Technology fail

So there I was, minding my own beeswax, having my lunch on Tuesday, watching podcasts and I nearly choked on my lettuce leaf (sigh! I long for empty calories!). There was Mel telling all and sundry that I have a podcast. Now, it's some thing I've been thinking about for a while. I've enjoyed doing the odd video to embed in the blog, but I'm not sure I've got the time or the editing knowhow to do a video podcast with any regularity. But the thought of an audio podcast has been running around my brain, Mel just gave me a push to do something about it.

So Tuesday night on the way back from knit night I recorded a little message and then spent the next 3 hours trying to embed it in the blog and also set up a feed for iTunes. Now, at this point I feel I must declare that I don't class myself as a technophobe. I can usually muddle my way through pretty much anything; but on this I'm stumped. I've managed to embed YouTube videos with no problems and you can stream them from the blog. No matter how I fettle, I can't get my head around this. So, for now, I hope you guys can download the podcast file from the blog. I'm trawling through the techno speak to find how to make an RSS and how to submit it to iTunes. Until then. Bear with!

Week in review - 

This week I have mostly been dieting. I've been following the Atkins plan and it's made me feel atrocious. I mean just truly abismal. I've had headaches and migraines all week again! I've done this diet before and I can't remember it making me feel this bad, maybe I'm being too strict with myself. I've only eaten protein and a bit of salad for each meal. And the least said about the effects of so little fibre in my diet the better! ;-(

Feeling the love - 

Last week I told you I cast on a pair of Gansey socks. Well, I ripped them back out. Honestly! Me and Gansey just don't get on! Well........ My current concentration levels and Gansey don't get on at any rate. The yarn I'm using is a gently variegated yarn of dusty lilacs, vivid cerise and deep purple. The colours hid the purl bumps in the Gansey pattern, making it difficult to track where I was up to. So the yarn got wound back onto the cake and I started again. 

I do love a bit of lacework. I love a good YO!  When put together with a K2tog, or an SSK I'm ecstatic. So I had a trail through my old stitch dictionaries. I have 2 dictionaries I bought from eBay they're both 30 years old and I love them. I get so inspired to design when I flick through their pages. I'm always looking for old stitch dictionaries. I'd love to find one from the 40's. I wonder if they even printed them then.

Any hoo, I found a pretty, simple pattern which I thought would be great and set about putting it into a sock. The upshot of this is I've mostly been working on this new sock. As I sit writing to you this morning I'm a hair's breadth off finishing the toe of the first sock and I'm really pleased with it. I've been writing up the pattern as I knit, and I'll test it when I knit the second sock. With some good luck and a following wind it will be up on Ravelry by the end of January. 

The consequence of this is that pretty much all my good intentions for progress on my other projects went to the wall. 

I did try to spin though! I say try, but when I got the wheel out my son made puppy eyes at me and he spun instead. Ah, well maybe next week!

I did get some dying done though this weekend. 

I signed up to a knitting class last week. Mel of SingleHandedKnits fame is running an online class called Swatch Like You Mean It. The clue is in the name. Mel is an avid swatcher. She loves to play with her yarn and get to know it. That's probably why her patterns turn out so well she knows exactly how the yarn will behave before she puts pen to paper. Me? I have a violent allergy to swatching. It brings me out in hives! I HATE the idea. To me it's a waste of time and yarn.

 I told you, I'm tight! There's a vicious rumour going around that I invented copper wire by fighting with someone over a penny!  

This chronic aversion to swatching probably explains my equally powerful loathing of knitting garments for myself! If you don't swatch the likelihood of you project turning out as you hope is slim. I know this, but I just can't get past the waste of yarn thing. Yes, yes, I know! I can hear you shouting at me! It's a vicious circle. 

BUT!!!!! 

I bought Mel's Halele'a pattern. Wow!!! Now THAT'S what I call a swatch! It's basically a trial run at the pattern. You practice all techniques you need to knit the full garment. The cast on, the decrease, the pick up for the button band, the button holes - everything. 

This is a revelation. A lightbulb moment. If I read the pattern I want to knit through properly before I start, if I practice the techniques on my swatch I might prevent major disaster on the real project. It's more than checking tension and picking needles, it's getting it right first time. 

Who knew?!

Mel has sent out a list of things to gather ready for the class starting. One item needed is 600 yards of dishcloth cotton. Now, I don't do dishcloths. The idea of washing dishes with my beautiful knits makes my blood run cold. I'm not a huge fan of working with cotton either. It makes my hands hurt.

