A wonderful time was had at Loch Lomond on Sunday, and not even the dreadful cold I had could spoil it . The Golf course looks wonderful , and the views from the spa in the golf club were amazing, there is even a hot tub on the roof to give better views! The steam rooms had gorgeous aromatherapy scents wafting about , the menthol one was particularly good for my cold , and the showers sprayed water in different ways dependent on what button you pressed. Tropical rain , head massage , refreshing, invigorating etc. etc. Who knew you could get clean in so many different ways . The restaurant in the spa felt a bit strange, sitting eating in a (damp) bathrobe was not my idea of pleasure, so I waited to visit the clubhouse restaurant instead , after I was finished at the spa. It was very modern, but the feel was traditional with dark muted wallpaper and carpets, and big comfy chairs and sofas. The staff were very attentive , and the food was wonderful. A lovely anniversary gift indeed.
Back to the knitting... the pinwheel has a half sleeve now, a little added every day, but I have a deadline as want to wear it to the Iknit event on November 10th - just as well its Flavaknits night tonight. The back of the Rowan shortie cardi is just about finished, it is truly a joy to knit, cocoon is a wonderful yarn to knit with and I recommend it to anyone. Have persuaded DH that I could knit him a sweater for Christmas , so he has chosen Frost from the latest Rowan magazine, to be knitted in the black shade of cocoon. Might even get a beanie out of it too!
My sister has given me three options to choose from , for her Christmas gift , in the Noro yarn of course . It looks so colourful , I cant wait to get knitting with it and see how the different shades turn out. I will start the Christmas gifts at the beginning of November, so I have to plug away and try and finish some of my own knitting before that (only six more days, wonder what I'll get done in that time!)
We had a fabulous time at Center Parcs last week , with a day out midweek to Manchester to the MOSI, to see the Dr Who exhibition, and it was a big success. Junior came away with more Daleks and Jnr junior got a Cyberman toothbrush! The parents came away with lighter wallets! At Center Parcs we got to see the wildlife , only one red squirrel but plenty of birds , rabbits , and a Red Toadstool! We were also able to meet up with some friends whom we hadn't seen for a while. AND , the weather was great , all sunny but cool and surrounded by different coloured leaves.
Finally got the photo's onto the computer - here are a few!
Oh no ! its a Cyberman.
Help , my brothers about to be eaten by a huge spider - aracnoss!
A toadstool fit for a Brownie !
Beautiful Noro Silver Thaw
Gorgeous cocoon , Rowan shortie cardi under construction !
And finally - the pinwheel! I won't be missed in this on a dark winters morning. Its a sort of woolen equivalent of a light box to help SAD sufferers, the colours should keep up my spirits even on the bleakest of days .
... to say
My Noro arrived , it is beautiful , I will take photo's soon of its lovely colours.
I have started yet another project , shortie cardi in Rowan Cocoon, colour scree .
Center Parcs was wonderfully relaxing , and generally wonderful.
Judymac - you were closet on the answers to the quiz, which were ..
Green yarn - Mohair Goat , a lady up in Aberfoyle dyed and spun this yarn .
Wool yarn - Wensleydale sheep (organic) , from the Isle of Arran.
Judy , if you send me your address (mhairidotgilchristatbtinternetdotcom) , a little surprise will wing its way to you in the mountains (fingers crossed no more postal strikes!)
No photo's today , and tomorrow I'm off to lovely Loch Lomond, to the spa at the Carrick Golf club (the new golf club attached to Cameron House!)
Normal service resumes next week.
Thanks for all the lovely comments , especially Anna who likes Dr Who - there's more about that next time!
Well its October( the tenth month of the year) the tenth (day), and this is also my 100th posting (10 x 10 =100)!
So to follow a (sort of) blog tradition, I thought I'd try a wee quiz for those of you who can be bothered! Now you may have noticed that I like yarns that are not quite the "run of the mill" , excuse the pun , so I thought I'd do a wee quiz on some slightly different yarns that I have acquired over the years .
Number one - the bright green yarn is NOT from a sheep, WHAT does this yarn come from ?
The pale cream yarn DOES come from a sheep, WHAT TYPE of sheep does it come from ?
I'll wait until Friday 17th October, when I'm back from my hols at Center Parcs, before naming the winners .
