks fairly long.


Plus my friend MaryJo sent me a skein of L-B's Lucky Day 100% Superwash Merino Wool from Loopy Legends, theloopyewe company, shades running from Cream thru yellow, green, pale blue to almost Royal blue. So I need to find a special pattern to use with that.

I've used a pair of circulars with all the socks, and definitely prefer them to dpn's.

Sock it to me!

It's a long time since my last blog. I keep letting myself get side-tracked with other things and forget my blog!

I've been busy working on my very first pair of socks. Couldn't start with something simple, quick and easy. No, I decided to knit a pair of Latvian style socks, with three strands, so it took me a while to get finished. But I finally finished them last night, and I am happy with them, which is good considering I didn't follow a pattern, except for the heel part. I used three different charts, two I made up myself, one for the sole, the other for the leg; and the chart for the instep was a variation of Vidzeme chart # 76 in Lizbeth Upitis book, Latvian Mittens.

Having knitted them with three strands of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino means they are quite thick, so I won't be wearing them with shoes, they will keep my feet warm next winter whenever I have to wear boots or Wellies, and they are VERY warm! It's a pity they will be hidden under boots as they look so pretty, pretty enough to wear as slipper socks.

I'm so pleased with my first attempt at socks that I've bought two Sock books off Amazon, 'Socks From the Toe Up' by Wendy D Johnson and another called 'Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques and Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks' by Cookie. A' - which hasn't arrived yet - so hopefully by next winter I'll have a sock drawer full of my very own hand knitted socks.

Frustrations

It has been a week of frustrations, first the head gasket blowing and having to dispose of the car because it just wasn't worth the £600 - £800 it would have cost to fix, not to mention the other bits and pieces that needed replacing on it, like tyres and exhaust, followed by re-taxing and then M.O.T.

Then we found a second hand car but, frustration of frustrations, we can't re-tax at the Post Office because the car's classification code has to be changed from a disabled code to an ordinary drivers code, we have to go to our nearest DVLA Office to do that, and it is miles away, we have no transport and there is no bus service. If we do it by post we will be without transport for at least two weeks, and there is no decent bus service from our village. Seems to me the powers that be do everything they can to make life difficult.

On top of that I sent off a cheque to my rent office and forgot to sign the wretched thing, I can't get to them either so have had to post out a second one, signed this time!

On the knitting front, I knitted a pair of Raspberry Bed Socks using Aran weight instead of DK as I intended using them as travel slippers and wanted something a little sturdier, I also used larger needles as the pattern only went up to a 9" foot and mine is 10" - but I over-compensated and the slippers fit my DH, so on our overnight trip later this month he had better not leave the hotel room in them or he would probably get some very funny looks, they are a sexy red with a heart-shaped pattern of bobbles on the toes, at least the ties are a masculine brown! Now I am working on another pair but have gone back to the needles stated in the pattern.

Today I bought 200g of 4 ply Araucania Ranco, 100g in Multi - shades of blues, purples, pinks and turquoise, and 100g of Solid in a dark teal. I want to use it to knit the 'Latvian Dances' socks. I also bought 100g of 'Sprinkles' in a variegated Blueberry, to knit the King Cole Teddy Bear on their pattern leaflet # 2000.