didn't we have a lovely day...

the day we went to London?



Yup, the Ravelry LSG UK Hoars Meet Up.

Look! Tweasels in their natural environment (the pub):







Now, I am the first to admit that I dislike London. I love some of the things IN London - the yarn shops, the V&A, the British Museum, the Doc Martens shop (is that still there?) but London generally you can keep. It's too busy, too dirty, too noisy and there isn't enough greenery. No, Hyde Park doesn't count. Really, no, it doesn't. It's a field.

However, it has some compensations.



Need I say any more on this matter? I thought not.

Also:



The coned yarns are from the Handweaver's Studio, where I met up with a few other weaving-minded souls in the morning. It's a great shop, see:



Well worth the short trip up to Finsbury Park.

I actually had a really good time, it's the first time I've been into the Smoke since I moved, and it was weird coming into Paddington on the Great Western, I'm so used to landing at Euston. I kind of felt like I hadn't arrived properly, if that makes sense. What absolutely gobsmacked me, and this is one for the railway buffs, is that the Paddington trains from Reading had slam doors. SERIOUSLY? I thought Southerners were all advanced and posh?! SLAM DOORS??!? Haven't seen them in years. Even the Clyde Coast line trains have sliding push-button doors.

ANYWAY. I digress, as usual.

There are other good things to tell you about. My date has rekindled (hurray) so I'm all happy about that. I'm not telling you any more :-)

I have a new chair! A spinning chair! You may envy me now:



Isn't it awesome? I love it. This means I can sit properly and spin, rather than sinking into the sofa and wrecking my back.

I was given an incredibly generous present. I'm still rather overcome to be honest.



That's a Don Porritt tapestry loom. Oh my. I don't actually know how to make it work yet, but I'm going to find out! As far as I can tell, everything is there ready to go, just the reed needs a clean as it's gone a bit rusty. A soak in some Coca-Cola and a going over with some wire wool should sort that out. I just need to put aside some time to devote to sorting and learning.

I think that's it, I've just been to the dentist for a super-deep clean and I feel like I've been smacked in the mouth with a cricket bat. Hopefully though this will make my gums better - I'm not convinced personally, they've always been a bit dubious, but hey, I'll give it a try and see what happens. I get a week off then go back for the other side to be done. Can't wait...at least the anaesthetic has worn off enough so I can drink without dribbling, and the bleeding seems to have abated somewhat. Ouch. Soup for dinner again :-(

~♥~

Update time :-)

I finished the Knit a Peak Shawl! I started this at the Jane Thornley workshops last year in Glossop, and finally finished it off. This is intended more as an art piece than a wearable - it's actually turned out a little too small to wear easily anyway. So when I work out the logistics, I'm going to hang it on my lounge wall :-)



I did some more spinning - I finished off a batt from FeltStudioUK, which is gorgeous and sparkly and I want to pet it and call it George; and the last of the Texel / Balwen blend I carded before I moved house.



The Texel / Balwen I think will become an "Iced" from Knitty First Fall 2010. It needs something simple to show the character of the yarn, and I need more cardigans :-) On that topic, my Scottish Tweed sweater is coming on well, once sleeve done, the other past halfway. After that I need to do the neckband and then re-do the bottom hem on a smaller needle to stop it rolling up. Then I will have a nice baggy, cosy sweater to wear! Yay.

That's about it for the fibre front. In other news I did some online shopping for Japanese noms:



I've long been intrigued by Japanese food (apart from sushi, oddly) and finally got round to buying a couple of books - Everyday Harumi and the Just Bento Cookbook - which meant I had to buy some basics! There's a few things I'd never tried before: dashi stock (it's okay, I have to be in a fishy mood though); proper Japanese rice (yum yum); awase miso (teh nom) and some dried bonito fish flakes which I haven't dared open yet...I got some proper noodles and a few other odds and ends too. The jury's still out on nori though. I don't think I like it very much :-( Anyway one of the things I want to do is make my work lunches a bit more interesting (and a bit healthier) so I've been looking at bentos a lot recently. I'm still extremely dubious about rice, which is probably daft as the Japanese have been eating it in bento for a long time and they haven't all died from botulism :-) but otherwise I really like a lot of the ideas. I ordered myself a few cute bento bits and pieces from here (it's really hard to find in the UK) so I'm now stalking the postman.

