West Highland Knits

I spent a wonderful week and a bit walking the West Highland Way at the beginning of the month - 96 miles from Milngavie, just outside Glasgow, up to Fort William. The scenery was stunning and the weather plentiful - think Chinese Laundry and you will have an image of our hotel rooms some evenings. It was a physically demanding but mentally relaxing holiday, all we did was eat, sleep and walk......oh and knit, of course :0)
As we live in the South East getting up to Scotland involves lovely long train journeys = loads of knitting time. I was nearing the end of a couple of larger projects at home so I didn't want to start anything that I wouldn't get finished whilst away so I took some odd balls of yarn, assorted needles and patterns and .......


This is what I came back withMy April and May dishcloths and a soap sack for a charity Christmas box, a preemie set comprising a mini BSJ, a pair of Easiest Fastest Booties Ever and a Perfect Preemie Cap and then I'd run out of yarn! So I bought a ball of cheap purple chunky - all I could get in Fort William - and made a square for my memory blanket and still needing something else to do I knit the bear as the pattern is in my knitting bag at all times just in case.
Not a bad little selection even if I do say so myself.

What! you want to see a picture of the scenery - oh alright then
Kingshouse I loved this hotel, literally in the middle of nowhere, the rooms were a little tired but the atmosphere was so good. Everyone was friendly, we ate in the bar and it was laid out in such a way that you couldn't help but end up chatting to other walkers, and as for the food, I had the most wonderful Venison Casserole and the White Chocolate Cheesecake was to die for, the best food on the entire walk :0)

Where there's a will

Well.....I am now sporting a very fetching (not) hand splint having been taken to A&E a couple of Mondays ago by one of my lovely colleagues who decided that my continual wincing and rather grey/green palor caused by any use of my extremely painful left hand must warrant some medical attention despite my saying, through gritted teeth, that it would be alright soon! I guess that's what happens when you work with nurses.

I've no idea how, or why, but I have inflamed nerves and/or tendons which will take a few days to a few weeks to go. I'm determined it won't be weeks, cos it's too flippin' awkward. Anyone tried filling an electric kettle safely one handed? Never mind buttons, and as for knitting :0( I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms rather badly.

My woolly friend from ToadRockStreet suggested crochet since my right hand is ok, so I thought I'd give it a go (not sure why I didn't think of that, perhaps the knitting deprivation was too all consuming!) I'd recently seen an idea for a Tunisian Entrelac Blanket that I wanted to try, so....


Ok so it might be a slightly unusual way of tensioning the yarn - but hey it works! and by resting on a cushion on my lap and holding the yarn down against it I'm playing with stick and string again :0)

It heard me!

Finally! spring is here, the weather must have listened to my last post and today has been lovely, sunny and nearly warm (we won't mention the snow we had most days last week.)

DH had to work today so I went off for a walk on my own and I just love the way the sunshine makes this footpath really look like there is light at the end of the tunnel

And my knitting seems to think it is spring too as I have just finished
Leafymade with some Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran that has been sitting around for a while with the plan that it will keep my hair out of the way and the chill from my ears when I'm out walking but don't need a whole hat!

Spring? Where?

Dear Weather
I feel that I should bring to your attention the fact that, according to the calendar, it is now Spring. As far as I am concerned this should mean milder temperatures, green shoots, spring flowers and a little gentle sunshine. However, you do seem to have overlooked this.


I was not impressed that I needed 4 layers as well as a hat, gloves and scarf to go for a walk this morning


A light white dusting may look pretty but I do consider that it is unacceptable behaviour as we are well into March, especially given that this same weekend last year was so warm that we walked in T-shirts and rewarded ourselves with an Ice cream at the end!


I would ask you to spare a thought for the spring flowers who have every right to be blooming now and should not be expected to have to struggle on in these conditions.


And I was very unhappy to find that the bench where we like to stop for coffee was covered in snow and frankly rather unpleasant to sit on.


Now I know that things are considerably worse in other parts of the country, but this is the South East, and currently does not look much like the Garden of England and I do not think it is unreasonable to ask that, since I shall be walking a long distance in Scotland at the end of next month, you do your utmost to get your act together and behave in a rather more appropriate way in the next few weeks.

