A Rotation Round-up...and a little S.E.X...
Hopefully, this will become a four weekly regular unless I get really excited over something in the middle of the rotation that I can't wait to show you!
Week one as some of you will know, saw the completion of the baby cardigan that had been languishing in the bottom of a bag for a couple of years. It also saw me pick up my Violet Green Entrelac Socks.
Week two saw me move onto stitching a wip and I made good progress on my Rabbit Run Sampler.
Week three was the Anything Goes week so I decided to finish my VG socks and boy do I lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve them! I like everything about them, the pattern was really simple and the colour IMHO is gorgeous. I then picked up a new start, my Nutkins which I also like a lot.
Week four was the beginning of the injury/bug/'I feel ill' week. It also saw me start a new cross stich piece, namely Mirabilia's Summer Maiden.
I am stitching this on Sugar Maple's Malory on 32ct lugana. As with Winter and Spring, I am leaving off the borders so it fits on a 13" x 18". I think the colours of the threads go really well with the fabric colour. Well, can I tell you, this baby stitches up fast. The pic to the right shows you a week's progress, bearing in mind the first day was stitched whilst my hand was in a sling (nothing keeps a crafter from her crafts!!) and the rest of the week, I have done no more than 3 hours a day, and they havn't been continuous. Seeing as this lady wants to be stitched quickly, I don't think she will take me long. I've bought some invisble thread today to use for the beads. I've not used it before so we will see how I like it.
So, I am now back to week one and have picked up my nutkins, but I have also added a new goal and that is to stitch 10 rows a day on another WIP regardless of what week it is. This adds approx 1" to the project which I need greatly!!
Oh...what is this project? Well it's a scarf I started after I bought the yarn back in Nov 2005 at the Harrogate Knitting Show. I fell in love instantly! The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill's Merino Lace in Peacock and the pattern is called Cloud by Sue Morgan. I have a long way to go as I am making a wrap which 1s 65cm x 176cm. Since the pic I have added 3".

Now,I have also acquired some new stuff, as well as the previously mentioned Debbie Bliss Stella, which arrived on Tuesday. Today saw the delivery of January's Ltd Edition CTH sock club installment. It is a Supersock Solid in a colour called Cornflower and it's very purty! You can see it here. I also bought a new book, namely Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitter's Guide. First impressions are that I will enjoy using it more as a book than as a knitting book if you catch my drift, although some of the patterns are growing on me...
I also ordered some Noro Silk Garden and will update with picks as and when it arrives and will be looking at some Rowan Tapestry once I've finished here. I am really pleased that I am enjoying both knitting and stitching as much as each other, despite the trapped nerve in my shoulder!
Ok...again I have Rabbitted on for ages...something I seem to be doing a lot lately. As always...til next time...

Positivity = Productivity
I could sit here feeling really sorry for myself as I am off work again and as I seem to wake up each day feeling more crap than the day before (stoopid throat thing has reared ugly head again)...however, I decided instead to be all 'Yayyyyy' and 'think Positive' about it all and had a bit of a de-clutter moment. This included dragging out my boxes of yarn...I know it was soooooooooo hard to have to sort through oodles of gorgeous yarn, but sometimes we have to do things like this! I found two bags that had been knitted out of Sirdar Funky Fur Magic, one in Indigo and one in Violet. They had been knit way back in the Autumn of 2005 and were intended for me and my God-Daughter respectively. They needed lining and I did in fact buy the lining but in my usual manner couldn't be bothered to 'finish' them properly.
Fast forward to yesterday and today. I felt like being productive so I got the big sewing needles out and made the bags up and then this morning dragged the sewing machine out and did the lining. The linings were quite a pig to put in but they do finish them of properly.

I'm not sure who I will give this one to...it should have been mine but I'm not sure if I want it now!

I really like how the lining looks on this one and whilst this wasn't for me originally, I might find it hard to give this one up, but I don't know what to use it for...suggestions on a postcard please (well OK on a comment will do since I don't advertise my snail mail address!)
Til next time.....

