the view from the hill

Lest we forget

2009-11-11T17:26:00.000Z

There are a multitude of reasons why I've not posted for a week and a half but today is not the day to go in to them.
We had 2 minutes silence at school today, even my rowdy year 11's fell silent, the boy who sniggered was roundly shouted at by all the others at the end of it.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Wales

2009-11-01T10:40:00.000Z

My life seems to be increasingly heading westwards in to the land of dragons!
Recently I've been there for a weekend, I'm there again for another weekend next week, and now Mum and Dad have moved there.
They've always wanted a cottage in the country and now they've found it.
The outside is not the prettiest, the inside needs a bit of cleaning and re-painting, but the views are heavenly.

We moved last week, without the help of a removal van. We filled my estate car, my brother's estate car, the camper van, a box van, my parents estate car, 3 roof boxes, and 2 trailers....
It must have looked very bizarre as we headed across the country.

Half Term

2009-10-28T12:48:00.000Z

Holidays for me are a chance to catch up. Weekdays are full of work and exhaustion, weekends are jealously guarded as a chance for a lie in, and a bit of time to escape. Holidays actually a chance to get some much needed jobs done.
I've wanted to put a proper TV aerial up for ages, and on Monday Mum and Dad bought ladders over and very kindly got the job done for me.
Mum and I spent the entire time waiting for a scream and a crash, however none happened, which is a good job really as later today I'm off to help them move to their new house!

2009-10-26T11:34:00.000Z

This is why the holidays are wonderful. I actually get to finish my many knitting projects instead of doing 2 or 3 rows here and there. We're currently ignoring the pile of schoolwork I have to do. That will be completed at some point, I'm choosing not to think about it!

This is the first of the finished objects. The new pattern design I was working on is now complete. I'm waiting for the test knitters to check the pattern makes sense and then it's going to be another p/hop pattern and hopefully raise lots of money for msf.

Final Secret Pal Parcel

2009-10-23T20:27:00.000+01:00

I received my final secret pal parcel this week. I feel so wonderfully spoiled by Azzuka
She really took note of what I'd written about myself, and did a very good job of stalking me!

My particular favourite, the Cookie A book, I've wanted it for ages and now I have it! I also have some lovely wool, and silk, and some wool to knit myself a pair of Tonks socks!

Thank You so much, my faith in swaps has been restored!

Another year, another weekend in Wales...

2009-10-21T20:22:00.000+01:00

Freakily I've written a post with this title before!
I spent the weekend in Wales recharging my batteries with the university climbing club. Saturday was spent climbing in the sunshine, and Sunday was spent in blissful solitude walking the hills above Beddgelert. I arrived home ready to face the final week of term, and the stresses that brings about. I have spoken to more parents this half term than I have in the entire of last term!

www.flickr.com

A present

2009-10-12T21:29:00.000+01:00

I finished my secret pal swap with my partner at the start of September. I knew term was starting, and that life would take over (well actually my job has taken over!)
She very kindly sent me a little parcel as a thank you, some beautiful cashemere merino laceweight that is beautifully soft, and some wonderful dark chocolate that has already been sampled.

Thank You so much Gisella, it's been a pleasure to pick things out for you.

A sneak preview

2009-10-04T11:48:00.000+01:00

Hopefully my new p/hop pattern, it's had a few false starts but is now making good progress, I just need to decide on a tactic for the gusset.

I'm having a pyjama day today, sitting lesson planning, knitting and spinning.

Some success

2009-10-02T18:38:00.000+01:00

I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry but crikey has this new job been kicking my butt! There have been tears from most of the department at some point this week, however I have managed to get some more tram knitting done. That frogged mess below is actually going to be a pattern that works for p/hop, I will post a spoiler picture tomorrow when I can take one in some decent light.... it's dark now, I'm in my pyjamas, and have a big glass of wine and am giving myself the evening off. I nearly fell asleep in the ICT suite period 6 today with my Year 11 group.

A failure

2009-09-24T20:27:00.000+01:00

A new sock design has been brewing in my head for a little while, I know what I want to do, but have yet to manage to translate that to paper. I've been knitting them on the tram reccently, I tried them on and the colourwork section won't even go over my instep. Something of a failure then! I'm off to have a rethink....

Happy Birthday

2009-09-20T18:56:00.000+01:00

The last photo didn't contain any scale, but I think was pretty obvious that the socks in question were bloke socks! They're now finished, washed and gifted to my Dad who's 53 today. I went home for a flying visit to deliver teh spinning wheel I bought off Ravelry for my Mum's birthday, to get my roast dinner medicine, and to help Mum and Dad box up the loft as they're moving house!

