Any one for a cuppa?

Another item for the Shaun the Sheep Picknit but my efforts this time rather than DD's. The pattern was from Simply Knitting and I liked the way it was based around a disposable cup to give it body and a realistic shape - actually I think mine looks a bit more like a latte than tea - I would be a bit worried if my tea was that frothy looking!

And after yesterdays outing with DD, I really could do with lots of cuppas. She and I went up to Olympia to the Vitality Show, we had a good day and came back with large bags full of freebies including numerous pens, samples of healthy foods, beauty products and even a T-shirt and water filter jug! Unfortunately due to a nasty cold ( first one since sept 2004 so I can't really complain) wading through the crowds was pretty tough going



and I was neither a picture of health nor beauty by the end of the day!

(just a quick reminder that if you are reading this before April 3rd, there is still time to enter my blogiversary competition designed by DD in the previous post)

Blogiversary and Babette

It will soon be my second blogiversary and to mark the occasion I will be giving away a small prize. Just a little something which I hope the winner will find useful, and a chance to say thank you to everyone for reading my blog and commenting over the last two years.




The prize consists of a small project bag ( great for socks, or any small project, I have a BSJ on circular needles in mine) together with a needle case containing (suprise, suprise) a wool needle and a couple of simple stitch markers, and with the attached fold-up scissors, just add pattern, needles and yarn and you are ready to go. Oh and, of course, some Divine chocolate - after all we knitters need chocolate and since this is Fairtrade, and delicious, everyone is happy!

So DD has designed a little competition for you based on the progress so far of my Babette blanket




We would like you to leave a comment including the number of the square which you think she crocheted ( is that the past tense of crochet?)
If more than one of you guess the correct square the winner will be decided by drawing a correct answer from a hat.
And if no one guesses correctly - I'll put everyones name in the hat.
(perhaps not the standard competition rules, but it's just a bit of fun)
The closing date will be my blogiversary which is April 3rd.

When I first started this blog, I didn't realise how much I would enjoy writing it, or how much all your comments would mean, thank you all so much.
And following on from the last entry - yes, Silvia, I think DD is wonderful too - I am very lucky. She has enough of me in her that we are similar, but enough of DH that we don't clash. I feel privileged to be able to say that my teenage daughter and I are the best of friends.

Happy Birthday DD

Good grief! how can DD possibly be 15 already? To celebrate we took her and two friends out for a meal yesterday and they stayed over. The easy way to tell they are growing up is that they actually slept. I told them I didn't mind whether they did or not, but DH and I would like to, and they were as good as gold. I never heard a peep after we went to bed and apparently they all went to sleep about 1am. Are DD's friend just lovely girls or is that normal for 15 year olds these days!

DD may be all growed up but she still wanted a fun birthday cake, only this year I just made the cake, and she did the decorating



And following the tradition started by my Dad when she was a toddler, she gave me this lovely bright and cheerful 'Pot Mum'



to say thank you for being her Mum.....but the pleasure is all mine.

Happy Mummys Day

I was quite spoilt this morning - tea in bed and these pressies from DD


Despite having the mickey taken by her friends whilst out shopping yesterday, she bought me Simply Knitting (quite why a knitting magazine should cause such hilarity I do not know but then I`m not 14 and from a non-crafty background) and added a little pad of sticky notes with a cute frog on,(lovely little chaps, frogs) and also framed my favourite photo of her and DH, and rounded it all off with a handmade card. The best and most thoughtful Mother`s day pressie I`ve had.

Knitting itself seems to have ground to a halt temporarily due to the discovery that the Babette Blanket pattern could be bought as a pdf, So I`m currently crocheting. Having wandered round the web, I found I was drawn by the blankets which used similar or a limited range of colours, so I delved into my stash to find all the pink/red/mauves. It`s only acrylic, but then again at least it will be easy care.

I did however finish EZ's baby blanket from Knitter's Almanac, which enabled me to send another two packs off to the Baby Pack Project. Here's a full shot - really hard to get it to look like the real thing...

and DD's Arty shot which shows the yarn, an inherited unidentified DK.