Injury = ouch = boredom = spending = ouch...
Hmmm...'The Plan' has, as they say, gone to Rat Shit! Yet AGAIN I got injured at work on Wednesday. I was partaking of a physical training exercise which resulted in two colleague's, who probably weigh a combined 25st, half trample me to the ground and body slam me against another colleagues leg, a metal fence and a very hard, solid wall!
This resulted in gasps and hysterical laughter from me, a few minutes of feeling stunned and then a mild 'asthma' moment and another trip to the local A&E. I swear I should sponsor a bed in that place...soon they won't even need to ask for my name!
Thankfully no bones were broken but I have pulled muscles from my right hand/thumb, travelling allllllllll the way up my arm, around my right shoulder and down to the right hand side of my ribs.
I was in a sling for 24hrs and was not able to do my last day of week 3...knitting on my Nutkin socks...grrrr
I was able to put a few stitches into my Summer Maiden on Thursday whilst still in a sling but my hand does keep swelling a little after a while.
The sling came off Friday and I have been able to stitch some more. Thankfully I hardly move my right hand when stitching, mainly my left so after every half hour I have a rest due to the tight feeling in my right hand.
Of course...the other plan that has temporarily put on hold and the one I'm most peeved about is my running program. As you can see from my mini-me on the left <---- I havn't been able to train and she is feeling like a couch potato. Like mini-me...I too feel that way, esp since I've been really enjoying the running ( sadistic I know) I am obviously getting fitter too as during the 'injury induced' training session, I was doing really well...double grrrrr
I've to rest for about four days and am doing so really as I want to get back to everything like yesterday but curiously, I got a shower after I got home from the A&E and when I came out of it I started sneezing. I'm like 'Whoaaahhhh..where has this come from?' Cue irritated eyes for the rest of the evening.
Fast forward 8 hrs to the following morning and my eyes are sort of stuck together in the corner. CONJUNCTIVITIS! WTF? I havn't had that since I was about 2yrs old and here I am at 35 seeing yellow goo in my eyes. I then realised that my not so brilliant throat also felt like I was sucking on razors and that I generally felt crap. I think it must be one of those stress colds you can get when you're body has had a shock. So my 3 days off that I don't get that often are being spent recouperating.
Oh well it could be worse...I can still control my mouse click button with my left hand.....MMMwhahh ha ha ha ha *think evil laughter type sound here*
This brings me to the second Ouch in the post title...my bank balance hurting again. There seems to be a correlation to me feeling ill and buying stash. This time the Simple Knitted Bodice pattern found it's way to my pute.
Now it would have been plain rude not to buy yarn to go with it, so after a bit of surfing I decided to go with Debbie Bliss Stellar as it was on sale at Stash Fine Yarns I've gone for the Soft Lime colourway and I hope that it will work out ok. I think the tension will be right on the 4.5mm needles.
I've not used these before but seem to think that they have a good reputation.
Of course, then I needed to buy some Knit Picks Harmony circular needles and just had to purchase the Options Interchangeable Set from Get Knitted.
Seriously, I can't wait for these to arrive just so I can droooool.
Again, I seem to have Rabbitted on for some time, so I will leave you with a framing HD. I picked this up from my framers on Friday and I am really pleased with it. Most of my pieces that are for Christmas are framed this way, as are the little samplers they replace as the frame goes really well with our furniture in the living room. Picture ain't so great so forgive me...til next time feel free to Rabbit on...

The PLAN seems to be working...
I mentioned a few posts back that I had a plan to organise my hobbies and stash. So far so good except I have changed the weeks in the plan around to suit my needs.
Week one was implemented and as a result I did finish a knitting WIP, namely the baby cardigan I posted about. I also then picked up my Violet Green Entrelac socks that I started in October last year. I made good progress on them and then went onto week two...

Week two saw me pick up my Rabbit Run Sampler. I didn't do too bad on a week and you can see the progress to the left. During this week I worked on the bottom row of rabbits, fully completing the right hand one and the grass underneath. I have yet to do the backstitching which I dislike doing since it's an Anchor design and I hate their BS charts. Since the pic was taken I have also started on a motif of carrots on the right hand side. I think that when week two comes around again, I will be able to finish the carrots so will only have a rabbit and some cabbage to do and it will be a finish!

