October - in pictures (mainly)

Lynton and Lynmouth, Devon:

I am rather proud of the above photo, taken without a tripod but I managed to capture the movement of the water. Smug Mode Activated. (I balanced the camera on the bridge railing and held my breath ☺)

We stopped here on the way:

just managing to get round before the three coaches of students arrived. 

There were people feeling the vibes (I didn't get any. I think they got used up):

and this crazy man kept taking pictures of me ☺

Arriving in Devon, we walked on the (very rocky) beach

rode on the cliff railway:

(very cool)

I saw a great sign:

and I may have bought some yarn...

but it didn't come from this chap:

(Valley of the Rocks)

We stopped off in Dunster, and this is the Yarn Market, dating from 1590. I approved most mightily. Dunster needs a yarn shop I think.

and that was Devon. Well, a tiny bit of it anyway ☺

We've also been back to Castle Combe for the Mr's birthday, and saw lots of this sort of thing:

and I had a bit of trouble navigating the car parking field:

In other news,  I'm progressing on the February Lady Sweater, hexapuff production has slowed but is still ongoing, and I just cast on for a new project. Because I'm a sucker for punishment.

~♥~

Sprint

Yup, motorsport content again ☺ Bank Holiday Monday was time for a trip over to the Smoke (literally as it turned out, a huge fire in Thornton Heath meant some nifty work on my part with the road atlas and Google Maps to get us home again) and to Crystal Palace for their annual Sprint. For those not familiar, sprints are not "racing" as such - each competitor has a number of runs on the circuit one at a time, and the fastest wins. There are lots of classes so like cars compete against each other for the honours. At this event there was also a nice sideshow of interesting cars and bikes, and you can wander around the paddock to look at the competitors.





I found some Honda Civics - my Mum had one of these! Cracking little car it was too:



There were some very serious Minis:



some tidy French retro:



and one of my personal favourites:



oh and the beloved found his next car...he wishes:



There was Actual Knitting Content™ - my Liesl got an outing (excuse the gratuitous butt shot, that's what happens when a certain person is put in charge of the camera)



and I took my latest project and knitted in between cars ☺

Latest project, I hear you cry? Yup, I caved and cast on another project...I do have a (feeble) excuse - I wanted to try out the Wollmeise before KnitNation, to see if I wanted to buy any more. Of course I do. It really is nice, feels like cotton, knits like a wool/cotton and apparently blocks like a dream but I haven't got that far. One thing I have found - it's somewhat overspun imho, so it tends to twist up a bit. This gave me a problem when I cast on the first pattern I had in mind - Pogona. You have to switch between stocking stitch and reverse st st. This lead to this:



EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW. I often have a slight ladder when swapping between the two (and some Rav-searching has suggested some solutions) but the twist seemed to exaggerate the problem to an unacceptable degree :-( After a little soul-searching I faced facts and ripped it all out. It's now becoming Sweet Jazz, a nice shawly, crescenty scarfy thing with an appealingly pointy border. Moving on nicely so far, no picture because it really doesn't look very exciting yet.

I've been doing some weaving -



made a start on the "net" curtains for the lounge window. I'm sick of the neighbours gawping! Note the rather dubious warping set-up - I do miss having a really big dining room! I finished the weaving today, I just need to secure the edges and give it a wash, and see what I end up with...there's still quite a lot to do yet. I'm still ploughing on with an epic peg loom rug as well. I keep doing a row or two whenever I walk past.

Colour Project

Still on Red for a week or two yet, I've decided to use the blog as my sketchbook so here's a bit more (I still haven't photographed the yarn I spun, oops)



I was hoping to do some painting, but to be realistic, I doubt I'll have time or space - my huge collection of art materials will remain unmolested for a little longer I fear!

~♥~

I can't think of a clever title...

Bit behind on the blog, whoops :-)

Well, I've been busy. Quick photo-essay of what we've been up to:

Calleva:



Donnington Castle:



Check out that ceiling!



Avebury:



Vale of the White Horse:



(yes, you can't really see it, I know, but without a helicopter that's the best you'll get)

The Wall of Death:



and Barbecuing All The Things:



Mmm, barbecue.
It's official by the way, I'm no longer single on Facebook. SRS BIZNESS. :-D

Other than that, I've been trying to prepare for the festival (I'm getting there, just need to see if my old Trangia stove still works, and if I can remember how to make it go) I even got a new sleeping bag. Rock and roll. I'm trying to make some "teaching spindles" from toy wheels and chopsticks, which is working a treat apart from the hooks :-( The teeny cuphooks I bought are too big and are splitting the chopstick, so I think I will have to make some from wire. Gah. Also all my Dremel drill bits have disappeared, so I'm crossing my fingers that the ones I just ordered arrive quickly...otherwise fitting the hooks is going to be interesting.