I got a little bored with the continual stocking stitch, so I decided to add in my own lace motif - in hindsight I should have done this a bit earlier, as I was running low on yarn by then - but Hey, it's the first time I've added my own (albeit very simple) design and I don`t suppose the little mite that is wrapped in it will be too concerned about its placement, and I learnt a lot too.

Having been inspired by the Shaun the Sheep Picknit at the Creative Stitches show a couple of weeks back, DD has taken up the needles and is rightly proud of her leaf, flowers, sweet and strawberry, especially bearing in mind she has only ever knitted a sample square before. I was particularly impressed with the strawberry - she handled two colours like a pro.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

It took me five weeks to make the socks, five weeks! I`ve decided that two at a time on magic loop is probably the way to go, but I have to confess that I won`t be in a great hurry to make any more. I`m pleased with the finished result, but as DD reminded me when I was looking at sock wool last weekend, I spent the entire time I was knitting them moaning!


Two toe-up socks on one circular needle
in Schoppel Wolle, Admiral ombre 1702
using a 100cm, 2mm Hiya Hiya circular needle
I`m hoping the tram lines will disappear after the first wash, and if I`m honest I may have to undo the cast off and try a different one as it isn`t really stretchy enough, it`s fine when it`s on, but it`s the getting it on, if you see what I mean.

I then went to the other extreme, and using the 20mm needles that came free with Let`s Knit, and a ball and a half of 3 Suisses Claridge (circa 1973) that I picked up for 10p at a bootsale last year, I created a garter stitch scarf in an evening. It`s actually quite cosy, and there is a slight colour variation which doesn`t show up in the picture, this is destined for one of my Christmas shoe boxes (yes I know it is only February but I`m going to reduce that stash somehow).


From 2mm to 20mm needles !

Good enough to eat

DD and I went down to Brighton yesterday to the Creative stitches and Hobbycrafts exhibition, which was, frankly a bit disappointing. If you don`t make cards or cross stitch, then there isn`t much for you. DD was looking forward to the "Stunning display" of costumes from Strictly Come Dancing - and there were 5 dresses!
But we were impressed by the Gingerbread House.
I knew about it, and even knitted a few flowers and leaves for the garden, but I hadn`t quite realised how large it would be, or how impressive in the flesh. It was nigh on impossible to get a good picture of the outside because of the number of people around it, so DD being tall raised her camera above the other heads and took this great picture of the inside.

I just loved the knitted photos

and for some reason the flower pots appealed as well

However, we couldn`t help but find our blood pressures rising as we sat in the cafe area along side and listened to some women of a certain age decreeing rather loudly that they just couldn`t see the point of all that knitting and that it was a waste of time as nothing could be done with it, unless of course it was dismantled and the toys given away and the squares made into blankets. I was so tempted to explain to them that apart from being rather an achievement involving over 500 knitters, it was actually raising money for charity - but because of their arogant dismissive tones I didn`t trust myself to be civil.

And just to prove how disappointing a show it was for us - I came away with .....a circular needle and a pack of jump rings. Yep, that`s it!

At last...

Why is it that whenever I am enjoing a cuppa some one always wants something? It`s become a standing joke in our family that I reply the same way so often that when the Grim Reaper knocks on the door I will say it to him too - and have it engraved on my tombstone.

So here it is...

Tombstone Generator

Victorian shawl

The shawl is finished and blocked and in regular use of an evening while I knit. I was really surprised at just how much it opened out after washing and blocking, but it certainly shows the lace now, and came out at almost the exact size on the pattern - which makes a distinct change for me even when I do hit gauge!

Victorian aran Weight Shawl Jaeger Matchmaker Aran modelled by DD

The socks are coming along, I`m just about to turn the heel - I can`t say I`m enjoying making them, the only thing that keeps me going is when I try them on they feel so nice.

Last night I decided to do a little bit of sewing, as I could do with a small needle case to keep in one of my knitting bags, just so I can have a needle and a couple of safety pins holding stitch markers to hand, I got fabric ready and settled down to stich but then discovered I had a little bit of a problem ....

