So Sorry Allison

I went and credited Barbara with my lovely Secret Santa pressies when it was you Allison - I am so sorry but the comments still apply. Thank you so very, very much. You brightened up my little world of slowly increasing depression before the move.

New home, Secret Santa and Snow

Hasn't it been exciting? For the first time in yonks we in the very South East corner of the country have finally had heavy snow !!! I have to say here that when everybody else in the country was moaning about how wet it was in the summer, we had a lovely sunny summer for most of the time. We tend to have totally different weather to everybody else and that's just our little bit. For instance, when the snow started for most of the country in December we didn't get any. When people were sending in photos of huge drifts and snowbound cars to the TV stations, we had a dribble of snow on the hills. But now we've got snow everywhere - and the college Ivan works for has shut and Amber's school has shut ..... but poor Alex's school doggedly stays open and the Council I work for insists that everybody must make every effort to go to work as the work we do affects the lives of the public :( So no duvet days for me unless it snows so hard there's no way of getting the car out or the buses stop running.

We are fairly settled into our new home now. Still the odd box to unpack and various items have gone missing - but I've got my craft cupboard under the stairs sorted now so that I can easily access all my yarn so that's me sorted :)

Still got to get my Wii unpacked and set up. I'll probably wait until the horrible duo are in bed tonight.

And my Secret Santa - thank you Barbara so very, very much. The hat and gloves have been totally invaluable in this awful weather and I so can't wait to use the other goodies in the box.



These stitch markers are beautiful and will come in very useful when I start sock knitting as that's one of my unofficial resolutions for 2010. To knit myself some scrummy yummy socks.



I've had a go at beadwork previously, but never making jewelry. I've made a beaded needle pot and a beaded swan hanging thingie, but never a necklace, So I'm really looking forward to making this and whenever I wear it I'll always remember where it came from. Things like this are so much more special, I think. Whenever I look at my dragons (I collect dragons) I can remember where each one came from if they were bought for special occasions. Especially the ones that were given as presents or bought on holiday. Visual reminders of great times.



A yummy chocolate reindeer and from Hotel Chocolat as well - the handmade chocolate tasting box company - I'm in heaven. I've had their tasting boxes in the past and they are sooooo wonderful. I'm saving this for a warm evening in front of a great film with the kids firmly fast asleep.










The fingerless gloves that have already seen a great deal of use. Can't find the hat at the moment - it's in one of the boxes left to be unpacked. I shall have to do a hat hunt later so I can wear it to work tomorrow. I especially love the twisted stitch detail that runs up the glove and around the thumb - looks very elegant.












Nude Ewe 100% wool double knit and it's so totally gorgeous and huggable. Not sure what I'm going to make with this yet but I can tell you it's going to be something luxurious for me as I know I will appreciate and look after it. That's the only problem with knitting things for others I think, is how well they will care for it. I made the scarf for Sarah because I know she will care for it properly. But to be honest, when I'm knitting for the kids or family I do tend to use the cheaper yarns that won't break my heart too much when they end up covered in mud or oil (brother has his own garage)











Oh my gosh this Fybrespates yarn is just so wonderful and the pattern to go with it, the dropped stitch shawl - I am definitely going to be casting this on very shortly now that I've found my knitting needles. I just love the colour and the pattern.

Barbara, I can't thank you enough for all of this. It's as if you've looked into my mind and found everything that makes me tick and brought it to life. I feel myself so lucky to have found such wonderful new friends - I've quite forgiven HipKnits as their awful customer care has led to this. I still won't be buying anything off them though :)

Anyway, I've also joined Debbie Abrahams secret blanket club and I've received the first parcel and cast on the first square. She gives alternatives for some of the squares but I am determined to knit the originals all the way through. I'll post them on my blog as I finish them and when I remember !! :)

Anyway Happy New Year to all of you - thankyou for being such brilliant friends and bloggers and here's to a blogging 2010. Let's keep it going :)

The box is back where it started ....

There is one thing missing from the picture - the enthralling knit lit The Friday Night Knitting Club. I'm definitely going to have to order the first one from the library as I couldn't put it down, and to be honest it's not my usual type of book.

It was so exciting getting the box, and the incredibly varied goodies in it - you are a supremely talented lot of ladies and I'm honoured to talk to you all via our blogs.

Sarah - thank you so much for the stitch marker rings - they are definitely going to be used shortly as I have purchased via a complicated procedure involving getting a friend in America to accept the kit and then mail it to me, the East Meets West handbag kit - look at it on Ravelry. The most complicated Intarsia and stranded colour work bag I have ever seen. I have a huge plastic bag of oodles of balls of wool from the kit in my living room and the instructions are presented in a little book !!!! The kit is sold by Knit Picks who only mail to the US and Canada, hence the convoluted purchase process.

I'm currently Christmas knitting - Secret Santas, an Aran for my brother, a pair of nordic style mittens for my sister (where the heck have those gone?) There's a shawl still slowly growing in the corner somewhere - put aside in favour of quicker projects, and a baby blanket for which I'm knitting up the squares in odd moments in the hope that I'll get enough of them made to put the blanket together before my colleague leaves work. There's also a crocheted bag and a knitted and felted bag waiting to be lined. When I can excavate the sewing machine from under the yarn drift.

