Brief Stop Home

Well it's not that brief, but that's what it feels like. We got back on Tuesday in a bit of a daze after 24 sleepless hours. Passengers on planes who think it's ok to keep their feet up on the seats and kick the people in front of them in the back deserve to be punished. The holiday was great. We visited Boston, Cape Code, Rhode Island, New York and Washington. There's a large number of photos in a set on Flickr. I have put a selection of highlights below.

The main reason for visiting Washington was to attend the wedding of one of Graeme's university friends Sharron, who was getting married to Michael in a Jewish ceremony. Michael is Lebanese so the rehersal dinner (traditional the night before the wedding in the USA) was Lebanese themed with traditional food and dancing. This was my first experience of a Jewish wedding and the Lebanese culture. The wedding ceremony was beautiful and the reception was great fun. I've never met Graeme's American friend's before but they made me feel very welcome so welcome that I was sad to leave, knowing that we wouldn't see them again for a long time. Here are the Happy Couple.

To Sharron and Michael, Mazel Tov!!!

Now for the highlights.....

Eating lobster for the first time in the Summer Shack in Boston. I'll never forget the look on the face of Jonny's colleague, a recovering vegetarian.

Seeing our friends Jonny and Emma who now live there (in an apartment, not in the Summer Shack)

Visiting the site where Marconi made his first 2 way transmission between the USA and the UK. Sadly most of the site is eroded and only the bases of two of the transmitter towers remain.

Here's a model of what it would have looked like.

Seeing the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Visiting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and seeing all the space hardware and spare parts. I feel a shiver down my spine to think that this tin can was launched into space, orbitted the Earth with a man inside it and made it safely back again. Humans are brilliant sometimes. Now if only they'd move out of the way so I could take a proper photo....

So they're my personal highlights. Well, we all know I'm a big geek. This afternoon I'm off for my Hen doo, which is taking place in Derbyshire, far away from night clubs and strippers (here's hoping).

Two weeks and a day left till our wedding. Only a few things left to do. Just the small matter of finishing a lace shawl and two bridesmaid's shrugs. It is starting to invade my dreams. Last night I dreamt that I was a female version of Harry Potter and I was inviting all the people from the books to my wedding. I was concerned that Graeme's family wouldn't get on with my magical friends. I didn't eat any cheese or anything. Just my strange brain.

I shall just continue to repeat my mantra. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.......

Holidays

I'm off on my Summer Holidays for a couple of weeks. May get chance to blog while I'm away or may not. Hope you all enjoy the rest of July.

Spinning

After filling the bobbin that came with my wheel with Shetland fibre I decided to order some more so that I could spin the rest of the fibre and ply the singles. So I waited and waited through two one day postal strikes and flooding for the bobbins to arrive. Finally when they did come I rushed to try them. They didn't fit. I knew there were some differences between the look of my wheel and the Ashfords sold online but I thought it was perhaps an older model. I now think that it isn't an Ashford, but is a one of a kind. I can't find a picture of anything like it online and I emailed a couple of spinning shops and noone seems to know. If you do know please leave me a message.

It seems like the only way I'm going to get some bobbins is to have some made. Today I got bored of waiting and wound my spun yarn onto an empty shampoo bottle. I spun up the rest and did the same with another bottle. Then I plied the singles, using further improvisation. Who needs a lazy kate?

I really like the way the colours look together. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt. Only a few bobbly bits. There's about 60 grams. I think I might knit and felt a pencil case for myself to use next term.

Now for some knitting. Last week I finished these Monkey socks. I really enjoyed knitting them and I like the FO too. I think I'll probably knit some others at some point.

The main project I have on the needles at the moment is thidMytle Leaf Shawl, from Victorian Lace Today. There's a mistake in the pattern in the book, so my first attempt looked a bit odd.

Someone from Revelry directed me to the erata and things are progressing much better now.

5 pattern repeats down, 35 to go! Wish me luck.

Dying to knit

The weather today has been better than it has been for a while. It only rained once and we were even able to sit out in the garden for a while this afternoon. Pinkphish, Snaterkat and I some of the natural dyes we got a WoolFest on some sock yarn and laceweight, and also some of the roving I've carded this week. Here are the dyes being mixed up.

Painting the skeins.

We decided to use the dish washer for steaming the yarn, after wrapping it up in plastic bags and a big bin bag.

Then we rinsed.

Now it's hanging up to dry. The roving didn't take the dye as well as the spun yarn, probably because it's still quite greasy with lanolin. It still looks quite good though. It'll be interesting to see if the colour changes as it dries.

