Saturday, April 26, 2008

A walk in the park

This morning DH & I took the dogs out for a gallop. We were walking as I ran yesterday so DH was able to take some photos. We are fortunate to live close to a really beautiful park.

park
Woodland Park


It is about 20 minutes walk from our home but I normally take the car due to time constraints as I'd rather give the dogs more time to run off the lead.

Airedale Terriers
Oscar & Annie


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar ready to pounce on Annie


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar


Airedale Terriers
running as a pack


dogs playing
Oscar & Rusty


There is lots of wildlife but luckily so far neither dogs have noticed any of the rabbits.

Airedale Terriers
Robin catches his breakfast


It is an active conservation area & fallen trees are often left to encourage insects:

woodland
fallen tree trunk


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar Airedale meeting Oscar the Siberian Husky


Airedale Terrier puppy
and Eric who was even bigger


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar back on the lead as he really likes Huskies.....


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar running


Airedale Terriers
Annie chasing Oscar


Airedale Terrier puppy sleeping
home, breakfast & bed


So this is our local park where I'm running every other day. I think you'll agree that it's a lovely place to walk/run & I really enjoy going early in the morning or mid afternoon when it's relatively empty.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Hip Hip Hooray!

It's my birthday today & as always St George's Day to boot. I really wish it were a public holiday & then I won't have to use a days holiday to ensure that I don't have to work every April 23rd.

When I went on the Rowan course I took advantage of the £1 balls of yarn & access to hundreds of books & came home with my birthday present(s):

RYC Cashcotton DK
RYC Cashcotton DK in cool


RYC Cashcotton DK
RYC Cashcotton DK in pool


I have a variety of patterns earmarked for the Cashcotton DK in both RYC Summer & Cafe book one.

Blue & Annie
Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in Mink to make Hardy from JB38


Jaeger Aqua cotton
Jaeger Aqua cotton to make Annie from JB34


I also picked up some books from Rowan for my birthday:

knitting patterns
birthday books


and more from Up Country which weren't for my birthday but had to come home with me anyway.

I've just got to shift more weight so that I can start making all these garments for myself! I've been running 4 times now & am enjoying it DH & DD got me a pacer watch (in addition to the yarn above) & I'm now running 90 seconds at a time. Oscar is still walking but I'll get there in time for him to run with me properly when he's a year old. I'm off now to have a shower before making the most of my day off work & will be visiting the LYS this morning

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I did it!

It had just started to rain by the time I got the dogs out of the car but I didn't chicken out & have started running! If you can call it that. Oscar loped alongside me without breaking into a run but speed 'might' come once I'm fitter I hope I can get out of bed in the morning.

Lyra: black & white kitten
I'm not stupid: I stay inside where it's nice & warm when it's raining!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

'Must have' pattern

I'm pleased to report that my weight loss is continuing & I've now lost just over 3 stone As a reward for when I finally reach my target weight the patterns are still coming in thick & fast. Recently I was chuffed to bits to be able to add this to my library:

Patons street smart
Patons street smart


Due to The Yarn Harlot effect and Brooklyn Tweeds' adaptation of The Urban Aran it is very hard to get hold of & even worse it's not available here in England However I was able to buy it from Yarn and Thread by Lisa & after paying by paypal it arrived from the States in just 5 days
Lisa kept in touch me with via email & the whole transaction was very smooth & effortless & I'll be using her shop again. She can be reached here.

The postage for two copies was the same as for one so I bought two & split the postage with a friend which made it more affordable.

Now that I've lost a substantial amount of weight I've decided it's time to 'up the pace' as it were & start exercising more. I already walk the dogs for an hour every morning before work on the lead & they get either half an hour on the lead or running free when I get home mid afternoon. It's in this 'time slot' that I've decided to start doing more as I can't fit anything else in due to DDs' busy sporting & social schedule. I'm going to follow this plan when the dogs are off the lead so that Oscar doesn't do too much as he's so young & will start tomorrow as long as it's not raining. Now I've announced it on here I've got to stick to it!

Monday, April 14, 2008

The Dark Side

I spent a very enjoyable weekend at Rowan on a crochet workshop. Much fun was had & apart from being late as I got hopelessly lost (and very stressed) it was a lovely relaxing time. A couple of small projects were undertaken:

Crocheted felted bowl
Crocheted felted bowl in Rowan Big Wool


The fawn colour was quite plain so I added two rows of a beautiful chocolate brown which i think just lifted it a bit:

Crocheted felted bowl
Crocheted felted bowl


I'm considering filling it with lovely things & giving it to my SIL for her birthday next month but then again it might stay here:

Crocheted felted bowl
Crocheted felted bowl


and still in progress a curly scarf:

crochet scarf
Curly scarf in Rowan Tapestry Highland


I haven't made one of these for ages but the colours in the yarn are so subtle & I'm really enjoying using it. I've never had the chance to squidge this before as I don't have a local Rowan stockist & I love it. Then to edge it a ball of Kidsilk Spray, or Kidsilk Crack as Susoolu calls it, to finish it off:

Kidsilk Spray
Kidsilk Spray in Regal


Arianwen & I shared a room in a local hotel but didn't get much sleep thanks to an over enthusiastic DJ celebrating an 80th birthday party downstairs. Then my rather loud phone woke us up with a text from DH at 6:20 a.m. informing me that the dogs aren't ever going to have a raw bone again, as they'd both been rather ill during the night & he'd had a lot of cleaning up to do I think I had the better weekend don't you!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

First spring

Spring flowers
Spring flowers


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar 5 months old


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar


Airedale Terrier puppy
Oscar playing


black & white kitten
Lyra: 7 1/2 months old


black & white kitten
Ginny 7 1/2 months old


black & white kitten
Ginny stalking a fly


Airedale Terriers playing
Oscar & Annie playing