The stash has landed

So where to start? Ruth was so lovely to keep it all for me. We met up this morning in Greenwich where she handed it over. Strangely there seemed to be rather more than I remembered and the suitcase I had brought with me to put it in was pitifully inadequate! (Ruth was off to the opening of the hipknits shop and told me some very exciting news. I won't spoil the surprise but keep an eye on her blog to hear about it!) Here it all is on the dining table:


Here is some lovely 4-ply from the skep

plus some cotton tape in yummy colours that will be baby clothes and maybe even a little vest for me if they'll stretch that far.

In the background that is james c brett in the new red colourway with some funky stripe-plyed stylecraft at the front.

Then to finish there is the small astrakhan mountain.

Actually that's not quite the finish. There is also this monster cone of about 1400g of tweedy stuff. This is for a jacket in the last Vogue magazine but I am going to knit it with a strand of something else - maybe threaded sequins or lurex - to amek it special.


Now you know the space dyed pencil-thick I got from Wingham and mentioned in the last post? Well, this is what it has become using my trusty denises and a 8mm crochet hook to define the corners.

I wanted a 'smarter' version of the pinkyred bag I did before and have actually felted this and am blocking it as you read. It has turned out *so* well. Just as I wanted it. I'll post pics tomorrow if I have a chance.

Just to keep you up to date I heard back from cherry tree within 24 hours and need to email them some more details but they are very sympathetic and want to get to the bottom of it.

Project Spectrum has begun, although I haven't had any emails from the organiser so I'm not sure if I'm officially included yet. The colour for March is red so I'm thinking of doing something in the james c brett. (I really love this yarn - you can get it from dianne's knitting yarns. It's acrylic but doesn't feel like it.) Just not sure what. I think I have got a bit overwhelmed with having all this new yarn and don't really know where to start. I'm not going to force it though - something will occur to me.

Now today is an important day on the byrne calender because today is the newest 2 pill day. For those of you new to my drug habit I take 60mg (3 pills) fluoxetine a day except Monday and Thursday when I take 40mg (2 pills). It has taken about 6 months to get to a point where I do not now feel irritable and depressed on Mondays and Thursdays. So today was a big day because it was the next stage of one of the slowest, most circumspect cut downs in history. I am feeling pretty tired (a regular side-effect) and a little bit irritable but on the whole I'm good. I'm not looking out for negative signs so I'm happy to believe I have been sensible and waited until the right time and my body is now happy to take this step closer to 'normal'. (How much do a loathe that word?!)

Also happening today - I got the wedding invites/postcards in the post so have been scrawling them on and off. At this point it is more of a 'keep-the-date-free' notice. 26 May 2007 people for those who like to plan ahead! It will be a modest affair with 50 or so of our dearest so sadly my sweet knitting buddies will be underrepresented but there is an engagement party next saturday. Email me/leave a comment with your email if you'd like to come along (erm, only regular readers will receive an invite. Nothing against you lurkers but you could be one of Pooch's ex's set on having a terrible revenge and be a danger to my stash.) I will post a pic of the invites as soon as I find the camera again.

Suddenly feeling in need of another snooze. Hopefully will dream of what to knit next!

Blue fingers and the stash starts to arrive

Let us deal with the first topic first. You know I love Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn? Well, you might also know they've had a bad rap recently because their colours have been fading in the wash. I myself have had a pair fade (as well as one pair be absolutely fine). Now last night I was happilly knitting away at Golders Green when I noticed my fingers had turned an interesting shade of blue.

I had loads of dye on me! I wasn't , ahem, sweaty. I was just sitting there minding my own business and the dye came off on my fingers. I am going to send an email to Mrs Cherry Tree Hill and see what she says. It doesn't bode well for the washing and also means if I want to continue I have to resign myself to blue hands. Anyway, I will see what she says.

So the stash has started to arrive - the parcel from Winghams has made its way home, at least in part. Let us start with the variegated DK that is a new line Wingham have started doing.

I would love to see some of this knitted up. I really love the colour but am not entirely sure it will suit me. Time will tell.


This is the pencil thick wool I am going to make another felted bag out of. This is what I made my first bag out of (and bought the wool at the Bradford trip in 2005). I saw a sample of this knitted up and loved the colours. A bit like moss on an old stone wall. Oo lala!

