a good weekend for doing stuff.

Hello!

A lovely weekend started with a yarn crawl, or a knit crawl.. We went from church yard to cloisters to Franks to pub and to the playhouse. It was a lovely day with lots of knitting and a good time was had by the 5 or 6 that trawled around with us. AM and I got sushi for lunch and cake at Franks. Then a fair dose of pimms in the pubs and we were truly happy.

I did some yarnbombing above which was left in a pub table drawer. I have lots of donated needles and I hope that someone takes up the challenge.

Sunday Scotty and I went for a nice long walk.. well long for us is 3.5 miles. We started at home got to the Gibraltar Gardens and had lunch then wondered through wensum park and home again. Lunch was very tasty salad and we took some photos.

Dasies! we sat in the sun for a bit enjoying a beautiful day.

Through wensum park and we noticed some lovely wildlife. Spot the birdie in this photo. We also saw in a section of about 10 square feet, a moorhen, seagulls, pigeons, seagulls and finally a rat. He was very cute for a rat though and seemed happy by the river.

Finally we got home and after the main heat of the day subsided I potted on the new lettuce that I bought and potted on what other things needed to go in bigger pots. Now I’m super happy with my back garden and I can see everything has a use and I’m going to get a few fruits and veggies out of there this year. I even cooked with the kohlrabi leaves that we’ve grown so far. They went well with cajun spicy beans and new potatoes with fresh chives.

Now if you click on the image it will take you to the flickr page where every single plant is labelled. I’m so happy with this and cant wait for some more things to grow and come out edible.

What a lovely and calm weekend.

KIPS….

I love em… well the sleeping sort but the title refers to the knits in progress. *small ripple of applause in anticipation*

OK I need to add photos later I just found I’ve got NONE. oops. EDIT well I took some crappy photos but cant upload at work.

1, RASTA SOCKS

a simple set of two at a time on two circular needles toe up socks. except I’m using 3 colours the grumperina way. these are looking lovely but I’m scared I’m going to run out of yellow. I’m sure they will be fine. These have now been bagsied by my lovely sister in law. I’ve tried to give her lace and unless I can find just the right thing these socks will go well in the huge barn they live in. Cosy and comfy.

2, Baby Blanket

My work colleague and friend Lynsey is currently incubating a new life in herself and is doing well. I am amazed at how organized she is and how she’s got everyone to do something for her, including me which is where the baby blanket comes in. I asked what she would like and the answer came back: natural creams and browns and beige’s please. Oh and cables. Now I think baby blankies should be square. cables, on squares are fine except I’ve got 4 balls of wool and I’ve no idea if they are going to complete a square if I started knitting straight. Then I also HATE sewing knitting together. So, lets get complicated because where’s the fun if its too easy? I’ve started at the center and add two stitches each side of the square to form a triangle Then I inserted a cable right from the center so all 4 sides have a cable coming out from the middle. I’ve not seen anyone else do a blanket like this so hopefully I will be able to write it up as a pattern when I’ve completed it. Then I want to line the back with fleece and if I’m feeling ULTRA ambitious I’d love to pick out the entire cable pattern on the fleece like a quilt. hard work? yers… can I do it… maybe but it may take a fair bit of swearing. we’ll see if I can get the best part of it done before the sprog pops.

3, another bit of lace.

I’ve picked up the pattern for Adammas shawl another freebie! I’ve found out my oldest ball of lace and started knitting. I’ve almost ruined part of this ball but hopefully a good wash once knit up will save all the woes. The biggest challenge now is completing a whole shawl on 3.5mm needles. ACK! I loved doing the spiral shawl but by the end I was on size 6mm needles. EASY PEASY!

anyways these should keep me going for some time to come so hopefully pictures soon.

woohoo!

Originally uploaded by munkt0n

We went for a walk around whitlingham lake and I took my newly finished pure alpaca spiral shawl from a gathering of lace. There were too many people for me to pose and relax, so the shot could be better but I’m supper happy with my newest knitted item. Makes me just want to start some more lace.

It was washed and blocked and the ends tied in on Saturday. Between a large bout of shopping and a bbq. Sunday we went walking in the most beautiful sunshine. A stunning weekend with positive and beautiful results.

YAYS!

I completed the shawl I was doing. Well that is not completely true, not strict at all. It needs all the ends weaving in and a good wash and block. I’ve just not got anything big enough to block it on yet. I think I’m going to have to do it on a weekend and shut the cats out of the bedroom and use our bed.

