WOOD Festival 2011

a.k.a "When Caroline went on her Holidays":



Quick recap - I was invited to run a Knitting Circle at the festival, and I offered to do a bit of spinning as well. In return, two free tickets. So I bought a new camping stove (Trangia 25, thanks for asking, it's very good), made some spindles, gathered up loads of needles and yarn, bought a new sleeping bag and then we Packed All The Things:



and off we trooped to a field in deepest Oxfordshire. The circle went well, especially on the Sunday, lots of takers (youngest I taught was six) including a couple of guys. Although the venue wasn't brilliantly planned for teaching, we improvised and I think everyone went away happy, clutching little squares of knitting :-)

The beloved was entirely awesome through the whole weekend, though I think his allowance of patience for hippies and folk music is probably used up for the year:



^ lots of hippies

although the Tilley hat helped immensely in retaining his equilibrium:



He even packed up the entire camp and shipped it back to the car single-handed while I was teaching (I still haven't got over that one), and manfully braved the pole-lathe:



Note I was standing well back at this point ;-)

All in all, it was good, definitely a different way of spending a weekend, although we got so little sleep on the Friday night (noisy and FREEZING) we sneaked off home on Saturday night and slept in a proper bed, after a proper shower! I think we're getting old :-D either that, or we need air mattresses and MORE BLANKETS next time. And earplugs...

~♥~

Interesting Times

Well, I'm moving.

Assuming my credit checks go through and nothing goes pear-shaped that is, *cross fingers* I'll be off down to Berkshire in a couple of weeks.

AAARGH.

I've started packing (slowly), I'm sorting out paperwork and forms and writing emails and shelling out the £££ and trying to work out what to do with utilities and bleargh. Head = Mince. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, but all I can see at the moment is OMG EXPENSE and OMG HOW THE FUCK AM I GOING TO FIT ALL THIS CRAP IN A VAN???

The wonderful Jules is sorting out transport - I've told him we're gonna need a BIG van. I'm leaving that one in his capable paws - if it won't all fit, guess who's going to have to do two runs? :-D (love ya chick!!!)

So it's all a bit epic here atm. I can't seem to get motivated to pack much, mainly because I'm full of cold and a headful of snot is not conducive to box-packing. However, I have made a small start and tomorrow will be a trip to the big B&Q on the way home for a sack truck and more storage boxes for the stash. I'm also going to run a cardboard box mission to Sainsbury's. I've even ordered some of those vac-pack bags off eBay for the bedlinen and clothes and what-have-yous.

It's going to be fun.

Anyway, last week was exhaustingly good. Went down to the parentals, ate cake, went to Fibre Flurry (very good), went house-hunting in Berks (successful on the 1st attempt, see disclaimer above *grin*), went to two Jane Thornley workshops in Glossop (great fun and AMAZING food and lovely yarn and Jane is adorable), went out with Jules in his new old Mini (it's so cute!), got given a very large toy sheep (thanks R, only you could think of that), got a new Golding (!!!) drop spindle off a Raveler and finally got my hot, sticky little mitts on the Alice Starmore books I've been jonesing after since January. Phew. Here's some pictures, and with that I'm away to pack another box before settling in with some knitting and the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Glasgow

really is photogenic you know.

Also I may have developed a serious thing for the RetroCam app on Android.



Glasgow Central. I love railway stations at the best of times, and Central is a particularly nice one. The roof is awesome.







Of course, you can't go far wrong with the Botanic Gardens.



and Royal Exchange Square is always picturesque, and a great place to people-watch.

So anyway, to explain, Jules rolled up this weekend for a couple of days. We roamed Glasgow (I walked his legs off hahahaha) did some shopping,(Jules was very patient) wandered the West End, rode the subway and picnicked in the Botanics. I wanted to go to the Necropolis, the photography opportunities are just droolworthy, but SOMEONE didn't get his backside over to my house until nearly 10am. Tut tut.

