Nimble II

my hands are starting to feel the cold even when I'm inside so I've rustled up another pair of Nimble mittens, but this time for myself.

I've used some leftover Twilley's Gorgeous bamboo yarn (from my Crazy Waves waistcoat) and some old shirt buttons.

I think as the weather gets colder I'll have to make myself a few pairs of fingerless mitts (for indoors) in different yarns and colours-I may have to devote a bit of time to searching around on Ravelry for suitable projects- how awful!

I'll have to co-ordinate my nail varnish too- I'm sure Jen won't mind me searching through her make-up to find just the right colour.... yeah right!

10 for 2010



ten totsy hats

 I thought I'd missed the deadline for the Innocent - the big knit appeal, but it has been extended to Oct 29th, so I've spent a little time, yesterday and today, to make ten little toppers for the smoothie bottles.

It's a brilliant way to use up all those little oddments of yarn and it raises funds for Age UK, keeping our old folks warm through the winter.

I've done stripes, pompoms, used beads, buttons and stranded colourwork this year- one hat even has 2010 on it. Some people get very inventive with their designs and the website has some fab Hallowe'en hats on this week.

My SIL does research into Care of the Elderly care and has received grants from Age UK to fund her research & development of nurse training (to improve quality of care) and I think it's tremendous that these little hats can do so much.

I also keep the Innocent fridge magnets from the juice boxes to mark my place on charts, not needed for these little beauties, but essential for complex sock patterns. Innocent smoothies help me to keep healthy and to keep my place, and together we help our dear old folk, who should be cared for when they are frail.

I'd better up my game and work on some fancier designs for next year. Vampire juice? whatever next!

cushty!



monkeys worn with thermal leggings!


The English language acquires, adopts and borrows words from just about all the languages of the world.
Cushty (or cushdie) meaning happy, or very good, apparently comes from a Romani word. I've used that word for most of my life and never known that!
But when I put my new monkey two socks on my feet, it was just the right thing to say.

I'm extra pleased with myself as this is the first time that I've completed a pair of socks within a specified time- I didn't quite finish the Milos in time for the Winter Olympics, and I only got one sock finished during the FIFA World Cup, but this time I have completed a pair of socks for Socktober. Go me! I'm not going to be silly and try for two pairs in Oct 2011, I'm not that daft  (erm..)



soft and squishy



The Ralph hat for St Mungo's is finished too, and hopefully the recipient will feel how soft and squishy it is and will think it is well cushty too. I tested it for size on D's head, and as he has rather a large bonce, it should fit almost anyone.

I was full of cold yesterday so took refuge on the sofa with my knitting, the football coverage and then The Princess Bride.

My team didn't play well, but held on to a narrow lead and beat Aston Villa 1-0. It wasn't the most exciting of matches, Villa squandered a lot of chances, but we defended well. David's team, Newcastle, did much better, coming back from 1-0 down to beat West Ham 2-1 and provided a lot of excitement and action. Next weekend is the first local derby between Newcastle and Sunderland in a while - hopefully it will be exciting and high scoring, and my team will get the three points! I'd better just knit/crochet something easy while I'm listening to that. A dishcloth maybe!

I hadn't seen The Princess Bride before and enjoyed it a lot- I liked the whimsical humour. I've given up on watching Strictly Come Dancing- it has settled into an all too predictable formula, and I never liked X-factor at all. I like listening to people who can sing rather than the autotuned automatons that the show highlights. So rather than watching what most of the UK is engrossed in, Saturday evenings are now a chance for me to catch up on some films that I have missed.

So, a good film, a glass of wine and my knitting- sounds cushty to me!

madhatters!



Ed Byrne




Some amazing cool and funny people are supporting St Mungo's woolly hat appeal this year, and I take my hat off to them all.







Martin Freeman



Without getting overtly political, the Big Society, which the coalition govt. is so keen on, is likely to become the Big Issue society and the billions of £££ of public sector cuts are going to create high levels of unemployment and most likely lead to increased homelessness in the UK. And this could happen to anyone (well, except for Cameron, Clegg & co.)






Ralph hat



So I'm knitting a hat to post to St Mungo's with my donation 'cos I'm grateful for the roof over my head.

