A sense of achievement

Yesterday was a first for me. I cycled to work and home again, which not only makes it the first time I've made that journey on a bicycle, it was also my first solo bike ride, since every previous cycle ride has been in the company of Dave.

That means I cycled somewhere between eight and nine miles, sometimes on the road and sometimes on the pavement (where the pavement was wide and had no pedestrian traffic). I made it in and back without needing to stop, managed to get up hills (slowly I admit) and all without incident. I did note how many unexpected hazzards there were... Potholes and poor road surface, pedestrians who seem oblivious to bicycles and will step out right in front of you, dithering drivers, parked cars and their doors... But I coped and at the low speed I was travelling, had plenty of time to react, so all was good.

Today, not surprisingly, I hurt - mostly in the vicinity of my right knee, which really is not happy.

However, other than the expected knee pain, everything else seems to be OK... My legs don't feel like they've been through some sort of torture and even the saddle soreness seems to be less than it was after those first journeys a few weeks back - thank goodness for gel saddle covers - all of which suggests my general stamina must be improving, even if my knee is not.

A win methinks.

Joking aside

I'm beginning to think I might need to censor Dave's bed time reading.

Last night, just as I was dropping off to sleep he starts to chortle. I asked what was up and he replied...

"I went to the supermarket to buy some H.P. Sauce. I'm paying it off monthly, in sixpence installments."

This morning, while I'm still stumbing around in a caffiene deprived state, he asked "Why do elephant's have big ears?"

I, wondering why he was suddenly putting me on the spot and quizzing me about trivia, replied suitably only to have him smirk and reply. "No. It's because Noddy wouldn't pay the the ransom!"

Cue much mirth on his part.

Can't you tell he's reading a book all about jokes?

In other news, I went along to the knitting group last night where I scored four skeins of Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon (Ravelry Link) in a sort of pale green colour. No idea what I'm going to do with it, but it is very pretty... Ideas anyone?

No pictures, because I didn't think of it and my camera's batteries are playing up again (at some point I will give up and buy new ones).

I also came home with some vintage crochet patterns from the seventies. Everyone else seemed to think they were hilarious, but my response to most of the designs was 'Oooh, nice.' said in a not at all sarcastic way. What can I say, my costuming gene went off big time! I resisted for the most part, but did nab a crocheted cloak pattern (the ultimate in 70's style I tell you and possibly coming to an Eidolan near you) and a couple of very pretty lace waistcoats.

I also finished sock number one. I'll weave in the ends tonight and then, hopefully cast on sock number two.

Wind, rain, sleet, snow, hail and sunshine outside; meanwhile back at the ranch...

Monday has arrived again in the wake of a weekend where the weather seems to have thrown everything it could think of at us. We had wind, rain, sleet, snow and hail all interspersed with periods of glorious sunshine which made you think Spring had arrived... Except of course it was so cold outside that if you weren't wearing gloves all sensation in fingers was lost within seconds!

No snow pictures because I didn't think of it until this morning and if I had I don't think my camera's batteries are changed so disappointment would have followed.

This weekend was a slow one where nothing much seems to have happened, although I know I spent most of the time being busy in one way or another.

Friday, I went for a long-ish bike ride after work, deciding to cycle towards my place of work and see how far I got - I actually did OK, getting within the last mile before deciding to go home.

One downside of this was I got to see that not only drivers but pedestrians can be a problem when you're on a bicycle, with one youth in particular letting off a foul mouthed tirade when I stopped at a junction and dithered for a moment while trying to find the peddles to start again. Totally oblivious of the large white van waiting patiently (no really, he was no problem at all) behind me or my gender, this lad seemed rather put out that I was there when he wanted to cross the road. I also got beeped at by a white purgeot for no apparent reason that I can think of, but that was less shocking since I kind of expect that.

The other downside of this is that I've been in pain, knee-wise, all weekend with it still persisting today, and I really didn't peddle all that hard. The challenge now is how to build up stamina so that I can get to work and back without crippling myself...

Saturday we walked into town, intending to go swimming but discovered the pool was closed, which will teach me not to check the website before setting off. We bumped into Evelyn123 en route and Dave persuaded the lucky lady that what she really needs is a rhubarb plant cutting (now potted and ready to go) in his efforts to tame the beast which regularly dominates the back step, Triffid style.

I bought wool. I'm thinking of trying to knit a waistcoat or something similar, which will be a departure from the norm for me.

I also did some spinning, both on Saturday and Sunday, with the spindle getting heavier and the bag of fluff getting noticeably smaller, so I'm slowly making progress there. The yarn is still very variable, going between perfect to overspun, to slightly blobby, to laceweight with each additional meter... But I am getting up speed now and I have started standing up to increase my reach. Dave asked me what I'm going to make with the yarn last night and the answer is I have no idea as I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

Otherwise, this weekend I did some knitting, strung the amulet pouch I made last week, did some housework and pulled another couple of bags of bits together for the charity shop and thought about making some of these... Which are of course row counter, abacus bracelets...

Mend and make do...

This weekend marked the official start of British Summer Time with the clocks all going forward by an hour on Sunday morning. Personally, I hate it when the clock gets adjusted as it takes at least another week for my body to catch on. It seems to have thrown the cats as well, who were decidedly late in their waking yesterday morning and again today, rather than being ready with the CPR at 6am to get me going.

Today I ache in all the wrong places and my right knee has a definite whinge going on, the cause being too much cycling. Taking advantage of the break in the weather, Dave and I cycled about seven miles on Saturday and another three or so, yesterday.