I started a new pair of socks. Rasta socks. Green, red and yellow. I just hope I have enough of the yellow to complete them.

My brother has taken his kids on holiday so it was a smaller than usual family gathering at my sisters this week. I went to see mum and the rhododendrons flowering at Sheringham park. Dad requested a bench a few weeks back and was told it may take months. When I went past the bench was there! I was so super happy to see it I nearly burst in to tears. Then I sat for a moment. As soon as I got up I was going to take a wide angle photo with mums camellias in the background but I couldn’t. The National Trust park was very packed with people and as soon as I got up someone else sat down. Great view though. Very pretty at this time of year.

Life for me right now is all about achievement. I’m looking on the bright side where ever I can. I may not be doing anything special but getting the shopping from the supermarket yesterday is an achievement. Also getting petrol was an achievement and then remembering to put the recycling out a day late was another achievement. Still it has its down sides. I am getting things done but then getting more frustrated when the little things don’t go to plan. Like getting all the recycling outside but the “blue” bin collectors putting the blue bin in front of my green box glass collection so nobody could see it and my green box did not get emptied. Small things. Not worth worrying about but it still gave me time to plan several snotty emails to the council on my walk in to work. Did I do anything about it? No. Am I worried? No not really. Next time I’m throwing the glass out the window at them to catch .

I’m also starting something a little new. Daily flickr updates, if I remember that is. I’m a bit fed up with updating 20 odd photos and getting nothing from it because I’ve overloaded all my friends with far too much at once. This place needs the same sort of overhaul. Short sharp one pic at a time, or one small subject for each post. Keep it simple and small and people enjoy it more.

So hopefully catch up soon before I forget all the good things because this is what its all for right?

As a colleague said to me today… YAY dot com. which should just be one big splash of flashing YAY! sadly its some sort of  mad mini advert site.

hello *tap tap* is this thing on?

ah. well, we’ve been on holiday. I have no better excuses. Lots has been happening but very little blogging. I havent even put any photos on flickr for ages.

firstly I’ve had two great visits to my family. A great bbq, and also my brother installing a tyre rope swing in his woods which is just fabulous. Very fun and only slightly scary.

Our lovely week and a bit off work ended up being a very large splurge and means that we’ll not be buying any new toys for a while. Most enjoyable, splashing the holiday cash. Not something I do without saving for first.

 I took the cats to the cattery. They appeared to have a good time there although we missed them I’m not sure they really missed us. They even had a quick checkup at the vets and were doing fine.

I drove to Southampton 7.5 hours on a Friday afternoon of a bank holiday weekend. It was not fun at all. Spent some lovely time with the in laws and all of Scotty’s family. Another bbq and playing with nieces. A trip to Ikea, which was my very first and purchased some new house furniture. Then a really good ride back home early bank holiday Monday.

We even picked up the cats the same day, got home and collapsed. After a couple of days bimbling about and sorting ourselves out we took a day trip to London on the train. I wanted to go and find my new handbag. I then also bought a new laptop bag which is not the same colour but they’re a good set together. Scotty and I walked for miles around London and visited the British museum and the tate modern and stayed out for dinner because the off peak tickets meant we needed to leave later. We went for Yo Sushi, which was a new experience and amazingly cheaper than I expected.

The garden is coming along nicely. Something is eating some of my veggie plants and its a phantom night eater. Other than that the spuds are sprouting all over the place. Herbs are in abundance and everything else is ticking over and will probably not grow big enough to fruit this year but it is still very early.

Otis has taken to being a pain in the arse when it comes to eating. If he does not like the food he will stand and moan at you CONSTANTLY every few seconds. I annoyed him the other night by being nice and still not feeding him the other food he wanted. Eventually I saw him huff at me. No kidding this cat had one frustrated strop which was just not being listened to. Poor fella. At least he’s not the night scratcher which leads us to…. Jasper. Now where Otis is annoying on food Jasper is lovely and just gets on with it. Where Otis is lovely at night and settles well on the bed, Jasper is the complete oposite and spends several hours of the night running in to the bathroom, scratching the cupboards and running away because he knows I’m going to reach for the spray bottle. The spray bottle has become a game to him. This is not good because I then have lots of broken little patches in my nights sleep and I am queen of sleep and would like to have an unbroken night some time soon. Any suggestions gratefully appreciated. Please understand I cant shut them out of the bedroom because they would just scratch the bedroom door. I cant then shut them out of upstairs because the house is just not built like that.

