Memoirs of a stash junkie

Wooooooosh

2008-08-07T10:08:00.000Z

And we've moved here......

http://www.kraftykoala.co.uk/blog

Rockstar

2008-02-17T00:17:00.002Z

I cannot get enough of this song at the moment, I am making it my mission to learn all the words but it's not going all that well. I blame my rapidly dissolving braincells.

I challenge you not to dance around like a loon whilst listening to this, or at the very least rock your head about rythmically.

Bag Fetish

2008-02-15T23:42:00.003Z

I've always been adament I don't get the whole handbag thing, and I suppose I don't in the traditional designer handbag sense, but I do really love funky totes and bags. I am especially partial to Paperchase ones, namely this one at the moment....

I want it I want it I want it. It would be perfect for my knitting, and there's even a little pencil case in the same design that would be great for tape measure, needles etc. It's so bright and cheery, I need it in my life! I've added it to my amazon wish list in the hope someone who loves me will spot it, well, blind optimism is something I need to practice anyway ;).

Confidence is a preference

2008-02-14T21:29:00.002Z

But is it though? I would love to be more confident, it would make getting through the day that little bit easier. I really think when you've had people telling you you can't do something for long enough, you start to believe you can't do anything. Even if I know I can do something deep down, I tell myself I can't do it and that it's all a huge waste of time.

I would love to be the sort of person that can do anything they put their hand to, and have the confidence to believe so completely in themselves. But i'm not. And as such I take every little setback as evidence that I should just climb back into my hole and let everyone else do the stuff that i'd like to do but don't have the self belief to do.

Just got this horrible feeling that i'm going to completely fall on my arse and not be able to get back up again.

Fibre

2008-02-13T13:25:00.006Z

We all need it in our diet, at least that's what i'm telling my husband when another package of it arrives on the doorstep. I love it love it love it. I love how it feels, how it dyes, how pretty it looks when it's braided and coiled up. I think I may be becoming obsessed....

You'll have to forgive me, I just got some I dyed yesterday off the line and it looks soooo lovely now i've braided it. Have a look....

I want to spin it now now now!!!! Unfotunately I only have 4 bobbins and 2 are being used on some other fibre thats calling to me from over the room. I should finish it off..... so why am I thinking 'buy more bobbins'???

In other news, I sold the 2 skeins of handspun to a nice lady in Texas so it's now swimming it's way across the atlantic.

I got murdered in Hat Attack yesterday, but not before I got my own weapon of hat destruction in the mail. Death came to Manchester in the form of this little beauty....

I left the head in the window after I took the picture and frightened myself to death by catching glimpse of it out the corner of my eye at least half a dozen times before I had the sense to move it!

Off to the cinema with Suzi tonight to see Juno, really looking forward to it. Then i'm going to finish up sewing up the baby bootees, make a start on the hat and hopefully have the whole ensemble finished by the weekend (she said hopefully), then it's back to some WIP's I think. Haha, as if!!!

To blog or not to blog...

2008-02-10T22:01:00.000Z

That is indeed the question.

You've probably noticed that as of late i've been veering more towards the not... well, I won't bore you with all the minute details as to why, suffice to say i've been dwelling in a bit of a hole and I need to emerge from it, so now seems as good a time as any. Especially since I just recieved some quite exciting news.... i'll tell you more when i've got firm confirmation in my hand, but hopefully KraftyKoala will become a bit more visable in a few months from now ;)

So, what have I been up to? Well, the shop has taken a bit of a back seat really, i've done quite a bit of custom stuff, and last week I dyed 2 kilos of wool which are waiting to be reskeined and photographed. Since the weather is going to be nice i'll do some more tomorrow too.

I've been spinning a lot, and i'm really starting to enjoy it. There are a couple of skeins in my sale / trade page on Ravelry. I was loath to put them in there because I love them, but in all seriousness, what am I going to do with all this spun yarn??? For me the pleasure is in the actual dyeing the fibre and then seeing how it spins up. Oh ok, and stroking it a lot afterwards too.

Fibre has been my one big weakness this year, i've bought loads of the stuff. But it's soooooo soft and lovely! And my wheel makes such a lovely sound as it's spinning away.

That's been my main problem this year really, splitting my time effectively. I want to spin, knit, dye, read, game, chat, blog and there just isn't enough time in the days. Now factor in all the stuff I don't want to do, namely anything housework related, and you'll see my dilemma. I really need to get more organised!

Anyway, I have a hat of doom to finish, so i'm going to make this brief. I will leave you with some pictures of stuff, finished objects, school projects, glorius handspun and gratuitous children shots.
Have a good week everyone!

UK Swap Questionnaire

2008-01-27T21:33:00.000Z

Part One: Crafting

Do you knit, crochet, or both? - Knit mainly, crochet on occasion

What do you like to make? - Hats, socks, lace, allsorts!

Do you have a favourite project? - Hmmm, i'm enjoying knitting my afghan

Do you have a favourite type of fiber or brand of yarn? - I like soft, natural fibres over manmade, no particular favourites

Do you have a least favourite type of yarn? Any kind of squeaky acryllic!

Do you do any other crafts? - I spin, still quite new to it but I can hold my own ;)

What knitting do you bring ‘on the go’? - If i'm travelling i'll generally take a sock or a hat

What do you carry your ‘on the go’ knitting in? - My little NicsKnots project bag

Do you want something new? - I'm a bag slut, I love new project bags

Are there any knitting gifts (book, toy, yarn, item, tool) that you have been lusting over? - There are a few books on my wish list i've been lusting after

Part Two: Your Favourites

What is your favourite colour? - Bluey greeny purply lol

What is your least favourite colour? - Orange

What scents/smells do you like? - Vanilla, coconut, fruity scents, also love Lush Karma

What don’t you like? - Overpowering scents

How do you like to pamper yourself? (bubble bath, hand creams, massage, manicure) - A Lush Bubble Bar in the bath then a long soak with a good book

What goodies to you like to treat your tummy with? (chocolate, biscuits, truffles, etc.) - Lindt Lindor, mmmmmm.

Do you prefer tea or coffee while you knit? Tea, love tea.

Any particular kind? - Boring bog standard builders tea, or sometimes fruit infusions

Favourite mug/cup? - A large china mug with cats on

Do you listen to/watch anything while you knit? (TVshow-Along, movies, music, podcasts) - Period dramas, crime drama, Dr Who / Torchwood etc. Indie music

Part Three: Living & Past-times

Where do you live in the UK? (General idea not address) - Preston, Lancs

Have you always lived here, or did you grow up somewhere else? - Grew up in Hampshire

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? - New Zealand

If you couldn’t go to a knitting group, what other kind of gathering would you go to? (book club, tea party, yoga class, jewelery class, etc.) - Book club, mums and tods etc

What’s your style? (elegant, traditional, glamourous, girly, natural, sporty, outgoing, etc.) - Natural, laid back, scruffy lol

Final Part:

Any allergies/preferences (fiber-wise or treat-wise)? - Nope, i'm easy

Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know? - I'm a big cat person ;)

Roll on 2008

2007-12-09T22:58:00.000Z

Because really, it has to be better than 2007 was doesn't it! I certainly won't be doing one of those 'let's look back over the year' type posts before the end of the month, i'd want to go and throw myself under a bus!

Just to completely go against the theme of the last few posts, i'm going to include some knitting content in the blog, and even *gasp* some spinning content too!

Sooooooo, knitting. Well, during my more well feeling spells, hospital is quite a good place to get knitting done. I managed 4 squares for my Lizard Ridge blanket, and one sock for Sock Wars.

See, it's quite a nice sock. I'd have dearly loved to finish it's partner but the timing was lousy, it was right at the beginning of the illness when I was in lots of pain and not many drugs so I was knocked out quite quickly. I'd love to know where it is now actually, my 'victim' lives in the same county as me so really if i'd been well i'd have finished the second and hand delivered them. As it is, I posted them on to the person who killed the person who killed the person who killed me and who knows where they went after that because my 'victim' came second in the entire contest so she hasn't had them!

I also knitted this rather lovely scarf....

It's 'My So Called Scarf' (I know you're all on Ravelry now, you don't need me to be giving you links these days lol) and it's knitted in some very lovely Manos Del Uruguay I got in a swap. It's very snuggly, and very useful at the moment as i'm full of cold.

I also got this lovely thing before I went in to hospital...

Arthur is out of action at the minute so Joy has come to stay. We didn't get on to begin with, but after a bit of tweaking we have come to an understanding and we managed to make this last night.....

Buoyed on by our success we decided to go the whole hog today and made this...

It's actually a sort of deep purple roving of some description spun and then plied with some beautiful natural corriedale .

I predrafted the purple but it was breaking quite a lot, so I had a go at just drafting as I went and actually the corriedale lends itself quite well to learning to do that as the staple is quite long (ignore me if i'm talking crap, i'm new to all this, I think i've got it right!). Anyway, it was going ok! I plied it straight from the on board lazy kate and i'm really pleased with it! It's uneven and overspun in some places, underspun in others, but for a first attempt, well, it could have been worse!

In other news, the shop has been updated, I put some custom slots on to guage the response and it's been good, i'll have fun dyeing those up tomorrow!

Secret Pal also came to an end a week or so back. I have been blessed with very patient pals, Mazzam who spoiled me with 3 beautiful and very thoughtful parcels, sent a card to me while I was ill in hospital and sent lots of lovely emails was the best upstream pal ever. This was her last parcel to me....

Look at all the goodies! She handmade a card, handmade super snuggly mitts because I missed out on the Angel Yarns mitt swap, and a lovely needle felted pot, she sent beautiful yarn including some merino angora Sublime and some Sheep Shop aran longwool from Harrogate because I missed out on going, and some lush Kauni EQ (rainbow) yarn which I have been after for ages, some regia sock stoppers and the most exquisite ladybird row counter bracelet, we all admired it at stitch n bitch on thursday. Thankyou for being a wonderful pal Mazzam.

I spoiled Mandy and I had the best time doing it!! I hope she liked all her parcels, and I want to thank her for being very patient with me and my disappearing act for the last month or so of it.

So, that's us back up to speed! I'm looking forward to next year being full of knitting, spinning, dyeing, eating (without pain!) and general good stuff. Who's with me!!!

I shall leave you with a picture of Leo enjoying himself at the 3rd Annual KraftyKoala Christmas Extravaganza!

Sleep Tight Dante McCafferty

2007-11-27T03:12:00.000Z

November has been the worst month ever.

Tonight we got the knock on the door we've dreaded since we got our beloved tabby cat Dante 18 months ago. Someone had found him in the road, he'd been hit by a car and killed.

To say we're devastated doesn't come close, I can't believe how much you can love something so small. This is why I can't sleep and i'm blogging (and knitting) at 3am. I want to turn the clock back because I want my cat back, the Dante shaped hole is too big and I can't not think about it.

All I can be is grateful we got to have him for 18 fantastic months, despite how much this hurts I wouldn't have been without him. It's going to be hard telling the boys, Leo won't understand but I know he'll miss him, he's always stroking him and looking for him. Hard to guage Thomas, he's not been overtly Dante orientated, but I think he'll miss him too.

