Woven Woods and Glorious Colour

I seem to be blogging on a daily basis so far this year! No I've not joined Blog365 or whatever, I just seem to have a lot to say at the moment. It won't last. At the moment I'm just waiting for my camera batteries to charge up so I can go for a walk. I wish they'd hurry up as the light just now is fabulous.

Colour
Anyway, while I'm waiting, I thought I'd witter on a bit about colour. I have a head FULL of colour, especially at the moment as I've been looking a lot at Jane Thornley's work and thinking about the Inspired Knitter's Club. I have developed a deep, uncontrollable need for a particular colour. I can only describe it as a mustardy, olivey, goldy green. There's an example here, and Alchemy do a couple of colourways - "Dragon" and "Hidden Place" that are near. I think Colinette do something too, but they've taken their site down for maintenance. Hang on, I'll surf Flickr and see what I can find.
Aha! Jane's Woven Woods wrap. I hope she doesn't mind. Jane - if you do, let me know and I'll just do a linky instead!

Right, see that colour on the edges? Above the button. THAT kind of colour.

Woven Woods button fastning, originally uploaded by thornleytwo.

If anyone can tell me how to dye that colour, I will be eternally grateful.

Kaffe Fassett
Of course if you are discussing colour, then the patron saint must be Kaffe. Oh Kaffe, how I love thee, let me count the ways. I mean, how can you not adore a man pictured on his home page in a blue spotty shirt, brown cords, spotty socks and a big bunch of dahlias, sitting on a quilt? His colour sense is pretty much the same as mine, and I don't think he's ever produced ANYTHING I don't like. A lot of people diss his knitwear as being boxy or shapeless, but of course he's not designing a garment per se, it's a piece of art to wear. I share his love of patterns too, as anyone who has seen one of my paintings will testify :-)

When I grow up, find another settled job somewhere and can buy a house, it's going to be decorated in a Kaffe-crossed-with-a-gypsy-caravan style. There will be lime and purple. It will be AWESOME.

This leads me to show you one of my Xmas presents. My beloved got me this, and I don't think I have squeed so loudly (other than getting Caroline of course) since next door got a Border Collie puppy.



Okay, so I got Glorious Knitting. "So what?!" I hear you cry. Philistines. But wait, there is more. Inside it was:



Oooooh. Wait, it gets better.



Click for bigness. That is two posters produced for the Channel 4 TV show in the late 80's. Look, I got a Kaffe pinup! Hee!

But that isn't all. Look at the front page of the book:



IT IS SIGNED!!! SQUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEE!

Can you believe this book was in a second-hand shop? Can you BELIEVE it?

Anyway it is now MINE, my precious, and it's on the list of "things that I will risk life and limb to rescue in case of fire."

Spinning
Last thing, as my batteries must surely be charged by now.

Look! I made handspun and...IT DOESN'T SUCK!



That is the Rockpool Candy batt, plied with sewing thread - about 75 yards. The black is the Jacob that came with Caroline. It's a two-ply, about 50g but I've not measured it (doh.) They're both really well balanced, and I has a Big Pleased.

Right, off for my walk. It's too nice a day to miss.

~*~

A New Decade!

W00t! Here's planning for it to be exceptionally awesome.

I'm not making resolutions, so don't expect a list :-) Instead I thought I'd play catch-up and tie up the last of 2009. Lots of pictures! I've also realised I need to reorganise my Flickr account again :-)

Spinning
I've been doing some carding and some spinning - I've run out of bobbins so I'm waiting for a delivery of some more and a Lazy Kate.



That's a Rockpool Candy batt that has been marinating in the stash for rather a long time. Really fun spin, lots of sparkly bits, silk, threads, fabric, you name it.



Some of the Jacob that came with Caroline.



This is some of the fibre that I got in a huge bag from World of Wool (one of their "stuff that fell off the carder" selections) - I carded several different colours together, with some snippings of alpaca yarn, some sparkly thread and sewing cotton. It is really hard to find anyone in the UK (apart from Rockpool Candy, who is currently in the USA I think) making these sorts of crazy blended batts. I like the sort of thing that Jazzturtle makes, with lots of weird additions and mixtures. I've just ordered some from New Zealand off Etsy, from this shop. Don't get me wrong, there are people out there in the UK making blended batts, but they're not nutty enough for my liking! Maybe I should get myself a drum carder. Maybe I should get a job first, huh? :-)

Knitting
I joined Jane Thornley's Inspired Knitters Club! I love Jane's work and her attitude to creativity and, well, life generally, so this wasn't a hard choice by any means! The Ravelry group are such a great bunch of people too, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what they all create. Also I totally want to steal Jane's stash. I must try to convince her to put it on Ravelry so that I can slobber over it.

