The end is nigh

Do not fear trusted readers!

You shouldn't need to duck and cover just yet (Kim Jong Un not withstanding!) I'm talking about the Evenstar.  But more about that later.

I've had a week off on holiday this last week and its been hectic. I may have to go back to work for a rest. And that's saying something!

I've been to Hull visiting good friends, I've been to the Wirral visiting my parents and also my good friend who is a newbie knitter.

All this travel has given me a lot of time to knit on the car journeys. Is a good 2 hour trip to Hull and I rattled through a healthy number of repeats on the Evenstar border done. While in Hull it was great catching up with our friends. It's scary to see how quickly our kids are growing up. After a visit to The Deep which is large aquarium attraction on the bank of the River Humber it was time to set off home. Another 2 hour journey, but this time I could happily work on another project without guilt because I ran out of beads for the Evenstar.

I also had the chance to visit a yarn store. Black Sheep Wools is a great place. I found it tricky to find what I was looking for as I couldn't figure out how the store was organised. The same brand of yarn was in more than one place. I couldn't find any signage to direct me to weights of yarn. That said, it was great to wander aimlessly and revel in so much lovely yarn under one roof. I may have madesome  purchases!

In my defence, one of those bags isn't mine!

So onto crafty things - 

FO's - 

I have TWO! 

As I said, I ran out of beads for the Evenstar. I ordered more on line, but with the Bank Holiday weekend, they didn't arrive until Thursday. So on the journey home I cast on a new hat. I took a skein  my pen pal gave to me for Christmas. It's a gorgeous alpaca called Swizzle and it was a dream to knit.  I made the Beret de printemps. It's a good pattern, I did an extra pattern repeat to give a more slouchy look. I still have a about 40 yards left so I think I'll use it as an accent on some mittens.

My other half took the photo, and I don't think he really wanted to. Can you tell by the quality of the photo?

My second FO is the Ullswater shawl. I cast it off this evening and its blocking on my floor as I write. I'm happy with the result. Other than my fingerless mittens, it's the first thing I've knitted with my half decent hand spun. As I knitted it I discovered just how overspun it was in places. But I think it was the second skein I'd ever spun on a wheel so I'm happy on the whole. 

WIP's - 

My only WIP has gone back to the Evenstar. Mum's birthday waits for no man! So I'm hoping that when I write next week it will be finished. 

Spinning - 

I actually spun yesterday! I loved it. It's so calming. I'm still working on the Dark Wings from Nunoco. Hopefully, when the Evenstar is off the needles I can spin more. 

Goals for next week - 

Finish the Evenstar and pick a languishing WIP to work on. 

Have a great week guys. 

Happy Easter

The week has been bedlam at work. Easter seems to creep up on folk and surprise them.  We're shut for a long weekend this weekend, 4 days in total. I think we've had to cram 8 days work into 4 not 5 days! I'm definitely ready for a restful break.

We're visiting good friends in Hull over the Easter weekend. So, today (Good Friday) I'm doing house work so that Saturday I can do some shopping and pack. We set off on Easter Sunday and we'll be travelling back on Tuesday morning. I'm hoping for plenty of knitting time over those couple of days.

Next comes a visit to my Mum and Dad and a visit to my good friend. My friend is my latest project. She's a new knitter. At the moment she loves knitting scarfs out of that frilly yarn that knits up quickly into shiny scarfs. I'm trying to convince her to enhance her stash with yarn that's seen a sheep at some point! To that end we're going to visit Black Sheep Wools it's entirely possible I could enhance my stash too! Eek!

I'm aiming to be home late on Wednesday to chill at home and celebrate the other half's birthday on Thursday.

On to crafty things

WIP's - no surprises, but this week has seen me mostly working on the Evenstar border. I've had a panic on. I'm using the circular I used to knit the shawl and a DPN to work the border. I noticed that the stitches along the edge of the shawl were starting to look fluffy through the handling they were getting as I worked the border back and forth. So to solve this my beautiful shawl is living in an unattractive food bag! I'm actually knitting the border with the circular and the body of the shawl in the bag to reduce the friction on the stitches.

It seems to be working, the stitches aren't felting and I'm feeling happier about the whole thing. It's taken me 8 days to get halfway around the border, and I'm hoping that now I'm off for a week I can get the second half done in the 5 days I have left until I visit my Mum! Wish me luck. 

