Busy Weekend

This weekend we went to Edinburgh to see some friends. We hadn’t seen their flat before, so that was quite exciting. It’s a really nice place, probably more spacious than my house!
We managed to get some cheap train tickets, which was good news in several respects. The main one being that it was cheap, but the high-on-my-list one being that I can knit on trains! So, I packed my sock that I'm knitting.
On the way there I managed to get to the start of the heel flap (about ten rows of my lace pattern – I’m a slow knitter) and then I read my book for an hour to relax my hands (I get a bit of cramp in the various fingers I have broken [in the past] when I knit socks) on the way back I knitted the whole time and finished the heel flap, so now I need to pick up the flap to knit the foot bit. This is the bit I am most nervous about because I have designed the pattern myself and I'm a bit unsure as to whether the pattern will match up.
I finally shipped my SPs package this weekend, as well as posting this… …for my sister. She asked me to make her a cosy for her new phone. I made this one on Friday night. My seams are a bit flaky, so I might make another one now that I have time and her shiny phone is safe from being scratched.

I’m thinking about designing my own image to go on the “Punk Rock Back Pack” in Stitch n Bitch, but I do want to knit some actual clothing first I think. I may have to put one of my current WIPs on hold in order to start some bigger knits. Trouble is that I’m meant to be knitting from stash so I have to use up a ball of yarn before I can buy another. (That was the deal with Leon)
My Autumn Scarf will use up all of one and almost all of another ball of yarn, which is two down – so I could then buy the really nice lacy stuff for the “Coastal Shades” scarf/shawl. If I get different colours I will rename it to something else, natch.
The cushion covers I am meant to be making for the sofa in the spare room should use up almost all of the two balls of yarn I bought to do that with. If I knit more of the Sudoku throw I could use up several balls of yarn there. Oh I don’t know! I do want to knit some hats for innocent smoothies but they will not use up much yarn at all.
I am also planning to knit some baby things over the next few months; one of my relations (my nanna’s neice’s granddaughter) has found out that she’s pregnant and also one of my team at work is going to be a dad shortly. I must send the little hat and bootees that I knit to the preemie unit at our hospital. and knit more. They’re a quick knit, preemie hats and boots. Even for my slow knitting! Truth be told, I knit faster now than in January when I began, so perhaps there is hope for me yet.

Thank You Secret Pal!

Today I arrived home in a fairly dour mood – I have had a hard day at work today. However, imagine my surprise to see – what’s this? A parcel?
Can it be for me? Well yes, it’s addressed to me. The realisation struck! It’s from my Secret Pal! Two things darted into my mind. One of these was: “Drat! I was meant to find a box for my SP parcel I should be sending soon” (though I have picked a date). The other was, of course, “Oooooooooh – secret pal prezzie. Quick! Open it open it open it!”
So, indeed I did open it, very carefully of course.
And there were nice things inside!
As you can see there were some munchies – which I love – in there. There’s already only a half pack left, and I can say with some certainty that there will be none before I finish this post! Yum! There were these cards, one of which is from my pal (the one with the lace bag on) with a lovely message inside telling me why s/he has bought the things that s/he has. The second is a charity knitting thingy, for knitting hats for innocent smoothies. I’ll certainly consider that, it’s for a very good cause (Age Concern). Also, I have sort of been bribed with the money off a smoothie coupon – I feel I should knit at least 4 hats to match the value of the smoothie!
There was a book, Rowan Yarns Classic Garden book 2. Oooh! It’s got some lovely tops in it. Yes pal – I’m looking forwards to knitting some tops (though I have only knit one shrug so far). The book is beautiful (I like books) and has some fab patterns in it. I will be adding some to my Ravelry queue very very soon!
There was also a wrapped-in-tissue gift…
Which was a large hank of recycled sari silk. So soon after my post about having discovered sari silk and thinking about trying it! My pal is a star! S/he has even sent a pattern with which I can use the sari silk. It’s a crochet bag pattern, so I’m a bit nervous about it – new fibre and new skill (my crochet has not yet ventured beyond squares) but it is good to have a pattern as well as the yarn! If I crack on, I might even finish the bag before the end of the swap!

So, thank you so much Secret Pal, this is a fantastic parcel and I’m really looking forwards to using all of it! Especially the sari silk – it’s so exciting!
Thank You!
PS. I have no munchies left!

Yarning on

After completing the mittens yesterday, I thought about casting on for the matching scarf that I am planning. I only thought about it though. I have also completed another square for the sudoku blanket, which makes 7/81 (8% roughly). I keep on adding things to my list on Ravelry, I have 23 things in my queue!
I’m going to take the plunge, hopefully, and make a sweater for Leon. I know that the advice is not to make sweaters for your boyfriends, but as we’ve been together for almost six years, I think that’s okay. I’ve decided to let him pick the colours and the substance of the yarn for the project – I’m even letting him pick the pattern. That should mean that, unless I botch it up, he’ll get something he might actually wear.
I’ve offered him the “Under the Hoodie” or “Manly Sweater” from Stitch n Bitch so far. I know that the hoodie is in pink in the book, but as it has no waist shaping I think that it can easily be a male item in the right colours. I’ll keep an eye out for other patterns that might be appropriate.

I quite like having several projects on the go at once because it means that if I don’t feel up to doing socks with a lace pattern, I can do a simple ribbed scarf (or I can when I start it) or I can do another square. I am fairly bored of the pattern 3 squares, but I do only have two more of those to do and then I can move on. I have brought the socks with me to work again today; I find that bringing some knitting means that I take a lunch break. That’s a good thing.
I am a little sad though, my LYS don’t stock imports except for Debbie Bliss. They do have some smashing local yarn, which is great, and they have Noro which I quite fancy using… anyway, I asked about Baruffa Cashwool and they said that they didn’t have any, and didn’t have any suggestions for a replacement in their stock. Perhaps lace weight yarn isn’t so popular in small shops? Who knows. They did invite me to the new knitting group that they’re setting up though.
So, I may have to find some good online stores. I did buy the yarn for the Sudoku blanket from Angel Yarns who were pretty prompt, considering the demand for the packs (they ran out of one of the colours!)
I can also see my LYS online, and I’ve also spotted a yarn store in the south called The Woolly Shepherd who sell local yarn (to them in Somerset) and also some interesting ethical and natural choices. I'm interested in the nettle yarn and the hemp yarn, though I’m not sure what I’d make from them. I also like the idea of the recycled sari silk. My favourite item on there must be the banana yarn, made from the banana fibers left over from banana harvesting. Okay, they could come from 4000 miles away which isn’t good miles for anything (lots of pollution on the way)
Okay, enough of me going on about yarn, people who aren’t interested in yarn will be bored! Trouble is, not much else is happening to me at the moment, sorry.

Completed!

Woo, I completed the fingerless mittens I've been making, check it out
I'm please with them, they worked out as I expected. I'm thinking about knitting a scarf to go with them too.
Yey!
This means that I could start a new project, though it might be the scarf to go with the mittens...

New Yarn!

I couldn't resist, I went yarn shopping.
I didn't buy much, just two balls of Rowan pure wool (and a nice ball of local yarn for my SP spoilee)

It's nice and soft, and the people at my LYS recommended that it would pill less than one with some man-made fiber in it, which is excellent for cushion covers, which I think I might use it for.

Holiday Update Post – the rest!

(The last of a chain of long holiday posts!)

Day 12 – 13
On the Friday, the day after we went to Universal, Leon was not very well. this day had been allotted as the water park day. I didn’t want to leave Leon on his own, so I stayed at the villa with him. I have to admit I was pretty grumpy about it at first. However, I soon realised that Leon really was sick, so I left him in bed and took my knitting and a puzzle book and sat by the pool. It was actually a pleasant way to spend a day, just lounging around, bottle of water by my side, knitting in hand. Of course there are no pictures to prove this because I took most of the photos for the holiday and I didn’t think of putting the timer on! The cold I’d been fending off since Clearwater was making my eyes runny too, which didn’t help. However, I got quite a bit of my socks done – in fact almost all of the progress I made is where I still am – I’ve only knitted a couple more rows since my holiday. [I confess, I have been neglecting the sock]
The rest of the family had been to Blizzard Beach, which my dad assured me wasn’t as good as Wet’n’Wild. I felt less disappointed then. That evening the plan was to go to old town. This was, unfortunately, largely for Leon to go see the pimped cars. I got Leon up and took him outside with a drink to see how he coped with being up. He didn’t cope, so I asked if someone would collect me a takeaway from somewhere and then Leon and I stayed at the Villa watching terrible American TV. They were also showing the film Bedazzled (the recent version) which was an interesting concept, but pretty pants viewing – especially with commercials every ten minutes!

