Monday 30 January 2012

Fraud!

Well it happened again.  I was just trying to make a simple internet purchase with my debit card and it was declined.  Hmmmm, I thought, this is odd.  I double-checked my balance to assure myself that the money hadn't run out yet.  Two minutes later my phone started ringing.  It was the bank calling to tell me that the local police had reported my card number as one of many they'd recovered from somewhere dodgy (he wasn't real clear on what the police had found).  In any case it meant my card was immediately cancelled and my replacement won't arrive for 5-7 days.  Now call me crazy but I don't have a bunch of back-up cards from other banks.  I try really hard to be financially sensible and I don't have any credit cards, just that all important debit card.  So 5-7 days without access to money could be a real issue for me.  Luckily I just stocked up at Sainsburys and recently withdrew cash so I should be okay.
I would like to know the deal is though, I mean this has happened to me at least 10 times in the last 10 years, most recently back in July.  My bank has assured me I'm not doing anything weird to encourage it but I'm starting to feel suspicious.

In crafty news, I have been knitting lots of mittens for the afghans for Afghans appeal.  Here's a little sample of the ones I've finished.
mittens in peacock formation (:
They are especially looking for jumpers so I think I'll see if I have some stash that could serve.  I see the deadline is the end of February so if I get my skates on I should be able to knit something with larger wool.  I reckon I'll need to allow at least a week for shipping from here to America where they pack it all up for shipping to Afghanistan.

Friday 20 January 2012

Listy Friday

Since I've been a bad blogger recently, here's a random list:
  1. Today I heard a funny noise while I was getting ready and looked out the window to see a man beating up a DirtDevil hoover.  He was bashing it on the pavement in a rather methodical way.  After about five minutes (during which at least three passersby asked he what was up) he collected up the bits of hoover into a big black bin liner and wandered up the road.
  2. I'm just finished knitting a preemie cap using this pattern by Carissa Knits.  I like to have something to knit while I'm watching television or travelling by bus/train.  These will be the perfect little mindless project with a nice charitable outcome at the end.  Also, I reckon it will use up all manner of oddballs.
  3. I finished a Beignet skirt, which is lovely, and wore it out to brunch with a few friends on Saturday.
  4. I pulled down the old roman shades that were in my kitchen when I bought the house and replaced them with new handmade ones (with a proper thermal blackout backing).  I've washed the old ones and they are drying now.  The fabric is a lightweight decorator fabric and I'm considering reusing some of it to make a skirt.  Possibly a wearable muslin of the pretty scalloped skirt in the Colette sewing handbook.
That's all I have for now...perhaps something with pictures tomorrow (:

Monday 9 January 2012

Snot factory

I have a cold.  I feel yuck.  I don't even really want to knit.

Bring on the Lemsip with medicinal whiskey.

Saturday 7 January 2012

I sometimes wish yarn could talk


Christmas 2010 I knit a very pretty shawlette for my sister S using just more than one skein of this gorgeous sunstone Socks that Rock.  The pattern is free on Ravelry - Echo flower shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen

Echo Flower Shawl

Gorgeous, I think!
This left me with just less than a skein of leftover lovely sunstone.  So, I wanted to turn it into something I would be able to wear – I love little neckerchiefs (as my sister A calls them) so I looked for a pattern on Ravelry.  I knit my little heart out on a half circle shawlette….


I realised that despite its prettiness, the half circle was simply too small to be a useful little scarf – I know I would be endlessly re-positioning it and rescuing it from falling off, which would inevitably make me shove it into the back of a drawer.  So.... I ripped it all out. sigh.
In the meantime, I let a bit of holiday knitting distract me - I’ve knit a lovely hat for my brother C, a pair of Duffers for my nephew/godson J, and an endless scarf for my sister C. 

But that ball of lovely orange Socks that Rock keeps winking at me from the corner…what, oh what does it want to be??