April Intro..a little late..

 

Disclaimer: I wrote this a while ago and forgot to hit publish.

Welcome April..how lovely to see you and you have brought some sunshine..how kind. Despite March being an eventful month I can honestly say that I am glad to see the back of it..it just didn't seem like spring at all with it being the UK's coldest March since 1962. Of course us 'hardy Scot's' are used to a colder climate but this year even the newborn lambs just south of the border are being trussed up in little sweaters..I kid you not.

So, looking back on my March (freezing temperatures aside)...

First up, we went to the theatre to see 'Priscilla Queen Of The Desert'. The Mister & I are both fans of the movie version so were a little sceptical that the stage adaption could live up to that. However, it was absolutely wonderful from beginning to end..the music, the costumes, the whole performance was a kaleidoscope of fabulousness. Such a change from when we went to see 'Joseph' and were bored to tears..lol.

The next day I attended a long awaited hospital appointment to see a scoliosis specialist. Many of you may know I had a series of spinal surgeries in my childhood but for those who don't..I have multiple curves (scoliosis & kyphosis) which were fused to prevent them getting worse but unable to be fully corrected.
After many years of being 'okay' the last few have seen me slow down due to considerable back pain. Last year I joined SAUK (Scoliosis Association UK) and attended a great seminar and it was there I met the consultant Mr Tsirkos who advised me to see him so we could check things over. Thankfully, there were no noted changes to my spine or metal implant and the pain is predominately muscular from years of gravitational pull against my curves. Surgery has advanced so much since the 1980's but the risks in my case are too great to proceed in that direction.
After some initial disappointment at no 'miracle fix' I am currently looking towards hydrotherapy and acupuncture for pain relief alongside medication.


I see life from a different angle..lol

Yarn is also a great therapy and it was a great thrill to finally have our very own yarn festival here on the East Coast (of Scotland). The very first Edinburgh Yarn Festival was astounding with great vendors from all over the UK and visitors coming from as far as Switzerland to attend. I don't think the organisers had any idea how popular this event would be..rumour has it they expected a conservative 500 people through the doors when infact over 1600 squeezed their way through the yarny goodness that was on offer. It was a feast for the eyes (and of course yarn fondling fingers!) but it got a bit much for this pocket sized woman after a while. I purchased what I could and left while I could still get a breath..not before a photo opportunity with Ysolda of course.

I think that's my embarrassed expression..oh dear!

Other shizz that went down in my March...

• We got a new car and we have named her 'Doris'
• The date has finally been set for the Scottish Independence Referendum
• My baby brother reached the age of 33!
• I taught my first knitting class

More about some of these things in later posts..I've ranted on enough for one day.

Happy April Everyone!

 

Life Moves Pretty Fast...

"Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it" ~Ferris Bueller

Ten days into February already! 2012 flew by and it seems 2013 is doing the same..I guess it is something to do with getting old. Do you remember when you were a kid and the six week school summer holidays felt like an eternity? Alas, it's now 20 years since I left High School..how can that be?

One example of time passing this week is the anniversary of the day The Mister and I met. On the 6th February 2000 I went to a college friends housewarming party and met a lovely guy, but little did we both know that 13 years later we would be married and marking this occassion with tea and scones. Ain't love grand?

Not one to be left out, our four legged beastie had an anniversary of his own this week. Patch the Jack Russell 'terror' celebrated his 11th birthday and apart from some whitening around the face in recent years you would never guess he was now a senior dog.

He drives us constantly crazy and hardly a week goes by where The Mister fails to tell a certain pampered pooch that if he is not happy he can "move oot". However, despite their differences the bond between man and beast is a strong one and moments like this can't fail to warm my heart.

So despite all the little things in life that cause me complaint I simply have to look around me to remind myself what really matters..."my boys"..man & dog.

It's Snow Day Fir Going Oot



Today, I am having a snow day. "Snow day" is a Stateside term I have become familiar with recently and means a day in which things are cancelled or delayed by snow, heavy ice, or extremely low temperatures.
Whilst conditions presently aren't too bad in my little part of Scotland it looks set to get worse as the day goes on and so my Knit Club tonight is cancelled.
I'm not going sledging or building snowmen..I'll leave that to the kids. This little old lady will have her knitting out and a lovely cuppa by her side (and more than likely a small heat-seeking dog as well).

