Photos for Sharon

A friend at work asked me to take a few snaps of her daughters room. She had hand painted all these beautiful pictures for her daughter when she was young. Now she’s 11 she wants a new design and something that suits her better. Sharon found it sad to let them all go, so I popped over and took a few snaps so that she could keep the memories.

I think they are all adorable and so very well painted. Its a shame to see them go but Sharon said that she’s going to get some of the pictures framed and placed somewhere else in her house so that she can keep them. Sharon quilts, beads, knits and sews too! She’s one hell of a talent.

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Finished Jumper

Finally a lovely day of sunshine AND I remembered to bring the jumper with me. We meaning me and the family had a picnic outside the front of my brothers house.

I ended up giving it to my sister. Although its pretty it sits tight on my size 16 frame. On her it is loose and friendly. It’s also a wee bit itchy for my liking. The sleeves are every single last inch of the yarn, and amazingly matched. Although a little short when worn.

Still my sister loves it, and I hope to get a good picture of her wearing it one day.

Kauni yarn
Ravelry link: Here

new site, and what I’m up to.

So I’ve told you all my plans.

what I failed to tell you is where it is.

Please welcome in to this blogging world: KnittedMilieu

So, its live, I have two patterns up and for sale and ravelry is hosting both of those. I’m currently knitting furiously on a pair of BRIGHT PINK socks to get the pattern up there as fast as I can.

This blog will still be dedicated to me, and what I’m up to. That blog will be entirely for my knitting designs. I still want to spin and knit other people’s patterns and go out, see family, work, eat, sleep. So I guess there should be enough content for here too.

I just wish I had more to show you now. Still I’m sure you’re fine waiting, knowing what a blog hiatus I had over last year.

The weekend was stunning in Norfolk. The Sun has been beating down and made most people happy. I wish I could entirely say the same thing but hay fever season is upon me and I’d love to itch and scratch until I look sore. It takes more than a little strength not to want to pull the insides out of my nose.

Still I’m not sure you want to hear that either. So I hid in our small garden, camera setup on tripod and took photos to build up my patterns in progress.

On to other things, have a picture of a cat. Otis with Scotty’s new camera

Cracking photo. Both Otis and Jasper are well and happy. which reminds me, I must book them in for a vet visit soon. They are due their boosters and a quick check over.

If any of you are wondering where Scotty gets the money for another camera, I love the fact he’s doing something he loves, and we can afford it mainly because we have no kids. I’d rather he be behind a camera or in front of a laptop than down the pub or riding around on motorbikes or anything half as dangerous. I know he’s safe, and still super lovely. Oh and he’s sold me on getting new toys because I get all the old extras to fit my camera, two free posh lenses! woohoo!

a rare day off.

This is not your normal day off. I’ve just taken one day because I need some time to get some things together. This weekend has been indoors because of the rotten weather. Still I got pattern writing and I’m almost ready to publish a new knitting pattern. One that has been hanging on the back burner for some time.

To go along with this knitting pattern I wanted to launch in to a whole new area. You’ve heard it here before but now I have most items in place. I’ve got the building blocks ready, now I just have to produce proper content.

So, this morning I’ve done a load of washing, washed the cat water bowl, ran the dishwasher, emptied and filled it again, cleaned up cat sick, cleaned the litter tray, had a shower and brought down my hand washing. I’m even going to start a loaf of bread shortly. This is all before 10am. Yet I feel like I’m procrastinating, getting the cleaning and tidying is great, but it’s not completing my main task. A new blog, to run along side this one entirely dedicated to my knitting designs.

The ravelry store has been re-named and linked in to the new site.

One thing I did do, and I’m now very much looking forward to, is book a holiday. Its been a long while since we went abroad and we’ve booked a cottage in France for 10 days in May. The thing that sold me on the place more than anything was the review on the last page. They had a cat with kittens and allowed the children visiting to play with them. How cool is that? We miss Otis and Jasper so much when ever we are on holiday that we go searching for holiday cats. Also the other main reason for booking was the site invites you to help yourself to vegetables in the garden when you stay. I’m rather excited about all this. Thankfully our good friend is going to house sit for us so O & J don’t have to go anywhere. I hate putting Jasper in a car, it upsets him so much. I’ve booked the flights, the car and the cottage. We’re nearly there already.