Night night dear Dante, enjoy your eternity tormenting mice and birds and sleeping in the sun. Your humans will miss you so so much.

Lets play catchup

2007-11-21T20:26:00.000Z

Wow, look, its been well over a month. And what a month!!!

So, i've been in and out of hospital with the dreaded gallbladder, the longest stint being 2 weeks with obstructive jaundice when one of the blinkin stones got stuck in the bile duct and turned me a rather fetching shade of yellow and made me incredibly itchy. It also led to one of the most painful attacks to date as I passed the stone. Ugh. I never want to feel pain like that again! Two weeks in RPH and all that happened was a scan to say yes theres a stone there, a camera down throat thing to find the stone the day after the attack so it wasn't there anymore, then another scan to confirm it had gone. Anyway, after all that trauma I finally got a cancellation to have the blasted gallbladder removed so yesterday in I went for keyhole surgery and now it's gone. I'm home again after one night in (funny how you can have surgery and they keep you in a night, but they spend two weeks faffing around after a stone!) and i'm a tad sore and full of a horrid cold which isn't helping me feel good, but on the whole i'm ok. My mummy is coming on saturday to look after me and the boys for a week as DH has zero holiday left!

I spent monday dyeing wool for custom orders, so if i owe you wool, it's done and just needs posting! I'm a bit miffed really as I wanted to keep on top of the shop and this last month has really taken it out of me. Hopefully now it's gone I can get back to normal again.

I did manage to do some knitting while I was in, I did 4 more Lizard Ridge squares during my 2 week RPH stint, I also started a sock and 'My So Called Scarf' with some gorgeous Manos Del Uraguay wool I got in a swap (thankyou swappee, I will get round to posting on AY asap).

Anyway, i'm absolutely shattered, so i'm going to finish watching this disgrace of a football match and then roll into bed!

Gemma x

Ouchies

2007-10-18T21:04:00.000Z

I have gallstones, it hurts. Therefore I don't have much to say other than moaning and groaning when i'm not taking the codine, and floaty spacey crap when I am!

Still, one can always find time to steal cool little fillers from other peoples blogs.

I shall be back when i'm not so incredible wiped out (which 48 hours without decent sleep will do to a person)

Reskein Queen

2007-10-07T18:23:00.000Z

It's good for the muscles you know! Reskeining 40 odd skeins of yarn is knackering, but makes them look so pretty!

The shop was updated today, as usual the aran has flown, but theres still some lovely colours there. I'm really, really chuffed with the sock yarn too, you know you've got it right when you are seriously tempted to hide it all in your stash and sell none of it *grin*

So yes, go along and have a squizz! Nic's bags are on too, or rather one is, the other sold very rapidly. She's going to make some more though, so panic not!

Other than that, i've not been up to much. I'm making a hemlock ring blanket and it's just a great knit, nice and easy and it's going to be very snuggly and lovely. And the Cascade Ecological wool is just lush to knit with. Yum. It's grown a lot since this picture, but it resembles a bit brown blob at the moment so this is the best piccy of it.

In other knitting news, Julie and I are booked to go to the Stitch n Bitch day on the 10th november. We're going to make a weekend of it and stay in a youth hostel. One has to make oneself feel like a youth wherever possible!!!

Today I am mostly in this sort of mood....

2007-10-01T12:32:00.000Z

Back later with knitty type stuff

Birthday Girl

2007-09-19T18:56:00.000Z

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!!

2007-09-13T22:23:00.000Z

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....

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

2007-09-10T14:38:00.000Z

Heh heh

Less chat, more knit!

2007-09-09T21:51:00.001Z

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...

2007-09-09T00:45:00.000Z

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

2007-09-08T19:33:00.000Z

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

2007-09-07T20:16:00.000Z

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

2007-09-06T09:23:00.000Z

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...

2007-09-05T09:15:00.000Z

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....

Unraveled

2007-08-15T13:17:00.000Z

Hello! I bet there are a thousand blog posts with that title at the moment, thousands of people with a new addiction. Yes, Ravelry has landed in the McCafferty household and things may never be the same again! It was a little scary to discover I had 111 (that I included) kinds of yarn in my stash, it's even more scary that i'm adding more and more potential projects to my already bursting queue. But it's fun!! Find me, my username is kraftykoala (what else!)

And speaking of fun, stitch n bitch is fun! Look what we did the other week in the name of charity! Innocent smoothie hat knitting in Starbucks.

My best hat...

A multitude of hats!

One of the ladies from Starbucks learning to knit a hat!

Liz and Julie sewing up their hats.

I also took some pictures of our thursday night knitting group.

From left to right :- Joelle, Julie, Vikki and blogless Liz..

And Andrea, blogless Penguin Julie, and me!!

Doesn't it look fun, you should come and join us!

I need to get better at blogging, i've joined Secret Pal 11 and i'm sure it will be helpful to my pal if I blog a bit more often. I just want this course out the way so I can get my life (and my knitting / dyeing) time back!

I've been doing quite a lot of swaps, i've done a couple of dishcloth swaps on Angel Yarn Forums, and also a nappy/wrap swap on MumsOnline. Stand by for gratuitous bibble shot!

Thats all for now!

Secret Pal 11 Questionnaire

2007-08-13T20:20:00.000Z

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I like anything with a good wool content, I love alpaca and silk (who doesn't!), i'm liking the new bamboo yarns too. Mostly I like yarn to be soft and squishy. I'm not keen on fancy acrylic eyelash type yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I've got them in a big tubular case at the moment all jumbled together. I should get more organised really.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I learned to knit at primary school and knitted on a handful of occasions afterwards. It was only about a year ago I got into it seriously. Saying that, i'm by no means a beginner, I like to fling myself into all manner of projects, especially lace ones, so i'd consider myself towards the top end of intermediate

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I have an Amazon wishlist here, and an Angel Yarns wish list here

5. What's your favorite scent?

I love fresh scents, citrus types, fruity ones, coconut, vanilla etc.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

I do i'm afraid, hence need for radical dieting! Love peanut butter and other nutty types of candy.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I'm just learning to spin, i've aquired a second hand wheel i'm attempting to create masterpieces on. I also like cross stitch, and I keep meaning to have a go at felting.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like alsorts of music, a real eclectic mix from Greenday to Sarah Mclachlan, from The Beatles to My Chemical Romance. I have a soft spot for 60's music and modern punk/rock. My computer can play MP3's and I have a personal MP3 player.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

My favourite colours are blues, greens and purples. I'm not overly keen on orange.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I'm married with 2 young children. We also have a very lovely cat.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I live in the north of England, Scarves, hats & mittens are essential items of clothing! Not a big poncho wearer though.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I love to knit lace and socks.

13. What are you knitting right now?

On my needles right now are 2 mystery shawl / stole knitalongs, a Debbie Bliss sheep dress and numerous pairs of socks.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Always, it's lovely to recieve something someone has put lots of thought and effort into!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Aluminium circulars all the way, although socks have to be done on metal DPNs. I've gone off bamboo lately because they seem to drag.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Both, couldn't be without them these days!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

That would probably be the pair of Jaywalkers i've been knitting for about 9 months.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Relaxing holiday in the sun with a nice beach, pool and free bar.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Cats. I love funky cat ornaments, figures.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Hmmmmm, i'm having trouble finding a copy of 'The Opinionated Knitter', seems to cost a bomb over here! I have subs to Yarn Forward, Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting. Knitpicks yarns and other yarns we don't get over here i'm always lusting after.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I'd like to learn how to do colourwork, i've been hankering after doing some Endpaper Mitts but the colourwork scares me!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I am an avid sock knitter, I suffer from a big case of second sock syndrome though lol. My feet are a UK size 7.

23. When is your birthday?

19th September.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

I just got on, i'm already hooked! My username is kraftykoala.

Phew! So now you know!

Waiting in line....

2007-08-11T10:05:00.000Z

You are #8529 on the list.
79 people are ahead of you in line.
15896 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

I don't think I need to say anymore!

It's a mystery....

2007-07-30T12:37:00.000Z

Yes, yet another mystery knitalong! A circular shawl this time, apparently using the 'rays method' but I have no idea what that is! I'm liking it so far!

Needles are 4mm Knitpicks Options, yarn is Cherry Tree Hill merino laceweight in Blueberry Hill. Pretty!

It's all about the socks

2007-07-28T19:58:00.000Z

Pic heavy post - you've been warned!

Sock yarn, that's where it's at. You've seen my own private stash, well this week i've hit upon a brilliant plan to squeeze and love lots of yummy sock yarn without getting told off by the hubby - i'm making luffly sock yarn for the shop! Obviously if anyone buys any i'm going to have some serious separation issues since i'm in love with all of it.....

I've been knitting as well, still enjoying the mystery stole 3, i'm about a third of the way through clue 4, and i'm going to get further behind because i've got double essays due this week. Ugh. Excuse the carpet in the picture, 2 children + beige carpet = grim mess, and I don't have PSP on this laptop to crop it out lol.

Some of the girls from Stitch n Bitch came over last weekend to do some dyeing, they all dyed 200g of aran in some pretty pretty colours, some people (penguin julie!) were a lot more particular about it that others....

Julie 1 rinsing out her lovely variagated pink yarn

Joelle doing some cleaning up...

Penguin Julie (I call her that because there are 2 julies at s&b, and being a bear of very little brain I need to distinguish between the 2 on my phone, so she's penguin julie on my phone because when she first came to s&b she was knitting a jumper for a penguin) demonstrating how to make a yarn look as much like Noro without actually being Noro as possible.

Julie 1 modeling her fabulous apron..

Penguin Julie and Joelle doing a spot of stash worship...

After dyeing we all went to Pizza Hut with green hands, which was quite a feat considering it was only actually penguin Julie that used any green dye.

I'm also cracking on with the spinning, here's my first effort, slubby, uneven and hideous, but I did it!! Have convinced the husband he wants to get me a smaller wheel for my birthday, i've been eyeing up a Hitchhiker....

And finally, most random happening of the week goes to the email I recieved on tuesday evening, entitled 'Are you Gemma the knitter from Preston?'. I knew I was being spied on for the government! Well ok, it was actually from a lady who works in Starbucks in town who wanted me to help her out by gathering a few knitters to go in on friday morning and knit little hats for the Innocent smoothie fundraising thing. Ever keen to spread the good word of knitting, the Preston Stitch n Bitchers will be in attendance. The promise of a free drink and smuggled cake helped ;) If you live in or around Preston / Lancs and fancy joining us, we'll be in Starbucks on Fishergate from 9.30am onwards, come and say hello!

And that is all!

Got Stash?

2007-07-20T21:06:00.000Z

And you thought I was bad....

Worlds Biggest Stash?

Let no one berate me again!

Faith

2007-07-18T19:58:00.000Z

Non - knitting post alert, step away from the computer if easily offended by yarn-free ramblings.

So, faith. By this i'm refering to the faith in a higher power so to speak, God if you will. We could spend forever defining what faith means to different people, what you believe in, what you don't etc, and even defining what my faith means to me is no mean feat.