I ventured to the giant Sainsbury's at Calcot this morning, and managed to get not only my favourite Nairn's oat and choc chip, and mixed spice biscuits (I bought three boxes of each!) but also some cute cookie cutters and heart-shaped silicone muffin cups which should be cute in bento.

On the subject of shopping, there was a very large display of Valentine's stuff. I would just like to say:

FUCK YOU VALENTINE'S DAY. GO DIE IN A FIRE.

Anyway. Ahem.

I promised the guys at work that I would make cinnamon rolls for them, (another reason to hit Sainsbury's today) so I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning :-) and then spending the afternoon cleaning the kitchen no doubt. Well, I know they'll appreciate them, and I've been needing an excuse to make them. Even I can't eat seven pans of rolls to myself. Well, not in one day. If I've timed it right, the two speshul snowflayke guys in the office I'm not keen on won't be there, so no rolls for them :-D Shame. Do not piss off the lady with the baked goods...bwahahahahahaha

Finally, due to the wonders of Ravelry, I got pointed at this video. I can't believe I never saw it before, but it confirms my deep love for Alan Rickman :-)



*sigh*

Why can't I find a man like that???

I'll be in my bunk.

~♥~

Spinster of This Parish

Oh dear. I have seriously fallen into the spinning quagmire. I think it's been brewing for a while, to be honest, but the opportunity of squishing fibre in the flesh at the Ravelry Day means that the burgeoning interest has now blossomed into an all-out fetish. Hee.

First do you want to see what I got in Coventry? Course you do. Yarn porn is always welcome, right?































Gulp. There's rather a lot there isn't there? In amongst that lot there is some lovely slubby linen from Knitting4fun, some linen laceweight from Artisan Yarns, sock yarn from Lilith, Babylonglegs sock and fibre, The Knitting Goddess lace and sock, Jamieson and Smith jumper and 2-ply lace and Shetland tops, 8oz of merino roving from Frabjous Fibres via Artisan Yarns, a batt from Rockpool Candy and Castlemilk Moorit / alpaca / silk from the Natural Fibre Company. Phew.

Rav day was excellent fun, apart from the appalling weather and the fact that there were no spinning wheels to play with and very few spindles. I actually spent slightly less than anticipated (grin) so I decided that what I really really needed was some new spindles. Helllloooooo Etsy! Two cute top-whorl spindles are now winging their way over from the good ol' US of A. I couldn't wait for them to arrive, so I invented my own lightweight version (my only other spindle weighs a ton):



Yep, that's a jamjar lid. Works a treat, once I'd slathered the join in Araldite anyway. So all this spinny stuff means I fell over in Lilith's yesterday, and bought some Wensleydale, Massam and Shetland, and I got a squishy parcel from World of Wool with BFL, Suffolk and Icelandic tops to play with. I'm already spinning up the Suffolk :-)

I'm still not a great spinner, but I've cast on a shawl in all this nice bulky handspun I had laying around, just to prove it can be knitted into something!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go water the garden (it hasn't rained properly for about three weeks now - I think the world may be ending) and then that nice Suffolk top is calling me back to my spindle...

Oh, and Hi Ange! I have a follower! *blush* hee hee

~*~

Where the hell did April go?

Jeez. It's the 26th already. I think I lost a couple of weeks somewhere. I got slightly broadsided by hurting my back, leading to working from home most of last week. It was nice, but annoying as I couldn't really do much around the place as I didn't want to aggravate my back. It was only a pulled muscle so all better now pretty much, but another sign of my increasing age :-) It was interesting to watch what goes on when I'm not normally at home, mainly the hens running riot in my front garden. If they carry on that game I'll put one in the pot. Probably the noisy cockerel first.

