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 ☺

♥

70 Days

and counting until the Bahrain Grand Prix first practice :-D

Why yes, my geek is showing. Bite me :-) I was wanting to go to the Autosport show at the NEC in a couple of weeks, but having checked out the tickets it's looking like a bridge too far money-wise - I want to take Dad, but at £30 a ticket each, plus train fare, plus travelling up and down to Stoke...and I want to buy some motorsport pictures for my empty walls...ouch. And I don't know if the Red Bulls are there either. McLaren are making a big effort apparently which I'd love to see, but I'm saving up for a new camera and that would be a big old chunk out of that. Maybe next year. I'll see what Dad thinks, but I think he'll baulk at the price too. I should perhaps save up for a trip to Thruxton...it's only a short hop away. Shame they don't have many races :-( or there's always Goodwood...but that's even more expensive...

Christmas was something of a quiet one, up at the parents' house for a week, it was just the three of us and the cat. It rather sucks being single this time of year, though it does cut down on the gift-giving stress :-) I spent most of the time eating, knitting and gawping at the TV. They've got SkyHD and a much bigger telly than me, so I had Eurosport and Motors TV on most of the time :-D

I have knitting to show you, and some crochet too, but it will have to be later as I need to go organise laundry and try and find room for the three boxes of books I brought back from Stoke with me. Hmmm. I may be some time.

~♥~

F1 Korea

Well the inaugural race in South Korea was interesting, to say the least :-) though I wasn't TOO happy with getting up at 5.40am to find Charlie putting out the safety car. Meh. Well, the track looked like a skating rink so I suppose it was fair enough, but when they restarted after the reds, I did feel they could have pulled the safety car in sooner. Anyway, lousy day for RBR, also lousy for poor Jenson, not bad for Lewis and bloody marvellous for Fernando. As I am NOT a Ferrari fan, this does not please me immensely, but it was nice to see Fernando and Felipe smiling for once (and Felipe falling up the stairs. Bless him.)

I did have a bit of a fright today though. On the Beeb they showed you four drivers who were in a similar position to the current Championship - Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet. There was me having a warm, fuzzy, reminiscent moment until someone said "that was the situation 25 years ago."

What?

25 YEARS?

*does sums*

Bloody hell, they're right.

I AM getting old.

Not so old though that I can't make one observation - is it just me who thinks Christian Horner is darned attractive?

♥

More fame

I shan't be able to fit my head through the door at this rate.

See here - Jane is busy putting everyone's KAL projects onto her blog. There's some AWESOME work on there! Go and have a look. I'll wait.

Not a great deal has been happening here other than Izzy (the trainee knitter, remember?) coming back from another leg of her trip and bringing me FOUR Hebridean fleeces. Four. What's really nice is these are truly from the Hebrides - from Oronsay to be exact. I forgot to take a photo (duh) but the fleeces vary in colour and texture in a really cool way. There's a wiry grey one, two with sunbleached, gingery tips and one mainly soft black with distinct locks. Interesting to see such variety in one breed!

So now I have to start working out what I'm doing with them :-) I've started the scouring with the roughest fleece, a chunk of that is in a fermented suint bath as we speak. I think I need to go and buy a couple of really big containers. Maybe a dustbin?

In other news, I'm still spinning that lovely ArtemisArtemis fibre, it's so nice I'm deliberately dragging it out :-) I also pulled a chunk off the Texel fleece and have got that on the Golding. I'm shooting for a heavy laceweight, but I don't know how much it will bloom and poof out. I'm spinning it literally straight off the fleece - no carding, no scouring, just "as is." It's a really nice clean fleece in the main so not a problem to work this way. I will need to scour the remainder at some point though otherwise it will go all sticky and nasty.

I'm also knitting (of course) - I finished the Travelling Woman shawl (photos to come). I'm quite pleased, I couldn't get the curved top edge to block out right so I blocked it straight and pulled the whole shawl out widthways. I still have a bunch of yarn left, I wish I'd made the shawl wider in hindsight. However it's still really nice so putting it down as a success :-)
I'm now ploughing on with the Shetland Hap, I'm onto the border (hurray) and just started the third colour overall. Only 70-odd ever-increasing rows to go, then it's edging time. I'm trying not to think about it too much. Gulp.

Also this means I only have seven WIPs listed on Ravelry! Blimey. I really want to clear the decks a bit before I scratch the startitis itch again.

So I finally got the Saori blanket laid out and have started hemming the pieces. There's some variation in length (hardly surprising) so I have a bit of a job to come to sort that out. It looks grand though, and I think it will be nice and warm but light. The different textures are really great.

