Kate Selene

New Designers

Well. I think I am rather broke after the last few weeks. I haven't stopped!! This week I had the annual pleasure of taking my students to New Designers.

Its a huge exhibition that our students attend annually, and there we are on the right, you can just about see the blue logo!

It was exhausting to put up, everyone was tiered and hot and at one point my body hurt so much I couldn't sit, stand or walk without feeling the burn. But It looked terrific! To read more about the students, their work and the exhibitions and awards, have a look at my Teaching Blog.

There was of course a lot to travelling, I had come prepared with some blocks to finish. I didn't anticipate I would make enough to start piecing them together.

So, after having another very busy day, doing lots of house work I have settled down to get some rest and get on with some crochet, before getting up an doing it all again!

Red basket

It feels like it should be the end of the week, but its only Tuesday!! Its been non stop at The Farm, what with moving rooms around ( I now have a sewing room!! Eeeeek!) and getting stick into all the house work its been very busy! All my third years now have finished their degrees, the show is up and work is all about the detail in the paper work! Which has consumed my days.

But.........I have found time to sort out all the wool, and boy there was a lot of it! I decided to treat myself to a new basket!! Red of course! She called out to me from the shelves at TKMax on monday, whilst it was pouring with rain and miserable outside during the small window of time that I had for lunch.

I already know we will make great things together, what with all the wool she can hold and how pretty she is!!

I spent a short while selecting wool ready for granny squares and went outside to explore!! Lush greens everywhere, with some blackberries here and there.

There was also some huge fox gloves by Jeans shed and we were really excited to find that our Elephant garlic is starting to grow!!

Everything feels vibrant, well, apart form me at the moment!! But I'm sure an evening by the fire, with a bit of crochet will help me feel better.

Cheerio!

Delivering wood

The weather has really changed over the last day, were back to grey!! But, on the bright side, we went to deliver wood right at the top of the Bluff, the scenery was really striking!

After delivering wood, we decided to go for a walk up the Bluff, the weather was bad but it did make it more exciting!! It was so windy and wet I had water dripping off my nose!!

I didn't even notice the jet black lambs standing behind this sheep until we started walking on.

And of course, Paul had to run to the top! If you look very closely, you can just about see him disappear into the distance!

Finding the calm!

In the midst of the chaos this week, its been quite tricky to find the calm!! So remembering to breathe has been very important. Putting up the degree show marking all the students and doing all the rest is quite exhausting, I'm not sure how i managed to drive myself home last night.

Despite the overwhelming exhaustion at times, I decided it was a good time to start a new blanket, one that will keep me quietly ticking over when my brain is taking a leave of absence. The rhythmic motion of the stitches brings a sense of calm to my nights!

So I made a start on her last night, today I will need more grey!

Doing things!

Where do I start?! Lately I have been feeling like I dont do very much. I know I make things and stuff but I feel like I talk more than anything else. Which makes me think Im not doing very much. So this weekend has been a weekend of doing lots!

Before the week had finished though, I had finished my new blanket and another pair of cufflinks, all by tuesday!

The weather has been great too. We had an unexpected flooding over night on Friday, but the aftermath was truly beautiful!!

We have also done a lot around the garden this weekend, done all the big jobs like make a new veg patch down the side of my workshop,

Which now has lots if peas in!!

Cut up a huge pile of wood for the fires! Even though the weather is warm, the huge bricks in this house make sure its always very cold in the evenings!!

We trimmed the hedges late this afternoon, I also picked some red velarium for the house!

I covered the strawberries to stop my naughty chickens eating them! Checked out the local foliage an my figs!

As I was getting some clothes in I was surprised to see that I had some visitors! These guys just ran around like silly things all afternoon!

It has been a weekend of doing things, and now its time to sit down I think!

Finally got round to weeding

So I decided to rethink the blanket I started, I wasn't really feeling the colour scheme, so I started afresh! With some colours that made me feel happy, lots of them, with the zig zag pattern I sampled a few weeks ago.

We have also hit the garden hard today, tearing up weed, planting all the seeds an watering everything. There were some curios plants in my veg patch, along with a few fox gloves.

I also was very excited when I saw this, pretty positive it's hydrangea, i just love the way the flowers are scattered across the plant.

So after an afternoon of weeding, planting and recovering from as string of 3am nights, we are by the fire, Jon in his games and me................ Crochet obviously!!

My feet haven't touched the ground

Well its been an exhausting week, i have had tonsillitis for almost a month and i don't feel like my feet have touched the ground until today. This last week I have been making a fair bit of work after the day job, and I still have more to make over the bank holiday, so my crochet has had a rest for this week.

I did make a bag last weekend but I'm not happy with the pattern. Net bags are not for me!!

I did however, list stuff in my new Red Trees shop. Im really excited to be involved in this new initiative, its selective an all about Hand Made in the UK, and as Anna, who runs the site, Is coming to New Designers Im hoping to see some of my students work appear on here very soon!!

So, its Sunday, I started a new blanket last night, red, cream and blue. Im hoping to add some to it today before were both off to spend the night at my best friends house, where I look forward to trying out body shop products, drinking too much wine and maybe a little bit of crochet!!