Anyway, apart from plotting the brutal murder of the livestock, I've managed to achieve a few things. I had a Project Spectrum moment, when I realised we're nearly into May and the next Cardinal Direction, and I haven't finished half the stuff I wanted to do for March - April. I may have to alter my timescales a bit, but that doesn't really alarm me too much. I did manage to snap a few photos for East already, we had a few really nice sunny days so I took full advantage. (I also did gardening which was what did for my back. Win some, lose some.) Of course the weather now has turned, it's raining, windy and I've had to light the heating again. So I started an afghan, for Project Spectrum North. This is all manmade fibres for easiness of care and because I wanted fluffy bits. I like fluffy bits in these sort of things, it adds a nice variety of texture both visual and tactile. I am an equal-opportunity yarn crafter.



I love green, which is why PS North has been good for me so far. Funny for someone who supports Hearts to like green, but hey. I can't help my tastes. There's also lots of springy new growth busting out all over, so photography has been really easy. PS North is actually put under Winter as its season, but I guess that's aimed more at people in the Northern US. Here Spring has definitely sprung.

I've one more project I'd like to do for North, which is a vest / sleeveless top in some gorgeous Scottish Tweed DK in a lovely sharp green. I think I've tracked down the pattern I want (finally!) - Vestish by Robin Dodge. It's very cute with the pockets and neckline flowing into the straps. I'll probably knit in the round up to the armholes though. Hate sewing up, you know? :-) It seems very wearable as well, I can picture this over a shirt for work, or over a flowery blouse with a cute twirly skirt.

I've also had a couple of distractions from Project Spectrum. One is lace. Remember I said I was going to do the Fountain Pen Shawl? Well I'm not. Let us speak no more of the matter. I've swapped over to the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern (rav link) from Victorian Lace Today. I'm still using the Old Maiden Aunt laceweight merino in the Gothic colourway, which is gorgeous. I'm working it on a 4mm needle which, in all honesty, may be a little bit too large for this, but I am not frogging this yarn again as I don't think it would like it very much. The original pattern calls for a slightly heavier yarn, though I notice Rav has it listed as 4-ply which is interesting (and I think is a mistake - many people are workinging this in 2-ply / laceweights). I thought it was more like a 3-ply weight but meh. I'll just not block the finished article too hard. I don't have a picture as it currently looks like a small piece of tangled pinky-red-black spaghetti.

I also saw this on Flickr. Go on, click. I'm never too sure if I can post someone else's work on here, so I've just linked. This is inspired by the work of Anu Tuominen, a Finnish artist. She does some wicked things with crochet potholders. Seriously. Do a Flickr search and you'll see them. So of course, this has triggered a potholder kick, which in turn sparked off a general dishcloth / facecloth / tawashi exploration, which now means I have a load of dinky flower-shaped facecloths sitting in the bathroom. (Pattern here) I also may have bought some more crochet cotton. Ahem.



Mmm, Peaches 'n' Creme, finally available in the UK from here. The colours are to die for, however it is a true worsted weight which means it may not be suitable for UK patterns. It's between a DK and aran, I would say.

It's not been all yarn here either. Today I started a drawing for the first time since, well, I actually can't remember it's been that long. I will take some pictures once it's a bit more advanced. I've also been patchworking, piecing the top for my quilt. Experienced quilters may wish to look away now. There is no plan. no overall design, my seams are best not discussed in detail and I can't cut a straight line to save my life. However, I am enjoying the process. It's nice to work with fabric again.





Somewhere I have a quilt that I never finished, that was falling apart because I didn't know about proper seam allowances. I must dig it out and see if anything can be done with it.

And finally, this big box arrived:



What could it be?

No, surely not. It's not a...



It is! It's Roomba's little brother, the Scooba!

