Elvis, Che and the Witch

Ciao tutti!

Had a busy day yesterday.....................a frantic bout of housework interrupted by the arrival of my sister who was supposed to be picking up some parcels and speeding off but I convinced her to stay for a brew and allowed her to settle on my settee and vent spleen for an hour!

Then I had a trip to book shop to kill time, in the knitting section (of course!), before a trip to the dentist to have my railings checked over. I'm knitting my niece a Che Guevara hoodie for her birthday and while I was working on it in the waiting room I got chatting with another knitter who was impressed to see someone daring to click away in public. She told me all about the gilet she had just finished for herself and bemoaned the situation of being too busy to knit more often. I was too polite to point out she could be knitting right then!

After the dental visit I went to Abakhan Fabrics in the Northern Quarter with the purpose of buying fabric for my husband's and my Halloween costumes. My sister has taken her crew to Disneyland, Paris for a few days and when they get back this weekend we are having a Halloween/birthday party for my niece who turns 8 on the 25th while they are away.

I'm going as a witch so I bought myself several yards of black cheapo cotton and some purple lacy cobweb fabric for my sleeves. The husband has been persuaded to go as Elvis so I have brought a load of white Lycra and red satinette to make him a Vegas-style suit!! I'm going to use this site for inspiration and tips!

I also 'wandered' into yarn section and bought some black and white yarn for a We call them Pirates hat and mittens set for my nephew.

So here is my problem...........by Sunday I have to complete two Halloween outfits and a Che Guevara hoodie. Then by next Tuesday evening I have to complete a pair of Lil Devil Pants and Lil Devil Hat for Beanie to wear to nursery. And I want to have my Etsy store up and running asap. Do you fancy my chances?! I do like a challenge but this might be a bit too big for me!!

Neapolitan

Melons

Raspberries n Cream

Warm Glow

Dusk

Fruit Salad

ILL!

Hi there,

Hope you are having a good weekend!

Not posted for a few days as I have been poorly sick and managed to lose my voice which was very frustrating for me but a welcome relief to those around me!!

It means I have not really done much knitting, dyeing or working on my shop. I'm really going to have to work double hard next week to catch up!

Although on my sick bed (!!!) I did manage to knock out a chunky scarf for myself with 300g of Rowan Biggy Print in Mermaid. I figured I needed it to protect my throat from further germs and viruses!

Today I have been trying to photograph my yarn for my Etsy site but the natural light today was poor and my camera isn't the best. Also I know little about photography. But above are my first efforts................I need to lighten them so you can great an idea of their actual colour but their names are Neapolitan, Melons, Fruit Salad, Dusk, Raspberries n' Cream and Warm Glow.... Can you guess which is which? You can tell I dye them in the kitchen as they are nearly all named after food! I have been reskeining some more this evening and will post them hopefully tomorrow or Monday. I also aim to have my etsy store up and running on Monday too!

Laters!!

Ullo John, got a new motor!

I know the title will mean nothing to most people who read this but anyway........I HAVE got a new motor......I'm dead chuffed and I'm not even into cars either! I think the reason I am so excited is because it has a place to plug my ipod in and heated seats!

My old car is going to one of my nephews who is currently driving another old car of mine...so maybe if he is very good to me he might get this one in a driveable state in a couple years from now!

Anyhoo, enough on cars (evil planet destroyers that they are and that) and more about knitting. I went to the Kings Arms Knitting Club last night and had a top time. The group are really warm and welcoming and the banter is spot on. Never at a knitting circle did I think I would be chatting about Dog the Bounty Hunter and Nathan Barley (obviously not at the same time... what a gruesome twosome that would make) or spilling lager on meself. Roll on next week!

I got a taxi home afterwards and the taxi driver refused to believe that there was such a thing as a pub knitting group. I even showed him my knitting but he wasn't having any of it!!

Today has been a dyeing day......my hands are greeny-blue with some pink spots but I'm really pleased with the stuff I've produced today. I also photographed some of the skeins I did last week. I would show you pics but my camera has gone to sleep. Maybe tomorrow.

Well, must dash.................Location, location, location is counting down the worst places to live in the UK and I know what is number one - Middlesbrough - my hometown. The cheeky Southern b*stards!

I also have a Project Runway to catch up on.....love that programme!

Tatty-bye!

