Luchador Love

Humphrey played a blinder this weekend. He produced tickets to watch the Luchadors (mexican wrestling) at the Roundhouse in Camden. I didn't want any of you to feel left out:

It was quite different to WWE but I still managed to shout "hit him" quite a bit and generally boo and cheer a lot. 

It was compared by a man in a silver boiler suit. Want. 

The highlight for me was Cassandro - a genre of wrestler not seen in WWE which I feel is a great shame. He strutted to the stage wearing a high cut wrestling outfit, slashed to the navel, with full make up and hair so bouffant and glittery as to be worthy of a spotlight even without the attached man. 

He played to the crowd obviously but was actually quite good. 

This was an early birthday present for me and even more impressive as Humphrey had not had any exposure to wrestling before meeting me. He made it through without complaint and with mucho verve which was all to his credit as I do know how freaking weird I am to love this stuff so much. Time for the big reveal? Here he is...

(He's the one on the right). 

In life's other sphere I made some clouds. 

That seems to have sapped my crafting mojo. Am unable to start or continue with anything else which is very irritating. Fingers crossed it does not continue much longer. 

Holiday Round-Up

A few days ago I said I wanted to do this lot:

• Boot Fair today (not going to happen because it is pouring  - really pouring - with rain)
• Longleat when it is raining less
• Visit Bath as I never have and there is a quilt museumamongst other things. 
• Knit knit knit
• Read read read

I have rented a car so I will also be doing lots of tootling around looking at the surrounding countryside, collecting clouds.

Sure enough the rain did knock the boot fair on the head. Longleat was the subject of my last post and was awesome. Bath is another 2 hour drive each way so I decided against it after yesterday's venture was planned. And I have knit, knit, knitted and read, read, readed. I've also driven more than 550 miles since picking the car up on saturday! A big lump was the trip yesterday to Greenways, which was the holiday home of Agatha Christie. I am a big fan and have read all the books and (as far as I'm aware) seen all the TV adaptations too. I was only really expecting the house so the grounds came as a pleasant surprise. 

Sadly though the rain did put a stop to too much exploring. The house itself was lovely and was a real home - not a museum. So there were her own books mixed in with family photos and collections they all added to over the years and so on. All rather lovely. I also went with my mum and my dad, who had taken the day off especially, so it was a rare but lovely family outing too. 

So Greenway replaced Bath, but how about those clouds? Well...

I know it's not much but it has been 100% cloud cover most of the time which is not very exciting. I will add to my collection over time. 

Tomorrow sees me heading back to London and I am having one of those internal arguments with myself over whether to go to IKEA or not. The only thing I need is a baking tray and I can get that anywhere. But... NO! I'll only spend money I don't have on things I don't need. No. Not going. Final. Bah. Being married was so much cheaper than being single. Not that I regret my decision, but I have been reminded of Pooch a lot this week. He really liked coming down here and we had planned to go to Longleat together. But then we had planned a lot of things, and then lots of things happened which I certainly hadn't planned, and so I have had to make new plans.

As I'll still have the car on sunday Humphrey and I have discussed a little jaunt off somewhere. Leeds Castle has been suggested. I haven't been since I was a nipper so I'm up for it - just depends on the weather. It is saying 'sunny intervals' at the moment but it has been so changeable all week I am not sure how reliable it is. 

Longleat Love

I had the most AMAZING day yesterday. I have wanted to go to Longleat since I first saw the lovely Ben Fogle looking scared of the tigers on the BBC back in 2000. Even though my Mum's house is much closer to it than london it was still a 2 hour drive each way, punctuated by me stopping to take pictures of fields and sky, such as this one.

I have been thinking of doing a fairisle in landscape colours since a discussion with Nickerjac on a drive back from SkipNorth. I have been collecting bad photos of the landscape since then. Then a query on twitter led me to a colour palette generating tool. 

I chose this one because it gives you 5 colours and a choice of dull or vibrant whereas a lot of the others - google, there are loads - give you 10-20 colours which is too many for fairisle. Or too many for what I had in mind. I am yet to find my perfect landscape but it will occur at some point and then I'll be on to Jamiesons for the wool. 

