Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I just wanted to pop on and show you my home made Niddy Noddy:

An idea given to me by PinkPhish back in July. I've been saving the insides of foil and wrapping paper rolls ever since but Jomps didn't realise and kept throwing them away! All I did was tape one roll either end of the longer roll and hey presto! It works great!!

Now that Jomps has spent the last 3 evenings untangling Jessies yarn, they are neatly skeined:

Jessies on top, Gracies underneath. Pretty good for their first attempts, don't you think?

Cherry Pickings

What a bad blogger I am... over a week since the last post. Never before, and hopefully never again!

We had such a good weekend with Jomp's kids. It's not often you'll hear me say that! The girls and I did some Kool-Aid dyeing which they thought was great fun! I did too. Well I did til I discovered how tangled Jess had got her skein. Jomps has now spent over 4 hours trying to get it untangled! Still, she was really pleased as it's something she can add to her A'level Textiles folder that no-one else will have.

Then we had an early firework night, gobbling down hot dogs and jackets, wrapped up against the cold, whilst Jomps set off feeble fireworks. I was certain that Pickle would go berserk but she amazed me, as always, by pointing and saying "Wow! Nights!" meaning Lights!

I have developed this reputation amongst the three of them. My nickname is 'The Maker' as I'm always 'making things'. They especially love home cooked food, something they never get at their Mums. On Thursday I made Gracie a birthday cake and on Sunday I made Treacle Tart but they got gobbled up before I could get the camera!

They all had such a good weekend that they even helped clean the house on Sunday morning! I want the clocks to go back every weekend because we got SO much done!

Knitting time was, understandably, limited. However, I've finished the left front now as well as the back:

The colours in these photo's are pretty true. I know the front looks shorter than the back but I can assure you they match up.

Here's my artistic shot that I love, just look at those cables!

And would you look at these! Aren't they pretty! They remind me of Pac Man, wasn't the bonus item always cherries?

Made by Vikki, they arrived prettily wrapped this morning. I've been stalking the postman for weeks but I guess they were caught up in the postal strike backlog. Make sure you check out her Ebay page!

An even quicker knit, and I'm happy

Well, here it is...Pattern: Beth's Beanie by Mummy!
Yarn: Colinette One Zero. Colourway: Blue Saturn
Size: 18" Head Circumference
Knit for: Beth
Comments: This version took less than 2 hours knitting and fits perfectly! I left out the roll brim and added 4 rows of 2x2 rib which holds the hat in place much better. The yarn slubs seem to congregate in patches giving a nice textured appearance that I really like.

Pickle seems to like it, not that you can tell at the moment as she is utterly miserable! We'll all be much happier when she's feeling better!

CPH news for Jo: The back is done and I'm up to the armhole on the left front although I need to tink back about 6 rows as I cabled too early (not the first time that has happened!). I promise I will post pics later in the week!

A quick knit....an even quicker frog!

What a god awful wek it's been. Our little pickle threw up 8, yes 8, times on Saturday night. Most of it all over me! Diarrhoea on Sunday. Poor little thing was not a happy bunny. Neither was Mummy!

Monday I came home sick from work. I thought I was getting the same bug but no, I was fluey and horrid. Spent two days on the couch, too horrid even to knit. Back to work Wednesday.

Cue the next bout of throwing up from pickle. Everywhere! More diarrhoea! Yuck! Then today she's got a nasty cold! Aaaaagh!!

Still, I managed some knitting yesterday. I had a lovely delivery from Get Knitted this week and couldn't wait to get started. We've bought pickle a new winter coat and she needs a hat to go with it so:

Pattern: Eazy Roll Brim Hat by The Knitting Fiend
Yarn: Colinette One Zero. Colourway: Blue Saturn

Size: 18" Head Circumference

Knit for: Beth

Comments: Such a quick knit! Less than 3 hours start to finish! The pattern is actually a hat generator where you plug in the head circumference and your guage and a pattern magically appears!

Surely this would mean the hat would fit? Or at least nearly fit?

You'd think so wouldn't you? Well, the bugger doesn't fit, not nearly so!! It's at least 3 inches too big in circumference! And I hate the roll brim!

So, 3 hours knitting equals approximately 3 minutes frogging! I've started again and I'm doing my own pattern this time, 1st time ever not knitting to a pattern! We shall see how it goes...watch this space!

Fit For Purpose?

Being that I work in the NHS, the phrase 'Fit for Purpose' is ingrained into my brain.

With that in mind, I present my latest FO for your perusal:

Pattern: Round Dishcloth by Amy Carpenter

Yarn: Zettl Colorado 100% Cotton. Colourway: 9036 Green/yellow
Size: One Size
Knit for: Gracie
Comments: My 2nd dishcloth. Picked by Gracie herself. Used one whole skein with only 12 inches left!

