Knot Another Knitter

On the Bandwagon

2009-04-03T23:26:00.001+01:00

Ohmygod Crocs are just the best thing ever!

P.S I realise I am about 2 years too late for this trend.

Argh, People!

2009-04-02T19:38:00.002+01:00

So someone who doesn't live on MY street parks on it, blocking MY drive and carrying on their conversation with a neighbour for 5 minutes despite the fact that I have told them I need them to move so I can gain access to MY property and thinks it is ok to start shouting at ME when I beep them to tell them to hurry up shifting their car because 'Helllloooo' I am still parked here waiting.

They then think it is ok to make certain masturbatory hand gestures when FINALLY shifting it when we then go on to shout back at them that there are now TWO people who live on the street queuing for the access that THEY are blocking.

Sometimes conversation is too good for some people, and one can only relate to shouting through the window for them to 'Fuck off' and flicking the V's violently.

Some people should be slaughtered at birth.

Dr Death

2009-04-01T22:32:00.002+01:00

Bru (pronounced Brew), the dog our family has had since he was 7 months old went to sleep for the last time this evening. He was either 15 or 16 and was basically rotting from the inside out - he certainly smelled like it anyway! He went to live with my Dad when my parents split up when I was 18 so I've seen him less and less over time. Sleep well Bru Bru - I have many memories of many adventures that will be treasured forever.

D is starting a new job on Monday after accepting redundancy from his last job that he officially finished yesterday. I think we are very lucky compared to most people in the whole recession thing for him to be able to finish one job and line up a more beneficial job straight away. Instead of working 60 miles from home and commuting for at least 1 and a half hours each way per day, he will now be working 15/20 mins from home. This will be a massive lifestyle change and I can't wait to spend 'normal' evenings together rather than him being home at 9pm.

I bought new ceiling lightshades for the hall and landing as one of the finishing touches and I love them!

I now have a week off work.

I have so much cleaning and tidying and decorating to do in this week that it's unreal.

I WILL make time for reading and knitting, not necessarily in that order and not at the same time!

2009-03-30T14:43:00.002+01:00

I've just turned 26 and haven't spoken to my Grandparents on my mothers side since I was 18. They had a bit of a row and as a result I obviously sided with my mum so the last time I saw them was on my 18th birthday. Since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge, I'm older, wiser, my mum had made up with them, so on New Years Day I decided to go and visit them again along with my mum.

They had shrunk considerably. My Grandad was no longer the man I remembered and had withered into a shell of a human body. My Grandma was pretty much the same, just older. They still live in the same old house - a big house, but very very very run down. I'm sure it was once a glorious abode in it's day, full of the latest luxurious flock wallpaper and shaggy carpets which are now just peeling damp paper, and matted fluff.

They lived their own simple life made up of their routines so they barely left the house or saw anyone else. To them 8 whole years of not seeing their Grandaughter was more like a life sentence than a quick flash of a few years that it was to me. I can remember my Grandad looked at me as though I was a miracle, mouth agape and eyes wide as it dawned on him that I'd come to see him, to make amends. He hugged me, teared up and said my name very slowly. As though he thought that if he never finished speaking it, if the last vowel never dropped from his tongue then the moment would never be over.

We sat for an hour or so passing back and forth idle chit chat about what I'd been up to over the last 8 years and how life had changed. He had changed from the opinionated strong willed man that the family had known and fallen out with into a calm and laid back 80 odd year old. He punctuated the conversation numerous times by commenting that a lot of water had passed under the bridge, things were now different, that he was a different person and he would love to see me again even though he realised that modern day life doesn't allow one too much spare time to do so.

My heart warmed to him and before I went I vowed I would visit them again and bring my partner. It had been bugging me for years that one of them might die and I would never have made my peace with them or visited them that one last time and selfishly I guess I thought I had done my bit just by going to see them this one time. The last few months have been hectic and I haven't made any time to go and see them. I feel guilty about that, because to them it was maybe like dangling a carrot in front of them and not following through.

A few weeks ago my Grandad had a stroke and ended up in hospital. He went through various stages of being ok, then being in a coma, then ok, then eventually just got to the point where he gave up trying to speak as no one could understand him. The decision was made to just let him go as he would never be leaving that hospital. He was tired, confused and ill. Although he couldn't speak he told my Grandm that he wanted to leave and that he would see her on the other side. It took her days to work out that he was trying to tell her that, and I'm glad that she managed to work that out. They had been married for over 60 years and although I'm sure it was filled with it's ups and downs there's no doubt they must have loved each other. It kills me to think of losing D after 5 years, nevermind 60.

Last week he slipped away. My mum went to visit him and found him dead. I'm glad in a way - he needed to go, my mum and Grandma were tired out from visiting the hospital every day and it was just a waiting game. Like living in limbo for them. I did go to visit him at the hospital once, and he did know I was there although he didn't really respond. It makes me even more glad that I made my peace on New Years Day with them. I can't imagine how I would feel now had I not made it up with him.

Today was his funeral. I wasn't overly upset. I didn't cry. I wasn't that close to him, and am only really upset for the man that I saw on New Years Day, the man that I could see myself building a relationship up with. I'm not upset for the man he was, the man who upset so many people in my family and the man who thought it was ok to fall out with his daughter for so long. I'm upset for my mum as she had only known him as he was for the last 2 years, as she hadn't spoken to him for 6 years. I'm upset for Grandma. How will her life be?

The funeral was full of a few people who actually wanted to say goodbye and a good few other people who treat it as a good day out. You know, the kind of people who have nothing else better to do than visit a funeral to give them something to talk about for the rest of the week. They are also the kind of people that run straight for the food at the after funeral thingy and stuff their faces. At least it means they won't have to worry about what they're going to have to eat for dinner.

It was full of people who I'm apparently related to but I have no idea who they are. I think maybe they were pulled straight out an 80's timewarp. That's the last place I saw icy blue eyeshadow and icy pink lipstick anyway. One old guy had skin so waxy and so yellow I could have sworn he belonged in a shop window as a mannequin. At point I turned around from getting my
G&T and thought he'd died he was that still.

There's a point in the service where it turns from all the generic blah blah blah Jesus and God and Christ kinda stuff and they actually mention the person's name, a little bit about them and ask everyone to pause for a moment and remember the person. That's the point where everyone loses it. I didn't do that in the Crem. Not in a place full of other people. Instead I will do it at some point in the next few days, when I have a quiet moment. I'll think of my Grandad and how I idolised him as a kid, how he used to do magic tricks and Punch and Judy shows. I'll think of the times before everyone grew up, grew older, and grew nasty. Before relationships turned to shit and after they were patched back together again.

Sometimes in movies they have that old cliched thing of how it's never too late to make it up with someone - I think they're right.

Good Old Days

2009-03-29T16:25:00.002+01:00

Today I cleaned. A lot. Life at the moment is all about decluttering. I'm fed up of living around our stuff and instead decided it's high time to that our stuff should be benficial for us. My Mum's been a great help and has helped me to clear out the attic - we got rid of 5 car loads of rubbish and semi organised everything up there.

Our bathroom is almost complete after the little flood we had. Everything is installed and working properly, we just have a small intermittent leak from somewhere in the shower enclosure which is yet to be fixed, which means that the floor can't be sealed yet but apart from that it's done. The hall, stairs and landing has been replastered so we are now rid of the horrible artex/wood chip effect stuff that was all over the walls. We had our new carpet courtesy of the insurance company fitted last week and have our hallway furniture fitted. The wall that goes up the side of the stairs is still raw plaster as that needs wallpapering in a feature paper, and the wood work still needs painting but I can do that as and when. Just a few pictures to put up and the light fittings to fit and we're nearly done. The kitchen has a new black laminate floor but I'll never consider that room to be finished until we have a new fitted kitchen which will no doubt be years down the line seeing as they cost so much.

So, in short, in about a months time my house should be more or less like a normal house. On my time off work I won't have DIY and major projects to do - and can just chill. It'll be so nice so be able to just live in this house for it not to just be one big project. Then of course we have to move onto the garden - and that's about a zillion blog posts in itself.

So today after finally getting rid of the last of the plaster dust that was covering most surfaces in the house it looks vaguely normal. I plan to sit, knit, and watch TV.... like the good old days.

Guess who's back...

2009-03-26T20:33:00.003Z

Oh wow. I'm back. I never went, but this blogging thing lost it's shine for me, and what's the point in doing something if it doesn't interest you at all. Life has been great, really great, and it has been busy since I started my new job in September. Since it's been so great I've felt no need to blog, haven't needed a sounding board. Working shifts has really impacted on my knitting time and my schedule at work has been up in the air for many months. It's now calming down and I'm starting to know where I am and what I am working and when.

Some days I am just too tired to pick up the needles after working a 70 hour week. There is always something else to do or that needs doing (we've been doing a hell of a lot of work on the house), or I just plain don't feel like it and just want to sit on the laptop or watching TV. Over the last few months most of the stuff I've started, I just haven't wanted to carry on with and the result of this is numerous large projects stuck in the 'just started' stage. Too far along to stop and rip, but nowhere near finished. They cause me a massive amount of guilt for some reason and as my life nowadays is about decluttering my head and my home, I'm thinking of rip rip ripping and only having stuff I REALLY want to do on the needles. Yes, the yarn needs using, but I haven't seen any Best Before Dates on any of my yarn labels so no doubt there'll be plenty of opportunity to use it in years to come.

I have an entire back of a Rowan sweater I started and am nearly at the cast off neck edge point, but I don't 'love' it. It's nice, but can I really be bothered knitting the front and 2 sleeves? Then I have just started another Rowan sweater in yarn I DO like in a colour I DO love and I think it'll be a practical sweater, but the guilt from not continuuing on the first sweater is putting me off doing this one - see where I'm going with this? I think this weekend may be spent ripping, decluttering my yarn room and maybe keeping one big project and a smaller sock project.

Who knows if I'll make another entry, but I do still read all of the blogs I used to, even if I don't seem to have time to comment on them anymore.

Introducing Scree

2008-11-16T13:51:00.006Z

We finally managed to clear a semi path to the room the camera was in and D took these photos this morning. Does it gross you out to know he was naked whilst he did it and that in most of the photos I was looking at his....hehehehe! The background for the photos is my newly painted bedroom walls.

When we first moved into this house I had an idea that I wanted the bedroom to be all dark and luxurious and cosy so I painted all 4 walls deep dark purple. Not a good idea. I finally got so fed up with it being so dark all of the time that I got up from lazing on the couch, grabbed some white paint we had and slapped it over 2 of the walls. Then the next morning I went to the DIY store and bought a light blue colour paint and painted over the white. It's brightened it up soooo much and the blue really really goes well with the purple. Plus it forced me into actually cleaning the room which is always a good thing.

Anyway, here is Scree...

The only mods I did on this was to re knit the garter stitch band a couple of inches longer, you can see the rest of the details on my Ravelry page. A really enjoyable knit and a top that I will actually wear. So many times I have knit things but know I will never wear them, but this fits well for my body shape and is so totally wearable.

The tattoo. My tattooist helped me come up with a design that would suit me on my wrist and soften the black Pisces symbol I have, so here we have reverse stars in black and grey. They make a great background for anything I want to add on in the future and are nice and soft. It didn't hurt just an irritating needle sticking into your skin kinda pain. In fact, it hurt more when he dry shaved my arm beforehand than the actual tattoo. It's still a tiny bit scabby so just ignore that. D does not like it which somehow makes me like it so much more. Must be the rebel in me.

Whilst D had loaded these onto his mac he opened up Photoshop and was gonna tweak the pictures to make me super sexy but then I decided not to so you see me here in all my glory, minus a spot and some satinwood white paint that was stuck on my arm that will not wash off! We discovered a folder of photos of the Lilster and a few of em made me giggle so thought I'd stick em on here.

To S

2008-11-14T23:51:00.003Z

On my last day at Secondary School when we were taking photos, signing each others shirts, hugging goodbye and planning our future, I never dreamt that one of us would be dead of cancer within 9 years at the age of 25. I've certainly had a reality check today, and although I never saw this person again after school it's hit me so hard. We're not immortal and we don't have to be old to die.

I don't to write RIP as I don't believe in that. So I shall write 'I'm glad to have known you'.

2008-11-03T15:03:00.002Z

I have 3 glorious days off work now. One that I've more or less just slept through and 2 more to go. The bathroom is still in bits but at least I now have a toilet and a sink and a shower tray enabling me to actually shower at home, even if it is a funny 'don't get water anywhere cos there's no enclosure up' kinda fashion. I've given up on cleaning at the moment as the entire hallway and stairs is just covered in plaster dust and bits of tiles.

I got the tattoo. It's in it's crappy scabby stage so no pics of it just yet, I'll save those until it actually looks good. I still haven't taken pics of any of the knitting. Mainly because I think the camera is in the room upstairs that is blocked by all of the tiling/decorating/bathroom stuff so I couldn't even get in there to get it if I wanted to. I don't want to by the way. Maybe it's a good thing though because I only have a few more rows to finish on the surgery I'm doing on Scree and then it'll be finished so I'll take pics when it's well and truly finished.

Guess who booked herself in to have a certain body area waxed tomorrow. I am scared.

2008-10-24T14:23:00.002+01:00

I have a confession. When I promised pics for Friday I think I kind of forgot that this week would be the week from hell. My excuses for failing you are as follows:

I have worked 70 hours this week. 2 day shifts and 5 night shifts in the 7 days.
The only time I have seen D is when I climb into bed and haven't actually seen him awake since Sunday.
The plasterer/plumber people are in doing the bathroom at the same time as the night shifts so I have been toing and froing to my mums to sleep and shower. I think we barely have a toilet.

I bow my head in shame.

Oooh, look, another post!

2008-10-19T16:51:00.005+01:00

I swear I am going to take some photos of my FO's and WIP's. Thing is, it's that long since I took photos of them I can't really remember them. I know Scree definitely needs a photo and a couple other things. It may not be today, or tomorrow, but I promise to do it by Friday. I have no problem with actually taking the photos, but finding the camera takes about a day, being arsed to take the photos takes a day and then 2 days of nagging for D to get them off the camera and onto my laptop. Then another day for being arsed to post. It's a long drawn out process you see.

I did finish Scree but tried it on and it was too short. I decided that I couldn't be bothered to change it. But then I felt bad because it seems so long since I set myself a challenge in my hobby. I can do most of the things I always wanted to do and it seems like a while since I had to learn a new technique or think or plan a project. And I decided that I do actually like Scree and wanted to wear it and had spent a lot of time on it. So I frogged the garter stitch band on the bottom of it and picked up the stitches and have been knitting a longer band. Thing is, I had to unpick the band from the cast on edge - it was such a bastard. I'm sure there must be an easy way to rip out from the cast on edge. As it's a really heavy cotton yarn (Rowan Glace) and the entire piece is now sewn together it makes for really really heavy knitting (and no I am not changing to a circular needle cos I knit all funny on them) so I can only do a bit at a time.

In tattoo news, my next tattoo is decided on. I need opinions please. I don't care whether you like tattoos or don't, gimme your opinion anyway.

See this on my wrist?

Well this on my foot is going to go at the right hand side of this on my wrist but not quite as long. It will start to the right of the existing tattoo and creep round to the right to the edge of my forearm. Question is, do I get 3 of the stars coloured in the same as the foot tattoo, or do I leave them as an outline? Bearing in mind it will always be on show. So far I have some that say yes, if you're having a tattoo there then just go for it. And then I have some that say no, leave them as simple outlines.

Ok, I give in!

2008-10-15T02:41:00.002+01:00

Ok Ok Wheezy, I get the hint. I keep thinking every couple of days 'I should blog' but then I realise I only have words and no pictures and that must make for a very boring post so I shall keep it short and sweet.

I am loving my new job even though it is quite a dramatic lifestyle change. It's odd not seeing D for a couple of days due to the way the shifts work out but it turns out I quite like working 4pm to 2am more than the 6am to 4pm shift. I have so many funny stories I want to tell about the new job but I can't because we all know the whole NHS/patient confidentiality/blogging/getting fired thing is bad. Did I actually tell you what my new job is? I don't think I did. I'm a Despatcher for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Basically I despatch ambulances on 999 calls. Well, I will be once I finish the training. Until then I'm kind of stuck in Limbo land checking every single 999 call that comes in and working on a despatch project which I really can't be bothered to go into on here, but it is fun and I am thriving on it. Some of the things that come through on the 999 calls you wouldn't believe! I'm even excited about wearing the uniform although when I received it, it didn't fit and I had to re order. Whoever told me to order a Medium size shirt was having a laugh, I'd have made the office look like a Page 3 photo shoot.

I got a new car as my poor little clapped out Ford Fiesta was just about falling to pieces.

I finished quite a few knitting things - too many to recount in just words, we need photos for that one.

The bathroom re modelling hasn't moved on any further and neither has the whole flooring situation since the flood, but at least my kitchen ceiling and walls are now fixed. D is planning to tackle the bathroom in the next couple of weeks and I can't wait!

It's now 3am and I'm off to bed!

Update

2008-09-23T18:13:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one:

Job Fab!
So tired!
Done nothing but run around!
No time to blog!
Thanks for your Congrats!

Okbyebye!

I GOT A NEW JOB

2008-09-15T18:25:00.004+01:00

and again - I GOT A NEW JOB.

Not quite clear? I. GOT. A. NEW. JOB

Want me to clarify? I GOT A FAB NEW JOB THAT I REALLY WANTED AND I START ON MONDAY AND I GET TO LEAVE THE PLACE I AM AT NOW WHOOP WHOOP WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

Can you tell I am happy? I think I just stopped shaking from finding out like, 8 hours ago!

