Stunning organisation

I read on someone's blog recently (it may have been the Yarn Harlot, I kind of lose track who I'm reading on Google Reader sometimes) that they have decided that they waste far too much time prevaricating over which stashed yarn to match with which pattern and thence end up being late for appointments or nearly having to travel with No Projects! Shock! So what they did was print out their queued patterns, put them in freezerbags with the appropriate yarn and fill a storage bin with them all. Then, when you need a new project, just put your hand in and see what you get, like a lucky dip. What a genius idea, I thought!


So here are my selections which are now parcelled up and some ideas for the next bucketload.




or the very similar






Using Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock in Vera (70) - a mix of blocks of magenta, khaki and stone. (Actually have just wound this and it's going to be quite bold colour blocks so glad I'm doing a sock without complicated stitches on it).


Frootloop using Sparkleduck merino/nylon in a hot pink semi-solid.

Nutkin using Colinette Jitterbug in Lichen (75) - sort of dark yellow. Although I am quite tempted also to use that yarn for Goldengrove.

Galder using Nimu Yarns' 'Tussmorker' (with two dots over the o) in a purple / blue colour from a 2009 sock club.

Hedgerow using Posh Yarn Esme in Keep Smiling Through, which is a muted sandy tropical sunset sort of a colour.

Love Bugs in Wollmeise Merino Superwash 'Walk the 'red' line' from same sock club.

I have a big skein of laceweight Touch Yarn which I'll probably use for an Aeolian,

(although it will probably end up this big...)

But the Vernal Equinox Shawl is also rather tempting.

I like the Torreyana too, but I think it looks best in some shiny worsted as below:

Tea Leaves Cardigan in Manos del Uruguay Silk blend in that rosey blend with flecks of green and gold.

Urban necessity gloves in Misti alpaca sock in a russety grey.

Knitty's Annis is on the next list:

And the Pea Vine shawl which is not yet released but on the way from Knitspot.

Other socks (if I can ever face socks again) are Rivendell, Ellington and Kalajoki. And the Vinterblomster mittens. Love.

What do you think? Any patterns you hate? Any suggestions for better ones?

I think I need to give up work and just knit!

Do you remember this post?

Look what The Man got me for Chrimbo:

He swears some computer hiccup meant that both initials came out the same. Double scary!!

Nice though aren't they? And very comfy! Hopefully leak proof and squeak proof. The old pair have gone firmly in the bin - hurrah!

Oooh, shiny.....

I thought I should also do a knitting roundup because there have been some Finished Objects happening, saints be praised.

First off, a baby blanket for Baby Cusack, due any day now. I started this in September and finished it on 12 December. You can imagine the joy...! I have learnt my lesson re baby blankets, don't worry.

It's called the Lace Panelled Baby Blanket and the ravelry link is here.

Very pretty edging but after you've knitted about four yards of it, you've had enough.

Need to work on my labels I think. I've seen some beautiful ones out there that people have designed for themselves. Something to do in the new year.

We also have another bear from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (rav link) which is going across the pond to some friends in Atlanta who have just had a baby girl.

I knitted him in a day and my shoulders really knew about it. But good to get that off the list.

Also finally got some time do to the Shalom cardigan! I bought some baby alpaca in the states, the last 4 skeins in this colour, and I was hoping and hoping that it would be enough. Well, I had a satsuma sized ball left after this, so it was perfick. Phew!

It took ten days of on and off knitting.

Love it. The yarn is the softest yummiest warmest cloud of gorgeousness, the pattern is straightforward and I think it looks rather classy, and more complicated than it is. I made a few mods (on rav page) but they were pretty minor. The yarn does shed a little so will be interesting to see what happens when I dare to wash it. May also stretch to bu99ery so I may be taking some friend's advice and fishing it out of the sink in a colander...

So then I was left with nothing on the go! (Well, socks didn't seem to count.) So I cast on an Ishbel with the secret santa yarn I got at knit group - RYC cashsoft 4ply.

And I'm also going to be making a Helena for yet another baby who has popped into the world. What is going on with all this procreating??? I can't keep up!

