The postman always rings twice

And then when you dont answer takes your post nextdoor...
I've been a bad spending girl this week - I blame a bad head ache and the need for nice things...



First I went to here and the following day this lot arrived...
Pattern book as quite a lot of interesting cable jumpers, including one that someone bought to NEC to ask how to block it and I wanted to take it home with me...
Also there is a yarn cutter and clip things to hold knitting together when sewing up.








Then being someone who cant resist a bargain I got this little lot from here The lace jacket was meant to be a pattern for lace snoods, which Richard emailed me straight away.
I'm thinking of which sock pattern to go for first...







And then because I needed some 2.25mm circular needles I went and looked here for them and what happened... some patterns jumped into my basket....
This is what was hiding at a neighbour's this morning - all because I was in the shower and didn't hear the doorbell...





And the reason for the new needles......
Not the easiest to photo too small and fine but I'm sure she will be beautiful when/if she ever is fully grown !


There are two fellow mad knitters, who have started this (and I will link once I have worked out how to and have the time for a reorganisation). I mentioned ages ago that I had started knitting this but hadn't got very far. Last night I read the lastest here and as I was mentioned I picked up my needles... I was using a really naff circular so decided that if I set up on straights I could change to circulars when they arrived and the change in tension wouldn't be noticed by a 'galloping man' (Just realised that I'm surrounded by gallops as well as strawberry fields, so better be careful if I ever finish it and wear it out...)Here it is in it's full two and a bit lace pattern glory, or should that be gory ;-)
I used crochet cotton for the cast on and markers, it's a lot thicker than the silk but seems to have worked so far..... And why did I stay up until 1.30am this morning knitting it ???


And for Mary, See I still have tadpoles... hope they survive their new pond hopefully being constructed the week after next....
Sorry about such a bad photo, water is so low had a problem taking this without falling in...and they are wiggling lots .....

crochet, lace or tatting......

These are some of the things I rescued from my Uncle's. My cousin was going to bin all the cloth things in the house...
I can't work out if they are crocheted (my Grandmother was a crocheter, but her stuff was mainly larger count thread than these).
The lace hankies have silk inside and look really old.




There are four of these, two the same the others have different patterns. Think they are tatted but not sure, they are made of thread the thickness of sewing cotton.




And finally some really bad photos of the baby shawl...

My main problem is that it measures 56inches by 33 inches... but it is now washed and drying on the spare bed that I have made a cat free zone, coz I just know that they would love to sleep on it even when wet....




And a close up of the pattern, and I cant see where I went wrong (and I did in several places).
It is made with Patons Soft Touch DK from stash. Somehow I've still got 500g left of it, think will have to do lots of outfits....baby is due in three weeks and I'm so impressed with myself that I finished it in time :-)

Summer has come....

This is some of my pear blossom.
The apple tree is just beginning to burst into flower, but the orchards are not showing colour yet.
The strawberry pickers have arrived, they are being driven round on the back of a tractor so Polish will be the language spoken round here...

And this is some of flowering cherry blossom, unfortunately it doesn't produce fruit but is a nice tree.

I saw two swallows yesterday so summer is here :-)

And this is the sorry state of my pond - it has more holes than I can count and the water has dropped about two foot. The tadpoles are still going strong, got to catch some for nextdoor's grand daughter later, nearly fell in yesterday trying to get some... The fish were very 'active' yesterday, one poor females was being chased by lots of little boy fish, lots of splashing of tails.



I've got someone coming round to see about relining this morning so soon it should be back to looking like this.

Knitting is continuing and I'm hoping that by the end of the weekend I should be able to post some photos of things wot I have finished ....

Dirty Hands

I've been playing outside again. This time more veg seeds planted, think it was 6 types of courgette, 6 beans, sweetcorn, onions. And today I tried to reduce my stash of flower seeds - some I'm not expecting anything from the seeds have been lurking for a while. Also managed to plant my potatoes.

Finished the shawl, got the ends to sew in and to give it a wash, will take photo of it when it is looking at it's best !

Doing some other knitting cant talk about, bit of a killer for me as the yarn is so nice to knit with and I want to share - hopefully it will be available beginning of June....

Sorry for such a boring post, promise I will try better soon ;-)

Are we there yet ?

Do you think I'm there yet?
I'm now getting really bored with this....

100g ball for scale...

Think I will do another ball and then stop.

Babies aren't this big are they ?



And pictures of niceness :-)

Colinette 4 ply.

It took me two days to skein up, one lot has been in the freezer, the other about to go in....


I was allowed to go into their storeroom....
More was going to be rehomed but I had a major problem - car was full of the bubblewrap ! It took two of us to get two bags into the car.....


And now back to the shawl for the baby elephant ;-)

How many blankets ?

