Beautiful yarn

This book has some amazing scarves in it. I am currently (well it's in bits in my yarnrobe, wardrobe full of yarn) knitting a beautiful scarf called silver wedding and it's lots of different shades of silver in the book, but I am using shades of purple/grey, and it will be lovely, if and when I ever finish it.

This is from a lovely book called knitted gifts by Ann Budd. The book is lovely, and I knitted this up straight away as soon as the book arrived. The only thing was I didn't look at the needle sizes, and ended up using ones too big, so I can't actually wear it as a hat, but it's great to keep your neck warm as a neck warmer!!

This is some of the beautiful yarn from my stash. This is the stuff that I think just explains in colour why I love knitting. I am always drawn to brightly coloured expensive yarn, but end up knitting with the cheaper stuff. From left to right. Rowan kidsilk, two purple one lilac, project in mind from little luxury knits, maybe some gloves. Next some beautiful 100% llama. This feels so soft, I bought it last August on holiday in Cornwall (loads of yarn shops there) and it will be lovely for a scarf of something you can wear close to your skin. Next Socks that Rock. This yarn is amazing. I love it. I had never heard about it until I listened to "Lime and Violet" podcast. They talked about it so much, that I had a look at www.bluemoonfiberarts.com and fell in love. It's pretty pricey, but it is so lovely when knitted up as socks, (or whatever you like). I have knitted 2 pairs of socks, and have 3 more skeins above to use for more. Next is Noro.One is Kureyon, two are silk garden lite and one is cash iraho. I don't know why I am always drawn to this yarn. It's so lovely, and so exciting to knit with as the colour changes are amazing. I have only knitted bags so far, as until I am a size 10 it's a bit expensive for a jumper/cardigan.

Don't you think this yarn is beautiful. It's Rowan Tapestry and this is my finished snood/hat from earlier.

Another picture of the socks that rock, because they do. Happy knitting.

Little Treats

Today was an amazing day. Unfortunately I can't share the best bit of it, because it's someone else's "stuff" so I don't think I should talk about it. Bet that's got you interested.

While I was out today, I was near the naughty shop (Carly's crafts) and I was so tempted to go over to just "browse" but I knew that I had a little bit of "knitting"money, so I had to talk to myself and say, "You don't need any more wool, yes, it's a lovely shop, but you need to finish the at least 8 things on your needles." At least if you talk to yourself in your car, other people assume you are singing along to the radio.

While I was out and about I popped into another wonderful, amazing shop. It's called Magpie and it's in Poundbury, near Dorchester. It is wonderful. The best thing about it is, it sells Cath Kidston things, all of which I need. I drooled longingly over the notebooks (but I have one), and the bags (see earlier posts, believe me I don't need it). I looked at the lovely little sewing kits, and was very tempted, but I had to remind myself that I don't really sew, so what's the point. I settled for 2 packets of tissues. I had an amazing conversation with the owner, it was so good, I forgot to look around the rest of the shop.

My number one daughter shares my love of all things CK too. In fact her husband has been known to bribe her with sayings such as "If you let me go fishing, I will buy you a Cath Kidston teapot" He even bought her a Cath Kidston washing up brush, in the hope that she would wash up more. But no, she loads the dishwasher and just admires the washing up brush from afar. My husband unfortunately doesn't believe in bribes or bargains, believe me I have tried.

Number one daughter, and grandaughter are coming over for tea. Her husband is going fishing tonight, bet she'll get some CK plimsolls now, some people have all the luck!! Happy Days.