So I had to go shopping for cotton. I found 6 balls of a generic cheap and cheerful dishcloth cotton online in a rather dull ecru colour. Not very inspiring. So I decided to dye them. Here's what happened: 

I knew from checking online I had to approach this differently to my previous forays into dying with wool. My acid dyes wouldn't work. So I went to town and looked for Dylon cold dyes. I was looking for the solid disks of dye but came home with three packets of powdered dye. I bought a jeans blue, a navy blue and a dark green. 

When I read the packet it said that one packet will dye 250g of fabric with the intensity of the colour on the packaging. Hummmmmmm........ I thought. I have 600g of yarn. Therefore if I use all three colours I should be ok. Right? Erm, not exactly!

So the first task was to skein up each of the six balls. Turns out each one was 170 yards in length so I've more than enough (maybe I'll knit dishcloths with the remainder!). I twisted them up really tightly. My plan was to dye one colour, untwist the skein and re-twist it in a different way to expose different areas of the skein each time. After that I left them to soak in a bath of warm water with salt added while I walked the dog. Soaking allows the dye to penetrate the skein easier and also allows my poor right arm to recover from skeining 6 balls of cotton with my homemade, very heavy, niddy noddy!

Next I drained the yarn and refilled the pot with more warm water and salt. I then added the whole packet of jeans blue dye. One packet does 250g of fabric and there's 600g in there so I should get a light shade of blue, right?

Erm!?

At this point my heart sank! That's a dark blue; really solid, dark blue!! I waited the hour advised on the packet and came back to find the dye bath as full of colour as I left it. 

With a heavy heart I tipped out the pot

Can you see? My heat lifted as I caught the smallest glimpse of cream. Top right of the photo! Can you see? I unravelled the skeins

Whoop whoop! Happy days! 

I reskeined the yarn which was no easy feat with wet cotton I can tell you! As I twisted I thought. 

When I used the whole packet I threw most of the dye away. After all most of that 600g of yarn is unavailable to the dye because it's twisted so tightly. So I'll only use half of the packet this time. Dark green is next

After the second hour I still threw most of the dye away, but I was happy with the colour. I unravelled the skeins for the last time 

As I was unraveling I thought again. Originally I'd considered stopping at 2 colours. But because the first 2 were so dark and intense I thought that the natural colour was too much of a contrast. So I went with the final navy blue colour. This time I only used a quarter of the packet. 

Still a very saturated dye bath! I was slightly concerned that the last dye would ruin the previous 2. I didn't retwist the skeins this time so that all the yarn would be in contact with dye

Ta da!! 

I'm really pleased!  Now I REALLY can't wait to start swatching like I mean it! 

Oh, and next on my dying hit list is the yarn I bought for Halele'a. It's Sirdar Countrystyle 4ply. It's too blue, I wanted a more grey/blue. I think I'll take it to my dying lesson in a fortnight. 

What? 

Didn't I tell you?

Oh, I'm having a dying lesson. I'm so excited! My friend Marion, who is a member of Woolclip, co-organiser of Woolfest, design guru, dying queen and all round good egg is going to show me how it's done! Properly I mean. I hope to be able to dye with intent at the end. Rather than hoping for the best and having to endure those buttock clenching moments when you think you've ruined 600g of cotton! 

On the horizon -

Will I get to grips with iTunes? Hopefully

Will I get my second sock design finished? Pretty please

Will I get some spinning done? Fingers crossed

Will I get some progress made on the Peacock shaw? Possibly ;-)

Have a great week guys. 

Ellen x 

Episode 2

Can you hear me now!?

Hello there readers.

How would you like to be listeners too?

Well seeing as how Mel decided today that I podcast I thought I might as well give it a go!

Having things to say won't be the problem. Technology might be the problem though. Now I'm no technophobe, but this interweb malarky it's tricky!

Let's see what happens

Episode 1

Ok, so Episode 1 can be downloaded but not streamed! I'll work on that!

Of migraine and frustration

Saints preserve us! What a week!

Week in review - 

As the title suggests I've had a migraine or a headache most days this week and it's left me feeling "off". Not unwell or anything I can put my finger on. Just off. 

Because of this it's not been a week of huge progress. This is where the frustration side of the title comes in. 

