Busy fingers

I've been wanting warm legs for a while...

This is the first German Stocking by Cookie A

I had a bit of bother with the sizing, had to restart and then redo the foot & heel ... but it now fits and it's friend was started last night





And the Tomatoes are finished :-)

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves...

And if you turn the pattern pieces round you can get them facing the other way ;-)

And what else can you back tomatoes with ?

Yes, I do have some fried egg material :-)

I wonder what other projects I can use it for ?

And I'm off again tomorrow to not celebrate New Year... I hope the boys will forgive me for going away again....

Island Creatures

I though you might like to see some of the creatures we saw whilst away...



This is a sign we saw on the way to the beach - no idea where the aliens were (and it did make us laugh with Suse's comment about the 'hold fast')










Cairsbrooke Castle has some donkeys that turn a wheel to pull up water.



They didn't want to play when we saw them so we decided to go and try on some armour (if you ever do - take off your glasses first, helmets dont go with glasses...)














The Garlic Farm has a resident peacock...



No idea why but he looked good - and the tastings of chutneys were wonderful - several jars made it home with us...

















On the camp site opposite our house there were some goats - they were very friendly and followed the owner around when he collected the mole hills every morning...


















And there was a strange mix of creatures on the 'chine' towards the beach...



Warthogs and Alpacas...



Click to make bigger....












And in the same paddock was a very sad looking llama





Missing half of her teeth

















Not in the best of condition :-(



She was in need of a good trim and brush...















And in the queue for the ferry home there was a hungry crow. I didn't see him eat his bread he flew off while I was trying my sock on for size...
















And finally this bluetit confused me greatly. I'd just managed to find a family grave in Ryde and could hear running water...



On the next grave in a pot was a very wet bird, I tipped the pot up so it could get out - it didn't look well as it wobbled to the hedge...







And the final holiday photo that I'm going to share..


A sign from Ryde of the Park & Ride :-)

Seasons Greetings

Sunrise (ish) this morning.

It was sunny so we went for a walk on the beach...

Towards the Needles.

I did collect some interesting drift wood and stones with holes in... they were not appreciated very much by some :-(

But I liked them :-)

And Boris and Beryl had a special breakfast before going to sleep in a corner of their field.

I hope everyone has a peaceful time - we are off to watch Lost - we are worried about what happens to the dog, we fear the worst !!

And hopefully I might be able to show off a Christmas stocking soon :-)

On the Beach

Can someone please tell us what this is - on the bits of the beach where the seaweed was there were lots of them .. they looked like rubber but weren't

Some were about the size of a small football...








And this is some of it amongst the different type of seaweed...

(it is on the left by the sand...)










Some of us played in the sea in our wellies...

Good job I had waterproof trousers on when I took this shot !!











Whoosh....















And the first wet foot shot I took...

Very foamy :-)










And the view towards the Needles...

Long Day Driving

I left home at a stupid time this morning - hardly had space in the car for anything else.. too much food and drink...

Met my friends at a farmers market in Totton - I got there fine, their sat nav, maps and two of them got lost ;-)

We got on the ferry - it was calm but cold.









And this is where we are staying...

I would tell you where I am, but as usual all I know is that it is the Isle of Wight !!







This is one of our neighbours - meet Beryl. Her partner Borris was hiding when I went out with the camera...











And I've been told that if I'm naughty I'm going in here :-(

Tis the season to be cold...

Last Saturday I helped Anne at a craft market in Hereford.

It was cold, I was well wrapped up - two neckwarmers, two pairs of fingerless mittens, and we wont go there with how many other layers I had on...

And yes that is the Clanger hat made by Ruth that I was told never to wear again - I couldn't find another hat...




I managed to finish the set of spirals for a friend just before we got to the restaurant for lunch :-)

And they fitted and she loved them.

Yesterday the leg warmers went to their new owner and she was very impressed and confused that everyone else knew she was getting them !!






And I thought my house was cold - but these are some windows in Hereford - snow inside !!


I'm off to the Isle of Wight tomorrow at some silly hour of the morning for a, hopefully, relaxed holiday...
I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday and that the seasonal fairy brings you lots of yarny goodness

It's a wrap

Actually it is Hypoteneuse by Knit Spot.

Made with 8 hanks of Summer tweed.

Gill - book stand is quite large :-)

Here it is folded in half - I could tell you how long it is, but I forgot to measure its final length and it is now wrapped up to give to a friend this afternoon...

And some things that I also made this week - a very skinny long scarf in the remainder of the Big Wool I had over from the big cardi of a few weeks ago...

This is for neighbour's grand daughters birthday next week (to go with the pink legwarmers..)

Then we have some more Knitspot (do I see a theme to my present knitting ? )

A neck warmer and one mitten - now will I manage to start and finish the other mitten before lunchtime tomorrow ? I'm off out soon so I think it might be a late night...

The yarn is camel that I dyed myself..

And then as it was so cold at the weekend I made these on the way to London on the train - and I was so pleased driving home from the station when it was minus 2...

Brr

This was the sky yesterday mid morning...

Surprisingly it didn't snow, just rain

And it was very cold.

And guess whose heating doesn't work ?




So with no heating I decided to block the runner and scarf..

The runner is 80 inches long...

I found space for the boards in the living room...

They were cold and wet, blocking wires dont go through cotton easily - the wires must have looked like mouse's tails as I had a cat attached to them when I moved them round...





This was the view on the floor for most of yesterday - the cotton was still damp when I went to bed last night ... I did have a halogen heater blasting all day and the hair drier was used a few times...

By this morning they were dry, so we got the floor back:-)









And this is my help - he was such a good boy sleeping off the wet knitting, he even walked round it...

His brother was nearly as good but didn't stay put for a photo...

Blocks & blocking

I need to find some floor space :-(

I need to shut the cats out while this dries...

It is Tudor Grace from Knitspot made with Silkwood sock yarn.










And this is even more of a 'problem'.

I've finished knitting the runner - it is long, my floor is messy, my boys dont like being shut out of rooms...

It maybe a job for Thursday or Friday...






And the sewing machine has been unearthed...


These are some of the bits that have been transformed....


Can you guess what it is yet ?






I forgot to take pictures of the green ones, but a whole yellow...













And it sliced...

I had fun picking the fabric....

Did you know that you get strange looks when you go into shops asking for material for tomatoes ?

And the original red ones...

They are going to end up as placemats.

The designs came from this book

I've also got the flower one, I wonder what I can end up making ....