New Knitting Challenge

2018 is going to be the year when I finally crack two-handed, stranded colourwork knitting and to that end I've started on some lovely mittens, complete with corrugated two-colour rib and a Latvian braid trim...Woooo, get me eh!

After struggling with the technique of knitting with both hands, I got a little carried away when it finally clicked into place and forgot to read the pattern instruction properly.  Therefore, my first mitten will have a thumb that is 5 rows lower than that of the second mitten because I simply ain't going to frog 5 rows of stranded colourwork.  Now, if these were to be a gift then I'd put this mistake right but as they are pretty much a learning project for me, I'm not going to obsess, just continue and learn from it.

I'm really enjoying the process now I've got my fingers to do as they are told!

What did I say about not obsessing and learning and moving on etc.?  I ended up tinking back, I just couldn't start the thumb knowing it was in the wrong place!  LOL.  Back on track now though and enjoying my knitting for the first time in ages.

Time Flies

How time flies!  I really did intend on making sure I had a new post out each week so I can't believe that two weeks have gone by since my last post. 

Firstly the brilliant news for this post is that my work colleague took her triplets home from the hospital last Friday.  Here are the little teensy matinee sets that I had knitted, I was chuffed to bits to discover that she had used them for the babies' coming home outfits and they had been much admired.  I made two sets with pink buttons and pink pompoms for the hats and one set with blue.  The pattern was one from a Sirdar book for newborns and premature babies, called Sirdar 280, Early Arrivals Booklet if anyone is interested.  I was going to put a link to the article in our local newspaper about their homecoming but it appears to have been taken down already! 

Baby Roots cardigan

In other knitting activity, I've also knitted a baby jacket for another work colleague's new grandson and also a hat for his big brother so he didn't feel left out.  The jacket was a free one on Ravelry, Baby Roots Cardigan  (Rav Link) and I really enjoyed knitting it.  It was knitted top-down in one piece which is my favourite construction for cardigans.  I used some stash yarn which was Rico Aran Duo in a cream mix colour and it turned out really well. 

Bubbles

The hat was Bubbles by Woolly Wormhead and I knitted the flat top version which I think is so cute.  I usually love Woolly's patterns and this was as well written and clear as ever but it had far too much purling in the round for my liking and I don't think it's one I'll knit again in a hurry.  It turned out lovely though and I'm looking forward to seeing Ethan wearing it.  The yarn was some stash yarn that has long since lost it's ball band but I seem to remember it being Stylecraft Aran with Wool.



 I've also started Tappan Zee for myself.  I've liked this pattern ever since I first saw it in Knitty's Spring/Summer 2010 edition, but as usual it got lost in the queue.  However, after knitting my Meret in the lovely Soffia Plus, the rest of it in my stash started shouting Tappan Zee, Tappan Zee everytime I walked past the shelves where I keep my yarn stash so I had to cave in and cast it on.  It's another top-down seamless jobby so I'm a happy bunny knitting along.  I'm pleased with the look of it so far, I just hope I have enough yarn...I'd hate to hate to frog my Meret to finish it!

Last weekend, Patrick and I went to Manchester to the National Winter Ales Festival.  We set off in the chucking rain, the M62 is most unpleasant to drive down in that kind of weather I must say.  We arrived in the chucking rain and it was still chucking with rain when we left the Premier Inn on Saturday morning.  However, we didn't go to sunbathe, we went to drink lots of lovely dark winter ales.  Mission was accomplished most satisfactorily.  As usual we met some nice people and had a giggle with them.  One group of lads had brought along their lager drinking friend to try and convert him and he wasn't much impressed.  However as an ex-lager drinker myself I understand that it does take a while for your palette to adjust to drinking alcohol that actually tastes of something rather than just being wet and fizzy.  On reflection though, dark and flavourful winter ales probably are not the best introduction to a real ale drinking career!  He would be better at a summer ales festival I'm sure but I doubt he'll give it another chance.  He did make a very valid point though and one which I have often made myself.  Where the hell do some of these people hide when they are not stalking around beer festivals?  Seriously there are some people who at best could be described as "characters" but really are just a little bit weird.  There are the usual anorak, back-pack carrying oddities but also some very strange looking people, like the little guy with the leather trousers, leather waistcoat, leather cowboy hat and aviator sunglasses...indoors...in Manchester.  He would look ok cruising Route 66 on his chopper maybe.  I really wanted to try to take some surreptitious photos of some of the "characters" but it would have been too obvious.  Although lager boy did grab Mr Leather & Sunglasses and insist on having a photo taken with him, I should have taken one too. 

And now to remedy the lack of.....

....personal hat knitting from last year, I have at last knitted the Meret Beret by Woolly Wormhead.  This is a gorgeous hat that has been on my radar for about 2 years I think but for some reason it kept getting left behind in the queue.  Teamed with some stash yarn that I had won in our knitting group's raffle at some point last year, Adriafil Soffio Plus in a lovely pale olive green and this is the result.  I'm hoping to get some modelled pictures at the weekend because this picture of it blocking really doesn't do it justice, the colour hasn't turned out well with a flash and you can't really see the pattern properly over a dinner plate.  It is such a lovely pattern.  I did the version with the rolled brim and 2 x 2 ribbing combo (as in the picture on Woolly's pattern page linked above) and did an extra pattern repeat and it fits perfectly with just the right amount of slouch.

Of course I haven't finished Maude Louise yet, or the partner sock to the one I finished last September or the other projects that are in hibernation at the moment but you know how it is when your stash calls out to you!

I don't really have much else to report for last week so I'll leave you with some pictures I took when Patrick and I went for a Christmas walk around Tophill Low.  It was a beautiful sunny crisp day and we saw a deer in the woodland walk but it dashed away before I could get a photo, scared by the noise of my camera zoom.  We also went into a couple of the bird-watching hides but to be honest, there really wasn't anything much to be seen, not that I would know what I was looking at anyway unless it was something common like swans, geese etc.  All the same it was a nice walk and blew off the cobwebs and I got to model my Corella , the Woolly Wormhead mystery hat from November, in a pretty location.

