swimming

the boys and i went swimming at the local leisure center this morning and because it was such i lovely day on the way home we called into the local train station for a ride!!!!
about 4 miles from home is the lovely little narrow guage railway station call drunawhey junction and it has been there for a number of years and we have visited it many time but haven't been much in the last year so what better time to pay it a visit.
as you can see they have plenty of trains of all shapes and sizes as long as its small, char had been many time as a small child but addy had not been very often and now it was char's turn to be the big brother and look after addy and i could just sit and watch.
the driver was telling me it had been very busy before we arrived but now it had slowed down and the boys got the whole rain to themselves
and you know the old saying boys and their toys well here we have a great example and what a beautiful engine she is and on the way home addy asked that when he grew up could he go there and work - i somehow think that the men that go there now most weekend wouldn't look upon this as work if you would like to know more you can log onto http://bcdmrs.org.uk and see more pictures of this great place

it's raining so it must be ballymena

well it's that time of year again and the ballymena steam engine rally was last weekend and for those of you who are not quite sure what a steam rally is well i will give you a quick tour - it's a weekend where big men get together and play with their engines and tractors and compare how dirty they can get and who can make the most steam or noise and be big kids for the weekend.
and what were you doing there i hear you ask? well for the ladies the are plenty of stalls and a craft tent to help them pass a few hours and hopefully spend a few pounds
so after an early start on friday morning i reached ballymena and got the car unpacked and set up it was time for coffee and as hubby was working all week at sir thomas and lady dixon park at the world famous rose week he had the large flask so i had to fall back on plan B. beside me i had a lovely lady selling jewellery and on the other side i had a gentleman doing your family name. being the generous type i offered him a cup of tea and he said that if there was any going that would be very nice and when he saw what plan B was he was well impressed and as you can see i was very comfortable
well the gentleman introduced himself as Ian and we had great wee chats over the course of the next 2 days and some good exchanges on the topic of the ulster-scots language in which i'm fluent and we kept an eye on each others stall and had great craic. turns out his son works for the same company as me only at a different site, later that day mum and the boys and my brother came up for the day and between the showers they had a walk about and then came in and joined me for a while - saturday was a better day weather wise and the craic was just as mighty although we all noticed a shortage of £20 and takings seemed to be down for everyone on last year, but not to worry we all enjoyed the tome there and on one short trip out of the tent i managed to get a picture of the engine that was beside the tent
bit of a beauty this one but the mud dosen't do her justice

ps. this is the sort of things i grew up with and my dad was a great one for bits of engines and tractors so it was a bit of a busmans holiday as well

heads up

now that i have been making my winter stock i thought i would be better displaying them with a little more class and when i checked out the web for plastic heads i found a company in belfast that supplied them - well what a find and a big saving on the postage as well

much better than laying them on the table in any old shape don't you think?

baby beanie

now i'm the first to say that i'm not cut out as a housewife and always have plenty to keep me away from the ironing board and kitchen sink and bless my hubby he does put up with a lot but a few weeks ago he said "could you iron me a shirt for work and crochet me a baby shawl as a lady i work with is about to be a granny!" ..... so when i finally got the wool that he liked, took 2 goes at that as well, i started the shawl which it in the tumble dryer now but when i had a spare half hour i also made the baby a little beanie to go with the shawl

this is the first baby beanie i have made i'm quite good with the bigger sizes and i must say i'm rather pleased with the result **** and the moral of this little story is - teach the boys to iron their own shirts and then they won't interupt my crochet time !

teach them young

the other day i was hooking (as usual) when my youngest asked if he could have a go, well i'm all for teaching them while their young and at 5 i thought it would be a good idea but i had one problem - addy is a little leftie and as i had never taught a leftie before was faced with a slight problem. but never one to give up i got him a footstool and set him down in front of me and and got started and guess what - he loved it and as you can see from the pictures below he got the hang of it

so now i have a helper for my craft supplies but i won't be waiting on the first finished hat for a while yet

at the zoo

we had been invited to a small fair at Belfast Zoo on saturday 5 july and as we set off the heavy rain had eased a little but we did pack the coats etc just in case and as we traveled up the road it showered but never one to be put off by a little water we arrived and set up. The Zoo staff were great and a welcome coffee when we arrived and lovely little marques and a fantastic setting and a wee prayer we got going


so here we all are with a wee cuppa and a biscuit to sustain us for the crowds and the hard work ahead (ha ha)
and we waited and waited and waited but the only thing that came was more rain and even foxy kept a lookout but the weather was out of out hands
but not to be a wet blanket (these puns are just so bad ) the kids had a ball and went around most of the zoo and below is a picture of the elephant that char took with his phone, they wanted to watch the penguins being fed but even they stayed inside and the seals just lay about in the rain
so by the time they made is back to me they look a little wet - good job i packed the coats
even though it wasn't a profitable day we all had a ball and the kids got to go around the Zoo and the Zoo staff were all a great help which made it a little better the boys have asked if we can go there for a day out - we will try and pick a better day and take more pics so you can get a look at what a lovely place Belfast Zoo is and the views over the city

new stock

i have been trying out some new things in the past few weeks as i have a bit fair soon and i know these will be good winter sellers but with the turn in the weather i might get a few early sales, at the time the only model i could get was addy and as you can see he wasn't to pleased with the colour

and now i have an employee!!! yea as if i could pay someone to knit for me but i have managed to get my mum to do me some of her fantastic tea cosies and these are a great seller so far
we were thinking of branching out into football team colours
and i have found that the coffee drinkers out there like to keep their pots warm and what better way than these, i have also found that the men folk seem to like the leopard print best!