Cabled Yoke Cardigan, Scarf, etc

I've finished! The cardigan is finished and it looks GREAT! Get a load of this! I also found some lovely clasps on eBay and it goes perfectly with the cardigan.

I want to make another one now, maybe in a different colour though not sure what colour…don't think they do purple aran :'(

I also completed this drop stitch scarf , I did it in Noro Silk Garden and used 3 balls. I initially bought the yarn for Askew, but didn't like it when I started so I frogged it. Then I saw Jan making a drop stitch scarf at our last knitting meet and after a bit of discussion with her decided to make the scarf up in the Noro. It looks gorgeous, but needs to be blocked to show it's full potential. I initially made this for me, but Jess has made it quite clear that I'm not going to get to wear it LOL

Now I'm making Beaumonde for Jess's friend, Ellie as a Christmas present.

What’s happening lately…

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, not posted for a while, basically because not a great deal has happened. I've received some Debbie Bliss pure silk from a Ravelry user, I was a bit miffed because Royal bloody Mail stung me for 'International Handling Fee's'.

I've spent today filling in forms, Alex's DLA is up for renewal and I've kept putting it off. Then I got a letter telling me that because I'm on Income Support with a disability premium, I have to apply for Incapacity Benefit. Then after talking to them on the phone they told me I should apply for Child Tax Credit too! Now all the forms are filled in and I've just got to post them!

Mum's going on a 5 day cruise on the QE2 tomorrow. I made Cinnamon Latte for her to take on the cruise and today I received a gorgeous shawl pin off eBay - it arrived just in time! It'll go perfectly with that shawl AND with Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights which we will be casting on January 3^rd. I've got several people on Ravelry interested in doing it too, so I've organised a KAL.

I got the beads for it today - blimey they're small. We decided a couple of days ago to thread the beads before cast on day, which is a bloody good thing now I've seen the beads - it's gonna take ages!

I also received two row counters from Muddy Paws, I can't wait to use them, they're great!

I've also just bought an iPhone, it's lovely and I've managed to get one of those sim hacker things so I can use my T-Mobile sim in it, but I can't jailbreak the damn thing. I've tried 4 times and every time the phone just freezes up. It's a brand new phone so I think I'll give it a bit longer until they've perfected the jailbreaking software for the phone.

Oh, I also had my nails done on Friday, then I met up with a few of the others from the knitting group so we could knit in public as last week was National Knitting Week!

What I’ve been doing

Forgive me if this doesn't make sense - I didn't go to bed last night and I'm exhausted!

I've been working hard on my cabled yoke cardigan from Vogue Knitting, I've completed the front and the back, just doing the sleeves, then I can sew it all together and do the yoke.

Mum said it's starting to get cold and she's been suffering with the most awful chest infection, so I rustled up Tudora for her. This is her modelling it along with a pic of the back of my cardi.

Going to get back into the afghan as soon as I've finished this cardigan. I've also got to make a "Weasley" for Kerry's son Herbie. I've got the wool, still waiting for her to send me the measurements. I'm hoping to have my cardigan finished by the end of the week!

Must remember to buy some buttons tomorrow!

Now I feel all inferior

On Friday I told you about the World's Biggest Stash - today I decided it was time to sort out my stash into some semblance of order.

Now I feel all inferior :'(

Knitters Paradise

I'm just off to battle the insomnia, but I had to draw your attention to this! Isn't it amazing? I could barely breathe when I first saw those photos. Now THAT is knitting paradise!

Yummy!

Oooooooooooooh, look what came in the post today, I bought it from another Ravelry user and it is simply gorgeous -– it's Knitwitches silk and there's LOADS –- I'm going to have so much fun finding the perfect project for it! A friend has just loaned me Victorian Lace Today and A Gathering of Lace, I'm bound to find something in there!

And here's a photo of Phoebe modelling one of the romper suits I made for her - apparently she's growing out of them fast!

Road Rage!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Why is everyone on the road - apart from me, obviously - a complete and utter idiot!

Don't worry - that was a rhetorical question!

I went to Newport to get the design on my nails changed today - don't they look great??

Anyway, on my way down the High St in Newport, heading for Coppins Bridge roundabout, I was in the right hand lane (to Sandown). As I went onto the roundabout, some old fart in a Jaguar with a woman who'd had some kinda botox explosion on her face, tried to cut me up. I moved forward and threw him a filthy look - which I'm very good at lol.

The Jeep behind me allowed this idiot to cut in, then BOTH cars overtook while in the wrong lane and then both of them cut me up! I couldn't believe it. What the hell is wrong with people? I sounded the horn to notify the Jeep that I wasn't happy about being cut up and the dickhead behind the wheel got all huffy - yes, he'd indicated, but just cos you flash your indicators does not mean you can cut in front without waiting for me to, at least, acknowledge you! What a pratt!!!

It's at times like this I wish I still smoked!

Freecycle

Dontcha just love Freecycle? If you haven't heard of it, it's a swap group essentially. If you have something you want to get rid of locally, but you can't be bothered to sell it or whatever, you just send a mail through the yahoo group. If someone wants it, they mail you or call you and they collect!

Look what I picked up today!

How great is that! It's got a little dent in the front and the top is a bit of a mess, but that can be covered easily and it's in full working order. I've cleaned it up and it's come up great!

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!