mumblings

Thank you, Julie!!! I really wish you could smell the coffee that Julie sent which I started this morning. It smells and tastes incredible!! The coffee is named after a favourite teacher in the town.

What a wonderful package: beautiful handpainted Cascade sock yarn which I’ve never tried before; Junior Mints (there may not be very many left now); Mini Eggs which we’re going to taste test with the British ones; a gorgeous mug from Washington and Lee University which I drank my coffee out of this morning.

It all came in this amazing coffee bag which Julie had made herself out of recycled coffee bags – complete with little stitch markers.

Thank you so much Julie! Also, thanks to Eva who is our swap partner in Norway (hopefully she will get hers soon since I mailed it about 10 days ago!) Thanks also to our hostesses for organizing the swap. I’m so lucky!!!!

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I thought I’d post my coffee swap contest entry photo here as well as on the contest blog. I love the way that the cup and saucer coordinate with the yarn. The lace and linen tablecloth which they are all sat on was one that I bought in Bruges the first time I ever visited quite a long time ago. I love all that white linen. Funnily enough, I’ve not been inside a lace shop in Bruges since then as the lacework seems to be really expensive. I also have another white linen and lace table cloth from the island of Burano just near Venice which I bought in the same year.

Last weekend was one where we hadn’t had anything planned to do so we did a couple of spontaneous things like whipping over to Herne Bay for a quick trawl through the charity shops. I managed a quick visit to the Wool Baa where she was having a bit of a sale including the blue cone for a £1. We now have a nice new pile of books we picked up on our travels to read.

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My swap partner Knittymama has really outdone herself with my swap package!

Gorgeous yarn, a beautiful bag, lovely coffee, American candy which I love including a whole packet of soft Peppermint candies (I love these even more than Peppermint Patties), lovely coasters and a local magnet! Wow! I am so spoilt. Thank you so much!!

Here is a close up of that beautiful yarn: the multi-coloured one is Sheep Shop Yarn in colour number EO17 and the lovely purply one is Buckingham alpaca silk which is gorgeous and very soon destined to become a pair of Fetchings or a hat!

Just a fly by posting today. We’ve been reading Manhattan Transfer this week which I only finished in the nick of time. Next week, we’re getting onto Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury which I know is going to be hard so I need to start reading now with my big Faulkner dictionary open! I have so much to blog about – a peek at Boston tomorrow, Stitch n’Bitch last Saturday soon after.

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My swap partner Robin has really done her homework because she sent the most amazing swap package. Look at that Regia – it’s a stripey one which I’m really really into at the moment and I’m already knitting away with it She is such a talented lady, that brown box contains soap she made and she knitted a wash mitt and even made those stitch markers. The soap smells incredible. The magic loop technique is one which I haven’t tried yet and she even sent me some Addis so I could try it out – isn’t she awesome? I love the magazines which I will invariably enjoy over a cup of tea – I’ve not heard of Queen Catherine tea so I’m definitely looking forward to a cup! You can’t see the lovely selection of US chocolate because we’ve been eating it

Thank you so much Robin! I have really enjoyed swapping with you and reading your wonderful blog!

I’m not big on Halloween but we had a nice time not hiding at home. The village has an unspoken code that if you don’t put out a pumpkin then the kids should leave you alone. We didn’t know this and bought in some sweets just in case but our neighbours soon put us straight and gave us one of their pumpkins when we were standing on the doorstep looking puzzled. The kids here are really polite and obviously have made an effort with their costumes. Merlin wasn’t at all keen on trick or treaters and ran and hid. In our old house, we used to hide out back where the kids wouldn’t see us because they were a bit menacing but here the kids were quite different.

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I am the luckiest person because not only did I make it into one of my favourite swaps of the year, I made it into two!

I really got the best swap partners. Robin is my Knitter’s Tea Swap Pal 4 and we’ve been exchanging emails already about our preferences for tea and fun stuff. Go and say hi because her son got married yesterday and she also has the cutest kitty cats. She even has a cat called Earl Grey – how appropriate!

For the Knitters’ Coffee Swap 3, I got the really wonderful Knittymama. Another amazing lady from the looks of her blog so go and say hi if you don’t know her already!

