over the (blue) moon!

I'm over the moon, I've finally finished my pomatomus socks! It has taken me a while, but they're done. I have been finishing other stuff but an unplanned blog hiatus has left those projects to be unrecorded. But I'll remedy that later this week.

Manchester City fans are over the Blue Moon as their team won the Premier League ( on Sunday) for their first time in 44 years. It was very dramatic as either Manchester City or Manchester Utd could win the league. They had equal points and were separated only by goal difference. A win for City would give them the title, if they dropped points Utd could overtake them. Up until the last few minutes of the season it looked as though Manchester United would win as Man City were losing 2-1 to QPR. But in injury time Man City scored two extra goals and won the league. I could hardly knit for excitement!

D was delighted as Newcastle finished 5th on 65 points, Sunderland limped to the end of the season, finishing 13th on 45 points, which made Newcastle fans even happier to be 20 pts ahead of their rivals.
It was sad to see Bolton get relegated after their traumatic season. Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch in March, having had a heart attack. He has recovered but it has obviously been a difficult few months for the rest of the team. Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers were also relegated.

So after the excitement of the end of the football season I have the European championships, Wimbledon, the Tour de France and the Olympics to look forward too. Awesome!


* Blue Moon is the club anthem for Manchester City

So you win again, you win again

So you win again, you win again

Here I stand again, the loser

And just for fun you took my love and run,

But love had just begun

I can't refuse her

But now I know that I'm the fool

Who won your love to lose it all

When you come back, you win again

And I'm not proud to say

I let love slip away

Now I'm the one who's crying

I'm a fool there's no denying

When will my heartache end?

Will my whole life depend on fading memories

You took the game this time with ease

Hot Chocolate

so the football season is over and the last fixtures were a drama-fest, and very enjoyable it was too if your team was safe. West Ham were already relegated, and there were 5 teams which could fill the last two places (Blackburn, Birmingham, Blackpool,Wigan and Wolves). It could be decided on goal difference alone, it could be decided on goals scored, it was so close. As the matches progressed the names in the drop zone changed 14 times and fans around the UK were deliriously excited then depressed then relieved in the space of a minute. Many tears were shed.

In the end it was Birmingham and Blackpool who were relegated, both on 39 pts, and Wigan (42) and Wolves(40) who survived to play another day.

Sunderland managed to win a match (3-0), but let's face it, it was against West Ham, got 47 pts and finished a respectable 10th an improvement on last year (13th with 44pts) Newcastle threw a way a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 against West Brom and finished 12th on 46pts. The EPL has been so close this year that while Newcastle were winning they were lying 9th in the table. Dropping to 12th may have cost them £3m in prize money.
The league had already been won by Manchester Utd (a record 19th title) who now face Barcelona in the Champions league final.

So, exciting stuff to follow while I was trying for the third time (sigh) to do the neckline on Seraphina. I'd finished it on Thursday, then realised it was too small and would not fit over my Mum's head. A bit problematic that! I tried it again on slightly larger needles. No good, so it was it ripped out and I had to reshape the neckline on the front. It seems to be alright now and looks big enough to be wearable. Now I can get on with the seaming! I want to get this finished and work on something else. I crave socks!

(I saw Hot Chocolate live in 1982, they were fantastic, always winners)

oooops!

I've cast on a very simple lace scarf for a Christmas swap: it's a simple lace pattern over 17 stitches and 8 rows.
I thought that this would be very straightforward and that I would be able to get this done and shipped early in November, but I had 3 false starts on Friday. I kept on making mistakes and having to rip it out completely so I'm having to use lifelines! This is ridiculous, but I'm having to be sensible and put in a lifeline after every repeat.  (sigh)

The finished design looks good , so I shall persevere and get this sent off this week I hope. (all the goodies for the swap package are already bought, so I have no excuse for any delays).

It was the local derby match between Newcastle (hubs team) and Sunderland (my team) on Sunday. The first 15 minutes were pretty lively end-to-end stuff with lots of chances for both sides, then all of a sudden hubs team scored 3 goals and my lot looked shell-shocked.