A rather lovely surina wood crochet hook.

Wingham had the whole range of ornate and plain crochet and knitting needles, straights and doouble points. The double points go up to about 15mm I think too and the prices are very good - the plains are about the same as your average john lewis own brand ones. This is a 12mm.

Now the other project I cast on from the cone I brought back is this:

I did the bra test and it's lovely wool but something it's just not talking to me. I've done 20 rows of 1x1 rib though on 3mm so there's no way I'm ripping that out in a hurry.

Now did I mention I have swung a business trip to Philadelphia in May? Is going to be awesome and feel free to suggest which yarn hot spots I should ensure are on my itinerary! Not that I need anymore yarn at the moment....

Photos (but not actually on the blog)

There are now SkipNorth photos up here. In other news I have had a letter published in the Inst of Physics member newspaper AND the stuff I bought from Winghams and paid to be posted is here already. Mmmmmmm. AND...I have made a big decision, actually a couple.

I am selling the knitting machine and ribber. £50 (what I paid), you collect. Life is just too short. And this way I can have the spinning wheel and there's no net gain in "stuff". Aha!

The other decisions are wedding related. Pooch and I have set a date: 26 May 2007 which is incidentally the eigth anniversary of when ManU won the treble. We are going to have our wedding list at some conventional place but there will also be a list pour moi at Woolly Workshop as Gill very nicely agreed to setting something up for me. How exciting! You see even if the list was at John Lewis all they have in the offbeat way is Noro which I don't rate (although I did see a fab shawl knitted in silk garden this weekend). This way I get Cherry Tree Hill and lots more! Woo ha! Invites and so on will go out in the autumn. There won't be room for many knitters unfortunately but I will be inviting a fair few of you to the hen afternoon (very refined) which will be at art4fun.co.uk in West Hampstead sometime in April 2007. I don't drink more than the odd sherry and like to be asleep by 10pm so I'm not up for a big night out or an expensive meal. And it will be painting for yourselves rather than for a marital tea set!

Pooch and I actually had a massive row last night. The weekend is the longest we've been apart maybe since we moved in together and I think we had both built up the homecoming in our minds a bit too much. We made up this morning though and now everything is sweet in the house of Pooch&Wool. I love my Pooch xx

SkipNorth - awesome

This is where we stayed, so the setting was lovely just for a start.

It was nice and comfortable and the food was excellent. There was also (how happy was I?) a YHA cat in residence.

I didn't get to spend long with her but I'd like to think we formed a bond for 10 minutes. More than that this photo gives me an opp to show off my Ruth Paisley Original that I purchased on the first night. You know I posted that hexhat buttopn a few posts ago? Well it was one she had made and I just fell totally in love with it at first sight. After buying it I was once seen in public without it before arriving back in London late last night and that one occasion was only because I was waiting for my hair to dry. That hat is the bomb.

The shopping was totally awesome. First Coldspring where we shopped our socks off. Then the Skep where we shopped our socks off before heading to the pub for a quick drink. Then Bombay Stores. Now there is a place with wow factor. Got some amazing fabric but there were shoes, clothes, jewellery, crafty bits. SO much stuff basically. Unfortunately we didn't have nearly long enough at any of these places. Nic and I have already decided less is more for next year (oh yes, I said "next year"!). Then on to the KCG Collection. Now there collection is amazing but what was almost equally amazing was the 1p a gram yarn mountain which I hadn't known about and those that did had assumed it would all be rubbish. But there was rowan and all sorts as far as the eye could see and dare I say we have added considerably to the buying power of the guild now through all our shopping.

This lovely dress was something that caught my eye. The photo doesn't do it justice but it was absolutely lovely and quite wedding-esque I thought in a kind of burne-jones type way.

As well as all the great shopping there was great chatting and knitting talk (as well as copious mentions of breasts and bernard matthews). The evenings were mini social whorls as we totally took over the lounge and did the spinning-and-knitting-in-public thang while glugging wine and sherry.

People had cooked cakes too which were scrumptious.

Sunday saw the final shopping destination and many people said to me that we had saved the best til last. I do love Wingham. Ruth who owns it was lovely and opened early for us and was so so helpful. As an added bonus I scored another cat.

