Birthday Blankies and puppy love!

What a lovely afternoon i have just spent in Sarfend!
Today is my Neicey's 20th birthday, she's affectionately known as Trout though don't ask me why, but i've called her that for 20 years lol
There was some discussion about how i never get her anything she wants for a present but when she opened it and saw her blankie she was really pleased... who could ask for anything more than that from a handmade with love present? It definitely makes the hassles i had with it worthwhile! She said it will be perfect for her shoulders when she's watching TV which is exactly what i had in mind for it :oD



We went for some lunch at the pub next to her work and it was very disappointing! We waited for half an hour for two steak and onion baguettes and when they eventually turned up they hadn't taken her order properly and we had no chips and no coleslaw :o( by then it was too late to re-order as she only had a short while until she was due back to work! Still, the baguette itself was quite tasty, although the beef was a bit fatty.... never satisfied? Moi? :oD

So, with an afternoon to myself as Mum is on holiday i decided to go visit Ruth and her new puppy! He's just old enough that he's allowed out in the garden, but only on the grass, not into the borders where the foxes go poo! He's such a cutie, so full of character and soooooo playful! Ruth definitely has her hands full with him! Now, my Lukey is a bit of a funny fella... he's not that keen on other dogs, especially when he's on the lead, so we took things slowly and started off with just walking the length of the garden with the dogs on leads, passing in the middle and built it up from there to a pause in the middle and then eventually stopping for a few minutes. It went so well! Luke had a few little growls but they were soon checked and Iggy was checked whenever he yipped or jumped up at Luke's face. Soon we were all sitting down together, with bum sniffing (the dogs, not us!) and heirarchy established Luke seemed to be tolerating the baby well and Iggy soon learnt that if he hassled Luke he paid the price! If Luke had just been able to lie calmly while the baby bounced around him i would have been happy but he did more than that! After some playful yipping and play-bowing from Iggy Luke felt he wanted to play! I've never been fortunate enough to see it, he tolerated Ruth's previous dog, Sage, but they never really played together so to see him splatting the puppy was lovely, and Ruth assured me that although it looked like Iggy was getting hurt he wasn't ;o)
After a couple of hours of sitting out in the garden (what a hardship!) we were treated to this magnificent sight:


Luke wasn't even bothered that Iggy was there by this point! They'd had a bit of a run around together with us getting tangled in their leads and Iggy learning his boundaries - like when you bark at a big dog and the big dogs splats you round the head that's OK, if you don't want him to splat you then the best thing is not to bark at him lolol

Now for a small competitioniony! If you can guess what make Iggy is then you'll win a prize - as yet undetermined! The only clue i will give you is that he is a cross between two breeds and he is now 12 weeks old so chances are he won't get much bigger than he is in this photo ;o)

Good luck!

All is well!

YAY! I am doing a happy dance! My computer is working again and our internet is fantastic!
Daft isn't it, how reliant we become on all this technology lark! There seems to be some problem with the Windows installation on my old hard drive, luckily i had a SATA drive that i hadn't installed so that's now in and being used as my main hard drive - the old IDE hard drive is now my backup drive :o)
As well as fixing my pc, Bloke has now changed our ISP and we have ditched AOL and our broadband is now being provided by O2 and it's marvelous! We've got the standard 8mg package but our download speeds are reaching up to 18mg!! It's like webpages open before the link is even clicked! ::lol::


Annnnnnnnnyway! In yarny news... both my secret projects have reached their new homes and they were both very well received - it's always a relief to me when i make somebody a present and they like it! I don't want lying at my feet gratitude, just knowing that it's liked is enough for me thankyouverymuch :oD
(See 1st May entry for photos - more on Flickr)
This morning the Lavender Blankie was cast off, just a couple of ends to sew in now and it's ready to be delivered to Trout for her 20th birthday. Where's the time gone! I remember looking after her when she was born, she was so tiny, so cute... and then she grew up! We've been through some tough times, had some very harsh words with each other but all is now well and she's really getting her life together - as far as i know anyway! I must stop being so paranoid and believe what people tell me!! So, next week, she's 20 and at the end of the month my entire family (i only have Mum's family, never known my Dad's) will be meeting up for our family day and both my neices will be meeting family they've never met before! It'll be weird, especially as i haven't seen my other neice since she was two years old and she's now 18!! I am SO looking forward to it though - a HAPPY ocassion for us, for once!
So, what's left? One baby hat has been finished so one to do, and i need to find a cute bootee/shoe pattern for both sets. I also need to get my arse in gear with the Babmoo blankie and get it finished. Now that the other things are done i know i will be able to get on with it all and i still have at least two weeks until Lisa drops her sprogs ;o)
Luv you Lise *hugs*

oh dear

i may have just finished the most gorgeous thing i have ever crocheted, and i don't get to keep it! I'm not sure i can let it go to it's new home, i am totally in love with it and i really hope that it will be just as loved when it reaches it's new home next week.

I'm being a good girl, it's currently soaking in some wool wash stuff and then i will be blocking it to show off it's beauty even more!

Ahhhhh, i love it when a plan comes together! ;o)

My "current" project list is now:
SKP2008 Jacobean socks - must be fhinished by the end of April
Lavender Blankie - must be finished by the 13th May
Crochet Block blankie - must be finished by the time the babies arrive! Anytime after the 20th May if i remember rightly?
2 baby hats to match BSJs and possibly booties too if there's enough wool left - ditto 20th May?

