Love

Girls are like apples on trees.

The best ones are at the top of the tree.

The boys don't want to reach for the good ones

because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt.

Instead, they get the rotten apples from the ground

that aren't as good,but easy.

So the apples up top think something is

wrong with them when in reality they're amazing.

They just have to wait for the right boy to come along,

the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top!

I got this little poem from a friend of mine yesterday and i wanted to share. Yesterday I received two little surprise emails from Stu. He had only gone onto my blog, found my wish list and purchased Green Gable and Forest Canopy Shawl for me......What a sweetie!

I'm so glad my man liked climbing trees :)

Love You Honey

Just some links

Still feeling a little yukky today but unfortunately not enough to warrant staying at home curled up in bed with a good chick flick and my knitting. Instead i am sitting here at work trying to sneak in a few minutes here and there on the net. Naughty naughty!

These are some of the things have been pulling on my creative side lately -

Knitting
* I just love this Garter Swing Pullover from Lionbrands
* And how about this Sweet Sophisticate Baby set for the hundred odd baby projects that i need to get done before the end of November
* Ravelry - what's not to love
* I just love the way this scarf has come out! If i had more patience i would so knit this.

Sewing
* How about this cute Twirly Skirt
* And these gorgeous fabric baby shoes
* And these cuties are just so sweet. Make sure to check out her entire blog to see all the other things she creates.

Scrapbooking
*I just love this one, this one and this one by Elsie - definitely going to scrap lift it sometime soon
* I am very inspired to take part in the Perfect challenge on OLW

Unsettled

I don't know just what it is but i am feeling very unsettled today. Perhaps it is the cold weather that has been around these past two days. Perhaps it is the evening darkness that seems to be approaching quicker and quicker with every passing evening. I'm not sure. Fall is my favourite season so i am feeling very baffled by these feelings.

As you can see my blog has had yet another change around. I am still not sure if i really like this one or not so i am sure it will be changing again shortly.

Just feeling very unsettled - Very unlike myself at the moment.

Create, Run, Create

This is what my weekend has been like. Create, Run, Create, Run, Create. I'm a little glad to be starting the week to be honest - things should get back to normal now. Saturday morning we spent cleaning the house and doing all those boring house chores, then we went grocery shopping followed by visiting my parents. Saturday afternoon was spent making something really exciting. I haven't finished it yet and don't want to spoil the surprise but here is a sneak peak at what i am working on.
Sunday was a very busy day for both of us. Stu went off to Blackpool with his dad to fetch his brother and his new wife from their honeymoon and i went off with my mom to go wedding venue hunting. We went to Barnsdale Gardens as this was our number one venue. The gardens were beautiful but that is about it. It costs £300 to rent out the venue which only includes up to 20 guests. They do not provide any chairs or anything else for that matter. The wedding ceremony would be held in the conservatory and as it is only big enough for 3 people everyone else would have to stand outside of it and try to hear through the windows. Not exactly what we wanted. So from there we started to make our way to Nottingham as i won an exercise bike from eBay
At £19 i couldn't resist such a good bargain. Anyways, while we were making our way to Nottingham we happened to pass a wedding Fayre and decided to stop in. We got to leave with all of this
Five and a half hours later we finally got back home. I was pooped! I made a quick simple dinner, got out some knitting and eventually stopped here
Oh yes, while on the topic of knitting....I got my invite for Ravelry. Wohoo! I didn't have much time to look through the site but i know that from what i have seen i LOVE it!
My idea is georgiamudfudge.

After the knitting and the dinner we then went out to go fetch these for Stu....
He has his motorcycle training today and needed these. Again, we got these for a really good bargain. £20 for motorcycle boots is really good.

And that is about it. If you made it this far thank you very much. I am hoping to get some nice mail today so make sure to look for some great pics tomorrow.

