Itsy Bitsy Bear Hug

 A while ago I found this free cute tiny bear pattern and wanted to have a go at making it.

I downloaded and printed the pattern, before sticking it to some card and cutting the bits out ready.  I found some felt in my stash and cut out bear bits and heart bits.  I even started sewing them together, but then I found out that I find this sort of sewing really boring!

I'd do a couple of stitches then think of something else I needed to do, so the pattern and bits got put away.

However, I am starting to commute into the office more, so decided to take it with me to do on the train.

This worked really well.  It's small enough to fit in my bag and not get in the way while sitting next to people on the train, and because I don't have a wifi signal I can't get distracted unless I look out of the window.  

One journey into London and I had a bear that just needed stuffing.  He's really sweet.  Only 7cm tall he would fit in a pocket to take some love with you if needed.  He'd probably go through the post quite well too.

I shall have to see what else I can use my commute time for.

Slow Way - Petmid

 

 I'm going to start calling these adventures, after all I was doing something I've not done before and it was a challenge, all parts of a good adventure I think.

I'd been planning to run another Slow Way before this, but things/life got in the way.  No bad thing as the heat seems to have gone, although it was still warm in the sun, it was pleasant with a breeze.

 

As before 'im outdoors dropped me off in Petersfield and I jogged down the high street looking at all the stalls being set up for the last day of their summer festival.

The first bit went well.  I've run it several times now and feel more confident, although some of the route looked very different as the crops that had been growing have now been harvested.  I found the turn to start the new route without any problems and enjoyed the footpath through the trees.

But once I popped out on to the road, I didn't see another footpath until the last couple of miles.  Once again I manage to go wrong adding a mile to my route.  And when I finally righted myself and got to my next major turning I found I was only in Rogate and really hadn't gone that far yet.  It was a major motivational blow. 

But I kept going and got to see some bits of the county that I've not seen before.

 

When I finally got back onto the trails I also slowed down quite a lot.  The first part was very sandy bridalway, more like trying to run on a beach!  But then I joined the Serpent Trail, which was pretty good under foot and resonably well marked out, until I got to the last mile or so into Midhurst, where the footpaths became a free-for-all and I just made it up till I found the main road.

 

The best thing was finding a newsagents which was open and buying a lolly!

 

This was a good run, but it was hard.  I'd been hoping for more trail and it ended up being about 2 miles more than expected, which is quite a lot when you thought it was going to be 11 miles.

 

I'm not sure I'll feel the need to run to Midhurst again, but it's nice to ticked it off the list.

Nettle Fibre Workshop: From Sting to Spin

Drying my ribbons

 Last December I came across a local nettle fibre workshop online.  Something in my heart demanded I attend so I was very disappointed to find it was already fully booked.  I put my name on the waiting list and was rewarded earlier this year by them adding another date to the list.  Hooray!

So today I went to the Weald & Downland Museum to find out how to make nettles into a usable fibre.

Cordage from my ribbons

 

The lovely Brigitte and Martin welcomed us and we were soon heading out into the beautiful grounds of the museum to find outselves some nettles.  We wanted a stalk that was as tall as me and about 1cm wide at the base.  We stripped the leaves and seed and left them to go back into the soil, and rubbed the stalk (wearing gloves) to take off the stinging hairs.

Cordage from prepared ribbons

Back to base and Brigitte showed us how to split the stem open and to remove the woody inner leaving us with the fiber we would be using.  We ended up with green 'ribbons' which we allowed to dry while we had a break.

She then showed us how to split the ribbon into lengths to then twist to make cordage.  We made 2 ply, but it can be twisted together to make anything up to 16 ply!  Depending on what you want to do with it.

Getting ready to make fibre

 

I was very impressed with this.  It was even better then we used some of her dried and properly processed fibre.  I would have been happy if we had stopped at this point.  But there was more.

After lunch she showed us how to make fibres to spin with.  You have to process the nettle stalk a little more to do this (a 10 day or so process) so she had come prepared with ready to work stems for us.

