Still running around

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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Matilda Jane went to a Party

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

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.....