I realised that I'm growing to really like Glasgow. It's unpretentious and mainly non-touristy, unlike Edinburgh, but there's always stuff going on and something to see. It helps that I'm finally starting to get to know the place (though I still won't drive into the city centre other than on the M8) This trip I saw a group of musicians in Highland dress, and one had a spinning wheel :-) There were also two fabulous steampunk girls on the subway - goggles, cameos, scary contacts, the works. There were also a group of very happy football fans at the station on the way back, singing loud enough to raise the roof...some things will never change...

Sunday we drove out to Loch Lomond, going via Helensburgh and Faslane and up to Tarbert:



Obligatory car pic, somewhere between Faslane and Finnart.

It's actually stunning up past Faslane looking over Gare Loch, but a) there's few places to pull over safely to take photos; b) Jules was driving and c) I didn't want to get shot by the MoD police :-) I didn't see any submarines though *disappointed* but I did see more razor wire in one place than I have ever seen before! We then headed back down the A82 and called in at the Loch Lomond Shores, which kind of knocked me for six a bit. I was expecting a few wee tat shops and coffee and a scone, and found a huge car park, an entire shopping mall, (Jenners! Yay!) food court and an aquarium. The food hall is bloody brilliant btw, and the cake was nice too :-)




The aquarium

We then made the obligatory stop at Nardini's in Largs for meatball baguettes and coffee, and gawped at Scandinavian navy ships pootering about on the Clyde. I need to get some binoculars. Oh and a DSLR with a good zoom lens :-)

All this means I have got next to nothing done of course, but I did iron nearly All The Things today (I ran out of coat hangers) - Bank Holidays have their uses.

♥

Botanical Knitting

We went here:



and saw this:



and these: (Look! Casey! and Jess is hiding behind her parasol)



and these: (I really need a wide-angle lens, huh?)



and there was cake:



and this:



and an awesome day was had by all.

Spinning
The ArtemisArtemis fibre is all spun up, and I'm working my way through a batt I carded myself to match. About half a bobbin to go, then plying will commence.

I sampled the Texel, my God it is SPRINGY. I left it as a single, I'm going to try knitting it up shortly and see what it does. Did I mention it was springy? I've started scouring the rest, it is a BIG fleece so it's going to take a while. I did manage to finish scouring the Balwen, and I drumcarded some of it and spun it up on Sunday. It is not exactly soft...but I have a plan. Sort of.

Knitting
Here's the finished Travelling Woman shawlette:



and the pegged rug:



Latest progress on the granny squares: (actually they're sewn together now, and I changed the layout slightly, but you sort of get the idea)



and my latest addiction, a Weavette-style pin loom:



I've knocked another WIP off the list as well. The top I was knitting in banana silk just wasn't working. The yarn is HORRIBLE to knit, and it is heavy. So I'm ripping it out and I might weave with it instead.

In other news, there isn't any :-)

Even more famousness

This is getting kinda embarrassing. Look at the back there, first photo, rocking the tattoo print T-shirt. Yeah, I aim to confuse the muggles. Rock chick tee, Doc Martens and an Ashford Traditional.

I tell you though, I REALLY need to get a more portable wheel :-)

If you're planning on being in Glasgow on Sunday, it's the PicKnit at the Botanics...and there are special guests! Casey and Jess are going to be there! I think Ysolda might be there too! I am very excited and no doubt will make a tit of myself or be all shy and not speak to anyone other than Ange.

I'll be the one in the purple Liesl with the turquoise buttons. Come and say "hi!"

~*~

Fame at Last!

See?

~*~

Scurf and Sandals

Lots to catch up on! Here we go...

Tour de Fleece round-up

Well, the Tour is over for another year. I didn't particularly set myself a target, as I knew I would be working long shifts and I didn't want to set myself impossible challenges. It's too easy for me to start beating myself up over it when I don't make it! However, I am quite pleased with my efforts. I wanted to experiment and dig into the stash a little bit. I tried some raw fleece for the first time, I spun silk hankies (also a first for me) and successfully plied on a spindle. I used beads in plying for the first time and I also made a small dent in the stash :-) So all in all, a good Tour and my spinning has improved somewhat!