Here it is in action:



I tell you, with a bad back it was a ruddy Godsend. Yes folks, I am the proud owner of a £300 mop. My parents now think I am insane, I dread to think what the bf will say when he sees it, but to be honest, I do not care. My floors are clean and that is awesome. I plonk it in the room to be done, shift any stuff out of the way, press "go" and off it potters. I can then go and do something else far more interesting. It even plays a little tune to tell you it's finished. Awesome. I reckon this saves me 2-3 hours work easily. At that rate it's paid for itself after a few uses, and it's far more effective than sloshing a mop around. Also it's rather compelling watching it. I have yet to introduce it to the cat. That could be quite funny.

~*~

In Which I Uncover the Ravelry Curse

I think I have discovered something truly evil.

In the last couple of days, brung low with yukky cold germs from hell, I have been attempting to start my first lace shawl. Yes, I realise a cold-addled head is perhaps not the best thing to bring to a lace-knitting party, but I figured if I take it slow, it would take my mind off it.

So I pulled out some vintage Falcon DK, with which I had attempted the Woodland Shawl some time ago. No fault to the pattern, I had moved house and lost my place, so I'd pulled out the needles and left it. I decided to try the Heartland Shawl instead. Lovely and simple design by Evelyn Clark, who knows a thing or three about lace. OK.

I duly cast on, knit the funny tab to start, and got stuck in. After a bit, I put it down and went to see what was happening on Ravelry. After a little pointless and arbitrary posting, I popped by my projects and added the shawl.

I went back to the shawl, and discovered it looked like ass. I'd made a honking error, and the cast-on looked pants. Rip rip rip. Start again. Knit knit knit. OK. looking good. Breaktime. Back on Rav.

Back to shawl. Knit knit knit. Hang on. Again, something had gone awry, and I realised the yarn just blew goats in this pattern. Buggrit. Rip rip rip, put yarn away. Stomped over to Rav and deleted the project.

I shopped the stash. Jaeger Matchmaker 4-ply in a soft grey called to me, so I scooped it up, stopped by Rav and pattern-surfed until I came up with one from Elann - the Luna Moth. Yep. Likes that. Not too sure about the moth reference, but we'll go with it.

Cast on, knit knit knit. Looking very nice. Liking the yarn lots. Knit knit knit bed.
Got up, knit knit knit. Count count count. All good. Yay me.

Stopped by Rav and loaded in the project. Knit knit knit. Count count oh. I've got the wrong number of stitches. Study knitting carefully. Count again. Yep. I'm one short on one side, and something's way wrong on the other. Tink tink tink. Pick up, count. Count again. Crochet hook comes out. Count. Correct. Finally. Continue.

So. Why is it as soon as I put a project into Ravelry it goes tits-up? I think we should be told. This is also I suppose karmic vengeance for laughing so hard at the Yarn Harlot's escapades with her Estonian shawl. Karma can be such a bitch sometimes, especially when it's delayed.

In other news, I haz some sewing books, and I have set up a sewing corner upstairs in the spare bedroom. I'd show you a picture but, as usual when I am being creative, it is an utter tip and totally embarrassing. Also I am full of cold and do not want to trek up the stairs. I have even sewn something. A sweater (shop-bought, don't get excited) was far too big for me. So, in a spirit of "what the hell" I took the seam ripper to it. Out came the sleeves and I stitched up each side taking about 2" off the width. I deliberately stitched on the right side so I got raw edges. I now have a close-fitting sleeveless top to wear! It's actually not too bad, I want to wash it to bed in the sewing then there may be a modelled picture. I have now realised what I really need is a pincushion or two, so that will probably be the next project while I save up for some skirt fabric and some more fat quarters for the quilt I'm plotting.

By the way, have you all seen what Google have added to their maps? You can now "walk around" a load of British cities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow. I have spent a few happy, if snotty, hours strolling virtually around Edinburgh this afternoon. I should really get out more I think.

Right, I am going to go and look for cute pincushion patterns. Later folks.

Aaachoo!

