Favorite Authors: Josephine Tey

I'm feeling inspired to talk about Josephine Tey tonight. That's actually a pen name - her real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh. I have all eight of her books, and have read them all several times. My favorites are like comfort reading - I think I read them at least twice a year.

The first Josephine Tey book I ever met was The Daughter of Time, a wonderful story about Richard III. My mom was reading this, and passed it on to me, when I was perhaps 11. I know we were living in New Haven so I couldn't have been older than that. I thought it was great then. Now, I think it's fabulous. And I love Richard III. I practically cried when I saw his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery in London. [If you ever visit York, check out the Richard III Museum there...it's in Monk Bar Gatehouse of the walls of the city. Very cool!].

Another super-favorite of mine is Brat Farrar, about an imposter you can't help but love.

Seriously, all the books are wonderful. There's just something so polished and lovely about her writing, and the stories. They never grow old for me.

Perhaps Favorite Authors will become a recurrent blog topic. I do have so many favored and favorite authors, after all. What do you think, Gentle Reader?

Any Power Shoppers Out There with Advice?

Lilybean has grown out of all her casual dresses, and does NOT like wearing trousers or even leggings with a tunic.  I've been browsing a little on-line, and I found this sort of dress at Lands' End.  It's a simple jersey dress that's not too short.  However, I'm NOT interested in paying 30 dollars apiece, since I'd like to buy three or four. Military family budgets just don't allow for 30-dollar play dresses. KnowhutImean?

Anyone have a favored on-line retailer?

Here in the UK, everything costs double what it does in the US, and to go with that, it seems like Boden is the only place where you can find really simple, casual dresses without a logo or something.  And that's double the normal UK prices.

I'd be interested in either UK or US links - if you have any, or any tips on where to look, hit me in the comments.  KThxBye!

Saturday Random, with Knitting and Lego

First, the Lego bits. Small D insisted I blog this creation. It's James Bond being threatened by a villain, in an Egyptian setting. D's very proud of his work, and Mistah Bond will never surrender the jewel. So I'm told.




I'm proud of my work, too - had a great day of knit and chat yesterday with Afton, and the wristwarmers (a.k.a. The Furnace Wars Weapons) are trucking along after two days of knitting. I chose to do this Basic Mitt pattern instead of Fetching from Knitty, because the lack of ribbing at the top of Fetching wouldn't work for me, and I didn't feel like fiddling with it. This shot is a bit too bright - the actual colours of the wool are dove brown, pale gray, and very pale blue.

Last, but definitely not least, a picture of my Mystery Socks. The sun has turned them vivid pink, but they are really a pinkish lavender. This is Clue 1, finished. I've had a peek at Clue 2 and I think I will do the basic version (no gorgeous cable) because I need to shorten it to adjust for my calves, which don't look great with sock over them.  Needles are teensy size 0 Clover bamboo, and I looooove them.

Today's a glorious sunny day, and doors and windows have been thrown open wide.  Later on, we'll be going round the neighbors' for a playdate and pizza tea.  Sounds nice to me!

Napoleon Dynamite: Bunny Version

[edited to fix broken link - sorry!]

If you have been reading a while, you might remember this post (30-second remakes of famous movies, starring cartoon bunnies). I watched another one yesterday - new to me. Napoleon Dynamite a la Bunny. Pretty funny!!

I Think It's Half a Pica Off....

Try the Eyeballing Game - this is an addictive little app that tests your ability to eyeball geometric shapes/angles/etc. I'm not too shabby at it, I must say. I think small D would enjoy it quite a bit!

[The post title refers to a family in-joke. Which is probably funnier if you lived in a house with three copyeditors/proofreaders, as I did...]

It's a Major Award!

(Who out there gets the reference?)

Toni, whose fiber blog is  A Little Yarn on the Side , has bestowed this award on me.  She's too kind, and I'm NOT worthy!  But I do feel quite special :)

Many thanks, Toni, both for the award, and for your inspiration to live more richly.

I'm now tasked to pass the love along, and I'll choose a random bunch from my most-followed blogs.



Lynn at Never a Dull Moment, who started blogging after I'd mostly stopped, and completely inspired me to start again. Knitting, needlework, kids, kitties, and all the fun of life. Go check out those Saturday skies...they'll make you green with envy if you're not in the Sunbelt!

Marianne at Busha Full of Grace. She truly is filled with grace. Her writing, and the love she has for life and everyone in her life, are inspirational. We could all aspire to be a little bit more Busha. I love you, man, and I don't even know you except through the Blogosphere.

Meredith at Like Merchant Ships is an amazing, frugally fabulous blogger. I'm continually wowed by the things she can do with time, talent, and frugality. She's not too active posting right now, being very much with child, but I look forward to more posts when she's ready.

and finally, David at The Wit Farm. [Yes, I'm shaming you into posting, although I don't even know if it's possible for you to post from Away right now.  I miss reading your stuff, and I'm not the only one!]