I dug out my Feather and Fan Club pattern, (scroll down a bit) and decided to make a Ripenings Shrug. (Rav link.)



There's the two fronts and the back, having had a light steaming with the iron. First time I ever steamed anything, and it worked a treat. I've sewn it together, and I'm working the sleeves downwards in an attempt to actually get them the right length :-) I'm running out of a couple of colours of yarn though, so I've either got to be inventive or buy some more.

I'm still pressing on with the Must-Have Cardi - I got a chunk more of one of the fronts completed. I am still struggling with finding my muse for this one :-) We recorded Hamlet over Xmas, so I'm thinking, light the fire in the lounge, snuggle up under a blankie and watch all three hours of that whilst working on this. At least, as it's recorded, I can pause it for working out the pattern continuity at the armhole shaping...

Xmas
Quiet, and pretty successful:



Dad's hat fits him, well it will as soon as he works out he needs to fold up the brim :-) His scarf is on his knee there too, I wove it with New Lanark in Cobalt as warp and Manx Loaghtan as weft. He likes anything Isle of Man-related. Note - he's wearing his sweater! However he has it on back to front. Sigh. He didn't complain about being cold once though!

Mum liked her alpaca scarf - Inca Alpaca 4-ply warp, and New Lanark weft:



Don't tell her I put her picture on the Interwebs!!! This is her examining how it's made.

Also the socks! They fit!



Just! You can see how much they had to stretch to fit around her poor swelly ankles. Now, really don't tell her I posted her ankles on the internet. She would kill me. Then resurrect me just so she could kill me again.

And Buster got a turkey for his Christmas. A squeaky one!



Which he promptly left under the dining table so we went home without it, and also without his doggy bag of dinner leftovers. Oops.

Going for a wander
A very cold walk in Derbyshire, near Foremarke School, and also Buster being very unimpressed with the highly amusing plastic lobster we brought back from the flea market.



You might need to click to embiggen that one. There are some photos of Anchor Church there, which is a rock hermitage sort of thing down by the Trent. Nice and peaceful, but I bet it was a bugger to keep warm in the winter!

And I think that's it! I'm off to fix up some lunch, haul in some logs that I cut this morning, and maybe do some weaving. Or work on my shrug. The ironing is getting out of hand, or there's those socks for me need finishing...

~*~

Happy Holidays

Coming to you from a very cold and snowy Derby.

I have one of my Xmas gifties already - meet Caroline:



Isn't she lovely? She is an early 1980's Ashford Traditional. Thank you dear! I have been having a wee practice already (I've never spun on a wheel before) and as she came with a bag of Jacob fleece, I had to go get some carders to go with her! Well, dog slicker brushes actually. Derby is sadly lacking in yarny goodness.

Still no developments on the employment front. I'm hopeful for the New Year, I've put in quite a bit of effort in various areas to shake the tree, so hopefully something will fall out.

Well, that's it for now, we are hunkering down in front of the fire, waiting for the ice to thaw and getting ready for the trip to the parentals tomorrow for feeding, gifting and watching crap television :-) So happy holidays to everyone!

~*~

Twitch

I can feel Startitis coming on. Twitch twitch.

It's because I've nearly done the Xmas stuff. Mum will be the recipient of a woven scarf in Artesano alpaca (warp) with New Lanark weft - I'm pretty pleased with it, I'll photograph it when it's had a wash. Nearly gave me brain damage weaving it though. I'm not really a "one-colour" kinda girl :-)

Dad's woven scarf is progressing - New Lanark warp, with the leftover Manx Loaghtan (from the Hemlock blanket) as weft. I adore this yarn. If I had moneyz to spare I would go buy myself a sweater's worth.

