Mohair elsewhere finished .

The mohair Elsewhere jacket is finished and I love it. I love the mismatched sleeves, the softness and the size. I made it larger to allow for layering over autumn clothes.

It feels luxurious to wear.
It doesn't match but yet it tones. The next mohair one won't:) I want clashing colours.

Before that though I'd like to make another in BFL aran and to further the intention I've managed to procure a cone from Laal Bear to do so. I'll get it skeined up and dyed next week hopefully
Do you like it?

Of this and that

A strange painful week that hasn't become any easier as the week progressed. I've not been able to get much pain relief at all lately and it is a little wearing to say the least. The week has been odd but I think that has something to do with the wheel turning. I can smell and feel autumn in the air this week despite it being July. We went into the local park today and a lot of the leaves are starting to turn. Turning golden and rust coloured on the edges. The conkers are growing fast and there were a few underfoot this morning after the winds of yesterday.
I do love Autumn,it is my favourite time of the year, but that doesn't mean I want it to appear just yet. Mr Mog is steaming along on the garden revamp and it is looking very good. I've not done too much of anything, the pain seems to have sapped my creativity but I'm hopeful that my muse will return soon. She is maybe taking a holiday to recoup her creativity, who knows?
The mohair Elsewhere jacket is almost finished, I just have the borders to do now. I may have pictures tomorrow we will have to see.
I wore the aran Elsewhere this morning for the park and it felt great, I loved the effect of the shawl pin holding it together. I now want to do another aran one, dyed in autumn or fire colours I think.
I do still want to make another mohair one using clashing colours but the aran is calling first. If I can get the yarn and get it dyed I may be able to take it over to the Isle of Man with me. It would be suitable knitting for the boat. We are looking forward to visiting, I haven't been since I was 18. Mr Mog has never been. I used to be a photographers assistant on the boat that sailed daily so I went every day for a year. I loved it and enjoyed exploring the island. After all this time I am not sure how much I'll remember. I do remember fairies bridge though.
Part of the discordance has been my son. He has been struggling to keep clean from his drug addiction and the past month has lapsed a couple of times. He is aware of the problem and has asked to see a councillor once more. I am not supposed to know about the drugs, my daughter told me as we try not to have any secrets where things like this are concerned. I know my son didn't want me to know as it upsets me. He told me he was seeing a councillor but didn't say why, sometimes I don't think he realises that saying that screams out that he has a problem:) But being aware means that there is a very good chance he will keep off them once more. The problem is that he doesn't really have any interests apart from fishing, he doesn't socialise well and I know he is very lonely.
As a mother you want to put your arms round them and make things better. I know that this battle is his, not mine and I can only be there as support. I can't win it for him.
It doesn't make for good days though.
Part of being pagan for me is knowing that my pagan path is a work in progress. Working on myself and my place in this time , not changing others. Not even changing me drastically, just working with who and what I am. Part of this discordance comes through as a lesson. It says don't interfere with my son's path just be there for him. Lessons are never easy are they?

Tarot cards this week have been mixed, a state of flux and that reflects my inner self of course. I've spent more time in bed, no early mornings. My body seems to be using bed as a healing place so I'm honouring that choice and going with it.
Not an uplifting post but balance in the world means good and bad so this time you get the bad, sorry:)

SP14

I've joined the SP fun again this time and here is my updated questionnaire. I've been remiss posting it and I do apologise

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely not like?Adore BFL, merino and mohair especially. I don't enjoy knitting with cotton, acrylic or silk.
   

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? knitpicks folder and old wicker basket
   

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? knitting since I was 4 or 5 and crochet. I'd say middling on knitting and amateur on crochet.
   

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No
   

5. What’s your favorite scent? patchouli and Lush karma, an old hippy at heart
   

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? dark chocolate and I adore the maple spread my friend in Canada sent me. In fact I just love maple syrup:)
   

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I make one of a kind elemental dolls based on the five elements and on the zodiac. I would like to learn to spin as my first attempts on a spinning wheel were failures.
   

