Amazing what you spot on TV

On a Friday evening I am just about able to stay awake until the end of Friday Night with Jonathon Ross. After this Colin usually stays up to watch Later with Jools Holland but puts it on Sky+ anyway in case he can't stay awake to the end! When I got up on Staurday morning, he was watching the recorded episode and said, "Come and look at this interesting piece of knitwear on Jools Holland last night".

Wondering what on earth I was going to see - Jools can have some quite obscure artists on his shows sometimes - I watched as he interviewed Smokey Robinson. Nothing interesting to see there, but then........the camera panned to the audience and who did I see but a rather rough looking Noel Fielding! Ignore the sourpuss look on his face, ignore the mountain of beer on the table, look at his BOHUS!!!!

I may now have to re-consider stranded knitting!!

Wimbledon

Wasn't Wimbledon great in the 80s? McEnroe, Connors, Borg, Lendl - my mum used to reckon Lendl didn't wear any underpants but surely he couldn't have gotten away with that with the short shorts they wore then?

Then came Agassi the showman, and after that it all got a bit boring, with the big servers and no rallies to speak of. I stopped watching.

But this year I am really enjoying it again. The fact that we have someone with a real chance of winning helps. But can Murray do it? I think he will get to the final but up against Federer I'm not sure he can actually win. Yes he's beaten him before but we'll have to see. If it is a Murray - Federer final I shall be glued to my seat like I was in the 80s. Come on Andy!!

How did he resist?

You wait ages for one series to start.......

.........and three come along at once!!!

On Sunday night at 9pm it's the return of both Lost on Sky 1 and Supernatural on ITV2, and the beginning of a new programme called Being Human on BBC3. All at 9pm and all of which I want to see!!!

Luckily ITV2 have a +1 channel.

Repairs and a book review

I can't believe it is already only a few days until the Borders Knitting group meeting. It is next Tuesday. I have been in to the LYS and they have had more interest so who knows how many people will come this month. I have sent reminders to last month's attendees.

My Drops 88-4 is almost finished. I have to sew seams and do the neckband. I could probably finish it by Tuesday if I put my mind to it at the weekend. I'm just dreading picking up a hundred and something stitches around the neck and making it look neat, as the fabric is quite loose and holey. I am still working on the Zoknis, no progress on those lately, and I also want to cast on an Umbilical Cord Hat from the Stitch& Bitch book for a friend's baby due in May. There's a lovely one here. That may be my Borders project for Tuesday as it's small and portable. I'm going to use some Twilley's organic cotton.

So my car got fixed under warranty. The gearstick is still a bit stiff though so I don't know what they did. You just have to trust that they did something and didn't just leave it sitting in the corner of the garage for two days.

The Sky+ box had to be replaced in the end too so I lost 2 episodes of Supernatural, 2 of ER and the Boosh documentary that were saved on the hard disk!! Drat!!

And now especially for Nina - a review of The Keep. The story is about Danny who as a kid leaves his cousin Howard in a cave, and he isn't found for a few days. Years later Howard is renovating a castle in Eastern Europe and pays for Danny to come over to help. The castle is all spooky and you are expecting a lot of supernatural goings on. Then there is the part where Danny and Howard end up in some dark tunnels, and relive the experience from when they were kids. In the meantime there is another story going on which is the narrator of Danny's story who is a prison inmate called Ray who fancies his writing teacher. The book had a lot of potential which it didn't live up to. I didn't get the point of the narrator part of the book. And the reliving of the tunnel/cave thing was over and done with in a few pages. Then at the end you get at least 30 pages of the story of the writing teacher which I thought was completely unnecessary. If there had just been the castle story it could have been expanded and made much better, there were too many unfinished threads. The book has now gone off to a Bookmoocher in the USA.

Looks like we are going to see the Mighty Boosh live tour twice this year. Colin's nephew has two spare tickets for Dublin on 17th September which now have our names on them. Woohoo, that's a whole two and a half months before we see them in Manchester.

Bah humbug!