The naughty shop

Please read on, before wondering what I am going to say. Today had a lovely day out with daughter number 1 and my beautiful grandaughter. We went to a local (well 30 miles feels local) shopping mall. We went into Sainsburys. Now for some reason, known only to us, my daughter and I love going into Sainsburys. We mooch around the clothes, and I even tried some on, but didn't buy. Then we both look around at the stationary, in case there are any beautiful notebooks that we can't live without. Oooohhh Emma Bridgwater hearts ones are so lurrvely. Didn't buy though. Bet you're impressed. Then we buy what stuff we need, binliners etc. Then we had a look in M&S. There was a sale on. Suddenly, I could feel my heart beating as my eyes spied that 50% off poster. I slowly, being very casual, sauntered over and had a quick look through. Now usually I would be in there with the best of them. Elbows out, for quick jab to the ribs, for those other "ladies"(debateable with sales on) who are perusing!!But today, somehow I just didn't fancy the rugby scrum. Everyone there is sliding the screechy hangers along the rails, pretending that they aren't bothered about bargains. Inside their hearts are pounding in their chests and they are wondering how much stuff they can carry into the fitting rooms, before that other "woman" takes the lot. So I walked away. I bet you are impressed. I was. I thought I have only spent £16 today, that's so good. Then we went for lunch, which was nice. It's one of those buffet lunches, so you feel like you have to get your money's worth!!So now I am sitting typing this, thinking I may even give our evening meal a miss, I am still full and we had lunch at 12.30.

Then as we still had 30 mins or so to spare, I persuaded my daughter, whom I love exceedingly much (she reads this) to take me to the naughty shop. Now in Winton, near Bournemouth in Cardigan road, is Carlys crafts. This shop is amazingly fabulously tempting. The lady who works in there, is lovely, helpful and such an enabler. My favourite daughter (are you still with me??)parked on double yellows round the corner, with instructions to ring me if I was too long. There was Noro, in every colour, Debbie Bliss, Rowan and loads more. The pattern books are amazing, so I had a quick flick round. Made up a wish list in my head, of wanting all the yarn in the shop, then settled on 3 balls of Rowan Handknit cotton - just because I could. Happy days. I think next time I will take a big bag, lots of dosh and a day, to browse in the naughty shop.

Notebooks, CK and obsessions

I have just been thinking today, about how many notebooks that I have got. I love stationary. In fact next to my bed I have 10 notebooks. I have just popped upstairs to check. I had to count twice, how sad is that. Only one is unused so far, and that's because it's so lovely I don't know what to use it for. I then have another two downstairs. One has got all my knitting info in, and the other, my new CK (Cath Kidston) one (Christmas present from daughter number 1) has got blog ideas in. There is something therapeutic about the first page of a new notebook. You have to use a nice pen, and write in your neatest hand writing. Maybe it goes back to school days, mind you that was over 30 years ago now, that is a horrible thought.

CK is another thing, that I have discovered over the last year or so. I do love some of her stuff. I know it's expensive, somehow that makes me want it more. But I don't think I could spend £40 ish on a oilcloth bag, nice though they are. I do have a purse, a pencil case, a gadget holder (itouch size), a mini purse (£1 coins for parking), a zip up purse for drugs (paracetemol and ibuprofen), another clasp purse (my cash, that I earn from knitting), a shopping bag, a see through pencil case (ideal for transporting sock knitting), a material bag (free gift from CK in Cornwall) and some tissues. I think I am about Cath'ed out now. I don't need anything else. But I know in April I am going to Bath with my mum and my sister-in-law, and I know that I will go into the CK store that's there.

It's the same with yarn. I love it (surprised aren't you?) I love the colours, the textures, and then planning what I am going to knit with it. Trouble is I store it away in my lovely wool trunk and then forget what I have. I have started to list it all, some of it is on ravelry.com If you haven't been on there, join, it's great. A good way to see what other people have knitted with the yarn you might be thinking about using. I have over 18kg of wool. But I still am tempted by other stuff. I have tried now, to only buy it if I have a project in mind. I mean how many odd balls of wool do you need? You can only knit so many scarves. Maybe one day I will post a picture of my stash, but maybe not, I don't know who is going to read this!!

Off to finish a hat for my grandaugther now.

Have your cake and eat it

Well, after feeling guilty when the children came home on Thursday and asked if there was any cake, I got on and made a chocolate cake. I took 2 pictures, one when it was made and one about half an hour later, and now (Sunday morning) it's all gone, so I will have to make another one this afternoon. Well, at least they like my cooking. This chocolate cake is a staple favourite in our house. I even make it for a lady in a local coffee shop, where it sells really well. I used to make smaller ones, but they were eaten too quickly. I think I get through a food mixer a year!

