Bring on the fun!

I'm trying to think back to what was going on in my life when I VOLUNTEERED to be a cub mum to 25 cubs on a camping weekend. I'm wondering why I didn't demand I be housed in the cub cabin rather than my own tent for the duration of the weekend, all by myself. Having said all of that, I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of boys and other helpers. The theme of the weekend was eggs. Every task, game and meal, contained eggs - raw as well as cooked. I've just asked Shea if he wants eggs for breakfast - if there was anything harder than the cushion to hand, I'm sure he'd have thrown it!! My tent was not too bad, my head still has the sound of the rain bouncing off the outer skin going round and round in it. My bed never felt so good - even with the rogue springs!!

I did manage to get some knitting done. I must plug the Know Knits - Go Knit Pouch purchased from Get Knitted. I put the pouch through its paces. It was rained on, egged on and all the fauna of the forest tried to find their way inside - all to no avail. My knitting was kept in pristine condition at all times. I have to admit that I had to be converted to the use of the pouch. Karin had one and I turned my nose up at it, preferring to cart about my work in plastic or paper bags with the needles hanging out of them. Until I had the pleasure of poolside knitting - wet yarn is a bit of a pain. So I can highly recommend the pouch. Get Knitted offer a prompt service and have a range of colours. What was I knitting? I worked on my dad's socks and a school hat for Shea.

We have dreary weather and I missed the one sunshine moment, so the photo's don't really do the work justice. The socks are a 3 x1 rib using yarn purchased from Kerrie at Hipknits on the weekend she debuted her new premises. The hat is Rowan Shetland Aran (that was just hanging out at home as yarn does!!). I can only do a few rows of this at a time because of the loose fibres.
Never mind the knitting, look at the pouch!

Before my weekend at one with nature, I visited the Handweavers studio in Walthamstow, East London for a yarn fix. I have withdrawal symptoms if I do not regularly go into a yarn shop and look at the yarn. Occasionally I will feel and fawn over it - and then I'm fine. I never, never buy anything, honest!! I can only spend short periods of time in the shop, all the yarn is stacked "naked" on open shelving - making it incredibly tempting - and I start to react to the wool content. The allergy thing is another day and another story. As afore mentioned, the visit was more of a pick me up before the weekend with the wee ones. And of course a few items just jumped into a plastic bag which found its way into my hand. Shea chose some wool fibre to learn to spin with while at Kerrie's Place, so his fairy god mother bought him a drop spindle. He's also going to experiment with the weaving card during the Easter holidays which are upon us. I've also been toying with dyeing some bleached cotton that I have in my stash (oh yes, we have stash) and bought a small amount of a purple shade to experiment with. The staff at the Handweavers studio were very helpful and informative. It is a little treasure trove. I love going there.

The postman always knocks hard
Whilst in recovery mode this morning, after the forest weekend and trying to enjoy my lay in due to the school holidays - you can imagine my sour response to the door bell ringing at 7.00am. That is until the very nice post man gave me my package from Jamieson's of Shetland. For at least 6 years, I've been trying to decide what yarn to knit St Brigid in, a pattern by Alice Starmore. I fell in love with this pattern and it is a must knit. Katy is hosting a St Brigid knit-a-long. It gave me the encouragement I needed to get a move on and choose the yarn. On her last visit to the USA, Karin even posted me some Cascade 220 to swatch. I have also been bugging the staff who come to London from Jamieson's on what yarn to use. To cut a real long story short on my dithering, Jamieson's have a yarn sale at the moment, in the yarn I have decided is most suitable for the pattern. The yarn was ordered late Thursday afternoon, I call that very prompt service. Pop along to their site to see what tickles your fancy. So, yes my frown and words of admonishment fell neatly into a very graceful smile as the postman handed me my package. The colour of the yarn is special wine and the photo did not show up the flecks in it. I want to finish Liam, the socks and the hat before I go near St Brigid. Watch this space for an update and wish me luck!!