Hmmm, it’s been a while hasn’t it. Well not a great lot has happened.

Firstly I made a jacket for my mini hotwater bottle.

It’s called Valentino. It just demonstrates my eagerness to avoid sewing up, or indeed weaving ends in. I started at the top and did a ribbed tube, then I used two mid-round invisible cast ons for each of the ’shoulders’. And then I proceeded with the fairisle, using four colours.

I’m very pleased with it, particularly as i only guessed how many stitches to use, and made up the fairisle as I went along.

At the bottom I did some ribbing, and a ribbed flap for the buttons and button holes.

I’ve also been spinning. This is BFL in Wild Flowers which I dyed myself.

It is two-ply and has really nice, long colour runs, with gradual changes. I made a bigger skein which I sold, and a smaller skein which I’ve kept. It’s about DK weight, so I’m going to make some pretty fingerless mittens with it!

I also made these fingerless mitts, in Tempo, in Wishful Thinking. They’re for some fingerless mitt kits that I made up for my LYS So these are the demo pair. I can’t wait to get them back so I can wear them, though they only used 30g so I could just knit myself another pair really.

I have spun this skein of cashmere/merino, which I got from Forest Fibres on eBay. It’s chunky and slubby, and very dreamy!

Oh, how geeky is this! I built (using thick card) a better shelving system, so that I could organise my stash by colour! How beautiful it looks!

I also spun this.. it’s pure mohair, again from Forest Fibres. It’s itchy as hell though. But it’s a beautiful shade of Jade! It’s DK weight again.

And I spun this, which was a mini batt that Daniela sent me (FeltStudioUK) with another order I made back in the summer. It’s gorgeous autumnal shades.

I finally finished my socks.. called Mr Brightside, they are done in Fantasia in the Citrus colourway. I really love them, though they are not for me, unfortunately.

This is a project I’ve just started. It’s on canvas, on a chunky frame, and it’s going to be an acrylic painting of my other half’s favourite Pokemon character that he uses.

As you can see here. I have since shortened his left (well his right, on our left) arm as it was a little elongated. Apart from that I think I’ve drawn him quite well. I’ve painted the basic background now, though I obviously have to do it while my other half is at work!

And finally, a new work in progress. It’s Karen’s Cornflower socks in my skein of Manyana in Harvest Gold. They’re knitting up a dream! The gold really suits Karen’s pattern.

Apart from that, I’m still plodding on with my doily, and the Manchester Yarn Collective have a stall at the Manchester arts centre tomorrow which I’m a little nervous about!

As it’s October I thought it’d be fun to decorate our flat with pumpkins. We’re too early to be carving real ones so I thought I’d make some using this lovely Cascade 220.

So I made some from a  pattern on Ravelry but I wasn’t happy with the shape. I wanted them to be like the Munchkin pumpkins I saw in Sainsbury’s.

So I designed a shaping that I like. The ridges are made using purl stitches. It really is as simple as that! I found I had to wash them at 90 to felt so I’ve got Rowan Kid Classic to try next as I don’t like washing at above 40 really.

Aren’t they cute?! The pattern is freely available here.

I decided it was time to do something with my goldy handspun baby camel/silk, so I made the One Row Lace Scarf by Turvid – link here 

I did it in stocking stitch as I thought it showed off the yarn better that garter stitch. It’s not terribly long, so I added to it by making tassles, using my handspun from the batt I got from Fyberspates.

Yesterday I finished spinning the merino I dyed.

It looks about 4 ply to DK weight, though I don’t have the stats for it yet. It’s very lovely though, I’m very pleased with it!

So that brings me to WIPs, which I have far too many of.

Firstly, ‘Mr Brightside’ – a pattern that will be available at some point. Bright yellow socks with simple lace and cables – easy enough for TV knitting but not boring This is the second sock, and as you can see it’s on my pretty pearl DPNs. They’re blunt, but very nice!

This is on my much sharper (very sharp!) purple pins.. it’s a fairisle hot water bottle for a (fortunately) mini hotbot. I’m using four colours, which is a nightmare in itself. The pattern is off the top of my head, so I don’t know if it’ll even work. Further, I will do anything to avoid sewing up, including attempting this in one piece. Sounds easy but from the top down it meant a complicated way of casting on the ’shoulders’ and joining them to the neck at either side.. *at the same time*. Well, lots of tangles and cursing later, it’s just about worked and I’ve done a whole 4 pattern rows!

