Socks

Look what I got, yes its my Sockpalozza socks
they came all the way from the USA and have had a bit of an ordeal looking at the packaging in fact the whole parcel arrived in a Royal Mail plastic bag, pictures later but for now feast your eyes on these.

These where knitted for me by Laura and I can't believe this is her first ever pair of socks, she also included a few treats including yarn and sweeties pictures to follow, we haven't quite got this picture thing sorted yet. But many thanks for these they are perfect and fit perfectly. 

Progrees and Evidence

I have just been over to Pilars site and have found this lovely picture of my finished sockpalooza socks so just to prove I did actually finish them here is the proof. I also sent her a postcard of Richmond an address book which perfectly matched the socks in colour and a hank of Silkwoods new sock yarn.

I have tackled the garden a little further and as suggested given both of the butterfly bushes a drastic hair cut, I also met my new neighbours who happen to have the most wonderful organic garden and actually landscape for a living and lent me the proper tools to attack the bushes with. Hopefully now that my computer is here I might be able to take pictures tomorrow and post you the latest look weather permitting.

Reid is going well although after casting on and knitting a few rows having expected it to come up a little smaller than the pattern it is huge so I went back and checked the label on the yarn I brought to find I had accidently brought DK anyway so all is well. 

Close Up

Thank you Sue and Mary for the advice here is a close up of one of the trees, sorry not the best I know I'll try and get a better one with my own camera later.

We are off back to Barnes tonight for a little more packing so will be able to download some of the pictures from my camera.

Knitting wise I have done my swatch for Reid from the 4ply as I was worried about the tension as people had been talking about using DK cotton to knit it in but my tension is pretty much spot on with my 4ply and I am even using a smaller needle so maybe my normal tension has loosened up a little. 

My new found eden

So here is my inherited garden,
  

now anyone who knows me knows I do not have green fingers, now I like the idea and enjoy being out in the garden but the back garden back at home was just too large for me to even sart on as when we arrived it was under a tonne of brambles and tangle weed. Now as you can see from the pile of cuttings underneath the arch I have already started to attack the plants as although the garden is in reasonable shape some of rthe plants need some drastic trimming, and I know it isn't probably the right time of the year to do this but I kind of feel I need to get control of it and if I leave it till later in the year there mat be no going back. There is also a nice little gravelled and paved area behind the arch where eventually with some luck on e-bay we would like maybe a table and chairs or a bench something to go and just sit in the garden. I really like the two trees either side of the arch( not sure what they are any suggestions welcome) but in the past someone has attempted to grow a rose over the arch but it is either the wrong type of rose or they just gave in and before I trimmed it back it was about a 9ft leggy bush so have cut it back rather aggresively so fingers crossed.
As the move continues I keep adding a slightly girlie touch to the flat and there where three things that I insisted that we needed to get, firstly a mirror, we now have a very nice wood framed mirror hanging in the bedroom, number two was a fruit bowl, I eat a lot of fruit and my theory is if it is sitting there in sight that I might just eat that instead of something more naughty.
And this was my final request   
an egg holder, I have no explanation for this what so ever just needed one, isn't it cute (sorry for the poor picture I am still learning how to use Andy's camera).

Couple of pieces of knitting news I can now reveal the new yarn shop I was alluding to about a month ago, go check out knitaround for further details I can't wait for it to open. Secondly my sockpalozza match has got her socks go and say hi to Pilar here. If you are the person knitting for me do not worry about me not mentioning recieving my socks its just I haven't been to the studio this week and am very excited about going there on Monday.

fully illustrated

Good news Andy has solved the problem of posting pics on my blog, isn't he great now all we have to do is be able to download the pictures from my camera and we will be set. This means I can finally post a picture of the wonderful crochet hook travel case that I won from Knitotherapy.
  
Its fantastic and even has a little zippered section down the end for the cutter she added as an extra bonus. All the money she gets from her ebay sales are going towards her fundraising for the race for life cancer research which of course is a cause close to my heart so go and check out her new sales
here
Over great news is that me and Andy won a new three piece suite for 99p on ebay yesterday now all we have to do is find someone who can drive a van and we're away. Slowly but surely am moving here the stash is slowly appearing and when my wheel is here then that's it. I have found my new local yarn store in Dagenham heathway and have made my first purchases some very pretty 4ply lilac cotton for the lovely Reid pattern from Knitty I haven't decided upon the edging colour just yet, I might try and be good and see what I have in my stash.

