Been Camping

Sorry for the sudden disappearance. We've been camping for the last week, well Simon and the girls have, I kind of cheated. Let me explain, it was our annual church Bible Week Camp. Simon and the girls like to camp but i hate camping and don't think I'll sleep very well on teh camp beds and as church is only 10 mins drive from home I decided to go home to sleep. I usually got home about 11pm and left again around 9am in the morning.

Simon helped out in the pre-school kids club every morning. I did 2 mornings helping out in the creche and I organised the craft stall which was open for an hour after the morning and evening services. We had a preacher who did all hte morning services and one who did all the evening services and they were both brilliant. the theme was 'Grace for the broken' and the sermons were fantastic. It was a wonderful week, apart from the RAIN.

Yes, it rained and it rained and it rained some more. When we arrived last Saturday, it was glorious sunshine and on Sunday it was incredibly hot. I spent all afternoon relaxing outside the tent with my knitting. Simon and a couple of other Dads took a bunch of teenagers to the beach in the afternoon. It would have been fantastic if it had stayed like that all week but on Monday it started raining and it didn't stop. When it's sunny it's lovley to sit outside the tent and chat to people. Friends drop over for a chat and a drink and everyone is so sociable. When it rains we all tend to sit inside our tents and we just didn't talk to as many people as we normally would, although we did have a few friends around for coffee. The 3 pitches next to us were all inhabited by friends which was great.

Simon slept in a one man tent as the main tent was full (VAnessa, Emily, Vanessa's friend, Kate, and our friend Jo who camped with us). Mid-week he must have not zipped his tent up properly or kicked the zip open during the night as he woke up (after dreaming he was sleeping on a waterbed) to find the tent flooded. So he had to move into the main tent and all his cloths had to come home to be washed. Lots of work for me at 11pm at night. The main tent leaked a bit too. And there was mud everywhere.

Since Tuesday I've been bringing home wet clothes every night and washing and tumble drying like mad during hte short periods I've been home. Trying to keep on top of e-mails etc have been impossible as I was shattered when I got home at night.

We packed up the tent this morning and was home by lunch time. I fell asleep on the chair. Then took Vanessa to a party and did some shopping. Have attempted to do some unpacking and tidying away but absolutely exhausted. Slept again in the evening. Simon has slept all afternoon and evening and had a bath. Both him and the kids needed a good scrub after camping in mud. Actually, Emily came home for 3 nights and Vanessa and Kate one night.

Now to some knitting, which I've not managed to do much of this last week but I'm hoping to catch up thisweek.

The Sockamania July socks, Celtic Cable Heel, are now for sale on Etsy. There is a standard version

and short version

The August pattern for Sockamania is a pair of pretty Little Flowers Socks.

I did a short row heel for Little Flowers and I'm really pleased with it. I've never been that keen on short row heels and I never seem to manage to get them to look very good but these are great. I used a slightly different way of picking up the wraps and it works so much better.
I've actualy finished a whole pair of Little Flowers and a pair of the standard Celtic Cable Heel and the short version, which I finished tonight. 3 pairs of socks for me in the last few weeks is not bad.

I also finished a scarf a few days ago, the Trellis scarf. Not blocked yet but I'll get it done thisweek. This scarf has been otn for ages. Was supposed to be a Christmas present, so about 6 months late or a few months early for next Christmas.

I promise more frequent blogging in the next few weeks. And let's hope the weather improve as there is still 5 weeks of summer holiday left to cope with. Kids home and rain is not a good combo.

Nite all x