Belated Christmas Greetings and a Happy New Year!

Oh my goodness, the time over Christmas just flew by and now it is the last day of 2008, and I can't believe it!

I had the hideous cold/flu thing over the holidays, which has really knocked me for six and I still don't feel 100%. We had a lot of family around at Christmas and while it was lovely, I am craving getting back to normal a bit now, eating normal food (God knows how much weight I've put on!) and just being in my own space. I had Lily work out how many weeks until our holiday in May, and it's 22. I can't wait!!!! Just laying by a pool in the sun reading books sounds like a dream to me right now!!!

Sorry to moan. I know plenty of people spend Christmas alone, and I wouldn't swap mine for the world.

New Year's Eve tonight. As a non alcohol drinker, it's not that big a deal to me. I'd happily don my pjs and sit and eat a take away in front of the fire. But Rob is a drinker and so we compromise. Each year some old friends of ours come over for dinner and we play games and eat delish food. My sister and brother in law are coming too, with their girls, so it should be a great evening.

Before I go, let me show you my Babette progress.


The reason I've been slow at doing this, you'll see, is because the colours just aren't doing it for me. I don't like the beige one, or the mulberry one and I'm not too keen on the orange, although it might look nice without the other 2. They're just too 60s for me. Too murky and dull. I want bright and fresh, and so I have decided to start again and design my own colour scheme a bit. The little squares I like, but not the big one. That's going.

I'm in a timewarp

OMG the time is just flying by now and I can't believe 3 weeks today will be Christmas Eve. I can't wait.

However, I just find the days so short and the nights even shorter!

Is it age?????

My Babette is coming along, and oh, for some time to take some pictures to show you. I'll try tomorrow. My hexagon is coming along more, as I SO LOVE IT!!!!!

It's frosty in the mornings here now, proper wintery, none of that in betweeny weather I hate, and we're hoping for snow tomorrow.

Sitting by the fire, crocheting, watching I'm a Celebrity with a cup of hot choc....what more could I want?

I'm all wound up......

I've got a day to myself today, so I shall hopefully have something resembling a Babette square to show you later on.......!

Crochet Crazy!

Thank you for your kind comments regarding Basil. We still miss him like mad, but every day is easier, although I still expect to see him coming very slowly around the corner whenever I am sitting here in the study!

As promised, some crochet updates. For you pure knitters, apologies for my going over to the dark side, but I am telling you, it is much quicker that knitting, although you can't concentrate on the tv quite as much!

OK, firstly, I am getting along with the hexagon blanket well. I can see quite a lot of mistakes, but am choosing to ignore them!



Secondly, my Babette colours.



I am winding them all into balls at the moment and then I need to sort the colours into numbers and then I'm off!

I went to a training day yesterday where there were 45 or so of us leaders in a hotel conference room. It so reminded me of the film "The Witches"!!!!! So lucky a small ginger boy didn't come wandering into the room............

Goodbye My Old Gentleman

Basil
September 1989-November 2008

Very sad news. Basil died yesterday morning. He was 19 years and 2 months old.
We had been together a long time, since he was 12 weeks old and I was 24.

He was with me through chemo, and with me before even I met Rob and before Lily was born.
He was the most calm and easy going cat (as long as his dinner was on time) and I will miss him so very much.

It is so strange getting up in the morning and not seeing him there, or having him come around the corner.

I know he will be more comfortable now and I hope he becomes a beautiful panther in his next life, but I am happy to have known him and loved him, and had him love me,for so long.

It's coming!!!!!!!

Lisa from First4Yarns emailed yesterday to say the cascade for my Babette has arrived. I ran through the colours with her this morning and she was sooooo helpful, and we changed and added a couple and she's posting it to me today, I should have it by tomorrow!!!!!!!!

I can't wait!!

Oh......just thought, I'll be winding it into balls for about a month, and now I wonder if I can remember how to crochet.......

Oh well, nothing can spoil my joy today!

Still waiting.......

for my cascade to start my Babette. But I have discovered something to keep me going in the meantime. Check it out here on Ravelry or look at Ruth's beautiful version here. I have loads of odds and sods of DB cashmerino left and so it'll be a good use of them. Ruth has helpfully written instructions too, for the crocheting novices among us (me) so I am planning to give it a try this afternoon when I have an hour.

