Another finished object

It seems I'm on a roll!!!! - I am normally the world's worst finisher - I have more half done projects around my house (in fact including my house!) than most people have hot dinners!!!! But yesterday the weather was amazing, and so I sat out in the garden and finally finished OH's jumper.




Yes, bearing in mind I got sunburnt whilst doing it (memo to self: don't knit in good strong sunlight 'cos you get white marks where your arms are bent and where the knitting sits), it probably is a bit too warm to be wearing it, but at least it's ready for the Autumn!!!!!

The carnage that was my sister's jumper has also been sorted. The rib looks OK, and no-one but me will ever know it is upside down!!! - I've left it on the stitch holders though so I can make sure it's long enough this time!!

So today I must get back to the decorating. The F1 grand prix is on, so hopefully I will find a way of watching and painting at the same time! I want to get it done so that next weekend I can dye my fleeces.

Putting right wrongs.

I'm a great believer in putting right wrongs. . . . . .. . . this, however, is not what I mean!!!!




This is a jumper I made my sister for Christmas, which somehow ended up a bit short. Being Chenille I couldn't pick up the stitches at the bottom and knit down as it would show too much, so after several attempts at other ways, it became clear that the only way to go was to take the scissors to the bottom and cut off the ribbing !!!!!!!! I've been putting it off for weeks, but am visiting aforementioned sister next week, so couldn't procrastinate any longer!!!

Actually it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The good thing is that knitting doesn't undo upwards, so once cut all I needed to do was find a solid row, pick the stitches up, and hey presto!! So stitches are now found, Knitting needles are in place. . . . . . . . and thus they will stay, as I am not going to cast it off this time until i know it fits!!!!!!

Next on the agenda

(DROPS pattern 78-22)



I've chosen my next project - a nice spring top. It's a free pattern from a scandinavian site, that has some amazing designs - wish I could knit faster! It's to be done in a sage green linen/cotton mix that I bought off eBay last year for the princely sum of £1 a ball!. . . . . well that's the plan anyway!

I also have two full sheeps fleeces to dye and spin.....hmmmm need to get a move on with those! I have bought the dyes - all natural, and the mordants are on their way. Need another long weekend!

The decorating hasn't really progressed any. . . . . oh well there's no rush!!!! Life's too short to be worrying about such things, it'll get done when it next rains!!!

Achievements

The plastering has mostly been done now. A few bits needed another going over, which I have done today. It doesn't look like much, but it was hard work. I must be unfit after the winter! I started a bit of the painting, but really only one corner of the room. The hardest bit was moving the furniture. I never knew piano's were so heavy!!!!!








My other achievment, which was yesterday, was finally finishing these socks for Sue. Hasn't taken me long. . . . . . no comments please!

The socks got fnished yesterday for the simple reason that a night out was obviously too much for me, and Sunday was mostly a write off!!! TJ was brilliant as always, although the 100 club is getting to be too much for a night out from Guildford. They only do two sets now, and don't start til 9:30, so by the time they're starting I'm thinking about leaving for the last train!! (Well OK not quite, but can only hear the first set) It's a shame because I love it up there. You get an amazing mix of people and ages, and nobody would ever feel out of place. TJ now has the incredible young Sky Murphy playing tombone and electric guitar (not together, although often both in one song!) He and Adrain Cox give the band some real energy. And of course with TJ on piano and vocals. . . . well you just can't beat it for a night out!

Phase 1 complete

My Easter project is to re-decorate my living room. Hasn't been done in too many years to mention. So now is the time. It's no mean feat either, as first I need to skim the plaster, as most of that came off when I took the wallpaper off about 7 years ago!!!!!

So that first stage has mostly been done. And it looks a lot better for it I must say. Now all I have to do is paint the room, the cupboard and all the woodwork. Lovely !!

That's it for today though, as tonight I'm off to the 100 club to see TJ Johnson and the boys.

Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese

(The fact that I even remember that song is somewhat distressing!)

