Days out – Page 2 – Hazel Purls

Holidays

Going away for a summer holiday has meant that time for craft has been at a minimum. I took my portable spinning wheel and on a couple of evenings did some spinning while the children were asleep. But pre-holiday preparation and post-holiday catch-up has left little time for craft.

My holiday was very child-focused and as a result the vast majority of the nearly 200 photos I took (thank goodness for digital) are filled with pictures of the children, either posing – in gardens or on the beach; or actively playing – flying a kite or digging up large parts of the south-coast.

Occasionally though I was able to take a snap of the scenery. Astonishingly, for a summer holiday in England, there was an amazing amount of sunshine and clear blue skies. One day I shall take a photography course and learn to take decent pictures!

Changing Seasons

I’ve been a little too busy recently to fit any crafting in: Ravelry, work and children have all absorbed my time. However, it’s now autumn and there are some lovely treats that come with this season. An unexpected one I discovered yesterday while out at a local English Heritage garden with the children and my mum. The shop was selling everlasting (Helichrysum) flowers. I bought two bags (they seemed cheap and I had a plan about wiring them up to make a display). When I got home I poured them into a glass bowl, where they suddenly looked very pretty and I abandoned my plan.

Today I discovered that not only do they look pretty, but they are filling my kitchen with an amazing scent. So I unexpectedly have a bowl filled with very pretty potpourri.

And just to bring this full circle, I really like the colours: yellow, pink, peach, almost white, purple and deep orange. I wonder if these colours would work in a yarn?

Saint Swithin’s Day

Today we went shopping in a field.

Nevermind! We still had fun at Fibre-East.

It was lovely seeing my friends’ stalls in particular Secret Spinner and FibreTastic at Spindependance and CamiKnitter at Outward Images.

There was sheep shearing (AKA child entertainment).

My daughter’s knitted dress was admired. I was asked for the pattern and got the details wrong! I said it was “Crazy Waves”. It’s actually the “Crazy Wavy Toddler Dress” from “Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders”. Here’s my daughter wearing it about a year ago:

I didn’t quite follow the instructions when making it – I decided I didn’t fancy picking up 128 stitches on one side of the waistband and 160 odd on the other! Therefore started by casting on 128 stitches and working 1 row 1×1 rib and 1 row knit for a few rows to give the waist band.

I bought a weaving book that I thought was out of print (I always manage to find a gem on the P&M woolcraft stand!) and a beautiful rim weighted IST spindle (it spins forever!) My son was shown how to ply on a beautiful Turkish spindle. However, he was bought a peg loom and as it’s only a week until the school holidays… I can see peg loom bags and scarfs being this year’s summer holiday projects!

As for St Swithin’s Day? Well I’m pretty sure it’s rained for the last 40 days (at least). It’s now gone 11pm and so far I don’t think we’ve had a drop…