Scouring longwool

I spent most of yesterday (on and off) attempting to scour part of the Wensleydale fleece that Ro and I bought at Woolfest last year. It's been languishing in a plastic sheep feed sack (no not feed for plastic sheep; don't be smart) in Ro's garage. But I asked her to bring it to the match last weekend so I could have a go at scouring a longwool fleece.

You can see how it looked when I pulled it out of it's sack. I've seen cleaner fleeces but I would imagine it's pretty tricky keeping these babies clean with hair in lovely long ringlets. It's pretty greasy too; more so I'd think than the other fleeces I've processed at home. I decided to try the technique that the Yarn Harlot detailed on her blog here.


I won't go into a great deal of detail here as she does it so much better but it involves a roasting tin and the hob of the cooker and BIG LOTS OF WATER!

It wasn't an unqualifed success. As you can see there's still a quantity of crud left on the tips in places, but the bits that did come clean are absolutely gorgeous.

This is a close up of the butt ends; which did come clean. It's like angels hair and positively gleams in the light.

Here's a few locks that I combed out. I've subsequently read about another technique for scouring fleeces to maintain the structure of the locks on Spinning Spider Jenny's blog. So I may give that a try next time. Whichever method I use I reckon I need to spend more time teasing out the tips than I did this time.

Hurrah, back online!!

So I've been without t'internet from Monday to Friday (bet nobody even noticed) and I still don't know why. At first I thought it was my service provider but Thursday evening I replaced the new router with the old modem and all was well. Put the router back and nada again. It wasn't the wireless that was the problem as I tried the PC (which the router is plugged in to) as well as the laptop and still nothing. Friday morning I tried it again and BINGO, all was well again.

Sometimes I hate technology.

Have to say that I miss the Internet when it's not there. I'm on a couple of message boards and like to think that my rude comments (must learn to control my more acerbic inclinations) are appreciated by some if not all the contributors. Have had to spend the week being rude to real people instead!

On the fibre front I continue to spin, and spin, and spin, (and card a bit) and spin. Sunday I may do some more plying having spun three more bobbins worth. At least it makes me feel as if I'm doing something productive whilst I'm watching the TV; and I MAY be improving slightly I suppose. I just hope that I'm keeping it fairly consistent with the first batch. I know you're supposed to card the whole lot, then spin the whole lot, then ply the first with the last etc etc etc but No one really does that do they? At least I haven't started knitting yet (though tempted).

The "Left Over Blankie"

My new knitting project is a long term one. It's designed to use up those irritating little bits and pieces that are left over after completing something or that you have after trying new spinning techniques. It's the knitting equivalent of those meals that are designed to empty the detritus out of the fridge (but it will probably taste better!)

I decided that a colour theme would make it more coherent than just using whatever comes to hand; so this one will be predominantly blue. I seem to have quite a lot of left over blue. I'm knitting strips about five inches wide, changing shade when the particular yarn runs out. The strips are about three feet long. When I have enough of them I'll arrange them and sew them together. If it's not wide enough I'll knit a border. It's going to take a while; I have a few left overs but not enough for a complete blanket. There's a member of the KCG on Ravelry who's offering yarn to KCG members in an effort to destash. I haven't worked out if it's a personal destash or the KCG yarn mountain that she's trying to reduce. I had to resist the temptation to contact her and ask for odd bits of blue DK for the blankie. The idea is to use up my own leftovers not attract more into the house.

Those of you with VERY sharp eyesight may notice that the strip of knitting in the picture is being held on a stitch holder from a set of Denise interchangeable needles. This set (the pink Breast Cancer awareness set) was a Christmas pressie from my little sis; Ro. They're grrrrreat!

Having said that I could do with a new blanket. I thought I was going to freeze on Tuesday night; the duvet that I use in the truck isn't really thick enough for this cold weather. I have a night heater in the cab but I don't like to leave it on overnight. I was okay when I went to sleep but I woke up about 2-00am and had trouble getting warm again despite piling on more clothes.

The spinning is continuing slowly. I need to work out what I'm going to make with the yarn, then I'll have some idea how much I need. I don't think three skeins will cut the mustard as far as anything worthwhile is concerned. I quite fancy the idea of a big chunky cardigan or jacket of some sort. Time to start trawling through the patterns on Ravelry for a few ideas.