I shall also be flicking through my new knitting book 'Colours Of Shetland' by Scottish based designer Kate Davies. I have long since admired Kate's designs and been a fan of her blog so it was a great pleasure to meet the lady herself at a recent book signing in nearby Pittenweem (at a lovely little yarn store called The Woolly Brew).

It was also great to see in person all the knitted samples that appear in the book. I especially liked the Puffin Sweater that Kate was wearing herself that day and hope to begin it as a project myself sometime this year. All the patterns in the book are knitted with wool by Jamieson & Smith, one of Scotland's last remaining traditional Shetland wool producers.

2013...I'm Back! (again)

Me & My Mister

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2013 was to restart my blog so here I am back on Blogger after a 11 month hiatus. Did you miss me?
While I could fill this post with what I have been doing/thinking/dreaming of since I was last blogging I shall spare you all the details for now (suffice to say, you ain't missed much..lol). However I will be sure to reflect back on 2012 happenings in future posts to let you know where I am in life now.

Still married (20 months done!)
Still knitting (increased stash of yarn!)
Thankfully it has not yet got to the point where darling hubby has made me choose between the two.

Happy Valentine's Day

First cards as 'marrieds'

Today is of course Valentine's Day, and in our house..the first as Husband & Wife. Some may be cynical about such a day..putting it down as commercialised nonsense but for me any excuse for added romance (and gifts!!) gets a big thumbs up. Bring it on!
You can keep your red roses and champers however..I'm much more easily won over with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit.
Seriously, I am so lucky to have such a thoughtful partner..he always buys me the cutest little gifts that have obviously taken some thought and time and knowing that can be just as lovely as the gift itself.
I received the sweetest set of Russian nesting dolls (to add to my collection) with messages of love inscribed on them, a knitting book, Russian doll earphones (I didn't know such a thing existed..they are too cute!) and some panties with dogs on that look just like my Patch.

My romantic booty

What did I gift my husband? Monogrammed hankerchiefs, a pair of cargo trousers and some cherry nougat...who said romance is dead? lol.

As I write this he is cooking dinner (yes ladies..he is a keeper) and later we are going out to the cinema to see the Woody Allen movie 'Midnight In Paris'. If he's lucky I might buy him a hot chocolate..lol.

Happy Valentine's Day to All.

2012..knitty dilemma

Hand knit poncho..gift from a lovely friend

After rearranging and sifting through the chaos that is my yarn cupboard I made a pact with myself that future knits would be:

1. Mainly for myself (I've knitted a lot for charity and as gifts but not much for me)
2. Well executed, finished and sewn up before another is cast on
3. Using yarn only from my stash...or bought from proceeds of destashing.

However, it's 12 days into 2012 and I have not cast on my first knitting project for this year yet. What's wrong with me? I have not lost my knitting mojo I am merely being indecisive..but it's driving me crazy.

Last Autumn I bought 5 balls of Patons Wool Blend DK.."enough to knit myself a sweater", I told myself at the time. It was an impulsive buy..I didn't have a pattern in mind but the 'sale' ticket was too difficult to walk by. The total price tag was less than £18.
The yarn is  a really nice shade of airforce blue with a tweedy fleck about it and being merely a wool 'blend' it is machine washable (and not too itchy!).

Hours and hours (and days and days) of browsing patterns on Ravelry have shown me that my bargain buy may have been a phrase my husband often quotes.. 'a false economy'. All the patterns I favour are knitted in Worsted not DK...ahhh.

So my question is do I go out and buy some worsted yarn or keep hunting for a DK pattern?

Happy 2012 by the way!!!

Back to Blogging..Bye To Xmas

Scottish royalty dontcha know?

Yeah, I haven't blogged for ages. I have a dozen feeble excuses but the most feasible is an amalgamation of pure laziness combined with laptop trouble. My Dell laptop was 6 years old..full of junk and barely ticking along which was not helped by our extremely slow Internet connection. Trying to post a single photo on this blog took an age, so planned posts were often abandoned midway.

On Boxing Day (after a couple of months indecision..and driving Hubs nuts by my incessant 'going on') I finally bought a new laptop. Being the frugal Scottish wifie that I am I didn't want to spend much money on a machine just for checking emails, online shopping and of course blogging. I'd seen spanking laptops with all the bells and whistles at purse tightening prices. I'd seen cheap laptops that were the ugliest pieces of plastic ever to exist and with processors not much more advanced than my old Dell Inspiron.

