I’ll elaborate here, but sometimes I wonder why people do this so often.
Okay so here’s the back-story to this little vent of mine. A friend of mine, wife and mother of two, very respected, helps out with her children’s schools a lot, very friendly and nice, is being sued. When she told me this I immediately asked why!? She said that during all the cold weather, her car had slipped a little on the ice coming out of the car park near her children’s school, which meant that she bumped the car of another parent, whilst they were sitting in it. My friend had just started her car, and wouldn’t even have been going 5km per hour, and the other car was stationary, as the woman hadn’t started it yet, waiting for my friend to exit the car park first.
My friend got out and spoke to the other driver, apologising, and swapped car insurance information in spite of there not being any damage, even to the paint on the bumper bars. A fortnight later she received a letter in the post, telling her that the driver of the other car was suing her for physical trauma caused by the car accident, saying that she’d not been able to work for a week, and was possibly going to need more time off.
My friend was stunned, appalled, and is intending to fight it in court. We think she’s got a good case, because she took photos of where the damage would have been had there been any, for the insurance people, so that’s good. I mean, if there’s no external damage to the cars, how can this lady say that she’s got internal damage!? When my friend rang the car insurance people she was asked to get a quote from one of their authorised people, but when she told them there was no damage to either of the cars, they told her there was no need for any further action.
We pretty much think that this piece of work lady has been on one of those rediculous sites with ‘personal injury calculators’ and just made some symptoms up, faked it with her doctor, then trotted on into some not-so-good firm with personal injury claims lawyers and is seeing what she can get. Seriously, the legal profession must be as frustrated with these people as much as my friend and I are.
Okay now I have vented over that, I’ll speak of better things… knitting! Today’s pattern is Ice Queen! Hehehe, yeah, I’m totally poking fun, but this is a very beautiful pattern anyway.
Tags: knitting, law suit
I love wearing nice jewellery, and my fiancé especially likes bangles on me, so they’re a new favourite for me.
I’ve always been a bit of a jewellery nut. I didn’t get an allowance or pocket money but when I would go and stay with my aunt each holidays, she’d often have some sort of odd-job for me to complete to gain some spending money. She lived in the capital, and things always seemed more interesting around her place than home, so I’d set to whatever job she’d have for me and get my meagre spending money, which to me was huge!
I remember one year she’d let the grass grow in her yard till it was taller than I was! Then she paid someone to whipper-snipper it down, and she paid me to collect all the long grass stalks and pile them against the fence. Her yard was HUGE and she paid me only a couple of pounds for this, but I was happy to do it and when it was done, she’d take me to one of those little cheap stores that has a little of everything, and I’d buy up a heap of cheap pewter jewellery.
I cringe now and some of the things I’d wear as a child – a giant fairy pendant, for example – but my appreciate for jewellery isn’t diminished. So, in my opinion, there’s a few kinds of very good bangles. The sets of fine gold bangles where you wear around ten or more are very pretty, as well as wider metal bangles that have a nice motif or cut-out work is good too. I love wooden bangles, as well, as they are often so very beautiful, and solid stone bangles are very nice as well. I don’t like plastic ones at all, and wire-wrapping holds no appeal either.
The knitting pattern for this post is an absolute no-brainer with this Swatch Bangle pattern. I’ve not tried this myself, but I hope to at some point. :D
Tags: jewellery, knitting
In the past few years the city I live in has gone to heck!
When I first moved back to my home city nine years ago with my fiancé, it was the place I remembered from my childhood. Known for being particularly cold, historic, and pleasant, it was a great place to live and I was proud to have suggested to my fiancé that we move here. But in recent times it has changed dramatically from what it was.
There is a sky-rocketing crime rate, and you can’t pick up a local news paper without hearing about another series of shop-font windows being smashed, or teenagers stealing cars or something like that. It’s utterly insane, and frightening. We’re in a smallish city, about an hour out of the capital, and right now my fiancé and I feel like we’d be better off moving to the capital to ensure we aren’t robbed… again.
