Diario

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Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Ten projects matched with Ten Yarns

When I posted my stash picture, I made the lofty claim that 18 of the pictured yarns were matched with a project. Here, I put my fibre where my mouth is.

1. This Rowan lace jumper with this pink Superkid by Fleece Artist

2. This Hey Teach! lace cardigan with this Lorna's Laces Worsted in the ltd edn Jimmy Beans February 2010 colourway

3. This Myrtle lace cardigan with this Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply

(I sense you're sensing a theme here)

4. A lacy shawl, something like this one by Teva Durham (I am looking for a shawl made from lacy medallions sewn together, a la last year's surprise big hit for me, the pinwheel shawl) with this Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb in the ltd edn Jimmy Beans colourway from sometime in 2008.

5. This Rowan wrap top with this pink Rowan Damask I got for 69p a ball from Kemp's.

(An aside: When I told my knitting group friends that this year I was embracing pink in an attempt to remove the "Obsessed with blue" label from myself, I obviously was not kidding. It's not really that I don't love blue anymore; I just have a lot of blue things now. That said....)

6. This drawstring cowl (the dark yellow one in the third row down) from Vogue Knitting to use for skiing, out of this Colinette Art.

7. Another Versatility (once I have finished the first one, for me), this time for Mother Hand, in this Fleece Artist Scotian Silk.

8. This lace panelled chemise (although I will mod along the lines of last year's Lelah, I expect; at least I will take out the lace panel at the top, for modesty's sake) in this blue Rowan Calmer.

(Although, it is more likely I'll use Paton's Smoothie for this because it's machine washable; but I didn't take a picture of the blue colourway in my big stash recording exercise last month, so let's just say I'm going to use the Calmer.)

9. A baby dress (Pattern to be decided but probably Crumpets) for Jen's baby Abi...well, she's nearly 1 now but still...from this orange Rowan Calmer.

10. Many pairs of Ugg baby bootees in this GGH Velour (which is a good sub for Berocco Suede).

This has been really hard, trying to make this list. I hope you realise the effort I have gone to. I have had to discard the post and write it in Notepad because Blogger keeps messing with the tags, which annoys me enormously. And to make matters worse they're binning FTP publishing as of May 1st so I have to migrate my blog. I am considering looking at a new provider, tbh. It annoys me so much that when I insert a picture, it automatically inserts it at the top of the post and I have to move it to where I want. JUST INSERT IT WHERE THE CURSOR IS!

Anyway, harder than that is realising that, when I said 18 of those stash yarns were matched with a project, that's obviously not strictly true because otherwise this post would have been a doddle. I think it's fairer to say I have ideas for several of the other yarns, if not concrete patterns; so, the Rowan Silk Aran is going to become some sort of stripy summer top. Others are different again: the Rowan Denim, for example, will become an Indigo Ripples, at some point when I feel my body shape can cope with a knitted skirt.

Neglectful Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:29:00 +0000

My excuse for not doing Tuesday ten is that this week, as last week, I was dry slope skiing with school; and while I should have been home at a reasonable hour this week as I vetoed stopping for chips on the way back, the minibus broke down.....and even though I was driving my car with additional pupils, I kowtowed to pupil pressure and stopped at Maccy D's so we were behind the bus and therefore had to wait with them for breakdown assistance. Karma, I think that is called.

Next Tuesday will be my first free Tuesday night since January, by my reckoning.

I am injured. I did a silly jump'n'slide with other staff on a crash mat last Friday (charity Sport Relief video) except that it was already sliding when I jumped, so I landed on my knee. It is swollen and hurty. I have self-diagnosed it as tissue damage because I can still kneel on it and have full range of motion: it only hurts when I push the swollen bit. But I am terrified it is something worse and I will not be able to go skiing. Please send positive get-well-knee vibes.

I also tripped running across the road to the minibus tonight and turned the ankle of my other leg. It's all going pear shaped.

And my Ravelmypics project was a fail....although it is going OK. I have finished the body of it, bar the ribbing. Just sleeves/neck tie to go. I am hoping it will get done this weekend.

Yarn Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:21:00 +0000

Inspired by a fellow Raveller, I devoted an hour today to photographing my stash.

I'd love to pretend this is all of it. It probably represents about two thirds. Out of interest, I pulled my stash list off Rav into a spreadsheet and was mildly disturbed to discover that my yarn would now stretch for nearly 27 miles. A yarn marathon, indeed.

I am trying to make myself feel better by remembering
a) 18 of those yarns are already matched to a project
b) 15 of them were either in the sale, gifts or free
c) I gave Aliboo 4 balls of yarn (not pictured) yesterday
d) There are 10 single skeins for single-skein projects....well, 11 but one of those if the Nef Lace and it's 1200m or so, so I don't think it counts
e) 5 of them are leftovers from other projects, so .... not technically stash? I think that's a bit of a stretch.

I am loving the winter Olympics, and particularly my knitting for the Ravelympics. The Shirley sweater is now going well, since I got the sleeve stitches on spare cables and joined the sweater in the round today. But, the yarn has dyed my hands blue and I am suffering a bit with claw hand, hence the blogging. I thought if I managed to finish the body of the sweater this weekend I might be OK, but I am not convinced I will manage it, what with The Claw and all.

Really pleased with Amy Williams and her gold in the skeleton bobsleigh! I stayed up til 2am last night to watch her winning run. It's made all the better by the fact that she only lives in Bath so I might one day bump into her. Just like Jonny Depp and Nicholas Cage, two of the cities other famous residents.

Hey, a girl can dream...

Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:05:00 +0000

Ten Noteworthy Events of the Last 24 Hours

1. Malaysia launch meeting - 43 sets of parents, I thank you. Whittling down the letters of application to a mere 16 is going to be a toughie this year.

2. Wispa Gold. I ate it after dinner last night....and tonight. The love affair continues, even though I feel like boycotting Cadbury since their latest piece of news. I am going to miss seeing that factory twinkling from the ring road when I drive home in the dark.

3. I was deliberately obtuse and bunked a lesson supervising my class in the hall and used it to plan my cover for the next two days. Nobody actually told me I was meant to be there so I used it to my advantage. I have teh guilt, because my friend Caroline is directing the production so it was her who was let down. She didn't seem to mind though, as she got new boots today.

4. I bought a ticket for the production on Tuesday and Caroline asked me to do front of house, so I feel like I am repaying her a bit. This year we're doing We Will Rock You. I love a bit of Queen.

5. My new pink velvet coat shipped. Half price in the sale! Loves it.

Yes, of course it's Boden.

