Wow! What a Wonderfully Woolly Weekend - Woohoo!

I am sitting surrounded by boxes and bags left over from the weekend - what weekend do I hear you say - where have you been? Under a rock!!   Yarnival of course.

I am so pleased/relieved/delighted/exhausted/numb/chuffed/tired/stiff/inspired in fact I am all of those and much much more.

The day started the night before - actually it started in August last year when I went to a wool-fest up in Coldstream, Scotland and thought - I want to do this!  - Fast forward to last Friday night..... having had endless knit-fuelled meetings, crochet-powered discussions and tea - lots-of-tea since September...... and we were putting out chairs and tables for the stall holders and hanging bunting and posters and sorting out the cafe in preparation for the next day.

It was after 10.30pm before I got home feeling absolutely exhausted and starving - I'd not eaten since about 3pm - just working on nervous energy. I was so ready for bed......however....as tired as I was, my brain was up for a full-on high-powered meeting with itself and would.not.turn.off....

Good grief - *yawn*

Any hoo, bright and very early (got up at 2 for a cup of tea to see if I could settle the meeting going on in my head and again at 4am as was still awake and did some sewing) the day dawned and we began yarnbombing in earnest.

Trees were dressed, signs were covered, gates were adorned, railings dollied up and even the toilet signs were not immune to a little bombing!

We were delighted by the fact that we had OVER 350 visitors through the very busy 5 hours we were up and running - running being the key work!

The team managing the cafe - my Mom, friends and work colleagues - worked their butts off - non-stop serving of teas, cakes and lunches - they were nothing short of magnificent! I am in awe of their incredible efforts!

My wonderful sister inlaw in the knit and natter corner, patiently showed all ages (and sexes!) knitting and crochet tips. A highlight of the day was when two chaps sat learning to knit with such wonderful expressions on their faces and I have it on excellent authority that they continued to knit when they returned home and by the end of the evening had knitted a dish cloth between them and joked that it would have to be preserved in a glass case as a family heirloom! What a success!

I met fellow bloggers and chatted happily with Padiham Knitter who had cycled over to the event - she has blogged about her day here.


Although I had emailed and spoken to the stall holders, meeting them on the actual day was lovely. Such a wonderful crafty bunch - all expressed an interest in returning for another festival....oops what have I let us in for?!

Our 'bouncer' at the door had our visitors chuckling as they came in with his 'meet-n-greet' patter, apparently he enjoyed his day too, and as the only person or item not covered in some sort of yarn bombing, showed his talents lay definitely in his charm!

There is so much more I could waffle on about - as you well know I shine at waffling! But I must get on and rediscover my house and begin crafting again - oh and ordering wool and buying yarns and making string bags and bunting as commissions - the list goes on and I am Not Complaining!! Happy days :)

For another angle and more photos - pop over to a life of felt and read here and here


Ps - just heard that the green tie on the sign for the gentleman's loo was removed from its official dangly place and lowered a centimetre or two to a rather naughty position - where was my camera when I needed it!!!

Breathing

Life seems to have sped up suddenly - my post-surgery time off runs out today and Yarnival is next Saturday (only 5 days away - five as in FIVE or if it is any easier to see - 5)  and I don't feel to have completed all that I wanted.

I have been busy yet seem to have achieved little.

Leading up to surgery (over 5 weeks ago) I gleefully rubbed my crochet hooks together thinking about all the enforced crafting time I was going to have to endure (oh yes please) however those precious crafting hours have evaporated and in 4 hours time I will be at work - can you hear the excited anticipation in my voice? - Yeah me too). Any way, enough wallowing in self pity....

Has anyone else noticed those first gorgeous signs of spring? The early warm sun on your back, the crocus and the celandine glowing like little jewels. Fields are filling up with lambs and our hens are producing eggs with such regularity and number that the boys have been forced to take up baking in a grand way - such a shame!