WoolFest Haul

I think it's time to show my WoolFest purchases. I bought a couple of presents which I won't show. I bought much less than last year. A lovely skein of hand painted sock yarn from Bright Dyes.

Pinkphish and I went halfies on some natural dyes, so I bought some undyed sock yarn and lace weight to play with.

Some wool/silk/ramie sock yarn from Knitting4Fun.

Pretty roving from Wingham Wool Work

A small amount of Wensleydale Fibre

Some vanilla flavoured British Sheep fleece, which I brought for £1 to practice with. It is now washed and I am part way through carding it.

It was unfortunate that a couple of friends of mine popped round when I was soaking it (following instructions I was given by the lady on the stall). It's hard to explain to muggles when you have an old washing up bowl full of brown pooey water in your kitchen sink and your house smells strongly of sheep.

I also bought a Blue Faced Leicester Fleece, which will probably get it's own post later. I was hoping the weather might improve so I could dry it in the sun on the lawn.

Spinning

I think I'll wait till tomorrow before blogging all the fibery goodness of WoolFest. However, my best purchase from Friday was this:

A second hand, Ashford, Elizabeth wheel, which I got for £50. It's in good condition and works really well. Here's my first attempt at spinning, using Shetland fibre in a range of colours.

I'm a happy spinner. I'll never touch a drop spindle again.

WoolFest 2007

Organising this year's trip to WoolFest proved to be a pain in the bum, without the internet. We did manage to get four of us there on Thursday night. The weather was appaling, with howling winds and lashing rain. Although we managed to get two out of our four tents up fairly quickly, we wasted a good deal of time and got very wet helping to rescue a run-away tent.

The poor owner came back to the site to find most of his belongings stowed in the toilet block and his tent in a heap, held down by bricks.

After recouperating with a cup of tea, Emily and Alice decided to try and get some accommodation in the B&B, instead of exposing themselves to the elements. The owner kindly let them have some floorspace.

We had a lovely pub tea in The Bitter End, Cockermouth, which raised our spirits. Lucy and I were a bit worried about whether our tent would cope with the winds but after a couple of hours the weather calmed down a bit.

Friday ended up being a lovely sunny day with only a few showers. Becca joined use during the day. I wasn't so overwhelmed by the festival this year and just enjoyed being there with all the lovely fibre and fibre folk.

One of the parts I enjoyed most, was seeing the sock knitting machines. The lovely old man who was manning the stall even let me have a go. It was fascinating to watch the stitches being made. We also saw some sheep shearing

Plenty of sheep

Some of the items from the Knitted Wedding were there too.

. In the evening we got to enjoy the barbecue we'd planned for Thursday night, followed by a picturesque sunset.

Saturday was good too. It was good to go back and pick up a couple of things that I'd been thinking about getting. The weather wasn't so great, but we were treating to this double rainbow. The campsite was really empty by this point so not many people got to enjoy it.

It was a shame we ended up so depleated in numbers this year, but I managed to have a fantastic time, despite everything. After the stress of everything over the past few months it was lovely to have a little holiday. Thanks to the girls for making it so much fun.

5 Things I Love About Our New House

Despite our internet problems I am in love with our new house and gardens. Here's a list of my top ten best things:

1. The view and the surrounding countryside. After spending the last few years living in the middle of cities, with views of mostly concrete, cars, council depots etc., it's lovely to feel like there's so much space. When I get up in a morning and look out of these windows I can't believe how lucky I am.



2. The gardens. I love growing things and for the past year I've been resticted to pots in a north-facing, windy, damp yard, always in shade. I've got stuck right in here and now have a vegetable patch, hanging baskets and a flower bed.
   
   



3. Somewhere to sensibly store my stash Look, it's all organised, in neat plastic boxes, sorted by weight. I know exactly what is there and how much I have. Hurrah for space.
   



4. The Appliances This is a bit of a sad one, but we got a number of appliances with the house. The washing machine works like a dream, compared to the old, battered 10 year old one we had before, that used to dance around the kitchen. We have a second fridge, which means all the bottles and jars have somewhere to live. Finally we have a dishwasher, which is like a revelation to me. I've never had a dish washer before in my life. Just take a moment to marvel at the thought of not having to do dishes. I'm converted.



5. The light and space. These two go hand in hand really. Having lived in a series of grim, victorian houses and flats, I am really enjoying having so much light in every room. After the Tyneside flat, this place is palacial. I am very happy.

Knitting in Public

Here we are knitting in public, at the Newcastle Green Festival, for World Wide Knit in Public Day.

We're knitting little hats for the Innocent Smoothy/Age Concern campaign (these are Lucy's).

Even Becca, who normally scorns knitting in favour of crochet, made some.

