Send cake quick!

This weekend has been fairly exhausting. I wish I could say I've done something exciting, but I'm afraid that mostly I was engaged in war on the domestic front. Now before anyone worries, neither Dave or the cats have been hurt in any way although I think a spider may well have met its demise after colliding with a duster. I swear it leaped out at me and menaced me!

Yes, this weekend I decided it was time to start my campaign proper on tidying the house. We started (and this was a joint effort) with the standard household chores such as dusting, vacuuming, laundry, ironing, kitchen and bathroom cleaning. Then, I started - in a very tiny way - to try to chip away at the clutter which the house is drowning in. I didn't get very far, because clearing things out seems to take a long, long time, but I was ruthless and the paper shredder got a lot of use. I now have one clear corner and an empty cupboard, next weekend I move onto its neighbour.

All this cleaning and blitzing the clutter also extended to the loft with Dave producing one black bag of junk so far. We've also set aside several bags worth for a charity shop and a handful of glass and plastic gems which (I hope) are destined for AscendancyLRP's crew treasure box.

This flurry of activity has barely made a dent but I intend to persevere - something I've said before - for my sanity's sake if nothing else. I don't need a spotless house and I like a home to look lived in, but things have got out of hand. Decorating has stalled completely and (to my eyes) the house has a neglected look about it which I'd like to at least make a start on fixing.

The worst moment of the weekend came when I'd finished tidying up after the tidying (how come the act of throwing things away makes so much mess?) and cooked a very nice cabbage, leek and bean soup for our supper. I decided pudding was in order and so rumaged in the freezer only to find there was none, when I was sure I had some left over from Christmas.

I quizzed Dave and he tells me I did pick up cake at the supermarket but put it back!!! That just proves how rough I was feeling prior to and during Christmas itself.

I was so shocked I had to go and cast on a sock to console myself!

It's official... We are completely mad.

Friday afternoon saw Dave and myself in a car, driving slowly up the M1 towards York for our first Ascendancy LRP event of the year. Slowly because of the weather which consisted of torrential rain, with the occasional bout of sleet which combined with the spray from surface water on the road, made driving conditions treacherous.

As I sat there, gripping the steering wheel tightly and peering worriedly through the haze, I asked "Dave, why are we doing this exactly?"

My other half hesitated only a moment before replying "Because we're insane."

And there you have it. No argument really. We are completely mad.

So started a very cold weekend, with rain and sleet on Friday night giving way to clear skies and frozen mud by Saturday morning. We were sleeping in dark age (ish) huts which are glorified sheds really, very drafty sheds. It wasn't so bad, we are after all experienced campers, fully equipped with four season sleeping bags, thermal underwear and many blankets so we were not as cold overnight as we could have been. But oh my goodness, was getting out of bed on Saturday morning a shock!

I voted for fire and being the only one brave enough to crawl out of her sleeping bag, I did indeed make fire. And I nursed fire all weekend, which I considered to be something of a success since it raised the temperature of the hut by a few degrees and I managed to do this without burning the wooden building down.

One unfortunate side effect of the low temperatures was the butane gas refused to be 'gas', preferring to remain as a liquid inside its canister. Fortunately, Richard had deep pockets and so ended up carrying the gas cans around to keep them warm when not in use, which is why we did manage to have hot food and drink throughout.

The event itself was fairly good and I enjoyed it I think, while being prepared meant we coped reasonably well despite the time of year. It was a little weird to be playing at Murton Park since the last few times I've been part of the ref team there, but I managed to make the transition I think.

I'm taking a rare break and not playing the event in February, with my next event being in March when I hope things may have warmed up just a little.

And there was light!

First things first, I guess... Happy New Year to anyone reading this and I hope 2008 is a good one for you.

So for 2008 isn't looking much different to 2007 in Chez Lurgy. I'm still coughing and sniffing (and wondering if maybe I should enquire about a flu jab next year), Charlie is being boisterous and clumsy even as I type and Missy has retreated to the safety of the bedroom before he tries to wrestle with her again (he's already tried twice in the past hour). I returned to work this week where I'm already heavily loaded with an ever decreasing office population due to the ongoing Norovirus outbreak.