Now, the rules for accepting their blog awards:

1. Please put the award on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.

4. Add links to the recipients.

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Keeping Warm

I empathize with the kitty.  My son, though, could BE the kitty. When I allow him to turn on the space heater, he is Right. There. On. It.

However, there'll be precious little space heater time this month.  And no radiator heat!  We have vowed to make it to Halloween before turning on the heat.  There are sweaters, sweatshirts, warm socks, and down throws galore in this house, and as God is my witness, we will USE them.

D. left last night for a month to sunnier climes, and that's lucky for him.  Not so lucky for us, who will be both missing him and shivering.  I will particularly miss the radiant heat he throws off at night. Seriously, if I had known my husband was warmer than electric blankets, we might have married far sooner. 

This afternoon, I shall curl up with a cup of cocoa and some wooly knitting until it's school run/ballet run time.  The Mystery Socks are both finished through Clue 1, awaiting Clue 2 tomorrow.  No picture, not because of spoilers, but because Bad Camera has no battery and Good Broken Camera needs charging.  I have the Revontuli to work on, but I may have to put it aside for some wrist warmers (like Fetching), to keep my knitting hands supple and warm.

The Yarn Harlot is a lot funnier about her own Furnace Wars than I am.  [You'll have to read back in her archives a bit, but this post confirms that she lasted until 5 November last year.  Plus there's a cool free hat pattern in the same post.  Bonus.]

The Verb a Knitter Created...

Oh, my. Wow. If you don't usually read the Yarn Harlot's blog, please go right now and check out this story about the ultimate in kinnearing.

Again, wow. I've mentioned kinnearing here before (to do with me, Other Susie, and a now-not-much-a-stranger-on-a-train-anymore [Liz]).

In other bright spot news, it's LDS Conference weekend, which means to those of us here in the UK, much later church times. [OK, the down side is church on Saturday evening, too.] I like sleeping in. Heh. Especially on a rainy morning...

We made the first fire of the season last night in the living room fireplace.  Nothing gives me autumn/winter wam fuzzies quite like a fire and some hot chocolate.  Especially when we've vowed to keep the heat off until Halloween!

Socktoberfest Begins!

While surfing my favorite blogs, I came across a link to the perfect Socktoberfest project. It's a Mystery Sock! How cool is this?!

[In addition, I've discovered a new favorite blogger - her posts are colorful and interesting, and oooooh, my goodness, the knitting. Just gorgeous. Browse a little and check out those striped hoodies.

So, let the good times roll. This should be a good challenge for the Month of the Sock - a sock outside my Plain Vanilla comfort zone, AND the first sock I've made that's not a superwash wool. The yarn is one I bought as a souvenir at this summer's Pensthorpe Mediaeval Spectacular (which was, rather). It's from the Mulberry Dyer, purveyors of natural dyes and things that have been dyed naturally. Very nice!

This incredibly blurry picture is not artsy, it's what happens when the good cameras are a) lost and b) broken. The color of this wool is fairly true-to-life, however, so try to imagine a really clear picture of wonderful handspun, hand-dyed wool in place of my hideous picture.

Socktoberfest

Socktoberfest!!  It rapidly approacheth.  Are you in?  I love Socktoberfest because it's my kinda "Thing-Along."  There's no competition, no rules to speak of, no real deadline...it's just a month of socky celebration, however that works for you.  Me, I may (may, I am saying) branch out and do a sock with a lace or cable pattern, rather than my usual and beloved self-striping plain vanillas.

Check out the link above for some inspirational pictures from last year's Fest.  By the way, the host, Lolly of Lollyknitting around - that's her blog, and it is an inspirational thing, itself.  She explores the world of color and texture, through knitting, photography, weaving...there's even yoga there.  What a neat lady.

[Speaking of Thing-Alongs, I've opted out of the Mystery Stole 4 for now.  I found that my beads were too small, and my credit card too otherwise engaged to order more.  Additionally, I wasn't feeling the love for a stole that needs to be grafted in the middle.  I'd be the girl who knit one half, then lost the mojo to knit the same half all over again.  I will say, from looking at Clue One, it's going to produce some gorgeous stoles.  I'll keep printing the Clues, and hope to be re-inspired at a later time.]

My Cat, If I Had One...

This made me snort soda from my nose, just a little. You can buy the bumper sticker here.

Hope all is well with you, Gentle Readers.  Been a busy, not-very-newsworthy week in KnitFarmVille.  More soon!

Finished...One More Pair of Socks

These bad boys have been languishing for a while, but I picked them up the other day and finished off the half-sock that was left. [OK, the ends aren't darned in, but they will be.] Most of the knitting was done on the train to here and there, and some was done while listening to the Great and Mighty Yarn Harlot give her talk at IKnit London. That makes these very special socks, indeed!

Fact file:

Regia 4-color sock yarn (Canadian Classic line, colour 4741)
Size 0 US needles
My own basic ankle sock

I call them the Socktor Who socks because the tones are so much like the colour theme of the revived Doctor Who series.

