doing it large

As the lovely AM and her very crafty husband A made me some giant knitting needles for christmas I thought I’d go for a stash rummage and see what I could conjure up. My thinking hat went on and I dug deep and went to the several jumpers’ worth of acrylic inherited from mother. Mainly 400g balls of the sort of stuff that would be fine for making kids clothes and that is what mum mainly did with it. I’ve not really done kids clothes. I don’t really want to either. What I wanted was a solution to my very snowy boots leaving large lumps of melting detritus in my hallway. We have laminate on the floor and it is ruining it. Not to speak of what Scotty’s bike is doing to it. I think I’ll solve that one with some cardboard.

Anyhew after spending some time playing with the needles over christmas I had an idea of what was coming. Some of the wool was already balled after being frogged some time back. I got out the ball winder and started splitting some of the larger balls. 11 balls later and I was getting somewhere. I did start a jumper some time back and I don’t want it now. The yarn was an aran weight and added in nicely. At 14 separate yarns hauled together I had my wool. These have been placed in several plastic bags so that they roll out evenly. They only get tangled up when they’ve splayed out of shape.

After a bit of huffing and puffing. The knitting on these needles is what I would consider a full upper body workout. We have a rug in progress. I want to make it longer but it all depends how heavy and impossible it gets to turn each row. For the moment it is about the very best thing to be knitting because its like wearing a hefty double thick blanket over your knees. The only major issue is trying not to knock anything over or smash Scotty over the head whilst I’m maneuvering the needles. Oh and I think I nearly put my back out so I’ve had 3 days not knitting to try and relax before trying some more.

Now for the extra little challenge I’d love to take it to knit night for giggles. I’m sure it will raise several eyebrows, not so much with the regulars but those passing by the forum. This is how I get my kicks, I like the extravagance at the same time as the frugal practicality. You would not believe how much it confuses people.

WHOOOOOOOSSH…

That is how fast christmas went past. I had the whole time off as holiday so it went very quickly and I rested so very well and enjoyed the time off completely.

Before Christmas I placed a bid on a villa owned by a colleague placed in a sort of charity auction for Barnados. I gave the money to the charity and I get a week away in Spain in this lovely colleagues villa. We’re still trying to sort out dates and all that but it’s nearly another holiday organized.

Then Christmas creeped up and shopping had to be done and we all tried to get together in the family but on Christmas day my lovely Nice was very sicky and we didn’t all make it to the same place. In stead we all got together on the Monday after Christmas which was lovely.

Bonuses: I got what I asked for! Sock blockers, a needle gauge pendant, chocolate and a new salt and pepper grinders.

Double bonus: Went out in the sale and got two pairs of Clarks shoes for under £50. BARGAIN.

Tripple bonus: on New years eve I went over to AM’s place to have a little impromptu knit night whilst her husband entertained his friend in the pub. We snacked on dips and knitted.

I made AM a GIANT ball of wool from some track suit fabric, velour I think it is. This is to say thanks for the big needles she made me.

My sister LOVED her scarf so much in fact that the 3 times I did see her over Christmas she was wearing it constantly. Which reminds me, we’ve still not had that pamper day, but that is because I messed up the booking and found out the last minute vouchers have to be sent off AGAIN. They are not intuitive to use, not helpful in any way, and could leave us with something that is entirely useless if we both can’t get a full week day off work. Oh and My Nice loves her mitts too. YAY!

Scotty and I played Lego Indiana Jones until I could see cross hairs and twirling lego coins in my vision. At that point we did stop and do other things like watch movies, knit, cook, clean etc.

I’ve been back at work the best part of a week now and we’ve only just got PROPER snow in the city. It was very icy near my brothers house in the sticks and pre-christmas it iced up and rained on the ice so I slipped in our close. Outside our house seems to be the worst part of the journey to work and back but I just love the snow and would like a whole lot more please. It will never stop me getting to work.

Oh and I don’t make new years resolutions but here are a few things I would like to achieve this year:

keep up with blog (HA!)

keep ravelry and knitting going

see my family more

enjoy myself.

hopefully the next update will be soon. I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of good stuff off the blog that needed to be put down in text but hey, can’t win them all. I’m just happy we’re all here, healthy and ready for fun.

crafting progress

knitting:

I made a gear stick cosy for a colleague in another office. I’ve only got one photo and I’m waiting for him to “try it on” his car. He asked for a “condom” shape, and yes folks that is what he got, which is why you’re not seeing the one picture I have got. Instead if you have access to Ravelry for knitting its in there!

