Torn muscle:( shawls and yarn plea

Well it is official I've torn a muscle under my rib. That would explain the pain then. I've to take strong painkillers to dull it, apply heat and wait for it to go. Joy joy joy.
It is quite fun to see when I need to cough or laugh, I have to hold the sore part so it doesn't tear more. Can you visualise the arthritic me suddenly stopping , trying to grab my side while still holding on to the crutches just to enable me to cough? I get some mighty funny looks, especially as it is accompanied with various groans and cries:))
Ah well knitting beckons so would you like to see the current work in progress? This is filatura crosa mohair together with iridescent rayon/wool/glitter mix

What do you think? I've got some beautiful beads to trim the edge with.
I also mentioned yesterday that I'd managed to purchase some fancy cones from Uppingham yarns to add to mohair for more shawls. Here they are. I love the colour and the glitter and they are really soft.
I've almost finished the next shawl, I am halfway round the border as you can see.

This one is a third of the way round the border but I've run out of the yarn:( Stupid I know but I hadn't realised how much the border would take.



This is the yarn I'm running short on, does anyone have anything similar please? Even 50gm would help. It is mohair possibly similar to Colinette in thickness.

Thank you

Wonderwool part3 gifts plus purchases

We are getting there, this is the final part of my Wonderwool experience.
I met so many online friends while at wonderwool, too many to mention them all by name. One of them brought me gifts. Wasn't that thoughtful? Rosie won the blog giveaway a few weeks ago and I had her prize wrapped up ready to give her. Not in a brown wrapper but maybe I should have? I couldn't resist calling to her that I had the kni*kers for her:)
She in return had a gift for me. Look what was in the parcel.
Thank you Rosie, I've used the pot for stitch markers and already dipped into the book.
I also received some other gifts from 2 members of the Knitting Noras, Jan and Vicky.Another Nora, Jenn brought them with her. These were a big surprise also:) Not sure if you have heard about it but the Noras are producing a naked knitting calendar this year. The link will take you to the details. Please support them, apart from a chance to see glorious knitting artfully covering nude figures, it is for a very good cause. Anyway I digress. Jan surprised me with 2 lovely gifts and in my favourite colours. Jan is a wonderful crocheter as you can see. Despite being in much pain she never lets it get her down and is always creating for other people. Thank you Jan they both fit perfectly:)
The dangly trim matches perfectly with the top of the cardigan.


The shawl is shaped and sits just right on my shoulders. They both compliment the gift that Vicky sent along.
It fits perfectly Vicky and helps cover the non red hair, which incidentally I am getting used to. Thank you both for thinking of me. I really appreciate it and it helped immensely to open these when I felt so low.
I appear to have a pull or bruised muscle/rib area and it is getting worse. It was one of the reasons I had to come home yesterday, alongside a weary awfully sore body. My energy levels went lower and lower and I began to feel very ill. When I felt so bad I just wanted to get home as soon as I could. I had another day of wonderwool left and another night at Rebekah and David's home followed by a trip to Hereford to stay with another friend. I hated to miss out on it all but really had no choice. Mr Mog brought me home and I had a bath followed by bed. Not much better this morning so I'm going to the doctors tomorrow.
Don't you hate it when you have made arrangements to do something fun and bad health spoils it? I do.
To sum up on Wonderwool I am glad I went and I enjoyed seeing lots of people. I didn't do much stash enhancement due to feeling ill and I completely forgot I was looking for some dark green variegated mohair to finish the border of a shawl. So what did I buy?


4 skeins of Colinette mohair from Maylins stall, all very reasonable to start with and she also gave a more than generous 20% discount to Ravellers.
Some dyed locks to add to my wrap I'm making.Also from Maylin's stall.
I also purchased 4 cones of glittery yarn from Uppingham yarns but forgot to take a picture.

Wonderwool part 1the journey long

It was Wonderwool this weekend at the showground in Builth Wells. Last year we didn't manage to make it due to it being held 2 days after Mr Mog completed his radiotherapy. This year we were determined to go. A great chance to meet up with online friends and a possible chance for stash enhancement:)
This blog post is being split into 3 parts as it is quite long and full of pictures.
This covers the first part of the journey. I had never been to Builth Wells or the area, the nearest being to Welshpool and then on to Colinette Yarns.

I really enjoyed the journey down to the showground. The weather was kind to us and apart from roadworks near Newtown we did pretty well.

We decided to stop off for lunch at Lion Quay on the Llangollen canal. We both love the canal very much and also enjoy the lion Quay. Good food and lots of boats to watch -perfect. The grounds are full of colour, like this magnolia bush. Isn't that a great colour of pink?


Brides bouquet or spirea.
lots of boats,all narrowboats and not a cruiser to be seen. We do prefer narrowboats, maybe because we lived on one?


