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Butlers Abroad

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Butlers Abroad

Category Archives: The Weekend

Cowling Around

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Crafts, Knitting, Michigan, Seasons, The Weekend, Winter

≈ 5 Comments

It’s getting colder here so I decided to make myself a cowl.  I liked a pattern called Rannoch Moor Cowl from the July edition of Let’s Knit magazine, I bought it when I was Up North in September and spotted the pattern right off the bat!

Last Monday (18th) I had to go to the dentist after work and as my dentist is in the same little town as a really great knitting store I decided it would be a shame not to pay them a visit!

I came away with a hank of this, Stonehedge Fibre Mill Shepherd’s Wool (worsted/aran weight) in Lilac.  It’s also from “Up North” and is milled very close to where we go and stay, I like to use local products where ever possible and this is a lovely wool, 100% soft Merino Top, hand produced (raised, sheared, dyed and spun) in Michigan.  At $12.99 for a 100g hank it doesn’t break the bank either.

And here’s my finished cowl.

And here I am, modelling said article on a rather nippy Sunday morning, around 10am, temperature was a whopping 16F, or -10C if you want the Celsius equivalent!  It definitely kept me warm and is going to get a lot of use!  Andrew wasn’t as warm as I was though and would only take two pictures of me wearing it before running back inside!!

Stats:

  • Pattern ~ Victoria Pound Rannoch Moor Cowl
  • Wool: Stonehedge Shepherd’s Wool Lilac (100g)
  • Used: 59 grams
  • Needles: US8 (5.0mm) Circular
  • Started: 20/11/2013
  • Finished: 23/11/2013
  • Notes: My Ravelry page

Blue And White

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Christmas Cards, Crafts, Foody Stuff, Michigan, Seasons, The Weekend, Weather

≈ 16 Comments

Morning peeps, I’m back with another card.  How was your weekend?  Our clocks finally went back on Sunday morning. it was dark so early on Sunday evening, although it was quite light this morning driving to work which I liked.  Although, as I leave the house at 6:30am, “light” is a relative term!  I had such a wonderful weekend.  It was cold and showery all day Saturday so I got a number of cards made for posts this week.  Sunday was cold, crisp, sunny and dry, so after bagging a few groceries we went to the local woods for a walk, there’s still some wonderful colours about.  Back home for coffee and biscotti and time for a bit of stamping before we headed to a local Indian restaurant for their Diwali buffet.  Diwali is the biggest festival in India, The Festival of Lights, and all the Indian restaurants have an amazing and sumptuous buffet all set up.  We forgot about it last year so we made sure to have the date on the calendar for this year!  We were so very stuffed and didn’t eat again at all yesterday!  Back home I finished my stamping (LOTV images for a woywwer), and settled down with the laptop to check the challenges out and discovered I’d won a set of ProMarkers at Sweet Stampin’, and have been asked to be a GDT for Penny Black & More At Allsorts in January and had a Top3 pick at Winter Wonderland challenge!  So a good weekend all round really!

Anyway, today’s card!  A very CAS blue and white make, using very similar techniques to Saturday’s pink angel card.

I stamped the sentiment in Memento Bahama Blue on Friday and then didn’t know what else to do with it so put it to one side!  I pulled out a few sets of stamps on Saturday and found this lovely tree image from Kanban that exactly fit the centre of the card.  I wanted to emboss it with the Ranger Holographic powder and knew the Memento ink is too quick drying, so I used ColorBox Q Sapphire Silk instead, which explains the slight colour mismatch between the image and the sentiments.  At least with this image you can see the lovely sparkly effect of the Holographic EP.

And that was it, single layer, very clean and simple.  It’s a small card at about 4 1/2″ square.  I concentrated this weekend on small, single layer, or close to single layer cards that are not going to break the bank to post off!  I’ll be back later in the week with another one.