On the Saturday Leon was feeling a little better, and we managed to convince him to go shopping. I had been looking forward to this shopping trip, though Leon might have felt better had we left him at home! However, I went to the Converse store and bought two pairs of converse trainers. I couldn’t justify more, and it’s a good job because the big case was heavy!
That done, and a couple more shops perused, we headed back via Dunkin’ Donuts for donuts (or in my case a bagel) which was nice. We had an hour back at the villa before more shopping wandering aimlessly around a mall.
That evening we were down for the Pirates dinner adventure
It was an interesting show of acrobatics and a little drama, with audience participation and general noisiness. Our pirate was the Red Pirate (Aar!) or Cutthroat Jack. Sadlly, I think that the story was geared against him being a winner.
Anyway, as well as cheering Jack (Yey! Woo!) and jeering the other pirates (boo!) I actually got to join in. Jack picked me to be one of the “treasure hunters” (oddly we were all girls; I am pleased I put on my pretty frock and combed my hair) where I had to grab a flag and run it up a flag pole. I was very quick, but one of the girls on my team dropped the flag off the pole and had to begin again. Boo. It was fun though!
Holiday Update Post – Day 14 – Kennedy Space Centre
On the Sunday we decided that we really needed to go to the Kennedy Space Centre, so we all hopped into the van. I had a bit of a ‘mare and had to let Dad drive.
Anyway, we did get there in one piece. We started the day in the Rocket Garden, where I got ridiculously sunburnt (we lost our sun screen on the Mummy ride, I think) but I really liked looking at all the rockets and stuff. I think that my favourite was the Saturn rocket because that is the one they used to take people to the moon.
We spent a few moments in the memorial garden too; there are quite a lot of people who have died as part of the space program. The plaque for the Challenger incident was touching, but it is usually the Apollo 1 mission that makes me both sad and proud of these brave men and women.
We watched some more imax and a film narrated by Sisko from DS9 before we went on the tour. We got to get much closer to the launch pads, and I learnt that they don’t call it “blast off” because that sounds a bit violent! We also spent some time in the Apollo museum, which has lots of left-overs which should have gone to the moon in the last few missions which never happened.
The tour took ages but still left us with a half hour to look around the astronaut hall of fame. There we learnt about the astronauts themselves. Some of the astronauts have seven mission badges. That’s pretty cool.

Holiday Update Post – Day 15
We decided to make the most of our last day in Florida, the flight being quite late, so we opted for an early check in for the bags and went to the Wonderworks after breakfast. Wonderworks are more about interesting things rather than the unbelievable things at Ripley’s. I liked the pretty wall that you could dance to make the patterns. That was way too much fun. I didn’t like putting my hand in the water that was as cold as the water where the Titanic sank. Leon got to land the space shuttle (in a simulator) and we all did a quiz to see how old we are. I lost three years, which is nice.
We wandered around another mall and then headed down to Old Street Station. It’s pretty much closed down now, but the old buildings were cool. I felt a little bit like someone was going to rob me though. Eek.

Post Holiday Blues
We flew back overnight. Leon managed to sleep on the plane, I tried to but didn’t really settle. However, the train was pretty much waiting for us after the nightmare that is baggage collection, and mum and dad just made theirs with seconds to spare! We got back to York, and back to our house and I couldn’t help but sit down and have a little cry. I was tired and cold (very cold, it was 15 degrees – that’s colder than the night time lows had been) and just wanted to be somewhere else. Happily, my love of York has returned. Being back at work sucks too, but I have to earn the money to pay for our fun holidays somehow!

Another Knitting Update

So I went and cast on another project this week, the fingerless mittens I’ve been contemplating. They’re a pretty quick knit (I’ve made one already) as they’re just ribbed rectangles which get sewn up with a hole for the thumb. I might make another pair in different stuff if these go well, but I think I also might make a scarf out of whatever is left of the two. I think that a skinny-long scarf might be just the thing! I hope that I can get enough length out of the yarn I have left. I suspect that I’ll run out of the green first as it’s going down faster. It’s more of a suedette while the purple is kind of furry. It’s hard to describe!
I almost, but then didn’t, bought some cotton yarn in town at lunch. I was actually on a shopping expedition for non-yarn things for my secret pal. One of them I might have to keep for myself because it might be too heavy to sensibly post I really like it. We will see. I’m chuffed with the other bits though. I’m not going to run the risk of posting what I bought here!
I’ve been looking online at some nice ethical yarns, such as recycled sari silk, as well as some environmentally friendly ones, such as banana fibre – this uses the bits of the banana plant that would normally be thrown away. It fits the mantra that I would like to follow better:
Re-use, reduce, recycle.
Re-use is the safari silk, reduce is the banana – you’re reducing the waste product from bananas (which I eat), recycle is… I don’t have one of those yet, though I guess sari silk is that too. I think maybe re-use would be buying a second hand knitted garment. Ah, it’s confusing. The concept of nettle yarn intrigues me too
So, now I just have to think about some gift knitting I want to do, and more importantly: how much time I need to set aside for gift knitting rather than knitting for me. I hope that it is not as disastrous as the failed lace attempt I was doing before our holiday. Ho hum.

Holiday Update Post – day 10 - 11

Daytona Leon and I dropped off our car at Hertz and then jumped in the van for a trip to Daytona. Once we arrived we stopped off in a little café which had a map similar to the one that Leon and I had used to navigate around Clearwater. From the map we spotted that there were a couple of things of interest in the area. However, these things only took a short time (a chocolate shop and a very small museum) so we decided to head back to the Daytona Raceway for Paul to take some pictures before moving on.

When we got to the raceway we spotted that there was a pretty big museum there, and that it wasn’t very expensive and the price included a tour of the track. Leon and Paul both wanted to see that and to be honest I was quite intrigued. I was glad of it, when we got in, for there was the bluebird – the record breaking car! There were lots of really interesting exhibits though my favourite was the “pit stop challenge” where members of the audience get a chance to be a pit crew for a few seconds. I shoved Leon to the front of the crowd and he was picked. He got to use some kind of power tool for taking the nuts off a wheel and putting a new one on. He, and the other people picked, did really well! They didn’t get the best time of the day, but they did pretty well. I hope to put the video online some time, but don’t know how at the moment.

There was also an imax and the tour was really interesting, actually. I bet if you were a fan it would be even more fun. My favourite bit was getting up onto the winners dais at victory lane for a photo!

We had hoped to go to the Kennedy Space Centre that day too, but as you can imagine it was a bit too long a day to also do that.

Universal Studios
Thursday of the second week had always been earmarked as the day that we would go to Universal Studios. Mum and dad decided to stay at the villa for the day, so the rest of us took the van and headed off to the theme park.
I had been looking forwards to taking Leon on the Back to the Future ride, as BttF is one of his favourite movie trilogies. However, to both our disappointment, the ride has closed, making way for a Simpsons ride of all things. Really, I was gutted. Still, there was lots left to do, we loved the Terminator experience (which was different from when I last visited Universal) and Jaws was interesting (though it is showing its age – I wonder if it will be next to bite the bullet) I really liked the Shrek one, and the Mummy one was funny and cool, though it was a roller coaster so Leon was unimpressed.
We also enjoyed a cheeseburger and fries in Mel’s diner, which will mean something to people who’ve seen American Graffiti.
There were lots of cool cars around and about, and some look-alikes too. I was disappointed that none of the Scooby Doo look-alikes said “jinkeys” or “zoiks” and I hung around for a good few minutes as they had Dr Emmet Brown with them!
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, even when it rained on us in the late afternoon while we were waiting for Gayle and Paul who had also been to Islands of Adventure.

I think that Universal was my favourite theme-park day, though Busch Gardens was good, I would have enjoyed socialising with my family some more. And I’m still slightly annoyed about missing out on the water rides. I don’t do water rides in the UK, it’s too cold. However, as I said to Jaxon at the time – it just means I have to go back to Florida some time!

Holiday Update Post - Day 7, 8 and 9

Clearwater
Warning: Image Heavy Post!
Early on Sunday morning Leon and I were dropped off at Hertz to pick up our shiny rental car for the next few days. We had booked a “Ford Focus or similar” and I was hoping for an American car. However we ended up with a Honda Civic (Sadly no pics). I joked, on the way out, that I’d come a long way to end up in a Japanese car, to which the clerk responded, “but it’s good on fuel!” – and she wasn’t kidding!
Anyway, Leon drove us back to the villa to give him chance to have a go in the car before we got to Clearwater – our next destination. We picked up the case for our mini-holiday and headed off, alone.

