And finally the finale

Ok so the show is almost over and I am reaching that oart of a four day show where I am running on empty, don't get me wrong shows are exciting but I have to say by the fourth day all I want to do is curl up and sleep. I have enjoyed meeting a lot of bloggers though, some of whom I have previousley met but a couple of new faces, like Anerella whose stitch markers I couldn't resist pictures on Monday) I have brought acouple of other things like the Jan Eaton Crochet Squares book which I was lucky enough to get signed (thanks to Les I was too much of a coward) as she was at the show on Thursday and she is a really nice person, its not as though I expected her to be awful but sometimes some authors I have met don't want to speak to anyone but she had time for everyone.
Here are a couple of pics of the show at its quieter moments, in fact a couple of them while the show was still closed.

downstairs

Mostly cross stitch

the stand opposite

We have eyed up those sofas and reckon if we have a quick nap on them we can still see the stand from there but those inconsoderate ladies from coates and their customers keep sitting on them:)

look who I caught on camera


This is creations stand, the shop I used to work for and who do I spy in the frame?


Andy comes over to join me tomorrow evening, so he is going to be welcomed by a worn out wreck to wheel me home to flump after we have eaten out. Then its a couple of days at his before taking teenagers off to Carritey wood weekend, oh what a wild life I lead!!!!!

Show time

Ok so Olympia is fast approaching and kits are being wound, even Andy got in on the act with some Inspiration Threads helping me wind eighty of those bundles, and even brought some of the kits here to wind all ready for next weekend.
Yes I am here back in Essex, I seem to be spending a lot of time on the district line at the moment, and this is ok if I can get a seat because it means I get some knitting done, but unfortunately this is not always the case, and yes I know I can knit standing up but its difficult if you are also trying to balance a badly packed suitcase at the same time :)
So I did finally manage to catch up with Tess at Silkwood, also with a couple of people I know who are opening a new knitting store who had come across to buy some stock (can't tell you anymore I am sure that all will be revealed soon enough). We managed to finalise the show plan for the year (check out Silkwoods blog) and when I am staying or not.
The stash at Andy's is growing, I managed to get hold of some Anchor magic cotton for some new face cloths at a good price thanks to a link by Daisy Chains, I now have two baskets on one of the window sills full of knitting and wool (will photograpgh if I remember) and still all is well, have located a couple of empty cupboards that may be able to store some more ;)
Unfortunately didn't get to either knitting group this week due to preperations for Olympia but hoping to get to at least one next week, if not I hope to get a chance to catch up with a few of you there.

Ok time to explain

Sorry to all of those who looked at my blog today and just saw a random collection of pics, I remebered this morning that I don't have the facility to post pics here in Essex on the blog but had taken a whole collection but didn't have time to put them all in a post as well so I will now try and put that right.

First up are pictures of some of my gains from Skip North, there will be more to follow.
First up were these my finds at Cold Spring mill

cones


Two cones one of Aztrakan (I never can spell this) and yes if you look carefully you can see the great bargin it was. The second cone I haven't got a clue, it seems like a wool core with what I would describe as a halo of synthetic angora, so for the large sum of £5 I purchased this rather large cone to experiment with.

fun yarn


These were just three balls of interesting acrylic to add to kits that I found (there were a couple of other little purchases but as they are pressies can't really post pictures of them).
Then we are off to Skep

sock yarn


First up were these two balls of sock yarn at 50p a ball!!!!!! I think this is because there is a slight defect in the dyeing and there is the odd whit blob where the dye hasn't merged properly, but I actually quite like that and at that price. Now I was almost out the door with my purchases and was quite pleased with how restrained I had been when Fred found some balls of this

Green Yarn


much to both of our relief bob from Skep managed to find some more so we both managed to buy enough for our projects so it wasn' knitting needles at Dawn:)
We of course next went to Bombay Stores where I didn't buy a single thing, not that I wasn't tempted, so next stop was the KCG, just the one picture (so far)

undyed


this is some undyed Opal Sock Yarn for me to have some fun with:) And on we move to Wingham Wool, in fact I had to get this lot sent to me as we were running out of room in the car,

Niddy Noddy


This is my newly acquired niddy noddy, something I have been needing for a while ( and yes I do mean needing rather than wanting) this is accompanied by some wonderful dyed tops in many colours.

