Stuff

First of all my answer to this week’s UK Swap question – do I subscribe to any magazines? Yes – I have had a year’s subscription to Yarn Forward – my fourth one arrived yesterday, and I was going to say that I wouldn’t renew it, but then when I found the link I found an offer I couldn’t refuse – I’m happy to support Kerrie and everyone who has helped her, although I don’t think anyone would deny that there have been more than a few teething problems. I have also been given a year’s subscription to Interweave Knits – allegedly they mailed my Winter Issue out on 27th December. I’d kind of like it now please? Ah well. What does a knitting magazine have to have to get me to fork out for it? Well, judging by this afternoon’s behaviour, all it needs is a good free gift… More seriously, I’m not sure. When I initially became an obsessed knitter (rather than just someone who had been allegedly knitting the same jumper for about 20 years – I’d never realised that project monogamy is not a law) I swore that there are so many wonderful free patterns on the internet that I didn’t need to buy any. I have bought a few individual patterns since then, but only after researching the freebies fairly thoroughly first. I subscribed to Yarn Forward initially because I wanted to support a quality knitting magazine in the UK. Then the subscription to IK was a Christmas present from my in-laws – in many ways it feels like a truly decadent treat.

Second – today’s bizarre occurrence. Our local supermarket (Waitrose) has a bicycle-trailer loan scheme – you can borrow one, fill it with your shopping and take it home with you (having first pledged to return it within 3 days). I tried this out for the first time today. It’s fab! But as I was riding home with my trailer full of shopping I started to hear a strange clanking noise coming from the trailer. Upon stopping to see what what going on I found this dragging along the ground:

Now I didn’t have any knitting with me (no really – I didn’t!) so if anyone lost a dpn while borrowing a Waitrose bike hod in Trumpington, please do let me know – although I’m afraid it’s not the shape it once was…

Third – I’ve had one error pointed out to me in my sock pattern – Susan noticed that the pattern calls for a gauge of 32 sts per inch. Er. No. I’m not entirely sure what they meant as the pattern I submitted originally was in this form, where I leave the knitter to find their own gauge. I’m guessing that they meant 8 sts per inch, which would equate to 32 sts over 4 inches. As I knit the socks I’ll report any further errors I find.

Fourthly – ours is not a happy church at the moment. I’m not going to go into details, but I was very touched to see Ruth wandering round, totally unprompted, handing out tiny paper doves and swans to all and sundry on Sunday morning – very fitting for the beginning of the week for Christian Unity.

How to measure fame...

... check your blog stats:

Guess which day was Reverse Psockology day?!

Today...

Today I have many things I need to do – my parents will be down this evening to view a house, so I need to prepare a nice dinner, and tidy and clean the house. I have an important letter to write. I need to go shopping. The laundry could do with sorting (the laundry could always do with sorting – I did laundry on Tuesday, the laundry can wait). But am I doing any of those things? (Obviously not – I’m blogging.) Have I started any of those things? Nope.

Why not? Well today is Reverse Psockology Day:

Go on, have a look at your Stitch’n Bitch Knitter’s page-a-day calendar – I know that Chris has done so already – it’s my moment of fame – my pattern is Sock of the Month for January. To mark this auspicious occasion I’m having my own very private little ceremony, and I have cast on using Koigu (which had been earmarked for these, but I decided that The Pattern deserved something special, and semi-solid Koigu counts as special.)

But now – now I really do need to get that letter written…

It's true...

... Saartje’s Bootees really are the cutest thing ever:

Saartje’s Bootees – knitted in Plymouth Yarn’s Sockotta on 2.5mm needles.

A friend’s husband turned up to drop his daughter off at nursery on Tuesday – their 10 day overdue baby had been born at home, 10 min before the midwife arrived, and with minimal fuss the night before. (Their older children had just been put to bed, when the midwife had arrived, checked everything over, had a cup of tea and departed, it was still only 9:30, and everyone had a good night’s sleep.) While absolutely delighted to hear all of this, my immediate reaction was “Oh help! I haven’t knitted!” But now I have, so everything is OK.

