the car parks are empty

the beaches are quiet

there are no queues in the supermarket or coffee shop

the mornings are clear & crisp

the berries are bursting out of the hedgerows

the evenings are drawing in

there’s a nip in the air before the sun goes down

jumpers are coming out of storage for snuggling into

there’s some surf on its way

hurray hurray hurray I love september

I met up with Geraint at the dodgy car park on the way and follwed the GPS.

However I had made a bit of a mistake in true Mel style and set the GPS up slightly wrong and we almost ended up in Swansea (we were too busy talking  about clothes and stuff), so we turned around and headed back the way we came before turning off into the Brechfa forest.

The rain poored and the view was white, untill we got to the smaller lanes winding in and out of the valleys, then we we could see bits of mist drifting through the hills.

The roads got smaller and smaller until we went past the post office and up the hill I had seen on the google satellite view, we dropped down the hill, through the ford and up to Jos’ studio which is most definitely out in the wilderness..

We poked and proded clothes into the right shape for hours and when we popped out for lunch we met the dogs.

They took a shine to Gerait and jumped all over him, luckily or unluckily he was wearing a howies hoody (don’t tell Lisa) which got covered in mud.

Here are the lovely chocolate Labs, they watched us untill the evening when we finished and the sun was shining for the journey home.

Thanks to Jo for coffee, good music, lots of dog talk and your expertise in shooting clothes.

Watch it again here on iplayer http://bbc.co.uk/i/tfcz2/

Now I live in Cardigan Bay it can be quite overwhelming visiting shopping and town centers, there is so much choice, so how do you choose?

Why we do what we do, is at the heart of howies, we don’t just make clothes.

Here’s some why we do’s:

We are passionate about our doing our sports

We want clothes to suit our lifestyle of being outdoors, getting hot, cold, wet and exhausted

We  beleive in not spreading our cotton with chemical spray to keep the bugs off when there are friendlier methods available

We believe in not using petrochemicals for base layers when there is a sustainable alternative which works better and doesn’t smell

We beleive in making better quality products so they are not thrown away in a few weeks, they are treasured for years to come instead

We make local wherever possible

We use natral trims and fastenings wherever possible

We love nature and watching the seasons change

We like to wear our denim in and make our own history

We like stuff which works

We love tea made in the pot, with cake

We like telling stories about our clothes

We like going for a run, ride, swim at lunch time

We like telling stories about our adventures

This morning I came into the office and had an email about Nick Hand who has helped howies with numerous things, he’s worked on our catalogues and taken hundreds of amazing photos and is generally a great guy.

Anyway last year he cycled around the coast of Britain taking photos, meeting artisans around the coast and making sound slides about them, well Nick is now off to carry on the journey around the coast of Ireland.

He starts next Tuesday from Belfast and again he will be raising money for Parkinson’s disease society, so far he’s raised over £6,000 and he’s hoping to double that over the next couple of months.

You can donate here http://www.justgiving.com/nickhand

You can follow him here http://www.slowcoast.co.uk , the site will be updated this week with the Ireland route so you can track him and you can see his blogs here http://nickhand.typepad.com/

Good luck Nick and have a great journey, I for one am looking forward to seeing new photos and hearing about how you get on along the way.

Take care, from everyone from howies

I will never buy bread from the supermarket again.

I have been told about them sooo many times and we have now finally got one.

It was so easy and quick to make and tastes amazing.

And you can’t beat a sneaky slice of the crust with butter, as soon as it comes out of the oven.

I have kayaked there once when the weather suddenly changed and the breeze turned into a force 6 gale and I didn’t think I would ever want to go back.

However in this video it really does look beautiful, so I must go out there again sometime.

Great vid and Music Tom and Lou, looks like you had a great day and it’s what summer in Pembrokeshire is all about.

A trip to the bishops & Clerks

I have rowed it with the girls nearly every year, but this year I wasn’t in the team who had been training together so I didn’t think i would get to row. But then one rower could not make the event so I volunteered to stand in their place. At the time of offering I didn’t realise they had a hope of winning this year, then I got a bit worried to say the least as I had not been in a boat for over a year.

With only a few weeks untill the race I only managed to get in a half hour row to see if I could do that, then an hour row which I managed to do and then a final half hour sitting in a new position, a slight technique change and double checking seating position was comfortable in the boat we were racing in.