Clearwater was about an hour and a half drive from the villa in Kissimmee, and despite the roadworks on the way, our Google maps directions got us to the hotel. We pulled up outside the “Quality Inn on the Beach” just as it began to rain. When it rains in Florida, it really goes for it. The man in the parking lot was very helpful and sorted us out with what we needed to do.
Anyway, once the rain was stopped and the car was legally parked, we went for a walk down to the main beach. We didn’t get that far, for two reasons: it was further than we thought and very hot, and there were more road works. Poo.
We did pick up some very useful maps of the area which had all sorts of useful bit on them, like where was nice to eat and who did dolphin cruises.
So, we ate in a small sea-food restaurant on the bay called Shells. It turned out that margaritas were 2-for-1, but they don’t say so, they just bring you two! The food was nice, though I find I can’t eat as much when I’m hot. The view was nice too, but we decided that the view from the hotel tiki bar would be better for the sunset. In fact, our hotel room faced west too!
The beach had been busy that day (it was the last day of the summer holidays for the students we encountered on the beach, I think) and the bar just down the beach had some kind of live DJ thing going on, which we could enjoy for free where we were.
There was a storm brewing that night, but it didn’t hit until quite late, by which time we were tucked up in bed! The next morning, and our only whole day in Clearwater, we had decided that we were going to go on a dolphin watching cruise. I had been on one of these tours about nine years ago, with my family, and they are fantastic. We booked in on the 11am cruise with “Dolphin Encounters” and then wandered around the shops for a little while, including buying stamps for our postcards. It got to “ten before” as the lady had said, and we went to see about the cruise. It looked like we weren’t going to go as they needed at least four they said, and we were just two. Fortunately a mad American lady, her friend and two children arrived. So off we went.
From the boat we could see our hotel,
The main beach,
And then, dolphins! Woo-hoo! Just as before, it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. There were several dolphins feeding – one even came up to show us his fish!
There was a mother and baby (calf) too, who were diving together. So much fun! Once we’d been out for our hour, they took us back to feed the birds. This sounds quite mundane, but isn’t! you can hold up bread for the seagulls and they’ll pick it right from your fingers. Cool, if a little nerve-wracking!
I enjoyed myself so much that we bought the souvenir photo too.

happy with our dolphin experience (if a little hot) we headed back to the hotel to collect the car ready for our next trip. We had decided to visit Tarpon Springs (home of the Greek community and the sponge divers) and also the Corvettes and Collectables museum there.
We had a bit of fun finding the museum because I thought we were on the 19 (a main road) but we were on the Alt19 (the coast road) – once I had figured that out we managed to find the place. Leon was driving so it was all my map-reading skill! It wasn’t expensive and the cars were all very pretty. Leon saw some of his favourite American Muscle Cars, and I liked the Batmobile.

We had dinner in a Greek restaurant in Tarpon Springs, which was very nice indeed. It almost felt like home, with the non-American food! (there’s only so many fries one can eat)
After this nice steady day we were ready to head back to watch another Clearwater sunset, so I drove us home. We headed down to the tiki bar again, and took some amazing photos – there was a storm coming in too, and it made for some dramatic pictures! After the sun went down we took a walk on the beach (very romantic, despite the sharp shells!)

The following morning, we got up and had breakfast in a small Italian restaurant. I got to have what I think of as an American breakfast (I guess it’s actually an Italian-American breakfast, now I think about it!) – I had eggs benedict Florentine. That’s poached egg on an English muffin with spinach and hollandaise sauce. It was sooooo good!

We had two more destinations before we headed back to the villa. The first of these was Treasure Island. Really. It’s south of Clearwater, but north of St Pete. The beach was so vast, so white and so empty! I had considered staying in Treasure Island rather than Clearwater, but given how quiet we had found Clearwater to be, I think Treasure Island would have been too sleepy.
It was very nice, mind, but not much to do.
Then we set off to see the Sunshine Skyway, which is a big old suspension bridge. It’s a pretty bridge too. I was concerned that the toll would be dear as we didn’t have much cash left. It was $1 (about 50p) so that was fine, except that we got stuck in traffic on the bridge. It should have taken us an extra 20 minutes to get back, a total of two hours. Instead it took us about three and a half hours to get back to the villa, where everyone else had got back only a short while before.

Leon and I had a fantastic mini-break during our holiday. The vast amount of improvements going on in Clearwater made it a bit difficult as pedestrians (and they have a roundabout, just to confuse you in the car!) but I’d recommend it to anyone. I haven’t seen anywhere on the planet with beaches quite like those on the Gulf of Mexico. (Though I have only been to northern Spain, northern France, Corfu, the Canaries [which come close] and places in the UK – there are so many other places I want to go to…)

Knitting lists

Now that I'm on Ravelry as Tsuki, I have finally compiled a list of the projects that I want to make. These range from simple things (like a crochet scarf, since I'm new at crochet) and small things like bags, to more complicated lacy patterns and big things (like the sudoku blanket I'm making!). It has also given me the chance to put some items from my stash into the queue too. That means two things: I know what I have left in my stash for using up, and I also know what yarn I now need to make the projects I have in my queue.

As my Secret Pal pointed out, that could be useful to them - though they might not be on ravelry, so, here's the list:
Simply Knitting's Fingerless Mittens – using two balls from my stash in purple and green.
Simply Knitting's Crochet Carrier Various Aran/DK - again, a stash buster
Simply Knitting (July) Cushion Covers Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (4 balls per cover) – I think I could do this with some other yarn, possibly something better for washing as cushions in this house are treated pretty rough. I also might want to alter the pattern for the small (10”) cushions with my sofa bed.
Furry Friend Elle Pure Gold 4-Ply x 2 and Elle Furry Friends x 1
Green Goddess Artesano Alpaca Inca Mist Baby Alpaca x12
Beautiful Berry (Simply Knitting Spring 07) Emu Superwash DK (grape) x11 Wendy shimmer x 2 (berries)
Punk Rock Backpack (SnB Handbook) Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted x 5 – four colours for the monkey one, again, I might not want to do this in the colours (or maybe not even the yarn recommended) from the book. I’m thinking of doing more than one in several colours to send as a gift.
Fluffy Cuff Mittens (SnB Handbook) I thought I had appropriate yarn for these, but I;m not sure as I don’t think my fluffy pink goes with the pinks I have. I’m going to ask Leon what he thinks!
Cabled Newsboy Cap - Headline News (SnB Nation Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes x2 – I bet I can do these in an alternative yarn too.
Razor's Edge (SnB Nation) Gift? Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky x5 – or similar, I might try out some other bulky (chunky) yarns here too.
Spiderweb Capelet Greek Wool 1 – I have already tried to knit this without referring to the online corrections. I will try again.
Accidentally on Purpose Drop Stitch Vest Patons Grace 7
SK Issue 31 - Pink Sunshine Debbie Bliss Rialto x 10
SK Issue 32 - Summer Classic Sirdar Ocean x 6
SK Issue 32 - Beautiful in Blue Bergère de France Bergereine x 14 [I love the shade Serpolet {though I'm not usually a green person} and might go for that, though it's not cheap!]
SK Issue 32 - Coastal Shades Lane Borgosesia Cashwool x 2 - SK used Blue Heather and Latte, but other combinations might be nice. Looks like one skein goes a long way too! I don’t see those colours at Angel Yarns, so I might have to hunt for them or alternatives at some point.
Anyway, I intend to finish at least two of my four WIPs before I begin any of these projects. I love that I can have a “to do” list on ravelry though!

In other news…

Today the race for life finally happened!
I didn’t run all the way round this time, but when I ran I was going a bit quicker! I think I beat my previous time by a couple of minutes, though I didn’t wear a watch, so it’s hard to tell.

I’m plumping for 38 minutes. I started at half-past (9:30 on our camera – it’s still on Florida time!) and finished about 8 minutes past three, or so. It took me about 5 minutes to find someone I knew, with a watch.
Hopefully that’s good enough for my time related sponsors!

So anyway, thank you to everyone who sponsored me I will now be collecting the monies to send off.

Also, Gayle (my sister) competed too, she ran some of the race, but not all. I did the last 1km with her (again).

Well done to anyone who took part.

Holiday Update Post – Day 6

Lake Placid.
Lake Placid is a small town not far from Sebring (where my Aunt lives). My parents had visited once before and said that the murals were well worth seeing, so we decided to go there before heading off back to the villa.
I drove us down there, and we parked at the bottom of the road – near where it crosses main street, beside a nice park and opposite the bank. We got out of the van, and while mum and dad were looking around I was applying some sun-screen to Leon’s neck.
So, imagine the scene if you will:
There is a main road which intersects the one which we are parked on, and as I stand at the back of the van, with the van on my right, I can see the intersection and the lights. The bank is over the other side of the road on the left. Mum and dad are standing about two-to-three feet forward (as I am looking) from the bonnet/hood of the van, Leon is to my left, bending over to put sun-screen on.
Suddenly, we can hear screeching of brakes!
A white car (later seen to be an old Pontiac) screams around the corner from the lights and drives into the side of the bank. It veers away from the bank… It’s heading for me!
However, the trajectory was changing and as I ran towards the curb and away from the road, I could see that the car was actually heading directly for my mum and dad
I heard a sickening crunching sound and the whirr of an engine with no resistance as the car hit the curb where my parents had been and flew through into a tree in the park. The car wiped out the tree and hurtled on into the park. With an almighty bang the car was brought to a halt by a much bigger tree.
I looked over to Leon, who was fine, I looked over to see… my parents were both fine, though mum was shaken. I dashed into the park, mobile phone in hand having dialled 911. There was already a first responder on the scene, and the police, fire and ambulances were soon there too.
My dad had seen the car and had dragged my mum out of the way, as the tracks on the pavement were right where mum had been moments before. The local people were so nice, some of them came over to see mum and make sure that she was okay. Lots of them said that my parents must have a guardian angel watching over them!
The policeman was very kind and said that he had enough eyewitnesses; that it would be best not to take a statement as we’d have to come back in a year! The lady driving the car was okay, I gather, though it looked as though she may have broken her nose.
Crikey!
Mum wasn’t looking like she was holding up well, so I suggested that we find a café for a sit down and a drink, before going on to see the murals.

