Knitting – Page 7 – Enchilada Sunrise

Mid Sock Syndrome?

You know, it’s funny. I don’t tend to be struck down with Second Sock Syndrome. I don’t always cast on a second sock the instant I’ve finished the first if I’ve got other projects on the go that I want to work on before I go back to the sock knitting. But by and large, my second socks seem to knit up faster than the first ones… probably because I already have the pattern fixed in my head. What I do get, though, is ‘Mid Sock Syndrome’. Is it just me? I start a new sock (so far I’ve only knit top-down, so I can only talk about that) and the ribbing, if there is any, might feel relatively slow, but once I get onto the main part of the leg: zoom! Before I know it, I’m at the heel flap. At that point, time grinds to a halt or something. What’s really weird here is, the various parts of heel flap, heel turn and even gusset decreases don’t seem to take all that long. But somehow, all together, they take an age. And then there’s the foot. For some reason this didn’t happen for the Monkey socks – the foot of those flew by – but in general, the foot takes for EVAH. Which makes no sense, because my feet are small and therefore the foot part of a sock is much shorter than the leg.

Perhaps it’s that I’ve gone past the point of being interested in the pattern because it’s new, and also past the gratification of having learned it, so it starts knitting up faster. Is it sock fatigue? I seem to constantly be checking the foot length to make sure I haven’t gone too far, and seeming to still have miles before the toe decreases start. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the sock knitting. But I suppose by the time I get to that part, I just want the flipping thing to be finished! I guess I’ll just have to be grateful that starting that second sock makes it all new and exciting again…. :-)

Hi, my name is…

…and I’m a yarnaholic. Although when I follow that analogy through, perhaps it’s not quite accurate. Because it’s not my actual consumption of yarn that’s the issue. No, it’s that like many many knitters I have a little tiny stash problem. But then again, if yarnaholic = addicted to yarn, then I spose that works. The point is – and I do, usually, get to my point ;-) – I’ve come to the reluctant realisation that I have Too Much Yarn.

You see, I’ve been cataloguing my stash on the wonderful Ravelry, and this has meant hoiking out yarn that I haven’t even seen for about three years. And I’ve realised a couple of things about all this yarn. To me, “too much yarn” doesn’t mean that I have more yarn than I’m likely to use in the near (or far) future. It means that I have specific yarn that I now can’t see myself ever using for anything. In general, that’s yarn that I bought because it was too good of a bargain to pass up. Ahem. Well, we all do it!

So, what I have at the moment is pretty much this:

Doesn’t look tooooo bad, does it? Although when you bear in mind that of course the bags and basket are really packed full of yarn that you can’t see properly in the picture… Um. And I also have a large-ish box full of machine knitting yarn under my bed that I haven’t brought myself to drag out yet. Yeah, I need to start knitting faster. And knitting larger things again: I have the yarn for more than a couple of jumpers / cardigans. The top two boxes by the telly house my sock yarn. They’re a bit jammed. Oh dear, I’d better knit myself more socks. Shame!

So, what I’ve done is gone through everything and sorted out some things to go to charity, and some things to be sold on eBay. The ones that I’ve put on eBay are yarns that I bought because I liked at the time… but as I said above, I’m really never going to actually knit with them. They need to go to someone who can use them. For example, there was a time when I bought an awful lot of mohair because it was pretty and fuzzy and also very reasonable in the LYS. I did my typical thing of “ooo, I like! I shall have that colour and that colour and that colour, and…”. Yes. Four years later, I’ve knitted some of that yarn up, and now I just don’t have a use for the other colours of it! Some of it, I really do love the colour… for a hat, for example. Which I don’t want to make in that kind of yarn. Doh! But you learn these things with experience.

Therefore, to eBay it has gone. There are five lots of mohair (80-90% mohair or mohair/wool and acrylic blends), one lot of Jaeger Cadiz (silk/viscose), two lots of 100% wool fingering weight, and a Colinette pattern book. Help me de-stash!

