This and that and thank you x

Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions. Some we are following up, others we have already done, posters, checking sheds, garages, speaking to dog walkers, checking drains and ditches, rivers edges, walking out during the day, walking out during the night, ringing veterinary surgeries, local cat rescues, the cleansing department, the ID chipping centre etc etc.

But we have to face facts that today is a week and no sign. No body, no sightings - nothing. I still look out the window at any movement - just in case.

We are keeping our little Pan indoors, not that she is that put out, she is more timid, preferring our company than being on her own and as the weather cools, she is happier to stay at home. But that is not the answer, cats should be allowed out and about. Any hoo........

***********************************************

Youngest had asked a week or two ago for a knitted kerchief to wear whilst out walking. We chose a deep forest green in double knit with a black textured stripe as a contrast.

He wanted to wear it before I even had a chance to block it - so this weekend the kerchief had a walk out first and now is being blocked whilst Youngest is at school. Pan keeps sitting on it - hummmmmm, need to cat proof my blocking!

I then offered to knit one for Eldest. His reply - was very gracious (as gracious as a 14 year old teenager can be) in his new baritone voice 'No thanks......but, can you make one for my cat? In bright blue?'

I swear she is smiling :)

And finally, I have been doing a test knit (my first) and had fun doing it. Helped keep me busy. As the pattern is now out for sale I am sure I can share pictures and links.

Meet Humphrey the Camel.

His creator is Linda Dawkins from Natural Suburbia. Linda designs and makes the most gorgeous knitted creatures and I have long been a distant admirer, not trusting my novice ability on her patterns so when she asked for test knitters, I jumped at the chance and voila!  Humphrey.

I have other things on my needles, one item has been 'affectionately' dubbed the re-frogged scarf. I am on my third attempt....the previous two being frogged almost at point of completion. I should go with my gut instincts.....both scarflettes irked me as they grew on my needles but I kept going - just in case they improved....they didn't. So were duly frogged.

The present pattern I am now doing has potential - I just need to get further than frogging after about 30 rows. I will get there eventually!

I also have another cat cowl and crochet string bags on the go. Shame I have to go to work.

Lily

Not sure how to start this post. Had planned to show some w.i.p.s. Chat randomly about this and that.

But all that seems a bit frivolous.

Lily - wonderful, beautiful precious Lily is no longer. And we don't know where or why. We hear rumours in the village about cats going missing.   The more posters we have put up and the more people we have spoken to, the more we hear about other cats disappearing.

Most stories have the same alleged ending.
The same name keeps coming up.

The same man .... and his gun.

I am running out of ways to comfort my boys and to shelter them from the possible way their precious cat was taken from them.

Lily

aka Lily Purkins, the pompom of doom, bogbrush tail, Tiger Lily

01.10.11 - 15.10.12

You are missed and were dearly loved.

In the absence of a prosaic title - weekend walk....

Dearest Himself spent a very long and very mucky Saturday emptying all the soot and rubbish and dust and cobwebs that had accumulated over 150 years in our attic so that he could continue with the loft conversion. And he was totally fed up.

So, on Sunday we escaped and headed for the Dales for a lovely walk. (we did have a false start which involved going shopping for our picnic lunch and not having any way to pay for it and having to dash back home to get wallets..erhemm)

By the time we reached..........

 .........................it was lunch time and the 

the boys were faint with hunger (they did however make an awful amount of noise insisting that they were faint with hunger!)

We pulled up to the village pound - one of our favourite picnic spots - for lunch. Benches and a picnic table sit within the circular walls with a few native trees and the most stupendous view.  Having amended the lack of lunch for the boys with a picnic feast , we set off and had a most delicious afternoon autumnal walk.

the pound gate - the gateway to our picnic

 Top left - Settle village, top and middle right - locals.

Bottom left - make shift boardwalk and bottom right - limestone country

 Youngest and his favourite hat

Loving his shadow!

Eldest - away with his thoughts in wonderful surroundings

We returned through the village as dusk fell - ready to go home having had a cathartic walk. Bliss. And I managed to get some knitting down whilst out and about - double bliss :) Will show you shortly xx

Well, Monday seems to have returned with its usual speed. Hey ho - supposed it means one day nearer the next weekend :)

In the absence of the public, substitute with sheep

Long hours at work, once again, are eating into my crafting time. My head and heart are full of things to make but my hands are either at a keyboard or weighing out and counting tablets.

I am still managing to craft - albeit in smaller chunks than I would like...but that makes the 'making' only more precious. Snatched moments with yarn just before bedtime or in the car waiting for the boys to come out of school.