On Saturday I also had a wonderful surprise my secret pal parcel had arrived from japan! Even more exciting than the lovely yarn was the extra knitting goodies inside! Only in Japan would you get safety pins with fishes heads as the catches!

Some silk gimu yarn

Some Noro silk Flower

And my favourite bit!

Look what you can get done in a week

2009-09-13T19:18:00.000+01:00

This is what happens when you spend an hour and a half commuting each day for a week.....
Maybe my queue of projects doesn't look so optimistic after all?

The first week of school, pretty much what I expected, no better, no worse.... I feel like getting to half term is achievable, then after a week off I'll be ready to start again.

Charlotte's wedding

2009-09-06T21:23:00.000+01:00

My old boss got married this weekend, over the year she became someone who I could call a friend, always prepared to fight my corner and someone who when you went on a night out would practically guarantee you had a good time. Her wedding was everything I would want in my own wedding, beautifully personalized, relaxed and a true celebration.

I'd wanted to make her something special for her wedding, Charlotte crochets and can also sew, if anyone can appreciate something hand knitted it's her. She was the recipient of the Hemlock Ring blanket in my finished objects pictures to the left. I also made a shawl to go with my outfit for the day, after all September is not known for it's warmth!

The pattern is Laminaria, knitted using 1 skein of Yarn Yard Kelpie which is pure cashmere. How could you not feel like a million dollars wearing it!
School starts officially tomorrow, wish me luck, I may need it!

Summer is over

2009-09-03T17:42:00.000+01:00

The only tomato of summer. I'm back at work and the rain is falling, I love it as I have no objections to being indoors. My tomato plants on the other hand are disapproving. There are very small green tomatoes on them but the plants themselves are dying.... Luckily the tomato tasted delicious, delicious to make me try again next year!

Nothing to say except this-

2009-09-02T21:47:00.000+01:00

2009-08-30T13:11:00.001+01:00

Today I am sprawled on a sofa moaning about my aching limbs. This is why I have aching limbs!

I spent yesterday helping to tile the floor at my aunties cottage. The tiles in question are 2 foot square, and the floor is no where near level. It was not an easy task!
Afterwards we sat out in what is going to be the front garden and enjoyed what will probably be the last barbeque of the year.

In knitting news, I'm actually finishing things, the latest victim of my get things done list is this lacy Baktus knitted using Yarn Yard Bonny.

I'm relaxing over the weekend, and then back to work on Thursday..... I am looking forward t it, honest!

Pembrokeshire

2009-08-24T15:54:00.001+01:00

I had a lovely week, the wind blew a little too strongly, but apart from that we only had one day of rain.
Oh, it also rained as we took the tent down, it's now sat in the back of my car waiting for a dry day (possibly tomorrow) waiting for me to pull it out and dry it.
We didn't get any canoeing done, but did climb nearly every day. We also did a couple of morning's body boarding which caused great amusement trying to squeeze me in to the same wet suit I've had since I was 15, now while I haven't grown vertically since then, nor indeed much in any direction the wet suit is now snugger than it once was!
Now I have a week and a half until school starts, I'd better do some actual work! (oh and get knitting, I have 2 projects I need finished for a wedding the weekend before we go back!)

More tears

2009-08-14T18:37:00.000+01:00

This has made me cry. If you're not a knitter it might not mean much to you, but just the act of investing all that time in something as a gift is enough to make anyone teary.
All those women by the way are the knitting equivalent of Premier League Footballers, they're best selling authors, and very clever women.

I'm off to Pembrokeshire for a week, I hope to return with recharged batteries, and a sense of peace from the place that truely is heaven on earth.

Grandad

2009-08-12T22:15:00.000+01:00

My Grandad died on the 13th of July, he was 83. He'd been on holiday in Spain and fell and broke his hip. He never recovered. The memorial service was last week while I was in Switzerland. I was told he'd died while on the school Duke of Edinburgh trip while half way up a mountain. The whole thing seems completely surreal. I never imagined him dying yet, he'd been partially blind for 10 years, and had a brush with cancer of the oesophagus but was as healthy as you could hope for in someone who was 83. I never dreamed he's die yet, he was my last surviving grandparent and I can't believe he didn't get to see any of his grand children get married or to see the birth of any of his great grandchildren.