I have had this urge lately to watch tv series etc, that I watched as a young adult. You know those things we watched in our teens, that we enjoyed but probably didn't understand, and certainly don't remember now! For me, these include Shogun, Secret Army, Tenko, Jesus of Nazereth, North and South (with a young Patrick Swayze :) ) and others too numerous to mention. So over the last couple of rainy weeks I joined an online DVD rental place, claimed my free month (I love a bargain), and chose Shogun as my first nostalgic rental!

I wasn't sure if I would be disappointed. It was made a long time ago, and I was young and impressionable. Maybe now I would think it was rubbish. NO! It was great! I have loved sitting down every evening to an hour of Japanese! The show was 9 hours in total, and I haven't got bored once! It's the story of Pilate Major John Blackthorne (Anjin San) who arrives, shipwrecked, in the Japans. It is a story of love between Anjin San and his translator, and of battles and civil unrest. (There's also all the religious disputes and the whole, Portuguese/Spanish/Dutch thing!) Obviously by today's standards the studio work is a little "hammy", but it is gripping nevertheless. There are no subtitles for the Japanese speech, so we learn a little as Anjin San does. Richard Chamberlain does a fair job of frowning his way through all the Japanese, so we know he doesn't understand either!!!! But really it was a great mini-series. I just hope all my other choices are as good.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. . . . . . .

The sun was shining, the day was warm (by UK standards), and I had some time!! I am only an hour from Hayling Island, and there's a lovely spot to walk errrr Spot (sorry!) if the tide is out.

Spot loves the water as long as her feet touch the bottom (She's such a baby!), but she had great fun fetching the stones I threw in - funny girl, she'll stick her whole head under water to get a sunken stone, but won't swim!!!!.

View across from south-west of the island (I think - geography was never my strong point!)

Tide out and plenty of shallow pools for the dog!!!!!

(I am just going to interrupt this broadcast to say that a kestrel has just landed in my garden!! - Didn't stay around long, might have seen a mouse underneath the bird feeder and come down for a look, it was truly beautiful, and i'm all a quiver!!!)

So now, with roses in my cheeks, and yawning due to the fresh air, I'm off to make some dinner!

Finally a WIP

Well as the blog site is called Noo's Knits, I thought it was about time I added some! Here is one *ahem* of my current WIP's. It's a jumper for OH. Pattern taken from here Stitch 'n' Bitch: Nation , and the yarn is Kelso It is originally a pattern with flames up the sleeves, but I've made it plain, and also adapted the pattern and knitted it in the round, so the only seams I will have are around the raglan sleeve tops. I think I could have adapted the whole thing and joined the sleeves in at the base of the armhole, but I didn't want to mess up a jumper that was a) for someone else, and b) too big to frog (!)

So that's what the rest of today will be about - I have started the second sleeve, and really want to get this finished now! It's just at that point where you get a bit fed up with it! I do also have a pair of socks OTN, but that is all for WIP's at the mo, so really I have been very good!!!!

The first cut is........ so satisfying

There we have it. Spring must have sprung because I have cut the grass, and half weeded the first flowerbed!!!!! Other than the nicely cut grass the garden is a mess, weeds everywhere, patios still noticeable by their absence, and vegetable plot which is now a bonfire site!! hmmmm. Oh well at least it's only March.

It has been the most beautiful day today - wall to wall sunshine, and despite waking up a little grumpy (well we all get days like that don't we?) I'm now happy, tired, and ready for dinner and a glass of wine! - Not necessarily in that order!

