Silence

Silence may be golden but I find that while the little gremliny virus inhabits our home computer and the internet and all things lovely that go with it are off limits (or very severely limited) I miss blogging and I really miss my commuting podcasts. All I can say is that I’m going to have a bonanza when we are restored to life (hopefully this weekend).

For the moment you will still have to imagine the pretty things I am making; the tired roses lace scarf has got a little longer, a gorgeous pair of Nancy Bush’s Conwy socks are on the needles in Lucy Neatby’s Celestial Merino in the Sugar Maple colourway, I have a partially started project in green and white which will eventually be a sock (possibly) but we’ll have to wait and see. I also have magically acquired some green baby cashmerino and two skeins of Monet in Jitterbug. The latter is for socks and the former – we’ll again you’ll have to wait and see.

In conclusion, being taken away from the internet makes me buy more yarn. (See it’s not my fault really). I tried to convince the girls at knitting that it was really loft insulation but the fact that it is insulating the floor of my study or the ceiling of my kitchen perhaps undermines that theory.

In other big news I have had a cunning plan. As the plan has now been running a week and is therefore a distinct plan and not a figment of my imagination I can feel free to share it with you. Every day I have to travel to the station and then catch the train to work. The parking for the station has gone up astronomically recently and it is now about half of my season ticket for the train. So I’ve hopped on my bike (or rather H’s bike, it has a more comfortable saddle!). I now cycle to and from the station which takes about 15 mins each way. The parking is free, I get to cut the queues at the traffic lights the exercise is beneficial and it releases some yarn funds – what’s to loose.

The only slight disadvantage is that it has rained every single day since I started doing this – please tell me it’s not related.

If you’re reading this from the blog page and not through bloglines etc then you will see that Achilles the tortoise has made a major jump forwards (most un-tortoise like). Although I am still running as well as cycling I think as they are Carie-propelled miles rather than engine driven they count – I shall try to get 50 of my miles running and the rest will be covered by the cycling!

I felt very virtuous going out running last night albeit for a small lap of the common given I had just cycled home AND it was raining. When I started out it was only freckling rain but it quickly matured into a full blown downpour – delightful.

Actually it meant no-one was playing on the deathslide by the time I got there so I had a couple of runs as a warm down!

All this virtue was amply rewarded by the arrival of the new Interweave Knits. I wasn’t too enamoured of the last copy and none of the patterns particularly jumped out but this one has some stars. I think the boot socks will be perfect for my sockpalooza pal, and I love the Notre Dame pullover and I am secretly tempted by the Kate Gilbert one shouldered top. Full credit goes to H who was greeted by the news of a new magazine with some really great patterns and managed to look delighted at the prospect of more yarn in our house – one of many reasons why I married him.

The gremlin is due to be evicted at the weekend I hope so full service should resume shortly.

See you soon

Babies wait for no knitter

And that means only one thing - the first baby is due on May 14th and I need to get cracking on this blanket. With my first gratuitous blue bench shot of the day, look what arrived on Saturday morningOr in close-up so you can actually see it rather than just admire the blue-ness:
That's a LOT of baby cashmerino (two blankets worth I hope). I virtuously did the shopping on Friday night and Saturday morning and went for a 4 mile run (please note progress of Achilles across the tracker bar) before I went to Web of Wool to collect it (please provide own angel and polishing of halo noises!)

In the afternoon we went to visit a friend down in the middle of nowhere in the Cotswolds and I ensconsed myself on the bench in the garden while H and F played football. The boys then decided to crown me with a tiara of daisies and provide me with photographic evidence for the blog comme ca:
Posting that not particularly flattering picture of me gives me every justification for showing you what happenned next when I turned the camera on the boys!!
H and F discovered that contrary to their childhood belief, if they can't see me I can still see them - who would have thought!!

The boys take flight!

So that was Saturday - I knit and chatted to H and F and to Poppy the cat and we watched the latest Bond film again - a wonderful day.

Sunday was another beautiful day and my day mostly looked like this:

Please note the following items essential to an afternoon's knitting:

1, The sunhat - important so you are not dazzled by the quick flashing addi turbos and the cream yarn
2, Ipod - podcast catchup heaven
3, Garden chairs enhanced by many cushions
4, Plastic crate to allow yarn to scamper round in so that it doesn't get dirty
5, Interesting but not taxing knitting
6, SUNSHINE!