More knitting news is that I managed to get to Liberty last night to meet up with my fellow knitters and fell in lust with several things firstly Big Girl Knits I fell in love with this book especially as most of the patterns in it I can just knit no getting out the graph paper and the calculater and the first two chapters of information are worth their weight in gold. The other possession of Yvonnes that is on my wish list (when the budget allows) is the wedding ring shawl the quality of the pattern was well worth the price which was what was making me hesitate about ordering it but now I've seen everything that goes with it including enough of 5 or 6 sample yarns to do a swatch I think its a real bargain.

A weeks notes

Ok I know its been another week or so since my last post but the week didn't quite go as planned, I went back and did the final two days of the adoption placement training on MOnday and Tuesday two really long days which not only left me physically exhausted but also emotionally drained as a lot of the last two days were spent investigating your relationship pattens and your attachment history, this is of course essential when adopting and as they say it is not to stop anyone adopting but to give you some indication on what areas you might need to be aware of. Well as I expected it showed me once again my childhood wasn't great, I could have told them that lol but it does take it out of you dragging everything up again but it has made me realise that there are a few things that I am going to have to deal with. To start with they spent a little time talking about life story books that all kids in the system of adoption and fostering have now and I think because I was about to redo my family photo album as it is in one of those awful sticky albums that have lost its stick but I think I might incorporate it with my art journals and try and make more of a scrap book maybe with some of the stories behind the pictures.

Onto more cheeery things knitting wise I have finished my sockpalozza socks and they are all ready to go in the morning, hopefully I'll get to post a pic in a bit but blogger is misbehaving a little at the moment same with a couple more crochet squares that I have finished.

The other fun bit of knitting news is that Silkwood have finally found a reliable supplier of sock yarn and I have managed to do the first couple of samples today so when they are dry then I'll post a pic, but the yarn is taking the colour well and it has the all important 25% polymide to 75% wool so can't wait to see more of this stuff dyed up.

Andy did get a chance to come and stay with me for a couple of nights this week which was fantastic and much needed, its amazing how quickly you can feel lost without someone when they are not around.

Unfortunately I had a bad night here last night as I discovered one of our bunnies had died, I have had pets all my life and have seen a few pass away but it still doesn't stop it being upsetting especially as it is not mine and I had to make that phone call to tell Tess, the only thing that made me feel slightly better it doesn't look as though she suffered and it must have been reasonably quick as I had only checked on her the hour before and apparently even if I had found her still alive there would have been nothing I could have done but it made for a very bad nights sleep all round I think.

Catch up time

I am back and sort of awake, here I am sat here at Silkwood installed for the next week or so having had a couple of really mad days where I having getting up at 5:30am feeding the rabbits including Marge (more of later) tending to the rayburn and dressing at least vaguely smart and then joining the rush hour crowd at 7:15am heading to Isleworth. Now anybody that knows me knows how well I do that time in the morning especially with no time to boil the kettle for a cup of tea, well its all in a good cause I have been attending and adoption placement traing seminar (I hasten to add not for me) with a friend who will make a fantastic parent. Now I've learnt a lot over the last couple of days and at times it has been quite emotionally draining but have met some amazing people who are going to give some kids a much needed loving home. The day doesn't finish till around 4:40pm and it means then dashing back again in the rush hour, I remember now why I could never do that everyday, to feed the cats pray that the rayburn is still alight and then the rabbits and I have to admit after all that all I can manage to do is crawl into bed. SO not a lot of anything else happening but to day after I fed the rabbits and crawled back into bed for a couple of hours nI managed to finish another crochet square and a a little more work on the sockpalozza sock.
The most exciting things about the bunnies at the moment is this
baby bunny

yes we have babies they are just a little bigger that an egg right now but are venturing more and more out of the nest they are so cute.
aren't they sweet

And this is marge who is here breifly on a quick holiday and because of her size has to be let out for a walk a couple of times a day and here she is over seeing the feeding this morning.
MArge

Unfortunately due to certain heating engineers he isn't able to join me on this trip and am finding it very strange not having him around, when I'm with him I even eat normal meals at normal times. He also managed to find a band called the knitters and actually downloaded me a couple of tracks (of course I haven't remembered to bring them with me that would mean me being organised) and when I was ill last week he went out and brought me a Simply Knitting magazine to cheer me up what more can a girl ask for.

A Pic or two more

Firstly this is the yarn I spun a couple of weeks ago. doesn't the green organsa remind you of grasshopper legs?

preying mantis


This is todays completed square (this is square 11)

thank you so much for all those lovely comments about the last lot of squares, I am not a great crocheter and only know the basics but I am so pleased with the results. I think I want to make at least one of each of the circular patterns in the book to make the afghan so it may end up looking a little crazy looking.