Oh yes, I recently discovered that my fiancé and I’s mountain bikes had been stolen, by little hoodlums who’ve got a reputation for stealing bicycles and even going so far as to strip the bikes down and swapping over parts to make them less easy to discover or trace… I mean really!? And these hoodlums are all 12 or under, and they’re already thieving and are well known across the city for it…
The other reason that this all bothers me is that the local judicial system just isn’t cutting it. These people who are getting into brawls – or randomly attacking people – are getting 2 or 3 month suspended sentences! That’s insane! There was a news story recently in my city of a child, 14 years old, who was on probation for previous offences, being in court for multiple counts of burglary which culminated in the theft of a car which he drove into a factory and stole from as well, being given less than fifty hours community service and not even being put on probation again as it ‘hadn’t dissuaded him previously’!? I mean come on, what’s with the lameness of that!? I think that kid should have had not just the book, but the entire encyclopaedia thrown at him!
Now to break up the dreariness of that post, I have to post a cute safety knitting pattern. Mini Traffic Cones are a great way to encourage your cat to only stay in the safe zones, no, that’s not right, play with these little toys! Yep, that’s right, though no cat nip, now, as it’s not fair to drug your animals for fun.
That blog should come with a warning!
So yes, I was looking at Epicute after breakfast today, and then I just had to have a biscuit afterwards. The blog made me very hungry, in spite of my nice breakfast! It’s funny how just looking at these interestingly crafted foods can make me hungry! It is really amazing to see the level of finesse some of those foods exhibit, and I think the bento boxes look awesome! Nice to see some that are healthy in there, too!
For all those out there who look at I Can Has Cheezburger but not all the rest of the sites, I strongly recommend you check out a few of them from their newly added page of links. I personally prefer the ‘win’ blogs and the ‘cute’ blogs. Checking a blog like Daily Squee can make your day just that extra bit happier, which is quite lovely.
So what’s been happening in your world? Mine’s been quite nice and relaxing for the last week, which has been wonderful. I’ve been loving all this cold weather, though my fiancé is missing the more moderate temperatures of Spring and Autumn, which is understandable given the cold, but I really love it!
It’s also given me a lot of time to get some much needed knitting done! I’ve finished the knitting for my fiancé’s fingerless gloves and scarf in the Dapper Heringbone stitch, and they look great – he’s most looking forward to the gloves. I just have to block them all and then sew up the gloves as I knit those flat. It’s pretty exciting. Now I’m about to start work on the Leafy neckwarmer and the cowl of my own design! OOooo! For a knitting pattern today I’m going to have to go with a cute food, so how about
knit onigiri – Japanese rice ball. I’ve never tried an onigiri, but I reckon it’d be nice. :D
Tags: cute food, Epicute, knitting, Lolcats
Okay so that title sucked, but I couldn’t think of a way to say that I was looking at houses, but not with an intention to buy, if that makes sense.
First up, it’s amazing the amount of incorrect keys you hit when you’re sneezing whilst typing. Hilarious. Back to the topic at hand, now. Sooo, prices look to be… umm, pretty bad, actually. Property prices are falling still, which is surprising, but then again, with the internet, perhaps my information is old. I’m not sure, because I keep hearing a lot of news about repossession or about people having problems with repossession possibilities and threats.
There’s information out there for people to avoid or stop repossession, but it seems that often it’s too little too late. I don’t know, it makes me more disinclined than ever to actually buy a house. Sometimes it seems like renting for a while, a long while, is a good idea. Mortgage deals are getting rather out of hand again, in my opinion, I mean, 90%? Seriously? Way to not learn the lesson at hand, people.
Yeah, my fiancé and I will be renting for some time to come, and I’m more than happy with that, really. It gives us the freedom to move if we want to without all the stress of either selling or renting out to other people. I’d rather be less stressed than that. It really seems like people are kidding themselves that we’re as through the financial crisis as they want to believe. We’re still in the midst of it, sure maybe not rock bottom, but we’re still pretty close, and acting like we’re not, handing out 90% mortgages, is just perpetuating the problem.
Knitting pattern time! I’m still chilly – see pattern choice for previous pattern – so I’m going to link this dress pattern. It doesn’t really have a name – one of DROPS design’s patterns – but it’s a warm looking dress. All you’d need is a nice pair of tights and you’d be set. That and months to knit the pattern! :D
Tags: houses, knitting, prices
So many bloggers have talked about this, and now that I’ve researched it, so shall I!
