all hands on deck

So I survived a long day at The Royal Chelsea
Hospital at the Interior design show, the picture shows Dan and Eric hard at work putting up the stand on Friday with the beautiful wall paper in the back ground (I have to say if you need any pictures, paper, mirrors or fabric hung these are the guys I've seen them work miricales) we were extremely busy all day and that combined travelling in the rush hour meant my feet and knees were the size of balloons on Wednesday but back to normal size now.

The move is still going as planned, Andy's mate is getting a van and we have plans for the whole weekend and the best bit is that I am working, probably the best idea as I get very stressed when moving, far more than nessecary so the plan is I go to work in the morning at Stash and return to our new home in Romford.

Ingrid has started using the yarn I dyed for her go and check out her great scarf here.

More knitting news later. 

Film List

I pinched this from Andy's blog but have added an extra bit I have italliced those films I haven't seen all of

On Channel 4 they ran down the top 100 films as voted for by the viewers and so I thought I'd list them here, the ones in bold are the ones that I've seen (I have seen some of some of the others but not seen them all the way through), anyway here they are:-
1. Star Wars (1977) / The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
2. The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
4. Pulp Fiction (1994)
5. Some Like It Hot (1959)
6. Gladiator (2000)
7. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
8. Blade Runner (1982)
9. Schindler's List (1993)
10. Goodfellas (1990)
11. Psycho (1960)
12. Jaws (1975)
13. Apocalypse Now (1979) Have seen the heart of Darkness though about the making of the movie
14. One flew over the cuckoos nest(1975)
15. The Matrix (1999) Understood the first film got more and more confused as the series went on
16. Casablanca (1942)
17. The Usual Suspects (1995)
18. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
19. Citizen Kane (1941)
20. Raging Bull (1980)
21. ET (1982) I saw this when it was first released up on Leicester square when I was 11 and I cried all the way home much to my mothers annoyance.
22. Taxi Driver (1976)
23. Life Of Brian (1979)
24. Singin' In The Rain (1952) In fact have probably seen all of this just seemed to have watched it in bits
25. LA Confidential (1997)
26. The Wizard Of Oz (1939) Every Christmas for years as a kid used to be terrified by the flying monkeys
27. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
28. Kes (1969) Haven't seen but loved the book
29. Vertigo (1958)
30. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
31. Fargo (1996)
32. Gone With The Wind (1939) Always get bored about half way through
33. Trainspotting (1996)
34. The Full Monty (1997)
35. The Graduate (1967)
36. Alien (1979)
37. The Silence Of The Lambs (1990)
38. Withnail & I (1987)
39. The Great Escape (1963)
40. Toy Story (1995)
41. The Third Man (1949)
42. Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994)
43. The Sound Of Music (1965)
44. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
45. Deliverance (1972)
46. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966)
47. Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)
48. Chinatown (1974)
49. The Exorcist (1973)
50. Annie Hall (1977)
51. The Italian Job (1969)
52. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
53. The Jungle Book (1967) The first film I ever saw at the cinema
54. Titanic (1998)
55. Jean De Florette (1986) / Manon Des Sources (1986)
56. Dr. Strangelove (1963)
57. Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
58. The Seven Samurai (1954)
59. A Matter Of Life And Death (1946)
60. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
61. Secrets & Lies (1995) I love this movie, it is so moving a beautiful study of people
62. Blue Velvet (1986)
63. La Dolce Vita (1960)
64. Spartacus (1960)
65. Metropolis (1926)
66. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
67. King Kong(1933)
68. Get Carter (1971)
69. The Searchers (1956)
70. The Seventh Seal (1957)
71. Don't Look Now (1973)
72. Brief Encounter (1945)
73. M*A*S*H (1970)
74. The French Connection (1971)
75. Top Hat (1935)
76. The Producers (1968)
77. Three Colours: Blue (1993) / Three Colours: White (1993) / Three Colours: Red (1994)
78. Cabaret (1972)
79. Goldfinger (1964)
80. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
81. The Gold Rush (1925)
82. High Noon (1952)
83. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
84. The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)
85. Enter The Dragon (1973)
86. Breathless (A Bout De Souffle) (1960)
87. Ice Cold In Alex (1958)
88. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
89. The African Queen (1951)
90. The General (1926)
91. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
92. Way Out West (1937)
93. Henry V (1944)
94. Easy Rider (1969)
95. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
96. Belle De Jour (1967)
97. The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
98. The Terminator (1984)
99. Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960)
100. Do The Right Thing (1989)

I don't think I did as bad as thought I would as usually I consider myself not really a great film watcher.
I also think of some that I would have added to the list
1. Awakenings - With Robert De Niro and Robin Williams have watched it many times and I still end up in tears
2. An Affair to remember - Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, the perfect saturday afternoon knitting movie.
3. Holiday Inn - Always try and wrap my Christmas presents whilst watching this one
4. Muriels Wedding
5. Educating Rita - I so empathised with this movie when I started Uni I kept thinking someone was going to find me out and tell me that it was all a big mistake and that I couldn't possibly have thought that I was supposed to be there.

