And Sew To Knit

Its all purple here

2010-10-02T09:46:00.003+02:00

with a wee bit pink of course.
A little bit of knitting for nieces, this Its good to be a Girl, for a certain teenager and this Whirligig Shrug, which was a test knit for Stefanie Japel and I love it, very, very cute.
The pink was socks that were a special request and I better send them to Scotland soon before they don't fit.
There was a cold spell and we got a little snow, a little unusual weather for September, of course now the heating in the apartment is switched on, it is gloriously sunny!

And finally I finished up my Islande socks, in Beetroot colour Clan from the Yarn Yard, just waiting to have a cold day to try them out.
Now apparently I owe some people socks.........................as always!
Lots of new bags and stitchmarkers up in the shop now, enjoy!

End of summer

2010-09-06T07:27:00.002+02:00

Perfect day with sunshine, cake , wine, great company and an amzing view.

Lemon Meringue Cake by Nigella.

End of the holidays

2010-08-07T09:07:00.003+02:00

To celebrate the end of the holidays and the re-opening of my shop, I am offering a refund of postage on any bags sold this weekend, ending midnight Sunday.

A little sewing, a lot of knitting

2010-05-03T18:13:00.005+02:00

It was my nieces birthday and her gifts haven't arrived yet, cause I posted them late, they looked like this

these were inside
I hope they fit and she loves them.

I sent my sil some diaper bags she asked me to make and there are some more in my shop, the knitters reckon they make perfect needle tapemeasure/accessory bags too.

More sewing this week and I am working on my brothers birthday present, it might just make it on time ;0)

just a little knitting

2009-10-05T11:03:00.003+02:00

Not much knitting going on, still have a tendon/shoulder problem, so my niece's birthday present is going to be a little late, she is getting a Felicity hat and some Opera gloves by Ysolda, I hope she likes them, finished pics really soon.

Autumn weather

2009-09-23T09:18:00.003+02:00

The cold weather is coming so that means that there is more knitting going on, in the summer heat I think the sum total of my knitting was 2 washcloths for the kitchen.
On the first cold day I shall be wearing these, Noro Silk Garden socks, yarn bought for me by my lovely Aunt in K1 in Glasgow.

My Garter Yoke Cardi is coming along, handspun yoke and Cashmerino body.

There was also a little fibre dyeing this week, some BFL and some merino/nylon, which I am hoping will make good sock yarn.............eventually!

My brother and SIL and one of our knitting group are both expecting baby girls so I might have to knit something pink and girly soon........

The sun is shining

2009-05-20T08:34:00.003+02:00

Spring has sprung at last and the sun has been shining for a couple of days, things are always better when the sun shines, except the colour of the windows I know and my car actually, thats tomorrows job, car wash, how exciting ;)

I received this beautiful box of batts from the lovely Faith this morning, I am leaving them in their bags for the moment as the temptation to do nothing but spin is huge but I really need to do some cleaning up before I can spin.

Faith has great photos of them though you can see them here. There is nothing on the wheel though, yeah, as I did manage to finish my singles for the SAL.
They are knitting up quite nicely into Ishbel, I decided I needed to be knitting something less complicated at the moment, comfort knitting is in order.

Laminaria got all finished up in time and sent to one of my aunts, she loved it and it did look cute on, so well worth the effort.

While in Scotland I did run away to spend a fab day in Glasgow with one of my aunts, we spent a nice time yarn shopping and had lots to drool over in K1, I was gifted some Silk Garden sock which is currently becoming these, it is just a little warm for them at the minute but they are going to be fabulous in winter, I love them :)

My Mum and cousin did the Race for Life on Sunday at Eglington Park, the sun shone and it looked a lovely day, I was dyeing some fibre and this is my Race for Life colour. With added cat of course as Pete likes to be in ALL photos ;)

Happy Birthday Mum

2009-03-31T06:58:00.003+02:00

Today is my lovely Mums bithday, she is currently doing a fabulous job taking care of no2 son for me. Its not easy as he is a stroppy teenager but I appreciate it millions, he is so happy to be studying in Scotland, the difference for him is HUGE!!
This is her birthday pressie, which I am sure has arrived, La Poste hasn't been playing up too much recently going in that direction.

It is Hey Teach from Knitty, knitted in Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora.
Hope you have a lovely day Mum.

The merino spinning is still on the wheel, I have dyed some fibre, some BFL and some Shetland as I am taking part in Amys groups SAL/KAL.
The challenge is to spin a laceweight single and knit it into a shawl, there a couple of shawl options, I think I am going with the Aeolian from Knitty as its less yardage to spin. I have only spun a laceweight single once and haven't actually knit with it............yet!

I dyed some fibre for this as I didn't have anything semi-solid enough AND everything I have is only 4oz, I need some wiggle room to get enough yardage.
The challenge has to be done over April/May, so I am hoping to get it done.

The Laminaria is still on the needles, I really am not loving it, though I have now got to the stage of being able to read it, before I was blindly knitting and letting out a sigh of relief when I got to the end of a row with the right stitch count. I am going to try to finish it soon, I have 10 rows to go I think ;)

Some little sewing has been done, need to make some more like this, so cute.
Also I discovered the cat likes to drink tea, now I am wondering, how long as he been sticking his paws in my tea cup when I am not around, bleuch!!

Spring

2009-03-13T07:40:00.003+01:00

Well its almost spring, still cold but the sun is trying to shine.
This is last February's Spunky Eclectic Club roving, Think Spring colour, its South African Fine, it measures 310yds, it probably needs to be socks as I don't do yellow ;)

This is my Natural Dye Studio orphan Ishbel, by Ysolda, I did a couple of extra repeats added on to the small size, it measures and weighs 144g. I like it and think I might knit another one.

Just finished is a cardi for my Mum, it needs blocked and sewn up, I think I might just make it in time for her birthday on the 31st but don't hold your breath, I do love sewing up...........not!

Some sewing next, though I am waiting for our new iron to be delivered as the current on fried itself. I also need to get the owner to come and check out the electrics as I am sure there is something not right with them, we had to replace the televsion recently too, hmm.........

Lastly, for the last night of the panto we had a little fun quiz, we took an old photo, added a speech bubble and had to guess who everyone was, here is mine, taken on Irvine beach 1968 :)

spinning

2009-02-21T12:17:00.003+01:00

Fibre from Babylonglegs
There has been a little spinning going on after a little break, where I just wasn't feeling the love, I actually think it was the merino that was kicking my butt that did it. So anyone have any ideas on how I can spin merino on my Louet S10 feel free to jump in because last months Spunky Eclectic fibre was the softest organic merino and I don't want to waste it.

I also need to remember not to use the same Vaseline I use on my lips, on my wheel, this morning I wiped a smear of vaseline on my face before stepping out in the cold and got a big piece of fibre on my lip, not nice ;)

So last year I spun yarn for a specific project and recently finished knitting it.
Here is my 28thirty in Icelandic and BFL both by Amy, I love it and its perfect for our freezing cold weather.

I even have some fibre on my Ethan Jacob spindle, it is spinning the finest singles ever but how long is it going to take me to spin 2oz of fibre on it?

More knitting news, I recently lost 2 pairs of socks, they developed big holes in the bottom, so new socks for me are on the needles but according to no3 these two don't make a pair, personally I quite like them :)

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T09:32:00.004+01:00

I know I'm late but that is kind of normal for me at the moment, so I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2009.
2008 sucked big time for us and I am hoping that 2009 will be better, it can't be any worse, so here's tae a guid yin!

So knitting, after the wrist/tendon thingy which is still playing up on occasion, I did manage to do most of the xmas knitting and only missed out on one pair of socks. So my lovely brother got an IOU, he did get another pressie so wasn't completely forgotten.

Xmas knitting out to dry here

We spent christmas in Scotland and New Year in france and this week we have some lovely snow, well lovely for me as I don't need to go anywhere, not so lovely for those who are snowed in and need to get out :)

There was a little xmas sewing this dress for the fairy princess and this bag for my friend, which was loved so I need to make me one now ;)

Is this me?

2008-11-04T08:15:00.004+01:00

What do you think, is this really me?

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.

Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men

You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

After a week of visitors, some sewing with the fairy princess where she had some very precise ideas about how her costume should look, we created this ensemble.

And I finally got my Etsy shop organised, there are a couple of things in it so far and I have some new things in the wings waiting for school holidays to be over.

It is definitely autumn and chilly and we had some snow on the mountains for the start of November.

Not much knitting as I am still strapping my wrist and taking it slowly and not too much computer and left handed typing :)
Off to do some sewing :)

Not pink for a change

2008-10-23T09:10:00.003+02:00

Now for those of you who know me, know that I don't do green, I am a very pink person but recently I have knitted 2 green cardis
One of which was the very lovely Tempest, which is a great pattern, if it was knitted in one piece and didn't have you pick up the hem and sew it up, then it would be fabulous, I hate sewing up and this poor cardi did lie around in pieces in a bag for an awful long time. I am planning Tempest no2 though ;)

The second of the two was a shrug for the fairy princess and she needed something to match a green sundress for a wedding, she was very pleased with it as it had beads on the cast off edge. It was based on the one skein wonder but with elbow length sleeves, very cute :)

I am not knitting for a week or so as I have damaged a tendon in my right wrist and have to rest it for a week, so do you know how boring it is to watch television with no knitting?

Breast Cancer Awareness

2008-10-10T12:59:00.003+02:00

Today is a Pink day for Jord at school in Scotland, so far he has £130 of sponsers.

Pink hair and pink clothes.

He will be home tomorrow to visit for a week, can't wait to see him, have missed him lots.
Knitting, soon :)

Marseille

2008-06-21T15:34:00.002+02:00

Well a month has gone by without me writing anything about my trip to Marseille. It was amazing, meeting up with lots of lovely knitters from lots of different countries and Nancy's workshops were fantastic. She was a great teacher and kept us all in check when we talked too much...which of course wasn't too often.
I did knit the ugliest thing I have ever intentionally knitted at the sock workshop, what do you think?

This is my yet to be blocked shawl sampler, I used Natural Dye Studio sock yarn for both classes and they were much admired.
When I got back, either in the car or when I was asleep, I trapped a nerve in my back, this made doing all the things I like, computer, spinning, knitting, almost impossible.
It is much better now but I am being really careful.

My Mum has just been to visit and the weather was awful, so now that she has left the sun is shining!

I am currently knitting Tempest in some Posh Yarn Lei in a lovely green colour.
And this little thing came to stay and so far I think he kind of likes it:0)

It was a pink week

2008-05-20T08:48:00.004+02:00

Last week was a very pink week, I received a stunning Pay it Forward package from the lovely Heather.

a very cute bag and corsage, the bag is lovely pink wool fabric and lined with satin all perfectly stitched and the corsage is knitted with some of my handspun, I love it. Thank you very much.

My second pink package was from the lovely Dee and contained yarn to knit something for my two sisters-in-law, not sure what yet but something pretty.

I did a little pink spinning at the weekend with the intention of knitting some corsages, I will show you pics when they are done, I had a little trouble finding something green in this house for leaves.....

The birthday socks are not yet done,sorry J, I will take them with me when I go to Marseille this weekend. I am off for 2 days of Nancy Bush workshops, which should be great. I have just found out that there is a place still free, so if anyone is interested in attending , let me know :0)

I have finished the Vogue Cardi so just need to sew it up once all the pieces are dry, yipee.
Just the very heavy, very warm, Cobblestone to finish up now and of course the multitude of odd socks lying around ;0)

And I finished my Spring things shawl, which is getting some use as the weather has gone back to being windy and cold :0(

That all the pink for now, more soon.......

Its all pink

2008-05-08T14:44:00.004+02:00

Well, the sewing project went well, jeans are all finished and being worn right now, despite the sunshine,

I finally managed to get a photo of the finished shirt, this shirt was the first sewing project, J really wanted a Paul Smith one but couldn't afford the 280euro price tag, so he made this one instead, its not too shabby either.

He now has a couple more pieces of stripey fabric and needs to find some others to co-ordinate. Finding fabric is not too much of a chore in this house ;0)

The shawl is coming on and I have almost finished the second chart, which I am doing nupp-less and with beads instead.