I suspect the blog will be quiet for a few days, need to get ready Yarnival and get my head back around actually being at work. I will be back and have lots of lovely photos from Saturday - I promise!

the saga continues..... and its 4am

Unable to sleep due to my brain not powering down and switching off, I am downstairs - much to the surprise and delight of the catlings who think they can now have 4am firsts (breakfast firsts).

I am always amazed (in a cross sort of way) how noisy the house is through the night. The creaking and expanding of the pipes, the rumble of the fridge, the click of the walls, as well as the sighing and settling of the heating gives the house a heart beat, a rhythmic breathing - a life of its own - I just wish it didn't do it so loudly!

Any hoo, as I was saying -  seeing I am awake and trying not to toss and turn too much, disturbing Himself, I thought I would slink down quietly and try and calm my frazzled grey matter with a cup of tea and a tinkle on the keyboard (and feed the catlings).
The tea is delish, the cats are playing in the kitchen and the brain is still whizzing, so I shall continue to subject you to my wafflings..

After yesterday's tidal surge was temporarily contained by catching the drip...drip...drip in the spare kitty litter tray, Himself armed himself with some tools and unscrewed the incontinent cupboard off the wall.

Not as easy as it sounds as it suspended beneath the counter next to the sink making it awkward to reach. With a few choice words hissed under his breath he managed to wrestle the unit free by manhandling it out of position. The catlings decided to inspect his work by trying to shin up his legs. Not a popular move.

Once the cupboard was freed of it's moorings, we could see where the leak was emanating from. There, lurking behind the unit was a copper pipe which was shooting the finest shower of water straight up against the underside of the counter. It was such a fine jet of water that it seems disproportionate to the problems it had been causing. This stream was of great interest to the catlings, in particular Lily who sat beneath it with a quizzical stare. Himself, now seeing what was the cause of the leak set about fixing it.

Easy job he grinned, just off to get the 'thingamy watsit' (please insert correct terminology here - my brain although awake is not functioning).

I start to cook our evening meal.

Much clattering and muttering later, he stomps off the garage.... 'Need to get the doodad thingamajig' (insert as before but with a different tool)

Bit more DIY sounds are coming out from under the counter, the air is turning a delicate shade of blue.

...The **** thing won't fit...... need the other gizmo -  see if that makes a difference - if not its off to the local hardware store...mutter mutter mutter (insert necessary correct terminology and swear words at will).

By now food preparation is in full swing as I step over bits of copper piping, the offending cupboard, tools of various shapes and sizes and the husband. He is, I feel, getting a little cross that a simple job has turned out to be a major affair but then..... isn't that normal? It feels like it in our house.

He breaks off briefly to eat then disappears off to his garage again to retrieve the gubbins/whatchamacallit/doohicky-thingamajub that will just do the job and solve all the problems......but not just yet..... (once again, please feel free to replace the above words with plumbing related tools in any order you fancy - I thank you)

Eventually he emerges jubilant and I am ushered into the kitchen to bask in his victory. There - his nemesis - a small finger sized copper pipe, with a tiny split in it, lies vanquished on the floor surrounded by tools and mucky  water. He has manfully replaced the pipe with a special 'whatever' attachment thingy and most importantly - HE HAS STOPPED THE LEAK - he is without a doubt my hero.

However, the story does not end here - oh no, what happened afterwards included some of the following - moving the incontinent cupboard across to the other side of the kitchen and attaching it to another wall, which meant the fridge had to move out of its slot and into a new position, which entailed removing the obligatory grotty stuff that collects beneath the fridge and mopping the floor. The space where the fridge now resides needed another cupboard to be evicted (cue same grotty stuff lurking plus half a dozen cat toys, toy bullets, missing letters from school, elastic bands and marbles) and moved to it's new home.

This also meant the dog's bed (a hard plastic kidney bean shaped bed) was next to move. Only problem here was the bed now did'nt fit the remaining space....our kitchen is not big, it is bordering on bijou.
Not a problem says Himself - he is on a roll and I am going along for the ride. He returns waving a carpentry saw about in the air and promptly removes a corner off the dog's bed. She watched horrified from behind the desk. It now fits...........