Thinking about it I could probably make up my own one hundred, how about you what five movies would you add?

Sock Wars Update

So here they are all finished and complete, yes my
Sock War Socks , after a bit of a shakey start poor Yarn Monkey got all caught up in Hurracaine Gordon so has a few technical problems we were up and running late Friday Night.
We had a reasonably busy day in Stash on Saturday so no real knitting done on them then but the first was finished by the end of the day. The second one after a bit of a delay (notably sleep and a veiwing appointment for the flat, who didn't turn up by the way) I started on the second yesterday afternoon and by half midnight all but the grafting on th etoe of the second sock was done so now I am just sitting here waiting for an address, my assasin has already contacted me and have sent her mine so I think my assasination is iminent.
So while I sit here and wait for an address here are a few things I have found on the web recently.
I listen to a few knitting Podcasts but have just found Lime and Violet and really enjoyed the relaxed nature of this podcast in fact at one point it made me laugh out loud on the tube, I know they have just put up a new issue.

I am also considering knitting these from slipped stitch she has some great patterns.

I had an interesting time on Friday at the interiors show at the royal Chelsea hospital I got to catch up with a few people (pictures later) but this is the stand that I will be working on on Tuesday so if you are going pop by to say hi.

I also keep meaning to blog about cut out and keep, I recently recieved her Zine with a free gift which is great do check out her website though it has many many great crafty ideas on it. 

Dye Day

I had a wonderful time visiting Silkwood yesterday, I actually got a chance to catch up with Les and Tess and not just pass each other between shows and with Tess' help I managed to achieve the colour I wanted on a hank of yarn for a friend, it took us about four hours in the end and lots of samples, I also managed to dye a bit more sock yarn for Ali Pally.
Knitting wise I got to the nubs on the swalllow tail and resorted to a crochet hook and have nearly finished the third chart. Also I am all ready for the sock waes tomorrow even though I have to go do a job but at least it will have a bit of a commute so good knitting time. I am all prepared to go out in the first round of this game but its great fun and I get a pair of socks out of it.
Andy unfortunately isn't feeling to well as we think he has an ear infection, luckly he managed to get to see the doc this morning who have given him some antibiotic spray but apparently since he has moved to this flat his ears have been playing up, feeling all clogged and such but every time he see's the doc he doesn't seem to think its anything!! We will see what the move does to it and possibly a new doc:)

Here goes nothing

So here it is all being well this could possibly be our new house, we have a rough move in date but as Andy says until we physically have the keys in our hands nothing is for certain. I have to say that it needs a lot of work but it sounds like the landlord doesn't mind what we do with the place as long as we pay the rent unlike where we are now where we can't even put a nail in the wall to hang a picture.

What I do love about the new place is the fact that there is a field at the end of the road. Unfortunatley because of where it is it has meant we have had to give our notice in at the youth club as it was going to take us about three hours to get there involving three buses a train and a couple of tube trains, it is really unfortunate as the numbers are starting to increase but they understood our reasoning and we will work until half term so giving them a little time to find more help.

My back is still a bit achey if I do too much but off to Silkwood tomorrow for a bit of dyeing fun.

Did you remember that it was talk like a pirate day?

Wonderful suprises

Look at the wonderful suprose I found at work
for me yesterday, it is a wonderful hand knitted jjumper from Mary, apparently it turned our a bit over generous in size for her so she very kindly thought I might like it, she also left me the left over yarn apparently it is a angora, cashmere and lambswool yarn from Shilasdair and dyed using natural dyes. It is as if it has been knitted for me it fits perfectly. The colour isn't quite the the right colour it is slightly more on the blue red side and is wonderfully warm.

I also owe a thanks to Adrienne for donating all the remains from her infamous stash party to my kits and actually dropping it off for me at Stash. Thank you so much.

Look at the beautiful detail in the cuff and hem, not
the great photo I know but there are beads in there.
I am feeling alot more positive now my back is almost back to normal, and we have almost secured somewhere to rent but don't want to say too much about it as don't want to Jinx it so hopefully will be able to tell more n Tuesday.

It was nice to be back at the store yesterday and catch up with friends as it was almost like a mini knitting group as Ingrid was there, Jill turned up as did Dawn and Jan . And of course Michelle and Nathalie were both around to seduce me with all the new yarns and patterns that have turned up in the last two weeks :)

And finally

Just to prove I am doing the odd bit of knitting amidst my moaning here is Swallowtail from IK, I have just got to the stalling stage for me I have just repeated the 13th repeat on the second chart and am tackling it between the ongoing struggle with the comission piece.
I have also just managed to get tension for sock wars after a lot of fiddling around but all ready to stand my ground, mind you knowing my speed of knitting I am going to be out in the first round.