Okay so run down just in case you’ve missed all this, which would be bloody amazing because the story is everywhere, but here it is anyway. In mid-December, Google noticed that someone was trying to attack it. No news there, that happens all the time, however this was a very skilled and very targeted attack on their corporate site, and email accounts of many humanitarian workers in China. Google traced the attacks and found that they also targeted companies in the media, finance, and defence areas.
Some news stories have even suggested that the attacks have hit companies that currently hold defence contracts within the US. Google hasn’t come out and said that the Chinese government is behind the attacks, but the the level of sophistication, and Google’s reaction, people have pretty much assumed that the attacks are backed by the government.
These attacks come on the back of Google deciding that they would no longer censor their search results as China demanded they would have to do to be able to operate within the country. This was a very controversial decision on Google’s part, and I think many people are very happy to see it overturned. However there are now fears that, with Google pulling out of the country, the censorship of information for the Chinese people will be even greater… and that’s pretty crap.
Google isn’t the only company to be trying China at the moment, and it’s interesting to see these pushes on China’s demands all occurring at the same time. Companies that sell raw iron ore – used to make steel – usually sell around half their yearly product to China, and last year China used this buying strength to set the iron ore price for the year at a less than great rate to iron ore sellers. This year, iron ore sellers – Vale of Brazil, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – skipped China and went straight to Japan, completely leaving China out of price negotiations for the year. That’s massive considering the proportion of sales that go to China.
In another aggravating move to ol’ China, the US has just signed a deal to sell over 200 missiles to Taiwan, something China expressly ‘asked’ the US not to do, and now they are rather persnickety over it. I have to say, I really do enjoy seeing countries say no to China. I don’t approve of their censorship, and other practices going on throughout the government, so I like to see the playing field evened out a little.
Oh, by the way, China does have it’s own set of hackers, who are often very patriotic – which leads many to believe that they are in fact sanctioned by the government – and lately these patriotic hackers have set themselves the task of defacing Iranian websites because Iranian hackers attacked one of China’s biggest search engines. If you’ve found this whole thing interesting at all, then please read this news story, because it brings up so many breaches of security perpetrated by China that I can’t mention them all here!
Okay now for a knitting pattern. How about a blanket? This pretty Sutter’s Mill Throw Blanket, to be precise. It’s chilly in my part of the world, and I’d like to have this blanket on my lap right now!
There are so very many of those small loans places in my town, and I see they’re doing pretty well for themselves, but I just think of those people digging themselves into debt, and it’s not good, in my opinion.
I mean, I only care because people have been doing it tough for a while now, and all these loan places promise people the instant gratification of getting what they’ve needed for a while, right now, but then in the end, they pay through the nose for it!
I think people need to be really smart with how they’re spending at the moment. I mean, I know the nation needs us to spend, to get the economy back on it’s feet more stably, so that’s understandable, but these loans are just pouring people’s money into the pockets of some already heavily lined pocket owning people! I like to take note of how the economy is doing before making big buys, so I like good, easy to understand, finance sites. This is money is pretty good, and easy for anyone to understand, but I also like to look at this site for news, and pay attention to the stuff on personal loans!
If you’re considering any loans and such, go with a regular bank. It seems that people who don’t, and go to those nasty little loans places, go in part because they know they won’t be turned down but them, but would be by a bank. If that’s the case, don’t do it! There’s a reason the bank won’t loan money to you! You’re not in a great position to pay them back! Debt is serious, and it’s what crippled the world’s economy, so I’m super careful to avoid it. If you are, though, it’s good to get advice on debt from others who are in the know, they may be able to help.
Now off the wretched topic and onto something else! Knitting patterns, yay, woot! I think the opposite of debt crappiness is comfort, so here is the Regal Comfort Shawl, rather pretty I think!
Tags: debt, knitting, Money
Why do you craft that which you craft? Interesting question I reckon.
Hmm, I think I’m inspired by necessity, in many cases, as with a little side project I’ve decided to make for myself. You see, a little background to the project… Whenever I’m in town, I take my mobile phone so my fiancé, who’s at home, can call me and we can discuss stuff like what I’ll pick up from the supermarket, how long till I’ll be home, how much we love and miss one another, how frustrating that lady who was yelling at her children on the bus was, you know, that sort of thing. Often he’ll call me so we can discuss something, but my phone will be in my backpack, and with all the noise of the shops and people around me, I’ll not hear it. It can be really annoying for him, and occasionally worrying if I’m way later than I intended to be.
