Bits and Pieces

Yes...I'm still making wrist warmers - I've got over 40 pairs of them listed in my etsy shop now. That does sound like a lot and it probably is really, but once I start doing the summer markets and am selling them in Lucy's shop in the village hopefully I will be grateful that I've been able to build up some stock.

Every single year though, I never have enough of them by Christmas so I'm going to try harder this year -- they always are my most favourite things to make anyway so it's no big hardship and it helps use up some of the yarn in my cupboard at the same time.

These two pairs are made using some of the yarn I've bought most recently -- on our holiday in Iceland! It's made by Schoppel and is a German brand that I'd first come across while we were on holiday in Germany.

I've just been googling it and have found an Irish stockist --  http://www.theconstantknitter.ie/ so I hopefully will be able to get some more at some stage in the future (it was VERY expensive to buy in Iceland)

I've been feeling very under the weather and sorry for myself lately as I've picked up a flu-y cold that just seems to linger on and on: I have a day where I feel nearly 'normal' and think I'm over it and then the next day I can be feeling horrid all over again.

I've been trying to take it easy on my days off work so I haven't been out and about with my beach cleaning - I did go for a short walk along the local beach here in Waterville last week though - just to get some fresh air and I collected some shells. I LOVE the detail in these little flat top-shells.

 Then I'd been notified about a stranded whale over on Valentia Island so Peter and I headed out to take a look. It was a minke whale and had been sighted floating in the water off Slea Head (near Dingle) recently. As part of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group strandings scheme, I was able to take a small skin sample and record the stranding.

 And now something more cheerful - the other night I came home from work to find that Peter had brought me these gorgeous soaps! What a lovely treat :) I love little surprises!

Local wildlife!

I'm full of cold at the moment so instead of doing a beach clean today (it's my days off work) I just wrapped up and brought my camera with me - it's lovely to be able to take in the scenery rather than spend the time looking for rubbish!

So today I managed to get a photo of one of the great northern divers (or loons) before they leave us for their breeding grounds in Iceland - they are hard to photograph as they don't really spend THAT long up on the surface of the water (not when they're close to the shore at least). They are one of my most favourite birds - I always look forward to when they come in the Autumn and then miss them when they leave us in the springtime.

The other birds are oyster-catchers -- I was trying to get close enough to them to take a half-way decent photo without scaring them into flight.

Then finally, I was trying to take photos of a pair of seals who were frolicking in the sea - they were quite far out so it wasn't easy!

The photos below are from my previous trip to this beach (on 19th April) - I filled up a bag with rubbish but kept some things aside just out of interest to document how many of them - so I have photos of the much-hated shotgun cartridges, light sticks (from fishing) and cigarette lighters...

Just when I was despairing about all the rubbish I was finding I found proper treasure! Yet another sea-heart!

Where does the time go?

Somehow it's already more than half way through April, and I haven't updated my little blog at all this month...I think this is what happens when I go back to work...it takes a while for things to settle back to a normal routine again.

So this is where I'm lucky enough to work :) Amazingly this will be my 11th season working on the ferry!

It already feels like we've been back at work for months even though it's been a few weeks - it's always like that - I spend half my year working on the ferry and the other half in my winter 'retirement' (crocheting like mad and cleaning the beaches).

As you can see I've still been making wrist warmers whenever I can :) I still have one pair to photograph and list and I'm now in the middle of making a pair of crocodile st. ones in King Cole's 'riot' for a friend.

Once I've finished that pair I need to have a re-organise of my wool cupboard (and boxes) - once I feel like I'm more fully stocked up on wrist warmers I might stretch out to a few scarves....

More Wrist Warmers

I love this last pair especially! it's a new yarn to me - King Cole's ''Drifter'' dk -- it's a blend with just a touch of wool (6%) and the rest is cotton and acrylic. It feels gorgeous and I LOVE the colours! I'm making another pair of wrist warmers in another shade of this yarn and am wishing I'd bought some of the other shades...I think it's one that I will come back to in the future...

