Wednesday, November 05, 2008

oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!


I'm having a yarn-gasm! Due to the fact that there is no daylight anymore in Glasgow for the rest of the autumn & winter the photos just can't illustrate the extreme softness and beauty of this yarn. The girls at my knitty meetup had a good feel though, and they can back up my claims of yarny heaven, I'm sure!


The pattern is Leaf Lace scarf, by Ann Budd. Rav says it was from Interweave Knits Spring 2000, but I got it in a later Interweave scarf pullout booklet. It's a great knit because the lace is simple enough to do while watching the tv, it goes fast, and you can't get further than a few stitches without being made aware of any mistakes that have been made, so there's no need for lifelines really.


I also got a hot tip at last week's knitting meetup to folksy.com - the UK etsy. I went straight on and bought exactly the same item, because it's just too cool. A project bag from Plain Jane Textiles - so well made, and with a lovely personal touch.


I'm sitting here this evening updating my blog to the sound of about a million fireworks. It's been quite a good day - spent my day at work (in an academic library) updating the "US Elections" display with the happy news. Whether it was the complete media overload of the election I don't know, but the mood today has been quite infectious - even though it isn't our election. A general sense of excitement and relief that a new improved time may be on the horizon, which will hopefully impact positively upon us all.

Ooh, bang! whizz! I love Bonfire Night in Glasgow. There's so many fireworks displays; big 'proper' ones in the city, smaller 'proper' ones in the parks around Glasgow, and tiny ones in people's gardens. From our flat we can see across the fireworks and smoke covering the whole city.

Unfortunately the cat is now utterly terrified of all the noise and banging. This time last year he
watched the fireworks from the window with me, but in the Spring some wanna-be nedlets thought it would be hilarious to throw mudbombs at our windows while he was napping on the ledge. It gave him such a fright, and he's lost his nerve ever since.


We also went to the Necropolis at the weekend for a wee wander - and got some pretty shots. This was about 4 o'clock when the sun was just starting to set. We hoped to see some deer, but it wasn't really the right time of day. A sparrowhawk nearly crashed into us though!

The gravestones and tombs were really ... wow. You can tell this is the final resting place of richest members of Glasgow, and the view up there is amazing.