While all this is happening, the boys have had their showers, sorted out their books for school and gone to bed.  The kitchen is still full of activity and a disgusting mess. I am now flagging....Himself too is getting bored with the whole thing so we stop for a brew. I try to wash up.....there~is~no~hot~water....

Oh yes Himself remembers, I switched off upstairs under the hot water tank.

Off he goes to turn the water back on. I think that I should also know where this tap is in case this ever happens again, so follow him.

I wish I hadn't....to get to the tap, he has pulled out half the bedding and towels from the airing cupboard and piled them up.....everywhere.

I walk away.

Back downstairs, kitchen just about acceptable, washing done, tea made and catlings fed (again) we sat down and contemplated what a 'productive' day it has been.

Thank goodness it was over - it was nearly midnight and we'd had had enough!

Dear Wednesday....

Dear Wednesday (formally known as favourite-day-of-the-working-week)

And it all started oh so well (ok, so it started normally), the usual rush as the boys kiss me goodbye on their way to work and school. The last parting words from Eldest were - my kit was a bit damp, I've put it on the raidiator to dry......then that Sudden Silence that falls after the cacophony of early morning mayhem.

Oh yes my dear Wens (may I call you Wens? - Wednesday sounds so formal seeing we have got together at least once a week for the last few decades) it was a normal morning....until.

I was washing up the breakfast things when a rather foisty scent caught my nose. I turned toward the catlings with an accusatory stare.

Not us they said. Hmmmm.

There it was again. This time it had a definite musty trail I was able to follow. So, taking on the role of a bloodhound, my nose locked on to this.....um......smell, I tracked it to the rumpus room.  Nothing appeared out of the norm. I scanned round, taking in the rumpled state of the rumpus room (Yes Wens, this room has a name and it is not afraid to live up to it) It was there I spotted Eldest's kit scrunched up on the radiator drying.

I had a thought....kit? Why was it wet? It didn't rain yesterday...... So went for a closer inspection and found that I was bathed in the warm glow of a sweaty teenager's gym kit - phooowy. Creasing up my nose and collecting up the pungent gear I returned to the kitchen to toss the offending items into the washing machine.

Well, my dear dear Weddy (now that we are corresponding I think Weddy is a good affectionate name for you) as I bent down to open the washing machine door I noticed (strong stomachs only please) that the outer large tray that houses the smaller kitty litter tray was full full of what looked like kitten wee. Copious amounts of piddle - more than a stallion could produce in a day and the kitty litter tray was actually F~L~O~A~T~I~N~G!!

Urgh! How could I let my poor dear (obviously bladder-wracked) cats suffer so and how on earth could they produce so much-of-the-stuff in about 8 hours!!

Feeling like an awful kitty-parent I pulled out the trays to wash and replace the mess, when I realised that the litter tray was lovely and clean (bar one little nugget of poo neatly parcelled up in the litter) and all the liquid on the outside was not piddle????

As I puzzled over this strange occurrence, I could hear.....

drip...drip...drip....drip....

Bending as best my knee (which is doing very well thank you for asking) would let me, I peered into the corner where the noise was coming from. Squinting whilst squatting under a cupboard when a knee will only comply for a couple of moments does nothing for one's self esteem so I had to resort to getting a torch and getting right down on to the floor.

The cupboard appeared to be leaking..... this cupboard has only pots and pans in it - how on earth does it spring a leak?

It was at this point dear Weddy that I realised that the floor was steadily being covered in dirty water dripping from a cupboard that has no obvious water source and while I am going through this dilemma this puddle of water is getting large enough to start having tides alongside the shores of the washing machine and my slippered feet.

I sprung into action and reached for my cell phone - quick as a flash I texted Himself and explained in terse sentences what was happening then returned to the watery scene to start mopping up and clearing away the mess.