I also had a play with the peg loom I brought back from Leek. It's good fun, and once you've sorted out the warps the weaving goes very quickly. It's surprising how much weft you get through though! I suppose you are producing a very weft-faced weave so I shouldn't really be all that surprised. I'm thinking some unspun fleece would make a gorgeous bedside rug, maybe combined with some handspun. I also have a bunch of sisal cord which would probably make a fab doormat. Another project for the list!

Formula 1
Well Hungary was far more exciting than I'd feared! That was a relief as it's now the summer break so no race for four weeks. I will have withdrawal symptoms! Thank God for Eurosport. I was annoyed as the electricity board managed to cut my power off for three and a half hours so I missed the final part of qually. That's my favourite bit! I was chuffed to see Pedro de la Rosa finish so high, go Sauber! and the Lotus was much improved as well. I was also delighted to see Rubens Barrichello get one over on Michael, and horrified at his manoeuvre which nearly stuffed Rubens into the pit wall. I am not impressed. He's not improved his attitude with a few years off. Anyway, next race is Spa which is one of my favourites.

and I think that's it, other than if you haven't been watching "Sherlock" on the BBC, you have missed out and need to catch up ASAP. Brilliant.

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OH OH OH yes I forgot to mention I've added the "reactions" thingies to my posts. So just like Ravelry, you can press my buttons! Go on, click away :-)

F1 2010 - Australia

Yes folks, Formula 1 post again. You may wish to look away now. :-)

Okay, that was a GOOD race. Hopefully it will silence the "F1 is so boring" brigade, well for a week at least.

Firstly, let's talk about Jenson Button. GREAT drive, great (and brave) call on the changeover to slicks - apparently Jenson's decision - and a smooth, creamy, typical Jenson run to the finish. Okay, he had a bit of luck, but that's racing and the trick is making the most of it when it happens. Well-deserved I think, he nursed his tyres well and recovered brilliantly after a wee moment on the fresh slicks.

Seb Vettel - my heart aches for the poor boy. He is SO good, but the Red Bull let him down again. Somehow I don't think the other teams will be able to rely on that happening frequently though. This man WILL be a World Champion, and very very soon. (What is it with the Germans? They're all over the place - Schumacher effect perhaps?)

Mark Webber - aarrgh. Mark. So near yet so far. All I want to say to him really is CHILL! It will happen, just calm down a bit.

Lewis Hamilton - Right. I have a bit of a rant here. Lewis REALLY needs to STFU about the team. McLaren are one of the best out there, and they deserve his absolute support, not mutterings and thinly veiled threats. That might have been okay (well, no, not okay, but he got away with it) when Uncle Ron was in charge, but I don't think Martin Whitmarsh will stand for too much of it, and he shouldn't. Lewis needs to focus on what the current situation is - not what it "should" be if, as he seems to think, the whole world revolved around him. I mean, ranting on the radio about strategy whilst tangling with two Ferraris and Mark Webber snorting up his exhausts? NOT COOL. Every time I see him on TV he's sulking. Maybe he needs reminding that he's in one of the most envied positions in the sporting world. Yes, McLaren made a mistake. It happens. DEAL WITH IT ALREADY. Rant about it in private if you must, but stop throwing the toys out the pram in public. It's not pretty and it must be demotivating to the team. They deserve better. Rant over :-)

Robert Kubica - Dude. He is GOOD. Great drive. Definitely a man to watch along with Rosberg.

Here's a random observation. What is it with F1 drivers and model girlfriends? Are their egos so fragile that they all need arm candy to boost them up? Is there some sort of competition going on? Or is it that the poor blokes never meet any real, normal (female) people so end up with these (apparently) brainless little clotheshorses by default? Weird.

Enough of this frivolity, it's Malaysia in a week's time!

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F1 2010!

Yay a new season begins in Formula 1! Spent half the race getting used to new teams, new drivers and old drivers in new teams.

Michael Schumacher eh? All I'm saying is that the bugger doesn't look 41 does he? Must be the picture in the attic.

And I had one hell of a shock as well. Bruno Senna. First was the name, then the helmet. Just the same as his uncle's. When his car died, he neatly parked it up at the side of the track and flipped his visor. I nearly burst into tears on the spot. He looked so like Ayrton it was uncanny. Even Martin Brundle was shaken. With his helmet off, the likeness isn't so striking. Looking at him in his helmet, it's like Ayrton came back. ::sniffle::

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