I love Regia sock yarn. Easy on the hands, soft on the foot, and wears like iron.

Good times, y'all...good times...

A Real Noro Sock Knitter!

Looking to confirm the shade of Noro I am using (it's colourway 185, Noro Kureyon Sock, by the by), I happened on this AMAZING sock knitter. Check out those posts to see some beautiful Noro socks. Almost enough to make me want to try the wool for socks. Almost...

Why the Noro's [Almost] Worth It...

These are true colours, taken outside just now on a mossy stone next to a brick wall. See how rich the colours are? I wish some of the "smooth yarn" manufacturers would bring out shades like this. If they're out there, and you've seen them, I'd love to see links!!

"Noro, Noro, Noro..." (shaking head in dismay)

So.  Once again, the lovely rich shades of Noro yarn have seduced me.  In my opinion, Noro wools have some of the most vibrant, unusual combinations out there.  I love to look at them in the skein, and I loved watching the colors come out as I knit up the Noro Kureyon I was given.

[rant] However, I do not so much love working with this yarn.  The Kureyon had sticks scattered throughout, random knots, and the WORST thick and thin spinning you'll ever see. Seriously, sometimes it was like knitting with Lopi  and sometimes I was knitting with wool as thin as two strands of embroidery floss.  To me, that doesn't bode well for durability.

However. Ahem.  At the I Knit London event, a gorgeous skein of their newer Noro Sock wool followed me home and it is becoming Revontuli.  As I have gotten started, all the reasons Noro Is Bad are flooding back, except maybe the "spun with sticks in it" part.  No sticks yet.  I have had horrible irregularity in thickness, three joins in the one skein (so far!), which also did not follow the color repeats. 

I pulled out the joined areas that didn't fit, and have made them into little balls that I can add in at appropriate spots.  Oh, my goodness, what a lot of work for a single skein of pretty colours.  I just can't imagine using this for a pair of socks, which would get much more hard wear than a scarf!  [/rant]

In fact, here's a review of the Noro Sock, which does say the durability is, shall we say, less than optimal.

Glamping?

Well, once again as the summer begins to fade away, we didn't get out camping.  I get nostalgic for the camping of my youth, when it seemed like we were off to a state park every weekend.  Much of that probably had to do with cramped living conditions, and sharing a house with another family for a few years, but I learned to love tents and sleeping bags and roasted marshmallows.  I have especially fond memories of a camping trip David and I took ages and ages ago - "Forgettable 45s," sweetie?

Somehow, these nostalgic memories don't seem to translate into tons of camping trips for us now.  As we've gotten older, the lure of sleeping bags on hard ground, or even air mattresses, is less than compelling.  Perhaps we're meant to try this new style of camping...this glamping thing.  Check out the linked article - doesn't it sound fun? And luxurious? 

However, the price tag is a little TOO glam for me: "Prices start at £275, about $488, at $1.82 to the pound, for two nights for a medium tent that sleeps two to three people."  Yeesh.

Ahoy, Mateys!

So, how's YOUR weekend been?  Saturday was good fun.  Kids had two birthday parties to attend, D. and I had a nice date night and watched a ridiculously funny movie, Pineapple Express. [I was snorting with laughter much of the time at the poor stoned heroes; I think this movie is the evil, extra-violent, stoner version of Napoleon Dynamite.  Same sort of very random humor, only with lots of pot, swearing, and bad fight scenes...]

Allergies have me pretty zonked this evening, so no knitting progress, but I leave you with this, in case US politics is weighing too heavily upon your brain: Crazy Pirate Fashions.

"First Day"

For all of you who don't get the family newsmail, here's the "First Day" picture of David as he starts the school year.  Big Year 5 boy.  I suppose you could say he's Year 5.5 this year.  Because he hopped up a grade when he arrived in England, David will get to spend 3 years in the Year 5/6 room, rather than move on to the high school at age 10.  We all adore his teacher, so no problems with that at all!  

Anyway, here's the Day 8 of school picture for your viewing pleasure...

Remembering

In Honor of the Large Hadron Collider's Big Day Out...

I showed this lovely video to small D. just now.  Geek rap at its supah-finest, complete with back-up dancing scientists...we loved it!  Here's to the Higgs boson, wherever it may be!



Check out this link for a clear read about the Large Hadron Collider, and how it's totally NOT going to suck the earth into a black hole.

Quick Drive-by Post

The kids and I headed to Heathrow last night with Harriss, and we've seen her safely on board her flight home to the US. Bon voyage, sweet niece of mine! I hope you had as much fun with us as we had having you here.

Now, it's back to reality, and house-shovelling, and de-cluttering, and all of that jazz.

I'm whipped, but did start an interesting new knit on the train to London yesterday. It's the Revontuli shawl. [Go look; I'll wait. It's a worthy pattern!] Revontuli means rainbow in Finnish, and it looks like the perfect pattern to show off a strongly striping yarn. And strongly striping yarn is something I have, since I purchased a single skein of Noro Sock at the IKnit festivities. I believe the colorway is this one (picture nicked from Flickr), with earthtones and a vivid purple. I have enough to make a shoulder scarf-sized shawlette, methinks. I've seen at least one other on Ravelry that used a single skein.