The sun is finally shining in Grenoble and its all green and flowery outside, today is a holiday and we have only no2 son who loves to be an only child.
We went to the park for a picnic, which turned this child into a superhero, he has been telling me since he was 3 that he would be Batman when he grew up, seems like he meant it,LOL

Thank you for all your lovely comments, its looking quite positive on the job front but as usual the company are dragging their heels about making any announcements.

My FIL has finished his Radiotherapy and is doing not too badly, tired and not sleeping and not able to concentrate to read but all in all not as bad as he expected to be.

And finally, they cut the grass at the little park yesterday, it must have been after lunch as they only cut this one wiggly line, bizarre!

Its raining again....

2008-04-29T12:29:00.003+02:00

Actually, it is not today but there is a HUGE black cloud looming over my head and I can't get it to shift no matter how many projects I have on the go, how busy I am, or how much procrastination there is in one day!

My DH is being threatened with redundancy, now this is nothing new with this company, which is why we are here in France. So its been this close before, the waiting to hear is driving me nuts, we have had to wait to hear how many? 60, then how many in each dept? it was 3 out of 9, now its 2 out of 6, which is the same thing. Not being chosen out of 9 just seems like it might be better odds though :0(

The other black cloud is my FIL has cancer in his esophagus, he finished chemotherapy a few months ago and now needs radiotherapy for a tumour in his brain, he starts that process today, this is when it is tough being so far away. My poor SIL is dealing with all the hassles and I know its tough for her and there is really nothing we can do to help, except listen.

Yesterday to keep me occupied I agreed to help Jamie with a jean design he was working on, now I know how I want things to look when I sew and can usually come up with something close.
Trying to get a visual picture out of an 18year olds head is tough, yikes.
It was fun, though that child procrastinates way more than I do.
They are all cut and ready to sew, except for two small things, we need to buy pink buttonhole thread for the top-stitching and someone has a social life that is way more important than sewing ;0)

I spun up the 12oz of Icelandic roving in Snow Squall from Amy, its 520m and 100m spun with a little of this BFL Galaxy Uranus.

I need to spin up the rest of the BFL and am going to knit something with them together, not sure what yet but something for next winter.

These are my attempt at crocheting and will decorate a bag with these fabrics.

Cobblestone is at the yoke and is too heavy to lug around, so I needed a nice portable project, cause you can never have too many projects on the go.

So this is it, a pretty shawl in the softest Silkwood pink angora bunny wool gifted to me last year by Yvonne. It has been waiting a long time to be this and the beginning is a great, almost mindless project, just what I need, more soon........

Guess what

2008-04-23T09:11:00.004+02:00

Guess what arrived with the postman this morning, no, not my HK order silly, this

yep, this is the xmas parcel I sent from Scotland, it apparently couldn't be delivered on the 7th Jan and they left a notice, my brother says not and then they shipped it back to me on the 1st Feb, by the slow boat of course. So now here is the thing, do I try again to send it?

Cobblestone is a big black hole and is driving me crazy. I took the unfinished Cobblestone with me when we went away for a few days. Easy knitting, round and round and round and round and its not getting any longer, for 3 whole days it measured 12", I need it to measure 18, its my own fault for having a tall husband!!

When I was away I did knit a pair of socks for a 5year old, her new wellies were a little big, so they were a necessity, she then had to be prised out them to be washed as they were soooo comfy, it is nice when your knitting is appreciated.

The vogue cardi is coming along, I didn't take it with me as it involves counting, pastis/holiday/lots of people and counting don't really mix too well.

My brothers birthday socks got started too, he chose the Trekking colour from my Ravelry stash photos, I did buy it for me but I am letting him have it, I am not really short of sock yarn, funnily enough!

This came too this week, its some yummy Wollmeise sock yarn, the only problem is that I might have to hide the purple one from my brother ;0)

The weather is still not very Spring-like, very wet and still cold, perfect knitting weather, if only everyone would go back to school/work and give me peace ;0)

I must finish this sock, I am posting it here so that I HAVE to knit it, soon.....

Lost

2008-04-07T08:41:00.003+02:00

Have you seen this Juliet?

Last seen wrapped in red shiny christmas paper and packed in a PO box along with another parcel containing a lovely dolly and new clothes.
If you see her please let me know, she did of course have the buttons attached and black crotcheted button-loops, thank you.
The xmas parcel is still missing so I have started on a new xmas knitting for my sil. I couldn't find yarn I liked for another Juliet so I decided to knit this instead. I am knitting it in Plassard meri-cach8 which is handwash only, sorry A, but is lovely, though does not like being frogged too much.....

The other knitting includes these socks from my handspun, they will be sent to my Dad as apparently they feel a little TOO woolly! Who knew that my guys had sensitive feet.....

I still have one sock to finish for my mum, I knitted the first Monkey ages ago but can't seem to get into any kind of rythmn with this one, soon Mum I promise.
I have been sewing and have some new t-shirts all ready just to be ironed. Jamie has just to sew the buttons on to his designer-copy shirt, its very cute. We bought some fabric to make a couple more, I think he is going to cut them out today.

Today I am going to do a little laundry, ironing and then some more sewing cause the sun is shining at last. It is still freezing but there is hope that spring will soon be here.

I am still nagging to get my not received order from Hipknits resolved and there is a thread about it on Ravelry here. I am hoping it will be sorted soon.........

Juno

2008-03-20T10:25:00.009+01:00

I did indeed finish Juno on time to wear it in Scotland, unfortunately there are no photos, so this will have to do.

I do love it and it is very warm and cosy. Just what I need as its freezing here, surely it must be nearly springtime?

My most recent handspun is this
Amys december fibre, Party dress, its very loud and will need to be socks.

The yarn that was bought in Scotland was some yummy Jamie Possum handpaint in Bush Harvest colour, this will be some fingerless mittens for ME.

I also bought some sock yarn which I thought my brother might like, he doesn't its not purple enough apparently and he needs to have something a little louder but not the Party Dress, its too loud!

Other knitting includes this handspun sock, which is a little overspun, so a bit hard, it is the Goblins Eyes from the fibre club.

I am off to the, not so local lys, today with a new girl in town, I have to find yarn for another boobholder, this one for my cousin, she loved it but not red. I wore mine and the red shoes to the craft fair and caused a little bit of a stir, some people just don't know how to talk about someone behind their back without them noticing......

Sorry Amelia but my Mum cut some of my shoes off, so its just nearly a photo of the shoes and cardi together

C is for

2008-03-14T07:42:00.006+01:00

coast,

one of the very first things I like to do, no matter what the weather, is to walk along the beach at home. I have to say when I visit it is usually very windy but it still has to be done.

When coming in to land at Prestwick the pilot was giving us a weather report and said it was a bit breezy. I don't think so, its either calm or blowing a gale, I don't think we do breezy on the west coast.

This picture worries me a little as this used to be all sand and now there is an awful lot of rocks showing and all the sand is gone!

D is for

dogs of course, here are some pics of my very favourite labs, it is a shame that Jonah and Nelly never see each other. She is such a character, I am sure she would prod him into action. Here she is chasing some pesky seagulls, one of her favourite pastimes.

And of course who cares if you have a dirty face, its fun to dig!

And a small reminder that dogs are NOT allowed on the sofa ;)

I apologise for the lateness of this post, yes I finished Juno, photos coming right up and I bought a little yarn in Scotland and I will be right back.....

just keep knitting......

2008-02-22T11:32:00.004+01:00

The 2 x 2 ribbing of Juno is coming along, I really want to wear this cardi when I go home in a weeks time, so far I have done the fronts and back and about 1/4 of a sleeve, think I will make it?

I do of course want it to match a skirt and t-shirt that are not yet made, the skirt in fact is still a little idea bouncing around in my head and am not sure how I will go about it. Of course this is not really a problem is it??

I am enjoying being away from home, except for the lack of sewing machines and bits and bobs, like a ruler and a niddy-noddy, well I can't pack everything, I only have a little car and it was full of boys and dog!

The dog who lives in the house has abandonment issues, so I have been trying not to leave her for too long, so far she has eaten a plant and sicked it up on the doormat. Emptied the bin as I stupidly forgot the child lock on the cupboard one night AND stole and ate 1lb of cheddar that a boy left on the table......cheddar is a rarity and a much loved treat, so she was in the bad books that day.
Not sure if she shared it with Jonah or not, he wasn't telling, apparently she had cheese breath and he didn't but I wasn't getting that close.

I don't have any photos of current wips, I have washed and dried my december Party Dress fibre and boy is it bright, next up some lovely green batts for someones birthday.

I will leave you with some photos of parcels that arrived recently, this came from Amelia in exchange for a skein of yarn the same as the one she lost.
Gorgeous stuff, the lip gloss is particularly yummy and the bath thing smells divine.

This is from Jacqueline in exchange for swapping dye lots of some other yarn,

this was my thank you and its just my colour, there was also a box of amazing truffles but they didn't make it into the photo as I had to hide them, they were of the non-sharing variety! Thank you both very much.
I'm off to get back to the dogs and the knitting, more soon......

Holiday....

2008-02-19T12:01:00.003+01:00

It is indeed the february "ski" holiday, two whole weeks of children home from school.
We are currently hiding out at a friends house, a few kilometres up "the hill", it has a fab view over the city and is very calm and peaceful. This is in part due to the fact its a big sprawly kind of house and when the kids disappear, you can't hear a thing, bliss. So I have been spinning, knitting and catching up with some british telly. Now considering I haven't seen UK soaps since 2002, what on earth is going on in Emmerdale?
It is the house where the dogs think the sofa belongs to them, so yesterday I did spend quite a bit of time sandwiched between a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Labrador, it was a bit chilly, so I think they were just trying to keep me warm. Of course as soon as I moved they just spread out a bit, cheeky dogs....
I finally started knitting Juno from Rowan 40, I bought the yarn for this, Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran in a lovely blue colour, on a shopping trip at Libertys with Yvonne. It is knitting up pretty fast, though the yarn is a bit hard on my hands, I am hoping it will be better when washed.
I finished spinning up my december fibre from Amy, it is very bright and will make some more very loud socks. No pics though. More soon......

Germs

2008-02-08T15:43:00.000+01:00

Thank you all for your well wishes from the last sick post, I forgot last post, sorry and now we have been hit by yet another virus, I am sure the air filters at Dh's work, where it is supposed to be a "clean room" are knacked.
He catches everything going at work, then is sick all weekend and contaminates the rest of us. I tried so hard not to catch it, extra vitamins, echinacea, willpower, all to no avail.
Jordan managed to get better to go in to sit his mock exams, though he did stress himself enough to have a few nosebleeds throughout the day, lovely.

So apart from the lying around I have managed a little knitting, I finished this,

to match these shoes.

You might remember that I went off to dye some roving, seen in this post and then spun it here, well it ended up like this.

These are a gift for someone who will appreciate their subtle colour.

I am having to re-do a couple of christmas presents as the lovely Royal Mail lost a parcel I posted in the new year. I posted the parcel from Scotland as I thought the problems of lost parcels might be La Postes fault but it seems not, all the parcels I posted from France arrived safe and sound, I still have some parcels outstanding from a UK company but that is another fight.
So the problem now is, do I re-do the same thing or do I do something different, I think I might need some Ravelry-ing for some inspiration.

I have also managed a little more on my Marie Antoinette socks but I really need to concentrate, which I was not really capable of for most of the week, I hope to get round to finishing up this one this week. I do need to cast on some mindless socks and I MUST finish the other halfs boring black jumper.....sometime soon.

I have some thank yous and photos to post for some mail I have received but I have to get it all together, so thats next.

B is for........

2008-02-01T13:38:00.000+01:00

bum, bottom, behind (you) and boobs!

I was very late with the letter A and as this month has been panto all the way, B just had to be this.
Jordan was a great sport with his costume and discovered that having a huge bum and boobs, really got in the way.
Though did make a comfy seat when relaxing between scenes!

The panto was fabulous, everyone worked so hard and the kids had a fabulous time, after they had overcome the nerves.

