So much for posting at least one entry a week! Ah well...
Today for Beltaine I are mostly being a daffodil...
I decided in a fit of pure self indulgence to wear my bright yellow polka dot blouse and my flowery cardigan to match my flowery clogs...
And of course the inevitable bright stripey socks... wouldn't be me if I wasnt wearing bright stripey socks now would it. Like I said, pure self indulgence.
Well we intended to get up and go to the sea for the sunrise ceremony but when the alarm went off at 5am, he, who is usually up with the lark at 5am every morning, didn't even stir! I admit I found it completely hilarious, particularly when he finally did stir at 5.20 and declared that the alarm hadn't gone off! That brought on the giggles which was probably a good way to start the May Day celebration anyway. So we did the sunrise ceremony in the garden in our dressing gowns and had mugs of tea to salute the sun, which was, of course, shrouded in mist when it finally rose. (See blog title!) Long gone are the days of dressing up and heading to Avebury overnight with all the trappings needed for a major sunrise celebration, we are older now, that's our excuse and we're sticking to it.
Now the Beltaine breakfast table is set...
And himself is preparing the feast.
Which we have just eaten...
And yes I know it's a veritable heart attack on a plate, egg, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, tomatoes topped with cheese, toast 'n' marmalade and coffee with cream, about the only healthy bit was the orange juice but I refuse to feel guilty. I'm doing the Race for Life again this year so I'm getting in 10k a day on the eliptical trainer so... no guilt here.
I am also in love with my little butterfly table cloth. I found it in a little linen shop near the market in town and just had to bring it home.
I have also been indulging my quest to live inside my own personal rainbow and gradually over the last month or three I've been buying odd bits of RiceDK because it's bright and cheerful and wonderfully colourful. It is also part of my kitchen revamp which has been going on quietly over the last couple of months, we aren't quite done yet but I am totally thrilled with my lovely new sink...
I love the 'old fashioned' mixer tap and the new worksurfaces. We haven't quite finished the cupboard fronts yet because himself is in the middle of the painting but it already looks so much better than the awful dilapidated old brown sink with it's peeling taps that I couldn't turn off at all and chipped and scratched old formica worktop that looked permanently dirty no matter how much you cleaned it. And no Phaolin didn't get any eggs!
On an entirely different tack Sunday was Wonderwool Wales and what splendid day it was. With a bit of luck I will post pictures of all my booty some time this week because in usual Beltaine tradition I am now on holiday for a week. Yippeee!!!
There has been a fair bit of crafting going on since the snow post, not surprising I guess, when isn't there crafting going on where I'm concerned. I decided back in January that this was going to be the year the monster rainbow ripple got finished... I have been working on it off and on for a while but because we never got round to doing the bedroom there was no rush to finish it and a load of other stuff got made in between. The plumbing situation forced us into getting the kitchen done which was actually gonna be the last room we tackled but I am determined the bedroom will get done one way or another so, the monster ripple that began like this...
And grew to this...
Now looks like this...
I am almost halfway through the second colour round. Ran into a bit of a problem with this blessed Biggan First Cross Merino yarn AGAIN... I love this yarn, I really do but actually getting hold of the stuff is like a major operation every time. I realised that I had made a mistake in my last order to the UK supplier and gotten a deep red instead of a lovely sage green! (Transposing numbers in an order just sucks big time) Never mind I thinks I'll just order another ball of the right green. So off I go to my UK supplier only to find they don't stock it anymore, and niether it seems does anyone else! Oh well no worries Biggan have their own online shop I'll get it from there. Which I did. Over two hundred aussie dollars worth, in order to get free shipping, I ordered the yarn for the border as well. And to my absolute horror then had to pay an extra forty quid customs charges and a handling fee from the post office! Biggan, I love you, honestly I do, your yarn is some of the best available for those of us who want true dyed colours, but seriously, that made this blanket cost... well, a lot... 26 colours, 2 balls of each colour, each ball costing at least £5 plus the extra $200 AUS for the border, I'll let you all do the math!
There have been a number of other projects done this year but I guess the one I am most chuffed with is the one that I made in a week, last week to be precise. I had some Drops Nepal aran for another project that no matter what I did just was never going to fit me so I got out my Doris Chan pattern book and hooked up this...
I'm calling it my 'Cupcake Cardi,' himself chose the buttons. I got out all my button boxes and sifted through picking out the ones I had enough of to go down the front and then asked himself which he thought looked best and he picked the cupcakes!
I wore the cardigan to Wonderwool on Sunday with a shawl I haven't taken any pictures of yet.
Well having not posted anything for months I seem to have managed to make up for it a little with this post, so now I am off to bake... cupcakes. Beltaine cupcakes! Yummy!
Take care! O. xx