Birthday Girl

Yup, today was the day, 29 years old. Ack. That means next year.... well, I don't even want to think about it lol.

So, birthdays. Well, birthdays mean presents, and birthdays for knitterly types mean knitterly type presents. So this post will be pic heavy. You have been warned!

So the main present from Stu and the boys. You have seen him before in his box, he's been here a week and I haven't been allowed to open him, until today *grin*

Meet Arthur....

Now Arthur is an obvious choice for a name, given that the wheel is a Hitchhiker... Fellow geeks will understand. I love him. He's neat and compact which is essential. I think he needs decorating, but theres no hurry for that. I shall be trying him out imminently.

Other knitty presents included..

Charmed Knits from my inlaws, and Fun and Funky Knitting from my SIL and family.

Vogue Knitting Stitchionaries from my in laws.

A pile of Noro Kureyon for Lizard Ridge Squares from my boys.

Knitting Lingerie Style (I heart this book with every fibre of my being) from my lovely friend Andrea, and One Skein from my in laws again.

Spin to Knit from my in laws (I know, again lol) and Knitting Lace Triangles from the boys.

Very lovely Namaste messenger bag, blue cord with funky lining. I love. In laws again. I love them you know? They also bought me the very lovely shoes (mentioned in a previous blog) and this little beauty that is going to keep the girls and I entertained for many a knitty afternoon through the winter...

Every. Single. Episode. Of Dawsons Creek. Ever. *all bow down in wonderment*

Lovely Nic made me a needle roll to match my sock bag...

In other news this week, I recieved a lovely parcel in the Angel Yarns Forums bag swap...

And my baby started school *sob*

I have been mostly knitting the shoes to go with the sheep dress, and these addictive little squares that will eventually be the very beautiful Lizard Ridge blanket from Knitty.

That is all, peace out!!!

Well what do you know, an FO!!

I know, I know, I can hardly believe it! I actually finished something!!! The Debbie Bliss Sheep Dress, she be done!!

From this...

To this......

To this......

To this....

So thats good then isn't it!!! I really hope Cleiber likes it. It's knitted in Baby Cashmerino, and it's surprisingly heavy, but it's 6-9 months so should be perfect for winter with some nice woolly tights. I finished the white edging off tonight at stitch n bitch and i'm feeling very accomplished because it really is beautiful. It's not the neatest intarsia in the world, and my sewing up always leaves something to be desired, but I love it nonetheless.

Yesterday I got a lovely parcel in the post from my SP11 pal. She is a very lovely pal and we converse a lot via email which is great, also we both go on Angel Yarn forums apparently, cool!

I was so excited to get it and open it (I needed cheering up, my children are trying to end me) I forgot to take piccies of it all wrapped up. But here's whats inside....

1. - Best of Knitters magazine, Shawls and Scarves. I love this book, i've been eyeing it up for a while. I took it to stitch n bitch tonight and we all oooooohed and ahhhhhhed over the patterns. 2. - Very funky cat tin, for storing bits and pieces or for hiding naughty skeins of yarn that jump into baskets. 3. - Handmade card which is lovely

But that's not all..... Inside the funky tin....

1. - The most beautiful fantastical magical puddy tat stitch markers in all the world. I heart them so much I want to cry. 2. - Sheepy magnet, I love him, he looks shocked (probably at the amount of yarn in my house) and he now lives on my fridge. 3 - Opal sock yarn in a delicious teal green shade that I really love right now.

Thankyou sooooo much secret pal, you are a starlett!

Progress has been made on Moira, but I don't have a pic and i'm too sleepy to hunt out the camera.

I've had a few enquiries about when my next shop update will be. I'm feeling quite bad about how hit and miss it is, but I have a 4 year old due to start school imminently, and an 18 month old who is so headstrong and fearless its unbelievable. At the moment it's all I can do to keep them entertained of a day, come the evening i'm ready to collapse. Be assured that school is happening next week and I will be getting my shit together imminently. Thankyou for being patient!

The KraftyKoala LOLcat

Heh heh

Less chat, more knit!

The cynical amongst you will think that actually this is because I don't have anything to say but don't want to fail in my blogaday challenge. Of course I couldn't possibly comment, but i'm nearly done with the sheep dress and I want it finished tonight, so i'm not stopping!

Hope you all had lovely weekends xxx

Another borrowed quiz type thing...

Gemma McCafferty -- [noun]: A human transformer (Robot in disguise) 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

It's all in the detail

You'll have to forgive the pictures, I should have taken them in daylight.

I've been plodding on with the sheep dress for my baby niece, i'm onto the smocking at the top of the front and now i'm nearly 2 repeats in it's really appealing to me. I don't know what it is about a really neat pattern that's so satisfying, but i'm loving how it's knitting.

