Inspired

Today I'm writing later than usual.

This morning's routine has been skewed slightly by a visitor. This lady makes my heart soar. She is a truly  inspirational woman who came and gave her time freely and with passion. She came to help Ben.

 I know he's mine and you may think I'm biased but bear with me for a bit. Ben is an intelligent boy who struggles with his handwriting. On a good day it's barely legible. It seems school doesn't teach penmanship any more. As a leftie, no one took time to teach him how to form letters the left handed way. I'm a leftie too, and I have tried. But as a full time worker, by the time I get home from work and make tea he's tired and he's had enough. On and off I've tried at weekends, but I'm not a teacher and it's been difficult.

This lady works as a volunteer and his school. She has always had time for Ben. She's encouraged him to read books that interest him, not just the stories given to him by teachers that don't fire his imagination. She challenged the year six  children to read 6 books in 6 weeks and write a report about them. Ben didn't want to do it, but she convinced him to give it a go. He read 5 non-fiction books in 5 weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it. His reports were brief and concise. Perish the thought he'd write any more than he thought he needed to. He hates to write. I mean he hates it! I'm sure he feels that writing things down shows the world how bad his writing is, so he'll do anything to get out of it.

It turns out though, that these reports have been a wonder. They've opened up opportunity for Ben we might never have had. This wonderful woman knows things. She knows people. She's given her time to try and help Ben and I'm so happy.

For too long I've felt that Ben's intelligence has been locked behind a wall so high it can't get out.
That barrier is his processing. Getting his thoughts down on paper.

Well no more! Ben starts a new chapter in his learning career in September and we're drawing a line under all that has gone before. He has a fresh start, a new page, new opportunities to shine.

So thank you Wendy. Thank you for seeing past the paper and recognising the potential of a young man who wants to achieve great things.

 -------

On a lighter note it's been a great week at Camp Aloha Friends too. Our swap partners have been announced I have been matched with two truly inspirational women. Both hugely talented. I'm in awe! Nan is an excellent seamstress who has raised a truly inspirational daughter ;-) I'm looking forward to getting to know her better over the next few weeks. I've also been paired with Deb. You guys may have heard of her. I've been following her blog for a while now. It's a lovely read. A World of Imagination is beautiful. I love the way Deb sets out her writing. Her photography is gorgeous. 

She has inspired me to better with my photography. I'm going to try really hard to avoid photos of my sofa or my carpet! Bear with me though guys. I'm not the most creative of folk! 

Camp this week has been all about fabric. Posting off our yo-yo's, making skirts or pillowcases or both, and what to look for in a sewing machine. It's been lovely. I'm not confident with sewing. I've done a bit while I was at school, but produced nothing I'd be happy to show anyone. I have a machine. Mostly it mocks me! I'm having none of it! From now on, I'm the boss! I'll show this machine who's in charge! ....... Well I'm saying now, but it's probably going to be in a week or so! I'm off then and I plan to make it a very crafty fortnight!  To that end I've been shopping. I've bought supplies for my skirt. And some thread to make Chinese knots. I've also bought some yarn to weave with. Now, don't get me wrong, I know I've got DK weight yarn in my stash, but it needs to felt a little and all my yarn is superwash! 

I'm so excited so it what's to come. This next week could seem really long as I plan my time off. 

Feeling the love - 

This week I've spun my heart out. I finished spinning the BFL/silk blend from last week. I've decided to keep it as a single. At the moment it's resting on the bobbin. Mainly because I haven't plucked up the courage to wind it onto the niddy noddy and start to full it! I think I'll do that next weekend. That way the energy from the spin should have settled a bit. I'm kidding myself! I'm just scared silly of ending up with 100g of barf!

My spinning mojo was strong this week. I started spinning the second of my Nunoco jewel bug batts. This one is the gorgeous orange to pink batt. I've not got much to show you, so I'll leave that until next week too. 

On the knitting front there has been highs and lows. I've worked a lot on the sun ray shawl but there is nothing to see. I'm crossing rounds off the chart, but the shawl doesn't seem to be growing much now. I'm still loving it though, and I'm enjoying each and every chance I get to snatch some time with it. 

I also worked on my RainShine shawl. I cast it on last week if you remember. I've been happily working on the stocking stitch body of the shawl. Now, don't ask me why, but yesterday I decided to look at the pattern again. It does say you can use any weight of yarn but your yardage will obviously change according to the yarn you choose. I suddenly realised I didn't have nearly as much yarn as I'd need. I'd taken the laceweight yardage and decided that's what I needed for fingeringweight too! What a clanger to drop!

So now I'm back making it up as I go. I'm keeping a note of what I'm doing and I hope it will all come good in the end. The fabric I'm creating thus far is lovely. 

