Happy New Year!

One of my challenges for this year is to update this blog regularly!

I'm trying to reduce my stash, and one of the ways I am planning on doing this is by taking part in the 100 balls in 2009 kal. The idea being to knit 100 full balls from my stash this year.

I've managed to knit about 1/2 a ball today, yay!

52 Pair Plunge II

I decided to go for the 52 pair plunge challenge again this year. That's 52 pairs of socks from 1 June 2008 to 31st May 2009.

I should have knitted 12 pairs by now to be on target but I've only completed 4 (and a half) pairs. I've lots of work to do to catch up!

Pair 1 Simple Socks

Pair 2 Baby Socks

Pair 3 Baby Socks

Pair 4 Spring Forward

A Lovely Weekend

Well, I've been very, very lax at keeping this blog up. I've been spending most of my time on Ravelry.

This weekend we had family visiting. Spent Saturday afternoon shopping for dresses and nice things with my niece. Totally exhausting experience. Saturday evening was spent playing Trivial Pursuit under the influence of lots of wine.

Sunday we had a trip to see the Antony Gormley statues on Crosby beach and the impressive Turning the Place Over in Liverpool city centre.

DH and I had a nice relaxing evening and I managed to knit the first sock of my first pair for the 52 Pair Plunge

Big Garden Birdwatch 2008

Well, I did the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch again this year with my feline assistant Viola. I threw down loads of seed this morning for the doves and woodpigeons. I throw some on the lawn for them most days. By the time I sat down to record the activity there were lots of birds in and out of the garden.
I spotted:
2 robins, 5 blue tits, 7 coal tits, 1 goldfinch, 3 chaffinchs, 5 woodpigeons, 3 blackbirds, 2 collared doves, 4 magpies, 12 greenfinches, 1 house sparrow and 1 redwing.
It was pretty much as I was expecting but the redwing and greenfinches were a bonus. I first saw a redwing just before Christmas and haven't definately seen one since, and I haven't seen the greenfinches for about a week so was glad to see them back again.

A Very Late Start to the New Year

I've always been very lax at updating this blog but I'm even worse since I became 'involved' with Ravelry. Is it possible to be in love with a site? I love everything about Ravelry and consequently spend far too much time browsing patterns, lurking in the forums and perving at other folks projects and yarn. Spent two hours knitting time this morning just looking at other peoples knitting. Am I mad? I think I am.

My plan for today is to finish another panel of my Bressay Hap Shawl . I'm trying to get this finished before it becomes another one of those never ending projects that hide in the bottom of my knitting basket. My deadline for completion is the end of Jan to coincide with the For Me Knitalong deadline. If I can just stop myself starting new projects I should easily do this. That's a big 'if' though.

So cold!

It's very cold here in Liverpool. My house is generally a cold building so when the temperature drops it's not much fun. The living room is above the garage so cold air from the garage comes up through the floor. It's nice in the summer but sooo cold in the winter.

I've been going to redecorate the dining room and living room for the last 3 months and eventually decided to do the dining room on Sunday. I just gave it a few coats of white paint and removed some of the junk that had accumulated there. It looks a lot cleaner and brighter and the new light over the dining table looks good too. I'm not going to get the living room done before Christmas now so am planning on working on it early on in the new year when I am on my own in the house.

Ds is coming home from London on Friday and I'm looking forward to seeing him. He's back until the new year when he's going straight to Rotterdam to work on the Rotterdam 6 day track race. I think he's looking forward to being back even though his new house share is pretty good. His girlfriend is coming to visit between Christmas and New Year so that should keep him happy.

Monday Update

I've been busy working on the garden and the allotment the last couple of weeks in between the spells of wind and rain. The garden's looking pretty tidy now although I don't like to leave it too tidy as all the little creatures need some leaves and other debris to overwinter in. I've planted loads more bulbs, more tulips which I love, daffs, and some dwarf irises and more bulbs whose names I can't remember.

I started making a path to the shed two or three years ago and never finished it. I'm making it using the sandstone blocks I dug up out of the front garden with Cathy and Susie (my friendly neighbours) a few years ago. There was an old manor house on the site of the 14 houses in our close and our houses were built when it was pulled down. All of our gardens are full of stuff from the big house. I found two old irons in the back garden and my next door neighbour dug up a complete wheelbarrow a couple of years ago! Anyway I'm planning to finish the path tomorrow. It's a kind of stepping stone path from the patio area to the shed. It's desperately needed in the winter as the soil is very clayey so it's too wet to walk on all winter. It's probably too wet to do it now but I'm just going to have to get on with it regardless.

It's Christmas gift making time again, and I am working on knitted gifts for the family again this year. I will post what I make after Christmas as I know this blog is watched by gift recipients. I'm only making 7 gifts this year so it's not too much to do. I've finished one completely, about 95% of another, and probably about 50% each of a couple of others. That probably means I'm about half way there. I'm planning on finishing off the ones I've got started this evening and tomorrow evening. I'm stitching 'n bitching tomorrow so should manage it. Then it's just three more to go!