Just Claire

God on a Wheel!!

2009-03-27T08:21:00.005Z

I was going to do a Vintage Photo Friday post today but instead, I give you the fabulous Royce & Marilyn who, until yesterday, I knew nothing about..........NOTHING. Thanks to my friend Shannon on Plurk, that all changed when she showed me these.

God on a Wheel! they're funny.

Next time, I may try to blog about some actual knitting :)

Have a good weekend.

Vintage Photo Friday...

2009-03-20T19:21:00.004Z

Once again, I'm copying Ellen who always has the best blogging ideas! Her and her friends have started posting vintage photos on a Friday. It's such a fun idea that I thought I'd join in too!

Most of my family photos are back at my Mum & Dad's in NZ, but I do have one or two I can share with you. This week's picture is of me and my Brother at a Fancy Dress contest circa 1970. My Brother is supposed to be Oliver Twist and I'm a Gypsy! I don't even remember this picture being taken, which shows I haven't been permanently damaged in any way by the experience!

The funny thing is, that most people when they see this photo, think that I'm the boy and my brother is a girl! Because he had lovely big curls and blue eyes when he was little, I used to have people say to me "isn't your little sister lovely"! which annoyed him intensely.

We still tease him to this day about how he used to say very loudly and indignantly "I'm a Boy" whenever he met anyone new!

Looking at the photo now, it's quite hard to believe that yesterday, that same little boy turned 41. Happy Birthday Jase!

A weekend in Toulouse...

2009-03-16T16:21:00.022Z

It was hubby's birthday last Tuesday, so to celebrate the occasion, we spent a lovely long weekend in Toulouse, doing lots of sightseeing, eating, drinking gallons (and gallons!) of wine and enjoying some much appreciated Spring sunshine.

There were wonderful art collections to be seen

Fondation Bemberg at the Hotel d'Assezat

the architecture was awesome

Eglise des Jacobins

La Basilique Saint Sernin

I was also pleased to discover a good selection of craft shops.

There was a really lovely bead shop

There was a shop for embroiderers, cross-stitchers and quilters, which almost (but not quite!) made me want to start cross-stitching again.

I did, however, make a purchase here. I bought a linen purse to embroider and a felt kit to make 6 chicken decorations!

Finally, and most importantly, there was a Yarn Store !

La Droguerie is a lovely store with quite a few branches all over France. They sell yarn, knitting patterns, their own craft books, buttons, beads and all kinds of lovely haberdashery type thingies. All the yarn is either on cones or hanging in skeins on the walls and you buy it by the 50grm or 100grm and they wind it up into balls for you. They had tons of 100% Alpaca and 100% cashmere in every shade of the rainbow and the prices were not too bad, although given that the Pound is worth almost the same as a Euro, the prices were not as cheap as they used to be. I bought a kit to make a "terribly chic" striped scarf in 100% alpaca for about 20 Euros which I think was pretty good value. Only problem is, is the pattern and instructions are in French and my schoolgirl French ain't all that really, so I'll have to rely on my husband who is reasonably fluent, but not a knitter, to help me make some sense out of it!

They don't like you to take photos and was very firmly told off by a stroppy assistant for taking the pictures above, so I went back on Sunday when the store was closed and held the camera against the window to take this pic.
To balance out all the craft shopping, we went to see Stade Toulousain vs Castres play rugby on Saturday afternoon which was jolly good fun and of course, there were all those fit men running around the pitch with their nice legs and bums for me to look at! Hurrah!!

So that was my weekend. Hope you had a good one too!

Home Made Wool Wash...

2009-03-08T12:51:00.012Z

Yesterday, I had a go at making my own wool wash from a recipe I came across on Ravelry, and I must say, I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

If you want to make some yourself, but don't have access to Ravelry, here's what you do:

The Ingredients:

4 cups soap flakes , 4 cups boiling water, 1 cup methylated spirits, 1 Tablespoon of Eucalyptus essential oil, or an essential oil of your choice. Lavender or Orange would also work nicely.

The utensils:

Large mixing bowl, Hand Held Stick Blender and a Large glass preserving jar

Firstly, put the soap flakes and boiling water into the large mixing bowl and mix well with the stick blender

Next, add the methylated spirits and essential oil and again, mix well with the stick blender.

Pour the mixture into the large preserving jar.

When you first pour it, it'll look like this:

and then, once it starts to settle, it'll look like this:

Leave the jar overnight and it will set to a firm jelly. Voila! It's done!

It smells all nice and eucalyptusy although I can also smell the methylated spirits quite strongly, but this seems to go once it's added to warm water. I think next time, I may use half the quantity of meths and up the quantity of essential oil to balance out the smell. Apart from that, I'm very happy with it.

To use, rub a small amount into stains or disolve 1 tablespoon of wool wash in warm water. Swish or soak the garment in warm water and then rinse well.

And I'm Back...........again!

2009-03-02T10:41:00.005Z

So. Where were we? I can't remember....

I totally lost my blogging and knitting mojo for the past few months so there's nothing much to say really. Lots has been going on since I last blogged but I'm too lazy to write it all down so I think the best thing is to start afresh!

I saw this meme on Ellen's blog and thought I'd steal it and use it as a fun way to start blogging again. So here we go:

1. Favorite Food: Steak & Chips

2. Hometown: Hastings, NZ

3. Favorite Color: Green

4. Celebrity Crush: Alan Rickman

5. Favorite Drink: A nice cup of tea!

6. Dream Vacation: Road trip across the USA

7. Favorite Dessert: Lemon Sorbet

8. What I want to Be When I Grow Up: II'll never grow up!

9. Name: Claire

10. What/Who I Love Most in the World: Chris

11. One Word Describes Me: Crafty

12. Username: Justclaire

You can play too. Here's how:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. (go to Advanced Search and choose Creative Commons images only. Otherwise you are stealing.)

b. Pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into this free mosaic maker

Photo Credits:

1. Steak with chips, 2. Hastings clock tower, 3. Green / Verde, 4. Alan Rickman, 5. A nice cup of tea, 6. Leaving Marfa for Santa Fe, 7. Lemon-Basil Sorbet, 8. I'll never grow up!, 9. Claire's, 10. Chris Grand Canyon - November 12-13 2006, 11. Sew crafty, 12. Self Striping Sock Yarn - Hand Dyed with Food Colouring

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-23T17:00:00.003Z

Click on the picture...

Wishing you a wonderful and peaceful Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year!

Meet Batty!

2008-10-16T12:22:00.014+01:00

He was very shy when he first came to live with me, as he's a bit self conscious of his funny nose and wonky smile. I told him not to worry as nobody's perfect!

Before long, he started to relax

Now he loves to hang around

and pose for photos!

I love him!

The Pattern:

Bat and Jack O Lantern by Barbara Prime at Fuzzy Mitten.

I bought the Pattern here

The Yarn:

Rowan Pure Wool DK
Main Colour = 016 Hessian
Wings = 014 Hay
Pumpkin = 040 Tangerine
Stalk = 019 Avocado

The Needles:

Size 6 (4mm) Double Points from Blue Sky Alpacas
Size 6 (4mm) Denise Interchangeables

See him on Ravelry

Button-Tab

2008-10-14T12:40:00.003+01:00

I've been thinking a lot about Winter woollies lately, and have commenced my cold weather knitting with a very nice hat. It's the Button-Tab Hat by Marcie Nishioka from the "I Like Lemons" Blog.

I used 50gms (107.5 yards) of Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce and it only took me around 5 hours to knit. I'm hoping that I've enough yarn left from the skein to knock out a pair of wristwarmers to match. Any pattern suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

My laptop has a bug in it..........

2008-10-02T11:45:00.003+01:00

Literally. It has a bug inside the screen! How it got there, I do not know. At first, I thought I'd scratched the screen or something, but on closer investigation, you can clearly see it's some sort of insect. You can see its legs quite clearly... ick!

Look:

Get out of my computer.......NOW!

It's very annoying as it seems to have died and is just hanging there being a nuisance. I guess I'll have to wait for it to shrivel up a bit and drop to the bottom of the screen (Ewwww).

Why do things like this always happen to me?!

The Season of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness

2008-09-26T17:47:00.004+01:00

I love Autumn. Which is lucky, because it seems to be here already. In fact, it seems the older I get, the more I love it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it truly is my favourite Season.

There's something about the crispness in the air and the way that the sun bathes everything in a beautiful golden light that makes me feel just plain happy. I love how the trees give us a different display of colour almost every day until they finally drop their leaves. It's almost like they're going out in a blaze of glory before the long, cold and dull winter sets in.

I also think it's because I can start thinking about getting back into my knitting and spinning again and I can start wearing all my lovely woolly socks and jumpers that haven't seen the light of day for months. It's like I get my craft mojo back!

I took the camera on my morning walk today so I can share a little bit of Autumn from my part of the world with you:

Je suis de retour!

2008-09-15T13:51:00.003+01:00

Yes! I'm back from a lovely holiday in the South of France. We ate, drank and sunned ourselves for two lovely long weeks and now it's back to a grey and dull old England. Bleh!

Still, at least we actually managed to get back, as it looked like we may have been stranded following the fire in the channel tunnel. Just as we arrived in Calais yesterday morning, they announced that the eurotunnel was now reopened and taking cars through so we were on one of the first passenger shuttles through. So here we are. Safe and sound!

I'll blog more soon, and share my purchases of the yarny variety with you.

Until then, here's a picture of the beautiful Mediterranean sky we left behind...

Yearbook Yourself...

2008-08-25T18:11:00.008+01:00

Have you seen Yearbook Yourself yet? If you haven't, I urge you to check it out right away.

All you need for a few hours of fun and side splitting laughs is a photo of yourself looking straight ahead which you upload and you can then try on different looks from 1950 through to 2000.

Here I am in 1952!

and here, in 1970

See. Oh! what fun.

So for the moment, from me:

and my husband:

It's goodbye until next time.

Ta Daaaaa!

2008-08-24T20:58:00.002+01:00

I made it! I finished!

Here it is:

I finally finished at 2pm today just as the Olympic Flag was being handed over to London. Quite appropriate really.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It fits okay but is slightly on the big side, although nothing to really worry about. Hopefully, once it's been blocked, it'll be absolutely perfect.

Anyway, that's it for now. After all that pressure, I'm going to have a night off the intense knitterliness and just sit back and enjoy a lovely glass of wine instead:)

Day 14....

2008-08-21T20:10:00.004+01:00

No photos today I'm afraid as it's too time consuming to upload one.

I'm now about 3/4 of the way through the first sleeve.