Emily, out exchange student arrived on Saturday from New Jersey. She is a lovely girl and fits in nicely. We hadn't bargained on the differences in language though, there are so many!!!! Chocolate, thankfully, is universal!

Great news on the Weight Watchers front. My area manager is really pleased with my figures and has said I can open a new meeting earlier than we had planned. Originally she had said after Christmas, but I am opening it on the 19th November!!!!!! I'm very excited.

I am also very excited that Obama was elected last night. What a great choice America made. I'm interested to see what changes he makes, but so pleaaed that McCain didn't win. (sorry to any Republicans out there!!)

Fireworks night here tonight. We had to explain it to Emily. Strange how something so normal for us sounds so ridiculous when you try to explain it out loud.....

Enjoy!!!!!

Chocolate and Presents

I have been meaning to redecorate the hall and landing for some time now, and we have been living with tester pot patches all over the walls, but just couldn't decide on one we liked.

This weekend, Lily is in Iceland for 4 days on a school trip (having an amazing time) and so we decided to go for it and make a decision and decorate on Sunday. We stared at the patches for ages and still couldn't decide. Then we thought. Fuck it.....let's just decide on one and paint it and if we don't like it, we'll paint over it.

Well, as you know, chocolate is important in my life. How apt, then, when the colour we decided on is called Malt Chocolate!!!!!! It's a good omen. We painted the first wall. I loved it and Rob wasn't sure, so we kept going. We fell in and out of love with it a million times throughout the 6 hours it took to do 2 coats and now we are LOVING it!!!! Rob thinks it looks sophisticated. I think it looks clean...

See for yourself.



Funnily enough, it kind of goes with Breezy, which is really growing now.



I am loving this too. The pattern is a feather like effect


It's knitted from both sides and then joined in the middle. I shall stand next to my new walls in it and be co ordinating!!!

I haven''t showed you yet the lovely final package that I received from my SP.



How cool is all of that? Debbie Bliss is my most favourite, and that other yarn I have never seen before It is Araucania yarn, hand dyed in Chile. Isn't it beautiful? I think, just asking to be made into a neck warmer. She also sent me some knit picks tips and cords, my first ever!!!! Thank you so much, Pretty In Purple!!! And I love your purple theme for this package.

We have our exchange student, Emily, coming from New Jersey next Saturday for 2 weeks. Great excitement in our house about that at the moment!!!! I should clear up the house really! Lisa from First4Yarns tells me they are hoping my cascade 220 will come in this week, so I'm hoping to get started on my Babette (ravelry link) imminently!!!

Tomorrow I am making chocolate brownies for my Halloween themed weight watchers meetings this week!!!! They are delicious and only 2 points a square. I'll take a picture of them, let me know if you want the recipe!!!!

Hopefully I am a little more back to normal now and shall be back sooner rather than later as has become the norm!!

Knitting and Stitching Show

Well we went....and we were a bit disappointed.

In the foyer, was a Hyperbolic Coral Reef. It was stunning. Ever changing, and beautiful.



My favourite bit of it was this green bit..



And an explanation



The graduate exhibitions were amazing but the shopping was rubbish. I went to get the cascade 220 for the Babette blanket, but there was about 5 skeins of dull colours. The lady on the Fun2Knit stand was downright rude and there were a load of crappy stands selling shoes, bags and wash cloths for cars. Don't even get me started on how many bead stalls there were there.

We managed to get some Colinette Jitterbug, an also some reels of chenille to make a Sophie Digson style scarf.

Oh well, I doubt I'll go again. I think we'll try Woolfest in Cumbria next June. Lily was wowed by the exhibitions and got alot of inspiration for her art work.



Here we are outside the show....notice the Ravelry bag!!!!



I have abandoned Mystery Stole 4. I don't like it and can't be bothered to put in the effort. I am waiting for yarn to arrive from First4Yarns to start the Babette, and in the meantime I'm ploughing on with Breezy. It's good mindless tv knitting!

Not much else to report. Lily is off to Iceland on Friday, and I am planning to redecorate the hallway and landing.

