Tangelled Angel

Well Cheryl aka ASimpleYarn, Isobel aka TeaandCakes, Holly aka WinonaQueen, Sharon aka ClicketyKnits and I met up again on Saturday.
This looks like its starting to become a little bit of a habit, meeting up outside of the normal SnB group, and a very enjoyable habit too.
We had an actual agenda to get through, it wasn’t all about knitting and chatting…more about that in a later post, I can’t say too much yet…sssshhhh
We also had food….some lovely cheese chowder soup that Cheryl made, with fresh bread rolls from the oven and some hummous I made, and then we had Wexford strawberries from Sharon and very scrummy home-made brownies from Isobel …
We decided to each take photo’s of our strawberries and brownies. Check out the other photo’s on their blogs.
If they havent been added yet, they will be! very artisitic, all of them.
And we knit….we did!
On the way home, I just had to stop and take a photo of the fabulous heather-covered hills. So here they are!

The kittens are growing rapidly, and are just lovely. Getting very affectionate and scratching less.
Ronnie’s favourite place is lying on the back of the couch with his head on Micheáls shoulder.

I have been letting them out in the back garden when I’m there, leaving the sliding doors open and they come in and out as they please.
The side gate, I have covered with a bamboo covering, to stop them escaping out and meeting cars and motorbikes, and basically to not lose them.
Yesterday, we went out for half an hour, and decided to leave them out the back with the sliding doors closed, to get used to being outside for a bit.
I went around the car to get into the passenger seat, and glanced up beside the house and what did I see but a black cat standing looking at me. It was Ronnie.
As soon as he saw me, he turned around and ran back in. They had pulled the bamboo covering aside at the corner. Most upset when we tied it up again.
So there I was worrying that they would get out while we were out, when we got back I went up beside the house and there was Ronnie sitting looking at me and meowing at me, safely inside the gate.
Couldn’t see Reggie, but thought he was probably investigating spiders webs somewhere in the garden.
We went into the house, and out the back.
Guess where Reggie was?
UP on the back wall. He was stuck, couldnt get down.
He must have climbed the fir that was at the back wall.
Micheál had to get a chair to stand on in order to lift him down, the wall is that high up.He came willingly too.
The results of all these antics?
We put their collars on them.
Had been planning to put them on from the first time we got them, the first attempt drove Ronnie so wild scratching at it and falling over in the attempts, that we took it off again.
They have actually took to them very well, we did do a bit of bribery with some cheese though…..

(please excuse the couch covering, its necessary to escape those kitty claws….hopefully normal service will resume once they are adults)

Well, I’ve put my order in for the new Rowan magazine (40) and am eagerly awaiting its arrival to have a look at it in depth.
I have had a look at the patterns on the Rowan website and there are quite a few that I like the look of.

Im determined to knit something larger than a hat for myself this winter, so I’ll be interested in looking at these designs in more detail.
This one looks a little on the low cut-side of things for me….not sure if I would do it justice!

I like the look of this one especially, it looks nice and warm and snuggly. Doesn’t help I suppose that its a bit cold and miserable here at the moment.

I also think that this design would be ideal for a wedding or a dressy event, but again I’ll have to wait and see.

Ruth, if you are reading this, look away now!
Well, until the weekend is over anyway…

Well, what to do when you are on the Luas, probably for at least a 30 minute journey, and you have knitting in your bag?
You knit, thats what!
It was a great time to do it and an easy knit that I didnt have to concentrate too much on.
One of the thoughts going through my mind however, was that I really should have attached a row marker to the end of the Yoga Socks as I’m pretty sure that I have over estimated how many rows I knit!
I am using one of the stitch markers that my Secret Pal sent me, I like the contrast of the pink against the black. The yarn is a yarn that I got from a yarn swap with Cheryl. She got the Lopi Light that I’d bought and didn’t like the feel of when I was knitting it, or the colour of it. She likes it luckily!
The Yoga Socks are a birthday present for my sister which is why she shouldn’t be reading this as she will be getting them at the weekend from me and if she IS reading this, then she has just ruined her surprise. I warned ya Ruth!
I have finished one of them and tried it on and it looks pretty good actually, if I say so myself. I think she’ll like them….hopefully….and its not the only thing she’s getting, don’t worry!
Talking of the yoga socks, Jussi who designed them, has just opened her new shop called Knits for beloved babies . Go and have a look, its pretty cool.
Talking of cool, have you seen my knitty friend Sharon‘s shop? Go check it out , its great…Clicketyknits
Just the thing for someone who is not sure what to get a friend/ family member.
I knit a hat and boottee set for a friend of mine on the birth of her baby boy, and she was so delighted with them that she asked me to knit a set for a friend of hers who was also due.
She felt that it was a unique and special gift to give a new Mum.

Now, for a view from the back of the Luas
There is a driver bit on both ends of the luas, so that they can just hop into whichever end goes to the front!
I’m sitting backwards here, and just flying through all that traffic…what a luxury.

