yarn eater/rug muncher

potaytoe.potahtoe.

so i've now got a handful of little crafty vixens here at work that i've taught to crochet.
and last year our learning project was to create versions of the house of holland shawl for ourselves.
this year's project is going to be the wool eater!

both me and beautiful and wonderful caroline started ours out in peachy colours today:

things i miss...

it is sooo lovely being back home and seeing my family here in orange county, but after almost three decades living in london, england there are sooo many things i miss when i'm here! things like...
a cafe on every corner
being able to get a nice meal with a lovely bottle of wine after 10pm
walking everywhere

and then there are two things that i'm really really missing - so much i'm not sure which i'm missing more
my husbandboy AND my stash of yarn

the blondeboy had to stay behind as he's double booked on plasterwork. he's finishing a new bulgari hotel in knightsbridge as well as starting a new project on fleet street.  and my yarn stash, well hey i decided to travel uber-light and reckoned that i could just pick up whatever i needed here...i've just not had a chance.

its so horrid not being able to just cuddle up on the sofa with blondeman and whatever colour yarn i need and hook away!

guess i'll just have to talk to my family, lol...xxx

sweet home california

yes, i'm back home in orange county california and have to admit that i've been spending more time in shops buying hair dye and bleach than yarn!  my daughter is gonna multicolour dip dye my ends for me - wohoo, i can't wait...

i actually came over here travelling extremely light - its amazing now i'm an extra-small instead of an extra-large how little room my clothes take up!  so anyway, am travelling with just a ball of sockyarn and have been free forming away on little skulls mostly.  photos to follow if they actually become anything!

now, off to check the weather forecast and see if i'll be sunbathing again today. x

military precision

so i have kept on making the granny squares, but used up so much of the stash that my colourways are getting narrower and narrower to the point that i'm not that happy with them. why o why are yarn stores not open til at least 22:00 ???
(that's 10pm for all of you that have never been in the military...)

actually, there is drink-shop-do over on caledonia road that might still be open. hmmm. *ponders while surfing their site AND updating my blog at the same time* it's not that far away...but i'll be over that way in the morning anyway as i want to be the first in line at jolie rouge tattoo shop for the sunday service for japan. each tatoo artist has designed a sheet of japanese inspired flash, and will be tattooing designs off of it with all proceeds going to the relief efforts.

now off to have a lovely lavender bath...

#henparty

so my london geeky girls are kidnapping me this weekend for a bit of a post-wedding paarty - so watch out margate! and this time not just because of the yarn bombs i will be leavin' behind, but you will have an extra 15 uber-smart ladies drunk on champagne and cake and tea wondering your seaside attractions this weekend.

i am so touched - really touched - that the girls have gone to such trouble for me. it's amazing. still, it's also really hard to get myself together and let go this morning. my daughter is back in the fucking tabloid papers through no fault of her own! and also maybe also because i'm just a bit embarrassed that my latest crochet project isn't high-brow enough for the ladies...

...a neck warmer of bright purple acrylic.

you see, as well as being my geek sisters, we also have our own stitchup group called stitch and fish as a spin-off of our digi industry mailing list:

haddock

. this mailing list is awesom - it's basically ravelry for a group of 69 or so friends to talk and share everything all day everyday for the last 15 years. whoever thought a list created to book baby foot games with wired magazine journos would spawn such amazing friendships.

this weekend - i feel very very lucky indeed.

How to make a Chocolate Cake Shot - Drink recipes from Bartending Bootcamp

i know it's not yarn, but its cake!

for my next stitch up i'm going to make cakemix shots for us...yum.

doesn't do it justice.

this photo really isn't doing the bright yellowy green yarn any justice. it's so flouro that it was reflecting in my phonecam if i was in broad daylight...

i picked the yarn up at the age concern charity shop down leather lane at lunchtime when i went to pick up my cheapo sandals after having them glued back together AGAIN. they are soo cheap that i've probably spent more on them fixing, but the shape and colour are perfect for my slightly tanned tattooed feet. bought them last year as a panicbuy right before i jetted off to zadar for the electric elephant festival in petrcane.

sooo want to go back again this year as andy weatherall is playing again.

that. and i just need a holiday sooooo bad.

anyway - i bought the yarn to crochet some police tape for yarnbombing!

help save a dog. please.

this is a pretty serious post (for me).

about one abandoned dog an hour is put down in england.

pedigree are donating £1 for every click they receive.

please give a click!

last night while watching the elections here, rather than work on some blue, gold, or red as other's were doing - i decided to create an 'angel lead' out of sparkly acrylic baby boucle yarn. i wanted it to be more of a joyful memorial than the sad reminders of the ghost leads project (based on ghost bikes)

i'm thanking you in advance....x

i don't really think i'm asking alot considering all the tits and smut you usually get from me!

flower power!

so you all know how i've just kinda been spinning my wheels treading whatever, water or something...waiting til i have the yarn needed to finish all my projects, or the stuffing to make more rabbits and piranha flowers and other amigurumi. and i'm off to canterbury this weekend (but i'm not allowed to order unicorns on room service) and gonna hang out with my mildly diverting mater who used to be the most amazing home economics teacher!

i've been warned that she's not going to know what to make of me, so what is she going to think when i resurrect the spring yarn bombing project that my fishie sister and i started last year? crocheted flowers to attach to bushes to get the springtime feel early! and i have found this great pattern - slightly 3D and still firm enough to tie to bare little twigs...thank you so much salihan crafts for making this available free online - you have no idea how many flower patterns i went through before i found the perfect one.

still nothing

still no new projects for lack of planning time and not yet been shopping for toy stuffing or the right yarn. sucks. off to cruise my house for things...