Knitting Club tonight!

It's a bit early in the day for posting but I'm out tonight (7pm-9pm) at the Kings Arms knitting club. It is organised by the same people who do the Stitch n' Bitch in Borders at Manchester Fort.

As alcohol is going to be involved I think I will take along some of my easier WIPs. One evening last week several glasses of red wine led to one of the arms on a baby kimono being wider than the other. And there's nothing worse than unpicking your hard work with a gale-force hangover!

Just found this on Stuff On My Cat!

This one of the best websites in the world! Stuff on my cat

A little pumpkin and a spinning wheel

Just a quick post today as I'm knackered after a busy day sorting out Purl City stuff and dyeing up yarn.........(will I be able to part with it though?! should start using colours I don't like!).

Thought I would share with you Beanie in her pumpkin hat. It is part of her Halloween costume, or one of them as her Nonna and Nonno keep buying them for her (too cute to resist)! And I was going to knit her some Lil Devil Pants from Stitch n' Bitch Nation. We are at a Halloween party on the 28th so she can wear a costume or two there!

Also.........my spinning wheel has arrived! Yey! Can't wait to have a go! My husband just shook his head at it and then at me!!

Back from London!

Howdy!

I'm back from London and as you can see the rest of my stash has been unloaded from the car boot and is now in the process of finding its way up to my craft room.

We went to London Zoo this morning with Beanie, who had to be woken up from her mid-morning nap in order to enjoy the sights!

The zoo was okay.......not actually that big compared with Chester Zoo (where I was a zookeeper for the day in July, see pic of me with Sofia the jaguar...what a beautie, the big cat, that is, not me the big Mamma!! ). Beanie was very into the monkeys, which didn't surprise us as she is a little cheeky monkey herself!!

Well, I'll keep this short and sweet as I have a mountain of stuff to unpack, laters!!

Been to Ally Pally

Howdy!

Am tying this in a hotel room in London at the moment and as the internet connection is reeeeaaaallly slow and my laptop has never been very snappy it is taking me ages to post this!

Anyhoo, went to Ally Pally this morning and shopped until I dropped - Beanie quite literally was dropping as we put all our bags on the handles of her trolley which caused it to tip if you didn't keep a firm hold on it!

Most of my stash is in the car but I couldn't resist taking pics of the new pink Namaste bag I bought from the lovely people at Foreign Strand. In addition to the bag, I brought magazines, a ton of wool both undyed and dyed, some alpaca roving, beads shaped like shoes, knickers and bras (!), and a ruby cross (which has nothing to do with knitting but there were jewellers there selling their sparkly things and I'm a sucker for crosses, not that I'm particularly religious!

Ally Pally really is a knitting (and stitching) mecca! It felt like I was in a trance most of the time I was there. When I first arrived I was overwhelmed by the amount of top stuff on offer so I had to go for a tea break and map out my route with the help of the show guide. Once I had done this I was free to stalk up and down, grabbing what took my fancy while the husband and Beanie trailed behind me with all the bags!!! Once I had selected my items the husband was then called upon to pay for them while I chose my next location!!!

After a busy morning and a boot load of goodies we headed back into London and went for the Lebanese meal we were looking forward to (there's not many Lebanese restaurants in Manchester so we had to take advantage of our location!). We went to Tarboush and had the best meal we had had in ages. I was soooo full afterwards I had to have a lie down! Not only was the food great but the Lebanese wine was a real joy! Going to see if I can order some on the internet as it was really moreish!

So that was my day.......even managed to fit in a bit of knitting - I finished another kimono and started some more toasty socks for my brother's girlfriend. I am knitting them in chunky wool I dyed myself and named Bubblegum. Will post the FO here soon, I hope.

Well, I've been sat at this annoyingly slow computer for long enough this evening and the husband wants to check his ebay. I should get my head down soon because we are planning to visit London Zoo tomorrow to reward Beanie for being such a good little girl today!

Ciao for now!

Busy, busy, busy!

Hiya folks!

Well after the drought caused by the postal strike there's been a veritable feast of deliveries here at Purl City!!!

So far I have received: a ton of beads, a jumbo box of undyed yarn, acid dyes, four vintage editions of Vogue Knitting, seven books (two knitting-related) and as you can see above my swift is here!! Been winding wool all morning...........must have burned some serious calories there!

