We had a good Christmas and came back to Cardiff on Friday night. However Andy was ill over Xmas and it looks as though I'm going to be ill over the New Year. We both have horrible coughs and my throat is really sore. I just generally feel crappy. Hope that 2004 will bring better health!

In the meantime here are some pix of the pups I blogged about last Monday.



The crime in progress



Back at the lair



The thief gloats over his prize



All of this criminal activity is hard work!



Harpo and Ollie at rest

I should add that only Harpo is a thief. Ollie is a good and trusted citizen! :-)

Hope that everyone has a wonderful New Year! Only an hour and a half away now in Wales!
posted by Marie Irshad at 10:26 PM

This afternoon we set off to Barrow to stay with Andy's family over Christmas. Because of our cat sitters holiday plans we'll be returning on Boxing Day but I will be looking forward to the rest! :-) Christmas is always a stressful time for me rather than a time of enjoyment. It shouldn't be this way, maybe I'll get more organised next year.

I do admire other people who are brave enough not to buy into the commercialness of it all. Probably the only way to achieve a non-stressful Christmas is just to treat it as an ordinary day and if you meet with families, just talk and not worry about gifts, cards and such. However, I know of certain family members who would have a fit if this happened!

Crafts - I'm still working on my coat and it's closer to completion than it was last year but I'm still not sure if I'll get it finished. I'm taking my eyelash scarf with me to Barrow although I'm tempted to take another small project as well for variation.
posted by Marie Irshad at 9:19 AM

Tonight I met the two cutest puppies on the planet! They're called Harpo and Ollie and belong to my friend Paul and his parents.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of them emailed to me soon so that I can post them here. Harpo belongs to Paul and is quite a cheeky pup. His party trick is stealing the toy presents out of a Santa's Sleigh ornament in Paul's living room. He also deliberately bites his brother Ollie!

Knitting I'm currently making a fluffy eyelash scarf from some Online Smash in shade 85 I think. It's a mix of purple and wine and is very fluffy. My hands have been feeling a bit cold with my fingerless gloves so mittens my be next on the list. Perhaps with some of the yarn I bought in Colourway on the weekend! :-)


posted by Marie Irshad at 11:57 PM

I'm almost ready for Christmas. Today is the last posting date for UK mail before Xmas and several cards, packages will be going into it. Yesterday I told my boss about a long dream of having everything done at the beginning of December. She had done this once because she was having surgery in December and so had all of her cards, gifts etc. done in September. She said that it felt odd. Hmm I guess it wouldn't be Xmas without a bit of rushing around.

Today we're going to Pembrokeshire in West Wales to visit Andy's Grandmother and my mother and her partner. On the way we'll be stopping at the wonderful Colourway! I've never been there before so can't wait to see what the shop is like. I've ordered online from them many times and the service has been excellent.

Craftwise - I'm still deciding what to take with me to Barrow for the journey. Might be the gauntlets from The Purl Stitch by Sally Melville. Or a multidirectional scarf in some handpainted cashmere that I won on eBay.

Tonight and tomorrow I will work on my winter coat. You may remember that I started this last December but didn't finish it in time. I don't think I'll have time to line it, but that won't matter, it's supposed to be unlined. I will have to steam it as having been on a sofa under a load of crap, sorry stuff, in my craft room, it's bound to be creased to hell.
posted by Marie Irshad at 10:13 AM

This is Tiggy



She is an adorable six month old kitten who lives a few doors down from us. She may be pint sized but she had three of my cats, some of whom are very large!, cowering under the table! What wusses they are! Tiggy says it's a case of girl power! :-)

I've just signed up to the Great Stash Reduction Project! It sounds like a great idea. Hope the box doesn't get too heavy though!

Currently knitting - gloves from Stahl Big Wool bought in Berlin earlier this year. I may go back to the Koigu gloves over Xmas.




posted by Marie Irshad at 9:16 PM

For reasons that I'm not going to go into, yesterday was a very difficult day. I'm glad it's over.

On the plus side my new Silk Garden arrived yesterday! It's shade 37 which is mostly purples with some green. I think I'm going to make a wrapover cardigan from a pattern in Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Noro book. I was tempted by the sideways knit cardigan in Debbie Bliss' first Noro book but the wrapover cardi is a bit more my style. It's also knit on 7mm (usual needle size for Silk Garden is 4.5 - 5mm) so it's quite lacey.

The fabulous Keyboard Biologist herself, Theresa, asked if I was going to felt the Colinette Skye. The answer is that I'm not sure. I know that Emma has successfully felted Skye but I really don't know yet if the yarn is going to become gloves or a bag or a bucket hat or what really. I bought Jamboree and Toucan so they're both quite bright. Check out Theresa's blog, she has some wonderful things on there including a very cool vesion of the sideways knit Noro Cardi.

I've frogged my Koigu glove as I wasn't happy with the bases of the fingers plus it felt a bit tight. I'd knit most of it continentally and my knitting is very tight when I use that method. I'm now thinking that I'll make fingerless wrist warmers but with a mitten top like the Broad Street Mittens.
posted by Marie Irshad at 10:14 PM

As soon as I heard about the "yarn diet" I knew that it was not worth my even attempting it! Just this month I have purchased yarn from Colinette for various gloves and felted bags/hats, Koigu from Needletrax for gloves etc. again and now Noro Silk Garden in shade 37 because I deserve to have a fabulous multi-shaded cardigan. Oh yes I do! :-)


posted by Marie Irshad at 7:27 PM