Once I’d done that, I decided to work out, with the help of Lixie’s Stashtimator, how much yarn I now have left. Oh dear. Like I said before, I’ve got to start knitting faster, and most importantly knitting from my stash. Because I have:
Laceweight: 238g = 1.6 miles
4-ply / Fingering: 5805g = 13.2 miles (of that, Sock yarn: 3810g = 8.7 miles)
DK: 9640g = 13 miles
Aran: 3995g = 3.8 miles
Chunky: 1915g = 1.6 miles
Super Bulky: 1100g = 0.9 miles
TOTAL: 57626g = 34.2 miles

From now on, then, I’m on a yarn diet. This does not mean no more yarn: food dieting doesn’t mean stopping eating, after all! What I’m going to pledge to myself is to buy no more yarn for larger projects until I’ve used the yarn I already have, unless it’s for a gift (honestly: unlikely… gifts will probably be smaller things!), and to budget the amount of sock yarn / single skeins that I can buy. Yes, in this case, sock yarn does count as stash. Somewhat. ;-) Again, yarn for gifts and commissions doesn’t count, but I am going to try to knit from my stash for those as well where possible.

…… Wish me luck? (And buy my eBayed yarn! ;-) )

Long Day

It’s been a looooooooooong day… and why I’m not in bed already, I’m not really sure. I’m running on caffeine fumes, or something. It was my uncle’s funeral, so we’ve been to Norfolk and home again (5:30am start, most of the day spent in the car…. ow my back). On the plus side, because I’m not allowed to drive at the moment, I got some knitting done. Um, yay? So yup, I have another couple of inches done of my Whitby sock. There would have been more, but I was pretty tired by the time we were on our way home, so I slept for a couple of hours. I feel a bit guilty about that, cos Mum and M were having to stay awake and do the driving. But then, I didn’t sleep well last night because my brain was in ‘oh no, what if I don’t wake up in time’ mode.

The funeral was fine, and it was good to see all my cousins, even if the circumstances weren’t exactly great. I even met up with a cousin I haven’t seen since we were both 2, and a couple of others that I might not have met at all. I have a lot of cousins. The ones who are all my age are actually my first-cousins-once-removed (the children of my first cousins) due to the generational wonk my family has going on. *g* One of these is my cousin B, who is great, and who I’m hoping to keep in touch with more regularly – we’ve been saying we will, but crucially this time we remembered to exchange email addrs! Hopefully I’ll get the chance to go and stay with her at some point so we can have a proper catch-up.
Back to the knitting, I’ve been doing lots of other things as well. I finished my first Hedara sock:

And the kitty-face baby hat that I’ve done for a friend’s expected new baby:

Aaaaaand finally I’ve finished off the HP Slytherin scarf I’ve been making for Sann for, oh, years (it was the weaving in of the ends that I stalled on). Hoorah!

Yaaaaay, finished objects! I feel like I’m on a bit of a roll now: I’m determined to finish one of the jumpers that’ve been lurking for years as well (see sidebar). I had resolved that I wasn’t going to cast anything new on until I’d finished at least one project, and now I’ve finished two and a half… but… finishing one of those flippin’ jumpers will feel like a real achievement. So that’s my next plan, along with continuing with the other things I have on the needles, of course! I really must remember to post on here with pics of the other things I’ve done recently as well. But not tonight. Now, it’s bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzz………

SP11 Package #1! :-D

So! My first SP11 package came! …. A week and a half ago. I’m a bad blogger and totally failed to post about it til now, but I did email my pal and gush a lot. *g* Also… I now, totally accidentally, know who she is! It’s because (a) she’s on my blogroll and Ravelry friends-list, (b) she really doesn’t live very far away from me, so even though all she put for a return address was a postcode, I recognised which town it was…. and (c) my suspicions were aroused because her real name was written on the little card that came with the scrummy hand-painted yarn she’d got me. So I asked her, and yes, it turns out she’s Janey. It’s kind of hilarious, because I was having such fun with the mystery aspect – not that knowing who she is has spoiled anything. But it’s fairly ironic that all those factors came together like that and gave it away. *g* Especially since I’m a relative newbie to the knit-blogging community and don’t know all that many people!