Dave is off at a Maelstrom player event this weekend and so today, I braved Coventry's newly opened Ikea on my own. I was after a reading lamp and I picked it out the catalogue and even checked online to see if it was in stock - however it still took me an hour and a half to find the right one, locate suitable energy saving equivalents to the recommended bulbs, find the checkout, buy said lamp (with bulbs) and then make my way out of the store. I did my homework. I had a map. But it still took forever... And that was just a simple errand - I hate to think what it would be like if I was buying something more substantial like furniture!

Mission accomplished though and I now have a reading lamp sitting beside my customary spot on the sofa which means I should be able to see what I'm doing in our poorly lit living room which should make needlecrafts a whole lot easier.

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.

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.

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!

Take two... or possibly three...

I can confirm that I do indeed have a cold that is now in full swing and making life difficult. With an awful lot of work to get through this week, I've resorted to the Beechams and I'm relying on caffiene to keep me on my feet. With winter making itself felt, I decided to be sensible last night and stayed home rather than meeting up with my fellow knitters in the Town Crier. I'd have only sat there alternating between soggy mopping of my poor nose and frantic sneezing, neither of which would have made me very good company I fear.

So at home, I pushed on with the sock which is progressing well (again). I'm working on the decrease for the toe (where it all went horribly wrong last time) and looking forward to my attempt to graft the toe closed very soon. Grafting is reputed to be scary and so it will be interesting to see if I manage it OK.

I am not tempting fate once more by posting pics.

And finally (cos this is just a very quick update really)... Tomorrow marks an important blogging birthday, as it was the 14th December last year that I first wrote properly in this blog, my previous post having been a "Hello, what's this blogger thing then..." type afair. Doesn't time fly!

Alas...

After a wet, cold and miserable weekend - today I've woken with what certainly feels like the beginning of a cold. At the moment I'm in the fuzzy headed and active sinus stage... I'm still being optimistic and hoping it will blow over; I far too much to do over the next week or so to be ill!

Friday I worked from home - much to the cats' delight - while I waited in for my new washing machine. I'm happy to be able to report it was delivered as expected, has been unpacked (which involved a lengthy search for mythical plastic bits supposedly underneath the machine but nowhere to be seen) and connected to the water supply and waste pipe. With an ongoing torrential downpour throughout the weekend, I gave it a test drive and it works a treat. The only downside was just how long these 'A' rated appliances take to complete an economy wash!

Saturday I headed down to Warwick, to hunt for some knitting needles in the Crafty Cottage. Sadly, Jo had a sale on which destroyed my wavering self control and I ended up buy some very nice Lousia Harding 'Grace Silk and Wool'. I stayed for a while, enjoying a cuppa, sheltering from the rain while working on my sock and looking through some books. Jo also passed on some antiquated crochet mags which a gentleman had given her which belonged to his late wife and were in search of a new home. I was also completely surprised to be given a Christmas present, completely bowled over really since it was genuinely unexpected. Thanks Jo!

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to wrapping the mountain of presents I need to haul down to the South West to give to our families. I even managed to persuade Dave to wrap a couple!

My other preoccupation over the weekend was my first sock. I posted a picture of the sock last week, but on Thursday (the day after the photo was put up), the sock met with an accident.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I'd reached the toe so was decreasing when some stitches fell off the needle. I didn't spot them until I'd knitted around and then I tried to pick them up. No matter how I tried, I couldn't. They were right in the decrease area and all that happened was I kept splitting the yarn.

After struggling for 20 minutes to pick the stitches up, I decided to take a deep breath and remove the needles, rip back a few rows to before the decrease and then put the stitches back on the needles. What I hadn't counted on was how difficult it is to pick up a round of stitches at such a tight guage. To cut a long story short, I just couldn't get the stitches back onto the needles.

Later, after much silent cursing and hard staring with no progress and things just getting worse every time I tried to fix it... I gave up. I ripped the entire sock out.

Friday evening, I started again.

And now... I'm on the foot again, slowly approaching the toe. Fingers crossed that this time, I make it all the way to the end!

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.