Old Treasures

I spent last night looking through some old stuff of mine. Stuff that has been put away for a while now. I love going through it - finding my diary from school days, reading old letters and cards from friends, looking at photos and remembering such good things. While looking through all of this i found some art that i have done over the years. This piece is on of my favourites - "Out at Sea". I cant say that it is especially good but i really like the feel of the piece. I used watercolour paints and did this piece about four years ago.

For quiet a while i have been interested in doing some freelance photography on weekends to help bring in a little extra money. With the wedding and my Indefinite Leave to Remain coming up we could really do with the extra money. The thing is, is that i am not really sure how to start. I have the camera. I have a few different lenses. I know the basis of the camera and have done a few photo shoots with family members. I have tons of ideas in my head so i know that wont be a problem but i guess i am a little unsure of how to get my name out there. I have never photographed a wedding so wouldn't have any photos to of weddings to show possible clients which is probably a big stumbling block. But i guess it is the age old thing.... To get a job you need experience but to get experience you need a job! If you can offer any ideas or tips i would really appreciate them.

FO: Fetching

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty.com
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran Colour 300202 50g
Needles: US 6 dpns and a cable needle
Notes: This was the first time that i have knitted using dpns and once i got into the swing of it i really really enjoyed it. The pattern was easy to remember, easy to knit and was finished before i knew it. The pattern does us up nearly the entire ball of yarn so be careful not to waste too much when casting on. Cant wait for fall to get here so i can wear them to work.

Catching up

I have some catching up to do at the moment. Both in blog land and in my land. Photos to take of finish knitted projects, lots of new projects to get started on, updating posts, washing the bedding, filling out forms for a new passport, find an exercise bike....and that's before anything to do with the wedding. I do enjoy being busy.

Last week i managed to have 3 days off work. I had the Tuesday off for my birthday and then the Thursday and Friday. It was so nice to have a bit of a break. I got to relax, get the house clean, do a little shopping, finally do some scrapping once we got new inks for our new printer, some sewing and finished up some knitting projects.

Friday morning Stu's truck licence arrived in the post so we went off into town for him to register with some agencies. Friday afternoon we went to Rugby, a little town about 30 minutes from us and walked around the city centre enjoying the little bakeries, wondering around the market and taking in the sunshine.

Saturday we had a wedding to attend. Stu's brother got married and it turned out to be a nice day. Some photos from before we left for the wedding. Stu was the best man and the colour scheme was pink and orange.This is one of my favourite photos from our quick photo shoot. Love the colour, the angle and the light.

On Sunday i spent some time finishing off a layout, did an entry in my art journal and made a start of my first quilt that i am making. This is my art journal entry...

This is my layout for the Effer Dares challenge # 74A. Scrap your Mantra.
My mantra is The Best is yet to come! You should be able to click on the image to make it larger. I had so much fun with this page. It felt so good to be this.

I still have my knitting project to share with you but i think that will keep until tomorrow.

Have a great Monday
~Lynne

Its here

Wohoo! Its finally here. A new printer just for me. I love you my little printer. Welcome home.

Birthday Chit Chat

I had such a great birthday yesterday. The day really did fly by and before i knew it i was climbing into bed. Twenty Six! Who would have thought.

So here are some highlights of my day:

* Having a lay-in
* Hearing from a very dear friend whom i have only recently gotten in touch with after about 8 years. Thanks Melissa.
* Getting so many cute cards

* Shopping in Nottingham
* Visiting HobbyCraft
* Being just a little naughty and having a real full fat chocolate fudge brownie milkshake
* Finding this shop that sells both American foods and South African foods - Yum Yum
* Stumbling across a little market while walking around
* Having my family come round for a visit
* Spending all day with Stu
* Not having to do ANY housework
* Having a braai with some real South African Boreworse
* Getting loads of fantastic gifts
Thank you for such a great day everyone.

26 Today

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!

Were getting married! After being engaged for five years we have finally decided that the time is right to set a date and do the deed. Well, we have not actually set a date yet but we have decided on a few months. Somewhere between July and September 2008. It is going to be a small wedding, out in the gardens. We have a budget that will need to be stuck to so we will be doing a lot of the things ourselves - which will add to the fun and the love. And we decided all this while sitting in MacDonald's having breakfast yesterday morning.

