Recovery

Well, somewhat...I think the amazingly warm weather must have de-gunked some minor parts of my brain, as I've actually managed to achieve quite a bit in the last week or so. This will probably be a bit disjointed, sorry :-)

Firstly, I did some fairly major housework :-) which regular readers will know is not exactly one of my top priorities. Inspired by something I spotted in Spin-Off (I think) I bought a rubber brush. Which may sound a little kinky, but is the absolute awesomesauce when it comes to dragging that nasty combination of long hair, spinning fluff, yarn and fibres and dog hair off your carpets and into the bin. My godawful cheap knackered carpets have never looked so good :-) I've still to do my bedroom, as it's actually rather hard work...

Of course, this cleaning frenzy meant that this week a miracle happened.

THE PLUMBER CAME ROUND AND OMG PEOPLE I HAVE A BOILER.

Okay, I don't have an oil tank or the new radiators yet, but we're making progress. I dunno where I'm going to put all the junk that used to live where the boiler is though :-) Of course he and the sparky made a right mess (and rather casually TOUCHED MY YARN AND WORK IN PROGRESS OH THE HORROR) which means I've had to have a bit of a tidy-up as well and put things out of harm's way. I have a dining room floor! Who knew?

This is what was on the dining room floor:



Yes folks, in yet another attempt to bust some of the crap stash, I resorted to granny squares as it's about all my poor frazzled being could cope with. There's quite a few more now, but oddly the yarn pile doesn't seem to be diminishing much. I think the crap yarn pixies are sneaking it in at nights.

Along with the sewing machine came a gigantor bag of yarn which I've sorted out:



95% of which is pure wool :-) There's some Wendy Shetland Chunky in there, some Emu Finlandia, a few balls of Jaeger Matchmaker (oh Jaeger how we miss thee) and a fab hank of what must be very early Colinette Prism which will be a hat for me I think. There's enough for a couple of sweaters here, as long as I don't mind stripes :-)

Ange and I went over to Perth, for the Scottish Machine Knitters' Association do, and I got this:



which is Rennie's tweed, from Di Gilpin. It is the nom, and entirely Scottish. It has that lovely "dry" hand of a really good tweed. The shawl pin came from Ripples Crafts. I also raided Scottish Fibres for magazine back issues, and scored a bag full of naturally dyed raw fleece from Artisan Threads.

What else, what else...

I finally caved and bought a jumbo flyer kit for Caroline. I got a bargain price due to a customer return, but it was missing the little grommet-y thing which fits into the orifice that allows you to use the standard flyer without changing the maidens. So I'm waiting to see if that arrives, I've sent an email. Phone-phobic, moi? It's interesting using it, the ratios are different so it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's already proved its worth plying some seriously bulky thick-and-thin Falkland tops. This is part of a project, more on that in a moment :-)

I spun up two batts of lovely blue-silver-green-purple:



I used my new Banksia / purpleheart spindle for the singles, then wound them onto bobbins and I will ply them on Caroline. The batts are dyed merino, lap waste, silk, angelina, trilobal nylon, yarn snippings and sari silk threads. It should ply into something resembling a fingering weight.

I finished Liesl today!!! She's drying upstairs (it's a sauna up there) I will try and find some suitable buttons in the stash tomorrow. The only tricky bit with this pattern is getting the sleeves to match the body. In the end I ignored the pattern and used my brain instead :-)

Right, the project I mentioned earlier. In brief: I've been spending a lot of time looking at freeform and Saori weaving this week. (I'll do another post on this with some links and that next time, it's way past my bedtime!) I'm planning a large blanket, made in sections (this is where a 24" rigid heddle becomes a PITA!) and done in a freeform / Saori style. When I say planning, I'm not really as that wouldn't really be Saori, let's just say I have an idea and I'm running with it :-) Lots of handspun, lots of different textures, some clasped weft and all in natural-ish shades. Should be good. I might do the first warp tomorrow...

