London Birthday Weekend

Hello All,

Last Wednesday was my birthday and my husband was working in London so I decided to go down to London for the weekend to see my husband, my sister and some friends.

Mom’s UK 2019 Shawl

Hi All,

I am going to just launch in on this post as if it has not been absolute AGES since I last posted.

So From the end of July to halfway through September my parents came from South Africa to visit me in the UK.

August Already

Hello Again,

I can’t believe that it is almost August already. I am only just beginning to come down to Earth a little after my family-in-law have left, and now my parents are arriving on Saturday.

Holiday Intentions

Hello All,

Just you let you know that I have got back now from 2 weeks of holiday with the in-laws and I have so much to show you and so much to tell. Husband and I took loads of photos and did many things.

Helensburgh Holiday

Hi again,

We recently went on holiday for 3 days to Helensburgh with our friend R.
Our cat Jack did not make this easy.

South African Holiday 2017

Hello!

Today I am going to take you time traveling back to 2017! Crazy I know. 😛 And this encompasses 2 weeks so it may be a bit of a long one.

Friday the 24th was the day that we left Edinburgh. Husband had work that day so we had to have everything ready so that we could rush out once he had got home. We had to catch a train to Glasgow because the airline we were using doing land at Edinburgh Airport.

Unfortunately the train was really full so we had to wait for another one. Then that one didn’t seem to have a proper luggage rack so we had to stand with our bags for the hour trip. Or so we thought. I was getting tired so Husband kindly said he’d look after the bags and I could go and sit down. I sat down near by next to another man, on the disabled seats (which have a lot of space around them) That man noticed that I was chatting to Husband and noticed husband’s bags and kindly offered to move. Because there was so much space around the seats we got to sit and look after our bags. We did get a little bit stressed because the train stopped randomly for about 10 minutes but thankfully it started again and we seemed to be still in good time to make our flights.
One we were in Glasgow we had to catch a bus to the airport.
At the airport we checked in and still had some time to grab some supper.

Then it was time to board the plane…
We boarded fine and then we sat. And waited. A long time! Until eventually the Pilot came over the intercom and said that if we looked out the right side of the plane we might notice a bit of commotion. A plane was backing up to taxi when one of those luggage vehicles had accidentally driven into the plane and knocked one of the engines. Nothing seemed to have happened but it is standard that they have to do a proper inspection. So they called the fire services to be on standby just in case. When the fire services arrived they did not notice that there was ice on the tar and one of the men slipped and he couldn’t get up! So they had to call an ambulance to move the man before they could carry out the inspection and then the plane could move. And this basically shut down the whole airport for a while!
This actually added some extra stress to our journey because we were going to have an hour and a half to make our connection in Dubai but now we only had about 30 or 40 min!

Saturday the 25th we landed in Dubai. While we were taxiing we discovered that the couple in front of us, who were Glaswegian, were also flying to Cape Town. So once we could disembark the plane, the four of us ran like crazy people to make our connecting flight. If we had missed it the airline would have given us seats on another flight since it wasn’t our fault, however the next flight only left in the evening which would have meant that we only got to South Africa on Sunday and we also didn’t fancy spending 8hours in an airport. Thankfully we made it! This flight was easily the best flight I have ever been on. There were so few people that almost everyone found them selves a free row and lay down across them to sleep! Husband and I took turns sleeping in one of the rows. There weren’t quite enough for one each.

We landed in Cape Town in the evening and we went out to supper with Husband’s family. My family were at my Godfather’s 50th birthday party but they came and said hi to us at our house after dinner for a few minutes.

Sunday the 26th we started the day, after sleeping very very well, by going to the Kirstenbosch Christmas Market. We did actually see some lovely things there however we had not acquired South African cash yet and most of the stalls did not accept card.

We then went to my uncle’s house because we were celebrating my cousin’s Birthday with my whole family.
In the evening we went back to my parents house and had our first Braai of our holiday! (That’s a BBQ or grill for you non South Africans). My sister, Zoe (her dog) Husband and I also went for a quick walk on the Alphen Greenbelt since the sun was only setting late.

My sister also made gluten free brownies which were delicious!