Last weekend we managed a walk out on my beloved dales. We re-trod a walk that had featured heavily in my mind all while my knee was out of action. I had an intense yearning to follow the path that lead us over stiles and through gates, across fields and alongside hills.  I even managed to get a little K.I.P-ing** when we stopped for our lunch.

As long as the breeze didn't get in on the action - the autumnal sun was delicious and I decided it was a good time to wear and share my latest shawlette.

I was, I have to admit, not that impressed with the colour way as I worked through. Two of my least favourite colours - yellow and pink - kept coming up and on occasion had the audacity to sit alongside each other. I was, like said, not impressed.

But, once blocked and wrapped around my neck, I fell in love. And my shawlette loved me back. *sigh*
Am knitting another.................

Am addicted.

Don't care.

And - coz I know you ask

Yarn:  Knitcol Trends 50gm (100% Lana Merino)
Pattern: The Age of Brass and Steam
Love?: Oh yes
Do again? (and again and again and again!)

**K.I.P-ing = Knitting In Public and in the absence of 'Public' substitute with sheep.

The calm AFTER the storm

Yesterday when I returned home from work (Thursday afternoons are mine and mine alone) I had an unhealthy itch to bond with the vaccum cleaner. Bordering on obsessive I whipped up a storm of plaster dust and building rubble as vacuum cleaner and me worked through in a determined-come-hell-or-high-water type of way. I am sure that the carpet was lifted off the floor with the suction to return to it's usual position in a quivering submissive manner. I dusted and wiped with a wet cloth, the water turning black with every rinsing. A red mist filled my glazed eyes - I*was*going*to*reclaim*my*house*from*the*plaster*dust* (this madness was briefly interrupted by the school run, feeding children, cats, dog, chickens, dispatching one off to music and dragging the other one up to his room to continue the BIG clean)

We continued, walls were vacuumed  skirting boards washed, curtains flicked and earmarked for the washing machine (which was already chewing it's way through a years worth of stashed clothing - the boys have inherited my tidying up genes....see abombstrukket). Pictures were removed off walls, dusted and stacked ready for the walls to be painted, toys were separated into re-home, keep, throw away - Eldest was shattered and pleaded to go and do homework (now that is a first!) 

Youngest returned from his musiscand was gang-pressed to continue in his brother's stead. We continued the unrelentless slash and burn action on the house. I was possessed. Youngest was procrastinating and eventually was banished to his  homework.

By 9.30pm I was finished - not in a-clean-house-sort-of-way, but in a-I-couldn't-do-another-thing-coz-I-was-so-tired-sort-of-way.

This morning - that whirlwind energy has all gone, I am back to my sore head and throat state, where only a mug of tea and some yarn action is all I can cope with....... So, the more gentle activity of knitting and tea sipping is bringing me back to equilibrium.

Don't think I could handle another frantic tidy up session for quite some time. If I show any inkling of doing so - please waft some wool below my nose (not too close I am still snotty!) to bring me back to my normal state - I thank you. 

WIP and help

Waiting to be played with.

Now, sitting in the sun, just about to press - ..Publish.. I am enjoying the quiet time, only the cats and the washing machine and me.......And Oh Yes In Case You Hadn't Realised! It Is F*R*I*D*A*Y!!

Have a good one xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Stair rods, abomstrukkets, knitting and other oddities

The rain today, on the school run, was of biblical proportions. Now, sitting by the fire with the cats and my knitting (and a box of tissues) it is still raining - in stair rods.....

I only started using those words - stair rods - after I got to know Himself. I used them without realising their origin.  It was only after a few years of usage I actually investigated the meaning and discovered that stair rods are the little wooden or metal strips used to hold a carpet fast against the steps of a staircase. Today's rain is definitely stair-rodding it down - straight arrows of water directly downward.  (As an aside - I have just sneezed and startled the cat so much she went from a sleepy pile of fluff in to a rigid legged sharp backed hissing attack-cat, she has settled back down, albeit a little wary as she keeps one eye on me).

On the subjects of using words with out realising their true meanings - here is another one. As a child with an untidy room (still struggling with that demon) I would watch my mom stride in, despairing at the artfully arranged mess and say 'look at your room -'it looks like abomstrukket - tidy up now!'