I think that's it, I have some more pictures and things and I will write a bit more about the Saori project but now it's way past bedtime and this old lady needs all the beauty sleep she can get :-)

Night all

~*~

WIPs and Chains

Inspired by the lovely Celtic Memory, I decided to have a bit of a crack at the WIPs around here. It was getting a little out-of-hand, to tell you the truth. Unfortunately no pictures, as the weather has been miserable all day, and the only decent spell was while I was busy watching the Hungarian Grand Prix. While we're on the subject, poor Felipe! What a horrid thing to happen, I hope he makes a speedy and complete recovery. After the tragic death of Henry Surtees as well, my condolences to his family. :-( Hard time to be a motorsport fan. And now, after Alonso's wheel took an unscheduled trip down the tarmac, detached from his car, apparently Renault have had a one-race suspension slapped on them. I bet Fernando is delighted with that.

Anyway, sorry, I distract myself. Celtic Memory had an attack on her WIPs recently, and I thought that was a jolly good idea. Whilst visiting the parents, I took the dreaded Must-Have Cardigan with me, and finally managed to finish the back and make a start on one of the fronts. It's only taken me about a year :-) I'm determined to nail this puppy, but I find the cabling gives me elbow-ache so I can only do so much at a time. However, progress is being made. I was so pleased to finish the back, I reverted to a six-year-old:

Me: "Mum! Mum! Look! Muuuuuum! MUUUUUUUMMMMM LOOOOOOK! MUUUUUM LOOOOOOK I FINISHED THE BACK MUM LOOK!"
Mum(watching Coronation Street): "Uhuh."
"MUM! You're not looking. Look! I finished it! Look!"
"Mm, that's nice. How long has it taken you?"
"Shut up."

I also managed to complete the big crocheted blanket that was trying to eat my lounge. I was going for double-bed sized, but realised that it would probably suffocate anyone unfortunate enough to be underneath it, so settled for a generous single size. I even daisy-loomed a few pretty flowers and sewed them on.

I've now picked up the stash blanket, which is knitted in a simple chequerboard pattern (9 knit, 9 purl) and which has a loooong way to go. But you have to have a blanket on the go, don't you? :-) Of course I've also got the Project Spectrum Green Ripple Crocheted Afghan on the go as well. Ahem.

I also took the Hemlock blanket with me down south, and managed another good chunk of that whilst having a rest from the cardi and whilst waiting for Dad to have his eye appointment at the hospital. There's only about another twenty rows to go, plus edging, but of course the rows keep getting longer...By the way, the Manx Loaghtan I'm knitting it in? Just Gorgeous. I wish you could feel it. It's fabulous - dense, woolly, surprisingly soft yet sturdy-feeling. It also smells nice :-) I will definitely need to see about some more of that at some point. A sweater in it would be lovely. I just hope that it's not a fluke - you know, like a vintage year or something, and that Manx sheep always produce such nice wool.

Of course, though I fell over slightly whilst clearing WIPs up, and decided I needed a wee quick-hit garment project, as all I seem to be making at the moment are blankets. So I whipped out a little shrug - this one here. Finished in a couple of days, and busted a couple of stray bought-on-sale balls of Scottish Tweed. It's really nice, and ideal for my office which varies from Arctic to tropical depending on the weather. I think I will make another one, but make it a bit longer in the body and sleeves. I lengthened the sleeves on this one slightly anyway, but I think it would be nice with elbow-length sleeves too. I have four balls of Scottish Tweed in a mid-brown which would be ideal...

Oh and one last thing. I did a little stash enrichment (oh my weeping bank account - next month I'm not going ANYWHERE) and I am going to make myself legwarmers for the winter. Merino Angora ones and funky Noro stripey ones. Oh yes. Ideal commuter knitting I think :-)

oh and PS - I finished the ironing. Alert the media.

~*~

Where the hell did April go?

