sugar, spice & stardust x

BOO!!!

Happy Hallowe'en!

Coffeeswap Questions & Answers

1. Whole bean or ground? I like it fresh so whole bean for me please

2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded, don't see the point otherwise!

3. Regular or flavored? Regular, (my mum's a fan of vanilla flavour beans, but I just don't get it)

4. How do you drink your coffee? Usually black with cream/whole milk, I also like a good espresso, espresso macchiato, cappucino and latte... all dependent on the time of day and what my mood dictates

5. Favorite coffee ever? Blue Sumatra from my local coffee shop

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? I only enjoy a cup a day at the most (or else I get the shakes) so it has to be gooood!

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Chocolate is always goooood, biscuits too, pastries and cakes also, though I don't think they ship that well!

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? Can't think of anything except I like to have enough time to drink it before it gets cold so a babysitter is usually required while I enjoy a cup!

9. Yarn/fiber you love? I have a liking for Debbie Bliss cashmerino because it's beautiful and soft and knits up so nicely. I am a fan of anything natural/organic in all aspects of my life and that translates to wool as well. But mostly I'd like to be surprised by something different that I won't have used before.

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Not a fan of acrylic or novelty yarns with furry bits and ribbons, they don't feel nice and they look bizarre, and they must be a nightmare to knit with!

11. What's on your needles? Which ones?! I have actually just cast off a debbie bliss hooded jacket, but haven't yet found the spare moment in which to do a little blocking on it and do the seaming. I still have Baudelaire socks on some sticks, but think they are too big and so have been avoiding them! Am also knitting a little tank top in gray & red stripes for my son and am trying to get round to my annual contribution of teeny tiny hats for innocent smoothie bottles!

12. Favorite colors? I like vintage shades of green & blue, Edwardian type hues! I also have a passion for red with white polka dots. I do have a thing for yellow, a nice strong, mustardy yellow and a good, vibrant turquoise green. Even a nice grey can be good. I think I like most of the colour spectrum, it all depends on the project I intend to use it with, every colour has it's place & pattern (though I'm not a PINK pink fan, you know like Barbie pink, bluuugghh!) Right I think that's enough confusion over colours, sorry!

13. Allergies? None that I know of, no

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I like post! Especially from overseas! I am truly annoyed by these Royal Mail postal strikes that we are suffering in the UK just now, doesn't look like negotiations are going all that well either...BOO! Anyway, I like to experiment, I like cabling, lace work and pretty much any fancy stitches I can get the hang of, I like to be inspired. I like buttons to sew on to my knitted garments! I'm looking forward to getting something I haven't used before especially since our LYS is a John Lewis department store (not that inspiring). Don't worry though, I found lots of yummy, fancy yarn to choose from outside of our yarn deprived city for my pal!

A Caffeinated Month!!! ***UPDATE***

Ooh I'm going to be all caffeined up, not only am I back in for round 3 of the Knitters' Coffeeswap, I'm also in for round 4 of the Knitters' Teaswap! Yay! And I have my teaswap partner already, Kristina in Chicago, an illustrator and general creative type like myself, she has noted some spooky similarities in our profiles already and I have to note a couple more, a liking of Joanne Harris novels and also the music of Beth Orton, fabulous matching by Suzie and Bridget me thinks!

***I have my coffeeswap partner now too, also Christina! She lives in Anglesey in North Wales and we have a mutual love of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino... it's just soooo soft!! It's going to be another great swap courtesy of fabulous hostess Knittymama***

Starting to think up possible inclusions for both packages just now, can't wait to SWAP SHOP!

Official Knitter's Book Swap...package arrived...

...ages ago, sorry! Thank you so much to Gabrielle who sent me "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen" by Alan Garner...
...as well as a veritable stash of yarny goodness (Debbie Bliss Pure Silk - 2 skeins no less, and some Louise Harding Sari Ribbon) along with a challenge to use said yarn, and some lovely sparkly yummy beads also included, to create a knitted item inspired by the book. Looking forward to getting started on the book tonight (as little Boo is being very good and sleeping soundly for the moment, despite a yucky cold, thank you Olbas Oil!) and will see what sort of creation comes to mind...

Synopsis

The heart of the magic was sealed with Firefrost, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen...should Nastrond destroy the stone, then the magic will die away. When Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie creatures across Alderley Edge, the Wizard - Cadellin Silverbrow - takes them to safety deep in the caves of Fundindelve. Here he watches over the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights, awaiting the fated hour when they must rise and fight. But the Weirdstone of Brisingamen is lost and the forces of evil are closing in. The children realise that they are the key to its return, but how can they defeat the powerful magic of the Morrigan and her deadly brood. First published in 1960, four decades before "Harry Potter", Alan Garner's novel of magic and wizards has endured and become a modern classic of children's literature.

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a fantasy story by the author Alan Garner, first published in 1960. It is set in and around Macclesfield and Alderley Edge, Cheshire, and tells the story of two children, Colin and Susan, who are staying there whilst their parents are overseas. Susan has a bracelet, containing the Weirdstone of the title, that makes the children hunted by the forces of evil. The novel borrows extensively from Celtic, Norse and Arthurian legends. Many of the locations in the book and in the sequel, however, are actual places which Alan Garner knew from his childhood. These include the ancient Wizard's Well and inscription, the open mine pits, and the beacon.

Its sequel is The Moon of Gomrath.

The two novels have been dramatised as a pair by BBC Radio.

