Meteor

Oh my God. I think I just saw a meteor!  Just done a quick google and apparantly there is the Leonid meteor shower about to happen.  Amazing

SABLE

That's Stash Beyond Life Expectancy of course! Hmm.. well.... we had a bit of a reshuffle in the living room and the full extent of my ever-growing yarn addiction started to become clear when DH told me to sort out the pile of knitting stuff in the room.

I looked at it and then had to go and have a cup of tea and a bit of a think.

Then I had another look at it and just had to have another cup of tea.

Blimey, how did this happen? Where did it all come from? I'm sure I don't know, really I don't, surely I'm not responsible for all of it.

Then I got myself together and managed to stuff quite a lot of it into new hidey holes and all was normal again.

I really don't have too much yarn. No really I don't (just don't open any cupboards around the place)

Blimey, it's been months and I haven't updated this blog. All the pertinent info went onto Twitter though so you can still have a look at it if you are interested.
What a blast! Here's what happened in a nutshell.
First of all. It was hot. Very hot. Very, very, very hot! At least 40C for the first few days. We were totally unprepared for this and riding in that heat in British bike gear is not nice at all! Now I know what it feels like to be a boil in the bag fish! Progress was slow because we had to keep stopping for rehydration (also removal of lots of gear to cool down). Still we weren't the only ones. All of the bikers were suffering and there was a certain camaraderie as we all huddled in the scant shadowy places to cool off!

We didn't get to all of the places we planned on account of the heat. But did reroute via Millau. This was a random selection from the map but there is a famous bridge there which was well worth seeing. It is an engineering marvel and looks almost impossibly delicate. We didn't ride across it but did pass underneath which was a great way to really see it's magnificence.
Got to the accommodation in the Pyrenees which was quirky! Bit of a mistake booking it for 10 days. We were all mountained out after a week. Plus the bike fell over and one of the indicators stopped working so we ended up heading home a few days sooner than planned.

The Pyrenees. Wow!

One day riding in the clouds being all British and sure that it would brighten up soon. It didn't. We saw nothing. Thank God for sat nav as we could barely see past the front of the bike a lot of the time and it showed us what was coming.
Very freaky looking at the side of the road and seeing nothing but cloud yet knowing that there is most likely a frighteningly long and steep drop there! Disorientating.



The next day fabulously clear and totally blown away by the amazing views. Also amazed by the astonishing number of cyclists zooming around the place!





Also kept coming across animals at the summits scrounging for food! Horses on one carpark and a cheeky goat on another! All looked, well chunky.

Big Bike Trip

Probably won't be able to blog much en route so we are planning to Tweet instead. You can also check out where we are on a map too!

Follow us on the trip

UFOs....confession time...sigh

Well I have not done too well at finishing off some of the things I have started of late. One exception to this is the lovely Seraphina shawl that I started a few weeks ago. Although, having said that.... there are still ends to sew in and some blocking to do but in essence it is finished (that's what I keep telling myself anyhow!)

I did knit a lovely baby jacket for my boss's new daughter but she is now 6 months old and I have yet to add buttons! Of course it's way too small now! Have started a baby blanket and I can feel the ennui striking as it's a pretty mundane knit.... I really should stick to socks! I generally finish those.

What else is unfinished?

• A shawl
  
• Another baby jacket
• A knitted bag
• A crocheted top (started almost 2 years ago now!!)
• A pirate hat
  

The shawl is a bit of an issue. It should be lovely and it should be a joy to knit but I've shoved it in a bag and put it on one side for now. It just looks awful. I'm assured that the miracle of blocking will sort all of that out but frankly I'm a bit concerned.



See what I mean.... I'm just not sure about it.

Well better get back to the blanket that I 'just had to make' but which is now becoming a bit tedious!!

Oh to be in England, now that April's there.....

Well it's bluebell time again. I'm sure we all have somewhere we call "bluebell woods" nearby but ours is actually called Spring Wood near Whalley and it's a bit of an annual ritual. (2008 & 2007 if you are interested!)

You have to time it just right to catch the bluebells at their best and today was just perfect. A gorgeous sunny morning and nice and early to ensure a spot on the carpark.



It was a sea of blue and there was the lovely mixed smell of bluebells and wild garlic. Heavenly. The girls are really into the Faraway Tree at the moment so we spent ages looking round trying to find it. This was a strong contender;



Until we found a tree that seemed to have a "Slippery Slip". Despite exhaustive searching, no trap door was found but the girls had fun trying it out anyway....



We made our way to the top of the hill and sat on the bench to admire the view... another ritual of the bluebell woods trip is to have this photo taken every time!



On the way back down the hill you pass some open fields full of sheep with their lambs. This group stayed still long enough for a good pic but then we realised it was because the lamb at the front was busy having a long wee!



Finally back on the carpark we all had a 99 ice-cream (need a second mortgage to buy them mind..... the man in the icecream van did have a stripey sweater on and a bag with "swag" written on it!!!)

Charity Bike Ride and Some Crochet

Well what a fantastic day it's been today. Met up on the carpark at Giggleswick and then joined in the ride back to Burnley. Hundreds of bikers out. Check out my pics taken whilst riding on the back (getting some practice in for the hols)

Bikes and trikes arriving at the finish in Burnley. What fantastic weather. Blooming cloudy and cold at the start of the ride but glorious here.


Who says it's grim up North??


I couldn't believe it bikes and knitwear all in the same place! Just check out the fabulous Wazoo Wacky jumpers!!

There was a police escort due to the large number of bikes. Plus there was an organised road closure to allow us to ride together on the last stretch. Loads of kids were posing for pics on their bikes and I just couldn't help myself...



DH much cooler than me in his Union Jack open face helmet!



The kids had a fab time at the grandparents and we were all back home by 2.00pm. Even managed to do some crochet! Here's the beginning of a Seraphina Shawl



Well that's the Easter holidays done with back to stinky work and school tomorrow. It's been a fantastic fortnight and an excellent break from the usual routine.