Aaaaaaagh!

I now have internet access but no phone!
A few months ago I received a telephone call from a company who wanted to combine my phone and internet lines, I said no thanks.
They called back and got my son or husband, they said yes!
The company called back, I asked a few more questions, and once more said no thanks, sorry my husband was mistaken he didn't understand everything you said etc, etc.
The thing is, I didn't want to have to deal with more paperwork, everytime we have changed telephone provider, moved house, we have had problems and its me who has to deal with phone calls and paperwork as Jims french is much worse than mine. So the guys in this house harped on and on about changing and the deal was, only if it went smoothly and I didn't have to deal with it all. Well THAT didn't happen did it, we are now on day 4 of no phone, its driving me crazy, what is it with guys who have to change everything, upgrade everything, it almost never goes smoothly and if its not broken in the first place, why change?

Creativa was the usual disappointment for me, I love the craft fair in Glasgow and always find something new to try out, here no.


I did buy a felting kit for something that looks very complicated when I got out all the instructions but should be fun.

I did buy 2 skeins of wool, one is camel and silk and the other is 100% wool in a pretty colour. I would have liked this tweedy which came in aran weight for a jumper but he did not have enough of the colour I liked and I had no yarn amounts in my notebook!

I bought some Tchai tea too which is yummy, just what I need today as its freezing.

If anyone can explain COD and COI in french grammer in any way that helps me understand it, I will send chocolate, thanks.....

Normal service

will be resumed as soon as possible.
Someone in their wisdom decided to change our phone provider which led to a few days of an internetless house.
I promised chocolate brownies and I have lost the photo, it maybe still on the camera, so in the meantime I will leave you with new sock yarn instead, it is very pink but I love it, I am now in a mad dash to finish up the couple of odd socks lying around. I'm off to Creativa (craft fair) to see whats new, this morning, probably nothing exciting though, more later.....

Sew,sew,sew,sew,sew

This weekend I did a little trade with my Mum, she cooked all weekend and I sewed her a new wardrobe. Two pairs of trousers, two skirts and four tops, she is a very happy lady and looks very stylish.


My Mum cooked chilli, tattie soup and roast chicken, cauliflower with cheese sauce and potatoes, yummy, yummy!
Sunday we took a walk to the market and I found two rolls of tie silk, I thought it would make nice bag lining, one roll has lots of different patterned pieces on it. Jamie has his eye on it though, he wants to line a waistcoat with some of it. No pictures of it yet though, soon....

Does being a knitter automatically go hand in hand with a love of chocolate then? Or did I just catch you all on a weak day when the chocolate looked too tempting???? I have pictures of chocolate brownies with Rolos in the centre to post but not today, I'll save that one!

Heaven is....

Chocolate.
Not just any chocolate, this is the very best dark chocolate truffle on tiny glace half mandarins, delicious.

My neighbour has been working in a very posh chocolate shop in the city for the holidays and she brought me these yesterday, unfortunately the boys really like them, so there are none left, just as well really, isn't it???

Ahhhh

Isn't it cute, this is Jamies first finished item home from school, I am really impressed, its very neat. It now belongs to his Granny and I have to wait till he is finished his third item, as one of his friends has already asked for whatever his second thing is. I'll keep you posted.....









So, one skein of Noro Kureyon is not enough for the beret from IK, I was left with 10 stitches to cast off and the little toggle to knit and no yarn left. Nothing in my stash or Mandys matched so I had to make a trip to the Rowan/Noro stockist in town. She of course did not have the right shade so I bought this one and had to take a piece from the middle to match, I quite like this colour so may make another pair of fetchings. My Mums fetching has been frogged, she was having trouble keeping track of the cable with the dark colour, so that Noro is now going to be a beret as she likes mine, picture soon as she is here to visit. She forgot the digestives but did remember the cheddar and the broth mix and butter beans so I will forgive her.......

The knitting bee was fun yesterday everyone has been knitting away over the holidays, Mandy is finished the back of her first cardi and is now knitting the front, its lovely, in her signature green, which was decided yesterday was sludgy green, hmm sounds lovely.....

wip's as art

This weekend was spent trying to get the apartment back to normal after the holidays. The boys went back to school today, yipee, and I went back to french lessons, you know Monday morning really isn't a good day for me to do anything too brain taxing, the grammer is killing me!!