I made myself another iphone cosy cos my last one needed washing. It’s in Koigu and lovely and pink.

I made Scotty a scarf a K5 P5 staggered rib that gave the fabric a nice wave of pattern throughout. It’s in pure cashmere and works lovely for him on his bike of a morning. The only issue is if he hasn’t shaved it sticks to his stubble.

As you can see I took a very rubbish photo with my iphone, but still better than nothing and he loves it. Made with Posh yarn. That yarn is truly covetable.

I finished the triangular lace shawl in the ADAMAS pattern. The issue with this is I’m saving it for my sister for Christmas so no photos cos I want to take photos of her wearing it.

I’ve started on the mittens to match the neck warmer I made for my niece, also no photos here because these will be a christmas present. So far so good.

I did get some photos of the finished pink socks I gave to my sister in-law. Except I took the photos on my Brother inalws’ camera and I’m yet to get them back to me. Same with some lovely photos for Halloween of some pumpkins we carved with my brother. They are still on his camera. I’m not doing too well here am I.

I made some Chilli oil. Sadly this failed with a big F. I chopped chillies in half and sunk them in a mix of olive and grape seed oil. A whole liter of it too. Sadly one of the chilli’s decided to float and broke surface and began the molding process. I hid the bottle in the cupboard for a couple of weeks and returning to look at it was rather unsavoury. We emptied the oil outside down the drain, then had to wait for the chilis to decompose some more before we could remove them. A touch of bleach and another day waiting and I’ve emptied it whilst gagging at the bleach mold oil chilli mixture.  I still want to make some nice things for extra gifts but chilli oil for now is NOT on the menu.

Sloe Gin is looking good. This seems to have worked fine. We’ve only got a 70Cl bottle of Plymouth gin but with the extra sugar and sloes it may come out at a bit more. We keep giving it an agitation and I can’t wait to try it.

I did manage to do a little bit of spinning but having a whole break over christmas I’ve got a feeling computer games, movies, spinning and knitting are almost all I want to do. I just can’t wait.

I was gonna

do this post justice but AM did it for me…

 because I went crafting at her house for the evening when our friend’s birthday curry was cancelled. In her lovely post you can see I span some of the alpaca, which I dont have any photos of at the moment. Oh and I’m not so perfect as she says, it’s all smoke and mirrors.

Anyways I’ve got other things to write-up now, so go and visit my lovely friend and her very expressive and funny blog.

making use of lost time.

still catching up on blog posts I should have done in the last month or so. Nearly there though so bear with me.

*gurrrr*

Sorry. That was my best bear impression.

So, I had a visit to my brother’s house and Scotty did not come with because he was feeling the cold after I had it. It was the weekend of the clocks going back so we all gained an extra hour. I brought a pumpkin over to carve for the kids. It was a stunning day so first we went out to pick sloes and enjoy the nice but slightly cold autumnal day. We saw a barn owl swooping through the field we walked through moments before. The twins were great and held the tubs nice and tight and picked leaves out whilst we filled them with Sloes. Then when we got back I carved a ghostie in to my pumpkin and my brother attacked a blue squash which was very hard indeed and managed to carve a really good face in it. They were both set up outside on the patio and had little nightlight candles in them that we could see from the dining room window. My brother has taken photos but he’s not sent them to me yet. The whole evening was topped off with reading Dr Seuss Fox in Socks to Izzy. Them words completely made my tongue tingle!

So after a thoroughly beautiful day I got in to the car, cranked up classic FM (yeah, my car just kind of suits classical. Wierd but the Honda civic just does not sound right with most other music) and started to pull out of my brothers driveway, fully relaxed and happy. Lights on, because it’s in the deep countryside with no street lights. Just as I pull out of the drive a dog runs past me. OK slightly worrying, I stop the car turn off the engine and another dog zips past the car. At this point I’m a little worried and wind down the window to check there are no other mad creatures dashing about in the dark. Except I didn’t wind the window down fully. Then tried to stick my head out of the window. OH dear. My nose had a bruise for two weeks and I still have a little scar on the bridge and I swear I must have broken it on the sharp(ish) edge of the window. Made me just a little bit dizzy and confused. I drove on slowly, lights back on. Then saw the neighbour who thanked me for watching out for his dogs. I did not stop or say anything, just waved.