Anyway, we did get on to seeing the murals, and they were every bit as beautiful as we’d heard. It was nice and relaxing to wander around and see them. There were some with people, animals and beautiful scenes.

My favourite (as pictured) was a garden which had been built there. It had murals on all the walls, and fish in a pond and a small stream and a bridge. It was beautiful.
I can’t write down how tranquil and still it was, despite being only a block away from the main road.
So, then we headed back up to say farewell to my Aunt and head off to the villa for a relax.
I was a bit jumpy about car-related noises for several days!

Holiday Update Post – Day 4-5

Day 4 – Busch Gardens and meet the Heaths, Day 5 – shopping and BBQ
So, day 4 was scheduled from way before we went to the US, it was Busch Gardens day. The entire family was to be there, which is:

• Coldrons:
  • Kevin (dad)
  • Susan (mum)
  • Hayley
  • Leon (honorary Coldron)
  • Gayle
  • Paul (honorary Coldron)
• Heaths
  • Libby (my aunt)
  • Joe
  • Shea
  • Jaeson (honorary Heath)
  • Chris
  • Dani
  • Jaxon

So yes, en-masse! It was a really cool day. Leon and I did the whole zoo thing, while everyone else went on the scary rollercoasters. I don’t do rollercoasters, but I did go on Gwazi which was a boneshaker!
For me, though, the best bit of the day was seeing my cousins again, especially Jaxon who I didn’t know at all – he was a baby when I last saw him (well, not more than a year or so – but he was adorable).
Shea was as pretty (and crazy) as ever, she doesn’t do anything by halves.
Chris is basically a man now, if he were in the UK he’d probably already have moved out and have a job somewhere cool. I know he can do good things with himself, and he knows it too.
Dani is so grown up. She was only Jaxon’s age when I saw her last. She’s so pretty and so confident.
Then there’s Jaxon. The young man is such a sweetheart I wanted to bring him home and show everyone. He’s got a heart of gold but he’s also the strongest (physically) nine year old I’ve ever met – he almost managed to put me in the pool!
Libby and Joe were much the same as before. I get the feeling that they didn’t realise I’d grown up (I was only 17 when we last met, and boy am I different now!) but I am still me! I kept forgetting that Joe can’t tell when I’m winding him up, and I think he thought I was genuinely upset with him one night. there’s a big hug for ya Joe! I have loads of family history stuff to share with Libby – I think I may have some stuff that she doesn’t, so I’ll send it over. Also I don’t mind paying for certificates and she can have copies of those when we only get a scanner.
I should mention Jaeson. He’s Shea’s on/off (as far as I can tell) he seemed nice. He’s one of those people that you can’t imagine disliking, even if he says something controversial.
So, my family. I was so happy to see everyone again, I could have just sat and talked to them all and done nothing else. First night I was the designated driver, and we all know how much fun that is. The second night, the “kids” (16, 18 and 22!) were going out, so we didn’t see much of them.
I must mention my gift from my cousins, which is a beautiful mug – they didn’t know I collect mugs, but still managed to pick a perfect gift! Also, it’s a funky square mug (like the ones I chose for our dinner service) and is brown and blue – two colours I love together. (NB I love the “H” mug Gayle bought me the other Christmas too)

On the Saturday we did some shopping, played pool-volleyball (I was rubbish because I didn’t have my specs on [one day I’ll go ahead and accept that I need them all the time] and also because, as Dani put it, I’m lazy – harsh but fair.) and had a barbeque. We also met the “Guy across the road” – those who know us in real life should ask Leon about that.

Quick Knitting Update!

Okay, I'm meant to be catching up on the holiday posts...

Truth is, I didn't do much crafting of any sort on holiday, I was way too busy having fun! I didn't want to take my knitting to a theme park for obvious reasons, so it tended to stay by the bed. I did a couple of rows on the cuff of the sock each night, but not much more.

On the Friday (you'll see why when the holiday post goes up) of the second week, I did get quite a bit of sock knitted (considering how slowly I knit if it's a lace pattern) - about 20 rows or more!

So, not much knitting to report, and not a bit of crochet at all. Boo.

However, I'm back in the saddle now, I've done another 10 rows of the sock since being back, and I'm already making eyes at a tank-top I saw in last month's simply knitting (I got this month's in the post already too, with a bunch more I want to knit!)

I need to get myself a nice folder to put all of the patterns I cut out of simply knitting in, then I could order them by which ones I want to make and which ones I might make one day. Those I want to make could go in order of weather, how much I like them, how hard they are (I might even try to go back to the *secret* lacy one I failed at) or something.

Then all I have to do is find the money for the yarn! No, I'm not too concerned about that.

I am also quite excited that I have bought the first part of my SP gift. I can't post anything about it though - I don't think my SP reads my blog, but they might!

Holiday Update Post – Day 3

In the morning of day 3, before we did fun holiday things, we had to go to breakfast to save some money. It turned out (unsurprisingly) to be a timeshare selling scheme. We looked round, it was nice. But not for us, it took 2.5 hours to get to “no” but we got there and saved our money (based on our hourly rates, we’re not sure we were better off…)

Anyway, then we headed off to “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”. The first thing of note is the building, which looks like it’s falling into a hole in the ground – fantastic! Anyway, they have loads of curiosities in there, from the world's smallest violin (seriously) to shrunken heads, to a giant chair! It was really fun and interesting! I’d recommend it to anyone who goes to Orlando – it’s not more than a few hours but it is fabulous.

After Ripleys, I got to drive us all to the beach. We were heading to Cocoa Beach to see Endeavour launching. we had been told it was a good place to see the launch from. We could have been closer, but not for free! We ate at the beach but the waitress was very rude and the food was late. It was busy, fair enough, but I still expect a certain level of service and we didn’t get it. That minor annoyance aside, the beach was nice enough. There were less facilities than at New Smyrna but it was nice. And we took some nice pictures of the vapour trails!

Holiday Update Post – D-1 to 2

Leon and I took my parents’ lead and booked into the Manchester Airport Hilton for dinner, bed and breakfast the night before the flight. This was mainly to avoid the rush-hour train we would have had to take on Monday morning otherwise.
The room was fine, although the view from the window was of a roof, and it was noisy with the window open – then it is under the flight-path! The windows were soundproof anyway. Leon and I arrived at about noon, so we had a pricey lunch in the hotel and then whiled away some time in the beer garden. Mum and Dad arrived a bit later and we had a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant.
We finished breakfast pretty early, and so headed off to the airport to meet Gayle and her boyfriend, Paul. Waiting for the flight was its usual mind-numbing boredom (and no knitting!) I had provisions though – two chocolate flapjacks!
We were flying on a 747 300, which has an upstairs. However we didn’t get individual TVs – I didn’t mind though as the movies weren’t to my taste.

We arrived in Florida at around 5pm local time (about 10pm UK time). There was a minor panic (not me) when Paul had to explain why he had a new passport (coz the old one ran out – duh) but the security man who checked Leon’s and my passport was really nice. Bag collection was smooth, Sanford airport is so much of an improvement compared to Orlando International!
We picked up the rental car (sorry, no pic yet) which was a Dodge Grand Caravan. It was pretty pants, really. It didn’t handle well, the ride wasn’t especially comfortable – the Caravan (not Grand) that we had the time before was much nicer.
Then off we went to the Villa…
Some road works and a missed turning later, the villa is fabulous. It was a four bedroom three bathroom villa, it could sleep up to ten! My sister graciously let Leon and I have the double room, mum and dad took the king room and Gayle and Paul took both twin rooms! Our bathroom was en-suite, and the towels were folded into an elephant (nice touch!). There was even a loo-roll available! Leon unpacked a bit – I didn’t. I don’t like to have my stuff in other people’s drawers, it feels odd. Anyway, other than not being able to turn on the lamp (try plugging it in, dummo) the room was smashing, so we stripped to our swimwear and tested the pool. Some of the group (not me and Leon) went to Publix (an American supermarket, a bit like Waitrose) to buy some bits.

