Out for a Walk

The great outdoors!

Look at those chickens... I'll get them one day...

More inkle-ing, and a Disaster

A few more finished inkle woven bits and pieces...

Some bookmarks:

A guitar strap:

A belt made with recycled sari silk and handspun merino. These are definately not the easiest materials to weave with. The silk snags in the heddles, and the merino spends the whole time trying to felt to itself! The colours went well together though (they don't show up very well in this photo, it's too bright). Since taking this I've finished the ends properly and added some beads.

And now the disaster. I spent yesterday morning finishing off a new guitar strap. I'm trying to teach my naughtiest cat the difference between right and wrong (i.e. yes you can play with the toy mouse... no you may not climb the curtains... NO you may Not eat the yarn!!), so I stupidly tried to weave through the attack, accompanied by the spray bottle that makes no difference. I managed to get it finished, but in my haste to get it off the loom and away from danger, I unbelieveably managed to cut right the way through the band itself...

So things were thrown, and the diet was abandoned. I suspect the neighbours knew all about it too. It was a full-blown hissy fit.

I think I can just about salvage the pieces though. I can get a couple of bookmarks out of the little bit, and I have just about enough of the big bit left to make a non-adjustable strap for something or other. It's not the end of the world, but it felt like it at the time! What an idiot!!

And the culprit...

What an angel!!

Carrie xxxx

An update

I'm about to embark on a new project that I'd like to record on my blog, so I'd better do an update to fill in all the gaps since last summer. A lot has happened, so here are the main bits.

We had a lovely summer and autumn, and enjoyed watching the farm and fields going through all the changes of the seasons.

Christmas was just around the corner when my little Charlie was knocked down and killed by a van on the farm track at the back of the house. I was devastated and moved out that day. I stayed at my mum and dad's for two months (it also didn't help that the boiler burst, and I was without water for all of that time). I very nearly gave up on the house altogether then, I could hardly bear to come home. I'm glad I did in the end, but it was miserable all alone.

So I got two new kittens, Pixie and Willow, to come and live with me. I can never replace Charlie, he was a very unique little cat, but he left such a void in my little world. I would like to keep these two as indoor cats. They will certainly be staying indoors until they are spayed at six months, and if they show no interest in going out after that I'll be very happy.

And so we've slowly gotten back to normal. Spring is slowly bringing the garden back to life, and the nights are getting brighter.

I've made some improvements to the garden, including the addition of a raised bed for veg.

My new plans have to do with the garden, but more on that next time!

Carrie xx

P.S. I finished my blanket!!

A Busy Few Months

Well hello again! It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been so incredibly busy this last little while I can hardly believe it's been 5 months since I last posted an update. I have been without an internet connection for 4 of those months though, which hasn't helped really! Life has changed quite a bit since I saw you last...

I have moved into my own little house!

It's a little cottage on a working farm not an awfully long way from where I've always been. Except that it's out in the countryside! It's so beautiful and peaceful here, and the whole place is buzzing with wildlife. There are hares, roe deer, owls and foxes, and last night I had a little baby hedgehog snuffling around the garden! The land's quite flat here, and the view stretches on for miles and miles.

Moving in and getting settled was hectic and just a bit stressful, but this last month or so it's really properly been starting to feel like home. I'm having great fun adding little finishing touches to the newly-painted walls, flowers to the window-sills, roses to the garden...

But there was something missing.

There was no-one to talk to.

Until I found Charlie.


Now I have all the company I can handle!

He's a right little maniac, but I love him!

There's not been much time (or peace!) for crafty stuff in all these months, but my creative side's been getting more of a look-in over the last couple of weeks. I've finally managed to locate some Rowan Pure Wool DK in elusive Hydrangea (shade 27). It's been discontinued, but thanks to Jannette's Rare Yarns (who I can highly recommend, by the way!), work on the border of my Attic 24 (not-quite-so-big) Big Blanket can finally continue. It's been a year in the making, on and off, so I'm feeling ready to get it finished!

(Apologies for the picture quality on that one!) I started out making it for a single bed, but I've upgraded my sleeping arrangements (finally), so I have no idea where its home is going to be. Though apparently these little houses cost a fortune to heat in the winter, so it will probably be wrapped around me most of the time.

There's still a lot of work left to do to make this place really lovely. There's painting to be done, and the garden's not quite finished. More on that next time though. Charlie's woken up, and he's attacking my laptop and trying to eat my Wotsits!