So what happened...

In 2011?  Well, I finished all of these projects.

That's 18 projects in total comprising of:


1 jumper - I'm not sure I can call this finished actually because I'm still not happy with the shoulders so won't wear it until I've unpicked and re-done them.  Oh sod it, it's finished technically so it goes in the list
1 bolero - This may yet be sent to the Charity shop, I don't really like the yarn so probably will never wear it.
4 shawls - Love, love, love these and wear them all the time.
1 scarf - A gift for my OH's sister
1 cowl
1 pair of facecloths - Both cowl and facecloths were part of a swap on Ravelry, blogged about here.
4 hats - and only 1 for me!!
1 set of 3 baby layettes - for my work colleague for her triplets.
1 pair of mitts/glittens - requested by my 17 year old son who insists that my knitting is better than anything shop bought! (I've brainwashed him well obviously)
3 cardigans - the Red Mr Greenjeans was mostly knitted in 2010 but I did complete it in 2011. The February Lady I knitted in some bargain Debbie Bliss Rialton Aran and I wear it a lot and the Hampton is in Patons Caressa dk and is a really lovely cardigan which always gets complimented whenever I wear it.
You know, when I put it like that, I've actually been more productive than I realised, I tend to think that I don't really produce much in the way of FOs for all the knitting I do but I'm rather pleased with this tally.  This is the first time I've really put together a collage and list of the things I've knitted and it's been quite interesting to me.  Clearly I'm a selfish knitter because most of the things are for myself :-).  However I'm quite surprised that I've only knitted one hat for myself this year. I have knitted the same hat three times for my son, my OH and my mum's friend though!

My main knitting resolution last year was to knit from stash.  I kept to that...mostly...but I can't resist a bargain so I did make some purchases.  Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran at £1 per ball simply cannot be passed up!!  I think that is all I bought though so I'm calling that resolution a success.

So, onto 2012.  Aims for this year are:
1. Continue to knit up that stash and work from my Ravelry queue.  I have loads of things that I really want to knit.
2. Colourwork - I have halfheartedly started some mitts but I do intend to crack this colourwork malarky this year.
3. Knit more socks!  I haven't knitted many pairs and I need to rectify this.
4. Blog more regularly.  I know I say this everytime I haven't blogged for a while but I really do want to try to keep up with this because it is fun to look back on.
5. Put away a little money each month so that I can go to Harrogate for the Knitting show in November.  I've wanted to go for the past 2 years but when it's come to it, I just haven't had any money to spare.  I intend to go this year come hell or high water.

So a belated wish for a very Happy New Year to you all.  May 2012 be all that you need it to be.

Hats and a shawl.

I mentioned last week that I was test knitting a hat design for Knitting Kninja, well I finished it and my son immediately claimed it, declaring it to be the most comfy hat he's ever worn. Here it is - Horatio Hat.


I love how it turned out and he is right, it is such a comfy cosy hat. I had sort of promised it to Patrick but Mason got in there first so I've had to knit another one for Patrick. I'm not complaining because it is a nice hat to knit and very quick too. I knit the second one in the same yarn but in a lovely shade of brown, kind of reddish brown almost and Patrick is very happy with it.

I also finished one of the baby hats I'm knitting for my work colleague. I converted the hat pattern to knit in the round on magic loop because it was written to be knitted flat and seamed. The seam would have been up the back of the hat and I really didn't want to think of a tiny baby having to lie on a seam, it might be uncomfortable and they can't tell you what's hurting, only cry.

Now, I have cast on for another shawl, I probably shouldn't because I have lots of things I need to get done but hey, it's my hobby and I'll do with it what I want! I decided to go for it because a group I am part of on Ravelry is having a KAL (knit-along for the uninitiated). The group is called What Would Madame Defarge Knit, named for the book that it is centered around. WWMDfK is a great knitting book, first thought up by podcaster Heather Ordover of Craftlit. It features over 20 knitting and crochet patterned inspired by classic characters in literature. The shawl we are knitting at the moment is called Wilhelmina's Shawl and is named for the heroine of the book Dracula. We are currently listening to Dracula over on Craftlit so this is fun to do. I'm using some Aruacania Ranco Multy in an orange/purple colourway and it's looking good so far. I'm only going to knit on this for the hour a week I listen to the podcast though because I do have other things I want to get on with.

If you fancy listening along to Dracula, I really recommend it! It is such a cool and creepy book, none of your Twilight rubbish here. Just click DRACULA.

Never too late.

To let the world know that you are still around that is.  I've been procrastinating on this blog for weeks now, it gets kind of where you have missed so much that you don't know how to get started again.  I mean, do I attempt to back-track and  tell of the events that have taken place chronologically?  I think not, it would come out like a list rather than a tale. Or do I jump right in and start from now?  I suppose so, after all that's how it started in the beginning, I didn't attempt to go back over my whole life to get it down on record or anything!  You just have to start where you are at I suppose.

I am not a good blogger, I don't plan what to write, I just start writing and see what comes. Don't get me wrong, I do read it through and make changes, it's not completely ad-libbed but when I start, more often than not I don't know where it will take me.

So, I'm going to jump in and start from now, if I track back and tell you about my summer, then all well and good.  Summer haha...try to cast your mind back, summer fell on one day in June this year I think ;-)

Right now, we're in the midst of selecting Universities with my youngest son, who will be applying this autumn to go next year.  He wants to study Maths and is looking at Nottingham, Lancaster, Leeds and York in the main.  Of course mum gets the fun job of driving him to open days but I believe it is important to make the right choice based on your feelings when you visit a place and not just from reading marketing blurb in a prospectus so I'm not complaining about it. 