~*~

I ain't dead

Well, I’m still here. I’ve still got no internet, but the boys from Fast are on the case, BT have been advised and hopefully things are moving. I hope so, I miss Ravelry (the intertoobs at work filters it out can you believe!!!) I spent last night unscrewing phone sockets and poking in them, I now know more about my telephone wiring than I really wanted to. Mind you, if I feel like a career change, I could always go for BT engineer I suppose :-)

I’m finishing the one job today, and hopefully start the new one on the 4th August but I’m still (!) waiting for confirmation of that. Wish they’d hurry up…what this means is potentially no internet for a wee while, I don’t know what the new job’s internet access is, at this rate I will be resorting to the local library. Mind you, that’s not so bad, the librarians are very nice and yesterday we were having a nice chitchat about how good Jeffery Deaver is. They need to get some knitting books in though. I might have a word with them about that.

So what’s new? Well, *touch wood* the cooker is fixed!!! *happydance* Of course I’m now away for a few days so I won’t be there to use it, but at least when I get back I can eat proper food again. Mmm, stew, casseroles, roasts, stir fry, baked fish, VEGETABLES oh god I miss vegetables SO MUCH. I swear I’ve got scurvy.

Fibrey news:
I’ve stocked up on the New Lanark Mills’ aran in Woodland for the Must-Have Cardigan. I just hope I noted on my Ravelry entry what needle size I used, otherwise I’ll have to swatch again (curses!) I’m ploughing on well with the Sonnet cardi, although I had to pause to dye some more yarn to match. I need buttons for it, which I might get this weekend, and once it’s finished I think I’ll cast on for the Must-Have. It’s about time I got my head around cabling I think. I might do a little practicing first. I’ve just bought the Cables Untangled book which is very good by the way, loads of nice stitch patterns at the back and some attractive projects too, and I think it will be quite helpful. I’ll probably do the “cabling without a cable needle” thing though, I find maneuvering the cable needle a pain in the butt. The wool is “sticky” enough to hold the stitches in position.

The whole cabling thing is part of my Fearless Knitter thing for this year. I’ve been eyeballing it for ages, and I reckon it’ll be like using DPNs – not nearly as complicated as it looks. I’m trying to challenge myself a little bit with my fibre work and expand my repertoire. At the minute I’m a pretty basic knitter, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s stuff I want to be able to do so I need to get off my backside and learn. I thought I’d note them down here and see where we are at the end of the year. I’ll probably have forgotten about this list by then, so remind me will ya?

• Cables
• Lace
• Colourwork – intarsia and Fair Isle
• Knitting a sweater in the round and steeking it (oh, the terror)

The other thing I really want to do is learn to spin. I must try and get a class or something. I’d be happy with a drop spindle, though I would like to learn how to use a wheel as well.

On a slightly different fibrey note, I have been fighting a tremendous urge to make a quilt. I don’t know what triggered this, (but it may be Jane Brocket’s fault) but I’ve resisted so far, mainly because I don’t have a table to work on or any fabric – or the spare cash to splash on either. I’m also worried about taking time away from knitting and crochet. The itch isn’t going away though, so I’ll have to scratch it sooner or later.

I’m thinking about renaming the blog as well. I’m not sure why, but the name doesn’t sit as well as it once did. Any suggestions? I’m basically waiting for inspiration on this one…

I’ve been drawing (a bit) – I need to do more, the flow isn’t there yet but it felt good putting pen and brush to paper again. I really need to work on my confidence in this area and start making work that makes me happy, without worrying about the opinions of others. I’m still very “down” on my work, not really happy with it or where it’s going (same with the ceramics) but I think the best way out of that place is to draw my way out. The more I draw the better I get, I’ve noticed this before, so I just need to get my head down and do more of it.