Back to Longleat - it is the seat of the Marquess of Bath and consists of an enoooormous house, an animal centre with things like guinea pigs and bats and then a mahoosive safari park which has all the wild animals you can think of. Prepare yourself for many, many photos. I am not going to go into it all blow by blow as that would take about 3 pages of text so these are the highlights. 

1. Boat Ride around gorilla island where we saw the silverback gorilla who gets grumpy when it is "too hot, too cold, too wet or too windy" so was obviously grumpy. Hippos and sealions also in the lake. Real, big hippos. 

2. Feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets. I had one on each shoulder, two on each wrist and then one landed on my head. 

3. Holding a python called Sir Hiss. (No photo of this - the downside of doing these things alone is no one to hold a camera.)

4. Seeing an escapee American Chipmunk in a beautiful rose garden.

5. Watching a rhino take a mud bath and wriggle to squidge about in it.

6. Having a tiger walk nonchalantly right by the car - about 2 metres away. 

7. Watching a tiger try to catch a squirrel. There's actually a very poor quality video of that here. This is it pretending it's cool afterwards. (It is cool.)

8. Seeing the lions lying on their backs, legs akimbo, enjoying the sunshine.

9. Zebra bottoms

My top thing for the whole day has to be the Lorikeets. The word 'hard-boiled' kept coming into my head and I realised they made me think of wool which has been felted and has gone quite robust and tough. They did look a bit like normal sized parrots which had shrunk in a hot wash and their expressions were so grumpy - as if they had just felted their best jumpers by accident. But then when I occasionally tried to shoo one of the zillion hanging off me away it would just look at my hand with this world weary expression and give my finger a little nip. Not in a violent way - just to indicate that they had been shoo'd away by better people then me and so I might as well give up. 

I do like animals with attitude. Awesome creatures. 

If you were so inclined you can see all my Longleat photos here. I would 100% recommend visiting and that's without actually having made it into the house. My Mum was a bit worried about the animals being cramped but look at this:

That is just a bit of where the giraffe, rhinos, zebras, camels and a few others hang out. They are free to wonder all over the place and they are all in excellent condition. 

Today looks like being the best weather I'll get down here so I'm up for a quick run into Minehead to look in all the charity shops and a trip to the best fudge shop in the world. Then back here to lounge in my sun lounger and do a bit of knitting in the sun. Knit knit knit. 

Il Pleut

I am on holiday and at such times, even though I am only in Somerset, I feel the urge to break into French. A minor problem is that my french got as far as GCSE and then went down hill in the intervening 16 years. So it's a bit franglais only without the talent true franglais requires.

Imaginer mon surprise quand je saw le pub sign ici.

How I ended up in Malmesbury is again one of those things that can only be understood when you consider my quite obscene lack of any sense of direction. And this is even with a satnav. Ah yes, dear Liam, who has done so much for Nickerjac and I on our trips to SkipNorth, again saved the day in getting me from A to B and I wouldn't have ended up in Malmesbury had I not got it into my head to pop to Cirencester using road signs alone and then got lost. 

Liam did rejoin me to do the right thing in getting me to Lacock where my sister lives and where such tour de forces as Pride and Pejudice, Cranford and Harry Potter have been filmed. Not having seen any of these (although I have admired the mitts) this means nothing to me but she says anyone who has watched those should recognise this. 

It is an amazingly picturesque place without being quaint and 'ye olde' about it. I would recommend a visit if you're in the area.

What will I be doing with my week in the deep south? The plan so far is...

• Boot Fair today (not going to happen because it is pouring  - really pouring - with rain)
• Longleat when it is raining less
• Visit Bath as I never have and there is a quilt museum amongst other things. 
• Knit knit knit
• Read read read

I have rented a car so I will also be doing lots of tootling around looking at the surrounding countryside, collecting clouds. I believe I have mentioned this book before:

And the accompanying one:

And I saw many fine examples while driving yesterday. But being a safe driver I didn't try to photograph them while driving. You need traffic jams for that, a la Crazy Aunt Purl. So if the rain stops and some non-blanket clouds appear expect regular cloud updates on twitter and on here. 

