Weddings and Wool

I've had a very busy weekend, managing to fit in both a wedding and some spinnging and wooly goodness.

Fiona's wedding was lovely and she looked stunning. Here she is looking like a model from a wedding magazine.

It was wierd going on my own. At one point, when the drinks were coming round, I even looked round to see where G was. Too much champagne.

I also made it to a bit of Woolfest. 2 hours of running round stalls. I didn't buy much but it was really good to see other people's ideas. I ended up talking to a wood turner and his wife who are restoring a wheel just like mine. It turns out to be a Finnish wheel. Mine has been stripped back but the spokes and mother of all would have originally been green and the edges of the wheel and board would have been white with patterns combed into them. It was made pre-1950 from pine (it is Finnish). They're going to send me a photo when they've finished restoring it. So the wheel is no longer a mystery. It's really hard to see the colours on this one, but you get the idea. It's like the big sister of mine which is a small and fast lace wheel.

Construction

I know I'm not on my own in saying that I seem to have lost my knitting mojo at the moment. I don't feel motivated by any of the projects I have on the needles. I tried casting on some new things but progress is incredibly slow. I don't know if this is due to a general inability to sit down and properly relax while G is away, or because while the weather is sunny and beautiful I always feel like I should be doing something else.

At the weekend I took some kids from school to take part in the Creative Construction Competition at Newcastle University. As well as the kids taking part the teachers had to form groups and build a structure for a temporary disaster shelter. Here's my group's being tested.

Shortly after this, when the final weight was put on making 15 kg, the string broke. Meaning our structure is stronger than a piece of string. We beat the kids anyway, which is the important thing.

Afterward Lucy and I pooled our resources and had a barbecue. Better than my last attempt, which left us trying to toast marshmallows on one glowing ember. This time the fire was so hot I managed to change most of the spare ribs into charcoal, but we did some first class marshmallow toasting.