Scouring
Also as (sort-of) part of the Tour, I tried out the fermented suint method of scouring fleece. In a nutshell, you take a greasy fleece, soak it in soft water for a week and you end up with a viciously stinky natural soap solution. It works! So far, anyway...
I made my bath up with leftover BFL. After a week it had a distinct white scum on the top and smelled like an open sewer with a dead sheep in it. I fished out the fleece and gave it a thorough rinse. This was effectively scrap fleece when I started, but after this it looked like it might be salvageable. However, the main aim was to get the bath of FSM (makes me think of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) to experiment with.

I decided to test if I could get rid of scurf using the FSM. I threw in some Balwen, and left it for about 36 hours. I fished that out, rinsed it, then checked it for scurf. It was still there, but very clean - white scurf instead of brown :-) So I then rinsed the fleece with very hot water, to see if any of the scurf was actually lanolin. No dice. Finally I made up a very strong bath of washing soda. On dropping the fleece in, the water went almost black. I left it for about 5 minutes, turning it over halfway through and swooshing it about a bit. I then rinsed it with lots of clean water and finally with vinegar. Once it was dry I had a good look at it. Where the fleece was open and fairly well picked / teased, the scurf had gone. It was just lurking inside a few clumpy, compressed parts of the fleece. So...FSM and washing soda combined can shift scurf! Yay! If you want to try it, go careful with the soda - don't kill the wool or your hands! Rubber gloves STRONGLY recommended, and don't let the fleece sit too long in soda, it will weaken it.

Knitting and weaving progress
I have finished the Travelling Woman shawl! I need to block it, but I want to clean the dining room floor first. I also made a good chunk of progress on my Hap shawl, and I'm about ready to start sewing together the SAORI blanket.

Trip down south & Woolly Wormhead

I was down visiting the parental units over the weekend, and the car went to visit its family at the Mazda dealer for its annual checkup :-) I managed to find time to:
* make a large dent in Marks and Spencer's underwear department (a girl can only take so many saggy bras)
*score brownie points with my Dad by finding him soda farls and buying an entire shelf's worth (their local supermarket doesn't have them)
*finally find and purchase some cute sandals...
*...which meant I had to paint my toenails, for the first time in about 5 years...I had to buy polish!



*get my hair cut (by Mum, bless her) and get her to teach me a new, cute way of putting my hair up



*spend the day with mah best buddy Jules
*and meet Woolly Wormhead! Whee!

See?



That's Woolly and Jeanette, who owns the yarn shop.

We met up at Yarn Gathering in Stone, which is a smashing wee shop (yes I bought yarn. Bite me.) There were drinks and cakes and lots of hats to try on, and Woolly was answering questions and helping us work out yarn subs and the best way to wear a hat. It was really good fun, and I now have a few more patterns in my queue..."Dulcie" was amazing in that it suited everybody who tried it on. It's like a magic hat of flatteringness. Look! Even I don't look like a total dork in one:



Well, a bit of a dork maybe.

Saturday was spent trolling about the Staffordshire Moorlands with Jules, playing with the sat nav, listening to the Pet Shop Boys (that's just dated me...and I STILL know all the words to "It's a Sin") and visiting the Threshing Barn, where shopping occurred...naturally :-) I finally got a peg loom, and a small pin loom, similar to a Weave-It. I also got some lovely rainbow-dyed mohair, some Ryeland for adding to crazy batts, some dyes and a book. I also got some small samples of unusual fibres to try out. Jules gets special mention for following me around carrying all my purchases and not complaining :-) We also spotted the cutest little piglets you ever did see. I don't know what breed they were, I meant to ask but was overcome by wool fumes, but they were black with the cutest liddle pink wrinkly noses. I wants one. Jules took pictures, I of course left my camera at home. Duh.

Then finally on Monday I drove home, to a pile of mail and a laundry basket at bursting point. I did bring back another purchase though, I'd ordered online and had the parcel delivered to Mum and Dad's. Meet the new love of my life:



Henry, how I love thee. After borrowing one from the landlord, I had to have one of my very own. Revelation. If you're in the market for a new vacuum, may I suggest you get yourself a Henry.

You know you're getting old when you're excited about a new household appliance...

