let the tears flow

as we mourn the passing of one of football's greats

Sir Bobby Robson

1933-2009

Bobby was successful as a football player and a manager winning trophies with unfashionable Ipswich (the Texaco cup 1973 , the FA cup 1978 and the UEFA cup 1981), PSV Eindhoven (league titles 1991 & 1992), Porto (Portuguese cup 1994 , league titles 1995, 1996), Barcelona (European cup winners cup 1997, the Copa del Rey 1997).

He managed Newcastle from 1999-2004 and was always challenging for the top, he must have been heart broken to see his beloved club relegated this year and in total disarray.

He was a great England manager too- denied a semi-final spot by Maradona's hand of God "goal" in the 1986 World cup, and losing on penalties to Germany in the 1990 semifinal. He made it possible to believe that England could have great success again by playing attractive attacking football.

But the one thing that everyone from all clubs, all countries will cherish about Sir Bobby was that he was a gentleman, he could talk to anyone, he didn't whine or moan, or chunter on about pitches or refs, he was a decent & honourable man through and through.

He has fought cancer 5 times and decided to raise money for a special cancer unit at the Freeman hospital in Newcastle- he hoped to raise £500,000- the fund has raised £1,500,000 and counting. On Sunday last there was a special charity football match at the Toon reuniting many of the England players from 1990 with some of the German players from 1990, as a tribute rematch. ( Bobby's team won this time!).

A frail looking Sir Bobby was wheeled onto the pitch to shake hands with the players as three tenors sung Nessun Dorma (the 1990 theme tune). You could have heard a pin drop- 30,000 fans choking back their sobs, knowing that he hadn't long to live.

God bless you, Sir Bobby, we will never forget you.

radar love

Since I started knitting & crochet I have developed a yarn radar, which I didn't have before. On our 4th trip to Barcelona we found yarn shop , Lanas El Globo, which we visited on our last day.

(Amazingly enough it on the same road as a wonderful comic shop Norma ,which the rest of the crew visited while I indulged myself with the lana).

The staff were very friendly & helpful, and with my beginners Spanish I managed to buy some fine Egyptian cotton, Moises, which is spun in Spain (one of the few things that are, most are spun in Italy as are most UK wools), some soft pretty baby wool to make some fingerless gloves for me, and some fantastic locally made artisan buttons , based on Gaudi's designs.






I have no idea what I will use these buttons for, but I love them, they are so interesting, and very specific to Barcelona.

I'm struggling to adjust the Cassie top to suit my shape- the original pattern was for a size 10 (it's many, many years since I was a size 10!) . So, it's going to hibernate until I've developed enough skills to make huge increases around the bust. The pattern is fine, it's just that I was over confident that I could adjust it by guessing. ( duh!).

So I'm going to tackle Crazy Waves instead, where the shaping has already calculated for me. Cassie will be revisited when my skills improve.

joy of six!

Mark Cavendish won his sixth stage today on the Champs Elyseés, and now is the most successful Briton having won 9 stages of the Tour de France so far. He is so bloomin' fast! I love his cheeky grin too, he really loves his sport.

Alberto Contador won the maillot jaune, he is a sweet unassuming man, and no doubt will have lots more success in the Tour.

Lance Armstrong was in 3rd, which is astounding as he's been retired for 3 years and only trained seriously for a year. He is hoping to build his own team for next year, he wants that yellow shirt back so badly. That will be interesting to see!

The UK's other success was Bradley Wiggins, who won 3 gold medals in Beijing for pursuit cycling, lost 6 kilo and swapped disciplines to road racing. He came a very creditable 4th and could well be aiming for the podium next year.

The tour is a fascinating mix of individual and team skills, testing different physiques over mountains and time trials and makes riveting viewing. I can see why many Ravelers have been spinning to it in their own Tour de Fleece- maybe I'll join in next year . Meanwhile I've been working on Cassie, trying not to get tangled in my crochet hook when the cycling has been too exciting. The lacey part is finished and now onto the solid bodice which is just trebles.

