Bargains in B*******!

(The name has been hidden to prevent embarrassment as you will find out!)

I am so behind with everyones blogs since coming back from our holiday and I don't seem to have had any time to remedy that. I will try to catch up with everyone as soon as possible.

After a mad-cap non stop week after coming back from Devon I had 3 days in work, rather than my usual 2, and then was straight over to stay with Mum without pausing to draw breath!

It was a lovely break as always and Emily ran us both ragged, as usual, and we before we knew it it was time to go home again. Not before we found some lambs at a local Rabbit Farm (and lots of other animals!) in an attempt to entertain young Emily who after running round came back and excitedly told us she'd found some poo! Bless her!

Cute Lambs.

We did manage to get to Mum's local charity shops and found the bargains of the titles. In the same shop where Mum found a huge pile of 'Vogue Knitting' back issues we found a set of five folders full of knitting patterns which have some little gems in them and which were only £1.50 for the lot. We also found a complete set of 'Golden Hands complete knitting, dressmaking and needlecraft guide' books. We asked the lady how much they were and she said "£2". Her colleague then piped up and said "Well it says here 6 books for £1, so 18 books... that's £2". We didn't argue, Emily was starting to get bored and it was time to haul all our goodies back to the car. It was only when we got to the car that we realised that Emily had acquired a new little car and little toy car - Oooops!

Anyway back to the books. There are loads of lovely ideas in amongst this set of books and lots of really mad seventies stuff which I'll try and find some choice selections for you. None the less I can see myself spending hours browsing through this lot!

There hasn't been much knitting going on as I've been spinning like a dervish and enjoying every minute of it all. I've just over 140g left to spin up before I can finish all the plying and get things worked out for my project. I've set myself the challenge of trying to finish the spinning and knitting up by the 31st of October which will be a year from when I first got my wheel and for me a marker of how much I've learnt in a year - we shall see! Hopefully this yarn will knit up with subtle variations of colour - each skein so far is different and yet toning as you can see. Those white parts are luscious lumps of silk!

The other news I suppose I should tell you all about is my lovely parcel I received. Can you tell what it is yet?Maybe this shot will help you!

That is it - my spinning equipment supply is complete with my lovely new drum carder. What with all these fleeces I've got in the shed I decided it was a must have if I'm ever to work my way through it all within my lifetime (I exaggerate of course!). Haven't really stopped long enough to have a really good play with it yet but all the ladies in Mum's guild have said the Ashford is the best out there to go for and with all their experience and talent who am I to disagree with them?! What I have done with it I am pleased with but really want to get this project out of the way before biting off another thing right now.

Oh and one of the girls I work with brought me a shearling Suffolk Mule fleece from her sisters small flock in West Kirby so I now have two local fleeces to play with ( and wash ASAP!) as if I needed more! But bless her it was going free and she thought of me!

Right, as I'm really waffling about nothing I shall leave you with some pretty pictures from our Devon trip as a reward. These were amongst the few that don't have Emily in and I hope you enjoy them!

Beesands beach, Start Bay.

Slapton Ley, also Start Bay.

Streete Gate.

Looking along Slapton Ley to Torcross.

As you may have guessed these are all in Start Bay and local to where we were staying. For those of you who don't know the area it's South Devon down the coast from Torquay and Paignton and so peaceful and beautiful with all these pebbly beaches and rolling hillsides. Well recommended for a visit if you're ever down that way.