One year ago today

We took ownership of The Spread Eagle Hotel. It was, to all intents and purposes, closed. The public bar was open for part of the day from Thursday to Sunday – basically being run as a private club by the owner.
Today, one year on, we have reached the 20% occupancy we were aiming [...]

Stop press

Diana, who seems to be a very methodical knitter indeed, has just pointed out two mistakes in the pattern for Chantelle (version chantelle051011.pdf). One isn’t too bad, the other is likely to cause a certain amount of cursing.
Mistake 1:On starting the yoke, you are instructed to pick-up 80 stitches and then work (k1, kfb) [...]

Of city life vs. small town life

Those of you who have read my intro to this blog will have noticed that DH and I moved to a small town in the Scottish Borders a year ago. This has its pluses and its minuses: both being due to the fact that living in a small town means that far more of [...]

If the hat fits….

Wear it!
I’m stealing time from the never-ending laundry monster which is the result of five hotel rooms and very few stays of more than one night to talk about hats. It’s cold, wet, and dismal, and just the perfect weather to be working on something warm and cosy.
My hats are made following a ‘recipe’ [...]

Mrs Mop

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting….
Thats my knitting, by the way.
With some rather unscheduled cleaning. One of my two part-time cleaners has handed in his notice. He’s keen, enthusiastic, hard-working, and really wants to do a good job.
The government provides a minimum income guarantee of £45 each week, along with help in paying [...]

Big scary boss

That, apparently, is me. I’m going to have to try to be one later this week when I have words with one of my staff who hasn’t been turning up for shifts. I’ve written and sent the ‘please get in touch’ letter, and await developments.
On the knitting front, I’ve been surprised and gratified [...]

Perfect is good….

Done is better!
And in that spirit, I give youChantelle(click here for a larger picture.
Do email me if you’d like a .pdf copy of the pattern.

I wish to complain

in the strongest possible terms. (with apologies to Monty Python and that Lumberjack) About Devan, that is.
My cousin had a son, Joshua, by emergency C-section on the 3rd. So, I got the bits of Devan out to do the final finishing.Button band. The instructions on Knitty say clearly:Shape neck and shoulders: K18[20, 24, [...]

Deja Vu

We’ve had a group of insurance sales reps staying with us since Sunday night. They like staying up late. Very late. Like 4am late. So, any time not spent doing essentials is being spent sleeping. In shifts. Add to that the fact that we’re one down on staff due [...]

A frogging we will go.

Ho hum. Due to a staff no-show I was in the pub from 14.30 until 24.30 yesterday. For this, I have precisely nothing to show knit-wise.
Adding garter at 45 degrees to garter, doubling the number of stitches Does Not Work. It ruffles. Badly. And gets Ripped Out.
Adding stocking stitch in [...]