Bon Voyage, Sue and Andy

On July 4th, Phill's parents left for their great adventure, a round the world sailing "holiday". This is their retirement and something that has been planned for a long long time. I'm so excited for them that they are living out their dream. Phill wishes he were going to. And he will be joining them for their Atlantic crossing next winter. Both scary and exciting all at once!

There was, of course, a fabulous party to see them off with friends and family coming from all over the country, including friends from Ulverston that were not expected.

Alice cleaning the deck

The boat was dressed with flags (in the right order!) and the food was fabulous and included Nanny Scales' yummy cakes and jam tarts.

Cake made my Phill's Nanny

At around 7, they boarded the boat and sailed off in to the sunset. And we followed them! Phill, his two brother, Liz and the kids and I were very generously offered a ride in a fellow marina resident's cruiser. We went with them through the bridge and waved them off as they anchored up for the evening in Studland Bay (avoiding both seahorses and nudists).

Alice ready for her trip on the boat

Waiting for the bridge to open

Poole coat of arms

Andromeda on the open waves

My Mum and Dad waving us all off

They make Sun Seekers in Poole. This one must be destined for a rapper or drug dealer or something. Nina has 3 floors and those port holes down the black bit are the windows of a BALLROOM!

Beards across the generations

My Holiday...

Summed up in one photo

Grizedale Forest

On the Wednesday, Phill and I went to Grizdale Forest. They have a lot of sculptures in the woods and several trails that take you round the forest to see them. We took the white trail, described as "moderate". It wasn't too bad and was uphill to start with which meant it was downhill at the end. Very important! We barely saw another soul which was fabulous. All we heard was the sound of beards and insects. The sculptures were fab too.



At the top of the walk was a tarn. The water was so still, the reflections were amazing. It was so quiet, I could have stayed there all day but there was cake to eat and sculptures to see.

This is a reflection!!

Happy Campers

Last week, Phill and I took a much needed break from work and dissertations and went up to the Lake District for a few days. We camped on the bank of Lake Windermere, at the northern end near Ambleside. This is the view from our tent.




Phill grew up in Ulverston. We visited on Tuesday, Phill to see how it had changed and me to see this place where the stories come from! One of my plans for the week was to have proper Cumberland sausage and we were recommended a pub in Ulverston. It was delicious! A big sausage ring on a pile of mash with black pudding and a roasted apple. Quite posh and very yummy.


We also went up to a local hill which was covered in sheep and I collected some wool off the ground. I also took a lot of photos of sheep!


On the way back to the tent we stopped off at Stott Park Bobbin Mill and had a tour round. They showed us how all the old machines used to work off the steam engine. I also bought a few tiny bobbins to use for my spindle yarn.



In the evening, we drank nice beer and Phill cooked me dinner!

We love the mooooooooooon

Ages ago, Phill and I went up to Leeds to visit his uni friends Brendan and Abby. While we were there, we had a play with Brendan's fancy telescope. And it is properly fancy! It is automated so you calibrate it to some stars and then after that, just tell it what you want to see.

We saw stars and galaxies and SATURN! I am such a geek but this was amazing. It was very small and basically just a dot with a line across but it was SATURN!

We also took a picture of the moon which was very bright that night. We took a whole bunch of photos through the telescope and Brendan put them all together to produce this amazing image:


(click to see the big version ... it's worth it)

Round The World Hats

Sue and Andy left for their sailing adventure last Saturday. There will be pics from the party soon but first, here are the hats I made them to keep their heads warm on the high seas.

First up is the Chakra Hat by Alysa Joaquin. This one is for Sue as it represents the head chakra. It is knit with Cascade 220 in Dark and Light Purple. This was my first Fair Isle and I love it. I am very pleased with how it came out nice and consistent and the back is almost as pretty as the front.

The second hat was for Andy and is Turn a Square (ravelry link) by Jared Flood. It is also lovely although a little big. This one is also knit with Cascade 220 in Navy Blue and Turquoise.

Fiberliscious

Here is some beautiful fiber I bought when I should have been revising. Yummy!

First up is a superwash Merino/Nylon mix from The Thylacine called The Springs. It's beautiful greens and purples. Now all I need to do is work out how to spin it into beautiful sock yarn!



Next up is also from The Thylacine. This one is Meadowbank, a grey Merino/Alpaca mix. The grey is it's natural colour. This is going to be spun into a thickish single and will become mittens.



This final one comes from FeltStudioUK. It is a batt which I have never spun before. It is called Robin and is lovely robin egg colours. It's quite a mix of Merino, Corriedale & Romney lambs wool and Tencel. Yum!
Finally, a little Falkland sample from FeltStudioUK that came with my batt. What a lovely little suprise =)

We Are Sailing

On Sunday, my Mum and Dad, Phill and I went to Poole to visit Phill's parents on their boat. They are off on their world trip in a week! How scary! Amazingly, in nearly four years, this was the first time that our parents met. Thankfully, everyone got on and a fabulous day was had by most out on the ocean waves. Dad wants to go on a sailing trip at some point so this was a great day for him to find out what it like. He had a fab day and Mum enjoyed it too. Here is Mum at the wheel with Dad in the background.

Here is Phill at the wheel.

This is me at the very front of the boat. I was king of the world for a short time before I had to go below decks and bring up my breakfast! Me and boats do not get on which is a real shame as I really do enjoy being out on the sea with the wind and the sunshine but it just makes me feel awful. :( I was alright in the bay though so was able to be sociable again once we got back into the calm.

We saw a tall ship! Very exciting!

Here is my Dad looking very at home on the boat. I think he has really got the bug now! He says he doesn't want his own boat though =)


Mum also had a good day and is now happier about the potential boating holiday.

Mogget Mirror

Here is Mani with his friend, Across the Road Cat. Mani is not sure what to make of across the road cat. They are very similar looking except that Mani is smaller.

Alton Towers

Every year, a bunch of us head off to Beautiful Vic's house for the weekend and spend the Saturday at Alton Towers. This is year four and the weekend was fabulous. The Friday morning, I had my very last exam and as soon as Anna and Joe got to mine, off we went up to Vic's. I was a little excited, not just because of the end of exams but also because there are people at the Alton Towers Weekended that I only get to see this time of year.

Saturday was also World Wind Knit In Public Day so I took up some needles and yarn and Kate, Anna, Jen and I knit little squares for a baby blanket. Anna works in the neonatal unit at Kings so I shall give it to her for her ward once it's done. We didn't get as many rollercoasters in as in previous years but that's ok. It was a fabulous day to be out and about with my friends. Hopefully now that I have more time I'll be able to be more sociable. Here are pictures from the day.

Knitting In Public

On the flume (Emerson took the second one)

On the River Rapids (Alton Towers took this one)

On the Pirate Galleons

Rachel

Meg, Kate, Rach and Alex

The four ages of Goose: Mummy Goose, nearly grown up goose, still quite young goose and baby goose. All spotted on the green by the lake.