I'm still tired from the excitement of last night. We spent the most part of 4 hours in chasing a hot air balloon across the southern part of the English lake district. The rest of the time was spent setting it up and put it away again at the end.

To explain: I bought as a 60th birthday present to my Mum a voucher for a balloon ride in Cumbria ( NW England the bit with all the lakes and mountains...) This is something she's wanted to do for years but as she's scared of heights has been putting it off.
Now as those who live here in the UK will know it has done nothing but p*ss-down (rain) for about 2 months so Thursday was the first day that the balloon has been up in the air since! My Mum got lucky and got up on her first booking, however there were people there that had been booked for 17 times!
Needs to say she totally enjoyed her self and I couldn't help but feel a bit proud of her for going up regardless of her fears.

Finally finished manga picture I've been working on. I really liked the line art I did for it however when I've painted it... well I not too sure I like all that much. Well I guess it's my own fault for not doing any digital painting for a while. I've also come the conclusion I need to do some sketching projects including a study of the human facial structure since it's been a while since I've done such a study. Hopefully with some sketching practice it might cross over to my manga style.

Here is a link to the picture: here. or http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/56863850/
If you want to make a comment about the picture it's self please make it at deviatart thank you.

(p.s. the character is an original of my design and therefore the copyright belongs to me. please do not use without my permission!)

Back from Japan for 2 weeks now ( and still feeling sorry for myself) I really wish I was still there... I will write up a report of some sort about the holiday when I find the time including photos.

And on to my news: I've finally finished knitting all the squares I need for my latest throw!!
Those who know me will know how long I've been ongoing with this project (September 2006 onwards!) And although the knitting part is finished I've still got all the sewing and embroidering to do.... Never the less it at least frees up time for me to work on my other knitting projects. 

[ The squares are made from the left-over scraps from other knitting projects done in stockinette stich.]

And now to the pictures.

• knitting: lace shrug = wip
• knitting: patchwork throw = wip
• crochet: cardigan = wip
• knitting: fair isle cushion = on hold
• illustration: raver = almost finished
• knitting?: felted bag = on hold