In other news, we have bought a house. I should be wildly excited but at the moment I'm 50:50 scared and feeling exhausted at the prospect of all that organising of moving over the gas, electric, phone, internet, sky, bank details, and the gazillion other people you have to notify of your change of address. And then we have to contend with a possible rewiring, boiler replacement and redecoration of somewhere much much larger than we're used to. Sigh. It's good timing though, because hopefully we can get all these things sorted out well in advance of the wedding. We have nine months, so hopefully most of it can be done by then. And the families have announced that we'll be hosting xmas next year. There may be at least a dozen. No wonder I'm feeling tired already by the prospect of 2010!

Meltdown

I’ve been squished. In fact, I feel like I’ve been run over. I just want to lie in a bed somewhere very quietly and hear the distant noises of birdsong and people clunking in the kitchen. The lurgy has not quite gone away, I have an eye infection which is truly delightful, and I went to see a new physio this morning who was excellent but my body is in a bit of shock from being cracked from head to foot (literally). She did say that it would take 72 hours to feel back to normal, plus this rheumy eye is making the world a little fuzzy and drunken looking, so on the whole I’m feeling a little under par. Roll on hols this weekend! Plus I’m feeling a little glum because the physio drew a picture of all that is wrong of my back and apparently from the rear I look like Quasimodo.

The Man did another triathlon at the weekend. I’m sure it’s all very noble and athletic but frankly you can keep swimming in a muddy lake at 9am on a crispy cold autumn morning. It wasn’t nearly as slick an operation as the London one but I think everyone enjoyed themselves (apart from those cyclists who didn’t know the sharp bends on the route and ended up stuck in the hedges or spreading themselves along the tarmac). I am no longer enthused to do one myself. Perhaps I should start a new event of walking, riding and tea drinking. Where is the appeal of voluntarily freezing yourself in skanky water, getting onto a bike while still dripping wet, cycling yourself into the ground and then going for a run?! Why?

Surprise knitting is coming along well. Preparations from the Whisper Cardi are experiencing a slightly more stuttering start. I decided to be a good girl and swatch, but have discovered that for some bizarre reason the Malabrigo lace is actually quite hard for me to knit with. Stitches get caught up and muddled and (gah) dropped. Is this what happens with laceweight on aran needles? I suppose the swatch is therefore good practise for learning how to handle the yarn before I end up with massive ladders on the main piece. I feel like a novice again. As Ted says, how discombobulating. It’s knit group tomorrow so I can see if anyone else gets the same problems, and I’ve also been instructed to bring the last two sock club skeins in for consideration. Mitts off my Wollmeise!

Also, this weekend, I learned what a modesty bone is. It’s kinda like a funny bone but different. I hope I never stop learning things, it’s what makes life so interesting.

Progress

I've been knitting these projects for so long it was starting to feel like they'd never end, but apparently some evil fairy wasn't coming along in the night unpicking everything I'd done every day. Here is the Debbie Bliss detailed yoke jumper with the sleeves attached, so now I can actually knit the yoke. I have to say the instruction 'join raglan sleeves' took me about 20 mins to work out, because it doesn't immediately say that not all edges will be joined leaving you with just live stitches, instead there will be an edge from the sleeve and an edge from the jumper that will be left with the cast on edge ready for picking up stitches from on the next round. Thanks for that. Perhaps a diagram next time?

On the plus side I decided to do it properly and looked up how to do mattress stitch and *that* was worth while - look how smart my seams look!

I can't believe I haven't done mattress stitch before!

Other project (also Debbie Bliss) has got this far:

My camera hates the colour, it's actually a lot darker and auberginey. It was looking very skinny but now it's nearly together I think it's going to be plenty big enough. The Ravelry comments from people about the blue jumper were that it comes up really big, and I did have to rip out the first start and do the smallest size, which I think is still going to have 'plenty of positive ease'. This purple pattern actually has sleeves but I'm going to finish it sleeveless as a gilet, so just do an inch or so cuff around the armholes.

*******SPOILER ALERT********

I have to say the latest Socktopus sock club parcel was brilliant. I am almost scared to type what was in it in case some rampant knitter starts hurling abuse and comes and burgles me, but it contained Wollmeise. Yes, that's right. The yarn that sells for £100 on ebay.

