Sewing

Anyone who knows me well knows I have this conviction that sewing machines are the work of the devil!

You press a pedal and the thing goes crazy! This little needle bounces up and down, you get a big tangle of thread and a snapped needle!

You do!

After telling Helen this on twitter; she decided to teach me how to use her sewing machine....she taught me how to make a little square lined drawstring bag. I thoroughly enjoyed it and decided I would add sewing to my list of craft hobbies.

I visited our local Singer distributor and picked out a nice looking machine that the assistant told me would suit an absolute beginner, like myself, but would also suit someone more experienced - good machine to grow with!

As they did a layaway plan, I went for it.

I took possession of my fancy machine just before Christmas 2009......and haven't even plugged it in since then!

Fast forward to this year.

I taught a friend of mine to spin and she said she'd teach me to sew in return. I was very excited about this and she took my machine away to give a service and to familiarise herself with it. She bought it back just before we went to Italy and declared it a good machine and ready to go!

I took some material and interfacing to Italy with me, deciding that if the feeling grabbed me I would make two carry cases; one for my Sony Pocket Reader and one for Mum's Kindle. Naturally, I didn't get the time.

On Tuesday I received this gorgeous purse from Marianne! I'd sent her the fabric and some cash and she sent this back with my latest fibre club parcel? There was even some material left over. Marianne even put an iPhone pocket in it for me!

So after watching Prince William marry Catherine Middleton on the TV yesterday (wasn't her dress stunning!), I summoned all my courage and with my trusty twitter running; I got out my machine!

I started off by pinning the lining tight around the reader.

When I was happy with the snugness, I took a deep breath and sewed the two seams. I SEWED!!

Then I pondered how to attach the interfacing. After a bit of quick discussion with twitter, namely andsewtoknit, I decided the best course was to unpick the two fabulous lines I had done and redo it, but with the interfacing in place too.

I also ran a seam along the bottom fold to make the fold a bit more tidy.

I was on a roll!

Then I spent the next several hours cutting, fitting and sewing the outer layer into place.

After about three hours, I had made THIS!



I am sooooooooo proud of this! I'm going to buy some of that Velcro on tape to make a closure for it (I forgot to add a button loop in my enthusiasm!), but that can wait. It fits and it fits snugly!

Now I've just got to make one for Mums Kindle!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Holiday Photos

OK, I was going to do a post of each place and just fill it with photos.

But I took a lot of photos.......

So here is a link to the photos I took.

They're all kind of jumbled together and I'm sorry about that, but I'm sure you'll enjoy them anyway :D

Don't forget to click on the sub-albums on the right of that page!

Italy Week 3!

We reached Tiber campsite before lunch and had a nice relaxing day doing very little.

Monday 18th April

We went to Roma again, purely to see the Sistine Chapel. We took up the offer of a guide and set off for the museum.

Unfortunately, you have to go through the Vatican museum to get to the Sistine Chapel and doing a tour was the easiest and quickest way...it also meant we got to skip at least 3 hours of queueing!

Much to my dismay, it was absolutely heaving! There seemed to be no limit on the amount of people allowed in at once and it was almost impossible to see much unless it was at least six feet up in the air! Our tour guide was a guy named Anton from London, he spoke far too fast, our group was too large and if he went beyond ten feet of me; his mic didn't transmit to our headsets properly. It was all very frustrating and hot!

After two hours and far too much walking, we reached the Chapel.

It was PACKED!!!

Contrary to what we had previously been told - and what is on the Vatican website - we were allowed to take photos and I took loads. The ceiling was, of course, amazing! Parts of it looked 3D and the nine panels in the middle told the story of Genesis.

Mum and I were in an awful amount of pain by then and were, frankly, pleased to get out at the end - the pain followed us all the way back to the campsite :(

Tuesday 19th April

I was very stiff when I woke this morning, but was soon able to move after some tea and a shower.

We set off for Venezia; Sean the SatNav said it was just under 500km and would take about five hours.

In reality, it took six and I was shattered when we arrived at Fusina campsite. We checked in and hunted for somewhere to stick the van - there's no organisation in Italian sites, you put your van wherever there is room and hope your electric cable will reach the hook-up point!