Card Recipe:

  • Card: Blank bought at a craft fair in England in May!
  • Stamps: Recollections Merry Merry clear set ~ Kanban clear set (no name but it has different Christmas Trees)
  • Ink: Memento Bahama Blue ~ ColourboxQ Sapphire Silk
  • Embellies: Ranger Holographic Embossing Powder
  • Tools: Heat Gun

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Challenges:

Winter Wonderland ~ Blue And White

Hazel’s Christmas Challenge ~ Bling It Up

Hazel’s Christmas Extra Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Addicted To Stamping & More ~ CAS

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar Challenge ~ All Things Christmas

Allsorts ~ Christmas Cheer

Aud Sentimens ~ Christmas Sentiment

Polkadoodles ~ Christmas Anything Goes

Beccy’s Place ~ Christmas Challenge (Day 9 Christmas Trees)

Trees, Glorious Trees

21 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Kayaking, Michigan, Seasons, The Weekend, Weather

≈ 7 Comments

Just a few more amazing photos from our trip kayaking the other weekend.  This seems to have been our last really lovely weekend weather wise, well, at least warm weather wise!  This week we have overnight lows just managing to dip below freezing for the first time this autumn, and the heating is well and truly on now!

 

 

 

 

This is the tree I showed you a close up of last Wednesday, the one that almost had Darnell packing her bags to move to Michigan!

 

 

I neglected to mention that the forecast for later this week also has the word “snow” in it….. they better be wrong!

 

 

The Case of the Curious Cranes

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Kayaking, Michigan, Seasons, The Weekend, Wildlife

≈ 5 Comments

Where: Kent Lake, Kensington Metro Park, Milford, Michigan

When: Saturday, 12 October 2013, a little after noon. Temperature 26C/75F

The Cast of Characters: Two rather curious Sandhill Cranes; two rather curious humans in petit bateau’s enjoying a few hours on the lake in glorious sunshine.

 

*****************************************************

 

‘Ere, Edna.  What do you reckon those things  are then?  What things Fred?  Those floaty things in the water coming towards us with those odd looking things sitting inside them Edna.  I think they might be what’s called humans Fred, the things sitting inside the floaty things, not the floaty things.  Don’t know what the floaty things are called.

 

 

Don’t like the look of this Edna I can tell you, I’m outta here!  Fred, FRED!  Get back here, where’re you going?  Don’t just leave me here, what are you  man or mouse?  Well actually Edna, I’m neither, I’m a bird!  And while we’re on the subject, I told you we should have left last week when Bill and Pearl went to Florida.

 

Well if you think I’m going to spend yet another Winter with your Mother Fred, you’re badly mistaken.  Pfft, men!  (Fred, off in the wings) I heard that!  

 

Look, just keep your head down OK?  Pretend like we’re not even interested and they’ll take those floaty things somewhere else.

 

See, they’re more interested in those big white birds than they are in us, so you can get back in the water you big wuss!

Look Fred, they’re back on dry land again.  Silly humans don’t like getting their feet wet do they?  Why are they so interested in that tree Edna, it’s just a tree.  Haven’t a clue Fred, but I saw them looking at other trees too, I think there might be other humans that they want to show these trees to.  Well as long as the other humans don’t get in the water and come and stare at us too Edna, otherwise I’m leaving for Florida.

To be continued….

Jaunting Across The State

27 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Michigan, Seasons, The Weekend

≈ 5 Comments

Last weekend we had another camping weekend away, this one was directly West across the State of Michigan, to Holland on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Just so you can see what I’m talking about here’s a map, showing where I live (C) in relation to both Holland (D) and Petoskey (B).  I put Petoskey in for good measure as we go there every year and it’s also on the shores of Lake Michigan but much further North.

Partial map of Michigan

One of the things we love to do when we’re in Holland is to sample the Farmer’s Market.  And it’s really rather special at the beginning of the Fall with the pumpkins, flowers and seasonal fresh fruit and veggies.  It’s a great market anytime of the year, it runs from May right through to December.

Now that’s what you call a bunch of radishes!

Andrew checking out the pumpkins

Seasonal flower bouquets

An incredible stack of peppers

Tiny hot peppers

Chrysanthemums “mums” for your outdoor decorating

After we returned from the market we went for a walk along the large sand dunes separating the campground from Lake Michigan to walk up an appetite for lunch as there was also coffee and cake at the market too!