I'm almost done with the Soctor Who socks (at the toe of sock 2) so I hope to get a decent picture in daylight for posting.

Hope all is well with all of you Gentle Readers.

IKnit, Harlot, and Yarn, Oh My!

Yesterday was IKnit Day in London, and as my husband amusedly pointed out last night when I was giving him blow-by-blow recaps, it was, for knitters, something like a sci-fi convention for Star Trek fans.

I got up at oh-dark-thirty, with backpack and knitted alien in tow, and made an early train from King's Lynn. Once in London, I tubed it over to Oxford Street area and checked out the big Waterstones briefly, and then Hatchard's, which I liked much better than Waterstone's, to be honest. Hatchard's is in a lovely older building. Several floors of interesting books, many I hadn't even seen at the big chain stores. I wandered over, via breakfast and the Times, to the Horticultural Halls for IKnit. When I got there just before opening time at 11, the queue was literally around the block. It was rainy, but I had an umbrella, and the fellow waiters were both friendly and decked in interesting handknits. What's not to love?

Inside the hall, there were workshops (great, I heard, although I didn't attend), fashion shows (good), stalls for charity knitting projects, and vendors galore. Oh, wow. The vendors. So nice to pat some of these yarns in person. I picked up some Addi Turbo Lace needles in a size I needed, dropped off my alien to play with the others on the competition display table, browsed all the stalls once, knit on the World's Biggest Knitting, chatted with other attendees, and commenced to spend my limited-to-cash disposable income.

After lunch (a sandwich, a soda, and some quality time spent queueing and talking knitting and comparing knits with another solo knitter) and the vintage knitting fashion show, I headed over to the hall across the street to hear the Yarn Harlot's talk and Q&A. Man, she's funny. Man, that hall was full. Man, it was great to be there, and be alive, and be among so many other knitting folk.

Afterward, she came to the main hall for the booksigning. That was another fun queuing time, sighting gorgeous shawls and wraps and bags and jumpers. After seeing so many shawls, I want to knit one in jeweltoned silks. They absolutely shimmered.

The Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) was so lovely and friendly to each person she met, including meeeee. She complimented my jacket (which is an awesome chartreuse wool number, even if it does make me look as big as a house), noted my unusual accent ("You're not FROM around here, are ya?" sort of thing), and commiserated with my gauge difficulties when I showed her the lovely Snowdrop shawl (her design, my first lace, and waaaay oversized). All that in less than a minute. She rocked.

Intermixed with talking to knitters, sitting and knitting and watching fashion shoes, and all this loveliness, I did do some stash enhancing. I came home with some awesome stuff, mostly lace weights, that I hope to photograph later. The interim camera I was using was pretty rotten when it comes to focus.

I did get the following blurry pics, but I must refer you to Liz at Knitting on the Green, who has posted some great, and CLEAR, pictures of the day! Check out the end of her post, when she mentions my buddy Susie kinnearing her when we first met! Who's that chartreuse person?

Got home at 11 PM, after a fun "incident on the line"-related re-route from King's Cross over to Liverpool Street Station and the Oh-so-local to Cambridge, followed by an hour's wait on the platform there.

Here we have a picture of the wonderful Yarn Harlot signing my book. See the chartreuse?

Oh, look! More chartreuse. It's me handling the World's Biggest Knitting.

A view of the Alien competition entries, early in the day. My batteries died before the winners arrived, but every. single. thing. was fantastic. My alien, behind the stripey green tentacled one, was definitely the poor little matchgirl, but it was fun to bring one along.

Here's Acrilla the Pun, from Planet Orlon in the star system PolyAstra, with a magenta friend.

And a completely random shot, for the kids, of this knitted pirate and treasure. Aaarrrrr!

Better First Day Pic; Mystery Stole 4?

[Edited to change title of post because of CREEPS who Google. Nuff said.]

To all the friends and family who read my e-mail earlier, this is what First Day Girl looked like without half of her cut off. Promise to get a picture of First Day(ish) Boy soon, too.

As for knitting, I'm halfway done with sock 2 of my Soctor Whos, and preparing for Mystery Stole 4 to open for business. Anyone out there signed up for that?

School's In!

I just returned from the first day drop-off, and here's to a great new year at school for the kiddoes.

Sorry for my absence last week (really, most of the summer), but David was off and we were touristing our little toes off: Salisbury, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Legoland, and another trip to the Doctor Who exhibition. I'm a wee bit tired.

This week we have fewer plans: Harriss will catch up on some school work, she and I are going to see the Prickwillow Drainage Museum (finally!! Whoo hooo), and Saturday I have a knitter's thing that includes a talk by the great Yarn Harlot. I'm excited.

We finish our week with a birthday - Harriss' 17th!