The sheen given by the silk and BFL are stunning and the cashmere content give a luxurious softness. I love this base!  The colours aren't bad either are they?!

My fyberspates gleem is undergoing another transformation. It seems like it didn't want to be Almost Autumn any more than it wanted to be Peacocks Feathers. Now it's going to be Heliophysics. 

With any luck the third time will be a charm and this will be the last pattern for this yarn!

Last night we went out as a family. It was the Penrith Agricultural Show yesterday. It's a big thing locally. Friends of ours always finish off the day with a barbecue. I took a huge dish of Bombay potatoes and some knitting! The potatoes went down a storm and I made great progress on Ben's socks while chatting. 

The weather here has been glorious all week and yesterday was no exception. I got 3 loads of washing done by mid afternoon. 

However

The curse of the British barbecue is not to be trifled with. By 9 o'clock the rain was dancing 2 feet off the pavements! It was REALLY wet! And not overly warm either! But on a positive note I did get to the heel turn of the sock before we lost the light completely. I sat this morning and turned the heel. 

On the Horizon - 

I'll work on most projects I'd say. I'll be gearing up to leave the dispensary for a fortnight, so I'll be spending a lot of time tying up lose ends and making sure that everyone knows what needs to be done while I'm away.  Hopefully despite all of this I'll have some good crafting time too. And looking even further ahead, I'll have 2 weeks of crafting to look forward to! 

It's my birthday soon. I've asked my other half to build me a summer house. I'm hoping that he can find the time to build it sooner rather than later. I'd love to have some space to call mine just for my crafting. I can't wait! Fingers crossed people!

So, have a great week folks. 

Until next time

Ellen x  

Oops I did it again!

Once again I must seek the forgiveness of the collective!

I missed blogging again last weekend! In my defense, I was a tad pre-occupied!

It's been a difficult fortnight. Friday was the end of the school year and marks the closure of a big chapter in my son's education. He's finished primary school now. It's very exciting for him to be moving schools and heading for the big smoke. He'll be going to a huge secondary school in town. There are more children admitted each year to his new school than there are in the whole of his old one! 

His new school is great. They put a lot of time and effort into making sure that the transition is as smooth as possible. Teachers go to the primary schools and do sample lessons, the kids go to their new school to experience a school day and meet their new classmates. Ben has been excited about this for months. But when it came to the crunch of going for the whole day, he had a bit of a wobble! Who can blame him? He's going to be a teeny tiny fish in a huge ocean!  In the end, he had a great day and all was well. His enthusiasm for moving schools has returned. Praise be!

Leaving his old school was stressful too. Not for him, for me. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say I'm also glad he's moved school. 

I have relied on my crafting to keep me sane over the last two weeks. I've achieved much. 

So let's get to the nittygritty. 

Feeling the love - 

Gosh, where to start!?

Well needless to say, the fyberspates gleem lace I unraveled in the last blog was quickly cast back on as Almost Autumn by Booknits. The Close to You collection it comes from is truely stunning and inspirational. I want to have ALL the shawls NOW!!! I was so taken with the patterns I may have bought her other collection too it's called the In Love collection and the shawls are as beautiful.

Wow!

On a more mundane front I've picked up, worked on, and put back down many of my WIP's in the last two weeks, my sock yarn and spiral blankets have both felt some love. They're getting big now, so a lot of time working produces little visible progress. But sometimes I like to mindlessly crochet so they will continue to see action for a while yet. 

Ben's socks have had some progress made. Mainly because he asked me how they where going and I had done nothing much with them since ripping them out! I took them with me to a production the school put on. Dear lord help me it wasn't good. It's was like interpretive dance. It mostly washed over my head. Essentially I think the point of the production was that the school had looked into what makes girls girls and boys boys. It's odd listening to a 5 year old explain what they understand of gender stereotype. I mean, does a 5 year old really need to be posed these questions at this stage of their life? I'm not sure. But at least that hour or so in the hot, sweaty and frankly smelly hall allowed me to make good progress on the foot of his sock. I'd say I'm probably about halfway towards the heel. 

The sun ray shawl has seen lots of action. I've completed chart C and now I'm racing to the top of chart D. I say racing, it's all relative really. The transition between charts saw the stitch count rise to 640. So one round takes quite a while to complete now. But I love the yarn, I love the fabric I'm producing and I love the pattern, so slogging my way through each round isn't a chore still.

