The end...

Today is the last day of 2009.

It was also the last day of life for a cat that was killed on the road outside my house this afternoon.

He was a beautiful silver tabby with a wobbly saggy belly and a gorgeous choochy face. He wasn't a young cat, but he had a lovely coat and was obviously loved.

He didn't die immediately. He made it to his feet and ran into my neighbours front garden where he collapsed. He was still alive...for a while. He died in my arms wrapped in an old towel while I told him it was ok.

The driver didn't even stop.

After some argument with the Highways Division and the RSPCA (they both said they couldn't collect him because he was on "private property" - they basically told us to dump him in the road and THEN they would collect him!), then a quick phone call to Pets At Rest an arrangement was made to come and collect him. They will scan him for a microchip and inform the owner if they find one.

Twitter Party

Are you going out tomorrow night? Are you on twitter?

We are having a twitter party, come and join us.

It will run all day to cater for the twitter users around the world. The idea is to come along, drink loads, have fun, craft (but be prepared to undo your work the next day!).

Use hashtag #CNYP (Crafty New Year Party). By the way, you can find me on twitter here.

Her name is Kirsty

Look what's arrived:

Within an hour, I knew her name was Kirsty!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

I seem to be waiting a lot at the moment.

Jess has a stomach bug and spent over four hours vomiting every 20-30 minutes last night. I got a total of 4 hours sleep before I had to get up and go to a nail appointment.

I called Parcel Force Solent this morning to be told that my Majacraft Rose would be going direct to the Isle of Wight depot. As the internet had been telling me my wheel was en route to the delivery depot, I assumed it would arrive today (it has been en route since Christmas Eve).

I went to the local depot today, they don't have it and according to them, it was last tracked in Coventry!

This is what the tracking system says:

28-12-2009	18:00	National Hub	Sorted in hub
24-12-2009	11:47	International Hub	En route to delivery depot
24-12-2009	11:00	International Hub	RELEASED WITH CHARGES
18-12-2009	08:35	International Hub	AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGING
18-12-2009	08:35	International Hub	AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGES
18-12-2009	08:27	International Hub	Arrived in destination country
16-12-2009	09:45	Delivery Agent - AUCKLAND - PTT	Left origin country
15-12-2009	14:35	Delivery Agent - NEW ZEALAND	Collected from customer

See the second line down? 'En route to delivery depot' but now it's at the National Hub!

To say I'm confused would be an understatement, especially as it hasn't moved in nearly 24 hours.

Oh, this is an Express 24 parcel too!

Some Mojo

I finished these socks - they're fab and I love everything about them!

Pattern: Mojo
Yarn: The Knitting Goddess Same Difference Sock Yarn in Gothic Love
Time: 9-12-09 - 28-12-09

I have come to the conclusion that I just can't do toe up socks - they don't seem to fit right, I never know the right place to start the heel and short row heels are horrible. I need to find a good recipe for a toe up heel flap sock, but even then; I can't find a decent stretchy bind off and I've tried them all!

The Good, The Bad & The Totally Exhausted

As we were preparing for today, I discovered that I hadn't bought a gammon joint! I'm extremely annoyed about this as everyone likes gammon and I could've sworn I bought some a month ago!

I made it in time to collect Mum, I even managed a shower beforehand.

We got back, kicked all the kids out of bed and opened our presents.

I did quite well this year! I got a sewing box from Kyle

Sock yarn from Helen

I participated in two Secret Santa swaps on Ravelry this year, I got a hat from the UK RAK one

and a whole bundle of stuff from the Lime Green Jelly one! Some sock yarn, a keyring with instructions for kitchener stitch on, some chocolate (which is always good, but I'm not sure when it's mint and chilli flavoured LOL) and 3000m of cobweb weight pure silk!

I got some lovely sheepskin slippers from Mum

and this adorable elephant from Mason which came in a personalised box!

Merry Christmas

I'm posting this from my blackberry so I have no idea if it works lol!

Wheel update: customs cleared it at 11am Christmas Eve & last time I checked; it was en route to the local depot which is in Southampton. Due to the festivities; the depot is now closed until Tuesday. I can call Tuesday morning, pay the charge & delivery will be on Wednesday.