We ate dinner and read for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday 20th April
Today is my mothers 69th birthday and today she got to go to Venice and ride on a Gondola - something she has always wanted to do!

Venice is incredible - even when you disregard the fact that the whole place is slowly sinking - there is NO road traffic! A city with no cars! It's so quiet and relaxed and peaceful!

We only managed to explore a small section as we were still feeling the effects of walking around the Vatican museum and then driving for a whole day! But we had a lovely day and ended it with a lovely meal followed by a gondola ride.

Thursday 21st April
Mum went back to Venice today, the boys, Isis and I elected to stay at the campsite (which is a LOT quieter in the day - there seem to be nightly parties here unfortunately!) and I had a lovely day of sun bathing burning, reading and knitting!

Friday 22nd April
We left the Venice campsite at lunchtime, I have today, tomorrow, Sunday and until 3pm Monday to get to Calais which 1397km away - I need to travel approximately 350km a day!

I travelled 300km today, we made it out of Italy and across the Austrian border. As we're travelling along roads without tolls; there are very few places to stop overnight, so we've stopped in a little town car park for the night.

Saturday 23rd April
I've had to drive 400km today to get us to the halfway level. My right leg and foot really hurt and I'm hot and tired.

We've made it across the border into Germany - that means there are Rastenplatz! We found one on the A8 near Stuttgart - it's surprisingly quiet and there are toilets!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Europe

Italy Week 2!

Forgive me if this rambles, my iPad ran out of battery and i didnt get it charged until the end of the week lol.

We found a lovely campsite near Rome - all green with daisies (daisies always seem so summery to me!)

We didn't really do much else once we had got there, except make use of the hot showers and sinks for washing dishes and clothes.

On Tuesday, we caught the free bus to the train station, then a train from Prima Porta into Rome. We then had to switch to the underground train to get to the Collosium - holy shit, that thing is MAHOOSIVE!!! we wandered around the outside of the Collosium for a bit, but decided not to go inside due to the massive queue.

Then we got on a tour bus and travelled around the city on that for a bit. We got off at St Peter's Square and ogled the Vatican for a bit.

Another huge queue put us off trying to visit the Sistine Chapel (which we all regretted once we were back at the campsite!)

On Wednesday we left that site and set off down the coast as we wanted to get to Naples and Pompeii. We stopped at a site near Vesuvius, but it wasn't very nice and we discovered after checking in that they don't accept dogs. We kept Isis hidden and left the next morning.

Thursday we drove round the base of Vesuvius and around the outskirts of Pompeii. By evening, I had no idea where we were, we had driven through some towns that had really narrow streets and completely insane local traffic. It was also a complete shit hole - rubbish everywhere and it was filthy!

Just a quick note - if you're planning to visit Italy and youure an animal lover; don't go to southern Italy. They let their dogs roam loose and don't pay any attention to whether they live near a busy road or not. Everyone on the road is a complete nutter - they pay absolutely no attention to the speed limit, other drivers or lines painted in the road.

I've seen ten dogs since leaving Rome, 3 in the local village, 1 on the beach, 3 on the campsite and four dead by the roadside.

But we found a gorgeous site, right on the coast with private (pebble) beach access and a fantastic view! Mum says we're on the Amalfi coast but we don't know the area - we're staying at Camp Nettuno; it's a small camp with all the amenities needed, but it's basic - the view more than makes up for it though!!

When we arrived, we had a quick walk around then Matt, Alex and I went to the beach, the water was cold and the pebbles hurt our feet, but Alex & I managed a swim. We spent the rest of the day sunbathing :D

That evening we agreed we would stay here another night and just spend Friday (today) relaxing, resting and sunbathing.

It started to rain at 6am and hasn't stopped ALL day!!

We've met several other English couples, one couple are touring Europe (they're off to Greece tomorrow) in their camper (they sold their house & bought the camper!) and they told us the best time to get into the Sistine Chapel is late afternoon, there are hardly any queues!

We've discussed it and we've decided that tomorrow we are going to visit Pompeii properly, then head back to Roma before going on to Venezia!

