Bella & Solo

I've not been blogging for a while because I've been busy being a mammie to two little ones! Bella & Solo joined our family on the 14th of September and are growing like crazy! They are the cutest of cute and sometimes a bit naughty. They are settling in very well which means that I have a little more time (between the frequent cuddles and the similarly frequent warnings) for blogging and other things, like cleaning the house. They came via Cats Protection. Their mom was taken into care and a little later they found out she was pregnant. These two where the last of the litter (we really wanted one cat, but now having both we can't imagine we ever felt that way).

They really like to meet you all so here we go:


14 weeks

These are the two little fur balls at 14 weeks when we first got them. This photo was taken on the second day. They had an appointment with the vet at the end of their first week with us and they are two brave little soldiers as they got their injection and didn't bat an eyelid (even though they have two for each eye) and didn't make a sound.


Miss Bella

This is Bella she's the smallest and has such refined features. Every time I look at her I'm amazed that nature can produce such an exquisite animal. She's sooooo pretty and yet soooo small. Still she's a very brave little explorer. Always first to go into new areas of the house and when play fighting with her brother she doens't get intimidated at all! This tiny little miss knows how to stand her ground. You get instant purrs when you stroke her and she's got the nack of sitting very prettily on your hand down to an art, this ofcourse so you can stroke her with the other.


Cutie Solo

Solo was very frightend on the day he came to us, but that soon passed and now he's a playfull brave little guy. He's very cuddly sometimes even miaouwing to let you know it's long over due. When he's picked up he lounges in your arms and sometimes turns around so you can hold him like a baby whilst stroking his tummy. All that cuteness goes out of the window when he's got one of his CraZy half hours. This is when he runs around like a loon attacking his toy or sister in playfull insanity. She ofcourse usually takes up the challange with pleasure.


15 weeks

After all that crazy playfullness they usually have a breather on top of their scratching post/tree which resembles a small palace. When they spot me on the sofa they come and have a cuddle (sometimes this last all afternoon) before waking up and doing it all again.

Link:
Get some nice Christmas goodies at the Cats Protection Shop

iKnit day

On Saturday September 6th I went to my first ever iKnit day in London. It was great. Unfortunately I went alone as my knitting buddy Louisa moved back to Australia (Gosh I miss you girl!!). After arriving on time I joined an enormous queue at the Royal Horticultural Halls. It was snakeing around the building. It seems that most knitters will not be late when a day off knitting goodness is on the menu. All where exactly on time, which can't be said of the doors opening. We only had to wait about 10 minutes which was fine as it didn't really rain much.


So much to see and do

After entering the building I went to listen to Jane Sowerby who had a presentation called "Victorian Knitters vs Today’s Knitters". It seemed very interesting, but I couldn't hear a word. After about 20 minutes I could not guess by her lips what she was talking about anymore and I left. They really should have given her a mic. Such a shame as it seemed very interesting and I'm working on my first lace shawl. I then walked around the market a bit and payed for the first edition of a new sewing magazine to be send home later this month. After inspecting the market (which was extremely busy) I sat down on the stairs and enjoyed my duck wrap I had bought earlier at M&S (yum!). Then I knitted a bit on the shawl and watched a very good fashion show. It was old fashion knits (from the early war era). I took several pics with my mobile but for really good quality shots go to the Iknit Flickr page! I think I fell in love with at least half a dozen of the models (not the girls, the patterns!!)


a fantastic knitty day!

After the fashion show I spotted this girl spinning. She was part of a booth that sold handspun and fibre. I fell for one of the beautifull fibres and although I had promised myself not to get involved in spinning (don't need another hobby) I couldn't help it I was hooked. The girl was Moonspinning and the fibre was made by her booth partner Rockpool Candy (Inga). Both their fibre was for sale but the one I choose was made by Inga. Anyway Moonspinning was showing this girl how to spin and I was hooked. She didn't sell any spindles so off I went to look for one. In the end I bought a very beautifull spindle at the iKnit booth. They had quite a number and all where made out of different types of wood. I felt a bit like Harry Potter choosing his wand. The spindles where all much lighter than the one Moonspinning was using. This made it a bit harder to learn (I went back to her and she taught me! Yay!), but it was fab. So in the end I bought 200g of merino and 200g of alpaca fibre (undyed) and I am now practising.

I also bought fantastic yarn called Manos del Uruguay, Manos Silk Blend. It was £18 ($32) for two skeins and I hope to make a small Clapotis after I finish my shawl. And a Clover yo-yo maker. This funny little gadget is for leftover bits of fabric. You can sew them into decorative disks which you can use for decorative projects. I also watch a catwalk presentation by Maggie Jackson from Maggiknits. And although her work is very high standard and funky it was not my cup of tea. A bit too much going on in her creations. I like more classic knits I guess.

There was so much more: Yarn Harlot gave a talk (I missed out as the tickets had sold out), I had a chat with the Dutch Knitters over from Holland and it was great to speak to my fellow Dutchies. I made new friends, saw enormous knitting needles and saw gorgeous knitted projects. Can't wait till next year!



One of the Clover Yo-yo projects

Links:
Shaped yo-yo Clover projects
Normal yo-yo Clover projects
Ravelry links:
Manos Silk Blend yarn
Adamas Shawl I'm working on...

Downloadables: Yarn Tags

September is my birthday month and besides the joy of getting presents it's also very nice to give away things. So to keep your stash organised I've made some Yarn Tags. These labels are in PDF format and can be printed out on A4 or Letter size paper. Use sturdy paper or photopaper (this is usually a bit thicker), print and write the details of your yarn on the tags & use! I find them quite handy as I seem to loose the tags that I can't thread yarn through to attach it to the ball/skein.


Keep your stash organised...

To download the Yarn Tags simply right click the link and select 'save source as' OR click the link, let the page load and click the 'save' icon on the top left.

Happy Living Group on Ravelry

Hooray! There now is a Happy Living Group on Ravelry for everyone to join.



The group is there to help anyone who wants to knit any of the Happy Living Patterns, but also to have lots of fun. The Happy Living group is a place for sharing. I hope we can talk knitting in general and crochet, gardening, food or travel.. it’s all good. It’s a place where everyone is most welcome and I hope you will feel happy to join in.

*small warning: I might talk a lot as I'm quite enthousastic about it all*