6. I finished the first sleeve of the baby jumper, unpicked and 3NBO'd the shoulder I'd done wrong, seamed the sides and wove in all the ends. Now just one sleeve, seaming the sleeves in and the collar to go. I love fast baby projects.

7. I familiarised myself with the Shirley sweater pattern, ready for swatching. I really should be swatching now, rather than knitting this baby jumper, so I am all ready for casting on on Saturday: Ravelympics, day 1. But I have a lot of marking to do. Which is why I am blogging, and watching Die Hard.

8. I realised part of the Die Hard score is Winter Wonderland rescored to have a menacing, growly sound. I can't tell you how many times I have seen this film, and never noticed.

9. I watched The September Issue. Meh. I can't help but feel Anna Wintour was being disingenuous when she talked about her noble brothers and sister thinking what she did was a joke. Surely she's earning more than them combined, not to mention being easily the most influential of them all: the last laugh, I feel, lies at her door.
And since she talked about fashion being a serious thing at the start, I don't think she can then expect us to feel sorry that her siblings might look down on her: surely that can't make her feel bad, if she believes her own spin?
And, really, Grace Coddington could do with a conditioning treatment and a lesson in how to walk in flats, she looked like Stig of the Dump tramping through those halls.
Good clothes, though. I loved that gigantic knitwear they were photographing for the texture piece. And I love Grace in general. Except I think she'd totally dismiss me for wearing so much Boden.

10. I enjoyed reading this article about the relative merits of Kits Kats and bananas. I liked the bit about the Dangers.

Black Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:05:00 +0000

I have been awol. I am not having a very good time of it at work. It's only little things but I am feeling all full of whinge and not in the mood for cheery posting, so I have thrown myself into my knitting and Facebook Scrabble by way of a distraction.

I am knitting a garter stitch pullover (Rav link) for my friend Alison's baby, who is being christened in March but I can't go. And I am preparing for the Ravelympics. I want to knit a laceweight pulloever; my only concern is, I have 100% silk laceweight and mostly this is only used for shawls, from what I can find on Ravelry. So I am going to swatch for the Shirley sweater ('nother Rav link) and see how it goes. It's a Kidsilk Haze pattern, but I am hoping it will work out, even if I have to knit it a size down to keep it clingy.

I REALLY hope it works out, the yarn is absolutely stunning! It is by Knitwitches and is the most amazing shade of blue, called Lapis Nights. Yes, blue, of course! But deep blues like this aren't too common. I will photograph it if I am ever at home in daylight again.

I am in danger of developing a serious Knitwitches habit since discovering them at FibreFest in August. Then, I bought 3 skeins of undyed pure silk and a skein of luscious grey cashmere (which, actually, I had forgotten about blush) and now that I am more amenable to laceweight it's like a whole new yarn wilderness stretching out ahead of me. Heaven forbid, I find I love knitting socks....I think I would have to buy a new house.

(I have decided, it's definitely one of those fundamental knitting truths that the more experienced you get, the thinner the yarn you work with. I still like working with chunky but it's definitely not as comfortable as working with smaller needles.)

I am thinking of setting myself a knitting goal for this year of a sweater a month. This is mainly because I urgently need to see to my stash, as well as knit some things from my queue. So I was thinking - a top a month (not necessarily with sleeves) and an extra, like the baby jumper this month. I don't think it is unachievable. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, ROLL ON HALF TERM. Still no sign of Ofsted but honestly, I don't think their visit could be worse than the endless build up to it. I shouted at a member of the leadership team in the staffroom this week, and I'm normally Little Miss Sunshine. It's not a great time. But, yey, I am out Wednesday at a meeting and Thursday visiting the college in Oxford that will be hosting our conference this year (HOOGE feather in my cap) so it's only really two more days til break, and then I am off to Warrington and then Sheffield so I can just forget everything for a bit....and knit Shirley. I booked train tickets so I have lots of free time!

Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Ten Reasons to be Cheerful (again)

1. Ebay. Perfume going for more than I paid for it. Result! Which leads to...

2. Chanel sunglasses. I decided they were too frivolous for buying with real money, especially because I am terrible with looking after sunglasses, so I set myself the task of raising enough money on ebay for them. I am currently a scant (!) £70 away with 5 days left on my extremely popular auctions.

3. Fireflies by Owl City. It really reminds me of something but I don't know what.

4. New skirt coming from Boden soon.

I love when Boden release their spring catalogue. How summery is this skirt? I am going to be living in it, especially since the sad demise of my workhorse denim skirt, which finally wore away at a seam this winter.
The new skirt will go with my favoured sunglasses, which have denim arms and red frames but are not nearly as dodgy as they sound (cannot find a picture of them anywhere, though).

5. The functionality of this SuperMacbook which sucks all my time in the evenings now it sits by my chair, with a siren song coming from Facebook, Ravelry etc. It is easy to use, though. I didn't have to go through right click, save etc with that Boden snap - I can just highlight a bit of the page and take a picture of it which goes right to the desktop. Did you know that? I think it is very clever.

6. Tomorrow is Happy Wednesday: I don't have to drive to work or teach until after break, and I've got belly dancing with Parpy Jo in the evening.

7. Glee. Especially this bit of the football team dancing and Kurt making the goal in the episode which aired here yesterday. It may be my favourite bit of TV so far this decade.

8. Travels. I booked tickets to Malaysia for the summer holidays, Caroline from work and I are going to see an ex-colleague, Rhiannon; and I booked train tickets to Manchester for Feb 13th to see Sian, and then I'm going to visit Jen and the mini-Jen (or, more correctly, mini-Ben since she is the absolute spit of her daddy) afterwards.

9. Cadbury Caramel Bunnies. Small, yet perfectly formed.

10. I am having trouble thinking of number 10 because I just remember that fricking Ofsted still have not been in and the whole school is wound tight as a very tightly wound spring that won the Most Tightly Wound ribbon at a tightly wound spring contest. At least I haven't lost my sense of humour....yet.

Weekend FO

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:10:00 +0000

And suddenly, all the YOs, fiddly SSPs and knitted joins were forgotten, as a small choir of seraphim seemed to descend on the sunbeams this afternoon to flutter around the scarf of wonder...

Pattern: Myrtle Leaf Shawl, from Victorian Lace Today
Needle: 3.75mm
Yarn: Malabrigo Laceweight, natural, just over a skein...maybe 1.2 skeins
Mods: I cut the number of pattern repeats by 2 because Jo wanted more of a scarf than a shawl.

