Much Better

Well house is now cleaner, I am much calmer. And have had a 'chat' with the man, so hopefully will need to rant less (but not holding my breath). Am going back to Ally Pally with Ling tomorrow to see if there are any bargains or anything that I just NEED. I'm thinking some Cascade 220 as there are like a bunch of stuff I'm interested in felting. The kittens need cat beds, for instance. Also neeed (well want, but y'all know what I mean) to see if I can find any bargains so I can start my rug. I need 30-40 strands and well I don't want to kill off ALL of my project wool at once.

I've learned my lesson and will wear trainers and a backpack;)

Stay tuned for piccies of my spoils...

ALLY PALLY!!!

Whew. What a day. First time it seems in ages everyone had a day out and not all together! I went on my own to the knitting and stitching show, and the kiddies went to the zoo with Tamsin.

Ally Pally was great. Bought lots of sock wool. Yum. Also bought huge needles to make myself a rug or two (or three). More about this later.

Then I have to walk home - we live on a 'hill' which is really city speak for ohmygod-its-a-small-mountain, and having joyfully taken the train which was a nice ride home, I had to walk about a mile. Up'hill'. Bad thing about today was that when everyone left this morning the house was a wreck (not lying, either, it was a pigsty). I hate coming home to a mess. And... its still a pigsty.

Pet peeve of the day no.12098: Why do men never call? Dh (which today no longer stands for dear husband... subsitute dumbass or some other mean term of your own) was on an overnight last night. Which is fine. But didn't leave where he was, didn't take a phone charger, and showed up at home at 830pm. And has the nerve to say he's tired (oh, my back is killing me, he whined) after a grueling day of 'team building' which was nothing more than an excuse to have a team conference and spend the later part of the day playing football (oh, i have soooo many bruises) and then driving home (I got stuck in traffic, and my phone is dead. I tried using my blackberry to call but you didn't pick up. -because I was feeding and bathing our children, moron- what was I supposed to do?). Whoop de f*()ing do. Any other normal not thoughtless person would have either called EARLIER IN THE DAY, taken their charger, or sent and email with the blackberry they tried calling from - any of these, to tell me not to expect him until late. But not dh.

And then has the nerve to get angry when I say he needs to change the cat litter, feed the cats and listen/take care of the kids for the night. Since, you know, he hasn't done ANYTHING for anyone else other than himself in over 48 hours. Must be nice. And all of this because why? Because he couldn't find any way of communicating with his family since 11am yesterday morning. I get TIRED of being the ONLY caregiver for two small children and two kittens. (yes I know I have Tamsin during the day, but I'm talking about being the Ultimate responsibility here) I ask all you mothers out there: when was the last time you were able to go incommunicado for over 24 hrs when your children were/(or if they are) under 3? When do we get to flake and forget our chargers and not call - and expect everything to not fall to pieces? And I say to all you men: Must be Nice.

okay, rant over, really. And to anyone wanting to poke holes in my arguments, including my slightly more sane self, just leave it. I know my arguments are completely crap. But so is dh.

time to drool over my new purchases...

PICTURES!!!

Ahhh here we are at last. Found our card reader. Images galore! So here we have he two boleros I made for my cousin and his wife who have just had twins. They also live in Southern California where it's not usually hot, so these were (hopefully) perfect!

Baby boleros from One Skein Wonder. Both in Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. Two different shades, one Sand, can't remember the other one. On 5mm needles. Started mid-August, mailed mid-September (wow, a personal record!) I learned how top knit slightly different (long story) between the two sweaters and so my gauge was off for the second (boy's) bolero. Hence the pale blue border - I RAN OUT of yarn! I mean used the last bit and just had enough to tie on the new yarn. Thankfully the blue is also blue sky cotton (dyed, obviously) from a Jamie's vest project. I think it adds a nice touch. I was assured I didn't need to run out and so the same for the girl's sweater so I just sent it. Hope they like em!

Next up is the back from my Mondo Cable Shell by chicknits. It's with my favorite cashmere cotton from Posh Yarns. This yarn is so lovely, I really like it. The variation in the color is purple with pink or blue. So lovely (clicking on the picture might or might not enlarge, so try it!) The knitting story about this one (related to why the bolero gauge was off) is that whilst on holiday, I sat down with Tamsin who wanted to know why my knitting looked so different to hers. Long story short it's because I taught myself to knit and so all of my knitting for the last 10 years has been twisted. You can see this in a closeup of any project - my stitches take on an odd v look to them instead of the nice u that they're supposed to be. So after learning the slightly better way to throw the yarn on a knit stitch (where I was differing), I was going to switch to my new method when I came home from holiday and continued the back of my sweater. Well, Ling kindly pointed out how odd it would look to switch stitches mid-garment, so I finished the back in my old method. How laborious! But she was right, it looks better that way. I did switch stitches on the booga bag I'm knitting - it's soooooooo obvious. Thank god I'm felting it (the booga, not the cable shell).

Not too much else exciting to tell. News, obviously, but this post is about knitting knitting so if I get loads of free time -yeah right- then I'll post more about everything else!

later:)