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Computer isn't playing fair so I can't play MP3s at the moment. I love blues, drumming and rock mainly
   

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand? I love rich jewel colours especially purples and deep blues. I also love ambers, oranges reds and golds. I am not keen on pastel colours.
   

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Mr Mog my DH, 2 grown up children and 2 grandchildren. Sadly no pets at the moment, hopefully sometime another moggie familiar.
    

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Hats yes.
    

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Shawls, socks, hats and Elsewhere jacket.
    

13. What are you knitting right now? A mohair mix of colours elsewhere jacket and 3 shawls. All mohair.
    

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I prefer knitpicks harmony needles and use them mainly.
    

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Both, Mr Mog makes the most fabulous swifts.
    

17. How old is your oldest UFO? a month.
    

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? Samhain is my favourite and I observe Yule or Winter Solstice. I'm not averse to celebrating all festivals:)
    

19. Is there anything that you collect? Apart from yarn? Can't think of anything.
    

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? No knitting magazine subscriptions, can't afford them. Always adore indy yarns.
    

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn? Can't think of any
    

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes I knit socks and my foot measurement is UK5
    

23. When is your birthday? August 21st
    

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID? ambermoggie
    

bright colours distract from pain

The garden remodelling is going great. Mr Mog has excelled himself today.
Here you see a shot towards the shed and Mr Mogs new project an outdoor model railway
behind the trellis panel is another angular bed and next to that his shed and outdoor rail start. The intention is to run the trains around the garden when complete. Watch this space.
I went outside to check on progress and had to take a couple more pictures of the flowers.


The lavatera is flowering well now, I think all the rain and sun have helped.
As is the fabulous crocosmia, just look at the colours on this.
The yellow loosestrife is in full bloom and I loved the little pink weed popping its head up amongst the gold. We will be keeping it.
Another shot of the crocosmia just because.
I find that when pain is really unbearable bright vivid colour helps. Going out into the back garden even if for a short spell lifts the spirit and fills my heart with hope.

This n that

We(Mr Mog) are remodelling the garden. We visited friends for dinner Saturday evening and they have transformed their garden. Naturally I came away full of enthusiasm to do something with ours. It was made easy access mainly gravel when we moved in and some of that was for me but also some for the grandsons. They are growing up and don't play out as such and I only need easy paths to the 2 seating areas. That means we can revamp:)

I had all tubs down the side you see and none matched. The aim is to have one long tub to the seat and angular ones each end. Trellis to stop you looking straight down the garden.



Not bad going Mr Mog for just a few short hours. The tubs won't be staying there we will be filling up with soil and planting directly into it. The royal we of course. I help with the ideas, Mr Mog does the physical labour.
What have I been doing?
This.

It is growing quite speedily now and I'm ready to start knitting the sleeves since this picture was taken. 1 sleeve purple, one green I'm thinking.
Not done a lot past couple of days as I have been exceedingly sore.
Weather has cooled down and we have had quite a bit of rain this week, saves watering the garden.

We all need colour in our lives

We all need a touch of colour in our lives, it makes our hearts sing and it inspires us to create. It inspires joy within us and a sense of wonder.
I thought you would like to see my garden today with its mass of colour. Mainly pinky purple but with a touch of something else. The verbena above are just beginning to flower. They can seem almost weed like as they colonise everywhere but I love that.
Lavender comes in all shades, I love harvesting the flowers for various uses. I adore lavender biscuits especially.
These are ready now for me to take a few of them and hang them in Mr Mog's shed to dry. I don't take all the flowers, the bees and other insects need the nectar.
I do love my lavender plants as you can tell.
We had a visitor this morning in the back garden, he is watching the large tadpoles swimming around in the green.
I love the way that green leaves compliment flowers so perfectly.
Another picture of our visitor . He is unconcerned now if we are in the garden, previously he used to scoot if he saw us.
Crocosmia Diablo I think, just coming out this morning.
A very shy mini foxglove hiding behind the comfrey leaves.
Lavatera or tree mallow
A friend gave us this last week it still awaits a permanent home. Once in the ground it will self seed profusely.
Purple spikes among the sage leaves
A fairy hat perhaps?
These tomatoes and dill plants cost just 15pence each a few short weeks ago and are thriving in the old coal bunker. We have many flowers and the fruit has set on some of the tomatoes.
Isn't buddleia aptly named as the butterfly bush? This is probably much too big for our tiny back garden but I don't care. I know that it will be covered in bees and butterflies for many weeks now and each evening the smell of honey is beautiful. It more than earns its keep.
Just to give you an idea of its size.
This holly tree was taken on our last walk in the local park, I like the berries this colour.
This was in the park as well