My new purchase was PC Worlds Boxing day special. It's a HP (Hewlett Packard) with a 2nd Gen i5 processor (which I have learnt is possibly more than I need to do what I do). The best bit is it was £399! Chuffed!

The photo at the top of this post is of my little brother and I on Christmas Day. It was a great day with my mum, bro and SIL here. My lovely husband did all the cooking. Despite good company, fabulous gifts and yummy food it's nice to get back to 'normal' again..lol.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Easy 'Peasy'

My W.I.P has become a F.O and for those who do not understand knitter's lingo I will translate. My 'Work In Progress' has become a 'Finished Object' and I can now rest my needles and breathe a sigh of relief. The pattern for this knit is called 'Peasy' and is available via the knitty haven  that is 'Ravelry'. The pattern was not difficult but for me it was long and this is my first ever completed garment for myself..yup a cardi for the ole knitting lady herself..lol.



Circular needles to hold so many stitches



The pattern is a top-down raglan knitted on circular needles (but not in the round) It's knitted 'all-in-one'. You cast on  the front left side, then the sleeve, back, other sleeve and other front. It means a lot of stitches and for this particular pattern a lot of long rows of stocking stitch. Easy but tedious. The front consists of a small lace panel which for me was an introduction to lacework.



After the lacework & sleeves completed

 Pleased to report the finished cardigan fits well and although I took it with me today ironically it was too warm to wear it. Still I'm sure it won't be too long until this changeable Scottish weather denotes cardigan wearing opportunities.

metal floral buttons



September...and weather for soup.

Recently we had our first organic veggie box delivered from Bellfield Organic Nursery and much to our amusement there was a couple of vegetables we had never encountered before. I think it's fair to say before now most of our vegetables came from a can...prewashed, pre chopped. In our organic treasure chest came 8lb of potatoes, 3lb of carrots, 2lb of onions, beetroot, lettaces, a savoy cabbage (complete with very organic slug!), courgettes, baby cauliflowers and the ones we pondered upon...a kholrabi and a romanesco.



Romanesco



Kholrabi

Over the last week of August and now into September we have seen the temperatures drop somewhat here in Scotland. We have not had the greatest of summers (unlike the heatwave England seem to have experienced) with only a few sporadic hot days some time ago now. Autumn is definately upon us..the nights are drawing in (it's getting dark out by about 8.30pm already) and the central heating has once again been switched to 'on'.


It seems to me it's time to look out those woolly garments and most definately time to make soup...yum! With a wealth of vegetables that's exactly what I set about doing much to my husband's dismay..he doesn't really like me in HIS kitchen..lol.


lots of chopping



let the cooking commence



stick tae yer ribs



The result was a very hearty red lentil and vegetable soup which even Hubs agreed was delicious. I have a feeling we are going to have a cold winter in these parts and my soup will be just the ticket in months to come.

The Alien Has Landed.

Meet Arnold! I got a rare knitting request from hubs when he saw this pattern and as I took over a year to finish his last request (Sackboy) I thought I'd get started straight away to avoid nagging..lol.

'Arnold' (as he was named ) is around 16" from head to toe and around 17" from arm end to arm end. The pattern was from booklet called 'Irresistible Gifts to Knit', which was inside the Simply Knitting magazine.

The yarn is a new colourway (Aqua ) from Patons..part of their Fab Dk range but with a great self patterning effect and at only £2.20 (from my LYS..prices may vary) for 100g was a great buy.

Arnold now takes pride of place in the middle of our bed (...hmmm ever heard the expression 'three's a crowd'?).

Sun, Sudoko & A Sheepy Peg Bag

My lovely husband is always busy..even on a sunny day he can't sit still for long. Yes, after a couple of weeks of heavy showers and a few thunderstorms the sun has returned. It has now been here for 5 whole days (it's Scotland..it won't last!). The dog and I have been sitting in the garden and whilst I amuse myself with alfresco knitting or Sudoku, Patch chases bees. The Hubs will sit for all of 5 minutes drinking his mug of tea before once again getting restless. Wash the car, clean the windows, move plants or put on a load of washing..I kid you not...and yes he is a keeper. It's fair to say he does most of everything that needs to be done around here and although he may not think so it's all totally appreciated. As far as the laundry goes, he does it with military precision and when he hangs things out on the line (believe it or not I can't reach) everything has it's place...undies on one line..pj's on the next and jeans and tops on the other. I like a man who is organised and Hubs is like this in everything he does which is handy when I am as scatty as they come (and have to write everything down to retain it!).

