Cotswold

Whoops, it's been a wee while hasn't it? Time seems to be slipping by faster than I realised :( So what have we been up to since we last spoke? Well, things have been rather quiet at work (here we go again...) so I started crocheting some squares:



It's amazing how much you can get done while you're waiting for a scanner to chew through 40 double-sided pages. This is all lovely squeaky acrylic ☺ apart from the green which is a blend. It was taking up good stash space, what can I say?

We went to Bristol, but it was so busy we didn't stop to look round other than a visit to Brislington, to nowhere other than Get Knitted ☺ Really nice shop, though it's in a totally random place. I behaved myself mightily well and came out with two Rowan magazines, a free (!) Debbie Bliss mag, ordered some blocking wires and got a ball of Zauberball Lace:



I went for a restrained colourway, though I did consider the lurid rainbow one. The blocking wires came in the post this week, they're very nice and come packed in a handy strong cardboard tube with T-pins and a yardstick. Shame the wires don't interlock together somehow to make long runs but it's not really necessary, I'd recommend them anyway.

We saw the Clifton Bridge, drove past the SS Great Britain (smaller than I thought) and ended up in the Cotswolds, because we like random on our days out ☺ I think Steve may have been plotting though, because we ended up at the Motor Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water:



James Hunt's car



Hillman Imp - my Mum had one of these!



Fab advertising signs



A fantastic very early caravan, from the 20's I think - check those leaded windows!



I think I need some of this stuff. I'm definitely suffering brain-fag.

Fleeces

I've been faffing with the fleeces I bought. I started carding the Shropshire, but triggered my tennis elbow so I've laid off on that for the moment. I had a look at the Cotswold, and realised just how deeply dirty it is, even the batches that went through the washer. I've started going over them again, focussing on the tips. This is a problem with locky longwool fleeces - the grot gets ground in to the long locks and getting it out is a bloody nightmare. I've resorted to soak in washing soda / soap flakes mix (the water here is horribly hard) then washing-up liquid, then clean water rinse, finishing up with a vinegar soak. Some parts are still mucky :( I think the worst bits will have to be dyed. It seems to have a yellow stain in certain areas, from what I can gather this isn't unusual for Cotswold. It might be yolk, I'm not sure, but it certainly isn't coming out!

And that's about it, I'm up to my eyes in paperwork, tax stuff :( and general Things That Need Doing, I still haven't got any chests of drawers (too skinted), the dust bunnies have started roaming the floors like herds of wildebeest across the veldt and the ironing basket went critical yesterday. Fairly normal then ☺

♥