Holiday Update - Holiday

We had a loveley holiday in France. The weather was great, the food was excellent, and the company was great.

My favourite village was Pujols, where they had some fantastic floral arrangements

Everywhere, from lamp-posts to street corners!

In Penne d'Agenais I found a really nice rose creeping up a house that matched my outfit for the day

and I had crêpe flambé!

But hubby had his with banana split...

And there were some lovely sunsets. This one is over the village where we were staying; Frespech.



My sister

This weekend saw my lovely sister marry her lovely new husband. I thought that she looked absolutely beautiful, and they both looked very happy. I was a bridesmaid, and Mum outdid herself with another amazing outfit. (She had the best hat out of everyone!) It was a great day, and the weather held - no rain during the photos or anything! Woot! Congratulations to them both, I hope they have a great honeymoon too!

Having a Wrest in the sunshine

At the weekend hubby and I visited Wrest Park. It’s a really pretty place, and the weather was amazing.



We strolled through the gardens



And saw beautiful buildings



And a gorgeous library



It was a lovely day out, I’d recommend it to anyone who likes old buildings, beautiful scenery and that sort of thing!

I did have a sad moment this weekend though.

My Swallowtail, which I’ve been wearing as a scarf for a while now, had a mysterious hole in it.



On closer inspection, there were a couple of holes, so I decided to rip out the final section and re-knit it.

While I was ripping back, I ended up with about 12 different short-ish lengths of yarn. I don’t think that any of them were unrelated to the holes I already knew about, but it did make me nervous about that fiendish creature; the moth larvae. I have checked all of my knitted garments for holes, and I’m looking into storage options which are breathable but mothproof.

At least I have plenty of the yarn left.

And in the meantime, I’m knitting another swallowtail anyway! It’s only small again, but will be pretty when finished. This one is in the same yarn as my wedding shawl (you know, the one I didn’t wear on the day!)

Fan girl

So, I cast on for some socks about a week ago. I fancied something a bit different, so I was making up a wavy pattern using short rows. It looked quite nice for the first two repeats, but after that there was some unpleasant pooling, and the sock was also a little loose. On top of these things there were some little holes where the short row turns were, and I decided that these weren’t the socks I wanted. So, I frogged the socks and put the yarn in my bag.

We took a trip to Edinburgh on Saturday, so on the train in the morning I cast on for both socks at once. I’m making the same socks that Yarn Harlot just made which are her vanilla sock with some ribs continued down the leg. It looks like she’s done a short row heel, but I’m currently undecided about that. If I do short row heels I usually do them over more than half of the stitches, which would mess up the pattern. So, I will probably stick to my usual heel flap and turn.

Edinburgh was a full on day – I’m afraid I can’t recommend travelling to and from Edinburgh in a day on the train, and fitting two shows, lunch, the Scott monument and the K1 yarn shop. It’s too much! The main reason we were going up was to see some plays that Fiancé’s brother (FBIL) was in or wrote. He’s part of a group called Gomito. (Google them, go see their work, they’re good!) Those two plays book-ended the day.

After lunch we went to the Scott monument. I went up the first set of stairs, but those of you who know me will know that I’m not a fan of twisty staircases, and I’m not a fan of heights, and – well – I didn’t go any higher.

 

We also called into K1 yarn shop. It was a tiny crafty bubble of calm in the throng that is the Edinburgh festival. I could have spent hours in there. I bought some linen and cotton laceweight, and some Zitron Trekking hand-painted sock yarn.

The linen/cotton lace is a nice pinky colour, quite delicate. With 700m it’s not massively long for lace, but I’m sure I can make something nice from it. (I have a lacey shrug in my mind, or bolero). I want to do something exciting with the sock yarn too – it’s a lovely red-orange-black fiery combination of colours. Perhaps it will become a hat, or hat and gloves (depending on how much yarn the hat takes!) I need to think about it.