So after all the panto nonsense, sewing bizarre things, I managed a little knitting and finished these delicato mittens from Knitspot.

and this, and am never, never knitting another shawl in black mohair, yuk, it wasn't for me or I would have never finished it!

I started these Marie Antoinette socks, which I think are soo soo pretty and of course will be mine.....

I got this months fibre from Amy and ordered a little more as I love the colour.

This little skein of handspun is for a swap organised with the french spinning forum, I am very worried as my swap partner is an expert spinner, I hope she likes it, I knitted my first washcloth and sent some soap from here and of course chocolate to make up for the beginner spinning.

For some reason I can't add any links, either blogger is playing up or someone has kindly updated something on my computer, I do love it when the tech guy thinks he is doing me a favour....sheesh! Ooops, all fixed, sorry dear it was blogger not you...

Now here is a worrying thing, after the panto one day someone asked me if I had made Jordans costumes and would I be interested in doing a dress for her mother, now looking at these costumes, do you think it shows my work off to its best?
Or do you think she wants her mum to look like a Pantomime Dame????

Off to do some clearing up and organising, my house looks like you could stir it with a stick and I have 12 people coming for dinner tomorrow.
Have a fun weekend, happy knitting......

A is for

2008-01-19T15:11:00.000+01:00

Alpaca

This little piece of fibre was sent along with my order from Jeni, it spun up soo, sooo soft.

I am running way behind with everything, I spent the last week sick, with this horrible gastro virus. I have not been that ill for a very long time. The only good thing to come out of it was the little bit of weight that I lost.....

So the panto costumes are coming along with lots of help from Jamie, his new machine is pretty cool, I am a little jealous.

I did manage a little bit of knitting, I started these, with this handspun

and they are looking lovely, pics soon.

Its Panto Season

2008-01-11T08:00:00.000+01:00

Christmas was a very quiet affair, New Year in Scotland was great, I got to meet up with some lovely people and spend some time doing things I love.
Like taking this mucky faced girl to the beach!

This is Nelly, she is Jonah's little sister and belongs to my Mum, she is a very sweet girl. This is Jonah sulking as he didn't like his xmas bow too much.....

We came back home with some horrible bugs so have spent the last week with 4 sick guys, I am avoiding everyone, as I am determined not to catch the various lurgies they are all carrying. I am not a very good nurse, I just want them to die quietly in their rooms, take the meds and get better soon.

We are in full panto mode, learning lines, oh no, you aren't, oh yes, you are, at least I am learning lines, not sure if Jordans are sticking in his head though.
We have done the undergarments for the costume, so far we have used a foam football and a foam rugby ball, you can use your imagination till I get pictures!

I finally finished the Christmas knitting, only a little late!

I haven't finished Jims birthday jumper though, I did show him all the parts so he now knows about it, so no more secret knitting, phew.

I am going to organise my wips and sort out what I am going to knit for me, very soon. And I have a couple of sewing projects to do once all the panto stuff is out the way, more soon.

Way before Christmas I signed up for the Pay it Forward on Heathers blog.
Here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift (probably not knitting) to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I will do this within the next 6 months.

And finally, a little spinning, this was my reward for doing all the laundry, a little spinning in between loads, well I had to have something, I hate holiday laundry. This is the bfl I dyed with the ladies from the french spinning forum, I have about 200m 2ply, drying, I think I will knit something for my friends birthday as it is very bright, pictures soon.

bad blogger

2007-12-18T10:27:00.000+01:00

I have no idea where the last few weeks have gone, things here have been nuts, people sick, people off work, working stupid shifts etc, etc, my normal routine is all to pot.
So very little knitting going on, as I overdid both the knitting and the wirework when I was beading and as a result have a bit of tendonitis.
I am currently knitting just a little at a time as it still hurts, though not as much.
I am so behind with xmas shopping and really am not in the christmas spirit at all.
I have nothing for no3 son, poor boy and the knitted monkee he asked for still only has one leg!
I did manage to find this for no1 son, yes it is his, though I have had a little play with it and I think I might just love it.
It is very old and was a complete ebay bargain from an extremely old lady, who was very sad to see it go but happy that someone younger was going to love it.
Jamie not me ;0)

And I finally went out wearing my coat at the same time as someone else was home to take photos, he is of course the worst photographer in the house and this is really the best one out of about 30 photos.
I have been wearing my coat loads as it is freezing here but no snow.
I do need a hat though.

Hope you are all finished your gift knitting, I will be by the time I leave on the 29Th, I am sure.
I now have to go and plan food, I asked the boys to help, so they used up a whole pad of post-it notes in about 7 different books and it looks like I am supposed to make 29 different kinds of cake!
I'm off to have a little catch up with you all, tchao.....

Games

2007-12-05T07:55:00.000+01:00

At this time of year the boys are always playing some mad online game, usually involving snowballs and elves, this year we have everyone hooked on this
and for a bit of light entertainment, which appeals to the boys, you could try out this one.

So apart from playing silly online games there has been some knitting, Juliet no3 is coming along, I sized this down for my niece who is 7 and it is looking okay.

Part of a christmas sock.

A little spinning, the second half of my October fibre, so in total I have about 115m.

Next up is the fibre I dyed with the Forum de Filage ladies, I want this to be for socks.

And lastly Novembers fibre arrived and it will have to wait, probably till after Christmas.

Today I am fighting the shopping crowds to do some glasses shopping with no2 son who needs reading glasses, that should be a fun outing!

The big sewing project was indeed a coat, which I have been wearing, just not when there was someone to take a photo, maybe later I can persuade one of the boys to take one, I love it, it is soooo cosy. I do need a hat to wear with it though, that means one more project, well, whats one more onto the list!

Sky

2007-11-30T15:06:00.000+01:00

This is the very bizarre sky from the beginning of the week, someone said it looks like something from an episode of star trek.

The shawl all blocking and pretty.

Today's wip, not sure how far I am going to go with it, I usually stop before things go over the top, I think this time I will go with more is good, rather than less.

This weeks dog entry, you might be fooled into thinking that he just wanted to be close to me, when in reality, I was resting my wheel on an Ikea bathmat, Jonahs mat of choice! I must buy a couple more.....

Have a good weekend....tchao

weekend

2007-11-28T08:22:00.000+01:00

Well, Saturday was fun, I dragged my overlocker and machine to the boys old primary school to sew some fleece hats and scarves for their christmas fair. They are fundraising for a trip. It was a good laugh and I met some very nice women. I did come home with my head spinning as the language switched from french to english all morning till I didn't know which way was up. I find it very hard to listen and multi-task in two different languages.

Sunday was all french, all spinning and dyeing, so all new vocabulary. I met up with 6 french spinners through this forum.
We spent a lovely day dyeing some roving,

and checking out all the different types of wheel and fibres that they all had.

I had to leave the house at 6.45am, had to listen and speak french all day and caught the train home at 5.20pm, I was so exhausted I could hardly talk when I got home but it was so worth it.
This is my part of the roving all dry.

With my few hours on the train I managed to finish this shawl that has been hanging about as a WIP since about february I think.

Its the Forest Canopy shawl in Plassard Alpaga, 1.5 skeins on 5mm needles. It is blocking now, picture when its dry.

Still chugging along on the christmas knitting, nothing exciting or finished.
Today I have to buy more black wool for another skull hat and finish up Octobers fibre before Novembers arrives.
I also have to do some Jean shopping for a child whose legs have grown a few inches, do you think it is possible for only legs to grow?
More soon....tchao

Not Blogging But Knitting

2007-11-23T10:58:00.000+01:00

and kinda drowning in knitting.
I am feeling a little stressed by the xmas knitting and really needed to get it in hand.
I finished up Juliet for my oldest niece, here it is all ready to be blocked and to find nice buttons for it.

I also finished up another boy hat, this was taken by the birthday boy, so no strike off the xmas list!

I managed a tiny bit of spinning, this is months fibre club, called goblins eyes.

I spun it as fine as I could and it is 108m of navajo plied.
Not sure what I will do with it but I kinda like it.

And finally I sewed together the baby jumper

With sparkly buttons

Saturday I am off to the boys old school to help with their sewing for a fundraiser, we are making fleecy hats and scarves.

I am off on Sunday to spin with a couple of french spinners, I think we are going to do some dyeing too, so am looking forward to that, you will see the results next week.
Have a good weekend....tchao

Happy Birthday Baby

2007-11-20T20:30:00.000+01:00

My baby is 18 years old today, here he is doing his best babysitting job a week ago with his new cousin.

The boys were busy making a cake a la Yarnstorm, unfortunately it took a turn for the worse and it turned into a fort(chocolate fingers) guarding the king(jaffa cakes) with guards(bounty bars) and dogs(sweets), not at all photogenic but apparently very yummy!! Oh, and fun....what more can I ask......

The first snow

2007-11-13T12:44:00.000+01:00

We have snow, isn't it pretty.

The sun coming up this morning.

There has been a little more sewing, though not enough, so its still not finished, its getting there veeerrry slowly.
Can you tell what it is yet?

What about now?

The colour is much more purple than than the photo looks. I hope I like it when I am finished!

Knitting, just a little on some xmas projects, socks etc.
I quit knitting the boring baby blanket because the baby girl we were expecting was a lovely baby boy called Zachary and I am sure he wouldn't like to have a pink blanket.
Jamie got to see his new little cousin before he came home on Sunday, he is completely smitten with how tiny and gorgeous he is. He was very pleased with himself because he managed to get the baby to sleep on his chest and still carry on playing a game on the x-box! Boys!

Have they gone yet?

2007-11-09T10:13:00.000+01:00

Yeah, the boys went back to school and I get to breathe, relax.
I love my boys but after almost 2 weeks of school holidays I am glad to get back to some kind of routine.
While they were home I knitted on some xmas knitting, like this and this.
Don't click the link if you think it might be your xmas present.

I also recently added to my fibre stash, which is really small, so now I have this too, isn't it all lovely.

I have to finish up some stuff before I have time to spin, maybe at the weekend.

I am working on a big sewing project for me, now its been a long time since I sewed anything for me that takes more than a few hours. In fact its been a long time since I sewed anything, so now I have something that looks like this, scary, huh!

Can you tell what it is yet??

Walk with colour

2007-11-02T10:55:00.000+01:00

One of the places I walk Jonah regularly, is a wild bit of the local park, you walk through some gates and instead of the neat trimmed grass and flower beds you have swampy pond with bull rushes and all sorts of things growing wildly and very interesting smells for this lab to investigate.
This week it was full of colour, take a look.

The seeded Bull rushes look a bit like fibre, or maybe I have been spinning too much lately!

Excuse the blurry dog pic, he was moving too fast and having too much fun to stop and yes that is a big bit of slobber on his face, hmmm nice.....

this is my belated Dogs on Thursday, as I forgot it was Thursday yesterday, that is what happens in the school holidays, you have sooo much fun that you forget what day it is, have a fun weekend.....
more photos on flickr here

New wool

2007-11-01T09:51:00.000+01:00

Thank you for all your anniversary wishes, we still haven't found somewhere to visit that is dog friendly so I think we will stay here and visit some places that we haven't been to before.

Last night, before the champagne, which incidentally one bottle is not enough if you let the children try some, I finished up this roving from this etsy seller,

and it became this about 200m, 100g, I am very pleased with it, it needs a pretty project, just have to find one. I do need another project like a hole in the head but hey, whats one more!

I started a hat for one nephew using the skull chart form helloyarn, I think it will be cute when finished, pics next time.

Anniversary

2007-10-31T09:25:00.000+01:00

Today is our wedding anniversary, 20 years! Wow, that is a looonnng time!
To celebrate I am trying to find us somewhere to visit for the weekend, with 2 teenagers and dog of course, not too easy.
So if any of you know anywhere exciting to visit, not toooo far away with somewhere that takes well behaved labradors and mostly well behaved boys, please let me know. Searching the internet has given me a severe twitch in one eye, so am off to knit and plan a yummy dinner, tchao

Good morning, good morning

2007-10-29T10:47:00.000+01:00

The sun is shining, hoorah, hoorah, its the holidays.
We are very excited its the school holidays, the last couple of weeks of school seriously kicked our butts,
I for one, am so glad its over and I don't even have to go to school.
Well except when summoned but lets not talk about that.

