back in the saddle

well, sort of.
I have still lost the knitting mojo. I did about 4 inches of the back of the baby sweater I started weeks ago, just can't get into it. Maybe tis the weather?
Just got back from Ireland, my second trip in 5 months. Yes I am a lucky sod. Mum and Dad recently visited Italy (what family of high-fliers we are) and she brought me back yarn as a souvenir! Ahh. From the isle of Capri no less. Maybe I'll remember to take a picture of it and post that soon.
So because I haven't been knitting much I've been reading loads more. Let me recommend to you:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. Read it all in one day. Just blew me away.
This Charming Man by Marian Keyes. What can I say - Love. Her. Have only just started this - got it from Amazon yesterday. My joker of a postman wedged it into my postbox so tight I had to rip off the packaging inside the box to get at it. No way could I wait another day till he realized his error...

More Guilty Pleasures

Check out Entertainment Weekly's list of Cheesy Ballads: be warned, not for the lactose-intolerant.


One of my all-time favourites is on there: Crazy for you. I actually won a competition* in the mid-80s in Smash Hits, and the prize was a Crazy for you tracksuit. Basically just a grey jersey tracksuit and Crazy for you across the back and I think up one leg. Which I wore till it fell apart...
*Competition question: what is Madonna's real name?




So tomorrow we're having a bbq to celebrate DHs 40th (actually falls next week, while we're in Ireland). You know that Guilty Pleasures Mix will be played loud and proud - he's Class of '87: The Golden Era of Guilty Pleasure music...

Here he is being welcomed home by Paddy and Jamie:

Happy Birthday hon!

A short one.

Here's what's been languishing in my knitting bag...this lethargy is hard to shake...
Baby boy sweater - this is the back of a sweater for a 6-month old (to be born in August) that will have a brown heart on the front. Hopefully.
The toe-up sock I am making from the Flat Feet yarn - really love how it is striping, though perhaps the pattern I've devised here isn't the best to show that...
And this is the Debbie Bliss bear I've been working on..It is honest! I cast on for this months ago, got this far, and then realized with all those increases and decreases etc. it just wasn't going to happen with 2 dogs, 1 kid and 1 husband all wanting stuff ;) maybe I'll rip out and make Twiceknit's elephant...Red is a good elephant colour right?

Speaking of dogs, look how happy Paddy was this weekend:Bought him a new basketball, and put some water in the old baby pool. He was out there all day long, just chewing and snorting up a storm...

In other news - am off to Ireland in a week (yay!) to see family and friends, and attend the wedding of a very dear friend in Dublin. I'm sure I'll have lots of say about that when I get back...unfortunately last weekend I learned that my brother and his fiancee are no longer an item...which means that I made these in vain...

I had even knit their initials into the heels, eegit that I am. After his wedding a few years back(he was recently divorced) I cross-stitched a whole sampler for them... Next time I'll hold off on the handknits till at least the first anniversary...

lost my knitting mojo?

The big push to get the purple cardi finished has robbed me of my knitting mojo. I haven't picked up the needles since last Friday. I even brought my knitting camping over the weekend but never took it out of the bag (except to show it to a very disinterested 'tween. I am so uncool).
There are 2 baby showers coming up, babies due in August but showers at the end of June. I have, of course, enough yarn to clothe both kids many times over, but need something to get me going...suggestions?
Anyone else ever have this blah feeling?

P.S. I am slooowly burning those Guilty Pleasure CDs. Your patience is appreciated :)

Ta dah!

A momentous day.
The purple cardi is done! And the birthday Jaywalkers are ready too (top right).
Blocking away on the dining room table (I won't need it again till Thanksgiving so no rush)
Of course, I am still adding to the stash. I was in Bryan, Texas this week, at The Hook and Needle ( lovely wee store) and got some "Flat Feet." Basically a piece of knitted fabric that you knit from, without ever rolling into a ball. Colours are great, and I'm planning to go to Goodwill to pick up an old knitted wool sweater next time I need some sock yarn ;)