Another Day .............

Ok back and rested mangaged around ten hours last night, slightly interupted by the cats jumping on me at 4am but still caught up on some of my much needed sleep.
This means I am a little more positive than yesterday but I really do think now is my time to retire from that job, easier said than done as I love those kids (well most of the time anyway) and they are obviously in need of support but I am no longer sure that I am the one to provide it. I am so aware that in dealing with kids over the years and having met many teachers youth workers and uniformed groups leaders that there is nothing worse than somepne who isn't 100% committed to the job and I can honestly say that I no longer have that drive. Maybe its something to do with getting older, I no longer believe that I can change the world in the same way I used to. And it is definitely true that as I am getting older my tolerance and patience levels are shrinking.
Oh well back to the actual trip. Well all I can say is that it didn't rain on Friday so we headed off to Legoland. I'm not a great one for theme parks especially with groups of kids as they are so easy to lose in the crowds as they just wander off, but I have to say that as they go Lego land is one of the best I've been to with kids of that age, the one thing I would say that if you are taking any kids under 1.3m make sure that you have an adult with you that likes going on rides!!! I was very good I only chickened out on Dragon Falls and considering I have a problem with the first rung on a ladder I think I did pretty well (I closed my eyes a lot is all I can say).
The trip to Legoland was followed by a quick tea and off we went to the cinema for the 8:45pm showing of the Fantastic Four (our theory was that we just wore them out completely) which I quite enjoyed as a bit of fun escapism and I only had to do one toilet run. We got them all back safe and sound in their sleeping bags by 11:30pm and asleep by midnight which any youth worker will tell you is quite impressive.
On saturday we started the day with bacon sandwiches and cereal and headed out to Garsons farm for pick your own fruit and Veg. Now I know this sounds like a really odd activity but trust me its amazing how much the kids get into it unforthunately it did decide to rain on us but not to heavily and we left with a bus full of very tall Gladioli, Sweet Peas, Onions, Potatoes, Blackberries, Runner Beans, Strawberries and Turnips. To finish off we took a quick trip to bushy park for our packed lunch and a play on the adventure playground.
You want to know how many parents said thank you? Don't ask and we won't talk about the arguement I had with one about spending money. Parents have really changed over the years.
I had a lot better day today Les an Tess came over to vosot and brought Pizza with them for lunch which was great and got to talk wool and shows including advice on my PluckyFluff yarn. I also completed a hat in the last hank I span.
I promise more pictures tomorrow as I ran out of daylight, also pictures of my parcel from Plain Mabel, I will also be going over to Silkwood tomorrow so probably some beautiful colours and wools will be appearing.
The sunburn is still sore lots of cream going on.

Tired and Emotional

Ok so Legoland wasn't as bad a expected (fruther details tomorrow) but today was awful and I tried really hard not to let it get to me and have failed miserably, I just managed to store it all up until I got home, so the kids are fine, I would never do anything that would upset them but I think that this weekend has finally verified what I've been thinking for a while and means that I think I might finally complete my retirement from youth work. No details tonight as I don't want to write something based upon the one hours sleep I managed and I do mean one hour, I am going to sleep on it and see what happens.
No time for knitting this weekend but managed to buy some pink and purple lego I was very excited (small things they say).
Oh yes setting the twist, basically it means that after you have spun your yarn, and plyed it or not then the way that Pluckyfluff sugests you do it is by placing your hank in some very hot water and let it soak for a minute and then they suggest putting it in the spin cycle of your washing machine, personally I treat it a little like I've done a full immersion blocking where I roll it up in a towel to squeeze out most of the water. Then you place the hank in tension, in the studio I use two chair legs and leave it till its dry so especially if its a single it no longer curls back on itself. Now this is all from a non professional spinner and its only what I found worked for me so don't take this as gospel.
More tomorrow

Roll on the weekend

Ok having bad day, not for any large problem but just lots of little things going wrong that just made me feel like I should have stayed in bed and the worse is still to come, yes its here tomorrow starts the sleep over with our junior youth club.
I have to say that I am really not in the mood for this and am praying for rain tomorrow so I don't have to face Lego land and can restrain ourselves to the cinema and bowling but if the rain doesn't come and you happen to be in Lego land tomorrow and you see this very stressed looking women with a dozen under twelves round her please take pity on her and be assured I usually look and behave better than the food smeared women on the edge of a nervous breakdown that you will see before you.

Unfortunately today went so badly something had to give unfortunately it was the knitting group up at Liberty but by the time I had done everything I needed too I had run out of time.