Happy Tuesday!

Well, here we are, still no pc, but i have dug the laptop out of retirement and am willing to ignore the slowness and tiny keboard in favour of being able to get online whenever i want :oD

So, anyway... knitting news...
Absolutely no progress on the SKP socks :o(
Only 4 rounds of knittingto go on the Lavender Blankie and then it's two rounds of crochet casting off! YIPPEE!! I have to say that altjhough i have really enjoyed knitting it and wathing the feather and fan unfold i am getting a bit bored with it and i am glad that i am soon to be done :oD
No more progress on the BPT yet either. We had company this weekend so not much knitting was done at all! Once the Blankie is done i shall concentrate on the socks and get them finished and then i want to finish my hoodie!
We are off to a VW show this weekend with camping on Saturday night and i am quite looking forward to it. It's one of the shows we went to last year and although it was only a small local show it was a lot of fun and the camping was lovely and relaxed and that was the show that we were visited by a local cat! It was quite bizarre!

One of my friend's is in desperate need of a hat, she has very curly hair and tends to wear a manky old fleece hat when she's camping but it's really horrible so after some research ihave promised to make her this rather fetching cowboy hat and i am very excited at the prospect of ordering some New Lanark wool to make it in YAY!
Of course, all we have to do now is narrow down the colour choices... we are down to four ::lol::

progress report

I shall be taking photos just as soon as i find the camera - i believe it is still int he camper where it stayed all weekend! We got a compact camera especially for camping trips and yet we still don't get it out and take photos, nightmare!
Annnnyway! My main three projects on the go at the moment are:

• BPT - i am on row 42 of the yoke with 36 to go until i divide for the arms and body :o)

• Lavender Blankie - i am on round 96 with 13 rounds to go until the two cast off rounds :o)

• Jacobean Socks - not much progress :o( I am halfway through the second diamond of the first foot, i am not knitting on them for 15 minutes a day as i had hoped :o(

I plan to rectify the soc situation today and will work on it exclusively for a whole hour! I need to get the pair finished by the end of April as that is when the new pattern comes out!

My computer is still dead. I have a couple of things left to try before it goes off to an expert but it's a bit tedious fiddling with the pc when i know i could be using the time to knit! ::lol::

Happy April Fool's day by the way - did anyone get you good?

I have succumbed!

and cast on for my BPT ;o)

I am knitting it in Sirdar Bonus Aran, i have three 400g balls so i should have plenty! I will be modifying the sleeves á la knitosaurus cos i love long sleeves and thumbholes :o)
I got a bit confused for absolutely no reason when i was working out my cable rounds and increases and things - i need a cheat sheet as i find it impossible to count rows and keep track of where i am so i just have a little list so i can tick off each row when it's done :o)

The Lavender blankie has 20 rounds to completion, but i have over 450 stitches per round now and can only manage one pattern repeat before i get mind numbingly bored of working on it ::blushing:: I have a very short attention span, what can i say!

The Jacobean socks are making progress, i have one and a half pattern repeats done now and am trying to work on them for 15 minutes a day just so i can make some progress on them.

I'm feeling much better now, thankyou for your support and kind words. My chest has eased off and i am having far less coughing fits than i was at the weekend, which is just as well because tomorrow afternoon we are off camping! YAY! My first camping trip of the year and the first of MANY camping trips we have planned for this year! The van is ready to go, i just need to go to the supermarket tomorrow for sausages and bread and rolls and maybe some cake ;o)
Oh, and milk! Mustn't forget the milk! ;o)

Lavender Swirl - round 58

Lavender Swirl - round 58
Originally uploaded by franneyk

Progress photo as of Monday afternoon. The star pattern is now finished ::YAY:: and i am working on the feather and fan section.

Lavender Swirl - round 40

Lavender Swirl - round 40
Originally uploaded by franneyk

Progress photo as of Saturday afternoon.
I have struggled so hard with this pattern but i finally have it worked out which is a great relief to me!
I ended up putting a marker after each repeat so that i could keep track of the stitch count better, it seemed to work slightly better than just leaving it until the next pattern round and finding out i was a stitch short!

AAARRGGGGHHH!!

I am tearing my bloody hair out here!
I finished the BSJ no worries, i've knit a Bloke hat since then, i even worked out how to do crown decreases on my own and then i cast on for a blankie based on a doily pattern and it's all gone horribly wrong!

Rounds 1-27 have gone fine. I've changed the pattern slightly as the original version has eyelets in the outer star and i don't want them, i worked out what was eyelet and what was the edge of the star and reworked the pattern. Lovely, looks fab so far!

Get to round 28 and my instructions tell me to

place last 2sts. of each needle on left-hand needle, *yo k1 yo sl1k1psso k3 yo sl1k1psso k3 yo sl1k1psso k1 rep. from * all round

ohhhhhkaaaaaaaaay!
Now, i am doing it magic lopp stylee so i presume that means that i only have to move two stitches from the front needle to the back and then the last two worked stitches from the end of the back needle to the front... or not! If i move them and then work over them it doesn't work out. If i move them and start two stitches in it doesn't work out. If i don't move them it doesn't work out and if i frog it i will be really pissed off and the wool will go back in the loft for another year like it did the last time i tried to make a blankie with it and ended up frogging it!!

I
AM
VERY
FRUSTRATED!

Luckily i am off to visit for a couple of days, i'm leaving it at home and taking the wool for another BSJ with me as that is so much less stressful compared to this!