On the needles ATM is a hat that I am test-knitting for the wonderful Knitting Kninja.  It's a nice watch cap with just enough pattern detail to forestall the boredom usually involved in knitting hats for men (Why do they always want dark colours and stocking stitch or ribbing?)  It's called Horatio because  it has a nautical look to it, I had a hand in naming it so I'm feeling quite proprietry about it :-D.   I'm using the Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in Navy that I have left over from my FLS and I'm please with it so far.  Also OTN, I'm knitting baby things :-)   I have a lovely work colleague who after many years of trying, is pregnant and expecting triplets!!  I'm knitting three identical layettes from a Sirdar pattern book but I won't be posting pictures on here, that would spoil the surprise.

FOs and Startitus!

Well, I say FOs...there's actually only one Finished Object which is the very lovely (if I do say so myself) February Lady Sweater as pictured above.  Please excuse the crappy photo (the white dots are light shining through the holes in the lace pattern I think), I will post a better one after the weekend hopefully but I am just so happy to have finished this never-ending project that I just had to share it.  Knitted in Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in Navy blue, the yarn shows off the lace pattern really well and the stitch definition is really crisp and suits the garter stitch yoke very well.  I did enjoy knitting this but just got side-tracked so many times that it took much longer than it should have.  I'm sure I will wear it a lot, it is very comfy and cosy as well as looking quite stylish I think.

As for startitus, well I just haven't been able to make up my mind what I want to do, so I've cast on for several projects and have been matching yarn to projects with no thought to how much time all of these things are actually going to take!  I had tried to continue with my Dreamy Ishbel, the Ishbel shawl in the gorgeously soft Dream Lace but I really am going to have to be in the right mood for that.  I don't think Laceweight yarn is going to be my thing unfortunately, as beautiful as the results are, I'm not enjoying knitting with something that is as fine as sewing thread.  I know this will be a beautiful shawl someday but I'm just not in the mood for it right now. 

So with that in mind, I started on no less than three different projects in one night!  A lacey keyhole scarf in some beautiful Louisa Harding Grace hand-dyed which was a raffle prize for Patrick's sister Coral.  There is such a small amount of yarn, only 100m, that Coral said she had no idea what to do with it.  I have always wanted to try this particular yarn so said I would look for a pattern and knit it for her.  I think I may be able to do a small version of this scarf which will look pretty.  Other options were fingerless mitts or headbands and believe me, Coral is not a fingerless mitts or headband kind of girl!  Next up was a shawl in my grey Shetland 4ply, I chose Willow (Rav Link) by Vikki Harding because it looks to be a nice simple pattern.  I had a copy of the Yarn Forward magazine featuring the pattern so away I went.  The charts in the magazine are so small though that I was soon going cross-eyed with the effort of following them so I gave up on that (I have now enlarged the charts on a photocopy so can continue....at some point!).  Rightio, what to do next.....continue with the lacy scarf or one of my other WIPs?  Don't be silly, startitus is a control freak and it made me cast on Ysolda's Cloud Bolero (Rav link) in the Marble Chunky that I have in stash.  It was a tricky pattern to get my head around at first because there is lots of counting and stitch markers involved.  However once you get going it's fine and amazingly fast!  I'm almost finished, in fact if it wasn't that I'm doing it slightly longer than the pattern states, I'd have cast off by now.  I think it's going to be very pretty and I'm sure I'll be knitting more of these in different yarns.  I now have a use for the two skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed that I have in stash that I've been struggling to marry up to a project! 

In other news, we went Elderflower gathering last week and have 3 gallons of Elderflower wine fermenting nicely in Patrick's kitchen.  Along with the Dandelion and the Hawthorn Blossom we'll be having a merry old time of it next summer :-) .  I think that's us done with wine for now until the brambles ripen in August when we'll be gathering enough for a nice lot of Blackberry wine (and bramble and apple pie of course).

The End is Nigh!!

February Lady Cardigan in progress

Don't worry, not The Rapture again but instead, my February Lady cardigan.  Yes, I have actually cast off the body of this long running saga and made a start on the sleeves so the end is indeed in sight for this project.  I have enjoyed knitting it, once I got into the lace pattern it has gone fairly quickly.  I expect to finish the sleeves over the next couple of weeks but here is a progress picture to be going on with.

I haven't made any more progress on Hampton though because I got caught up in a shawl (more of that later) and a couple of items I needed to knit for a swap I took part in on Ravelry.  I really enjoyed this swap, it's the first one I have ever taken part in and is run by the Outlander fans group on Ravelry.  For the unititiated Outlander is a series of books by Diana Gabaldon about Claire, who after walking into a stone circle in Scotland in 1945, comes out the other side in 1743, her subsequent adventures and relationship with highlander Jamie Fraser.  They are the most compelling and addictive books I have ever read, they just completely suck you into the lives of the characters.  Jamie and Claire have legions of fans who are now anxiously awaiting the completion of book 8 in the series.  Anyhow, this swap as I say, was fun to do, we had to 'stalk' our spoilee (the person we are giving gifts to, hence spoiling) to discover the things they like to wear, eat, knit, other hobbies, favourite colours etc.  The parcel we make up for our spoilee  had to contain certain types of items, a handcrafted gift, some yarn, small things like stitch markers, tape measure etc and any other treats.  For my hand made gifts, I made a cowl and some cotton face cloths.

Nemetona's Cowl

Fraser's Ridge Facecloths

These were both fairly quick and easy to do and I enjoyed choosing the colours that I knew my swappee liked through my Ravelry stalking!

The aforementioned shawl is the other reason I haven't made any progress on poor old Hampton and so, here it is.

