 May 30, 2003
riiiiip
yes, that's the sound that today makes as it either falls apart or is ripped apart around my ears. i really believe that when a day starts off badly there is little you can do to recover it. on one of the hottest days of the year so far here when i was due to be working from home, my remote access failed and i had to go into the office. its gone downhill from there. the shift key has decided to give up on my home pc - hence the lower case entry - and the worse news is about minnie. as i sat down and knitted away on the right front tonight i was feeling really pleased that i was nearly at the armhole shaping. not much further to go. all the other pieces are blocked and ready to be pieced together and ends sewn in. then i looked closely at the right front and realised that for some reason i had only cast on 38 stitches instead of 45. big difference. the right front was a good 3 or 4 cm narrower than the left front. riiip. now its back to nothing and i'm sulking too much to pick it up and start again this evening. going to sew in some spotty ends as punishment i think. how can such a sunny day be so pants. question mark.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:36 PM
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May 29, 2003
Super speedy knitting
Wayne worked last night which meant that I got down to some serious knitting. And guess what I did, I finished both of Minnies sleeves!!! Wow. I am in love with the way this cardigan is turning out and now I'm going into knitting overdrive to try and finish all the knitting by the end of the month. That's 3 days to finish the right front of the cardigan, I might just do it!! In other exciting news, I'm planning a day trip to the mill at Texere on Saturday 21st June. This is a birthday treat, I've always wanted to go there but they are usually only open from Monday to Friday. Imagine my surprise when I noticed on their website that they are open 7 days the week of my birthday - it has to be fate! So I've booked my train ticket and I'm heading North for a fun filled fibre day. Any of you UK knitters (Emma, Jen, Linda) want to meet me there? I'm really excited about this trip - nearly 6 hours knitting time on the train and the opportunity to buy lots of yarny bargains! Yay, come and join me if you want to!
Posted by Kerrie at 10:12 AM
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May 28, 2003
More minnie Minnie...
So, here are some Minnie photos for you. This is the finished left front. What no spots you say? Yes, I know its a little plain, but look at it now. What do you think? So why stripes instead of spots? Well, Wayne was really not keen on the spottiness of the back so I decided to do something a little bit different with the front. Making the sides plain made for quicker knitting and I really like the addition of the stripy pocket. And did you notice that the stripes on the pockets match the stripes on the bottom of the sleeves, see? Very posh.. My next dilema is about the fastenings. I really don't like making button holes (hence the zipper on Joseph) and I did consider sewing on poppers for this cardigan but I don't think that the moss stitch border is going to be strong enough to take them. I think I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and get on with the buttonholes. Sigh. So, I've finished the left side, both the pockets, half of the first sleeve (up to the top of the stripes) and 2/3 of the second sleeve. The plan is to have the sleeves finished by Friday night and then make a start on the right front on Saturday, this way the only thing that I'll have left to knit next month is the rest of the right front and the collar. I've already started weaving in the ends on the back so that shouldn't be too traumatic (I hope) I've got lots to do today, working from home to finish up some procedures and documentation. Yawn. Walk to the post office to send 4 big parcels of yarn out to various people - not quite so yawn - and a meeting with Brooke's teachers at the end of the day to talk about how she is getting on. Bit like a parents evening I suppose, Yay! This is the bit of the day that I'm looking forward to most.. I'm also going to pick up our wedding invitations from the printers so they should be sent out at the weekend. This means the grand unveiling of the wedding website as well. Woo Hoo.. Its getting close now, 13 weeks on Saturday - we're nearly in single figures!!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:38 AM
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May 27, 2003
Swatchy swatchy
The batteries in my camera need recharging so I can't show you any pictures of Minnie, you'll have to wait until tomorrow for those. I did make some good progress and some BIG decisions on her so be prepared for a surprise tomorrow. Yesterday was swatch day. Its not one of my favourite pastimes but I quite enjoyed it yesterday. I'm looking forward to some of these upcoming projects.. Swatch number 1 for Aerial. I got gauge with cotton glace so now all I have to decide is which stash colour to use. I've got this brown or this teal Any suggestions? I think this will be perfect on the Florida beach on honeymoon. A couple of people have said I'm brave to think of wewaring it, I'm not sure if that is accurate. The beautiful people in Florida may run screaming at the sight of me in something which shows my belly button, but hey - who cares!? Swatch number 2 for Wayne's tank. I bought the wool cotton for Wayne's tank in (and no, I won't be making matching Howard and Hilda tanks for us, sorry to disappoint you guys) I've never used this before but now I know why everyone raves about it. Its gorgeous. I'm planning to start this in July and have it finished in time for the wedding at the end of August. I'm sure it won't be the most interesting knit in the history of the world. All that stocking stitch - yawn. But its a gift of love so I'm sure it will all work out OK in the end.. Swatch number 3 for Baby Present. I'm planning on making something small and yummy for a colleague at work whose wife is expecting their 2nd baby in July. I have some lovely cotton yarn in white and lemon (fairly typical don't know the flavour of baby newborn gift colours I'm afraid) which swatched beautifully at the weekend. The matrix was good last night. I'm still digesting it and trying to decide which bits I liked / didn't like. Its still a novelty for us to go to the cinema to see something which isn't a U certificate so that was a good experience! And the family size bag of Maltesers helped!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:09 AM