It has been over a week since my last post. I was sort of waiting because i didn't have any photos of anything, but I can't see any photos happening in the next few days either so i thought I'd just get on with a new post anyway. Does a blog post need photos or pictures? I'll admit that I do tend to look at blogs if they do have photos than if they are just plain text. So I'll not be expecting many readers today!!

So what has been happening this past week? A bit of planning for Christmas. The mad "buying presents and getting them in the post" rush has been averted this year because we have decided to go down south to visit my folks on 27th Dec for a couple of days. I have still been doing a bit of shopping though. I am finding it really hard thinking of presents for people this year. I remember when it used to be that if you wanted something you waited until Christmas or your birthday to get it, but these days if you want something you just go and get it. Then when people ask what you want for Christmas, there isn't anything you want. And when you ask them, they can't think of anything either!! Grrr. And wandering round the shops just doesn't inspire me either. I like to get things that are a little bit different for people, not just the same old thing. But everything in the shops is the same. I guess I could have knitted everyone unique gifts but what with my hand problems this year, and the fact that I want to knit stuff for myself, it wasn't practical. I also think that you only get the benefit if you knit for people who appreciate the work and effort put into it. Like other knitters. I have made a couple of things for other knitters. And something for my mum.

I was in town today wandering aimlessly. It wasn't helped by going to the optician first thing and being informed i needed new glasses which I will have to wear all the time instead of just for driving. Varifocals!!! But "THAT BIRTHDAY" isn't until August!!! Yet I'm getting varifocals!!! The price tag was a bit of a stunner too, I won't say how much, but it was round about "that birthday" times ten. Yikes!!!

We are also going to Ireland for a few days next week to see Colin's family. His 6 weeks of radiotherapy finishes on Tuesday, can you believe how quickly that has gone. But you should see the arm, red doesn't start to describe it, and the heat, phew! We were joking the other night that I wouldn't need to shave my legs, i could just let him singe the hairs off with his arm. He was supposed to have an appointment with the consultant tomorrow but it has been postponed until nest Thursday. We think it is for a scan. Fingers crossed for that.

We had our works meal on Tuesday night. Well as me and Colin are strictly speaking the only employees of our company it would have been a bit sparse but we asked various people who rent the offices from us so there was a total of 7 of us. Unfortunately the food wasn't brilliant, so we will try elsewhere next time. It wasn't bad by any means but not inspiring either.

I can't believe it is already the 4th episode of The Mighty Boosh tonight. It has improved every week so I have great expectations for tonight's episode. It's been great having a double dose of Noel on a Thursday night, but sadly it is his last night on Buzzcocks tonight.

I have been catching up on a few podcasts. The knitting ones are really good for listening to while knitting. I found a new one called Lixie Knits It which is an English one rather than American. She sounds quite sweet but goes a bit bonkers sometimes especially when her husband gets involved! Also the Lime & Violet podcast. Boy can those two talk! I've only listened to one episode and there are 48 so far!!

As for my knitting I am still working on the Drops 88-4. I have finished a sleeve and am leaving the second one to take to Ireland. So I am back onto my second Jaywalker for the time being and am getting near to the heel flap. I have an urge to start something else as well though. I am waiting for some yarn from ebay for another Clapotis which I am going to make wider than the first one as I am getting 10 balls of yarn so should have plenty. I don't know what the yarn will be like though, its one of those "unknown yarn impulse ebay bargain purchases for a tenner from China" type things so i hope it is okay when it comes. Their feedback is good and it says that it is 100% wool so we will see.

I'll stop now as I have thought of something I may have photos of tomorrow, so I'll post again then.

Hat, zoo, and eels.

Mike's hat is finished. This was a different yarn to the one I made mine in and shrank more vertically than horizontally, but a bit of blocking has done the trick. It is just about dry and will be handed over to Mike tomorrow. Hope he likes it.

In other knitting, I have finished one Miss Potter. I have decided to just make one pair though, in case I get fed up of the pattern.