Monday 27th we went to the local mall to drop my dress off for dry cleaning. I may not have mentioned before, our main reason for the trip to South Africa was to attend our friend’s wedding. I also bought some red henna hairdye from Lush.
Then Husband dropped me off at my parents house so I could dye my hair and have supper with my parents while he went and had dinner and a chat with his parents.
I also started going through all the stuff I had left behind at my parent’s house because other than books and my dinner service I didn’t want to leave anything this time.

Tuesday 28th we went to Kalkbay with a dear friend. We had brunch at the Olympia Cafe (which was really nice) and then we went for a walk along the coast and down to the harbour.

We are all rather squinty because the sun was very bright!

We then popped to another Mall to get some vaccume pack bags! We knew these would come in handy for all the stuff I wanted to bring back which was mainly clothing.
Unfortunately Husband’s team at work had a deadline so he did have to do some work this holiday. So He then dropped me off at my parents house while he did some work. I did some more sorting out of my stuff.

Wednesday 29th we went to go and visit my Granny who lives in Silvermine. It was really nice to catch up with her and to see her again.

Husband had to work again so we had come in separate cars. So when we left husband went off home and I went with my mom to help her choose a Christmas present for Husband.

In the evening we went to see Husband’s brother. He was moving flats and he needed some help. Then we went for supper with him and his girlfriend. It was super great to catch up with them.

Thursday 30th we went around to a couple of shops looking for potential presents to bring back for our Scottish friends!

Then for dinner we went to Beau Constantia to the Chef’s Warehouse and had the Tappas for 2. It was 8 tasting plates of 3 courses. I can honestly say that that was the best food I have ever had in my life! Every ingredient is carefully thought through to bring out the best in the dish.

Friday 01st December was a terribly exciting day for me. We met up with my Mother-in-Law, (who I know reads this blog, Hi!) and she took us to the Zeitz Museum at the Waterfront. And it totally blew my mind and also inspired me for a series of paintings I am working on. It was also really lovely to spend some time with my Mother-in-Law and catch up with her.

While we were there we saw them setting up a giant Christmas tree made of empty champagne bottles!

We also had lunch at a lovely restaurant at the Waterfront too!

Then Husband and I went off to pick up friend E from work. He usually takes the train home to Paarl but since we were planning on visiting him there we picked him up instead. The wedding was to be the next day and the wedding venue was near to Paarl so we stayed the night there too.
It was really really lovely, and friends E and J gave us a game called Exploding Kittens as an early Christmas present so we played a few rounds of that. It was really a lot of fun.

Saturday 2nd December we set off to find the place we were renting for the night. The wedding ended late at night and we wanted to rather take an Uber to a close location than have to drive all the way home and not be able to have any alcohol. (We are responsible adults ;)) We also wanted to freshen up and get ready for the Wedding.

The wedding was a Greek Orthodox wedding. I have never been to one before, it was really beautiful. And the bride looked stunning! I didn’t really take many photos of the wedding because I kind of feel like it is a private and special occasion.

Sunday 3rd Husband wanted to sleep in but I didn’t so once we got back to the Southern Suburbs he went back to bed and I went to see my parents.

Pangaea and I were commiserating about the terribly hot weather. It gets much hotter than that in Cape Town but I don’t do well in the heat. My dad started a braai but then left to go to the hardware store so my sister and I “Manned” the braai. I am not very good at it but apparently we did a good job so yay! Husband came in the afternoon and grabbed a bit of the braai food and then we headed off for a walk with his Brother and his brother’s girlfriend. They had picked up their family dogs, and husband and I brought Zoe. So we had 3 energetic black dogs running around.

We also went for dinner with them after dropping the dogs off home.

Then we rushed home and wrapped our presents for my family before we went to go and exchange them with them. I know it is a long way from Christmas but we didn’t want to fly with wrapped gifts in our bags and then have them confiscated by the airline.

Monday 4th, Husband still had MORE work to do so he dropped me at my parents again.
I discovered that Salty’s dreadlocks were getting seriously out of hand. My mom and I tried to cut them but they were too thick and we were worried about cutting her skin.

