Year of Projects 4: 5th April update

The house move is almost over! Having a large crossover in occupancy between our two houses has been quite useful, but I think a month was too long, as we still haven't handed the keys back on the old place. Almost feels like we can't get started on living here properly until we've given the old house back! We've got the cleaners in today (on Easter Sunday! We were amazed) and one more trip to the tip to get rid of the last few bits and pieces. But then we are done.

Some of you may have seen this before, if you follow me on Instagram (@supertinks). But I wanted to share it again because quite frankly, I think it's gorgeous. Check out my front door!

It's just as lovely from the inside as well, when the light hits it in the mornings.

It makes me smile every time I come home, which has to be a good thing. Even if I've had a terrible day at work, or if I've been soaked by rain walking home from the station, I get to my front door and it cheers me up.

My new craft/sitting room is coming on nicely. It is finally clear of all the random stuff that doesn't belong in it, so I can share some pictures at last.

I have deliberately left the wall above the sofa bare of pictures for now, as I intend to finish my Doctor Who cross stitch patterns and get them framed, and then they will hang along that wall in lovely matching frames.

It is so nice to finally have all of my crafting things in the same place. I've sort of arranged everything on the shelves for now, but need to go through each shelf one by one and work out a proper way to store everything on it, so that I can see what is there and access it easily.

We are planning a trip to Ikea next week, so will hopefully be able to pick up a variety of useful boxes and baskets then. I may also look at getting a sewing table to put in the bay window, but that is not a priority necessarily as the dining table is in the room next door.

I doubt I'll get much done to progress my list over the next few weeks, as I will be focusing on making things to improve the storage and aesthetic of my room. I am also already casting my mind forward and thinking about a different way to approach the fifth year of projects, which is now only three months away!

Year of Projects 4: 15th March update

Not much of an update from me at the moment as we are in full on house moving mode and everything has been packed away! We are moving on Thursday this week, so every spare second I have is being used to pack and tidy and throw things away.

I have kept one of my projects unpacked, however, as on Wednesday evening we will be taking the cat over to the new house, and will have an evening without TV, Internet or packing to keep us entertained. I figured Pogona was portable enough that I could keep it out and entertain myself with it once the cat is settled in for the night.

One thing I have noticed while sorting the house for the move is that my craft supplies have expanded somewhat since we moved in two years ago. They're taking up a lot more boxes than last time! Luckily, in the new house I get to have a whole room all to myself, for keeping all of my craft supplies in one place. It will have a sofa, and has a working fireplace, so will be nice and cosy. Will share pics once I am moved in and unpacked!

Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red

Of random things

Spring seems to finally be showing signs of appearing! Bright blue skies are a definite improvement on wind and rain and floods (we escaped the worst of that, thankfully). The trees are starting to show signs of life and the magnolia in my front garden is flowering. I do love my magnolia, but I did get a bit of magnolia-envy at the weekend when I saw one with purple flowers outside my husband's office!










We braved the road into London on Sunday and went to IKEA in Wembley. I've only driven inside the M25 a couple of times before (both trips to Kew Gardens) so it was a bit of an adventure, especially when we realised we were dangerously close to running out of fuel on the motorway. I love going to IKEA. I always see so many things I want to buy. We had a list though, and we're very good and only bought one thing that wasn't on it (a new silicon whisk, as I broke ours recently). The shelves pictured are the reason we went; decent, solid reliable shelves for storing board games and Games Workshop modelling stuff.

The only other really exciting thing that happened this week is that I finally got my very own iPad (a hand-me-down from my husband who has just upgraded). So I'm testing out posting using the Blogpress app. It'll take some getting used to, I think!

I should have a week off more often

If there's something I've learned this week while I've been off work, it's that I really, really needed a week off work! While the grand plans for finishing off all of my outstanding projects hasn't really happened, I have done a lot already this week. $5 in San Fransisco is finished, and just waiting a daylight photo shoot before I can show you (hopefully to be achieved today). I haven't touched anything else!

The River Thames at Odney

On Monday I took a trip into Maidenhead, as I hoped that Sew Crafty might have the material I needed to make Jamie some new LRP kit. Unfortunately they didn't have what I wanted, which cut my shopping trip short and meant I was over an hour early getting to Odney, where we have one of our residential clubs and where I was booked in to have a deep muscle massage at the Serenity Spa.

I have to say, having an hour long massage at the start of my week off was an excellent idea. My back had been causing me all kinds of trouble as the muscles had all seized up from the long hours hunched over my work laptop. It was incredibly relaxing and worth every penny.

My original plan for fitting in all the crafting was to do it in the evenings while we watched TV. Unfortunately, another minor purchase got in the way of that...

