Housemaid's Knee!

Well, I haven't actually got housemaids knee, but I should have!

I know it's hard to believe, but I've actually tidied my craft room! And because I knew you wouldn't believe me, I took a photo to prove it!

It's hard to imagine that this was the same room that I tried to shame myself into tidying by putting a pic on the blog! In fact the old one was in such a mess, it wasn't a room, it was a skip!

I lost count of the number of full bin bags I took out over 4 days, yes FOUR days. Because of my dodgy back, it was a starty/ stoppy affair and at one point I thought I'd never get it finished, but it's done. Thank God. And I am going to TRY and keep it tidy. Promise! ( I'll just lock the door so I can't get in to make a mess! It's about the only way it will stay tidy!!)

I was sooo pleased when I sold my first felted bag and even more pleased when someone saw it and asked if I could make them one. Now, after I've knitted this pattern for the sixth or is it seventh time I'm sick of it! It's not that I mind knitting them but the pattern is so simple and I would like to knit something else! Here are the latest two, minus handles!

The major side effect of this situation is that I now have a mountainous yarn stash that needs some urgent attention! Especially before Woolfest, or I'll have no excuse to buy more. I know, I don't need an excuse to buy yarn!

In an attempt to address the stash mountain I've started on the yummy Piece of Beauty sock yarn that Carrie Anne bought me for Christmas. It's called Boathouse and I love it, it's so soft and feels lovely to knit with.

I just need to sit with my feet up, knitting in hand and rest that housemaids knee! Poor girl, hope her other knee's ok!

Just A Quickie!

Before I burst with excitement!
Last night, Carrie Anne gave me my birthday pressie! Wow, Wow, WOW!!!



Yes, its Socks That Rock yarn! Just the yarn I've drooled over for sooo many months! And in a fab colourway called Cracked Canyon. Thank you Carrie Anne, thank you, thank you, thank you!!

And if that wasn't enough, Bev gave me a fantastic card, which she knitted using sewing needles and sewing cotton. This is the card,

But the close up shows how incredible it really is.

It's unbelievable just how Bev knitted let alone cabled. I think it's fantastic and just had to show and tell!!

Thanks Bev, you are a genius, a genius with bad eyesight now, but a genius non the less!!

Thank you!!

Pressies Galore!

Thank you so much for all your kind birthday wishes, they were really appreciated, as are all your comments.

I had a wonderful birthday and was totally spoilt by family and friends. As well as the colour analysis session, my hubby got me some yarn to unwrap.

I've got this lined up for a felted bag. He also got me some sock yarn and a book.

Ian bought the Jitterbug yarn in autumnal hues of oranges and browns called Sahara. I will tell all about the Castagne Jitterbug pictured, later in the post!


My kids bought me books, chocs,flowers,slippers and a necklace, all gorgeous! I told you I was spoilt. I also got a beautiful picture from Carrie Anne ( her hubby Vicks takes some fantastic photos) and a tease about a pressie yet to come! Its killing me!
I also received one of Carrie Annes fab yarn cards.


And Andrea made me some yummy stitch markers!
A huge, huge thank you to everyone for making my birthday so special.

Back to the other Jitterbug yarn pictured above. As a Christmas pressie, I bought Carrie Anne some Jitterbug sock yarn in Popsicle. I was horrified when I saw the finished socks, they were totally different colours! I felt terrible, even though it wasn't my fault, so I sent off an e-mail to Colinette to let them know how I felt. They replied quite quickly, saying as the yarn was hand dyed you should expect it to knit up in a random nature, etc. So I sent another e-mail with a photo of the offending items. And would you believe it, they agreed that the colour shouldn't vary QUITE that much and they kindly offered TWO skeins of Jitterbug in any colour as a way of saying sorry! One for Carrie Anne in Fruit Coulis and one for me, the aforementioned Castagne! ( I really should have given Carrie Anne both skeins, but I didn't! I'll never get to heaven!) I'm really impressed with Colinettes response, a big well done to them!
Friday was Knit n Natter at Bishop Auckland. Its a lovely group and I really look forward to going. One of the pieces of info Carrie Anne had this week was from the Teeside knitting group that meet in Borders at Teeside Park. They are hiring a cinema, and showing Notes On A Scandal. Tickets are available for knitters, but the best bit is they are leaving the lights on so you can knit! What a fab idea! I'm definitely up for it!!

