Welcome to the House of Fun !

Well - what a day I had yesterday. I went to the most wonderful place in the world and it was called Loop ! I brushed shoulders with Debbie Bliss, I met up with my Secret Pal 5 buddie and we had a lovely day. I felt so cool being a knitter in Loop - it's that kind of place - hey knitting's cool and everyone should know it - not often you feel like that rather than - look at that wierdo knitting in public - what a granny ! Still knitting is uber cool now apparently - and judging by the prices of some of the admittedly delightful little pieces in there - in demand.

The lovely Becks (of secret pal 5 fame) showed me her knitting technique in the local Slug and Lettuce, where we had a slight run in with cigarette smoke. Her technique could not be more different from mine, but I am determined to have a go at it, it seems to work so much better for socks, which I have had such trouble with in the past - I am going to get to the bottom of socks, if it's the last thing I do - so many other people seem to have such fun doing them and I want a piece of that action ! She also gave me the most amazing haul of books for Jacob and he loves them all - thank you so much again, I'm almost as excited about those as I am about the bits I bought !

So all in all, a lovely day, great to have an afternoon to myself to talk about knitting, there is something so theraputic about it don't you think - sharing time with other knitters and getting excited about the same things !

So, what did I get, well here it is :


Loop stash enhancement

That Rebecca magazine is absolutely stuffed full of fabulous children's patterns, there are loads of things in there I would like to knit and the majority of them will not go out of fashion, so I think I'll use this one a lot - I would want to though - it was rather expensive £8.99 for a magazine is quite a lot methinks - but hey - this might be my last stash enhancement opportunity for some while to come - well, probably not, but I'm using that as my excuse.

The yarn is beautiful Blue Sky Cotton - it's so soft and apparently wonderfully easy to sling in the washing machine - I am planned a little jumper for Jacob to wear mainly on the plane to Oman - I wanted something, light, warm, cosy and with no acrylic in, so this is ideal - all I need to do know is master the pattern, which will be this


Lovely little jumper

I am planning it in the orange with a brown stripe - somehow, not sure yet, I need to have a play. I am unsure how easy this is going to be to achieve, since the pattern is knitted in the round from the armholes up and I'm not too good with circular needles - Becks you know why ! Still I'll give it a go and if it doesn't work out there are several other patterns in the magazine that I could do instead.

Well that's me - still waiting to sell the house - still slogging on with several bits of knitting, a couple of which I can't talk about here - yet - so I'm off, have a good day.

An Interesing Meme

Well - the lovely Sharon to whom I was secret pal has tagged me and I have decided to join in - so thanks Sharon.

THE RULES:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

So here is mine

"I do spend money on getting my hair dyed - which needs doing badly right now - I'm getting too grey !"

Not very exciting I'm afriad but there it is ! - I'm not going to tag anyone else, because I know a lot of people aren't keen - if you want to do it, please do. I'd love to hear yours.

I have been busily trying to knit this little t-shirt thing for my friend for the last couple of nights and having mucked around with the pattern I think I've mucked it up - I think it's going to be too long - I'll make a decision this morning as to whether I'm going to undo it - or carry on - I fear it may be destined for the great unravelled ball in the sky.

Right I need to do chores - I've got an afternoon off this afternoon - Jacob is at nursery - hooooray - so I'm off to Ikea to get a few bits to make the homestead looks more cosy to the potential buyers - that is if there are any potential buyers - please someone buy my house ! I thought I would also make a swift visit to Toys R'Us - Jacob keeps asking me for Hot Wheels and since he got some money for his half year Birthday I though I would oblige - also I wanted to get a few small toys that we could take with us to Oman - perhaps some play doh for the plane - he really likes play doh - do you think it would be too messy to take on a plane ? It might be theraputic for me to squeeze as well !

Georgey Porgey

Well - I've actually finished something - that's a thing I feel like I haven't done in a while - I've been far too busy doing diy !!!

So here is Jacob in George - this is a great picture of Jacob, but not so good of George


Jacob and George

So here is a clearer picture of George for your perusal !


George more clearly

This was a great little knit - it looks more complicated than it is due to the cabling - which is simplicity itself - I love raglans, so I was already in love with it and I just love the way it fits him - the only strange thing is the pockets - you knit them and then sew them on - I mean, they look OK, but they would have looked much better if they had been knitted integrally and it really wouldn't have been that hard to do - I think that is the only thing I would change if I were to do this again - which I may well do - probably as a gift. I thought I had better get this finished so that Jacob can at least get some wear out of it before we head off for desert climes !!