I cast this on while I was in the US in the summer. I don't know why I thought a my first attempt at lace in a laceweight yarn would make the ideal project for travelling; it really didn't. It took me until the end of October to finish the body of it, by which point I knew the 12-row repeat well enough that I no longer needed the pattern; then it took about a month to pluck up the courage to start the border, I was convinced I would mess up the whole thing with that; then I lost my nerve again as I approached the corner and it was set aside again.

It would have gone a lot quicker, is what I'm saying, if I had had a little more confidence in my abilities!

The yarn is very delicate; it had started to fuzz a little at the cast on end by the time I finished, so one end wouldn't block out as far as the other, but it doesn't notice. In fact, blocking made it look far better. Blocking is truly a form of alchemy. I followed advice given to me on the Malabrigo Rav board, and soaked it for half an hour in luke warm water with Eucalan. Then I ran the blocking wires through the YOs between the border and scarf body, so that the edge stayed wavy. It was dry within 12 hours.

I would be sorry to give it away, were it not for the fact that (a) I got a gorgeous ladybird ring out of it and (b) I would RUIN it within a week.

Fave Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:39:00 +0000

It's the depths of winter now and my skin is always looking at its worst this time of year. I don't notice that the central heating dries it out too much but I do come out of my classroom at the end of the day feeling baked and it's difficult to get the temperature in my car just so, which means I spend much of the evening flushed and just a splash of water on my face makes it feel tight as a drum. Plus, no healthy sun glow, and even if I were the sort to use fake tan I can't, because it smells just like feet on me. So I have to work hard to do skin maintenance other way. Here is my amassed wisdom on the subject.

Five Favourite Tips for Dry Skin

1. Exfoliate over oil
I slather my face in Lush's Babyface (which is basically cocoa butter plus other stuff in small quantities) before exfoliating because otherwise I find scrubs a little harsh on my skin.

2. Use a facial oil AND a moisturiser before bed
I read in a magazine that Sienna Miller advocates this and I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, just how overloaded do you want your skin to be? But I hate to admit - she's right.

3. Drink tonnes of water
Boring, but so helpful. I really notice the difference when I'm not guzzling enough of the clear stuff.

4. Use cream and liquid make up formulations
They'll add extra moisture and they sink in, instead of skittering across the surface.

5. Moisturise all over
I am rubbish at this. I hate sitting around waiting for the cream to sink in. So I use King of Skin in the shower (this product is definitely misunderstood; you just have to make sure you wash it off before you get out of the shower) or I put some sort of oil in my bath. I am convinced that dry body skin makes my face feel drier. It's probably all in my head.

Have you got any good skincare tips?

Really, blessings should be counted

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:06:00 +0000

or - I don't think my problems count as a gnat bite on a rhino's arse compared to what is happening in Haiti and I should curtail my whinging fingers, or at least use them for typing something more interesting and helpful.

So, I didn't know much about Haiti. I knew it was poor and there was crime. I had heard the song Haitian Divorce by Steely Dan - my parents used to have it on their juke box when I was a kid. I had a fair idea they spoke French there. But I didn't know it was part of the same island as the Dominican Republic, and when I found that out, well, I had to do a little research and find out - why does one half of this island speak French, and the other Spanish?

Ah, murky colonialism, you are often lurking just below the surface of human tragedy, making it just that bit more awful.

I found an excellent, and brief, article detailing Haiti's past as the French colony of Saint-Domingue, the subsequent slave rebellion (incidentally Haiti is the only slaving colony which earned its freedom this way) and the heinous reparations wrung out of them over a period of more than 100 years. Naturally, that article is now buried somewhere way down a list of new articles which have appeared online in the past few days and I can't find it, but if you're interested in reading a little more of the history, I have found this article which, while more verbose, is still very good.

I didn't think I could feel any sorrier for the people of Haiti than I already did, but there it is. I have been sharing a convoluted version of this story with my classes this week, all of whom have been interested and actually quite coherent on the subject. We're having charity events next week to raise money for the relief effort....as long as Ofsted don't come in.

(An aside - The head upset our finance dept today by telling them the way they collated CRB checks was all wrong and if Ofsted come in on Monday we'll go into special measures just on the strength of that. They are all expecting to have to work all weekend to fix it, and looking very glum. He's over-exaggerating in his panic, I have no doubt. Ohgoodgriefjustlethtemcomesowecangetitoverwith!)

Hrmph

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:28:00 +0000

I am grumpy.

I finally had to fork over my taxes, after ages of putting it off and jumping every time Moira Stuart appeared in the airing cupboard on that advert.

I had my first line management meeting with my new line manager (the head) and...well, the less said about it the better. Let's just say, he is verbose.

I got the final invoice for the ski trip via email which they expect me to raise a cheque for by Friday. Er, no. And when I rang and said they'd got the numbers wrong, and we also might have one more drop out (kid's mum hasn't paid anything and isn't returning our calls, hmm hmm...) I was warned there might be a surcharge. WTF.

I can't shift myself to DO anything! I bunked circuits. I bunked the second session of bikram yoga (more on that shortly). I didn't even manage to update my blog yesterday. I am just like a slug, in permanent recline in front of the TV with the laptop, watching episodes of the Biggest Loser and marvelling about how much weight those people are losing. OF COURSE THEY ARE LOSING WEIGHT. THEIR BUMS ARE NOT ATTACHED TO THE SOFA.

I have a serious grump on this week.

On a positive note...the car windscreen has been replaced. Today, my horrible year 9 class fought to model the best trench out of things they had in their bags, in order to win a banana, a teabag and 2 Mr Bump plasters, which were pretty much the only things I could find in my bag to give away; so that was amusing. I went belly dancing with Parpy Jo tonight, which was fun.

And I went to bikram yoga with Amaryah on Sunday. It was hilarious. The guy who took my money said that, since it was my first class, my objective was to stay in the room. I barely managed it. For those not in the know, bikram yoga is practised in a room that is heated to 42 degrees C. I broke a sweat 5 minutes in. After 15 minutes, every time I stood up from a bending-over pose, a rivulet of sweat would cascade off my nose like the Angel Falls, until eventually my towel was wring-out-able. Oh, it was pleasant, I can tell you. The worst part was when I had to do any of the grabby-leg poses - I couldn't keep hold of myself. I was too slippery.

I did manage to stay in the room, though, and I felt pretty good afterwards and WOW did I sleep well that night. I just haven't been able to bring myself to go back yet. It's an expensive class but I paid the January special £10 for 10 days option - a total bargain considering the drop in class rate is £12. So I should try and go at least once more.