Since having the boys i've becoming increasingly interested in exploring my faith a bit more, when we moved we started attending a wonderful church, really family orientated, young congregation, exactly the sort of community of faith i'd like the boys to grow up in if you see what I mean. We attended a few churches before settling, that sounds like we were shopping for a house doesn't it, but honestly, feeling like you've come home is really important to me, and at least one of the churches we attended didn't feel like that. This particular one sticks in my mind because it was openly homophobic in it's service. Now i'm not niaive, I know the churches stance on certain things, but i'd like to think that they are becoming more tolerant and not preaching hate in sermons. Tolerance is the key, so many people think religion is the cause of all evil in the world which isn't strictly true, people are the cause of evil, that they choose to do their evil in the name of organised religion is, well crap really. It's important to me that the boys growing up being tolerant of others, be that other faiths, sexualities, life choices, whatever.

For me, faith and religion isn't about knowing your scriptures inside and out, it's about being a good person and knowing that ultimately you have nothing to fear. I know you could do all that without being religious, but I think i'm just someone that likes the idea that there's a point to all this, that God is watching out for us, it's comforting i suppose.

I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it, maybe faith is a hard thing to explain. It's something i've been thinking about a lot lately, most of you will know at least one of the reasons why that is. Another reason is that a friend from a parenting forum I go on very recently lost her baby son. She posted a beautiful poem on the forum yesterday, it's a lot to ask that she found some comfort from it, how do you gain any comfort following such a loss, but I hope she did.

God’s Lent Boy

I’ll lend you for a little while a child of mine, God said,
For you to love the while he lives, and mourn for when he’s dead.
It may be six or seven years, or forty two or three,
But will you, ‘til I call him back, take care of him for me?
He’ll bring his charms to gladden you. And should his stay be brief,
You’ll always have your memories as solace in your grief.
I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return,
But there are lessons taught below I want this child to learn.

I’ve looked this whole world over in my search for teachers true,
And from the folk that crowd life’s lane, I have chosen you.
Now will you give him all your love and not think the labour vain,
Nor hate me when I come to take this lent child back again.
I fancy that I heard them say, ‘Dear God Thy will be done’,
For all the joys this child will bring, the risk of grief we’ll run.
We will shelter him with tenderness, we’ll love him while we may,
And for all the happiness we’ve ever known, we’ll ever grateful stay.
But should the angels call him much sooner than we’d planned,
We will brace the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.

At the moment it's faith that's helping me stay positive that the other thing will turn out ok, it's going to be a long slog.

I vow to thee my Blogger

2007-07-14T19:42:00.000Z

That I will try and be a bit less sporadic with my blogs. Nearly a month again, that's not good now is it!

There's a lot going on at the moment, family stuff that isn't great but hopefully will be ok, OU stuff that i'm not enjoying. I think i'm going to have a year away from the OU after this course, i'll only have one left for the degree, but there are other things i'd like to concentrate my time on so i'm going to give those a whirl.

One of those things is of course KraftyKoala. The shop is another thing that's sporadic, I did an update this week of aran and a lot of that has gone, i'd like to ge getting at least an update a week but it's finding the time. I'm not good at time management. I'm doing a fair bit of custom dyeing as well and that eats into shop time. Anyway, i've taken delivery of 2 kilos of aran and 4 kilos of sock wool this week, i'm also going to be getting some double knit and some laceweight in the near future so watch this space. Plans are afoot!

What else have I been doing..... Hmmmmm, welll we went on holiday to Devon, where contrary to popular belief, it didn't rain all week.

Although it did rain a fair bit, which allowed me to crack on with MS3, or Mystery Stole 3 for those not in the know ;). I haven't done this weeks clue yet, but here are weeks 1 &2 progress.

I also made the worlds funkiest dishcloth, or at least I think it is, for a swap...

And I made the huge mistake of getting out and sorting my sock and lace yarn... here's the sock.....

And here's the lace.....

It#s not good is it, and that's not including all the cotton and acrylic and other lovely aran and dk yarn. Or the yarn that's attached to the multitude of WIP's! It's really not good! I can't wait to get on Ravelry and catalogue it all heh heh.

And it's only going to get worse, look what I was given today...

She's a Haldane, and she's old and well loved, and I adore her! Thankyou Andrea, i'll take good care of her! I'm practicing my treadling as I type heh heh.

I think that's everything, i'm also knitting a debbie bless sheep dress in lilac baby cashmerino for my new niece but i've lost the cable for my phone where the pics are so you'll just have to use your imagination.

I have orange hands....

2007-06-19T16:10:00.000Z

It's shop update week, enough said!!!

Amongst the chaos....

2007-06-03T20:49:00.001Z

There's always time for sock knitting.

Hello Blogland!

2007-05-29T20:25:00.000Z

I've been on holiday, hoorah! Only to my mums for a week, but still a nice break with the boys. And tomorrow, the man is coming to do the patio and make my garden lovely! Yay!
On the way home today we took a little detour to Bristol to what will now be my Mecca, the Get Knitted retail shop *cue Waynes World-esque we're not worthy type noises*. Needless to say my yarn diet went right out the window! Wanna see pics? Of course you do ;)

The complete haul, which consists of....

Colinette Jitterbug in Kingfisher

Two skeins of Fleece Artist Merino in Cosmic Dawn and Jester

Two odd skeins of Lornas Laces for the ankle socks in this months Knit Today, in Forest and Tahoe, and a ball of SWTC Tofutsies in who knows what colour, it doesnt say!

And a skein of Schaefer Anne sock yarn in Lazy Days as recommended by Nic (so her fault entirely)

I also grabbed 2 of the new Addi Lace needles to have a try. Lots of haul, I could have spent all day in there, it's heaven. As you can see, it's all sock related! I'm on a right sock kick at the moment. At mums I got my Monkey socks finished, good in that it was major progress and no sign of second sock syndrome, bad in that my mum liked them and promptly stole them! Here they are in all their glory!

And modelled by my mummy!

2 x 50g balls of Jojoland Quartette on 2.5mm Addi turbo 80cm circ, took about a week on and off, the second one took me two days I was so into it!

My shop is nearly out of aran yarn so this week is dedicated to the art of dyeing hoorah! Speaking of which, here's some custom laceweight I did for a friend, I think I love it...

And to finish here's some pictures from the week...

Thomas on a tractor at Finkley Farm on a glorious sunny day!

And Gruffalo hunting in Grandmas woods...

And resting with Daddy.

And Leo doing what Leo does best...

Back later in the week with the results of the dye fest!

1 Big Recap

2007-05-20T22:18:00.000Z

Well we went to Radio 1's Big Weekend today, and it was absolutely fantastic!!! We only live a 15 minute walk from Moor Park, and despite the fact it looked like it was going to hammer down all weekend if the weather forecast was to be believed, in actual fact the sun shone and it was glorious!

Behold the lovely weather!

And behold Stu feasting on some dubious festival food!

I stuck to a good old fashioned Cambridge bar! MMMMM (not!)

We managed to see most of the bands I wanted to, with a couple of exceptions, namely the Klaxons and Maximo Park, but never mind!

First up we went in the In New Music We Trust tent and saw The Enemy, who were totally fantastic, and i'll even forgive them for making me feel very old by looking so young!

Then we hung around to watch Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, who I have to say was my favourite of the day, awesome doesn't come close! And, possibly the coolest name for a band, ever!

We then nipped very sharpishly over to the main tent to see Mark Ronson, mainly because i've just bought the album and I was keen to see how it translated live. And again, it was awesome. Stu wasn't overly keen, but he reckons that's because he doesn't 'get it'. What's to get! Some very cool versions of songs I already love, like Radiohead's 'Just', and the Kaisers 'Oh My God'. Brilliant!

After that we had a bit of a bask in the sunshine whilst listening to Pete Tong and Vernon doing some head to head djing type shenanigans. That's something I don't get really, i'm not one for all that mixing, but it was good none the less.

After that we went and had a squizz at Mika who was a lot of fun and really does have a great voice. He danced about like a loon and had funky trousers on, cool! Oh and he sang a song about big girls and had a curvy girl in a corset dancing about. Heh.

Then it was The View who I was really looking forward to seeing, and they didn't disappoint. Again I felt quite old, they are all young lads, and I definately felt like a mum because I kept thinking about how one of them needed to brush his hair. Still, great music! And they seem to have a pretty hardcore fan following, we had two in front of us doing synchronised dances and everything!

After the view it was the Stereophonics who played a huge array of their hits as well as some new ones, really, really good. The main stage was heaving at this point and little me got quite squished!

We then nipped outside for a breather, which in hindsight was a mistake, before the final act of the day, the Kaiser Chiefs. Struggled to get back in the tent, it was rammed! And despite mr lead singer man being a tad on the arrogant side I feel, they were fantastic live, never seen them live before and it was ace. I now have no voice from singing so loudly, and I bounced about, and generally had a fantastic time!

General ponderings and things that made me smile on the day go as follows....

1. There were a huge amount of inflated condoms bouncing about, I predict a baby boom amoungst the student population of Preston in the not too distant future...

2. There is a huge array of fast food available at festivals these days, you could have noodles, curry, burgers, mexican, carvery, veggie, pizza, fish and chips, you name it, they had it! I'm hungry now.

3. They had this thing running whereby if you took your paper beer cups back to a special recycling tent you got 10p back. Cue lots, and lots, and lots of student types collecting the cups from people and from bins. Nice. Even saw a respectable middle aged dad type on his hands and knees routing through a bin pulling the cups out. His son was sensibly pretending he wasn't with him.

4. I saw absolutely no one I knew, but I did see hundreds of people who looked like people I knew but weren't. Odd.

5. I only saw 1 celebrity type, Nikki Sanderson a.k.a Candice from Corrie. She was sitting on an expensive looking leather jacket on the grass rummaging through a very nice handbag. I whiled away a good 15 minutes watching people none too subtly spot her, then circle her to make sure it was her, and occasionally have pirtures taken with her. I was happily maintaining an air of dignified indifference to the celeb 10 feet away until Stu came back from investing more money in the dodgy burger and beer industry and took a photo of her. Men.

6. I only saw 1 other person wearing the same wellies as me.

7. The latest thing in fashion seems to be looking like you should have woken up 20 years ago. Honestly, I saw so many girls today who looked identical to the girls in those photo stories you used to get in jackie magazine or whatever it was called in the 80's. Or like the girls Rodney dated in the early Fools and Horses. Heh. I'm just jealous obviously.

All in all, a really great day, great for Preston, and I don't feel so bad about living up here now!

New Togs

2007-05-19T19:05:00.000Z

Stu pissed me off last night by coming to bed at 6am, thus rendering himself useless for everything all day pretty much, which was annoying as I wanted to work! Git.

Therefore, it was only fair that I helped myself to the £50 of next vouchers I found in the sunny room from one of his birthdays eons ago, and took myself to the Trafford Centre to spend them.

I got myself a couple of nice tops in Next, and I also got myself a lovely pair of wedgy shoes, with heels damnit, from Faith. I never buy nice shoes ever! I love them, they make me taller.