The good thing with all this is I did have Monday as holiday. I planned to go with my lovely big sister to Sprowston Manor for a spa day with massage. Except on Sunday she did not turn up for the family get together and when calling her I could hear exactly why. She had a nasty case of fluey cold and she was no way in any fit state to ”pamper” herself at a spa. Except when I found out it was Sunday night and there was no way I was going back to work on the Monday to re-arrange my holiday. So instead I had one of those very rare treats indeed, a whole day to myself.

The only issue was I was hiding two rather bruised eyes near the nose area and hid indoors all day, but I did make full use of my time off. I made curtains. Firstly I took down the blind in the bedroom because it was starting to fray at the edges. I then tried to fit the curtain rail we bought a while back and amazingly it fitted JUST RIGHT including using the old screws and raw plug holes that were there for the bar that held up the blind. Hoorah no.1

Then I pootled on down to my crafting room. I just LOVE having a crafting room. Set up the sewing machine and completed a pair of curtains I started some time back. I did it all back to front as usual. Because I found an old sheet that had already been used as curtain lining before in mums massive stash of fabric, I also found some lovely plain curtain fabric too and just the right amount, even the right width too. Because the lining was already hemmed I seamed the hem level in to the curtains and left the top of the curtains till last. I also found in the bountiful stash that mum left me, just enough curtain tape for gathering the curtains properly. One quick measure and a few more lines of straight sewing and they were done. I then found one of the other things mum gave me at my last house, a small packet of curtain hooks. It was all there every single bit I needed under my nose, exactly the right number of hooks that matched the rail we bought months back. That day sewing she was completely with me, watching over my shoulder. Still nagging a little as I chose to do it my way instead of hers but thoroughly with me when I got it right. Now I go to bed every night, and just before climbing in I draw the curtains that I made, that mum tought me how to make and all those years watching her bent over the sewing machine has rubbed off. It reminded me that I am still very much a part of her, let alone her being a part of me. I’m proud to have picked up even an ounce of her skills.

Apart from that I spent the rest of the day spinning the very beautiful grey black and white marled alpaca floof that AM and I got at the knit and stitch show. I nearly did half a bag, approx 100G but not enough to ply. Still a very highly achieved day over all and the smugness still abounds me now, months later!

 

tired tyred and slightly teary.

The joy of picking up our cats was sadly not as lovely as it should have been. I caught a cold on the way back from Edinburgh on the plane. I was suffering and not feeling at my best. We went and got our little darlings and huddled up as soon as possible but not before someone stopped our car and said “did you know you had a flat tyre?”

I’m sorry to say my reply very candidly was “Oh shit no!”  We pulled around the next corner and whilst I was huddled in the car trying to stave off a case of the shakes, Scotty did the manly thing and started hunting around the boot of the car. Scotty: “does this car have a spare?” me: “no, there should be some sort of kit in the back there to keep us going” followed by lots of rummaging, “oohh a can of emergency tyre repair” me: “eh? whats that?” him: “Oh it just re-inflates the tyre and fills it full of foam to keep you going” me: ” how come you know all this and you don’t drive?” with no reply but I suppose it’s because he’s had enough flats on his bicycle, he knows. There was also a compressor and cables and things so after re-inflating said tyre with the compressor plugged in to the lighter thingy, the can of gunk was not needed. we got home, the tyre was still up so we didn’t bother sorting it straight away.

Then I realised it was Sunday and I had a day trip to Cambridge on Monday or Tuesday for work. Plus we were out of food cos we’d just been on holiday. I much-needed visit to kwikfit was in order, cos I know where it is and its close enough to a supermarket. I dropped off the car and got it confirmed. I knew I was due two new tyres because of wear. These were the two front tyres. The back passenger side (uk style) was the one with a dirty great nail in it also requiring a replacement. Because I pay for this car on HP and did replace it every 3 years or so, and only had this one 2 years I thought to save later I must get like for like tyres. Queue 3 Bridgestones later and a lovely bill of £340. OUCH. I left the car and staggered still slightly cold woozy to the Morrisons on the inner ring road. Did my shopping, deposited the shopping in one of those trolly lock things and went and got the car. Paid up, then went and got the shopping to get that in to the car and go home. By then I was almost fit to cry, and said so when I got in. Luckily Scotty is lovely and does listen when I moan and promptly cooked up a top class Sunday roast dinner.

