Nasty Noro (not the yarn!)

I had a really good weekend - it was my 30th birthday on Sunday and I went out for the whole weekend - had so much fun.

Monday morning I was supposed to fly to Helsinki for work - I felt a bit funny when I woke up and it all went down hill from there, I thought it might have been the weekends excitment but when the world turned multicoloured in the worst possible way, I did start to think something else was wrong. I had to cancel my trip, aircraft and unhappy insides are not a combination I want to try!

Since the Noro virus is going around I think I must have picked it up (maybe from Mum - she sees lots of patients and two of her colleagues are ill already). Noro is not my fav word right now - which seems a shame as I really like the yarn!

Being at home is boring but necessary - I am doing some work, some knitting and internet stuff. I managed to get drawn in to the Get knitted sale and bought a few bits and pieces - Lornas laces fisherman, I've never tried this yarn but will let you know what I think. I also got some yarn for a pair of arrrgyle socks (Regia SIlk)- so many men in my life would like a pair! I am just seeing how they go the first time.

Browsing ravelry (as you do when everything else makes your tummy hurt!) I saw the woodland shawl pattern from Nikol Lohr, it is perfect for a friend - I really want to make her something and this just has her name ALL over it - now I just have to choose a great yarn - she has very different colour taste to me so it might be quite hard (brown, greens, creams and rusts). I think I will wait for a Posh sale and get something from there - poor Dee and Tony at Posh, random crap luck they are having at the moment - big hugs to you both.

I am really looking forward to the swap starting - I have finally managed to do my questionaire, so here goes:

Part One: Crafting

Do you knit, crochet, or both?
Both, I love variety.

What do you like to make? Do you have a favourite project?
I enjoy making so many things – I go through phases of things – at the moment it is socks, lace and small items

Do you have a favourite type of fiber or brand of yarn?
I love anything slightly out of the ordinary, small artisan producers and anything soft (I’m all about the softness of the yarn – comes from having to wear horrible itchy grey woolly socks at school, I hated them so much!).

Do you have a least favourite type of yarn?
Rough wool or anything that isn't at least partly natural fibres

Do you do any other crafts?
I like to sew (clothes, furnishings, patchwork, quilts), make jewllery and cook, my friends think I am a 1950’s housewife. Anything that is creative gets me really excited – I love trying anything new and experimenting.

What knitting do you bring ‘on the go’?
Small things! - socks, hats, nothing requiring more than two balls or long needles.

What do you carry your ‘on the go’ knitting in? Do you want something new?
I have a fabulous bag already - one from Heather for larger projects and one from Socktopus for small things

Are there any knitting gifts (book, toy, yarn, item, tool) that you have been lusting over?
There is a really cool book about knitting teacosies that a lady at my knitting club had. Any yarn with interesting or unusual ‘ingredients’ bamboo, soya, maize, stainless steel, camel all that kind of thing. Cute stitchmarkers are brilliant as well - you can never have too many.

Part Two: Your Favourites

What is your favourite colour? What is your least favourite colour?
Favourites – cool blues, greys, purples and pink. Not feeling so much affinity with muddy or acid toned greens, yellows and oranges.

What scents/smells do you like? What don’t you like?
Green fresh scents, roses, citrus fruit, patchouli, fig, rosemary. I don’t like anything sweet smelling or fruits like strawberry and raspberry, mothballs make me feel sick too – or maybe it is the thought of moths in my stash!

How do you like to pamper yourself?
Long baths with moisturising products, massages are also good. Natural and organic products are particularly yummy

What goodies to you like to treat your tummy with?
Cheese, chocolate (lots of cocoa content), good bread and coffee

Do you prefer tea or coffee while you knit? Any particular kind? Favourite mug/cup?
Coffee or herbal teas – has to be real coffee – black no sugar.

Do you listen to/watch anything while you knit? (TVshow-Along, movies, music, podcasts)
Radio 4 – generally I love everything they do, I also like crime/spy dramas on TV – British or American (Spooks, Bones, CSI, prime suspect that kind of thing) period dramas too.

Part Three: Living & Past-times

Where do you live in the UK?
Near London

Have you always lived here, or did you grow up somewhere else?
I grew up between the UK and Denmark - half of my family are Danish (hence the continental knitting style). When I finished uni I lived in France for five years - I love France and the French and really miss being there.

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Japan and Morocco

If you couldn’t go to a knitting group, what other kind of gathering would you go to?
I love my yoga class' (ansura and vinyasa) – but I don’t get to go so often now I work in London, I also enjoy teaching snowboarding – and love either giving or going to a class. I also love sailing, kayaking, skiing and rockclimbing

What’s your style?
Glamourous and quirky (burlesque and 1950’s glamour) at work and when going out but also sporty and natural when I am doing something active!

