Natural Rose ;)

Well it's only the 3rd of May and I'm already managing to update my little blog for the month - I'm really trying to get in the habit of updating little and often :)

I thought it's been a while since I posted a photo of myself - I absolutely loathe having my photograph taken but I wanted to record the fact that my hair is now all natural in colour! About a year and a half ago I decided to stop dying my hair and let it grow in naturally - so this is 'me'. I do have mixed feelings about it as it is greying (especially in my fringe) but it's part of me and I won't be going back to putting nasty chemicals on my scalp again :)

My hair isn't naturally this straight - this is just after having it cut in the hair salon and was the cut  got rid of all the residual dye on the ends.

In Etsy related news I've decided to switch on 'direct checkout' in my shop - which means that I can now accept any credit card, debit card etc as well as Etsy gift cards. I do still take PayPal as well but I've been wondering if by not having direct checkout I've been hampering the progress of my shop...it's got to be worth a try and if it's a total flop then I can always revert back to just PayPal again. I've only had it for a few days but was very optimistic about getting more sales --- and of course since I turned it on I haven't had a single solitary sale at all! It's early days though, and I guess this time of year can be a pretty quiet year in my shop so I'm not stressing about it.

I haven't added any new listings since I last posted on here as I've been busy making my wool hats for Barbara the artist and her art class - I must take a photo of them for my next blog update; I've actually lost count as to what number hat I'm making right now, I think it's number six or seven (the order is for ten hats) - if there's enough of the wool left over I might make one for myself even though I'm not really a 'hat' person.

And now for the 'life and other stuff' news....

Poor old Henry still has a bad paw; it was healing up really well and he was able to put his weight back on it yet again but then it started to bleed again - it feels like it'll never be gone at this stage! So we're back to taking him back to the beach so that we can let the healing salt water do its magic. I really love this photo of my husband with Henry.

here are a few of my most recent beach combing finds, including this amazing piece of carved wood - I would love to know where it came from and how it ended up on the beach here.

 And these glasses made me smile - I will be posting them off (with lots of other bits and pieces) for the artist Jo Atherton to make into ''Flotsam Weaving'' flotsamweaving

 Look who was watching me while I was beach combing the other day!

 I thought it was an otter at first - and then realised that there were two of them ...before finally realising that they were a pair of seal pups! Isn't it just wonderful? It was the most amazing thing to see - and they were SO curious that they followed me - swimming and frolicking in the tide while I walked along the shore. I spent at least half an hour watching them before they decided to swim away - it was just magical and one of those very special memories.

end of the month update

This will probably be my last update for this month unless something dramatic happens in the meantime; I'm finally getting the hang of starting to update on a regular basis - I have to admit that initially it was a bit of a chore to update my blog but now I find myself thinking ''oooh I must remember to write about this or that'': it's a nice feeling :)

 We've had a poorly old dog in the last week or so -- Peter had to take Henry to the vet one day last week while I was working as he had somehow managed to break one of his claws on his back leg and it got stuck into the sole of his foot and was obviously very painful. He had to wear a bandage for two days (you can just make it out in the photo) and was on antibiotics for five days. It did start to get better but then all of a sudden it was getting worse again and his foot was swelling up so he went back to the vet again - poor Henry, he absolutely hates going to see Paudie (our lovely vet) and twice in a week was a lot for a poor old hound to accept. But now he's on different antibiotics (and for ten days this time!) and it's already looking lots better - the swelling has finally gone down and he is able to put weight on it again (though he's still hobbling about a lot)


I had my first craft market of the year last weekend (Easter Sunday in Ballinskelligs) but although it was a wonderful sunny day and I was able to make practically a complete pair of wrist warmers while I was there, it wasn't really the most profitable one I've ever done - I only sold a chunky scarf, two of my cards and a pair of wrist warmers. It wouldn't have been too bad if people hadn't kept saying ''oh I'll be coming back for this'' and then never did :( - I always believe people when they say that and it gets my hopes up - rather than being realistic about it and thinking that they might just be being polite.


I'd taken a break from making the burgundy hats as I don't have to have them finished til some time in June, so I'd rather do them a couple at a time rather than having to sit down and make all ten in a concentrated burst. I like to have several different projects on the go at a time - usually using different thicknesses of yarns, different colours etc - to give myself a bit of variety.

 These are the wrist warmers which I was making in a blog post earlier this month - I LOVE how they turned out! They are made from sock yarn, which is just so incredibly fine but it's worth the extra time and effort.

 And I've made two of these granny square hats :) I really like how they turned out - and the blue and purple yarn was stuff I had left over from making wrist warmers so it was nice to be able to use some of that up in something different.