We have a friend called Paul who we know from our student days. He is originally from South Wales but now lives in Fife with his wife Audrey and their 2 year old son Elliot. Every now and again we get a phone call from Paul, saying he is about half an hour away and can they pop in. Somehow we are usually in and not busy. It has become a bit of a standing joke. When I got home on Friday there was an answerphone message asking us to call him on his mobile. He was in the area but wondered if we were doing anything on Saturday. They were down for a family party in Lymm but were going to come over to the zoo, so we arranged to meet them. And here they are................The fourth person is Paul's niece Katie. We had a lovely day wandering around the zoo. It was very chilly though, and I should have taken my Tundra hat, but Paul came to the resue with a hat for me. Here I am wearing it, and discovering that one of the chimps has been named after me, hah hah.
Here are some leaf cutter ants doing their thing and carrying chunks of orange peel up to the top of the tree trunk. (Click the picture to see it better)
They also have prairie dogs where you can go through a tunnel and pop up inside a dome in the enclosure..........
Well Kate Garraway got voted off Strictly Come Dancing last night. At last!! It was getting a bit silly keeping her in as she was dreadful. I'm still not sure who the winner is going to be, but I think Kelly, Alisha and Matt have a good chance. Also been watching Long Way Down with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on Sunday evenings. They are travelling from John O'Groats to Cape Town on motorbikes through Africa.

Have you seen the film Team America - World Police? It is all done with string puppets but is definitely NOT for kids. When I first started watching it I though it was rubbish but I stuck with it and it turned out to be really funny. A p**s take of Tom Cruise films like Top Gun. Check it out if you haven't already.

I'll leave you with a little song..........
"Eels, eels, eels, eels..............Eels up inside ya! Finding an entrance where they can........."

Clapotis finished

I finished my Clapotis scarf last night. I'm not sure about the colour pooling but I'm not worrying enough to frog and do it again. It is Natural Dye Studio hand dyed yarn so there are colour variations between skeins. I used 3 and a quarter skeins (170ish grams) of sock yarn.


I liked getting near the end because you are decreasing at both ends so each row is getting shorter and therefore quicker to knit.

Somehow I am still alive in Sock Wars. Mel declared herself 'dead' yesterday so hopefully I will get her victim's partly made socks to finish in a couple of days. Unless I'm 'killed' first, but I have had no word from my 'assassin' at all. Perhaps they are in stealth mode.

On the TV front, I watched Sunday's Top Gear last night. I can't believe that they managed to sail the English Channel in a pickup truck!! Surely not! Very funny though.

Since I have managed to pick up the needles again recently, my reading has started to suffer. I have started Memnoch the Devil, which is no. 5 of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I did pop into the second hand bookshop on Saturday and got Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan, and Night Rise by Anthony Horowitz for the grand total of £7, and the Canavan was a hardback. I enjoyed the Black Magician trilogy so I hope I'll like this one too. I'm not usually a big fantasy fiction fan but there you go.

Yay for Russell Brand having Noel Fielding as co-host on his Radio 2 show last week. If you are quick you can listen again or download the podcast here. The show was very funny, but I don't know how he gets away with some of the stuff he talks about, what with it being the BBC n'all. There was a bonkers chap on who wants Russell to stand for mayor of London. You can sign the petition here. Noel & Russell did say that they will be defending their title on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, which I'm guessing will be on around Christmas/New Year. Not long now then, where is this year going?

Films, TV, books etc

I have now had 3 sessions at the physio where she has done ultrasound on my little finger. Results? No change. I have one more session before I go for my assessment at the ortho's. But the physio seems to think I will have to have the op on both my thumb and finger. They don't do both at the same time though. I'm hoping they don't do it the last week in August cos I'm doing my Reiki Master level on 1st September and it wouldn't really do to turn up with one hand swathed in bandages.

Charley is OUT!!!! Hurrah!!! Trouble is the house has gone a bit quiet now. Maybe she should have stayed in. Ah we are so fickle. New housemates not really floating my boat either.