We had a delicious lunch, here you see the remains of mine, I suddenly thought I'd take a picture. It was rib eye steak with onion marmalade and stilton on foccacia. I only left the tortilla chips, I don't like them. Oh and the cucumber.

Have you seen the name of this boat? Ursula, it had to be photographed for a dear friend of mine:)
The bar/restaurant entrance to Lion Quay taken from the canalside table.
the moorings by the hotel.


After our lunch it was back on the journey to Builth.
Some fabulous primroses by the road side, sadly the picture marred by rubbish:(
Lush green trees all around us.
Almost at Welshpool when we saw this truck.

Just look at those hills
Lots of birds nesting on the journey and we also saw, but I didn't manage to capture, mistletoe. Clumps in the trees on the side of the road.
We went to the showground first to see where things were and to chat to stall holders setting up. Then it was off to stay with a very kind raveller and her husband. We had never met them before but Rebekah had seen my post asking about budget accommodation in the area for Wonderwool and very kindly invited us to stay with them. What a lovely couple and how kind they were to us. Rebekah had cooked an incredible meal to welcome us to her home and offered wine when we first turned up. I feel so lucky to have met so many people through the internet and especially through Ravelry but Rebekah and David have to rate high on the list. An added plus point was their having a cat:) I miss the company of a feline friend so it was great to see theirs.
Sadly due to awful ill health we had to curtail our stay with them but more on that later.
Thank you Rebekah and David for sharing your home with us. Don't forget, you are welcome here any time.
to be continued....
Stay tuned for the next instalment which covers stalls.

Catalogue of catastrophe:(

Today has been a dreadful day:(
Start with my falling down the outside 3 steps. My leg gave way and I fell down 3 stone steps badly bruising various parts of my body. Very painful and tomorrow very colourful. Poor Mr Mog could hardly get me upright as I was stuck against the outside gate. Bad enough? You'd think so but there is worse to follow.
More shortly but I thought you would like to see the herb seedlings starting to grow. Coriander, parsley and basil when they come up.Think it is the parsley that is delaying things.
More tulip pictures because they were so lush this morning.
Don't you just love flowering cherry? I do. So the other little thing to go with my fall? At Christmas Mr Mog kindly purchased some Lush Caca rouge for me. I do love red hair:) I decided to henna my hair this morning as it was looking a little dull. Did all the mixing etc, did the deed and waited. Rinsed off a while ago and as it dried thought it wasn't very red. It was Caca Noir(Black)
Mr Mog had bought what he thought was the correct one, it was on the rouge stand. Either someone has mixed them up putting them out or someone has been playing with them. Possibly children as it was christmas.

This moggie isn't thrilled:( I rang lush and they are sending me some treatment to hopefully take some of the colour away. I felt low enough with the fall, this has just made it worse:( The amber moggie won't be red at Wonderwool I fear:(

Tulips again and shawls

I can't resist taking pictures of tulips at the moment. I think it is a combination of their vivid colours and the effect of the sunshine on them. I'm not going to apologise because I like them and they have a feel good factor for me.
So here you go with the latest ones.
This first one is almost like a rose with the many petals unfurling.
As is this one, such a deep red.
My colour:)
The ones grown in tubs seem to have done as well as the ones grown in the ground thankfully.

Yesterday we went to a wedding in Cumbria, it was a lovely day only spoilt by the hotel getting their food timing totally wrong. Wedding was 11.30am and we were supposed to eat at 1.30pm. It was after 2.30 when we sat down as they didn't have everything ready. Meal was ok when it arrived but it was nearly too late for eating. We hadn't had any food from early morning and if I'd known there would be a delay we would have taken some fruit or something to put us on. Add the delay to a dazzley day and I was pretty light headed when the food turned up. No matter, the bride looked radiant, the day was sunny and we captured a picture of our first May flowers for this year in the hotel grounds.



Aren't they splendid?

I've finished another shawl as you can see. Hand painted mohair.

Shawl #1 This is the latest finished one. Handpainted mohair. Measures approx 78" across by 36" deep. Very light and floaty as you can tell from the next picture.


Shawl #2. Next we have a mohair,mohair boucle mix shawl.
A close up of the colours , it is hard to photograph the shawls .
It measures approx 70" x 30" and also could be blocked larger.

Shawl #3 measures approx 66" x 30" and is a heavy knit mohair with mohair boucle. Almost chenille or velvet feel to it and very warm
Close up of colour bands.
Shawl #4 fire shawl Very large 98" x 45" unblocked so would go much larger, probably near to floor length. Very stunning in shades of red and orange mohair
here you can see the colour bands.


Shawl #5 80" x 49" unblocked, would go larger. Mixture of assorted shades of purple mohair.

close up of colours

All yarns are handpainted/hand dyed