Mediterranean Skies (if only)

I'm in the shed again. This is the view from my window. It's beautiful and bright here today and the wall and little turretthing reminds me of being in France or Spain. This building is now disused and dilapidated - I've been inside and it's SO cool. Parts of the floor are missing, it's very dusty, now used to store god knows what and a whole load of rather expensive-looking wine. It used to be the village bakehouse, hence the turretthing I guess.

Well, this is just a short post to say nothing really. The juicer is still going well. I've just finished my morning juice, served in my favourite mug, which was a present from my husband, because Jeeves and Wooster is cool!

Toiletries Bag Rowan Handknit DK

I finished my toiletries bag (well, apart from the lining that is). I think it's turned out rather well, though I'll probably change the blue heart for a bead, to stop the squeezy stopper thing (what are those called???) coming off the pull cord.

Apologies for the damp patch on the tea towel I've used to stop my white table adding glare to the photo.

For anyone who wants to make the toiletries bag here is the pattern:

Cast on 42 stitches (Handknit DK, appropriate sized needles).

Row 1: purl 2, knit 3; repeat this rib to the end

Row 2: purl

Repeat these two rows until 66 rows have been completed.

Row 67: purl 2, knit 2 tog, yarn over, knit one; repeat this to the end

Row 68: purl

Row 69 - 74: as row 1

Row 75 cast-off: knit 1, cast on 2, (knit 1, cast-off 1) 3 times; repeat to end until all stitches have been cast-off

I'm now at the heel of my 2nd purple beady sock. Then I'm not sure what to knit. Cucumberpatch has a sale on at the moment of some good Rowan wool (colours, obviously, a bit unique) and I was tempted to knit this in deep pink:

but I still don't have the attention span to knit a big project. So I might instead just carry on doing little stuff. (As I've said before, I thoroughly recommend buying from cucumberpatch. Stuff is dispatched very quickly and the order is always correct.)

My little kitty isn't pregnant after all but seems to be on heat again. Poor wee thing. Not quite as bad as last time. She's coming home more frequently and isn't always covered in mud and looking tatty! Will definitely take her to the vet to get spayed once she's recovered from this episode.

A final look at my lovely drawstring bag:

Dead Uncles

Yesterday when speaking to my dad on the phone he told me that my uncle Jimmy (my mother's sister's husband) had died suddenly. It had come as a complete shock to everyone. However it transpired my uncle Jimmy had known for some time that he had something (my dad didn't know what) inside him that could burst any time and kill him. He'd chosen not to share this with his wife or children because my aunt was also ill and he didn't want to worry her.

I didn't know my uncle Jimmy very well. My mother comes from a large, extended family and most of them stayed in Dumfries, got married, and had large, extended families themselves.

What struck me, when I heard the news that he'd died, was how awful it must've been for him to have lived with that knowledge and not shared it with anyone. To have not had the support of the people who loved him. What a dreadfully lonely burden that must've been.

The Ginger Princess, and Beautiful Blue

I know I said I had gone off knitting but I saw the new range of colours in John Lewis on Saturday and fell in love with this blue Rowan Handknit DK. It's so gorgeous and I've been needing a toiletries bag for ages so decided to make one. The colour is slightly deeper than the photo shows. I'll knit two sides, do a picot edging at the top, sew them together and then line it with either waterproof or cotton lining, depending on whether I can find waterproof lining anywhere! I'll also make some little holes near the top so I can thread through some cord and get one of those little (I don't know what they're called) things to keep it bunched up. I'll buy one, photograph it and stick it on here.

I'm in my shed again today. This is just a quickie post before I get on with what I want to do today.

We bought a juicer at the weekend and have been juicing a ton of fruit every day since. It's SO great. My favourite is apple, pear and ginger but I also like orange juice a lot.

My little cat is showing no signs of being pregnant now. I'm still hopeful though. She can use her cat flap perfectly fine, but when we're around she likes to be butlered through. This is the Ginger Princess waiting for me to open the flap to let her in:
She's SO beautiful. What you can't see from the photograph, though, is the trail of blood along the bottom of the flap where she's dragged her mice into the house. She's such a cold, calculated killer, but SO cute!