It's left front paw was paralysed in a car accident some months ago but she gets around fine and as you can see frequently jumps up onto shelves and chases things. She was a big softy too. In fact it was a highly satisfactory weekend for cats.

At Wingham there was this particularly beautiful multi coloured merino roving. Yes, I did purchase just a tad. After we got back there was an excellent show and tell session with more knitting and chatting. People had brought some gorgeous things. Just as an example on this table...

...we have shawls from scotland, hats from Ruth (the same type as mine is at front right in its full hex glory) and then some lovely colinette patchwork creations. The mitred square one I am particularly loving and am thinking what to make one from. You avoid all the heaviness of sewing mitred squares together by picking up along the edges and doing it that way. So sensible and a technique that is in the patchwork knitting book I've already got.

So, do you want to see what I got then?

That's it. Because the thing is there just wasn't enough room in the car for everything and by the time we had packed the car absolutely to the brim the only two bags still on the pavement happened to be mine. I took the small brown cone of wool so I had something to get started on but all the rest went with Ruth so I will need (and I mean NEED) to meet up with her one evening soon to get it back here. Thank god she did have enough room in her car though as otherwise we would have been totally screwed. The other cebtre pull ball is some cherry tree hill that Jane gave me as a thank you present when we dropped her off. WHAT A DUDE. I can't see on the label what it is called but needless to say as soon as I got up this morning I wound the skein into the ball and cast on a sock. I LOVE this stuff. Can I say it again? She is a DUDE. So so far this morning I have done a swatch in the brown which has been residing in my bra for the last 2 hours doing the bra-test. And done the first inch of a sock. I will have to delay the gloating and stroking until later in the week. But...don't worry - I'll report in full when I do get it back.

These are just the tiniest part of the photos. The majority will be up at www.proudtobecrafty.co.uk by the end of this week.

Now I did mention next year because Nic and I have discussed making this an annual thing although with some necessary changes. One of which will be to offer accommodation in EITHER the hostel for still around £100 a head for the two nights or add a premium for people to stay in the hotel opposite in either single or shared rooms. We have also dicussed going overseas somewhere with a smaller group of people in the autumn so I'll let you know how that turns out.

Basically it was all very good but pretty tiring. It would have been nice to actually make a profit out of it instead or barely breaking even but now we know what works and what doesn't we can make the next one even better and hopefully attract some extra people along.

I met Kaffe!

Ok, how sad is this but Natalie took my picture with him while he was signing my book.

It was a really cool event at the V&A last night and I really enjoyed it. He is a very lovely man and spoke really well about the whole process and his inspirations. He also had two of the quilts from the V&A book with him and look at this...

He's using it as a darn tablecloth? This quilt was totally to die for. Wow. OK, I've caught the kaffe bug now. I now know what Nickerjac means.

Speaking of whom she will be here shortly for last minute scheming before we head off at 6am tomorrow morning for SKIPNORTH. Dudes. I am so excited. I even bought a bag.


Ha! See you on the otherside and clear those bandwidths for some awesome photos and tales of fun.

I'm not pregnant

I just wanted to make this clear. Not because I have been gaining around the circumference but because a certain something is 4 days late and I was starting to freak. Did an unforgivable but excellent thing to Pooch yesterday. I bought a test and did it when I got home. I did a little dance when it came out negative then took the spatula thing to where Pooch was with a worried look on my face. I silently showed it to him and gave him my best forlorn look and at first he waved me away. Then he realised what it was. Then, with panic causing his voice to rapidly scale an octave he squeaked "What does that mean?". I know it was mean but you know he only had a 15 second scare whereas I was stressing about it all day. Anyway, will be seeing the nurse on Thursday anyway so will ask her what's what if nothing has appeared by then.

So back to knitting....check this out (click on the button to get the pattern).

I am a long time admirer of Ruth's work but this one has really grabbed me, even though it is crochet.

No other pictures because I did NO knitting last night. This is because I was totally captivated by "Unleashed", a film with Jet Li, Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman. This was one hell of a film. The thing that really sets Jet Li apart for me is that he can really act - he isn't just ("just"?) a martial arts expert. This film was amazing and I failed to complete a row of garter stitch while it was on. I recommend it...