Something very rare happened in our house on Saturday. I did some tidying!!! Major tidying of the bedroom. All the dusty shoes came out from under the bed, all the old bags came out from where they had been stuffed in the wardrobe. All the cr*p on top of the drawers is gone (apart from the 50 or so books that constitute my "to be read" pile.) So after that we decided to get a new bed. Our current one is an IKEA bigger than kingsize and is rather big. We are going for a normal double so we will have a bit more room around the bed rather than in it. We are getting it from the same place we got our other bedroom furniture so it will match. They make them up from scratch and stain them too. Just have to find a good mattress now.

My alliums came out finally, and the bees absolutely love them. They are very tall though and all the rain has mostly flattened them to the ground, which is a shame.





Harry Potter now seems like a distant memory. I've just got the the middle of Salem's Lot and it is getting a bit scary. The vampires in it are the nasty type, not the suave, sophisticated types from the Anne Rice books. The book was written in 1975, and it is good not to have the presence of computers and mobile phones. However, it seems every single character smokes!

Talking of spooky things, I have become a recent convert to Supernatural.



I started watching part way through Series 2 but didn't really know the backstory, so I bought the full set of series 1 DVDs which I am trying to plough through. I like it because it is a bit X-file-y which was my favourite programme for the whole of its 9 series. I think Dean Winchester may replace Fox Mulder in my affections. (Wink to Colin who is convinced I only watch TV programmes where I fancy one of the characters - and he's probably right, but that doesn't explain why I watch Corrie!!) There are some great in-jokes like the episode which stars Linda Blair. At the end, Dean says to Sam, "Did she look familiar? I really fancy some pea soup right now."

Last week there was a lot of hype about Heroes so we watched it. Can't say it really grabbed me, it was a bit of a cross between X-men and 4400, both of which I like. I'm not sure if it is going to draw me in but I'll give it another episode or two. Watched The DaVinci Code on Saturday night and it was okay but the book was better.

I sound like a complete TV addict - probably true, but look at the weather!!!

Girly shoes and lunch

As you may remember I am going to a "do" in July. I have shown a pic of my dress already but here is a reminder...........

It is navy and grey. As you may also remember I have the problem of small narrow feet, size 2.5UK. And I don't do heels. So I have been having trouble getting shoes to go with the dress. My sister in law lent me a pair when we were in Ireland but they are 3.5 and were my back up plan just incase I couldn't get any. Friday, Colin had an appointment in Bolton for an hour so I went along and waited for him and had a good old read of The High Lord. I am about half way through now. Anyway, after that we went to The Trafford Centre to look for shoes. After trying a few shops with no luck, we were directed to Debenhams, and tah-dah.................


I got some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They do have a small kitten heel but it is fine. They do look a little bit more bluey in real life. And they have an ankle strap so they WILL stay on! The front is all beaded and sequined and they are the most girly pair of shoes I have ever owned! I don't do girly!! Or shoes!! But that may have something to do with my shoe size. Maybe if I had normal feet I would buy more shoes. Who knows.

My old boss from the hospital is retiring next Friday, and he invited me to a lunch yesterday in Llangollen with all the old gang. It's lovely because I haven't worked there for 18 months but he still asked me to go. He said I was still thought of as a member of the group. It was in a hotel called the Chainbridge Hotel right beside the river. We had huge windows overlooking the river and when the little steam train went past on the other side we were all waving and all the people were waving back. It was lovely to see everyone, and sorry to anyone I didn't get to talk to much. I had a good old natter with my friend Bex though, who was already a bit tiddled when I got there. I left at about 4.30 when they all moved on to another pub, but I had a text this morning to say they didn't leave until 9pm so goodness knows what state she was in then!! I am going to pop down to the lab for Gil's last day next Friday so will see some more people then.

And we are out for lunch again today. Colin has just had a call from a psychologist friend who is coming to Chester for the day so we are going to meet them in town for a light lunch in Swanky's coffee shop. This has become quite a regular haunt for us recently, very friendly staff and the food is pretty good. I think it is open into the evenings too, and I had thought of maybe using it for a knitting group meet-up, but that was before my "terrible knitting injury" caused by "thirty years of knitting, man and boy". (If you are a Fast Show fan, you will get that reference, if you are not a Fast Show fan, why not????).

