A bit more catching up

Phew - what a week. The big question of the day will be whether the internet stays alive long enough to allow me to post this. Answer - probably not, it just took ages to get the grocery order to work - grr to the gremlins.

Now then back to the giant update of Christmas treats - Monday night we had our work Christmas quiz and H came up to Brum to add strength to our team. We came 10th out of 16 so I think he did pretty well - we had some unlucky rounds - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it but it was a lovely evening spent with colleagues and friends.

And having had one late night what better way to follow it than with another - this time a trip to London to see Aida at the Coliseum. WOW, just WOW - if you ever get a chance to see this production it is amazing - lovely singing and just beautifully staged.

Zandra Rhodes designed the costumes so we got our full fill of gold lame Egyptians/daleks, a mechanical elephant/butterfly and acrobats and on-stage trumpeters for the Grand March. The clients we took are not on the whole into opera and they were hooked for the whole 3 hour performance. We also did our bit of celeb-spotting, catching sight of the Marquis of Bath and companion decked out in Harry Potter-esque crushed velvet complete with little round hat - the Marquis would not have looked out of place on the stage, which is perhaps the look he was going for!

Today I took the day off work, ostensibly to recover from this week's late nights and also to make some Christmas preparations. I have made phone calls, spent a wonderfully long time at the gym and then made major inroads into the Christmas list. The Elf has earned her pointy ears today and there's only a little bit more knitting to do now that I have the last Christmas yarn.

Have you seen the new Knitty? It is possible that I have been led astray by the cover pattern and that a ball of KSH in british racing green and some snow-coloured beads came home with me - it's all about the green at the moment, I have a total green obsession - upon considering my work wardrobe (grey, blue, black, dark red) I may be subconsciously seeking balance - thank goodness my subconscious wasn't into sunshine yellow.


I have finished the DNA cable scarf and have the photos to proove it:

The model is David who was once my father's bear and is now mine. He is much loved as you see and generally sits on my dressing table wearing my wedding circlet unless called upon to be a scarf model!

I am really pleased with the finished scarf, the Rowan Pure Wool DK has bloomed and grown a little during blocking and is now wonderfully soft and snuggly. I didn't block particularly heavily, just let it soak for a while and then patted it out into shape on some old towels.

In terms of pattern amendments, the only change was to omit the ribbing section around the neck - I just kept going in the pattern and knit pretty much until I ran out of yarn - I think about 14 repeats although I haven't counted.

Now if we keep all our fingers and toes tightly crossed I might just try hitting publish!

My DNA is made of yarn

Marriage is ......accidentally turning up at the gym with your husband wearing matching hockey tour shirts (in baby pink no less)!

I feel a little blog may be in order for its restorative powers in being able to write (somewhat creatively) not hampered in any way by the constraints of legal protocol or politeness. There is an urban myth about a long since dissolved firm that used to write letters exactly as they would speak and famously sent a letter back to their opposition which just read " re your letter of xxxx: you what?"

Now then, this being a knitterly blog rather than lawyerly (see Roll on Friday for that) I feel I should show you some knitting:

Yes, the scarf has got longer by some process of woollen hydraulic pressure.

I have finished off almost all of the other Christmas knitting and the one outstanding project is waiting for a yarn delivery so I am mentally sitting on my fingers rather than cast on for the Tangled Yoke that calls my name until this scarf is finished. I'm onto the second of three balls and it's still only November so it's less of a time issue as a distraction issue to get it finished in time - thank goodness no-one's invented a yarn advent calendar - I'd be sunk.

Actually.... how cool would that be - I might have to make one (or knit one) - a little calendar with a skein for each day - perhaps mini ones that knit into a pair of stripy socks throughout Advent. Note to self - must remember to do this some day!

In a slight concession to the startitis I have wound up some beautiful Lorna's Laces in Tuscany (but forgot to take a picture) which will be the rib socks from Favourite Socks so fear not, there is more to the blog than blue DNA. I excuse this lapse on the basis that I can't take the scarf on the train, therefore there must be socks (tee hee hee to the project monogomy!)

Now then, that scarf
ttfn