Sea Glass and Sequins

 I had a message from a (hopefully) potential customer on Etsy looking for some 'tiny sea glass' the other day so this gave me the opportunity to sort out what I have in my tins that I haven't listed already: I can't really see the point in listing EVERYTHING or it would cost me a fortune in listing fees/renewals etc so I tend to keep a portion of 'the collection' listed and then if something sells or someone is looking for something specific I will list something new.

 I've just got one more wrist warmer to make in the King Cole Galaxy yarn - the twin of the black one with gold sequins and then a pair to make with the KC Riot and then I'm going to move on to something different :) It'll probably be more wrist warmers as I'm still trying to build up some stock - hopefully Lucy will want some bits and pieces for her shop in the village again for the summer...

Yes, I am still busy making wristwarmers! It's good really that these are my ultimate favourite things to make - I'm still trying to rebuild my stock levels up...I finished the purple/black sequined ones today and have them listed already. Things are quiet in my Etsy shop at the moment but I think that's pretty normal for this time of year; really I'm grateful that this is still a hobby for me (that also allows me to donate so much to charity and sponsor two children!) rather than me trying to make a living from it....

Right now I'm making an emerald green pair (with silver sequins) and once I've got them finished I'm on to either black yarn with gold sequins or a self striping red/black.

Once I've got those ones done then I'll have got all my King Cole Riot/Country Tweed/Galaxy colours in stock and I can move on to making them in another yarn!

I've got a pretty good stock of KC Riot and Country Tweed yarns in my wool cupboard - there are a few more shades I'd like to have in stock but I'm banning myself from buying any more wools unless it's specifically for a customer, and even then I'm ONLY going to order what I need rather than what I want!

It's late now so I must go and get ready for bed, but when I was looking through my photos I found these to of myself and Oscar (my dahling little one) on the sofa....he's my heart cat and we love each other :) 

 he's been sleeping on my shoulder since he was a tiny kitten ....

...but he's a bit bigger now!

I had written a blog update earlier but it seems to have got swallowed up into the ether and I can't find where it has gone, so here we go again....I'm just about to get ready for bed but I am still trying to sort through my holiday photos; there are just SO many of them that I'm going to try and incorporate them in my general blog updates or maybe write a post on a theme (like the beautiful snow covered graveyard we visited in Reykjavik that was full of trees and peace and quiet).

Anyway...before I ever learned how to crochet, I used to knit instead! I took my knitting everywhere with me - I'd bring it on walks, down to the beach and when I'd go and see bands when I lived in Cork I'd bring my knitting :)

Peter and I have known each other for just over 25 years now and this jumper must be pretty much that old by now

This is him modelling it next to a statue outside our favourite coffee house/cafe in Reykjavik! He originally asked me to knit him a big baggy/slouchy jumper and I think I chose the colour :) I'm pretty sure that he must have given me the money for the yarn though as I was in college then and didn't have the spare money for wool!

I can remember still that I bought it from the Springwools in Cork city - I used to love that shop so much though I never had any money (being a poor starving student!). It's funny that all these years later I'm still a Springwools customer - since I moved back to Ireland and started with my crochet I discovered their website and order from them online. They are only based in Dublin now though sadly so I've only been able to go to their shop once in recent years.

It's holding up pretty well despite being so old! I love the colours in this yarn so much -- I was trying to remember what make it was (and the composition too) -- I'm pretty sure it was made by Tivoli but that's all I can remember.

And here we have Peter modelling his other vintage jumper (also in Iceland!) This one was entirely made with scraps/left overs and bits and pieces that I had bought from assorted charity shops when we were first living in England.

It must be at least 20 years old! I had started out making these jumpers as part of a charity appeal I'd seen on British television. They wanted lots and lots of handknitted jumpers for children in Africa - I can't remember even what country it was for but it touched my heart and I sent off for the simple pattern (it was just two 'T' shapes that you joined up to make a jumper) and decided that the ones that I was going to make would be the most unique ones that I could make.

I made them in every colour! I even saw not one but two of my jumpers on the television programme! I can still remember how happy that made me feel - I saw a child wearing one of my jumpers and another shot of one of my jumpers in the warehouse, ready to be shipped out to Africa. :) :)

Peter had liked all the multi-colour effect so I promised to make him one too - much bigger and with a proper pattern - and this was it!