My lovely Holiday - The end

As I will never find the time to write the rest of my holiday, here it is in photos, bet you have guessed the theme by now - it involves a tiny black car, my one enviromental sin in life - :-)

Day 3 - Chur, Switzerland to some where on the border with Italy

Chur - McDonalds Pyramid (Ibis Hotel) - Underground carpark

Somewhere in the Swiss Alps
Mountain Pass
Top of the pass, scared DH, one of my aimbitions was to drive the zoom over the Alps, got rather good and fast at it by the end of the day.
Hotel - who knows where, on the Italian side of the San Bernadino pass.

Day 4 - Lago Maggiore

Posh hotel in Alassio, Italian Riviera

Margaritas on the terrace over looking the Med

Day 5 - St Aygulf, French Riviera, spent many happy days here as a teenager.

On the way here DH drove part of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit (one of his aimbitions), when its not full of formula ones, its actually a busy town centre.

Hotel - St Tropez - again a place I knew from my teenage, spent our 21st wedding anniversary eating fish soup watching the yachts in the harbour

Day 6 - The hypermarket at Le Foux (near St Tropez), Stocking up on a few bottles of wine.


Day7 - somewhere in France, forgot to take a hotel photo, who knows where we were?

A supermarket in northern France, stopped for some drink as all our water had boiled on the way through Paris
And home.

Hopefully will do it again next year, our next stop will be Rome and I will try to take more photos rather than forgetting too as I was too busy enjoying zooming.

My mother update - long & miserable, but hopeful at the end.

My big baby Feppy came home this weekend to see Granny, when we came out of the nursing home yesterday afternoon Feppy said "this could be the last time I see Granny alive".
So I dropped her off at the station and went to find Fred who still didn't know about Granny and I still didn't know where he was, I only had Daisy's very vague directions to go on.
Amazingly enough I found the right house first time, but Fred decided he wasn't comeing home as he still had computer enemies to kill and his mates parents don't come home until tomorrow night.

So I drove home from Ipswich to an empty house on my own (Phil and Dais had gone to a music thing in the park at Halesworth - Phils home town).
By the time I got to Woodbridge I had a big lump in my throat, managed to get home before I broke down, watched the ebay auctions through tears. Let me explain its not just my mother, my beloved cat has disappeared, he normally goes on trips in the summer but always comes home after a few weeks, its now been a few months and I don't think he's coming home.
I don't know who I was crying for him or her or I rather think both.

Anyway as I sat on my comfy sofa with my lap top and drank a few medicinal glasses of red wine, I realised I have it easy.
I have been talking about supporting an Afghan charity ever since I had my carpet for my birthday and so searched google. I found a US one its called women for women,
http://www.womenforwomen.org/
basically you sponsor one women with £13 per month, she gets money to feed her kids and is given education and help to look after and support herself and make her life better. The women come from war torn countries where their lives are impossible to equate with ours.
So I filled in my sponsor form this morning and paid my money and now have to wait possibly 12 weeks until they find my "sister", I'd like her to be from Afghanistan, my second 2 choices were Iraq and Rhwanda, both places I have watched on the TV and been horrified what was happening.

I can't help my mother anymore, my cat I will cry about for a long time, but I can help someone who is really suffering, so am feeling much better about the whole world.
Following in my Granny's footsteps - she was Bessie of the Bessie's Blanket club fame.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Natural-Dye-Studio-Bessies-Blanket-Crochet-Throw-Club_W0QQitemZ280081180410QQihZ018QQcategoryZ83944QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
I might not be knitting, but I am sure she would approve whole heartedly.

Trauma - not about my mother

But about the fact I can do difficult things, but struggle with easy things, like I can't work the video player and yet I can build and run my own website and have been doing so for years.

Anyway this trauma is about a very simple knitting design/stitch I think its called feather and fans or something like that, I know it as wavy.


It started back in february when I decided I would knit a cardi in alapca/silk DK, which is one of my favourite yarns.


I had already finished one long cardi in the alpaca/silk, had the sleeves sewn on and everything, I tried it on and hated it so pulled it down (or is it frogged it), was left with about a kilo of beautiful but wobbley yarn.


Originally I couldn't get the measurements right for the stitch, my tension square was either too big or too small, but I went for it anyway after a few inches the bottom edge measured 75 inches, I know I have a big bum, but its not that big! so I pulled it down again and made it smaller after a few inches it measured about 39 inches, not quite big enough around the bum to get a nice drape.


So for the next few months I knitted and frogged, knitted and frogged.


My last attempt looked good until I realised that after a few rows I had 10 more stitches than I should.