Final Part:
Any allergies/preferences (fiber-wise or treat-wise)?
Allergic to plasters and hate parsley – but I don’t think that’s what you meant :) nothing I haven’t mentioned already

Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know?
That I’m really excited about this – it's my first swap!

Coffee at Borders

Today I went for my usual Sunday coffee with a friend at Borders - they have their usual Starbucks, which I am not keen on but Milton Keynes only has chain shops. Also this is the only place where you are more or less sure to get a free parking space.

Said friend is male and so I decided to ask him what he thought of the newest Debbie Stoller book He isn't a knitter but I wanted to know if the patterns were acceptable to guys- I have heard very mixed reports from people so had not yet purchased it. He actually liked quite a few things which encouraged me to buy it - he then requested a hoodie but was firmly told "no - not unless we were married and that isn't going to happen!". I am looking forward to reading it tonight in bed.

I normally knit when I have coffee but for some reason didn't bring anything with me - very weird doing nothing with my hands!

I finished my socks from socktopus sock club over Christmas - Anna Karenina, I adore the purple colour in them but was not so sure about the greeny yellow - now they are finished I really like the combination (but I am still really in love with the purple!)

They do make my ankles merge into my calves and look chunky (cankles I believe they would be called!) this and the cashmere content will make them house socks. I finished this one watching the history boys - such a brilliant film, I laughed so much. The other one is being washed (don't ask - the perils of knitting whilst commuting!).

I also made some jewelry - all the pictures I took of this were terrible - maybe a different colour background would have helped? The other thing I made is a secret surprise for someone, so I won't show it on here.

What you can't see is the wire is red and there are five wires they go through five smaller hematite beads and then all the wires go through one larger silver bead. I think they look like clusters of grapes but the rude part of my brain mentioned hemeroids! Anyway - I like it and shall ignore my inner bitch.

bad blogger!

I’m so ashamed about my lack of blogging – my excuses are pretty poor too – new job with long hours and a commute (good for knitting time!) and Christmas pressies which required me to knit not write about it. However I am resolved to doing a bit more blogging not least because I joined uk swap and my upstream may want to read my blog. I am amazed that anyone reads it actually, sometimes I think it is just me talking to myself for extended periods but then I think how many blogs I read and hope that there might be one person reading!

I knit many things for the holidays and then very very stupidly forgot to take any pictures before I gave them away as gifts for Christmas.

Tuscany (from no sheep for you) was finished – looked lovely and grandma was really pleased.

Thrummed mitts (Interweave – can't remember which edition) – really lovely aran weight alpaca in walnut colour with pink and purple thrums – I WANT a pair for me! I already have requests for two more sets so I’ll try to take pics of them.

Fingerless mitts (original pattern in Yarnforward but I changed a few things) these were for my friend Leo – she’s a very talented interior designer so I was worried about the colour being perfect – finally went for a Rowan tapestry yarn in blues/seagreens.

Koolhaas hat (Jared Flood in Interweave gifts 07- I love this guys knitting, knitting men - there is something uber cool about that) in a really lush green (reminded me of Christmas trees) Rowan 100% merino aran weight for a Finnish friend Olof (this was a birthday gift really but his birthday is just before Christmas)

My new job have given me a great phone with a 5 mega pixel camera so it should be easy to take pics of projects – I really don’t like the digital camera, arsing about with linking it up to the PC just seems so much work.

Note to self – having spent 2 hours trying to link the laptop and phone together using Bluetooth or infrared – never trust the technology to be simple EVER.

I do now have a couple of pics

Mmmmmm yarn!

The yarn in the left basket at the front is some more aran weight alpaca for some more thrummed mitts - it is soo soft and yummy - the light blue tops for the thrums is behind, the yarn was from the knit1 sale - I had not bought much there previously but am really pleased by the speedy service and the great sale. The cake of laceweight blue is from my LYS - Sue helped me spend some of my first paycheck from my new job, this is just some of my bounty - cherry tree hill in moody blues, not sure what to make with it yet!

The right hand basket is mostly posh stash with a bit of the cashmere from Loop at the front. This bit of my stash looks quite organised - my grandma and I spent a while sorting it all out over Christmas (the sheep skin rug in the front was a Christmas pressie from her too) she laughed so much at all my yarn and we had a fun afternoon stroking and sniffing it all - she went home with a large bag full too.

