Between computers.. waiting for an update.

I've a backlog of photos to add to my blog - but there's no point attempting to add them as my current computers are - well, out of date. Time has at last caught up with my old iMac (10 years old +) and the piece of s... that is my Dell laptop didn't get any better for it's 4 years either. The latter is like an ailing patient that needs constant attention - with backups and updates and chasing malware and sorting the registry. It simmers in the background now as it does "no one knows what" in the background as I type.
Actually, after copying all the files I wanted to keep, cleaning the hard drive out and reinstalling Vista (not worth going to system7) it did zing along for a short time like it hadn't done before - I suppose it was freed for the first time of the burdensome proprietary stuff it was obliged to carry - but sadly this didn't last for, as the system and application updates came in, things went west and all the remedial tasks began again.

Hoping to acquire a new machine in a week or so and fingers crossed it will just work obediently - for a while anyway.
Meanwhile, here's a bird sanctuary I visited recently in Wicklow, sent from my aged phone camera:

Rufus in a tree

My efforts to trim one of the hedgerow trees seemed to intrigue red cat Rufus.
Standing on a ladder I sawed away with a curved hand saw when suddenly he appeared, mounted the tree, arrived on the saw blade and sat there intil I moved it a little. He then proceeded to the adjacent slender twig-like branches and balanced there throughout the rest of my efforts to saw through and remove the thicker center branch. When I dismounted and dragged the branches away, he stayed up there, on the cut surface of the branch, for an hour.

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Two multnomah-type shawls

The small one:

This is the smaller version using yarn I spun from one of my sheep's fleece and dyed it, mainly with food colors.

This is the bigger version. I dyed some roving I got in the UK and edged it with some undyed fleece of my own. It's nice and warm but I still have to remove bits of kempy fiber .
I've dyed some more roving I got there in multi-color - not sure how I'll spin it yet :

Thinking of a thick woolen 'though how that will mesh with all the colors I don't yet know.

Bye for now.

Where was I 'till now ?

So where have I been for nearly a month?
Batteling Windows Vista that's where.
There aren't enough derogatory adjectives for that little beast - grrr. Someone said using it was like riding a bicycle into mud!
It's working again after much investigation, searching, deleting and reinstalling - yet it will soon begin acting up again no doubt. Disturbing was it to find Windows 7 residing along side Vista in the "Help me with.." search results. Time for a new Mac (former one secunded by offspring).

During my first exercise class in a long while, I found my floppy hair quite a nuicence - blinded me every time i rose from a bend, tried to see the teacher or twisted my head to one side. Either I get a more thorough hair cut (which I avoid as I find it required more commercial attention than a medium one) or I find a means to hold the hir off my face.
This one from Ravelry patterns, Blue Leaf Headband by Adrienne Krey has worked out well for me using 3 strands held together of Old Maiden Aunt handpainted merino bamboo 4 ply .

This does the job nicely :).
Oh just got a grumble from the computer - better quit while I'm ahead - pun?

Castletown Helix scarf and little mats

 This little helix scarf was lost for a while (hiding under the clutter in my son's apartment) then was found - and completed. It's knit from the BFL that I hand dyed and fractal spun last year - some details on a previous blog.

Little mats woven on the rigid heddle. Hessian warp and hand spun wool weft.

Swaldale sunrise shawlette.

I decided to make another mini-shawl/scarf from the Swaldale yarn I'd spun. It has many of the colors I like so much - cerulean blue and and a sober orange/terracotta for two. Other colors add warmth and deeper tones.
Knit on size 5 mm's, trhe garter stitich makes rows of different streaks and lines of colr - that remine me more of sunrise on on a brightening ske than sunset on a darkening sky so I'll call it my Sunrise shawlette

Swaldale - these hardy North of England sheep have a long hairy fleece but also a fine undercoat. It's the fine undercoat I was after when I spun up the fiber. That task is not for the fiant-hearted - I had to continually remove coarser finber and even kemp as I preparted, spun, dyed and now while knitting the yarn.  The resultant yarn, in the hank and kni up, is denser and heavier than my own little Irish cross bred ewe's yarn but I expect it to be warm light enough when finished and hopefully the size and drape of the shwlette will be as handy to wear as my previous shawlette.

Training Setanta Link

The young ram, Setanta, has is own link - www.trainingSetanta.blogspot.com/ included in my Woolie Links list here. But should an Easycare X Wiltshire Horn sheep be placed under Woolie Links seeing as how he sheds his fleece every spring ?? Ah well, he crosses with the woolies to produce a lamb with a nice fleece so he can stay.