I do have pics from the trip, although not from our camera. That has gone missing since the History Fair at West Acre and either it's in a bag I haven't found, or I really lost it. Sigh. I made Harriss take lots of pictures with Precious Junior, however. That's her camera, obviously.

I also used it for first day of school pics, but will have to wait to download them until later today.

Promise to be back in blogging action soon....

Busy Summer Days

Sorry I haven't checked in to report summer's doings, but we have been keeping busy here. Kids go back to school next Tuesday and this week we will head to Windsor, Legoland and Stonehenge to crown the summer holiday.

David has just gotten a new (to us) car, so looking forward to the road trip in that. It's a Citroen C5. So now we have two French cars. I find that amusing, for some reason.

We've taken in the Doctor Who exhibition in London, the History Fair at West Acre (Iron Age through English Civil War - excellent Roman reenactors and a real life archeological excavation, too), and the Mediaeval Spectacular at Pensthorpe. That was truly good fun. David was happy to visit with his favorite vendors: Pan's Pantry, who have a great medieval incense stall.

I didn't even BRING my camera to Pensthorpe, and took only a few pics at the other events. Perhaps I will post a few, perhaps not...we'll see.

Various volunteer stuff with the squadron is also keeping my hours full. Harriss is with us for about 2 more weeks. I know we'll get down to London the weekend before she goes (also her birthday weekend), and I'm booked for IKnitLondon's big day out with Yarn Harlot on Sat. the 6th.

Knitting stuff - I've got 90% of an ugly alien. I may get inspired to finish it to enter in the IKnit Alien competition, or I may not. I've got a sock and a half of what I call my Soctor Who socks. The colors are browns and the orange/blue combo that is so typical of the new Who episodes. Might have pics of those too.

Anyway, we're all well, good, and fabulous. Just busy!

Simon's Cat Strikes Again

This one's for all of you Gentle Readers who find the blog hunting for Simon's Cat. It's called TV Dinner, and as usual, the cat's too dang funny.

How We Spent Our Wednesday

Wonder why these policemen are gathered round... Hmm, what's with the crowds?

Oh, yes...it's the Sandringham Flower Show. That means - royals! Prince Charles is a patron of the show, and we actually were about 3 feet away from him as he walked to the local schools' display tent to view the students' art projects. We had gone down to have a look ourselves during my hour away from the preschool stall but got trapped behind the rope line.

The preschool's cake stall did a booming business, so I didn't really get to walk around the show this year, but the weather was fantastic and I think the kids had a good day, going about with Harriss to the school display, the carousel, several Punch and Judy shows and this and that.

Noah and the Whale

The first time I heard this band's name, I thought it must be a mistake. Nope, that's really the name, and this single is so lovely. Optimistic and wistful all at the same time...

Five Years' Time

Silly Things

First...an unstuffed alien in progress. I am using the only washable worsted I could find in the house, a lovely Red Heart, and trying out Knitting Pattern-a-Day calendar pattern for yesterday, Dolly Dorothy. So far, alien's got two legs, and a tummy (not pictured). I am about to decrease for the neck.



Second...who loves UK shoe sizing? Meeeee. Do you know I am a 6.5 in UK shoes? [I wear a 9 or thereabouts in US shoes.] UK sizing sounds so much nicer, and look at this supah-fab new shoe. Scored at TK Maxx today - a pair of Biostep shoes in electric blue that fit like they were made for me. They're a little loose all over without socks, which means they should be perfect for Crazy Sock Display. No?

Wordle

Check out Wordle to make your own - no registration, just a really nifty application. Thanks to Annalea at The Passionate Mind for the link!

Amazement

This is not what one expects to see when washing up after dinner.

Why, yes, that IS a peacock strolling down the lane.
He took a turn into our side garden, and hopped up on the game larder shed, before heading into the stableyard next door. Wow. And double wow!

Adamas: The Sequel

I've decided to frog the light blue cashmere Adamas I have started. It was only through Chart 1, and it's simply too fine for the needles I have. I will have to get a size 2 or 3 (US) lace needle.

Instead, I've begun an Adamas from this amazing wool - Seacoast Handpainted merino laceweight, in Sahara. Gorgeous, gorgeous color changes. I bought this from Sonny and Shear a few months back. This is MUCH, much easier to work with on a size 5 needle. I've already finished Chart 1, in about an hour's desultory knitting, while listening to a Miss Marple podcast.

Check out my LazyGirl technique here. I'm knitting straight from the swift, rather than skeining the yarn. This means the project isn't portable, but what the heck. Note the innovative use of cloth napkin to protect the coffee table finish. Heh.

A Wee Update

I know I've been away...sorry, all you Gentle Readers :)

The last couple of weeks have been indeed hectic. There was much backing and forthing to the theatre for dance rehearsals, and then we ended the week with FOUR performances. All of which went very well. Miss Lily was a fetching piglet, and ran around the stage doing her ballet thing, ignoring the audience like a pro.