As for other crafty adventures, there have been none! I'm giving my whole heart to the Evenstar. I'm dreaming of knitting other things though. I'm desperate to cast on Drizzle. It's a fab pattern and I'm excited to cast it on, you never know, if I get my finger out I could start it before I blog next. The only problem is that I haven't got any sport weight yarn in stash! Ah well, there's a good reason to go shopping if ever I saw one!

 

So here I am on Easter Saturday and it's becoming increasingly more likely that I'm going to run out of beads for the Evenstar.  I think I've got enough for another 12 more repeats.  As of tonight I've got another 23 repeats to go. So it's now a done deal that I'm not going to get this done in time for my visit to my mum's next week.  I've more beads on order, so it will be finished, but sadly I can't mee the deadline.

 

I'm starting to think about packing now for my trip.  The knitting bag is sorted.  It contains the Evenstar (obviously), the Ullwater shawl (in the vain hope I get closer to casting it off!), the Inspira shawl, my own sock design and a ball of yarn that's yet to be caked and yet to have a pattern picked for it.  I'm hoping that this is sufficient to keep my attention while I'm away from home.

 

Spinning -

Oh how I long to spin! I'm thinking that just a few minutes tonight won't make that much difference to my Evenstar progress. In my heart of hearts, I know that if I start, I won't want to stop tonight.  Tomorrow I'll feel bad about it!

 

Goals for next week -

Well, I was aiming to finish the Evenstar, but now the beads have effectively run out, I'm aiming to go as far as I can. After that, I suppose the Ullswater is next on my hit list as it's the nearest to completion of all my languishing WIP's!

 

Have a lovely Easter guys

 

Just keep knitting, knitting, knitting

If you don't see a blue fish with knitting needles you don't have a child of a certain age!

So this week saw the pre-Easter madness start at work. It's just starting to dawn on folk that the pharmacy will be closed for 4 days!  Next week, however promises to be worse! I'm thinking happy thoughts; mainly because I'm off next week. 

This weekend has been great. Once again we 'borrowed' Ben's best friend. Saturday was further improved for the boys because they were invited to a last minute birthday party. So they went to the local Lazer Wars and spent an hour or so trying to kill each other. After that it was back to the birthday boy's house for tea. I was to pick them both up between 7:30 and 8:00. So I arrived about quarter to and met the parents. I had a great night chatting to 2 lovely people. We had lots in common and I hope for the opportunity to chat again! 

So, to crafting - 

The title should give you a clue as to what I've been up to! 
I've been monogamously knitting on the evenstar and it's paid dividends. I'm now 1/4 of the way around the border 

 

I'm thinking positive thoughts. I could get this done in time if I concentrate and work hard! 

I'm still not working on my other WIP's. I'm desperate to get my Mum's gift complete in time. 

Spinning - 

I have mostly been looking longingly at my wheel. I so want to spin. But I feel guilty if I don't work on the shawl. So  I haven't spun an inch

Goals for next week - 

I'd like to get half way round the shawl.  Wish me luck guys. 

Have a great week x 

Learning opportunities

This week has mostly been filled with feverish knitting and work.

On the work front, we had new PC's installed. It proved to be a somewhat stressful day. On the whole, however, I've enjoyed this week. Deep down in my heart I'm a clinical pharmacist. I'm happiest wrestling with a clinical problem and finding solutions both acceptable to the patient, the prescriber and the NHS! This week provided a good number of such problems and I had fun working through them.

My other half has gone back to "school" he's working towards a degree in pharmacy and his studying has rekindled my desire to learn. That's not to say that I don't learn new things all of the time. Part of my job is to keep up to date with developments within my profession, and I have to be able to prove that I'm refreshing my knowledge regularly. Sometimes the learning bug bits harder than others. Right now it's biting hard and I'm enjoying studying. It's funny how a problem leads to learning opportunities. One drug being unavailable leads to research into an alternative which leads to research into its suitability for use through a PEG. A prescription for a new painkiller leads to research into that drug which lead to research into long term chronic pain control which lead to refreshing my knowledge on palliative care.

Everyday is a school day!