I have my coffee swap questionnaire right here:
1. Whole bean or ground?
Either is good but I err on the side of ground..
2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
Fully-loaded. I need all the help I can get early in the morning but nothing too strong please.
3. Regular or flavored?
Definitely regular but I’m up for anything (although cranberry still sounds disgusting)
4. How do you drink your coffee?
In a big mug, hot and with milk no sugar.
5. Favorite coffee ever?
Carrie K has been sending me some wonderful coffee from a place called Peets. I am probably going to sound odd but I really really like Folgers which we bought just the one container of to try when we were in Boston.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
I’m not fussy. I am open to trying new things.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
I love chocolate bars particularly things like Almond Joy, Peppermint Patties, Mr Goodbar, Butterfingers (any one who has ever read my blog has known of my particular lovely for American candy) so anything like that would make my day!
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
My US trip inspired us to buy the most awesome filter coffee maker – we haven’t had one for several years and we are rediscovering the delicious joy of filter coffee so coffee that is suitable for filters would be brilliant.
9. Yarn/fiber you love?
I love natural fibres and I am really rather fond of Shi Bui which I got in St Paul but I also love things like Soxx Appeal both of which we can’t get over here in the UK. I am up for surprises so anything is good.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate?
Acrylicy yarn and fun fur type stuff.
11. What’s on your needles?
A pair of Trekking Socks. It is Socktober after all!
12. Favorite colors?
I love purples and black but also most jewel colours.
13. Allergies? None.
14. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest? It is really hard to type when Ophelia (the cat) keeps walking across the keyboard and tries to sit on your hands.

Ariel says that she would never sit on my hands. She would just wait until I was out of the room and press the delete key if she doesn’t get her Whiskas.

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My brain is not functioning very well at the moment because I forgot to mention that Chris sent an amazing Cat Mix CD with my package the other day. I think it wasn’t completely my fault because after we’d listened to a little of it in the car on the way to work, pao spirited it away to his office and I haven’t seen/heard it since. pao’s been sick and has sinusitus which has spread down to his chest so I am on cooking and nursey duty. Poor pao has had to eat a lot of gnocchi and fresh pasta. Tomorrow he’s going to have pizza with no cheese because my cooking skills have taken a nosedive since we moved!

You know that feeling when you really really really want something but it feels like stuff is conspiring against you and you just can’t have it? Well, I felt a bit like that this week so I’ve been a bit quiet and weeping into my pillow. Just telling other people who were hoping along with you is impossibly hard and you can’t look at your phone in case someone has asked about it again. It has been so bad, I haven’t knit a single stitch since Tuesday but I did start knitting again today on the Child’s French Sock as I was on the train to another site today. I’m almost ok again now as I’ve told myself that it will happen next time because it’ll be different.

Besides, who can stay sad when this wonderful package from Carrie K arrived last Saturday after being hostage in our post office for a couple of days until I could there when it was open.

We organised a little coffee swap again because I’d missed out on signing up to the Knitter’s Coffee Swap but to be honest, I love swapping with Carrie K so I wasn’t at all sad!

I can testify that Chewy Peps are highly addictive and the tin will be great for storing my DPNs in after I’ve eaten the contents – oops, that might not be very long. Look at that gorgeous local hand-dyed yarn and those Lantern Moon DPNs! I can’t even begin to express how excited the Lantern Moon Sox Stix made me – they are so smooth and strokable!!! I love the Vogue Sock book and the cat buttons! Peet’s Coffee is awesome and isn’t that the best card for a knitter?

This might explain why there aren’t many photos of Merlin on the blog. I will get out the camera and he will look the opposite way!

That’s better, now stop scratching on the window!

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I received the most amazing Knitter’s Tea Swap 3 package from Becky in Texas yesterday morning.