I've had a quick look and I'm quite keen on this, though I'd make it longer than in this illustration. I love the collar though. It's called "Kyra" and is a free Berroco pattern.

Spinning

Has been what I've been mostly doing this week, textilewise. Following a great deal of useful feedback from a query I made on one of the Ravelry forums I screwed cuphooks into the base of both my lazy kates and fed a length of string with an elastic band on the end round the base of the bobbins to give some tension when plying. It DID work, but it took a while to get the tension correct; particularly as I was plying from two Kates with two bobbins on each.






The other problem I had was that the singles seemed to get caught up in themselves somethimes and would snap, or the Kate would move. At first I thought this was because the tension was too strong, but I think it may have something to do with the way I'm filling the bobbins as I'm spinning. If I lose track of what I'm doing and get a large build up of yarn in one place rather than moving along the hooks regularly it affects the way that the yarn reels off the bobbin when plying which in turn has an effect on the tension when plying. I guess it's all trial and error. I spent a fair amount of time swearing, a fair amount of time rejoining the singles where one of them had snapped and most of the time sort of lying treadling with my right leg with my left leg splayed out in an attempt to hold (two) Kates still with the toes of my left foot. It was quite uncomfortable; but I've ended up with three skeins of three ply (plus a ply of the shiny stuff). I soaked it overnight and have hung it up to dry and am quite pleased with the finished result though I guess it could be more even. Still got a lot more to do if I'm going to have enough for a garment.







I think that part of the problem is that in using two lazy kates rather than one the tension isn't even across the four bobbins. I also think that because they are quite light they move about too easily. I may have to go back to the drawing board and either make or buy something that's more effective. In the meantime I'll soldier on.

TuttleyMuttley has tagged me for a meme but I think I may have already done it; or one very similar. I thought it would be interesting to see if anything had changed in the last two years. Then (scroll down to feb 3rd post) and now:

4 jobs I have held:
Barmaid/waitress
Housing Officer
Truck driver
Shop assistant

4 movies I like:
Fargo
Guys and dolls
Singin' in the rain
Went the day well?

4 Places I've been:
Moreton Underhill
West Malvern
Chipping Sodbury
Bourton on the Water

4 places I have lived:
Coventry
Clifton Upon Dunsmore
Sunderland
Huddersfield

4 TV shows/programs I watch:
Life in Cold Blood
The twenties in colour-The Wonderful world of Albert Kahn
The West Wing
Neighbours (Susan Kinski has some fabulous knitwear!)

4 Radio-shows I listen to:
Today Programme
The Archers
The Now show / Newsquiz whichever is on on Friday night at 6-30
The food programme

4 favorite foods:
Bread
Cheese
Roast dinner
chocolate ice cream

4 places I'd rather be:
In bed
welford Road
Somewhere a bit warmer (but not HOT!)
On the road somewhere nice on a nice day

A very English obsession

It's reckoned that the English are obsessed with the weather and are incapable of holding a conversation that doesn't include reference to it. I'm going to reinforce that idea by once again beginning my post with reference to it. Sorry!

My luck held this week and after last weekend's sighting the snow had disappeared by the following day. On Tuesday morning as I drove down the M6 and M5 it was very windy and wet but by the time I got to my first drop it was beginning to clear up a bit and I hardly got wet at all as I unloaded my deliveries during the day. Wednesday was absolutely beautiful again and my spirits rose as I drove up to Evesham, across to Mickleton and back to Ledbury and Colwall. Gloucestershire and Worcestershire are lovely counties and driving round them cheers me up no end. Beats working in the warehouse where the sun doesn't shine (no windows of course); though I couldn't manage a full week of uloading and early mornings. It was a long run this week; fifteen hours on Tuesday and another twelve on Wednesday. I'm ready for my long weekend now!


On the fabric front I spent last weekend (when I wasn't wincing at the implosion of the England rugby team) spinning.