A tree hugger!

I love the light at this time of year

A peek through the trees to Lake Michigan

Trees showing the first of this seasons colour change

Sunday was much cooler and cloudier.  After packing up the camp and getting some exercise in the form of a quick 14 mile bike ride, we wandered about by the lake before heading home again.

Holland’s landmark lighthouse “Big Red” in the background

We watched the cormorants successfully fishing in the shallows. There must have been a shoal of small fish sheltering by the rocks as there was no shortage of food.

And finally, for Darnell. Despite a 14 mile bike ride, someone still had way too much energy!

The State park where we camp doesn’t close until the last weekend in October, so if the weather stays nice we’re planning on one last trip there before winter sets in.  Failing that I’d really like to go in December when they hold their Christmas market, just for the fun of it.

I’ve posted about Holland twice before if you’d like to see more photos:

Holland Post One

Holland Post Two

Chain Of Lakes

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Kayaking, Michigan, The Weekend

≈ 11 Comments

This was supposed to post before the weekend but I just ran out of time!

A couple of Sundays ago we got up extra early in order to head out to Portage Lake on a little kayaking trip.  We were told to get to the launch site as parking was limited and filled up quickly.  They weren’t kidding, we got there soon after 8am after a 40 minute drive and found only three parking spaces left!  By 8:30 we were unloaded and in the water and the sun hadn’t even cleared the tallest trees yet!

This was our intended route:

We put the boats in just off McGregor Rd on Portage Lake and after a splash about on Portage, headed through Base Line Lake, Gallagher and finally Strawberry Lake…. and back!   9 1/2 miles of paddling in a shade under four hours.  The channel in between the lakes is actually the Huron River and it’s wider than it looks.

Not too many words, just a few photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m still going through the photos from the Vintage Racing weekend and hope to put up a post by the end of the week.  I’m also still recovering, both from the event itself and the hot laps I had on Sunday when I was a passenger in a race car so powerful that I’ve actually got bruises on both shoulder blades from being pushed back so hard when the driver opened it up down the back straight!  Wicked!

Weekend Treats

14 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Foody Stuff, Gardening, The Weekend

≈ 3 Comments

Morning all, hope everyone in the UK is enjoying the run of warm weather I know you’re having, nice to be having a summer for a change!  I’ve been baking again this weekend, haven’t done any baking in quite a while actually, but when I was in England earlier this year I picked up a couple of gardening magazines and one of them had a few recipes to use up your Spring veggies.  Now I know it’s July!  But I did manage to find a few stalks of rhubarb in the shop this week as one of the recipes in particular had caught my eye and I thought it was perfect for a little weekend treat.

It was for Rhubarb and Almond Crumble Squares, and I know the pic doesn’t make them look very appetising, but trust me, they’re a winner and go perfectly with a strong cup of coffee in the morning for elevenses.

We both love rhubarb in this house, it has such a tart tang to it that’s great for crumbles, pies and cobblers.  And of course, the Americans pair stewed rhubarb with strawberries when they stew it down, and for the English contingent, that’s a stunning flavour combination that you really have to try.  In fact, the couple of stalks that I didn’t use Andrew stewed with strawberries for later use, it’s a fantastic topping for vanilla ice cream.

I haven’t Americanized this recipe at all (apart from a few things in brackets), you can easily Google the conversions if you’d like to give it a try, assuming you can still find fresh rhubarb in your neck of the woods this late in the year!

Rhubarb And Almond Crumble Squares

Shortbread Base:

  • 225g (8oz) plain flour
  • 100g (3.5oz) ground almonds
  • 100g (3.5oz) caster sugar (fine sugar)
  • Pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
  • 225g (8oz) butter, softened and diced (2 sticks)

Crumble Topping:

  • 85g (3oz) plain flour
  • 85g (3oz) demerara sugar (normal sugar)
  • 50g (1.75oz) butter, softened and diced
  • 40g (1.5oz) flaked almonds
  • 40g (1.5oz) dessicated coconut

Rhubarb Layer:

  • 550g (1lb 4oz) fresh rhubarb, sliced
  • 60g (2.25oz) brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp orange juice (about half of a medium orange)
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp (pinch) cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Put the rhubarb, brown sugar and orange juice into a pan and stir to dissolve the sugar and coat the fruit.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes, uncovered until the fruit is soft (can take up to 20 mins).  If you get a lot of liquid from the fruit increase the heat to boil this off.  When soft and completely pureed remove from the heat, add the spices and vanilla and set aside with the lid on.