Getting there

Thank you for all your kind thoughts, am feeling slightly
better the back pain has gone from the sharp intense pain
to the burning sensation which usually means it is on the
mend.

This was the wonderful parcel I recieved from Becky that cheered my day. It was part of the swap bots magic yarn ball swap. If you haven't checked out this site yet you should it has some interesting swaps going on and most of them are one off swaps.

This is what I found in the box. 

And these are some of the many treasures I found when I
spent a very happy hour unwinding the ball 

House hunting

I'm sorry for the delay in blog entry but this is the
wonderful choclate I recieved in my lace swap parcel me and Andy have had a great time trying out the unusual flavours, one had baked almonds and salt in and the other was orange, lime blossom and rice crispies.
The sugar has been much needed over the last coupleof days as they have been a little rough not helped by my back still being bad, it started when on Monday night on the way home from Silkwood and on the way to the first night of youth club after Andy had met me at Black Friars I got as far as Hammersmith and realised that I really couldn't go on as I was in quite a bit of pain, this made me feel really bad a s on the first night anywhere you never know what you are going to come across and as Andy pointed out if any kid would have started up at me that night I would have just burst into tears but still felt guilty about it. So we went home and I took lots of lovely pain killers and went to bed well in my case not to bed as I couldn't get comfortable so I ended up sleeping in my armchair.
The next morning we had to get up reasonably early as we had a prospective flat to go and view. Now we were quite excited by this as it isn't far from here, near a train station and had two bedrooms, we only have one at the moment, and the rent was roughly the same as we are paying now. The flat itself had been well looked after and everything was fine except we wouldn't be able to fit the stuff we have now into it even with the extra bedroom it was that small, it was also a little odd it had a set of french windows that opened out onto the car park!!! So we came back home a bit deflated and then I got to the task of sorting out my Coates Account. Over the last three months we have been having a problem with them saying that I haven't paid a bill where in actual fact I had straight into their account in fact, I even had the cheque number but no they still refused to believe I paid so I got a statement print out for them but unfortunately my bank doesn't state who cashes the cheque on the statement ....... and so on and so on until they sent me a lawyers letter over the weekend telling me they were going to send in the baliffs to recover the money so this ended upp with another phone call where they are still blaming me for the money and can't understand why I am having to wait for my bank to trace the cheque, I have to say that at this point she tells me they have been having some trouble with another company cashing there cheques why they didn't tell me this in the beginning I don't know. So after the phone call I've agreed to send them a cheque to hold until the bank has worked out who has this money and in the mean time I am to fax them the statement. By the time I get off the phone I have had enough it is all to much what with the pain the worry of having nowhere to live and now this financial worry I just broke down in tears, Andy was very good though didn't hesitate and took charge and we worked out a letter to send to Coates and more painkillers and telling me that everything will be alright.
So after trawling round most of becontree to find a working Fax machine I sent them this letter and came home and knitted a little and had an early night.
Thankfully the next morning we had a call from Coates they had found the payement but apparently the bank hadn't listed it as a check but as a transfer but they had only worked that out by telling them which bank I made the deposit. So I think from now on I'll be looking for a differnet supplier as this is the second time we have had this problem.
On the house front we spent a good amount of time yesterday e-mailing agencies to see what we could find at the moment the hot favourite is a place in Romford which backs onto a farm! We are waiting to hear about it.
I di have another wonderful parcel yesterday but my back is starting to object to sitting here so will post more about it later.

Look what I got

Am I not a lucky girl, this is not the best picture of it as I would get a better shot in daylight but just had to share how thrilled I was with this and the pattern that Laura chose was spot on its this one. As you can see not too many repeats of the same pattern and only 153 rows :)

I have been very good though as I haven't cast it on yet for two reasons firstly I still have swallowtail still on the needles still on the never ending second chart roll on the 5ptog plus we have just got the yarn and gauge requirement for Sock Wars.

More tomorrow with better pics and more of the yummy stuff that Laura sent me.

I'm so excited!!!!!

Andy has just called me from home to tell me I have a parcel waiting for me witha customs form on it listing yarn and choclate, I can only think that it is my Lace swap pal, I can't wait to get home tonight as it will make my day as I have a a couple of rough days as I woke up Saturday morning witha bad back so haven't managed to do half the things I was planing to do so this willl be a real treat.
The other good news the person that I was sending too, Martha (blogless I'm afraid) has also recieved my parcel and seems to like my choices.
I have a couple of parcels myself to send off this week to start with my magic yarn ball swap.
Knitting wise, before the back went I was making good progress on Swallow tail, and I have completely fallen in love with the yarn, it is so soft I think I'll even be able to wear it.