And last but not least a picture from my day trip to Camden

camden

A Proper Post

So finally a proper post for the week.

Knitting wise I managed to get to both of the knitting groups this week, although I was a little late at Putney but I was still harbouring this bug (which is still lingering) but glad I made the effort as I always find something to inspire me, they were of course intrested to hear all about Andy, people will get fed up eventually but while they still ask I can whitter on to my hearts content :)
Actual knitting, well there hasn't been much this is how I know I really don't feel well as I couldn't concentrate even on a simple garter stitch scarf, I have started to work with the yarn that texere sent to me that wasn't what I ordered combined with some of my hand spun for a new kit but I think I am about to rip it out as I'm not happy with it, although I have found out that Andy's mate chris was well trained by his mum as he sat there quite patiently while I wound both yarns from hanks into balls. Other than that knitting wise it has been a quiet week.

We did get to go to Lixies and Poochs engagement party last night and had a great time, we met Ruth and Tom and Ann from the Golders Green group so some knitting talk took place, plus some champagne drinking and ice cream eating before getting back just in time to catch the last bus.

As for the Andy update, all still going really well and am still in that heady happy stage, my only concern at the moment is my stash, well since I spend quite a bit of time at his place, the odd ball of wool has turned up (and I do mean one or two) and he already seems to be worried about their existance, maybe thats a bit strong its more like that they just appeared and sit there so we went out yesterday and brought a container to keep them in, unfortunately I still don't think he quite understands the stash thing and how they breed like tribbles let alone the having more than one project on the go at any one time (mind you I know lots of knitters who don't understand that). We will see what happens I guess and don't get me started on the duvet sharing debate lol.

Another self obsessed post

I know its been a while but I promise a proper post later and I might even mention knitting:)
In the meantime here is yet another meme where I have forgotten where I saw it but have a go (Iknow it is a little American).

Check those things that you have done

( ) snuck out of the house
(x) gotten lost in your city
(x) saw a shooting star
(x) been to any other countries besides the united states
( ) had a serious surgery
( ) gone out in public in your pajamas
( ) kissed a stranger
(x) hugged a stranger
( ) been in a fist fight
( ) been arrested
( ) done drugs
(x) had alcohol
(x) laughed and had milk/coke come out of your nose
( ) pushed all the buttons on an elevator
(X) kissed in an elevator
(x) swore at your parents but never to their faces
( ) kicked a guy where it hurts.
( ) been to a casino
( ) been skydiving
(x) broken a bone
( ) been high
( ) skinny-dipped
( ) flashed someone
(x) saw a therapist
( ) done the splits
( ) played spin the bottle
(x) gotten stitches
( ) drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour
(x) bitten someone
(x) been to Niagara Falls
(x) gotten the chicken pox
( ) been to Japan
(x) ridden in a taxi
(x) been dumped
(x) shoplifted
( ) been fired
( ) stole something from your job
( ) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend "I SWEAR those pants DO NOT make you look fat. And by the way, I love your new haircut!"
(x) had a crush on a teacher
( ) celebrated mardi-gras in new orleans
(x) been to Europe
( ) slept with a co-worker
( ) been married
( ) gotten divorced
( ) been pregnant
(x) saw someone die
(x) been to Africa
( ) Driven over 400 miles in one day
(x) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(x) Been on a plane
(x) Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Thrown up in a bar
( ) Purposely set a part of myself on fire
(x) Eaten Sushi
( ) Been snowboarding
(x) Met someone in person from the internet
( ) Been 'moshing' at a 'rock' show
( ) Been to a moto cross show
( ) lost a child (miscarried)
(x) gone to college
(x) graduated from college
(x) taken painkillers
(x) love someone or miss someone right now