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May 26, 2003
Hello, my name is Kerrie and I'm a knitter quitter
First it was Venus. Now its the bear shoes. What is it with this month?? The bears look so cute in the book but a couple of weeks in and I still haven't finished the first one. Lots of excuses can be made but the fact is that I just wasn't enjoying making them. And why knit if you don't enjoy it? I picked up some yarn yesterday for the pirate boots which I was going to make next month and finished one of them in an hour. That has to be a sign. So I'm going to make the pirates instead of the bears. Pictures at the end of the week. I promise. And yesterday I showed you the party girls. Today its the painty girls! We had a really productive day out inthe garden yesterday with the help of my mum and dad. Brooke and I were more trouble than help until they gave us the job of painting the shed. We both ended up with more paint on ourselves than anywhere else but it was good fun and the new shed is now the same colour as The weather here looks like its going to be gorgeous so we're off for a picnic in the park at lunchtime. I'm going to take Minnie with me so that while Wayne and Brooke are running around I can get some knitting done. I made some good progress on Minnie last night, I can't wait to show you the pictures tomorrow. There won't be much knitting time today though as we're off to see the Matrix reloaded tonight, really looking forward to that!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:37 AM
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May 25, 2003
Pagan, you shall go to the ball
Or at least to a 4 year old's birthday party! We had a great day yesterday, the party was great and Brooke had such a good time. I wore Pagan for the first time, photo is here. I don't like photos of myself so I had to get Brooke in to focus the attention on her. Its not a great picture of Pagan but at least you can see that I'm wearing it. And yes, by the end of the day the hem had started to roll. Not too much but I'm going to try and pin it out again and see if I can't force it to stay flat.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:34 AM
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May 23, 2003
Thank Crunchie its Friday..
Thanks for the tips on yesterday's moss stitch border. I knew there would be a good reason for the pattern reading like that, my lazy self was just too concerned about all the stitching. I've decided to go with Emma's short row suggestion and also make sure it is well blocked. Hopefully all will be OK! I got hold of Rowan 29 yesterday and I just love some of the patterns in it. I'm planning to make Aerial for myself next month, I just fell in love with how delicate and pretty it looks. I'm sure I have a substitute yarn in my stash somewhere that I could use, I need to get swatching. Hopefully with 3 days off in a row I'll have plenty of time to play, I love long weekends! Brooke and I are going to a birthday party tomorrow, I'm planning on wearing Pagan with my denim skirt if the weather is kind to us. (I'll let you all know if the hem rolls, although I'm pretty sure that it will!) In addition to parties, swatches and generally hanging out, I'm also going to try and spend some time getting organised in the house. I bought some large storage type boxes from IKEA the other day and intend to sort out our house. Oh no, I've got that spring cleaning bug. It doesn't happen often but I'm dangerous when it does. Minnie progress - I'm up to the armhole shaping on the first front side and I'd like to finish both sides this weekend. I think that should be reasonable. I'll show you photos on Tuesday.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:43 AM
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May 22, 2003
Mini spots on Minnie
I picked up Minnie again on Tuesday evening, cast on for the left front of the cardigan and came across something strange. After the moss stith border at the bottom, the pattern directs you to slip the first 6 stitches onto a needle holder and knit the stocking stitch piece first. Then at the end you knit the 6 stitches into a moss stitch border and sew this to the long side of the stocking stitch. Can anyone think of a good reason to do it like this? Why make more stitching for yourself unless it is completely necessary? Anyway, I ignored this and went ahead knitting the front as one piece with a moss stitch border and save those 30cm of stitching. I also looked closely at the back of Minnie last night and realised that a couple of the spots are too small. How did that happen? I must have messed up my row counts somewhere but about 3 of the spots are definitely 1 row shorter than the others. I'm sure no-one will notice and have been persuading myself that it just makes it more personal. Right? I don't think its going to be finished by the end of the month but it won't be far behind. And I did enjoy making Pagan So I'm going to try not to beat myself up too much if I miss my deadline on Minnie..