Some time ago I spun up a bobbin full of the Manx Loghtan I bought at Woolfest last year. Since then it's been sitting there looking reproachful and waiting for me to get on with the remainder of it. Last weekend I dragged the Orkney out and spun another 100g of it into singles. I then plied three singles together with some stuff I bought at Texere Yarns when I took Ro there. It's a metalic gold thread on a brown binder which has blended in with the loghtan really nicely, giving a very subtle sparkly effect. Unfortunately coping with plying four separate singles proved too much for me and I only managed a very small amount before I got HORRIBLY tangled up!!! I've finished the sample I did and it's lovely and soft and SQUOOSHY so I just need to work out how to ply the damned stuff (oh yea and spin up some more!). I'm thinking that a tensioned lazy kate may be the answer and I've had some great advice from the Spinning group on Ravelry about how to sort that out. I'm hopeful that I may get this to work. Wish me luck.

Visitor in the night.

Well it's finally arrived. I looked out of the window this morning and there it was. It wasn't there last night when I went to bed, I'm pretty sure of that.

SNOW!!!!

It's typical that it snowed the day after my niece flew back to Wellington (NZ) from the UK. She always seems to miss it! (Sorry Jenn!!!).

Now I'm not much of a big fan of weather as my job forces me to be out in it. Hearing stories of trucks blown over on the M6 last week couldn't help but put the wind up me (no pun intended). But a judicious smattering of snow on a weekend I can handle; as long as it's gone by the time I set out on Tuesday and it isn't replaced by anything worse!

I'm aware that to those of you in the States and Canada and various other parts of the world what we have barely counts as snowfall, but I guess it's all relative. I've been watching a series thats just started on channel5 called "Ice Road Truckers" and nothing on earth would induce me to do THAT however well paid it is! I'm just a wuss when it comes to weather, and not ashamed to admit it.

I've been doing exciting things with my new laptop again. Yesterday I connected it to my TV and watched "The Wonderful World Of Albert Kahn" over the BBC iplayer, but on my TV screen. I need to get the sound sorted out as that's still coming through the laptop speakers but I think I have the hardware to do that lying around somewhere. I'm so chuffed that it's working.

I also spent money yesterday on knitty things. Not a huge expenditure though; from the Oxfam shop I bought Patricia Roberts' "Variations" (sans dust jacket) and from the Kirkwood Hospice Shop the "Traditional Sweater Book". The pair of them for under a fiver! They will be added to my collection of books that I look at pictures in but never use. In actual fact some of the patterns in the Patricia Roberts book are quite nice once you get past the intarsia decoration. I like the two jumpers on the page in the photo above (I'd give the leggings a miss nowadays though I'm told they're fashionable again!!!). There are some beautiful ganseys in the other book and a lovely shetland shawl pattern too. I may even try Fair Isle one day; though it doesn't do anything for me yet. Never say never!

I've also completed another pair of socks. Bog standard free Opal pattern on 2.25mm circulars in Opal undyed which I dyed myself. The colour is a bit insistent so it's ideal for socks as I won't see much of them. They're looking a bit flobby as I wore them before I took the picture.

I fancy starting something a bit more challenging but I'm not sure what yet. I bought some yarn from Texere before Christmas to make the "Brushed Lace Cardigan" from the Winter issue of IK but I fear it may be bit too hairy for the lace pattern. The dark gray is what I bought and the bluey gray is from the stash. I was going to do just one or two repeats of the lighter colour rater than the number of stripes in the original. Any suggestions welcome.

A wet week

But luckily I was mainly unaffected by it. Despite torrential rain in West Yorkshire on Monday and widespread flooding about the area, my house (on top of a hill) remained mostly watertight. I say mostly as my roof has leaked slightly where the waterproofing in the gully along the bottom has deteriorated. But this has been sorted now so (fingers crossed) it should stop now. And I MUST remember to get it redone every now and again rather than waiting for it to leak again!!!

Many people were less lucky and some people in Armitage Bridge; the village at the bottom of the hill had the River Holme through their houses. In Calderdale where many of my work colleagues live the situation was similar with many getting calls from neighbours telling them that the water was lapping up against front doors. The situation wasn't improved by someone having reversed an articulated lorry INTO the river.

By two thirty am when I left the house on Tuesday morning the rain had stopped and there was a coating of frost on the windows of the car (inside as well as out). Bit too much weather for my taste! Despite all this the roads were okay and my run went quite smoothly. I was diverted in Upton-on-Severn (clue's in the name Rachel) where a road was underwater but apart from tat no problems. As promised I took some pictures of the flooding round Worcester, but they're not brilliant.