I'm starting to think about knitting for christmas, but also not sure I can take the pressure of it this year!!!!!

Sorry for the temporary loss of service

I have lost the last few weeks of my life to weight watchers.

You know when you first start a new job, and you want to be the best you can be at it. Well, that's where I've been. I am having an absolute ball, I have to say. I love it.

It's working with people....which I love
It's about losing weight...which I know
It's about being creative....which I love
It's about not being stuck in an office
It's about doing it how I want to do it

What more could I want? It is the most perfect job for me!!!

Knitting wise, I have done some knitting. Clue 6 has just come out for MS4 and I am slogging away with clue 3. I've seen a couple of finished ones and I'm not sure I like it, which makes me wonder if I really want to carry on with it.

In the meantime, Breezy is coming along but is a bit of a monotonous knit.

I am off to the Knitting and Stitching show tomorrow and can't wait. I am planning to buy the cascade I need to knit Babette and anything else I can find!

My SP12 sent me my final package this week, and included, amongst many other fab things, some knit picks options. How cool is that? I shall photograph duly so you can all admire!

That's it for now. I shall take some pics tomorrow and show you the show.

My (red and green again) weekend!

My tomato plants are cropping nicely now and so I decided to make some tomato soup for lunch yesterday with them.

It was lovely, just some olive oil, garlic from France and tomatoes from the garden. Add some vegetable stock and some basil, boil and then blend. None left!



That's low fat cheese on the top in case you were wondering!

My Mystery Stole is going ok. It's slow going as it's my first lace/beaded knit. Clue 3 came out last Friday and I have just finished Clue 1. I am proud of my progress, albeit slow, as I can only knit it in the day at the back of my house in the study where the light is great, but it's next to Basil's bed and I just have too hope he doesn't take too much of an interest.

Some pictures of my progress up to the end of the first clue....


please click on the picture above to get some idea of the pain I am feeling knitting this!



It's a nice design, by Georgina Bowman (look on Ravelry) but I'm not sure I would knit lace again in a hurry.

In the evenings I have been knitting Breezy, which I shall take a picture of this week. Gorgeous cashcotton. Makes a change from bloody 2 ply fragile lace!

This weekend we've been busy clearing out the garage ready for my WW stock to arrive, and I have given the garden an Autumn spring clean. That should've used up a few calories at least! Maybe I've burned off the popcorn I ate last night-we went to the flicks to see Tropic Thunder. Hmmmm.....I love Jack Black and Ben Stiller but, put it this way, I looked at my watch a fair few times through it.....

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post. I really do appreciate them. I shall take a picture of my new ring when my hands are a little cleaner!!

It's Official!!

I have finally passed all my assessments and am now a fully fledged Weight Watcher leader! I have been given 2 groups a week to take over and start next week. I can't wait. I did feel a bit daunted, but it's my own business to run as successfully as I want it and now I'm really excited about it. Having trodden the path myself, I just want anyone who is unhappy with their weight to come and know that there is another way, you don't have to put up with anything. I just think, if I did it, anyone can!

Rob and I had a great weekend last weekend while Lily was away. Although I love her dearly, it's nice to have some time to be 2 people again and not have any other role that that of a friend, lover and eating companion!!! And we did!! We ate out twice a day, but I still managed to stay the same on the scales this week! (Minor miracle!)

My old wedding ring, which I did love, was so big, it kept falling off since I lost weight. So Rob promised me a new one. I could have had the old one made smaller, but my fingers are so much smaller now, it would have looked too thick, so we decided to go for a completely new look one. I am now sporting the most beautiful 9 diamonds, channel set in a square cut gold band. It is so sparkly, I can't stop looking at it, it's like being newly married all over again!!!

So, my body has gone down by 3 sizes and my fingers have gone down 4 sizes. Not bad in less than a year!!!!

What with planning my assessment meetings and buying diamond rings, knitting has taken a back seat a bit. But I have started the Breezy Wrap from the RYC book I was kindly gifted recently, and also I am on my second attempt of Mystery Stole 4. I am knitting on 2 ply lace, and on row 2 there is a bead on every other of the 113 sts. Now, do you feel a little knitting pain for me????????