Onto the crafting -

This week has seen me religiously work on the Evenstar. I can confirm that I have finally finished the third chart and now I'm working on the border. I'm happy with the easy it's looking. It dawned on me this week that I've got just over 3 weeks until my mum's birthday. Dear lord! I've got to get 4 repeats done each day to have a hope of finishing it in time. I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll give it a good go.

I haven't spun at all. I'm desperate to spin, but I know that every minute I'm spinning is time I'm not working on the shawl. Happy thoughts! As soon as it's blocking I'm spinning my heart out!

Short and sweet today guys, but I need to get the border worked on.

Have a great week

Little Fishies

So then, this week has mostly been a week of nothing to report.  I've been working which has been ultimately uneventful. My evenings have seen me knitting or teaching. My son is a member of the local swimming club.

Once upon a time, I loved taking him swimming, I'd sit in the viewing area watching him swim while I worked on some knitting or crochet. I used to swim competitively myself when I was younger. I was decidedly average, and gave up when I realized I just didn't the talent to make it.

While I was sat up in the gods knitting, I watched the kids swim up and down, and I started to get frustrated. I watched while the kids swam up and down with awful technique. I thought, I could do better than some of the folk on poolside. In the end, my other half got sick of my moaning and told me to put my money where my mouth is! Suffice to say, I now teach 5 sessions a week over 3 days.

Some days, I struggle to find the motivation to go, but once I'm there I tend to enjoy myself. The kids are on the whole great, sometimes they listen and we have a great session, sometimes they don't and I have to think of my happy place.

Tonight (Sunday) saw the first Gala of the year. Its' a great opportunity for me to look at the kids and pick a team for the rest of the year.  I love watching my "teenies" swim. My teenies are the teeny tiny kids I teach for 2 sessions a week. They range in age from 5 to about 7. I love taking them from non-swimmers to little fish! I was so proud tonight watching them compete. Most of them have never swam in a race before. My son did OK. He had a goggle disaster in his first race and came last. But it was a learning opportunity, when your goggles come off in a dive, just throw them away! Don't carry them in your hand for the whole 50m swim! Dear Lord!!!!! But hey ho! His other races were OK, but he's the youngest in his year now, and the kids he swims against are much bigger and stronger than he is. What a difference 6 months can make to kids at this age! He had fun, and that's what counts.

On to the crafty things

FO's -

Erm, well, that'd still be a no! I am trying! Honestly I am! Soon I hope!

WIP's -

This week I've been a good girl. I've been monogamously working on the Evenstar. Sunday evening sees me reach the half way stage on chart 3.  I stopped working on it to go to the Gala, I'll probably leave it now, until tomorrow as I'm tired and I'm at a point in the chart that sees me having to move stitch markers a lot, so I'll wait for a fresher brain tomorrow.

church windows almost completed

Spinning

Well, when I haven't been knitting, I've been spinning up the Dark Wings merino from Nunoco. It can only be described as a thing of beauty! It's spinning up beautifully, and thin too.  I'm hoping to get a light fingering from it  once it's plied. I'm enjoying spinning it so much. My free time should be spent on the Evenstar, but I have to confess that I'm a little addicted to spinning this fibre. I can't wait to see what it's like once it's done!

Goals for next week -

OK, I know I said it last week, but this time hopefully it'll happen. I aim to finish chart 3 of my Evenstar shawl! (chortle chortle!!!!)

I'd love to get the first single done of the Dark Wings fibre, but in all honesty, it's spinning so thin I'll be lucky to finish half of it and get the Evenstar worked on.

So have a great week, and I'll speak again next time

Busy weekends and IT fails

Here we all are on Tuesday. I like to blog over the weekend and upload at some point on a Monday. This week the IT gremlins have been against me. I think this is attempt three at writing this week's blog! Every time I try to save it and preview it, it seems to vanish into the ether. Give me strength!

So here I go again. Fingers crossed!

This weekend saw our annual pilgrimage to Rotherham for our Goddaughter's birthday party. I have no idea where the last five years have gone! It's scary. Her party this year was in the local community centre. I was chief butty-maker and I think I did quite well - there were very few left! So much for a sneaky snack for the journey home! I also did the birthday girl's hair... And then her sister's!  Between the journey of 2 hours each way, and the desire to escape the noise of 30 five year olds having fun, I got a lot of knitting done. Happy days!

On to the crafting.