I also managed to put up my Christmas decorations. Just because a) I'm redundant and b) not going to be here on Christmas Day, does not mean I can't have a sparkly tree or two :-) I love Xmas decorations. I have a quite ridiculous collection, but they're mainly somewhere at my Mum's. As I only have tiny trees - one is about 12" high, the other about 2', I don't really have the room to put all the pretties out anyway. One day...







Anyway. Startitis. I am jonesing for a pair of Fiddlehead Mittens. This is one of the few colourwork mitten patterns I really love. Also, my hands are cold.

I really desperately want to knit a pair of these Elf Boots for myself. I mean, really? How CUTE are they?

I need to rip the sleeves on two of my sweaters and reknit them, because my arms are longer than I think they are and I don't like having cold wrists. (And it looks stupid.)

I have a terrible urge to knit myself a complicated colourwork vest, for which I will make up my own patterns. I even have the yarn ready (Scottish Tweed 4-ply and Felted Tweed, which is near-enough a 4-ply whatever Rowan might tell you.)

I want another sweater, possibly in the very lovely Castlemilk Moorit yarn I bought in Coventry.

The February Lady sweater is still floating my boat. I have some nice red lambswool / angora bought on Skye that would do really nicely for this. That Pamela Wynne over at Flint Knits has a lot to answer for.

Laura at Cosmicpluto is going to have to stop with the cute patterns. I love her Honeybee Cardigan. Want me one of those. Her Monday Morning cardigan is full of awesome too. Grrr.

I'm really liking the Boneyard shawl from westknits (Stephen has some really nice stuff on there) and Multnomah.

I want to make pretty much every pair of socks in Cookie A's "Sock Innovation." I also have four balls of Regia ready for some kickass knee socks.

I have the pattern ready (and possibly the yarn) for Ysolda's Liesl. I'm also loving Adeline, Lilith has done a test knit which I've seen in person and it is nommy. I want the Lopi vest from Istex, and pretty much everything that Jane Thornley has ever designed. Especially the Ripenings Shrug. Mmmm.

Oh and there's Faery Ring by Mary Scott Huff (love that pointy hood!)then there's all the lace, a Hap shawl...

And I still need to finish the Must-Have Cardigan.

Onwards.

~*~

Fairies Wear Boots

or at least they do in my new Etsy shop! You can see items over on the right hand pane of the blog. I've been meaning to do this for ages - I make so much, I can't possibly make use of it all myself :-) Although my Etsy name is my own name (you couldn't make that up after all) I decided to give the shop its own name too. So "Fairies Wear Boots" it is. Why? Well, it feels like a good fit for what I make, who I am and the kind of stuff I like. Also it is a cool Black Sabbath song which is a bonus yes?

In Other News
Ange and I did a dyeing workshop with Lilith - the Old Maiden Aunt herself. Now I have a pretty good selection of Lilith's yarns:



so the chance to play with the base yarns and dyes that she uses was too good to miss!

Here's the results - these are the sample skeins we did one afternoon:



From left to right:
Merino Superwash 4-ply
Merino Bamboo 4-ply
Merino Cashmere 4-ply
Alpaca Merino 4-ply
Alpaca Silk Sport
Alpaca Silk Cashmere 2-ply
Merino Silk 2-ply
Blue-Faced Leicester Aran

I chose the merino/cashmere for two skeins which I kettle-dyed the following day:



I just need to think up names for the colourways!

I also decided to have a crack at dyeing some combed tops - the green is BFL, the purple BFL / mohair. I handpainted these and I am really chuffed with the purple (which I've christened "Tart's Boudoir") but the green is a bit insipid (totally my own fault) so I might overdye it.



So a highly recommended way of spending a couple of afternoons!

Also I finished Dad's hat, and also Mum's socks (also in Lilith's yarn - Merino Cashmere in "Wicked")



~*~

A Small Epiphany

I realised something tonight whilst flaked on the sofa knitting my Dad's Christmas hat. There are people in my life who actually would prefer not to have a handknit / hand-crocheted / handwoven item for Christmas. This is not an insult to my knitterly abilities, merely that they don't really wear scarves / mittens / sweaters or whatever, and in fact a £10 gift card for the Disney Store or a warm plaid shirt would go down much better.

You know what this means?

It means I nearly finished my Christmas knitting.

