The Wool Palace

Hiatus

I've decided to stop blogging for the next 3 months.  Work and family life are so hectic at the moment I can't give the blog the time it needs, so best to give it a break.

Now that I've said it and removed the pressure from myself, no doubt I'll be popping in from time to time, but basically don't expect much from me until March next year.  I'll probably try and keep the photo albums updated, as I am still knitting, but I won't be writing about it.

I'll keep comments open for a week or so but I don't want to leave a spammers' paradise, so they'll be shut after that.

See you in the Spring!

It would appear I took an unplanned blog break there. Fitting the new job in has meant quite a few adjustments to my day, plus I'm enjoying my new found freedom and have been driving here, there and everywhere in any spare time I do get.

In an effort to shore up the knitting content I'm off to weave in the ends on my black stocking stitch project.  Hopefully some photos to come soon...

PS - Although I haven't been blogging, I have been playing around on Ravelry and loving it.  If you're not on there, get on the waiting list, if you're on there, come and say hello - I'm listed as thewoolpalace, surprise, surprise.

Third time's the charm

No more L plates for me!

Now if you'll excuse me, after more than 7 months of lessons, one cancellation and two failures, I intend to spend tonight completely over the limit.

Something to tide you over until I can do a proper post

Iris tagged me for the 7 random things meme that's going around.  So, what the heck.

1.   I hate drinking milk.  Always have.  My poor mother used to spend a lot of my childhood trying to flavour or disguise milk in the hopes that I would be tricked.  Milk with ribena and jelly made with milk are the two that spring to mind.  I'm not that keen on yoghurt either.  Maybe I should start taking calcium supplements.

2.   If I spill salt I always throw a pinch over my left shoulder.

3.   I may have told you this one already, but I can't be bothered to trawl through the archives and check.  I grew up near the sea and have always been confident in the water, happily splashing and diving around in deep water, but I can't swim a length in front crawl for love nor money.  In fact I didn't learn to swim 'properly' until I was 27 and pregnant with Sam.

4.   I was the worst pupil in my sewing class at school, never graduating from the wrap-around skirt.  When I turned 16 I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday and spent the next 5 years quite happily designing and making my own clothes.

5.   I am not a morning person at all.  I really dislike having conversations before about 10am.  I have to try and overcome this when we have house guests.  It doesn't make me happy.

6.   I've never had a manicure or a pedicure.  I had a facial once. 

7.   I love shellfish, except for oysters, which make me nauseous.

I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to have a go, go right ahead.

Roots and shoots

Bit of a ho-hum week for knitting so far.  I was determined not to let the Broken Cable Rib socks beat me, so I cast on again on Saturday night.  After messing up the pattern twice, I declared defeat on Sunday and ripped it out.  No matter really, August is a a long time away and there's plenty of time to decide on something.

I had a blitz of the WIPs as well and have ripped out the cabled slipover as no work has been done on that for months.  There were signs of suspicious insect activity near the bag, so everything has gone to live in the freezer for a couple of days.  I ripped back the little baby cardigan I was doing as well, as the little baby is now almost one and will not fit in the size I was knitting.

In the absence of knitting, how about some gardening progress?  The rainy weather is doing the veg no end of good.

Various types of lettuce, with more seedlings coming up next to them.

The spinach is doing very well.  I'm sure the children will be overjoyed at an endless supply of spinach, especially when we're already getting it in our weekly veg box from the farm down the road as well.

The rocket needs weeding.  The wet weather is good for the weeds as well, unfortunately and I haven't been able to get out and attack them for a few days.

Broad beans on the left, peas on the right.  I had to net them as the pheasants seemed to think I was running a salad bar.  I lost quite a few of the first pea plants, but the second sowing is coming up well.

Kate asked what the green coil in the last post was.  I'm sure many of you recognised them as Clover needle holders - one of my favourite knitting gadgets.  I'm glad she asked, as it reminded you of something I wanted to share.  Never, ever, ever put one of those needle coils in your mouth, or even on your lips.  The taste is truly awful.  Trust me, even those of you who are now curious - don't do it, you will regret it.  And just to show how far I will go for the blog, I did check that it wasn't just the large ones, the small ones taste just as bad.  You have been warned...

Not the best of days today.  I failed my driving test, over a silly mistake.

However, the sun is shining and we ate dinner in the garden.  Easter eggs have been bought and will be hidden on Sunday.  If the weather holds we may even sneak off to Cornwall for a couple of days.

I'm going to take a blog break until the school holidays are over.  See you all in a week.

That was the week that was

It's been a busy week.  Two days in London for work, then straight back into meetings and things down here.

Throw in two poorly children and an ear infection for me and you've got a week that I'll be glad to see the back of.

I'm pretty peeved that we seem to be the only spot in the country that didn't get any snow.  To add insult to injury, we can actually see snow from our window, on the beginnings of Exmoor, less than 10 miles away.  And, despite not having snow, we have had lots of freezing cold temperatures and plenty of sleet and rain - so all the bad bits of winter weather with none of the payoffs.

Can you tell I'm a bit grumpy?  Not much knitting has been done as I've spent most of my time sitting round drinking cups of tea and eating biscuits and complaining about my ear - that is, when I'm not running around photocopying stacks of agendas and planning documents, taking the stacks to the Post Office, sorting out annual accounts and all sorts of other exciting stuff.

Hey ho.  Things can only get better.  I'll knuckle down over the weekend and hopefully will have some positive progress reports for you on Monday.

Regrets, I've had a few

I thought I'd take a look back at how I did last year, knitting and blogging wise.  I tell you, I am shocked and ashamed by my performance.

