Wednesday Wye

Did I say it had been raining ?

Look at the colour of that water... and the sky..

And yes it has rained/hailed again this afternoon.

I have nearly got everything out of the car from the weekend - tables dont matter do they ?







I found this on the road by the photo bridge..

And now I'm off to knit another Silken Leaves Shawl - I think I've just about got the pattern sorted...

Any guesses on how long it will take me to knit 600m of silk ?

Wonderwool

Last week was spent rushing round finding things and putting things away so there was room for visitors to sleep without the threat of landslides. There was also several visits to the vets - the boy has got a thyroid problem and needs to have tablets every day - so far we have managed it but he has to go back next week for more blood tests..

Thursday I went to Get Knitted - did you know that they are doing individual ends of Harmonies and separate cords ?


Friday saw us going over to Builth Wells to set up the knitting and crochet guild stand.

Daffy was already sewn onto a cloth (do not worry she can come off easily..)

Even though I say it myself she looked wicked !!

Saturday was so busy it was untrue - I did have some voice left by the time I got home but not much.
Sunday was quieter, and I was glad it was as I just wanted to go to sleep but then. There are some photos taken of me on the Sunday (I'm not going to tell you where they are, but I dont take a good photo at the best of times !!)
I was relatively good with purchases - I managed to get rid of a toaster (yes, you did read that right) and a lot of stash (thank you Eirwen). And stall holders like cake and can give yarn in return :-)
Most of the bags that came home were for spinning - 1.5kg of Kevin the alpaca, lots of sample bags for spinning, a flick carder and a mini ninny noddy.
The only yarn I did buy was in a kit for a shawl and will probably be a present...

And to be totally silly (or should that be bonkers, do-lally) I got a needle felting kit for a fairy..

Over the weekend I did 450 miles of driving, ate a lot of scotch eggs and ice cream and didn't drink enough water !!


Daffy has just been retrieved from the car - this was the sky for most of yesterday ... in between hail storms..

And guess what - the thunder has arrived again so I'm going to unplug and hide with the cats..

Wednesday Wye

A view from Ross at 8.30 this morning...

I had to drop one of the boys off at the vets first thing, he is having his teeth done and blood tests for a suspected thyroid problem.










And last week I went round Powis Castle with some friends (and the gardener)

They have rather a large compost heap...











And at least one free range chicken !!

I had one of the quickest visits to Liverpool I've ever managed - total of 14 hours and I was asleep for 8 of them !! As you can probably tell I would much rather be in the countryside with crafters, than in a city with family...

I'm beginning to worry if I have everything ready for the weekend - there is rather a large pile of knitting ready to be displayed and I think all the necessary paperwork....

If you are coming to Wonderwool do come and say hello, I'll be on the stand with the knitted knickers and the rather yellow daffodil (and there might be a Welsh dragon as well - after all we will be in Wales !!!)

Random Question

Every now and again nextdoor phones me up with strange requests.

Recently I've been asked for treacle at 10pm. (which I did have)

Todays question was worse... 'have you got a spare door handle?'

'Might have' said me...

A little while later I'd extracted the box of bits left under the stairs from the previous owner (nearly four years ago).

Not only did I have one handle, it matched the one I took off her door and now the door closes !!!

This does cause me a few problems - not only did I have one handle (why only one ?? who buys an odd number - I haven't checked but I think that I do have handles on each side of every door in the house...)
I could find it within minutes of the request.
It matched the one that was broken.

Now I'm just wondering what the next 'have you got......' question will be.

Wednesday Wye will be late this week - I'm off to the Capital of Culture (lucky me!!) but I will be having some fun going round Powys Castle with the gardener on the way....

Wednesday Wye

There is a ruined castle at Ross on Wye - honest it is behind the trees !!

And this is the nearest I've been to it... It looked interesting, perhaps I should try and visit it soon (I'm not even sure if it is open...)









The river is fairly low at the moment - in 1881 it was higher, I assume that is why the date is at the top of the gauge...
















And when the river is in flood a lot of stuff gets moved about - I could see a tennis ball, several car tyres, a hub cap...

The height of the rubbish (mostly natural matter..) was huge...

The purple socks were finished last night. After Daffy I'm now having problems with plain knitting - perhaps I need to go and practice !!

Daffy

It took three hours to cast off.

I finished at 1 am this morning.

Unblocked insipid colour.










So I took drastic action.

In a casserole dish, baked in the oven for about an hour...










And look what bloomed...

The dyeing affect is a bit blotchy, but I like it...

I've found out that I dont like blocking circles, but he dried quickly and enjoyed going outside in the sunshine...















And a close up of the inside











And a trumpet....

And now I've finished I can share a few things -

Yellow is not my favourite colour.
I'm allergic to daffodils - they are one of the few flowers that make me sneeze !!


And now I'm going to knit some garments on what will feel like tree trunks (3.75mm needles)

I wonder how quickly stocking stitch will grow ?

Welsh Wednesday Wye

Because I was in Wales yesterday a picture of the Wye in Monmouth.

Being in Wales is not much of a big deal really, I get my water from Wales Water, I'm not that far from the border (especially in a straight line...)

And as usual I forgot to post the photo on my return last night, I blame Daffy - only 30 rounds left, 912 stitches each round, over an hour to do two rounds... and I want to finish her as soon as I can so I can concentrate on other things...

I only have the ribbing left to do on my purple socks. Before Wonderwool I would like finish them, to start (and finish) a tank top, a jumper and maybe another pair of socks... Do you think I can manage it ?

Dangerous Flowers

For those of you that were wondering it wasn't a typo, I really did put someone in hospital with a flower arrangement... And yes, it could only happen to me!!

The story is long - if you are not interested skip to the bottom where Daffy is...

In small villages when there is a funeral everyone helps out decorating the church. In December I gave my neighbour a lift with all her white flowers.... I did have a sock to knit but she wouldn't let me, instead she gave me the job of arranging flowers.
The container was suspended on a metal tripod, a large glass bowl with a large brim (think old fashioned policeman's helmet upside down)
I stood on a pew (without my shoes on, I should add), the container was 5 foot off the ground.

After a lot of mucking about I got something that looked half decent (I'm not the best arranger). Pampas grass leaves set off the whole thing, and then I filled it up with lots of water (we're talking litres...)

The next day, we get to church early, sit in the back pew as usual and watch as the church fills up and the people stand in the aisle (small church lots of people...)

About ten minutes before the service was due to start there was a huge crash...

'that will be my flowers' said me...
Lots of rushing around (that we couldn't see...)

When the vicar came in she welcomed us and said that someone was hurt before the service and someone would be coming and taking them to hospital....

We later found out that an old gentlemen was sitting down, a lady had turned round suddenly and hit the tripod causing it to fall over. The glass covered three pews, there was blood, water, glass and flowers everywhere...

The family were waiting outside when someone came running out grabbed a towel out of their car and ran back into church.. they weren't told what was going on for a while...

It turned out that the gentleman (in his 80's) had to have surgery, was in plaster for three months, and has had physio....
I cant remember what is was that was severed but it was serious.

The carpet in the vestry had to be cleaned, there was blood everywhere...
Someone put the blood splattered flowers in a different vase (they lasted until Christmas). White chrysants with red blotches - nice !!

And that is the brief story of how I managed to put someone in hospital with a flower arrangement...



And I'm getting fed up of this ... 40 rounds left to do, but each has nearly 800 stitches.

And it takes about 30 minutes for each round - so that is 20 hours more of thin yellow...

I think I will have to get back to my purples and then see if the weekend turns yellow - it doesn't help that I dont like the colour and want to dye it a stronger daffy colour when it is finished...