And, of course, when we move on Friday I will (all being well, subject to meeting the removal man tomorrow) be getting my yarn back.

Excited!

I’ve been booking some dress-trying-on sessions for the Easter weekend.

I know roughly what I want. I know I prefer sweetheart necklines, I’d prefer a high-ish waist (I have a high natural waist) and I’d like some straps of some sort. I have some (many) pictures on my computer, and I’ll print out a few of them to take with me for inspiration for the dress shop clerks. I’m also taking my mum.

We’ve booked for one shop in Harrogate on Friday afternoon – after which we’re going for dinner at the venue we’ve tentatively booked for the reception. If the food is up to scratch and everything is generally good, I’ll be firming up the reservation. And then two more bridal wear shops on Saturday, hopefully with time for lunch in the middle.

Fiancé and Daddy will be coming with us to Harrogate – there’s a men’s section there too, and they have a good deal at the moment, so fiancé can try on a couple of (or more) suit jackets.

They’re going to finish (I hope) the kitchen on Saturday while I’m dress shopping with Mum. We might have time to go to monsoon or something for mum to look at outfits too.

It's been a while...

...ten days in fact.

I spent last weekend in Bristol for a friend's birthday. Because I hadn't been to Bristol before, and because it was a four hour train journey to get there, OH and I decided to make a weekend of it. He was already on a course in Gloucestershire. He organised the hotel (so I didn't have to worry about it), he told me to get a cab from the station.
So, I had the rudest cabbie in the world! I got in (after my 4 hours on the train) and asked him for the Marriott Hotel, the one near the cathedral. He says, "which one love, you tell me" - I was astounded. I got my bit of paper out and confirmed the address. But seriously, it was right next to the cathedral and it's not like there's more than one cathedral in Bristol! What a pain!
The hotel, on the other hand, was fab. It was beautiful, the bed was massive, the room was nice and well furnished, clean, etc.
Our friend had offered to make us chilli for tea. After all the journeying that was very welcome. We got a bit lost trying to find the flat, but we got there in the end. The chilli was very nice, and we had a lovely chat before heading back for bed.

The hotel breakfast was great! I had full English, croissants, fruit and a smoothie, tea and orange juice!
Since we were in Bristol, I had to make a trip to Get Knitted in Brislington. We got a £3.70 bus ticket which allowed us to travel on the buses all day. Get Knitted was awesome! They have everything! Literally!
I bought some Malabrigo and some Blue Sky Alpacas Silk and Alpaca. This is the Alpaca. The Malabrigo is already on the way to being a VLT scarf. Both are lush. I was tempted to buy so many things, but those really grabbed me!
Bus drivers in Bristol, unlike the Cabbie, were all amazing. They'd tell people which stops were for what, and were chipper in the face of hail storms and rude people. Smashing! Well done Bristol Bus Drivers!

Then we went to the zoo. We met a butterfly with good taste in yarn and saw gorillas and penguins and lemurs. Our camera died so some of the photos were taken with my phone. 1. Pelican, 2. Meercats?, 3. Clifton Suspension Bridge, 4. SS Great Britain, 5. Butterflies, 6. Butterflies, 7. Flamingo, 8. Pygmie Hippo, 9. Penguins

Karaoke on the Saturday night was great! The SS Great Britain and the Clifton Bridge were Sunday visits before our more-than-four-hour train journey home.
I've been a bit under the weather since then, so not much blogging.

Anyway, I'm off back to my malabrigo now. TTFN.