The next morning we were all up early (still on UK time, you see) so we had plenty of time for a swim, breakfast, showering and getting sorted before going to see the Travel City reps down the road in Kissimmee itself. The rep was nice and gave us some useful information. Then she passed us on to another lady who said she could save us big money on some tickets to a show, and entry into a museum. (If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is) the catch was that we had to go have breakfast at some resort called Orange Lake. More about that on the bit about Day 3.

We all had a bit of a drive in the rental car, did a bit more shopping and played in the pool. Fairly uneventful. We also discovered that we had left the itinerary at home but as we could remember it, and our plans had changed due to the rescheduled shuttle launch, that was okay. It was hot, there was no rain and it was not humid.

That’s all for now, I’ll do the next few days tomorrow or something.
Oh - there's some pics on Flickr (see link nr top - I'm tired) but only up to this day, and only if you're listed as a friend or family. If you want to be listed as a friend or family you need a Flickr account, then you can do so. Provided that I have the foggiest idea who you are, I'll add you (probably). This is so that pics of my family aren't all over the web, as requested by them at various times!

Jenn's SP11 Contest!

My host for SP11 is Jenn, and she's sent us a contest - if we post answers to the below questions we can be in with a chance to win some lush sock yarn! Woo!

So, here's mine:

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?
My stitch and row counters - otherwise I have to draw tally charts on my patterns! I can't count rows myself yet, though I am working on it!

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?
I did take some knitting to Florida with me this last time - I took some socks and also my crochet squares. I didn't get much done though!

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?
Hmm, that's a tough one. As I've been to Florida 5 times now, that's one, but I like historical places too. I like visiting warm places!

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?
Well, I love the Debbie Stoller books which I've used to teach myself to knit. I don't really have any others.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?
I only really listen to Cast On, usually in the bath as it's the only time I get chance. Don't worry though - I use speakers not headphones for the bath!


Well, there we go, I've sorted that out. Wish me luck!
Holiday update posts coming soon!

SP11 Questionnaire [updated]

Here's the SP11 Questionnaire!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love knitting with wool/wool blends. I've also tried cotton, but really I'll knit with anything!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
At the moment they're in a compartment in my knitting chest.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Beginner, I just started in January 2007.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
nope

5. What's your favorite scent?
I'm into fruity ones.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I do like reece's peanut butter cups! haha. I prefer candy with fruit or nuts in it.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I knit and have just started to crochet, I don't spin. I do make dresses for myself.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I can play mp3s, I like cheesy UK pop.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I'm a pink and red girl. My least favourite colour is purple, though it can be nice.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with my other half, Leon; we have a dwarf russian hamster.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
yes, all of them (maybe even all at once sometimes!

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I dunno, I've not been knitting long enough to have a favourite. I am on my second pair of socks!

13. What are you knitting right now?
Socks, a throw, crocheting a baby blanket.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I'm not a fan of the plastic ones, I don't own any circulars yet.
It is worth mentioning that I prefer longer needles that I can tuck under my arms, except for socks, of course!

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope, In fact I'm not sure what a swift is!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Less than 6 months, as I haven't been knitting long!

18. What is your favorite holiday?
I love the summer, hallowe'en is fun.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I collect mugs (you know, like coffee/tea cups)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I have a subscription to Simply Knitting and have all the Debbie Stoller books

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Anything! I love learning new stuff.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, I'm a UK 6-7 (Euro 40, US 7-8) The average sock pattern you get with opal fit me fine.

23. When is your birthday?
December 31st

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes! Yes I am!!! I'm Tsuki

See Ya Later, Alligator!

This is likely to be my last post until we get back from Florida, at which time I will show you lots of interesting photos bore you to death with stuff from my holiday.

First things first, I have been blogging about SP11 and not really said what it is. SP11 is a secret pal swap for knitters and crocheters. Sadly signups have closed now, so if you wanted to join in you’ll have to wait until SP12. Well, the premise is that you have two Secret Pals.
One secret pal knows who you are, but you don’t know who they are – until the end. They send you a parcel (or parcels) of lovely knitting related things, and some unrelated. They find out what you like by looking at your blog.
The other secret pal doesn’t know who you are, but you know who they are. You send them a parcel (or parcels) of lovely knitting related things, and some unrelated. You find out about them from their blog.
As far as I’ve seen (from Knit and purl mama and Brit Knitter’s blogs) these are great fun and rewarding. There are always going to be people who drop out for whatever reason, and there’s even a plan in place for that.

I am a little worried that my pal-who-doesn’t-know-who-I-am might feel a bit forgotten while I’m away, but I’m also hoping that my hostess will let them know about it! I have told the hostesses, hopefully they’ll get back to me tonight before I go.

So, anyway. I’m off on my holiday tomorrow morning and in the absence of internet cafés and the like, I’ll probably put nothing else on here until I’m back. I hope that you are all well, I’ll see those of you who I know in real life when I get back.

PS. To Lint, who said bye-bye on Friday: sorry I was weird, I was having one stressful last day at work!

Well, I’d better get off, we’re expecting our friends any time to collect Aston for his holiday too.

SP11

I'm On the List for SP11! I am so excited! If my pal surfs in here while I'm on holiday - Hi Pal! If there are questionnaires and stuff I'll be doing them the minute I arrive home (or maybe even from an internet cafe in Florida!) Wow! Excited!

Zig-zag drive doobrey.

I managed to get some knitting done last night! I got home from work later than intended, and in a grumpy mood. However, I played around with my iPod and the new drive doobrey (I’ll explain in a moment) until dinner. Then we went to Body Pump (though it was only a 45 minute one).

So, yes, knitting.
I’m now on my second “zag” of the Zig-zag-bag. I’m also on the fourth colour. I’m not doing quite the same colour sequence as in the pattern, it’s similar though. It goes a bit like this:
1 1 1 1/2 2 2 2/1 1 1 1
1 1 1/2 2 2 2/1 1 1 1/2
1 1/2 2 2 2/1 1 1 1/2 2
1|2 2 2 2|1 1 1 1|2 2 2
3 3\2 2 2 2\3 3 3 3\2 2
3 3 3\2 2 2 2\3 3 3 3\2
3 3 3 3|2 2 2 2|3 3 3 3
3 3 3/4 4 4 4/3 3 3 3/4
3 3/4 4 4 4/3 3 3 3/4 4
3/4 4 4 4/3 3 3 3/4 4 4

I’ll change back to colour 1 once I get to the end of this zag. it basically means I’m going to have a pink-and-orange zig-zag and also a purple-and-green zig-zag, unless I can think of a way to put the pink in at a different point. I’ll try to remember to post a progress picture sometime before my holiday. It is more than two stripes wide, and could probably be done in more than two-colour sets. If I like the finished item I might make more. I intend to line the bag too, so that it is useable. If I also line the strap then it doesn’t stretch so much, though lining a knitted strap might be difficult. We will see.

The new drive doobrey is pretty cool, actually. We ordered this thing where you can plug an old drive into a box, and then connect this box via USB to our new PC, thereby getting at all of the old iTunes that I thought were stuck on the old and incompatible drive. This is probably the coolest bit of kit I’ve seen in a while. It also means that I now have the various new songs I bought on my new PC and can therefore put them onto my iPod before I go on holiday!

Holiday preparation is underway now. My waxing appointment is tonight, my haircut and tan are on Saturday. I also need to try to get my phone unlocked and buy an adapter for US-to-UK plugs so that we can charge phones, cameras and use my travel hairdryer!
My travel hairdryer is really doody actually (considering that it was bought as an emergency replacement when Leon knew that my parents were scheming to get my swanky posh one for my birthday) because there’s a switch thing you can twist round to make it work on different current (like in the US) which will be useful. Gayle’s apparently bought some American GHDs, so if I need to straighten my hair I may borrow those – though not while I’m in Clearwater because she’ll be elsewhere at that time.

So, the packing is done, we even weighed the big case, which is less than the small one! It was about 11kgs I think. (I’ve forgotten already!) I still need to find my baseball cap. We have to sort out and charge our iPods on Saturday and do the last-minute panics. The other thing we’ll be doing on Saturday is taking Aston to his holiday-home with some friends of ours. I will have to warn him to behave himself, he’s been a bit bitey recently. On Sunday we’ll have to un-plug everything we don’t need to leave on (so only the digi-recorder will be on, pretty much) and then we’ll be off. I am still considering taking a cab to the station (it’s only a 15 minute walk, but that’s a long way with heavy cases!).