I hit 6 stone on the weight front this week too, i'm still really hit and miss with the diet though. Hmmm.

This was me at crimbo at a too huge 19 stone

This is me now, a slimmer but still overweight 13 stone. But hey, i have new clothes and lovely shoes!!!

The spare tyre of loose skin around my tummy is bothering me. A lot. But look at the lovely shoesssssss, and the lovely kickflare jeans! Nice clothes make me smiley.

So, knitting!

Well I just freaked myself out by taking pictures of my WIP's! Eek!

So the purple blob is getting bigger, can't photograph it at all now. Think I have about 40 rounds to go, but then consider that each round has about 900 stitches on it. Ack

So i'm taking part in a sockathon on Angel Yarn Forums. Only I can't seem to only do one pair at a time, so I have all three pairs on the go...

Opal Rainforest - Parrot

Monkey Socks in some lovely Jojoland Quartette - and notice, they are on one long circ! I have finally discovered the joy of the magic loop!

And finally Bayerische in Cherry Tree Hill merino

I'm also having a crack at Spring Things shawl in Posh Yarns cashmere laceweight in Peacock. It's soooooo soft!

And yeah, writing an essay too, but blah to that!

Not much on the go then!

Oooooh, but I do have tickets to Radio 1's Big Weekend tomorrow! I knew living in Preston would pay off one day! So I shall be doing a Sunday sky (who needs a saturday one!) from there tomorrow!!! Woooooo hoooo!

Ta ta!

It's a secret....

2007-05-08T20:32:00.000Z

The names went out for the Angel Yarns Summer Secret Santa yesterday, i've been stalking my swappee already, how much fun is that! Anyway, reading other peoples posts, wish lists seem to be popular, so i'm going to see if she has one, then I may make my own!

Anyway, if by chance you're stalking me here secret santa, shall I help you out?

Ok! Well then, hello, my name is Gemma and i'm a yarnaholic! Browsing through my posts will give you a clue of just how much!

I like to knit small fiddly things, mostly lace and socks, i'm currently knitting socks for the sockalong, the spring things shawl and the shoalwater shawl knitalongs. Oh, and have an enormous circular shawl from VLT on the needles. I like lace a lot.

I do really fancy making a booga bag though....

I like smelly things, especially those bath bars from Lush, the Ma Bar is the closest I get to chocolate at the moment, due to the months of dieting i've been doing *dramatic sigh*

I'm not keen on fashion yarns, you know the ones, the funky furs etc etc, acrylic isn't way up my fav list either.

I'm so fussy!

I'm going to do my wishlist now!

Oops..

2007-04-29T15:40:00.000Z

Wow, where have I been for a month then!

No excuse, slapped wrist, i've just been slack. I did go down south for 11 days, but still, a whole month without blogging...

This is going to be quite a picture heavy post, lots to show and all!

First of all, the dyeing i've been doing! Lots of commision stuff...

Bumblebee DK BFL...

Koi DK BFL...

Ladybird DK BFL...

Shark Aran (?) Targhee, never dyed this stuff before, it's lovely and spongy!

And finally, Victorian Border DK BFL...

I like the victorian border a lot, I want to dye that again I think, and the koi is really fab. I like dyeing.

While I was at it, I did a couple of new colours for the shop.

Electric 80's Aran BFL..

And inspired by my son kicking a ball round the very sunny garden we have..

Beach Ball Aran BFL...

See, I have been fairly busy!

Also did some laceweight for the shop, most of which I want to keep for my stash but have made myself list. Here's my favourite colour...

So yes, the shop has been updated, don't forget to pop along ;)

I'll be back later to update on the knitting front!

And we're live!

2007-03-23T23:57:00.000Z

The KraftyKoala online shop of woolly wonderfulness is go! The main website is still under construction, but due to popular demand, the shop is a gogo!

Tell all your friends!

Spot the difference....

2007-03-19T21:30:00.000Z

Before, pissed at crimbo, and after, 9 weeks into Cambridge...

Which Tarot Card Are You?

2007-03-19T17:45:00.001Z

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

On being proactive!

2007-03-15T14:59:00.000Z

This week, I have been mostly being organised!

Ok, so I was forced into it a little, afterall, the newly aquired stash couldn't live in bags forever now could it. Until yesterday, my stash lived in 2 large underbed storage boxes at the top of the cellar steps, and had spread out into a spacebag under the spare bed, a blanket box in the front room, and many, many bags kicking around here and there. Something had to be done, I had no idea what was where.

We have a set of bookshelves in the front room, they are a corner unit, bookcase and cd tower that doesnt have room for all the cds, and they come from Ikea. We've been wanting an extra cd tower to match for eons, but they never have it in the Warrington store when we go, so i've gotten into the habit of checking the website every couple of weeks to see if it's in stock, and low and behold, yesterday it was!

So, I was umming and ahhing about whether to pop to Ikea and pick the cd tower up, when I had a moment of total brainwaveyness. I could get some of the shelf and bucket storage the boys have in the playroom to go at the top of the cellar steps to home my stash! Hell, I was so pleased with my idea I even measured to make sure it would fit, and it would, so I got it! The measuring bit is important because the ever doubting Stuart asked me if i'd measured it before getting it fully expecting me to say no so he could berate me. And I had, so neeerrrrrrr to you Stu!

So, I built it, then I went through the house collecting stash, sorting it and putting it into ziplock bags to deter the moths, something i've been meaning to do forever, and now it's contained to the storage unit and the blanket box (which in fairness is only half full and also has WIP's in and a multitude of bags in).

Voila! Proud much Gemma?

Please note, the two big buckets on the right are shop stuff (pah hah! shop, where's that then! I promise, pictures pending, it's almost done) the top one is dyed and ready to go, the bottom one is undyed loveliness.

Actually, the bottom bucket is a little emptier now, because...

This is for my mum, and it's called Autumn Leaves, and if she doesn't want it, i'm having it, I love it!

She wants to knit a shawl she's seen somewhere, and she was faffing around about the wool she would use for it (the pattern calls for Elann alpaca worsted or some such thing). She decided she wanted it 'autumn leaves' colours, so I said i'd do some for her, she can have it for mothers day. It's upstairs drying and I really can't wait to reskein it. I'm going to do some more I think and have it as an offered colourway in the shop as i'm sooooo chuffed with how the colours came out.

Anything else to report..... nope don't think so. Ooooh, it's SnB tonight, hoping Andrea the wanderer will make it.

Skipped North!

2007-03-12T14:53:00.000Z

I'm home!!!

What an awesome weekend, I knitted, chatted, shopped, knitted some more, had a go at spinning and boullion crochet, did a bit more knitting, and....... I didn't eat anything!!!

Met a few people from my blogroll, and a few more people i'll add to my blogroll as soon as I find their blogs!

Met lots of people who bought more wool than me, so that was a bonus, I felt almost virtuous!

So, here it is, the SkipNorth stash....

Let's break it down into more manageable segments...

This was my big buy, 1kg of Twilleys Freedom Spirit (Air I do believe), total bargain at £29.99, going to knit me a big wrap around cardigan with it I think.

Sock yarn, 500g of purply, greeny, bluey loveliness, 100g of camo coloured, 100g of Regia 6ply and 100g of Regia Stretch which I started a simple toe up sock with on the coach on sunday (my shawl is at a complicated bit, i'd have messed it up!)

300g of space dyed DK in bluey purply tones which I think I may use to make another forest canopy for me!

60g of Fiddlesticks laceweight merino/silk, beautiful! And a totally unrelated Surina 5mm crochet hook which is also beautiful.

500g of blues spaced dyed DK to be shared between the mummys, i'd keep it but there's more chance of them knitting something for the boys than of me doing it, selfish knitter that I am!

And finally, about 800g of fibre to spin. The coloured is rainbow merino/silk, the big bag of white is bluefaced leicester I may have a go at dyeing, and the smaller white bag is bluefaced leicester / silk. Yummy, it still smells like sheep! Baaaaaaaa!

I had a really, really, really, great weekend, thanks to Alex and Nic for organising such a fun event, I loved it.

Now, i've come home to a complete tip of a house, so i'd best get to tidying and stop fondling all the new yarn and fibre!

Fame at last!

2007-03-02T10:45:00.000Z

I am not a good blogger lately, in my defense, it's been manic around here!

So, fame? Well, fleeting fame, but woolly fame none the less! Yes, I got a mention on Lixie's PodCast, see, there's my name! It's more the hat than me really, but it is a really lovely hat! And I got lots of hits this week as a result so I should give the new visitors something to read really, so hello!

Right, so as this is a knitting blog, let us talk about the knitting!

There is just no way on earth to get a good picture of this shawl as it is (in progress). It's on the longest cords I have for my knitpicks, 60" and its still bunched up. And I haven't finished the second ball of eight yet, its going to be a monster! At the moment I have 534 stitches on the needles, and i'm on round 90. It takes me an age to go all the way round, but it's going to be worth it, it's so soft and lovely.

That is all i'm knitting at the moment, although I have some nice Sublime that I may see if I can turn into a nice top I saw in Interweave Knits Spring which I snapped up as soon as I saw it in Borders.

The main knitting news is that this time next week i'll be at SkipNorth! Woo hoo! Muchly exciting. Haven't reconciled the Cambridge Diet with that yet, but i'll muddle through no doubt!

And while we're talking about the Cambridge Diet..... Here is what my weightloss looks like in monetary terms, £1 per lb lost.

Not bad huh! There's £45 quid there, £38 is from doing Cambridge for 7 weeks, £7 is from my half arsed attempt before christmas. I was going to take it to SkipNorth and use it to buy yarn, but I think i'll just buy yarn anyway and use the money to buy a really lovely dress or something when I reach goal (when there will be around £110 in there).

Also related to the weightloss is this lovely piece of magnificence.

This is my Trollbead bracelet that Stu got me for Valentines day (obviously can't have any choccy!). He got me the bracelet, the lace lock, and the blue armadillo bead. The fashion stripe bead is for my first stone, the silver kitten bead is for the second stone, and the red fire bead if for the third stone. The giraffes are a gift to myself because I saw them on a website and just fell in love with them, and its 2 giraffes intertwined which coincidently was what was on the Valentines card I got for Stu. Fate I do believe!

So the other big news was that the boys were baptised last week at our church. It was a really lovely day, Nina came over from Germany to be Leo's (Fairy)Godmother, and my parents came up on the train to stay for the weekend. The day itself went really well, both boys were so well behaved and the reception afterwards was great. AND, I didn't eat a single thing all weekend. Get me!

Anyway, here's a piccy before I bid you farewell! I shall try and blog before SkipNorth, otherwise, i'll see you there!

Whirly Rib Cap

2007-02-03T23:58:00.000Z

It's done, finished, and I LOVE it!!! So much so i've been wearing it all day!

Pattern - Whirly Rib Cap by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn - Sublime Merino Silk Aran (can't remember the colour!)
Needles - A multitude, started on 4.5mm KnitPicks Options, then on to Addis, and then some Innox dpns at the end.

