Annabel is 5

What a glorious, sun-filled, visit we had to New Hampshire last weekend! It was an island of blue-sky, beauty set amidst the grey and drizzle which has been the rest of this month.

The reason for our trip? Annabel's fifth birthday, where fun was had by all. I didn't get any photos of the birthday action because I was far too busy enjoying it!

Here's the star of the show on her birthday eve:

See what alcohol does to a young girl's teeth!

Oh! Thank Goodness for the speed of dental surgery!

I don't have any photos of us playing with the Whoopie Cushion....

But here are some shots of the little Ester Williams in action:

Here's Rugby Robb with a bad case of Irish Handcuffs. It's only the sleeping doggie bookends that are keeping him upright!!

Whenever we go to Chez Annabel, it's like a spending time at a Kibbutz, wherein we get assigned tasks. This year's tasks where not too difficult.

Supplies for the party had to be picked up from Memories:

The three of us had to sample the merchandise to make sure it was up to scratch!

There's my Cookie Dough Waffle Cone at the window!


Lucky wanted French Vanilla.

These earless goats wanted a piece of the action. (Why would you cut off a goat's ears? It makes me sad.)

I was set the arduous task of finishing this sweater knit by Annabel's mother and grandmother. I think it had been languishing in the project bag for quite some time so it may have to go to Annabel's young cousin instead.

During the long drive to and from our destination, I got started on this dress for Annabel:

Pattern: Elanka.

Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton in gorgeous oranges. (I want one just like it - only much bigger!)

This weekend I taught the fella how to machine knit. He took to it like a duck to water and is making himself a blanket out of some of my stash yarn:
He wants to learn how to use the sock machine next but that means I have to teach myself how to use it properly first. Maybe next weekend?

Big Girl's Land Update: I put in an offer on Friday - Keep your fingers crossed!!

Happy Summer!!

Secrets and Lies

Secret Project glimpses:

Pumpkin Pie - New pattern I'm working on for a relaxed Autumnal pullover.

Cable Junction - Long awaited pattern for a commissioned piece from ages ago - this one really eats up the time but should promise to be a gorgeous jacket!

Lies:

I have bought the most wonderful piece of land and am planning to build my dreamhouse!!

Just a tiny lie..... no money or contracts or anything like that have swapped hands - it's all waiting for me to stop being a scaredy-cat and get on with it.... details to follow once I've pulled my finger out!

Off up to NH this weekend to help celebrate Annabel's 5th birthday - my, my, my how time flies...

Escaping

Last weekend was glorious!  We picked the perfect time to pack up the Camper and head out to the Catskills.

  

A return visit to the cottage where we had our pretend Christmas was the destination.  

Lucky enjoyed a few good games of catch in the sunshine.

It was lovely to see the place without all the snow.  On this visit we were outdoors for most of the time, catching up with various members of the Fella's family.

We went in search of the Spring Festival in Rosendale, but gave up and decided to stop and eat instead. (As this sign suggested!)

We have yet to find the perfect county hideout to buy, so future house/land-hunting trips are definitely on the cards.

Because of the heat, I didn't get an awful lot of knitting in.  But did manage to come home with this little beauty.  But its too hot to wear just yet!

Pattern:  Tempest Beret by Kate Gagnon.  From Knitscene Magazine. Winter 08/Spring 09. *

*I had bought the magazine while in Savannah as it has an article about Cathy Carron.  I had met Cathy last year.  I spotted her knitting in one of my work's buildings so I went over for a chat.  She is a lovely, friendly lady and a very talented knit designer.  She was waiting for her daughter who occasionally models for the company I work for.    

Yarn:   1 1/2 balls of Rowan Kid Classic Shade 823 (most probably discontinued.  It's been in my stash for many years!)

We were away in the country for Easter weekend too.  We stayed in a wooden lodge by the Delaware River, with Llamas for neighbours.

The animals were not just confined to the grounds either.  I was joined by this pair as I cozied up by the fire to work on a secret project.....

The Fella had baked some ultra delicious cookies for our trip and came up with a brilliant idea to make them even better:  Put a generous dollop of ice-cream between two of them and eat before they make a sticky mess all over the place!! 

Notice in  background:  Good, strong, dark beer, secret knitting project and row counter.  You could say that I had a rather lovely evening!

We recently had a visitor from Scotland stay with us for a few days.  She's also a blogger and got me thinking that I really do need to try and keep up with my postings.  I know that I don't get anywhere near the amount of visitors to my site as she does to her's but for those of you who do check in from time to time,  I hope to be more frequent with my updates!

Because I have been neglecting to post, I do have a few things to show that have been kicking around for a while.

Pattern:  Spring Beret by Natalie Larson, (available as a Ravelry download).