Edinburgh

So after the Friday at the knit and stitch show we saw the family on Saturday whilst delivering kitties to their holiday destination of choice Country cats of Briston. It was a brief trip but lovely.

Sunday late we flew from Norwich to Edinburgh, jumped on a bus and wheeled our shared suitcase round to the posh hotel. Arriving after 10 ish we settled in to the big 42 inch telly, the king size bed and relaxed ready to see the sights the next day.

Monday was lovely. The weather was great and we started out very early and took a long walk down princes street. One minor issue is the entire upheaval of princes street to install a tram system. Still we found Pret, one of my favorite places to eat and got ourselves some breakfast underneath the view of the castle.

We walked and walked, all around the back of the castle and up to the castle and as we had tweeted where we were a friend contacted us and said meet up for lunch. We realized it was too late to start a tour of the castle if we were going to meet our friend. So instead we walked back down to the park and grabbed a cup of tea in the national gallery. Met up with CA and went to fishers for lunch. Their Fresh fish is divine. After a lovely lunch we went back for a nap and out to veggie restaurant for dinner David Bann’s.

Tuesday we stomped up to the castle nice and early to take the tour. Got to see the Scottish crown jewels and lots of cool castley stuff. We stayed for lunch and listened to the gun fire at 1pm, and watched the Nelson monument ball drop which entertained me more than the gun. After walking around for hours we headed back to the hotel for a  swim sauna and steam. We had the pool to ourselves so it was rather nice indeed.  The evening was filled with the cinema where we went to watch UP in 3D. I loved it, its well worth seeing and I’d go and see it again, but I think I’ll just buy it on Blue Ray.

After the movie the weather outside turned a bit nasty so we hunkered down in the hotel bar which had a good chill out area a few cocktails were quaffed (MOHIITOOO!) and we retired to our chambers.

Wednesday we were already tired out. So to take it easy we headed to the Edinburgh bus tour.The explanations via the audio were great and quite entertaining. Scotty chose not to listen but to take photos, so I kept updating him with little potted items that probably didn’t make much garbled sense cos I was still trying to listen. After a good route around the city avoiding princes street we got back to the beginning and stopped in town for a pizza lunch and some shopping. I managed to get a new pair of trousers, a new dress for work and a shirt for work too. HOORAH! I’m not the best at clothes shopping and need female company usually to get it right.

Thursday we visited what I like to call folly central. Calton hill. It was quite a steep climb but well worth looking around the monuments.

Enjoying a cracking view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill

Next on the must see list was the National Gallery of Scotland. Beautiful art in a great building. I’m sure we didn’t see it all but we enjoyed what we did see. A quick trip to the shop was in order to buy haggis for the family. A bus ride back to the airport and our short trip to Edinburgh was over.

Lovely. Oh and one last thing: Scotty’s panorama from the castle in LARGE. watch out its very big indeed.

 

 

Once upon a time in a palace near london

AM and I went a hunting for floof.
linky to AM’s lovely blog
It is not the natural activity of a mid 30 something ladies, as most of the coach was over 60. We got up early and got ready for the long haul bus to London and a stomp around Alexandra Palace to go to the knit and stitch show.

Firstly we got on the coach and picked up a suitable project to see us through to the point of leaving the coach. I decided my mittens are not quite what I wanted and found some cashmere posh yarn in my stash ready to make Scotty a lovely soft scarf for on his bike. So, we knitted and nattered and generally tried to get an idea of what we wanted before we started walking around cooing and oohing and aaahhing smooshing everything within arms reach. Then AM took a photo… I should be banned from having my photo taken if I’ve gotten up before 9am.
So we got there in one piece and I forgot to bring my camera, or forgot to use it. I cant remember which now, but we dived in like two slightly possessed devils enjoying all the fruits of the sheep, alpaca, silk, mohair, and any other fibery animule you can think of. AM does a much better description of what was there.
I agree with her though there were a lot of things missing: carders, spinning wheels, niddy noddies, lazy kates, swifts, fiber in general, Oh and SOCK BLOCKERS. Damn them all to hell for not having a single sock blocker for sale not even a plastic one.

There were wooden and circular needles and a HUGE line in over size needles. The standard needle gauge thingies but I still could not find a needle gauge pendant. Although I did find a lovely clover yarn cutter which has since been on an aeroplane with me. I love the little cutter, it makes me feel like a knitting ninja with my own throwing star.