And I just finished these lovely cuffs yesterday - I utterly adore these colours :) The wool is super-duper soft too, they are just perfect. Hopefully they will go to a good home.

I managed to get down to the beach yesterday (with my crochet) - it was a bit cold but I was there for an hour and a half before it finally got too cold! I was thrilled to see that the sea pinks are nearly in flower - this little clump was right next to where I was sitting.

I love the colours of this dried seaweed - it looks like ribbon.

and this is where I was sitting - the tide was coming in so I was up on a rock to keep dry :)

Back at Work

 Now that I'm back at work I thought I'd post a few photos from my day job - on my first day back on the ferry we transported this little fella back to the mainland! I'm always saying that one of the many things I love about my job is that you never have two days or even two crossings the same - there are always new people to meet, locals to chat to, interesting wildlife and of course the weather is always changing too...it's always different.

But this was the first ever terrapin we've brought across as a 'foot passenger'! It turns out that he had come across in August last year, on holiday with his owners and their family and he somehow escaped and managed to survive the winter outside on the island. He must have just come out of hibernation recently, and was found wandering about. So he was dropped down to the ferry in a box and came across with us so that he could be picked up on the other side and then transported back up to Cork where he lives.

And this is the view from my workplace - isn't it just out of this world??! I feel very lucky to have a job that I still enjoy (despite this being my ninth season). I am utterly exhausted at the moment though - it's always a real shock to my system to get back to work again after having been so lazy all winter. But I was off work yesterday and today, and then I'm back again for four evenings - so it isn't too bad -- and best of all, I'm off for the Saturday and Sunday of the Easter weekend!!

I had been hoping to make it to the beach yesterday or today but I'm so tired out that I'm going to give it a miss - I've got a big long list of jobs to try and get done in the house instead and inbetween my chores I'll hopefully be taking it easy.

My camera seems to have sorted itself out: which is, of course, a major relief. I am SO attached to my camera, it almost is like an extension of myself. I'm so happy that it is ok again, it's served me so well in the last seven plus years.

In crochet business - I've made the three beanie hats for my friend Barbara's 'wholesale' order (seven ladies hats and three beanies for men). I'm thinking about doing a different slouchy pattern than my normal one but have yet to sit down and choose one instead. There's no rush to get on with them just yet, I have about a month and a half to get them all finished but I think I'll try and sit down and look for a pattern this afternoon so I feel some bit organised...

April

Wow, well I'm back at work in my day job this Wednesday - another winter has flown by and it's back to 'normal' again soon. I'm going to find it hard to get used to getting up at the crack of dawn but I know once the alarm goes off on Wednesday morning that'll be it and I'll just click back into my old routine again.

It looks like I will be needing to buy a new camera soonish - my beloved Sony Cybershot is starting to play up; I love that camera so much: it goes everywhere with me. It has to be at least 7 years old now which I guess is good going for something like that nowadays? The problem is that the little 'doors' that cover the lens aren't working - they got stuck closed, but I managed to get them open --- only now they are stuck open and I'm sure the lens will soon get scratched or something.

It might be something that can be fixed, I'm not sure if it's because it has a tiny grain of sand stuck there or if it's something mechanical...fingers crossed it can be repared.

I know I'm going to have a really hard time trying to choose a replacement...I know I've always thought that the one thing I'd change about my camera is that I'd love it to have a better zoom, so this is something that I will be looking for in my new camera.

Anyway, on with the crochet...

I've been adding some new listings to my Etsy shop lately:

this cute bow hat -- I'd even forgotten I still had some of this wool in my boxes so I decided to use it up; I've sold a few of these hats in the past on Etsy or at craft fairs.

and this headband/earwarmers -- I've made a chunky scarf out of the cream wool and had just enough left for this headband.

I still have to list the scarf though! I made another one the same but in chunky green wool -- have to get photos taken of them both and get them both listed. It's a pain really when it's something that I have to get photographed when I'm wearing it - so much easier when I can just take the photos myself.

I had a message from a lady in England asking me if I could make her a hat in a dark grey yarn as she had recently lost her own grey hat and wanted a replacement. Of course I hadn't much of a clue as to what colours I had in my boxes...so after a lot of excavation I found two shades of grey and made two hats!

The top one is more of a slate grey with creamy white tweedy flecks and the other is a dark charcoal with browny flecks. It doesn't take too long to make a hat like this so I thought I'd make both up and give her a choice of the two and hoped that she'd like one but instead she bought BOTH! YAY!!

