Had a lovely afternoon at Tramwayknits yesterday. Nan the resident YP, brought us some lovely samples from Stitching Time (her shop!) The yarn came from sheep, Llammas', Camel, Alpacas' (was there a goat in there , can't remember ). All gorgeous and irresistable.
We also had fun with the yarn and pattern books/folders Elaine brought in, donated by a kindly gentleman . There was rather a lot of yarn and patterns, it was quite amazing . Some of the styles though..... hehehe!
DH came up to find me at leaving time, didn't faint at the sight of so many women and managed to even reply to some - aaahhhh! Bless. He was please with Maggies' compliment - you look like your photo, not any older! Thats because he is married to me.... I'm a good wife really!
And at one point, friends of ours appeared complete with children, and promptly plonked the youngest in my arms while the older one had to pay a visit! The little one showed interest in the goings on (or was that my necklace!), I think she'll want to take up knitting when older!
Spent today travelling around with my sister, lunch at North Star Cafe in the West End of Glasgow, a wee peek into K1yarns where we saw the lovely Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt fame , knitting her gorgeous socks and spent a wee wee wee bit of money .
And now, the Sun is shining , the boys are at the Grandparents, I'm going to sit in my peaceful garden drink tea and eat raspberries!
Are you jealous yet ??
So , am now on Jury call-up as they didn't need me Monday . Three hours of waiting around, listening to mumbling Sheriffs' and Lawyers before being dismissed. It was worse than school.
Thankfully it was a lovely day, and I met up with my sister for a coffee and strawberry tart later , mmmmmm . Well Grandpa was babysitting, and I knew there would be chaos when I returned (I was right, two hours to tidy up!)
Back home , I found the place was over running with kids, but Grandpa and Jnr junior were happy watching TV. I also found my Dr Who Jelly Baby Swap package - it contained a ......Crocheted Dalek! Fabulous!
younger son fights to get it from me - he wants to be a Dalek!
Older son steals it from me to cuddle, and pretend to be Dr Who !
And when they'd both went to bed, I got a picture of my pack with the sweeties too. The Junior mints got a bit melted in the post, so , of course, I had to eat them straight away!
And here is the gorgeous sock yarn in Dr Who colours of Navy Blue, Green, Creams. Isn't it lovely. Its from an etsy seller called Lone Star - must check them out.
Now, where is my WIP knitted Dalek ?
Just had a lovely few days at my friends up in Inverness. Weather wasn't great, but we did manage to get out and about, visiting a few parks and doing some grass sledging .
And on Monday I have to do my civic duty, which I'm not looking forward to.
I'm a bit tired and out of sorts just now - its another one of those "phases" Doctors are so fond of talking about, "Just your age!"
Will blog again after Jury Duty and whatever phase I'm going through!
So, I am telling the story at Sunday School today, about John the Baptist baptising Jesus, and the Dove descending from Heaven. Son number one was helping and we had a few toys for display, Camel for the Desert, Bird to represent the Dove. When we got the the bit about the Dove landing on Jesus' head, Son number one threw the toy bird and it bounced off my head! Son number two then sat it on my head and bounced it up and down thinking it was very funny!
I am obviously a Mother who can't control her own children... you can imagine the fun when we started to make paper Doves !
Should really stick to the knitting, still on the silk tank, although I pulled out my Banana yarn when I was sorting my knitting bag, had a look, then put it back!
Spent a lovely afternoon at Tramway Knits today. There were lots of new faces, and lots of new knitting... oh and a beautiful necklace worn by Anne!
Maggie was knitting socks from a lovely self-striping yarn she bought from ebay. Alison was crocheting some lovely black fingerless gloves, with red lacing at the wrists. Can't remember what Anne was knitting as I was bowled over by her lovely solid silver necklace. Linn had two projects, one crochet shawl (reminder yarn from her knitted shawl , the lovely Rowan tapestry in a blue shade) and a sweater of her own design. The talented Gloria was knitting a scarf from her own handspun alpaca, in variegated pink yarn. Margaret helped out Maggie by adding to her garter knit shawl, and Sarah was knitting a lovely sleeveless sweater in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn.