It means I have to go shopping now which is a bind, but as the lovely new purse I bought yesterday is an Epic Fail (money falls out of it) I need to go back into town anyway.

It means I will have more time, and can probably weave both my parents new scarves, which they will appreciate.

It means I might make some progress on the Must-Have Cardigan. If the stars align that is.

Wow.

~*~

The Christmas Review

This will mainly be in pictures because, would you credit it, I have not, as first thought, beaten off the miserable cold which tried to spoil Christmas, but have, it would appear, attracted another. Gosh that's a lot of commas. Sorry. Blame the germs. I was planning to go to Edinburgh for Hogmanay but a combination of the stars not aligning correctly and a fear of contracting pneumonia put that off. Maybe next year. I spent an evening in front of the fire knitting instead. And blowing my nose. Sniff. At least my washer hasn't exploded yet.

Right. Christmas.

The Sweater:



Note the ribbed hems - I had to rip the sleeves back a bit and knit down. Fits really nice though. Dad now wants a matching hat :-)

Mum's Wrap:



Mum is sadly not one of those people who photographs well...so I chose this photo so she doesn't roast me over a slow fire.

Uncle's Hat (my Uncle, btw, is not actually certifiable - he just looks it on this photo)



He also is not normally blurry or pointy-headed. Blame my cameraphone (guess who left the proper camera at home that day)

I gifted Granny the Pi Shawl:



but I didn't get a picture of her with it. She seemed very pleased with it though, and when we left was happily examining the construction to try and work out how I made it.

Finally there was the Cat. Cat does actually have a name (in fact two) - originally christened Diablo (highly appropriate) Mum decided she didn't like that and renamed her Dido. I think that sounds like a sex toy, so I generally call her Cat. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves here:









Finally...





Success.

Next Post will no doubt be some sort of Review of the Year type thingy, if I can un-bung my nose long enough.

Happy New Year.

~*~

I'm Back

overfed and overflowing with boxes of Stuff schlepped out of Mum's hall. I've not found the floor yet. There will be pictures, but not tonight. However, because I know y'all are just slavering with anticipation...

The Sweater Fits.

Rather well, I might say.

Phew.

~*~

Off the Grid

As of tomorrow I'm at the Aged P's for Christmas, where there is no interwebs as it is the work of demons and Not Allowed. So, that will be all for a wee while. I can tell you're all just heartbroken.

In the Xmas Knitting Wars, I have won the last battle. Mum's wrap is complete, blocked and wrapped. It remains to be seen if the war has been won...when the recipients open their parcels. There will be photographs :-) good or bad...

As a response to the seemingly endless knitting-for-other-people and knitting-for-the-house I have cast on...

A Sweater All For Me. It's in Rowan Sheep Breeds, Black Welsh, and it's going to be a Seamless Yoke a la Elizabeth Zimmermann. I have some Jacob and Suffolk to do the colourwork. Thoughts so far - the yarn is delicious, sheepy and a wonderful black-brown colour. Warm too, like you'd expect as it grew up on the side of a Welsh mountain. Also, bonus! on 7mm needles it knits up FAST. I'm about 11" into a sleeve already and the body ribbing is done (one afternoon's work). I must admit, it looks TINY...but then I only have a 36" chest (poor me with my fried eggs) and I have come straight from a 48" ManSweater. So not surprising really. This will be going down South with me, if nothing else to freak out my mother with my two-handed Fair Isle technique.

I have also swatched the Noro Kureyon I have been patiently stashing, and that's going too for when I need a colour hit. I'm thinking a madly stripy Seamless Raglan with this, but I'm still debating. I must admit, everyone seems to go on about it being scratchy, but I found it quite ok so far. Maybe I dropped on a good ball.

I picked up a tip a few weeks ago, which I thought I'd share. Lilith recommended the use of a Lush conditioner (any of their non-vegan ones) to soften up knitwear. I used some American Cream in a final rinse, and it not only seemed to impart extra softness, but smells absolutely divine. So that's today's Tried and Tested Tip.

Right, that's me. Y'all have a great Christmas, and I'll catch you on the flipside. Who knows, I may even have a sweater to show you.