It`s all Kelleys fault

I really, really want to like knitting socks! A couple of years ago a made a pair on dpns, then a (still) lone sock followed, but it wasn`t fun. A few months back I made DD a pair, two at a time on two circs, and that was better, but I still wasn`t hooked, so the other day when I was listening to some `back issues` of the Knit Picks Podcast and Kelley Petkun was talking about knitting two socks on one long circ using the magic loop, I thought I`d give that a try. So off I went and found a brilliant tutorial by Cometosilver , and a l-o-n-g circ from Knit n Caboodle .

The very next day postie knocked on the door with this....

Well you can`t just buy a cirular needle on it`s own now can you? especially when the sock yarn is reduced to £3.95 a ball.
DD was quite amused that I became excited when I saw it was in a Purple posting bag, wrapped in lilac tissue, with a free cable needle. Luckily I had just finished the Aran shawl (which is blocking as I write) so I was able to cast on straight away.
The Hiya Hiya needles are quite nice to use, the joins are good and the cable very flexible, if a little curly, and so far I`m enjoying it - though with 32st to 4" and size 8 feet (!) to knit for, they won`t be the quickest socks in history, but I just love the colours - perfect for brightening up a dull january day.

Happy New Year

Where on earth did 2007 go? Even Christmas seems a dim and distant memory fortunately. (yes I know it could have been much much worse, in truth it was only mildly irritating, and I have just a slightly sore tongue from constantly biting it to prevent me expressing how I felt to certain relatives regarding their and their offsprings behaviour- but hey isn`t that families all over)

Regarding New Years resolutions, how did I do... well I intended to knit 10 things for charity and.....

I actually ended up with more than 10, which makes up for the fact that I failed dismally on resolution no.2 - to get fitter - ah well, gives me something to carry over to 2008!


Christmas pressy wise, I received Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle, and my only problem is ... What do I knit first - there is very little in there that I don`t like
I also had a gorgeous skein of Lane Borgosesia Cashsoft Lace yarn in Nutmeg - it is soooooo soft and squishy, but oh my, talk about fine, I`ve always wanted to try lace weight but, it`s scarily fine. (Yes, yes, I know you are all laughing at me, but you are reading the blog of the person who usually uses dk acrylic!) Despite having the Folk Shawls book, this is most likely going to become Pomegranate from the autumn Yarn Forward magazine, which I love, and because there isn`t really anything in the book that uses just one skein of lace weight!
DH nearly bought me a knitting book - he went off to the shop all by himself and came back with the perfect book for me, 200 Knitted Blocks, then he looked at my bookshelf and in fact found it was so perfect, it`s one of the very few I had bought myself!
So he took it back and bought this CD instead and I can now be found dancing round the kitchen and bopping along while I do the ironing.

Rudolph cakes and Happy Christmas

I HATE writing Christmas cards, hate it with avengence, so for my work colleagues I came up with another idea



Rudolph cakes which were a very popular and much tastier alternative




The victorian aran weight shawl is coming along nicely, I`m now part way through ball 4 (of 8) and on the third type of lace. DD thinks it looks like a forest of trees, and I can see her point - quite seasonal (or they would be if they were green with tinsel and baubles!)
And because the rows are getting rather long, and I`m still having trouble memorising the pattern I have started a piece of `I-don`t-want-to-have-to-think-about-it` knitting in the form of the babies shawl from February in Elizabeth Zimmermann`s Knitter`s Almanac - though you could be forgiven for thinking that I am knitting a beret!


Just lovely mindless knitting, with the odd yarnover for shaping, so I can chill out when the festivities get a bit much.

Happy Christmas to you all.

What shall we have for dinner?

A question I often ask myself - I do dislike having to keep thinking of what to cook. But inspiration can come from the strangest sources, for example I spotted this little chap in the corner of the garage.

So what did we have for dinner?



Toad in the hole, of course!

They can forget any time.

My lovely team mates at work suddenly realised they had missed my birthday which was a few weeks ago, and so they bought me these beautiful flowers. I was really pleased (and slightly embaressed so my cheeks blended nicely with the flowers) The company may have got things wrong, but I count myself lucky to be working in the team that I do, we are mostly a little more mature and we all care and look out for each other - sadly, the same can`t be said for many teams across the floor.