In all the excitement my poor doily has been largely abandoned. I finally got round to transferring it onto a 40cm knitpicks circ, which turns out to be way small. Looks like I massively underestimated the size of this jellyfish.  So now I’m searching the circ stash to find a 60cm one. And I’m only one row further than I was last week.

I will leave you with this beautiful photo of beautiful buttons! They are a variety of timbers, and are infinitely more beautiful than the boring wooden buttons I got for my hotbot cover (doh).

They are made by Julie (of Roseland Bags)’s husband, and are available here.

Ciao for now!

Well things have been hectic. Somehow I’ve not got much knitting done, but I have been knitting.

Anyway, last weekend I turned three singles like this:

Into yarn like this:

It’s 187g of three ply BFL with 400 yards. It feels strangely heavy – I suppose it’s tightly spun so there aren’t that many yards for the weight. I’m not sure on the WPI – I should start using that as a more accurate description of the yarn weight.

Anyway, the one WIP that I have finished is this hat. It’s Winter Femme, done in RYC Soft Lux. I didn’t have a full skein of the olive green, and as I got near the top I realised I wouldn’t have enough, so I drafted in a tiny amount of blue that I had left over. Not my ideal choice of colour combinations, but it looks ok. I’m getting deja vu, I wonder if I already blogged about this?

Last week I stupidly cast on something for me (amongst the Christmas knitting). It’s been surprisingly addictive, which is why I haven’t finished my other projects. Anyway it’s the Ten Stitch Blanket  (Ravelry link) by Frankie Brown, and I’m using Noro Silk Garden Lite in shades 2048 and 2042 – my favourites.  I actually only have one skein each of each colour! So I thought I’d make a start, and gradually gather the rest of the necessary skeins, and knit them as and when.

I also cast on Mystic Star using my TeeTee elegant yarn. It’s now much bigger and is on 6 DPNs. I can’t wait til it’s big enough for my circ – it will be much easier.

I spun this last week, it was quite a quick spin. It was a batt from FeltSudioUK which I got at Woolfest. It is baby alpaca/kidmohair/seacell/angelina and was soft to spin. I totally love it!

I haven’t counted the yards, when I do I’ll do the WPI guage.

Here’s a nice photo of Rocky. I know he looks a bit evil, he’s cute in real life though – I promise!

Yesterday my Dad wanted to play with his digital SLR in town, so I took along my little compact digital, which is a two year old Samsung NV3. I like urban photography, but I do prefer it in black and white.

Here’s a snapshot of Manchester. You can see the layers of the modern buildings, the almost ancient pubs, the cathedral and more modern buildings.

Juxtaposing the beautiful bark of the tree with the urban shoppers.

Interesting shapes… (it looked awful in colour!)

And the wheel, which I *still* haven’t been on!

That’s all for now. I’m going to spend the evening trying to finish my cuff socks (second sock syndrome prevails) and do a little of my Mystic Star. I have also now completed 10 Innocent smoothie hats and I’m about 30% through my next spinning project. I will also try and reply to the comments you have left as well! Time for a brew I think…

Brrr it’s gone cold – I think we can safely say summer is over now. That’s good for us knitters though – we get to wear those thicker things we’ve made! I have a whole box full of knitted wintery stuff under the bed, I could really do with selling it or gifting it.

Anyway I did a little knit for me this week. I wanted to practise some fairisle, to improve my tension and stuff, so I made a new, posher mug jacket. Previous ones have been simple but effective, so I decided to do a properly designed one.

This was an easy concept – I just knitted a fairisle panel, then I went all the way round picking up stitches, and I did about 5 rows of ribbing (one in the coloured yarn). For the corners, I increased two stitches on each one to get the shape. Then I cast off all but one end, and I did three bars – one of three stitches which I then grafted onto the other end of the jacket. The second two bars were about 7 rows, and have a 3-stitch button hole in each one.

Because of the ribbing, this jacket fits the majority of my mugs And it means that when I forget I’ve made a brew, it’ll stay warmer for longer, so there’s less chance I’ll have to reheat it in the microwave!

I’ve been spinning this this week too. It’s the Bluefaced Leicester I dyed in shades of green, brown and yellow. It’s spinning up great. I’m doing three plies, and there’s about 200g so I should get some good yarn from it. I’ve only done one singles so far.

Anyway that’s all I’ve got done this week. I’m going to cast on my next shawl tonight though, and I’m doing some more Innocent hats.