A quick flurry of texts between the two of us led me to back to the cupboard under the sink searching for the stop cock tap. I could still hear the steady dripping next to me.

 All the goodies that lurk in that dank dark space were hauled out, washing powder, vases, spare scrubby things (Oh is that where they are!!) fabric softener, you get the gist, there is a lot of the stuff and half of it I have no real use for. Including a small box of dolly blue...... which for some unknown reason leapt into the murky puddle on the floor, spilling its contents into the water turning it into the most gorgeous indigo. At least my indoor water feature was now a pretty blue rather than a cacky yellow. (As I type this, my fingers are tinged a delicate shade of indigo - particularly under my nails...yum...)

I had to mop blue splatters off the wall, off the bins, off the cats (they were banished to the rumpus room as their help WAS NOT HELPING) - thank goodness it was not red as the kitchen would have looked like a slaughter house.

Well, Weddy, by now, the stop cock had been located, the water switched off and the floor mopped. The drip however, was still dripping and if anything it was dripping with more vigour! I have had to resort to catching the steady flow by putting a spare litter tray underneath. Excuse me while I go and empty it.

Feeling a little more composed, I went to release the cats from the rumpus room only to find that in their frustration of being refused their help they had captured and killed a block of polystyrene and left it's remains strewn across the carpet. They were so pleased with their efforts that they re-enacted their predatory skills hunting down a cardboard box and jumping up and down on it in an attempt to prevent it from escaping. I rescued the poor box which was in a bit of a sorry state and buried it in the paper recycle bin.

So you see, Wednesday, you are, as of today, not necessarily my favourite day any more, please do not take it personally, I am sure we'll bump into each other again, probably in a week or so.......... No hard feelings

kind regards

hawthorn

Ps, I would like a brew and there is no water in the kettle - for which I am holding you responsible.

Madness is a state of mind - and yes there is a lot of that sort of state going on here - and I do mind!

As some of you already know, I have another blog called, Kyōyū kyōyū - share, where we knit and crochet squares for blankets as well as make toys for children and send them to Japan.  It is coming up to one year after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster and this has brought back to the surface that people are still suffering and are still homeless or in temporary shelter.  I have been linked up with another blog called Japan Alive. They have just been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on the video our blankets are there being unpacked and shared with the women who now use knitting and crochet to keep themselves occupied and keep themselves alive. I just had to share - I am so proud of our ladies that have spent time and effort to help across the miles - thank you xxx

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Yarnival - why oh why do I start these things!! 

It always starts off as a good idea....'I know - let's have a fibre festival'.....as if I know anything about fibres OR festivals, never mind the two of them together. 

It is NOT HELPED by the like minded and easily led astray friends who say.....'Yes! what a good idea - yes!! let's have a fibre festival'....

When really what they should have said to me was....'NO-OOOOO..........put the thought down and step awaaay from any more DANGEROUS thinking like that'....... 

But no, they ENCOURAGE me! What sort of friends are they!!!??

Now, many sleepless nights later (and I am sure twice the many grey hairs too) I now have concrete butterflies skipping a merry dance in my stomach.

And...AND....AND what is worse (how could you!) there are voices mentioning things like...when we do it again next year... (WHAT!?!) 

So - to keep sane (well trying to make some attempt at sanity) I am crocheting.....knitting.....blocking....and drinking far too much tea

I have started using wooden needles - lovely to the touch - hand made, smooth and polished***

And rather large................ 'thank you' to my two assistants for demonstrating the dimensions of my knitting

Oi you two - gerrroooffff me knitting!!!

***thank you to Mr Threads through my life for making these needles for me :)

I would like to say that normal transmission will resume shortly but seeing that most of my life has been a bit, lets say, haphazard - fat chance.....