Posted by Kerrie at 07:50 AM
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May 21, 2003
Tank Magic
Have I ever told you that my husband to be works too hard? He left for work at 6.30 yesterday morning, got home at 6pm last night and just about had time for dinner before leaving the house at 7pm to go back to work. I think it was about 3am when he got in and guess what? Yes, he was up at 7 this morning planning on going into work again for the day. The man is mad! And there is a point to this story, thank you for sticking with me! Although Pagan was lovingly seamed last night there hasn't been any time to take a photo of the new owner wearing her. So you'll have to make do with my stand-in modelling it instead. She's pretty good as a Kerrie substitute, not so opinionated and much quieter!
What a recipe for success, good sized needles (4 mm) gorgeous soft yarn (All Seasons Cotton), a fun pattern and a few evenings free time and look what happened! If I made it again I think I'd make the straps a few stitches wider, they look a little narrow to me. Go and see how the other tank girls are getting on, Linda was the first to finish but then she is Queen of the tanks!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:05 AM
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May 20, 2003
Wonders will never cease..
I've actually found a pattern for a knitted tank top that Wayne would wear! I was flicking through Rowan 27 and came across Strike. Now, I love the ladies hooded version but Wayne saw the man's V neck one and said "I'd wear that if you made it for me" Really? Well then in that case let me get down to the yarn shop without hesitation and buy that Rowan Wool Cotton. Who could pass up an opportunity like that! For those of you who don't know the story, Wayne has always refused to wear anything hand knitted. I made him a hat once that he said he liked but wore once and promptly lost. Hmm, very suspicious! I'm going to make this for him as a wedding present so that he can wear it on our honeymoon like a good newly married husband! I'll wear Pagan at the same time and we can be the handknitted tank couple, what fun! Its not going to be very exciting to knit but I think it will make a good August project when I'm too wedding stressed to deal with anything complicated. Rows and rows of stocking stitch will be just what the doctor ordered.. PS - The knitting on Pagain is finished! Its blocking now. Maybe photos tomorrow?
Posted by Kerrie at 08:31 AM
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May 19, 2003
Just another Monday morning..
I've decided that I'm not going to show you any more Pagan pictures until its the one of me wearing it which is only a couple of days away now! Last night I finished the stripes and am now about 10cm into the armhole shaping on the 2nd piece. I've got a lot planned tonight so it might be tomorrow night before the knitting on this is finished. I've loved knitting this Tank and I'm looking at the All Seasons Cotton I have left over and already planning number 2. I also found some yarn for the teddy bear soles yesterday afternoon while stash rumamging, its not exactly what I would have chosen but I think it will be a good enough match. I loved Eli's idea about the paw prints on the bottom, I might try and make these separately and sew them on afterwards, I'm kind of interested in the effect of knitted applique. I'm going to start them again on the train this morning so keep your eyes peeled towards the end of the week for some progress pictures. Apart from that its just another Monday morning. Wayne, Brooke and I are all sitting in a row on the sofa none of us enthusiastic about getting up and dressed and out of the door. Roll on Friday!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:52 AM
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May 18, 2003
Tank Girls R Us..
Seeing as it is officially Sunday for me I thought I'd post another quick tank girl update before I go to bed. I know its only been a few hours since the last post but I've had a great knitty night on the sofa, Evita was as fantastic as the first 100 or so times I watched it and the bottle of wine was perfect. Add to that the glorious All Seasons Cotton Tank and you have one very happy girly sitting here. As you can see from the picture, I'm still doing well with this tank. I'm about an inch and a half away from starting the stripes on this piece. BTW - all the rumours about me are true (hee hee) I do have an army of underage knitters who I farm work out to and they are all on drugs!!