I'm determined to finish this even though the weather in Scotland rarely lends itself to tops like this. If it's finished and in my wardrobe I might remember to pack it next year as this year having raced to finish Passionflower I forgot to pack it (duh!!!).

Barca #4 savoury & sweet

One of the joys of Barcelona is the fabulous range of places to eat, which means we can satisfy the kids tastes and our own at a reasonable price.

I will try any food at least once, which has caused the kids to complain when they were young, but they are getting more tolerant now and my son is even joining me on my quest to try the greatest range of foods. We dined on salted anchovies, chorizo sausages in sherry, salted cod doughballs, calamares (much tastier than squid rings in the UK), crabs' legs, tortilla and the most delicious of all escaroles (snails).

I can't quite believe that I have waited until now to try snails: they were so delicious- served in a ratatouille type sauce with small pieces of chorizo and bacon included, J1 and I scoffed 17 snails. Yum! and Yum! again.

J1 also had a paella to himself one night and scoffed mussels, shrimp, prawn and crayfish (as well as chicken and spare rib). That's my boy! J2 is getting better- she loved the cod doughballs, enjoyed the chorizo and scoffed a bit of my catalan sausage (although she resisted the haricot beans served with it.) & she was quite taken with with catalan bread with tomato/oil spread on it too! Result!

We had thought about about going out of Barcelona to the big theme park- Port Aventura- but faffing about on a hot train seemed like hard work, so instead we went on the funicular to Parc Tibidabo which is a over 100 years old and has a delightful sweet charm about it. We loved the plane ride dating from 1928- we felt like Indiana Jones on it!

There are more modern rides there, but only the skywalk ( the oldest, highest level of the park) was open. We'll go for the shrieks next time!

Another delightful taste sensation was a lager shandy Estrella Damm Limón- Estrella beer mixed with old fashioned cloudy lemonade- fantastico & much more tangy than a normal lager shandy!

Barca #3 the family that plays together stays together

I didn't finish the Cassie top before the holiday and there wasn't enough space in the cases for any crochet so I had taken some cross stitch with them for the chillin' out time.

But the cross-stitch was ignored in favour of playing Pokémon with the rest of the gang. Even though J1 had managed to leave his rucksack at his Grandma's we still had 2 Gameboys and 2 Nintendo DSs between us and a ton of games to play.

Just perfect for when we all needed to unwind before we went out to dinner! I'm not such an experienced trainer as the rest so I haven't finished my game Fire Red just yet....

Barca #2- ancient & modern

We were amazed & delighted to see The Treasures of Tutankhamen exhibition was in Barcelona, it was an absolute must-see.

The caskets and sarcophagi are astounding and there was a lot of historical detail about Lord Carnavon & Howard Carter's archaeological dig.

I would love to see the Valley of the Kings sometime, the pyramids must be an astounding sight.

I love going around Barcelona on the open top tourist buses, the buildings, old and new, are amazing.

I was particularly taken by the top of this casino down at the seafront- there seems to be a giant roulette ball precariously balanced on the edge of the roof and a giant fish make of woven wood. It's totally bonkers and very eye catching. I'm sure the same building would cause a mass hissy fit if it was built in Britain.

Barcelona- like a jewel in the sun

we're just back from a fab week in my favourite city, Barcelona. The weather was fab 28-30C, the food was fab, the company was great and we had lots of fun together.

We went to see the dancing fountains by the Palau Real on Sunday night, it was fantastic, thousands of people were stood on the steps leading to the palace watching the free show, which of course begins with Barcelona by Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé.

This is our fourth visit in six years and we always manage to see new things, while still appreciating our old favourites. We rented a flat near la Sagrada Familia, the church designed by Gaudi, and still under construction.