Yours sincerely
Cold and Muddy of Kent

March

I've just realised how appropriate it is to be posting my March dishcloth today
St Patrick's day Washcloth
It seems it's third time lucky for the year of dishcloths - I really like this one, and (as far as I can tell) there aren't any mistakes this time :0)

I've also made a March hare - well rabbit actually
A little friend to join Frankenbunny - I'm much happier with this one having made a couple of modifications (no false seam and slightly shorter)

In my non-knitting life, we have started building up the mileage ready for our holiday and yesterday DH, a friend and I walked from the Dome to the Eye in London (12 miles) getting in some practice. Coincidentally we are all walking the West Highland Way in a few weeks though our friends are going up as we come back! Nothing personal I'm told!
As you can probably guess from the way G and I are dressed it wasn't the nicest of days weather wise but we still enjoyed it and came home damp and tired but happy.

Frankenbunny

When I first saw the pattern of Hazel and Pipkin in Knit Today I immediately knew I had to make some for charity. I realised they were slightly stange little creatures but I wasn't quite prepared for how odd my offering would look....

but do you know what? He's really grown on me, to the extent that there is another little Frankenbunny on the needles in my lunchtime knitting bag. This time with mods to eliminate the bits I was unhappy about - particularly not doing a purl stitch to make false seams each side, I mean, why would you want a false seam on a toy? It reminded me far too much of the ladders I used to get when I first started magic looping. This next one won't be quite as tall either, but I may do the legs a little longer, and hopefully have enough of the main colour left not to need an odd foot ;0)


And as a little PS to the last post, I wore Simon Cowl whilst out walking this morning 'Over the hill and far away' as we call our 6 mile round trip and it was perfect! Beautifully soft and provided the right amount of warmth without getting itchy and no bulk to annoy. I'm a happy (Franken)bunny!

February - Dishcloth and disasters

Well it had to be hearts for the February dishcloth really, didn't it? There were several hearty patterns suggested in the Dishcloth Mania group for February and I chose

Grandma's Favourite Heart Shaped Dishcloth
Except it was coming out so small that I had to improvise a bit - and not necessarily that succesfully - oh well! it's only a dishcloth. Hmm, touch of deja vue there, I seem to recall saying that last month too. Lets hope March turns out a bit better.

February has been a very chilly month here in Kent, I am getting distinctly bored with being cold and was rather pleased when I finally blocked my

Color Affection Shawl
and wove in the ends as it is 75% wool and had been lovely and warm draped over my lap as I knit miles and miles of garter stitch.
I lovingly wrapped it around Doris (the dressmakers dummy) for a photo shoot and admired it, then decided to try it on for size - ahem! It's ok for Doris, she doesn't have arms getting in the way, it just wouldn't sit right and no wonder - it's 10' long, it's only 18" wide at the widest point, and so I either end up tripping over the ends ( or at the very least have them dangling out of the bottom of my coat - very tempting for 7 month old Hugo the pussy cat, as well as looking decidedly silly!) or I am so wrapped up I feel like a Mummy!
Once I have got over my disappointment I can see this one heading for the frog pond :0(

And then there is my

Simon Cowl
It's o-kay, and the yarn (Regia Bamboo) is lovely, but it isn't as big as I would have liked it - I had the amount of yarn the pattern specified but ran out long before I would have liked to, and as this has been sitting in my stash for at least 5 years there was no hope of getting any more. Unlike the Color Affection I will wear it but all the same....

And just as I was beginning to think I should take up doing jigsaw puzzles instead of knitting it was time to give the

Blanket Buddy
that I had made to a co-worker at the baby shower we held for her.
Bless her, she thought she was going to a team meeting only to find us lot with food, drink and gifts waiting for her! I had been slightly uncertain about the bunny but as it was opened to a chorus of "How cute is that?" I think at least that worked out ok.

A trip to Canterbury

Last weekend DH headed off on his annual business trip to the Fatherland to the Spielwarenmesse (International Toy Fayre) in Nuremberg and so as usual I found myself something different to do for a trip out.
This year, with no craft fayres on, I decided to visit Canterbury as I went there a couple of years ago with DD for a Uni interview and I've been meaning to go back ever since.

