Today I went out!

Sounds silly doesn't it but life is quite restricted at the moment. Today was the first day of the Embroiderers' guild 21st anniversary exhibition - you may remember I was in charge of the last couple of exhibitions but since I am now 'retired' from the committee I was just a spectator and went along today to take a look at the work that was on display. Along with a couple of my own bits of work were some stunning examples of other peoples. Sadly I can't share it with you as it was a 'no pics please' event. There were also about 4 stalls selling goodies - buttons, beads, patchwork and my favourite 'The threshing barn'. I may have happened to make a couple of purchases as it would have been rude to pass by and not, I thought you might like to see!

Looks like I was missing a bit of sparkle from my life so I added some in the form of yarn - each of the above is sparkly but am not sure it shows completely in the picture. Please don't think in any way that I am actually short of yarn because I am not but it is always nice to come home feeling you have something to get excited about. Plus actually going out to something that isn't a vital trip (ie food shopping or taxi service) is a luxury I am a little short on at the moment. I have 1 more trip up my sleeve for Monday - a beginners zumba class for an hour and boy do I need the exercise! If you hear there was an earth quake in Cheshire on Monday morning then you will know who to blame. Also whilst I am taking blame that terrible rain on Saturday was down to me as well - I might have been having a bit of a sing a long to the ipod whilst I was finishing stripping the border in our bedroom and the house was empty aside from Ted and I - Dave drew the short straw and went to visit Nottingham Uni although secretly I think he enjoyed his day out. He also managed a trip to Canary wharf on Monday to visit a customer so he had a really exciting time!

Lottie is off to visit her Dad this weekend - it doesn't happen that often so it is worth mentioning! She is going on the train by herself, a move I have resisted for a while, but in another year she could be off to uni so I had think carefully about that whole independence thing and since I will be putting her on at one end and her Dad 'should' be there to meet her I am hopeful it will be ok? Am I over protective about this or not being careful enough here - your thoughts on this one please?

Happy Birthday Ted & Della!

Today is my doggies 9th birthday - obviously it is also his sisters 9th birthday too!

I have to admit that I wasn't sure we would be celebrating today but happily we are. Della is fine with no health problems other than a bit of middle age spread (think we are sharing that) and here she is:

Time for a nap after her scavenge in the garden for windfalls. Ted is most upset as you can see because I managed to get to the 1 apple that had blown down from next door into his patch. I am sure he will perk up later once he gets his chewy stick.

Happy Birthday to you both! Much love from us all! xxxx

Autumn!

Well I have to say it has been a bit of a shock coming home at the weekend - what happened to that lovely half light at 6am and the 6pm warm breeze? It is still dark at 6am (today the bats were still out) and it looks like it is time to order the logs and light the stove.

I was reading my last blog post again and I must just put the record straight - that amazing view is only available from the top of scaffolding and not in my house, all we have is a small glimpse between the roof tops from our bedroom window. Sorry if I misled you on that!

Today Ted had a check up at the vets again to make sure his kidneys are ok with the new tablets and all is ok except we need to reduce his dose a little just to be safe - his fluid has now all gone from his tummy and he is very perky (he wasn't keen on the heat). In fact he is so perky the little monkey is stealing my green tomatoes right off the plants! I am not complaining in the least.

Knitting wise I am doing a bit of finishing as the project I had planned to do was a) later than expected and b) the pattern was not what I had in mind! I am quite glad to be finishing off a few things instead and hope to be able to show you my progress soon.

Hope all is well? Sxx

Into Orbit!

This week I have finally finished my Orbit shawl which is for Lottie and has been OTN for a few months - the i-cord edge took ages but I really loved doing it.

We have been a bit busy having solar panels put up for the last couple of weeks and yesterday Lottie and I ventured up the scaffolding to take some pictures. It is a good job because today it is raining and so not that great a view.

The view from the top of our house to the sea:

We have panels on both sides of this roof as it is east and west facing

Whilst we were home last week Ted had a visit to the vets for his check up and his kidneys have gone back to normal levels now so they have given him an extra diuretic tablet of a different kind and his tummy has come right down now - he seems happy and although he can't get over excited about things any more he is plodding along so I can't complain too much except about the 6am starts to the day but we have had 2 extra months now and next month will be his 9th birthday - I feel very lucky to have had him in my life this long and take each day as a bonus.

Must dash now as I have scaffolders to make tea for - more soon! Sxx

Iffy Squiffy

So here I am in my favourite place, 'sort of' on holiday - Lottie is in Italy with her Dad and Dave is working albeit from the kitchen here instead of his office at home! Ted made the journey across the country in the back of the car quite happily and has his fan keeping him cool along with a new gazebo to give him some shade in the garden. There will be no walks along the beach and paddling for us as it would be mean to leave him behind and he would know where we were going (he can read minds)!

So my project to keep me company is my Ifigenia shawl kit, somehow I managed to get my first choice - make a plan! I must admit that this is my most challenging knit ever! My first few rows were knitted and tinked so many times but I have found that a magnetic row marker and a highlighter post it keep me on track and I also have a couple of stitch markers placed between the edging / mesh section and the split between the 2 chart pages - the theory being if I have the right number of stitches in each section I only have a partial row to tink back if something is amiss. I have not done true 'knitted lace' before and this is certainly a challenge.

Hopefully I should have more progress later in the week but for now I am going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Finally finished!

So finally my latest round of pattern testing is done - it is the cowl and wrist warmers for the same e-book as the scarf I did before. I have enjoyed both of these patterns and would recommend the warmers to anyone with a passion for mittens (yes that could be you Allison). The only thing I found is that it turns out I am a bit of a seasonal knitter and mittens in July messed with my mojo! They are a great way to knit in the round without doing socks and will be fun to wear as it gets colder.

Tonight I am hopeful that I will manage to snag an Ifengenia kit in the posh sale - it is a mid week extra like they did with Tilia and you all know how much I loved that shawl (3 times was my record for making that one).

I am still knitting the i-cord edging for the orbit shawl (it took a back seat for a while) and also working on the blooming shawl and the new sweet shoppe shawl - you see it is shawl knitting weather right now and I love them! More soon, Sxx

Oops I did it again!

It is not often these days that I have the house to myself, this morning I was up at 6am as is now the norm here but then at 6.30 I made him indoors his cup of tea (7am is usual) and we began the day - by 7.50 we were in the car and off to the station with London Euston the days destination (sadly all I got to do was a drive by and drop off) and then back home to the empty house that is just Ted and I, Lottie had caught the school bus at 8.20 and is off to Manchester on the train later for an afternoon of Shakespeare's 'As you like it' and then dinner with the rest of the group.

I on the other hand will have 2 different station runs later - one to Crewe for him indoors and the other to Nantwich for Lottie.

So as a small treat to myself I sat down with Ravelry and my breakfast and did a little surfing - I was only looking you understand but I found the prettiest pattern called 'Sweet Shoppe' and I was sold, I have a pretty skein of NDS Dazzle HT that would be perfect! The pattern is printed, the needles ready and waiting, I just need to wind the yarn. Must knock a few things off the to-do list first though.

More soon once I get started - I also have some more testing to show you as well.