Diablo 2 was my favourite PC game for a long time, and I have been eagerly waiting to get my hands on its sequel ever since it was first announced. We have the console version so that Jamie and I can play together. We are having so much fun playing it, that we've not really watched any TV at all this week so far! And of course, I can't knit and play at the same time.

I am hopeful that my plan for the rest of the day (blitzing the house in preparation for Christmas decorating on Sunday) will give me the clean space I need to get my shawls on the blocking board, so at least I will have something to show for my week off besides a clean house and a completed game!

In absentia

Well, life has certainly got in the way of crafting and blogging of late. Work has been crazy busy, which leads to late finishes and being far too tired to knit or crochet. I think the most creative I've been in the evenings of late has been colouring in a shoe for a retirement party next week!

Even my weekends are not safe. I had been quite looking forward to a free weekend; time to block Wingspan and Dragonfly Wings, to finish the last few rounds of the sleeve on $5 in San Fransisco and to finish baby blanket number three. Instead, this is what I have been up to today:

I've been working all day! Even tomorrow is not looking safe, as I will most likely have to do more work tomorrow morning. My house looks like a bombsite because it's been so long since I did any housework. It's all very annoying.

I do have some knitting to share though! Innocent were in the office yesterday promoting the Big Knit. They were giving away cute little kits containing 25g balls of Stylecraft Special DK in red, green and yellow, complete with a tiny pair of children's 4mm needles. They had expert knitters on hand to teach people how to knit, but I just took a kit back to my desk and knocked a hat up while I was waiting for things to happen in the system.

It earned me the respect and envy of my colleagues, many of whom had struggled with casting on, or had managed only a few rows. I'm not sure how my little hat is going to get to Innocent, I think they might be popping back next week to collect any finished ones. I'll make sure to ask the lady who organised it when I am back in the office. I was a bit too busy to remember to ask on Friday!

I don't think I will use the kit to make any more hats, the red and yellow yarn will be a welcome addition to the stash I have put aside for the Game of Thrones blanket as they are the same yarn and shade as the stuff I have already bought!

Honeymoon Part 3 - Las Vegas

Ah, Las Vegas. City of Sin. I guess some people would raise an eyebrow at our choice of honeymoon destination, but no amount of leaflets advertising prostitution being shoved in our faces could spoil our enjoyment of this incredibly vibrant city!

Sights of the Las Vegas Strip (clockwise from top left):
The Venetian, Paris Las Vegas, Excalibur, The Bellagio Fountains, New York New York
Luxor, Stratosphere tower, Caesar's Palace

The first thing that struck me about Las Vegas when we got off the plane was the heat. Las Vegas is, as I'm sure you know, in the middle of the desert, which means average May temperatures of 20°C higher than we get here. It's a dry heat too, which is very strange when you are used to a more humid climate. The second thing that struck me as we walked through the airport was the array of slot machines in the terminal! We were definitely in the Gambling Capital of the World.

The Strip is massively overscaled. Every building is enormous. Ridiculously so. It took us two hours to walk the length of the strip, from our hotel (Harrah's) down to Mandalay Bay. You can't gauge distance accurately, as the hotels look the same size whether you are right next to them or half an hours walk away. Some of the hotels took our breath away, other's left us disappointed. The Bellagio fountains and Mirage volcano were breathtaking, the Sirens of Treasure Island was supremely tacky yet impressive for it's technical display. New York New York was my favourite, for its atmosphere, its attractions and for how well it sticks to its theme. Excalibur was disappointing to say the least. Of all the themes, Medieval England was likely to be the one they got the most wrong!

We did so much while we were in Vegas, besides wandering the strip and exploring the various hotels and casinos. So much, in fact, that I failed to sit and relax by our hotel pool even once!

I wish I could share photos of the Cirque du Soleil performance we went to see. I have wanted to see one for years, and we did in in style! Unfortunately, Ka was sold out, so we decided to go see Zarkana instead. We got front row seats! It was incredible. Seriously, check out the preview video on their website. The girl juggling the seven balls made a mistake in her performance, and one of the balls bounced off the stage straight into Jamie's hands. They didn't miss a beat, and one of the harlequins came to reclaim it from him and she carried on as if nothing had happened.

I also wish my photos of the Grand Canyon would do it justice. It is vast. Simply unbelievably vast. We did a fantastic day long tour, which involved driving out to Boulder City by coach, before taking a small passenger plane out to the West Rim, via Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.

Once at the West Rim, we boarded a helicopter which flew us down 4,000ft to the base of the canyon, beside the Colorado River.

From there, we walked down a sandy trail to a small dock, where we boarded a riverboat and went on a trip down the river.

It was incredible. It was so hot at the Canyon, hotter than it was in the city. The only fresh air we got was while we were sailing on the river, which was refreshingly cold and clear. Once done with the river, we boarded another helicopter which flew us back to the top of the canyon. From there, we drove in a coach to Guano Point, where we enjoyed breathtaking views of the West Rim of the Canyon.