Week three was changed to 'Anything Goes' and I decided to pick my Entrelac socks back up and hey presto! I finished them. They are knit in Regia Canadian Color in the Ontario colourway. I love how this yarn looks on this pattern. I was left with 36g of it after finishing so will put that to some good use in a future project I am sure. I then decided to start some socks that I had seen on Ravelry, namely Nutkin. As you can see from that page I am using some of the Rico Designs Superba. This pattern is knitting up very fast and as I am knitting two at a time I am halfway through the leg on each. I have til Thursday on this week so I think I will manage to get to the heel shaping on both by then.
Week four will see me start a new cross stitch piece. I have chosen Mirabillia's Summer Maiden of the Season as I have Winter on my wall at the mo, to be replaced by Spring on 21st March, so I need to get Summer and Autumn finished this year.

As far as the plan to use all my bath stuff, that's working great as well and I have already dispensed of one of my Christmas pressies and have moved onto the next. My hands are really benefitting from using the hand cream twice a day and I am rather pleased that I am keeping up with this goal too because I am developing space in my bath cupboard!

I have also kept up with my fitness, completing a run this morning. My Mini-me shows that I have only done 4 runs but I have actually done a 2mile and a 5.15 mile run but I messed up on transferring one over and the nano messed up on the other!. I was really tired this morning and was surprised to see that I had upped my pace. I had been out walking in the Lakes this weekend so my legs were tired, but maybe not as tired as I thought!
Well, I have rabbited on again...til next time folks...take care...

I am always in a Pod these days...
An i-pod that is! I was a lucky enough wife to receive an i-pod nano from my lovely DH for Christmas. It's not something I'd asked for, not something I needed or even wanted as I used my mobile for most things. However, his DBro persuaded him that I did need one and when I opened it on Christmas Day and saw that delicious purple and the slimness and slinkiness of it...I knew then I was hooked. It's sooooooooooooooooooo tactile and pretty and, as it's the 16GB version, it's got a lot going for it. It has become my new obsession...little did DH know that he would become a Pod Widow!
As I type I am downloading some more podcasts...something I have really gotten into. The one I started off with was Socks in the City I love Carrie! She has given me some good ideas about my sock knitting and thanks to her I have really renewed my interest in all things sock yarny and have since bought a few skeins as can be seen in my Ravelry stash page
Then having hear Carrie mention Lime and Violet so much, I have started to listen to them too!

It doesn't stop at podcasts tho...I have a new toy to go with my Pod...the Nike+ Sports Kit.
The observant amongst you (if you have the latest Flash player) may have seen a mini me running along in my side bar, jumping hurdles and punching some air. I kid you not, this piece of kit is A-Ma-Zing to quote Craig Revel-Horwood.
I seriously love this, it has made me want, nay need to go out running. I already had the trainers so all I do is pop in the sensor, choose my work out, stick the Pod in my arm band and away I go. I have done three runs so far, but I am slightly peeved that after a 5.3 mile run yesterday I accidentally deleted that workout before I had synced it to i-tunes, so I look like I am behind my schedule and my mini me shows me 5.3 miles less than I've done!
The Nike+ site is fab too and really motivating and I love the fact that you can have a Power Song to play when you are flagging a bit, just to give you that boost! I currently have Your Disco Needs you by Kylie Minogue...a power song if there ever was one!
So...that's the new obsession I mentioned yesterday...I am now off to listen to some more Lime and Violet...til next time feel free to Rabbit on...

A finishing frenzy...
Since my last post I have taken photos of some recent finishes. I stitched some little tote bags for the daughters of two of my friends for Christmas. They are from Charles Craft
The natural coloured ones are for a 7, 6 and 4 year old and the denim one for a 5 year old. They were all stitched using various threads from GAST, GAST Simply Shaker, WDW and Six Strand Sweets.
This is the 7 year olds. Her favourite colour is purple so that's why I chose the colours. I also bought some books to go in it, as I did with all the girls. The other bag with the purple border is for the 6 year old as she too liked purple but also liked yellow. The pale colours were chosen for the 4 year old as she liked pink! They are all quite head strong and know what they like! They didn't take long, about a week each. The letters I used are from Lizzie*Kate's A-B-Crazy
They were all stitched between the middle of October and second week of December so I did leave it a bit late to decide to make presents for people! I then bought the new Country Cottage Needleworks Garden Party series. I really like these designs and as I already have a set of Crescent Colours threads, I knew I would like stitching them. Being from England, I didn't want to put Ladybug so I altered the chart to say Ladybird. I did also sub out the spot colour to a black rather than the brown colour supplied in the kit. They are stitched on 28ct lugana and I hope to back them all in some fabric that co-ordinates with the borders and hang them in my downstairs WC on a pegboard.
Excuse the creases!


