Spring!

Spectacular Sunrise

Amazing sunrise this morning!

Minute by minute

I was going to show you my latest delicious teal chunky baby alpaca from the last dyepot session, but the weather had other ideas. Today was overcast and dark, with lights needed on indoors all day.

No amount of tweaking with my photo editing software would give me accurate enough results, so I abandoned the photos.

Instead here is a glorious photo of a Perranporth sunset at its best.

We are so lucky to live so close to this beach, and really should visit it a lot more than we do!

I'll be keeping an eye on the sunrise and sunset times over the next few weeks as they gradually increase to bring us more glorious sunshine hours each day.

Very soon we'll be welcoming Spring!

Hooked on garters

Candy garter - sweet!

Crochet always gets me in phases.

Currently I seem to be going through a garter phase - it's all I want to crochet, using pure silk yarn with lots of different bead and ribbon colourways!

Last weekend I enjoyed choosing more beads for them from GJ Beads in Truro - I love browsing around in there - so much choice!

We ended up talking about my hand-dyed Perran Yarns as one of the ladies from Truro Fabrics was in there too. A good shopping trip!

Something blue!

I'm currently waiting for my latest order of hand-dyed ribbons from the talented Abby and Ellie - they're always so lovely!

January sunrise

Beautiful sunrise this morning!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes it's that time of year again...

We went off to St Ives for the afternoon by train for a family day out and had a lovely time despite the weather trying to lightly rain for most of the afternoon.

We had a most excellent lunch at the Fire House Restaurant, then strolled around the beach and harbour and paddled in the sea.

The tide was coming in fast so we made our way back to the shops where I stopped in at House of Bartlett and G J Beads. Well a birthday without buying yarn and beads just wouldn't be right, would it?!

You can see me here with my dear hubby - I'm wearing my new Weird Fish fleece that he bought me - so warm and cosy, and I love that deep teal colour!

Then it was back home on the train and off to my in-laws for a cold buffet dinner, topped off with chocolate birthday cake.

A lovely family birthday!

Toasty!

We went for a great bike ride today at Bissoe, and then on to Truro to see a freestyle motocross event.

Sadly although we waited and went back twice we missed all 3 shows as the times were changed from the ones announced! Grr....

So to cheer ourselves up we went home, got the chiminea going, and toasted marshmallows in the dark... lush!

Falmouth Week

We have just got back from spending a great afternoon in Falmouth as part of Falmouth Week, in the most glorious weather - sunny but not too hot.

We took the train from Truro - a lovely 20 minute ride, cutting out the hassle of summer traffic and parking.

We then watched the Animal Bike Tour display - most excellent!

We ate some tea at The Rumbling Tum cafe - the most delicious steak and onion chutney ciabatta with fries & salad, then squeezed in a quick visit to the local bead shop and the traditional sweet shop before watching the Red Arrows display over the harbour.

Back on the train, then to our local pub with friends to round off the day. Fantastic!

Local wildlife

We've not been short of new wildlife spottings in our back garden this last week.

Firstly we found this huge fella under a plant on the rockery!

Quite a scary looking chap but apparently it is the caterpillar of an Elephant Hawk Moth.

It's very common in Britain, although I've never seen the moth or the caterpillar before.

Then this morning we spotted this beautful Peacock Butterfly basking in the sun on our new wall around the lawn - another big specimen!

I expect to see a few of these as we have stinging nettles growing in the area behind our Cornish hedge, which is the primary source of food for these caterpillars.

WWKIP Truro 2011

Yesterday was this year's World Wide Knit In Public Day and I went along to the Truro meet-up - which was fab!

I got to see some knitty friends and spend 4 hours chatting, knitting (and tinking!), enthusing, laughing, and generally having a good time.

We had a small swap bag of goodies for anyone and everyone to add to or take from - which was narrowly missed by a seagull poo incident! I donated some yarn and knitting mags and ended up with a large ball of the white pompom scarf yarn.