Unbelievably, you can walk right up to the edge and stare death in the face. A sheer, 4,000ft drop. While I was building up the courage to have a closer look, I saw a young woman fearlessly walk to the edge and sit down, with her legs dangling over oblivion. It terrified me. I'm glad we chose not to go on the Skywalk! We stayed at Guano Point for about an hour, which included a free lunch. But the heat got to us after a while, I was starting to burn, so we returned to the airstrip and chilled out in the shade until it was time to get the plane back to Boulder City.

We filled most of our time in the City itself with wandering and exploring hotels and shops. We did venture to the top of the Stratosphere tower, and ride the X-Scream rollercoaster. That was unnerving. 900ft in the air, out over the side of the tower in a rollercoaster car, being thrown towards the edge at what seemed a ridiculous speed. Exhilarating! Unfortunately the tower's other two thrill rides were closed due to high winds. We also had a ride on the Manhattan Express, my first go on a proper American rollercoaster. It was awesome.

We did have a go at gambling in our hotel's casino - after all, if you're going to Vegas, you might as well! We decided to give the slot machines a miss, as they no longer take quarters, or need you to pull a lever to make them spin, or chuck out bucketfuls of coins when you win. Now, you feed in dollar bills, and print out a ticket with your winnings that you cash on a special machine or with the cashiers. We knew enough to avoid the card tables and roulette wheels, so stuck instead to craps. We won over $500 on the first night! It was crazy. We'd intended only one night of gambling, but flushed with our success, the free drinks you get and how much fun it was, we ended up playing craps every night bar one. We came out up, overall, so we didn't do too badly. Now to resist the lure of the new casino that has opened up in town!

We were sad to come home, but our flight was mercifully broken up into two, a four hour flight from Las Vegas to Washington, then a seven hour flight back to Heathrow. We had enough time inbetween flights to chill and get something to eat as well. We got home on Saturday mid-morning, and the rest of the day was spent in a daze. Again, we failed at staying up to beat jetlag, as we both fell asleep on the sofa after we'd been up for 24 hours straight. We managed to snooze only for a couple of hours though, so were still able to go to bed at the right time and sleep properly.

Am still glad we had the Bank Holiday Monday to add to our recovery before going back to work though!

Honeymoon Part 1 - San Fransisco

We are back from America! We had an amazing time, in both cities we visited. We crammed so much into the nine days we had that I am finding it difficult to remember it all properly! As previously promised, here are some of the highlights of our trip. First up, San Fransisco.

We left for the airport on a rather dull and grey Wednesday morning. Getting up early and the prospect of a long and boring flight did not inspire me to any great excitement, until we were at Heathrow and about to get on the plane. I'd never flown such a long distance before, and was a little apprehensive. We tried to get an upgrade, but unfortunately there wasn't space in the posh seats for us. The best we got was moved to a row where we didn't have to share with anyone, so we had three seats between the two of us.

Arctic ice breaking up off the coast of Greenland

After a few hours of excited looking out of the window, watching first England, then Scotland, Iceland and Greenland passing below, I got bored and fell asleep. We flew over Canada, which was mostly empty Arctic tundra, before crossing the Rockies and heading down the West coast of America. By the time the plane landed we were very fed up, but by the time we'd checked into our hotel it was only 2.30 in the afternoon, so we had to force ourselves to stay awake and enjoy the afternoon! We failed miserably, and snoozed, and went to bed properly at 8pm. It took me days to get over the time difference.

We did a lot in San Fransisco. Our hotel (the Hotel Carlton) was on Sutter Street, so on the first night we took a walk up Nob Hill to Grace Cathedral. We didn't go inside, but marvelled at it from the outside. It is built in the image of the classic Gothic cathedrals of Europe, but this being America, is actually poured concrete over a steel frame. It's really weird, to see something we're so familiar with but built in a completely different way, and surrounded by buildings that just don't match.

The first full day we were in San Fransisco was also my 30th Birthday. We spent the day exploring the city by open top double decker bus. There are multiple companies running these tours, and their representatives enjoy very spirited arguments with each other at the shared stops, trying to convince tourists to use their bus and not any other. We used this one, as it was recommended by our tour rep and went around the city anticlockwise, which meant we saw things in the right order for our planned itinerary for the day.

The highlight of the tour is of course traversing the Golden Gate Bridge, one of San Fransisco's most famous landmarks. Unfortunately for us, on the day we chose to see it, we also got to experience on of San Fransisco's other famous features - the Fog!

This was our view of this most famous sight!