Well done Christine!

Christine from dillydallyknitter recently did a great thing. With a group of friends, she walked 60 miles over 3 days for breast cancer. They stayed in tents and they knitted beautiful bunting to drape around the tents. On each triangle of the bunting, they knitted the initials of women who had fought or who were fighting breast cancer. She so kindly did one for my mum, who died from the disease, CH, and also one for Mary, MP, who had the best news last week, that the tissue they removed in the mastectomies was completely clear from malignancy. HOORAY!!!! What a relief.

Go on over to Christine's blog and check out her pictures of the whole thing...especially the ones of her poor feet!!!

Well done, go you!!!!!!

Lemonylicious

Cupcakes.
So delicious.
Lily is off for the weekend on an art course.
We are off ring shopping as my wedding ring is silly big now I have lost so much weight.
Have a lovely Friday.

Look at that! I got an award from blog blethers!!! Thank you so much for that.

Now, I need to 'pass on the honours' to some bloggers who I love to read.

The Rules:
The rules for award acceptance are as follows:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her webshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifite/blog.
2. Add a link to the person who gave you this award.
3. Nominate at least 7 other websites/blogs.
4. Provide links of the nominated websites/blogs.
5. Leave a message at each website owner that you´ve nominated.

My nominees, in no particular order, are:

Crimson Purl
Gilraen's Knits
Tiennie Knits
Yarn Crawl
Queen of the Froggers
Pheelya
Zebra Knits

You all are the most awesome knitters and so entertaining to read. You deserve this award.

Red and Green should never be Seen

My mum always said that, and I say it to Lily. Not sure why though! Anyway they are seen together in this post!

First crop from my tomato plants!



There are loads on the plants still green, so I may be making green tomato chutney if they don't hurry up and ripen, as it's so wintery there could well be a frost soon!

They were lovely in a salad last night, together with some runner beans from my normal neighbour's dog walker's garden, with roasted vegetable lasagne! YUM! The aubergines are the size of tennis balls now, so I shall pick them soon.

On the green front, I have finally received the yarn for my Mystery Stole 4 and decided on the bead choice.



The yarn is Lane Borgosesia merino laceweight in olive and the beads are 3 different colours. I don't do things the easy way.

Now to decide, do I swatch, or just go for it?????

H is for Happiness

After my last post, I must have jogged some higher spirit's conscience, as this week, my life has become near perfect!

Mary is out of hospital and on the mend and sounding so well and cheerful. We are just waiting for results next week and then she will be able to move on properly.

I had my 3rd (out of 4) assessments this week to be a weight watchers leader, and it went brilliantly. I love doing it now, it gives me such a buzz to stand up in front of people and make them laugh and motivate them to be what they want to be. I have my final one next Tuesday, which my Area Manager will be at and I will find out if I have passed or not.

Lily is settling into the 6th Form and is off on an art weekend this weekend, doing stuff like sculpture, felting, printing and photography. Wish I could go too!

I still haven't started my Mystery Stole as the yarn I ordered is out of stock and so I reordered it in green, so I think purple was not meant to be. And I can use the mega expensive beads I bought (and love) too!!

Rob is being a dream husband at the moment! Not that he normally isn't, just more so at the moment!

I had an order for a baby quilt yesterday which I sent out. (that's the relevance of the picture...the H stands for Henry really!)

I can finally crochet and am looking forward to making the Babette blanket when I can get some cascade 22o for it!

I am feeling extremely content in my life and my skin at the moment. I am very grateful for it and hope that everyone else is as happy.

Sending you all a golden glow..........xxxxxx

One Disaster After Another......

you know when it all goes wrong at the same time? Check this out. It's not serious, I know, but bloody irritating though...

First, I dyed the yarn.



I soooo wish I hadn't put the red in. When I wound it into a cake, it looks horrible. I call it Yukilicious. Sweet but awful.



Then, having joined the Mystery Stole 4 group on Yahoo and Ravelry, I decided, after spending a small fortune on green beads, to go for purple and dye my own yarn up for it. I spent ages winding balls back into hanks and then dissolved the grape Kool Aid crystals into the water. I added the 4 skeins I had wound one at a time. Well, by the time I added the last one (and I wasn't that slow) the dye had all gone, so I have 2 purple, one lilac and one a bit white and blotchy.