Something I also need to do – declutter. Big time. I’ve been following Laurie’s progress with curbing her consumerism and sorting out her life with great interest and sympathy. I need to do something similar. A good while ago I had a big rethink about what I spent money on, and now have a much reduced scale of spending (not that my Dad believes that, but actually it’s true.) I’ve had to spend a fair whack on the house, but I’m keen now to not fill it with junk. (By the way, yarn and books do NOT count as clutter.) I won’t be going all minimalist and Zen anytime soon – I love my books too much for that, but I don’t want it to be a total tip either. So I’ll be down at my Mum’s going through boxes of stuff and unloading all the bits I don’t want or need onto her so she can have a pick through. Anything she doesn’t want will get carted to the charity shop. I’m going to be fairly brutal as well. It’s possible that even books may be parted with, which is virtually unheard of. I have a rake of books on art and related subjects, some of which have never been opened. Generally I picked them up for a song, and they were on my Uni reading list or are standard texts. I’m thinking I might isolate these in one area, and if I haven’t read them in six months time, out they go. I do something similar with clothes, and it’s about time for another serious sort-out. I ran out of coathangers, which is always a bad sign…

Well, that’s all folks, for now. Not sure when I’ll get chance to blog again, but I’ve not forgotten I owe you lots of pictures. Mind you, my Ravelry is so far behind it’ll take me a week to catch up my projects and reorganize my queue, and that’s first job as soon as the internet starts working.

Annus novus

Well, here we go into a New Year. Yes, I know I'm a little behind time. Bite me. I've been busy.

I've just bought a new car. I'm not saying any more until it is sitting on my driveway with the keys and the logbook in my hot, sticky little mitts, just in case I jinx it in some evil and unforeseen way.

The Macgregor jumper is progressing, a little slowly at the moment as I have had a nasty dose of stockinetteboredom, so we're stalled at the raglan shaping for the front. Once that's done its one sleeve to do then the dreaded seaming, for which I will need a large glass of white Grenache and a 500g bar of Dairy Milk. Oh, and possibly my Mum.

I've been in the workshop, working on the Super-Secret Project, i.e. stuff for Etsy. No pics yet, unfired clay is rather uninspiring in appearance and I don't want to put y'all off before I've even begun. I'm keen not to use the blog as a rampant advertising tool, but I'll probably be all excited and want to show you pictures and things before I list them. I've lots of other ideas too, but some of them require a sewing machine which I am sadly lacking at the moment, unless I can avail myself of my Granny's Singer.

What else has been happening? I've cast on for a lapghan, on 4mm needles. Ahem. I think it's a reaction to the jumper which is on 8mm pins. I'm also getting this urge to knit tiny things. No, not those sort of little things. Honestly. Like the Harlot's little leaves, or those tiny jumpers everyone was on about for Xmas decorations. Weird. I also desperately want to knit a sweater in sock yarn. I think I have had some sort of terrible allergic reaction to big needles.

Anything else? (my 31st year seems to be the one where the Senior Moments are starting to kick in big time.) Oh yes.

I also had a lovely letter from the Mission to Seafarers, acknowledging receipt of the hats and scarves I sent them. Bless, it quite made my day that they go to the trouble of writing and thanking you, just for a few woollies. So if there are any Mission people out there, thank you. I had the warm fuzzies for the rest of the evening, and once I've finished the *!^@$*£$%! sweater I'll see if I can knock out some more goodies.

I think that's all for now. I'll try ans post up some progress pics soon, but if you're, like, desperate for an update, firstly get a life, and secondly, my Ravelry is up-to-date. (One thing I have managed to achieve!)

Oh, and there's no proper New Year resolutions here. I can't be arsed with resolutions as a general rule, but they do seem awfully popular in blogland, so here's a token gesture. I'll try and blog more and expand the readership a bit, hows about that?

Poorly sick :-(

I have been slightly floored by a threatening cold. I don't do colds, as a rule, and I'm determined this one ain't hanging around either. However, it has meant a day away from the steaming heap of donkey-poo that is my work at the moment, and has led to an FO (I'm not too poorly to knit. I'd have to be dead to stop knitting.)

Ack! Blogger is broken. No pictures. Sorry. For those on Ravelry, if y'all step on over to my projects (go on, guess my username) - it's the Scrap Wrap, by Natasha Sills, from here. Mine however is rather smaller, not so wide (why?) and is, as yet, unfringed, cos I can't be arsed at the minute. Cute pattern though, we like. I like random knitting like this.