Cute little project / bits bag from ZigZag Stitches, and row counter from Atomic Knitting (there are instructions somewhere online for how it works, because it just looks like a load of stitchmarkers strung together at the moment), and great looking pattern.

Cute inside of the bag!

One more drool shot of the yarn. Don't you just love that rusty ruby red? I might just knit short socks so there's enough left for an Ishbel or something...

Big Catch Up

We got some last minute tickets to see U2. Here is The Claw with whirligig searchlights.

The work police have reclaimed my slightly bending the rules long-term-loan work laptop because they might need it in case of a big swine flu outbreak, so I had to pony up the dough and actually buy one for myself (first time ever!), so I bought a pink one. And an ipod. Which is also pink. Matchy matchy!

I'm not at all a pink person but these guys just were calling to me! Actually girls - the laptop is called Mary-Lou.

So, here are the WIPs:

The Third Time Lucky Debbie Bliss Yoke jumper. If it's wrong this time, just tough! Nearly got to the point where you separate for the arms.

Progress on the cable cardigan:

Sorry about the selection of colours here - I don't think the camera was loving the end of the day light.


And interlocking leaves socks all finished!

And now I have to show you the masterpiece of DIY:



Sock blockers from wire coathangers! I saw this on a blog ages ago and actually it works really well. Take a coathanger and pull the middle of the bottom wire down, and then fold back one of the angles and voila. Sock blocker!

Adjustable for different sizes with a bit of brute encouragement, and with hooks pre-formed for hanging. I am inordinately proud of these! Really must get out more....

Does anyone know the way to the garden party?

So, all the life coaching training courses are now over, and bar another 20 hours practise coaching I am qualified! (And what’s 20 hours between friends?) We also got a freebie course to learn how to become a trainer, which I think is going to be very useful at work; and I am picking up loads of practise at negotiation with this wedding planning. Argh. Input and suggestions I love, but then please, let me make the decisions? So, I am officially People Skilled up. Ask me anything, and see if I can give you something powerful and incisive in reply. (Well, anything bar nuclear physics or about the finer workings of an internal combustion engine.)

Learning to train was entertaining. We all had to do 20mins of training each other on something, so now I can make a cocktail, frost a cupcake, and have an inkling about photo compositions and swimming butterfly. Can you guess what I got them to do? Can ya? Yes, I got them all knitting. I’d forgotten how difficult it is to make sense of a tangle on a stick when you’ve never looked at stitches before. I had people trying to knit from the blunt ends of the needles, with the knitting sticking up rather than hanging down from the needle, knitting over and into the next stitch instead of slipping the just worked one off the needle…. Phew. And all in 20mins, less preamble! I was shattered! But good to realise for next time the things that knitters take as read that you actually have to point out to a newbie.

This was the view from the training room.

Right into the Queen's back yard, where they were setting up for a garden party from the looks of things.

We managed to coincide some breaks with the changing of the guard.

You can just see the brass band bits there. Good job the horses don't mind all the racket.

I’ve started the summer jumper. I know we’ve had our annual week of sunshine, but this is for Florida in October. I have a horrible feeling that although I measured my bust size properly (Liz can vouch for this because I did it during knit group in the middle of the restaurant), it’s going to be rather capacious. Possibly there’s not as much shaping as the baby cables jumper, which is my main comparison. Hmm. Anyway, it’s being done in a Twilley’s yarn called Gorgeous which is 75% bamboo (how terribly modern of Twilley’s!) which looks like being quite nice and drapey. Not as silky and floppy as the Soya yarn I used for Daisy’s hoodie, but not bad.

Uh-oh. Just found the jumper on Ravelry and everyone says the sizes come out big. I have a feeling that I should have succumbed to my inner vanities and gone for the smaller size – it was borderline between the smallest given and the next one up, but I went for the next one. But having spent three days worth of train journeys on it already, I’m not sure I have the heart to rip it. What to do what to do? Ah come on woman, where’s your knitterly bravery, people have ripped a lot more than 5 inches of st st. Just because you had that trauma of starting out and realising your lovely knitting-in-the-round was twisted into a mobius strip… you can do it again. Deep breaths.