I am now trying to do some for a good friend of mine, who is 40 week after next - she really like the colour of my Rosy cardy and I have some of the Cotton Angora left over, so I thought I would try do her Magknits, Nothing but a T-Shirt - I am just currently trying to get something like the gauge required to do it - I hope I can do it, I'm a bit short on time - so if anyone has ever substitued Cotton Angora for Calmer - I'd appreciate any tips.

Right - off to eat my dinner - alone again !

Book Mad!

I've gone barmy for knitting books - I think it's a siege mentality - I know that when I go to Oman there will be very little chance of purchasing knitting books and so I'm going mad for them now ! Firstly my Phildar purchases. I managed to get three books from Strands and they are fabulous.


Philar Mad

I love them all - there are loads of things in them that I will knit - as long as the internet stores will send me yarn to Oman ! I hope they will or I'm going to have to ask you all to send me emergency parcels !

A very good friend of mine lives in France - has done for many years and I remember her knitting Phildar bits once many moons ago - I had forgotten all about them - I'm so glad I re-found them.

I also received this lovely book from my sister for my Birthday.


My Birthday Present

I love so many things in here I could really go mad, but I think I'm going to go for Lizzy. She is just beautiful and I want to make her so badly - I would like to use the Noro Silk Garden that the love Becks gave me during SP5 - I love the colour so much - I need to get some more so that I will have enough to do it, but I think it will be sound investment - it will be a perfect air con cardie and one I can wear with jeans when I come home to visit. I'm excited now ! I've got far too much knitting I want to do.

Jacob and I are doing OK without our James so far, I know it's only been a day and a bit, but the first couple of weeks are the hardest I think - once you get used to it it's not so hard to manage, but Jacob was blowing kisses out of the front door last night to James and asking where he was. He just doesn't understand, bless him. Still hopefully won't be too long before we join him. He seems to think that Muscat is very nice so far, warm of course, but interesting and a comfortable place to be - I'm looking forward to it - I just want to get on with it really. The sooner we sell the house the better. I have approved the details today, so it should be on the market in the next few days, they are just going to get the details printed and then we are off - I hope people are interested in it, you just never know do you ?!

Right - I've loads I need to do, chores and then knitting I think while Jacob is sleeping.

Remember Me ?!

Well here I am again - at last I hear you say - I just know you have been dying to hear from me ! I've been so busy it's not true. We have managed to just about get the house finished - we had agents round yesterday to view and value it and we are putting it on the market as from tomorrow - they are coming round to take pictures in the morning, so I need to get it all looking ship shape, but apart from that and a few finishing pieces that the father in law is currently doing - we are good to go. James leaves for Oman tomorrow evening - so I'm preparing myself for the long lonely nights of knitting ! Hooray - well I'll miss him of course but on the plus side I get to have full control of the remote control and knit as much as I like !

On the knitting front, I have nearly finished the back of Manhattan, and she is looking good. I had a bit of a fit and decided that the moss stitch just wasn't good enough and undid it all and started again - I'm much happier this time around. Now all I need to do is get on with it, but I keep getting distracted. At the weekend I decided to knit myself this lovely bias t-shirt in my Hipknits silk. I thought I had the tension about right, I knitted the front, but it was way too short, so I have decided to do it again, on slightly bigger needles and in the larger size - I hope it will work out this time. I have also decided to purchase some of the yarn that it is supposed to be knitted in and try that out - I think this could be a really good top for a hot country, comfortable, cotton and cool - Only trouble is I have been having real problems finding anywhere in the UK that stocks Phildar yarns. I have found this shop in Holland that does it, and it doesn't seem too madly expensive, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a shop in the UK that might sell Phildar yarns. I have found a shop called Strands that sell some Phildar bits, and I am planning on purchasing three of the pattern books from them, 'cause they just look too good to resist, but I can't seem to get hold of the yarn, I need for the t-shirt in the UK, it's called Phil Ruben. Any ideas or tips anyone ?

I received a lovely knitting book this morning - look


My New Book

I know, I know, I'm probably not going to need scarves in the desert heat, but I can always do them as gifts - can't I ??? I love doing scarves and I'm not about to give them up - so there. I have waited ages for this book - I ordered it on 30 July from Amazon and I just received it today. I am still waiting for the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book - which looks like it won't be here until some time in October - so if anyone has any ideas where I can get that book from sooner that would be great - I need that book !