So, I thought to myself, I’ll fix this situation, and started carrying my phone in my hand all the time. Yes, that’s a little tricky, though. So, next flash of inspiration! I’ll knit a lanyard! Yep! I’ve got some lovely nylon braid, fairly strong stuff, so I’ll make an icord lanyard out of that! So that’s one way that I get inspired.
Another is when I see a garment that I really like, on the catwalk for instance, and I’ll ponder a heck of a lot about how to make it. Like years ago I saw a lovely skirt on a catwalk, it looked like a lovely wool, much like a beige picnic blanket, that was asymmetrically hemmed, and bias cut. Beautiful! I tried to make it with a woollen blanket, lined it, FAIL! But I was inspired, and I’m still inspired to one day make a skirt like that. So that’s another of my inspirations… I think for me it is often a case of styles that have always appealed, and taking up the chance to make them. I love capelettes, always have, so when I got the chance, I was inspired and I’ve made four now, with fabric to make two more. So what inspires you in your craft?
Okay now for a pattern, ridiculously simple, yet here it is, an icord lanyard pattern. :D
Tags: inspiration, knitting, Sewing
I’m pretty sure that this ninja dog could work as inspiration to all sorts of pet owners to ninjafy their animals!
So yes, I was looking through all the cute pictures on Cute Overload and there was a post on this awesome Ninja Puppeh by the name of Boo. I had to learn more about this awesome little dog, so followed the link to a news article about him, talking about his ninja goings on. By the way, the name of that site there, Asahi, means ‘mourning sun’ in Japanese, and is the name of a very popular beer over there, that’s actually pretty nice.
Anyway, Boo the Ninja Dog is a Pekinese of nine years, whose owner, 66 year old Atsushi Nishi, dressed him up as a ninja for a period costume parade back in 2008 called Oharame Jidai Gyoretsu. Since then, Boo’s owner has continued to dress him up as a ninja because so many people react so well to him and seem to love seeing a small dog dressed as a ninja.
He’s pretty cute, I have to say, and the name Boo is great. Boo in this case is in reference to the Tibetan word for sun, but I’m predisposed to like the name Boo because of the miniature giant space hamster of the same name from Baldur’s Gate II.
Just in case you are interested in meeting Boo in person, you can usually find him trotting around the grounds of Kiyomizudera temple or Nijo Castle, both in Kyoto, where his owner, a tour guide, often has him in costume. He’s also got his own doggie blog here, though it’s entirely in Japanese and incredibly garish.
Okay so now for a knitting pattern, well, it had to be ninjaesque today, so I’m going to make it a link to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pattern because the turtles are totally cool. Donatello was my favourite – go us geeky and creative types! – whilst Raphael was my fiancé’s favourite – go the witty and loyal types! – so finally, here’s the link to the pattern!
Tags: Boo, Ninja, Ninja Doggie
Seems to be all I’ve wanted to do of late, so I thought I’d blog about it too!
Soo, I’ve really been sporadic with my blogging of late. I think it’s the holiday season, I’ve been very sporadic about doing my housework too! But I’ve had the very strong urge to knit and game… that’s about it. :D
So, knitting. I finished the scarf I was knitting for my fiancé, though it needs to be blocked still, but I ended up not needing the fourth ball of Patons Jet that I had so I decided to make him some fingerless gloves to go with the scarf. Simple ribbing wrist band, with the same stitch as the scarf for the hand. I’m knitting them flat and will sew them up afterwards. It’s been such a lovely yarn to work with, I’m looking forward to knitting with more alpaca and wool blends in the future!
I was in my local opp shop looking for something for my fiancé – a nice glass dish to hold crystals in as the felt bowl I’d made him was soon being rather crowded by all the crystals I kept buying him! – and happened to find an unused ball of yarn, wool, mohair, and alpaca, for .50p! Woots! It’s a nice teal coloured chunky yarn, and I’m going to make a cowl out of it – yes another one! – but this time with a pattern of my own devising! The last time I set out to make a pattern I never finished, but this time I shall, dammit!