There's always something new for us to admire on the building, and the completion date is always 20 years away! The first afternoon there we sat in the park cafe across the road from the Passion facade, drank cold beer, ate fried corn nibs and gazed in awe at this immense act of faith. Most nights we ate at cafés on Av de Gaudi so we walked past La Sagrada Familía every night and often dined facing it. Very inspiring!

win some, lose some

J2's skirt is finished for the jolly holidays (yay!) and mine would be except for one small problem I managed to sew the tie fastening into the wrong part of the waistband and there isn't time to unpick it (boo!)- just shows what happens when I try to sew unsupervised by my clever daughter!

I have got to grips with my Mam's old sewing machine, though, so the effort isn't totally wasted, and the skirt can be put right, just not tonight.

The daft thing is, I had put the waistband together yesterday, looked at it and thought, that's not right, so I repositioned the tie. If I had left well alone it would have been OK! (Duh)

I'm much happier with my progress on Cassie, I think I'll take it with me and see if I can finish it off on holiday. (some hope I know, but maybe, just maybe).

Teens, Tour, Torchwood and T (in the park)

We went to Teenranch this morning to pick up J2 and enjoyed seeing her and the rest of the gang riding in a fun gymkhana.

She's had an action packed week- she's ridden every day, been kayaking, swimming, at a shooting range, done archery, been to the beach at St Andrews- I'm amazed that she agreed to come home. She definitely wants to go again next year.

After the gymkhana everyone had a picnic lunch and J2's dorm won the prize for tidiest room - I will never let her live that down !!

I'm still gripped by the Tour de France - the lead is still very narrow (Nocentini leads by 6 seconds) and the route through the Pyrenees is hair-raising though very scenic. The general assumption is that Lance Armstrong will win but the race lasts a long time and anything can happen.

The final part of Torchwood was shown last night- again it was too exciting for me to concentrate on my crochet, it was fast paced and gripping stuff.

When we drove up the M90/A90 to get J2 we drove past the site for the music festival T in the Park - I would love to go to it but I don't think I have the energy for festivals anymore- thank heavens the BBC has good coverage so that I can watch The Killers from the comfort of my home (and crochet along to Human! I bet not many were doing that).

le maillot blanc

I've swatched red cotton and white cotton for Cassie and think that the white works better for crochet- the red seemed to split too much ( although I'm sure that it will knit nicely), so the maillot blanc is the one for me.

The pattern is made seamless with a button front, so the width of the rows is amazing, I feel like they go on for ever, much like the Tour de France, which today ventured over the Spanish border to Barcelona. It was wonderful seeing my favourite city before our jollies, even though I've never seen it in the rain before. Rain! In Spain! and not on the plain either...

I'm very impressed by Lance Armstrong who's back in the race after 4 years absence, he's currently second to Fabian Cancellara who leads by 0.02 of a second.

Casting on a long chain of 259 stitches was a bit too difficult with the excitement of the cycling (I had to recount it a few times) followed by the Torchwood special Children of Earth on TV this week.

There's five eps, one each night so I'm gripped by the story, although it's not doing much for my crochet to be honest, I keep losing count (ahem, it didn't help with seeing Capt Jack's nekkid butt the other night). Still I shall persevere, with the crochet that is..... ;-)

first fruits

I picked some of our raspberries tonight, and very delicious they are too.

I'm amazed that I managed to get some before the birds got them all!

Just starting on a new project- a crocheted cami top by Susie Johns called Cassie (in Let's Knit, iss 5, Apr 08). I'll have to adapt the neckline a little, and at the moment I can't decide whether to do it in white cotton or red, so I'm busy swatching (the pattern is only in one size so I need to do a swatch to work out how to go up a size or 3!).

I'm enjoying the Tour de France at the moment- a young man named Mark Cavendish from the Isle on Man is proudly wearing the green jersey for the second time as he is winning the sprints.

He's the first Briton to wear the green jersey two days in a row, and he won today's stage. He's so young (24) and cocky too!

