I'm forever blowing bubbles!

I couldn't resist taking some pix of the boys blowing bubbles in the bath, they were having so much fun!



They were having competitions to see who could blow the biggest one! I think it was a close run thing!!!!



BTW Ronan will be totally mortified if he knew I was posting about this, certainly won't do his "Street cred" any good!

Its been 12 days since......

my last post. I didn't realise I hadn't been near my blog for all this time. Don't really have a reason for not posting. Life , I suppose has just got in the way. It's not as if I've been working a crazy work schedule like I sometimes do, so that's not the reason. Yes I've been busy, but not any more than usual. Oh well, I'm here now!

Before I tell you all my news I have several BIG thank yous to say.

First one is to Robin who sent me a surprise package,


and Oh boy was it a great package. There was 2 skeins of Koigu sock yarn, in lovely blue tones. I have been wanting to try this yarn for ages and now I can. There was a china thimble all the way from her Hawks nest spinning weekend to add to my collection of china thimbles and a fridge magnet which says "Even though we are miles apart....I will always feel we are close at heart". I have only known Robin for about a year, but its like we've known each other all our lives, and guess what.......I will finally meet her when she comes across to Scotland (her and DH's ancestral home)next year. I can hardly wait.

The second thank you goes to Kimberly from Knitty.com, who I did a sock swap with.

Here you see the sox she knitted me on 2mm needles from Lorna's Laces in blackberry. The pattern she used was Child's sock from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks". Also in with the sox was a bar of home made soap, post its and note cards. Thank you very much Kimberly, I really love the sox (and the all the other goodies too!)

The third thank you goes to my Secret Pal who sent me this..........

Debbie Stroller's "Happy Hooker". I was just thrilled to receive this book as I had been eyeing it up at my local Borders books, but had never actually got round to buying it. I already have several projects ear marked to do and can't wait to get started with them, but before I do I need to do some FO's first!!!!!!

My last thank you goes to Isabella who brought back some sock wool for me from SKIPnorth.
She brought me back 1 x 100g ball of pink Opal Uni, 1 x 100g ball of purple Opal Uni, 2 x 50g balls Cygnet in pink and 2 x 50g balls Cygnet in purple. She also brought back a ball of red and a ball of green sock yarn which was very kindly sent up from Sue and Nic, 2 of the girls I met at SKIPnorth last year. I have already knitted a pair of kids sox with the red. (pix to follow)

Now for my other news!!!



I now have 2 Cub Scouts in the family. Yup, Robert said his promise a few weeks ago. Here he is posing for the camera along with Ronan. Once again I was busy sewing on all the appropriate badges!!





We have also been busy with the usual rugby on Sundays. Having said that a few of our away games were cancelled due to bad weather, so we just trained instead. Robert managed to get the "Player of the week" trophy 2 weeks running, on the 4th and 11th. Well done Bob. Ronan was also picked to play in a rugby tournament on the 4th, but unfortunately it was cancelled. But well done Ronan for getting picked for the 1st team.

On the knitting front I have finished 3 pairs of sox, but I will post about them later since I don't have pix of them.

Here is my "main" current project.... The Civil War Shawl. I am taking part in this knit-a-long which started on the 1st of March.

This is my second attempt at it, the first one having to be frogged when I lost several stitches when the 2 parts of the Denise needles I was using parted company! I started it again on Wed 21st March, this pic was taken on the 22nd, when I had reached row 45. (The 1st weeks target!)I managed to reach the second weeks target of row 68 by Friday morning and this morning I have managed to reach row 85, so I am now well on schedule and in fact I am a head of schedule, as this weeks target was to reach row 81 by Sunday. Thank goodness for quiet nights at work!!! I am using 100% silk lace weight yarn from Colourmart in Tartan green. I was using 2 sets of 2mm dpns, but thankfully I am now using a circular needle. I was getting fed up with all the dpn's getting stuck in all the holes!