On to the lovely Ikea things we bought. We’ve got a new side board thingy table under the telly that looks fab. Then a new set of stools and a bar for the kitchen. Then after all the handbags, train tickets, meals out for family and cinema tickets for my sisters husband for his birthday and us of course. I’m mostly spent out. We went to see Star Trek and having been a fan for most of my life I love this new movie. I really do like most of what Zachary Quinto does. I think he’s a great actor and makes a very good Spock.

Then Scotty went out on Sunday after all the splurging and bought himself a canon 5D, which I must admit appears to be a great investment of money but a WHOLE LOT MORE than I was intending on spending this month. Still we’re quite the modern couple and his money is still his money and then I get to play with all his toys. YAY!

plans for next month include a car service. ARGH!! and catching up with the knitting. Not much of it mind you. The sweater has stalled at the first sleeve. BUT the beautiful shawl is slowly turning in to a giant bed spread…. More on that next time and I hope that will be sooner rather than later.

crikey

naughty me… I’ve been doing so much and writing so little

Scotty and I spent a day in the back garden and after a few small purchases from a garden retailer we stocked up and potted as many vegetables as we could. I kept well away from cauliflowers and broccoli that we attempted last year. This year we have our regular stock of herbs and then courgettes, bok choi, beetroot, one small strawberry, butternut squash and potatoes grown in a converted bin. We even planted fresh cat grass for our boys. The last years crop completely died out.

knitting has almost died a death with me. I’ve not even made it to knit club in weeks. I think I still love it but I got stuck at the armpits on the jumper. The shawl I was doing simply does not add up and the poor thing is waiting for me to have enough patients to sit down for a good couple of hours and count religiously until I can get it all to a working number. Not at all fun. I did however complete two iphone cosies for my new fabulous white iphone. One to wash and one to wear.
I’ve got photos on the PC at home but I’m doing this in my lunch break.

I’ve seen the family two weekends running. My gran came up to visit with my aunt and very kindly gave each of us a bit of money which has been fired directly at our hopefully ever decreasing mortgage. Not huge amounts but big enough to make me feel better. I don’t need her money but apparently neither does she so its gone to good use.

I found out the posh sushi place in toombland Norwich does takeaway.. no really. That was the best £30 (for two) I’ve ever spent on takeaway food. I just LOVE sushi. I get cravings but only once in a while. Its a good job, its way too expensive to buy regularly.

I managed to shrink in to a pair of “hopeful” size trousers in the past week. It’s only taken 8 ish years since I bought them. They were only £2. Bargain even though I’ve now only worn them once.

I’ve had a big new project at work. Some comparison of ID against what sits in one database against another and against asset and all that gubbins. Nothing that can be done by a computer because none of the systems inter-relate. Once I’d finished the task I then had to re-write the process. Good fun but a real mind bender. Something to stick on my CV me thinks.

I had a day trip to Cambridge for work. I wish it was as nice as it sounds but I was in the office from 8.30am until 3.15. harsh, I came straight home for a nap.

This past bank holiday has been wonderful. I started sewing a pair of trousers for myself on Friday. We went shopping in town on Saturday for new shoes for Scotty then had a marathon movie session with finding nemo and quantum of solace. The movie may not be the best for cohesive plot but the action is great on blue ray. Then I had a bit of a cooking frenzy in the evening.

Sunday I supplied the family with the nut roast I cooked the night before. We all went for lunch at my brothers house. Then went on to Felbrigg hall local to him to take the kids on a question trail egg hunt. It was great fun and nice to see all the family having a day out together, even the dog could join in to a point. Shumba is fast becoming a very loved part of our family.

Monday I got back to the sewing machine and completed my trousers. I’m happy mostly but the waist band is terrible. It does not hold correctly and the internal stuff for stiffening I bought appears to be the wrong sort and has caused scrunching. Apart from that they were wearable on Monday for work which means I spent the whole day going round asking people if they liked my new red trousers… and that I made them. I am such a smug ba*”&$%tard.

Now I’ve got a few plans in the making. An early May holiday which the cats are now booked in for their holiday too but also their yearly jabs before their holiday. Speaking of which Otis and Jasper are good some nights but last night I could have booted them both out the top floor window. I am not good when I’ve not had enough sleep and its all their fault. If you want to see our boys visit Flickr, their latest photos are during mid groom here.