So the thing is, did you know that stress makes you start lots of new projects and not finish any, seriously it does.
So where to start, lets see, so this gorgeous roving from Natalie

became this.

and its finished, yeah for FO's, problem is he thinks its a girls hat and a bit tight, thats okay one of the boys loves it, my DH definitely doesn't deserve knitting, woolly things are TOO warm and here was me thought that was the whole point!!

The gorgeous roving from Maylin became this

and this

which wants to become these, soonish as its getting a little chilly here.

If I am knitting you a xmas present don't look here, or here.

I am boring myself to death knitting the boringest ever baby blanket, here.

Some silk from Jen became this

some alpaca and beads became this, so soft and squishy, thanks Jen.

There are also a couple of things that have been started and frogged and a couple with no pictures, I am hoping to get more organised in the holidays, well as organised as I ever get.

I am glad to say my parcels to Isabella and Rebecca made it safely, though the Royal Mail strike has eaten one of mine AND it had sock yarn in it and there is a little space in the drawer, just for it!

I think I have to start my xmas list, I MUST have this, so am searching for the perfect thistle yarn, problem is, I think I need to see the yarn in person, so if you see perfect thistle yarn, let me know, okay, thanks, tchao.

Dog

2007-10-18T07:13:00.000+02:00

Jonah was in serious need of a bath, he loves to be washed outside with a hose. He hates getting in the bath, I think the photo proves how much he loves it!

It takes 2 people to stop him from jumping out all soapy and shaking everywhere, all in all, a fun way to spend an afternoon. Luckily the sun was shining so he got to dry off while running around outside because there is nothing worse than the smell of wet dog, even clean wet dog.

I am getting all organised for a day of being a taxi, there is a strike here. The teachers are not allowed to tell the kids they are on strike, so they have to go to school at normal time, there are buses early in the morning, then the bus drivers go out. The kids are then stranded at school with half of their teachers not there, so need ferried around, the traffic will be horrendous, so something to look forward to later.

Finally finished

2007-10-15T16:49:00.000+02:00

Yes, I do have at last a FO that is not a pair of socks,
it seems like this shawl has been on the needles for the longest time.
I was thoroughly sick of it by the end.
I love the pattern and the yarn but none of the needles I had were working with the mohair and the slipperiness on my addi, drove me insane!
I did need the needle for something else so, it had to be finished.

It has been added to the xmas present pile. (which is still very small!)

The other day a package arrived from Maylin and it contained this loveliness.

The colours of the one on the right are sooooo pretty when spun, so it became this,

and this.

I love it, thank you Maylin.
You can see more of Maylins stuff here

The thick and thin I want to knit ysoldas urchin beret with but not sure if it is thick enough, it really wanted to be thin yarn, so the other half became thin singles that I don't know what I am doing with yet. Something pretty.
This afternoons choice of activity is ironing or some spinning of purple roving, choices, choices!!

This part is really not knitting related so you can skip it if you want.
All weekend there has been a discussion going on in Ravelry which did start out as a discuss the hooha caused by Jane's lovely book and the term pinny porn which was used to describe it.
Having listened to the interview on Womens Hour, I was interested to see what everyone else thought.
Well, this discussion went way, way off topic, starting with someone saying that boys knitting made her cringe!
Also that as women our jobs were to look after the men and boys shouldn't be encouraged to do girly things!!!
As at the time of reading the comments were already in the 200+, I didn't get involved, but at dinner the boys were asking what I had been reading, it did take me a while to read it all.
So I explained what it was, this was of course while eating dinner, which for the most part my husband had cooked, while no2 son made muffins.
Anyway after explaining everything no 3 teenage son said, "So, does she just think that women should be slaves then?"
No2 said "Why as an adult would I expect anyone else to do things for me, that I am perfectly capable of doing myself!"
So I am very proud of my boys who knit, sew, do laundry, etc etc, I have to say the rest of the dinner conversation included football, rugby, cars, a physics test, and the Nobel prize winners, just in case you were worried we only talked knitting chez moi!!

I have nothing

2007-10-11T18:24:00.000+02:00

Well that's not strictly true but blogger won't upload my pictures, so no dogs on Thursday, I'll try tomorrow.
Thanks for the hat suggestions, the Mohawk hat is hilarious, so that might work.
I really hate that I can't access email addresses with some comments, its the part of blogger that sucks the most.....

I am feeling a bit better but now have a sick kid home, its all fun around here, I did manage a little spinning as Maylin sent me some GORGEOUS fibre, that of course you can't see today. I really wanted it to be beaded thick and thin yarn to knit Ysolda's beret with, unfortunately it really wants to be thin/thin yarn, so we will see how it works out....a demain! With any luck!

All about the dog

2007-10-11T18:18:00.000+02:00

Its Thursday (well its not now, just pretend, okay)

So that means dog pictures

I know you have a ball with you, give it to me

Ha! Knew it, now its mine, all mine

Stop taking photos, can't you see I'm busy, got to keep my eye on the ball.

The only problem with autumn is that you end up with a mouthful of leaves, ick!

Knitting soon, have a fun weekend.....tchao

Its all pink

2007-10-10T10:43:00.000+02:00

A pink flower to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have been doing my bit, gently prodding all my friends to double check, book mammograms etc. So go on, do it today...

More pink, these feet are wearing anklets, handknit by me, in one of my first handspun yarns,

this fluff

became these.

Please excuse the terrible blurry photos, the weather was awful, I am sick with a horrible head cold and terrible sinus pain, so bending over was very painful.

Being sick did mean some knitting time, Juliet is finished, no photo as I have decided to give it as a xmas gift. I am now deciding if I want to knit smaller versions for my nieces for xmas, it is very cute.
We are on a serious gift budget this year as we are taking an unplanned trip to Scotland to visit family.
Jim's dad is halfway through his chemo for cancer of the esophagus, it is very hard to deal with something like this, when so far away, especially as the decision to visit is a financial one, if only money was no object.......

I do have 3 nephews to give gifts to, not sure if they would appreciate anything knitted, any ideas anyone? They range in age from 15 to 8.

Off to drink tea and knit......

winners

2007-10-06T14:10:00.000+02:00

Well this is the sock yarn drawer.

and it holds 27 pairs of adult socks worth of yarn plus the 4 that are on the needles is 31, not too shabby, think I might need to knit socks a bit faster.
Though maybe not if the other guesses are anything to go by, it will take me a little while to get up to 70!!!

So we will have 2 winners, poshyarns and spinningfishwife, thank you all for entering and for sending me birthday wishes, they were much appreciated.
Hope you all have a good weekend, off to sort out prizes as the sock yarn is stuck in the postal strike, if its not La Poste, its Royal Mail, they take turns at keeping my parcels!

Non-birthday post

2007-10-01T23:12:00.000+02:00

So today is the 2nd October that is the day after my birthday, hands up who remembered it was my birthday?
That is in the people who are supposed to remember?
Okay, there are only 4 of you and not one of my guys remembered to leave me a card, make me a card, goodness knows there are enough supplies for card making lying around, nothing, nada, zero, zilch, you guys are rubbish!

So instead of me getting cards, you, the blog readers, get to have a competition instead, this is a non 41st birthday,almost 1 year blog birthday contest, also I am interested to see how any lurkers there are.

So, at the minute sock yarn is my thing, the contest is how many pairs of socks could I knit without buying any more yarn?

Now, you could cheat and look on ravelry but I have to admit to being really slack at loading stash on there.

So leave me a comment before saturday 6th october and we will see who is closest to the winning number, the winner receives sock yarn of course.

So other than sulking abut the non-birthday event I did some spinning this weekend.

This is some merino tencel from Amy, which I did find really hard to work with but my reason behind joining Amy's fibre club was to be pushed to try new things.

I am a very beginner spinner but I am not going to keep new fibre until I am a better spinner, I will only be a better spinner if I try new and harder things. This worked out not too bad as far as I can tell. I have about 85m of 3 ply very soft, shiny yarn, in a colour that is SO not me but which taught me a lot. Perfect!

I did start my Juliet and have just started the lace part, I did just start the lace part about 4 times,
something to do with the not able to read
or count to 3..
or 4... made it all too difficult.
I think I have it now, but am sure I could have been almost finished it, if I had only stopped and read the pattern through,
1 more time!!!

weekend

2007-09-29T09:39:00.000+02:00

I have absolutely no plans for the weekend, two of my guys left for Scotland at very early dark this morning, one left for school at 7.20am and the other has just finished all his homework and walked the dog, the shopping is done and put away. The house is clean and tidy, thanks to yesterdays coffee afternoon and the fact there was people I don't know very well visiting my normally very untidy house. (we like that lived-in look!)

So whats it to be, spinning, knitting, sewing, choices, choices.
I have 2 lots of fabric for 2 coats and this, I want to knit this and this, Jake wants me to knit one of these and I have nothing on my wheel, hmmm.
More tea and cookies will help with the decision making and I will leave you with wool pics.

Have a great weekend...tchao
P.S we raised 160 euro, that's about £110, not too bad for a few gallons of tea....

Tea anyone?

2007-09-28T13:01:00.000+02:00

Today I am taking part in a fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Care, so I am hosting a tea/coffee afternoon as part of this.

There are choc chip cookies, scones, gingerbread, fig and plum cake, oatmeal cookies and cranberry shortbread, I'll let you know how much money I raise tomorrow...
tchao

More Jonah on Thursday

2007-09-27T17:37:00.000+02:00

Jonah decided the other day when there was a storm coming, that the safest place to be was on the sofa!!

Problem was, I was already on the sofa, so he reckoned if he didn't look at anyone then we wouldn't tell him off, silly dog.

This is another example of not being on the sofa, apparently in this case he was technically on top of the boy who was on the chair, rules in this house are for breaking, pushing, stretching, sheesh!!!!

Looks pretty comfy and relaxed though!!
Knitting tomorrow.....

Autumn Sunshine

2007-09-25T08:12:00.000+02:00

Sunday morning arrived looking like this,

glorious, so on my sunday morning walk to market I brought along my camera to capture the colour to share with you.

Conkers on Conker trees,

my favourite stall at the market

more autumn-ness

the view on the way home

and lastly some knitting content, one finished pair of socks, yeah!!

Fruit Salad...and Dogs, as it is Thursday.

2007-09-20T14:52:00.000+02:00

This week I got a yummy box of fiber from Jen and decided I needed to have a play around with some, so this, which reminds me of Fruit Salad sweeties,

became this

spin and add some beads when plying to get this

unfortunately that is as far as the creativity has taken me, I have no idea what it wants to become, any ideas?

I am knitting like crazy to finish up a pair of socks for my neighbour he hunts and has a house in the country somewhere, so for the past couple of weeks I have been receiving lots of lovely stuff, pears, plums, fig and walnut jam, very yummy, pumpkin and a huge piece of Boar. I have never cooked Boar before and it was fabulous. He didn't know I knitted socks till he popped over with some stuff, his wife then told me he had been considering buying a pair of hand-knitted socks as he was feeling the cold. So they will make the perfect thank you gift and I know he will really appreciate them, always a plus!!

This is Poppy, she is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, she belongs to my friend and Jonah loves her a lot.
This is her favourite sleeping place and she must be very sad as my friends recently got rid of this sofa....poor dog!!

At last!

2007-09-17T12:56:00.000+02:00

There has been a little lack of blog posts recently mainly due to too much other stuff going on in the house and my time not being my own. Also computer access being a little limited as someone is working nights...not me!

So knitting, there are way too many odd socks hanging around, so I am determined to get round to making some pairs in the next few weeks, I also need to finish up some baby things for Jim to drop off in Scotland for his brothers baby. The crossover cardi still needs a button and some ribbon and the blue stripy is still stalled on the back.
A little organisation is needed so I need to finish up the white crossover cardi about a 10 minute job.
A few hours to finish up the stripy jumper, then I need to start on all the socks that are lying around, here.