On the way up north the car was full of bubble wrap, flat boxes, unwanted acrylic.... On the way back it was full of blankets (from my Uncle's, curious as to how many blankets there were lurking in the house....) and yet more Colinette 4 ply (yes I know I had more than I could possibly use last week, but I am a girl that cant say no !!)

I spent most of the holiday fighting with other people's possessions - and Lou you still need to reduce the amount of boxes by at least a half, remember if it is broken or you don't know what it is, then it goes in the bin. If it has a practical use then you can keep it (my wool collection falls into the keep category, made sure I worded it right ...)

I also managed to get some of the crochet items my grandmother made. They are in a vacuum bag at the moment. Want to investigate but the smell of moth balls too overpowering, need to wait until I can wash them and put away properly. I stretched my friend's washing line trying to get rid of the smell on the blankets, one night in the open air got rid of the smell and all the midges from the garden !

Now what can I do with lots of plain blankets ? Was thinking of dying and making patchwork things or dry felting into strange objects....

Baby shawl is now on 26 repeats, think it will only make 40 in length. It weighs a lot of the moment and with baby I hope mother has done some arm exercises ;-)

I have been dealing with cones of 4 ply this morning, decided it would store better if skeined and vacuumed - then one of the cats decided he wanted to play so we had to stop.... better get back to it, I'm on a bit of a clear out roll, after the weekend, not natural !!!

ps there were 6 blankets, one candlewick bed cover, one pillow, a few sheets, and lots of crochet things...

Free recycle

Now I'm off to Liverpool (again) on Thursday. This time to help a friend move house, I saw this on Free recycle and had to try and get it :

We have 2 large rolls of big-bubble bubble wrap - 1 metre by about 5m each.
It's been used once, so has some parcel tape stuck to it, but otherwise in
good nick...we've only popped a couple of the bubbles :-)



And look what I picked up....

Now I'm wondering how I manage to get anything else in the car.
I need to take my sewing machine with me, a some clothes and some tadpoles for my brother (best not to ask on why...) I was hoping to fit some flattened cardboard boxes in there as well.

Was going to be really good and not call at Colinette on the way, but they have just phoned and said they have some more knitting for me... so that has got to fit as well... think I need a bigger car....

Shawl for very narrow baby...

I am beginning to wonder why I started this... apart from a friend asked me and I thought it would use up a lot of stash wool. Thought it would be interesting to use a pattern that is older than me, but should have realised that using thicker wool it would be bigger, roughly 50 inches wide ! Pattern is 6 row repeats and I'm hoping that they wont realise that I missed a row towards the start, do there is one squashed 'square'. Currently on 14 repeats and think it needs to be 50 before border of moss stitch. Mum to be was in hospital last week when baby was turning, think it is going to be a big 'n, due end of May. I have been sorting out big girls playroom this morning so will try and do some later......

If 'M' could email me with her address the pink wool is hers..... otherwise I was thinking of knitting something for Fred from it ;-)

Rain stopped play...

I was outside again getting even more dirty than yesterday, came in for a lunch break and then the heavens opened so I ended up doing some housework...My type of housework is going and counting how much four ply I have....






These are some of the last of Colinette four ply - all roughly 250g each and cost £3 each....
There are seven of them and only one is a really bright pink, dont know why ot came home with me as it is not my colour, must have been overcome with bargain shopping!








Next we have more Colinette mainly on cones - Olympic jumper was knitted from some of this... only the cones for that were hiding somewhere else...








And finally plain colours - there are twenty one different colours here.
And the most I have is 850g of the rusty orange at the front.


Assuming that a cone weighs 30g, I have approx 13,800g of four ply ( I know I've got more but this was all that was on the spare bed...And from the weight of my Olympic jumper this is enough for 35 jumpers....


And now sun has just come out so I'm going outside again to think how long it will take me to knit that many jumpers and who do I know that likes bright pink.....

Busy getting dirty

First the clean knitting ....

I've finished knitting my squirrel for the knitted garden, also knitted two ducks - look like road-kill at the moment, will sew them together soon. Having to adapt chickens as they were too small. Also found a pattern for a watering can !

I have been asked to knit a shawl for a friend's grandthing due end of May, each week she reminds me how many weeks I've got to finish it... think were are now at seven or six weeks and I'm hoping that Mum keeps her legs crossed until pass the due date... Need to do 50 repeats and currently on 10. At least it will get rid of a lot of my stash, about 14 balls of white.....

And the dirty bit...