2. Put all the shortbread ingredients into a bowl and rub the butter into the dry ingredients.  Pull together into a ball, it will be very sticky because of the butter content.  Lightly grease a 12×9″ baking tray and line with parchment.  Press the shortbread into the tray and smooth out.  Prick all over and refrigerate for 30 mins.

3. Make the crumble: Put the butter, sugar and flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Mix in the almonds and the coconut.  Set aside.

4. Put the shortbread into the oven, middle shelf, at 160C/325F/gas mark 3 for 20 minutes.  Spread the rhubarb over the shortbread, scatter with the crumble mix and return to the oven for an additional 25 minutes.

5. Let everything cool for a few minutes then cut into squares.  Leave in the tin until completely cold as the shortbread needs to be cold before handling, otherwise it will break apart.

Notes: I added the vanilla and spices to the rhubarb mix, add your own or leave it out if you wish!  I also added the coconut to the crumble mix as it gives extra crunch.  My tin was 12×8″ so I cooked the shortbread for a few extra minutes and once it was assembled and back in the oven I cooked it for 30mins not 25.

Original recipe appeared in the May issue of Kitchen Garden magazine and is probably copywrited to them.

I found more treats in the garden on Saturday when I was thinning out all the leaves on the tomato plants….

Can’t wait to pop these little beauties into my mouth and chow down!  Love fresh tomatoes straight from the vine!  Judging by the size of the plants and the amount of fruit and flowers appearing they really liked our wet and humid weather.

Vintage Grand Prix At Mid Ohio

03 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Cars, Events, Racing, The Weekend, Weather

≈ 5 Comments

I’m a car nut I admit it, a bit of a petrol head to be honest.  I love road racing, proper racing none of that stupid Nascar stuff.  I’m not into F1 either, cause you have to watch that on the telly and I’m not much of a telly person, I prefer to be in the thick of things, to actually be there at an event, to watch the racing live from the track, to see the cars in the paddock and to chat to the drivers and their crews, to really smell the race fumes as it were.

We go to the Vintage Grand Prix at Mid-O quite frequently, last year we entered our 1972 Ginetta G15 in to the British Car Showdown car show and brought home one of 10 blue ribbons handed out that day.  This year, we spent the week before the event watching the weather.  We’ve had a lot of high humidity recently which has given way to some quite spectacular and vicious thunderstorms in the afternoons.  The reason for the indecision was based on the visibility of our tiny, tiny car to other road users.  It’s hair raising stuff on a motorway at the best of times, but put  torrential rain, hail and road spray into the mix and we’d be completely invisible to the other much bigger and heavier, road vehicles.  The second reason for watching the weather so closely is our inability to source 13″ tyres in this country.  The tyres on the car are now very worn, almost slicks.  They’re still ok in the dry, not bad in a bit of rain if you’re careful but potentially lethal in the kind of sudden downpour associated with strong thunderstorms.

Last Thursday afternoon I drove home from work in one of those storms and had to avoid fallen trees and debris on the road and rivers of water.  I could hardly see a thing with my wipers on full speed.  Once home I had to sit on the drive while the thunder crashed directly over head and double and triple fork lightning and hail came down thick and fast.  Once in the house we found a picture on the floor, shaken off the wall by the force of the thunder.  That storm sat over us for one and a half hours, brought down trees and power lines, left almost 100,000 people without power, knocked out a surge protector on my house and left us with no phone or internet until Monday morning when the utility company turned up.  It also drenched us with 3″ of rain in that one and a half hours.  And it made up our minds that the Ginetta wasn’t going to Mid Ohio with us, one storm like that on the way down there and it could have been curtains for us.