It's all looking good (if a little on the big side) but I've a busy couple of days ahead which mean I won't have as much time to spend knitting as I'd like so I'd best keep going or I won't make it.

Until then........

Day 11...

2008-08-19T15:46:00.004+01:00

So I didn't rip back and correct the accidental purl row. Thanks to lots of kind comments and messages of support here on the blog, on Ravelry and from my wonderful new buddies on Plurk, I decided to just keep on going!

I've completed 10 repeats of the lace on the body and it's already quite long. I think I'll knit another 2 repeats and then knit up the garter stitch border, as I quite like the idea of the sweater being on the croppier side and sitting just on my waist rather than on my backside,

With any luck, I'll be starting on the sleeves tomorrow and they should knit up very quickly.

I really think I can do this now!

Day 7 - a Setback

2008-08-15T21:00:00.002+01:00

So, I'm well into the lace pattern of the body and congratulating myself on my fabulous progress, when I notice it:

The pattern calls for the first and last 10 stitches of each row to be "knit".

I have purled this bit. I am so mad at myself.

However, I'm not mad enough with myself to rip it out.

I shall incorporate it as a design feature.

More tomorrow.

x

Progress - Day 6...

2008-08-14T15:14:00.004+01:00

Well, I knew I couldn't maintain the pace I started at!

Here's a progress pic of where I'm at on the FLS today.

You'll notice the huge number of stitch markers (aka Claire's Accessories no more snags hair bands!) It appears, that I'm unable to keep count on even the simplest of lace patterns. Hence, I have placed a marker every 7 stitches!

Gotta go. Got a deadline to meet!

Let the Games Commence...

2008-08-09T12:51:00.005+01:00

Well, the Ravelympics/Olympics are now well under way. So is my February Lady Sweater. I cast on during the opening ceremony yesterday and spent the next 8 hours knitting. Here's my progress so far:

Not bad for a day's work is it? although I don't know how long I'll be able to maintain the pace. I do have a life after all...

I'm hoping to post a progress shot every day, so watch this space.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Michael Bublé - I Love You...

2008-07-25T09:28:00.005+01:00

I went to see him at the O2 in London last night. We couldn't have been further away from the stage but, I don't care. It was fabulous! It's a crap photo, but again, I don't care. It was fabulous. FABULOUS!!

A Dose of Salts...........

2008-07-22T14:23:00.009+01:00

On Saturday, Hubby and his Dad went to the Golf, and my Mother in Law and I visited Saltaire and a had a lovely time mooching around Salts Mill.

Salts Mill - David Hockney

Sir Titus Salt built the Mill (a very grand textile mill) in 1853 and it employed over 3000 workers for whom he built churches, schools and houses. Most of which still remain to this day. These days, the Mill is home to a selection of art galleries, shops and restaurants. It houses one of the largest collections of David Hockney's art and is just Fabulous! A definite must do if you're visiting West Yorkshire. Here are some more pics. They're not very good quality I'm afraid, as there was a lot of light reflection but you get the idea. Click to make them bigger.

view of the 1853 Gallery

Hollywood Collection

Top: Fish & Chip Shop
Bottom: Woman with a Sewing Machine

No trip to Yorkshire would be complete without a trip to Coldspring Mill to see what yarn bargains are waiting to be snapped up, so on our way home from Saltaire, I made a quick detour. There wasn't much that grabbed my attention this visit but I did pick up two humungous balls of Sirdar Bonus Aran for the grand total of £10. What a bargain!

Each ball is a massive 400gms and the yardage is 840m/920yds which is very economical! I'm not really a yarn snob but I'm also not a huge fan of cheapo acrylic but this stuff is lovely! It's really soft and not at all cheap, crispy or scratchy feeling and I think it's going to knit up beautifully. You can't really see the colour too well in the photo but it's kind of green with teeny blue flecks in it. It's real pretty!!

I must have taken leave of my senses, given all the other projects on my needles, but I've signed up for the Sweater Sprint event in the upcoming Ravelympics and therefore have committed to produce a February Lady Sweater in just 17 days. I need to knit up a swatch first but I'm sure this will be the perfect yarn for this project and if I cock it up, it's not going to be an expensive mistake. Wish me luck...

I am Average..

2008-07-06T20:06:00.004+01:00

As a 1930s wife.

It must be because I wear red nail polish... lol!

As a 1930s wife, I am
Average

Take the test!

I Love the Mountains. I Love the Rolling Hills...........

2008-07-04T09:23:00.014+01:00

Ok....... so there aren't many mountains in my neck of the woods, but when I was out walking the dog this morning, I took along my camera so I could take some pictures of the lovely rolling hills that surround where I live:

The North Downs

There are days when I miss New Zealand so much it's almost unbearable, but then there are other days, like today, when I realise that where I live now really isn't so bad at all. Especially when, after a 30 second walk from my house, I can be here:

When you have a lovely sunny day like today, it's a stunningly pretty place to be. The lavender is due to be cut in the next week or so, and whilst it'll be sad to see the wonderful colour disappear, the smell that fills the air as the flowers are cut is just amazing. The smell hangs around for days and makes you feel very calm and relaxed. It's kind of like an aromatherapy treatment for the whole neigbourhood!

Scratch & Sniff!

Now. Onto crafty stuff. There has been mucho knitting activity lately as I've been flitting between ongoing projects and starting new ones.

The Opal socks are coming along quite nicely. I've finished the first sock and am about quarter of the way into the second. I really love the colours of the stripes in this yarn and the basic sock recipe is fast becoming one of my all time favourite patterns. I know it's plain and simple, hence a bit bit boring, but it's a great pattern and produces perfect fitting socks every time.

Next up, I was looking through my stash the other day and came across 6 skeins of Alpaca Silk which I decided would make a lovely wrap. I decided on Cozy from the Fall 2004 issue of Knitty. It's quite a simple lace pattern that is knitting up beautifully in this yarn. I think in this colour, it'll make a very useful addition to my Winter wardrobe.

Finally, sticking with the wrap theme, Debbie aka Skein Queen recently custom dyed me a couple of skeins of her Blush yarn in "Honolulu Baby". I thought that the colours would look awesome as a shawl or wrap of some sort. Ellen suggested the Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel which I agreed would look great as a wrap and I cast on. After about 8 inches of knitting, I decided I really loved the pattern and I really loved the yarn but I just wasn't loving them together as a combination......... so........... I ripped it out and cast on this instead:

Have you guessed what it is? Yep. That's right. It's another Clapotis! I just love this pattern so much and I think it looks perfect with the yarn. Once again, I've returned to a tried and tested pattern. I am such a creature of habit! I will be knitting the drop stitch scarf in the near future and I have the perfect yarn in mind for it but I'm going to try and finish at least one of my projects before I cast on another.

Anyhow, back to the title of this blog post regarding the mountains and rolling hills, I've been driving myself mad all day, singing the song from the video below. It's one of those catchy camp-fire tunes from when I was a kid and it's got itself stuck in my mind now. I'll probably still be singing it tomorrow............and the next day!

Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and a Happy 4th of July to all you Americans who read my blog!

boom de-yada, boom de-yada, boom de-yada, boom de-yada!!

A Little Bit of Summer Colour...

2008-06-22T13:04:00.008+01:00

From my garden, this morning:

Hope you're having a happy Sunday!

Today, I am mostly loving........

2008-06-11T13:30:00.011+01:00

My stylish new Organic Veggie Bag from the Ravelry Mini-Mart, which arrived this morning:

and another parcel that arrived this morning from Socktopus

containing 2 skeins of Koigu and the pattern for Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket which I'm going to knit for my friend MJ who is expecting her second little'un in a few months time.

Right now, I'm looking at the pattern for the BSJ, and all I can think is huh??? but apparently, I am assured that if I just knit and follow the instructions, it'll all magically turn out in the end. We shall see!

What I love most of all though, is the little extra surprise that Alice sent with my Socktopus order. A miniature keyring sock blocker and a pattern for a teeny sock! It's made my day.

And I'm back...

2008-06-06T14:06:00.013+01:00

Wow. Sorry about the long bloggy break. I can't believe it's been a month. I kind of lost my blogging mojo for a while there, and it's really taken its time to come back again.

May was a totally mad month, with all sorts of crappy happenings. We came back from our holiday in Rome (which was lovely thanks!) to the news that my beloved Grandma (who is nearly 97) had been taken seriously ill, and wasn't expected to pull through. I was faced with a huge dilemma as to whether to jump on a plane to New Zealand and go to see her, or stay here in England. After much consideration and on my Grandma's say so, it was decided that I shouldn't go as I would probably get there too late to say my goodbyes. It was a terribly hard decision to have to make but, ultimately the right one, as a few days later, I found myself having a wee health scare and needing a trip to the doctors (all is absolutely fine, and nothing at all to worry about) and then, shortly after that, my husband (who never gets ill) ended up in Accident & Emergency with a suspected broken foot which, in the end, turned out to be a case of gout!!!!! Probably brought on from all the strong beer he drank in Rome!

Anyhow, after all that drama and fast forward 4 weeks, hubby is back up and running, I'm fine, and most importantly.............my Grandma has only gone and made a near full recovery! My poor Mum is totally worn out from having practically lived at the hospital for three weeks and now Grandma is out of hospital and back at the care home and living life to the full again! She's still very frail and not quite out of the woods yet, but she's such an incredibly strong old gal, who's obviously not quite ready to give up on life just yet. Good on you Grandma, for hanging on in there!!!

So.... (and I say this with all my fingers and toes crossed) everything seems to have calmed back down again and peace and harmony has once again been restored in my little bit of the world.

On the knitting front, I decided that Embossed Leaves would be my knitting project whilst I was in Rome. Can I just say that knitting lace socks and drinking Nero d'Avola is not a winning combination. I ended up frogging the entire project and not doing any knitting at all for the rest of the holiday. I decided to stick to drinking wine instead. It was easier.

On the needles right now, I have a Monkey sock, and yet another Basic Sock Recipe sock. Nothing too exciting, but I'm plodding slowly along with both.

Finally, for no reason other than it's Friday, I shall leave you with some pictures from my garden:

I've been quite busy over the last few days, doing the annual thing of planting up the pots on the patio with Petunias, Fuchsias , Marigolds, Delphiniums, Daisies, Begonias and other things which I can't remember the names of! I've also planted up a couple of hanging baskets with "Tumbler" tomatoes. I've had great success with them in the past, and it's really nice being able to pop outside the kitchen door and pick fresh tomatoes whenever you need them. Having said that, knowing my luck, this year's plants will now probably fail to produce anything at all!