Fluffy and sparkly fun

This week things seem to have been a bit frantic at work and I've been going home rather on the frazzled side, so it's with some relief that I note that this is the first weekend in ages that I don't have to be anywhere in particular. Oh I have errands and shopping to do and I'm popping over to Esther's, but I don't have to drive miles away, nor do I have to get up at the crack of dawn this weekend which I'm looking forward to immensely.

I've not made much progress on the washcloths this week due to the lack of knitting time, but I have turned the heel on my first ever sock! I'm now working on the decrease around the gusset before I start knitting down the foot towards the toe. I'm also beginning to wonder about this grafting thing and whether I should knit a couple of swatches and have a go before trying to graft the sock's toe.

I headed off to Knit-Wits on Wednesday where I got many admiring glances for the now finished cable scarf (more on that one later when I've managed to take some photo's) and the fun fur hybrid pictured here.

This scarf was improvised from scratch and knit with 25 stitches on 6mm needles. It is garter stitch all the way and worked with one strand of Marble (a DK yarn) held double with any one of a multitude of fun furs. All of the yarns are left over from other projects with only a couple of balls of each available, which wasn't enough to make a full scarf in any one of them. Hence the reason I thought I'd try stripes. It was an easy and fun knit, although I did spend nearly two weeks combing it when done, to fluff it up to my satisfaction.

When seen in person, this scarf shimmers and catches the light whilst having an air of fluffy luxury about it. It's soft, pretty, substantial and not at all scratchy; the consensus of opinion was that it was one I should maybe think about keeping. Not so, I'm afraid since it's intended as a gift for my teenage niece where I hope it will find a happy home.

Finally, the first part of my recent book order has arrived. Since I'm possessed of the desire to understand what I'm doing, I picked up Getting Started Knitting Socks. To round out the parcel, I've also got When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters and The Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules. These arrived late yesterday afternoon and I've not had a chance to do more than flick through them as yet, but what I did see looked promising. I just hope I find some time this weekend to do some reading...

Victorianna

With Christmas looming ever closer with each passing day, I'm desperately trying to pull my finger out and finish off my seasonal knitting. For the most part, that means I'm currently churning out washcloths like a good 'un; something that Charlie approves of mightly since washcloths are small and therefore do not fill my lap, which of course leaves plenty of room for cat instead.

In between washcloths I've been slowly adding to my sock which is nearing the scary point where I start on the heel. The good news is that I slipped the sock off my needles and onto some cotton so I could try it on, which proved that cuff is nowhere near so small as I think it is. I did somehow manage to drop a stitch in the process though... But I have a keen eye and having watched Steelbreeze deliberately drop one of my stitches (to untwist one some rows back) and then pick it back up again, I did what she did... And lo! You'd never know I dropped it. The only thing I'm not happy with is my tension between the needles which is variable and shows when I cast my beady eye over the sock. But as this is my first sock, I'm kind of expecting this.

To break up the monotony of scarf knitting (which until this week was ongoing) I decided to crochet up this little bookmark.

Dave's comment when he saw it was that it's pure Victorianna... Now I'm not sure of the historical accuracy of that statement, but it is pretty and as effective a demonstration of lacework as I've seen.

The pattern came from here and this bookmark was crocheted pretty much as directed. The only things I changed was to use Crochet Cotton instead of Perle Cotton and as a consequence I went up a couple of hook sizes to 1.75mm. I starched and ironed the resulting lace to stiffen it and then added a tassle.

This was the first time I'd ever used spray on starch and I've got to say it was messy and very sticky. I used some scrap fabric as a pressing cloth and to protect both the iron and board, but it stuck to the iron like crazy which was alarming. Fortunately as a sewer, I knew better than to use steam at this point so I was able to peel it off again before anything scorched but it was a learning experience. Once done though, I've got to admit the starch and iron worked wonders to transform this little piece of lace into something quite special. I just hope it goes down well with it's intended recipient.

A day out and about

Saturday morning saw us getting up early once more so we could drive up to Ripley for the Grand Opening at our friends' shop. The cats did not approve, especially Missy who knows a Saturday when she see's one and kept giving me reproachful looks as we woke ourselves up. We finally made it out the door at about 08:45 and after diverting briefly to Richard's arrived in the shop at a reasonable 10:30am.