He was never an affectionate Grandad, and definitely not the sort to look after my brother and I while my parents went and did something. He mellowed in old age, and while he never said he loved me I know without doubt that he did. The reason I'm writing all this now is that today I went over to his house my family and met up with my Aunty who has come over from America. We went through the boxes in the loft, and it was so tragic how little there was. We saved a couple of things, but so much has gone to the charity shop. In a lifetime he collected very little in terms of value to leave behind for us to remember him by. However I have got my Grandma's wedding ring, she died when I was 2, aged just 60. It's not worth very much, it's only a couple of millimetres wide and 9 carrot gold, but has a simplicity that I love.

It's taken until today for me to realise that he was gone, that he wouldn't need another pair of hand knitted socks this Christmas, and that he wouldn't be able to tell us inappropriate dirty jokes while drinking a pint of his beloved beer. He used to let me and my brother have a drink from his pint if we were good, I always thought he'd be around to do the same to my children.
My Grandad's favourite tipple was whisky, which I can't stand, but I have got a glass of sloe gin to drink to him.
Rest in peace Grandad, I hope there's a good pub wherever you are.

Switzerland

2009-08-10T16:07:00.000+01:00

A brief selection of my photos from Switzerland. We took 26 Guides and Young Leaders and 7 adults overall it was an amazing trip, the weather to start off with was a little damp, including hail storms and thunder and lightning. By the end of the week however it was warm and sunny, with amazing views from the tops of the mountains. We shall gloss over the 24 hour coach journeys, and being pulled off the coach to go through customs at 1.30am, apparently home office instructions are that all youth groups must go through customs in case they've been on terrorist training camps....

Hghlights have to be the views from the top of the Schilhorn and watching a group of teenage girls relax and not worry about what they looked like, and what others were thinking about them.

Oh and apparenly when we next go I might be organising it.... (PS. I also found a wool shop, and yes, I bought wool!)

I'm back

2009-08-09T10:48:00.001+01:00

I've arrived back safely from Switzerland ahead of schedule. the RSS feed reader has been caught up with (111 blog posts), and 139 emails have been read or deleted!
I still haven't opened my bag, I still need to shower but I have had an all important cup of tea. Photos are going to be forthcoming.

On my travels

2009-07-30T16:50:00.001+01:00

I leave tomorrow for a trip to Switzerland with Guiding, I am paying to spend money with 30 Guides on a coach for 24 hours, at times I think I need my head examining....
I think the packing is done, the important things like what knitting to take were picked out several days earlier less important things like "do I have enough clean knickers?" were only thought about last night. The answer by the way was no, I went to sleep to the sound of a washing machine attempting take off. It needed this much time because the weather to be quite honest has been dreadful, I've done a few climbing instruction sessions this summer and have worn water proofs for every single one. Most summers they might get put on once maybe twice if I'm unlucky. My legs haven't seen daylight for weeks, I am ready for Switzerland to be hot and sunny!

See you all in 10 days or so....

Until next year

2009-07-26T18:12:00.000+01:00

The tour de france has just finished which means that it's time to look back on what I managed to knit and spin. This year got interupted by a trip to Scotland, and this time last year I hadn't learnt to spin yet so there was no repeat of last years mammoth effort!

I have however knitted a pair of socks from my own handspun, and a few squares for a p/hop afghan which is going to be auctioned in September.

On the spinning front I've managed 3 skeins in total.

98m of laceweight silk, just enough to work out I don't like spinning silk, and too little to actually be useful! It is pretty though.

Some sparkly fingering weight which is my first spindle spun yarn.

And some laceweight Teesdale wool.

Just so you don't start getting the wrong idea about me I also finished these over th last few days... the least said the better, they're going to the frog pond I've now knitted 5 individual legwarmers in an effort to make 2 complete pairs and suffered to get the sizing right on all of them. I declare defeat, the yarn is lovely soft alpaca, it can be something else!

Some spinning

2009-07-21T16:32:00.000+01:00

Here's the latest thing off the wheel. Some Handspun Teesdale from Freyalyn's Fibres a few people have commented on Ravelry that they'd not encountered Teesdale before. It's lovely to spin, not super soft and quite grabby, but saying that it wasn't horrendous to draft. The finished yarn is quite coarse, with pretty good definition, but also a bit of a halo if that makes sense. It has made a really nice laceweight though the yardage is a little disappointing, only 250m from 100g. It will make a nice small lace shawl though.

Secret Pal parcel

2009-07-20T13:31:00.000+01:00

My first secret pal parcel has arrived. This one has travelled from Europe but apparently the next one will arrive from Asia. To say I'm excited is an under statement!

Some Llama, some cashmere mix, some continental hot chooclate, a french knitting magazine, and amazingly a book mark. I used to have a massive bookmark collection as a child, relatives bought them back from holiday for me, and if we ever went away I always bought one back.

I just need to cast off a sock and then I'm going to go and get some exercise.