Other plans include the yearly car tax and service in May. Excitamente!

writers block

I’ve been full of good ideas but as soon as I sit down to tell you I go blank.

the cats have been let out in to the garden two nights running. They love it out there and enjoy rolling around in the dust and bringing it in to the house. Its reminded me what a complete mess our garden is. I need to tend the wormery and get some more plants in because most of them died completely over the winter. This is the problem with pots only in a shale and paved garden. I’ve got two whole bins of decent soil stored up and when taking a good look at the wormery I found that nearly half of it is the wet juice stuff that comes out of the bottom to feed our plants.

I’ve been knitting. Firstly we had a little Sunday afternoon knit at the play house which was lovely and quiet which turned in to an evening with AM and husband. I really enjoyed their company but I now feel really bad because I managed to make them go and get the takeaway and pay for it, and bring round wine. Damn my poor skills at being a good host. 

I knitted an ipod sock and I intend to make a few more because it turned out lovely. I’m up to the armpits on a jumper but I’ve got to start the sleeves and I’m not sure I like them the same way as the pattern. Then there’s the shawl I’m doing which is driving me crazy trying to add up all the stitches. Its around 350 at the moment and circular. none of the sections are adding up to the same number which means I’ve made mistakes but I cant find them. I can correct it but its going to take a good few hours sit down and working out.

I re-strung the cat tree! YAY and it gets full cat approval. Our boys love a good scratch and it seems to have worked really well. I ended up buying sash cord instead of normal sisal rope. Oddly it worked out cheaper at the local hardware store and looks nice and hopefully will take longer to pull apart than the last lot.

Right I’m just about to go to lunch with Daddy… Then work, I’m busy as usual for now and loving it.

So I suppose this is just a little check in to say all is well as long as I’ve got sunglasses. The hay fever season has started early and I look like I’ve been boxing at night and come out with swollen eyes. Not to mention the cats getting up nice and early and making as much noise as they can.. I really could have done without them waking us regularly last night. Still I can sleep in at the weekend YAY!

Next aim, to take more photos of the things I’ve done. I’m missing not having lots of photo posts up here.

so all the good news.

Scotty got better, he’s good like that. Back to work on Tuesday and all mended ish. He definitely put the food away all week to make up for what he lost.

I got a new set of headphones and they are being kept completely away from the cats.

I spent out and finally got myself my own iphone and o2 contract. I think it was worth it. Still I’ve got to wait for virgin to send out my pac code so that I can port the number. I don’t want to change number. I’m totally loving the new iphone and its functionality.

Over the weekend I sewed and knitted a little. I’ve managed to make two mock ups for iphone cosies. Plus the jumper is coming up to under the arm pits which means I will have to start the arms soon. Plus I’m only on my 3rd ball and I’ve got 10 of them, so I may make it twice… we’ll see

Sunday was lovely. Went over to see Dad and my sister was there with her kids and husband and doggles.  Shumba is getting bigger already and looking all the wonky for it! He’s a very cute puppy but still a nippy little terror. I’m sure he will improve with age. /cat owner and proud of my cats.

When my sister left Dad and I and Scotty went out to see mum for mothers day. We wondered in to Sheringham park and found her bushes. One of the 4 is already flowering and had two beautiful white blooms. I’m going to have to go back again soon and see the rest in flower. I pulled out the new iphone and stuck a pin in mum’s location so I can always go and see her from anywhere. I did take a photo but I’ve not downloaded it from the camera yet.

and sudenly we’re back round to another week complete and I hardly know where its gone. Work is busy but that is definately the way I like it. Looks like nobody has time any more to whine much which is also an improvement.

not much else to report except I’m definitely happy. I’m not sure quite what has changed to allow me to relax and stop worrying so much but I can at least see for the near future all things look good enough for me to be relaxed and happy.

We’ve even booked holiday time in May although all arrangements are non existent at the moment. We were considering going boating but I’ve invited the in laws up for a couple of days. We need to see when they are coming before making any more arrangements.