Top Dog

So yesterday I Dog-sat Mum and Dad's weimeraner. My meek, mild, timid, (actually all an act but I let her get away with it) little girl usually takes herself off to another room when the Weimy comes to play (Weimy name is Bonnie), as Bonnie is a little too loud and proud for my girl. However yesterday she did stay in the same room, albeit in the far corner of her crate. . . .. . . . . until a point in time when Bonnie got out of her bed!!! - Bonnie has a lovely pillowy, fleecey bed. My girl has old towels and curtains and bits and pieces, plenty of them but not very luxurious. So picture the scene, Bonnie vacates aforementioned pillowy bed, my little one hops out of crate and straight into bed!!! - Now this picture was taken pretty quickly. As time went on Spot's shoulders dropped further and further as she became less sure of herself, and her ears dropped, and her head dropped. . . . . . . she didn't get out for a while though!!!!! My Big Brave Girl!!!!!!

Why we all love eBay

You know shops just pee me off. No really, it's true. It's hardly any surprise that we all shop on the internet, and in particular that lovely auction site that I am very fond of.

I need a few bits for the house. Nothing special, just ordinary everyday bits. Firstly tap washers, everyone probably wants them at the moment, we're all on for a hosepipe ban, and dripping taps don't help the cause. Mine is also a hot dripping tap, so not only wasting water, but gas as well! The other thing I wanted was some suction hooks for the bathroom. Again, nothing terribly exciting, and I would have thought quite common, hang things up on the tiles without drilling holes in them. So, off to town I went.

Now before you all think I'm mad as I should have gone to an out of town DIY place - you're right, and sometime later I did, but first I went to town, because I was going anyway, and "town" has Woolworths, and Robert Dyas and other useful stores, or so I thought. I should also point out that I had checked my favourite online auction site for these items, and because of the post and packing costs had thought they would be too expensive (!) Woolworths had neither, fair enough I thought, maybe not really that kind of shop (although I had expected to find the hooks). Dyas had both items. A single suction hook for £1.89, and two tap washers for £1.49. - The tap washers were in packets according to size and as I need one for sink taps and bath taps I would have needed two. OK it's not a lot of money, and I am being particularly pedantic. But the previously checked items on eBay had come out at £3.99 for 8 suction hooks (strong snap-suck type ones where you pivot the hook to activate the suction) , or similar price for 24 lick it and stick it types, and 8.99 for 140 washers (OK I would never never use 140, and the price was off-putting), but if someone can sell 24 suction hooks for 3.99 including p&p, then how can 1/2 of that cost for one hook be sensible? and how sensible is a single hook anyway?

Now again before you all jump up and down, I understand about rent and rates and wages (I've worked in business accounts for long enough to understand very well), and I would have no trouble with the extra cost for some personal service/help/advice/anything other than a look of total disdain when I enter a shop, and this is true of so many shops now, employees who really couldn't give a "castelmaine 4 x" about their job, no service, no help, nothing!! This is such a pet problem of mine, I don't want to be followed around a store by someone permanently asking if I need anything. But if I want help I do expect to be able to get it, not have to run around trying to catch someone's eye as they're talking to their mates about who got off with who last night in the pub.

For the record I did go to the huge B&Q at the other end of my road. Tap washer bought for 98p - the last packet in the place!! and no suction hooks there or in homebase. Thank God for the internet!!

New Month - New Blog Site

Well those of you that have been following my recent exploits are now welcome to my new blog home. And any newcomers are welcome too!! My reasons for "blogging" are simple. I am really bad at keeping up with friends, and family *hides face in embarassment*. This is a way of keeping you all in touch with my day to day (ish) life, and letting you know what I get up to. The onus is now on you to check it out, rather than me to email - and I like that !!!!

I can't import my old blog entries so if you want to know what I was up to in March, then you need to look here old blog.

I chose "blogspot" as my new home because it seems to be where everyone else is!!!! There is a good knitting community which I will gradually get myself into, and the other blogs I have visited here just seem to look more "grown up". That may be because their owners are far better at artistic impression than I am.......I can but do my best! You may have to bear with me for a while as I get used to the new site, and make it more comfy and homely!

So pull up a chair, make yourself at home, and welcome to my humble abode. Feel free to leave me comments - can't promise I'll reply, but I do promise that they'll all be read.