Someone I talk to on twitter has offered to collect it for me & bring it over to the Island - I might take her up on her offer!

The baking is all done (although I need to ice both the chocolate & coconut cake!) But I might make muffins Boxing Day as I have blueberries!

There is something wrong with my toes. Every day, when my feet get warm; my toes itch like crazy! There's no redness, swelling or signs of psoriasis, but they itch & after a while it feels like I've got pins & needles without the pleasant numbness. I mentioned it in passing to my GP who seemed slightly mystified, but told me not to worry - I think I'll have to go back in the new year!

I really should go to sleep - I've got to collect Mum at 8.15 & that's only 5 and a half hours away!

Good night & Merry Christmas xxx
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Merry Christmas

I'm posting this from my blackberry so I have no idea if it works lol!

Wheel update: customs cleared it at 11am Christmas Eve & last time I checked; it was en route to the local depot which is in Southampton. Due to the festivities; the depot is now closed until Tuesday. I can call Tuesday morning, pay the charge & delivery will be on Wednesday.

Someone I talk to on twitter has offered to collect it for me & bring it over to the Island - I might take her up on her offer!

The baking is all done (although I need to ice both the chocolate & coconut cake!) But I might make muffins Boxing Day as I have blueberries!

There is something wrong with my toes. Every day, when my feet get warm; my toes itch like crazy! There's no redness, swelling or signs of psoriasis, but they itch & after a while it feels like I've got pins & needles without the pleasant numbness. I mentioned it in passing to my GP who seemed slightly mystified, but told me not to worry - I think I'll have to go back in the new year!

I really should go to sleep - I've got to collect Mum at 8.15 & that's only 5 and a half hours away!

Good night & Merry Christmas xxx
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Customs = FAIL

Well, it's the day before Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow is the last possible day for parcel delivery.

My wheel travelled halfway around the globe in 3 days.

It's still sitting in customs.

Merry Christmas.

Socks

I like socks, I really do. I enjoy knitting them and they keep my feet warm!

Unfortunately, I don't appear to be very good at it.

I'm making Mojo, because they're freaky and cool! I'm also making them in Joy's Same Difference yarn.

They were coming on great, I turned the heel and was making my way up the leg when I decided I better try them on.

Naturally, I've made them too bloody short! I do this every single time! I measure and measure, put them on, take them off, knit a few rows, put them on again and I reckon they're long enough so I turn the heel, work a bit of leg and find that no, they weren't long enough!

So now I have to frog two days of work, back to before I turned the heel!

Time is running out!

I had an e-mail at the last week telling me my Rose was in stock.

Later, I received the tracking info and I've been impatiently checking it every day....several times a day!

It was picked up at 2.35pm on the 16th (I assume that's local time?). It left New Zealand at 9.45am the following day.

It arrived 'overseas' at 8.27am on the 18th and was listed as 'Held for clearance' 8 minutes later.

That's where it still is :(

I'm hoping that this is just because it's the weekend and no one updates the website at weekends and that it's not still being held.

How long does it take to clear something? Where exactly is it being held? The New Zealand website doesn't say and there doesn't appear to be any other way to track it.

There is less than a week to go until Christmas Day now and (after dating a postie several years ago) I'm well aware how much post Royal Mail have to deal with during this period.

The race is on - will my wheel arrive before Christmas Day?

I won't get it until Christmas Day if it does as Alex has decided it should be stolen and hidden until Christmas Day *sigh*

Tradition

It's the time of year that gets everyone talking about TRADITION! Do you have any Christmas traditions? I'd love to hear them.

We have a few. 12th December is tree day. 12th December was my fathers birthday - he would've turned 59 today and ever since 2007; his birthday has become tree day.

Here is our tree.

Gaudy innit? There's my Christmas Star on top and already presents underneath! I love it, but I'll be heartily sick of by Christmas Day LOL.

