just a little knitting

Not much knitting going on, still have a tendon/shoulder problem, so my niece's birthday present is going to be a little late, she is getting a Felicity hat and some Opera gloves by Ysolda, I hope she likes them, finished pics really soon.

Autumn weather

The cold weather is coming so that means that there is more knitting going on, in the summer heat I think the sum total of my knitting was 2 washcloths for the kitchen.
On the first cold day I shall be wearing these, Noro Silk Garden socks, yarn bought for me by my lovely Aunt in K1 in Glasgow.





My Garter Yoke Cardi is coming along, handspun yoke and Cashmerino body.





There was also a little fibre dyeing this week, some BFL and some merino/nylon, which I am hoping will make good sock yarn.............eventually!





My brother and SIL and one of our knitting group are both expecting baby girls so I might have to knit something pink and girly soon........

The sun is shining

Spring has sprung at last and the sun has been shining for a couple of days, things are always better when the sun shines, except the colour of the windows I know and my car actually, thats tomorrows job, car wash, how exciting ;)

I received this beautiful box of batts from the lovely Faith this morning, I am leaving them in their bags for the moment as the temptation to do nothing but spin is huge but I really need to do some cleaning up before I can spin.

Faith has great photos of them though you can see them here. There is nothing on the wheel though, yeah, as I did manage to finish my singles for the SAL.
They are knitting up quite nicely into Ishbel, I decided I needed to be knitting something less complicated at the moment, comfort knitting is in order.

Laminaria got all finished up in time and sent to one of my aunts, she loved it and it did look cute on, so well worth the effort.

While in Scotland I did run away to spend a fab day in Glasgow with one of my aunts, we spent a nice time yarn shopping and had lots to drool over in K1, I was gifted some Silk Garden sock which is currently becoming these, it is just a little warm for them at the minute but they are going to be fabulous in winter, I love them :)


My Mum and cousin did the Race for Life on Sunday at Eglington Park, the sun shone and it looked a lovely day, I was dyeing some fibre and this is my Race for Life colour. With added cat of course as Pete likes to be in ALL photos ;)

Happy Birthday Mum

Today is my lovely Mums bithday, she is currently doing a fabulous job taking care of no2 son for me. Its not easy as he is a stroppy teenager but I appreciate it millions, he is so happy to be studying in Scotland, the difference for him is HUGE!!
This is her birthday pressie, which I am sure has arrived, La Poste hasn't been playing up too much recently going in that direction.



It is Hey Teach from Knitty, knitted in Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora.
Hope you have a lovely day Mum.


The merino spinning is still on the wheel, I have dyed some fibre, some BFL and some Shetland as I am taking part in Amys groups SAL/KAL.
The challenge is to spin a laceweight single and knit it into a shawl, there a couple of shawl options, I think I am going with the Aeolian from Knitty as its less yardage to spin. I have only spun a laceweight single once and haven't actually knit with it............yet!



I dyed some fibre for this as I didn't have anything semi-solid enough AND everything I have is only 4oz, I need some wiggle room to get enough yardage.
The challenge has to be done over April/May, so I am hoping to get it done.

The Laminaria is still on the needles, I really am not loving it, though I have now got to the stage of being able to read it, before I was blindly knitting and letting out a sigh of relief when I got to the end of a row with the right stitch count. I am going to try to finish it soon, I have 10 rows to go I think ;)

Some little sewing has been done, need to make some more like this, so cute.
Also I discovered the cat likes to drink tea, now I am wondering, how long as he been sticking his paws in my tea cup when I am not around, bleuch!!

Spring

Well its almost spring, still cold but the sun is trying to shine.
This is last February's Spunky Eclectic Club roving, Think Spring colour, its South African Fine, it measures 310yds, it probably needs to be socks as I don't do yellow ;)



This is my Natural Dye Studio orphan Ishbel, by Ysolda, I did a couple of extra repeats added on to the small size, it measures and weighs 144g. I like it and think I might knit another one.




Just finished is a cardi for my Mum, it needs blocked and sewn up, I think I might just make it in time for her birthday on the 31st but don't hold your breath, I do love sewing up...........not!

Some sewing next, though I am waiting for our new iron to be delivered as the current on fried itself. I also need to get the owner to come and check out the electrics as I am sure there is something not right with them, we had to replace the televsion recently too, hmm.........

Lastly, for the last night of the panto we had a little fun quiz, we took an old photo, added a speech bubble and had to guess who everyone was, here is mine, taken on Irvine beach 1968 :)

spinning

Fibre from Babylonglegs
There has been a little spinning going on after a little break, where I just wasn't feeling the love, I actually think it was the merino that was kicking my butt that did it. So anyone have any ideas on how I can spin merino on my Louet S10 feel free to jump in because last months Spunky Eclectic fibre was the softest organic merino and I don't want to waste it.