By this time my kilo of yarn was looking fairly manky and I decided I was cursed as far as wavey and alpaca/silk went.

But then it could be because I was knitting rather than crocheting, I find crochet much easier and can make very complicated medallion thingies. So I started crocheting and below you can see the result, I am still going horrifically wrong, should have 7 stitches in between the increase and decrease, sometimes its 7 or 8 or 6 or even 5.

And about 7 inches up I decided to turn it into a jumper instead of a cardi - now I am really going wrong as I joined the 2 edges together and am crocheting in a round, have decided I don't care anymore, am just going to finish and wear it! I suspect the points will turn into stripes in the next few inches......

So if you meet me at the farm or a show and I am wearing a bizarre jumper type thing, just remember the trauma I went through to make it.

My Mother

My mother had a stroke in march, and apart from a brief interlude in a nursing home where she seemed to be happy, but developed a chest infection and was taken back to hospital, has been in hospital since then.
Not well enough to go home, but not ill enough to be in hospital.
If you are not ill its a soul destroying place and it seems like her soul is destroyed, she has decided to refuse all further treatment, has so many things wrong with her, she needs to be on medication.
She knows what it means, but is stubborn and has dug her heels in.
The family wants her to fight, but she has had enough.
Its difficult to know how I feel.
Sad as I know the inevitable outcome, but so frustrated with her and trying to repect her wishes.
The girls feel the same, Fred doesn't know yet, is at a mates house plugged into his PC until saturday, trouble is his mate has just moved and we have no idea of the phone number.
Confused, irritated and sad.

Simply Knitting & USA Ebay shop

Am still trying to sort myself out after the Woolfest, have realised that dyeing in 100 gm skeins is much easier, why have I been doing it in 50gms for so long???
So now have to re-dye all the show stock.
Will be in the August edition of simply Knitting, or is it September - anyway it comes out the 16th of August, think I am excited, but who knows what its about, when I was interviewed the photographer spent about half an hour photographing me, just know the photo is going to make me look like my mother.......

Also re-opened the American Ebay shop
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Natural-Dye-Studio-UK
Need to fill it to the brim to get it on the first page of the stores directory, luckily I have all the 50 gm skeins from the show stock.....

Woolfest

I am back, have been since monday, still totally exhausted and nowthink I'm getting a cold.

Well the Woolfest was very cold and wet, especially if you sleep in a tent, thank goodness Vicky had bought me a pair of crocs for my birthday, they really are perfect for the english summer.

BUT THE WOOLFEST WAS ALSO FANTASTIC!

If any of you get the chance to go next year we will (hopefully) see you there.I met lots and lots of lovely people, (if you were one of them please excuse me for not mentioning names, as I said still very tired and now snotty too).

I got interviewed by Simply Knitting and had about a 400 hour photoshoot, as the photographer couldn't get a good smileing shot - well its not my fault I am fat and 40 and hate having my photo taken!!

Also discovered the site was mentioned in Simply Knittings website page, its a fantastic write up!

Now have lots of people asking for wholesale rates, so you never know our yarn might find its way into a shop near you.

Left the stall in the capable hand of (DD) Daisy and her lovely boyfriend Craig, who have both just finished a performing arts course and are major drama queens, both also totally dyslexic and number blind.

Bad move you may think, BUT they make a fabulous double act, charmed the customers and managed to not make any major financial mistakes.

They are both promising to come and help man the stall at Ally Pally, he from his dance degree in Winchester and she from her creative writing degree in Liverpool, I hope they do, but we will see.....

Craig got his photo taken by a badger lady who put him on her blog, notice he is wearing one of our mercury hats.

http://knittingbadger.blogspot.com/

Met lots of sheep, have decided I want a Herdwick as they are so pretty, I don't think the wool is very soft, but they are so pretty...

And lets face it it would be a pet and would have to have company,maybe a Blue Faced Leicester who are not very pretty and too common to be at the Woolfest and maybe a mohair goat and and and....

The Mohair goats looked remarkably like Ted Bad Poodle when we haven't got around to cutting his fur for a couple of months, of course he is brown and doesn't have horns, but they even had the same expression of resigned misery with the world, I guess they don't eat live rabbits and sleep on the sofa when you are not looking.

Also met the Alpacas and angora rabbits, both totally bizarre animals.

Has anyone else met a angora rabbit? very difficult to tell head from tail! DH has a much better photo on his phone, you can see its little pink nose which gives the whole game away. I'd be much more amused if these were eating my dye plants at the farm, at least if we caught some they would be useful.

Met my supplier (at last), went for drinks with him and his girlfreind, DH had to walk back down to Cockermouth the next morning to collect the car!

