*hangs head in shame*

This is my first post of the year and that is embarrassing to say the least. I have a hundreds of pictures to upload that are still residing unopened on my memory card. I'm knitting, there is plenty of knitting ... a bit too much considering all the work related stuff I should be doing ...... but anyway. It's spring, this month I turn 26 and it's time to get things in hand!

Karin's destashing community in Ravelry has a challenge this month to spring clean the projects basket. It's just the sort of thing I need (my WIPs are in double figures and that's as much as I'm willing to divulge) so I'm embracing it fully ... and extending it ... I'm going to spring clean my whole life, including this blog. So more posts are expected here (where have I heard that before?) and hopefully they will be more interesting too .......

So, knitting plans for April:
1. Gather together all WIPs and frog, finish or schedule them.
2. Gather as much stash as I remember I have into one room, organise it and update it onto ravelry.
3. Finish at least 10 projects.

Just three things - easy, hmmmmmm ...... well, at least if it doesn't work out I can call it an April Fool!

Speed is of the essence .....

At last! A step forward in the Christmas gift knitting department, no a leap! I discovered the wonder of washcloths as gifts and since Saturday night have churned out no less than five - marvel in the splendour:



From left to right we have the gift dishcloth and the nine- patch from Mason-Dixon Knitting and a bath mitt, eyelet dishcloth and simple ridge from the Lily Sugar 'n' Creme ballband patterns. So thanks to the wonder of fast dishcloths I now have 6 gifts finished. But plenty more to go! (Also, please excuse the vegetation, it's my sister's idea of Christmas decorations.)

Also I had to share - the love of yarn spreads to all reaches of this family you know. Here's my oldest cat Tia who has spent all of today sleeping in one of my yarn baskets.



Thank goodness it's only the odds and ends of acrylic, because no matter how much I love her, if she'd been lying on the merino we would be having words right now.

Now wish me luck, I have Christmas decorations to dig out and more presents to make!

In the holiday spirit ....

... please forgive me for broken promises. I have been atrocious at keeping an account on here or on my LJ account. But I am beginning my New Year's resolutions early and am determined to get going here. :)

The Christmas gift knitting frenzy is in full swing at my house. I have only completed one gift so far and have at least 14 left to do. Am I mad? Why of course! I didn't realise it was being contested. But I have some pretty things to talk about first ... a gift to myself.

When we were in New York I had a slight mishap with my bank card and wasn't able to lift the last of my funds. So when we got to Purl Soho I was working on money I had borrowed from other people. Not a nice situation to be in. I wanted to get something so I bought some Bryspun flexible needles, but the Blue Sky Alpaca and the Koigu had to stay on the shelf. Again on our second trip to School Products (we liked that store), my hands had to stay in my pockets. (Everybody say awwww). But when I returned I had some money in my bank account, so I treated myself:



Lorna's Laces Swirl DK in two colourways - Mt. Creek on the left and Pioneer on the right. It's a lovely blend of merino wool and silk and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. But at the moment, I'm just enjoying looking at it. *grin* And maybe stroking it occasionally.

But also I need some help. Before the cash crisis in NYC, I did manage to purchase some Koigu KPPM in School Products (might I say I love both that shop and that yarn). Some was for my sister and is currently being knit into socks for her. I'm using Wendy's toe-up gusset and slipstitch heel pattern as usual, with some changes in numbers for gauge etc. See?



Now my problem is a little loose stitch on either side of the heel where I join it back up to knit the leg. At first I thought it as coming from the instep stitches that sit on the needles unused while the heel is knitted, just a by-product of being left unused on the needle for so long. However, I've realised that is only the case on one side and on the other side the loose stitch is actually part of the slipstitch heel.



Excuse the less than great photography, i have yet to master macro settings, but I think you know what I'm talking about anyway. I'm going to darn up the little holes here and the sock will be fine, but I'd rather avoid it in the future.

Does anyone else find this happens with their heels or is it just me? Is there something I could be doing (or not doing as the case may be) to prevent it? Or is it an inevitable part of my knitting that I should just suck up and move on? Answers on a postcard comment please!

Tomorrow, tomorrow ....

.... I love ya tomorrow,
you're only a day away!

No, wait .... that's not the right one .....

