Feather and Fan

Having finished the final ball of "Regia - Silk" sock yarn, I decided to treat myself and started knitting a scarf in this lovely stuff... well, I would tell you if I knew what it was...

I picked up three 400g skeins of "Touch Yarns" DK (and I think it's merino) at Ally Pally two and a bit years ago. I seem to have lost the labels and I had a look at the Touch Yarns website (http://www.touchyarns.com/) to check but it seems to be a discontinued batch.

Anyway, below is the start of a scarf in feather and fan (AKA old shale). The colours aren't exactly clear but they are Autumnal shades and the yarn is lovely to knit with - great stitch definition but very soft at the same time.



You may notice, the bottom section looks somewhat chunkier than the rest. I made a mistake when I picked it up on Saturday morning to do some more knitting and the back became the front. However, I intend to pretend that this was deliberate and will do a similar 'trim' at the other end.

I just can't be arsed to rip it back now.

Finished Socks

So, I finished the socks last week.



But there is still enough yarn for another pair of socks. Probably for the SIL.

I'm bored with this yarn now - I need to get them finished and get on to something more fun. Either a scarf (which may not sound like fun but the yarn is gorgeous) or a Lego man for the BF. He has designs on a Lego army...

Concorde

What's this?



It's a dodgy photo of Concorde (Alpha-Charlie, the flagship of the Concorde fleet, to be precise) and I can't make it rotate to landscape.

Why is it here?

Because I've been on Concorde. (Brace yourself).



Now that's not a bad way to start the week, is it? Being on Concorde that is, not seeing a photo of me.

This was all work related: I was attending a meeting on air quality. (A meeting on air quality held at Manchester Airport - no the irony is not lost on me either). Anyway, I spent the day, sitting under the right wing and at lunch time we went on board.

It used to cost £3,500 each way to fly from London to New York and the new seats are by Conran at the bargain price of £4,000. Oh, I'll have ten.



It was amazing to be on Concorde. The guy who was showing us around was a steward when it actually flew and he had a number of stories to tell about the different 'slebs that used to use it. Pavarotti and Michael Jackson used to book two seats each when they flew, for entirely different reasons. The Queen and Prince Philip didn't sit next to each other. The most interesting stuff was about how hot the plane used to get and how the body used to stretch as it flew at supersonic speeds.



But, I'm not sure where the luxury was. As one of the women in our tour group said: "I've been on nicer flights to Malaga".



But then I am a yob and a heathen.

Diary of a Traumatised Cat Owner (Part 4)

So, updating on the bloody poo situation...

I took the kittens to the vets on Thursday. They were not best pleased with me but then who could blame them. They each had a thermometer stuck up their bums and were given an antibiotic injection, plus I was sent home with a syringe full of antiobiotic gunk to insert into their mouths... that went well. One shredded thumb later, I gave up and resorted to burying it in their food.

They were also put on a special diet - cooked chicken or fish. This didn't work out too well at first. They had never seen real food - as opposed to the packet food so they didn't really know what to do with it. Thankfully, my friend Di suggested making a little gravy and grating the chicken (as the kittens are too small to deal with chunks of food). This worked a treat. Thank you, Di.

I tried similar with the fish and though they seemed to like the smell, purring around my ankles while I cooked it... they were less than impressed by the look and taste.

So, yes, I have been cooking food and grating it and making gravy for it... for cats.

They are completely back to normal now - racing up and down their new cat climbing frame. The BF was worried about them being bored. This was only £48 as opposed to some of the overpriced things I've seen in certain pet superstores.



Not quite sure what to do with it.



Hamster on a string!



Hmm, what's up here?



And when it all gets just too exhausting.

Some Knitting, Finally

I haven't been completely distracted by the kittens. True, I haven't blocked the pieces of my new jumper yet, but I have been trying be good and knit all the yarn left before moving on to another project.

This is proving easier said than done.

There were four balls of yarn left over from the jumper so I am in the middle of pair of socks for me and am doing a pair of fingerless gloves for the BF. I was worried that this was a bit of a girlie yarn but he said: "I'm only going to wear them at home - no-one's going to see." I'm not entirely certain that this answered the concern or if it's a back-handed compliment.

The Great North Swim

Hmm, yet another non-knitting related post. Normal service will resume at some point and I have more kitten updates and pix to follow. We're in the midst of bloody-poo at the moment which is not fun. Vets tomorrow.

Anyway, I just wanted to draw people's attention to the fact that I will be swimming one mile across Lake Windermere in September for the Marie Curie Cancer Trust.

If anyone would like to donate and honestly, there is no pressure to do so, this is my Just Giving page (complete with a rare photo of my actual face - I usually prefer to hide):

http://www.justgiving.com/Fiona-is-actually-doing-some-exercise

If you'd like to know why I am doing it, here's why:

"I may live to regret this but I have decided to do the Great North Swim for the Marie Curie Cancer Trust.

"I hate exercise and I hate being cold so this was obviously a logical decision. I'm going to be swimming one mile across Lake Windermere at 1 o'clock, on Sunday September 5th. I am reliably informed that there are no sharks in there but I'm not sure what the guarantees are on pike and leeches.

"There is a group of us from the office doing this - though we're all fund-raising separately. I'll be bringing up the rear, no doubt.

"We've chosen Marie Curie Cancer Trust as our team's charity for a number of reasons. Cancer is a major public health problem and there aren't many people who haven't been affected by cancer. My Nana died 13 years ago of stomach and lung cancer. She was a very pragmatic woman. When I was 16 she suggested I become an undertaker on the basis that "it's a job that will never go out of fashion". Did I mention the twisted sense of humour?

"So, that's what I'm doing and why I'm doing it."

I've started my training sessions - 800m in around 30minutes last night, which wasn't bad. In May we're starting open-water training, when it's a bit warmer. So we'll be sampling the delights of Salford Quays.