Hello I love you, won't you tell me your name

Hello hello, I'm back!!

Excuse the title of this post, I love The Doors and I wanted a song name with hello in it, so that is why that's there. Plus I love you and often I don't know your name!

Just to warn you, this will be a long one. Go get a drink and maybe some snacks and settle in and get comfy. I'll wait for you.....

Ready??

After much heated argument(yea, like that's that different to "huge rows"??) in our house about the lateness of booking our holiday we finally went. It was a place that could have sounded dodgy...loving couples only.....no children under 12.....secluded jardin naturiste...(look that one up).....and, can I say, Rob found it, NOT ME. I had given up after looking on 246 bloody web sites and ringing round unhelpful places. This is what I was sick of.

Me:Have you got any availability for next week?

Rep:OH you're very late looking.

Me:Yes, I know. Do you have anything?

Rep:Well, you're just so late. We're booking for 2008 now.

Stressed Me:Do you know what, I don't care if you're booking for 2000 and fucking 10 HAVE YOU GOT ANY AVAILABILITY FOR NEXT WEEK???

One lady (I call her that in the loosest sense of the word) wanted me to pay for a holiday before she could tell me if it was available or not and then, if it wasn't, which she could tell me in the next 10 days, she'd refund me.

HELLO I need to go withing 6 days and DO I REALLY SOUND LIKE A MORON??????????

ok, forget the last bit, I was pretty frazzled by then and was probably doing a really great impression of a moron. Not a Mormon. Don't get confused or offended.

You can see why, when Rob found the dodgy sounding one I grabbed it with both hands very gratefully.

Actually, I may have said/shouted/sneered
Well it'll have to do, won't it, there's fuck all left because everyone else bothers to book it a year in advance

and then slammed off and threw myself on my bed. In a calm way, you understand.

We got there and it was ok. I was luckily not expected to roam around in my birthday suit nor throw my car keys in a bowl. I was expected to lay by the pool, eat lots and read lots. The people there also kindly didn't really mention my knitting when I did it in the evening. And that suited me just fine.

It was in the middle of maize field in the country side. This is the view from our bedroom window

Very calming.

The first sock got finished and the second sock got started. We all tried the first sock on. Except the dog didn't. This is me knitting at breakfast. I had conveniently forgotten about the obsessed comment my husband made (see previous post). Please don't think because there is no food in front of me, that I was not eating breakfast. I could NEVER do that. It would be sick ad wrong and unfair to my finely tuned metabolism.

Please excuse the state of me. I am on holiday AND I have just got up.

As I promised, I didn't do much except lay by the pool, reading books and eating French cakes. The French may know nothing about vegetarianism (and believe me, THEY KNOW NOTHING) but they do know how to make the world's greatest cakes. So that's pretty much what I lived on. What?

My dog swam in the pool


My dog was not impressed


I did read the Yarn Harlot's book, The Secret Life of a Knitter. I laughed out loud so many times, people were starting to look irritated. So I finished it in bed at night rather than round the pool in the day. Furtively. Then my daughter read it. It's the funniest thing. Especially the bit about TAKE. I can identify with that. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.


One day, there were clouds. This meant doing something other than laying by the pool. I had a plan!!!! In the hills, some 60 km away, was a mohair farm. Once I had convinced my TAKE that they really wanted to go, we headed off to find it. I had shot myself in the foot a bit. I hate heights, and the road there was mainly a small crumbling single track road dangerously perched on the edge of a steep hill, with no barriers. I tried to remain calm for everyone's sake, but I kept thinking if someone came around the corner on the other side of the road, we would be buggered. French people drive fast and in the middle of the road on a good day, so God alone knows what would have happened to us. Just when I was thinking thank God, it's a flatter and wider road, there was a big (and low down) cave, and the pissing road went straight into it. Did I mention that as well and verigo, I also have claustrophobia???????????

Bloody hell, look at this

Oh yes, that's the road leading into it.

I tried to stay calm. But it's not one of my strong points and I screamed

"I don't like it in here"

They all looked at me like I was mental. So I said it again (a bit louder and a bit more out of control)

"I REEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY don't like it in here"

And then we were out. And it was ok. And we were all calm. Well they were. All I could think was....fuck...I have to go back through that to get home. I tried to concentrate on the mohair. And it got me through a scary moment. Just.

These gorgeous mohair goats were at the farm at the top of the hill. How sweet are they??



They are mohair on legs. I thought they looked like sheep. They also looked a bit like my dog. I kept her close to me in case they sheared her for her beautiful grey mohair. Coarse variety mohair.

Then someone shouted, Come on mohair goats, time for tea and a biscuit, and they all ran off


Inside the farm was what I had really some for. Check this out, fellow obsessives. No words, just pictures....(ps, this also counts for my YPF)






How lovely is that?

I was very restrained and only bought 5 balls.



The photos don't do the colours justice. They really are the most gorgeous intense shades. Of course, my daughter and husband asked the ridiculous question what was I going to make with them and then looked confused when I said I was merely going to LOVE them.
But my dog understood.