In the 1970's, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen was also adapted as a musical (written by Paul Pearson) and was staged in Manchester and Essex. The cast included Hugo award-winning artist Sue Mason, who also designed the progam book. The songs from the show were recently re-arranged by pagan band Inkubus Suckubus with a view to resurrecting the musical for a modern audience, though copyright restrictions make this unlikely in the near future.

Cast-offs, an exhibition

" 'Cast-offs' is an innovative knitting project developed as part of a major series of events, art projects and exhibitions taking place in the city to mark 200 years since the legal end of the transatlantic slave trade.

Nearly 600 knitters have created hundreds of children's jumpers which artist Chris Biddlecombe has built into a striking installation on show in the city's Kirk of St Nicholas.

The 600 knitted garments align with the approximate number of children kidnapped from the North East between 1740 and 1746. The location of the installation is highly appropriate, given that St Nicholas is the benefactor of children, patron of sea-farers and the protector of the poor.

Between 1600 and 1800, around 12 million men, women and children were transported from Africa to produce crops on plantations in America and the Caribbean. This project has highlighted a lesser-known aspect of forced labour in the 18th century where Scottish children were abducted and shipped to the American Colonies - specifically Aberdeen and the surrounding area.

Drawing a fascinating link between the African Slave Trade and issues of contemporary slavery is the story of Aberdeenshire teenager Peter Williamson, who was kidnapped in Aberdeen harbour and transported to Philadelphia, where he was sold into slavery. After writing a book that exposed the scandal of slave trading, he later returned to the city and sued the Provost, four Bailies and the Dean of Guild for their collusion in his kidnapping.

When the installation is viewed, the jerseys form a collaged composition of text fragments, forgotten messages, lost initials and stolen words. Each knitter's written or drawn response accompanies the installation on garment labels.

When it is finally deconstructed the individual jumpers will form part of an international effort with Feed the Children UK, to combat contemporary child slavery, clothing babies born to young girls abducted in Uganda and closing this unique 'knitting circle'."

This is the jumper I knitted for the exhibition. Each knitter was given the same pattern and some were given a letter to include on the front panel of the jumper. I have used the lovely rowan wool cotton that my KCS2 pal included in my package, I know I was meant to knit something for my wee boy with it, but this was a great idea & cause and I'm glad that a child who needs it will enjoy this jumper, (My Boo did get to sport it for the photos though!).




How fab do they all look hanging in the Kirk?!



There's my 'S' at the end of the first 'meets'.

One of the phrases, 'Is anyone listening'.

TISA the international sock!

A long overdue post on TiSA the international sock of mystery! This is a picture of TiSA, with my portion knitted in Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino, looking out onto the pier in St Andrews. TiSA arrived with many goodies


from Shadkitty, thank you again!, and enjoyed a sightseeing tour of St Andrews, as well as my wedding and my cousin's wedding before going on to visit New England. She is looking very fabulous in blue hues at the moment and is currently in the States with Debi after a trip round Heidelberg with Holly. Progress on both TiSA and Alphamonkey can be found here...

try this here!

Our summer.

Well, to be honest, we didn't really get a summer here! Kept waiting for the sun to shine and it didn't really happen. It's been a long time since June and I've so much to post about, but I'm just going to take it a step at a time or else I'll get totally overwhelmed by the thought! I'm going to try and keep it in chronological order so as not to miss anything out. But firstly, a brief description of my "summer" and lack of blogging.

It has been a summer of mixed emotions, in fact we have had births, deaths and marriages. September was definitely a bit of a getting-back-to-normality month. My friend had a baby girl in June, Hannah, a sister to Nicola & Liam. My wee boy turned one in July...me oh my where did that year go? My cousin became a dad when baby Ryan was born in July. We also had so many weddings to attend this summer, but most notably our own. However, my Grandad had been very ill and spent most of June and all of July in hospital, he was too ill to make it to my cousins wedding in July and very sadly passed away the week before our wedding in August. He was a fabulous man and was such a part of the church that we married in that it was strange and very sad for him not to be there with us. We attended his funeral on the Thursday, it was a great service, the sun shone, the church was packed because he knew so many people and was involved in so many things. There is a lovely post & comment on this blog about Grandad. On Saturday we were back in the church getting married, my family is wonderful and despite the hurt we were all feeling at losing Grandad, they gave me the best day I could've hoped for. Thank you all.

Thomas McLaren Keracher 4 June 1930 - 4 August 2007

Would Buffy knit socks?!

"What would Buffy knit?

All those pointy sticks she plays with — you can't tell me Buffy's not a knitter. The question is, what does she really, really want to make? You've got until 30 June to design something for everybody's favourite vampire slayer."

Take a look at the purlescence storytellers blog which emerged from a competition that ran on the purlescence site where you were asked to design a knitting pattern for a variety of different storybook characters, (I never got a chance to participate, though I would have loved to have designed something that Alice in Wonderland might knit, something weird and wonderful I imagine!)

Now they are asking you to design a project that Buffy, yes Buffy, might knit!! It's got to be something totally gothic don't you agree, lace? in black, with a silvery hue? ... ah you've found me out, I'm a closet Buffy fan, well really I'm a closet Angel fan, but Buffy's pretty good too! I'm off to dream up the kind of knitting project a slayer might find the time for! It would have to be on double-points, that way she could slay two unsuspecting vampires with either end of one of her bamboos!

Check out the best cupcakes... EVER!

OMG, knitters beware, you'll have to put your knitting down and go bake once you've seen these from VeganYumYum!! Once your jaw has been picked up off the floor that is, these knitting cupcakes are amazing, I defy anyone not to be inspired or feel very, very hungry!

The International Socks have started their world tour!

It started in Memphis...where to next?