But anyway, on to the best bit: the PRESENTS! *mercenary* ;-)

I like the anticipation almost as much as the opening them up, so I took the box into my bedroom and sat on the bed to open it. When I opened it up, the gifts inside were beautifully wrapped in purple tissue paper and ribbon. So I carefully prodded them for a little while, and then took them out of the box and laid them on the bed…

Oooooo, exciting! Then there was some more prodding, and eventually, I started opening them. *g* Of course, the Xandermog had to come and investigate.

But there wasn’t anything edible for him, so he soon lost interest ;-) So, what did I get?

From the back: Thorntons fudge (omg yum: that didn’t last long!!). A wibbly-wobbly pen… because it has purple hair and therefore made Janey think of me! Thorntons strawberries and cream toffee (once again, yum!). Two balls of Debbie Bliss SoHo, because she’d noticed I haven’t yet tried any felting projects – and I do want to, so yay! A skein of gorgeous black and purple hand-painted sock yarn from Gemini Knits. A dinky little sheep notepad (cute!). A set of 2.5mm Brittany birch DPNS!!! An absolutely charming book of sheep pictures and verse. And last but certainly not least (except in size *g*), three of the cutest little sheep stitch markers in the WORLD. As you can see, they’re tiny – they’re for small needles too, so perfect for sock knitting. Yay! So here’s bigger pic of them. Look at their little faces!

Isn’t that awesome? I don’t know what I love the most… the yarn, the sweets, the stationary / sheepy things are all brilliant, and the sock yarn just couldn’t be better colours for me! But I think perhaps the adorable stitch markers, and the DPNs which were on my mental luxury wishlist (and which I admit, I’ve spent an awful lot of time just stroking!) have to come out on top. Just! Janey, you’re the best pal ever – THANK YOU!! :-D

To Frog or Not To Frog?

… That is the question. The other question is, hey where did the last week disappear to? Bzuh?? I know I was quite busy, but I didn’t realise it had been that many days since I posted last. Whoops! My Secret Pal package did arrive on Monday as expected, and yay, it’s awesome! But I’ll babble about that more in a separate post, because I haven’t uploaded the photos yet.

What I am going to babble about now is my frogging dilemma. See, I’m about 10-15% into my Forest Canopy Shawl, and it’s very pretty and all. But I’m not quite sure that Eva is the best yarn to use for it. It’s gorgeous and shiny, but it hasn’t got as much elasticity as an all-wool yarn, which means that the sl1 k2tog psso decreases look a little baggy. I’ve hibernated it anyway until I’m done with my Christmas knits, so I was thinking that maybe I should rip it. Because it also occurred to me that Eva would make the most beautiful Clapotis…

I know, I know: everyone and their dog / cat has already made a Clapotis, and I’m the last person in the world to jump on this particular bandwagon. You know, I wasn’t even particularly enamoured of the pattern until I started thinking how well Eva would suit it. And suddenly, it clicked for me. Well, I’m late to everything else, why not this too? It really would show off the yarn soooo well. As for the Forest Canopy? Well, I have a skein of PY Emily in some lovely shades of green that strikes me as rather… forest-y. Is that too predictable? I think it’ll look good, though, and I like green. So there ;-) Plus, I’m pretty sure that it’ll knit up better Emily. My other choice would be YY Merino, or possibly Sock, but I don’t have a colour in either of those that I want to use for the shawl, unless I used the YY August club yarn. But I have that earmarked for a particular sock pattern, so I don’t think I will.