I also need to remember not to use the same Vaseline I use on my lips, on my wheel, this morning I wiped a smear of vaseline on my face before stepping out in the cold and got a big piece of fibre on my lip, not nice ;)

So last year I spun yarn for a specific project and recently finished knitting it.
Here is my 28thirty in Icelandic and BFL both by Amy, I love it and its perfect for our freezing cold weather.



I even have some fibre on my Ethan Jacob spindle, it is spinning the finest singles ever but how long is it going to take me to spin 2oz of fibre on it?



More knitting news, I recently lost 2 pairs of socks, they developed big holes in the bottom, so new socks for me are on the needles but according to no3 these two don't make a pair, personally I quite like them :)

Happy New Year

I know I'm late but that is kind of normal for me at the moment, so I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2009.
2008 sucked big time for us and I am hoping that 2009 will be better, it can't be any worse, so here's tae a guid yin!

So knitting, after the wrist/tendon thingy which is still playing up on occasion, I did manage to do most of the xmas knitting and only missed out on one pair of socks. So my lovely brother got an IOU, he did get another pressie so wasn't completely forgotten.

Xmas knitting out to dry here

We spent christmas in Scotland and New Year in france and this week we have some lovely snow, well lovely for me as I don't need to go anywhere, not so lovely for those who are snowed in and need to get out :)




There was a little xmas sewing this dress for the fairy princess and this bag for my friend, which was loved so I need to make me one now ;)

Is this me?

What do you think, is this really me?

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense. Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

After a week of visitors, some sewing with the fairy princess where she had some very precise ideas about how her costume should look, we created this ensemble.



And I finally got my Etsy shop organised, there are a couple of things in it so far and I have some new things in the wings waiting for school holidays to be over.




It is definitely autumn and chilly and we had some snow on the mountains for the start of November.





Not much knitting as I am still strapping my wrist and taking it slowly and not too much computer and left handed typing :)
Off to do some sewing :)

Not pink for a change

Now for those of you who know me, know that I don't do green, I am a very pink person but recently I have knitted 2 green cardis
One of which was the very lovely Tempest, which is a great pattern, if it was knitted in one piece and didn't have you pick up the hem and sew it up, then it would be fabulous, I hate sewing up and this poor cardi did lie around in pieces in a bag for an awful long time. I am planning Tempest no2 though ;)




The second of the two was a shrug for the fairy princess and she needed something to match a green sundress for a wedding, she was very pleased with it as it had beads on the cast off edge. It was based on the one skein wonder but with elbow length sleeves, very cute :)




I am not knitting for a week or so as I have damaged a tendon in my right wrist and have to rest it for a week, so do you know how boring it is to watch television with no knitting?

Breast Cancer Awareness

Today is a Pink day for Jord at school in Scotland, so far he has £130 of sponsers.




Pink hair and pink clothes.



He will be home tomorrow to visit for a week, can't wait to see him, have missed him lots.
Knitting, soon :)

Marseille

Well a month has gone by without me writing anything about my trip to Marseille. It was amazing, meeting up with lots of lovely knitters from lots of different countries and Nancy's workshops were fantastic. She was a great teacher and kept us all in check when we talked too much...which of course wasn't too often.
I did knit the ugliest thing I have ever intentionally knitted at the sock workshop, what do you think?



This is my yet to be blocked shawl sampler, I used Natural Dye Studio sock yarn for both classes and they were much admired.
When I got back, either in the car or when I was asleep, I trapped a nerve in my back, this made doing all the things I like, computer, spinning, knitting, almost impossible.
It is much better now but I am being really careful.

My Mum has just been to visit and the weather was awful, so now that she has left the sun is shining!


I am currently knitting Tempest in some Posh Yarn Lei in a lovely green colour.
And this little thing came to stay and so far I think he kind of likes it:0)

It was a pink week

Last week was a very pink week, I received a stunning Pay it Forward package from the lovely Heather.






a very cute bag and corsage, the bag is lovely pink wool fabric and lined with satin all perfectly stitched and the corsage is knitted with some of my handspun, I love it. Thank you very much.

My second pink package was from the lovely Dee and contained yarn to knit something for my two sisters-in-law, not sure what yet but something pretty.




I did a little pink spinning at the weekend with the intention of knitting some corsages, I will show you pics when they are done, I had a little trouble finding something green in this house for leaves.....




The birthday socks are not yet done,sorry J, I will take them with me when I go to Marseille this weekend. I am off for 2 days of Nancy Bush workshops, which should be great. I have just found out that there is a place still free, so if anyone is interested in attending , let me know :0)

I have finished the Vogue Cardi so just need to sew it up once all the pieces are dry, yipee.
Just the very heavy, very warm, Cobblestone to finish up now and of course the multitude of odd socks lying around ;0)

And I finished my Spring things shawl, which is getting some use as the weather has gone back to being windy and cold :0(

That all the pink for now, more soon.......

