I'm doing science and I'm still alive

OK so I'm not doing science but I am still alive. Yay for references for Portal also.

This is just a me dropping in to say I am back from my holiday, my unpacking still isn't quite finished and the whereabouts of my camera are unknown. Not a great deal of knitting was done whilst I was away but I did finish the first circles sock and start the second one. My shawl hasn't progressed at all, nor has the second sock for my husband or the never ending sleeves of my cardigan.

My knitting has been going so slowly as I have struggled to find the time to actually sit and knit, I aim to change that and fit in more knitting time even if it's just making sure I knit a round of sock or two whilst tea is in the oven. Everything has been so hectic over the last few weeks but aside from finishing unpacking I do feel like things are calming down a little.

We have got two busy weekends ahead but they don't concern me too much. Our house is in a maintainable state of tidyness and we're on top of the washing, the garden needs attention but it wont stop raining and as long as everything is wet it will continue to grow and we can't cut it back, this makes me sad.

Yesterday I ordered the yarn I need for the two Christmas gift knits I intend to complete, this is part of why I really need to get on track with knitting more frequently. Both my mother and my mother-in-law have requested lace (though I'll be using 4ply, not laceweight) so I'd better get started soon if I actually intend to complete these projects and finish some items for myself.

If only I had staff to do all the boring things like housework whilst I knit away happily...being a lady of leisure and not requiring a full time job OR having a full time job where I could knit at work would also help!

In an attempt to make up for the lack of pictures an amusing tale of yesterday when I went to see my mother:

Me: What are you knitting mum?

Mum: It's a cardigan for my niece but I don't think I'll have enough yarn, I've knit this much sleeve and still have one sleeve to go and the button/neckbands/making up but only this much yarn

Me: Get your scales out and weigh how much that is and how much your current sleeve weighs, maybe there'll be enough

>>>The 4 rows or so off finished sleeve and knitting needle were weighed, the empty needle was weighed and weight subtracted off sleeve in progress with needle and remaining yarn was weighed. What was done of the sleeve weighed about 20g and there were 45g of yarn remaining<<<

Me: You might just have enough but probably not, why don't you use a contrasting colour for the button bands? That could look nice if you then get buttons in the colour of the yarn you used for the rest of it. Alternatively you could pull back your sleeve and do short or 3/4 length sleeves, then there'd be enough yarn

Mum: I don't know how to do shorten the sleeves and wont different colours look stupid? It doesn't make sense, the pattern said 200g and I had two 100g balls of yarn so I should have enough

Me: Well how many yards of yarn are there in 100g? You're not using the same yarn as the pattern, it might not be the same length of yarn

Mum: What?

Me: Different yarns, even if they're both DK may have different yardages, you should check

Mum: Well they're both acrylic, I'm sure they're the same

Me: Did you check your tension?

Mum: My tension is always perfect, I don't need to check it

Me: Maybe your tension is out and that's why you don't have enough yarn

Mum: I've never checked my tension, I've been knitting for 50 years, how long have you been knitting? I've never run out of yarn, my tension is always right

Me: You never run out of yarn because you always get extra, give me a tape measure

>>>I measure to find my mum is knitting 18 stitches and 27 rows to 10cm instead of 22 stitches and 30 rows<<<

Me: Your tension is wrong, no wonder you're running out of yarn, also this is going to be bigger than it's supposed to be across the chest

Mum: My tension is perfect though

Me: Well maybe life is teaching you a lesson, you had to go wrong once at some point. You only have two balls of this yarn don't you? There is no extra in this colour is there? You've had it in your stash for ages haven't you?

Mum: Yes

Me: I believe you are experiencing what is commonly known as sod's law, it's all explained in my Yarn Harlot books, want to borrow them? They're good

Mum: ***things I will not repeat here because there may have been some swearing***

I believe the child's mother may be relieved that there is not enough of the shockingly bright yarn to finish this cardigan and I tried to sooth my mum by offering her some nice, subtle yarn from my stash in cream, lilac and pink with which she could knit a new cardigan with yarn left over and not in a violent shade of highlighter pen yellow.

I promise photos in the next post at least of the finished circle sock if nothing else.

This is where I throw a little strop...

Remember that pretty lacy thing I was working on? All green and merino/silk blend with such a lovely, delicate pattern...that thing I was almost done with the second repeat of the main pattern of? That thing I was so proud of?

Pride comes before a fall.

Here is my latest photo, you may notice that I have gone backwards since my previous photo.

Please excuse the blur, I suppose I was shaking with rage or too angry to check that I was in focus! Note I'm back on a proper digital camera and not my phone though it's not my usual, it's my bulky and old digital camera which annoyingly seems to take better pictures than my newer little one! ANYWAY. I messed up. I messed up badly. I noted my mistakes and tried to frog to my lifeline, I messed that up too. Then the yarn snapped. ARGH. So here I am, starting over, I'm not too angry. Honest.