Summer Flies Shawl

The pattern is Summer Flies by Donna Griffin of HollyandEllaknits.com.  I knitted it in Sirdar Just Bamboo which is a bamboo tape yarn.  I had my doubts as I was knitting because it seemed to bulky a yarn for a shawl but I have to say that I am delighted with how it turned out.  It is fairly heavy and drapes beautifully, the shape is quite a wide crescent so the fronts of the shawl are fairly long which makes it look lovely from the front as well as the back.  I wore it to go out on Saturday night with a beige/brown patterned dress and got lots of compliments on it so I was thrilled about that.

In other non-knitting news, Patrick and I had another trip down the Real Ale Trail on the train in West Yorkshire a few weeks ago, we have some wine brewing and I have started going running!!  More about that lot in another post I think, so that's about all for now folks.

What have I been doing?

Not blogging is the obvious answer here.  So much for a post a week, I haven't posted for what...5 or 6 weeks!   It's that old thing that we never have enough of again - time.   So, what have I been up to?  I can't honestly remember a lot, that's what happens if you don't blog it you see.

One thing I do remember is that Patrick and I went to see the wonderful Gordon Giltrap at the beginning of March.  He was playing in the area again at a charity gig organised by a friend of his, we saw him last summer for the first time and I wasn't really familiar with his work before then. The only track I knew of his was his most famous hit Heartsong, which was the theme of the TV show Wish You Were Here.  I have to say I was completely awestruck during the performance.  The skill with which he plays is amazing.   He is an incredible guitar player and a very humble and entertaining man and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

In knitting news, I have finally finished the green jumper.  But...and it's a big but after about 5 weeks of knitting, I'm not happy with it :-(.  It doesn't fit quite as well as I would like, being a little bit loose.  I could live with that but the main problem is that I cocked up on the tops of the sleeves and the shoulders stick up a little.  I think it can be fixed but at the moment, I can't face it.  It is in the naughty corner until I can be bothered to unpick the offending bit and re-do it.  I will, at some time, because it was an awful lot of time and yarn to have wasted if I don't....but not just yet.  I've picked up my Hampton Cardi again, that of the 4 row, 9 stitch pattern that had me flummoxed a few weeks ago.  That worked out fine first time when I had another go at it.  Sometimes it pays to just put something aside for a while until it learns its lesson and decides to behave :-).  So, that is on the go at the moment but will be a few weeks in the making yet.   I have also made some progress on my February Lady cardigan and am knitting that as well as Hampton.  I'm enjoying both of these projects a lot now.

Patrick and I had booked a couple of days off work this week and had decided to go to York for an overnight stay.  We love to go to York, primarily because of the huge number of fantastic pubs to visit.  On the York Camra website, there are mini-guides to download and the one for York centre has no less than 82 pubs selling real ale from independant breweries.  I do love to try beers that I haven't tried before and to visit pubs that I haven't visited before and there are opportunities in abundance to do both in York.  Arriving on Sunday afternoon in glorious sunshine, we checked in the Travel Lodge in York Centre and set off for a little walk towards the first of our target pubs.  I took this picture of the beautiful daffodils around the walls on the way

Daffodils in York

Our first pub then was The Rook and Gaskill.  Just outside the City walls and named after two 17th Century sheep thieves who were the last people to be hanged at the St Leonard Gallows nearby. A real beer lovers pub with a selection of 12 beers and a friendly barman.  It was a struggle to just have the one in there I can tell you!  We had more pubs on our radar though so we next crossed Hull Road to visit the Waggon & Horses, a pleasant pub with 3 distinct rooms, sun beating through the windows at the front made for thirsty drinkers.   Back to the hotel after this to freshen up for the night ahead.  The very convenient Posterngate pub right next door to the Travel Lodge was our first stop for a meal and a beer.  A Wetherspoons pub, where you know you are going to get value.  I am a huge fan of Wetherspoons pubs.  The food may not be gourmet but it is good value and their commitment to Real Ale is second to none in the pub chain industry.  After that, we visited a further four pubs that we hadn't been to on previous visits to York.  The Punch Bowl just outside Micklegate, which is another Wetherspoons,  Brigantes, a cafe bar type establishment, then Ackhorne, tucked away down a little cobbled street.  We would never have found it by accident and now we've been in, we certainly won't be finding it again on purpose anytime soon.  After trying out one more new one, Maltings, in the shadow of Lendal Bridge we finished up with two of our favourite pubs, The Yorkshire Terrier and Ye Olde Starr, both down Stonegate.  A catfood-like burger on the way back to the hotel finished the night off nicely!  Monday dawned bright and sunny again and we had a little wander around before heading off to the Castle Museum.  Neither of us had been there for years and we had a good day.  I had a strange experience in one of the police cells in that as I stepped in the door, I got an overwhelming feeling that I just shouldn't be in there.  I can't explain other that it was a kind of panicky feeling and I just couldn't bring myself to go right inside, I hovered near the door as Patrick went in.  Later, speaking to one of the staff in another exhibit, the sweet shop, he was telling us about ghostly goings on in the place, including the time that a child who was visiting the museum had said that he wanted to go back into the police cell to talk to the lady who was in there!  Needless to say, Patrick then wanted to go back and see for himself.  We went in, I was a bit apprehensive to say the least but the feeling wasn't there on the second visit.

I'll leave you with another couple of pictures from York,  the first, a lovely little old building, I can't remember for the life of me where it was but I thought it looked very pretty with the blossom trees outside and the second picture is of Clifford's Tower.  Just look at those daffodils!


Blossom and Beams



Clifford's Tower - York

And the winning ticket is......

....mine.  Again!