I love Pooch

Another pair of friends have broken up this weekend. That's two in about 4 weeks. Pooch and I have been having lots of hugs and generally been being in love with each other. We're so lucky to have found each other and to be safe and secure within our relationship.

So it was very good timing that this morning I finished sewing up his first pair of handknit socks.

This is the curious yarns sock wool in ocean that he bought me for our secret pal in January. It was a pleasure to knit with - really lovely stuff. Good consistency. Lovely colours. Soft and generally lovely. Pooch is very excited with them and I think actually surprised at how comfy they are.

I was going through all my pattern books last night listing the wool I'd need for all the projects I'd like to do. There were 19 in all and it came to over 5 kilos so I guess I might not get all of it at SkipNorth! In fact I really won't because I have omitted to save up for a blow out. Ah well. Something will turn up. But until then (remembering it is only 4 days til kick off) I am left with a deartyh of projects. Actually that's not true at all but I've gone right off the cargo jumper and the black shawl is not giving me enough immediate reward as it just goes on and on. So....

....I'm going to start a little jumper for none other than Yoshimi of course. When I was down there last weekend they both liked the intarsia designs in a book I had so I am going to start a very simple one. I'm thinking a conventional raglan or other jumper type in the darker rainbow wool with a heart on the front and back in the pinky wool. I say wool, but it is actually courtelle.

I will keep you update on progress!

Off again

I think it was on Monday I went back to getting emails from UKHK and I've already left again. It's just such a bummer as I've been saying to people already, I do really like the community aspect. But if I was going to a knitting group that had people like that at it I'd stop going. I'm not blaming any individuals but I've had enough, especially so soon after the angel yarns fiasco.

So I thought instead I'd do a quick run down of a few of my favourite suppliers:

• Dianne's Knitting Yarns. Don't be put off by the slight naffness of the site itself. It's worth digging into. My personal fave is james C brett marble and I *need* some of it in the two new colourways but am holding off til after SkipNorth. It may be 100% acrylic but it feels lovely. I have a cardi in the pink/green colourway and have made baby clothes in some of the others.
• Woolly Workshop. Surely one of the all time classics. And in a great part simply because the owner Gill is just such a nice woman. I got my denise needles there and they have kept me in cherry tree hill recently (yes I still like it even though it is going through some sort of fading period).
• Get Knitted. Equally, a classic supplier. A pleasure to deal with.
• Beads Needs UK. An ebay shop. Lovely owner. Lovely beads.
• Japanese Craft books. Have just ordered my third from her. Yes, they are all in japanese but everything is done in pictures so while you're missing out on some commentary you can still make the things. And they are gorgeous. Look at the felt mascot books. Also does knitting and crochet ones.
• Carol's Patchwork and Quilting Shop. Can't get her ebay shop to come up but this is a list of all her stuff and her shop is linked at the top of the page. This is where my floral patchwork pieces have been coming from. Great quality and fast service. Again a lovely lady.

I think that's enough to have tempted you all with!

Bleh

At home today feeling manky. Slept really badly and feel supertense and achey all over. Have been mainly sitting on this sofa and feeling sorry for myself. Have even felt too pathetic to knit (much - obviously done a bit).

What I have done is rejoin the UKHK list and check my email so found this thing from Nikki. As she put it "Yes, I am also capable of jumping on bandwagons". It is an interesting idea though because you can see what people think of themselves. So take a look and see what you think and click submit - it's like a 360 degree appraisal from fellow knitters!

OK, that last paragraph was way too energetic. Incidentally don't worry about sympathising - it's not like I've got manflu or anything...

SkipNorth - counting down

Oh yes, SkipNorth, the best of all the knitting holidays ever! There are still a couple of places left if you have been meaning to join in. I have been knitting and crocheting flowers today ready as samples for one of the workshops. I won't post any pics as I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone!

Having a bit of a round up this is the patchwork baby-quilt-to-be I made a few weeks ago. The backing fabric and wadding are on order. It's a quilting supplier I got out of the back or british patchwork magazine I'd not used before and they don't seem to have turned out that well. Ah well, you live and learn etc etc.



I stitched this one entirely by hand and have started a larger one for me. Have been hand stitching that one too but have come to my senses and will not be doing that for much longer!