Nan was using the remainder of her Natural Dye Studio Alpaca/silk yarn to make a crochet corsage. She had already made a lovely lace shawl and knitted (padded) heart - I've promised to get her some lavender for it. And we also got to see what the gift she had received in the post from Heather. A beautiful felt corsage (the unknitted variety!), with pretty pink beads in the centre.
Really wish I had taken my camera today.
Well, we're off to Inverness this week to visit friends, what to pack ?
Something warm and woolly , no doubt!
So, the sales figures of JL and M&S should now have gone up a bit - but no thanks to the bargain remainders in the yarn dept at John Lewis. Kathleen, I'm afraid it may just be dregs left - Hhhuummmph! I did get a nice shiny toaster and a whistling kettle, but sadly no yarn .
There was some nice cotton, including the new Rowan Organic cotton , but not shades that would suit me , unfortunately . The Wendy Pure Bamboo had some lovely shades, and was a good bargain, but not enough in each colourway to make anything big like a cardi or sweater, maybe a summer top .
Its Flavaknits night tonight, so maybe I'll see if anyone got anyone got any good bargains, and maybe I'll get a bit more of the silk tank down too . I think I'm enjoying knitting with the silk too much to stop knitting with it, which is why I keep trying different modifications!
I shall also ask some advice on Yarn Swaps,I feel my participation in a Dr Who Jelly Baby/yarn swap was a bit of a disaster!
I had gathered together all I wanted to send, then when I realised it would cost about £15 to post, I had to rethink. I mean, I have 2 weans to feed! So I sent the value stated £15 worth of goods, and postage of £7, and thought that was that .
And now folks are showing what they got and I feel like Ebeneezer Scrooge before the Ghostly visitation!
So I think I may avoid Swaps in the future, I'm clearly not cut out for them.
Or I'll stick to just yarn.
We're home! Had a relaxing time in Majorca, and it was HOT HOT HOT !
The flora and fauna there is quite something, bright red lily-like flowers, tiny wild white rose -like flowers, the bushes with vibrant purple, pink, red and white tiny flowers. And then there were what I assume to be huge black-almost-blue bees, they were amazing . Every morning we were awoken by a dawn chorus, with so many wonderful birds . I really must read up a bit more about the wildlife as I don't know much about it .
Some knitting was done, and then ripped out! The Lotus Blossom tank remains unfinished, some knitting will be done at the weekend after the myriad piles of washing have been done, yikes! My initial stitch reduction was too severe, so I am going to stick to the pattern (mostly), and keep checking Ravelry to see how other folks turned out .
Have noticed we're back just in time for Marching Season - yes , the Orange Lodge Parades (Protestant organisations, many flautists among their numbers!) will be holding up the traffic while "protesting" about something very few of them know anything about - Religion ! This is a less pleasing aspect of Scottish Culture - religious bigotry .
Having grown up in the West of Scotland, Protestant/Catholic differences have always provided a back drop to the culture. An uncle was in the Orange Lodge, and he always kept a blue budgie called Billy, a shortened form of William (from William of Orange, the Protestant King of Britain in the 1600's ) . Now, he also has two sons, one of which is called .... Billy, so, the other son was (quite rightly so) upset when this blessed budgie was named after his brother! lol
He would also receive Christmas Cards that when opened played that tune so favoured of the Orange Lodge - The Sash! Not really a festive tune, but one singing the praise of the "Sashes" the Orange Lodge members would wear ! And my Grandmother, who was Catholic, would just laugh ! The rest of us would just roll our eyes.
And how do you start to explain this to someone who has not grown up with it - it just doesn't make sense .
Its a weird world we live in .
And talking of ....while I was away, I noted that John Lewis year on year weekly sales figures had taken a tumble. This was obviously because I was on holiday, and unable to spend in the Summer (yarn) Sales there. Fear Not JL, I have returned and will be flexing the flexible friend as soon as possible. Next weeks sales will be up up up!
Unfortunately , Bank of Somewhere figures may go DOWWWNNNN, but still , there is always next months salary!
