finally done!

and here it is! I've finally got the buttons on the baby cardi..... hurray!!
I'm so pleased that I managed to finish a garment following a pattern. I've put this on Lets Knit and I'll have to put it on Ravelry too,

















as well as J's hat and my egg cosy.







The sock is coming along fine, I just need to work out when to turn the heel flap. Once I'd got about a cm on the needles it became easier to handle, thankfully.

J goes toWoolybacks

and I spend more than I anticipated , no surprise there then.

We got some smaller dpn's more suited to the Regia wool, some buttons for the cardi, some green yarn to make the Candy sweater from LK!5 for J, some more regia sock wool, ........and a knitted cowlneck top for J, total spend £39 . I had thought I would spend a fiver!!

As I gave in to her so easily I was more tired than I had realised, but then that is my own silly fault, staying up till 2 am on Ravelry.

2 am.

That's just ridiculous!

I'm going to have to be a bit more disciplined I think. Still I cast off the original sock attempt and gave it to J as a scrunchie and have cast on with 4 needles.It seems to be harder than 3, but I shall persevere.


Spring must be finally here as I saw a bumble bee when I was walking the dog. Great!

only the buttons left

to do on the baby cardi, hurray,and my first garment will be completed. I began it on March 2 nd, and all sewn up with pockets and edging by 25 th. I've cast on for the baby blanket in the same yarn while I'm waiting to get some smaller dpn's for the colourful socks. MRG and his 3 kids were here yesterday so a lot of tidying up before they got here, then 9 hours of socialising before I fell into bed at 11pm, shattered but happy. No knitting done yesterday though, couldn't even get on a pee-cee when the kids were here, but A was very happy being able to blab to his pals on MSN. MR was a bundle of fun, and D was his usual relaxed self.

joy of socks? not quite

Well I took the plunge today and tried casting on socks, not to follow a pattern as such but to get the idea of how to handle multiple needles. After 4 attempts I got it going but I think I'm going to have to track down smaller dpn's .The freebies from LetsKnit! are 3.75mm and possibly too large for Regia wool, which recommendds 2-3. Also the stitches get stuck on the needle and ,when I tried to slide them to the end, tend to need to much of a push and then fall off. A bit frustrating, and I don't think I've quite got the needles held properly. However, it's a start.
The baby cardi is almost complete, I started doing the blanket stitch round the edges but the wool was too springy, so now I'm just oversewing the edges. I got about a third of the way round on Saturday listening to the football. O frabjous day, calloo,callay! Sunderland managed to win away from home and Newcastle got the first win under Keegan, huge sighs of relief all round.

nearly there...

..with the baby cardi.

Finished the last bit of knitting last night listening to "The No. I Ladies' Detective Agency", which was great, except that I couldn't switch off the random mode on my Zen, and it kept playing the chapters out of order. It was a good job that I knew the story , so I could get to the right place, but it was very disconcerting to say the least.
I spent this afternoon sewing up the cardi and its starting to look very pretty. Just the flowers to do and the decorative blanket stitch and get some buttons for it. I don't know whether to start on the blanket or cast on some socks for myself, and I must finish the chicks as well for Easter.
When I was out walking the pooch I saw the heron sitting by some pools, probably waiting for frogs. It was the real heron, not the model for the kids treasure hunt. Sadly my phone camera didn't take a good enough picture to show it clearly. They are such big birds; I hope the frogs stayed well hidden in the mud.

Had a wonderful time listening to Tony Robinson reading "The Wee Free Men". ( so much so that I didn't even watch Numb3rs.)
He captured Tiffany's sense of frustration and anger really well, and Rob Anybody and his crew were hilarious. I enjoyed "Guards !Guards!" read by Nigel Planer: Nobby and Colon were spot on, although I thought Vimes was a bit nasally. I imagined him to have a drier tone, a bit like John Thaw doing Morse. However, it was very enjoyable knitting along to it. The sleeves are nearly finished on the baby cardi, just the decorative pockets and flowers to make before putting it all together.

I've been so engrossed in that ( and wittering away on different forums, ahem ) that I hadn't even booked our hotel in Madrid, much to D's concern. However, that has been done now, and we'll be staying in the Asturias in the heart of Madrid. I can't wait! What is the spanish for knitting anyway?? Should I take a sock before I go?

I had to start the scarf again, as using ye olde pee-cee is so slow. I've made it narrower, and I'm trying to keep the loops spread out on the needles. It is not easy. It could be lovely when its done, if it ever gets done.