On saturday we were all nervous, but this turned to excitement as more and more boats turned up on the beach, in the end there were 21 boats competing which was the most we had ever seen, the weather was fantastic, even with a fairly strong breeze it was welcomed to cool us off in the blazing sun.

We started the race at 3 o clock, keeping it a steady pace untill we got a third of the way around to the most critical part of the race where we have to go single file through a gap in the cliffs called the tooth. By that point we had put in a huge effort and just managed to overtake the leading ladies crew and then we managed to sustain it after the tooth. Thanks to the fantastic coxing of  Tom, taking great lines around the cliffs we managed to put more and more boat lengths between the two ladies boats.

Before we knew it we were leaving Ramsey Island and were heading back to Whitesands beach, where we put in another effort to take a mixed crew just before the finish line making us the winning ladies crew on the day, 9th overall and in a time of 1 hour and 14 minutes.

We were all very happy and proud we’d finally had a win after 5 years of trying. We all got trophies, had quiche and beer on the beach and then headed off to the Celiedh for more merryment and celebrating.

My trophy

I was up at 5am trying to sqeeze my kayak in the car, then off up to misty cardigan.

We met at the bridge, unloaded and got on the water. It was pretty shallow to start,we got to a rapid and we were all good doing cheesy grins for the camera, until Tidy and Ade found that rock and then it got a bit wet. Luckily Ade got out in  time and saved his camera, shouted “don’t panic!”, I fished out flip flops and Scottie helped empty the canoe. We met up with Kim and Ruben on the way down.

We saw herons, kingfishers, a buzzard but no otters today.

Here are some photos, it was gorgeous, we have to do it again soon.

http://www.hayfestival.com

Lots of inspiring thing to see including the amazing Laura Marling, she’s playing tonight, if you’re going to see her have a great time.

If you don’t know about Laura check her out on her website, watch her videos, they’re gorgeous.

http://www.lauramarling.com

from google maps street shot

I live near fishguard and over a year ago a great new bike shop opened in the centre of Fishguard and it’s still there which is fantastic, lots of shops have come and gone in the last year.

It has some of the most beautiful bikes I have seen (including a gorgeous women’s Bianchi race bike in mint green) and I feel very happy they have a shop so close to where I live and so close to the preselis and the rest of Pembrokshire.

So if you’re heading this way over the bank holiday go and check them out (beware though they may be shut on Sunday).

Here’s their link so you can find them and see what labels they stock, I don’t think the website is quite finished yet so best to go and have a look at the shop.

http://www.pembrokeshirebikes.co.uk/

A whole other day.

Priceless.

Get out and enjoy come rain or shine.

I’m going, swimming, then surfing, then biking, then running, a bit of gardening, some coffee and cake and maybe a paddle too.

What are you doing?

good luck cake

Today the Porthgain rowing teams are off to the World Pilot Gig rowing championship in the Scilly Isles.

For the last 5 years i have gone too, but not this year, I couldn’t commit to the training this winter and spring with work commitments and other stuff.

It is an amazing event, with hundreds of boats on the start line, from all over Devon and Cornwall, a couple of boats from bristol, Holland and then ours from Porthgain, the only Welsh club competing.

The Scilly Isles are tiny and get taken over by thousands of rowers, its a fantastic atmosphere, the locals are warm and friendly, the climate is warm, there are no cars allowed on the islands (apart from the a few locals & delivery vans) and everyone has a fantastic time, it’s one of the fastest growing sports  over recent years. If you want to see more click here http://gigrower.co.uk/media/gig-pics/

I went to go and see the ladies team on Sunday to say good bye and good luck, I made a cake for them to have on their last row before they set off. It went down a storm and I hope the stormy weather predicted, blows over the Scillies before they get there and they go and give it their best.

I will be thinking of them all weekend, it will be very strange not going.

Good luck Porthgain teams, especially the ladies.

Kim and Simon have gone to Portugal to visit our suppliers this week,  Lisa and I were also supposed to go but timing didn’t work out so we stayed home.

The one thing about the last Portugal trip I remember well was the Portuguese tarts and when I came back I realised I have a recipe which I must try, so this weekend I tried them out.

The howies office have just tried them but I have to say they were amazing yesterday when they were hot out of the oven.

