Settle Down.

Settle down and settle in with a cup o' char because this is going to be a long one and it's entirely my fault. 

Exactly one week ago yesterday I taught a crochet lesson. It's probably my favourite lesson to teach. If I'm honest it's because it's easy but mostly it's because there are a hell of a lot of people out there who have tried and failed to crochet and ended up frustrated to the point of tears. To be able to sort them out so easily is brill. A few days before, we'd started the sale and to replace the Cygnet DK (which was in the sale) we introduced the magnificent King Cole Pricewise DK (which still deserves its own blog post and I will...). Usually, on lessons, I use bits of leftover stuff to show them how its done but on this lesson I decided to use the Pricewise to test what it was all about. AND I FELL IN LOVE!!!! It's beaueaueaueaueaueautiful! A perfect acrylic yarn, nice and soft, lots of it, cheap - beauts! So, that evening, whilst watching Blandings and Call the Midwife (good old BBC), I sat and crocheted the bloody two balls. And then some more from stash. The next day I bought a couple of balls of Cygnet DK from the sale and crocheted some more. Oof! An idea! But, this is going to be too long a post to explain it here - suffice to say, I'm making three blankets almost exactly the same... Obsessive much? 

On Monday I spent a delightful day catching up with an old friend, eating the best steak ever, getting right royally drunk and crocheting squares (I also finally filled out my tax return!!!). If I'm brutally honest with myself the rest of the week followed suit. Not much work was done. 

THEN!

On Thursday I got a call from a lovely lady at the Federation of Small Businesses (a sort of union thing that we're part of with free legal advice!). She asked if I'd like to go on national t.v. and I was like 'well, maybe, yeah, what's it about?' but in my head I was like 'OMG OMG OMG OMG I'M GOING ON TV I'M GOING TO BE FAMOUS! PEOPLE WILL LOVE ME! THE SHOP WILL TAKE MILLIONS! GIVE!'. Anyway, it was sort of organised and I decided to dye my hair, put some make up and clean clothes on the next day (I made such an effort!). Then I went to the pub... In the morning I woke up early to wait for a phone call from London and low and behold at half past eight I got the fateful phonecall and it was all arranged - I was going to be on Sky News at half past ten! SKY NEWS! ME!?!?!?! So, I let everybody that I knew know and then I caught a taxi into town. 

I had to knock on a locked van door to speak to the camera man. Which felt awks. He set me up with a microphone and ear thing that didn't fit very well and then we waited. And waited. And waited. So I facebooked this photo:

I told him it was for Twitter and he looked a bit shocked that a LYSO would even know what that was... Mwahaha!

Then came my time to shine! And I can't really comment about it because I've only watched it once peeking out from behind my fingers. Ugh. The worst part about it is at the beginning. The cameraman didn't tell me when I was on and there were some kids making a noise in the square and my eyes kept wandering over to them and then I'd think 'oh no, I've got to be ready' so then I'd jump back to looking at the camera and smile. Ha. Oh god. What do celebrities do!??! Anyway - I'm going  to try and embed it here, hope it works:

We must thank Debra (of Jazzy Pants Creations) for this video because otherwise I'd never have known how big my chin is... He seemed to like my scarf though! :)

Yuck!

But I was on a massive high all day! I did some bits and bobs in town like the post, the bank, buying more bloody storage boxes, all with a massive smile on my face, and then I headed back to the shop - I think I was in for about half 12. Verity turned up and had a present for me! Only a granny stripe cowl that literally hasn't been off my neck since - in every colour that I LOVE!

Later on, Marsh Marsh rang to ask me for a celebratory drink and who am I to say no? It ended up being a messy night finishing at about five in the morning in a kebab shop speaking to Jake Bugg's cousin about Jamie Oliver... In the meantime, we took some drunken photos trying to get a good one of the cowl to share with Verity's Truly Hooked page. This is all we could come up with... but it does show the cowl and my bloody brill jumper to great effect!

Verity says she doesn't want photos of drunken farts on her wall. I say, Knit Nottingham wants all the drunken farts on their wall!!!

As you can imagine, I was in no fit state on Saturday so June came to the rescue and covered for me in return for me doing today. Which leads me to why I'm in the shop on my day off and how I've got so much done!!!!!!!!!

The first thing I did this morning was wait for the bloody bus for 40 minutes. Wrote a brill post on Trent Barton's wall about it because it meant I was too late to get to the Post Office to send off the last of the Cygnet DK which was bought last night by a woman in Wales who makes blankets for the homeless (her name is Eleanor too which makes her just about the best person I've ever spoken to I think...). Anyway - nearly 60 balls heading over Wales as we speak because June, stunner that she is, volunteered to take it to the Post Office this afternoon. Dead good seeing her rolling down the road with a box as big as her on a metal trolley thing. Especially when the wheel got stuck in the paving... 

In the meantime, I finally took down the last of the Christmas decorations and shiny stuff and did the window ready for spring - lovely blues, creams, baby pinks and greens. It also features a hyacinth plant bought by a good friend. Not flowering yet - perhaps I ought to water it? Anyway, here it is: 

Looks lovely and clean after the months of Christmas stuff...

Then we got a BIG order from King Cole (a few things that were missing were pretty crucial - in fact the reason for making the order - aye me!). But, most importantly, THE new yarn turned up! Bloody brill!!!!

It's the King Cole Opium which is a brand new cotton blend for this spring. It's got a big space in the window and there it is looking glamorous on the shelf. It's a proper grown up yarn and I cannot wait to get my grubby little mitts on it... Maybe tonight, though it's five past six and I've not finished here so maybe not... 

Anyway, it's on the internet here. And the patterns are on the internet here.  And I will get back to you when I've made the poncho (even if I've spent the last two weeks talking about how I don't like ponchos for one reason or another...). 

Dead good. 

And then, I realised that in all the excitement I'd forgotten that I'd order the four new colours in the beautiful Bamboo Cotton DK. I love each and every one of them but I must admit, it's been a subtly kind of an update hasn't it?

What's wrong with a good grass green King Cole!?

We don't currently have space for it on the shelf but I'm betting that because of the Cygnet DK all having sold, I could get some of the cottons out of the back cupboard and into the right hand one (which is apparently where 90% of consumers turn when they walk into a shop...). For now, it's being wonderfully displayed in a pile on the table:

Finally! I got the shock of my life t'other day when I got my electric bill. Well. Actually. It's not that bad because I am tight as anything and prepared to spend the whole day on the phone when I negotiate my contract but the lovely June had the bright idea of buying a cheaper heater! She nipped to Aldi today and here it is in all its glory:

I'd have given it a little kiss if I wasn't so fond of my lips. Lindsey who works across the road says it makes me glow orange but I think that might be the three carrots, two oranges and some cheese that I've eaten today. 

All in all, good job ey!? If I'd have just put the crochet down for a few minutes last week I would have been able to give you this update in little bits. But I didn't and now I'm one week and over 100 squares into my three identical blankets... 

Oooooooh! And before I forget. Last Monday, which was the boozey, steakey, friendy one, I bought some royal wedding memorabilia cups from Barnardo's. If you're on facebook you'll have seen them but if not - look!!!

Beauts aren't they!? If you ever come on a lesson that's what you'll be drinking from until I lose/break them all. 

Right, if you've reached this far you deserve a medal!

Love Eleanor. 

P.s. I'm too late to read through this so I hope it makes sense....