Have a great weekend everyone!

New Socks and a Holiday...

2008-05-01T10:42:00.005+01:00

The Chocolate Teal socks are done.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They fit perfectly and I love the colour and squishyness of this yarn. Perfect.

I'm sorry about the "sweary-ness" of my last post. I know there were more appropriate words I could have used. I just couldn't think of any at the time.

It's been a very strange and sad week so far, and I haven't really felt like doing much at all, let alone any knitting. Claire's husband and kiddies are doing okay. Just okay, and that's about it. It's going to be very hard, but they will get through this eventually.

One day, I know I'm going to be able to post here and tell you that they're doing fine.

I hope that day comes soon.

On a slightly less gloomy note, on Saturday, hubby and I are heading off to Rome for a week's holiday. We did think about cancelling altogether, but Claire's family have said that they want us to go and enjoy ourselves and not be gloomy, and that's what Claire would want too.

So we're going.

I must admit, I am slightly looking forward to it now and am beginning to feel more like we're doing the right thing, and that we'll probably, dare I say it, even have a nice time.

Sadness...

2008-04-27T20:53:00.009+01:00

My friend Claire died this afternoon.

She was 36. She has two beautiful children aged 2 and 4 who meant the world to her. She has a husband who adored her.

I miss her.

FUCKING FUCKING FUCKING BREAST CANCER, YOU FUCKING FUCKER......

I can't really think of anything else to say. Sorry...

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden...

2008-04-17T09:36:00.006+01:00

Sorry about the absence from the blog. I've been a bit busy with "stuff" the past few weeks. You know how it is...

Anyhow, I do have a bit of crafty stuff to share with you.

The boring socks are finished:

Progress on my Gathered Pullover has been Zero so I won't even bother showing you a picture.

I've started another pair of socks in Skein Queen's "Plushness" yarn in Chocolate Teal. I've almost finished the first one so will post more pictures when they're done.

Most excitingly of all I've been busy at my wheel. Just to jog your memory, here's a picture of one of my very first attempts at spinning:

And now, even though I still have a very long way to go before I'm producing perfect stuff, I can show you this:

and this:

The first picture is of some roving I had in my fiber stash. It's definitely pure wool but I'm not sure what breed it is or even where I got it from. I don't even remember buying it. Weird. Mystery fiber has started magically appearing in my house!

The second picture is a single skein I spun out of Blue Faced Leicester roving bought from an awesome Etsy seller called Dyeabolical Yarns. The colour is "I never promised you a rose garden". There's only about 109 meters and it's sock weight so I'm not going to get a pair of socks out of it. However, if I ply it with something else, I should be able to get a pair of fingerless mitts or something similar. For now, it can sit in my stash as it's pretty to look at and I'm just enjoying the fact that I actually created it myself.

Fun with Fimo

2008-03-29T14:15:00.001Z

I've just spent the morning playing around making stitchmarkers with Fimo Modelling clay and here's the result.

Watermelon and Oranges

He's my favourite!

They're not perfect, but I love them anyway. They're handy too!

I haven't any particularly exciting knitting news to share today as I've been working on finishing up a boring pair of plain socks that have been languishing at the bottom of my knitting basket since October last year. I'm not really feeling the love for them, but I'm determined to get them finished this weekend.

A few days ago, I started the Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits Winter 2007. I'm using Lion Brand Cotton Ease in "Cactus" and so far, I'm finding it quite nice to knit with. I haven't got very far with it yet but will post more pics as I get further along with it.

That's about it for now so I'm off to put my feet up and finish those flippin' socks now.

Have a great weekend wherever you are and whatever you're doing!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-20T09:09:00.002Z

Click the picture

Stash Boosting...

2008-03-10T11:18:00.009Z

Well, the weekend in Suffolk went as well as I expected. MIL loved the scarf. Much bickering and arguing took place. Gallons of wine were quaffed, the wind blew a gale and it rained pretty much all the time. A good time was had by one and all, and now it's all over. Thank goodness!

It's a crap weather day today. Dark, windy, rainy and stormy and the weather forecasters says there's more to come this evening. Marvellous...

To try and add a bit of colour to this otherwise gloomy day, I thought I'd share a few of the latest additions to my ever growing stash.

Here's what came in the mail last week from Sheepaints in Germany.

"First Blossoms"

"Strawberrymousse"

"Vergissmeinnicht" (which I think, is German for "Forget-me-not")

This was stamped on the inside of the box the Sheepaints yarn came in. Very sweet!

Next up, here's what I managed to get in the frenzy that was the Wollmeise shop update last weekend.

It's Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin in "Rhabarber" (Rhubarb) in the medium intensity. I consider myself quite fortunate to have managed to even get one skein of this as Wollmeise is so incredibly popular. The shop update was on a Saturday evening at around 8.30pm and by about 8.35, the shop was empty! I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it before. Ever! I put a few things in the shopping cart, and by the time I got to finally check out, the cart was down to only one item. Crazy! I totally love what I did get though so I'm very happy. This stuff is seriously gorgeous.

Finally, from the wonderful Skein Queen , here's a skein of Endure Sock Yarn in "Sweetbird".

Isn't it gorgeous?! Just looking at it makes me smile. It's like a little bit of Summer sunshine in a woolly sort of way :)

My day feels just a little bit brighter now. I hope yours does too.

Haven...

2008-03-05T09:14:00.008Z

Finally, I have another FO to share with you. Haven from the new Kim Hargreaves book. Heartfelt- The Darkhouse Collection.

It's for my Mother- In-Law who has a "Big" birthday this week. I'll be giving it to her this weekend when my Husband's whole family is going to spend a few days together, celebrating (although, it's more likely there'll be much bickering and arguing and getting on each other's nerves!) by having a special birthday meal and drinking very posh wine in a big house on the Suffolk coast.

~THE DETAILS~

The Pattern:
Haven from Heartfelt: The Darkhouse Collection by Kim Hargreaves.

The Yarn:
Cocoon by Rowan in "Tarn". I used 3.5 balls. The pattern suggests 5 balls, but 4 should be plenty unless you want an ULTRA long scarf.

The Needles:
8mm (US 11) - Denise Interchangeables

Project Notes:
This was a lovely project to knit. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous. It's super soft and warm and knits up beautifully. However, I think I may be slightly allergic to it, as every time I knit with it, my eyes get a bit itchy. I didn't let it stop me though as I love it so much!

The pattern called for 27 repeats of the lace pattern, which should use around 5 balls of yarn. However, I stopped after 20 repeats (3.5 balls) as the scarf was nearly 6 feet long. I'm really glad I stopped when I did, as when I blocked it, it grew to nearly 9 feet long! Good job it's designed to be worn wrapped several times around the neck! I'll be sad to part with this project, but I know it'll be loved and well looked after by my MIL who is a great giftee as she's a knitter herself and therefore, appreciates a handmade prezzie. I'll be casting on another Haven pretty soon as when I bought the yarn, I actually bought enough to make one for myself too.

See it on Ravelry

Fun with food coloring........

2008-02-18T09:23:00.005Z

This weekend, I've been messing around dyeing yarn with food colouring. I quite fancied some self striping sock yarn in "watermelony" sort of colours so thought I'd have a go at doing it myself. I very loosely followed Eunny Jang's tutorial and I'm quite pleased with the results, even if the colours aren't quite what I expected!

I was going for more of a dark red, hot pink and lime green stripe rather than the slightly Christmassy colours that I've ended up with. However, I think over time, the colours will fade and end up looking quite pretty and closer to the colour scheme I had in mind.

It was quite good fun trying this method as it wasn't too fiddly or messy, and the best bit was that it cost me next to nothing as the yarn was from the bargain bin in John Lewis at Bluewater . I found two balls of Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 4 ply right at the bottom of the bin marked down to £1.25. for the two. I already had the food colouring in my pantry and I paid 45p for a bottle of vinegar, so in total, the whole project cost me around £2.00. What a bargain!

A Winter Weekend in Whitstable...

2008-02-11T17:26:00.000Z

I've just had a flippin' lovely weekend. Yesterday, we woke up to the fourth beautiful day in a row here in Kent and decided that it was just too nice to stay indoors, so we packed up the car and the dog and headed off to Whitstable for a day at the seaside.

We started with a quick walk through the town, although we didn't hang around for too long as every man,woman, child and dog in a 100 mile radius had also decided to get out and make the most of the nice weather, so the little narrow streets and tiny shops were mega crowded.

I'd heard on the Ravelry boards, about Seaside Sadie, a new yarn store that's recently opened in the centre of the town and decided to check it out. I thought it would be a case of sticking my nose against the window and peering in, it being a Sunday and all but, Result! It was open!

I did go inside, but I couldn't stay for long, as hubby was hanging around outside, doing his usual foot tapping, looking at his watch routine after a couple of minutes (bloody annoying habit of his).

The lady who owns it is very friendly and we managed to have a bit of a chat about Ravelry, etc. It was really nice to meet a yarn shop owner in Kent who's actually heard of Ravelry! She stocks mostly Colinette with a bit of Debbie Bliss and some Noro too. She also has a lot of materials for felting. The shop is absolutely tiny but she's got the stock arranged in such a way that you don't really feel like you're in a teensy space at all. She's only been open for a couple of months, so it's still early days for the store, but I think it's got real potential to be a great little LYS. She's at 64 Harbour Street right in the centre of the town. Check her out if you're in the area.

No visit to Whitstable is complete without a visit to The Sugar Boy which is a lovely old fashioned sweet shop, stacked from floor to ceiling with jars of sweets that my husband says takes him right back to his childhood. It's strange, because he hates sweets! Growing up in NZ, we didn't have the same huge selection of goodies this place offers. Probably a good thing really, or I'd have a mouth full of fillings by now. Or even worse, no teeth at all because they'd have rotted away from eating too many of these:

and these:

Lovely!

We then spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the beachfront, sitting on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. It was even warm enough to take my coat off, which is very unusual for me as I'm always complaining about feeling cold. Even in the Summer.

Who would've thought that only a week ago this was the weather we woke up to:

Weird English weather!

I know I keep changing the theme/colour of my blog but I've decided I didn't like the last change as it made everything look a bit squashed. I'll leave it alone now :)

Thank You to the NHS

2008-02-11T09:20:00.000Z

For this.

Maybe I have a wrong sense of humour, but I think it's very funny. Still laughing now, in fact :)

Four Things...