The match ended 5-1 (Bent got us a consolation goal at the end) so hubs was gracious in victory, and then went and danced about in the garage where I couldn't see him! Humph!

It's a good thing that I wasn't knitting while I was listening to the match, no lifelines could have saved me then.

but soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

we had a trip to Newcastle on Friday night to take Jen to see the RSC's latest production of Romeo and Juliet at the Theatre Royal. 

We left home at 3.30 and didn't get back till 1.30. so 10 hours all in all, and we were totally exhausted, but wow! it was worth it.

David and I used to see a lot of the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions back in the 80's when we had cash and no kids, and it's only now that we are able to indulge ourselves again, but only on the pretext that it's good for Jen's standard grade Eng. Lit. to see some live Shakespeare. (We would have taken Jack a couple of years ago, but the Theatre Royal was undergoing a refurbishment).

This was a very good production- although most of the cast was in Elizabethan dress, the star cross'd lovers were dressed as teenagers today- hoodies and Converse boots! This worked very well , and Jen (13) and my pal Anne-Marie's daughter (15) could really relate to the young folk, their teenage strops and frustrations, and the unbearable pain of separation.

Sam Troughton was tremendous as Romeo, but for me the show was stolen by Jonjo O'Neill as Mercutio and Noma Dumezweni as the nurse.

Of course, I was really dozy on Saturday, and managed to get the leg pattern wrong on my Ricks! Realising this I switched to the Landgirl top as I could just about manage 2x2 rib without getting confused.

I'm enjoying using the zauberball - it is very very soft, so we'll see how it stands up to being worn in my hiking boots. (The huge ball weighs 100g, is 420m in length  and should be enough for a pair of lady's socks, it's 75% wool and 25% nylon so should be robust enough, even for my feet!). So, today I'll just frog back to the cuff and start setting up the pattern again.

We're going back down to Newcastle in 2 weeks time to see Anthony and Cleopatra, so I'll not try to knit anything even vaguely complex the following day. I just wish I could knit in the car-  2 hours each way would mean I could get a lot done if it didn't make me feel travel sick!

minnows and magpies

I've been listening to quite a few football commentaries this week for the latest round of the Carling cup. If it's an exciting game the commentators can hardly breathe, and almost need oxygen after the game, but for other games the on-pitch action is so limited that the commentary diverts into
a) the weather,
b) the size of the press box and
c) the food (if any) on offer to the press.

Sadly Tues nights clash between Sunderland and West Ham provided a lot of talk about the weather, which apparently was quite nice in Sunderland that evening ...sigh.
West Ham played much better than we did, winning 2-1. I can only assume that the players were still shellshocked by drawing 1-1 with Arsenal on Sat and forgot to play on Tues! But, at least W.Ham are a Premier league team too, and our new man Gyan scored, so not a total embarassment.

Still it meant I got a few more rows done on Jennifer's Eton cap.

David's team Newcastle (the Magpies) took on Chelsea last night. Chelsea have a 100% record this season in the league and haven't lost at home in yonks. I have no idea what the catering was like at Stamford Bridge as it never got mentioned by the commentators once! The game was fast flowing, packed with incident and Newcastle won 4-3. (their first win there since 1986!) But like us, Chelsea will be softening the blow by thinking- it wasn't penalties and they are in the same league.

The same can't be said by either team on Merseyside: Everton were knocked out by Brentford (in League 1) after the game was 1-1 after extra time and went to penalties. Liverpool were dismantled by Northampton (lge 2), losing a 1-0 lead to draw 2-2 and be beaten on pens. A good year for the cup minnows.

All very exciting, but I had to pause my knitting in disbelief hearing Newcastle win and Liverpool lose.