Oh, and I ran out of yarn for Scree so took a chance and ordered more from eBay that is a completely different dyelot but I received it today and it matches perfectly. Sqqqquuuuuueeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa!

2008-09-11T21:12:00.003+01:00

Wheezy I'm soooooooo sorry. The bad blogging won't be marked on my permanent record will it?

I may as well just come clean now - I'm getting bored with blogging. Mainly because my life is so busy at the moment that I don't have time to do anything that is blogworthy. Knitting is extremely slow so I have very little to blog about in that department. The only things I have to blog about at the moment is the decorating of the house which is still ongoing.

I have a thing where I have to try and kick against anything I am told I SHOULD do. If someone tells me I SHOULD blog then I won't. Just because I am stubborn like that. Not that anyone has told me to blog. They haven't. But I guess my conscience keeps nagging at me to update the blog, and the more it nags the more I don't want to do it and then the more guilty I feel about not doing and it continues in a vicious circle. And pretty soon I end up back where I was a few months ago feeling depressed and overwhelmed with everything in my life that needs doing and all these feelings arose from nattering about doing a simple blog post. See what I mean? I need to stamp that out before it starts.

So I have decided I will blog when I have something blog worthy. The 5 hours that I generally have each evening after work and before bed are just too full up of chores, dinner, house stuff, business stuff, personal stuff to blog about something that really isn't worthwhile blogging about, so I won't.

Anyway, I had today off work and have tomorrow off work so I'm trying to finish Scree that I started from the Spring/Summer Rowan magazine. Just because I am so fed up of seeing new things I wanna knit but can't because I know I need to finish Scree first.

Oh hey, I'm gonna get another tattoo.......

Bad Blogger

2008-09-01T22:40:00.001+01:00

I know, I know...bad blogger and all that. Hey, I've been busy having builders round, buying BIIIIGGG TV's and redecorating the living room. All that leaves little time to knit and even less to blog. I will say one thing though...my living room did not feel like it was finished until I had my lil knitting basket next to the couch!

Discombobulated

2008-08-21T19:45:00.011+01:00

So I dislocated my jaw. It hurts. It's back in now. It popped out when I was eating at work and I didn't realise it had dislocated. Just had shooting horrid big pains for a few mins and then it subsided to dull wisdom tooth bruised kinda pain. I left it for a day and it was still hurting so went to docs and she told me I'd dislocated it but as it had popped back in there was nothing they could do. Then it popped out again at night. Then back in again. Did I mention it hurts?

I need knitting help.

Over the last week or so that I've been off I've got on with finishing off and knitting a few pairs of socks. All of the patterns are from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

The first one is knitted in my Bamboozle yarn in the Cherry Pop colourway in the leafy lace pattern. Love it. So girly, frilly and pretty. They have a nice loose picot edge.

These ones have a frilled cast on and are knitted in yarn that Lorraine got for me in my very own Gemma Gempud colourway by the Woolhunter. It's lovely smooshy elastic yarn and was great to knit with. I only used 49g too and have 50g left! This is the vertical waffle pattern with eye of partridge heel. This is my favourite heel ever. Not boring to knit, results in a nice thick reinforced fabric and has an interesting texture and pattern.

These are my own Standard Sock Yarn in an experimental colourway for me. This is the stems pattern which I don't think suits such heavily variegated yarn as you can't really see the pattern, but I like them anyway. Again, frilled cast on and eye of partridge heel.

I then decided to try to knit with two colours. I don't think it's quite Fair Isle as it's only 2 colours. I mentioned it when I visited Leeds the other day with a few of the girls, and the advice I was given was to try a few swatches to get used to my tension with two yarns. I don't DO swatches. So rather than listening to good advice, what did I do? Yup. Cast on and knit away. I realised that the fabric would most likely be denser that usual so decided to cast on a size bigger than usual. I usually cast on 60, so cast on 72 instead. I've knit 3 repeats of the pattern and I'm loving it. I've developed my own way of carrying the yarn - don't know if it's right but it works for me - and all seemed well.

Until I stopped to check it fitted. It doesn't. It's small. Very small. This is my Bamboozle yarn so I know full well that a sock knit on 2.5mm needles like this one, on only 60 stitches fits me fine - so why is this so small? Is it cos I'm using 2 strands of bamboo which isn't quite as flimsy as usual sock yarn. Is it because there's a secret rule that you should always cast on WAAAAY more stitches that you usually do for socks when you use more than one colour? Or is my tension just too tight and making it smaller? The yarn doesn't seem overly stretched and I don't feel like my tension is too tight, although if you look at this photo

You can see that there's some puckering going on where the yarn is carried behind. Is this normal? HELP! Opinions please! I'm gonna rip it anyway - I hate ripping but it needs to be done.

And just because I managed to get a few good photos of them - some Sunny and Lilly shots. I am aware my kitchen looks filthy and has various boxes piled up in it. I refuse to clean it until the building work has finished (which should be end of next week - yay), and the boxes are parts of my new bathroom :)

Anyone know what this flower is? It came off a big bush of them, I love the colours.

Facebook

2008-08-14T00:51:00.002+01:00

I just wasted 5 hours of my life. Why? Facebook. Fucking Facebook.

Ever since these social networking sites got popular I refused to sign up for them as I knew exactly what would happen. When I was younger I practically lived on the internet on more primitive versions of Facebook and MySpace and wasted days and days on them. I don't use the internet too much now apart from stuff to do with the business and the like, but my nosiness got the better of me and I joined up to Facebook. I've spent 5 hours searching for people I once knew, looking through their friends lists, and then going through their friends friends lists, and then looking through their friends friends friends lists...get my drift?

The result is I've remember tons of people and memories I had forgotten about, but I have a cracking headache and need to go to bed, but I can't because I have this NEED to keep checking back on it to see who's added me as a friend.

Christ! Help!

Memories.

2008-08-12T23:43:00.002+01:00

Look at this http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12954658. It's too pricey for my budget at the moment but it brought back a flood of memories.

I swear this is the exact same print that my Grandma had on her wallpaper in the room I used to sleep in when I stayed at hers. She lived in Devon, and with us living in Yorkshire we only saw her once or twice a year, and stayed for about a week at a time. My Grandma and Grandad used to move out of their bedroom into the smaller room so that our family could have their larger main bedroom. My parents slept in the big double bed in the middle of the room, I slept on a single bed that was on the opposite wall to the double bed, and my brother would sleep on a little camp bed at the other side of mum and dad's bed. Sometimes me and my brother would swap beds, but I got the proper bed most of the time because I was the oldest. There was always an incredibly itchy blanket on my bed and even though I hated it with a passion, it was always there. The room smelled of old paper and had big dark wood wardrobes with intricate brass knobs on that I was always scared to open. The doors squeaked and had lots of old clothes that looked like they hadn't been touched for decades.

I have photos of me as a baby with white blonde mussed up curly hair sat in that double bed with my dad and that exact same print was the wallpaper in the background. It seemed to get more yellow as each year passed, but always remained bright and sunny. I remember going through my angsty teenage years throwing myself on the single bed and thinking how unfair it was that I was being forced to spend a week in a sleepy Devon village with my Grandparents and my family and thinking about everything that was 'unfair' in my life and staring at that print. Counting the flowers, working out the pattern, drinking in the colours. If only I had known then to value the time I could spend with my Grandparents who were soon to be gone. And value the time as a whole family, as we would soon grow up and our family would be ripped right down the middle. We would go our different ways and one day the memory of that bedroom and the wallpaper would come flooding back to me whilst browsing the internet for handmade peg bags.

My Auntie now owns that house and she has redecorated everything. I've only seen it a couple of times but there's nothing left of the old room. I would give anything just to be able to stand on the tufty beige carpet and see and smell that wallpaper one last time.

Cuteness in Motion

2008-08-12T23:25:00.002+01:00

Hot Hot Heat

2008-08-12T20:39:00.003+01:00

My new heated towel rail arrived today. It's gorgeous. Angels sang from the heavens when I opened the box. I think a tear rolled down my cheek*. I never knew I could get so excited about a towel rail warmer. The End.

*For those that do not know me and my sense of humour- I am joking by the way

On the up

2008-08-11T12:10:00.002+01:00

This time off work is JUST what I need. I haven't felt this relaxed in months. I'm itching to do things just for me that I enjoy, I've already finished one pair of socks that have been on the needles for months, and am just about to finish another pair. Even though I think I may have screwed them up because it's that long since I touched them I'm not sure where I was in the pattern, but hey, who cares!

One of the guys from work is delivering my bathroom stuff today, and I think I've found the wall tiles and floor tiles I want. All that remains is to wait for the builder people to get their arse into gear and do stuff and then we just need to get a plumber. Although I'm thinking the buildery bit might drag out for a month or so.

Photo's of the socks soon...

Untitled

2008-08-06T18:58:00.004+01:00

I'm getting really fed up with this blogging lark constantly being about whinging. Life continues to drop great big turds all over me, and if I wasn't already on the happy pills I certainly would be by now. So, let's get it all over and done with in one paragraph shall we? One of Lilly's 6 lumps was cancerous. The vets do not know which one it was as they mixed the labelling up on them when they were tested. She had her stitches out and later on her neck wound opened up again meaning her neck is now stapled shut. After 2 weeks the dehumidfiers and fans are finally gone from the house. I am happy to be able to use my bathroom and have the door locked because there is no longer a fan in the way. I am happy now I don't have to climb over wires just to move from my oven to my fridge. I am happy I am getting my bathroom sorted out of this whole situation, and I spent 30 minutes in the warehouse at work today looking at the vanity unit I am buying and drooling over it. I am not happy that Lilly needs to be watched 24/7 to make sure she doesn't pull her staples out, and also not happy that D has had to spend so much time working from home and taking days off due to the constant shit we've had over the past month. As D said, it's not every month that your sewer pipe blocks, your dog gets cancer, her throat rips open, your house floods and your car breaks.

I really really hope this is now it. I think we've had our lot. I'm looking forward to Friday as this is my first day off work and I stay off for a whole week. I plan to chill out and relax (workmen and devastated bathroom and kitchen permitting). As a few of you have said, no one has died and we are all ok. Just highly inconvenienced. And stressed. Did I mention stressed?

I'm closing comments. I don't want anyone to feel I want them to comment and give me sympathy. I don't. This blog just sometimes turns into my sounding board. A place I can rant without feeling I'm inconveniencing anyone else. And to be able to rant properly I need to know that I'm not pressuring people into feeling like they have to comment with 'Oh poor you' comments.

Hey, know what? I haven't knit for ages. I really really really really miss it.

Obligatory Photo Post

2008-08-03T00:10:00.000+01:00

After the nasty photos and rant of the last post here's some niceness. The other weekend when we actually had summer like weather we took Lilly out for a walk to a local(ish) beauty spot for a walk. We took the camera and me being the 'Macro Focus Queen' took lots of close ups of pretty flowers.....

Lilly delving into the water. I'm sure she's a fish in disguise.

This is some kind of a waterfally thingy

Lilly being chased by a puppy.

Puppy gaining on Lilly!

Lilly doing her 'proud dog' stance

This colour purple will suit my bedroom perfectly - maybe I'll print it off and frame it

I just loved this burnt orange colour - kinda the same as the paint in my kitchen donated by Mara.

The worst week of my life

2008-07-28T21:09:00.009+01:00

This….THIS…..ALL OF THIS IS NOT FUNNY DEAR FRICKIN UNIVERSE.

THAT is the current state of my kitchen.

This is the current state of my landing and stairs (hate that green spiky shit on the walls)

This last week has been the worst of my adult life. I’ve done nothing but argue with D all week due to the stress of it all. To cut a long story short, the flood happened on Monday night, a guy came round to assess the flooring and the insurance are gonna pay out for new bathroom, kitchen, landing, stairs and hall flooring. Thing is, the money they’ve given us can only be spent at a few places they say, and it all has to be spent at the same place so really, it’s not that much. The builders came round and said they had to replace half the kitchen ceiling, skim it with plaster, skim the walls that have water damage. This means that the parts of the kitchen that aren’t damaged will be because of plaster and crap falling everywhere so they best bloody well re decorate too. We’re also having numerous floorboards all over replaced.

Then the drying people came round. I thought maybe we’d have a couple of fans installed for a few days. I came back from work to find 3 big dehumidifiers (the big green things in the pictures) and one mahoosive industrial dryer. They are SO noisy and have to be on 24/7 for the next 2 to 3 weeks. I was beyond pissed off. I cried! I am STILL pissed off with having these things everywhere and cables everywhere....and the constant NOISE. OMG it is like living inside a fan.

Anyway, because we had some money put aside for doing the garden this has now been re allocated to doing the bathroom and as I work for a bathroom place I can get some decent stuff fairly cheap, but we only have a budget of £600 for retiling, reflooring, labour for electrics and plumbing, and changing the bath to an enclosure, new toilet, vanity unit and allsorts. I am looking forward to having it done but just can’t be arsed with the hassle of it. Here’s how it looks now. I haven't even bothered picking that spanner up from the floor for the whole of last week because, well, what's the point.

Getting out of the shower every morning and stepping on that flooring is NOT a good start to the day.

No sooner had I taken the picture of the nasty curly wires in the kitchen, I went to get a glass of water, got pissed off that there were no clean glasses in the cupboard so stomped off to the dishwasher, got my foot caught in the wire and went down to the floor in one almighty thump. I’m gonna have one hell of a bruise on the back of my shoulder and down my arm, and my neck is aching soooo bad. The good thing about the kitchen is now that the floor is going to be ripped up I don’t have to bother about dyeing the floor odd colours when I’m dyeing yarn. I think it has splodges of green at the moment.

On a better note, no yarn was damaged in the flood although it has made the process a little more disorganised. This is a massive order of yarn for someone that I’ve been working on for a while.

This top one is Biscuit in Standard Sock Yarn.

This is our new lace weight that I haven’t launched in the shop yet in Forest. It’s 70% Baby Alpaca 20% Silk 10% Cashmere and is SO soft. Really good if you're into lace weight as it has about 1200 metres per 100g. I however, am not into lace weight and would rather poke myself in the eye with my knitting needles than faff around knitting with uber thin stuff. It's fun to dye though.

And this is also Forest in our new 50% Suri Alpaca 50% Merino sock yarn called Aura which has a gorgeous little halo round the yarn. Again, I have yet to launch this in the shop as I just don’t have the time/space due to the flood to be able to photograph them properly but if you would like any of the new stuff then let me know.

Onto the other shitty thing that happened this week. We had Lil in at the vets because she had a lump on her belly that kept getting bigger, and the vet decided that rather than doing a biopsy, to just have it taken out along with numerous other lumps all over her body so he could send it away for testing. We accepted that she would have a few stitches and cuts where they had popped the lumps out but ohmygod. When we went to pick her up she looked like Frankensteins monster. They had slit her neck open from top to bottom to get a lump out and left her looking like someone had tried to chop her head off.

She also has a big wound on her belly, one under her mouth, one on her thigh, one on her ankle and one on her shoulder. She is not a happy bunny but I suppose it's better to get it all over and done with in one operation than to leave them and them turn out to be cancerous or something.

Anyway, that explains the last week of abscence...wish me luck for a better week

Oh, by the way, this is how the tattoo looks now it's healed! I really wanna carry it on up my leg in larger stars but D is not convinced. My ankle looks SO swollen in this pic but honestly it isn't, it's just D's unflattering camera angle. I'm also in bad need of a pedicure, but I'll blame that on D aswell. The pink star still looks like it has a little bit left to heal although I'm not sure if it is still healing skin or whether the colour has come out, I'll get it filled in again if it hasn't gone away in a month or so.

Oh, and look what I got! Sad aren't I!?!?!?!?!?!

Dear Universe - Edited to add photos

2008-07-22T20:35:00.003+01:00

Dear Universe,

Hi. Remember me? It's not long ago since we exchanged words last. You'd fucked me over, sprayed numerous loads of raw sewage around my home and garden and made my life a living hell for a couple of days. Did I really need it again? I could have sooooo done without getting home after being at work for 10 hours yesterday and finding my landing carpet sodden, my bathroom floor under half an inch of water, my kitchen ceiling doing an impression of a waterfall and the kitchen floor being one giant bucket. I had only just got the kitchen how I liked it, and I know it wasn't the best kitchen in the world but I kinda made do with what I had and I was quite proud of it. I really didn't appreciate the leaking ceiling, plaster falling off, and water on the walls. I also didn't appreciate the water pissing through the light fitting.

I had to phone various people in a panic to come and help me and the had to spend numerous hours on the phone to the out of hours insurance company people (I also don't think it's funny for an out of hours service to kick in at 6pm, it's hardly out of hours), and after making us spend the whole evening with no electric, water, or toilet you thought it would be highly amusing for us to have to pay the insurance company £120 for an emergency plumber that didn't show for 6 hours and it eventually got so late that we told them to fuck their plumber and we went to bed (after playing numerous games of going through the alphabet naming pop bands and various other 'I'm Bored' games, do you know how much it SUCKS ASS to not have electric).

It really put me in a bad mood this morning to get out of bed and need the toilet soooooo badly and have to drive round to my mums house to use basic amenities, and it soooo wasn't fun to start off with the home insurance people again this morning. It was nice of you to make the plumbing problem easy to fix, and it was really really nice of you to send the insurance assessor person round who said we would be able to replace all of the damaged floors. I thought you were kind of redeeming yourself, dear universe, until you decided that the specialist people who would come round and dry all the walls and ceiling and floors out just wouldn't bother turning up til tomorrow. And it was really shitty of you to make the buildery/ceiling replacer people decide they weren't even coming out til the day after that.

But hey, at least we have electric and water and an actual toilet. D no longer has to piss in the garden next to the dog. Ok, so we still don't have lights because we kind of think it is a bad idea to turn the lights on in a ceiling that is full of water but I think we can cope with that for one evening.