In knitting news, I am very close to finishing the border on Parpy Jo's scarf, but I have really hit a wall with it. I think it goes back to this general ma'laze (sic) I seem to have contracted this week, though.

Bring on the weekend. Even though Ofsted will surely be here next week.

Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:07:00 +0000

Ten Warm Things

1. Hot water bottles. I am now grateful that Mother Hand keeps them bringing them to my home and leaving them behind.
2. Duvets.
3. Thermal tops - especially this handy sport one I am currently wearing, on which I cut the neckline down so I can wear it under my summer dresses.
4. Central Part Hoodie, made from Debbie Bliss Maya. I promise, if I'm not at work tomorrow, that I will (think about) finally picking up for the button band on it.
5. Thrummed mittens. I have a desperate wish to thrum myself a catsuit right about now.
6. My classroom. I think myself and Ian (in the other half of the mobile) are the only people able to control our own thermostats.
7. Malaysia. It was warm there. I remember lying awake at night trying to decide which was the lesser evil - the heat or the air conditioner noise. Good times.
8. Curtains. They at least keep the heat in even if they are not independently warm. I must get some for the enormous French door at the back of the house.
9. The Mitten. Though, admittedly not at the moment - she has just been out in the snow. She looks like the snow now.
10. My fur lined duvet duck slippers, annoying though they may be (they are shedding feathers all over the house)

It is snowing again. Work tomorrow is looking unlikely, though this is not really a good thing because I think school will still be open, so cover will need to be set....and I have things to do, dagnabbit! But Mr Z snaked all over the road when he went out to fetch us dinner earlier and he saw a transit van do a nifty sideways curb mounting move, so I don't think driving seems like a good plan.

The worst part of it is, the snow is very wet, because it's rain coming from the Atlantic and hitting the cold front from the east. It's not fluffy snow like last week - so that means that, even though it's not officially as cold as it was last week, it's so mofoing DAMP. It's get-into-your-bones cold. Worse, in my opinion.

I am too depressed and cold to even knit. Though, at least I can catch up on some sleep tomorrow if I'm not going in.

Weekend FO

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:23:00 +0000

Pattern: Corseted Necklet from Knitting Daily - free staff pattern
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Worsted, about two thirds of a ball. I lovelovelove the richness of the colours.
Needle: 5mm
Mods: I put buttons on instead of a lacing. I didn't have any suitable ribbon - though some thin green velvet would work - and I fear it would be a bit fussy anyway. It is snug round my neck though; a lacing would make it looser, I guess.

I just finished this today, but the bulk of the knitting was done last night so I think it counts! I had a ball of Silk Garden left from my stripey cardi and thought this would use it all. Turns out it used about half of what I had, which meant I didn't even get to my favourite colours in the skein! Drat. I guess I will have to make another. It was superquick: 3 hours of knitting tops; and the cables are reversible. It was fiddly but interesting to knit, and it satisfied my itch for some instant gratification knitting. I have done well over half the border on the Victorian Lace Today Scarf but I needed to finish something quickly!

I am having a bit of a love-in with plastic buttons like this at the moment.

Fave Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Five Favourite Things About Snow Days (of which there have been three in the past week)

1. Sleeping in. Even if I have to get up to await the call from the deputy head telling me school is closed, I can do what I want to do every dark, cold and frosty morning and crawl back into my cosy bed and steal warmth from Mr Z and sleep until I wake up of my own accord. I feel very rested this week.

2. Getting extra work done. I don't have a great deal to do at home - truthfully I thought we'd only be out for one day. Consequently, Monday's lessons are the best planned lessons I will have taught in ages. I have actually made all the slides for them and everything; normally I'd make one and then do the rest on the fly while the kids were doing their starter.

3. Knitting time. Shedloads of it! I have added border around half of Parpy Jo's lace scarf now, and I fully intend to do at least half of the remaining long side this weekend. I have the pattern down pat now so I don't even need to look at the chart. It is so much easier than I thought it would be; I was such a wuss about starting it!

4. Birds. We put food out, because the mitten does not enjoy being outside in snow, so they can feed in our garden in relative safety. We have some blackbirds that have been coming for our crumbled digestive biscuits and dried fruit. We've been calling them all Dickory. I saw some blue tits on Wednesday which prompted me to put out the food, but they haven't been back....not while I've been watching, anyway.

5. Snow play!

Snow Henge!

I am trying to remain positive, because there are quite a lot of things I don't like. Firstly, until this morning (tis Saturday...I am late with the Fave Friday I know) I hadn't been further than 50 feet from my front door since Tuesday.

Secondly, we spent 2 hours helping the neighbour dig, rake and sweep the ice off the lane and drive yesterday so we could get our cars out - and then it snowed again, a bit. It should be OK though.

Thirdly, people driving like morons. My cracked windscreen was due to be replaced yesterday; Autoglass pushed my appointment to the end of the day because I was at home and not in the town where I work. Autoglass man rang me at 1.30 to say he was just leaving said town - 45 minute run, on a good day. At 3, he rang to say he was in stationary traffic but still hoped to get to me. At 5 he rang and said he was still 22 mins away but it was too dark to bother coming. School was open yesterday for 6th form and staff, but I'm so glad I decided not to drive in, or I'd either have been stuck in that traffic, or causing it.

Fourthly, people shopping as if for a siege. I have heard dark tales on Facebook; I have to go food shopping today. Do not want.

Finally, the Tories turning the gritting into a political issue, because the country has ground to a halt and consequently they can't find any other sticks to beat the government with. I hate election years, I'm so, so sick of this political bullshit already. In my book, he who whinges the loudest will never get his own way. And surely grit supplies and how it is spread is a local government issue anyway - and don't the Tories control the majority of local councils?

Le sigh.

Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:35:00 +0000

Ten New Year's Resolutions

1. Lose weight. 15lbs by the end of the year (let's start realistically)

2. Read a book every month.

3. Declutter the house. I have started well - I am doing 20 minutes a day. My bookcase no longer looks like it is about to collapse any second.

4. Finish a knitting project every month - at least one. The stripey cardigan counts!

5. Halve my credit card debt. I hate paying it off, but have started to put whatever I have left in my account at the end of the month towards it.

6. Make an effort with the garden on a regular basis. I hate that it looks so messy.

7. Not get sunburned. I have found half a dozen bottles of suncream which I must dot around everywhere I go - car, gym bag (snort), work desk....

8. Make inroads into stash. This is not just yarn; this also includes wax tarts, perfume and bath products. This goes hand in hand with....