Start spreading the news,
I'm leaving today ...

Well, not quite today, but tomorrow I am indeed leaving and heading to the city that never sleeps for sightseeing, fun and (most importantly) plenty of yarn shopping.



See you in just over a week! (And I promise I'll post more then!).

I am back .....

Fear not, I have returned. The interview was awful so I'm not moving anywhere any time soon. I have decided to give my PhD thesis a bit more space to be right before I rush it to take a full time job. So I'm on the look out for something part-time (working in a yarn shop would of course be the perfect thing right now) while I finish the write-up in the rest of my time. And I might even give some of my business ideas a bit of a run if I can find the money. So wish me good luck and let me know if there's any part-time jobs going in the Belfast area. Now on to happier things - yarn!

I have a lot of purchases which have not been shown and I'm a bit late for my promised post, but better late than never eh? Firstly we have the haul from way back at the end of August when I went to Waterford (Ireland) for a conference. I found a lovely little yarn store called Needles and Pins (I must admit this amuses me no end) and made a purchase or 14:



I got some present yarn (which has long since been handed over), some random blue acrylic which has already been knit into a competition thing (which could be a contender for you knit what?! if it was still around) and then what you see above. We have more random acrylic because I liked the look of it (this is what I need to stop doing because I have no idea what to do with it!), some Debbie Bliss pure wool because it was gorgeous and I had never seen it before and some Rowan Tapestry - on sale! Oh my, I was a happy child that day!

Moving swiftly on to a trip to the Ballymoney yarn shop, of which I had heard a lot. And it definitely had a good range, but alas no prices on the shelves. So after asking a million questions and getting confused at how much everything I liked was, I turned to the pattern books (which were priced).



I got the new Freedom Spirit/Wool book and picked out two winter sets that I liked, so the yarn was needed. The purply-blue is for a fingerless mitts and scarf set (I have boldly already cast on the scarf, bad knitter that I am). And the green is for a hat and gloves set. Also I got a little Rowan book because it seems almost impossible to find Rowan anything in Northern Ireland from my experience (please tell me if I'm wrong on this, I'd be ecstatic!). And the little Christmas Nativity book in the back is one my mum saw in Waterford but didn't get so I had to buy it for her when we saw it again.

And now we've reached Craft and Skills day at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, which was great! We met great people, talked forever and had a thoroughly fun day. Of course we had to go into the Bangor wool shop for a nosy as we were in the vicinity. And anyone who knows me knows that I don't just look in a yarn shop, ever.



My darling sister is after some knitted garments for presents so some Sublime and Peru books were necessary. I got enough Noro to do a full hat/scarf/mitts set for my New York holiday, some Sirdar Hug because it is so soft and some lovely Peru Naturals because I had to have it. And a little baby blanket book because I have become addicted to blankets. Some seriously cute buttons and sheep cross-stitch (for laughs and giggles) rounded off the swag.

Later that night we were heading out to Proms in the Park in Carrick, so had another nearby yarn shop to peruse:




I was good this time and stuck to the bargain bin. Got some pure wool (6 50g balls) for a cabled scarf I want to make from the pattern book way up at the top and 300g of cotton blend aran, all for less than £10. Can't do bad to that now can you?

And at this stage I was done, after all I am very nearly unemployed and have to keep my pennies while knitting through my stash every night because I can't afford to go out (not much of a punishment really is it?). Or so I thought ......

The interview did not go well, so a little yarn purchase was necessary. I mean I was in England after all, and it was a very nice yarn shop and when was I going to be there again?



Excuse the odd photograph, it was an impromptu at the desk shot! Here we have some bargainous Rowan linen print (6 balls at £1 a ball), some Regia Bamboo sock wool that I have been lusting after for some time, some Kaffe Fassett Regia for the sister's Christmas socks and an almost edible green skein of hand-dyed sock yarn from Chile. I felt better immediately!

Now I still have about a million WIPs to blog about (I cleared out the yarn black hole in my dining room and unearthed an archive), not to mention the advent of the crazy gift knitting season (why do I have to have so many family and friends' birthdays so close to Christmas?) and my envy of my sister's newly created stash. But all that will have to wait - I have rambled on for quite long enough. Perhaps I can remember to come back more frequently in future :)

Hello and goodbye!

