Beach clean

http://www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/events

On Saturday, DD2 and I joined a beach clean team on a remote beach in Cornwall … I say remote, since while it’s near a large city, it isn’t exactly accessible and there is a less rocky, more sandy beach nearby, so it has few visitors, though many walk the coast path above it. In fact, we had to descend to the beach using a rope for the final few feet – the path was almost vertical.

I don’t have many photos of the detritus that we found … though we each collected half a bin bag full in just over an hour … but it was surprisingly varied. One of the other participants was very knowledgeable about wrecks in the area and was able to tell us the history of some of our finds and to tell us stories about interesting things he had come across over the years.

We spent a lot of our time foraging among the rock pools … there were a lot of rocks visible at low tide, not a beach to swim from  …

… where we found many varieties of plastic, rubber and an astonishing number of cable ties! There were so many, it’s possible that they too are from a wreck or a lost container. DD2 ventured down to the shore line and came back with metres of netting and rope, which we simply added to a pile at the top of the beach (along with a couple of car tires), rather than carrying them back to the survey. All our finds were collected, and taken to a nearby church hall to be sorted and categorised … but we didn’t stay.

After eating lunch on the beach, we decided to walk part of the coast path … and I have never been anywhere that has such obvious and extensive bio-diversity. So many different wild flowers, birds, insects and habitats in a 500m stretch of coastline – until we reached the cliffs above a far sandier and therefore more popular beach, where the habit on the hill became overgrown by bracken. So I assume the area where we joined the path had a carefully managed environment – I know, for example, they graze cattle there at times. We didn’t have binoculars with us, so we will return as soon as we can (weather dependent) with binoculars and cameras and a picnic. Not to walk, simply to find a bench to sit and watch … we are certain we saw Dartford Warblers and Stone Chats among others … there must be an ample supply of tiny mammals, too, as we saw several Kestrel and Buzzards overhead.

The weather was perfect, warm and dry but overcast … and if I were to walk the path at high tide I might never realise there was a beach below. Really quite a spectacular find 🙂

 

More to come!

I’m of a mind to perhaps sell these … to make way for more projects and ideas.

Coloured Clamshell

Do you think anyone would be interested?

I finished the shawl with a ruffle edge, using just 2 balls of yarn, and I’m really pleased with it 🙂 I’m happy too, with the clamshell cot blanket … a simple edging, as I didn’t want to distract from the colours and pattern of the blanket, but perhaps I could have done more? Anyway, I’ve chosen my colours to do a larger clamshell blanket for my own bed …

See that tiny ball of Sherbet? I found it in my scraps bag, and really like it in this mix. I found a ball of Empire (middle left) yesterday – not a colour I’ve used before, but fell in love with it alongside the Turquoise, and although I’m not including it in this blanket, Lipstick + Empire + Turquoise is an amazing combination … I can’t imagine when I might ever use them together though! (You can see the full range of colours here)

I still have the bug for crochet … though I am less ambitious than at the beginning. I’d much rather have a simple project on the go to keep my hands busy, than something I really have to concentrate on … but I will finish Sophie’s Universe eventually!

And I’ve found a lovely range of cotton yarn, similar to that I’m using for Sophie, in a local store … but I just can’t decide what pattern I might use it for, so I’m resisting buying … for now!

I changed my mind ….

Having settled on a blanket made of squares (pattern Lise), I realised that while I liked the project, it wasn’t what I needed to do. Mostly I crochet (or knit) to keep my hands busy (and maybe to stay awake) while chatting or watching tv … and Lise was going to take too much concentration. So I looked round the many patterns I’ve bookmarked, and remembered Cherry Heart’s clamshell pattern.

I went through my stash of colours and settled on seven I think work together – what do you think? I decided to make a smaller blanket this time, cot or knee sized, multiple of 8 +1 stitches, so 161 … but after a few colours realised my edges were too ragged. So I ripped it out and started again …

Much better! I’m having to mark the first stitch of each row, to be able to find it again at the end of the next row … especially the rows that begin with slip stitches. But the pattern itself was fairly straightforward to master. I think I’d like one of these on my bed, so I’ll finish this and then do it again … possibly even in the same colours.  That should keep me going for a while 🙂