Poorly ill and bloody cats

No pictures, no knitting, no food, just been in bed since Saturday, chucking up and aching like hell....nearly back to normal, so back to work tomorrow....
In the meantime Bitch Kitten #1 came and pissed in the bedroom yesterday, bless her. I dragged myself out of bed and sorted it and found out why...when DH was in charge over the weekend he didn't clean out the kitty litter tray - aahhhhh. Thank god for Febreze!
Then Bastard Old Cat #1, came upstairs and did the same this morning - for fucks sake! Luckily on both occasions it was on things I could throw away....and I did, rather quickly!
Then this afternoon Bitch Kitten #1 brought a headless mouse into the kitchen and padded it around a bit, when I tried to catch her and give the dead mouse a shread of dignity, she ran out into the garden with it, and I haven't seen it since.....
BLOODY ANIMALS!!!!!!

Thank goodness for lovely kitten #2, we love Pumpkin - mwah.

Another FO...

like buses, none for ages and then loads come along at once.... this is this hat, This is the 2nd one I have knitted, the first was for me, and this is for....shhh I can't say just yet - I am not sure the recipient reads my blog, I wouldn't be that presumptious, I am amazed that anyone stops by, but that is another story........

Here it is modelled by DD...

and this is the top, I love this bit...
the colour isn't quite true, it is slightly more jade.
Anyway, knitted in 2 days - oh, get me!!! in Noro Silver Thaw. It used a bit under a ball, so it is very economical, and yet so warm when it is warm. I hope she likes it.....

Onto today, my sister came over with one of my nephews, they have just moved to an hour away from us, so hopefully this will happen more often...we treated ourselves to fish n chips for lunch...here is the sister:

and here is DD:

and here is nephew No 2:

No 1 stayed behind to go and see Ratatouille which he didn't enjoy, but he is only 5 so maybe it was a little long. Anyway, after lunch and a little retail therapy, we walked home and got a little distracted....

Doncha love Autumn!

Chemgrrl, you are such a star...THANK YOU!

First of all though, I will get this out of the way. Maybe the vent worked, thank you, thank you, thank you to whoever in the universe decided that the Post Office should move it's butt and find it. Here it is, the yarn for Tubey:

I chose the colour on spec, but I am really pleased with it. But I have a secret thing on the needles at the mo, so it will have to wait a couple of days.

But more exciting than this, a lot more exciting, we got this today, via the elusive postman:
a huge parcel from Chemgrrl. I put a shout out on Knitty for some Candy Corn for DD; you can't get it here, and as she has seen it on some many programmes on Nick and Disney, she decided she wanted to try it. But as well as Candy Corn, which is actually quite nice, this one contains honey (do they all?) and you can actually taste it.....we also got all of this:

Look at all that goodness: candy corn, flashing candy ring, wrapped parcels, stickers, peeps, cards - wow! Unwrapped, it all looks like this:

candy corn card, candy corn palying cards, pez head, pumpkin socks, and yarn for me......Archie was very interested and came and had a look - all orange together hee heeThe Rumpies were very impressed by the socks, especially Pumpkin. Here she is admiring them.
Then they were tired..... Look at my yarn...very nice, and extremely strokable, I am thinking pumpkin coloured Fetchings:

Here is a photo of a very happy teenager:

I don't why she looks as though she was grimacing - she wasn't, just a crappy photo. The cc has since disappeared to her bedroom, never to be seen again. Here is a photo of it for posterity.

Chemgrrl, what can I say? You are so generous, DD and I are absolutely bowled over, thank you so much. You certainly know a way to a 14 year old heart, and a Knitty's too. Thank you x

Now for something that will shock you. I DO KNIT! Look FOs.

First off, the Pinwheel Blanket. Knitted in Laines du Nord - Dolly Mixture. I got this for £16 for 10 balls at Woolfest in June. It is fabulous yarn, machine-washable merino wool, in such a gorgeous girlie pink. I want to keep this blanket. This has been machine washed, and ironed, and it looks great. Then a couple of petal bibs, these are pink and orange. Once again, washed and ironed.
Here is the 3rd. This is knitted in dishcloth yarn that Knitherapy sent me in a RAK a couple of months ago. It has knitted up beautifully, and now just needs it's ends weaving in.
And finally the Baby Kimono from One Skein by Leigh Radford. I knitted this is cotton, and am not overly happy with it. It is quite bulky and stiff, I know I know what do I expect, it is cotton, so I am not sure that it will be sent with the other goodies. I also used 2 balls of yarn (can't remember why) and although they are the same lot number, can you see the deliberate error? At least it is symmetrical I s'pose.
The baby was due last weekend, but we haven't heard anything yet, so rather than keep phoning and asking how things are going (didn't you hate that!) I am just going to parcel it up and send it out anyway.