Hopefully the Hilton will provide us with a cab to the hotel, though we’re arriving pretty early. They have gym and pool facilities there, which we might make use of, depending on the tan-care (we’re having spray tans) and on whether we want to go into Manchester for a potter around. I don’t know what we’re doing about lunch that day either, as we’ll arrive just before lunch. We’ll see.
I’m soooooo excited! It’s really starting to sink in that I'm jetting off to Florida in 4 days time, that I'm off to stay in the Hilton for a night before I go, that we’re going to see my aunt, uncle and cousins after almost 10 years! I’m looking forward to all of it, everything. Even the enormous portions! Hopefully if there’s a pool at the villa I can make use of that and get some exercise! We don’t know what there will be on the complex, maybe golf (!) or a gym, could be anything.

I hope that I can get my phone unlocked, and that it will work over in the USA. I do need to call Orange and get them to enable international calling, just to be on the safe side. I still need to call the bank(s) and let them know that I'm going abroad so that they don’t cancel/stop my card (how embarrassing would that be?)

Okay, I’ve gone on too long. Happy knitting, happy holidays, happy Hayley!

Pack it in...

That’s what I’ve been doing! last night was officially “packing night”. I even recorded CSI:Miami so that I could concentrate on packing.
First, I weighed the two empty cases. The smaller one was just under 5kg, the larger one was a little bit over. That leaves me with 15kg per case (ish) to put my crap in neatly pack my beautiful clothes.
So, I got the pile of clothes, and underwear, and then began working through my list. I needed to sort out:

• first aid kit, to include plasters, after-bite remedy, anti-histamines and indigestion tablets.
• wash bag, to be accessible from the hotel, to include: decanted shampoo and conditioner (400ml is really heavy!) cleanser, cotton wool, shower gel, suncream, soap.
• wash bag for Leon, same basics, plus toothpaste and out new toothbrushes. (his bag is bigger)
• makeup bag, basics only

And then things like phone, camera and iPod chargers. (which reminds me…)

So, I got pretty grumpy with it all, but got there in the end after taking off a million tags! I’m going to go back to it tonight (maybe) and see what I can leave behind. I reckon I could get down to a bit lighter, but not much.
Anyway, the smaller case now weighs just shy of 15kg. I haven’t weighed the big one yet, but as it’s only half-full I would expect it to be less than that. We’ll see.
I might see about a taxi to the station though! There are too many stairs otherwise, though we’ll probably be on platform 11 and have to go up the stairs anyway! (the lifts in the station are scary.)

Also, the gas meter man is meant to have come today before 1pm (12 minutes ago) and Leon was going to call to let me know he had been. Either the man hasn’t been (grr) or Leon’s forgotten to call (grrr)

No knitting update, I’ve been packing.

What's that all about?

Today as it’s finally summer here in the UK, I decided to have my lunch in the park near work. I like to do this in the nice weather. Anyway, I sat down on a small wall near a bench where two young mums were sitting. Nothing wrong with that, they were sitting having a natter and a drink of pop. One of the mums was letting her kid get sunburn, but I couldn’t possibly comment, not being a mum myself (I thought you keep them out of the sun til they’re big enough to tell you they’re burning?)
Anyway, I was enjoying my sandwich while the mums changed their babies. I also have no issue with this, it’s a pain to have to find somewhere that you can get the push-chair into that has a parent and baby room, and nobody could be offended by a naked baby bottom.
So then, the two mums put the smelly nappies on the bench and walked off. I’m sorry – when did public benches become a place to dispose of nappies? When did they stop being the responsibility of the mum who had just changed the child? It’s not like there aren’t bins in the park! Sheesh!

And so, I have felt guilty all afternoon for not:

1. reprimanding the mothers
2. clearing away the nappies

In fairness, I didn’t see them leave, and they might have just forgot the nappies…
And I couldn’t bring myself to clear them away, I don’t want to deal with that until it’s my own baby’s smelly nappy I have to throw away!

On a completely unrelated note, I have begun a new knit project to take on holiday with me (maybe). I’m making the zig-zag-bag out of a back issue of Simply Knitting. I’ll keep you posted, but it looks cool so far (I’m using pink, purple, pale orange and pale green yarn for this one) and shouldn’t take long to knit – in fact I might manage to finish it before I go. I’m planning on crocheting a scarf on the plane, if I can just pick which scarf pattern and which yarn! I might go for a one-colour one as that will mean less yarn to carry on the plane. If it could be done in one ball that would be even better, but we’ll see. If it could be one that I can knit from one end that might be best… we will see, I suppose. I’ll also be taking the gypsy socks in my case, to cast on and get started while I’m there.

Lastly, you might have noticed that it’s my blog-o-versary in FOUR days time! In honour of my having been blogging for another whole year (I think that might make 2 years!) there is now a survey in the sidebar. The survey will close on the blog-o-versary and is just for fun. I would run a competition but I wouldn’t know what to make the prize. Maybe next year!

Crazy

The weekend was, as expected, a crazy shopping spree!

Leon and I went in pretty much every shop in York (well, that's an exaggeration, but it felt like it!) to try to find the bits we still wanted for our hols. I bought some T-shaped T-shirts and a couple of vests, a bag, some knickers, that sort of thing. I wanted some cheap T-shaped T-shirts to wear if when I get my shoulders sunburnt. I also picked up a casual sun dress. Most importantly I picked up the new bikini that I have been hunting for. It's practical for water parks. I went swimming in it to test its not-being-see-through-ness, which was sucessful. I also jumped up and down and wiggled about a lot to make sure I wasn't likely to fall out of it (which is the case with my side-tie ones!)

I also discovered that them people who keep whinging about clothing sizes are right! I tried on some size 12 items in several shops, which ranged from a 36" (my bikini top) to a 40 (Dorothy Perkins vest). This is confusing and irritating. However, the thought of going metric is even less appealing - I don't want to be a 90cm person, even if I am. 90 sounds big, 12 sounds small(er). Though the connotations would be different I guess. Who knows.

I did try to buy some all stars that I liked from Office. The first pair I liked they didn't have in my size. Bummer. So I asked for another pair which I liked almost as much. They did have one pair in my size, but they were terribly scuffed. Bummer. I went to two other shops which sell this kind of shoe. Nobody had the ones I wanted. In the end I bought a pair of glittery biscuit coloured ones from New Look (not real All Stars) for a tenner. I'll buy some proper All Stars in the USA where they'll be cheaper. And the New Look ones are really comfy, so maybe it was for the best!

So, then I finished off the secret item I was making, and I looked at it...
I giggled.
I held it up to show Leon as I began to laugh.
Oh dear!
What should have been a pretty shawl would go round most people at least twice, and was about long enough for a toddler. I ripped it out before thinking of taking a photo of the hilarity though! It was brilliant. So the surprise isn't happening, there's no way I can knit something in three days, with all the other stuff I have on anyway.

I'm in SP11!
I'm still waiting on ravelry

Sister Sister

My sister has started a blog.

It's not going to have anything knitting related in it, I suspect, but could be an interesting read.

Hopefully she'll remember the unwritten "Rules of Blogging" of never put anything online that you wouldn't say to someone's face!

Enjoy your blog little sis.

I should have known...

You Are the Middle Finger

A bit fragile and dependent on your friends, you're not nearly as hostile as you seem. You are balanced, easy to get along with, and quite serious. However, you can get angry and fed up with those around you. And you aren't afraid to show it! You get along well with: The Index Finger Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

I want to knit!

I’ve just seen the mid-season knitty pattern called Emerald Seas. It’s labelled “Tangy” which is “Tired of rectangles? Ready for something more challenging? Try these. - Fun things with zing. A twist, even.” Which sounds less complicated than the secret project I tried which was lace and shaping. I found it hard. So hard, in fact, that it has become my first UFO (UnFinished Object).
I have switched to a (hopefully) quicker knit which should serve the same purpose. I still need to finish it before my holiday – you’ll see why! I’m fairly sure that the recipient doesn’t visit my blog often, but they just might.

As Britknitter mentioned, I don’t have vast amounts of knitting time at the moment. I'm managing to squeeze in about an hour or two every night though. As the secret project is still fairly challenging, I have made a choice not to carry it around with me. The main issue is the sheer number of stitches on my slightly-too-short needles! I’ll make sure to pick up some circulars before I try this one again! That does mean that I’m not getting to knit in my lunch-break (if I get one) though. That said, other than the mad shopping day on Saturday, my weekend is free, so I might be able to spend some time on Sunday knitting! I reckon that I should be able to have finished the secret item before Saturday though, despite the fact that I’ll not get home until about 9:30 tonight and tomorrow I might be even later.

