You SHALL go to the ball

Mo lent me her Knit Simple magazine months ago because inside there is an amazing sock pattern to knit socks in-the-round for any size of foot with any weight of wool. So, I chose to make Keigan a pair of socks for a 1-2 year old in DK yarn. Most sock patterns are for 4-ply, which takes ages so I was chuffed to find a DK pattern.

And here is the result! It's been a while since I've seen a 1 year old's foot, but... the sock looks more like it would fit a 3-4 year old. I checked the pattern though and I think I did it correctly. The length of foot before cast off for the toe is 5 inches. Maybe I'll keep it until I find a foot it fits!

And a couple of gratuitous photos of Meg.

In a Beautiful Pea Green COAT

Remember my Boden disappointment recently? Well, after trawling Ebay I discovered the coat had become available on the Boden website again, but in PEA GREEN. I ordered it. It arrived. I think I'm going to keep it. Pea green. Pea green. Pea green. Hm.

It's Sunday morning and we're on the countdown to Hagos going on tour for two and a half weeks, which in tour terms isn't long but somehow it seems major in my mind because part of the tour is to Turkey and Israel. Most of the places he goes to I've toured there myself and am at least familiar with the country, even the city, and often the actual venues he's playing at. But I haven't been to Turkey or Israel so I'm a wee bit trepidatious. Shouldn't be, I know.

The days leading up to him going away are always a wee bit strange. It's an inbetween phase where the absence begins even before he physically leaves. Our minds are both taken up with the practicalities of what we have to do before he goes. Anyway, it's his birthday the day he actually flies, so we'll aim to get everything prepared for Wednesday afternoon, so that by the time we go out to dinner on Wednesday night everything's packed and prepped and we can let go a little and enjoy ourselves.

Time Travel

I finished Tom's Midnight Garden today and really enjoyed it. I haven't read it since I was a kid, but it soon became apparent that it must have been the springboard for The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'd be surprised if she hadn't read Tom's Midnight Garden before writing The Time Traveller's Wife. Though she obviously developed the time travelling idea further. My bookmark, as you can see, is of a beautiful blue velvet coat by Boden, torn from its catalogue. I ordered the coat about a week ago, in the winter sale, and was excitedly anticipating its arrival. My current winter coat is so worn I really need to throw it out. But I received a letter from Boden a couple of days ago saying the coat is out of stock and I hadn't been charged. I don't usually get attached to clothes I order but I'd fallen in love with this coat and was crushed. Maybe I should try Ebay.I've had a really nice couple of days off. I'm only working three days a week until the end of March, using up the remainder of my annual leave, and it makes such a difference. Yesterday I re-joined the gym for a month and really enjoyed using my body again after the long winter. Above is Hagos and Meg resting on the couch.

And today we went into town and had lunch in Ha Ha's. This is my view under the table. Afterwards we did a bit of shopping in town and went to the library. I bought some healthy snacks from Tropical Wholefoods as part of my trying-to-lose-some-weight regime. The fruit used in the snacks is all sun dried, NO preservatives or sugar! I saw some dried mango in Sainsburys yesterday and picked it up, thinking it was 100% mango, but it had sulpher-something preservative in it! I actually used to work for Tropical Wholefoods in the summer during my first degree in London. The people who set up the company, Kate and Adam, are friends of a friend. The food they produce is all so amazingly delicious I would often return half my wages for produce! And they gave me stuff at cost price. One particularly good product was sun dried mango dipped in organic chocolate! Ah, it was out of this world. These bars are pretty good too.

Chilli seeds

Hagos's brother gave us chilli seeds as part of our Christmas present this year. 10 packs of 20 seeds in each pack. That's a LOT of chillis. And we absolutely love chillis, but the instructions say, 'best grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse', neither of which we have... And then you have to repot them all every coupla months. And, you know, Sainsburys sells them ready grown...

So we're adopting out our chilli seeds to Janie (accordion player extraordinaire), who has experience, and a solid track record, of growing things you can then eat. We've asked to be given a share of the crop, so, everybody's a winner!
Seriously though, they do look fab, and it is an ambition of mine to grow stuff one day. In the future.

Emin-esque

It hasn't quite reached Tracey Emin heights around here yet, but that's mostly out of consideration to Hagos.

I had one day back at work, then two days off with a horrible head cold. Last night my body felt so exhausted just trying to breathe. Hagos has been really sweet looking after me, keeping me warm, making me sleep, getting me Lemsips and cherry menthol Tunes.

Anyway, I woke up this morning about 5am, have had a Lemsip and feel less blocked up so I hope it's on its way out. I'm planning to go out to lunch today, then Vicky is coming over tonight to watch a film - a good film. Vicky is notorious for liking very BAD films.

And then I'm hoping to be much more creative on here. Some people make stuff on their blogs every other day! I have the stuff to make, just haven't got round to doing it yet. I have finished another mitten, and though it seems pointless to photograph and show it as they're almost exactly the same as the mittens I made Bette for Christmas (though with a longer cuff) I'm going to show it anyway. I've given up declaring I have knitting needles on me when I fly. They never find them. And I have a sweet little suitcase that is specially-designed to fit in the overhead lockers so I'm ready to go as soon as I get off the plane.

The Weekend

Some images from the weekend:

My mother was 70, so I went to Scotland to celebrate with her.
The irrepressible Keigan sliding down the bannister, with my dad holding onto him.
Endlessly walking around.
Except when we manage to persuade him to chew some pegs. We're so exhausted from taking turns to walk him we all agree the pegs are surely germ-free.
I finally finished The Amber Spyglass while I was away and looked on my childhood bookshelf for something else to read. I ended up reading a little of each of them before going to sleep and inside Pride and Prejudice my sister had written the name 'John Dempster' over and over. John Dempster was a footballer for Queen of the South when my sister was a teenager and she loved him.
And the descent back into Norfolk. And the unfathomable question, 'Why are we here?' It won't be for much longer.