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....