Reunited and it feels so good!

Gavin has been found safe and well! I won the reward of bumbum and biscuit flavoured kisses - oh such joy is unbounded.

He was hiding in the grooming box in the hall cupboard of all places. I remembered this after I'd got M to get all the Xmas decorations back out of the attic *whoops* as I was worried Gavin had got scooped up with all the tinsel, but no, twas all my fault. I put him in the box when I groomed Lottie yesterday so she'd stop chewing on him and sit still *double whoops*. Still she's happy now and Gavin is soggy and well chewed for his pains.

OK no more posts today.....promise :-D

Lupin

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Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Yes! Finally finished my gloves. Why did they take me 2 months? Cos I hate knitting fingers on pesky, pokey little glove needles.

Opal Lupin yarn from the Harry Potter series. Knitted on 2.5mm dpns. Pattern free from Sue Morgan - Adult Gloves.

Would I make a 2nd pair? Nope.

The Art of Relaxation.

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Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Lesson 1.

Just let it flop and hang.

Lost, missing - 1 rubber burping pig!

If found please return to Lottie! She even checked out my finished 'Tonks' socks to make sure that the pig was not hiding under them. She is distraught. Her pig was her bestest ever present and he is now MIA. We've checked everywhere and he is not to be found. She is offering a reward of bumbum and biscuit flavoured kisses to anyone who can help this missing porker find his way home..........he answers to the name of 'Gavin'.
Still finding my way round my new wheel. It feels so different to the Traveller, more positive and responsive in the treadling. The above is test spinning trying different tensions and just generally getting a feel for it.
Still spinning on the Traveller too. This is Jo's lovely fibre I got at the knitting Safari - spinning up a dream, such wonderful colours. It feels odd moving from one wheel to the other.

I didn't get anywhere as much knitting done over the holidays as I planned - I seemed to spend a lot of time sleeping. I think it is related to the release of almost 18 months of tension whilst dealing with M's Mum's estate - which was finally settled just before Xmas. We actually got written confirmation of this yesterday - I almost cried, the relief was immense - what must it feel like for M and his siblings if it made me feel that way. I am so happy to be starting 2009 without that hanging over our heads, we can finally have some closure on this loss.

M's birthday tomorrow - he's got the day off work - it's nice to have an extra day together.

No resolutions - never keep em. Am looking forward to our little weekend away in a couple of weeks, just M and I. J is going to have a spoiling from Grandma - she always cooks all his favourite foods and lets him stay up late, so he'll have a whale of a time.

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this drivel and celebrates the New Year!

Am I ?

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
• * Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
• * Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
• * Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
• * Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

• * my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
• * my ability to establish warm connections with people
• * admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
• * my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
• * being unique and being seen as unique by others
• * having aesthetic sensibilities
• * being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

• * experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
• * feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
• * feeling guilty when I disappoint people
• * feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
• * expecting too much from myself and life
• * fearing being abandoned
• * obsessing over resentments
• * longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

• * have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
• * are very sensitive
• * feel that they don't fit in
• * believe they are missing something that other people have
• * attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
• * become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
• * feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

• * help their children become who they really are
• * support their children's creativity and originality
• * are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
• * are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
• * are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at No comments:

One big sigh....

tis all over bar the shouting!

Seriously we had a good festive time. J got what he'd been hankering after - Lego, money, Scalextric and many other good things. M and I don't normally bother with presents but this year M filled my day with gifts and surprises - I think he was trying to banish the Ebenezer that had manifested throughout December. I got M and joint Xmas and b/day gift - music based - so he's a happy bunny.

Now if I can just persuade them that the tree needs to come down asap, I can get back to being a non-Ebenezer grouch!

Got lots of things to prepare for M's birthday on New Years Eve - so am looking forward to that now.

Hope everyone (who partakes) had a lovely holiday time and Santa came up trumps for you all!

Solitude

There is the loneliness of peopled places:
Streets roaring with their human flood; the crowd
That fills bright rooms with billowing sounds and faces,
Like foreign music, overshrill and loud.
There is the loneliness of one who stands
Fronting the waste under the cold sea light,
A wisp of flesh against the endless sands,
Like a lost gull in solitary flight.
Single is all up-rising and down lying;
Struggle or fear or silence none may share;
Each is alone in bearing and in dying;
Conquest is uncompanioned as despair.
Yet I have known no loneliness like this,
Locked in your arms and bent beneath your kiss.