The ride on Saturday was the more productive of the two and I actually rode on the road, surviving my first encounters with inconsiderate drivers who blocked me in and rode so close, they seemed determined to knock me off the bike. I say 'seemed', since I'm sure they weren't trying to send me flying, just agressively claiming the road, which in turn pushed me into the gutter and made trying to pull out so I could turn right impossible.

Sunday's jaunt was more sedate as well as shorter, since within moments of getting on the bicycle, muscles I hadn't realised I had started to complain very loudly! I persevered and then discovered a new issue, namely the bike seemed to be trying to throw me off every time I changed gear. In the end, Dave had a go, riding my bicycle for a short while around the park before deciding there was a genuine problem with the gear transition. A brief visit by Dave to the bicycle shop later (I let him go, since he knows bike speak) and it was sorted (I hope) and turned out to be a stretched gear cable, which the man in the shop said is normal on new bicycles.

Dave has cycled to work this morning, but for me I think more practice and confidence will be needed before I can do the same.

When not risking life and limb on the road this weekend, I pottered around the house (as I regularly do), performing household chores. In between all this, the focus was on 'mend and make do' type activities, as I get ready for the next AscendancyLRP event.

I started off by spending about three hours on Saturday repairing the robe I wear, which was damaged by a clumsy viking at the last event. Since I couldn't find any replacements for the torn frogs last week, I carefully removed the frogs from under the sleeves on the short jacket I made last year, then transferred them to the dress.

Pictures from when it was brand new and pristine...



The removal of the frogs, took quite a while as I'd sewn them on to stay sewn on, so getting them off without damaging the jacket fabric was very fiddly and time consuming. Then I had to do the same with the damaged frogs, carefully feeling for the stitching with my unpicker so I could cut it, but not the threads of the robe itself. Then came the fun of sewing the frogs back on, both for the robe and the jacket (replacing the burgandy frogs with black ones), since I didn't want to leave it in a canibalised state - knowing me I'd have never got around to fixing it again.

When I was finally done with the robe, I moved onto making an amulet pouch or a little bag to hang around the neck.

This little pouch illustrates and vindicates all my insecurities about why I should never throw away scrap! You never know when you might have to rustle something up which looks like it is and always has been part of your character's costume.

The main fabric of the bag is part of the left overs from a jacket I made... er... five (maybe) years ago. That fabric turns up again on the robe as part of the colar, and the gores (or godets) in the skirt. The lining is scrap left over from the robe I made for Dave last summer. The ribbon came off a chocolate box and the beaded bit is one of the frogs I'd just cut off the robe. Dave has retouched the beads for me, as the paint was worn off and I just need to thread a cord through and it's done.

Not too shabby for something made entirely out of left overs and all in about three hours work.

As always, click on images to see bigger versions...

So now I have a spindle or two...

So far this weekend is turning into one of those expensive ones, where I seem to be falling over myself to spend money.

Yesterday afternoon, with a few hours off work at my disposal I headed off to the camping shop to stock up on gas and buy a new single airbed, so we're sorted for the beginning of season.

Then I had an unexpected visit from an electrician to deal with a dodgy socket and light switch. Unexpected in that I'd actually booked him for Monday, but he had an empty slot so wanted to come there and then.

Next up, I hurried over to a cycling shop where I took a good hour or so to pick out and buy a bicycle. This is something of a gamble for me, since I haven't been on a bike since my teens... Then, low and behold if Dave (who'd dropped in to see what I was up to) didn't decide to buy one as well!

Then today, to top it off we headed to the Re-enactors Market where I acquired these...

I picked up two spindles of differing weights because I wanted to see what they feel like, along with a little booklet explaining the basics and a couple of 50g bags of wool 'tops'. I've no idea at this point whether I'll take to using a spindle, but I'm determined to have a go.

I also picked up a costume book called "Historic Costumes and How to Make Them" which caught my eye. It's a generic instruction book covering the fifth century through to late eighteenth so I'm hoping might be useful.

Hopefully that's about it for spending money for a while!

Knitting wise this week, I've been working on this...

It's a mock cable scarf in pink mohair taken from Stitch N'Bitch Nation, which is a book I bought right back when I started to teach myself knitting. I remember when I first looked at most of the patterns in this book, I classified them as scary - meaning they looked far too complicated for me to even consider. Having picked it up again, it's comforting to be able to say that there are actually things in there I'd think about making now, which shows how far I've come since Christmas 2006.

Anyhow, I picked out the mock cable scarf because it's pretty, pink and girly, which I'm hoping will suit the intended recipient. It's a fairly mindless knit, which has suited me well this week as I'm feeling rather brain dead after being force fed project management jargon for three days. All of which means, that half way in I'm pleased with it so far.

Circumstances beyond our control

Having just spent the past three days locked in a room absorbing information on Project Management followed by evenings packed full of homework, I was looking forward to my regular weekly knitting group last night. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired against me with workmen uncovering a WWII bomb which led to the entirety of the Coventry city centre being sealed off until this morning.

Fortunately, I knew something was up well in advance so wisely stayed home rather than trying to get into town. The journey home last night took twice as long as it should have done, so I tuned into the local BBC radio which is when I found out what was going on. It turned out that the police had also closed Coventry's Ring Road, a major hub here without which it becomes very difficult to get from one side of the city to the other.

Hopefully, all the other ladies heard similar reports and stayed clear.