~*~

Spending Wisely

Go here, and you will find that Casey has made a special search on Ravelry for pattern sales that are benefiting Haiti relief. Most of them are donating 50% or more of the sale price to Médecins sans Frontières and some to the Red Cross. Ysolda is donating 80% of everything sold from her site or Ravelry until January 31st. She's even adding in any of the Twist Collective patterns if you let her know you've bought one. So far, she's been able to donate over £3700. Wow. What she's noticed is that people are buying patterns at an amazing rate instead of waiting till they're ready to start a project, they've been gifting them to each other...I have no words. There are lots of other top designers joining in too - WendyKnits, Miriam Felton, Connie Chang Chinchio, Laura Chau, Cecily Glowik MacDonald, Woolly Wormhead...the list goes on.

Just goes to show what amazing people knitters are, huh? Stephanie is approaching the ONE MILLION DOLLAR mark for MSF. $1,000,000.

I have no words.

Y'all are amazing.

~*~

Recovery

Back.

Well, actually I got back Tuesday night, but it's taken this long to decompress, calm down and sort out the laundry.

Friday - Tuesday = too many days combined with parents. Don't get me wrong, I love them both dearly and I am very lucky that they are relatively normal and sane, but, even so, I wish they'd turn off the damn TV sometimes. That, mixed with the traffic noise and the endless inane chatter nearly drove me up the wall. I am definitely a hermit. I cannot understand how my mother, who is otherwise an intelligent, well-read woman, can watch all those soaps without feeling her brain cells spontaneously combusting. Mind you, she's still a pretty good cook, so my vitamin levels are probably higher than they have been since I was last there :-)

Sadly it seems that Granny's fall may have been a symptom of something worse, probably another little stroke. She was up the North Staffs hospital for a few days, then transferred to Cheadle. She's refusing, or is unable, to walk, and is really confused about who people are and where and when she is. Once they've finished with her at Cheadle, she'll be going into a nursing home. My uncle can't look after her any more, she will need full-time nursing care from now on. My cousin's wife, who is an elderly-care person herself, went round a bunch of homes, and picked out a really nice one which in fact, is the one my other granny ended up in. So at least she'll be somewhere nice with a big garden and nice people looking after her. It's such a shame though, she never wanted to end up like this. My only comfort is that she doesn't really know what's happening.

In other news, apparently I am a disappointment to my parents. I'm not overly surprised. My Dad still thinks I should have been an engineer, preferably following in his footsteps (wake?) by going to sea. Yeah. There are a few reasons this would never have happened. I can't do maths, I can barely wire a plug, physics is an entirely closed book to me (apart from some of the really cool quantum stuff) and I can get seasick on wet grass. Also I am terrified of deep water and I can't swim.

My mum has started hinting that isn't it about time I started having babies?
Yowza. That one came out of left field. I can barely look after myself and the cat as it is. And unless they really are brought by storks, or found under the cabbages in the garden, the chances of it happening are right up there with Hell freezing over or the Tories winning the next election in Scotland. I did point out that there are normally one or two essential criteria for sprog-production, the most vital usually being the presence of a suitably enthusiastic male, and that such things are not so much in short supply as actually non-existent. This didn't seem to deter her a great deal, so maybe she's turning religious and is thinking of the next immaculate conception. Sheesh. I told her I would much rather have a dog, thanks.

So anyway, I managed to do a little shopping whilst up Hanley duck (it's a Stoke thing, don't worry about it) and scored a fab pair of biker boots which I have been wanting for, oh, about the last 15 years:



"Biker Wild Ones" by Grinder, from Dignity in Hanley. Love (10000000). I also bought a couple of tops and a dress from Trentham, and a dinky pink shrug. I'm looking forward to wearing the pretty dress and shrug with the boots :-)

I also had to shell out £200 to get the car serviced, but they did hoover it so that's ok...but I will be spending the rest of the month living on rice and whatever is lurking in the bottom of the freezer. I did want to go over to Fife to Twist Fibrecraft, but I daren't. My debit card is sobbing quietly in the corner as it is.