Purple Beady Sock

Another day in the shed - I've had two days off and it's been SO nice to get up at a decent time (instead of six thirty) and have breakfast with my husband and cat, and prepare the house for the day, and then come into my shed with my laptop and loveheart teapot and coffee and all my bits and pieces and do Polly stuff.

I finished the purple sock in about half an hour. Knitting has really taken a back seat with me recently. Socks are about the only size of projects I can undertake at the moment. A larger item would have no progress made on it. Now I just have to knit the second sock...

Actually, it's been good to take a rest from all things knitted. I still love it but don't find it compulsive at the moment.

Anyway, it's the end of the day and time to return to the house.

I had further acupuncture done on Friday and so far am really feeling the benefit of it. I have another two sessions booked, then will have to see.

A side view:

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EDINBURGH!!

We went to Edinburgh on Thursday and returned today. We stayed with our friends Pete and Lynsey, and their sons, Nathan and Jason. Hagos had a meeting in Glasgow on the Saturday and I thought I may as well take the opportunity for a wee holiday.

I had hoped to visit Coco and Handknit but Pete and Lyns have moved from Bruntsfield so I only managed to view the shops wistfully on the way into town on the bus.

On Friday night we went out to dinner along with Rik, our other friend who now lives in Edinburgh with his girlfriend Jenny.

Above is Rik. He is also a live sound engineer, touring the world.

And this is Pete and Hagos. Also known as Fuselage.

I think we were all rather drunk by this point, looking at the faces! By far the prettiest was Lynsey:

It was SO nice to see everyone again, and to meet Jenny for the first time, and to spend time with Nathan who is obsessed with dinosaurs, superheroes and pooh, and Jason who smiled all the time.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Cake Massacre

I made a Valentine's Cake, based on Nigella Lawson's Easter Egg cake, for Katy who I work with. Instead of scattering the eggs willy nilly, a la Nigella, I formed them into the shape of a loveheart.

Katy made coffee for everyone at 10am, and asked the room if they thought it was too early to have chocolate cake.

A resounding NO, of course.

Everyone had a reasonably-sized piece, and ate half of it before unbuttoning their belts and exhaling loudly.

The ingredients are mainly CHOCOLATE, with eggs, sugar, butter and cream. No flour whatsoever, so it's very mousse-like.

I should have taken a photo of it, but it was devoured before I got my camera out.

I'm home alone tonight as my husband has gone to do a gig with his band in London. Meg has been following me around the house and sitting on me at every opportunity since I got back from town. She'd got very close to my husband recently. She doesn't like change!

I got an email today from Meg's previous owner, Wendy. Meg started acting strangely over a week ago and we finally figured out she was on heat. Wendy confirmed Meg has never been spayed because they wanted more ginger cats. I emailed back to say I'd drop off the kittens in nine weeks' time.

I'm off to bed at 9.30pm tonight as I really need to sleep. I'll read a bit of The Moonstone before I drop off. Until then I'm knitting more of my purple beady socks, and watching, what else, Pride and Prejudice (BBC version, of course).

Purple Beady Socks

I've started on my next pair of beady socks. Not sure if I'll keep them for presents or for myself. I'm impressed by how quickly they knit up. The photo is a little blurry but is truer to the colour than the photos I took using flash.

I'm in my shed again today (Monday is shed day - I have a desk and lamp and books and electric fire and my laptop). I had acupuncture done on Friday and I've slept so well the last three nights. I last had acupuncture done about 15 years ago, and that was just a taster session. I really liked it. When I was leaving the shop (had it done at Neals Yard in Norwich) my balance had been affected and I fell against a wooden stand holding a book but I didn't feel unbalanced. Kind of felt like I was on a ship.

Anyway, between sleeping well and being disturbed by my little cat during the night (we think she's on heat!) I overslept this morning and got into my shed late so I've had trouble getting going today. And now it's time for lunch :)

Hasta luego.

Isn't She Lovely...