I've spun some too. I'm halfway through a naturally coloured BFL/silk blend. I bought it last year at Woolfest, it's a commercially produced top which was sold from a huge bag you just ripped off as much as you wanted. I neglected to weigh the top before I started, but I think it's 100g. I weighed what's left this morning and I'm at 50g. I'm now stuck. I'm not sure if I want to carry on and spin the lot then chain ply it, carry on spin the lot and then ply it with a completely different and colourful single, change bobbins and do a simple 2 ply or spin the lot and leave it as a fulled single. 

Do you know? I'm going to make a poll on the knitstostaysane rav board. Let me know what your opinion is!

I've spun on my little spindles too. My Turkish lives at work and I'm loving how my turtle is developing. At home my alien spindle is bedding in. I'm still not overly happy with the length of time it spins for, but it spins fast and you can't have it both ways. So for spinning as thin as I want to go, it's fine and I'm enjoying it.

Friday just gone was particularly difficult. Lots of things made a particularly rubbish day. So I cheered myself up by casting on a new, beautiful project. What's one more WIP between friends?!

I'm using a beautiful yarn by Nimu. Now I'm telling you how gorgeous this yarn is, but the snag is you'll only get it in a de-stash right now. Sorry!

The lovely lady (who's name escapes me sorry!) who runs Nimu has essentially closed her shop. She's gone back to university. She now only dyes sporadically. She did offer a summer club to those who are on her mailing list. I can't recommend enough to you guys to sign up to that list, the opportunity to get your hands on some of this yarn can't be missed. 

Any hoo, I'm working with her Isel base. It's a fingering weight BFL/silk/cashmere blend which is pure joy to use. The fabric it's producing is nothing short of divine ! The lustre  and softness combines with stunning colour saturation to make for a wonderful knit. I knew this yarn must be
something special. So I cast on another Booknits creation. This time is Rainshine. I can't wait to see this finished. But equally I don't want to have to stop knitting this yarn and cast it off! It's lovely.

In other news, Camp Aloha Friends continues apace. Since I last wrote to you I have mainly been making yo-yo's. I may be a little obsessed with them now! 

As you can see, I'm well on my way to filling my second vase. We will have a little swap shortly so I must reign in my desire to use all of my circles. I need to pass some on to my swap partners! 

Craftiness know no bounds at camp! The main reason I didn't blog last weekend is because I spent the time I'd usually write to you making beads. It was such great fun. 

These cute little critters will be stitch makers soon...... Hum, maybe I'll do that this morning after I've finished my house work! 

There are many more things for me to do, I need to get my finger out and make myself a loom. It's so clever the way it's done, I just need to sit for a bit, collect my ingredients and crack on. The fabric we are going to weave will be needed later, so I'd like to make a start soon. 

Speaking of ingredients I cooked up a storm last weekend. I made ganache puddings, s'more clusters and a lovely vegetable soup. This weekend I think roast strawberries have been mentioned in camp, so I'll have to investigate that recipe too! Nom nom!!

On the Horizon - 

I have 2 weeks to go until my summer holidays start. I can't wait. I'm starting to get tired! So I'm counting down the days. 

On the crafty front, I'll see what you guys think about that spinning project.

I'll work on all of my WIP's. 

I'll crack on and finish processing that yarn I recycled a while ago. I sat and wound 1000yds onto the niddy noddy last night and there was no visible change to the ball!

I need to get on with it as I need it to be relaxed by September. I'll be starting a new KAL.  It's another Susan Pandorf pattern. This time we'll be knitting her In Dreams creation. You can find information about the KAL in the Evenstar KAL group on Ravelry. It's being organised by Annagret and CODfishh, if you want to join us, check out the thread on the group. The Evenstar KAL was great. A lovely group of people supporting each other with no pressure. 

So, enough pontificating. I'm off to get this day started!

Until next week (hopefully!)

Ellen x 

Sometime you gotta do whatcha gotta do

Good morning readers.

Welcome to another sunny day on Planet Earth. 

I hope the weather is treating you well wherever you are. For those of you in the US, I hope Endurance wasn't too destructive. 

This week has mostly been about clean starts. 

My evil cats from hell have mostly been bringing catches home and wreaking havoc in the house. We've had a rabbit, a shrew, a mouse and 2 birds. The only saving grace is that they do eat their catches. At least they aren't wasted. The snag with that is that I have to clear up fluff and feathers regularly! I should have stuck with the rats. Much less mess to clean!

I've also come to a major decision. Do you guys remember that shawl I've been knitting since January? Well I've been working on it all week. I mean religiously. If I've wanted to knit, I picked it up. I've completed half a repeat this week, which is no mean feat when you think that a pattern row and a purl row now take me 1/2 an hour to work. 

I discovered yesterday that somehow or other I'd managed to muck up this repeat, I'd worked the same pattern row twice. I don't know how I did it and keep the stitch count correct! But by the time I'd noticed the mistake was about 6 rows down and I wasn't about to tink back to fix it. No worries, I thought, it will be a longer leaf on this repeat. 