As for gaming, I’ve been playing Heroes of Might and Magic IV with my fiancé for the last few days and it’s super awesome! I know it’s old now, and I do prefer a lot about Heroes III over IV, but it’s still a great game that I’m really enjoying. The trouble is, which faction to play as!? Order of Nature!?
Okay now for a pattern… How about a cute felted wizard’s hat? My mother made me one of these when I was a little girl, but out of card and covered in a pretty fabric that matched an adorable dress she’d made me from a full sized ladies dress from an opp shop. I loved that dress up outfit!
Where do you stand?
My fiancé and I got to talking about those ‘naked scanner’ things they’ve been trialling in Manchester Airport and whether we thought they were appropriate or not, so I got to looking it up afterwards.
My initial reaction was like that of many fellow Brits, disgust at a government gone mad with how far it can invade a person’s privacy and that sort of thing, though my fiancé was a little different in his reaction. He said that he would prefer being able to just be scanned rather than have to be searched if the occasion should arise, and I can agree that I too would feel the same way. I think that the regular metal detectors should be used in airports, but that if the need should arise for a specific person to be searched more thoroughly, then they should be asked if they would prefer to have the full body scan, rather than the physical search, I don’t think that these ‘naked scanners’ should replace the regular ones, but a ‘next-step’ if something is iffy about a traveller.
Whilst I was looking up that issue to find the BBC article, I also found a few other things along the same lines that are interesting. Britain has more CCTV cameras per person than any other country in the world! No other country has them in the same kinds of numbers per capita that we do! It also seems to do very little for us! Though I’d guess that criminals would be caught more often, even if they’re not deterred by the cameras. That just makes them seem stupid… here’s hoping they all win Darwin Awards. :D
New technology with GPS vehicle tracking is also being implemented, but this is mostly for businesses, I think. I don’t actually have a problem with this, I think it’s a good idea for family vehicles, too. How nice would it be if, say, someone was missing? You could look this up and find out where the car was, maybe they ran off the road and just knocked themselves unconscious? Or if your car was stolen?
RFID tracking, however, seems completely untenable to me. Well, wrong for companies to be able to put into products to see who is buying them, that’s just whack and a serious invasion of privacy for no good reason. See, that’s the defining point as to whether I’ll personally say something is okay or not. The reason behind it. With the ‘naked scanners’, CCTV cameras, and GPS vehicle tracking, there are all security reasons for implementation; they can help to keep us safe. The RFID tracking, however, is purely for commercial purposes, and therefore not appropriate. If this technology was being used to keep tabs on potentially dangerous items, guns and chemicals, now that’s a brilliant idea if I do say so myself!
Okay, now for a knitting pattern. In keeping with the reason behind this post, I think I have to link a knitted toy aeroplane. :D
Tags: airports, full body scanners, knitting, security
I’ve decided that this year is going to be a year where my handcrafting ability actually progresses!
I’ve been knitting for about five or six years now, since the Winter of 2004, I believe. The last time I saw my mother, she came to visit my fiancé and I because I asked her to teach me to knit. In that time I’ve made a fair few things, but I’ve rarely challenged myself. I’ve done a little cabling, but nothing really complex, nor have I really attempted lace. Two things I’m going to rectify this year! Dammit!
I’ve got a whole bunch of cowls lined up, that I’ve been wanting to do, and I’ll do those very soon. One is a cable sort, with a mildly complicated leafy pattern at the ends. Beautiful! Then I’m creating one from an oak-leaf cable chart, that’s very impressive! I’m also making a lovely quilt-stitch cowl, which is exciting, and that will leave one ball of dark purple alpaca/wool blend that I’m considering either a lace pattern or a complex cable pattern… not sure which, yet.
I also really want to get that lace shawl made, and I want to make a shrug, too. I want to make a few more complicated items, large ones, preferable, like a full sweater or cardigan or dress! My mother in law bought me some knitting magazines for Christmas – SQUEE!!! – and there is an adorable little Summer dress in one of them, which I want to make!