Saturday 16th April
We got up this morning and set off for Pompeii. It didn't take long to get there, we walked around the 'new' city for a bit then we discovered an information point where a lovely woman loaded us with free guide books and lots of information.

We then spent a couple of hours exploring the 'old' city - the archaeological ruins of what is left of Pompeii after Mount Vesuvius blew it's top in 79AD.

It was fascinating to see how well items had been preserved, although these casts of bodies were distressing!

After we left the old city we had some lunch at a restaurant with dreadful service and a waiter who tried to overcharge us by €20! After a lot of calculating, he adjusted the total, but it was still too much. He got the manager who then got all stroppy, ripped up the bill and told us to pay whatever the hell we wanted while muttering something in Italian about the English - I refused point blank to pay the 15% service charge for a waiter who had to be asked to bring part of our meal (which was shoddy at best) and who couldn't even add up with a calculator!

Then we headed for Vesuvius. We had been told that we would be able to drive to within a kilometre of the summit and from there we could walk up. To my surprise; the van handled the drive up really well!

Alex, Matt, Isis and I walked the remaining 1100 metres while Mum stayed in the van and had a coffee. The view was spectacular! You could see miles and miles of Italy and right at the top, you could look down into the crater of the volcano!

After we drove back down, we headed for Roma again. We're about an hour away from the campsite now, but it's nearly 8pm, I'm tired and it seems a bit daft to pay for a spot on a campsite when we can just sleep here in a truck stop for nothing!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Europe

Italy! Week 1

Tuesday 5th April 2011

We arrived safely into Calais around 5pm last night, we have to see the vet in Belgium today so we can't go far.

We decided to look for a spot near La Plage (the beach) and headed for Cap Gris-nez. We found a car park behind a radar station/lighthouse and all went to sleep early.

Woke early this morning to rain - it's now lunchtime, we're in Belgium and it's still raining.

I also have a cold :(

We stopped for a cuppa and I discovered that iTranslate (which I downloaded for use in Italy) doesn't work without a poxy Internet connection! How stupid is that!?!?

We drove for most of the day and by Tuesday evening were in Luxumberg. We found a parking complex and got settled in for the night then a big 18 wheeler parked behind us and put his music on really loud, so we moved to another part of the car park.

Wednesday 5th April

The day has started out beautifully, sun is shining and it's warm - the only problem is that our water tank is empty!

Thursday 6th April
We eventually found a water source and headed toward Como. We got stuck in traffic and lost at least an hour.

As it was getting dark; we started looking for somewhere to stop - I ended up pulling into a lay-by. When I turned the lights off; it was pitch black and there were MILLIONS of stars.

This morning we woke to find we were surrounded by mountains - beautiful sight first thing in the morning!

We headed for Lake Como - as it was so hot, we were hoping for somewhere to swim, but that area is very touristy and built up. We pretty much drove round the lake and continued south.

So, we made it as far as Thursday before Mum and I argued about her completely crappy map reading skills - when I am among four lanes of busy traffic and surrounded by 18 wheeler lorries; she cannot be vague about which way to go!

We are in some little village just north of Milan. We've stopped for dinner and plan to drive some more into the evening, which will be cooler....I hope!

Saturday 9th April
We spent Friday night in a Autogrill motorway service station surrounded by lorries then headed south towards Firenze.

We headed for a campsite that was in the Caravanning & Camping guide, but were a bit annoyed to discover the pool won't open for another month and although the park is open; they're not exactly READY to be open.

But we stayed here last night, we're going to catch the bus into Firenze today and stay here again tonight before heading onto Roma tomorrow.

It's VERY VERY hot and the scenery is gorgeous! We've driven over mountains and through valleys! I'm looking forward to seeing the stunning architecture in the Italian cities though!

Sunday 10th April
Oh wow, Firenze is a beautiful city - especially the cathedral! I took loads of photos of it, it was just so immense! Unfortunately, we didn't go inside as the queue was horrendous!

We also walked across the Ponte Vecchio - it's a bridge with shops on it, mostly jewellery stores. Some of the jewellery was gorgeous and I'm extremely glad I left my credit cards at home!