I did move around the garden with the sun, starting off on my blue bench and ending up in the conservatory and there were laundry intermissions (hanging up and taking down of) but that was pretty much my Sunday afternoon. H was playing golf so the real question is, am I a grass widow or is he a yarn widower? Answers on a postcard!

And the result....

The first two rows of blocks - there are six in total and a nice little edging - anyone else think I'm a little crazy/over ambitious/secretly have discovered how to warp space and time and would like to know how? All I can say is love the pattern and love the yarn - it's a good job too seeing as baby No2 is due in July!

For my piece de resistance I present a flower whose name I have forgotten but which I have christened Project Spectrum Flower - pink, yellow and green!

Runagoagain!

It may not have escaped your attention that 1 April has been and gone and little Achilles the tortoise remains steadfastly fixed in the same spot. It appears that snow, ice, rain, cold, general laziness and the manic that always goes with the year end in Feb and March combined to defeat me.

Runagogo round 2 has now started - 100 miles by July 4th and this time I'm going to do it. I started with a gentle 2.5 mile trot which nearly killed me but the only way is onwards and I know it will get better soon.

If you fancy any sort of exercise then join up to runagogo and walk/run/cycle with friendly knitters (who may well be asleep when you are exercising depending on your part of the world but hey-ho!) because the cameraderie is fantastic!

Meanwhile I present my tired little feet!

The Running Knitter

I am proud to announce that (as you can see from my tortoise above) this evening I unearthed the running shoes (I even found a matching pair after some effort) and went for a little trip round Warwick. It was a lovely night for running - dry, mild and windy but I can't say I really appreciated it after the first 10 mins - it was hard work to keep going and I'm very pleased I did - only 96.5 to go!!

Completely un-knitting-related I know but Google Pedometer is a fantastic tool for calculating distances - I was rather disheartened when the GPS seemed to say I'd only done 1.3 miles but I may have been reading the wrong display and this pedometer was very reassuring!

Now I think I've earned a little bit of time with my knitting so goodnight one and all!

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2007 - that still seems really odd to write - I've sure I'm going to keep saying 2006 for a while, and 2006 was such a great year I think 2007 has a high target to keep up with and there's only one way to make that happen so on with the show!!

As it is Epiphany today and officially the end of Christmas it seems appropriate that it is also the end of my holidays. Aparet from working Thursday morning this week because I had a trial (and a couple of phone calls from my boss on Thurs/Friday) both H and I have had two whole weeks off but now I have to go back to work as he has to start a whole new job complete with career change and everything so although I kept meaning to post earlier this week I just spent lots of time with him.

Also a little part of me kept thinking "if I don't post just yet then I might have a finished object to show". And this is the almost finished object:

My lovely Sister-in-Law who appreciates the handknitted things in life, and who was the recipient of the mittens I made at the end of last year, succeeded in emulating her brother in choice of appropriate gifts for a knitter - she gave me two Debbie Bliss books and the yarn and needles (including crochet hook) to make the tie-front bolero from Pure Silk. This is a pattern and a colour which I admired when we went to play in John Lewis in Edinburgh in May or June so I was very impressed at the powers of recollection! We arrived at the in-laws late on Friday, I swatched and cast on Friday evening and pretty much knit on it constantly from then on! I finished the actually knitting yesterday and started to get to grips with the instrument of doom - the crochet hook !!

I know from doing this edging that crochet is never going to be a passion with me in the same way that knitting and other crafts are but I haven't found it too hard and with a squint at the pattern, a good read of Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker, and a bit of a donf I have a very pretty edging that may or may not be quite what Debbie Bliss intended or what the pattern says (actually I can't read the pattern well enough to tell but I have a 4 chain picot on each third stitch so that matches up)

As you might be able to see from the picture I have edged the cuffs, the right front, the neck and part of the left front but I still have to edge the rest of the front and the lower back line so I thought I'd post a picture today while I had the chance - expect finished object status tommorrow but evern 9 days isn't bad going!

If anyone is considering making this top I highly recommend it - the pattern is very well written with no errors and lovely shaping - it has such a nice neckline when I've tried it on - very sweetheart which you don't really get to see in the picures in the book.