In addition to answering the doorbell to a rather overburdened postie, last night I also went to my first ever Stitch n' Bitch meeting in Borders at Manchester Fort.

To be honest I didn't think a knitting group would be for me as I thought I would feel a bit under scrutiny, like the others were 'picking holes' in my work but I had a really good time.

The group is organised by Caroline who was making a start on some rather nifty wrist warmers. I managed to finally finish off my 'quick' slipper socks (see pic) and made some more headway on the baby kimonos.

The great thing about this group is that the focus is firmly on socialising rather than skills! The group known as the Knitting Kings also meet every Tuesday from 7pm in the Kings Arms, Salford.

I know, I know, knitting and alcohol, both wonderful things but should they go together?!! I plan on heading down there next week but will probably take a scarf with me just to be on the safe side!!!

Well, tomorrow we leave for London, or more importantly the Knitting and Stitch Show , I really can't wait!! We are staying near Edgware Road so I'm looking forward to some really good Lebanese food over the next few days.

I'm also hoping to drag my crew along to Origin, a very promising-looking craft show where I might be able to get my husband to part with even more of his money for goodies for the house!

Anyhoo, must dash, got to collect Beanie from nursery and start cooking corned-beef hash for tea!!

Laters!

Hoorah!

More about these cuties below!!!

Hoorah, hooray, yea! The postal strike is over!!!

Not that I have received any post yet but at least all the posties are all back at work and I can look forward to tons of knitting-related deliveries.

Somewhere in the postal system are the following with my name on them: a swift, a ton of un-dyed merino wool, a spindle, several books, copious amounts of dye, beads and a couple of vintage editions of Vogue Knitting.

I'm sure there's a bank statement or two in there somewhere but the postman can keep them for all I care!!

On the etsy store front, the yarn is coming on well........I just need the swift to reskein them and then I can photograph them and put them on the site.

I was hoping to have the store up and running this week, but with the postal strike and a visit to London to the Knitting and Stitch Show (can't wait, it's going to be a knitfest!!!) firmly inked in the diary, I won't be able to do everything before early next week.

There are also a few other reasons why I never achieve as much as I would like during the day..................see pic above!! The three moggies are my shadows here, I can't do anything without them following me around, so they are never allowed in the living room or my craft room because that is where I keep my knitting and yarn! There names are Eric, Denis and Georgie, all named, by my husband, after former Manchester United players. Eric is the fat one, Denis the scrawny one and Georgie (who's a girl) is the torty. As you can tell, they are brothers and sister.

Never in my life have I ever known such loving and yet simple-minded cats! Their affection makes up for the fact that they have no sense of balance and still don't understand how the cat-flap works after two years of living with us. But they do know somethings I don't... the day before I had my baby they watched me like a hawk and stayed with me all day. I couldn't climb the stairs without them curling round my ankles and if I sat down I suddenly had all three descend on me, madly purring and fussing over me!

The other little lady is my main distraction nowadays. And a happy distraction she is too! Her nickname is Beanie as I found out I was pregnant with her the day after I did the London Marathon in 2006. So she's our little runner bean or Beanie for short! She, like the cats, is a little monkey and definitely the boss in our house! She always makes a beeline for my knitting and and loves to pick it up and shake the needles out of it!!! But I love her so much!!

Purl City Yarns

This week I am going to be working on setting up my etsy store as well as developing my blog.

I have got a logo for the store but I still need to photograph my skeins which still need reskeining and develop my etsy store page..............watch this space - purlcity.etsy.com

Did I tell you that I really like to dye yarn?!!!

Some experimental efforts with new colours and my first attempts at photographing yarn for Purl City.....

............the yarn needs reskeining but I wanted to see what my yarn would look like with mock

up ball bands!!!

I really like to dye yarn

Some recently dyed yarn.........Chunky Berries and Chunky Strawberries

Beautiful baby girls

I'm currently working on these Mason Dixon baby kimonos for three little baby girls who have just arrived.......it is a simple but really cute pattern............instead of Peaches n Cream I'm using pure wool that I dyed myself, hopefully they will keep the girls warm during the frosty season!

Summer Spice

My niece and I dyed up some wool especially for her.................we called it Summer Spice and this is what we made................

Socks!

I like to knit socks.......................here are some..............

More stash

And there's more................