When I've had the motivation to knit, I've not had enough concentration to do a good enough job. And, well, when I've not that the motivation, nothing at all got done! So I can only hope that this next week sees some kind of improvement in my knitting mojo levels. 

School went back on Monday. Both boys are back in the swing of things now. Because Matthew travels to the station by bike and the weather's been so foul, I've been taking him in the car. It's strange that just that little bit of change in my routine can throw me out. I usually get to work early, somewhere between 3/4 and an hour before the pharmacy opens. This gives me time to tidy up loose ends, put the kettle on and sometimes get a couple of rows of knitting in to soothe my brain. Because dropping Matthew off eats into that time, my pre-work knitting has suffered. I wonder if that has contributed to that "off"-ness I've been feeling?

And because school is back, that means swimming club is back too. I'm back to teaching my 5 sessions. This first week is always the hardest I think. It's a trial to get back into the rhythm of things. I soooo don't want to go, but when I'm there it's just as much fun. It amuses me how the kids' swimming slips with just a 2 week break. Happy days. 

Feeling the love - 

This week I've concentrated on Mara's mitts. I'd finished the first one by knit night and got Mara to try it on. As I mentioned last week, I was concerned about the fit. I increased a bit too quickly for the arm, knit it straight until almost the end, and then decreased again for the last few rows just to get a snug fit on the cast off edge. As it turns out, Mara loved that mitt and it fit great. Snag was it took some doing to get her to part with it at the end of the night! Sadly the second ball of the Katia Darling was as irritating as the first. I still found breaks and clumsy joins. *sigh*. But they're now an FO. I'll give them to her on Tuesday. 

Next on my hit list was the peacock shawl from my KAL. It's been sat on my work box in my beautiful yarn bowl for a week unloved. Or at least I thought it had had no attention. I came to work on it last night and I discovered that someone had given it some attention. That someone hasn't owned up yet, but I suspect that one of my cats had decided to play with my gorgeous project! I started to knit and as I ran the working yarn through my fingers, I noticed that it the yarn felt strangely crispy. Almost as though it had been sucked! Blah. Then I discovered that, not content with making the yarn all nasty and sucked, the evil animal had actually chewed through the yarn! Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!!! So last night I ripped it out, decided it couldn't save the manky bit and cast on afresh. I had 2 goes at getting started and gave up. It seems like my heart wasn't in it. I kept losing my place in the chart and making silly mistakes. I gave it up as a bad job and went to bed to read. 

I'm still ploughing through The Casual Vacancy. I can't say that I'm enjoying it yet. I won't be defeated by it, but I'm hoping that the story will start soon and grip me. Right now, I'm definitely not gripped! But that might be because I've had little or no reading mojo either this week. 

So here I am on Sunday morning. My knitting morning. The boys are still in bed and I cast on the peacock shawl........ again! I've made good progress. I've put in stitch markers this time at the border and centre stitches. It's helping no end. Lord knows why I thought knitting without them would be a cunning plan. It's so much easier to track back and work out where I am in the pattern now. 

On the horizon - 

I now have 2 'at home' projects.  I have my peacock shawl and I have the Gansey socks which have felt no love at all this week. Of the 2, I think the socks will be TV knitting as I proved last night that lace and TV aren't a good combination for me at the moment. I need to cast on a mobile project. It will probably be a pair of socks. Or maybe a hat. We'll see. I'll have a rummage through my stash and see what takes my fancy. 

I really want to spend some time spinning to. Whenu sits looking woefully at me. She needs to feel the love!  This week. This week I will spin. Honestly! Hopefully!

What are you guys up to?    

Have a good week 

Ellen x 

Two Steps Forward

And at least 3 back!

Week in review-

I finished reading 'Rachel's holiday' and also read 'Here's looking at You' by Mhairi McFarlane. Rachel's holiday was another pleasant read. It wasn't challenging in anyway and make good reading while I knit. Likewise Here's looking at you; no brain was needed. I knit vanilla socks and was pleasantly entertained by this story. Both books ended happily ever after. It's been nice to read something I wouldn't normally pick. I'm a sci-fi and fantasy girl usually, while these books have been enjoyable, I'm not inclined to change my reading habits now. I like to have something to get my teeth into. Some action, suspense, mystery rather than superfluous fluff. To that end I read 'Die, my love' by Penelope Fletcher. Sigh! More fluff. I suppose I should have read the synopsis. I saw vampire and thought "ooh, blood guts and gore!" Nope. I got vacuous cack. I have a horrible feeling that there are more in the series. I won't be buying them!  I'm now reading 'The Casual Vacancy' by J K Rowling. I'm not that far in, and so far I'm still struggling with the tone of the book. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help thinking that the language used shouldn't be coming from the pen of the woman who wrote Harry Potter! 