As it turned out, Mother Nature played a big part in the weekend.  This photo was taken on the way down, shortly before the weather deteriorated even more and we pulled off the road, parked up under an overpass and waited for it to move on.  There was no one left on the road until this storm was done, everyone had pulled over.  Imagine the M6 in England with no traffic and every single vehicle parked on the hard shoulder.

This was taken with the wipers on full speed too.  You can just about see the shoulder and the lane we’re in, but you can’t see the outside lane, the central reservation or the lanes on the West bound side of the road, and you certainly can’t see all the traffic in front of us, which IS there, people hadn’t pulled over at this point.

Anyway, we made it to the track safely, got registered, paid for the camping and put the tent up… all in the rain, and then wandered into the paddock to do a bit of car spotting as the rain was passing and the sun was coming back out.

[Lola – hate to think how much this beautiful race car is worth]

[Two Austin Healey Frog Eye Sprites, known in America as Bugeyes.  Still one of my favourites classics of all time]

[Lotus Super Seven]

[A very rare 1972 Ferrari 312 brought along for display purposes.  Ex Brian Redmond car, currently for sale for $800,000 if you’re interested!!]

[A stunningly beautiful Porsche.  The number 39 in the background with the rear engine cover up is a Porsche 917, used in the film Le Mans and driven by Steve McQueen]

We managed to see a couple of the practice sessions before the storms returned and racing was abandoned for the day, so we retired gracefully to a nearby bar for a drink and some food, and also tried to dry out as we got soaked to the skin in the second round of storms as we weren’t quick enough to hoof it back to either the car or the tent before the heavens opened!  It did clear up late evening though and we were treated to a pretty sunset and a peaceful night.

[Sunset over the campground, with rather a lot of standing water]

Saturday was lovely and clear and they managed to run almost the entire program until the heavy rain returned around 3:30pm.  We started hearing reports about roads and a couple of bridges washed out locally, flood warnings were now in pace for much of the region and later when we drove through Lexington on our way to dinner we saw the creek had broken and the road was flooded.  The police were redirecting the traffic and the water was pouring into the parking lot of a nearby office building and the cars that had been parked in there were up to their wheel arches in flood water and it was still rising.

But we saw some great racing that day…

[A motley collection of mostly British cars.  I can see a Fiat 148 and at the back is an old “Special” a one off car built in the 30’s for hill climbing, now restored and on the track.]

[Mostly Alfa’s, Datsuns and Porches with a Spitfire and an MG, and the white car just going over the brow of the hill is a Spec Racer Ford]

[Me sitting on the front straight watching the cars being released from grid, behind me, for the next race]

Sunday started damp and drizzly but the racing went ahead.  The track was very slippery and made for some interesting races.  It dried up quickly and we moved back to the grandstand in the esses, one of our favourite places to view from and watched out friends Andrea and Dave Robertson compete in the 1 1/2 hour Enduro in one of their Ford GT’s.  They started their racing career with us at Waterford Hills and we’ve known them for about 12 years now.  A few years ago they moved up to ALMS (American LeMans Series) and eventually formed Robertson Racing with a full crew, huge rig, team manager (“H” from England) and two Ford GT race cars.  Three years ago they entered the real Le Mans 24 hour race in France and beat out all the factory sponsored race teams to finish third in their class.  They became the first husband and wife team to EVER stand on the podium at Le Mans and Andrea was the first women since 1926 to stand on the podium.  Quite a feat for the two “unknowns” and their little race team from Michigan, and a huge source of pride for everyone who knew them from Waterford Hills.  They’re always happy to see us at any track and still come to Waterford Hills when they can to say hello, we spent part of the wet Friday in their garage and trailer dodging the rain.

Here they are in their yellow and silver Ford GT competing in the Enduro, sandwiched between two Lola’s.  They started dead last as their Saturday races were victim to the weather and they had no on track time to set their position on the grid, so that put them at the back of the pack in 21st place.  But they finished a very respectable 8th.