I have today off and really should be in bed sleeping at the moment, but instead I am catching up with my neglected blog! I have a few things to do today......like go to the garage and get 4 new tyres put on the car. The car went through its annual MOT this week and failed, but I knew it would as there was a few minor things needing done, like the breaks needing adjusted and a couple of bulbs needing replaced. I wasn't reckoning on needing 4 new tyres and the catalytic converter needing fixed/replaced. Think it will be beans on toast in the gourdongirl house for the next few nights as this ain't going to be cheap! Oh well I guess the summer is coming and I can put off renewing the central heating boiler for a couple of more months!

All being well I will be at the rugby club this afternoon to watch Musselburgh against Perthshire in their last home league game this season. At the moment we are second in the league and as long as we win this game and the one next week we should get promotion to Division 2. You never know, with a bit of luck we might even win the league and become Division 3 champions. That we won't know till next Saturday after our away game at Ellon.

And finally.................Just a reminder to all those reading this on this side of the "pond", The clocks go froward tonight and tomorrow it will officially be British Summer Time!!!!!!

Edited at 19:05 on Sat 24th to point out that I made an error when I stipulated the size of needles I was using on the shawl. I should have said 2.5mm and NOT 2mm. Thank you Isabella for pointing out my mistake and for lending me the said circular needle. (Which was in deed 2.5mm!!!!)

Also, Musselburgh beat Perthshire by 38 points to 10, so promotion looks good for next season

Couldn't resist this!

I was reading knitdaisies blog and just couldn't resist doing this Harry Potter quiz. Not sure about the wise or learning from bit, but the rest is a pretty acurate assesment I feel!

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. You are very wise, observant, and analyctical. You have a very "well-organized" mind, which makes you function in a calm and fair manner. Though you get angered easily, its rare of you to ever act our of temper. You are constantly seeing the good in people and are naturally forgiving because of it. You're easy to please and a great person to learn from. Albus Dumbledore 66% Neville Longbottom 56% Bellatrix Lestrange 53% Remus Lupin 50% Oliver Wood 47% Harry Potter 44% Sirius Black 44% Ron Weasley 38% Hermione Granger 34% Luna Lovegood 28% Severus Snape 25% Lord Voldemort 19% Percy Weasley 13% Draco Malfoy 3% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

As promised!

As promised here is a pic of my Dad with all the grandchildren.


(l to r) Keira (15), Dad, Calum (17), Ronan (11) and Robert (8). This was taken at my brother's house after we had all been out for a meal to celebrate Dad's 70th birthday.

Since coming back from my parents on Sunday I have been rather busy working, so I haven't had much time to blog or take pix of my sock swap sox which arrived the other day, or the latest pair of sox I'm knitting, or the progress (or not) of the KAL Civil War Shawl that I started on Monday night and had to frog last night when disaster struk. Disaster struk on row 47, when the Denise needle I was using unclipped and I lost several stitches. After about an hour of looking for them I gave up and frogged it. I am using lace weight 100%silk in Tartan green from colourmart and its like knitting with thread!!!! I was using size 3.75 needles and I really wasn't happy with that, so now that it is frogged I will be able to start again on smaller ones, well I will when I go search the LYS to buy them!

I promise to take pix over the weekend and post them soon.

More Blog filler!

I was reading Faerynuff's mums blog when I came across this quiz and I thought it might be fun to do.

Which Jane Austen character are you?

Take the Quiz here!

I'm Anne Elliot of Persuasion! Let's face it, you're easily persuaded, especially when faced with choices that are or aren't 'the Elliot way.' But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is a milestone birthday for my Dad..........He reaches 70 years! Happy birthday Dad.

Will post some pix from the family get together later, it will have to be later as we haven't had it yet!!!!!!

He does well for 70, he sings and plays bodhran in a folk group called the "Fisher Folk" and they have just made their first CD called "Yellow on the Broom" and they are planning their third tour of Ireland for later this year. He is also an artist who regularly exhibits his paintings in the local area and during the summer he can be found in his shed making model fishing boats.