Valentine Cheval

Valentine Cheval
Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Todays knitting.

Me and boats

Not always a good mix...me and boats but add the worlds cutest boy Border Terrier and maybe I see the attraction of messing about on the water a bit more (Capt Johnty is on deck in the photo). So although yesterday was grey and wet we spent a lovely day with Capt Johnty and his folks on their very beautiful yacht. Much fun and laughter, much rain and really good company especially as another friend and her lovely Border boy - Radish - also came for a visit and a stroll. For a day that had a 'boat' in its equation (which normally would spell horror for me) it was a pretty stonking one!

August

Would you hate the person I’ve become?


Would you even know me?

Could you see the child that I was?

Or would you hear my inner voice that calls to you?

Would we stand like strangers without words?

Would the silence all about us start to grow?

Could we find some common ground

Or just feel awkward with each other and then go?



The time that’s passed has changed me beyond measure,

Life has etched it passage on my face,

Trials have warped and bent and wounded me

But the love I held for you never lessens.


I wish that we could have just a moment

Just one, to reach out across the void.

I wish that we had taken time to say the things

That needed to be said that other time.

My anger has lessened now and is faded

That you left me when I still had need of you

Wishing for the past will never change this

But I am still the person that you knew.

Knitting for friends

A while back I made some Frankensocks for a friend. She loved them (phew) so much so she asked me to make her another pair, she said and I quote that my socks were 'heaven for feet', can't ask for a better accolade than that.

I don't mind knitting to order, I do it quite a lot. I have quite a few in a queue at the moment as well as a request to spin some alpaca fibre for a friend - enough with my own projects to keep my fingers busy.

The only downside to this is cost/price. Nine times out of ten I do it for the cost it takes to make, as how can I possibly price my time....per stitch, per hour, per inch? And no-one in their right mind would pay what it costs me in time to make these things. Sometimes I just gift my knitting cos I can and I feel it is good karma to do a random act of kindness now and then, I always hope the recipient will pass the karma on.

I have no problem with this conundrum - how can anyone who does not craft or knit even begin to understand the time a project takes that each and every little 'V' is one hand crafted stitch? They can't and if they could (by being a knitter themselves) then they wouldn't need me.

I have decided though to take on less knitting for others from next year as I want to have the time for my own knitting/crafting and I have some stuff that I want to work on to diversify my crafting.

I love the sock I have finished for my friend and number two is already on the needles. I hope they keep her feet cosy and warm through winter and it is a lovely feeling that my labour has given her something she likes and really seems to appreciate. My love of sock knitting never seems to abate.

Weaving a little happiness

 Hand woven, hand spun merino and silk for me.

Fire and earth affection

I love me a bandwagon so for my Olympic knitting I jumped on the 'Color Affection' shawl one. The pattern by Veera Valimaki is great and easy to follow. I rummaged the stash for fingering weight yarn, got me a 4mm circ and on Friday 3rd August I cast on, nine days later it is washed and blocking. I was concerned with the edges and read all sorts of stuff online and decided to go 50/50 with the yarn overs (just using them on the last two sections). It is big, soft and curvy and I love it. And considering it is all garter stitch it never became a boring knit and was the perfect companion to my all my velodrome/swimming/diving and giddy-up watching.

Books 69 -73

Girl with a Pearl Earring - by Tracy Chevalier
Format - Kindle

This is a re-read of a favourite book. I had to get a download though, which peed me off, as the book was not in the book case with all the others by this author, I had lent it to Ma who thought I didn't want it back and donated it to the WI! Still love this book and I never tire of it. It has great imagery and detail and you can almost believe you are there.

Charlotte - Pride and Prejudice Continues - by Karen Aminadra
Format - Kindle

The story of Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins after P & P ends. It is clever, entertaining and witty. It doesn't detract from P & P at all and answers questions that I had often pondered (I know P&P& Zombies kind of did too - but this is better). I really enjoyed this and read it in an afternoon because it was light, easy and flowed really well.