2008-02-08T15:40:00.000Z

I saw this meme thingie on Clackerdine's blog and thought I'd play along. Here goes:

4 Jobs I've Held:

Sales assistant in a shoe shop (an after school/weekend job)
Press Officer
Legal Secretary
Banker

4 Movies I've Watched Over and Over Again:

Giant
The Sound of Music
Muriel's Wedding
Whalerider

4 Places I've Been:

Buenos Aires
Istanbul
Marfa, Texas
Venice

4 Places I've Lived:

Hastings, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand
Williamsburg VA, USA
London, England

4 TV Shows I Watch:

Coronation Street
Hollyoaks (I'm about 20 years too old to be watching this but I love it!)
Desperate Housewives
The Office (US version)

4 Radio Shows I Listen To:

Woman's Hour - BBC Radio 4
Jonathan Ross - BBC Radio 2
Carol Mc Giffin - LBC
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue - BBC Radio 4

4 Things I Look Forward To:

My hubby getting home from work every evening
Going on Holiday
Getting parcels in the mail
A large glass of wine at the end of a hard day :)

4 Favorite Foods:

Roast Beef
Steak and chips
Enchilladas (chicken or beef, I love 'em both equally)
Lasagne

4 Places I'd Rather Be:

New Zealand - with my family and friends
On a tropical beach, cocktail in hand and not a care in the world
In a fabulous yarn store with a pile of cash
At home, knitting

4 People I email regularly:

Mum & Dad
Chris
Monica
Shirley

4 People to Tag:

If you're reading this, you're tagged :)

Hawkeye

2008-01-17T08:23:00.000Z

I've just finished my second Hawkeye and If I do say so myself, I'm really rather chuffed with how it turned out!

It looks like I've got my eyes shut in the picture above. Actually, the real reason is that I've discovered that my eyebags and wrinkles don't show so much if I look downwards in photos!

I really, really like this pattern as it's such an easy knit which produces a great finished object. The yarn I used for this project is Rooster Yarns Almerino Aran which is 50% Baby Alpaca and 50% Merino. It's the perfect yarn for this project as it knits up into a nice firm fabric but at the same time, feels lovely and soft and is very cosy. Although it could probably do with blocking, I'm not going to, as I don't want a repeat performance of what happened the first time I knit this pattern.

In other knitting news, I've not got anything big on the needles right now as I'm eagerley awaiting a parcel from Get Knitted. My Mother-in-Law has a big birthday coming up in March so I've decided to make her the Haven Scarf from Kim Hargreaves book, HEARTFELT the Darkhouse Collection. I've had my eye on this for quite a while so, needing the book to knit a gift for his Mum, was a good excuse to get hubby to pay for it (and the yarn..... with a couple of extra balls thrown in for myself!). Sneaky or what?!

Of course, the minute I decided to go ahead and order it, is the minute that Get Knitted phone to tell me they're out of stock so I've had to wait for about 10 days. Hopefully today will be the day the postman delivers... twitch , twitch!!

And the Winner of the Noni Patterns is.....

2008-01-13T17:58:00.000Z

Drumroll please..............

Joy!

Congratulations Joy. I hope you have fun knitting up the patterns.

Thanks so much to everyone else who entered my little contest, and thanks for all your kind comments on my blog.

Joy: I'll send you a message via Ravelry to get your mailing details and will send your prize to you asap.

Goodbye, Sir Ed

2008-01-11T08:48:00.000Z

"In some ways I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander. I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination and I rather like to succeed."

Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919-2008

It's 2008, It's my one year Blogaversary and I have a Giveaway!

2008-01-08T10:36:00.001Z

So! that's it then. Another Christmas has flown by. I hope you all had a flipping marvellous Holiday Season, wherever you were and whatever you were doing.

I was going to look back and review 2007 in this post, but quite frankly, I'm;

glad to see the back of it. There were plenty of good times, but it was also seriously stressful at times, and;
I really can't be arsed :)

So.... rather than dwell on the past, I'd rather look forward to 2008 and all the good stuff it has to bring. I'm hoping it's going to be a better year than the last one.

Anyhow, onto some knitting. My knitted Christmas gifts all seemed to go down really well, so I'm quite pleased about that. The Fetching Mitts I made for my Mother in Law and Sister in Law are already in full use, along with the Tête à Fetching hat and the Quickie Cowl.

The Buddy bag I made for my niece, Matilda seemed to be a big hit. It was mostly worn across her front like a baby sling to carry her new stuffed toy Polar bear around in and was also worn as a hat stretched over her head. The straps were stretched to their full capacity as she loaded it with heavy books and then swung it around in the air. It had some pretty heavy duty handling over the few short days I spent with my niece so I'm not sure what kind of shape it's going to be in now.

I've really not done much knitting at all over the past few weeks but I can show you my first FO for 2008. He's a Huggable Hedgehog from Fiber Trend s. This little chap is going to live with my Godson Edward who will probably trash him in about a week. I've tried to make him as durable and child safe as is possible but Edward is pretty hard on his toys, so we shall see.

I've been wanting to make one of these for a while and I'm glad I finally got around to it. It's a great pattern and is well written, easy to follow and knits up in no time at all. The only downside is that there's a lot of short row shaping which requires a reasonable amount of concentration, so you need to be in a totally silent place when you reach this part of the pattern! I used Cascade 220 for the main part of his body and Stylecraft Eskimo for his spikes. Just for the record, I'd like to state that I absolutely HATE the Eskimo yarn!! It's the first time I've knit with this kind of novelty yarn, and if I didn't want to make more hedgehogs, it would quite possibly be the last time I knit with novelty yarn.

**TIME FOR A FREEBIE**

Finally , I've just realised that today is my first blogiversary. Yay me! So, I've decided that I shall have a wee giveaway in order to celebrate this grand occasion!

The winner will receive two Noni Patterns (yarn not included!), one is the Felted Carpet Bag and the second is Camellia Flowers which is the pattern to accompany the Felted Carpet Bag.

All you need to do is leave a comment here on the blog saying that you'd like to be entered into the draw and on Sunday, 13th January, I'll randomly choose the winner and announce it here on the blog. I'm happy to send the prize anywhere in the world so don't be shy, feel free to enter and Good Luck!

Merry Christmas Everyone

2007-12-22T15:41:00.000Z

Click on the picture for a Christmas Message...

Catching Up........

2007-12-14T08:14:00.000Z

I've been a little sidetracked lately, trying to get all my Christmas knitting done so I've been a bit slack on the old blogging front as usual. Next year, I am NOT going to wait until December to start knitting Christmas gifts. I'm only knitting simple things that don't take too long to whip up but even still, I'm panicking slightly that I won't get them finished. Why do I never learn?

Anyway, I have a couple of finished objects to share. Firstly, I've finished the Buddy Bag for my niece Matilda.

I really, really like this pattern as the combinations are endless and you can adapt it for either a boy or a girl. It's really well written and the instructions are clear and concise which makes it a pleasure to knit. The hardest thing was getting the facial expressions on the finger puppets to look realistic. I'm still not totally happy with them but they'll just have to do. I think a wonky eyed bunny is quite cute! The pattern recommends using worsted weight yarn but I chose Stylecraft Kon-Tiki DK weight cotton acrylic which was all that my LYS had in the colours I wanted. It's machine washable too, which is a good thing as it will probably take a bit of a battering from its new three year old owner! I hope she likes it...

Next up, I've been knitting Fetching Mitts for my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. I've got a pair and a half finished so far.

I'm half way through the second red one which I should get finished by this evening. Then I'll be knitting a matching hat each for them. One of my Ravelry "friends" has written this pattern called Tête à Fetching which is perfect! I've used Sublime Cashmere, Merino, Silk aran for these projects and whilst I think the yarn is beautifully soft and warm, it does fluff up quite a lot whilst I knit it, and I have a strong suspicion that they will go all bobbly quite quickly. I wish I'd actually used the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that the pattern suggests as I think it gives better stitch definition and the cables look nicer, but it's too late to worry about that now. I'm sure both recipients will be completely happy, so that's all that matters.

I know that in my last post, I promised to tell you about my stopover in LA (Santa Monica to be precise) on the way back from New Zealand. It seems like ages ago now, but I'll share with you anyway as I had quite an exciting time!

We only had two nights in LA (one full day) as the main reason for the stopover was to break up the horrendously long journey back to the UK. Time was precious, so I had very limited time to shop for yarn. However, thanks to the power of the internets, I discovered that there were several yarn shops in the area near to our hotel which were easily reachable on foot. To cut a long story short, I decided that Wild Fiber would be my best bet as it stocks everything a non-US knitter could possibly dream about. And I'd heard that it had a whole wall of Koigu!!

Knitting Heaven!

Once I stepped inside this place, I truly was in a knitter's paradise! In fact, I didn't know which way to look, there was just so much stuff to take in. I wandered around for a while just gawping at everything. I must have looked like a total nutcase!

Once I got over the initial shock, I grabbed myself a basket and got ready to load up! I was over near the Malabrigo and was just having a sneaky sniff when a voice said "sniffing the yarn, huh?! Don't worry, we all do it". God, I was so embarrassed! Turned out, the person behind the voice was none other than Ellen Bloom. I've been a long time reader of Ellen's blog. If you've never read it, then do check it out. It's wonderful. Ellen is a super talented crocheter and her photos are just wonderful! Also, she's good friends with Crazy Aunt Purl so I felt like I was talking to blogging "Royalty"!

I introduced myself and told Ellen I was a long time reader (lurker) of her blog and we chatted for ages about how the internet and the blogosphere has made the world such a small place. We talked about Ravelry and how fabulous the knitting community was, blah, blah, blah. It was really cool to meet a fellow Raveler in person and I got to stroke the beautiful blue Koigu scarf she was crocheting. Awesome!

After Ellen left (she had to get back to work), I got down to business and made a purchase or two. Yarn wise, I was actually pretty restrained. I got some Koigu (there was indeed, an entire wall of it!) and a couple of skeins of Socks that Rock:

What I love about the yarn Stores in the US are all the handy accessories they stock that you never knew you needed (wanted!). I go absolutely mad with them as they don't seem to be as readily available here in the UK, or if they are, they're a bit too expensive to justify buying them. Anyhow, here's a couple of pictures of a few of the bits and bobs I got (click to make bigger):

All very handy indeed!