On the right you can see a little of my project bag from Heather (I love this bag it is so unique and beautiful) and it's current contents. Better picture of the contents - the back to school u neck vest from Fitted Knits this is a fantastic book with some great patterns, however I am grumpy about this project. I was making it for a friend who is a teacher (back to school and all that) I had nearly finished it but realised that halfway through the neck/shoulder shaping I had a senior moment and changed the stitch pattern - what was I thinking! or perhaps the problem was I wasn't thinking. I had already bound off before I noticed and now I hate the thought of ripping it out - I think I would mind much less if I didn't have to un-bindoff. I am so cross with myself that I can hardly stand to look at it - hence the picture was taken to try and force me to do something about it. The yarn is a very pleasing Cascade 220 'quatro' - it doesn't show to well here but it was a joy to knit with and I love the four ply in the four different colours it makes the over-all shade really interesting, plus it was not expensive (£4.99 for 100g) - maybe I'll make one for me - it is small enough for train knitting - it would be good if the full range of colours was available here - there are some great ones, I really like 9437 or 5014 - unsurprisingly the blue and the pink - maybe I should be bolder in my colour choices? I had my colours done last year and now I feel guilty if I choose something that is not supposed to suit me according to the colour lady - feels a bit facist though "you must never wear black again"

Must go to bed now (new wifi allows me to work in bed - I'll never get away from the computer now - it's almost hardwired into my brain!)

online community

I love the knitting community - the online shops, blogs and sites are fun to use and read. I did think of myself as fairly web savvy (after all I work for a new media agency currently) but I hadn't thought about pod casts! Sadly I am yet to own a generic MP3 player but my latest discovery is hinting I may want to buy this nifty kit.

Thank you to Ellen for pointing me in the direction of Lime and Violet and to Trine for cast on I have been absorbed by them today listening through my laptop. I am also a radio 4 addict and the thought of podcasts when I am commuting makes me feel happier about getting up so early!

I have made it to the 4th repeat on my Tuscany and am thinking that with the seasilk I bought but didn't use I might make an Icarus shawl from Interweave - I lusted after the forest path shawl but I am not sure it wouldn't drive me insane, (entralac lace anyone!) plus I would have to buy different yarn as my seasilk is periwinkle blue - good for feathers I think, but not really for forests - I'm not sure if it is just me being fussy but the yarn colour has to 'go' with the project.

I spent lots of time at the weekend knitting on a Christmas gift only to find that somewhere in my brain I had got the stitch pattern confused (waffle stitch is not hard!!! how could I possibly have ballsed that up!) and half the front of the item looks very odd! I didn't have the mental energy to frog it (I had bound off the front already- why does that make it mentally so much harder) so it is sat in its basket looking accusingly at me :( maybe tonight I will savage it.

I am also still waiting for the Jamiesons that I ordered at Ally Pally - I emailed them two weeks ago and they said it had been dispatched but as yet nothing has arrived and I wait longingly for the postlady. This is for a designed by me one of a kind for a special man and I want to start knitting - COME ON POST! Actually I get so much delivered in the post that Lizzie the postlady thinks I am crazy - maybe some knitted flip top mittens will persuade her that I'm not (actually I may use the left over Jamiesons from the other item - it isn't a large but yet required 16 colours of spindrift! ). It's one of those small village things - Liz remembers my mother when she first came to England as an Au pair - she worked in the garden of the house where my mother was looking after the children - by all accounts the family were not the nicest people you would want to work for. I really can't imagine my mother taking any rubbish from people - she is quite fearsome now, but yet I suppose she was only 17 - I expect that if it had been me I would have gone home, annoying when your mother has more gumption and brains than you do, yet it makes me extraordinarily proud of her

I am drifting off knitting topic but in my head it is all related!

packages in the post

I frequently forget that I have ordered something from the net and get a nice surprise when it arrives - particularly things from America or backorders of books. Today a nice Amazon parcel arrived and I was very happy to see a Best of Interweave, I am resisting the urge to look at it at my desk and will savor it when I get home. I love books - our house is crammed with them, I get really excited about book shops and the like - even the smell ! I saw this one on someone else blog - soooo pretty, I am having book lust!

I am feeling the need to go to the pub this evening - I love it now there is no smoking, I can knit in the pub without my knitting smelling vile. The locals are getting quite used to it and now I am getting requests - however I don't know about anyone else but I won't knit for people who don't know how much effort is required or that I don't completely love. Unfortunately I like lots of people enough to knit for them - and have a long list of things I should make.

I wish I could spend all day knitting but I don't think I would like it to be my job - my experience with cooking has put me off doing something you love as a hobby as a job - I cheffed for a long time in France but found I still loved cooking/food but no longer wanted to cook for pleasure. Maybe I love knitting enough to do it as a job and for fun but it don't want to risk it!