In The News

In an effort not to talk about the same things every time I post, here’s a news roundup of some issues that have caught my eye recently:
There are 25 Common Programming Errors which make life easier for hackers. Sadly, the article doesn’t go into detail about the errors.
Primark and TNS Knitwear are exploiting workers in sweatshops in the UK. The thing which I find most incredible about this is that it’s happening in Manchester, not in the outer reaches of India or China. The people in the sweatshops seem only to be there because they can’t get work anywhere else (usually due to a lack of papers). It is a bad thing that while awaiting asylum applications people aren’t allowed to do any work – some kind of temporary permit would at least mean that they could be kept track of. Worse than that, though, is the illegal immigrant and overstayed visa workers. In any case, though, minimum working standards should apply. We should not have factories in the UK which are in such a state. And the wages are shocking. So, if you ever wondered (and you knitters may well have) how Primark were managing to make knitted garments (sweaters) for less than £10 each, or the gloves which were so popular at just £3 a pair, now you know. The only way the prices get that low is through illegal and immoral labour being used. It’s despicable!
The 1911 Census is now online (and if you’re interested, it’s Here, at 1911census.co.uk) – my grandparents were all born later than 1911, but there should be families in the right areas with the right names available for my family history research. The most difficult part is making sure you get the right branches as you go back. The other great thing about this census is that the householder filled it in themselves, so you can get a glimpse of the handwriting of your ancestors. How amazing is that? Sadly, the 1921 census is unlikely to be made available any time soon, the 1931 was destroyed in a fire, there was no census in 1941 because of the war, so the next one, 1951 will be available no sooner than 2051. That’s a long time to wait!

Christmas

I hope that you all had a pleasant Christmas, if you celebrate it.
I had a nice three days with my sister, her fella, my parents, and my OH.
The picture above is us when we arrived next to the very tasteful Christmas Tree (really, my trees are always examples of the tree that taste forgot...)
We had a really nice curry made by notBIL (That's not Brother in Law) and my sister sorted out bits to go with, like naan bread and the like. Oh, and drinks, very important that. I had an organic fruit beer, which was very pleasant and went well with curry. We played silly games on the wii and had a pub quiz.
I was sleeping in the lounge on an air mattress, which was not as bad as you might think. We were up at a reasonable hour to open prezzies, after a cup of tea. I received some very thoughtful gifts, not limited to but including a one-person tea-pot-tea-cup from sis & notBIL, a sheep buff from OH, Shaun the sheep from my parents, and a secret santa prezzie from one of the Ravelry groups I'm in.
There is some really nice stuff in the box. There's a chocolate and cinnamon stick (eaten, sorry) some kool-aid (for dying yarn), an aromatherapy stick, some ribbon yarn, some cotton yarn, and a cup-holder. Really nice, and I have no idea who my santa is!
On Boxing day, keeping with tradition, we hit the sales. I didn't buy much, a couple of organic t-shirts from New Look, and a bread-maker.
Yes, you read that right - a bread-maker.
We've just finished our first (wholemeal) loaf, so I'll leave you with a picture of it. I hope it tastes as nice as it looks (and smells!)

Another One Bites the Dust

Remember that I was making a cardigan for my Mum?
Well, I've just frogged back 28 rows of 209 stitches.
Why?
Because I should have been knitting 236 stitches per row. Not the right size, even with my slightly large gauge. (And I made a mistake in the lace too, though I was willing to live with it...)

So, now I have to cast on 236 stitches again, so as to start making the right size (all being well)
Although I'm thinking of substituting the lace pattern in the original for something a bit more interesting. I've found one which is pretty called little roses. (I also liked passionflower which looks just like no-purl monkeys)
Oh well, live and learn.

Sorting it out one room at a time...

In three weeks’ time I have a week off work. We were thinking about going somewhere on holiday, but eventually decided that we couldn’t justify spending all that on a holiday. I am planning on going to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate (more information here, if you’re interested)

