Five Things Meme

Heather has tagged me so I am going to play.

The Rules Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:

In May 1998 I would have been sitting my GCSEs at Weydon school in Farnham, not doing a lot of works and having water fights in my garden with my friends with whom I was supposed to be having study groups.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

• Clean the bathroom.
  
• Vacuum the appartment.
  
• Practise some French.
  
• Find my pins so I can take up my friends trousers.
  
• Finish the laundry.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Hmm, Marmite on toast, biscuits, white seedless grapes.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:

Buy my mum a bigger shop, buy a house in France with a nice garden, buy Mr H a digital telescope, give a huge amount of money to the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's disease, set up my own Montessori school, just for starters.

5. Places I have lived:

• Grayshott, Hampshire
  
• Farnham, Surrey
  
• High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
• Geneva, Switzerland
  

I will tag Annelis, Mousecatfish, Glittrgirl, Ujjaini and Cinnamongirl and of course any one else who feels like it.

Evening Shrug FO

I finished my Evening Shrug yesterday. I'm really pleased with it, despite Mr H asking if it was actually finished when I put it on to show him, charming! I love the colour, I just hope it doesn't run in the wash as the yarn has dyed my bamboo needles green.

I am now knitting (and have almost finished) knitting a cotton shopping bag called 'Pippa' from Let's Knit magazine, but I'm afraid I don't know which issue it is as I pulled the page out of someone's magazine. It's a really easy and quick knit and will be much better to use than having to remember to take my old paper bags with me when I go to the supermarket.

Fumer tue Péter pue

I'm still not smoking, despite having felt desperately like doing so all day. It would have been a whole week today except I went out Friday night and with a few beers came the desire to have a cigarette but I didn't let myself feel too bad about it as I haven't smoked again since. I felt fine on Saturday and Sunday but the past couple of days have been pretty ad, especially today. I blame it on French lessons and lack of sleep but then I also blame the lack of sleep on the lack of cigarettes. A bit of a catch-22 I guess.

So, yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. It so doesn't feel like two years, which I guess is a good thing, right? I'd feel a bit worried if it felt like the past two years have dragged by. I knit a washcloth for Mr H as two years is the cotton anniversary. I'm not too pleased with how the pattern on the washcloth turned out, it's certainly not as nice as the swimsuit one I did for my mum. I think it's because I used white cotton so the stitches don't show up so well. It's supposed to be a VW Beetle with a heart on it and says Beebeep' at the top (again, this pattern was from Knits by Rachel and is the 'Luv Bug' pattern). Anyway, Mr H was touched. I also gave him a cotton shirt and some of his favourite chocolate from Mekur, dark chocolate with orange and almonds, apparently it's very nice, which I'm inclined to believe as I've never had a chance to taste it!

We went out for a lovely meal last night at a local auberge, fois gras (naughty), followed by duck (mmm), followed by creme brulee (yummy) and drank some champagne.

So, I need to get on with lots of knitting to keep my hands nice and busy. I've been so tempted to crack today but have just made a point of not leaving the apartment since coming back from my French lesson, despite needing milk but I don't trust myself to go into a shop and my cravings taking over and asking for cigarettes on my behalf. Maybe I should just pop to the chemist for some gum...

The Devil Makes Work for Idle Hands

Right, I'm determined I'm going to do it this time. I'm going to give up smoking, for good this time. I'm sure knitting will help me through my many hours of need, if I'm knitting, I can't smoke, smoking is a waste of valuable knitting time. Urgh, I wish I'd never picked up a cigarette all those years ago. Today is my first day, I've not been up for long (I'm not lazy, I couldn't sleep last night) so I can't really say I'm doing well, give me a few more hours.

So, I shall be working on my Evening Shrug while I get through the first few days of withdrawal, after that, I have plenty of socks to be getting on with. I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, I'm about 30% into it now. I am wondering if I can knit it in one piece but I'm sure there must be a good reason why it's knit in two, I just don't really like the idea of a seam down the back.

There are so many things I want to knit at the moment and it's all Ravelry's fault! I have to avoid looking at the patterns on there otherwise I end up adding more and more to my queue! I have 23 projects in my queue at the moment, which I don't think is too bad but there will always be things I want to knit that aren't on my queue.