Oh and yes I bought yarn… only er.. One skein of silk, One of sock. Then 4 bags of 200g Alpaca carded fiber ready to spin in a lovely mixed grey black and white. I cant wait to start on that but I do have to clear out my bobbins first. I spent a good time looking over the Habu stand wanting anything and everything they sold but was slightly disappointed that everything was either in tiny tiny skeins or balls because the gauge was finer than lace weight on all items. I only found one sock weight and it was £50 for 400g which would be a good buy but I didn’t want to part with all that at the time. There were lots and lots of interesting stands but over all I’m glad it was half sewing and not half spinning because I would have completely lost all ability to keep my credit card in my wallet.

Over all an amazing venue with not nearly enough toilets for all the ladies in one go. We had to use the ones at the skating rink side to avoid the queues, but then had the dilemma of when to use our hand sanitizer due to all the doors and the not so sanitary conditions of the ice rink.

There was just so very much to look at. I also did not find any long shade yarn. By that I mean a skein that travels from one colour to another throughout its length and not just change every few rows. A nice gradual change that I think looks very good on shawls or socks. Noro almost does this but not in long enough sections for me.

We were completely pooped and worn out by the time we were all due back at the coach. Everyone looked excited like they had just scored the best bargain in the place but we all know AM and I did that by using it to find items for us to make on our own and not to buy. I’m still very impressed by the large needles her husband has made and cant wait to commission my own from him too. I’ve already got the idea of a giant square poof for our front room.

Anyways, I cant think of anything more from the Ally Pally event now. I’ve got lots more things to update you on instead like Scotty and me going to Edinburgh for our rather late summer holidays. ta ta!

gaming lazing cleaning cooking

not entirely in that order. This post is approximately two weeks too late but heh, you’re getting it anyways.

loco roco 2 : I have been addicted since I bought it. I’ve no where near completed it and it is getting to the frustrating point where I cant get to the very last few items but it is most enjoyable rolling little blobs about the place.

Hancock: Not quite what I expected but I did go: “hey she knows something” catching on before it all lets out. Still worth seeing once. I’m very much enjoyning the lovefilm.com package we’ve got.

colour of magic: Film version of Terry Pratchett’s first two books. Loved it. could have done with a little more whiz and bang of magic spells but you cant expect wizards to do magic now can we? that would upset the balance of things. Overall very good.

katamari! : Scotty and I both loved Katamari on the playstation portable and were gutted when they did not bring out a ps3 version. They have now and its fab. Still always fun rolling up things and getting bigger.

I made a very nice currif and Scotty made pasta. Not the same meals but the same weekend.

I de-frosted the elderberries previously picked. Then took out the big saucepan and made elderberry cordial. Point 1 its VERY RED, as in it stains but washes out of almost everything. I’m sure it would make a great natural dye if there was some mordent added. The main recipes I followed said to add around 5 cloves per litre of cordial. *YUCK* so instead I did 2 cloves, one star anise, a cinnamon stick, some sliced ginger root and finally a small bit of vanilla which mellows it all out nicely. I managed to make a litre and a half. I love it and will deffo be making it again one day.

Oh and of course we cleaned the house. Probably not worth writing up, but the other bits were.

Spin spin sugar.

I think I forgot to say when I got all excited about a listing on gumtree for a spinning wheel in Norwich.
I got rather excited and had to go and get it right away. I’ve been hiding it since.

I was fortunate to find a slightly dusty but fully working Ashford traditional wheel. Something simple to get started on.

With the wheel I gained 4 potato bags full of fleece, mainly alpaca and one that seems to have had the staple cut far too short. There is also a small 400g bag of corriedale which still needs carding and probably washing again. More fleece than I care to look at but it all came free. Anyways I firstly tested spinning on what I was given and I really was not getting the hang of it. I took some of the fleece to Norfolk Yarn shop for some assistance. They said it all needed to be fully prepped first. Makes sense. Still it’s not something I’m looking forward to doing.
So then I grabbed some of my felting fiber

and specifically the 100% merino made by YoYo as requested for my wedding flowers. I so did not have time to make as many flowers as I wanted so I’ve got a ton of these prepped batts remaining which are very good indeed for spinning.

so I set up my wheel and spun this:

and another one I forgot to take any photos of. But I fell in love with it and plied it all together and got this

which was skeined

and looked like this when finished.

I am super happy and now have something very personal to me with which I can make something nice for myself. It looks like rustic mittens will be coming!