The rest of the time off is to be devoted to tidying, rearranging and generally improving the state of the house. I want to finish making the curtains I began this time last year (!) – I made the main curtains, but we still need liners, drapes and a net. I have everything I need to do this, except for motivation and time. The time off work gives me the time, so I just need to get motivated. One of the things which is hopefully going to motivate me is to get the craft room sorted out (maybe get rid of the sofa bed which is so uncomfortable nobody will sleep on it!) I wonder if we could donate it to a charity shop. (Would that be bad Karma?)
I have a massive craft table in the craft room, a three-drawer chest full of yarn and then a stack of boxes with spinning stuff, dying stuff, beading stuff and card making stuff. Something tells me that this could be better organised than being in a bunch of cardboard boxes of varying sizes! The other things that are in the craft room are: the sofa bed, ironing board, box of tools, some rubbish, an old bathroom drawer set (icky), some clothes which need adjusting in some way, two chests of drawers with OH’s clothes in, some workout equipment and a drying rail for clothes.
Perhaps I should keep a list of all the things we could try to sort this out. I’m more motivated to sort out that room than I am any of the others, if I’m honest.
The lounge/diner is another big trouble spot. Because it has so many uses, from library to study to dining room to dumping ground; it’s in a state. There the issue is less one of storage (though that would help, if we had some more useful storage type devices) and more one of the room just being weird! We don’t have the living room at the front half of this room, as is traditional. This causes us many issues (including trailing wires everywhere) which would be solved by being the other way around. However, that end of the room is colder and noisier. Maybe the new curtains will help.
I’ll let you know how it goes, though I’ll probably be more excited about the K&S show!

I was at my sisters at the weekend to celebrate her birthday (Happy Birthday again!) and we had a really nice time shopping in Liverpool 1 (the new shopping complex) although it was a bit cold and rainy, and L1 is outside! We sent the boys to a brewery, which they enjoyed too. Excellent all round! I’m looking forwards to seeing my sister and her fella again at Christmas.

I'm not 21 any more.

I have learnt something.
Last night we went out for a leaving party and I had quite a lot to drink.
I learnt that I can still drink like a student.
This morning I also learnt that although I can drag my sorry ass out of bed and into work, I don’t recover from drinking like a student like I did when I was a student. In as much as I groan a lot more, need more cups of tea and succumb to bacon-sausage sandwiches.
Oh well. Live and learn, I’m not 21 any more!

I’m still knitting the things I have been knitting for what seems like ages.
I keep having new ideas though.
I’m designing a new pattern! It’s for a neck-warmer, and it’s going to use this yarn. This is lovely stuff, I bought it from Ysolda herself at K1 in Edinburgh. It’s a lovely shop, and I managed not to be starstruck. In case you don’t know who Ysolda is, she is a designer in the knitting world. She’s designed some lovely things, I have a sweater of hers in my queue (Snow White, Rav Link) and she’s made some adorable stuffed animals. Anyway, the yarn is Orkney Angora St Magnus D.K. I’m planning something with lace or cables and buttons. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Otherwise, the socks are still going, slowly. It’s the whole second sock syndrome. Interestingly I only seem to get this with socks for OH. It’s probably because with the cuff height that he likes and the fact that he has quite big feet, there’s an awful lot of stitches in these socks. However, the yarn is lovely, the pattern is interesting enough without being complicated. It’s just a lot of stitches!

Lastly, as a reminder to myself, I’ve been touting around for some yarn I’m looking for intended for my secret pal. These three were helpful on Rav:Yarn Yard, Freyalyn on Etsy and the ever lush Violet Green
(I know, they are mainly trying to get my custom, but I know that and I don’t mind if they provide what I’m after!)

About that holiday...

So, I said I’d tell you about my holiday in France. I’m going to keep it brief.

We did a lot of eating a drinking, as seems to be customary in France.
Nadine and Jaques, who we stayed with, had a cat. We met lots of Leon’s family, spanning several generations. I’m afraid we didn’t take many photos, but here’s the cutest (and newest) Wendy, with her mum, Severine. We did, as I said, a lot of drinking.
This is vintage Armegnac from 1949 - it's over 30 years older than me! And I did quite a bit of knitting on my Ravelympic socks. Not enough, though, I didn’t finish in time. Oh well.

A productive weekend

I have had a productive weekend.

