Cornish Anniversary

Today is the 1st anniversary of us moving to Cornwall! It's gone so quickly and yet it seems like we've been here for ages.

It's been a year of highs and lows; I wouldn't want to repeat it but I know that moving here was the right decision.

Our lives have changed so much and our DDs now get to grow up in a beautiful part of England, with lots of opportunities that they didn't have access to before.

Although Cornwall is a large county it somehow feels sheltered from the rest of the country, and we love it. Every journey we make reminds us of how lucky we are to be living here, and every trip to the beach puts life's little niggles into perspective. :-)

Of course I can't feel annoyed about anything when I have beautiful flowers like this one at home, in full bloom from DH on Valentine's Day. :-)

Good job seeing as my car's developed random intermittent problems so I never know when it's going to start, and I have the blasted cold that's doing the rounds here.

More good news - the raspberry ripple babyghan is finished after only 8 days of crochet. I used just over 400g of the Sirdar Denim Sport Aran - Della, the shade is "Redcurrant", and I do think it's rather lovely.

It's finished off with a crab stitch (reverse dc) edging just to neaten it up. I'm going to wash it in Fairy and then wrap it up in a white tissue paper bound with a broad pink ribbon and large bow, ready to send when the baby arrives. Let's hope that scan wasn't wrong about it being a girl!

Twister teaser

The talented TutleyMutley dropped by and asked where we had moved from - it was from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, on 19th Feb 2007. Nearly time to celebrate the first anniversary of starting our new life!

In the meantime, here's a welcome bright patch in our rather grim wintry back garden at the moment - our lovely camellia, coming into full bloom.

The garden resembles more of a building site - and will do for a good while this year - as we're not landscaping it until our extension is completed. And that's not even started yet. ;-)

I had to show you the beautiful sunrises we get here - this one from this morning.

The lefthand picture is from upstairs (we're in a dormer bungalow) - great view across the rooftops of the surrounding bungalows and out over the countryside.

The righthand picture is from our bedroom, which is downstairs, so we get to see the palm trees in the front garden. I never thought I'd live somewhere with palm trees in the garden! :-)

Oh yes, and the knitting i.e the Twister sweater. The knitting is all done! I've seamed the shoulders and sewn in the sleeves; just the side and sleeve seams to do. Hopefully in a couple of evenings I'll have a FO to show you. I even have enough yarn left to sew the seams, and a little more - maybe for a hairband or similar.

I'm starting to compile a list of lessons learned, which I'll share with the FO. Watch this space!

What's the difference?

Well we went back up country, visited everyone, and gladly travelled back down to the South West. It's a lovely place to come home to. Della asked what the differences are between living here in "the pointy bit" (nice one!) rather than in the Midlands. Hmm, well I guess:

1. The general feeling down here is more relaxed; it's more rural and right by the coast, so it feels less hectic


2. We don't worry so much about security - we're living in a little village and feel safer; fewer people means fewer crimes


3. As we're so near the coast, we feel like we should make the most of it and so tend to go to the beach whenever we can - and there's not much to get stressed about there


4. The school is half the size of the previous one our girls went to, and has much more of an outdoor emphasis - they have a science garden, after-school gardening club, and outdoor learning spaces


5. As we're outdoors a lot more, we're all looking fairly tanned already - everyone back in the Midlands on this last visit said we all looked really healthy!


6. I need to drive to work and can't walk around the city centre to do my shopping at lunchtime so I had to find other ways to get exercise: now I go to fitness classes twice a week & thoroughly enjoy them, DH does most of the shopping so he appreciates the time & effort it takes now, and walking up and down the beach and cliff steps does wonders for the legs and cardio fitness levels!


7. Although I only drive when I have to, I am enjoying the freedom of having my own transport available


8. I had 2 migraines whilst we were back up country last weekend - a common occurrence for me - but have had virtually none whilst down here


9. I'm learning to swim better (after all these years) as I want to be able to swim in the sea with our girls


10. For whatever reasons we seem to be going out more as a family - we go out together every Friday evening, and are currently planning several visits to local events during the forthcoming half term break


11. DH gets to see his little sis regularly as we now live near her!


12. There is a big focus down here on environmental issues and also crafts - both of which interest me greatly

I think that's enough to be going on with! As you can probably gather, we're enjoying it down here.

On the craft front, I've been beading again! I went to a bead weaving class at the Red Elephant Bead Shop on Wednesday evening, and had a great time.

I discovered that I prefer stringing beads rather than weaving them, so I came back and made myself 3 necklaces.

A black and white one specifically to match this top - it reminds me of licorice allsorts!

Then a pinky-purply one to go with most of my outfits..

And finally a slightly longer one with some lovely stripy blue glass beads that I bought from ebay several years ago.

I'm really pleased with all of them!

Finally online

We're here! Well we've been here 2 weeks actually, but as of this morning we have functioning broadband too.

Thanks for all your good wishes; I managed to take a peek at them during my lunch break at my new job for Cornwall County Council which is going well so far.
The girls are thoroughly enjoying their new school; they've made new friends, been invited to parties, and are going on trips already.

We seem to have fallen lucky with our accommodation too - the dormer bungalow which we are renting has been offered for sale to us, and it looks like we may be going for it as long as we can get planning permission to extend it. The architect is coming round tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes, but the general opinion is that it should go through fine.

I'll have some knitting pics soon - I've finished the beach sandals (apart from getting some soles), and I'm finally wearing that lovely Fortune cardigan. I'm now on the second sleeve of the aran lace cardigan, and deciding which sock pattern to keep at work as a lunch break project.