This is a simple pattern for a beanie in 2x2 rib, (Ralph by Sirdar, and available in Let's knit mag) and I'm knitting it in Rooster almerino (yellow) with an oddment of lana grossa baby alpaca (green), so it's bright and cheery, soft and squishy and will be very, very warm. (Wed am was the first morning that I've had to de-ice my car- the temperatures are dropping fast)

 And I'll keep buying the Big Issue 'cos it's a good read, and it helps a lot of people get their lives back together. St Mungo's is big on that too.

getting to know you



Buchanan galleries

Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me

One of the fascinating things about having your child studying away from home is that it gives you the chance to get to know a new city, a new place.
Yesterday I took Jen through to Glasgow so that she could see the Glasgow Caledonian campus and the student accom. in Caledonian Court. (we also had a bag of groceries and a bag of warm clothes for Jack too!).



the gallery in the Willow tea rooms

 He was busy in the recording studio so we were forced to go shopping for a few hours (what a traumatic experience for a teenage girl!) and while Jen was shopping with her pal I went to a wonderful landmark for my lunch.

The Willow Tea rooms were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904 and retain the characteristic elegant restraint of Rennie Mackintosh designs.

The food was lovely too! I enjoyed a delicious bowl of cullen skink and a pot of CRM blend tea. It was an oasis of calm compared to the heaving throng of Sauchiehall St. 

Later, we met up with Jack and we were pleased to see that he is loving his Uni course, (he blinded us with sound engineering techno-babble) and he was pleased to see that we had brought him a fruit cake!

The two train journeys (it's about 50mins Edinburgh to Glasgow) meant that I got to knit quite a bit on monkey two, I've finished the gusset now and there's only 3 pattern repeats before the toe shaping. Not bad going!

I only got to see a small area of Glasgow this time, but I'm sure that I'll get to see much more over the next 4 years, and I'm sure that I'll take quite a few fruit cakes for the skinny boy to feast upon!

click to hear the lovely voice of Deborah Kerr in the King and I

oooh, look what I got in the post!

I love doing swaps, particularly across the Atlantic, as opening the package that comes back is always so exciting.
I was so late in sending my MAY swap in September (*blushes*) but thankfully my partner was very forgiving.

This wonderful package came today from knitr54 (aka Nancy) and it is stuffed full of gorgeous things-
undyed yarn and some mixade packets so that I can try my hand at dyeing my own colours- I can't wait! fat quarters (plus pattern), peeps, a felted purse, coconut M&M's, a baseball pez, some notions and the cutest stitch markers!

what a fabulous parcel to brighten up a dull October day!

Jen is hankering after the peeps- but she's not having them- they're mine all mine!

the show must go on!

we went to Newcastle yesterday to see some more of the Bard's work by the RSC- this time Anthony and Cleopatra.
I've never read this play or seen a production and only seen snippets from the famous film version by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor so I was pretty excited about moving into uncharted waters.
The curtain rose and a very apologetic set manager explained that the actress who was to play Cleo was ill and that Katy Stephens would perform the role in her place and would have to hold a script while acting.

o_0!!

Ms Stephens did a brilliant job, and received rapturous applause at the end.

Pompey plotting

It was a very good production too- The Roman Empire used to rule over many countries- Egypt included - in order to have control over grain stocks, which it needed to be able to feed its vast army. In modern times, fuel, in particular oil, is the driving force behind many political decisions.

The set looked like a huge rusty metal oil drum, Ocatavius Caesar was dressed in a very sharp business suit, Anthony was sometimes in a tux, sometimes in a suit, often in desert style fatigues. Pompey was usually in leather. Cleo changed outfits as often as she changed her mind! I was impressed by Clarence Smith as Pompey, Brian Doherty as Enobarbus , John Mackay as the cold, calculating Caesar and Darrell D'Silva as Anthony. I hope to see Katy Stephens one day when she is not thrown into the deep end at the last minute, as she can really act!

David, his Mam and I enjoyed this even more than we enjoyed Romeo and Juliet two weeks ago, but it was a bit of a stretch for Jen. Good job I didn't get tickets for Hamlet or King Lear this time!

Interim

- definition
"A transitional or temporary period between other events" from wiktionary.