Well, last night I let the rats out for a run, and went to sit next to the cage with them. I took my knitting too. As I sat down, I yanked a load of stitches off the needles. Those stitches took one look at
me and ran for the hills. Me? I cried a little inside and then ripped the whole thing off the needles. I
decided it was a sign. I had been knitting venom into that shawl for months. I didn't enjoy the process of knitting it. Don't get me wrong, I loved how it was turning out, it's just that the process was sapping my happiness. I'm very much a process knitter. I think that's why I give so much of what I make away. It's the thrill of making the item that makes me happy.

So this is the peacock's feather shawl this morning. 

But I'm not glum. The pain, disappointment and frustration of frogging is soothed by the thoughts of a new project. This yarn is too lovely to languish in a ball for long. Yesterday there was a truely stunning shawl on the front page of Ravelry. It was a beautiful white lace affair made by Izi. The pattern was called Snow Angel and it was from a collection called Close to You by Boo Knits. 

WOW!!!!

I had to buy the ebook there and then. A measly £9 got me 5 stunning patterns. Truely beautiful works of art.

And so the Peacock's Feathers will become Almost Autumn. 

Feeling the love - 

Clearly the Peacock's Feather has been given a lot of attention this week, but next to no love!

But all is not lost. I have worked on other things. 

My sock yarn blanket continued to grow. I made myself promise that when I finished the ball I was working on, I'd put it down and work on something else. It has been absorbing most of my time for a while now

I was a good girl, I joined a new ball and set it aside. 

The desire to crochet all the blankets was strong, however!  A trawl through Pinterest (and another hour lost!) saw me try to figure out how to make a spiral blanket. You must understand, dear readers, that crochet is not my natural state! It took a bit of working out, but I'm rather pleased with myself!

As you can see, it's a tad frilly in the middle. I was increasing too many stitches in each round to start with. I've settled in to 8 increases now, and I'm hoping that the excess fabric will stretch out a bit as the blanket grows. I'm using four 400g balls of acrylic/wool blend. It's cheap and cheerful and ideal for blankets that are going to be lived with. 

The rest of my crafting week has been focused on what promises to me my latest obsession. 

Those of you who are at Camp Aloha Friends with me may have an idea already. 

Yo-yo's!

No! Not the spinny things on string! 

Yo-yo's! You know, little pieces of gathered fabric

Get me?! Fabric!!!!

The lovely Deborah from WhipStitch has shown  me the light. Now, I'm not saying that from now on my sewing machine and I are going to be best buddies (it's mocking me from where it's sitting on the living room floor as I write!), but I'm really enjoying this project. 

The joy of camp is that I'm getting to try out things I'd never even contemplated before! 

So, do you remember a while ago I decided to make a project bag? I started out by trying a dummy run with recycled jersey material - FAIL! Well, since then the beautiful fabric has been sitting on my work box sighing at me. Longing to be made into something lovely. 

Then along came yo-yo's. I bit the bullet and cut up that lovely fabric into 120 circles. I also may have bought a couple of fat quarters from Woolfest to complement the fabric I already had.

That also got chopped up giving me a grand total of 180 circles measuring a stunning 7cm high!

I started to stitch. I quickly realised I'd made a boo boo. Once my yo-yo's were made, you couldn't see the lovely patterns. 

But I like the colours, and at least the fabric is being used rather than sitting in a carrier bag. 

My first evening saw me make a good handful

The project suggested for us to make is a shadow box to hang on the wall. Wall space is at a premium in my house, so I lost another hour on Pinterest (sigh!) and came up with the cunning plan of a cushion cover. I also saw a stunning method of storing my lovely yo-yo's 

Flowers are a rarity in my house, so I think this is a much better use of my vases!

On the horizon- 

More yo-yo's!

A new shawl!

Crochet blankets-arama!

I think I'm going to rip out that sock of Ben's that was too small and start again. 

So, lovely readers - have a great week. 

PS - here's what I've been listening to while I wrote to you this morning!

Ellen x 

A good weekend was had by all

Good morning good people.

Are you well? 

What a week!

I paid the price for forging on last weekend. I went to work on Monday and was utterly exhausted. By the end of the day I had nothing left at all. I took Tuesday off sick and didn't go to a meeting I had planned on Wednesday. I slept for near enough two days. I felt basically human again come Wednesday night. Note to self - when you're sick, give up and go to bed when your body tells you! Else it's much worse in the long run! 

Thursday I went back to work and Friday was the start of Woolfest! The tenth anniversary year was a great one. Lovely stalls and lovely people. 