Babette Deutsch (b. 1895)

Tuesdays view from the bedroom window

The cloud has separated and is laying on sea - sea mist.

It was like looking across a lake to a distant landscape - kind of eerily beautiful. It is breaking up now and patchily rolling closer.

Wheely great

I've wanted a smaller more compact wheel for a while and chatting to Jo of http://freestylefibre.blogspot.com/ the other week she got me thinking of the Majacraft Little Gem. She was telling me how much she loved hers etc. So, when I got in I started to research smaller, folding wheels and the Little Gem in particular.

It wasn't a hard decision to make. M was cool about me having a new wheel, the rest, as they say, "is history".

I love it. Such a wonderful smooth treadling action. Don't get me wrong, I love my Ashford Traveller and it will still be used but this little beauty, well it knocks spots of it. It is easier to thread (no orifice hook), it is easier to find breaks, the bobbin fills more evenly when you start to spin and it is so easy on the legs, you could spin for hours with no aches, the adjustable height is a bonus and it weighs so little and folds down easily and is so compact.

Wonderful little wheel!

Fern Glade

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Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Finally I finished something. My knitting mojo has been sadly lacking of late.

This pattern comes Winter 08 Knitty (www.knitty.com) and is by Megan Marshall. I used stash RYC in wool/silk DK (left over from my 'Hey Teach'. It took 2 balls - so 100g. It's a nice knit - I found the amount of k3tog killed my hands and using a short circ made my wrists ache, so it was a slower knit than I first thought.

I made the larger/sloppy size,missing 1 pattern repeat as it looked huge.

It is now blocking away on a large plate. I am very interested to see if I like it on.....watch this space.

A little 'Border' Christmas.

Still in Ebenezer mode but a tree does help, a bit.

Sparkly baubles help too.

A Christmas Border - helps a lot!

Lovely, lovely yarn.

I have been thoroughly spoilt this week. Flowers, love letters, books, smellies and yarn!

This is 'Brooklyn Handspun' - Soft Spun Plus in 'Cocoa Rose' it is superwash Merino sock yarn approx 375 yards.

And this is 'Fleece Artist' Somoko Hand Dyed merino, kid, nylon and silk - 350m in 'Berry'

Both came from the wonderful Sockotpus http://www.socktopus.co.uk/ her parcels always are beautifully wrapped and arrive with a wonderful speediness.

I have also been spoiled with other goodies of which I will blog later. Am off now to help M start painting our hall and staircase in a rich deep red!

Sweetheart Roses

from my Sweetheart.

Tis that time again...

Yet another change of hair. More shaped into the neck.
Heavier, blunt cut fringe. Sides are sharper, more defined traditional 'bob' shape.
Overall one colour in a rich chestnut/chocolate brown.

Am loving it!!

Your rainbow is strongly shaded blue.

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines.

http://spacefem.com/quizzes/rainbow">Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

A little bit of happy

Lottie asleep - just proves she does have her (rare) quiet moments.

But this is what has made me happy. Anyone who knows me, knows I love Anthony Trollope. My most favourite book of his is 'Ayala's Angel', the copy I read, years ago, was lent to me by SIL the elder, ever since I have been trying to get my own copy, mainly because I want to read it again. At D,C & A the other Friday we were talking books and I mentioned in passing my search for an affordable copy of this book, Kate of the wonderful Pie & Sunshine (http://pieandsunshine.wordpress.com/) found me a site with multiple, affordable copies for sale. I ordered this on Saturday and it arrived today, cost me a tenner!!!! The last copy I found was around £40!!!! It is about hand height in size and apart from a name written in it and a tiny mark on the page edges of the 1st chapter, it is in pristine condition, plus it has the lovely old book smell. I love it, it has made my day.

Am also planning on going to Aardvark Knitting Jam in St Leonard's tonight - apparently the cake is 'good'.

Bedroom floor is now laid - looks amazing. M just has to finish the edging. He also built my new desk yesterday so now I just to declutter the old and clutter the new. I'll post pictures when it's all done and good.

The Doldrums

*sigh* It has been one of those weekends that I'd rather forget. Nothing major bad, but just a million little niggles that amounted to me being permanently stressed and angry. In fact I am still seriously grumpy today. It doesn't help that the shingles that I thought had cleared up have flared up again. They make me feel ill and tearful as well as itching like f**k. My rhinitis is bad, I have earache and due to all of this my eczema is worse than it has been in ages. So in total I am all a bit blah.

