007 - Licensed to thrill

Now I'm a huge fan of Daniel Craig as Bond. Those smouldering good looks and that perfect pout, not to mention that beautiful beach bod. But in my heart I think 007 should be tall, dark and handsome.

In fact why they haven't auditioned RGH yet is a mystery to me.

Gratuitous RGH shot ....... phwoar. Ahem. Sorry.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. 007.

Well, two out of three ain't bad. (He's quite short)

He looks dapper in that dickie bow tie

And he's a hot shot with that spud gun ..... I mean Walther PPK

But he didn't always look so smooth. At first I thought I'd lost my monkey mojo and knitted his arms too long ........

It was tragic!

But in the end, he worked out just fine .......

I'm expecting a call from Barbara Broccoli any minute.

Daily Photo # 31

RBD1's bedroom. Nice.

And with that in mind, don't you just love school holidays? Were they this long when I was young? I think not. Or this frequent? Or this rainy? Definitely not. And how old do I sound moaning like that?? Very!

Today after taking my RBD's for a promised shopping trip in which they skip around happily carrying cute carrier bags with string handles and I sob quietly into my purse, I shall be taking solace in this ......

a new mug!

...... or I could borrow the one I got for RGH ........

And I'll be wondering just what it is that's missing from my life ........

Happy half term to parents everywhere, and to non-parents too - enjoy those quieter roads while you can!

This is a man's world .......

...... but not in our house. It's a Girls World. And sometimes my poor out-numbered RGH feels slightly "hormoned out". So when he requested his very own monkey for his big 4 - 0 earlier this year I felt I had to oblige by knitting him a MAN'S CHIMP.

I used the same Sirdar ITV Digital Monkey pattern (which has been reborn as the PG Tips monkey) but doubled everything.

RGH also requested that it be knitted inside-out, ie. smooth side out as opposed to the inside on the outside like the monkeys usually are. Does that make any sense what-so-ever? Thought not.

No. 2 seemed slightly concerned by the proportions of his fellow primate.

Working on a project of this size meant I had a couple of bouts of Monkey Fatigue Syndrome, and during one of these bouts I made Harriett and Fiona. It was actually quite handy because when my RFS asked what I was working on I could lie with a clear conscience (always the best way to lie!) and say that I was just plugging away on the monkey.

At this point in the post I wanted to add the much heralded film that I created with the use of my humble camera and rather marvellous new laptop, but damn and blast my lack of technical ability!! So far I've lost this post twice while trying to do it and despite searching the whole of the interwebmachinerator for advice I'm still left dazed and confused, so I'm giving up!

Hopefully if you click on the link below you will be taken to my film on youtube (fingers crossed), but if not, shame, it's really good! (not!)

Before you do that though, I just want to mention a few things :-

• I'm not a film maker
  
• No. 5 only has one eye in the film - I was running out of time, RGH was due home any minute, SOMEONE had to make the tea, and other such excuses


• I'm not a film maker


• the cool music is by my RAN's (Rather Awesome Nephew's) band. RAN, not to be confused with his brother, RCN (Rather Cool Nephew)


• I'm not a film maker


• I've just realised how UN-COOL I probably am by referring to "cool music"


• I'm not a film maker

So, if you click here, you may or may not be able to see the film that certainly won't be featuring at the Cannes Film Festival any time soon!

RGH was suitably impressed with his new buddy.......

........ but No. 5 thought RGH was a tad intimate for their first meeting - watch that hand mate!

Random Monkey Shot # 8

This is No. 5

Tune in tomorrow for exciting film footage* of his creation

Happy Rainy Bank Holiday Monday!

* Disclaimer : viewers may not find said film footage exciting. Weird; yes. Exciting; possibly not.

Gratuitous Muffin Shot # 5

No wait ...... is that a hair??




RBD1 came with us. She didn't finish her muffin. What's that all about?

Knitting Conundrum # 1

Which is worse - a hair in your food or a hair in your knitting?

I know that this may seem obvious to non-knittists, or those with short hair or even those who vacuum their house regularly, but I'm not so sure.

My RBD's have very long hair and mine is shoulder length and what with my aversion to the hoover (I did mention I was lazy didn't I?), it occasionally transpires that a rogue hair gets tangled up in my ball of wool and then tangled up in the monkey I'm knitting at the time.

When I spot one of these wayward hairs and tug at it and it breaks, it gives me the same kind of nauseous feeling and watery mouth that I experience when pulling someone else's hair out of the food in my mouth.

I'm just saying. Oh, and I'll pass on the muffin today thanks.

Daily Photo # 14

Late last year I was lurking at Crazy Aunt Purls blog and she mentioned this site, http://www.the365project.co.uk , where a chap called Martyn Hoyer took at least one photograph every day for a year. He's taken some amazing pictures and while I can't hope to emulate them with my humble 3.2 mega pixel camera, I thought I'd give it a go.

'How hard can it be to take one picture every day?' I thought. Very, I've realised! It's fine on the days that you go somewhere different or do something out of the ordinary, but on those normal, every-day days it can be really difficult to find inspiration. So far I've taken two shots of my washing line - one of which is quite arty (in my opinion), the other not so much.

Daily Photo # 38

On another inspiration-less day I took a snap of the remnants of our fish and chip supper!

Daily Photo # 88

My RGH doesn't have the same enthusiasm for taking pictures, in fact he prefers to be in front of the camera geeking around ........

Daily Photo # 42

...... but a couple of times he's borrowed my spare camera and has taken some lovely shots. Like this one.

Obviously I've hidden the camera from him now. One budding photographer in the family is more than enough!

Anyway. In monkey news, work has commenced on a new capuchin (who knew?!) and still to come - No. 5 The Movie. Stay tuned monkey lovers (and anyone else who may have stumbled into this blog after typing "knitted monkeys in compromising positions" into Google!)