FO's

Again, I failed! I'm trying to get Mum's birthday present done in time, so I'm pretty much monogamous at the moment. The FO count remains nil!

WIP's

This week sees  the Evenstar  get most of the love. I'm determined to get this done for Mum's birthday. Two rows now take 2 hours to knit so I'm looking at 24 hours to finish chart 3 and then there's the simple task of the 56 chart repeats of the beaded border! Hysteria is setting in when I work out how many  hours in the day I have available to knit!

Church windows grow

My Inspira cowl did make it out of the bag and got a few rows added to its length, but as I said before, my main focus has to remain on the Evenstar!

Spinning

 Last week I told you about my long night finishing the singles for my Knitabulls SAL. I also started plying the 2 together. To has to have been the worst plan in the world EVER!  I was so tired I plied  about 200 yards in the same direction as I'd spin the singles! The over spun crispy nightmare shows that when you're tired, it's an utterly stupid idea to keep on going!  Thus the second skein was a mere 540 yards. I'm so angry with myself. The second skein was the better skein I think. I spun the singles differently. The first single I broke into about foot lengths and spun from them and the second I spun directly from the braid. It gave gorgeously long colour repeats and when I plied them together the yarn had bold barber poling! I love it, it's just a shame that such a huge chunk of it wound up as a firelighter!

 

The skein on the left is my favourite

 



Yarn barf/fire lighter! Same thing

 

 

As a reward for finishing my SAL I decided to start on some gorgeous fibre from Nunoco. I spun up the sample batt the girls sent me - Kasbah. It can best be described as a thing of beauty! It's the first time I've spun from a batt, so the result is a little thick and thin which can be no way put down to the fibre! I decided to navaho ply it to preserve the colours. In doing this I managed to put too much spin into the finished yarn!

 

 From this.....

 

 

To this!

 

I thought the horrendous over spin could be corrected to some degree with a good hard wash and thwack.  It spurred me on to wash and thwack umpteen skeins I've spun recently and just put away. Five skeins later and I'm done!

Goals for next week:

Finish chart 3 of the Evenstar (chortle!)
Spin up some of the gorgeous shiney-ness that is Dark Wings.

Have a great week, I'll catch you all on the flip side!



 



Over Optimistic?

It would seem that my comments last week about Spring having sprung may have been a tad premature! As I write to you I can see fat flakes if snow drifting out of the sky! I hope they don't stick as I have plans this weekend.

We had friends to stay this weekend. My house waschock full of great folk and their offspring. In order for this weekend to go well, the children needed to go outside to play and explore, the big boys needed to play with the car, and the big girls needed to be able to go and play at The Woolclip. I have the pleasure of continuing to enable a new knitter on her journey of fibre-inspired delights!

The weekend was a roaring sucess - the children played as did the boys, and my friend and I had a great time shopping for yarn. Some may have found it's way into my stash, despite my resolution not to buy anything! Ooops

Onto the crafting

FO's -
Nothing to report! Sorry!

WIP's -
Evenstar saw a good amount of work, I've started the third chart and I'm working on the lattice-work, I'm pleased with how it's turning out. I need to get motoring though!
The Ullswater shawl saw no love at all! It didn't even cross my mind!
My Poetic Inspira did see the love though, I've completed the first pattern repeat, and I'm onto the second. I'm starting to dispair about the colourchanges in the contrast colour ball. After the knot issue earlier, it seems to be just brown! :-( I know the colour will change, I can see it in the ball! But when?!? I tire of brown! Hurry up colours!

I cast on a sock at work the other day.  It's going to be my second design. It has a cable-type pattern, but I think I'm going to rip it back. I'd originally made it a cabled rib, but it's taking ages to knit up, and I rather think that if I'm tireing of it, then people are unlikely to want to knit it either! So I'll rip it back this week coming and have another go.

Spinning -

Those eagle eyed among you will realise this is being posted on Tuesday morning, rather than Monday evening. This is because the evening completely escaped me! I decided that I wanted to make serious progress on the Knitabulls SAL, I was onto the second single of the second 4oz, I thought that if I got the singles finished by Tuesday night, I could ply Wednesday and Thursday. Well, I just kept spinning and I've finished the singles and last night started plying! Get me!?! It does, however, mean that today could be a long day as I'm going to be working on about 5 hours sleep and that's not nearly enough!