This weekend The Man is competing in the London Triathlon at the Excel Centre in the Docklands. He came up a few weekends ago to practise the swimming section, which was just as well, as he now has tactics on how to avoid being drowned by other competitors. Watching him wriggle into his wetsuit is the funniest thing in the world, but hopefully he will be in The Zone at that point and not thinking about me unable to breathe from laughing!

Update: It's ripped. That'll teach it.

Goodness, where does the time go?

I knew June and July were going to be rather manic, but they’ve been fun too. The prospect of having a quiet weekend at home is beckoning though and I am soooo looking forward to it.
I’ve been on life coaching training courses, a hen weekend in Bath, helping at the shearing competition, to a wedding fair and a birthday party. But this weekend The Man is celebrating his birthday and I am not going anywhere. Bliss! A lie in! Time to tidy up!!

Knitting seems to have been on a go-slow lately, but the interlocking leaves socks are looking great, and such a cunning heel design! I’d not come across it before, but then again I’ve only knitted three pairs of socks in my life, but this is so cool – a sort of short row heel flap but the slipped stitches make it double thickness. I can see me using this technique again. I managed to finish one on the train back from the hen weekend, and am just about to turn the heel on the other. It’s all about being disciplined and not snoozing on the way home but making use of the time!

(I must ‘fess up to making a positive choice to take the train to Bath, rather than drive, so I could knit. I am turning into a true yarnie.)

The new Socktopus club parcel arrived last week, and I’m not sure what to think about it. OK, I still haven’t finished using the previous yarn, which is making me feel guilty for a start. But this one came without the extra goodies (for which there were apologies, granted) and seems to be a rather plain pattern with block colour yarn. It is an Ysolda pattern so no doubt with be full of hidden complicatude, so we will see. I hope the goodies are exciting when they arrive with the next parcel. I was disappointed with the last one I have to say – a few peas to plant? (I don’t even have a garden!) I’d heard great things about this sock club! So there, I’ve said it – I shall have to subscribe to that Knitting Blasphemies thread on Ravelry.

So you know of my quest to find the perfect Pride and Prejudice spin off? The other week I came across this:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

‘Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class conscious landed gentry?’ It’s had mixed reviews, not surprisingly. There are brilliant illustrations including Lady Catherine du Bourgh sending her ninjas against Elizabeth, and Elizabeth kick boxing with Mr Darcy. Barking. It was suitably ridiculous, but I have to sympathise with one reviewer on Amazon who said the good bits were the bits taken from P&P and all the badly written bits were the new additions about zombies. So you may as well save yourself £6 and reread P&P from the bookshelf. Although I will never look at Charlotte Lucas in quite the same way again.

So, while sort of on a Jane Austen theme, I have to tell you Bath is a lovely place to spend a weekend. Especially when the sales are on. But if you’re over that way, you must try out the new thermal spa, where you can actually bathe in the spring waters. It’s a great facility, four floors, two pools (one on the roof with great views) and one massive steam room with four pods, all with different essential oils, and a yummy restaurant. We also got around the Jane Austen museum, the Roman baths and popped into the Pump Rooms to try the water (which is much nicer than T Wells water), took a boat on the river up to Bathampton, and ate out in some great restaurants (Fishworks was amazing). The girls (bride and her sisters) discovered this bizarre shop called Hansel and Gretel which sold anything Bavarian and German, and had a strudel bar downstairs. They loved it. (On the other hand I discovered a bead shop downstairs in this little jewellery/gift shop which was amazing, but they were completely uninterested in. Each to their own!)

On Saturday night we were joined by John who apparently entertained the traffic stuck in a jam on the M4 on the way back on Sunday. He is so thoughtful.

The Man and I went to see Thriller. I’d spookily booked tickets on the morning before the news broke that MJ had died. I suspect tickets are like hen’s teeth now – it was booked out when we were there. Including some fanatical fan who kept shouting, ‘Michael! I miss you!’ until someone told him in no uncertain terms to shut up. It redeemed itself in the second half with an amazing dancer from LA doing the routines from Smooth Criminal and Billy Jean, but on the whole I preferred Jersey Boys. Jersey Boys had a plot, whereas Thriller didn't, and could have really done with one.