One of my favourite creations was Anna's gorgeous crocheted hat, made by her very talented sister.

Also Carol brought along her gorgeous wedding wrap she is knitting for her daughter from Kidsilk Haze, but I was so preoccupied with feeling how soft it was that I completely forgot to photograph it!

We were yarn-bombed by Cornwall's Graffiti Grannies, and many shoppers stopped to marvel at the fantastic knitted bike park covers - such amazing shapes showed off the knitting beautifully.

 

I also loved the pretty crochet flower garland and knitted butterflies in the palm tree!

 
A few people were brave enough to have a go with the extreme knitting needles - I really must try them one of these days!

I also met up, quite by chance, with lovely fellow Etsian Vanessa from Magpie & Butterfly, who hand-makes the most beautiful beads, stitch markers, and buttons.

Of course I ended up buying some of the irresistable buttons, which you will no doubt see on some of my handknits in my Etsy shop soon.

Can't wait for the next meet-up!

Off to sea!

Well not quite, but nearly...

A couple of days ago we went on a boat trip from Truro to Falmouth with friends. 

It was a great day out, and the first time we've done anything like that with the children.

The route is down the river from Truro to the estuary at Falmouth, and takes about 1 hour each way.

Along the way we heard commentary picking out places of interest, one of which is a mussel farm!

Anchored ropes hang down into the river and the mussels attach to them. They take around 2 years to mature, then they are scraped off, cleaned and sent to restaurants and shops.

Amazing what you learn on a day out!

Thank you St Ives!

Despite the rain, we spent a couple of hours in St Ives today; it's the first time we've visited the place despite living in Cornwall for 4 years now!

It was tricky navigating the narrow street in the town centre and finding a parking spot, but well worth it. St Ives is lovely - even in the rain.

My intention was to find the House of Bartlett as the owner had announced on Ravelry that she is having a wool sale. We did find it, and I ended up with a bag full of woolly goodness!

I bought a ball of Rico Creative Micro DK - I've never seen this yarn before. It has lovely muted summer colours and feels like a soft cotton, so I'm earmarking that for a summer scarf.

My youngest DD talked me into buying a bright ball of fuschia Zauberball and the pattern book to make a gorgeous diagonal lace scarf for her - it looks gorgeous, so it's not exactly a tough task!

I also treated myself to a 500gram pack of Araucania Aysen at an amazing 70% discount! This is a gorgeous hand-dyed merino/alpaca/silk blend which is perfect to make the fingerless mitts that sold so well this winter.

We also spotted GJ Beads quite by chance, so I managed to find some beautiful grey coin beads to highlight the Pebble wrap I'm finishing off.

The final amazing find was a little ladies boutique selling the last few pairs of Fly boots they had in stock at less than half price. They had the exact style (Yule) I had been looking for, in the colour that I often wear, in my size!

I've been holding out for these for the last 2 years but always other costs have taken priority. These were such a bargain that DH treated me - thank you hubsta!

On the way back to the car we called in to Willy Wallers Ice Cream Factory where we chose a gorgeous flavour ice cream each - chocolate and ginger, mango, blueberry, and port, cranberry & orange sorbet. Delicious!

We'll be going back to St Ives for a day on the beach when the weather warms up - probably on the train next time. Can't wait!

Fame!

Not for me but for my DH - John Thornton - on the BBC News today!

Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary - 14 years!

I've made an Etsy treasury to celebrate of course.

Tonight we're having a meal at the Miner's Arms pub at Mithian - the food is apparently very good there.

Have a happy day everyone!

Supporting local crafters

I've made a Cool Cornish Collection Etsy treasury to help support and promote my fellow crafters around the Truro and Newquay areas of Cornwall.

Take a look - there are some great items there!