I have another frogging dilemma as well, although this one is less of a real dilemma. A couple of years ago, I started knitting a zip jacket that was actually a man’s pattern by Debbie Bliss featured in Simply Knitting mag. Well, I say I started knitting it. I went out and bought the yarn (a substitute, but pretty well identical: Sirdar Denim Sport Aran instead of Debbie Bliss Denim Aran), and cast on. Aaaaaand that’s as far as I ever got! I spose I was distracted by other things (this was right before Dad’s accident) and somehow I never picked it up again. And then, in the most recent issue of Knitty, I saw Mr Greenjeans. Ooooooo, I thought. I like that! My first idea was that I could maybe use some Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran that I have lurking in my stash for it – it’s a lovely dark green colour, and I’ve been wanting to find something to use it for for ages. But when I double-checked, I don’t have enough of it. D’oh!! (One of these days, I might pick up some complementary yarn and make a Tubey with it. That would be nice.) So I kind of figured I’d have to give up on the idea of that cardigan for a while, until it suddenly struck me that I have that Denim Sport Aran sitting around not being knitted. Was I really ever going to knit the zip jacket? Probably not. So I think I’m going to use that yarn for the Mr Greenjeans instead. The only thing that’s vaguely bothering me is that I’m not 100% sure the yarn is actually very me. Will I wear a blue denim-effect cardi? Oh, I spose I will. I could think of it as work clothing! At-the-computer attire. After all, it won’t show the cat hair as badly as all my black clothes do. *g*

I spose that’s decision made, then. Zip jacket thing: Frog, and re-purpose the yarn as a Mr Greenjeans. Forest Canopy: Probably frog, re-purpose the yarn as a Clapotis, then re-start with the green PY Emily. Hoorah! (This isn’t helping my startitis any, you know….)

Gratuitous Catspam! (And SP11 things)

The cuteness of Xander... follow the link to the photo album to see the full sized version

Xandermog! So! Cute!!

In SP11 news, I’ve been having lots of fun. Both my upstream and downstream pals are lovely (*waves to Miss.Teri*) and I’m told that my first package should be with me tomorrow. *bounce* I really hope my downstream pal likes her package. I really did enjoy putting it together, though I felt like I should have put something handmade in… but then I had a last minute brainwave and put a little something together. :-) There are a couple of other things that sort of count, too, and I do have plans for the next two parcels. I don’t really do any handicrafts other than knitting, so that kind of limits me there. But my plan is to play to my strengths – I may not be able to sew well, or anything, but there are creative things I can do. Like, um, stuff. And things. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll think of something! But like I said, I’m happy with the first parcel so with a bit of luck my pal will be too. :-)

Now, I shall go back to knitting, and plotting parcel no.2. Mwahahahah….

OMG ded (sic)

Woah, I’m exhausted. Feeling a little bit spacey here, I can tell you. The four-year-old who lives upstairs from me is allergic to sleeping all night long, and I keep getting woken up by loud thumps. The crying I could sleep through – it’s the intermittent bangs on the ceiling that do it. Nothing I can do about it, though, except be glad I’m not one of her parents! And possibly invest in some earplugs next time I’m at the chemist…

That’s not the only reason I’m knackered, though. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in php, and learning all about WordPress. Which have been fun, but once I start getting into the code and stuff, I forget to stop for, oh, food and breaks, etc etc. What, it’s absorbing! I’m not going to be changing this site to WP – it took me long enough fiddling about getting MT how I like it, and if I went and changed to another blogging system I’d only spend a million years prodding the back end (my Mum thinks that sounds bad, but I have no other way to describe it) and not making any posts. Again! So this site is staying as it is. However, WP is a useful thing to know how to use, and it all meshes in nicely with the PHP I’ve been learning. Hoorah!

So my brain is a little frazzled from several days intense work at that. Good thing I’ve had my knitting to wind me down! I’ve started the two larger items of my Christmas knitting (and the other two I have planned aren’t definite anyway) but I spose I can’t talk about them here just in case. D’oh. I’ve also been working on the other projects that I started recently… that I still haven’t mentioned on here, but deserve their own post when I’m less tired! I really need to make posts for my finished items too. Although actually, I can’t post one thing because it’s for SP11. Oh well, eventually!

Talking of SP11, that’s the other reason I’m tiiiiired. Sort of. I went into town and shopped! Partly for SP things, and partly for other stuff that I’d been needing. I also bumped into C, which was nice cos I hadn’t seen her for ages. And, um. Um.

Losing… ability… to… words… together… string….

$var="sleepyLou" if(eyes!=open && brain==ded) { function init(goToBed) } else { function init(CAFFEINE) }

Yup. Think that covers it. *thud*

Three Needle Bind-off: sort of how-to.

