WooHoo!! I gave blood!!

I did it.

I'm so proud of myself. I've been pondering about this for years, cos my brother has donated loads. I always thought I'd be too scared/squeamish, but I managed it.

There are far worse medical things a girl has to go through routinely I can tell you. This was a veritable walk in the park in comparison.

Here's my war wound.

I did go a bit wobbly afterwards, but the care I received from the blood ladies was exemplary. I think I should have drunk more water and eaten something much closer to the appointment - 4 hours since breakfast, so my blood sugars dropped off sharply.

A good lie down, a litre of water and a restorative wedge of chocolate cake soon had me back at my desk.

The young temp chap in the office reckons I should drink Guinness for a few days prior to my next donation. Sound advice from an ex-uni student ;o)

Indian Summer

We're still sweltering in the heat down here, at this late stage in September.

Just when you think it's time for a cardigan or sweater, the sun comes out and everyone's back in shorts and t-shirts.

As usual I forgot to take my camera to the Apple Day so can't show you pictures of the rare breed white baby calf or the two adorable alpacas.

I was continuing with my fine spinning for the demonstration which is taking an age.

Here is my first large skein of laceweight shetland.



In close up, with a penny to show the scale.



The next challenge will be some chunky yarn. I'm slowly waxing and building my Traditional Ashford wheel in order to attach the jumbo flyer that Sue S. has lent me. Then I'll be spinning something big and bold.

Knitting has been put on the back burner lately, but I need to get going on some projects and get them done in my lunch break. Usually I end up grabbing a bite to eat and drifting back into working after 10 minutes which is not good.

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It's our monthly Guild meeting tonight, and I'm on the tea rota. I've had a bit off the end of the sultana loaf that I've made and it seems a bit dry. Hope the middle is better! Haven't made a cake for over 12 months so I'm totally out of practice.

At least on this occasion I have something for Show and Tell. I think we may have picked up a few new people interested in joining the Guild at the summer shows, so it might be quite busy. Tonight we have a speaker coming to talk about Indian Textiles.

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Tomorrow is d-day for giving blood. I'm perfectly calm about it today, but tomorrow will be a different story. I'm thinking of a blindfold and ear plugs so I'm totally unaware of anything! I just hope they'll want my blood after all the anticipation. I might be anaemic or something. As the saying goes - every little helps. I'll be so proud if I go through with it.

Dyeing, apples and more hats

At Spinsters on Saturday I lost my Baby of the Group status. I was usurped by a girl in her early 30's. What a liberty! ;o)

We did some more dyeing as it was such a lovely day, and I was hurriedly spinning up some merino to ply up and make mini skeins for this on Friday night.

The last event of the season for the Guild is the Apple Day Festival at Afton, near Freshwater. I'm demonstrating on the Sunday.

I thought about getting into the theme and making a knitted apple cosy from Knitorama featured here on Casey's blog

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I have decided to move out of my comfort zone this month and do something brave. Giving blood. I'm quite squeamish and prone to fainting, but hopefully if I don't look, and sing a little tune in my head, then I'll be OK. Plus we are force-fed cake afterwards, courtesy of one of our colleagues at work - well someone has to do it.

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Following on from my charity hat knitting, I spotted this appeal from Innocent the drinks people.



It's their Supergran appeal. You knit a tiny bobble hat for the top of one of their drinks and then Eat outlets and Sainsbury's donate 50p to Age Concern for every one sold.

The bottles go on sale between the end of November and Christmas, so get knitting!

Windswept Woolverton

What a horrible weekend's worth of weather!

The strong winds and rain made the event very trying for the exhibitors. Brave members of the public still attended though.

I ventured out of our barn and took a few snaps.

A celtic band playing, with a couple of Tudor re-enactment folk right at the back.





A few of the plant stalls, being tested by the winds



Half of the Guild members who attended, and my Ashford Traveller on the right.



The other half of the group.



I made up a couple of drop spindle kits for the show with some natural and coloured merino and managed to sell one of them. All adds to the dwindled coffers!

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My mum's now out of hospital and learning to cope at home with her new hip. I was so pleased to talk to her after 6 days silence. I was reassured she was well and on the mend.