Posted by Kerrie at 01:07 AM
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May 17, 2003
More progress on pagan
Look at Pagan! I finished the first side last night after staying up very late to do so! I decided that I wanted a V neck at the back as well as the front so I'm going to make the 2nd side to match and see what I think. This is knititng up so quickly, I love it. I added a bit extra to the length, to cater for my fairly long body. I don't like tops that end just slightly too short, intentionally cropped is fine but I'm not keen on the I'm too lanky for my vest look. I also decided to work my decreases around the neck and armholes 2 stitches in from the edge. This has given me a nice edge to the vest which may mean that I don't have to pick up all the stitches and promptly cast them off as the pattern calls. I'll have to wait and see on that one though. Wayne is going out with the boys tonight and Brooke is looking like she might flake out soon so I've got a hot date on the sofa with the 2nd side of Pagan, a bottle of wine and Evita on DVD. Perfect! I'll show you the progress tomorrow if I get on well enough with it.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:11 PM
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May 16, 2003
p p p progress on pagan
This is what Pagan looks like after a good evenings knitting last night! I'm just about to start a 18 row stripe pattern before the armhole shaping on the back. I'm really enjoying this pattern, firstly because the yarn is gorgeous to knit with but also because I know I'm making something for me that I'm looking forward to wearing and knitting away a reasonable portion of my stash at the same time. Fantastic... Alison has got a whole list of all the other tank girls on her site, go and see how they are getting on. I'm looking forward to seeing all the end results, wouldn't it have been great if we could all meet up and get a group photo wearing our Pagans. Its a shame that we are too geographically spread for that!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:10 AM
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May 15, 2003
Glad to see the back of Minnie
And here she is, the back of Minnie! I managed to finish this yesterday, just in time before starting on the tank girl knitalong - Pagan. Which I did this morning while I was up ridiculously early catching up on some work. I cast on and made it through to the first set of decreases. I'm all set to pick this up again this evening in front of Friends and ER. Perfect knitting TV! I'm actually using the same colours as alison although in different quantities. Mine is going to be mainly Melba (which is the pale pink colour shown in the V neck version in the magazine) with small amounts of a pale lilac and darker pink for some stripes. I think I'm going to do similar stripes to the ones on Brooke's ribby vest. We can be like twins! I got a parcel in the post from Carolyn yesterday, the new IK magazine and some lovely, lovely yarn. Woo hoo. I've got plans for the Mission Falls 1824 cotton already. You'll see that next month. I also loved the article in the beginning of IK about the Bottomless Basket idea. This is where a group of knitters collect all their swatches together and whenever a new baby is due in the community they choose random swatches to make up a baby blanket. Now this idea really appeals to me and the blanket they showed was gorgeous. I'm not going to get too carried away before I finish the blanket that I'm working on now but I think this is a nice idea for a future blanket. Nice and random. Just the way I like it.. Why do interesting parcels always seem to arrive here on the days when I work from home. Its just to add to the pressure isn't it? So that I have to sit here and work and not get too carried away with me lovely new toys. Do you know what I like best about working from home? I get huge amounts of work done without the normal interruptions of a day in the office and instead of a lunch hour I can have a sandwich while I work and then nap for an hour in the afternoon! Isn't that terrible? Makes me feel very decadent...
Posted by Kerrie at 11:04 AM
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May 14, 2003
Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear..