There are many may charities/appeals which are worthy of our attention and it is impossible to help every appeal that is made. But this one at Interim House caught my eye. It aims to help women with alcohol and drug problems and one of the many positive creative things that it does is to teach the women at Interim House to knit.

I've never had the problems that these women are tackling but there have been times in my life when I could easily have used alcohol as a prop and I often think " there but for the grace of God, go I". Knitting has certainly helped me over the last 3 years and it is good to know that this package will help someone else- to keep warm and to keep busy if nothing else!

Crazycatladymel brought this into my part of the blogosphere and I think that this is a cool way for her to celebrate her birthday every year! Go Mel!!

one monkey two

first sock finished! yay!

the first time I knitted a monkey sock it seemed so complex and I had to concentrate so much, and now it seems so straightforward and fairly easy. What a difference a year makes! Last year the first sock took me 14 days to complete, whereas this has taken 10 days, and I've knitted Jen some mitts in that time too. Go me!

Even though it seems so straightforward now it still a fab pattern and one that I'm sure I will knit many times. It works so well and that's because cookie a is such a brilliant designer.

And it feels very warm and snuggly on my toes too, just as well as the days are getting much shorter and much much cooler. sigh. Oh well, back to the 2nd monkey!

happy happy joy joy

Florencio Avalos is rescued

The world has looked on with happiness and joy as the 33 Chilean miners are released from the collapsed San Jose mine in the Atacama desert.

The men have been trapped at approx 2,000 feet below ground for 69 days.

It has been a complex rescue operation and it is taking about 15 minutes to lift each man slowly and individually up the narrow tube back to safety (the capsule moves slowly so that the men do not suffer from "the bends" the compression sickness that deep sea divers risk).

Now for an unusual link (I bet no one else in the blogosphere links their knitting to the Chilean miners): my favourite knitting mag reached its 3rd birthday this month.
My Gran taught me to knit as a child, but I never really pursued it, I found it frustrating and often tedious. Although I admired my Gran's handknits, and in later years my MIL's knitting skills,and appreciated everything they made for me, I wasn't drawn to it. When I became ill with ME 6 years ago papercrafting became a source of comfort to me.

Then three years ago the papercraft mag that I subbed to sent me a preview of their new knitting mag Let's Knit and I was immediately attracted to it. It was bright, cheerful and modern, it had a range of beginner's and intermediate patterns, it explained knitting jargon, the patterns were in the main written out in full (psso? what's that?). It has taught me so much, has always encouraged me and never, ever, patronised me. Sometimes the mag is dismissed by others as too young in its style. Hmmmm. I'm 49 and LK cheers me up enormously. Age is a state of mind I think!

In the last three years I have knitted/crocheted 7 garments, 4 pairs of mittens, 7 hats, 5 scarves, 1 baby blanket, 10 (yes,TEN) pairs of socks, 7 amigurumi toys, 2 cuddly toys, 21 washcloths, 3 household items and 33 Christmas decorations. I have learnt to cast on in 5 different ways, and then cast off in 3 different ways, how to cable, how to knit lace, how to use dpns, how to use circular needles, how to increase/decrease, how to add beads, how to correct my mistakes. I think that's pretty good, as until then all that I had knitted were garter stitch rectangles for Jen's teddies to use as blankets.

Let's Knit introduced me to Ravelry, podcasts and blogging and kept me going when I was at my lowest, when the ME kept me trapped in bed or on the sofa. It has helped me so much, so I would like to say a big, big thank you. Happy birthday and many happy returns of the day!

and the latest project off my needles are the Nimble mitts for Jennifer. I makes me happy that I can make things for my kids to keep them warm .

There's some men's fingerless mitts, Felix, in the latest LK which I'll make for Jack so that he doesn't freeze as a poor student and can still play his guitar (I think I'll use the shadows zauberball for those, it will be better match than for the Rick socks). And the cover sweater Seraphina looks perfect for my Mam's 77th birthday next Feb.

That will make me happy being able to make her a sweater, and as it's similar to those that my Gran used to knit for her, she will be happy too.

Posh yarns and podcasts

got my first yummy stuff from Poshyarns today- oh my but this is lovely soft squishy stuff!