Now to get working, pages need creating, photos need taking, cats need playing with, bread needs kneading, knitting needs knitting, documents need formatting 🙂 I really love a day off when its busy and fruitful.

ssshhh

Don’t tell anyone but I’ve just cast off the sleeves on a jumper. Its a rare treat. I was knitting on fumes and had less than a yard left for each sleeve. Now all I’ve got to do is wash it, block it, sew under the arms and wear it with pride.

What is the betting we have a new heatwave so I don’t need the new jumper till autumn? heh.

In other news I had a fabulous weekend. I sewed a new big red fluffy bow for a hen party on Saturday night. I was rushed because I didn’t have an minnie mouse ears for the theme.

 

I gave it to the hen when I departed the party. I really did not like the club/bar we went to. Still, the evening was quite nice. This is why I escaped safely and early, only two alcoholic drinks and my reputation still intact.

Sunday we went to see the family and enjoyed a lovely lunch at my sisters house followed by a nice long walk around Blickling hall and lake. The weather was amazing and well worth the exercise.

I’ll get some pictures of the jumper after its washed. Last thing I want to do is post about it with photos and then felt it. Although I have done worse in the past. (see pink silk skirt for exaple 1A)

Toodles for now 😀

snoddy sadurday

I am not immune.

I managed a whole two years without a day off work and since just before Christmas I’ve had one bout of cold/flueyness that sort of faded but did not truly leave and I broke my run and took one day off late December. 

The lurgy did not go and gave me post nasal drip, as my doctor called it. Most uncomfortable, so I spent most of January and February snuffling. Snoring like a fog horn and swallowing constantly. This also has side effects, like acid reflux and wind. I’m sure you can see a very attractive classy lady in all this. I certainly can’t.

It all came to a head on Friday night, I felt rougher than a badger pulled through a hedge backwards. I’ve been accumulating much sleep and avoiding any technical knitting to recover. I think I’m getting better but I’ll gladly say I’m fed right up with winter and colds.

Back at the start of the month was my birthday. I had a lovely family party. A lovely party with AM and a pub lunch, and a day off with my beloved. Then we had the valentines weekend where he put his back out. Then he had a cold on his birthday weekend. Thankfully this weekend I was well enough, although I moaned and moaned through the snot, to make cake and take le husband to my family for his birthday party. Still it could have been much more bouncy and happier if I wasn’t filled with head fluff.

Still, there is always spring and hay fever to look forward to. *cries* Anyone got a sealed bubble I could live in?

*sniff* I smell moth balls.

well, what can I say.

It’s all a bit dusty in here. Sorry. There is a dawning, it’s going to happen at some point. I’m just not sure if I should move elsewhere or keep here.

Let me know what you think because I do believe that I can and will be starting a knitting only blog/presence for a business of my own. There are major issues with this.

Do I want all this historic info all over the net with it? OR will it aid me in my progress.

I’m going to go and have a long hard think about it.

Oh and I managed to complete a new pair of gloves for myself just in time for my birthday and the snow. Hoorah!

watch where you’re going

So, lets start this the way we should to allay fears.

I’m happy and well with no injuries. The car is all in one piece and safe, not even a dent or scrape.

Friday required some traveling to Cambridge. On the journey over to the lovely Cambridge office I ran over SOMETHING in the road. Slightly further down the road after a clunk over a cats eye I heard a very big POP and the car shuddered LOTS. I slowed down safely with my hazard lights on and pulled in slowly to the next available safe place on the edge of the Elveden section of the A11. This is after the memorial but before the next proper lay by.

Now I realise I completely forgot to introduce my car, I got her mid May and so far she’s done 1,500 miles. I love her muchly but I have also burst a tyre before so knew exactly what to do. She’s a cherry red Honda Jazz. As you can see below I have parked the car off the road as far as I could.