It was a bitterly cold day but I put on my 'silly hat' since I wouldn't be seeing anyone that knew me and headed off on the train.
After a lovely walk along the river

and admiring the old buildings

I headed into town to find somewhere to warm up

Once fortified I had a very nice browse around the shops and finally spent my birthday gift voucher (only had it since October!) on a book because it made me smile

though I am sure I will knit something from it either for charity - or one of the cute little sheep just for me :)

And then it was time to come home, and as always I found a way to keep myself amused on the way back

Year of dishcloths

Over on the Dishcloth Mania group on Ravelry we are doing a themed one-a-month dishcloth KAL and very appropriately, looking out of the window, January's theme was snow with the suggested patterns being a couple with snowmen on and this Snowflake pattern that I decided to make

I wanted it a bit squarer than the original so did an extra 4 rows of stocking stitch before and after the snowflake and I decided to make it in cream rather than pure white for practical reasons.
It was the first time in ages that I have followed a written out pattern for knits and purls (rather than a chart) and making it late at night, I now remember why I prefer charts ......strategically placed bar of soap in the picture? no surely not!

Security alert!

Although the restrictions aren't as tight as on airlines there are still security procedures when boarding a cruise ship and all luggage and passengers are scanned at the terminal. Down at Southampton the scanning of hand luggage is carried out mainly by women with just a sprinkling of men over retirement age - I guess those in the area who are male, fit and healthy will be otherwise involved in work on the docks or actually handling the large pieces of luggage that many of the passengers bring (you would not believe how literally some people take the suggestion that there is no luggage allowance limit!)

Anyway, there was I, having passed through the security 'doorframe' (or whatever it's called), merrily replacing my boots and putting on my coat in readiness for my bag to reappear when I realised the lady scanning it had called her supervisor over! They both looked very confused for a minute or two, and then it dawned on me! The nice supervisor lady approached me and asked in a puzzled tone if I had "brought a lot of pens on board with me?" Because the scanner had picked up several short pointy metal objects .......

I immediately explained and offered to take my KnitPicks interchangebles out of the bag so that they could see, the supervisor asked if she could show them to her colleagues and suddenly there was a lot of interest with the ladies crowding round, commenting on what a brilliant idea they were and asking where they could get some for themselves :0)

I was just relieved that I had woken in the middle of the night before and moved them from my main suitcase to my hand luggage as it would have been rather embarrassing to have been called to open my case when their scanner picked them up.

Now that Christmas has been and gone I have had an 'after Christmas present'. DD was the lucky recipient of two identical Cath Kidston purses and when she went to change one, of course lots of things were in the sale and, to make up her money, bless her, she included this for me

How sweet is that? And how cute is he?

Totally changing the subject, each year I like to keep a note of the books I have read, last year I was surprised to find it I had read 14, well this year it was 15 and they are:

*The Surprise Party by Sue Welfare
*Hostile Witness by Rebecca Forster
*The Secret River by Kate Grenville
*Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly
*The girls guide to home making by Amy Bratley
*Thursdays at Eight by Debbie Macomber
*A murderer's heart by Julie Elizabeth Powell
*Where are you now? by Mary Higgins Clark
*The Saturday Supper Club by Amy Bratley
*Escape by Barbara Delinsky
*Never Buried by Edie Claire
*A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
*Thursdays in the park by Hilary Boyd
*Tread Softly by Wendy Perriam
*Doors open by Ian Rankin

And finally I have, at long last, got around to translating the Samaritan's Purse Stretchy Pull on Hat so that I can knit it in the round on my lovely 7mm 40cm Addi circs that I bought because I stupidly didn't realise the pattern was knit flat specially to make these hats which are super stretchy, so will fit a variety of head sizes/ages, and wonderful stash busters, as they use anything that makes a chunkyish yarn ie 2 strands of DK or 3 of 4ply, etc, great for the charity knits I make either for Knit-a-square or our knitting group at work.

Happy New Year.

And Kevin came too

Yes, I know, I am totally mad but you see we have this chicken at work called Kevin who is a very well travelled bird and who likes to come on holiday with us, he is well behaved but does like to have his photo taken wherever he goes, so when he found out that DH and I were going on a pre-Christmas break naturally he had to join us....

We went up to Gothenburg, Copenhagen and Hamburg and though the sea was rather rough at times and the temperatures quite low (hence me knitting a hat and scarf for Kevin) we had a thoroughly enjoyable break.

We found a morning long enough to be out in the cold

Copenhagen town

Frozen river in Copenhagen
and returned to the ship for a late lunch and to relax and chill (in the other sense of the word).

I was able to indulge in both reading and knitting without this happening

Hugo knitting
And so I finally managed to finish the Color Affection shawl though it is still awaiting blocking, end darning and photos, make something for a colleague who is shortly going on maternity leave (again to be sewn up) and whipped up a little something to add to DDs Christmas stocking......

