Turning a tangled mess into something beautiful (hopefully).

I popped to the fabulous John Lewis yesterday to pick up some Gold coloured wool to start my second project for the Fairytale swap.  Unfortunately, Violet got her little hands on it whilst my back was turned and instead of it being in a tidy little ball, it now looks like this:

A tangled mess.  And, goodness only knows where the label went to.

Eventually I managed to find the end of the wool and cast on:

Is anyone else taking part in the Fairtale Swap? 

My swap partner is from Canada and I've chosen Alice in Wonderland as my theme.  I can't wait to see what comes through the post.  It'll be like Christmas.

I thought I might be boring you all with my Postcrossing adventures, so I've created its very own page.  I'll be posting pictures of all the postcards that I receive on there, so if you are interested you can go and have a look at them all - you'll find the link to it at the top of my home page. 

On the subject of Postcrossing, I received 3 yesterday, two of which had the best stamps on them:

How cool.

I've noticed that a few fellow bloggers have taken up Postcrossing too - I'm sure you'll all have loads of fun.  It's been so nice receiving mail, that's not bills or circulars, through the letter box.  The Postcrossing folk write some lovely little messages on their cards and the postcards and stamps (on the whole) have been pretty interesting.

I hope you'll all pop back tomorrow as I plan on posting the recipe for my favourite pudding EVER.  It was a speciality of my mother's - she used to call it Poala (pronounced Koala, but with a P).  It creates so many happy memories of my mum and the taste is to die for.

Our Friday trip out

I don't know what the weather's been like in your neck of the woods today, but it's been damp, windy and alittle on the cold side here.

Even so, it didn't stop Violet and I catching the train into Birmingham.  Violet loves going on the train, and seeing as the journey only takes about 16 minutes, she's easily entertainable for that amount of time. 

She waved at the train driver pulling into Solihull station - No response, not even a smile.

She said "hello Mr Ticket Man", to the conductor when he came to stamp my ticket - No response, not even a smile.

She even said "Bye Mr Ticket Man", to the same conductor when he came passed us again, just before he cocoon himself safely away in that secret place at the back of the train - No response, not even a smile.

Is everybody a miserable sod these days?  Doesn't anybody use those facial muscles of theirs to actually, you know, SMILE????

When we arrived at our destination, we headed off towards Birmingham's Art Gallery - because it's brilliant, and because it's FREE. 

As soon as we walked in we spotted a beautiful marble sculpture (I think it was entitled Acorn Bud),  it looked extremely tactile and I couldn't see a sign saying 'Do Not Touch', so we both started stroking it.  The next thing I know, there's a rather stern looking security-type person standing behind us.  She'd come over  to tell us that we weren't supposed to be fondling the precious things.  Embarrassed, and hanging my head in shame, I grabbed Violet's little hand and walked off in search of her favourite painting.

Can you guess what it is? 

Can you?

But of course, it's her beloved penguins. 

Birmingham Art Gallery is a really good place to visit for those of you who have never been.  Especially if you're really into Pre-Raphaelite paintings. You'll be blown away by some of the famous paintings that adorn the walls. 

Just remember - DO  NOT  TOUCH  A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G! 

Yesterday I received my second Postcrossing postcard:

It's from a lady in Switzerland.  All she wrote on the card was "warm greetings from the rainy Switzerland".  So I can't tell you anything about this statue of a dog (maybe a German Shepherd), or where it is located, which is a pity because I would have liked to have known.  When I registered the card on the Postcrossing sight I did actually leave a message for the sender asking for more details. I'm nosey, I don't like mystery.

Then today I received another postcard:

Received from Roland who lives in Dresden.  What is this place?  It appears to be some sort of ferry port or somesuch.  Any guesses?

Anyways, they both had great stamps on them:

I think I've taken up a new hobby - Philately.

HAPPY WEEKEND.

Coffee and postcards

Violet is still alittle poorly today. She slept in our bed last night and spent the entire time doing a River Dance tribute on my kidneys.  As you can imagine I'm feeling rather sore and tired today.  So far caffeine hasn't been successful in either reviving me or making me feel even half human.  When it was time to make my second mug I was in total confusion when I opened the fridge door to find that the milk had disappeared.  Vanished. Vamooshed !!!!!! After scratching my head for a minute or two I began the search for the elusive milk.  Where could I have put it? The cupboards, the microwave, the washing machine? I finally located it in the oven - because that's where you keep milk, obviously.  Don't tell me you've never done it.  (Please tell me you have, or I'll think that I've definitely lost it).

Before I creep off and get myself even more coffee (and possibly some cake and chocolate) I just thought I'd mention that I received my first postcard from another Postcrossing member yesterday. 

Here's a (very bad) photo of the card I recieved.

It's from a lady in Japan.  Isn't it pretty?  It's of the Akiu Otaki waterfall in Sendai, Miyagi (which means The City of the Forest in Japanese).

Just take a look at these beautiful stamps.

Because I'm nosey, I went and checked out this lady's profile on Postcrossing and I couldn't believe what I was reading.  She's sent an unbelievable 1,348 postcards around the world, and has received 1,320 in return.  The postcards she's sent have travelled a distance of 11,537,757km.  Wow!  I think this lady is going for some kind of World Record, what do you think?

After reading all that I had to sit down and think about the cost of sending that many cards. Perhaps it becomes addictive.

I'm now heading for the kitchen and..........

Happy Wednesday x