Yarn Along

There is so much happening here at Misty Cottage that my head is in a whirl - in a good way!

Craftwise I have been very productive; spinning,



 wet felting,








 needle felting,



and knitting.



As I am joining in with Ginny for the Yarn Along today I'll just write a little about what I have been knitting. You may remember that last time I joined in I was knitting a scarf with some of my handspun merino plied with a beaded holographic thread. Well I decided that I wouldn't have enough yarn to get a good scarf length so I frogged it and have decided to knit a cowl instead. I have to say it is very squishy and warm and soft and lovely! I have just spun some similar yarn with different shades of blue and a blue metallic thread with pink beads. I haven't set the twist yet but it is looking good so far.

 As for reading, well I came to the end of The Mists of Avalon yesterday. It was a wonderful listen, beautifully written and full of interesting themes all wrapped up in the Arthurian legend. It took exactly a month to listen to all 50 hours and I am missing the characters today. In an attempt to cope I have begun listening to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park - sublime.

I have to admit to having a blissful life at the moment.

The smallholding side of life at Misty Cottage is also very busy, the first ducklings have hatched and we are now saving eggs for the next incubation.








The ducklings are so sweet and fluffy but a bit attention intensive to look after at this stage, their food and water generally need to be topped up 5 or 6 times a day and they also need clean straw every day.

The hens are laying but I have a nasty suspicion that the magpies that nest nearby are stealing eggs as we are not getting as many as we should be but still enough for our needs.

The garden is productive with purple sprouting broccoli and Swiss chard enough for all no matter how hungry.







 Herbs are also back with plenty of chives, parsley, fennel and lemon balm to go with the ever-present sage. Plenty of seeds have been sown both in the greenhouse and direct in the soil so we have fingers crossed that this chilly spell doesn't last too long.

We have also made a new fruit bed which I am very excited about. There are four blackcurrant bushes 4 or 5 gooseberry bushes, plenty of rhubarb and one solitary raspberry cane.



We eat a lot of fruit so the more we can produce the better. I think we may be a bit high up for fruit trees, they would probably lose their blossom in the wind before being able to set fruit but I am keen to try step over apples that are low to the ground and can be sheltered by the Cornish hedges that surround the Misty  Cottage garden.

This evening the population of Misty Cottage should increase by 100,000 or so as we get a couple of hives of bees. We've not been particularly successful with bees in the past but this is our last attempt, I worry that we are too high up for them but we'll just have to see how we get on this time - all advice gratefully received,

It all appears to  be wonderful and exhausting in equal measure!


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Comments

  1. Your needle felting is gorgeous!
    Good luck with the bees, mine seem to be doing well, I have a feeling they are just about ready to swarm.
    x

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  2. Thank you Natalie, I'm glad you like it. I will be using it to make journals once I have sourced some beautiful paper.
    I'm excited about the bees, feels like the small holding is not complete without them.

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  3. Wow, so many plans and things to do!

    The ducklings are very cute, and I'm curious about the bees. I've always wanted a beehive, but we don't really have a good place to put one in the garden. Perhaps when the kids are a bit older...

    Love the needle felting and the handspun, and that cowl looks very cozy!

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  4. Thank you Iris, the cowl is extremely cozy. I intend to decorate or embellish it a bit before I consider it finished but I will wait for inspiration to strike first.
    The ducklings are a delight actually though very mucky!
    Siting the beehive can be tricky but lots of people put them on an accessible flat roof so their flight path is not through the garden where children are playing but over the garden instead. We are lucky enough to rent a small piece of land at the end of our garden so bees, poultry and pigs can be a little removed from us.

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  5. What a great post. I love The Mists of Avalon, and Mansfield Park, and your wee ducklings.

    Aaaand that amazing yarn in the last photo. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you jsoxford - glad you liked it! I'm looking forward to browsing your shop , good luck with the launch.

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  6. Your knitted cowl is so pretty. And, I so admire your needle felting skills. Those little ducklings are so cute. How adorable. Yesterday, two ducks flew over and landed in our pool. When I opened the door to go out, they flew off. I've never seen that before. Enjoy your weekend. My best to you :)

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Pat. The ducklings are always fun to have around. The next batch of eggs will be going into the incubator on Monday so in another month it will be truly ducktastic round here!

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  7. That blue hand spun yarn in the first picture is positively amazing...rather cute little duckies too. I so wish they weren't banned in my city - I would have a whole flock of them!

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    Replies
    1. I can't imagine a place where ducks are banned, they are such lovely, comical (if messy) creatures to have around. I hope there are lots of wonderful things about your city to make up for the lack of ducks!
      I'm glad you like the yarn as I was thinking of spinning some more as I like it too.

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