Pooch bought me some curious yarns sock yarn a little while ago and I have been making him some socks with it. The first is actually done now but has gone very well.


Here it is closer up:

The colour is called 'ocean' and is nice and subtle. Not my first choice but would take a pattern nicely and the quality of the actual yarn is yummy - very lovely to knit with.

On the subject as sockyarn I have to add my experience to the blog-collective and say my 2nd experience of cherry tree hill has actually left me with faded yarn. It hasn't made that much difference.

Actually you can't see it in the photo very well but it is a lot lighter and whereas it had just a few specks of pastel in it before now there is quite a bit. I still like them but I hope I don't use any more dye in coming weeks.

I have been continuing with the petal shawl from elann.

Was knitting this on the train yesterday when I went down to see darling Yoshimi and parents. I also met up with dad, Johanna and Piers for lunch (and Pooch was there too!). The talk was a little stilted - think Piers is entering the terrible part of the teens but he has agreed to be an usher and I have agreed that he actually doesn't have to wear velvet knee britches. Johanna seemed quite adament that Freddie would change her mind pretty soon about being a bridesmaid. I guess there's no way round it - the woman annoys me. Plus Dad still hasn't said anything about whether he's to contribute to the wedding costs. Maybe he didn't get the email? I saw therapost Louise on Wednesday and she thinks I should talk to both sets of parents asap and let them know what i want and don't want. I think she's right (as if she ever isn't - woman's a fricking genius) as i don't want to have to spend time stressing about this over the next 15 months.

Little Yoshimi was lovely and has discovered her voice! Pooch held her too and looked a bit gangly but he managed well and with the cats and everything. Their house is really lovely and we have exchanged invites to come and stay whenever they want to come to london or we fancy a weekend by the sea. They are going to come to the wedding too!

We then met Louise for dinner and I asked her to be the maid of honour. She was flabberghasted and wants her duties written out for her - she'll be ace. She's the bestest.

On the way home Pooch pointed this out on the train map.


Can you imagine? Surely a future destination of a skip holiday! Have been wondering about a second venture. Have broken even this time so dare I chance another venture? There is always Paris but I'm thinking a xmas market trip instead. That leaves enough time for planning.

Sorry, sorry

Been a bit too long between posts I'm afraid. But is it worth the wait?



That is a sapphire in the middle.

It has been a day of mixed emotion as I've ended up feeling quite embarrassed about it sometimes. Because there is no doubting it's not a shy little thing as it is at least a centimetre across. And with rings people equatre size with cost so people have been going on about how much it must have been when Pooch and I agreed we didn't want to spend silly amounts and it was all more about the look of it and what it meant rather than what it cost. I swear all this "one month's salary" stuff was just put out there by de beers marketing arm. This was a fraction of that but I love it more than all the solitaires money can buy.

It still seems very strange having it on my finger (we only actually got it yesterday though so maybe that's not outrageous!). I keep finding myself staring at it. I really do think it is the most beautiful thing ever.

Anyway, you don't want to read about me dribbling over jewellery so let me do a quick round up of recent action.

SkipNorth gets ever closer. Still 2 beds going spare if you want to come and join us. All information on the website.

I have restarted the petal shawl from elann - I mucked up a row about a month ago at the golders green group and had put it away in disgust after that but I sorted it at the weekend. Still onyl half way through but progressing nicely.

I *finally* got a chance to read Kaffe's V&A Quilts book. One word: divine. I am so inspired I just need to remember not to fritter on many disparate projects as is my wont/want/whatever. I will finish the mini flowery quilt and the larger flowery quilt (or at least get a bit further with it) before I start another.

I finished the second cherry tree socks and they adorn my feet at this very moment. Mmmmmmm, need I say anything more?

The more astute among you may have noticed something about this post - lacking photos. The fact is I left my camera at work this weekend so have none to share, other than the ring which I just took now. I will attempt to rectify this tomorrow though.