For some reason he thought it would be ok to drive at 5am, I didn't even realise he had gone until half awake I heard the car come back, didn't realise he hadn't come back into the tent until 7 am, when I found him parked neatly and fast asleep, said he was warm and dry, which is more than I can say for the tent.

And also met and talked to some of my competitors, I have never done this before, all the shows we have ever done in the past have been very bitchy affairs, lots of spying and hiding of exhibitor name tags.

It was such a breath of fresh air, everywhere genuine smiles and freindly like minded people.

Still probably have much to tell, but no time, have to go and do the post, which is Daisy's job, however she and Craig are still away, last heard from in Oban, where apparently they went skinny dipping - told you they were both mad!!

Hopefully they have enough money to make it home...

Ipswich Group visit

Last saturday the Ipswich knitting group came to visit me at the farm, I had expected 3 or 4 ladies, but turns out there were hundreds - :-)
It was lovely to fill the farm and have an audience to waffle at.
Sharon took photos, which she has put on her blog, she tells the story much better than me.
http://shazzas-blog.blogspot.com/

Ladies - its was lovely I really enjoyed having you here and please feel free to come back when you have the time.

Tea cosies

Its my birthday and I feel about 922 instead of 44, still 100 kilos of wool to dye and 2 weeks to go.

I am determined to get it all done, but maynot make the Woolfest personally due to exhaustion.

Still on a lighter note i thought I would share what I am doing, I used to be an artist with an artists brain, while working on one piece the next was developing on from it and was always going to be better than the last. Now I am doing it with Tea cosies, not that I ever use one, but they are a perfect canvas to work with, I would like to make hats but no one will ever want to wear what I make, so tea cosies are perfect.

So far I have a basic chunky knitted cosy body, which I started off decorating with crochet silk flowers.

I then moved on to a single flower, which you really need to see from the top.

Then of course the ubiquitous pom pom cosy, not very exciting, but had to be done.

This in turn lead me to the loopy stitch, the effect of which I love, so many possibilities.

And then due to the fact I have bought a trillion wooden beads wholesale, don't know what I will do with them, but love beads.

Have now moved to crochet, think I like crochet better than knitting, only one stitch to drop, stupid me didn't work out the basic cosy first and after starting too small to get it over the pot, I had to pull it down and add some more stitches. Decided to add an extra 10, why I don't know as I only needed an extra inch and with 3 stitches to the inch.....

Well you get the picture! It might look alright, but under the bottom layer of floppy bits its very baggy.

Back to the drawing board, have the next idea in mind, but will work out the basics first - Watch this space.

My lovely holiday pt 2

I have almost forgotten what we did so here is day 2 of my lovely holiday (and a few photos).

Day 2
Germany, Austria, Liestenstein ( obviously spelt wrong) and Switzerland.



Left hotel

Drove through Strasbourg in the rush over, over the Rhine into Germany, I got to drive the autobahn with my little fat foot firmly on the floor, 100 mph in the slow lane, could have spent the rest of my life driving around Germany on the autobahn eating up petrol.

A German service station (told you the photos were exciting!)

Over the top of the Bodensee, through the cherry orchards, if only we were a few weeks later....

Into Austria

A quick supermarket stop for Austria cough syrup, DH decided he had man flu! Through Leicenstein, into Switzerland.

Ended up in Chur for the night, couldn't find a hotel, even though we looked for about an hour, eventually ended up at an Ibis in the McDonalds pyramid, the ground floor was McDonalds, the top of the building a hotel, its on the industial estate on the way out of town, wish I had taken a photo...... Certainly an experience not to be missed

Woolfest

I know I haven't posted for ages, but if you could see how much wool I have to dye you would understand!
184 kilos for the woolfest, I am in a huge panic that I won't get it all done in time.
Seems to be taking ages with no end in sight and only 2 weeks to go.....

If you are going come and see me.

Wendys Breast Cancer Raffle

Please support Wendys raffle, its such a important cause and could touch us all at sometime.
I personally lost my Grandmother to it, but happily my aunt survived.

"Win some wonderful yarn and help support Breakthrough Breast Cancer"

Wendy of Wendy's Woolies is running a prize draw on her blog at http://www.wendyswoolies.com/raffle.
There are some wonderful yarn prizes on offer, entry is from just £1 and all proceeds go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.Breakthrough is the leading UK breast cancer charity and are involved in research, campaigning and education. It is a fantastic cause and the prizes are just brillliant so please drop by and take a look.The draw will take place on 9th June so you have until then to enter."

