just playing

with the colour purple - sock wool i dyed recently, and love - and photos from my teeny tiny garden (which i also love)

paying it forward

i like this

not that my life is busy enough as it is, but i like it ....

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. (No refunds... no exchanges!!!!)

2. What I create will be just for you, with love from me.

3. It'll be done this calendar year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. I may even create something totally unbelievable and surprise you!! It will be handmade and may be any medium I choose. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange...or awesome...or lovely!

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note/post of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to it.

7. Send your mailing address if you don't live close to me!

Itis a good excuse to dust off some of my other carfty things, and have a bit of fun
Tempted? Go on go on go go on, join me!

Personally I dont mind where you live, if it's the moon I am likely to make something lightweight, and Royal Mail will do their 'best'.
Come on in, plenty of time left in the year ....

two things ...

one - please go and check kims fabulous giveaway - http://calamitykim.typepad.com/

the link to the actual post is in the sidebar on the right, i have followed kims blog for quite a while now and love it - the giveaway is amazingly generous!

and two - we had ofsted today, massively stressful (especially as head of english, with writing being a major target from our last inspection, grilled at length and lesons observed) - and i got outstanding ;-)

thats all

too tired to write anything else!

psssst go check kims blog ...

count your blessings

no pictures
no waffling

please follow the link - and if possible send even just one lightweight item, maybe some wool, maybe some toiletries, maybe something as simple as string

reading the list of items desperately needed brings home exactly how much people have lost in the australian fires - everything

http://peasoupoftheday.blogspot.com/

i have a problem with donating via major charities such as the red cross, for my own reasons - but if i know that every penny will go where it is needed, then yes, in whatever small way i can help, i will

thats all

going back to work ...

i am pleased with my little self today
this is the handpsun i have just plied, its the most even i have managed so far (despite my lovely wheel playing silly buggers repeatedly), its a bit thinner than double knit, so if i really concentrated i might be able to spin / ply around fingering weight / heavy lace weight

you can see how pleased gibbs is too, with his cheeky little grin and his twinkly eyes - ahhh jethro, you warm the cockles of my heart, you silver fox you

these were the 2 bobbins i had spun over the last wek or two, much better than my last lot (this is maybe my 5th go at spinning), no serious thick / thin differences in this lot - i am not kidding myself its brilliant, but i am very happy with it so far
my aim is to spin enough to be able to knit myself a grey shawl, and as theres still a bag and a half left to spin up i should have plenty

hand spun, hand knit shawl in natural greys - not bad!


this is 'choke', from noro silk garden - very easy to kniw, the dragon scale stitch definition isnt brilliant but its ok - had to do a bit of jiggling about with the noro, as i love the pinks \& purples but LOATHE the orangey browns, so joined at the back neck to hide those colours
i think this will be heading to work with me tomorrow

work
yuk
where did the holiday go??



FINISHED! twilight mitts of heavenly goodness, i love these - one or two stitches in the wrong places but i love them to bits




and finally - if i knit myself a tank top (to wear over a black shirt, i can picture it in my head) would i end up looking like father dougal??

spring, almost

ok, so the piccies on here have loaded themselves back to front - not literally, but as in this should have been the last one - never mind

i know better than to try and move them about anymore, that way madness lies ...

this is a little cuff i made a while ago, mrs beetons (ravelry) - ridiculously easy to make, very fast - pretty ridiculous on too, but i love them - totally silly and a bit of frippery (great peeking out from a long sleeved black top)



playing about with my camera - i still dont know what the hell is meant to do what - i tend to experiement and scribble notes down if a certain setting seems to work - i quite liked these ones of a lamp in my living room

i will invest in a better camera at some point, and lessons - thats the biggy, this camera is lovely but i know i dont even begin to make the most of it out of sheer ignorance
i would book onto some nightclass now, but this silly chronic fatigue / ME thingy knocks that for six, a nightclass would kill me just at the moment

talking of which, i feel a kip on the settee coming on ...

ah, this is more like what was meant to follow the title - my garden is tiny

not one of those tardis type gardens that are always in 'container gardening for small gardens' books, that are usually the size of 17 of mine put together, with decking and seating and a pond and a pergola and enough grass to keep 5 gardeners in business

no, my garden is TINY, no grass, just 2 squares outside the house (and as its a back to back terraced house, thats it, no other garden space at all)

my old garden was heaps bigger, 3 sides to it, lovely, and backed onto open land and old trees - but this little space keeps me sane in the summer, i spend a hell of a lot of time sitting out in it

i tidied all of my many pots the other day (its mild, dark, cloudy and wet but mild, its a start), and loved seeing how many bulbs are poking their way through - daffs, tulips, bluebells and goodness knows what else i shoved in there last year

last summer everything looked gorgeous, very cheap bulbs mainly, from good old wilko, so i bought loads more and shoved those in too

i need to find a good online plant supplier, and to get to a garden centre again - i miss having one really handy, its 2 bus rides to get to a homebase, and much much further to get to somewhere bigger like b&q

being a teenager in a small country market town was dull as can be, but being able to get to all the shops easily was a huge bonus!

ah well

last remaining pansy that survived the snow and ice - i love you

holidays

a time of rest and play ... sleep, knit, read - and repeat, heavenly
half term, one week off for good behaviour, although i am in work tomorrow for the day to do some 'very important' (actually it is, very) paperwork - apart from that, meeting friends, knitting, meeting friends AND knitting, having lunch, roaming book shops, looking at things for knitty swaps, looking at things for spinning swaps, seeing my mum, and dying my hair - perfect week off, all being well

the above picture is one of my latest 'must knit's, but in as dark a grey or black as possible and without the collar
i think with a black long sleeve top and a quirky skirt & boots it could be quite nice

for some reason i am reminiscing about this lovely book a lot lately - my mum rang me the other week after reading some article where the writer had mentioned this book and how much he loved it as a boy - i had 2 that i can remember, and loved them - pookie, a little bunny with wings - i had a pookie teddy at some point, with chubby legs dressed in blue trousers, i cant remember him having wings though, maybe i chewed them off
tis perfectly possible
but once you start down memory lane its never ending - i was a happy happy child, and there are so many wonderful memories, mainly around my nan and gag, my much loved and missed grandparents
happy days

ah pookie, where are you



this - sylvi - has gone in the bin
was never 100% sure that i would actually wear something chunky and bright pink, and should have stuck to me instincts, and at the least knit it in charcoal
or ignored it
small people who aint sylphlike shouldnt bloody bother with chunky cables

i loved knitting it, and blocked the back yesterday / over night - it was so small i had to stretch the hell out of it and soak it and stretch it some more, so when i took it off the pins it looked like lace, not nice ... so rather than keep trying i have binned it
if i ever go back to it, it will be with different wook in a better, as in more 'me', colour

meantime, theres a gorgeous, long, flarey cabled coat in inspired to knit, so i am ordering than from amazon and will give that one a go
in charcoal
not pink




and finally - did these at work with the kids before christmas, and i like them now they are up on display - took me all afternoon to put this little lot up, and i suspect one or two will have tumbled over the hols - i forgot to add the mountain of blutack i had planned to sneak under the canvas
oops

i loved covering such a big board with bubblegum pink, it refelcted across the corridor - am adding some to a display in my own room next, to annoy the lads ;-)