Merry Christmas

Or at least it will be by the time I have finished this... This is a picture of christmas at our house, our first together - I'm actually a little bit nervous, hope I don't burn dinner!

I'm going back to Newcastle on Saturday to spend time with my family, but hopefully might be able to fight my way to the computer for a couple of hours.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas is coming! (When did that happen?)

I had big plans in September - I was planning to knit something for just about anyone I had ever met. However, despite a massive list of people/things to knit I did not start.

By November I realised that I may actually need to start, but that I probably needed to take some people off the list.

By December I had started my knitting and was making good progress on my Mum's scarf, my main concern was my hat for my Dad. (We already know that is finished and handed over) but surprisingly after 2 weeks of practically no knitting I am now VERY behind with the lace scarf for my Mum. Argh! At least I am not going up to Newcastle until the 27th, but I'm not sure how happy national express will be with me trying to block a scarf on the train! Hmm I might have to think about finishing that a bit sooner.....

I have started the second sleeve of my first jumper - I know it would have made more sense to knit some of the scarf, but it's not really TV knitting. It is a really lovely pattern (Branching Out by Susan Laurence) and for some people it would be really easy, but this is my first lace project and needs a lot of attention!

Looks great though:
Best of luck for everyone else and their Christmas knitting, I'm planning to post again before Christmas, but who knows, I might actually knuckle down and tidy the house or finish my knitting :)

Found it!

Yippee I have (finally) found the cable for my camera and will be keeping it with me at all times from now on! Anyway here are the missing photos from previous posts:

This is how my lovely needle holder looks in my bedroom - it has most of my needles in (but not all just yet!)















These are the Bakelite needles that I have put to one side to offer to the Guild. They are sooooo brittle and some are a little bit faded.















This is a picture of my completed, blocked hat for my Dad for Christmas. I'm really pleased with it - I have actually already given it to him - I think he liked it!









This is the tiny sock keyring which I knitted one day last week. I really enjoyed making it - and I think it looks really cute. I bought the mini sock blocker online ages ago and the pattern came with it. I can't remember what the yarn is called, it came from a kit to make a floppy beret which i finished last month. I only had a tiny bit left over so made this and an iPod cover (still to finish!)















And finally, this is the little Polar Bear Christmas tree decoration which I knitted as a Christmas present. I really like it, and the pattern was really simple (Simply Knitting Advent Tree).

Knitting Needles Everywhere!

I'm not feeling very festive (for various reasons), but I am really happy with my Christmas present from my Mum - my new needle holder! I absolutely fell in love with it when I spotted it on EBay. I would really like to find out ore about Robinoid (which is the brand on the front). I am gutted that the price information on the back is torn so I can't work out the date of it, some exciting knitting research for the future I think!

Oh yeah the best bit/big problem is that it came with 250+ pairs of needles! Mostly pretty small sizes all still in their original packaging, (in fact my poor boyfriend described our house as looking like a 'crack den' as the floor was littered with needles for couple of days while I was sorting through the sizes).

To dispose of this mass of needles I have:

• Filled out my own needle collection (at least 2 pairs of each size)
  
• Given some to the 3 other knitters in my office
• Stored some in the office (for knitting emergencies)
• Put some aside to give to my Mum
• Put some aside to give to my Boyfriends Mum
• Given some to one of the researchers at work
• Taken out all the Bakelite needles to offer to the Knitting and Crochet Guild Collection

And I still have loads in my drawer at work! Is anyone interested? I think they range from 2mm-about 3 3/4mm and one Tunisian crochet hook (5.5mm).

Just let me know (I fear they are no longer welcome in my flat.......)

P.S I did have a lovely photograph of my needleholder in all its glory (i.e full of my stuff) but my camera lead has gone walkabout so I guess that will just have to wait for another day. Sorry)

I love it!

I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it

Have I mentioned that I love it?

Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow. (Quote by Horace)

I think the knitting fates have just had a hand in persuading me to design something.
Ever since I went to an amazing fair isle class at I Knit London, I have been desperate to do some stranded colour work.

I had decided that as soon as I had finished my Christmas knitting (still no further with that - it does actually help if you pick it up once in a while though!) that I would cast on some fingerless gloves. I currently have a pair which I knitted as one of my first ever projects a few years ago now, they are pale grey (a perfect dirt magnet) don't fit brilliantly and annoy me because I can see all the beginners mistakes I made - there is one row where all the stitches are twisted and some of the ribbing is a bit well wrong.

So I thought about designing my own pattern, made a few sketches. Started a tension square (possibly a first for me) and then discovered the Endpaper mitts.

I had seen the pattern before, but never really appreciated just how nice those fingerless gloves were. They moved straight to the top of my Ravelry queue (behind other Christmas things) and I thought that was that, I'll cast them on as soon as possible.

But while ogling at the Ravelry page today, I read some of the comments saying that people are unable to access Eunny's blog - I thought little of it, I only read it last month. But it's true I am completely unable to access it either! Argh that blog was amazing - I had planned to refer back to the steeking examples in years to come. So farewell Endpaper mitts - I guess I'd better go get my colouring pencils and squared paper!

(Hopefully though Eunny's blog will return and normality will be restored)


Update - I can now access the page again - panic over, still might design something of my own though......

"Do not wait; the time will never be "just right.".......

...........Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." Quote from Napoleon Hill.

I'm not really sure why I have decided to start a blog right now - especially while I am in the midst of a "knitting crisis", but I suppose it's because most of my knitting is either languishing in the freezer/waiting to be rewound/boxed up in the shed trying to avoid this apparent moth infestation. The moths obviously knew that it is Christmas knitting time - hit her where it hurts!

I say apparent infestation, because although I have seen some indication that moths have moved in with us...

1. The caterpillar that dropped out of the cowl when I started knitting it last week. (My poor boyfriend had no idea what was going on, he was calmly making dinner when I ran in basically emptied our tiny ice-box freezer of food and stuffed in any yarn that had not been in a plastic box.) This tiny creature was enough to panic me on its own, no other evidence required.

2. But then during my mass anti-moth cleaning this weekend (- including hoovering under/behind furniture!) I discovered that we have some very suspicious bare patches of carpet with a few cocoons scattered around them. Hmmm... I was not happy!

Yet I still have not seen an actual moth - and trust me I have been looking! A rogue fly entered the house yesterday and even my boyfriend was concerned that this maybe one of the moths which had turned his one relatively normal girlfriend into some moth obsessed maniac!

I am trying to persuade myself that the caterpillar was some freak accident, you know like fish or frogs falling from the sky before tornadoes. However this really does not seem like a plausible explanation - does it?