Todays square


And this is the stash that I have managed to invade Andy's flat with so far, I thought I was quite restrained myself but I think that it is breeding slowly :)
Stash


And finally yes this is a complete sockpalozza sock

Completed sock

Glorious technicolour

Ok I know I know I haven't blogged in a while but I have been struggling to blog without images so be warned I am now installed at Silkwood for a couple of weeks and can post images to my hearts content so this first entry is going to be a little photo heavy.
First up is the picture of the wonderful Lodge we stayed in at Carroty Wood,

hornbeam house


Unfortunately as normal I can't post pictures of the kids for obvious reasons but I can't wait to return to find out how they remember their weekend away.
Next up are the wonderful earings that Annarella sent me to match my stitch markers, they are absolutely perfect.

annarella earings


This is the scarf made from my hand dyed lace weight and hand spun hopefully to be turned into a kit.

scribble lace


And this is Wendy's Knitwit knited up, now I ordered this online, just one ball just to see what it was like only to find when it arrived no instructions, so thanks to Yvonne I managed to knit this on larger needles that suggested and even so there is no way that two balls will make a scarf. Not sure what I am going to do with this yet.

experiment


And before my sock mum asks here are my sockpalozza sock, well sock and before she panics I have actually got further than this in fact this one is finished and the second one is on its way.

sockpalozza


And finally this is my signed Jan eaton book gained at Olympia
book

And here are my first squares made mostly from Silkwoods 4ply, a few more to go before its finished :)
afghan square1


afghan square 2



Afghan Square 3


More later

Aaagrh

Its been one of those days already and its only half past eight in the morning, I've been up for an hour feeling decidely green, I think from the takeaway we had last night, I would have stayed in bed but for some reason I ended up on the wrong side of the bed last night which means I end up sleeping on the very edge for some reason, we think it must be on a slope, and couldn't get comfortable and I didn't want to disturb Andy as he hadn't gotten to sleep till late so I thought I would get up and go and lay on the sofa but bless him whilst I had slept last night he had unpacked the remaining bags we brought from my house last night in neat little piles on the sofa. So I am sitting here trying to catch up on blog land including Sue's new blog and trying to order these wonderful needles from spinning on the edge.

I also tried yesterday to post some pictures on here twice with no success and I had even remembered to take pictures of my knitting to show my progress.

And to finish me off completely I seem to have gained a rash down both of my arms, now I have been getting little patches in the last month but by this moring it has travelled the length of both of my arms and is incredibly itchy, I think it is down to stress as I seem to be living out of a suitcase at the moment and I guess when everything has settled down it will subside.

Good news though I did some spinning yesterday (obviousley no pictures) but it looks a little like a preying mantis.