I was able to spread a little knitterly wisdom on Tuesday. A shop assistants at one of my customers is a knitter and was talking about knitted bikinis, so I told her about the knitted knickers I saw at Woolfest. She was intrigued; both by the knickers and by Woolfest which was entirely new to her. I told her there was a similar thing in Wales (Wonderwool) and went on to tell her about Get Knitted which despite living in Bristol she didn't know about!!! She's quite young and fashionable so it's nice that she's enthusiastic. Another one in the eye for the people who think knitting is confined to grandmotherly types in rocking chairs.

I'm sort of mentoring a new knitter at work as well. She's only very recently started but is very keen and I was able to tell her about Coldspring Mill's wool cellar. She went there last weekend and got some stuff for a scarf. She's bringing it to the co-op general meeting this evening for me to cast an eye over and a spot of KIPing. I'm taking my latest sock!

Lastly I was talking to a male colleague at work yesterday and Penelope Cruz came up. I said that whilst not generally being particularly interested in Hollywood stars I was a little envious of her as I consider her to be particularly attractive. "Bet she can't knit though!" was his response. (I know she probably can, but I appreciated the thought anyway! And I bet she can't drive a truck!!!)

blogging in bed (new laptop). Excellent!!!

Action Packed Weekend

Sorry chicks, no pictures again. I really must get the old camera out and take some, but the light is so bloody awful. Mind you having said that I really wished that I'd had it with me last Wednesday morning as I drove from Inkberrow to Leigh; a distance of no more than twenty miles. I made the mistake of doing it between eight and half nine in the morning and that's about how long it took. It was an absolutely beautiful morning though, clear and clean; probably because of the torrential rain of the previous night. I'd have loved to be able to post pictures of the floods around Worcester, I had plenty of time as I sat stationary in the rush hour traffic to take any number of pictures, but alas I'd neglected to pack my camera. I'll try to remember to take it with me in future.

The weekend has been action packed as I splashed out and bought myself a laptop and a wireless router on Friday and have spent the best part of Friday and Sunday setting the damn thing up. Still it's done now, security all sorted out after a (second) trip to PC World in order to ensure that I had the right end of the stick re: how to protect my network from unwanted intruders. And I've just finished rearranging the living room so that there's a table (with a handy socket) for it to live on when I'm not carting it around. Why is it that when you move stuff around you're always left with a load of junk that you can't find a home for? This is currently in a pile in the middle of the living room. And there's a chair in front of the TV. No, it's RIGHT in front of the TV.

So now I will be able to listen to the Tigers' away games in the comfort of my living room instead of upstairs in the computer room (chilly) and I can watch TV progs that I've missed when out driving (I bought a cable to link the laptop to the TV as well so that I can view stuff again on a decent sized screen). Don't really know that it's enough to justify the expense but I know that I'll use it; I'll probably just be like Ro though and never use the PC again!!!

ha, gotta photo. Over Christmas I Knitted the "Lighthouse Gansey Socks" from Knitty for my neice from New Zealand. Just checked up on my email and Ro has sent me a picture of them being modelled by Jenn.

Another of them being modelled by jenn and a ferret (Ron). They said in Ikea that they're weasles but I've seen a weasel and they're far smaller than that.

I've also found a picture of "My so called scarf" by Sheep in the city, which I knitted for big sis (Jenns mum) recently returned from the land of the long white cloud.

Now I feel bad!

I've just been reading a discussion on Ravelry and one of the things that came up was how much the poster hates it when a blogger just drops off the scene. In particular she says ones that are part of a web ring so you're happily trolling along and you come across a blog that was last updated in June 2006. Well it's not quite that long since I updated but it's going that way and I appologise to anyone who feels that way about my blog.

I was seriously considering folding it up and taking it away as I seemed to have lost the will to update and I'm not sure why. I have a feeling that people are now spending time on Ravelry that they once spent reading and writing their blogs. I'm sure that I am. This is a bit sad because Ravelry is still an invitation only site so a lot of people are probably getting left out.

A very merry one!

Happy Christmas one and all.

No I'm not drunk, just trying to look a little animated whilst I model the hat I've knitted myself. I wore it round the warehouse yesterday with a safety pin holding the end, then frogged half of it last night to improve the shaping and now I'm happy with it. Folk at work said it needs a pom pom, but I'm just not a pom pom kinda girl, so that's it, finished!

