Glasgow ! Hurray !
Radio Clyde is having a party at the Fruitmarket in Glasgow - although they started early this morning before the announcement. My husband called me at lunchtime to say Glasgow had won the right to host the games.
I'm thinking of getting Junior jnr in training now for the long jump, 100/200/400/8000m sprint, or if he's a bit naughty, the High Jump! He is practising this as I write!
Its been very cold , wet and windy of late, the mild Autumn weather has turned. One of the things about living close to the sea , is the strength of the wind when it gets a bit stormy. A whole section of the main road was closed , due to some tiling being blown off a roof, and this caused major traffic jams. When we all headed to Cafe Flava for our evenings' knitting, we were almost blown away by the gusts, but it did eventually calm down a little.
The "prize draw" yarn from Simply Knitting magazine finally arrived, 25 balls of gorgeous Bergere de France yarn. There were 5 balls of each type , so we did the British thing of " Oh no, *insert name* , I INSIST you have it (while stabbing each other in the back! lol). Only kidding. We all had a look, chatted a bit , had another wee feel, chatted a bit, flicked through books, before splitting up the yarn quite calmly.
Because the REAL yarn scramble will no doubt happen tomorrow - now I'm off to work out my battle plan for the market at SnB day!
So I waste half the night trying to knit Poppy here, and even sleeping I was dreaming about knitting it. It was all going pear-shaped which is not good when its Poppy shape you are wanting. Sitting in the window seat with my latte at Cafe Flava, it all came together, literally. Thank You Val for the yarn! Now , I know its not the best looking poppy, but it has to be better, and longer lasting then the paper ones, and I can always make a few minor adjustments (like... knit another one! lol)
Poppy has got a new friend too - Kiwi ! Kiwi is recovering in my bedroom, after Junior jnr thought he was Rumpelstiltskin !. Strict orders have been issued, and the door locked. Santa will be informed if there are any breaking of these rules . You've heard of yummy mummy, slummy mummy , alpha mummy - me, I'm "threat and bribe" mummy, and you know, most times it works! But it won't be long before Kiwi is busily burring away with some roving, and although it won't be spun into gold , it will hopefully be something better than that , Yarn .
Ginger is the cooks secret ingredient du jour in the house just now. This has been added to the beef casserole and the Winter Warmer soup (the ingredients of which change to suit whats in my veg drawer in the fridge - but safe to say its usually root veg). Tonight, I'm splashing out and making prawn and avocado spicy couscous - and the kids will be getting soup and chicken dippers because...."it smells funny, and I don't like the colour". And its Flavaknits night tonight , so I like to keep everyone "happy" (read quiet!) And we'll be discussing Saturdays' plans for SnB day - can't wait .
Finally, the above picture is Tuesdays' Sausage casserole, with the sausages hiding under the winter squash and leek. It was delicious, and Junior scoffed it down in 30 seconds flat. Now, that was yummy mummy!
Well, Santa came early for me today, as I picked up a special item from India - no photo's yet, its recovering from its journey in the bedroom. I have given it a try , but will need more peace and time to do it properly !
I have to say I would have been tempted to steal Indias' cats away as they are GORGEOUS, Isis kept coming over to lick me - I think that meant I was okay! And on the subject of animals - as I was driving up to Paisley this afternoon, a wonderful looking bird of prey (buzzard I think) flew over. It looked so beautiful flying against a bright blue sky . I've been looking out for Birds of Prey at the roadside ever since Juniors falconry session last October Hols .
Proper knitting is being put aside tonight so I can knit my poppy. Karen has adjusted the pattern so that it turns into a corsage style poppy and not a wreath, and her mum was kind enough to buy yarn for us all to share. I shall put more cash in the Poppy appeal box tomorrow .
Well apart from being the installation art in Cafe Flava (knitting in the window seat , well it does have the best light), I have been trying to cook wholesome warming dinners . Last night was sausage casserole, with leek and winter squash - big success. Tonight was beef casserole with green pepper and ginger , another success, in fact I just put all the ingredients together because I fancied them! And I love ginger.
I used stewing steak (British of course) , browned it, fried some leek, celery, pepper and mushrooms, added some veg stock, simmered for a while (45 mins), added chopped ginger, simmered again (20 mins) , then served with mashed potato and steamed broccoli . Delicious .
Photos' tomorrow, better get knitting that poppy .
Firstly, thank you Judy for your comments - I will indeed try the squash in some soup. I also thought about putting some squash in a sausage casserole, we will see! It does appear to be quite a versatile veg .
One sleeve and a neckband to go - my cocoon cardi is shaping up nicely. I really do enjoy knitting with it, so I am looking forward to starting DH sweater.
A while back I visited my pal Nans' shop and was admiring one of the knitting books - Montse Stanleys' The Handknitters Hanbook. As luck would have it, Nan had a spare copy and kindly gave it to me. Its a super book , great for reference, and guess whos' picture I found in it ?