M has laid half of the new floor in the bedroom, but again the builders who originally built this extension have conspired to make progress slow - they nailed the floor down, so it has basically had to be totally relaid and screwed into place before we could even start to lay the wood flooring. What has been done looks amazing though and M swears he will work into the night to finish it - he is fed up too. We have a little glossing left to finish and then it is just tidying and decluttering, putting together my desk, varnishing my chair and putting up a couple of shelves. We are on the bedroom home straight.

Very little knitting I'm afraid. I finished one Mona sock (tis pretty in Skinny Sock, Neapolitan) and one Plain Ole Vanilla in Opal, Tonks - which I adore. I hope to find some knitting time today but it is unlikely.

Hopefully my next post will have pictures and be more jolly - can't be a happy bunny all the time.

One big spider

Not for those who dislike these fascinating creatures!

This is Tiny 7 days on from his moult (his/her - still not 100% certain on sex - so will use 'his' for now). He is still pumping up and is stretching out here. From the tip of my middle finger to the centre of my wrist is about 7" and he is longer than that! There are no obvious male spider signs but he could still be a juvenile. I have rescued his moult and if I can spray and stretch it I'll have peak inside to see if I can see female reproductive signs - but it is touch and go if the moult will show them....just have to wait and see if he moults again. He isn't ready to eat yet, probably will be another week before his fangs are up to it, so for now he is just quietly getting used to his new self and looking magnificent.

As for the others - Boris is now officially Doris, she moulted a while back and stayed the same and at her age (around 5 or 6) she is female. Humbug is male and frail but still hanging on in there, the males get so skinny when they mature but he's still eating and tramping about his tank. Marmite is little, busy and I think he'll moult soon as his abdomen looks like it's ready to pop!

Slop, slap - almost there....

decorating the bedroom that is! What chaos, what mess, whatever.

I hate it - love the finished product, despise the journey to get there.

Walls and ceiling done. New blinds - being fixed as I type. Next stop - ripping up the carpet, glossing the skirting and door frames, then fitting the wood floor in the bedroom and upstairs hall/landing, then dismantling my old desk and building my new one, varnishing my wood chair and the final job will be fitting the new light and purchasing some fripperies (love that word). Hopefully the floor will go in next weekend and by the end of the following week the whole thing will be done, if not before.

M and I slept - very badly - in the lounge last night. He was so determined to get us back into our bed tonight he started painting before he went to work and got straight back to it when he got in. Now, I hear you cry - "Why did you not paint whilst he was out?" For the very good reason that I am 'so' crap at it he would have had to redo anything I went near and with dark brown, pale beige and a turquoise/jade/blue/green - wonky would scream at you at every colour meet up.

I did cook dinner and keep the dogs/kid/cat out of his hair. I also restored and maintained order to the rest of house.

I know we have the hall and stairs to go (fairly simple job - fingers crossed) but after that M and I will be all decorated out!

Webs of one sort or another

I haven't got very far (haven't had time) but this is the Suri Alpaca shawl. The pattern is from 'Victorian Lace Today' very simple and easy to remember. It will be pretty when finished I think.

Lack of time due to decorating etc am in the throes of it right now *sigh* just waiting to get 2nd coat on ceiling finished so walls can commence in full.

*****Spiders ahead******

Progress no further if you don't like big hairy spiders!!!!

Tiny, the Salmon Pink Bird Eater moulted yesterday. Still not sure if it's juvenile still - no sign of maleness but it may still be too young and he/she is not surrendering the moulted skin (it's in the foreground, you can see the fangs that were shed along with the skin.) The hair is much darker than on previous moults and the salmon pink hairs are longer and brighter. He/she is still plumping up so the new size is difficult to gauge - so I'll just go with 'BIG' possibly double what it was previously.

Back to the grind!

See no, hear no, speak no.

Or as I've renamed them Og, Blog & Snog. I love gargoyles, am fascinated by them. I could not resist these any longer. I saw them in the summer and coveted them. Went online to see if they were still available and they were, they a were also reduced in price......sold! They arrived Monday and I love them.