Thanks again!
Wendy

My lovely holiday - part 1

Last week Homer and I took a week off work (unheard of for both of us) and we went on holiday, we wanted to do something exciting, so decided to take my little car for a drive around Europe. We both live such regimented lives we decided NOT to plan anything, even though Homer wanted to book the first hotel, I wouldn't let him, so here is what we did and the photos, not the photos you would expect, but you have to remember it was a driving holiday.

Day 1 - Hollesley, UK to Sarrebourg, France.

After a 5.00am start we were both exhausted before we even started, through Eurotunnel at 8.30 out into the french sunshine.

Roof down for the first time - French autoroute layby about 50 kilometres out of Calais on the road to Reims, as you can see Homer decided to park in the lorry section - why I don't know!

Spent the afternoon sauntering eastwards towards Strasbourg, nothing too exciting just enjoying the landscape, stopped for a cafe break in Verdun.

Found the first hotel really easily, evening meal at a local resturant and as you can see another photo of the zoom, our one bag of luggage just fitting in the very small boot which is already half full with the spare tyre.

Shop gripe and invitation

Due to our planning permission for the farm I have been very careful to point out to customers that we don't have a shop.

The reason we weren't allowed a shop was because the council didn't want to encourage cars in rural areas, a bit stupid as tourists and visitors help keep the communities alive by using village shops and pubs.

I have a new neighbour at the farm he has been there since january, lovely man, its a real comfort to know there is someone there if I need them.BUT Steve repairs cars (including mine) and horse boxes, his son-in-law how also works next door valets cars, how is this discouraging cars in rural areas???

SO I would like to invite you all to my shop, I have lots and lots of wool, surina needles, buttons, beads etc

Tea and coffee on tap and a big comfy sofa so if you feel the need you can sit and knit.

You can also have a peek into the dye room.

Bring all your friends and lots and lots of cars.

I will wait to see if the council notice and if they do, vent my stroppiness on them.

Etsy

Have just signed up to Etsy, not much idea of whats going on, but then I still haven't mastered the fine art of blogging.
Can anyone tell me how to add links to the sides of my page?
Its all still a mystery to me.
Anyway here is etsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5092428

Bit bored.....

Bit bored, think I am developing a cold, so I went and had a chat with the cow girls and they kindly agreed to pose for a photo.

They are spending a few weeks on holiday from their field in the barn opposite my backdoor, always ready for a chat, although the conversation is quite limited.

And then I took some photos of the wool drying on the racks, even though the green and blue are our new silks, which are so gorgeous I could eat them.

Ho Hum back to being bored..................

Misery & The Natural Dye Studio Knitters

Oh Woe is me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have RSI in my left hand and can't knit.
Last night I felt like my world had ended, pathetic I know, but...................

So I cheered myself up today and have started a Yahoo group for all the dye studio knitters.
Amazing its only been up for a few hours and there is already 24 members!
Now all I have to do is stop myself becoming obsessed with the group.
I used to be a member of a quilt art group and spent all my life posting on it.
It all came to an end when the dyeing took over my life, but now I have started a group of my own it might not be so easy to stop myself spending hours talking......

If you want to join in, here it is
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dyestudio/

Kool Aid Gripe

I keep seeing yarn dyed with Kool aid and hearing how great it is!!
I have been told by someone who dyes with it, that it is perfectly harmless and they compared it to natural dyes.....
This makes my blood boil!
Kool Aid is a synthetic drink powder which contains no fruit extract, wikipedia has more facts.
Its a sachet of coloured chemicals and NOT a natural dye!
If it dyes wool such bright permanent colours what does it do to your insides when you drink it???

And you think you are having a bad day!!!!!!!!!

Poor tiny puppy had the "chop" yesterday.

Not only did he have his manhood removed, he also woke up to discover that he was wearing a satellite dish.

He will be wearing it for 10 days until his wound has healed.........

Being a clingy german shepard means I am going to have very bruised legs for the next 10 days!

Have just taken delivery of some gorgeous silk yarns.

If they dye and knit up nicely and the price isn't too exorbitant then you will be seeing them on the site soon.

Fingers crossed as some are just too yummy for words.

Tiny Puppy

Now 6 months old and due to have the chop on wednesday.

And our compost bin.

Moat

I have a moat!!!!!!

That's my front door you can see.

Its not even for my benefit, my lovely new neighbours don't have a loo, so the builder/handyman/jack of all trades (including calf midwifery) and his stepson are building them one, the main drain happens to be on the other side of my building so they need to bury the drainage pipe across my front door.

Which is fine, except due to the gales the builder/handyman/jack of all trades and his stepson have been called to somewhere else on the estate to repair broken roofs.

if you decide to come and see us - don't forget about the moat - I am hoping for a drawbridge, but so far.....