Jeez. It's the 26th already. I think I lost a couple of weeks somewhere. I got slightly broadsided by hurting my back, leading to working from home most of last week. It was nice, but annoying as I couldn't really do much around the place as I didn't want to aggravate my back. It was only a pulled muscle so all better now pretty much, but another sign of my increasing age :-) It was interesting to watch what goes on when I'm not normally at home, mainly the hens running riot in my front garden. If they carry on that game I'll put one in the pot. Probably the noisy cockerel first.

Anyway, apart from plotting the brutal murder of the livestock, I've managed to achieve a few things. I had a Project Spectrum moment, when I realised we're nearly into May and the next Cardinal Direction, and I haven't finished half the stuff I wanted to do for March - April. I may have to alter my timescales a bit, but that doesn't really alarm me too much. I did manage to snap a few photos for East already, we had a few really nice sunny days so I took full advantage. (I also did gardening which was what did for my back. Win some, lose some.) Of course the weather now has turned, it's raining, windy and I've had to light the heating again. So I started an afghan, for Project Spectrum North. This is all manmade fibres for easiness of care and because I wanted fluffy bits. I like fluffy bits in these sort of things, it adds a nice variety of texture both visual and tactile. I am an equal-opportunity yarn crafter.



I love green, which is why PS North has been good for me so far. Funny for someone who supports Hearts to like green, but hey. I can't help my tastes. There's also lots of springy new growth busting out all over, so photography has been really easy. PS North is actually put under Winter as its season, but I guess that's aimed more at people in the Northern US. Here Spring has definitely sprung.

I've one more project I'd like to do for North, which is a vest / sleeveless top in some gorgeous Scottish Tweed DK in a lovely sharp green. I think I've tracked down the pattern I want (finally!) - Vestish by Robin Dodge. It's very cute with the pockets and neckline flowing into the straps. I'll probably knit in the round up to the armholes though. Hate sewing up, you know? :-) It seems very wearable as well, I can picture this over a shirt for work, or over a flowery blouse with a cute twirly skirt.

I've also had a couple of distractions from Project Spectrum. One is lace. Remember I said I was going to do the Fountain Pen Shawl? Well I'm not. Let us speak no more of the matter. I've swapped over to the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern (rav link) from Victorian Lace Today. I'm still using the Old Maiden Aunt laceweight merino in the Gothic colourway, which is gorgeous. I'm working it on a 4mm needle which, in all honesty, may be a little bit too large for this, but I am not frogging this yarn again as I don't think it would like it very much. The original pattern calls for a slightly heavier yarn, though I notice Rav has it listed as 4-ply which is interesting (and I think is a mistake - many people are workinging this in 2-ply / laceweights). I thought it was more like a 3-ply weight but meh. I'll just not block the finished article too hard. I don't have a picture as it currently looks like a small piece of tangled pinky-red-black spaghetti.

I also saw this on Flickr. Go on, click. I'm never too sure if I can post someone else's work on here, so I've just linked. This is inspired by the work of Anu Tuominen, a Finnish artist. She does some wicked things with crochet potholders. Seriously. Do a Flickr search and you'll see them. So of course, this has triggered a potholder kick, which in turn sparked off a general dishcloth / facecloth / tawashi exploration, which now means I have a load of dinky flower-shaped facecloths sitting in the bathroom. (Pattern here) I also may have bought some more crochet cotton. Ahem.



Mmm, Peaches 'n' Creme, finally available in the UK from here. The colours are to die for, however it is a true worsted weight which means it may not be suitable for UK patterns. It's between a DK and aran, I would say.

It's not been all yarn here either. Today I started a drawing for the first time since, well, I actually can't remember it's been that long. I will take some pictures once it's a bit more advanced. I've also been patchworking, piecing the top for my quilt. Experienced quilters may wish to look away now. There is no plan. no overall design, my seams are best not discussed in detail and I can't cut a straight line to save my life. However, I am enjoying the process. It's nice to work with fabric again.





Somewhere I have a quilt that I never finished, that was falling apart because I didn't know about proper seam allowances. I must dig it out and see if anything can be done with it.