Also been playing with compost - in the conservatory there are lots of sweet peas, five different types of pepper, seven types of tomato, three of cucumbers, melons, lots of basil.... None of them are showing their heads yet but hopefully will show soon :-)
Spent most of the day in the veg plot, or rather what will be veggies eventually. Pulled the last of my carrots. Found rather a lot of weeds, anyone want any buttercups and nettles before I burn them ?
I've also painted some of the shed, in an effort to try and save it. Plan is to cover the outside with roofing felt so I dont have to get a new one.

And now I'm off to have a shower, and sit and watch dvds whilst knitting shawl - will take its photo when it is big enough to cover a baby ;-)

Birmingham - the details

I had a good time at NEC, sitting near the knitted garden with Yvonne, Fred, Amanda, Michelle and Blogless Sue.
I also met for the first time Sue, and Gill and Annette. I also met lots more people but brain drain has happened since then and I've forgotten names, sorry ....



The first two days were relatively easy in terms of knitting advice, then on the Saturday everyone came out of the woodwork. Not much time to think, but we did manage to teach a lot of new knitters.

The best reaction I got was when I gave a knitting kit to a young boy who must have only been 4, when asked if he wanted to knit he gave the broadest smile and said Yes, he went away clutching his kit to his chest.







This is the replacement tortoise, his friend was kidnapped in Glasgow.
When people read the note they were so shocked and went away muttering....
Hillary was also at the show and is responsible for the gnome as well.

It was only on the third day I realised that there was a mouse on the sack of potatoes.

And I still dont have a pattern for the frogs !! But I could have made a small fortune if I had one for sale ;-)





These are Ziggy the Lucet man's feet. During his lunchtime talks some of us moonlighted on his stand - I got told off for knitting when I should have been luceting. I also found out that these are 'show shoes' and have never been worn outside, which explains why they were so difficult to photograph.







And finally what I bought.
More buttons from here
A cord maker and pattern from here
Some paper stamps from somewhere in the hobbycraft hall.










And from one of my favourite shops
Two balls of wool, one partly turned into a baby hat for a friend.
Some anti slip things to stick on socks and a wooden thing to put into a sock to change it into a money saver sock !
And a lucet from Ziggy - now just got to remember how to use it !!




And finally some Freedom multicoloured pure wool.
And my major badness (and I blame this person for it ) She *made* me go and buy it - nothing to do with me not being able to say 'No!!'
The lady I sat next to on the train did enjoy having a fondle of it though ;-)


And now I think I've caught you with myself. Seed planting tomorrow and then orgainising for another trip to Liverpool for Easter - house clearing is something I can do for other people but impossible throwing my own stuff out ....

SP7 parcel

This was what was in my box from Liia in Estonia.
There is a large ball of greeny roving, one of red and a tonal blue.
Two bags of tops in green and red.
A Ball of pale blue merino with a pattern for a baby cardi and hat on the inside of the band.
A large ball of pure red wool and two smaller ones in blues (calling out to be mittens.... )
Three packets of small beads and film canister with larger yellow beads in.
Two bars of chocolate, cherry and coffee flavours - how did you know coffee is my favourite ;-)
A marzipan dog in a bag (didn't want his photo taken, and has come out unrecognisable)
And the best for last - two books of Estonia Patterned Mittens, the patterns are amazing, guess what everyone is going to be getting for Christmas ???

Was so excited by this parcel needed to share, now off to have breakfast....

Good to be back

Got up to Liverpool in good time, surprisingly (not)it was raining for most of the journey. Delivered brother's birthday presents and took some frog spawn to my cousin's, they weren't too impressed with me and have told me to take chocolates and flowers next time I visit and not an unusual Auntie Sue present...
Also took a bin liner of acrylic to a friend to knit for charity.

Today I went to my first requiem mass and then burial. In the past I have managed to miss the grave side by helping with refreshments, but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Day went very well, lovely service and it did not rain !!!
Hoping not to have to wear black for a while....

When I got home I found a box on my stairs - one of the good things about living in a small village and having a lovely nextdoor neighbour feeding my cats while I was away. My final parcel from my secret pal. Too tired to photograph tonight but it is BRILLANT, I'm a very happy girlie, and she is very thoughtful.
The person spoiling me has been http://kasitoo.blogspot.com/
And I have been spoiling http://karmablossom.blogspot.com/

Will post photos tomorrow... now sleep and squirrel knitting....

Birmingham

I did write a post earlier but Blogger ate it.

Feeling really tired after three days at NEC, cant remember what I wrote :-(

Hello to everyone I met at Birmingham, managed to teach some really nice people to knit today, met a 92 year old who has knitted thousands of chicks for Easter, found out that I cant cast on a mobius scarf at New Street Station when tired.

Also found out that you get some *very* strange looks when knitting a squirrel in public...

Off up north again for another funeral on Monday. If all goes to plan photos will appear on Tuesday by then I should know what my name is and be able to remember what I have been upto....