Birthday weekend round up

The house has the ever so slightly rumpled look...... you know the one. Cushions need plumping, curtains are awry, carpet needs vacuuming - definitely needs vacuuming. I had written a different word there - a well known brand of vacuum cleaner who's name is synonymous with the action of electrically sucking the carpet clean when I realised that unintentionally  I could be advertising one brand over another, so changed the word to vacuuming. The spell check underlined it in red - flagging it for incorrect spelling,   I typed the word the second time, another red line......hmmmmm. I looked at the word - v.a.c.u.u.m.i.n.g..... yes it did seem odd but then don't you find that if you look at a word often enough it begins to look different. The spell check certainly didn't like it, but mind you, the laptop's spell cheque doesn't lyke meny ov the wards eye right.....

Right, where was I? - oh yes - basically the house is a tip..... We have had a lovely weekend and the evidence is everywhere.
It was Eldest's 14th birthday on Friday and we have this family tradition that the weekend nearest to a birthday belongs to that person. So, Friday night we had a surprise family party for him. He was delighted at family arriving unannounced with gifts and yummy nibbles.  The celebrations carried on into Saturday as we spent the day in the Lakes for him, it was wonderful - so so lucky with the weather.

It is an odd feeling - having a 14 year old in your house. He's part child with feet bigger than mine, he is still young but he discusses huge issues like politics in the middle east and the student riots last summer.  He wholly delves into huge historical books and can cook a mean gingerbread biscuit but can't remember to put his clothes to the wash or clean his teeth unless reminded.

 Happy birthday my dearest boy !

A beautiful day with lovely long reaching views over Lake Windermere.

 I have to say that I am touched by the amount and the content of the comments from my last posting - I am really glad to have made you chuckle or snort or laugh out loud - thank you :)

In which the catlings are very disappointed with the staff

Well, I did promise and seeing I have been reminded once or twice, I thought I would share the catlings 'big-day-meiout' to the vets.

In a previous incarnation I was a vet nurse so am fully aware of the procedure that preludes a cat spey, including the dreaded 'nil-by-meouth' which when you are a very active nearly 6 month old catling seems dreadfully unfair, never mind down right cruel.

The usual instructions - lift all food by 11pm the night before - In theory - check
In reality?
Well........ its like this you see -  We last noted the girls tucking into their nibbles round about 9pm, then retiring to the lounge for a late evening punch up. This entails a fair bit of gallumping about and using all 20 dozen claws to scale the sides of the settee and launching off like  furry  missiles landing on unsuspecting sister-catlings/human legs/house plants or any other suitable target for maximum effect (cue shrieking in pain/anger/hysterics at these antics)
Any hoo - I digress. I walked retreated at speed into the kitchen about 10pm to lift their plates up only to be followed  closely by two now starving catlings - they loudly pronounced that.... they-were-now-famished-beyond-repair-as-all-that-playing-had-used-up-their-energy-and-now-they-needed-to-recharge-their-tum-tums'
Smiling at their hopeful little furry faces, I put their food out of catling reach.
If looks could kill......
Himself and I  rattled around downstairs for another 15 - 20 minutes before going to bed. All the while we were alternatively followed or shouted at by our furry stalkers.
'Could-we-not-see-their-ribs?' and 'this-was-not-on-and-things-better-change-around-here-immediately!'
We shut the downstairs door against the marauding ravenous wolves that our catlings had metamorphosed into and went to bed.
All through the night we could hear thumps and bumps downstairs and we knew that the catlings knew that we could hear them and they were making sure we knew that they were S.T.A.R.V.I.N.G.!

Part 2 of the instructions - lift up their water on getting up and bring them to the surgery for 9am. In theory - Check.
In reality?
Well, normally Himself goes down first and I follow about 5 minutes later and we are usually greeted by happy fuzzballs of furry fun who then trot upstairs and wake the boys. N.O.T..T.H.I.S...M.O.R.N.I.N.G...
Ooh nooooo.
Lily (marmalade) tore passed me, her legs a blurrrrrr, as I stepped out of the bathroom. She was howling a complaint over her shoulder as she whizzed into the boys room.

I could hear here jumping up and down on Youngest bed yelling at him....For kitty's sake will you get up and feed us now, our normal staff have gone on strike and we are STARVING!


