In the garden at the moment

The garden is a real avian nursery at the moment. Somewhere out there is a baby thrush, two baby blackbirds, hosts of baby dunnocks and eight baby blue tits.

It's been almost impossible to catch them on camera, but the blue tits have started to spend a lot of time around this old plant saucer recently:

While you were sleeping

and I was up, waiting for a plumber who didn't turn up, I:

- vacuumed the whole house
- baked two trays of crustless quiches
- cleaned the microwave
- did four loads of washing
- tidied the spare room - including cleaning up all the grout that fell out of the booby-trapped bag you left there for me
- reorganised my iTunes
- prepared bags of bargain strawberries and raspberries
- tidied out the cheese drawer in the fridge and grated up all those left over bits to cook with
- threw away all the out of date things in our fridge


We've started calling into Lidl once a month to have a browse and see what they have got (ok, I'm really checking out the sock wool...) and have been really pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fruit and vegetables in our branch. Today's tomato haul:

Brit Floyd

I've never been to see a tribute band before. In fact, I would say that we probably avoid the idea like the plague. It brings up images of Creme Brulee for me.

So, when we won four tickets to see Brit Floyd at The Sage this weekend, we weren't expecting much. (In fact, it felt like a sad irony, given that we failed to get the tickets we wanted for The Wall next week)

We arranged to meet J's sister and her husband up there and headed off, planning to get there early and have a drink and something to eat. Unfortunately, we got snagged up in the fallout from an accident on the other carriageway of the A19, so things felt a bit frayed by the time we got there.

So, it was a pleasant surprise to find we were in the fourth row from the front and to find that the quality of the musicianship was spot on. We got a 'greatest hits' type set that you would never get from the real thing, even if they were still performing together (or were even all still alive for that matter). I really enjoyed Comfortably Numb, The Great Gig in the Sky, Wish You Were Here and Echoes.
The guy in the seat next to me fumbled around in his little stash tin for a square of blotting paper and proceeded to take that during Shine on You Crazy Diamond - just for a bit of added atmosphere.

My only real issue with the band was their lack of stage presence. I'd like to see a little bit more personality. (Maybe it was just the fact that the guitarist looked uncannily like my first husband!)



Overall, a good night.

Pass it on

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Modular knitting
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Christmas etc related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
JewelryKnitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for prem babies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Cushions
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Make over

I've been using the old Blogger basics since I started this. Unfortunately, It won't let me update some things any more without changing the whole template. So, this is my new look for the moment. I'll spend a bit of time tweaking it and probably changing it over the next couple of weeks. Blogger reassures me it has saved my old blog look somewhere, just in case.

Last day off for a while today. Intend to potter, knit and watch some TV. After I have been shopping and planned next week's meals. Good intentions! How long do you reckon that will last?

In the spirit of planning ahead. One for the veggies:



Edamame bean and veggies-that-are-slightly-drooping-in-the-bottom-of-the-chiller balti.



Scented lillies, still going strong from my birthday last week.

To do

I'm starting the day by rationalising my 'to do' list. Lists always make me feel calmer and, hopefully, some of the things I had on my list at the start of the Easter break will have sorted themselves out anyway. Most of the stuff I have to do is related to work. I must admit I haven't done any of the work-related things I had planned to do over the holidays yet. Maybe I won't. It's been tough at work recently and I do feel like I have needed a rest. To be truthful, I feel a bit overwhelmed by going back. Lists are the only way forward!

Newts!

On our walk this evening we passed several ponds where we have seen the odd newt in past years. J climbed down from the path, but I wasn't sure it would be worth the effort.

He started counting and as he got to 8 I scrambled down. I counted 15 greater crested newts but J reckoned there were lots more. They were just swimming around, feeding and impersonating sticks on the bottom of the clear pond.

I only had my phone with me. Must start carrying my camera everywhere.

Fiddles on Fire

Fiddles on Fire festival started at The Sage last night. We went to see Martin carthy and Dave Swarbrick play in Hall 2 and appear in some pictures on The Sage's Facebook page.

Not featured in the photos, but did I see Mr Swarbrick wearing hand-knit socks? Looked like a self-patterned Opal/Regia type yarn.

The highlight, for me, was the duo playing in the concourse at about 7:15ish. Didn't get their names or manage to bring home the programme, which was a shame.

Not the Royal Wedding

Instead, I went to a spinning workshop run by Phillippa Joad of Wheeldale Woolcrafts in Marton.

We learned the basics of using an Ashford Traditional wheel (and now I want one, of course!)









I'm incredibly proud of my lumpy, uneven, first yarn!

