Yarn A Long

I have just finished reading 'The Seven Storey Mountain' and really enjoyed and appreciated it.
I have two projects on the go at the moment.
The first is for daylight knitting- I can't deal with thin needles and complicated patterns in the evening.
It is for Lydia-The Amaryllis Hat in Baby Ull on 2.00 and 2.25 mm needles- Arragh!!!
The other requires very little concentration and is for Julia A Doctor Who scarf , I am using various aran weight yarns that are available locally, mostly Sirdar and Stylecraft.

I am joining with Ginny from Small Things in the weekly Yarn-Along.

Shame on me.

This seems to be a regular occurrence- large intervals between blog posts. Oh dear.
Well, since our trip to St Ives we have packed Lydia off to Uni and I visited my mum, dad and sister in the US of A.

The Indian Mounds near Macon GA.

Mum, Dad and Rachel.

Here are some pictures of my whirlwind visit.

St Ives

We have just come back from a few days in St Ives.The weather was mixed but we enjoyed pottering about the town and generally relaxing.
We visited the Tate(again) and had great fun in a room full of white balloons! We also visited the Hepworth sculpture garden- something I  had always wanted to do. Julia took some lovely photos.

Shame on me!

Phil is very good at remembering to take pictures to put on his blog, my camera seems to spend a lot of time in the clutches of Julia as she is finishing her video task for her silver Arts Award. Once that is completed our weekly routine of going to Dartington every thursday will be a thing of the past. She has her first public exam in October-O Level RE, this is another new stage on our home-ed journey. In my planning folder I have a calendar of the next two academic years printed out. When you see it on paper it doesn't look very long! After the O level
we are planning for six IGCSEs-lots of work ahead of us! Just got to get Regatta out of the way first!

Never Not Knitting Song

This is such a funny song! I'm not sure I'm that bad!

Yarn Along(again)

 I am joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along,
 I am reading 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot  and knitting 'Pomander' by Martin Storey in RYC Cotton Jeans Ravelry.This one's for me!

Pointy Elf Hat completed

You can tell that Julia loves posing for me! Anyway, the hat has turned out very nicely and I think Julia likes it so that is all that matters!

Yarn Along

           Forgot to link to
                                                      Ginny at Small Things
                                                                                           for the Yarn Along- knitting and reading, great!
This only my second go at the Yarn Along but I'm going to try and be more consistent!
I am re-reading Philip Yancey's 'Soul Survivor', a very interesting book. And I am knitting a Pointy Elf Hat  (from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts) in Collinette Point 5 in Morello Mash for Julia.

Home education ?

What kind of science experiment is this you might ask? Maybe not science but very definitely an experiment- to apply newsprint to fingernails! Quite a novel effect!

Sleepover at Grandma and Grandad's

Sophia survived two nights being left to stay with us. We had a great time and I think she enjoyed the novelty of different surroundings. We had a walk by the river in Totnes but our plans to swim in the outdoor pool were scuppered by the weather.

Visiting Exmouth

I spent Saturday travelling to Exmouth to rendezvous with Hannah and Dan so we could  look at this!

 With the news that another baby Durdin is due to make an appearance next year they are looking for something a bit bigger to live on, and this is a contender!
All very exciting and I had a lovely day out- every one else was busy! Phil working, Lydia in Bristol, Julia at Hurdlestone.

Buying and wearing clothes

I have been reading this blog for a while now:
http://www.makingthishome.com/2011/06/13/is-the-no-new-clothes-challenge-worth-it/comment-page-1/#comment-13596
and it is always very interesting on lots of levels. After her comments about the lady who wore the same dress for a year I googled and found her.

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

Enjoy! She also has a webpage http://www.littlebrowndress.com/brown%20dress%20archive%20home.htm

Half Term

We have had a lovely relaxing week.
Julia has been out and about with friends in between  work, sea cadets and having Esme to stay.
Lydia has been revising, buying a new laptop and lying in the garden!
Phil and I went for a sail on tuesday in Lucy Morales,saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4 on wednesday, had our christmas present meal on the Res Nova on thursday, slept the night on board Lucy M, motored up to Dittisham for on board coffee, and had a beach BBQ with the girls at the Strete Gate end of Slapton. Lovely times.
Apart from a bit of river work Phil has had no band or teaching so it has been a nice rest for us all.