In other news, we had an event in York at the weekend which went quite well, despite the strong winds which made staying outside incredibly cold as well as making it impossible to hear what anyone was saying unless they were standing right next to you. Thank goodness for gloves and having drafty huts at our disposal!

There was one worrying moment though, when Dave and Richardxl5 disappeared around the back of our hut to fix the roof with some drawing pins!

One fallout of the weekend is that I now have a minor sewing emergency on my hands. A great big, clumsy, armour wearing viking, decided to throw himself dramatically onto my lap when I tried to roll him over (to tend to his wounds). Fortunately, my knee took the strain. Unfortunately, my costume didn't, with his armour ripping into and tearing the frogs which hold the dress closed.

At the moment, I'm counting my blessings that the fabric itself didn't tear as well, but as it is, getting hold of fancy frogs is hard at the best of times, so this damage is not as trivial as it might seem. My current plan is to try to locate suitable replacements, but if not I'll have to cannibalise another outfit which has less frogs on it... The theory being that I'll have an easier time finding a small number of matching frogging than a large number. Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

Out of uncertainty comes...

This week has been a bit of a tense one at work, with the ominous topic of 'Reorganisation' ringing in our ears. A mandatory meeting along with a huge reem of paper by way of a briefing later and while I'm not directly affected this time, there is an air of uncertainty drifting around the building. Office moves, ongoing building work, drilling which vibrates through the floor and power failures have all contributed to making this a less than pleasant week. I'm also reading through an incredibly dry project management manual and doing exercises in readiness for a course in a couple of weeks. This book is quite honestly enough to make your eyes glaze over within a few minutes... Although I have had fun thoroughly defacing it with post-its and yellow highlighter pen.

This all means that I have been rather brain dead in the evenings and with my weekends continuing to be hectic, I don't see this changing in the near future. Salvation is coming in the form of knitting and crochet, which as always allows me to work on something which is fully under my control even if only for an hour or so a day.

My main distraction for the moment is my first attempt at something out of Victorian Lace Today.
This is my version of 'Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890', which as you can see is coming along nicely. I'm knitting it in a 4-ply merino, as I really don't want the additional trauma of lace weight or complicated charts at the moment. So far, the scarf is about 60% along, which means that if stretched out (as it will be once blocked), it's about four foot long, with the relaxed length closer to three foot.

Now I'm well under way, this is a relaxing knit with a simple two row repeat where I only have to remember which row I'm currently doing. With a substantial amount of scarf to look at now, it's actually very pretty and drapes well... I'm looking forward to finishing it and seeing how it blocks out.

I've also started this...
Can you tell what it is yet?

It is of course a rabbit's bottom!

Yes, after looking at lots of very cute pictures of crocheted toys on Ravelry and buoyed by Richardxl5's comment that his grandmother used to make fantastic toys, I thought I'd have a go.
The pattern is from Vintage Crochet and is called 'Syd the Rabbit'. Now I don't know if this is a Syd or not yet as it's early days and I can't tell if the rabbit has a personality at this point.

I'm making this proto rabbit out of acrylics that I had lying around, rather than buying anything specific for the project and so far, the body is coming along nicely. I've made a couple of mods, starting with a loop rather than a foundation chain and crocheting in a spiral rather than rounds, as I prefer the effect. The only real problem at the moment, is I'm crocheting a lot tighter than I'm used to and it's proving hard on my hands. I'm thinking that if I get into this toy making lark, I may need to invest in some better hooks.

I also had my first go at Intarsia on Wednesday night, at the regular Knit-Wit's group workshops. Steelbreeze did an excellent job of explaining what we had to do and my effort can be seen here. I'll try to get the sample finished over the weekend and post a proper picture then.

This weekend is looking like a busy one. I'm sending Dave off to Ripley on Saturday for a spot of wargaming with Chimera. In the meantime, I'll be heading to Warwick to the Crafty Cottage, for a Ravelry day hosted by Jo, the shop's owner. I'm hoping I manage to show some restraint while surrounded by so much gorgeous yarn, but having not bought anything really (I'm not counting some discontinued pink stuff I found in Busy Fingers, or the yarn for the Bubbles Blanket... Or sock yarn, sock yarn most certainly does not count) since December, if I do fall off the wagon a little, it will be understandable won't it?

Then on Sunday, with Dave's return we'll be heading off to the Living History Fair at the Warwick Exhibition Centre. The trick here will be to not only watch my spending but Dave's as well. There will be far too many tempting, pretty things... I'm going to suggest that we shop by proxy and help Richardxl5 (and any other friends we see) spend their money instead!

People who know me and see me at the fair, consider yourself warned ;)

Tremors in the night

Did the earth move for you?

It did for us in Coventry two nights ago with an earthquake striking a couple of minutes before 1am. The bed shook, there was a bang and a loud rumbling, the cats jumped off the bed and there was the sound of a small herd of tiny elephants running downstairs at speed (Charlie and Missy are not light footed).

Dave woke with an exclamation of "Whuh?!!!!", to which I replied by calmly saying, "It's the cats."

What can I say, other than the normal cause of disturbances in the middle of the night are the cats. I woke as they fled the scene and naturally, my sleep befuddled brain put the noise, the movement and the rapidly departing cats together and came to the most natural conclusion.

I have apologised to the cats.

With all due diligence

Another weekend seems to have flown by and I'm sat here trying to remember what exactly I got up to. The answer is quite a lot, in that I was busy throughout the weekend although in truth not much progress seems to have been made.