So, dear Universe. Please go fuck yourself. I am sooooo fed up of being a nice average normal person and getting shit all for it. Leave me alone. Move on. Nothing to see here. Make some other fucker's life miserable. Ta Ta. Bye Bye. Nice to know you. Shut the door on your way out. Now boarding the train to fuckoffsville.

Warmest Regards
A Pissed Off Knitter

Directions

2008-07-20T11:03:00.002+01:00

When there are 2 churches with exactly the same name, on exactly the same named street, within 5 miles of each other in a town that is 2 and a half hours away from where I live, how the hell am I supposed to know which one's the right one!?

I suppose the fact that when the wedding started I was stood on the pavement next to the WRONG church which in fact looked like it was falling down and NOT ONE OTHER PERSON WAS THERE was a bit of a give away.

The best bit? I was the one who made all the direction maps and packs for everyone else at my place of work who was going, so at least I wasn't the only one to miss the service! D and I managed to find the right church and arrived about 10 minutes late so just sat outside in the car and then ran to join them when they came out.

It was a lovely day, although windy and I'm sure I did a few Marilyn Monroe impressions with my dress, and I proceeded to get absolutely bladdered to the point where I fell asleep in the car on the 2 and ahalf hour drive back and then slept the sleep of the dead last night. My head hurts.

Morning Laziness

2008-07-18T10:48:00.002+01:00

Ooooh a day off work! I was supposed to be up at 8am and dying yarn all morning before doing my nails and stuff this afternoon ready for a wedding I'm going to tomorrow. But somehow my alarm just decided to not turn on this morning so I slept in til 10am and am now enjoying a cappucino and toast covered in Nutella. Yum! Oh well, looks like I'm taking the morning off :)

Word Heavy Post

2008-07-15T20:40:00.003+01:00

I went to see Wanted at the cinema on Saturday and it got me thinking. It's a fab film by the way, I adored it, and it takes a lot for a film to really impress me. Anyway, without giving away any spoilers in case any of you do go to see it, the theme of 'destiny' and 'fate' is in it. Now watch me bring the massive and never ending subjects of destiny and fate into knitting. I can do it. You just watch...

I'm not sure whether I believe in destiny or fate. I don't believe in a god or a religion, so I feel kind of hypocritical if I say I do believe in fate or that you have parts of your life already decided and mapped out for you because surely that hints that there is some kind of a god (whether it be a god in the usual sense of the word or something else) or something that controls everything. I think I'm still in the phase of my life where I'm trying to figure things like that out. I think I'm 50/50 on it at the moment. Anyway, I was thinking the other day (bitterly) about how I'd been to uni and got my degree and was 12k in debt because of it and where has it got me? No further in life than I would have got had I just left school at 16. I have experiences, and I have knowledge that I wouldn't have had otherwise but still, if I look at it and bring it down to one sentence it would be 'My degree did fuck all for me'.

Then I got thinking about my business and how I got to doing that. I bitch and moan about all the jobs I have had and do have. It's just human instinct to bitch and moan about something that you feel like you 'have' to do. I looked back at the 3 full time jobs I've had since I left uni 4 years ago and thought that I have nothing to show for those 4 years apart from a tiny insignificant dent in the amount of money I owe. I thought about how I had gone from working in a call centre and feeling pretty disillusioned with life and the whole career thing to being excited and full of ambition for my own business and realised that each of those 3 jobs I have held have had something to do with it. When I worked in the call centre for 14 months after uni, I spent a lot of time thinking over what I would like to do with my life and was friends with one particular girl there who's friend had knitted her a scarf. A big long bright scarf. I kinda looked up to this girl and one christmas when feeling bored decided I needed a hobby, thought about this girl and her scarf, and decided to go buy some needles, yarn and a book and teach myself to knit.

So I taught myself in my own weird way and made a number of horrid acrylic yarn type objects that never turned into anything much. I then moved onto another job as a travelling manager for a load of Post Office's all over the place. I was on the road every day and easily did about 4 hours driving a day and 8 hours actual work. It was knackering. Anyway, one of the Post Office's I travelled to was in a big newsagents that did all manner of specialist magazines you don't usually find. It was there I was introduced to the world of knitting mags and realised that the hobby I was spending so much time on wasn't just confined to this 'How To Knit' book I'd bought, but that I could actually knit other patterns! Useful patterns! I could progress my hobby and my skill and I even found out that you could find knitting stuff on the internet! Who would have thought it!?

I left that job due to the fact that I was a sleep deprived walking zombie, and how I didn't kill myself in a car crash whilst I was working for them for 7 months I do not know. I then moved to the job I am in now, where I won't say too much about it because of the whole 'don't blog about work or you'll get fired' thing. But in this job I have learned a hell of a lot about how a business runs from the inside, marketing, tricks of the trade and have also learned a lot about myself through my own personal trials and tribulations. This job gave me the get up and go to make my dream work for me and to put all the thoughts I had whizzing around in my head about what I wanted to do, be, have, own, and make into the business I have now. It's not the biggest business in the world. It's not the most successful and I've certainly put a hell of a lot more into it than I have had out of it (in every way you can think of) but it's early days and I am happy to have my little dream ticking over.

So I don't know whether each of these jobs were already planned out for me to lead me through the path I've gone to here, or whether it's just coincidence and like everyone else in the world I'm looking for meaning out of life.

Girly TMI (Too Much Info)

2008-07-11T22:21:00.002+01:00

Girly period stuff written in my usual 'Too Much Info' fashion. Read if you find that stuff grossly compelling, don't read if you don't!

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I'm sure I explained at some point before that I have PCOS. I started my periods when I was 11 (how young does that sound!) and then from the age of about 14 til now when I haven't been on the pill (which has been for quite a few years now) I've just hardly had periods. Maybe one period every year and a half or so, something to do with not releasing eggs. Great in terms of no period, sucky in terms of thinking about fertility. The fertility thing is always rattling round the back room of my mind. You know the place reserved for 'I can't deal with this now lets just save it for another day' kinda stuff. Well, a month ago I got a period out of nowhere. Decided it must just be that time of the 18 months and got on with it. But now I have another one, practically a month after the last. I can't really think of anything that may have kick started them into coming back either. A few people have commented that they think I've lost weight but everything fits more or less the same as it used to so I don't think that's it. The only other possible reason for it is that I'm much happier in myself as a person. (Did I mention I got discharged from the Mental People? Well I did, about 2 months ago)

2 days ago I was all like 'Dude! This is great! 2 periods in 2 months! Cool! My body actually works! I get to make a big deal about PMT and cramps and needing to eat chocolate' Yeah, well let's just say the novelty wore off after about 3 hours and I now remember how goddam soul suckingly miserable it is to be female. My tits are like throbbing torpedos, my stomach is bigger and more bloated than someone carrying triplets, I'm tired and HAVE HAD ENOUGH WITH PRACTICALLY BLEEDING TO DEATH ALREADY. Heeelllllooooo? Can I please have my PCOS back!? Surely SOMEONE should be pumping some blood BACK INTO ME. It cannot be healthy to have this every month. And the worst thing!? That bumper box of tampons I bought like, 6 years ago that I thought were going to last til the end of my life has nearly been used. I may have to buy some more.

OkThanksByeByeNow

When socks go bad...

2008-07-08T11:01:00.004+01:00

It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes this morning to do a trip that usually takes me 20 minutes. It's only 12 miles! And the really pissy thing about it is that I never even finished my trip because I turned round and came home. The place I work is in the middle of nowhere, and I only know of the one road that leads in and out. I'm sure there are many back roads, but I don't know when and have no idea of where they are. So when I'm supposed to be in work at 8am, and the only road I know of that leads to work is closed at both ends for like, a 50 trillion mile stretch, then I'm kind of fucked. I spent 2 hours and 15 minutes with the help of colleagues trying to find another way there, I eventually ended up miles away sat in traffic just to get back. It climaxed in a teary phonecall to my boss in which I think I confirmed the fact that I was pretty fucked off, cried, whinged about not being well and that I really really really really needed the toilet in between telling him to stop laughing as it wasn't funny *snigger*

I'm not well today anyway. I started with the shits yesterday and feeling nauseous and felt exactly the same today and was planning probably not being able to last the full day at work anyway. How on earth I didn't vomit all over myself in the car I do not know. Anyway, I am now at home and inbetween trips to the bathroom am researching all the back road ways possible to get to work should it happen again. I'm fairly confident I now have 3 or 4 options for getting there.

So today I plan to just try to chill out and knit. My stomach feels like there's an alien inside it so I need to do anything to distract me from that.

I was going to take a picture last night of when Second Sock Syndrome goes bad. My feet were cold and I was too lazy to go upstairs to get some socks so I dug around in my knitting bag and found 2 socks that don't have partners yet. One being bright pink, lacy, and in bamboo, and the other being bright green and yellow in a solid brick effect pattern. My feet were the sexiest ever!

Life is - hectic

2008-07-04T10:52:00.002+01:00

I've been busy busy busy the last few days. Been coming straight back from work, and then spending the evenings processing orders for the shop - so I'm pretty much sleep deprived and internet deprived. Definitely knitting deprived. I have today and the weekend off. Going for my hair cut at 1pm ish, then to the supermarket to stock up on alcohol and pizza ready for having some friends round tomorrow evening. Oh, and loads of cleaning in between that. Thrilling isn't it!

Does anyone else wash their hair before they go to the hairdresser? Mine reaaaalllly needs a wash so I'm going to be washing it, blowdrying and straightening it all to go to the hairdressers and have it done again! I'd die of shame if they had to wash my greasy locks :)

Pictures

2008-06-30T20:36:00.007+01:00

The building insurance people sent some other people out to dig up our concrete this morning and fix whatever had gone wrong with the poo pipe. It is now sorted, panic over. Thanks for your lovely offer of us staying with you Mara!

So after work I came home and went out to look in the jungle of the back garden at what they had done and ended up taking the camera out with me to see what photos I could get from our overgrown garden.

Remnants from when my Dad and brother lived in this house on their own. I keep finding beer cans all over the place hidden within deep forgotten crevices and in the middle of bushy plants.

Tacky I know. But I like the dreamy idea of someone living in this house in 200 years time, and uncovering this bit of concrete marked with 'Dave N Gem 08' and wondering who we were and what our lives were like in that house.

This is grass. Yes. I know. It doesn't look like grass. Weed killer and grass don't mix. Nuf said.

There is a frog hiding in this overgrown pond...can you see him?

Apples on the tree. These apples go to waste year after year. We don't have any big long apple picking equipment stuff, and these apples are very sour and hard. The kind that give you stomach ache if you eat more than one.

A stump growing out of the apple tree in close up.

The stump. I love this. I may print it and frame it.

The inner bit of a Clematis flower. It's half dead, I wish I had remembered to take a picture of it when it was all pinky and alive.

Sunny, the prowler. This garden is paradise for him. Overgrown, weedy and teeming with wildlife. He's going to hate it when we finally tidy it up.

This is like a carpet of wormy white flowers. It's a on a big massive bush - I have no idea what it is.

White wormy flowers closeup.

Sunny stalking something.

Cobwebs wrapped round a little bud thing.

Honeysuckle. The biggest and best plant in the garden. It's been there about 15 years I think. We hacked it all completely back to the stump a couple of years ago when we got the fence that it climbs up replaced and it has grown back astonishingly. The best smell in the world is the smell of this honeysuckle drifting into my house on a warm and balmy summers eve.

Major closeup

Sun bleached former home.

New Stuff

2008-06-27T18:43:00.002+01:00

I have new yarn!

Tinkle – 50% Superwash Merino, 50% Tencel. 333 meters/364 yards per 100g skein.
BFL – 100% Blue Faced Leicester Superwash yarn – 400 meters/437 yards per 100g skein.

Find them at the shop under ‘The Yarn’ tab at the left.

Our new colourway is the lurverly Damask Rose,

available over the entire range of sock yarns and we hope to bring you a few new exciting colourways shortly.

We will not be restocking the 50% Yak, 50% Wool yarn, or our 100% Superwash Merino yarn so grab the last few skeins whilst you can – they will not be repeated.

Dear Universe..

2008-06-27T17:10:00.003+01:00

Dear Universe,

Why do you seem to gather up all your bad karma shit and drop it on me? I'm a generally good person bar the odd swear word, pre-marital shag, alcoholic binge or bitch fest. Surely there are worse people you can shit on. Literally.

I could really do without having a sewage problem. Really. I could. It would be great if I didn't have one. It would be great if you didn't make my toilet back up with poo. It would be even better if you didn't make D and I have to go door knocking on all our neighbours to check their toilet isn't backing up with shit either. Now the entire neighbourhood knows that we poo so much that our sewage system can't take it. It would be great if you didn't have to make us converse with the oldies next door. It would be fantastic to not have to go looking down manhole covers at sewers. It would be even better if you didn't decide that the sewer underneath our garden was not fucked, let shit (literally) back up the vertical pipe of the house causing the only toilet we own not to work. It would be fantabulous if you didn't decide to make the pipe burst and spray shit (literally) over the 2 poor buggers trying to clear the blockage and in the process cover the entire back of my house with poo and toilet paper. Not to mention the garden and my plants. Although lets be honest, the garden looked that way in the first place. I can handle the fact that the concrete at the back of the house has to be dug up. It will just push us into doing the garden quicker. It is even nice of you to make all of this claimable under our house insurance and only have to pay a £50 excess.

But of course, it would have been nicer had you never decided to make my life a living hell for a couple of days.

Warmest Regards
A Pissed Off Knitter

P.S Next time please do something that involves being able to claim a new bathroom/kitchen/garage on the insurance. Thanksomuchokbyenow.

I had a dream....

2008-06-25T18:51:00.002+01:00

...last night. Me, my brother, and my mum had to each pin out an intricate knitted lace shawl and block it on a relatively small towel on a hard floor. I was pissed off because my brother kept picking a space directly next to mine which meant I couldn't block my shawl large enough. When he eventually moved to a more sensible blocking place on the towel (which was blue by the way), I started blocking my shawl and was getting increasingly irritated because the pins were going through the shawl and the towel but hitting the hard laminate floor underneath so of course weren't gripping anything. I managed to pin out one straight edge of the shawl and then realised my mum and brother had nearly done both of theirs. My Auntie who I hardly ever see and who hates and always has disliked my mum was refereeing.

The shawls were knitted out of undyed yarn but I don't know who knitted them.

I know where the whole blocking theme came from, but I'd love for a shrink to take a look at that dream and see what Freudian things they come up with!

Big and Loud!

2008-06-23T22:26:00.003+01:00

I had today off work and should have gone for a facial but cancelled that and went shopping instead for a dress as I have 2 wedding do's to attend within the next month or so. I don't really DO dresses. They generally don't do my body shape any favours, and I struggle to find things I like. I'm big, and dresses usually just cover me like a potato sack. However, I found this today. Yes, it is bright. It is loud. It has big flowers on it. And you know what? It looks fucking fantastic on me! I am happy! Plus it's silk and it just feels sooooo good!

The way I see it is that being big you have 2 options. The first one being to dress in dark colours and try and keep any body flauntage to a minimum. The second one being to celebrate the bigness and wear big prints and stuff YOU can get away with but skinny people can't. I try to opt for the latter. Bright colours, big prints. I'm teaming the dress with a black little bolero thing which helps to tone down the bright colours in the dress on the top half, and am wearing bright fuschia summery wedges on my feet to bring more attention to the bottom half. My step mum (who designs and makes my stitch markers on the website) is going to specially make me a necklace and some earrings out of Swarovski crystals.

Lots new store updates coming soon including 3 new kinds of sock yarns. The ladies of Sheffield Forum cleared me out of a load of my stock the other day so I forsee lots of dyeing coming up - Yay!

Stolen meme

2008-06-20T23:50:00.004+01:00

I totally just stole this from Dainty Knitting Sticks because I need to blog but really can't be bothered and I'm in a kind if 'meh' mood.

1. Last laugh? Davina Mcall on Big Brother
2. What do you love? The little things
3. Gold or silver? Silver
4. Who do you hold hands with? Dave
5. Friday fill-in:There's no time to ____ Fuck Around.

Meme

2008-06-15T11:24:00.005+01:00

Rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Click for BIG!

1. Gemma drunk, 2. my first Edible Undies, 3. Southern Highway Traffic Report, 4. Purple fingers, 5. Amy & Billy In April, 6. Water Lily and its mirror image, 7. Branch on a Deserted Beach, 8. Ben & Jerry's Banana Split, 9. Free Freej, 10. On A Perfect Day, Everything That Matters In Life Can Fit Into A Single Frame, 11. Into the Unknown, 12. Nature drops closer

I found this so hard, there were so many pictures I wanted to choose for each answer.
Honestly, for the first answer I could have chosen soooo many gorgeous glamour model photos, but I kinda thought the picture of the drunk girl captured my personality better :)
No results were returned for my flickr name, so I just picked a photo I liked.

Go and do it, it's fun. Leave me a comment if you do so can snoop on yours!

WTF!?!?!?

2008-06-13T20:17:00.002+01:00

Last night in my dream I was Rod Stewart's mistress and shared him with 2 other women in a weird kind of Playboy Mansion/Hugh Heffner set up. I mean....What The Fuck!?!?!?!?!?! I am speechless.

I'm soooo fed up with knitting socks with yarn for the shop. I've been knitting odd ones to show off the yarns (must remember to photo them soon), and am kind of itching to knit something for me. Just for me. Thing is, I know I have major second sock syndrome because after doing one sock, I need to move onto doing another one in a different yarn..so I know eventually I'm gonna end up with loads of odd pairs of socks and I won't remember how to replicate them (I'm kinda winging some of them).

