I'm on the move...

I've not posted on this blog for a while and it's partly because I've been planning a change. From today I'll no longer be blogging as 'skeffto' because I've got a new 'flyhoof' blog!

Finally got around to changing things over (Twitter and Ravelry names etc...) and now I'm making a new start as flyhoof. I'll still be blogging about the same things, fibre adventures, local goings on, holidays and things, but I'm hoping to have my little fibre crafts business set up soon and it'll be called flyhoof so it makes sense to do as much as possible under the same name.

If anyone out there has got my blog bookmarked, please change it to my new address! If you've just stumbled across this blog and would like to read more of the same, please follow the link to my new blog... flyhoof - adventures in yarn and fibre :)

Sunshine at the Westmorland Show...

It was amazingly sunny for the Westmorland County Show today! There is always a huge amount to see and do at this show. I had a good wander around with my camera and saw all kinds of weird and wonderful things.

This cow scrubbing machine looked fun (for cows anyway, maybe too bristly for me!)
I had a good old grope of the fleeces in the fleece show...
Owen Jones, a swill basket maker who lives just a couple of miles up the road from me, was plying his trade over by the Traditional Crafts tent (his lovely woven rush hat was attracting admiring comments from everyone!)...
This amazing wallhanging was inside the Traditional Crafts tent...
Its a kind of free-form hooky-proddy/proggy rag-rug style hanging made by the Lunesdale Rugmakers and the details in it were stunning. Sparkly silver fabric in the wording at the top, dangly bits in the river at the bottom and stuffed tights as cobbles! It was about 6ft long and must have taken ages to make.

Over in the WI tent I encountered some knitted creatures (sheep, camel and dragon!)...
The vintage tractors were sparkling in the sun...
Of course there were plenty of animals, hundreds of them! There were lots of lovely sheep...
Some handsome heavy horses...
And some gorgeous goats...
All hoping to go home with one of these...
I'm looking forward to next year's show already! :)

Are you knitting another bowl?!

Errr... I might be! :)

I've had a bowl knitting obsession recently that has resulted in over 10 small knitted bowls of varying size and success. They're knitted in the round on double pointed needles to a pattern I made up as I went along...
There's not much point to them but I've enjoyed tweaking the pattern to improve the shape and it's been a good introduction to using DPNs. I'm going to felt one or two of the bowls too, just to see what happens (hopefully they'll get sturdier and fuzzier!).

I also had a go at crocheting a bowl after a quick crochet lesson from the multi-talented Carolyn when she was visiting a few weeks ago. Once I'd got the hang of the basic technique, I thought that crochet would make an even better bowl than knitting but I've run into a problem that I can't seem to solve...

I start out crocheting a round flat base and then decrease by a few stitches to create the sides. Then I keep going for a few rounds to try and get some height to the sides but the bowl just seems to get wider and floppier, curving in on itself. It turns into a low, flat beret type of shape. Maybe a cat beret... If any crocheters out there have got some bowl-making tips, let me know!

In other crochet news, I won a lovely wrist-warmer pattern in this give-away on Rebecca's fantastic blog! The wrist-warmers look great and I'm looking forward to learning some new crochet skills when I give them a whirl. You can buy Rebecca's crochet designs at her Etsy and Folksy shops :)

Roadtrip part II...

While we were staying with my Dad on stage two of last week's roadtrip, we spent a day at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall and Home Farm property in Cambridgeshire. We got in free thanks to Ade being NT staff and had a good nosey around the walled garden and farm (which took all day, looking in the hall will have to wait till next time!).

The walled garden was very impressive, with neat gravel paths and tidy hedges...
There were some big vegetable plots...
and a display of squash and chilli plants in the greenhouse (check out the purple upwards-pointing chillies!)...
The home farm was the most exciting bit though. It's one of the Rare Breed Survival Trust's approved conservation centres and there were lots of interesting animals to see.

This White Park calf was very sweet and had amazing eyelashes!
There was an Exmoor pony...
Some Leicester Longwool sheep...
and lots of cheeky Bagot goats lounging around and getting up to mischief...
There were also Dartmoor and Shetland ponies, Shire horses, Longhorn, Gloucester, Irish Moiled and Shetland cattle, Norfolk Horn, Hebridean Whitefaced Woodland, Manx Loghtan and Portland sheep and a wide variety of chickens and ducks. It was a rare breeds bonanza! There were pigs too, but we didn't get to see them because they were being kept away from the public for their own safety (swine flu precautions I suppose).

As well as visits to Gib and Wimpole, we went to Lincoln, Cambridge and Leamington Spa and played a round of disc golf (which my shoulder is still aching from, I'm such a lightweight!). And I caught up on some knitting, more of which next time... :)

Roadtrip part I...

I suppose it's a bit over the top to call it a roadtrip but we've just got back from a week away visiting friends and family in a variety of locations. We trekked across to Lincolnshire, then down to Cambridgeshire and back home via the West Midlands. It was a few hundred miles but worth it to catch up with lovely people, visit some nice places (old and new), eat lots of tasty food and enjoy the tropical southern sunshine while it was cold, wet and windy back home in Cumbria.