Love this book

Pull up a chair....

This one might be a bit of a long one today so feel free to make yourself a cup of tea and get yourself comfy.

First off i just want to say a Big Happy Birthday to my little brother. He turns 24 today!
I made him a card last night but i am not all that happy with it. I don't normally make cards but thought i would give it a go. I might just end up going out and buying him one - we will see.
Yesterday we had some good news. My darling is now a fully fledged truck driver! Yup - he passed his driving test with flying colours and can soon be seen in huge lorry's traveling across the country. Way to go babe - so very proud of you!
My fingers are just itching to do some scrapping, but with my printer being broken i just haven't been able to do any. I have thought about taking my memory card to Asda to get them developed but I am not sure how i would go about editing them so for now i am just holding on. We have the part that i need making its way to us in the post so fingers crossed it will be here soon.

I did do some art work in my art journal the other night.

I am really pleased with how it turned out. I have been collecting stamps from our mail at work and have started to use them in my journal. Just a little extra detail that makes the pages even more interesting and unique.

Once i finished those cute little booties last weekend i started on my next project. By last night this is the progress that i had made.Do you see that blue line? Well, i somehow made a huge mistake and i didn't see it until last night. I am not sure how clear the photo is but it was really ugly. Also, for some or other reason my tension was really off with this. Some stitches were really tight and others really loose. So, i did what had to be done and Frogged it.......a meer two minutes later.......
And can i just add that i really don't like knitting on straight needles. Can anyone tell me if you can knit a pattern that should be on straight needles on circular needles without too much trouble? I don't want to miss out on all these lovely patterns just because of the needles.

Right, i think that is enough for today. Hope that you have a great Wednesday!
~Lynne

So special

This is how i felt this morning when the postman arrived with a package for me. I was so surprised as i was not expecting thing - the joys of secret pal 11.
Look at all that i got. Such a lot of thought went into it. Thank you my SP - I love it all. As it is my birthday next week, my SP even added in a little something for that. The parcel contained some scrapbooking vellum stickers, a bookmark kit, a circular knitting needle,
some beautiful sock yarn...
and these gorgeous stitch markers which came in a cute little box. She even took the time to print off some tips and instructions on knitting socks as i have yet to actually do this.

All i know of this lovely lady so far is that she is from the USA - CA i believe. So once again thank you my lovely SP.

Here at last

So he is here, here at last. He had a good flight over and got through customs with no problems. The only hiccup was that while he was flying over here - his suitcase was sitting in the airport at Johannesburg. Apparently, his bag didn't even make it on a flight. Not too big a deal though as it was located right away and made its way to the UK on yesterdays flight. Everyone has been very helpful and have kept us informed the entire journey of the bag. It is currently with the courier and should be delivered this morning.


We spent the weekend catching up. Talking, chatting, laughing and of course the boys played the XBox.

Its nice to have you over here, Paul.

Saturday was a great post day. Look what i received from Toya. Thank you so much for these fabulous patterns - i love them. I have already got some fabric in mind.

While sitting and catching up with my little brother, i sat knitting these little cuties.
Pattern: Saartjies Booties which can be found here
Needles: US 2
Yarn: Sock yarn. I used about 10grams
Notes: These only took a few hours to knit up and i am so pleased with them. They are cute and simple and a definite do again project.

I started this post earlier this morning but life has just taken over and now, about six and a half hours later, here i am coming back to my post. What happened you ask? A few hours ago i found out that i have registered and started studying the entirely wrong course. Oh No! I started to panic BIG TIME. I called my school and spoke to them and after several more phone calls to different places and different people it looks like i will be able to swap to the correct course. I have missed the deadline to write Decembers exams but that is OK. I will just write four in June 2008. So all in all i think the damage is minimal! Phew!

~Lynne