Friday I went to the lambing shed, for my last shift (hooray) and swept all the floors up, and chucked the muck into a wheelbarrow. I kept hoping I would have lost weight, but in the evening I treated myself to a glass of wine and some chilli heatwave doritos, therefore, undoing all the hard work in the daytime.

I was talking to hubby about how you can motivate yourself, when you are not a motivated person. I never seem to finish anything. Knitting, dieting, shopping for yarn. I have lots of half started projects, and I do find it hard to get round to finishing them. I know some knitting it's difficult because you have to be able to knit in quiet, to count so there's only certain times that you can do that.

I went to a friends surprise 40th yesterday. My mum looked after the boys at her house, and the girls were busy with friends. It was lovely to see my friend, as I only see her about once a year. She only lives about 30 miles away, but life seems to get so busy. It was really nice to catch up with a lot of friends. And not so nice when you realise that 40 happened nearly 3 years ago, where did that time go. Talking of time, I had better go, as still got dishes downstairs to tackle and children to motivate into getting out of bed ready for church. Bye for now.

Knitting group

Today I had a day off from walking wool. It was knitting group at caffe Nero's. I started the group a year ago, and it was just 3 of us at first, and now there can be up to 16 if everyone is around. There's a nice range of ages, from 30's to 70's. If you are thinking about starting up a knitting group, then go for it. I put a notice on ravelry, made some posters and put them up in the library, and the local knitting shop. When I was lurking in the magazine section of WHSmith, if I saw somebody picking up a knitting magazine, then I invited them along. It worked well, one of our group, I actually met there, and then she came along the knitting group and brought friends along too. It does have it's drawbacks, I think one lady thought I was a weirdo - she may have had a point!! They are such a lovely bunch of ladies, and we have a real laugh. Talk about all sorts, and help each other out if we are stuck with something. We did a fund raiser in February to raise money for cancer research. We all knitted pink blanket squares, got sponsored, and had a raffle and raised over £600. We had our picture in the local echo along with the mayor. The blanket was sold off in a silent auction, and the other was given to one of our members, for her daughter, who unfortunately has cancer.

As you can see from the above photos, I am a great starter, but not so good at finishing. The first picture, top left is AK Traditions dolls. These are so lovely. Finally you can get them in the UK. I bought this pattern book from getknitted.com and they are so easy to do. I have done the dress in slightly different colours. I have just got the collar and the hat to do, then I have finished. Well, apart from sewing in the ends, sewing together and stuffing. It was supposed to be for my grandaughters first birthday, which was earlier this week, but maybe Easter??

Next photo along is a 50's style bolero, for a friend of mine. I used Sirdar Blur on number 11 needles. It took forever to do. I finished about 4 or 5 other things in between times, as it was quite brain deadening. I now have to sew it together, and then ask one of the ladies from my knitting group to help me with the shell crochet edge. It's in the pink colour, which you can see in the next photo.

Next is Zauerball (?) sock. I have knitted 2 socks, one too small for me, and the other ok, so I gave them to daughter number 4, and now am knititng another one sock, so in case she ever twists an ankle, she will have an odd one!!

Then next is a lovely long cardigan in Wendy Skye double knitting. This is a lovely dark grey/blue wool, with flecks in. I got it from Warwick wools (on the internet) and it was much cheaper than anywhere else. It's great for taking to knitting group, as you can talk while you knit. That's just a few projects that I have on the go. Still working on the hat, will finish that tonight. Well better go, all the children have just got in from school, asking if I have made any cakes, I mean, how rude, knitting day today!!Don't they realise!!

