skein

Holiday packing

Two days until the holiday.  I've still not finished my sockapal2za socks.  Hopefully tomorrow.  No knitting news I'm afraid.  Glint and my Summer Tweed One Skein Wonder are finished, but the photos are dire. When I'm back I'll have another go at taking photos.

Holiday..
We're not very organised.   I just wrote two long paragraphs about our disorganisation, but it's too long winded. The one funny part is that his parents forgot to send billy back with the beach hut keys. So when the train passes through Winchester on Friday, his dad (78) will be on the platform to pass us the keys.  I'm not quite sure how it will work. I can't imagine him running up and down looking for us.  Chris reckons that we can spread out over 3 carriages and hope he's nearby.

Since I have no knitting photos, here's a couple of shots of my backpack stash. Chris was rather bemused that there's stash in the backpack!

A couple of skeins of Magpie and the yarn from my stalled scarf, all J&S jumperweight yarn. Some scrummy colours.

from top left, some kidsilk haze, a couple of balls of Margaret Stove Artisan Merino laceweight, a couple of balls of Joslyn's lace yarn, some felted tweed, more felted tweed and some rowan 4ply for this cardigan.

And a UFO!   It's rather crumpled, was squashed right at the bottom of the backpack.
J&S mitred jacket!

I'm just postponing the inevitable: packing!  I've now got three torches and three book lights!   I bought a wind up torch last year, and last Sunday I spotted a wind up torch/radio, just couldn't resist. This is what happens when we have to get by on gas lighting! 

Wisteria

Wisteria is *sort of* blocked!  It will certainly need a second blocking, as I've somehow managed to mess up the points on one side, and have one side longer than the other!  I blame it on trying to block a shawl quickly, in a tiny corner of the flat.  It didn't work.  The shawl took up more space than the tiny corner, so we ended up having to step over the shawl every time we wanted to get to the computer.   I think I didn't stretch out one side of the shawl, because of the tiny corner, which is why the points haven't popped!
Then it rained.  So the outdoor shot, over a bush, was taken in two seconds as the bush was dripping wet!  We usually go on holiday to the beach huts on the south coast this week, thank god we didn't, fingers crossed for not too much rain next week!

(bathroom shot, the lightest room during the day!)

I used less than 4 skeins of J&S laceweight from stash.

No photos of the following:  Summer Tweed Glint and One Skein Wonder (they're both drying), nor the second sock of my Sockapal2za!  I had no idea just how long ST takes to dry on a wet day!

We went to see War of the Worlds this afternoon, and I loved it. I hadn't realised that my knitting speed increases during the exciting bits. Billy and Chris did, they thought it was hilarious!  I've examined the wip and it looks fine, no tension anomalies!  It's another one skein wonder out of Hipknits Blackpool silk.
(This is earlier today; I'm now on the ribbed edging!)
It's lovely to knit with, but not sturdy!  I got into a tangle winding it, and the fluff generated should have warned me not to wear black trousers to the cinema and attempt to knit this.  It feels gorgeous though, and is lovely to knit with. 

Very pleased with my knitting progress this week. 

Five days till hols!  No more starting new stuff this week. I really want to finish the Waving Lace socks (which incidentally look fab on the sock blockers)

Weekend Plans

7 days to my holiday!  7 days to finish off my Sockapal2za's socks and dress Wisteria!
7 days to pick out my knitting projects for my luxurious week away, knitting.And I mean the luxury of knitting, not the luxury of our beachhut accommodation!

To do this weekend.
1) start my second Making Waves sock.  #1 is finished. Here's a taster.
I luv Lorna's Laces.

2) re-wash and dress Wisteria
(the stain is in the top right quadrant)

3) wash and press Glint (she's been sewn up since this photo was taken)

This was a bit of a disaster!  I loathe knitting with ST (love the finished garment) so I use addis - they're nice and slippery.  I always use 4.5mm addis with ST; this gives me the correct tension. So off I go. Only when I finish the whole garment and check the measurements do I realised that I've been knitting with 4mm addis.  Ack! At least it probably won't drop as much in wearing!  This might be on the Gift list for Christmas!

4) (no pic) finish the One Skein Wonder that I've started with the rest of the ST, a skein and a bit.   What a great way to use up remnants!   

5) Gloat over my new purchases.
These

look much better on these new blockers (new bryspun's next to them, jury's still out)

Can't wait to put my newly FO socks on them!

And this is just beautiful, from Get Knitted

The other skein has been gently wound into a ball ready for some lace action!

I've just checked their site, see there's some soy silk/wool blend but I will resist!

Sockapal-2-za announcement!

Yes, third time lucky! My Sockapal-2-za socks are past the point-of-no-return!