(An' I warn you Ro, I'm going to be wearing it at the London Irish game after Christmas!!) Ho Ho Ho!!!

Bag stuff

Well I finished knitting the bag (did I mention the bag? I can't remember) and I'm disappointed in how little it has felted (though not particularly surprised!). However there is an up side to it in that the straps stretched out all skinny and were neither use nor ornament and I was able to frog them.

I've washed the yarn and hung it up to dry and I'm going to re knit it into straps held together with the Adriafil Graphic from stash that I used round the top. I'm very pleased with the colour match between the two. The Graphic has more wool and has felted better so should make the straps more sturdy. I'll keep you posted.

The second bit of excitement is that I've had a very nice chap round this morning looking at my hedge (see picture). This picture is taken from my back bedroom window where the computer lives and as you can see, it's a bit out of hand.

Every year I get a snotty letter from the council telling me off because it's encroaching on the pavement, but I'm more concerned about the height of it. Anyhoo this chap is going to cut and lay it for me which is a technique used on agricultural hedges in order to make them stockproof. It involves partially cutting through the main trunk of the plant and bending it down so it's laying at an angle which encourages new shoots to form from low down making the hedge bushier at the bottom.

There's rather more to it than that, but that's basically how it works. Anyone interested can get more info here.

Woooooo Hoooooo!! Holiday time!

Well, off work anyhoo. I'm not doing anything as dramatic as going away (haven't planned it anyway). In fact I've only just got back from Ro's for the weekend.

I decided to take the scenic route home. We went into Fosse Park yesterday and I bought two knitting magazines; "Simply Knitting" and "Knitting". I had to buy them both because I couldn't decide which one to get!! It does irritate me a bit that they have them done up in plastic bags so that you can't see what you're getting for your money until you've shelled out!

Anyway I wasn't expecting too much; buying UK knitting magazines is SUCH a triumph of optimism over experience, but there were a couple of things that I may knit so I wasn't too disappointed. I think the thing that bothers me most about them isn't necessarily the patterns which DO seem to have improved a bit, but the desperately condescending way that they're written.

"Interweave Knits" is a grown up magazine for grown up people who are interested in knitting. If they have an article about a knitting related topic it's properly researched and written, but the articles in both the above magazines seem to be simply there as padding. They don't appear to want to challenge the reader in any way, as if what they're writing about it beyond our fluffy little brains. As an example, an article on podcasts included the line "Don't be put off by the odd name, or the fact that you may have to get your computer to do something new for you." Heavens to Betsy, we aren't bloody five year olds. I know that not everyone is familiar with technology but it would be good if they could assume a certain level of intelligence in their readership.

Anyway I'm rambling somewhat. The point is that I was looking at the adverts in the back and decided to take the scenic route back up to Huddersfield and take in a new yarn shop (purely in the interests of research you understand). So I set off for New Ollerton near Sherwood Forest. (No I'd never heard of it either).

On the way I saw a number of signs to Melton Mowbray and recalling that there was a fairly new yarn store (as well as a famous pork pie shop!) there I decided to take a detour. I made this decision AFTER passing the turning to Melton Mowbray, so I just took the next turning instead. Ten minutes later I was in a village with no idea where I was. But that's okay, gotta map book and with a map book you're never lost (honest Dee, it's true!) you may not know where you are, but you're not lost.

The shop in Melton is called Purl (2, Bowley Court, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE13 1XY
Tel: 01664 566347. no web site) and it seems a nice shop. Good selection of yarns there, some more unusual ones including the Araucania range, as well as the more obvious Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Sirdar etc. and the people seemed friendly though both were busy when I went in. I managed to resist the temptation to buy anything and continued on my way. Have to admit that I took in the famous pork pie shop too.

I was surprised to meet a colleague driving a SUMA truck coming the other way whilst zooming up the A46, though I suspect not half as surprised as she was to see me. We waved! I got to New Ollerton and found Heath's Country Store without too much trouble. My gosh, what a surprise. In addition to yarn they have a quilting section in the shop, but it doesn't matter because despite not looking large from the front it goes back miles so there's plenty of room for both. They had some absolutely gorgeous yarns as well as loads of LOVELY felted bags and examples of the various yarns knitted up into garments. They had the most amazing selection of buttons for sale and I seriously want to move to New Ollerton despite the fact that apart from this shop it looks like a complete hole in the ground (sorry if anyone who loves the place is reading this).

