Spammers - get a life

I was extremely put out the other morning when I checked the comments on my blog and found that one of them linked to a filthy site. I naively imagined that the name ***porn was a reference to a yearning for yarn and very angry that it related to my writing about and photographs of Amelia my great niece. It seemed fairly genuine, the author had taken the trouble to compliment me on my knitting but obviously not to read the post as he/she said I had a cute kid, I don't have any kids. In my innocence I clicked on the link as I always like to reciprocate comments. I was disgusted and I admit confused as to how it is possible to get into certain positions and at the same time display so much of the human anatomy. My first impulse was to tell them that they were not welcome on my site but I decided not to respond. I was able to delete the comment (forever) and while I was at it I deleted the Boycott American Women one that appeared some time ago and had prompted Gigibird to post that she likes Geoff Boycott, that's the spirit. Mr FF read the comment about all American women being fat, lazy, unable to cook, cheats etc and muttered 'same here mate' which made me smile because I know he doesn't mean it. This Boycott guy is apparently posting on blog after blog regardless of it's content and if other commenters make fun of him he can become quite abusive, that's scary and a dreadful waste of his little life.
I then went onto to Blogger and had a look in my comments section where it is possible to view the spam that has been intercepted. Firstly may I say I had no idea that the proprietors of escort agencies from Mexico to the Ukraine are so interested in a pensioner's knitting/gardening blog. The absolute bollocks that people are trying to post onto my blog is amazing, questions about acne, do I know a good dentist, the usual male part amplification and unlock your phone offers. What an absolute waste of time, the whole world is aware that these are spam and I say hats off to the people at Blogger who have them sorted. There are nearly 200 in my spam section, if you have the time you should check yours, contemplate the mad world we live in and wonder what all the freaks used to do before we had the internet. Can I also say to those of you who do post lovely comments thank you, you are sane, intelligent, responsible people not out to mess with my computer or shock me and I appreciate every word.

Picture from Google Images

Post blog note - following the sensible comment from Debs I have taken out certain words that could attract the nutters, hence the rather coy references. Hope it works and thanks Debs

No longer tied

Mr FF seems to be adapting well to a life without work though he still spends a large amount of time in front of the computer. As we are currently sharing one machine he is restricting my time on line and it's often a contest in the mornings to see who can get logged on first. I did have a little pang of regret about it all myself when I was hanging up his shirts and I remembered what a lovely collection of silk ties he has. Mr FF was always well turned out for business and partial to a colourful and interesting tie. I enjoyed buying them for him at Christmas and birthdays or just as a memento of a trip abroad. This one by Moschino I bought him for Valentine's day
The bottom one is Tommy Hilfiger the other his Braveheart tie for when he was representing Scotland over the borderThese two we bought in Madrid at the museum shop The green one from the TinTin shop in Brussels and I don't remember where I bought the grey Snoopy one.
Now he's dressing in jeans and t shirts, all those business suits pushed to the back of the wardrobe and talk of a lengthy visit to Italy. I don't know what will happen to the ties, and please don't suggest that I cut them up to make a patchwork, I still haven't finished the one I started three years ago.

Free time

So the first week of unemployment has gone very well. Mr FF is gradually sorting out his home office, though I see little increase in space yet. I have my eye on some of his filing cabinets for my knitting patterns. He had to return some of his executive toys on Tuesday, fancy phone, lap top etc plus lots of files so after a brief visit to his ex-office in Co Durham we travelled on to Yorkshire and spent a couple of days with friends and family, a chance to catch up without the need to rush back for work. We had a delicious meal with Roger and Christine though our real intention was of course to visit their gorgeous black cat Panther, you can read about him here, now 16 he is still very sprightly.
Then onto my brother's for a couple of nights. We were fortunate that Amelia came for the day and we had plenty of time with her. I had just finished this little swing cardy, knitted in Sublime organic cotton the pattern is from Easy Kids Knits by Claire Montgomerie. Both Amelia and I were delighted with the result, it was easy to knit as the yoke is in one piece, less stitching up, and the front band is knitted with the body. Maybe the colour, borage, wasn't the best for a day on the farm but Amelia insisted on wearing it and it is machine washable. I plan to knit her another in a more serviceable colour and as this is only the second size I can use the same pattern for years to come. I'm not the only one making for Amelia, how do you like her motor. This was made for her by another of her great aunt's father, just from waste materials, old pram wheels and the like. It really is wonderful, beautifully constructed with a loud horn, old lamps and can be connected to a battery so the motor really works, Amelia is a bit young at present for driving and is helped round by Grandad. The number plate WAS 1M comes from the maker's respect for the Pakistani Wasim Akram regarded as one of the best fast bowlers in the history of cricket.
Mr FF commented on Tuesday that it felt like Saturday, I did explain that when you don't work every day is a Saturday maybe I should perhaps have suggested he needed to finish clearing his office and then he'd feel more settled but I think quite rightly he's already got the idea that he now has all the time in the world.