Thanks for all your comments and emails yesterday, things like that don't happen often but it really upset me yesterday. Its soon forgotten though, after all I have more important things to think about like where am I going to get the extra few hours a day to finish all this knitting and how lucky I am to have a group of friends like you guys! :) I started work on the teddy bear shoes on the train on Monday but I've made a bit of a mistake! I don't have all the correct colours for them and I originally decided it wouldn't matter if I made the soles in navy (instead of cream) as they wouldn't be seen. I only have enough cream dk to make the cuffs and I didn't want to ruin the yarn moratorium just for some oddments of cream dk. So I started knitting away on Monday and finished the sole of the first shoe yesterday before it dawned on me. Small babies can't stand up (doh!) so of course people will see the soles. And navy soles with teddy bear brown uppers really don't go do they? So now I need to try and think of something else. Time to dive into the stash and see if I can't find something else that will work for the soles of the feet. Until then its back to the drawing board. I can't stand not having any knitting with me for the train though so I cast on for the sleeves of Minnie. I'm making them stripy don't you know! But nothing too fussy, mainly lilac with a few pale green stripes running through. And I'm planning an extra funky twist to them. Lets see if it works... I also made a big decision about Venus last night. I'm giving up on it. Now, that is not something I do lightly, I absolutely HATE giving up on things, I am way too stubborn for that. But I have lots of projects that I'm keen to get on with and I can't help seeing Venus as a hurdle in my path. Its not the moss stitch and not really the yarn, maybe its a combination of the 2. Anyway, whatever the reason its gone to the depths of my WIP pile, maybe to be resurrected later in the year. Or maybe I'll just sell the yarn on ebay and completely forget about it.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:58 AM
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May 13, 2003
The day this knitter got angry
"We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting update for a rant at the man on the bike outside the station this morning." OK. I think I'm a reasonable human being. I understand that not everyone will share my opinion all of the time. I know that a lot of people don't approve of my lifestyle or of some of the choices that I've made. I know that and I'm OK with it. To be honest I don't care what a lot of people think, (with exception of close family and friends whose opinion does matter to me) I'm happy with the choices I've made and the way I live my life. Now, to those people who need to voice an opinion about my life. From the emails saying they don't like this site or the way that I knit (then don't come here) to the acquaintances who like to loudly voice comments about working mums - you can say what you like to me and I really won't be too upset by it. I respect honesty. I may not always like to hear it but if you want to tell me what you are thinking then go ahead. I probably won't pay any attention to what you say but I also won't try and stop you. Its your life. However - to the man on the bike who shouted at Brooke on the way into school this morning, you were way out of order!!! Say what you like to me but don't insult my child. Ever. I don't care what your racist views are, that's your problem not mine. (and most certainly not Brooke's!!) I do care when you scream them at my child in the middle of the street. They say all bullies are cowards and that's certainly right for you isn't it? Much better to scream racist abuse at a 2 year old child and then ride off on your bike than to stay and have a proper fight with her mother isn't it? How dare you speak to a child in that way. She is 2 years old! She doesn't know why you are shouting at her or understand half of the things you said. How can you think that you have the right to do this? Do you think that you are better than her, a grown man shouting abuse at a 2 year old child? It makes no sense to me. I would defy anyone to look at Brooke and see anything other than a cute, innocent little girl. I know I'm biased but I can't imagine how anyone could look at her and see anything else. Its times like this when I really wonder if we're doing the right thing by bringing kids into a world like this. Then I take a step back and look at Brooke's little face and I'm sure its going to be OK. Oh - and her reaction to all of this? Nothing. By that time she had noticed the postman emptying the letterbox and was dragging me over so that we could watch. And that was that. He had cycled off and we walked the final couple of hundred yards to nursery. With a kiss and a hug she was through the door into nursery without a second thought about the man on the bike. More interested in eating her apple and playing with her friends. And that's the way it should be. While I'm sitting at work feeling furious and planning to hunt him down and give him a large, ugly, piece of my mind. Lets hope the day gets better from here!! Lets face it, it probably couldn't get any worse...
Posted by Kerrie at 10:50 AM
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May 12, 2003
Happy knitting knitting, happy knit...