I would dutifully shove all my toys and shoes and anything else on the floor under my bed or into my cupboards and my bedroom would look a little less like the fabled abomstrukket. For years and years I would accept and call any mess an abomstrukket without even questioning the meaning. Until when, as a teenager, my mom was still accusing my now even messier room as an abomstrukket, I actually registered what she was saying in her anguish at my 'nest', my 'den', my room. She was (and I am sure you will have already worked this out) she was saying.... 'your room looks like a-bomb-has-struck-it'......

My nose and throat are a little rough today, hence the tissue box and the cat-startling-sneeze. Definitely feeling sorry for myself. But, through the haze of coughing and nose blowing I actually heard Himself say to me, just take it easy today and knit with the cats by the fire - gasp - what a man! Who am I to refuse such a suggestion.

Playing (for medicinal purposes you understand) with a self striping ball of yarn. 

Making another (!) kerchief/shawlette.

Had fun making this lace pattern up - once you have the basics then it is just a matter of having a repeating pattern that fits in the number of stitches on your knitting pins. Easy! (said after several frogging sessions and a fair bit of knitting related cussing.....)

Before blocking.

Picture colour rather poor in this driech grey light and the flash just removes any last shreds of decent colour so just imagine the rich russetty hue of the shawlette and the vibrant cheer of the multicoloured ball of yarn.

Today day is tipping day - tipping us towards the weekend - enjoy your Wednesday and remember, when it rains - you can make your own sunshine :)

In which I dust myself down

October.

Already.

This year has flown by with out much fan fair or sunshine. I had earlier on lamented the swiftness of time gobbling up 2012, but, I have had a sort of a resigned revelation - I am glad that this year is almost to an end. It hasn't been a particularly good one - not entirely bad either, just not brilliant.

So October - welcome, may your gentle autumnal sunshine and your russet hues mark a more positive end to the seasons.

Our loft conversion continues in a storm of dust and mucky hand prints. It is one of those 'chain reaction' type situations. I'll explain.

1. To start the loft conversion - we had to enlargen the existing hatch to the attic
2. To enlargen the hatch - we had to remove the walk in cupboard
3. To remove the walk in cupboard, I had rescue tonnes of wool and yarn
4. To rescue my precious wool and yarn - I had create a new home
5. To create a new home - I...I....I had/have nowhere, so have stacked boxes shoulder height around our bedroom.
6. Back to conversion.
7. To remove the walk in cupboard - Himself and Youngest had to sledge hammer down two brick walls
8. To remove the walls meant lots of dust and rubble - so dust sheets were laid out and rubble bags assembles
9. To prevent my tearing my hair out - I removed myself outside and cleaned the greenhouse for winter
10. (Which in itself is a major chain of events type job)
11. To remove the rubble from the bottom of the stairs (where it should not have fallen) - bricks and plaster were carried out the front door
12. To remove the rubble from the hall way (where it should have fallen) it was put in the rubble bags and dragged out the front door over the pile of rubble at the bottom of the stairs
13. (Please visualise growing pile of rubble in my garden right outside the door)
14. To actually see 2 foot in front of your eyes through the dust - impossible
15. To vacuum up the mess without killing the vacuum cleaner - near impossible
16. To feel utter despair at the depth of the dust as it lands on everything upstairs (thank heavens I put down dust sheets in the boys room) however - WHO LEFT OUR BEDROOM DOOR OPEN!!??!!
17. To need a week at work to recover - that is saying something.......

Fast forward to the following weekend

Repeat points 7 - 16 then continue with.....

Frequent visits to the DIY store to pick up wall bolts, brackets, wood screws, masonry drill, timber, roofing/loft boards, cement, sharp sand, hooks, and, and and,and..the list goes on.

Watch husband turn into a workman, complete with blaring radio, huge and regular mugs of tea, mucky clothes, a pencil behind the ear and lots of sitting down and thinking/looking/tutting and scratching of head.......

Develop a close (bordering on obsessive) relationship with dying vacuum cleaner, damp cloths and a struggling feather duster.
Become a control freak about doors being shut and windows being open.
Despair over the layer of dust that has just appeared as by magic on a recently wiped surface.
Be close to tears coz you know that yet again your bedroom door is open and Youngest is frantically bashing at a brick to remove the cement bonding off it .... 2 foot away from your bed.

Then.

Then see the smiling face of Youngest as he knows his bedroom is being created and feel his infectious delight as he watches the stairs go up and the floor boards being put down.

There is so much more to do but Himself is quietly (if you don't count hammering and power saws) working his way through it and I make sure he gets a fresh hot mug of tea and a helping hand when he needs it.

I just have try harder not to let him see how wound up I am getting AT THAT DUST grrrrrrrrrrrr