NaBloPoMo

my poor, poor neglected blog is going to get some long over due attention, and in an attempt to start regular blogging again I have joined NaBloPoMo. So starting tomorrow there will be daily blog posts. See y’all then!

Green Fingers?

I have never liked gardening. I’ve never seen the point of digging the dirt just to make it look pretty for a few months when the flowers are out, then have to pull out weeds all year and start again the next.

I can however see the point to digging dirt etc to grow food. Unfortunately our garden is not suitable to grow veggies, so I have taken to the ‘urban’ route and plan to grow herbs in pots. At 32 I have never grown anything before in my life, I not even been able to keep pot plants alive. I am hoping that the thought of fresh herbs whenever i want will be enough to keep me motivated to water them.

You wanna see what I got?

From L to R: Oregano, Rosemary & Basil

Clockwise from bottom: Applemint, Rocket & Red Veined Sorrel

From L to R:  Thyme, Chives & Flat Leaf Parsely

For observant I am aware I need to repot the middle plants, but I had run out of compost and they are being re-potted tonight.

Fingers crossed!

Poorly Macbook and poorly Mum

Poorly Macbook, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

just a quick diversion from knitting/spinning – this is my 18mth old macbook. The edge has started to spontaneously break and the placement of the break makes it really awkward not to make it worse, as it is exactly where my wrist rests. Does anyone know if this is a known problem, or how best to fix it. As the photo shows the broken of edge leaves a tiny gap which leads directly into the computer so I can’t just stick it back on with glue.
I am off to city on monday so may take it with me and pop into Apple shop for advice.

My Mum is going to have her gallbladder removed on monday afternoon, so please send her lots of healing thoughts. I’m a bit upset that I can’t be there but it is logistically a nightmare and financially expensive. Expect a more in-depth post sometime over the weekend

Socks, socks and sock yarn

I hadn’t realised how busy I had been knitting socks. Here they are on my new sock blockers.

Top Left: Embossed Leaves Sock (from Favorite Socks) in Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome – Winterberry

Top Right: Loksins! in The Natural Dye Studio Merino. These are for my Mum for her bday.

Bottom Right: Merino Lace (from Favorite Socks) in Fyberspates Echo Self-striping sock yarn

I also acquired some new sock yarn

Top: Dream in Color Smooshy – In Vino Veritas

Bottom: Lime n Violet Intentions Yarns – Connection

Iceland FO

Pattern: Iceland from Rowan 42
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon in Amber (6.5 balls)
Size small (10-12) knit as per pattern.
I love this top. It is so wonderfully soft, great to throw on over a vest or t-shirt and looks good with both black and blue jeans. It was a quick fun knit and the yarn was a joy to work with.
Please excuse the wire from my headphones, Karl took the photo just as I was leaving to catch the bus to knit group and I forgot to remove it. D’oh!

I have a spate of stash enhancement of late including Lime n Violet Intention yarn, Dream in Color Smooshy and Classy, Malabrigo Worsted and Fyberpsates Merino Silk. I have projects in mind for most of it.
I am currently working on Vernal Equinox Spring Shawl and a couple of pairs of socks. I will hopefully have a couple more fo photos soon as I am planning on blocking lace scarf and handspun lace shawl later

New Hair

New Hair, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

so not the greatest photos ever! I figured if i wanted to blog about the new hair then it was now or never. Cue photobooth on my mac.
I love the cut and the colour, only wish I could be bothered to put some make-up. I have however, just got in from the snow and too cold to care.
Don’tcha just love the spotty pjs?

Bob The Snowman

100_2327, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

Please meet Bob! After waking up to yet more snow – this time completely unexpected Karl decided to take the day of work as we could not get a clear picture as to whether the buses were running.
I fell asleep on the sofa for a an hour only to wake up to a strange creature in the garden.
It is so true that men never grow up!!!!!

Admitting Defeat

Shopping Trolley, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I was getting sick and tired of having to wait for Karl to get home from work before being able to go grocery shopping, or even worse, having to go at the weekend. I have real difficulties carrying stuff. I have always been limited in my carrying (before the ME, my blood pressure stopped me from lifting heavy weights) but it has gotten worse. I can however pull/drag stuff so the perfect solution occurred to me.

This is my new toy. It is the Marketeer Paris shopping trolley (apparently voted no.1 shopping trolley by Good Housekeeping). I will be taking it out for a test drive later this afternoon. I’ll let you know how I get on.

busy busy busy

I may not have been busy blogging but I have been busy spinning.

Purple/Pink BFL – handdyed by me. 2 ply (one variagated pink, turquoise, purple, other semi-solid purple) Fingering weight

Turquoise/Green BFL – handdyed by me. 2 ply fingering weight

The Dyeing Art Dazzling Duos Superwash merino in King of Hearts. 2ply fingering/sport weight

The Yarn Yard BFL in Aurora. 2ply light fingering/lace weight

I am really pleased with these yarns and can’t believe how quickly I’ve improved over a reasonable small amount of time.

books books books

Found this book me/me at Diane’s blog and as I love books played along

Instructions:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Underline those you intend to read.
3) Italicise the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’dolin – Louis De Bernieres Mans
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73.The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Exactly half 50/50, but it seems that I would like read the majority of the rest. I wish I had more time and concentration.

Would love know how many you’ve read.