Still in Dublin

we are still in Dublin, hence no posts, we will be returning home on Wednesday but unfortunately not able to move back into our house, the work is behind schedule, huge problems in the bathroom, so will have to stay with our other daughter in our home town, which means that poor Nina will have to have another week in the cattery. Oh well it will all be worth it in the end.
I will be posting again, properly, once I get home, into my own house, till then...........But by the way I am still knitting........

A quick word

Thank you to millieknits for your comments, thank you for the link to Kniitng Universe you are not going to believe it but their magazine 'Knitting' is my favourite knitting magazine and I actually subscribe, so I have the actual magazine in which the lariat that you mention is printed. There are two in that issue and they are on my 'to do' list. Thanks again and back to work for me

Help I'm Drowning.........

......... in a sea of flat packs, just look at them, this is my living room, I can't believe it, this is how we have to live until we leave for Dublin on Wednesday......Oh dear. but never fear, it has not stopped me knitting, I have discovered a wonderful thing on the web, they call it a 'Calorimetry', i have knitted onehere it is:

. It has been designed, so they say in order that someone with long hair which they have up, can still keep their ears warm and stop the heat escaping from the top of their head. This is not a very good picture but you can clearly see the hole at the back for a pony tail or whatever, Clever isn't it? the next two pictures show the button I used on the back, an antique, and the yarn I used which was self striping. I really am pleased with it.

Pooped, tired, exhausted and a nervous wreck..

yes that is me, the builders and decorators move into our house on Monday, Nina goes to the cattery on Sunday morning, We have our cafe Church on Sunday lunchtime at the Ramsey Chapel, we move out on Wednesday, going to Dublin (our Daughter lives there) to escape the chaos. Hopefully we will come back to a wonderfully transformed home on 20 Feb. In the meantime we have been on a shopping spree, and all of it is to be delivered today, where are we going to put it all? new kitchen, new flooring for all of downstairs, new carpets for our bedroom the landing and the stairs. Updates for the bathroom, choosing colours for the paint and oh..........my back.........moving everything out of the kitchen and living room cupboards, upstairs into the spare room. I guess it will all be worth it in the end. Of course it will. And never fear, the knitting etc carries on regardless but probably won't be able to post any pictures till I get back, and get straight.
Will keep posting whenever I can

Busy again

Well you can see I am knitting again. This time for my three year old granddaughter. I am doing it in domino knitting and using up scraps of which I have many. but the top will have to be pink, Daisy will not consider wearing anything that is not pink. "I just love pink" she tells me. A very precocious little girl, the other day she wanted to switch the light on when she went to the bathroom, in daylight, I said no because we have to save the planet and was told "no we have to save the greenhouse gas emissions" what do you think of that? getting back to the knitting, I have not done domino knitting for a long time and wondered if I would be able to do it again but so far so good. I have put in a photograph below of one I knitted for myself some years ago which turned our rather well. That was the last time I did Domino knitting.
Isn't blogging wonderful, I have just had two most delightful comments, one loved my kitty, her name is Nina, did I tell you her name? and both appreciated my knitting. Thank you. Did I tell you that Nina is going into the cattery on Sunday for three weeks before the builders start on our house on Monday? poor kitty but the house will be in turmoil so she will be more comfortable. Oh well back to the fray....

Some new pictures

I just could not resist adding these pictures. As I said yesterday we are getting ready for the assault on our house next month. yesterday I starting moving my stash, putting some of it in a big box, in the process a lot of stuff was scattered on the bed waiting to be sorted. Well my cat Nina could not resist, look at these.








In addition I have now finished the jumper I was knitting for my son, I am thrilled with the finished product, it turned out exactly to size, absolutely exactly and being knitted from the top down, not a single seam to be sewn, and now that I have learned to do the 'Russian Join' not even any ends to sew in, here we go:

The pictures are not great but I hope you can see clearly enough.

Well must be off now, a friend and I are going to spend the day teaching kumihimo to a local craft group.



Bye for now

I have been hiding under a mountain of work

I have not had a chance to post for more than a week. I think. We are having a big refurbishment of our house starting on 4 February and the preparation for that is making a lot of work. For instance we are having a new kitchen fitted and that means emptying all the cupboards in the kitchen. The only place to store anything is upstairs in a spare bedroom which is not going to be touched, so what we are trying to do is, every time we come upstairs' to carry something up. We are also having new flooring downstairs, which means that all the storage furniture in the living room has to be emptied and the contents moved upstairs! It is worse than moving, I think, but I am nevertheless looking forward to the finished product, probably by the end of February.