Yesterday was a spinning day, I had to give a talk to a local group on spinning last night and I needed to clear some bobbins, so here is some Navajo plied baby camel and silk - about 50g - this is prewash. It's a lovely fibre to spin and I still have more to spin I can't wait to actually knit with it.

Finished a pair of plain ole vanilla's. Started on our camping holiday - the leg on one isn't my neatest work but then I was knitting by candlelight and under the influence of red wine! Good enough for boot socks. The yarn is Zitron Trekking XXL knit on 2.5mm dpns and circs. These are washed and are blocking away next to baby camel and silk handspun. The conservatory is lovely and sunny today, the roof blinds are back so they should dry quickly, I hope the long soak in Eucalon will soften the Trekking as it feels a bit harsh to me.

Lastly, I needed something pretty to spin last night, eye catching, soft and lovely to spin - what better then Jo's rainbow merino that I got at the Safari (I think I mentioned her etsy shop to the ladies at least 4 times - hopefully the unusual name will stick!!!) I loved this merino, spins beautifully and the colours are amazing.

Now I need to go nurse my hangover - a couple of very late night glasses of red wine have made me feel a bit squiffy this morning, am feeling a bit light headed or it may be my rhinitis which when bad (which it is) can make me a bit spacey. A quiet morning of laundry and ironing should do the trick.

A bit of a mixed bag post.

Even more so because blogger put the pictures in a totally different order to the one I browsed them in!

Spent part of last night trying to get a good picture of the girlie's together, in harmony. Impossible if it isn't one it's the other, couldn't sit still if they tried.

That or one of the goes a bit dappy and pulls her long face - hence the nickname 'Lou-Lou Long Face'.

Now here's something tasty indeed. A gift from the bubbly glittrgirl www.glittyknittykitty.co.uk . She gifted this lovely Cherry Tree Hill Suri Alpaca Lace Weight in Winterberry when she came to visit us last weekend. It smells of her perfume oil (very nice) and is so soft and fine and needs to become something light and lacy and wonderful - I am resisting balling it up and knitting on it right now - 'tis so very lovely!

What's with all the weeping?

It is a weird feeling, to feel weepy. But to find yourself crying over televisual images almost beggars belief.

I don't do 'weepies'. I don't cry at the drop of a hat, never have and never especially over sad films/books. But since becoming a Mum I cry at anything!

I cry over the 'Cancer Research' ads, the 'NSPCC' ones - and I'm a campaigner for them! I cry over sad images on the news, I cry over films and last night I wept over the Channel 4 programme about the witch children in Nigeria.

Why am I now at 41 so emotional? It is so unlike me. Weird.

I feel the lump in my throat, my eyes well up and the tears stream down my face and I can't stop them. I hope it doesn't worsen as I age - I can visualise myself weeping buckets over labels on soup cans in Tesco at the age of 60 if this carries on!

Goodies galore.

First up a giftie from Sue http://www.knittiotherapy.typepad.com/ a wonderful sock bag and stitch markers. Skully ones, purple skully ones! I do love me some skulls - what? You'd never have guessed?

Now this is yarn to die for. It is kid mohair from 'Yarns of Distinction' - www.nimuyarns.co.uk. 300g of soft pinky prettiness. It will become something light and lacy that will compliment its beauty. The inner 'girlie' me could NOT resist this, plus it matches my hair. The silky yarn at the top, which compliments it so beautifully, isn't labelled but the lovely lady at Nimu gave it to me - it is lovely too and so is she!

How could I arrange an event with all this delicious yarn and fibre and not succumb to the lure of one of Jo's amazingly colourful fibre plaits? 100g of merino rainbow -she's a colour whizz who knows how to tempt me. Her stuff can be drooled over at www.limegreenjelly.com - don't you just love that name! I'm going to save this to spin on a grey day when I'm in the dumps cos it will be like spinning happiness.

Now this is another pinky pretty moment. A giftie from the delightful and talented Wibbo from Wibbo's Works - 100g of wool/nylon sock yarn called 'Salmon Song'. The colours meld together so well I can't wait to see it knit up. Wibbo and her delightful black kitty, Flossie, can be found here - http://wibbo.typepad.com/

Last but by no means least - more pinky prettiness (I must have been on a well girly kick on Saturday). This wonderful, smooshy soft sock yarn is from the delicious Jon at Easyknits -

www.easyknits.co.uk.

