Around Lugo - part 1

We have sunny sunshine and I took advantage of the beautiful weather to go round the Roman wall in Lugo where I live at the moment and take some photos. I realised that in all the time I have been here I have no photos of Lugo on my blog!
So, here we go with 'Around Lugo' Part 1!



Some of the surrounding countryside

Approaching the Cathedral

The wall is 2km all the way round and is the only unbroken Roman wall in Europe.

Cathedral



Come back soon for Part 2!

Too many things at once

I have been feeling very unproductive this week. The problem is that I have too many things and ideas on the go all at the same time! What do you do when this happens?
At the moment I have:

• my crochet a-long blanket
• crochet in general!
• spinning wool and dyeing wool
• needle felting bowls
• ideas for needle felting fairy folk (need to get those started again!)
• learning how to use a lucet

all going through my head. And last night I was lying in bed thinking how I could get some Youtube videos and teach myself KNITTING!!!
I really need to get myself a sketchbook or notebook otherwise I might creatively spontaneously combust!! Well, I feel better for getting that off my chest!

Power of the Internet!

What would you do if the Internet suddenly no longer exsisted? I was just thinking yesterday how much we rely on it. I for one, am addicted to it and it's proving to be pretty lethal with me now being able to connect from the flat! I could cope without a mobile phone and I would know what to do if I broke down on the motorway, but I would miss the Internet.

Skype is a lifesaver! I was on Skype with my nana yesterday. My Aunty and Uncle took her to my mum and dads and then for a day out to Blackpool, and I had a Skype chat with her! It was brilliant being able to see her and talk to her! I'd not seen her since Christmas! I don't think she had any idea how it was working - I just appeared on a screen to her! Skype has also played a part in me beating homesickness while I have been living in Spain!

The other thing which I am totally addicted to on the Internet at the moment is the BBC coverage of the Olympic torch relay. Here: www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay you can watch a live stream of the torch being carried all over the place! I don't know why, but it is strangely addictive. I can't wait for it to get up north and it should go right past my house on it's way to Blackpool (but only in convoy!)

Will you be watching the Olympics? I can't wait for it. I love the Olympics. It's either a love it or hate it kind of thing I suppose. A lot of people I have asked say that they won't be watching it. But I think it's extra special when it's happening in your own country.
That's all for today!

Reclaiming wool

Hello! I have a post today about a mini project -or rather 'mission'- I have been working on over this weekend! Any other feltmakers, fibre artists or wool addicts out there might be interested!It started off with me having a sort out of my fibre stash when I came across a bag of oddments, scraps of wool and half felted pieces. These came from offcuts from past projects or experiements:

Not a lot could be done with these bits, so I set about tearing and pulling the bits apart! After about a couple of hours or so, I had a big pile of fluffy, reclaimed wool fibres:

One of the things I love about working with wool is that there is very little or no waste. All this reclaimed wool will be used for the bases of some needle felted bowls I have been making!

Bits and bobs and Broomsticks!

Hi! I hope it is as sunny and warm as it is in Galicia today! This is cool - I have got the internet in my flat now! Well, not technically! The ice cream shop / cafe downstairs has got wifi now and we can pick up the signal! It's very tempting to keep logging on and sit looking at craft stuff all day but then I will never get anything done!
Todays post doesn't really have any kind of theme to it! I have got a couple of things to blog about!
First, I was browsing the Stumbleupon website and 'stumbling my interests'. I found a crochet website and something called Broomstick Lace crochet which looks interesting but complicated. I might give this a go sometime:

The link to the website: www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-broomstick-lace/

The other thing, keeping on with the crochet theme - see, I turned this post into one with no theme into a crochet theme post! - is that I might have found where I can get the Inside Crochet magazine online! You can buy copies in PDF format on a website called Yudu or something. I'm off to give that a try in a moment and if it works I will let you know tomorrow!

Sunshine and Spinning!

Finally! The sun has come out and we have warm spanish sunshine!! Hopefully it will last but you never know here! I suppose the Galician weather is similar to England here - it goes from one extreme to the other! I hope the warm weather does last because that will give me an excuse for a trip to Mango to get some summery clothes! I love the way Mango is so normal here. At home (that's the UK) everyone is like 'Oooh Mango' and you have to go to a big city to even find a Mango shop!

I also wanted to share some of my new obsession - spinning!! I got a drop spindle for my birthday last year but I have only just really started to get going with it. I have been watching multiple youtube videos and joined a spindle group on Ravelry. It's such a relaxing pastime and so satisfying when you end up with a skein of yarn at the end. Allbeit a mini skein in my beginners case, but it's handmade yarn all the same!
Using up bits of wool from my stash - so far I have done a few mini skeins:

I have tried merino, blue faced leicester wool, falkland and I have even managed to spin Wensleydale curls to make a type of art yarn. That is my favourite so far!
There are a few more bits to take pictures of so I will upload them soon!

Crochet blanket update!

Since the beginning of this year I have been taking part in the 2012 Block a month Crochet-along (BAM CAL) on Ravelry. I have been eagerly awaiting the new squares to be posted on the forum each month, and before I get started on this month's sqaures I want to show you what I have done so far.

Starting with the January sqaures:

February:

March;

and finally April:

None of the squares are joined yet, nor do I have a paticular colour scheme for this blanket. I just picked up a few balls of acrylic yarn from one of the multitude of Chinese hipermarkets round here! I am aiming to change one colour each month!
I am hoping to get two blankets out of the BAM CAL. I have a colour scheme for my second one in mind! Off to get started on my May squares now!