Sorry you missed out Simon & Kim but I expect you’ll have your share on your trip.

But, I’m just over 30 years old and I have only been driving for the last 5 years, as soon as I was old enough to cycle to school I did, then college, then Uni and then my first few jobs after Uni so I have been mainly used to cycling as my mode of transport but with work now being 20 miles away and working flat out I couldn’t cycle every day.

But today I decided I had missed out too long so I put my bike in the car, drove just over half way and cycled the rest and I’ll cycle further and further each week and see how far I can cycle every day.

There are some big up hills and some big downhillls, it’s definately the best way to wake up in the morning and I have been envious of all the other howies commuters for ages.

I can’t wait to get on my bike tonight.

In the past I have bought 2.5 layer polyester man made jackets and find they feel horrible to wear one minute your hot, then your cold and noisy and you look like your wearing plastic.

You get the feeling you had when you were a kid and your mum told you it was going to rain and put your waterproof on, groans and mumbles followed of course.

Now more recent ones have looked better but they still feel the same.

Then a few years ago I borrowed an old howies ventile jacket which had been returned due to a minor stitching problem, with a lining and a detachable hood and although I found the fit not quite right for me and my jumpers and dog walking it always kept me dry, felt good and I saw there was potential.

The problem was I got quite hot in it, the collar was tight and the pockets were fiddly, its amazing how things so simple can be a pain in the rain…haha poetry.

Anyway I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the new howies ventile jacket, all I wanted was a shell which I could layer over my jumpers, covered my bum, breathed well and  kept the water out properly. But it also had to look like cotton and not a plastic jacket so I could wear it with a dress and flip flops on holiday and it would look as good as

if I was wearing it at home walking the dog or in Paris or London running between the shops doing research in the rain.

Finally they have come in and I have one.

I have tried it on with jumpers, t-shirts and it looks and feels great, not like a waterproof at all.

Now all I need is for it to rain.

No I don’t mean that really, but if it does I am now prepared and I won’t get wet, hurray.

So is there anything that isn’t in the range for spring which you would absolutely love us to make?

What would you be buying now if we had it and what are you buying from other people this season because they have something we don’t? It can be a bit of kit  for your sport, or something you would wear everyday or maybe something we used to make but don’t anymore.

Send me your top 3 ideas for spring summer to mel@howies.co.uk or comment on this blog.

Thanks for your time and think of warm weather and sunshine.

I looked to see if the howies library had it but it was out on loan and so I looked on the web and found its quite rare now and its selling for as much as £50. They also had second hand ones, the cheapest was £9.99 but had brown edges around the pages and scribbles, well so long as it had the words it didn’t matter really so I ordered it.

It arrived and it was in good condition and on closer inspection the scribbles inside were actually a note from the author Janine Benyus.

I couldn’t believe it.

I am now reading it again, its so inspiring.

I will get into it but it usually takes a few weeks.

I had a few issues with the ishuffle thingy too, but I found the off button pretty sharpish.

I started at my local beach and ran around the cliff, down onto the beach, but where I could usually cross the stream across the stones I coudn’t because of all the flood water, I love that when the  conditions cause humans to do differnet actions than they planned, makes you feel so small and insignificant. So anyway I went back along the road to the woolen mill. I run by the old mill quite a lot, its called Melin Tregwynt and its famous for its weaving.  http://www.melintregwynt.co.uk

It used to be powered by water and you can see  where the water was channeled into the mill, George found a channel and thought the white frothy stuff was snow, so he went for a bit of a swim when he stepped on it. I took him home and gave him a nice warm shower and now he’s all fluffy and recovered.

I’m off for another run tonight around the cliffs thanks to Ade for inspiring me to get back into it, I always see beautiful scenery and have an adventure because of the weather and the conditions whether it be rain wind or sun its always different.

Some people love the snow, like me because when you wake up in the morning and snow has been predicted you feel like you did when you were  a kid, excited!

I live quite a few miles from howies in Cardigan which is good and bad, today it is good because I can’t drive or walk to work but I can work from home.

This was the veiw this morning from my garden when I went out to get logs for the fire.

So today I won’t be going sledging or making snowmen like I used to when I was a kid but I will be making sure the fire is going, taking George for a walk in the snow and drinking lots of tea.