9. Buy less. At least whilst decluttering. I really want to buy some of the Jimmy Beans ltd edn Lorna's Laces this month but I am not allowing myself to, because I cannot find a project to match it with. Though...damn, it would make a GREAT clapotis....

10. Take more photographs. Of everything. Then maybe I will get better at it!

Henry the wondrous car of miracles has a cracked windscreen. I am hoping it might heal before Autoglass can finally make it (Friday...5 days after I rang them!) and I might get my £75 excess back. The worst part of it is, we haven't even got any snow, so we don't even get tomorrow off work!

Weekend FO

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Pattern: Candy, by Jackie Wong, from Knitty
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Worsted, about a ball and a half, and Knitpicks Elegance, just over 8 balls.
Needle: 4.5mm
Mods: I messed about with this pattern a lot. I reworked it to fit my gauge, and then I added a proper button band because I had these amazing buttons from the bead shop by Jimmy Beans, and because I only had 5 buttons I knitted in a v neck. I am not SUPER happy with how it still has corners but I can fold them under and seam if it bothers me that much. I may need to do something with the cuffs too because they are all curly.

It's a really good fit and supersoft, I just wish it wasn't so cold so I could wear it! I cast on because I had a grey and white striped summer dress that I knew it would be perfect over, but it is brassic here at the moment and I'm wearing about 15 layers a day so this might have to wait a while.

I LOVE the buttons! The tail broke off one already because I managed to smack it onto the tiled floor at Knatterers on Saturday, but I can glue it back on.

I love the Noro colourway, too. I wound off the grassy green bit at the start of the first ball and that meant I ran out with about 3 stripes to go, so I rewound the second ball and started from the other end, which was blue instead of purple...Noro is weird. Same dyelot and everything. I especially like, though, the way the turquoise fazes into the purple.

I have been knitting this off and on since September, but it would have gone a lot quicker if
(a) I hadn't had to stop knitting it for Christmas stuff
(b) I had finished Parpy Jo's scarf first and didn't have teh guilt about knitting on anything but that
(c) I hadn't cast off with the neckline WAY to wide and had to unpick, rip back and pick up 200+ stitches. That took me a whole evening, along with picking up and knitting the button bands. I watched The Holiday, which SOUNDED like a great movie, though I didn't SEE very much of it.

The Knitpicks yarn colour has sadly been discontinued, but I have nearly 4 balls left and think I will combine them with the turquoise and minty green alpaca I bought at UK Rav day and knit some sort of colourwork tank top.

2009 Knitting Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:27:00 +0000

I managed 28 projects last year. It wasn't as good as the previous year, but then I did knit all those hats the previous year, so that sort of skewed the figures. I feel slightly guilty as well, because the cherry blossom bag was mostly knitted in 2008; but coming up is my first FO post of 2010 and I knitted almost the whole garment in 2009 so I suppose it balances out. The 28 break down as follows -

5 tops
5 hats
3 baby items
2 cardigans
3 pairs of handwarmers
2 bags
2 necklets
A shawl
A headband
A teacosy
An iphone sock
A practice Fairisle pouch
Some igneous rocks

An incredible 11 of these projects were gifts for other people, too. I am perhaps not the selfish knitter I claim to be. I fear I have added a LOT more to my stash than I have used, but I certainly have some good knitting ahead of me this year...

I should write about the final FOs of the year. Firstly, there were these -

Pattern: Cabled Beaded wristwarmers, a pattern by ME!
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, plum
Needle: 5.5mm (should have been 5mm really but I couldn't find them)
I knitted these for a secret Santa gift, intending to knit a second pair for Kath for Christmas and improve the pattern a bit, but in the end they weren't needed for secret Santa so she got the first pair. I was very pleased that I managed to remember this pattern, which I made up as a new knitter, and was able to improve it with a few little tweaks I wouldn't have known when I started. I am intending to write the pattern up and put it somewhere for downloading. One day.

Then this...

Pattern: Belted Hat by Meg Swansen, in the current issue of Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, worsted held double (black and white) and bulky (blue)
Needle: 6.5mm
This was a gift for my line manager at work, who has just left. She was a good line manager and friendly, but I am not sorry she has gone. She took things extremely personally. I don't know how a person can survive in teaching and take things so much to heart, but there you go.

Anyway, she asked me to knit her a Bath Rugby hat last year when I was doing the tutor group hats and I thought I had better get on with it when I realised her leaving date was coming up so quickly. Then the perfect pattern popped up. I messed up the crown a little, but not so you'd notice, and I fastened it with a BRFC pin instead of a button. When I gave it to her, she cried. Result.

Then this:

Pattern: Sideways Grande Cloche, from Boutique Knits
Yarn: Araucania Azapa, less than a whole skein
Needle: 5mm, 4.5mm, 4mm
Mods: I bound it off with the CO edge as a 3 needle bind off (of course...I am a bit obsessed with the 3NBO) and knitted the top in the round. I don't get why you wouldn't do this in the first place. I didn't even have to faff with provisional cast on because the mock cable covers the seam, which is in any case much neater for being 3NBO'd.

I also cast on less stitches than required, and I didn't go down 3 needle sizes through the course of the hat as written. I went down 2 needle sizes and was still way off gauge, and feeling time pressure because this was for Parpy Jo (she is the one pictured) for Christmas and I left it soooooo late to get started. I was only saved by the snowfall which pushed our Christmas celebration back a day. Anyway, I started with 36 stitches instead of 42. Then, I was closer to gauge than I thought so it was a little smaller than it was maybe intended to be, but a perfect fit nonetheless.

This is a fabulous book and I bought yarn today to cast on for the same hat for Ali, because it was so quick.

And finally this:

Pattern: Improvised. I used the moebius cast on video by Cat Bordhi from YouTube to put 108 stitches on the needle, and then knitted in a 2x2 rib, after trawling through moebius cowls on Ravelry
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay silk blend. Fast becoming a firm favourite with me.
Needle: 4mm
This was for Sib for Christmas. I like to call it a Bromoebius, because I am a loser.

2009 in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:00:00 +0000

January:
In spite of blogging about poor old January being a nothing month and saying I would not treat it as such, January was a bit of a nothing month. I did buy a new digital camera, but I was exhausted after spending my Christmas holiday writing audiobooks. I had my first painful gallstone episode.