Today was also the day that Husband’s little sister got to Cape Town. She studies in Pretoria. So Husband collected me from my parent’s house and we met her at our house. She was going to stay with us until we left, she actually stayed in that house after we left. The three of us then headed off to have supper with Husband’s brother and his girlfriend. After dinner they showed me a game called Banana Gram and I loved it!

Tuesday 5th December,  Sister, Husband and I went to my parents house and they took us out to see my dad’s new micro-lite. At the time that my dad had bought it he was still learning but now (2018) he actually has just got his micro-lite pilots license! Unfortunately I only have one photo and it’s not very flattering, sorry dad!

We also had lunch at a place called Klein Joostenberg which is fairly nearby. Husband and I discovered that place a number of years ago and we love it. You can sit outside and there are tame chickens that run around and they are soooo floofy!

Then dropped Sister at her parents and Husband and I went out for dinner with some friends. The “guys” all went to school together but they have since been married and I have gotten to know the “girls”.  The one couple has recently had their first baby girl, I was hoping that she would be there with us but alas no she stayed home and was being baby sat by family.

Wednesday 6th, now it is not very much a secret any more that I LOVE Spur Waffles. So It would have been a catastrophe for me if we had visited South Africa and not had waffles. So we got up early and husband did a thing very unusual for him, he had Waffles for breakfast with me. He is an English breakfast kind of guy (Eggs and bacon etc) and I am a continental breakfast kind of girl (sweet pastries and fruit).  I also had a Latte which came with cream on top!

We then did as much packing as we could. And this was quite a feat as there was a lot of stuff.

We also went and bought all our Christmas presents for our Scottish Friends. Haha I am just thinking about it. I call them our Scottish friends because we met them in Scotland and they live here, but none of them are actually Scottish! 😛

Then we went for dinner with the whole of Husbands family.

Thursday 7th December, Husband and I went and bought an extra bag for flying. We were allowed it by the airline without any extra expense and it turned out that we needed it.

Then we took Sister with us to my parents for lunch and so that Husband could use my parents internet to upload the last of the work he had done. Sister and I made Christmas cards in my mom’s art studio.

Then we took my sister out for dinner! We had promised to take her out for Sushi.

Yes I know we don’t look alike.. Yes we are full biological sisters 😛

Friday 8th December we packed like crazy people. Our weight limit was 60kg (together) and we were at 61kg!

Then we saw family at the airport.
When we dropped our bags they thankfully didn’t fuss over the 1 kg.

And I shall love and leave you with a photo that my mean husband took of me sleeping on the plane. This is actually the least embarrassing one.

Love Diella
xxx

Oh I also want to include something on the Drought. We were definitely sensitive to the Cape Town drought while we were there. We only showered for 2 minutes. When it came to the loo we followed the “if it’s yellow let it mellow”. And I didn’t really wash my hair because that takes me a long time.

At the end of our trip I was breaking out all over and I had a little rash all over. I am pretty sure it is because I was wearing a lot of sun screen ( because I am pale and it was summer) and then not washing it off regularly because of the lack of water.

 

The week without Husband

Hello again dear Readers,

This last week was a bit different as Husband was away for a business trip. Unfortunately for me he is going to be going away a lot this month of October. Thankfully he does get to come back for the weekends so I don’t get too lonely without him.

So my plan for the week was participate in #Drawlloween on Instagram, knit and watch series. The series I have been watching lately is called Grimm. It is on Netflix. So unfortunately I have not been keeping up well with my Drawlloween. If you have not heard of it before, it is a challenge to follow drawing prompts and draw spooky things for the month of October. I am still going to be drawing along with the prompts when I get the chance but I have already messed up doing it everyday. Last year I managed to do every day of Inktober but clearly I am not in the same space as I was last year.
The knitting went fantastically and I got a lot done.
And as for Grimm… I had to institute a self imposed ban. By Wednesday I was way too hooked, I was not doing the dishes or laundry, I was just watching and knitting and sleeping. I even forgot to eat or drink a couple of times!