And finally, this big box arrived:



What could it be?

No, surely not. It's not a...



It is! It's Roomba's little brother, the Scooba!

Here it is in action:



I tell you, with a bad back it was a ruddy Godsend. Yes folks, I am the proud owner of a £300 mop. My parents now think I am insane, I dread to think what the bf will say when he sees it, but to be honest, I do not care. My floors are clean and that is awesome. I plonk it in the room to be done, shift any stuff out of the way, press "go" and off it potters. I can then go and do something else far more interesting. It even plays a little tune to tell you it's finished. Awesome. I reckon this saves me 2-3 hours work easily. At that rate it's paid for itself after a few uses, and it's far more effective than sloshing a mop around. Also it's rather compelling watching it. I have yet to introduce it to the cat. That could be quite funny.

~*~

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.

I Am A Sheep

and an injured one at that.

Why am I a sheep?

Can't you guess?



Can you tell what it is yet?



No?






Yep, I've finally succumbed to the Must-Have Cardigan. (Rav link) You can see more of it on Ravelry or here.

Unfortunately my KnitPicks have bitten back. This is entirely down to my lousy technique. I've temporarily returned to crochet, working on the ripple afghan, to allow my super magic cream to have the desired effect.



I haz a poorly :-(

~*~

Still got the blues...

well, the British Blues that is. Just chillin' with a little Snowy White on the stereo ("Midnight Blues" - teh best song EVAH imho, though "Snow Blues" is running a close second right now.) I've discovered a new passion as well, Simmers Abernethy biscuits. Nom nom nom. There's a packet sitting here now and I am going to have to go and put it away before I nom the lot. I thought I'd catch up a little with some more pictures and show you what I'd been up to. Firstly, the new stash management system!





Oh good. There's still some room for some more - a very good thing as its the I Knit London show in a few weeks :-)

I also sorted all my yarny and patchworky books into one place:



Loads of room there too. Excellent. I've even pinned up my shade cards and put up some appropriate pictures, but they need to move into the Yarn Room now (I haz a Yarn Room!!! heh heh)click for bigness if you want



These posters came from the Wool Marketing Board, should you happen to want them. They're rather cute. I'm sure Dolores is on there somewhere. Have a look at the prices of fleeces though on the website. Its heartbreakingly low. The shepherd on the farm where I live was saying that the price they get for their fleeces doesn't even pay for the shearing. At some point I'm going to have a chat to the estate directors about the possibilities of raising rare breed sheep on the estate. There's plenty of decent grazing to be had. Maybe even alpacas? *thinks*

Anyhoo. What else. I've been gardening, until I got chased in by the ants that lurk under the front patio. Cursed little buggers. On the horticultural front, I've planted out a cabbage tree, Cordyline australis and a hardy Fuchsia "Riccartonii" both of which should do well in this semi-maritime sort of climate. I always wanted a cabbage tree. I'm also growing lettuces, some Cos-type and some cut-and-come-again Lollo Rosso-type things. I've just sown Pak Choi and Romanesco cauliflower as well, its a little bit late but fingers crossed, I should maybe get some baby veg off them.

I wanted to talk to you about bugs. I seem to have an inordinate quantity of little six- and eight-legged visitors. I guess this is the price you pay for living in the countryside :-( it likes to come inside and get up close and personal. I get big shiny black weather-beetles, moths, woodlice (some of them are ENORMOUS, like trilobites) earwigs, spiders and weird springtaily jumping things with long antennae. I also found a slug in the bathroom sink twice now. tbh, I'm getting totally used to it. The weather-beetles get chucked outside if they're in the way. One had to go out because it was that big I could hear it scuttling around on the dining room laminate floor and it was distracting me from my crochet.

Yes, I did say moths. I know. Don't worry, not one has escaped me yet. I'm normally a live-and-let-live kinda gal, but moths? In this house? No way. I turn into a mad flailing killing machine until I am satisfied that the little interloper has been thoroughly squished.

