Of moons and harvests

Well after moaning that I hadn't seen the moon this month look what I found when I looked out the door last night:) Pictures aren't very clear as I was so excited to see her that I just clicked away.
I have really missed the Lady this month. I always know what moon phase it is without looking but it does make me feel so much better when I can see her:)

The light had a misty quality to it and all the plants in the garden had an otherworldly look to them .
Everything is growing at a fast pace, the combination of constant rain and warm muggy days has brought out the best in the garden.
The lilies are lush and there appear to be a few more buds waiting to burst.
We did a little harvesting from the greenhouses today, the peppers aren't very large but they are tasty. The tomatoes don't last long when they get picked. Like peas they are so much better straight from the plant. The chillies will be dried for winter use.
I do have knitting to show you but I'm just finishing the binding off first. Pictures later this week. It is a Vortex shawl done with my own handspun, round and lace:)

Moon

On a completely different note, although I guess it has bearings on the previous post.
I HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOON THIS MONTH
End of shouting,
the weather has been so bad this moon phase that I haven't yet seen her.
Hopefully tonight will change that

The sun has got his hat on and everywhere is lush

The sun is shining first time for nearly two weeks and what a difference it makes. The pain never seems as dire when you can see sunshine.
Have been feeling yuck for a while and the weather does have a great deal to do with how I cope.
This morning started out grey and stormy but now the sky is the most beautiful blue and it is warm.
I went out into the garden and I thought I'd share some of the pictures.
The combination of warm weather and rain has made everything grow.
At the moment the garden seems to be mostly pink/purples and reds but I like that.
The lavatera took a bashing during the bad storms we have had but it is still flowering away merrily.
Pinks have the strongest perfume:)
Nasturtiums taste good as well as look good and we have all shades of them from yellow to deepest red.
The butterflies and bees made a beeline for the buddleia flowers, at one time this afternoon there were well over a dozen of each sampling the nectar.
The flowers smell of honey so no wonder they were tempted.
The loosestrife has overwhelmed the garden a little this year but is now going over giving the nasturtiums time to be seen.

The sedum should be in full bloom in a day or two.
The lime tree loves the sunlight and goes well with the colour of the loosestrife. We did have the purple version but lost it last year with the hard winter.

Part of Mr Mog's railway with clematis , the house collection is to make villages along the track.
One lily flower out and 3 more in the wings.
We cut back the buddleia each year and it bounces back stronger than ever and taller:)
The green men are barely visible now the plants are growing. As it should be for there are many natural green men to be seen among the vegetation if you look.

Mint in abundance
We have already harvested some carrots and there are more waiting to be taken.
The herbs don't seem to have been damaged by the heavy rain and wind.
More clematis

I hope your gardens are flourishing also.

Still here

Still here but not had a blogging mojo. I'm taking part in the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry and enjoying that. The idea is to spin each day of the tour if you can. I've missed some days but trying to do a little each day.
Very sore which doesn't help at all. It has been a dreadful week weather wise, gales every day and rain every day nearly. And we have a hosepipe ban which seems pretty silly given the rainfall.
Pictures of current knitting and spinning next post

Tour de fleece, finished shawl,spun (thin) yarn

It has been very hot since we returned from Woolfest and I have been totally drained with it all. The fact that I can't find a bone that doesn't hurt makes it much worse:(

But the sun is shining once more, I heard the delightful dawn chorus this morning so that is good.

There has been crafty stuff going on chez Moggie.

A finished shawl From Vixen to Goddess. So named because the original pattern was called Vixen. I made the red hot chilli shawl ,previously shown, as per pattern(mainly) but this one I decided to improvise so I threw in some bands of stocking stitch.
I much prefer this I think.

Fibre was some merino from Adelaide Walker, drum carded with silk, glittery trilobal and angelina and some BFL.
Very sparkly and very gorgeous to spin.
I love the lightness of it and I love the way it drapes. Wasn't it lucky that some of the flowers in the garden matched so beautifully with it?

Mr Mog and I are joining the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. The aim is to spin each day of the Tour de France. As we both follow it avidly this seemed a good project. We don't watch the full stage each day but the ITV highlights of an hour per night.
Less irritating than the incomprehensible waffle from the commentators on Sky , ITV are much more restrained normally and don't spoil the action with inane comments. The idea is that we will spin of an evening while watching the highlights, not necessarily the full hour.
Mr Mog is doing a melange of fibres, a sampler almost.
I've dyed 400g of BFL/Kid mohair. Something I haven't spun before so a challenge for me.

I wanted an undersea colourway so kettle dyed the fibre with cerulean blue, jade, emerald and a tiny bit of spruce.
I love it.
My next photograph is of some merino cashmere fibre I purchased from Mandacrafts at Wonderwool. This fibre wanted to be spun fine so who am I to disagree with it? Despite hating to knit with fine yarn I decided to go along with the bolshy fibre.
A challenge for me but one I managed to win.
This skein is just 65g in weight and a staggering 531 yards of yarn.
I am very pleased with it, hence 2 photographs for you.
What I will do with it I have no idea. I do have another 85gms so sufficient for something big when I spin it up.

Woolfest 2010

We have just come back from a fabulous weekend at Woolfest. Lots of great company, lots to see and with the added bonus of a full moon.
We took lots of pictures, well over 170, but don't worry you aren't getting them all:)

There were lots of animals, all shapes and sizes from rabbits, via Ouessant sheep to full grown sheep. These are but a few










This character was my favourite, just look at those eyes:)
There was also a large variety of textile sheep, these were auctioned off to raise money for Farm Africa
So many to choose from.

Apart from fleece, yarn and animals there was a great variety of spinning wheels, looms and other such tools.

The colours as always were very inspiring.
I think Mr Natural Dye Studio may have been scouting for Mrs NDS:)
Silk dyes the most fabulous colours.
Knitwitches Eirwen herself:)
This piece commemorates the floods in Cumbria and was very poignant.
This was the Ravelry/bloggers meeting point. A place for us all to congregate and chill out. Sadly we were moved at the last minute from the main area to a marquee. The hot weather made this a little uncomfortable. there was a real coffee stand in here and the very large almost continual queue made it hard for Ravellers to find space to sit. Added to this the route to here passed through an extremely busy cafe, another marquee and narrow doorways full of people. Wheel chairs didn't have an easy journey. I think a lot of people couldn't find us, especially as we had put lots of messages on Rav giving the stall position where we were told we would be. Despite all this quite a few people found us and it was good to meet up with friends old and new. The Wool Clip were kind to give us space to meet, I wonder if they realised the number of ravellers who would attend?

We raised £150 for the Northern Air ambulance from the sale of commemorative limited edition bags and t shirts. Plus magazines donated by a kind Raveller and of course Mr Mog wool winding. Anyone who purchased yarn could have it wound by Mr Mog for a donation to the air ambulance.
Here you see him presenting the money at the end of the show.

We didn't purchase very much at all.
Babylonglegs gave us this lovely fibre, I promise not to fight over who gets to spin it up:)
The 2 packs of fibre from Freyalyn were in exchange for a shawl I knitted. That leaves some gorgeous silk to be made into batts, a ball of Polwarth fibre from Spindlers and a roll of Ashford merino silk from the Yarnyard. Mr Mog chose all the colours except the silk, that man is getting way too keen on spinning.
We stayed with our friends on the Solway coast and were lucky enough to see the full moon rise over the Solway.

I felt very privileged to see it.