New Year's Ambitions

I know lots of people have New Year's resolutions and I think on previous occassions I may even have been one of them but for the last few years I have gone more for goals and ambitions for the year so here are some knitting (and not so knitting related) goals for 2007.


The stash


The first is semi-resolution in that I really would like to make some of the projects that I have earmarked from my stash - apart from Aimee and a blue scarf which are currently on the needles I have stash for Joy from Vintage Style, a whole heap of socks, a lace stole and some blue alpaca to make a sweater (more on that later).


In similar vein I have a number of other projects which I would really like to do in other crafts, mostly cross-stitch, scrapbooking/cardmaking, dress making and quilting, all of which I have the ingredients for in my stashes. I also managed to clear out the last boxes from my parent's house so all my stashes are now as one which makes them scarily large and required a lot of clearing out my study earlier this week (and I still have things in bags and stacked on the floor - more storage is required!!)


To help with this goal I am considering some of the many yarn focus/stashalongs out in the blogosphere but we'll have to see.


I have joined Project Spectrum which Lolly is organising again this year - I really enjoyed it last year and this year has more flexibility in the colours which should help me find projects in the right colour in the right months!


February/March are blue white and grey which at first made me think "what am I going to make - I have a red sweater on my needles (needles which are getting slightly dusty at present!)" but then I have blue sock yarn which was a present from H, a blue lace scarf on the needles, a blue quilting project and a white blouse which I want to make - Feb and March are more than sorted!


Add into that the recurring blue alpaca - this is the only time that I have bought a significant amount of yarn (ie a sweater's worth) without a specific project in mind. I was proposing to knit the Ogee tunic from Knitting Nature but a swift calculation revealed I was about 500 yards short of yarn. Now I can usually squeeze a fair amount out of a yarn specification but 500 yards is a no-win situation. I was happily contemplating how much yarn my proposed waist shaping would save and whether I could get more yarn and just mix the dye lots when salvation appeared in the form of my copy of the Winter Interweave (posted Nov 3, arrived Dec 30) which has a fairly plain sweater with a patterned Raglan shaping at the shoulders and a funnel neck. I have exactly the right weight yarn and exactly the right lenght and the pattern at the shoulders is my favourite River Rapids - could there be a clearer sign!!

The photos

Looking back over my pictures from the last year I realise that I want to learn how to take prettier photos and better photos (although I acknowledge that taking photos in the dark doesn't help) so I've joined or perhaps just decided to do Project 365 - take a picture every day for a year. I've started a little bit late but my plan is to take a photo every day and do a weekly photo post.

Today we have today and yesterday - yesterday I took our Poinsetta outside for some daylight (not that it got much because it was grey (my auto flash kept going off) and windy and it got knocked off the patio table by the wind)

Here is the poinsetta

It is remarkably healthy considering that I've been looking after it although quite a few leaves have fallen off recently - if anyone has any poinsetta care tips please let me know!
This is my alternative shot which I rather like - it's a bit Jack and the Beanstalk.
For today we have my afternoon's activity:

These are the first three blocks of a nine block quilt which will eventually be a cushion cover (the US material on the left is the backing for the cushion). The fabric is a bundle of fat quarters in brushed cotton which I bought when H and I and one of our friends went on a trip to New York and Boston in summer 2005 and I always said I would make a patchwork cushion as a reminder of the trip. I cut the mini squares and triangles for this project last Summer and today they all came out again to remind me how much I enjoy patchwork. The pattern is inspired by a quilt in a copy of McCall's Quilting which was around in April/May 2006 called American Sweetheart and eventually that centre block will have four hearts pointing into it which the blue border starts and stripes going around it.

Run knitter run knitter run run run

My final goal for the year (at last as far as I've thought up so far) is to start running again. I pretty much stopped after my appendicitis because it hurt a lot to start with and then it was cold and dark and I was used to being at home and doing other things (predominantly knitting and cooking and caring for the lovely H)

So the challenge is 100 MILES BY 1 APRIL

I know I used to be able to do that - hey I ran a marathon once (in Edinburgh. With Hills - but that's a whole nother story) but I will also have to ease back into it so I don't damage anything - knees being a particularly favourite weak spot of mine, so it seems like a good target and we'll just see what happens!

Anyway I have yattered on for far too long - FO pictures will follow in due course!

Roll on 2007