Busy week

I have had a super busy week and it has taken me the last four days to get over it. As you know, I did my trip to Fanderson. I then went to visit my daughter in Manchester with my sons. We did some shopping and went on the Manchester Eye. How touristy. As you can see, it was quite high but I managed to stifle my screams. It was quite nice because we got a pod to ourselves.

The giddy heights of Manchester

After our day trip to Manchester we then went to Cardiff to see Dr Who Live. What a great show. The music was great. The monsters lurked around the audience which was great fun. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos once the show had started

Dr Who Live

At the weekend I did my big trip to London with my son. As I think I mentioned before, he won a competition to design an alien space craft for an online game for Sarah Jane's Adventures (a spin off of Dr Who). We travelled up early on Saturday and made our way to the BBC.

Paddington Station

I dropped my son off at the BBC and then, of course, had to entertain myself until 5.30 pm. I headed for Oxford Street. I originally come from Greater London so I get so excited when I go back. It is so vibrant and full of life. I went to John Lewis to buy some yarn (a story about this to follow) and then to Liberty's. I loved Liberty's. I had forgotten how hot it is in the shops there. I had to stop constantly and take on fluids. I got back to the BBC at 4.00 pm and was absolutely exhausted.

BBC White City

On the Sunday, I dropped my son off again but this time the novelty had worn off a little for me. It was pouring with rain and I had forgotten that nowhere opens until 12 noon on a Sunday. After wandering around for a while I telephoned my OH for assistance and some tips of where to go. He pointed me in the direction of the British Museum. I hadn't been there since I was very young and I loved it. I wandered around for about four hours and didn't actually see anything. I went in every room and sat in various places. I had a drink in every cafe there and spent a lot of time people watching. I left there with a couple of books (History of the World in 100 Objects and The Book of The Dead) and a promise to myself to return with the family (whether they want to or not) so that I can share my excitement with others.

Entrance hall at the British Museum

When I collected my son he was so enthused. He had had a brilliant time. He had shared his ideas with like minded people and learned a lot from them. He felt as if he really fitted in. Who could ask for more than that.

I did manage some knitting. I need something to keep me sane. Knitting posts to follow.

FAB - Fanderson convention - TV21

On Saturday I took my eldest son to the Fanderson Convention at Bristol. This is a convention for all fans of Gerry Anderson. For those of you who are still in the dark, he is the creator of Thunderbirds, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Space 1999 and UFO to name a few. The convention took place over the weekend but we only went on the Saturday.

The photos are a bit blurred I am afraid. They were taken on the run. My son is autistic and we do everything at 100 miles an hour. He was so thrilled to be there because there were people that had worked on the original series. We also got to see Gerry Anderson himself, although we weren't allowed to ask for his autograph. They had models of various space ships and puppets but none of the main ones.

This is Sam Loover from Joe 90.

This is Parker from Thunderbirds

This is the cockpit from Thunderbirds. It is the cockpit of Thunderbird 2. But alas no puppets!

This is the Eagle transporter from Space 1999.

They had rooms with screenings of peoples favourite episodes. It certainly was an eye opener for me. The people running the convention were extremely friendly and it was well organised.

On the way back, while we were in Bristol, we had to stop at Get Knitted. It was almost compulsory. Although I couldn't hang around for very long, I had a lovely time. I squeezed loads yarns and looked at various pattern books and needles.

It was a lovely day out. I got to spend quality time with my eldest son, somewhere he really enjoyed going and where we were accepted.

Who won a competition

My son has won a competition for Sarah Jane's Adventures. He is going to London for the weekend to spend time with game designers and some of the Dr Who production team. How exciting! We are very proud of him.

Unfortunately it means that we cannot now go to the matinee showing of Dr Who Live in Cardiff on Saturday 30th October. I have three tickets. If anyone is interested let me know. The tickets could be yours.

I have now put them on ebay. Here is the listing.

Sock it to 'em

I don't know if I have ever mentioned the fact that I have three strapping sons and all of them love knitted socks. This, alone, would keep me busy knitting. As soon as I have finished one pair, another pair is needed.

