Stop laughing

So, me who thought I was being so good and finishing a wip that has been languishing in the basket for waaaaay to long, just got to this point

Can you see it, yep that is the no yarn left point with 10 rows left to knit!! Absolutely NOT funny, its Rowan felted tweed in col no 152 lot no 2413 and I am off to sulk now cause I am sure I will never find some that matches. I need a new project, NEXT!!!!!!!

Someone in this house turns 16 tomorrow and he wants a batman cake for what must be the 14th time in his life, I need a new idea and possible lots of black icing!

Headache

So they started putting the new lift into our apartment building on Monday and I decided it might be fun to see which one of us goes up/down the most stairs in the process of this work. Using the stairs hasn't been too much of a problem so far but then again I haven't done any shopping either! So up till today I have done 1088 stairs, it would be so easy if I lived on the 5th floor, up to 5 is easy, after that not so much. The headache is from all the drilling, they are taking out the mechanism, which is just one floor above me, feels like its in the same room, it feels soooo good when it stops!

On the knitting front, I found a wip when I was looking for a needle I knew I had somewhere, actually I found 2 wips but the one I decided to finish is Bloom from Rowan 36 in a nice green colour, I have 10 rows to knit and a bit of sleeve shaping then its done. Pics soon, the other became this pile of raspberry ripple,

I knew at the time that the two colour part of this cardi was too tight but was kidding myself that it would be okay, finally the shouting got loud enough for me to hear so riiiiip it went, maybe for summer.

I bought turquoise and brown yarn for Matilda Jane, pics of that soon too.

I was looking at knitting the knee high socks from Rowan 40 but who knows how well the 4ply soft wears? Or stays up for that matter or do you really need the ribbons?

I am off home to Scotland next weekend, I will be at the craft fair on Saturday, let me know if anyone else is going to be there, more soon .......

Sunday, sunday

Well its the last day of the holidays, it is peeing down outside, so todays market was a complete washout. So my Eloise cardi is still buttonless as the haberdashery stall at the market was not there. I am no further forward on the new project front, I have 2 sleeves and I want to knit some kind of collar/neck onto my Kepler, then and only then I will start something new, so please, no more temptation.

Finished scarf
Argosy 2 balls Kureyon colour number no idea but it should have orange in it but I don't like orange so it hasn't!


Sock progress
The lilac socks had to be frogged as I had made a mistake, it was the post-its fault!
Second boring bus/car/computer sock.


I finally finished my Dads green socks on the 2 circs, I won't be doing that again in a hurry, not fun at all. He did like them and when I commented that he hadn't worn them he said he was keeping them for good! I mentioned this to my brother, who owns a few pairs of socks now, as he nags more than most, he says he keeps his for good too, he also admitted to being scared to wash them, maybe I overdid it on the hand-washing lecture!!

On the sewing front I sewed one pair of trousers yesterday to wear last night of course, we went to a local Asian restaurant, I ate lots of sushi, yummy yummy.
I also prodded Jamie into sewing a bit of his quilt which is feeling a little abandoned and I took in a pair of jeans for Jordan, they weren't quite drainpipe enough for Mr skinnymalinkylonglegs.
More sewing this week as I want a new dress, though apparently we have visitors arriving on Thursday.
I also want a new jacket but I ordered the pattern about 4 weeks ago and it has STILL not arrived, its going to be spring soon and then I won't need it OR I won't like it anymore........
Hope you all had a good weekend, I spent a lot of mine food shopping for heavy items for a WHOLE month, we are having our lift replaced and it will be out of action for a month, 4 weeks of taking the stairs, carrying shopping, walking the dog, collecting the mail, so much fun and I know I should be taking the stairs anyway, its good exercise, I do live on the 7th floor though, do you know how many stairs that is? Me neither, I will let you know tomorrow..........

Is it nearly the weekend?

Okay I know, I missed last weekend which passed in a blur of visitors and skiing/snowboarding, apartment full of damp ski stuff and hungry people, which sure wasn't too much fun for me anyway.

Now this weekend coming up was supposed to make up for it, my friend was coming to stay with her little boy for the weekend and it was going to be soooo much fun, crafting,sewing, knitting lessons for her, she is SO going to learn to knit socks. Unfortunately she can't come and visit now, her husband is still sick and I really do understand but I so wanted to see her and I have sooo many projects in my head now, that my head might just explode.
See that is what happens when you are forced to put away all the crafty equipment when you have visitors to stay, when you have to pretend you live in a semi-tidy apartment. You spend the week knitting on socks and planning the reeaaalllly messy projects you will tackle as soon as they make their way to the airport!
It doesn't help that my new Interweave arrived, I haven't got round to knitting the cardis from the last one yet, so you lot have to stop with the inspiration, its not fair!
I want to knit Matilda Jane, Flair, Enid, Equestrian Blazer, from the winter issue of Interweave and have you seen Heathers Venezia in perfect colours for me. Not forgetting some colourwork like, Latvian mittens, very pretty, and while you are visiting Vicki check out the Bread and Butter Pudding and who wants to send me a raisin and cinnamon loaf, thanks!
So according to Amazon france I can buy a secondhand copy of Latvian Mittens for nearly 340 euros, I am sure I can buy it for $25 new!! Whats going on?
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, me I am writing a list of all the things I am am going to do when everyone is back to school and work and I have peace and quiet.........