On Friday we went to see the York Rising Stars’ production of Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. It was pretty good, and I was entertained. Even OH liked it and he hadn’t read any of Pterry’s books.

During Saturday we tidied up so that we could have people round on Saturday evening for a song-filled evening playing on Singstar. Which is way more fun than it should be, and we should have switched to guitar hero at some point. I blame Lint for winning too often. OH and I have our work cut out to re-win some of those high scores! Haha!

I felt rubbish on Sunday, which is odd because I hadn’t drunk much G&T at all. So I mostly knit the Sock-swap socks. And OH helped me to compile the music to go with it. (It’s the “music with sox in” swap, so requires music and socks)
The socks, well, I have just the toe on sock 2 to complete. I’m so pleased with them! It just goes to show that with the help of a stitchonary and a basic sock pattern anyone can design a sock! I intend to knit another pair of the same pattern for myself, perhaps after I finish the jaywalkers, as long as I don’t get too way-laid with other things (like the new design of socks I’ve been scheming about)

In other news, I have set myself a challenge. The challenge is to lose 1lb per week until we go on holiday in August. That should take me back under 11st, which would be nice. I know, I know, if I put on muscle it weighs more than fat but takes up less space. Trouble is, I am meant to be getting rid of the fat first! Ho hum. So, I think I’m about at the end of the first stage of the weight-lifting program from the book that OH got me. I have one week of workout 2 left to do. Then I need to email my instructor with the new program. I’ve been toying with the idea of signing up for personal training, but I am not sure whether it will help or not, and it’s not cheap!
Still, a good part of this is not to do with the gym, but requires me to eat more sensibly. Not eating cake (whoops) and chocolate so much. We do have some nice beef, which technically isn’t the leanest meat in the world. Sod that though, I like beef. I’ll just have smaller portions! I’ve been good today though, it’s 16:14 and I have only had the muffin I brought to work with me (I baked at the weekend for the party) and my sandwiches. I have had two cups of tea and about 100ml of water (don’t even go there, I drink enough water for me)

Well, that’s all folks. See you again soon.

Lots to say...

Since I have so much to write about today, I’ve split this post into a few subheadings. Feel free to skim through to the bits that might interest you, and skip over the bits that you find dull.

Thank you everyone who left comments about Aston, despite his small size he is much missed.

The weekend just gone
At the weekend we went down to Cambridgeshire to “Livestock” which is a mini-festival that one of OH’s friend’s family put on. There is live music, barbeque and optional camping.
Last year I drank an entire bottle of pink wine and was then quite grumpy. This year I pre-mixed some gin and tonic instead, and was much more sensible. I was still cold by the end of the evening, but nowhere near as grumpy! The music was okay, I’m not really into live bands to be honest. The company was pretty good though, OH’s brothers both chatted to me, as did several of his friends. That was nice! I do quite like most of OH’s friends, which is good.
I always find it quite surprising when people in general are still in touch with lots of their old friends from school, university or whatever. Without wanting to be mean, I’m not really bothered whether I see my old school friends again (with one or two notable exceptions, you know who you are), I can see whether they have jobs, houses, babies, husbands etc on facebook without actually having to talk to them! But lets not get started on facebook…

Fantastic Beef
While at the farm where “Livestock” was happening, I was informed that we could buy some nice beef from said farm. So we headed back the next day to Barton Ley Farm to pick up some beef. We got several joints and some steaks, some stewing beef and some mince (yum to all!). Last night we tried some of the rump steaks we had selected, and mine was the best steak I have ever had, ever. It was big, juicy, tasty and the sliver of fat around the edge was soooo flavourful! If I was asked to choose only one meat to ever eat again, it would be beef from this farm.
So, if you’re in the Cambridge area and need some beef for the freezer, call by Barton Ley and get some beef. You will not regret it!