Goals for next week -

Finish the Knitabulls SAL

Start to spin some beautiful fibre I aquired last week, I'll tell more next time

Work on the Evenstar! Time is pushing on

Work on or maybe (ha ha ha) finish the Ullswater shawl!

Here's hoping for a great week everyone!

What is it with boys and dark dirty holes in the ground!?

Has Spring Sprung?!

This week has been extraordinarily hard at work! It was my own fault. We have two pharmacists where I work.  I am the Superintendent (sounds better than it is, it just means that if anything bad happens it's my fault!) and the second pharmacist is a lovely lady who works part time.  She's been on holiday this week because it's half term in these parts. I decided that I'd try to save some money and work alone while she was off! Stupid thought! There's a very good reason why there are two pharmacists working in the dispensary - there's too much work for one person to do and remain sane by the end of the working week! As it was, I got through a nasty week by the skin of my teeth! I am, however, cream crackered!

I borrowed a child this weekend.  My son is an only child, and he likes to have his best friend over to stay some weekends to play.  This weekend this borrowed child has been a godsend! They've played happily together and left me to re-coup and get on with house work.

I went out to walk the dog on Sunday. It was a beautiful day - there is still snow on the hills, but the snowdrops are out and the daffs won't be far behind.

The first signs of spring

Murphy says "Stop taking photos and throw the ball!"

On the walk down our lane, I see Bob.  No one knows who made Bob, but he appeared a couple of years ago. Originally he had a flowerpot hat but he fell off his perch last year in some high winds and it broke. I made him a sock yarn hat to replace it - yarn bombing Cumbria-style! I keep thinking he needs a new one. The colours have faded to shades of mud and the pompom has definitely seen better days. So I must add a new hat to my list of things to do!

So to crafty things

FO's
Last week I claimed my wingspan as an FO.  I also claimed it the week before! Oops! What I actually finished last week was my Age of Brass and Steam. I'm quite happy with it. It still needs blocking, so while it's a little small now, I hope that blocking wires will cure it!

I also finished my Voodoo you love me doll. I'm really please with her, and I hope that the recipient is too.

WIP's
The baby cardies from last week haven't seen the light of day.  I'm thinking that I'll get to them sooner rather than later; preferably before the babies in question graduate!
I have worked on my Evenstar too. Tonight I finished the second chart and have increased to an eye-watering 560 stitches! My next task is to go up to a larger cable on my needles and try to spread this epic shawl out a little.
During my WIP draw clean up, I discovered a hand spun shawl I'd started. It's the Ullswater shawl. The designer is a local dyer/spinner/designer and I love the pattern. It's got enough lace to keep you occupied, but enough stockinette to make it a good in between project. I picked it back up this week,and realised just how close to the end I was when I put it away! I've got the last lace repeat and the edging to do then it's finished! I'm about half way through that last lace repeat now, and it may be  focus for FO status for next week!
The Inspira has seen a little progress, but not enough to really comment about, I love working on it when I pick it up, but it seems that the desire to cast everything on leads to the inability to work on any given project for any length of time!

Spinning

I've finished the first 4oz of fibre for the Knitabuls 2-ply colour me different SAL is complete and I'm really happy with it.  I got 816yds of a very light fingering or heavy laceweight yarn

I had some of the blue Everest colourway left on the bobbin so I've started spinning the second half of that first.  I'm still hopeful that I can get the second 4oz completed by the end of  February! Wish me luck!

Goals for next week -
To finish the Ullswater shawl
To make progress up chart 3 of the Evenstar
To finish the Everest single

Have a great week everyone!

Highs and lows

Hello

I'm starting with the lows. I'm sorry to put a downer on the blog, but I feel the need to vent my spleen.
 There is a wonderful woman I know whose heart has been broken. The terrible thing is that the hurt done to her was delivered by fellow knitters. This woman has spread her infectious love for life and the human condition around the world through her blog Singlehandedknits. A group of hateful people have slandered her on other podcast VKN's and made her life hell.

I would like to take this moment to condemn the actions of a small percentage of the knitting community and send my thoughts and best wishes to Mel.  I don't have any desire to start a witch hunt, I hope that we knitters who have compassion can rise above this hateful behaviour and support this inspirational woman in a creative fashion.