I've spent a bit of time loadng up stuf fto my Ravelry notebook, organising my stash, as it were, nd I probably could usefullly spend time organising patterns, but then that will be less time for the actual craft. Wish I didn't need to sleep so much...

just keep knitting

just keep knitting as Dory from "Finding Nemo" might say..

and I have and I'm making progress too. The cute baby cardi is coming on fine , left and right front and collar now complete, and started on the sleeves. I'm quite chuffed with myself. I've been listening to Guards Guards too, and haven't yet needed incontinence pads or a trip to an eye surgeon. Also good. This might not remain true if I listen to anything with the Nac Mac Feegles in.
J1 thought the Knitters Guild of Ankh Morpork sounded a lot of fun, I might have to knit him a Death of Rats...
Football not going well, although sunderland were quite good against Chelsea, we got beat 1-O, Fulham won and Wigan climbed to 12th. Toon play tonight against Brum .....better not knit while I listen.

Oh no , they drew, they go up a place, we go down one.

Discworld and knitting?

Ravelry just gets better! I've whiled away a happy hour reading stuff on the Knitters Guild of Ankh-Morpork ( and of course joined the guild). The only trouble is there will be less time for knitting..Waily waily.. I need some L-space..

However have just downloaded Guards!Guards! From Audible so that can get my Pratchett fix while I knit, it could be dangerous though, might poke my eye out with a needle if I'm laughing too much.

successful shaping

....pt 1.

Well that's the back and the left front of the baby cardi done. I managed to follow the instructions for the shaping reasonably well and it looks the way it should so I'm quite pleased.

I cast on the right front straight away so that I won't put it away and forget about it.

Nothing done on Thurs as getting J1 ready for his jaunt to Cheltenham, and hadn't done my Spanish homework either.

Friday was harassing, we missed his train and had to put him on the next one 35 minutes later, and it took slightly longer as he had to change at Birmingham New St, which is probably the most oppressive station in the UK. However, he got to Cheltenham OK.

Still using ye olde pee-cee ,although the new one is back, it has taken D 4 hours to get it working properly. The sound card seemed less than keen to get started.

I know how it feels.

I have just frogged the glam scarf as I got in such a knot with the stitches, the yarn became jammed on the needle. when I tried to pull a little back to correct it the whole thing fell off. Back with the frogs, and that beautiful eyelash yarn has been rewound into a ball. Damn!

can't type..

and knit at the same time after all.

I foolishly tried to catch up on some blogs while knitting my lovely baby cardi. Clearly I'm now such an experienced knitter ( I'm on Ravelry, after all) that this would be a sensible use of my time. It wasn't . When I picked up my knitting to continue with it while listening to the footie results I realised that the tension was going in a couple of rows, and I'd manage to split the yarn in a couple of place. Where are those frogs again?

OK, now back on track while listening to Chelski thump Derby, Pompey thankfully beat Brum and Villa manage a very lucky point against Boro. Chelski go to Sunderland on saturday, oh dear.

So yes, listen to stories, the footie, watch TV, but don't try to read blogs and post comment sat the same time. Who knew?

lost in Ravelry

had a wonderful time last night putting stuff in my notebook on Ravelry. I'll have to take care that my knitting time doesn't become web time instead....however its a fantastic resource. But I was too excited last night and didn't sleep too well after my initial foray .
Lets Knit 5 out today, full of good stuff of course, full of fizz and fun, perfect for newbies I think.

eeeeeeeek!

I'm on Ravelry! how exciting is that!!

not much knitting done

....but a lot of links added to my blog.

I didn't knit much yesterday, except for a few rows on the mad scarf while waiting for ye olde pee-cee to boot up . AG was round to give J1 a belated birthday present and was amazed by my extreme knitting needles. they are 75cm long, circ 24mm. I shall go and see her new lovebirds on thurs.

I did enjoy loading up loads of new links to my blog, and reading some other wonderful blogs too. I see other sites have sound too, so I must see how I go about doing that too. Lets knit! now has its own forum separate from CB, and the latest issue should hit the stands this week.

I took my pooch Megan for a walk in the woods this afternoon to see if I could see some more frogs in the ponds, but the rain came on

and the frogs sensibly hid in the mud. But we did see some last week, and I took pictures to prove that they weren't figboxes of my imagination.

There were more frogs there but Megan made so much noise that they all had at least 10 minutes to hide in the mud.
I enjoyed seeing all the drifts of snowdrops too.
When we first moved to Pencaitland I didn't realise that the woods were full of snowdrops, despite moving here in Feb 1996 ( the day before J1's 3rd birthday), and I asked Mam for some snowdrops in the green to put in my new garden, and they were the only ones that grew there. When we moved into Scholars court I was convinced we would have loads of snowdrops appearing as I remeber the old playground site had loads of snowdrops. But only 2 have appeared in my garden, and I've had to send off for snowdrops in the green to put in this garden. There's still thousands and thousands down the woods though...

fun at the SECC

J and I went to the Creative Stitches show on Sat 8th and had a fantastic time. The absolute highlight for me was seeing the Gingerbread House. Photos do not do it justice. It is gorgeous , breathtaking and wonderful. We bought the book "In Praise of Ginger", a knitted gingerbread man( for J), a knitted sweetie keyring ( for me) and some photos and signed up to knit for the next project, an underwater tableau for the RNLI.