Roll on Monday and a visit to Silkwood

More spinning

The day wasn't great, fpr some reason this evening have been overpowered with this great sense of loss, usually I can pin point a trigger but can't think of anything specific this evening but I'm quite sad but trying to distract myself.
This task was helped by my bloglines feed seemed to be having a trouble, I started to worry as after the last couple of nights it has told me that there has been no updates on any of the blogs I read, now I know a lot of people are on holiday but there is usually at least one so I thought I would check and I discovered that I have been missing quite a bit and on some blogs I seemed to have missed up to seven entries so have spent the last couple of hours going through all of my feeds the old fashioned way and catching up.
I also packed a few more kits today and of course did some more spinning(it is definitely addictive) and here is the result

latest Experiment 


This is before the twist has been set but wound into a hank but you can't really see the best bit about this, the sequins and the sparkle I think you can see some in this picture of it just off the spindle.

can you see the sequins 


I think I spun enough for a hat so we shall see what happens tomorrow I know what I may be knitting at Liberty tomorrow.

Oh a quick update on cats this is what they got upto today

Wool what wool 


Guess whose in disgrace this evening

Dye Day

Felt slightly better today apparently I still look a little pale and pasty and I regretted having lunch but definitely back on the road to recovery. HAve to be for the youtrh Club Sleep over on Friday whatever happens.
Spent a wonderful day dyeing admittedly at a lot slower pace but still got a kilo and a half done so I decided to treat myself to an hour fullfilling my Pluckfluff obsession.

Small Hank 


These pictures are of yesterdays experiment after the twist has been set

Sample 


and I couldn't resist knitting up a sample. I know there wasn't a lot there but had only done a short length as I wasn't sure this was going to work as it uses a prespun 4ply cotton core with merino rovings spun around it, but I love the effect that it gives so I have started on another colourway with sequins added in which will hopefully be enough to make a hat.

Ok so I've been tagged by Little Lixie, so here goes my first ever blog chain
id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
Pronunciation Keyn. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies
A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.
Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies. Then, if you wish, tag five people from your friendslist to do the same.

1. Ok this is going to be harder than I thought, ok an easy one I never drink to the bottem of any cup of tea after having been brought up on tea leaves (in fact weaned on tea from a tea pot as a baby)

2. One you have probably noticed, I never reread my blog entries (explains the spelling and grammer I know) but I don't want to go back and remove things because I start thinking about who reads my blog I like the freedom of saying anything I like.

3. Eating Ice lollies even if its snowing outside, just one of those things.

4. A really bad habit I know but have a tendency not to clean off the previous layer of nail varnish from my toes and just paint the new colour over the top. (I hasten to add I do eventually clean off all the nail varnish, I do not have 34 years of nail varnish on my toes)

Struggling now I guess I really need an impartial veiw on this

5. Oh I know I don't know if this counts but I smile at every body I swear if someone was about to mug me I'd smile at them, it doesn't half get me in trouble at times, not sure if this one counts now let me see who I can tag.

What sheep are you?

Ok its another one I couldn't resist this one from daisy chain





Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Manic Monday

Ok first things first I just need to get this out my system, why are some people parents, as most of you know I work as a youth worker on a monday night, well tonight being our last session we invited the parents to a pizza party and presentations, nothing formal just a bit of fun. Do you know how many parents turned up.....one thats it one honestly we don't ask them any other time of the year and the kids had worked hard to win these awards (carefully chosen so everybody skills are taken in to consideration), to me it just explains why a lot of the local kids are in the state their in, I am so mad at them, I'd managed to get there even though I'd spent most of the morning throwing up (an unexpected encounter with a nut) and they couldn't even spare an hour and a half for their own kids.

Ok have finished my rant and rave, there were a couple of great things that happened today.
Firstly Gill from Woolly Workshop placed an order for kits so expect to seem them on screen soon which is fantastic and she is also interested in the new kits when they are ready (more of that later)

Secondly My first parcel from my Secret Pal arrived and what a parcel,

Look at that chocolate 


First of all all this wonderful choclate, sock yarn and needles to feed my sock obsession. Heres a close up.

Lucious green 


I really love the green its not a colourway I've seen before and had to restrain myself from casting on then and there. And theres more look at these groovy socks I love them I don't think you can see in the photo but they have little paw shape grippers on the bottem plus a matching green notebook plus these fantastic homemade stitch markers from Glampyre

Groovy socks 


And just to prove that I did do some work on Sunday here is the progress with the shelves they are all now in place and have started to be loaded up

Shelves in place 

A Few interesting things

First of all some cute quizzes I found at Little lixies Blog





You appear to be a Knitting Goddess.
You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with
reward, you simply want others to love knitting
as much as you do. If someone wants to knit
miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them.
If someone wants to learn short row shaping,
you can help. There are no taboos in knitting,
only opportunities to grow. Everyone should
have friend like you around if they want to
learn to knit, and there's a good chance that
your passion has rubbed off on a few others.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And whilst I was wandering through some blogs I came across Purldrop and she had some really cool links like this one where you can make your own snowflake
http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/
check out the other ones on her site