I know I have been missing forever and am going to be for a little while longer. Trying to finish the PhD thesis, getting a journal paper ready and preparing for interview all at once has left me seemingly unable to complete the take pictures-edit pictures-upload pictures-make a blog post cycle. But I promise that I will post all the masses of yarn, scary amount of hibernating WIPs and knitting news this weekend when I get back from the interview.

I promise!

Naughty but nice

Well I was a bit bad and disappeared from here without saying anything. I'm supposed to be on hiatus from all online leisure pursuits while I try to finish my PhD thesis in time for September 14th. Sunday is my day off and so I can do as I please, but some gift knitting got in the way on Sunday so I couldn't resist coming online today.

I must show off my yummy yarns from Ebay that I went mad buying when I last got paid!



First off we have 500g of Manos del Uruguay - twice! (one in a lovely green and one in a beautiful blue mix), with a skein of pink and yellow fyberspates sock yarn for the grand total of £20 - bargain!!

I then purchased some Kimono Angora (one calorimetry made from it actually) - it is so squishy!



I also bought some in another colour with some Rowan All Season Cotton in a blue-green (I love that stuff), some sock yarn and Addi's from Get Knitted and DPNs and a big box of balls from Texere (dear goodness the yarn volume, but why no ball bands?) but I don't seem to have any photos of those.

I do however have photos of the 50p a ball bargain yarn my mother brought for me from her day trip in Scotland:



And my first Secret Pal package, which I'm dying to get into but already have too many projects on the go!



And also some of my recent knitting, My So Called Scarf in yummy Manos:




I have been knitting a lot more but again no photos. I promise to come back on Sunday with a better organised post and more photos. Now I'm going to a concert - bye!

Yarn Weekend ....

Last weekend has been yarn, yarn everywhere in a good and not so good way I have to say. First off a friend of mine, Lasairiona, had a knitting night at her house. Nikki and myself were knitting teachers for the evening, bringing two new recruits (Clare and Kerrie) into the fold. They did well, but with Kerrie having to leave early for her train, I don't think she got the real bug. Clare, on the other hand, knitted through the night, even knitting past the dreaded knitters shoulder burn and beyond. However, she didn't take her knitting home, so I'm concerned she too may have dropped away. We'll just have to keep on their case now, won't we?

I came to the knitting night in a bit of a foul mood however, as I had lost part of Las' housewarming present while I was out for mum's birthday lunch. I had knitted a cushion and was sewing it up, but when I got home I was cushion-less and distraught. Luckily my mother was able to locate it today in peacocks so I am much less upset.

But that reminds me, the mother's clapotis. I was hoping to get lots knitted at the knitting night and was staying at Nikki's to try and get more finishing time. However I forgot to bring extra balls of the yarn with me to finish it, although realistically it was not to be. Here's the current progress, just 7 repeats of the straight section done and 6 more to go:



So when it was agreed the clap was not to be finished, a new project was required and a quick one at that. Enter Calorimetry:




Well they're definitely quick and addictive! I did three this weekend! the back two are for the mama, one made from Kimono Angora and one from cream cotton. The front one is my own made from some Marble I purchased on Saturday. Oh yes, we had a bit of a yarn crawl. Nikki and I headed out for the local yarn shops that keep a lot of baby acrylic and not much else, just to see what they were like. Of course I found things to buy - what did you expect?

First up was The Wool Shop in Glengormley. I feel this shop is underperforming as it has lots of unused space and whenever I go in, there is never anyone else there. I would love to work in it though, to get an idea about ordering and salesmen and of course, because I could knit all day. Alas, I have a PhD to finish. Anyway, purchases were as such:



A funky sheep-covered project bag, 2 balls of BabyFab in a nice green mix (green is my current colour of choice) and another random ball of Jarol Hyde Park because I like the colour. I boght a random ball of that in Carrick too, and while I had no clue what to make with it, I went and bought a single ball of another colour. I don't know, sometimes I get like this.