And that's not on, Jennifer needs her hat!

are you watching Don Fabio?

the England football team played so badly during the World Cup that if any English player does anything halfway decent the football press screams for Fabio Capello to call him up to play for his country.
Darren Bent did get into the inital team before the World Cup, but not into the final selection that went out to South Africa, and he might have made a difference, who knows?
We love him at Sunderland, he plays for the team, he scores a lot, and wins vital points for us. We beat Manchester City today 1-0, giving us the first win of the season and Bent's penalty giving the England coaching staff something to think about! Although the last minute excitement today meant that I had to put my knitting to one side or risk another frogging session!

The men in my life were also happy that Newcastle drew 1-1 at Wolves yesterday, with Andy Carroll getting the equaliser, and also getting pointed out to the England coaching staff! So, a good start for both our teams, 4 points from 3 games, Chelsea lead the pack with 9 points and look unbeatable.

I watch cricket only now and again, as Test matches can last up to 5 days, and that is a serious time commitment! But this week I've been riveted watching England turn around what looked like an embarassing collapse into a tremendous win.

Friday saw the team in disarray at 102-7, with Mohammed Amir (who is only 18!!) bowling fantastically and taking 4 wickets off 8 balls. But then Stuart Broad came to the crease, got his maiden century, and with his partner Jonathan Trott scored 244 runs. Saturday saw them take their total to 332 (a record for the 8th wicket). Then England dismissed Pakistan for 74 and had them 41-4 following on. The game finished on sunday, with England winning by an innings and 225 runs! Amazing stuff! England weren't great at all, though Trott and Broad were. But the win has been overshadowed by an alleged gambling ring bribing players to bowl no-balls.

David reckons we should go to Test matches when the kids have left home, and I can knit to my heart's content during the match. Sounds good to me!

clouds and silver linings

the clouds..

my football team, Sunderland, were absolutely rubbish yesterday. We went to West Bromwich Albion who had been trounced by Chelsea the week before and we were outplayed and lost 1-0. ... sigh

the lining..

But the tedium of listening to the match did mean that I managed to get the second Angee sock finished, so, I have another pair of cute and cosy socks to wear and keep my toes warm, and I'm pleased with that. 

I'm not sure if I want my team to be so bad that I end up with a huge drawer of socks though!

David's team, Newcastle, played an absolute blinder today, winning their first home match 6-0 against Aston Villa. Yes SIX. But as he's not a knitter, this does not result in dropped stitches or accidentally skipping a row in the pattern.

I think my craving for sock knitting is sated for a while now, so time to crackon with some of the wips (and not look at new patterns in Yarnforward, Inside crochet or Let's Knit!! No. not at all.).

Let's see how good I am at following my own advice!

back to my old stamping ground

I've just had a short break at my inlaws to let Jen go shopping with her Auntie Karen and as I'm not an olympic standard shopper like they are I decided to meet up with my "best woman" Anne-Marie and head off for lunch in Newcastle's Chinatown (well, China hamlet, as it's only one street of restaurants bars, a supermarket and a casino).

When we were undergrads at Newcastle Uni we used to head off for a businessman's lunch on Stowell St as it was a cheap way of trying lots of Chinese food, and it's easy to get fed up of the usual student diet of pasta or chilli.

It was good to be back, although the fancy arch (taipan) is new, the food is just as good as ever. We had lunch at the Mandarin restaurant, then headed off to the Theatre Royal to get tickets for the RSC's productions in October. D had suggested I get some tickets for us and Jen and include his Mam as she loves Shakespeare but his Dad is not so keen. So we're booked to see Romeo & Juliet and Anthony & Cleopatra, and Anne-Marie and her teen are joining us for R&J. Fab!!! I am soooo excited!

The rest of the trip was good too, we went to see Toy Story 3 with my MIL, who hadn't see 3d before. It was a great film,  very funny, a good story, and a bit of a weepie at the end.
5 stars!! *****

Great expectations

I've been enjoying listening to Dickens' Great Expectations this week. It's funny how you think you know the great classics until you actually sit down and read or listen to them properly.

In my mind I could only remember the eccentric Miss Havisham and the "conwict" on the marshes and so I was delighted by all the twists and turns that the story took. It was brilliantly narrated by  F Davidson, and I shall certainly look for more of his audio work .