Yarn:   Blue Sky Dyed Cotton.  Using bits left over from my Limey pattern.

I didn't have enough to knit it as full as the pattern suggested, so just fudged it as best I could.

Pattern: Camden by Ashley Adams Moncreif

Yarn:  Knitpicks Andean Treasure. 

Modifications:  Knitted body longer with a long rib start. Made the neckline into a deep V.

Wore it a couple of times to work and received compliments on both occasions - can't be bad!!

The necklace/scarf is some very soft yarn that a collegue at Anthropologie gave me.  It's lovely and light and may be some Twinkle yarn but it's unlabeled so I can't be sure.

My friend, Jason, is a great photographer and recently took some shots of a few of my things.

As a bit of a thank you I knitted him this hat.  (Beautifully modelled here by one of my work-mates.)

It's based on my Bean Beanie pattern but made much bigger because he has a huge head!!

I-cord cranked out on my CSM - may become some sort of scarfy thing.  But for now it sits coiled up like a poisonous snake!!

My first pair of machine knitted socks!!!!

They are a little on the loose side, but very cozy none-the-less!

Here is the start of the hem-hanging.

I do hope to spare some time to learn how to use the ribber, as that will make for much better fitting socks.  I'm very pleased to say that it didn't take me long to get the hang of the heel and toe shaping.  Now if only I could crank them out whilst snuggled up on the settee!!

Other non-knit related stuff.  (Although, in my life, many things are very easily related to knitting!!!)

Take my love of stripes for example?  Look how I could be inspired by these wonderful colour combinations I saw here:

That's a layout for a gorgeous blanket right there!

Whilst stitch-ripping, I noticed that my discarded threads fell to my desk to form what looked to me like a headless hunter with spear:

Look at the email I received while I used the shelf above my computer as an anchor for some macrame:

It's not looking good for bikini season!!

Happy May everyone!!

Southlands

Yes, I've been knitting but it's either been secrets or work, so I can't show any of that on here.... I did make this though, and I love it!!

Pattern: Soft Kid Bubble
by Laura Irwin
from Boutique Knits
Yarn is KnitPicks Andean Treasure, which is gorgeous. So lovely to knit with that I've gone right ahead and started to make Camden with the same yarn but in a warm chocolate colour. Mine will have a V neck. I've just got the sleeves to do. Pics will follow, (sometime.)


A couple of weeks ago the fella and I packed up the car with bags, snacks and dog and set off on a 12 hour drive to Hilton Head, South Carolina. We started out at midnight and drove south through the darkness. It was exciting for about the first 20 minutes!! I love the idea of a road trip but get a bit fidgity and frustrated when confined to a small space for such a long time.
We shared the driving but I am unable to sleep while traveling so I was thoroughly exhausted on our arrival in the south.
Dawn broke somewhere in North Carolina where the scenery consisted of empty fields, then petrol stations and fast food stops at every intersection. The boredom was broken by the sight of huge brightly painted billboards advertising the coming attraction of  

South of the Border. We had to stop there. It was around 8am so nothing was open.

I loved all the brightly coloured animals - the car looked right at home there!

After a quick nose-powder, I went looking for my traveling partners.  This is where I found them!!

I'm sure I could've unloaded a few greenbacks at the giftshops but we couldn't wait around for opening time.  It was back on the road to complete our journey.

Lucky loved the beach!

She had a blast running in and out of the surf.

I had not planned my wardrobe accordingly and laughed at how ridiculous I must've looked trying to run through the sand in heels!!

After spending some time with the fella's folks, (it was his step-dad's 80th birthday!!), we headed a little further south to Savannah, Georgia.

I fell instantly in love with Savannah.  It was the Spanish Moss that did it for me.  So creepily beautiful.  I took about a million photos of the trees.

I popped into Wild Fibre where there was a very friendly group of knitters settled in for the afternoon.  Wish I could've stayed longer!

We stayed in a lovely hotel by the river.

It was sad to leave such a beautiful and friendly city.  The southern accents cracked me up - it sounded like everyone was putting them on!  Thats probably what people think about me!!

The drive home was long and tiring.  We don't plan on doing it all in one go again but with a dog in tow and only 2 days off work we made the best of what we had.

It was someone else's birthday recently.  (Well, officially he only gets a birthday once every 4 years, but that doesn't seem very fair!)

I baked!!

He requested either banana cake with chocolate icing or chocolate cake with banana icing.  I went with the former.  It was yummy!!

More birthdays... Happy Birthday to Mumbly & Soft Jack for the 13th and 14th respectively and for my big sis, Liz, on the 24th - Have a fabulous time in Mexico!!!!

Completely unrelated - Don't you love what my new ice cube tray makes?