Saturday morning, we headed into Coventry to try out the swimming baths and I at least was pleasantly surprised. I haven't been in a pool since my mid teens after a childhood full of bad swimming experiences which have pretty much turned me into a non-swimmer. Despite being worried about how I'd get on, I actually quite enjoyed myself.

As I'd expected, I appear to have forgotten how to swim but after ten minutes or so of acclimatising, I was managing to swim back and forth with a float... something I did repeatedly for an hour, which is why yesterday and today I ache a lot. But as I said, it was fun. Dave was very patient and we both spent a lot longer in the pool than we'd intended as a result of losing all track of time.

We popped into town briefly, where I resisted buying yarn but found and bought a crochet book (Vintage Crochet) as my willpower momentarily deserted me. I have a list of books I'm keeping my eye on but not buying on Amazon while I try to save some pennies, so really I shouldn't have bought this but perhaps the exercise got to me. Anyhow, I now have another crochet book in my collection.

At home that afternoon, household chores were the main theme which kept us occupied for the rest of the day. I did take a brief break to finish the toe on the first of Dave's socks, something which took me longer than I liked as I had issues with dropped stitches while I was trying to graft the toe shut. Not to worry though, I finally got there and Dave tried on the sock which appeared to fit well.

Dave also took two loads of stuff to the local charity shops, fallout from the ongoing de-cluttering exercise. Of course no sooner had we cleared the pile of items to go out, than we started again and so a new pile of stuff to go to charity has already started to grow.

We did have one tiny and annoying glitch in that one of our neighbours, who was obviously having a clearout of his own, decided the ideal place to dispose of his rubbish was in our garden. This is a bit of an ongoing issue for us and a few years back, we spent a whole summer clearing as much of the rubbish that others had dumped over the fence as we could easily get at. We put a great big shed in front of the junk we couldn't easily move but haven't fenced it off as I worry that will just encourage our neighbours to think it doesn't belong to anyone. Over the past couple of years, random bits of rubbish appear and we do our best to remove them.

This weekend, we came came back from swimming to discover a discarded patio set, some fence panels and a huge plastic tub or tank thrown behind our shed. Dave had words with the neighbour in question. Admission of ownership and platitudes were offered, but the rubbish remained and so Dave has stacked the stuff back in its original owner's garden. We shall see how things develop. One thing is certain, we have enough of our own junk without neighbours adding to it!

Talking about our own junk, yesterday I diligently spent a couple of hours going through the contents of a cupboard, sorting through old paperwork and arguing with the shredder which kept jamming. I didn't get as far as I wanted to, but at this stage I'm taking the attitude that if I keep chipping away at the clutter I will eventually win.

Yesterday afternoon, I dug out my various lucets and reminded myself of the basics in readiness for the workshop at the knitting group on Wednesday, successfully whiling away a couple of hours.

And other than casting on a second sock, that was about it for the weekend.

Quiet week in Coventry

It's been a quiet week on the crafting front, although things have been moving steadily in the right direction. I've nearly reached the toe on the first of Dave's socks and I'm bracing myself for the bit of sock knitting I don't like. For some reason, the toe is where it goes wrong for me, possibly to do with the fiddliness of juggling so few stitches on tiny needles. However, since I believe Dave does want socks equipped with toes I shall have to take a deep breath and push on...

Dave reports the scarf is exactly what he wanted. It is apparently long enough to wrap around his neck twice with enough left over to tuck into his coat. He says it is wide enough that he can pull it up over his face which is the way he likes to wear scarves, it is soft and warm and the colour is perfect. I don't think I've heard him enthuse about a scarf before and he may well be humouring me, but I think I can infer from his comments that he likes the scarf - which is a good thing.

I also had the picture of my first socks selected as a featured photograph in Ravelry this week, which made me smile all day. It's not only an endorsement of my first socks but of my picture taking ability. Knitting is not one of the easiest things to photograph, so these little compliments do wonders for improving my mood.

In other news, I'm racking my brain trying to come up with ways to gradually increase my exercise levels. I've been forced to cut exercise for the past eighteen months or so, due to my knee injury, but with the physio's instructions to gradually increase exercise so I build stamina but no overdoing it, I'm left in a quandry as to what to do to achieve this. At the moment, I considering Tai Chi, Swimming, Yoga and whether I should buy a bicycle.

All have their problems, mostly to do with long working hours and how to fit exercise sessions in; while the thought of cycling to work is worrisome because of the state of the roads, congestion and the insane people who make up a fair percentage of road users. Whatever I do decide on in the way of exercise, it has to be low impact (the knee is still there after all), not too expensive and accessible to someone who works very long days...

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present... first socks!

It has been a quiet few days here at Chez Lurgy, with the only healthy ones left standing being the cats. My guess is that I picked up a second virus (probably from my father who had a cold when we visited) while in Cornwall last weekend, which latched onto the wake of my original cold and rather knocked me for six.

Worse, Dave caught it as well, so both of us have been coughing, sniffing and shuffling around in a zombie like fashion. This has disrupted our plans over the past few days, since even venturing to the chemist at the end of the road proved to be exhausting. Even knitting was too much of an effort!

We were hoping to go to a carol service tonight, but I doubt either of us could get through one line without inducing a coughing fit... So we shall probably have to skip that as well.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as I did eventually muster enough energy to finish my socks...


So here we have my first socks, knitted from Web of Wool's basic sock pattern, with a few suggestions from the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules! thrown in. Her explanation on decreases and arranging the stitches on the needles so you have top and bottom stitches in the same place, helped a whole lot. The yarn is one of Regia's self striping 4-ply's, 75% wool/25% nylon.


