Hello!!

If there are any faithful readers still checking on me...

happy hallowe'en, happy thanskgiving, merry christmas, hope 2008 is a great year for you!

I know I've been invisible for too long but I've been thinking of you and longing for some on-line time with my friends who inspire and entertain me so much.

Life is England is complicated. I'm in the process of getting a job and right now I have to use the local library to get on-line. I know I owe many of you emails and letters, please be patient, I will be in touch, my email address and uk street address are the same.

Love and hugs.

Phew!

Okay, so this will be my last post from the bloody basement for a while...I wish I knew how long I'd be away but if I knew that then I'd know things I'm not ready to know yet...

I'm excited, anxious, sad, worried, looking forward, wanting time to stand still, even wanting to turn back the clock to a time when everything was predictable and positive.

Hubby says this is one of those times when you have to do the family thing, no matter what it costs you personally, he's right, and I'm so happy to be able to be there to support my parents. I'm so lucky he understands and appreciates that. I might be conflicted about so many things but my love for him, and his for me, is something there is no confusion about.

No more being maudling...

I'll catch up with you from jolly ol' England!

Fair Isle Tote

I love this tote from FC Easy Crochet, Spring 2007...I can not find a link, and a voice inside my brain is telling me there was talk of this magazine being discontinued...or did I just imagine that? Maybe I'm listening to the wrong voices...

This is the third bag I've made recently so I decided I wanted something different...so instead of wool I used thread. The colours I had that worked for this pretty little purse were size 10 and I used my wonderful Jimbo 1.7mm hook...it measures up to five and half inches high and six and a quarter across. I did the handles a little differently than in the pattern and made a loop for the button, which is a fymo bead Sis sent me.

Since this will be my last American FO for a while I wanted to go out in style...and I think I managed that!

I hope he isn't your dentist

When you have a patient under anaesthesia you have a responsibility to behave appropriately at all times, regardless of whether the patient is Mr/Ms J. Doe or your assistant. Robert Woo's behaviour was appalling...I wonder at the decision making by the courts...I applaud Fireman's Fund for not paying the insurance claim.

I won't be going to the dentist any time soon...but that's 'cause I'm a big wuss when it comes to opening my mouth wide and staring at the ceiling!

Stashbusting, mindless crochet

Two more projects hot off the hook:

Simplicity Top by Doris Chan from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007. This was super simple, mega-quick...just six hours from start to finish and totally mindless (sorry Doris!) crocheting. If you are thinking of making this, go for it, it looks really cute on, and would be easy to make longer or shorter in both the body and the sleeves. This is another project I'll probably repeat...I might even treat myself to the correct yarn...*shock horror*

And to use the last ball and a few yards of that thrift shop wonderbuy I hooked this Simple Shell Scarf...I'll put the pattern in the sidebar...I seriously never thought that yarn was going to end...lol!

It was so good to bust some stash, whip out several projects and keep my brain occupied so I didn't run around like a headless chicken as I waited on news about my dad who had a flexi-bronchoscopy and biopsy today.

He has an appointment to see a Consultant on August 9, so I'll be there. Mum is really anxious which isn't helping her own health issues but I could hear all the tension drain away when I told her I'd be staying as long as they needed me to stay. Then she cried. I cried. Dad coughed, and he coughed really hard which must have hurt! Then we all laughed, as we do when we are hurting.

This must be the way things are meant to be in my life right now...thankfully I have a very understanding and supportive hubby...please let him get a job soon!

~*~

I just want to point out I'm blusing at the compliments about my legs...I think that photo was a case of the camera lying, either that or hubby managed to get low enough that I looked taller and leaner on the wonderful stairs down to the bloody basement!!

I really do need to clean up!

That's the mess from these:




and this:




which at some point looked suspiciously like a thong:




The sweater is really cute in 'real life'...I used the 3 Hour Sweater pattern, which was super easy and quick, not three hours though! I didn't expect it to be possible to knit this sweater in three hours, to be honest, so I timed myself, it took just under seven hours, including all the seaming, ends, crochet edging and the button. I will be making several of these and adding variations.

I used this thrift store yarn...I bought six balls for $3 in California, there was only a partial band so I have no idea what brand the yarn is, it is very soft, and because of the big needles it feels very light and airy.




For the sweater I used two balls and maybe thirty yards of a third, just to finish the sleeve and the crocheted edging...the button I had in my stash so I think when I tot it all up this sweater cost less than $1.50.

Now that's what I call thrifty!

No wig, no make up, new dress

I finally got around to finishing this dress, the front gaped quite obscenely so I top stitched the white parts together...yay! Now I can wear it and not get arrested for indecent exposure.

Now I need a plain white slip for a cheap little jersey skirt I found...

(I don't know if I'm doing something 'different' in photobucket but the thumbnails don't seem to bring up bigger pix when they are clicked...in this case that's not a bad thing...any clues, any one?)

Change of pace and a change of medium

I haven't beaded in ages and this morning I remembered seeing a kit tucked away on the shelf that I bought on clearance a long time ago in San Rafael, CA...I wouldn't usually buy the kits, I enjoy mixing and matching and designing, but I probably intended it as an 'extra' gift and then forgot about it, as I tend to do!

It looks like Christmas, eh?

Not bad for $3, even if I do say so myself:





Then for something completely different I made a mini-tutorial, using a slideshow, for how to knit a right twist and thought it might be useful to have the link in the sidebar just in case anybody wanted to refer to it later.

Now I think I'll get the sewing machine out...

(short attention span seems to be the order of the day)