~*~

Redemption

Monday = solved. Apologies go a long way, on both sides. I was, to be honest, so overjoyed and relieved I could have cried, or possibly done a little happy dance up the stairs. I may have done a little of both. :-)

Still knitting this cursed wrap of my mother's. Big Wool + 12mm needles + snotty cold = not such a quick knit after all...it's like manipulating a pair of telegraph poles. Ach, I'll get there. One repeat at a time...

~*~

Sometimes...

I wish I could slap myself in the back of the head, Gibbs-style. Suffice to say it has been a SHIT day and it's mainly my fault and down to total communication breakdown. Sometimes my stupidity and amazing ability to see the bad side of everything is quite staggering. I think it's now sorted. I really hope so. I'm not going to detail things here but this is something desperately important to me and I really, really don't want it to fuck up.

However I now have the Cough From The Pits Of Hell to contend with. Honestly, I don't know how much more I can cope with. I just want to crawl into a pit and hide, or possibly just drop dead on the spot (and this cough is the sort that makes me think that could be a distinct possibility.) Echinacea throat spray is the only thing keeping me from actually expiring I think. That and lots of hot tea. I've barely eaten for two days (see first point) so tonight I fixed up a pork stew with lots of veggies and forced myself to eat a bowlful. Actually I do feel marginally more human so I'm hoping it will knock this latest germ on the head.

All this has of course played hell with the knitting. Mum's wrap is progressing sloooooowly - 12mm needles are seriously hard work, and my elbow is protesting loudly, and tbh I was just Not In The Mood today, which is a very bad sign. I did manage to knock out two crocheted cat toys tonight, it was all my poor beleaguered brain could cope with. However once Mum's wrap is done that is it, Xmas-knits finished and I can start dealing with the nasty startitis tickle that's been threatening the last week or two. I'm eyeballing Jared's Hemlock Blanket, and his new one Girasole, there's the promise of the Noro becoming a nice warm jumper and then there's all that lovely Rowan single breed to turn into something. I need something to put between me and the cold I think.

Now if someone could work out a way of me avoiding all the evil bugs of Doom that the dirty commuters keep bringing onto the train I will be a marginally happier bunny.

Playing Catch-Up

You know, I really got to work on the post titles more. Other people manage to come up with witty, thought-provoking things, I seem to have lost that just lately. Maybe there's a New Year's resolution in there somewhere.

Anyway, what's been happening here on the Western Front?

Well, it snowed. A bit. I was hoping for rather more, but unless I move to Aberdeen I don't think that's going to happen.

Here's the evidence:



It was Yule Night in West Kilbride, and I bought yarn (ssshhhh)One of the new benefits of living near the Craft Town of Scotland is that Old Maiden Aunt has taken a shop - so hand-dyed and handspun yarns are now just a short trip away. My credit card has gone into hiding.

Ah. Blogger has had a brainfart and is refusing to load images. Sorry. Well, you'll just have to trust me when I say three skeins of merino/silk laceweight and one of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere laceweight (sigh...like the hair of a particularly well-behaved purply-locked angel) are now happily settling into the stash, making friends with the Handmaiden and trying to understand the Manos' strange Uruguayan accent. I don't yet know what these will be, but something from Victorian Lace Today I'm sure will be in the future of at least one of them.

I have managed to build up a reasonable stock of the Rowan Pure Sheep Breeds yarns - I knitted the Uncle's Xmas hat in Steel Grey Suffolk and it was a sheepily lovely experience. I think one or two people on the train may have been slightly put-off by the lanolin aroma :-) I'm thinking a nice naturally-stripy sweater would be rather good in this. I have Black Welsh, Mid-Brown Jacob and the aforementioned Suffolk. Yummy. This is of course going to be knitted alongside the Noro, which is also going to be a sweater for me. Oh, and BrooklynTweed has just published the most gorgeous blanket / shawl pattern, Girasole, which fell into my Ravelry library, so that's on the list, and Hemlock...oh and Sivia Harding's "Waves in the Square" shawl...

I was thinking over the weekend of the Knit challenges I set myself this year. Without looking back, I seem to remember spinning, cables and Fair Isle being on it. Well, tick all of those off :-) so I've been thinking about next year's challenges. So far I've come up with:
Lace
Socks
Steeks

Lace I have tried, but I moved house in the middle, lost track of the pattern and fell out with it. Another attempt is overdue. I'm already preparing the yarn for the Waves in the Square - I have a load of vintage 4-ply (fingering) weight in a horribly bright red. It's a nice 100% wool, so I'm going to overdye it. I skeined one of the balls onto the niddy-noddy last night, and counted threads, and as expected I'm getting about 90 yards to an ounce. So 13 balls need to be skeined up ready for dyeing. Ouch. My elbows.