Oh and one last thing. Jasper has taken to attacking Scotty’s feet of a morning about the time the sun comes up. we’ve not had the hour change here in the UK yet for daylight savings so he’s up with the birds and attacking anything and everything and waking us up. He is being trained with spray water to try and stop him. So far its not sinking in. Oh and Otis walked up the bed just before the alarm this morning so I grabbed him without opening my eyes and slept for a little while with him tucked like a bear under my arm. Good times.

um…

well…

um…

er

I finished some socks I forgot to even put up on ravelry. I’m not best pleased with them because they were made from courtelle. I don’t think this yarn is suitable for socks. Still they fit, but meh. Cant even be bothered to tie in the ends at the moment. I also nearly felted my best home made socks to the point where they would not stretch back again. I seriously need to do some hand washing and blocking.

I missed Knit night, I was going to go but within the time of me walking in the house to leaving time Scotty was violently sick. He spent all of Thursday night and Friday up chucking and various other bodily functions going at fast speeds it should not be mentioned in detail on the web. Urgh. Poor fella. I left him to it and went from work to shopping to make sure we had easily digestible items at hand for recovery. You know the stuff. Lots of toast, tomato soup.

Saturday we were meant to go to Wells to a flickr meet. Scotty was not well enough for it. I spent the day researching what project I wanted to knit next. Sunday we managed to get out to the beach at Caister and walked around slowly for about an hour. By this time Scotty said he was feeling a bit rough again so no fish and chips at the seaside. Home we went so I cast on for my very first proper jumper. By the end of Sunday the ribbing all 5 inches of it are almost done and I’m ready to try and read a proper jumper pattern. This is a big leap and I’m sure blogging about it means it may just get ripped out tonight. we’ll see

Most of the rest of the weekend has been cleaning and tidying and making sure my man has everything he needs to relax. right now he’s still home and exhausted from the beating the bug gave him. Amazingly so far I appear not to have caught it and thank goodness! I don’t think I could clean up after both of us at the same time!

One good thing, the sun is shining and its lovely to see all the buds coming out on the bushes around and about. It means I’m already wearing my sunglasses outside at every opportunity just to make sure I’m not going to be a snotty hay fever mess. Otis and Jasper are also dropping their fur everywhere at the moment which is impossible to keep on top of. I must hoover soon but I just know it will be best done when the cats are in the garden so they cant fur up the house for 5 minutes.

Although Otis and Jasper are lovely as ever, I am deeply upset by them. They ate or at least chewed my best headphones. I keep them safe in my handbag. I think this was Jasper but when I found them both playing with the rubber ear bud  and then found they’d extracted out my headphones from my handbag and chewed through I was not happy at all. They were sennheiser and now will cost £39 to replace…. unless I can find some just as nice, that fit well and that are not pink… cos obviously our guys like pink.

for penance they have been looking after their daddy well.

shower time!

I forgot to let you know. Otis and Jasper had their first shower of 2009 last weekend. Amazingly they both took it rather well. Jasper kept scratching the doors to get out but did not meow. Otis just sat there like a wet cat in a rain storm with nowhere to hide. They both took it so well we stuffed them full of catnip drops as a present. Queue the flumping round the house at high speed. They both dried out pretty quick too.

This weekend Scotty and I went to see all of my local family. This meant a round trip from Norwich to Sheringham to Briston to Alby and back to Norwich. We stayed over at my brothers house but not before going to see Dad and walking down to Sheringham town with my niece. Then going and meeting my sisters new dog Shumba:

He’s still only just 7.5 weeks old and very small for the big dog he’s going to become. He sat with us very cuddly which was nice all except for the farting. OH GOOD GOD it reeked. Not too dissimilar to the cat litter tray after a fresh landing of matter. Anyway, for a dog, being a cat lover, he’s great and bound to be a lovely addition to the family.

We made it to my brothers house in time for dinner and a few glasses of wine and men hauling the mattress in from the annex in to the main house. We’ve stayed in the annex before and its COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD. At least in the main house we warmed up and got comfy. The next morning we were up early and after a wonderful porridge breakfast and a bit of play with the twins we headed back home.

I looked at the cleaning, looked at what food we had in and said “lets go out for Sunday lunch” Cleaning shelved and a quick trip to the rush-cutters pub restaurant and we had a really tasty Sunday lunch. Once home we collapsed and only managed to get the washing out of the machine and hung up. The rest will have to wait until hell freezes over. I’m having too much fun to clean Our cats were happy to see us again and after a warming period of about an hour when they realised we were not going to go out on them again today they cuddled up for the evening too.