Norah Gaughan fixed my slug.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Knit Camp was being able to spend time with smart people.  Not just smart knitters, although they were there in abundance, but all round smart people.

Norah Gaughan  scores highly on both counts and I was lucky enough to have a whole day of teaching from her. There was a morning lecture about Knitting Nature and an afternoon practical, making hexagons and octagons. Most people that is, made octagons and hexagons. I managed to make a complete fool of myself by misreading the simplest of directions and making something resembling the sea slugs that live in the darkest depths of the ocean.  Norah very kindly took the odd looking shape and fixed it to look a little less slug like. Regardless of her knitting genius,  I fear it will never lie flat like the other hexagons.

One of the interesting things that I  found out about Knitting Nature is that the samples were sized to fit people of non- model sizes. The proof?  Me wearing the Basalt Tank from the book, a piece I would never have considered knitting until I saw how it fit a person of my shape. Of course I will have to brush up on my hexagon knitting skills too. This was taken in the bathroom next to the class. Possibly the nicest graffitt I've ever seen.

I went away from the class  inspired, enthused and the owner of a beautiful alpaca cat toy.  Oh, and desperately wanting an I Pad.

So many stories to tell.

Almost a month since I posted, I can hardly believe it. So many good things have happened that I will take a couple of posts to cover them all rather than bombard the internet with a mammoth tale all at once.

First to appear was Mary Jane Mucklestone, all the way from Maine and en route to Knit Camp via Shetland.  We are old friends from the internet but this was our first meeting in real life.  Thankfully we really did like each other and spent too short a time knitting, talking, eating the local delicacies and hanging out with Magnus.

Then it was off to Bridge of Allan to stay with a friend who has the most lovely house. Helene had kindly offered to put me up while Knit Camp was on in nearby Stirling.  Helene is very interested in ironmongers and has a website devoted to them. If you have a story to tell about your local ironmonger, wherever in the world,  please get on to the website to share your tale.

By the way, the two lovely portraits of Mary Jane and Helene were taken by  Lena Karlsson from Stockholm. More about her in another post!

Sunk

Its been a fruity old time here at Mog Towers, the sun is shining and the fruit bushes have been generous. But after all the effort spent saving the birds from Magnus, the little blighters have been raiding the strawberries, the raspberries, the redcurrants. Still, the babies have all grown up now and Magnus has been busy guarding our new tent. We are off to this festival at the weekend and needed a home that we could carry easily over some distance. 

I tried my hand at baking muffins after getting hold of a copy of the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook in a charity shop. What I had underestimated was the need to use proper muffin cases. Or possibly to use fresh and not frozen fruit, or maybe even lighter fruit.  Whatever I did wrong, the fruit sank to the bottom and stuck onto the baking tray. Thankfully they were so tasty that we overlooked their less than sparkling appearance. Next time I'll be using muffin cases if only to save on the washing up.

Cat is still bored.

I wish the birds would grow up.

Rain and roses

It is a languid grey sort of day, the heat of the past few weeks has been replaced by a slow drizzling rain. It is still warm enough for the windows to be open and every now and then a breeze sends the gentle smell of old fashioned roses drifting from the vase on the mantlepiece. I've put the houseplants out on the steps for a bath and even the cat is pleased to be indoors. There are no plans except for finishing a handspun shawl. Only ten rows before cast off but for a triangular shawl, those ten rows go on forever.

It wasn't like this last week - last week was a frenzy of visiting and watching and joining in. I took the first and probably last steps into light entertainment, taking part in this very silly dance. You can see me some rows from the front resplendent in bright orange with a pale green hat. 

The garden is growing and thankfully, the birds are growing up. All we have to do now is wait and see if there is a second brood for us to worry about.*

* we have to worry - the chick in the middle of Archie's very clever feeding station is definately a young-un. More cat placating required.

Cat is bored.

We are still continuing our policy of feline containment. So far the cat flap has been destroyed and rebuilt three times. Cat has once escaped by either learning how to turn the switch on the flap or by applying brute force ( we were out and can only speculate.)
A large cardboard box filled with books and clothes destined for a charity shop and placed in front of the door was shoved rudely aside by cat trying to gain access to the cat flap.  And yesterday, while the chap of the house was quitely sitting at an open window watching the baby birds in the garden below, he was joined by the cat who then leaped out. Remember we live on the first floor. It was quite a leap. Cat is unscathed but our nerves are in tatters.

We are attempting to entertain the cat with a variety of expensive toys. He prefers, however, to play with a handmade bow tied to a length of wool and the very favourite thing, a piece of stringy stuff ripped from the towel basket by himself and then thrown around the house. Or a newspaper, preferably one in the process of being read.

I can't wait for the birds to grow up.

I have been

taking it easy so there is little of note to report. The garden has been doing all the work in this household, it is bursting at the seams with new growth and colour. Archie has been building beautiful staging for the greenhouse and I have been sitting in the sun with a knee full of knitting.

Magnus is not impressed with our new regime of keeping him in at night. Our big Silver Birch tree is playing host to many bird families and we thought it best to keep the beast inside between dusk and dawn to give the new folks a chance. The cat flap has been destroyed twice in escape attempts and the noise of a cat throwing himself at the front door at 3am is our new wake up call.  Thankfully it is a very thick door.