Housebound

Housebound as it is like a skating rink outside, Pete fell over twice getting to the bus stop apparantly. There is no way I am going to risk it but I must pop next door shortly to see if my neighbour is ok. People on facebook complaining of cabin fever and boredom- how can they??? I love it hehehe. I am going to have to get to the shop on Saturday tho... take more than snow to stop me doing that!!!! I can see some dripping going on out there so it is thawing a bit, oh good, filthy slush to look forward to now then, ho hum.

Yesterday's amusements included the Siamese encountering snow for the first time - hilarious! They leapt out of the door, competely freaked and leapt back in again sharpish. Spent the rest of the day looking out of the window in disdain at other cats who were out, apparantly voluntarily! Apart from that Pip decided that he liked licking condensation off the bedroom window... weird cat.

Had a crisis about the Baltic Sea Stole yesterday, and also the Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn that I am making it in. I don't like the pattern enough to do it for an hour everyday for 4 weeks, nor do I like the colour of the yarn and I don't think MIL will either. So had a stressful hour or so trying to decide on an alternative and inally decided on Jubilee by Norah Gaughan. and of course according to the law of stash, despite having a room full of it I don't have the right yarn so will need to go on a mission when I get to the shop on Saturday. Need about 950m 4 ply, preferably something soft and luxurious.

After this knitting hiatus I made a Lyra style hat (from Golden Compass/aka Northern Lights film) for Fearn from doubled Big Wool. Then I dug out my St Peter Port, got past the shoulder bit by some kind of osmosis as I couldn't really figure out what the instructions were on about and am now on the hood. Hurrah! I tried it on and think it is going to be rather slim fitting but not sure how much till I have sewn up the sleeves, I may knit a border on to the front before attaching the zip to nake it a bit more roomy, also to give the hood a bit more depth as I think in my shoulder fudging I have lost too many sts and will have a hood that only comes as far forward as my ears. I probably won't wear it up much anyway so that is ok, I just like the look of it!

Apart from that I need to do some thinking about the book and to start organising my designing brain and get a bit of organisation going on around here.

Sadly will not be dancing tonight as am not risking going out and breaking something and Pete already has a bad leg (and he has still to get back into the house without breaking something!)

note to self - get some photos on here...

Snow and cables without a cable needle

Ok, like everyone else I will also mention snow, we are probably the last place in UK to get it as Bristol doesn't really get much weather. I really do think though that it is actually winter, cold weather happens in winter and there are probably more important things going on in the world than bad weather in one small island. Get lives people!!!

This week I have learnt how to do cables without a cable needle - hurrah! From a tutorial in, of all things, The Knitter magazine. I was in two minds whether or not to cancel the sub for this mag as I find the patterns rather boring. Well, boring is not strictly what I mean, samey might be a better term. It might be because they use a rather narrow set of designers and so the pattern selections are rather predictable , one of the things that makes Yarn Forward so good is that they have many designers and you never know what you will see in there. The Knitter does have some good articles in it tho so I think I will persevere with it for a bit. Simply Knitting has definitely got to go tho!!!

The cabling without the cable needle is really easy, I have tried it before and couldn't get my head around it but now it seems obvious. I am going to make the whole of Fearn's new cable jacket with no cable needle so it becomes entrenched for ever more in my knitting brain.

Am progressing with the Baltic Sea Stole, did 15 rows yesterday. I was knitting with a big headache tho and with one of those headache patches on my forehead. Now I do swear by these but the menthol vapour gets in your eyes a bit which is not great late at night when squinting at your pattern, worrying about running out of yarn and whether there is any more in the shop and of course having a headache. I have had this headache since Sunday, you can go now if you don't mind...

Yesterday when I was in work it was very quiet, hardly anyone about, no lights on, that kind of thing. A bit spooky and Marie Celeste like. Today they all had a good laugh as I discovered that it was in fact a day off in lieu of a bank holiday. Needless to say I am not coming in tomorrow...

24th July??

Oh dear, rubbish blogger, 24th July... *hangs head*

Anyway, back to work today, god knows what the temperature is out there but my legs may never be the same again. Maybe Ryan's suggestion of knitted trousers was not so far off the mark after all!!! Have so far failed to find any woolly tights today but must do something otherwise my walk to work resolution won't last long. It must be cold as I am still wearing a cardigan in my office which is normally tropical even at this time of year. Still, it is winter after all...

Knitting wise I have so far only cast on two new projects (this year) - Baltic Sea Stole and an aran cabled jacket for Fearn. I need to do at least 15 rows of the stole per day to get it done for Feb 13th as it is a present for my MIL for her significant birthday. Hopefully it will get quicker as I go along.

Still having a great deal of trouble trying to decide what to focus on this year (kntting, working (ha), spinning, designing, sewing, etc etc) unfortunately sitting in my workroom knitting to the exclusion of all else appears not to be an option unless I can magically win the lottery. Have not made any formal resolutions this year but am aiming to focus, cook more, eat better and excersice more. I also need to be more positive, stop constantly complaining about being tired and stop standing about with my hands on my hips. Oh and brush the dog's teeth everyday. What a weird bunch of stuff.

Yay - storage!

Today I have storage!!!! Now I have to do sorting and tidying... hmmm. I also have to make a shed load of stuff for Wednesday's workshop... better get on with it then... see you later :-)

Of Ikea, pain, cats and tidying up

My new craft room nearly ready. Well, I have already been in there making a mess so I suppose it already is ready! hurrah!