I will also be thinking about and designing next summers range, erm dresses and tops and shorts, not sure I’m inspired, I have more ideas for warm cosy jumpers coats and merino at this moment. If you guys have any ideas of what you would like to see this summer let me know.

This quite often happens as you drive along the coast road, the mist gathers in the valley of the Preselis and goes all the way along to the river Teifi in Cardigan and out to sea. As you drop down into Cardigan the temperature drops several degrees and you are surrounded by mist.

The last few mornings have been beautiful here  crisp skies with snow filled blobs of cloud, I’m hoping to go and get some better pics tommorow, fingers crossed.

Even london looked like the country side on the way back compared to the dazzling heights and lights of Hong Kong. However I didn’t  notice much of the journey as I think I feel asleep as my head hit the car seat and before  I knew it we were home to sunny skies and  frosty fields.

Lisa and I came in bright and breezy this morning with lots of lists of things to do emails to answer and specs to fill in, we’ve made a dent and Louise is helping me with the specs tommorow, hurray.

Kim went home ill, we hope it’s just jet lag and not the flu.

Lis went home early feeling shattered, I am the last one standing, sleep is the key but I am fading fast now.

Thanks to Kim for driving us home.

Thanks to Linda and Derek for looking after George my doggy.

Thanks to all our suppliers and their hard work it was so exciting to see such complete and well made protos.

Please can we buy lots of this range this time as its all so good, hope there’s money in the pot and you guys are spoilt for choice next winter?

Thanks to Hong Kong for being a major contrast to home and making home even nicer when we come back, just in time for christmas, where did the first half of December go?

I get in oh a bit late, naughty 

Do some design stuff

Go to pilates with Clare at the theatre down the road

Have lunch

Do more design stuff

Chat about stuff you don’t get time to talk about monday to thursday

Tea and Friday cake

And then off home for the weekend.

Happy Friday to everyone.

One which I have been pasionate about having in the range are some merino leggings.

It doesn’t matter what sport you do leggings are an essential bit of kit with your merino base layer, I use them for running, cycling, rowing, and kayaking. The ones I have owned before are from a well known huge brand, they are the best I have found but they annoy me, they are made using all man made fibres, they get cold when they are wet, they smell after a few wears, they dig in on the waistband and below the knee and generally feel uncomfortable and soon as I’ve finished I take them off because they feel so uncomortable. 

This lead me to want to design some merino leggings as we all love our merino tops why can’t we have merino bottoms too? However, merino is a very soft fabric so it had to withstand a lot of bending of knees (no baggy knee syndrome allowed) and it had to put up with some abrasion and fit the body without being uncomfortable. I came up with the Taith leggings which are in our new catalogue and on the website. Taith means’journey’ or ‘tour’ in welsh, you will see a lot of these when out on your bike or running in beautiful welsh country side.

Anyway, I have been testing them for a while now from original prototype to the size set which had all the alterations on and they are brilliant, and exactly if not more than what I wanted.

The waistband doesn’t dig in, it’s high enough to keep everything warm, they are a mid length so they don’t cut under your knee, they don’t get baggy knees and they feel like you’re not wearing anything, Lisa was out running in Tenby and said “I feel like I am bottom half naked”.

Last night, after a run along the coast path I got in, made food, curled up with the dog on the sofa and completely forgot to take them off, they were so comfy, warm, dry and non smelly I forgot I was wearing kit.

It’s is a great feeling to be able to design and make something you really want and know that all those little annoyances won’t bother you anymore because you’ve solved the problem, I love them and ladies I wanted to share all this with you because I think you will all love them too, and lets face it, it’s hard trying to find good kit which feels and looks great too.

I am going to stock up and I hope you do too as I want them to be a howies product for years to come.

Here are some pictures of the detail, so you can see the inside of the fabric is merino, the outer nylon to give it strength and the flat finished waistband.

Anyway, the blueberry Angoras centre is just up the road from howies in a beautiful village, in a valley a stones throw away from the sea.

I met the lady who looks after the goats, dyes their fleece, cards the fleece, spins it into yarn and who sends the yarn off to be made into blankets, cushions, socks, jumpers, hats, scarves, she also weaves some special projects herself in her studio just next to the goats shed.