So in preparation for my mum arriving, who did indeed come armed with cheddar and chocolate Hobnobs, I decided the amount of wips lying around needed to be dealt with. So the question is if you find a new resting place for the wip, does that make it art and therefore acceptable to be lying around the living room? Or is it still piles of wool and other crap that really need to be hidden away?



There were a couple of new bags that were just calling out to be used as knitting bags....


And a bowl that shows off the fairisle hat perfectly, I thought....

The fabric pile I did hide away in a drawer as really it is just a pile of fabric I was contemplating, it hasn't decided what it wants to be yet, that is partly because I do not want to make anything to fit me right now as I seriously need to lose a little weight as most of my clothes are seriously not comfy anymore.
The bead pile has been put back on the shelf until next time.
Knitting Bee tomorrow, I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to in the holidays, lots I hope.

Mmmmmmm

The lovely Cara gave me a letter, M, so here goes.

McLellan- this was my maiden name which I kept for 21 years until I got

Married- which I will have been for 20 years this coming Halloween, thats a long time!!

Mother- this I have been for over 17 years and it is a constantly changing, challenging job which I love mostly, though there are days when I want to change my name from "Mum" to something more ME!!

Males- Since being a teenager I have lived in an all male household, except for a short spell with a cranky old female cat called Sally, who unfortunately got run over by a car one foggy morning.
I am determined that my boys will be fabulous partners and one day someone else will appreciate the time it has taken me to educate them in the ways of all household appliances, even when I know that doing the job myself will be easier, quicker and less painful than nagging them to do it, I will continue to ask nicely, ahem NAG!!

Mornings- I am a complete morning person and I love to have peace and quiet to drink my tea and contemplate the day for at least 1/2 hour before anyone else gets up, my friends know not to call me at night as the conversation is rubbish as I can't think straight after 9.30pm!
This is this mornings sky.














Mates- My friends are scattered all over, they are all very precious to me though I have to admit at sometimes being REALLY bad at keeping in touch.

Myopia- I have been short-sighted since I was a teenager and wear glasses to watch television and drive, at all other times I view the world with a very blurry edge, I kinda like it that way.

Matching- I do have a thing about colour co-ordination, which I have passed on to at least 2 of the boys, much to my husbands displeasure The matching and symmetry thing does have its downside though as even when I am trying to do random, a pattern starts to form, usually when beading.

Mascara- an absolute Must, can't leave the house without it and if I do, to walk the dog, take out the rubbish, I just hope I don't meet any neighbours.

M's I hate, moths and marzipan, bleuch.
M's I love,
Macaroni cheese, my all time favourite dinner, with ayrshire back bacon, yummmm.
Merlot, or most other reds, I am really not that fussy!
Marmite, on toast and I am the only person in the house who eats it.
Markets, my idea of a blissful sunday morning trailing the local markets for
something for lunch.
Movies, especially musicals, though I don't enjoy going to the cinema.
Magenta, or any other shade of pink.





Two matching berets from the latest IK, one for me and one for my friend Margaret, one of my favourite M's.

Winter Sunrise

Well I hope you all had a fabulous holiday and wishing you all the very best for the New Year. Thank you all for your comments to my last very harassed, stressed post, I did breathe and take it easy and left quite a lot of things undone and nobody noticed.
We spent the holidays in my friends fabulous house on the side of the hill and this was my view the other morning.



We had a very peaceful holiday, watching television, knitting and fighting off dogs for my share of the sofa. They did reclaim their space just about every time I left the room.


My friend returned in time for Hogmonay and Jims birthday so there was 10 of us for dinner then 13 of us for lunch the next day and much fun was had by all. I cooked the xmas pudding from Decembers Olive magazine and it was fabulous as was the White Chocolate Torte.

The boys are back to school on Monday and Jim starts a new shift pattern this weekend and will be working every weekend in January. I have no idea how this will work out as it means he will be home all week, so I may need to find a job for either of us, as I think that much time together might be just a little much.

I am trying to find time to finish all the end of year stuff, I still have a couple of parcels to post and my New Year cards to go to all my aunts but I am trying not to stress about them too much.

It has finally snowed so the boys and Jim spent this morning skiing and snowboarding, its the first outing this year so they are all suitably sore and tired. So good Scots Broth for lunch and lazing around is on the cards for this afternoon, sounds like a great plan......