Combing

Once again we stripped away the woody inner before using a blunt knife to remove the bast and chaff.  This is a slow process, but as we worked we ended up with curles of what looked like hair.  It was soft and golden and once combed could be spun.

As we worked we collected the soft fibres that came away and after tea and cake Brigitte then showed us how to comb and spin them.

Nettle fibre

I found this the hardest part, probably because I started with everything in the wrong hands, but once I'd got my head round it, it was a lovely process.  This was 1 ply and would need to be twisted with another strand to make 2 ply or more that could then be used for weaving or knitting.

You can also use this fluff for needle felting, although it doesn't work for wet felting.

Nettle fibre hand spun

Lastly she showed us the process for doing the same with flax.  This time we only had to rub the stalks to have fibres that would only need a light combing to be ready to spin with.  After all the work with the nettles it was quite amazing.

It was a brilliant day and now my head is full of possibilities as it always is after a workshop.  The woodland behind our house is full of nettles so sourcing them won't be a problem, but do I really have time to process them once I have them?  (now's the time to forage them, and they can sit and dry till I am ready, but if I wait I'll have to wait till next July!)

Flax fibre

Or do I just grow some flax next year in the garden?  I love the idea of having my own sustainable yarn and cord to use as I want.  I also love the idea of keeping old crafts alive.  So much to think about.

Burnham Beeches 10k

 

I must have been about 10 when I first visited Burnham Beeches.  As we wondered round the woods we came across many little huts and walk ways between the trees - it was the set of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

I have no idea if we knew they were filming there or not, but it became a favourate place to visit.

I may have moved away from the area now, but my friend still lives near by so I still get to walk in the wood sometimes.

Today though I did more than walk!  I did the Burnham Beeches 10k race.

It was very well organsied and a lovely route through the forest and if it hadn't been for the heat (another heat wave) and the fact I gave blood on Friday evening it would have been a very enjoyable experience.  As it was it I had to walk up the hills.

I was aiming to do it in under an hour, although I didn't think there was much hope of getting anywhere near my personal best, so was pretty pleased with a garmin time of 01:00:26.  Official time was 01:00:23!  And I placed 133 out of 274 runners.  41st female and 10th in my age category.  Considering just how hot it was I'm really pleased with that.

Getting to spend time with my friend after made it even better.

If it wasn't in August, with the risk of more heat like that, I'd be very much up to doing it again.

Jewellery Pouch

 Earlier this year I made a silver lava ball necklace and bracelet set.  It's pretty but not something I would wear everyday, so I started to think about how I would like to protect them when not being warn.

 

Of course most of the jewellery I own was bought and so comes in its own box or pouch.  With limited space in my drawers, I decided a pouch might be best.  But what to make it from?

In June we went to Devon for a week.  While there we crossed the border and visited Bude and I found myself, on the hotest day of the year so far, trying on fleece jumpers at Kernow Fleece!  They were lovely and I bought one, although I've not had a chance to wear it yet.

 

While speaking to the lovely lady in the shop, I asked if they would sell me an off cut.  She had so many and I only wanted a small piece so she gave it to me.

 

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, using a design I created years ago to hold a key while running to stop it jingling.  So this week I finally got the chance to get my sewing machine out and create it.

I wasn't sure it would be big enough, but its perfect.  It holds the necklace and bracelet nicely but in a secure way - I'm pretty sure they would find it hard to escape.  Another small thing ticked off my list.

A Scarf For Lewy

 A while ago now I saw a thing on social media asking people to knit a scarf for Lewy.  The Lewy Body Society want to raise awareness of Lewy body dementia and to do this they are going to wrap a massive scarf round the Royal Albert Hall in London this autumn.  But they need people to knit the scarfs...

How could I not accept this challenge?  And what a perfect way to use up some of my stash too.