So here’s Rocky again. He’s settled in really well.

We noticed he kept climbing onto the rim of the glass so he could see us.. (how cute is that)

So we got him a log and placed it next to the glass and he immediately climbed up to the top of it.

Hard to believe he’ll grow into a big lizard, but then we thought that about Spike the porcupine puffer and he’s literaly tripled in size in a few months (outwards as well as lengthways!).

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ve got 9 skeins of Fantasia sock yarn waiting for reskeining and putting in the shop, but it’ll have to wait a few days before I get round to it. Hopefully I might get more of my Christmas knits started soon too!

Well, straight after Scotland (thankyou for all the lovely comments on my Aeolian), on Tuesday I went up to Blackpool to the Westcliffe Hotel, owned by the very lovely Paula and Simon.

We had a brilliant time, and a right laugh, and it was dead sunny so on the free morning I sat on the front patio, worked on my tan and finished my socks.

Here’s the view towards the front:

and here’s the socks:

I used my handspun Corriedale (yey) and did them from the toe up, knitting both socks at the same time; one from the middle of the ball and one from the outside.

The firgure of eight method of casting on is explained here on Knitty but as you can see, I did the cast on correctly but didn’t turn it the right way up, so my cast on stitches (16 of them) are inside out. Otherwise they”d have been invisible – at least I know for next time.

I also finished the first of my ‘Cuff socks’, which I’m doing using Bambino in colourway ‘Pleusch’, which I dyed specially for a certain WoW fan customer. We thought the original skein had gone missing in the post so I dyed a second one, then the original turned up, so I kept this skein! The pattern is simple:

-Cast on 60 stitches

- Knit 2×2 rib all the way, every ten rows or so twist the knit stitches all the way round (put 1 st on Cable Needle to back or front, K1, K1 from CN).

- 3 inches down do one round of knit around (this makes the cuff fold over where you want it to)

- Carry on in 2×2 rib, doing a twist pattern every ten rows until you’ve done a further 5 inches or so, or until you go brain dead with boredom.

- Short row heel it baby!

- Foot – do the 2×2 rib over the 30 top foot stitches, plain stocking stitch the under foot stitches.

- Make a toe.

- Make the second sock. Give to delighted recipient and sigh with relief that all that ribbing shall never be seen again. Well until the next ribbed sock anyway.

I’m also making Innocent Smoothie hats - my tally is a measly 5 so far. I’m using leftover sock yarns mostly, and using about 36 stitches on 2.5mm needles.

When I got back from Blackpool I had a surprise parcel waiting for me! It was from my lovely friend Laura, of Beads By Laura fame.

So I opened up the pretty pink box and inside were this beautiful set of stitch markers, which are lovely and sparkly, and a little heavy so that I don’t lose track of them on my needles. I’m using them already and they are so beautiful!

She also included this absolutely stunning cupcake! I’d been ogling these and thinking I’d get one soon, but Laura beat me to it! The cake is purple, my favourite colour! The level of detail is brilliant – it’s hard to believe really that it’s actually a handmade piece of glass, because it’s so perfect. I’m going to make it into a necklace I think, or dangle it from my spinning wheel. I’d like it to be somewhere that I can admire it, but my neck seems like a safe place where it won’t get damaged, so I’m undecided yet.

I was really over the moon – you know when someone sends you a pressie out of the blue and it’s something you adore – how cool is that? So a really huge thankyou Laura, you really made my day, and I smile every time I see my stitch markers and cupcake They’re beautiful!

Hey talking of adorable, I must end on this:

His name is Rocky and he’s a little bearded dragon. We brought him home today! We have a lovely big 3 foot vivarium which is all set up nice and warm (wish I could fit in!), and Rocky is about 3 inches in length, not including his tail. Isn’t he cute? We have to feed him live crickets, which are tinkers to catch, and dragons also like their greens, so he gets some of my salad too.

He’s very soft , warm and dry to the touch. We picked a lizard for a pet because we’ve both been bitten by rodents, plus there’s messy/smelly sawdust and stuff involved. Rocky has no smell at all and makes no mess

Anyway, I’m off to cast on the next shawl and listen to the Prodigy for an upbeat change!

..But not necessarily in that order!

We were in Scotland over the weekend. I’m back tonight then off to the Westcliffe hotel in Blackpool tomorrow morning for the knitting holiday again

Anyway, here’s my Aeolian.

