30th Birthday - Beautiful Waterford

Waterford City and the Viking Triangle - May 2012

I know there are a few of you who wanted to know where I was whisked off too on my birthday well it was Waterford City during some of the most beautiful weather we have had this year.  After work on the 22nd and a happy birthday hug from SkippyKnits it was a trip to the the train station where J collected me and put me out of my misery (only after we where on the train mind you). Settling in for a 3 hour journey I got to work with my Finto stash, which L pictured for me on Saturday. 

We stayed at the Tower Hotel which over looks Reginald's Tower (pictured above) and is smack bam in the town center. We got to do so much that I really do not want to bore you with all the details so here are a few pictures that help round up my Birthday.

Waterford Crystal Clock

Being a craft person I really wanted to see the glass blowing at Waterford Crystal. This was great and the tour only took 30 minutes.The master crafts men in each of the sections (blows, cutters and etchers) where really friendly and answered lots and lots of questions.  The tour ends in their exquisite showroom and I was blown away by their attention to detail while showing off their work.

Both of us love historical buildings and historical crafts and swords. Waterford was no disappointment. I got to take part in some viking basket weaving, see some amazing cloth weaving and I got to tour Bishop's palace and Reginald's Tower in small tour groups of 5 and under. Best of all my birthday lunch involved local cheeses and was followed by some very fancy swords :D

One of the best birthday surprises was my birthday dinner where we got to take a private candlelit booth at Bodega restaurant. By far this was the best food we had while in Waterford City, most of all I was bouncing up and down because the booth was surrounded by wine which had sheep on the labels.

Waterfor Castle Hotel

The following day was a scorcher so we took a wonderful river cruise on the Suir. Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the castle hotel and picnic with the deer because I got distracted by something shiny (as normal) and  I was so wiped out from everything that I convinced J to finish our time here with some iced cider in the sun over looking the river.

River Cruise on the Suir

All in all it was a wonderful birthday from the craft night out with you wonderful people to the late night in Yamamori and the market bar, from weaving lessons to my trip you guys are wonderful and I really appreciate all the kind wishes and happy birthdays. I don't feel so bad turning 30 now :)

Happy Bunday

My box

After a little break from the blog due to my birthday and the pull of this glorious sunshine, I finally got a chance to post today. During our break away, our buns were again looked after by some wonderful friends. Before we left we made sure our buns had everything they needed some greens they love etc. 

Upon our return we expected some joy instead we got 'oh great, you guys are back'. No welcoming binkies, no sniffs, in short no love. It turns out the bunnies had such a great time while we where in Waterford that they did not want us to return. That or they are trying to make us guilty. Ninja just plays in his box and Berry wouldn't even come out of her cage. I'm sure its to make us feel guilty.........

I said 'This is MY box'

Today with the glorious weather continuing the bunnies are enjoying relaxing and being too lazy to destroy things. I'll take the peace when I can get  it.

xx
N

Happy Bunday (and 30th Birthday Countdown - Day 2)

Ninja Bunny

First of all 'Happy Bunday' although here it was not a 'happy' day. Today Berry managed to dive behind the T.V in such a way that I thought I was chasing Ninja, the adorable flopped out bunny above. Alas, no. I was in fact chasing Berry, the slayer of cables.

She had managed to cut through the following:

• The internet cable
• The power cable for the Acer that runs our T.V. system
• The USB cable (used as a connector cable here)
• The insulation of the power cable for the T.V. 

and all in under 5 minutes it took for me to move the T.V. stand and chase her out of her idea of heaven. Needless to say we are not impressed but it is hard to be angry as its only 1 day to go before my birthday and my trip YEAY.  J however is angry enough for the both of us.

Oh and this is a picture of what Ninja was doing the entire time I was chasing a fat bunny around the room like a mad woman:

'This is my box'

Yip Ninja was quite happy digging away in his box until Berry started stamping at me for chasing her, then he turned into  the bunny drummer from hell. He stamped and started lunging at me for chasing his precious Berry.

And all of this BEFORE I got into work today. Thankfully I met some wonderful fibre people today and I even had some wonderful spaghetti bolognese made by J which makes me eat like a glutton and I end up holding my tummy in pain because its too full. No matter what, I cannot leave ANY of it behind........... 

sigh it may not sound like it but today was a good day :)

30th Birthday Countdown - Day 3

Beautiful Flowers

eeeek its getting closer, kind of happy that today I spent the day just catching up with J and watching dollhouse. Surrounded by the buns, flowers and new yarn to play with this was the most relaxing day and was completely needed.Now I'm reading for tomorrow and then super secret tuesday eeeeeeeeeeeek

Let me hear you say 'awwwwww' p its a cute bunny bum

30th Birthday Countdown - Day 4

Some more yarn playing at This is Knit

Followed by a wonderful night out with wonderful friends at Yamamori before heading to the Market bar 

and finished off the night with a quiet glass of red

30th Birthday Countdown - Day 5

More Shawl therapy at This is Knit

Yummy blackcurrant goats cheese and walnut tart from the Pepperpot Cafe. 

Yes I'm happy to say it was a lot of yarn related things today again all in preparation for Aoibhe's workshop tomorrow YEAY!!!

30th Birthday Countdown - Day 6

Lots of Yarn therapy at work

Finished by a wonderful knit night at Brooks hotel and a glass of wine :)

Textile Thursday - Woven Project Bag

Just before her bath-time

This week I have been working on a new project bag. This was a little tough as I have never warped my loom with cotton before and especially not knitting cotton. With this in mind I did not want to spend a fortune on her so I grabbed some Ianthe (which I got on sale) and Sublime Egyptian cotton which is under 5 euro and a grab bag from Hickey's for 3 euro and I got to work. 

I used Ianthe only in my warp and used a 7.5dpi reed. This is a sturdy fabric and holds together really well. I worked in some danish medallions at the top of the bag for 2 inches using the egyptian cotton. The sublime cotton is mercerised and really shiny so this catches the light really well. I then striped in the sublime cotton every 4th picks for 2 picks and I used Ianthe for the rest of the weft. I also found some blue scrap fabric in my grab bag which I used to line the bag. (My sewing skills are terrible and I will be joining the sewing group on Friday the 25th of May) At the moment I am really not that happy with my handles or the top of my bag so I will be changing these as soon as I can find some nice bamboo ones. 

stripy lining 

The only other project I have to post about at the moment is my Noro cowl. Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my weaving terror? Well look at her now:

Noro Cowl

I used my new sewing machine and over locked the frayed ends where the hole had been. I then seamed the two new ends and turned them so I have an infinity cowl, my very first woven infinity cowl. I am going to wear her with pride today :)