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.

Randoms for testing

I downloaded the Blogger app for my HTC a few days ago and wanted to check out the photo uploading capabilities. I just picked a couple of photos from my phone gallery.  These were taken during a holiday with my sons to Somerset in 2006.  They were taken on a little Samsung E-something or other which was my phone at the time and as you can see, the quality isn't fantastic.  I had transferred all my phone pics to the HTC using Bluetooth and the difference in the quality of camera is noticeable.  Having said that, the bottom picture of the Deep was taken with the HTC and that doesn't actually look that great either!  However, the Blogger app appears to work fine so all is well in Doodlywhatsits's blogland :-)

Lions of Longleat

Stonehenge

The Deep, Hull

I'm moving.

Only my blog, don't get excited :-)

I've decided to tranfer everything over here to Blogger.  I've been thinking about it for quite a while and a few weeks ago I actually exported my Wordpress posts into Blogger but then continued to use Wordpress.  Probably because I was familiar with the use of it.  However, Blogger allows for more social interaction than Wordpress seems to do.  It's far easier on Blogger to keep track of the other blogs I like to follow, there is the option of seeing them all listed in my dashboard in the order that they were last updated, so I can see if a visit is in order.  Also Blogger allows the Goodreads widget which Wordpress doesn't support.  From what I can see, I can still get the same site stats here, how many views etc as on Wordpress.  The only thing I think Wordpress does that Blogger doesn't, is to automatically update Facebook and Twitter when I have published a new post but I can share my posts to both sites so that's not a problem.  I just feel that for what I want from my blog, Blogger is the better option for me at this time.

Bram Stoker's Whitby

As you know I'm currently listening to Dracula courtesy of Craftlit, so when the opportunity to visit Whitby came up last weekend, I was only too happy to take it.  I love Whitby anyway, it's a pretty place with excellent fish and chips and some good pubs but the chance to walk the Dracula Trail and take the route that Mina and Lucy would have walked each day was just too tempting for a geek like me.  This blog post is mainly for the benefit of my Craftlit friends on Ravelry who do not live in England so won't have the pleasure of visiting Whitby and seeing these sights for themselves.  I hope you all enjoy the Mina and Lucy experience!
We arrived on the Sunday lunchtime and it was very misty so my first photos were not very exciting I'm afraid.  Lots of white stuff with some shadowy blobs in the distance!

Whitby Fog!

A walk around, a look in the gift shops and couple of pints of Theakston's Old Peculier in the Duke of York pub and then it was back to the hotel for dinner.  We were staying in The Royal Hotel which is at the top of West Cliff by the Whalebone Arch.  The original Whalebone arch was erected in 1853 so I'm rather surprised it doesn't get a mention in the book as the girls lodgings were very close to it.  This replacement was donated by Alaska in 2003 with a previous one donated by Norway in 1963 (what the hell do they keep doing to them?!)

 As we set out in the dark, for an evening visiting the local hostelries, I couldn't help but think of Mina, on that fateful night when discovering Lucy missing from their room, running through the deserted streets, over the bridge and up the 199 steps to the churchyard to rescue her friend.  Craftlit people, you will totally understand but for those of you who don't, yes I do know it's not real but  if you can't use your imagination, there is little point in listening to a story and I really found myself imagining myself as Mina, running frantically all the way round from the West Cliff to get to Lucy up there on the East Cliff. 

As for us, well we had a most enjoyable evening in a few local pubs and then slept well with no nightmares or sleepwalking!

And so to Monday, which was a little brighter.  After breakfast, we set out to find the Bram Stoker Memorial seat to start our walk.  We couldn't find it and I've since discovered that we were looking in completely the wrong place!  However, from photos I've seen online, we didn't miss much.  It is just a very ordinary bench but with a plaque saying that the view from there was what inspired Stoker to include Whitby in his book.  I did spot East Crescent which was originally called The Crescent and is where Mina and Lucy were lodging during their time in Whitby.  I couldn't quite fit it all in the photo, there were I think nine houses in total.

The Crescent

The first view we have is the one Mina had when searching for the sleepwalking Lucy.  Across from the West Cliff over to the churchyard and Abbey.   This is also the top of the steps that the girls would have walked down each day to go over to the East side.

View from the West Cliff Steps

View from West Cliff to East Cliff

View from West Cliff to East Cliff

Of course there wouldn't have been a Patrick (who doesn't normally look like a chipmunk, he's pulling a strange face!) or a litter bin and benches in Mina's day!

The Swing Bridge

Down the steps and along past the Fishmarket to the Swing Bridge.
Then down Church Street toward the 199 steps up to the churchyard.  Before tackling the steps though, we went onto Tate Hill Pier and Tate Sands which unsurprisingly is the little beach area next to the pier!  This is where the Russian schooner Demeter, with Dracula on board, crashes into the pier in a storm having been driven through the entrance to the harbour.

Harbour Entrance

Stoker based this storyline on a real-life incident involving the Russian schooner Demetius which had floundered off the coast of Whitby in 1885.  In the Dracula story, all the crew are missing and the captain is dead having tied himself to the wheel, when the ship crashes a huge black dog leaps from the bow and bounds up the steps to the churchyard.  Dracula had arrived in England!