I finally got there. I'm not sure the grafting or the decreases are the neatest, particularly on the second sock where I was struggling to breathe while working on the toe. It did serve as an excellent distraction from being miserable though!

And finally, Happy Christmas to anyone reading this and I hope you'll be joining myself and Dave in tracking Father Christmas as he makes his epic journey around the world tomorrow night.

Awash with technical details

For the early part of this week I've been mostly at a conference, listening to many, many presentations on Oracle whilst wearing my professional hat. It's been tiring, with long days where I've got up long before dawn, hiked to the nearest train station, suffered the indignity of public transport before hiking to Birmingham's Symphony Hall and Conference Centre where I've had my brain filled with all sorts of technical details. Then I get to repeat experience of public transport to get home somewhere after 8:30pm.

Of course, I should still be there but being absent from work for several days on the trot is tricky, especially since I'll be off on holiday after the end of next week. I have oodles of work to get on with and very few days in which to do it.

After a couple of days of commuting to Birmingham, I've remembered why I hate using public transport and why I would be reluctant to take a job where I had to spend over three hours every day getting there and back. I've also discovered that I've forgotten how to talk to sales people, which used to be something (in a previous incarnation) I had to do on a regular basis. I worked out early on that I should have sorted out business cards, after I wrote my name and contact details down for the third or forth time. And of course, I missed tea and email and access to the internet in general. I could have lugged a laptop along with me and we were wi-fi'd up, but... That would have meant carrying it all day and walking a good two miles through Coventry holding onto it. For the uninitiated, Coventry (while not completely awful) does have its share of criminal types, and a woman walking alone in the dark (be it 7am or 8pm) through poorly lit streets has to remember this.

Today, normal service resumes and I can start off by saying some with relief that I've finished knitting washcloths for this year. No pictures, since once you've seen one you've seen them all but there are some examples here if you really want to see. I'm not entirely sure how many I've made... I lost count somewhere along the way, but if there are not enough to go round then it's tough. I'm done.

On Sunday, the sun came out - albeit briefly - and so I dragged my favourite kitchen chair out onto the patio to take some photographs.

Here we have a Four Cable Scarf, based on the Double Cable Scarf from One Skein by Leigh Radford.


I initially cast on enough stitches for three cables rather than four, but after knitting up some eight inches or so, decided it wasn't wide enough and ripped the whole lot back. I started again with 52 stitches for four cables, incrementing by 12 stitches for each cable from the original 28 specified by the pattern. I also added a considerable amount of length by increasing the middle ribbing section so that the whole thing measures about 6ft.

The yarn is a standard superwash wool DK and in daylight a sort of pinky red which is very pretty as well as a strong colour.

I'm pleased with this one. It's my first go at cables and as someone who a year ago didn't know how to knit (other than in a vaguely recalled way) I think it marks my progress in eleven months somewhat.

Another indicator of how far I've come is this...

My first sock. Still on the needles and coming along well.

Progress at last

Today has started off on a positive note with my physio telling me we're done. I'm not 100% fit yet, not by a long way, but now it's down to me to continue the exercises for my leg and work gradually building stamina. I can walk. I can crouch. I can sit (provided I move about regularly). I can even manage stairs without wincing which has long been an ambition for me. Kneeling is still bad, but to be honest I don't think spending a lot of time on my knees is every going to be comfortable now. And if anyone expects me to look happy about kneeling on concrete, they're going to be sorely disappointed. Consider yourself warned!

The upshot of all this is no surgery, no more painful injections and no more regular torture sessions inflicted by the gentleman in question. As he said, he was happy to have made my weekend.

So ends eleven months of hard and painful work.

Continuing on this positive note I seem to be on the verge of finishing several needlecraft projects.

Currently I have...

• A lace bookmark which needs the ends weaving in, a good ironing and starching and a tassel.
• A cable scarf in need of blocking.
• A fluffy, sparkly, fun fur hybrid scarf which is nearly fluffed to my satisfaction.

All of these are intended as Christmas presents so I'm pleased to see they're nearly done. I just need to motivate myself this weekend and I can declare them finished.

In the meantime, I've resumed making washcloths. I'm getting a bit bored of this pattern now, but again if I apply myself I can get the last few done in the next week or so. And then I really am free to work on what I want rather than trying to get things done to a deadline.

And what is on the horizon you may ask...

Well for a start I've started working on my first sock. There isn't much of it yet, but I have done a cuff and I'm slowly working down the leg and so far I've avoided jabbing the tiny little sticks into anything vital or breaking one of them. The knitting is so far unexciting (it is a basic sock, so a bit of rib at the top and stocking stitch the rest of the way) except for the odd accidental twisted stitch. The first of which Steelbreeze sorted out for me on Wednesday and the second one I spotted and corrected myself. I think I'm somehow having problems and twisting stitches when I switch between needles. But the dreaded 'ladders' between DPNs don't seem to have appeared so I'm happy with progress so far.

I've also promised to make Dave a scarf and the one we've decided is nice can be found here. I'm not sure how I'll cope with all of that moss stitch but I'm certainly willing to have a go. After all I have a lot of manly wool sitting behind the sofa which needs to be put to good use.

Saturdays are for shopping it appears...

Today I headed into town to continue my Christmas shopping and I'm fairly pleased with myself now, since having dedicated myself to the task for the past three weeks I think I may be nearly done. Dave of course does not get included in this round up since I'll buy his pressies in the week before Christmas. Next weekend is the re-enactors market and Crafts for Christmas at the NEC... So I suspect I'll pick of a few last things there and I'll be done, save for the babies who'll need the usual special trip.