It's good to be home!

Carrie xx

Back to Life

Thanks to everyone who wished Truffles well on my last post. She is doing much better now, and seems to be back to her old self. All her tests came back negative, and she's finished all her medication (which she's pleased about!). I don't know if we'll ever really get to the bottom of what was the matter with her, and to be honest I'm happy to leave it at that. We just have to hope that it never, ever happens again. Here's a wee snap of her enjoying the spring sunshine:


I started back at my job in the garden centre on the 1st of March, and I have to say it's brilliant to be back! It's like coming back to life again after being in hibernation. I hate to think of all that time I had off, and how little I did with it all. I hate being unemployed full stop. I'm already feeling more motivated. For the first few days back I felt a bit useless not knowing where everything was and what we had in stock, but I'm starting to get back into the swing of it again. If only I could get used to getting up at 7am!!

I've been playing around with the inkle loom and managed to churn out a couple of dodgy looking little bands, nothing special at all so I haven't even photographed them. Then I took some inspiration from ASpinnerWeaver and decided to try making some bookmarks for practice. I'm so pleased (and relieved!) with the way they have turned out! I've managed to stop the weft showing through, and even the selvages are looking pretty even. I've been following the instructions in Helene Bress's book 'Inkle Weaving' to the letter, and it seems to be doing the trick! I read on someone else's blog (sorry I can't remember which one - thank you if it was yours!) the idea of using ice lolly sticks to seperate them, and it works very well! Please forgive the rubbish quality of these photos by the way, the flash is drowning out the colours, so they're either too bright, too dull or a bit shaky!

See what I mean? I really should do photography in the daylight!

That's about all I've done creatively. Not much really, but it's better than nothing. I've started a retail horticulture diploma through work, so that's taking up a fair bit of my free time now (the rest is being taken up by sleeping!). So I am still here, and I really, really appreciate all your comments! I do still mean to update more often, it's just difficult to find the time!

Carrie (and Truffles!) xxxxxxxxx :)

Worry Days

This is Truffles, my little lady. She's been sick since Saturday - sleeping all the time and not eating or drinking a thing. I took her to the vet's on Monday morning, and she was kept in for blood tests. Apparently there's something wrong with her kidneys. At first the vet thought it might have been caused by poisoning. She had another appointment this morning, and this time she's found swelling of what she thinks is her gall bladder. Because she's not drinking, we've got to give her a glucose solution through a syringe. She's also got tablets to take, so that's an awful lot of stuff we've got to force down her throat. She hates it, and fights like a fiend. I hate doing that to her when she's feeling so miserable. She just wants to be left alone, but if she gets dehydrated her kidneys could shut down. The vet has sent off more blood to be tested, so hopefully we'll have more answers soon about what's causing it. She has another appointment on Thursday morning, and I really hope she's picked up a bit by then. She's only 4 years old.

My crochet cotton has arrived from Texere, and I think this lot will work well on the inkle loom (though I can see me running out before I've got very far!). I might warp it up tonight, if I can get my head to feel more creative. I've been playing a bit with Baltic patterns using the linen and silk I bought from Texere first time around, but managed to snap one of the linen warp threads. I think I put the warp on too tightly. This cotton seems a bit stronger though.

That's all for today really. Please send your happy, healing vibes to Truffles. I can't stand to see her so sad. :(

xxx

Busy for Christmas

I haven't finished any projects this last little while, becuase I've been putting all my time into a spontaneous, last-minute christmas present - a ripple lap-blanket for my grandad:
I don't want it to be too big or heavy (his house is always roasting!), so I should have it finished in time, hopefully. Yarn used is Rowan Pure Wool DK in Kiss, Indigo, Honey, Port, and Emerald (hopefully a christmassy combination!).

Here are some other little bits and pieces I've been doing in-between crochet and work...

Updating some garden planters from dead summer plants to shiny new winter ones:
(Little red bells from Paperchase)

Little crochet flowers:

Sitting in my lovely warm car listening to Newton Faulkner while my brother braves a freezing cold howling gale to get a few photographs (it was a lot colder than it looks in the photo!):

And trying to stop Truffs from walking all over my other crochet blanket while I'm trying to block some squares (she's starting to look a bit protective of it!):

Not much else to report this time around. The bookshop I'm working in has gone into administration though, so come the new year it looks as though I'm going to have all the time in the world to finish off all the little projects I have lying around the place!