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I meant to. The two days seemed to pass me by! Friday was my day. I helped the organisers through the day, but essentially I could go where my heart pleased. I watched the rare breed parade commentated on by Peter Titley who is the president of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust; a man passionate about the preservation of our native breeds of sheep. It was lovely to see the variety of sheep who live on our shores. I may have seriously thought if it was possible to slip out with a Hebridean! 

I mean?! Why wouldn't you?! They're so small and cute!! Those horns might scratch if you're sneaking out with one under your jumper though!

My friends arrived on Friday night ready to hit Woolfest hard on Saturday. We watched the shearing demonstration first, there was so much knowledge and expertise in that ring. Wonderful to watch. 

Then a quick bite of lunch - Herdwick mutton kofta- yum! Then more helping out. One of my jobs was to help at an auction. Woolfest visitors where asked to craft an animal which bears fibre to donate to the auction. Proceeds went to the Allerdale Red Squirrel Society. I'm never doing it again!!! I ended up buying two lots!! A lovely massam brooch and a lazy camel! Still, it's for a good cause. We raised about £700! 

Social media has been awash with folk showing their haul this weekend. Mine is really rather tame! I wanted an Alien spindle. It's a cunning modular spindle system. The one I bought is 3D printed and 

very light weight. It comes with 3 whorls a shaft and 3 "bobbins". I love the colourful nature of the 

kit and although it doesn't spin for very long, I'm enjoying it. The other thing I wanted was a mini Turkish spindle. I found one at IST. It can best be described as a thing of beauty. I didn't want fibre. I've got loads at home that I really need to work through. But when you've just bought 2 new spindles you need to try them out then and there, yes?!  So I went to Hilltop Cloud and bought one of her tiny batt bumps. A snap at £3 - just enough fibre to play with and not have to wrestle with a huge batt or a long braid. On the boring front, I needed a drive band for my Kiwi. I also vowed that I didn't need yarn. FAIL!! I bought a lovely skein of Titus from BaaRamEwe along with a pattern for lovely mittens, and a skein of Teasdale lace weight from the Yarn Garden. Beautiful yarn to make beautiful things. Snag is I want to cast them all on NOW!!

I also bought a button. Just the one. It's made from African ox horn and it's stunning. I bought it in the vain hope it inspires me to cast Hana Hou back on!

As hauls go , I thinks it's really rather tame!

The best thing as ever about Woolfest are the people. I met up with Joanne and her husband. They had travelled all the way from Oregon. They are lovely people and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them. I was so worried that Woolfest wouldn't hold it's own against the big American fibre shows. Joanne assured me she enjoyed her trip. I hope to be able to stay in touch with her. 

This isn't the best photo in the world - my 11 year old was in charge! Ah well!

Feeling the love -

The virus from hell sapped all my mojo for the majority of the week, but a lot of my projects seem to have grown recently so I'll update you with photos. 

Ben's second pair of socks have proven to be a disaster. I cast off the first sock on Saturday evening and it doesn't fit. It's way too tight. Give me strength. The last pair I knit him, I increased to 60 stitches and they are too baggy. So this time I increased to 56. FAIL!!! I'll continue with the second sock and then give them away to some slim footed person! 

Also getting attention recently is the sock yarn blanket. In all fairness, it's seen the most action. The other day, when breathing seemed to take way too much effort, I faffed about and made 3 huge balls of sock yarn. I was sick of all my odds and sods falling out of my project bag so I magic knotted almost all of them into 3 gigantic balls. I've nearly finished one this week. It's starting to look really rather pretty. I'm happy with how it's turning out. 

The sun ray shawl ahas seen some action too.  I had thought I was making great progress until I realised I was only on row 82 of 258! Sigh

But it is looking pretty. 

On the horizon -

I desperately need to catch up on some housework. :-(

I'll continue to work  on the blanket, shawl and socks. 

I will resist the urge to cast on anything new with my shiney yarn, but I'm promising nothing!

Here's a quick montage of the weekend - enjoy!

Wandering

Hello there guys.

It's been two weeks, sorry about that! Trying to get any 'me' time has been nigh impossible recently.

The week before last week Ben was on residential with school in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. He arrived home on Friday night tired and happy. He had had a good week, and had done many fun things. The one thing he was most excited about was downhill mountain biking. He loved it! I'm just glad I hadn't realised he was doing it, else I would have worried about him breaking bones!

He also completed a high ropes course. I am so proud of him. He has quite bad vertigo, so for him to get round a course 20 feet off the ground is great work!

Last Saturday was a catch up kind of day. The sun shone and washed anything that stayed still long
enough! I was exhausted and happy at the end of the day.