Gina left me a comment asking how the three needle bind-off was done (I’d been talking about it, if you can’t be bothered to click back to the post), so I dropped her a mail hopefully explaining how it worked. And she just mailed back to say that she understood me perfectly. Hoorah! :-)

So then I thought, hey, I might as well post it here, too. Someone else might find it useful … plus it’ll be a handy resource thingy for me to come back to in future, perhaps. I might start doing this for other new things that I learn. Anyway, here it is:

I’m not an expert at this since this was the first time I’d tried it, but it worked out fine for me so here goes! To start with, the pattern I was working from was Coleen, and I’m pretty sure I also looked up the technique in the Stitch and Bitch Handbook or a similar book.

First of all hold the two needles with the ‘live’ stitches on together in your left hand, work hanging downwards, and the ‘right’ sides of the work together. So, if you’re making a stocking stitch piece, then the knit sides are on the inside and touching each other, and both purl sides are facing out. Effectively, the work is inside-out – that’s because the resulting cast-off edge will be the seam and will form on the top edge of the work as you should now be looking at it.

The points of both needles should be facing to the right. Then use the third needle to knit the first stitch from each left-hand needle together, making one stitch on the right needle. Repeat that step, and then pass the first stitch over the second one as with a normal bind-off. Continue like that to the end.

And that’s it! I hope that made sense. There are also good video tutorials at KnittingHelp.com, although I haven’t watched the one for the three-needle bind-off myself so I can’t tell you exactly what it’s like. Personally it always helps me to see a technique as well as read about it, though, whether it’s still pictures or video.

In other news, the new issue of Knitty is out. Some great patterns as usual – I’ve added a couple to my Ravelry queue. I think I have enough knitting lined up to last me at least the next couple of years…

Questions from my Secret Pal

My SP, Miss.Teri (that still amuses me… I’m such a sucker for a pun), has sent me some questions to answer for her, and I thought I’d post them here rather than just emailing them back. Because… I don’t know why, actually. I’ve got in the habit of doing memes in public, and this is a bit like one of those? I’m an attention ‘ho? Um? *g*

Anyway, here we go:

Each question has two answers, ie, chalk or cheese, just choose the answer that comes to mind first…no thinking about your answers!¹

Do you drink……………………………..Tea or coffee?
Neither! Well, technically I sometimes drink herbal tea (camomile and lime flowers for preference). But in actual fact my main hot drink is hot lemon squash: I don’t like ‘real’ tea or coffee, and I only occasionally drink hot chocolate (usually in a coffee shop rather than at home) or malted drinks.

Do you choose…………………………..Bath or shower?
Shower. Mmmmm, power showers.

On toast………………………………….Butter or margarine?
Margarine. I like skimmed milk, too. I know, I’m a freak.

Which colour……………………………..Green or purple?
Purple. Have you seen my hair recently? *g* Purple’s been my favourite colour for aaaages, with green as more of an accent to it (I painted my bedroom in my flat in London lilac with lime green woodwork – it looked brilliant). More recently, green has moved up into being a fave in its own right, but purple is still the one for me!

What TV………………………………….Dr Who or Torchwood?
Dr Who. It has to be, even though Torchwood is awesome and aimed more at my age group (although next season, less with the graphic shagging all the time, please! ….However, more of the Jack/Ianto snogging wouldn’t be bad. Ahem!) and, hi, has Captain Jack. But Dr Who… I’ve loved it my whole life, and even though parts of this new series² are so aimed at the target child-friendly audience that they make me wince a little with the cheesiness… dear lord, when it’s good – which is 90% of the time for me – it’s fabulous. I just love it madly, no matter what. Seriously, you should have seen me at the Dr Who exhibition in Manchester last weekend. There was bouncing and (quiet) fangirling… and it was OK, because there were umpteen other people in there who were exactly the same! Alright, I’m going to stop now, because my fangirling is supposed to be confined to my livejournal, and if you really get me started on the ways I love Dr Who, we’ll be here all year.