The shop itself was bustling which was good, although it made finding somewhere to stand out of the way a bit difficult. In the end, I excused myself and explored Ripley for crafting opportunities. Right next door was a wool shop where I acquired more sock yarn, but around the corner was a craft shop. In both shops I found varigated cottons suitable for either braiding or crochet...


I'm not sure what I'm going to make from them yet, but they've been added to my perle cotton stash for later use.

In the afternoon, we visited Cromford Mill which while interesting was very much a work in progress as far as museum's go methinks. It was bitterly cold by then, so standing around admiring the remains of the mill wasn't much of an option while the main exhibition was housed in freezing cold room with no heating.

In the end we moved onto Scarthin Books where we were over whelmed by the number of tomes packed into every nook and cranny. Books were stacked everywhere, with shelves from floor to ceiling in every conceivable place. No landing, room or understairs space was neglected and sorting the books into any order appeared to be an optional concept here. Needless to say we spent a bemusing hour or so wandering around the many rooms which make up this bookshop with our senses just flooded with the bookiness of it all.

After a while, we did start to acclimatise and even spotted titles of interest, but in the end we decided not to buy anything and debunked to the little cafe for tea and cake. The cake was very nice, but they forgot to put the hot water in the teapot... We did wonder if this was a quaint custom local to Derbyshire. Suffice it to say we waited to see if a pot of hot water would arrive for a good ten minutes before asking and finally gaining the required additive.

The journey home was interesting as the salt and water spray from the road made keeping the windscreen clear near impossible. We were a happy pair when we finally got home.

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.

And there was snow...

With Christmas looming ever closer, this weekend took it upon itself to remind me in as forceful a manner as it could that it is November and it is winter and we should be grown up about this and act accordingly. Foolish notions of running around in the woods should be cast aside in favour of indoor activities where there is heating or at the very least you are not being subjected to a continuous enslaught of rain and sleet.

Yes, this weekend I was walking around Shining Cliffs attempting to save the world as always in the last Ascendancy event of the year. Saturday was OK, cold but dry other than the occasional sleet shower. My feet were numb but I was well wrapped up and coped admirably, whilst watching in horror as one particular participant walked around the freezing woods in bare feet!!!

Sunday morning we awoke to wind, rain and sleet slamming into the windows, at which point a sensible reluctance to go outside took hold. Unfortunately, the other players didn't share that reluctance (possibly because they were in Birmingham and hadn't arrived on the scene so hadn't witnessed how bad it was) and so off we went to share in the madness.

Personally I was already cold by the time we'd stood waiting for the other players to arrive and my toes were lost to me... So I abandoned the car because it was better to walk back and forth in the sleet, because at least that way I could keep the circulation going. We finally got going but those of us of a non-combative nature hadn't a chance of staying warm out there.

I wasn't doing too badly since I was kitted out from head to foot in wool, but while wool is excellent at insulating you even when soaked through it does get incredibly heavy as it soaks up all that moisture. Queue aching shoulders and back as I trudged around after everyone else. The main problem though was my hands and feet, my boots were water proof but offered no insulation against the freezing ground while my leather gloves soaked up the rain like a chamois.

Suffice it to say there was no argument from me when it was finally suggested we retire to an indoor venue. In fact, had things gone on much longer mutiny was in the air as I was on the verge of asking Richard for the car keys and leaving them to it. The only thing stopping me was the thought of sitting in wet clothes in a freezing car for hours on end while the others carried on with the game.

The indoor venue was Andy and Heather's shop where there was tea and heat and a toilet (much needed after all that freezing cold sleet). I'm not sure what their customers thought of all these strangely dressed people descending on them, but at that point all I wanted was to be warm.

A short while after we'd retired indoors it began to snow.

Timing is everything and all I can say is hooray for being indoors at that point!

Anyhow, I survived. The journey home was interesting in a hair raising kind of way as I drove through the snow and was buffeted by wind all the way. I was very relieved to get home safe and sound and my first priority was a long soak in a hot bath.

Not the best weekend really, but the company was good (as always) which saved things some what. Now I'm just wondering what the weather will be like in January when I'm due to do it all again. Blankets and hot water bottles may well be a must!