All in all, I really enjoyed Wildfiber and found it a really pleasant place to shop. I had read some fairly mixed reviews about this store where some customers had found the staff to be a bit stand-offish and snobby. I really didn't find this to be the case at all. I thought the staff were really friendly and helpful, whilst at the same time, leaving you to browse around without being constantly in your face (which I hate). I'd really recommend checking it out if you're in the area. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

When I was walking back to the hotel with my haul, I discovered that there was a Michael's store just a couple of blocks from the hotel. Of course, I couldn't resist and had to pop in and see if there was anything I ought to have. They mostly had Christmas craft stuff in stock but I checked out the yarn section and discovered they had some Patons SWS which is quite hard to find here in the UK.

I picked up 6 skeins in Natural Earth shade which will be perfect for the Danica scarf I have in my Ravelry queue. I also grabbed a couple of balls of Lily Sugar 'n Cream which always comes in handy for dishcloths. Apart from the yarn, I didn't buy much else in Michael's apart from a few clover knitting accessories which are much cheaper than in the UK.

I picked up a few knitting books and copies of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts and Vogue Knitting Holiday from Barnes & Noble:

and a box of Crochet patterns and some beautiful candles in Anthropologie Oh! how I love this shop, but unfortunately, even given the fantastic USD - GBP exhange rate, I found them to be still very pricey so that put a stop to me buying any of their clothes.

So. There you have it in a nutshell. My two day flying visit to Santa Monica.

It's a shame we didn't get to do much else, but we're hoping to visit LA again in the not too distant future, and we have been several times before so I don't feel too bad about spending what little time I did have shopping.

Anyway, that's all for now folks. I'm now firmly back on my yarn diet until well into the New Year, and I've got my (brandy soaked) Christmas cake to ice this afternoon so until next time...

Elf Yourself!

2007-11-29T15:57:00.000Z

Today, I have mostly been laughing at this:

Hubby is gonna kill me for this.............

You can watch us dance by clicking here. I bet you won't be able to resist making one for yourself. Go on. You know you want to!!

Edited to add: I've just found out you can Scrooge Yourself as well. Oh! the fun I've been having with this..... I clearly need to get myself a life :)

It's Show and Tell Time!

2007-11-27T09:12:00.000Z

I hope you're ready for this! It's a long one...

I'll try not to give you a blow by blow of everywhere I went, and everything I did (you'd be bored to tears, and so would I!) so I'm just going to post mainly about the knitterly stuff. I'll break it into two separate posts (NZ and then Los Angeles).

So. We arrived in NZ after a 24 hour flight, followed by a 3 hour wait in Auckland, followed by a 1 hour internal flight down to Christchurch. We've done this journey so many times before but it still never fails to amaze us how crap we feel at the end of it! Anyhow, enough of that and onto the exciting stuff...

Although I'm a Hawkes Bay girl, Christchurch is one of my favourite Cities in New Zealand I always like to try and visit when I go home (it's all part of the plan of trying to convince the hubby that he would like to live in NZ someday!). Once of my favourite places is the Arts Centre. It was originally the University of Canterbury from 1873 until around 1974 at which point,a new University was built 7 kms away. From around 1978 onwards, it's been used as a cultural centre. It's a fascinating place and I thorougly recommend it as a place to hang out if you're visiting Christchurch and have at least half a day to spend mooching around the lovely shops.

That brings me nicely to my first crafty purchase which came from Wool, Yarns & Fibre, a wonderful little shop which is hidden away in the Observatory building in the Arts Centre. It's a treasure trove of handspun yarn and roving and is also stocked with handknit hats, sweaters, cardigans, etc. There were two lovely ladies running it when I visited, one of whom was chatting away to me whilst spinning. They were very encouraging when I mentioned I was a newbie spinner. So much so, that I came away with this little lot!

This is Possum and Merino

This is 100% Merino. It's so beautifuly tied up, I don't know if I can bear to undo it!

I think I spent around $70 NZD for all this lot, which at the current exchange rate, worked out to around £25 GBP or $50 USD. Not bad!

I did manage to pop into Knitworld in Christchurch and whilst I found their stock to be nothing particularly out of the ordinary (i.e the usual Rowan, Debbie Bliss, etc), I got chatting with one of the assistants about knitting in general and how popular it's become, blah blah blah. We talked about Ravelry, etc and she was really excited about it (who wouldn't be though?!). In fact, I found all the staff to be really friendly and they have a lovely "Knitting Corner" with big squishy sofas where you can sit and knit to your heart's content. If I lived in Christchurch, it's definitely somewhere I'd hang out.

We left Christchurch after a couple of days and headed further South towards Dunedin. On the way, about an hour south of Christchurch, we came to Ashburton which is home to Ashford, the birthplace of my beloved wheel! It's well worth a visit here, particularly if you're a spinner as you can pick up all sorts of bits and pieces you never knew you needed, and again, at the current exchange rate, everything is well below the prices you'd pay here in the UK. They have a lovely tearoom with a nice shady outdoor seating area, which is very handy for bored husbands! I didn't buy any yarn or fibre here, but grabbed a couple of sets of DPNs, a Lazy Kate, some Flick Carders and a set of Dyes. I really wish I'd picked up some more bobbins as they were only about £3 each but as it was only day 3 of my holiday, I was already worrying about how I was going to get it all back to the UK!

I didn't buy anything knitterly in Dunedin, apart from a pot of Knitter's handcream from Knitworld, so nothing really to report from there.

We headed off from Dunedin after a brief 1 day stay and headed towards Queenstown. On the way, we drove through Alexandra and stopped for lunch and a brief stop at the i-Site (tourist information office), I picked up a local map and we headed off tofind Touch Yarns as I'd heard how wonderful they are. OMG, I wasn't disappointed! They were really easy to find by their colourful sign and their location is breathtakingly lovely. Just look at the view from their driveway!

So. I headed into the shop and was immediately in yarn heaven! I was blown away by the piles and piles of gorgeous yarn and fibre and OMG, the colours! I didn't know where to start. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least. Marnie Kelly's (the owner and creator!) son was in charge of the shop at the time and he told me to just take my time and give him a call when I needed him. He said they were quite used to people coming in and being overwhelmed, so he'd just leave me to it. I really wish I'd taken some pictures of the inside of the shop but I completely forgot, such was the excitement! So... quite a lot of dollars later (NB: I don't feel too guilty as I've been on a fairly strict yarn diet for most of the last 6 months), I came out with this:

From top left - Natural Possum Merino, (Blue) Pure NZ Fine Wool, Boucle and 2ply scarf kit (purple and green), 2ply Wool/Mohair (green), 3 skeins of Wool/Mohair 2ply (multi colours). I'll post individual details in my Ravelry Stash.

and this............

Oh, and finally, this........

So, now you can probably understand why I loved it so much. If you ever get the chance to visit Touch Yarns, I can highly recommend it. You definitely won't be disappointed, I guarantee it!

The next few days we spent in Queenstown and no knitterly purchases were made at all. I did find a small yarn shop in a tiny shopping mall in Beach Street but bought nothing. We spent most of our time here doing all the usual touristy stuff like bungy jumping from here (NOT!)

and riding up mountains hanging in a glass bubble, hanging from a bit of wire (terrifying!) so that we could get to enjoy views like this one:

and this one:

Once we'd returned back down to the ground, hubby announced that he absolutely had to ride the Shotover Jet which involves hurtling down river canyons at high speed towards cliff faces and doing massive spinouts in a speed boat. All in the name of fun! I decided to be the "photographer" and stay safely on dry land! Here are a few action shots of him having what he called an "excellent time"!

Now.......... are you still with me? or have you fallen asleep with boredom................?

Next up, we spent a couple of days travelling up the West Coast just enjoying the scenery, and once again, I didn't buy anything knitterly related.

Our final destination in the South Island was in the Abel Tasman and Nelson Bays area which is what I can only describe as a knitter's and spinner's paradise! There's so much to see and do and we really didn't have enough time there to make the most of it. However, as usual, I'd done my homework beforehand and so arrived with my list of "must visit" places!

First up was Hallblacks in Brightwater. Mary and Selwyn who own Hallblacks are a fantastic couple who are really friendly and made us both feel very welcome from the minute we pulled up the driveway. Mary runs the shop and business from a purpose built building on their property and Selwyn is the Farmer. They have a flock of about 600 sheep and each one has its own name! They love what they do and their animals are their life. It was a real pleasure to meet people who are so passionate about what they do. Even hubby was interested which was a real surprise! Selwyn took him "out the back" and they manly chats about farming and tractors and stuff!

We were shown all the different yarns they had in stock and then taken out to the large woolshed outside. I explained to Mary that I was just a beginner spinner and she was really helpful and encouraging and gave me some useful tips. She told me not to be afraid to give anything a try and that there's not really a right way or wrong way to do things. She then produced a washed Romney fleece which she said I should be able to handle. Apparently, she said they like to wash and prepare their fleeces in such a way that you should be able to spin straight from them rather than having to spend ages carding it. A few minutes, the fleece was mine! Mary told me that the sheep's name was Gamble, she was! lovely and had led a very happy life. I can only assume that since being shorn, poor Gamble has met her end at the local freezing works. I didn't like to ask, and I can't bear to think about it ;)

Anyway, the entire fleece only cost $20 (£7 or $14 USD) and there's enough for an entire sweater!! What a bargain!

There's my little helper Henry in the corner of the photo. He thinks the fleece makes a very comfortable doggy bed...

Hallblacks have a mailorder service and will ship all over the world so if you're interested, check out their website.

My final purchase was from Edencourt Natural Fibres, Clover Road West, RD1 Brightwater (they don't have a website) where I bought a kilo of Alpaca/Merino roving for $15. My camera seems to have deleted the photo so I'll have to take another one later and add it to my Ravelry stash.

The Nelson area is definitely what you would call the creative centre of New Zealand as there are so many awesome craft shops to visit. My biggest regret is that we just simply ran out of time and I couldn't visit all of them. Sadly, I didn't get to visit the World of Wearable Art which I'd been hoping to see. Never mind, there's always next time!

Finally, we headed across the Cook Strait back to the North Island and after a one night stopover in Wellington (where I visited one of my favourite shops ever, Nancys and still bought nothing!), we arrived back at Mum and Dad's place in Havelock North and spent the final 5 days just enjoying time with family, soaking up the wonderful Hawkes Bay sunshine, eating good food, seeing my mates and supping some of the finest wines (I'm a bit biased) on earth. What could be better?

In part 2........ (which will probably be tomorrow) I'll post news and pictures of my Californian adventures. If you're still awake that is!

I hope it's not bird flu..........