Slow, slow, quick,quick,slow

Slow,slow




quick,quick




sloooow



dancing socks, the yellow ones at least will be dancing socks as they are for the dancing princess, special request. She informed me on christmas day that she didn't get socks for christmas and both Mummy and Daddy did! How could I resist, the yellow is her choice, I of course would never choose to knit something yellow. I am hoping her favourite colour changes sometime soon!
The top blue socks had bad karma and I thought they were never going to be finished. One of the kids on holiday snapped the wool to have a piece of wool to fish for mussels, I was worried about the join being noticeable but my Mum tried them at christmas and pronounced it fine. So finally they are done and I can start some new socks on my 2.5mm needles. I need to buy another set of bamboos in this size but have been unable to here, I don't want to work with 8" metal needles, so will have to order some online.

The middle blue socks were a quick knit for Jordan who suddenly realised that he had no handknit socks, he does like them so a pair in finer wool is next on the cards.

The lilac/pink sock is New England from Knitting on the Road, these are going to my friend Margaret, she needs some good wishes right now, so these pretty socks are going to be full of love as only handknit socks can be.
Today I have a cardi blocking so finished item coming up soon...... after the seaming party of course, G&T's all round......

Holidays

Today is the start of the "ski" holidays for my boys, so I am sure for this week at least we will have boys and friends, coming and going at all hours of the day, sometimes its hard to keep track of everyone, they arrive, play the "empty the fridge" game and then leave. I think I need some kind of clocking system to keep track of who is here.
To aid in the food issue I bought a waffle machine, hoping this will have some entertainment value as well filling the hunger gaps, I only hope that the cleaning up part proves to be equally important and entertaining! First on the menu chocolate chip waffles,hmmmmm.

It maybe is a good job that I discovered this morning that our lift will be out of action from the 26th february for one month. I live on the 7th floor that is a lot of stairs, so I get to eat more waffles. I am feeling a little sorry for the dog though as he really doesn't "do" stairs!
More knitting etc later, I do still knit, just slowly!

Rant warning

This rant is mostly anti-male, in fact its all anti-male and kinda ugly too.
SO, for christmas I asked for this book, I had help in hint dropping from this person, who very kindly emailed all my guys with a link to amazon to buy my book....easy, even for guys!
On the 20th december I asked if it had arrived as I am the one who picks up the mail and I knew there had been no packages arrive that could have been MY book. I was met with blank faces and then the accusations of who they all thought was ordering MY book. It turns out in the end that they actually thought that maybe I should have ordered it along with all the other stuff I had ordered for them!!
So I did, on the 20th december along with a couple of boxed sets of old movies that I decided should be mine too, you know for pain and suffering etc etc!
Then I waited and waited, it was split into two packages and they were shipped on the 14th and 16th of January AND they haven't arrived.....so today I had to give an alternate address for them to re-send them, they are going to my dad and he is bringing them to me, that is ALL except MY book, its out of stock and they don't know how long I will have to wait and they will refund my money and I can re-order it, sheesh, at this rate by the time it comes it will be too hot to knit.
I reckon I am just not meant to have this book or ever knit a lace shawl.......

Rant no2 takes off from where Jessie leaves off with GBB, so when the guys in this house do find the thing they are looking for and use it, what stops them putting it back where they found it?
I realised recently that I clear away all manner of shower gel, toothpaste, hair-gel, deodorant and most recently contact lens solution and the container they live in overnight, every flippin day. They all obviously know where to find these things, so what stops them from taking the 2 seconds to put it back in the cupboard? And putting the lids on things, whats the hardship, do they think the fairies do it once they have gone.
So when using my stuff to sew, which of course is allowed, it is not acceptable to suggest that all my stuff, scissors etc should just go back wherever you like, because then when I need them, they are not there and that makes me twitch, just a little.............
I need to chill, pass me a drink India.......cheers!

I'm back

Well so far everything is working today, yesterday I had phone and internet on the boys computer but not on mine, thankfully the tech person fixed it when he got home from work, well its his fault it was broken in the first place.
So in punishment I made him drive me to Ikea, you know this is usually not a good idea on a friday afternoon. Well, it wasn't a good idea yesterday either, the traffic on the way back was horrendous. We went to buy a bookcase and bedding but as usual came back with soooo much more!! Someone didn't measure the inside of his new car, so we had a teeny problem getting the bookcase in the car, I did try to NOT say "I told you to" but I couldn't help it!!

So here is the jumper and skirt I made this week......

...it was great fun, I think my nieces could have some fab outfits for Barbie by the time their birthdays come around, next up is a pink leatherette coat.....

Jamie is looking for some bright pink satin to line a waistcoat according to the message he sent me yesterday, he has a little hand sewing to re-do on his first one, he must be quite pleased with it, if he wants to make another, photos soon. He also asked if he could have one of my boxes to store his fabric in, hmmm not sure if I can give one up!

New

The preview of the new Rowan magazine is up here, nothing that grabs me on first glance but that is quite often the case, anyway I don't need anymore inspiration I need more time to knit!

If you haven't already you have to read Jessies article on Gender Based Blindness, living here with 4 guys I have to say that apart from the youngest, GBB affects all my guys, some more than others!

On the knitting front, I have knitted a whole jumper this week and just have to sew it up, so pics to follow, it will have a skirt that matches it soon too.

We apparently have a working phone AND internet so maybe things will be back to normal, whatever that is, around here. I dread to think how many messages we have, bags me not listening to them all.......