And this site just made me laugh, now that is without the sound as I have none on this computer so be warned it could be offensive but I suggest you turn down the volume and just watch and if anyone wants to tell what the sound is feel free

Up down and round

An odd day, I think probably down to my odd sleeping pattern at the moment but my mood was up and down all day and I mean really up and down.
Firstly when I got in the studio I found the parcel that Kerrie had said was in the post.

suprise parcel 


She's lent me the pluckfluff book its fantastic, plus she tucked in some of Hip Knits wonderful Silk to play with. Thank you so much it did make me smile and I can see me spending a lot of time spinning over the next few days
I made myself not look at the book as I had to prepare for the arrival of some more book shelves which my friend is giving me as she is returning to the US, so the boys (mark and Dan) managed to deconstruct the board chopper and remove it from my studio a job I could have never managed it as it weighed a ton. They are good to me here.
So space cleared the shleves arrived

The chaos that is my studio 


they are fantastic one is this beautiful handmade unit which is two and a half metres high, the removal men managed to get this giant up the stairs and in the studio, so now I have to think all about the new layout so have left it as it is tonight to think about it so be aware that if you come to the studio in the next couple of days you may get volunteered into sorting :)

handmade shelves 


So I couldn't resist anymore, out came the plucky fluff book, and this is my second attempt its made up from uncarded fleece bits of mohair nubs of carded merino all plyed with the turquouise metallic machine thread.

Second experiment 


Now I just have to think up Pluckfluuf style names for them
Close Up 


And just to finish a cat photo.

What a face 

Better Day

First of all thank you for everybodys good thoughts and am doing a lot better today even with all the trouble up in town. I don't think I can get another hamster although the type of hamster thsat I have prefers living in groups I'm not sure a strange hamster will be safe in with her. At the moment she is eating and drinking well but is sleeping a lot. We will see what the week brings.

Ok on with more important things look at this wonderful parcel I got yesterday,

Box of delights 


This was my parcel from my edgy exchange partner Janet, First of all there was the item itself, which is Ruffles from 'Scarf Style' how did she know that I really wanted one of these but couldn't face all that straight knitting.

Close up 


The best bit about it is that it has no wool in it, it is in a yarn called Sprout (love the name) from wool in the woods. I know I'm awkward to knit for, I'm sorry you got stuck with me but you did a great job.
Now not only did I get this great scarf there were a few other goodies in the box.

In action 


There was this wonderful handknitted facecloth made of cotton chenille with matching handmade soap which smells divine. Also tucked in there was choclate and posh choclate at that, I have been very good and have only eaten the one piece so far I'm trying to eek it out.

Face Cloth and soap 


Thank you so much it was a wonderful parcel.
Oh and before anyone asks yes I have been to the hairdresser and no it will never look like that again.
Well as I couldn't get to Liberty tonight I thought I would attempt to spin yarn like PluckyFluff and this is the result.

Its very Pink 


I know I need a little more practice, the main problem is that I am quite proficient on my drop spindle so going back to spinning chunkier yarns,not sure what I'll knit with it as there is only around 30m. It was fun though.

In the hank 

Sad Day

I'm sorry this is not going to be a cheerful entry, I thought I was doing really well, it was seven months yesterday since I lost Robin and I had an ok day, unfortunately when I got into the studio I found one of my hamsters dead.
From what we can work out one of the tubes collapsed overnight and she had fallen off the table and the shock had killed her. Thankfully the other one (kim) isn't very brave and hadn't even left the cage . I know it doesn't seem a big thing in the scheme of things but to me that little hamster was very important to me.

The one good thing that happened today was my edgy exchange parcel arrived and it is fantastic, I promise to post photos and blog about it tomorrow when I feel better and show it with the enthusiasm it deserves.