Teenagers, knitting and A+E

I know its been a while but have been a little rushed off my feet, I'll try and remember everything in order, so I came back from Olympia and had the kids on Monday night, I think I may have been a little to tired for it to be honest, had very little patience and probably wasn't the most popular person with the kids by the end of the night, Andy faired a little better as he has started (when he can)coming along with me and help out on a Monday night. This of course did not bode well for the upcoming weekend, more of which later.
I then had a couple of nice and relaxing days at Andy's to recover fully which was wonderful, the plan was that I would return home Thursday night to pack for the weekend but then Andy got offered free tickets for Thin Lizzy and you will never guess where it was, yes just across the bridge from me at Hammersmith so after a bit of rearranging we headed back to mine and instead oof a peaceful evening packing for my weekend away we were stood seven rows back from the front of the stage which was amazing. Now you have to remember that the last concert I went to at the hammersmith apollo was David Essex so this was a whole different ball game lots of middle aged men in black and no queue for the ladies (for a more music based review of the show check out Andy's blog) some what disappointed by the merchandise, of course not a single T-Shirt to fit, no big suprise but apparently its unusual for there to be programmes now so brought nothing back except my ticket stub and no hearing for at least a couple of hours to amusement of both Andy and my brother (also Andy)
This did mean of course that I had one more night with Andy before the big youth weekend, so after packing the basics on Friday morning at home and a quick coffee in Hammersmith Andy headed off and I headed to the studio to pack the rest of the equipment.
Not sure how much I have explained about this weekend away before, it started out as a weekend for the youth Cafe that the women that runs our youth club is involved in and which I pop my head into occasionaly, I had vountereered to go along as I have done a few of these things with her before but with, how should I put it less challenging kids, the offer of a bed and ensuite shower definitely helped as we are usually on the floor, well it ended up being opened up to some of the members of the junior club that I work in so there was I last friday on my way to Carroty Wood in Kent with 24 teenagersand eight adults. First of all can I say that if anyone is in the buisness and takes groups away I cannot recommend this place enough, the staff are amazing, the activities are fantastic and the actual lodges and settings are perfect, yes they aren't the cheapest we have ever been to but so worth it having experienced various options for this kind of weekend it is such a luxury to walk into a properly equiped kitchen. This last bit was all important to me as it had been agreed that I was on cooking and counselling for the weekend, well seemed a little pointless to send me to the climbing wall!!!! No actually this is my usual role because for some reason I may not be able to cook for two of us but 32 is no problem also being one of the most experienced youth workers there it meant that if any of the kids had a problem at any time they knew where to find someone.
The cooking itself got a little stressful, not due to the kids but a couple of our inexperienced volunteers wound me up, now I take equal blame in this as I know sometimes because I have done these weekends for around 15 years I forget to communicate exactly what I want but I have to say by the third day of this kind of trip I just need help that will do what I ask not try and have a half hour discussion about everything I ask them to do, besides this slight annoyance I had some wonderful one to one moments with the kids in the kitchen, I think probably because the one thing that most people have are shared memories of food whether it be preparing it with your parents/grandparents or favourite meals it kind of means that you have a common ground to talk about that otherwise might not be there. They did do some amazing activities though from a high ropes course to archery, of course they had there moments and I think in the end I had a couple of hours sleep friday night and maybe four hours saturday.
Now for the grand finale, we had all survived the weekend and the adults had just managed to get the place looking like we found it and had the kids in the mini buses when we decided that one of the kids who had been unwell all morning was getting worse and was now starting to show all the classic signs of appendicitus and we decided the only course of action was a visit to casualty, in the end I had to call 999, now on the couple of times recently I have called 999 I have had a really difficult time, now I know why they have the system in place that they do to stop time wasters but the only time I call 999 is an emergency, so I am sat there with technically a minor in so much pain he is trying to vomit and can't even stand and I am being told from the answers to my questions he is not a priority and that a paramedic will call me within the hour. Its safe to say that I was not impressed, thankfully he called wthin five minutes and they sent an ambulance fairly quickly after that but I just felt very frustrated as there was nothing I could do to help this kid who was in absolute agony. Ok rant over, I just have to say I have nothing but praise for paremedics but it was just the answering service that just didn't seem to get the importance.
So with the only adults with there own car had already left I was the only person left who could stay with this child, so there were we stuck in the Kent and Sussex A and E in Tunbridge Wells with all the rest and my luggage heading home. We actually got seen really quickly and they were great with him and after a few tests a kidney infection was diagnosed and we were discharged. Now I know I am not a parent and I guess maybe I would understand better if I was but we called this guys mum as soon as we knew that we had to take him to hospital, now if it was me I would have been in my car and heading straight for the hospital, not in this case, which made my return journey even nore trouble as I thought ok I am going back to Andy's anyway I'll just take the train to Victoria and take the district line from there, instead I end up coming all the way back to Hammersmith to hand him over to his mum before heading to Andy's, I wasn't impressed. So I am still without my luggage so Andy T-Shirt collection is being raided and not a scrap of make up anywhere. I did end up back here around eleven and after a shower and a fish finger sandwich I collapsed in bed and to be honest haven't moved much further since as my body is having its revenge for me over doing it, I seemed to have hurt my right hip and my neck, probably from lifting the catering pans, or just lack of sleep and my feet and lower legs are swollen and for the first day today they are not sore to the touch so the swelling is subsiding. I did mange to walk to and from the local shop today but thats probably as far as I am going to manage for a couple of days yet, so my apologies to the Puney Knitting group I think I'll be missing again.

On a happier note I found a wonderful parcel waiting for me in my studio on Friday, as I said in my previous post I brought these wonderful stitch markers from Annarella at Olympia, well she sent me earings to match I was so thrilled, they are so me all pink and spikey, they just made me smile.

Knitting wise, I am still workig on Jay walkers for my sockpalozza pal, nad I have also done a few more crochet squares from the Jan Eaton Book but my hands have been a bit to sore to do to much sincce the weekend which is a pity as I am just sitting most of the time but I am reading and have finished 'My Friend Leonard' James fey's follow up to A Million Pieces which I loved even with all the controversey surrounding it and have started bothe the Antipope by Robert Rankin and Janet and John by Alan Miles, a story told in two halves from two different points of veiw.