We're heading to Roma via Monteriggioni today, I can't wait to see the collesium!

It's Sunday evening, we went to Monteriggioni - if you've ever played Assassin's Creed; you'll understand why. It wasn't what I was expecting, it was smaller and we couldn't find the Villa Auditore lol.

We are now stopped on a roadside near a Marina, Alex and I have been for a swim and we've had dinner. We're probably just going to sleep here tonight (hopefully no one will tell us to move) and head on to a campsite near Roma tomorrow!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Europe

Oh dear....

So I woke up this morning....in absolute agony! It's either because of yesterday or because I sleep flat - I'm wondering if I need to sleep more propped up....

Mum came round yesterday and said the tax on the van is due to expire at the end of this month. She was concerned as we hadn't had a reminder. She showed me the paperwork she had for the van - she had the receipt and the registration document that the dealer was supposed to have sent to the DVLA when we bought the van!

I've just got off the phone with the DVLA, they say the dealer obviously did things 'backwards' and that we should still be able to tax the vehicle at the post office. Then I told him that the previous buyer of the van backed out right at the last minute, but the dealer had already written his details on the registration then used Tipp-Ex.

DVLA says that makes the registration null and void and there's a good chance the Post Office will refuse to tax it.

I asked what to do then, he said I would have to apply for new registration documents before I can tax it - this can take four to six weeks!

Mum is going to go to the post office in a minute and see if she can blag a tax disc, if not; I think she's planning on visiting the dealership and having a rant!

We go on holiday in eleven days!

It must be spring!

Gorgeous weather today, so gorgeous that I sat outside in the garden for several hours when I got up!

Eventually though the memory of my messy house intruded so I had to go back inside and do something about it! I washed the dishes, wiped down worktops, then I vacuumed upstairs hall, vacuumed kitchen, cut Mum's hair, cut Jessica's hair, vacuumed kitchen again, vacuumed downstairs hall, then I tidied, rearranged and vacuumed the craftroom.

After all that; Alex, Jess, Andy (Jess' boyfriend) and I took Isis for a really long walk!

My new chair is now in the craftroom and tonight I'm back to sleeping in my room again!

I'm exhausted but I've had a very productive day......and I did it all with no painkillers!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ponderings

A few things I've been pondering, I'm considering moving my blog to a different site - I could move it to somewhere like Squarespace and give it a personal URL!

I could also phone people for help with personalising it the way I want and I could add a page for shop stock with a shopping cart etc

I'd also love to figure out a way to have tumblr post to my blog - not as a sidebar widget, but in between the regular posts, so that when I see pics of stuff I can just load it to tumblr and know that you guys - you are there, right? - can see it too!

Although I've got this blogprees thing, it's not perfect - I'd much rather type straight onto the site, but blogger won't let me unless I use the HTML editor - and I don't know enough HTML to do that!

Anyone wanna give me lessons?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wow, it's been ages since I posted. In some ways loads of stuff has happened, but in other ways it feels like nothing's happened - ya know?

My friend Debs came over for the day as were attending a talk at Shanklin Theatre by Chris Packham - remember him? He's the cute one from The Really Wild Show! He's much cuter in real life!

Debs & I headed back to Southampton after as the following day we were going to Unravel in Farnham Maltings! Unravel is a craft fair, dyers and sellers of yarn and fibre attend to sell their stuff.

I bought some gorgeous fibre - unfortunately, I found out later the stuff reeks of lavendar and lavendar gives me migraines. I'm avoiding it at the moment in the hopes the smell wears off! Once my new fancy shower bath is fitted and I get my craft room back (the bath was stored in the craft room!) then I'll open the batt and unplait the roving to air it out properly!

I really wish dyers wouldn't add scent to their stuff!

I also ordered a large project bag from The Bothered Owl.

I bought some more 70% Alpaca/30% Merino - another 500g - this time in black! It's absolutely scrummy and spins better on a Double Drive wheel than it does on a Scotch Tension one!

Look at this if you don't believe me!

Unfortunately, just after that; I found Daniela's stall. The woman is pure evil! She makes the most gorgeous, colourful, sparkly batts and I wanted them all! I had only recently received 2 in the post and ended up buying six more at Unravel!