Bobbi, my Secret Pal Hostess, asked us to answer these questions a couple of weeks ago. we were supposed to have them answered by August 5th but I didn’t get to it before I went away and missed the deadline as a result.
I’m going to answer them anyway!

Someone has stolen your stash and all your books: now what are you going to do?

After hyperventilating for about 15 minutes, collapsing on the floor from the excessive hyperventilating, waking up with a big bump on my head and crying for 4 hours, I would then try and consider my options.
I’m usually of the feeling that you can make something good out of (almost) any situation, so my first step would be to wash my face and make a cup of tea.
To calm me down of course.
Also to give me some thinking time in order to get my brain in order.
I would then claim it off the house insurance.

Assuming you don’t let the experience discourage you from ever knitting again, here are some additional items that you could include in your answer…What would be the first thing you’d replace? What would you live without?

Well the first yarn I would replace would be a tie between my Noro yarn and my Lorna’s Laces yarn. I think at this point the Noro would win, but thats only because I’m knitting with Noro Silk Garden at the moment and loving it.
The next thing I would replace would of course be something to knit with, so throw in my Addi circ’s and some bamboo needles. Double pointed needles of course then for all my potential sock knitting.
I would be a bit gutted if all my Rowan books and Vogue magazines were taken, as I have quite a collection from a few years ago when I went a bit mad buying them when I lived in London, so it would be straight onto ebay or to the magazines themselves to see if I could replace them.
I could very very easily live without the mohair yarn I bought on ebay a good while ago. I don’t know what I was thinking of when I bought it, yarn stash enhancement fever must have struck at the time.
I don’t wear anything made of mohair as it itches the hell out of me, and I have discovered that I dislike knitting with it as well.
I think that a trip to one of the only available yarn shop in Dublin with Noro in it would be in order. I could happily spend a couple of hours in there and think I was only there for 10 minutes.
There you go Bobbi, sorry its late!!

I’m back!
Back from my dream-world, where everything goes at a nice pace, and the most frustrated I got was when I was behind a tractor on a narrow windy road and had to be patient for about 5 minutes…
Oh it was such a nice time away.
We spent the first weekend in Kells, it was Daisey’s 3rd birthday.
Then down to Clare where we spent the best part of the week working on the cottage, took some time off also for other pursuits.
Micheál took the 1970′s style tiled fireplace out and exposed the original fireplace of the cottage.
We are going to get stones from Liscannor and build a nice stone fireplace around it.
Meanwhile, there was the hearth to level out with cement. And it needed to dry before further work could be done on it. Thats one for another visit.
The bulk of the work went into the main bedroom.

It is now fit for Kings!

We did some sightseeing and driving around during the week also.

We were very lucky with the weather, it only rained one night, and that was after we had gone to bed and it had stopped before we got up.
We met some of the local people, went to a couple of sessions in the local pubs, and generally had a bit of craic and relaxation.
There was also dying and spinning to be done.
I actually spent a good part of the week dying roving.

This is using Cochineal, and Safflower, on Galway Cross roving and Shetland Moorit.

The back wall was a great place to leave it to dry!
The second photo shows the mist that was coming in off the sea one of the evenings. As you can see, you can’t even see the sea!
I also got my hands on an amazing amount of Jacob fleece at the end of the week. I have washed and dried about 2 of those fleeces so far, and dyed part of one of them.
Busy bee me.
I even got some knitting in.
Please meet the Craggaknock beer bottle cosies…..
These were put to some good use..

We went to Loughcrew Passage tombs on Saturday after Daiseys’ party.
Also called Sliabh na Caillaigh (Hills of the Witch).
It was a bit of a struggle with a hangover (from the night before, not from the kiddies party!), but was worth it in the end.
Its an amazing place.
There is one large passage tomb in the middle and doted around outside it are the remains of several smaller ones. Some are more complete than others, but all of them, bar the large one in the middle, have lost their covering.
You can still see the cross-like format in the center of them.
They are very similar to Newgrange, in that on March 21st and September 21st (equinox), sunlight enters the tomb at dawn and illuminates a series of radial line patterns which are carved on various sones inside the tomb.

There is more information here, and here, and here, if you are interested in reading more about them!
Definately a good place to visit, if you like that kind of thing.
You can see several counties from the summit.
Definately worth the climb.
Even with the hangover.

I made Top Hats for Daiseys birthday party.

I promised a recipe and photos if I remember, the last time I blogged.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Marshmallows
Chocolate (I use the milk chocolate from Aldi, it tastes great, but you can experiment to see what is good for you)
Pastry cases

Method:
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
Pour into pastry cases.
Add a marshmallow per pastry case.

Put in fridge and wait to harden.
Lick the bowl while waiting for them.
Eat and wipe the chocolate from your face afterwards.
Done.
Tadaaaa