Modifications – I nicked Tinks’ beading idea, and only beaded the little triangles and where nupps should have been.

It’s quite vast – it’s well more than my ‘wingspan’ so I’d guess it’s about 180cm across. No wonder it took so long to cast off!

This shawl is purple by the way, not blue as it appears here (annoyingly).

I spun this too last week. It’s a batt from FeltStudioUK on etsy.

I love it! I haven’t weighed it or counted the yards yet. It’s really purple, pink and brown, but the purple seems to be the main colour.

We had a campfire in the area in the photos further down. We made a stone circle, and we baked potatoes. I knitted, though it was drizzling and freezing (I had all my hand knitted woollies on of course so was quite snug though), and the baked potatoes tasted delicious, especially the skins. Unlike the other nearby fires, we actually cleared up our rubbish, put the fire out, and scattered the burnt logs and the stones. It really annoyed me to see where other fires had been, with rubbish and all.

Here’s where we were:

So, now I need to finish unpacking, and repack for Blackpool!

Meet Gretal:

It’s hand dyed merino/tencel from Knitting Pixie, aka Denise.

I haven’t counted the yards, but it’s about aran weight, so I reckon there will be about 180 or so. I need to decide what to do with it, it’s destined to be a Christmas present.

I was busy dyeing BFL/nylon sock yarn last week, and I stashed a new colourway called ‘Wishful Thinking’, which is shades of brown, lilac, and purple. However I’ve not managed to photograph it teribbly successfully yet.

I also made a Treadle Cosy. I crocheted a square using leftover handspun yarns, then felted it at 90 degrees to get a really thick fabric. I sewed two lovely buttons on, and simply used elastic across the back to fix it in place.

It looks lovely, but it does move around, and actually I really need to make a properly designed and thought-out version. I really fancy a fairisle treadle cosy, in natural, neutral colours, but it’ll have to wait for now.

Finally, I’m currently spinning this:

It’s from FeltStudioUK, and is hand carded Falkland, Merino, Tencel and Angelina. The photo really doens’t do it justice, once it’s spun up (It’s nearly done), I should hopefully get some better pictures. It’s spinning up really well, it’s uneven, and a bit raggy in areas, and I totally love it. It kind of reminds me of the sari silk yarns you get but much softer.

Anyway, my Aeolian is almost done – I just have the edging chart to do. I’ve suddenly become determined to finish before I go away on Friday, but I don’t know if I will. I’ve also now made 5 Innocent hats

Thankyou for all the welcomes back!

Well here’s my latest finished handspun. It’s Falkland fibre from FeltStudioUK on etsy, though I bought it at Woolfest. It’s two ply and quite fine so I think (hope!) there’ll be at least 400 yards here.

I can’t get my camera to get the colours very well, but the close up shows them accurately.

I dyed 10 skeins of Maya Chunky this week, the rest are in the shop but this one’s mine. It’s subtle shades of blue. It’s just so soft and snuggly, before I dyed it all I hung all ten skeins round my neck and snuggled in them for a while

Oh, last post I forgot to mention my new project bag. It’s from www.Roseland-bags.co.uk and Julie’s done a great job on this bag.

I can fit in my whole Aeolian project with ease, including the pattern. There’s pockets for my wee crochet hook, and two magnetic clasps to guide my yarn, which is really helpful.

Ok, on the Phoenix forums there was mention of wanting to see Spike deflated as well as inflated. So I have photos of the whole gang for you!

Spike (porcupine puffer)  inflated:

Spike half deflated:

Spike deflated, al cute again:

Spike admiring himself:

HectorJunior (hermit crab) .. we had a Hector Senior who was much bigger, but he died a couple of weeks ago (long story). So we now have Hector Junior who is much smaller.

The yellow one is Daphne (mustard tang):

Blue one is Betty (Regal tang) and the other two are Eric and Ernie (as in Morecambe and Wise, and are clown fish)

This is Henry (Picasso trigger). He has a big personality.. he has HectorJunior earmarked for food, and keeps picking him up and dropping him on his back (Hector’s getting wise to it now). As soon as the lights go off Henry goes straight to bed. He’s also a biter, luckily he has a very small mouth. He has beady little eyes and watches me to see if I’m watching him looking for trouble.

His skin is rough like sand paper, and when it’s dinner time he goes batty with excitement. When that black dorsal fin is up, he’s in Shark Mode.