2007-11-24T12:50:00.000Z

So I'm back from NZ, and I'm absolutely bloody miserable. From the minute I stepped off the plane at Heathrow last weekend, I've been laid up in bed with the most dreadful dose of the Lurgy, that even 7 days on, shows no signs of wanting to let me feel human again. I've had aches and pains where I didn't know you could have aches and pains (like behind my eyeballs and in the joints of my toes! WTF is that about??!). Not to mention that I'm absolutely convinced that I've hacked up one or two bits of lung during the coughing fits that have wracked my body every 10 minutes or so for the past 3 days. A friend of mine who has just recovered from exactly the same illness has assured me that now my cough has reached the "productive" stage, it shouldn't be too long before I'm back on my feet and starting to feel normal again. God, I hope so :)

As soon as I feel up to it, I'll share with you photos and details of all Knitterly related things I brought back from foreign climes. I'm so surprised I got through customs given the amount of stuff I had rammed into my suitcases. If I had been stopped and searched, I swear it would have been like an explosion in a yarn shop if they opened my suitcases and the entire Romney Fleece I've smuggled through burst out everywhere!

Right. Must get on with some holiday knitting this afternoon. I haven't actually knit a single stitch for a month now so I'd better get on with it right now or I'll never get finished in time for Chrimbo.

It's good to be back :)

Clapotis Finished!

2007-10-26T12:03:00.001+01:00

Clapotis Finished!
Originally uploaded by **Claire**

Lordy! this took a lot of knitting.

I used up all 4 skeins of the Lion & Lamb and even had a panicky moment when I thought I might be going to run out!

Anyhow, I'm very pleased with the finished result and it's lovely and warm.

Off to NZ tomorrow (I'm sooooo excited!!!) so will be back in 3 weeks time with lots of piccies of lovely scenery and yarny purchases to share with you.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2007-10-09T15:53:00.000+01:00

Firstly, just to get it out of the way, I'll briefly mention the dreaded "R" word. For those of you that know I'm a Kiwi you'll know why I am absolutely gutted. I suppose I'll get over it eventually ..... but for now, it's still pretty painful to talk about. There's always next time I guess. Anyway, 'nuff said.

On to crafty news, I've been busy with my spinning wheel over the last week or so. I think I mentioned before that my friend's Mum taught me to spin when I was a young 'un, but that was a very long time ago and actually, when I say that she taught me, it was more that she let me "have a go", so I'm definitely still there in the Kiddie Pool when it comes to skill levels!

Anyway...... here's my first attempt. Don't laugh! It's terribly lumpy and twisty and some bits are so skinny, I don't know how they managed to hang on in there but they have!

My second attempt was with some Wensleydale Longwool Roving and was just slightly better. Looking back, I don't think that Wensleydale Longwool is the easiest thing for a beginner to spin. It's quite rough and it twists up into itself in the roving quite easily. That may just be my lack of coordination though!.

I've artistically rolled my first Longwool single into a Rustic looking ball for this picture although when I look at it, it just looks like a big old tangle.

When I bought my wheel, Linzi at the Alpaca Spinner, included all sorts of different fibers for me to practise with. Here's how I got on with some of them. The two balls at the bottom of the picture are my very first go at plying. Disastrous! Still, I shall keep them as a reminder of how far I have to go.

Linzi also included quite a large amount of Bluefaced Leicester Roving and I must say that it is absolutely wonderful stuff to work with. It almost spins itself, it's so soft and easy to work with. I would say that for a beginner, this would be your fiber of choice as you get some really satisfactory results.

Once I started spinning with it, all of a sudden, it sort of clicked and it all became much easier. I'm finally able to draw the fibre out without it twisting back up into itself and I'm managing to get a more consistent thickness on my singles. Here's a single ply that I soaked to "set" the twist and then skeined up.

I'm really pleased with this attempt. It's a very long way from being perfect, but I really feel like I'm getting the hang of it now.

It actually looks like real yarn and it's made me feel like I definitely can do this!

Finally, here's a skein of the same Bluefaced Leicester which I've plied. I'm also really pleased with this and I think I may have even spun enough to make something small'ish.

If I combine all my first attempts, I might be able to knit up a very interesting looking hat! Even if I never wear it, it can be a reminder of my days as a beginner spinner.

In actual knitting, the Clapotis is coming along nicely and should be finished in the next 2 weeks. I'm still on the straight rows section and it really is a bit boring. It would probably get done a whole lot faster if I could stay faithful to it and stop casting on new projects. After the felted hat incident , I've cast on a new Hawkeye Cadet Hat. I'm hoping to stick to the original pattern this time!

And finally..... I've just made myself this row counter bracelet. I must have been hiding under a rock or somewhere for the past couple of years, because I've only just heard of these. However, I've seen them on several people's blogs lately so maybe, there's been a recent revival of them or something. Anyhow, they are such a brilliant idea. They're super simple to use and really easy to make too.

In case you're interested, and want to have a go yourself, I found a fantastic tutorial on how to make them here. I think they'd make quite a nice gift. I'm going to make one for my Mother-in-Law for Christmas as she mentioned at the weekend that she can never find a row counter when she needs one.

It passes as quite a pretty bracelet too. I'm thinking of wearing it when I travel home to NZ in 2 week's time as I want to try and sneak a sock onto the plane. I know Air New Zealand are pretty strict about knitting needles but I'm hoping they let me on with my little clover dpns (they're only very short) It's worth a try I guess but I'm not holding out too much hope. We shall see.

It's all gone a bit pink...

2007-10-03T12:07:00.000+01:00

My blog's gone pink for October.

Knitting (and spinning) news will follow soon :)

Oops....

2007-09-24T17:34:00.000+01:00

I've had a bit of a mishap with my Hawkeye Hat...

Last week, it looked like this:

It was going so well.... I added the brim on Sunday morning, and my hat was done.

It was a perfect fit.

The pattern recommends blocking into shape approximately 1 inch smaller than the circumference of your head, so into a sink full of luke warm water and woolwash it went. No problem, I thought. I've blocked plenty of things before with really good results. I left it soaking for a couple of minutes, took it out of the water and wrung it out gently by rolling it up in a towel. I should add at this point that the yarn I used was Cascade 220, but not the Superwash version that the pattern suggests, so if anything, I was more worried about accidentally shrinking it than anything else. When I unrolled the towel I realised that I needn't have worried and that something weird had happened. The hat had grown to about 5 TIMES its original size (no pictures I'm afraid, I was too busy panicking!).

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I decided all was probably not lost and that as the yarn wasn't Superwash, I'd shrink it back down to a size that would fit a normal sized human head! So, into the washing machine it went. One 95 degree cycle later, and Voila! I now have a perfect, felted version of the original.

Actually, it's really rather nice and I must say, I'm very pleased with it! The felting has given it a really substantial feel and it holds its shape really nicely.

I thought I might even add a button or two to jazz it up even more.

At the end of the day, what could have been a total disaster, has turned out to be quite a happy accident.

I've had quite a few requests from family and friends for both the original and the "accidental" versions so I can see this pattern becoming a firm favourite for the foreseeable future!

Attention, All Personnel!

2007-09-20T10:12:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite blogs, Kathrynivy is written by two sisters who live on opposite sides of the USA. They both share the kind of passion for knitting and crafting that I find totally inspiring, and I love to read the stories behind what they've made. I love looking at their flickr photos whenever I want to bring a smile to my face!

I've just cast on their Hawkeye Cadet Hat which is inspired by M*A*S*H, the TV show, which is one of my all time favourite shows. I can't wait to get this done and to start wearing it, as I think the eye searing green I've chosen will be the perfect thing to add a shock of colour to those long grey days we're prone to here in the UK!

Still on the same subject, their blog also has some great free patterns and tutorials too. Go on, check them out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

In other news, I'm still slaving away on the Clapotis for the Rugby World Cup Knitalong. We're nearly two weeks into the contest now, and I've finished the increase section and am about to head into the longest (and possibly the most boring) bit, the straight rows. I think I've made pretty good progress so far, so I'm fairly hopeful that I'm going to have a beautiful and completely finished object by the end of the tournament! I'm totally loving the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb too. It's the second time I've used it to knit a Clapotis and it's just gorgeous! It's so smooth, soft and squishy and is a dream to work with.

Until next time........

And now for some knitting news...

2007-09-11T11:08:00.001+01:00

I have a finished object!

I've finally completed the never ending Chevron Scarf.....

The final length is about 88 inches, which is about 11 inches longer than the pattern recommends. I added the extra length as I like to be able to wrap my scarves at least twice around my neck. I'm not going to bother blocking it as it's going to curl up at the edges whether it's blocked or not. I kept it rolled up when I wasn't working on it and that seems to have kept it in a nice shape.

I did really enjoy knitting it as I adore the Socks That Rock yarn and the colours are fabulous but, I have to say it got quite boring towards the end as it takes such a long time to grow. Still, it's all been worth it in the end because I think the finished object is just lovely.

Just so you can get an idea of quite how much I love it, here's another photo (no more after this, I promise!)....

There's about a quarter skein of each colour left which isn't really enough yarn to make anything substantial, except maybe a pair of wee baby socks so, I think instead of socks, I'll knit a couple of little hats for the Big Knit. I quite like the idea of smoothie bottles sporting hats made from Socks that Rock. You never know, they may even end up in the hands of fellow knitters who will appreciate their true beauty!

Now, onto my next project. After two false starts (one involving not following the pattern correctly, the other involving drunken knitting) I'm making slow but steady progress on my second Clapotis which I'm knitting as part of the Rugby World Cup knitalong on Ravelry. I've got about 6 weeks to get it done, so there's a reasonable chance that I'll actually get it finished.

Here's where it's at as of today:

The Yarn is Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb and the Colorway is Devon. I bought 4 skeins this time as I learned the hard way when I was knitting up my first Clapotis for Mum for her birthday and ran out of yarn when I was about 98% finished. I'd only bought 3 skeins as that was what the pattern called for. I know I wasn't the only one who got caught out as the yardage has since been changed.

I've got a long way to go yet so I'd better stop messing around doing other things and get on with it!

Thinking Pink......

2007-09-09T15:05:00.000+01:00

On Friday I received some pretty devastating news from home. My mum phoned from NZ to say that my best friend has just had to have a major operation to have both breasts, her womb and her ovaries removed as she'd tested positive for the BRCA2 breast cancer gene which appears to run in her family. It killed her mum, and has affected several other family members. She decided that she didn't want to take any risks given that the chances were around 90% that she'd develop breast or ovarian cancer (or both) so her decision was fairly simple. She has two wonderful kids whom she adores, and whom she wants to see grow up. Thankfully, she's now doing okay and will hopefully be fully recovered before too long.