I must admit, I kill the springtaily things, because I'm not sure what they are and they might eat wool or something, and I exterminate the earwigs as well, purely because they totally squick me out. I HATE earwigs. Its the pincers I think. Ick ick ick.

Finally, other than chasing bugs, building shelves and gardening, have I actually been doing anything interesting (i.e. yarn-related)?

Yep.





Did you expect any less? :-)

Working on a Bank Holiday...

well, need to save my pennies... ;-)

Amongst sorting paperwork, talking to solicitors, filling in forms, working, washing the car, ironing and laundry, I've managed to achieve a bit this week. The Crazy Crochet Blanket, which was originally plotted to be a sort of coat, before I had an attack of common sense, has been finished off. It's not massive, but just right for sofa-snuggling. It got a road test in front of the snooker semi-final last night, when I'd turned the heating off. It got a bit chilly but I didn't want to move in case I missed something, so out came the blankie. There's a lot of wool in it, alongside all kinds of everything bits, so it's nice and toasty.



I've cast on for another blanket, this is also a stashbuster as I must try and reduce some of the random oddballs and orphans in the stash. I want to try and move more towards knitting garments, so I need the space for sweater quantities of yarn rather than leftovers and mystery-inherited-from-mum stuff. This one is on 7mm KnitPicks, with a 120cm cable, knitted in a 9-stitch basketweave of stocking stitch / reverse stocking stitch squares. It's going to take a while, but as I'm stranding 2-3 yarns at once it's getting through the stash quite nicely.



I finally cast on for lace - the Woodland Shawl. I'm using some vintage Falcon superwash DK, in a lovely deep bottle green. I'm hoping that as it's in a heavier weight than the original it will come out larger. It's a nice easy pattern, I only made one error so far! Mind you, I've only worked one pattern repeat so far as my brain hasn't been up to SKPs and YOs.

The new Interweave Knits arrived, and amazingly for a summer issue, there's loads I'd like to have a crack at! There's a lovely lace hoodie which I really really like, a nice tank in Summer Tweed (though I'd have to leave out the belly-enhancing mosaic stripe) and a rather funky mosaic v-neck tee which, if the colours were changed, would be very nice with jeans or a simple skirt. There's also a gorgeous lace sweater which I adore but it looks like a b1tch to knit. My Ravelry queue is getting out of hand...

Also, I cooked! Like, proper culinary stuff. Aduki Bean croquettes, from the Nourish Me blog. They are rather tasty, if very messy...there were sesame seeds EVERYWHERE by the time I'd done. Only snag was they took longer than planned, so by the time they were ready I'd sort-of gone past it a bit, but never mind, that's my fault, not the recipe's.




What totally makes this is the dipping sauce. It's amazing. Salty, sweet, complex and very more-ish. I was dunking bits of bread in it while I waited for the croquettes. I had to wing it a bit with the ingredients, ideally you'll need either a very well-stocked supermarket, or an oriental food shop. I have neither, so some improvisation was required, but I don't think it made much difference. I'd make the croquettes again, but only if I was feeling particularly culinary because of the time involved, but the sauce I'd make any day of the week. I'm thinking of marinading some chicken in it, maybe with honey added...nom nom

So where do I begin...

Gosh, a week between posts. I'm slacking. My excuse is partly this:



getting swapped for this:



Yay! It's arrived safely. Paperwork all complete, insurance nearly done (7 days free from Mazda, result) just waiting for all the hard copies of stuff in the post. For those not au fait with cars, it's a Mazda2 TS2 1.3 in "Spirited Green" - which, of course, as soon as it was eyeballed by the parents, was christened "Kermit." How original.

For those interested in such things, it's a very nice drive, very rev-happy engine (you have to be careful pulling away, if you don't give it a few revs it will try and conk out on you) pleasant interior - glowy red dash instruments is a cute touch, very easy handling in tight spaces, handles well on the open road, it's surprisingly quick and willing and so far I would recommend it. My dealer is good too - if you want a Mazda and you're in the area, Stafford Mazda come highly recommended by me. Good people.