A continuing theme

This weekend, I continued the recent theme for shopping trips by visiting the Re-enactors Market on Saturday, and then Hobbycrafts/Crafts for Christmas at the NEC on Sunday.

Saturday's trip was I think, the first time I've been to a Re-enactors Market and not had a single thing that I needed to hunt down. With no new costume pieces currently planned and the majority of my Christmas presents sorted, I wandered up and down the aisles admiring things but not really wanting to part with my cash for anything on display. To put it mildly, I have loads of fabric already which is sitting around doing nothing so buying more so I could take just to add to the pile wasn't appealing.

However, overcome by the non-shopping trip I did pick up some handspun yarns from the Mulberry Dyers and a small quantity of pretty glass beads from Tillerman Beads (who I'd never seen there before). The beads will go into my stock and will end up embellishing something at some point, but the handspun I'm not sure what to do with. I picked up three packs, two in cobweb weight and the other in what looks like a two ply, no yardage listed and sold entirely by the number of grams in the pack. I suspect they'll make interesting lace, but with no idea of yardage I'm going to have to be very careful on my choice of pattern.

Other than that, we did of course bump into the odd (and I mean that in the nicest way) person or three and Dave was very glad to find his mate Doug (I swear he gets withdrawal symptoms if too long passes between them speaking) who it seemed had come along without his mobile phone.

Sunday it was an early start as we attempted to get to the Hobbycrafts show before some of the crowds. As it was, things weren't too bad. I remember occasions when they've closed the hall while they allow the crowd to thin and witnessed the crush that's led to the first aiders having to rescue people who've fainted. As usual, Hobbycrafts was a card maker's paradise with everything you could possibly want to make and decorate your own cards. I could tell that Richard (a first timer) was a bit overwhelmed by the sight of so much glitter.

I succumbed (can I blame steelbreeze?) and bought sock yarn from Web of Wool. Not just one ball of sock yarn, no... I bought enough for three (yes three!) pairs of socks. I also cast aside my dignity to crawl about in a pile of wool belonging to Black Sheep Wools searching for something manly enough for Dave. More later when I decide what I'm going to make with the olive green wool I eventually settled on, but all I can say is I hope Dave appreciates it!

I'm still working away on my four cable scarf at the moment, slowly crawling my way along the ribbed section in the middle... But I am fretting about those balls of sock wool and feeling vaguely guilty since I'm currently buying wool faster than I can hope to knit it up. I may well be casting on my first pair of socks in the very near future.

Look Ma! Cables!

I started knitting another scarf at the weekend, intended to be a gentle introduction to knitting cables. I picked 'Double Cable Scarf' from One Skein since it has 3x3 cables at each end of the scarf, with a length of ribbing in between.

However, the pattern suffers from the not uncommon modern tendency to make scarfs skinny and not overly long, so as usual I intended to add both width and length. I started out on Saturday by casting on an additional 12 stitches to give me a third cable but after knitting up six inches or so (struggling with my cables the whole way) I decided it was still too narrow.

Sunday saw me start again, this time with another 12 stitches added (that's 52 stitches, rather than the recommended 28) and four cables. A couple of days on and I've finally cleared the cable section and I'm happily knitting a 2x2 rib with some slipped stitches at each end.


My verdict so far? Cabling isn't difficult, but it is fiddly. Keeping an even tension is also a bit hit and miss, at least for me on my first real attempt at this. I also need to keep my eye on the stitch pattern as my cables had a tendancy to wander off across the piece to some unshared route that wasn't written in front of me. No idea why... I swear my fingers seem to knit independently of my brain sometimes.

It is pretty and effective though, particularly in this colour and this yarn (one of Mercia Wools DK Superwash Wool range) which is well behaved, easy to knit with and shows up the pattern beautifully.

I'll motor on through the rest of the ribbing now and then cable in the other direction to finish the other end. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it by then, because I've promised to show my mother how to knit cables when I see her next month.








And talking about fiddly, last night I learnt how to knit in the round on DPNs with a view to learning how to knit socks. This tiny picture (the best I could do, it was dark and my camera wouldn't co-operate) shows a little, iddy biddy cuff, knit with four needles. The biggest problem was working around the needles which seem to go out of their way to be in the way. This little cuff is just 30 stitches knitted to about an inch long and took me a whole two hours to knit!