The best bit about the whole day though was spending it with old friends - Debs and Helen - and meeting friends face to face finally; I finally got to meet Claire! We had our photo taken and you can see it in Claire's Flickr Stream.

The following day was Alex's 15th birthday - although to look at him you'd think he was a lot older. He's currently standing at 6ft 5in and has quite a heavy moustache!

We went to the cinema and then for a KFC afterwards and the following Saturday he had a party here at home while I went clubbing.

Apparently he was quite sick LOL!

I bought a new bath at the beginning of the year, one of those fancy curved baths so that you can put a shower in one end. Unfortunately, after buying it; I couldn't afford to fit it so it's been sat in my craft room. Kyle finally took pity on me and is paying for the plumber to fit it! I have to pay for an electrician to come and hook up the jacuzzi part of it though!

A few months ago I received an e-mail from a woman called Heather asking where our craft group meets, I sent her the e-mail along with my mobile number and thought nothing more of it. A couple of weeks later, we'd just arrived at The Chequers Inn and my old midwife walked through the door!

I said Hi, gave her a hug and asked what she was doing in that neck of the woods - turns out she's the Heather that had e-mailed me!

She's recently expressed an interest in learning to spin, so she came over this week and I taught her as best I could. I've let her borrow Trinity to practice on.

She's also taken my unused 18 month old sewing machine away to give it a service and has promised to give me sewing lessons in return for the spinning lesson!

In a few short weeks, we'll be in Italy! I can't believe it's come around so quickly! Mum and I got talking about it in Norway and decided we'd go this April. The ferry off the Island and the Eurotunnel have all been booked, we've just got to pack the van and get going! We'll be gone most of the month!

I've got a new chair! It's gorgeous!! Italian leather in cream, a recliner but it's all squishy and firm and soooo comfortable. As an added bonus, after it was finally delivered; I discovered it's the perfect height for spinning!

I can't wait until the bath is completely fitted, all the bits and pieces are out of my craft room so I can get in there, have a really good clean up and move my chair into the room!

I'm ploughing on with the sock challenge and have, so far, managed to finish one pair by the cast on date of the next pair! Unfortunately, I have managed no other knitting whatsoever; if I'm not knitting socks, I'm spinning Alpaca/Merino! I'm not sure how well I'll stay on track once we go away - I can't knit in the car as I don't travel well so I'll probably do most of the driving anyway and by evening I'm just too damn tired to do more than eat and sit! We'll see!

I have mastered knitting without looking now, this is excellent as I've really missed reading since I got back into my knitting. I did manage it while making Kyle's scarf, but that was just garter stitch in chunky yarn. I can now knit while knitting with sock yarn (as long as the pattern isn't too complicated) so I might have a go at knitting while in the van as a passenger!

Sounds like the plumber has finished moving the sink so I best go off and investigate his handiwork!

Speak soon and keep knitting, spinning, crocheting, dyeing, whatever it is that you do ☺

Socks, spinning, Unravel & a milestone

So, let's see.

I finished my D socks, I did the Double Basket Socks from Little Box of Socks in some really bright yarn that came from Natalie (aka The Yarn Yard).

I really like them (even though I don't normally go for orange); they're bright and I smile whenever I look at them!

I've also had a massive plying session! I've finished both Still Waters and the pink tencel/merino I was spinning.

This colourway is called Madder Lake, I had 100g of it and I 2 plied the singles. I ended up with a whopping 948.7 m/1037.5 y.

Jess has claimed the yarn and I think I'll make her a Clapotis.

Then we have Still Waters, a 'Glitterball' from BabyLongLegs (who, incidentally, I got Sherry The Cherry from). Gorgeous colours and it has sterling silver in it too!

I Navajo plied this yarn to preserve the colours and ended up with 661.4 m/723.3 y.

Today....well, yesterday now as it's 2.15am....was Unravel at Farnham Maltings. I went with Debs in her car and met up with Helen and Claire when we got there. There was more there than I was expecting to see, but not as much fibre as I hoped for.