Anyway, enough petrolhead stuff. More important matters. After England's startlingly bad performance in the Six Nations rugby, I am now officially Scottish. Scotland weren't much better today actually, getting pasted by the French, but at least it looked like they were trying. I just need to learn the words to "Flower of Scotland" and I'm away.

Yarny news:

The Random Wrap got a frogging. Here is the result:



The Yarnball Of Doom.

I rooted in the stash, and discovered this pile of horrors:



Orange nylon and acrylic of various sorts. Yum. I'm making it into the Nasty Orange Crochet Afghan, which I will then probably give to someone I don't like. :-)

Sweet Madness

Well, I thought I’d go over a few WIPs, partly for your entertainment and partly to help my poor brain keep track of it all.

Firstly there is the garter stitch shawl, of which we have already spoken. Hopefully, this is now on the home straight, barring any other brainfarts causing yarn disasters. You just know that it's all going to go pearshaped now, don't you??

Macgregor Jumper
From RYC Classic Winter, in RYC Soft Tweed. One back, one sleeve, ¾ of a front completed. I’m finding it a bit hard going, not because of the pattern, but because it’s on 8mm needles which, with my small hands, is like knitting with those chubby pencils you had as a kid. The yarn’s lovely though, but not very tweedy. More of a subtle fleckiness. (Hey! Did I just make up a new word?) I have, of course, tweaked the pattern, replacing the ribbed hems with garter.

The Mad Knitted Blankie ™
This is ongoing. I need to finish sewing the backing on (aargh! sewing!) and then stitch through the layers in a quilty fashion (aargh! sewing!) to secure. Then it needs an edging of some kind. I was going to crochet it (gulp) but I’m now thinking that a broad bias binding edge would be better (even though it is more aargh! sewing) Are you seeing the problem here?

Sweetpea Shawl
From SnB The Happy Hooker. I love love love the pattern, but hate hate hate the way the yarn is going. For some totally unfathomable reason, I used Sirdar Spree. I know, I need help – it was on sale, that’s my defence. So this is going to be frogged, and I’ll probably use the Spree for dishcloths or something. It’s quite a nice yarn, just not for this project.



Random Wrap
Well now. I just don’t know where this one is going. It’s knitted from a yarnball made up of lots of short lengths of random stash balls that came from eBay or from Mum, with no ballbands. I totally made it up as I went along, working on separate pieces with the idea of sewing them together afterwards – sometimes this approach works well…other times, not so good. I think it’s due a frogging, which will result in the biggest yarnball in history. I think I’ll then knit a very random EZ triangular shawl with it. Maybe.



The Chevron and Mosaic Lapghan Thingy
Cast on because I Needed To Work On Small Needles Right Now (anti-Macgregor response) and I Have All This Colinette Cadenza And Freedom Spirit And Matchmaker And It Is Calling To Me. The plan is to knit up pieces then seam. Pretty colours. We like. The stitch patterns are from an old knitting book which I picked up in a charity shop. Love you, charity shops! Only problem is now I want Barbara Walker’s Mosaic Knitting book. And as I spent all my knitting-money-allocation on yarn, that’s not going to be happening just yet…



Finally there is the Crochet Coat...which may or may not be a total disaster. I'm making it up as I go along (cue Monty Python voice) and I'm not entirely sure what it's going to turn out like. But hey. I'm Fearless Knitting (and Crocheting) this year.

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.

head*desk

I really really got to get myself a new job. My brains are turning into cheese, and now the printer is being a butthead and deciding that black is white. (Didn't Douglas Adams have something to say about this one?) *sigh* Anyway, 'nuff whining. I am Being Positive today, and hoping that the universe is in a generous mood.

We have finished objects! (but no pics yet, later I promise) The green shawl is done, but I think I might need to make it a bit bigger having worn it a couple of times. It's very cosy though, and quick to do. I just used half-trebles, and skipped a stitch at the beginning and end to decrease down to a point.