February:
It was a month of extremes. I went from this -

to this -

We had the worst (or best) snow I can remember which led to a surprise 3 days off school, though I had to dig the ice off the street to get the car out and then the suspension went....whilst at the front of a queue of traffic. I watched some films, notably Kidulthood/Adulthood, and knitted wrist warmers and a summery hemp top.

Then I took the summery hemp top to Hurghada for a week with Mother Hand. It was windy, but sunny. I snorkelled and got sunburn, and we visited a Bedouin Village and went on camels.

I also had another couple of gallstone attacks, went to the GP and got referred for an ultrasound. And I bought a new mattress. It's fab.

March:
We had the murder mystery weekend for KS3 gifted and talented. We were pirates

and did some orienteering at Corsham Court, which was fun. It was a beautifully sunny weekend, and as such that is how I remember March being - beautiful and sunny.

My BFF Jen had a baby, Abi. Sib found a luscious houseshare in Shepherd's Bush.

April:
Easter holidays meant SKIING! In spite of a few teething troubles with the coach, it was a phenomenal week and I felt like I barely saw the kids (although I didn't sleep especially well). The food in the hotel was excellent, and it was bright sun all week (got a sunburnt scalp)

except for the last two days when it snowed and snowed.

Awesome. Discovered Scattergories.

Funny stories of the week came from one year 12, who skiied down the mountain on the sunny Thursday and kicked his skis in front of our deck chairs, spraying snow everywhere - except, they weren't oUR deckchairs and the people sitting in them were students from another college....and one of the girls was only wearing a vest top. Bwahahaha. Then the same year 12 and his friend, who left school right before the trip to join the army, were up very late one night and I heard them go into their room (opposite mine) with the year 13 girls. I gave it 10 minutes and then went and banged on the door. Cue shushing. Banged again. More shushing, and then one of the boys opens the door in his boxer shorts, in the dark, pretending to be all sleepy. Like, der....I'm not an idiot, or deaf.

Came home with a cold the sixth formers had been suffering with all week (undoubtedly my punishment for spoiling their fun), and so hunkered down at home for the second week of the holidays, trying to mark coursework. Worst bit of teaching.

Had another small gallstone attack at work but managed to stave it off with a brisk walk. I concluded I was allergic to lightly cooked leeks...and had an ultrasound.

May:
Got Ultrasound results. Gallstones, but my stupid GP told me I wasn't ill enough to be referred onto the hospital. She told me to lay off the fat, even though I told her that not following a low fat diet (ie, while on holiday) did not trigger it.

Went to visit my BFF and her baby. She was in a blind panic about the baby having had jabs and being off her milk, but the second day was calm and it was great to catch up.

June:
BUSY BUSY BUSY. I spent a day in London preparing the mark GCSEs, then rushed back to Bristol for the online standardisation of my team (first year as team leader) and then straight down to Brighton for my friend Beccy's wedding.

The wedding was beautiful. They are a really good match. She's working in Australia for 4 years so it was nice to see her again. I got sunburn, but not on my face because I had MAC foundation on.

I really should be more handy with the suncream....I am certain to end up with skin cancer.

Then my tutor group lovelies, who had belonged to me for 5 years, left school, and I was sad, and went to their ball,

(No ball pics yet, because they're at work and I don't want to wait that long to publish this entry! I wore the same outfit as for the wedding anyway, just with a huge, fresh lily in my hair)

but I wasn't feeling great. I thought it was stress because the year 9 gifted and talented conference I was organising was coming up (14 schools on a 3 days residential...) but then I stopped being able to eat and went back to the doctor who finally agreed to refer me for a gallstone discussion.

That was Thursday morning. On Friday afternoon, after driving home from work bawling in pain, pausing only to vom up the 2 segments of satsuma I'd tried to eat, I was admitted to hospital and put on morphine. On the last day on June, the first day of the conference I'd spent all year organising, I had a 3 and a half hour laparoscopic surgery to remove my pulsating gallbladder and the stone which had become lodged in my bile duct and made me turn yellow. Fun.

July:
First 2 days spent in hospital - this was the hottest week of the year. I was utterly miserable and barely slept, thanks to the heat, noise and ward lighting. When I came out I couldn't move much and stayed at home for a week and a half. Went back to work for a couple of days, and then went down with swine flu. Thoroughly bored by that point.

End of term came round very quickly, yey! We finished on a Friday and on the following Tuesday Mr Z and I flew to Vegas for our summer holidays. On the last day of July, we were driving to California at the start of our road trip.

We saw this huge and very cool windfarm just as we crossed the bottom of the Sierras into California.

August:
We spent the first 10 days camping around central California and visiting national parks.

Here we are on our way back to camp from Yosemite Valley. It was my 31st birthday - we were on the most godforsaken campsite east of Yosemite (ie, high in the Sierras) and it was too windy to have a fire for longer than was needed to cook dinner, so I drank some wine

and went to bed - and watched the tent being blown around all night, praying it would hold up. The next morning it snowed, and the wind snapped a tent pole while we were out for the day, so that was kind of a low point.

Then we moved on (after regrouping in a cheesy Carson City hotel casino) and hung out around Reno and Tahoe which I LOVED. Best campsite, too - we saw a bear. I did some more of this -

and finally got to visit Jimmy Beans Wool in Reno, who impressed me by being so very friendly. In fact, Reno in general was awesome. We spent a final few days at the Sugarloaf Motel in Virginia City which was really fun, before returning the Vegas for a few final holiday days. Father Hand and Frankie took us out to dinner at Texas de Brazil, which was an unparallelled dining experience.

After getting back, I went into work to see my tutor group get their exam results, and Caroline came back with me and we tried to go to the Banksy exhibition - my third attempt. The queue was many hours long. I never got to see it.

September:
Back to work. Much shopping was done; I am always in the mood to shop when it's the new term. We kicked off with the challenge days - blah. The second one was better than the first. I started studying for Geology GCSE on Fridays after school with a bunch of year 9s and rediscovered my inner geek (not that it had really ever been missing), especially with homework.

October:
More work. Really busy, as usual. Half term came around and I went to see Sib in his new Shepherd's Bush pad. I shopped at London haberdashers' and caught up with old friends, including Stu and Kerrie, and Zoe and Leila from school, and Trish who I used to work with on the chatlines. Cake was consumed. A polka dot doormat was purchased. The mitten has enjoyed sitting on it -

She likes to take her favourite catnip tea bag out to the mat, where she can get purchase on it whilst chewing any dregs of catnip flavour out of it.

One of my knitting projects was featured on the project pages of The Knitter, who featured the Get Knitted Knatterers as their group of the month. I got to write the blurb about the group, too. I was extremely excited! Mr Z took a picture for me, which became my new profile pic on Ravelry.