We watched more great racing and then had to leave around 3pm to get home.  The rain was reappearing anyway and as we left the complex it was starting to get heavy again.  We almost had a repeat of the journey on the way down, and that very first photo taken from the car in the rain could easily have been Sunday and not Friday.  We got home much later than planned because of it but it was still a great weekend and very worthwhile to make the effort to attend.  Hopefully next year the Ginetta can go again too.

They Promised Me Spring!

25 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Crafts, Knitting, The Weekend, Winter

≈ 2 Comments

An early Spring.  That’s what we were supposed to have, not day after day of endless grey and cold.  Really, it’s felt like that.  The sun did shine on Saturday afternoon, briefly, it might have been a whole 10 minutes.  I really can’t recall, it was over with too soon.

I’m not in the mood for card making at the moment, but I do have to get my finger out as I have three, yes three, of the dreaded mens cards to make, two for teens and one for my BIL.  Ach, three at once, what did I do to deserve that!

I have been doing something though, apart from sitting by the fire wrapped in a blanket!  Knitting.  I like knitting.  I can take it anywhere with me, well, within reason.  I haven’t knitted outside the house yet, but I have knitted in a few rooms, and I can knit and keep Andrew company at the same time, instead of being shut in my room doing cards.  I’ve been thinking about bringing knitting to work for my lunch break but I’m scared I might suddenly look up, realise it’s time to leave and I’ve spent the entire afternoon knitting!!

So, since Thursday I’ve finally finished this:

And cast on the second one of the pair which is about the same length as the first one was when I took that photo.  I’ve also been collecting and printing patterns for gloves, hats, scarves and cowls.  I’m not done with sock knitting, not by a long shot, but since I finished Andrew’s hat I want to make something else, and socks I can always go back to inbetween other projects.  I also received a pattern from Deb at Country Lovin’ Card Maker for a lace scarf, thanks Deb and sorry for not getting back to you yet!!.  But I like the look of the pattern.

So on Friday evening I looked at my ever expanding yarn stash, and discovered it’s either cotton for dishcloths, fingering weight for socks, ruffle yarn for scarves and a couple of odds and sods that I really don’t know what to do with yet.  Nothing fit my newly printed patterns and I had an itch I needed to scratch!  So on Saturday, after some grocery shopping we went off to Plymouth, a local town about 10 mins South of us that has a lovely lot of ecclectic shops mostly arranged around a large park like square with a central fountain.  In the warmer months it’s beautiful, in the colder months the little restaurants and coffee shops are packed because people still want to come here.  Coffee was our first stop, The Plymouth Coffee Bean, an outstanding independent coffee shop in an old Victorian house, to warm up and partake of a snack too!  I tempted Andrew to come with me with this place, I saw his eyes light up at the prospect!

Quite by chance, after coffee, we bumped in to a work colleague and his wife, and quite by chance they were walking their 13 week old Golden Retriever puppy called Brinkley, who completely melted my heart!  So much so in fact, that I had to go to his desk this morning and ask what his wifes name was!  However I can remember the pups name quite easily which says a lot about me!!

Onwards to the yarn store. Michigan Custom Boutique & Fine Yarns, what an amazing place, I have never seen so much wool/yarn in all my life!  There was a walk up/get help class going on that had participants as young as 10 all the way up to people in their 60’s, I was surprised at the mix.  Another table was conducting a one on one private lesson, and the rest of the store was yarn, yarn and more yarn.  Quite amazing.  I showed the nice lady my patterns and she steered me to a section that was good for what I wanted to do, and even the choice there, in just DK weight was staggering!  In the end I simply couldn’t pick, so I let Andrew do it!  This was his choice:

It’s Malabrigo Arroyo yarn in Colour 870 Candombe, 100% washable Merino Wool.  It’s from Uruguay, quite a lot of the South American yarn was from Uruguay.  I do have my eye on a 50% Llama/cotton mix yarn too, incredibly soft, like goose down, I think I need to visit this place on my own another time!  I also think I might need to take out a second mortgage though!