The pinky/brown is 'Choc Choc Cherry' and the other is 'Strawberry Shortcake' it is a bamboo/merino mix and the yarn actually has an amazing glowing lustre to that makes it highly pettable as well as tres jolie.

Am feeling more human again today. Have rediscovered my knitting and spinning mojo again (hurrah - it has been hiding from me for a while - t'was under the bed methinks). I even had another go at drop spindling yesterday (giving a talk on spinning in a couple of weeks, so thought I'd better crack it) it was, finally, more spindle than drop.

Right now I need to move me harris and get on with the chores etc.

Out the other side.

The 'Brighton Knitting Safari' Naughty Knitters in full swing :-)

The chaos before the calm. Jon (Easyknits) was a total angel lugging tables and setting them up.

So many lovely prizes donated by so many wonderful people - the raffle and swap made £145 for Suemoon's (http://knittiotherapy.typepad.com/) charity fund
http://www.walkthewalk.org/AboutUs/OurHistory.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible. Here's to the .................................watch this space ;-)

It is nice to be the other side of this. I intend to have a couple of quiet days before attempting the bedroom decorating at the weekend (am kind of looking forward to it). I want to take some time to spin and knit, both of which have been sadly lacking in my life the last few weeks.

The wonderful stash acquisitions from the Safari will come in the next post.

All ready for Saturday.

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Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Some squooshy yarn for you to admire.

'Dream in color' Classy Worsted Weight Yarn (4oz's) in 'Chinatown Apple' - like it? Want it?

Then buy a raffle ticket at 'The Knitting Safari' on Saturday and it could be yours to take home and fondle.

Whirly-gigs & waffle

The whirly-gig is how my brain feels today, and yesterday, for that matter. Just so much stuff to think about, do and sort out and all I want to do is........nothing. Saturday is creeping closer, however, in the last two days much has been achieved from sorting out raffle prizes to finding out books etc for the swap stall, from stash diving to pad out the teaching area to paying out what feels like a substantial wad of cash for stuff.

As well as this I am decluttering the bedroom, prior to decorating and organising a fire work do for the kidlets and M tomorrow. Plus all my normal everyday stuff, helping J with math, walking the dogs, cooking (my turn for a change), cleaning, doing the laundry .....ahhh the list is endless. Did I sleep well - you bloody bet I did!

As for the waffle - here it is;

Boris moulted and is now for certain 'Doris'.

Knitting hours so far this week = 0.

Reading hours so far this week = 15 mins.

Yoga etc so far this week = 2 hours.

Time spent running about like a headless chook = way too much.

Plus my annual sadness that it was 17 years ago tonight, around this very time, that I last saw my Da alive and he didn't know who I was or that I was even there. I miss him. Leukemia is a bitch. Ma bought an extra special 'big' firework to let off tomorrow - Da loved fireworks and we try and do this every year - plus M & J love it too.

Hopefully my next post will be positive, jolly and full of cheer.............

Don't hold your breath!

Not again.

This week has been trying. Not only have I a mountain of stuff going on (including dealing with the prat solicitor who still hasn't finalised my MIL estate) but I've had another, no doubt stress related, bout of my recurring shingles. I have tried not to dwell on how ill I have felt, I've had it for about 10 days now, in fact I've tried to ignore it in the hope it will go away, but I have, at times, felt truly awful. The rash is now all dry, scaly and itchy and (fingers crossed) on its way out. But due to this we have decided to postpone decorating/flooring the bedroom until after next weekend (Knitting Safari) is over and done with - it was just too much to try and fit in.

Today I plan to rest and hopefully start my very busy week tomorrow with recharged batteries.

You want yarn pR0n?

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Originally uploaded by loobles2002

Well here is some lovely, lovely stuff to feed your fetish on!

Spunky Eclectic's Skinny Socks - superwash Merino in Neopolitan.

'Tis prettty no?

It's being knit into socks right now and the way the colours are working - even though I'm only on the rib cuff - is truely wonderful.

There are other things besides...

bathrooms. I've not had a lot of time but have managed 4 more crochet squares.

A 'Lupin' glove and a bit.

And to finish (finally) my 'Retro Rib Socks' from 'Favourite Socks'. Knitted on 2.75mm dpns, with a short leg in Lorna's Laces 'Tickled Pink'. I've also finished one Plan Ole Vanilla which is awaiting its mate.