I did buy some gorgeous humbug stuff, black Alpaca and merino. I bought 500g of it and I started it this evening. It's so soft and luscious!

I also spent loads of money with Daniela from The Felt Studio UK - I think I might as well just give that woman the password to my paypal account. Have you seen the batts she cards? If not, go and visit for her etsy shop, just make sure someone is there to restrain you!

Now today is Sunday and it is also my daughter's 16th birthday.

I'm astonished when I look at her; she's a young lady now! When the hell did that happen? I love who she is (most of the time), but I miss that cute little girl that she used to be with ringlet hair and a cheeky giggle. Now she's a gorgeous young woman who wears revealing clothes and makeup!

Shocking!

;-)

Rambly post

Sorry I've been so quiet! No excuse really, just one of those things.

I finally got over the flu, gawd I felt ill! It took so long for the coughing to stop, then it simmered down to needing to clear my throat every five minutes - it was exhausting!

I still haven't plied the fibre I showed you in my last post, I started spinning some merino and tencel that Josie sent me a year or so ago and am now trying to get that finished - looks like I have a huge plying session awaiting me!

I'm steaming ahead quite nicely with the sock challenge, we are currently on letter D, socks A, B and C are all finished. Don't they look fab?

I'm going to save them until they're all complete before I start wearing them - well, that's the plan anyway LOL.

Unravel is next weekend! I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be travelling with Debs and I'll finally get to see Claire face to face (I was so gutted not to go to the tennis tournament and meet her in December!). I'm also looking forward to meeting old and new friends too!

I'm back to sleeping in the lounge at the moment, I bought a bath last month, but can't afford to get it fitted and my craft room is the only room big enough to store it in *sigh*

I'm sure there's more to tell you, but my mind has gone blank and Alex is clamouring for the computer (the one I gave him for Christmas died a spectacular death in the first week, so he's now using my Mac and I use the iPad - it's just still quicker to type on a keyboard that gives you tactile feedback than a touchscreen!)

If I remember what else I wanted to say, I'll be back in true Swarzeneggar style :D

Message From My Sickbed

I have the flu.

I spent last night shivering in pyjamas (which I never normally wear), under a blanket, duvet and Isis the Fluffy Puppy.

I managed to sit up long enough to drink a cup of tea, then had to go back to sleep as I had a chronic migraine.

I didn't really manage to sit up until dinner time this evening, but I did manage to finish the first bobbin on Sherry The Cherry.

This is fibre from Sarah, it's 63% SW Merino/20% Silk/14% Nylon/3% Sterling Silver! How fab! Now I just need to find something to ply it with to do it justice!

I'm supposed to be going to spinning guild tomorrow, but I have a temperature, am coughing and generally feel bleurgh - so I doubt I'll go. Quite bummed really, guild is only once a month and something always seems to get in the bloody way of it!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sherry The Cherry

This big box arrived today.



I opened it up and saw a glint of gorgeousness.


Pulled this out.


Loaded it up.



Then delved back into box and pulled out this!

Meet Sherry The Cherry Matchless! Isn't she gorgeous? She's a limited edition wheel - one of 150 in the world! She's marked as limited edition and she was created on 14th August 2009, the fourth wheel of the day created.

I am in lurve!

Placing beads in knitting

I've made quite a few shawls with beads in and I've tried various methods on how to add the beads. I used a crochet hook when I made Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights and it took AGES!

Then I read a blog post on using a needle and thread instead. It was very fiddly and difficult at first until I got going and got used to doing it, then I found it a lot faster!

My friend, Megan, asked me if I could make a tutorial to show her how it's done and here it is.

Please excuse the quality of the video, but an iPhone 4 is the best video camera we've got LOL

A Hairy Experiment

I decided I wanted a change and flirted with the idea of perming my hair, but then I remembered how much it pissed me off when I had it done as a teenager.

So I borrowed a curling tong iron thingy from my friend Natalie and had a play this morning and managed this:

Loved it loads and promptly ordered a curling iron.

I had to pop out (I took a brolly as it was raining). I was gone a couple of hours max, when I got home - it looked like this:

It's dropped a bit & looks a bit frizzed. Now, I use a frizz prevention shampoo & conditioner and I spray with Tresemme heat defense spray before using a hot iron appliance on it.