...and the kemps wool shop website for sale bits!!!

strange

this is strange...i'm as far as i can go on my two big projects, so spent a nice chilled friday night in with my daughter and her bf, searching through some of my favourite patterns and trying to figure out what i might have the yarn to create...mmmm...i might have settled on just making some washcloths for now just to keep me busy - yes i know i can be a process crocheter sometimes - but i find it really fucking meditative, ok!!!

and i've found now i have loaded patterns onto my kindle that it's just another place i need to remember to look for ideas...o no what have i done???

score!

i scored the loveliest tweed yarn yesterdy to make a nice hot water bottle cozy for annemarie seienstyle and her little puppies. started last night and it's so yummy! i know alot of my friends arent big fans of the debbie bliss but i do love her yarns!

out of towner

my life is such a rush now - even more so than it was before. and i was bad THEN. now tis worse - but i'm loving being out of london and out of the house every other weekend. especially as it means hanging out in bristol's yarn shop...and in a fancy bed made of jungle vines. it also means less time for hooking, and making sure i have little mobile project that don't take up much room as i like travelling light!

which means unless the weather really turns this weekend, i won't be taking the new yummy black silk and alpaca and human hair scarf i've been working on...damn it's beautiful - i cn't wait to get it photographed properly to show you all. i've used my old hair as the black human hair fringes and it is lush...i even worked on it a bit more when i got home from movida last night, and i can't wait until there is time to make more more more. in the meantime i'll be carrying around and continuing to make bright coloured aums.

while drinking cider on boats.

yarn.

well i finally did it.

i made it to cafe stitch at the wellcome institute today!
and i loved loved loved it.

there was a really nice group of women there and lovely apricot crumble and gree tea.
yum.

i dint take much yarn with me as i knew i was going to have to run off to the gym, but am thinking of moving my usual saturday training sessions to either earlier or later so i have lots of time to hang out as no one seems to show up til around noon. not that it matters, it's the type of place i might even go sit alone and have cake - and we all know how much i HATE to do anything alone.

in fact, this weekend has really been my first solo weekend in london for a long long long time.
i did get a bootie call around midnight - but i declined so its now tea at claridges with a lovely rockabilly man...think this one will just be a friend though as i'm still not sure what to do with the scandotoy and am still currently really hating my ex assface fiance....

and its 3:36 in the morning and i'm wide awake!

back home from stockholm

and wishing i was still there!
bought some yarn, had some food, hung round with friends.
it all was over way too soon.

...and it seems my flu is back.
achey pukey yuck!

teacher's pet

o did i mention that i taught the lovely lea from unchained guide to crochet last friday?

we are working on the cadbury's fairtrade project together, so used purple yarn, lol...

sunday in so cal...

so we are off to pechanga tomoro to go touring vineyards and gambling a bit...wish me luck! swear that i should be employed as a cooler when my allergies are up...and they are up and they are bad and so bad that i'm getting ill from them. this is the worst that they have been since i tried to go stay overnight at a party that had dogs then sought refuge somewhere with cats...or that time i tried to make a shrug out of mohair!

i'm on zirtek pills and spray and have now bought some redbush tea which helps as well - but i really think the best thing to do will be to get away from the house and out into the desert for some different air!

so sorry all that means i'll be missing all the groups and get togethers that are happening sunday/monday, but will try my hardest to be at starbucks on tuesday night to see all my new stitchy girlfriends again!

(iknitters please don't be jealous - its just a holiday fling!)

so tonight i'm staying in at my parents' and doing laundry and tearing out a swing jacket my mom started before her eyes went - she's lost loads of weight since then so i'm going to make it a small instead of a large for her...

its 4 balls of yarn so i should be able to finish it while i'm here. fingers crossed.

xxx

cold feet!

went shopping for a new pair of cozy ugg-type slippers today on the way home from the gym...and they were all just too uncomfortable. just too structured to be cozy - too much like boots. which got me thinking...i used to always make crocheted slippers for everyone and wear them myself but somehow got out of the habit. so my next little project is to find some uber-warm and cozy fuzzy yarn and a sexy crocheted boot pattern and get going as the longer i leave it the colder my tootsies get!

o and not sure i'll be making it to any knitclubs this week...
on wednesday i have a little check up with lovely french doc to check he is happy with the nefertiti lift he did on me and thursday night there is a showcase on at the mill in soho that i said i'd go with the fiance to...then the weekend at the waterside!

and next week we are in milan to see the black keys and to get tattooed. so might not see all my knitclub friends for a few weeks.
o dear.

will miss you!