While I was in town, I found a lawn version of Tic-Tac-Toe which is made up of nine 30cm interlocking foam squares. Dave looked at them and saw possibilities for scenery boards, but what I saw was a temporary blocking surface was was fully customisable, waterproof and pinnable. I bought a set and I shall have to try them out later this weekend, if they work I may have to acquire a second set so I can block really big things like shawls.

I also popped into Busy Fingers to drop off a new poster for Knit-Wits with the details of our new venue. It was a flying visit initially as the lady behind the counter was desperately trying to explain to a customer that she couldn't sell her a single knitting needle. Said customer didn't seem to be able to grasp that needles come in pairs and if the shop split the pair, they'd never be able to sell on the remaining needle.

Anyway, I dropped by again a couple of hours later when my shopping was done and the poster was up in the door, so mission accomplished on my part. I spoke to the manager and he was curious about why we'd moved (I explained that the Town Crier is much bigger than Liquid which we'd outgrown) and asked after Steelbreeze who he said he hadn't seen in a while. I also complimented him on his own spun wool (sold under the Mercia Wools label) which saw him suitably pleased.

I also picked up some more yarn... Some sock wool for after Wednesday's sock knitting workshop and some more Paton's Chunky Parade which they've got on sale at the moment. I'm going to see if I've got some 4ply cotton for this weeks workshop, but I'm hoping to have a go at socks proper very soon.

On the not so good news front... I think my washing machine is soon going to go to the great washing machine retirement home. It's an elderly model and has served me well, with multiple repairs over the years but this time I think the problem is not one that's going to be easily fixed. In brief, we've had less than effective cleaning from it of late, it occasionally eats clothes in spectacular style and has developed this bad habit of refusing to give us our laundry back at the end of its cycle. Todays argument where it only released the laundry after it was pulled out of its cubby hole and threatened with a screwdriver is perhaps a sign that it really is time to buy a new one. It is just a matter of time now before its replacement with a newer and more energy efficient model.

Tis the season to be knitting...

I do believe it's Friday at last, although this week seems to have practically flown by! I was straight back to work on Monday morning after a great Strangehaven event and it now seems to be ages ago, not just a few days. For those who are interested, some pictures have gone up from the September event and last weekend.

Winter seems to have arrived in Coventry, with the mild weather of last week replaced with a distinctive chill. The heating was switched on a couple of days ago and even the cats are starting to favour indoors. Missy is of course hanging on in there as a stalwart fan of outdoors, no matter how cold or wet she gets, but even she is showing signs of weakening.

My birthday came and went... And that was about it really. No big celebration or eat out this year and due to the postal strikes, no cards (other than a few hand delivered ones - thanks guys, you know who you are) so it didn't even really feel like my birthday. Instead I went to work, collected the cats, had a long soak in tub and did some crochet.

I started on a new crochet scarf because I've finally finished the lace one I was working on. No completed photo's yet because I want to have a go at blocking it this weekend, however I took it along to Coventry Knit-Wits on Wednesday where it was subjected to some professional fondling, along with 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' so I think it came out OK.

The new crochet scarf however isn't quite so attractive or likely to draw appreciative noises. It is a simple DC in the back loop job, with row after boring row slowly building up to a band of yucky green with blue and orange flecks.

Manly is how I'm describing it and Dave quite likes it. He says it's non-offensive and yes, he'd wear it, which is how I guage these things. An intended Christmas present, it is going quite well and is now approaching two inches wide, so hopefully I'll get it done soon before I get so bored I can't pick it up any more.

In the meantime, as this scarf isn't really captivating me I've finished another two washcloths, started a third and started this...

Another experiment and destined for Christmas, this is left over yarn from the Spike Stitch Scarf and some novelty yarns passed in my direction by Steelbreeze at our last destash night. Pretty is how I'm describing this one and combined with a nice DK yarn the novelty fur is behaving itself. I may even buy some more!

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

Warning - washcloths are highly addictive!

Last night, it being a Wednesday I made an effort to get out of work close to on time so I could head out to Coventry's Knit-Wit's group. It seemed I was being thwarted in my efforts to get out the door last night as I was popular on the telephone. First it was my bank, phoning from Plymouth to tell me I have too much money. Yes, apparently I have not been spending enough of late and obviously I need to buy more fabric, yarn and habberdashery...

Engaging as it was to hear another Plymouthian accent and to have the lady on the phone tell me all about the latest gossip from the city of my birth (this girl was very chatty and nice, so telling her to go away was difficult in the extreme) I eventually managed to hang up some twenty minutes later.

Two minutes after I hung up the car dealership where I bought my car called to ask... "Do you still have your Focus?"... Followed by "Do you want a new one?"... My terse reply of "Not right now." was met with a cheery "That's alright. Bye for now." before the salesman hung up. I suppose I should be grateful that he didn't give me the hard sell!

Eventually I escaped to Liquid having warned Dave that I may be back in half an hour. Last night was the Machine Knitting Workshop, which was being hosted at one of our member's flat so I was expecting a low turnout at our usual venue. My plan was to drop by, order one drink and if no one else had shown up by 7:30 or so, I'd go home again.

Anyhow in I rolled to find one other knitter in the corner reading a pattern book and sipping a Coke, having arrived with pretty much the same idea. As it was, it was fortunate that we had both turned up as a new member turned up who we did our best to welcome and reassure that there were normally more of us. Hopefully she'll be back next week when she'll be able to meet every one else.