She kindly let me have a go at spinning the yarn, I was not very good and made a slubby yarn, but I got the concept in the end although I didn’t really get the hang of it. She gave me a sample of yarn too so I can have a go at knitting it on my knitting machine. It was great to see an old skill still being used and I’m thinking about taking classes to learn how to spin my own yarn properly.

I saw the Angora goats too, here they are in their shed sheltering from the blazing sun. 

Sorry the pictures aren’t very good I only had my phone with me. I will be re-visiting the goats more often for some yarn so I’ll take better pictures next time.

While we wait for the last few samples to come in and for the buyers to do the buying I have a few days thinking time so I have been thinking about knitwear and merino and finding out all sorts of interesting stuff.

Anyway, I have a lot of ideas but I thought I’d ask you what new stuff you would like to see in our merino range? We all love our merino  and it becomes a staple in a few months time and so it’s a pretty important part of our wardrobe and we think yours too, for skiing, snowboarding biking running and just keeping warm.

So is there something you wear which you love but you think it would be even better in merino wool?

Or is there something howies make now but you’re desperate for a new colour?

Or do you want a specific fit or shape we don’t do at the moment?

If so, drop me a line with some of your thoughts to mel@howies.co.uk

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyway, a few weeks ago a nest appeared nestled between the two buoys, and then there were 5 little eggs.

Now the eggs have hatched and we have 5 little chicks, I’m pretty sure they are sparrows which is good because sparrows numbers were declining due to gardens being too neat and tidy, they like wild gardens and well, yes ours is a little bit wild and doesn’t want to be tamed ,as much as we keep trying.

I wasn’t sure if the chicks would be ok in their parents chosen nesting spot as it’s only a meter off the ground and right next to where I park my car, so with me getting in and out of it all the time i thought the mum would abandon them.

However they don’t seem to mind me being there, they are all going strong, they’re getting bigger every day and soon they will be too big for the nest and fly away.

Here they are from this morning, very cute.

nest in buoys

chicks

They came from Devoran in Cornwall and one of their longest members Ralph Bird was the man who made all our Gigs. 

We decided to show them the local sights which we love but we had hoped the weather would be good but we didn’t expect it to be the most stunning conditions we have ever seen going around Ramsey Island.

Here are just a few amazing photos, thankfully Steve had his camera charged and ready to go on the water as words couldn’t really describe it.

Words we used to try and describe the water was milky, glassy and silk but they don’t do it justice really.

We have lots of cameras in our house as myself and my man take a lot of photos, but they all had flat batteries.

I only had one small camera to try and get a photo of the lightening and the battery light was flashing so I knew I only had a few shots in there.

I managed to get  one shot, not great, but I got it, did anyone else get a shot?

It’s a racing kayak, extremely light and fast and designed for minimal weight and maximum speed.

A few years ago they changed the design and took the wings off (it was shaped out-wards just past where you sat for stability) and now they are really narrow and look very wobbly.

Anyway I had a flash back of the days when we used to just jump in our boats, carrying them is so easy because they are so light and you didn’t have to faff around with kit, shorts and a vest or bikini was all that was needed and off you go.

Here’s a pic of me back in the day paddling on the Severn having some technique shots taken by my coach Steve.

See the splash in the water off my paddle, that is not good!

I picked up spider crabs and swam large shoals of silvery fish and with large ones too and dodged jelly fish, you wouldn’t believe people get on a plane to go diving when our coast is so beautiful, we went 20 miles down the road for our holiday.

Unfortunately I will not be telling you where these photos were taken as it is my favourite beach since I was about 7 years old thanks to my dad who’s passion for it spilled onto me.

It was quiet, unspoilt and as beautiful as I remembered it when I was young, that’s pretty impressive really when you think about it, that’s over 20 years ago and it’s not changed or lost its magic at all.

Roll on next holiday, or even next weekend.

8 of us went kayaking around the coast

3 of us were fishing

they caught 20 mackeral

we found 3 hidden bays

we stopped on one for lunch

found 1 TV on a hidden beach

pretented to watch TV whilst sunbathing

rescued TV litter and took it home for correct disposal

we saw more rubbish than normal, we think it came in on recent bad weather

8 of us waded through the shallows from the sea to the river to get to land

6 of us went for ice cream, coffee and cake

1 great day out in Pembrokeshire

the team

We came first for Wales in the Gig championships too as we are one of only two ladies teams who raced from Wales, both of which are from Porthgain rowing club.