Fantastic!

champion! x 3

Champion 1

is of course Roger Federer who won a record breaking 15th grand slam today, beating Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14 .

The match was epic in length if not as thrilling as last year's final against Nadal.

Roddick was brilliant and had the chance to go two sets up in the first tiebreak, but Federer won 6 straight points to take the second set. Federer only broke Roddick's serve once, in the final set, whereas Roddick broke Federer's 3 times. It was very very close.

Most of the UK was rooting for Roddick (we British always support the underdog) and it was a great match played in front of some of the games greats Borg, Sampras, Nastase, Santana & Laver (Becker & MacEnroe were commentating for the BBC).

Bjorn Borg is still incredibly good looking (I used to swoon over him when I was a teenager, ahem) so I'm trying to persuade D to grow his hair in the same shoulder length style ;-).

It was fab seeing all the celebs at Wimbledon too: Sir Alex Ferguson, Michael Ballack, David Coulthard, Woody Allen, Russell Crowe, Sir Trevor MacDonald, Mervyn King (the Gov. of the Bank of England) & Henry Kissinger! What a line up in a crowd of only 15,000!

Champion 2

I've finished Passionflower and I think it looks champion (which is Geordie-speak for great!). Even though the tennis was a very long match (4 hrs 17 mins) it was not quite long enough to finish all the sewing up, I had to do that while watching Cold Case and CSI.

But it is done now and I'm very pleased with it & hopefully I'll get my wraparound skirt done this week while J2 is away.

Champion 3

J1 has gone away for a week, and as J2 went yesterday D and I have 5 peaceful days (happy happy joy joy!) with only the dog to keep us company. D is at work so my days are my own- oh the things I am going to do this week! The list is as long as my arm and then some.

I will make time to watch some of the Tour de France though. My bruv M has been in the amateur étape 3 times ( He's in his 50's too- he's totally mad!). On the rest day for the pro cyclists, one of the actual routes is open for about 8,000 amateur cyclists and supported by the proper race officials, the roads are closed etc. M has entered the stages for the Pyrenees, the French Alps and the stage which was on the south coast of England.

One day I hope to be able to watch some of the stages , but until then I'll savour it on TV, and maybe next year, if I get the knack of spinning I'll join the Tour de Fleece (on Ravelry). That would be champion!

nice to meet ewe !

We went off to the Haddington Agricultural Show today which was a great opportunity to meet up with friends and farm animals .

East Lothian is proud of its farming heritage and it was great to see so much of it celebrated with competitions for junior gymkhana, pony & trap, family dog training and the serious judging of sheep, goats, cows and shire horses.

I made friends with lots of sheep, met a farmer who keeps Shetland sheep (which surprised me as I thought the the sheep round here were reared for meat rather than for the quality of their wool,) and met Jean who is involved with the Poldrate Mill craft group and who told me all about a spinning group held there. I was chuffed to bits.

I want to learn to spin, but need a guiding hand to get me started and all the classes that I could find where at least an hours drive away. This will be a 5 minutes drive! I can't wait until September when the group starts up again.

My only disappointment was not seeing the alpacas (alpacas in East Lothian? who knew?), but I later found out that a friend of a friend keeps them and she sells the yarn that she spins. Woohoo!!

J2 had fun too, she met up with her galpals , won a coconut and a giant inflatable hammer and was pretty happy too. We also bought some delicious organic chocolate from The Chocolate Tree and some handmade soaps from Country at Heart . There was tons of other stuff that I could have splashed my cash on too, but I had to be sensible (for once) as we will be going away soon.

We had to leave the show early as we were taking J2 to TeenRanch near Dundee where she is going to have a week of riding, kayaking, archery and mad fun with 60 other kids. The ranch house is styled with a western theme, Native American artifacts and cowboy posters on the walls, and the groups are named Redskins, Broncos etc. When we pick her up next weekend there will be a gymkhana and BBQ before we leave. (I wish that I could have done this sort of thing when I was a kid, there should be something called middle-aged ranch for peeps like me!)

