My vest story so far...

After the twisted disaster with this, I am back to where I had to stop before. Over the psychological hump, so to speak.

Here are photos of it in progress, although after this weekend, I am hoping a picture of it on Monday will show much more of it. Although it is Mother's Day here on Sunday and we are heading off up North to visit Rob's family, but I might take it with me anyway. After all, it is my day as well!!!

PS Check out the beautifully wound ball of yarn! (Still impresses me!!!)

Odessa Take 2

OK, the picture was rubbish. I know it. So here are some more, doing it more justice. There's no one else but me and the dog in this house today and she didn't think it would suit her, so a vase had to do the job of wearing it!





My favourite part of how this accidental hat turned out with the stripes is how this flower appeared on the top!



I started the vest last night. Take care not to twist, it said. Off I went, and knitted about 2 inches........before I realised, oh yes, I had twisted it. Well, I was thinking I had maybe made a size too big anyway, and when I pulled it off the needle, I tried it on ad it's about 2 sizes too big, so it was maybe a blessing in disguise. Starting that again today, so pictures tomorrow.

We had an earthquake here last night, about 1am. It woke me up, but I didn't realise what it was at the time, I thought maybe Rob had got up and slammed a door, it was that kind of vibration. Very odd. My first earthquake and hopefully my last! But an experience, nonetheless!!!

Odessa

Now I know this is a rubbish picture, that bears little resemblance to the Odessas you've admired on Ravelry, but this is what I ended up making for Mary. She's in hospital and wanted something that she can comfortably lie in bed wearing that isn't an itchy wig or an outside looking hat. I wanted to make it stripey, but didn't bargain on the slanted pattern making the stripes look a bit like checks. I do like the pattern for this hat, by Grumperina, and it was a quick and easy knit. I'm sewing the ends up tonight and I'll see if I can get a better picture. Then I'm back to the BTSV, pictures of that soon as well.

More Yarn Colour Conundrums

The Cascade 220 arrived for my BTSV and I didn't like it. I mean it's a lovely colour, but not to encase my torso in, if you know what I mean. So it has been relegated to becoming a bag or some other accessory and I ordered some othere 220, this time, Heathers to become the Vest. I love it. I shall be casting on for it tonight as well as trying for the umpteenth time to get gauge for a cloche hat I'm knitting for Mary. It's soooo cool.

Here's the blue I decided against..


see, it's very blue.

And here's the lovely green Heather



Much nicer.

Right, off to run with wolves, oops, I mean my dog!

Blogoversary Competition Winners!!!

First of all, thank you to all who entered my competition. Your answers were really interesting and amusing, more of that later...

I decided to draw the winner and 2 runners up using this site where you put in all names and it picks one for you. Here they are put in...



So, without further ado, IN THIRD PLACE,



IN SECOND PLACE



AND THE WINNER IS...(drumroll)



Congratulations Sussex Yorkie, Hawkesley and dreamcatcher


Now, I decided not to show the prizes here as I want them to be a surprise for the winners. So you'll have to check their blogs to see what they won! But you know me, it will definitely contain yarn and chocolate and some other goodies as well!

Back to the competition answers, it was really interesting to read everyone's preferences, and there were some that stuck out as knitterly faves.

Fave yarn
Well, there were clear favourites, Koigu KPPM, Bebbie Bliss and Malabrigo. There were loads that I have never heard of, so I shall be on the lookout for them!

Fave food
Four clear faves here: chocolate (no shock there!), Mexican, Italian and cheese. We're a discerning bunch you know!

Fave time of day
This was interesting. It seems that knitters like early morning or late night. And the summer is the fave season. I'll have any of those times. I think it means that knitters would rather be knitting than sleeping. Am I wrong??

Fave Music
This was hard to collate. I think only Norah Jones, Josh Groban and Foos were mentioned more than once, but there were soooo many different faves to choose from. Loads of them I have never heard of but I have been looking them up on You Tube and wow!!!! Some of them I knew but forgot I knew so it's been nice revisiting them.

Thank you all so much for your comments and some new things to try. I will draw the line at chocolate and creamy mashed potato in the same bowl though! (Only because it's Lent!!!!!!) nah, just kidding!!

Back soon with knitterly news. Winners, email me with your addresses and check the mail!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

to you all. I made you some cakes.



I am sending you all a big smoochy hug.

Have a good one and keep the entries coming in, I'm loving reading your faves!

xxxxxxxxx

Happy Blogoversary to Fluffyknitting!!!

Hooray, I have been here a year. I can't believe it. If only I hadn't deleted the "finished things 2007" list on the sidebar, you'd have been impressed with what I have achieved in that year. I'm sure you can imagine how awesome it was. Just hold it in your mind's eye, because, guess what....not blogoversary would be complete without a

COMPETITION!!!!

So, here we go.



In order to get an entry, I would like you to tell me the following facts.

1. Your favourite yarn.
2. Your favourite time of day.
3. Your favourite song/music.
4. Your favourite thing to eat.

There. Mine are Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, early morning in the summer, William Orbit's Barber's Adagio for Strings, and anything with blue cheese on it!

So, go on, now spill the beans!!

If you are travelling around blogworld, and you tell anyone else about this, make sure they mention you when they enter and I'll enter you again. And if you blab about my competition on your blog, come and tell me and I'll enter you again for that!

Oh, the prizes? Well, I have good prizes, and you know they'll include yarn, markers, patterns and chocolate. And there will be 3 prizes.

The lines will close this Sunday 17th midnight GMT.

Good luck, and I am looking forward to learning more about you all from this!