More details

The thing is, now everyone is talking to me about weddings. Maybe I should have kept quiet about it for a couple for a couple of days while I got used to the idea. I think that ‘getting engaged’ seemed very separate from ‘getting married’. Now I might have a bit of a problem because people at work are all telling me to book the venue and set the date asap because 18 months isn’t that long. But at the same time Pooch, being the gruffalo that he is, doesn’t want to think about any of that stuff til much nearer the time. And early forays into a discussion about such things have shown us both that our idea of an ideal wedding and honeymoon do not exactly coincide.

Anyway, how did it happen?

There we were walking along the roads behind oxford street when we got into a discussion about how people show love and I jokingly complained he didn’t buy me enough stuff and we should go shopping. Pooch agreed and said “Let’s buy a ring.”. So off we went into house of fraser (we were at their back entrance when this happened) and I started looking at the dior rings (he bought me two dior rings before which are enamelled and very sweet). After about 53 seconds I paused and said, “Wait, do you mean ‘the’ ring?” and it was then the penny dropped.

We then charged in a rampant fashion down bond street looking for ring shops that hadn’t closed and there were of course very few (it was after 6 and they had mostly closed). So we agreed to get a temporary ring (pictured here)


Then we went off to an obscure French bistro and had a very lovely dinner (the profiteroles were divine) and between the starter and the main course he asked me if I would marry him and I said yes. Then we spent the rest of the meal grinning at each other.

The plan is to actually get wed next May (maybe? 2007 that is) but before then we need to get the official ring. So that is the task for this weekend. Then I’ll have another ring to show you a picture of.

Actually I’m feeling pretty freaked out right now. The rosyness has warn off a bit and reality is creeping in….

Plus this totally puts the kybosh on Japan. (No, he doesn’t want to go there for the honeymoon.)

I am happy and excited, but I know I don't quite sound it yet!

Big news!

Pooch and I got engaged last night! More details later....

You're making me cringe

I've gone 'no emails' on the UKhandknitters list because of this cringeworthy fuss about a certain supplier and whether or not they are crap. The owner has now jumped on the list and keeps publically engaging people in debates about their level of service, what went wrong and what they've done to make it better in future. One email letting the list know what had been going on would have been fine. But contacting each customer and effectively cc'ing 1100 other people in on the list is just making me cringe. You'll note I haven't mentioned their company name here because I don't want to give them anymore screen time. I shall miss the list for the next few weeks but I'll only go back once all this is over.

Well look at me, getting all snooty and uppity! I've had a strange weekend so far. I think I may have overdone it a bit. I had loads of domestic stuff to sort out plus an exam to revise for tomorrow and yet I also seem to have done more knitting and sewing than ever before. Need to ease off so I'm not knackerated next week.

One errata to my last post - I omitted to mention Pooch actually knitted 4 stitches in that stripey garter cardigan - picture of it finished and with a handsome guy modelling it below...). He was slightly inebriated but did volunteer or even demand to have a go.

There's nothing sweeter than a boy and his frog.


I'm going to have an easy going catch up on my bookmarked blogs for a bit now. So I'll be seeing some of you soon!

Catch up

It has been rather a long time between posts but I have had a fair bit going on. First off here is the finished patchwork bag which is now destined to be a birthday present for mumsy in March.

I do rather love the handles - I'd quite like to have some as bracelets. It's all nicely finished and should do her to carry her specs about.


The stripey cardi for Yoshimi is finished. It's actually properly finished now but this was it before I did the edging and buttonholes.


My next project for the littl'un is going to be a series of dolls. They're not for her now but for when she's a year or so so I figure I'll build up a collection of them til I've got enough for a game or something. This is going to be the first:


Pooch and I continue with our secret pal exchange and his latest gift to me is from curious yarns.

That's a two skein sock yarn version of 'stone' on the left. (the second, smaller skein is for the toes and heels) and a single skein of ocean on the right. I think ocean will be socks for Pooch as he is the one person I haven't actually knitted any for yet. He is rather lovely. He just got another whopping bonus on Thursday and came in rather drunk and suggested we go to New York because he knew I wanted to plus started dropping hints about rings. Valentine's Day I think would be coyly appropriate for the bended knee act.

Lastly I got given some book tokens and invested in these two.

I have wanted the Kaffe book for ages - well, for a month, since seeing his xmas tree at the V&A. Plus the baby knit book has some lovely things in it. I've been thinking a lot about Debbie Bliss since meeting her at the walthamstow group. I think I might join her club...Maybe next month though.