The Iced cardi is coming on, I've done one sleeve and now am getting stuck into the collar, the short rows are all done so now it's just the long slog. I've still got a sleeve to finish, I want to do the collar then try it on and see if the shorter sleeve length I settled on actually works. Also did I mention I hate sleeves?

I've been spinning some more Heb, though I've laid off combing for a bit to let my elbow sort itself out.

I've been taking the Hap shawl into work to try and finish off, I'm now onto the last border stripe before I start the Edging of Doom.

~*~

Did you all see Kate Middleton wearing a rather nice green shawl to go shopping?



Top girl. Bet she didn't knit it herself, though she might want to think about a nice indoors hobby, the winters on Anglesey can be fierce :-)

I'm hoping this triggers a bit of a trend for shawls (let's be honest, she's defined wedding dress chic for the next few years) as maybe I'll be able to wear my shawls without feeling like a freak (or a granny) and also get decent shawl pins :-D

Fleeeeeeeeeece

I've been combing Hebrideans.

I may have overdone it a tad. Ouch. I didn't actually realise at first. I was sitting at work, turned to look at my calendar and thought, "god, my neck and shoulder is a bit stiff." I figured I'd slept badly - I've not been sleeping well these last few nights, it's either the weather or empty bed syndrome ;-) (yes things are going well, thanks for asking, am a very happy bunny) - and I only twigged when I got home and was combing the second batch. Yeah, the SECOND batch. Sometimes I am not the brightest light on the string.

So now, to have a wee break from swinging an English comb, I'm preparing the fleece ready for the combs. This means my lounge floor is covered in fleece. Yay me.

In other spinning news, I got some yak down, and I'm spinning it on the smaller of my Goldings. I'm shooting for a heavy laceweight / 3-ply (light fingering weight) single, approximately. So far it seems to be working, and is actually really nice to work with, even though it is a bit like trying to spin very soft dryer lint.




I rediscovered my shawl-knitting mojo, so I took the Hap shawl to work and I'm working on it at lunchtimes. Only downside is it's so big now that one row takes me the whole of lunch :-)

I actually kind of have startitis at the minute. I'm fighting it off reasonably well, but I might end up caving in. We'll see - I'm trying to clear up some of the WIPs so I can get my needles back...I need to look and see what sizes I'm short of so I can stock up at Woolfest. I really want to make something with my handspun (I'm ignoring the Iced cardi just now, it's still in Sleeve Hell) but I don't know what. I'm spending a fair chunk of knitting time browsing Rav and going "Ooh, shiny!" at things. *sigh*

In fact, I've been feeling really tired and lazy all week. I think I haven't acclimatised to the increased temperature yet - it's been over 20°C here and my arms are already brown :-) Other than a little light cooking, some laundry and a bit of gardening, I feel like I haven't done anything all week. I've been doing longer days too - the Bank Holidays and Royal Wedding nonsense means unpaid time off, which means this blogger trying to squeeze in a few extra hours to make up a little bit.

I need to get my backside into gear for the festival too - I sort of have a plan, but it's rather fluid just now. I have a feeling my spindle supplier might flake, and having the wheel there might be rather awkward. I'm fairly happy on the "teaching knitting" bit, but some samples need making and I need to write up some instructions. I also need to try and sell something while I'm there to cover my costs.

And that's about it, I'm off to my bed!

~♥~

Actual Fibre Content

Hello folks! Sorry, I've been a bit distracted in a VERY GOOD WAY and therefore no blogging time! Let's just say that maybe OKC isn't as useless as I feared :-D

So what's been happening here at Chez Woolhouse? Not a lot, to be honest, I've been steadily ploughing on with the Iced Cardigan:



It's coming on nicely, I'm just in Sleeve Hell at the moment. I hate sleeves. First one is nearly done, second one to do and then the huge collar. Of course, the weather has now turned utterly lovely, I've lightly scorched my arms and one leg, so the last thing I need is a super-woolly, handspun cardigan :-) Typical!

