It's All Go

Everything has all gone a bit manic around here. Why is it everything always happens just before you go away? The plans for Thunder to go to his holiday home had to be changed and he's now staying at home with the chinchillas and Custard. He'll have less company of course but at least he knows his surroundings and can chat to Roxy, Roo & Chilli. He'll be visited at least once a day but I expect will be most unimpressed with not being out for hours each evening.....c'est la vie!

The road tax on my car runs out while we're away.....so I'll have to get that a day or 2 before we're off. I have a lovely new linen holiday skirt that we got last summer that has no matching top so we've got to try and find one. And though I wasn't going to have my hair cut till I was back I changed my mind the other day. Luckily I got an appointment ok.

The emergency trip to the dentist has thankfully been and gone and I was in and out within 10 minutes! And in that time the dentist did a few minutes drilling WITHOUT AN INJECTION!!! Oh it took hours for me to calm down after that. But filling was duly repaired and it was all over very quickly.

Last but not least, we have a new working electricity meter. Whew!!!

The suitcases are finally out though as usual I'm behind with packing. We're still having to get stuff - not for me of course, but my DH! Of course I do all the organising, packing and arranging and its not till the last minute till I find out he's not got this or that.....I don't know why I'm surprised. It's the same every year!

What I wouldn't give to be able to start a new project and just sit and knit for a few hours each evening....it's not to be though till I get back so for the time being I'll just have to get on with finishing :(

I was kind of hoping to sort of just leaving the finishing and hope a fairy comes while we're away to do it all for me. Well, you never know do you? But unfortunately DH said you are taking that with you aren't you - meaning Elspeth. Darned, so I've had to tackle the ties. You would think that 2 teeny weeny ties wouldn't be fiddly would you, but they were. I really shouldn't have been surprised as every bit of crochet related to Elspeth has been a challenge. Anyway she will be ready in time as I've only got to sew them on, and even I can manage that.



She does look lovely though and after all the crochet edging challenges, fits really well and looks gorgeous. I really like her in plain stocking stitch too rather than lace, as I'm not really a delicate kind of gal!



It is quite amazing what you can accomplish once you get your head round it and just actually get on with it. Yes, my lovely bag is sewn up and is ever so pretty though she won't be accompanying me on our travels. Interesting this new pink shade of Summer Tweed did not have the same smell as the previos ST I'd used and so did not smell like someone had died once damp and being pressed. Thankfully.....



And in the same evening I sewed up the side seams of Kitty and did the crochet edging on her too. Wow, there's just no stopping me! I made the front in a S, and the back in XS and she fits much better than my previous one. She will be accompanying me on hols and will be one of my beach tops. Did I mention how soft & soothing Cotton Braid is on your skin so just perfect for the beach.



Did you think that was it? I'd finished the Socka Polycon socks days ago and they're are lovely and comfortable. I'll be taking these with me - perfect flight socks.

I got kicked off the Rowan discussion forum! Not for bad behaviour or anything like that, just that my membership expired and I was waiting for the new gift to appear before renewing. Then to my surprise I couldn't log on. But as soon as the renewal gift changed I quickly renewed my subscription and now I'm allowed back on the site. Hopefully the gift will arrive before we're off.

I found there's a business centre in KL airport that has showers, hot food, tea, coffee, beer, massage chair (I want one!), internet access, TV, games etc for about £12. So no surprise where we'll be spending out 5.5 hours transit time. At least it will pass quite comfortably and I'll be happy with internet access.

Our resort has internet access too so no doubt I'll be checking that from time to time. Its a long time for me to be away from my beloved iBook you see ;) Knitting wise I'm planning on taking some sock yarn on the flight in case I get the urge to knit or need something to do to help me drift off to sleep but that will be it. Our holidays abroad are the one time when we like a complete change - that means no no TV for DH and no knitting for me. As I only knit in the evenings when the TV is on anyway at home it makes a superb break and I come back all refreshed with lots of ideas and eager to start a new project.




I'll leave you with the 8 new baby cygnets from our resident swans.

See you when I get back ;)

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday was last Sunday and I had a lovely day. I didn't get much in the way of yarn this year - can you believe all I wanted was the Buttercup Kim Hargreaves kit? Very different from last year when I'm sure I got quite a bit more. Is it just me or are others cutting down on their yarn purchases? The kit is lovely though as you can see.

I did get a couple of other knitting bits including some Colintte Zanzibar, probably for bag making. Another ball of Regia Stretch yarn and some 15cm Inxo bamboo needles as you can never have enough needles can you, and finally the Holiday Knits book which I'm rather pleased with as it has a few patterns I'd like to make.



My main pressie though this year was Dr Hauschka products. Boy aren't there a few of them? They are totally divine and once tried you become addicted. For a top quality holistic range there really is nothing better. They believe we shouldn't use night creams which is kind of strange if you've used them for years but it all makes total sense, even though I only used my own blend of essential oils. And yes my skin does look and feel wonderful using these products. Lucky me eh?

Coincidentally I attended a focus group on organic issues in the week one evening which was rather interesting and the money I got paid came in very handy indeed, with the holiday looming ever closer. If only my DH would actually get the suitcases out instead of promising to, maybe I could tackle a bit of packing. Looks like it will be last minute, as per usual then.

Finishing projects has been bad this week again due to birthday celebrations and also due to my DH trying to poison me. Yes, my dear husband painted the loft hatch with an oil based paint and surprise surprise, I reacted really badly to it with awful asthma and incredibly painful eyes which took days to settle down. Thankfully its all recovered now - you'd think he'd know by now though wouldn't you? He is of course suitably contrite and promises never to use anything similar again. Bad husband.

A recent comment about socks shrinking in the washing machine made me think about my cotton Regia surf socks which are really a few rows too short and so are my least favourite socks to wear. And it dawned on me that all I had to do was undo the toe shaping, add a few more rows, and redo the toes. So I did. Well one of them anyway. The 2nd is due to be done. So hopefully I'll be able to test them out shortly and see if that does the trick. Funny I didn't think of that earlier......

On the subject of socks, my lovely pink Lana Grossa socks are really the most comfortable of all my socks. Maybe its the higher than usual wool content. Whatever the reason they are just so comfy to wear all day. Perfect travelling socks me thinks.