I like how the little intarsia sheep are looking too....

Not the best pictures in the world, but you get the idea. When i've finished this blog I shall be cracking on with it. I want to finish it so I can start this....

It's Moira, from the new RYC Tweed book.

There are some very lovely patterns in it, but I like Moira the best.


I went to the Rowan coffee morning at John Lewis this morning, it was a bit of a disaster because the computer wouldn't read the cd rom so we didn't actually get a presentation of the new books and yarn, but they did have them on display and some of the garments, including Moira, knitted up. Now the pattern calls for the new Cashmere Tweed yarn, but at £9.95 for a 25g ball, and around 13 balls needed, well you do the math! Not a cat's chance in hell. So I got some Debbie Bliss Rialto aran which knits to pretty much the same tension, and a fraction of the price whilst still being gorgeous yarn (and machine washable too!).

So, to finish the sheep dress I go!

Birthday Lists

Did you ever have to write a birthday list? I never did before I met my husband, but now it's an annual event, as is the christmas list. It's good I suppose, you get what you want, but it does sort of spoil the element of surprise somewhat....

I've been writing mine today, and it felt like a chore, that can't be right surely! There should be hundreds of things I want, so why did I have such a hard time finding them! I refused to ask for yarn which can only be a good thing, I have no idea where i'd put it. What I should be asking for is fibre for my new wheel, so where can I buy to-die-for fibre fellow spinners? Answers on a postcard (or in the comments if you must ;))

There are a couple of things on the list I really, really, really want above all others..

These shoes...

And this bag...

If you are viewing family, these are the forerunners!!!! I love them both!

I took the boys to stitch n bitch last night, can't say I got an awful lot of stitching done, neither did anyone else (sorry about that), but I neeeeeeded socialness, adult socialness! This week has been a killer one way and another.

Oooh i've been doing secret pal 11 too, my spoiler is lovely, (hello!) she emails me a lot and it's appreciated. I'm having trouble getting my spoilee to interact but I shall persevere! I have some lovely things to send to her, and i'm even going to get a bit crafty and make something for her.... oooooooooh!

Finally - Hah Nic!!! Here's todays post! *sticks out tongue and runs away*

Anticipation

After paying the (much smaller than I thought it would be) custom charge, my box was delivered this morning....

I'm not supposed to open it for another fortnight, but I couldn't resist a peek....

Isn't she beautiful, and a totally blank canvas too, i've got 2 weeks until my birthday to decide how to decorate her.

Any ideas?

Oooh look, I managed to blog 2 days on the trot, outstanding!

Universally Challenged...

I do not blog enough, I am slipping down the rankings lol. Therefore, I am going to pledge to blog every day for at least the next week. Obviously I can't promise I am going to have anything very interesting to say for the majority of this time, but I shall try!

So what have I been up to? Well, I went down south to see the parents, the weather was gorgeous, I got burned. Back here in Preston, it's raining. Story of my life. I really don't know what happened to summer!

Biggest little man starts school on the 17th. How very scary! His teacher has been round to see him, she's lovely. And she was very enthused about the spinning wheel, how can you fail to warm to someone like that!

Speaking of wheels, the lovely old wheel is heading on to pastures new at some point in the not too distant future, to someone who can offer it a safer environment. It's in real danger here of falling prey to the monsters (or children if you prefer) who seem fascinated with it and unable to leave it along. There is a hitchiker in a USPS van headed my way to replace it, it's smaller so I can have it upstairs put away and just carry it down when I use it. And if they covet that one, well, they might find themselves on Ebay. Do they let you sell children on there yet?

Also wheel related is my joining of The Yarn Yard fibre club, the first installment of which arrived while I was away...

Finished objects since I last blogged include : MS3!! Hoorah! Lot's of people don't like it, I love it. Voila.

And I won 3rd prize in the local village fete (beaten by some dubious competition but ho hum)

I also finished a booga bag in Noro Kureyon shade 154. I heart it muchly.

At the weekend, Julie and I went shopping at the Trafford Centre, we squeezed wool in John Lewis, then we had noodly foodly at the food court, then we went to the cinema and watched Knocked Up, which was very funny. Julie is displaying good signs of being knitting addicted as she was knitting gloves in the queue, and then while we were sat waiting for the film to start. She even got me to hold my phone up to light her work so she could finish the row when they turned the lights off.

I'm going to update the shop before the end of the week, I have some new aran to go on like this....

And these very exciting and lovely new little sock bags in Cath Kidson fabric made for KraftyKoala by the very talented Nic....