annarella | handmade : beaded stitch markers and original hand knits, london

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monday, 25 december 2006

Happy Xmas! (...image heavy!)

Hope you're all having a wonderfully magical Christmas! Sorry, got no time to blog, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Catch ya later x

Our Xmas tree

My friend Myriam + I

They're not all mine, I promise!

With my baby sis

And again...

More family pics...

A purely gratuitous , self-absorbed, egocentric shot...

With Ste...

...who's done this...

...and this!

tuesday, 19 december 2006

The Italian Job

I've just realised I fled London last week without so much as a goodbye, missing me already?

This gigantic tree greeted me upon landing and exiting the airport... it was massive and just oh-so pretty!

I'll be spending my Xmas hols here in Italy, where although there's a few days still to Crimbo, I have already started celebrating by stuffing my face sampling the local delicacies... Oh. My. God... I know that cakes+co have been making a regular appearance chez annarella lately, and I swear to you I have no intention of turning this into a food-addict blog... but, just look at them... can you honestly tell me they don't make you drool...? It's a choc feast not for the faint-hearted :)

Are you digging the funkiest, coolest, most rocking specs?? They're red, ladies and gents! Red with red lenses! I mean, do they blow your sox off, or what?? ;)

And this is my mate Ste (if you're reading this, Ciao!)

Ciao for now! xx

friday, 15 december 2006

Cos I'm hopless like that...

I've been stumbling upon lots of cute interesting little patterns lately which I swore I'd make... but as usual, I come across something, think it's THE knit of all knits, an absolute MUST HAVE, then promptly forget all about it. So how about a little list to remind me (yes, I know I already have an "in the queue" list in my side bar, but there's new stuff too, ok)? What's on your list?

In no particular order:

• Eiffel
• Calorimetry
• Adriann
• Ribby Cardi
• Simple Knitted Bodice
• Madeline Jacket
• Serrano
• Crinkle
• Jinny
• Mariah
• Sunrise Circle Jacket
• Pinwheel Jacket

monday, 11 december 2006

You'll all be sick of me comes Xmas...

...but I can't help it, I'm sooo in the mood for pointless festivities, here's another gratuitous Xmas-y shot :) This is the last of 4 (yep, not one, not two or three, folks, FOUR) boxes of mince pies I bought just the other day... but then, having cakes in the house is a guaranteed recipe for disaster...

I got up to this view this morning... now, I'm not one for complaining willy nilly... but boy, it's Monday, it's already the most unpleasant day of the week, and alright, granted I don't have work today, but still, I've got things to do, how am I supposed to leave the radiators-induced warmth and venture outside... in THAT?

In fiber-y news, here's the completed Seafoam scarf (yep, I'm a bundle of originality when it comes to naming stuff...), all ends weaved in and label sewn on, crocheted with just under 3 balls of Rowan Tapestry colour 176, ready to be wrapped up and gifted away.

Alright, make some room, Oxford Street here I come - spk later x

sunday, 10 december 2006

A day in pictures

I know what you're all thinking (...or not...), where the funk have you been?? Sorry to have been AWOL, I am still around, but there have been a few drastic changes in my life lately (food for another post, I promise!) which have limited my blogging (and commenting...! Sorry folks!) time, I will try and make it up to you, but the way to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes... ;)

So much has happened in the last few weeks, all good and exiciting and mad and life-changing, it's all an amorphous blurred twirl in my head, so I'll start with summat easy, aka what I was up to yesterday (guest starring: some fiber-y content at last!).

I've been really working like mad, way too much to have the energy to enjoy all that's been going on with the celebrations and what-not, so I went to town and took a dive straight into the London Xmas spirit (roasted chestnuts, anybody?), how do I love the sickling sweet smell you can feel forcing its way into your nostrils and telling you it's Christmas!, and making you feel like jumping around like a silly little child... and you find yourself smiling for no good reason, and the world is a nicer place, and for a split second your mind is void of negative thoughts... wow... all this just because of a few lights on trees and street vendors?! I really AM low maintenance!