~*~

Nibbled by Zombies

Sorry, another month has passed and I am a bad blogger. June already. I've been up here in Scotland about a year! I can hardly believe it. And would ya believe, I'm sick again. My neck has swelled up to icky proportions on one side, enough to send me scuttling to the doctors in horror of glandular fever or swine flu or the plague or summat. Typical quack - reckons I've got an infection, or possibly a dodgy tooth, or maybe a bite. Or maybe she doesn't really give a fuck. Pah. I reckon I've been bit by a zombie. Sods get everywhere.

Anyway.
Project Spectrum has fallen somewhat by the wayside - I just can't get excited about yellow. I'm trying real hard but it's not working. Also...the weather's been nice! Fabulous in fact. I'm having to water the garden. It can't possibly last, so I've been making the most of it so crafting has taken a bit of a back seat. Also, I found a new time-suck - Folia. It's like Ravelry for gardeners. Great fun, and I've found that their database has at some point been fed some rather out-of-date info on my favourites, Rhododendron. So I'm busy updating and correcting information on the genus and learning lots at the same time. Yes, I am a geek. A taxonomic geek at that. Well, I like things to be right, you know? It's keeping the "I wanna be a gardener!!!" vibes calmed quite nicely at the moment.

I also had to invest some fairly serious time tidying up. Because I had a visitor! Yay me. I get very few visitors (feel free to be sympathetic at this point) so it's a bit of a treat but means I have to make the place look presentable. Jules is one of mah bestest buddies (i.e. he's one of the few people on the planet who can actually tolerate me for long periods) and my former boss. He's only been trying to get up here since January, but bearing in mind his history of punctuality, May wasn't too bad considering. (Ohai Jules! *grin*) He wasn't staying here (I think he's worried I might keep him) so at least I didn't have to try and elbow enough room out of the spare bedroom / sewing room / painting studio to accommodate the airbed :-) instead he stayed at the Seamill Hydro down the road where we had a very nice dinner on Friday night. Jules - you can come up any time if you bring the sunshine with you like this time, and if you take me out for dinner :-) I don't get out much these days y'know.

Meet Jules' very unsubtle car:



Cool innit?

And we went to Largs on Saturday, enjoyed the sunshine (next time Jules, tell me when my back is going pink, ok?) and stuffed ourselves at Nardini's before coming back and stuffing ourselves again at the local restaurant Chu-Chus. I haven't eaten so much in weeks.

Look! Sunshine! (This is Jules on a work call. While he's on holiday. *sigh*)



So a jolly, if rather fattening time was had by all.

And next weekend...it's the UK RAVELRY DAY!!!!! Lock up my credit card someone.

~*~

The Revolution is Coming...

...and the Knitters are leading it. Go read this, and make sure you follow the link at the top for a deeper explanation first.

My planned subscription to Vogue Knitting is now on hold indefinitely. I was impressed with the latest issue (it's rare I can even find it), but I do wonder how long they will be able to maintain the quality.

Now go read! Shoo! Tell your friends, hell, write to VK if you feel of a mind. Personally, I'm going to spend my VK subscription money on Ravelry downloads :-)

~*~

The Christmas Review

This will mainly be in pictures because, would you credit it, I have not, as first thought, beaten off the miserable cold which tried to spoil Christmas, but have, it would appear, attracted another. Gosh that's a lot of commas. Sorry. Blame the germs. I was planning to go to Edinburgh for Hogmanay but a combination of the stars not aligning correctly and a fear of contracting pneumonia put that off. Maybe next year. I spent an evening in front of the fire knitting instead. And blowing my nose. Sniff. At least my washer hasn't exploded yet.

Right. Christmas.

The Sweater:



Note the ribbed hems - I had to rip the sleeves back a bit and knit down. Fits really nice though. Dad now wants a matching hat :-)

Mum's Wrap:



Mum is sadly not one of those people who photographs well...so I chose this photo so she doesn't roast me over a slow fire.

Uncle's Hat (my Uncle, btw, is not actually certifiable - he just looks it on this photo)



He also is not normally blurry or pointy-headed. Blame my cameraphone (guess who left the proper camera at home that day)

I gifted Granny the Pi Shawl:



but I didn't get a picture of her with it. She seemed very pleased with it though, and when we left was happily examining the construction to try and work out how I made it.