I figured out how to use my camera on Macro and practised it on my little kitty. She's been very aloof the last couple of days. Before that she was affectionate and friendly. Yesterday afternoon she and my husband shared the couch for a little snooze:

I've decided to do less knitting and blog-reading and more of something else. I've become too obsessed with knitting and reading other people's blogs lately. I particularly like Scandinavian knitting blogs, whether there's an English translation or not. I've always been drawn to snow and Scandinavian/Icelandic landscapes. I miss Scotland very much for the mountains and hills and lochs. The Norfolk landscape does nothing for me at all. The churches are lovely but I dislike the flatness. I like relief and movement and splendour and perspective.

I have one half-finished jumper, the fiddlesome 'Gemma':

I'm knitting it in the purple and red in the photograph, as shown in an earlier post. I also have the wool to make this:

I've put my wool in the photo too. The main colour will be dark purple, the contrasting colour will be green. I KNOW THESE COLOURS TOGETHER MEAN I WILL BE KNITTING ANOTHER PURPLE AND GREEN JUMPER. I bought the wool for this ages ago. There's just no getting away from the fact that purple and green go really well when knitted together :)

I also have the wool for three pairs of socks. And I want to make my Tapestry design. So I shall still be knitting but intend structuring my time better so I get other stuff achieved too!

Saying that, I did, of course, purchase the new Rowan magazine on Saturday and I believe it is a return to form. The last couple of magazines have been bizarre. More to do with the styling than the actual designs, possibly. Layers upon layers, making it difficult to figure out what it was in the photo that had actually been knitted. I LOVE KNITTING AND I LOVE ROWAN:

Altruistic Socks

I decided to give my beady bed socks to my mother for her birthday on Saturday. I'm not sure whether she'll like them, I hope she does. I've wanted to knit her something for ages but she can't wear wool on her hands so I thought socks might be the thing! For some reason feet and legs always look stumpy when photographed with socks on. I thought this was the best shot, though you can't see the beads so well.

I did a very quick embroidery of 'MUM' on the sole in blue wool, which probably won't last very long as I did it AFTER I'd sewn up the sock so it was very difficult.

I also got her some notecards.













And wrapped them in blue tissue with pink love-heart ribbon.

Bedtime Reading

I was trying to read Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg but I mostly read in bed these days and the book was so dry and disconnected I got to page 50 and stopped. There was no great writing, characterisation, metaphors or insights.

I'm now reading The Moonstone, which gripped me straight away. I was in the mood for old-fashioned storytelling.

My all-time favourite bedtime book is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The bite-size chapters are perfect and the story is superb. My memory told me the story is set in Edinburgh but it's actually set in London. Wishful thinking. Perhaps I was influenced by the documentary I watched on Deacon Brodie, said to be the inspiration for the book. Deacon Brodie was a cabinet maker who led a respectable-sliding-into-dissolute life, making wax impressions of his customers' keys then stealing from them.

Me and My Monkey

This is me working on the second beady sock with my little monkey beside me.

Sometimes she loves me so much she sticks close by me and follows me around the house wherever I go.

A second after this photo was taken she sank her claws and teeth into me! She's been getting very handy with her paws lately, ever since the cat flap was fitted.

As you can see, part of my day was taken up with me curling my hair. It took an hour and I like the result. I'd really like to have a 40's hairstyle.

We went into town for lunch today, then went to John Lewis so I could look at the wool (of course). I bought two balls of discounted Rowan Handknit DK for £1! The colour is Mango (which is obviously why it was discounted) but I thought I'd make myself another pair of slippers as my white ones have large holes in the soles and I have to wear little socks with them now to stop my feet getting cold.

They also had some orangy-yellow Cotton Glace for sale for 50p a ball. This evening I looked through my Vintage Knits book and considered what I could make. I thought about the Glace Vest or the Glace Jumper from the twinset before I came to my senses and realised I don't want an orangy-yellow jumper or vest!

Monday in the Shed

I'm doing the dreaded Tax Return today - not mine, my husband's. I actually enjoy doing it once I get into it, it's more the thought of it that I hate. So I have to make sure I do nice things alongside, such as listening to Just A Minute or I'm Sorry I haven't A Clue or Open Book online. Today I sort out the receipts (a huge bagfull), next day I itemise them, the next I fill in the form.