Young at Heart

Ok now you see I thought I was a grown up, well what I always imagined a grown up to be, I guess a little like I don't know like those middle aged middle class couples you tend to find in english situation comedies, well I here to say I don't think I am ever going to be like that especially whilst I was wandering around Camden Market yesterday with Andy and his son. I hadn't been to camden since I was a teenager and hadn't had a great experience, all I remember is the crowds of people and just getting very dehydrated and feeling unwell and my mate getting fed up wth me so it was with a little trepidation that I set out yesterday that and the fact that I seem to have a stinking cold so was also dosed up to the eyeballs, but as soon as we got there it was great, a real visual overload for my brain so many things to see all at once, at least as we went a little late in the day it was reasonably quiet walking from the Chalk Farm end but by the time we started looking in shops like Black Rose and Cyberdog I was like ohh thats a great spiked gauntlet and that hair dye is just the right shade of pink, I am obviousley never going to be that sensible dresser that I feel I should be aiming for and am definitely heading for the Zandra Rhodes path as I don't think I can resist and turn to the beige side :)

On the knitting side I crashed and burned on both Olympic projects but I have to say what I have experienced/gained far outweighs any success I might of achieved but I do promise to complete both projects and have already turned the heel on one of the socks and knitted the head on the peacock face cloth.

I also brought some of the new Natural Silk Aran from Rowan to play with but actually wasn't very impressed and really not enjoying knitting with it and there are even some places in the ball that I feel tht might snap with a bit of wear so I am making a pair of handwarmers just to see but I don't think that I will be buying yarn for a jumper as planned.

Photos to be added later.

Book Meme

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won’t, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you’ve never even heard of.
As I don't seem to be able to underline I will place a star by those on my book shelf:)
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown *
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger*
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams*
The Great Gatsby – F.Scott Fitzgerald*
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman*
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J. K. Rowling*
Life of Pi – Yann Martel*
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story – George Orwell
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon*
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen***
1984 – George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J. K. Rowling*
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold*
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte*
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien*
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte*
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Dune – Frank Herbert

Moving Mountains (well yarn ones:)

Ok so I have finally got around to blogging after a wonderful weekend away at Skip North at Haworth. Although a little on the chilly side it was wonderful, t started earlier for me as of the ridiculous time in the morning that me and Lixie had to depart to make it on time I was kindly invited to stay over with her and her intended Pooch who cooked me some wonderful pasta and then Alex spoiled me with choclate torte, this gave me the sugar rush required for me to tackle the maps!!! Now you have to understand that Lixie doesn't drive all the time (we rented a car) and I don't drive and unless it is on a bus route I have no idea how to get places so this meant an interesting challenge. So at half five in the morning me and Lixie dragged ourselves out of bed and went down to the car with our luggage and this was the point that we realised that it would be fine if it was just going to be us in the car as we almost filled the boot between us and the equipment. So having no choice we headed off for our first pick up (Jane) up and right a bit after the blackwall tunnel (told you my map reading was good :) and managed to arrive in our time slot without getting to lost or cutting up to many people when changing lanes at the last minute. I have to say at this point how badly sign posted London is, I never realised this until I start trying to navigate a car round it, there were at least two junctions where the sign were only visible once you had passed the turn off and many that weren't sign posted at all so I was quite suprised we managed to get to Laura's in time with only a few "head that way at least it's in the right direction" comments from me.

Outward journey


After repacking the car, mostly around poor Jane and Laura we started our journey proper and after a couple of stops later (tea and choclate, well alright also a full cooked breakfast I was on holiday after all) we arrived with a small detour across a mountain. I have to say I haven't laughed so much on a journey before, my ribs just ached by the end and then I had to concentrate on the buisness in hand.

The Youth Hostel looked amazing both from the inside and outside, I must admit to being a little wary as my experiences from my childhood of youth hostels weren't great but this surpassed any expectations, the only thing we didn't take into consideration were the bunk beds, now twenty years ago I might, and I say might, have managed to haul myself into a top bunk but alas no more, and I have to say much to the relief of the person who would be in the lower bunk, but after a little jiggling we managed to accomodate everyone. We did find out (and a couple of the people who joined us at Skip North that there is a nice hotel dead opposite the youth hostel who were quite happy to work things like their breakfast times around the youth Hostels so it gives us a few different options for next years weekend (yes the date has already been set details to follow).

