Sunday, 25 November 2007

Before and after

The weather conspired against earlier posting of the felted Ringo Bag. At last, there was a gap in the driech weather we've been having in South Wales and a 2 minute glipse of sun amongst the storm clouds set me running for the camera... much to the amusement of the service users who were in the department at the time!

The 'before' and 'after' pictures...
After felting - 2 60 degree cycles (agitated with 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of crocs!)

And before the felting process:
Last night, DD1 and I went to the cinema to see August Rush. Taste in films is probably as personal as our varying preferences for yarn ... but cinematic critique from both of us is DON'T rush to view August Rush. We both found the characters pretty unconvincing and neither of us particularly empathised with any of the 3 main characters. The male adults Irish accents were naff.... Need this grumpy Barry Normina carry on?? I kept sneaking peaks at DD1 ... to find her looking at me and laughing that we were sitting through such tosh! Maybe DD2 had seen other reviews as she just giggled as she declined the cinema offer, saying she'd rather watch paint dry ... or wind skeins for me (and I know just HOW much she loves that particular activity!).

Ever feel that you're losing your marbles? I spent all day yesterday on a marathon, frantic house cleaning - and made a point of getting up early this morning to finish. My aunt and uncle were planning to visit and I couldn't cope with them arriving to the long-term building site that we call home... As the morning wore on, I thought it's strange they haven't called to give an approximation of their arrival time - so ventured back to check their email. They're coming on DECEMBER 3rd!! Och well, at least the house will only need a tickle of housework for their visit NEXT weekend:)
DD1 took this photo on her mobile of our daft middle dog, Molly. As you can see, Molly is absolutely intrigued by DD1's rats - she sits for hours, staring at their cage, without moving. She makes no attempts to harm them at all. Obviously, Ratty decided to be sociable and say 'Hello'!

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Sunday, 18 November 2007

Wash rags and bags

What a grotty day we've had in South Wales today - with torrential rain, howling winds and semi-darkness all day! However, there's always a silver lining - I managed to drag DD2 to Hobbycraft this afternoon and she tholed the experience the best she could:) Albeit that included skulking around the end of all the display aisles in case her friends saw her in the wool lane! No number of reassurances that, should she be seen, it was because her friends' mothers had dragged them to Hobbycraft too and that they too were sharing her social humiliation:)

Bless her, DD2 seems to feature less in the blog than her elder sister - but for no other reason other than she mostly refuses to be seen in 'mum knits'. She has been badgering over the last few weeks and I have done my best to ignore her pleas for her desired project... a white, garter stitch scarf in some form of chunky wool. I know, fellow knitters, my heart sank too! But I'm casting on tonight and will thole the knitting experience in the hope that it converts her to more exciting projects in the future:(

And of more pleasurable projects:

The West Side Raglan has been worn to work and is the warmest, cosiest jumper I have. To be honest though, I reckon it'll require wearing with a t-shirt underneath as the Manos is a little itchy when directly on the skin ... or at least my delicate, uber-sensitive skin (C'mon part of me has to be delicate!!).

I've felted the Ringo Bag, pattern by Sue Morgan. This was a lovely straightforward knit, using Noro Kureyon. I had been thinking of it being one of my PFI gifts but am not entirely happy with it. The felting process went smoothly enough and has softened up the colours a little. I'm dithering over the size of the handles now that the bag has been felted - I feel they look too large now:( Here it is in it's pre-felted stated and I'll post the post-felted look once the weather clears enough to allow photography.


However, if I'm not entirely happy with it, I'd be uncomfortable gifting it and have already come up with another project instead. And I now have a new project bag with BIG handles!

I've been busy too making wash cloths. I'm using the Fiber Trends Bathing Beauties patterns - Leaf Lace and Ribbon Lace patterns. I'll be seeing these patterns in my sleep as I'm making 16 of them for Christmas gifts for my workmates, along with hand made soaps I've purchased from Etsy sellers.

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