Seasons………………………………….Summer or Winter?
Winter, of those two. I just don’t do heat. The sun, it burrrrrrns.

Which do you love best………………..Cat or knitting?
My mogboy! Of course I love my knitting and mmmm, yarn. But next to my snuggly purry furry boy (are you sorry you asked yet?), there’s no contest. He’s big and daft and the best natured cat I’ve ever known, and when I’m sad he comes to see if I’m OK and lets me squish him and cry on him if need be. Also, he never attacks the knitting, which is a definite plus. Even if he does get his fur all over it. Oh well!

Food………………………………………Sweet or savoury?
S…..avoury. Huh. I would have expected myself to say sweet, but honestly I think savoury is my preference overall. I wouldn’t want to be stuck without one or the other, though. My all time favourite food is actually Sweet and Sour pork or chicken, so you can see how decisive I am on this one really!

Which is best…………………………….Rose or Martha?
A year ago I never would have thought I would give this answer, because I loved the character of Rose, and I think Billie Piper is a great actress. But it’s Martha for me, now. She just rocks! I loved everything about her. She kicked ass and took names, and even though she had the whole unrequited feelings thing with the Doctor, it never took away her dignity, and she didn’t let him get away with blocking her out. And, whoops, you got me started on Dr Who again. Stopping!!

Takeaway………………………………..Chinese or Indian?
Chinese! Like I said before, sweet & sour is my absolute fave, but really, if it’s not fish (which makes me ill), then I lurve it.

Which one………………………………..Posh Yarn or Yarn Yard?
……….And that frying noise you just heard was my brain shorting out! OMG, I can’t decide that! If you gave me specific yarns or colourways to pick between, I could probably manage it. Probably! I seriously do not have a gut answer for this one. Let’s see if I can reason it out…. I love both of them for the colours, so I don’t know if I can pick one over the other for that, especially since both have a lot of one-off colours that aren’t repeated. I completely adore Posh Yarn Sophia – that’s 100% cashmere, and utterly gorgeous. However, I’m not sure that’s it’s going to be ideal for socks – I don’t know how it’ll wear. I just made the 6-ply version into some Fetching gloves and it was brilliant for that. The other Posh Yarn sock weight yarns… I think Emily is my favourite, but I love the Yarn Yard Sock just as much. Maybe even a little more. The YY Merino Sock, too. Price-wise, the Yarn Yard is better by a pound or two… But to be honest, I generally choose by colour. So I suppose if you gave me a choice of PY Emily, PY Sophia 4ply, YY Sock and YY Merino Sock (or the new Merino Tencel, which I haven’t tried yet) in the same colour, and I was going to make socks out of it, I would probably pick one of the YYs. Overall, though, I can’t make a choice between one shop and the other because they’re both brilliant and run by lovely lovely ladies.

In Bed…………………………………….Duvet or Blanket?
Duvet.

Socks……………………………………..Knee high or ankle socks?
Knee high. I like socks that (a) come over the top of my DMs comfortably, and (b) keep my legs warm when I’m sitting still at the computer for hours on end! I do sometimes wear ankle socks to the gym, but that’s it.

Eggs……………………………………….Scrambled or fried?
Scrambled! For a start I do like scrambled eggs better, though thinking about it, I probably eat fried ones more often. But mainly, they remind me of my Dad. He made awesome scrambled eggs. When my brother was born and Mum was in hospital with him, I clearly remember Dad feeding the two of us on scrambled eggs. Possibly at the time it was pretty much all he could cook, but he did them well! :-)

¹Well, she didn’t say I couldn’t elaborate, did she? *hides* I did give my snap answers for all of them, I really did. I just then rambled a bit. I can’t help myself! Part of it must be a natural tendency, but you have to remember that I had it drummed into me for, what, 17+ years of education that you should always show your working / justify your reasoning. It feels totally wrong to me not to do that!

²It’s been too long since I’ve watched any of the classic series to judge the relative cheesiness of that. I certainly do remember the dodgy special effects etc etc, but plot-wise I’ll have to wait til I’ve rewatched to be able to say. However, the silly effects never made me love it any less then or now, so that’s redundant.