Feeling the love - 

On the crafting front this weeks blog title says it all!  It started so well! I finished the vanilla socks

Despite measuring umpteen times, I still managed to make the leg on the second sock a good inch shorter than the first! For this reason, they're now my socks and Jean will get another pair! 

Mara's mitts saw significant progress - I've nearly finished the first mitt. I ripped it out twice which was no mean feat I can tell you! I'm using Katia Darling yarn. It's a 100% merino single and it's been an absolute swine. Ripping back was problematic because it's fluffy. That fluffiness objects violently to being unknit! Also the yarn has been processed badly in my opinion. It's a gradient, and being a single, it's more delicate to deal with than a plied yarn. I understand this, but when the single broke during processing there has been no care taken in re-joining the yarn. The colour progression stops dead and it's crudely tied to a completely different colour. This means I now have lots of bits of yarn where I've broken the knot and then had to pull out the ball to find the next section which is in the general area of colour change I was at before the break! It's frustrating. My frustration was compounded by my inability to get the Gansey pattern Mel designed. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing to do with the way Mel has written the pattern, it's me! It's not a difficult pattern by any means, but it seems to be beyond me. Dear lord! I've managed the most complicated lacework, and yet knit and purl defeats me! I must confess I've given in and substituted a different pattern into that section. It's a 2 row repeat that I can cope with! I've put them down now because I wanted to buy buttons so I can check the fit. I'm quietly convinced that I've done the arm increases wrong. I don't think the pattern section is going to sit straight on the arm. 

I've done nothing on my KTSSKAL project since New Year's Day. Mara's mitts and the epic fail that is the silver birch sock had taken most of my time. The silver birch socks are now frogged and even deleted from my project page. I just didn't want to focus that hard on a sock right now. The pattern is full of cables and twisted stitches. I also decided I was knitting the wrong size. It's a pattern I definitely want to do, but not now. I've got a complicated pattern on the go in the Peacock Shawl, so I need a mindless project to work on. 

To that end I've cast on a pair of Gansey socks from 'Socks from the Toe Up' by Wendy D Johnson. It's a simple diamond pattern - we'll see how I get on with this Gansey. 

I do have an FO this weekend. I test knit the 'wave and box hat'.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wave-and-box-hat  It's a great knit. Just 100 yards and a weekend produced a lovely hat. The simple slipped stitch pattern gives a great effect and the floats give a little extra thickness and warmth to the fabric. It's due for release towards the end of January and I can't recommend it enough. 

On the horizon - 

I'll work on the peacock shawl this week I hope. 

I'll also get some buttons on Mara's mitts and check the fit before I continue any further. 

Then there's my 12 socks in 2014 challenge. I need to work on pair 3 - the Gansey socks. I'm ahead if the game right now, and I don't want to fall behind. I'm thinking that my March - April KTSSKAL project will be a complicated sock pattern. 

Will I spin at all? I hope so

Have a great week guys. 

Ellenx. 

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve and this morning is not proving to be too traumatic! 

The purpose of this post is to flesh out my ideas on the Knit To Stay Sane KAL 2014. This year I plan to knit and spin from stash. My problem is that I go through my stash and pick a skein, then I spend hours trawling through patterns pontificating about what to knit next. To that end the KTSSKAL 2014 aims to facilitate this. Every 2 months a new round starts. 

What you need to do - 

Go to the Knit to Stay Sane Ravelry group and post in the "lets KAL 2014" thread. Make a poll telling us what yarn you want to use and give us 3 or so choices of pattern you fancy knitting. There are instructions in the thread telling you how to make a poll. Don't panic it's a doddle! After a week or so, take the results and cast on. 

There is a chatter thread for doing just that. Post a photo of your FO in the FO thread and at the end of the 2 months I'll pick a winner. Please don't chatter in the photo thread, it makes things tricky when picking a winner and I hate to delete what others have said. 

Use  #KTSSKAL to keep us posted on Twitter and Instagram. Use KTSSKAL to tag your projects. 