So After getting a little case of the shakes cos, what accident, even a safely handled accident does not instill in a person a good dose of adrenaline? I called the breakdown service, then I called my boss and let them know I’d be in as soon as I could make it. I tweeted the situation to let le husband know what had happened. Then called him to confirm I was in fact all fine. I got myself sat on a bag, on the floor, on the edge of a corn field.  I ate a snack, finished my bottle of water and started knitting. What else is a girl to do?

Then I had one of those light epiphany moments where I laughed. How lucky am I? I had the safest accident ever, I may be stuck here for hours but I had a coat on, I could relax. It was a sunnyish day, a nice breeze, pretty countryside and when there were not cars zooming past I could hear birds and crickets. I settled in to knitting a few rows and the pattern I’m knitting is self designed. I could calm, I could relax and I can cope on my own.

The reason for the pattern, and hopefully when I have finished the scarf I will be writing it up, is to teach myself and others to look where you’re going. Watching what you’ve knit will show you what to do next and means there is no need to look at a pattern. Trust yourself and look. It’s a staggered rib so that even though the scarf is straight it looks slightly bias. It does take quite a bit of counting but becomes enjoyable with relaxing and getting in the zone, watching the different sized ribs move along as it is knit. So there I sat, getting the oddest of looks from the larger trucks that could see me sat back from the road. Slowly relaxing in to what I know, the needles, the yarn and using my time usefully. Now I sat there and thought, if only I’d seen what I’d ran over I may have not been sitting there knitting.

After an hour and a half I was picked up by the AA. All I can say is good things, they helped me, my car was hoisted on to the back of the truck and we took a detour to Mildenhall to try and search out a tyre. 3 tyre places later and still nothing. New car, new size, nobody had stock. I called Holden Honda in Norwich where I got my car from and a very helpful member of their team called around and put me on hold whilst searching for a tyre for me.

Once a tyre could be found, where I wanted it (in Cambridge) the lovely AA man took me all the way to the Histon road in Cambridge, to the kwikfit garage and dropped me off. I knew that place was there, a mere 100m from the office, I really thought they had the right thing so that is why I asked the Honda gentleman to try them first. I left my car and walked to the office. An hour later I came back to pick up my car, with a new sparkly wheel. The only thing was nobody had the right tyre because it was new, I had to upgrade to a better tyre. My poor wallet was stung with £138 bill but I was safe to get home after work.

So, my reason for blarting all this out on the net? Look where you’re going and still look on the bright side.

friends and family

Sometimes I just don’t feel like I’m part of anything. Other times I do. recent weeks have been wonderful because I’ve had friends visit and I’ve seen family. Its been lovely to feel part of it and to be reminded I’m appreciated and worth a visit.

I had a spare day off so visited AM for a frenzied day of Knitting. Well not frenzied at all, very relaxed and lovely. I baked a cinnamon apple and raisin loaf whilst AM baked sweet potatoes. We played with “squeak” which was his inside name. I’ve got photos but the pile of photos I need to upload is now immense. I’m not getting that done any time soon. I got to spend some quality time with squeak, testing out how things go when AM is not at his side. It went really well. He was fine without her.

We had short notice visit from friends JHFC & LavieOrdinaire (on twitter) They are old friends from when Scotty and I met, wonderful to see them, and after a few movies and a trip in to town shopping it was all over far too quickly.

Had some lovely time with the family too, one long walk up through Sheringham to the top of the golf course and the weekend after, we all got together for a train ride from Sheringham to Holt and back. There was a car faire at Holt which meant lots of photos being taken. The steam train was fabulous and had my nephew bouncing up and down super excited.

Now on to the knitting. I started a blanket and its a square construction from the center out but two different colours circling around each other. not sure that explains it, if you’re on ravelry its the two colour 10 stitch blanket. I’m using Kauni yarn wich has long colour repeats which slowly change from dark to light. It should look fabulous when done but I’m kicking myself for trying to knit over 1200m of yarn on 3mm needles. EPIC.

I started a new cardi with some sale yarn I got from the local John Lewis, Debbie bliss alpaca silk. Its very lovely indeed. I guessed there would not be nearly enough with 7 balls of 50g chunky. I ordered another 7 from an online shop and bought up the last of their stock too. Amazingly it was the exact same dye lot. I’ve completed the back and I’m working up the two fronts now. I’m still not sure I have enough.

