Recent ...

 These are the wrist warmers that I've made for Mary Ruth -- I made them a *slightly* smaller size than normal and have added thumbs as per her request. Thumbs are so fiddly to make and even more so in a very fine yarn. This was lovely 'mini mochi' -- I can't even remember when or where I got it from now but it has been on the middle shelf of my wool cupboard for a while!

I've been making yet more wrist warmers - these will all be going into the craft shop on Valentia Island (at Daly's Icecream Parlour) -- I need to get my 'shop' box out and sort out some stock for them as Caroline said that they are hoping to be open for Patrick's weekend.

Back to Crochet

 Back to another of my comfort zones - my crochet of course! I had a message from a lady on facebook about another order  - she wanted four pairs of wrist warmers and a cotton shower mitt -- so I got them all done and photographed and sent off -- but then she sent me a photo of all the pairs she's already bought from me (see below). Isn't that amazing??! I don't know anyone who has nine pairs of my wrist warmers, apart from myself.

I love my customers :) I'd a message from Mary Ruth (hello if you're reading this!) about making some wristwarmers for her too, once we sort out the colour and hopefully Airmid will be wanting me to make them something else in cotton for their handmade soaps etc.

 Hopefully this hat will be sold locally to Colette, I'm waiting to see if she's happy with it :) I adore this yarn, 'Mille Colori' by Lang in aran weight yarn (50/50 wool and acrylic) -- it's been discontinued though so the only place I can really get hold of it has been Springwools in Dublin. Luckily they have a really speedy mail-order service.

 I had bought four balls of the wool so I decided to make wrist warmers in the 'spare' pair...I love how they turned out!

I bought the same yarn in a different shade and had enough to make another hat and wrist warmer set. I wouldn't be too keen on these colours myself but I have to remind myself often that a lot of what I make isn't for myself!

...and I've made these wrist warmers again - wrist warmers in this wool have been such a good seller for me :) 

...and the last hat in this yarn! I must have sold at least four of these ones now but this is practically the end of the wool. There might be just about enough for a headband but that would be the very very end of it then! I've decided to try and keep my blonde model's hair in plaits - not sure how that will work out but I thought I'd give it a try. Her wig is very long and when she comes back from modelling my hats all Summer in the Sea Synergy Centre in the village, her hair is very matted. I'm not convinced if it will stay in place like this but I thought I'd test it out in the meantime.

Next time I must post photos of the wrist warmers that are sitting in my work basket - just waiting to have the loose ends sewn in. I always have something on the go...

February

Well January went pretty quickly this year (I always tend to find it the longest month of the whole year) and now we're already 1/3 of the way through February....

It's a busy month for us as our friends are away on holiday so we are taking care of their little grocery shop. It's exhausting! -- but it means that they get to go away for a well earned rest so we kind of grit our teeth and get through it. It's hardest on Peter as he is working for 18 days in a row, with no break :( We aren't used to that crazy, full-time, leave-the-house-in-the-dark-get-home-in-the-dark kind of life (though it isn't REALLY dark when he goes to work) - it's always a bit of a culture shock for us and strange to not have so much time together. BUT, at the end of it, we have our own holiday to look forward to: this year we are going to Krakow in Poland.

As my last post on here was about my beach cleaning I thought I'd better post a couple of recent photos in this update.

 In the last week I've actually had help with my beach cleaning TWICE!!! Usually I just plod on on my own, muttering under my breath about the human race and how badly we treat the planet...but it is so much more pleasant an experience if you have company!

In just over an hour eight of us collected all this rubbish from Lohar beach - and we came back in the afternoon and 'finished' off the rest of the beach :) The rubbish is all bagged up and ready to go up to the roadside but I am hopeful that I might get help with that....unless you ask for help people won't know that you need it!

Look - we found treasures on the beach -- the white one was at Lohar beach and then on the same day we all went over to St. Finan's bay as there was a dead dolphin I needed to record for the IWDG database and Eleanor found the black horse! What are the chances??!

And then yesterday I had three helpers on the little beach that's next to Lohar! We got the whole beach done AND got it all up to the top of the cliff. The council workers should have collected it all yesterday afternoon or sometime today hopefully...I don't like leaving bags of rubbish by the road in case it encourages people to dump their own rubbish there too. 

I am having a day of rest today to recouperate!! I don't actually feel as awful as I thought I would do but I can feel the 'strain' in the backs of my legs.

It's amazing to think of this small stretch of beach being practically clear of marine litter (til the next storm!)