Then went for a walk in Trafalgar Square, admired the Xmas tree but liked the one in Covent Garden much better (pic left), heard my tummy rumbling, and decided we ought to stop and have some dinner in the piazza (dining al fresco... in December??? What the hell was I thinking?!), loads of people seemed to be having a jolly good time, stuffing their faces and looking alarmingly comfy, so I thought to myself, once you sit under one of those outdoor heaters, it can't be that bad... wrong! Oh, so completely and utterly wrong!! Let me tell you, it was frigging freezing! Against my better judgement, I had to take my gloves off just so I wouldn't slobber my way-better-than-sex falafel wrap all over whilst eating... and my hands turned to icicles almost instantly! Gosh, I don't know how everybody else was managing to keep a smile on their faces, cos all I could do to stop me from shivering was eat as fast as I could (and anybody that knows me, knows I'm an irritatingly sloooooow eater) and get out of there faster than you can say "oh, bother!".

So we went and warmed our cockles in one of the trillion Starb*cks in the capital, treated myself to some chocolate brownies (OH. MY. GOODNESS. Nuff said) and a cafe mocha cos I'm worth it!, and slowly regained use of my hands, thus indulging in a spot of crocheting.

At that precise moment, chocolate in my tummy, squishy sofa (albeit that of a mega corporation, I really ought to be ashamed of myself, but I was feeling toooo content to think about the greater good) under my bum, yarn through my fingers... life felt good!

I've been making a very simple ruffle-y scarf in Rowan Tapestry (colour: 176) as a Xmas gift. This yarn is a blend of wool and soybean protein fibre, so how apt that the recepient is intolerant to dairy and can only drink soya milk!!! Silly, but cute :)

And here's the FO (well almost, still have a few ends to weave in), not too bad for a little more than a couple of days' work (including a LOT of train crocheting... am braving the real world at last...!). Like it?

tuesday, 05 december 2006

One word meme

One. Word. Meme. No. Exceptions. and. No. Cheating.

This was actually harder than I thought, as I tend to digress and go on and on and on... go on, you try it!

1. Yourself: tired
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): yep
3. Your hair: unkept
4. Your mother: far
5. Your father: ditto
6. Your favorite Item: spectacles
7. Your dream last night: vague
8. Your favorite drink: baileys
9. Your dream car: teletransporter
10. The room you are in: office
11. Your ex: ah!
12. Your fear: death
13. What you want to be in 10 years? happy
14. Who you hung out with last night? bed
15. What you're not: punctual
16. Muffins: chocolate
17. One of your wish list items: book
18. Time: little
19. The last thing you did: email
20. What you are wearing: clothes
21. Your favorite weather: stormy
22. Your favorite book: Watchers
23. The last thing you ate: brekkie
24. Your life: messy
25. Your mood: lousy
26. Your best friend: far
27. What are you thinking about right now? 6pm
28. Your car: bike
29. What are you doing at this moment: skiving
30. Your summer: distant
31. Your relationship status: taken
32. What is on your TV? irrelevant
33. What is the weather like? miserable
34. When is the last time you laughed? earlier
35. Who do you tag? you

monday, 04 december 2006

Randomness

Don't be fooled by the post date, it's really 3rd Dec still, ok, well, it's 4th, but it's early morning, I haven't gone to bed yet, so officially, in my mind, it's still Sunday...

So, what am I doing still up at this ungodly hour? It's 2:12am and I'm still... working... yep... you read that right... I'm taking tomorrow off (yey!) and seen as I did f*ck all this weekend work-wise (despite my good intentions, but, hey, they don't call me the Queen of Procrastination for nothing...), I've talked myself into spending Sunday night locked in my dimly lit studio, with the radiators on full blast (god bless the power of central heating!), a cup of camomile tea in one hand, a nice glass of Baileys (oh, alright, two then) in the other, efficiently ticking away stuff off my to-do list. Mind you, I had no other plans.. but still... Have I made any progress? It's hard to tell at this stage, I'm not entirely with it... I wish I could shut everything down and go to sleep right this second, but I know that if I do, I'm only gonna have to come back in the morning, when in fact I've got plans... I'm off to the West End (Oxford Street in December? With manic Xmas shoppers? Only at this hour can that sound like a smart idea...) for a spot of shopping, mostly for me, but if the gods show themselves to be kind, I may even be able to pick up the few remaining Xmas pressies at the same time, so I don't have to stress out next week...

