Ok, some catch up to do…..

Last week we cleaned out our tortoise's house so that he can hibernate for the winter…well, I say he, but we actually found out about 10 years ago that he is a she! Trouble is he'd been a he since we got him which was when I was about 18 months old and he'll always be a he to us!

So, we took out all the old straw and earth from last winter and look what we found!

Touché (we pronounce it Toosh) laid an egg! How cool is that!

My swift and ball winder finally arrived - it's only a plastic swift, I wound a ball of 4ply using the swift and ball winder earlier, it was quite loose. I don't know whether that's the swift or not, but I would expect to be able to get more than 100g of 4ply on the ball winder.

I took Kyle to Southampton today so he could spend his birthday money, he bought a coat, a t-shirt, a hoodie, pair of trousers, pair of shoes, backpack, couple of belts and a couple of console games and he still had enough money left to put in his bank account!

I went in Waterstones (I really should avoid that place) and I bought Field Guide To Knitting by Jackie Pawlowski, it cost £9.99 and is a great guide. I want to design a scarf for mum in reverse cable and this book should help me pick out the design. What I like about this book is that it tells you roughly how much yarn you would need, recommended needle size, whether it's a flat or textured stitch and there's a photo guide in the middle of the book. It's a handy pocket size so it'll fit in my bag!

17 years since I became a mum!

Wow, 17 years ago, I became a mum for the very first time…it's so hard to believe that that much time has passed. Kyle is 17 years old today and he is now at college!

It suddenly occurred to me today, while I was baking a cake, that we all say Happy Birthday and congratulations to the one celebrating the birthday, but we never say congratulations to the parents.

Kyle is autistic and life with him hasn't always been easy - in fact, as a single parent, they've been bloody hard sometimes. Then the other three came along and I've bought all four of them up alone too. Other than my family, and the occasional friend, no one has said "Your son is 17, congratulations!" Either with or without the funny "he made it to 17?" tacked on the end LOL.

So, to anyone who has a child, single or married, congratulations - it's a bloody hard job and you deserve to be noticed and congratulated for all your hard work!

Hey Hey Mr Postman!

I was waiting for the post to arrive today because I've ordered a swift and a ball winder from someone on eBay who has turned out to be a complete lying jerk! I won the auction last Wednesday and paid immediately (as is my usual practise!), I sent the seller an e-mail on Tuesday because I hadn't heard anything. They said it had been sent that morning and I could expect delivery today. On the Wednesday I had one of those mails from Paypal telling me that they had done one of those postage labels and today…………………nothing!

At least, not from THAT person who has my money, I did receive a bunch of old vogue knitting magazines and a skein of Hipknits wool from two different sellers on Ravelry!

Chunky Knit Coat

I started this coat at Kerry's, but didn't buy enough wool so needed to hunt around for same dye lot. Then I got distracted by the GAAA…you know how it is!

I've decided to take a break from the GAAA for a few days……well, that's the plan anyway, it's screaming at me cos I've not done any LOL

Red Arrows at White Air Extreme Sports Festival

This past weekend the Red Arrows were here for the White Air Extreme Sports Festival, they put on a good display as usual. It bought back loads of memories from when I was a kid! It was great! Here's loads of photos for you!

This hunk of gorgeousness is my godson, Mason

Squares 9 & 10

I finally finished Square 9 by Jay Campbell - I hated it!! I frogged it twice before I got the jist of the pattern - I really need to find an alternative to DPN's, I just can't be bothered to learn a new method, although I think I might try two circulars for the square by Georgia Vincent! Then I steamed ahead and did Square 10 by Dana Hurt in an afternoon!

Sometimes you just can’t think of a title…

The square of the Great American Aran Afghan that I'm working on at the moment is doing my head in, I've frogged it twice already…think I've got the jist of it now though!

Kids - don't they just do your head in!?! Matt is 15 and (as my dad used to say) at the rate he's going, he won't live to see 16! He came home 40 minutes late on Wednesday night. When I called him to find out where he was cos he naturally hadn't bothered to call or txt, he said that he'd fallen off his pushbike but was on his way home now.

So I was expecting him to come home with blood…or at least scrapes and bruises…nothing!