There are a few more that don't have pictures, just in case you thought I was worried about having 2 unfinished pairs!!

I have started another stripy shawl this time in some Natural Dye Studio mohair, its a little slidy on the needles but a cute distraction from socks!

I also finished up this hat, which is a little on the big side, I might see if it will felt a bit. I am also going to knit another one as it was pretty popular around here.

My other finished item is the blue/green silk cardi, no pictures though, I will try to get some this week, maybe tomorrow at knitting.

The weather here is pretty autumnal in the morning but then we have some days where it warms up nicely, I have no idea what this tree is but it turning a lovely yellow colour, its that time of year when I never know what to wear, it just means you always need to have a cardi.....

another dog and oops another week gone by

2007-09-13T17:16:00.000+02:00

Here he is my baby, though its not his first time appearing on the blog, he has appeared here and here (scroll down to the 4Th December).
This is Jonah wearing his "well are you going to throw that ball" expression.

Fetching a ball is his all time favourite activity, his other favourite activity at the moment is searching out the bathmat to sleep on, I tried giving him one of his own but for some reason he prefers the one we use, stepping on to a white bathmat with black dog hair attached is lovely!!!!

Thank you all for the good wishes for my back/neck, I do need to go back and see the doctor again and organise some physio. I do also need to do more exercise/stretching, that starts tomorrow.

I have managed a little spinning, a little knitting, xmas things I will post on Ravelry, my ID is yveca, stop by and say hi.
No sewing though and the weather has turned decidedly autumnal, too cold for a pretty dress, though I will try and sew it before my coat or it might never get done.

This is the first full week of school and as always rentree brings a bundle of paperwork, every year we have been here, we have been swamped and every year I vow to have it all organised and have nothing to rush around for.
You know, its never going to happen, every single time something comes back to bite me.
Jake forgot to hand his papers into school before the end of term, I discovered them when emptying his schoolbag, that was rush no1.
The school was moving building, not finished, no-one there till the day before school started, that was panic no1.

Jordan lost his wallet the 2nd day of school, it contained everything, bus card, bankcards for here and the UK, more paperwork, more photos, more photocopies.
To re-issue a bus card, I can understand the need for new photos but if a child already has one and their details are on the computer why do I need to renew the paperwork and have his birth certificate?

Rentree should be up there with moving house as the no1 most stressful thing to happen to you...........I need a holiday now to recover!

Knitting and spinning photos tomorrow....tchao

Dogs on Thursday

2007-09-06T13:36:00.000+02:00

So, Jonah wasn't playing ball this morning, well he was playing ball cause he would never refuse that but as far as having a photo taken he was having none of it. He turned away every single time.

So instead this is Marvin, who is my cousins very cute but absolutely off his head, nutty boxer.

There has been no sewing, knitting, spinning going on here, I have hurt my back/neck so doing everything hurts, also my house is still full of boys, roll on Monday!!

vintage dress

2007-08-30T17:58:00.000+02:00

I am making this dress, the spotty one, in this fabric,

though the weather has become decidedly autumnal and I am hoping that I will still have a chance to wear it.
I did make a little boo-boo when cutting it and had to cut one more skirt piece as the stripes didn't match how I wanted them, luckily I had bought enough fabric ...phew!

I am plodding along on a few knitting projects and nothing is grabbing my attention. No spinning as I am waiting for some fibre to arrive, the post is awful right now.

Boys are home tomorrow and my baby is a teenager, 3 teenage boys in the house should be fun.........right?

Sore leg

2007-08-28T09:54:00.000+02:00

So, is it possible to learn to spin with either leg? to treadle? means you have to sit a little awkwardly but boy do I have one sore leg, it does happen to be the one with the already dodgy knee, which doesn't help matters. Not that it is going to stop me at this point, whats a little pain!

So the two bobbins became this

which looks like this, all washed and pretty

and which knits up to look like this, and is all soft and fluffy, 5.5st and 7 rows per inch on 3.75mm.

So all I need now is a niddy noddy and more fibre...

I was going to sew today, my dress is all cut and ready but have been invited to lunch instead, choices, choices, I am off to lunch....

New Toy

2007-08-27T12:42:00.000+02:00

So I gave in, after much debate, some whining and moaning, yes that was me. You see there was the little problem of the lack of birthday present last year, which really hadn't been resolved, and its not like it was new, and it is kinda cute, and I had to have it cause I so wanted to be able to produce this.

Well, except I want it to be better, a lot more like this.

So between ravelry, which is making me realise how many projects I do have on the go, and spinning, there really isn't a lot else going on around here.

Two boys are back on Friday, so really have to finish up their rooms, pronto.
I can't wait to see them, it seems like such a long time and I have missed them a lot. It is very quiet with only one boy home, one who happens to be pretty self contained and happy to do his own thing, reading, football, chatting with his friend online. As long as there is food in the fridge he is happy.

Which leaves more time to spin, though I do want to sew a new dress and I did find homes for all those things that were hiding the table top, so no excuses......

Stripes all round

2007-08-26T11:30:00.000+02:00

This little cute little stripy skein of yarn was the yarn I spun at India's house, I actually had no idea everything was so blue and stripy until I downloaded some photos, take a look.

Knitting, there has been a little, I have finished the crossover cardi, it took me longer to sew it up, than it did to knit I am sure and it still needs a piece of ribbon and a button, for that I need to be brave and go into the depths of the sewing room, maybe later.
So next is this little stripy jumper in cotton cashmere.

I also knitted another stripy shawl from more Natural Dye Studio sock yarn,here it is on a piece of wallpaper, I like it but it may be a present, I do have more sock yarn for a couple more and it is fun to knit.

Well, I managed to paper the toilet walls all by myself,more stripes, which is a bit of a task in itself as there is no room for the steps in there, as it measures a princely 1m by 1.5m and standing on the toilet seat on tip-toe did not quite make me tall enough to reach the corners.
So needless to say there was much cursing.
Jake and the dog hung out in the bedroom safely out of my way, Jim in his wisdom went off to work early, I am sure he later discovered that this was not a good move, he has been paying for it ever since!

The weather is a little strange in that we have had alternately pouring rain and then fab sunshine, very weird, so we have stripy mountains.

Next up is some sewing, I have washed some fabric to make a dress, it is stripy, just not blue. I just need to find the table underneath some things that as yet have no home, this is the problem when you have an apartment with no storage space and too much stuff/crap.
Happy Sunday.....

Fashion

2007-08-22T16:41:00.000+02:00

I want this, but where would I wear it?

It is cold and rainy and all thoughts turn to autumn/winter clothes, well for me they do, especially as most of my clothes are STILL in a box... shock, horror, I need a new wardrobe before I open any more boxes.
They are well packed so therefore if you open them to look for something, they NEVER shut again and stay in the bedroom spewing a muli-coloured collection of strange looking items that just can't be thrown out.

Anyway I was searching for a coat pattern, which I have not found, no idea what I want, just know that when I see it I will know.
Chances are it will be Vogue or McCalls, something that is not available here and the time delay from ordering to arriving, will mean that by the time it gets here, I will have moved on to something else!!

No knitting photos as the camera battery is dead and its too wet and dark anyway, photos tomorrow......
This is a very late saturday morning sky, but the sun was shining, so worth looking at.

Guess what?

2007-08-14T09:07:00.000+02:00

When driving around at the weekend, looking for wallpaper for the toilet, which I have to say is very exciting...not! I really wish I had shopped in the UK, so far everything I have found is old and boring...anyway, I drove passed this....

..can you guess what it is going to be, yep, an Ikea, I have to say looking a little bit out of place, all blue and yellow in amongst the green, but hey, it will save a trip to lyon, almost an hours drive and almost 20euros in tolls, pity its not open yet as I really need two new beds, never mind, roll on October.

After my spinning lesson with India, I came back home and unearthed a cheap spindle I had bought a while back and decided to have another go. It was great, I am really hooked, only problem is I now really need to have a wheel. I am having a little problem with an ebay seller and I HATE this kind of conflict, I hope it gets sorted soon as its making me feel very sick.

Anyway this is my new yarn, cool huh? The stuff on the right is my second attempt. Don't know what kind of fibre it is, as I had bought the roving from Fyberspates to do some needlefelting with as I loved the colours, its a little scratchy, but I like it, probably won't knit anything with it but I can look at it.

More unpacking on the agenda, still need some storage stuff in the kitchen, wine rack etc. Need to make curtains for the boys rooms and hang my bedroom and the living area curtains. The living room/dining room has 10 window panels that measure about 5m total or just under, so for winter I need HUGE curtains, for now I just have cotton panels for each one, simple and light, but I don't love them so they won't last....

Green

2007-08-08T13:11:00.000+02:00

The first thing I notice when we drive back to the UK is the colour, granted the places that we stop off to visit friends are notoriously wet and rainy.
I kinda like the rain, as long as its not too cold and I have to admit that staying in on a rainy day to watch a movie, is my idea of heaven.
In saying that I absolutely hate driving in the rain and we did have reasonably dry, if not sunny weather when we were home. I was really slack in the photo taking department when I was away, I do think I have to invest in a little camera as my Nikon D50 is a little on the large side for handbag carrying.

We arrived at Dover and had the shittiest drive up through England ever, we managed about 40 miles in 3.5 hours on the M25. Being in a hurry we didn't stop to visit anyone on the way up, I did see some fab sky pictures but the camera was packed in the boot of the car, good planning there!
Also the grumpy/crabbit person was driving so there was no chance of stopping to retrieve it, there was hardly time to stop and pee!

My first stop as always was a walk on the beach with this lovely girl,

guaranteed to blow the cobwebs away and make you smile.

Then of course there was much more green at Lochgoilhead, like this

and this

The knitting really is in short supply around here, I did finish these for Jims Dad.

And have 1 monkey finished and the other not cast on yet.

There are a couple of baby things in the wings, hanging around, so when I clear a space I might get down to knitting, though I do have curtains to make as the neighbours can see in, not good!

Phew

2007-08-07T12:23:00.000+02:00

Am home, July passed in the blink of an eye and things here have stood still. The boxes are still here to be unpacked and rooms still have to be sorted. Its going to be a long few weeks, Jake came back with us and the other two boys stayed in Scotland for a few more weeks, so its peaceful if nothing else.

When I was away I took the long overdue step of having my hair cut, so it now looks like this.

We didn't manage to get much visiting done and certainly didn't do much yarn shopping. I did manage to meet up with Heather and she took me to visit K1 Yarns, which is a very cute shop and I did buy a little yarn. I made it to Coldspring by the skin of my teeth ten minutes before closing, they unfortunately didn't have the Cashmerino Aran I was looking for but I did find some Silk Garden and some Soho for xmas scarves.

I am alternating the box emptying with playing around on Ravelry, now I need to take yarn photos but its a little cloudy and dark today. One project which is a must for this winter is this Debbie Bliss cardi, cute huh? Now all I have to do is play catch up with all of you, that may take quite some time!

Drive-by blogging

2007-07-23T11:04:00.000+02:00

Well, we are in Scotland after the worst drive over ever, I have left my new apartment half unpacked, I have yet to hand-over the old apartment and things are just plain nuts. My father-in-law is very ill and that meant a mad dash across to get here, we are still waiting to speak to the consultant, so things are pretty much still up in the air. It did mean in my haste to pack and leave, I arrived with not much knitting which meant I did need to buy some yarn! Luckily my brother-in-law and his girlfriend are expecting a baby so some baby knitting was in order. I bought wool to knit 3 or 4 things from a Debbie Bliss book, that I can't find a picture of, so take my word for it, its very cute.

So far I have managed to catch up with India and spent a lovely day hanging out, sewing and spinning, yep I had my first spinning lesson and I am hooked, it was amazing. I don't have any photos and my first yarn is far from perfect but I love it. I still have lots to fit in including a trip to Coldspring on my way back through England, anyone been there recently?
Must dash, time up.......