There has also been progress on other, less frustrating, knitting projects. I am knitting my second pair of circle socks. I like this pattern, it is easy to memorise, looks really clever whilst being easy-peasy AND it looks good in self striping yarn which I have rather a lot of. This particular self-striping is Kaffe Fassett design line exotic colour in "zany" and I do rather like it.

I also finished (the toe isn't grafted in the picture but in reality it's done) the first of the socks I'm knitting for Mr Northernmonkey using the Opal yarn he bought for me whilst we were in Berlin. I don't know why I took so long on this (well I do as I was drawn away by exciting patterns and softer yarn but we wont talk about that!) as when I was focused on these they knit up quickly. I must get the second one done though in the current hot weather I'd say he isn't in such a rush for wool socks.

I have packed my knitting back for a little jaunt away next week, I have of course over packed in this area but the thought of not having enough knitting is just too terrible to contemplate! I've put in the circle sock (and the second ball of yarn to make it's friend) and my shawl as well as another 2 balls of Kaffe Fasset sock yarn (exotic colour pool this time, a bargain from Kemps of course!) should I finish the circle socks and want another mindless, sockish knitting project. We're going with 4 friends and two small children so I do wonder whether the shawl will be knit on at all, I fear it requires too much concentration for such a holiday! I am rather excited that for once I will not be doing all of the driving as we are sharing a car with two of the friends so I will get car sock knitting time, fantastic! I never usually get this.

I will be back with tales of our trip in just over a week, I shall try to hunt down yarn shops though technically I am stashing busting and not supposed to be buying more yarn. I am trying but I fear failing to convince my friends we should go to the wool museum!

Running down a dream

I’m not one to post non-knitting entries really, largely because my day to day life is pretty uneventful and doesn’t seem to be worth writing about. I don’t have any pets, I don’t have children, my job is mostly dull and when it isn’t it’s confidential so I couldn’t possibly discuss it and knitting is my primary hobby. This isn’t to say I am not happy with my life, I am, I just don’t think anyone else would be particularly interested in reading about it!

Here I am though with something eventful and interesting that I did and can post about, brilliant! On Sunday my husband and I ran the Jane Tomlinson 10K in Leeds. I have never run a 10K before and I must admit I never do any exercise to speak of beyond walking up the stairs at work and walking to the bus stop. I had planned to train but then never seemed to find the time and three weeks pre-race ended up having some abdominal surgery which really messed up any chances for practice and made me wonder whether I’d be running at all or if it might have to be a 10K walk.

I got up bright and early on Sunday morning and got dressed in my lovely running shoes (purchased when I signed up for the run but only worn once since!) and the sportiest clothing I could find. We went along to the mass warm up then got in position to start. When you run the 10K they give you a little plastic tag which fastens to your laces and when you run over a mat at the beginning and end of the race it records your start and finish time then you are sent an official race time. Mine was 1hr 14minutes exactly. I was very proud of this given the complete lack of training…admittedly a 7 months pregnant Paula Radcliffe ran it in 45 minutes but then she is a world record holding athlete! I did run/jog more of it than I walked though so that's an achievement.

I enjoyed the whole experience so much that I’m going to do it again and am signing up to the Abbey Dash (another 10K in Leeds) in November and possibly a 10K in Liverpool (Mr.Northernmonkey’s home town) in October. I’m going to train this time though, join a gym for general treadmill training and then try to get running on the roads (well pavement) once or twice a week so I can run the entire distance next time and hopefully know 5-10 minutes off my race time.

Here I am all dressed, numbered and ready to go!

The next post will include more knitterly progress, I have almost finished the second pattern repeat on my shawl and am nearly at the toe of my husband’s socks which I started some time ago and then abandoned in favour of prettier, patterned, not size 11 socks!! This does depend on getting my camera back from my mum of course, she still has it and without that all photos are of the camera phone variety.

Lovely lace

I am currently without my camera which has been at a wedding in Pisa, seems entirely unfair that the camera should be invited when I wasn’t! I do hope my mum finds her camera soon though as she’s that into taking photographs I may suggest she buys mine (which is in perfect working condition, I’m just not happy with the colours in the pictures though it would be just fine for her) and then I could use the money towards a new compact digital camera. I have no intention of getting an SLR, I do like taking photographs but I’m not a photographer and it’s a huge expense for pictures to go on my blog and my Ravelry project page!

In the absence of my usual camera and my inability to find the spare digital camera (we have a lot of gadgetry around our house as Mr.Northernmonkey is a techie type) I must apologise that this picture was taken on my camera phone. To be fair I think the camera on my phone takes a reasonable enough picture, not so great you’d print them off but they are generally OK. It’s a good enough picture to give a glimpse of what I am up to at the moment anyway.