I so want to keep that blanket, it would be so snuggly in the winter - sigh!

Fall Out Boy Misheard lyrics - This aint a scene Arms race

all credit to the person that posted this on youtube.
very very funny

Blogstalking Week 5, a little late....

but nevertheless here it is...a statue from my town:

That is about all I have to say on it, nothing very exciting, especially compared to some of the others that I have stalked! Anyway, onto other things........rumpies (collective family name for 2 stumpy black kittens).

First of all, their first day of real rain - not impressed, can't go out....

nothing for it but to tart. Here I am tarting on a wet day! please note the good taste of the rumpie, she chose to lie on a colinette throw - see, I do knit, I just don't post it! sigh The other 2 just decided that the rain was obviously my fault, so refused to talk to me!

Onto other things.....today I went to the LYS to pick some bits up for some SPs, couldn't resist the colours....let's hope that they like them.
Then when I got home, we had received a postcard from Lulu. She is away checking out the italian stallions, but reckons she hasn't found any yet....I know her to be a bad liar, and I feel that she is just being kind, and trying not to make me feel jealous. Can't believe that that she thought of me when she was away - how kind. Looks like a beautiful place to go. Let's hope she has managed to stock up on yarn when she is away, as it is pretty scarce where she is...the card took 9 days to get here, which isn't bad considering the postal strikes continuing effects on deliveries, for all I know she may already be hone, but as she will be supporting South Africa tonight I won't be MSNing her:
Included this photo cos I love the colours and I suppose it is part of week 6 Blogstalking, but I need to give that one more thought.

This next bit is a vent, I will feel better for it, but you won't, so kip it...just go to the photo below.

My parcel of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I have bought for Tubey has still not arrived!!! I am severely pissed off. I know it isn't the ebayers fault....she has over 1000 score and 100% feedback, it is the bloody post office. The one time I source the correct yarn - AAAHHHHHH! I went to my 2 LYSs today. The first one was closed when we got there, so DD and I stood and waited outside basking in the sunshine for DH who was sourcing Bitch stuff - remember her, please feel free to scroll down a bit and get even more bored shitless than this blog will normally make you. A couple of customers came and went (they weren't happy either as they wanted to spend some cash too). After about half an hour (he was drooling over tyres - sad bastard!), someone came and opened up, apologising that they were running a little late! a little late, it was nearly 12 on a Saturday - according to their sign, they open at 9.30am! So I guess that when they go bust I shouldn't be surprised. Whilst we were there as well as losing customers for being so late, she was also fielding pissed off customers who hadn't received their parcels due to the postal strike! Now again, I know they can't do anything about the strike, it is completely out of their control, in which case wouldn't you open your shop on time!

Onto our next LYS, full of yarn but I reined myself in, and only bought Rowan 39....I was going to indulge in some Cotton Glace to knit Bliss , but figured that if I bought that I would come home and find my Debbie Bliss stuff here, so I didn't buy it, and did I have my DB?? - did I fuck!!!!! Ggggrrrrrrrrrrr!

Blogstalking 4...

3 things I love besides DH and DD, and 3 things I hate.....

I love this city (no, not Blackpool, though I might love it, I just don't no it yet, as I have never been). Not sure I can ever go back as my one visit couldn't have been better, and I don't want to spoil it - do you know what I mean? Though I would move there tomorrow....

I love Cornwall. How could you not love this place..........

And of course, I love these.....

Hate:

Well, I strongly dislike this word! It is harsh, strong and very negative, and so it is banned from our house, so there is nothing more I can add to this post!

I had the need to bake......

after a book arrived from Amazon. I had seen it on this blog http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/ and after a little thought (like 2 seconds) ordered it, that and the fact it is half price at the moment - I have coveted this book for a long time. It is a beautiful book, the recipes are gorgeous - lots of things Cypriot, South African, Italian to name 3....the photos are fabulous. Now I want another of hers, but I am going to have to wait.......