So the prompt for Sunday the 1st of October was “Return from the dead”. So I drew a Zombie Kitty Cat, Husband actually helped me with the inspiration for this one. This kitty has 10 lives. 😀

Day 2 was Summon Day. So I drew a cat summoning ritual. In my mom’s house we always give the cats some tuna as a treat, so if they have gone wondering and we want to call them in for the night we bang on the tin of tuna with a spoon and soon enough they will come clambering over the garden wall.

Monday I also landed up staying up till 2am because I was making great head way with my cardigan when I made a mistake. I Kitchenered the shoulders together and sewed up the side seams when I realised that I had attached the left front to the right back and visa versa. This means that the arm hole was where my neck line should be. I only realised when I started picking up the stitches for my neckband and there were way too many. anyway so I had to unsew the sides and unkitchner the shoulders and then redo it all.
Below is a picture from Tuesday morning when they were finally done right.

Unfortunately I have run out of wool for the sleeves so this project is now on hold.

I did not do Tuesday’s drawlloween.
The theme for Wednesday was Pumpkin wicked this way comes.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I worked mostly on my cozy memories blanket and I used one of each of the left overs I have from all my 4ply projects. Time to knit more socks to get more scraps! 😀

I also started watching an amazon Series called Ripper Street. It is set in White Chapel during the time of Jack the Ripper. I do not find it as addictive as Grimm which is a good thing because I can actually get other things done too!

On Thursday I cast on these memory socks from Cape Town. I bought the yarn from South African dyers while I was there with the intent of knitting some socks to remember that time by.

Mean while Husband was up in the Highlands and he sent me some cute sheepie photos.

Husband came back on Friday evening.
On Saturday we decided to go to Prince’s Street Gardens with a small picnic and some books to read and go and soak up some sun. Although I am not a huge fan of Sun or being hot I do acknowledge that Vitamin D is important in combating anxiety and depression.

In the evening Husband cooked us a delicious lamb shank roast! He really is amazing in the kitchen. 😀

Then finally I have some funny pictures of Salty to show you. She has always liked water and liked to be around people when they are having a shower or bath. When she was little she sometimes used to climb into the bath with me!

Here she is just visiting and getting some love from one of my family members. I suppose she is clever because she has you trapped into giving her love.

I hope that you had a good week! And I hope you got lots of kitty or puppy loves where ever you are.

Love Diella

The Happy Week

Hello again lovely readers,

Last week my husband came to South Africa to visit me which was so wonderful. We had not seen each other in 3 months and that is a terribly long time for us. We really aren’t cut out for this whole long distance relationship thing. Hopefully it won’t have to be for too much longer.

Saturday the 5th of August he landed in South Africa. Here are some picture’s which he took while he was flying here.

The one peak is definitely Mnt. Kilimanjaro and the other another peak of the same mountain or it is the Mnt. Kenya one.

That evening we went with his family and mine (except my dad who was sick) and we had steak at The Cattle Baron Steak house. It was a very nice evening.

My husband and I stayed at our old house for the duration of the week. I was really surprised to see that our garden was still looking half decent even though there is a drought. Although the house is in a very wet suburb generally and also we planted indigenous plants so we never used to water them anyway.

Sunday the 6th of August
We went for breakfast at Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens with my husbands siblings. (you’re going to see… eating out is a frequent occurrence in this post. Eating out in Cape Town is soooo much cheaper than in the UK, especially if you consider the high quality of the food as well. I had an amazing french toast with a berry compote. I need to learn to make better french toast, mine is always really thin so I land up eating like 6 slices of bread. This one was only 2 slices of bread.

He is super obsessed with twirling that mustache!

Then we took the dogs for a walk in the Green Belt.

Then we went for lunch with my husbands family and his aunt and uncle too. It was really nice to catch up with everyone.

Late in the afternoon we drove to the airport to say goodbye to my sister in law, then we went on to my parent’s house to have supper with them. Needless to say we were stuffed but we managed to eat a little.

Husband took this photo of little sleeping Salty.  She likes sleeping on that table now, the metal thing behind her head is the fireplace / chimney, so that table is pretty warm.

On Monday 7th of August
We decide that we wanted to go for a walk and for some reason decided on KalkBay. So we drove through and walked along the road side for a bit. We walked just to where you can see FishHoek and then turned back. Then on the way back we went past the little harbour and light house.