Tempest is a shrug pattern from Berroco that I’ve always wanted to make. It looks so lovely and drapey, much like Panobo which is another I’ve always wanted to make. So here are both! Perhaps I will make one or both of them this year? :D
Tags: crafting, knitting, resolution
I didn’t blog throughout the Christmas period, so here’s my Holiday blog post, albeit a little belated.
Wow, eh? Wow! A new decade! My fiancé and I have been having fun making jokes about not having done things this decade. Like, I’ve not had a glass of juice this decade! Or, just after midnight yesterday, I’ve not had a shower this decade! :D Silly, but fun!
So, how was your Christmas? Ours was very good! My fiancé’s mother decided to give us lots of surprising gifts, including a sound system and huge juicer for my fiancé, and a sewing machine and overlocker for myself! I was so shocked… it was awesome! I’ve been using the new machines, and they sew like a dream! Much easier to use than my old sewing machine, and much, much more that I can do with them! I’ve got more than forward straight-stitch! :D
I’ve been sewing that faux fur cape, again. Got it to the point where all I have to do is sew together the lining and outer together at the bottom, which is, unfortunately, a really irritating thing. Because the whole bottom of the cape is bias cut, it’s really hard to get a smooth line together, and this leads me to be very irritable with it so it’s sat for three days with nothing happening, even though I’d done nearly all the sewing the day before that and was SO CLOSE to fishing! Bah! Anyway, after that I’ve just got to iron down the seams and then sew on the clasp. So pretty close to being finished! It’s very, very weighty, perfect for a really cold day. I feel like a gigantic diva in it! I just need one of those stupid little turbans! :D
I’ve also been knitting away and have nearly finished my fiancé’s scarf. I’ve only used three of the four balls I bought for this, otherwise it’d end up a three meter long scarf and that’s just silly. So with the last ball of yarn I’m thinking of making some fingerless gloves to go with it, a ribbed cuff with the herringbone stitch over the hands, I think.
Anyway, now for a pattern and then I’ll pack this post up! Hmmm, I think the Helvellyn hood is very cute!
Tags: Christmas, Holidays, knitting, Sewing
You see it all the time, whenever anything financial comes on TV everything’s all sombre and dour… what the heck is with that?
I’m not one to stick my head in the sand, I know that the economy in the UK, hell, the world economy is still pretty much broken, but what I don’t get is why so many different groups think they can turn a profit from this by trying to make people feel worse about what’s already happened… I mean, have you noticed the amount of ads on TV for financial protection, or insurance ads! There’s heaps of ads for mortgage life insurance cover as well as critical illness insurance ads as well.
I agree that going through some financial planning at this point might be a good idea, and obviously keeping up your health and home insurance, but
look at home insurance reviews before signing up with one of those companies that are selling their insurance by scaring you into feeling guilty for not having their insurance because you’ll probably die in an accident and leave your struggling family with no means to survive. At least, those are the ads I’m getting in my town!
I’m serious about that, before signing up to anything financial related, visit the money supermarket to check how that company does in comparison with all the rest. It’s hugely important to not sign up to anything that’s just going to bite you in the bottom two months later!
I know that we Brits need to climb out of a rather deep financial hole still, but getting all doominous gloom about it won’t make it any easier!
Okay lets get off that depressing topic and move onto something less depressing… knitting! The pattern I’m linking would make anyone feel better should they have a pair of these totally awesome and cute Elf Shoes! Aren’t they adorable!
Tags: finance, knitting
We’ve got a rather high download limit, however this month we’ve actually nearly overshot it still!
We’ve got about the best internet connection you can have short of fibre optic cabling, which is just awesome. It makes you not consider just how much you’re downloading, because usually it’s so damn fast. We do go through a UK ISP, however we don’t use BT or one of the bigger companies. I think that’s why we pay less, because our company is smaller and therefore has to use a cheaper price as a draw card.
We don’t have a business broadband and ADSL lease lines, though it’s pretty much the same in terms of download, just slower upload. We also use a VoIP service so our phone works through our modem, which I’ve always liked, but you do have to be aware that in case of power outage it won’t work. A lot of businesses are setting up their telephones online these days, but even with the higher demand it’s still much cheaper than regular phone lines. I have to say, though, I want a fancier phone, ours is still bugging me with it’s ultra quiet ring volume. One of these digital dect cordless phones would be just right, I think.