Tate Hill Pier and Sands

The pier is the concrete structure at the bottom of the picture, just sticking out from beyond the second rooftop from the left and Tate sands lies to the right of it as you look at this picture.
Having looked around to make sure there were no large black dogs around, we took to the 199 steps.  That's quite a long way up that our Mina ran you know! Here is the view from the very top of the steps.

Top of the 199 steps

Once at the top of the steps and when I could breathe again, we headed off to the churchyard.  There are several seats all around and for good reason, the views are stunning and I can really see why this spot was a particular favourite for our heroine and her friend.

View from Churchyard seat

Enjoying the view (and the breather!)

We didn't go into the church and unfortunately the Abbey site was closed because it is out of season so we couldn't get up close and personal with the ruins which was a disappointment.  I took a few pictures of both though.

St Mary's Church Whitby

St Mary's Church, Whitby

Whitby Abbey

And of course, I was wearing my Wilhelmina Shawl and so had to have some modelled photos taken in the favourite spot of the heroine who inspired the pattern.  Please excuse the second photo...I appear to be in mid-blink!

The Wilhelmina Shawl

After all that walking about I thought Patrick deserved a drink so we went back down to the Duke of York, situated at the bottom of the steps, for a well earned Old Peculier.  The site of the Duke of York has had an alehouse on it since the Doomsday book, I think it's probably because the monks  needed a pint or two to help them up those steps!
We had a lovely weekend and Patrick was wonderfully patient with my current Dracula obsession, never once complaining about all the walking around and random photos.  I'll leave you with this one, which for me encapsulates Whitby completely.

Whitby Seagull waiting for the catch to come in!

For those of you who are not Craftlit people, I really cannot recommend this reading enough.  Heather has found some wonderful readers and each character has their own voice.  If you are not a crafty person and don't want to listen to the knitting chat, Heather now has another site called Just the Books which, as it says is just the books with no craft talk beforehand.  Go on, listen to it, I dare you!

WIPs and on the horizon

I currently have a fair few projects on the needles and am still wanting to cast on more!  There are just so many things I want to knit and as usual, not enough time to fit everything in.  I'm still working on the baby knits, I've now completed one jacket, two hats, the backs of two more jackets and a pair of mitts.  As everything in the pattern is written for knitting flat and seaming, I have converted the hat to be knit in the round and that has worked well.  However I thought I was being really clever and converting the mitts to be done bottom up, magic loop and two at a time!  Woah, learning curve overload!  I've found it to be really fiddly and awkward and they've taken me much longer than a tiny pair of baby mitts should have taken.  I think I'll just follow the pattern for the other two pairs.
In between the baby knitting, I've been working on the Wilhelmina Shawl KAL that I mentioned last time.  I am really enjoying knitting this, it's a very easy lace pattern to follow and it's looking good.  I also decided to swatch and cast on for the Maude Louise cardigan by Knitting Kninja.

This one has been started before actually and abandoned, over two years ago I swatched for this, couldn't get the tension right and lost patience.  Someone else on Phoenix knitting forum  has knitted it recently and made an excellent job of it which gave me a kick start again.  I've finished the back but I'm spreading myself so thinly with knitting at the moment that I haven't yet had time to cast on for the fronts. It's a really pretty cardigan and looks nice in the sky blue Patons Jet that I am using.

The last of the WIPs (not counting the hibernating ones of course ;-)) is yet another Horatio.  My 91 year old mum told me last week "I'll let you knit one of those hats for Andy, I'll buy the wool".  Gee thanks mum, you're so kind to me!  I don't mind at all of course, it's a lovely hat and mum's friend Andy is very kind, visiting her when she was in hospital and taking her out in her wheelchair.  I just found it very funny to be told that I was to be allowed to knit a hat for someone :-), older people have such a way with words sometimes.  I bought some yarn from Kingcraig Fabrics on Ebay.  It was such good value at £3.00 for a 100g (200m) ball of Merino/Cashmere Aran weight.  I'm very pleased with how it is knitting up.
Coming up soon, in 5 days to be precise, is the annual Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL.  I really enjoyed last years and despite being rather busy on the knitting front, I can't resist joining in this year too.  I shall be knitting pattern A, in the very lovely King Cole Baby Alpaca in a brown shade.  I swatched the other night and am all set to go.  Another KAL I really, really want to be a part of is another one from WWMDfK.  The Van Tassel Mittens KAL in the Ravelry group for the book is now underway but as I'm still working on the previous KAL from that book, I think I really should finish something off before starting anything else.  These are so pretty though and I'm wanting to practice colourwork, and I have yarn that I could use so I'd be using up stash, and did I mention that they are so pretty and...and...and...I just know that I won't be able to resist and will have them OTN before too long ;-)
I have given up on the idea of knitting the Spock hats for Patrick and his friends for Christmas, I worked out the time it would take and Patrick agreed that it's a waste of good knitting time for something that will be worn once for a novelty and then probably stuffed in a cupboard and forgotten about.

How fantastic is this hat?
You can find the pattern on her blog here.  It's also a download from Ravelry here.
So wish I could spare the knitting time for this!