We were then a little peckish so we thought we might go to Simon’s Town for lunch. But when we got there, there was almost no parking except for a place that charged 4 rand per half an hour which is ridiculous! So we decided to go to Noordhoek instead but we had driven a bit far so we went via Cape Point and Scarborough…. So by the time we got to Noordhoek Farm Village we were pretty starving. We had sushi at Noordhoek Hotel.

Then that evening we went out for supper at the Blowfish in Blauberg (spell?) because it was my father in law’s birthday.

Tuesday the 8th of August
We went to the food market at the VnA waterfront and had some really good coffee.

In the afternoon we just spent time at home chilling and just enjoying one an-other’s company. We actually spent a lot of time during the week just chilling and cuddling. Being apart for so long it is amazing how you miss something like a simple hug so much!

In the evening we went to Hussar’s Grill for supper. We had rib-eye steak with this herbed butter which they put ontop and then it melts. It was so yummy.

Wednesday the 9th of August is a public holiday in South Africa. It is women’s day (and my cousin’s birthday) We went to Cocoa Wah Wah to meet friends for breakfast. I had Chocolate chip flapjacks with chocolate sauce and ice-cream. No this is not what people in South Africa generally eat for breakfast… just me 😀 I have a massive sweet tooth.

While we were sitting there chatting the waitron came and put this in front of me, at first I was confused because I didn’t have left overs, but then I saw the note! They gave me free cake!

To be honest I was too full to eat it so I gave it to my parent’s to share when we went past their house.

In the afternoon we saw his brother and had a lovely time. First we went to Buitenverwagten (sp?) and had lunch, there were chickens running around and they were so cute but wouldn’t let us touch them. Then we drove through to Noordhoek and went for a walk on the common there.

That evening we had supper at my parent’s house and husband and I managed to finish the puzzle. You can read more about the puzzle here.

On Thursday the 10th
I collected all the ripe gooseberries from our Cape Gooseberry bush. They were sooo yummy.

In the afternoon we made a fire and spent a good hour or more lying in front of it. Husband was reading the news on his phone as usual and I was just enjoying more cuddles.

Then a friend of ours came over for coffee and we had a really nice catch up.

In the evening husband went to go and see his family for dinner and I went to mine. My dad was still sick but we watched a few episodes of Grimm.

On Friday the 11th of August we went to Knead in Muizenberg for breakfast.

Husband’s breakfast

I had the most heavenly breakfast. I was actually craving waffles but husband doesn’t like Spur breakfast and I didn’t know where else was serving at that time. So I settled for a Knead french toast and oh my goodness was it worth it. I am not usually a big fan of meringue but the berry was quite tart / sour so they complimented each other well.

We tried so say hello to my cousin who works near there but she was on her lunch break. (yes we had breakfast at 11.30am) Then we got take away coffee and walked along the beach.

That evening we took an Uber through to town to meet friends and have dinner. We took an uber so that we could both drink. I don’t mind being designated driver usually but the car we were borrowing for the week was kind of tricky to drive so I wasn’t keen.

Saturday the 12th was a hard day for me. It was the day that my husband was leaving to go back to the UK. I didn’t want to waste our last hours together being sad, but I was sad. We saw his brother for breakfast since he wasn’t going to make it to the airport in the afternoon. I had waffles for breakfast! Yay. Husband had this weird thing where they cook egg in a tomato vegetable sauce thing.

Then we had to pack and make sure that all the bags were the right weights.
Then we had an hour to kill before going to the airport and we were both kind of at a loss and feeling down so we did silly things like trying on my glasses.

Yes those are my glasses

I don’t really want to talk about the airport other than to say it was really hard to see my husband go.

When I got home I discovered that in my absence Pangaea has moved onto my bed.

So that is a brief synopsis of our week together.
I will try my best to write again soon although with my husband leaving so is my energy. And it has been 60 working days and I still have had no response about my visa. I am feeling really down about it. I really just want to go back to Edinburgh and be with my husband in my home.

