Oh Happy Day

I have just wound a skein of Colinette Giotto into a ball with no problems at all - I am one happy bunny. Whenever I have wound balls before I always have trouble - they ALWAYS get tangeled up and in a total mess, but this time - yippeeee - all was well - why ? because I stretched the skein between two kitchen chairs and made sure the tension was tight all the time and it worked - I feel stress free and happy to tackle the rest of the skeins that I have now ! Bring it on !

It was my Birthday on 23 August and I was 37 - I'm feeling very old ! James was talking about what we'll do on my 40th Birthday the other day and that made me panic slightly ! Still I had a lovely day - I was still sick from yet another throat infection - not sure if I mentioned that or not - oh yes I have had yet another throat infection and it's been horrid - I still haven't shaken it off. On my Birthday we had intended to go out to dinner, but I honestly didn't feel well enough so we stayed at home apart from popping out to get my birthday present (because I had to choose it). I decided on an ipod, so James bought me a 60GB video Ipod with a Bose docking station / speaker and a nifty gadget that allows me to listen to the Ipod in the car via the radio - it's fab - I'm so happy to be able to listen to all my music with no problems. I'm a very happy bunny indeed.

My Mum is getting me some new Addi knitting neeldles for my Birtday and I guess she'll send them to me once she's managed to get them for me - I'm very excited to get them - I've never knitted with Addi straights before, but if I have to knit with ciruclars I would chose Addi every time - so we shall see if the straights are as good.

James is back to work tomorrow, so his holiday is nearly over we are currently sitting on the sofa eating popcorn and watching Cinderella 2 (not a movie to be recommended I have to say - although we watched Hoodwinked recently and that was excellent). Jacob is off to start at his new school a week today - so I need to sort out his uniform etc and then I should have a little more needle time although I am determined to start exercising once he is back at school so I won't have all that much time I guess - we shall see, it will just be nice to have a bit of time to myself I have to say. It's been lovely to go home and see everyone and to come home and have James off for two weeks, but I yearn to get back to my routine and have some time on my own. I'm quite selfish like that - I need to be alone every now and then to feel human - I'm very unsociable !!!

Right off to knit some more on my Colinette cardi I think I'm going to love this one once it's done - it's looking gorgeous already. I'm nearly done on the girly poncho - I just need to do one last pom pom and then attach them and it's done - I hate making pom poms they take such a long time for such a silly little thing - I dislike all that trimming and I can never seem to get them as perfect as I would like - ho hum perhaps I need to lower my standards ? No Never it can not be done !

The Fruits of England

Well I've had quite a time back in good old Blighty - saw lots of friends and did far too much. Visited numerous zoos, an aquarium (Blue Planet near Liverpool, which was excellent), a museum, multitudonous parks and copious shops. Of all these things I have to say yarn shopping came close to the top of the list. I hadn't realised how much I had missed fondelling that lovely yarn in real life. Looking at it on the internet is all well and good, but for top dollar gratification it has to be a lovely yarn shop and plenty of time and money to waste. And waste it I did - want to see !!?



Some All Seasons Cotton to knit a jumper for a friend's little boy - she assures me it will get some use here in Oman - I'm not so sure, but who am I to complain about an opportunity to knit !



Some Blue Lana Grossa Binario - that I was sort of persuaded to buy by the lovely lady in Stash (which is a much visit shop I have to say). I have the pattern to knit a vest top with this - not sure that I will ever actually do it, and if I do if I will ever wear it, but we shall see.



Some blue Dune - to knit a cropped wrap cardy for me - I just fell in love with the pattern on this one and hope it's going to look OK - I'm not normally one for novelty yarn, but I seem to have ended up with quite a bit of it this time.



Some lovely pink Cashcotton to knit a little bolero cardy for a little girl that I know - I hope she like it !




A little selection of Cotton Cashmere and some lovely shades of ribbon, destined to become little stripey bags that tie up - when I've got the time !



A ball of the craziest yarn I have ever seen. It is Feza Premier and was £12.45 a ball so I only got one ! but I thought it would fun to try and do a belt with - apparently it self stripes in all manner of textures, can't wait to try it, if only I didn't have to de-hank it first !



Some Firefly yarn to knit another tie front bolero thing, but this one is an evening one - I hope I wear it - it might just be too sophisticated for me !



A couple of balls of the most revolting Funky Fur destined to becone a OSW for a little girl that will wear nothing but pink !



Some lovely lovely lovely Colinette Giotto yarn, destined to become a cardy - I have absolutely fallen in love with this yarn - it is just amazing and I can't wait to get started on it - again once I've gone through the traumatic de-hanking process.



Some fabulous blue Pure Silk destined to become a little tie front bolero cardy - do we see a theme here !??? I love this yarn it's so soft - I wonder what it will knit up like - I hope it's fab!



Some Velvet Touch and Shimmer yarn to make a poncho for another little girl - it's so awful it's good wouldn't you agree !!! Actually this poncho is nearly finished now, it's a bit of a quick knit !



A ball of Wendy Fusion because I fell in love with the colours and I'd never seen it before - so there !



Some Wool Cotton to knit a little cardy for Jacob - well I coudn't leave him out could I ? I have also got another little crop of Wool Cotton in Dark Olive green to do a cardy for another friend's little boy, but that's underway and I couldn't be bothered to go downstairs to photograph it.



A haul of fabulous HipKnits Cashmere in the Summer Pudding colourway - this is to become a Clapotis for me - I have no need of it, but I need it in a much deeper way that on a practical level.



Some bright red Cashsoft Aran for a project that I can't talk about unless I shoot you and that just isn't possible - so you'll have to wait !

I also have four balls of Artesano Alpaca in Jade and five in Oatmeal being sent to me as I couldn't fit them in the case - oh and a hand of Hipknits sock yarn in Bouquet - it's gorgeous.

Well do you think I went over the top - no - good - I'm glad you agree - not so sure the hubby agrees - he hasn't said anything, but there have definately been some looks - still he spent a fortune on new tyres for his Hummer so that he can go up sand dunes - like he needs to do that all the time - well he does sometimes, but well the principle is the same - isn't it ?!

Home Again Home Again Jiggidy Jig

Well here I am back in Oman and safe and sound. The trip was just fine - not half as bad as I had anticipated apart from rather robust turbulence over Budapest - but still we are here and all is well. Looking forward to getting everything sorted and back to normal - big sigh and time for bed !

Night Night.

Delayed Again

The bad news is that with all that has been going on at Heathrow airport since Thursday - we have had to change our return flight from Friday to Sunday - so we won't be getting home until Sunday evening now - nuisance, but better than having to battle through the airport to get to the plane - I hate flying enough as it is ! We will still have to be at the airport four hours before the plane takes off, but hey I'll have my parents with me for a bit and they can take Jacob off and occupy him.

We have had a fab fab time in the UK and I can't quite believe that six weeks have passed so quickly. The great news is that I have loads of stash enhancement to show you and as long as the airline let me take my grossly overweight luggage with me - I'll hope to show it to you some time soon - but shhhh - don't tell the hubby he'll have a fit !

See you when I back in Oman all - can't wait !