Sunday saw Ben compete in another karate competition. It was a smaller event than his last competition - just between the 3 clubs his sensei runs. It was good experience for him and he enjoyed it. I feel that he did better this time.

Next came a week at work. Nothing exciting, just the usual. Well, until Friday at any rate. Friday was helllish. Thursday I woke up and realised something was brewing. My immune system was gearing up for something big. By Thursday night I knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Come Friday I wanted to curl up into a ball and stop in bed. In my line of work, that isn't an option I'm affraid. So I went to work feeling like death warmed over. I don't think it's flu, but it's one of the worsts colds I've ever had. The day seemed like it would never end.

I should have coached swimming that night, but I decided discretion was the better part of valour and went to bed instead. I knew I had to be functioning on at least one cylinder by Saturday.

Saturday was Diddy League day. The team was off to Kendal in the afternoon to swim what could be the last gala of the season. The team did so well. All of the coaches are so proud of them. We  scored a record 98 points and came third. We've never come third at a Kendal gala yet! So chuffed! We may even reach the finals! Everyone keep everything crosed for us please.

And here we are on Sunday. It's a beautiful day on planet earth. The virus from hell continues to taunt my phagocytes and lymphocytes and I'm sitting on a picnic bench at Kirkbride Airfield just outside Wigton.

I'm a little bit gutted to be honest. Last week when all was well my Dad rang and asked if Ben would like to go flying. So obviously if Ben goes flying, I go flying. Once upon a time I sat in the co-pilot seat and got to have a go. Sadly those days are over and now Ben gets to do that and I sit in the back
and knit!

As it happens one of the delights of this particular infection is a seconday ear infection that's currently brewing, so going up in a light aircraft is probably not the best plan in the world. In my place is Ben's uncle Tony. Now, amongst other things, Tony has a Commercial Balloon Pilot's Licence but has never flown in a light aircraft so he was keen to go. I bet he wanted a chance to get his hands on the yoke, bless!

Still, as I write this he's hopefully taking lots of photos I can include in the blog.

So here I am burning slightly (neglected to bring suncream!) enjoying a brew and a fabulous view. I can hear umpteen birds singing, there are butterflies fluttering around me and a gentle breeze gusting to keep me cool. So far there has been a chipmunk do a touch and run, three microlights have landed and a gyrocopter has taken off for a lesson.

So to the title of this week's blog. It took a while, sorry!

Last Sunday was also the kick off to Camp Aloha Friends. I'm delighted that we're off and running. It's been a gentle introductory week. The overriding theme of camp is to look around you with fresh eyes. Wander around, look and see. 

Feeling the love - 

In the last two weeks I've been knitting my little heart out. 

I've finished the charity full moon socks and they've been won by one of my customers

I also finished the Twisted Limone socks and they've been donated to my MIL. She is a most deserving recipient for hand knit socks.

Also feeling the love this week are my sock yarn blanket and my sun ray shawl. I haven't got new photos yet, but I'll get some for next time. 

While Ben was away he wore the socks I made for him a while back. He liked how they fit so I'm making him a new pair. He chose a ball of Regia in a tonal blue colour. They'll be a plain vanilla sock, nothing fancy. 

On the Horizon - 

Next week is Woolfest. I'm so excited I could burst!! I've got an idea of what I'm looking for and I'm desperate to get stuck in. I can't wait to sit in the main ring and watch the demonstrations while I knit or spin.  I can't wait to meet new folk and people who have travelled from afar. 

On the crafting front, I can't wait to see what Mel has in store for us at camp this week. I'll be 

working on my shawl and blanket and more than likely Ben's socks too. 

Lastly here are my wanderings for the week

Have a lovely week, I'll report back next Sunday. 

Heart Broken

Good afternoon readers.

I'm late blogging this week, I've been away on my jollies. As I mentioned last week, we went to Centre Parcs. We had a lovely lodge right on the edge of the site. We were not far from a pond where ducks and moor hens are nesting. These little cutties don't mind about being surrounded by people.

Mummy duck wasn't bothered at all by me crouching down and taking a photo. Baby ducks didn't even bother to look around to see what was looming behind them.

The whole of the site is carefully managed woodland. There are lots of different habitats; the flora and fauna are amazing.

Beautiful flag iris.

Every morning, we had a knock on the patio door - 

Mummy and Daddy duck came asking for breakfast. Once it was served the babies came to tuck in

I'm not a huge fan of feeding baby ducks bread, I'm sure I read somewhere it swells in their stomachs, so I made sure they had a bowl of water handy to wash it down.

And if there's water around then ducks will do what ducks will do!

Why wouldn't you go for a swim in a bowl of water!?