It’s a shame that I can’t knit on the flight, or even when waiting for the flight (my hold luggage will be checked in quite early). I was considering getting some little plastic needles which don’t matter to try to sneak onto the plane ask the man at passport control about and post home if necessary. However, it might be possible to crochet. I’ve had a go, and I’ve made three granny squares (towards my “Teeny Blankie”) in some nice variegated blue yarn. I think that three more in that colour and then six in white will make a nice blankie, four squares wide, and three squares long, alternating colours. Depending, I might make it even bigger, though I do prefer to knit.
I do also have the dilemma of what knitting to take, considering the risk of bag-loss. I might take my gypsy-socks (still not cast on) to do, which are small, portable, and not too complicated. In the other case (in case of single case loss) I will probably take some bits for the squares for the sudoku throw. Though that is a big risk, if just some squares went AWOL, so I might go for something a bit less risky, like the mittens I intend to knit, or possibly a scarf (simple and sweet). I may be crocheting a scarf on the plane with my plastic crochet hook (that is another thing I need to buy!) too. I have purposely not opened my copy of Simply Knitting for this month so that I have that to read on the plane (that’s a half hour or more taken up) and I may buy some other knitting magazine too, if the fancy takes me. I will probably buy some gossip mag too (though I know I shouldn’t) and I hope to by something in WHSmith in the airport to read on the plane/beach. I must remember to put my glasses in my hand luggage!

I always plan loads to do on long plane journeys, and then I usually just sleep for most of it! We’ll probably get fed twice because we’re taking off after lunch and landing at tea-time. Okay, so I am starting to be excited about it now! Not the long flight (though it’s all part of it!) but the holiday should be fab! We’ve put togther an itinerary to make sure that we do everything we want.

If anyone knows of any nice (and preferably not too expensive) hotels in Clearwater or that area in Florida, drop me an email! That’s probably one of the bits of my holiday which I’ll enjoy most as I’ll get to spend some time just with Leon. I am also looking forwards to seeing my family, though with a little more trepidation! It’s been a long time. I don’t know whether I have changed much (it’s hard to tell when it’s yourself) or whether it matters. I know I’ve grown up, but more than that, I dunno. We will see.

Anyway, I have work to do, as well as a shopping and packing list to write!
Happy knitting!

Transformers Rocks!

Went to see an advanced showing of Transformers - it Rocked! Go see it. Now. Or on Friday when it goes on general release.

Holiday Yarns

I can’t believe that it’s only 19 days until my holiday! Woo-hoo! That’s less than three weeks!
We’re having a day-of-organising at the weekend back in Gainsborough with my parents. Leon and I are only going to be there for the day, but that should be plenty of time to decide the loose plan of what we’re going to do.

Anyway, time for a quick catch-up as I haven’t posted in an age!

My ebay yarn sold well, I got the starting bid for one and a bit more for the other. I shipped them off on Monday, so I should check in on ebay and see if they have left me feedback yet.
Speaking of ebay, I bought 900g of random yarn while I was surfing. I’m hoping to make something random out of it, depending on what I have in the mix. It arrived yesterday, but as the package is big I have to go to the post office to collect it on my way home tonight.

The Race for Life has been postponed again, it’s now on Sunday 26th August. That’s the weekend after we get back from our holiday. I’m not likely to be training while I am in Florida, so that could make for interesting action at the racecourse. That will not stop me from doing my best to keep my 7minute kilometres going!

We went to see Leon’s brother, John, in a play called Little Red Things. It’s actually a children’s play, but it did have a message for all the parents too. I really enjoyed it! There were puppets and lighting effects as well as some pretty good acting.

Also at the weekend we visited Wimpole Farm. This was lots of fun, though there weren’t many goats, I did get to see lots of sheep, pigs (including piglets), evil moo hounds cows and horses. There were also lots of chickens. Leon’s mum is thinking about getting some chickens. I’d quite like to have chickens but our yard is not really appropriate at the moment. perhaps when we have a bigger house and garden we’ll be able to have some other pets.

Last piece of news (I think) is that we have bought our camera now, it’s pretty good! We need to invest in a memory card for it though. I’ve been using it already to take pictures of my old mobile phone which I hope to sell on ebay too. [I’ve been bitten by the bug – I’m scouring the house for more things to sell!]

I only have a couple of other bits to buy for my holiday, I have sun-cream, beach bag, bikinis (though I want a water park suitable one), sandals for traipsing in, sandals for going out in an evening in, shorts for the beach, shorts for theme parks, a skirt, a dress to travel in with my jeans under (probably), camera, sun hat, prescription sunglasses (for driving too – my licence says I have to have), suitcases in bright blue (everyone else has brown or black, so they’ll stand out). I still need a bag suitable for the plane. It should be big enough to fit in my magazine, purse, passport, a book (for the flight), my iPod, possibly some crochet, some gum, maybe some other bits, I don’t know yet. I also want to get some all-star trainers (though they’ll be loads cheaper over there) and a bikini (as I mentioned), and possibly a couple more tops. I do need a baggy t-shirt for the water park, one that I don’t mind if it gets wet. I may go to New Look and see what is in the sale there. I also fancy getting a couple more vests in nice colours. I need to wear a cardigan on the train/plane on the way there, but I don’t know which one yet. Most likely the deep-pink wrap-around one. Depends on the weather on the 5th August.

Oh yes! The last piece of news is that my new driving licence is here! I have the stipulation that I must wear my specs to drive (01) but otherwise nothing special. Quite exciting that I have it though, even though it’s only a bit of paper and a bit of plastic.

Lastly, before I go, I’ll do a Knitting Update. I’ve been working on the secret project but probably not fast enough. I’m half way through the second piece, but there are three more pieces to do. I want to get it finished before the holiday, so I have 19 days in which to complete it, and it also needs blocking and pressing really, to make sure it’s a sensible size. I’ll be totally gutted if it doesn’t fit the intended recipient!

Romance is dead?

Google doesn't think so...
Check it out!

No Pigs For Me

So, my new books are here! I am now the proud owner of Stitch n Bitch: Nation and Stitch n Bitch: The Happy Hooker. I’ve had a bit of a read through the first chapter or so of both, and had a good leaf through the patterns. I’ve also ordered myself some sets of crochet hooks from ebay which should be with me soon. I will have to use yarn from my stash at the moment, because I am skint. There are a couple of items that I am itching to have a go at crocheting. I must work on the secret project though, as my time to complete it is limited. I do want to learn to crochet before we go to Florida because then I can crochet on the plane. There’s a clear notice that one can not take knitting needles, but there’s no limitation on crochet hooks – though I might need to pick up a nasty plastic one. I say “nasty” because I like the way that metallic knitting needles feel in your hands, the way they click when you knit, the way the yarn slides along them. That said, crochet hooks are a different beast…

I do have plenty of yarn in my stash to use up too! as well as the yarn I’ve bought specifically for projects (where I do tend to end up with too much!) and the yarn I’ve bought to get me started (mostly DK) I have a big pile (well, drawer full) of yarn I bought as a job lot from ebay. This yarn is an incredible mix of stuff, from some beautiful baby 4ply in white and pink, some black 4ply, loads of Peter Pan from Wendy, a cone of black spotted stuff (it screams lacy shawl to me, but if lace knitting is always as evil as the stuff I’m doing right now, I may not tackle any more for a while!), some weird wool-fleece stuff, loads of spotty patterned yarn and some ribbon-like stuff too.

I’m selling the eyelash yarn that I bought on ebay. I bought a four scarf pack with three balls of each colour, pink and blue in feathery texture and burgundy and white in eyelash texture. I made a scarf with the pink, which is funky, and I think I have enough left to cuff some mittens with (the mittens can be in the leftover of the pink or cream from the pom-pom hat) I’m not sure yet about the blue, but I was thinking about a bag for the red and white, but decided against it and so I’ve put it on ebay. Two of the balls (one of each colour) are ball-band-less, which is a shame. There are people watching the items, but not bidding on them yet. I’d quite like to sell some other things on ebay too, I think. The yarn is a good start.

Last night I went for my first solo drive, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it might be, although the roundabout near Tesco was a bit flustering! I did go to pets at home too, and bought some treats for Aston. I looked at the baby guinea pigs too. I’d love to have a guinea pig, but really I’d like to have a place to put them. A friend of ours has guinea pigs (who are adorable!) and they do tend to chuck hay everywhere. We pig-sat for them one time, the pigs were fab! They squeak all the time, it is so sweet! As I said: no pigs for me. Not even the cute ginger one who squeaked so adorably at me through the door of the pen in pets at home.

Waiting to drive

I’m waiting on the post now. Well, not actually waiting, it would make me even later for work if I did that. But I am waiting for things to arrive in the post: my new full driving licence and the camera we ordered.

Tonight I am going on my first ever solo drive at potentially a busy time too. I’m off to Tesco to get some random bits of shopping. I might call in to ‘pets at home’ too, while I am there! Very exciting for me, though probably not for you!