On the left we have Tallulah- a superwash merino sock wool, and on the right Messing Around in Boats-  a 2ply blend of alpaca (70%), silk (20%) and cashmere (10%). The sock wool is for my feet and the laceweight is to knit a scarf - Dalenni by Susanna IC -for my MIL.

I have been warned that Poshyarns are addictive and just the first squeeze confirms this.

I've got one Nimble mitt finished for Jen and halfway up the second and I think I could get addicted to knitting with beads too. (this is my hand, not Jen's- her nails are always painted!). I found myself in the Bead Shop on Saturday looking at beads and wondering how I could get them into any pattern rather than trying to match up beads for a specific wool/pattern . Oops!

As there was no footie at the weekend, I tried out some new (to me) podcasts to help the pointy sticks move along nicely.

A few hundred miles north of me we have Louise on Caithness Craft Collective.  I like Louise's cheery style and her mix of crafts, gardening, music and eco-awareness ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Rachel and Natalie at Cloudy with a Chance of Fiber play some fab music along with their chatter- I love their old time jazz mixes, it gives it a lovely quirky feel.

There had to be a podcast from Guernsey at some point (if not one from Jersey!) and i-make is a fun multi-craftual podcast with lots interesting insights into island life and Guernsey French. (was I a bit jealous of the scrapping weekend at a posh hotel on Jersey? why yes, I was!)

The Knitwits is a husband-wife team, is gently humourous (except for the last minute which is hysterically funny) and has probably the highest production values of any amateur podcast that I've listened to , but then the Wit (Rick) is a radio host IRL so it's bound to be good.

We've got a mother-daughter team in the Knitmore Girls- always well worth a listen and now we have a mother-son team, Abby and Ben, in KnitKnitcafe. this has started strongly and hopefully they will become as well established as Jasmine and Gigi.

The Well Knitted Life gives lots of helpful health tips and advice and confirms what we all know to be true- that kntting is good for you!

Over at Knitcents we have Roue with very practical help on making sure that we can all still enjoy our hobby/craving/addiction even when money is tight (when is it not? sigh).

I was listening to Kim's  Crooked Row podcast while I was busy planting tulip bulbs and perennials- knitting and gardening- what's not to like?

and cos I can't load the Anatomy of Knitting to my mp3 player (I would have to use David's mp4 player) I listened to it after doing some gardening with a cup of tea and my knitting- works for me!

..and two longtime favourites are back -  Lixieknitsit is charming the airwaves again with her fibre forays and sewing successes, and the Chrissy aka ManicPurl is getting some good healthcare for her wrists and can knit again- yay!

The football is back on tonight- England play Montenegro (I have my worldcup socks on already to ensure a good win!) and Scotland play Spain (hmm- I'm torn here, between supporting the country where I live, and the country where I'd like to live.). But if it all gets too dull/stressful/annoying at least I'll have some good stuff to listen to!

colour me happy!

the postie brought me this fab knitting book, today- The Essential Guide to Colour Knitting Techniques by Margaret Radcliffe . It's like a college textbook it's so detailed and practical!

I think I'll find this very useful and it was "free" as I only paid £4.50 /$7.18 in postage costs (it was an offer from Let's Knit mag).

It's very cloudy and grey outside today- hardly any daylight at all just very autumnal and cool, but the flowers are still putting up a fight.

I saw this pretty nasturtium in my garden and there's a bud still trying to open. It made me happy too.


I'm making good progress on monkey two, the heel has been turned and the gusset set up. There's no footie on today as it's an international break and England don't play till Tues. There will be a lot of podcasts listened to today

monkey see, monkey two

hurrah!

as expected the monkey socks are moving along nicely and the yarn I'm using (a regia mosaik colour) reminds me so much of the woods in October.






Autumn (Fall) is starting, the trees are mostly green but the leaves are starting to change to yellow and orange, there are still berries to be found by nimble beaks or fingers (blackberries, elderberries and red mountain ash berries), there are still some flowers too- pink campions and pink and white russian balsalm .
Today was a lovely sunny afternoon with vivid blue skies. All of the colours that I saw, as I walked Megan along the riverbank & through the woods, are flecked through the yarn and look great in the monkey pattern.