PS Can the wonderful person who was my edgy pal send me an e-mail as I would reallly like to send you a personal e-mail too

Popping In

Just a quick entry this morning before I dash off, had a nice day at Silkwood yesterday even with an argument with a ticket inspector about the fact that there is no ticket machine or permit to travel at Barnes Bridge.
As ever wonderful day surrounded by colour and bunnies and just to prove that my photos don't always work out here is the problem with photographing bunnies they move !!!

missed 

Fingers crossed

I seem to be having a blogger problem as my page doesn't seem to be coming up, so hopefully if you are reading this then I've fixed it.
Just a quick post this morning as I'm off to Silkwood today for some fun.
Just to prove I occassionaly work here is my growing stockpile of kits all waiting for patterns.
kits 


Can you spot yours Little Lixie
Here is a close up of one of the new skeins

close up 


This is the first patchwork square for my tumbling blocks quilt.

patchwork square 


And look I've finished another dish cloth yes I know its the same as the other one, but I really enjoy this pattern.

dish cloth 


Yesterday was quite busy, as normal I youth club in the evening so had a lot to prepare including all the invites that the kids started last week for next weeks pizza and prize night, the really disappointing thing was I don't think any of the parents will come, never mind we'll make it special.
I did have help in the craft department though, Dan from studio 1 bravely volunteered to come and make books with the kids, he survived and we made some lovely books forgot to take photos though.

Confession Time

So as promised here are my purchases from the last couple of days.
First up my purchases from the trip to a stitch in Time with Kathryn and her mum.
These irst pictures are of some fabric and pattern for a Kaffe Fassett patchwork quilt I've decided to tackle in my own colours of course. Sorry that the photos are a little blurry my camera seemed to have slipped into manuel focus without me noticing.
lilacs and pattern 


Dark purples 


greens 



pink 

Next on our return to the store after a tea break (time for reflection) we returned to the store and we all brought patterns for bags plus fabric. This is my choice its called The Kew Carrier and here is the fabric I think I'm going to use.

bag pattern and intended fabric 


Now for the wool from Loop
Firstly here is the books and patterns I got. The magazine in the front Knit Knit 5 really comes wrapped in that wonderful handspun yarn, plus there is a sock book from Spin Off plus the bobbie bear junior pattern

Books 


here is the rest of the wool I mostly brought singular balls.

Illusion and Amelie 


tartlette and truffles from K1C2 


Jam from K1C2, Illusion from GGH and Lane de nord 


Blue Sky Alpaca 



With a couple of the yarns I couldn't wait till I got home to start so incorperated them into a project I had started from the yarn I found in my home stash so I had something to knit for the journey which I think will now become my winter scarf I think but who knows but the two yarns you can see in the back ground is GGh's Velour and Knit One Crochet Two Truffles which I really love.

latest project with some more yarn from Loop 


close up 


Did a little more dyeing today but it was so hot it was unbearble to do too much, I also worked on the two washcloths I have on the needles. I did find this website and am considering maybe putting some of my photos on there for sale maybe a postcards or greetings cards. What do you think. Also thinking of setting up an afternoon knitting group in Barnes maybe on a Tuesday afternoon, any takers? Maybe once a month or something.
Poppy and Michelle in disgrace as woke me at 4:30am this morning and again at 5:30am but this time managing to spill a cup of tea all down my bed and on some of my knitting patterns, so sorry no pictures today.

Hide those Credit Cards

Ok so after such a long day yesterday I decided to take it easy, I had considered going to the Knit Flicks but just couldn't face the journey but did decide to go to the opening of Loop.
I have to say the two buses and four trains (the journey planner again was faulty) were so worth getting there for, it is wonderful. Its half way along cross street set back a little with a lovely deck outside, very convinient to sit an knit on.

Beautiful store front 


The whole store is beautiful with a wonderful selection of yarn (more of which later) they are balanced with a wonderful collection of handmade goodies that all inspire you to want to pick up your needles and try something new. Plenty of space to see everything and wonderful people there to help you. Also the kind of people who aren't to pushy and aren't phased if you seem to have the strangest mix of yarn in your arms. They also seem to have plenty of stock which is always a blessing. Its always nice to walk into a store and be offered a glass of champagne.

wool wool and more wool 


Ok back to the yarn well I only went to buy a couple of balls( I know that was unlikely) and I promise photos of purchases tomorrow have run out of daylight today.
They do stock GGH ( Ibrought some Illusion, Amelie and velour),Knit One Crochet Two (I brought some Jam,Tartelette and some Truffles which I have fallen in love with) Blue Sky Alpaca (I brought baby bobbie bear pattern and enough 100% Alpaca to knit one I couldn't resist) Fair Trade Frog Tree Alpaca (in gorgeous colours), Laines Du Nord (I brought some Amerino), Debbie Bliss, Noro and Colinette plus lots of interesting publications a few I hadn't seen before. The highlight of the day for me was to actually see some Pluckyfluff yarn in real life and to find that they stock their new book (I resisted temptation). I will definitely be returning and anyone who wants to take a trip up there with me let me know any excuse to return it was fantastic.

theres a downstairs too 


I suddenly realised why I liked it so much was that there was good quality yarns that don't contain wool, as though who know me know I can't wear pure wool. I feel another project coming on.
Kerrie was there from Magknits with a familiar chaperon with her,

beautiful boy 


isn't he cute. Plus Little Lixie she'll be sick at the site of me and quite a few other knitters I've met before it was nice to see the knitting community supporting a new shop.

