Keep Calm and Carry On

I have always loved this WW2 poster.

So how could I resist when Threadless brought out a t-shirt with the following on it?

It's in the post....And since I'm talking about signs, I saw this when logging into photobucket and thought it was worth sharing.

Knitting has abounded here. I've finished some xmas socks. No blogging about them but they are here on Ravelry. Nice pattern, and free. I've also done a washcloth for a swap. The recipient loves flamingos!

Now onto some serious knitting. The new edition of Twist Collective came out. Now is that a good idea of what. I'm very impressed. There's one item in particular that caught my attention. It is AMAZING. I have nicked the photo from Ravelry but only out of deep respect and to encourage you to pay for the pattern and knit it.

The detail is amazing. This is it on Ravelry. More than 300 people have it queued already, including me. I am in love. Seriously. Gorgeous.

On a slightly less amazing note, but still pretty cool, here is my handwriting.

Not that amazing. But...that is my handwriting as a font. That's a screenshot of what I had typed on the screen. Hoorah! Anyone can do it for just $9 here.

Growing a Mo

More for Erqsome than for me, but one of my mates is growing a Mo for Movember. You can donate by clicking below.

The love of a good mule

I have been raising my spirits with home made mules.

The scissor monster was shocked. Capfull of sugar syrup (from waitrose and probably lots of other places), 2 caps of bacardi, liberal amounts of lime juice and top up with jamaican ginger beer. Mmmm. Feeling good.

I've been having a bit of a book binge on ebay. The latest to arrive was 'French Style - Fashion Knitting' which is an eighties gem full of blocky cardigans and jumpers with puffed sleeves. I was flicking through with a smile on my face when I saw this....

It is horrible. Yep. It is. But think of it as a fitted cardigan with the wave on the back and without the wave on the sleeves. Uhuh? What do you think? I'll probably never do it but I've always liked that drawing so maybe once christmas is out of the way I will get it started. I also like this one, although not with the white.

The colours use dmc tapestry wool. Cunning.

The path to good knits never runs smooth so of course something has happened to upset my step-dad's jumper. The neck is about twice as big as it should be.

I don't know. This jumper is doomed. No it isn't, positive thoughts.

I feel like shit and look like plastic

I've always loved that line. I'd forgotten which song it was from but have just found out it is Middleman by Terrorvision. The wonder of the internet.

It's been a fairly action packed week for me. The result of which is that I am quite amazingly tired. I should have spent the weekend snoozing but instead it was a social whirl. I'll be honest. On saturday, IMHO, I was looking damn good.

I'd got dressed up to go and see Monkey: Journey to the West. It was.....weird. Weird but good. It combined animation with Damon Alban's music and some lyrics in - mandarin maybe? The set up was weird though. It was in a kind of tent just outside the Dome. The thing was it was incredibly windy and hurling with rain so the tent was moving about quite a bit. The stage curtains billowed with every gust and at certain times it did seem like the whole thing was just about to blow away. Also it being firework season there were plenty going off in the vicinity and each bang could be heard during the quieter parts. The choreography was part acrobatic, part shaolin monk and part freak show - think extreme contorshonist (how they hell do you spell that word? Contorshon? Doesn't look right.) There was lots of floating around on wires like whacked out peter pans. A problem was that the subtitles were to the left and right of the stage so you had to physically look away from what was happening to read them. And if you didn't read them it got a bit confusing - I missed a couple. Also they seemed to be happening through powerpoint as someone accidentally right clicked and got the menu up at one point. I wouldn't have minded if I hadn't paid the same for my ticket as you get charged at the Royal Opera House. It was definitely good though and I'd recommend it. Here is the curtain just before it opened.

Didn't sleep at all well on sat and then was off to Nic and Andy's for craft fun and....a roast dinner!!! Andy is the daddy when it comes to both cooking and Pete. The little man himself was in great evidence. He is just non-stop - I don't know how they keep up with him. He sat on my knee and got bounced up and down and whenever I stopped he bounced himself. So much energy! He is just the loveliest little boy. Nic and I escaped upstairs for a few hours and started some xmas decos. Mine had a distinctly 'playschool' feel compared to Nic's but I do like them.

Didn't sleep much on sunday either so spent today feeling bleh. But was remarkably cheered up by the arrival of this:

It's the amazing bag I saw at IKnit and Ally pally and blogged about a while back. The tag inside said it was from Mum. But it's not from my Mum. I've asked Pooch to check if it is his. Quite an exciting bit of intrigue. I absolutely love the bag!! If only it stops raining I'll be able to use it and looking at the BBC tomorrow looks like a good bet - hoorah!