Great Eccleston Agricultural Show

I've had an ambition to go to an agricultural show for years and this year is the first time I've made it to one. Despite weather which ranged from heavy showers to to hot sun to gusty wind, we had a lovely time, seeing animals great...



and small... (we think there should be a new class for showing 'Simultaneous Buggy and Dog Handling')


Checking out the big boys' toys...


And inspecting the wide, wonderful and yes, sometimes downright weird range of items competing for prizes. These included many, many cakes...


Some lovely quilts- the circles one is my favourite and already has me thinking about a 'big girl's bed' quilt for M (yes, she's only four weeks old, but it might take me a while!).


Beeswax and honeycombs- have to show this to my sister, who has been taken on as an apprentice beekeeper at the media company she works at (it's in London, they have a hive on the roof! And no, beekeeper is not her actual job)

And finally...my Fairisle pullover! All those months of fiddly colourwork, anguished frogging after I misread the pattern, re-knitting and then not being able to wear it because of the baby bump and finally it ends up winning first prize in 'Garment Knitted in a Fashion Yarn'!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by SouleMama

Dodging the clouds

The week so far has seen weather forecasts whose bark was worse than their bite. Monday afternoon saw these spectacular clouds sweeping in off the sea, yet we managed an hour at Sandscale Haws with nothing more than a few spots. Yesterday was meant to be okay in the morning then awful all afternoon, so we duly dashed out with a lovely gang of friends for walking, play and picnic here in the a.m. only to find that the afternoon was also rain-free until 5-ish. Today, if the reports were to be believed, we would be deluged (we were during the night), so a blanket den was duly built in the living room and no promises of going outside were made. So far? A mere sprinkling, and that while out for a drive along the coast road, where the brunt of the weather hits.
Still, all this indoors time has meant more progress on Manu, which, now that the sleeves are finished and the yoke is in progress, resembles more of a garment. I made the sleeves on four needles as I couldn't get the hang of them on a circular, but switched to a circular for the yoke. Hmmm...maybe a problem as my tension seems to be a little bit tighter on the circular. I'm hoping it won't show up too much in the finished item- it certainly doesn't on the pictures. The yarn is quite fluffy and the tension is fairly easy throughout, so maybe blocking will even things up a bit. Or I'll pretend it's a design feature! Looking forward to knitting the pleats soon...