I have a few WIP's, but I'm losing track of what they are, I haven't touched them in so long. I have the Sock Yarn Blankie but it's just getting too big. I have something I'm knitting from some Rowan magazine - I can't even remember what it's called now. It's got up to to a complicated bit and right now I'm just too tired and busy to be able to sit down and even read the next line of the pattern, nevermind knit it. I also have the Kimono shawl on the needles, but I just don't fancy it at the moment. I just feel like I don't have the mental space to devote to something that will take over a week to finish.

The tattoo is itchy. It is nicely scabbed over, but is sooo itchy. And I am pissed off with having this tattoo that I LOVE but can't show it off properly by wearing flip flops as they will rub over it whilst it's healing.

I'm SUCH a grump today.

Shop News and Tattoos

2008-06-08T20:50:00.003+01:00

Hey look, my title rhymes!!! We've just done a big shop update and can now introduce our new range of 40% Bamboo, 40% Wool, 20% Nylon sock yarn called Bamboozle.

Available in 5 solid shades seen above, it makes fabulous light summer socks. The bamboo takes the dye in a different way to the wool so results in small flecks of white or lighter colour in the finished fabric which makes it look textured and shimmery. I think this is my favourite yarn so far.

This is a sneak peek of a new colourway coming sometime next week...

And here is our new range of knitting pouches....

Visit the Knot Another Knitting Shop to find out more.

And for those who asked - here's the tattoo!

It's just starting to scab over so the colours are a little duller than they will be in a few weeks time. I am aware that I have fat stumpy feet, and the tattoo has made it swell quite a bit so it looks even stumpier! Look, it's that swollen I have no ankle!!!

It really did hurt. I have a high pain threshold for 'proper' pain. Give me a massive cut, a slipped disc or a broken limb and I can cope. Give me a paper cut or a headache and I go to pieces. The pain from this tattoo was proper pain - obviously I expected it to be painful so wasn't particularly surprised. The outlines of the stars hurt more than the shading. I was in such a funny position aswell - sat sideways on a desk chair on my left hip, with my right hip up in the air, my right leg bent at the knee (soooo painful) and my ankle twisted sideways on the tattooists leg. I think the pain from my knee and hip hurt more than the tattoo! Anyway. It is perfect. I truly truly love it. The purple star on the bottom of my ankle is really throbbing at the moment but the rest aren't too bad. He's done it in such a way that I can choose to expand it whichever way I want later on, I think I'll just let this one heal for now!

A little late...

2008-06-08T20:36:00.004+01:00

I know I promised weeks ago I would post some pictures of the stuff I bought whilst in Cornwall on holiday. Well I got around to it today and took some photos of the 3 main things I bought from a fabulous little shop in Camelford that doesn't have a website but if it did my credit card would be in serious jeopardy.

This Home Sweet Home sign is made out of some kind of metal and is one of those things designed to look like it's old and weather beaten. It's in the kitchen and I loves it.

This sign is the same kind of style and material as the Home Sweet Home sign and now hangs in our living room. D actually likes this which is unusual as he doesn't usually get my taste.

This is, again, in the same style as the other two and as soon as I saw it I HAD to have it. I've hung it at the perfect height for me so I am always the fairest of them all!

The below is the Jo Downs glass piece I got from The Silver Tree in Tintagel. I'm sure I've said before that it's kind of turning into tradition that when we go down there I have to get something of hers. It's my little collection. It's above the TV in our living room and I just adore looking at it. It's got so many depths, shapes and colours of glass that change depending on the light shining on it.

The glass plate I got last year was this one which still proudly sits in my bathroom.

They also have quirky little wooden puzzles in there aswell that are oh so expensive but I really really really want this one . They're just unbelieveably detailed to see close up and are more like ornaments than puzzles. Very expensive though! One day I'll talk someone into buying me that.

For your information...

2008-06-06T11:50:00.000+01:00

...foot tattoo's hurt like a bitch. The End.

It's me!

2008-06-04T22:13:00.002+01:00

Hello! Yes! It's me! I'm still here!

Shop Stuff

I got the next installment of soon to be Knot Another Knitting yarn last week so have been spending about 4 hours an evening winding hundreds of kg of yarn. I swear that my right arm is now so much more toned that my left. Winding yarn doesn't leave much time for knitting or blogging or for very much actually. I have finally reclaimed my hallway back today after it being full of a massive box of yarn. I gave myself the evening off to start knitting a sock in the shop's new bamboo sock yarn.

The shop is going to get a big update this weekend. The weather and light has been pretty crappy these last few days which doesn't make for good photo taking, but I have 3 days off in a row this weekend so plan to get that done. You can expect to see some fantastic new knitting pouches and new bamboo sock yarn. Coming up in the next few weeks we have 100% pure lambswool yarn (which is so soft I could actually EAT it) and I'll be introducing my new stock of superwash sock yarn.

Me Stuff
Tattoo number 2 is happening on Friday morning on my foot. I'm so excited and can't wait to see how it turns out. I haven't finalised the design yet but I'm taking some ideas down to the tattoo guy. I am not looking forward to having to rest my foot most of the weekend because I have so much standing up stuff to do. Like the 6 trillion loads of ironing that I still haven't done from coming back from holiday.

So, in summary....still here...expect photos soon!

200th Post

2008-05-25T19:17:00.008+01:00

I mentioned previously that I had been playing with D's new fancy pants camera and loved it. So I found myself wandering around the place we were staying taking pictures of things and I soon worked out I liked to play with taking photos up close and trying to focus on part of it and blur out the rest. D doesn't get why I do it and thinks the photos are crap, whereas I think of it as art. He likes to have pictures posed and perfectly framed, whereas I like to point and snap and capture the moment. Nature and wildlife is never still, and is never perfect, so why try to photograph them like that?

These are my favourite photos that I took

This last photo is of a massive weed I have nicknamed Triffid. And I thought the weeds in our back garden were big.

Oh, and to celebrate my 200th post I must say 'Hi' to my Dirty Little Secret - stop spying on me!!!

There are 333 photos - just be glad I'm not posting all of them

2008-05-24T18:34:00.014+01:00

Saturday 24th May (yup I started this post a day ago and it's taken me all that time to get it done)

Oh My! To be back home sprawled out on my gigantic leather sofa is just pure heaven. I can't wait to go to bed tonight in OUR bed with OUR KINGSIZE quilt and sleep a proper sleep. The bed in the log cabin was ok but only had a double quilt which resulted in a lot of middle of the night tug of war fights. I think I always won. But according to D all I actually accomplished was squidging up to him on his side of the bed more. Of course it was hilarious when Lilly actually got herself stuck half underneath the bed - arse end sticking out whilst whining and whimpering because she couldn't move. Oh how we laughed. Then we decided to stop torturing the dog and helped her get free.

We had fun the last week. Many hours were spent on the deck outside the cabin over looking the river and the greenery.

and sunbathing. Lilly especially liked plonking herself on her little 'look out post' and making sure everything was ok with the countryside whilst getting herself a little tan.

And we spent some time with the numerous animals on the farm

This little guy was the stupidest bird of all time and decided to fly inside the cabin. It took me about 20 minutes and lots of screeching and being scared but I finally got him out.

The weather was nice and sunny and I even have a little tan. I spent many an hour knitting away on my socks, eating home made Cornish jam, perfecting my photography skill (more on that later), watching the birds come and go and listening to the NEIGHBOURS FROM HELL NEXT DOOR CONTINUALLY SHOUT AT THEIR CHILD. I swear to god if I hear that child's name one more time ever again my head will explode. I don't think this woman realised that there actually is a way to communicate your child that does not including SCREECHING LIKE A BANSHEE at the top of your lungs in the middle of peace and tranquility. Many dirty looks were exchanged. D commented on how he found it strange it was so easy to hate someone so much without even knowing them. I'm sure that family had a spy camera rigged up to our cabin, whenever I went out to chill on the deck they appeared literally 30 seconds later. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. And the funniest thing? When they were leaving this morning she stopped outside our cabin and screeched at the child 'IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR WELLIES ON YOU ARE NOT COMING TO FEED THE ANIMALS. I AM NOT GOING TO STAND OUT HERE SHOUTING LIKE A FISHWIFE JUST FOR YOU.' Well hellllloooo, what have you just done for the past 7 days?

Noisy neighbours aside it was just what we needed. We spent many a day taking Lilly swimming at the local beauty spot. It's in the middle of Bodmin moor and is a little sandy beach with a river snaking through it and splitting off then joining again to create a big pool of water. Pure heaven.

We visited a cider farm and bought, oh, erm 8 litres of Cornish Cider, a bottle of Strawberry wine (yet to be tasted) and a couple more bottles of cider. I also got some homemade jam from the cider farm too. Strawberry, Blackberry and Redcurrant and Mint. Now, redcurrant and mint sounds gross but it's actually sooooooo yummy! The jam is excellent because I think they have won an award for it for more fruit content than sugar - or something daft like that. We also met this handsome fella whilst there.

We visited an 80 foot deep round blowhole in a village called Trevone where I have vowed to live someday.

And whilst walking back down the hill from it saw the funniest sight ever. Some guy had decided he didn't want to pay the £3.50 parking charge and driven directly onto the beach instead. Got his wheels stuck and covered in sand, had to call the RAC to come and tow him out, who decided it wouldn't be possible to do so and would need to call in a specialist crane type thing to winch him out. I wonder how many other people took photos of him that day. I'm still trying to work out how he got on the beach in the first place.

This is the view from the top of the massive hill we had to climb to get to the blowhole.

Oh, I saw 2 black cats on a lead inside a parked car in the Asda car park too! And I found the funniest town name ever - Broadwoodwidger! Hah! Well, I was highly amused. I think D mumbled 'Child' in my direction and grunted.

So now we are back. Lilly is crashed out on the couch and D is upstairs on his Mac. I am slowly going through 57 emails (not even in junk folder) and only 14 of them are real emails that I have any vague interest in reading. The rest are offering to enlarge my penis, give me cheap Prozac prescriptions and asking me to send them my bank account details.

So the photos. Well remember how I said D got this super dooper fancy pants does everything except wipe your arse camera? Well I got my grubby little mitts on it and learned how to use it. Ohmygod, I just LOVE LOVE LOVE taking photos with it. I especially like to take pictures of pretty flowers close up and get all the detail of them. D insists that I have the thing tied round my neck when I used it for fear of me dropping it. And I suppose since I did get chased around the farm by an army of evil chickens whilst I was wearing it and trying to take photos I can understand why he would want me to have it secured to my body in some way. Have you ever seen the way chickens run at you? Evil I tell you.

I'll do a blog post solely of some of my favourite photos - more for my benefit than anyone elses!

Knitting wise I finished the pair of standard socks in my Merino yarn in the Bitter Chocolate colourway

and started a pair of socks using More Sensational Knitted Socks as a guide. You really can't see the pattern in these photos but it's the Vertical Waffle pattern from the stitch dictionary at the back. I used in on my standard 60 stitch sock and used the Eye of Partridge heel from the heel section of the book, followed by my standard toe. The yarn is gorgeous! Peakwool got it specially for me dyed in the 'Gemma Gempud' colourway from, I don't remember where but I know the dyer is in Wales!

I also took my Kimono Shawl and did a couple of rows on it.

I mostly sat out on the deck in the sunshine and knit when D went off fishing. The below photo features home made scones and Apple and Banana cake made by the lady who runs the place...yum!

I read I am Legend whilst away. I am usually loathe to read books that are movies and see movies that are books. Just because, well, when you read a book you create in your own mind how everyone looks, sounds, acts and to have a movie director or whoever change that really pisses me off. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie when it was out but realllly enjoyed the book. It's not even really like the movie and it pisses me off that the cover of the book has Will Smith on it who starred in the movie as it's not really the same story. Same outline but the plot is different and so are the characters. I also took The Time Travellers Wife which I've had for ages but just never got round to reading. I'm a couple of chapters in and I love it so far.

Oh, and an update on the tattoo - it is now healed. I love it, but I'm thinking of getting a few little stars in various shapes and sizes and styles around either side of it to make it not quite so harsh.

More photo posts and things I bought coming soon!

Pre Holiday Blog

2008-05-15T12:13:00.003+01:00

Things have been hit and miss here lately in terms of the blog - well, more miss actually. Ater our drama with Lilly last week, I've been working a fair bit and now have today and tomorrow off before we go on holiday for a week. I will have no internet connection and no mobile reception - yay!

I have so much stuff to sort out before we go away. It's self catering so I don't want to make the mistake we made last time and turn up with nothing and then have to drive round on our first evening trying to find a shop (this place is in the middle of nowhere). So tomorrow I'm gonna go round and do a mad dash for toiletries and bits and bobs of food to take with us. Sunny is staying at my mums for the week so we need to get his stuff together and take him down to hers on Friday, and then I need to sort out all the stuff we need to take down for Lilly.

I aboslutely adore the 5 hours road trip down there, I've just always loved road trips and I am always in charge of the music. D and I differ in music tastes and it just makes me mad and argumentative when he has his iPod on in the car so I do the music. I bought loads of new stuff, made the road trip playlist and have like, over a days worth of music on there. I downloaded an audio book too because I love to read but just never have time as there's always something else that needs doing. I don't really wanna be down in a beautiful place with my head shoved in a book so I thought maybe an audio book would be the best way to go. Recommendations anyone?

I don't like chick lit, not too keen on crime thriller things, and usually hate the most 'popular' books.

In shop news, we have a new bamboo sock yarn blend on the way in limited amounts and a new 75% wool, 25% nylon superwash sock yarn so I'l be dying those up over the next few weeks when I'm back from hols. Any requests? I've had a few requests for Bitter Chocolate in superwash so I'll make sure I dye more of that this time.

Which reminds me, I'm currently knitting a pair of socks in my Merino Bitter Chocolate and I'm so glad I found that yarn....it's like having my foot encased in a cloud! No pictures of it though because I'm banned from using D's new super duper camera.

Wheezy, look after my sheep whilst I'm away and keep feeding him for me...Thanks!

Things that I know...

2008-05-09T19:32:00.003+01:00

1 - There is a smell in my house on the stairs. It stinks. Like shit mixed with piss. It could be left over smell from the sick patch Lil did the other day but it's really strong. I cannot find anything anywhere that is making the smell. It is gross, and pissing me off greatly.

2 - Lil is fine. Absolutely fine and bouncy and back to normal even though she has a few shaved patches of fur where they took blood.

3 - Royal Mail suck.

4 - I have booked an extra day off work before we go away next Saturday. That means my last day at work is Wednesday. Yay. I need it.

5 - I have to work tomorrow (Saturday)

6 - I am going to go and eat, watch TV, knit, sleep, battle with Royal Mail tomorrow and find that FUCKING smell!

Sometimes the strangest things happen...

2008-05-07T22:02:00.004+01:00

...like when you find yourself in a Vets 30 minutes from home with windblown hair that belongs in There's Something About Mary, as a result from driving at high speeds along the motorway with the windows down to avoid puking from the stench of dog sick from a dog that has been poisoned and has somehow developed an uncanny ability to projectile vomit gak that stinks like shit everywhere.

.....like when you are sat in that vets on a hard wooden bench with your heart in your throat and tears behind your eyes thinking 'ohmygod what if this is it and she dies and I never see her again ohmygod she's my baby and I poisoned her ohmygod I just want to go back in time and never buy that goddam ant posion in the first place nevermind sprinkle it on my fucking garden'.

.....like when a girl walks in that has one of those faces that you recognise, and then she introduces herself to the receptionist and has one of those surnames that you recognise. And then you find yourself saying 'Excuse me, is your first name.....?' And the girl looks at you like 'ohmygod who is this crazy woman with hair that looks like she's been brushing it with barbed wire, a stained t shirt, stinky crinkled jeans and shoes that soooo don't go with her outfit with bleary red eyes and a panic stricken look on her face?

And you look down at yourself and realise that you are indeed this woman who threw on a t shirt that is 2 sizes too small for her covered in pizza stains and jeans that should have been in the washing machine 3 weeks ago because at that moment in time when you dressed you were screeching like a mad woman down the phone to the emergency vets trying to tell them that cost really does not matter and you would literally pay thousands of pounds as long as your dog was alright SO PLEASE STOP TELLING ME YOUR FUCKING PRICELIST, and trying to put a bra on without dropping the telephone and you actually couldn't have given 2 shits what you looked like because you just had to get to that goddam out of hours vets.

Then, not only do you find that you are indeed in a small waiting room of an out of hours vets in a surreal situation involving meeting a girl that used to be one of your best friends when you were like 6, that you haven't seen for 20 years (and even thinking that you haven't seen her for 20 years makes you puke in your mouth a little because there is no way on this earth that you could possibly be old enough to ever not have seen someone for 20 years), then you find that her Dad is actually sat next to you and remembers you from when you were a child. And then, you go on to have really vivid flashbacks of playing in that guys back garden and eating ice pops in a neon green swimming costume whilst sliding down a water slide and ohmygod he's seen me practically naked!!!

I. Just. Wanted. To. Die.

And then you snap back to reality, and realise that the vet is shouting your dogs name with your surname - I mean, how surreal is it to have a dog with a surname anyway. They just don't have surnames! You go into the consultatation room and try to explain in a non panicking cohesive way that you are an irresponsible dog owner and practically killed your dog. I mean why didn't you just go ahead and sprinkle that ant killer on her goddam food - you may as well have! So you try to tell him in a 'I'm not panicking but oh my god really I am and I may just burst into tears and cry at you and OH MY GOD SAVE MY DOGGY HERE IS THE ANT KILLER, HERE IS THE BOTTLE, PLEASE MAKE A MAGIC CURE AND MAKE HER BETTER', and then you realise that waving the ant killer bottle around is really not a good idea and maybe he should see the label so he can treat your dog.

