swaps are the best

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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..

.. 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

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

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

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..........

Is it nearly the weekend?

Okay I know, I missed last weekend which passed in a blur of visitors and skiing/snowboarding, apartment full of damp ski stuff and hungry people, which sure wasn't too much fun for me anyway.

Now this weekend coming up was supposed to make up for it, my friend was coming to stay with her little boy for the weekend and it was going to be soooo much fun, crafting,sewing, knitting lessons for her, she is SO going to learn to knit socks. Unfortunately she can't come and visit now, her husband is still sick and I really do understand but I so wanted to see her and I have sooo many projects in my head now, that my head might just explode.
See that is what happens when you are forced to put away all the crafty equipment when you have visitors to stay, when you have to pretend you live in a semi-tidy apartment. You spend the week knitting on socks and planning the reeaaalllly messy projects you will tackle as soon as they make their way to the airport!
It doesn't help that my new Interweave arrived, I haven't got round to knitting the cardis from the last one yet, so you lot have to stop with the inspiration, its not fair!
I want to knit Matilda Jane, Flair, Enid, Equestrian Blazer, from the winter issue of Interweave and have you seen Heathers Venezia in perfect colours for me. Not forgetting some colourwork like, Latvian mittens, very pretty, and while you are visiting Vicki check out the Bread and Butter Pudding and who wants to send me a raisin and cinnamon loaf, thanks!
So according to Amazon france I can buy a secondhand copy of Latvian Mittens for nearly 340 euros, I am sure I can buy it for $25 new!! Whats going on?
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, me I am writing a list of all the things I am am going to do when everyone is back to school and work and I have peace and quiet.........

Slow, slow, quick,quick,slow

Slow,slow




quick,quick




sloooow



dancing socks, the yellow ones at least will be dancing socks as they are for the dancing princess, special request. She informed me on christmas day that she didn't get socks for christmas and both Mummy and Daddy did! How could I resist, the yellow is her choice, I of course would never choose to knit something yellow. I am hoping her favourite colour changes sometime soon!
The top blue socks had bad karma and I thought they were never going to be finished. One of the kids on holiday snapped the wool to have a piece of wool to fish for mussels, I was worried about the join being noticeable but my Mum tried them at christmas and pronounced it fine. So finally they are done and I can start some new socks on my 2.5mm needles. I need to buy another set of bamboos in this size but have been unable to here, I don't want to work with 8" metal needles, so will have to order some online.

The middle blue socks were a quick knit for Jordan who suddenly realised that he had no handknit socks, he does like them so a pair in finer wool is next on the cards.

The lilac/pink sock is New England from Knitting on the Road, these are going to my friend Margaret, she needs some good wishes right now, so these pretty socks are going to be full of love as only handknit socks can be.
Today I have a cardi blocking so finished item coming up soon...... after the seaming party of course, G&T's all round......

Holidays

Today is the start of the "ski" holidays for my boys, so I am sure for this week at least we will have boys and friends, coming and going at all hours of the day, sometimes its hard to keep track of everyone, they arrive, play the "empty the fridge" game and then leave. I think I need some kind of clocking system to keep track of who is here.
To aid in the food issue I bought a waffle machine, hoping this will have some entertainment value as well filling the hunger gaps, I only hope that the cleaning up part proves to be equally important and entertaining! First on the menu chocolate chip waffles,hmmmmm.

It maybe is a good job that I discovered this morning that our lift will be out of action from the 26th february for one month. I live on the 7th floor that is a lot of stairs, so I get to eat more waffles. I am feeling a little sorry for the dog though as he really doesn't "do" stairs!
More knitting etc later, I do still knit, just slowly!

Rant warning

This rant is mostly anti-male, in fact its all anti-male and kinda ugly too.
SO, for christmas I asked for this book, I had help in hint dropping from this person, who very kindly emailed all my guys with a link to amazon to buy my book....easy, even for guys!
On the 20th december I asked if it had arrived as I am the one who picks up the mail and I knew there had been no packages arrive that could have been MY book. I was met with blank faces and then the accusations of who they all thought was ordering MY book. It turns out in the end that they actually thought that maybe I should have ordered it along with all the other stuff I had ordered for them!!
So I did, on the 20th december along with a couple of boxed sets of old movies that I decided should be mine too, you know for pain and suffering etc etc!
Then I waited and waited, it was split into two packages and they were shipped on the 14th and 16th of January AND they haven't arrived.....so today I had to give an alternate address for them to re-send them, they are going to my dad and he is bringing them to me, that is ALL except MY book, its out of stock and they don't know how long I will have to wait and they will refund my money and I can re-order it, sheesh, at this rate by the time it comes it will be too hot to knit.
I reckon I am just not meant to have this book or ever knit a lace shawl.......

Rant no2 takes off from where Jessie leaves off with GBB, so when the guys in this house do find the thing they are looking for and use it, what stops them putting it back where they found it?
I realised recently that I clear away all manner of shower gel, toothpaste, hair-gel, deodorant and most recently contact lens solution and the container they live in overnight, every flippin day. They all obviously know where to find these things, so what stops them from taking the 2 seconds to put it back in the cupboard? And putting the lids on things, whats the hardship, do they think the fairies do it once they have gone.
So when using my stuff to sew, which of course is allowed, it is not acceptable to suggest that all my stuff, scissors etc should just go back wherever you like, because then when I need them, they are not there and that makes me twitch, just a little.............
I need to chill, pass me a drink India.......cheers!

I'm back

Well so far everything is working today, yesterday I had phone and internet on the boys computer but not on mine, thankfully the tech person fixed it when he got home from work, well its his fault it was broken in the first place.
So in punishment I made him drive me to Ikea, you know this is usually not a good idea on a friday afternoon. Well, it wasn't a good idea yesterday either, the traffic on the way back was horrendous. We went to buy a bookcase and bedding but as usual came back with soooo much more!! Someone didn't measure the inside of his new car, so we had a teeny problem getting the bookcase in the car, I did try to NOT say "I told you to" but I couldn't help it!!

So here is the jumper and skirt I made this week......

...it was great fun, I think my nieces could have some fab outfits for Barbie by the time their birthdays come around, next up is a pink leatherette coat.....

Jamie is looking for some bright pink satin to line a waistcoat according to the message he sent me yesterday, he has a little hand sewing to re-do on his first one, he must be quite pleased with it, if he wants to make another, photos soon. He also asked if he could have one of my boxes to store his fabric in, hmmm not sure if I can give one up!

New

The preview of the new Rowan magazine is up here, nothing that grabs me on first glance but that is quite often the case, anyway I don't need anymore inspiration I need more time to knit!

If you haven't already you have to read Jessies article on Gender Based Blindness, living here with 4 guys I have to say that apart from the youngest, GBB affects all my guys, some more than others!

On the knitting front, I have knitted a whole jumper this week and just have to sew it up, so pics to follow, it will have a skirt that matches it soon too.

We apparently have a working phone AND internet so maybe things will be back to normal, whatever that is, around here. I dread to think how many messages we have, bags me not listening to them all.......

Aaaaaaagh!

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

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


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

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

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

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

Normal service

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

Sew,sew,sew,sew,sew

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


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

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

Heaven is....

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

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

Ahhhh

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









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

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

wip's as art

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

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



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


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

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

Mmmmmmm

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

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

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

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

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

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














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

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

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

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

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





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

Winter Sunrise

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



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


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

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

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

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