Its all pink

Well, the sewing project went well, jeans are all finished and being worn right now, despite the sunshine,




I finally managed to get a photo of the finished shirt, this shirt was the first sewing project, J really wanted a Paul Smith one but couldn't afford the 280euro price tag, so he made this one instead, its not too shabby either.



He now has a couple more pieces of stripey fabric and needs to find some others to co-ordinate. Finding fabric is not too much of a chore in this house ;0)




The shawl is coming on and I have almost finished the second chart, which I am doing nupp-less and with beads instead.

The sun is finally shining in Grenoble and its all green and flowery outside, today is a holiday and we have only no2 son who loves to be an only child.
We went to the park for a picnic, which turned this child into a superhero, he has been telling me since he was 3 that he would be Batman when he grew up, seems like he meant it,LOL

Thank you for all your lovely comments, its looking quite positive on the job front but as usual the company are dragging their heels about making any announcements.

My FIL has finished his Radiotherapy and is doing not too badly, tired and not sleeping and not able to concentrate to read but all in all not as bad as he expected to be.

And finally, they cut the grass at the little park yesterday, it must have been after lunch as they only cut this one wiggly line, bizarre!

Its raining again....

Actually, it is not today but there is a HUGE black cloud looming over my head and I can't get it to shift no matter how many projects I have on the go, how busy I am, or how much procrastination there is in one day!

My DH is being threatened with redundancy, now this is nothing new with this company, which is why we are here in France. So its been this close before, the waiting to hear is driving me nuts, we have had to wait to hear how many? 60, then how many in each dept? it was 3 out of 9, now its 2 out of 6, which is the same thing. Not being chosen out of 9 just seems like it might be better odds though :0(

The other black cloud is my FIL has cancer in his esophagus, he finished chemotherapy a few months ago and now needs radiotherapy for a tumour in his brain, he starts that process today, this is when it is tough being so far away. My poor SIL is dealing with all the hassles and I know its tough for her and there is really nothing we can do to help, except listen.

Yesterday to keep me occupied I agreed to help Jamie with a jean design he was working on, now I know how I want things to look when I sew and can usually come up with something close.
Trying to get a visual picture out of an 18year olds head is tough, yikes.
It was fun, though that child procrastinates way more than I do.
They are all cut and ready to sew, except for two small things, we need to buy pink buttonhole thread for the top-stitching and someone has a social life that is way more important than sewing ;0)

I spun up the 12oz of Icelandic roving in Snow Squall from Amy, its 520m and 100m spun with a little of this BFL Galaxy Uranus.






I need to spin up the rest of the BFL and am going to knit something with them together, not sure what yet but something for next winter.

These are my attempt at crocheting and will decorate a bag with these fabrics.




Cobblestone is at the yoke and is too heavy to lug around, so I needed a nice portable project, cause you can never have too many projects on the go.



So this is it, a pretty shawl in the softest Silkwood pink angora bunny wool gifted to me last year by Yvonne. It has been waiting a long time to be this and the beginning is a great, almost mindless project, just what I need, more soon........

Guess what

Guess what arrived with the postman this morning, no, not my HK order silly, this




yep, this is the xmas parcel I sent from Scotland, it apparently couldn't be delivered on the 7th Jan and they left a notice, my brother says not and then they shipped it back to me on the 1st Feb, by the slow boat of course. So now here is the thing, do I try again to send it?



Cobblestone is a big black hole and is driving me crazy. I took the unfinished Cobblestone with me when we went away for a few days. Easy knitting, round and round and round and round and its not getting any longer, for 3 whole days it measured 12", I need it to measure 18, its my own fault for having a tall husband!!




When I was away I did knit a pair of socks for a 5year old, her new wellies were a little big, so they were a necessity, she then had to be prised out them to be washed as they were soooo comfy, it is nice when your knitting is appreciated.

The vogue cardi is coming along, I didn't take it with me as it involves counting, pastis/holiday/lots of people and counting don't really mix too well.




My brothers birthday socks got started too, he chose the Trekking colour from my Ravelry stash photos, I did buy it for me but I am letting him have it, I am not really short of sock yarn, funnily enough!


This came too this week, its some yummy Wollmeise sock yarn, the only problem is that I might have to hide the purple one from my brother ;0)



The weather is still not very Spring-like, very wet and still cold, perfect knitting weather, if only everyone would go back to school/work and give me peace ;0)



I must finish this sock, I am posting it here so that I HAVE to knit it, soon.....