Then we headed across the street to the pound shop, which, despite the name, has more than just pound-a-ball acrylic. So I added to what I bought before. They had a new colour of the King Cole Wool mix aran weight KwiKnit. So I bought two more balls of this colourway to add to the two balls of the other two colours I bought the week before. Because you know, I really need more yarn and all that. < / sarcasm >



Next we got back into the car and headed for The Patchwork Goose. Now that was an experience. When we arrived there were three people in the shop ahead of us, so we couldn't get in. Nope, it's not a tiny shop, it's just that all of the products are piled en masse in the middle of the floor from wall-to-wall, with small path from door to till. I tried to pull a couple of balls out of a wall pile and thought I was going to start an avalanche, but the crisis was averted. Nikki bought nothing and I think that was on principle because of the mess. You could tell she was dying to give the place a good tidy. However, I didn't let a bit of disorganisation get between me and some yarn acquisition. So here we have it:



3 big balls of Marble Chunky, because I like Marble, had never seen it in that weight and the colours were nice. 2 balls of Rio because I have lots of it but not in that colour. And two balls of an Elle Gold that I'd never seen before and felt gorgeous.

As we left, we noticed a sign on the door about opening hours. Sometimes she opens up as early as 9am, somedays it's 12 or 1. She usually closes at 5.30pm, but it might be as late as 9 or 10. Some days she doesn't come at all, but she's usually there unless she's someplace else. That pretty much sums up the shop, but it does give it a bit of an Aladdin's Den factor - you never know what you might find!

Next we were onto Wee Ellie's Wool Shop, which is one of these yarn shops with kids clothes. I don't get that, they weren't even knitted. But again, purchases were made:



Lots more Marble, some to match what I've got, some new colours and more of that Supersoft Baby stuff because I'd not seen that colour or wanted another ball to match what I've got.

All in all I have no idea what I'm doing with it all, but I like it. Oh and a lot of Ebay yarn came too ... but I'll keep that for another post. It is rather lovely if you ask me, but then, I'm biased!

Getting serious

So Ravelry grabbed me with both hands and has had me recording stash like a good 'un. Despite my sister's cries that I'm just inviting people to steal from me (who knows where I live huh?), I have been up to my eyes in balls, camera and laptop. So far it has been mainly acrylic going up so that I feel the momentum to document the rest (and not look like all I have is acrylic). I like acrylic, it has it's place and I use it quite a lot, but I love all types of fibres and so people need to see the full mix to get an idea of what sort of a knitter I am.

What sort of knitter am I? Eclectic I think. I very often knit things and not use them, which leads me to believe that I am either all about the process or that I should choose my projects more carefully in future. But hey, it led me to think, so that's a good thing right?

I've been trying to photograph my current wips as well and this is no mean feat, as they are spread to the far corners of the known universe my house and are often dropped from my cognitive understanding. I cast that on? When? No you must be mistaken.

Anyway, photos at hand, a post is long overdue!

The wip that is getting most attention at the moment is a modified play cube from Nursery Knits by Zoe Mellor. It's going to become a storage cube for more stash, I think, if it works when it's done. This is two of the six squares this afternoon, but after a jaunt to the cinema to see Transformers I now have nearly 3 squares - joyous! (And a great film)



Not so joyous however is the fact that I should not be knitting that at all, I should be knitting this:



That is the increase section (almost completed) of my mother's clap, which is supposed to be finished for her birthday .... on Saturday. Ahem, yes, perhaps needs some attention there. But you see my entire cotton stash appears to have gone missing, so I have a reason for holding off thus far ... perhaps my sister was right about documenting my stash ... except it went missing before I got on Ravelry .....

Mind you considering the state of my mother's Christmas present, I really shouldn't be surprised by my lack of clapotis.



Yes, that is the VD, still knitting completed, still not sewn up or lined ..... *sigh* My poor mother, thankfully I buy her presents too!

And to confound all this knitting what I shouldn't be, I cast on another sock yesterday:



This is a plain round and round sock with Opal Neon yarn and 2.5mm Addi's. You see the new Addi's came, so I could finally use some Opal and I had ripped out a plain sock that had gone a bit funny interesting, tension-wise, in the middle of the foot. So you see, how could I resist?

The Widdershins I have cast on and then abandoned because of cabling on itty bitty needle difficulties have nothing to do with it, I tell ya!



Nothing!

Ravelry

I'm in. I may be some time.