Anyway, back to what I’d wanted to talk about in the first place! We’ve recently been buying movies online and downloading them, iTunes and another site offer this for good prices, and it’s always so tempting because you can set it up and a few hours later you’ve got a bunch of movies! Without having to go anywhere! I also like that you can get HD films like this. We have a download limit of 50 gig per month, and we’ve got about 1 gig left for the rest of the month! That’s ten days! Oh noes… @_@ Hehehe
Okay now for a knitting pattern. This is just a cute little Christmas Tree Ornament that would be a good stash buster, which is always handy!
Tags: internet, knitting, movies
We’ve wanted to buy a home for a while, and with all the turmoil in the housing market it’s seemed like perhaps a good time to buy.
Because we’ve wanted to buy a home for… well… it seems most of this year! Because we’ve wanted to buy a home for most of this year, we’ve been keeping an eye on housing prices and what’s going to happen to property prices in 2010. Some are saying that house prices are going to drop further, but then you’ve got many news articles saying there going to get better. Though there does seem to be some… hedging of bets in the news articles, like many news agencies are saying prices are good, but they could be bad really easily.
At least there are many, many information sources available to property buyers and home buyers, but it’s always iffy with things like the economy. You can’t ever be sure about how it’s going to get along. I know that, along with the actual prices, it’s very important for prospective home buyers to pay attention to mortgage rates, because what’s the use of buying a house when you can’t afford to pay the mortgage off? It seems like the year ahead will be another with huge amounts of fluctuation, but property investors may have a good chance in the first few months to get some new property at a good price.
We want to buy a home, you know, and I don’t really care about value of the property diminishing after we’ve bought it… I pretty much feel like I just want a nice little home for my fiancé, myself, and our cats, that can always be there, not with an eye to sell at any point. Here’s hoping this is the year for it!
Okay now for a knitting pattern! It has to be house related, and I think this is just an adorable pattern! A Felted Doll’s House, though I like to think of it as a Faerie’s Home! :D
Tags: economy, housing market, housing prices, knitting
An event that I witnessed and shall relay here. It’s spooky!
Okay so this happened when I was eleven or twelve years old, in my first year of high-school anyway. I woke up on a very bright, clear, sunny morning before school. My bedroom door was open as per normal, and I could see through my doorway the door to the kitchen which was very close to it. From where my bed was, I had a clear vantage of this area.
When I looked up at the kitchen doorway, I saw a small girl standing there. She was blonde, dressed in an old fashioned full length white night gown, and dripping wet. She was across the entire room and a little further out from there, but I knew she was dripping wet. At this point I must have passed out, because I don’t remember anything until my mother woke me up, asking why I hadn’t gone to school.
I did end up going to school, because that night there was a school social on, and the son of a friend of my mother’s was coming to our house before the social and being picked up by his mother after it. When he came into the house, he sat on one of the kitchen chairs and then bounded back up again straight away.
He said that the the chair was wet, and it most certainly was! All the chairs in the kitchen had wet seats, and there was a little water on the kitchen table as well, though none of the windows were open, no one had been in the house all day, there were no pets in the house, and there was nothing on the table that could have spilled water. There was no obvious water anywhere else, just a little on the table cloth and a whole heap on all of the kitchen chairs.
That little girl has always stuck out in my mind… it’s sad to me that there was a ghost of a little girl. I hope she’s in a happy place now.
For a knitting pattern here I must reference two things. Ghosts, obviously, and Christmas! Marely’s Ghost! How awesome is this!? I’ve always thought A Christmas Tale is awesome, so it’s cool to find that little gem. :D
Tags: ghosts, knitting
No, I don’t mean that old ‘horror’ movie, I mean those of use who adore our kitties and kitties in general.
I think from being on Ravelry all the time I’m running into more and more of these cat loving people. There’s something about crafting and cats that seem to go together, in spite of the fact that they can actually make handcrafting of any type a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise. There are so many groups on Ravelry dedicated to cats it’s just amazing.
It’s a fair bet that if you ask any body on there they either have a cat, or had a cat. I mean sure, there are a few who don’t care for them, but the vast majority do! Very much so!
I love that my cats have such individual personalities! My boy-cat is such a sweetie, whilst my girl-cat is a dignified lady. They are both unique, and completely their own selves, and that’s great to have around. I love that they give me the chance to figure out how to be a good pet owner without holding any mistakes against me.