We had a lovely walk each day around the site.  Ben found a little bridge someone had made over a brook. It was constructed from small branches. He assured me it was quite solid and safe. I assured him, it was unlikely to have been built with the likes of me in mind!

There are also lots of new carvings which have appeared since our last visit.

This bench is stunning. Amazing work.

On the Friday afternoon, after we settled into the lodge, the boys went to explore. I did what comes naturally, I made a brew and sat down to enjoy the afternoon and some knitting.

Here I'm working on the second Hana Hou sleeve (sob!!)

Friday night was the night of my charity walk. Jean and I completed the 5 mile course in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Not bad I think. I worked on socks to raffle as I walked.

Here we are just as we set off. Saints preserve us!  This year was a full moon walk and we were all to wear neon, hence the rather fetching head and wrist bands! I made good progress on the knitting too.

It was 12:30 am by the time I got back to Centre Parcs. The lovely security guards helped me park my car and then gave me a lift back to my lodge so that I didn't have to find my way back alone. A huge thank you to those guys!

Once back I treated myself to a glass of wine and a chill

I thought I'd work a few more rows on the sock, but I realised that I'd dropped a stitch near to the end, so I just worked to fix that, and decided it was too late to do more than that!

But I don't think that I did too bad for one 5 mile walk:

I had actually worked the toe while we waited to set off, I think increasing for a toe while walking might have been a step too far!

Saturday was a lazy day, we were all up late, and then sauntered to the pool for a swim. That afternoon saw Ben and I do archery. He loves it and he's really rather good at it.  Now he's older, we could join an adult class. It was great. The tutor watched you shoot and gave you tips on how to improve. We'll be back for more next time I'm sure!

Sunday involved more swimming and then quad biking for the boys. It was billed as a quad bike safari, and it was VERY off road Matthew says. Ben got a bit scared at one point when the bike had to tip really far, but they had a great time. They both want to do it again.

As usual, the food was good. I think the best part for me was not having to think about cooking for 4 

whole days!

Yesterday (Monday) Ben was off on a school residential to Scotland. It meant an early start, a yomp to the car, a quick drive back home, pick up his suitcase for the trip and then drop him off at school. Once I'd suitably embarrased him by demanding a kiss goodbye in the playground, I drove back to Centre Parcs to pack up the lodge. Matthew and I then had a couple of quiet hours by the pool before heading home.

That was when this week's title comes into its own! After I'd set the washing machine off, walked the dog and made tea, I settled down to finish Hana Hou. Those who follow me on Instagram or Twitter know what's coming. This week I've worked on the last sleeve. When I finished the first one, I realised yarn was going to be short - so short I did't have enough to add the cuffs, but I was happy with the length as it was, so no matter. As I worked the second sleeve, it quickly became aparant that playing yarn chicken was in order. 

I kept going, keeping positive thoughts at the forefront of my mind.

It was going to be fine, I could squeeze this 

Don't panic, I could weave in ends and magic knot the odds and sods together 

No, don't be stupid - that would look awful on the sleeve cap - SO obvious

I resigned myself, with one increase repeat and the cap to go - it wasn't happening

I couldn't stretch this any further

A heartbreaking hour later and this is what I have

Hana Hou is completely ripped out and in time out! 

As the Carolina Fiber Girls would say FoReal!?!?!?

I did pin what I had together to try it on and it was way too big. My swatch was bang on, but I think that the stone of weight I've lost since casting on has given way too much ease. So, I'll cast on again, this time the next size down. 

Not yet, but soon.

Right now, just looking at that photo gives me pain. 

Feeling the love - 

Not Hana Hou that's for sure!

I've worked a lot on the charity socks. I finished the first sock on the Saturday night (ah the joys of the 6-ply sock yarn!)

I'm also making good progress on the Twisted Limone stripy socks. I've finally found the tag and if anyone wants to know, the colour is called Bitter Sweet. Bitter sweet they are too. They don't fit me (bitter) they do fit my wonderful MIL Jean (sweet) who utterly deserves hand knit socks.

I have done a couple of rounds on the Sun Ray shawl. I love how it's turning out, I love working on it, it's just a shame that at the moment finding enough snatched quiet moments to work on it is proving difficult.

On the horizon - 

I may, or may not, cast on Hana Hou again. *sigh*

I will work on the charity socks, I'd love to finish them off this week

I will continue to work on the stripy socks, but I'm in no rush to finish them, I'm just enjoying the knit

I'd like to say I'll work on the Sun Ray shawl, but we'll see

I'm hoping to start a new crochet blanket. I've got the yarn in stock, and I'd love to turn it into something special. I've seen something on Pintrest I'd like to have a go at, but I need to knobble my crochet guru at Knit Night tonight and work out how to start it off! More details hopefully next week.