Mafana Knitting Bag

I won this gorgeous bag in my Knitting Group's raffle this month.  Last month, two of the friends I sit with won raffle prizes of yarn, the month before I won a pretty little tin that I now keep stitch markers in.  I've won yarn at least 4 times that I can think of off the top of my head and I've actually won a prize more times than I haven't in the year or so I've been going to the group.  In fact, one month, I was so embarrassed to have my ticket called for what would have been the 3rd or 4th month running, that I told the organiser to pull another ticket out instead!  I have always maintained that I never win anything!  Whenever I've been anywhere where Bingo, raffles, bus-stops etc. have been played, I just used to pay my money and know that I wouldn't see a return on it.  I never win anything on my weekly lottery ticket either.  So quite why my winning streak is so prolific for this particular raffle I have no idea.  The bag, by the way is a Mafana bag.  These are handcrafted in Madagascar and you can read about them on their website.   It's a fabulous bag, absolutely loads of room inside, I have three WIPs in there, all cardigans and still room for extra balls of yarn, patterns and notions.  It could be used for all sorts really, it would make a great beach bag for those of you so inclined!

In other knitting news, I have 3 main projects on the needles at the moment and I think I really need to stick to one of them and get it finished rather than picking up something different each day and getting nowhere fast!

I'm knitting this lovely jumper out of Patons Jet in a really pretty pale green. 

Lace trim jumper

I finished the back over a week ago and cast on the front immediately.  It's knitting up quickly and I adore knitting with the Jet.  I did short row shaping for the shoulders, the first time I have tried that and it turned out well I think.  I'll do the same for the front obviously and then join the shoulders using the three needle cast-off that we learned in the Finishing Techniques class we took at Poppy's in York.  I was getting on well with it but then my attention was distracted by my February Lady Sweater (Rav link).  I noticed on the Ravelry Group for the project that some people were having a KAL started in January.  As I was undecided about how I was doing and whether I wanted to continue with this project, I thought I would join in the KAL and therefore get motivation,  help and advice from other knitters along the way.  I'm almost up to starting the lace pattern now and I can't say its been an enjoyable knit so far but I think now that I can see past the endless garter stitch yoke, the rest may knit up a bit quicker.  The third main project I have OTN is my Hampton cardigan

Hampton Cardigan

 from a book my son got me for Christmas, New England Knits.  I love almost everything in this book but decided to start on this cardigan because the yarn I'm knitting it in, Patons Caressa DK in beige mix, screamed at me everytime I passed it on the shelf that this was the project it wanted to be.  To non-knitters that probably sounds ridiculous but all knitters will understand exactly what I mean by that statement.  Sometimes a yarn just tells you what to knit with it, sometimes you start a project with what you think is the perfect yarn and so far into the knitting, it's telling you that it most certainly does not see itself knitted up into this object!  When that happens, there is nothing for it but to frog it  and put it away until it decides what it wants to be :-).   Anyway, Hampton (Rav link).  This is knitted all in one piece from the bottom back, over the shoulders with stitches cast on for the sleeves, and then continuing knitting down the fronts.  All was going well until I cast on the sleeve stitches.  I then lost track of the lace pattern.  I mean to say, it's only 4 rows and 9 stitches so it's hardly like rocket science to either remember it or to trace where you are in it but I just have a brain fart everytime I try.  I've now frogged the sleeve cast on (and resulting two rows) three times.  Needless to say, it has been in the naughty corner for a couple of weeks now until I can psyche myself up to having another go at it.  This weekend might be that time.  It is a gorgeous pattern and the fault lies completely with me and not how the pattern is written I must add, so for anyone else considering it, please don't let my complete inability to count to 9 put you off!

Is it finished yet?

My Red 'jeans Cardigan that is.  The short answer is NO.  The longer version involves descriptions of flu-like symptoms, snotty nose, hacking cough, being off work sick and generally not having the energy to do much in the way of knitting.  Actually, the knitting bit is finished, I need to sew in the ends, get a button and then I'll be wearing it.  On the whole I have enjoyed knitting it as much as I did the last one but it has got a bit tiresome towards the end and I'm looking forward to starting something new.

Last Saturday, amidst the aforementioned flu-like symptoms, I took Michael back to Uni in York.  We went and did some grocery shopping first, then drove through to York in the afternoon.  On arrival, I noticed that most other students being dropped off by parents/friends/whoever, seemed to have all their belongings in only one or two bags or suitcases.  Why then did we have a car-load of belongings and shopping that would see a small third world village right for the next 3 months?  I have come to the conclusion that my son is a pack-rat.

It's been fun and games with the dog this week...well, not really but that's one of those odd figures of speech we use isn't it?  Anyhow, the background is that Shaggy has been limping quite badly since before Christmas and I had been to the vets with him who said she thought he might have arthritis and gave him some medication which seems to have eased it a bit.  Whilst Michael was home, Shaggy spent most of his time upstairs and apparently forgot to eat (the Vet thinks he may have Altzheimers too - more on that in another post I think!).  I hadn't really seen much of him, being up in Michael's room as he was, so was quite shocked to see him looking even thinner than before and seeming very frail.  He wouldn't eat his normal dry food, so it was off to Pets at Home to buy special 'Senior' food, wet stuff in pouches that is easier to digest apparently.  You'll be happy to hear that he is now eating again...quite enthusiastically as it happens.  My purse however is not so happy as this other food is quite a bit more expensive than Bakers Complete!  Together with the regular cost of the medicines that he will need to take for the rest of his life, he's turning into a bit of an expense.   What can you do though?  We love him, which is just as well because he has been a real pest this week.

Here he is asleep, with his tongue sticking out as he does nowadays.  He does look funny when he wakes suddenly and looks up with his tongue poking out at us.

"I might look asleep, but just look at the tongue out in concentration, the ear pricked up alert to potential intruders. "]

Weekend in Cropton.

Well, we're back home safe and sound after our lovely weekend away.  It was just what we needed, relaxation!  The cottage was beautiful and the owner Mike, couldn't have been more helpful.  Even down to getting his 4x4 out to tow us off the yard on Monday morning when our car was stuck in the very deep snow.  There was a wood burning stove in the inglenook fireplace and we made great use of that all weekend.  Very cosy and romantic :-).