Ice scraper mitt
She had been complaining how painfully cold her hand got whilst scraping the car so I created this for her, using an oddment of Drops Eskimo, top down and winging it by way of a pattern. The 'shoulders' are maybe a little wide but I guess that gives wriggle room and should do the job.

We returned just in time to do last minute preparations for the family to descend on Christmas Day which went quite well apart from the lack of Christmas Pud as when I went to turn it out I discovered that my 26 year old slow cooker had given up the ghost, and not cooked it either previously or during the morning. Thank heavens I had made a trifle on the spur of the moment Christmas Eve, though I felt it was quite poignant as not only did my dear departed MIL give me the slow cooker, but she used to make a Christmas Pudding for us every year.

Nevertheless we had an enjoyable day and I received a few knitting related gifts..

the calendar from DH has become a rather nice tradition, the book and yarn I chose and bought for mum and dad to give me! and the enamel mug is for me to take when we go on our long distance walks as the melamine mug I had bought objected to boiling water and cracked on day 1 of our holiday!! and as we are now starting to plan next years expeditions it should come in very handy.

Thank you, Hugo

My knitting time has been seriously curtailed just lately with the arrival of Hugo. DD's kitten had been living at her BF's but was poorly and in need of some TLC just as DD had a spell of long hours at work - so it was Mum and Dad to the rescue and little Hugo came to convalesce.

However, he is so much happier here, (more human contact, less being bullied by the other cats in the house) that he's packed his little suitcase and moved in permanently. He's quite a handful but it is lovely to see more of DD too.

Needless to say a kitten (who is definitely feeling much better) plus wool and wiggly needles does not make for a relaxing time - more like chaos and soggy wet ends of yarn. However, I have discovered something I can do with him on my lap, and that is something I have tried on and off over the years.

So whilst Hugo does this....

I have been doing this

Ok, it's not much but I have finally mastered tatting- so thank you, Hugo.

I've still been doing a little knitting in my lunch hours at work (where no one tries to play with my pointy sticks, lol) and have made

A bookmark for my friend Liz's 60th - you might have guessed she loves owls and having found the perfect bead the idea developed from there using Ysolda Teague's Hoot! pattern.

Carole Barenys preemie cardigan which will probably be sent to Bonnie Babies since the Little Love project at work has been so successful that the local SCBU has all they need for the moment

Finally some Hand Thingies adding the finger holes from the instructions on the Phalangees pattern from Knitty and using one of the gorgeous skeins of Aysen that Rhonda my co-administator on the Knit-a-square group on Ravelry gifted me earlier in the year.

And just in case you were wondering Hugo is named after the Familiar that belonged to Pongwiffy the witch in the lovely stories DD and I used to enjoy reading together when she was little - the only difference being, that her Hugo was a hamster with a german accent (which helped make it a wonderful book to read aloud.

This week I have been mostly making.....

poppies........

The knitting club at work decided that we would make some woolly poppies to raise funds for the British Legion poppy appeal rather than having the usual paper poppies. So I tried several different (free) patterns to find one I liked. I do love the crochet poppy with the leaf but having made the tunisian crochet blanket and a few other bits lately my RSI decided enough was enough and crochet hurts at the moment - now I know if I give it a good rest it will be ok again, I also know if I keep going I'm putting my ability to knit comfortably at risk as well, and for those that know me, (though I may not be prolific), that would be the end of the world!
So, lovely as that poppy is (and it's going to be mine!!) it's going to be unique and knit poppies are the way forward, and I really enjoyed making Cosmic Pluto's poppy (bottom and top left). It was a bit of a challenge with the DPNs, I find you just get enough stitches on them to tame the hedgehog when it's time to cast off, but it's good practice and I like them!

In other news.....
I've just had a week off and had wonderful fun making a mess

having unearthed my standard gauge machine after some 15 or so years, and with the guidance of some very helpful folk over on the Machine Knitting forum on Ravelry I saved myself £180 (the quote for having the machine cleaned) and boy did it need a clean! I loved the detailed instructions one of the forumites gave on removing the needles which continued "repeat 199 times", now I just need to relearn how to use it. Watch this space...................

Lacemakers cake

Yesterday was the 25th Anniversary lunch of the Tonbridge Lacemakers and as all celebrations need a cake, two of our very clever members made this...

Believe it or not, apart from the threads, it is all completely edible (though there were a number of very blue tongues after tea!)

Even the bobbins were made of sugar paste - and just to show how good they were, the bobbin on the right is the edible one, and the bobbin on the left is a real painted wooden one, an (early) birthday present from my lovely lacemaking friends.

