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to browse and drool |
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s*t*a*s*h! (blush) |
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Fine ribby alpaca/silk top-down raglan
In a beautiful blue-with-slubs 4ply. Hypnotic to knit.  Lace scarf / shawl In yarn left over from the beaded hemp top. Wavy shale pattern. Maybe this will become the shawl I promised myself this year. Sleeveless top for Toz in duck-egg blue Rowan DK Soft. Toria started it and has run out of steam. So have I. Crochet throw in sueded velour stuff Progressing slowly. Crochet is not comfortable for me.  |
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Knitty Threadbear Ozeyarn Martina for sock yarn Kangaroo House of Hemp Ford Barton Laughing Hens Hip Knits |
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I've done a shed-load of training in the last few years, some in new areas, some pretty advanced. I recommend these training establishments for outstanding integrity, professionalism and allround excellence: John F Barnes Myofascial Release Upledger Institute Craniosacral Therapy Jing Advanced Massage (I also teach with these guys) Pilates Training Solutions |
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What a way to spend a bank holiday I thought yesterday was enough to be smug about... that was creative in comparison with what's been torturing my brain today. Take a deep breath and read on if you dare: I updated the database. Yup. Hadn't done it for two years, and my excuse is that I'm fully booked anyway and don't need to send out newsletters to drum up custom. The timing is right though, can't really avoid it, and goddesses know I try, as it coiincides with me putting my prices up rather substantially - better let the punters know. Every other record card was missing from the database. My brain is frying with extreme boredom. But I have done it. And not only that, I've worked out - scientifically, of course - who gets a loyalty card (those who have been loyal, DER!!!) and not only found how to isolate their records and add a charming little message, but mail-merged those records from a database that didn't want to play ball, printed them on pretty peach card, and then chopped them up using a highly dangerous contraption that would like to be a grown-up guillotime, but isn't quite stable enough. There. All I have to do now is get all the other stuff printed, somewhere, then magic up some address labels, merging them from a database that doesn't want to play ball, print them out and stick 'em on envelopes I have yet to purchase, stuff said envelopes with said stuff, then go off somewhere to buy 487 stamps, stick stamps on, and stuff letters into the letter sack at the Post Office. My brain is throwing tantrums already at the prospect. I want to go and play. Does anyone want to come out to play? August 28th Smug, smug, smug. Have had an amazing spurt of administrative work effectiveness today: wrote the newsletter, rewrote the Myofascial Release leaflet, rewrote the Applied Psycho-Neurological Release leaflet, all ready for printing and sending out. Am now in need of restorative knitting, some Graham Beck's pinotage and the highlights of England's win against the Aussies in the test match today huuurrrrraaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! (Sorry, M-H and Mon, your being possible, nay probable, supporters of the Down-Underers, even if one of you's a Kiwi, made me feel just a little bit for the old enemy. But only a little bit. Tee hee). By the way, yarn-spotters, Mon has some lovely handpainted yarns to show off. Go and look. Technical cricket talk Toria, DD, playing for her team Lewes Priory 2s yesterday, got 3 for 21 off 10, saving the match at the end. She went on first change, bowled 7 overs for 11 and 1 wicket. Worthing went on to be 140 something for 2, needing 190 something. Tozwink and 'Dunkie Bane' went on at the death and held the fort heroically, bowling the last 6 overs between them. With 3 overs left Worthing needed 3 runs, and Toz, then 3 for 21 off 9 bowled the penultimate over for a maiden. Dunkie got his 4th wicket in the last over, also a maiden. They went off with the 1s into Brighton to celebrate and this morning's break of day saw her winging her way to Slovenia. Life doesn't slouch, does it? August 26th The kittens are growing up Found a shrew at the back door this morning after breakfast, waiting for someone to open up for him. Had obviously been brought in to play by the dynamic duo, and they forgot to let him out again. DS Chris obliged. At home in the kitchen - NOT!!! Am going to go through all my recipe books and collections this morning in a fit of domesticity. Or maybe it's because I can't quite face doing