Being a good pet-owner is much akin to learning how to be a good parent. There are many similar attributes about both roles, selflessness whilst still being firm and able to direct proper behaviour. The truth is, cats are just so much fun to have around. They make terrific lap-blankets, though you’ll have to ignore the fur they leave behind and the drool, in the case of my boy-cat. If you don’t mind that, oh and the clawing from my girl-cat ‘making biscuits’ as that kneading motion is often called, then you’re set!
Okay so now for a knitting pattern. It’s got to be something Christmas related, and cat-toy appropriate, so how about these cute little Christmas Lights!? My cats would adore playing with these, I just know it!
Tags: cats, knitting
I love Christmas! It’s just wonderful, if you ask me. It makes me happy, this time of year, though I don’t know exactly why.
Christmas has always made me happy. When I was a little girl, I would get so excited during Christmas Eve that I would wake in the middle of the night, and go and sleep beneath the Christmas Tree. :) My mother always made an effort to make our Christmas Tree pretty impressive, and the lights would make me feel happy and safe to sleep under. :)
As a child I loved all the effort my mother would put in, she was nearly always nice to me on Christmas. Oh I know how pathetically sad that sentence seems, but it’s the truth, she made an effort to be nice to me on that day, something she pretty much didn’t do on any other day save my birthday – until I was about 12 I suppose – and Easter.
I love going out and seeing all the houses with lights up, it’s beautiful and joyful, in my opinion, though I can’t help but think of all the power used. But part of me doesn’t care. :D
I also LOVE to sing Christmas carols! They’re so beautiful and happy, and they suit my little bird voice. :D I don’t know how anyone can not love this time of year, and all that goes along with it. I’m not talking about all the shopping and forced family functions, I’m talking about taking joy in what you already have. In my case, a man that I love with all my heart and that loves me just the same way back, two gloriously fun kitties who are lovely, and a snug little home to share with them all, and knit to my arthritic finger’s content. Ahhh, that’s it, that’s the stuff. Add some carols in the background and I’m just stupidly happy. :D
Of course the knitting pattern here has to be a Christmas Tree! This Evergreen Tree pattern is so cute and open to so much adornment!
Tags: Christmas, Christmas carols, knitting, singing
In the coming weeks and months, I’ve got quite a few projects that I’ve decided I’m going to knit ASAP! I’m excited, so I’ll share here what’s going to be produced by me in the short term future!
Alright, lets start with two that are actually on needles as we speak. I’m about 40% of the way through the Dapper Heringbone Scarf for my fiancé, which is knitting up very nicely, and is great to just ’sit and knit’ with. It’s not complicated, easy to remember, looks great, and the yarn is nigh-on edible in how deliciously soft it is! MMmmm, yaaaarn! I’ve also started – for the fifth time, I believe – the Ruffled Neckwarmer which I’m very excited to get done and actually wear!
Now for the things I’m going to knit soon… Well, I’ve got some stupidly lovely Rooster Almarino DK yarn that I’m going to knit up the Leafy Cabled Neckwarmer, which is a pattern I’ve had my eye on for the longest time! I’m so excited to be making this one! I’ll have to knit it up in 4.0mm needles, so it’ll be a bit on the narrow side, but that just makes it more wearable in not freezing weather!
I’m in a right neckwarmer/cowl mood, so the next project to work on will be the Quilted Cowl, which I think is just SO pretty! My fiance really likes this one and the last one, too, so that’s a bonus! That one, and a few others, will be out of some lovely Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light which I’ve got a few nearly-full-balls of from a swap with someone. I’ll also be making my modified version of the Falling Leaves Cowl with some of that yarn, and I simply cannot wait!
The only other project, and it’s a huge one, that should be started rather soon is the Nightsongs Shawl which is just beautiful, and I’ll be doing that one in some rather pretty Okiteks Angora deLUX.
So that’s all the projects I want to get done really soon, though I’m sure that I’m forgetting some… Oh yeah, I’m also thinking of making this one, the Drooping Elm Cowl! Well, I look forward to getting some of those done! But for now, it’s fun to day-dream about them!
Tags: knitting, projects