Quiet start

Woke up at 4 a.m to hubby getting out of bed. Heard him go downstairs, so thought, oh well he's off to the lambing shed early today. He came back about 6 and got back in bed, and woke me up, with his cold feet, to tell me he went down an hour early by mistake!!Now I know he's feeling tired!! Did the usual stuff first thing this morning, loading washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, kids - well giving the boys breakfast. At one point about 8 a.m I sat down to do another few rows of the hat, and looked to see both of the boys reading. The youngest son, had got himself a book and was reading to himself, he's 6 years old, so I was well impressed. So for 5 minutes peace reigned in our house - and believe me, that doesn't happen much. I even took a photo when he wasn't looking. I will try and add it later.

My broadband isn't behaving as it should, so I keep having to do line tests and then phone the Post Office back (they are our internet provider) and let them know what's going on. It just means you can't watch anything on iplayer because it takes twice as long as it keeps pausing.

Went to the lambing shed after dropping daughter number 2 off at her work placement. Some friends of ours came down with their lovely 3 grandaughters, and they had the pleasure of seeing some lambs born. Don't think they were that impressed though, think they may think twice before deciding to have children themselves!!It's when the sheep eat the afterbirth I feel my insides squirming, and keep repeating to myself don't think of spaghetti, don't think of spaghetti. My hubby thinks it's funny, as sometimes they eat it, then breathe out and he says it's like they are blowing bubbles. That is not funny in my book. Came home and cooked him lunch too, so I think he was impressed. Now got a fruit cake in the oven. I can feel my halo glowing.

Tomorrow I get a day off. Knitting group. Yes at last, the only wool I will see won't be on legs and a reason to knit for two hours, lovely people and great coffee at Caffe Neros.

Sheep - yarn on legs

Well today I have been down to the farm, to help my husband with the lambing. It's funny to think that those lovely fleeces on the sheep are sold for such a cheap price. I wish I had time to spin, and dye them, so I could have more yarn for my stash. All I did today, was number up some sheep and lambs. When they moved my numbers moved, so some don't look so clear. Last time I thought I was being clever and needed to spray the sheeps number on one side. She kept moving so I thought I would do it upside down, trouble is instead of being 100 it ended up as 001 - not so clever after all. It has been a beautiful day, sunny with a cool breeze, we sat outside and had a cup of tea, and it was lovely. My lovely husband offered me the chance of assisting with a birth - I declined. Funny, I used to want to be a midwife, but now, I have gone off the idea. It is amazing when you see these lambs delivered and within a few minutes they are wobbling around on their legs.

I am in the middle of altering a knitted hat for someone. I had to have the brim taken off then unpicked from the top down, and then re-knitted and then the brim re-knitted. It's not the most fun thing to do, especially as it had been sewn up so well, I had to do most of the unpicking with scissors.

I have got lots of ideas buzzing around for this blog, I actually found an excuse to use my Cath Kidston notebook that my daughter bought me for Christmas. I won't start them all now, but I think I could write something everyday for weeks. Don't think I will bore everyone too soon. I want to learn how to add photos so I can show you what I am knitting, books I am reading, stuff I want to do, the list is endless. Must go and finish knitting the hat. Bye for now

Starting out

Well, everyone else seems to be blogging, so why not. Just random thoughts about family life (7 children), living in the countryside and knitting. Actually should knitting be at the front of that list?

My name is Sally and I have the pleasure of having seven children, it wasn't pleasure giving birth, but you soon forget the pain of birth, apart from the stretch marks never disappear. I also have a beautiful grandaughter too. I spend a lot of my life knitting, thinking about knitting, reading about knitting and buying yarn. I read a lot of knitting blogs, twitter about knitting, so now I have decided to write about what I knit, in case anyone is interested.

I live on a farm in England. In the middle of a field, in a beautiful big house, which is always a bit chaotic, and noisy. Two of my children have left home now, and live their own lives, and pop in from time to time. The others range from 15 down to 6, so have the delightful pleasure of teenagers too!! I would like to say that I am tidy, organised, slim and beautiful, but I don't want to lie, I am the opposite to all of those things, but I am quite a good knitter. Well don't want to bore you all, but will try and just write random stuff from time to time. Bye for now.