Grumpy Old Man - Update

No photo I am afraid.

But this morning as it was so cold and dark outside, he said he would like to spend the morning in bed reading his book and the rest of the day knitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far he has done an inch and a half, its not perfect but I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impressed, can't believe how well he has done, minimal help from me - he had a dropped stitch crisis last night, which is all mended now - :-)

Will try and remember an update photo tonight.

Grumpy Old Man Knitting

His first pair of socks, his first time using DPN's, his first time using needles under size 5mm

Just because I offered to teach him how to knit socks with 2 sets of circulars!

The knitting stayed firmly in his hands and not thrown across the room as I had expected, the football was un-watched and he couldn't come to bed as he had to finish his row!

Ally Pally

The chaos of Ally Pally has now died down, its almost under control.

Every time I do a big show I plan to write about it on the blog. But it never happens as soon as I get back to the farm I am surrounded by boxes that I have to sort through, yarn to put on-line, orders to fill, people to contact.

So here is Ally Pally - the only 2 photos I took in 5 days, both are taken early morning before the show, peaceful and blue, looking beautiful.
The rest of the time we were inside with you and our wool and chaos.



And our evenings were spent with our bestest woolly freinds eating, drinking and laughing lots, as always they make the shows a very special time.

Thank you woolly freinds - see you soon
Love Amanda
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Dear All

We are off to Ally Pally in about an hour, need to pack the van and go - very very excited - :-)
See you all there.

love Amanda

Bloody stupid cow!

Won't shut up, its not like she is ill or anything as the herd had a vet visit yesterday, she is just a gobby cow. And its not because she is shut in the barn as I can hear her from here when she is out on the marshes...

It took me a while to work out who the culprit was, as once she starts all the others join in.

It is the black one, as you can see from the photo, she is all sweetness and light, as soon as she thinks no-one will notice she starts again.

But they are very pretty girls, 7 calves this year, one of them last night, all 7 are boys, not a very good herd building execise, but this time next year there will be plenty of organic beef.

I wish I could say I was going to turn vegetarian because of them, as I will watch these little boys grow up, I guess knowing their destiny almost makes it ok. At least they have a happy life and will stay with their mummys until they are grown.

I just wish the bloody stupid black cow would shut up, but maybe I should be kinder maybe she knows the fate in store for her baby boy and is protesting to the world.

And....

There would be photos of cows but my posh new camera doesn't like its batteries, so will write that post later when I have new batteries....................

Clubs warning & THE show

Like a lot of woolly people at this moment in time we only have one thing on our minds..

THE BIG ONE - or Ally Pally as its better known

I dyed the 100 kilo's in 2 weeks!!!! and even better Val re-wound the 100 kilo's in 2 weeks - she really is superwoman. But I am still dyeing roving and yarn for kits.

We have 2 new sock designs, one is the super snuggly "Queenie's idiot sock" which you can buy as a kit and the other is "Dragon scales" I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked for the pattern and now thanks to a much appreciated brave designer I have it!
And the new Watercolour Bessie, the original (which I still haven't finished sewing up) is another group effort made by the Ravelry Bessie Knitters - what would I do without them??
So all this means, patterns to print, kits to make up, labels, sticky hook thingies etc etc etc
And then there's planning the stand, booking the van and so much more I can't even begin to think about!

And all the day to day stuff to do and wholesale

So the club warning is that the yarn is mordanted by as yet has been no where near a dye bath, I am hopeing to get it done over the weekend, but it might not be until we get back in which case they will be late this month.