In anticipation of finishing my mittens (below) I had an urge today to knit my hat. I've knitted this pattern a lot so know it only takes a couple of hours from start to finish. I had leftover wool from a waistcoat I knitted some years ago and used that. I'm very pleased with it. Pattern, I think, is from a Rowan book I've since lost, but am lucky enough to have a photo of it.
So I've knitted one thumb, just one to go. While photographing the mittens I spotted my ginger friend out of the window. Mouse-hunting season is upon us again. Averaging one a day for now but it'll be up to two before long.
And I've also cast on the second sleeve for my Rowan jumper. I'm hoping I'll have enough of the purple wool to finish it! I have another half ball but had to stop knitting with it because it's frayed every half metre or so. Very annoying.
Currently reading The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman. I just finished the whole of the Harry Potter series. I'm in the mood for adventure and escapism.
So I'm a bit further along with my mittens, though progress has been slow. I think I'm not in the mood for two-strand knitting; a TV jumper is more where my brain is at. Anyway, they're nearly finished, just a tussle with the thumbs left and that'll be it.
I feel a bit like a duck at the moment, or is it a swan? Lots of legwork under the water but not much visible on the surface.
I've been thinking of dyeing my hair back to chocolate-brown recently, and then came across the ombre hairstyle! I love it. So am now trying to figure out how to get my growing-out highlights into an ombre. I think I might have to dye the top of my head and somehow try to leave the highlights in the bottom of my hair. Hm. I particularly like Sarah Jessica Parker's photo.
The living room table microcosm. Baking books; Nutella; chocolate; a gardening book; Harry Potter, book five; the phone; remote controls; Radio Times; a cup of tea. Sometimes the living room and kitchen tables seem to sum up precisely how I'm living my life at a particular moment.
And then last week I drove to Dumfries to visit my parents and sister. Edinburgh was bright, clear and sunny when I left in the morning so I was surprised to come across this around The Devil's Beeftub! Keeping me company on the drive though, via Radio 4, was a programme on the recently released A Card From Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp. Love programmes like that.
This was the Haggarty/Burns outing on Sunday at Blackford Hill. We spent a good half hour at the top of this hill running around taking panoramic photos with Hagos's new phone app. We figured out we could have multiples of ourselves in the one shot by running along to the next section once we were out of the frame in the first section. We changed photographers halfway through too so we were all included. I should really have got a copy of the good shots but instead I only have my own, orthodox photos to show.
Very dull compared to the silliness we'd just been up to. I'll try to get a copy of the photos for tomorrow and post then.
Me and Batman as we watched X-Men 2 and waited for roast dinner to be ready :)
I put out the last of my chitting potatoes today. Meg's cat food boxes proved to be good containers. And through the window, Hagos had started digging up our little vegetable patch. These are Maris Pipers, 2nd Earlies.
These are a mixture: International Kidney and Casablanca. I bought Casablanca because of the name.
I hope they taste good and are high yield.
And one thing I've learned from no longer living near a corner shop is that sometimes I run out of CHOCOLATE - eek. So today I rifled through my recipe books and found a quick fairy cake recipe and made these as a substitute. They were pretty good.