Went to Ikea thanks to lift from Erin (big piece of cake for her!) and got shelving unit and small drawers and storage boxes for the tidying of yarn ( and the keeping of yarn away from the marauding Siamese...) Have put the small sets of drawers together already amongst much swearing and banging of thumb with hammer. Didn't help having a kitten sitting on my shoulder or a stoned offspring appearing and saying "Oh so now you are Dr Dollitle then?" and laughing loudly before heading off to use my laptop whilst eating pizza. I got my own back by making it known that I knew that he had been looking at porn sites on it...

Tonight I will be mostly putting large shelving unit together with OH, so look forward to much more swearing and probably a bit of arguing as well. I have to go home and put all of the things I put in my room back in the other room so that there is enough room for the putting together of the shelving. Wish I had thought of this before I moved it all the other day. I am very excited about the new storage and the new room so WOOHOO!!!!!

Tomorrow I need to make the bazzilion things I cut up the other day into different things to take to the workshop next Wednesday. And write a hand-out... I am a bit nervous about the workshop to be honest but faint heart and all that...

Oh, nearly forgot - had my lip waxed yesterday by my trusty hairdresser Kate but SHE LIED. It fucking well does hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still numb today. Oh well, all the name of beauty...

Hopefully pics of new room coming soon and kittens and all sort of things :D

Knittig, London and Thinking

Not much knitting going on as my hands are not too good at the moment. Probably shouldn't be typing much either come to think of it... I have been thinking about designs tho'. Trying to figure out a mitred, cable edged cardigan with a hood with as little sewing up as possible. Ended up in the cafe across the road having a coffee not long after I got to work as there was a fire alarm. Also, someone has taken my mug out of the kitchen. The one I have had since the sixth form common room and has been my coffee mug at every job ever since. Grrr. Anyway, was working on the design in the coffee shop for ages which made me feel better. I think I am getting there but need to look at some EZ stuff and Elsbeth Lavold / Alice Starmore and how to make cables go around corners.

Got my prize from Knitting magazine yesterday, three books, hot water bottle covers, socks and Natural Knits for Children (I think that is what is was called) So glad they were ones I didn't already have :) Also, a cheque for £40 which I may just end up spending at Get Knitted. Who knew? heh heh

Went to London at the weekend and went to Liberty's. Twice. On my own on the Friday, and bumped into a friend from Bristol - rather bizarrely... then again on the Saturday with my neice Holly who is 7. In the fabric/yarn section (so lush...swoon) she said in loud voice ' that lady can't knit as fast as you aunty Emma' . Oh dear. I explained that she was knitting something quite complicated so that slows you down. I then spent quite a bit of money and spotted a cardigan from the Rowan British sheep breeds book which is rather nice. Bought a ball of pale grey to try with a pack of odd buttons I also bought. This will be a neck warmer although at this rate it will be way too hot to wear it when I get as far as making it!

I also went to Prick Your Finger in Bethnal Green, partly to see Fragiletender's pin installation but also to see the shop. It was lovely, bought some purple handspun for my big purple flowers cardigan and also some Wensleydale longwool. I definately recommend a trip to see the shop. and to see the pin installation if it comes near to you.

Apart from that some friends of ours had a baby 2 weeks early this week and son no. 1 announced that he is moving out. Which is weird as I feel this will be for real this time. I realised today that the reason I have been feeling so fidgety lately is because since I have changed jobs (office on my own, not many people to see, phone doesn't ring much) , OH has been promoted (working longer hours and more preoccupied with it), boys not around much at home, all my friends having babies (don't come out much any more lol) I hardly see anybody at all. I think I am getting a bit lonely! That sounds a bit strange but I think it is true. I will have to think a bit harder about my social life from now on as I will have to create it rather than it happening to me as a side effect of my job etc.

Must stop typing now as hands complaining and there is work calling my name!!!

The Good, The Bad and the Sucky

Just got in, tidied up, washed up...hmm, let's have a nice bath. Good idea. Lalalala nice new coconut and vanilla bath salts; tum te tum nice book; lalala fresh cup of tea (seem to have run out of wine); nice warm fresh towel. Ahhhhhhh lovely ..... but what is that floating in the water she thinks to herself? That would be 3 dead HEADLICE. God I hate boys!!!

This after a day when I have had to have yet another conversation with the police anti-social behaviour unit about son no. 2 and with a Dutch credit company about a debt for 800euros incurred (albeit innocently) by son no. 1.

Sigh.

Anyway - yesterday was much better :) I won 3rd prize in Knitting Magazine's cafetiere cosy competition - woohoo. And then... I emailed Shannon at YF with my jumper design and she loved it! So happy :) happy:) happy :) Then I went to a knitting group in Clevedon with the Museinmeltdown and had a great time, then got my first glimpse of the Spinning Weal shop in Clevedon (O.M.G. I can't wait to see inside). Such a cool day.

Also today the new Henry vacuum arrived - what a cool thing (sorry I know its a bit sad to get excited about this) sucks like mad, dog hair a thing of memory. I did however manage to suck up son no. 1's mobile phone lead and only narrowly missed sucking up the whole phone - what a beast - haha

Better even than that - my Cloth Kits 'Trellick Tower Skirt' kit arrived today - its lovely, and wrapped like a present, with a hand written little note on the invoice thingy. Now all I need is to be able to get to my sewing machine and put it together!! Photos to follow...

Now husband has arrived with a record player that he got off freecycle, it weighs the same as a washing machine and looks rather old and decrepit, but it is what he has wanted for ages apparantly. Ok.

Off to finish Archie's gloves and Toby's second sock - although I should be resting my hands as they are a bit RSI - boo.