I've cast on two scarves, one in stocking stitch with a three-stitch garter border, for Uncle No. 1, and the second is a pointed-hem garter stitch scarf for Uncle No. 2. This one I'm carrying two strands of yarn, one is the same throughout and I'm changing the other to create stripes. Looks alright, I might do myself one as it's really quick. It'll drop like a bastard mind you, so I must remember not to make it too long!

This leaves me with one crochet scarf to make for DH's grandma (it was decided that the Curly Whirly was too pink and fluffy. MIL Has Spake Forth on this matter) - I've dug out some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a sort of dusty raspberry colour, and I'll be turning that into something resembling the One-Skein Scarf from the Happy Hooker, only not so long. I also have Grandad's scarf to do, and I scored some Click DK in Tarn, which is a gorgeous heathered grey, for this one. I also have to do something for the FIL, and two balls of James C. Brett's Ripple were procured for him, and them finally Mum's Mitts from the Pitts of Hell need to be done. I've swatched a little for these, and I've found I knit tightly with the Kimono Angora for some strange reason. I'm up to a 4.5mm needle already, and I might try it with a 5mm yet.

I had a yarn procurement exercise at the weekend, and did rather well. Charity shops were forthcoming with some additional vintage Sirdar Pullman, and a few other odds and ends. I scored a scarf kit from the PDSA in sssh eyelash yarn in a pretty autumnal colourway which will go into my Autumn shawl (when I get chance...probably next Autumn) and there was a free set of short 4mm scarf needles which will be handy.

***update - I got bored and cast on the Autumn shawl...oops***





















I found Knit 1 in the Potteries Shopping Centre Market, which is owned by the mighty RKM Wools, and I got some Jarol Heritage DK, which is surprisingly smooshy and nice (55% wool) and some Wendy superchunky which I have a plan for. Abakhan as usual were well stocked-up, and I got the aforementioned Click DK and Ripple, and also a couple of balls of Bonus DK for the Uncles Scarves, a ball of Freedom Spirit for the Autumn shawl and some Wendy Mode to try out. They had some really good offers on 1000g bags of yarn if you're interested!

I also had a hit on eBay finally, and have landed a cone of Shetland 4-ply in a tweedy green, which will go towards the long-term plan of doing a Shetland Hap shawl. To the person who outbid me on the other lot, I hope you get moths. I've also ordered the shade cards from Jamiesons and Jamieson & Smith on Shetland. I'm determined that if I am doing a Shetland Hap, it's going to be in pure Shetland wool. I'm anal that way. I also have a fondness for our most northerly group of islands, as I nearly ended up living there many years ago.

Oh, I just remembered. I've got to do the teddy for the DH as well. I managed finally to get some toy stuffing...so now I have no excuse not to make a start. I'd better get scarf knitting...

Photos later folks x

Whee! Picspam!

Finally, knitp0rn.

The Scrap Wrap (still unfringed...sorry)Granny's V-stitch Blanket!


Finally, do you think we live in a Wool House?




All those paper bags contain yarn. Yum.

If you look very closely, you may see:

A Dalek on the top of the telly
The lamp wearing my sunhat
The TARDIS and a Cyberman sharing the shelves with some coned cotton...
my yarny books collection (ok, not all of them)
the ironing water and spray bottle - yes I iron in the living room.

Welcome to my world...

Sorry...been sniffin' the mohair again

I like *totally* forgot to come back to put some pictures in the last post. As I'm currently at work and have no pictures available, I'll have to try and have another go tonight. I am offically crap, I know.

On the up side, I am feeling much restored. Echinacea is my friend. Still a little coughy-sniffly, but nothing I can't deal with. On the down side, work is an even bigger shower of shite, if that is actually possible. I have a boss who is a total control-freak, trying to do my job for me and completely cocking it up. I think this is seagull management -

"Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, shit on everyone, then fly out."