This shop is well worth a visit! Even if you have to go out of your way to do so (and believe me you will have to). I managed to escape quite lightly only buying three balls of Sirdar Peru; a wool/ acrylic/ alpaca blend which I'm told will felt nicely. My only criticism is that they sell smelly stuff too, like incense etc. which I'm not keen on and the place pongs a bit, but I realise most people look on this as a good thing rather than a bad.

Complete!

Heart sachet. I actually finished the knitting last weekend but didn't stuff it and sew it up until last night. I'm not mad keen on the colour! Technical details can be found here (possibly). Please can someone let me know if the link doesn't work .

Luckily we sell dried lavender as mine in the garden is way past it and would be no use to anyone. Unfortunately we sell it in 500g bags so I have quite a bit left.

Anyone want to score some lavender?

I may be making lavender bags for some time yet!

I have all of next week off work (hurrah!!), but haven't decided what to do with the time yet. depends a lot on the weather. If it rains it may be inside (even in bed) stuff all week. If it's fine I may venture out. We shall see.

Last week end I made my christmas cake, dosed it liberally with brandy and put it into hibernation for a month or two. I love christmas cake.

(Crumbs I just remembered I bought some little onions last weekend too for pickling, best get on with that too!)

I'm sure that I'll find plenty to get on with.

ps I've just been reminded from reading Tutleymutley's blog that I was astounded to realise as a result of a discussion on Ravelry about copyright that a book I bought for £1.99 at the Oxfam shop is selling for £60.00 second hand on Amazon. Amazing!

who would have thought

That such a small project would be such a pain in the bum?

This is the heart sachet from Knitting Daily. It measures about three inches by three inches and I thought it would be a nice little project to get on with as a bit of a potboiler.

Ha!

I've not done domino knitting before (though I have done mitred squares) but it didn't look too complicated. Of course I have to admit that it can help, particularly if you're trying a new technique to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! And I may have had a warning when I read that someone had started it with the yarn and needles recommended but given it up and re started with larger needles and thicker yarn.

But no, I just jumped in. I have now frogged it at least twice and tinked back a number of times and I may just be on the home straight. I took it to the co-op meeting last night and it kept me entertained (knit, knit, knit, tink, tink, tink!).

Only four more squares to go!

I've also been (not) spinning some of the Manx Loaghtan fleece. I weighed it out in 100g lots with measured amounts of commercially dyed merino, and I've blended one lot on the carder. I've even spun nearly a bobbin full but then I came to a full stop! Haven't had the wheel out for a while now and it's sitting looking reproachful.

Maybe later today!

I just want to make it clear that the picture is the one that appears in Knitting Daily with the pattern, not my sad effort!

Still here

No, not here as in my truck outside this Hotel in Bourton on the Water, here as in still alive.

You may have thought that I'd disappeared but no, I'm still here. having a hard time finding things to blog about as mostly I've been doing stuff in my head rather than in real life. So, no knitting to show I'm afraid.

I did go to Sileby for my bra making workshop last Friday though so I have one finished object to show.


Okay before everyone runs screaming from the room I'm NOT wearing it. I realise that there are sites that cater to people who like to look at that sort of thing (fat birds in bras) but rest assured gentle reader, this is not one of them. So here's my first home (well nearly) made bra. It aint fancy but it FITS!!! AND it looks like a bra too. Some of the stitchings a tad wonky but considering how long it is since I last used my sewing machine I think that I (and it) did a pretty good job. Now I'm well keen to make some more.

What do you think of the fabric that I've pictured it on? It's a vest top which I bought when I was a good deal thinner than I am now, so alas it no longer fits. Certainly enough fabric in it to make a bra though (but not matching knickers). I'm looking at stretch fabric from a whole new perspective nowadays.


Isn't life fun!?