This terribly blurry photo is Pugsley (dogfaced puffer). He’s like a little podgy seal or sealion, and is the angelic one of the tank. He’s shy and retiring (though eats out of our hands and comes up to greet us now), and ironically he has the biggest gnashers of them all. He once bit me by accident and he was more shocked than me! It drew blood, and was quite a big bite for a smallish animal. He really is sweet though

This is a view down the length of the tank. When I went over with my camera they all hid (apart from Spike), so you can see at the end, Henry is peering round out of his home/cave to see if I still have the camera. As soon as I put it away they all came out again.

So there you go! Marine fish are really rewarding. They have personalities, and they all eat from our hands and respond to us. When we walk past they chase us down the tank (it’s 5 feet long), and at dinner time they go totally mental with excitement, splashing around at the top and in Spike’s case, spitting at us. Hector Senior took food from us too, and he used to scale the filter (no idea how seeing as it’s clear plastic) and climb out. So Hector Junior probably will learn these things too, he’s quite tame  but hasn’t learnt to trust human hands yet!

Well I’m off to spin and knit. I’m spinning PixieDyes (aka Denise/Knitting Pixie) merino/tencel fibre in Gretal, which is spinning up stunningly.  I’m also knitting my Aeolian, which I just have the edging to do, and I’ve started an Innocent hats collection, oh and I’ve just finished crocheting a treadle-cosy, which is in the wash felting at this very moment. I also need to do some proof reading!

Oh, finally, I had an ultrasound today and I do have PCOS. So I will start Metformin soon and hopefully lose weight, so that I can start to get better

Well I decided after being AWOL for ages, I’d return. I don’t really know why – just felt like it really, so here I am! Quite a lot has happened – my spinning has improved, I’ve been on a knitting holiday at www.westcliffehotel.co.uk, I’ve won first class awards for my handspun and my Twisted Flower socks, and a third class award for my Laminaria. I have also being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome, which explains why I can’t lose weight, and I’m getting hot and sweaty gradually more and more, and I’m really tired. This combined with the underactive thyroid isn’t great news, but it should be curable once I start medication to help me lose weight.

Anyway, a few things for you to peruse, which I’ve done recently.

My first three-ply handspun, which is Corriedale dyed by me in autumn colours. There are 260 yards and 100g.

Daydreamer socks in BFL sock yarn. My own pattern – ooh yeah!

Spike, our pufferfish, practising blowing up.

More socks – knitted while I was in Sicily the other week. It was the most blissful week ever! These are my own design (simple enough) and my own Tempo sock yarn in a colourway now called ‘Etna Sunset’ and soon to be repeated.

Bluefaced Leicester which I dyed. There’s 200g so I’m going to spin two skeins of probably three ply.

And another 200g of BFL in Wild Flowers, which I’ll make 2 ply with. I’m thinking I might try and ’step’ the colours so I get a nice gradual colour change.

Some Norwegian fibre I spun, bought from Woolfest. This stuff is rougher than old ropes, sadly. There are about 200 yards and 100g.

And I finished these today, they’re Delicato mitts in Manyana sock yarn, which was leftover from my Twisted Flower socks. I reversed the colours on each one, and I think my Mum wants them.

Finally, I had my first Woolfest stand, and it was a huge success, though unbelievably exhausting, what with my health and my back injury. It was so worth the pain though – the atmosphere was wonderful and I met a lot of really lovely people, including customers and Phoenix forum friends. I also met Julie of Roseland Bags (www.roseland-bags.co.uk) and Paula of Westcliffe Hotel which I mentioned earlier.

Anyway, I’m going to carry on spinning

Has it been gloriously sunny there? It has here in Manchester! I love the winter, but I am really enjoying the sunny weather – I feel far more energised and cheerful.

I joined the gym last week. Shockingly, I weigh 15 stones! I’m a size 16, so I’m not too huge, I think the weight is in my boobs as they are particularly big – I’m hoping they’ll decrease along with the rest of me. Anyway, I’m aiming for 3-4 times a week, currently just doing 20 mins a day. Doesn’t sound much does it, but it’s a start and I can already feel the benefits. The gym is literally minutes from our flat which is brilliant. Also, they’re starting street dance classes in the summer, so I’ve signed up.

In other news, Hector, our hermit crab, took a cranberry from my fingers today – yippee! He quickly scuttled off to eat it, making sure there was no chance of anyone nicking it.

