I'm going outside

On December 14th 1911 Roald Amundsen and a team of four men were the first people to reach the South Pole. He, and all his men reached their base safely on the 25th of January.
More famous, in the UK at leas,t is Sir Robert Falcon Scott who reached the pole on the 17th January 1912, almost 4 weeks later, also with a team of four men. On the journey back to their base, all five of them perished due to a combination of exhaustion, starvation and scurvy.

For most of the 20th century Scott was labelled as a tragic hero. His bravery, and that of his team (who doesn't remember the reported last words of Captain Titus Oats, who left the tent in a blizzard to die saying "I am going outside, I may be some time") was considered fact. It was only in the latter stages of the 20th century that people started to question the causes of the disaster.

I have done a fair amount of reading on the race to the South Pole, and find it fascinating. Looking at the vastly different missions, why one failed so monumentally and one succeeded is truly interesting to me. That's why when making the choice between Celestarium and Southern Skies, both by Audry Nicklin, I decided to go for Southern Skies.

For the circular cast on I used TechKnitter's belly button method and found it much easier than the previous methods I've tried.

And I am so very in love with this shawl. My beads arrived yesterday and so I spent the evening on the sofa figuring out beading. I'd already started the shawl, so pre-stringing them was out. I bought a tiny crochet hook for beading, but at 0.5mm it is too small. In the end, I am using dental floss (link to how it should be done here, about half way down the page), but I have no idea what dental floss threaders are, so I am using regular dental floss and a sewing needle. It works, and the shawl will be ever so slightly minty fresh.

It's my first time beading, and look, look how very pretty the little beads are! I am charmed by each and every tiny one of them at the moment.
I should also warn Ben that I'll not be cooking complicated meals or doing much housework for a while. Or going out. All I want to do is sit on the sofa and knit this shawl.
Did you see the tiny beads? Very few things currently charm me as much as those beads.

I am struck by the eternal tragedy that even I am not silly enough to try and do beaded knitting on public transport. This will have to be a stay at home project. That does give me a remote chance of finishing some deadline knitting though.

Commute

I left my travel pass in the pocket of my coat this weekend. I left my coat in the car of a friend of mine in Birmingham. On Monday I took my usual route to work (two busses and two trains) and it came in costing around £15. In order to save money until my pass arrives (it's in the post) I am now going entirely by bus to and from work. 

I could retake this picture but I think the slight blurring shows how delighted I am that my first bus of the day is at 6:33.

I have no idea why getting one bus earlier (usual time of first bus is 6:55) and not getting any trains is as grim as it is, but it is. Trains are faster, less impacted my traffic and the whole experience just isn't as rubbish. 

On the plus side, I love watching the sun rise over the amazing countryside we have here.

On the down side, as I write this on the bus, my feet are sticking to the floor. 

Twelve and a half hours out of the house does not make for leisurely cooking in the evenings, especially as we didn't make a meal plan for this week. 

Last night we had a hodgepodge bake, a more substantial cauliflower cheese with sliced potatoes, roasted onions and sausages. I would have taken a picture, but I was pretty tied and cauliflower cheese (even a variation that's substantial and works as a full meal) doesn't ever really look exciting. 

Still, it was good and would have yielded enough for lunch had I not left it in the kitchen in my hurry to leave the house this morning. 

I finished my orbit shawl. I was so happy! I will block it at some point very soon and post pictures.

I must admit that while the attached icord bind off felt like it would never (ever) end, it gives a lovely edge. 

I am waiting so eagerly for my beads to arrive for Southern Skies. I got a cone of King Cole Merino 4-ply (500g, 2000m, 100% wool) for this project, and it's going to be so very lovely. The other day I actually cast it on and knit up to the point where I would need the beads, so there is about an inch of circular knitting on DPNs just looking at me in the living room. Maybe they'll arrive today?

Maybe my travel pass will arrive today and I won't write rambling blog posts during a combined 4 1/2 hours on busses. I even want the travel pass to arrive more than the beads. After all , my feet are sticking to the floor right now. 

