It's all going red and chocolatey...

Ok, so I have been a bad blogger and not posted for...monthS...

Well, I have no excuse, other than I am desperately trying to get all the stuff sorted because I am all by myself at the moment.

No no, fear not , nothing bad has happened to the BF, unless you count having been abducted by small purple cows and having to travel on trains that are ALWAYS on time.

Yes, it finally happened, BF has moved to the Swiss country and I now get Skype updates of -15C weather and snow-boarding forecast.

Strangely enough it has gone all Swiss here to, as the latest knitted addition to the house menagerie gears up for the move...

And the local shops have decided to provide me without interesting tastes all courtesy of Frey, the big chocolate company and my local home-bargains (how could I resist Swiss chocolate at 29p per 100g ??)

Interesting flavours currently residing in my cupboard ?
White chocolate and blueberry
White chocolate and rhubarb
Milk chocolate with carrot pieces
Dark chocolat with lemon and pepper
Milk chocolate with cinnamon and coriander (absolutely divine)

The other find of the week was next door...TJHughes had a big Pout display (RIP) with prices that did not exceed £5!! And we are talking Benefit prices normally!!

Squee!!!

So my lips will be plumped for £3 and taste of cinnamon and mint...

Even sent one to my Mum...along with some coriander chocolate...


The monkey is monkee-maker's modification of the PG-tips monkey...and there's a new purple one taking shape on the sofa... more pictures soon!

It is my last day at work !

And somehow I feel like this:

Please visit http://www.edwardmonkton.com/ for much more cartooney wisdom!

Frightening friends

Or how Utopia can be a very scary thing...

Picture it: it is Monday lunchtime, and the knitters have gathered with some lunch and projects around a small table. The Utopia hat is such a logical make, the stitches seem to have taken a life of their own in my fingers as I chat away about Christmas and holidays and vacations...
"Why aren't you using a cable needle?" K's voice resonnates in my ear.

Looking up I see the horrified look starring at my 6-st cables that alternate right and left, as my fingers still pinch 3 stitches in mid air.

"Did I scare you" I ask her? She nods. I laugh. "It's really less faff than a cable needle" I add.

Later that day I send her the link for Grumperina's tutorial on cabling without needles.

And later this week there will be a picture of Utopia finished...but not now, because the light is bad and casting icky shadows...

Free range is fairer!

Apologies to the vegetarians (yes, you can look away now) as I step onto my little wooden box to call to the masses...

No it has nothing to with knitting, but yes, I believe you should keep reading.

If you live in the UK and have been watching TV recently you should aready be aware of the Chicken Out campaign to get better lives for chickens that will eventually end up on our plates.

BF and myself switched to free-range after watching The River Cottage Treatment last year, and as I felt guilty tucking into a Nando's bird of non-descript origin last weekend I knew there was no going back. Added to that the 3-part program of this week (Hugh's Chicken Run still available to watch on 4OD and probably through ovguide.com) really finished opening my eyes.

Free range chickens take almost twice as long to get to retail weight, and they get a good night sleep...not 30 minutes of shut eye like their intensively-farmed equivalent.

The main issue people have with free range is the cost, and I confess I have gasped at the £17.99/kg price tag on organic free-range fillets BUT in fact the cost of a WHOLE free range chicken is only about £5.00.

Compared to the cheaper option (£3.50 on average) it is only the equivalent of 1 half pint of beer or about 5 cigarettes...not much of a sacrifice to eat a much tastier bird that had a much more 'normal' life.

So anyway as the celeb chefs take it in turn to draw the public's attention to the issue I thought I would follow in Roman Sock's footsteps and, having just signed up to the chickenout campaign, that I would encourage anybody who comes across this blog to do the same. Link in the side bar...

Thanks for reading.

And now to find a knitting way to help the campaign... knitted chicks anyone?

Many happy returns!

First of all, to wish my friends and fellow knitters all the best for 2008. Whatever 2007 was like for you, I wish you a happy and positive new year!

Christmas is over, finally, and as the sales signs multiply in the shop windows I can breath a sign of relief. Well, almost, since I have yet to do most of my Christmas shopping... That's the thing with knowing you will not see your family over the holiday: you can postpone the shopping. (or possibly recycle some presents I received...mmh, now here's a thought)

It does not however make it any easier or even that much cheaper as, lost in the post-holiday calm you only want to forget about the past few weeks and focus on the coming year.

And in my case it is a somewhat scary prospect, as I face the new year without a job and not enough savings to make me comfortable about the whole thing. Somehow spending on presents becomes a frivolous activity, and CV writing fills me with tears.

Time for some stash busting I think... to the montego bay scarf and to the foliage hat still to be photographed, I will add a melon-seed scarf for my gran in a lovely dark grey mohair (fingers crossed I have enough yarn for the intended border!) and have to think of further presents to handmade from existing yarn... finally a god use for my craft!

As I finish this post I glance with a smile at the hat-o-meter on the right: we made it! over 400 000 hats to adorn the tops of bottles. I wonder what the target will be for next year...500000?

The one where we learn more about the Cosmic Postman

Yesterday afternoon I was on the train back from Cambridge.

Cold and sniffly I had been looking forward to getting my needles out for the hour-long journey home when I noticed a little blue plastic thing in the gap between seat and wall opposite me. I reached to pick it up, certain already of what it was: a train pass, in its usual dark blue 3-part wallet.

I opened it to see who had lost it, and found it belonged to a lady and contained a pass for the day...and some money. I could see the notes folded and I know there was at least £15.
I will be honest and say that it did occur to me to take the cash and then hand over the wallet, but I thought to myself "what would I wish for someone to do if it was my train card and my money?" and decided to hand it over in the station when I got off.

As I changed platform to get onto the train home in Stevenage I saw a platform attendant and walked over to him. As I handed over the wallet I explained that I had found it on the Cambridge train and that since it contained money the lady would be probably glad to get it back (the train passes are registered so they could chase her address/contact details).

"You don't find many like you those days" said the man as he opened the wallet and saw the notes. "What comes around goes around" I said, adding that I would wish for someone to be that honest if they found my card. We joked about winning the lottery and I hoped on the train.

Eventually I got home and the usual pile of junk mail was awaiting behind the door. Amongst them though an envelop for me, and as I opened it it turned out to be my long awaited cheque from one of the online survey companies. £43.50... so that would be Karmic pay back?

A few minutes later, alone in the flat a thought brought a smile to my face...

They say that whatever you do it will come back to you 3 times... What they don't tell you is that the Karmic Postman charges 10% ;-)

The one with the yellow bear...

So finally I located my dongle and so the world can be full of bad photos taken with a mobile phone again...ahhh!

Pudsey is the mascot for the Children in Need charity event and I had promised to knit one to be raffled. Armed with a pattern and some acrylic yarn I set to work.

The whole pattern is worked in Stockinette and there is quite a bit of shaping, although no short rows. The arms and legs are articulated at the shoulder/hip so the bear can sit/stand/wave/figure ice-skate etc...

A short week later and Pudsey was born, complete with trade-mark eye-patch adorned with red sequins for dots...

Just over a foot tall he went to the cake stall to be raffled. I was hoping to get £5 from ticket sales, but after 2 hours we had raised £41.50!

He was won by Julia that very afternoon and there were quite a few request of making more.

But that's about a month old (bad blogger, no cookie!)

Since that I have been busy if not buzzy and the needles have been well used (slippers, meerkat, and some startitis evidence)...more of that later when the camera phone springs into action again!