Once downstairs it was like playing Russian-roulette-hop-scotch with catlings as they skedaddled around our feet alternating pleading complete famishment with issuing final demands for food and food RIGHT NOW!

Himself wished me luck as he laughingly stepped over the catlings on his way to work.

Well....... they targeted their plan of campaign directly at me. Oh dear. Their little eyes narrowed as they walked firmly towards me and continued straight..up..my..leg..ouch
Having extracted all 20 dozen claws from my thigh, the girls sat down and frowned at me.
Holly (torti) trotted off towards the kitchen. A moments silence..then.... clatter, clunk, clatter...It took me a moment to realise that the sound was the cat-food cupboard door. It took a similar time to stride quickly into the kitchen and open the cupboard door to see a cat tail disappear into the bag of dog food! As I lunged forward to grab Holly, Lily slipped in like a furry red snake and also tried to get in the food bag. I pulled both wriggling and protesting starved creatures out and returned to lift the dog food away out of kitty-reach when.....
Crunch crash! I spun round to see Holly hurling the cat biscuits out at high speed - she then threw herself out after the box, closing the gap between hungry cat and box of biscuits. I too turned (bearing in mind I am still one legged) and managed to launch myself rugby-tackle style at the box. It hit the floor and bounced, flinging out tiny brown cat nibbles in an arc of such beauty and wonderment that briefly both Holly and I watched captivated....until they all hit the floor in a tiny clatter. I grabbed the cat instead.
Noooo-oooo she howled, her paws outstretched at the biscuits on the floor. Lily was unceremonially scooped up too and both protesting cats were put in the hall while I cleared up all nibbles.
When I finally released them from their imprisonment they muttered dark things at me as they conducted a thorough search of the kitchen floor.
I went to get ready before my folks came to take us to the vets, leaving them the cat box to familiarise themselves with. (complete with comfort blankie and loads of newspaper to keep them warm and give a nice soft base) When I returned back downstairs I found the blankie had been beaten up and the newspaper had been shredded.

Part 3 of the instructions  put the cats in the box and bring to vets - In theory Check
In reality?
Lily had a thing or two to say.......Yowl, yowl, let meeeeout, woool, woooo, youil, youuuussslll, meow, yowl, woooooo, oooh, wwooooo.
Holly - well, her lips were tightly sealed and she lay down, crossed her paws and frowned.
Lilly - Yowl, yowl, let meeeeout, woool, woooo, youil, youuuussslll, meow, yowl, woooooo, oooh, wwooooo.
All the way to the veterinary surgery (bar the last mile) Lily threatened to contact the management, she said she would report us for cat-napping, she let her feelings 'paw' out and she let us know her great disappointment in our behaviour.
We handed the girls over, said our good-byes and see-you-laters and left.

Fast forward to 5pm (the earliest we could rescue the girls) and £150ish  later (gah) we brought our girls home.

Part 1 of evening instructions - don't feed your cat anything until they are fully awake, then just offer small portions and little drinks as an anaesthetic can make them feel ill. They probably wont be properly hungry until the morning - in theory - check
In reality?
Well, the return journey was a lot quieter. Just two little baleful faces.
I gave the boys the full lecture of not over feeding them and making sure they didn't feel sick.
We got into the house, carefully opened the box to let our precious little catlings and...... such a stomping and a chatting occurred. They both had to tell us in great detail exactly what had happened.
Holly guess what? they didnt feeeeeed us
Lily they did horrible things to my fur - just look at the size of my bald bits!!
Holly no body gave us anything to eeeeeat!
Lily I have these knots in my fur and I can't wash them out and they taste horrible.


I put down a tentative morsel in each plate and was pushed immediately aside with such furry force.

nom nom nom nom nom more?
so, a little more was offered....... slurp...more?
Any way you get the gist!

Part 2 of evening instructions - keep your cat quiet for the next ten days - in theory - check
ten days? ten days? ten minutes more likely!!

Oh I give up!