The journey a lot better on the return due to the silverlink to be back up and running so although the long way round at least I had a seat and could knit.
Exhausted but happy.

Oh and to answer Mary's question, Sue Morgan was the recipient of my edgy exchange.

Where to start

I have had a really busy last two days so I am going to do this in two entries just to keep some sort of order.
First thing Friday morning I ended up going to my wonderful (kind of local) Patchwork store 'A Sticth in Time' to meet up with Kathryn and her mum, I was in such rapture being surrounded by all those beautiful colours I forgot to take any photos, Bad blogger, but I promise to put up pictures of all the things I didn't go to buy but did, tomorrow as I left them in the studio as I rushed back there fed the hamsters and started the journey up to the British Museum to join up with pther london knitters to welcome those who have travelled down for the knitting and crochet Guild AGM.
British Museum 


Now my plan was to arrive a little early and have a quick wander around just because I haven't been there in years. Of course none of this goes to plan, the internet journey planner wasn't working properly so I read all the warnings and decided to got to Hammersmith to start the journey and thought I would ask the information desk there for help. As I know my feet were bad I didn't want to walk to far so I had found out that the number seven bus could be caught from Tottenham court rd to outside the museum now because of all the bombongs I knew that they may be diverted so I asked, the answer oh yes all buses are running so I asked for further advice and he said 'I'm sorry luv unless it runs out of this station I can't help you'! Now don't get me wrong I think that London Transport have done a fantastic job to get up and running so fast but was a little fustrating when getting to TOttenham court road find the number seven is now terminating here, and as I slowly crisp not a cab in sight, eventually end up on Gower street (don't ask) and I get a lovely cab.
The court garden restuarant is at the top of the Norman Foster Tower and is wonderfully cool and the light is fantastic. Me and Little Lixie were the second to arrive and found the joys of handmade pink lemonade to much to pass up. Lovely and refreshing. We were soon joined by many others and I am not even going to attempt to name everyone, I'm sure if you look at the photos you will recognise the odd face.
more knitters at play 


knitters 

Having looked at the photos properly I seemed to have missed a table sorry Dawn and Jill they were there honest.
great concentration 

Including this one.
blogger to blogger 

The journey home was far better, a lot less stressful especially with a detour via borders to see what magazines they had in and then another small detour for a comforting ben and Jerries icecream for the journey home.

Happy Day

What a wonderful day I had, Little Lixie came to visit and brought pressies not only did she bring Millie's Cookies (how did she know that they were my weakness) and she also brought me pressies from the Hand Weavers Studio
Look Presents 

There is some dyed silk in front and some camel and some Yak, I can't wait to get the angora off my drop spinner to give it a go.
We ended up doing some dying I had some yarn to dye for a Yarnsmith Order and Lixie brought what I think is DK hank of wool with her. She ended up with the most beautiful hank of yarn that looks like a sunrise, she also dyed a hank for the order in beautiful lilacs and pinks.
Hard at work 

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the afternoon as my batteries ran out in my camera. But trust me that yarn is orange and pink with a hint of red.
It was so nice to have company in the studio especially someone who loves yarn as much as me.

I also heard from my edgy recipient today and she was very happy with the finished bag which means I can now post pictures.
Finished Bag 

I know what was all my whinging about, it was all that plain stocking stitch I've never been very good at doing something plain.
close up of edge 

I'm glad she liked it though as I assume everyone else does there is always a sense of self doubt.
I also recast on the peacock with the four ply I got from Get Knitted this morning (pictures when I get a little further on).
I rounded off the day witha selective gathering at Libertys just a few of us this evening and I almost resisted the sale but did only purchase for my SP5.
And to finish off my day perfectly I got home in time for 'House' forget Big brother this is my new must see.
Finally a couple of pictures to prove I do actually have two cats At rest a rare sight 
( the second is not so great but shows how large Michelle has got).Fully streched out 
Look I actualy managed to get collars on both of them

Frog Day

I did do some knitting yesterday well some frogging, I had already started the Meredith Glover Peacock Face cloth pattern suggested by Yvonne on Sunday but this is what happens when you drink and knit.
Before frogging 

This is after me having already pulled out five rows and still having no idea what went wrong and decidingthat actually at the rate I was going it was going to be quicker to start again. At least I'd done the most difficult bits so next time it will be a breeze :) I thinkk I'm going to wait till I get some 4ply cotton to do it in as it was going to turn out a little large.