There were tears of pride, I confess!

Here's a picture of our ballerina. I asked her to say "Cheese," and she struck a pose. Very Dance Artiste...



This week it's been recovery from Ballet Week, with some massive laundry, etc., and now we are into School Play mode. Dress rehearsal was Wednesday, opening night last night, and the last performance tonight. I'll have pictures, and if any come out, I will post one. No photos during, just after the curtain call.

The play? Romeo and Juliet, in musical form. A tad ambitious for a bunch of 8- to 11-year-olds, but they pull it off, sword fights, poisoning, ballroom scene and all!

David has his first speaking part in a school production, and is very pleased with all three lines of it. He's Gregory of the Capulets. Everyone sings, and it was just lovely to hear 40 children singing the songs we've been hearing in the car and around the house for months now.

Every year the Key Stage 2 children put on a play, always a musical since we've been here. The teachers do a fantastic job getting them involved in every aspect, and everyone is on stage as Greek chorus all the time, with characters stepping forward as their scenes come up. So even the littler ones with no lines are "performing" the whole time.

Master of the Universe...

Or at least, master sergeant of the universe. Congratulations, my sweetie.

Stripey Socks and More Adamas

Here's a shot of one of the socks I have been working on, intermittently, for a while now. Lovely stripey yarn. Who loves the stripey yarn? Me! Me! It impresses non-knitters no end. Even some knitters, too!

And this blurry shot is me with the Adamas, for scale. Small D took the shot just as the camera died. I hope the recipient likes it. She is a bit taller than I am, so I think it will at least be a better fit for her :) If I make this again in the same weight of yarn, I will stop at 10 repeats.

Adamas, or More Shawl Than You Wanted to Know About

Adamas, she is finished. Rinsed, blocked, and smelling sweetly of lavender. Details:
Adamas pattern by Mimknits
Size 5 Addi Lace Needles (Da Bomb)
Hunt Valley Cashmere 2-ply, just over 3 ounces (~800 yards by my guesstimate)
Started 1 June 2008
Finished 18 June 2008

Behold, many pictures. If you don't come for the knitting, move along...nothing to see here.

For the rest of you, here's Adamas pinned out on the double bed. It blocked even larger than I expected.


Here you can really see the pattern details well. Blocking is truly magic for lace knitting. No more wet noodles now!


I like this detail shot because you can see the fluff and imagine the softness of the cashmere.


This is a doofy shot but I tried to reduce two similar pictures so that the gate is the same size in both. You can really see how the lace has opened up and the shawl has GROWN after blocking.

I'm on Fire!

Knit! Knit like the wind! That's been me this past week or two. Adamas is off the needles, but still unblocked. I am contemplating gifting it to someone who is leaving England to return to the States, but I'm not sure if it would be her cup of tea. I'll have to consider it some more, while I block. I cannot believe what a quick knit this has been, and what a FUN one! I want to cast on for another right away, but am forcing myself to return to the stripey socks instead.

Dover was lovely - the castle is amazing. We spent the best part of two days there. I won't post castle pictures, because they're all detail shots. The place is so vast that you can't get a full-castle shot unless you're quite some distance away, and I was always in a car at that point.

The tunnels, the keep, the displays, the Ghurka band who were performing, all of it was really interesting. I give this castle two thumbs up.

We also went over to the cliffs and walked about, although being RIGHT UP ON THE EDGE with children proved to be pretty nerve-wracking. I did get this shot of The White Cliffs of Toe-ver for you, Susie My Friend! No shots from over the edge of the cliffs, though, thankyouverymuch.

Off the Grid...

Well, we'll be trying an Internet break for the next day or so. Time for a family trip to Dover, where we want to visit this castle, walk through the wartime tunnels there, and see the cliffs up close and personal (and look for those bluebirds).

Have a great weekend!

Trebuchet Commuters?

With gasoline prices edging toward insanity, this option seems rather clever!

'Albany, NY - With no end in sight to the rise in fuel prices, commuters in Albany are using a network of trebuchets to save on gas and the airlines are taking notice.

“We have a high-density of renaissance festival attendees, so it’s only natural that the trend started here,” said Clinton Decola who heads the Trebuchet Transport Cooperative of Albany (TTCA).'

Click here for entire article. Very funny!

Weaning from the E-mail Jones...

This article really resonated with me today. It's about taking time away from Teh Interwebs - the better to live your real life.

E-mail is my addiction. That, and checking up on my Google Reader bloglist. I have made great strides toward lessening that addiction, I think, in the past couple of years. Still, if I am away from e-mail for more than a day, I get antsy. If I can't Google something instantly, I get cranky. How did I survive, waaaay back in 1992, before I had a computer at home? How did I exist with only dial-up?

Inconceivable as it is, I DID exist, survive, even thrive, without net access for decades! Surely I can do it for one day a week? I'm also winnowing my bloglists, by creating an UltraFaves department that I check daily (ten or fewer), and then mass deleting the rest if it gets overwhelming.

