hot stuff!!

Last night's tennis - Murray vs Wawrinka was gripping .

Although the rain had stopped the roof over the Centre Court was kept closed which allowed the match to played under floodlights until 22.38. (yes, really!! well after my bedtime..)

But these are grass courts, so the air must have been very humid under the glass, and both players were sweating profusely.

Wawrinka wasn't going to just roll over in front of the British no 1, he was reading a different script in which a win would get him back into the top 10. So it was a five set thriller, and as the two men are practise partners (& friends) they knew each other's game very well and both battled away to the end- 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 until Murray just edged it after 3 hours 56 minutes of hot sweaty play.

Fabulous stuff! I do love watching Wimbledon, and the BBC has wonderful coverage of it too.

It was a bit too engrossing for my knitting though! I made a mistake on one shoulder of Passionflower and had to rip back a bit. The front is done now, just two short sleeves to do before putting it together.

soya x 2

Soya 1. We took the kids out for dinner last night to celebrate the end of the school year (Sunday was the first night that they were free... they have such busy social lives, we don't...).

J2 has always been a fussy eater and for many years eating out was such a pain, but her tastes are a little broader now and she enjoys Chinese food (as long as it's not spicy, the only spicy thing that she'll eat is a ginger biscuit!).

So we took them to China China in Edinburgh so that she could choose what she liked, J1 could go for quantity not quality and we could have the spicy stuff, and everyone was happy!

I enjoyed the spicy vegetable soup and the salted spare ribs, J2 favoured the chicken & sweetcorn soup and the chicken & vegetable stir fry, and both the boys enjoyed the Mongolian chicken. Not surprisingly I was the only one who had any sushi!

It was a great way to celebrate J1 having only one year left at High school and J2 having finished her first year at High School. (and I still feel full, I think I'll just stick to juice & coffee today..)


Soya 2. Our holiday is only 2 weeks away so as I finished my secret project yesterday I took out Passionflower from hibernation hoping to complete it before we go to Barcelona for a week with the kids. I love handling the soya yarn and the drape is fabulous.

sorted!

there are some fabulous bargains to be had in the sales at the moment and I have extended my stash so much that I have had to completely reorganise it.

Both Jenners and John Lewis are selling packs of cotton yarn (10 balls) for half price so I got some blue and some lilac Rowan cotton, (enough for 2 garments) I also found 2 balls of Debbie Bliss red cashmerino (just perfect for making a beret for me) and there are bargains to be had online too- I bought 4 skeins of Araucanía from Stash Fine yarns at a really good price (so 4 pairs of socks!). So if anyone has any spare cash now is the time to look for good deals.

Having bought all this yummy stuff I couldn't get it into my stash cupboard without it all falling on my head when I opened the door (oh the hazards of knitting! it's a bit much when you have to wear a crash helmet to open a cupboard door!), so when I had to buy some large transparent storage boxes from ASDA to protect my stash (and my head).

I have now sorted it all into two large boxes of yarns for specific garment projects, one box for sock yarn, one for hat, scarf & gloves yarn and one with the eyelash type yarns which J2 loves so much (but are a pain to knit!). There are still 3 large shopping bags of oddments which I've inherited from various people & places. It looks so well organised now and my skull is safer too, and I've got lots of fab stuff to use over the next few months/years.

Now the only danger my brains face is from the perpetual demands of my kids over the summer holidays and from my annoyance at Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. I got to the point in the story this morning when Jane asks Mr Rochester (who has just proposed to her) why he had led her to believe that he was courting Blanche Ingram and he says that he wanted to make her jealous! I can remember throwing the book down in disgust when I read this as a teenager, and I still find it very annoying. Any man who had tried that manipulative tactic on me would have been out on his ear!

I'm about halfway through my secret project which should be posted this week, and then posted on the blog the week after.

Don't stop

playing his music...

Michael Joseph Jackson

29/08/1959- 25/06/2009

He made some of the most outstanding music ever and I hope that is how he is remembered, and that the eccentricities and scandals are forgotten. This will be a tough time for his family and friends, for those who really knew him.

Thriller was the most amazing music video and the music was mind blowing.

