Happy Monday!

I am delighted to report that last week ended on a considerably better note than it began and so I begin this week with renewed optimism!
On Tuesday I acted as 'plumbers mate' to a friend of mine who came and rehung the radiator that had fallen off the wall in the middle of the night (did I mention that? Did I also mention that after a long discussion about what the job required I was sent a plumber with no tools or plumbers mate who looked at it and said "You need a Joiner. That will be £50 thanks" and left having done nothing - fume!!)  I no longer have to walk through the office to get into the bedroom - bonus!
On Sat I received two lovely parcels through the post. I opened the first one to reveal this sweet wee bag......

and inside the most gorgeous Bandit Bunnie brooch from Adatine......

 I treated myself to it after selling some of my old crap on eBay!! I also received this gorgeous wristlet bag from my friends Ness and Mark........

They bought it from Melin Tregwynt as they know how much I like their stuff, to make up for the fact that I hadn't been able to take up their invitation to join them at their holiday rental in St David's due to my lack of funds at the moment - such a thoughtful gesture. I love the card too by local artist Linda Norris.
On Saturday morning I also had my first proper meeting with a fellow blogger. I had arranged months ago to meet up with Karen at Ikea in Glasgow and finally the day had arrived! She was easy to spot - sitting on the bright red sofa surrounded by knitting!! We chatted non-stop for 2 hours and Karen very kindly gave me some expert tutoring on how to run the 2 different wools of a scarf I had started knitting (and thrown aside for several months out of pure frustration!)up the sides so I will not have to weave in all the ends.......

here it is in all it's glory so far - the bit at the bottom with the ends is BK (Before Karen) and the rest is AK!! I just can't seem to read patterns - I need someone to show me how to do it and then I eventually pick it up! I love the variegated colours - the pattern was from the BrooklynTweed blog and he did his with Noro Silk Garden. I have chosen to do mine with Noro Kureyon (I think I got it 'On Sale' somewhere) and I have to say that it is absolutely fuckish (good Glaswegian expression to describe something tricky, difficult, infuriating etc etc) to use. Anyway the end result is very pleasing and the excitement of seeing all the different colours emerge keeps me motivated to knit, knit, knit plus I no longer have a lingering feeling of failure when I catch sight of it in my knitting bag!
Karen also gave me a lovely handknitted Scarflette.......

in the most gorgeous colour of red - the photo doesn't do it justice - and some knitting notions for when I get around to knitting my first socks (I appreciate her confidence in my ability!). It was so lovely to finally meet Karen, she's a good laugh and I genuinely hope that it will be the first of many such get-togethers! I eventually headed home to get ready to go out  - myself and several friends had tickets for Wayne McGregor/Random Dance at our local theatre The Tramway.
Expectations were high and we were not disappointed! The show we saw was called ENTITY and it is by far the best thing I have seen all year - I absolutely loved everything about it - so much so that I have booked for the next touring show FAR that is coming to Edinburgh in October. Random Dance are touring throughout Europe and are also going to do a couple of performances in the US and Canada - check their site for tour dates and GO!! Add into the mix a few post performance drinks and lots of Prosecco and you have a great end to the week!! The slight hangover on Sunday was worth it!

EVERYONE'S A WINNER! I have decided that each of the six lovely people who left comments on the Stormy Monday post (Giveaway now closed) will get a mirror - what the hell - Life's Sweet!

Yet more Giveway Goodness will be happening tomorrow on my friends blog here. If you are a keen reader check it out!