Finally there was the Cat. Cat does actually have a name (in fact two) - originally christened Diablo (highly appropriate) Mum decided she didn't like that and renamed her Dido. I think that sounds like a sex toy, so I generally call her Cat. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves here:









Finally...





Success.

Next Post will no doubt be some sort of Review of the Year type thingy, if I can un-bung my nose long enough.

Happy New Year.

~*~

Christmas is coming....

hahahahaha sorry. True though...and Dad has spake forth. "I want a jumper. Make me a jumper." No argument, no indecision. The man has decided, and only a sweater will do.

Gulp.

Oh dear.

I have only ever knitted 1 1/4 sweaters in my life so far. Both for me, so I don't really mind if they're a bit, y'know, not perfect. But this is my Dad, so it has to be a) perfect, and b) fit him.

Gulp.

Me: "Muuuuuuuuum! Helphelphelphelphelp pleasemeasureDad'ssweaterandtellmethesizes! Don'tlethimfindout!panicpanicpanicpanicpanic where'smyElizabethZimmermannbooks???"

Heh. Mums are the bestest. However it turns out my Dad has a 46" chest and likes a sweater around the 48" mark. FORTY-EIGHT INCHES!!?!?!!??!! That's like, humungous. That, for those who are in the 21st century and use metric, is 120cm. Do all men have such big chests? (I can feel a survey coming on.) Forty-eight freakin inches. I'm only a 36" (sadly) and that seems to take a lot of knitting. Even mum was mildly surprised, and managed to accost him in person for a double-check (using the excuse of him being on a bit of a diet and wanting to check if he was losing any weight...cunning, my mum)and yup, it's right. Who'd have thunk it. My dad, the barrel-chested.

Oh well. Luckily, I have 3lbs of Harris wool in the stash, which will suit admirably, (from here) and a quick order to New Lanark for some contrast colours completed the shopping list. By the way, New Lanark have put their prices up dramatically. I know they're a charity and a World Heritage Site and all that, but flippin eck, it was a bit of a shock. Mind you, it's still a very good price and lovely stuff, so I'll forgive them. Wish they could have warned me though, I'd have stocked up ;-)

I'm thinking to do a Seamless Yoke sweater, from Elizabeth Zimmermann (who else). I was originally thinking of the Seamless Hybrid (brooklyntweed did a gorgeous one here)but having never knitted a seamless sweater before, I'm thinking the yoke might be a little easier. It's also less critical on the fit, the hybrid really needs a known shoulder-width, and there's no way of getting that without letting on to Dad. I did wonder if the yoke version might be a little girly, but having had a browse on Ravelry I have seen some really nice men's versions, so that has eased my fears a little. I've got grey, cream, black and a limestone colour (sort of a creamy-grey-beige) so that should be suitably restrained for a male palate.

I just need to learn how to do stranded colourwork now and I'm all fixed.

Oh God. Send help.

~*~

Yuk.

I'm ill. I've dropped for what I fear is a right nasty cold. I can barely type even, and it must be affecting my ears as it's making me feel slightly nauseous but hungry at the same time, which is a neat trick. I even went back to bed this morning, which is unheard of. I'm really peeved about this. I've only been in the new job five minutes and this happens, all things considered its a miracle I'm still in a job. Just hope my boss is as understanding as he seems. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy for which I am eternally grateful. That's one thing I am lucky with, generally I've had really nice bosses through the years.

One thing I don't have is thoughtful fellow commuters. I'm certain I've picked this up on the train. There was a day last week where it seemed Every. Single. Person. was coughing and / or sneezing. Inconsiderate b@stards. I hate you all. If you're laid up, STAY AT HOME. We actually don't want to share your filthy germs thankyouverymuch. *sigh* there are times when I truly loathe humanity as a whole. Especially when they cough on me. I'm dreading winter. If we get another round of winter bugs, I'm seriously considering going into hibernation. Either that or driving to work...

~*~

Back in the Zone

Right, I'm finally back on Planet Earth, and not working, commuting or doing other boring stuff like cleaning. That's next :-(

So, I Knit London! Well, what a day. Totally worth the effort of driving down to Staffs and jumping a train from Derby. Had a great start - arriving at this:



That's St. Pancras, the first time I've been since it was remodelled, and I must say they've done a nice job of it. Feels like a proper station, with its huge clock and glass roof. Like a railway station should be.