My first attempt was the Go with the Flow socks from Summer IK.  They looked scrummy, but were too narrow.  (Ach, no photo, it's at home, unfrogged, and I'm rushing out of the door here at work)

My second attempt was the leaf lace socks.  Lovely pattern, not lovely in variagated yarn.  Spot the leaf patterning.
Love this colour though, so I might knit these again for me.

Third attempt.  Hooray!!  Again, LL in the Poppy colour.  Pattern is IK Spring 2004, Waving Lace Socks.  Lovely, easy pattern. 
I've deliberately not stretched out the sock, so you just have an impression of the wavy effect.  Hope she likes them!

And in case I get bored with lace, I've got some very plain socks on the needles.  These were initially for Chris's dad's birthday, in September (getting ahead!) but Chris rather likes these; they're russet, and he has a tweed suit with this exact colour in the fabric.

Rather relaxing to knit a plain sock, I must say.

KCG Weekend

This weekend has been the Knitting & Crochet Guild agm weekend.  At the V&A Museum!

I've had great fun, but alas, hardly any photos. I've not quite brazen enough to whip the camera out in front of an audience.

The actual agm was on Saturday, but I'd signed up for a tour of the textiles restoration dept at the V&A on Friday, followed by a knitting meet-up at the British Museum in the evening.

The tour of the V&A was brilliant.  We were taken around the items being worked on at the moment. The only knitted item was a ballet outfit (no names, went straight out of my head!) which is designed so that when the dancer pirouette the diagonal stripes on the outfit are effective. 

They had started restoration on a massive tapestry / wall covering, which was going to take 18 months to complete. What a job!

And also a brief tour of the paper restoration dept.  Lots of posters from the early 20th century, a lot of Japanese scrolls (I think the person taking us around had a particular interest in Japanese art), some original Beatrix Potter watercolours, a scrap of medieval parchment (wow!), even some art deco wallpaper!

Then onto the British Museum.
What a fabulous place. 

Apologies for some of the photos - I had my camera set on a delayed flash, great for texture shots of knitting, not so good for people shots!
These are my fellow V&A tour people.  (Jill and I had to be sensible, and get them from the V&A to the BM)
(that's Jill)

And the knitters in the cafe.  Wonderfully cool, and the light is fantastic.  They must have special light filters on the roof!

This is on the top floor of the museum and it's fantastic to sit here and knit. The staff are pretty crap, and the food was limited, but hey, you can get coffee, tea and lemonade! The air conditioning makes this a far more comfortable place to be than Libertys Art Bar Cafe.

Saturday was back to the V&A for the agm.  We had an interesting slide show and lecture on knitted garments at the V&A.  Check out their wonderful knitted site for lots of knitting related info and a few patterns!

No knitting news (wha..... 2 weeks now and no knitting news?).  I'm on my third attempt at sockapal2zer socks. Fingers crossed, these are the ones, and I'll be posting pics of my progress in a few days, when there's a bit more knitting done.

Wisteria, and more stash!

Just a very quick post before I leave work for the day.  I'll not have much time to post over the weekend, as it's the agm for the kcg! More on that later when I've been and done it. Tomorrow afternoon is a lecture at the V&A, then onto the British Museum to meet up with out of town knitters.  Saturday is the kcg agm back at the V&A. Jill and I will have lots of fun figuring out the best bus route from one to the other!

The shawl is finished, though not blocked.  I attempted to block it at work on yesterday, with disastrous results.   No towel or sheet, so I pinned it to the carpet.  As I was walking around (standing on the shawl) I noticed a mark on the shawl, and I'm sure it's from the carpet.  I'll have another go next week. A shame really, I so wanted a before and after picture!

Before: Crumpled Wisteria.

A doddle to knit.  After two evenings knitting and frogging the top border, I've opted for i-cord. 

And more purchases!

After seeing  Tracy's one skein wonder, knitted with hipknits silk, I just had to buy some!

Gorgeous, and great service! Seems like I bought a few extra skeins too!

And on e-bay, these fabulous vintage knitting magazines.

Lots of yummy patterns, here's a selection

Bed Jacket. What every girl needs to keep the chill from her shoulders.
(there are several bed jackets; one with ribbons, one with a knitted frill)

Some cable socks (the heel looks really odd in the photo, as if it's knitted sideways; must investigate).  Socks are on my mind. My poor sockapal2zer socks aren't working.

And don't these look very Agnes-ish?  (I suppose Agnes was a rowan slant on vintage)

There's stacks more patterns, for babies, children, women (including knitted underwear) and men, with a special section for the matronly amongst us - get this -  'On Generous Lines' , to fit bust 39"!

Wow.

Get Knitted - the stash

Warning - details pictures of my Get Knitted purchases follow!

