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......

Oh Crap!

Tomorrow is the 22nd December and things are still decidedly un-christmassy in this house.
I am not organised or packed and we leave tomorrow, I am only driving 20-30mins up the hill so I can come back for things I know that I will have forgotten but thats not really the point.
I, Me, Moi am not organised, you see this doesn't happen, I am always organised at least in my head or on my list but not right now. The house is untidy, I have no idea what we are eating for christmas dinner and the shopping really needs to be done tomorrow morning or we might be having pasta!

Knitting, not much of that going on either, I found the missing sock this morning, Jim has lost his hat and scarf from last year, so I need to knit him a new one as its really cold outside, though still no snow! No sign of my Interweave yet so am really, really p'd off and I still haven't found yarn for the fairisle from the fall issue. I want to knit Juno from the latest Rowan but don't have yarn for that yet either. I'll just have to knit myself another little shawl, I bought some Alpaca to match a shawl pin that Yvonne bought me for Christmas, lovely aqua colour so maybe that will cheer me up. I will be better by tomorrow, my Mum arrives to stay so now I just need to find a bag to pack my clothes in and I'm done.
So if you are someone I usually send a christmas card or present to then I apologise they are all still here, mostly not wrapped or written and nowhere near the queue at the Post Office.

I hope you all have a great holiday however you celebrate it, me I will be fighting off the dogs for a place on the sofa in front of the telly with my knitting, Merry Christmas.........

knitting or not

There is not much knitting going on this week, I have trapped a nerve, kind of at the top of my back/shoulder area, so doing anything for any length of time is a bit painful. This also means that food shopping and carrying heavy things is out of the window too. Though my lot would love me if I starved them!
So what am I knitting, this bag in Kid Classic in a purply colour and I just bought dark grey to trim it with. It is for my sister-in-law she saw it in John Lewis and liked it, I still have Jakes other Fetching to finish, em start, and I have lost a sock in progress, its for my Dad and is on 2 circs so I have been struggling with it and I have no idea where I last had it, it better turn up soon or it will be for his birthday in February instead.
Don't let me fool you into thinking that is all the wip's, its just all I am thinking of working on right now.
Tomorrow I have to take all my packages for the UK to the post office, they are REALLY late.



So here is a pic of my brothers socks modelled by someone else they are not identical but I like them anyway and my little Forest Canopy Shawl in Plassard Alpaca which I love.

I'm back

I'm back, had a fabulous time in London, did some bead shopping, had tea at Libertys, did some shopping at Bluewater, had tea and cake with Yvonne, went to visit Santa, haven't done that for a few years! Went Orla Kiely handbag shopping, book shopping, chocolate shopping of course and last but not least did a little food shopping for the essential, sausages, cranberry sauce and mincemeat. I unfortunately did not make it to Stash this visit, which is a bit sad, I did not get Malias cardi knitted as I cast it on, knitted a few rows and it was way to big and I didn't have time to do the maths and fix it there, so the wool came home with me. She loved her pinafore and tights and we managed to find a top that met with her approval, so that is good.
Now I have to get this christmas thing all organised.....

Its snowing

At last there is some snow on the mountains although I can't see it right now as the cloud is so low. All the skiers were getting a little worried as the slopes were supposed to open a couple of weeks ago and really the weather has been very warm. Today is the first really rainy cold day we have had for a while. Apparently the weather in London is to be cold and wet too, so have to pack warm weather clothes, of course my bag is all packed and ready for tomorrow....not!



Well there is one project I have to take as I have finished the pinafore part of the pressie but the cardi is still some balls of wool unfortunately!



Yesterday I got a lovely surprise in the post, my birthday present from my brother and sister-in-law and it came in this box and I love it, the guys in this house need to take note........

Yesterday one of the Grenoble Knitters left us to move back to Oxford, so anyone who knows of an Oxford knitting group let me know and I can pass it on. So at the Knitting Bee cafe we had a little champagne celebration much to the delight of our waiter, who really thinks he is getting a pair of socks sometime soon, he needs to join the queue...

So I am off till Tuesday, see ya....

Attention Newbie Sock Knitter at Large

This little man, got himself out of bed early to do some knitting before school, this is very early as he leaves to catch the bus at 7.20am. Aahhh, but take a look at what he is knitting, this is Jakes first project on dpns, his last knitting project is still unfinished as he became a little disillusioned at the amount of counting he needed to achieve the look he wanted. He wanted the front of his jumper to be all cabled and it was really a little to much, when really all he wanted to do was pick it up and knit away, without thinking and counting!
He is enjoying knitting Fetching, he says he likes knitting on small needles AND he wants to know if this means he can knit socks! Absolutely it does, I think we might need some more sock yarn for christmas.....

Rebellion

So what do you think the attraction was? The smell of wet wool? The damp towel? Or the jaggy pins?
This project is done, daylight pictures tomorrow as I spent daylight hours today helping a friend clean the rented house she is moving out of. It is all fun around here.
So tomorrow starts the mad panic of packing christmas presents to take to London, packing projects to take, for me and for Malia, lots of glue-sticks and shiny things to stick!!
Have to write out yardage amounts for future yarn projects in case I escape to visit Stash.
Get the boys to finalise their shopping lists and score off all the unnecessary items like doughnuts! Not a lot really.....

Its December already!

Okay, I have no idea where this year has gone and now its December and I am soooo not organised for Christmas. I had my first sale this year on Thursday and it was a great night, but as usual the first one always takes me a little by surprise and I am always really worried about how it is going to go. So Thursday did see me running around like a headless chicken planning to finish oh so many more things than I had time for. I did finish up one more bag and sold it that night so that was good.


On the knitting front I just have the toe of the christmas socks to finish and the petrol coloured knitting has grown a little but still looks the same.
This morning was spent christmas shopping with 2 of the boys, though they were more interested in looking at clothes for them! So I still have lots to do, more list making is on the cards, talking of which I still haven't made any christmas cards, later or tomorrow maybe and what am I going to take to wear in London, do I have time to make something new? Probably not.......