Needles on the Move

The never-ending socks are finally finished. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get cool photos of socks? I need to borrow some feet - I may have to wait a few days to get a couple of shots that I like. Then they’ll be posted here with the pattern.

Why never-ending? Well for a start, Socks That Rock Mediumweight comes in a ridiculously big skein. Maybe giants have feet that need 5 1/2 oz worth of sock - but I certainly don’t. But given that STR is so scrummy, I figured why not make the most of it - socks can be long, after all.

So I divided my skein in half and started at the toe and knitted. And knitted… and knitted. Eventually I gave up. I stopped the first sock somewhat short of the knee and still had enough yarn left to probably knit a small hat. Then I started the second sock. Halfway through the leg I was swearing at myself under my breath for making the first one so b*^”*y long.

They did finally get done, however, thanks to several episodes of House and a couple of Heroes. Mindless knitting at its best. The pattern will be a freebie and I’ll have it ready this weekend. Would you like a short-row tutorial along with it? I seem to have some matching sock yarn left over…

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One the new knitting front, I’ve started knitting up the emerald handspun I posted about here. It’s going to be a basic feather and fan scarf - nothing special, but I really wanted to show off the subtle colour changes in the yarn. So far I like it, although I’m hoping it will block out to be a bit more airy.

This yarn/scarf is also set to become famous very shortly. It will be an integral part of the Big Project. I am busting to tell you all about it but have to keep mum for a few more days. Secret-business-partner and I will be meeting on Monday and if all goes well we will be telling the world :-D

Until then, happy knitting.

A little while I muscled in on a hat swap that Kate and Cairi had organised. A three-people swap. Three people is fun - you know who you’re knitting for, you can have in-depth discussions on what type and colour of yarn should be used, and can make final careful decisions on pattern detail (You really want seed stitch? You’re sure? Really…).

Kate is a super fast knitter and had my French Beret finished and ready for me to wear at Ally Pally. It’s a Louisa Harding pattern and knitted in Fiddlesticks Country Silk. Read all about Kate’s picot adventures here…

I drew Cairi out of the proverbial hat (beret?) and she chose Le Slouch by Wendy Bernard. I had the perfect colour of Malabrigo in my stash so off I went.

Zoe happened to conveniently be around when I needed pictures and obliged with a nice smile.

This is a great pattern, well-written, quick to knit and with plenty of notes about possible changes or variations in slouchiness. I am seriously thinking of making one for me - or maybe just pinching this one and pretending to Cairi that it got eaten by the cat/hit by a bus/burnt up in a volcanic eruption before I could get a chance to post it to her. She’d never know.

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Oh, and we’re finally rewired (Yay!) so expect more. And I’ll try and deliver.

And please go and look at my photos - I am having awesome fun!

Yesterday the bootie fever hit me. Bronte provided me with the link to the pattern which I’d seen somewhere and forgotten, and I chose colours and whipped up the first one in a couple of hours.

It’s so cute it’s almost sickening. Hehe. The pattern can be found here, it’s well written and has good clear pictures, I will definitely be knitting more of these.

I made only a couple of small modifications: Being a bit of a stickler for detail I didn’t like the idea of a seam at the back of the heel so when I got to the strap I worked it all in one piece, breaking the yarn and slipping the stitches across to one needle. I also made buttonholes in the straps rather than adding them afterwards. I am using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino which is marginally thicker than the yarn called for so went up a needle size to 3mm.

As soon as I’ve finished the second one they’ll be in the post and hopefully will arrive before the baby does! There’s just a chance the expectant mum is reading this but don’t worry, there’s more surprise baby knits to come.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet when it comes to telephones and internets. Luckily, I have wireless access at work so my laptop lives there now.

Before I go home and finish the housework head for the pub tonight I’ll leave you with a couple of quick pics (actually completely not quick because I’m still figuring out downloading/resizing/fiddling with photos from the new camera. I am not a fan of Photoshop, but have to use it for my course).

No computer at home means more time for other stuff:

This is the merino/tencel fibre which the fabulous Amanda sent me for my birthday. It’s from Spunky Eclectic and I’ve forgotten the colour - but it’s cool no? I’m spinning it for lace.

And a finished object:

A one-skein sample for the shop - I’m quite chuffed with the reversible cables ;-) It’s Malabrigo Worsted in Hollyhock.

Gotta go!

Ciao xx

I have no idea when I’ll be back. We don’t even have a phone line yet and internet will take anywhere up to 2 weeks from when that’s installed. I will probably take my laptop in to work and use the wireless there though, so you may see me in a day or so.