the newsletter yet... in either case, domesticity does not come naturally, so there's no knowing where this will lead. More likely to an entrepreneurial extravaganza than home cooking ;-/ Along these lines, my gf (yup, that's right, T) told me a little story about how she got into a mild altercation with a neighbour (about his dog being out of control). His last words were "there are people who think that at this time of night (9pm) women should be in the kitchen doing the washing up". It floored her at first, then she responded with incredulous cool. I was so impressed. I'm not sure how I would have reacted. I might have directed him to the nearest bus station so he could find his way home to his own planet. On the other hand, I might have just stared at him, jaw agaping. August 25th Another Jing jamboree I've just been to a Jing course I was invited to by the wonderful Rachel, head honcho of Jing Advanced Massage Institute . She was teaching chair massage and we had a blast! Good therapists all round, good company, a lovely chance to try some new work. What I (and others) discovered is that myofascial release as practised at the Myofascial Release Clinic UK (that's me) is totally possible on the chair. Tee hee hee. It all seems such a totally innocent guise for an extremely powerful bodywork approach. I've got a few more days off until it's back to work on September 1st, and I am going to take full advantage of free time. I shall be reading more, drinking more wine, and doing no more than the bare necessities of newsletter writing and leaflet re-jigging. And knitting, of course. I took the hemp shawl in to the chair massage course every day and did not one stitch. That's how good the course was. August 21st So much chaos But I love chaos. Movement, change, things moving on, I'm moving on, it's all good stuff. I want to tell you about my adventures in Coventry, doing SomatoEmotional Release, then seeing Ann, an old friend from university - 25 years ago!!! But all I can say is about T. I didn't know how much I missed her, how much she meant to me, how much I couldn't do without her. That's all. Ann is lovely. How did she get to be 60?????? Does that happen? She is even lovelier than she was 25 years ago, funny, wise, hanging on to reality by the skin of her teeth. Was she 33 when I was 19? We had an amazing lunch in Harvey Nichol's restaurant in Leeds (food was good too), she can remember so much more about being at Sussex then than I can. She also says she knew me very well then (gulp), and that I was plainly bonkers. It (my years at Sussex) was all a bit of a blur, too traumatized. Ann didn't know anything about it then, but was not particularly surprised now. It's so nice to be with someone who can accept you as you are. That's what was amazing about Ann then. She didn't care that I was bonkers. She just liked me. Maybe it needed someone a little older to realise that life is not always hunkydory for everyone. SER in Coventry - how appropriate The course was good, even very good. Exciting even. Despite being in Coventry. The odd thing is, when I was very little, I knew there was a place called Coventry, somewhere north of London: My mother frequently told me she was going to send me there. As a little one - I must have been younger than 7, because this happened whilst we were still in England - I thought she was going to send me to this grim place in the midlands, and waited with dread-filled, heavy heart to be packed off into the unknown - without my bear, which she also often threatened to take away - but it never happened. Strangely though, she didn't talk to me for days on end after she had said that... go figure!!! It was only when I was in my teens and had been in Germany for some years that I learned in an English lesson that being 'sent to Coventry' meant that one was to be ignored as if one didn't exist, as a punishment. Funny in retrospect. :) Knitting and other life processes The hemp shawl is progressing. And I have taken some of my 'holiday' time to rearrange the office so that my intray does not contain everything in my life, and so that I can contemplate preparing my books for the tax extravaganza due end of September. Hurrah! August 18th ... and back again! Have had a brilliant time! Tozzie got her results today and is in to Manchester Uni - well done Toz!!!! August 10th I'm going away for a week... ...to sunny Coventry. Craniosacral Therapy training beckons, and I don't know why they do it in Coventry. Manchester would be almost as central and handy for international flghts, too. Anyway, the training will be superb, as usual, I'm sure. I'm so tired, I could happily knock off work now and skidaddle up there tonight. However, I have three more clients this evening, one at 7:15 tomorrow morning