Oh so many beautiful Woolly Wormhead hats I want to knit, but I have finally managed to get started on the VLT shawl. It started with 6 stitches in Kidsilk Haze on 4.5mm Britany Birch dpns and it was so bloody fiddly! But thankfully I now have 108 stitches on so its a lot easier and soon i'll be able to move onto my beloved KnitPicks Options which are so much easier to do lace with, nice pointy ends!

I've been tagged

2007-01-21T01:50:00.000Z

I've been tagged.........

"Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 5 facts about yourself. Then choose 5 people you want to tag and list their names. Then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged."

Five things about me:

I met my husband on the internet! In a Yahoo! chatroom to be exact, back in November 2001. I moved up here in June 2002 and the rest, as they say, is history!

I've been on Radio 1's Jo Whiley show twice, both times on 'I want your text'. The first time I was crap and won nothing, the second time I won some cd's and a framed, signed artwork from the Chemical Brothers which hung at the top of our stairs in our last house, but hasn't found a home in this house yet.

My second son Leo was named so because whilst pregnant I had a bit of a thing for watching 'Charmed' reruns on Living tv, and I thought the name of the whitelighter 'Leo' was a really lovely name. We picked Leo once we knew he was a boy pretty much. Unfortunately, the week he was born Leo Sayer was having a bit of a come back with a remixed song and so everyone asked if he was named after him. As if!!! His middle name (James) was picked by number one son (Thomas) who thought James was a much better engine than Edward which was the other name on the table.

At this precise moment my husband and I are skeining yarn whilst watching this interesting new thing where they sign music videos on all the major music channels after silly hours in the morning. We're seeing if we can guess which person will be signing the next song, the person signing 'Enter Sandman' was something to behold!

My brown tabby cat is named after a character in the brilliant film 'Clerks' which a friend introduced me to last year. He's called Dante, which makes people automatically assume he's named for the inferno chap making me oh so intelligent, when really my imagination stretches not much further than the dvd player.

I tag - Anna, Andrea, Flossie, Sarah & Joelle

MIA

2007-01-20T23:53:00.000Z

Ooer, i've been gone for ages haven't I!! Haven't got an awful lot to show for it either!

Had a lovely Christmas, got a gorgeous Lexi Barnes bag to keep all my jumble in, Elizabeth Zimmermanns Knitters Almanac, and Victorian Lace Today (more on that later). A small knitting haul really, but the Lexi Barnes wasn't cheap so i'm not complaining!

Progress with the KraftyKoala lil online shop of wonders is making progress, see, I have some stock ready to go on now! Need to pull my thumb out and finish off the undyed yarn this week. Still have some sock and dk to do.

And here is the magnificence that is Victorian Lace Today. Lace is my new favourite thing, I love knitting it! I have 200g of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Violetta to knit up the full hexagon spiders web shawl.

I can't find many pictures of it to show at the minute, but i've tried to take a picture of it from the book with limited success.

Beautiful isn't it. It's my diet shawl, for every time I feel like a huge bar of dairy milk (which believe me with my children at the moment is incredibly frequently) i'm going to knit some. Hopefully by the time it's finished i'll be as thin as her! I can dream!

And that's about it! Short and sweet because my other half is close to throwing the yarn swift (yes the one he made) out of the window as the pegs keep falling out. He's skeining up some merino sock yarn for me to dye, so i'd better help him!

Happy 2007 blogland!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T13:28:00.000Z

Righty ho! I'm off to the Wirral for fun and festivities, back on the 27th for a day, then down south for New Year.

So I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas (or whatever you are celebrating), and may your stocking (hand knitted of course) be full of many, many woolly lovelys!

Byyeeeeeee!

Snowmen

2006-12-17T15:50:00.000Z

If you don't own a Calvin & Hobbes book, you should!

My Boys

2006-12-16T22:22:00.000Z

Hello!

2006-12-14T23:55:00.000Z

Today I promise to post something other than blogthings gumph, allthough it is pretty good gumph in general isn't it.

So, the marking gods of A215 didn't like my final ECA submission and only gave me 62%. This was a bit of a shock after getting nothing lower than 81% all course, but I guess proves the task of marking creative writing is an entirely subjective one. Still i've emailed my tutor to get his take on it. Anyway, it hasn't had any grand effect on my grade as a whole, I couldn't have got a distinction, so I was looking at a grade 2 (B), which I got. So all is good. I am resolved to work my ass off for the two level 3 courses I have left, remind me in a month and a half of this statement.

Knitting wise, I haven't got an awful lot to show. I'm knitting a few bits for Thomas and Leo, and doing the odd bit on a pair of Jaywalker socks. Mostly i've been dyeing wool for people. Not overly sure i'm making any money on it really, but everyone has to start somewhere.

The less said about my teeth the better. Evil dentist says the nerves are protesting about the fillings and should settle down, but it could take a month. If they don't settle, then its root canals or extractions. I'm not having extractions, i'm not losing any more teeth. If I have to sell a kidney to pay for root canals, I will.

Thomas was a king in his nativity today. I'd like to say we have it on film, but for some unfathomable reason Stu spent 5 minutes filming someone elses child. Seriously, how do you not recognise your own son, even if they are wearing a stripy pillowcase and a curtain.

The tree is up, most of the shopping is done too. And I managed to find some nativity fabric on Ebay today to make a stocking for Leo. Things are running to plan....

Anyway, i'm shattered so i'm going to go to bed I think. Tomorrow I will post a piccy of the little King (the right one, not the random one my husband laid claim to).

Sleep tight!

Oh, and i'll leave you with this...

Your Birthdate: September 19

You are resilient, and no doubt your resilience has already been tested.
You've had some difficult experiences in your life, but you are wise from them.
Having had to grow up quickly, you tend to discount the advice of others.
You tend to be a loner, having learned that the only person you can depend on is yourself.

Your strength: Well developed stability and confidence

Your weakness: Suspicion of others

Your power color: Eggplant

Your power symbol: Spade

Your power month: October

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Shamelessly stolen from Flossie's blog. She doesn't post enough, everyone go over there and leve her threatening messages until she posts some great new pictures of her knitting. We need knitting damnit!

Ho, ho, ho

2006-12-12T00:20:00.000Z

I feel crappy thanks to my useless dentist, so i'll leave you with this until i'm feeling better xx

You Are Cupid

A total romantic, you're always crushing on a new reindeer.

Why You're Naughty: You've caused so much drama, all the reindeers aren't speaking to each other.

Why You're Nice: You have a knack for playing matchmaker. You even hooked Rudolph up!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Real Men Knit

2006-12-08T21:51:00.000Z

Yarrrrr harrrrr harrrrr

2006-12-06T23:09:00.000Z

Your Pirate Name Is...

Cannibal Mistress of Death

What's Your Pirate Name?

In a funk

2006-12-04T20:34:00.000Z

And I don't know why.....

Pinched this from Lixie's blog, now I want doughnuts. Is it wrong i'm seriously considering driving to Asda?

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you.
But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft.
You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily.
You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

Happy Feet

2006-11-30T17:49:00.000Z

I've got those happy feet....

Oops

2006-11-30T10:50:00.000Z

After the huge excitement of finishing the shawl, I haven't managed to blog anything since! Naughty Gemma!

So, what have I been doing with myself I hear you cry? Well, a few things really. Firstly i've been knitting my first pair of socks. I'm just doing the rib cuff on the second one, but heres the first one so you get the idea..

No completely sure I like the colours, but they are certainly comfy! I did a short row heel and toe, next time i'm going to try a heel flap I think.

I've also been dyeing again. I did this lot on tuesday and then reskeined it yesterday, and here's the finished result. It's aran weight BFL so good for soakers etc, and I like it a lot! I asked my friends opinions on it in terms of selling it, and I sold it all to them more or less immediately, exciting n'est pas? Now I need to do some more, and then work out a good way to sell it, i'm sure my mates won't want it all!

Sitch n Bitch tonight, I missed it last week because I was poorly, still full of cold now but need to get out of the house!

Happy Thursday!

Because the sun came out

2006-11-16T16:00:00.000Z

Perfect opportunity to take more pictures of the shawl. You can tell I'm pleased with it can't you!

Wonderful Wednesday

2006-11-15T11:09:00.000Z

Yes it is indeed a wonderful wednesday!

Forest Canopy is done! Let us all bask in its wonderfulness!

Before blocking

As it is right now blocking on the spare bed

And the close up of the lace detail

And now for the geeky stuff...

Pattern - Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence (available here) knitted with a few extra sets of middle repeats to make it a bit larger.

Yarn - Alpaca / Merino DK in Moonbeam from The Natural Dye Studio

Needles - 5mm Addi Bamboo Circulars

Time Taken - Hmmmm, about 4 weeks on and off

Recipient - My SIL for her birthday

It's beautiful isn't it? And it was surprisingly easy to knit, although I now wish i'd listened to the pattern and put in a lifeline now and again as I had to painstakingly undo several rows on a few occasions due to missing a yarnover.

Wednesday is also wonderful for yarn porn!!!!

Firstly we have my own handdyed aran weight BFL, 500g of the stuff in muted sea shades of blue and green. This is to make a pullover for Thomas. I think I will be good and finish off some of my WIP's first though...

And then there's this. I think this is the singlemost beautiful skein of yarn I own. Seriously, I might never use this, I will just get it out and gaze upon it frequently. I am totally in love with it. It's Colinette's new sock yarn - Jitterbug - in Jewel colourway. I am smitten.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Why I married him....

2006-11-12T13:29:00.000Z

My husband doth rock!!

My ball winder arrived on friday, but as useful as it is, it functions much better with a swift... I looked at some on the web, and while pretty, they aren't cheap. I just wanted something functional, it didn't have to be a work of art. So I found a link to a build-it-yourself-swift on a forum, and my lovely husband just made it for me!

Behold, my new swift in operation!

Thomas proving you are never too young to help mummy wind yarn!

Yay! A cake of yarn ready to knit! And it only took 2 hours less than usual to wind (yes I really was that bad at it!)

This will be mighty handy for the 500g of BFL I currently have sitting in a dye bath downstairs!

Viva la yarn swift!

Slacking

2006-11-11T01:03:00.000Z

Just a quickie update today, no piccies either which isn't like me!

Had a busy week, for some reason i've had the cleaning bug and i've been doing a lot of tidying up. Even managed to unpack the last of the boxes, impresive no? After all, we only moved in 8 months ago!

Big news of the week - i'm going to SkipNorth! I'm oh so excited! Going with the MO girls, Sarah, Nic and blogless Lottie, going to be much fun, will our other halves manage the kids without us!

Knittingwise, still plodding along with the shawl, won the last lot of yarn I estimate i'll need today on Ebay, note I said estimate, there's every chance i'm wrong. My friend Andrea from stitch n bitch called it extreme knitting and I think she might be right!

And I started the kids crimbo shopping today! 1 huge order from ELC later and I think I may be done.

Have a good weekend!