DJ's could guarantee a full dance floor when they played Off the Wall , Billie Jean, Beat It or Blame it on the Boogie.

RIP

Jane & Jane

I'm listening to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre at the moment, and enjoying it more than I did when I read it 30 years ago.

It's funny really, I've read all the Brontë books, but only once each, whereas I've read and re-read all of Austen's novels, and almost worn the print off the pages.

My friend A-M is quite the opposite, she reveres the Brontë sisters and has walked across their windswept moors, hoping to meet Heathcliff or Mr Rochester and is less passionate about Jane Austen's heroes (although she enjoys those too, she finds them less satisfying).

As I'm enjoying my forays into Dickens at the moment I thought I'd try some more classics from the Victorian age. The audiobook of Jane Eyre is read by Amanda Root and she does a fantastic job, reaching Miss Jane's fever pitch when needed and intoning the dreadful Mr Brocklehurst equally well.

Last week I was listening to a contemporary author's take on childhood unhappiness Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Set in the 1980's, 13 year old Jason is being bullied because he stammers. His life is not as fraught as Jane Eyre's but he suffers at the hands of his brutish classmates and struggles to develop a sense of who he is.

It's interesting listening to them back to back as Jason has a rich fantasy life which relieves some of his misery and Jane has a deep appreciation of the natural life around her in which she finds some comfort.

My random searches for audio books at the local library is finding me some gems. I might have to dig out an old cassette player to listen to some of them though- they're only on tape. So last century!

My secret knitting is coming on well, I'm learning how to make bobbles today!

catching up (slowly)

I sat outside in the sunshine today and finished off my 5th Pratchgan "square" for the book Sourcery.

The centre shows the flying carpet which Rincewind the wizard uses to fly back to Ankh-Morpork (look closely and you might be able to see the dragon pattern).

Around it are some glass banana beads for the Librarian, a dog button for Wuffles the Patrician's dog and a shimmering sphere for the special magical world which Coin creates and then escapes into. The faded orange/red edge represents Rincewind himself. I'm trying to give the Pratchgan a coherency through the coloured edges representing different characters, as each square is going to be very busy with all the cartoon elements and bits & bobs sewn on.

The finished Pratchgan ( 36 squares?) is not going to be suitable as a blanket as I'm putting on so many embellishments in bead and button form, but it's going to make a fantastic wall hanging. I have to give credit to J2 for this idea- she's even told me where it should hang in the house. ( I think she's been watching too many design programmes!)

So that's 5 squares done ( & I should be nearly finished no 9 this month! Ooops!) and I'm planning on casting on the 6th for Wyrd Sisters this week, but before I do I have a little secret something on the needles in teal cotton.

I've listed this on Ravelry as a secret project- just to torment and tease someone. Will he /she be able to guess what it is??

freebies!

I love freebies, who doesn't?

My first freebie is an amaryllis bulb which had been left in the garage after failing to flower last Christmas and the Christmas before that too....

About a week ago, when I was raking about in my gardening tools, I found this green stalk which was trying to reach the garage door. I took pity on it and put it on a sunny windowsill, not expecting much and now I have this wonderful bloom gracing my kitchen .

Amaryllis don't last long but they are fabulous (and they must thrive on neglect! who knew?).

My second freebie is a poppy which had seeded in a pot containing a skimmia shrub. I could tell from the first few leaves that it was a poppy and thought it must be a field poppy and I was happy to let it grow.

But I was astounded when it opened up into this beauty today. I wonder what it is? I'm going to keep the seeds from it so that I can have more of these gorgeous blooms to enjoy.

( For scale purposes, the snail on the doorstep behind it is about 8" high and 12" long. My kids think it's funny that I wage war on slugs yet have an ornamental snail to greet people.)

we could've been

.. anything

That we wanted to be

And it's not too late to change

I'd be delighted to give it some thought

May-be you'll agree that we really ought

Two, three, four

We went to see Bugsy Malone at our kids school last night and were charmed and delighted by the array of talent and commitment on show. And of course I've had all the tunes going through my head today (especially Fat Sam's Grand Slam).