I did manage to knit some Easter chicks on the train to Glasgow ( public transport is marvellous) and was drinking coffee and reading Knitting mag on the way back. Very civilised, and better , much better than driving.
I enjoyed the WI display of handicraft over the years and saw a piece from Shincliffe village which was a patchwork collage about the mine closures. It was very dramatic. I thought that the portrait in Lace of HM The Queen was amazing, and a stumpwork piece for the millenium depicting a village and all its characters was charming. We spent most most of our time in the Creative Stitches hall and only about 30 mins in the Hobbycraft hall. The papercrafts left me cold this time. Years ago, the reverse would have been true.

I did buy some sizzlits to make some birthday cards on Sunday, but I was irritated by how long it took to do, I kept thinking I could be knitting & listening to the footy instead.

Not a good weekend for the lads, both the Magpies and the Cats got beat and are plummeting down the table. Still, Man Utd and Chelski got knocked out of the FA cup! Semis are Pompey vs Baggies and Barnsley vs Cardiff.

making progress while listening to...

... Champions league football. A good week for Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea, making it to quarter finals beating Milan, Lyon & Olimpiakos respectively, ( Liverpool to play next week against t'other Milan), and a good week for me as I finished the back of the baby cardi and cast on the left front. It looks and feels lovely, I'll just have to take care when finishing it to make it as good as possible.

AG came round for a cuppa yesterday and it was great to see her. A few years ago she had almost the whole village knitting teddies to send to Belarus for the Cherobyl kids. She's sent info to her mum JL in Elgin for the shawls for sleeping babies. JL's Church has done a lot of knitting over the years to support various charities , and she can rustle up items in a blink of an eye. She's quite inspiring.
AG and I were talking about Valerie and how she encouraged us all at our monday night craft group. Val is such a kind lady and so generous with her time and knowledge. I still miss her, I never did get down to the Borders to see her.

computers can be so frustrating...

....at times so while I wait for pc no.2 to boot up, or the world-wide-inter-web freezes I've started to knit at the computer table.

Not my pretty baby cardi but a scarf for myself which is very frustrating too. The yarn is an eyelash type and I cant always see where the loops are, although I didn't have as many problems with J2's scarf, or did I?

My memory is not what it was. Nor are my eyes.

gorgeous yarn...

....makes such a difference. I really enjoyed myself last night knitting for an hour 45 with the Debbie Bliss babyCashmerino. It feels so smooth and silky. It is knitting better on the bamboo needles too, rather than the dpn's with beads on the ends.Funny that.










I was watching "Life in Cold Blood", the latest Attenborough wildlife doc. It was amazing, I never knew crocodiles could be so interesting.
As I'm so impressed with the Cashmerino I've been back online to http://www.stashfineyarns.co.uk/ and ordered some more to make the matching blanket and reduced price cashmere to make David a scarf, he's not escaping.

to boldly knit...

I finished J's cushion yesterday and am pretty confident that there will not be another cushion like it in the world.

She choose the colours and I used the "granny squares" theme to try out different techniques.

I used garter, stocking, rib, moss and cable stitch. I knitted horizontal and vertical stripes, I knitted dots ( intarsia?), made button holes and picked up stitches to add extra pieces.

I tried 2 diff techniques to join the shapes.. mattress and backstitch.

J loves it... .............................................either that or she's being very kind to her Mam!!

J's done very well out of the knitting craze, she's already had 2 scarves and a hat. I've got a phone sock and an egg cosy, J1 also has a phone sock , D has been spared........ well there are limits....

Now that's that is done I've started some grown up knitting, following a pattern from Let's knit (1) a daisy cardigan for a baby. I was moved to tears by an article about babies in South Africa being wrapped in newspaper so I decided to a charity knit.

I ordered wool from www. stashfineyarns.co.uk and got some reduced price Debbie Bliss baby Cashmerino. Charity knits need to be natural yarns and not white so this seems like a good choice. How different using this compared to standard acrylic yarn as used for J's cushion. It feels fabulous to hold, but is less forgiving of mistakes.

The pattern is a simple garter stitch cardigan, and I had to frog the first 2 cms twice because I could see some mistakes ( I was trying to watch Larkrise to Candleford at the time) Then I realised that I didn't have the two sizes of needle required , ( note to self, read the pattern in full in future...) despite inheriting my Gran's stash of needles ( no yarn sadly)... so I improvised by using dpn's with a large bead on the end to stop stitches from sliding off.

So today I went in search of some 3.75mm needles and visited a different shop in Musselburgh. It was a traditional shop, with 2 mature ladies running it, who seemed irritated that I had come in and weren't too chuffed that I wanted to browse.The usual yarns were there, but nothing amazing. I really appreciate the people in Woolybacks in Tranent. They are friendly and chatty and there's a sofa and coffee to be had. They stock Debbie Bliss and some of the new eco yarns, and they look pleased to see you when a novice timidly totters in...

I'm looking forward to the craft show next weekend.... presumably the stallholders will be more friendly there.