one good apple

I am officially on holiday for a week - hurrah!  Had the most incredibly strrrrressful day at school yesterday and practically ran out the door at the end of it giving thanks to the half term gods and wondering how the hell I’m going to last until Christmas…  I spent last night photgraphing my yarn stash and uploading them all onto Ravelry along with my needles and hooks.  I’d forgotten how much yarn I actually have, most of it 4 ply that was given to my mum by a friend who used to own a wool shop.  Other than socks I’m at a loss of what to do with it - answers on a postcard anyone?!

I am also in a mild state of Christmas panic at the moment after seeing how far along my secret pal is with her Christmas knitting.  She is roaring along like a steam train whereas I am plodding, and dragging my heels doing it at that.  I think my problem is that I like making things for menot other people, it goes back to being a spoilt brat before my sister was born I think, Larkin was right about your parents *^_^*

I have been thinking about what to make for the younger member of the family though and have been whipping up some little cupcakes to possibly go to my niece.  She likes sorting things into piles and naming things so a huge pile of these should keep her happy for at least twenty minutes on Christmas day!

I’ve also been looking at Sheldon from Knitty for the baby - her mum likes handmade stuff which is quite lucky!  I pink one, I think…

I’m off to Prague with my mum this week too - a trip we were meant to take in the summer but my step dad got ill the day we were due to fly so it was postponed until now.  I can’t wait, I haven’t been on holiday with my mum since I was a horrible teen and I don’t see much of her now I’ve moved away so it’ll be good to catch up and get spoilt!

The beer festival in Manchester was very weird - only one tent - and a bit of an anti-climax.  Luckily one of my friends went to uni in Manchester so she knew all the places to go.  We ended up in an underground bar that used to be a public toilet listening to Neil Young and drinking far too much ale.  I stumbled back home, passed out and had a VERY sore head in the morning.  Going to a 40th birthday party tonight and have decided that I will be matronly and sensible, especially as I may have to cope with Sunday dinner cooked by the boy’s mother tomorrow, a meal that is not for the faint-hearted…!

Another lazy Sunday, making the most of the reasonable weather while we still have it. We spent the morning in a local flea market, parting with our hard earned cash in small doses. We took John’s nephew Dan along who is great fun, mainly because he isn’t yet at that awkward teenage boy stage and will do pretty much anything you want him to for a giggle. A case in point…

I also rooted out a throw that I’ve been working on - the edging in blue is all that needs finishing but I was desperate to see what it would look like all together so I sewed the edging that i have finished onto the main pink part of the throw in order to make it look like this,

And my socks using the yarn from my secret pal, it feels gorgeous, can’t wait to wear them… 

Here’s the quilt I was talking about earlier in all its clashing glory,

I think I’m going to try and find a single duvet in Asda and sew it into the cover in order to use it as a counterpane or some such thing.  In fact I’ve been buying so much knitting, crochet and sewing supplies that we ended up taking a trip out to Ikea a few weeks ago and buying shelves to store everything!

Other exciting news is that I’m now on ravelry - my username in emilylikesto - feel free to add me and look at the stuff I’ve got on there so far!

I am exhausted!  This week has been a hectic one at school, getting ready for the end of term.  There’s nothing worse than someone saying to you, ‘Oh you must be winding down now are you?’ whan you have a stack of rubbish in your stock room that you know you have to sort.  End of term also means people leaving.  One of the girls leaving shares my love of knitting so I made her this leaving card,

I just charted a really simple pattern and used oddments of 4-ply on 2.75mm knitting needles.  Then I sewed the finished piece onto a card, glued an insert in to cover the yarn on the back and voila!  I’ll post the chart when I’ve had a chance to write it up on the computer.

My granny squares are going well - they’re actually quite addictive once you get going aren’t they?  It’s really nice to be able to work with cotton yarn too as I don’t do this very often…

Still got a long way to go until it’s big enough though….

We’ve had Activity Week at school this week so I’ve done everything from visit the zoo to beadwork.  The best bit was spending two days with the kids making children’s pop up books and reading them to nursery school kids.  Managed to sneakily make one of my own called The Dastardly Deeds of Donald O’Dowd about all the trouble my house rabbit gets up to

Unfortunately, I think the book might have given him some ideas as the little rat angel decided to redecorate the bedroom this morning.  Wallpaper all over the floor, my landlord will be pleased!

I’ve also picked up crochet hooks for the first time this week.  Made this doll from a pattern at http://stitch.hellooperator.net/free-patterns/amigurumi-doll/ and was very happy about how easy it was to make //(’;')\\  The hardest part was the hair, that I was still threading in at 2am on Thursday night.  Not very rock and roll!

I also got my new camera this week (hence the lovely photos…!) and made a cute little carry case to go with it.  Not the best fit in the world as I cobbled the pattern together myself but I’m hoping that the fact it looks so sweet means I’ll be nice and gentle with it!

In other news, I’m off to Berlin in two weeks time!  Got a warning phonecall from my sister yesterday which began, ‘You’re not staying in a hostel are you?’  to which I replied in the affirmative.  ‘Have you not seen Hostel?’ she asked in a slightly panicked voice.  Spent some time explaining it was a made up film rather than a documentary which seemed to reassure her although now I’m worrying…!

My local wool shop has got a sale on at the moment where I got some gorgeous Debbie Bliss Cotton DK for half price.  This is the only time I can afford it and I am unfeasibly happy about yarn right now!  I’ve started making some granny squares that I’ll turn into an afghan for when we go camping in Cornwall at the end of August.  With the weather the way it is at the moment, we’re going to need it…