Funny and Crafty

I love making little stories for my felt creatures, there's something about it that makes me smile.  This one is no exception.

Errr, guys... all the teacakes are gone.


Bagsie a shirt!  I want a hat!


Think we can fool her if we all sit in the box?


Quick, grab those sheep, the might look like an uneaten teacake!


Baaaa!

No teacakes here, just us in our cool outfits!

baaaa!

(Unfortunately for them, I was not fooled)

I've been crafty too.  Been wanting to make a rice bag type thing for needle felting as a lot of folks find it better than foam and my piece of foam is getting a bit used in places.  But with mice randomly checking for tidbits and a dog who can find food easier than she can find the living room, using rice was not going to work.  I asked on Ravelry and someone mentioned the plastic stuff that's used to weight down dolls and stuffed toys.  Little EBay hunt later and I had some recycled plastic pellets on the way.

Last night I got out the hessian I'd bought yonks ago and made a not-rice bag!


Yes, it fits in a Tunnocks teacake box.  I've also ordered myself a nice wooden box for my needle felting stuff, the cardboard box I have is getting more and more bashed and isn't really deep enough for a work in progress.  Plus, the box is unfinished so I can decorate it!

Remember the blanket I started in October last year?  The one with the diagonally striped squares?  Finally finished it last week.  Yesterday I washed it and it was hung out to be breezed and dried the Tiree way.



I admit to thinking I am NEVER knitting that pattern again, but I did LOVE the recipient's reaction.  It may have been late, but the timing was perfect.  It's now with its new owner who is very happy indeed.


I shall leave you with this photo of a bovine who should not be where she is.


TTFN

P.S. Yes, we BBQ'd!  Three days in a row of sunshine has been WONDERFUL!

What is this?

There's a bright light in the sky and the concrete is dry...



The wind isn't blowing a gale and the house has been warm all day without the heating on.  Is this the apocalypse?  The generators at the power station are humming away, maybe the rest of the world has vanished?

Nope!  Spring is coming!


At Silly AM on Tuesday morning I was having a bout of insomnia brought on, as it turned out, by the electric causing the microwave to beep as it went on and off.  I started using my PC but then the power truly went off so I got the oil lamp, managed to put the chimney on without it exploding and knit by lamp light:





As long as you're not doing something overly complicated it's actually rather peaceful to knit by lamplight.  So peaceful I made a humongous mistake and had to pull back a few hundred stitches.  But Mum will be happy to know her jumper is now at the waves chart.  Sleeve stitches waiting for pick up after knitting the body.

Speaking of knitting, *mumble* years ago I took some yarn and a book from Sue with the intention of knitting the rather nice lace item in it.  It took me so long not because it was slow but because of the border.  The original has a nice frilly border to compliment the pattern in the body but it drove me batty!  I couldn't get the pattern into my head and kept making mistakes.  So I consulted the island expert in lace shawls and did a simple yet complimentary garter stitch edging.  Then I got distracted by some deadlines.  Last week I found it again and finished the knitting.  This week I soaked and blocked it:



It dried overnight and looks lovely:


Close up of the detail:


I am very happy with the end result and admit I'm also happy it's done.  One less item giving me guilty vibes for not finishing it.

I have had a physically exhausting day today.  Took full advantage of the wonderful weather and did the first line dry of the year.  Two loads of laundry washed and then dried in sun and breeze, lovely!  Even if I did have to wear boots to put it out and get it in because the back garden is water logged.

The trike got a good air drying too.  I found any new rust spots and treated them with rust cure in the morning and painted over them with car paint in the afternoon.  The patches may be black on the blue lacquer but they're weather-proof again.  Come Easter it's getting a good service; new chain, new rear tyre, new rear sprocket, more rust treatment and a darn good clean.  At either Easter or summer hols it's also getting it's first recoat of varnish.  The marine ply and varnish applied by the makers has done sterling work these past three years but it's starting to fail.  I shall order some new marine varnish (the good stuff) and give all the wood a clean, brief sand to key, and then a good varnish.  Hopefully that will see it right for another three years.

The trike's frame is under warranty for ten years.  I think at the rate the weather and air attack metal here we may be claiming on that.  If anyone ever manufactures something, be it material or item(s), that they claim is weather proof and corrosion proof and will last for years outdoors in all sorts of weathers, I think they should test on Tiree.  We have strong winds; salt air; sandy wind and rain; cold and hot in one day and rain that can find the tiniest of cracks.  Claim something can last five years in a climate like you might find on the Thames?  It should last two on Tiree.  The weather here makes light work of metal, rubber, silicone, paint, lacquer and more.  Could also be a nice earner for folk here; allow someone to attach a box to your house for a few years and in exchange for taking photos and checking every so often you get a rent and the manufacturer finds out quick if their kit can do what they claim.

So, yes, I have had a very busy day, in seven hours I sat down for a total of one and a half and the longest burst of that was a half hour knit.

I shall leave you with photos of a very, VERY happy dog:





I shared these with the RSPCA rescue shelter in Halifax where we got her years ago, they were very happy to see smiling dog and I like to let them know she's doing well.  She's now snoring in her bed, I expect doggy dream yips soon.  But, I have laundry to fold and put away.

TTFN and I hope the sun finds you soon if it hasn't already.

Photo spam

Know what happens when you go everywhere with your camera?  Sometimes you forget to take the photos off for a few weeks.

So what have I been up to?

Well, one morning I got the school bus to the pier for some (very) early morning fishing.  It took me to the end of pier road so I happily trotted down there and paid a visit to the war memorial.



It really was a fantastic morning:


Look at this water!