I've avoided socks up to now, not down to fear of heels but fear of addiction. So many people seem to have a SERIOUS sock thing going on, and I do rather like doing other stuff too :-) but I can totally see the portability benefits. Also, my feet are cold.

Steeks. Well, you gotta do it sooner or later, and I have a hankering for a Norwegian-style sweater, so steeks are going to have to be a feature. I think I'll practice a bit first mind, but I reckon it's like most of these things, it's hard until you try it. If it was that awkward the Norwegians would have dropped it years ago.

Right onwards. Gotta finish off the Xmas knitting...

~*~

101

Well I totally missed the 100th post thing. Ach well. I've been a bit remiss of late, I entirely blame Xmas for this. Honestly, you would think I would have learned by now to get everything possible sorted sometime in June. Anyhoo. Say it very quietly...but the Xmas shopping is (I think) complete. Hoo-fkin-ray.

And I finished the sweater.

:-)

Yup. All done EXCEPT hems which I'm leaving until the recipient has tried it on. I really really hope it fits, but if not my Mum will probably wear it.

No photos...I am NOT tempting the wrath of the Knitting Goddess. Maybe a modelled one at Xmastime.

Anyway its dinner time and Knit Night, so gotta dash. Might be back later with photos of snow. If y'all really lucky.

~*~

I Need A Man

to model this Dad sweater. (why, what were you thinking? Sniggering at the back there. Minds out of the gutter, people)

I am beginning to convince myself it may be too short in the body. But, I am not certain, for the following reasons:

My Dad is not a tall person. He's only about 5' 8 1/2", but broad.
He's fairly short-backed, like me.
This is a yoke sweater, so the sleeve placement is kinda weird compared to say, a set-in sleeve.
The yarn will grow widthways when I block, but lengthways not so much (going on the swatch and stitch/row gauge).

I've resorted to taking it off the needles (I just attached the sleeves...that's a LOT of stitches on a thread to pick up again), pinning it down and eyeballing it.

Still eyeballing. It's starting to eyeball me right back.

EZ reckons allow 1/4 of the body width as the yoke, which on this is 12". Add that to the 16" I already have in length, and that's 28", which is 1" over what Mum measured his favourite sweater as being. So, if anything it should be longer.

But it really doesn't look very long. I'm now considering knitting it up, blocking it, measuring it then gifting it to Dad with the hems un-knitted (I was doing them at the end anyway) so if I need to add any length at least I won't have to rip the hems out. Though if I do need to knit down, there's gonna be a funky line in the hems because of the way I did the cast-on. Maybe ribbing instead if I have to go that route...I can keep the Scottish Tweed 4-ply for me then ;-)

Well, if all else fails, if it doesn't grow too much widthways in the wash, I guess I will have knitted myself a seamless yoke...unless I meet a 48" chested very squat guy with a thing for woolly jumpers.

~*~

Grey

Oh my FSM. I am in the throes of Xmoose Knitting, and I had a nasty moment.

Dad's Sweater - coming on well, about to join sleeves and do scary bit. Grey.

Cabled Wrap for Mum - Big Wool, goes fast, 12mm needles, grey.

Woolly Hat for Uncle - Rowan Purelife Breeds, Steel Grey Suffolk, commuter knitting.

See a theme?

Hmmm?

Yeah. All my knitting matches the weather. Greygreygreygreygreygreygrey. I know it's "in" this season, but sheesh. I've spared you photographs, let the amazing colours damage your retinas.

No wonder I am hankering for a multicoloured stripey Noro Kureyon sweater for me. I understand the craving now. I think I may be going colourblind through lack of stimulation. I'll keep y'all posted.

In other news, I found a fiver at the station this morning. Yay me. If it's yours...tough. Finders keepers nah nah nah nah nah nah

~*~

Christmas is coming....

hahahahaha sorry. True though...and Dad has spake forth. "I want a jumper. Make me a jumper." No argument, no indecision. The man has decided, and only a sweater will do.

