I want the world to go away and leave me alone

Every time the postman calls, my stomach sinks and I want to live in a world where I am totally self sufficient and not reliant on anyone but myself.

From the time my credit card was defrauded last year, to now, little things keep happening which reduce my faith in my fellow human beings. Call centres where the staff slam the phone down because they can't be bothered, not being able to get a decent standard of service, all the awful things that go with modern life. Please don't get me wrong, I have worked in call centres and know how the great British public can be so I don't treat people that way - I am usually a very considerate customer.

For some companies like The Little Knitting Company I have great praise and respect - for they truly value customers and deliver when they say they will, and offer a great standard of product. (In fact I need to thank them for my latest purchase - a kit to make a bag).

It's the big faceless corporations of this country who seem to have lost the meaning of customer service and have lost their way - lets hope that this current economic climate will show them that small is beautiful and that its the personal touch and excellent customer service that will keep them afloat.

Xmas miseries

Well, I collected the mother-in-law and drove the 600 miles in good turn, however on receipt of my Christmas present, I have become nothing but a nasty begrudging character. Why is it that the pan scourer has upset me so much? A gift is a gift, surely? But that coupled with the constant wittering and demands for things and to be waited on hand and foot have worn me down. My only escape is currently my knitting - and how thankful I am for that... roll on 2nd January when she returns home...

Ready for Christmas

That's it - apart from collecting the mother-in-law, we are ready for Christmas. I have two more days to work and then the 600 mile round trip to collect MIL and then we are finished - shopping and presents are all done now.

I have prepared my knitting projects for the next 2 weeks and am intending to hide away from the world and knit to my heart's content until the 5th January!

It's my youngest daughter's 21st birthday today too. How time has flown. I can still remember bits of the day when I had her as if it were yesterday. We have had cake and candles, and so many laughs today. Here's a picture of her lighting her sparklers on her cake. It's been a bit of a daft tradition that we have a kids tea party, no matter what the age of the birthday.

Finished my scarf

I've been knitting a scarf using Kidsilk Haze for a few weeks. The idea and the plan were great, the execution of it was something else - it didn't quite come out as intended. Still, now it's done I can complete my husband's jumper which has been sitting waiting patiently for some time... and then there's a scarf and hat set, a baby jacket and millions of projects waiting in the books I have bought...

Totally addicted

I have become totally addicted to a great site called Ravelry. Its got some great facilities, including databases for your knitting needles and yarns. Problem is I am now spending even less time knitting!

Since I inherited some yarn from someone on freecycle, I really need to find some patterns to use all of this yarn up with. Things are made more difficult by the fact that I get bored quite easily, so I need to find easy things that knit up quickly.

Any suggestions as to how to use all of my wool up will be gratefully received!

Sussed!

My husband has just twigged that I have 5 or more knitting projects on the go at any one time. Whoops!

Pictured are two hats and a pair of mittens I've made for charity - need to get them posted to the person who co-ordinates the project.

My latest work is a scarf that will be three strands of kidsilk haze in two colours (blue and purple) which will be knitted then plaited together. It sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure about the execution of it. I'll try to post some pictures once it's in a more extensive stage...

It's addictive

I went to the Trafford centre today with the intention of buying a suit for work. I returned with more yarn for another knitting project or two! I keep promising myself that I wouldn't buy any more, but I can't help myself. Is there a name for this? Is it an illness, an obsession or just something middle aged ladies do? Also joined Ravelry.com today. Looks like it will be a useful place to record all of my knitting projects wools and the like.

Knitting mad!

Yesterday I attended the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. It was amazing - so much talent in one place - loads of inspiration and things to buy... I'm hooked!

I'm not a great knitter, and although this picture is of my first ever completed item - I made it 27 years ago for one of my daughters. I'd love to be faster, neater and more accurate at knitting but that comes with practice and as I'm working all the hours God sends, maybe that will never happen!


I did buy a fantastic portable way to carry on my knitting from
Denise. Maybe this is the way I can get more practice and who knows, maybe even eventually even be able to post pictures of some more great items when they eventually get knitted!

