A rotten day at work yesterday but I eventually got the end of quarter stats beaten into submission! Then off to Liberty's where a glass of Tio Pepe ans rhubarb tart helped put the world back on track. Very little knitting done as I really was not in the mood.
There were a couple of treats waiting when I got home - A cold bottle of wine and a book package. I can now pack One Skein and Big Girl Knits to take with me for the weekend. The blanket is included as is a cone of cotton from Coldspring Mill and a copy of T Twist Tee (from Knitty) which I thought might be good for mindless car knitting.
Nik's surgery appears to have gone well and my sister can bring him home this afternoon, his thumb and tendons are now reattached to his right hand so all we can hope is that he heals quickly.
Daisy - perhaps the cafe could become "Caffee Noro" instead!
My niece (17) is a trainee barrista in the local branch, she wasn't working on saturday and did not know I was planning to met friends there. She rang on Sunday night to tell me that there had been a knitting group in there the previous day - some of the other staff had commented on it - she reassured them it wasn't a mad group and was probably led by Auntie - she then thought she ought to let me know incase it wasn't me and I missed out on potential fun!
Juliet - I wish we were nearer as well - then I could save on my book bill and share your library! Hope today was a better Wednesday for you!
I've picked up the baby blanket again and have set myself Monday as a deadline for finishing it, with a long weekend away from work I might just achieve it though a lot will depend on what my youngest nieces have planned for me - we're off to Yorkshire for the weekend to help keep an eye on them as their Dad has had an accident at work and is in hospital awaiting surgery
Last week saw the opening of another branch of Caffee Nero - this time in my local high street. Saturday morning saw the first meeting of the Nero Knitters - yes, Jan B, Sue S and Sue P came over and joined me for a few hours.
I then introduced them to my favourite charity shops and some great bargains were found - I've spent most of the weekend browsing through vintage 1968 "Pins and Needles" magazines bought for the grand sum of £1 for 6. I also found a magazine from 1992 which introduced the Jan Messant "Knitted Gardens" book which has kept me occupied for the last year.
The books keep appearing as well, I now have 'Knitting Rules" and "Knitted Flowers" and am waiting impatiently for "One Skein" and "Big Girl Knits" to get here. There's a few more shawl patterns on their way as well, think I'd better lock the credit cards away for a while!
finished on time for my sister to take home to Yorkshire - my niece will be thrilled and auntie can now get back to serious knitting!
A good afternoon on the town with Kate, a mooch around Covent garden and the Bead Shop, followed by lunch at Liberty's and a quick trip to John Lewis. It was hilarious seeing the staff's faces at Liberty's - they thought I had my days mixed up. Kate and I bought each other bath goodies as an easter treat.
It was a good day on the package front as well - the arrival of the MASON DIXON knitting book , some patterns from the Knitting Zone and a huge box of green and brown yarn from Fred to add to the garden.
I quite like the idea of taking days off in the week.
One of the joys of a damp British Bank Holiday weekend is that I can sit and knit without feeling I should be doing other things!
I managed to attend a family birthday party on friday for Matt's nieces and enjoyed visiting with his Aunt who had travelled up from Wales. I sat there knitting with the sari silk and she was knitting a shocking pink fun fur whilst the rest of the family tried to get the cats to pose for photos.
Today I finished the Raj shawl and it is slowly drying / blocking. The pattern was simplicity to work, the charts made life very easy and as always I was surprised at how the lace blossomed when blocked. The Sari Silk was interesting to work with, not as much vegetable matter as I've experienced in the past . The only drawback was the weight of the item at the end - nearly 800 gms - my wrists were protesting for the last few rows.
The 2nd pink fur bolero is well on it's way - just 2 sleeves to finish by wednesday and I can then give it to my sister, Kate, to take home for me. There's a litle girl in Sheffield trying very hard to be patient whilst Auntie knits it. Her big sister has agreed not to wear hers until the second one arrives - so no pressure there!
I made the mistake of moving a box today and found another partialy completed project - Neroli - using Jaeger Chamonix which must have been started 3 years ago. I think this will be the next one for the finishing line and then I must finish the Apple blanket as my commuting project for the next few weeks as the baby is due soon.
I have a couple of small lace projects planned and then want to find something spectacular to make with 1800 yards of handpainted 2ply - anyone want to suggest a pattern?
here's the promised photo of my final gift from Angi
Matt's already claimed the armadillo, The cookbook has been put away until the stomach is up to coping with texas spices!
The yarn is wonderful - 360 yards of 2ply mohair from the pet goats at El Coyote ranch in Texas in a mix of orchid, primula and plum colours - I'm looking forward to making the Daisy Meadow scarf with this ( Angi definitely understands my love of Fiddlesticks Knitting patterns!)
Thought you might enjoy seeing some more photos from my recent "gardening leave" at the NEC.
I love the way the veg keeps appearing in the garden
contributions to the picnic - I loved the egg and cress sandwich
Look who appeared at Birmingham - Hilary was so touched by the comments that you'd left on this blog that she knitted another tortoise
Another donation made at Birmingham
Two new recruits for the garden - Jan and Mave , They started on making hanging baskets and trellis. My own contribution this time was far more modest - huge multi-green pompoms to use as filler in the bedding sections - I like to think they look like tufts of ornamental grass / small bushes etc
I'm slowly feeling more human after the bug. I managed to get to Liberty's on Thursday to meet up with some of the KCG group to start planning the stand for Ally Pally this year.
There's been a slight change in the decoration on the shelves and Christian (restaurant manager) said this was in our honour - tea cosies and yarn - I'd forgotten my camera but Amelia was on hand to catch an action shot of me having a good laugh over something so watch her blog for the photo.
On the knitting front - I packed 2 projects to take to the NEC - I forgot the pattern for the pink fuzz bolero and lost the needle for the Illusion project. So treated myself to 4 skeins of Bathed Recycled Sari Silk from Taj
I've been wanting to make the Raj Shawl (Fiddlesticks Knitting - every link I've tried to make has failed!) for a while so made good use of the travelling time and have now completed Chart 3. There's no point in photographing it at present as all you would see is a scrunched up fuzz. The bathed yarn is so much nicer to work with than the original and I don't mind paying the extra £1 per skein for the pleasure.
Today is the start of my first weekend at home for months, I plan to do normal things like shop for groceries, visit the library and check out the charity shops - there are a couple of good sources of vintages patterns and books in my local area and I'm becoming obsessed with finding different patterns for the garden.
I crawled into work this morning to meet with my students and their college tutor for their reviews - I must have looked nearly as rough as I felt as I got sent home again at 2pm.
One of the good points about getting home early was that I was able to meet up with my neighbour to collect my mail (anything that won't go through my letterbox gets left with her). This time the pile looked better than Christmas with lots of interesting goodies from friends in Australia, America and the UK, I'll confess that there were a few purchases there as well!
My final present from SP7 was there and I'll post photos as soon as I found where I hid the camera. Suffice it to say she has me sussed - cuddly toy, cookbook, lace pattern and the most wonderful yarn with an interesting background.
I had a great weekend in Birmingham largely due to the company of Sue H, Sue S, Amanda and Fred. Yesterday Matt and I went to the seaside to meet up with my nieces for an hour of playing in the sand dunes before they started their holiday.
Today should have been back to work - instead I got hit with gastric flu - ugh!
Look who has arrived in the garden - our first gnome!
Harry was knitted by Hilary - the wonderful creator of Horace the missing tortoise. The lily pond was finger knitted by Oliver (11) at the Brighton show and his mum crocheted it together and embellished it. The water lilies are from a shy lady at Glasgow who did not want to give her name.