Now where was I...

I literally sit at my desk and say this out loud 10+ times a day. I have one of those jobs where it is rare for me to be doing something without interruption for more than a few minutes at a time. Phonecalls and colleagues combine to keep things fairly varied and I actually rather like it as it's hard to get terribly bored when you can only do one thing for a few mins at a time without a break. But it does mean that I frequently forget what I was doing and so muttering my little mantra seems to help me focus again.

Blogging is something that seems to have been interrupted by life recently. More than 2 weeks since my last post and lots of fairly disconnected things have happened. For example, I have a FO.

The pattern is Prism (Rav link) and is free, simple and quite effective, just how I like my patterns and my men.

I also received an awesome swap parcel from the Spring/Summer Swap via the UK Swap Group on Ravelry.

My awesome benefactor was none other than PurlPower who I am pleased to see has been suitably spoilt by her own sender. The piece de resistance has to be the handkerchief.

Isn't that amazing? I'm torn between using it and framing it.

In between knitting I've been doing some sewing. One FO is this dress for my mum.

I made myself the exact same dress in the exact same fabric and love it. I know making her the same one is a little sarah-ferguson-freaky but she lives in somerset so we're rarely at the same gala events so I think it'safe. I've since made her another in red gingham which is her favourite fabric but I'm not as sure about it as the other one. I am due to go down to visit them on saturday for a little holiday so will see what she thinks of it then. Of course being my mother she'll say it's amazing whatever she actually thinks but I can also take the scissors to it if it doesn't look right.

In what is now a rare foray into yarn shopping I bought two balls of Kauni with the idea of swatching for a fairisle/intarsia jumper I've had in mind for a while. Kauni is so hard to photograph so just do what you can with this, complete with bits of authentic detritus that always seem to appear in Kauni as in Noro.

The idea was for a cloud jumper or cardigan so off I went....

...but that colourway didn't give me the contrast I was after. I'm now wondering about using the kauni as the background colour and dyeing something for the clouds in a more variegated white/grey colourway. Thoughts?

Then of course while all this frankly usual creative stuff has been going on there is Project Humphrey tootling along in the background. We are now up to 5 dates with a 6th planned for friday. He continues to be highly entertaining although things got awkward last weekend when a conversation I started produced the most accurate impersonation of a rabbit caught in headlights that I've ever seen. And I've scared* a lot of men in my time.

Despite that things do look pretty good so that's one vote from me for matchaffinity.com, just in case anyone is considering having a go at online dating.



* When looking on Flickr CC for a photo to illustrate this I came across this: "Scare Bear".

No longer available which is fecking annoying. I so want one.

Transitions

It has struck me recently that while some change is sudden and life changing, life more often transitions from one stage to another. A bit like the seasons. We did have a hot week in April but since then it has been highly changeable and more 'spring' like. Today is warm and sunny as we transition into summer. 

Last night I went to see Cleopatra at Sadler's Wells. It was amazing. I am not a fan of very traditional tutu type ballet, but the Northern Ballet Theatre always produce spectacular shows that combine great dancing with innovative costumes and sets. I cyber stalk them so when I knew they had a new show coming out I was ready to book the day tickets were released - about 6 months ago. Since then I had forgotten what kind of ticket I had booked and so was very pleasantly surprised to find myself in the centre of the Stalls, 3 rows from the front.

When I booked the ticket I had recently moved out of the flat Pooch and I had shared and was staying at a friend's flat in Elephant and Castle. I was worried about money but also knew I deserved a treat so went for the top price ticket. Thinking back, I can remember sitting on the sofa that first night, wrapped in a duvet, and shivering because I couldn't get warm. And today here I am, months later, sitting on a sofa in a different flat where I now live by myself, thinking about a second date I'll be going on tomorrow with Humphrey. While the end of the marriage happened during the course of an overheard conversation that lasted less than 5 minutes, the transition to single woman has been much slower and slightly more gentle. 

It all makes me think of my most favourite experience, one that I rate higher than anything else now that the marriage is over. As the last guide ropes are loosened and as the warm air fills the silk, life is ready to lift off again. 