Alright, that’s it! I was almost brief with some of the answers, at least. Go me!

The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, but what became of the monkey monkey monkey monkey…

I’m listening to / watching the Last Night of the Proms at the mo. Ah, Last Night, I luff you! One of these days I’ll actually go in person. I’ve actually been a completely rubbish Prommer this year and not been to a single one. I was just too broke to get up to London. Next year! I’m determined. I’ve enjoyed listening on the radio and catching the odd one on telly, but it’s not the same as being in the Hall yourself. I’ve loved the Albert Hall since I first sung there when I was 10. There’s just no atmosphere like it for me. It’s my all time favourite concert hall in the world, no contest. Even the Sydney Opera House, fabulous as it is, just doesn’t have the same emotional attachments I guess. So yes. Go the Proms!

*break while I sing along to Jerusalem*

But what I was originally going to post about was my Monkey socks. I finished them! I like them lots. They’re all comfy too. I’m gradually getting faster at the knitting of socks – I spose it’s more that I’m picking the sock up to knit it more often rather than physically knitting them faster.

Did I mention that the foot was way faster than the leg? I think I did. I ended up with quite a lot of yarn left over – maybe even a third of a ball. Anyway, here they are:

Wearing my Monkeys (larger version in the photo album)

Continue reading “The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, but what became of the monkey monkey monkey monkey…”

I’m back!

I did say I was going, didn’t I? I’ve been off in Manchester at the TRA Meet-Up 2007, which was the best con evah. Seriously. Actually, it was more like a pilgrimage than a convention – it wasn’t the kind where several hundred fans are packed into a hotel for a weekend and queued past actors. Which, hey, I’ve been to plenty of and enjoyed very much! But somehow this was better: there were just 50 or so of us, and we visited various filming locations, “met” the Camberwick Green puppet of Sam, and got to sit in the Cortina! So yes. Pretty much the best Life on Mars geekfest possible. There was even a party with fab 70’s style buffet food (and a pub quiz) on the Saturday night. The girls who organised it really went all out and made it a seriously memorable weekend for everyone, plus I met some lovely lovely people. Whee!

I got back down from Manchester on Wednesday evening at…. late-ish. I had to hang around in London for a while to avoid the rush hour – I did think about braving it, but I didn’t really fancy possibly standing all the way to Hastings with my backpack on. I was wiped out when I got home, so I kind of fed the cat and fell into bed at that point. Since then I’ve been (a) recovering and (b) working. Or is it the other way around? Nah, maybe not. ;-) I’m just in the process of ploughing through my email, so if you’re expecting to hear from me… I may be gone some time! Oh alright, I’m being over-dramatic. Hopefully I won’t take very long – at a quick glance I see I have mail from my SP to answer *waves*.

In knitting stuff, I did get a fair bit done on the train journeys, which was nice. I made my second Fetching, and a good start on my first Hedara sock. More about those later when I have photos to prettify the post. Listened to plenty of knitting podcasts, too, which enlivened the whole travelling thing. Hoorah!

I got my Yarn Yard club parcel yesterday, too. :-D I don’t think I mentioned last month’s, which I loved as well. This one is scrummy – I won’t describe it just yet in case there’s anyone reading (is there anyone reading? At all? *g*) who’s in the club and hasn’t had theirs. But it’s bright and delicious, and there were sweets in the package as well! Yum!! I think I definitely do want to use the accent quarter skein for toes and heels this time. I’m just not sure whether to make plain stst socks or do something with a little bit of a pattern / texture. I’ll think on it. And post photos in a couple of days when I’ve taken them.

Right now, though? Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

An evening off.

I don’t do this often enough: I tend to do my knitting at the same time as other things (watching TV) or at the very end of the day. But this evening, I’m going to designate myself an official Evening Off from the computer. I’m going to go and sit on the sofa (actually I think one of the reasons I don’t do this all that often is that my sofa isn’t fantastic for lounging on) and listen to podcasts or music – I might Listen Again to Mark Lamarr’s God’s Jukebox from Saturday… I missed it again! Or, huh, maybe I’ll listen to Radcliffe and Maconie and then Masters of Rock first. But mainly, I shall knit!

