Kiss Of North

 

 I've been trying to stash bust my yarn.  It's harder than you might think.  You might have a nice pattern, but then you need the right yarn.  And enough yarn.  So many of my patterns need more than one or two balls.

However as I was looking through my patterns I came across one that seemed to be a match with some yarn I had left over from the Carbeth Cardigan I made a couple of years ago.

 

The Kiss of North pattern is for a seamless vest that looks perfect for taking the dog for a walk on a fresh morning, when you don't quite need a jumper but you don't want to just go in just a t-shirt.

 

It uses a stitch I've never used before to make the bottom and edges; looking on YouTube it might have been a Rosette Stitch?  Whatever it was, once my head/fingers had got the idea it was pretty quick to knit and actually makes a very pretty pattern.

 

It's maybe not quite as long as it could be, but I only had 4 balls of Paintbox Simply Chunky to work with, and only had a small amount left over.

I then finished it off with wooden buttons from the local wool shop.

 

I'm very pleased with the finished item.  It was an easy quick knit and looks great.  Also no seams which has to be a bonus.  And it used up 4 balls of yarn, 'im outdoors will be pleased.

All I need now is some warmer weather to try it out in.

Introduction To Bookbinding - Week Three

 

This week we were making stab bound books.  So instead of sewing our pages together then adding a cover we bound the whole lot together.

First we made a soft bound list book.  This was very quick to make, but makes a nice little book.

 

Next we made a hard covered book.  I love this so much!  Each cover is made of two parts to give a flexible spine.

I used some gold paper from my stash and was going to use a pretty yellow paper for the end papers but then realised I hadn't quite cut the boards square.  But the gold paper was on by then so I used a white and silver stripy paper bag instead.  (didn't want to waste that yellow paper on a not quite right book.)

 

Even though it's not quite right I do really love the gold book.  I want to try it again and maybe use some of the more decorative sewing techniques that she showed us.  

Another interesting week adding to my knowledge of bookbinding.

Serpent Trail - Part 3

The only sort of Serpent I'm likely to see

 

 This weeks run was much better than last weeks.  Less mud, less hills and less getting lost.

I was running from Petworth to Midhurst.  If I was to drive it like a normal sane person it would be about 6.5 miles and take about 12 minutes (even running this distance would only take just over an hour).  Instead I ran the next part of the Serpent Trail which covered 20 miles and took about 4 hours 30 minutes.

It was a cold grey, uninspiring kinda day, but that didn't make it any less good as a run.  I imagine when I'm running my race in a heat wave in July, I'll be thinking back to these long cold runs, where I never remove my gloves and my water stays cold, with wistful nostalgia. 

I've got a grumpy knee at the moment, so used a knee support which can be kinda uncomfortable in its own way but better than my knee imploading.

A different style way marker - maybe a replacement for a missing one?

 

And there was one delibeate detour where I found the path flooded and decided I had no intention of getting wet feet this run.

There was also a lot of gorse.  Running gear is no defence against gorse.

The signage was better on this section except for Tripp Hill were it disappeared completely and a few points with new sign postes without badges attached yet, where a quick check of the map sorted me out.  I was far less trusting this week!

So that's the Serpent Trail nearly finished.  Just one more, shortish run next week should complete it and I'll have to decide where to go next. 

 

You can read what happened in part 4 here.

Mindful Making Kit

 

 Last November I got asked to help with the team away day.  As a thank you for the work I put in, instead of chocolates or a bottle of wine, I was given a Mindful Making Kit.  (someone knows me well!)

So this year I have been putting it to use.

 

It's very simple, including 2 balls of wool, a pair of knitting needles and some instructions.  The instructions suggest using one ball of wool at a time to create a scaf of two colours, but I like stripes, so I switched every 4th row instead.

I love the colours and think they sit so well together.  And it used a lovely chunky wool, so knitted up quite quickly.  And I think there are still plenty of cold days to come to make good use of it.

 

Was I mindful while knitting?  I'm not sure, but I do find knitting to be very soothing, letting my mind wander and letting the stress fall away so maybe it was.

It was a nice project, and lovely to know I work in a team who would bother to get a gift that was personal to me.

Serpent Trail - Part 2

 Today wasn't my best work.

The aim was to run the next 17 miles on the Serpent Trail, starting from where I left off last time and aiming to get to Petworth.

 

It was a cold spring day.  One with patches of sunshine which give you hope, which are then stolen away by gusts of icy wind and big grey clouds.  But based on last weeks run I was pretty sure the distance wouldn't be an issue and I was expecting a well marked route.

 

But this section was not well marked at all.  Markers were missing or pointing in odd directions and I kept missing turnings and having to go back on myself.  In one fantastic section I actually managed a 2 mile detour when I missed a turning.