What say you? Is it a cunning plan?

I've started already. I'm casting on the Peacock's Feather shawl by Annette Socken-Wahsinn. I'm using a skein of Fyberspates Gleem Lace in the Tweed Imps colour way that I picked up at Woolfest last year. 

I'll keep you all posted on my progress

Happy knitting. 

Ellen x 

Post Christmas musings.

This will be another of those posts of many parts I think. I sit here in Boxing Day looking out of my living room window at the start of a beautiful day. It's nearly 9am and the sky is still tinged with sunrise pinks and oranges. The ground is covered with a hard, white frost. I wonder if we might have snow later?

I'm snuggled under my log cabin blanket. It's cold in the house this morning. Matthew cleaned the fire out last night and I think the lack of residual ash meant it burned out quicker. It's stubbornly refusing to give out any significant quantity of heat at the moment. No matter! Between my blanket, my PJ's and my stripy socks I'm good. Coupled with a brew, my knitting and a book, I'm sorted.  

So far this morning I've finished cleaning the kitchen following last night's epic dinner. I've also sterilised and filled a couple of Kilner jars with the scary amount of goose fat that was produced! I'll pick over the carcass later and make stock from the bones. I'm not sure if it'll make good stock, but I'll sharpish find out!

Week in review and feeling the love - 

Christmas Day came and went. Dinner was served on time,(ish) but the goose took a little more carving than I originally anticipated, so I think the accompaniments could have been warmer. Ben had a great day, I think he got what he wanted, and he spent it equally divided between his Xbox and  us.  Matthew took the dog out for a walk on the fells while I got dinner started. It was a lovely day. 

I read a book called 'The Husband's Secret' by Liane Moriarty this week. It was a pleasantly unchallenging read. It's been ages since I read a book. How bad is that!? I picked it because it was the first book at the top of the best seller list on iTunes that wasn't soft porn! Honestly!! I nearly died when I saw the top 2 titles!? And me, a good convent girl and all!!? *cough* 

The story follows the lives of seemingly unrelated women as their lives become entwined by the secret of one man. As the book progresses you can sense the threads coming closer until the book reaches it's conclusion. It was a 'no-brainer' read. I knit and read and was entertained. It was just the kind of read I needed this week. Nothing too complicated, but enough going on to keep my interest piqued. It's not Liane's only book, I'm not sure I'll read another any time soon, but it would make great holiday reading. 

On the knitting front I still aim to clear my WIP's from 2013. Matthew's socks got finished yesterday morning 3 and a bit days after they where cast on. A record for me. He likes them and they fit fine. 

 

Next on my hit list is Annie. It's a cowl I cast on ages ago. Remember? From that pink Louisa Harding silk blend yarn? I pick it up and put it back down regularly.  It's not that I hate knitting it, it's just that it won't grow. It's a DK weight yarn, but I keep knitting and the cake doesn't get any smaller and the cowl doesn't get any longer! I'm thinking it's going to finish as a scarf rather than a cowl. I bought 4 or 5 skeins and I've got one and a bit left. The fabric is only 32 inches long so I'm thinking I'll just knit until I run out and leave it there. I don't think I can face grafting the ends together, but we'll see. 

Time has passed and it's now Saturday and Annie is finished. I knit until the last inch of yarn. I actually over cooked it slightly and I had to graft a few inches I cut off when joining the last ball to the end of the project to finish the cast off. Now that's cutting things fine! I know I could have ripped back a row and finished that way, but I wanted to get as much fabric as I possibly could. Needless to say I've decided it's going to be a scarf rather than a cowl. Life's too short. It may be that this scarf is too short as well, but when it's washed and blocked it's in the gift drawer for next year! 

This leaves three WIP's - Jean's vanilla socks, the Silver Birch socks, and Mara's mitts. I'm now concentrating on the vanilla socks. I've finished the first one and I'm working my way to the heel of the second  as we speak. 

I'm onto another book too. I'm reading Rachel's Holliday by Marian Keyes. I'm approaching half way. It's a story about Rachel. She's a drug addict in rehab at home in Ireland. Again it really isn't my usual read. I'm not sure how I came to have it on the iPad. It must have been a freebie as I really can't see myself buying it. It's not bad actually. The parts of the story about her time in rehab and what goes on in group therapy are interesting. I see many traits of the addicts I work with- the denial, the blame etc. Rachel's thoughts on therapy are interspersed with memories of her life in New York. Some of those memories are a tad raunchy, you have been warned! I'll let you know next week how the next half progresses. 