Aaaaaaaaaaand since it’s almost nine o’clock already, I really should get off teh internets and get on with it, shouldn’t I? TTFN!

The monkey fell out of his bunk and slid down the elephant’s trunk

I’ve been whizzing through the foot of my second Monkey sock – yay! I am of course in no way inspired by the fact that I need those 2.5mm DPNs for another project I want to start. Oh no. Hah! (I need another set of 2.5s, is what I need. Ooo, or maybe a circular needle in that size, just for variety.)

But anyway, the foot of these socks goes so much faster than the leg! Quite possibly as much as twice as fast, in fact. Not that the leg was slow going, mind you. But the foot, remember, only has the pattern repeats on two needles, and the other two are nice speedy plain stocking stitch. The twice as fast thing is suddenly making sense! Plus, with my short little size 4, I only do five pattern repeats on the foot including the gusset decrease section. Which is one less than the leg to start with.

The outcome of all this is, I’ve now finished the lace repeats (yay), and all I have to do is the toe decreases and kitchener stitch the toe up. I like kitchener stitch. It’s all neat and invisible and …. weave-y. Oh look, my vocab has turned in for the night!

So I’m going to finish these socks off tonight while listening to podcasts before I go to sleep. Hoorah! I’m strongly tempted to take myself to the shop at the bottom of my road that sells all sorts of fascinating shop fittings and models, tomorrow. Because I want a head (please mentally pronounce that “hiid”) and a foot (“fuut”) or two for the displaying of my hats and socks. I know I have Angelique-the-toy-head (named by Ally manymany years ago), but she’s, well, technically a toy. And not life sized, which makes her not quite right for displaying hats. I’m not sure if I’d be better off getting a foot (or pair of feet), or some of those lovely wooden sock blockers – plastic ones are OK, but if you’re going to get some, you might as well get some dead spiffy ones, no? Shop model feet have the advantage of being properly foot-shaped, but sock blockers are easier to store. It’s a conundrum! Anyone have any advice?

Whoosh!

I’ve been pretty busy over the last few days. Phew! But I have been knitting – I’ll make a longer post all about that a bit later. Right now I’m in the middle of a massive tidy-up / clear out that was actually inspired by me deciding that I need to destash my yarn. As in, knit from the stash. Not (*gasp*) give it away or anything drastic. Well, maybe a skein or two as gifts.

But the point is, I need to declutter my entire life. Or at least my flat. So I’ve been doing that. I’m still not properly sorted out after the move in December. But now I’m on a roll, and I know what the major problems were (wardrobe in the wrong place, and not enough storage – soon to be solved). Whee!
You never know, once I’ve done the big stuff and made a trip or two to the charity shop and the tip, I might even get around to sorting out my filing. Ahahahah! Yeah, right.

Oh, and before I forget (because I’m rubbish like that), hi to my secret pal, “Miss Teri”. *waves* I’ve had my own secret pal assignment too so I’ve been diligently stalking them. Mwahaha! I’ve bought them stuff already too. This is fun!

SP11 again!

I had an email today to say that the Secret Pal matches are starting to go out. *bounce* I’m ridiculously excited about this whole thing, really. I do hope I get a non-UK pal, upstream or downstream or both. I really like the idea of exchanging things that we can’t generally get in our own countries, and getting to try completely new stuff.

I’ve also got to drop a line to the swap organisers to let them know that I’m actually going to be away (at the LoM con / meet-up!) on 1st Sept, which is when I’m sposed to first get in touch with my pal(s?). Still, I’m sure it won’t matter if I send the mail a day or so early. Shame I can’t get my mail to send as a timed thingy, like making a scheduled blog post.

In other news, the weather has been revolting today… which has at least meant I’ve not been dying from hayfever ;-) Every cloud (and there are lots of them in the sky right now!), and so on! The cat still insisted in going out in the pouring rain, of course. I’d better go get him in and dry him off now.