Lots of Love
Diella

First Week back in Cape Town

Hello Readers,

I don’t know if this was a very long week or if it just felt really long to me. Hehe. I am also sorry that this post is late again. It seems like Sunday’s in Cape Town disagree with my blogging schedule.

Monday

Pangaea has moved onto the end of my bed. I am sleeping on two single mattresses on top of one another on the floor. And she is sleeping on the foot end. She used to sleep there when I lived here too. It started because I got her in winter and the wall heater is at the end of my bed, so even though it is not on now, being hot weather, she still sleeps there out of habit.

I was actually expecting Salty to move in with me since Pangaea usually claims my mom but Salty is giving me the cold shoulder.

Monday in Cape Town was a public holiday so my dad didn’t have to work. So when we all got up we went for a walk on the Green Belt. Our favourite place to walk. I like it there because I have so many memories there and also because dogs are allowed off the lead there. I went to my sister and asked her, ” Sal die Hondjie saam kom?”, which in Afrikaans means will the dog come with? I said this in Afrikaans because I didn’t want Zoe to get excited if she wasn’t coming with. But it turns out that she seems to have learned Afrikaans too because she got excited anyway. Haha, lucky for her she did come with.

The walk was nice but much hotter than I had bargained for. I decided that I would take all my walks from then on early in the morning or late in the evening.

Then I went down into my mom’s garage where all the creative things happen, and I went through my fabric stash that I had left at her house. I made a mental list of what was there and what I want to use for making dresses and what I want for making project bags.

Pangaea was still chilling on my bed and getting to know Coo.

Salty was being a crazy cat as usual.

On Tuesday I woke up early to lift my sister into University. She is still struggling with a very sore knee. We thought that it was a torn meniscus but the MRI said it wasn’t. Then she had a cortisone injection under her knee cap and that only made it more sore. And now it’s back to the same pain.
Then I cuddled with Pangaea a little before my mom and I went to the fabric shop. I wanted to look at the price of fabric and also buy some interfacing and zips for the mock up dresses I want to make with my existing fabric.

The Printed cotton Knit was R59 / meter

Jersey Knit

Jersey Knit

The 100% Cotton Vintage Prints were R79 / Meter

Vintage Cotton Print

Vintage Cotton Print

 

Vintage Cotton Print

Vintage Cotton Print

The Poly Cotton is R25 / meter

Poly-cotton

Poly-Cotton

 

Once I got home I cut out my pattern pieces for the dress I wanted to sew but I practiced patience and I didn’t start sewing. That is a big problem which I have, I pick a day where I have nothing else to do and I start a sewing project and then I want to finish it THAT day! But it means that if I start running out of time I sometimes take shortcuts or rush things. Then I get frustrated with the imperfections in the garment which I know I could have avoided and then I don’t want to wear it. So this was me practicing taking my time and sewing something over multiple days.

That evening we went to say good-bye to my Uncle and Aunt and their little children at the airport. They came down from London to visit my family just before I left to come here. This was the 3rd time I was going to the airport in the space of 7 days. Saturday I arrived, Sunday I said goodbye to my sister in law, and Tuesday I went for my uncle and aunt!

We went to the Spur because my British cousins are young and they like it there, it is a very kid friendly restaurant. I ordered a cream soda float (ice-cream in creamsoda) and it came with sprinkles.

In the evening my sister was in my room and for the first time Salty and Panpan were both in my room. At this point Salty was still ignoring me thoroughly and only came in because Siobhan was there.

On Wednesday I sewed my dress after dropping my sister off at Uni! I was only planning to start it but it went so quickly that I landed up finishing it.

I am so proud of the understitching I did and the nice lining. Everything looks so neat! Also I thought that the dress would be thin in cotton but because there is the fabric and then also interfacing and then a lining too i think it will be quite warm with a cardigan and leggings.

Thursday my mom and I dropped my sister at Uni and then went to an appointment she had. I sat in the waiting room and did the hem of my dress which was the last thing it needed. And then we went to go and visit my gran. She does not drive any more so my mom visits her once a week and takes her to the mall to do her shopping and banking. We then stayed and had lunch with her afterwards. I also booked my TB scan for next week. That is something which I need to do for my visa.