Tax Return

I’ve just done it. It wasn’t hard. All I had to do was declare some tutoring I’d done as well as my ‘proper job’. But I HATE forms. (Oh the trauma I suffered when John and I were married and I had to complete a whole new housing benefit form. The only change in my circumstances was my change of name. But could they photocopy the form and stick a post-it on it? Oh no. Not possible.)

But it’s done. And now I’m going to have a little sit down. And a cup of tea.

Yay! I'm in!

It was with a little trepidation that I posted my UK Swap questionnaire as I wasn’t entirely sure that I would make it in – I think it’s for 50 swappers only, and there were already 41 listed. (At my last count there were 46, and entries close by the 21st – if you’re in the UK and you want to go for it, send that email NOW NOW NOW!) But I’m in, and I’ve even been doing my homework – i.e. thinking about the first Topic of the Week – Knit-Years Resolutions. Two things: 1) quell my startitis, which goes hand in hand with aiming to knit from my stash rather than buy lots of new stuff and 2) tackle at least one small manageable cable project. I get very cross when I try cabling. I love the look of cabled items, but not the stress that goes with it – this is partly because I tend to aim far too high e.g. Morrigan – Ravelry link – (no, not really, but wouldn’t it be fab?) rather than a simple hat.

The top and the shawl are both growing, but don’t really merit photos yet. And I feel very rebellious – I’m not using stitch markers. I loathe and detest stitch markers in lace. They get in the way and disrupt the rhythm. And they don’t really add anything to the ease of knitting as I find I can read where I’m up to easily enough from the knitting itself. But I AM using lifelines – ooh yes – every 10 rows. Not least, I can see it growing better that way.

UK Swap Questionnare

Part One: Crafting

Do you knit, crochet, or both? Mostly knitting, but I do a (very little) bit of crochet too – I’m at the stage where although I can do the basics, a simple lucid set of crochet instructions turns to complete gibberish as soon as I try to follow it.

What do you like to make? Do you have a favourite project? All sorts of things – I like sweaters (sorry, this is a UK swap) jumpers, cardigans, shawls, socks (although I seem to have lost my sock mojo for the moment).

Do you have a favourite type of fiber or brand of yarn? Not as such – I like soft yarns in pretty colours.

Do you have a least favourite type of yarn? Self-striping sock yarn, novelty yarn (esp ladder yarns), scratchy wool, pure acrylic (although I like quite a lot of yarns with artificial fibres blended into them).

Do you do any other crafts? Spinning and (very occasionally) cross-stitch embroidery.

What knitting do you bring ‘on the go’? Anything fairly mindless where my fingers can get on with it and my brain doesn’t have to get too involved.

What do you carry your ‘on the go’ knitting in? Do you want something new? A cotton bag – one of the ones handed out every now and then at supermarkets to encourage people to take reuseable bags. I would love something new!

Are there any knitting gifts (book, toy, yarn, item, tool) that you have been lusting over? Umm… something to keep circular needles in? I’m rather lacking inspiration for this one.

Part Two: Your Favourites

What is your favourite colour? Red/autumnal shades
What is your least favourite colour? Fluorescent colours

What scents/smells do you like? Lavender, cinnamon, other natural spices
What don’t you like? Air fresheners.

How do you like to pamper yourself? (bubble bath, hand creams, massage, manicure) Bath

What goodies to you like to treat your tummy with? (chocolate, biscuits, truffles, etc.) Probably safest to leave this one out – I’m Coeliac, and unless you are absolutely certain that a product hasn’t any wheat or gluten in I won’t be able to eat it. (And please don’t be fooled by the legend “Suitable for Coeliacs” – many of these products still contain wheat or barley and I get a reaction from them.) Having said all of which, if you can find any of the Tesco wheat-free, gluten-free doughnuts, then YES PLEASE! They’re always sold out in the Tesco nearest to us.

Do you prefer tea or coffee while you knit? Any particular kind? Favourite mug/cup? Tea – nice ordinary tea. In a mug (my favourite mug is the “Rosie’s Hens” one from caughtknitting)

Do you listen to/watch anything while you knit? (TVshow-Along, movies, music, podcasts) Generally watch television of an evening after the children are in bed.