He was in London last week on a school trip and visited the BBC studios, which he thought he was fantastic- so this week he wants to get into the production side rather than performing. A few weeks ago he was thinking about doing Psychology at Uni, & before that it was Biology, Audio Engineering or Medicine.

He's always been like this- a renaissance boy- when he was 5 he wanted to be an astronaut, a builder, an archaeologist, a writer and a chef so he decided that he would have a different job every day of the week so that he wouldn't get bored. I'm not sure how far he would get as an astronaut in only one day...

We've always told both kids that they can be whatever they want to be, it's their choice not ours, but we'll support them all the way. 16 is such a great age at times- full of possibilites and dreams. He's chosen his 6th form options : Advanced Highers in English, Maths and Biology and an additional higher in Music. So this should give him a broad scope of degree courses to choose from when he starts the application process next term.

I wonder what he will want to be tomorrow.... probably not a dancer or a boxer...

click the links for the songs

flights of fancy

I'm having noisy fun with my latest Pratchgan square for Sourcery.

Using so many colours at once means that the yarn tags clicks together madly as I knit and I feel like I should be starting to click my heels in time ! The central motif is a flying carpet which Rincewind uses to fly back to Ankh-Morpork aided by the lovely Conina.

Flying carpets seem to be so much more comfortable than the witches' broomsticks, much less draughty and more space for carrying other people and a flask & sandwiches (save the world, but not on an empty stomach!).

I've been listening to Dickens' Hard Times while doing this which is quite ironic as one of the main characters (Gradgrind) sees it as his duty to stamp out all fancy and imagination from children and that people should act only in a rational, logical manner. No flying carpets for him, only the statistics of how many carpets are produced by which mill and exported to which country.

I laughed out loud when I heard another character Josiah Bounderby describe himself as "a self made man, ...born in a ditch, ....beaten by a drunken grandmother, ...having no shoes and not knowing what stockings were..." and wondered if this was the inspiration for the Four Yorkshiremen sketch where the men compete to see who had the hardest upbringing :

"Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!"

The Pythons have always been the masters of flights of fancy! I would doff my cap to them- if I were lucky enough to 'ave one....

baking & blooms

another visit to St Mary's Pleasance today as there were tea & cakes on offer to encourage more people to visit the gardens.

Our kids were off doing other things so it was a chance for D and me to stroll through the gardens together and to have an uninterrupted natter over a plate of fresh scones , jam & cream and a pot of tea (yum!).

The gardens are a re-creation of the 17th century gardens and were restored in the 1970's when St Mary's church was restored too. it was a very pleasant hour for us both ( before the heavens opened and a huge storm broke over Haddington with rumbling thunder and several lightning flashes.!)

I'm still practising with my hook and have taken this pattern from Let's Get Crafting - Crochet (by Susie Johns). I've made a little bag (A Pooch's Purple Poop Pouch) to keep the poop sacks in when I walk the dog (the empty sacks, obviously!). I think I'll make a sunnies case next before I do the next Pratchgan square

While I was making this I was listening to the dramatic chase scene in Oliver Twist as Bill Sikes tries to flee from the angry mob. Gripping stuff!

easy peasy

I bought the Let's Get Crafting Crochet mag the other week (it contains the mag, a hook and 4 balls of yarn, plus a voucher to send off for a book on edges & trims, shown here) and was startled and pleased to realise that all of the projects in it were well within my grasp.

This is not a criticism of the mag, it is pitched at beginners after all and would have been perfect for me 6-8 months ago. I'll keep it for when J2 wants to try using the funky purple hook and I'll probably making a sunnies case for myself with the pink acrylic yarn.

As it is I finished my first "proper" project today - the Cecily moebius by Amanda Perkins in iss 1 of Inside Crochet. This was a lot of fun to make and, as long as I can keep J2's paws off it, it will be fun to wear too.

I've enjoyed making this so much that I decided to splash out on some blue cotton yarn from Woolybacks to make Crazy Waves from iss 2.

I still need to practise on getting the wave pattern right before I start it for real, so I think I'll make a simple shoulder bag (tote)with oddments of sock yarn before I dive in, perhaps in the left over purple from Cecily.

the price is right

even though it is the close season for football, the footy soap opera continues... Christiano Ronaldo is set to leave Man Utd for Real Madrid for a record signing fee of £80 million. (recession? what recession?)