Bag, Europants & hair.

I'm back in the land of the living!! Had a yucky couple of days, then the internet connection went off, so I'm trying to catch up.

I managed to get my mum's bag done anyway. I have found that I can knit for a while, then I stop and my thumb really hurts for about ten minutes, and then it calms down again. So I am doing bursts of knitting once a day. Anyway, here is the bag, I just have to sew the button on.




I didn't know what size it was going to come out as, but it is actually just the right size to get a magazine in and other stuff too. Which is just what my mum wanted. I had to put it through the wash twice to get it nice and thick.


So, a bit of catching up.............Last Saturday we went over to Macclesfield to visit some friends. We took the dog because otherwise he would have been on his own for a long time by the time we got home. They also have a dog who is much younger than Podge and wants attention from him all the time. We left them outside while we chatted and suddenly I heard a splosh. When I looked out, I could see Podge, back legs in the pond, front legs out of the pond, ears flat and looking most sorry for himself. Because of his poor old legs (he's fifteen and a half) he couldn't get out so Colin had to lift him. I don't think he fell in, I think Max pushed him in!! No, they were probably playing and maybe Podge stepped back to get away from Mad Max, and in he went!!

Later on we watched Eurovision!! Because there were 6 of us, there was a lot of chatting and the sound wasn't very loud on the TV so we didn't get the full experience. And the voting. Oh come on!! I was disgusted that only Malta nad Ireland voted for us, but obviously the rest of Europe either doesn't have a sense of humour or as Verity said they all hate us because of Iraq. Hmmph, I may not watch it next year!!


When we got back there was a message from Colin's sister in Ireland to say that his dad was in hospital. He is home now, but had a small stroke. He has had all kinds of tests and they can't find anything wrong or what might have caused it. But as far as we can tell he is back to his usual self thank goodness. And he has had a thorough MOT. There were a couple of days where we were ready to drop everything and go over but that wasn't needed in the end.


Colin has just been in London on a course for a couple of days so I was mooching around on my own. And I couldn't even go on the internet cos that packed up! I did pop into the office on Thursday but had yesterday off. I'm not in much next week either, cos my parents are coming up on Wednesday from Southampton for a few days and Monday I'm getting my hair sorted out. I only go twice a year and it needs a damn good chopping!!

Light at the end of the tunnel, fishing bag & sandwiches

Thanks for all the suggestions about my thumb, I think it may have met its match - Arnica! It is not better, but is a lot less stiff and I have been able to knit. Tomorrow I am going to get something called Swedish Bitters from the health food shop. It is actually a supplement of some sort - never heard of it myself - but someone has suggested soaking a cloth in it and wrapping up the thumb in it along with the arnica cream. I'll give it a go anyway. I may get some lovely sexy support gloves too!

We went to the zoo at the weekend, and the orangutans were up to their usual mischief with their sacking wrapped around them. Suddenly Colin said "Would you like one of my pies!" a la Mighty Boosh. I fell about giggling, I'll never look at the orangs the same way again. Their fantastic new enclosure opens in a couple of weeks, it is 3 times as big as the one they have now, they won't know themselves.

So yes I have done a little bit of knitting, I made a start on my mum's bag which I'm making up as I go along. I started at the flap and when I thought that was big enough I cast on the same amount of stitiches again and joined up to knit in the round. When it is big enough I'll add the strap and felt it. I'm using 3 strands of the 4ply Yorkshire Tweed I got from Janette held together. I may need to felt it a couple of times cos the little swatch I did didn't shrink that much. It needs to be big enough to get magazines in for when my mum goes fishing with my step-dad. She doesn't fish, she sits in her chair having a good read!!

Hooray, today is Sandwich Shop sandwich Friday. Since I started working here I have made it the law that we have a sandwich shop sandwich every Friday, but bring our own the rest of the week. That way it stays a treat. Why are sandwich shop sandwiches so much nicer than the ones you make at home?