Seriously, though, have a look at the article. It's a good read.

Just 100 Things...

This is a very interesting article, all about clearing the clutter in our lives. There's quite a lot about a man attempting to pare down his possessions to just 100 things.

Could you do it?
What would you keep?
Why?
And does stash count as one thing?

Some things to ponder, there...

Adamas Progress

I'm fairly flying along with the Adamas shawl. I can't believe I have found a lace pattern that I can work on while watching telly, or talking to friends. Amazing stuff!

I stuck in a lifeline and pulled it off the needles this afternoon to figure out roughly how much more I need to knit. My gauge is MUCH looser than the designer's intent. Here's what 9 repeats looks like, spread out but not stretched, with 5-year-old child for scale. I am thinking 3 more repeats, plus the edging (approximately another repeat in length), should do it nicely. The shawl pattern calls for 14 repeats and I think 12 in my looser gauge is more than enough. What do YOU think, Gentle Readers?

Calendars

My friend Lynn is holding a Blogiversary Contest (go wish her well - it's been TWO years!!) and pictures of your calendar(s) are the entry requirement.

These are mine - the top is a knitting page-a-day calendar (I am saving about half the patterns as "might knit possibly") and below is my planner, without which I do not exist. If I don't have the Blue Book of Doom, I have no idea what I need to do.


No wall calendars, as we don't have a good spot in the kitchen to post one.



So Lynn, that's my entry, and congratulations on two years of fun posts to you!



In other news, I spent waaaaay too much time doing laundry on base today, as many folk had the same idea. Fortunately, I popped the wet stuff in baskets/car and took a break to have lunch with my honey while the dryers were all full.


Said honey found me a swift! For a pound! At a boot sale! I am SO happy about that. I want to blog it but I'll need to wait for the sunshine. It's a vintage three-armed wooden wool winder, called a "Nitta Wool Winder," and it even came in the original box.

Such a nifty gadget. I have already used it to wind my skein of Hunt Valley 2-ply laceweight cashmere that has been ripening in stash for over ten years. That skein is now 5 repeats worth of the Adamas shawl, and growing. See the pic below.


Quick review - Adamas pattern? VERY simple and satisfying to knit for a lace pattern. Addi Lace needles? Awesome...they slip along so quickly but the wool? Does. Not. Slide. Off. Ends. It's truly a lace-knitter's miracle.

The Game - Have you seen it?

Edited to add: I have explained my own "answer pics" below, since they are a little hard to decipher unless you're....me!

This is a meme I have seen on several blogs now. Curious, I clicked the link to find out more. In a nutshell, you answer the following questions in picture form and post your mosaic. Very cool, indeed.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

Here's mine. By the by, the celebrity crush is Phil Harding (IloveyouTimeTeam!).

Answers to The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Susan

2. What is your favorite food? Mnay but I chose Salmon skin hand roll sushi

. What high school did you go to? Kent School in CT - that's a pic of the back of the chapel there.

4. What is your favorite color? Green

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Phil Harding or all of Time Team

6. Favorite drink? Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper...do they even MAKE it any more?

7. Dream vacation? Corfu in Greece

8. Favorite dessert? Banoffee pie

9. What you want to be when you grow up? an archeologist, not a sock monkey

10. What do you love most in life? my family

11. One Word to describe you. Loving

12. Your flickr name: susieknits

Car, and Week, Update

The car? Martin the mechanic guy came round, and it was merely flooded. He was very good at not making me feel ridiculous, and checked several things and ran it around the block a bit as well. All is well :)

Yesterday, we hopped into the car and took a friend and her daughter along to Norwich Castle Museum. Much fun for kids, all packaged in a 900-year-old castle.

Today, it's the morning social for squadron spouses. I need to get the crockpot crocking, me dressed, and laundry added to my carload o' stuff so we can get down there to set up!!

Best-laid Plans and All That.

We've had a really nice, quiet weekend here. Enjoyed the first day and a half of sunshine and outdoor grilling. Sunday and Monday were pretty grim and rainy, but we hung out and enjoyed the break.

Today brought a screeching halt to the rest of this week's mild plans for half-term fun, however. Lily's friend is over for a playdate, and because it's raining, my idea was to head to a local indoor play place.

Bad news? As I started out the driveway, the car just...died. There's no re-starting it.

Good news? It happened literally 10 feet from the driveway entrance so we could all easily return home.

Bad news? No idea what's wrong and the car is actually IN the road, although far enough to the left that cars can get around easily.

Good news? Our little lane is VERY lightly trafficked.

Bad news? I have car-inclusive plans for tomorrow AND Thursday.

Good news? The mechanic can come here and have a look today.

Bad news? Not until later...much later.

Good news? Kids are still happy to stay home and make/eat cupcakes and play.

Bad news? No more really. Just have to stay tuned and see what the problem is, and hope for the best...