Then there were the hills - 3 so steep there was no way I could run them.  Oh and did I mention the mud?

 

So not the best of runs.  There were some lovely bits, like running along the boundary wall of Petworth park out of the wind and in the sun, downhill.  Bliss.  And some of the wooded bits were lovely and will be even better in the summer.

But its hard to enjoy something that is hard as it is when you are cold, and you have wet muddy feet and you've just made it harder by adding a couple of miles that you didn't need!

However, I mixed the nutrition up by adding penut M&Ms and Haribo Tangfastic to the mix which went down well and I did make it to Petworth in the end.  2 more long runs should finish this trail.
 

 

You can read about what happened on part 3 here.

Introduction To Bookbinding - Week Two

 

As anyone who has been paying attention can see it has been more than a week since the first Intro to Bookbinding course, but I've been a little busy.  And that is the beauty of online courses, you can come to them as and when you have time.

This week I made time and I made 4 pamphlet books.

 

The first 2 are very simple.  Just a couple of A4 sheets cut down to make an A6 book and some lovely cumpled brown paper (part of some packaging from something that was posted to me) as a cover of sorts.  The first was the most basic, just 3 holes and then the second a little more complicated with 5 holes!  I think I like the 5 holes best.

 

Then using some of the first weeks folding technique, we attached our pamphlets to an accordian spine before trying 2 different types of cover.  A soft cover and a hard cover.

 

I love both of these and with a slightly thicker paper the soft cover would be amazing!  And I have an idea where I might use this for a personal project, so watch this space.

 

I found it best to watch the full video first so I know what is expected, then I can make sure my paper colours all work together, so I used a yellow accordian spine in the stripy soft cover book and a blue accordian spine in the stary hard cover book.

 

Loving that I'm getting a reminder of some stuff I already knew and learning new techniques to complement this.

I'm looking forward to week 3.  Hopefully it won't take quite so long to get there.

Serpent Trail - Part 1

Considering this is the start of the trail, the marker is pretty discreet

 

This morning I really started my Ultra training in earnest and did a 17 mile run, the longest I've run in several years.

As my Ultra is a trail race I need to train on trails, so I'm using this as an opportunity to run some of the trials in my local area that I've been wanting to, but didn't have the motivation to get organised.

 

So this morning I got 'im outdoors to give me a lift to Haslemere and starting from the top ran the first 17 miles of the Serpent Trail.  This 65 mile trail wiggles from Haslemere to Petersfield.  If I was to drive between the two it would be about 14 miles and take about 25 minutes.  But the trail is a 'route designed to highlight the outstanding landscape, wildlife and history of the greensand hills.'  Which based on this mornings run it does very well.

I've run parts of the Serpent Trail on my Slow Way adventures and am very familiar with the little serpent waymarkers which I see all over the place.  And now I understand why I see so many of them, as the route is very well marked so I only went wrong 3 times, twice where I couldn't see a waymarker and once where I didn't do as I was told.  I hardly had to look at the map at all.

 

I'm also taking the time to test my kit (I was out with a fully loaded pack today) and my nutrition.  I already know that I don't drink enough when running to get enough nutrition just from what I put in my water, so I've been experiement with eating jelly babies along side the Tailwind in my water.  It seemed to work well for me, but the thing I really struggled with is spending all morning eating sweets!  It's very rare that I would eat a packet of sweets in one sitting - I might have one or two as a treat, so to convince myself that it was ok and I should, was actually the hardest part of the run.

I've got lots of time so I'm going to experiment with other types of nutrition too.  Others have made suggestions which mean it doesn't always have to be sweet which sounds good.

The aim now is to run the rest of the Serpent Trail over the next 3 long runs, which should get me to the end.  Then I'll have to decide which local trail I want to run next.

How can my shoes be braking with less than 300 miles on the clock?  Not impressed!

You can read about what happened on part 2 here.

Training For An Ultra

This week marks the start of my ultra training.  Yes that's right I've signed up for an ultra marathon this summer!

Once I'd amazed myself by running and actually completing a marathon, I started to wonder if I could do an ultra too.  I tried to irgnore it, but the idea grew in my head until I found I'd signed up to run 50k this summer. 

Many people have asked why on earth I would want to do such a thing and I guess the answer is to see if I can.

Just like when I try knitting a jumper or some other thing, or try out a new crafting technique, it's normally as much to see if I can as anything else. 

I know the next 5 months are going to be hard.  I've done this before, but I know the training will be worth it to finish the race and know I can run 50k.  (I hope)

No sponsorship needed this time.  This one is just for me.

So if I am quiet on here, or I'm slow to responed when you message me, it might be because I'm knee deep in mud somewhere in the Hampshire countryside getting the miles in.