And then the vet says that thick globs of drool coming out of your dogs mouth that gives the impression someone has turned a tap on in her mouth is not a very good sign. Oh, and by the way, neither was that massive projectile vomit she did on the sofa that almost hit the TV on the other side of the room and is probably now staining your carpet a horrid brown colour.

But then you want to hug the vet because he decides that as she is not having seizures she's not too bad but he does need to keep her in overnight to get some fluid in her and shove some charcoal in her body.

Then you thank god you took out pet insurance. Then you remember that the excess is £60. Then you laugh because the thing that started the whole drama off in the first place was that you were trying to re landscape your own back garden by yourself because you didn't want to pay a gardener the ridiculous price that he quoted you for doing it. And you think that by the time you're done with vets fees, excesses, petrol for driving to an out of hours service etc - it probably would have been cheaper to hire the guy to do the little amount of work you had actually done. Then you remember that life sucks, but all that matters is that your loved ones are ok and screw everything else....

...especially ants. Ants suck. Screw ants.

....oh yeah, did I mention I had an eventful evening?

The Big Announcement - Really!

2008-04-26T15:53:00.010+01:00

Ok. Here we go...........

Knot Another Knitter is proud to announce the launch of http://www.knotanotherknitter.co.uk/ and http://www.knotanotherknitter.com/ home of the brand spanking new Knot Another Knitting Yarn!!!

Yup, that's right..I'm in business baaaaby :)

The reason why this has been kept so quiet and been so delayed is, well, because these things take time! My IT Manager (D) has a stupid full time job that decided they wanted him to work like, a trillion billion hours in the exact same week that I needed the website ready to launch - so that explains the delay in the announcement. Go blame D, it's his fault.

So I have to plug my yarn now - excuse me but it needs to be done

At the moment we carry 3 types of hand dyed sock yarn ...
The softest shiniest merino you've ever seen (superwash too!)
Standard superwash 75% wool, 25% nylon
Luxurious 50% Yak, 50% wool!

We also have unique stitch markers designed for us especially by Girly Goodies of Barnsley and Bury. We have limited stock of most items at the moment but are expecting some new lines to arrive in the next few weeks...more info on those later.

We are still working on taking photos for some of the yarn but these should be sorted within the next week, and the other photos need touching up. As the website gets used more and more you might see little things changing.

The reason why the blog has been so quiet lately is because, well, what can you blog about when the biggest most massive thing in your life has to stay a secret? I've written this post many times over and over in my head and I must admit, without the fabulous Wheezy to share everything with I may have actually exploded. So thanks Wheezy for being my sounding board, sharing in the excitement and keeping my secret. Of course, you are disqualified from the competition you know, and markybaby too. Sorry, but tough!

So now, the winner of the competition. Caroline and Mara and were the closest to guessing right, so Lilly the Wonderdog got to choose the winner by the following very scientific method.

1 - Caroline and Mara got assigned their own separate bit of paper with Lilly's favourite gravy bones (you can see their names if you click big)

2 - Lilly (the judge) was kept to the other side of the room where she could see, but not eat the treats.

3 - Lilly was let loose and bounded from one side of the room to the treats, eating Mara's treat first!

So Mara, you're the winner and will be the receiver of the very first skein in the whole wide world ever of hand dyed Knot Another Knitting Yarn. The colourway is aptly called New Beginnings and is 100g of 50%wool, 50% Yak - uber uber soft when washed worth £10.00... Enjoy!

Phew! It feels good to get that off my chest! Now go click on the website and have a nosey!

I got tattooed!

2008-04-24T15:49:00.008+01:00

I know the last post said that the next post would reveal all, and that would be around the weekend, but I'm bored at the moment so decided to blog and utilise my disclaimer on the last post.

I spent £200 at Specsavers this morning on some new glasses. One pair for normal wear and one pair of sun glasses. They are both quite funky so they're a big change for me.

This is the normal every day wear pair

And this is the sunglasses one that will have a grey tint on the lenses

Then I got my tattoo done. D bought a big new fancy pants camera that takes fab photos but I do not know how to use it. It has lots of buttons. I think D would hate me to be anywhere near it so I am stuck with taking crappy photos on the crappy camera.

It didn't hurt too much. It jurt as much as one would expect a needle being jabbed into your skin a trillion times to hurt. Kinda like someone pinching you lightly but quickly with the end of their fingernails. Not painful, more like uncomfortable. It was fascinating watching him do it!

I then went to the hair salon and got my hair done. It was sooo quiet there - there was only me in and like, 5 members of staff. At one point I ended up with one cutting my hair, and the other four just positioned all around me doing that thing where they are pretending to watch your hair being cut and pretending to admire it but are really deciding what to make for dinner that night/ I got kinda self conscious, I mean, hell yeah...admire my hair if you want but to have 4 people's bored eyes boaring into the back of your head is just a bit freaky. Anyway she thinned it out a lot and cut my layers much shorter so I'm really happy with it. If I remember to book another appointment in about 8 weeks time it should be a cooler (as in temperature) hair cut for summer.

After that I've come home and sat on the sofa. Done a few rounds of knitting on the latest sock - but having to knit slowly so I don't poke my wrist with the DPN's and had Lilly keep me company laid on the sofa next to me snoring.

D has had a hectic week at work. I have only seen him for 2 hours since the weekend, and that was on Monday night. The rest of the time I have been on bed, or he has been in bed. I wouldn't have even known he had come home last night if it wasn't for him having a massive dump and blocking the toilet...he came into the bedroom to retrieve a wire coat hanger to use as a make shift plunger. Anyway, he should be back about 7ish tonight which is good because it's our 4 year anniversary and our 3 year 'living in this house' anniversary too.

So a nice hectic day has been had by all!

Promises Promises

2008-04-23T18:29:00.003+01:00

Maybe next time I run a competition I should make sure I can actually announce the announcement when the competition ends. Sorry guys!

I have a delay with my announcement which is kind of out of my control. I am DESPERATE to spill the beans but I want it to be just perfect. I will reveal the winner(s) at the same time as doing the announcement but it looks like it may be Friday/the weekend before I can do that. Sooooooooo sorry! I think I may actually burst at the seams soon if I can't tell!

I have my long weekend off work now. Tomorrow, Friday, Sat and Sun. I have a packed day tomorrow. Opticians at 9am (why oh why did I do that to myself!), tattoo at 10:30am, hair salon at 1:15pm. I plan to chill out the rest of the days and get some housework/chilling time in. I have been so unbelievably busy that I think I am just about ready to have a complete burn out and just collapse. I was glad to leave work today - it's been kind of hectic the last few weeks so I think I deserve these 2 lieu days I'm getting.

It's only 3 weeks and 3 days to the holiday! We have a dilemma though. We are taking Lils with us but it would be nice just for one day to be able to go and do 'human things' like indoor tourist attractions in Cornwall. We've found most places to be really dog friendly in Cornwall and a lot of tourist attractions will let you take the dog in with you, but it can't go inside buildings - which is fair enough. There are some kennels near where we are going where we could leave her for a day but she would need to be vaccinated. I personally don't believe in vaccinating my animals because, well, our family just never has done and they've all been ok! The vets charge far too much for them. Anyway, to get Lilly vaccinated it would be £25 for 2 courses, £19.50 for kennel cough and then there's whatever the charge would be for actually kennelling her for a day - I have no idea how much that would be but lets say £20. So we would be looking at £65.00 just for us to be able to go off for a day on our own, nevermind what we would actually spend on that day. Is it worth it I wonder? I would love to be able to go out to a restaurant though. But we'd only spend the whole time worrying about her. Oh decisions decisions!

Anyways, I absolutely promise hand on heart that the next post will contain the announcement. I promise*

*Knot Another Knitter reserves the right to cancel any promises without prior notification to blog readers. She also reserves the right to just pretend she never promised anything, and also reserves the right to just lie through her back teeth.

This is it....

2008-04-16T20:52:00.003+01:00

Competition Time!!!!!

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way first shall we

The Rules:
1 - One entry per person - first answer only
2 - You can be from anywhere in the world
3 - You have to leave your answer in the comments
4 - If more than 1 person guesses right then Lilly the Wonderdog will pick the winner (I don't know how yet, but she will!)
5 - If no one guesses right then the comment that amuses me most will win
6 - Competition closes Monday 21st April 2008 at 8pm GMT

The Prize:
Ok, you have to trust me on this one - I don't know what the prize is just yet....but I promise it will be FANTASTIC and VERY SPECIAL!!! It IS knitting related!

The Question:
So - I suppose you want to know the question?

What is my big anouncement that I've been hinting at for the last few months?

Ready......Set.....Go!

Regrets, I've had a few....

2008-04-16T20:42:00.005+01:00

I have always wanted a tattoo but never really got round to seriously thinking about it. I did my whole rebellion thing in my mid teens and got my ears pierced multiple times and my eyebrow pierced and got it all out of my system. My eyebrow went all wrong and septic and I now have a groove scar on my eyebrow but I kinda like it - it's a part of me.

Years and years ago I found a tattoo design on the internet and said that if I had a tattoo I would always have that one done...I'm not going to share the design on here because, well, I think of it as MY tattoo and I don't want just anyone coming across it and stealing it (like I did!). Anyway, the time is not right to have that particular tattoo at the moment. I am having this

on the inside of my wrist. About 2.5cm big. If I'm going to have a tattoo I want it somewhere I can see it. I'm doing it for my own benefit - not for anyone elses! And I figure that if I ever have the kind of job where it can't be shown, well I can just buy a big bangle and put that over it in work hours. It's the sign for Pisces - and I am a typical Pisces.

So I'm gonna get my step dad to take me next Thursday - he has tattoos so I'll feel a little more confident going with him. I don't expect 'ooooh that tattoos' nice comments because I know that some people hate them, some people like them, some people have no opinion. D hates them but I'm lucky enough to have the kind of partner who's supportive in what I want to do. Plus he knows that if he objected to me having a tattoo then I would just go and have an even bigger and better one just to be a rebel.

I suppose my thinking behind it is that I would rather regret doing something than regret NOT doing something. And as for it looking daft when I get older....well...I suppose thousands of other people are going to look daft with me...

Still Alive

2008-04-13T11:21:00.002+01:00

Yes, I am still alive! Any readers out there?

I've been working a few extra hours at work the last couple of weeks to cover for other people's holidays but the good news is I have next Thursday and Friday off together to make up for it so I'm kinda chugging along until then. Oooh and it's only 4 weeks and 6 days til we go on holiday to Cornwall. Not that I'm counting or desperate to go!

The Rowan top I have been working on has taken a back seat as most of the time I'm just too tired to be bothered to concentrate on it so I have started a basic sock in some Yarn Goddess yarn.

Competition will be starting in the next few days so get ready :)

Piccies

2008-04-04T23:18:00.004+01:00

For anyone who may be concerned about the safety of Sunny in the tumble dryer.....I only turned it on with him in it for 15 minutes...did you really think I was cruel enough to leave it on a full one hour cycle? ;)

Anyway, you get more picture posts because I REALLY don't have the time to blog at the moment. I have so little time I haven't even knit in a week. Yes. That's right. A week! I can hardly believe it.

Life is exciting at the moment, and I promise I'll spill the beans soon!

D edited Lil's eyes in this - she looks drunk. No, I did not put vodka in her water bowl.

'Iz Mine! You go 'way!'

You Spin Me...

2008-04-03T22:19:00.000+01:00

.....right round baby right round...

The Scavanger

2008-03-30T17:43:00.003+01:00

On Sunday when D got back from a night out in York on Sat night we went to Wingham Woolworks. We got lost finding it and a telephone call to Wheezy got us there. She never answers her phone that woman. The first time I rang she sent her child to answer it and the second time her hubby answered it and promptly informed me that she could not answer the phone as she had her mouth full of a foot long. He then informed me she was swallowing. I later found out she was eating a foot long Subway baguette. Well - that was their story anyway.

I want to live at Winghams. It is paradise. There are wooly things hung everywhere and I lost count of how many things I got to squidge in my hands. There's some gorgeous stuff in there and like, entire great big fleeces and stuff. It's geared more towards spinners and feltmakers but I enjoyed looking round it. D bought me 515g of some yarn but I really can't be arsed to get up off the couch and take a piccy of it. I'm not sure what it is - I should have asked her shouldn't I - but it's a lovely Coffee N Cream colour. I think depending on how it knits up I'll make some kind of a small shrug with it. Maybe Stefanie Japels two tone shrug out of Fitted Knits. Although I'm pretty sure that requires chunky yarn and this isn't.

Anyway, Wheezy and family just happened to be in Wentworth too (I know she's stalking me really) so we met up at Wentworth Garden Centre. They had a really good deal on for some big plant pots so I got some and some lovely shrubs and plants and flowers and things that will last me through Spring and Summer hopefully. Did Wheezy ever tell you her daughter Holly is The Scavenger. I swear that I've never seen a child that finds things so much. We were with her for an hour at the most and within that time she got bird poo on her head, found a trillion daisies, a mouldy leaf, a half eaten wine gum, some fluff, a fridge magnet, a flower and a stone. Wheezy needs to strap a metal detector onto her daughter and make her earn her keep!

Today I have just been for my manicure and pedicure which was very nice. Well, I enjoyed the pedicure and would have that done again but not so much the manicure. I am bleeding! On one of my fingers the skin is particularly thing from when I used to suck it as a kid! So when she removed my cuticles it made the skin bleed. Then she put some varnish on my nails but as I got into my car I promptly - for some unknown reason - slammed my thumb nail onto the inside roof of my car and smudged it all off. And I now have a pink strip on my roof.

And No, the prize is not a yarn swift.

Saturday Ramblings

2008-03-29T17:11:00.005Z

I am so tired! Bit short staffed at work this week and next so working uber long hours. 48 hours this week :( And I hit my head getting out of the car when I got home so I have headache now. And Wheezy was sending me abusive text messages. She called me an Arsehole. I have proof!

D has gone to York for the evening to meet some friends and is staying over so the Lillster, Sunny and I are on our own tonight. I'm glad of it as I really feel I need some downtime at the moment and maybe an evening on the couch with only the dog to consider will help chill me out a bit.

The competition is still on and all will be revealed within the next few weeks. There will be no cheating Mcknitty, and Wheezy is already disqualified. The prize will be very very special but it is a surprise prize so you won't know what it is til you've won it. Yay!

Not much more to say at the moment than 'ohmygodiamsotiredpleasedomyhouseworkformeandletmesleepforthreedays'

Night night!

Bad bad blogger

2008-03-25T18:28:00.002Z

I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger. Wheezy is a bad blog policer though cos she didn't remind me to blog.

Busy busy busy round here. Had to work the Bank Holidays as I had already used those days to have 2 daysworth of holidays. Knitting is still happening on Scree and I love it. Nice interesting pattern but it's creating a much denser fabric than I expected. It's quite heavy actually.

I started some socks for D with some of the knitting goddess yarn I got last week but I'm just not feeling them. I've got to that stage where every stitch feels like a chore and it feels like I have to force it on and off the needles. What's the point in knitting something that feels like a chore!? So that is waiting in my 'knitting corner' for when I feel like making friends with it.

I'm going to have a competition within the next couple of weeks...watch this space.

Stripes

2008-03-20T19:09:00.000Z

Oh Wow! How clever is this! Really really stripey socks - jogless stripes too. I don't quite believe it'll work as she says...I'll have to try it :)

New Stash Sunday

2008-03-16T17:19:00.005Z

Had a lovely day at Peakwool's and spent the remaining bits of my birthday money (and then some).

This is 100% merino yarn by The Knitting Goddess in colourway - Same Difference Heather. I think I'm going to use the purplier skein for the main colour and the greener skein for cuffs, heels and toes.

This is the same as above but in the Hydrangea colourway. I think I will use the paler colour for the main sock and the darker one for cuffs, heels and toes.

The Knitting Goddess again in 80/20 colourway Parrot. I ADORE this yarn.

This is my all time favourite Maine Woods Yarn in Heatwave. Sooooo soft and this one is definitely superwash so hopefully no felting it by accident this time.

This is Yarnsmiths Isis - colourway is Bird Of Paradise. The colours in this one are so rich and it's 50% cashmere and 50% silk. I think this has to be saved to make something really special.

I then decided to go on a hunt for 'manly' sock yarn so I could knit D some more socks.

This is a bit more red than it looks on the photo and is by The Yarn Yard. It doesn't say a colourway though but I am going to call it Lava Ash!

This is The Knitting Goddess 100% merino in Brown Owl...really nice rich autumnal colours.

And this is more The Knitting Goddess in Ocean Blue.

Dave says he likes the last one best so I suppose I'll have to knit him a pair of socks in that first although I suppose I'll have to swatch as the eBay store says the yarn suits 2.25mm needles but there is no way in hell I am knitting big male socks on those tiny needles. I'm thinking maybe 3.25 or 2.5mm at the very smallest so I'll see what I can find.

As promised...

2008-03-14T15:34:00.003Z

Photos as promised...excuse the floors, they badly need hoovering.

First up in the skein winder D made for me. He designed it so that it can all fold up...it's pretty cool but has a little bit of a wobble which he is going to fix for me :) I have some turquoise wood varnish that I was thinking of painting it with.

I just finished Belair from Rowan 43. I like it. There is a little bit too much excess fabric under the arms but it's good. The coloured border is rolling like a bitch though.

This is the yarn from Peakwool I was on about in the last post

And this is the next pattern from Rowan 43 that I plan on casting on for as soon as I press the 'Publish Post' button on this.

And just because I felt like being a bitch I took a piccy of Sunny wailing to come inside cos it was cold and rainy outside....

Aaaaaaaawwwww....