Busy busy busy - I've just got to load Alex's first school photos onto my computer and get some prints sorted, order Amber's last school photos, make a coffee (actually that had better be first) wash all the school kits and work kits come to think of it - knit a few more rows of whatever leaps into my hands first .............

And things are only going to get more hectic :) I love it.

TTFN

Thank goodness I'm going back to work tomorrow.

Having just had one week off with Flu that drained every last iota of energy from me, and then Monday and Tuesday of Half Term off with Alex, as the Holiday Club refused to take him because he can't be trusted on trips out, I am really, really ready to go back to work.

Today I spent 2.5 hours at Kidz Planet in Cheriton which is a massive indoor soft play area on several levels. Alex ran around it with a friend he met there and I sat drinking coffee and tea and knitting the welt on the front of the Aran Jumper I'm making for my brother. And yet it's 6.40pm, Alex is still full of energy and I feel like he's been using my energy, not his !!! That would explain a lot of things come to think of it.

Now Daddy has him for the remaining three days and Amber will be back from her trip to my sister in Bristol with her Grandma, tomorrow evening - which means that he gets an extra babysitter which is not fair - I had to do it all on my own :)

One thing I was struck by at Kidz Planet - the huge number of pregnant women - boy are we in for a baby boom.

Where has the time gone?

I've suddenly realised how close it is to Christmas and I'm only on the first of the many knits I had planned for it.

Having had a nasty dose of Flu, which I'm just beginning to recover from, has put a spanner in the works somewhat although I have been able to devote a wee bit more time to knitting. No effort needed - housework is very tiring don't you know?

Looking out of my window I'm suddenly struck by how lucky I am to be living where I do. It's raining hard and the garden's a mess but beyond that I can see the lovely colours of Autumn painted onto the landscape by the many different trees. Some still defiantly green others shyly yellowing and the big bold here I am red and orange. There's a tree so full of red berries that the branches are drooping under the weight of them. And even the couple of trees that died last year still have their place in the picture I can see - standing out in stark contrast to the leafiness of the living trees.

Here, so close to the Romney Marshes, there are also so many birds. I have had at least two broods of sparrows in my nesting box next to the bedroom window this year. We've been woken so many times during the summer by the cheeping of hungry babies.

We often get a blackbird couple checking out the garden. I've seen Thrushes and Robins, Sparrows in abundance, and Great Tits bobbing around on the remains of the Sunflowers. We've had the ubiquitous Magpies with their raucous calls, unfortunately trying to get the Sparrow babies out of the box, but luckily the neighbour saw them and scared them off. We get frequent visits from collared doves who decimate the brassicas and sit on the fence in the pouring rain looking like feather dusters. They're not the brightest birds to be honest but I love watching them hopscotching in the garden. Next door has white doves and although they look so very graceful in reality they're as thick as two short planks and fly like the aforementioned planks as well.

Now I'm supposed to be doing something, but it's completely slipped my mind now. Oh well if it's important it will occur to me again sometime, probably when it's too late.

First week over .............

I don't know what I was worrying about - as you pointed out to me - he was fine at school - loved it - behaved impeccably - thank goodness.

Next week he's on afternoons and after school club and then he goes full time.

My clever 15 year old did her English GCSE a year early and got a B for Language and an A for Literature. It's given her self-confidence and enormous boost. I want to buy her something as a little prize for doing so well but can't think what to get her. The only thing that springs to mind at the moment is some kind of charm bracelet, then everytime she passes an exam I can get her another charm. The in thing at the moment is those Pandora bracelets - might get her one of those.

I'm having a moral crisis at the moment.

My lovely son, Alex, starts school tomorrow for the first time. Not that he's not used to being with other children all day as we both work full time, so he has been going to nursery five days a week. So why do I feel like I'm failing him?

We've arranged for him to attend the breakfast club at the school, a really good one with a wonderful person in charge. Then I'll be picking him up at lunchtime and taking him back to his old nursery for the afternoon. For the first two weeks he is only doing half days at school.

For the second week he'll be at nursery in the morning and school plus after school club (with the same nice person) in the afternoon.

He's already had a taster session at the school and knows his teacher's name and can't wait for Monday so that he can go.

Recently he's been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome which explains a lot of his behavioural issues. Maybe, that's why I'm feeling so guilty !!! I'm actually having bad dreams now about leaving him somewhere, going back for him and not being able to find him. How bad is that?

Still I suppose once he's got his first two weeks out of the way we will be able to settle into a routine. There's nothing wrong with his intelligence, in fact he is extremely intelligent and I think he will thrive at school. It's his behaviour that can be an issue as his Asperger's means that he doesn't interact well socially. He has loads of friends and knows everybody, but all games and interaction have to be on his terms. So I can see some conflicts coming up at school !!! Luckily the school are aware of his problems so I'm hoping they will have some strategies in place for dealing with it.

Oh God, I'm waffling on here. Can you tell I'm nervous? Alex isn't, bless him. He thinks it is all a wonderful adventure - maybe I'd better go with that.

I think I need a new knitting challenge - to add to the several I already have - to distract me. I've signed up for Debbie Abrahams mystery blanket club which she will be signing on for in October and starts in January 2010.

Wish me luck.