Then the next day he didn't come home after school until 7pm! I was so furious I grounded him, he said he'd gone to walk his girlfriend, Kara, home - Kara's an army cadet and if they were to be attacked, I reckon she'd be the one doing the protecting! Now he's pi**ed at me cos it's his best friends b/day this weekend and I've grounded him!

Then this morning I told him that he really should dig out his school fleece as it's starting to get chilly in the morning, he went back upstairs to get it. I was in the kitchen and turned as he went through the front door - without saying goodbye as per usual! I ended up chasing him down the road and yelling at him for stealing MY Meat Loaf hoodie!

He came home at lunchtime to get his cooking ingredients, I gave him a lift back to school and told him that he's become a real jerk lately and that he's not just pi**ing off family members, but he's annoying his friends as well, especially after making his friend wait here for him for four hours last week! Why doesn't he get it?

Then this evening he called his sister a c**t - I was so angry I could barely talk, I'm avoiding him at the moment, or I'll become mum of 3 PDQ!

Square 8

I finished this square by Barbara Selesnick at 12:30am this morning.

Square 7

Here's square 7 by Ginette Belanger, my hands hurt now - they usually do if I have to do a lot of knitting/purling stitches together.

The worth of a woman

A friend sent me this e-mail and I thought it was so lovely I decided to put it in my blog.

 

The Woman

 

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day An angel came by and said: "Why spend so much time on that one?"

 

And the Lord answered:

"Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her? She must be washable, but not made of plastic, have more than 200 moving parts which all must be replaceable and she must function on all kinds of food, she must be able to embrace several kids at the same time, give a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart and she must do all this with only two hands."

 

The angel was impressed. "Just two hands....impossible! And this is the standard model?! Too much work for one day....wait until tomorrow and then complete her."

 

"I will not," said the Lord. "I am so close to completing this creation, which will be the favourite of my heart . She cures herself when sick and she can work 18 hours a day."

 

The angel came nearer and touched the woman. "But you have made her so soft, Lord."

 

"She is soft", said the Lord, "But I have also made her strong. You can t imagine what she can endure and overcome."

 

"Can she think?" the angel asked.

 

The Lord answered: "Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate."

 

The angel touched the woman's cheek.... "Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her."

 

"She is not leaking....it's a tear." the lord corrected the angel.

 

"What's it for?" Asked the angel.

 

And the Lord said: "Tears are her way of expressing grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride."

 

This made a big impression on the angel; "Lord, you are genius. You thought of everything. The woman is indeed marvellous!"

 

Indeed she is!

Woman has strengths that amazes man. She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.

She holds happiness, love and opinions.

She smiles when feeling like screaming.

She sings when she feels like crying, cries when she is happy and laughs when she is afraid.

She fights for what she believes in.

Stands up against injustice.

She doesn't take no for an answer, when she can see a better solution. She gives herself so her family can thrive. She takes her friend to the doctor if she is afraid.

Her love is unconditional.

She cries when her kids are victorious. She is happy when her friends do well.

She is glad when she hears of a birth or a wedding.

Her heart is broken when a next of kin or friend dies.

But she finds the strength to get on with life.

She knows that a kiss and a hug can heal a broken heart.

There is only one thing wrong with her

She forgets what she is worth...

Square 6

I've finished Square 6 by Vicki Sever, the one I call Faith, Hope & Charity, probably because of the anchor and heart remind me of a necklace my father bought me when I was young. This square was nice and easy to do, which was a relief after the last one LOL!

Square 5…finally

I did NOT enjoy this square by Kathleen T. Carty! It was really hard work and felt like it took AGES! I'd never knitted a corner before and it took me a while to work out the instructions, but here it is!

Square 4

:Sigh: My aim to do a square a day died last night, I had a migraine attack and couldn't finish square 4 by Meredith K. Morioko. I got up (off the floor!) this morning and decided to go on Ravelry before starting today's knitting - WHY do I do that?? Ravelry wastes soooooo much time LOL.

I didn't get around to picking up my needles until lunchtime, finished the square and I am now fighting with square 5, I've never worked a square in this way before and it definitely isn't going to be finished today :sighagain:

Square 3, Kyle @ college, on the floor...

Here's Square 3 by Marian Tabler, took me a while longer this one, couldn't get the gist of the pattern and had to rip back every now and then. But, I finally finished it about 2 o'clock this morning. I'm aiming for a square a day -- I have no life lol.

