First, I forgot this from the TTW:
Gromitty's bag looking like the Cookie Monster.
What's been happening?
Well, I was very kindly sent this shawl:
A lovely online pal in Florida knit it but found it far too warm. So now it's mine and she has a skein of my sock yarn to knit a replacement. I am actually sitting wrapped in the shawl right now, it's so perfectly warming without being hot.
My OU study materials have arrived:
Seven units. I started reading unit 1 before official starting date so I have a two section or approx 2 week buffer. Most useful!
Peter is building a crofting estate:
He has reawakened the casting bug in me. I was one of those kids that bought the "cast a house and paint it" kits and now I have the skill to make my own!
That boat I was working on during tech wave was cast yesterday. First the later mold was removed and placed in a holder of sorts:
The latex had dried out the plasticine style clay but either some oil or a day in the bathroom will rehydrate it we think.
Because I "only" had six layers of latex in my mold it was very flexible so it was bedded down in some old bran to help it hold shape.
Then the very technical mixing of the plaster with the wooden stick was done. Peter decided to cast a few houses too, and there was house drumming to remove air bubbles:
This plaster is truly fab stuff; instead of just evaporating all the water off, there's an exothermic (releases heat) reaction and the whole lot turns hard. It only takes an hour too; not the usual overnight I was used to.
Eventually we had five croft houses and a very much not to scale fishing boat:
The stove slowly filled with slightly damp casts:
I came home with my newly cast boat (with wonky bow because the tub we sat it in was too small) and a "spotty house" to paint.
While we were casting Peter and Nicola's resident hare was out for a snack and wasn't too peturbed by my photographing it through the window:
But before all this we all went to vote on the Community Shop idea down at An Talla (the voting, not the possibly future shop). There were some very young calves dozing there, presumably with full tums:
and one that almost looks like a pony:
The weather has been hinting that Spring might visit before the end of the year. Friday was beeeautiful! By the late afternoon we had amazing views. I had a wonderful lunch on the beach at Scarinish watching the waves and looking at the peaks on Mull.
There was even a redshank came by:
We also had really clear views from home.
Mull again:
Rum, Eigg and co. (I will learn which peaks belong to which island!)
That's about it photowise. We haven't really had nice enough weather to go out photographing, or I've been at An Iodhlann and plain ole forgot.
I'm knitting a shawl, well, two shawls. I have another one buy my enthusiasm for it has well and truly worn off; turns out knitting a border over 10-15sts is boring when you have so many repeats to do and it's not quite easy enough to memorise.
So, that's it for March. See you in April!
TTFN
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