Then, once I had finished those (I have the other two on order) I decided to finish a baby cardigan that I had started years ago and never finished. A girl at work had a little girl on 4th Jan, so I am giving it to her. The body was knit in one piece until the stocking st and I knit the sleeves on DPNs to avoid the seam. This worked really well as they were drop sleeves, you just have to swap back to straight needles when leaving the marker for the sleeve extension.
I am caught back up with my knitting bug. It's down to buying some Knit Picks Harmony Needles from Get Knitted I love Get Knitted, they always parcel things up in a great way, and I also adore the DPNs.They are sooooooooo smooth and a joy to knit with.
Then thanks to a post on Ravelry, I was introduced to The Knitting Goddessand I bought some lush sock yarn from there. It can be seen in my Ravelry stash page.
Well I've rabbitted on for a while so that's all for now folks...I'll talk about my latest obsession another day...

Some say....
...I fixated at the anal retentive stage...some say that Monica Gellar and I were seperated at birth...some say that if I stare at my cds long enough, they put themselves into alphabetical order...all I know is that I am 'The Stig' of organising!!
For those of you out there who watch Top Gear youl'll catch my drift...
Anyone who knows me knows my love of lists, to-dos and all things logical. They also know that my towels are folded into threes and are always straight and I admit that I also fold my undies into threes and store them in my drawer in colour order, as I do with my clothes in the wardrobe (the colour thing, not the folding!!).
So I guess it would come as a bit of a surprise that when it comes to my stitching and knitting, I'm very much the opposite. I go with the flow and fly by the seat of my pants. Now this could be a bit of a 'hair letting down' thing, but I have set the cogs working and got my grey matter working on overtime lately and I've decided that I need to organise this part of my life too.

The PLAN....in the first week of the month I will knit in something that I have already started. So for example, this week I am finishing a baby cardigan that I started 2 years ago and will give it to a friend at work who has just had a little girl. I have done the sleeves on dpns as they are drop shoulders with no shaping. HOWEVER, I cast off the first one and saw that I had made a mistake in the 4 row pattern repeat and being the perfectionist I am, I'm unpicking it...not easy on dpns!

In the second week I will stitch on a WIP
In the third week I can stitch on something new, and then keep that as the third week project.
In the fourth week, anything goes be it knitting, WIPing or stitching the focus.
Voila....my plan is now set in action.

I have also extended this organising to how I use my shower gels and bath stuff. I have tons and I mean tons but like my stitching, I get some new pretty stuff and start to use that without finishing the older stuff. Result? Cupboards full of bath stuff. So, first up is a winter spice gel, body lotion and body sprayand I intend to use them all up before I move onto the next stuff.

Well that's it for now...I like these plans, they are me to a tee and I just know I'll be successful...oh the joy of being anal!!!!!

A Review of 2008 and Welcome 2009....
So, not all of 2008 was that great for me, but on reflection, compared to some people in the world, it wasn't that bad either...there are much worse things happening in the world compared to what's going on in my little insignificant life!
Starting with January (obviously) here are a few things that went on in 'ScullyLand' in 2008....
January
Well, I don't think January can have been that interesting as I can't remember anything about it except that I bought a full set of Crescent Colours threads!!

February
We went away to the Lake District and took bunny with us. The weather was really cold, but sunny and beautiful. We were walking around in t-shirts for a lot of our walks despite the fact that the air temp was often 0 or below first thing on a morning.
I discovered a great little shop called Jolie Maison in a nearby town which sells very sweet little gifts and things for the house. All I can say is I was doomed from that point in and have spent many pennies in there ever since!
I also finished Mirabillia's Winter Maiden.


March
I finally had my bad foot operated on in March. The consultant wasn't that fussed about my 'problem'. He was absolutely great, but he was of the opinion that my injury was nothing major and required nothing more than a quick debriment. Can I say however, that for me, this simple procedure was the BEST. I had tiny pieces of bone swimming around in my ankle and the edge of my ankle bone needed planing for want of a better description as it was a little rough around the edges. After the initial pain from the op, my foot healed 10 fold. I had waited over 2½ years for this and it felt wonderful.
I treated myself to a new car too, a Citroen C3 VTR and I love, love, love it!
And finally, after many years of faffing about and deliberating, I had a will drawn up!