Also the hamsters had a spring clean yesterday and I decided that the blue table I painted that was going to be my ironing table has now been designated the hamster table as I couldn't quite fot my knees under it.
luxury apartment 

See what a great job Mark did designing a whole new layout for the cage it will keep them amused for hours.

And finally the cats well we have just introduced them to collars we are having a few problems this si a picture of Poppy saying 'collar what collar, I haven't seen a collar'look no collar 

I'm a lucky person

Look what I found when I got to the studio today, it was a wonderful parcel from Mary G.
Parcel contents 

The parcel itself smelt divine from the wonderful clematis flowers she enclosed which she had sent me a photo of yesterday.
close up on flowers with postcard in background 

And this wonderful piece of ceramic she made, it already has pride of place on a piece of pink leather thonging.Isn't it beautiful 


The postcard (which of course I've left at the studio) is of some wonderful purple knitting this was all surrounded by all the information I needed to get to Cold Spring Mill I feel a visit coming on.

Thank you so much Mary it was a wonderful way to start the day.

Edgy Finished !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry no knitting photos today but the good news is that I finally finished edgy and I am just off to the studio to parcel it up and send it. I have taken photos and will post them when I know that it has been recieved.
I'm doing quite well for knitting this week as I finished sewing up a jumper for a friend, I did my dishcloth and I finished edgy that has to be a record for me.
I have cast on another dishcloth but not as happy with the design, its another circular one but unlike the last one its not worked from the centre out you work it round in wedges, I'm not finding it as challenging maybe I need to frog it and find another pattern.
I have a new addition in the studio a beaded curtain,
new edition 

I got so fed up with those big buzzy flies getting caught in the studio. While I was in Hammersmith I brought a couple more bits for my next SP5 parcel.
Oh the other thing I found yesterday was how wonderful handmade sloe gin is, no its not a tale of debauchery just had the one small glass but it was lovely.

Thank you Dawn

Just to prove that I occassionaly do some knitting :) I took up Dawns suggestion and did this Dish cloth last night
One Wash Cloth 

its the double flower cloth by Yvonne Hussey, Nice and simple and quick to knit, I think everyone will be getting washcloths for christmas.

Fair Day

What a strange couple of days its been, is it my imagination but are people being far more polite than normal and actually talking to one another.
On Friday it would have been Robins birthday so I had taken poeples advice an had arranged to be doing something so I had arranged to go over to Silkwood for the day, I had to think about this a little after Thursday not that I was worried about travelling, I think growing up in London I have kind of become a little, I don't know how to describe it its not tolerant of these kind of atrocitys and I can't say that one ever becomes used to them but I don't find they stop me doing anything. That sounds like I don't care and nothing can be futher from the truth, I don't know I'm just rambling now. What I was trying to say was that it wasn't fear that made me consider not going but I knew that the transport system was going to be having a bad time especially in our area although well away from the incident it seemed to have closed down most of our tube lines and I didn't want to add to the chaos so I decided to wait until after ten so all those who needed to get into work could go, in fact the only problem I had was with the traffic booth the bus and the trains were more or less empty, in fact had a carriage to myself on the train outward bound from Clapham Junction, and on the train to Clapham there were a few very frightened looking passengers.
I did have a nice day at Silkwood though, as always I was well fed and looked after, we tackled more colour cards which is terrible because I keep seeing new colours that I want to buy. So a couple more pictures to add to their website. We decided that neither of us had the energy to tackle the basement and any dyeing so we had a nice relaxing afternoon chattinng and winding wool. The journey back was uneventful and found my brother had been released from hospital with enough insulin to fill the vegtable tray in the fridge.
Although I didn't go to Get Knitted today I went to our local fair, now this sounds very quaint but thousands of people turn up and there are hundreds od stalls.

Entrance to fair 
Now being Barnes its not just a BBQ and beer Tent for food the most popular stand as ever is the Thai Food stall.
Queue Look at the queue we had to stand in, I think it took us about twenty minutes in the end but was worth the wait.
I didn't spend to long there as I find all those people a bit much, it gets very crowded but is good fun and has been going for as long as I've been alive, in fact some of the stands have been the same since I was born. Its an interesting mix of craftsman (lots of jewellery) and bric a brac and Tombola and thankfully we had good weather as we all got very wet last year.
There was a little knitting a couple of stall of nice handknitted garments, not sure in which country they were hand knitted looking at the prices especially as they were silk,

Jumpers 
sorry the picture isn't so great but couldn't really get a lot closer.
We also had a climbing tower this year, I wasn't tempted.

bandstand 
I did buy a book about crochet. And I got a couple of cards of trimming for £2. There was some yarn on a bric-a-brac stall but the price was too high.
I also purchased these,

Plant 1 
now don't ask me what they are but I think they go nicely with the Aloes I got last year which have doubled in size

Plant 2 
and they only cost me 30p so even if I kill them its not the end of the world. Any advice on them greatfully recieved.