Paint a Woolly Rainbow

2006-11-02T12:24:00.000Z

First off, i'm miserable, be nice to me! The dreaded root filling turned out to not be possible due to a large abcess, so instead they extracted the evil tooth. So now I have a big gap and i'm feeling a very fragile. I'm not good with anything relating to my mouth, so i'm hating waiting for the horrid hole to heal up. Yuk yuk yuk!

To take my mind off it yesterday, I retreated to the cellar *cue Phantom of the Opera music* and did some dyeing. I'm seeing Sarah and her family tomorrow, and I owe her 400g of rainbow koolaid BFL so I did that, and while I was at it I had another go with the Omega dyes. I wasn't as successful this time, but I was trying a different technique (wet wool, sprinkle dye, squish with gloves on). Its not even enough for my liking, so i'll go back to the turkey baster method that works with the koolaid.

Made a couple of purchases this week, firstly a yarn winder from Ebay, because i'm fed up with winding skeins into balls, I want a machine to make centre pull balls for me. Secondly, I invested in a KnitPicks Options set. I've read good things about these needles, and i'm fed up of having circulars all over the place. KnitPicks don't deliver to the UK, so i'm having them delivered to my good friend Melody in Virginia, and she's going to forward them on to me. Yay!

Haven't done much knitting this week as i've mostly been moping and feeling sorry for myself (everybody say awwwwww), but i've been chugging along with the Forest Canopy Shawl when i'm feeling like it. Since I need it finished in a few weeks, that probably isn't the attitude to have!

I'm actually on top of the cleaning this week as well, upstairs is tidy, just needs a hoover, i'm working my way through the huge pile of washing that I swear multiplies while i'm not looking, and there's a beef stroganof simmering away in the slow cooker. Yummy.

I may go to S n B tonight, depending on how i'm feeling.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T09:01:00.000Z

Thomas and Mummy made a Jaggedy Lantern! Thomas didn't want him to be scary so he's a happy jaggedy lantern.

And here's my little pumpkin all dressed up for his halloween party at nursery. I love the socks, maybe I could knit myself some.....

Conspiracy Theory....

2006-10-28T22:18:00.000Z

It would appear the microwaves have been talking amoungst themselves. When I first started dyeing with koolaid, our microwave blew up so we got a new one. I used the new one for dyeing with acid dyes, so thats gone down to the cellar to be my project microwave, and we got another one on thursday night. This morning, after all of 36 hours in the house, beeped all night long then blew the circuit breaker. Hmmmmmm.

Has our house become the stuff of microwave legend? Do mummy microwaves tell their little baby microwaves tales of the horrible house where bad microwaves get sent to be steamed to death in a cloud of tropical punch flavoured vapour? Are we in the midst of a microwave revolution, where they'd rather top themselves than help dye another skein of bluefaced leicester? If the replacement microwave goes the same way, I may have to consider setting up some sort of microwave benefit scheme to bribe them into compliance. Heh, appliance compliance. God i'm easily pleased.

In other news, Leo moved into his bedroom tonight, hoorah! 8 months in with us, thats twice as long as we had Thomas in, we've just been so slow in decorating Leo's room. It does not bode well for the rest of the decorating we have planned!

I am becoming more and more attracted to this new Robin Hood fella, even with the dodgy stubble, he's a fine figure of a man.

Back to the knitting! Speaking of which, there a nice plain kids hooded tunic in this months Knit Today magazine that I want to do for Thomas, and I want to do it in hand dyed BFL aran, soooooo i'm going to have to do a guage swatch. *shock horror faint*

Gemma xx

Banished

2006-10-27T10:21:00.000Z

Yes, that's right, Gemma and her wool dyeing escapades have been banished to the cellar. Using the kitchen wasn't a problem while I was just using Koolaid, but yesterday I branched out into using Omega all in one acid dyes and it's been decided that perhaps that's something best done out of the food preperation area. So himself has moved the microwave downstairs for me and got a new one for the kitchen, so I can create masterpieces without worrying about contaminating anything. I use the term masterpieces loosely incidently.

So there is the first attempt at acid dyeing, 200g of aran weight BFL which we shall name 'stormy seas' for the purposes of this blog. It is a lot patchier that it appears in the pics, they are flattering my dodgy first try to be honest, but I went at it exactly like I dye Koolaid, and now I have a better idea at how the dyes take (in the case of the marine blue with apparently no rhyme or reason at all but I shall work on that) hopefully my next attempt will be better. I hope. Still, it was fun, if not a little more nervy than dyeing with Koolaid, mainly because to my shame I still suck my thumb at night and I was terrified of poisoning myself. Good time to give up the thumb methinks.

Look! Grown up knitting! My first attempt at lace, (seems this week is a good week for first attempts!) it's going to be a birthday present for my SIL, and when it's done it will hopefully look like this but this is me we're talking about so don't hold your breath. It's also quite dependant on me winning some more of the yarn i'm using on Ebay which may backfire. Nothing ventured nothing gained though!

Stitch & Bitch last night, good as ever! Treated myself to a granola bar which was scrummy, and hopefully not too denting to the diet.

When is it ever going to stop raining! The window in the front room leaks and so we have to have a bowl stationed underneath to catch all the water. And we are the house of ill bills, everyone is unhealthy! The kids and stu have stinking colds, and I seem to have a permanent headache. Yak. And worst of all, on tuesday i'm having a root filling at the sedation clinic and i'm scared witless. Boooooo.

Ho, ho, ho!

2006-10-18T23:46:00.000Z

Yes thats right, i've been knitting for christmas! If you are a member of my family, look away now.....

Behold, my new obsession! The Warshrag....

Not the best piccys, but you get the idea. I have this wonderous idea that I will pair up one of these little beauties with a nice soap and the boys can give them to people for crimbo. Sounds great in theory, but it's going to mean a lot of washcloths! Thankfully I stumbled across this website so I shouldn't run out of patterns and have to repeat them endlessly. It all sounds too good to possible work out so watch this space for certain disaster.

In other news, The bibble has become an expert sit-up-erer. How many kinds of cute is he?

And speaking of cute...... Dante, he's a lovely puddy tat. Think he needs a knitted coat?

Stitch n Bitch tomorrow night, I like my thursday trips to Borders to knit and drink overpriced but yummy beverages.

Night all!

Love is....

2006-10-16T20:29:00.000Z

...........taking 100g of lovely hand dyed chunky alpaca/merino like this....

And turning it into this....

Because Po is cold mummy!

Love is also standing knitting an Zen Vision cosy on a bridge over the train tracks while you wait for the 16.15 to Carlisle to go under.

Happy days!

Demons

2006-10-15T00:07:00.000Z

You know how some music just sends a shiver down your spine? A friend just sent me this link to a live performance by a band I love with a passion. If you aren't Super Furry Animal fan, well you should be!

Shamelessly stolen from Joelle's LiveJournal...

2006-10-13T23:29:00.000Z

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Ribbit, Ribbit

2006-10-12T16:34:00.000Z

It's been a bit longer than I intended, mostly because i've been too despondant to blog. Well that and the fact that it seems everytime I want to blog Blogger has been refusing to let me upload piccys so i've been deleting anything i'd written in a temper. It's the principle of the thing!

Got the ECA handed in a day early, not completely confident in it, but it'll have to do, and it's way too later now anyway! Unfortunately, apparently we don't get the results until December! Wonder if I can manage not to think about it until then....

I could do that by buying yarn I suppose... like this yarn for example....

Another Ebay bargain, hand dyed chunky and DK, alpaca and merino. Lulley.

Or this maybe..... washcloth cotton yarn, all part of my master christmas plan.....

An already started washcloth, quite pretty I think, well the colours at least, this is supposed to be a more masculine washcloth. The yarn may have a potential problem, it seems to be dyeing my fingers and the bamboo needles a sort of bluey green colour. It washes off easily enough, so i'm hoping a wash will remove any potential running problems. I hope.

This is the bane of my knitting at the moment. It's the second time i've knitted it. I got all the rows done at the weekend only to discover I'd cast on for 3-6 months instead of 6-9. Now bear in mind he's nearly 8 months already.... To hedge my bets i've started knitting a 1-2 years so he stands an outside chance of actually wearing it....

This is one of 2 gloves i've knitted, unfornately they are both different so I don't have a pair. Ho hum.

Had a major disaster last week, a certain small someone knocked a can of pepsi into my knitting bag... all over my Creative Zen, 3 projects, 2 books and the camera. The MP3 player and the camera seem to have survived ok, the books on the other hand have had it. The knitting seems ok, the evil jumper escaped the worst of it, and the 2 gloves were easy enough to wash. Theres a ball of hand dyed sock yarn that absorbed a bit, i'm thinking i'll have to knit with it and then wash whatever i knit straight away. Sticky knitting, appealing!

Right, off to S & B now, ta ta!

Normal service will be resumed...

2006-10-03T20:39:00.000Z

Just as soon as my ECA (end of course assessment) is handed in. It it consuming my time, yet I have nothing to show for it, it's like swatching without the opportunity to stroke lovely yarn at regular intervals. I am getting hardly any knitting done, with the exception of one glove in the car on the way to my mums. Ack.

So, until I am free from short stories and the like, I shall leave you with a picture of something I would like living in my garden....

You know it's true.....

2006-09-29T10:05:00.000Z

The Stash Junkie

2006-09-26T20:43:00.000Z

Sooooooo, let's talk stash!

First off, I would still be pretending I didn't have a lot of stash and that the boxes bursting in the hall didn't really exist, if it wasn't for Sarah.....

She catalogued all hers, and so out of curiousity, I did the same.

This is what it looked like when I gathered it from around the house and piled it up. Hmmmm. Not as little as i'd thought...

Ok, so first off we have some sock yarn. I fully intend to knit socks one day, and when I get round to it, well, i'm going to need some yarn aren't I!!

This is Anchor Magic cotton, I bought a couple of balls on Ebay, learned it was discontinued and then made it my mission to buy lots more, for posterity you understand...

This is my mass accumulation of various types of Sirdar. There's a lot of Snuggly there because i'm a mummy who really does want to knit things for her offspring, but scarf patterns on the internet distract me easily...

Some pure wool, from left to right :- Aran for dyeing, 4ply lambswool for dyeing, Wendy vintage 100% wool, Rowan spun 4ply, DK BFL for dyeing.

Hand-dyed loveliness, the 3 balls along the top are koolaid dyed by me aran weight BFL, there's also some nice dk and 4ply hand dyed from Ebay, and along the bottom, which really does deserve a whole picture of its own, 8oz of gorgeous, soft, shiny lace weight hand dyed merino from Cherry Tree Hill. *drool*

Fashion yarns, mostly feathery type stuff for making scarves, all bargains from The Works and Wilkinsons. It would have been rude not to!

The good stuff, a.k.a the yarn most likely to bankrupt me at any given time! We have 19 balls of Debbie Bliss cotton DK, 2 of Rowan Calmer, 7 Rowan Tapestry, Noro Kureyon, Noro Silk Garden and 6 SWTC Karaoke (earmarked for another clapotis for me!)

Some odds and sods of cotton which will probably become dishcloths, facecloths etc.