Lovely Views

This is a pheasant's nest that Simon, the gardener, found. He's leaving that flowerbed unweeded until the eggs hatch. I saw the mother pheasant nesting this morning, but she must be off hunting for food now, so I got this shot. Aren't those eggs a lovely shade of blue?

And here's a view from the nest, across the garden. Check out that table and chairs...cute, no? Did I mention that I am blogging from that table at this moment? The wireless reaches outside...whoo hoo!!

Yarn Money

American economic stimulus package = yarn money. Right?? Kris at Sonny and Shear (my fave on-line yarn store) is very convincing about it. Here's her note, and a code to save 20% on your purchases from the shop until midnight on Friday:

In honor of our little economic stimulus checks that we’re all receiving here in the states, we’ve decided to have a little sale. If you’re anything like me, the first thing that came to mind when you heard about our stimulus package was “yarn money”. Therefore, what could be more perfect than a yarn sale??!!!?

For the next few days you can save 20% on all of your yarn purchases at Sonny & Shear by entering the code GeorgeGaveMeYarnMoney at checkout. The coupon expires at midnight on Friday, May 23, 2008.

Feel free to share the code with your friends, your Ravelry groups, your blog readers, your cat, whoever. The sale is open to everyone and anyone. Enjoy your “economic stimulus” yarn.

Things That Make Me Happy Today..

A post in pictures (and some words, too)...

First, no picture, but the knife grinder came back through town. He sharpened my short branch loppers and long ones (secateurs?), and showed off his lovely spaniels. All five of them. What yummy dogs... I didn't take a picture because it seemed rude, somehow.

This morning, after the school run, I went to the car wash. Parking under the horse chestnut tree provides wonderful shade, and protection from rain, but the down side is poop. Lots and lots of bird poop. You might as well paint a huge target on the car...it was encrusted with nonprecious gems. One Deluxe Wash later, it looks like this:

Those of you who've been here may note that Little Blue Pogo is parked off to the side, NOT under the tree. I think I will keep that up for a few days at least!

After the car wash, I had a quick wander through town and bought the cheap-o garden set that I thought about all last summer and saw again this past Saturday. It's plastic, but pretty, and for 29 pounds, I won't find anything nicer. Two chairs and a little table, perfect for mornings out in the front garden or afternoons in the main garden. It may have been plastic, but schlepping the box back to the parking garage from QS was a major pain! I should have brought my shopper to balance the box on.

Here's a chair, before assembly. Hmmmmm:

Now, here's the chair, after. Nice, I think...

Critical Mass

Be careful how you boast about your immunity to this season's allergen. Why? Because when the pollen count then skyrockets to One MILLION the next day, you will be the sheepish, drippy-nosed, sneezing fool.

Rapeseed - it's gorgeous, but deadly....

Mud Is Good

Today is the May bank holiday here in the UK, meaning the kids and I are home but David had to work. Originally, I thought of heading to Ely to see the cathedral and the haunted Pizza Express (Nell Gwynn, I believe) but it is sooo glorious out that we chose the beach instead. We drove over to Snettisham, which is the closest beach, since traffic was getting heavy. It's a bit stony, the tide was waaaaaaay out, and the black flies were incredibly heavy.

At first, I thought we'd have to turn right around, because Lily's Crocs caught some sand and gave her a blister and then she was flipping out about the flies. However, after she had some snuggle time with me on the blanket, she was ready to check out the mud flats where David was busily digging.

We had some snacks, lots and lots of mud walking, and an ice cream to finish up. The kids had a glorious muddy day!

Now that we're home, I filled a huge Rubbermaid container with soapy water so they could play and rinse off the last dried mud.

Too bad I didn't bring my camera!

A Pleasant Sunday, After All

As the song says, "Always look on the bright side of life..." OK. Lots of times, it's not what I do, despite my reputation for cheery thinking. Sometimes, I get wrapped up in the negatives and can't find the positives for my disappointment. Many times, though, looking at the good can make the rest of a day not so bad.

It's not that today WAS a bad day, as such, really. Kids got bathed and dressed, we went to church, the sun was shining. It was just little disappointments, like not really "feeling the love" for church today, not getting much personally from the messages, not having David there with us. Then, at home, he was feeling under the weather (allergies kicking butt around here, with both Davids, actually) and neither of us were at our best.

But lunch happened, D soaked in the tub awhile, and small D took an allergy pill (which zonked him so much that he's now gone up for a nap at 4:30 PM and may be done for the day, I'll bet).

And then we all went for a walk-about in the village. We stopped at Linda's and had some cake, then passed the newly shorn sheep and the big pigs on one of the footpaths. We found some "archeology" as Time Team call their finds - little shards of old blue and white ware. Then we looked for, and I think we found, the circle you can see on Google Earth in a local field - maybe it's a Roman remain! Then it was up, past the cricket pitch and the cricketers, to the bigger footpath. By this time, small D was very drowsy and rather cranky, but we still saw some interesting flowers and things and even answered a call from Grandma Doe!

Being outside, and being together as a whole family, just recolored my day in the nicest way. I'm so glad for it.