So the first bit of buisness was the workshops which were a combination of drop spinning, felted flowers and stitch markers where some fun was had all round, even if it started a little late,

Drop Spindle


this was paused half way through for tea and cake, a lot of the wonderful people had brought home baked cakes for us to share (I especially had a passion for Liz' ginger cake and demolished a fair bit of it). We then finished the workshops and I managed to find my room, despite the two flights of stairs the veiw was worth it, I was in a small room tucked under the eaves which meant I had to be a little careful waking in the morning as there was a good chance that I would knock myself out if I sat up to sharply but the fact that I could lay in bed and watch the stars though the sky light was wonderful.

view


After demolishing a rather wonderful meal (thai curry I'll have you know, no sausage and beans in this youth hostel) we managed to frighten the group of teenagers who were also staying in the hostel out of the TV lounge and settled into an evening of Knitting, Chatting and all round merriment, slightly lubrictaed with a little sherry and wine and of course chocolate, there were many olympic knitters amongst us and I did take my peacock face cloth with me and poor Jane and Liz pent the entire evening sitting either side of me listening to me counting and swearing, I had intended on an early night as we had got up so early but I found myself still sat in the lounge at around 11pm with Isabella and Shona having a giggle.

Now Saturday was the shopping day of all shopping days, now looking back maybe we tried to fit a little too much along the way but all I can say is wow what bargins we found. Firstly we went to our last minute arranged visit to Cold Spring Mill

Cold Spring


who had just recieved some new cones in and I managed to pick up some Cashmerino Astrakhan at some ridiculous price and some unidentified cone which I have yet to play with. So after a bit longer stop than we allowed for (we didn't take into consideration how long it would take to check our goods out) we headed off for The Skep which I had almost managed to get out of with a whole two balls of space dyed four ply for socks at £1 when Fred managed to spot some wonderul pure wool DK in a lovely mossy green so after a bit of a hunt Bob managed to find some more and I managed to come away with 15 balls admittedly it did cost me just £14. So we had a quick drink in the local pub

pit stop

and headed off to the Bombay stores which was an amazing shop and we really didn't have long enough there but it was full of the most amazing fabrics and beads and clothes and shoes......I could go on, me being me at this point had started to become a little stressed by time and ended up not buying a single thing although was incredibley tempted by the jewellery.
Our final stop of the day was the Knitting and Crochet guild who had organised an open day for us, I do have to confess now that before I arrived I had no intention of staying as my experience of the guild in the past has not been great especially after a couple of run ins over teaching styles but they were wonderful, they made us feel very welcome and had some wonderful things to show us from the collection and they of course had all there stock there,

Chaos at KCG


now I knew about the wool mountain at a penny a gram but had forgotten about there other wonderful stock of knitting things, so I cam away witha pattern that I had admired on an american website for a triangulat modular cardigan, two skeins of unpainted opal sock yarn, a hair pin lace tool and some odd balls in green and pink to experiment with. At one point the guy who was trying to take payement for all the items seemed to get a little ovewhelmed, but I have to say I think I may now going to join the guild as the conversations I had with the ladies there made me feel a lot happier about there attitude to knitting.

Sheep


So we returned to Haworth once more for another fun evening and I was no earlier to bed lol but had given in any hope of finishing the washcloth so I decided upon a glass of sherry instead and some hairpin experimenting.

Sunday morning and off we go to Winghams, it is a bit of a distance from Haworth but it was so worth it Ruth welcomed us with open arms and had things all set out for us and had opened early especially for us which was wonderful, this place was my down fal though, every nook and cranny is filled with something interesting to look at and the one and only thing that I had on my shopping list for this weekend was some trinoble nylon (I know the spellings not right but brain is starting to freeze after such a long blog) and that is the one thing I didn't buy lol, but I did manage to pick up a much needed niddy noddy which I hope by the time I get back to the studio will be sitting on my door step.

So on our return to Haworth we had tea and cake and some wonderful show and Tell which were all truely inspiring I am now in the look out for a wool twister and more lace weight yarn. Also me and Lixie learnt how to refill the water in the wind screen wipers. We bid our farewells (and my thanks goes to LIz for our emergency supply of green and black for the journey home).
On the journey home we managed to make good time and arrived back at Lixies at 11 rather than the midnight I thought it was going to be. Thank you to everyone that made it such a good weekend, it was great fun and roll on Skip North 2007.

I promise to post pictures a little later as I am at Andy's at the moment for a couple of days of R and R and can't down load my images yet.