I finished a gnomey hat which was a request from a friend:



Mmmmmmalabrigo in Ravelry Red, which of course my camera hates. It's soft and lovely as you'd expect.

Workshop prep:



coming on sloooooooooowly, but it's looking good and has a really nice hand.

I also finished another Baktus, but forgot to take a picture because I am a bit distracted at the moment :-) This was my Work Knitting, so I need to find something else sharpish. I'm considering a BSJ - NOT FOR ME MIGHT I ADD, but for a lady I just met yesterday who is due a bebeh in two weeks' time. And is a knitter! Yay! Only thing is I'm not sure I've got appropriate yarn (I know, hard to believe huh?) and I might be pushed for time...I have some lovely sockweight, but I don't want it too tiny or slow to knit. I shall ponder a little more.

I still need to comb some more of these Hebrideans - I spun up some more and it is really nice, typical longwool, very lustrous with little or no spring to it.

In other news, I'm still toying with renaming the blog, and mebbe my Rav name too. It's just not cutting it for me any more. Suggestions? Answers on a postcard?

Of course, I have been watching the F1, looking like another good season so far. Pleased with the McLarens, they're much better than they looked in testing, Sauber are impressing me like mad as is Paul di Resta. Good stuff, and China next week! I might have to rearrange my dental appointment...

~♥~

Hello April

Where the fuck did you come from???

*shakes head*

ANYHOO. I've not been doing much exciting crafty stuff, I'm mainly trying to prepare for the workshop I'm going to be teaching at a festival. Which in itself is exciting (I need to remember to buy a tent, dammit) but doesn't make interesting blog fodder at the moment. Other than that I've been rather stalled on stuff - I seem to have lost my mojo a little bit. Don't worry, I'm sure it will come back very soon, I'm just a bit focused elsewhere...like my lovelife ;-) Yeah, much to my amazement I got a date from OKC, and well, we'll see!

Not much else to report to be honest, I still haven't finished the Iced cardigan, in fact I might go and devote an hour to it. It only has 3/4 of one sleeve so far :-( but I could totally do with it at the moment while the weather is still cool enough!

~♥~

Update time :-)

I finished the Knit a Peak Shawl! I started this at the Jane Thornley workshops last year in Glossop, and finally finished it off. This is intended more as an art piece than a wearable - it's actually turned out a little too small to wear easily anyway. So when I work out the logistics, I'm going to hang it on my lounge wall :-)



I did some more spinning - I finished off a batt from FeltStudioUK, which is gorgeous and sparkly and I want to pet it and call it George; and the last of the Texel / Balwen blend I carded before I moved house.



The Texel / Balwen I think will become an "Iced" from Knitty First Fall 2010. It needs something simple to show the character of the yarn, and I need more cardigans :-) On that topic, my Scottish Tweed sweater is coming on well, once sleeve done, the other past halfway. After that I need to do the neckband and then re-do the bottom hem on a smaller needle to stop it rolling up. Then I will have a nice baggy, cosy sweater to wear! Yay.

That's about it for the fibre front. In other news I did some online shopping for Japanese noms:



I've long been intrigued by Japanese food (apart from sushi, oddly) and finally got round to buying a couple of books - Everyday Harumi and the Just Bento Cookbook - which meant I had to buy some basics! There's a few things I'd never tried before: dashi stock (it's okay, I have to be in a fishy mood though); proper Japanese rice (yum yum); awase miso (teh nom) and some dried bonito fish flakes which I haven't dared open yet...I got some proper noodles and a few other odds and ends too. The jury's still out on nori though. I don't think I like it very much :-( Anyway one of the things I want to do is make my work lunches a bit more interesting (and a bit healthier) so I've been looking at bentos a lot recently. I'm still extremely dubious about rice, which is probably daft as the Japanese have been eating it in bento for a long time and they haven't all died from botulism :-) but otherwise I really like a lot of the ideas. I ordered myself a few cute bento bits and pieces from here (it's really hard to find in the UK) so I'm now stalking the postman.

I ventured to the giant Sainsbury's at Calcot this morning, and managed to get not only my favourite Nairn's oat and choc chip, and mixed spice biscuits (I bought three boxes of each!) but also some cute cookie cutters and heart-shaped silicone muffin cups which should be cute in bento.

On the subject of shopping, there was a very large display of Valentine's stuff. I would just like to say:

FUCK YOU VALENTINE'S DAY. GO DIE IN A FIRE.