It's too early...

We are starting to get to the point in the year where a bunch of my knitting becomes things that I can't blog about.

I'm involved in the Rowan Tree (rav group link) Christmas exchange, which involves knitting something for my partner, so obviously I can't blog about that (except to say it is on the needles and going well).

Himself gets Christmas socks each year (or at least he did last year, he may or may not be getting some this year). So if hypothetically he were getting Christmas socks then it could be thought that I would either have started knitting them or be preparing to start knitting them soon. If he were getting some, of course. Which I'm not saying he is. But if I were, I certainly couldn't put pictures of any hypothetical progress on the blog, just in case he read it.

I also signed up for a second year for the UK Sock Knitters Secre Santa Swap. I did this last year and enjoyed it very much indeed.

So while I rail against talking about Christmas too early, I am also feeling like I have to plan ahead, what with the knitting I may or may not be doing.

I was massively optimistic thinking that I would finish orbit on Sunday.

I would say the BO is about half done. Part of the problem I think is that I got all excited when I finished the body of the shawl that it was nearly done. I didn't realise that the bind off would take so long, and be such a slog.

The colour in this picture is much brighter and more neon than the real colour. I am however trying to get these pictures on my phone, so please bear with me.

Speaking of bad phone pictures, I promised a picture of my finished aletia, so while I hope you excuse the quality of the picture (mobile phone, I was in a hurry, I hate photos of the sweaters I knit etc), here it is.

I feel like it looks better in person. This might not be the case, but I like it, and it's warm. My friend Arianwen gifted me the yarn which is ankara by veritas. I'd never heard of it. It is a 40% wool, 15% mohair, 25% nylon, 20% acrylic blend (which probably means the sweater will last forever). I have tendencies towards yarn snobbery, but this yarn surprised me. It knit up nicely, and it looks good. It didn't do that awful acrylic squeek when I knit it. I think I need to evaluate in future just how snobby I get about yarn.

The yarn for my Southern Skies shawl has arrived. I'm waiting for the beads to arrive. I am so so excited to cast this on. I've loved the pattern since I first saw it. I also have a small obsession with Scott of the Antarctic and Roald Amundsen and their race to the South Pole (this is not something you want to get me talking about in person unless you want to know LOTS on this topic), and so the whole concept of the shawl utterly charmed me.

However I have promised myself that I will not cast it on until orbit is done. That has to be motivation alone for finishing it.

Yes, I am bribing myself through the bind off. Shhh.

Planning

Sometimes I hit a run of being organised. The first three weeks in the new job for example, I was super organised in terms of food. I had menu plans, I had shopping lists, everything was sorted. We shopped at the weekends, we soaked and cooked beans, we made use of extra time at the weekends to freeze things. I had a list of jobs that needed to be done each night to make sure that dinner was on the table with a minimum of fuss.
It should be noted here that I have a pretty long commute, as does Ben.

Week four, I relaxed about it. What happened? Stress, eating more junk than usual, takeout and a total unwillingness to get on the scale first thing this morning.

So while utterly not logging my food or eating well this weekend (the haggis and cheese sandwich on Saturday lunchtime was a revelation, I must say) we made a menu plan.

I'll admit that I hoard cookery books. I love them, but when I don't menu plan, I get all my recipes from blogs or the internet. Then the cookery books just feel like they are taking up space and gathering dust. Not ideal.
My favourite cookbook at the moment has to be this:
 (picture stolen from amazon, hence the look inside bumf)

I love that vegan food makes me eat more vegetables. I love the recipes from this book that I've tried (my favourite being 40 clove chickpeas and broccoli which sounds odd but tastes amazing). I'd also recommend this woman's website post punk kitchen as there are some awesome recipes there. I love the broccoli udon curry.

When we menu plan we save money and reduce waste. This week one recipe needed lemon zest, so we factored in another recipe that needs lemon juice. That kind of using stuff up frugality makes me deeply happy. It also reduces my stress. There is a horrid feeling when I'm sitting at work worrying about what to have for dinner, what's in the cupboards, what's healthy, and on and on.