I had a bunch of lovely colours from the hats I knitted last year, the cream and green from Januarys cardy and blues from the Driftwood jumper from earlier this year, so I collected them all together and set about making a scarf.  

I kept the design simple.  Just 6 rows to each stripe and the only rule being the same colour couldn't sit next to itself, but otherwise I just made it up as I went along.

 

I couldn't believe how quickly it grew (it ended up about 8 foot long!).  6 short rows was really fast to knit and by the end of an evenings knitting I might have added 3 stripes!  And it was perfect to take on holiday.  No pattern needed, just to count the stripe rows to make sure they were all the same.

And I really enjoyed thinking about what the next colour would be.  It was such an easy project to work on.  The hardest bit was adding the tassles and deciding on the colour combinations! 

So here it is ready to be sent off to join the other scarfs people are making.  I hope I can see it in the photos from the event this autumn.  And I hope whoever receives my scarf after finds it warm and comforting.  I send it with love. 

Slow Way - Petlip

 

So following the success of my first Slow Way run, I immediantely started planning my next.  Of course I hadn't planned on there being a heat wave, but the rest of my planning seemed to work out well.

Again I got a lift from 'im outdoors.  A bit earlier than last time to try and be back home before it got too hot.  It was another route that I'd run bits of before and so I knew a good chunk of it would be shaded.  So with the route on my phone and a litre of water in my pack off I went.

 

Annoyingly I went wrong within the first couple of miles, when I missed the bridge over the river as I was distracted by cows!  Once I was back on the correct path the rest of it went very well.

It started across fields, before going uphill and into the woods.  I was sad to leave the dence shade of the pine woods - lovely and cool.  The deciduous woods were still shady, but not as cool as the pine.

A short piece along the B2070 then I deviated along the quiet back roads rather than use the verge of the fast road.  The common was nicely wooded, I'd been worried it might be open and sunny.  Back across the B2070 and onto the West Sussex Boarder path, although you'd not know it as I didn't see any signs.  Cutting through the golf course I knew I was nearly there.

 

I ended my run at Sainsburys and was very dissapointed to find that I'd timed my run very badly.  They hadn't opened yet and so there was no chance of buying the ice lolly I've been dreaming of as I ran. 

'im outdoor came to pick me up and I was glad to come home and sit in the cool of the house. 

I'm pleased with this run.  I've been practicing the distance so it didn't feel as hard as the first, even in the heat.  And again it was very quiet, I only saw a couple of dog walkers.  I imagine it could be pretty muddy it it had been wet, but in the middle of a heat wave it was fine.

 

In places it was very uneven underfoot and I nearly fell at least once and jarred my ankles many times, but following the sunken lanes or holloways was interesting, thinking of all those who have used them before me.

A good run, and I'm already planning my next Slow Way run.

Route Marshal

 

 

Today my name is Marshal.  My hands are sore from clapping, my voice hoarse from shouting.

I have just made sure that hundreds of runners have made it round a left hand turn a couple of miles from the finish of The Soloman Serpent Trail race.  A race with 4 different distances: 10K, 20K, 50K and 100K which meant I was looking after that left hand turn for nearly seven hours.

I arrived at my post at 12:20 to find the first runner from the 50K group had just been through.  The second came through minutes later.  From then until 3pm it was a constant stream of runners.  Some looking in better shape than others.

 

At about 2.30 the 10K racers came haring through, a very different type of race from everyone else.

At 3pm things slowed down.  Then, at about 4pm, the first 100K runner came through.  From then on it was loan runners.  Either 100K runners near the front of the pack, still running and looking good.  Or the tail end of the 50K pack, reduced to walking, but still going to finish.

I cheered each and everyone on and told them the two most important things possible.  1. turn left here. And 2. You've got this, only a couple of miles to go. 

At the end of 2020, my plan had been to run the 50k race.  And I still hope to.  But while I build up my running again, the next best thing than racing is supporting other runners to race.

I hope my cheering made a difference, and I hope they are all proud of what they achived.  This was no mean feat.