Quarter of a Century

2008-03-14T12:43:00.003Z

Yes, I am still here! I was planning to post some photos but the camera seems to have no battery and every other battery I find doesn't work so maybe I'll find some later today if I can be bothered.

I am now 25. My birthday was ok...they kind of get rubbisher as you get older I suppose. Didn't do anything special for it, just lounged around the house and felt a bit sorry for myself. Still in pain with the mouth but it's nowhere near as bad as before. Now it's just a dull tooth ache that is easily sorted with a couple of painkillers every few hours whereas before it was taking 4 painkillers on the dot every 4 hours and even through the night to make it bearable. The house really needs a tidy now because I haven't cleaned anything for the last couple of weeks but I just can't be bothered. I just think, these are my few days off work that I have booked off so I just want to chill out and watch some movies and knit....is that so bad? That's actually one of the things I am working on with the therapist person I'm seeing. The fact that I slam so much pressure on myself to do everything all at once and I either try to do it and fail so feel like shit, or avoid doing it cos it's soo much to cope with so feel like shit for avoiding it. I need a cleaner.

I am 3 rows off being finished on Belair. I LOVE it. It's rare that I adore a project I have been working on but I truly love it and I can really see me wearing it constantly. It's going to be a wardrobe staple of mine. I love it even more cos the yarn I subbed for the Rowan yarn it should be made with is cheap so I think it'll have cost less than a tenner. I also love it cos I got some special fancy yarn from Peakwool which is made up of 3 threads, white, metallic and a kinda blue velvety one. It's not anything you could make anything out of really apart from using it for trims so I have used some of that for Belair rather than using the contrasting cotton colours the pattern calls for and I think it really works...I think I pulled it off. Anyway, I yet have to do the final trying on. I tried it on before I picked up 500 gazillion stitches for the border all the way round and it fitted, so hopefully the border won't have made it too small.

Oh yeah, and everything I said about Rowan patterns a few posts back. Well, I hate to admit when I'm wrong but I take it back. I stand by what I said with the yarns - they are far too expensive, but it looks like they have increased the sizing on the patterns and, well, they actually fit! It seems as though they've done it in line with UK clothes sizes so it seems to be a little less hit and miss with the whole 'will it or won't it fit me' debate.

Know what? It's really nice to blog about something other than being in pain. I was so consumed by the pain the other day that I lost all sense of rationality (is that even a word) and I think that if I had been on a very very very bad day I wouldn't have hesitated in throwing myself off a bridge or something. You wouldn't believe the pain. Caroline is right, I will use it as a marker for all future pain now and nothing will ever be as bad as 'the time I had my wisdom teeth taken out'. It's totally cured my fear of the dentist though, I'll no longer be nervous sat in the dentists chair. In fact, I don't think I would even flinch if I had another tooth taken out. It's just the pain afterwards that I couldn't put up with. And I generally consider myself to be quite good at dealing with pain, I have a high pain threshold for 'big' pains...at least I'm coming out of the other side of it now and hopefully in a week or so maybe I won't have any pain at all. I have my 6 monthly check up at the dentists on Tuesday so I'll get the lovely sexy dentist to check it all over then...I think one of the nerves is damaged. When I'm eating and chewing on the right hand side of my mouth under the tongue it feels like a blade is being pressed into my tongue for a split second. I'm guessing it's some kind of nerve in the bottom of my mouth catching on something to do with the wisdom tooth removal. Also, I'm suffering quite a bit with what feels like a swelling pain going all the way up my left cheek and into my left ear (kind of like sinus pains) which I'm sure is probably something to do with the other wisdom tooth.

Hey, know what!? It's only about 7 weeks til we go away to Coombe Mill again. Woot!!!!
AND
I got £50 birthday money so spent some of it on the Evans online sale...5 tops for £30! Double Woot!
AND
I get to go to the Garage of Wonder at Peakwools on Sunday to spend the rest of my money! Triple Woot!

Isn't it nice to have me back?

Too ill to think of a title

2008-03-10T19:17:00.002Z

Will the person who is slamming me repeatedly on the left hand side of my head with what feels like a scalding hot steel iron please stop it. It hurts and it feels like my head is going to explode. It is making me very grouchy...

...oh, and the cruel bastard who decided it would be a good idea for me to get a sickness and diarrohea bug at the same time, you have made your point...

...oh, and the twat that has given me earache so bad I can hardly hear, sod off...

...oh, and the sinus cold that is slowly but surely working it's way round my entire face, JUST FUCK OFF OK...

...I am going to cry.

Ungrateful selfish whinge

2008-03-09T09:21:00.003Z

Oh my god I could cry. I know you are probably fed up of hearing me whinge so skip this post if you are. I am fucked off with the persistent banging throbbing pain in my mouth. Thankfully it has moved on from the jaw tightness in both sides that I have been having and the right one (the one I had done first) has reduced to a dull pain I can only feel if I am looking for it. The left one (most recent one) is banging away quite fucking merrily. It isn't stitched up as nicely as the other so it's a great big whacking hole. I am taking 2 ibuprofen and 2 paracetomol together every 4 hours and I don't even think it's safe to do so. It only takes the edge off the pain. I am tired from being woken at stupid o'clock every morning with it and not being able to get back to sleep. And now I have a cold so am all snuffly and feeling even worse! And today I feel like vomiting. Oh fucking joy. And it's only 3 days to my Birthday and I just know my teeth aren't going to be better for that. D insisted on making me a skein winder for my Birthday so he went and bought all the materials for it (which cost the same as buying one would have done) and hasn't even bothered to start it so I know I won't actually be getting any kind of present on Wednesday and we won't even be going out to do anything special for it. D will be working from home during the day and we're too skint to go out for a meal or anything (and even if we could I couldn't eat it). I sound so ungrateful but that's just the way I feel at the moment. The house is a mess, there is shit everywhere and I have tons of laundry and ironing I need to do but I just don't want to move off the couch because the pain starts again. I ask D to help by picking some of his shit up from the floor in the living room and he doesn't bother. The kitchen is a mess because he hasn't bothered loading the dishwasher in days (which is his 'job' to do anyway) and I have to go to work tomorrow and Tuesday before I have a week off. I know there are people in the world who are dying or in greater pain than I am and I should consider myself lucky and it'll all get better soon and blah blah blah but I feel like this so am allowed to be an ungrateful whingey shit bag.

End of ungrateful selfish whinge

I hate people

2008-03-08T16:22:00.003Z

Ok, so when a company advertises that laser eye surgery is FROM £395 per eye, what they actually mean is that it's going to actually cost you 1 and a half grand per eye. Hmmm.

Today has been a funny day. Got up early (in pain again) and we went to Toys R Us to get a birthday present for D's 2 year old nephew, we also got one for his niece as I know from experience that when it's your siblings birthday it's nice for someone to remember you too. We had 30 minutes before my laser eye consultation so we wandered round and being childless, kind of didn't know what to buy. We decided that it would help if they had a section that says 'Childless? Lost? Confused? Buying for a 2 year old? A boy? Here....Buy this!' but alas, they didn't. We found a present for his niece and as we were rushing decided to come back after my consultation for a pressie for the Birthday Boy. So we stand in a massive queue. And we stand. And we stand some more. And 10 minutes later I realise that we haven't actually moved. Bugger. There is the family from hell going through the checkout that is questioning the price of everything and being generally awkward. Another woman goes through and buys a potty. We are now second in line and a family is in front of us. They decide they want to pay for things separately. That's ok, I can handle that (10 minutes to go to consultation and counting). One lot of purchases gets scanned through and paid for. Family then get into a full on debate about whether they should buy a Thomas the Tank Engine for child A, as the other adult there is buying something similar. Hmmmm. I KNOW LETS STAND AND TALK ABOUT THIS AT THE CHECKOUT BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE WE'VE BEEN STOOD IN THE QUEUE FOR 15 FUCKING MINUTES AND COULD HAVE BEEN SORTING IT OUT THEN. OH NO. LET'S HOLD EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD UP BECAUSE OUR INTELLECT IS PRACTICALLY FALLING OUT OF OUR ARSES AND WE HAVE NO CONSIDERATION FOR ANYONE ELSE.

D leans forward to the group of people and says ' I don't want to be funny, but we have been standing here ages and have an appointment to get to so can we just quicly pay for these whilst you discuss this'. They decide to buy the lot with minimum fuss and rush out of the shop dirty looking us as they go. I just pretended I wasn't with D.

So we get to the consultation a couple of minutes late. My eyes get prodded, poked, D sits giggling when I go on that thing that blows puffs of air into your eyes and then we get to the proper consultation. The nitty gritty. Basically both my eyes are fucked. The right one is severely fucked and is almost on the borderline of not being able to have laser eye surgery. The left one can have surgery. My eyes can't have surgery right away because they have changed since the last prescription I had given to me which was coming up to 3 years ago. If I decide I want to go ahead with the surgery I have to leave it at least a month before going back so they can assess whether the prescription has changed any more. If it has then that would indicate I have a very slim chance of being allowed surgery as it shows that my prescription is deteriorating so the surgery would just need to be done over and over and over again. If it hasn't changed then I can go ahead and have it done.

Everything else is fine n dandy. My corneas are above average thickness which is good as that means there is enough tissue for them to laser off but because my eyes are fucked I can't have the cheapo stuff, oh no, I have to have the stuff that costs a small fortune. 3 grand is a LOT of money! Oh Rich Blog Reader, where art thou?

During the consultation I had to have some drops in my eyes that do some thing or another that they can test for. The brochure said they MAY make your vision blurry and be SLIGHTLY sensitive to light. SLIGHTLY sensitive!? Ha! My eyes nearly melted out of their sockets when I stepped into daylight! They currently look like this

My eyes are more pupil than anything else at the moment. I can't focus on anything at all that is near me. And this may last the remainder of the day. Poo. So I can't knit. So I am in a mood.

D is feeling sorry for himself as he had another clash with a person in the Toys R Us carpark who was parked next to us. As D turned the car engine on (it's diesel so LOUD) the hippy guy that owned the vintage (read rusted) old beetle next to us came back to his car with his kids. Didn't bother letting us out of the space, stood there and opened his car door as wide as possible (it is reaaaaaaalllllly windy) so it slammed open and very very nearly missed D's car door. We just both sat there looking at him like 'Hellloooooooooooo! Yes! There are people here! Trying to reverse out of the parking space. FUCKING SHIFT!' He ignored us and carried on loading his scruffy little brat into the car whilst letting the zipper edge of his jacket bang bang bang on our car window. And then, he pulls the door wider, lets go of it and it bangs straight into D's wing mirror. Queue D rolling down the window and shouting 'Can you be more careful with that door please mate'. To which the guy didn't even apologise or anything! How rude. I would have at least said, 'I'm sorry, the wind did it' and then shut the door and moved back so we could get out. D then decided 'fuck it', and reversed out of the space anyway. People are really inconsiderate and rude at times.

So we are both feeling a little tetchy and grumpy, me because of the pain of my jaw and my eyes and D because he is fed up that we don't have lots of money and cos he's fed up of people. We're going to visit his neice and nephew in about an hour. They will be hyper. Oh Joy.

And for anyone who is wondering (Wheezy) I am still working on 'The secret thing that must not be talked about but can be hinted at numerous times so I can be really annoying and mysterious'. Give me another month or so.

Reeker

2008-03-07T21:49:00.002Z

My breath REEKS.

You know when you eat something massively garlicky, and even though you brush your teeth that night and again the next morning you can still taste it and smell it, well it's like that. It's AWFUL. Anyone else have this after they had their teeth out? I'm guessing it might be the stitches and the fact that I can't brush my teeth as well as I normally do. The back 2 or 3 just haven't been cleaned properly for a week now.

I feel dirty! Even D says he can smell it which has made me sooo self conscious. I have my appointment with the laser eye surgery people tomorrow in Meadowhell and I'm gonna have to gobble some mints down before I go otherwise I'll be paranoid I'm breathing stinky breath all over them.

Anyway. I am miserable. Fed up. Bored. Still in pain. It's both sides of my jaw today that feel like they are being tightened in a vice. I am so bored with sitting on my arse the last few days in front of the TV. The house is a mess and I've been dying to clean but I'm under strict instructions to rest so I don't make my gum bleed or anything by being active. I have been working like crazy on Belair and I reckon I could have it finished by Sunday but I'm currently awaiting for a circular needle to arrive that I need to finish it off and I don't think it'll be here by Sunday.

Even though my breath stinks like a small rodent died in my mouth D informed me that he would still snog me with tongues if he had to. It's like the time I had to go to hospital because I had an uber bad kidney infection but didn't know what it was at the time and I was hyperventilating through panic and couldn't breathe. He helped me shower before we went (cos there's no way I'm going to hospital to die without being clean) and then he informed me that seeing as I was practically incapable of moving, if I needed to poo he would wipe my arse for me. Funnily enough I didn't take him up on that one. We had been seeing each other for 5 months at that point and I just knew it was love from that moment on hehe.

Comfortably Numb

2008-03-05T18:33:00.003Z

I am numb...yay! I have a hole where my left bottom wisdom tooth was and it is now done....noooo more wisdom teeth pulling! The dentist I had this evening was soooo nice. It was the kind of service I would expect if I was paying for private care and not NHS. He gave me some nice bubblegum tasting stuff on the inside of my cheek so the needle didn't hurt as much, had only 2 injections and he took half the time to get the tooth out with half the effort than the last guy did. This only confirms to me that the last guy was evil. He was awful...so patronising and rough! In fact, I wasn't too bothered about the op when he was doing it, I was very numbed. In fact half of my ear is numbed too :) He says he has stitched it up but when I look in the mirror all I can see is a big hole! I am not even bleeding as much as the last tooth aswell.

So the plan for this evening is to hopefully keep as numb as possible and then quickly go to bed as soon as I start to feel pain. That way I'm hoping I'll sleep through the worst of it. I am not relishing the thought of waking up tomorrow morning with the pain of both wisdom teeth gone. I can't wait to see if the left one heals better than the right one or if I have less pain due to the different standard of care.

Dynorod

2008-03-04T17:55:00.003Z

Aaaaaw Caroline....at least I can fall to pieces at the dentist's and I don't have a young un to keep strong for...I don't envy you at all! Thank you for your very kind text messages regarding your concern about my bowel movements Wheezy. At this moment in time I am painfully aware that too many painkillers make your poo stop wanting to come out... :) I will keep the number for Dynorod handy Wheezy!

Today I have just mostly been sitting and knitting on the back of Belair

This is an entire ball of Sirdar 4 ply cotton with about 4 inch left over...I'm good! I worked that one out just right! I started this a few days ago so finished it quite quickly for me. I'm going to cast on for one of the fronts tonight but at least now I've got the biggest block of knitting done with. The purple ball on there is going to be the colour I use for the stripes on the arms and around the neckline. Basically just because I want to use up some stuff I already have. I'm estimating that it will have cost me less than £10 in yarn by the time I've finished this which is always good. And I'm pretty sure it's going to be a wardrobe staple as I tend to go for a lot of 'coverup' tops like these and wear them to death. They suit my body shape.

These are the finished Anastasia socks in my own hand dyed yarn. The base yarn is alpaca from Peakwool. My god look at those HOLES at the side of heel! I like the fact that they are toe up, and I like the whole short row toe method but I hate short row heels. I don't like how they look and I don't like doing them. I much prefer a structured heel flap but my favourite heel is that one where you slip 1, k1 all the way across it. I don't know what that heel is called (anyone want to enlighten me?) but it creates a really strong dense ribbed kinda of effect...vcery good for man socks. Most of the toe up sock patterns I've found though have a short row heel. Hmph. Anyway, this colourway that I did. I like it because I made it, but it's not something I would have purchased if I saw this colour on a shelf. It's kinda clashy and 70's ish isn't it. Plus the right sock has more orange than the left sock.

Something else I need to get off my chest about being at the hospital today too. The waiting room was packed. It is very small and there must have been about 50 people in there with many stood around the reception desk because there were no chairs left. The receptionist confirmed my date of birth etc and then asked me what my religion was, obviously for some kind of statistical thing. I immediately said 'Agnostic' without thinking and realised I suddenly had some very sharp glares from a few people in there. Everyone has their own religion and I prefer to just not have one...I just don't believe in something that I haven't experienced is all and I find it strange that people in the waiting room would be stirred by that. I also was a bit annoyed that I was asked it out loud in such a busy place aswell. What if I didn't want people to know what religion I was? (Obviously I couldn't care less as I'm blogging about it). I don't mind being given a form to write it down on rather than being asked. I just find it a bit invasive is all. The other thing that annoys me about that is that when they verbally ask me I can never be sure what they are recording it as. I've had it before at a doctors when I've been asked what religion I followed and I said 'None' so the receptions put down 'Church Of England'. I corrected her and said 'No, I follow none' and watched her until she wrote that down. That's why I make a point of saying 'Agnostic' now.

I don't judge anyone who does believe in a God (I'll capitalise that out of respect for anyone of any faith who may be reading this) so I don't see why I should be judged for choosing to just not have an opinion on it. Each to their own...and anyway, the kind of people who do judge by the fact that I'm not religious aren't the kinda people I want as friends anyway so...well... ner ner.

Oooooh that was a little deep for a Tuesday afternoon....Let's go knit!

Keywords

2008-03-04T11:49:00.003Z

I am going steal Rabbitch's idea. I have a sitemeter thingy that tells me how people found my blog...there's have been some realllly weird ones on there but it only shows me the last few days so here goes...

