This week's distractions

DD1 and I have been to Borders! What a lovely environment to daunder through, mulling till your hearts content ... over Starbucks and cake. Bliss! I'm about to start Small Island by Andrea Levy. The book, according to the back cover, is set in England in 1948 and "explores a point in England's past when the country began to change... handles the weighty themes of empire, prejudice, war and love, with a superb lightness of touch and generosity of spirit".

DD1 is reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, written by Kim Edwards. The blurb on the back says "It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary happy family. But the night Dr David Henry delivers his wife's twins is a night that will haunt five lives for ever. For though David's son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Down's syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal ... "

On the knitting front, there have also been several book purchases and these are currently winging their way from Amazon and a seller in the States. All will be revealed when they arrive ... Oh blessed Post Office workers - I don't really have an issue with your grievances, but am so looking forward to receiving my 'books with pictures - of the knitting kind' when your action is over!

West Side Raglan is cast on and so far is being a delightful, hassle free project. It's the first time I've used Manos del Uruguay and it won't be the last! I love the slightly slubby textures and the colours in the variegation. I've made some modifications to the pattern and have fingers crossed that it'll all work out! I've used circular needles to knit the back and front ... anything to avoid as much of the dreaded sewing up as possible!

West End Raglan in Manos

There is progress too on Tide, pattern by Louisa Harding, in The Beachcomber Bay Design Collection. The yarn is Garnstudio Muskat - an Egyptian cotton which creates a really pretty drape.

Tide in Muskat

MrB remains in the 'sulky corner', huffily maintaining that 'satin's where it's at in the land of bedding'. Of course it is, hun ... if you like cold feet, like to live dangerously entering and leaving your sleeping area, can cope with your partner and the cyber knitting world giggling at your naff taste .... So, in order to maintain marital relationships (without getting married!) of any description, I'm appeasing MrHuffles with a new pair of socks;) This is the Baby Cable Rib sock pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks and the yarn is one of the Trekking yarns. I love the way its knitting up and the muted colours ... I'd like it even better if I could remember the yarn's blessed name!

And just to prove there's been no enhancement of my photography skills since my last entry, here's my most recent failed arty-farty shot! You've gotta give it to a girl for trying in the face of ongoing skills deficits!!And finally, I'm now in Ravelry, having received my invitation a couple of days ago. I'm angieknitsagain there - please come and say hello when you're online there! My thoughts on Ravelry?? Well ...

1. It's huge!


2. I love seeing the patterns knitted up in different yarns


3. It can be really helpful seeing patterns modelled on fellow knitters. ie. REAL humans with lumps and bumps just like mine!


4. It's already added about another 20 patterns to my 'HAVE to knit before I die' (melodramatic, moi???) list


5. It's led to increased friction between DD1/DD2 (I don't like wool, mum!) and I. I see a pattern that I want to knit but they don't want to wear it:(


6. Although a wonderful resource, I'd miss the interaction of forums and blogland too much to spend all my time on Ravelry. Besides, I need to spend some time KNITTING rather than merely ogling knitted projects...

A little bit of everything!

I've been neglectful of my blog, so had better remedy the situation:o)

On the knitting front, I finally finished Flickering Flames socks (pattern by Black Dog Knits) and entered them into the monthly Sock-a-month challenge draw (Crafty Yarns n'Things forum) by the skin of my ... grafting! DD1 loves them and they are on her feet again! The pattern is really effective but when I do it again I'd prefer to take the pattern down the foot as the designer planned (DD1 only wanted the pattern on the cuff) and I'd use a different yarn. I found the Diploma 4ply was prone to splitting a little and was not that keen on the texture as I knitted. I've also nearly completed the back of a Celandine Tank for DD1 in Louisa Harding Kimono Angora... progress pics to follow!

We've had a lovely weekend so far - the girls and I went out shopping on Friday (resulting in 2 happy young ladies and one lighter maternal purse!). We ended the trip in Borders bookshop - with DD1 and I browsing to our hearts content and DD2 huffing and puffing, with a pained expression worthy of an Oscar before we provided refreshment anaesthetic in the form of a strawberry frappina and any cake of her choice from the cafe upstairs!!

Today, we drove to Rhondda valley on the outskirts of Pontypridd and walked the 3 dogs over the hillside. Islay, the fatted pup who came home, was in her element as I don't think she has had a walk like that before, with so much freedom ... and sooooo much scope to roll in ecstasy in various piles of nature's treasures (certainly the horse dung seemed to be her particular favourite). Yeuch!!!

DD2 has plans afoot for me tomorrow ... she hopes to drag me down to the retail area in Cardiff Bay. She is trying to convince me she needs a pair of yellow shoes. Mothers of the world unite here please and support me in my maternal protestation ... wants is not the same as needs!! My plans for tomorrow do not involve retail therapy of any description. The dissertation is to have the dust blown off for a couple of hours and I've to muster together at least a few paragraphs towards the next chapter:( And then, I plan to read a little more of the book I bought in Borders. My last read was 'The Island' by Victoria Hislop. It's the tale of several generations of a family ... of their past and secrets. I enjoyed it even more as its set in Crete and focuses on Spinalonga (a tiny island off the coast of Crete which served as a leper colony until 1957!!), Elounda and Aghios Nikolas ... all places I spent time in during a past holiday (err ... honeymoon actually ... but that feels like a different life ago!). This new read is more challenging to get into - Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006). Its set in Ayrshire and the lead character is a priest in the local community, and explores class and religious divides.

The only other mini success around at the moment is that there's now less of me!! I've signed up to a GI diet plan online having had no success in shifting any weight by myself (and being thoroughly fed up off my ballooning weight since I started on steroids nearly 4 years ago). I can't pretend for a second I understand the dietetic theory behind how the diet works ... but have just followed it blindly for the past 2 weeks and have lost 5lbs so far!! Just think, the smaller I get ... the less yarn I'll need for a garment ... and smaller garments might be finished off quicker ... leading to a slightly more productive blog!! See, there IS method in my madness:o)