On the was back, we had to stop by the scary cave as the exhaust fell off the car. This is me and some of TAKE standing near it (a safe distance from it) the mohair side of it



Oh Yeah..............check out my braveness. I even went in it a little way. I came out quicker!

The rest of the holiday it was, thank goodness, sunny, so my nerves were spared. That is until we came home and sat in a traffic jam on the M11 for 4 and a half hours. Overheating. Stressed. Hungry. And can I just say...I know this may sound mean, but if I am going to sit in a traffic jam for such a long time, I do expect there to be a dent in the central reservation, a little blood on the road, a burnt out car or at least some luggage debris. I hope no one got hurt. I really do. But all there was when we eventually went passed was three police cars and a few overheated cars in the hard shoulder. And a lot of rubber neckers looking at them. Marvellous. Welcome home.

Moral of my holiday...

Book early for next year.

Hope you're all well and knitting furiously. I missed you all.

WIP updates coming soon. Also Secret Pal 11 has started so I need to post my questionnaire sone soon soon.

Got a cold...still knitting though

I haven't posted much this week as I have been feeling like I am wrapped in bubble wrap and have been clubbed over the head and then run over. I have given the blankie a wide berth as it's getting a bit tedious to knit now, and instead turned my little knitting ability back to the sock. This is the progress on it so far..


Can I just take this opportunity to state that the reason my leg looks like that is due to foreshortening. The artists among you (not piss) will know what I mean. Of course my legs are magnificently long and wonderously slim. I Thank you (small bow).

It's coming along though. It's easy to knit when you're not well, I've found. I've been so irritable that my family have been steering well clear of me, and that makes it easy to count stitches and keep to the pattern, so I have made good progress. Of course, the odd bag of M&Ms have helped too.

We're off to see the Simpsons movie tonight. Not my particular cup of tea, but there's popcorn (salty of course) and ice cream. Please don't be fooled into thinking I am ruled by food, I know there are a lot of references to it in this post, but you know how it is when you feel shitty!!

PS Please notice my toes in this photo..I had a gel overlay yesterday with a French manicure. I've already chipped off a corner of my big toenail. Oooops!!!

New Banner

My daughter made me a new banner! How clever is she? I think I'll leave that sort of stuff on this blog up to her from now on. It'll be like having staff. Very retro though, don't you think? That's Flossie, my other little baby on there. There aren't really two of her, just one. The other one's an optical illusion.

I'm over halfway through the blankie now. I went to my sister's baby shower yesterday, she has 4 weeks to go. I would have liked to have taken it with me, but there weren't any other baby presents there. She wanted everyone to take a copy of a favourite childhood book with them for the baby instead. We chose That's Not My Dog, Kipper, Roald Dahl's Songs and Verse and Guess How Much I Love You (partly from my mum, who now lives in heaven and I don't know if they have a great postal service from there, or any bookshops)!!

I have been doing a bit of the Embossed leaves socks, and I am planning to start THE Chevron scarf from LMKG, but I need to get some Koigu first. I'm thinking of getting some through Ravelry's yarn stash department, where there are plenty of people looking to trade or sell. I'm hoping to finish the blankie by the end of the week, and then I'll get on with the running stitch detail when the baby arrives, so I can tell what sort of colours to be doing it with.

I have found a great shop to visit, and am planning to get there sometime soon. I wish I lived nearer to it, they have some great social stuff going on there. It's here

Hope all of you Harry Potter fans are enjoying the book. My daughter is esconsed in it at the moment, sorry to say, as much as I enjoy the films, the books hold little attraction for me. SORRY if I offend anyone with that comment, we can't all like the same thing, can we?

Happy Pottering!!!

Bad Luck Rafael

I'm not sure how widely broadcast Wimbledon is, but I for one have been totally hooked and my life has gone a little to pot over the last couple of weeks. This past weekend were the finals for the men and women..how they got there I'm not sure, because it seemed to me as soon as those covers were off, whoever controls the weather seemed to think, quick, get the fuckers, and it would pour. Covers on, covers off, covers on, a whole two weeks of it. Anyway, I was glad that Venus won the women's on Saturday, I like that girl, but I was a little gutted when Federer won. I DO like him, but let's face it, Rafael Nadal is just completely gorgeous. Better luck next year my darling. (just getting into practice in case he comes to visit me) Good match though. I only fell asleep in my new hammock for about 20 minutes of the second set.

Now then. I had some books I ordered from Phildar delivered last week. I have narrowed my next project down a little to these.
WARNING: multiple pictures from now on.







Noot sure which one to go for. I have a blanket for my sister who is expecting in August that I need to get done. It's from a Debbie Bliss book, I'm just waiting for 15 balls of white cotton cashmere to get delivered. I'm going to do it on Addi turbos as well, which I haven't used before. Looking forward to trying them.

I am on my second pair of socks..oh yeah.. I saw you raise your eyebrows. Don't call me addicted, I'm just filling in time waiting for the blanket yarn. I love them though. I'm using the Koigu KPPPM I loved so much. The socks are from the Favorite Socks book from Interweave and the pattern is Embossed leaves. I thought I'd skip intermediate and go from beginner to advanced. Why not? Never been known to take the simple route anywhere.