Part Three: Living & Past-times

Where do you live in the UK? (General idea not address) Cambridge

Have you always lived here, or did you grow up somewhere else? Born in Manchester, moved to the Wirral when I was 18 months, back to Manchester as a student, then down to Cambridge where I met my husband and we ended up settling. I still see myself as a Northerner at heart – ‘bath’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘hearth’ when I say them…

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? Somewhere with stunning mountains.

If you couldn’t go to a knitting group, what other kind of gathering would you go to? (book club, tea party, yoga class, jewelery class, etc.) Spinning group? I’m afraid I’m a bit of a homebody – I really like being tucked up under a blanket on the sofa with my knitting.

What’s your style? (elegant, traditional, glamourous, girly, natural, sporty, outgoing, etc.) Ah.. Uh… I try. (I’m currently wearing black cords, black v-neck 3/4 length jumper and a black/brown kaftan/tunic on top – a scrumpled one from M&S – I do love clothes that are supposed to look all scrumpled – which counts as work-wear – I’m a teacher.)

Final Part:

Any allergies/preferences (fiber-wise or treat-wise)? Coeliac (see above) and I find wool too itchy to wear round my neck or head.

Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know? Can’t think of anything right now… I have a cat and 4 chickens.
Edited to add: I’m more than happy with second hand books (provided they aren’t too tatty).

As promised...

... REAL. LIVE. KNITTING. PHOTOS… (I’ve just been reading about people’s pet peeves on Ravelry – it seems that too many capitals and ellipses are right up there… )

Before Christmas I finished a shawl for Ruth:
made from the Touch Yarns Merino 4ply that Liz picked up for me (that yarn is sooooo yummy – I’ve another skein just sitting around being petted for now.)
And I made her a pair of mittens too:
made from handspun pink pencil roving. (Spinning pencil roving feels like the biggest cheat ever – lets face it – it is the biggest cheat ever )

The main current WIP is the Back to School U_Neck Vest (Ravelry link) from Stefanie Japel’s Fitted Knits. Of course, it’s supposed to be knitted in Aran/worsted weight yarn, and I have 4-ply (Rowan Yorkshire Tweed, now discontinued, scored in Robert Sayle sale ages ago). Still, my trusty calculator hasn’t let me down so far, and having tried it on for photos, it’s even fitting fairly well:

Apologies for the rather close-up and intimate view of my front – it was that pic or this one:

– so much for trying to take pictures of myself on a grey grey January day.

And I’m also attempting to make the Hidcote Garden Shawl from this:
– lace-weight silk from Colourmart – having had to rip it out once already because I dropped a stitch, I will definitely be using lifelines. This stuff is slippy as a slippy thing. (On the subject of which, I’ve invested in some Addi bamboo circs to knit it – I’m not 100% impressed by the join between the metal and the bamboo – there’s a great deep crevasse there just waiting to catch a thin little laceweight stitch or three… – still, John has had at it with some ‘stuff’, and it does seem to be much better.)

Well, the laundry isn’t going to sort itself…

There is a problem with not having blogged for ages: Do I
a) just give up – I’ve probably said everything interesting that I want to say.
b) commit to posting regularly (every day, every week, every month… )
c) just blog if/when I feel like it and rely on the good nature of others (and Bloglines) to read my witterings and comment if they so desire.

Being realistic I guess I’m going to go for c). If I declare that I’ve stopped blogging, I can guarantee that I’ll instantly get the bug again. Committing to posting regularly – not going to happen – and blogging is for fun, not something I’m going to lose sleep over. So it looks like c). Intermittent and sporadic posting which may or may not interest others.

So… news… Well the biggie is that my parents have decided that since we’re blatantly not going to move Oop North they are going to move closer to us. Potentially much closer, maybe even the same village/suburb. It’s a big decision for them to make – I’m delighted by the idea of having them closer to us, but can relate to Ruth’s wail this morning “But I like the house Granny and Grandad have NOW”. (It has a bedroom she considers to be ‘hers’ – complete with pink bedcover.)

Knitting? Yes, there’s been knitting – but without photos that’s not very interesting… (I think that’s my main problem at the moment with blogging generally – I think of things to write and then think “but who’s going to want to read about that?” )

Next update WILL contain PHOTOs of REAL LIVE KNITTING. (I can hear the gasps of excitement from here… )