Never ending stocking stitch

I have come to love fine knits. Obviously, as a knitter, there is a down-side to this. I have 300 stitches on the needles at the moment.



The pattern is Goodale by Cecily Glowik MacDonald. I love her patterns.

the yarn is Hero from Flamboyance.

Completed Cloud Chaser

I finished Cloud Chaser in Ethical Twist from Kemps.

It's a really interesting knit and took hardly any yarn (two and a half skeins). Unfortunately, I still haven't got to grips with my actual body size now and it's a bit big. Should be ok for layering in the winter, though.

Garden update

It seems a while since I posted any garden pictures - probably because the winter has been so long and depressing. Anyway, here we go:

Happy Mothers' Day

Mothers' Day and it feels quite springy here, but still cold. I don't believe the temperature sensor in the car when it says that it's 15 degrees out there. Must be wind-chill.



The garden is starting to wake up:




j gave me this brooch. I love it. It's hand made from an old domino.


For lunch:

Mozzarella and roasted veg tart. I found some really tasty mixed coloured part-dried tomatoes in herby oil in our mini-Sainsbury's. They taste wonderful. It's a real sign of the times, though.

Winged Knits

I'm a big fan of Cecily Glowik MacDonald's knitting patterns. I have already made Idlewood (see post from 27th February 2011), have the yarn for Goodale, Hollyhock and Streamside.

This weekend she has 20% off buying the patterns online through Ravelry. Go, quickly, now!

A little piece of Havanna

Last night we were at The Sage to see The Orchestra Buena Vista Social Club. A wonderful night!
Omara Portuondo was inspirational - and still breathtakingly beautiful - at 80.


I now know that I must learn to Salsa dance.

She shoots, she scores!

Today I reached my target weight.

I got weighed this morning and realised I’d shifted those last couple of pounds and met my target. My BMI is now officially ‘normal’!


While I do feel a real sense of achievement, I’m also surprisingly nervous. I guess it’s because I have focussed on my fat all my life and then became totally absorbed by the wls. First it was worrying about being fat and wanting the surgery, then it was surviving the surgery, then losing weight and working towards my target.


Now I’m here and I’m going to have to start thinking differently.

Balanced energy or closed mind?

Have I mentioned my Monday night evening class? A friend and I are doing An Introduction to Holistic Therapies. It's a taster course to help us decide which therapy we might want to pursue in greater depth. So far, we've tried aromatherapy, Indian head massage, basic massage techniques and decluttering our lives (actually, I missed that one as my life was so cluttered by the threat of Ofsted that I couldn't get there in time).

I've enjoyed all the massage-related sessions and have really felt positive effects, both as giver and recipient, but I'm struggling with the 'Energy Therapies'. As you might be able to tell by the use of inverted commas.

Last night we were introduced to Colour Therapy. Hmmm. It started badly. Our tutor put down a crystal angel ornament on a pulsating, flashing coloured light source and turned the lights off. I started to laugh to myself. Couldn't look at the people I sit with as I could detect shuddering shoulders and supressed hysteria all round.

'Look, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to turn that off! It's like being in some kind of mystical Studio 54 - almost as bad as the whale music from week one!' K again. I've mentioned her complaining before.

The laughter just errupted from there. The tutor knew she'd lost us.

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in an Alan Bennett play.

Instant gratification

A very quick knit: Idlewood




Made in (shhh!!!) acrylic. This is James C Brett's Marble.

What I did on my holiday

I found this on eBay:



and this:


So I spent this afternoon doing these:

When did we become old?

My best friend (of 43 years - we met at infant school) and I get together regularly and chat, ok, gossip. We take an evening class together on Monday evenings (strangely enough) and usually talk and text through the week.
K's the only person exactly my age I'm still this close to, a bit like being a twin, separated by only 6 weeks. So, it's a bit like holding up a mirror to myself. I see my fashion choices, grey hairs, wrinkles and opinions refected back at me. Usually.

Recently, however, K has taken to complaining. About her partner, Revenue and Customs, service in restaurants, anything and everything.

This week alone, her partner wore a sweatshirt when he took her out to dinner at a pub - it was 'inappropriate'; the waiter had Doc Marten boots on with red laces and bad tattoos; the waiter leaned across her to pick up empty plates; in the building society, service has gone to hell - 'The teller was wearing Ugg boots with her uniform!", another teller had a 'hermaphrodite' haircut. Gentle questioning reveals this to be an assymetric bob, cropped at one side and long on the other.

I murmer, sympathetically, whilst trying to remain the voice of reason. 'It was a pub, not the Ivy.' 'I wear Ugg boots, they keep my feet warm.' Nothing placates her.

Do I do this? I hope not. When did we become our grandmothers?