Back From The UK

I arrived back in Geneva on Tuesday night after a week in the UK. I meant to post while I was there but never got around to it. It was so nice spending time with my mum, catching up and drooling over everything in the shop!

I came back with some Debbie Bliss Prima, some Noro Kureyon Sock and some Araucania Ranco Multy. I have already cast on the Noro sock yarn (I did that while I was in the car waiting to get on the ferry!). I'm going to knit myself a pair of socks in a 1 row rib, 1 row purl stitch pattern. My mum is knitting a top using this stitch pattern and it looks really pretty, so I'll be interested to see how it turns out on the socks. Of course, I will post progress reports.

While I was in the UK I knit Mr H a pair of red and white striped socks for his birthday as he was saying that he's the only person I haven't knit a pair of socks for. I did finish the first in the pair of his green and white socks but didn't take the second ball of yarn with me as I didn't expect to finish the first one. Mr H like the socks although he hasn't worn them yet. He called them 'Happy socks'. They were knit in Regia's Nations Colours which are meant to be Olympic colours (although my mum says they've actually discontinued most of the colours, which doesn't really make sense since the Olympics are coming up), they were knit on 3mm dpns over 64 stitches - my generic sock pattern.

The twins arrived yesterday morning, a boy and a girl as predicted, born at 12:14 and 12:15 am by c-section. They actually went full term and a day, which I find amazing! I haven't spoken to the proud parents yet, which is why I lack any further information, you can't trust a man to get all the vital details! I am washing their Baby Yoda sweaters as I type so I can get them sent off to them. It's just typical that they were born the day after I got back from the UK, I really should have gone to visit the parents while I was over but I refused to drive anywhere! At least Mr H gets to share his birthday with the twins.

I have given up on my Wendy bolero, decided I don't actually like the pattern and I hate knitting in black. I was going to knit it in the Prima but I still decided that the pattern was a little old fashioned so I am going to use it to knit a shrug instead. I just need to get myself some 4.5mm circs to knit it on.

A Gift For My Mum

I knitted my mum a washcloth. She says no one ever knits her anything, except for the pair of socks that I knit her for Christmas, so I thought it was about time I gave her a little knitted something back to say a little thanks for all the knitty things that she's sent me over the past year and a half. I think I'm safe in posting this as I'll be back in the UK on Tuesday and I don't think she'll be looking at my blog by then.

I love this pattern and I really enjoyed knitting it. It only took me a few hours and I felt like it was similar to reading a good book as I couldn't put it down as I just wanted to see how it was progressing the whole time and wanted to see what happened next. It kind of makes me want to knit a mystery pattern so I might have to have a look out for a mystery KAL on Ravelry.

The pattern is available from www.knitsbyrachel.com and it is the One Piece Swim Suit Dishcloth. She has some really cute patterns and there are a few more that I have my eye on. I knit it using some handknit cotton from Manor in Geneva but it didn't have a name. They sell lots of it, it's wrapped in plastic and is 2.50CHF/50g (about £1.25) and the pattern took just under a skein, so not bad at all.

I'm driving back to the UK on Tuesday (provided we can get someone to change the tyres on the car tomorrow, we're still driving on winter tyres). I'm going it alone again so it's going to be pretty tiring but at least this time I will have a stereo to listen to. I decided to go Calais to Dover this time as Le Havre is only a little nearer but the boat trip is 4 hours longer and I can't face another 17 hour journey door to door. This time should only take 10-11 hours, I try to stop as little as possible.

Driving aside, I'm really looking forward to going back, it seems like ages since I went back. Last time was in January for my grandmother's funeral so it wasn't exactly a happy visit. This time is purely for pleasure (and to pick up our wedding presents, hence me driving) and I'm looking forward to spending time with my mum and raiding her shop! I will of course miss Mr H. It's his birthday the day after I get back (I get back next Wednesday) so I will have to find him some nice English goodies to bring back for him.

I'm still working on my Wendy Bolero, but after having to frog it due to bad tension and a lack of a gauge swatch, I have very little to report!