Llamas, Alpacas and Pooh

Aren`t these guys handsome?
With DD and DH away playing with their model planes, I decided to have a day out and went to the craft fayre at Ashdown forest Llama park. I have to be honest and say it was a bit of a let down as it`s nearly an hours drive from here and there were only a handful of stands, with nothing of interest to me. So, I went to say hello to the llamas (above) and the alpacas (below)


Don`t they look funny after they`ve been shorn
but cute when they are young.

I spent quite a while wandering in the sushine and though it isn`t a big place I managed to pass a couple of hours quite happily. Sadly, they don`t sell any alpaca wool, I think they could be missing out there. Anyway with time still to spare I decided as I was in the area which in case you didn`t know is actually Pooh country, I couldn`t leave without visiting some of the sites, so I trekked off to Pooh Sticks Bridge, had an ice cream near Eeyore`s Sad and Gloomy Place, and finished up at Pooh Corner.

a not very good picture of Pooh Bridge - the only view I could get without all the world and his uncle in it!

I promise, my next post will contain something about knitting and/or crochet, as hopefully I will have something to show by then.

Back to earth with a bump.

So this is where I have been, I had a wonderful two weeks, (and all your good wishes must have worked as I wasn`t seasick on this cruise!) and the time just flew by.
We sailed from Southampton on the QE2 heading for the Mediterranean, with ports of call including Lisbon, Cagliari, Zakinthos .......







....Piraeus, from where we took the Metro (all by our ownselves) to get to Athens (shown here from part way up to the Acropolis), and it was 39'C (phew!)





then there was Naples and finally Gibraltar where we went up one of these to see the apes at the top of the Rock, which DD and I loved watching








I have to confess though that I didn`t get much knitting done, there was so much else to fill my time. Obviously there were the visits in port, but also on sea days there were lectures, (including Jeffrey Archer who, no matter where you stand on politics, is an excellent speaker, and oral historian Max Arthur who was very good too, to the extent that in one of his moving lectures with an audience of 500 you could have heard a pin drop!) there were dance classes, and demonstrations, films, shows etc etc ....I could go on for hours, and put in loads and loads of photos, but I won`t, I will just to say we had such a super time this is where I wish I was now

Sailing off into the sunset!

I did it in time!

DD`s bolero is finished and will be coming on holiday with us. It was a simple knit and I enjoyed the feel of the Kool Kotton which is a bit of a bargain at 99p for 50g especially as there are 130m per ball, and this took just under 4 balls. I`ll definitely be using it again (I hope it washes and wears well, I`ll let you know).



Well, I have got the important bits sorted out for our holiday - I will be knitting a Bertie Scarf courtesy of Bronte but using the lovely lambs wool my One Skein pal dyed for me, and then if I want something plain(ish) and stocking stitchy I will be taking my Kool Kotton (which I would have used for a bolero for me if I hadn`t have looked so daft in one) and DD`s left over and have a go at Mesilla . I have also packed my books, but I suppose I ought to consider packing some clothes too!

Wish me bon voyage, I`m going on a boat and get seasick! but hopefully all will be well and I will tell you all about it when I get back.

Packed and ready to go.

HAH! you thought I was off on holiday, didn`t you?


Well I am soon but in this case it is the One Skein Secret Pal gift that is packed and ready to go, and I really hope my pal likes it - I`m pretty sure she doesn`t read my blog so hopefully it is safe to put this piccy in now. I`m pretty pleased with the end result (I think I like this felting lark even if poor old Mum doesn`t quite get it - well she has spent the last 40 odd years of married life trying not to shrink woolies, and here am I doing it on purpose!!!)
In the One Skein book this `Clutch you`ll never give up` was decorated with buttons, but not having anything suitable I thought I`d scout around and found this lovely butterfly which is in fact a hair decoration from Clare`s Accessories - (brilliant shop for cheap pretty pretties and one we almost lived in when DD was pre-teen) and I think it just finishes the bag off (though it could easily be removed/replaced as desired as it is simply pushed through and anchored with a little invisible thread - how I HATE that stuff, but it has it`s uses. I`m still trying to find the bit I dropped, and no I`m not kidding!!)