OOOHHHHH!!!!!! OOOOHHHHH!!!!!! CAMP ALOHA FRIENDS Bunkhouse alocations happen this week!

I'm looking forward to meeting the guys who'll be bunking with me in the Winnebago Wanderers bunkhouse. 

Can't wait to see what's in store!

Have a great week, 

Ellen x 

So excited I could burst!!

Before I go any further, please press play below.

You can share what I hear as I type

Firstly I want to say - SSSSQQQQQQUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week I received 110 page views of the blog in ONE day!!!!! I was thrilled!!

I confess, I do check to see how many folk have popped in regularly, and I was so excited to see the number creep past 100!

T H A N K    Y O U !!

Today is a beautiful day.  I'm sitting outside on my MIL's swing seat. It's a warm, sunny day.  There are clouds in the sky but the sun is shining and the wind is just stirring the trees.

I've already been out and walked the dog. He decided it was too much like hard work to  chase his ball! He wouldn't even carry it. Silly dog

As we passed Mr Longmire's field he was training his new sheepdog.

A proper dog!

As this week's title suggests, I'm quite excited. Today is the first day of June. It's going to be a great month.

On Tuesday Deramores.com announces the winners of their blog awards. I'm confident I won't have won, but I'm excited to find out which blogs have. There was so many great entries, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

Next week we go for a short break. A long weekend in effect. I've taken a day's holiday on Friday so that I can get us packed and ready to set off.  We're going all of 5 miles to a holiday resort called Centre Parcs. It's a gorgeous place set into a forest. We've been before and Ben loves it. Snag is, it's expensive to go when the schools are on holiday. I mean stupidly, disgustingly expensive. I understand the theory of supply and demand, but there's racketeering too! 

Ben often asks when we'll go again, and I keep saying that while his dad is at University we just can't afford it. But a couple of weeks ago I looked online for last minute deals and there it was! Cheap 

enough that we can go! Ssssssshhhhhh though! Don't tell Ben, it's a surprise!

I can't wait!!!

The start of June also means that Camp Aloha Friends is just around the corner. Mel has been keeping the suspense going by introducing our Camp Councillors over the last couple of weeks. I'm so excited I could burst!!

THEN!!!!!!!!!!....... two weeks after camp opens, Woolfest is on!!! I've already ordered my tote bag. For those of you going this year, check out the Ravelry group and the website! I've planned my route and my must see vendors. If you spot me, come say hi, we can have a brew and a knit!! On Saturday there will be a charity auction of woolly creations. I'll be there from 2pm helping unite folk with their won auction lots.

Feeling the love - 

I feel like I've been productive this week.

I finished and blocked my Path Less Traveled shawlette. I used the body off the Piper's Journey and added my own lace pattern to the edge. I was a little worried about  how it was going to turn out, but a good blocking cures all.

I'm happy with how it turned out.

The turning of the months meant I felt a sudden urgency to get Hana Hou off the needles. I've made good progress this week, I'm working on the collar now. I must say that I'm starting to get a little windy though. 

I've only got 2 skeins left of my yarn and I have both sleeves to do and the collar to finish. I got the back out of about 2 1/2 skeins, so I'm desperately hoping that the sleeves will take significantly less than one skein each.

Now I've joined the shoulder seams (Mel, you'd be so proud of me! I've done a reasonable job!) I can have a loose attempt at trying it on. I pinned the side seams a little and gingerly put it on. I have to confess that I was a little worried about the fit as I was working on the body, I'm a tad larger than the largest patterned size, and I was hoping that the positive ease would give me a little wiggle room. I needn't have worried. There's plenty of room. I think it's going to turn out to be the lovely squishy cardie I wanted it to be.

It is now, however, not a very portable project. As I've finished the shawlette too, I cast on the second of my self striping socks this morning as I walked the dog. There's no picture as it's the smallest piece of knitting in the world!

On the Horizon - 

Friday the 6th June sees me walking to raise funds for Hospice at Home. 

As I walk I will be knitting a sock to raffle. If anyone wishes to donate on my Just Giving page they will be entered into the raffle for those socks. If you comment that you've donated on the blog from May 18th you will also be entered into a draw to win a pair of custom made socks! It's a truly worthy cause.

Next week's blog may be a little late, I plan to write on Monday when I get home. I will be online though, so I'll be tweeting and Instagramming my progress over the weekend.  

I plan to take Hana Hou with me to knit in the evenings, the sock for poolside knitting, and either the Sun Ray shawl or another new project for a change of pace.

Have  a wonderful week,

Until next time

Ellen x