Mum and I went to a wedding fair near Maidstone on Sunday, and I think it was a bit of a revelation for her. I was quite surprised – she’s been involved in organising weddings recently, but there were things there she was pulling my sleeve and pointing at. We both tried on some tiaras and veils - I don’t see why she can’t have some fun too! And we found a really nice dress in the sample sale, which I didn’t buy because I’d probably be bored of it in a year’s time, but for 400 notes you can afford to run that risk and just bung it on ebay or sellmyweddingdress.co.uk if I changed my mind! Hey ho, it’s gone now. I must stop thinking about dresses and sparkles and concentrate on the bigger white thing ie booking a marquee! We are still in negotiations about that. I found this amazing company that does marquees with indian block-printed liners, but the quote was the GDP of a small country. There are other marquee companies which also do the marquees at the county show and other such events and are not very weddingy, but apparently they’re happy to put the bill down to hardcore (tarmac rubble) or cherry tree covers so you can put it through the farm books and claim the tax back. (Was I supposed to write that here?) So, we are still working on marquees. Will need to be inventive I think. And also check out our requirements in the way of generators, toilet trailers, chiller trailers, lighting and flooring. Then we can get on to the tables, chairs and catering stuff. Argh!

Just had a mail back from a photographer though so we will have a chat with him and see what he has to say.

Sigh. I am really looking forward to that Hannibal moment when I can suck on a cigar, smile, and say, 'I love it when a plan comes together...'

Major Achievement Day

(Apols, this should have been posted on Wednesday.)

It is amazing how a country like Britain, bearing in mind the latitude, can still be brought to a standstill by a little bit of snow. 6 million workers didn't go in on Monday, and quite a few didn't go in on Tuesday either. Ah well, who's complaining about a three day week?

We were down in Brighton on Sunday seeing this little one.

(How cute do they both look there??)

It was snowing, but not settling, but it's deceptive down on the coast, and by the time we got on the road inland it was getting pretty deep. We had to drop off The Man's cousin at his mum's before heading off home ourselves. We just about made it to his mum's, driving very carefully on ungritted roads, but once we left to get home to T Wells, half a mile from her house we couldn't even get up a hill (the wheels were just spinning and gripping nothing and we were drifting sideways towards a ditch, and you know how The Man feels about his motor...) so we had to backtrack and beg a bed for the night. Which turned out fine because the next morning we could do this!

There were absolutely no trains running, the entire south-eastern network was suspended, so Monday was a guilt free day. I could have limped in on Tuesday but the office closed at 12 so I would have been there for two hours, so I'm glad I cried off that one too. There is still snow and ice at home, and lots of snowmen in the park and children being dragged around on sledges by their poor longsuffering parents. The enforced stay at home meant that I got lots of knitting done (finished that blimmin babycables jumper on Sunday night!!) and also got to the hairdresser's but also meant unforts that our knitting group was cancelled last night (boo) and the Man's football has been cancelled a couple of times so he is grumpy and fidgety in the house and I have to warn him not to act like a two year old. Men, honestly.

Which reminds me, have you seen this? Too funny!

Man Chocolate

So anyway, back to work today. Nothing much happening here but the Major Life Goal that I have achieved today is signing up for a Life Coaching course. I've been fannying around about doing one for ages, trying to justify the expense, and one has come up with a good course but double discount offer as it's a newish starting up company, and I've negotiated even more of a discount (if you don't ask and all that) so I'm doing it. The rationale is that if I start now, I have some experience as and when I may be off work or working part time for whatever reason (babies) so I can earn myself some pocket money. I'm not envisioning this as a full time career (although if it takes off that would be ace), but I want to use my degree (psych) in some capacity as it's something I really enjoy. I will be needing some practise clients btw, if anyone wants to volunteer! (Not family or close friends though - god can you imagine?!)