LOTI came in later that morning:


Kite surfers were enjoying the breeze:


I didn't catch a thing, but I did enjoy the views and had a nice chat with a seal.  When I got home I rinsed all my rods and tackle and put them out to dry.  This led to a strange little scene:


A little crop of spinners:


I didn't use all of these, but they'd all gotten a bit wet and best to wash off the saltwater to avoid rust.

Pippa was passed out on her bed when I got back


I tapped on the window a few times...




Daft dog!  She could NOT work out what was going on for a good couple of minutes.

That afternoon I stripped, sanded and painted the study window.  Here it is stripped and sanded, note that the wood has silvered due to being exposed for years.


Post paint:


That's both front windows done now and we've had some weather to test them too!  We had 77mph gusts last weekend and both windows kept the water out.

Last Saturday was the school gala day.  The sun was out and so were a fair chunk of Tiree's population.


Jo and I sold his homemade ice cream and sold over 65 cones worth!  There were only a few dropped scoops which Jo was happy to replace and we were both amused by children and adults wondering around licking their ice creams.

I've done a spot of spinning for a future museum display:






I'll document that better once I've taken some more snaps and done the final step (using the home-brewed lichen dyes!)

Tuesday I went fishing with our Minister and while we didn't catch anything we did have a great chat with each other and some folk waiting for the ferry.  The sunset that evening was amazing.


The tide was pretty high that evening and the Clansman is a bit taller than LOTI, this led to the long footramp looking rather steep:

Looked more like an escalator!

The sunset truly was stunning.




Amazing skies!


Yesterday evening I was out fishing again, what can I say, I love the calm and the cast.  Saw a flock (want to say shoal!) of eider ducks:




The darker ones are the females:


After three weeks of not catching a fish I caught easily twenty tiddlers!  Little pollack, little cod, little sea bass, possibly pilchard and something with a very dark green back.  I think the heaviest was maybe 6oz.  All survived and were thrown back.  There was a seal out herding them around the pier and I fully admit to throwing one catch straight to it.  It sounded a bit out of puff a few times!

In the knitting world I am working on a jumper for my Mum after a bit of a saga with getting the dye and a mystery Kaffe Fasset afghan that's proving...colourful.  I'm to knit 7 squares of each colour combination and the mystery will be how they go together.  This is clue 2:


VERY colouful.  Fortunately my recipient (who doesn't know they're getting it) is fond of colour so should like it :)

Next year I plan to knit every day's highest and lowest temperature into a blanket.  The original plan is two rows per day; one of the high and one of the low but I'm wondering about that and it may yet change.  The first pair of rows won't be until the 2nd January 2015 anyway.  It's an idea that's been around a while, mostly resulting in scarves.  I'm not a scarf wearer but I do enjoy a blanket to snuggle under.

My parents have bought me the wool to start it as a Christmas present.  In order to make sure I had it in plenty of time they sent me the money early.  Yesterday saw this huge packet arrive:


So many pretty colours:


After having a good squish and checking I like the colour range I have packed those up and put them aside ready for next year.  That's only the beginning!  While there is a very reasonable amount of wool there it won't last the year, but as I cannot predict next year's weather or temperatures I shall just be ordering more balls as an when needed.

Think that's it.

TTFN.

Birds, fish and yarn

I've been fishing!  Since my parents came over and we discovered how easy it was to fish off the ferry pier I have been bitten by the fishing bug.  Fortunately I have friends down the road with the same "illness" and so we go fishing once a week (weather permitting).

I've caught a fair few mackerel including a couple of 1lb'ers.  I've also pretty much broken my reel.  It's the bit that holds the line, and the handle is one that can be changed round depending if you're right or left handed.  Great idea except that the pin that holds the handle on popped out and the handle is made of a soft plastic.  Reeling in fish and general wear and tear has meant that the handle no longer sits as neatly as it should to its axle and so it breaks my split-pins and pops off regularly.  Dad's sending up a new reel to try and if I like it Jo can buy me one for Christmas.

I also caught a pollack!


Didn't initially know what it was but a bit of Googling and checking with folk confirmed pollack.  Our freezer is getting a nice stock of fish for the winter now, even with me having devoured three fish after grilling them.

It's lovely standing on the pier in the sun and just letting the world go by while you cast, reel in, cast, reel in, repeat.  I've seen a shoal of fins as common dolphins came up to surface.  I've seen cormorants diving and I've seen seals and razorbills.




These are adults in their winter plumage, hence the white bits at the side of the head/neck.

The razorbills were great for knowing where to cast!  You could see the sprats going frantic as the birds dived so I'd cast about 20 feet to the side of them and get mackerel!

I've finished a mystery knitalong afghan.

48 squares, each 8" square.

It went in the wash with other knits and then got a good sunning on the line:


The yarn is mostly acrylic and can be washed on a normal wash, but it makes up a load nicely.


The pattern called for about 5m of cabled edging that you then sewed on.  After 1.5m I realised I wasn't going to finish it that way so I did two rounds of treble crochet and it finished nicely.

There's a Kaffe Fasset inspired one started in October and I'm going to do it for a friend.  The yarn arrived last week and it's now all in my knitting basket awaiting clue one!



The recommended yarn would have been nearly £200 and I had heard from people who used it for the last knitalong that the colours bleed and while it is pure wool it's not really worth the price.  So I chose the turquoise colourway and substituted in more affordable yarns.  I think I did okay considering I had to use internet sites and rely on photos of colours rather than go to a shop.

I've been finishing projects in anticipation of this blanket.  Just have the edging on a lace stole to finish and keep me occupied until 1st October.

That's about it for now.  Autumn is definitely here, Winter's not far off, but we are doing better than last year so I'm not complaining.

TTFN