Chemical Flowers - by Suzanne Reeves and Ian Woodhead
Format - Kindle

This was offered for one weekend as a free download and came up via a connection on FB. This book is a total departure from my normal reading fair being more of a horroresque novel - but a change is as good as a rest they say. I used to read loads of horror as a teen but haven't ever really re found my love of it. This book, I think, is clever and entertaining and not over grisly - it has a good mix of gore and sex with some well written characters who are never really endearing in anyway but seem real - which I liked. It hasn't drawn me back to the genre but it is worth a read for certain and made a nice change for me.

At Long Odds and Keeping the Peace - both by Hannah Hooton
Format- Kindle

Downloaded one free and paid for the other - loved them. Bit of intrigue, bit of humour, bit of romance and horse racing - total winners in my book. Odds on favourites in fact. Nothing to tax the brain but easy as sipping a perfectly chilled glass of white wine. Nice summer evening reading.

Now weaving

weave 001
Originally uploaded by loobles2002

More spinning

spinnyday 007
Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Been making yarn cakes

spinnyday 011
Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Been spinning

kingfisher yarn 002
Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Never felt more like singing the blehs

I am still here but am in the doldrums at the moment. I am reading, spinning, knitting, crocheting, watching the the Olympics (kinda) and treading water a bit.

Need to get my head around some stuff - blog will take a back seat until I either finish something (unlikely) or re find my missing ooomph!

A pot wot I made

 I made a pot. I am no potter but I had great fun throwing this.

Pot - now with added extra yarn!

Books 64-68

The Essence of my Being - by Jean Price.
Format - Kindle

Interesting story concept but (sadly there is a but) they story jumps about too much, instead of following an idea through it charges off at a tangent - as does the heroine - this gives a disjointed feeling. That said though, it is a good book and I would happily read its sequel. Perhaps the author was trying to give a headlong, breathless, youthful feel to her narrative to reflect the youth of the heroine but I feel I may be being kind here.

Sexy in Stilettoes - by Nana Malone
Format - Kindle

This book does what 50 Shades of Yawn attempts to do - but with less effort and with a better story. Very sexual but without leaving  you feeling as if it is trying to shock more than thrill. It is quite well written too. Again it isn't a book that really leaves me with a sense of 'Oh wow, must read more' but it was good enough and fairly enjoyable and the sex scenes were much hotter (imho) and less Zzzzzz inducing. Would read another by this author but probably not for a while.

Hunter (A Custodaie Novel) - by C.W. Nash
Format - Kindle

Now this I liked. The author does take a while to set the plot of his story (maybe a bit too long - you keep waiting for the axe to fall) but that doesn't take anything away from the idea behind the story or the plot. It keeps a good pace and although the illness suffered by the hero is a very emotive one for me it worked within the storyline and gave the whole vampire/villain idea a new twist. Look forward to its follow up.

Minerva and The Taming of Annabelle (The Six Sisters) - by M C Beaton
Format - Kindle

Everything that you expect from this author. Better than the last book I read by her (Emily goes to Exeter). Although these books have less substance than the froth on your coffee I quite enjoyed them, that could be because I love the Regency period of history or it could because that are a light, historical romp with a dash of naughty, a smidge of romance, a ice cube of fashion and twizzle stick of tongue in cheek. Don't know if I'd read all six (wouldn't at full price - these two were daily deals at 99p each) but if they came my way at a discount then I'd wouldn't turn them down.
Great holiday reading - quick too - read both in a couple of afternoons.

Crochet crazy

 I love the crochet hexagon throw I made for my bedroom chair. So much so, that I am making a 2nd one to cover the seat.

 Here is the progress on throw number 2 - fairly slow but getting there.

 Finished hexagons - some edged in black ready to add to the throw.

Hexagons are so simple to make. Make a 7 chain and join it with a slip stitch.