My plans for next week include trying to get my wheel over to Andy's as I miss it a lot especially in the evening when he is concentrating on his music and especially as I see all these people around me taking up spinning and I am feeling the itch in my fingers, so if you see someone on the district line next week with a spinning wheel be nice to me especially if you see me struggling with the stairs at Barking or Becontree stations!!!!

Oh and hopefully I will be able to drop a few photo's into this entry on my return to Barnes.

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.

Quick Note

ust a quick note to say hi before I head off to Skip North WooHoo !!!!!!!! So bags packed and ready to go and am about to leave for Lixies but thought I would drop by and post a picture of my man (I know cheesy) I guess I am still in the wonderful moment when you meet someone and it is just right, not necessarily explainable so I trying not to analysis it and just go with it. Fingers crossed.
Andy


Oh he did ask me to point out that although he know what a knit stitch is he is not a knitter lol.

On the knitting side have got a little done but I am not going to finish my socks for the olympic challenge but am determined to finish the face cloth :)

Knitting Honest (well mostly)

Ok knitting first before the soppy stuff :)
I finally managed to post the pictures of the yarn that I am using for the sockpalozza/olympic knitting socks.

Finally


Its Lorna's Laces Desert and is absolutely beautiful to work with, and here is proof that I have been doing some work on them

The start


I have actually got further than this honest just while the going was good with posting pics I thought I would go with what I had.
I also managed to do some dyeing today, I forgot how heavy wet wool is, two batches were a reasonable success but one is truley hideous and willl have to be over dyed, but I have finished the fibre for the drop spinning class at Skip North and a few little extras.
Les and Tess are back tomorrow after what sounds a reasonable weekend away at a show and so far the raeburn is still lit and all bunnies and cats accounted for :)

So I guess a bit more of the soppy stuff (will understand if you don't read on) so the weekend has gone well have not got on each others nerves (well he hasn't got on mine anyway ) even though we can't really go anywhere because of the bunnies, so now we see what is to come, still scarey and I think will be for a while as both our histories are interesting and leave us both a little, well lets just say interesting :)

Smiley Happy People

Ok so still knitting giggling and smiling (ok not so much knitting), I am back at SIlkwood for the weekend with all the animals and the now infamous Raeburn but even its temepermantal outbursts can't wipe the smile off my face at the moment. I am going to let you into a little secret, I've met someone (no not just anyone:) he makes me feel like a million dollars, well I could go on and on but wouldn't want to bore you in that sickenly sweet way that I could, suffice to say that he is here with me at SIlkwood for the weekend and hasn't once flinched when I have addressed a rabbit/cat/raeburn and engaged them in conversation, and he can even knit :) A little scared, I guess this is normal for everyone, but very very happy.

So now I have that off my chest (I've been wanting to share for a while) back to the knitting, ok so my olympic knitting not going so great have been slightly distracted but both projects are on the go and have done most of the complicated bit of the peacock wash cloth.

Hopefully will get a chance to do some spiining and dyeing this weekend fingers crossed depending on the weather but warm enough at the moment.
Hopefully will post some pictures later

Update

Ok quick update of last two days.
smile knit smile goggle smile knit wind smile cough smile giggle knit sniff giggle smile knit sing smile knit giggle cough smile panic swear smile type smile cough panic smile cough giggle cough giggle smile giggle smile cough knit knit cough panic worry sniff cough giggle giggle hot smile knit knit smile type.

Finally

Ok have just finished a nice little post starting with a couple of sentences of how I thought I'd fixed my computer then it went and eat my post :)

So lets try that again, ok so maybe I haven't ironed out all the problems with the computers but it is definitely better.

Also for all of those that have been asking the bunny is doing well and is eating and drinking happily.

So first wool shot

This is Lornas laces desert from Get Knitted for use for my Sockpalozza socks, I am thinking of attempting Jaywalker but will see what the yarn does in that pattern, I know that I had loads of yarn that I could have used but these colours are so right for my exchange pal.

Talking of Olympic knitting so the flame was lit last night and well I didn't get a lot done lol, I've been a little distracted (in a good way) in fact have been a little distracted all week really.

Ok so no picture for some reason blogger this morning is having a bit if a problem as it just lost all my links as well never mind have to head off to the studio to wind some kits so I'll try and post a picture or to later.