November:
The first two weeks were manically busy, as I prepared for Malaysia. We had an inset day at the start which I spent at another federation school, doing a good session on learning to learn and a pointless one on Merlin. I then spent two weeks trying to set up my cover - Ian says I set a new standard and was very impressed, thankfully.

Then, Malaysia.

Then back, and for a week I was destroyed. I was fine in the day but fit for naught by 7pm. This served to ensure the final weeks of term passed extremely quickly.

December:
And here we are. It has been a sociable month, full of knitting groups and ski trip buddies dinners and school Christmas party and catching up with the girlies. I had another weekend away at Braeside with key stage 4 AG&T. I have knitted three hats and started to feel bad about the number of WIPs I have on the go. I got Christmas cards from girls I took to Malaysia, which was sweet. A plan was hatched for an Iceland field trip in 2011 which I will get to go on, because I study Geology (knew that would pay off). It snowed again, but after we'd broken up from school so no time off was forthcoming, boo hiss.

And we saw in the new year with Ben and Kirsty, doing a 60s themed murder mystery. Much gin was consumed.

2009 was a great year, all things told. Here's to 2010!

Happy Boxing Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:39:00 +0000

Christmas is done with for another year. I always get a little bummed right afterwards because it's such a long time until it's Christmas again, and I'll have to take down the lights and everything; but it doesn't last long because I'm usually quite excited at the prospect of a new year. A whole new decade, this time, too! I can't believe 10 years has passed since the millenium. There have been loads of programs on about "the noughties"....well, one....I can't believe DVDs were invented this decade. They've surely been around forever!

Anyway. I make this every Christmas for Boxing Day breakfast, and can never find the recipe and have to trawl back through pages of thread on a forum I no longer participate in to get it every year, so I am posting it here once and for all. It's terribly indulgent and I only allow myself to make it at Christmas, but it's so good!

Blueberry Bread & Butter Pudding

1¼ cups milk
1 cup double cream
4 eggs
½ cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
6 croissants
1 cup blueberries

Beat together all the ingredients apart from the croissants and blueberries. Layer the croissants in the crockpot. Six or eight is right for my size of crockpot. Sprinkle over the blueberries, I usually tuck some between the croissants too. Pour over the liquid. Leave for a while until the custard has soaked in a bit. I leave mine overnight with a timer plug. Bake for around 4 hours on low until all puffy and delicious.

I hope you all had a lovely festive season, readers. My next post will be number 200 on this blog! I think I got to number 100 in April or May and said then I hoped it wouldn't take me as long to get to 200. It has not. I think it's safe to say I am well back on the blogging track.

Domestic Goddess Day

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:09:00 +0000

I have decided I love Sundays in the holidays. I have spent today doing all dom.god. things and haven't felt bad about not doing any school work at all.

Here's what I've been doing -

Bad phone camera picture, sorry.

The Mango Chutney is from a recipe in Delia Smith's Winter Collection. I love Delia. She has had a huge impact on my cooking over the years. For example, I eschew ready chopped mixed peel in a tub in favour of whole candied peel I cut myself. She rocks, and I blame Nigella entirely for her demise. Anyway, this mango chutney is the bomb. It's way better than what one buys in the shops. I am just gutted I have to wait 8 weeks for it to mature.

The lemon curd is from this recipe. I am typing it out because I have a fear of the link going dead -

4 lemons, zest and juice
1lb caster sugar
4oz butter
6 eggs

Beat the eggs and add all the other ingredients (I add the finely grated zest instead of putting in strips of peel and fishing them out later - it ends up with a slightly mealy texture, but I like it like that). Put in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. The sugar and butter will melt, and eventually the lemon curd will thicken up nicely and then you put it in a big sterilised jar. The one I used is a 2lb jar.

Then I made peanut butter cookies to this recipe -

8oz butter
1 and a half cups dark brown sugar (I subbed this for the light brown in the recipe as it was all I had)
1 and a half cups peanut butter
1 egg
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips - but I used some PB M&Ms I brought home from the US in the summer

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla and PB, then add the flour and baking powder to make a dough. Add the chocolate chips and chill for an hour. Roll the dough into small balls and put on a greased baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees C for 16-18 mins.

Finally, I made some experimental Christmas cupcakes. They are a clementine version of lemon drizzle, filled with a cardamom-infused ganache. I am not overjoyed because I think the cake batter needs a bit more citrus kick - I wish I had some orange oil or something - and the chocolate seized a bit when I poured the cream over it for the ganache so it's not perfect. But not bad for a first try.

I found out today that Father Hand has a cancerous tumour on his kidney. He's having surgery on January 18th. I am less concerned than I probably should be, but the prognosis is good.

Fave Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:55:00 +0000

5 Favourite Things About Me

1. I don't get hangovers. It was the work Christmas do last night. I drank a vast quantity. By all rights I should still be suffering, but I am just tired. I slept all afternoon. That was it, though.

2. I have an excellent memory. Not short term - I regularly forget what I'm saying halfway through a sentence. But the rest of my memory is great. I think it might be because I have kept diaries (or this blog) from the age of 12. Writing things down helps me remember them.

3. I have great hair. I do. I always have. It's long and in good condition, and it does what I want it to do. Plus, only one grey so far and I think I will be lucky and it will keep its colour late, like Mother Hand and her mum.

4. I'm flexible. I think it's because I did so many dance classes as a kid (this also helps me to pick up dance steps quite quickly...). It's not really useful, but I get the feeling that if I practised often, it wouldn't be long before I could do the splits again.

5. I'm a quick study. I pick things up quickly...except maths.

Tuesday Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:37:00 +0000

No, I'm not dead. I had the annual KS4 weekend away this weekend past which was amazingly fun and very low maintenance but required me to be absent from my home for a few days, and last week I was out every night, so blogging time has been in short supply. Blogger is on the work blocklist and I could access it through the unfiltered proxy but I have a sneaking suspicion that is more closely monitored and anyway I'd have to use IE. BLERGH.

But anyway.

So, I found out that I stole Tuesday Ten from another blog I read but that it is actually a big blog thing thing and there is a weekly Ten on Tuesday topic posted over here. So, I have stalked the blog for the past few days waiting for the topic and slightly relieved I didn't have to think up my own topic; only, it has not been updated. BOO.