and its larger sister.
This is my lavender and lemon balm border, just coming into flower now. The smell is especially good if you brush the leaves as you reverse the car. Mr Mog often does that so I can enjoy the sweet perfumes;)
Colour always inspires me, it is one of the reasons I love dyeing bright colours and creating art with it. For me it lights a fire in my heart and that is a good enough reason to do it.

Of mohair in jackets and spirals on tops

Thanks for the kind comments on my additions to the top Jan made me:)
BW asked how I did the spirals. I'm not a very good crocheter yet but simple things I can do. I love freeform as you have probably guessed so this is out of my head.


I started with a chain of 8 stitches, then I did at least 2 double crochet in to each stitch, on some I did 3. Did this all the way back to the top edge then double crochet to where I wanted the next spiral and repeated. Some spirals are 15 stitches, some 9, some 17 and rest 13. Really whatever felt long enough as I went around. I did this all the way round doing plain double crochet in between each spiral. I then stitched crystal beads on the ends. I used 2 x 8mm beads and a tiny bead as the end stop. Thread through all including the end one, then return ignoring the end one, do this twice for strength then finish off.
Hope that makes sense?.
I decided I wanted another elsewhere jacket and this time I wanted to use up some odd skeins of mohair on it. I didn't want it to match, my intention is to have mismatched colours but ones that tone. My next jacket will be completely clashing if this works out.

What do you think so far?

Still very humid and incredibly hot here. I don't function too well in hot weather it makes my joints much more painful sadly:( I seem to retain more water around the ankles which doesn't help as I am unable to take water pills due to other health issues. I'm drinking lots of water to try and help.
The 15pence tomato plants we got a few short weeks ago at the local council garden centre are growing wonderfully and there are lots of flowers on them. A good buy I think.

Dipping my toe on the dark side:)

I've been dipping my toes on the dark side:)
As you may have seen on my previous post the wonderful Jan made me this top. When she gave it me at Woolfest she said it was up to me how to finish it as it would need a little more length probably.
I pondered a while and sorted out beads wondering what to do then it came to me. Crochet dangly spirals. It seemed sacrilegious to add knit to it after all, the top said crochet so crochet it was .

What do you think?
No fixed length of spiral dangles just what came to me as I crocheted. Then crystal beads added to the bottom of each spiral

I love it

Such rich colours.
Jan is hopefully coming to stay soon and I think I'm going to take the next steps along the crochet path by getting her to teach me a few more stitches.
I'm not giving up the knitting, more broadening my horizons.
The weather has been a tad hot to say the least, too hot for doing much except stay inside. It is too hot for knitting for long spells as my hands stick to the needles.
I have however started a new project. It is another Elsewhere jacket but done in mohair. Specifically random skeins of mohair different colours. I think it will be quite different,so watch this space.
I've been contemplating the turn of the wheel, this time seems more of a lethargic shift. I'm not as fired up with energy and not as intensely pushing to get things done. A different place on the spiral, not better and not worse just something new.
It is a more thoughtful phase, more spiritual and inwards. A taking stock of who I am and what I want to do or learn next.

Woolfest part 2 the stash enhancement & gifts.