Lets start by taking a look at what I actually completed, shall we?  I have to say, it's not impressive.  2 pairs of gloves, 1 scarf, 1 jumper, 6 pairs of socks, 2 lace pieces (both pretty small), 2 baby jumpers and 1 cushion.  To make matters worse, I haven't even got around to putting them all in the photo album.  Less than 20 things finished and I can't even get it together to put the photos up - what is going on!

The piece that attracted the most comments was Tubey, coming in with 34 comments, not too shabby.  The piece that attracted the least interest was the Swallowtail shawl, with 11 comments - people, I'm hurt and so is the shawl.

I took a look at how many times a month I posted through the year and it's not a pretty picture either.  I started the year on a high in January, with 14 posts in the month; not too bad, more than 3 a week.  Sadly things went downhill from there, until we reach the shameful depths of August, when I only managed 2 posts in the whole month - but hey, I did move house, so I suppose that's some excuse.  Thankfully things seem to be improving, October and November I was back up to around 2 posts a month and I just scraped through December with about the same.

I had 4 competitions this year.  The one that attracted the most entries was back in February, with 43 entries.  The least interest was shown in my September competition, when there was an actual question to answer, rather than just a 'leave a comment' system. 

So, armed with all the depressing statistics, what shall I aim for this year?  Well, taking a look at my 'In Progress' album, there's some stuff knocking around in there that was started in 2005, for goodness sake, so I think I should start with some ripping or finishing of a few things.

Next up, my resolutions made last January.  Book of the Month failed dismally; as soon as I feel I have to knit something, I lose my enthusiasm, so I think we'll let that one fall by the wayside.  We only have to look at my completed total to see that the whole 'more garments' thing didn't work out, so that will have to go right up to the top of the list for this year.  More colourwork, hmmm, that didn't really come about either, although I did do the Estonian Mittens, so at least that's a bit.  May do some more this year, although I'm not really feeling the colourwork love right now.

New plans?  Well, maybe post a bit more often, try and keep it around 3 times a week if possible.  Finish more things - there was a lot of ripping last year, or leaving things undone.  Remember the mitred squares?  Let's try not to have a repeat of that this year, I think.  Oh, one more, update the bloody photo albums!

So, pretty succinct really; finish more, blog more.  Can I do it?  Only time will tell...

All through the house

I'm briefly surfacing from the Christmas Eve whirl of cooking and wrapping to wish you all a very Merry Christmas or winter holiday of your choice.

I'll be back to post before New Year but for now I'm taking a few days off to eat, drink and be merry.

Seeing as we're starting to get all Christmassy around here, I thought I'd jump in on the meme bandwagon.  Plus, I've been away for work most of this week so haven't got much blog fodder for you.

Egg nog or hot chocolate?
At Christmas?  If it has to be a hot beverage I'll have mulled wine thanks.

Does Father Christmas wrap presents or just set them under the tree?  Father Christmas fills the children's stockings with treats and trinkets, plus the odd useful item like new socks and pants.  Presents under the tree are from family and friends and are most definitely wrapped.

Coloured lights on tree/house or white?
White on the tree, after a concerted three year campaign by me.  We don't put lights on the house but do put some coloured lights around the inside of the living room window.

Do you hang mistletoe? If I remember to get any.

When do you put up your decorations? As a child the Christmas tree and decorations went up on Christmas Eve and stayed up until 12th night.  Now, we usually put them up the weekend before Christmas.

What's your favourite Christmas dish? Turkey and all the trimmings.  I particularly love stuffing and we have to have some cold ham with the turkey too.

Favourite Christmas memory as a child? I can't think of any specific instances, just general Christmassy goodness.

When and how did you learn the truth about Father Christmas? When I was 7 - I saw my mother buying some miniature playing cards which turned up in my stocking on Christmas Day.  I used this knowledge to great effect the following year when I waited until my sisters fell asleep, got up and filled their stockings with old socks and woke them up and told them Father Christmas had been.  Initially both of them were quite excited that Father Christmas had bought them both socks, but they began to suspect when they reached the third or fourth pair of socks each.  I was a mean older sister sometimes.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I was a child we used to open one after midnight mass, which is technically Christmas Day anyway.  Now they are all opened on Christmas Day.  We don't put them under the tree until Christmas Eve evening anyway, so it's not too long for people to wait.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With a mish-mash of decorations collected over the years plus things the children have made.  I usually buy a couple of new ornaments each year.  Tinsel is essential.

Snow! Love it or dread it? I've never had a white Christmas.  Growing up in New Zealand, Christmas was usually warmish and generally rainy - exotic huh?  Nowadays it's usually cold but no snow.  I wouldn't mind if it snowed, as long as it started after I'd got my shopping done.

Can you ice skate? Yes, not well but adequate enough to get round a rink.  Toby, on the other hand, is pretty good - his obsession with roller hockey as a teenager has stood him well.

Do you remember your favourite gift? In my family, Christmas was usually about lots of small presents rather than big things - those came on birthdays.  Nothing specific comes to mind.

What's the most important thing about Christmas for you? Relaxing and spending time with friends and family.  There's nothing like sitting round a big table sharing good food.

What's your favourite Christmas dessert? Christmas pudding, with cream and brandy butter.

What's your favourite Christmas tradition? I like doing the stockings, hanging them up and the children leaving a mince pie and a whiskey for Father Christmas, plus a carrot for the reindeer.  I like all the cooking as well - making mince pies with the children and that sort of thing.

What tops your tree? Currently an angel that Sam made when he was 5.

Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving is good, even more so when you know you'll receive as well.

What's your favourite Christmas song? Favourite Christmas song, as opposed to carol, would have to be The Pogues, Fairytale of New York.  For carols, I'm not fussy really, they all sound good - and usually make me cry.

Candy canes? I'd prefer sugared almonds thanks.