Knit and Purl Mama sounds like she’s trying to be the perfect mum. Her recent post asks “How do they manage” – meaning mums with more than one child. Now, while I can’t comment on that particular aspect (I only have Leon and our hamster to look after) I want to send out a big hug to her, and say this:
The most important thing for your family is that you are there for them; it doesn’t matter if you forget to hoover on a weekend sometimes, and it doesn’t matter if you put off the ironing in favour of having a rest. In fact, make sure you do have a rest!

I know that K&PMamma surfs in here occasionally, and I hope that I’m not being too bold.

Well, otherwise I don’t have much to report. We bought Lego Star Wars II at the weekend, so I haven’t done as much knitting as I would have liked. I’m about 10 rows in to the second piece of the secret item. I’m a little concerned that my gauge is too far out and that it will not fit the intended recipient. That would suck! I could wear this one myself if it turns out too small, but I wouldn’t have time to knit a second one in a bigger size. I’ll see, I guess. Maybe it will be better when I’ve pinned and pressed it (gently of course). It is also machine washable, which is always good.
Speaking of machine washable, my OH put my Opal socks through the wash just a couple of days ago, and they are fine! I’m really pleased with how well they have washed, and I am surprised that they actually seem softer than at first (possibly I should have washed them once before wearing) but this does pressure me to start my next pair. Also, I weighed the ball of Opal remaining and there is 50g. As it was 100g to begin with, I am hopeful that I might get a second pair of socks out of this ball, which would be smashing! It would be heartbreaking to get to a few inches from the toe and not have enough yarn though, so I might look for a pattern which would require a touch less yarn – something with eyelets or ladders in it might work with the stripes. It doesn’t want to be too complex because it will be striped too.
But I must cast on and knit the “gypsy socks” I have planned in the nice burgundy yarn I got. If it knits up well I might get some more. I’m also considering getting some cotton sock yarn for summery socks!
Also, an interesting question, if one is allergic to wool (which I am fortunate not to be) what would one use for warm winter socks instead?

I’ve just had a phonecall from WHSmith to tell me that my books have arrived – how nice! I was expecting an email. And so, I’m off to get the books, then off for a drive.

TTFN


PS. I would have put a random title, but blogger isn't letting me!

Update: It let me put a title on today (11/07/07)

Busy Weekend?

Indeed, yes!

On Saturday we went to Castleford (a completely different place to Castleton!) to collect our "new" car. Here she is. The colour is so vile that it's fabulous! I do like it; it's different.

Anyway, since this was my first proper drive (I did drive back from the gym, but that hardly counts as I had done that with L plates) I had asked Leon to print out a route where I didn't have to go on the motorways. I know I have to sometime, but I didn't fancy my first ever drive in our new car being quite that scary. However, somewhere along the way we missed a turn or something, and we ended up on the A1. It went something like this:

• Me - We're approaching a roundabout, which way?
• L - Third exit.
• Me - There are only two exits. I'll take the second one.
• L - Oh...
• Me - That sign said A1(M) this way. We're approaching another roundabout. (trying not to sound worried)
• L - second exit.
• Me - We appear to be merging with the A1? Aah! We're merging with the A1!

So, anyway, it was all fine. We came back via the A1(M) and the A64 - how exciting!

Today we decided to go to the garden centre where we picked up Aston and Martin to look at the hamsters. There weren't any though! I was a little sad, but never mind.

Then we headed off to Knaresborough for the afternoon.

We had fish and chips (yum!) and then wandered around the castle and some random gardens.

It was a thoroughly pleasant day, and I drove home. I almost forgot to wear my specs though, I think I need a reminder sticker!

Clear the roads!

I am officially allowed to drive on my own without L plates!

Yes, today at 10:44 I began my driving test (well, 10:47 actually) - I did turn in the road and reverse park.
I got three minors, which is pretty much as good as it gets, and I'm really pleased!
I found out that I had passed my driving test at approximately 11:30

Thanks to my driving instructor, who has been really good with me over the last few months and has always been confident that I would do it.
Special thanks to Leon for believing in me, even when I've been grumpy about it, and also for suggesting that I spend some time affirming myself (I am a proficient driver, for eg)

We're getting the new car tomorrow, so I'll be able to drive that for real, no more L plates! Woo!

So, if anyone needs some magnetic L plates, give me a call!

Decreasing in Pattern is Hard

The secret item that I am making has a pattern which includes yf (yarn forwards, this adds a stitch) and sl1 k2tog psso (slip1, knit two together, pass slipped stitch over the new stitch and off the needle; this decreases two stitches). Each of the decreasing stitches has corresponding yf stitches to ensure that you finish with the same number of stitches as you started with on each row. However, I’m now at a point where I need to cast off at the beginning of a row, or decrease at each end. So, as I am still pretty new at knitting, I decided that I wanted the pattern in detail. The pattern just says “continue in pattern and decrease at each end of every row” which tells me the info, but I need more! So, I’ve been working out (with the help of excel, and thinking far too hard!) exactly what the pattern should be. I’ll hang on to it (clearly I’ll need it if I want to knit this item again), and I will post it when I have completed the item and it’s no longer secret.

So, I didn’t get any knitting done last night as a result of that, and due to going to the gym. Well, I got a couple of rows done before I realised that I’d calculated part of the pattern wrong and had to re-do it. I did get chance to have a bit of a sit on my new sofa bed (new meaning new to me, not new new) which is pretty comfy for knitting on I reckon. I do need to make some covers for the purple cushions though, they’re irritating me. I’m not a fan of purple, you see.

I have just ordered myself some books (I know, I can’t really afford it, but if I’m staying home more to help cover the cost of the car, I need something to read/do!) they are in the 3-for-2 at Smiths. I got the two new books by Debbie Stoller (Stitch n Bitch Nation and The Happy Hooker) and a surprise gift for someone. I’ve been thinking about ordering SnBN for some time, I had a flick through in borders a while ago and almost bought it then. So, it’s not uber cheap at Smiths now (it was less than £8 at one point) but as it’s 3-for-2 I got the books for under £10 each. Woo!
So, I’m aiming to learn how to crochet before I go to America, because you can’t take knitting needles on the plane, not even if you have plastic ones, or mini wooden ones for socks (which are basically glorified toothpicks!) but you can take a plastic crochet hook. That does lead me to another dilemma – my crochet hooks are presently all metal ones, though they are all smallish sizes too. I intend to pick up some sensible ones once I have had a look at the book and know what I'm looking at!

I am going to give the crochet thing a whirl anyway, even if I don’t take to it quite the way I have to knitting (I really do enjoy knitting, there are few evenings when I don’t knit at least a couple of rows on something) it will be handy to be able to add crochet borders to stuff, for example!

Finally!

To offer solace after the sadness of yesterday, here's a picture of some yarn (ok, probably not that great for you non-knitters!)
This is the new sock yarn that I go ages ago. No, I still haven't cast on for the gypsy socks, because I have to get the secret project completed first! It's a great colour though, and is a wool mix again. Offers the comfort of wool with the durability of a man-made fibre.

That's it for now. Be well.

A Bad Day

Today, when we got home from work we discovered that there had been a death.
Martin, our cute dwarf russian hamster, has passed away. He was only about a year old. He was a happy little hamster, and very friendly to everyone.
Here are a few of my favourite pictures of him:



Here he is with his brother Aston

I'm going to miss him, so is Leon, and so will his brother.

A Good Weekend

This weekend my parents were visiting to bring us a sofa-bed (as I may have mentioned, I intend to sit on it to knit)
However, we ended up going off on a jaunt down the M1 to look at a car, which we bought! It’s a fairly revolting colour, being as it is electric turquoise (or similar, I’m sure) – though it will be easy to spot in a car park etc! It’s an N reg Polo, with the electrics kit. It’s nice, and I look forwards to driving it, with or without L plates, preferably without, but we’ll see about that one. That’s my big purchase news.

Aston is much better now, we took him back to the vets and a different vet saw him, he had a feel of the bad leg and said that he could feel a hard bit which meant it was healing. We’re still giving him pain killers for another few days, and he can’t have his toys back for three weeks. Poor Martin, Aston’s brother, is a bit under the weather at the moment. One of his eyes looks a bit gunky. We’re keeping an eye (no pun intended) on him and if there’s any funny coloured or smelly discharge then we’re taking him to the vets.

The Smoking Ban came in to force in England on Sunday. We went to what is usually a smoky pub and took part in a scary pub quiz. Much nicer than before, though I’m not sure I’ll become a regular there.

Secret Pals! I’ve just signed up to SP11, which I'm hoping I can join in with. It’s quite exciting, if you’re a knitter or you crochet. Should be quite exciting, I think. I’m sure you’ll see more about this soon.

Knitting has been going pretty well. I am about half way through the first piece of the secret garment I am knitting. It’s looking pretty good, though I’m a little concerned about my gauge. I’m already plotting some covers for the cushions that come with the sofa bed, possibly to match (or compliment) the throw. Photos will be here when I sort them out.

Best go now, happy knitting.