Lace…lovely, lightweight, doesn’t make my knee sweaty when knitting lace! The pattern is called Candace and is in the current Let’s Knit magazine. It is designed by the incredibly talented Anni of www.yarnaddict.co.uk and I love it already. I finished the set up chart and have knit the first repeat of the main chart which needs repeating six times before moving into a border chart. So far I am happy. The yarn is not that recommended with the pattern but some merino/silk laceweight from Violet Green. I do intend to buy some yarn from Anni’s website for my Christmas (argh that C word again!) knitting projects but for this one I knew I had some laceweight in my stash and that it really should be used as I am supposed to be saving money and stashing down.

I can’t decide whether or not to take this project with me when I go on holiday in just under two weeks (eek so excited!) I know I will still be knitting on it and it is so beautiful and such an enjoyable knit which makes me think I should. We are going with our friends who have a four year old and a nearly two year old makes me think I shouldn’t. If they got their sticky hands on my laceweight I would NOT be a happy monkey!! Perhaps I’ll be better taking socks, I have two pairs OTN and both are with robust and machine washable yarns and both are simple enough that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they fell prey to sticky fingers. Obviously I will be attempting to keep my knitting out of reach, particularly as I use rather pointy, metal needles BUT it’s children, what can you do? They get into everything whether you want them to or not. They are lovely children though, I'm looking forward to the holiday with four of our friends and the two children.

I must check for yarn shops in the Carmarthenshire area before I go!

It's not easy being green

I finished the lime green mystery socks at the weekend and felt a huge black lime green cloud lift from my shoulders. I do love these socks, I think the pattern looks good (particularly the way the diagonals go in opposite directions so when I stand with my feet together they point in towards each other) and the twisted stitches and little cables were interesting to knit. I adore the yarn, it’s soft and squishy and such a beautiful, vibrant shade BUT oh my goodness they took a lot of knitting. They also took a lot of yarn! I haven’t weighed them but I did have to use my third skein of Claudia Handpainted Yarn (the colourway is Limeade) to knit the last few repeats of pattern on the foot and the toes. I am glad they are finished and I will wear them with pride.

The picture of them hanging on the sock blockers does not give an entirely accurate colour, nor does this one though it’s closer to the reality of these lovely limey socks. I understand there are colours that the naked eye can see which cannot be picked up by a camera but my camera really doesn’t do colour very well. It always looks a bit washed out. I have tried different backgrounds, I always use natural light, I’ve taken pictures inside and out with the light from all directions using every mode on the camera…it just isn’t great. I expect I’ll replace it at some point but not any time soon, for now I shall just do my best.

When I was getting ready to graft the toes of my beautiful lime socks I made myself a cup of tea using this cup:

I put it on this lovely coaster purchased at the Black Sheep Brewery:

I went in this case to retrieve a darning needle:

I thought wow…that’s a lot of green!

I do love green so, it is my most favourite colour. I am not sure exactly when this transition occurred as whilst I’ve never had anything against green as a colour it certainly wasn’t my favourite as a child. I loved pinks and reds and purples but over the last couple of years I have moved away from that and settled myself into a love affair with the colour green. There is hardly a shade of it I don’t like from pale, minty greens to more brown olive greens and even the school uniform coloured bottle green…I love them all. I am wearing a green dress today with a green beaded bracelet, a necklace with a green pendant and green sparkly nail polish on my toenails. Green, green, green. Strangely perhaps green is my mother’s favourite colour and my great aunt’s favourite colour. Maybe it’s a family thing. I don’t know. I just love it.

I decided I needed a new project, I do have a cardigan on the go but it’s in an aran weight wool blend and the sleeves lay quite heavily on my lap in the current hot weather, I wanted something light and airy. I do have other socks on the go but I wanted something that is not socks. Something pretty…not pretty…something with the potential to be beautiful, classy, proper grown up knitting. I went to my stash and pulled out some laceweight yarn, spent an hour carefully hand winding it with the skein wrapped across my knees to prevent an awful tangle (I'm not good at winding balls of yarn and usually enlist the help of my mother who winds whilst I hold the skein between outstretched hands). I cast on just before bed but only knit the first row.

