Hare's Moon Yarns

If you are a knitter, crocheter or just someone who likes messing around with yarn, why not take a look at what's on sale at Hare's Moon Yarns right now.

To purchase any of these yarns click here:  Hare's Moon Yarns

A long weekend

It's the August bank holiday weekend here in England (the Scots don't share this one with us), which means Monday off work for a lot of people, me included. It hasn't come too soon in my opinion, I tend to work all through the summer when others are taking their holidays, and I use my days in the spring and autumn instead. That makes for a long slog getting from week to week though, so I do look forward to this short working week. We haven't had a public holiday since the end of May this year, and don't get another until Christmas.

It's given me an extra day to just do very little. Normal weekends are not quite long enough to fully let my head unwind, but this does feel like a proper break from work. My job involves thinking for about 15 other people, planning and troubleshooting as well as customer service, so it's nice to only think about me for a while.

But as usual, I end up thinking of other people anyway! My mother-in-law hasn't had the best of summers, so while out shopping yesterday I decided to get a few small things to make a surprise package for her. When I got home, I decided I also needed a small bag to put the items in, and so set about making a Bag Of Sunshine:

 

I've been suffering a little bit of Festival Envy this weekend too, watching the Reading Festival on telly. I grew up in that town, and spent a few of my teenage summers either inside the festival or just hanging out on the outside meeting random people and generally enjoying the music and the atmosphere (back in the days when it was still a ROCK Festival). My daughter went for the first time when she was 12 (with her dad) and that spawned an equal appreciation of live music to rival mine. We are hoping to go and see Volbeat live in October together, but watching the kids at Reading this weekend made me yearn for the days of sun, beer and tunes in a field in Berkshire. I'm tool old and arthritic to camp over these days, but maybe next year Download for the day...

The downside to a bank holiday weekend is no mail on the Monday. As I've had the time to write, my husband will be getting a much longer letter than he's been used to recently, so no complaints from him! He generally doesn't complain but as I've worked a few very long days over the past month, I've been sending cards instead of proper letters. Now I can expand on some of the things I've just mentioned in passing, which stimulates conversation back from him too. He has also started writing short pieces for a blog on the nature he sees when he is working. It's a good discipline, one we both enjoy.

From him to me

Another song he wants me to listen to. This is about as close to Country music as he dare nudge me, but as he's asking....

Sheryl Crow ~ "Easy"

Need cake?

Who doesn't!

I'm all for people starting their own small businesses, and a friend of mine at work' wife has recently started a cake making business. It is called Laura's Cakes, and she is based in Gloucestershire, England. My friend brought a batch of Laura's Cakes to work today for us to road-test, and I have to say that the vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream icing and a white chocolate drizzled strawberry on top were awesome!

So get on over to Laura's Cakes and order yourself some scrumminess like the cupcakes made by Laura below :)

The Mountain

Many of us have mountains to climb in our lives. Some are the real kind of rocks and snowy peaks that we chose to climb because they are there. Others are obstacles in our way to other things, we usually hope "better" things. And for some, life itself is just one big mountain that must be scaled.

My husband an I are negotiating a mountain of sorts with his time in TDCJ, and this in itself is a mountain of his that he reached the top of, only to find a bigger one obscured by the mist. For his brother, life has been one mountain after another, and may have grown bigger over time due to his brother's own actions. You can't bury mountains; they rise and fall of their own volition, but if you have the right equipment then most are conquerable. Sadly for my brother-in-law, he faced one mountain too many and was found dead a few days ago.

This now presents us with more mountains, although I am confident that these will not be as large or looming as ones we've already faced.

The first one was how to get word to my husband. His mother lives in a care home and is unable to access the inmate telephone system for TDCJ inmates. I live in the UK, and am also prohibited from registering with the TDCJ phone system. My mother-in-law is also in a difficult position when wanting to call overseas, but thankfully the care home did allow her to call me a couple of days after the event.

She also called and spoke to one of the new Chaplains at my husband's unit, explained the situation, and the Chaplain organised a call between my husband and my mother-in-law, which is not supposed to happen but I am so thankful that it did. It meant my husband was informed within a few days of the death of his brother, and by someone close to him instead of a guard or the Chaplain himself.

Had either of us been able to access the TDCJ inmate phone system, the Chaplain's assistance would not have been necessary.

The yarn I have been spinning this week is half Yak down and half Merino wool and very soft to the touch. I had been thinking of naming it something to do with the Himalayas because of the Yak content. However, time moves on even if we don't. It is now simply named "The Mountain". 

Big knits

I'm not a small woman, though I'm certainly not enormous, and I don't really like clothes that cling to me and show everything I've got. Friends and I were discussing the lack of knitting patterns for women of a certain size that don't all look like galleons in full sail or potato sacks with no shaping. I think I may have found some nice patterns from the folks at DROPS, and not only are they all available up to around a 50" bust, they are also FREE to download!

I can't add photos because of copyright, but here are some links to the patterns on Ravelry:

Garter stitch jumper 3/4 sleeves with frill

Garter stitch jumper, full sleeves with lace shawl neck

4ply striped jumper, 3/4 sleeves scoop neck with eyelet detail

Super chunky cable jumper with scoop neck

Super chunky jumper with hood

Aran weight jumper, 3/4 sleeves, empire line with hood

Busy, busy, busy...

This past month has been jam-packed full of stuff! I've been doing some overtime at work, which hopefully will pay for a few days away at the seaside in September and my daughter's birthday present this year. I've also been dog-sitting for a friend's West Highland Terrier called Spike. He is no trouble at all, but as I only have access to a communal garden, we were out walking 3 times a day while he was here!

Of course I have been spinning as well. I acquired a full Welsh Mountain fleece, and I've spun about half of it so far into a very fine yarn that my friend can use in her weaving. The other half I will be spinning into slightly thicker yarn to go into my Etsy shop. Margot, my wheel, has been working hard this month and we've produced 2 different coloured yarns as well as the Welsh Mountain.

Finally, last week I spent the day in Shrewsbury, Shropshire with my daughter and another friend. I'd never been there before, but it's a very pretty town with lots of Tudor buildings and a lovely riverside walk. It felt like it should have a University, but it doesn't; just an Abbey (the setting for Ellis Peters' "Cadfael" novels) and the grave of Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as being the birthplace of Charles Darwin.

So to illustrate all this, here's a slideshow of some of the things I've seen recently.

June 2013 better - slideshow