1 - I dropped my knickers
2 - Knot Another Knitter
3 - Raveley Knitting (That'll teach me to spell Ravelry right)
4 - Each morning I get up I die a little (four times)
5 - Juicy Lucy Blogspot
6 - Raveley knitting website (I get these aaaaalll the time)
7 - Thumb pain in the knitter
8 - Animal Porn keywords that I ain't even gonna type
9 - Dulux sunbaked terracotta kitchen paint
10 - Knitted picot edge
11 - easy realises knot (huh???)
12 - Maine Woods Yarn
13 - Plastic canvas pattern dishwasher clean dirty
14 - Groundforse
15 - Drop my knickers
16 - Eat my knicker
17 - Big wide full knot
18 - Knitting Raveley
19 - Want respect wear a condom advert
20 - Knit jute twine

I dread to think what some of these people are actually searching for and I would live to see their faces when they stumble upon a knitting blog :)

Pretty Pissed Off

2008-03-04T11:11:00.004Z

Thanks for your comments on the last post. It made me feel better that at least I'm not suffering as badly as some of you have *evil grin*

It does, however, get worse though. Pain has been pretty bad so I rang in sick at work today and called the hospital and asked if I could come in to get someone to check it out in case I had dry socket or an infection. Luckily they had a clinic on in 10 minutes time and as I practically live next to the hospital I went round and waited like, 40 minutes. A different dentist ( a nice one) had a look and said the gum looks good and healthy and I've been doing everything right but that I now have an ulcer on my cheek which is creeping towards my gum. I probably did it when I was numb and bit my cheek or something. Then she asked me why both of the wisdom teeth weren't taken out at the same time and she found it a little strange that they hadn't done them both. Then she found it even stranger that they hadn't given me another appointment straight away for the bottom left one taking out. So she sent one of her minions off to go and find out when I could have an appointment for it and they came back and said they had a cancellation for tomorrow at 5pm.

I shit myself.

Basically, if I don't take that appointment then I will be waiting about 4 or 5 months again (Goddam NHS). I took the appointment. So now I am ringing round work trying to get hold of my boss to let him know that I'll drag my sorry ass into work tomorrow but that I will most DEFINITELY be having Thursday and Friday off sick. That's gonna suck ain't it? Another tooth out and one still trying to heal. I am sick to the back teeth (hahaha, I only realised that was a pun when I was reading this back) of drinking through a straw and eating soft food oh so slowly. I have also been living off Ibuprofen and Paracetomol. Apparently you can take both of those together without overdosing, although the dentist did warn me to be a bit careful with them. D hates the fact that I'm taking so many drugs. So that's 2 Prozac, 8 Ibuprofen and 8 Paracetomol per day. Doesn't sound too healthy.

The good news is that I will only have to work tomorrow (Wednesday), then next Monday and Tuesday and then I have a whole week off for my birthday. Hopefully my teeth will be a little better then because I can't stomach the thought of a Birthday with no drinking alcohol.

I have been progressing well on BelAir from the latest Rowan magazine that I started a couple of days ago after ripping Gabrielle. I will post photos when I can be bothered but I really can't be arsed.

(When I was walking into the dentists room a girl came running out of the room I was in last time in tears clutching her mouth sobbing 'Fucking arseholes'. I have to agree with her.)

Whinge whinge whinge

2008-03-01T21:54:00.004Z

It still hurts and I am still fed up. At least I have stopped swallowing blood now but I'm pretty irritated by the fact it's taking me an hour to eat one thing. And I've pretty much lived off scotch pancakes (nice and soft) and supernoodles. The worst thing is that for some reason I am constantly hungry, AND the front of my teeth have started to turn sensitive and tingly. It happens once every so often because of the fact that my wisdom teeth are pushing them all together at the front but why oh why does it have to happen now.

*Cries*

So because I have been in a funny fed up mood it has crossed onto my knitting. I ripped Gabrielle entirely. I was about half way up the back and it had taken me about 3 weeks to get there cos the lace pattern takes time. I was frustrated that I had made some silly mistakes at the beginning and I was having to purposefully make the mistakes all throughout the pattern to keep the lace pattern in tact, so it all got ripped and I decided to start something a bit easier. I finished my Anastasia socks too but realised that I'd fucked those up also. One is supposed to be a right foot and one a left foot where the pattern is reversed so that the spirals go in opposite directions but dumbass me had made the sirals go the same way.

It's only 10pm on Saturday night and I'm even considering going to bed just so I can sleep and make the pain stop. The ibuprofen seems to stop working after I've had 2 doses a day so the 3rd lot before bed isn't working. I could do with taking Lilly out for a walk to burn some of this frustration off before it turns into depression but I can't even bear the thought of the wind blowing against my swollen cheek.

*Whinge over*

It is done

2008-02-29T12:42:00.002Z

But they only took one out so I have to go back again at some point for the other. It was the most horrible experience ever and my thumb has scars from where my other hand was grabbing it to avoid me screaming! He whipped these 3 great big mahoosive needles out and injected me before I even knew what he was doing and my body went into shock and I started shaking. Then afterwards I cried. Lots.

My lips, mouth and tongue are numb but I can feel a dull ache and taste and smell blood....eeewww.

I am retiring to the couch to feel sorry for myself all day.

Baby I love you just leave me the fuck alone

2008-02-29T10:44:00.003Z

This morning I am stressed beyond belief, emotional and scared at the fact that in 1 hours time my teeth will be ripped out. I'm snappy and grumpy this morning and being awful to D. So what does he do? Shout back? No. Back down and take it? No. Laugh at me? No. Comfort me and pander to my stroppiness? No.

He goes into his office, puts his music on as loud as he can and plays

1 - My girlfriend makes me sick - by Guttermouth
2 - Baby I love you just leave me the fuck alone, by the Yayhoos
3 - Mardy Bum, by Arctic Monkeys
4 - She fucking hates me - by Puddle of Mudd

This is why I love him :)

Wisdomless

2008-02-28T17:19:00.002Z

This will be the last blog post I write with my bottom 2 wisdom teeth in. I am soooo soooo soooo scared. I wish they were infected at the moment because I would gladly go to the hospital and have them taken out, but because they're not hurting at the moment I don't want it done.

I have been told I am working the bank holiday days that are coming up but I get 2 days off in lieu of those so I am tagging them onto the end of my Birthday days off. That means I have no work from Wednesday March 12th all the way through to the following Wednesday...Yay! I'm not sure what I plan to do - probably nothing!

I have an appointment booked with a laser eye surgery clinic on Saturday 8th March to see what they say. I reckon it'll cost about a grand and I sooooo can't afford it but I want it done!

Wish me luck for tomorrow
x

Poltergeist

2008-02-27T17:54:00.003Z

Some time last year I was woken in the middle of the night by the metal coat hangers in one of the wardrobes rattling violently. I have a vivid imagination and when I am in bed at night, every little creak is a demon monster from hell coming to eat my brain. When this occured, I freaked out, and D and I came to a few conclusions about what it could have been.

1 - The dog sleeps next to the wardrobe that rattled...maybe she kicked it in her sleep but she would have had to do it hard.
2 - Maybe it was an earthquake...unheard of round here and we checked the news/websites the day after and there was nothing, I have no idea what an earthquake would feel like
3 - Maybe we imagined it
4 - Maybe something in the wardrobe fell and rattled everything
5 - Maybe it was a poltergeist.

I opted for number 5 as I am totally irrational with things like this. I made D put the light on and I slept in fits and starts for the rest of the night.

The bedroom which is our bedroom now also used to be my room when I was about 10. It used to have fitted wardrobes in the exact same place that one of our free standing wardrobes is now. I was laid in bed one night and could hear breathing. Deep, husky, purposeful breathing. I freaked. Hid under the covers. It carried on. It wasn't random breathing, it was perfectly measured breaths. I talked myself into all of a sudden bolting up off the bed and straight into my parents room next to mine and screeched all sorts of crap about ghosts, men in wardrobes and monsters. My Dad went into my room and opened all of the wardrobes to put my mind at ease but the fact that he had gone to check the wardrobes to see if anything was there in the first place freaked me out all the more. I slept in their room that night. My Dad came to the conclusion that it must have been a wood pigeon sat on top of the chimney and that when it cooed the sound of it must have echoed up and down the chimney breast in my room and created the breathing sound. I made myself believe it because I didn't want to consider what else it could be. I never heard the breathing sound again although I have heard a wood pigeon on top of the chimney many many times.

Sometimes in my bedroom I will put something down and can't find it. I wil swear blind that I put it in one spot smack bang in front of me and then it isn't there. I look everywhere for it and 10 minutes later find it exactly where I was looking and exactly where I had thought I put it. Maybe it's just me looking too hard and completely missing what's in front of my face.

I always have those events in the back of my mind when I'm in our bedroom so have a pre disposition to imagining that there is some evil poltergeist in there. So imagine my reaction last night when at 12:58 I was woken up by our bed being tossed about in the air violently, the drawers banging to and fro and the wardrobes rattling their hangers from side to side. I shot up and nearly fell off the bed, screeched at D 'what the fuck is that' and I think he shouted the same thing back. I came round a little more and realised that maybe my bed wasn't being thrown about in the air like I had first assumed, but it was definitely friggin shaking violently. Then it stopped. It was happening for maybe all of 5 seconds. D jumped up from the bed and turned the light on and I just lay there shitting myself. I babbled incoherently about it being like the last time but worse and told him to look out of the window cos maybe it was an earthquake. He looked out and could see nothing, couldn't hear any car alarms or house alarms going off and everything was ok. No noise from anywhere. It seemed more rational to assume it was a poltergeist than an earthquake...we just don't have earthquakes! My mind just KNEW 100% that it was this poltergeist that had been haunting me for years ever since I was a little girl and heard that breathing. I just KNEW it. We slept with the light on. Well, D slept. I woke up like every 15 minutes and am knackered beyond belief today.

In the morning I tried to explain what it was. That in the cold hard light of day it couldn't have been a poltergeist. D sensed I was freaked and tried to convince me that it must have been one of my dresser drawers opening and shaking my toiletries about as it's always doing that. That maybe it had just sounded and felt like everything was shaking but it wasn't and it was just me exaggerating it. All the time I was in the shower this morning I was looking here there and everywhere, convinced that some manic knife weilding grey ghosty would jump out from behind the shower curtain and slit my throat or something. My jaw was clenched all morning and a stress headache immediately started. I set off to work wondering if I was more insane than I thought I was.

Apparently at 12:58am last night we had an earthquake that measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. Funny coincidence that isn't it...... ;)

That turkey drumstick guy...

2008-02-26T20:25:00.002Z

Oh a whole week since blogging last! I am finding it hard to concentrate on anything but my wisdom teeth being pulled out on Friday, and am just working on getting through the week. Did I mention they told me that I can't have a sedative? Well they did. I will be crying and freaking out. Lots.

I had a lovely weekend if I ignore the fact I was working on Saturday. I spent Saturday evening with D paying a Royal visit to the lovely Wheezy and her hubby. An excellent night was had, posh nosh (well Chinese), wine and lots of swearing and general dirtiness. I can't believe I told D to watch his mouth and to not swear whilst we were there....I think we learned more swear words in our short few hours there than in our lifetime.

Oh. And Toffe flashed at me. He is very well endowed. The girl cats around there will be happy.

I had such a good time that I suppose I had best invite them to KnotAnotherKnitter Manor and show them how us Lady's live.

Not much else to say apart from that Gabrielle is coming along ok although I'm getting a bit sick of having to count the stitches every row to make sure I still have the right amount. I'm ok with the actual lace pattern but keeping track of the increases/decreases compared to how many stitches I have is a pain in the arse.

I have also had permanent headache for 2 weeks now....I need my eyes testing and desperately need some new glasses. I was wondering about laser eye surgery...am I really vain enough to risk my eyesight? Although I suppose not many of them go wrong and I do HATE wearing glasses. Not because I am vain but I am just fed up of having a piece of metal and glass as part of my face and not being able to make out the simplest of shapes without them. I used to wear contacts but as my eyes are rugby ball shaped they spin around quite a lot and I used to have to constantly mess with them to centre them on my eyeball again. Because of this I can't wear them when driving or when looking at a computer as the massive amount of moment that my eyes have from doing both of those tasks mean that the contacts are permanently just spinning on my eyes. What are your thoughts on eye surgery?

Oh, apparently Bernard Manning is not the guy who makes turkey drumsticks and other turkey/chicken products. I learned that on Saturday night too. I figured when I had 3 people laughing hysterically at me that I must have said something stupid....

Nuff Said

2008-02-19T21:56:00.002Z

10 and a half hours at work today. 10 and a half hours of staring at a computer screen more or less solidly. I feel like my eyes are trying to leap out of my head. Nuff said. I am going to go knit.

Don't drink and drive, always wear a condom, don't climb on scaffolding and don't get STD's

2008-02-16T22:54:00.004Z

I just got back from going to see Cloverfield at the cinema. I really enjoyed it even it did make me feel a little sick from all of the videocamera type angles it was filmed in. Thing is, I pay £6 odd to go and see a film to be entertained because I want a bit of escapism from the burdens of daily life. So why oh why do they insist on showing adverts about sponsoring some kind of charity for brain damaged kids, sexual health adverts, condom adverts, and drinking adverts. This is the kind of shit I have to watch on TV every day, and I don't wanna pay to see it at the cinema. Yes, fair enough, people need to know about STD's and not to drink and drive and to wear condoms but I really do not appreciate having it rammed down my throat (no pun intended) when I am sat next to my possibly future Mother In Law. Jeeesus! Although she did make a funny comment that she would have to be anaethatised to go anywhere near the guy in the condom advert whether he was or wasn't wear a condom!

So, I counted one 'wear a condom and get respect from your friends' advert. Then straight after that an advert about various STD's that make me feel sick even typing the names of them, then straight after that an advert about not using your phone when driving, then after that another 'wear a condom and get respect from your friends' advert, and then an 'enjoy drink responsibly and don't go climbing on scaffolding thinking that you are batman when you're pissed because you WILL FALL AND YOU WILL DIE IN A HORRIBLE ALCOHOL INFUSED MANNER'.

Oh my god, as I was typing this the exact same 'don't drink and drive' advert came on TV. Shoot me now.

RIP Broadripple

2008-02-16T18:45:00.002Z

Ooops

Double Ooops.

If I was having a bad day I would have cried after seeing these come out of the washing machine. Oh well, they were nice whilst they lasted.

*Sob*

(On the plus side at least I can now say I've tried my hand at felting)

I am having blue and purple and I don't care if you say they don't go

2008-02-15T19:28:00.003Z

So there!

Caroline, you were right. I think the cream was doomed from the first moment I realised that it reminded me of Sailor Suit. Wheezy - I like colours that don't go together, so I am going to have the blue and purple. I would like to pretend that I chose the purple purely because I like the colours together, but I would be lying if I said a little part of me didn't giggle devilishly at the thought of rebeling against what you said :)

I had ripped the cream and blue out straight after my last post anyway before I got anyone's opinions....it was bugging me too much. And the photo above is the result of a few hours last night of knitting.

Opinions please

2008-02-14T20:19:00.004Z

I started knitting Gabrielle last night. After a total of about 5 hours knitting I have aboout 10 rows....yup, it's slow going. But I like it. But one thing keeps niggling me....the colours. Ok, I didn't choose the colours because I loved them, I chose them because I liked them and because they were within my budget. I like contrasting colours too. I cast on with the cream and changed yarn to the blue for the first row as the pattern instructs. You also do this on the bottom of the sleeves aswell. Thing is, it keeps popping into my mind that I just don't like the colour combination. It reminds me of Sailor clothes and I HATE sailor clothes with a passion. My Grandma used to wear a sailor boy kinda blouse and I hated that too and these colours remind me of it. Also, it means I'm gonna have a very light band going round the bottom of the top which is also gonna be largest part of my body, my hips and arse.

(the bottom of the top won't be all frilly like that, it's straight but it's all squeezed on the needle so looks frilly)

The only other 4 ply cotton I have is this

It's like a pinky/purple/magenta colour. A tad brighter than on the picture. Do I rip back everything I've done and cast on with the purple. I don't even know if it will look good. Maybe the problem isn't the cream or the purple and it's actually the navy. What other colour would look good with navy? Arhh! All I wanna do is just friggin knit the thing. Help, please!

Gabrielle and Belair

2008-02-13T19:38:00.005Z

My yarn arrived for my latest project. I have been finding it harder to concentrate on my knitting and keep flitting from one project to another without any real enthusiasm, so when I saw Gabrielle

in the new Rowan mag I decided to find a cheaper substitute yarn and go for it.
I also liked Belair

and I managed to get enough yarn to hopefully make both of the garments and for a fraction of the price that the Rowan yarn would be!

Gabrielle is going to be in the navy blue yarn and I think it has a contrast edging so that will be in the cream.

Belair will be in the cream yarn with the navy blue for some of the stripes, and maybe some bright pink for the other stripes. I like my contrasts :)

The yarn is Sirdar Pure Cotton 4 Ply which I think only has a stitch or so difference in gauge to the Rowan.

The Carnage

2008-02-10T18:53:00.001Z

These say it all.

These made everything better.

The End.

Saturday Ramblings

2008-02-09T12:59:00.001Z

Ok so I spent a few hours at the hairdressers and got a colour put on my hair. Lisa, you won't be seeing any pictures of it cos I took some earlier on and I looked like a right munter! My hair is marginally darker but I really wanna go for a dark dark brown. I suppose I'm not going to achieve that without using permanent dye though and I really can't commit to that on my budget. I've had a really self indulgent couple of days! It's going to get ruined tonight though because I'm going to my Dad and step mums for a boozy do and they both smoke like chimneys so my hair will STINK tomorrow.

I received a letter today from the hospital telling me I have an appointment on Friday 29th Feb for my wisdom teeth. I assume it is to have them taken out but I need to call them on Monday just to check that. I was expecting it to take longer than that...well, I suppose the 29th is an extra day in the year really so maybe that's why they managed to fit me in! So I'm going to have to mess about organising time off work for that...oh and I also need to ask about the sedative for when they take them out cos there is NO WAY IN HELL that I am having it done without being tranquilised or high!