Res Nova

Ten Tors

Julia spent this last weekend tramping 35 miles across Dartmoor visiting Ten Tors and camping the night on the moor. She was part of a team representing TS Dartmouth and the sea cadets(hence the naval caps!), there were two other teams from  Dartmouth Youth Service, one 35 and one 45. They all did really well and thoroughly enjoyed the experience! The only sad part was that team manager Chris Long and his family fly out to New Zealand on tuesday. Chris worked so hard training the kids and he will be sorely missed. 

Bye bye to the Longs, have a great time in New Zealand!               

Approaching the finish line!

TEN TORS SUCKS!!!!

After the medal presentation, a pasty awaits!!

Bugari

Last month we bid a fond farewell to 'Jireh', she has only gone to Brixham, so I'm sure we will see her on the river at sometime.
What has that got to do with the title of my post you may ask?and what is Bugari?
Bugari is the maker of Phil's new piano accordion, partly purchased with the proceeds of Jireh's sale.
Anyone who knows Phil could be forgiven for thinking that he already has plenty of piano accordions! But the number had decreased to 1 (well 2 if you count the 12 bass model which the girls asked him to keep in case they wanted to learn!?@?), anyway the new accordion arrived, had its first professional outing at the Dart Music festival and is giving Phil lots of pleasure!

Concentration is essential when trying a new instrument!

Knitting

Despite the warm weather( a beautiful sunny Easter!) I am still knitting away. I have three things on the needles at the moment!
This one (don't know why Blogger turned it round!!?) for Phil, which would have been finished for his birthday if I hadn't had to unravel it completely because it was too small!! The great thing about it is that it has no sleeves!! So should be finished soon.

The next thing is my cardigan, the wool was bought with my Christmas money from MIL, this is even more nearly finished but I had to lay it aside for Phil's birthday sweater!!

And finally- a little something for Sophia but not in a baby size, 2-3 actually!

There, that is just some of what is keeping me busy! I will post about my sewing projects when I have taken some more photos.
Back to the needles!!

Sophia(again!)

 

Over the half term holiday Hannah and Sophia came to stay! She enjoyed sitting in the garden, picking up the stones! She is wearing one of my creations: Twiggy 

(http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twiggy-3)

Here she is with her two Aunties!

Lydia is 18!

Lydia was 18 last Sunday! She and a group of friends from Portsmouth and Kingsbridge spent the weekend at a cottage on Pitt Farm.Then she came home for a birthday tea with Mum,Dad and Julia.

Lydia and friends at Pitt Farm

Didn't have a 1 and an 8 so had to put 20-2!

Lydia and friends after the murder mystery dinner

Lydia and Julia at birthday tea.

Yarn Along

I am joining in with a Yarn-Along for the first time! I am knitting a 'Mr Greenjeans'(for me!) in  Cascade Quatro, and I am reading( among other things) Spinning,Dyeing &Weaving Self-Sufficiency by Penny Walsh.

Home education

Recently on the Deut 6v7 list an enquiry was made asking who has a blog, specifically a home-ed blog. I didn't post about 'Thoughts on Pumpkin' , apart from anything else there isn't a lot of home-ed on here!
We had a visit recently from some old friends and found myself( and Phil) talking about the benefits of home education. Which got me thinking about a good explanation for home education from a Christian perspective.

Here goes! If you think of your children as seeds or seedlings(there is a gardening theme here!), you can plant them directly into the soil and some will do very well but some will struggle or get eaten by slugs!(not literally in the case of children!). But if you want a better chance of a good crop you plant your seeds in a pot or tray, you put them somewhere warm, you water them and care for them and when they are big, and strong enough to survive in the garden you plant them out. You still look after them and protect them from the slugs(!) but they have had a good start in life. I think for me that is what I am doing with Julez and is what I did with Lydia. Not trying to isolate them from school or the world, but nurturing  them and preparing them to go out into the world/sixth form when the time is right.

I don't want this to sound like a criticism of those who choose not to home educate but just a little insight into my thinking! ( I wish I knew what to do about those slugs and snails who ate my french beans last year!I will try and do better this year!)

Birthday present, a bit early!

Those of you who sew will know what a generous birthday present this is! I'm plucking up courage to try it out! And looking forward to making lots of lovely stuff with its help!
Thank you Phil, I love you!
(For those who don't sew it is an over-locker, or if you are American-a serger!)