I still have enough of the charcoal yarn to make another one so I think I will make one to have listed in my shop -- sometimes I look at what I've got online and it all seems to either be blue or purple (my favourite colours I guess) - so a bit of variety would be a good idea.

I'm going to be kept busy for a while as I've had a 'wholesale' order for ten hats - the lovely Barbara asked me to make some last year for her art workshop and she's asked me to make a new batch for this year's one. I'm so excited (and super-appreciative of her thinking of me for this) but I think I have my work cut out for me -- look at the huge cone of wool that I ordered!

Yet again the wonderful Springwools sorted me out with this - it's a 2kg cone of the wool! I ordered it one day and it arrived the next day. It's wonderful stuff; 100% pure wool from the people at Studio Donegal - and is full of little tweedy flecks in all sorts of colours.

My order is for three beanie hats (for the gents) and seven slouchy hats (for the ladies) -- I made a start yesterday on one of the beanie hats but had to rip out the whole thing as it was coming up too small (thanks to using the wrong sized hook); it's frustrating but I want to do it properly and I learn from my mistakes!

Oh and some more good news -- I've donated €80 to the Vietnam gift fund thanks to all the sales of the greetings cards last month. BIG BIG thanks to everyone who bought them; the money is going to such a great cause. A lady from the ActionAid Irish group said that they are putting together a new brochure for people who are thinking about child sponsorship and that they will include a piece about how I raised this money through running this promotion in my  Etsy shop :) I'm thrilled! All my sponsorship money (the regular payment every month) actually comes out of my regular Etsy sales (or any local sales too) -- I really love that I am able to do something good with this money that I have earned through my craftiness.

This is my life :)

 One of my most favourite things EVER has got to be that I am lucky enough to have a hobby that is incredibly portable - my crochet tends to go pretty much everywhere with me. So here are some photos from the last few days; yesterday was the first day this year that I've been able to sit out in the garden with my 'work'. In the spirit of honesty I have to tell you that I did have two hot water bottles on my deckchair but I did sit out for a good hour or so.

 I'm at my happiest though when I've got my crochet with me at one of the beaches I like to haunt - the ones I go to are the ones that don't get a lot of dog-walkers and other people: I really enjoy the feeling of it being just me and the sea and whatever birds and other wildlife want to join me :) This time of year (and through the winter) we have the great Northern divers in the bay - you usually just see one lone one, or sometimes too - they are one of my most favourite birds and I love sharing the tranquility with them.

This last photo is a hat that I made recently - the colours reminded me so much of Skittles (sweets) - it was a really fun hat to make and I hope it will go to a good home soon!

Some more photos from my life...

This is our Henry! He's been in our lives for over 9 years now and turned 11 last month, which is pretty good going for a greyhound. In the last few months he's started to deteriorate and it turns out that he has a kind of arthritis in his spine which sadly affects the mobility and power in his back legs. He's on two types of medication for this but it's something that will eventually get worse over time...but as long as we can keep him happy and comfortable then it's all alright. He's such a gentle soul and is bullied by our cats every day, but he never stands up for himself, it never even enters his head.

Talking of cats, this is our Dinah looking very adorable!

and this last one is just a photo I took on the way down to the beach one day last week, it was a lovely day :)

I'm so thrilled about how successful my greetings card sales have been this month - so far I've sold 31 of them which works out at about €80 for the gift fund for my sponsor child's community. Considering that the average yearly wage in Vietnam is approx €300 I'm hoping that my donation will go a long way out there.

In other Etsy related news I've started to list my beach pebbles again click here  in my Etsy shop - so far I've got nine listed and now I've run out of the very fine cotton so I will have to either buy some more or make do with fine 4-ply cotton instead -- I'm going to try the 4-ply and see how it works out for the wee bags. I just love it whenever one of these pebbles sells - I get excited whenever ANYTHING sells but the pebbles are really personal to me.

 I love it best of all when it's a glorious day and I find the prettiest pebble and have my crochet cotton and trusty hook with me in my beach bag and can make the little bag in situ on the beach :) It just feels so right and then whenever someone finds them on the internet in my Etsy shop and buys one it's just an amazing feeling.

Life and other stuff...

Well, in just a few weeks I'll be back in my 'proper' job on the Valentia Ferry (this will be my 9th season there!) so in the meantime I'm using every chance to go beach combing!

My beach combing got covered for an online newspaper in Maine as so much of what I've been able to trace backwards seems to come from Maine -- beachcombing in the news :) I think it's a lovely piece of writing and pretty much catches who I am and what I do :)

I am just so lucky to be living where I am (back home, after about 13 years away) and having the life that I have.