While I was there I was knitting my socks. And my granny asked if they were going to fit. I said yes because I did them 64 stitches same as I always do.

When we got home Panpan was asleep on my bed again.

Then Siobhan and I went to go sit on the grass so that she would brush Zoe. When I lay down Salty came over and gave my head a bath. That was the first time that she started to forgive me.

That evening after supper I decided to try the socks on since I know that the recipients feet are only slightly bigger than mine, I was a little worried after what my gran had said considering I was knitting on 2,25mm needles instead of my usual 2,5mm needles…. well they didn’t fit. They were way too tight they hardly went over my foot. I thought that it may just be the cuff that was too small. Since I had already knit the cuff, ankle, and heel on both socks. So I inserted a life line, cut off the cuff and reknit the cuff on 2,5mm needles. It actually went on my foot much smoother this time. But it was still pretty tight and as I said the recipients feet are slightly bigger…. So I pulled them all out, wound them up and went to bed.

On Friday I started knitting the socks again on a bigger needle this time. And I also caught up on some of my podcasts.

I posted my First Cape Town knitting podcast episode.

Salty started making little appearances into my room but she always lies on the carpet and never the bed.

She also decided to climb my dad’s Avery and sit on top of it.

And my sister showed me that the bag I had made her last year to take her books to university, had broken, so I made her a new one. I love the rainbow hearts material.

In the evening we went out for supper with some family friends and I wore the new dress which I made.

Salty has taken to sleeping on a camping chair in my sister’s bedroom.

She also likes to chew the sainsbury’s packet which is in my room!

On Saturday Siobhan and I had a little picnic in the garden and it was really nice and Zoe started being all silly.

Ant in the bottom of my mug

Then we decided to go out to the shops since my dad was going out and my mom was hosting an art workshop. We looked at lots of shops and we stopped for lunch. We went to a place called anat and had shwarmas. I took lots of pictures for my friend Miss E in Edinburgh to show our friends because there they something they call a kebab which is apparently similar but made with canned meat.

At Typo I saw this cute little cat mug! I was restrained and didn’t buy it though.

And that is it for the week from Panpan and I. We are very tired now and are probably going to go sleep. 🙂

❤ Diella xoxo

 

The Week of packing madness

I am sorry that this post took me such a long time to write. I have been settling down at my parents house, visiting people, and fighting with my laptop keyboard which is still a bit sticky after the tea accident.

So without further a do, Sunday!

Last Sunday I was thinking about how many of the Knitting Podcasts I watch talk about Harry Potter or knit Harry Potter related things. So I decided that I needed to go onto the PotterMore Website and discover which Harry Potter House I belong to. So I did. And I discovered that I am a HufflePuff.

T got Slytherin.

I also started packing my bag that afternoon.

On Monday I went out for the last time to the yarn shop to buy some last minute balls of wool. It was 8 degrees C but it was a nice sunny day so I wore a dress, leggings and a cardigan.

I also discovered that when I knit myself my first ever pair of socks I knit the one leg too short and as a consequence it now keeps slipping under my foot! I have not had this trouble with any of my other socks and T doesn’t complain of this. It’s just this one sock.

These are the three balls of wool below that I bought. They are all going to be socks. the one was for my airoplane knitting. I also bought some little pink rubber stoppers to go on the ends of my needles and make them look less dangerous for when I went through security.

After packing some more I started freaking out and just sat on the floor.

If you recall T had bought me a chocolate Easter bunny. He had also given me an order to finish the bunny by the time I flew to Cape Town. He didn’t want the temptation of eating it. So After freaking out about the packing I decided to have some chocolate.

I just ate the carrot and then packed him away neatly. I sent a picture to my friend E and asked him if he thought T would notice. E thought not.

E was wrong. T noticed as soon as he walked into the lounge.

Tuesday I did more packing and I cast on my airoplane socks.

I also did a whole lot of ironing for T so that he would have as many ironed shirts as possible for while I am gone.

I also chatted to my friend E about being in Hufflepuff. He went to discover his house, he is Ravenclaw. He said chatting about Harry Potter made him want to reread it. I decided that I wanted to read it too as I have mainly just watched the movies. So we decided that we should read it together.