So today I baked Sue's Rusks, which are in the South African section. They are like biscotti, are very easy to make and taste really good. Here is the "and now I have a pot on the go, I am going to bake" shot: And here is the finished item (with another pot of tea):

The girls wanted to say Hello, I think it has something to do with the dangling ties of my apron....here is Pumpkin:and here is Maddie

Right,I am off to order some wool (yes, I do knit - I just don't photo it that often - at all, actually) to knit some Fuzzy Feet. Lulu, my slippers that you sent have finally bitten the dust, so I am going to have a go at felting - ha ha! I will MSN you for advice, knowing how good our previous experiences have been...

I nearly forgot someone - look who has just crept into the room to grab some autumn sun:

For Bezzie....

BOLLOCKS ;-)

Look what I got from Faerynuff....

A Miffy Bag.....to go with our Miffy and Miffy apron...aw, doncha love Miffy!

Check out Faerynuffs Etsy page, lovely things that I want to treat myself to.

What is a conker?

A conker is a horse chestnut, and this time of the year most people have at least 5 in their pockets, or so DD tells me! They drop out of the trees esp when young people throw sticks in the air, or climb the tree and shake it vigorously (sp). DD has grown out of collecting conkers now, but up until a couple of years ago, her and DH used to go out on Saturday nights and collected them in supermarket carrier bags...she also came home very proud and hand them over. I was then obliged to be very grateful, and keep them in a safe place until they rotted and I threw them out - luckily by then she had forgotten about them, so it was never too much of an issue when she realised they had gone.

What do we do with conkers: well, they have holes drilled through the middle of them, string threaded through the hole and knotted, so they hang on the string, and then you meet with fellow conker owners, and take it in turns to bash hell out of each others conkers (in turn of course, we are British, so are trained to queue for everything!) until one gives up the ghost, and then yours is known as a 6er (if it has killed 6 other conkers).....the number system goes on until it becomes ultimate champion, or is killed by someone elses champion. Various tactics are employed to make your conker harder than the others: I am sure people have their own, but the ones I know of are soaking in vinegar, or baking in the oven.

That is the gentle art of conkers..........action shot!

This link is worth a look to see conkers in action. Nice photos there too.

Blog Stalking Week 3 - late to the party as always

This is how I get to work (and DD gets to school). Funny how you take things for granted until you look at it with different eyes. THIS IS HOW I GET TO WORK - how lucky am I???
First off, we leave this - the garden: The photo came out slightly blue, I used the "dawn/dusk" setting, but it shows off the Rudbeckia beautifully, the grapevine overtaking the garden, DD's garden feature (trampoline) and part of my washing line - which if I wasn't going to work, would be filled with washing - oh the joys of working full time. Anyway, we leave this, and walk out into this - our street:
We turn left here, and walk down a small gravel path to this:
Doncha love english street furniture - isn't it gorgeous? So understated!
Talking of the gravel path, which is fairly isolated, it currently has a one-person tent set up next to it, strange! We run past it quickly - you can never be too careful!

Anyway, when DD and I rget to the crossing we race to see who can be first to push the button and shout "Green Man" when he appears - something we have done since she could shout....apparently she always wins, though I am not convinced:

I then tried to take a piccie of what is through the arch, and guess who had to jump into the view? Even at 7.45am she has the worlds amount of cheekiness. Then we turn right and walk up here:

And we saw some lovely leaves. I love autumn, the colours are gorgeous:

When we get to the top we always look to the right to see who is about, and we see this:

After admiring the view, the leaves and checking for dogs to stroke, we turn round and walk down here: Yes, she is wearing funny tights, and yes that is how she ties her tie, and yes, she does spend hours doing her hair before leaving the house - sigh....

We walk past this on our left:

A bit further down, this on our right:
Look, a shite photo of a conker
Just for this photo heavy post we turned round and saw this:
Lovely!

Then we walk over the river and look to the left and see this - THE RSC

It is currently undergoing a multi million pound makeover! A little further on, and we then see this:
Guess who is bureid in the church - yes, Mr Shakespeare!

Then after the bridge we walk through here, and are 3 minutes from where I work, and about 8 mins from where DD goes to school....not a bad way to get to work ;-)

Why the orange background? Because it is October of course!