And a close up as they are SO beautiful

AND I have knitted my daughter a bag. We love it. Such a simple pattern, a slightly modified Jean Moss pattern. I seem to be incapable of knitting anything without modifying it a bit. It's knitted in merino brights by The Wool Boutique. The self striping colours worked really well on this size.


And then I lined it with some Kaffe Fasset I had in a stash.


See, you thought all I had been doing was laying around eating yum yums and watching the tennis.Oh no, I am a multi tasker, and I can watch the tv, eat cake AND knit! See?

Aura

I just did a quiz to see what colour my aura was. I don't think it's green, it doesn't feel green. I quite like the idea of being a talk show host though, so I thought I'd post it!

SOCK UPDATE: There are now 2!!!!!!! I'll take a photo soon, but it is remarkably similar to the other one (hahahaha) Now, what I would like to know is this...does making a pair of socks make me a sock knitter? Will you professional sock knitters out there be offended if I did call myself one, and if I can't, how many pairs do I have to knit to be able to call myself one? (just askin)

Rain rain and more rain here, and I have some old (not in age, well a bit) college friends coming over this weekend and the plan was to have a barbeque. Mainly as there are a few scarily small children coming and with a 15 year old, that's a dim and thankfully very distant memory for me now. All I know is that they should be kept in the garden and not be permitted to enter the interior of my house under any circumstances for fear of what they will wreck!! Only joking, (in a scared way)

Spare a thought for my in laws though who live in Hull, it's 6 feet under water up there and MORE TO THE POINT, my sister in law cannot find a loaf of bread for love nor money. And if you're a Yorkshire person that's serious stuff.

You'll never guess what I knitted......

Yes, I finally did it!!!!! Hooray, jumping about the room, screaming madly, very excited!!!!!
I can't believe I finally did it, and I'm not sure why I couldn't get it before.
I went to this shop at the weekend to get a Rowan pattern book I want. Well, it turns out that they don't sell Rowan, or Debbie Bliss (that's another story) but they do have an abundance of sock yarn and the lady who was in there showed me the pair she was knitting. It's a simple pattern that comes with the yarn and was written by the other lady who owns the shop (who wasn't there). Well, I don't know if it was my husband as he chose the yarn, the pattern, me touching her half finished sock, or Celia's markers (which came in very useful), BUT I started this sock on Saturday night whilst watching Apocalypto (now if you've seen that film, you'll know it's all subtitled..so knitting and knowing when to look up to read subtitles isn't easy, but I got the gist) and I finished it last night!!!

Here is a picture of it being modelled by it's intended recipient.

And again from another angle

Please do not think that that is my hairy leg.

Casting on for the second one today before I get the sickness I hear so much about......the dreaded SSS

S... L.... O.... W swing jacket progress

Well, today I made myself try and get this project finished. I always do this, I am great at the bulk of a project, it's the fiddly finishing off stuff that I am rubbish at.
The big buttons are definitley too big

so I think I'll go with the smaller mother of pearl ones. I have decided on this fabric for the binding

It's got a sheen to it, like a shot silk, but I think it's cotton. The pain is that I have to make it into binding :(
I'm pleased with the pockets though. Having sewn them shut together by mistake, they are now all neat and I have sewn the pocket to the jacket so it doesn't swing around.

Hopefully it will be finished soon! Watch this space!

PS Sorry about the higgeldy piggeldyness of the pictures in my last post. I was trying out a different browser and I don't think I will again. Update on the sock front..I have cast on and frogged 3 times now and resorted to the chewing gumness that is the Mason Dixon log cabin blanket and it is coming on well. (more than can be said for the socks, who are still a ball of wool.)

Socks

I have never knitted a pair of socks. Please don't think any less of me, it's just something I've never really wanted to do. However, since my entry into blogland, I have visited so many places where socks are a staple, and they are beautiful. I think I just never realised how lovely socks could be.

Weeks ago, with this in mind, I ordered a sock knitting book from Amazon. They kept emailing me with delays and delays and I was beginning to think it was a sign that I was just never to become a knitter of socks. In the meantime, I joined a yarn swap and oredered some yarn for my pal and also some socky yarn in case I ever DID become a sock knitter. Look what came this morning at the same time!!! It's surely a sign that I am to become a GREAT SOCK KNITTER!!

I can't show you what else came or Sherri won't have a surprise when her parcel arrives, but here is some of it..


All I can say is, handknittedsockpeople must have tiny feet, because I am almost the man's size in this book, and I haven't got extraordinarily large feet, size 41. Is that big? I'm trying not to get a complex about it, but my choice in this book is a bit limited and I have narrowed it down to 2,


These...



Or these...



I just can't decide.


I do love the yarn though, it's Koigu and I've always thought sock yarn quite scratchy, but this is beautifully soft. I love it!



Any advice on my dilemma gratefully received!