Eye Candy Friday and Crawling Up that Hill



The above gladiola was rescued from the garden after the heavy rain snapped the stem. I find I enjoy them so much more on my kitchen windowsill, anyway. I didn't realise I liked gladioli so much.



Thank you all so much for your encouraging remarks about my paintings. I really do appreciate all the comments and I will certainly take it up again one day when I have a little more time to dedicate to it.

I haven't posted for a week because I just have not had the energy. That is very, very unlike me. I never feel lacking in energy but since having the most horrid earache two weeks ago I feel about ninety. Sore throat every day, and tender skin. I bloody hate it, as everything feels such an effort. I want to feel like I usually do. And it's not even flipping winter yet. I feel like I'll never be healthy again. I will stop whining now.....

The Debbie Bliss and KSH above were obtained by selling some Louisa Harding blue Kimono Angora and Kimono Ribbon on eBay. Thank heavens I got rid of that stuff. It might look and feel nice but it's evil. The angora leaves bits of fibre EVERYWHERE and makes my nose and eyes irritated and the ribbon is too bright and too hard and scratchy. Don't like it. I don't know what I'll do with the Debbie Bliss yet, but at a bit over £1 per ball, it doesn't matter too much. The KSH in "Swish" will be another lace shawl but don't know which yet.


I've knitted ten repeats of the Edwardian shawl so far, which isn't many, but there are times it irritates me silly and I reach for something else, usually a plain stocking stitch sock that I can knit mindlessly and without looking. At this rate the shawl will be finished just in time for the start of spring 2007. That's no good. I have to order some more KSH soon, for presents for my mum and my sister.

The cardigan I'm knitting in the Balmoral (texere) is called Willow and it's from the Louisa Harding Design Collection. So far I've completed the back and am two thirds of the way through the left front. Could this be the garment that fits me? If so it will be an almost miracle, due to the fact that the weight of the yarn is way off the pattern requirement and so is my tension. We'll see. I don't pick this WIP up very often as the loops in the yarn are "catchy" and I have to be in the mood. And I'm wondering how I'm even going to see these loopy stitches when it comes to picking up millions of them to knit the neck edging and the button bands. Lucky for me tasks usually turn out easier than I expect them to be. That's Willow, below. Take it from One Who Knows....it will be merely a shadow of that image. Hehe.



And finally, my haircut (sorry-photo was taken "Through a Glass, Darkly"). I will not fail to have my hair done by Ozzie at Sanrizz when I want. Even if it means taking drastic action to get the money (!). He listens, he's courteous and friendly and he's great at cutting hair. He's better than any other hairdresser I've tried (loads). My last hairdresser is now London Hairdresser of the Year but he never listened to a word I said. Titles sometimes just don't count (or the money they charge-over £100 in that case).

I hope I haven't posted too many photos for your computers. Please tell me if it's making things slow. I got carried away. Also, I must in future give some thought to the content of my posts and not just type a stream of thought.


BTW. I just looked at this photo again and it's even worse than I thought. I took it through an old Art Deco mirror the in-laws gave to us. It's really beautiful but it's in four square pieces with pale pink and green glass strips down each side. Where the square bits meet in the middle they've distorted the image and chopped the back of my head off. Haha. But it's worth the distortions. I love that mirror (and the in-laws).