Nostalgia Rules
Don't know why but I've found myself on a nostalgia trip these past couple of weeks. I've dusted-off my collection of tapes from the 80's and have been listening to music I haven't heard for over a decade. It's amazing how song lyrics just pop into your head even if you haven't heard the song for years.
My DVD viewing has also been following this nostalgia trend. I've been watching some old TV series from the 70's and early 80's. So far I've watched:
Poldark; Tenko; The Onedin Line and Lillie. All of which have stood the test of time.
Thankfully, this nostalgia trip hasn't affected my knitting and I am not tempted to reknit any of the box-shaped, dropped shoulders sacks that I knitted in the 80's. To remove the temptation does anyone want to relieve me of some of the patterns that I have from the 80's? All you have to do is tell me who I have been listening to on tape - go on hit me with your best shot ....(that's a clue btw).

Sweeties or to be more accurate - bonbons. All the way from France courtesy of Kate:

Starting at the front 2 generous handfuls of Carambar caramels (these are delish),then clockwise violet flavoured bonbons, Vichy mint pastilles (which if my French is up to it contains mineral salts to aid the digestion), then it's strawberry bonbons and the box is Berlingots de Carpentras which I think are flavoured with the fruits of Provence. I've only tried the Carambars but I'm looking forward to trying the rest. I wonder if the violet bonbons taste like the parma-violets I ate as a kid?

Spent the weekend out in a freezing wind inside of keeping cozy inside and knitting.

Portmore Loch
Luckily, the snow didn't arrive until Sunday night.

No sunset photos this week. Instead you're getting the start of the spring flowers:

For me, I consider spring has arrived when the daffodils flower and that's still a couple of weeks away yet and with snow forecast for tomorrow it's definitely still winter.

The "Must Have cardi" has been put on the back-burner for the past couple of days. Instead, I've been climbing up and down a step-ladder emulsioning walss. Great for toning the legs and backside. Thought I'd finished last night with the third coat but in the cold moring light I can see a few places that I've missed so it's decorating again tonight. And if I see any missed bits tomorrow morning it'll just sodding stay like that. Can't you tell how much I've enjoyed decorating - next time I'm paying decoraters!

Haven't done a reading review in a while, so you're going to get 2 for the price of 1.
"The Songlines" - Bruce Chatwin. I felt short-changed by this book. I was expecting a book on his travels in Australia with an emphasis on the Aborigines. Instead, a third of this book was extracts from his notebooks which consisted of quotations from a wide range of writers and anecdotes of prior travels.

"Three Junes" - Julia Glass. Winner of the 2002 National Book Award. For an award winner this book was littered with factual mistakes. If you're going to set a novel in a country you don't live in and have only visited on holiday about 25 years ago you think the author would do some research? Not Julia Glass. I won't bore you with a list of mistakes. I also can't believe this book won a prize, to me this book was very much a beach read. Read it once and put it out for the next charity collection.

If it's sunday it must be time for another sunset photo. This time a golden sunset. What does everyone prefere a red sunset or a golden one? I think I'll choose a golden one:

Hey, it's true photos can look completely different on different monitors. I posted the photo of my current project on my home computer and it looked fairly accurate colour-wise and you could see the cables. Today, I'm looking at it at work and it can be best described as a dark, indistinguishable blob. I have to turn the brightness control all the way before the cables start to emerge. So for everyone out there who just sees a blob I'm knitting the Must Have cardigan. I'm knitting the large size as I'm using DK weight wool which is of a finer gauge than the pattern calls for. I can never be bothered faffing around with all the maths so I just went a size up. Of course, after I had cast on and did an evenings worth of knitting on it I come across lots of blogs where they say the sizing comes out smaller than expected. So, after lots of worrying yesterday I got back home and measured the back as between 19 and 20 inches (depending on how much I stretched it)which will make a good sized cardigan.

So, next on my project list is knit the last sleeve for the Consuelo jumper. Nope, just knitted 2 sleeves for the Retro-Prep can't face another sleeve just yet. Number 3 on the list was Miriam or Mariah - nope but I am using the Patons green DK see:

Kate's tagged me. So here goes:


1. Total amount of music files on your computer?1.05GB or 17hr 29 mins 20 sec. I'm surprised that there's so much I still very much rely on my stereo for playing music.
2. Last CD you bought. Here's where I lose any street cred I ever had Robbie Williams "Greatest Hits". I think he's a self-conceited tosser but I love "Road to Mandalay".
3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? That was in the car driving to work and it was Jolene by Mindy Smith.
4. Write down 5 songs you often liten to or that mean alot to you.
"Sand and Water" Beth nielson Chapman. Love, love, love this song. I could listen to it all day.
"Unloved" Jann Arden and Jackson Browne. I have about 5 tapes in my car and I never tire of the Jann Arden one.
"Spartacus " Khachaturyan. This reminds me of growing up. It specifically reminds me of Sunday evenings when the Onedin Line was on tv and it was compulsory family viewing.
"Rhiannon" Fleetwood Mac. I used to think Stevie Nicks was so cool.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen. We had many a drunken night singing this. I new all the words, could do the opera bits and I did a mean air guitar.
5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?
This is difficult as it seems that everyone and their granny have already been tagged. So, I'm going to go for Heather as she's a fellow Scot and this might make her post more often. I'm also going to tag Debs 'cos she used to comment alot on the blog and hasn't in a while. I couldn't find a third person to tag that hadn't been tagged before o if anyone wants to volunteer?

I didn't like the neckline at first but now that it's been washed and ironed it doesn't bother me. I do wish that I had made it an inch longer in the body though - I had enough yarn.

I shouldn't be snapping photos and blogging when I'm soooo close to finishing Retro-Prep but I just looked up and there was this amazing sunset so I just had to take a photo:

Retro-Prep progress:



Using the flash always washes out the colour. I'll have to look at the manual to see if there is a way to adjust the strength of the flash. Hoping to finish a sleeve by the weekend.