CSI Swap Package
Remember the CSI Package that went to Athens, Greece? Well, it arrived in Athens, Alabama! Woo! I’m so glad that it got there, now I can stop worrying about it and get on with my other swaps!
Oh, and I can’t claim back the cost of the original postage because I don’t have a receipt to prove I posted it. Poo.

Becoming a designer
I have designed some socks for my Discworld “Music with Sox in” swap. I’m knitting the second one now, and then I’m going to publish the pattern for the socks on My Knitting Blog as a free pattern. I haven’t decided whether I’ll just write it up or whether I’ll make it a downloadable PDF (or whether I can do that on blogger) but it will also be available on Ravelry for those of you who want it and can get there.
I will not be publishing it until my swap partner has received the parcel though, as I want the socks to be a surprise for her. If I’m feeling really exciteable I might knit them again in a different colourway for myself, then I can see how adaptable they are (they’re made for UK size 7 medium feet, hopefully!)
If all goes well, I intend to design more patterns. I might then start submitting some to Knitty or other online knitting magazines. I don’t know what the rights for such patterns and designers are, but it’s something I’ll look into.
And hopefully the hat will be finished and up soon/eventually!

SP12
SP12 continues. I’m beginning my scheming for the first parcel. I have an idea for what to send, but I need to track down appropriate items in appropriate colours at appropriate prices!
I have no idea who my upstream is, which is good, though I haven’t done much digging to try to find them. I’ve still managed to resist checking my blogger stats, but I’ve come close once or twice!

Well, that’s all for today I think.

Not dead, just busy.

OH’s parents were down for the bank holiday.
We went to Harrogate,
Knaresborough,
put up a gate,
visited the castle museum in York,
went shopping (at least once),
bought and put up trellis,
painted said trellis,
went to a sheep shearing demonstration
and saw lots of young birds.

Then this weekend we said goodbye to the Welshman,
I worked on Saturday (boo)
and we painted the gate,
then yesterday we did shopping, went to the gym and went to watch Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Birthdays and Socks

At the weekend I went back to Gainsborough for my Dad’s birthday. We had a nice time, did a little shopping, some fixing of the car and had a lovely meal out. On the way down to Gainsborough I finished a second pair of Saartjes Booties for baby Ruby. The other pair was too small.
I’m pretty happy with them. I’ll definitely use the pattern again for other babies in the future.

I managed to finish the Earl Grey Socks on the way home. They’re good, I’m very happy with them. OH wore them on Sunday night and proclaimed them to be both comfortable and warm.
Sadly at some point there I managed to pick up a cold, so I spent most of yesterday in bed. I felt properly rubbish, but was improved enough by the afternoon to pick up some knitting. Though the Sweater of Doom called to me briefly, I pretty much just did a couple of rows. It’s not that it’s not interesting to knit – it’s not bad now that I’m into the cream bit – just that I didn’t feel like knitting it. it’s so big and hot!

Anyway, I pootled around a little before finally deciding that it couldn’t hurt to cast on some more socks (the Music with Sox in Swap notwithstanding, starts on Friday – I’ll have a month to make some socks) and the Jaywalker (Ravelry link only now Magknits is no more) has been in my queue for a while. It’s really quite a funky pattern, and so easy! I love easy but funky. And oddly, it’s not as boring as it should be. Perhaps this is because I am easily amused, and so I get excited every time the colour changes in the yarn. I’m using “Lemon Sherbet” in the Magic range from Opal. (Get Knitted say it’s a UK only colour, it’s fab!)
The colour changes didn’t start until after I’d done the ribbing, which works. I don’t know what will happen with the second sock though. Despite the fact that I want to try two at a time on two circs, I thought I’d leave that for the sock swap. Also, I’ve heard that Jaywalkers are fun to knit and go quite fast (I’d agree so far). I do worry that I will not be able to put them down though!

Update

So, it’s been a while, but you’ll see why!

First, there was the PTH. I’ve been keeping schtum about the costume and theme until now, and here is mine:

This was the rest of the team. With the exception of the DS9 costume, I made all of the tops and my dress. I’m pretty pleased with how they look!