On the way from Lincolnshire to Cambridgeshire we dropped in on one of my favourite places, Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve...
I love that big sky and huge sandy beach!

Gib is a really special place that I've loved since the first time I went there on a field trip during my A-Levels. Its a fantastic haven for wildlife, with all kinds of habitats from salt marshes and sand dunes to freshwater marsh and woodland. Gib is home to all kinds of wildlife (including rare Natterjack Toads) and is an important stopping off point for migrating birds.

There is also a lot of this stuff...
Hippophae rhamnoides (or Sea Buckthorn to its friends!). This thorny shrub is native to the Lincolnshire coast and provides a crop of berries rich in vitamin C for birds and adventurous humans to scoff (don't pick the berries on a nature reserve though!).

I did my university dissertation on Sea Buckthorn and found out all kinds of interesting stuff about it. All the 'scientific' facts about the plant's ecological importance went into the essay but I enjoyed all the random facts and legends so much that I made a little leaflet to accompany my dissertation called 'not just a prickly bush'.

I know, I'm a bit sad but when you read that Hippophae rhamnoides means 'shiny horse' and that it was apparently the snack of choice for Pegasus, you can't ignore it can you?! Even my Dad felt inspired to get involved with my Sea Buckthorn project and collected all sorts of weird and wonderful Sea Buckthorn products from his travels in Germany. I've had alcoholic beverages, biscuits, face creams, soap and sweets made with Sea Buckthorn berries and I still get a regular supply of the Ricola Sea Buckthorn sweets today. Thanks Dad! :)

I spent a bit of time volunteering at Gib while I was at uni and then went to live there as a residential volunteer after I graduated. After only a few weeks I was lucky enough to land a paid job at Gib, working in the environmental education team. And I met Ade, who was the Shorebird Warden at the time, keeping an eye on the colony of Little Terns that nest at Gib, (he was living in a shed on the beach and getting sunburnt eyelids from falling asleep in the dunes!). I had a great time while I was there. I miss Gib!

So it was good to go back, even just for a few hours. It looked like it was going to rain but it didn't, it was windy though!
We were soon on our way again, heading to my Dad's via the Batemans Brewery (it seemed rude not to call in since we were passing!). More tales of roadtrip adventures tomorrow... :)

Sheep eyelids, holding owls and 'name that cow' at Cartmel Show

I was at Cartmel Show yesterday, working on a stand for the day job. I managed to escape from the stand a few times to take some photos and eat a chocolate and banana crepe.

There was a good turn out of sheep and it was funny overhearing people who never usually get a good look at sheep discussing the different breeds...

'Ooh, that one's got a strange looking lumpy face'
A Bluefaced Leicester, hopefully oblivious to the insults.

'Look, these sheep are wearing masks!'
Kerry Hills, which are always going to remind me of comic-book bad guys from now on.

There were plenty of Herdwicks on show and I realised for the first time today what incredibly thick eyelids they seem to have. I can't fault them for it, since they live on the Cumbrian fells and it gets pretty bleak up there (I'd want all the natural adaptations I could get if I lived where they do!).

It does explain why they always look a bit sleepy and have a dreamy kind of expression, like this little lamb...
Gratuitous eyelid closeup...
That must be the thickest, furriest eyelid you've seen! Its a wonder they can even open their eyes at all!

Anyway, enough about eyelids. I held an owl!
I can't remember what kind it was. The owl looked a bit bored but I like to think that it was pleased to be out on a sunny day, standing on people's hands.

We had a good view from our stand of a lovely banner advertising the local newspaper's 'name that cow' competition...
The man on the stand wasn't sure if the animal on the poster was actually a cow and I couln't see any udders on it but as long its friends don't see the poster and ridicule it for posing as a girl, it probably doesn't matter :)

Ceramic buttons!

Two blog posts in one day?! I've been a very lazy blogger recently and although lots of things have been going on, I haven't got round to updating. Aim for August: more blogging! :)

I was very excited to finally get my hands on the ceramic buttons I made at a class a few weeks ago. I went to pick them up from the Brewery Arts Centre where the class was held and then they distracted me all the way home in the car! It was probably quite dangerous but I did manage to get back in one piece (me and the buttons!).

My favourites are the ones with a fibre-related theme (no surprises there!). I knitted some little pieces of fabric and also used some locks of fleece to create textures on the buttons. The full set of my button photos is on Flickr.

Here's a selection of the paler buttons...
These dark teal coloured buttons are the result of a happy oxide-related accident (I didn't really know what I was doing!)...
I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to re-create the dark teal buttons if I tried, which is a shame because they're my favourites. I'll be able to give it a go though because the course tutor (James Hake, who makes fantastic ceramic art) let me have the leftover porcelain after the class! I must get it out and have a play :)