The football/soccer season is coming to a close, only 2 more matches for most teams to play and Hull have joined Portsmouth in the relegation fallout.

Hull have had two seasons in the top flight and have confounded their critics, but in the end it was too much for them and even their talented player Jimmy Bullard couldn't save them. Sadly it was my team who gave them the final push over the edge (beating them 1-0 yesterday). They will probably be joined by Burnley, unless the Clarets have a ridiculous run of results and beat Liverpool 10-0 today.

One man who has greatly exceeded even our wildest expectations has been Darren Bent, who has given us 24 goals this season, and is lying third in the topscorers table behind Rooney and Drogba (who are both fantastic players).

I think his transfer fee from Spurs was £10m, and he has been worth every last penny as we have 44 points and lie 10th in the table. (last season we got 34 points!).

D and J1 are both deliriously happy as Newcastle have won the Championship league and will be promoted back to the Premier next season. They had feared that their club would implode and fall down the tables like the erstwhile "Mighty" Leeds Utd, but thankfully that is not the case and we can look forward to some fierce derby matches between Sunderland and Newcastle next season.

Bring it on!! Expectations will be high!

everyone's a winner

this has been a great weekend for North East teams- Sunderland won at home beating Hull 4-1.

My big bro F was there with one of his sons (D)and was ecstatic after the match, texting me that our new signings are brilliant- especially Darren Bent.

Last season this match was a relegation dog fight but we seem to be doing much better this season, and it so enjoyable to watch and listen to , and we are 7th in the table ( 7th?? it's amazing!!)

Newcastle are leading the top of the Championship table, unbeaten so far, crushing promotion contenders Cardiff 1-0 at Ninian Park today.
Boro are playing out of their skins and beat Ipswich 3-1 at the Riverside yesterday and now lie 3rd. (West Brom are 2nd, so last year's 3 relegated teams are fighting hard to get back up, and I hope that they do ) .

I feel for Portsmouth fans though, as they are rooted at the bottom of the Premier league. They scored twice yesterday and still have no points. As a Sunderland fan I can remember that sort of pain all too well.


Over to cricket now (over??geddit ??) and Durham are League champions for the second year and this is wonderful news as my Dad spends most of his waking hours at Chester-Le-Street enjoying the cricket (much to my Mam's relief! He's 79 and he gets fidgety if he hasn't got something to do!).

And then, more locally J1 plays rugby for Ross High Colts and yesterday they notched up their first win of the season 44-5 against Portobello . I have no piccies of this, let's face I'm not allowed to go to the matches, but I was so pleased for him.

All this is great for churning out the knitting!!

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.

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....

fools rush in?

we thought it was an April fool's joke when we heard it on the radio this morning.

But it's true- Alan Shearer is taking over at Newcastle (temporarily) while Joe Kinnear recovers from his heart op, with the sole aim of preventing the Toon being relegated.

Is he being foolish? Or can he lift the spirits in the dressing room and save them from the drop?

His own footballing career was tremendous and hopefully he can reignite the the team (there are some decent players in there) and save them. I just hope it's not a poisoned chalice for him .

Oddly enough D and J1 are now looking forward to the match on Saturday!

My moment of foolishness today was to buy 2 new pairs of shoes today at full price.

It is so warm today (14C) my little tootsies were feeling quite hot in my red ankle boots, so my thoughts turned to new shoes.

I often look at new shoes, but rarely buy them as either the heels are too high or the only shoes available are ballet pump style which make my feet ache.

However I did find some smart navy shoes and some Josef Seibel slip ons (the comfiest shoes evah!!).

So in a moment of madness I bought them both (knowing that if I left either pair behind, then they wouldn't be there in the shop ever again!).

I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of red leather as a girl can't have too many pairs of red shoes in her wardrobe!!

and the winner is...

...me!
I was lucky enough to win a skein of wollmeise from a draw on LixieKnitsIt and it turned up in the post today.

