Still here!

Wow, long time since I last blogged!
Let me think, have I finished Silver Belle....of course not. She is nearly there, I am on the button bands, but while it's the summer, I feel I won't wear her, so I am fully intending to finish her for the winter. THIS WINTER!!!!!
I have restarted my Babette. We had our kitchen walls knocked down to make a really open plan space and the kitchen is all refitted. We have purple glass splashbacks and I decided we needed a purple velvet small sofa for the kitchen space. And every sofa needs a blankie. So I decided to start a new Babette in purpley colours. It's using Special Stylecraft DK which is ahem, totally acrylic, but lovely to crochet with and feels soft.
Other than that, not much knitty news. The ripple afghan is ongoing, and so are about 5 other project.
Lily is off to Warwick University in October, so I need to get it finished for her to take!
I am off to the South of France tomorrow and of course Babette will be coming with me.
Hopefully I will be back soon with some finished pictures!

Holiday Hexagons

I'm back!!!
We had an amazing time in France and I did loads of my hexagon blanket...pictures in a mo!
It was lovely just to sunbathe, read, eat and relax and be with my sisters and family.

I did, of course, make some great purchases....
firstly, a beautiful bag from a shop in Eymet


Front and back views.
I love it, and if you like it, have a look on their website here
They had so many beautiful bags, it was really hard to choose one.



So I bought two!!!







Here's the other one.

I found a FAB use for it....

Ta da!!!! My Babette is perfect for it!

Also in Eymet, I saw an older man sitting there in the market knitting!!!! Not just plain kitting, but cable. So I made Lily stand behind him so I could take a photo. If you are the man, and you're reading this, I hope you don't mind being on my blog!!!!

ok, here's one of me in action with the hexagon

And here it is so far..


On other fronts, I am surprised to tell you that all my holiday washing and ironing is done and put away! While we were on holiday, there was a tennis court at the Chateau and we all decided we wanted to be better at playing. I for one play with my eyes closed and I am totally hopeless.
So we found a tennis coach here, Ben (very handsome and young) and today Rob and I had our first lesson. I don't think Ben believed me when I told him how rubbish I was, but by the end of the lesson, he knew!!!!!! I'll be at Wimbledon before you know it, though at this rate!!!!!! (What's the age limit???)
This afternoon we went to Strawberry Fair in Cambridge to have a wander round and it was great!!! Just a mass of stuff to see. And a chocolate crepe. Well, rude not to.
Tomorrow, having knackered my arms today playing tennis, I am off back to spinning to knacker my legs.
At least I will be symmetrically in pain!!
Have a good weekend.
x

My Beautiful Babette

I am in love with the new colours and doing this makes me so happy!

No more words really needed! I have done sections 1-4.

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.......!

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!!

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.

UK Swap question 7

Films is the topic this week:

Do you prefer to watch films at home or at the cinema?
I prefer to watch them at the cinema. Only because I am a bugger for falling asleep if I'm home! Also, much nicer popcorn at the cinema (salty of course) and sorbet!

What is the last film you saw?
X Files (such a disappointment)

Have you seen any films more than 10 times? If so which ones and why.
No. For the same reason I ever really read books more than once...I like the end to be a surprise and I can't understand why you'd read/watch it if you knew what was going to happen?

What film do you recommend that people should see?
Saw 1, K-Pax, Philadelphia, Devil Wears Prada, Man Who Fell to Earth, probably my most favourite ones!

If you could be any character from a film who would it be?
Difficult! I'll get back to you on that one!

On the knitting front, I have a load to report in from this weekend, downloading the photos now, so I'm hoping to post all that later. Also pics of Mary's mosaicing...finally!

Also....WAIT FOR IT......I may have a Babette square. Don't get too excited. I have joined the Babette & Hexagon Blanket Crochet Anonymous Group on Ravelry and there is loads of help for novice crocheters like me and also loads of links to tutorial videos, so I am going to attempt it!!!!!! Look out SP, I may be able to do it after all!!!!

Check out some Babette colour inspirations here WOW!!!!!!! 3 pages of beauty.....

So sweet, maybe mad!

I had my first gift from my UK Swap pal! She saw that I would love to be able to crochet, but that I could only make granny squares. She noticed that the Babette blanket is listed in my Ravelry queue and she sent me the pdf!!!!

She thinks that I can make it!!!! She said if I can make a granny square, I have all the skills I need to make the BB. Now, is she right or deluded?? (Sorry Swappal!) I am now filled with a new love of crochet as I am going with her confidence in me and I shall be studying this pattern and making it click in my brain. I so love the blanket, and if she thinks I can make it, she might be right.

Wish me luck. It may be finished in time for Christmas. Who knows which year! But what a lovely thought!

Thank you Secret Swap Pal!
x

Youtube help

The really helpful tutorial I found (the lady with the loud radio) is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rphbKaAMKDE
I am off to try the babette blanket squares today, thanks to help from Jess and Pam. Will keep you posted!