I couldn't resist swatching the Koigu that Leigh sent over on Friday and it just happened to swatch at the same tension as the cotton that I planned to make the stripy shoes out of this week. So on Saturday morning I decided to start one of the shoes and look what happened! I finished them both in a couple of hours. I forget how quick these are to make when you just sit down and get on with them. Its the little bit here and there on the train that makes them last a week or so usually!! I just need to decide on the fastenings for them. I might use the plaited ties that I used for the gingham shoes or pick up some stitches and make straps. Not sure yet. I also made some good progress on Minnie! Here is the back so far, I'm about an inch past the armhole shaping so I hope to have finished the back before starting Pagan on Thursday. I decided to leave the spots as they are, in this instance, small is OK I think. I'm enjoying the randomness of this project, every time I come to a new spot I just look at the pile of cotton glace and licorne cotton next to me and pick one. Its looking good. I did notice a little cluster of yellow and orange spots around the middle which looked too yellow at the time but better now that I've worked a few extra inches.. And finally here is the birthday bag, front and back. I lined it with pale pink material and decided to leave the plaited handle as it is. This was made using 2 of the patchwork square patterns from Debbie Abrahams book, when I was making the strips for the blanket I noticed how easily they could be made into a little bag.. What a productive weekend! We also had some friends round for dinner on Saturday which was lovely, Brooke and Ella are such good friends that they played really nicely which meant that the adults could eat and gossip without having to worry too much about the children. Then yesterday Wayne and Brooke were in mourning when West Ham finally lost the battle and were relegated to First Division Football. It was a sad moment for them both. And much as I'm not interested in the slightest about football I felt really bad for them. :(
Posted by Kerrie at 09:11 AM
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May 09, 2003
Birthday bag
I (nearly) finished the Birthday Bag last night. Unfortunately I managed to screw up both the handles though so I'll have to redo them later. (That will teach me for knitting at the same time as crying over Maternity Ward!) I was not a happy bunny but since I found out this morning that the birthday party isn't until the 24th May, I'm not quite as worried as I was. Now why did I have it in my head that it was this weekend?? I also managed to swatch for Pagan and got gauge on 4mm needles. I usually have to drop down a size to get gauge so I was fairly happy with this. I'm looking forward to starting this tank girl project, it has the added benefit of also making a sizeable hole in my stash. Wayne will be so pleased with me! Tonight I'm going to pick up Minnie again, which is also going to use up a lot of my stash, within the next month I should have a lot less cotton glace and all seasons cotton than I started with. Its been a good post day today! I received a trade parcel from Nora, 4 back issues of Knitters magazine. The only problem about receiving parcels when I'm working from home, is that the temptation to stop and play is too great! I'm going to have to take a break from the laptop soon and have a sandwich and a read I think! The next box of temptation was a parcel of lovely yarn from Leigh. I've fallen in love with the Cartoon odds and ends that she sent and the Peace Fleece. I need to decide what to make with it. Oh, and Leigh very kindly included a bag of Reese peanut butter cups. These are my absolute favourite chocolate treat in the world, it doesn't help my diet but I'm looking forward into tucking into them later on!
Posted by Kerrie at 01:06 PM
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May 08, 2003
Wedding news....
We had a great "get organised for the wedding day" yesterday. We spent a fun couple of hours with at John Lewis choosing our wedding list. They give you a handheld scanner and you basically wander around the store and scan anything that you want to add to your list. You put in quantities and then go back and up load your list to the PC where they print it out for you to go through and make any amendments. It feels wierd to be thinking of presents that you want people to buy you, none of us were completely comfortable with the idea. (we met another couple in the store who were adding presents to their list that cost over £200. How could you expect people to spend that amount of money on a wedding present??) We thought that we had spent hours choosing the list but when we got back and uploaded it the lady said "oh, that's a very short list" Really? I'm sure it will be OK though. We're making our own invitations and including little RSVP cards that we are also making. Yesterday afternoon was spent sitting in the garden in the sun, stamping RSVP on the front of all the little cards with a beautiful stamping kit I found in the states. We also stuck all the return address labels on the envelopes and went through the guest list with a fine tooth comb. It got the seal of approval from one side of the family yesterday and hopefully the other side before the weekend. Then all we need to do is to get the invitations printed up and sent out next week some time. Its finally all coming together!! We're going to end up with about 80 adults and 15 children to the service and meal afterwards and then about 150 total for the evening celebration. Does this sound like a lot to you? We're both from large families and have lots of friends that we also want to invite. It was such a nice relaxing day, just the two of us together - shopping and sitting out in the garden talking about the wedding and plans for the future. Very romantic and relaxing! I wish we could have a day like that every week...
Posted by Kerrie at 09:16 AM
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May 07, 2003
Wedding fever
Wayne and I have the day off today to go and play weddings. There's lots to do don't you know?? Including getting our wedding website up and running. I'm hoping to have something to show you by the end of the week. Are you as excited as I am? We're just about to drop Brooke off at nursery to give us a kid free day to get on with it and we've got high hopes. We've got high hopes. We've got high apple pie in the sky hopes. What kids film have I heard that in recently? Now its going to be on my brain for the rest of the day.. Below are some photos of Brooke modelling my new bag (note the Phildar vest underneath her cardigan) That girl loves a photo!! I had the bag hanging on the stairs but she insisted on trying it on for the camera. Bless her...
I've also finished the main part of the birthday bag (but I left the cable for my camera at work so no photos of that one today) I should be able to show you the lined, stitched bag with handles tomorrow. Woo Hoo.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:01 AM
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May 06, 2003
I'm baaack!