He is a tremendous footballer, although prone to sulky hissy fits and a tendency to fall over in the penalty box, when he is at his best it is mesmerizing to watch him.

Real Madrid are keen to get him because they have lost a lot of face to Barcelona this year- a rookie manager has won La Liga , la Copa del Rey & the Champions League. The incoming President for Real (Perez) is determined to wrest the Spanish crown from the Catalans. (One of the things that fascinates me about Spanish football is that the club President is elected.).

Meanwhile in a cold North East town, far far away, the owner of Newcastle Utd is desperately trying to sell the club for £100m ( yup only £20m more than the best player in the world- a bargain!). Ashley has been a disaster for Newcastle, bringing the club to relegation, many admin staff have been made redundant but at least he's doing the decent thing of leaving before the club plummets any further down. Supposedly it is to be sold before the end of June, and there are rumours that he has been offered, £10, 2 tickets for an Oasis concert and a curlywulry bar. The curlywurly might be the clincher.

My own dear club Sunderland has appointed Steve Bruce as the new manager, and we seem to be heading for a a time of growth & stability which would be nice (if a little unusual). Bruce left Wigan, who now want Martinez from Swansea which means that Swansea are looking for someone. It's a giant game of musical chairs! Still, it keeps me entertained....

mellow yellow

I went through St Mary's Pleasance today in Haddington to see the laburnum tunnel.

This is in flower for a couple of weeks each year and is an absolute treasure, a slight breeze makes the racemes sway gently and the effect is lovely.

I love tunnels like this, especially those that grow in the Lake District (and the Loire valley in France), a green tunnel is made by the trees arching over the roads by the lakesides. I still have a childish glee when we drive through them.

This laburnum tunnel reminds me of the gardens at Villandry in France. D and I were charmed by the ornamental kitchen gardens, arranged to show the beauty of the vegetables by setting them in patterns in the box edged beds. A truly fabulous place.

I'll never be able to garden on a grand scale but I love to see different types of gardens and appreciate the artistry and planting schemes involved.

I love the word Pleasance too- used to describe pleasant place to relax, the most famous one being in Edinburgh and much livelier than this gem in Haddington.

The Apprentice

no, not Suralan's TV prog, something funnier.

This square represents the book Mort for my Pratchgan.

Death takes an apprentice, Mort, and then Death takes a break from work, tries alcohol and ends (bottle & glass) up working as a short order chef, (represented by the chef's hat) which oddly enough he really enjoys.

I got this crazy skull charm (for his drinking session) from Claire's, which is a great place for funky charms and beads for this blankie. ( this will be a decorative piece rather than on someone's bed!!)

Mort gets too involved in people's lives and prevents the murder of a princess but this distorts the sequence of time.

There are two wedding rings too, but I'm not saying who gets married to whom!!

Today I'm listening to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, narrated by Martin Jarvis who does a brilliant job with the myriad of voices. I've never read this book, although I've seen Oliver! and BBC adaptations. I'm riveted by it (although I keep bursting into song!!).

Listen up!

I've been listening to some great stuff recently- Ian Rankin's Let it Bleed. It's a riveting story of high level corruption in Edinburgh mixed with low level murders.

I love Rankin's books, and I was lucky enough to meet him years ago before he became internationally famous. He was giving a talk about writing at Dunbar library, and he was absolutely great, very warm and funny and keen to encourage others to try writing fiction.

I've also listened to part two of the fourth Realm series by John Twelve Hawks " The Dark River" which is about our surveillance society mixed up with the fantasy theme of the Travellers moving between realities.

Of course , according to Hawks I shouldn't be blogging about it at all, because I'm probably being watched! It's a fast moving story, lots of swashbuckling and running & hiding and an unusual mix of characters.

I'll certainly be tracking down the next book in this series.

I've found a two new (to me) podcasts:

the first is by Mary Beth Temple called Getting Loopy. Mary Beth focuses on crochet and is very very funny.

The second is stringsnthings by Ev who includes cooking recipes, book reviews, aromatherapy tips and all kinds of crafting.