Tomorrow we are going to Macclesfield to see some friends. However, I didn't realise until a few days ago that it was EUROVISION night!!! I hope they watch it, I think its a scream, and funnier every year. Let's all wish a big tongue-in-cheek GOOD LUCK to SCOOCH!!!

I finished the Patricia Cornwell book last night. If you haven't read any of the Scarpetta novels before, don't start with this one as it relates back to the previous 2 or maybe 3 books in the series. Cases that seemed to be done and dusted in those books are dug up and reviewed, so you do need a bit of knowledge of what has gone before. I am now reading the new book by one of my favourite authors. No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong. I've loved all her previous books, involving werewolves, vampires, ghosts etc. This one is about a necromancer, Jamie Vegas, who has had bit parts in some of the other books and now gets one all to herself. If you have read any others you will be pleased to hear that werewolf pack alpha, Jeremy Danvers, is in this one too.

Oh forgot to mention, I had a lovely get well card from T yesterday. Thank you! It was one of her purchases from piglotties charity cards. Maybe that's why my thumb is feeling better, all the vibes!!

The Missing Postman

My postman has gone awol!! He didn't come today and I have got stuff on its way that I WANT!!! When Colin worked from home, we had loads of post every day, but now he has moved to the offices, his post all goes there so some days, like today, we don't get any.

Apologies for my rant yesterday, but I had to let it out, hee hee.

I am having a day off today and catching up on much neglected things I need to do. This morning I have been sheeping, for Wendy and Chris. Chris also wanted four of "anything else" so I have rustled up these for her. Hope they are okay.


This is the batch I took into Stash on Saturday, need to do a coloured batch next.


And this is the bamboo tape that I swapped with Wendy on Sunday. I think I came off with a pretty good deal there, they are £4.75 a ball in Stash and there's 4 and a bit there.


Then I need to make a birthday card for a friend, do some Excel revision and then tackle the ironing pile while catching up on the things I've recorded on telly and haven't watched yet. Oooo, busy, busy, busy bee!!!

I've added a link to my flickr page where I've put all my finished projects. I'll add to it as I get more things finished.

Forums, jammies & Castaway

I have a decision to make. Bruce from Scandinavian Knitting Design (the UK distributors for garnstudio) has asked me if I would like to be an administrator for their forum. I am thinking about it. I don't really have a clue what an administrator does! But they need help, and he has said I could do it for a month or 2 and see how it goes. Typical that now I am back at work, things are happening that I need time for!!

I have got a batch of sheep ready for Stash. Some pink/white and black/white ones for now. And the order for the USA is ready and on its way. It will be interesting to see how many are sold after the magazine comes out.

I have an idea for a design I would like to try, so I will take it with me on Sunday (albeit in my head!). I was lying in bed and thought that it was the time of the year to put away my winter pyjamas. But I need some lighter ones so I thought about knitting a little set with vest top and shorts. I will need a light yarn which will also be cool. I don't know a lot about the different types of yarn, but am guessing a cotton or linen type yarn might work?

I just turned the heel on my second toe-up silk/alpaca sock so its on up the leg to the end now. I hadn't done much on these for a while but got to a fiddly concentration bit on the FLIC and left that for a bit. I probably won't need these socks until next winter now, but then I'll have a nice new pair ready for me when the weather turns again. Work continues on the grey ones.

I have been dipping in and out of Castaway on BBC1, not knowing whether to watch it or not. On Sunday I did watch it and found it very uncomfortable. In the previous episode which I hadn't seen, 2 of the castaways had been sent off on a mission and something had happened between them, causing them to fall out. When they got back, Jonathan was completely ostracized(sp?) and they all turned on him like a pack of savages, to the extent that they decided to throw him out of the main hut and make him live in a tiny hut which let in all the rain, and not give him any food. Ok, so maybe he didn't pull his weight but I think the "punishment" was rather extreme. I remember celebrity Big Brother when this type of bullying was going on, and it became an international racisism issue. The castaway incident has not even been mentioned anywhere as bullying. Yes, Jonathan does seem to be a confrontational character but come on.