More about the new flat (now that we have keys and I’ve actually seen it in detail - don’t you love the way you remember things completely wrong from the inspection, oh, and Neil hadn’t seen it at all before Friday night!)…

Pros: really close to my work; in a quiet little street but only five minutes walk from the shops and amenities of Parson’s Green Village (I didn’t pinch that from the RE site - I speak the language real well now); easy tube and/or easy ride to work for Neil - only one mile further than he’s riding now; only the afore-mentioned five minutes from the best deli in the world: Elizabeth King. I will be living there from now on. And getting fat. On Friday night we bought proscuitto, brie, cheese straws, olives (with jalapeno in them that Kai didn’t warn me about) and bread. We nearly bought cake and more cheese and little egg tart things and tins of herring and ham and grilled eggplant and biscotti and coffee and bread in a different shape and… See what I mean about the getting fat? Luckily I’ll be walking to work; There’s also a great pub with oodles of fancy beers and a Friday night barbecue.

Cons: We are really going to miss being right next to Hyde park. There are parks, but not so close and not so big and we developed quite an affection for it in the past year; No spare room, although we do have a (very uncomfortable-looking) sofa bed so you’re still welcome to come visit :-D; No dishwasher. Ouch.

I’ll take some pictures today and as soon as I’m rewired I’ll plaster them all up here for you to see.

Ciao!

This week has been good to me :-P

Firstly, there was the long-awaited box from Amanda with my birthday goodies. There’s nothing quite so good as getting MORE yarn and MORE fibre just when you thought the birthday was over. I’ve left everything at work so I will elaborate later, with photographs.

Then, yesterday, the rep from Lantern Moon came around to see the shop - and gave us free stuff! There are serious perks to working in a yarn store, it’s not all about getting to stare at Koigu all day long. I spent some time drooling over his catalogue… I want this and this and some more of these! I will definitely be stopping by their stall at Ally Pally on Saturday.

Last, but not least, I met up with a friend tonight, also here for The Knitting and Stitching Show this week and all the way from Sweden. I met Johanne earlier in the year at Stash and we’ve kept up since through blogs and emails.

She brought me this:

Swedish yarn from Finland - or is that Finnish yarn from Sweden? Either way - it’s scrummy and is going to grow up to be lace (the 2 skeins of dark blue) and colourwork socks (the green and pale blue).

I love this about the internet. You can meet someone once, maybe twice - or not at all even - quickly swap email addresses/blog names and you’re friends for life. How often have you said “Are you on Ravelry?” to a newly-met knitter this month?

And when you do meet up for a little Malaysian food and a little wine at the neat bar-come-lounge around the corner, how cool is it to be able to say, “so how is that shawl/sock/mitten/sweater… going that I saw on your blog last week?” And I know that she’ll be checking out what I knit with my Finnish/Swedish yarn, and I will be stopping by to see which things catch her fancy at Ally Pally. And there’s always the next knitting show in Stockholm, and maybe a little vodka to be had in a neat bar around the corner.

Rav-el [rav-uhl] verb, -eling

1) To connect with friends using a knitting-centric web interface.

2) To recover lost projects and assess recent damages to bank account and storage capacity.

3) To waste a whole c–pload of time.

A whole week - ouch! is anyone still reading? Hello…..? I have nearly all my stash uploaded now though - that’s got to count for something.

I’ve done very little knitting this week, it’s been a busy one with a new edit, my first photo assignment (interesting stuff now up on the new blog over here), and organising moving stuff. Tomorrow we start packing in earnest, although really there’s not that much to pack when you move from one furnished place to another.

I have another finished object, only a sample for work so I haven’t mentioned it before, but I kind of like the way it’s turned out so I’ll put some photos up in the morning when it’s finished blocking.

No spinning either, although I’m eying off the latest instalment from the Spunky Club which is desperate to be spun up into something slinky. Must finish the edit first.

I haven’t even been near my Bloglines - I’m not sure what I’ll find there…

So, I didn’t spend the entire weekend playing with Ravelry…

I might have, but in the process of uploading all the projects that I had photos of (Neil took the camera) I rediscovered the sleeping Anemoi and thought since the days are getting cooler I should get back to it.

It’s amazing what a difference a little experience makes - I started these at Christmas time and they were my first ‘proper’ colourwork project. I had trouble with tension, ripping out loads and tinkering with just about every row due to too-tight stitches. They were abandoned at the end of January as the days got warmer: one finished, one just started.

Then yesterday - whee! I’m a colourwork expert now and I knocked off the remaining 3/4 of the second mitten in a few hours :-D

What to do next?…

Maybe this?

Or this?!

Or a new design I’m tossing around in my head at the moment - all Zoe’s fault: I followed her to IKnit on Saturday cause I had nothing better to do and somehow I came home with three balls of yarn that I had no intention of buying. Hmmm.

P.S. More pictures when I have a camera again.