Speedy socks...

First of all, my thanks to Evelyn123 for her donation of paper bags, which are being presented in a rationed style to Charlie. So far, I've offered him the smallest bag which isn't quite big enough for him. He has developed a habit of diving inside and out again then returning to his old bag which he obviously doesn't want to abandon. I'll switch in one of the bigger ones soon...

This weekend was a busy one in terms of housework and family commitments, which saw us driving off to see Dave's sister and her little ones for Sunday afternoon and evening. Dinner was filling and nice, the children were well behaved and I believe that Dave learnt a few things.

Firstly, he discovered that pirate ships can apparently spontaneously develop flight and the ability to dive bomb their opposing combatants. And secondly, he learnt that a one year old who wants to go outside to play can be quite nimble on her feet and won't wait around for you to put her coat on, find your shoes or do anything else that would delay her embrace of mud. I believe he also discovered that (as an adult) it is not advisable to try to catch a two foot high child once she's escaped out the patio doors when the only thing between your feet and the puddles are a pair of socks.

Fortunately, he was wearing a very nice and sturdy pair of socks...

I finished my second pair of socks during last week, but was waiting to glimpse daylight so I could photograph them. I also had another requirement in that I wanted Dave's feet present while I took the photo's so they could be shown off in all their glory.

These are knitted in Regia's Avenue sock yarn. I've been on the look out for manly colours and this brown and slate grey stripey colourway seemed to hit the spot. I based them on the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe from Knitting Rules! They got a lot of admirers at Knit-Wit's on Wednesday, with one gentleman at the pub taking a particular like to them. He's got the same size feet as Dave and was asking very pointed questions about how much the wool cost!

Dave's reaction is that he quite likes them and he would like to order another two pairs.


(As always click on the pictures to see bigger versions)

Weekend Plans...

Today, Dave is another year older and is off to an Ascendancy LRP event without me. Not on purpose or because it's his birthday - that's just when the dates of the events fell; this year, we're splitting them up so that we don't both do all of the events. The idea is to save some pennies, give time to normal life things and so the cats don't have to go into the cattery quite so often.

This means I'm on my own this weekend, so in addition to much housework and tidying, may feel brave enough to look at a spot of lace knitting.

Lace, while very pretty, requires a bit of concentration; at least it does at the beginning when I'm trying to get my head around the pattern. I'm hankering to have a go at one of the 'easy' patterns from Victorian Lace Today. This has the catchy title - "Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890" which at first glance doesn't look that easy at all!

The second sock is coming along well, with the heel now under way. The yarn and colour choice got much admiration at knitting group this week where I was taking a workshop in Lucetting. The link should take any who are interested to the group blog where you can admire everyone's efforts as they try out using a lucet for the first time. I was impressed at how everyone picked it up and very brain dead by the time I got home. I'd never realised how tiring taking a workshop was!

All were well received...

Christmas has been and gone in a predictably quiet fashion, as Dave and I spent it at home, just the two of us, the cats and of course, our ongoing colds. The tree survived without feline interest and the wrapping paper was left unmolested which has led us to believe that Charlie has taken his cue from Missy. i.e. other than prowling around the base of the tree from time to time (who knows what might be hiding there) they've both pretty much ignored all festive decoration.

Unlike this pair (courtesy of Esther) who while very cute leave me relieved that my cats are so well behaved!

The presents I knitted or crocheted for my family seem to have gone down well which is both a relief and a surprise, since my family are not into crafts or hand made gifts at all.

There is even reported sibling bickering, because one niece got a hand knitted scarf and the other one didn't; with the one who didn't complaining bitterly that she'd been left out. My explanation that I ran out of time was accepted by her mother (my sister) who said she'd explain I was an exceptionally slow knitter, the way her brother-in-law was a very slow typer. This left me with the very firm impression that my sister and her family have absolutely no idea how long it takes to knit a scarf and believe one can be whipped up in an hour or two, rather than the more realistic couple of weeks. Some of us have day jobs after all!

Being a free woman who is no longer working on Christmas presents, I finally started knitting Dave his long awaited scarf.


It is taking a long, long time. As you can see, it's mostly moss stitch with a cross-hatch effect picked out across it. Done entirely in either knit or purl, the pattern is easy enough, but the 18 row repeat needs concentration which in my cold ridden state I don't seem to have and the 4mm needles mean each repeat is just a couple of inches, so progress is slow. Still Dave likes it, so there is a good chance he'll wear it when I finally get it done, so I shall continue to persevere.

And that's that for another year...

I'm still full of lurgy and I don't think spending the past few days driving around Plymouth and Cornwall helped. I know that when we came to a halt on the M5 last night (due to an accident somewhere near Bromsgrove) I was relieved for a chance to blow my nose!

The ongoing problems with internal pressure build up in my sinuses aside, the trip wasn't too bad. There was one particularly hairy moment when we were returning from Bodmin to Plymouth late at night, only to find the A38 was closed. We had no choice but to head off across country, navigating tiny country lanes completely lacking in lighting or signage, driving to Dobwalls via Lostwitheil. The resulting journey being made even more exciting because of a bus which sat on my rear bumper, repeatedly flashing his lights at me because he'd decided I wasn't driving fast enough.

Credit goes to Dave for successfully navigating us across Cornwall, through a combination of creative map reading, guesswork and sheer handsome genius.

Other than that, the trip went pretty much as planned, with my schedule seeing us visiting family in Plymouth, Bodmin and Penzance. I've covered a lot of miles, delivered gifts, collected one or two of the same, found both the yarn shop (Knit Wits)and habberdashery (Buttons and Bows) in Penzance, worked my way through a box of tissues and knitted some sock.

As you can see from the picture, the first sock is done with its toe grafted shut. I've done my best to match up the stripes on its pair which is well on its way, with its heel turned just earlier today. My hope is to get it finished before Christmas!

An odd week

It's been an odd week for me and not terribly productive, either at home or at work. Family matters have taken precedence and I've driven an awful lot of miles, in a mad but very necessary round trip to Bodmin for a funeral. Suffice it to say, I'm feeling very tired and drained, waking this morning all thick headed on the tail end of a dream about the shed exploding and torrential rain...

(Dave tells me I must have suppressed anxiety about the shed blowing up. Our neighbour has a distressing tendency to build huge fires in her garden in close proximity to it, pouring petrol on and then going indoors to watch TV whilst it burns unmonitored. More than once, I've prompted Dave into getting the hose pipe out and dowsing down our fence and shed...)

With all the driving and visiting, I haven't really had much time to myself this week, with what little time I have had being dedicated to writing rather than anything else. With the first Strangehaven event in a few weeks, I'm beginning to feel the pressure. We have a ref meeting this weekend, so hopefully once that's done I'll be in a calmer state of mind.

I did take some cotton and a crochet hook down to Cornwall with me, making a start on a plum coloured 'Sweetpea Shawl' from The Happy Hooker. No idea how it's going to turn out, but it seems to be working up OK and Charlie approves. I had a few problems understanding the instructions (I'm terrible with patterns) but fortunately, the pattern is charted so I managed to interpret it in the end.

More soon, when I'm less tired, my brain is working properly and I don't have a huge backlog of work...