catching up (slowly)

I sat outside in the sunshine today and finished off my 5th Pratchgan "square" for the book Sourcery.

The centre shows the flying carpet which Rincewind the wizard uses to fly back to Ankh-Morpork (look closely and you might be able to see the dragon pattern).

Around it are some glass banana beads for the Librarian, a dog button for Wuffles the Patrician's dog and a shimmering sphere for the special magical world which Coin creates and then escapes into. The faded orange/red edge represents Rincewind himself. I'm trying to give the Pratchgan a coherency through the coloured edges representing different characters, as each square is going to be very busy with all the cartoon elements and bits & bobs sewn on.

The finished Pratchgan ( 36 squares?) is not going to be suitable as a blanket as I'm putting on so many embellishments in bead and button form, but it's going to make a fantastic wall hanging. I have to give credit to J2 for this idea- she's even told me where it should hang in the house. ( I think she's been watching too many design programmes!)

So that's 5 squares done ( & I should be nearly finished no 9 this month! Ooops!) and I'm planning on casting on the 6th for Wyrd Sisters this week, but before I do I have a little secret something on the needles in teal cotton.

I've listed this on Ravelry as a secret project- just to torment and tease someone. Will he /she be able to guess what it is??

flights of fancy

I'm having noisy fun with my latest Pratchgan square for Sourcery.

Using so many colours at once means that the yarn tags clicks together madly as I knit and I feel like I should be starting to click my heels in time ! The central motif is a flying carpet which Rincewind uses to fly back to Ankh-Morpork aided by the lovely Conina.

Flying carpets seem to be so much more comfortable than the witches' broomsticks, much less draughty and more space for carrying other people and a flask & sandwiches (save the world, but not on an empty stomach!).

I've been listening to Dickens' Hard Times while doing this which is quite ironic as one of the main characters (Gradgrind) sees it as his duty to stamp out all fancy and imagination from children and that people should act only in a rational, logical manner. No flying carpets for him, only the statistics of how many carpets are produced by which mill and exported to which country.

I laughed out loud when I heard another character Josiah Bounderby describe himself as "a self made man, ...born in a ditch, ....beaten by a drunken grandmother, ...having no shoes and not knowing what stockings were..." and wondered if this was the inspiration for the Four Yorkshiremen sketch where the men compete to see who had the hardest upbringing :

"Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!"

The Pythons have always been the masters of flights of fancy! I would doff my cap to them- if I were lucky enough to 'ave one....

The Apprentice

no, not Suralan's TV prog, something funnier.

This square represents the book Mort for my Pratchgan.

Death takes an apprentice, Mort, and then Death takes a break from work, tries alcohol and ends (bottle & glass) up working as a short order chef, (represented by the chef's hat) which oddly enough he really enjoys.

I got this crazy skull charm (for his drinking session) from Claire's, which is a great place for funky charms and beads for this blankie. ( this will be a decorative piece rather than on someone's bed!!)

Mort gets too involved in people's lives and prevents the murder of a princess but this distorts the sequence of time.

There are two wedding rings too, but I'm not saying who gets married to whom!!

Today I'm listening to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, narrated by Martin Jarvis who does a brilliant job with the myriad of voices. I've never read this book, although I've seen Oliver! and BBC adaptations. I'm riveted by it (although I keep bursting into song!!).

you cunning rat!

I think that Rodney Rat is taking the mickey, or at least the bait from the sprung traps anyway. How did he do that? I nearly broke my thumb just setting the traps , yet he looked fine sat among the plant pots, chomping away...

So, lots of interesting blue pellets have been put by his front door, by the compost bin, under an old piece of wood near his favourite plant pot, and some dropped right through the decking, which is where he lives.The guy in the tackle shop who sold me the rat poison has said that living under the decking is a favoured place for rats these days.... who knew they were so fashion conscious?

The boys enjoyed their jaunt to Newcastle last night, & even though the Toon was beaten 2-1 by Manchester Utd, the team played well. It was very cold though, and a sudden hailstorm meant that ground staff were clearing the pitch shortly before the match.

The other results didn't help either: Hull, Stoke and Spurs won and Rovers managed a draw. Sunderland were beaten 2-0 at Anfield on Tues night. Sunderland are now 14th with 31 points, Newcastle are 16th, only a point above relegation, with 28 points. The next few weeks are going to be very tense!

I got a few rows done of the Mort square while listening to the footy commentary on 5live, and finished reading Sourcery when I went to bed.

2 out of 5 ain't bad..

Wes Anderson gets the winning penalty
the unstoppable juggernaut that is Manchester United just keeps on going.

I enjoyed listening to the Carling Cup final yesterday and it was a good match, with lots of chances for both Man U & Spurs, so it was a shame that it had to end on penalties.

Jonny Evans (who had been on loan to Sunderland for a while) had good match , & Ronaldo was booked for pouting, so there was lots to keep me entertained.

The rest of the football results were less than helpful for Sunderland or Newcastle. The Black Cats didn't play (so presumably we should have been playing Spurs or Man U), but the Toon contrived to lose against Bolton, Boro managed to beat Liverpool 2-0, Stoke grabbed a last minute equaliser and a point from Villa and Rovers pummeled Hull into submission. The only joy was in seeing West Ham beat Man City (and seeing Mark Hughes whine about it afterwards!).

Three teams are on 28 points just above relegation (Spurs, Toon & Pompey)and 3 are on 26 point (Rovers, Boro, Stoke), with the Baggies still at the bottom with 22. It's horribly close. It is always said that 40 points is the magic number for safety, the Black Cats at 12th have 31 points, and I don't feel safe at all.