I’ve still got a scarf on the go which is super simple but at the same time has a 35ish row pattern repeat. Something I want to write up but can’t complete until I complete the scarf itself. Its being knitted with the last of my hand spun. I’d love to do some more spinning but I’m worried that I’ve really messed up the wheel replacing parts of it, oh and of course Jasper eating through the main cord for the wheel. I’m tempted to trash the old wheel or donate it and invest in a travel wheel that can be packed up without changing tension or setup. Except that is expensive but I hope it would be worth it.

I’ve been covering a colleague for their holidays, this means I’ve been super busy at work wich is always nice. Its stopped me having any spare time at work but at home I’ve still been creative. Just this weekend we went to the local pick your own and picked over 3.5 kilos of raspberries. I tried to make jam again but also failed to weigh everything or follow a recipe. It tastes great but it can’t be called jam because it didn’t set. Boo! Still I was in a cooking mood so made bread, sausage (veggie) rolls and a huge macaroni cheese. When all else is madness a good bit of cooking appears to be one of my therapies. Block everything else out and just get chopping, stirring, heating and making.

Otis and Jasper are lovely as always. Until next time when I may be able to stick a photo or two up.

doings and ting.

We took a trip a couple of weeks back to attend THE wedding of the year, on the day of rapture. It was certainly a rapturous wedding with mini pirates running around, a very relaxed affair with lots of love. My dear friend “batsgirl” was the wonderfully beautiful bride in her stunning dress. I was her matron of awesome, this was a responsibility I took seriously but with a lot of fun and love. B has a disability which means she can’t always get up and run after everyone like we all want to. So I was there to be runner, helper and supporter. I’m so very happy she chose me as her reliable friend to go to. I know now I did everything she wanted and we helped make that perfect day for her and S. Hoorah!

 So here’s to the happy couple and hopefully many years of happiness together:

I even managed to get a couple of shots of Le Husband who mainly avoids being photographed by being behind the camera.

Here comparing cameras with the groom. Oh and those on twitter know about THAT shirt. It was VERY expensive, but Oh my.. He looks very fine in it, so I think its worth it.

Finally I also got to meet someone I’ve stalked on the internet since birth. Meet Kitty (internet name)

An adorable little girl and lovely to finally meet her amazing knitter and quilter mum Knitted Bear

I managed to complete my silk cardigan I was knitting to go with my grey dress, although after going through most of the photos I think we’ve completely failed in getting a good photo of me in it. I’ll try to get one soon for you.

Last week I had lunch with dad, he’d just spent a week on the broads with his lovely lady friend and a couple that are her friends from Germany. They all came to lunch too. It was fabulous. I recommend The Britons Arms to anyone in Norwich wanting a slice of history with some good food. He’s back in Germany and keeping lovely and busy with the lifestyle I wish I had!

I finished a shawl, knitted in pure cashmere and its a cloud of lovelyness to wear. The pattern is Vlad, project details are here on Ravelry.

B kindly gave me the blocking boards (play mat) from the wedding and the blocking pins and wires are new from a birthday present. It’s the first time I got to use them. It worked amazingly well. Now all I need is the inspiration to finish writing some knitting patterns and some new projects because I have nothing new to show you.

Finally what would my blog be without a cat and garden update.

Jasper has just been brushed.

He loved it to within an inch of his life. This week he’s managed to have a deriere problem, which appears to have been resolved. Although I did spend one evening following him around checking for star prints on everything. Thankfully he’s still eating and purring and cleaning himself.

Otis loves his cat grass

and is waiting for his turn to be brushed. He attempted escape via the front door again this week. He cam dashing back in when the neighbour slammed a car door because he was trying to hide under the car. He’s a clever one but a bit too bold for his own good.

Most of the garden is coming along nicely. We’ve pulled up our first set of spuds. They were very tasty indeed. Now all I want is for this to keep growing big enough for me to pick the fruit.

Grow my pretties! Grow!