Last night I was working on yet another washcloth...

And with only two ladies for company, it was suggested that possibly I'm addicted to knitting the things since I do have quite a few now...

Pictured are three finished, but yet to be blocked cotton washcloths along with two unfinished ones lacking their crochet borders. This is my current favourite 'no thinking required' item to knit and I think one of the reasons I like them so much is because of how quickly they make up. I can whip one of these up in a few nights which is quite a pleasant change to the average scarf which I'll labour over for four weeks or so.

This is my current scarf, the fabled scalloped shell lace mohair one that I've ripped out at least four times now and is finally reaching a reasonable size.

I know it doesn't look particularly lacey but it has holes in it, intentional holes at that... And increases and decreases which change the direction of the stitches giving them a textured look as well as creating that wavy edge. I'm pleased with the way it is finally coming together now that I've finally settled down into the pattern and making some headway.

In related news, having had a near disaster this morning with coffee I can also attest to the amazing water (or coffee) repelling qualities of mohair. Liquid splashed onto the ball just sits there allowing it to be dabbed off the surface with a minimum of fuss and no residue left at all. Result!

(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.)

Running so fast...

With another week having passed in a whirlwind of business on the work front, I'm struggling to think what I've actually achieved - or of anything much worth writing about for that matter. It seems that I'm permanently thinking about work or forums and websites, with very little time in between for doing or thinking about anything else.

The weeekend just gone started well enough, with a lock-in at Lush in Coventry's lower precinct. I'd been invited by Esther and as a Lush virgin, who'd never had a reason to set foot inside the store before I headed off intending to be virtuous and pure, resisting the lure of cosmetics. Sadly, at heart I'm as girly as the next woman and so I headed home again a few hours later with my bag full of purchases and 'smelling of soap' (as Dave said when I came in). Fortunately though this did mean I was armed with multiple types of luxury bath products and so was able to relax and de-stress Saturday evening in a pool of bubbly and very pink goodness.

I'm sad to say that I spent the majority of the weekend chained to a computer, struggling with forums as I kept my promise to help set up a website. More on the details once it's released and available to the public, but I now know more about PHP, CSS and HTML than I did before. I've also become reacquainted with the fickleness of open source developed software, lack of documentation and the hit and miss approach to whether such software will work or not.

For breaks in the logic nightmare I continued to tackle my lace knitting.

Now, this may not have been the best strategy to relax but at least it gave me a new frustration which sent me back to the keyboard with nenewed optimism that nothing could be as fiddly as lace!

As previously reported I've abandonned the Ziggy scarf for now; the complexities of YO,YO were just too much for me. Instead I'm working on a 'Shell Lace Scarf' from One Skein Wonders which is actually quite an easy pattern in comparison. My problem is concentration rather than the ability to knit or following the instructions. I keep loosing track of whether I'm in a pattern row or a knit row. And when I am in the latter, my fingers insist on thinking I'm in a pattern row and if I don't keep an eye on them, they start knitting of their own accord.

Due to my naughty fingers, I must have ripped out at least three foot of scarf by now! As I type, the scarf is finally approaching two foot in length and I mourn those missing three feet because if I'd have left them in place I'd be nearly done by now!

No pictures as of yet because I haven't had time to take any...

And finally, a link to the BBC news site and an article that caught my eye.

And really finally, it appears I am 8827th in the list for my Ravelry invite which is an improvement on the 12000 or so position I was at last week. I keep checking in there once every few days and it seems I get a couple of hundred places closer to being invited on each time I look. One day soon I may be able to see what all the fuss is about!

Sweetpea... also in plum

Taking a few moments out from working and waiting for my new mobile phone to spring into life, to write a further update here. Although before I do, why is it that the delay between deactivating the old SIM and activating the new one has to take so long? I've been without mobile connectivity since 2:30pm yesterday afternoon and I'm now beginning to fret. It's not that I want to call anyone or that I'm particularly itching to send a text message but... You never know I might actually be missing some vital call while I'm disconnected like this!

As you might be able to surmise, upgrading my mobile telephone and my talk plan was on my list of errands over the weekend. After visiting the Orange shop and fast coming to the conclusion that I knew more than the store assistants did about the deals on offer, I headed home and called Orange's Customer Services to negotiate my own deal. Yay for the internet and doing your own research.

Next on my list for overdue upgrades is a computer... As in I think that maybe it's time I actually bought one and maybe, perhaps I need some kind of proper internet connection. Currently, I use dial up from home and a very antiquated laptop which has been retired from work use. While this used to be more than sufficient for my home needs, recently I've been struggling to even read email and so the slow realisation that I need to move out of the stone age is catching up with me.

But I digress...

I also finished crocheting the Sweetpea Shawl on Saturday evening and so, on Sunday decided to take advantage of the fine weather to have a go at blocking out on the patio. I took an old bedspread - normally reserved for camping use - and laid it out, weighing down the corners with bottles of water. Then I spread out the shawl, pinning it into place and pulling it to open out the pattern. Once I had it pinned securely in place, I sprayed it liberally with clean water and waited...



I had to have stern words with both cats when they decided to try to help, but other than that it went well enough and about three hours later the shawl was dry. I carefully unpinned it and was relieved when it didn't immediately spring back into it's previous shape and did a practice drape for Dave who told me it looked 'longer'. Before blocking, I think it reached to about the small of my back whereas now it reaches the back of my knees!











Sunday and Monday night I sat and attached tassles and voila! One Sweetpea Shawl.