Her sister, on the other hand, hasn't been so lucky. She decided to go for the screening option rather than down the surgical route as she was happy with her bodily parts and wasn't really prepared to be without them. However, the screening session changed all that as a scan showed a lump in her breast and shadows on her liver and lungs. It turns out the breast lump is cancerous, the liver is apparently okay but it seems she has secondary cancer cells which have established themselves in her lung. She's about to undergo surgery in the next day or so to remove the lump and then, once that's healed, she'll be undergoing quite an aggressive course of chemo as soon as possible. The docs have said that her long term prognosis isn't great. However, She's strong and brave and she'll be in for the fight of her life but we all think she can beat this. She'd better.

Words can't even begin to say how much my heart is aching for my friend right now so I won't even try to write them down. I F**cking HATE this shitty, god awful, nasty F**cking disease and what it's doing to her and the thousands upon thousands of other sufferers out there.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I'm going to try in my own small way to do whatever I can to help. How about you?

And in Today's Knit-tastic News.....

2007-08-22T08:15:00.001+01:00

Well..... once again, I've been terribly lazy and not bothered to update my blog in ages. However, I'm doing it now so hey ho!

Anyhow, firstly................. take a lookie here at what I've just got. Squeeeeee! squeeeee, squeeee!!!

Oh! the excitement.....!!!!!

Once I'd got it unpacked, and made sure all the correct bits and bobs were enclosed, I spent a few days with a can of Danish Oil (Canadian Cedar is the shade, in case you're interested. It matches my other furniture.) a soft cloth and a paintbrush, turning the untreated wood into something that looked like this:

and this (see, I told you it matches my other furniture!!):

Finally, after half a day of mucho swearing and cussing like a good 'un (because I am unable to comprehend even the simplest of instructions) I managed to produce this:

and a few gratuitous close ups......

Aint she grand?!

Anyway, I'm chuffed to bits with the finished product and have just spent the last few days admiring her beauty. I bought her from the wonderful Linzi at the Alpaca Spinner who gives the best customer service ever! If you're considering buying yourself a wheel, I can highly recommend her.

I'm now looking forward to getting used to playing and hopefully, producing some half decent yarn. My friend's mum taught me to spin when I was a kid and I haven't touched a spinning wheel since. I'll see how I get on trying to re-teach myself but I suspect I'll probably be signing up for a spinning course in the not too distant future.

In actual knitting news, there's not been a lot going on I'm afraid. I'm still working on my Chevron Scarf from LMKG which is finally starting to look like there may be an end to it!

I absolutely love the simplicity of this pattern and how the two colours blend together. It's perfect for knitting whilst watching TV, as it only takes minimum concentration for one row at the beginning of every pattern repeat. On the down side, I actually find it quite boring as it grows so slowly and the "K2tog" bit makes my hands a bit hurty. Still, I'll keep on with it as it's gonna be gorgeous when it's finished.

Next up, after knitting the gauge swatch and tweaking the needle size a bit, I've cast on the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Gifts, but haven't got further than the first few rounds, so no piccies yet. I've also started my second Clapotis in the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb Devon colourway. I really need to get cracking on this as I want to take it with me when I head home to NZ at the end of October as it'll be good for keeping me warm on the never-ending 26 hour plane ride.

Finally, as far as yarn purchases go, none have been made in the last week. Nope, not one! I'd like to say that I'm ever so proud of myself for showing such restraint. However, it's not down to self control at all.... Can I just take a moment to say Thank You So Very Much to the friggin SCUMBAG that fradulently used my debit card to clean out my bank account with an online spending spree. Once again - Thank you, you asshole.

Thank you also to Itunes who allowed the abovementioned spending spree to take place without my knowledge, or even the use of my password and thank you for the very nice email from your customer services department telling me that whilst, yes, you sympathise and you agree that I probably am the victim of fraud, you are unable to reimburse me. I feel so much better knowing that I have your sympathy whilst you steal my money.

Last but not least, I can't finish without giving huge thanks to Abbey National who have taken over a week to send me a replacement card and even bigger thanks for all the fees you've charged me for going overdrawn because of said fraudulent transactions. Thanks also for keeping me entertained with cheesy music for the eleventeen hundred hours I've spent hanging on the phone whilst I've been trying to sort this mess out. I look forward to many more happy hours of holding on before I actually get MY MONEY back.

And on that cheery note, I'm off to do some spinning :)

The Mother of all Stashes...

2007-08-01T19:14:00.000+01:00

So you think you have a large stash? Well, you may want to think again fellow knitters, as I give you the "Mother Stash Of Them All". The next time your husband/partner/significant other complains about your yarn hoarding habit, please feel free to direct them here and you can sit back and relax safe in the knowledge that you probably have some distance to go before you can have a collection quite as awesome as this!

Enjoy!

Because.....

2007-07-26T09:04:00.000+01:00

Because............ earlier this Summer, I bought one of these:

and (for when it became unbearably hot) one of these:

this is what happens:

For OVER TWO FRICKIN MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, I mustn't complain, as my troubles are few compared to the poor people who live here many of whom have lost almost everything due to flood water coming into their homes. It must be beyond horrible for them. Many have no running water or electricity and, according to news reports, it may not get much better for them for at least the next few weeks. It's scary to think that the weather can cause such destruction in a supposedly modern and highly civilised country. I don't know whether it's down to Global Warming, or whether it's just a freak bout of bad weather, but it does worry me, a lot, and it makes me appreciate the comfortable lifestyle that I enjoy even more, as it makes you realise that it could all be gone in an instant.

So dear reader (I'm sure nobody actually reads this blog!) if you feel so inclined, you can help the flood appeal by donating here

Anyway, now on to more lighthearted and knitterly things...

As I've been unable to spend much time attending to this:

and these:

I have been mostly spending my time on this:

All I can say is that if you haven't got your name on the waiting list yet, DO IT NOW but be prepared. You won't get much knitting done for the first few days as it is one great big "timesuck" You have been warned!

On an actual knitting note, I have cast on my second Clapotis in Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb "Devon" which I want to take with me on my trip home to NZ in October. Given my inability to stick faithfully to one project at a time, I really must crack on with this immediately or it definitely won't be finished in time.

Squeeeeeeee I'm In!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-19T08:43:00.000+01:00

It came, it came! My invite to Ravelry was sitting in my inbox waiting for me this morning. I am soooo excited I can't tell you (I need to get a grip).

I can see I'll be spending a lot of time there from now on. My user name is justclaire if anyone wants to add me as a friend.

Right. I'm off to start taking pictures of my stash now. It's an exercise that could take quite some time...

In a reverie over Ravelry...

2007-07-18T15:43:00.000+01:00

You signed up on May 30, 2007
You are #5901 on the list.
74 people are ahead of you in line.
11987 people are behind you in line.
32% of the list has been invited so far

Woohooooooo! only 74 people ahead of me.............Please let it be today that my long awaited Ravelry invitation arrives - I've been soooo patient, I don't think I can bear to wait even one more day!!

Time for a change

2007-06-08T19:42:00.001+01:00

Living Room - Before
Originally uploaded by **Claire**

Finally, after 4 and a half years of living in our house, we're having the living room decorated. Here's the "before" picture. It actually doesn't look too bad in this photo. What you can't see, however, are the zillions of picture holes in the walls from both the previous owner and from us. Also, the white paintwork is in a terrible state. I have scrubbed and scrubbed at it in the past but it just wouldn't come clean so I've just had to live with it for the past few years.

We'll be in turmoil for the next couple of weeks whilst it 's being done but I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end.

Watch this space for an update....

No thanks to Knit Picks - I now have Options...

2007-05-02T12:08:00.001+01:00

Knit Picks Options
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Introducing my new toy! I can't wait to start using these babies as I've heard so many great things about them all over the blogosphere and all the knitting forums. However, I'd always assumed that I would never so much as get to fondle any as Knit Picks refuse to ship to the UK (bad move on the part of Knit Picks me thinks).

However...thanks to a fabulous UK Ebay seller and blogger, I'm now the proud owner of my own set of sheeny shiney, sleek and pointy lovelies!!!

Exciting stuff in the mail

2007-05-01T17:55:00.001+01:00

Cascade 220
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

An exciting parcel arrived today from Webs. What wasn't so thrilling was that UK Customs decided to sting me for £31 before they would hand over my parcel. And here was me thinking how clever I'd been by taking advantage of the £ to $ exchange rate but it's worked out that I've probably only saved around £5 by buying from the US. Whoopdee doo!! This yarn is for the Bobbles, Bobbles Everywhere Noni Bag.

Summer's on the way

2007-05-01T17:54:00.001+01:00

Patio Pots - May 2007
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

I've started planting up all my pots for Summer. Here are the first few but I've got loads more to do. They are Osteospurmums, Dwarf Carnations, Sweet Peas, Violas, Argyranthemum, Marguerite Daisy and a small Sedum. My lawn needs a bit of a feed too by looks of it!

And finally......

2007-03-21T19:42:00.001Z

Over the door storage
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's the last of the craft room shots. I bought this from my local Sainsbury's supermarket. It's actually a kid's bedroom storage thingie but I think it's great and I'm using it for storing extra bits and bobs. At the moment, it's got some Malabrigo in it and some Debbie Bliss 100% Cashmere and a skein of Tilli Tomas yarn.

Another corner

2007-03-21T19:39:00.001Z

Craft Room After
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

And here is my beading and paperwork corner. Compact but nice and neat.

Craft Room after...

2007-03-21T19:37:00.001Z

Craft Room after
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's my sewing area all nicely organised.

The table isn't ideal (it's an old computer desk) but it'll do for now and it has useful storage space for my overlocker, etc underneath.

And the finished room....

2007-03-21T19:36:00.001Z

Craft Room After
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

And here is the room all lovely and neat and organised.

Don't you think it looks better?

I've organised my yarn stash and it's all neatly stored either on the shelves or in bins (which are not pictured). It's a tiny room (approximately 8ft x 8ft) but everything has it's own place and I'm not ashamed to go in there anymore!

and some more mess...

2007-03-21T19:32:00.001Z

Craft Room before
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's another "before" picture. This is where I do my beady type stuff and also where I keep my papercraft stuff. It wasn't actually too messy as far as mess goes but thought I'd do a "before" shot to remind me how I don't want it to look!

My messy craft room

2007-03-21T19:27:00.001Z

Craft Room before.
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

I have been a bad blogger and not posted for a while. One of the things I've been keeping myself busy with was sorting out my so called "Craft Room". It had got to the stage where I was just throwing things in there and closing the door! Well... now that I have a lot more time on my hands, I thought that I really ought to do something about it.

