Post #250!

I was saving this post for something special but its been awhile ... so i guess posting something at all counts!

i finished Mermaid a while back and have worn her loads. I made the large size with modified shortened sleeves and she fits perfectly.

Luminen is in progress ... am changing the construction from bottom up to top down. I've just reached the point where the cable border traverses to form the top of the pockets. I'm knitting her in a deep green/blue which is a bit of a diversion for me ...

The kittens have all been gone to their new homes for a few weeks now ... see here for some pics of Hester and Toby. Hannah keeps me amused with tales of Patches and Loki.

The last few weeks I've managed to insulate under the ground floor of the house. This made a noticeable difference to the temperature with the exception of the dining room/library. I worked out why this is always cold and so is my room which is directly above it. This is because one of the air bricks is missing its cavity wall sleeve. This is an interesting one to retrofit ... So two weeks ago we started lifting the bendy chipboard floor that was down in the kitchen and replacing it with floorboards. G was a real star, he dug out all the nail heads in the old chipboard while i got to lay the shiny new boards. There's one more coat of varnish to go and then i can start planning the rest of the kitchen ...

I started my level 4 Senior Club trampoline coaching course on saturday. This will allow me to coach double somersaults and rudi (1 and 1/2 twisting front sommi) and full back (full twisting back sommi). There are a few people in the club who will benefit from this and the first day of the course went ok. Thanks to Amanda for being a volunteer pupil.

So once again (as always) life is hectic. I'm involved in running a clinical study as part of my work in the next few weeks which means early starts and late finishes. i thought i'd share a funny thing regarding this. G was applying for another TV show (a question of genius) and asked me to look over his application form before he sent it. Here is an excerpt from it

"Have you had any interesting jobs in the past?I’ve been in the same job for over 20 years though in that time I’ve seen some interesting sites. Recently, I’ve been a guinea pig that my wife has developed in the lab"

Well you learn something new every day!!!

Long time no blog ... my creative head has been in a strange place the last couple of months. I know why and I've done something about it but it might well take a while to fully resolve itself. A bit cryptic I know ...

Just back from holiday ... 2 weeks of walking in the Swiss alps. Managed to go over on my foot the first day ... 2 weeks later having walked 100 miles and climbed the height of Everest from sea level before deciding to get it xrayed. I've done a David Beckham and broken my fifth metatarsal. Its not too painful until I try and walk downhill.

Knittingwise I've nearly finished Mermaid (1 sleeve to go) and started knitting Luminen from the latest Twist Collective while on holiday. I've also nearly finished a Bargello quilt in silk for my father. I have a long list of knitting projects for this autumn.

The kittens are growing up fast. Two of them have gone to live with Hannah. The middle two on the picture below are going to http://peeriemoot.blogspot.com/. I'll be sad to see them go but know that they've gone to fabulous exciting pussycat homes.

More kittens

The kittens are growing noticeably bigger each day. Cocoa moved them from our sofa to my bra drawer (!) on monday. The first I knew about it is when I pulled out a squeaking kitten along with my bra when getting dressed.

I've finished a pair of stripey socks and started Hanne Falkenberg's Mermaid that I've been talking about for the past few years.

Kitten Pics!

Kittens!!! She had four in all, two black and white and two torties.
They're beautiful.

Day 1 (about 3 hours after they were born)


Day 2

Day 3

One of the torties has half an eye open.

This picture is of the wee runt who seems to have doubled in size in two days.

KITTENS!!!!!

Cocoa started labour 45mins ago and has just had #4 ... i wonder how many more there will be.
All the action is happening on the spare duvet on our sofa ...!

Daffodil

Remember back in June i mentioned that I'd started a Marianne Kinzel lace project ...
What i didn't mention is which one and which yarn ....

I've wanted to knit daffodil for a while ... and thought that the pattern could justify the use of some self striping yarn.

I usually cringe at the thought of a lace project done in multicolour.

To attempt to see if this phobia was justified I decided to brave a large lace project in multicolour. After some careful swatching followed by dyeing of some Jamieson and Smith 2ply laceweight (1000yd) and then knitting on 4.5mm needles, and a near running out of yarn disaster 3 rounds from the end ...

I present Daffodil which I gave as a present last week and think it was well received ...

I like the way the colours change the shape of the central trumpet to more like those seen in the daffs i have in my garden.

so ... what's your verdict? Can self-striping handye work for lace?

I forgot to say yesterday that the house is now ours ...YIPEE!!!!