My Rowan book came today. I had a quick glance through it before I went to the hairdressers and I am really pleasantly surprised. There are only a few things in there that aren't to my taste but I love almost all of them. AND there sizing has gone up to a UK 22, which is good. I am generally a 24 on top (I have boobage) but if I shut my eyes and steam straight ahead then I can force myself to make a 22 and hope it fits. It confuses me this sizing lark, because in my bra size I wear a 38/40 chest size. Yet the chest size for a size 22 piece of clothing is round about 44-46 inches. So in theory 22 should fit really well giving me at least 4 inches of ease....but they always seem too tight.

A few knitting pics..

I have just cast on for Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel. I read her blog on a daily basis. I have always wanted to knit baby clothes but don't have anyone to knit them for. I have a ton of DK acrylic yarn too. My mum just got one of those fake baby reborn doll things (I despise it. I hate it. I do not see the attraction) but I thought at least it gives me a chance to knit some lil baby clothes that she can dress it in.

Just for Wheezy - the Sock Yarn Blankie...

And the Kimono Shawl which hasn't progressed much...

Like this yarn?

It's mine. I dyed it. It's pure lambswool. I love it. It is going to be a very special pair of socks for me one day. It's called Sunny Daze.

And Wheezy - my garden is big! It would more be like 'Name your week'!

Moooooo

2008-02-09T12:33:00.000Z

Today I have photos of the animals in the garden. For no other reason than it is nice outside today and they both happened to go outside at the same time. Although our garden isn't really a garden - more like a mature jungle. One day I'm gonna just get a landscaping company to come in and do it all. We have tried to do it ourselves but it's like one step forward 50 steps back so we've just given up.

I have decided that Lilly was a cow in a former life. When she is in the garden all she does is eat grass.

Hunting stance

Surveying his land

Feeling the wind in her ears

Sunny about to make a huge mistake and pounce on Lilly

Hunting in the grass

Wondering what mischief he can get up to next

Trying to play football

Going in for a kiss (they do this all the time, it's so cute)....

...and getting sneezed on!

Walking the plank.

These are poking through the weed proof matting stuff. They look like some kind of spring flower/plant thing. I have no idea what they are. I am not Alan Titchmarsh.

This is a big palm kind of thingy that has always been in our garden. I loves it.

This is my forest flame. My mum planted it there years and years ago as a tiny little cutting and it is now the size of a small tree. It practically glows red and orange at certain times of the year (hence the name). If we ever moved house I would never be able to leave this behind.

Decorating time again

2008-02-08T18:16:00.000Z

My bedroom is currently this colour All 4 walls of it. Bad call. Let's just say I got over excited renovating a whole room for the first time. It is a very bright room and catches the sun all day but this colour ALL over kinda makes it feel crypt like. The colour is darker on the walls than the picture is. We did the room like, 2 years ago and I've just never really felt comfortable in it...maybe because it feels so dark? D has a real aversion to decorating this room because it took WEEKS. I may have mentioned before that I bought some stupid ass paint that had the word 'Opulence' in the title and it was basically like water and after like, a zillion coats still looked like shit. So D now refuses to buy any other paint than bog standard matt emulsion because he had to paint the walls about 5 times.

I have decided that 2 of the walls in the bedroom are too hard to paint again...they're behind wardrobes and around the window and I just can't be bothered doing a total overhaul, so I wanna paint the other 2 walls a lighter brighter colour. I like BOLD BRIGHT colours. So I am doing this on the other 2 walls

Yes. It is pink. Don't tell D!

The soundtrack of My Life

2008-02-08T18:02:00.000Z

I am currently listening to the first full album in...well...about 5 years. I used to love playing my CD's when I was a teenager and when I started driving and commuting to uni I used to stick a CD in and listen to it all the way through. Then MP3 players got popular and I got my very first iPod. Since I have had the ability to be able to just download single songs, or make playlists of my favourite songs I've given up on listening to whole albums. I think it applies to a lot of people too...why buy and listen to a whole album that you may not like when you can go and download the song that you know you like (legally of course) in 2 minutes. And that's sad, because what if you would have actually liked the album, you'll never know because you didn't give it the chance.

I used to while away hours and hours and days and days in my bedroom laid on my bed listening to CD's non stop when I was going through my 'teenage angst nobody loves me I hate the world and I want to die and no one understands the deep and complex character that is me cos I am special and unique and will be someone important and never just be a normal person' phase. We've all been there, I'm sure. Music really speaks to me and really inspires me. I have so many memories of so many different tracks that weren't necessarily popular singles that I would never have heard and would never have that memory of if I hadn't listened to the whole album and given them a chance. Some of those memories I will never ever ever share with anyone else and I will never ever play that track when anyone is around, because it is my song. My memory. My moment. Just for those 3 minutes or so I will lose myself in the notes and be transported back to a time that has been and gone and that I will never get back.

I'm listening to a Biffy Clyro album - Puzzle. I love it and I wish I had bought it earlier when I first started hearing their tracks. There is a particular song on it called Machines that just speaks volumes about where I am in my life right now and until the end of my days I know that when I hear that song it will remind me of the time when I was young, confused and in a bad place but working to overcome things. It will remind me of hope, of looking to the future and of trying to tackle life the best way I know how.

Go on, stick an album on you haven't listened to all the way through. Even if you only like one song on it, it'll only be an hour or so you'll have lost....maybe one of those songs could be the soundtrack to your life?

Charlie Bit Me

2008-02-08T11:28:00.001Z

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....I could watch this all day!

And this is just HILARIOUS!

The Big Red Van Drama

2008-02-08T10:39:00.000Z

It is AMAZING what a good nights rest can do. I went to bed at 10:30 last night and got up at 9:30 this morning. My back still hurts a bit but it's nowhere near the grinding pain Ive had for the last week since I hurt it. My mood is faaaabulous and I keep flicking my hair around like I'm in a shampoo advert cos it just looks so damn good!

I am planning to spend my day off sitting on the couch watching stuff I have recorded on Sky Plus and shouting at Lilly to stop whining every 2 seconds. We live on a VERY quiet dead end street so not many people pass our house and nothing changes about the view outside the window. Today there is a Big Red Van parked across the road. Yes. You did hear me right. A. Big. Red. Van.

This Van is not usual. This Van isn't usually here. Therefore it must be barked, growled and whined at. Because, of course, the Big Red Van is evil. It must be trying to break into our property despite the fact that it ISN'T FRIGGIN MOVING, and Lilly must protect us from the awful things that the Big Red Van could do. Therefore she must remain still as a statue on the couch and stare intently at it to let The Big Red Van know that SHE is the boss around these here parts and that The Big Red Van can just go and park it's Big Red arse somewhere else. Who needs a burglar alarm anyway!

I have fallen out of love with knitting socks for the time being, so my Anastasia sock may not be getting it's second pal any time soon. My Kimono shawl may have to wait a little longer til it's worked on, and I don't like Kate anymore so I shall simply just not make it. My time is too precious to knit something I don't like. I have no qualms about abandoning something half way through if I just don't like it. So I think I'll be working on the Sock Yarn blankie all day...I find it nice and relaxing. You know what? I may even not shower! I usually put sooooo much pressure on myself to 'do stuff' on my days off like cleaning, washing, tidying etc that I just stress myself out and make myself feel bad, so fuck it. Today I shall chill out and do the occasional load of laundry. Everything else can wait. My therapist would be so proud!

ETA: The postman just came. He must be barked at too. He is in cahoots with The Big Red Van and they are planning to take over the street. Evil Postman.

New Hair!

2008-02-07T20:28:00.000Z

Yay no more work til Monday, I have tomorrow (Friday) off. Wooooh! My hair is now and truly cut. And I LOVE it! It no longer hangs in a big thick blanket around my head...it's lurverly. And I am going back there on Saturday to have a colour put in it...some kind of chocolate brown I think. It's called Paul Mitchell The Shine and it's like a semi permanent colour but doesn't harm the hair. It wears out after 6 weeks so if I decide I don't like it I don't need to have it done again. Having my hair coloured dark chocolate brown permanently would mean I would have to have my roots done every 4 weeks or so as my hair grows really fast and I just can't afford it.

Anyway, The stylist was fab and the whole salon was brilliant. I'm used to going to a bit of a snobby one where they look at me as if I'm an alien because I'm bigger than a size Zero, so it's so nice to go somewhere modern, posh AND friendly. The downside is that all this hair stuff means my credit card will have taken a £60 beating that it could do without. Oh well, payday next Friday so I'll just take it out of that months wage.

Wheezy, I don't have more pics of the sock yarn blankie because it is now too big to fit all in one photo, but I have only done about 10 more squares since the last photos...I'm sure you will see it soon though. I haven't felt like knitting for the past few days so the sock yarn blankie has been an easy cop out.

I gave my Dayflower scarf to a Polish girl at work today....after I gave her it she told me her Grandma has just died in Poland and she has to go over for the funeral this weekend. I felt all warm and fuzzy inside knowing I'd cheered her up on shitty day.

Prince Charming

2008-02-06T18:58:00.001Z

I just bought the latest Rowan magazine (although it's not reallllly a magazine is it!) Number 43 I think it is. I don't knit with Rowan yarns because I can't afford the yarn and I see the brand as pretentious. A bit of 'Ooooh I'm the sophisticated yarn that the kind of people that can afford to wear cashmere sweaters buy'. I also don't make Rowan patterns because they often stop just short of my size. I mean, I could make the largest size but it'd be touch and go as to whether it fit and looked ok or fit and was too tight. Plus I really don't wanna buy 100 trillion 50g balls of Rowan yarn at like £5 a ball or something.

So why then did I go and spend a tenner on the latest magazine?

Well, it's pretty! I just wanna look at the pretty photos and 'ooooh' and 'aaaah' over them and dream of it me being there in that enchanted forest setting wearing a cashmere lacy cardi in a rosy romantic pink colour waiting for my Prince Charming to come trotting along and.....

Ok, I'll stop. I'm going to go and knit.

Such a boring post that it doesn't deserve a title

2008-02-05T18:24:00.000Z

Well, the big-thing-that-i-cannot-talk-about has moved one step forward. Although it is likely to be a good few weeks til I know if it is a thing that will be permanent in my life.

I'm getting my hair cut on Thursday evening and I still haven't decided how to get it done. It's quite thick and at the moment is half way down my back with a few layers cut in at the front....I have a fat face though so don't wanna go too short. Maybe I'll just turn up and tell the stylist to do whatever she wants to it.

Nothing interesting has happened really...life rolls on....

Pain in the....back

2008-02-02T22:49:00.000Z

This week has been awful. It's just been one of those weeks where I feel like I'm at work constantly (probably because I have been) and I've just been tired. To top it off I've hurt my back climbing over a pile of planks of wood that someone had so kindly left blocking a doorway at work. So it's been killing me for the last day and night. Then to make matters worse I had a hot water bottle against my back to soothe it and went and friggin burnt a layer of skin off my back. Clearly it hurt so much inside my back that I didn't feel the pain on the outside. So now inside and out hurts equally. D'oh. Look at the pretty knitting.....

This is my first finished Anastasia sock. I really like the pattern, it looks very delicate. It was my first time trying a toe up sock so I nailed that, nailed short rows and also did the sewn cast off on the cuff which is nice and stretchy but unfortunately a bit too tight on my calf. Then again, any bind off would be too tight on my calf! It is all the more special as it's the yarn I dyed myself. One thing is bugging the hell out of me though - see that hole?

Yep, that one, right there in the corner of the gusset where you pick up the stitches...I don't ever usually get holes but for some reason I have on this one. Maybe it's because the yarn is a little more elastic than the stuff I usually work with so the stitches stretched? Anyway, I'll make sure that doesn't happen on the second sock.

And just because I felt like it I snapped a few piccies of Sunny seeing as we haven't had many of those recently.

Look at me , don't I look all pretty and sweet with my iccle scratches on my nose where another evil cat beat me up...

...hmmm....nope...I will not be cuddled or stroked. I'm a hard cat. I don't DO cuddles....

...oooh a neck rub....look at my collar. Dad says it makes me look like a pansy...he says it's no wonder I get beaten up....

...right...that's it. I'm going to be grumpy now...

..oooh...but...look....there's a dangly thing hanging off that camera....

...maybe if I stare at it I can kill it...

....maybe I should pounce for it....

...come to me little strappy wappy....

...haha....gottit....

...diediediediediedie!!!....

....mmm tasty....

...and Mum says I'm a psychokitty.....AS IF!

Guilty

2008-01-28T22:35:00.000Z

Sunny just went missing for 10 minutes and I was sooo scared he had run off! I let him out when I got back from work at 8pm and I didn't feed him as I am trying to put him on adult cat food and only wanna feed him twice a day with that - once in the morning and once before bed - and I let him straight out in the dark. It's only the 2nd time he's been out in the dark. D went to the shop earlier on and saw Sunny near there so he had wandered quite far. When I went to shout him in just now he didn't come and D even walked round the block to try and find him...I was getting sooo worried and I'm sure the neighbours are fed up of hearing his name. The wee shite has come running back in the house now and is getting lots of love and attention from his guilty mum!

I had my first 'therapy' session today and knitters brain kicked in. I noticed the shrinks scarf hung on the back of the door and could immediately identify what yarn it was, what colourway, and what size needles it was knitted on. I asked her and it turns out her mum made it for her....I'm soooooo sad.

I REALLY REALLY need a skein winder/yarn swift....anyone got one they wanna sell?

Oh Look, an FO!

2008-01-27T20:06:00.000Z

Despite numerous lessons in the art of posing one's feet ready for new knitted sock photo taking D still managed to make his feet and the new socks I've made for him look like a pair of seals flippers. Oh well.

These are the first socks I've ever made for him and I don't half feel all house wifely now he has a pair of hand made socks on his feet. I'll be darning them next! He loves them anyway and I am told that they fit perfectly which is good as I just kinda went along with a basic sock pattern without really knowing what size I was making them to. The yarn is Knitting By Zen in Clowning Around purchased from Peakwool.

Knitty

2008-01-24T18:04:00.000Z

Tired...tired...tired. Not gonna be blogging for a few days until my mood changes for the better or I suddenly stop feeling so tired.

Knitty surprises are up. What is it with knitted skirts? Has anyone ever made a knitted skirt? I wouldn't dare sit down in it because surely when you stood up there would be a great big saggy bit where your arse is?

Update

2008-01-23T18:27:00.000Z

RIP Heath Ledger. I'm not a massive fan of him. I don't have a crush on him. I don't particularly follow any celebrities but I was really shocked to hear Heath Ledger has died. Maybe because it's the first 'big' death of my generation? Maybe it's beause he's the exact same age as D is?

I am getting my hair chopped in a couple of weeks time at a hairdressers near mine. I don't mind paying a lot to have my hair done cos I only have it done once every few months and it takes a fair bit of cutting as it's really long. I've booked in a restyle though and plan to have at least 4 inches cut off with layers at the front and a sweeping fringe cut in again. I can't wait - I sooooo need it. The bad news is that only a week and a bit after payday I'm skint! Still 3 and a bit more weeks to go til the next one.

I'm really getting annoyed by the traffic and weather! Last night it took me an hour to get home. A whole hour! It usually takes 15/20 minutes to go the 12 miles. And do you know why it took me a whole hour??? Football! Bloody football! I think Sheffield were playing someone and the Police had pulled over coachloads of the other supporters to search them so it was causing massive tailbacks. I hate jams.

Sunny is outside in the dark for the first time. His mood has changed a lot since he has been going outside more regularly. He's obviously bored, but a lot of the time he won't even go outside and just wants to stay in and annoy me. So I decided he can go out on evenings as well as weekends...it'll do him good and make him a helluva lot nicer!

Anyway, I'm off to rescue my jacket potato from the oven before it burns - I'm having it with cheese and a Pot Noodle....classy!

Daily Ramblings

2008-01-21T19:04:00.000Z

I'm going to be one of those annoying bloggers that hints at something big going on but refuses to tell for weeks....here goes....

Ok, well, I have something potentially big for me going on and possibly about to happen and I'm so excited but can't say until I'm sure it's happening! Therefore, if I go quiet and never mention it again then it means it didn't happen so don't ever question me about it!

No, it does not include pregnancy, marriage, winning the lottery or selling my body.

I wish it would stop raining. I am so fed up of going to work in the dark and rain and coming back from work in the dark and rain. We have a river right next to work and flood warnings all over the place. I got up to 35mph on the motorway this morning and it took me 25 minutes to drive from the doctors to my house this evening. It usually takes 3 minutes! I didn't move out of 1st gear for the whole drive. It's so evil when I can see my house but can't get to it because the road is just a little further up the queue. Oh, and my rearview mirror fell off. Again. I hate that mirror. I have superglued it on 3 times and each time it's fallen off after a couple of months. Last time it fell off it even took a chunk of glass out of the windscreen with it. So, the superglue can prise a chunk of thick glass out of a windscreen but can't hold the mirror on. How the feck does that work!?

I have killer indigestion that I've had for the last day and it's making me feel soooooo sick and burpy. I'm so ladylike. Oh, I got my anti depressant dose doubled so hopefully I'll be bouncing around soon, and I arranged to start work later next Monday for my shrink appointment so everything is falling into place. I'm starting to get my finances in control and can see an end to the debt by this December. It's a long way away and a lot of work and payments away but at least I can see an end to it providing nothing drastic happens to the car/house this year that might eat money.

I'm still waiting for the rich person who I know must be reading this blog to come forward and write me a cheque. I know they're out there.....