I managed to make some progress on the Pratchgan square for Equal Rites, the design for Mort is charted and I've just started reading Sourcery... not that I've slipped behind or anything...but March is the month for Wyrd Sisters. Thankfully there's plenty of 'casts and football to listen to this week!

2 out of 5, with apologies to Mr Meat Loaf, refers to the number of competitions that Man U could win this season, having won the World Club Cup they can still win the Premier League, the FA Cup & the Champions League. They are a bit good.

I'll take a point..

the Black Cats got a very valuable point at the Emirates, holding Arsenal to a goal-less draw.
Arsenal fluffed their chances (they prob'ly should have won 2-0) but they had not taken into account the difficulty of running round Andy Reid - keeping scoffing those pies son! Kenwyne did his best to score but Arsenal don't let many people past to the goal.This puts us at 10th (woohoo! mid-table mediocrity at last! ) with 31 points, 8 points clear of relegation.


The other results went our way, with Boro drawing at home and Stoke & Pompey drawing too. I had to feel for both Pompey and Boro as the refs' decisions didn't help them at all, and Sunderland have had more than their fair share of those..

Man Utd remain top on 62 points,and Blackburn, Boro and the Baggies remain at the bottom. Of course, there are still 4 games to play tomorrow, so things could change. The Baggies could climb out of the dead zone, the Toon could fall further towards it. (I hope not! I don't want the hubs to be too depressed!).
From the sublime to the ridiculous ( or is it the other way round?I can't be sure?):
I managed to get a copy of Vogue Knitting today (winter 08).

I'm not capable of knitting anything much from this, but I love to admire the designs in there.
This time my eye has been caught by this blue jacket:

I like the detail on the shoulder, and the shaping at the waist. It has a kind of formality but with a bit of a twist, which I like. One day, one day, I will be able to tackle projects like this, and in the meantime it's good to admire them.


I'm still trying to track down a copy of Yarn Forward (iss 11). I'm reluctant to take on another mag sub, so it is becoming a bit like hunting a wild beast trying to find a copy, while Borders does get Vogue, it doesn't seem to get Yarn Forward, so I might have to track for spores around Edinburgh to find it.
I think I need a trip into town this week.. if I have any energy after J2's party tomorrow !

There was a little bit of progress on sock2 yesterday, I'm almost at the toe for shaping. When I finish I must get on with my Pratchgan squares. I realised that I don't have a copy of Sourcery and had to get it from the library, so when I'm lying on the floor tomorrow, after the party with the dotty pre-teens, I can lose myself on the Discworld and regain some sanity!

just call me Hopalong

cos the first sock is done! woohoo!

and very cosy it is too.


The postie was very kind to me today bringing me two parcels: one from Stash fine yarns (some gorgeous Debbie Bliss soho), and the other "Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate knitting book" which is an absolute treasure trove of information, and was a big distraction from actually doing some knitting this morning.......

However D was off work today, so we walked the dog together this afternoon (which confused the dog! I can't remember the last time we walked her together!), and after some cool fresh air I was motivated to getting the needles out again. (there's nothing like cool air to make you want to get to grips with wool!).

So, to avoid second sock syndrome I'm going to cast on the other one straight away, although it will probably take a little longer as we'll be heading down to Durham at the weekend and I cannot knit in the car (even at my advanced age, I still get car sick if I'm not looking straight ahead,).


I also need to re-read Sourcery by Terry Pratchett for the Pratchgan KAL and I'm way behind on my squares, as I devoted the time to knitting J1's BSJ hat (but that was worth it and his pals think it is very cool! woohoo!).


Financial news : British bankers say sorry to theUK government but claim that the banking problems were not their fault. Well, whose was it then? And what were they doing? Gah!

Speedy!

I may have to change my blogger name to "Susethefasterknitta- Ifsheusessoftieyarn" as I can't believe that I've completed the back of the cardi already.

Yes, I know it's a thick yarn, and yes I know that I'm using 10 mm needles but this is amazing! (well, to me anyway!) I must seek out more fat yarns ! And fat yarn sock patterns too.

Well, the kids were back to school today and it was still dark when they left the house at 8 am for the school bus. I scoured some charity shops for knitting books but to no avail, I might have to try further afield to track down some bargains.

I've been looking for a copy of Interweave Crochet magazine , and I can't find it locally or at Borders, but I can get it from Pavi yarns in Alnwick. I especially want to get the Spring 2009 issue as a Ravelry pal, Jodi of Little Freak Yarns , is having a pattern published in it.

I need to get practising with my hook though, so as well as the Pratchgan I've signed up for a Secret Sister blankie swap on Ravelry to make a lap blanket for my "secret sister". This will be a good excuse to practise lots of crochet patterns, and to have a purpose for them.

So, its back to the fat yarn to get this ridiculously fast cardi made to keep me warm whilst I get hooking!

The Colour of Magic

my lovely in-laws got me a copy of this DVD for Christmas and I watched episode 1 last night.

The story has been amended slightly, but that's OK. There is more plot line given to how the librarian changed form and became an orang-utan, the monster of BelShamaroth is cut, Cohen the Barbarian does not appear, altho' someone else is identified as him.

Sean Astin plays Twoflower really well as the sweet innocent tourist and David Jason does a good turn as Rincewind (although I imagined him as younger and thinner.)

D enjoyed the talking sword Kring and I loved the luggage. Christopher Lee was excellent as Death.

Meanwhile I've been making progress with my second square for my Pratchgan, The Light Fantastic, which is episode 2 on the DVD. I did have a few problems with my intarsia and had to frog a bit. It's improved since I wound little bobbins of yarn to use for the different colours! Doh!