I was thinking of making myself some socks with it, but D suggested some fingerless gloves, which does sound very appealing. I'll have to wait until January though, I've got to get through my Christmas knitting first.

I spent a good hour sweeping up a million leaves today (only 30 million to go!), planting 2 new fruit trees and planting bulbs while listening to stories from Escape pod. I loved the kids' story Squonk the Dragon. I must let J2 listen to it too.

...and the winners tonight are Newcastle, beating Aston Villa 2-0, and moving from 20th place to 14th. The bottom half of the table is very tight: Man city at 10th with 13 points and Spurs at the foot of the table with 9, only 4 points separating them. There is going to be a lot of turmoil in the table before it is clear who is for the top and who is for the drop!

the fog on the Tyne...

... well more of a sea fret really, took the heat out of the day when we all had a jaunt to Newcastle on Monday ( bank holiday).
It was the last match of the season for D and J1 and J and I went shopping to get a birthday present for her pal. I got some lovely Mirasol wool and a pattern book from John Lewis's too. part of the profits go to funding a school for the Peruvian children
http://www.mirasolperu.com/

I had taken my sock knitting with me to try out knitting in the car. This wasn't successful for two reasons:
1, as soon as looked down I felt car sick,

2, I hadn't brought the fifth needle to knit with. Doh!

Instead we sang along to various songs, giving a rousing rendition to "24 Hours from Tulsa" , by Gene Pitney which has appalling lyrics when you think about it, but is a cracking song to sing.

Sadly the Toon were beaten by Chelski, 0-2, even though they'd matched them in the first half, so the title goes down to the last day. D and J1 are really looking forward to next season, especially when they get to choose rock music to bellow to in the car rather than pop classics!

The weather is so warm at the moment, the beans are now outside and I need to plant some more seeds, broad beans and sweet peas this time, as well as the Gardeners World seed trial "girasole" sunflowers.

J heads off to camp...

...and we head off to the National Portrait Gallery on Queen St. D needed his culture fix so we headed into Embra to see some more art, embarrassed to admit that in the 13 years that we've lived in Scotland we'd never been to this gallery. It is wonderful outside, and amazing inside with a beautiful frieze decorating the gallery around the stairwell of all of Scotland's famous people.

The special exhibition was of a portrait competition sponsored by BP of contemporary portraits. They were fascinating, my favourite of Prof Grayling, with words flowing over the hills behind him.

This one " Redhead" was very dramatic, and a favourite of D's, but not the overall winner.

I did put down my knitting to go out. The front of J's green sweater Candy was finished before she went away, and I've cast on the back. When we came back home I listened to the football on the radio ( Man U bt Arsenal 2-1) and did a few more rows.

The football was not good yesterday: Sunderland beaten at home by Man City 1-2 and Newcastle a goalless draw at Pompey.

Dr Who was good, the Doctor and Donna visited Pompeii, the day before Vesuvius blew up, and we were all riveted by the storyline.

More and more people are joining the Lets knit forum which is great, its getting quite lively on there, and Ravelry is still bonkers. I must not stay on it till 1.30 a.m . like I did on Thursday night, silly me, as I ended too knackered to do much on Friday.

joy of socks? not quite

Well I took the plunge today and tried casting on socks, not to follow a pattern as such but to get the idea of how to handle multiple needles. After 4 attempts I got it going but I think I'm going to have to track down smaller dpn's .The freebies from LetsKnit! are 3.75mm and possibly too large for Regia wool, which recommendds 2-3. Also the stitches get stuck on the needle and ,when I tried to slide them to the end, tend to need to much of a push and then fall off. A bit frustrating, and I don't think I've quite got the needles held properly. However, it's a start.
The baby cardi is almost complete, I started doing the blanket stitch round the edges but the wool was too springy, so now I'm just oversewing the edges. I got about a third of the way round on Saturday listening to the football. O frabjous day, calloo,callay! Sunderland managed to win away from home and Newcastle got the first win under Keegan, huge sighs of relief all round.