I also tried to use up all the puff pastry that was in the fridge that evening. I made a mince meat pie and then used the rest for jam pastries.

After supper I ate the poor bunnies ears. I felt really bad like I was just leaving him there to suffer.

On Wednesday my sewing patterns arrived. I had decided that I wanted some sewing patterns because fabric is cheaper in Cape Town so I would make the dresses there and fly them back with me.

I ate bunnies face and didn’t feel so bad about just leaving him anymore. I also did my podcast early so that I didn’t have to film it the day before I left for Cape Town.

I also packed in a Text book that we bought for my sister-in-law. It weighs 6 kg!

Cuddles on the couch with T.

On Thursday my real panic about leaving set in. I couldn’t figure out what to do with myself. I couldn’t eat any chocolate because it made me feel ill.
I downloaded the Harry Potter Books onto my Kindle.

That evening I went out to our favourite Pub with T and Miss E. There was a doggie in the pub who I petted a lot because it was super friendly and wanted attention. Being pet starved I was happy to oblige. T pointed out that all the people at the bar were staring at me.

Friday my podcast posted as it was scheduled to.

I got dressed and did my last checks.

We had some time to kill at the airport so we went to Wetherspoons and had something to drink and some deep fried haggis balls. They were surprisingly yummy.

I got through security with my needles fine! It was a huge relief. Especially as my bag was put in the suspicious line but then it turned out that my laptop bag had fallen onto my laptop by accident.

Then I chatted to T on whatsapp while he gave me moral support as I found my gate and boarded the plane on my own for the first time.

The flight to Heathrow was uneventful.

Heathrow was massive and I had to take a bus to my terminal but it was okay because it was really well sign posted and I did ask an attendant for some directions.

Then I got through security a second time without any fuss over my knitting.
So I went to find the boards which showed the gates and I sat and knitted for quite a while. I had a 5 hour lay over. I also went and bought a neck pillow. I had to buy two as one was 13pounds and 2 was 15 pounds. The black and white stripy one is for T.

My flight to Cape Town was pretty good. It was 11 hours and 30 min.
I watched a whole lot of movies although after the first two my thing broke and it wouldn’t let me select the movie and start from the beginning. It only let me scroll through the channels and I had to watch from where it was or wait until the movie had finished and restarted. But since I had almost 12 hours I just watched a bunch of half movies. If it seemed like it wasn’t yet halfway through I just started watching.
I also discovered that I can’t knit in the dark. I counted my stitches and discovered that I had icreased. I tried to tink back but couldn’t because my personal light thing also wasn’t working. We landed at about 10am in Cape Town. they only served food at about 8.30 and by then I felt ill from hunger so I couldn’t eat. I was really worried that I was going to vomit but I didn’t.

When we landed I changed my sim cards and discovered that my mom and sister were already at the airport. By the time I got through arrivals I didn’t feel sick anymore.

I went back to my parents house and got ready for my cousin’s wedding.

Coo’s first photograph in Cape Town

My sister and I got ready together. It was not a super formal wedding.

My mom insisted I’d need a long sleeve top even though I was dying of heat.

The wedding was lovely. But in the end I was grateful for the long sleeve top. It got pretty windy and it was actually quite chilly.
We slept over at the wedding venue with some of my family.
The venue was on a Nature Reserve and the rooms we were staying in were quite dusty so I got really bad hayfever that made my eyes itchy and puffy and my nose ran and I had an asthma attack in the middle of the night. And apparently I had a conversation with my sister in my sleep. She asked if I was having asthma and I said no it was hayfever.

There was a skylight in the room we stayed in.

Itchy face plus makeup = panda

On Sunday it was Easter but it was also My first anniversary of my marriage to T. It was also the day that my sister-in-law was leaving to go back to where she studies in Pretoria. So I spent the day with my family in-law instead of my family because I really wanted to see my sister-i-l. It was really lovely to see everyone again. I have more photos but I don’t know if my family-in-law want to be on my blog so I won’t post them.

And that is it for what felt like a really long week!

Love Diella ❤