Strictly M6 Services!

So there we were sitting having lunch in the services on the M6 toll road today, and Colin had just casually asked if I'd seen anyone famous yet and I'd said no. (We often spot someone well known, it was Ross Noble when we were in London a few weeks ago).

And then I looked up and said "Vincent Simone is right behind you!!" He'd walked across to speak to someone so I pulled my camera out of my bag to "kinnear" him, but he headed for the door again. I dithered a bit and then thought "Why am I letting him walk away?" so I jumped up and ran after him, was almost thwarted by the automatic doors and dashed outside just in time to see him disappear up the steps of the Strictly Come Dancing coach parked out the back. The driver was standing outside so I asked if he would ask Vincent if he would mind having a photo so he went in and then Vincent came back out and gave me a big hug and kiss and the driver took a photo of us!!!


I was so excited I didn't think of the fact that all the rest of Strictly were probably all on the coach too!! But Vincent has always been "my favourite" so I was well chuffed with that.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Well I am quite excited. I was chosen as one of six test knitters for a quite well known knit blogger/designer for their latest pattern.

These are my tools for the job, but that's all I'm going to say for now!

Felted Tweed Gloves

I now have a lovely pair of winter gloves. Amazingly they only took 37g of Rowan Felted Tweed, less than one ball. And I got the yarn when the old John Lewis was closing in Liverpool for £1.25 a ball, meaning these gloves cost about a pound!! Bargain of the year or what?





Coincidentally Knitting Daily have been plugging the book The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns this past week which this pattern is from. It's the first time I have used this book and it was really useful because I chose my yarn and gauge and then looked at the chart and found the number of stitches to cast on and away I went. As the meerkat would say - Simples!

Pattern: Basic Glove Pattern from the above book
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
Needles: 3.25mm

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have not seen the TV show based on this book so didn't really have any idea about Dexter before I read it. I'm not giving anything away by saying that he is a serial killer, who only goes after bad guys - or does he?

A number of prostitutes are being brutally murdered in Miami, and as Dexter actually works for the police as a forensic blood splatter specialist he is in an ideal position to get involved. However his urge to kill his next victim is strong and when he starts having strange dreams about the murders as they are happening, he starts to wonder if he is actually committing the murders himself.

In the process of the book we get into the mind of Dexter and at the end of the book discover why he is the way he is.

An interesting slant on the serial killer genre, but there were some huge leaps forward in the plot which weren't that believable. I won't rush out to buy the sequel but might watch an episode on TV if I catch one.


View all my reviews >>

Eddie Izzard..........

........at the Liverpool Echo Arena last night.


I'm quite pleased with my new Nikon Coolpix's efforts considering this is how far away we really were!!!

Best foot forward

To celebrate Soctoberfest 09, I have been participating in the Mystery Sock KAL on Through the Loops' blog. The idea is that you don't know what you are knitting (well you know its a sock) until you knit it. One clue is released once a week in October, and you knit that clue and wait for the next one. The final clue was released yesterday and here are my finished socks.


I made a bit of a boob by using such a variegated yarn so the pattern is a bit swamped but I'm not sure I would have used it for anything else so at least its out of the stash now.
Pattern: Through the Loops Mystery Sock 09
Yarn: Wild Fire Fibres Fantasia - colourway Lammas
Needles: 2.5mm circulars using magic loop from each end of the ball at the same time!
Mods: only the length of the foot to fit.

I also made the black & white kitty in a few hours last weekend, but didn't get round to the face for about a week. I'm still not entirely happy with it! I tried green and blue eyes but ended up back with black again.


Also last weekend Colin took part in a 10K run for Cancer Research UK. It was along the seafront in Rhyl and there was a hell of a wind blowing!

Susie decided to help him do some stretching before we left



and we met up with some others who were running it. On the left is Frederika who always looks stunning even when she has run 10K. This is before they set off


just after the first bend


and Colin crossing the finish line. This is the only picture I got of him finishing because although I got in a great place to see him come towards me, another runner was in front and blocking him from my view all the way! They only moved out of the way at the very last minute, I was a bit annoyed!


and this is the four of them at the end.


Colin's personal fundraising pot is now over £8,000 and collectively the 365challenge participants have raised over £24,000. Anyone fancy having a go? Check Colin's site for details.

And in the purple corner........

I'll freely admit I have a thing for purple, but I'm starting to think its getting a bit over the top!