I Heart Pumpkins

Well - I have never ever carved a pumpkin before - this is my first year and I was expecting disaster - I am not what you might call artistic and I was expecting to be pretty useless at it, but hey - it's easy, and we had fun doing it and it don't look half bad ! So here it is, my first ever attempt at pumpkin carving !



Tomorrow night we are going to a Haloween party - so expect lots of Haloween type pictures - Jacob is going as a Witch - never mind that that is the one thing he is terrified of - still never mind that is what he wanted to be and hopefully it will cure him of the fear !

Pattern Happy

Well, my international knitting exchange has worked out without an hitch. Sharon happily received her Rowan yarn and a little bit of chenille that I slipped in as well and seems very happy with both, which is nice. I have now received my lovely Cleckheaton knitting books and I am so pleased with them I can't tell you. I love Cleckheaton baby patterns and look - I have four, yes count them, four books of them now ! Oh lucky me.


Sharon also included a lovely Australian knitting magazine and teatowel, so that I can see why she loves her part of the world and I must say, it looks lovely and if I'm ever in the area, you can certainly expect a visit Sharon ! Thank you for doing this for me Sharon I really appreciate it.



I am steaming ahead with Manhattan now - I have done the back, the left front, one sleeve and have nearly finished the right front - just the second sleeve to do and then it's the dreaded finishing - lord only knows why I agreed to do this one as it is finished with lots of crochet and I am certainly no crochet expert - I have been on one crochet course, but I didn't really pay attention and I haven't tried again since - I think I may need to go to my LYS for help !

Does anyone know why when you insert pictures into a blogger post using their integral photo feature, it only posts them at the beginning rather than where you want them to go ? I'm having terrible trouble trying to move them around - perhaps I need to go back to Hello - any thoughts ?

Right - we are off to my nephews' Birthday party this afternoon, so I've got Star Wars figures to wrap and a boy to get to bed for a good nap to try and counteract the effect of all the E numbers he will undoubtedly consume this afternoon !

Wow can this be true

I love Sheridan - how can I be him, it just can't be - I'm in awe.

I got this one from the lovely Emma. Thanks for that. I'm a happy bunny now.

Grrrr Amazon

Don't you just hate it when you order something from Amazon sometimes, you get all excited - "Oh I should have my book in a few days" you foolishly think - a few weeks go by and nothing - you keep checking your account to see if it's been dispatched - nothing, and you wait and you wait and then you get an e:mail telling you that it's been delayed a few weeks - "oh well" you think - "I can wait". So you do , you wait and wait and then you get another e:mail to say it has been delayed by at least another 6 weeks - at which point you go to the Amazon website in a fit of fury and cancel the order !

I ordered a copy of "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" at the beginning of JUNE and I received an e:mail last week to tell me it was going to be another 6 weeks - by which time I will have left the country - I'm disappointed. So if anyone knows where I can get hold of a copy of this much talked about book to take away with me - I would be most grateful.

Right rant over ! Happy day everyone

Some Little FO's

Firstly - thank you so much for all your lovely comments welcoming back to the blogging fold. I have to be honest and say that I have got so much going on just now, I probably won't be able to reply to idividual comments on a regular basis - I'll do my best, but life is hectic. We sold our house yesterday and so it's onwards and upwards and time to sort out all our junk and make sure that I know what needs to be packed and what needs to be binned and I've only got about 5 weeks to do it - aghhhh. Jacob and I went to see the nurse today about jabs and I unexpectedly got stuck with two needles - I HATE injections and I felt all woozy and had to lie down - luckily the nurse was very good with Jacob and entertained him whilst I passed out on the bed ! I have to go back for one more jab and Jacob has to have two as well - I could face anymore needles today, so we will go back to deal with those !

Well I've decided that I can't wait any longer - I'm going to reveal the bits that I have been knitting just recently and hope that Jane is a little too tied up with her bundle of joy to be pooting !

So, here we go.

This is a little set in Jaeger Matchmaker double knit. The jumper poppers up at the back and is from one of the Phildar mags that I bought. The neck came out MUCH smaller than in the picture, but I'm hoping it will be OK - I'm not going to put a popper right at the top to give a bit of breathing space. The hat is Dylan from Rowan Junior and the bootees are from a little Cleckheaton book that I have that is full of lovely bootees. More on Cleckheaton later !



Secondly we have a lovely little duffle coat type jobby in a wonderful shade of red - I love, love, love this one and wish I could do one for Jacob - although he probably won't need it in Muscat ! The pattern is a Patons one that I bought in Singapore and the yarn is Cleckheaton Machine Wash 5ply Crepe that I ordered from Australia over the internet approximately 5 years ago ! lovely to use some stash and for it to look so gorgeous. The little socks are from the same Cleckheaton book as before and looks just lovely I think.



This yarn is just gorgeous - it has a real weight and drape to it and it is perfect for hoods like thist - it is heavy enough that it will actually stay on.

Talking of Cleckheaton, the lovely Sharon, to whom I was Secret Pal during Secret Pal 5 - has agreed to send me some more Cleckheaton pattern books direct from Australia - I just love their patterns their bootes are the best I've ever know - they are knitted all in one piece so you just sew up the back seam and there is no boring detaching of yarn and picking up of stitches, which I just hate on something so small - so if you ever get the chance to knit a pair of Cleckheaton bootees - go for it, they are the best. I am so excited about getting these books it's daft, and in exchange - I've sent Sharon some Rowan yarn - Sharon, I hope you like it as much in real life as you did on the screen and thank you so much again for going along with my scheme!

Well, I'm off to do more boring organsing stuff - wish me luck !

yipeee eyeeeee aaaaaay

I'm back - I have been computerless for a whole week and it has been hell. My computer started to crash about two weeks ago and I just ignored it hoping it would go away - it didn't, it just got worse and worse, so I called a little man I know and he hot footed it round to my gaff and took my baby away - the computer that is not Jacob ! Anyway he brought it home today and it's all fully working and happy and I can tell you I have sooooooo missed being on line - sad really, but with James away, it's my contact with the outside world and I have felt very isolated without it.

So, I have been knitting, but all the bits I have done are presents for a friend of mine who just had her baby. Her name is Jane and she had a baby boy on Saturday afternoon, by cesarean, he was 10lbs 12ozs, so no surprise there !!! Well done Jane and Scott and many congratulations to you both - once I manage to give them their gifts I will post piccies, I don't want to spoil the surprise, after all I'm sure Jane was online checking my blog within minutes of the birth !! Still you never know !

Where do you belong ?

I like this

You Belong in Rome You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better? What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

I have been wearing my Cotton Angora cardy today - and let me tell you I am COVERED in fluff - does anyone have any ideas about how I can minimise this - it is so bad that I am considering relegating the cardy to only round the house with jeans wear and that is just a shame - I just hate wearing a nice brown Gap top and getting covered in blue fluff within minutes - it looks ridiculous.

It looks like my friend Jane, is about to have her baby, so I'm off to knit like mad, I'm almost finished two things for her, but not almost enough to give them to her - hold on Jane, just keep that little man in there a little longer if it isn't inconvenient !