And talking of winners, I won two packs of Noro Silver Thaw on ebay today - hurray. Now I have to start my sisters Christmas gift! (if I'm to finish it on time). I was very excited when I got up this morning as the bid ended at some ridiculous hour in the morning (3am!) , and this was when I was gazumped the last time. My email said I had "won" one lot, and had a second chance on the other lot - thank goodness for second chances . So now all I have to do is pay and give feedback.
Talking of feedback, I followed a link from Poshyarns for the podcast on BBC radios 4 Womens' hour, where Jane Brocket was discussing her new book, The Gentle art of Domesticity. Given previous newspaper articles, and the questions Jane has been asked, it appears there is to be a widespread panic at the Domestic arts being portrayed in this book. Feminist outrage and all that stuff! Domestic arts seems to be seen as a pre-feminist activity , by certain people . I've not heard any men included in these discussions, nor have any been asked if they would buy this beautiful book. Looking at many blogs, post-feminist man seems just as acquainted with the domestic arts as women are.
The domestic arts were not called such when I was small, they were hobbies to be encouraged, things to be enjoyed after school or work, they encouraged social occasions. My house was full of magazines on Cooking, Sewing, Knitting , Woodworking etc. People who couldn't make or do for themselves were looked down upon in our household , you were meant to be academic AND be able to knit a jumper, or bake some scones. Having a career and being domestic were NOT mutually exclusive to our family , one was meant to compliment the other.
Apparently two people on a regional radio show, had the temerity to discuss whether Janes' lifestyle was legitimate !! I really feel it is these sort of people who really do have too much time on their hands, and want to analyse everything to the nth degree. To quote Stephen Fry - "Can you imagine what happens to (TV/BOOK/THEATRE) critics when they die ? They meet St Peter at the Pearly gates and he asks them, what did you do with your life ? And the answer , well, I spent my life as a critic, criticising what other people did. You criticised what other people did, ?, St Peter answers , and you felt this was a worthwhile use of your life ?"
I registered with ebay the other day - have avoided this for some time now, as my yarn stash is growing by the usual means of visiting yarn shops. And I knew I'd get carried away - I'm bidding on 3 packs of Noro Silver Thaw, I only meant to bid on one! In fact I've bid on four to date, but I lost one, so obviously I had to bid on another three JUST to make sure I get one. What if I get three ? Eek! I'm sure I'll manage to do something with it! It is very addictive, but I made a rule to only bid on one type of yarn at a time. So I've bypassed the gorgeous Louisa Harding Kimono yarn, some lovely vintage yarn originally from Libertys' in Edinburgh, Cashmere, Sock yarn, Rowan Babysoft... aahh, such sweet temptation .
Just as well I have children to look after and a house to (sort of) keep clean, as well as cooking or I would become an ebay junkie
Talking of ebay, I first heard the term before ebay came into existence. I remember asking an American collegue of mine what was meant by ebay - it meant east of (San Fransisco) bay , where some of our companys office were. Some of the terms used by my American collegues were a little confusing, like, "there's a disconnect" or "I'm giving you a heads up ! " Translated into Scots that would be " its nae workin' " and " Am telling you, right!" .
Ah, the beauty of language!
Well, not so much a bother as a query - its the pinwheel sweater. Now in the pattern it has the colour changes to the outside, so when doing the reverse garter stitch you see the colour changes. I wanted to change that so that the colour changes were only visible when the collar was turned down... but now I'm not so sure . Have a peek and see !
If I decide I don't like it this way then its a "rippit rippit" situation - yikes! Yes I do like it, I do I do I do - perhaps . Then again when its worn, will anyone really notice the colour change rows. I also had a bit of an emergency crochet hook situation - its all sorted now thank goodness - phew! I am beginning to sound like an extra from Scooby Doo .
Have just finished the heel of sock number one, and am at the picking up stage now , to "turn the heel". I really like this Lana Grossa Mega Boots sock wool, its quite stretchy too, but it feels quite firm once knitted, a good snug fit I hope. Next time I hope to do some sort of pattern on the socks, but for now the nice colour changes keep it interesting .
Was feeling a bit harrassed last Thursday, it was dinner time, the children were swinging from the light fittings , the meal was going up in smoke , and then there was a knock at the door. I opened the door with THAT sort of face, you know the one, it scares small children and has grown men running for cover. The poor girl standing there asked for Marie (I answer to many variations of my name!) - then handed me a large ....
bouquet! Thankfully the card had my name on it, and not some other Marie. I doubt the girl would have taken them back - not after THAT face .
(PS. it was an anniversary gift from my DH.)