Spending crunch

The politicians and economists are in a flap. We have a global credit crisis and I belong to a profession that is traditionally poorly paid, so in theory I should be unhappy, broke and miserable right now but I'm not... the current climate has made me re-evaluate my spending. I've bought a smaller car, which is good for the environment, I'm spending less on insurance and car tax and overall I'm doing much better on petrol usage too. This seems to me to be a great thing for the planet - so I'm not going to be miserable about the credit crunch for now as it's ensuring that the planet lives a little longer (and what exactly are people selling if they deal in futures - things that don't exist yet and that they don't own? Hmmm, society is completely topsy turvy).

Money no object

Watching TV this evening, there's a celebrity/entrepeneur who can afford someone to do their shopping for them. What must that be like? To have someone else go and traipse through town, pick out your clothes and food and other items... actually, that would be boring, it's the fact that this person has so much money, the sky's the limit. Absolutely nothing is beyond their reach. What would that be like? I think it's actually a state of mind - to believe you can do, means that you do. If you think you can't, then you won't. It's actually not about the money - it's a self confidence and self belief and the energy and drive to take things forward.

Near miss

Today I had the most bizarre experience. I was travelling along the motorway in the centre lane (overtaking something slower in the left lane, of course). It was early, around 06:30 a.m. but the traffic was heavy. All of a sudden I was met by cars whizzing across my path both in front of me and behind me at speed. They seemed to be shifting between lanes for no reason, with no indication, but at great speed.

I don't know how I survived and I don't know how my vehicle came out of the experience without a scratch, but it did. I've never held with the idea of Guardian Angels until today. All I can think about is the fact that even at such an early time in the morning, people were travelling way too fast, and that I was so so lucky.

Family Trees

Funny, isn't it, that when we are young, we're not interested in our family or relatives much, but this changes over time.

I've recently made contact with many relatives we thought we'd totally lost contact with. I find it fascinating that despite never having met previously, we have similar mannerisms, views and look alike.

Another place I'd like to return to is Venice. I visited in 2007. I spent some time visiting the Murano Glass manufacturers - really beautiful pieces of work... pity it rained the whole time we were there.

New York, New York

This is one of my favourite cities in the world. I visited in 2006 and have never been smitten by a city so much! What an amazing place. I loved the trip on the Staten Island Ferry, recreating my favourite movie scenes from "Working Girl".

Work-life balance

Work-life Balance - now there's an interesting concept. We are paid to get a specific job done. Our contracts are for the standard working week, however, when the job takes more than the standard hours available, how do you maintain a work life balance? How do you fit in family life, going to the gym, keeping up with friends and the boring mundane issues like cleaning the bathroom or buying food?

The 'women can have it all' band waggon of the 1980's is a complete and utter myth. Something has to give if you want to have a successful work life and a harmonious home life too. You can only burn a candle at both ends for so long before the ends meet at the middle and something fizzles.

Now, I'm not known for being a feminist or a radical thinker but I do often wonder why men are able to have succesful careers with a partner supporting them at home, but it is still considered unusual for this situation to be reversed?

The reason for this thinking and mini-rant is nothing more than the result of working many excess hours recently. I'm not moaning though - things are actually moving forward within the workplace and the results of the extra hours are now becoming apparent - which is really gratifying.

Bah Humbug

It's that time of year, when everyone starts running around like headless chickens, buying gifts for people they wouldn't normally share a glass of tap water with on a night out in their local town.

It's a Saturday and people are buying up all the plastic glittery junk that they can get their hands on and will swap it for more plastic junk that's wrapped up and handed to them in the name of 'seasonal charity'Talking of tap water - on a local radio station this week a DJ was expounding on how he had been refused a glass of tap water in a local eating establishment - apparently everyone was buying food but not drinks, reducing their drinks bills and the establishment banned glasses of tap water - whatever next? Is this due to the credit crunch or northern tightness?

I'm beginning to think that I'm turning into the grumpy archetypal middle aged woman, but I think that there's room for a bit of northern plain speaking these days - along the lines of the Emperor's New Clothes. The world's gone mad when you ask for a glass of water and you are refused....