The photo above is of two drink-making things I really like (this is another small, nice distraction!). The love heart tea pot and cup I got from a disused railway station in the small town where I live. They've turned the station into a cafe and shop where you can buy all kinds of weird stuff like marmalade, gift bags, wardrobes, toys, etc, but it's all homemade or made on the premises or curio-type stuff. I love the station. The chocolatiere I got from my friend Lynsey in Edinburgh for Christmas. There is a really cool chocolate shop in Edinburgh where Lynsey buys the best drinking chocolate from: http://www.cocochocolate.co.uk/ so she also gave me some of that.

I thought I may as well also upload this photo of some bootees I made a while ago. They're from the 50 Baby Bootees to Knit (or some such title), I think by Zoe Mellor? The wool is Rowan Polar, left over from my big cardigan. I made them between bigger projects while two friends were pregnant, and haven't got any further in deciding what to do with them. They're really soft and lovely and, I think, a great design. I love the buttons too.

Well, the receipts aren't sorting themselves, as I'd HOPED, so I guess I'd better do it :)

One Beady Bed Sock

One Beady Bed Sock complete!

I love it; the wool (RYC 4-ply cashsoft) is really soft and comfy and feels great. I love the beads too and it didn't take too long to make (one week of not really trying) so I'm very happy with it.

I find knitting and wool and colours so uplifting and relaxing and exciting. It's an antidote to anything horrible and reinforces all the good things in life.

We went out to an Indian restaurant in Norwich last night with my friend and her husband and had a really nice time. They're both from Newcastle so, obviously, they're lovely people.

I'm having another much-needed lazy day today. Will go to Sainsburys to get shopping and potter for the rest of the day.

Tapestry Design (by ME)

This is a drawing of a design I want to make using the Tapestry wool my secret santa gave me for Christmas (aka Vicky). I'm not so good at drawing, so the sleeves are disproportionate to the body.

The 'cross' parts of the design will be in moss stitch (possibly double moss stitch), the 'line' part will be rib (giving the Empire Line effect) and the 'plain' part will be stitch stitch. The bottom of the jumper will probably come down to the top of my thighs.

I don't want to start knitting it straight away as I want to finish my beady socks and my Alpaca socks first, but I'll probably begin it after that and have it for next winter.

As Vicky bought me two different colours of Tapestry I thought I'd choose the redder wool as the main colour and use the one ball of greener wool for the rib.


I also thought about designing something using different yarns and think Jen's design on her xtreme knitting blog looks gorgeous.

I'm also intending to buy a sewing machine imminently and want to make myself some summer skirts, pyjamas, bags etc. It's my Christmas present from my husband but with Christmas visiting and flu getting in the way we haven't had time to go shopping.

I also have to say CONGRATULATIONS to Vicky for finishing her hat. I helped her with the cast on and with the flaps but she did the rest herself. I wish I'd taken my camera into work yesterday to photograph the finished item but I didn't believe we'd get it finished (it took very little time). Will try to get a snap of her next week. She was really pleased as she has huge enthusiasm for starting projects but also the need to see results quickly so the hat was an ideal size of project (Big Wool, 15mm needles) and this has really encouraged her to carry on.

Alpacas Rool!

I couldn't resist this Alpaca wool when I saw it; there were other great colours, I liked them all and will probably buy more.

I've decided to knit socks in-the-round with them, once I've finished my red socks on two needles.

After finishing my two jumpers I want little projects to tide me over for a while.

I'm so happy it's Thursday because that means tomorrow is Friday and Friday is Bacon Roll Day, as well as being the last work day before three days off :) We get the bacon rolls delivered. It will probably be my last for a while as I need to get onto my no bread, low GI diet again.

I've also designed a great jumper I want to make using the Tapestry wool my Secret Santa got me. I'll draw a decent-ish picture and post to let you see what it's like but it has an Empire Line and is quite Jane Austen-esque.

Today I sat with Vicky while she knitted her hat (the same as my Big Wool hat). She's knitting hers in two tone pink. I started her off as she hasn't done too much knitting, did the increases for her, then left her to do the st st. We're hoping to get it finished tomorrow.