And yes we've been to the beach - several times. It's all looking good! ;-)

Under starter's orders..

Boxes everywhere, butterflies in my stomach, we're off tomorrow! Next time I post we'll be living in Cornwall. That can't be real can it?!

As for knitting, I've managed to almost finish knitting a pair of Lacanau beach sandals with my gifted Loganberry Rowan Summer Tweed plus some in lilac left over from my knit-crochet sweater. I thought they would be the most appropriate project for now. ;-) They're very quick and I'm loving the results - pics to follow once we've got the computers set up.

Photos!

Somehow, amidst the madness of packing today, I have managed to take photos of my latest FOs. Actually it was a bit of light relief, as is typing this blog entry. 12 hours of packing, washing, ironing, and cleaning is enough for one day for anyone I reckon. Anyway - the FOs:
First up, we have the Colinette Giotto sweater. The shade is "Caramel", and it's incredibly difficult to photograph without it looking all sparkly! There's definately no lurex in there, although it has a shimmer to it.

This was my design based on a Per Una sweater I have - a very simple fitted shape with a crochet edge all around and a deeper crochet hem on the body. I do like it.

Then there are the socks! I have done both, but the photo of both makes my feet look even bigger than they actually are, so this is the one you're seeing.

I love these socks. I used Wendy's Toe-Up sock pattern and a hand-dyed sock yarn that I bought from ebay a few months back in a lovely dusky denimy mix of colours. They are really comfy and fit great. I will use that pattern again - I find that the short-row toe and heel are the right shape for me and I enjoy knitting them.

Final picture for this post - based on our move of course! This is what our lovely house looks like in every room atm. That's me all boxed out for today. G'night!

Goodies!

I went to my local Beatties knitting group for the last time today before our move - and received a lovely bag of knitterly goodies! Those wonderful knitters have clubbed together to buy me 600g of Sirdar Just Bamboo and a lovely cardigan pattern for it, plus the latest Rowan magazine 41. Thank you so much to Rose, Fiona, Josie, Annette, Pippa, and Sarah-Beth. If I've missed anyone out - sorry, and thanks!

I shall really miss that group, and will consider myself very lucky if I find a similarly fab knitting group once we're settled in Cornwall.

I also received a extra surprise gift from a male knitter at work - a skein of Rowan Summer Tweed in the gorgeous Loganberry shade, plus the latest Bamboo Tape pattern book. Thanks John!

A quick flick through the Rowan 41 mag has convinced me that I MUST buy a goodly amount of the new Rowan Damask yarn in shade Zircone once we've moved - it's just GORGEOUS! I think that may have to be a treat for me when I receive my first Cornish salary payment. ;-)

2 weeks and counting

Thanks for your lovely comments - it's nice to know that somebody does actually read this!

It looks like we're moving w/b 19th Feb! Just 2 weeks to go.. I'm not sure of the exact day yet as the removals company have to load up and set off one day, then arrive at our new home the next day. We'll have to set off at the same time as them, but then camp out in our bungalow with the supplies we take with us (kettle, laptop, & airbeds included!) until they arrive the next day.

Our friends are starting to settle in New Zealand and we're getting used to driving the car we bought from them - a nippy little Renault Megane. I was dreading going back to a manual after driving an auto for a couple of years, but it's been fine - no stalls yet, and I've only crunched the gearbox once - ouch! In fact I love driving it, so I think that's the one I'll be driving to Cornwall. I get the girls, bedding, suitcases, etc in with me, and DH gets to drive our original car (assuming it's fixed) with the flammables (decorating equipment, petrol cans, bbq gas bottle, etc) that the removals people won't take. I'll be relieved once that particular journey is safely completed.

We took our DDs bowling on Saturday morning with their friends, then spent Saturday afternoon decluttering and clearing out the shed and garage. Phew! It was a long job, but well worth it, and it's one more ticked off the list.

I came down with a heavy cold on Saturday morning and DH started with it last night too - my commiserations to anyone else who's suffering with similar atm. I also managed to plane a long strip of skin off my right leg last night by dropping a plastic storage box down it - didn't hurt much at the time but it bled a lot and woke me at 6:20am this morning stinging as the lint under the bandage had stuck to it.. ;-) Seems to me that it's an indication that I've been burning the candle at both ends - which comes as no great surprise.

Sunday morning was a friend's 5th birthday party at the local Wacky Warehouse - and a lovely opportunity to have a long natter with my local parent friends and then get treated to a scrummy garlic-y pasta Chicken Alfredo followed by Fudge Cake and ice cream for lunch by my DH. The afternoon and evening were spent sorting out a huge pile of domestic paperwork into "Keep It", "Shred It" and "Recycle It" piles. That's a job I'd been meaning to do for over 12 months, so it's very satisfying to have completed it. The girls last swimming lessons here in the Midlands punctuated that - a chance to say goodbye to friends there.

Today brings with it a little frustration as my bank have managed to lose all track of the paperwork requesting a bank reference for the letting agents - which I hand-delivered as an urgent task 2 weeks ago. I have now signed another faxed copy, and they have promised me it will be faxed back to Cornwall within 48 hours. If not I'll be exercising some of my assertiveness training... ;-)

Knitting-wise - I managed to finish off the Classic Fitted Sweater (started Jan 06!) in Colinette Giotto. I'm glad Fiona talked me into finishing it off instead of frogging it - thanks! All I had to do was seam the right sleeve and side, and do the crochet edgings. It's not exactly as I'd first planned as I'll need to wear a little top underneath it, but I'm sure I'll wear it a lot.

That's it for now.. time for more hot honey and lemon.. <aaaaaaachoo!>