Hurray, I'm home... I've never been so pleased to step off a plane as I was on Saturday morning. Walking through customs and finding Wayne and Brooke waiting to meet me was fantastic!! I'm sure I was the envy of everyone else arriving at Heathrow by having a gorgeous little girl come running across arrivals lounge to me shouting "mummy mummy" She didn't let go of me for the rest of the weekend! But today is back to work :( She was fine when I dropped her off at nursery but did ask if I was coming home tonight. I'm sure within a few days she will have forgotton I went away and everything will be back to normal again. Knitting news - I'm about 3/4 of the way through the birthday bag, I'll show you photos tomorrow when my camera batteries have charged. I'm using 2 of the patchwork squares from the Debbie Abrahams book to make the bag and plan to line it with some funky fabric and then fill it with sweets for the birthday girl. I hope she likes it. I've also joined the Tank Girl knitalong that Alison has organised. We're making Pagan from Rowan 27, I have the yarn and am going to get the pattern at lunchtime today. This means that I've had to vary my worklist for this month a little bit, I'll be starting Pagan and not finishing Venus. I do however want to get at least the back of Venus complete. So that's my new plan. 3 new parcels arrived in the post today (lucky me!) My bag from Susy Lundy, some Licorne cotton and choccies from Becky and my sock yarn from Amy. (see I've also added start a sock to this month's list? And Carolyn thought I didn't have enough to do!!) Thanks everyone, I love getting parcels...
Posted by Kerrie at 10:39 AM
Posted by Kerrie
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May 02, 2003
Damn..
So this week has been a nightmare. (I think I've already made that clear so I'll try and stop bitching about it soon) Big meeting this morning went as I thought it would, and I'm leaving Chicago this aftenroon feeling less positive than I hoped I would. I managed to get a break in my schedule yesterday and headed to downtown Naperville to check out Jefferson stitches. (no website) By the time I found the store and ran up the stairs with high expectations of some yarn retail therapy it was 3.58pm. Imagine how I felt when I got to the door and saw that the store closed at 4pm. The door was locked and although the lights were on and I knocked hard for a few minutes, no-one seemed to be there. So all I was able to do was to press my face to the door and look at all the beautiful yarns that were destined not to travel home with me. :( I had hoped to get back there at some point today but its not going to be possible. The perfect end to the perfect week really... Its the ball game this afternoon (I'm slightly sulking about going here as I would much rather go back to Jefferson stitches) but for political reasons I'm going to the game. This means more messing about with luggage, hire cars and getting to the airport on time for the flight. We've got the new BA flat beds so I'm planning on getting on the plane at 9pm local time, having a couple of drinks and some food and then sleeping all the way to London. Hopefully to wake up and realise this has all been a bad dream!!
Posted by Kerrie at 05:48 PM
Posted by Kerrie
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May 01, 2003
Myths...
You know what? Lets dispel some myths here shall we? Business travel is not glamerous. OK? It is not exciting. It is not fun. It is not a holiday!! Since Monday morning I've spent approx 20 hours either on planes or in airports. 8 hours in hire cars, reading maps and trying to find hotels and offices. 3 nights of sleeping in uncomfortable hotel beds and 12 hours a day in difficult meetings. All that in the company of 2 colleagues who I feel that I now know far too much about. (Don't get me wrong, they are great guys, but you can spend too much time with people, don't you think?) Add to that the fact that I'm thousands of miles away from Wayne and Brooke and you can see why I'm not a happy bunny right now. The easy part of the journey is over. Houston meetings went well and we're now in Chicago. We've gone from 85 degrees and high humidity to 50 degrees, cancelled flights due to storms and hurricane warnings. The agenda here is going to be tough. Really tough. By the time I get on the plane tomorrow evening I'm going to be so glad to down a couple of glasses of wine and get back to the normalcy of life in London. Seriously, I remember now why I don't do this too often. The one highlight of the trip so far has been a mixed dozen Krispy Kremes for dinner last night. (I did share!) Yummy. I'm also hoping for a little yarn shopping this evening and maybe some knitting time while the guys visit a local casino. Although they would have allowed me to knit on the domestic flight yesterday, I just had too much work to do. Grrrr.
Posted by Kerrie at 04:43 PM
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