Rather than just driving back down the A90, D and I decided to cross the Tay Bridge and drive the scenic route round Fife and visited St Andrews, which was lovely on a warm summers evening in July, and very quiet as the students have graduated and left.


I've lived in Scotland for 14 years but there are still parts of this country that I haven't visited (much to my deep shame), but at least I've seen St Andrews now. I still have to visit Aberdeen, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, Orkney, Perth & Stirling and numerous small towns and villages too.


We enjoyed some fish and chips and then continued down the road through traditional places such as Pittenweem and Anstruther. It was fascinating looking across the Firth of Forth from the northern side and seeing a different view of Bass Rock and Berwick Law (which are so much a part of the landscape in East Lothian) through the sea mist. (and I did wave to Beth as we drove through Leven! Yoohoo Scattie!).


It was great having this time together, just enjoying a drive, no kids to worry about and chatting about the wonderful scenery around us. I can understand why Fifers are so proud of their corner of Scotland- it was looking at its best in the sunshine.

sew near, yet so sew far

wraparound skirt no1 is coming along nicely.

I sat out in the garden this morning hand sewing the inside of the waistband (my daughter does not like hand sewing, but she did a great job with the machine).

I'm not confident with a needle either so I found this book How to Sew by Dorothy Wood very useful : it explains simply and clearly all the necessary techniques and has helped me a lot, it was a bargain too - I think I bought it for £5 when we visited the OM ship Logos Hope at Easter. Money well spent!

I took my time and didn't try to rush it and finished the waistband while watching the men's semi-final at Wimbledon. There's only the hem to do (J2's job) and the hook & eye fasteners (mine).

The tennis was fab! I (& the rest of the country!) was rooting for Andy Murray and although he played very well, Andy Roddick (the US no. 1) beat him 3-1.

The match was so close though it went to 2 tie breaks, to settle the third and fourth sets. Murray was good but Roddick was very very good and was a worthy winner. Murray is no doubt disappointed but I'm sure he'll put it behind him quickly and move onto the next match. Roddick has to face Federer on Sunday. Has he enough to brush him to one side? It's going to be a brilliant match!

The football close season has a lot of player swaps going on: Ronaldo has left Man Utd for Madrid, & Michael Owen (out of contract at Newcastle) has signed for Man Utd.

Newcastle is still in the perilous position of having no manager and the owner has let it be known that he is desperate to sell, so of course the price of the club has fallen and players are leaving by the coachload. No new players will join as they have no idea who the new manager will be. It's an awful situation. My hubby and son have not renewed their season tickets yet (they would like to know who they will be watching first) and their big fear is that the club will be like Leeds & Southampton who were in the Premier League a few years ago and have dropped 2 divisions to League 1.

I'd better not say anything to them about my team , so I'm just going to keep my head down and get on with my sewing!

Passionflower is coming along well, the second sleeve is done and I've started on the neckline, there's about a third of that done. I don't think I'll do anything creative while watching the men's final on Sunday though- my eyes will be riveted to the TV.

wrapped up nicely

Andy Murray demolished his opponent Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets today (7-5 , 6-3, 6-2) and got through to the semi finals for the first time.

It was tremendous to watch him, he has a killer serve and great speed. Ferrero is no pushover, but it was Murray's day today.

J2 is teaching me to sew in the school holidays and we are making wraparound skirts for our jaunt to Barcelona. This bold pink Batik print is her choice.

I was on for ages last night cutting out the pieces despite the pattern saying 1 hour easy make on the cover. Still I haven't sewn anything for over 30 years and it was a dismal experience for me then. It's definitely more fun with my 12 year old daughter!

She has such good colour sense too and chose lovely fabrics for us both.

I've also managed to get one sleeve done for Passionflower, just one more to do. The sewing takes priority at the moment though- my daughter is such a slave driver!