We took books to read and I had plenty of knitting with me, oh and biscuits and chocolates of course :-)

My dream holiday

Now, coincidentally this happened to be the weekend of the Cropton Beer Festival.  We didn't know this when we booked the cottage - no one believes us of course but it's true.  Naturally, we were very happy to discover it, but we genuinely didn't know about it when we chose that weekend. Our plan, as such, was that we would just chill out and relax, pop to the pub a couple of times and stay in and cook one of the three nights we would be there.

So, after staying in with a bottle of wine and a beef casserole on the Friday night, on Saturday, after a hearty full English breakfast, we set off for a walk in the snow around the village.  It really was a winter wonderland, so beautiful.

The view from the Cottage window

Sheep in a field

The New Inn, Cropton

Naturally, after all the exercise, we felt we had earned a couple of beers so it was off to the beer festival.  We got there just as it had opened for the day so had the run of the bar in the marquee specially set up for the purpose.  Just take a look at all those pumps!  That's only half of the bar in the picture.

"We'll just start at one end and work our way down shall we?"]

I'm not going to bore you by listing all the beers we had over the weekend, suffice to say we tried a fair few between us!  My particular favourite was Cropton's Blackout.  A fabulous rich Porter which is produced from a 1930's recipe.  It's like chocolate in a glass....yum yum.  There was also a Biker's Rally on over the weekend and about 50 motorcylists had braved the elements for the event and many were camped in the field behind the pub.  Yes, that's right, camped!  As in tents and sleeping bags!  I was astounded that people would even consider camping in that weather but the ones we spoke to assured us that they were snug and warm.  I'll take their word for it I think.  We were also surprised to see how many other visitors there were from Hull.  We met people we know and saw quite a few others who we know by sight from The Wellington Inn in Hull.

On Sunday, we had a very lazy day and actually didn't move from in front of the fire all day.  I enjoyed some knitting and finally finished my Woolly Wormhead mystery hat B, just in time for the end of November!  I also made a dent in my Red 'jeans cardigan and am pleased with they way that's coming along now.  I'll blog about and put pictures of my hat up when I can get some nice ones.

On Monday lunchtime when we came to leave, we found the car well and truly stuck in deep snow.

There's a car under there!

I had to sweep the snow off!

Mike the cottage owner got his 4x4 out to try to tow us out but it was a struggle.  We had to dig more snow from under the wheels and try several times.  Eventually we got moving and once we were on the road, it was fine.  Fine, until we got within spitting distance of home.  Part of the road to Beverley was closed and we had to take a diversion, through little villages and country roads.  It got a bit hairy at one point when we couldn't actually tell where the road ended and the ditches began!  I would have taken a photo but I was too scared.  I also thought it might piss Patrick off since he was the one trying to keep us on the road at the time.  I know if I'd been driving and he'd got his camera out, I'd have felt like ramming it down his throat. :-D.  We were very relieved to see the main road in front of us, relatively clear of snow, leading to the main Beverley bypass.  We stopped in Beverley at The Green Dragon, for some lunch and then made our way home for a quiet night in.

A truly lovely weekend break.  Why are they always over too quickly though?

Yarnaholics not so anonymous

I'm on a yarn diet.  Yeah, yeah sure you are Jill!!   No, really, this time I really am.  Manda, one of the ladies who posts on the Phoenix Knitting Forums  has set herself a challenge, started a blog about it and invited us to join her.  I'm certainly in.  I have lots of yarn, as seen here (oh and there's been much more bought since that picture )and I have lots of things I want to knit with it.  Here are the rules copied from Manda's Blog :

1. if I knit then it must be from my stash unless it is a gift for someone (even then it should be stash if possible)


2. if some one asks me to knit for them they must buy the yarn (I don't often knit for others as a rule)


3. I can ask for and receive gifts of yarn (or money for yarn)


4. I can give gifts of yarn


5. I can swap or sell yarn (the money made can go in my yarn fund)


6. I can buy yarn but it must come out of my yarn fund.


7. I can earn yarn fund by knitting 1 pence for every meter of yarn I knit.  This is per finished item, UFOs do not count. If I finish a current WIP I can count this for my fund.

UFO = Unfinished Object, something you started to knit and it's not looking likely that you will finish it anytime soon.

WIP - Work in Progress

So, As a starter, I've been through my Rav queue and assigned stash yarn to most of the projects in there.  If I can't knit it from stash, it will have to be at the bottom of the queue for a while.  Apart from the hat I'm knitting for the Woolly Wormhead KAL, which I bought the yarn for before, everything I have in progress at the moment is using stashed yarn so I feel justified in saying I can add that meterage to my yarn fund when I finish them (eventually!).

So, wish me luck avoiding bargains and other temptations.  Yarn can employ very devious methods of ambush if you're not careful so I'll have to be super vigilant in my quest.

It's arrived.....

..and I love it :-)

Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend in shade Arctic

Knitting

I've been a bit disillusioned with my knitting lately.  I can't seem to get very enthusiastic about anything, I keep starting things and either leaving them or frogging after only a few inches because it's just not working for me.  I started Mr Greenjeans in some Patons Jet in a lovely bright red, this was after frogging the Central Park Hoodie I had started and decided I wouldn't like!  I also started, with enthusiasm, a February Lady  in Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in Navy.  I've been wanting a navy blue cardi and can't find anything in the shops so I was quite happy to be starting this and really looking forward to wearing it in a few weeks.  However, I'm struggling with it.  The yarn is quite...well, I don't know how to explain it really, just that it is difficult to knit with.  It doesn't seem to slide along the needles, I'm working on a circular and I've tried both metal tips and the knit pro wooden ones but it is such hardwork!  I have to stop every few stitches to drag the rest of the stitches along and it makes it slow going.   At this rate, it will be winter 2012 before I am wearing this cardi!!  I bought some of the very lovely Ethical Twist DK from Kemps and planned to knit Coraline, I swatched and then washed the swatch and..... have had nothing else to do with the project since, haven't even measured the gauge of the washed swatch.  No idea why because I was buzzing about that cardi whilst winding the wool and thought I wouldn't even be able to wait for the swatch to be washed before starting to knit. I frogged the lovely Clothilde because the Ranco Multy was doing nothing for the delicate pattern of the lace, I may start another one in some solid 4ply I have in stash but I've lost my appetite for it just at the moment.  In short, nothing has made me want to rush to cast on lately and the cardigans I have OTN have felt a bit like a chore, so it gives me great pleasure to announce that I received a little squishy parcel today which has got me a wee bit excited :-).  It's a skein of Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend in shade Arctic which is a lovely green, and with it I'm going to join in the Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL.  I've never done a mystery KAL before so am really looking forward to getting started with this.  Oh please let this be my mojo coming back, I hate being so lethargic and disinterested.

This week I have....

I saw my eldest son off to University on Saturday so it was a bit emotional for me but made much easier by the fact that he was looking forward to it enormously and settled in really well immediately.  He's gone to York to study Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence.  We had a time slot to arrive in, between 9.30 and 12.30, I was tremendously impressed with how smoothly things ran, considering around 600 students would have been arriving that morning.  Upon arrival at around 11am, we were directed to where we could park and unload, a lovely young lady who was a second year student came to meet our car as soon as we had parked up and introduced herself and offered her help.  Michael was taken to where he needed to be to collect his key and she helped unload the car and took us to the flat he will be living in for the next year.  The accommodation is all brand new having only opened last year.  Michael is in a flat for 12 people, all rooms are en-suite and the shared kitchen is huge!  After helping him to unpack and make his bed (his priority was his computer - no surprise there), we asked if he wanted to come and have lunch or if he wanted us to leave him to meet his flat-mates and get on with things.  He opted for the latter which, although I was a teensy bit disappointed at, I was also very happy that he felt confident enough to be alone in this new environment.  From subsequent chats on facebook etc, I'm happy to report that he is settled and enjoying his new life.  Michael will not be a party animal, that's not his bag but I have no doubt that he will embrace all opportunities that appeal to him and will enjoy a full and satistfying life over the next four years.  I'm very proud of him.

By coincidence, I'm going to be in York this Saturday too.  I am doing a Rowan knitting workshop on finishing techniques at Poppys, a beautiful yarn shop on Colliergate in the City.  I'm looking forward to this greatly, it is a workshop I have wanted to do for some time now as I feel it is often the sewing up and other finishing bits and bobs that let my knitted garments down.  I'm looking forward to learning how to finish more professionally as well as a good old natter with like-minded souls.

I always enjoy going to my knit group each month for the same reason.  I don't have any knitting friends that I see regularly, so it is always a joy to be among a room full of other women, all knitting and chatting, comparing our projects and sharing tips and techniques.  Last night at knit group, my lovely friend Shona had given me a ball of Merino so that I could knit the squares we need to take with us to the workshop on Saturday, so that's what I was doing last night and I've almost finished all four of them now.  In other knitting news, I finished my Ishbel and I am so pleased with it, it is really beautiful.

Ishbel for me

I've started Mr Greenjeans in red and frogged the February Lady in the Adriafil Soffio, I also frogged one of the summer tops, I needed the needles and when I tried to transer the stitches over to spare yarn, I got in a muddle and lost some.  I hadn't done much of it and couldn't quite remember where I was up to in the pattern either so it's no great loss.   I also started Clothilde in Arauncania Ranco Multy and have wound the yarn for Propello.

I have quite a busy weekend ahead what with the Rowan workshop on Saturday and then on Sunday, we have having a family party for my mum who will be 90 next week.  More on that next week.

So much to knit, not enough time!

Firstly, I'm not under any pressure, I rarely knit for others so it's entirely up to me what I knit and when. It's the deciding that's the problem at the moment.

I'm currently on the last leg of my Ishbel, I'll get it beaded and finished by the weekend I think. I have a couple of summer tops OTN which have been around forever and are likely to be around for much longer before I can be bothered with them again :lol: .

I really wanted to finish the Ishbel before I started anything else so I've resisted casting anything on for the past couple of weeks. I did start a February Lady  in some Adriafil Soffio Plus from the knitting group raffle but have decided that I won't have enough to finish it so that will be frogged, it would have been lovely, was knitting up a dream but I only have 5 balls of it and have used almost one whole ball and not yet finished the yoke. I need to find a use for this lovely yarn though. I also had started a Central Park Hoodie  in Patons Jet in a lovely bright red but have decided that I probably won't wear it a lot and will get more use out of a Mr Greenjeans in that yarn. My dilemma at the moment is that it takes me rather a long time to knit a garment and I WANT THEM ALL NOW!! I have some Navy Blue Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran which I can see as a February Lady, the red Patons Jet which is destined for Mr Greenjeans and I've just bought some Ethical Twist DK in cardigan/jumper quantities in both camel and baby cream, either of which would make a gorgeous Coraline . I also want to use the Soffio for something and I have some Rowan Summer Tweed to knit Propello, which is the KAL on the Wormhead Hats group on Ravelry. Oh, and I will want to join in the mystery KAL on Wormhead in November too. Almost forgot the Arauncania that I bought with Clothilde  in mind too.

So....you see my problem? Too much to knit and not enough time.

Gardening and knitting.

Tomatoes ready to ripen

My little back-yard garden is coming along nicely, considering that I really don't give it the attention it should have.  I do water it most days but haven't been overly active on the feeding side of things.  I should really because my tomatoes and cucumbers are abundant with fruit just waiting to ripen.