Although incredibly fiddly, it was fun and I think I'm going to have to have a go at a whole sock sometime soon.

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.

Tired...

After the clocks went back last weekend, I'm still trying to adjust and reeling from the sudden encroachment of dark nights. Consequently, I've been fighting off exhaustion all week so I certainly hope that I manage to settle back into some sort of routine this weekend.

This week I headed down to Warwick on Monday for a knitting group at the Crafty Cottage in addition to my usual Knit-Wit's session on Wednesday. It was good to see some new faces there, showing that Jo's shop is becoming known and word is slowly spreading. The only problem with driving to Warwick after work is of course that I don't get there until approaching 6:30pm and have to head home shortly after 7:30pm since I need my dinner. A hungry Julie is not good company, although fortunately if you feed me I will return to my normal aimable self.

While I was there (in Warwick that is) I picked up some DPNs in readiness for my introduction to socks this coming week. Steelbreeze will be running a workshop and I shall report on my progress (or lack of it... the thought of all those needles is scary) in due course.

In other news, the Coventry group (Knit-Wits) that I go to on Wednesdays changed venue this week as we had our first meeting in the Town Crier. This pub is a short walk from the previous venue, considerably bigger, well lit and full of alcoves - one of which we took over. It is also a lot cheaper drinkwise and does proper pub food, which certainly smelled nice. Also, it had no TV and the music was non-offensive and not at all deafening. We could have actual conversations and everything... So far looking good and a win methinks.

And by way of an addendum

Yesterday, Blogger seemed to be having issues with photographs so I ended up cutting my post short. Today, with the miracles of modern technology in full swing I proudly present a manly scarf...

This was simple enough to make up and is crocheted DC (or SC if reading American) in the backloop throughout. I kept going until it was six inches wide and then added a simple fringe, giving the results shown. Dave likes it (he is not the intended recipient) so I'm taking that as a good sign. Not the most exciting thing to crochet though, so I don't intend to make another one of these in a hurry.

On the subject of Dave, take a look at this...

It's a sandwich board (if you can call a non-blow-overable-flexi-board a sandwich board) from outside Andy and Heather's shop up in Ripley. It's the only photo I took on Saturday (I know, I should love the Orks more) and I'm posting it to point out the logo, which was designed by Dave. It's called an ambigram or an inversion and reads the same upside down as right way up - pretty nifty huh?

ETA -
And on a crochet related subject, while I was in Ripley, Frizbe and I headed off to her house (leaving the boys to play) where I took her through the rudiments of crochet. She pretty much got it too, just needs some practice and to relax a little while holding her hook. Time will tell I guess as to whether I've corrupted her sufficiently... Time and whether she starts hiding yarn around the house!

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

Something in the air...

Monday morning rolled around again (as they're in the habit of doing) and today my body clock is all over the place due to the end of British Summer Time. As the clocks go back and the dark nights are heralded in by fireworks, so we are officially ushered into winter. I'm not the only one finding the changed time difficult to adjust to; both cats were convinced today must be a 'Saturday' and were very disgruntled to realise I had to go to work.

The weekend was a good one, if busy, tiring and expensive as I made some serious inroads into my Christmas shopping.

Saturday saw us driving up to Ripley, where Andy and Frizbe have just opened their new comics and games shop 'Chimera'. Naturally, I picked up a few presents while I was there, while Dave and Richard (who were equipped with Orks and Eldar respectively) settled down to do battle for supremacy of the table top. I forgot to take any pictures (Dave was upset by this, he said I should have photographed his Orks) until after the shop was closed but there are photographs here for anyone who wishes to see.

Sunday, we drove to the Warwick Exhibition Centre for the Living History Fayre. This one isn't as busy as Anne Laverick's Re-enactors Market but had a good range of stalls, so naturally I bought yet more Christmas presents.

I also bought myself two more lucets... I shouldn't have, not really but in my defence sometimes I have a braid on the prongs and I'd like to start another, so... I need more than one lucet. Don't I?

I did however, bravely walk away from spun (undyed) silk... And wool... And linen. And I didn't buy so much as a single meter of fabric, all of which means there is hope for me yet.