I hopped on the Tube (after picking myself up off the floor in shock at the price of a return ticket) and moseyed down to Victoria, and after a slightly shaky start (went the wrong way) found my way to the Royal Horticultural Society's Halls. I knew I was in the right place when I spotted a Gingko biloba tree planted outside, and a small army of people in handknits and Ravelry T-shirts. Ah, yarn people. They were queuing :-)

And what joy was to be found within. Lovely people, good tea (but the greedy yarn people ate all the sandwiches, SOMEONE had no lunch) lots of lovely yarns to squish, and signs encouraging you to squish, a knitted sheep, a catwalk, lots of books, spinning, charity things, giant needles, swifts, spindles, needle cases, project bags...it goes on. You've seen what I bought already. More on that later.

And to top it all off, the High Priestess of knitterly goodness and humour, the Yarn Harlot herself. She's absolutely hilarious. If you get chance, go see her, she's fabulous. Bless her, she looked so utterly terrified I thought she was going to do a runner, we had a bit of a microphone scare and she's only just visible over the podium, but funny, intelligent, wry and thought-provoking. And she brought the sock :-) and the lovely Manon cardi which I must remember to queue in Ravelry. What was also fascinating was watching all the audience knitting whilst waiting. I discovered I love watching other people knit. Everyone knits differently. Every. Single. Person. I think that's fabulous.

So what did I buy? Well, you've seen it all, so here's a brief run-down of what its all for. The red Lace Silk will probably be a Swallowtail, or similar. The lilac cashmere is for Laminaria, when I feel brave enough. The Loaghtan is for a Hemlock blanket. Manos del Uruguay will probably be a Crofter's Cowl (link to Ravelry), and the fibre is for practising. I have no idea if its suitable for spinning as it is or not, but I've had a little play with it and it seems to draft reasonably well (get me, I sound like I know what I'm talking about) so I think it should work.

And now I need to stop for a little while with the yarn purchasing I think. I have enough, and there's a lot of, for want of a better term, crap. Squeeeky acrylics, novelty fluff and random ends. I need to shift it one way or another as it's starting to bug me. If I can either use it up or offload it, it won't be weighing on my mind, and if I stop buying for a little while I can afford some nicer stuff. I'm not declaring a yarn diet, if I see good yarn at a bargain price I'm certainly not going to walk away because of some self-imposed restriction. I'm just re-evaluating :-) So I've been browsing Ravelry for scrap patterns and afghans, and some I might even cart off to the charity shop just to be shut of it (a lot is stuff I've inherited from my family so its not like its cost me anything.) The last couple of months seem to have been expensive, what with having to get new clothes that fit me for the new job, buying season tickets and lampshades and curtain poles, not to mention travelling down to Staffs (two tanks of petrol per trip, ouch) and of course the IKL show, so I'm drawing my horns in a little to save for Christmas and for a sofa.

However I will make a small exception to my curbed consumerism to buy the new Spore computer game. Just because.

And now, if you'll excuse me, the landlord just delivered four dining chairs which need my gentle ministrations with a scrubby brush, polish and a darned good hoovering.

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I am Woman...Hear Me Roar

Or whimper, as the case may be. Quick catch-up, as I have been remiss with the blogging. Training course - complete, good, hard work, waiting to see how much has been retained. Good dinners. Marginally more clear on what I'm actually going to be doing for a living :-) and the training course only covers the techie part, which is not my first responsibility, the rest I have to figure out as I go. Won't be the first time.

Coming back was interesting to say the least. Virgin Trains from Euston to Glasgow Central at an unholy hour of the morning (06.44, ffs) No WiFi!!! WTF??? Anyway. Uneventful. Knitted quite a lot. Passed Lichfield, felt sad and wanted to get off. (Train didn't stop - probably a good thing, but in hindsight, shame it didn't) Went through Stafford without stopping, wanted to get off to see old workmates and my Mum and Dad. Nearly got off at Crewe, but thought, no, get home, car's stuck on railway car park all on its own, house could have blown away, best get back. Got to Preston.