She sent two beautiful yarns: Lorna’s Lace in the Envy colourway (I love Lorna’s Laces – it’s fabulous to knit with and it is such a great colour!) and skein of laceweight from White Willow in the colourway Avalon – I just have to find a really nice shawl pattern to use that with – any suggestions? And stitchmarkers, too! Wow! There are two large tins of Adagio tea (mango, which I’m drinking now and Valentine) and a sampler pack – I’ve really wanted to try Adagio as I’ve seen it on other swaps so I’m really enjoying it. She also sent some Texan lavender and chamomile tea which smells heavenly when you open the tin as well as a big tin of lavender balm from the same place. The beautiful card has a recipe for lavender rhubarb lemonade on the back – I have lavender growing in my front garden and a lemon tree so all I need is some rhubarb! She also sent the cutest notepad and pen and notecards with sheep on and a huge bag of Butterfingers candies (notice that they already open?) The yarn came in a really great bag from The Woolie Ewe along with a knitting recipe for socks! Wow!!!

Thank you so much Becky – you’ve been incredibly generous and lovely to swap with!

Thank you too to our hostess Suzie and our co-hostess Bridget for arranging our swap and looking after us!

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Wow! All the way from Singapore! Thank you so much Chrissie. My package arrived on Monday and I love it!!! I was bemused because I was the one who sent Chrissie a package for the Knitter’s Tea Swap 2 so I had to carefully think up something different to send her for the coffee swap

She has been very generous. She sent me the most beautiful One the Rainbow handpainted yarn with a mix of lopi wool, baby loopy mohair and silk with needles so I could try another felted bag – Chrissie suggested the Sophie bag which is a great idea! There is also the most fantastic local coffee. I’ve already had a couple of sachets of Kopi-o – she tells me that it is offered in local kopi-tans (coffee shops to you and me). There is also a lovely necklace, chocolates and big stitch markers. Thank you so much, Chrissie – you’re a lovely swap pal

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I had to go and collect some new lenses for my glasses today which meant I was without glasses for about an hour which was quite entertaining. I decided the safest place was to head for one of my favourite coffee shops and sit there with my knitting rather than risking ridicule by wandering round town squinting at people. Even though Mr Magoo was one of my favourite cartoons when I was a kid, I didn’t fancy emulating him… I very sadly could only see about a foot in front of me and the rest is a bit of a blur!! So I bemused the staff in Starbucks by getting close and personal with the muffin case. Well, I had to have something with my very large peppermint mocha that I had a free voucher for! And I get to photograph my entry for the competition

I know Starbucks is a big mega chain but it is the first place I’d ever been that had comfy chairs and nice music (although today they were playing reggae which I didn’t really enjoy that much). We have two Starbucks in Canterbury: one in the entrance of Sainsburys and the other right next to the Cathedral.

I like both quite a lot but I think the Cathedral one has a slight edge on location. Coffee is a bit better in the Sainsburys one though

The Cafe Boho is very nice but I don’t go there much because I don’t like the smoky atmosphere. Next summer there will be a smoking ban in place so I might go there a bit more often.

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1. Whole bean or ground?
Whole bean – I’d love to try out the grinder that came with our blender.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
If you saw me in the morning, you wouldn’t need to ask… Caffeine me up, baby.

3. Regular or flavored?
I’m game to try either.

4. How do you drink your coffee?
White no sugar if it is instant. Sometimes black if it is really good quality. Black with half a sugar if it is espresso..

5. Favorite coffee ever?
It has be Illy espresso.

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
I’m keen to try anything new although Civet coffee is off the menu!

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
Chocolate is always good. Biscuits are brilliant.

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
I love trying out different things. I also like mochas.

9. What treats do you enjoy with your coffee?
I like Anna’s ginger thins which I always get when we go to Ikea (not that often so a real treat). Tim Tams for the Tim Tam Slam. I especially like the Dangerous Liasons ones and I recently had a lovely pack of Strawberry Tim Tams brought back from Oz for me

10. Yarn/fiber you love?
I have a strong addiction to socks! I love knitting them! I really love Socks that Rock and would dearly love to knit with that again.

11. Yarn/fiber you hate?
Acrylics and anything polyestery.

12. What’s on your needles?
Socks, mittens and a scarf. (I’m in Norovember as well!)

13. Favorite colors?
Purples, blacks, blues, greens. I particularly like the Scottish Highlands colorway in Socks that Rock. I am quite open to trying new colours. I don’t really like yellows or orange much. I don’t mind brown if it is with other interesting colours.

14. Allergies?
Nope.

15. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest?
I have eaten my last Peppermint Pattie

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