Kyle started college proper this week, he seems to be enjoying it although we have had some backlash tantrums at home. This is nothing unusual, just his way of venting due to the huge change he's gone through with his routine this year. Leaving high school and starting college must be pretty scary for him!

I've started sleeping on the floor, I've been doing so since Monday night to see if it helps at all with my back…I must be totally honest and say that I do think there's a slight improvement, although I was bloody cold the first night - but I added an extra duvet and I've been fine since…as you can see Isis (who has had all her coat chopped) loves going to bed!

The Great American Aran Afghan

My new project is the Great American Aran Afghan, now to be known as GAAA! It's a large blanket made up from all different squares - Google it - there are loads of pics on the web.

I've done two squares already - the Judy Sumner (Square 1) and Julie H Levy (Square 2) squares, good thing I love cabling or it'd take me forever!

Gloves for Sarah

My nail technician suffers from extreme cold hands and I promised her ages ago that I'd make her some fingerless gloves so that she can wear something to keep her hands warm yet still work on my nails!

How Annoying!

I'd almost finished the long cardigan I'm doing in Sirdar Bigga wool, I've done the fronts, back, borders, collar and was halfway through the second sleeve when I ran out of wool!

I can't believe this has happened, my LYS doesn't have anymore of this in, I've posted a plea for help on Ravelry and I just hope someone answers me, I really want this finished cos the wool is SO squishy!

Lyn Bertolucci

I found out at 10pm last night that a friend of mine, Lyn Bertolucci, passed away at 8pm last night after a battle with cancer. Lyn was a lovely person, very open and giving and there for everyone.

I had lost contact with her because of other people and I deeply regret that I had allowed other people to come between our friendship.

Lyn is survived by her two daughters, Debbie and Nicky.

Rest easy now Lyn, it doesn't hurt anymore…not for you, the rest of us will have to learn to live with our pain.

Driving home through the Lake District

I had already decided that my journey home from Scotland was going to go via the Lake District, I didn't care how long it was going to take, how much time I'd lose. I WAS going to see the Lake District!

It was beautiful! Shame about the clouds and I was a tad upset that I couldn't get really close to Lake Windermere, but I got a couple of fantastic shots!

Scotland 2008

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to leave Kerry's in the middle of the night and drive the 430 miles to Peebles in the middle of the night. That way I would avoid busy traffic and I'd done it before.

BUT, Josh went into hospital to have his tonsils removed on Wednesday morning, Kerry and Raymond (Josh's uncle) went with him and Herb was at work, so I had to entertain my kids and Kerry's two boys. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep! We left Kerry's at midnight and started driving. The first stop was at 2am, I pulled into a quiet country road, turned car off, stole a pillow from one of the kids and closed my eyes…just for five minutes.

Two hours later I woke up! I started driving again, but I had to stop twice more (thankfully only for an hour and 20 minutes in total). I eventually reached Scotland around 10am on the Thursday morning.

We saw some beautiful countryside although this forest which looks like a slice of bread stuck on the hillside made us laugh!

Here are some photos of the kids from our time in Edinburgh…we spent two days wandering around Edinburgh and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Everyone slept really well in the tent, although we were a little crowded! Don't they all look cute and snuggly!

Catch Up Time! At Kerry’s

I was going to try and be clever and do one long post detailing everything we did while we were on holiday last week, but due to the way blogger uploads pictures (why does it insist on putting photos at the BEGINNING of the blog?), I got myself all turned around and muddled up.

Therefore, I am starting again and I shall do a series of little posts. This first one is going to be about our time at Kerry's visiting Kerry & Herb, Herbie, Josh, Dominic (Nic) & baby Phoebe!

We arrived on the Sunday and stayed until Wednesday night, then we left for Scotland.Here is Alex with everything in the back of our little Peugeot 207!

During our stay we visited a park which is run by :location removed by Kerry's request: Council, it only costs £1 to get in and the kids had loads of fun. Here are some photos:

and here is the main reason for our visit - the newest recipient of my knitting - baby Phoebe!

Here she is with Matt (who's convinced his hair looks cool like that!) and Nic and here's one of Alex sneaking a quick cuddle!

I had to add this last photo of Nic, he was playing Guitar Hero, but was quite happy to stop and pose for photos for his fans lol