Onto the highs. I've spent the weekend with my Mum. I can confirm she will be fine and we're arguing so she must be better!

FO's. I am working on getting the number of WIP's down and I cast off the wingspan shawlette.

It's an odd thing, I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it, but the more I look at it, the more I'm not happy with it. It's constructed using short rows. There are no wrap and turns used, and when I look at the joins between the wedges, all I see are holes! I'm sure that a blind man with a flea in his ear wouldn't notice, but for me, it's like they're flashing neon lights!

WIP's

Ok, I know that my cunning plan was to REDUCE the number of WIP's. Despite my best efforts in finishing the Wingspan the net number of WIP's has actually grown! Oops! I have cast on 2 baby cardies for girls at work who are about to become Nana's. And then there's the Voodoo you love me  that I've cast on for someone truly special. I hope she will find happiness in it. Or she can pretend its someone she's not overly fond of right now and stick pins in it!  She's a better person than that though.

Spinning

Progress on Diane's SAL continues. I hope to get the second single finished by the weekend and get it plied by the next blog. I'd like to think that I can get 8oz spun by the end of the month.

Goals for next week

Well, I'd still like to reduce the number of WIP's. That's going to involve a significant amout of knitting on my part as tomorrow is the exciting start of Mel's Mystery KAL. I'm going to have to get my finger out to have any kind of FO for you next week!

Hope you all have a great week, sorry to be so crotchety to start, but I genuinely feel it needed said!

Ellen x

Tidy up woman!

What a week!

Work has been hectic! This week saw us going live with a new IT system for prescription retrieval. Without getting bogged down in the politics, it's cost a fortune to develop and when it works, it works well. However, so far it's not worked for 2 out of the 5 days! Aaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!

On a more positive note, my Mum has arrived safely home, and I'm looking forward to seeing her later this week.

Today Ben told me that he's learning about the Tudors. They must have been discussing the clothes they wore and how they were made. His teacher spoke of carding and spinning. Ben took great delight in telling his class that I spin. So I've spent some time this evening gathering bits and pieces together so he can show them to his class. So 4 drop spindles, a pair of hand carders and a good deal of fibre that needed pre-drafting later, I've got some goodies for his class to play with.

Down to the crafty stuff!

FO's.

I have one! My wingspan is finished. Well, it needs blocked and the ends woven in, but I'm having it as an FO!

WIP's

I think I'm over my bout of castonitis! I love having lots of projects to keep my interest. But having so many things in the needles often leaves me pondering what to work on and I end up getting less done. So, I'm committing to whittling down the sheer numbers of WIP's.

To this end I've made great progress on my Age of Brass and Steam. With some luck and a following wind, I should get it finished this week.

Poetic Inspira has seen a bit of progress but not a whole lot to be honest. I was enjoying the colour changes, but then I found a knot in my colourful skein, and it went from red back to brown. I was looking forward to the next colour, and to begin again, seems to have affected my cowl mojo!

Evenstar saw a good bit of work done, I'm now over half way up chart 2. In my infinite wisdom, I've decided to give it to my mum for her 60th in April. This means I need to get a wiggle on!

I swatched for a mystery KAL which is being hosted by Mel from singlehanded knits. My gauge is a bit wonky. I need to aim for 20 stitches and 26 rows to 4". I'm on 18 stitches and 25 rows on 5mm needles. I could go down a needle size, but I think I'd lose too much drape in the fabric. So here's my thinking. Mel says there's 1" positive ease, my bust measures 46". So I think if I knit a size 44 I should get about the right size. Fingers crossed!

Spinning

I've finished my first single for Diane's SAL. I'm really happy with it. I've competed one half of the blue fibre, and now I'm spinning the beautiful greens, pinks and yellows! Bliss. I can't wait to ply them together and see the results! Then I'm hoping to repeat the process and end up with 8oz of lace weight 2 ply. What delights could I knit with that?


Goals for next week

Tidying up my WIP's drawer! I'd love to finish the Age of Brass and Steam. Next on my FO hit list is the Inspira cowl. After that I'd like to pick up a couple of WIP's that have been languishing for a while. I've got the 2012 Advent Scarf, and at least one handspun shawl that need finished. Not forgetting my beloved Evenstar. I need to work on that with some urgency.