I'm really pleased with this one and I think it's probably the nicest thing I've ever crocheted. Before blocking it looked fairly good but now it is really pretty and the pattern has opened out so it can be easily seen. I'm impressed both with the shawl and the transformation, so I guess this blocking lark is all it's cracked up to be.


As always, click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Today I ache

My right leg, from my hip to my calf is giving me some serious gip and complaining as if I'd overdone it at the dojo or gym or something. Muscles I really didn't know I had are complaining this morning and the cause of this discomfort is of course my visit to my physio therapist yesterday. The obligatory lecture covered the does and don'ts of sitting, the need to accurately report on pain, bending my knee and how to stick my bottom out. After forty five minutes of painful mauling, I was really glad to escape back to work!

We have hot water once more, the boiler having been fixed by the man from British Gas... The cause this time was apparently the British weather, with rain being the primary candidate for our problems. There were signs of water damage inside the boiler and the plumber's opinion was that heavy rain (like the kind we had during last Thursday's storms) came in through the flu, flooding the bottom of the boiler so that it spilled out and shorted the electrics. This is not exactly reassuring news, as it rains quite a bit in Coventry and sometimes the rain is indeed of the heavy variety, not like back at home in Plymouth though, where it wasn't unusual to see it rain upwards! But I digress, it does indeed rain in Coventry and so I've now been alerted to a new danger which could strike at any time. Dave has told me not to worry... He says he has a cunning plan involving cellotape.

This news was met with some sceptism at Knit-Wits last night, where we were having a de-stash night. Now I did consider getting rid of some fabric but what with having been working like a crazed crazy woman, I have not really had much time to do anything the past week or two. So in the end, I dug out some no longer wanted issues of Burda and took those along, telling Dave I was doing my bit towards decluttering the house.

Ahem. Somehow I came back with more magazines than I took with me... And some knitting needles... Oooh and some fuzzy sparkly stuff that Steelbreeze waved at me.

I did do some work on the Sweet Pea shawl from The Happy Hooker, which is growing nicely now. I disagree with the designer's comments about whipping it up in a single evening though and having it ready for use the next day. Admittedly, I'm only spending an hour here and there working on the shawl, but those first few rows were killers.

Here it is in its current state, very much a work in progress but you can see that it is beginning to take shape.



I like the way it's coming along and now I've got the hang of the pattern, it's not that difficult to make. I did have problems with the pattern instructions, but fortunately was able to interpret the chart which accompanied it. My next worry is for when its done as I think I may need to have a go at blocking (a first for me) to get the best out of this one.

Finally some gratuitous cat pictures, because I'm in pain, working far too hard at the end of a very long week (i.e. no weekend) and want to see kittens.


My ever vigilant assistant Charlie, who is an oversized kitten really, is always ready to help guard my knitting or crochet. Or at least flop all over the project bag the above shawl currently lives in.


Of course, once he realises that you're watching him he turns on the charm... And don't be fooled by that expression, he is ready to kill Dave (who falls for it everytime) if he touches his tummy.

Missy on the other hand would never allow herself to be photographed in a compromising position...

Arrgh! Life has gone all crazy on me...

It's been an eventful few days in the less than helpful or co-operative sense, with the boiler dying (again) in a spectacular fashion on Thursday. And by that I we had crackling. We had smoke and a strong (still lingering) smell of burning of the electrical kind. The only positive was that it happened whilst we were there and hence we were able to switch things off and did not go up in flames. Those who've read my LJ know that this is becoming a frequent occurance, the third break down in less than a year with the last one being fixed in the middle of April... I am not impressed.

Timing couldn't be worse of course, since the next two weeks see the implementation of a major double upgrade to a critical system. To the non-IT professionals out there, that means I have to nearly camp out in my office, working through the weekend and I simply cannot just nip home for a couple of hours to wait for a plumber.

Cue me spending a couple of hours arguing with appropriate people on Friday - whilst trying to roll out a major upgrade - and eventually being bullied into joining British Gas's Homecare. Twas the only way I could get someone to respond! The result was that by the time I got home from work on Friday night, the gas had been turned off - not terribly convenient - but Transco did come back later and switch it on, before turning off the gas to the boiler at its valve. We still don't have any hot water, but we're not about to blow up or anything and British Gas are now legally obligated to sort it out.

Aside from all of this, I have of course been working. Again, bad timing as I have an event next weekend, which wouldn't normally be an issue but since I'm on the writing team, I'm feeling a bit pressured. I'm hoping that I get things sorted out enough that I can blag Friday off, but I shall have to see.

In the meantime, I'm working. I've sneaked on here for a few minutes to write this but otherwise I'm juggling computers (of the big variety) and persuading them to do what I want them to do. The temperature in here was 30.4C when I came in this morning, having maxed out at 29.7c last night when I finally escaped... So it looks like it's going to be another scorcher. Believe me, by the time I made it home I was tired and drained of all energy.

Still, the world of crafting and making things stops for no one, so besides trying to think in a creative fashion - the operative word being 'trying' - I've dug out unfinished costume pieces. I have a tunic I bought earlier in the year that needs hemming and another one that I made last year for Belgariad (another LARP I was on the writing team for) but never finished. My aim is to get them sorted out and wearable by the end of the week!

Other than that, I've not had time to do anything since like Mandy, I really could do with more hours in the day! Note I do not want more days in the week as that just means I'll need to work even harder. I also need some 'Ooomph' so if anyone has any going spare, please send it in my direction.