Well, I thought today I'd get shitloads of stuff done, but nope. I knit the wrap, picked some green tomatoes, in the vain hope they might ripen up inside, took a couple of piccies for here and Ravelry, rinsed out some yarn I dyed yesterday and hung it to dry, then lost about three hours reading Rabbitch's blog and gigglesnorting (I love that word) rather a lot.

I'll come back later and see if Blogger has recovered from its fit of the vapours. Can anyone tell me why, when I put pictures in a post, they always appear at the top rather than at the cursor, and I have to drag them, kicking and screaming, into place?

And if you have an explanation as to why I am completely incapable of typing more than three words correctly at a time, I'd love to hear from you.

I cannot believe I missed this.

The TARDIS was in Stafford. I am so gutted that I missed it. Thanks to Chris and Dave for telling me about it, you b@stards... :-)
I may not have mentioned this, but I have a serious Dr. Who obsession. I love it with a passion that is almost holy. Always have, right back to when I was tiny and hiding behind a cushion at the sight of the Cybermen. Daleks never bothered me, as all you had to do was run down some stairs and they were stuffed. This was in the good old days. I grew up knowing that Daleks could not get me, as long as there were stairs.

In the very last series, pre-Russell T. Davies and Chris Eccleston and BBC Wales, Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor. And in one story-arc, the name of which escapes me now (Remembrance of the Daleks? - bear with me, I'm having one of those days) the Daleks stage a comeback, taking over people's minds and hiding out in a school. Ace is running away from them, and runs up stairs, knowing, like me, that they can't follow her.

What do they do? The bloody thing flies. It takes off and levitates gently up the stairs. I was utterly horrified. Devastated. One of the basic foundations of my life crumbled before my very eyes. Daleks can bloody well fly. Probably only a truly dedicated Dr. Who fan can fully understand the total horror of this, which reduced me to an abject, gibbering wreck. I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I was scarred for life.

Onto more usual subject-matter. I have been Ravelling, which has not been such a ridiculous time-stealer as I feared. In fact, it's rather nice, like having a really big knitting book to hand with lots of lovely pictures. I have joined up to some groups, unusual for me as I'm not much of a "joiner" normally. I even found a Runrig group. My joy knew no bounds. For those who have no idea of what I'm talking about, Runrig are a Scottish folk-rock (for want of a better term) band who kick some serious ass. They also sing part of the time in Scots Gaelic, which is possibly the most lovely language I've ever heard. Can't understand a word of it, but that's not the point.

I've also been potting. I went to a sale at Potclays at the weekend, part of the Stoke Ceramics Festival. Nothing like some new toys to inspire a rush of creativity. I just caught up on some glazing, and gave some thought about where I go next with clay. I've got some ideas, but none are formed enough yet to really discuss. I need to let them stew a bit more I think.

Finally I notice, courtesy of my counter, that I do actually get some visitors!
* waves to the readers *

Please leave a comment, even if it's only to say hello, it's nice for me to know there's someone out there...

Boing Boing

I'm in! Ravelry, that is. See ya over there!

Oh boy. Do I need to take some decent stash pictures. And FO pictures. And WIP pictures.

Must. Go. And. Charge. The. Camera. Batteries. Now.

Later!!!!

Getting very close...

Found you!
You signed up on August 1, 2007
You are #22251 on the list.
449 people are ahead of you in line.
16376 people are behind you in line.
56% of the list has been invited so far

*checks inbox anxiously*

Ravelry

You do realise this is going to blow my "things I want to knit and crochet" list right out of the window, don't you? I am probably going to have the longest queue in history. Then I feel depressed that I don't get more yarny time...grrr. Anyway, should be in before the weekend. Cool. I suppose I'll start knitting from patterns now rather than just making things up!

fidget

You signed up on August 1, 2007
You are #22251 on the list.
11648 people are ahead of you in line.
7037 people are behind you in line.
35% of the list has been invited so far

http://www.ravelry.com/

grrr

more later...