And finally some bits and bobs of acrylics that my MIL passed on to me, and honestly, if someone offers you stash enhancement, you jump at the chance!

So there, that'll be why i'm a Stash Junkie then! Hubby had a look earlier and nearly had a turn, he has banned me from buying any more yarn, ever!

In other news, It was my birthday last tuesday, the big 28. In 2 years i'll be 30! That's scary. The Cherry Tree Hill merino was a birthday present from my boys, bless 'em! I also got a Nintendo DS which is a wonderful bit of kit, and a Creative Zen MP3 player which is blue and cute and wonderful. It has 30gb of memory which will take me forever to fill!

Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary, 3 years!

Stu has got man flu and is laying on the sofa moaning and groaning a lot whilst we watch the Lost Finale. Finale my ass! More unanswered questions now than ever!

I took my clapotis to stitch n bitch last week, this weekend it goes to mum. I finished off a cardigan for baby Harry (pics tomorrow probably), and now i'm using some of the Sirdar to make a jumper for Leo. Also halfway through a secret project which is fun!

Think that's everything!

Can anyone who knits almost entirely for other people really be evil....

2006-09-26T11:18:00.000Z

You Are 50% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

I......love....it......

2006-09-18T17:24:00.000Z

Just a quickie, tea cooking, but had to say, it's done!

Ok - So now the geeky bit -

Pattern - Clapotis from Knitty Fall 2004 Issue
Needles - Addi Bamboo 5mm, kindly loaned by Sarah because I ordered the wrong size
Yarn - SWTC Oasis soysilk yarn in Napa Valley shade
Time to complete - About 18 days give or take

It was a nice easy pattern to follow, dropping stitches is great, feels soooo wrong but soooo good simultaniously. The yarn is lovely to knit with, had one naff ball which had several joins in it towards the end and wasn't wound brilliantly, but it drapes beautifully and is so soft.

I think I shall knit me one too. So there.

It's alive....ALIVE!!!

2006-09-09T21:18:00.000Z

Growing isn't it! I'm really happy with how it's looking, it's so soft and drapey, feels lovely. It's no longer a surprise present since Thomas decided to describe it to my mum on the phone in great detail. Foiled!

I bought some yarn to make one for me when this one is done, naughty Gemma. I will finish the bag off before I start it though, promise! And I need to finish the collar on the cardigan I made for Leo that won't fit him now, I'm going to give it to baby Harry when we see them on the 23rd.

I've got three pieces of writing to do before this years OU course is finished. I think I'll crack on with the next one due in a minute, I'm feeling slightly inspired so I should make the most of it really shouldn't I.

Just a quick shout out to Joelle, fellow student from Preston Stitch n Bitch @ Borders. Her blog can be found here! I'm thinking of her because she's another 'Problem like Maria' fan and I'm watching tonight's semi final as I type. Joelle is abandoning us to go back to uni in a couple of weeks so that's a bit of a bummer, still, when she comes back at crimbo I'm fully expecting to see her wearing hand knitted hat, gloves, scarf, legwarmers and carrying a handknitted bag!

We're going to Wales on Monday for a few days in a caravan park, hoorah!

And now to my assignment, wish me luck!

Clapotis-itis

2006-09-01T23:02:00.000Z

Shame on me, no blogging for ten days, tsk tsk tsk!

Busy girl i've been, picked up my lovely new car from the inlaws (thankyou thankyou thankyou), spent the weekend with my parents down south where we attended the fete-worse-than-death as is tradition. Thomas seemed to enjoy it this year, he ran in the under 5's race and didnt finish last despite stopping halfway down the track and turning round to look for me!

Wednesday just gone I took the new car on it's first big jaunt down to Hinckley to meet up with the MO crowd at Lotties house. We had a lovely time, the boys were on their best behaviour, and Lottie was a marvel, feeding all 20 kids with sarnies and all 12 adults with homemade soup, bread and cakes. It was a lovely day. Thankyou Lottie!

And now for the knitting.....

Well first you should visit Sarah's blog to see whats been made from the koolaid bfl from my last blog... fabby aint they!!

And my knitting? Well, i'm still chugging along with my Cable Bag...

By my reckoning i've got about 5cm of cableing left to finish before I do the top bit of garter stitch where the buttons go, then it's handles and done! Yay.

And also on the needles is...... Clapotis!!!!!

I am becoming addicted to knitting this little beauty, it's a present for my mum knitted from here, with SWTC Oasis in Napa Valley instead of the suggested yarn, mainly because Lorna's Laces is a bit beyond my budget at the moment, and it's an expensive yarn to frog when it starts going wrong, which lets face it, it's bound to!

I've also knitted a dishcloth which was fun, but I think I managed to leave at Lotties. Oops. Thomas was using it as a blanket for Po, but really, I knitted it with Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, like i'd wash dishes with it!

Stitch and Bitch was fun again this week, really relaxing there now and looking forward to it every week.

Knitting rules!

Oh, and I won a competition on MO yesterday too, some cool recycled stationary! Hoorah!

Have a good weekend!

One ball, two ball, three ball, four.....

2006-08-22T10:14:00.000Z

....five ball, six ball, well thats all but you get the idea! I've done some custom dyeing for a friend, can't believe someone actually wants me to do it to be honest, i'm far from good at it, but it's fun! So, heres the wool!

Lots of pretty colours! Its on the merchants chest at the bottom of the stairs at the moment, and you get a lovely whiff of tropical punch koolaid everytime you walk past it! Yum!

I had some help balling it up too......

And meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have some storage boxes to sort the expanding stash into by orders of the management (for management read disgruntled husband) so thats a job for this afternoon. The weather is cruddy here again, I think 2 weeks of glorious weather is our lot this year. Poo. I've taken Thomas to nursery, Leo is asleep, Stu is in Germany so its just me and the cat watching tv and stroking some shocking pink merino sirdar I got on Ebay. No idea what i'm going to knit with it, but it's soooooooo soft!

Picking my new car up on thursday too. I say new, it's actually Stu's mums car, but with only 4000 miles on the clock, it may as well be new!! I'll soon ramp the miles up a bit, starting with a trip to Hinckley next wednesday! Can't wait!

What kind of yarn are you...

2006-08-20T15:33:00.000Z

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!

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Shamelessly stolen from Artis-Anne!

Patting myself on the back

2006-08-18T23:32:00.000Z

Probably a bit of a daft thing to do, pride after all is one of the deadly sins, but just for today sod it, I am pretty proud of myself. Not only did I hand it in 4 days early but I got a good mark again.

I've really enjoyed this course so far, it's not been easy to be disciplined with myself all the time, after looking after 2 children under 3 all day, mostly I just want to collapse come evening, but I've persevered and I've done some ok writing.

Below is the latest assignment to be marked which I'm happy to blog as it was pretty much inspired by blogs in the first place. Read and enjoy. Or not. I'm easy!

In other news, Glyn didn't win BB, but frighteningly I quite fancied him when he came out of the house in his beanie. This could be a hormonal thing as I was also hankering after Chris from Doodle Do earlier. When I start fancying Justin from Tikkabilla I shall seek professional help.

We now have a new microwave after the exploding incident of yesterday, so I managed to finish off the 6 skeins of wool I was dyeing. It's now drying on the towel rail in the bathroom so it can wing it's way to Sarah hopefully tomorrow.

And my cable bag is growing nicely, knitting is ace!

A Journey Through My Addiction

2006-08-18T23:17:00.000Z

Hello, my name is Gemma, and I’m an addict. Probably not the sort of addict that immediately sprang into your mind then, I haven’t been to rehab yet (although the minute someone opens one for people with my condition I’ll be one of the first through the door), and my addiction isn’t making me physically ill as such, only my husband when he gets the credit card bill each month. No, my addiction isn’t the usual kind, you see, I’m addicted to being addicted.

I can tell you’re already sceptical, surely people get addicted to a particular thing, the usual suspects, drugs, alcohol, gambling etc, maybe even something like stamp collecting at a push, but addicted to addiction? No, that’s just silly. I understand, I’d be sceptical too, but trust me, this is not something I’d readily admit to, were the evidence not so damning. Let me tell you about the events that led me to this conclusion.

I would say come back with me to the dim and distant past, to a childhood that undoubtedly laid the path for my current predicament. This would be great, except that try as I might, I cannot find one single thing to substantiate this assumption. I mean I collected things as a child yes, stamps for one, and these funny little things called Pogs, which were as pointless as they were expensive. But none of these little collections ever escalated into anything more than that, just little collections of knick knacks that I couldn’t even tell you the location of now. I really don’t think there was any hint of what was to come. Of course, I may just have answered my own question there, note the use of the word ‘expensive’ a few lines back. Obviously being a real addict costs money, and that’s not something you have in abundance when you are a child. So no, there’s nothing to see back here in my idyllic village childhood, let us leap forwards in time to a period of infinitely more money and therefore infinitely more ‘stuff’.

My first big addiction only became apparent to me when I moved house. Until then I must have been in some kind of denial, because I honestly had no idea things had escalated quite so much.
Packing boxes to move is not much fun at the best of times, packing boxes with a two year old who’s entirely disgruntled that all his favourite trains are now lying at the bottom of a large packing crate is even less fun. Add to the mix a two week old baby with no concept of less than helpful times to be screaming for milk and you have a recipe for a nervous breakdown. To avoid this undesirable occurrence, I foisted the baby onto my husband, placated the toddler with a chocolate biscuit and fled to the sanctity of the spare room-come-office, a.k.a the home of Gemma’ s stash.

Stash, for those not familiar with the world of arts and crafts, is the word we crafty hoarding types use to refer to the collections of bits and bobs needed to complete our fantastic projects. Stash is a long standing joke in our circles, it is generally considered that we all have a little too much of it, and certainly have no qualms about adding to it. Obviously I couldn’t be included amongst these people, I didn’t have stash, and I only had a few cross stitch kits to my name, maybe the odd magazine.

By the time I’d filled the third packing box with my stash, I began to realise that I had perhaps been underestimating just how much I had accumulated over the course of the last few years. In actual fact, my stash was so impressive, a seasoned cross-stitcher would have been proud of it, and I’d only been doing it with any real enthusiasm just recently. I had more cross stitch kits than I could ever hope to complete in this lifetime, but they were all just so lovely.

At this point alarm bells should have been ringing. It’s obvious to me now that I am just not the sort of person who can admire something from a distance and be content to imagine someone else doing it, no I have to have it for myself, regardless of whether I can actually envisage myself making it anytime in the near future. You might even go as far as to say I’m addicted to buying the odd kit or two. But there’s no harm in that is there? I’m not sure the poor removal man that had to carry the boxes out (once the fifty or so cross stitch magazines had gone in there were four of them in total) would agree with me there!

About this time last year I was pregnant with my second son and feeling that warm inner maternal glow that you get when you are expecting. I was generally floating around imagining myself to be Ma Walton and thinking happily of all the wonderful things I would do with my new offspring (think running in meadows, baking cakes, swimming in the town pond – I blame the hormones myself), so when my mother in law offered to reintroduce me to the joys of knitting I jumped at the chance. Please don’t think badly of me, I really did believe I was the epitome of the 19th century Midwest earth mother and that knitting was only the natural thing to be doing. If someone had offered me a rocking chair I feel I may have just wept with the joy of it all.