Ken Blanchard, "Leadership and the One Minute Manager"

Yep, that's the one. Wouldn't mind but Da Big Cheesy Boss says "Do X" and the Second-in-Command Slightly-Less-Cheesy-but-Very-Henpecked-and -Put-Upon-by-Big-Boss says "What did you do X for, do Y, X is totally screwing us over" then when apprised of the glorious irony of this situation immediately scuttles off into a corner with a bucket over the head saying "La-la-la I can't hear you."

*sigh* It's no wonder I'm sniffing mohair. It beats drinking bleach and sticking my head in the gas oven...

hehehehe work update: Da Big Cheesy Boss is definitely losing the plot. Doing everyone else's job for them is taking its toll, it would appear. Sympathetic, moi?

Right, onto knitting content. I have realised that the totally cute Curly Whirly Scarf is probably far too, well, pink and fluffy for DH's Grandma. Curses. MIL is visiting on Saturday to offer her learned opinion on the matter. If she deems it to be Too Much, my Mum's getting it. She'll wear it. I have also realised that the Grandad of DH, the FIL and the Uncle of DH, and my very own dear Uncle as well might rather like a knitty present. Oh bugger. I'm going to be working on a bunch of scarves over the next couple of weeks I reckon...

I'm thinking something like Sirdar Click (DK or chunky) as it's cost-effective, machine-washable and has enough wool content to be nice and warm. btw, I'm not tight, but we have a fairly strict Xmas budget in this family, no-one's allowed to go nuts and spend a fortune, so pure cashmere is probably out. One of them would only wash it at 90deg anyway...So now I need a pattern that is non-stretchy, quick and won't bore me to death. I'm actually thinking crochet might be a winner. Strictly masculine patterns only.

I have yet another project otn as well, or should that be oth? I'm working on crocheting myself a shawl. This is because it's cold outside, and is quicker than a sweater. No, I haven't finished the Harlot Scarf yet. Or MIL's scarf, and I haven't even cast on Mum's Mitts from the Pitts of Raging Hell yet (I do, I think, have a pattern though, but it has short rows which I've never done before, so we'll see.)

Well, suppose I'd best be getting back to work. Someone has to keep this ship from foundering. Or at least go sit in the lifeboat waiting for the inevitable...

S.E.X., WIPs and F.O

I just love a bloggy title like that. OK, here's a bit of yarny action to counteract the last post's tide of misery. I've got over that now, it must have been the eau-de-rat that was bringing me down a bit.

Curly Whirly Scarf!!!
Pattern was from here but I (of course) made some tweaks. I seem to be incapable of working to a pattern at the minute! Anyway, I did two rows of trebles, then added a double crochet row in two different novelty yarns to make it more fluffy. (and to bust some stash.) The last row I did 1dc in each treble, but every so often I worked 2dc into the same stitch to make sure I wasn't pulling out the twirl. It's the DH's granny's (Granny-in-law?) Xmas pressie. Another one off the list!!!

This was a really easy crochet project, but quite effective for all its simplicity. If you want a quick-hit project, or you want to learn crochet, give it a go. The idea might be a little old-hat now, but I still think they're cute. Tip for ya though, unless you have a masochistic streak, and enjoy picking trapped threads out of stitches with a 1.5mm crochet hook, DON'T use an eyelash yarn. My eyesight is still recovering.


OK, here's a WIP for you. The inestimable Yarn Harlot's Handspun scarf pattern:

Knitted in James C. Brett's Marble Chunky, which is a 100% acrylic 2-plied chunky, with nice colour changes running through it. Yum.

And now for some gratuitous S.E.X. (I just love to think of people picking up this page through Google or whatever, and expecting something rather different...Hiya! You ought to take up knitting, it's a far better hobby...)

I have a favourite charity shop in town, who often have odds and ends of yarn. I picked up some 4-ply a couple of weeks ago, and having to go into town anyway, I thought I'd go and get the rest. Well, I did, and I also politely enquired if they had any more knitting wool.

They did. An entire Ali Baba basket full of it. W00t!