Finally finished my aran knit cardi made in Donegal Tweed yarn. It's taken me 10 months because of all the other stuff I've knitted in between. I am pleased with the fit etc - though whether I wear it or not is another matter - lol. 

Close up of Donegal tweed yarn and stitch detail. 

Honeymoon cami in Hipknits silk - my Mum made this but it streched on it's 3rd wash so she gave it to me. I suggested she frogged or reblocked but she didn't want to - lucky me! 

A heap of OSW's - 3 in Hipknits silk, 1 in Cascade 220. 

Finished SparKal socks. 

Secret Pal 5

Today I received a lovely card and beautiful knitted bookmark from my new secret pal (piccie below). I love getting post and this was such a treat. What was also great is that it was knitted whilst she watched a mutual favourite musical Gigi. I love musicals and now must raid the video/dvd cupboard over the bank holiday weekend and indulge myself, as it seems forever since I watched any.

Anyway - thank you secret pal of mine.

Look at my wonderful gift and card from my new SP - isn't it wonderful. 

Just had to post this most recent piccie of Fifi - isn't she gorgeous? 

And there's more

More Sparkal - what a busy little bee I've been today!

SparKal

What better way to spend a wet and rainy afternoon than designing and making a couple of crochet chokers for the SparKal.


A big thank you to Yorkie for the yarn xxx.

Say hi to Kiki - the newest member of my Blythe family. The girlies have nicknamed her Squirt! They are on a high shelf as I'm fed up with their overnight drunken binges, they keep finishing off the wine - I'm hoping the sweet innocence of Kiki will keep them in line. Romys guitar playing just seems to have added fuel to the fire! 

Still humph.....

but where does humph come from? Well here is the answer.... are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.........

' "Humph" said the Camel.

"I shouldn't say that again if I were you" said the Djinn; " you might say it once to often. Bubbles, I want you to work."

And the Camel said "Humph!" again; but no sooner had he said it than he saw his back, that he was so proud of, puffing up and puffing up into a great big lolloping humph.

"Do you see that?" said the Djinn. "That's your very own humph that you've bought upon yourself by not working." '

'How the Camel got his Hump' by Rudyard Kipling

And to round off story hour here is the matching poem. I remember my sister reading this to me when I was little, so that proves I've been humphy for a long time.

The Camels hump is an ugly lump
Which well you may see at the zoo;
But uglier yet is the hump we get
From having too little to do.

Kiddies and grown ups too-oo-oo,
If we haven't enough to do-oo-oo,
We get the hump -
Cameelious hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

We climb out off bed with a frouzly head
And a snarly-yarly voice.
We shiver and scowl and we grunt and we growl
At our bath and our boots and our toys;

And there ought to be a corner for me
(And I know there is one for you)
When we get the hump -
Cameelious hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

The cure for this ill is not to sit still,
Or frowst with a book by the fire;
But to take a large hoe and a shovel also,
And dig till you gently perspire.

And then you will find that the sun and the wind,
And the Djinn of the garden too,
Have lifted the hump -
The horrible hump -
The hump that is black and blue!

I get it as well as you-oo-oo
If I haven't enough to do-oo-oo!
We all get the hump -
Cameelious hump -
Kiddies and grown ups too!

(Rudyard Kipling.)

So there is the origin of being humphy. Here's hoping it passes soon!

Humph!

This week I have been feeling 'Humph!'

Humph is when everything is too much effort.
Humph is when you just can't be asked.
Humph is when your face is all crumpled and grumpy.
Humph is when your smiles are on vacation.
Humph is when the people you love more than anything manage to piss you off.
Humph is when knitting seems a chore.
Humph is when sleep is a release.
Humph is when everything feels humphy.

So I am a lot humphy!

Here are the 5 skeins I dyed with Easter Egg dye tablets. The colours are more vibrant in reality especially the centre skein which is an amazing mauve colour. I had such fun doing this. 

My final sp4 box from the wonderful KatieLee - it's fantabulous darlinks. Thank you so much xxxx. 

Lovely goodies - sweeties, glittery bits, a princess card and a notions pouch - how did she know how much I needed one of these? 

The yarn pr0n shot - such lovely yummyalicious colours and textures. 

SparKal

I joined the SparKal (Kal=knit-along) and have just posted my progress so fair. I'm not normally a glittery type of gal but Gundel (Sp 4) sent me some lovely glittery Opal sock yarn as a thank you, the timing was perfect!