Little cucumbers

Whilst they were still very small, I thought they were not going to survive so I planted a second crop as back up, some trailing cherry tomatoes to put into nice pots.  Now they are growing too and I'm not sure what to do with them!  I have put one of them in a tall pot with some mini surfinas and a basil variety called Minissimo with tiny leaves to keep them company

Trailing toms, basil and mini surfinas

and I have another two that are still languising in their little nursery pots as well as a cucumber.  I'll ask Patrick, if he wants them as I don't know whatever I will do with all these tomatoes if these ones crop as well as the Latah.  Mind you, as they're not yet even flowering, whether they will fruit whilst the summer is still here to ripen them is unknown to me, being inexperienced in tomato growing as I am.  I also have some Pepper plants which are flowering and one or two of them have tiny fruit on, it's very late in the year now though so I'm not overly hopeful about the success of these.  I must be earlier with my planting next year!

Pepper plant in flower

Carrots, radishes and salad leaves

Finally, I have carrots, radishes and salad leaves, the radishes and carrots haven't come to much yet but the salad leaves are fine, pity they'll probably all be gone to seed by the time the tomatoes and cucumbers are ripe!

Ishbel for Coral

On the knitting front, I finished the Ishbel for Patrick's sister Coral a few weeks ago and she was very pleased with it.  Here it is blocking. I really enjoyed knitting this and I'm sure I will knit it again and again.

I decided to bead the last section to add a bit of interest.  I was particularly pleased with how it turned out as it was my first attempt at knitting with beads.  I knitted a little sample of the edge chart to practice with and also to decide which of the 4 different beads I had bought (because I couldn't make up my mind!) to use.  In the end I went for some dark green iridescent ones that I thought looked really effective against the pine green yarn.  The yarn I used was Cygnet Wool Rich 4ply in colour Pinemix.  Below is the beaded edge detail, the yellow things are pins not beads!

bead detail

 I am almost finished with my Traveling Woman Shawl http://feministy.com/patterns/traveling-woman/ and am now on the last section and adding beads for a bit of bling.  I'm pleased with this and have enjoyed it more as I've gone along.  At first, I wasn't getting on with the lace pattern, although I have to say it is incredibly easy to remember, I just seemed to have a mental block and kept having to count all the time.  It just clicked after the first repeat of the chart and I got along with it fine after then.  I really wanted to have it finished in time for the weekend because we are going away but I don't think I can have it finished and blocked in time.  I am also STILL doing the boyfriend's Hug Sweater!  Mind you, if I actually did some work on it instead of just saying I am still working on it, it might get done a bit faster!!  I can't say that I'm hating doing it, I'm not, it's just a bit tedious and there are so many other nice things I want to knit.  I know I will be thrilled once it's done and I can present it to P, I thought of knitting him a sweater because I wanted to give him a gift that I had spent time making....and believe me, I have certainly spent a lot of time with this one!  Once I finish my shawl though I think I will concentrate on getting it finished.  P just cannot comprehend the constant flitting from one project to another but I know that all you knitters out there will understand perfectly :-)

I'm still here!

I'm back again, things like work get in the way of what I really would prefer to be doing!

So. What have I been up to? Well, knitting-wise, I finished the waffly jacket and absolutely love it. I did forget to put in a buttonhole but actually I rather like it fastened with a shawl pin, it suits it. I'm also getting on really well with the Boyfriend Hug sweater. I've finished the body, all but the front neck shaping. It is knitted in the round so just the sleeves to do now. I've put it on hold for a while though because I am currently knitting an Ishbel shawl for my boyfriend's sister. It's a special gift for a special person who is ill at the moment and it means a lot to me that I will be able to give her a gift that is truly from me, with love. Flowers are lovely and chocolates are yummy but a handknit shawl is special. I am enjoying knitting it, it's in Cygnet Wool Rich 4ply in the colourway Pinemix and I am going to bead the last lace sections.  I think it's going to look quite fab :-)

I'm at work at the moment so will finish this short post.  I'll be back later with some photos hopefully.

Bits and bobs

Stash 2010



Here I am again, it's been a while, mainly due to my illness and then just generally being very busy.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to drag out all of my stash to see just how much there is when it's all laid out in front of me. You can see the result above! I'm trying not to buy anymore until I've worked through some of this but sometimes a bargain is a bargain and you just have to have it. I'm not actively buying put it that way, it's only if something jumps in front of me that I may succumb ;-)

Knitting-wise though I am almost finished with my Waffly Jacket, pattern can be seen here http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/mayer/mayer.html. I'm just doing the collar and then have to seam it. It's really lovely in the variegated Patons Jet that I've used. In between, I knitted a trellis beret from Woolly Wormhead, using Roman Romance from my stash I may add...polishes halo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35782787@N04/4564656977/. It also is lovely and what with this flipping horribly weather, I've been wearing it too! Next up I think is going to be Stolen Moments Wrap which can be seen here http://www.indigirl.com/blog/2007/09/simple-elegance/. I have some James C Brett Marble chunky in greeny-blue colours that I won in our knitting group raffle and I think it will look lovely knitted up as this wrap.

Gardening, my tomato, cucumber and pepper plants are all still doing well but I really need to pot them on soon and get them into my little mini greenhouse that my boyfriend put together for me at the weekend. The cucumbers are flowering already! We have done a fair bit of work in my boyfriend's garden too over the past two weekends. He had a wall built so that he could create a raised bed with a little pond and water feature. We had a tonne of top-soil delivered on Sunday and got the raised area filled, the bucket for the pond sunk in and all the plants put in too. We also planted up some hayrack type wall baskets (12 of them to be exact) and will hopefully be doing the hanging baskets this weekend so in the summer (hahahaha) it will be a riot of colour and we will have a pretty fountain to tickle away in the background whilst we sit and relax and enjoy our work. I'll get some pictures up when it's all done.

That's my update for now, I must try to keep up with this more often and to get pictures included too.