For months he has been complaining about the state of the peg bag which I have promised to repair or make a new one...needless to say it slipped my mind (time and time again!).


Out with the old...

Then we went shopping and a new peg bag was purchased..lol.



...and in with the new!

Sometimes it's the simple things that keep a harmonious home. Thanks Hubs for being such a star and agreeing to pose for some humorous photos for this post.

Seaside Babes..it's a knit thing

A few weeks ago I borrowed this pattern booklet from fellow knitter and friend, Mary. It's by Sirdar and is entitled Seaside Babes (pattern number 352 for those interested in purchasing). It contains 14 knits ranging in size from newborn to 7 yrs so it's pretty good value for around £6 (I will definately be buying my own copy now..lol). I'm pleased to report that I've already knitted 4 items with too much difficulty (but like most knitters..I hate the sewing up..sigh.)

The first item I knitted was a wee cap sleeved cardi with piquot edging in the first size (0-3 mths). It was my first attempt at this edging stitch so although it wasn't perfect I was pleased with how it turned out after I redid this part using a bigger needle so it wasn't quite so tight (I was knitting so tightly I snapped my Knit Pro acrylic needle,weep)

 

I also did this cardi in the same yarn (yes it's acrylic..please do not recoil yarn snobs out there) but in the age 1-2 year size as a gift for my friends wee girl. I think these knits would benefit from some kind of blocking or a damp press..but to be honest it's not something I usually bother doing with acrylic knits.



I then knitted this little tunic top in the 0-3 month size just to try the pattern..thinking I might knit the bigger size for friend's 4and a half year old if I liked it. The outcome is okay but it wasn't that an enjoyable knit..I had a bit of trouble lining up those blooming eyelets whilst shaping and I'm a bit concerned the neck might be a bit tight. I have 2 friends expecting babies this autumn so I'm hoping one of them has a girl with a reasonable sized head...lol.

My latest knit from this booklet..I'm pretty proud of..if I do say so myself (and I do). It's a bigger kid's size than I usually do (I like to finish projects quickly..hence the preference for small items) as this is an aged 4-5 yr old. The pattern is really easy but looks fairly effective so it's definately a winner. The picking up of 268 stitches for the button band was a bit daunting at first (I've only ever knitted the band seperately before..with like 5 sts at a time) but I took my time and managed to do it quite evenly. I even found some patience to sew this up neater than my usual bodged jobs...so thumbs up all round. It took around 250g (maybe less).

Now I'm just on the hunt for some suitable buttons...and thinking of those old fashioned leather ones..what do you think?

close up of easy pattern

One Woman Knit Camp

Knit Camp? Well kinda,..on my lonesome..lol.

We have spent most of the day indoors...it's been raining. However, even in dreary Scotland we occasionally get some sun and the last couple of days have been glorious. Unfortunately, by the time our pasty skins get climatised to 'tropical' temperatures of 23-24C..it's over all too soon. Every year it goes like this..one day we are wearing our coats and the next we are sitting out back, perspiring in little more than our underwear. By the time most of the Scottish contingent hunt out the dusty bottle of sunscreen they are already sporting skin the colour of a cooked lobster.

When the sun was shining I went camping...in my back garden. Regrettably, I can't really enjoy sleeping 'under the stars' in recent years thanks to my sleep apnea which requires me to be hooked up to the mains on my Bi-pap machine each night. Not sleeping out didn't stop me setting up camp though..and to be honest it made for a great shaded area when the sun got too strong. Needless to say the tent was also favoured by my four legged friend Patch..who liked to hog the cushions.



Patch..happy camper

 I even managed to find a few hours peace (between the neighbours cutting their grass/ dogs barking/ kids screaming) to get in some quality alfresco knit time. Then of course..like I'd already mentioned..the rain returned. The husband being the all-round humorous chappie that he is locked me out..cue the sorry sight of Little Lou trapped under canvas (hubs let the dog indoors...of course..lol).


It may not be obvious..but it was raining heavily here.



Amsterdam...there's cake!!

Okay..here I am finally summing up our trip to Amsterdam (which was ages ago now). The weather was slightly disappointing considering only the week before we arrived Amsterdam had been experiencing glorious sunshine and high temps. It was showery but not cold (well not cold to us hardy Scots anyway..lol).

Here is a couple of photos of Dam Square in the city centre. The first photo is taken from the fifth floor window of Madame Tussauds. The second photo shows the war memorial also in Dam Square.

