Half-term

and I'm very glad to see it!

I've been doing a bit of knitting:

I hoped to put my feet up a bit, drink coffee, watch movies and work on this a bit more. I had secretly challenged myself to finish it this week, but that isn't happening. The yarn is gorgeous. It was part of my Christmas gift from j and J.

On the subject of coffee and yarn, I received a lovely package in the post, all the way from Sacramento. It's my Knitter's Coffee Swap package from Liz. The coffee looks really interesting. It's from Temple and I'm looking forward to trying it.

We usually buy coffee from Whittards at Dalton Park and often order it for delivery from Pumphreys. We like to support localish businesses when we can. This week, I went a little further afield to Coffee Bean Shop. The service and delivery was excellent. Now, I just hope the coffee is as good.

Be mine!

Well, it’s Valentine Day!

I only know this because, when I fired up the intyweb this morning, I wondered what the Google Doodle was about and then I realised. It’s a lovely little film btw.

I can’t remember when I last got a Valentine’s card.

I remember my first: posted by my mum, I recognised the badly disguised handwriting; I was about 9.

I remember my first from a boy: PR, he was an eco-warrior at my environmental protest group (ok, so he was a pipe-fitter as well, but it was his principles and long hair I fell in love with rather than his ability to reroute my parents’ gas supply at cost) and it was handmade from recycled paper; I was 16. I wonder what he’s doing now.

It’s not something J and I do.

We barely manage to remember our wedding anniversary to be honest. But today, before work, he’s running j over to the garage to drop his car off for a service, then at lunchtime he’s running over to the next town to pick up the garden furniture I bought yesterday - organising everything around his own job. Last night I didn’t miss University Challenge because he Sky+ed it for me and he’ll still let me put my cold feet in his lap and give me a foot massage while we watch TV.
Better than petrol station flowers any day!

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day!

And we thought we were in the clear!

It snowed quite hard last night.

When J went out this morning, the garden was full of fox footprints. We played CSI Fox tracking where they had been - there was more than one. The garden has a secret life all of it's own at night. I seem to spend so much of each night awake but still miss it.

Reshuffle

We've been playing musical cars recently. j bought himself a car of his own so we are cramming three into a space designed for one and a half, really. As J is obsessed with (amongst other things - he really likes to work a good obsession!) the newest car being stolen or damaged, he has instituted a complex hierachy of parking in front of the house. As I leave for work earlier than everyone else, I now take a different car from the one I was driving, in the interests of sanity and a getaway that doesn't involve moving three cars.

In the resulting reshuffle, I ended up separated from my loving collated mix CD collection this week. I find it hard to convey my horror at finding I was trapped in a car with a choice of Roger Whittacker, Frank Zappa or Smooth FM for company.

Catchup

Every week I have good intentions about blogging and every week those intentions seem to fall by the wayside as each week is just as manic as the previous one!

A quick catchup:

I spent a lovely couple of days hiking around Gibisde with a group of kids and some hardy colleagues. We had a great time, but slept little! Gibside is a great location and the stable block, where we stayed, is a really interesting building. I had regular periods of feeling watched, though. I know the chances of that are pretty high when there are 37 of you sharing the space, but it wasn't that. Regular readers will know about my insomnia and night time wanderings, and it was the times when I was on my own that were most interesting. Need to investigate that a bit more, I think. Maybe not. Maybe I'm better off not knowing.

I've been finishing some small, knitted items as I haven't had much time/stamina/wakefulness to invest in a bigger item. I have cast something on in anticipation of my forthcoming half-term holiday, though. My plan is to sit on the sofa for a week and watch all the films the blokes won't watch.

Shivery!

Well, after wondering if we were going to get away without really having a winter, the weather starting to deteriorate a bit over the past week.
J and I got up early one morning to visit the RSPB Saltholme reserve in the hope of seeing short eared owls or marsh harriers. We didn't find them, but watched a flock of Barnacale Geese land on one of the lakes. It is very beautiful at this time of year.

 

In knitting news:

I finished a pair of socks for my brother, P, while on the train to and from the BETT show in Olympia. I enjoyed the show and it was a good day out with a colleague, but I know I couldn't do a really long commute like that every day (or even every week)! I did enjoy explaining how I got the socks to (more or less match) to the chap sitting opposite us on the return trip.

Then I finally finished my Hitchhiker scarf, in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga. This is gorgeous yarn. I was aiming for 42 points, but managed 36 - not quite the ultimate answer.

Next, I knitted up another hat - need to keep the wind off my ears these days. This one is in my hand-dyed, handspun yarn (merino, alpaca and silk). If I look wrinkly and knackered, it's because I am wrinkly and knackered all the time these days.

Stormy

J has gone off to repair a friend's fence, which blew down yesterday. Good to see he is getting such early use out of his new Christmas drill/driver!

Yesterday was so stormy. There was a brief lull in the wind and rain in the early afternoon. We headed out to the beach - I was feeling a bit stir crazy. It was deserted except for us and the sea birds. We watched a little colony of turnstones fighting to stay upright in the wind.

 

Happy New Year!

Belated, again.


I ended last year determined to reduce the number of knitting projects I have on the go. I was trying to get my Fiddlehead Mittens finished, but didn't manage to get them completed, lined, trimmed and blocked until yesterday. Surely these will keep even my frozen fingers warm.

They are made in Rowan Rowanspun 4 ply and Mini Mochi. The Rowanspun was a delight to work with, but the Mini Mochi was horrible. It split, caught on the tips of the bamboo dpns I used to make these and was very 'thick and thin' in places. I love the colours, but won't be using this again. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really like singles.


J and I went to Whitby yesterday morning. The White Horse and Gryphon is for sale. Were we tempted? Only briefly. We've seen too many episodes of Three In a Bed and The Hotel Inspector!

We walked for a bit and then drove up the coast to Sandsend and had a lovely latte in the Wits End Cafe. Great little place. This is the view back across to Whitby.

So, with only one work in progress on the needles, I felt the need to cast on something else:

Socks for P.

Mug is full of  Mocha Matarri from Pumphreys. I love the smell when I open a new bag.