To float over some old ground. 

And some less familiar.

Before landing again, who knows where. 

Lixie's Adventures with Gentlemen Chapter 3

I have had a number of DMs and texts asking how it all went on Saturday, when I was due to meet Humphrey for the first time.

We met at that romantic destination of choice - Waterloo station.

He immediately got us lost which I took to be a good sign since I am also geographically challenged so could tell how much we had in common straight away. We meandered around the Southbank for more than an hour chatting away and generally laughing. Then got a drink and managed to carry on talking for another 4 hours.

We said our goodbyes and have since arranged to meet again next weekend. Since then we have started following each other on twitter which lead to a memorable email from him which simply said, "Humphrey?". Bless.

I Love This Bracelet

I first saw this type of bracelet when the talented Heather Murray came along to (possibly the first?) SkipNorth and was wearing it. It sparkled on her wrist and was extremely eye catching. 

Fast forward about 5 years and I finally made one of my own. 

Fast forward another year and I wear it a lot and am wondering why I don't make them in all the colours of the freaking rainbow (except the ones that make me look jaundiced. Jaundiced wrist = not sexy.)

The pattern is free and is on Ravelry here. It is well written and let's face it - this is garter stitch, so the hardest thing about the whole project is threading the beads. But if you've got half an hour and a television it is soon done. 

That Heather Murray - she's one clever lady. She knitted her own wedding dress and, unlike many that appear from time to time on the less charitable sites, such as regretsy, this one looked beautiful. And she not only designed this jumper for her City and Guilds, she also dyed the wool herself and knit the whole thing on 2.5mm needles. AND as if that wasn't enough, she brought it as a carryalong project on another SkipNorth and knitted it while chatting. If that was me, doing fairisle on 2.5 mils with 12 background colours, it would be solitary confinement, damp flannel on forehead and occasional cackling.  

So here endeth the impromptu lovefest. It's just that I wore my bracelet again yesterday and spent some time last night considering how awesome it was. Because that's my kind of Friday night. 

Lixie's Adventures with Gentlemen Chapter 2

Chapter 1 obviously went really well. Yup. So I was on a roll for Chapter 2.

I decided to stick with the same ploy - man on bench in the sun - and found one in a park near work at lunchtime. No wedding ring - check. The last one hadn't had one either but at least I was on the look out this time. I sit down. I look around a bit.

Me: Hi. Do you want to have a conversation?

MWIAWWS: --- 

Me: Hello?

MWIAWWS: Huh? Oh sorry, I was asleep, what was that?

Me: Oh sorry. I was just saying hello. 

Man Who is Asleep While Wearing Sunglasses: Oh, well, I'm just really tired. 

Me: Abort! Abort!

So thus far through Chapter 2, what had I learnt? Possibly that the whole men-on-benches thing was a bit too random. The time had come. I was going to have to sign up to a dating site. 

Fast forward to last Thursday and, following advice from Tweeters and Ravellers, there I am messaging a few interesting sounding men. One, let's call him 'Humphrey' since he's a civil servant which just makes me think of "Yes, Minister", made a particular impression and we have now reached the email address stage. For those not in the know (and how I envy you) it goes...

• messaging via the site (all anonymous apart from username and whatever info/pics you post)
• exchanging emails
• telephone numbers
• personal meeting
• fluids

You don't have to go through all 5 steps and the timescales are variable, but that's basically it. So far he seems pretty funny and of course it's impossible to tell at this stage but it's quite fun and harmless which is what I was looking for. 

I have been poorly all weekend which is insanely irritating, but I did manage to do a bit of knitting (more on the grey cardigan), crochet (more on the ripple blanket) and churn out some more home furnishings. I had been looking for a little lamp since I moved in and found them all boring. So I finally bought a bland, cheap one and covered it in leftover fabric from the curtains. 

And not content with the quantity of polka dots in the flat, combined with a realisation that glass coffee tables need fairly regular cleaning, I used another random piece of fabric to make a little tablecloth. 

The red and white polka dot theme is definitely developing well. 

Right, off to reply to Humphrey's latest.