Only weather

2007-06-22T07:51:00.000+02:00

I am distracting you with some weather pictures as there is nothing else going on here. This is the last morning I will have this view of the Chartreuse from my bedroom, my new view is of Chamrousse, I think.
I might be offline for a few weeks as even although I am actually only moving to the next block but one away, my new internet/phone connection is going to take about a month, that's right, 1 month with no internet. ick!
The moving is mostly done, right now I am in the old apartment, with computer, which is good, but no coffee machine,which is bad, I do have a kettle, but no teabags.
So I made my coffee in the new apartment and walked over here with it. Luckily I didn't meet any of my neighbours, take-away coffee is an unknown here.
I bought 4 dress patterns, which arrived yesterday, they are the reproductions of vintage patterns, 3 from 1957 and 1 from 1960, so some dress sewing is definitely on the cards once the boys leave for Scotland.
My Mum and Jake left on Wednesday and unfortunately got held up at the airport due to technical problems, so my poor Mum spent 12hours at the airport here and then they had to spend the night at the airport in London to catch the first flight to Glasgow, nightmare!
I hope that doesn't happen to the boys when they are travelling alone.
Okay, I am off to finish packing.......and dream of finding some knitting time, or even my knitting!

Drive-by

2007-06-19T08:08:00.000+02:00

I dislike packing, I really dislike painting, I hate grouting, as for cleaning, its downright bloody awful.
I have no nails left, no time to knit or sew and someone took ALL my knitting books away first, so I can't even have a little planning session, to figure out my next project.
Is it possible to have creative/craft withdrawals? The only knitting I have is the hanging around, plain jane stockinette sock and I am on the 3rd one BUT its sooooooooo boring.
I have also finished, finally the birthday cable sock, with the HUGE mistake in it, the first one is still in London, it had a huge mistake so the second one had to match. I did think at the time it looked a bit funny but I had no time to check it out. That's what you get when you don't print the big colour picture for the pattern and you don't knit it on 2 circs as per the pattern!!

wispy

2007-06-06T18:35:00.000+02:00

It is official, I do love Wispy, its warm light, pretty and I love wearing it. I can see it becoming a staple in my wardrobe and I would probably consider knitting another, just not in Summer Tweed!
The combination of Summer Tweed and moss stitch gave me chronic hand and wrist pain. When chatting about it with some Liberty Rowanettes, the consensus was that you either loved or hated it, I am in the hate camp.
It is a shame as it comes in such pretty colours too.

Wispy took a little trip to Ikea, no photos though, I did see some fab storage items and especially liked this table, it has a perfect yarn as art drawer with glass. I just may have to go back and get it!

The packing is coming along, though I am occasionally side-tracked by a ufo, I do have a pile of sewing wip's and I have thrown out and rearranged lots of stuff. Apparently I am the only member of the family moving out next week as no-one else has packed any of their stuff yet! I do keep giving them the countdown but apparently a week is LOADS of time and it will only take a few minutes!
My Mum is coming to visit the day after I get my new apartment keys, she is bringing her marigolds, no sun-worshipping/sight-seeing for her, she will be set to work. So her and I might de-camp to the new place and leave the boys to it.
One of the reasons I am looking forward to moving is that the new place has no fitted kitchen, okay it does have ugly tiles but it does mean that I can get this out of storage, I am looking forward to using it again.

My boys all have plans to spend their summer in Scotland, so it looks like we are driving over to see them and pick up Jake at least. Jim suggested a little yarn crawl through England/Scotland, I just might have to take him up on that, any suggestions?
If I owed you a package they were posted today, but my little notes to go inside are still here, oops!!
Back to packing......one week to go.

Bonne Fete de Maman

2007-06-04T18:09:00.000+02:00

It was mothers day here yesterday, so we had presents, flowers, chocolate cake and strawberries, and of course an I.O.U for a t-shirt that is going to be made for me.
I have no idea where he got the idea that IOU's were okay for presents....must stop teaching my children bad habits.

In order not to have a re-run of the christmas fiasco where no-one ordered my requested book, I did indeed go ahead and order them myself, so here they are in all their loveliness, as yet they are free of any post-it stickers, but there is still time before they make it into a box.

There is bad news though, Jamie was not allowed to do his work placement with me, just to clarify, it is compulsory they spend one month working in the alteration/sewing business to complete their year, when it comes down to it I would rather he worked with me, passed this year and moved up, than his other choice, which is leave school and find a job completely unqualified. Lots of chances there!
It is a shame as all my friends have already told me they will gladly bring all their mending/alterations round. These are jobs I usually say a polite no to, I would rather make a new pair of trousers than replace a zip!

My other bad news is my copy of Interweave is lost in the post, not that I need distraction or a new project, so you all have to stop making cute stuff like this, I REALLY want this.

A really bad picture of my lovely flowers, sorry Jord......

It's June

2007-06-01T08:22:00.000+02:00

No really it is, though you might have trouble recognising it from the weather we have been having. Storms, freezing rain, wind and snow at 1500m. I of course in my wisdom, well it was May and sunny, have packed all the winter coats etc, so we had a mad dash one morning to find where they were. We have no heating as it is communal and turned off at the beginning of May and on at the beginning of October. On top of all that I have caught the cold and need my hot water bottle which is packed somewhere! So here we are nice June weather in France.

No knitting time, or sewing or anything else I have been packing sorting and trying to find a job placement for no1 son, so not easy.
He has decided if he doesn't find one he is leaving school, so I am kind of desperate. Desperate enough to suggest to school he could stay home and sew for a month.
Which I have to say is not an ideal solution for lots of reasons, least of all we are moving in the middle of the month, second I love him dearly and he drives me completely insane.
On the up side I think he might learn more and feel more fulfilled if he sews for himself rather than spend a month learning how to do repairs and alterations. School are considering this as an option but it has to be approved by his sewing teacher, I really need to be a business, qualified, blah,blah,blah!!
Of course I can teach him how to replace zips and hem trousers too but I do feel he has to realise that what he has is a talent and not everyone can see things how he does, or put things together how he does. School is so negative and I'm afraid its pulling him under.
Oops forgot to say, thanks for all your comments I haven't got back to anyone and I apologise, sorry.

Distraction

2007-05-28T18:47:00.000+02:00

Shhh, I am supposed to be packing boxes or throwing things out or making dinner or something equally as boring. I thought I would share the rest of the yarn I bought in London with you, partly because if I don't document it here I might move and forget what I am doing with it.

So first up I bought some Rowan Damask to knit the lace shrug from Lace Style, so that is soon cause I want it, NOW!! Well actually not right now as its rainy and only 13 deg, seeing is it was 31deg on Friday, its a little bit of a shock to the system, there was snow on the mountains this morning.

Next up some sock yarn in gorgeous pink, that will be for me, of course.

I also bought some yarn to knit Juno from Rowan 40?, but had to leave it behind as there was no room in the suitcase!

And this sooo pretty, no idea what it will become but for now I can just admire its loveliness.

I also did quite well in the book dept recently as it is Mothers Day on Sunday I was determined to not miss out again like Christmas, so ordered early! I'll show them tomorrow.

I leave you with this, what do you think, chicken, tulip, crown? .......
Oops almost forgot am almost finished Wispy, she is blocking and tomorrow I will tell you how much I love/hate this project......

Tagged

2007-05-27T11:56:00.000+02:00

Well I have been tagged (twice) for the random facts and Polly is right I do need an excuse to not think about packing, so here goes.

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a terrible memory, I use notebooks all the time, trouble is I quite often can't remember which notebook I wrote the thing I need to remember in...
I can't remember authors, film titles, actors, I spend ages reading the first pages of books when buying new ones and hate when they change cover pictures to make me think its a new book.

2. I love peace and quiet, I very rarely choose to listen to music, not even when driving, in saying that, I always have to listen to someone else's choice of music in the car and in the house and love when it is turned off!

3. I have been sewing for about 26years, I started working in a fabric shop on a saturday when I was 15, I have fabric that I bought then, it has handwritten remnant tags, I can remember who the handwriting belongs to.

4. I am terrible at going to the post office, I always have something waiting to be posted, I think it stems from the having to queue to complain about the many missing packages since we moved into this building.

5. I hoard everything, I am regretting that now as I pack to move, I am being ruthless, really, and time will tell when I get round to unpacking it all in a couple of weeks.

6.I am scared of going to a hairdressers here, I have been once and it was awful. I have not had my hair cut since last August, it needs all chopped off, its boring. Everywhere else I have lived I have had a friend who was a hairdresser and its always been fine. I need to go home for a visit to get it cut, I need something new.

7. This year I will have been married 20 years and this will be the 9th house I have lived in, I am kinda tired of moving around.

8. I LOVE shoes, love, love, love them, I have no idea how many pairs of shoes I have, maybe I should count them when I pack them, or maybe not!!
I love it that my niece is a shoe addict too, with absolutely no influence from me, its genetic, isn't it Mum!!

Now who to tag, think lots of people have done this so here goes, Rebecca, India,Heather, Yvonne, Susan,

Stash removals

2007-05-21T18:48:00.000+02:00

Remember when you are buying, wool, fabric, beads and stashing them all over the house/apartment, when you are moving they all have to come together somewhere, somehow and right now thats a pretty scary prospect!

We think we have a new apartment which is near enough to not need a removal van, so the fun/packing commences. I might take this opportunity to document the wool that lives here OR and this is more likely, I will just take the biggest box I can find, throw it all in there and unpack it when everyone is at work/school. The slight problem is the severe lack of storage/cupboard space, trip to Ikea anyone?

The other problem is the 70's kitchen tiles, these I really think I am just going to work with, so to add to the fabric that lives here already, I am on the hunt for some very 70's retro fabric with orange in it, any ideas, and the nearest Ikea doesn't do fabric so thats out!

I unearthed a patchwork project the boys and I have been working on for my niece for about, cough: ahemm, 3 years, so when you are working on something from a pattern, DO NOT pack it away without the pattern, otherwise you will be forced into doing one giant fabric jigsaw and then having to listen to other peoples opinion about said jigsaw as they step over pieces to re-arrange it.

So I think we are about done with it, just needs to be put together.....another day.

nothing happening

2007-05-16T15:21:00.000+02:00

There is nothing going on around here except apartment hunting, no sewing, minimal knitting on a plain sock for car and bus journeys and waiting around and thats IT!

I saw 2 apartments today, one is fabulously gorgeous and is downstairs from me, it is TOO small and the other is bigger and has a teeny wee room for sewing and the decor is ICK. 70's yellow and brown tiles are never going to make a comeback in my book, so can I live with them short-term? It is empty right now so we need to decide, like, yesterday and I can't. If I take it we have to move in 2 weeks, I can't pack my stuff in two weeks, never mind a whole house......

Moving on, I bought some wool when I was away, well you all knew that, I was shopping with Yvonne, how could I come back empty handed.
Silkwood sock yarn in yummy purples.

This was a present from Yvonne and is Silkwood angora bunnyfluff, soooo soft, thank you.
More later..........

update

2007-05-11T08:44:00.000+02:00

When I was gone, the tech person in this family decided that our computer needed upgraded, I really am not computer savvy, so I like things to stay the way they are. This computer is not even one year old and I like the programmes I use to stay the way they are! HA!
So since I have been back I have spent lots of time wrestling with things that either don't work at all or are completely different.
Each morning I sit at the computer and have a video chat with my Mum while we drink our coffee, its a very nice "ME" time and I love that with my bluetooth headset I can get up and find my knitting and answer the door etc and still chat.
It of course is not compatible now, the new headset is clunky and for some reason that no-one can figure out the mike doesn't work with messenger but does with skype!!
I have had to re-sign in to everyones blogs in order to comment and the new programme to download my photos doesn't allow me to do stuff I like doing! So needless to say I am a little "annoyed".

Knitting- not much achieved here this week at all and its Friday already, these socks got toes at last they are my first picot hem and they are a perfect fit. The wool was a gift from Heather, who needs some commiseration on gauge issues, so go on over and say hi.

I started the second sock for my brother, here is the first one and I was sweating while finishing up the first as I had just 10" of yarn left, phew!
Wispy is still in the London bag as I made a mistake while chatting at Libertys and have to take it back a bit.