On the horizon - 

Another bitty week. I'm in work Monday and Tuesday although I'm hoping to get away early on Tuesday. We're closed on Wednesday for New Year and then normal service is resumed on Thursday. 

I hope to get the vanilla socks done by the end of the year. I can't see me finishing the silver birch and Mara's mitts by then, but I think it's likely to be the mitts which next feel the love. 

Until 2014, have a great new year. 

X

PS - if any of you have ideas for my next book, let me know. I'm open to suggestions. 

Ellen x  

Looking forward

Just a quick one. 

I've been thinking -

I'm going to run another KAL over on the knit to stay sane group on Ravelry. 

In 2014 I'm going to knit from stash. Often, my problem is indecision. So you guys will get to make my decisions for me. 

At the beginning of the KAL post a skein or skeins you want to use from your stash

Next select a few patterns you fancy knitting

Make a poll in the Lets KAL thread and let folk vote on what you should cast on

I'm going to run the KAL every 2 months.

It's open to everyone in the group. Post your poll in the "lets KAL" thread and knit from stash

Feel free to use your projects in other groups if they will allow it

I'll open a chat thread and an FO thread. 

There will be a prize at the end of each KAL - probably a pattern or stitch markers unless something else fall in my lap. 

I hope you guys join in  It'll be fun! 

Have a good week

Ellen x 

Happy anniversary!!

Week in review - 

I sat down to write to you on Sunday but put it off because I wanted to finish the gift knitting. Then I sat down to write on Tuesday night to celebrate completing the last infernal wrap  I put it off again because it dawned on me that today is my blog-iversary! It's now a year since I started!

Where did the year go?

This time last year I hoped to share my year with you, the highs and lows of crafting. I wanted to put out some patterns. 

I've had many more highs than lows and in a year that has been difficult in places, knitting has kept me sane (it's all relative mind you!). I published 2 patterns which gave me a deep respect for those guys out there who do the job properly! I've never begrudged paying for a pattern, but now I feel every penny I pay has been earned by that designer and then some! 

This year I've created some beautiful projects. I love the evenstar I gave to my mum. I created some functional projects too. Ringo and Rusty the rats love their hammock! So far they haven't chewed it to death! 

I've set myself realistic targets and I achieved them all. At the beginning of the year I wanted to finish the evenstar and publish patterns. I managed both so what now? What are my goals for next year? I'm thinking I'd like to do another evenstar maybe I'll cast on that Viajantè I've been threatening for so long. I'm not sure yet. I'll try to crystallise some ideas for the new year blog. 

 But what about this week? I've been off work and it's been great. Monday saw me suck up my courage and go into Ben's bedroom! Those of you who follow me on Instagram or Twitter will have seen the before and after shots! It ruined my back for a couple of days, but the result was worth it! And even better than that, today the room is as tidy as it was on Monday ! Now THAT's a miracle!!

Tuesday was a bitty day. The car had to go to the garage to have a wheel bearing replaced. I walked the 4(?) miles home and worked on the gift knitting as I travelled. My goal that day was to get the last ballet wrap done and blocked as it needed to be in the post on Wednesday. I did get it finished, but not a lot else happened until that last stitch was cast off !  The evening brought knit night. That night we relocated to the pub. We had a great evening chatting, knitting and setting the world to rights. We had to be politely told to go home by the long suffering barmaid ! We also discovered our host Mara's dark, dirty secret ! It's so dark and dirty I'm going to tell you guys too! Mara has the worst case of castonitis EVER! I mean ever!! In the whole world I'm sure!! She coughed to having 32 scarf projects on the go!!!!!!!  That night she cast on 2 more projects ! We decided she should start a new business casting on for folk seeing as she's so addicted to the process!  

One of the projects she cast on was a pair of gauntlets. I know she hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of finishing one let alone 2, and this leads me nicely to Wednesday. I got to sit down and catch up with Mel on the Singlehanded (!!!!!! SQUEE!!!) knits podcast. Mel showed us a new pattern she was releasing and I knew instantly it was meant to be. Mel has graciously give this pattern to her blog readers. All she asks in return is that you knit a pair for someone who needs them! I decided then and there that Mara needs a pair! Her gallery is cold, and left to her, she's only going to make a pair of gauntlets if she seams up all those cast on edges!!