Ok, so it's a dishcloth! But Gracie (Jomp's youngest, age 9) asked me to knit her a facecloth. I think it's far too pretty to be used for dishes anyway, don't you?

It has sat in my WIP basket for the last 6 weeks, 80% done and poor Gracie has asked every weekend "Have you finished my flannel?". I've been preoccupied with other knits, primarily my CPH but today I'm at home sick so decided to get it finished. It only took 20 minutes! I wish I'd done it sooner!

I want to knit more dishcloths but there is such a lack of nice cotton yarn over here. I really want some Sugar 'n' Cream cotton, widely available in the States. It comes in such lovely colours but I've yet to find it here. I'll keep my eye on eBay! Not that I need an excuse!

Oh dear!

Is what my darling Jomp's utters as I try my hand at yet another hobby!

In my time with him (7 years) I've tried cross-stitch, designing blinkies, fish keeping, going to the gym (!), crochet, home-baking, blah blah blah! And over and over again, he's seen me try something, realise I'm no good at it and then resolutely put it in a corner to be discovered and binned years later.

The same with knitting....or so he thought! 2and a half years later and my skills are going from strength to strength! I have finally discovered something that I'm good at. I can't see a time when I will stop knitting. Perhaps when I'm old and grey (well, greyer than those awful few that keep cropping up now!) and my eyes are failing. But until then, never! I LOVE KNITTING!!

So now Jomps has forgotten all those failed hobbies, I thought I'd try a new one! Stitch markers! I've been looking at the efforts of Liz and ViKnits and decided to try my hand at a few myself. I only had a few beads in my button tin:

I really like the two with pink beads but I hate the pearly one! Nevermind, I thought! I'll try again, this time with Fimo, grown-up plasticine that goes hard once it's baked. That wasn't as easy as it looked either, will post pics of those when the light is better, along with pics of the back of my CPH and most of the left front.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: "If at first you don't succeed, try and try and try again (with a new hobby, then another and another!)

Alternatives to Ravelry??

Mmmmmmmmmm.........

The other day I bought Jomp's a bag of Revels. As he ate them, trying to avoid the coffee flavoured ones, I wasted yet another hour of my life on Ravelry. He, being a man of no hobbies, was utterly bored and whilst he munched, he came up with a number of plays on the theme of Ravelry:

• Revelry for lovers of Revels

• Navelry for those who like navels:

• Devilry for followers of the dark lord:

• Gavelry for collectors of little wooden hammers:

• My most favourite I've saved for last. Savillery for fans of Sir Jimmy Saville!

Can you think of any more?

Bits and Bobs!

I've been meaning to post all week but I've felt pants all week. Nothing in particular, a bad headache for the last week and overwhelmingly tired, too tired to knit even! I was beginning to think I might be pregnant until Jomps started showing the same symptoms! We've decided it must be the doctors old favourite, "a virus"! Why is it that all GP's diagnose a virus when they don't know what else it is?

Anyway, this post has no direction and lots of 'bits and bobs' to talk about!

On Tuesday evening, I went out again! It was my friends hen night and as she's pregnant she didn't want a boozy night clubbing, thank God cos I'm too old for all that! I think she thought we'd have a quiet meal but no, we all had other plans! Instead, 10 of us went to see 'Puppetry of the Penis'. I have to say it was very very funny but really there are only so many ways that a man can bend his bits! Jomps asked if it was in any way sexual, the answer is a resounding no! Definitely not the females equivalent of a strip club!

In SP11 news, my downstream pal received her parcel last week and seems to like it. She has even guessed who I am since I'm on her blog roll and I stupidly left something with my name on it in the parcel! What a dunce! Anyway, my pal is Lou over at Enchilada Sunrise. Check it out to see pics of what I sent!

I've been trying to work on the CPH but it's slow going as I just seem to have lost my knitting karma a little. Perhaps it's just because I'm under the weather? I do hope so! I'm also supposed to be working on a secret project for my Secret Pal that I wanted to send in October's parcel but there's no way I'm going to get that finished in time either!

And now I shall declare that I am indeed the saddest person on this planet, nay, in the universe! You remember that my upstream SP11 pal sent me a dishcloth that she knit whilst on the treadmill? Well, it has sat on the arm of the chair and I kept looking at it, not wanting to use it, it being my first handmade gift that anyone has ever given me! Well, I am a convert! Gone are the days of crappy old blue J-cloths, I am in love with my knitted dishcloth! There's just so much more 'substance' to it. If you haven't tried one yet, give it a go!

Oh, one more thing.. nip on over to Queen of the Froggers and leave a comment as she's donating 5p per comment during the whole of October to Cancer Research UK as it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A fantastic and very generous idea! Which reminds me, I must learn how to check myself...do you? We must!