Gulp.

Oh dear.

I have only ever knitted 1 1/4 sweaters in my life so far. Both for me, so I don't really mind if they're a bit, y'know, not perfect. But this is my Dad, so it has to be a) perfect, and b) fit him.

Gulp.

Me: "Muuuuuuuuum! Helphelphelphelphelp pleasemeasureDad'ssweaterandtellmethesizes! Don'tlethimfindout!panicpanicpanicpanicpanic where'smyElizabethZimmermannbooks???"

Heh. Mums are the bestest. However it turns out my Dad has a 46" chest and likes a sweater around the 48" mark. FORTY-EIGHT INCHES!!?!?!!??!! That's like, humungous. That, for those who are in the 21st century and use metric, is 120cm. Do all men have such big chests? (I can feel a survey coming on.) Forty-eight freakin inches. I'm only a 36" (sadly) and that seems to take a lot of knitting. Even mum was mildly surprised, and managed to accost him in person for a double-check (using the excuse of him being on a bit of a diet and wanting to check if he was losing any weight...cunning, my mum)and yup, it's right. Who'd have thunk it. My dad, the barrel-chested.

Oh well. Luckily, I have 3lbs of Harris wool in the stash, which will suit admirably, (from here) and a quick order to New Lanark for some contrast colours completed the shopping list. By the way, New Lanark have put their prices up dramatically. I know they're a charity and a World Heritage Site and all that, but flippin eck, it was a bit of a shock. Mind you, it's still a very good price and lovely stuff, so I'll forgive them. Wish they could have warned me though, I'd have stocked up ;-)

I'm thinking to do a Seamless Yoke sweater, from Elizabeth Zimmermann (who else). I was originally thinking of the Seamless Hybrid (brooklyntweed did a gorgeous one here)but having never knitted a seamless sweater before, I'm thinking the yoke might be a little easier. It's also less critical on the fit, the hybrid really needs a known shoulder-width, and there's no way of getting that without letting on to Dad. I did wonder if the yoke version might be a little girly, but having had a browse on Ravelry I have seen some really nice men's versions, so that has eased my fears a little. I've got grey, cream, black and a limestone colour (sort of a creamy-grey-beige) so that should be suitably restrained for a male palate.

I just need to learn how to do stranded colourwork now and I'm all fixed.

Oh God. Send help.

~*~

Annus novus

Well, here we go into a New Year. Yes, I know I'm a little behind time. Bite me. I've been busy.

I've just bought a new car. I'm not saying any more until it is sitting on my driveway with the keys and the logbook in my hot, sticky little mitts, just in case I jinx it in some evil and unforeseen way.

The Macgregor jumper is progressing, a little slowly at the moment as I have had a nasty dose of stockinetteboredom, so we're stalled at the raglan shaping for the front. Once that's done its one sleeve to do then the dreaded seaming, for which I will need a large glass of white Grenache and a 500g bar of Dairy Milk. Oh, and possibly my Mum.

I've been in the workshop, working on the Super-Secret Project, i.e. stuff for Etsy. No pics yet, unfired clay is rather uninspiring in appearance and I don't want to put y'all off before I've even begun. I'm keen not to use the blog as a rampant advertising tool, but I'll probably be all excited and want to show you pictures and things before I list them. I've lots of other ideas too, but some of them require a sewing machine which I am sadly lacking at the moment, unless I can avail myself of my Granny's Singer.

What else has been happening? I've cast on for a lapghan, on 4mm needles. Ahem. I think it's a reaction to the jumper which is on 8mm pins. I'm also getting this urge to knit tiny things. No, not those sort of little things. Honestly. Like the Harlot's little leaves, or those tiny jumpers everyone was on about for Xmas decorations. Weird. I also desperately want to knit a sweater in sock yarn. I think I have had some sort of terrible allergic reaction to big needles.

Anything else? (my 31st year seems to be the one where the Senior Moments are starting to kick in big time.) Oh yes.

I also had a lovely letter from the Mission to Seafarers, acknowledging receipt of the hats and scarves I sent them. Bless, it quite made my day that they go to the trouble of writing and thanking you, just for a few woollies. So if there are any Mission people out there, thank you. I had the warm fuzzies for the rest of the evening, and once I've finished the *!^@$*£$%! sweater I'll see if I can knock out some more goodies.