Dee at Posh is very naughty - she talked about to etsy today and it reminded me how much I love it. I got a little bit geeky about the ways of searching for things - it's really fun to use and the interface much more interesting than ordinary online shopping experiences - believe me I have worked on a few online shops and maybe it was the products, but they were not a 'fun' experience. If I am parting with money and I can't touch the product, I need it to be enjoyable in other ways. I didn't purchase anything but enjoyed spending lunch time checking out all the lovely things people make and sell - knitwear coasters get much love.

Must get some WiP pictures on here or this will be entirely about yarn I like an have bought and no actually knitting - need a camera! May borrow my father’s - last time I borrowed my mother’s camera I was 15 and going to France for a school art trip - I was bullied, the camera was stolen and my mother was mightily upset. Hopefully that will be avoided this time!

tired and slow

What is it with the clocks going back? - I got an extra hour in bed and the effect lasted one day! It is now even harder to get out of bed in the morning.

I've been having a horrible couple of weeks at work - I am leaving my job soon and finding it hard to muster up enthusiasm for projects I will never see the end of and being helpful to certain clients is more draining that usual.

After a grim day yesterday my lovely friend Jake cooked me dinner and bought me a bunch of flowers - such a sweet guy. It was thanks for giving him a snowboard - I didn't need it, I have far too many and he would be able to make much more use of it to learn on. Anyway if anybody is single and looking for love, Jake is your man - he is fun, quite handsome and in search of a proper relationship! I hear you ask what is wrong with him - he's actually a little too attractive and all of us suspicious women think that he naturally is a player and will not touch him with a barge pole.

I digress from knitting - Sarah (my new colleague) and I visited the knitting hut today - she is old friends with Sue who runs the shop. I managed to only buy 1 ball of yarn - I really want to make the koolhaas hat, I'd love the yak yarn that the pattern calls and I don't mind the $30 odd the yarn costs but I strongly object to paying more for the postage than the yarn costs and then import tax when it gets here grrrrr!

I bought some lovely pale blue silk/merino type yarn, not sure I have enough, since I had a dim moment a bought the one ball, only to look at the pattern and realise that it should be 100g ball not the 50g that I had bought - oh well can always buy another one! I really love the pattern and want to see if I can convert it into a sock too.

My Amazon habit is bad - I have a wish list that keeps growing and a budget that doesn't, but I did order a book today - Inspired Fair Isle Knits - I love love love colour work, I used to use my Mormor (Danish grandmothers) method of knitting with two strands, continental in one hand using different finger to lift the yarn in use up, but you end up with really long floats - they get caught up on things. Then I took a really good class with Debbie Abrahams last year and now knit with my usual continental in the left hand and English with my right - wrapping the floats makes for much neater knitting. I might teach my Mormor when she visits for Christmas - her knitting never ceases to amaze me, so fast and she can knit a whole Fair Isle jumper or cardie without a pattern in the round, she 'simply' sews it on the machine and steeks it! She has had a lot of practice I suppose.

Knittytastic weekend

Wow - what a great day I had on Saturday. I went to a class at the lovely Loop in Islington with the great Amy Singer of Knitty fame. The class was to help us to work on our lace knitting skills and started the Tuscany shawl from the no sheep for you book. It was also Amy's birthday - so happy birthday Amy and thank you for spending the day teaching!

I had some lush silk yarn that I purchased at Ally Pally - deep royal purple, it was much thicker than everybody else's - they were all using seasilk. I had bought some seasilk in periwinkle but for some reason decided to be different - Amy did liken it to drawing with big crayons, which I thought was rather apt and totally agree with. I really wanted some of the silken that was used in the book, but couldn't get any in time - pretty please someone in the UK, can you stock this! I also asked the wonderful Dee at Posh yarn if she had any of her silk left, but sadly she didn't - so chunky crayons for me. Actually it was great because the shawl grew really quickly and it was really easy to see any cock-ups.

The other people in the class were really fun - it was great to meet so many interesting knitters. Hello to all the lovely people I met! They were all really inspiring in their own way, particularly in giving me a good kick up the arse to get my blog sorted out and to put all my stuff onto Ravely!

I spent Sunday knitting and went to boarders for coffee with friends. I'm making a baby jacket - for my new godson - I can't believe I have been asked to be a godmother - I am really honored and excited. I am now busy sewing it all together, I actually really enjoy the making up process, I know lots of people can't stand it but I love making those neat seams and sewing in the ends (Although I do everything possible to reduce the number of ends!) good finishing can be the difference between homemade and handcrafted.

I'm trying to be good at the moment and not spend too much but I couldn't resist some cashmere yarn at Loop from Knitting Goddess.

Also this from Sunday's yarn at Posh yarn goodies - it's called Victoria and is an aran weight 50% cashmere 50% silk - I am finally going to make a clapotis!