In itself, it wouldn't be such a bad thing except that all of my sons have such large feet. They are sizes 17, 12 and 11 respectively. Yes, it is like knitting wind socks!

I try to keep a pair on the go all of time but sometimes, I don't really knit much of them. I should make a pact with myself to knit at least ten rounds of a sock a day but I know I am not that disciplined.

Here is my latest pair of finished socks in the largest size. I knit a very basic sock pattern but do them on 3mm needles instead of 2.5mm and extra rounds in the foot.

I try to use stripey yarn because it makes it a little more interesting. My eldest son only likes blue, my youngest likes really bright colours and my middle son just loves any that I knit him. Who could refuse to knit the socks when they are so well loved!!!

Button Love

I bought me some buttons.

I don't normally have a button stash and only buy them as and when necessary. I like to look for the buttons when I have finished the project. It is a treat for finishing!

I couldn't resist these buttons from a local supplier. The buttons are ceramic but I figured that if I was handwashing anyway, it wouldn't matter.

Look at these...

And these .....

And not to forget these .....

Do you have a button stash?

Wow it's October

Where did the last six weeks go. Sometimes, I think you get out of the habit of blogging and then lose a bit of confidence. But here I am. Starting again. Hopefully some of you are still around to read this.

I have been working on a test knit of the Garden Cardigan by Jennifer Thompson.

This cardigan was a pleasure to knit. The instructions were clear and straight forward. The photo is a pre-blocked one as the weather has been appalling. I hope that a lot of the irregular garter stitch will come out in blocking and the leaf pattern will be more apparent. I made this in Sublime Soya Cotton in Nettle which I bought in a sale at Get Knitted. I think, when I do this again, I will do it in a wool mix rather than in cotton. I think the stitches would be a lot more even (or am I kidding myself). I hope to post some more photos when I have blocked it.

NOT the Apple of My Eye

I've had a really grotty week, technology wise. I am a Mac owner. Loud and proud. I have always bought Macs because of their great machines and their outstanding customer service. I have been proved horribly wrong. I have had an iphone for the last eighteen months. I was encouraged to download the latest 4.0 software which was brilliant except that it made my phone go like a pig. It was so slow that I could have delivered an email myself before it did. When I contacted Apple about it they started by saying that they couldn't do anything about it but after a bit of whinging they helped me restore my phone which gave me its original speed. Thank goodness.

Two days later I woke up to find that there was not electricity supply to my Time Capsule (a backing up type Apple thing). I telephoned Apple again. They admitted that they did have problems with the Time Capsule and were replacing some within certain serial numbers but mine wasn't one of those so, well, tough. Apparently mine wasn't one of those that has an electricity supply problem, although clearly it does. I can have a paid repair, which is virtually as much as a new one or just suck it up. (It is all over the internet now that these things break after eighteen months, which is exactly the same age as mine and doesn't seem very good value for money. Unfortunately I bought mine before people started taking them back.)

Now my eighteen month old macbook is getting strangely hot. It then makes load fan noises until I turn it off for it to cool down. Because I didn't buy the extra applecare at a further 25% of the cost price for another two years, it is out of warranty. I must now drive nearly fifty miles to the nearest Apple store to get them to look at it and have a paid repair. I cannot believe that it is going wrong after eighteen months. I object to taking out an extra warranty when I am paying so much for the original product.

BOO HISS APPLE . POOR SHOW. Buck your ideas up and stand by your products.

Also I missed the deadline to take part in The Blog Hub's swap on Ravelry. Doh.

Now I have stopped whinging I will post about knitting. I have lots of wips at the moment. The latest is Evie by Kim Hargreaves. This is going to be a long project because it is 4ply. I got a lovely colour which is a type of warm, bluey grey. I love the colour. It is in Thrown Together.

It is a 1920s/1930s type pattern and looks absolutely lovely.

As you can see, the photo was taken in the evening so I have quite a shadow but the colour of the yarn is fairly accurate.

Here is the pattern up close. I am really pleased with it so far.

I thought it would be a good project to take to knitting club because it is just knit and purl but I was wrong. We all talk far too much to concentrate at all. Next week I will have to take some finger knitting!