April
The thing about being off work and not being very mobile is that you tend to get bored. I know, I know, I have more stash than I can shake a stick at, and you would think being trapped in the house would make me happy as I could stitch to my heart's content, but I sometimes need more than that.
So...the 'Clicky Finger' comes out...that finger that costs you more than anything, sometimes over the years, even more than the Ring Finger costs you...
Well, I surfed, I lusted and I clicked and somehow, full sets of GAST, GAST Simply Shaker and Weeks Dye Works and a few charts managed to find their way over the Atlantic to Chez Scully.
You would have thought that was enough to put me on until I returned to work in May, but oh no...somehow a 32" LCD TV, a stand for it, a Nintendo Wii and a Wii Fit also found their way to Chez Scully. I used the excuse that the latter would help me regain my fitness after my op...yeh right...

May
Our 1st Anniversary arrived and we went away to the most wonderful B&B I have ever stayed in. It is in Far Sawrey in the Lakes, overlooks Lake Windermere and is about a mile away from my most favourite place in he world, Moss Eccles Tarn.
We walked to the tarn in an effort to do some physio on my foot, and I didn't do too badly, not as fast as usual, but at least I was mobile again.
After that little break away, I came back and found that I weighed the most I have ever done, 12st 4lbs. I didn't look good for it either, so I decided to do something about it and joined Tesco e-diets. Man, did I have to eat a lot of food. Much more than I normally ate and I didn't think it was going to work. However, I lost 4lbs in the first week. Blew my socks off that did as I have really struggled over the time since I broke my foot to keep weight off.
My Wii Fit came into it's own and by the end of the month I was back to walking and had another great week away in the Lakes.
And finally...after 4 years I had Celtic Spring framed


June
June was fairly uneventful for me. The one thing worth mentioning is that Celtic Summer was also finished and framed. Celtic Autumn was framed after 3 years and two little ones for my en-suite were also framed.


July
Again, slightly uneventful, mainly due to the fact that we had cruddy weather so we didn't go out anywhere really. We had been in the house a year and still enjoy it and are thankful for our own en-suites!!
Stitchingwise I had a new HD for me...a flatfold. It didn't come out too badly for a first attempt.


August
This month saw me being able to buy some rather tighter fitting clothes than I normally wear as I had finally lost enough weight to have reached my target of 10st 3lbs. I looked so much better for it and felt fitter than I had done for a long time. I was even running and enjoying it...not long distances but enough to make a difference.
I also had a little GTG with some great stitching friends and look forward to the next.

September
Well as followers of my blog will know, this month my life was shattered with the death of my beloved bunny, Scully. I still miss her terribly and I still talk to her when I'm in the house as I have some of her ashes in a little box, sat in a plush cushion that is placed in the spot where her cage was. Time does heal, but there is still a bit of me missing...
On a brighter note, I bought myself a shiny, all singing, all dancing laptop which I get a lot of use out of.

October
Not much to report on really, I was a bit of a mess this month and suffered from my third really bad throat infection of the year and generally felt crap...

November
Things went from bad to worse really and I had a lot of family issues to deal with which culminated in my mum and stepdad splitting up after 27 years of marriage. Let me tell you folks, a marriage break up involving one of your parents is not easy to deal with no matter what age you are and this month was probably the worst month of my entire life and at some points I really didn't know how I was going to move on and get by. On reflection, I was still very much grieving the loss of bunny and was in no state to deal with everything else. Somehow, I came out of it all the worst, but hey ho...life does go on...
On a positive note, I went to see Will Young in concert and he was soooooooo good, I almost thought I must have been dreaming. Oh to have such a talent as that...

December
I turned 35, I had one of the best holidays I've had in a long time, climbed my 50th Wainwright (Alfred Wainright's Lakeland Fells), got a stunning purple i-pod nano for Christmas and had one of the best Christmas Days I've ever had. We decided to please ourselves instead of others and believe me..it works a treat...
My Celtic ladies were finally completed too and I finished and picked up my favouite one, Celtic Winter.

Not the best pic as she is much more silvery IRL, but you get the idea...

Onto 2009....
Things...can only get....better..... * think D:Ream!*