BUGGER!!!!! In the end, I thought, fuck it, and have ordered some laceweight on line, with a begging note to the vendor to send soon. Bloody hell!!!

Then, I am knitting the Waving Lace sock and look at this...




The pattern said 50g, which is what I started with, and I'm not even round on to the bottom of the foot yet! Help!! I was considering knitting the rest of this in another colour, but I think it'll look silly, so I am considering unravelling quickly. :(

No time...

for anything at the moment, hence the lack of blogging.I am in the midst of training now as a weight watchers leader and have taken 2 of the 4 meetings I need to to pass my assessments. The final one will be the week after next. I have to say, I love it!!! After getting over my nerves, I am really much more comfortable than I ever thought I could be, standing up in front of total strangers and running a meeting for half an hour! Hope I haven't jinxed it now!!!

On the knitting front, I am having a disaster with Waving Lace socks as the yarn is running out halfway along the foot.

On all other fronts, Lily has gone into the 6th Form and looks sooooo smart in her suit, my house is a total tip as there is no time to tidy up and I have decided my dad is a cock and I'm not wasting any more of my (too short) time on him again! You can give a person so many chances...!!!!

On the Mary front, she had her op this week, and after a really rocky time, today is feeling better and off for physio, and hopefully home soon.

Tomorrow I have some time so am hoping to get some photos on here as well as rambling!!!!! Lily and I are hoping to make Lemonylicious cupcakes tonight so I shall tempt you all ff any diets you may be on with them!!!

One Giant Babette Square

(details of yarn etc here on ravelry)

Love it! It has been sent to and received by Mary to wrap her in love for when she has her big op next week and afterwards while she's convalescing.

Lily's is growing and I shall show you hers soon.

I have joined Mystery Stole 4 this year!!! I have swatched and bought mega expensive beads that I'm now not sure about, so am in the process of winding balls into skeins and dyeing them (I've got the bug!!) grape colour. Will keep you posted.

Have a good weekend. Apparently this is the last of our summer.

WHAT summer?????

Dyeing to show you..........

...what I received from my SP12 pal.......a Kool Aid dyeing kit!! I've always wanted to have a go at this and today decided, while it was sunny, to go for it.

First you soak the hank of yarn..

Then you put the dyes you want to use into small bottles
Then you squirt them onto the drained yarn....




Then cook it in the microwave....

Hmmm, not sure about the red, but I love the blue and green and it might look better when dry and wound into a ball.

I now just need to rinse it and dry it. Then ball it.

OK, at long last, here is a glimpse of what I have been doing over the last few days... I finally got the solid granny square (I can't tell you how many times I watched the bloody tutorial on You Tube) and I can do it! And it looks like the Babette squares on Ravelry!!!!! I am trying to make myself wait until the Knitting and Stitching Show in October until I buy the cascade I need for Babette, but in my head, there's a little voice telling me I might have forgotten how to do it by then and I should get it NOW!!!!!!!!



I'll show you the thing in its entire glory tomorrow before sending it to it's recipient tomorrow. SP, you were so right to have faith in me. I really doubted that I could do it, but I can and I'll show you how well tomorrow!

I have also taught Lily how to crochet the solid granny and she is creating a blanket as I type. Only stopping to eat and wee.

SP parcel arrived

I went out and when I came back, my UKSP had been to my house!!!!! How weird is that? I wish I had been in a I wanted to meet her in person, but I think she comes from Cambridge, so I am hoping I will meet her at a K2TOG meet soon.

She left a box in my porch!!



Check out what was in it... I took the photo in the garden as the theme for my swap was my garden!



Wow, she sent me some lovely things. She made that gorgeous bag at a Debbie Abrahams workshop!!!! Sweeties too, cool yarn, soap, and amongst other things, a Rowan Classic pattern book. I love Rowan designs and have my eye on these 2 so far....




The yarn is to make this sweet bag



I have also had another parcel, from my SP12 but I'll take a pic later, when I take one of my GIANT BABETTE SQUARE

Oh yeah....prepare to be amazed......