Final Day here

Ok have a little more time now for a longer post.
Look its still lit


Yes its still going, touch wood still 24hrs to go but looking good so far. I know it only seems like a small thing but it is so out of my normal reality it seems like a huge achievement to me. Talking to Gill the other day she said that I may be having more problems than normal because of the bad weather and the different air pressure?
This is my poor little bunny,
Sick Bunny

I'm sorry that the image is so dark but I decided she probably didn't need the flash going off in her face right now poor thing.

I also managed to do some knitting yesterday, I once more attempted the fish on my shawl and then had to undo them again, frustrating but the good news is that by the time the Pianist had finished (more of which later) I had worked out what I was doing wrong and have finally managed to get the first two rows correct and am about to settle down in front of Time Team to see if I can get the next row done.

Ok so i watched the film The Pianist for the first time last night, I know a little later than anyone else as I seem to be unable to go and see a movie recommended by film reveiwers I have no idea why and it is even worse if it has won an oscar. Well I was pleasently suprised and was really moved by the film except for the last twenty minutes which seemed to be missing something, I think I am going to have to go and find the book as I know that there is only so much you can fit in the space of a film.

Ok and finally just because they have been missing for a while here is a kitty shot. This is Morg whose favourite trick is everytime you pass by it rolls on ots back to show you his tummy it is very cute.
Cat Pic

Rabbit Update

Good news the bunny survived the night and has actually started drinking on her own and has even started to eat some of her dried food, she still isn't herslf but definitely a lot brighter than yesterday.

Vet in training

Ok so still no pics but have found out the right slot for the memory card so fingers crossed tomorrow.
I haven't managed any knitting today either, in fact I haven't achieved much, I do have a good excuse though we have a sick bunny, we think it may be wool block (listen to me I think I'm a vet) but basically its because when the angora grooms itself it obviousley ingests some of its own fur and I guess because it has such a long coat sometimes it becomes like a big fur balll which bllocks there insides up completely. So heres an image for you, me the city girl attempting to pick up a sick rabbit gently tipping it on its back keeping hold of it and trying to give it a dose of Liquid Parrifin Emulsion, all I can say is that I am glad that it was a good tempered bunny by the second time I actually got more in the bunny than down me, the other side effect especially in this cold weather is that they stop drinking so I a also trying to feed her a glucose solution, I am on a very steep learning curve but she seems a little brighter this evening and was nibbling quite happily on some dry bed last time I checked on her so fingers crossed we will see what the morning brings.
We won't talk about the Raeburn.
And all of this and no choclate in the house.....

Chilly cats

Ok still no pictures, I will get my act together eventually but have been busy fighting with the damn Raeburn that has decided to have a strop today in fact I thought it had gone out this morning, just as the snow started to fall!!!! After a lot of loving tender care I managed to resurect it but its just started to play up again. I am not sure if its the direction of the wind or what but I feel it could be a late night.
I didn't manage too much today between the antics with the raeburn it took me a little longer with the rabbits too as I have found it is impossible to wear gloves to feed them in the morning as they just end up stuck to the food or the hay or the straw and it was so cold this morning I had to come in after every eight bunnies to let my hands warm up a little as they were becoming painful from the cold. It seems to have warmed up a little this evening so not such a long job but as it is still cold I have all the cats inside, its like having an audience everywhere I go. In fact Pickles was most upset when I had to move him to sit down.

I'm Baaacckkk

Sorry about the brief intermission yet more computer issues but happily now settled in at Silkwood for the rest of the week so I even get broad band.

Thank you so much for all my blogaversiry I was so chuffed and I have done the draw and first out of the hat was Dawn followed by spuk 113 so small parcels will be in the post soon, so look out for an email from me to check your postal addresses.

The second fantastic bit of news was the arrival of some books and magazines that I got from While you were sleeping one is Paper Scissor Cloth, a magazine that Sue introduced to me a while ago but have been unable to get hold of without difficulty here and a book I had been looking at about altered books now if those two weren't enough she added a bonus of Creative knitting and it almost made me break my no new casting on until something is finished I really am going to make the spiral needle holders. Hopefully I will put the pic up later but am still working out which hole on the card reader my memory card goes in lol.

I also treated myself today and made my way over to Charlshalton Craft, I have managed to put off a visit since I stayed here last and it is still as nice as I remember and brought the odd thing (ok maybe a few things:). SO now its back to the cats and rabbits and of course the by now infamous raeburn which I cannot really let go out in this weather as it is absolutely freezing here at the moment.

More tomorrow