Guess the cat 

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who let me know people were ok, it made a big difference especially as we had no phone service till around four o'clock this afternoon which was about the time I finally managed to get in touch with the one last person who I know takes the route via Liverpool Street to work in the morning at about that time, thankfully he decided to go in early this morning to get some work done.
I was also touched like Yvonne at how many messages I got from overseas checking to see if I was ok.
Hope you are all home safe and sound.

button 

Everybody Ok ?

What a way to wake up to this chaos I thought this kind of situation had finished after s.
pending most of my life worrying about IRA bombs and being evacuated more times than I wish to think about from buildings and my life being changed by the explosions at Hammersmith Bridge and Sheperds Bush. I hope that all of you who work in London are ok if you get a chance to drop me a comment to let me know you're ok I'd be grateful (you know I worry).
It seems a bit trivial to talk about knitting after that, but if I didn't it would mean whoever has coordinated this attack would achieve what they set out to do.
So firstly this will give you a laugh whilst hunting through my stash to take photos (inspired by Little Lixie) I came across my first attempts at socks also it clearly demonstartes how bad I had sss (second sock syndrome) so Wooly Warbler should not worry you can be cured
Ok This was my first ever sock yes I know I didn't start with something easy and yes this was before I found proper wool and yes there is no way it would fit anyone.

First Sock 
This was a second one in some ghastly acrylic colours, if I remember rightly I did this while doing Jury service (well the first week)

second sock 
This is what I did in the second week, I feel I may have missed a repeat in the foot as it looks incredibly short to me.

lace sock 
I didn't do a lot of knitting yesterday as it didn't go a whole lot better than the day before, My brother got taken into hospital in the morning after being diagnosed with Diabetes and having such a high sugar level that he has already been given Insulin, he suffers from Addisons disease and has to take steroids for life and apparently this is what has caused the Diabetes not that anyone has mentioned this could be a possibility in the past. So I found a way of shopping without spending money I remembered that my phone was due for a free upgrade and look what I got,

New Phone 

yes its pink, I can't work most of it but at least it has to stop turning itself off like my old one.
Then I ended up meeting Yvonne up in Borders in Charing Cross Road in theory for starbucks double choclate cheesecake we were out of luck though as they didn't have any but did manage to pick up the latest Knit and Style and although it has the normal awful patterns there were a couple of interesting ones plus an interesting article about enterlac.
Well at the moment it doesn't look like I'll be heading for Liberty tonight but as I say I hope everyone is ok

I've been sorted

Ok so I had to remove the quidzilla quiz about what knitting needle I was as I can't shrink the image so I got myself sorted instead, Not sure I agree with the result as I think I'm more a hufflepuff



be sorted @ nimbo.net

We Did It !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in an olympic city, I know there are problems with it but what a chance for all our kids to see what the world can be,

We Did It 

Be warned Rant alert

As promised here is visual evidence of my progress with Delta I am glad to say didn't work on it today otherwise would have had to frog that as well.
I know it doesn't seemed to have grown 
Decided definitely having an off day, firstly my printer gave in the ghost which is a bit of a pain as I have quite a nice one plus it has my scanner init too. So I headed down to the studio and the heavens opened so no dyeing so started to tackle some knitting and every single sticth I knitted I had to undo.
So cutting my losses I decided to take a bus up to PC WOrld to buy a cheap printer as I have a lot of patterns to print. I have to say this is never my favourite place, to start with being a women they tend to treat you like you know nothing, well in my case this maybe true (except possibly digital cameras) but I usually know what I want. Well I thought while I was there I'd have a wander round and see what special offers they have on as I keep thinking about a new laptop as this one has a really nasty crack across the screen , I can't really afford it but for a good deal I would try and find the money well I saw a couple of interesting possibilities but decided to start with what I came in for the printer. So I finally managed to drag an assistant towards the printers and away from flirting with her colleagues only to find she had no idea so she got another assistant that treated me like I was wasting his time, I hasten to add this meant there was no way I was buying a laptop from this jerk, I ended up answering my own questions by reading the box took the printer and went to check out upstairs, sometimes I wish I wasn't brought up with reasonable manners. It got a little better upstairs as I did find a very useful assistant who patiently explained the difference between all the rewritable cds ( considering taking part in the CD exchange) and found me some cheaper inks than the ones the guy got me downstairs. So my bank account was saved.
It didn't get a whole bunch better, I got onto a full bus with printer in ahnd managed to find somewhere to hang onto but ended up next to these tourists who were very lucky they got off in a couple of stops, now usually I have a tendency to look out for tourists having spent a bit of time travelling on my own and being very greatfulfor help from locals but this guy just kept moaning about how inefficient the bus service was and that there were to many stops, I was very good as I nearly turned round and pointed out to him that his home country didn't even have a proper bus system and if he was 80 years old and that one short trip between bus stops was the difference between being able to buy your own supplies and staying independent and not then he would also be grateful for our wonderful bus system (he was obviously a car driver). Ok so I'll stop going on now going to settle down to watch Shrek 2 hopefully to calm me down a little

