Today is My Birthday!!

And I've had a lovely day! My presents all came by post so I've been extra good and saved opening them for today...and that was hard since I knew what two of them were! I've been mooning over this box for over a week!

So, after trying to sleep in and failing thanks to sore shoulders and leg I gave up and started opening my pressies!

The first one - from my Mum!

She loves me and understands my addictions so she got me an Australian Galah cross stitch kit, two balls of novelty yarn from Spotlight that feel and look wonderful, a memory and charms necklace and a memo book with a pen. Really looking forward to making something nice with the yarn!

The second one is from Me, really. I have this pattern in one of my magazines, The Knitter with a wonderful pattern for a fair isle vest in lovely colours. So I ordered the yarn kit from Jamieson and Smith - Shetland Wool Brokers Ltd.

I'm kind of nervous now. The pattern has all the traditional attributes of fair isle, the stranded colour-work, corrugated rib and steeks and everything! But I'm going to put it aside until I've finished everything else I've got going. Even the cross stitching might have to take a back seat! But I'm really excited to actually do a honest-to-goodness Shetland Island item with the proper wool!

And lastly, another present to myself.

I've always loved the Anne of Green Gables collection but I've never had a chance to read all through the series in the proper order. I only had the first book and I've read the others at different times I think through library loans but I really wanted the whole set so I could go through the journey properly...and now I can! They look so cute and their in their own box and everything!

Everyone I loved rang and wished me happy birthday, and Hubbie bought me chips for lunch (in a little town like this, you're grateful for any take away food you can get and I love chips!) and all in all it was a lovely pleasant day. I am so blessed and days like today remind me that I have so much to thank God and those he's placed around me for. Sigh...

Oh well, another year passes by and time marches on. See you all later :)

My Shop is Open and with Stuff to Sell!!

Yes indeedy! I finally got brave and started putting just a few of my things on there at a time. Still getting really pretty pics of my pendants but so far I've got about 5 knitted items and 1 tatted pendant up on my shop site.

These are the knits. I've only shown 1 set of mitts because I've got three of the same design but different colourways. Very cosy and easy fit!

 

I've got heaps more to put up! Since I'm such a compulsive knitter I have to get rid of some of it before me and my family get smothered under it all! So please come and have a look. You might find just the perfect gift for someone this christmas, be it a cosy knit of a piece of unique jewellery!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/danie17

Look forward to see you :)

Hubbie Home from New Zealand!

And he had a lovely time! Sightseeing, riding on the gondolas, seeing snow, a variety of other things I haven't quite got all of it yet but a great time was had by all!
He was a smart man too, he brought back gifts...and what great gifts they are!
If he never does anything else he has covered himself with glory in his choice of pressies that he brought me back from wonderful New Zealand. This is what he got me...

This absolutely beautiful hank of kid mohair/merino blend wool. It isn't even as itchy as I find almost anything with mohair in it! It. Is. Gorgeous!! My eldest said, "well, at least we know what to get Mum if we're in another country. Just buy her a ball of wool she could probably buy here!" He was shushed immediately and told that I'd never seen anything like this (and even if I had I'd never have had the courage to buy it!) and that I loved it!!
If that wasn't enough to give him top marks as the smartest husband on the planet, then he gave me these...

Aren't they absolutely beautiful? A deep amethyst purple. They are so soft and warm! Merino + Possum + Silk makes for a wonderful mix! They are lovely!
After these I was pretty much as chuffed as I could get. Hubbie isn't noted for his powers of perception when it comes to the likes and dislikes of those of his family (he still buys dearest daughter chocolate-covered sultanas although she hates, has always hated and will continue to hate sultanas!) so for him to have been discerning enough to chose these amazing gifts was really lovely and sweet. But he hadn't finished. He had been to New Zealand after all!

You can't go to New Zealand without buying some paua shell. They are beautiful and another lovely gift that I will treasure.
So Hubbie's home, the house is no longer quiet but that's okay and I have some new lovely wool to find a pattern to do it justice to knit it up in. Now if I could only find the circular needles I need to return to Spotlight next time I go up I'll be pleased. They're tied up with their receipt, ready to go, but guess what I did?...
...I put them in a safe place! Do you think I can find them now???
Breathe deeply, deep cleansing breaths...
Happy Knitting :)

Ha Ha! Completion

And the second sock...DONE!!

So pleased with it. The stripes aren't even that much different on each sock! They're far too big for me and I'd never get my conservative hubbie to wear them so I'm hoping almost-son-in-law will appreciate them. He's about the only male in my extended family with the quirkiness necessary for something this bright. I hope he likes them. I put a lot of time, thought and effort into them.

First Christmas present down!
Happy Knitting :)

I finally thought of what I want for my birthday this year (even though it was actually 3 days ago)

After the meal we went out for on my birthday, hubbie asked me what I'd really like for a present.
See, he'd intended to take just me out for dinner but I thought the kid's would like a night out too. Also I didn't like to leave 18 yr old daughter having to chaporelle her 15 yr old brother without any warning. He's a special little individual...even if he does tower over us! So there were the four of us out for dinner.
At the only restuarant opened in Walpole (besides the Pub) on a Monday night.
The food was lovely but the ladies serving were...more mature than one normally finds wait-staff at most establishments.
And the lady serving us was partially deaf.
And she shook.
But she was really lovely and helpful. The other lady who brought our meals out from the kitchen was of a similiar generation but she still had her hearing and seemed steady enough.
After our mains, which everyone was happy with (except for a nasty experience with some battered onion rings!) we ordered desert.
No-one but me like the deserts. The kids found the creme caramels a little tougher than they were used to and Greg had difficulty getting through the jelly that made up his trifle...and lime isn't the best flavour to choose for trifle.
But anyway, we survived the night, and I was reminded again why we NEVER take Jordan out without a couple of Grandmothers to keep him in line and entertained. Long waits for food and nothing to say are not environs condusive to Jordan's particular brain chemistry! We go to the counter to pay.
$165 for the nights meal.
Oh. My. God.
If I'd realized it was going to come to that much I'd have left the children at home, I'd have suggested driving to Denmark to buy Chooks! $165!
But hubbie has been very kind and asked what I'd really likeas a present. Three days have passed now and I don't hyperventilate nearly as much as I did after we paid the bill. I finally had a thought.
I would like some knitting books.
So I've ordered 2 books from Fishpond. Both are sock books, one's a toes-up pattern book and the other's sock patterns from both the west and the east. Japan especially has some really beautiful patterns that you just don't see here.

So I've ordered them and now I just have to wait...
And be good. No more big spend ups for me! We just can't afford it!
Keep Knitting :)