Skip North Update

Good news so far we have 13 people signed up for the wild wool weekend witha 14th in the wing waiting to sogn up, there are a few more places but not many to go, I can't wait we have some interesting workshops lined up this year, more details closer the time.

This weekend I am at Silkwood bunny sitting with a nice side order of Dyeing. I have already managed to visit Carshalton Craft who originally was a scrapbooking store but has recently started to extend its stock to include yarn what a perfect combination :)

Some Knitting

This picture was from the spanish festival in Regents
Street on Sunday. more luck than judgement as all pictures taken by holding my camera over my head hoping to catch something.

So some knitting things, I managed to dispatch my Lace swap parcel only a day late as I had managed to put the address somewhere safe and I do hope my recipient likes it.

I also signed up for SP9, I've missed the last couple but thought I would try again, I also signed up for Indie Knits Hot Sox swap and I also have my magic yarn ball swap about to happen so have got a few parcels to get ready to despatch.

Knitting itself I am still slogging away at this comission piece and am trying not to be tempted away by soem lace knitting. I also went back to the studio today to pick up a few bits for the weekend and some of my sock yarn stash already for sock wars. 

Almost back to normal Part 2

This is Amilcar (I hope the spellings correct:)
Shi's husband experiencing a Liberty Scone.
It was quite interesting to compare notes as me and Shi are both Fine Art Graduates we find that sometimes we look at things differently and we are both with people who although are creative in there own rite they haven't had the same experiences or training that we have so sometimes don't understand why we get excited by some things, in fact in some cases they see something we produce as wrong because it is not illustrative (I hope this is a word but I hope you know what I mean) enough. I am sure that we are just as frustrating to them especially as both of them are musicians when we don't neccesarily immediatly understand something about a piece of music they are writing, its just not a talent I posess. So it was quite nice to have some one around who understood that. 

Almost back to normal

This is Shilin who came over to visit at the weekend, she now lives in Montreal with her husband (picture in a minute) but we studied together at GVSU in Grand Rapids Michigan in their wonderful art department there and then she did an exchange over here at my university. I think I worked out that I hadn't seen her since 2000 when I was over there visiting so it has been about six years so it was fun to catch up.
Where else would you take somebody for a typical english experience, thats right Liberty's for Tea, this is Shi having a Rose Petal Jam moment. We of course also had a curry, well it is the nations favourite dish apparently which Shi remembered from when she studied here. It also meant we got caught up in the Spanish experience on Regent Street on Sunday, there were lots and lots of people not my favourite thing I have to say but we saw a couple of interesting things and just the experience of walking down the middle of Regents St was quite bizarre. 

Greenbelt knitting

This is the knitting that I started at greenbelt it is a simple pair of ankle socks for me, I am using I think cotton Opal of course I haven't got the label but I know that I brought it from Web of Wool at a show. I wouldn't look to close as I was knitting a lot in the dark and then lost the second part of my pattern prompts that I had written out, my thinking is that I am the only person who is likely to see the feet so if they don't match it isn't a major problem.
I have had to put those down for a bit now so I can concentrate on a comission shawl, its turning out to be one of those projects that caused me to stop doing comissions in the first place so am having to really force myself to finish it. 

Finally for now

So lots of music seen including Daniel
Bedingfield, The Cedars, Hey Gravity,
Nizlopi, Cathy Burton, Mr Fische (in the distance) and lots lots more ......
I guess thats enough pictures for one day more tomorow and a little more about what we've been getting up to 

Hey Gravity

A great music find, Hey Gravity the pead singer was amazing apparently just signed a record deal 

Sancturary

Hot Tea, proper mugs, warm toes and knitting
what more can you ask for 

Sunrise

At last I managed a Saturday Sky, Ok it was
last Saturday at 6am but whose counting :) 

Wands, wigs and wings

By Monday the boys on site seemed to have no problem in expressing their inner selves with a nice range of tutu's nad wands and wigs and wings :) 

Angel Wings anyone

This is the stand that I could have spent hours in given half a chance and probably many pounds but managed to walk away without buying one of their beautiful sets of wings. 

What colour was our tent again?

Our tent is in that lot somewhere it was around about a half hour walk from the main site, it could have been further there are tents to the far left of this picture to and have to say that if we were in one of those we would have spent the day there :)
See if you can also see the Teepees, a consideration for next year. 

Julia

Our tent mate in our rented tent, one of the members from a youth club I used to run now a full grown women (how old to I feel) who came along for the fun 

Hello

Just to prove that I am in one piece I am just going to put a few pictures up from our weekend away, in no paticular order and of course I didn't get a picture of important stuff like meeting up with Anne on Friday to knit or watching John Bell.

This is me blogging looking over the camp site in the Tank in the grandstand