Connected!

Yey! We have the internet again. After a lot of messing about we finally figured out that our wireless router had been interfering with the broadband for the entire street and everyone had been without internet since we moved in. Oops! Well a new power supply and a week of waiting later, we're up and running. Lots has happened and I have loads to tell you...

Still No Broadband

I have loads to blog and no broadband to blog from. I'm in uni at the moment. We're right at the end of the three weeks which we were quoted as being the max length of time getting the broadband sorted might take. If nothing happens today then first thing Monday something will have to be done. I have loads of pictures to show you. I will catch up eventually.

All Change

We're now all moved and settled in enough to be comfortable. I've now handed in all my uni assignments so I'm looking forward to a weekend of gardening and organising. I hope the weather improves.

Sorry for the blog silence. We still don't have our broadband turned on, for reasons I won't go into now. It might take a while to sort out, so normal service might not be restored for a couple of weeks. Your patience is appreciated.

Employed

I'm not sure who I have told about this. I didn't go crazy at the start because it seemd so unreal. I have a job for next year. It is teaching physics in a small co-ed independant school. I'll be able to do my NQT year in a nice relaxed environment. I know it's never going to be a picnic, but I think I am going to enjoy being able to concentrate on teaching instead of crowd control.

The countdown is on to moving day. I did a fair amount of packing yesterday. Planning to get more done today. If all goes to plan should be on track for a panic free move. Keep all your fingers crossed for me.

Also need to fit in writing two essays at some point. Urgh!

I always suspected...

Hannah Scoffield -- [noun]: A human transformer (Robot in disguise) 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Pasta flowers and little shoes.

I've nearly made it to the end of my teaching practice. I finally feel like I've got a handle on things. I've stopped obsessing over my abilities and am actually enjoying most of my lessons. So much so that I applied for a couple of teaching jobs and have interviews on Monday and Thursday. Wish me luck.

I have also found a bit of time to knit. I started knitting and joining hexagons based on a pattern from Knitting Nature. I felt that the pattern worked well with this handspun, naturally died yarn. The three shades are all created using onion skins. I bought the yarn last year from WoolFest and have been wondering what to do with it ever since. I think it will probably turn into a cushion cover.

I have also been knitting some baby shoes. I've been messing about with the guage to get different sizes. The small ones are really too small for anything but a premature baby or a doll. They'd make a cute ornament though. Just need to find some buttons.

After knitting today Graeme and I had some lovely sushi for lunch. I couldn't resist these flower shaped pastas in the oriental supermarket. I think I might put some in a salad for lunch next week.

Not much knitting going on this evening as I managed to slice a chunk out of the end of my index finger, while cutting up veges for dinner. Not having a great weekend in that respect. Missed King Creosote last night, because I had an asthma attack before the support had finished, and had to come home (and bring poor Graeme with me). Can't remember ever feeling that bad before. It wasn't great.

I'm not going to make any remarks about moving house because I don't want to jinx it. Slightly worried that I still haven't manage to pack anything more than this little lot, from a couple of weeks ago. Maybe we'll get some done tomorrow.

12 Days to Go

Well we're well into May now and more than half way through to the half term holiday and the end of my teaching practice. Things are going much better, but the kids are still wildly variable in their behaviour. I don't know if it is my fault (a lot of them don't have other problems) but I find it very wearing. Not going to let it drag me down this term.

We spent the weekend in Sheffield. On Saturday evening we attending my cousin's 40th birthday party (Happy Birthday Emma!), where I managed not to take any photos. During the day time we met up with my friend Cat who'd come up from London and visited the newly revamped Western Park Museum. I was pretty impressed.

They've revamped all the displays. I remember going as a child through gallery after gallery of stuffed animals. The stuffed animals are still there but they've made excellent use of them and their not creepy at all any more. They've still got a hive of bees that you can watch, but what I want to know is, what happened to the sumo wrestlers and the mummies? (I tried for quite a while to find a picture of these on the web and couldn't). It was lovely to see Cat too and it wasn't till I got home I realised it was the first time I'd seen her in person since August. This year is going so quickly.

On Sunday we went with my parents to Kelham Island museum. They've made a few changes, but everything is pretty much the same. I was dissapointed to see that my favourite engine (the crosley gas engine) was temporarily out of service.

The River Don Engine was on good form.

Anyway, we were back in Newcastle on Sunday and I had an interesting Monday trying to finish my uni assignment and preparation on the remaining battery life of my computer (I left the power supply in school). Managed in the end, though it was close and I missed out reading all the blogs I usually enjoy for a few days. Now for Thursday. Then there'll be 11. :)