Keeping in touch......

Well, it's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post and I am sooooooooo missing all my blog friends!!! We are still internet-less (is there such a term???) at home due to the stolen phone cables but we've now been informed that 'cables will not be replaced in your area....'!!! I can only assume that this is because we live in a very rural area and it won't pay the comms company to put cables in for just a few homes! They have offered us a 'radio phone' instead but it's not the landline that I want .... IT'S THE INTERNET!!!!

Anyway, we are still progressing with our wireless application but this particular company (and there is only one in this area) has been inundated with requests due to the nightly theft of cables across the province!!! We are "on the list" so we just have to wait .... and wait .... and wait .... Africa time......

On a YAY note, I have (at last) gotten around to posting about Little D's Ripple Blanket that I finished a few weeks ago!!!! Are you ready......? Here it is.....

Please excuse the Thomas the Tank Engine duvet cover underneath.... I didn't have time to whip it off before I laid out the blanket for photo time! I think I was cooking dinner at the same time as well as helping Little D with homework... multi-tasking as ever..... Here's a few close ups...

I'm quite happy with how it turned out although I'd like to do the next one with more of a pattern. I didn't want to get too 'girly' with this one as it was for my son and he needs to keep some street cred when friends come for sleepovers!  His bedtime buddies seemed pretty pleased tho....

I am busy putting together the Blooming Cushion and Little Squares Cushion that I finished. It's been a hectic couple of weeks what with going back to school and then going up to Johannesburg last weekend for my brother's 50th birthday party!!! Days are flying past and jobs 'to do' are piling up but I will get them done eventually!!!!

A friend dropped off a ball of wool that she bought the other day that she thought I would like to play with - don't you LOVE friends like that???? It's called Twirl and it's like knitting with a string vest. I'm still getting to grips with it (literally) but here's a few pics of how it's looking.....

Elle Twirl is a South African wool but I'm sure other manufacturers around the world do a similar yarn? Has anyone used it? It's very weird and it took me ages to get it right but I think I'm there now. Basically it takes one ball to make a scarf which 'twirls' as you knit it. They look gorgeous when they're finished (see pic below) but I'm not sure I'll make another one! VERY fiddly......

(pic from www.kcmanic.blogspot.com)

So, apart from finishing and photographing the Ripple, working on finishing the two cushions and 'playing' with the gifted wool, life has been pretty much normal (well, as normal as it ever is). The preschool where I teach opened again after the December break so I have a new class of little treasures..... They are all 3 turning 4 this year so FULL of attitude and energy to say the least!!! Our theme this week was My 5 Senses and one little boy told me quite emphatically that he can smell with his ears and taste with his eyes!!!! They are all quite mad but I love them soooooooooo much!!!!

These last few weeks without the internet at home have been very frustrating for me but it has made me step back and take stock of what's important. I love my blog and all the other blogs that I read but how much time do we spend on the internet when we could be doing stuff with our kids, gardening, cooking, reading, and generally just getting on with life?? Being 'web-less' has given me the time to do so many other things and altho deep down I can't wait to get it back, a part of me does yearn for that time before the internet / mobile phones / satellite tv / dvds / console games came along when we all just lived in our homes and with our families without being 'connected' to the rest of the World except for the 6 o'çlock news!!!

Is it just me or does anyone else yearn for that sometimes as well? I guess most people would say that we have the choice now whereas we didn't have a choice then but I do think that these things are often forced upon us by society simply because we have to keep up with everyone else.

I'm not having a moan cos it's just an observation but I think that when we do get the Web back in our house, I'm going to be very strict with myself as to when I use it and for how long.......

Until soon.......