Last post of year 1

Tomorrow, my blog will be 1 year old. It has gone so quickly and I cannot begin to tell you how many fantastic people I have met through this, how many amazing projects I have been inspired by or how many wips I have been motivated to finish knowing that someone out there would be interested!

This space is changing a little as from midnight tonight.

Lily (now 16 and thank you for all your good wishes to her)

has designed me a great new header picture and I am changing the bar on the right to include all the blogs I read, there are alot!, and the places I shop, not quite so many! So watch out. I will also be having a competition to celebrate. Rob and Lily are off to watch Queens of the Stone Age tonight, so I shall be busy while they're out!

A couple more FOs for you to peruse while you wait.....


Guess what this is....


It's this



A pearapple cosy for Lily to take her snack to school in!!

I have also finished these



for Mary for when she is out and about when she feels better. I am in the middle of a hat for her too. The wackier the better she said.....hmmmmm!

Ok, gotta go, see you later I hope!!

Finally, yarn and colour choices

OK, just to let you know I have ordered the yarn for the Back to School Vest,

I decided to knit it in Cascade 220, although it's not my most favourite yarn (except for felting) as it's a little itchy, I do like the colours it comes in and it will be worn over the top of something else, so hopefully it won't matter too much. (scratching at the thought of it now..)

it's the lovely blue one, 8908. I also bought some of the purple 8885 to knit the cabled tote bag. It looks a little like this one..

and now I'm thinking I should have ordered red as it does look nice in that colour. Oh well, I think it'll be a quick knit as it only uses 2 skeins, so I shall make a few in a variety of colours!

Talking of bags, I have a load of felted bag designs that I am trying to make up, but it is very labour intensive, especially if I want to get a few of them in shops. But I think I have found a fast knitting older lady who would be happy just to knit the basic shape so then I could felt and embellish them, which is very exciting and one of my business plans for this year!! Watch this space.....

This weekend I am mapping out the chart for the peplum of the Silver Belle and watching the rugby this afternoon. Last night Lily had a sleepover with a gaggle of teenage girls, and we went out for a curry with some old friends. We had a really good evening and the house was still intact when we got back and there was no sick anywhere. Successful evening had by all, I think!!

I am planning a competition for my bogoversary which is this Tuesday, and a bit of a revamp as well.

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend as well!

New Projects

These three books arrived this week. Don't worry, I did order them. I've been perusing them in bed at night. Rob's not that impressed, I can tell from the sighing sounds. There are some gorgeous things in them all, and I am starting with the Back to School Vest from Fitted Knits and the Bobble Bag from the Vogue Bags book. Now, just got to order the yarn and try to to order anything else as well......wish me luck!!!!

My little baby is 16!!!!

Lily is 16 today! It seems hard to believe that this time 16 years ago she weighed 2 lbs 3 oz and now she's as tall as me!! She is the sweetest, most hardworking, chilled out person I could ever wish to meet, never mind produce, and I am taking the credit for it, although Rob thinks he should get it all!!!!!!

Happy Sweet Sixteen Lily!

Pearl's Socks

I just wanted to show you these beautiful socks which Emily has designed. Aren't they beautiful?

I am just on my second pair of Fetching, and these are next on my list. I have just the recipient in mind for them. If you want to download the pattern, it's a $5 donation to The Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society, which as you know, is very close to my heart. A great cause and a gorgeous pair of socks. Go here if you want to purchase the pattern.

First FO in 2008

Hooray, I finished something. And guess what, it wasn't brown....or pink for that matter.

Last night, when I was cooking dinner, I cut up a leek and it SO reminded me of the FO. Have a look.



Now, here is the FO



They look like each other, dontcha think?

Yes, it's a Fetching. My notsosecretanymore pal sent me the pattern in one of my packages (thank you Tsuki) and I love it. Just in case you were thinking that I had only knitted one and then got sgs, check these out.....




Oh yes, I knitted 2!! It is such a quick knit, probably about 2 hours knitting in total. I knitted them in 3.5mm rather than 4mm, because my hands and wrists seem to have benefitted more than the rest of my body from weight loss. Typical. They were probably the only bit of me that didn't need to lose weight. But there you go.

AND I knitted them from my stash. Yes, you read that right. FROM MY STASH!!!!!

And, I have worn them non stop since I finished them. To the cinema last night to see Cloverfield (rubbish), to the gym this morning, tell you about that in a min, and then to shopping in Milton Keynes this afternoon. I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THEM!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yes, I have started running. I explained my difficulty and worry about running (black eyes etc) to the lovely instructor at the gym and he was very kind to me. He set me a training programme and then I WAS RUNNING!!!! I did notice that he surreptitiously attached the emergency stop clip to my vest as I set off.............

So that's my weekend. Tonight I shall be watching/trying desperately to keep up with Lost whilst knitting another pair of Fetchings!!!! I am addicted!

A Pinker Shade of Pink

I thought I would inject a little bit of pink into my otherwise becoming very brown blog. These are the squares so far knitted for the patchwork bag. I have a great design idea in mind, and as I knit the mindless little squares, my ideas for it grow.

This is good tv knitting and as Lost is coming back on Sunday night, and last time I was completely lost in it, it's a good thing to have as a wip!!

I am going to buy the yarn for my Back to School Vest this weekend, I'm thinking a pale blue, and have joined the KAL and the Ravelry group. That should protect me from any unforseen mistakes, and I am also going to get a move on with the peplum for the Silver Belle.

Oh, and I forgot to say.......

PINCH, PUNCH, FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH!!!!! (and no back return..sorry if I pinched too hard)