Never see this picture in the tabloid papers - nice fairisle Kate, what no MOSS stitch. (bad pun, I know)
And as I write, Junior jnr is re-arranging the sofa, its a slide, its a bouncy castle, its FUN!
The weather is still quite mild for Autumn, there have been no good frosts here yet. Visiting Finlaystone Estate on Saturday , the Woods were full of midges having a final ball before winter. They even drove the kids away from the Wooden play areas, which is a first. The colours of autumn are in full swing now, all the trees around are different shades of red , gold and brown , and they compliment the red and blond sandstone tenements and houses. Even my modern little box of a house looks good in Autumn, when the Cherry Blosssom tree leaves turn red.
My bright orange Halloween pumpkin is sitting in my kitchen window looking quite majestic - pity its one of the tasteless ones grown for size over taste. So today I bought winter squash to make soup. I have never tried it before, so I'll want to get a good recipe that uses it to its best. Any ideas ?
And now, I'm going to try to order my yarn from K1yarns - yet another Christmas project .
Had a lovely afternoon at the Tramway Knits, it was so nice to see some new faces, but me being my usual unsocial self didn't manage to have a chat or get their names, with the exception of Jennifer (Indias' mum) and Sido. Instead I had a "California Dreaming" chat with Thea (who hails from San Jose). Well its grey November and it is a subject that cheers me up.
There were so many lovely projects going on at the table, only a few I can adequately describe. India had brought her new Spinning Wheel , a lovely looking portable wheel on which she was spinning some gorgeous roving into laceweight - go have a look here
Gloria had her "broomstick" project, which involved a very large knitting needle and a crochet hook, and was making a gorgeous scarf from some lilac coloured Mirasol yarn. Catherine was wearing her lovely crocheted cape , which she had recently made , and Thea finished the scarf she was knitting in time to wear it home. Julia was knittings something gorgeous in Bamboo, and Fiona in a variagated pink shades yarn , although I did see some socks at the table a little before that . In fact several people were knitting socks, including Sido who was knitting them as a gift.
Talking of gifts , DH has said he will buy something, our India is selling - more later!
I gave the pinwheel sweater sleeve a few more rounds before going for the cocoon cardi sleeve - sleeves are never my favourite part to knit, they seem to go on to long, especially if you have extra long arms like me!
Well, back to the knitting - there is another one to go !
the 5th of November, Bonfire/Guy Fawkes night. The local "celebrations" include a fireworks display at Customhouse Quay in Greenock, with a 25 foot/12m high wicker figure depicting Auld Dunrod ( a famous local witch/wizard, who may or may not have been burned for his activities), anyway he got a hill named after him , probably where he carried out his evil deeds! Not sure why he's the "Guy" this year - something to do with a local Myths and Legends festival .
The fireworks have been going off haphazardly as usual, some people not able to contain themselves until the 5th.
And talking of dates to remember and not being able to contain myself (of the excitement) , next Saturday I'm off to the first ever SnB day down at Iknit London, Yippee! There appears to be loads going on with Brandon Mably, Debbie Stoller and her new book , different knitting stalls, shows , AND my friend Gayle (fabulous cook) has offered to bake the breakfast muffins for the plane trip down ! What more could a girl ask for .
But the real biggie date to remember in November is obviously Remembrance Sunday, which this year actually falls on 11/11 . Knitonthenet have come up with a brilliant idea , they are asking for donations to the British Legion, and in return you will get a pdf document of a pattern to knit a poppy. My knitting buddy, Marion, started to knit one the other evening, but it was nearly the size of a wreath ! Karen suggested we knit them in wool and felt them to make them more "poppy" size. Anyway , its a good cause to donate to, as the British Legion helps ex-service men and women and their dependents, those who pay the ultimate price for our Governments decisions.
And November is also the month I start the Christmas Knitting - please don't scream! Although I have my Christmas projects set out, yarn bought, patterns at the ready, I still hear the siren call of some extra quick Christmas projects that I'd like to do. Looking at K1yarns website I saw this Colinette Point 5 Which would make a lovely scarf!And i also saw this Lima yarn But which one to choose ? Or should I take both ? (Hopefully DH isn't reading this - it may give him the nervous twitch)
As if I didn't have enough projects on the go - at least the Rowan Cocoon shortie cardi is going well (one sleeve and a neckband to go ) , the Pinwheel sweater is slowly getting there (one more sleeve and edging to go). No photo's until next week, I'm going to save it all up until after the Iknit event.
Tomorrow I'm off to my Tramwayknits group, one of our number is upping sticks to Zurich (the lengths some folk go to get more yarn!), so we're enjoying her company while we can! And I guess we'll need to start saving for a group trip to Zurich in the summer (do easyjet go there?)
There is so much going on this month that before you know it, IT will be here, you know , ST ANDREWS day - lol!