Ten Things That Made Me Happy/Laugh This Week

1. Sweet, sweet karma.
My year 13s told me off about laughing at this but I couldn't stop, in spite of the fact somebody got really ill and that's in no way funny. I don't know if humans are responsible for climate change, but climate change IS happening and the fact that this guy went to a climate change conference, said it was rubbish and then had a heart attack....well. I found it funny.

2. This new pattern on Knitty.
I had a little fake moustache pattern that you put on your finger in my queue for a while, but I like this better. Funny!

3. This article on TreeHugger
(TreeHugger has had a lot of reading from me so far this week)
It's making me want to plan a whole new camping trip to the US, although I can't make it a reality until 2012, thanks to other holiday plans.

4. Getting a Christmas card from Australia. It was from my friend Beccy and her new husband Ian. I couldn't figure it out.

5. Fixed chair. My armchair has had broken springs for as long as I can remember and required me to sit on 2 cushions and 2 blankets and it was STILL low. Then Mr Z fixed a computer for an upholsterer. Today my chair returned, good as new.

6. New pattern. I knitted cabled beaded wrist warmers, based on a pattern I made up as a new knitter, and they turned out lovely. I am going to write the pattern up and put it on here. I might even get to keep them, because I made them as a secret Santa gift for somebody at work who had opted out of secret Santa.
They were my weekend FO for this week but I haven't had time to make a post. Maybe tomorrow?

7. It's almost the end of term. And Ofsted didn't come in. But the governors did, to ask us how we thought school was going. That was a long meeting. I got a lot off my chest. Very cathartic.

8. Baths. Lush. Especially at this time of year.

9. Seeing friends. We had a ski trip staff meal last Wednesday and I had Ali and Parpy Jo over on Sunday for Chinese and X Factor. It really makes me more relaxed for the rest of the week.

10. Scrabble games that aren't Scrabble. I learnt speed Scrabble and anagrams at the weekend, which are both played with Scrabble tiles but no board. I killed at both of them. I am a Scrabblemeister. I wish that was cool....

Proud owner

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:16:00 +0000

I said it would be mine! And, in fact, it panned out pretty much as I said it would on Friday...

1-3-5

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:55:00 +0000

1 Thing I am knitting which I said I never would

SOCKS.
I was seduced by the sparkly, seasonal sock yarn in GK at the weekend and had to buy it. I was the first person there who wanted the red, and there was only one ball left, so I got it. I have had to cast it on already because it didn't seem fair to take the last ball of red and then not knit socks with it.

And besides, as you see, it is yarn made to be socks. (It's not mouldy, btw, that's just a leftover whisp of Jade Sapphire cashmere which was in the project bag).

I am doing the simple ribbed sock pattern which is NOT toe-up, despite my (extremely arrogant, considering I have never previously knitted socks) insistence on this being the best method. I just wanted to get going and this was a simple pattern, freely available. It does remind me a little of my old ribbed grey school socks, but wth - it's retro.

3 things I need to finish knitting by Christmas

1. Sam's hat. Assistant head at school asked for a hat in her rugby team's colours last year. She's leaving at the end of term. It is now an urgent concern.

2. Secret Santa gift for work. I am knitting some beaded wrist warmers, based on a pattern I made up when I started knitting. I knitted the original out of Debbie Bliss navy cotton angora which (a) didn't show up the cabling at all and (b) had no stretch to it, which is why I am talking about the original in the singular, since I never made the second one. I never wrote down any instructions, either. But I'm using plum coloured Kid Classic by Rowan and silver beads, and have enough sense now to be knitting the beaded stitches TBL on the next row, which saves a lot of shuffling beads about.

3. Parpy Jo's scarf. I finally got over myself and started adding the knitted on border at knitting group on Saturday, and it's really not as scary as I suspected it would be, although I did have to buy some sharper DPNs. I don't know why, since I could hav just used any old needle - it dosn't need DPNs. But oh well.
Parpy Jo has returned from her Russian holiday afianced (hurrah!), and I am seeing her next Sunday, so this one is the most pressing of them all.

5 things I want to bake over the holiday period

1. Delia's mincemeat nut strudel. YUM.

2. Something with chestnuts and chocolate. Chocolate chestnut cheesecake, probably. Or chocolate chestnut trifle.

3. St Clement's roulade. I can't even remember where the recipe for this comes from, which may prove to be an issue. It is some sort of citrus sponge, filled with lemon curd, passion fruit and cream. It is very tasty.

4. Blueberry bread and butter pudding in the slow cooker. Made with double cream and croissants. This is so deacadent and calorie crammed that I really can't justify making it any other time. I looked forward to it all year. It's best made overnight ready for Boxing Day.

5. Christmassy cupcakes. I would like to do some experimenting and come up with a really Christmassy blend. I am thinking, lots of spices, a cranberry filling, and an icing flavoured with Liquid Christmas spirit (the name of which escapes me now...it's Czech, and in a blue bottle with a yellow label).

Christmas wishlist

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:31:00 +0000

The time has come for unashamed materialism. Here is my list for Santa. I have been relatively good this year.

(with apologies to Amazon, because I appear to have pinched quite a lot of links from their website).

Notebooks with cherry-print covers - I have been googling, but can't find anything. I have found a lot of cherry blossom print...not quite the same, though.

Wrap Style, by Pam Allen. I've become somewhat obsessed with the Shetland Triangle, but I can't allow myself to buy any more pattern books until I knit something out of the last two I bought.

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. And Superfreakonomics, which is along the same lines....I loved the first Freakonomics.

Silicone bakeware. Especially a bundt "tin". This makes baking so, so easy - no greasing, no lining, no need for loose bottomed tins, easier to store....

Scrabble. I will probably end up buying this for myself though, because I want it for the AG&T weekend in the middle of December. My sixth formers have strongly suggested I trawl the local charity shops before buying a new one, so I think this will be my weekend task.

Some more Jade Sapphire 6-ply cashmere. Having knitted the Tudora in this, I now want something for myself.

Fancy make up brushes from MAC - especially a concealer brush.

The box set of Big Love season 3, which seems like it's never going to air over here, not even on channel 5. Though a cursory google suggests it's not out to buy yet.

An Oliver Bonas jewellery stand. And, in fact, quite a lot of their jewellery to put on it.

A new lava bulb for my lava lamp.

A red and white polka dot stair runner. Mr Z has suggested it and now I can't stop thinking about it.

This lovely, but expensive, garnet brooch. It is vintage, two crescent moons side by side. I have been looking at it for a while now, but it seems a little silly to shell out that much dosh for it, because I am not terribly good at remembering to put brooches on.

That's all I can think of for now. I think that is probably enough...