Birthday in Brighton :-)

My two sons both live in lovely Brighton so we drove down on Thursday to have a birthday lunch on Friday. We stayed once more at Hudsons who do a great full English brekkie!

Then off to wander North Laine and a trip to the bead shop before lunch with OH, my boys and DiL.

We saw some great street art - though I suppose some would call it graffiti.

We went on the Galloping Horses after lunch, that was always my favourite ride when I was a child. Very tame for this generation, of course, so the boys kept doing bareback riding tricks - not to the amusement of the bored fairground guy.

We had another mission - to find a copy of the current Komedia(local venue) programme - my middle son's band A Scandal in Bohemia is on the front cover!

*proud mum glow*

Steampunk

My new earrings came yesterday WOOHOO!

I showed the photo of my steampunk necklace on which the wonderful MadArtJewelry made, but of course the moment I put it on I realised I needed earrings.

And here they are! It's my birthday on Friday so we're going to Brighton where my sons live so that they can take me out to lunch (though I expect we'll be taking them, LOL) so I will be packing only clothes that go with my steampunk bling.

I had to ask what steampunk was when first I found the necklace, so
here's what wiki has to say

Evolution?

There I was, minding my own business on the forums..when I just had to buy some earrings (you know the feeling!)

So - I bought these: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=8736991
from Polyclarific (lots of bargains there, have a look)

which immediately started me thinking "I could knit those!"


So I did ...


took ages, each square is knitted double size, folded corner to corner, sewn together, then all the squares sewn together.


Must be an easier way (yes - wait for the ones you bought to arrive from Australia!)


So I knitted circles - again, doubled, sewn together. Didn't like them sewn in a pile



so I've "rainbowed" them...



and they've evolved to this...-------------->


Hopefully I can remember I'm supposed to be knitting for my shop this time, but I do like bright colours!

nosy neighbour - that's me!

Did I mention how much the football banging on MY fence irritates me? Well, deciding it was my problem, not the next door kid's, today I bought him a goal - only a cheap one, from Woolies - and I've just been round to give it to his dad and explain.

Sooooooooooo embarrassing, I'm shaking! But if it works, and he stops the incessant pounding on the fence, it will be the best £7 I've ever spent.

update - well, the quiet didn't last long LOL after all he's only 5 but...the goal is now in pride of place next to his OTHER neighbour's fence - so my cunning plan DID work!

Why do some parents...

take their kids to totally inappropriate places? We went to our local auction house today and bought a table to go under yesterday's shelves, in the hope that I leave the dining table clear. Fat chance! Annoyingly we paid more than we could have done last month, when two tables went unsold at £5...but I didn't know I wanted a table then.

To get back to the title - both last month and this month (and I suspect, every month) there has been a posh-looking young woman with a child of about 2. She's obviously not short of cash - last month she bought a garden seat at £150 and an art deco thing at over £200 - yet instead of getting a sitter she brings her poor child to the auction where he frets and yells and cries because he's bored stiff. It doesn't exactly enhance the experience for the rest of us, either.

You're probably all thinking I'm a miserable old child-hater, but I'm not (honest!) I just don't understand this modern thing of taking small kids everywhere. She can't possibly think the child will enjoy going to an auction ("Look at the nice antique, darling")

OK - rant over. And tomorrow I pick up my table woohoo!

I have shelves!

Nice Mr Nifty (or should that be Mr Knit?) has put up some shelves so I can stick my knitted stuff somewhere tidier in the hope of impressing the journalist when he comes to do the piece on me. Need to find something better than that grey scarf the brooches are on though, looks a bit naff. Just remembered there's a stash of Easter and Christmas knits in the wardrobe...wonder if he'd mind getting the drill out again?

Amazed how much is there - and yet not that much now that it is tidy. Back to the knitting...

Time to get serious...

This morning's task was to get to grips with a business card.


We started with this --->

but I decided it didn't make me seem any different to the little old lady at the wool shp who will knit you a cardi if you ask nicely.


Back to the drawing board!


Eventually we progressed (via several versions) to
this, which I'm quite happy with.

It looks a lot sharper in real life!

Now all I've got to do is find people to give them to.

I also spent some time looking up niftyknits on google, yahoo etc.

I found the person who had already grabbed niftyknits as a blog, and also someone on myspace who has unfortunate titles to some of her pictures. Would now be a good time to point out that neither of them is me?

I've started advertising on oodle, but I'm not sure what sort of audience they get. My DiL is off to Scotland soon (with a bunch of my cards) so I'm expecting lots of Scots visitors to the site!

We'll see...

new listing shortly, Pussy in boots -

she's got a belly button piercing ;-)

eeeeeeeewwwwwww :-(

I was just looking out of the window, wondering what the large bird on the nutfeeder was....

when I realised....

not a bird at all!

YUCK

Quiz for today!

I just did a quiz ;-)

http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/285823/ What kind of knitting needles are you?

Apparently:

I am plastic. Futuristic, milky, and silky, I am willing to go where no crafter has gone before. I can do just about anything, with strength agility, and pretty colors to boot! While I am good at slipping and sliding out of sticky situations, I remember to stay where and when I am needed. I don't overdo it on star gazing when there's earthbound knitting to be done!

What sort of knitting needles are you?

I'm on the front page of our local rag :-)

Sadly, the online version doesn't show the photo of myself and husband pointing inanely at litter.

http://www.kentishexpress.co.uk/paper/default.asp?article_id=10922

Here's hoping the reporter comes back to do a piece about etsy next week. What shall I knit him as a bribe? and will I get paid for them using my photo from previous blog? Somehow I don't think so!

Tempus fugit...

Well it certainly does! (For those who don't know, tempus fugit means time flies, and it's the name of this piece by MadArtjewelry)

I've been eagerly awaiting my first piece of steam punk jewellery - I'd never heard of such a thing before finding this on etsy. I ummed and aahed for a week, I'm quite sure I pushed up madartjewelery's views by at least 100 all by myself.

Then today it came! We'd been on our way out of the house but came back in for me to attack my parcel.

Then I had to change my top. Three times LOL - finally I felt I set it off sufficiently! Anyone who knows me will tell you I NEVER make this much fuss about clothes or jewellery, so it really must be an ace piece.

And now - back to the knitting.....

I'm going to be famous!

Great excitement here today, I met with a local journalist!

This was because a few weeks ago I got fed up with moaning about litter and decided to do something about it. We took a bin bag with us on our regular walk and picked up no less than 5 kilos before we gave up.


There were: 19 plastic bottles, 3 glass bottles, 1 drinking glass, 22 cans, a hubcap, a clipboard, a 5L container of antifreeze and...these we had to leave behind...a microwave, 2 tyres and a rubber carmat.

Today, we took the reporter to photograph the microwave and I collected the car mat and some more rubbish. Amusingly the 2 tyres had bred, and there are now 3.

But - the real excitement is that I mentioned my etsy store, and he said he'd come back and do a story on me maybe next week! I will be knitting my nifty little heart out till then!

Today is the first day...

of trying to blog. Now all I have to do is think of something to write about!