Saturday 3 January 2009

Cold again.................



More frost this morning, the thermometer down to -4; more defrosting of drinkers in the kitchen sink! Even the water butt the washing machine empties into had a layer of ice on it. Gorgeous ferny patterns, nature makes a lovely job of keeping us interested, doesn't she?

December giveaway - the winner is..................



Here at alst is a picture of the giveaway dishcloths - sorry for the delay, I seem to have the camera up and going fine now, so here they are.

The winner of this giveaway is Windy64, whose name was first out of the hat. :) Well done to her, they'll be on their way soon.

Look out for January's, coming soon!

Thursday 1 January 2009

FFffrrroostyyyyyyyyy!!














2009!!!


Happy new year to everyone , now it's here!


Catching up with some photos still - these are the little elf boots I knitted. I now want a pair in my size LOL






Wednesday 31 December 2008

Happy New year!


All best wishes to everyone from me for the new year - I hope it brings everything you would like it to, plus a few nice surprises too.

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Sorry, but she's brilliant!

Here she is again!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LMEDB9FK2vM&feature=related

Drum carding II

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C2I7RpKKeis&feature=related

Drum carding

Back on the spinning wheel this afternoon, spinning up some white North Rondaldsay I bought from e-bay. Bit disappointed, as the quality of the fleece wasn't wonderful, even if it was only 200g. I spun a couple of small skeins, now drying. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but something suitably Scottish would seem appropriate. Spinning affords copious amounts of thinking time, this afternoon thinking I really need to get to grips with the drum carder if I'm to have any chance at all of getting through the fleece mountain here LOL. I then went on to alpaca, which I'm not keen on, but in amongst searching for "tips on spinnning alpaca" (irritatingly few and far between :) ), I found this you tube on drum carding - great fun, and very informative. Seems I was doing it right all along, but probably just need more practice. Will dodge up the garden tomorrow and liberate the carder and get it going, I think.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=beELIWEaO6g&feature=related
Btw, it's great being able to watch you tube videos, our old computer ran far too slowly to get any sense out of them at all!

Sunday 28 December 2008

The Christmas that wasn't, really..............

So - that was the Christmas that wasn't! Unfortunately we were all so ill, it didn't really happen for us. We all had this dreaded flu type thing, Bean and I worst I think. EJ got off with just the cough, MrL had cough and aching. I wasn't fit enough to cook Christmas dinner even if anyone had wanted to eat it, and we couldn't have tasted it anyway! So, no cake, no mince pies, crackers, turkey leftovers, none of that. We all sat and read quietly for teh day (new Christmas books), and EJ had a go on his new banjo.:)
However, feeling much better now, so ready to get on with things. We're having a roast dinner today instead, so will make a start on that soon. It's bitterly cold here, very icy and frosty, but lovely to have a proper winter after many years of wet and mild. I've been letting the chickens and ducks out of their run to give them the freedom of the garden - they love that,and come right down to the back door for a nosey around and wait for me to take scraps out for them. It's quite comical to see the little feathery bottoms sticking straight up out of the flower beds LOL
We went to the annual charity book sale yesterday, and I managed to come home with a large box of interesting books on cooking, crafts, gardening, Scotland, a few maps too, so that should keep me out of mishcief for a while. I've already earmarked several projects for the new year..........

Hope everyone had good 'Christmasses, hwoever you celebrated. It's nice to be back!