Nevertheless I have managed to finish the jumper I was knitting for my son, the one I pictured at the beginning of the knit and which you knit from the top down. No seams, well it has turned out a treat. It is being blocked at the moment but as soon as it is dry, I will take a picture and post it. I am also making progress with my bead crochet and have completed two further practice pieces and I am busy with the third, I will post these pictures too when I post the jumper.



I have no knitting on the go at the moment, but I am practising my domino knitting again, I have not done any for some time and want to do some more. Will keep you posted

Sunday again,

I don't have much time this morning, slept late and only woke up just before 7, oh dear! When I did wake up and switched on the computer I was surprised and delighted to receive an email from someone who had read my blog. Here I am writing away, and loving it, but wondering if anyone was reading it and there you go, this morning proof that someone did, at least one person, great, what's more another aficionado of bead crochet. So glad there are more of you out there. Oh and she told me that she has recently learned to do the St Petersburg Stitch and was enthusiastic about it, I will have to Google it and see what I come up with but not this morning, running late.



I have managed to listen to Sunday this morning and some very good inserts, one about the retrieval of the blasphemy laws, another a follow-up on last Sunday's feature on the Asian Bishop's (can't remember his name) remarks about some areas in the UK becoming 'no go' areas and another on one of the Diocese's of the Anglican church starting a program for Lent about living more responsibly with an eye to global warming, actually the Methodist Church is running a similar campaign for lent, calling it 'Buy less, Live more'. I don't have time to go into details today, got to get ready for Church, I am on duty today and we have a special 'Covenant Service' today.



All of you have a good Sunday

A busy few days

I can't believe it, never had such good service. I ordered a stack of beads from Beadworks UK (http://www.beadworks.co.uk/) on Wednesday afternoon and they were delivered yesterday morning, THE VERY NEXT DAY!, at about 9.00am. Can you believe it? I have ordered all these beads with a view to doing some tubular bead crochet ropes, I have been practicing, unpicking, redoing ad infinitum, until I think that finally I HAVE GOT IT! will keep you posted.

The jumper knitted 'all in one piece' is progressing well, I have finished the body and am halfway down the first sleeve. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.

I have not had time to take any pictures because the past few days have been quite hectic looking after grandchildren. We had Daisy as usual on Monday while her mother had a day at work, next day, all prepared for a day doing my own thing, and a call from the school. Matthew not well and could we come and fetch him, so we had him for two days, and then again yesterday afternoon. So not much chance to get much done, but grandchildren are more important than craft. So there you go.

It is Sunday morning

and I have been listening to all my usual Sunday morning programs on BBC Radio4. First of all at 6.00am. 'Something Understood' presented today by Mark Tully, today it was about 'The Journey' there was some very interesting input. The Hindu lady who said that we have to do an internal journey, but we cannot accomplish this journey without, at some stage, accepting that there is something greater than the material and sensual world outside of ourselves.

The next program at 6.30am was 'On your Farm' I don't always listen to this, but this morning was very interesting they were visiting a farm in Watford that was bequeathed to the Hare Krishna movement by George Harrison the Beatle, now deceased. Listening to them and how they interpret their philosophy in their farming methods and their whole lifestyle was interesting and thought provoking.

Finally my Sunday morning must: 'Sunday' just after the 7.00am news, presented this morning by Jane Little. Again some very interesting inserts. One about an Anglican Priest who has developed his church into what he calls 'Social entrepreneurship' another an interview with a Muslim cleric who was responding to the Indian C of E Bishop who has said that Islamic Extremism has turned many areas around Britain into 'no go areas' it was a pity the Bishop in question was not present to defend his position, the Muslim cleric advanced very cogent arguments. Then there was the insert on the resurgence of the 'Temperance' movement with the question 'Could the be the answer to the binge drinking problem?'

So now I am going to get ready for Church, not my own church today, but one of our very small chapels in Ramsey where we are having a 'Cafe Church' service, a service built around the preparation and eating of a meal. Very interesting and proving a real draw, we hold this service once a month and it is really growing.

You can listen to all of these programs if you use the BBC's 'listen again' facility. http://www.bbc.co.uk/Radio4

Have a Good Sunday