I said I'd been busy and it's not in a good way. I'm not naming names but there's been some domestic violence and I was on standby to take in the hospitalised 16 year old daughter involved. She seems determined to stay in the town where she is though to finish sixth form (and I suspect because her boyfriend is there). But there have been a lot of phonecalls and plans flying about. It's made worse because there is still a five year old brother at home with the violent father and social services are very unwilling to go and even talk to the family. The friend of mine involved already had issues of their own to deal with and I've been amazed and awed at the strength they have shown. I just wish there was more I could do to help.

I had wanted to try cutting down another pill this week but with this going on I think it would be best to wait another week or two. Don't want to incapacitate myself mentally if it turns out there is something I can do to help.

So all in all it's been a mixed week.

Selling now on ebay

These are the magnets I've just put on at £1.50 each. Then there are loads of the cutest stitchmarkers a la...

And then there are the bestest notecards in packs of 5 - one of each design. I'm really pleased with these.

So a busy day all in all. Plus I've listed loads of yarn.

Here's a list of all the things I have on ebay!

Yoodle woodle woooo

Hade an intensively crafty day yesterday. Spent most of it on the patchwork cushion that is now going to be a bag. Here is the front:

This was by no means easy to arrive at as I had to match the shape of the back fabric (more of the red polka dot) and then use running stitch all round the edge of the right side to get the hexagons to stick out properly. Am just working on some lining and then these are the handles.

I *really* like these. I got the metal circles and some squares from the handweavers studio. Have sewed some hexagons over them. Have the next size down and am sorely tempted to make some bracelets along the same lines. BUT. Really do not need another WIP.

But first, a quick update on the sockaroonies.

All going very satisfactorily. Enjoying alternating between these and the sewing. Have to admit that the reason the cushion became a bag was because I am eager to get to my floral fabric I got on ebay and which is the bees knees. But no, must refrain from starting something else.

So just briefly before I move on to the babling bit... Take a look at this:

Notecards. In 5 different knitting related designs!!! Supplied with envelopes and tied up with pink ribbon. Shortly to be appearing on ebay.... All part of my move into business empire type stuff.

Apparently my dad has been checking in so hello dad!

As an aside: Crafts I have tried or bought equipment to try recently...

1. Fimo necklace - photo blown up and colours procured.
   
2. Chinese painting - asked for the kit xmas 2004. Not yet tried.
   
3. Wire bending set
4. More beads than you can shake a stick at
5. Felt mascot book (done some but still lots of felt left)
6. Materials to make a polka dot duvet cover and pillows.
   
7. Enough wool to do a zillion projects.
8. Odd balls of yarn by the dozen that I keep meaning "to try out"
9. Crocheted japanese toys
10. Knitting machine
11. Flower fairy cross stitch kit
12. Roving and fleece to spin
13. Wool and cotton and various types of dyes to dye things with
    
14. And undoubtedly more....

Byrne, get a grip. You don't need anymore stuff. Remember this when next gripped by a shopping frenzy or a desire to 'just try' anything else.

And to finish...Pooch insists you, dear reader, will be fascinated to know he just ate a poached egg and mashed it up with ketchup. That's my boy! In fact he has reminded me. We were once again discussing the absence of a ring from the byrne finger in bed this morning. In fact it was more like me waking up and going "Oh, still no ring on my finger". He suggested it wouldn't be fair to ask him to cough up for a ring without him getting something. So finally I have a chance to force the issue. All I need to do is purchase a Mac mini (a mere £359) and then he basically HAS to propose. That would kill off the holiday fund so I just need to weigh things up in the balance. Japan? Or a ring? Any thoughts anyone?!

Oi sexy!

I'm the one on the left...

This is moi last night at the annual awards dinner. There are some other photos and I do keep thinking when I look at them that I have really put on a lot of weight since getting ill. It's like with saving though, I need some woohaha type motivation to do something about it. Really MUST do some exercise tomorrow. Sure that would help with the spots too, which are pissing me right off. Looked like I had two extra noses on my chin last night.