Crantock Summer Craft Fair

Just wanted to post a quick note about an event I'll be attending tomorrow: it's the Summer Craft Fair being held in the Village Hall at Crantock near Newquay, Cornwall from 10am to 4pm.

If you're in the area, drop in - it'd be great to see you!

Medieval Joust

We are on holiday from work this week so on Wednesday we went to a Medieval Joust!

Pendennis Castle

The event was held at the glorious Pendennis Castle at Falmouth which of course is located to give the most fabulous views over the surrounding sea and land.

Falconry display

There were falconry displays with fascinating talks about how the birds were used in days gone by, for example to catch animals to feed families for free.

Nonimus

Music from the time was provided by the talented Nonimus Minstrels - we were so impressed we bought their CD.

The Jester

A hilarious jester wandered around entertaining the crowds, as well as putting on a few of his own shows throughout the day.

The Joust

And of course there were four knights taking part in three different sessions of horsemanship and skill, culminating in the joust. Incredible!

It was a fabulous day - if you get chance to go I would thoroughly recommend it!

We did it!

Yes, we did the Race For Life 2010 last Sunday and managed to finish it.

It's a mere 5km (3 miles) which is nothing for many fit people out there, but for me - having not done any form of excercise in quite a while - it was quite an achievement.

There was a great atmosphere on the day and the weather was perfect. 

We had great fun doing the warm-up exercises. I've never been part of such a large class before!

It wasn't easy trying to keep up with moves that we could barely see being demonstrated but we had fun anyway. :)

Then we were off to the start line! 

We jogged as much as possible (and walked the uphill bits) for 5km - more than I've ever done before in my life. 

The Truro course is very hilly and everyone was bunched up together in the narrow lanes to start with.

We staggered over the finish line just under 43 minutes later - woohoo! My face was as pink as my t-shirt but we had done it.

I'm so glad my friend Sue talked me into doing this with her. It's truly inspiring (and very emotional) reading the papers on people's backs saying why they're taking part. 

Stunning to think the cancer touches so many people's lives. Great to know we helped to raise money to find ways of helping anyone needing it.
Thank you to everyone who sponsored and supported us.

I'm happy to say that it has inspired my daughters too. Next year we're hoping to walk the Falmouth Race for Life with them, and run the Truro one again to see if we can beat this year's time.

Fingers crossed!

Jam-packed

On Saturday was our village's annual horticultural and domestic show. 

It's fantastic - a little piece of history that has been going on for over 50 years virtually unchanged!

It takes a lot of time and effort throughout the year to prepare for the day, and we help out with it as much as possible. 

It's so worthwhile - a really community event.

There are masses of entries in over 300 categories, including fruit and vegetables, flowers, handicrafts, art, cooking, and loads of children's sections.

There is a brass band, coconut shy, bouncy castle, face painting, barbeque, cream teas from the W.I. and the local guides helping out on the sweets and ice cream stands.

Just wonderful!

Oh and my "All the Fun of the Fair" crochet mat won second place in the Crochet section. :)

Easter treats

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Easter break! We're still making the most of our week off work with our daughters.

This year has shown us how much our girls are growing up; the focus hasn't been so much on chocolate eggs!

They were sent some money to choose their own Easter gift from their nan, and they invested in some (more) RubyRuth dolls which they spotted at the craft fair in Truro.

These are handmade individual dolls, very unique and strangely wonderful!

I bought a treat to share with my husband - Trenance chocolate - yum.

Apparently you can walk around the factory to see the chocolate products being made - I feel a visit coming on soon! 

There are some great chocolate dinosaurs, butterflies, and teddies, and the taste is fabulous.

Right, it's time to soak my aching limbs in the bath - we walked the bridleways to Perranporth and back today, stopping at the Filling Station to enjoy their super-tasty paninis for lunch. Of course we wandered down to the sea to watch the surfers - too cold for me to go in yet though! 

It was a fabulous walk with amazing countryside and sea views - over 5 miles altogether. We're so grateful to be living here.