Anyway. Ahem.

I promised the guys at work that I would make cinnamon rolls for them, (another reason to hit Sainsbury's today) so I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning :-) and then spending the afternoon cleaning the kitchen no doubt. Well, I know they'll appreciate them, and I've been needing an excuse to make them. Even I can't eat seven pans of rolls to myself. Well, not in one day. If I've timed it right, the two speshul snowflayke guys in the office I'm not keen on won't be there, so no rolls for them :-D Shame. Do not piss off the lady with the baked goods...bwahahahahahaha

Finally, due to the wonders of Ravelry, I got pointed at this video. I can't believe I never saw it before, but it confirms my deep love for Alan Rickman :-)



*sigh*

Why can't I find a man like that???

I'll be in my bunk.

~♥~

Well that was the year that was

Well 2010 is nearly done. Can't say I'm going to miss it too much, especially the first half. The second half was okay. I'm hoping the improvement will carry on into the shiny new year :-)

So, a quick roundup of 2010, lets see how far I've come (ha) and what happened through one of the more stressful years of my life :-/

In January I was on the dole, having been made redundant for the second time in my life. That was weird, and hard when you're the only person paying the bills and putting food on the table. It lasted until April. I also had the chimney fire, and had no heating until May. In the coldest winter for god-knows-how-many years. I got really good at chopping logs.

In February I split up with the other half. That was hard. Really hard. It took a long time to recover from that, and a lot of soul-searching and general suckage.

March I had to give notice on my little cottage. That was just a mighty kick in the teeth - no work = no money = no house. Fortunately my ass was saved a few weeks later. I did however forecast Seb Vettel as a future F1 World Champion :-)

In April I got a new job, at the shipyard in Govan. It was good, the money was hugely welcome and I got to climb up an aircraft carrier. I also visited my first major fibre festival, Wonderwool. Around now things started to slowly look up.

The next few months were pretty quiet. I focused on earning some money, chilling out about a lot of stuff, a lot of crafting, a little decluttering and watching motorsport and cricket. In August I went to the PicKnit in Glasgow with Casey and Jess, which was so cool.

In 2010 I also took part in the Ravelympics, scoring seven medals, and did the Tour de Fleece which was pretty neat too.

In October I got word of the new job, and in November got made an offer AND moved house. I moved over 400 miles, from rural Ayrshire to the Royal County of Berkshire, and started a job which I hope will last a good long time. I still don't really know my way around very well, but I'm planning, as spring approaches, to get out and about a bit more and get a feel for the lie of the land. It seems really pretty here, there's a great big forest to explore, lots of archaeology to go and see, a canal, some promising towns to visit and London is only a short train journey away too. My house is warm and cosy, if a bit on the small side. I'm struggling to find a place for everything, so I've been decluttering and generally getting used to a smaller space. My poor living room is stuffed with furniture :-) I may have to despatch my old horrible armchairs to the tip and either move in the smaller ones I ganked from my Mum (which I was going to put in the "garden room" - an icebox in winter and, I imagine, a sauna in summer) or get a couple from IKEA. The carder and combs don't have a home yet, and might have to be kept in their boxes except when I'm using them, which is a shame but you know, it could be a lot worse :-)

So all in all, I'm looking forward to a new year. I've pretty much had the new start already, moving down here, so now it's just a case of building on that.

Enough of this frivolity, I have some fibre content for you.



I've been doing some thread crochet. I finally found some colourful crochet cotton while I was in Stoke. Dunno what it will all be yet, but I'm quite enjoying it. 1.25mm hook, hoars. Fear the doily. I should add, the last piece (in white) isn't my work, I acquired it in a bag of crochet cottons from a car boot sale. Pretty ain't it?

While I was up in Stoke, I took lots of knitting (naturally):



Sweater in Scottish Tweed chunky, no pattern. I ripped back about four inches when I realised the waist shaping I'd done was total arse, but I'm now back on track. I think.

I knitted a sock!



This is from Wendy's book, Socks from the Toe Up, and it's the basic slipped stitch heel version. The yarn is what I dyed at the workshop Ange and I did with Lilith. Merino cashmere baby. Second one is on the needles and well up the foot already. Not washed yet, and my first attempt at working on two circs which I LOVE.

I bought a little bit of yarn:



Regia Hand-dyed Effect in a lovely peacock colour which I can't get to photograph properly.