I think that's all for now. I'll try ans post up some progress pics soon, but if you're, like, desperate for an update, firstly get a life, and secondly, my Ravelry is up-to-date. (One thing I have managed to achieve!)

Oh, and there's no proper New Year resolutions here. I can't be arsed with resolutions as a general rule, but they do seem awfully popular in blogland, so here's a token gesture. I'll try and blog more and expand the readership a bit, hows about that?

catching my breath

Well, that was Christmas 2007. Here's the highlights.



Tree put up and decorated by me, all the presents wrapped by me (including my own...)

Yes, that is a Dalek and a fluffy chick on top of the telly. Don't ask.

Good bit: pressie opening:



Want to see what I got?



Oh yes. Thanks J! heh heh heh *mmmmwwwwaaah*

Dinner prepared for friends:



a culinary moment:





That's Salad Blue and Highland Burgundy potatoes. Cool aren't they? You should try them, they taste lovely.

Happy recipients!



They fit. And she likes them. My relief was quite obvious.

I think Grandad-in-law liked his scarf too:



and Granny loved the blanket. It might not look like it, but she does. Don't tell her I posted her photo here will you? Apart from the fact it's not her most flattering shot ever, she is still convinced the World Wide Web has something to do with spiders. Well, she is 92. When she was little they didn't even have a telephone at home. Excuse my Dad's jeans please.



So, apart from all this frivolity, how was it really?

[deep breath] Well, Granny-in-law has the galloping crud, a dear friend is still recovering from a stroke, FIL has got vertigo again, and Granny's central heating has packed up and the insurance people haven't got their lazy arses into gear to fix it, so she's had no heat for two weeks apart from the log fire and electric heaters. Lucky I made her a blanket really. She's spent half the time in bed getting corns on her behind. Oh, our Xmas tree lights have decided to give up the ghost, the DH's car is somewhat deficient in the headlight department and our tame mechanic, the lovely Tony, has been laid up with a nasty dose of crud as well. I had to shell out £230 car insurance, and sometime very soon (well, as soon as I have figured out how to warp the space-time continuum) I have to go buy a new car as my finance agreement is up. In the middle of all this was the grandparents-in-law's Diamond Wedding anniversary - 60 years. Good grief. What a terrifying prospect that is.

getting closer...

I'm Christmas knitting
(and crocheting)

nearly there

pictures soon...

charity knits are about ready too...

Look! Knitting!

Yes, I have been knitting some, as well as buying infeasibly large amounts of yarn.

Proof:


The Autumn Shawl is moving on nicely. Lots of mindless garter stitch, but it's quick, easy and feels like it will drape nice and be quite toasty.



The Soul-Sucking Garter Stitch Scarf is completed. Thank the Goddess. Here's another view of it, cos, hey, I know how y'all get excited by garter stitch scarves.



The Crochet Shell Scarf for the Mother-in-Law (Sirdar Blur):



It's now got a fringe and a fancy edge on the ends.

Uncle No.1's Scarf:



and I've started the Granny-in-Law's One-Skein Scarf (Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino):



See? I do knit. However, I Never Want To Knit Another Scarf In My Life. I have a desperate urge to knit a sweater. A nice, cosy, preferably tweedy (thankyou Jared, for turning me into a total tweed-head), plain sweater that will keep me warm at work.

I have a confession. I have been knitting again for, ooh, a year? I have not yet knitted a sweater. Not even a sleeveless one. I am feeling something of a failure, a fake even.

So what am I doing about it? I'm finishing the Xmoose knitting first. More Scarves.

Sometimes, I make myself sick...

PS. You should all (if you haven't already) go read Franklin's blog. I'll wait. This is what is currently keeping me sane at work - he's got a BIG archive to get through, and I'm reading in bite-sized morsels in between having to do some pesky work. I have a soft spot for male knitters. :) Especially ones who are also fabby photographers and cartoonists too.

PPS I crocheted in public! Yay me! Waiting at the optician and the dentist. Got quite a bit done as well, and only two curious looks. Poor husband is nearly £1000 lighter after the trip though - glasses for me and him, and both of us need fillings too. Ack.