Other traditions include:

• Presents - these are opened once we're all up and Mum is here
• Baking of cakes - this is my job and I usually spend most of Christmas Eve in the kitchen making cakes and swallowing pills to cope with the back pain!
• a cooked breakfast on Christmas morning which my mum always cooks! Bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, bread, tea, hash browns, the list is endless and we drive my mum potty by drooling on her as she cooks!
• The drink starts flowing pretty much straight away, so Christmas dinner is prepared on Christmas Eve, all I have to do is try and turn the cooker on at the right time (alarms on mobile phones are the greatest thing evah!)
• I'm in charge of dinner as my mother usually works Christmas Eve and Christmas night (she works 10pm to 8am) so she sleeps for the afternoon.
• Noel's Christmas Presents! Everyone in the UK knows what that is for my International friends; Noel's Christmas Presents is a programme that is on Christmas Day and hosted by this man. It's one of those shows where someone surprises random people, for eg a woman hasn't seen her brother for 30 years because he moved to Australia when they were 18 and he'll be sitting behind her in the audience or something. I always bawl my eyes out watching it (last year I had the flu and there was snot everywhere - I got through an entire toilet roll watching it!)
• Dr Who! Nuff said!
• Lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of fun!

What do you do for Christmas?

The Great American Aran Afghan

I started the Great American Aran Afghan in September 2008.

It was supposed to be for Christmas that year for my Mum.

I was doing well and averaging about a day a square. Then I got fed up with it and started a few other projects and just never went back to it.

I finally finished it today!

I didn't do the border in the book. I just did a simple border of crochet trebles.

It looks fabulous.

I took pictures. Wrapped it in Christmas wrapping, stuck it on a shelf, then I put the card in my card reader.

The pictures haven't come out!

So, I'm afraid you are going to have to wait until Christmas to see it now!

Travelling

This weekend was the weekend I met up with Sarah to hand over the Kromski Sonata. No, I don't have my Rose yet, nor did I pick one up this weekend. But, just because I'm having to wait for my wheel shouldn't mean that Sarah does too!

I met her in Cheltenham, gave her the wheel, we wandered around Pets At Home (I bought Isis some food and a new toy) and then we had a quick cuppa in Sainsbury's.

Then I drove to Bath to visit with Helen and Iain. I stayed there overnight and Helen and I talked about loads of stuff!

I called Hedgehog while I was there for an update, they sounded very annoyed as apparently they've had a stock parcel go missing on it's way to them and they still don't know when they can expect more stock in! I've been waiting over 4 weeks now.

Helen and I have agreed to start a new project in the new year. We are going to make Sleeves In Your Pi. This is a Pi shawl with sleeves worked in.

But we're adding a little extra, we're going to spin the yarn for it first, then knit it.

We will start spinning on New Years Day and we're aiming to be finished by Woolfest which is June 25th!

You're more than welcome to join us. I will be posting regular updates here and Helen will on her blog and we also have a thread going on Ravelry's UK Spinners board.

I stayed overnight at Helen's and came home today.

I walked in and immediately blitzed the kitchen! It looks loads better and I'm very pleased with it.

Matt and I walked the dogs together this evening and we got chatting about his catering & hospitality course at college. We've decided that we're going to upgrade a lot of the stuff in the kitchen. I'm going to look into buying an oven with a couple of extra burners and an extra oven and we'll also look into new crockery and other stuff!

Great American Aran Afghan

I've been working on the Great American Aran Afghan for over a year now.

Today I finally knit the 20th square.

Now I've just got to sew it together!

Typical

Well, I caved and went for the phone.

This morning I had an e-mail from T-Mobile telling me that the phone is out of stock!

Yeah, figures.

Oh, this is gorgeous

If I was stupidly rich or stupid and rich I would buy one of these

This is a Martha wheel and is made by Watson Wheels. Unfortunately, it's costs $1500 and that's not including postage, customs and tax *sigh*

Cut me a break

I seem to be having one of those days, you know?

The Majacraft dealer got back to me and said not only had I missed delivery for UK before Christmas but apparently there's a backlog on orders to Majacraft anyway.

So I've had to cancel the order.

A woman complained on our local fibre crafts group on Ravelry a couple of months ago. She had attended a village fair that a few of us were demonstrating crafts at. This is her post:

"I was at the festival on Saturday and managed to get to see some spinning.