And this is my pattern, you have to click the link to be taken to Ravelry.  Autumn Garden wrist warmers and cowl.  I’m making the wrist warmers first, if they go well I might go back to the store, get a second skein and make the cowl too.  I started them on Sunday, they’re knit on straight needles, as rectangles and them seemed up the side, leaving a hole for the thumb.  All I’m saying is that knitting in the round has ruined me for ribbing!!  10 rows of K2P2, three attempts to get it right!!  I put in a lifeline of waste yarn after the ribbing as it was looking really bad for the pattern if I couldn’t even manage a bit of ribbing, lol!  The lifeline stops you from pulling out too far if you have to take it off the needles and pull it back.  So I started on the first four pattern rows, having to learn how to make a new stitch as I went.  It went badly as it happened, looked more like I was knitting lace, so after four rows I had to pull it out to the lifeline and start again!  I watched the online videos very closely again and nailed it second time, moved my lifeline up and called it a day!  Four and a half hours for 10 rows of ribbing and 4 of pattern!!  I went back to the sock knitting after this experience, it was amazing how simple they seemed, lol!  The wool is looking really pretty, but the pattern isn’t worthy of a photo yet, not much to see.

So that was my weekend.  About three weeks ago they promised us an early Spring, and yet here I sit, knitting wrist warmers as I think Winter will be here until July this year!  Paper crafting is on hold until the weather improves I think!!  Or perhaps until my attitude towards it improves!

Sunny Sunday

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by A Woolly Life in Events, Foody Stuff, Knitting, Life, Michigan, The Weekend

≈ 4 Comments

We had a great weekend, nothing in the way of papercrafting, but a lot of fun all the same.

On Saturday we met up with our friends, Paul and Leah, and they took us out to lunch.  Our Christmas present really, but I had that impacted wisdom tooth removed over Christmas, and they have two kids, so between them, school, family stuff and work we’ve only just been able to get together again.

They took us to a place Andrew and I didn’t know about called Tyme Well Spent, which is a traditional tea room in an old Victorian house in Hartland, Michigan.  This is the only place I’ve ever been to where they give you a tea menu instead of a wine menu, that was four and a half pages long!! We spent longer deciding on our pots of tea than we did on our lunch!  We had their lunch menu with hot tea, followed by cakes and more tea, and in between courses we got up and went upstairs where the bedrooms all contain a plethora of Vintage items to buy, including jewellery, clothes, tea cups and plates, home decor items, books and hats!  Oh the hats!  Leah and I had a very mad 10 minutes trying on as many crazy hats as we could find!  At one point Andrew joined in with us too!  And guess who put the camera ready and then walked out of the house without it!!  Not one of us  had a camera of any kind on them, which is probably just as well!

Afterwards we stopped in Milford, a really quaint town with a lot of vibrant shops and cafes, we needed a stroll around after all that delicious home made food!  I found a knitting shop but unfortunately it had just closed for the day, I heard Andrew breathe a sigh of relief at that though!

Sunday was a cold but sunny day, we never actually got above freezing again and we’d had a light dusting of about an inch of snow on Friday night, so after breakfast we went out for a walk through one of the many parks along Hines Drive.  And I didn’t forget the camera this time.

[This is one of our favourite trees in the area and we always snap a picture of it when we do this walk.  It was struck by lightning many years ago and lost its top. so it now grows out sideways instead of upwards!  We love the shadows that it creates, it’s interesting in any season.]

I spent my Sunday afternoon knitting!  I finished a sock for me, still have to knit the other one of the pair though; and I’m now on the decreases on Andrew’s hat.  I want to get that finished before I cast on for the second sock, as I know I’ll get distracted by it if I do.  With a bit of luck he might be able to wear it this Winter after all!  And finally,  late in the day I worked on a card, so I should have something of the paper crafting variety to show you tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!  Can’t believe I now know someone so famous that she’s gone and got her name on Wikipedia!!  Brilliant or what!

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My projects are on this blog as inspiration only. Please don't copy my designs or use them for submitting to competitions or for any form of publications. All designs are my own ideas unless otherwise stated.
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