And then, I came home to find a small parcel from an old school friend who I kept in contact with but over the last few years our letter writing had dwindled to a christmas card and round robin letters. And in the parcel was this bright and cheerful bag which she had made for me as a belated birthday present! Now I think this is just begging to be used as a knitting bag, so I may just have to start another project to keep in it!
and having received these shade cards from The New Lanark Shop especially with their prices, I may just have to go shopping.

And after all, I do need something to cheer me up this evening - visiting the freezer for inspiration for our evening meal, I realised that something was wrong - it took a while to dawn on me that at some point during the last week the whole lot had thawed and then refrozen into one solid lump of meat, fish and poultry - including the christmas turkey :-(

Progressing slowly

This applies to both getting used to works new computer system and the victorian shawl, one of which I am enjoying and one not - no prizes for guessing which is which!

We are gradually adapting to the new system, they have grudgingly made a few minor changes, but essentially, yes it is all down to money - I can`t believe such a large company can be so shortsighted - unhappy customers are not going to stay, and it is affecting the customers, not just us. I wish I was like some of the kids on the floor, but I do care and I hate providing a substandard service.

Anyway, enough of that, I`m loving the shawl, the yarn is really nice to knit with - the english mesh lace is proving a bit of a challenge though as I just can`t see where it is going, and the pattern won`t stay in my head - but I`m using the index card method (where each row is written on a separate card, they are held together with split rings and you turn the front card to the back each time you finish that row) and I would like to award a medal to the person who came up with this idea as it is so helpful to a befuddled brain like mine. So here we are so far (It`s actually greyer than this as in the previous post)



I also finished off this little lady for the Baby Pack Project

but I am concerned that she might need some psychiatric help judging by her expression, which is something I find a little worrying as an old toymaking friend insisted that a toys face reflected ourselves!!!

Squishy retail therapy

It`s been a horrible couple of weeks at work. I work in a call centre type environment where our every move is monitored, but please don`t think that it is just a case of relaying that `the computer says no`. Some of us have to have a lot of knowledge, at least of what we need to be looking out for and where we are going to find the answers - sometimes I get some very nasty people who don`t like what I have to tell them, sometimes I get to talk to some lovely people who have every right not to be - it`s a funny old world. And now in their infinite wisdom the company have introduced a new computer system, which frankly is c**p. It was designed for another division of the group and poorly adapted for our use - but still our every move is monitored and our wrists slapped if we aren`t working as quickly as we used to - which of course is inevitable, not only are we finding it hard to adapt, it just doesn`t do what we need it to.

So, in need of cheering up I went surfing, and lo this fell into my basket


Why, oh why do I find a gorgeous yarn just as it is being discontinued, it`s soft, it`s squishy 100% merino and it was cheap. I ordered it on the monday from Jannettes Rare Yarns and on Wednesday it was waiting for me, you can`t ask for more than that. I`m going to knit the Aran weight Victorian Shawl that I mentioned previously. I did start it once before, but decided that if I was going to put that much work into something it deserved to be in a nice yarn, in a colour of my choosing rather than a cheap and not particularly fetching yarn that I`d inherited.

And despite being thoroughly cheesed off, and not really feeling like doing much in the evenings except mope - I made myself get out the needles last week and produced these

Both are from Last minute knitted gifts and was the first time I had tried an i-cord edging, which I rather liked. Hopefully the baby who receives this particular Baby Pack project pack will have a suitably large head and small feet.

How on earth....

..did Elizabeth Zimmerman work out that you needed a piece of knitting this shape


to end up with this...


I know you have probably seen (or made) these before but I am still in awe of her skill. It isn`t often (in fact I can`t ever recall it happening before) that I finish knitting something and immediately want to make another one!

I didn`t get very much knitting done on the canal boat - with all the fresh air and activity we were tucked up by 9pm every night - but this was the perfect project. I just believed and knitted without question, though there were a couple of times when I lay awake and pondered on how it was going to work until I drifted off again. Well there isn`t a lot you can do on a canal boat at 2am when the other two are snoring their heads off, it`s pitch dark, and you can`t get up and make a cuppa as it is open plan and the water pump was enough to wake the dead never mind the whistling kettle!

I had lots of diddy balls of yarn (inherited) so I just knit until they ran out and joined the next, and just let whatever would happen, happen. Not that I would have had any control since I didn`t fathom out till right near the end how it would work.
Anyway, this now makes ten charity knits, so I have achieved my New Years resolution. Not that it means I will stop, I`m having too much fun.