And tomorrow night is Quake night!

Beady Bed Socks

I'm knitting Beady Bed Socks from the Rowan Home book. Except I'm making them shorter than the recipe suggests because Anna made them to the book's specifications and the rib isn't wide enough to pull up the length of your leg. I cast on really loosely too and it just comes above my ankle so I shall knit SHORT socks, which is fine. I'm using a gorgeous red, RYC Cashsoft yarn.

I wanted to make little socks for my friend Nathan but I'll have to check out the pattern I have. I have a reindeer motif that is cute and a tradition with my Godson.


We are also drinking Glenmorangie, to remind us of home and to see in the New Year! We bought a measure yesterday in John Lewis.

We watched White Christmas yesterday, which we usually watch on our anniversary but we were busy this year. It's one of my favourite movies (my favourite is It's a Wonderful Life).

Then today we played our friend Pete at Quake, an online fighting game. I haven't played for ages, neither has Pete but it was so much fun.

Two New Jumpers!

I thought it was about time I actually showed some knitting on here. This is my 3rd TV jumper, which I'm very pleased with. I sewed it up on the way to Scotland and was able to wear it on Christmas Day.

When I finished knitting it I vowed never to knit another TV jumper again. It was supposed to be something to knit while watching TV but I became obsessed with finishing it and because it's 4-ply it took AGES. I'd love to have a ginger and midnight blue TV jumper but maybe I'll wait a year before beginning it.


Of course, this is the main reason I'd like a ginger jumper - to remind me of my little sweetie cat. This is her new favourite position to sleep, beside the storage heater!

Meg and I are home alone today. Usually I go into town with my husband on a Saturday to have lunch but I've had a horrible cold since we got back from Scotland. So husband has gone into town by himself to spend his Christmas vouchers (I have a voucher for John Lewis that I'm very keen to spend). I feel a bit grumpy about having another cold (third one in four months) but there's nothing I can do about it.



This is my plaid jumper. Difficult to photograph, mostly because I'm grumpy, I think. I wasn't sure about it after I'd finished it, then went on to wear it for about four days. Now I really like it, though the batwings take a bit of getting used to. I like the wool (discontinued, but at a bargain price on cucumberpatch) and may buy more of it in a different colour either for another jumper (more conventional shape) or to make a copy of a skirt I saw in a Saturday supplement last weekend. It was a knitted, longish A-line skirt with two square pockets on the front. I think if I knitted it up on smaller needles it would work.


Some random shots.

Okay, I'm feeling quite rough now so will stop here. Just one more thing before I go. I used to do a lot of beading about ten years ago, inspired by my friend, Kerstin. I haven't done much since knitting took over but while in the sewing shop the other day I saw some polished shell and Japanese square beads that I bought and made into a necklace as part of my sister's Christmas present:

Works Christmas Outing

We went skating last night for our works Christmas outing, then went to Pizza Express and drank much wine. Skating was great fun. There was much talk beforehand of falling over and having to eat pizza with wet trousers but we all managed to stay upright and no one had to eat with wet pants.

Vicky (she's on the left, I'm on the right) turned up wearing red high heels, cream denier tights, and a pencil skirt. She suffered our derision with good humour (she's like Tigger in Winnie-the-Pooh - irrepressibly bouncy and optimistic) until she took to the ice and we discovered she shares 99% of her genes with Jane Torvill.

I was lucky enough to have her as my Secret Santa and she had bought me two balls of Tapestry, which I was VERY pleased about, and she was kind enough to point out they were different colours.

Final photo, as it's so good. Anna (far right) is another knitter and also sews (she made my patchwork knitting needle case earlier in the year). Joyce took the photos, having decided at the last minute NOT to skate after talking all of us into it in the first place.

Knitting news: I've finished my Plaid jumper, will post photos soon. I wasn't sure of the batman shape initially but wore it into town then didn't take it off for four days. It's really cosy. I love the Plaid wool. I've also almost finished my 3rd TV jumper, just have to sew it up. I'm hoping to take it with me to Scotland for Christmas.

HAPPY CHISTMAS!!!