It was cold, windy and foggy, and we were sat on the top deck of an open topped bus. I won't lie, it wasn't the Golden Gate Bridge experience I had anticipated, but it was certainly a lot of fun! The cables reared up into nothingness as we drove across, but on the other side the fog was thin enough to afford us this view:

Part of me doesn't understand why the Bridge is so famous, I mean it's not the biggest or most impressive suspension bridge I've seen or crossed (I mean, it's not as big as the Humber Bridge here in England!). It was fun to cross, and fun to look at from across the Bay on later days when the weather was clearer, but I felt no desire to go back and have a closer look when the fog had gone.

The rest of the first afternoon was spent in Golden Gate Park, where we explored the California Academy of Sciences and wandered to the top of Strawberry Hill. If we'd had the time or more money, we'd have done the Segway tour of the Park, as that looked like a lot of fun! But it was $70 each and took two and a half hours.

The second day in San Fransisco was given over to Fisherman's Wharf. We rode the cable car from our hotel up to the Wharf, and spent the morning on the historic pier, exploring the World War II submarine USS Pampanito. We found a museum dedicated to historical sideshow machines, which amused us for an hour or so as we joyfully dropped quarters into machines that moved and danced when you paid them. My favourite was a mechanical horse, that galloped when you put your money in, little springs and hinges all working smoothly to replicate a horse in motion.

One of the advantages of visiting San Fransisco was that it gave us the opportunity to meet up and have lunch with Renee, whose blog I have been reading for some time now. Renee and her gorgeous Little Man treated us to lunch at Boudin's, where Jamie got to fulfil his wish of having clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, and I surprised him (and myself) by having the crab and corn bisque (I don't eat shellfish). We then wandered down Pier 39 to show Renee's son the sealions, and ride on a giant carousel (for proof of me on the carousel, check out Renee's blog!).

The afternoon was reserved for our trip to Alcatraz. We hadn't been sure about going, but our tour rep insisted we should go and booked us on to a tour when we arrived in the city.

There's a thing on the back that looks like a monster...
but no, it's ALCATRAZ

I am so glad we did this! The ferry ride over was lots of fun, the tour of the prison was very interesting and very well done (an audio tour featuring ex-guards and ex-inmates). The ferry ride back to the mainland was even more fun than the ride out, as we stood right at the front of the boat and got a faceful of sea spray!

Proof I rode a cable car!

As you can see from the pics, we were pretty well wrapped up while out and about in San Fransisco - their climate is very similar to ours here in Britain, so it was quite windy, even when the sun shone. I did manage to get sunburn on the day we went to Fisherman's Wharf, though, so the sun was fairly strong even if we didn't feel the full effects of it's heat.

The last day of our trip was spent shopping. I purposefully bought something in Bloomingdales, just to get a Little Brown Bag of my own!

Then we rode the bus over to Haight-Ashbury and went shopping in the hippy district. I bought a new summer dress, and we enjoyed some very refreshing punch in a Victorian Punch House. We then walked through Castro (the gay district) to find Imagiknit, but I will tell you all about that in another post, as this one has gone on for too long already! I'll save Las Vegas for another post as well.

Me and Mr Jones

After months of stress and planning and the nightmare of having to move house with only a month to go, our wedding day finally arrived on Saturday! I promised you photos, and here is a taster.

These were all taken by my wonderful friend Iain Sewell, otherwise known as Vollsanger. I'll share more when we get the official snaps back!

We fly out to San Fransisco on Wednesday, so it will be quite around here until we get back. I promise lots of photos of the honeymoon too!

Year of Projects Update May 5th

It's been an absolute age since I last did an update for the Year of Projects! Pretty much because I haven't been doing any knitting or crochet since before we moved house several weeks ago, and even when I have, my current WIPs haven't been from my list of stash yarn.

However, I have made something this week which qualifies! As I said earlier in the week I needed simple projects to get me back in the groove.

Meet the newest addition to my 'nest'. This storage box has been haunting my house for years, always shoved in a corner, filled with useless crap. I've emptied it out, and crocheted a cover for it to match the sofa bed afghan I made last year.

I pretty much just winged it after I got to the last row of the afghan motif. I added an extra row of black, then switched back to purple for the sides. The last two rows and the chain that holds it in place I did in brown.

As I said, I was kind of making it up as I went, so the attaching it to the lid part was a bit sloppy, but I figure nobody will see that part really.

I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, so for now I have put it next to my sofa. I might store my needles in it. Or just fill it full of yarn. Secret yarn...

In other news, we have finally started letting Fidget out without his harness and lead. He's been very good, and although he's been off over the fence exploring the neighbouring gardens, he's not stayed out too long and has come back when called every time. He's getting used to coming and going through the window and not the door, and seems an awful lot happier for it. As it's a long weekend this weekend, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm home all day today and tomorrow to leave the window open and just let him come and go when he pleases, as I want him to be completed comfortable before we swan off to get married on Saturday and abandon him for two weeks while we fly to America.