Why did I entitle this post "Randomness"? Oh, yes, I had lots of scattered thoughts I wanted to talk about, like, off the top of my head:

• how instead of working on my mum's Clapotis, I went and started a headband today just cos I felt like it... so now I'm left with a progress-less Clapotis (sorry mum!) and a half-started headband which I'm not even sure it'll suit me...
• or how my October-November competition has now ended, and I'll proceed to pick a winner in the next few days, so stay tuned...
• or how you've just got to raise your hands to life and give in to her bizarre ways, at times so absurd, and cruel, and kind, and wonderful, and startling, and astonishing, and stranger than fiction, you wouldn't believe it if you weren't living it...
• or how I would really fancy a pizza right now, thin crust, with peppers and sweetcorn and olives and mushrooms, and I may even pop into one of the trillion pizza places on Oxford St tomorrow and bag myself one, although the craving will have disappeared by then (and my hips will only thank me in the end...)...

Enough chit chat, gotta get back to work... Catch you later x

saturday, 02 december 2006

Tagged

Aka... any excuse not to admit that I'm slowly but surely forgetting how to knit... it's been that long (well, except on Tuesday nights that is...)...

Lifted Borrowed from KesSa

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
   Hot chocolate! With Baileys. And a touch of cinnamon. And choc chip cookies on the side. Now!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
   Don't be silly, he couldn't possibly have enough time to wrap them all by himself...
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
   White, silvery, shimmering tiny little lights, thousands of them...
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
   Nope
5. When do you put up your decorations?
   I don't actually put them up at all, but I luuuurve to see them in other peep's houses and in the streets...
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
   Mmm... no, no, no, you can't exclude desserts at Xmas, are you crazy?? Mince pies (hot, with Baileys!), Xmas pudding (hot, with Baileys!) and LOADS of Italian cakes... I'm drooling as I type this...
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
   The entire Xmas season, the not having to go to school till after the 6th Jan, the prolonged vegging out, the swapping of the pressies (well, receiving, more than giving actually...), the gathering together (although I suspect I appreciate this much more now than I ever did when I was a child...)
8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
   Well... yeah... what's Xmas Eve for otherwise??? And not "a" gift... ALL gifts!!
9. What kind of decorations are on your Christmas tree?
   I'm very non-Xmasy when it comes to my place, so.. I don't actually put up a Xmas tree. But if I did, I'd like to try and knit all the decorations, so I'd have an entirely magenta and silver tree, full of knitted bubbles and mini, teeny weeny stockings...
10. Snow! Love it or dread it?
    Luuuuurve it
11. Can you ice skate?
    I've only tried once, or twice, and had an absolute ball! I'm rubbish at it, but it was so much fun!
12. Do you remember your favorite gift?
    It may sound silly... but one of my fav gifts has got to be the Office, series 1 and 2... Especially cos it was totally unexpected... David Brent rox!
13. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
    Spending time with my folks+co
14. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
    As above... yep... stilll drooling.... ;)
15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
    Well, I always go home for Xmas, so that's my little tradition, I end up doing the same things every single year, and there's a certain something, a feeling safe in that...
16. What tops your tree?
    A star, but a real 'un, mind...
17. What is your favorite holiday book?
    Don't really have one
18. What is your favorite Christmas song?
    Ah... where do I start...? All of them really, I adore walking into a shop and hearing Xmas songs... I know they only play them to get you in the mood to spend, spend, spend... but I love them anyway. The usual suspects: Happy Xmas (J Lennon), Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, We wish you a Merry Christmas....
19. Candy canes?
    If I must...

saturday, 02 december 2006

Real men knit

Go watch this!

saturday, 02 december 2006

eBay listings

Forgot to mention that I've put some stuff up on eBay, nothing fibre-related, but hopefully you may find something of interest... all starting at 99p!