How can I help it stay looking like photo 1? Should I use mousse when it's wet or hairspray when it's dry or both? I don't know much about hairstyling (I live in a ponytail LOL)

How my new year started!

Happy 2011!

Did you have a good holiday? Did you get lots of goodies and eat lots of cake?

Did you see the new year in? I was going to be all boring and stay at home as I had had a bad insomnia attack the night before, but Kaz, Ashley & Cara came and bullied me so I went up to their mum's house with them.

So, I finished the shawl I was working on, it's not as big as I would like but I ran out of yarn and as it was a dye mistake; it'll have to do!

This year I am participating in the A-Z sock challenge....wait, I've mentioned that, right? Hang on, there's a link I expect *scurries off* - *scurries back* yep, this is the link!

So, I have started Athena, it's going quite well. I turned the heels on both socks today and I'm just decreasing down the gusset to the toe now. I should be finished in another day or two.

The snakes are growing well and are now on two pinkies a week. This evening I was holding Daffyd and he crawled up under the lapel of my dressing gown. He was having a good old wriggle so I pulled him out to discover he was shedding.

I'm surprised he didn't bite me! I held him while he finished shedding and we measured the skin - he's almost 22" long! That's huge and I guess I better go shopping for a new, bigger vivarium!

Christmas isn't just for kids

I was moaning on Christmas Eve about the TV showing utter crap nowadays on Christmas.

When I was a kid, we always used to watch Mary Poppins, ET, Star Wars, Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz.

But this year; the telly has come through. We didn't get it all on Christmas Day, but ET was on yesterday and I am watching Mary Poppins right now!

Hey, I'm not the only one!

My friend Ashley is 'fed up with waiting for his phone to arrive, but it's ok because Mary Poppins is on'. My friend Elle is also happy it's on and Stephen Fry is in heaven!

Well, she is Practically Perfect In Every Way :0)

Merry Christmas

It's now 5.20pm and - for most of you - the fun is all over!

The food consumed, the presents opened and all the shouting done LOL

Well, we've done all of that except for the food! Every year we plan meticulously for Christmas dinner, so we can eat at a halfway decent time and every year we starve all day long while the damn food refuses to cook at a decent rate.

Tonight we'll be eating about 8pm!

So, what did you get for Christmas? I got a toolkit from Mel, a little heart pendant from Mason and lots of chocolate from the kids!

But you lot, my online friends, you totally surprised me!

I tend to go through life very hard on myself. I know I can make people laugh, but I'm also incredibly pushy and I know I make people uncomfortable - especially when I lose my temper! I chat to quite a few people, but I often get it into my head that if I disappeared; I wouldn't really be missed on here...

Claire started it, I received 2 e-mails on the 23rd telling me that Claire had bought me Through The Woods pattern (Ravelry link) and Flying Cables pattern! Then Helen got in on it and bought me the Chandelier Fingerless Gloves pattern (Ravelry link) and a Damselfly Shawl pattern (Ravelry link)! Next thing I knew; Diane bought me Sweet Tees pattern! Then Elle bought me Athena pattern (Ravelry link) for my 'A' socks on 1st Jan! Rita also got in on it with the Owlsocks pattern (Ravelry link)! Then Kristina bought me this gorgeous pattern (Ravelry link) called Serenity which I'm very excited about as it's knit with two strands of KSH so will be a gorgeous warm sweater!

Eight presents! Some of them from people that I haven't met yet! I am so totally blown away by the generosity of my online friends.

Thank you so much!

Merry Christmas!

I challenge you!

Over the past couple of years I've heard about the sock challenge.

The idea is that you guess how many socks you can knit in a year then go for it. You can do 52 socks in 52 weeks, 26 socks in 52 weeks, 12 socks in 12 months, whatever combination suits you.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - otherwise known as the Yarn Harlot - came up with a fab idea at the beginning of 2010. She decided to go for the 12 socks in 12 months idea and she made up 12 sock kits.