and then a couple of advanced Pilates classes to teach ;-/ I've surprised myself with forethought, though: I've planned my route (well, the AA did it for me, but at least I know where I am going and how to get there), and I have booked my accomodation for Leeds, when I go and visit a girlfriend. And I've worked out (AA assisted) how to get from Coventry to Leeds without getting depressed. In case you're not familiar with the AA, it's the Automobile Association, not Alcoholics Anonymous. DS2's 21st birthday is on Friday, so my last Brighton-based action before I leave shall be purchasing... shan't tell anyone until I've got it. Breaking Kitten News Hooligans! They are true blue hooligans. The little vandals are digging up the lawn! Apparently, there is a mole. I suspect they imported this mole for purposes of entertainment, lost it briefly, and let it dig itself in to our middle lawn. The area they have excavated covers a couple of metres square where the grass is skimmed off the top and is pitted with little holes, about the length of a kitten's arm if it stretches. Cleo scrabbles away unabashed, all four paws flying, and Phoebe looks on ready to pounce. Knitting? I shall be taking the hemp shawl, the lacy one from the beaded hemp top yarn. And nothing else. Probably. Maybe a sock. And my top-down raglan. Possibly. August 4th Yay! It's Friday! There's nothing like having Saturdays off now. Apologies to all of you who have 24/7 jobs, i.e. mothers of small children. I've been there. I sympathise. Soduko is just delightfully addictive. Just what I needed to keep my poor little braincells whirring away happily. Instantly calming, a little like jigsaw puzzles, but more portable and the kittens aren't even slightly interested. I've been wonderfully surprised by Julia, another reader of George Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant, who has RAOKed me: a beautiful origami crane for good luck. It's sitting on my desk looking very happy and slightly smug (is it the way I blew it up?). I love it. Thank You!!! August 2nd Anatomy revealed Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds is so beautiful. I caught some of the TV programmes (yes, he is a bit weird), but missed the exhibition when it was last in London. I could have kicked myself. He's taken it to Chicago now. Get along if you can. Hedge your bets Went to see Never The Bride again - such a good band. (No anatomy revealed at all). Walked home with the girls, one of whom discovered how wonderfully soft hedges can be for those who have difficulty staying upright. We tried out every hedge on the way back until we got to the prickly one - too late. Ouch. I have succombed A girlfriend of mine has had her nose in Soduko for months now, reporting gleefully and often on finishing her latest 'fiendish' puzzle in record time. As far as I can gather, she uses them as therapy, to sooth the brain and as a mental cool-down after work. I wasn't going to be fooled by this little fad... Let's look at this from a different point of view. I am attracted, without prejudice, to any intriguing slippery slope that comes my way, given that it is legal and life-enhancing. Now, if Soduko were not just a passing fancy, but a seriously addictive form of behaviour, like yarn-buying, I may be more interested. Just in the spirit of research, I had a teeny-weeny peek at these sites soduko.com and soduko.org.uk and, er, just had to try one or two puzzles. Totally yum. Beaded hemp top at last! Here it is. Ta-daaaaaaaaa! Wider than the swatch suggested, by about 10cm / 4 inches, but is worn over a sleeveless T / tank top. I love it!  July 24th Snap happy I proudly present to you picis of not one, but two finished items, one being just hot off the needles, the other a fab sweater I found in the back of the wardrobe, only about 350 years old. Oh yes, and the pink baby blanket from months ago. Koigu wool fingering weight (4ply) scarf in garter stitch with randomly placed rows of eyelets. 
And here is the rave from the grave - an old Kaffe Fasset style sweater for me, which I wore to death. Squares in 30-ish different yarns, some now felted, many now patched. Shape has migrated laterally over the years, possibly due to extensive washing. A real favourite. 
And here's the baby blanket, sweet and simple in Rowan wool-cotton. 
And there's more... At long last a glimpse of yarn: First some beautiful silk from Hipknits (600g in all), then the deep teal silk I got from ebay (also in deep red and lilac), and then some deep red 4ply I received from my lovely secret pal 4 featured with some amethyst kidsilk (enough for a sweater in all) and some lace-weight baby alpaca in aubergine which I bought in Minneapolis with the koigu. 
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