Completed socks

Last weekend I went down to Ro's. I travelled on the Friday as I was going to have my fitting for my bra making class in Leicester. Michelle, the woman who is taking the class was very nice and turned out to be a Tigers fan too, so as well as the fitting we had a bit of a chat about rugby. We were both looking forward to the Tigers' first home game of the season the following day (in which they beat Baaaaath which is always nice!!).

I finished my socks on Monday and wore them for my run this week. I was a bit unimpressed with the finished result at first as I thought the Trekking XXL was a bit harsh feeling at first, but I have to say that they were very comfortable to wear. They should stand up to some work too, which is good. I'm sure angora socks are fine and dandy but I wouldn't think they'd be up to wearing in big steel toe capped boots on a regular basis.

Got this picture on Wednesday morning in Bourton on the Water when I rolled out of the truck. I'm not sure how well I've captured the light which looked amazing on the leaves of the trees against the dark of the sky. My run was quite busy this week and I didn't get back to the yard until gone seven o'clock on Wednesday night. I was pretty tired! Glad I have Fridays off, particularly this week as I'm going in on Saturday for the stock take.

On Sunday last weekend we went to an open day at Claybrooke Mill, one of the oldest working water mills in Leicestershire. I took the opportunity to do a little sales pitch to one of the stallholders there on behalf of SUMA and took his business card to pass on to our "new sales prospects" team. I also bought some raffle tickets for the Air Ambulance. Imagine my delight when I got a call on my mobile on Tuesday to tell me that I'd won eighth prize; a meal for two at the Ullesthorpe Court Hotel. I thought that for an eighth prize it was pretty good. Dunno quite when I'll get round to using it, but I'm sure I will. I sent Ro to collect the tickets as I'm not down there for another week or so and I didn't want them to think I didn't want it. Suppose I'll have to take her with me as she has custody of the tickets!!!

I'm off to do some carding now. I bought myself a set of digital scales this morning as I want to do some blending and I want to get the quantities right.

So much going on

So I'm going to start with a gratuitous kitty shot. These three are a mother and two of her (three) kittens who appeared at work earlier this year. We think that the mother was a kitten here last year and she's been living wild about the place. When her kittens were old enough she brought them out into the open where we sit out and have lunch when the weather is good.

They've got themself a nice little nest next to the pond and they sit and sun themselves. Mum was captured earlier when the kittens were big enough to look after themselves and taken to the vet to be spayed. The other kitten has been captured and taken to live with one of the SUMA workers and the other two are going in a few days time to live with another. Mum is still looking for a home. I'm sorely tempted but being away one night a week plus regular weekends makes it impractical.

I've started a new pair of socks which were cast on on Tuesday morning when my truck made a horrible noise and gave off copious amounts of smoke as I drove into Cheltenham. I got a fair bit done whilst I waited at the garage for them to find out what was wrong (they couldn't). Luckily it still seemed to be running so I carried on with my run and there were no further incidents. Garage thought there may be some sort of blockage in the fuel system.

Talking of socks I have to show you how Nick has been getting on with hers. It's a bit difficult to see from this picture but after my showing her how to knit, purl and SSK (and why you SSK in some places and K2tog in others) she proceeded to finish the heel flap, turn the heel, pick up the stitches up one side and down the other and start decreasing round the gusset all by herself! I'm well impressed, she's obviously a "Natural Born Knitter". I told her she should get a T shirt with that printed on it but she said she didn't think people would be impressed. I told her that Muggles may not be, but the people that mattered most certainly would!

Last item on Show and Tell is this yarn gauge that I made for myself last weekend. It's the second one I've made as I gave one to Ro a while ago but forgot to take a picture of it first. It's very tactile.

Finished

Phew, what a process that turned out to be. Thanks to you all for your feedback on the choice of buttons. The majority went for the buttons on the right hand side, and they were my choice too. Unfortunately Cris was right (typical bloody man) and they were too small.

Soooooo, this morning I went into town to have another look in the charity shop and failing that to go to the shop in the Queensgate Market that sells such things. It's called the Sewing Box and they have a good selection of buttons amongst other sewing stuff.

And these are the ones that I chose in the end. Lovely.

Here's a picture of the finished cardigan on me.

And here's one of it on the floor. I think it suits me better than the floor, but I couldn't get a particularly good picture.

I took it in to work yesterday and nearly lost it to a colleague who tried to run off with it. Luckily I managed to catch her and wrestle her to the ground before she escaped.