So, due to the train taking fooooreeeeeeveeerrrr this morning, I am onto the cuff of Sock le Seconde, so hopefully will get that completed tonight on the way home. I am working out a pattern for felted egg cosies for easter, and might finish the one I started yesterday tonight, so then What Shall I Knit?? Here are the options:

1. Socktopus Club sock (which are pink bedsocks and not stoking my boiler to be totally honest)
2. Tank top in the green yarn I got in Sweden (home brew pattern which will take some work and swatching (gah, swatching))
3. Lace scarf in the Touchyarns laceweight (yum!) which I am scared to spoil (plus I haven't decided on a pattern yet)
4. New beret hat for mum. She has a brown one she knitted in the 60s or 70s which is very on trend but also getting a little tired, bless it. I think there are some really lovely ones out at the moment and she deserves something nice.
5. Pole shorts. I have an idea for these, which may require some planning but if it works might be quite amusing.

I need to decide because I need something to take to the States with me next week! Although as I can't knit on the plane I wonder how much will get done, so perhaps the socks would be the best option.

Speaking of not being able to knit on flights, How Will I Cope?? Are there any really good books out at the moment that will keep my wandering pressurised dehydrated mind amused for ten (count 'em, ten) hours? Or should I just take a sleeping pill and be done with it? Answers would be gratefully received!

Also, how many brackets can I use in one post? Just shows that eating only salad for lunch is not so good for constructing fluid and lucid sentences.

Big pictorial catch-up

So, as previously noted, I've been doing a bit of travelling. The week training in Paris was quite draining and as I've done quite a lot of sightseeing there before on other trips, I was happy to chill out in the evenings. However, one night I did venture out to see Sacre Coeur, which was very beautiful despite being in a less than salubrious part of town.



And another night I visited an old school friend who lives just outside Paris. It was of course lovely to see her, but also nice to see another old friend - a picture I painted when we were all 21, adapted from another painting (I can't remember what it's called though!) where I changed the characters to become myself (in the window), Sarah (on the settee) and Clare (being elegent and matriarchal in the chair). There are some glaring problems with the painting, the arches over the window don't match and the nets aren't level, and the cat (based on an old family cat) is proportionately too large, but there are also some pretty good bits, and I'm still quite impressed with my 21 year old self for persevering and finishing the thing. I think it took a couple of years to do in the end! It's nice that Sarah framed it and still loves it.

One thing I was trying to do in Paris was to finish some knitting projects, which I failed at miserably. I think I only did 8 inches of one sleeve of the baby cables jumper!

I have a question to you knitters though - for the sleeve that's done, what about the finishing? At the point I've got to, it should be bound off. I'm not sure it's long enough for me (clearly I'm a gorilla), so should I just do a plain garter stitch cuff, or should I do another cable repeat (which might make it too long)?

I think it only needs another inch or two, and I prefer my sleeves a bit longer so they cover the backs of my hands.

So, decisions.

Anyway, here is the yarn that I bought in Gothenburg - 300g of a sprucey dark green supersoft merino from Deisy Designs.

I also got some black cotton Paris yarn from Drops to make those hot pants, and (why, for the love of god, when I've joined the Socktopus club this year?) some more sock yarn. And some dpns that look like Knit Picks but are called Knit Pro, in the same layered multicoloured laminate.

Some other things from Paris - an Asterix comic book in French, and a very small Eiffel tower to go into The Man's new office fish tank. Obviously.

Oh, and I wanted to show you this, which The Man's mum gave us for xmas. The initials, I mean, not the cooker hood. They are just plain white plaster, but you can paint them. I was thinking of painting them gold, or perhaps (a bit too ambitious?) gilding them. What do you think?

Some more bits - moose things from Sweden! I had some more groovy things, but they've been given away as presents. A big swag bag of moomin things for Clare, some xmas decs for The Man's mum (special request), and another of those candle convection whirlygig things with moose on for mum.

So, we have a moose tray and coasters, and a branch pot stand, and a whirlygig thing with snowflakes on. I love the expressions of the moose on the tray.

Right, we now have a SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! Anyone in the Socktopus club who has not yet received their January parcel please look away now.

This was a very fragrant parcel as it was full of foot spa goodies! The pattern for the socks looks pretty complicated, I'm glad we get two months before the next one. Yikes. Well, they always say that a challenge is good for you.