Then there was the wedding on Saturday
Leon had the camera, so most of the pictures are of me!
What do you think of the new haircut? Goes with the dress, I think!

I don’t have much other news, or knitting news, so I’ll post again when I do.
If you’re listed as Friend or Family on Flickr you’ll be able to see the rest of the pics.

Finally!

So, some pics as promised, and the story about the flowers...

I went to the post office to pick up what I thought was a gift from Play for Leon. However, it was not. It was, in fact:

How odd - who has bought me flowers? Hmm
Anyway, I got home and realised something crucial. I don't own a vase. Nobody has ever bought me flowers before.
...
Okay, now that you've recovered from that shock, can you guess what I did?

You guessed it. I went and bought a vase:

And then another, as I liked buying vases.

Woo

And for those who are interested, here's my team from the PTH.

and me


My SP has commented that she's left a clue in the last parcel about who she is in case I haven't guessed. I still don't have any idea, so I'm very excited to get the clue! And also reminded that I need to sort out my parcel for my downstream!

Weekend Away

We had a lovely weekend away in Derbyshire this weekend. We left on Friday afternoon, spent a while on the M1 and then turned up near Burton on Trent by late afternoon. The “cottage” was lovely, it was nice and big, the only let-down was that the dining room was smaller than would be ideal. Leon and I had a nice room, a double on the ground floor which was en-suite. There was a log-burner in the lounge too.

We did some walking on the first day (Saturday), which didn’t involve any evil waterfalls, and only one scary bit. There were also alpaca, although they were a long way away. The weather mostly held, only mild drizzle at one point. We had an excellent pub lunch too.
On the second day (Sunday), Leon and I went to Chatsworth House with one of the other weekenders. We looked around the gardens, which were fab even at this time of year. We also looked around the house which is already decked out for Christmas. They also had some lion-mane bunnies which were so sweet. We also saw some pretty ruffle-back doves and other birds which I forget the name of. They also have the “Mr Darcy” bust from the movie of pride and prejudice. (The movie, not the BBC adaptation. Personally I prefer Colin Firth’s Darcy, though the film version was good.)
Since we’d taken the Monday off work Leon and I travelled up to another stately home, Hardwick Hall. Sadly, it’s owned by the National Trust and so was shut. Bother. We should have called ahead. So, we detoured, towards Sutton Scarsdale Hall – a ruin. It turns out that one of the signs was pointing the wrong way and we got horribly lost. So we headed off. We stopped at a garden centre somewhere with a farm shop. No animals though, but some nice food.

I went to the chiropractor again to get my report. She recommended several visits over the next few weeks which would have been quite costly. I took the report to my pilates teacher for a second opinion. She said it wasn’t that bad really. I decided not to continue going to the chiropractor on the grounds that I can’t really afford it, and if I hadn’t gone in the first place I wouldn’t have known that I'm a bit off kilter. Equally, I’m not suffering from backache recently and most of what she recommended was lifestyle (drink more water, eat 5-a-day, sit up straight and don’t cross your legs) as well as the horribleness that is being adjusted (it’s not pleasant. I’ve been putting a brave face on, but I really don’t like being clicked!) So, no more of that.

I’ve also ordered some more sock yarn from a UK based hand-dying company. I’ll let you know what it’s like when it arrives. I’m thinking about using it to make some jaywalkers if it’s striped or broadly variegated, if it’s not then I might try some other sock pattern. Nothing too complex, I want a nice simple knit. I have to decide whether to risk trying to make some socks with the 50g of Opal I have left too.
And, I didn’t find any yarn stores this weekend.

Briefly...

Been busy at work and busy knitting, so haven't really blogged.

Last weekend was James's wedding - check out my Flickr site if you're my friend on Flickr, if not you can't see them, sorry.

You can see some of the ones from the zoo though :)