PINK!!!!!!!! Monkeys

They're a bit more fluorescent than they appear here.

And I wore them to the rugby today as it was breast cancer awareness day so we were wearing pink.

They're lucky socks, we won the game!!!

And we don't talk about last weekend.
Oh dear no.
It might never have happened we're ignoring it so hard!

I want you all to go Here and try this. It's fun (if you're like me and love words) and you'll be doing something good too (as well as wasting a bit of time).

Little bit of busy, little bit of bad.....

Well as per the title of this weeks post I've done a bit of the former and a bit of the latter. Firstly was my "Fidget" by Robin Dodge of One sheep hill ; which I made last weekend to wear to the rugby to keep the drafts out. I used up some Patons Funky Chunky (now discontinued) that I had in my stash (what a good girl!) which goes nicely with my tigers shirt.
I made it about twenty inches long, but I had to frog the end and take a couple of inches off as it was a bit loose.

Buttons were stash buttons too from the Kirkwood Hospice shop.

Nice quick knit and I love the texture of the twisted moss stitch.

Next the little bit bad. Having used two 50g balls from my stash I then followed up a posting on one of the Ravelry message boards and went to look at the Violet Green website. Needless to say the lure of beautiful, reasonably priced sock wool combined with free delivery was not to be resisted. This lovely little lot was waiting for me on the mat when I got back from work on Tuesday. (No driving this week, I've had a bad back).

More busyness on Wednesday and Thursday night in the form of a little bit of combing. This is some of the Wensleydale fleece that I mentioned washing a couple of weeks ago. It was sat staring at me so on Wednesday evening I got a (nylon) comb out and had a go at it. The nylon comb isn't ideal for the task. For one thing I've broken a fair number of the teeth already. I had a go at flick carding it on one of my carders and that seems to speed things up a bit. Now I'm considering a weekend trip to Wingham Wool Work in order to invest in a proper set of combs.

Why is it so easy to find things to spend money on?

BFF socks finished

Love them.

What I did on my Easter Holiday

No prizes for guessing where I spent the Easter weekend.

Yep, that's right. Saturday afternoon was spent in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff watching the Tigers go through to the finals of the EDF Cup.

We've been to matches in Cardiff a number of times before but this is the first time they've played the game with the roof open. It was great, much better than with it closed. The weather for our game was lovely if cold, but during the second game (Saracens v. Ospreys) it snowed some.

We didn't stay at the Hilton this year but at the Holiday Inn which was pretty good and the view from the window was spectacular.

It was a great weekend made even better by the fact that the Tigers won a game which I seriously thought they could lose. It was a hell of a game too, nip and tuck all the way.

I realise that I don't have a huge number of readers who are interested in rugby (well, I don't have a huge number of readers at all!) so here's a picture of my BFF socks which are coming on nicely. I'm still enjoying them hugely, and am getting on okay with the cables without a cable needle.

Yesterday we went to visit my other sister and went over to see how the sheep were getting on with lambing. Here are two who had got disowned by their mum. We brought them home to be bottle reared. I did some other stuff so if anyone asks me what I did on Easter Monday I can casually say "Oh, I helped castrate some lambs". I wasn't involved with the business end though, I just helped to hold them! I think both these two are girls.

I also waded through, how can I put this, ummm, cowshit to help feed the cattle. Luckily I'd been able to borrow a pair of wellingtons. I did smell a bit of sheep and pooh by the time I'd finished, but it makes a change.

Cookie A

Warning: the following post contains descriptions of some of the more unpleasant realities of a truck drivers life. Those of a sensitive disposition may not wish to read the last few paragraphs of the post!

I've never really thought much about a "favourite designer"; not being a "designer clothes" kind of gal it didn't seem something that was particularly relevant to me. Last weekend though I suddenly realised that I'd enjoyed knitting Pomatomus, Hedera and Monkey and that they were all designed by the same person; Cookie A. I wondered what else she'd done that I might enjoy knitting so via Ravelry I went to her website to have a look.

The pattern that I found was the BFF socks (BFF stands for Best Friend Forever; that's who she originally made them for). So I printed off the pattern to get started. I'd bought some cygnet 4ply single colour sock wool from Texere Yarns the last time I was there which I thought would be perfect for showing off the cable pattern. I decided that they were probably a tad complicated to take with me in the truck so I started a plain vanilla pair of "travelling sock" on Monday night but on Thursday when I was home and recovered from this week's run (tell you later) I cast on for the BFF.

Well it's been a while since my knitting has made me smile whilst I'm doing it, but I was this morning. I love a simple pattern that you can enjoy watching as it develops under your fingers and this certainly does that. I'm using it to teach myself to cable without a cable needle which may not have been a wise move using 2.25 mm needles (think I may need bi-focals) but what the heck.

So I think I may put Cookie A on my (brand new) list of favourite designers for inventive and interesting sock patterns. I may even have a look at other things that she's designed.

I managed to get a fair bit of my "plain vanilla" sock knitted this week as I had a bit of trouble sleeping on Tuesday night. Anyone who regularly reads my blog will know that this is very unusual. I get up at two am on a Tuesday morning and work a fifteen hour day driving and unloading my truck in the Bristol area. Come bedtime (about 8-00 pm) I'm ready to drop.

This week I parked up at the service station on the Evesham byepass. It's a bit exposed there but I suspect that I'd have had the same problem wherever I'd parked. I was woken at about eleven o'clock by the truck being buffeted by the seventy mile an hour winds that were sweeping the south west of the country.

The wind dropped briefly at about two and I caught another hour or so of sleep but I woke up again and then didn't get off after that. At four I decided that if the truck was going to blow over I'd rather have my clothes on; didn't fancy having to clamber out in me vest and knickers. So I got dressed, went and got a cup of coffee and sat up most of the rest of the night knitting and listening to the BBC World service on the radio.

I didn't feel like the brightest button in the box the next morning and when I got back on Wednesday I went to bed at eight and slept through till a quarter to seven the following day when the alarm went off for me to go back to work again.

Minor rant
I was deeply p!ssed off on Wednesday when I stopped at the service station at junction 2 of the M42. I pulled into the truck park, got down from the truck and looked to see where I had to go to get a cup of coffee and use the loo.

As you can imagine I wasn't best pleased to discover that I'd have to go for a half mile hike to reach the "amenity building" (as it was quaintly titled). You can just see it in the distance (indicated by the arrow in the picture).

One of the most unpleasant parts of driving a truck is the fact that the truck stops reek in the summer because (male) drivers have a tendency to relieve themselves against the wheel of their truck rather than bothering to use the toilets. On Wednesday I felt like doing the same!! Unfortunately it's a bit of an unfeasible trick so I had to bite the bullet and take a hike. I had a quarter of an hour break which was completely taken up by walking over, using the loo, buying a cup of coffee and walking back. Had to drink it whilst driving along! Of course car drivers can park right in front of the building. Who designs these bloody places?

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!?