Wednesday also brought the end of the school term. Ben's school finished by putting on a Christmas event at a local church. It's a beautiful little church a few miles deeper into the country and it just fits the school kids and some parents. The children put on a lovely performance about the Christmas story and we all sang a couple of carols. They make me cry. Every time. I wonder why that is? 

Any how, next came Thursday. Yesterday I travelled down to my mum and dad's. It wasn't the most pleasant of journeys, the weather was most uncooperative. But we arrived safely and that's what counts. We  exchanged gifts with my sister and caught up a little. I cast on a pair of Hawaiian Snowflake mitts. The pattern is great. I'm struggling with my yarn choice though. It's a gradient coloured merino single. The single is splitting easily and at the moment I'm on a dark red/brown shade which is making it difficult to see the stitches especially when the light is so bad in my mum's. I think I'll set them aside until I get home. I want to do the job properly. 

You can see how the pattern is getting lost a little in the dark colours. I'm loving the fabric though, and the garter stitch is gorgeous!! 

Something special happened too. 

No! Calm down!!! It's my RIGHT hand!! It is my wedding band though. My mum and dad gave it to me because they where tired of fretting over it. This is such a special ring. It's made from my mum's, my Nana's and my great-grandmother's wedding rings. They were melted together and split into 3 new rings. My mum has one, my sister got hers 8 years ago when she got married and I got mine yesterday because my parents got tired of waiting for me to tie the knot!  Matthew and I have been together 20 years now and he's in no rush to make an honest woman of me!

Today is Friday. Today we'll exchange gifts with mum and dad and my aunty will pop over. I need to drop off a huge bin bag of clothes to a friend's house that Ben has grown out of (a dirty habit in my opinion!) and we'll make our way home. 

On the horizon - 

Christmas approaches! I hope you all have a great festive season however you chose to spend your day. 

On the domestic front, I'm still thinking happy thoughts about that goose! It'll be fine! I hope. 

On the crafting front, I'd like to start the year with a clean-ish slate. I'd like to finish up as many WIP's as I can. My WIP list isn't too bad. I have the Annie scarf and 2 socks on the go. Not forgetting Mara's mitts. 

Have a lovely Christmas. 

Speak soon! 

Ellen x  

Child 1 - 0 Mother

Pester power wins. Today I put up the tree. Sigh!

I usually try to put it off a little longer, but next weekend I'll be busy. 

Week in review - 

I'm working hard. Things are getting busier by the day. But all work and no play...... When I get a lunch break or 5 quiet minutes, I like to catch up with my podcasts and my blogs. This week I want to share Mel's blog with you. Now, I'm sure that you all already know Mel, she's huge! Rad! And has more talent in her little finger than I have in my whole body! But in case you've missed her blog, you should head over and read all about it. 

Mel talks to two lovely ladies called Jane and Shannon this week. They have just put out a new book called Journey. From what I've seen it's a work of beauty. It's more than a collection of 6 patterns. It does what it says on the cover. It's a journey. An over used word these days, but the photography is stunning and the patterns flow with purpose through the book. 

Mel, Jane and Shannon have a copy of the book up for grabs. Check out Mel's Ravelry group. Mel is also offering you the chance to win one of her mum's project bags. As the proud owner of a "sew buttons on icecream" bag I can assure you they're worth spending your hard earned cash on. 

I took the dog out for a walk on Sunday. We went up onto the fells. It was a beautiful day. Cold breezy and crisp. 

As I walked and the dog ran I worked on Jean's vanilla socks. I got a fair bit done. It's was a beautiful day. It was so quiet up there. I loved the combination of the open space, the gambolling of the dog and my knitting. I came home calmed and invigorated. Is that even possible!?

Feeling the love - 

Apart from the bit of work on Jean's socks I've mostly been working on Sophie's wrap. 

It's nearly done, I'm trying to keep the motivation going and I'll cast on Mollie's version. I've done a little work on Alex's dodecahedron too. 

On the horizon - 

I've managed to complete one wrap in a week, so doing another larger one is doable yes? Well, it's jolly well going to have to be! I need to get these gifts wrapped and posted by next weekend! No pressure. 

Do you think I'll get Christmas knitting done in good time next year!? 

Probably not, but hey ho! 

If I do get my wraps done, and my dodecahedron I'll work on Jean's socks. With any luck I'll work on the silver birch too. 