I saw a big apartment yesterday but it was fuel heating, very expensive, no double glazing, old windows and the owner is apparently a pain to deal with, there was no park nearby and no garden and only one parking spot. It did have fab big rooms, high ceilings and enough rooms for the boys to have one each. I'll keep looking.

Embroidery

2007-05-09T17:20:00.000+02:00

Embroidery is something I have done little bits of and I do enjoy playing around with thread or silk ribbon every now and then. I am not very good though and its just as well I like the rustic look.

This is Jamies latest project from school

and a close up.

Its very cute and he did want to give it to my niece but I am tempted to frame it, he may never choose to embroider something this cute again!

I had a fabulous day out watching the boys and Jim climb, we did get a little lost finding the wall and ended up walking straight up the mountain for a bit, which did nearly kill the very unfit among us, mostly me.

This is the view from the top so it was kind of worth it.
Turns out the wall was about 200m from the car in the opposite direction and not UP!
Someone was playing with my camera when we were out so I did end up with a couple of hundred pictures of various views and rock crevices.

My baby ended up tied to a tree for some of the afternoon as he decided that straight down might be quite good to try out!

No news on the apartment hunting front, I have one maybe two to see tomorrow and then we have a meeting with our landlord on Friday, which I am not looking forward to. I have no idea what else she wants me to say I am trying my damnedest to find somewhere, so we can move before the heat hits and maybe we will still get to go on holiday too.

I'm back

2007-05-08T09:02:00.000+02:00

Well I had a fabulous time, the princess was sick poor baby, so it meant she had to stay home from school and play instead. Which did mean she didn't want to go to school on Thursday but she was better and I had a date with a knit/shopping friend and a meet up at Libertys to go to. I had a busy day and had a very quick mad dash around Stash and found some yummy stuff of course, pics later when I sort out the camera.

I got to see the yellow socks in their natural environment

and I knitted my fastest pair of socks ever, 24hours for this pair, well they are only small, they ended up being worn with the purple crocs too, to complete that hippy chick look!

Today is a public holiday so I am off to watch my boys do some outdoor climbing. I am hoping the sun comes out though or I may be very cold. Jamie is staying home to do some sewing, his latest project from school is very cute, I'll share later, but I am very impressed.

Still running around

2007-04-27T17:27:00.000+02:00

I finished an outfit for the princess, which I hope she likes, its very bright BUT it is trousers which are apparently a bit of a no-no at the minute. See that is what happens when you are 3, you get fashion conscious!

I am almost packed, I do need to pack some knitting projects, I need something for new baby girl, so something fun and cute and quick.

I have done a little shopping for the boys then they are on their own! I am sure they won't starve. So far I don't have a shopping list to bring back which is unusual. Maybe they have grown out of eating Pot Noodles! I am sure I will end up with a list by the time I am coming back.

The big question is can I turn this yarn

into these socks before the I come back?

Pheeww

2007-04-26T17:48:00.000+02:00

Sewing something important for someone else is always a little bit scary, I am always very glad when it is all gone and the person is completely happy with their garment.
So the dresses fit, she was happy and now I can breathe easy.

So this is my new skirt and t-shirt, I am almost finished a pair of trousers too, they are pale blue to match Wispy who is still very much in an unfinished state.
I am still hoping some kind of miracle might happen, like suddenly tomorrow will have a whole other 12 hours to it, or the fairies will come and pack my clothes AND they will be the right clothes for the right weather in London. It could happen!!

Fanfare please.

2007-04-25T14:31:00.000+02:00

I'm done, two dresses, two shrugs, one handbag and a pair of earrings.

She is coming by to pick it all up tomorrow afternoon, so am keeping my fingers crossed everything is okay.

All I have to do now is finish up something for me to wear when I am in London.
I am hoping to pack in a little knitting time when I am away with at least a trip to Libertys.
Wispy I am afraid is not going to be done, though I may take it with me to finish up there, I have half a sleeve and one front to knit.
I am hoping to love it when I am finished as I definitely don't love knitting with the Summer Tweed.
Off to whip up something to wear, back soon.......

Saturday sky

2007-04-23T10:04:00.000+02:00

Okay, I know its Monday my excuse is I took the photo on Saturday and had no time to post it.

Dress progress

It needs a final fitting and the zip put in, the bad news is she loves it so much she wants another one made...BEFORE Friday!! This is doable if I don't finish knitting the cardi I wanted to finish, I leave for London on Saturday morning and I want Wispy to come with me.....
Unfortunately not sleeping is not an option, I am useless when sleep deprived!

No time to knit

2007-04-19T08:16:00.000+02:00

Things here have gone a little haywire and on top of helping backstage at the school production and sewing a major cocktail dress, I have just received notice to quit our apartment. So am running around like a headless chicken, even more than usual, normal service will be resumed when I stop long enough to do anything worth posting!

Sock yarn

2007-04-16T11:52:00.000+02:00

I was so excited to receive this the other day, I have huge amounts of time drooling over Jessie's yummy colours, not to mention checking out her blog for fowl pictures.
Problem is I want to knit these socks but the gauge gods are laughing at me and after 3 different sets of needles I have given up for the moment.
With temperatures at 24deg I don't need any kind of socks right now anyway.
My poor feet had the first sandal outing yesterday and I have two blisters to prove it, lovely!

On the knitting front I am trying to finish this cardi right now, but the attached i-cord is kicking my butt and this is the fourth attempt and its staying, I have just realised that I forgot to leave gaps for buttonholes, so it will have some alternative closure, to be decided later! It is a bit bright but I am sure it will be loved.

I am working on a BIG sewing project for a friend of a friend, she needs a dress for an award ceremony with her company, it is apparently some big do in San Diego. I am just waiting for her to come and be measured and have the toile fitted and then I get to cut up the hugely expensive, irreplaceable fabric, which is always kind of scary!

I found out recently that my brother had been reading my blog and had noted that I mentioned I MIGHT use the Trekking for his next socks, it is his birthday really soon so if he is going to get socks, I really have to start them, I could always write him another IOU!! Or they could just be late, why break the habit......

A little more sunshine.

2007-04-12T15:18:00.000+02:00

This is for all of you who still have snow and spring hasn't arrived yet.

Sunshine shrug for the princess knitted in alpaca/silk dk, colour Orange Grove about 55g on 4mm needles.

Next up the almost finished fairy princess dress, I need to sew on some trim to hide the ugly sewing, (I hate lycra!) and it probably needs more sparkle, which I will let her stick on herself.

I am still slogging away on the lovely Wispy but oh how I hate double moss stitch, especially in Summer Tweed. I am on the 2nd sleeve and have one front to do. I have started a new project to ease the boredom, oops had to be done, more tomorrow.

The next bit is for Granny, the fashion student on his way out and his new shooooz!!

Shawl info

2007-04-11T10:35:00.000+02:00

I bought my pattern from here, its the oak leaf shawl.
Though I am sure Yvonne told me it was also in this book, I am sure she will correct me if I am wrong.
This is the second time I have knitted this pattern and love it as the border is knitted at the same time, so when you get to the ends you are done!

I recently bought another to skein of silk to match the one Yvonne bought me recently as I loved it so much I wanted to knit something I would wear more than a scarf or shawl, in saying that I do wear my 2 little shawls all the time right now, so maybe another shawl! Anyway its not a bad match so I am searching for inspiration to see what it will become. The second skein is a little bigger so I reckon I have about 470metres, any ideas?
In case you couldn't tell there are still no photographers in the house and I never realised how difficult it is to take a photo in the mirror, this is about the 20th attempt!

Spring is here at last.

2007-04-10T12:11:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we went to visit the chateau at Vizille, it has a lovely park and we have visited it before.

We only had one boy who was up for a trip to the museum, which had been rejected as boring last time we were there.

When we arrived we decided it was too nice and sunny to be indoors, so instead we walked around the park and admired the colour all around.

Love was in the air for the ducks and swans, which caused quite a lot of hilarity as they chased off some of the kids who got too close.

The swans also had some competition for some bread as the fish seemed to be hungry too!

I finished knitting another Filigree Lace Shawl in this yarn,

except I left off the pink/purple and added another green. They are all small skeins of sock yarn from the Natural Dye Studio in various yarns including the silk/alpaca which is yummy. It reminds me of Fruit Salad sweets and is fun to wear, though I am not usually a green person at all.

Photos soon when I can find a photographer who is better than the two that are here right now.

2007-04-09T18:27:00.000+02:00

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Matilda Jane went to a Party

2007-04-06T15:56:00.000+02:00

At last MJ has buttons, all 8 of them, ribbon, the right amount and I had somewhere to go to wear her and my skirt, so here we are

and the back, sort of, the photographer is rubbish.

Only problem was MJ was having such a good time at the birthday party she refused the first offer of a lift home, which meant not getting home till 2am. Which in itself is fine, the boys were all away, Jim was at work, except I had volunteered to look after our friends 4 year old, who is adorable but she arrived at 7.15am, lets say lots of tea was needed before I was up for the 5 hours of sticking, cutting, beading and sewing, we did make a princess dress, complete with lots of sparkle, she had fun, now I need a little nap!!

swaps are the best

2007-04-02T12:13:00.000+02:00

A while ago when I posted about chocolate, Jacqueline and I got into a little discussion about chocolate and tea. She suggested that we do a little swap later this year, when her weather got cooler and before my weather heated up too much for the transportation of chocolate to be a bit dangerous. I have to say Jacqueline went way overboard with my package, I can't say what is my favourite part of this package (I love it all) but one of my favourites is this.

My very first tea-cosy, isn't it cute? I have been saying for ages, I need to make a tea-cosy, either knitted or sewn and just never got around to it. Now I have my very own crocheted, lovely cosy. I am going to buy a new teapot for it, as mine is a little tall, I need a shorter , fatter pot, I think.

The package contained so many goodies, including some fabulous yarn from here, that hasn't decided what it wants to be yet.

Some amazing chocolate, cadburys that I have never seen and some Haigh's, including chocolate frogs and Bilbys.

So thank you so very much Jacqueline, I love everything. I hope your box arrives soon.

Camouflage and Pyjamas

2007-03-30T17:53:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I did a little sewing, I did have to do it with two tissues stuffed up my nostrils, which does make drinking tea kind of hard, today I felt much better as did Jake, so he went to school and I went shopping and out for lunch.

This is a skirt for the princess, which the boys reckon she will love, I hope she does.

These jammies are for me as my very favourite ones, came apart recently and I was very sad, so these are nice cosy flannel and I am off to wear them now. Have a good weekend and I hope the sun shines, its peeing down right now!!!

p.s I am kind of worried about what yarn my colour challenged husband will bring back, so will keep you posted.......sshhh!

It is a little miracle!

2007-03-29T14:57:00.000+02:00

This plant currently lives in my house, it is a miracle, as the words, plant and lives, don't very often go side by side in this house. In other words I am completely useless at keeping growing things alive, except boys, but they tend to let it known when they want fed and watered!

This pretty little orchid arrived as a present a couple of months ago and as much as I loved how pretty she looked, I did groan when I received her and asked if it wasn't a huge joke, I was sure all my friends were taking bets on how quickly I would kill her.

Well, if they were they have all lost by now as this has to be the longest I have ever kept a plant alive. Now I just cursed it and she will die tomorrow.

One of my friends, who knows me well did ask if it wasn't a fake plastic plant, cheek!

Its very spring like today and the sun is shining, to celebrate I am full of the cold and have a very sore,red nose, so I am off to knit and watch a movie.....

Lone Parenting

2007-03-24T09:18:00.000+01:00

My Dh's work in their wisdom are trying out a new shift system, which means that the team, there are 6 or 8 of them I think, work a month of each shift. Jim is the only married guy with kids on the team, the two female engineers on the team were allowed to opt out as organising childcare was too difficult. So for the past 4 weeks he has been working from 12noon till 10pm. So for the past month I have been the only parent around in the morning and evening during the week...I am so tired, maybe its just their age but do they have to argue about everything, I need a whistle and a red card or a cattle prod! Is it wrong to want to run away from home when you are the parent?