Picture Free

Sorry no pics today as I ran out of daylight.It has been a busy day.
I managed to add a few inches during Live 8, what a great concert my tension definitely suffered from singing whilst knitting and I also forgot how to do the buttonhole that Debbie Abrahams taught us so am not to happy with the first hole but really am not inclined to frog the 315 stiches to get back to it. At least it doesn't look like a pair of flippers any more.
Had a few mood swings yesterday they are quite spectacular at the moment at one moment I am on top of the world the next moment at the darkest depths I know it sounds like a cliche but there is no other way to describe it.
Today wasn't to bad spent most of the day with Jacqueline discussing knitting always good fun and then it was off to youth club putting my other hat on for the evening, I have to say that the kids are never any trouble but the other adults don't even get me started at least only three weeks to go until the summer holidays in which case we've agreed to a sleep over ( I thought I'd given those up) so spent the rest of the evening with Carol in Pizza Express trying to work out several alternative plans depending on weather and minibus driver availability. They all want to go rock climbing but we will see but we thought we might take them llama racing in which case I'm sure they must have some wool somewhere on the farm(added bonus).
Tomorrow I plan to finally sew in the lining in edgy and some dyeing but I have learnt never to count the chicks before the eggs have hatched.
I'm in charge 
Look what I found bonus Poppy Picture

poppys afternoon nap 

Live 8 day

So the plans for the day is to watch the concert from beginning to end knitting all the way. I missed most of Live Aid due to an enforced shopping trip with my mum and only a small portable in her flat at the time. So no political message from me but please take your time to check out the website for making poverty history and make up your own mind.
Knitting news well heres the progress on the cardie not bad if I say so myself the bootom border complete and about to cast on the extra stiches for the button band,
Delta cardie  I know it looks like a piar of flippers at the moment but thats just the garter stich pattern border distorting it.
Look what Kim gave e yesterday its one of her new prints shes working on for an upcoming show. Its all hand printed and foiled on Suede.
Kims Print Its gorgeous.

To answer some questions the sundaes were huge and yes Yvonne did say that photography was banned but I'm sure that I could have just sneaked a photo, don't feel to guilty about the icecream as we worked out it had been exactly a year since we had the last one.
And to what I am going to do with the capricorn coloured Silkwood in fact I was very good and just made do with stroking it and will probably buy some in the 4ply and maybe attempt some socks.

Confessions

ok I'm back kind of refreshed even after being woken up at seven this morning when a certain two kittens attacked my feet to tell me they were up.
So on Wednesday morning wasn't good for varying reasons which seemed to coincide with Yvonnes bad morning so we joined forces early in the afternoon at Harrods at the Ice cream bar, I have to say as a temporary pick me up I can highly recommend one of their sundaes admittedly mmaybe not be good for the health if you had it every week but once a year. Now Yvonne is a spoil sport as she wouldn't let me take pictures of them but they were amazing. So after picking up a few bits in the sale including some of my favourite perfume at half price we treated ourselves to a cab to Liberty.
This is where it goes down hill as you know I had planned just to buy some Jaeger Shetland in the sale well I did get two packets of the grey in the same dyelot

part 1 
but then I saw the Polar (another yarn they are discontinuing) and I love knitting in this yarn two so I ended up buying up a pack of Fizzle and a pack of Smirk I couldn't resist and they will probably go in the kits.

Part 2 
I also then picked up a few bits and pieces some Rowanspun 4ply to parctice some more Fairisle and some cork to also add to the kits although not my favourite yarn I like the subtlety of the colours.
I had a great evening with all the knitters and my intention of leaving early went out of the window and in fact left a whole hour after my normal leaving time.
So it was a little bit of a struggle to get up for an early start yesterday but its always worth it to visit Silkwood, what more can you ask for but to be surounded by wonderful wool and fluffy bunnies.
I got to visit the baby bunnies who are growing fast
Amber and baby 
see more pictures on their blog tomorrow and then we spent a wonderful day starting on the new colour cards
colur cards I think we have narrowed it down to 48 reproducible colours plus unique yarns, unfortunately whilst doing this I fell in love with one of the new color ways.

Capricorn