Woolfest wasn't just about having fun and meeting friends . There was some stash enhancement and some gifts.
Firstly from Artis-Anne 5 skeins of hand dyed hand spun yarn for the 5 elements. Anne and I had agreed a trade, 5 skeins in exchange for a cone of mohair to dye. Look what she came up with, aren't they gorgeous?
They will work beautifully with my femmes:)
I have wanted a shawl pin for a while now to compliment my shawls when I wear them. This is sycamore and was purchased from Kevin.
I love the shape of it.
Then I purchased some yarn and received a free shawl pattern from the Laal Bear. The pattern is written out which is better for me as I can't read lace charts. We will see how I get on, more later on that.
I chose these colours especially. When I was little I went to a boarding school for delicate children . I was there for almost 2 years aged 7 to 9. One of the crafts I remember doing was weaving and I made my nan a scarf using bright turquoise and bright orange yarn. It was extremely garish but she wore it with pride many times:) This blue yarn is called seaside and has some small flashes of orange in it so it seemed appropriate to add orange as a contrast.

I met up with so many online friends it was unbelievable. There were dozens of them and I enjoyed it greatly. One of these friends is Jan and she does the most superb crochet. I've several items in my wardrobe made by Jan and I now have 2 more:)
Jan gave me this along with some extra yarn so I can fringe or bead it to lengthen a little.

Isn't it gorgeous? I have the beads lined up ready to start tomorrow and watch this space:)
Not content with silencing me with the top Jan gave me this:-
Isn't it incredible? I'd seen the pictures on the blog and was tempted to ask her to make me one, I don't need to now. It is mine, all mine:)))
Jan I love the things you made for me and will love wearing them, thank you so much for them.

I also received 2 bags of yarn for my hospice knitting from Lisa and Vicky which is much appreciated:)
Wye Sue presented me with a huge bag of yarn to do with as I will, mainly Colinette. Guess I'll have to force myself to knit it then;) I love Colinette colours.
So a great time, very tired still today but it was worth it.
My thanks go to the Wool Clip for organising such a brilliant festival and to all the people I met who made me glad to be part of the online blogging community.

Woolfest 2009, very long and lots of pictures #1

Woolfest 2009 was incredible. Very very busy and very very hot. We really enjoyed it despite the heat:)
I'm going to let the photos(mainly) tell the story. 2nd post will be stash enhancement and gifts.
We should have known what the weekend was going to be like when we travelled up as it was very misty with a heat haze everywhere.

The colours on the stands were so inspiring and I could have taken most of it home.
There were also plants for dyeing your fibres
finished items to wear and to hang
cones for your knitting machine


5 years since Woolfest came into being. I've now been to 3 of them

Part of Oliver Twists stand
Basket making, you need somewhere to store the stash
more of Oliver Twists colours
and yet more. Can you tell I liked their stand?
You don't just need bright colours to impress.
Knitwitches
All busy on the Krafty Koala stand and it wasn't even opening time yet.


You could buy spinning wheels
sock blockers from the Laal Bear alongside her gorgeous yarns. I purchased 4ply for a shawl and received a free pattern, see next post for colours.
Cones and skeins to dye from Bluefaced.com
Natural Dye Studios blankets were beautiful
Mobair


Just look at that top
More spinning wheels
Winghams

yet more spinning wheels and other spinning accoutrements

Spindles and nostepinnes, I purchased a shawl pin here, pictures next post.
Helen came down from Scotland with her yummy yarn:)
Jon sent his yarn but was unable to attend himself.

Buttons anyone?
Bet they were glad they had been shorn with the hot weather
lots of animals to see
and lots of their fleece to purchase





These were some of the sheep that people had made for the auction to raise funds for charity.
You didn't just have to knit, crochet or spin you could also weave.
Nancy Bush was here leading classes
as was Donna
There were all sizes of spinning wheels.
This was the kindred knitters stand for bloggers and ravellers to meet up along with anyone else who wanted to just sit and chat. We were also offering help with various knitting techniques, and had various patterns on offer for donations to our fundraising. We managed to raise the grand total of £150 for the three charities we had decided on. These were p/hop MSF, Sheep for Africa and St Johns Hospice. The money was raised in various ways including guess the weight of the teddy, wool winding service. Wye Sue modelling her shadow scarf that has a sheep design knit in to it.
Our stand looked quite bright and welcoming. Have you seen the various items Sue knitted including regulation school kni@kers, a th0ng and some gorgeous shawls?
We had so many people come along and help us that it was just one great big social event.
Roll on next year.