I also swatched for an Epic Project:



This will become Jules' Sweater. Fifty-three inch chest, not including ease. I'm not saying any more, I'm just going to go and sob quietly in a corner for a while.

I've been spinning:



Mohair / BFL, also dyed by me at Lilith's. I'm spinning it into a soft single, then I'm going to knit myself a wrap in it. Hopefully. If there's enough. Hmmm.

Finally, in a nod to my former life as a potter (sigh) I treated myself to this:



Moorland Pottery, it's one of their Stokie range. It actually says on it:
"Ay up ow at oraight"
which won't make any sense at all unless you're from Stoke-on-Trent. I love it and want most of them. They need to start making tea and coffee jars to match. It's just a shame it's not bone china, which I actually prefer for mugs. I intend to take this to work and confuse the life out of my Southern colleagues.

Well that's it for 2010. It's quarter to eight at night, I've had no dinner yet (oops) so I'd best go fix myself something and settle in for a quiet evening on eBay looking for curtains. As it's new year I might treat myself to a wee dram of Laphroaig as well.

Happy New Year xxx

~♥~

70 Days

and counting until the Bahrain Grand Prix first practice :-D

Why yes, my geek is showing. Bite me :-) I was wanting to go to the Autosport show at the NEC in a couple of weeks, but having checked out the tickets it's looking like a bridge too far money-wise - I want to take Dad, but at £30 a ticket each, plus train fare, plus travelling up and down to Stoke...and I want to buy some motorsport pictures for my empty walls...ouch. And I don't know if the Red Bulls are there either. McLaren are making a big effort apparently which I'd love to see, but I'm saving up for a new camera and that would be a big old chunk out of that. Maybe next year. I'll see what Dad thinks, but I think he'll baulk at the price too. I should perhaps save up for a trip to Thruxton...it's only a short hop away. Shame they don't have many races :-( or there's always Goodwood...but that's even more expensive...

Christmas was something of a quiet one, up at the parents' house for a week, it was just the three of us and the cat. It rather sucks being single this time of year, though it does cut down on the gift-giving stress :-) I spent most of the time eating, knitting and gawping at the TV. They've got SkyHD and a much bigger telly than me, so I had Eurosport and Motors TV on most of the time :-D

I have knitting to show you, and some crochet too, but it will have to be later as I need to go organise laundry and try and find room for the three boxes of books I brought back from Stoke with me. Hmmm. I may be some time.

~♥~

Interesting Times

Well, I'm moving.

Assuming my credit checks go through and nothing goes pear-shaped that is, *cross fingers* I'll be off down to Berkshire in a couple of weeks.

AAARGH.

I've started packing (slowly), I'm sorting out paperwork and forms and writing emails and shelling out the £££ and trying to work out what to do with utilities and bleargh. Head = Mince. I'm sure it will all work out in the end, but all I can see at the moment is OMG EXPENSE and OMG HOW THE FUCK AM I GOING TO FIT ALL THIS CRAP IN A VAN???

The wonderful Jules is sorting out transport - I've told him we're gonna need a BIG van. I'm leaving that one in his capable paws - if it won't all fit, guess who's going to have to do two runs? :-D (love ya chick!!!)

So it's all a bit epic here atm. I can't seem to get motivated to pack much, mainly because I'm full of cold and a headful of snot is not conducive to box-packing. However, I have made a small start and tomorrow will be a trip to the big B&Q on the way home for a sack truck and more storage boxes for the stash. I'm also going to run a cardboard box mission to Sainsbury's. I've even ordered some of those vac-pack bags off eBay for the bedlinen and clothes and what-have-yous.

It's going to be fun.

Anyway, last week was exhaustingly good. Went down to the parentals, ate cake, went to Fibre Flurry (very good), went house-hunting in Berks (successful on the 1st attempt, see disclaimer above *grin*), went to two Jane Thornley workshops in Glossop (great fun and AMAZING food and lovely yarn and Jane is adorable), went out with Jules in his new old Mini (it's so cute!), got given a very large toy sheep (thanks R, only you could think of that), got a new Golding (!!!) drop spindle off a Raveler and finally got my hot, sticky little mitts on the Alice Starmore books I've been jonesing after since January. Phew. Here's some pictures, and with that I'm away to pack another box before settling in with some knitting and the Brazilian Grand Prix.