The sexier lady on the right is Narinder, my past-side-kick when I had staff and general lovely person. We were both accompanied with our other halves and Mr Pooch did us both proud and looked outstanding in black tie with a little wing collar shirt and the baby pink socks that I got him for xmas. Narinder was there with her HUSBAND...look at her. She is 24. Maybe possibly 25. And she has a husband. I went to her wedding and it was wicked. And look at me...27, NO husband. Pooch. Dude. I'm telling you. That would really be motivation to fit into a nice dress.

So on the crafty front things have been relatively quiet. I did manage to fall for the idea of jean greenhowe's knitted dolls and things - julie had one of her books at golders green. So this caused me to break my savings promise type thing and expend £1.99 including postage on two of her works on ebay. HOWEVER... I did manage not to buy this book. It took a whole lot of willpower though, I'm telling you. I had it in my hand in Foyles and managed to PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND BACK AWAY MISS BYRNE. Had to make do with two on surveys and qualitative research for work.

Pooch and I are doing well on our own version of secret pal. He got me "The Taking of Pelham 123" on DVD which I have just watched this evening and really love. I'm now watching 'Shall we Dance' with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Ahhhh, aren't they lovely? It's been a lovely evening really! Few more bits of patchwork until the bath is ready then an early night.

Frittering

I am a fritterer. I don’t spend large amounts on single items – I spend small amounts on the odd bit or bob here or there. And so. Friends. I have decided to try a new method of saving money.
First of all let us understand the byrne-mind.

1. I love getting things by post (I really really love this)
2. I love frittery-type shopping
3. I love having pretty, nice things around me.
4. My spending is mainly done online while at work.
5. My level of indulgence depends on my bank balance.
6. I rarely spend more than £15 at a time. And often less than £10.
7. Most of this frittering occurs on ebay. Runner up is wool shops.
8. I know I don’t need anymore wool. Or Japanese fabric. Or purses. Or anything else.
9. I want to save money for a really splendid holiday which would involve surrounding myself with a lovely place and probably buying lovely things when I am there.

So…..the plan.

1. Try to stop idle shop-surfing
2. When this fails, carry on but just think about the holiday and go to a holiday site instead.
3. When I see something I *need* think about how much I want the holiday instead and immediately transfer the amount of money it would have cost (plus any p&p) to savings account. Hence bank balance goes down as if the money had been frittered.
4. Think about holiday some more.
5. Continue steps 1-4 ad nauseum, remembering not to actually buy anything.
6. Only ever estimate how much has been put into savings account – do not work out properly as I will then fritter exactly this amount of money.
7. Open a post-office account or get an ISA.
8. Have no cash/debit card for this account.
9. Periodically transfer money saved to this account.
10. Be strong, byrne.

I’m wondering whether I should grant myself an allowance for frittering so as not to have to go cold turkey but then this would be open to abuse as well. I’ll try this for now and see how it goes.

Incidentally this will only actually start on 25th Jan when I get paid. La lalalala

No No NO, bad byrne. Will start today. Even though you kidn of actually maybe sort of did need that fabric you bought on ebay yesterday....you'd have more crazy patterns to choose from in Japan.

Flow

I'm posting int wo halves today because I have two totally different things to ponder. Here is the first....

Do any of you religiously keep up with “Child of our Time” on the bbc each year? It’s like 7-up (the scientific study not the drink) but every year and now the kids are 5-6 years old. It fascinates me.

On the programme last night Robbie Winston was talking about “flow” – when you lose track of time because you are so engaged in a task. This got me thinking – when did I last get flow? I used to be a watch addict. If I couldn’t find my watch in the morning I basically couldn’t leave the house. I put it on before getting out of bed in the morning. When getting out of the bath I would wrap a towel round myself and then straight away dry my wrist to put my watch back on. Then came the madness (historic rather than recent) and my therapist unhooked me from my time dependence. (I won’t go into it but my emphasis on time was a huge factor in my social anxiety). I do sometimes still wear a watch. I took it to Pooch’s parents with me at xmas and then accidentally left it there. Pooch’s mum quickly posted it down to me and did up the jiffy bag very securely with parcel tape. I couldn’t get the tape off at the first attempt so the complete package has been gathering dust for a few weeks now. I’ll get it out eventually.

Despite this new found freedom from time there do seem to be very few occasions when I lose track of time all together. So I was just wondering – what gives you good flow?