One of the (many) wonderful things about socks is that I can wear colours and patterns on my feet that I would not wear anywhere else. My skin tone is very pale and I suit cool-toned colours near my face (lilacs and dark purples, cool blues and reds) and wouldn't dream of knitting anything as warm and bright as this yarn to go near my face. Wearing warm colours when your skin is cool toned is very ageing, all the wrinkles are magnified and your skin seems to sag. But wearing the right tones is like having a face lift- your skin looks better, the wrinkles seem to recede. How to look 10 years younger? A decent bra and the right colours for your skin does the trick!

And knitting fabby socks does wonders for my mental health too!

Rick-rolled?

no, Ricks are frogged!

Sadly this is a mismatch between the yarn and the pattern, and even though I'd changed needles to improve the evenness of the stitches it feels like a slog. So, they have gone to the frog pool and I'll take on something else instead!



Monkey by cookie a
from Knitty Winter 06


When I was walking the dog today I was looking at the falling leaves and the mix of colours and I decided to make myself another pair of Monkey socks by Cookie A. (the first pair was felted twice by D, and ended up as legwarmers for the dog!).

I will make a pair of Ricks I just need to find the right yarn for that pattern. I also need to find the right pattern for the zauberball. I could be lost on Ravelry for some time!!

I resisted the temptation to link to Rick Astley singing "never gonna give you up!"  New found maturity? or laziness? not sure

but soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

we had a trip to Newcastle on Friday night to take Jen to see the RSC's latest production of Romeo and Juliet at the Theatre Royal. 

We left home at 3.30 and didn't get back till 1.30. so 10 hours all in all, and we were totally exhausted, but wow! it was worth it.

David and I used to see a lot of the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions back in the 80's when we had cash and no kids, and it's only now that we are able to indulge ourselves again, but only on the pretext that it's good for Jen's standard grade Eng. Lit. to see some live Shakespeare. (We would have taken Jack a couple of years ago, but the Theatre Royal was undergoing a refurbishment).

This was a very good production- although most of the cast was in Elizabethan dress, the star cross'd lovers were dressed as teenagers today- hoodies and Converse boots! This worked very well , and Jen (13) and my pal Anne-Marie's daughter (15) could really relate to the young folk, their teenage strops and frustrations, and the unbearable pain of separation.

Sam Troughton was tremendous as Romeo, but for me the show was stolen by Jonjo O'Neill as Mercutio and Noma Dumezweni as the nurse.

Of course, I was really dozy on Saturday, and managed to get the leg pattern wrong on my Ricks! Realising this I switched to the Landgirl top as I could just about manage 2x2 rib without getting confused.

I'm enjoying using the zauberball - it is very very soft, so we'll see how it stands up to being worn in my hiking boots. (The huge ball weighs 100g, is 420m in length  and should be enough for a pair of lady's socks, it's 75% wool and 25% nylon so should be robust enough, even for my feet!). So, today I'll just frog back to the cuff and start setting up the pattern again.

We're going back down to Newcastle in 2 weeks time to see Anthony and Cleopatra, so I'll not try to knit anything even vaguely complex the following day. I just wish I could knit in the car-  2 hours each way would mean I could get a lot done if it didn't make me feel travel sick!

socktober

I could hold on any longer, so as it's October* I've got the perfect excuse to cast on some socks.

As my socktober project (it's October + make some socks = socktober) I'm going to make myself a pair of Rick socks. The challenge this time is to make socks which are a mirror image of each other. Hmm.

And to make it a bit more challenging (o_O) I'm using this lovely wool from Schoppel Wolle. It's a zauberball which I bought at i-knit in London.

I've chosen Rick as the diagonal pattern reminds me of the modern glass buildings along the Thames in London.

Funnily enough, when we were at Dad's 80th dinner and I was telling him about our London trip, he said that he'd been part of the team which dismantled the turbines etc in the Riverside power station to make the Tate Modern . How cool is that?? Good job, Dad!!

I've still got a bit of a crush on London at the moment- whenever I see London scenes in films or on the news I get a bit excited. I'm trying not to get envious of David as I think he has two business trips to London in November.  I'll have to knit through the misery!!


*October!? how did that happen?