I was rather upset by the language and manners of one of the demonstators - a ‘lady’ in her 40’s with black hair and very long nails.

I assume that events like this are intended to improve awareness of your group and encouage new members. Foul language and attitude will not achieve this, and I hope that whoever is responsible for this group thinks carefully before future demonstations." This was posted when I was away camping for the half-term week - something everyone on Ravelry knew as I'd been talking about it for weeks.

First off, I'm 34! Secondly, i only spoke to a couple of people, I was polite, well-mannered and didn't even swear when my friends and I were alone.

Today this woman posts that she has a Majacraft Rose for sale with 12 bobbins and she wants £300 for it, but only to someone who doesn't already own a wheel.

I PM'd her and she messaged me back asking if I had a wheel. I said yes, but it was living in the camper and the Rose would be my only at home wheel. She replied that it was only to go to someone who doesn't already have a wheel, then miraculously; the wheel was marked as sold!

When someone else queried it; she claimed that I hadn't been the first person to enquire about it so I wouldn't have got it anyway.

This woman has no profile, no picture, no links to anything and has only posted 6 times on Ravelry, once on Joy's board, twice concerning this complaint and three times today concerning this wheel.

I'm beginning to think this is someone I know with a personal vendetta and I think I know who it is too - get over yourself hon, all you're doing is pissing me off!

I called T-Mobile again today and asked if I could buy out my contract, then upgrade.

No, I can't. I can buy off my contract and take out a new one, but I can only keep my number if I take it to another network and then transfer it back. I can't take out a new contract and take my number with me unless I wait until 6th January to upgrade!

I'm badly in need of retail therapy to cheer me up, but it'll mean running two contracts for a couple of months and having to use a new number on the blackberry for the next 18 months. I've had this number for years! Since I was with Simon which means I'm approaching ten years with this number!

On one hand, it's easy to keep a number, but on the other hand it'd be nice to have a mobile number that certain people definitely haven't got...

Decisions Decisions!

This has been one of those awful rotten days where nothing seems to be going my way.

It would be nice to get an e-mail from Hedgehog now to tell me I can go get my wheel this weekend - I've made arrangements to meet Sarah so at least she will have a new wheel for Christmas!

On top of all that, I bought 4 tickets to a raffle and I didn't win a single prize

Majacraft Rose

It's been four weeks since I registered interest with Hedgehog Equipment.

Needless to say, I'm a bit pissed off with the wait.

Last night someone suggested looking into importing direct from New Zealand where Majacraft are manufactured.

I found a dealers website, contacted HM Revenue & Customs to find out the import duty and VAT payable on a wheel and because it worked out as cheaper than Hedgehog; I ordered one.

I went off shopping and when I got home I was greeted with an e-mail from Paypal confirming payment, an e-mail from Vintage Purls confirming my order and a second e-mail from Vintage Purls informing me that the Majacraft Rose is:

"currently out of stock. This may cause a slight delay in delivery. Please accept our apologies and rest assured that we are working hard to rectify this."

I was baffled as the site had listed them as 'available' only a couple of hours before.

I went back to the site and now every single Majacraft model is 'out of stock'

Not impressed!

It hit the fan - again

You may remember my son, Kyle, having a break down in August.

Since then, he has been thrown out of college because they can't assure the safety of other students and the staff.

On Monday we saw a psychiatrist for an assessment. It all seemed to go well, although it was obviously upsetting for Kyle to discuss losing his temper and people being hurt as a result of his actions.

After we left, Kyle saw his friend Sophie and went off with her.

Everything seemed fine, so I went off to knit night as usual.

I didn't even make it to the pub! I got a phone call 15 minutes after I'd left; Kyle had flipped out and yelled in Alex's face. Matt intervened in an effort to stave off a fight and Kyle attacked him.

He caught Matt in a headlock and during the struggle; Matt was thrown against the doorframe. He banged his head and blanked out for a second or two.

He was shaken by the time I made it home (Kyle was nowhere to be seen), but appeared fine. I considered calling the hospital but decided it was unnecessary after Matt consumed half the kitchen without vomiting!