She explains here, but basically she got 12 bags and in each bag she put a skein of yarn, a pattern and needles. All she had to do was grab a bag to get started on each one.

I don't know why, but sock challenge on Ravelry starts in June - personally I think that's odd; if you're going to do something over a year, then start at the beginning of the year!

So on the 1st January, I am going to start my sock challenge. I'm initially going to go for the 12 in 12. I could do the 52 in 52 - I have knit a pair of socks in a week before now - but I wouldn't get any time to knit anything else or to do any spinning and I'm not going without spinning for a whole year!

I shall keep you updated on the blog, a few people on facebook have already said they'll join me.

As I was writing this post, Elle posted that the UK sock knitters group on Ravelry had planned an alphabet sock knit.

These are the rules:

• Every two weeks a new sock would be cast on to relate to the current letter, which would be the first letter of the pattern title.
• There would be no obligation to fulfil the whole years worth of A-Z, however there may be plans to have prizes for the people who knit the most socks
• Each letter will have a two week cast on period, you would have to post during that week to say you have cast on and which pattern. The only finishing date would be the end of the year.
• No baby socks, only socks for two year olds and above, with a leg of 3 inches will be eligible (it would be too easy to whip out a pair of baby socks every two weeks after all!). The idea is to challenge yourself :)
• Have fun!

I think this sounds like great fun! So I've joined!

This will actually give me a bit of leeway as we're planning a 3 week holiday to Italy at Easter and I know from visiting Norway and Wales that I just won't get a lot of knitting time!

The weather strikes again

After missing out on the tennis at the beginning of the month, I got myself into the mindset that if it was going to snow then so be it. I had ordered my shopping and I could just hole up here where it's warm and dry and look out the window and marvel how pretty it is!

On Sunday evening I was on my way home after taking Isis the Fluffy Puppy out for her daily walk - we have walked daily for over a month now! - we'd gone out on our own and were quite confident that we would be alright.

I was just coming down a small slope past the Co-op at the end of my village and I stood on a patch of ice.

I didn't even see it!

I fell - hard! I landed (narrowly avoiding Isis who looked completely baffled to find me suddenly on the floor beside her!) right on my backside with my left palm flat on the floor next to me.

After a minute or two, I managed to get back on my feet and head towards my house. I was so stunned and had scared myself so much I could barely move - a walk that usually takes a minute, took me 15 minutes.

By the time I got home, I was having a mild panic attack and shaking like a leaf. My left arm was alternating between agony and numbness, I had pins and needles in my left hand and couldn't make a fist, I had knots of pain on the inside of both thighs, my back was in spasm and my favourite jeans had split under the strain.

Alex rushed to make me tea and I took one of my whammy pills to help ease the spams and calm me down. I spent the rest of the evening hobbling around with my stick (which I haven't used it months!)

By the time I went to bed, several hours later, I had regained some use in my left arm and the pins and needles were easing.

I felt like I had been beaten when I woke, but I was able to move and the tingling in my hand had gone. I was ok providing I moved carefully.

Then I walked Kaz home after knit night. I do this every Monday. She comes to mine, rides with me there and back, then I walk her back to Sandown - that way I can still do my daily walk but not be too tired to go out!

I was doing fine, all the way to Kaz's house - we chatted about shopping, Christmas and tattoo ideas. I walked her to her door and kept going back towards town to come home.

By the time I reached the town centre, I knew I was in trouble. The pain in my left shoulder was intense! I also had pain in my back, all down my left arm and in the back of my right knee (that was new - I guess it must've happened as my right leg slipped out from underneath me). I couldn't walk very fast and basically shuffled along.

A walk that should've taken me half an hour tops, took approximately an hour and ten minutes!

I feel worse today than yesterday, my left shoulder is absolutely agony and clicks if I move it in a certain way (I'm pretty sure that's normal for an Ehlers Danlos sufferer like myself - I just hope it doesn't dislocate), my forearms ache, my back aches, my neck aches and I'm still fighting the flu I've had for three weeks too!

I've got a billion and one things to do, 3 fruit cakes, 2 almond slices and 2 chocolate cakes (at least) to bake and I feel like one huge bruise.

I've had enough of winter now :(