At last!

Yippeee! A strange experience of late in the Blethers household ... Ladies and gentlemen, I present a finished item!! My latest strategy for my recent finishing inertia is to tackle small items only. This is Isis from Colinette's Artifacts book - knitted in Prism, Autumn Leaves colourway. Prism is a pleasure to work with and comes is such a fantastic array of colours. Voila! A hat to face this chilly, blustery weather in less than 4 hours. Modelled here by an extremely embarrassed, and somewhat peaky looking (awwwww, bless her!) DD1. Just look at the non-verbal body pose here (arms crossed and grimace). It's just as well she loves her mum! (Had initially planned this one for me. However, steroids and my resultant wee moon-face left me looking like a plump boiled egg ... NOT a good look!)

Sneaking in the carrier bags ...

Shooosh .... Don't tell Mr B ... I've been in therapy again. Retail therapy that is!! Just wanted to share these with you. The first is a waistcoat I have bought from my mum's Christmas present (eBay: Seller Josie2808). I can't tell you how impressed I am with Josie's work. There are about 21 different yarns used of varying textures and weights. The finishing off is beautifully done too. I can but dream that one day I'll be able to produce something of similar complexity and competence. It's a little more lemon/peach than the picture suggests ... but its exactly the colours my mum chooses and I plan to add a set of those Icelandic/Celtic pewter fastenings just to finish it off. My other wee buy made me smile; these quirky stitchmarkers were made by donnac1968. I love them!

On the knitting front, still no finish off's from the queen of avoidance! However, I have cast on yet another project - a tank top in Twilleys Freedom Spirit for DD1. She opted for the Force colourway and, so far, I've found it lovely to knit with (really soft and squidgy).

Craft Fayre

The annual Craft Fayre came to the CIA in Cardiff this weekend and I managed to 'persuade' DD1 to keep me company there. There were some beautiful crafts on display - though, unfortunately, not a particularly strong focus on knitting/yarn. Web of Wool were there and it was lovely seeing their ranges in reality. I had to persuade DD1 against whipping her boots off and revealing her mum-made Opal Flamingo trainer socks. We didn't buy terribly much (which will certainly surprise Mr B!!) ... DD1 saw a lovely brown leather bag which she fancies from 'Santa' and I bought dinky little stitch markers shaped like socks from the Web of Wool stand.

I still seem to be struggling on the knitting, and more especially, the FINISHING fronts. My current ambivalence has not extended to purchasing more stash though! Here's some of my recent buys:
(1) Kaleidoscope Handpainted yarn from ebay store, Peak Wool
(2) Lorna's Laces Liberty (thought this would work well for Jaywalker socks)
(3) Grape Expectations yarn from P2tog (ebay store). This one I just love ... the shades are so subtle and pretty. Have warned both DDs 'Feet off, this one's mine!'

Personalised Number Plate!

Whilst out and about driving along the country roads skirting around Cardiff, we found ourselves driving behind the most perfect personalised number plate - NI* TTY!! It's the closest I have ever got to wanting one!

Update too on the trip to Alton Towers ... It'll come as no surprise to those of you who have had direct contact with the Blethers household that our trip took on a semblance of Fawlty Towers, rather than Alton! Having left Cardiff at 8am and making our way to Newcastle On Lyme, 6 of us squidged into my car, we arrived to collect Mr Blethers MPV. The mechanics were doing some last minute tweaking and we had to wait for about an hour till the work was completed. Boldly, we set off across country lanes in search of Alton Towers and adventure! Mr Blethers in front with the 3 youngest and DD1 and I following along behind somewhat sedately... As we pulled into the entrance to the park, Mr B announces that there appeared to be a major problem with his new car ... the dashboard was lighting up so profusely it looked like the deck of the Starship Enterprise and it was spewing more diesel than a North Sea oil rig!! He called the garage ... they said they would send out a tow truck!! Mr B suggested I made my way into the Park with the kids and he would catch up with us. Five freezing hours later, Mr B was able to leave the car park and make his way into the entrance area ... to be met by moi and the frozen, fun filled Bletherettes making our way out!! Needless to say, we all got cozy squidged back up like sardines in my car on route home!!

Woohoo ~ Work-Life balance restored!

Its been a tough few weeks and despite all my work-related preaching to others about the need for work-life balance to maintain health, mine's been zilch! More like work-work... I have heeded my own words and we're off to collect Mr Blether's new (to him ... but from eBay) People Carrier and then heading off on-mass to Alton Towers for a family day out. Really looking forward to it and have even managed to persuade DD1 that some days she doesn't need to be too cool to be seen out with her mother! I don't go back to work now till Tuesday. Yippee! There may be some posts of (long overdue) finished items here by then! Wooley may yet be revealed!