I spent the day (apart from eating and chatting) sewing in the numerous ends of my finished lace mat, it has only taken me about 18 months to make !! and the worse thing about it was that a very kind lace friend had lent me her pillow to use as mine wasn't large enough - I felt quite guilty about the length of time I'd had it, (though she wasn't concerned), and returned it to her with a large box of chocolates in thanks.

It wasn't really that difficult, mostly straight forward torchon and I thoroughly enjoyed making it, but it will be a long while before I make anything quite that big again.

Black and white fluff

DD and her BF have just adopted an unwanted bundle of black and white fluff, does that make him my Grandkitten I wonder? I guess it must because I did what every good grandmother should do and got out yarn and needles to make him a toy.

Using the Captain Catbattler pattern, but making a sturdier (plaited) tail and no eye patch, it wasn’t long before Mr Mouse was ready for action.

Do you think Hugo liked him?

Bears and Squares

Well technically it's Bear and Squares in my case

The Tunisian crochet blanket that I started in July and a knitted bear to go with it is ready to take up to Ally Pally, in a couple of weeks, for the Bears and Squares campaign for Refuge.

I had the idea of alternating different Tunisian crochet stitches with squares of Tunisian simple Stitch.

But it wasn't until I had almost finished that it dawned on me - wouldn't it have been better to have used the plainer yarn for the fancy stitches, and the fancy yarn for the plainer squares?! Oh well, must have been someone elses turn for the brain cell when I first thought about it! Still, I'm rather pleased with the end result nevertheless.

The bear is from Val Pierce's 20 to make - Knitted Tiny Bears and reminds me of a little girl wearing her big sisters dress, (I suppose I could pretend it was deliberate so that the bear can be undressed more easily - no? oh well, just a thought) but hopefully someone will still love her anyway.

The Birds and other random reminiscences.

Look out Mr Hitchcock, I think we are about to remake your film in our back garden!

I've tried to count them several times and I get an average of 142! No need to aerate our lawn this year then!
I remember watching the original film, I was only about 10 or 11 and it was on in the TV lounge of the guesthouse I was staying in with my grandparents in Margate - I was terrified, but Nan wouldn't let me go up to our room because she said it would be rude to leave the lounge when the other guests were still watching, so I spent most of the film behind a cushion! (Though I loved her dearly she had some very strange ideas of etiquette.)

Birds and flying leads me to .....

It was such a lovely day yesterday I couldn't resist a picture of what we get up to on a sunny Saturday afternoon - having spent quite a while taking photos of 14" wingspan planes whizzing passed me at about 20mph I deserved a rest and a knit while DH tried out one of his bigger models.I still had the camera to hand and the clouds looked so nice.
I must say I always thank heavens for digital cameras when I'm shooting these little planes, you have to take a very large number of pictures and only a small percentage are sharp enough for the exacting standards of the magazine - I just don't know how they managed in 35mm days, bet the chemist was happy when the saw one of our lot approaching!
This flying site is only a couple of miles away and it is so peaceful there, on a warm sunny day the only other sounds are the occasional train chugging passed in the distance and a few dogs barking in the Kennels several fields over.

And after yesterdays sunniness (is there such a word?) today is more like winter, dull rainy and cold - you can tell winter is approaching because I have started making soup again.

Believe it or not this used to be a favourite of DD and her friends when she was younger - offer them Leek and Potato soup and you'd get a "No Thanks!" but

add a toast man and call them 'Snot Surfers' and the plate was clean!
I think some of it may have been to do with the fact that I was probably the last person they would expect to say something like that. Being a slightly older mother I was always assumed by DD's friends to be boring and staid and then I'd go and do something unexpected - Like the time her friend came back for tea between school and the school concert and they took so long to clear up having had a really good time that I could see we were likely to be late - DD's little friend thought I would be cross (like her mum would have been) but they had been tidying .....so I just said "Oh well, we'll just have to skip to school then" and we did, literally, the 3 of us holding hands and skipping the 1/2 mile through the estate and down the main road to school!!
After her initial shock DD's friend started giggling along with DD and so 2 very happy little girls and one (slightly panting) mother arrived just in the nick of time - so much easier, more fun (and quicker) than scolding and chivying

I think I'd better stop now before I get all nostalgic and bore anyone reading this but I did just text DD to let her know I'd made soup and she could have some for lunch at work tomorrow.... and guess what she asked for to go with it :0)