Opal. Note the lack of masculine colours. 
Prisma, Petticoat, cotton Rodeo, Uni, plus two others that I'm not sure of (and it's stashed!).
Lorna's laces sock yarn.  Looks like Mary and I have both bought the same single colour yarn, and the safari shade.

Two oddballs of Debbie Bliss Maya (yes, it's the height of summer, but I couldn't resist this colour, and Maya is wonderful to work with). Centre is some Kaalund Expressions laceweight, top is some LL Lion & Lamb, and far right is a skein of Helens Lace, in the Mixed Berries Shade.  Delicious!

Last, but certainly not least, is this little bunch of sock yarn. 
Two skeins of Celestial Merino (the left shade is going on holiday with me; it's called seashell).
Fyberspates, a new yarn which comes in wonderful shades.  (I've just looked at get knitted website, and I see that the Pansy colour has already left the shelves!)
And Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, in a wonderful dark colour. I will have to look at this again, it has to be Northern lights, but it's quite dark with subtle (in the skein!) brighter flashes of colour.

Lots of sock yarns, and lace weight, which is what I planned for.  I resisted, somehow, the koigu this time around, and the fabulous art yarns silks and merinos.

If anyone is half heartedly thinking of visiting Get Knitted on one of their monthly open days - go!  From london it took just over 2 hours from Paddington, and the ticket was only £20, with reserved seats.

See, we're all addicted to sock and lace yarn!

 

 

Get Knitted

A good turn out for the Get Knitted trip, despite the bombings on Thursday. A few problems getting to Paddington, but nothing too drastic.

On the way down we spotted armed police in a couple of stations, though not at Paddington.  Didn't have time to whip out the camera...

We chatted and knitted on the way down, until we arrived in Bristol Temple Meads Station.
Dave waiting to greet us.

We all lined up for the photo shot (warning!  Mary will have an equivalent photo!)
L-R, Mary, Carol (visiting from the US), Kathryn, Jacinta, Dave, Jill, Fi and Carol from Get Knitted. See how the sunny it is!

Here's Carol, Tracy and Tess (another Get Knitted-er who occasionally comes to the Libertys knitting evenings).  Tracy drove over from Poole to join us!

A good time was had by all. We shopped, drank, ate, shopped, knitted, shopped.

(Kathryn will kill me for this picture - she honestly was wiping chocolate from her face and wasn't scowling or unhappy in any way)

We had a fabulous day, Also in these photos is Jill's friend Pippa, who drove down from some remote valley, according to Jill!) and of course, Sue!

We all spent rather a lot, with three of us competing for the Big Spender title (lips are sealed).

Sunny with collective stash:
(please click to see what a delightful shot this is!)

Here's a quick photo of my purchases (on the train). Yes, I tipped it onto the table!

More on the purchases next week. it looks a lot but really it was mainly sock yarn! Many thanks to Mary for organising this, a brilliant day out, and lovely to meet up with Tracy in real life!

 

Postcript on London today

This is a knitting blog, and I try to keep it strictly knitting, but I'm sitting here brooding over today's events. Thanks everyone for your kind concerns. Me and mine and friends and family are all unscathed.   By the time we left work at 6pm (I refused to leave a minute earlier) the buses were restored, albeit infrequent and full.  We bussed it to Waterloo, lots of police presence, and caught a wonderfully modern, air conditioned train to Putney.   Billy was amazed by events today.  Of course he remembers 911, but this time he's older and it's in his manor. He couldn't quite believe just how normal people seemed, getting on with their regular commute.  We saw the ambulances going back to their stations. The pubs were all full at London Bridge and Borough Market, people hanging around until the commute home was more bearable. 

Terrorists terrorise through acts of violence, and then dine out on the fear of the people for months afterwards.  We've just got to carry on, go to work, use the trains and tubes and buses. Blair did a fantastic speech today, quiet but determined.

Two things I'm grateful for today.
That the bus was in Tavistock Square when it blew up, lots of doctors at the BMA and Great Ormond Street on hand.
That it didn't happen in 24 hours time, on friday, when Billy and Chris would have been travelling on the tube, at the same time and place where the bomb was detonated, for Billy's dental appointment. 

And what a bloody fantastic job the emergency services have done today.

London today

Well today's post was going to be shawl progress, but knitting is the last thing on my mind today. My office is south of London Bridge and the City area, we keep seeing police cars and ambulances speeding past.   A work colleague's sister works in a tall building on London Bridge, and she can see the smoke from the Liverpool st area.

No tubes, trains or buses, so I have no idea how we're getting home tonight. People are wandering about in the street with mobiles, trying to get onto the network (which has crashed). The pubs are full of people watching tv and the news. Good job Billy's here doing work experience, where I can keep my beady eye on him.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to get home later!