Here is the "before" picture. The large Michael's bag at the front of the picture contains most of the haul that I brought back from our road trip in the US back in November. I actually only bought about 3 balls of Lion's Brand yarn from Michael's and they gave me this ginormous bag as they had run out of smaller ones. Still.... it came in very handy as I shoved all the lovely yarny stuff I bought in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada into it and I managed to squish the air out of it by parking my big old backside on it which kind of vacuum packed it for its journey back to the UK. It squashed down so much that I actually carried it in my hand luggage on the way home. The lady on the x-ray machine at Las Vegas airport looked at me like I was some kind of freak as I explained to her that the large mass she could see on her screen was yarn! I'm actually still upset 4 months later because I reckon I could have fitted a whole lot more yarn into that bag had I known that I could vacuum pack stuff WITHOUT a vacuum cleaner!!

Anyhow, back to the room. It needed a jolly good sorting out and was starting to get on my nerves quite badly as I was beginning to have a hard time finding stuff. So I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck into making it a bit nicer.

Noni...

2007-02-26T15:59:00.000Z

There has been a distinct lack of knitting going on in my world over the last few days as we've been terribly busy swanning around Northern France stocking up on delicious wines and other general lovely French goodies. I did manage to have a quick 10 minutes in the Phildar shop in Boulogne just before it closed on Saturday morning. It's quite a tiny shop and their yarn selection is small but they had a few special offers on and I picked up 20 balls of Randonee (which I think may be discontinued) for around £18. I don't actually know why I bought it as I'm not even entirely sure I even like this yarn. Still, I can chuck in into my stash and I'm sure it'll come in useful for something one day!

To carry on my current obsession with knitting bags, I'm planning on casting on my next project in the next day or so using this Cascade 220 yarn:
to knit this Noni Carpet Bag and the Camellia flower.

I also want to knit this Noni Bag:

which requires 19 skeins of Cascade 220. If I buy the yarn here in the UK, it'll be a fairly expensive project to knit at around £95-£100 for the yarn alone. However.......... I've discovered that if I buy the yarn from here. The whole thing will cost around £65 (including postage) as they offer great discounts if you buy a certain amount. Yay! for yarn stores who offer international shipping (KnitPicks please take note!).

I actually feel a bit guilty, as I do try wherever possible, to buy my yarn from UK stockists but £30 is a pretty big difference in price. Anyway, I'm sure I'll spend the £30 that I've saved on more yarn from Get Knitted in the next week or so, so everyone wins!! he he

Togs or Undies

2007-02-21T19:22:00.001Z

I've been laughing about this ad for weeks now. Sometimes I miss NZ so much. They have the best TV commercials.

NB: Togs = Speedos for you non-kiwi speakers!

Dolly Mixture Cupcakes (Bake-o-rama/Friday Part 3)

2007-02-16T17:09:00.001Z

Dolly Mixture Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's the second bit of baking I did today. How mature of me at my age to be making stuff like this!

I don't care. I love them!!

Bake-o-rama (or Friday part 2)

2007-02-16T17:07:00.001Z

Yo Yo Biscuits
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

As well as the fetchings, I've done a bit of baking for the weekend today. These are from the Edmonds cookbook and are a true Kiwi favourite. They are basically made of icing sugar, flour, butter and custard powder. If you'd like the recipe, email me or leave a comment.

Friday part 1

2007-02-16T17:05:00.001Z

Fetching
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

I started these yesterday and have made pretty good progress with them today. Finally, I get to keep a pair of these for myself. I've made so many which have been given away as gifts, I'm looking forward to a pair I can call my own!

Happy V-Day

2007-02-14T21:56:00.000Z

This week's Lime & Violet podcast mentioned this candy heart generator thingie. So I've spent most of this evening creating little buttons and sending them to people.

I've even created a little button for my blog.

Severe Weather

2007-02-08T11:26:00.001Z

A Snowy Willow Park, Otford - February 2007
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

This is what is referred to here in the UK as "Severe Weather Conditions".

It has snowed. A little bit. Probably around 3 inches max.

The kids round here have been given the day off school because of it and, as predicted, the entire country has been thrown into traffic and travel chaos.

What is this world coming to?!

Brrrr....

2007-02-07T17:56:00.000Z

Jeez Louise - it's bloody freezing. Seriously. Even the dog refused to go for a walk this morning.

We've got a severe weather warning in place here in the UK tonight and we're expecting, oooh, wait for it...... a whole 2 inches of snow! Pathetic.

I bet we don't get so much as a single snowflake here but the whole of the road and rail network will grind to a halt. Any old excuse.

Watch this space...

It's over

2007-02-03T17:01:00.000Z

Well, that's it. I've done it. I've had my last ever (well, for the foreseeable future) daily slog up to London. Yesterday was my last day at work before embarking on my "new life". It was a weird day and I felt both really excited and yet strangely, much sadder than I imagined I would.
Of course, today (Saturday) it's a completely different story and I am beside myself with joy!!!!

Imagine, being semi retired at 40. Lucky me!!

I had a really great send off. My entire department had a whip round and presented me with these gorgeous flowers.

Next, they presented me with this Sterling Silver Sweetie Bracelet complete with little piggie charm from Links of London. Woot!! I've wanted one of these for ages and they took a guess and got it spot on! My boss gave a very emotional speech and then made me stand up and give a speech of my own TO ALMOST 100 PEOPLE!!! I wanted to die on the spot but I managed to blurt out a few words without making a complete fool of myself.

The day ended with dinner at the Gaucho Grill in Broadgate with 10 of my workmates which was awesome.

Finally, Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, I arrived home and found my parcel from Blue Moon Fiber Arts had arrived containing my Socks that Rock order. Woot, Woot, Woot!!!!!

I'm one happy little stay at home knitter for now...

Calorimetry, part II

2007-01-28T13:31:00.000Z

Too knackered to post much today but here's the finished article. I love the colour and the button. The yarn is beautiful, soft and luxurious and I will definitely knit with it again. However, I do have a few gripes with it. Firstly, it has a tendency to "unply" (is that even a word?!) itself. It was most noticeable as I was casting on and less so through the main body of the work. Secondly, the yarn had knots in it. Not just in one place but SIX!!! I'm hoping that it was just a random "bad ball" because I've got another 4 balls to knit up into various other things.

Anyway, off for a Sunday afternoon snooze now...

Calorimetry...

2007-01-23T19:02:00.000Z

I thought I'd whip up one of these that everyone's knitting, before the cold snap really kicks in here in Southern England. I though it would be perfect for avoiding "hat hair" when one arrives in the office. What I should have realised (or perhaps I should have googled first to find out everyone else's opinion on this pattern before I cast on) is that this pattern is designed to fit a GIANT! I cast on the 120 stitches as the pattern called for and was merrily knitting away when it struck me that it looked rather large so I called the husband (who conveniently, has a gigantor head) and held it against said gigantor head, and discovered it was enormous on him too.

I frogged it.

I have since cast on with 100 stitches with 4.5mm needles and so far, so good. I think (fingers and toes crossed) it will be a perfect fit. The yarn is Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran in "Granite". This is Gorgeous stuff to knit with. I'm nearly finished and therefore, hopeful that my normal sized head will be wrapped up all toasty and warm for tomorrow morning's commute in the cold morning air.

Watch this space for the final article.

Booga Bag - Finished

2007-01-23T18:59:00.001Z

Booga Bag - Finished
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here it is. All lovely and felty. It's smaller than I thought it would be but I still love it.

Clappy made Mum Happy!!

2007-01-21T20:50:00.000Z

Mum loved the clapotis. It arrived in New Zealand in a record 4 days from the UK hitting her doormat the day before her birthday. I'm so happy she liked it.

On a separate note, the Booga Bag felted up just fine. I stuck in the washing machine on a 95 degree hot wash, no rinse cycle with a couple of old towels and it came out pretty damn cool. Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Booga Bag finished and ready for felting

2007-01-20T12:59:00.001Z

Booga Bag finished and ready for felting
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's the Booga Bag finished and ready for felting. I'm just working on the 6 feet or so of i-cord for the handles. I love how the colours have come out as I wasn't that keen on the yarn when it was balled up but I think it looks pretty cool now it's knitted up. I found the yarn in a bargain bin and I think I paid about £1.50 for the 3 skeins so all in all, I'm pretty happy with it. I can't wait to see it felted.

Hurrah for the weekend...

2007-01-19T18:51:00.000Z

Thank goodness this week is over. After yesterday's storms here in the UK, I have absolutely no plans to go very far from home weekend. Instead, I'm going to hunker down with the hubby and the doglet, and watch movies and knit all weekend. I do have to pop out to the post office tomorrow to pick up the lovely package of Malabrigo that I bought off ebay from the lovely people at Quality Fibers. I'm hoping to finish the Booga Bag and get it felted. I'm onto the i-cord so once that's done, I can stick it in the washing maching and hope for the best!

The weather forecast for next week is bad, bad, bad, here in the southeast so I'm not looking forward to a week of horrendous train journeys into London every day. If we get a single flake of snow on the tracks, the entire Southeastern Trains network seems to grind to a complete standstill. Still, only two more weeks of hiking up to London all day and then I will be a lady of leisure for the foreseeable future. I'm giving up work for a while to organise the house and our lives. I can't wait!

Clapotis. All wrapped up and ready to go.

2007-01-14T20:13:00.001Z

Clapotis. All wrapped up and ready to go.
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Here's the clapotis and hat all wrapped and ready to be posted off to New Zealand tomorrow.

I hope it makes it in time for her birthday.

Booga Bag

2007-01-14T16:11:00.001Z

Booga Bag
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

Round 22 completed on the Booga Bag

Yarn is Noro Kureyon shade 134.

This will be my first attempt at (intentionally!) felting something.

I hope it turns out well, because I have just ordered this, this and this from Pavi Yarns. I love them and can't wait to try them all.

Fetching

2007-01-14T16:04:00.002Z

Fetching
Originally uploaded by **Claire**.

I wondered why I had so much yarn left after finishing this pair of fetching. I realised I've done one less cable repeat than the pattern called for. Never mind. I gave them to my friend who has tiny hands and they fit her perfectly! I forgot to take a picture of the finished pair so this is all I have to remember them by...

Flickr

2007-01-14T16:02:00.001Z

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Knitterly stuff

2007-01-08T22:04:00.001Z

I've finally finished my first clapotis and have decided it can be for Mum for her birthday.

It's knitted in Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb yarn in the "Vera" colorway.

I hope she likes it...