The colour? Well what else…


Merino and mulberry silk laceweight in "Gooseberry" from Violet Green

Mystery socks

So I am at home recovering from a minor surgical procedure and what can I do to fill my time? Try to finish the May SKA mystery socks by Cookie A! This has been slow going, I feel like I have been knitting on them forever. In reality I have been knitting on them since the beginning of May but the leg portion has 80 stitches per round with twisted, travelling stitches on every round apart from the toe decreases and the heel flap! I calculated that the leg portion alone took 6030 stitches PER SOCK, that's 12060 stitches before I've even knit the heels. I don't have the patience to do the calculations to work out the stitch count for the pair but it's in excess of 13000 per sock or 26000 stitches for the pair. I could have knit a cardigan for that sort of stitch count. I normally do a 64 stitch sock for myself if I'm working in stockinette and other sock patterns I've knit have been over 64 stitches (Monkey and Circles) so there you're more in the region of 8000 - 9000 for a pair and goodness me have I felt those extra 4000 stitches in each sock!

That said I love them. I think the pattern looks fabulous, the fit is absolutely great and whilst this has nothing to do with the pattern I love the yarn as well, it's soft and the colour is fantastic if impossible to capture accurately with my camera. I can honestly say I am keen to knit more pairs of intricately cabled and patterned socks in future, why not?! I am on the heel flap of the right sock and do intend to have it finished this weekend so I can have my 6th pair of finished socks in 2010 putting me on target to finish 12 pairs. OK so one pair was not for me and one pair was only little footie socks BUT a pair is a pair and I am counting them!

When I have finished these I must return to my husband's socks. I am nearly at the toe of the first of the pair and it did knit up quickly so I must get on with the second. I have other socks planned (and started a second pair of circle socks whilst in Dortmund) but what I really need to do is go back to the cardigan I started months ago. I believe it was dropped in favour of knitting Ishbel but I want to get it finished. I may still only be on the sleeves (I started with the sleeves) but frankly after thousands of stitches on 2.25mm needles I imagine the cardigan on 6.5mm needles will feel like it's flying along! I must finish it as I am determined to have some knitted items that are not hidden in my shoes! I also want to knit a second baby garment for the family baby due in September.

I'd better get back to my little lime green friend now, it's begging to be finished!

Oh blog, I did not mean to desert you

I have been oh so very absent from my blog at late as life got busy busy busy. Life continues to be busy busy busy but I have managed to squeeze in the tiniest moment to visit my blog and put together a little post.

What have I been knitting? Well...not much. As I said life has been busy busy busy and my knitting time has been hit hard, it's always my knitting time that gets hit hard when everything else decides to get going. There was the visit from the in-laws then a weekend of chores and tidying and getting the everything done before last week when I spent a week away in Germany with my choir.

These are the latest pictures I have. My camera is on death's door and takes only washed out and dreary photographs which makes me very sad. I have another digital camera and I suspect I need to be using that and not my little compact one. I must start saving for a replacement for the little one.

These are just little footie type socks I decided to knit for my trip to Germany (where I did not need wool socks as the temperature soared to 30 degrees! I used yarn left over from the socks I knit for my mum's birthday but I did not have quite enough. When they were finished they had little purple toes, I must get a picture and get them on ravelry.

I continue to work on my Cookie A Mystery Socks though they have not been knit on since before I went away (though have progressed slightly beyond this picture) the colour here is wildly inaccurate which is a shame as the true colour really is the colour of limeade, the stuff of childhood. It's just fabulous.

And here in a jumbled pile of pointy sticks and yarn...socks.

I am knitting on another sock but do not have a photo. Whilst in Germany I did not really have time to work on socks with travelling stitches and charts BUT I did have time to start a second pair of circle socks. It's a fun, easy, memorable pattern which looks great in self striping yarn which I just so happen to have masses of. Fantastic! I believe my friend took a photo of me knitting in the sunshine so I shall ask for a copy and get that on here.

I do hope that now the preparations for my choir trip are over I can settle back into a good knitterly routine. Whilst it is an unfortunate reason to have the free time I am having a minor surgical procedure on Monday and will have the week off to knit. I intend to get the lovely Cookie A socks finished. I also need to finish the socks I was making for Mr.Northernmonkey which I stopped knitting on a few rounds from starting the toe of sock 1. Oops. I also still have a cardigan which is really just almost finished sleeves, that requires attention.

A terrible thought which keeps popping into my mind is the C word...the big one that comes around every year towards the end of December. So as not to drive myself insane with knitting I want to make a head start on my gifts. I don't intend to make many but both my mother and my mother in law have requested lace scarves (an Ishbel for my mum, a rectangular scarf for MiL) which is not the quickest knitterly project. I don't know what else I might knit for that time of year but these projects need starting and my approach I think is to finish the things I am currently working on (1 cardigan, 3 pairs of socks) by the end of July so I can get yarn hunting and crack on with the projects.

So many things to knit, so little time. As ever. I just hope I can get back on track with blogging, try to aim for at least once a week. Also try to finish some projects! I am about on track with a pair of socks per month but I want to keep it up and get some more done.

Busy busy busy.