Harrogate stash haul, new car

It's a week since I last posted??? Wow, time has flown past!

I'll start with sharing my stash haul from Harrogate Knitting and Stitching:

Charts:
Hand in Heart - Herbert
JBW designs - Christmas keepsakes II, A very Merry Christmas
Little House Needleworks - Holly & Berries, Wool needlebook and fob, Blossoms & Blackbirds
Michael Powell - Mini Greek Island 9

Threads:
assorted weeks, GAST and crescent colours. I spent way too much on these...

Lace Making:
Lace Guild - Harrogate K&S fair bobbin, 2008 membership bobbin, 'Introduction to Milanese lace' by Pat Read (booklet)

Quilting:
Monkey Buttons - double star strippy pattern (I need to improve before I attempt this)

Beading:
Spellbound Bead Co - Marina necklace kit (in black) - something new to try!!! (present from Margaret)

Best of all, Margaret bought me a Needle Needs 'Millenium' embroidery frame, with 2 sets of top and bottom bars (22" and 18"??? can't remember and I haven't measured them) - which I love. I think I'll be phasing out my scroll frames....

Margaret bought - a knitting book, 4 huge balls of wool (400g - that's not a typo, each one is bigger than my head!!), a kit to knit a toy camel, a beading kit to make snowflakes and a book on lucet brai making.

The best part of the show, for me, was being able to buy my first ever Michael Powell kit directly from Michael (and have a quick chat about his art work too), and to meet Raymond Honeyman who designs for Ehrman tapestries. I've nver done any tapestry, but his desogns were so wonderful I feel yet another craft coming on... it's great to meet a designer and be so amazed by their (previously unheard of to me) work and feel the need to start somehting new! Sadly I have spent far too much of late on crafts to even consider ordering a kit from Ehrman...

Did I mention it's the Solihull Christmas Lace fair on Saturday. As this falls on my birthday I clearly have to attend and spend copious amounts of money. I've ordered a Richard Gravestock workbox to pick up, just hope my credit card can stand the pounding...

On the theme of credit card pounding, my little fiesta is termianlly ill. A wheel bearing has been going for ages, and now the clutch is sliding, and about to go. Given the car is worth very little, these repairs aren't cheap, and there are a whole host of other 'minor' problems - front windscreen demister only works on the passenger side, setting 3 on the air blowing system doesn't work at all, the rear demister doesn't work, the rear windscreen wiper only works when it wants to, the boot (trunk) leaks water when it rains (I have a bag in there to catch it), the boot doesn't always unlock, the light on the dashboard only works if I hit the dashborad, and now soemtimes cuts out while I'm driving - and possibly other stuff I've forgotten - we've decided to retire it. As of Thursday I will be the proud owner of a 6-month old silver fiesta (zetec climate 1.4 diesel for car nerds). Everything will work, and it has a front heated wondscreen, so lengthy de-icing will be a thing of the past.I just hope the clutch in the old car lasts til Thursday, and that I don't have a snow-related driving disaster... I also need to master drivning a diesel in low gears - I've never stalled so much as I did on the test drive!! I'll run it in driving down to Birmingham for the lace fair.. (yes, this purchase will severely restrict my spending power at the fair, and for the nest 2 years..)

Right, I'll go now. Ornie stitching has taken over my life, and I need to finish Herbert...