In more other news, did anyone see the tea cosy competition in Knitting mag? Well I entered my blackberry tea cosy.. I didn’t hear anything for ages so thought I mustn’t have won anything, but it turns out I did – and my tea cosy will be in the tea cosy book (‘Tea Cozy 2′) later this year, along with a second one that I also designed! I can honestly say it’s the first time in my entire life that I’ve won anything! Seriously! So I’m feeling pretty pleased about that!

Anyway I’ll get onto the knitting. Remember the noro striped scarf? Well here it is! I got chance to wear it (before this great weather) and I think it might be my favourite (I’m fickle like that)! It’s Noro Blossom (2 skeins) and Silk Garden (1.5 skeins in colour 264).

I just love the colours and texture, even though it’s just garter stitch.

Did I mention  Jesien? I’m sure I did. Well here she is. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, it’s a lovely royal blue (not crappy grey, as it appears here).

Your eyes are not deceiving you – I’m now on 8 DPNs, as she’s too small for a circ and too big for three or four DPNs. It’s… fiddly.

I did miss the first lot of double yarn overs and had to unpick and reknit two rows, but now I’ve done that I’ve got the flow again and it’s really addictive despite the fiddliness. I’m already looking forward to my next doily (gulp).

Oh here’s the second tea cosy. A simple slip stitch design using Sirdar Peru, complete with bobble and buttons (Well I need to use up my button stash, I don’t know about you)!

Oh I’ve done tonnes of dyeing this past couple of weeks. I had my sock club dyeing to do, and I got in this new merino sock yarn – Fantasia – which I dyed too.  I’m so in love with this yarn. Well I’m fickle and I say that about them all – I know that, but honestly Fantasia is just so gorgeous – the reason being that it’s similar to Jitterbug and Socks That Rock – do you know what I mean? It’s the total smoothness that they have, and the tight twist, and crispy stitch definition, and really rich colours.

It’s the kind of yarn that no matter how close up your shots, they still look good because it’s so smooooooth.

Anyway, moving on. Sarah of Brownberry Yarns ordered ten skeins of Unicorn Lace, and here they are on my desk. Actually there’s one skein missing from both these photos – it’s bright red. So bright it’s almost dazzling.

Fourth from the left is the new ‘Brownberry’ colourway – unique to Sarah’s shop It’s cream, brown and juicy purple.

I did some crochet this week too. I often have to fudge it as I have no idea what I’m supposed to do or what the stitches are, but it seems to be going ok.

Here’s the Devil from Creepy Cute Crochet.

And hippo from Tiny Yarn Animals. Cute eh!

Oh I also made a teeny tiny sweater. My stepdad’s been on aat me to make him a jumper.. so I did (insert evil laugh) It’ll just about fit his little finger!

Oh here’s some more news – I published my Inside Out socks pattern on Ravelry as a free download.

Done in Bambino – I totally love these socks. I love the texture that reverse stocking stitch gives, and have always wanted to knit something inside out. These were great TV knitting and are fun to wear as everyone says ‘are your socks inside out??’ and you can smugly reply ‘yep, I knitted them inside out’! (another evil laugh could be inserted here).

I have a couple more WIPs as well as Jesien – these are my next TV knitting – another pair of Daydreamer socks, designed by… me! (available as a free Rav download)

They’re done in my BFL sock in Sorbet, they’re very summery!

Oh here’s my final not knitting news – this is the rocket that I’m growing:

And at the back, carrots, at the front, chillis. I don’t know if the carrots will grow in this trough, but I’m happy to try. I have very green fingers so hopefully they’ll grow anyway. The chillis are very happy, and I also have more carrots and some red pepper plants on the way too. 

Oh I thought that was it! Here’s a nice photo of what we call our Cave Dog – he’s not evolved much yet and is quite primitive. For example, he can’t understand that if he carries a stick four times his body length, he can’t get through the gate. In this situation, our much-evolved labradors back home know that they can either sit there and chew the stick on that side of the fence, or they can cleverly turn their heads to fit through, whacking everyone within a 100m radius.

Oh here’s a pretty bud.

Oh! That’s it for now. It’s dinner time, and as OH is out tonight, I’m going to devote the evening to Jesien and my stealth lace project and Desperate Housewives. I’m also going to make him a three flavoured jelly as it’s his birthday tomorrow. He’s actually 32 but still wants jelly and ice cream for lunch. Me? Well I’m glad of the excuse, frankly.

Ciao for now folks!