  






This is the Hubs sitting having a "much needed cuppa" in the Museumplein. We had just been round the Van Gogh Museum and although we appreciated the artwork (mostly) the place was mobbed, meaning you had to shuffle around the art exibits which got a bit frustrating after 5 floors. It could have been that everyone had the same idea as us to get out of the rain but I suspect from previous stories I've heard the place is always busy. We bought a print of Van Gogh's 'Bedroom At Arles', a painting I've loved since studying the artist at High School.

 

Van Gogh a la wax (Madame Tussauds)

 
 I dragged my new husband in and out of almost every tourist shop in the city..despite our home already giving house room to numerous pieces of blue & white china in various forms of clog, windmill & kissing couple.  

I relented from buying myself some fleecy clog shaped slippers (sigh).

I did purchase a small bar of chocolate just to have some Dutch chocolate. After tasting it I shall stick with my Mars bars (UK version..I hear the overseas variety suck...something crazy about low fat regulations or suchlike...meh).

I could now go on to flood this post with photos of 'funny tall houses' and canal after canal but hey you can see all that on the tourism sites I'm sure. Let me share with you now something close to my heart...food.

Granted I'm not a 'foodie' as such, I'm a bit picky to be honest but I do like a good dessert.



Exibit 1: vanilla cheesecake

 

Exibit 2: Apple Crumble Cake

The first was enjoyed by Hubs on an afternoon cuppa stop at a cute cafe off Dam Square called De Drie Graefjes. He has been searching for the perfect cheesecake (in comparison to this vanilla delight..I tasted it..it was amazing) since we got back with no avail. I swear every supermarket variety has been tried and tested (they don't do cheesecake in Scots bakeries on the whole). The second pic is the "awesome" apple crumble cake from Bakkerswinkel on the Waarmoesraat (I know I've gone all American in my description but 'braw' didn't quite cut it). This place is like cake heaven and I wish they did mail order..lol. I swear if I lived in Amsterdam I would weigh 20 stone.

Okay..before I say 'tot zeins' to Amster...here's the canal pic.

Honeymoon & Knitty Overlap

Honeymooners

Its been over a week since me and 'Hubs' (for that is what he shall now be known as) got back from our wee honeymoon in Amsterdam. We chose that as our destination because I can't fly far (goofy lungs) and it was in Amsterdam we spent our first romantic trip away in 2002 (just before we moved in together). It was our tenth trip to the city but we hadn't visited in 6 years and imagined many changes but it was just as if we had never been away. It was nice to be somewhere familiar and we agreed to revisit some places and be sure to visit the places we had always meant to see but never quite got around to.



Going Gaga over the Lady


Day one it was raining when we arrived so we ducked into Madame Tussauds, somewhere we always avoided for no particular reason other than seeing it as a typical tourist trap. We surprised ourselves and had a great laugh cosying up to the waxy looky-likies of Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber. If you don't take it too seriously ,its a lot of fun.

I liked the way you could touch the exhibits and not just view them from afar.

When we left Tussauds we got checked into our hotel and along with maps we were presented with a 5euro discount coupon for the waxworks..doh!

We had booked into the hotel we had stayed in on our first trip which we envisaged as a being 'romantic' notion. Lol.



After unpacking and finding somewhere for a bite to eat (Italian..I had pizza, he had lasagne) we headed to Cafe De Jaren to meet some knitters. This light & airy, spacious former bank is the location for Amsterdam's Stitch 'n' Bitch group every Monday evening. It was great to meet fellow knitters and Ravellers especially the very lovely Alex who I had the pleasure of meeting (albeit too briefly) in Stirling last year at Knit Camp.

It was great to also meet with Andy, whose blog I have followed with great interest since 2007. He was kind enough to present me with a signed copy of his book 'Travels With Greeley' which I am glad to say without hesitation, I am thoroughly enjoying.

I'm only sorry I didn't have more time to speak with everyone at the group as they seemed like a great bunch.

If I ever visit the city again...I will make sure I'm there on a Monday.

Thanks also to a great husband who was most gracious in indulging my knitty obsession. He even accompanied me to a tattoo parlour where I completely lost my mind & got myself a knit related tat. I think it represents not only my love for knitting but the relationship Gavin & I share.

For those of you who don't get it..it's an abbreviation of 'knit two together'.

In my next post I'll share a bit more of our trip..knitting not included.