In reply to some of the questions on my previous post; it wasn't difficult to knit with hand spun, it was quite nice wool to knit with (she said modestly) I'll put that down to the sheep rather than me though. I plied three singles together as I'd read that this creates a better yarn for knitting and it came out at about 12 WPI.

I found a link to the pattern on Abby Franquemont's blog Abby's Yarns though there are a couple of other people on Ravelry that are knitting it. I knitted the medium size and just had enough of the light coloured wool to complete it, to the extent of missing the last two rows at the neckline and breaking off the tails of yarn under the arms to complete the last row!!! I have nearly a whole ball of the dark grey left though. It's a tiny bit tight on my butch truckers arms but apart from that I'm happy with the fit. The only adaptation to the pattern that I made was that when cabling I cabled to front on one side and to the back on the other which the pattern didn't specify. This was probably a tad anal of me.

I got a text from a friend yesterday telling me a balloon with 90 on it had landed in his garden and it had come all the way from Formby.

I was quite excited at this being a big fan of balloons, in fact I took a picture of this one that had just taken off in Bourton on the Water when I parked the truck up on Tuesday night. Imagine my disappointment when he revealed that it was only a party balloon that had landed! He said that the old boy who'd released it was quite excited when he rang him to tell him where it had landed though.

I had quite an exciting run this week as I met the Tour of Britain going over the Malvern hills on Wednesday. Unfortunately going through the Wyche Cutting I met an Eddie Stobart truck with a trailer on the back coming in the other direction just as the race had passed and floods of spectators were attempting to get back to their cars. I managed not to run over any spectators despite the road being particularly narrow and windy at that point but managed to take out one of the barriers or flags or something and bent the under run bar on the truck! RATS!!!!

Finally here's a picture of the little beggars that are trying to destroy my house. It has wood cladding on the top half and wooden window frames (mostly) and I think they come for the insects that live in the cracks. I'll be sitting at the computer of lying in bed and I'll hear a tap, tap, tap, tapping noise; and there they are! Cheek!

ps, you may need to click on the picture, apparently you can't see who (or what) is destroying the house otherwise.

Another difficult button decision

There you go, Sprout is now finished (bar blocking) but I can't decide which buttons. So I'm asking you!

The fifth emergency service

(I believe that the coast guard is the real fourth) and I am the fifth this weekend; emergency sock back up.

I bought some sock wool and needles at Playful; the toy shop on Gloucester Road and gave it to my friend at work who wants to learn to knit socks, along with the basic sock pattern that came with the yarn. She's recently discovered that she's getting a rash from her bought socks and thinks she may be allergic to elastic. She has knitted before, but not for a while and "never got on with purl" so we've adapted the pattern to a sock with a rolled top a la Crusoe, rather than a ribbed top (I'll worry about the heel flap when we get to it!). When she dropped me off at home after work yesterday we'd got as far as the second round. Her husband and son were out for the evening and she was looking forward to some quality time with her sock! I told her that if she needed any help to give me a ring or pop up and I'd help her but as I haven't heard anything I assume that things are going well.



My current work in progress is "Sprout" by Amy King (Spunky Eclectic). I'm knitting it in the yarn that I spun from the Bleu de Maine Fleece from Yorkshire Woolybacks.

I'd got to the bit where the sleeves are joined to the body before I realised that there be cables!! Hey I never won prizes for being observant! We're coping though, and I'm pretty pleased with progress so far, had a two hour meeting first thing Monday morning at work and made significant progress then.

It's funny but I find that if I'm knitting in a meeting I feel that I have to take an active part in said meeting so people realise that I'm not just knitting but paying attention too. If I'm just there I tend not to make as many comments as I don't have to prove I'm concentrating on what's going on. I think people are pretty used to it now, no-one comments unfavourably (at least not to my face).

I had my annual member review at work yesterday and was on the whole pretty happy with the feedback I received from my colleagues. I did get a couple of people who said I should do more driving, and another who said that I should do more desk based work and less manual work so I'm probably getting things about right on the whole!

Oh I forgot to mention that I've received my invitation to Ravelry and I'm called Tigggr (couldn't be knit-tigger as you can't have hyphens!). My notebook's a bit empty at the moment, but I'll get there eventually I guess!