There is so much rubbish still coming in after the storms; I really think it has stirred up stuff that was stuck on the bottom on the seabed or washed up on other beaches (we're finding lots of old lobster pot tags from the 1980s etc) but at the same time as finding 'trash' you also find 'treasure' too - like this teeny tiny green sea urchin :)

Recently I keep finding tiny plastic figures like these...

Who knows where they have come from (I'm guessing a lost cargo load somewhere out to sea?) but they make beachcombing even more fun.

And then I found this!  I thought it was just another plastic figure at first but it's made of china - isn't it so special??

I'm in two minds about whether to keep my lovely white horse or whether to list him in my Etsy shop...

In other news.....some time late last summer I won a night's bed and breakfast in Castlewood House in Dingle on facebook and it's only now that we finally managed to get there!

Dingle's only a couple of hour's drive away so it was perfect for a night away - this is definitely something that I would love to do again -- maybe for our wedding anniversary in September?

The bed and breakfast is just out of this world -- we had the biggest bed, the softest, snuggliest bathrobes...everything was just perfect: they even had a sachet of hot chocolate in the bedroom (as well as the regular teas/coffees etc).  We'd heard that their breakfasts were amazing but we weren't prepared for just how good it would be - I wish I'd taken a photo now. Their 'buffet' tables were just loaded to bursting with freshly made breads, different juices, cereals, fruits...you name it - and then there was the menu to choose from too -- I opted for the pancakes, which came with fruit compote and maple syrup! :D :D

While we were in Dingle I was determined to finally go and visit the Seal Sanctuary (on the outskirts of the town) -

The sanctuary got a really bad battering in the storms so they are closed to the public and will be relocating in the near future; so we had a real 'behind the scenes' tour from Ally. I even got to help with tube feeding one of the seals (little Anthony) - it was just an amazing experience...since we visited he's now able to feed himself so he doesn't need to be force fed anymore. They do just the most amazing work in rehabilitating the seals and then when they are ready, they release them back into the wild.

Trying to Pay it Forward

A while ago I placed an order with Moo (lovely Moo!) for some more greetings cards for my Etsy shop and sadly they made a printing error on one of the designs, so I sent them an email and was hoping that they might perhaps reprint the affected cards for free or give me a small discount on my next order with them. Amazingly they very kindly reprinted the whole order (100 cards!) for free. I was really impressed with this - they always have seemed like a really lovely company but I felt that this was above and beyond what I would have expected as good customer service.

So I now have all these lovely cards sitting in a box in our house and I was wondering how I could try and pay their generosity forward....

It finally dawned on me after I received the ''Quan Ba Community Newsletter'' in the post. You see, for the last few months I have been using some of my 'selkie crochet' money to sponsor a little girl in the Quan Ba region of Vietnam, through the wonderful organisation Action Aid Ireland. It's only €23 a month but makes a HUGE difference out there. 

My sponsor girl was born in 2006 and attends kindergarten. She lives in the second poorest province in Vietnam where there isn't any running water - people have to store water from the river or rain water in buckets; there are often severe water shortages in the 'dry season' (November to March). People really struggle to live there, with limited health care and less than one fifth of the land being suitable for agriculture.

Twice a year I receive a drawing from Si (my sponsor child) and also a handwritten letter from the local field staff to inform me on how she is doing and what's happening in the local community. As her sponsor I can send her postcards from here in return.

Action Aid also have a 'gift fund' where you can donate extra funds and the money will go directly to your sponsor child's area and will be used for items such as sports equipment, helping fund a playground, organising community events and even things that we all take for granted here like warm winter coats .

Reading in the newsletter about the gift fund really sparked something in my head and suddenly I knew just what to do with the 'extra' greetings cards :)

So for the whole of the rest of this month I am selling my cards on a 'pay for two and get one free' offer on all the cards in my Etsy shop - please click on the link below and it will take you right there.

click here - buy two get one free!

All you have to do is purchase two cards and then in the 'message to seller' box please let me know which one you would like for free.The price is in US dollars (as most of my Etsy customers are American) but it works out at about €2.50 I think per card - so you will get three lovely, great quality, greetings cards for just €5! --- and even better, you will know that you are helping support such a great cause.

At the end of the month I will then donate all of the proceeds to the Action Aid Ireland gift fund for Vietnam where it will go to help the local community.

p.s. I'd like to say a big big thanks to Jo-Ann at Action Aid Ireland for providing the photo of all the school children in their lovely new coats.

action aid ~~~ please click here if you would like more information about sponsoring a child yourself; or just more information about who Action Aid are and what they do.


edited to include ~~~ if you just want to buy one card that's fine too - the money will still go to actionaid