And it’s June …

We’re half the way into the year – I feel like I’ve blinked and here we are!  Of course the time hasn’t passed by in such a blur that I feel like I’ve missed it and one of the lovely things about writing a blog is that I can look back at the posts at any time to remember, but I don’t think I’m the only one who felt caught out when all of a sudden, it was June!

I haven’t told you about a trip that I took at the end of May (although I did write last month’s Monthly Musing about it) – one of my best friends was celebrating a Big Birthday with her other best friend and me, and we went away together for a few days to a gorgeous hotel just over the Welsh border where we felt thoroughly spoilt with good food, good wine and good company.  The theme of my Monthly Musing was about stepping out of your comfort zone and that’s what the theme of these few days were all about too.  We were so lucky that we were away during the really warm days of the month and it made all the difference to feel the sun on our faces as we got ourselves out and about.

As it was her birthday celebration, my friend got to choose how we spent our days and she wanted to do things that were Bold and Brave – so we went clay pigeon shooting …

kayaking on Lake Vyrnwy …

and learnt how to throw pots at The Claypit in Oswestry.

I’ve been kayaking before – I used to do quite a lot of it in my teens but haven’t been out on the water for years.  I was surprised how easily I remembered it although as I’ve got older, I’m less comfortable about kayaking in deep water than I used to be.  Lake Vrynwy is actually a drinking water reservoir which supplies Liverpool and at its maximum depth is 216ft (65m) deep (or it may be 86ft (26m) – can’t get a definitive answer to that one! 🙂 ).  Sitting in your kayak, the water looks black, you can’t see down below you at all and there is a definite pull towards either the dam at one end or the straining tower (the starting point of the water heading to domestic taps), which is a little bit unnerving.  It was nice to be out on the water again, though, and it was even nicer that it was a lovely sunny day!

One of the boathouse owners called the straining tower “the Princess tower” and I could definitely imagine a Welsh dragon sitting proudly atop the green verdigris roof while a princess looked out across the water.  I’ve obviously watched too many Disney films with my girls!

I haven’t been clay pigeon shooting or thrown pots before.  Thanks to excellent tutelage, we all managed to hit targets both stationary and moving and create something that actually looks like a pot, and we had a whale of time doing both.  I’d definitely have a go at throwing pots again, but I’m not really comfortable with guns even for sport, so I think that might just be a box ticked 🙂

There was also an exciting moment when we were driving down a single track road and there was a mare and foal walking towards us, obviously escapees from somewhere.  I like horses so didn’t need any encouragement to get out of the car and walk them back down the road to where we thought they’d come from – we didn’t find the owners but we did find someone who was able to help so we knew they’d be safe.

We said goodbye to each other in Oswestry after our pottery session but before I left, I spotted somewhere that I definitely wanted to go …

I’ve heard of Ewe & Ply before although I’ve never been as the two shops in Oswestry and Shrewsbury are quite a way from me.  I wasn’t going to go home without going in, though!

I got chatting to Teri, one of the owners (Becca, the other owner was also there but giving a crochet lesson), and it’s always really good to be able to speak to the people who own yarn shops.  There’s something about speaking to someone who is passionate about what they do and isn’t just there as a job, isn’t there?  You can see it shine in them and I could have stayed chatting all day.

Teri and I talked about sock yarns (of course) and about their own yarns which are spun from local fleeces (including some Ewe & Ply sheep) and hand-dyed by them.  We talked about the eco-credentials of the yarns in the shop as everything is ethically sourced, something that is very important to Teri and Becca, and it was really hard not to want to buy everything in the shop!

Do you want to see what I bought?

I bought a skein of LegEnds, Ewe & Ply’s own 100% Blue-faced Leicester sock yarn …

Yes, I did ask about it being a no-nylon yarn and Teri told me that because it’s a high twist yarn then it wears very well for socks.  Blue-faced Leicester is lovely and soft (a good UK alternative to Merino), and the high twist also gives good stitch definition and holds dye very well.  I was properly spoilt for choice with all the colourways to choose from and I deliberately didn’t go for purple as that’s always my immediate choice – it was only later that I realised that the colourway I had chosen is very similar to my Signature 4ply Seascape yarn and that must have been why it caught my eye.

“Dry flat and don’t lob it in the tumble dryer or you’ll be sorry”, say the website instructions.  I will do as I’m told!  (I’ve never put my hand knits in the tumble dryer, I really don’t think that would be good for them.)

 

In the no-nylon yarn vein, I also picked up a couple of balls of Onion nettle sock yarn to try out.

Someone had asked me about nettle yarn a short while ago and I’ve never used it so whilst the yarn was in front of me, I thought I’d give it a go!  I’ve realised that I’ve used these two colours together as well – this yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Wool Revival DK – but I really like them together so I’m not at all sorry!

My final purchase was a skein of KnitPro Symphonie yarn.  I haven’t used this before but the colours called to me – these remind me a bird (I can’t decide if it’s a pheasant or a Mandarin duck) and at the moment the plan for the skein is socks but I might change my mind!

I want to show you this as well as it made me laugh …

We all need a bit of Project Disaster Management at times!

 

It seems like a long time ago now that we had the sunshine and the Bold and Brave days, but I think my pot is going to be fired and sent on to me so I’ll show you that when it arrives, and I’ll of course talk to you about the socks that I knit from my new yarn.

My husband’s Dark Side of the Moon socks are still in progress.  One sock is finished; I’ve managed to knit the leg about an inch and half (7.5cm) longer than usual – I’ve forgotten to include the rib rounds when I was counting the leg length – but my husband has tried it on and says it’s fine so I’ll make the other one the same.  The yarn (Laughing Hens Cozy Sock 4ply*) is lovely to use but I don’t know if it’s the yarn or our house, but it’s like a magnet for cat hairs!  It’s entirely likely that it’s our house as it’s been very warm and both our cats have a lot of fur, but I don’t remember ever knitting such cat-hairy black socks!

I’m going to finish here for today.  I do have more to show you from being out and about in the garden and with the dog, but I’ll show you those another day.  I hope you’re having a lovely weekend, and I’ll catch up with you again soon! xx

 

 

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