No longer required

Something quite major has been in the air of a week or so and I can now reveal that Mr FF has officially finished work. That's about all I can reveal, there has been so much negotiation and secrecy around this event, all contained in an 8 page legal agreement, that I began to wonder if he didn't work undercover for M15 rather than a small construction business. His last day was 30 June, Friday was his first day out of work and today he embarks on his first full week of freedom. As you can see he seems to be keeping himself occupied, I think he was sleeping with the cushion over his head to keep the sun off his face, there again maybe he was a spy. So far with the tennis finals, the start of the Tour de France and the onset of some really hot weather he has been struggling with the life/life balance. There is talk of a lengthy trip to Italy, we are off down to Yorkshire this week to spend time with family and there are plenty of things on my list of jobs an out of work engineer can do around the home.

Saturday's Sit and Knit

I was looking forward to my sit and knit session at the village market, no selling pressure just time to knit and chat and it was great fun.
Pam made me a very lovely sign and I took a selection of wool, needles and a few books with patterns for squares as inspiration though we were only knitting simple garter stitch on the day.
This was probably the last village fair as the support from local people has been poor and it was very quiet on Saturday. This a great shame as the event offers a good community get together with local stalls, children's corner, tombola, a cafe, cookery demonstration and all in a good cause, this one was raising funds for Cancer Research. I already had a few squares on the needles in case people wanted to pick them up and just knit a row or two but some of my beginners actually wanted to learn cast on first. My star pupil was 10 year old Amy who had already visited the face painting department, she did a great job, so good to see young people showing an interest. I had quite a few experienced knitters, including some of the stall holders who sat and made whilst selling and people who took their knitting with them while they walked round the fair. We didn't produce enough squares for a blanket on the day but I'll keep making them and a few locals who took away needles and wool to keep going have delivered squares to my house and taken more supplies. There was also talk about starting a village Stitch and Bitch group, I'm all for that. As a bonus one of the stall holders pulled out late on Friday so I was asked to take some socks to put on a shared stall, on my behalf Lesley and Nan sold about £50 worth for me.

Garden inspiration

In the week Mr FF and I travelled down to Penrith, he for meetings me for a trip out. We spent some time at the lovely Larch Cottage Nurseries, a place that used to be a regular coffee stop for us until we discovered the delights of a proper truckers cafe that we've been using for the last few years. Anyway we decided to renew our acquaintance, the place had changed quite a lot since our last visit and was as ever absolutely delightful.It really is an inspirational place, full of little secret areas, lots of statuary, this massive fountain made me smile, plants, pots and a lovely cafe where we sat looking out on to the immaculately kept landscaped grounds. Mr FF took a liking to the alligator/crocodile you can see peeking round the end of the bridge till I told him it was almost £3,000. I did quite a lot of sighing and wishing my own garden was more to this standard, though when I got home I was pleased to realise that it is very interesting and well stocked, just not so many ornaments. Even better stocked now because I had a good rummage in the bargain bucket and got all these plants for 50p each.

Knitting now

I'm pleased I'm not the only one who doesn't like seaming up their knitting, Kate at Haunted Yarns posted recently in a similar vein. I finished knitting Jake from Rowan Junior by Kim Hargreaves a while ago but left the pieces lying around which I produced another pair of socks before tackling the stitching, which is quite disgraceful really as it's such a small garment.I used Sirdar Juicy DK colour Denim rather than the All Seasons Cotton recommended so there was some adjustment to make but it's turned out fine. I enjoyed the pattern very much, the 80% bamboo 20% cotton yarn is soft and silky, quite splity and tended to unravel when I was sewing but I'd definitely use it again.
The jumper is on it's way down to Yorkshire for Daniel who was born a couple of weeks ago, a new brother for Phoebe my adorable virtual niece, actually no relation at all. Phoebe is already a wearer of my hand knits, in fact last time she came to visit she asked me to teach her to knit and I sent her home with large wooden needles and some wool. I believe she's still practising though has her hands rather full at the moment. I had nice note back from Mum when I emailed to say I had a jumper for Daniel that I wanted to put on my blog and asking permission to include a photo of the baby. I quote Thank you so much for knitting for him - your knitting is just divine - I have kept Phoebe's little crossover cardi you knitted her as a baby - it's in her Keepsake box, it's just exquisite. That is so rewarding, I'm delighted the family like my knitting, but really my achievement is nothing compared to these two gorgeous children.