On the knitting front the back and a bit of one front of Wispy are done, one blue sock needs the toe ripped back and re-done and the second is on the needle. I love this yarn from here (thank you Heather) and some more arrived in the post this week.

I still have not managed to get a new set of dpns in 2.5mm which sucks as the ones I have, 2 are not usable as they are splitting, this I found out after having to go to A+E with one of the boys and a suspected broken finger. I arrived with yarn and the needles I had were a pain so 2 hours of hanging around, wasted knitting time!

Matilda Jane is done except I bought the wrong amount of buttons and the ribbon I bought is too wide and I don't like it, so more shopping tomorrow and hopefully some sunshine so I can take some decent pictures.

Bloom is done except the sewing up so maybe later today if I can find a calm hour or so.

The spring clothes for my niece are coming along in the planning, I just need to find time to cut patterns and fabric, I need up to date measurements too, must ask for those.

So Jim has left for Japan and my programme for this week is to stay as sane as possible, wish me luck!

Can someone please tell the weatherman it's spring!

2007-03-19T16:25:00.000+01:00

This is today's weather, I was just thinking I might get a photo of the blossom tree when this happened, so I don't know how it will look tomorrow.

Late Birthday socks

2007-03-18T11:44:00.000+01:00

I actually think that Late Birthday socks are the norm around here, I have only managed to give 2 pairs on time, ever!

These are Jordan's and he loves them so that is good, I will just have to make sure that they don't go in the washing machine by mistake as he recently felted his favourite jumper. It will now make a very cool handbag I think!

Forgot to add a certain someone is off to Japan on Saturday any fantastic ideas as to what he can bring me back??

People say the funniest things

2007-03-16T12:44:00.000+01:00

Our recent visitors on being offered some chocolate chip banana cake with a cup of tea asked " Is banana cake the same as carrot cake?"
It took me a minute to process this information, I am just glad I wasn't drinking tea, as someone else might of ended up wearing some of it,I know I stood with my mouth open for a second, just thinking of the answer.
" Well, em that would be a no, you see carrots are orange and a vegetable and bananas are yellow and a fruit!"
"Yeah apart from that is it the same?"
" Well, em I suppose they are both CAKE!"

The same visitor asked at what point you know to drive on the other side of the road, when you disembark from the ferry in France???? We did ask that she never try to drive over to visit.

The other day Norma wrote this post that reminded me of something that happened recently.

Jake had an assignment to do for english, he asked me for some help,
"Sure, whats the question?"
"What was it like when there was rationing during the war?"
I know I turned 40 but please......
"Em, I don't actually know but I can help you search the internet if you like"
"No our teacher doesn't want that, she wants us to talk to people who remember"
"Well that's kind of hard as even your Granny wasn't born till 1947!"
Anyway Granny did come up with some information and Jake and I had a little chat to make sure he did know when the second world war actually ended. He did but for some reason thought it was something I would remember, must do a little work on his maths skills I think!

My boys think it is totally bizarre that Jim and I grew up without video, for a few of my teenage years we had no phone, when I was small we only had a black and white television, shock horror!
Jim's take on it is, if we wanted to meet our friend we walked to the park to see if they were hanging out there, if not we walked to their houses to see who was home. If we wanted to meet up after school we made arrangements, at school.
It is completely alien for them to be without phone or computer access ALL the time!
I have to admit to limiting their computer time, their phones have a limited amount of money but still, it would be so easy for them to NEVER do anything else, nothing practical, nothing creative, nothing physical. Its kinda scary that if we wanted to we actually never have to leave the house......

There has only been a little knitting going on here, a week or so ago I cut my left index finger,(my knitting finger), it needed a plaster(band aid) but was okay, then it started to feel a little sore, then I started sock knitting with a small circular as I couldn't buy new sock needles in Scotland and the ones I ordered are out of stock!
So when I was complaining of having a sore knitting finger, someone actually had the audacity to suggest that, wait for it, yep, that I STOP knitting. I think I might have looked at him strangely as he then said that I should just stop breathing instead!

I was certainly glad I had my sock knitting with me today as I waited 30mins to have a piece of fabric cut then another 20mins to pay, I did suggest that their waiting/queueing system needed a revision as we all know that the french don't know how to wait and queue!

Whirlwind weekend

2007-03-13T13:36:00.000+01:00

Well the weekend started off with breakfast in Grenoble on Friday, then a quick flight to Prestwick, where I did spy a crowd of kilt wearing Rugby players, someone had requested I bring them a tall, dark Scot back with me but honestly none of them were worth having, I did look for you though!

Lunch at this hotel, I had a haggis and cheese panini and it was deeelicious, I brought haggi and cheddar home so the boys could try it.
Hit a few shops including a quick trip here, then it was back to my Mums for sausages and mash, yummy. My Mum who is a fabulous cook was quite disgusted at my choice of menu but sausage and mash is one of my fav dinners and I miss British sausages, so I got my way, as usual!! Thanks Mum!!
Saturday was up early to catch a train to the SECC for the craft fair, where I met Yvonne, Heather and Minnxy, I have no photos though. I bought not a lot, a couple of pieces of fabric for skirts or pinafores for the princess as she has decided she can't wear trousers anymore!

Yarn, I bought Sublime Kid Mohair to knit this cardi, the silk aran was a pressie from Yvonne and the sock yarn was a pressie from Heather, both are gorgeous and for some reason all my yarn matches, must be my spring colour that I had no idea I had chosen.

This I bought on Friday, finally a ball of Trekking, it might be my brothers next socks, I think it is suitably mad colours for him.

A couple of books came home with me too, though unfortunately no addi's or sock needles to be found, so a little order from here is winging its way as we speak.
So Saturday was a fab day and I spent a lot of it with my friend Margaret which was very cool, I don't have pictures of her new yarn stash which is a pity, maybe she will take one and share with you.

Sunday saw me looking like this, not exactly elegant is it, freezing on the beach with these two girls, I am wearing ALL the woollies I had with me, my Mum's jacket and really needed some earmuffs, it was perishing, blowing a gale and I loved it, I miss the beach so much and love it in all weathers.

Visited family later and did some boy shopping, found all manner of different easter eggs, which I hid when I got home and will have to re-hide as they found them. Weighed and re-packed my bag umpteen times so that I was not over the weight limit, been caught out more times than I like to remember with excess bag charges! Left home at very early dark arrived at the airport and the lovely young man at the desk, never even properly weighed my bag just pushed it through, sheeeesh!!

So arrived home to a lovely tidy, sparkly clean house, and all the shopping done, which was a joy.....

you do know I am joking don't you, oh good, the dog was sulking and hadn't eaten all weekend and the fridge had something REALLY stinky in it and the kitchen floor was REALLY sticky but they were all alive and weren't too bothered that they had eaten leftover pizza for Sunday lunch, I wonder why I bother cooking then!

I posted in the comments in case I don't get round to, or can't answer your comments, I am going to be busy finding space to put my new stash! And I have finished a couple of things too, yey!

What's new

2007-03-13T08:56:00.000+01:00

This arrived yesterday morning just before I got back from my trip,

isn't it lovely all wrapped and pretty,

Its my kit from Kim Hargreaves, so now I have to finish up Matilda Jane so that I can get started, I also have to steal the needle out of my poor shawl that has been languishing for the longest time. I had a fabulously relaxing weekend and spent time with some great people and gorgeous dogs. I did buy a few things so more tomorrow with pictures.....

I'm leaving soon..

2007-03-08T08:28:00.000+01:00

.. well tomorrow, only problem is the big list of things to do that are not checked off, so this is what I have to finish today.
Matilda Jane is minus a sleeve and so far the button search has been fruitless, though I do have ribbon for the back. All the sewing of hems might be a long job though! AND I am kinda worried she might be a bit on the neat side, AND do I have time to wash and block her, not really! Just a little problem there!
Skirt to match MJ, finished apart from a little hand-sewing and cutting all the loose threads off.
Jacket, currently still in 2 layers, lining and wool have to be sewn together and one buttonhole done. I have a choice of buttons as I couldn't make up my mind when I button shopped for the jacket so have 5 to choose from!

I also have to food shop/cook for today and tomorrow as Jim will be at work, not that I think my boys are capable of starving themselves to death, it just might keep the arguing down to a quiet roar.
See you when I get back, have a good weekend...tchao

Stop laughing

2007-02-28T21:21:00.000+01:00

So, me who thought I was being so good and finishing a wip that has been languishing in the basket for waaaaay to long, just got to this point

Can you see it, yep that is the no yarn left point with 10 rows left to knit!! Absolutely NOT funny, its Rowan felted tweed in col no 152 lot no 2413 and I am off to sulk now cause I am sure I will never find some that matches. I need a new project, NEXT!!!!!!!

Someone in this house turns 16 tomorrow and he wants a batman cake for what must be the 14th time in his life, I need a new idea and possible lots of black icing!

Headache

2007-02-28T18:01:00.000+01:00

So they started putting the new lift into our apartment building on Monday and I decided it might be fun to see which one of us goes up/down the most stairs in the process of this work. Using the stairs hasn't been too much of a problem so far but then again I haven't done any shopping either! So up till today I have done 1088 stairs, it would be so easy if I lived on the 5th floor, up to 5 is easy, after that not so much. The headache is from all the drilling, they are taking out the mechanism, which is just one floor above me, feels like its in the same room, it feels soooo good when it stops!

On the knitting front, I found a wip when I was looking for a needle I knew I had somewhere, actually I found 2 wips but the one I decided to finish is Bloom from Rowan 36 in a nice green colour, I have 10 rows to knit and a bit of sleeve shaping then its done. Pics soon, the other became this pile of raspberry ripple,

I knew at the time that the two colour part of this cardi was too tight but was kidding myself that it would be okay, finally the shouting got loud enough for me to hear so riiiiip it went, maybe for summer.

I bought turquoise and brown yarn for Matilda Jane, pics of that soon too.

I was looking at knitting the knee high socks from Rowan 40 but who knows how well the 4ply soft wears? Or stays up for that matter or do you really need the ribbons?

I am off home to Scotland next weekend, I will be at the craft fair on Saturday, let me know if anyone else is going to be there, more soon .......

Sunday, sunday

2007-02-25T17:27:00.000+01:00

Well its the last day of the holidays, it is peeing down outside, so todays market was a complete washout. So my Eloise cardi is still buttonless as the haberdashery stall at the market was not there. I am no further forward on the new project front, I have 2 sleeves and I want to knit some kind of collar/neck onto my Kepler, then and only then I will start something new, so please, no more temptation.

Finished scarf
Argosy 2 balls Kureyon colour number no idea but it should have orange in it but I don't like orange so it hasn't!

Sock progress
The lilac socks had to be frogged as I had made a mistake, it was the post-its fault!
Second boring bus/car/computer sock.

I finally finished my Dads green socks on the 2 circs, I won't be doing that again in a hurry, not fun at all. He did like them and when I commented that he hadn't worn them he said he was keeping them for good! I mentioned this to my brother, who owns a few pairs of socks now, as he nags more than most, he says he keeps his for good too, he also admitted to being scared to wash them, maybe I overdid it on the hand-washing lecture!!

On the sewing front I sewed one pair of trousers yesterday to wear last night of course, we went to a local Asian restaurant, I ate lots of sushi, yummy yummy.
I also prodded Jamie into sewing a bit of his quilt which is feeling a little abandoned and I took in a pair of jeans for Jordan, they weren't quite drainpipe enough for Mr skinnymalinkylonglegs.
More sewing this week as I want a new dress, though apparently we have visitors arriving on Thursday.
I also want a new jacket but I ordered the pattern about 4 weeks ago and it has STILL not arrived, its going to be spring soon and then I won't need it OR I won't like it anymore........
Hope you all had a good weekend, I spent a lot of mine food shopping for heavy items for a WHOLE month, we are having our lift replaced and it will be out of action for a month, 4 weeks of taking the stairs, carrying shopping, walking the dog, collecting the mail, so much fun and I know I should be taking the stairs anyway, its good exercise, I do live on the 7th floor though, do you know how many stairs that is? Me neither, I will let you know tomorrow..........