The order of the night - socks!

The temptation was too much for me so I ordered some sock yarn from Wild Fire Fibres this morning. I got this apple green colour in merino/bamboo, and this gorgeous purple in merino/tencel. Can't wait to get them and give them a good squidge! More socks!!

It seems that socks are the project to take to Knitters Within Borders nights. Whenever I take anything else I can't concentrate and end up doing a grand total of about 2 rows. But last night I got quite a bit done on my stranded socks and only have 8 rounds to go before decreasing the toes. And they'll be finished at last. I can't believe I have taken nearly 2 months to make a pair of socks when I was boasting last night that I can whip a pair up in about 48 hours if I'm under pressure (ie in Sock Wars!) Socks seemed to be the order of the night last night with at least 4 pairs on the go from various people, including Becca's mum, although she declared that she felt inadequate as a knitter after seeing everyone's projects and kept her knitting well and truly below table level so we couldn't see it!! I was pleased that we had 12 people there last night, it gives me confidence that going for the second night a month was a good decision.

I bought my copy of Interweave Knits Fall 2008 and am quite taken with this waistcoat, and it's in a yarn that is readily available here if I want to use it, Rowan Scottish Tweed DK. I think it would look great over a long sleeve white T-shirt for work. I'll have a think about colours but the brown is actually quite nice.

Wednesday Knit Night

Tonight is the first of our Wednesday night knit groups at Borders. It will be interesting to see who comes along and what the numbers are like. We will be boosted by 2 because Becca is bringing her mum and her boyfriend's mum, neither of whom have been before, so at least there will be four of us!!

I have got stuck on my Cherie Amour at the part where you separate for the armholes. I'm sure if I sit down and concentrate I can work it out, but in the meantime I'm finishing the second of my Show Off Stranded Socks. I'm on the foot now so I can take it with me this evening and not have to concentrate too hard.

I've had a look on etsy recently and am tempted by some of the hand-dyed sock yarns on there. I particularly like some of the colours from Wild Fire Fibres. I may have to make a purchase when I get paid!!
(Edit: Aaargh, someone has nipped in and bought the colour I wanted while I was dithering!!! Sob!)

Yes, we have Lambananas.......

we have Lambananas today! There are over a 100 of these scattered around Liverpool. We found 16 of them, but here are a select few.





I think the John Lennon one is very cool!

Birthday flowers

I had some beautiful flowers on my birthday, so I thought I'd give the new camera a go and take some pictures. They are all taken on the AUTO setting (!).

These were from my mum and step-dad - except for the sunflowers which I added because I ran out of vases! (And they match the vase too.)


Sorry, can't remember who these were from - but again the sunflowers were added, they were from Paul & Kate


These were from Iain and Helen (of hand-drawn card fame).


And these are just a couple of close ups of the sunflower heads.

Colin's challenge

Please visit Colin's site where he is doing something good for Cancer Research UK.

http://www.365challenge.co.uk/

And here is the blog

http://365challenge.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

Cake!

I'm not going to bore the pants off everyone with hundreds of photos from my birthday, so here is a select few.

Me cutting cake


Me still cutting cake (can someone tell me is that T-shirt rude do you think? I'm not sure!!)


Very cute salt & pepper shakers from Mel & Stu


A brilliant birthday card from Iain & Helen. Why its so brilliant is that Helen drew it!! She is so talented. I love the way it looks 3D, but is actually flat.


I think parties are a little bit self indulgent because you know that people aren't going to turn up empty handed. I did get more cards and pressies than I probably would have done if it had been a quiet one, but hey, it was one of those birthdays with a 0 on the end.

Luckily, although it was a bit dark and dismal, the rain did stop so that we could have people sitting out on the patio. It was touch and go though. I hope a good time was had by all.

Colin bought me a fab new Digital SLR camera. I just need to learn how to use it properly now, rather than just leave it on AUTO. And find some artistic things to photograph rather than use it for snaps. Colin got all arty and took this down on the river yesterday morning when we went out for a cooked brekkie at The Blue Moon cafe.


And yesterday afternoon, rather than having leftovers for dinner, we were invited to our neighbours so I dragged the birthday out for another day!

Wahey, the BIG four-oh!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DONNA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

Yikes, 40????? Does that mean I'm all grown up now? Nah!

Twist Collective

There is a new online knitting magazine out called Twist Collective. It is a very professional job and looks just like a real life magazine. You turn the pages by clicking to the right or left, or if you want to read a whole article you follow the links.

It can be found here.

At last!!

The wait is over...........I present the Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits Winter 2007.


I really like this jumper, the fit is great and the yarn is lovely and soft.


Even the sleeves are the right length!


The strange increase/decrease bit at the sides halfway up the cable pattern is in the perfect position to sit under the boobage. I've seen others on ravelry where it sits higher and looks a bit odd but I'm very happy with the position of mine because it is hidden by the "overhang"!!! (Not that there is much there to overhang!)

So Stash reopened their new Yarn Barn on Saturday. It is tucked away in an industrial park so I don't think they are going to get any opportunist passing trade but they say that most of their business is over the internet anyway. It is a much bigger space with chairs for sitting and knitting and everything is spread out around the walls so you aren't falling over each other if there are more than 3 people in the shop. I suppose I was there for about 40 minutes and picked up a ball of the Noro Kureyon sock yarn to give it a try as I've heard mixed reviews.


I had a frantic text message from Becca at 10.30am saying "Where are you?!" but we were in town and she was gone by the time we arrived. She was there for a total of two and a half hours!!

She brought her purchases over on Sunday when she and Mark came for lunch. I had no idea what I was going to make so I bought a copy of Delicious Magazine on Saturday and found a chicken recipe which turned out really well. I was a bit dubious when it said to add little gem lettuces to the frying pan but it actually worked. And I managed not to give anyone Salmonella.

I finished Sepulchre over the weekend. I did enjoy the story all the way through but the ending was over a bit quick and didn't completely explain how the supernatural occurrences happened. It was obvious from the beginning that Leonie and Meredith would be related but how didn't become clear until near the end. It was a long book (over 700 pages) but didn't drag and held my interest. My next read is The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman. This is another in the Merrily Watkins series which I've enjoyed so far.

A new post...........

...........is on its way, honest. I've been waiting until my Gathered Pullover was finished, which it was last night, so I just have to get a decent photo. My wireless connection has also been a bit hit and miss for some reason.

7 days and counting to ................my 40th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!