PS Britknitcast 11 is up for grabs!

Birthday Week!

Today is the start of my birthday week , not that at my age I'm supposed to celebrate being another year older!! I can remember when I was little being told ( and believing!) that once you got to 21, you went backover getting younger each year! If only it were true I'd be -25 now!


My birthday has been a quiet affair since my 26th birthday, which I spent in the labour ward of our local maternity hospital. But our son Tom managed to put off appearing on my birthday and hung on in until the next day and became my Valentine present for 1987!! Since then my birthday has usually been spent preparing for parties etc for Tom. Not that I'm complaining mind, now that hes almost 20, I don't have much to do, other than buy his cake and pressies!!


I actually got one of my birthday pressies yesterday. Ian got me a Colour Me Beautiful colour analysis which I've wanted to do for years and years. It was fascinating! I found out that I am an Autumn person which I was over the moon about as I love the colours of Autumn, but also deep colours with warm tones suited me best. She also went through makeup, showing me which colours looked best on my skin. It was so relaxing! I left with a wallet of fabric swatches, which will hopefully guide me to choose clothes in colours that suit. I took a (blurry)photo of some of the swatches.




I've finally finished the red pair of Fetching after a small hiccup! When I put the pair together, I found that one glove was about 2 cm longer than the other. So I knit another glove and hoped it would be similar in size to one of them, which luckily it was!! The annoying thing was, it was one of the few times I had remembered to reverse the cabling, typical!, especially as I forgot on number 3!! Number 2 (if you pardon the expression!) is pictured below.

I've cast on a sheep from Simply Knitting , but I'm finding the Sirdar Snuggly hard work. I'm dying to get started on the Ullcentrum yarn I bought at Harrogate. I'm wanting to knit a shawl or wrap and would like to try some simple lace, any ideas?

After all the wintry weather the rest of the country was having, we finally got some snow!

Pathetic. Call that a snow fall!

I'm off to wrestle with the Snuggly, think I'll have a cuppa first!

Long time no blog!

In some ways it doesn't seem like two minutes since I last blogged, but when I looked at the date of my last blog, I couldn't believe it!

There are several reasons (or excuses!) for my lack of waffle. Firstly my hubby has been on holiday last week, holiday may not be quite the right word ,as he hasn't stopped decorating all week! Because we decided to decorate the living room, dining room and Kate's bedroom all in one go, absolute chaos descended! The only room that didn't have stuff from any of the rooms being decorated was my craft room, and that was only because we couldn't get anything else in!

Kate wanted her room to look more grown up and sophisticated and so began a grand clear out. This consisted mainly of her putting anything she didn't want, into our bedroom. On the bed. On the bed so we had to move everything before we could get into said bed!! KIDS!!!

But now her room is finished, bar a few pictures to hang and she is a happy bunny! Me and her Dad are knackered, but shes happy! For the time being!!

The other contributing factor to the lack of posts is rugby! No,not me playing it, but my son Tom. He was brought home injured two weeks ago after hurting his back during a match and has needed loving care ever since! Not that hes got it, but we've done our best!! He's still struggling but it will take time.

Knitting has been on the back burner, a few rows done here and there, but I've finished the bags that were asked for, just the linings and handles to fix on

Both were knit using Wensleydale Longwool Aran which felts beautifully, and a fancy yarn for the top. I am really pleased with the Wensleydale yarn as it is beautiful to knit with too.





I've also been tinkering with stamps. Above is a box I'm almost finished altering, it needs a bit of something on the top. Inside I've created a wacky scene scene using stamps from Graphicus.

Oops, I've got two pics of the box inside and I can't get rid of either!!! My IT knowledge is astounding!
My WIP on the needles is yet another pair of Fetching for a birthday gift. I started them at Darlington knitting group last Friday. It was lovely as usual. I was very tempted by Beckys latest sock yarns, I'm thinking about them!! I'm not sure what to start next, I've got quite a stash building. I would like to try and use it in the order that I bought it, but I don't know if I can be that disciplined!