Re-awakening the love.........

Hello everyone and my oh my its been a little while since I updated the blog.

Firstly thanks for all the lovely reaction to the last post about my Top Ten Knitting Podcasts - I am so glad you liked it and I also hope that you have enjoyed listening to them as much as I do.

As for me life has not been full of roses since November - I have certainly had my ups and downs!!

I have started a new job, still within the same company, but a different section.  I have to say that its a full on role and my hours are now pretty long, since it does not stop even when I get home. No more lunch breaks for me and I am travelling up and down to Dubai regularly (plus side to that is only that I get more time to listen to the Podcasts!) - so basically I have very little bandwidth to do much at all outside of work. I won't go into detail here, but I have not had a great time at work over the last 3 years or so, not helped by many unwanted trips to hospital which have resulted in apparently a 'lack of drive' in my job (in the words of the Boss!). Yes its true I have had a lack of drive in my job, basically because my drive was all used up on getting through breast cancer and making sure my kidney does not fail again! Anyway lets not dwell on the negatives!  Positives are that I have come out the other side and as ever my knitting has done its very best to keep me sane!

My lovely Dad came over to visit in February, with my sister and brother in law, and it was lovely to have him and see him enjoying himself in the sunshine.  We had some fun together, taking a seaplane ride and also a white knuckle ride in a Aston Martin round the Yas Marina F1 track!

Flo took a trip back to the UK for an interview at Glasgow Uni and was offered a place (depending on her A level grades of course!).  She's delighted as its her first choice and I am delighted because it means lots of visits to Scotland and therefore lots of yarn and knitting opportunity!  My good friend has also moved back to Edinburgh so I have no excuse now!  Was gutted that I could not make the Edinburgh Yarn Festival as that would have been fantastic, maybe next year.......

So, what news on the Knitting front....... well firstly I did finish Flo's Harry Potter sweater in time for us to go back to the UK for Christmas.  She proudly wore it and kept warm!

Lunch in Soho - just the place to sort a Harry Potter look!

I also finished two hats - one for Fred and one for me (not that I will need it until I go back home in the Autumn!)

Rikke hat in Plucky Knitter - Lollipop Guild

Barley by Tincan Knits in Plucky Knitter - Shawshank Redemption 

I have used both these yarns before so was definitely a stash busting moment for me!

I have two WIPs on the needles, first is Stockport by Sarah Hatton.  I have been wanting to knit this for literally years!  I ordered the yarn last year and have only just got around to casting on!  I have done one side and just about a third of the way through the second side, however its quite warm knitting and as the weather is hotting up, I have made slow progress!

I love it but its slow progress!

The next thing I cast on was the Hitofude Cardigan.  Of course this has been a massive hit on Ravelry and I have to say its a very interesting knit.  I love the construction and the pattern is really easy to remember.  I am finished the upper part now and am continuing on down the body.  Again I have been trying to use up my stash and this is some Posh Yarn which I bought back in 2009!  Brownie points for me on that I think!  Mind you as ever I did not swatch - well I am usually bang on gauge (or so I like to tell myself!) - and this does look pretty small!  I am hoping it will grow when its blocked as the pattern and the yarn are both pretty stretchy!

Gorgeous Greys morphing into Pink!

Finally for this post I am as ever thankful to A Playful Day who has inspired me to re-visit my blog with her 'Love your Blog' challenge!

So I will be posting my thoughts on 'Interactions and Community' as part of this initiative - look out for this very soon!


Louise x

A Catch Up

Well hello everyone!  Its been a while!

As ever with me, life has got in the way of blogging and actually about almost everything else!

We have had an eventful summer and I am hoping that 2014 hurries up and gets out of my life quite quickly!  Trip home to the UK was good and I will show you just how good over the next couple of posts.  However on the reverse side, work had not been so good, the car is causing me major issues and as ever, living in the UAE means that there are constant issues with the house and repairs etc - housing here is constructed quickly and without much thought to long term details like hot water........

However nothing of the above compares to the fact that last week I lost my Mum...........

She had been ill at various stages throughout her life but was one of the bravest and most stoical people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I hope she gave me those qualities.  Of course she and I shared two of my most passionate loves, Dancing and Knitting!  Naturally it was she who taught me to knit when I was 7 years old and we made clothes for my Sindy Doll.  We then went on to knit copious amounts of baby clothes and could often be seen collaborating on a 'Box of Booties' for whichever expectant mother was around at the time.  She was definitely an 'old school' knitter and liked nothing more than a white matinee jacket in baby quicker knit or some other hideous baby yarn!!  Occasionally she branched out into pale yellow of turquoise!  Another love of hers was Jean Greenhow's knitted toys and in fact she knitted so many of these that she had a whole stall full of them at the Christmas fayre in the village where my sister lives - this was the time of the first rising of Ninja Turtles and of course she made the pattern up herself and they were a huge success - she never wrote anything down which is a shame as I am sure it would have been a massive hit on Ravelry!  I have a fantastic knitted Father Christmas which comes out every year - and will do for the rest of my life!  Its difficult for me to write more at the moment - but as the weeks go on, maybe I will be able to share a few more of her knitting stories.

Anyway I promised a few stories from my trip home.

Firstly we went finally to see the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  I had been itching to get to this and the perfect 'excuse' of taking Fred as a surprise for his 10th Birthday cropped up in my head.  So our first day in the UK was sorted!

I can't begin to tell you how fantastic this Studio Tour is if you are a HP fan!  All the things you know and love are there, plus an absolutely mind-blowing amount of detail and background info.  Plenty of costumes and wigs - but also very happily quite a few items of knitwear!  Sadly we did not see the original of the H jumper I am knitting for Flo (my goodness its a labour of love - stocking stitch hell!!).  I could post lots of photos for you but thought I would just stick to the knitterly ones - If I can remember my password for Flikr I will make a set (when sites get bought up by the 'Giants' everything seems so much more difficult to get into somehow.....)

Jackets for Fred and George and Ginnys Cardigan at The Burrow

Lovely Crochet Cardigan which I think belonged to Mrs Weasley

Knitting 'Spell'  Not too sure what stitch that is??

I also took a video of the Knitting spell in action............ which you can see over on my Louiseluvsyarn Facebook page!  Which if you would like to pop over to and like and share I would be a very happy girl!

There was also some evidence of knitterly loveliness in the the Gryffindor Common Room - maybe the Knitting Spell also worked on Ron's blanket (or maybe it was originally Charlie's!)

Anyway - if you ever get the chance to go - sieze with both hands and a broomstick!

My next post will be all about our trip to Scotland - and the fun and games we had there!

xx