Anyway, before knitting could commence there was the small matter of visiting the wool shop to get the required equipment. I’d been in wool shops before, but usually just on the outside chance they might have one or two cross stitch kits hiding away just waiting for me to discover them. Never before had I actually been in solely to look at wool, it was a whole new experience and not by any means an unpleasant one, I hadn’t noticed before just how many different types of wool there are, so many styles, colours, and so many things to turn them into. This really should have been another alarm bell moment, but as we all know, it’s not quite functioning as it should, and so I took note that wool shops may be somewhere to visit in the future and thought no more of it.

By the time I’d finished the jumper I’d been knitting for the new baby, it didn’t fit him, and the amount of wool I’d accumulated no longer fitted in the draws I’d allocated for it. I don’t know how it happened, it just sort of snuck up on me, a ball here, a skein there, and don’t even get me started on Ebay, that place was invented just to tempt people like me into buying things they can never hope to find time to use. I’ve had wool delivered from all over the UK, and even some from Germany. I don’t know what I want to do with all this wool, all I know is I have to have it! Once I get the taste for something, all reasoning goes out the window. I throw myself wholeheartedly into the project, I get all the kit, everything I need to make something spectacular, but then I never actually seem to make anything! This is generally because I get my head turned by something else to become addicted to.

My most recent addiction is to crochet. What started out less than a month ago as a quick lesson in crochet so I could finish the legs on a piece of knitting I was attempting, has now escalated into several books on the subject, acres of crochet cotton and every kind of crochet hook under the sun. It’s official, another addiction has begun.

Looking about, the clues are all around me. I’ve never been able to pass a bookshop without picking up several books, even though I already have lots I haven’t had a chance to read. We have bookcases and shelves filled with books because I also can’t bear to part with them once I’ve read them. And then there are the nappies. I started using reusable nappies with my second son to save money, and of course the environment. Well, the environmental thing has held firm, but I seriously doubt I’m saving much money. Have you seen how many fantastic nappies there are out there to be bought? Seriously, long gone are the days of boiling white terry squares, on my washing line right now is a long row of nappies in a rainbow of colours, I just can’t resist them! I blame Ebay for that too of course, I wouldn’t have half the opportunity to buy all these things if it wasn’t there, tempting me on an almost hourly basis.

So you see all the evidence points to an addiction to addiction. I just can’t help myself, hobbies turn into monumental excuses to go wild and hoard everything I can find that relates to it.

And the worst thing? I’m not overly sure I want to be cured!

Babylonglegs

2006-08-17T14:51:00.000Z

Babylonglegs

How clever is this lady! She turns my experimental wool into fabby wool pants, can't wait to get Leo's cuddly bum into them!

I just blew my microwave up dyeing some more wool up. Nightmare!

Monday

2006-08-14T10:59:00.000Z

Today is not going well and it's not midday yet.

I've changed my mimd yet again about what I want to write about, and I was all set to get going but now i've totally lost the vibe. This is probably due to the amount of poop i've had to deal with already this morning, Leo, ok, he's 5 months old, I don't mind his. I do object to the cat doing it on the sofa, and to Thomas doing it in his pants 2 minutes after getting off the potty. Ack.

In fact so far the only thing to have gone according to plan is that the BBC got the weather right for once. I have to admit, I had my doubts as I hung the nappies out in the gloom this morning, but now the sun is beating down on them as promised.

Something to smile about at least!

Here's one I made earlier..

2006-08-13T09:46:00.000Z

These are the 2 unlucky balls of yarn that didn't quite cut it enough to be made into super dooper babylonglegs pants. It was a tough fought contest with all the yarn giving 110%, but there could only be 2 winners. These runners up will now face the indignity of being knitted by me. I appologise in advance wool, as I was balling you up I realised just how much I like your colours and you deserve more than my mediocre knitting. I'll try my best.

I'm still procrastinating, can you tell?

I want to knit socks.... these socks....

Procrastinating

2006-08-12T12:40:00.000Z

I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this OU assignment weeks ago and was feeling so smug with myself. So why, with a week to go, have I not managed to do anything?????

To be honest, i'd rather be doing anything but, i've got things to knit, things to read, things to crochet....

But no, I must persevere! Imagine how great i'll feel when it's done and submitted and I can get along with all the other million things I want to do.

Out of interest, do we get clothes moths in this country? Only asking because i've been reading the Yarn Harlot book and now i'm fearful for my stash......

Perfectionist

2006-08-11T09:54:00.000Z

I think I have a problem you know. The fact the second skein I did didn't have any stand alone red in bothered me so much i've just done another skein. So now I can relax, I have 2 virtually identical skeins to send to Sarah and 2 that are funky in their own right that I can use to make something, I think perhaps a hat! And i've seen a bag I want to knit on the Garnstudio website.

So much knitting, so little time!!

Thursday

2006-08-11T00:25:00.000Z

Its been an strange sort of a day really. First there was the sad news from MO about Anna's hubby. It's made me think a lot about things, faith etc, and made me want to hug Stu and never let go. So sad. And then there's all this foiled terror plot stuff on the news, we live in a much changed world now.

I needed to chill out a bit come teatime, so left Stu in charge and went off to Borders to the much fun Stitch n Bitch. I even managed to crack out the cardigan I started for Leo months ago, though I doubt very much it will fit him now. If it turns out well I might send it down to baby Harry.

I also managed to dye some more wool today. Sarah is going to use it to make some of her fabby new shortieshorts so we can trial them for her. I think i've mastered the Koolaid dyeing now, although I made a huge mess doing it. Its great fun though!

Got some new knitty type books to read too, Yarn Harlot, and At Knits End. They look good. I also got a book which should hopefully help me knit sweaters in the round. We shall see!

And now its late so i'm sloping off to bed.

xx

Finished

2006-08-07T20:41:00.000Z

I'm feeling quite accomplished now, they took me well over a week to do, but it's the first time i've knitted on circular needles and there were a couple of techniques involved i'd not even heard of let alone tried! So woo hoo, I will have one very psychadelic wooly clad bibble come winter!

In other news, said bibble and I made our way on the train down to Nottingham on friday to meet up with some fellow MumsOnliners. We had a really fabby day, it was lovely putting faces to names at last, and meeting the knitting queen herself Sarah! She even gave me an impromptu lesson on short rows with wraps on a picnic rug in the grounds of Nottingham castle, what a star! She also came bearing woolies! 1kg of lovely BFL to play with when my extra koolaid arrives, and 3 completely gorgeous snuggly hemp Stuffie Nappies and wipes purse and matching wet bag made by the very talented Lottie. If you don't own a Stuffie nappy or seven then you should definately get some now!!!!

Thomas came back from his little trip away with Stu's parents a very happy camper (well caravaner technically but lets not split hairs) having spent much time swimming and generally running amok. Thinking we might escape to a caravan park when the summer holidays are over and its a bit less busy.

Took the number one son to the cinema for the first time on sunday, how much fun was that! Kerchowwwww! (we saw Cars in case you can't tell ;) )

What to knit now I wonder...... well actually the next project is a crochet one, not very well practiced at crochet so that could be interesting! But anyway, before that i've got an assignment to do for my OU creative writing course. It's autobiography / biography this time, so i'm wondering if I can explore some of the less happy clappy chirpy side to myself, a.k.a the bit surpressed by prescription drugs ;). Not quite sure how i'd work something like that though so we'll see!

The Longies So Far!

2006-08-02T18:07:00.000Z

Lazy Days

2006-07-31T00:16:00.000Z

Another weekend of doing not much at all, not that I'm complaining, chilling out with the boys in the garden is lovely. We did manage to get to B&Q to get some paint, so hopefully work can commence on Leo's room imminently and we'll soon have our bedroom back. Hoorah!

The cat had the most excitement of the weekend, being returned by the neighbours twice after wandering off. Friday night he was returned to us dripping wet and wrapped in a teatowel after taking a nose dive into the neighbours pond. You'd think jumping in the bath and being introduced to the paddling pool by Thomas would have put the cat off water for life, apparently not!

I've been getting on with my knitting at every opportunity. I had to frog it once after it became apparent I'd managed to twist it on the circs somehow, but the second attempt has been much more successful. 31 rounds done (see piccy!) including a few techniques I haven't used before. Thankfully my knitting guru Sarah (BabyLongLegs) has been on hand to talk me through it and I can now insert a short row with wrap alongside the best of them! The wool looks a bit like an explosion in a paint factory but it's knitting up brightly if nothing else, so we wont be losing Leo when he's wearing them that's for sure!

I Love Koolaid

2006-07-27T23:33:00.000Z

Hot hot hot! That's what it is tonight, humid, muggy, ugh. Can't sleep and to cap it off, the root is going in one of my teeth and it hurts. Still, went to the dentist and he is going to refer me to the conscious sedation clinic so I don't have to be aware when they attempt to repair the mess that is my mouth. Phew.

Did some koolaid dying yesterday to get some gorgeous bluefaced leicester wool ready to turn into some funky longies for Leo. The effect wasn't quite what I was going for (see piccy) and each of the three balls looks different, but hey, i'm still learning, and it's not like Leo will be complaining about how his longies look just yet!

I've started knitting the longies on circs which is my first time using them. I had no idea how to go about knitting longies on the round, but a lovely lady from MumsOnline is helping me out god bless her! I'll post a piccy of my progress tomorrow when the knitting has grown a bit, but so far so good!

Washing

2006-07-24T20:48:00.000Z

Thats the only problem with going away - coming back to 2 tons of washing and a house you forgot you left messy in your hurry to get gone! Still, its always nice to see washing drying on the line, even if the line is a haphazard affair stretching back and forth across the driveway!

Got some more wool for my stash before I went away, theres a wool shop oppostite the place where Stu is having his physio and they had a big basket outside with wool for 50p a ball in. Got some nice Sirdar soft cotton which coincidently is the recommended wool for a shawl my mum wants me to crochet for her from this months Simply Knitting. Handy!

And I also had fluffy mail while I was away too! A gorgeous Clwt-Twt bamboo nappy I got on Ebay, very soft and snuggly and he looks lush in it (see piccy!), and also my order from Apple Tree Nappies I got with my voucher from Lancs County Council. 3 Ellas House Bumhuggers, an Ellas House Print nappy with outer space on it (very cool), 2 Motherease Airflow wraps and 2 silk liners. Hooray for real nappy schemes! I might have to start pruning my stash of nappies at this rate!

And yet more mail, this time from America from my friend Melody. She sent me over some koolaid for my next wool dying project, and a little care bear outfit I got on american ebay for Leo. She also sent Leo a my first carebear toy and a video for Thomas, lovely Melody!

It's going to be hard restraining myself from dying wool tomorrow, but I have to smoosh some sweet potatoes and carrots up for the bibble and put the 2 tons of clean clothes away.

Busy mummy!