You know how some days you're the windscreen, and other days you are the bug? This day, I was the bug. Crew changed, and we're still standing at the platform. Tannoy announcement - Flooding at Carnforth. Ah. Problem. Eventually, they terminated the train (sounds painful) and we were summarily turfed off. I went for a fag to consider my strategy, and got rained on. Heavily. Eventually, buses were announced. I damply pondered this. Trains were standing at every platform, confused passengers roamed aimlessly, some sat on suitcases, many glued to phones and cups of waiting room coffee. Bus was going to Lancaster. I considered some more. No trains going North, trains terminating at Lancaster...= bedlam there too. So, I did what any sensible girl does in this situation. I damply phoned my Dad. "Daaaaaaaad, what am I going to dooooooo?" He immediately suggested something that I had already thought about - jump a service back to Crewe, get picked up by him and write the day off as a loss re: travelling, spend the night there (Mum's cooking - excellent) and try again on the Friday. Excellent plan. Enquiries about services to Crewe met with blank expressions from the staff (admittedly, they were having a bad day) and eventually I found one myself. Back we went, I duly hauled my ass across Crewe station and was scooped up by Dad outside. To discover his car was terminally sick and we barely made it back to Stoke. *sigh* Car was dropped in at the garage to the inestimably marvelous Tony, and I settled down for an afternoon of Olympics, watching Dad fall asleep on the sofa, eating biscuits and having a very welcome visitor, if only briefly. Following morning, car fixed by Tony (fuel filter, very easy but seemed terminal at the time) I was ferried up to Crewe by Dad, who was treated to a huge cup of tea and a very large raspberry muffin for his trouble, he indulged in a bit of trainspotting and eventually I hopped onto the Glasgow train. Apart from sharing a carriage with a loudly exuberant African extended family, who had brought enough food, drink and luggage with them for a small army (including a suitcase full of mugs, jars of coffee and a very large Thermos)and who kept sitting on me (I nearly stabbed one with my needles when she sat on me again for the nth time, but they were my KnitPicks and they're expensive)I finally pulled into Glasgow ten minutes early, and very nearly kissed the platform in joy. A short wait, onto the local service, back to my station, car collected intact and started no problem (I love Japanese cars) and the house hadn't fallen down. In fact, it had improved. Not only have they tarmac-ed the road up to the house, the landlord had fixed my wonky laminate and re-set the front step which was wobbling alarmingly.

On the doormat, and delivered by the neighbours were some treats - my NCIS DVD's (Seasons 1 & 3), printer cartridges and my Tesco Clubcard points vouchers. So, I decided to go shopping. I bought some new work clothes (all my old trousers are too big, to the point of only being held up by my hips) and I also bought this:



so I can have this:



Porridge with blueberries, pumpkin seeds, sultanas, cinnamon, ginger and maple syrup. Lovely. I also treated myself to this:



I then realised that the lawn had grown to the point where I was expecting to find David Attenborough out there with a film crew, and there was no way my poor little mower was going to manage without some heavy-duty help. Its mainly the edges, suffice to say that there are Issues with my lawn. So, this morning, at 9.30 (on a Sunday, please note) I trooped up to B&Q and bought:



Yes, its a strimmer. Its only a little girly electric one - I was very tempted to get the big manly petrol one, but it would be a bit overkill, the lawn's bad, but not THAT bad, and it was taller than me. I probably wouldn't be able to start it anyway. So I spent a happy hour or so zapping about the very wet lawn edges. I discovered that strimming is Hard Work, makes your arms all achy, and you get grass in places you would not believe. I also realised that what my lawn really needs is digging up and starting again (Not going to happen) but it looks marginally better when you cut the edges and strim off the three foot high bits. If it will stay dry for a couple of days I may even manage to mow it. I felt quite smug at being the proud owner of a strimmer - "Look! I Am Woman Who Know How To Use Power Tools. Respect Me." However, I've decided that strimming is definitely a job for the boys. Too much like hard work and you get grass in your hair and green fingernails. I'll stick to knitting. Speaking of which - we have hats!





For the Mission to Seafarers.

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