Wish me luck! 

Have a great week. 

X 

Did you miss me?

Gosh darn it!  I'll start again then! Just been merrily typing away and the iPad had some sort of hissy fit and I've lost the lot! 

So, did you miss me? I missed you guys. 

Week(s) in review - 

Last weekend saw me come to blog and wonder what I'd achieved in the previous week. I'd been busy all week and, on reflection, I had nothing to show for it. Don't you just hate it when that happens? 

This week is the week when my Christmas spirit starts evaporating. I'm not a 'Bah Humbug!' type ofperson by  nature, but there's only so much grumpy, bad tempered-ness  I can stand before I start to lose my festive happiness. Don't worry folks, the weekends do recharge my Christmas batteries, running around town trying to finish my gift shopping, writing my lists and checking them twice sees my spirit levels replenished. Or maybe that's just vodka!

I missed knit night this week. I had a meeting on Tuesday night in Carlisle. It was a compulsory meeting  for pharmacists who offer needle exchange and addiction services. It was billed as an update. I hoped it may refresh my knowledge about therapy rational. Nope. It was the new trust who runs the service in the northwest telling us all about an error reporting programme that I can't report to nor access the results of.  So, not only did I waste 4 hours of my life, I missed knit night! And that really messed up my week. I had no idea that the 2 hours I spend around a table with my knitting pals with a cup of tea had become so important to me but they have. It's the only 2 hours that are selfishly mine, and it turns out that I really don't like to share them! 

Feeling the love - 

I'm trying to be a good girl. Honestly. Trying is the operative word here. I'm attempting to remain focused on the Christmas knitting. I've now got a mere 2 weeks to get 2 ballet wraps and a stuffie finished so that I can get them posted off. Is that motivating enough for me? Nope, my attention is constantly wandering to non-urgent knitting. 

On the plus side though I do have an FO. And it is a gift! I finished Kittie's wrap. 

I need to wash and block it, but it's essentially done. I did discover, however, why it came out small enough to fit Kitty rather than Sophie. When I came to cast on for the second wrap, I had 2 circular needles floating around not in their cases. I knew one was the needle I used for the wrap, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what I'd used the second one for. So I got out my needle gauge and they're both 4mm. That is bad guys. I got one out of a 4.5mm case. I'm sure I did. But this is why you're supposed to swatch! Did I swatch? Nope! And I paid the price. An extra wrap to knit ! "Bum" said Ellen. There is a second problem which leads on from this though, I did use 4.5mm DPN's  for the sleeves. I don't think you could tell though. Well, I mean a fellow knitter would see, but the recipient won't notice. So it's staying as it is. 

I did cast on a second wrap. This one is definitely Sophie's. I'm still using the 4mm needle, and I've gone up a size. I'll use 4mm DPN's this time, and I'll hopefully only knit the tie once (Kitty's got ripped out and done again, as I noticed that halfway though it I reverted back to stocking stitch rather than garter for reasons best known to myself!)

On the Christmas knitting front, I've also cast on for Alex's present. He's getting a dodecahedron. And why not!? 

It's made out of sock yarn scraps and I'm loving it. You make each point one at a time, but link them together as you knit. I'm halfway through after just a couple of days. With any luck I'll get it finished this week, so that at least one set of gifts is ready to go. 

I haven't been all good though. I have been distracted by selfish knitting. I cast on the Silver Birch socks from Pom Pom Quarterly.  I'm using rainbow sock yarn from my LYS Jan & Cecelia dye it up in gorgeous variegated colours. LOVE!  It is sit down and concentrate knit though. So it will get attention when I can fit it in. 

I've also cast on a travelling project. Plain vanilla socks that, if they get done in time, will form part of my MIL's gift. They're made using Rico Superba country. 

I've spun some too. I've put aside the batt from Monica. Only because I wanted to spin thoughtlessly. Monica's batt needs my attention. It's full of lovely things that come out in the single in ways I've never seen before. It's going to be a lovely arty yarn. I'm thinking that it's going to stay a single. I don't want to lose any of the character. 

So I've started some merino/silk from Wingham Wool Works in various shades of brown. It's spinnig up thin and easily. I'm going to spin straight through and then N-ply it. I'm hoping to get enough for socks. Fingers crossed. 

On the horizon - 

Christmas knitting. Nothing else. Just that. 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ah ha

Have a great week 

X