 Chain 3 (which equals the 1st treble ...using UK terms here) then make 17 trebles into the centre of the loop (I crochet in the my ends as I go).

 Join the trebles with a slip stitch and chain 3. Make 1 treble then into next stitch, 1 treble, chain 2, 1 treble - this makes a corner. You need 2 trebles between each corner and 6 corners in total.

 Join with a slip stitch, chain 3 and this time make 4 trebles then a corner etc - all the way round.

 Keep going until you have the size hexagon you want.

I use double crochet to edge mine - 1 double for each treble and 3 doubles per corner.

Then using doubles again add to the the throw.

Perfect use for odds of sock yarn and pretty too.

Colour to make me smile

 A bobbin full of happy brightness that just makes me want to smile like an idiot (or an even bigger idiot if you prefer).

 Our new neighbours. I love gulls. They are part of living near the sea, their wheeling cries fill me with joy. The two that nest on next doors roof, every year, have had twins this year.

Their fluffy down has almost gone now - not long till they become 'Whistling Willies' - chasing their parents around the local roofs, whistling to be fed.

I got those happy feet

Surprise pressie from Mr L. Love him. Love them!

Hope 'heel' like them.

Or maybe a better title would be 'now with extra added heel appeal'.

Opal Van Gogh yarn, UK men's size 8 over 64 stitches on two 2.5mm circular needles.

Books 59-63

Reading has been on the back burner recently with too much other stuff going on.

The Shades of Grey Trilogy - by E. L. James
Format - Kindle downloads

I read all three but I have to say not because I liked them or that they were well written but firstly because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about and secondly because once I read one I wanted to know why he was the way he was - rather warped?! I never thought I'd say this about a book but here goes - "there was just way too much sex!" It all got rather dull and boring and by half way through the second book I was skim reading those scenes and in the third I skipped them completely.
I suppose if you are single and they float your boat then these books would be wonderful masturbation fodder or if your sex life is a little dull they might encourage you to expand (cough, cough) your horizons but to me (other than the curiosity about Mr Grey's past) they became a thing of humour. I admit to ripping the piss  out of them unmercifully - especially regarding some of the over repeated phrases - inner goddess - in a pig's eye more like.

Would I recommend them? - Not really - but they are 'the buzz' right now- so they must have something. I just wonder what this author will write next?

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice Book 1) - by G.R.R Martin
Format -Kindle download

I've not seen the TV series. I read this because I wanted something different, something long and absorbing after the books mentioned above. I have read good and bad reviews of this book but personally - I loved it! Couldn't put it down (am halfway through the second one).
It was a great holiday read and I love some of the characters that I already have the other books in my queue/wish list.

Wuthering Heights - by Emily Bronte
Format - Audio book

Another favourite revisited. Beautifully told. Always compelling. Wonderful.

The joy of an after thought heel

I love hand knitted socks (well duh) and they make perfect travel knitting. Using an after thought heel makes them an even better travel project because you just knit a tube with no shaping other than the toe.

 A pair of completed socks - all bar the heels. The green yarn shows where the heels will go.

 Use a circular needle to pick up the stitches either side of the green yarn - in this case there were 32 stitches each side.

 Remove the green yarn (the stitches are held safe on your needle cables). You can do this one stitch at a time using something like a large darning needle or.....

you can be an impatient little bunny like me and cut those fookers out! Remove all the green yarn scraps and then join your yarn and knit the live sock stitches back in the round. (Some stitches might be twisted so either right them or knit them  through the back of the loop.)

I tend to pick up 4 extra stitches (one for each needle tip) which helps close any gaps which might occur, so at the end of the first round I go from 64 stitches to 68 stitches.

I work my after thought heel in the same manner as I work the toe - doing one extra decrease round to loose those extra 4 stitches. I find for depth and width of the heel cup that decreasing from 32 stitches to 16 stitches per needle is just about right.

So simple, so neat and quick too.