So here is a glittery trainer sock complete with pom-pom. Nice pattern from Spun Magazine - though I didn't enjoy the double needle cable cast on :0( much.

The glittery bits don't show up very well - but they're silver and with the sock colours remind me of the night sky.

Progress - have just cast on for sock number 2.

Also I might have caught the glittery bug - Yorkie (Sp3) sent me some glittery crochet weight yarn (some I've used in weaving) but I may have to make a little something else or maybe use KatieLees (Sp4) lovely beads.

Glittrgirl I blame you for making me catch the glitterbug *hehe*

1 half of a pair of sparKal trainer socks. 

Close up of heel pom-pom. 

A friend is someone who..............

loves you or so a book given to me by my bestfriend when aged 10 says. I find myself thinking about friendship a lot as I watch J develop relationships with his peers. The press talks about modern children (they always do whatever era you grew/grow up in) that they are couch potatoes or violent anti-social thugs and I'm sure some are. But in my recent experience with modern kids and from all the stuff I've read about whilst doing my degree - I would say that most of the children I've met are negotiators.

I love the way J negotiates his play with friends - the amount of actual give and take is quite astounding. Yes there are fall outs - we all have bad days, but the majority of the time, it's worked out fairly.

Children negotiate their way through life, finding ways to fit in, learn and to get what they want and I don't just mean materially. J will talk to us about something he'd like to do and then by discussing it with us we find a way to accommodate this - especially when it's obvious he's spent time thinking and planning the best way to approach us. It can be something as simple as watching a favourite video or going to bed 30 mins later or something more complex that he fancies like a day out somewhere. I admire him so much for this. In my day it was ask - don't get, don't ask - don't want and my parents always had complete veto - no negotiation at all.

I hope J continues to be like this and a friend is someone who loves you - especially when that friend is part of the parent/child relationship.

p.s Katie H - if you ever read this - I still have that book! (It's buried in the attic but I never threw it out.)

For KatieLee

My dear sp asked me to post pictures of where I live. She's in Australia and was curious. So here they are.

I actually live in Woodingdean, which is called a village but I think it is now big enough to be a suburb. We are separated from Brighton itself by Brighton Racecourse, above us is downland, to the otherside (away from Brighton) is downland and below us is Ovingdean Village, Rottingdean Village and then if you carry on heading south, you'll get wet feet as it's all sea until you reach France ;0)

We tried to take pictures of places we pass through, use and got to in our surrounding area.

Hope you like them Katie - is it what you imagined it to be?

I'd like to see pictures of your location now, to make a comparison. I envisage Australia as either beach, bush or red earth. Show me where you live....................... P xx

Where I live - Woodingdean - you can actually just see the side roof of our house if you know here to look. 

Brighton Racecourse facing back towards Brighton city centre. 

View from Brighton Racecourse back towards Woodingdean and down to the sea. 

From Rottingdean back towards Brighton - you can see Brighton Marina and Brighton Pier (or as the locals still call it - The Palace Pier). 

Rottingdean windmill - I can see this from my bedroom window in the distance. 

Just down the road from home - Ovingdean Village - 1 shop, no pub!!! - Nice cat though. 

Mrs Tardy signing in

Lots of pictures but very little else, I know, I know..............what can I say but "So."

Anyway I have 5 mins to spare so here's a little catch-up.

Life has been hectic (same old, same old) - on the knitting front - I've completed 2 OSW's and 2 pairs of Fuzzy Feet and very little else. Reading, I've re-read all the Harry Potters including the new one as well as a couple of other books. The new Adriana Trigiana 'Rococo' is well worth a read - I like a feminine book with a male main character - very quirky.

The new pictures posted today - show some lovely flowers received as a thank you from a friend and also the latest dolly addition to the house - talk about a rock chick.

I've also been distracted by a pressie from M - a new toy - an ipod (mini) - I love it. So a lot of computer time has been spent downloading music.

I'm also repainting all the facias on the house that aren't UPVC - I didn't realise it was 14+ years since they've been painted - it's a huge job even though it's only the front and 1 side of the house - urgh.

KatieLee - will post pictures of the area where I live next week - I'd never thought of it before - but now you've planted the idea, I think it's really cool!

That's it for now.

What will the girlies make of this? This is Romy (Nomado by Pullip). The question now is will it be hair pulling at dawn or will they be pals? Time will tell. 

A friend sent Mike & I a wonderful bouquet - very beautiful and exotic. 

Look at the rest of the bouquet we received - with choccies no less :0) 

Who could resist?