All of the anticipation

I see you shiver, with antici..

Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

But yes we’ve been all about the anticipation these past couple of weeks. For lots of reasons.

First off, Wimbledon.

God I love Wimbledon.

I don’t tend to follow a lot of sport. Mostly because following sport takes a lot of time. I like lots of sports, but I feel bad that working rubbish shifts etc means that I can’t follow everything all of the time. I’m the same with a tv series. If I can’t watch them all, I won’t watch any.

Because of this, I tend to pick a couple of things that I really want to watch, and go to town on those. Wimbledon is probably my favourite sporting two weeks of the year.

It would be a dream to go one day. There’s nothing I dislike. Two whole weeks of tennis, check. Nice scenery, check. Good atmosphere, check. Matches that go on long enough for me to be able to get home and watch, check. Strawberries, check. All good things.

Here’s this years offering.

I may have gone a little mad and bought a giant punnet. Also taken before I’d put any cream on to make me look slightly healthier. They were drowning in the end. Despite the diet, I informed Himself that we’d still be having strawberries and cream. It’s the rules. He didn’t object.

Surprisingly, Himself can’t stand Wimbledon. So I usually find myself watching it alone, or with a kitten companion (although they don’t seem to be fans either..). This year was no different.

I rushed to get my Sunday jobs done so I could sit down for two whole hours of tennis, cat cuddles, craft and strawberries.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite last two hours. Anyone who watched will be able to concur that it was somewhat without excitement this year. I did however get a tad choked up when they both got emotional. So much hard work and it was all over in less than 2 hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I think I would have been crying the whole way through.

But now for something that is possibly (hopefully) even more exciting. Today is Game of Thrones day!

Eak! I’m well aware that those of you in America will know everything already, so thanks in advance for keeping quiet. Yet again we start the routine of not doing social media on a Monday.

It’s been a long time coming this year. I came pretty late into the GoT clan, but have been religiously watching for the last couple of seasons. Especially when we get to spend it with the ATRs. Our Monday night activities came together quite effortlessly a couple of years ago, with Mrs ATR and myself finding a mutual love of crafty things. We decided that a girly crafty night was needed and so Monday nights were born. A couple of months in, Mrs ATR told me the bad news that we’d need to change the night as Mr ATR was demanding her presence for the new GoT. I agreed that this was a worthy cause, but pondered how Himself and I were going to watch it. We came up with the plan to combine the two which worked for everyone, even if we did have to let the boys impose on our time. They had Sky and we didn’t, we could still craft, and the gents could have company that didn’t involve yarn. Everyone was a winner. Come rain or shine, illness and injury, we’ve been seeing each other on Monday nights ever since. I always really look forward to it. Especially when we’ve got a chance to use it for its original purpose!

To gear myself up for this, I decided to spend some more of my birthday money, and wait in anticipation for the goodies to arrive.

There are lots of yarn clubs, mystery yarn boxes etc out there. Most are on a geek theme, which I approve of, but most are all quite samey. Lots are Harry Potter or Dr Who themes, which I can see the appeal, and indeed the saleability of these, but they’re not my thing. I’m desperately waiting for someone to bring out a Red Dwarf pack. So when I saw a GoT I got excited.

It was obvious to me that I couldn’t live without a Game of Thrones mystery box. I did circulate the idea before my birthday, but no one seemed interested, so I went ahead an ordered my own. Obviously, with the law of the universe, that meant that The Mother had also got me one. So I was very lucky and now have two!

They are wonderful sets. They’re from a company called For the Love of Yarn, and I’m slightly obsessed with them at the minute. Lets take a closer look..

They come packed full to the brim with stuff. You can choose between a sock or a DK weight, so given my lust for sock yarn at the moment I had to go for it. So I can now knit myself a pair of Lannister and Arryn socks. There are other colours which haven’t been released yet. I can’t wait to see (and probably buy) them.

They colours are amazing, especially on the blue Arryn. Blue is my favourite anyway, but I love how the colours blend into each other. They’re going to be one special pair of socks.

 

It also comes with a cowl pattern which I might try with one of the Lannister yellows. Saying that I could just do two pairs and have an evil pair and a good pair. Maybe that’s being overly pathetic…

 

There’s so much detail in these boxes. Even down to the Winter Is Coming pencils and the dragons breath soya candle melt which smells lovely. That reminds me, I must get a burner for it!

The Mother was also very kind and included the personalised hook with her order. She makes all her own hooks by the looks of it, so you should be able to have completely customised ones.

Dragon stitch counters, also dragon buttons that I’m sure will find a home,

Stag keyrings

 So you’d think with all this lovely stuff I’d be starting myself some GoT socks for tonight wouldn’t you? But no. It was the original plan, but I’ll be doing ends. Boring but necessary, and most importantly something I don’t have to think about. I’d also like to get at least one sock finished before I start on the pretty stuff. I’m struggling to find time at the moment to sit down and concentrate on it. I’m hoping I’ll find time in the morning but who knows.

One thing we didn’t have to wait in anticipation for was Baby ATR! She was born a day early weighing 8lbs 7. (Boy was I glad that I got that blanket out in time!) As predicted, all are well and enjoying having each other around. Thanks so much for all the lovely messages. I made sure to pass them on. She obviously didn’t want to miss the big event. Himself and I are very much looking forward to the new addition to Monday nights.

Much love and happy GoT day!

XX