I can get a lot done when I've got good stuff to listen to on my mp3: I've being crocheting on my Cecily mebius scarf today and yesterday I was lifting daffodil bulbs and planting leek seedlings while the sun was out.

Monkey see, Monkey do

my tooty pegs (toes for all non Geordies, tussy pegs are of course teeth) are now snuggly wrapped in my just finished Monkey socks.

I was prevented from gardening yesterday when the rain came, but this meant that I could really set to with the second sock. I listened to the international footy (I was stunned when England scored 4 times in one match- that hasn't happened in a good while! and was delighted to see Wales win too. Ireland drew) and various podcasts and finished the toe shaping last night.

I didn't want to tackle the grafting so late so I waited till this morning, whipped out my trusty Stitch and Bitch handbook to remind myself how to do it (from a week ago!! my memory is terrible) and taa daa!! gorgeous fancy shmancy socks on my permanently cold toes.

I'm really pleased with these, it's the most complicated knitting that I've done and the socks look and feel great.

I'm keen to make something from Cookie A's Sock Innovation but as most of my sock yarn stash is variegated or self striping I've had to send off for some pink sock wool

In the mean time I'd better crack on with my Pratchett squares as I'm way, way behind with those- I should be tackling month 9 but I've only done 3 so far.

The mention of Monkey reminded me of one of my favourite TV characters Monkeh who originally advertised ITV Digital and now promotes PG Tips tea.

This is one of my few cuddly toys which I've not allowed J2 to steal borrow. I'm sure that he thinks that Cookie A designed the socks for him!

O Canada!

I got a lovely parcel from my secret sister Laura in Canada today.

There's some scrummy, soft cotton yarn, lovely fresh soap, a two year diary, a cute notebook, a tin of safety of pins, two Ontario SPCA fridge magnets and a pooch scarf for Megan.

Megan has never had accessories before and she looks very classy in the pretty reversible scarf.

Laura works at an animal shelter and has a lot of well cared for pets herself. Her dog Annie is a Newfoundland and enjoys frolicking about in water even more than Megan does.

Funnily enough I was just putting a parcel together to go to Canada when one arrived for me. The swaps are a lot of fun, great to receive and great to put together too.

I'm rattling along with the second Monkey, the leg is done and I'm on with the heel flap now. Just as well as the temperature has dropped to the more usual 16C (60F) and I'm back wearing socks again! The heat was lovely while it lasted............sigh

Smart Cookie!

my copy of Sock Innovation by Cookie A came through the post today- woohoo

I've had to wait a few weeks as the first print run had sold out and Amazon were waiting for new stocks. It has been well worth the wait.

Cookie A is renowned for her sock designs: Monkey and Pomatomus are probably the best known and are enormously popular on Ravelry. so it's no wonder that her book has been such a big seller.

The patterns in the book are fabulous of course, but what really impressed me was the 44 pages devoted to the mechanics of sock construction: how to measure your own foot, how to design your own sock, how to modify stitches, & how to adapt toes, heels and the cast on.


It is a fascinating read, and nearly as good as taking as class with the inestimable Cookie A herself. The second picture is just one extract from the page on how to adjust stitch patterns to suit your own needs. The detail in this book is fabulous.


So, back I go to my Monkey! The rib is done and I'm just starting on the pattern repeats on the leg.

weather update- the temperature has dropped to 18C, we have grey clouds and we had a haar coming in from the sea this morning (a sea mist or sea fret). We're 7 miles from the coast, so that shows how much there was. I knew the good weather wouldn't last long- sigh....

sunnies

the heatwave continues! It's still 30 C round here and to quote Timberlake, J "I'm lovin' it".

I splashed out on some new sunglasses today, and as there was a ridiculous offer at Boots - all sunglasses were half price, I indulged myself with a pair of Pepe Jeans red framed sunnies. Usually I only buy cheapie sunnies cos I always lose them or sit on them, so I think I'd better take care of these.

I've cast on the second Monkey while I was listening to The Hunchback of Notre Dame (read by Celeste on Knitlarklane) & sitting in the garden, and J1 revised some Chemistry for his exams this week. We both enjoyed ourselves in different ways .... I think!