Does anyone else have the Knitware software ? I got it for my birthday and decided to use it to design a cardi for a new baby that is arriving soon - I used the standard sizings and programmed in for a 4.5kg baby - the pattern seems to have come out way too big - I am doing a large moss stitch band across the bottom, and it being done in Cotton Glace and it has told me to cast on 64 stitches - this seems like way too many to me - am I wrong or is it and should I just override the standard sizes and use the custom sizes - maybe that's what I should do.

Anyway - I shouldn't be away for so long now, I'm going to be on my own, so my computer is going to be very important to me !

I Know, I Know

I have been a really bad blogger recently - I can't believe it's a week since I posted anything - I'm sorry to have been so boring, but I have been sick and I've been doing diy and I've been preparing for Jacob's half year Birthday party - which was yesterday.

Firstly I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to my not so secret, secret pal, Becks, you have been the best secret pal a girl could wish for - I have so loved every wonderful and thoughtful thing that you have sent to me (and Jacob) - you really have been the best. So if you've got time, go and visit Becks' blog - she's a lovely lady.

So, I got my last ever secret pal package a couple of days ago and I wanted to share the contents with you. Here they are.


The whole package

A most wonderful little scarf - that yarn is sooooo soft - what is is Becks ? A gorgeous felted flower from Loop (by all accounts the most wondeful knitting shop in the whole world, if not universe !) and some fabulous little labels for me to sew into my knitted garments - I have to brush up on my sewing skills now.


A fabulous felted flower

I'm actually wearing the felted flower today with a black t-shirt and jade coloured skirt, it looks fab if I do say so myself - makes it worth wearing a black t-shirt (I just don't do black normally).


Some lovely labels

Look at those beautiful little labels - they're so great !

Now then, yesterday we had a party - Jacob's Birthday is in December, just before Christmas and we decided a couple of years ago that having a Birthday party in December just does not work, everyone is far too busy, so we have been having half year birthday partys for him, in the summer, so that everyone can make it, we can have it in the garden and Jacob gets to celebrate wtih his friends. So yesterday was the day - and what a lovely day we had. Jacob was totally spoiled and he loved it. He got 11 books - which is just amazing, what a lucky boy and my brother bought him a Spiderman outfit. Jacob is really into Spiderman, so of course, it had to be put on right away. This is the first real dressing up outfit Jacob has had, because he is really small, they are all too big for him - he's got lots of hats, but no outfits. Well lets just say, I was laughing so hard I couldn't get it on him properly. It was hysterical and I thought I would share a picture of the lovely item with you.


My brother and spiderman !

I think it's quite freaky - but Jacob loves it - I'm sure 100% nylon is going to be so werable in Oman ! Do you think it might melt ?!!

Well we are definately off to Oman - James is leaving on 14 September and then once we've sorted the house, we'll be following. I'm excited about it - I want all the boring stuff done and to be getting on with it. I know I'm going to miss James like mad while we are apart, but my friends have all been lovely saying that we can go and stay with them anytime, we can pop round for dinner whatever we want, a couple have even offered to give me keys to their houses so that we can pop round anytime ! Isn't that nice - it isn't until you are in a situation like this that you realise what good friends you have. I'm not one to have loads and loads of friends, I like having friends, but I've always moved around quite a bit - I lived in Hong Kong for three and a half years straight out of University, then I came back to the UK for a bit, then I was off to Indonesia for a year and a half and then the Philippines for a similar amount of time - so I'm used to making friends for a bit and then moving on. It has really surprised me that during this stint in the UK I have made real long lasting friends - people that will actually come out a visit us and people that we will definately stay in touch with - well I hope so at least. I think it all comes down to the bond of children. The strongest friends that I have in the UK have children of the same age as Jacob and I think that when you have been through all those difficult times together and shared so much personal information, it kind of binds you together in a way that no other type of friendship can. It's definately special and I really appreciate it - so to any of my friends that read this and you know who you are - I love you and I hope you'll come and visit us. Oh lordy, I'm making myself cry now !!! I have been so surprised at the strength of feeling from our friends - I knew that people would miss us, but I didn't realise how much - I'm so happy to have made some lifelong friends for real.

Well I've waffled on enough - Oh I've done no knitting at all - I've been so poorly this week, I had a temperature and nearly passed out in Ikea on Friday - still the house is looking good, we are almost finished and then we can get it on the market - we won't know what to do with ourselves once it's all done. We've got new carpet coming on Friday - that is going to be so exciting.

I don't know that I'm going to get much knitting done this week either - lots to do before James goes - like sorting out all our possessions and deciding what we want to do with them - nothing much then.

Sorry about lack of knitting content.