Small haul and long boat

I like October - apart from the lovely autumn colours October means a two week half term (yes DD`s school is odd), Ally Pally and a holiday.
Ally Pally is MY day. I book the day off work as soon as the list comes round, and when the day itself arrives I take myself off, just me, by myself and it`s great. I can go round which ever way I want, and if I want to visit the same stand three times, I can, with no one to comment. I don`t necessarily buy much, but I just love wandering and looking.

This year I bought the new Let`s Knit magazine, which despite the unpromising cover, I quite like. (The DVD that came with it on the other hand, is, well painful to watch to be honest - I`d be embarassed to be involved with that one).
I also picked up a copy of Elizabeth Zimmermans Knitters Almanac, and can`t believe how much it makes me want to knit! The other bits and pieces are circs for socks and stitch holders.

Yarn wise, I ended up with socks, scarf, hat and shawl. I was really surprised to see Fabel sock yarn at only £1.60 per 50g ball from Scandinavian Knitting Design and bought a couple for socks and three for a scarf. ( I may end up finding out why this was so cheap, but I thought it was worth a try), Two balls of GGH Davros will become another Coronet (from Knitty) for me and I fell in love with the silk from Knitwitches Yarns and this colourway is called Blackcurrant Sundae, I can well see why (as always the photo doesn`t do it justice)

Our week on the canal boat was very enjoyable, we were blessed with wonderful weather (apart from tuesday afternoon, when the rain was even running down inside our waterproofs yeuk) and though it was quite physically tiring, we felt mentally relaxed. The canals were quite quiet and the water was so still ahead, we saw some lovely reflections. DD captured this one (she took lots of nice photos, seems to have inherited her Dads eye for it)



Our trip was from Rugby down to Banbury and back, and here in the centre of Banbury, right by the shopping centre, I had to wind up the pedestrian footbridge for the boat to pass through making the shoppers wait - Oh the power!


We had some lovely misty mornings, which gave some very atmospheric pictures at sunrise.

and yes, the boat did look like that, had a few scrapes entering/leaving the locks by the look of it, but at least it meant we didn`t feel too precious about it

And just to show you how cold it was, here is another of DD`s pictures taken the morning the ropes were frozen to the mooring rings!

Two new knitting bags ? !

Two new knitting bags in one weekend ! What a lucky girl.

I`ve been wanting a small, cart about bag for ages, and having seen lots of examples on the internet, I grabbed a pretty off cut of fabric that has been lurking in my cupboard for ages, and created this....


It is based on many of the sock bags I`ve seen around, with a 4 1/2" square base and is about 10" high - perfect for small projects and in this case a Baby Surprise Jacket which is coming with me on the train to Alexandra Palace on friday. :-)

Then, as DD needed some more velour dance pants, we took a trip to Primark - well at £4 who cares if they get scuffed or torn on the dance floor (they do seem to spend a lot of time sliding around on the floor considering it is supposed to be dancing, but perhaps I`m just being old fashioned) and I spotted this......


Perfect for a whole project, and they have even included a mobile pocket which is exactly right for my i-Pod. And with room for a book or two, this one is coming with me on our canal boat holiday on Saturday.

See you all when I get back, hopefully with lots of goodies from Ally Pally, and lots of knitting from the holiday

Little and Large

Little hats for Innocent drinks from odds and ends.

And a large Coronet hat from Knitty for me. (modelled by DD)

I re-used some of the aran weight yarn that I had lying around after frogging some of Rene`s less successful work, and having decided that it does fit and I do like it, and more to the point it looks half decent on me, I now feel justified in buying some nice yarn to make it with.

It is ages since I have done any cables, and I had forgotten how satifying they can be.

Other than that I have been busy getting sore fingers replacing the zip in my favourite jeans. Hateful job! Next time I think about doing that, will someone please tell me to go and lie down in a darkened room til the feeling passes, and send me shopping to replace them instead!

Not my own work

In fact all I did for this was the blocking. The squares were knitted by Rene , then Mum sewed them together and knitted the border. I think she has made a lovely job of it too.