Here we are in our new howies team kit after the final on one of the beautiful Beaches on St Marys’.

We have ran in the wind in the rain with dogs around muddy farm lanes…

Lifted weights and attempted beating our pull up records in a cold barn…

Raced each other on the rowing machine desperately trying to reach our target 2000 metres time..

And rowed out of the harbour in all conditions with our cox Tom who coached us through each race, counting our stroke rate, watching our technique, our boat speed through the water, the wind, the tide and navigated around our coastline shouting at us all the way.

It was all going great, then we started dropping, FFi had flu, I hurt my knee and my back and half of us were finding the coaching all abit too much. There were tears, plenty of Chiropracter sessions, late night phone calls of encouragement and just terrible rowing sessions out on the sea.

Then last thursday we headed off to Penzance to catch the ferry, with the knowledge I couldn’t row and we would have to find someone to stand in for me, we were all nervous about what the weekend would bring.

The first race was all the womens gigs together, 118 on the start line, a huge swell and a bit of wind but the girls started well thanks to Hannah from Bristol who kindly stepped into my number 2 slot. After a spotless row and only a slight fight for water near the end the team came in 33rd position! We were very surprised and had to count on the results board 3 times to double check we were correct.

Last year we came 52nd over all so we were very pleased.

In the end after 2 shorter races in groups of 10 we found our place in group D and came 4th in that group in the final on Sunday which brought us to 41st overall which we were all very proud of.

Here’s a picture I took on a boat of the Porthgain Ladies near the finishing line on the first race, I’m very glad we were able to row and I still felt part of the team even though I didn’t row. It was very strange for me having spent 8 months training for something which I didn’t do, thanks to all the girls for their help and support over the last few weeks.

Porthgain Ladies Team near finishing line

To anyone else who went, hope you all had a great weekend and performed as well as you had hoped and see you again next year.

We wanted a Beagle and we found George.

He’s a year old now and full of beans.

We knew it would be hard work having a dog, but we had no idea how much fun it was and it’s great going walking when its cold and windy and wet and dark and the sea is crashing all around us.

Alison saw a dog and was very close to keeping him.

Emma got some kittens.

Then a couple of weeks ago Scania got a dog called Daisy.

Now Clare and David have a Dog called Sonny.

We will need a doggy cresh soon.

Here’s my George in the snow last week.

I have known I’ve been lucky and I’ve just kept getting away with it, untill Sunday that is.

The reason I have been lucky is I have not had many accidents, not like Tom and Pete in howies.

I have never broken anything, had any operations, wisdom teeth out, nothing.

I have not been too safe, I have been canoeing down rapids and rivers, rowing on the sea, river rafting, sea kayaking, coasteering, mountain biking, climbing, running along cliffs, driving and on a motorbike.

The worst accidents I can remember are, one when I was 5, I was swinging around a pole in the garden and fell down some steps and got concussion. Then there were two incidents where I fell, once off my bike and once when I was roller blading and I got water on my elbows.

Then yesterday I fell down the stairs on my house, not just normal stairs either, wooden planks which are slippy, steep and face a wall. I ended up with my head in between the stairs and the wall and my feet in the air, not funny really.

I now have a huge bruise on my hip which looks like a galaxy, a bump on my head, a stiff neck and numerous other bruises aches and pains.

Maybe I have been too safe in the past, maybe 2009 will the year for more adventures and accidents.

Maybe I’m just not very stupid….

or maybe I have just been lucky.

For years I have canoed, biked, run, snowboarded and stood around in normal cotton pants which are fine most of the time…
until that is they get wet from rain, snow. river or sea water, then they get cold and I get a cold bum.

As soon as I experienced merino base layers I knew there was a need for merino pants.

I have worn the women’s merino briefs in cold and wet conditions and they are fantastic.

I was always amazed at how they seemed to be so warm in the coldest conditions.

I have tried to tell my story to friends and family about my warm bum but I needed backup.

Yesterday I was reading one of my wool magazines and read an article about merino wool and I found out that when wet, merino actually warms up 3 degrees C!

That is quite a lot when you think you can get hypothermia when your core body temperature reduces 5 degrees C.