I'm back

Well, I'm finally back to blogging - seems like ages since I was here last. ;0) - feeling slightly better than before but still coughing. Anyway, to cheer myself up while I was feeling grotty I had some retail therapy.


Firstly, I ordered a new knitting bag from Get Knitted along with a Know-Knits pouch for my sock WIPs and a lovely Ilga Leja Urban Goddess pattern. (I've got some Jaeger 4-ply alpaca in the stash for that). Also in the picture is my second sock in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - Desert Flower - which I've now finished. (Lovely sock yarn and feels gorgeous when washed.)



This yarn arrived in the post yesterday morning from Posh Yarn. On the left is 'Farewell' - Lucia sock yarn, my last instalment of the sock club. On the right is 'Bluebirds' - Eva 2-ply laceweight and my last instalment of the lace club.




I had *another* parcel yesterday, this time from Get Knitted - 10 x 100g skeins of Cascade 220 yarn to make 2 afghans for Christmas presents.

The colours on the bottom row are for my dad - Mustard, Gooseberry and Fern - and the ones on top are for my aunty - Lavender and Cream. I've still got 2 x Oatmeal to come for my dad and 2 x Oatmeal and 2 x Ice Mint to come for my Aunty. I'm thinking at the moment of doing an Aran-type afghan for my dad and will be playing with patterns later today.


This is my first attempt at Kool Aid dyeing and what the skein looks like wound into a cake. DS has decided he wants this yarn for his socks so I'll have to dye some more for myself. ;0)











TAG!

I was tagged by Knitting's Nice on 21st May and have only now got around to posting my facts - sorry. ;0) The rules are: 1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves. 2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules. 3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names. 4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment to tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find *anyone* who hasn't already been tagged, but I'll post my facts now and worry about tagging others later. ;-)

1. When I was about 8, I won bronze medal at the Cheltenham Music Festival for playing "When the Boat Comes In" on the descant recorder. I was soooo chuffed. I do still play the recorder occasionally - not for long though because the dogs start howling and DH starts moaning!!

2. I have to have my feet covered with a sheet in bed, even in the middle of the summer, just in case someone (or something!) tries to grab my feet while I'm asleep. Irrational, I know .....

3. When I was pregnant, everyone told me that because both me and hubby are vegetarians, the baby would be underweight and not healthy and constantly tried to get me to eat meat. I stood my ground and proved them all wrong by producing a "bouncing" 10lb 5oz baby boy!

4. I have a strange taste when it comes to food. I'm mad about cheese and I have it with everything and my favourite thing at the moment is to put slivers of it underneath rice. I just love stringy, melty cheese! I also love salad cream and have that on most things too, even cooked dinner (without the gravy, though, I hate gravy).

5. I love to listen to music and have a very eclectic taste. On my i-pod I have a variety of music including country, classical, rock, heavy metal, pop and West End music shows. I like to have different music available for whatever mood I'm in.

6. I keep pet rats and have 2 at the moment, although a fews years ago I had 15 - one of our females got pregnant and produced 13 babies. DH wouldn't take them back to the pet shop in case they sold them as snake food, so we ended up keeping them. Didn't get many visitors after that for some reason ..... ;0) They make great pets and are so intelligent.

7. I've tried many different crafts over the years (cross stitch, embroidery, painting, scrapbooking, card making, beadwork) but always come back to knitting as my number one favourite craft and haven't put my needles down for the past few years. I find it very relaxing and therapeutic. My nan taught me to knit when I was about 6 and I always remember the times we spent together knitting with great fondness, and am very grateful to her for passing on her expertise.

8. Although I was born and raised in Wales, I live in a very 'English' area and never had the opportunity when I was young to learn to speak Welsh. I feel quite strongly about speaking the language of the country I'm living in - if I lived in Spain, I'd speak Spanish, or if I lived in France, I'd speak French - so about 15 years ago I decided I was going to learn to speak Welsh. After a few years of evening classes, I passed the GCSE exam (grade B) and then the A level (grade A) and eventually went on to to become a tutor for other adult learners, which I thoroughly enjoyed.