dolly dimple knits

Creature from the black lagoon

or rather my pre-felting attempt to save £6 on the Noni pattern for the felted flower on the stripey bag. Not an unqualified success. And definitely not to be used on the bag.

Seeing the vote for green stripes seemed to be unanimous - who am I to swim against the tide ? (plus it was my favourite too :0)) I haven't quite got round to lining it yet as real life has got in the way .... but I will.

Now to decide - do I keep it for myself or do I give it to my lovely friend who turns 40 next weekend ?

Speaking of turning 40, a certain someone, cough ME cough, is galloping in that direction too ....... it feels like it's been a long time coming (well, about 40 years actually) but now it's only weeks away, the remnants of my 30's are shooting by.

Nicking Kerrie's idea, and whilst I AM still 39 - here's 39 things about me

1. I am the youngest of 3
2. My brother and sister always said I was moody as a child. I said was misunderstood.
3. I am cursed, or blessed, with inappropriate humour - I crack one-liners in serious meetings and laugh at funerals.
4. I have always lived in Scotland, but one day I won't.
5. I loathe bad manners - especially at the dinner table.
6. Actually, I have lots of food rules. Mainly around things that don't go together. I'm practising to be Meg Ryan from "When Harry Met Sally".
7. Not really. Meg Ryan makes me want to put my foot through the TV.
8. I watch more TV now than I would have thought humanly possible 10 years ago.
9. I think it's a symptom of work and children - I'm too knackered to do anything else in the evenings.
10. Having said that, I never have "must see" programmes. I refuse to give it that power over me.
11. Being controlled by others is one of my greatest fears. I used to get hysterical when my brother grabbed both my wrists together so I couldn't move when we fought as kids.
12. I am very good at appearing outwardly compliant whilst being secretly rebellious. It's the control thing again.
13. There is nothing more important in my life than my 3 daughters. Sometimes I physically ache with love when I look at them.
14. I always knew I would have children in my life - both professionally and personally.
15. I sometimes think I don't have a sentimental bone in my body.
16. This makes me very guilty of throwing out mementos from times past. I hate to get too attached to things. My husband on the other hand, keeps every birthday card, every note - even his school timetable from his final year at school ...
17. I have green eyes. A geneticist once told me that green eyes are dying out in the population as they are caused by a recessive gene. I am a dinosaur.
18. Unfortunately my green eyes are also very short sighted. I am as a blind as a bat without my contact lenses.
19. I have a low boredom threshold - either that, or no staying power.
20. This means I have tried lots of things. Once. More than once and you're doing well.
21. When I was 21 my boyfriend of the moment sent me 21 red roses. I couldn't figure out why 21 and thought the florist had short-changed him for 2 dozen.
22. Although I'd like the energy I had at 21, I wouldn't like to be that age again. I'm much more sure of who I am now.
23. I don't have a single favourite perfume or colour - variety is the spice of life.
24. I have lots of favourite foods. Right now I'm craving Peking Duck.
25. I hate to cook unless it's for company. I really enjoy cooking for friends but if it's just for me, I'd happily open a tin and stick the contents on toast.
26. I take my make up off in bed and always take it off no matter how tired or drunk I am. I just can't sleep with it on.
27. I hate being cold and have been known to dress in bed under the covers on really cold mornings.
28. I hate being hot too. My temperature tolerance range is pretty limited.
29. Belly buttons and fish make me feel uneasy.
30. Although they make me uneasy, I'm not phobic about them. I don't really understand phobias and can't imagine feeling so strongly about something that I would let it stop me doing what I wanted to do.
31. I have travelled a fair bit in Europe and Australia but have never visited America or Asia. Yet.
32. I now have American relatives (by marriage). This gives me hope for a trip over there - except they want to move to Scotland ...
33. I also have Tanzanian, English, Irish and Canadian relatives. We're a multi-cultural bunch. Small world.
34. I am a speed reader. I often read a novel in a day. The good thing about this is that if I leave it a while I can go back and read it again and see different things because I think I only skim for the gist of it the first time round. I don't do it consciously.
35. The bad thing about this is the amount of books I end up buying.
36. I used to work in a library but I don't like using them. I hate having to give the books back if I've enjoyed them.
37. I love to dance and have no inhibitions on the dancefloor.
38. To be honest I have few inhibitions anywhere.
39. It took me 39 years to work out that most people are pretty much hung up on their own stuff and far too obsessed with themselves to notice or worry about what you're doing.

Bonus Number 40 -

40. I love my Dad. He is the "real life" that is getting in the way of knitting at the moment as he's in hospital, pretty ill. Life is a round of visiting and phoning relatives and washing pyjamas. But I love my Dad so that's okay.

Ramblings ....

When the sun shines, I truly think there is no place on earth I would rather be than here ...

the beach at Balmaha on the east side of Loch Lomond last Sunday.

We've had the most glorious week of weather. Long sunny days (and in Scotland long can mean looooonnnnng given we're kind of northerly !), with just a hint of breeze to cool you down. Perfect weather. But not for knitting.

I've hardly touched my needles this week as I've been far too busy lounging about with a glass of chilled white in one hand and a book in the other. I did do a tiny bit of felting though -

This is one of the new felted bag patterns from Get Knitted. Really simple. And fairly funky.

I particularly like the end of the bag - I think it looks like some sort of sooky sweety. You know the kind that adhere themselves to every crevice in your back teeth and require major excavations to get them unattached ? Yum.

I am, however, gentle readers, a bit stuck. On the lining for the bag. I was pretty certain I would have something suitable in my fabric stash and I think I probably do ...... but which one ??

I have to confess to having somewhat of a revelatory experience when I discovered quite how much quilting fabric I have in the stash. Me. Who has never in her entire life, made a quilt. Nope. Not one.

(God I hope my husband doesn't read this. I don't think he usually scrolls this far down my inane waffling ...)

I clearly did have big plans at one point tho' -

Some sort of appliqued heart type thing ??? I think it may have been part of my pregnancy cravings when expecting my eldest daughter. No oranges, or tuna flavoured ice cream, or coal for me. Oh no. I had crafty cravings.

I was determined that this baby would have nothing but the creative outpourings of her mother to surround her in her early days. And to be truthful, she did have more than her fair share of handknits - certainly when compared to her handknitless-shop-bought-I'm-too-freaking-busy-to-think-about-this baby !!! younger sisters.

But she didn't have an appliqued heart cot quilt. Obviously.

The non-cot quilt is not quite the extent of my confessions. In fact, I'm confessing now to having one of those "senior moments" - as I have no fiffing memory whatsoever of buying these or indeed, these.

Big plans, I told you people. BIG. If only I could remember what they were ......