Having a plan frees up mental space for other things, like work. Or, you know, how long a 500st attached icord bind off on a shawl takes.

The answer to that on is a long, long, long time.I'm being good though - it is the only thing I am taking to knitting with me tonight, so it might get done.

Note to self: attached icord bind offs are not your friend. They will lure you in with pictures of pretty edges and promises of that little extra weight, but it is a trap. Don't fall for it again.

Socks to be

I went to yarndale yesterday. It was wonderful, actually. We went very early so we were there when it opened, and we left after a couple of hours, just when it was starting to get really busy.

I picked up a couple of beautiful things. Some lovely fibre, and some yarn. Then today I took pictures of my favourite yarns to put on my ravelry stash page. Lots of things that I've had for a while and haven't put up yet. It's not that I went mad at yarndale - though I think it'll be a while before I get any more yarn.

Here are the fibres I got. I was down to my last 100g of fibre, and I think I've been spinning less because I was worried about running out. So hopefully I can start spinning again now. These are from a company called Laal Bear and they are lovely.

I've also been thinking about sock yarn as I was taking pictures of it. I adore sock yarn, and it's dreadfully easy to justify just one little skein more. I love the colours, and that you can get a whole project out of one skein. Some things I have two skeins of  because I want to knit long socks for Ben. But mostly, I just get the one skein (and think to myself that I can always stripe with black, or add contrasting toes and heels if I knit socks for him).

Above is a colourway called Boisenberry with which I've wanted to knit Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Earl Grey socks.

And on the left is some stunning yarn that Ben happily described as being in Chicago Bears  colours. So I want to knit him a pair of plain socks (maybe with the princess sole that he has requested) in those colours. It's from A Stash Addict who I met at yarndale, and I was really impressed with the yarn she had. She and the person running the stall with her were both lovely. I did very well to buy just these two skeins and not All The Things.



Easyknits do 150g skeins of fingering weight yarn called Big Boy which I think is a glorious idea. I picked one up yesterday at yarndale in the wonderful colourway "Marmalade" - see the picture on the right.






But when it really comes to yarns for me, I tend towards the darker colours, the greys, the blues. Even with socks I tend to go for the more subtle shades.

 On the left is some easyknits deeply wicked sock in a colourway called Deadly Embrace, and on the right is some yarn that is probably destined to become a shawl. It's from Eden Cottage Yarns and the photo really doesn't do it justice.


I finished a sweater the other day, and today the plan is to finish a shawl today. I'm on the edging, which sounds like I'm going to get it done soon, but it's a 500+ st bind off with attached icord edging. There are reasons I decided to take pictures of my stash today!

I'm going to try to blog more often. I started a new job just under a month ago, and it's been taking a lot of my time. The commute is longer than I'm used to, and getting up to speed is taking some time. Still, work/life balance is a good thing, and I like blogging.

Next time I am going to post some pictures of finished things - the sweater, the orchid thief (that needs blocking) and hopefully the shawl that needs the icord edging.

Out of alignment

After a crazily busy month, this Sunday is a day of rest and I can't emphasise enough how much it is needed.
In the past month we have been to three weddings, I have a new job and just as an example of the business yesterday we helped load the van for the company who runs our LARP (it is the main event of the season next week) and then had friends over for the evening. A day off is very welcome.

It is going to be an especially relaxing day for me as I dislocated and broke my little toe yesterday, so I am currently on the sofa with it elevated, and have been informed that I am to not move from this spot. Why yes, there are pain killers in my life, thank you for asking.

A full day of knitting sounds perfect to me, though there are some hiccups.
The shawl sample I am knitting for easyknits is one thing where there is a hiccup. The pattern is Orbit and it is my first attempt at a circular shawl. It is pretty, the yarn is lovely, and everything was going swimmingly. Until I thought to myself "gosh, there are quite a few rows to go, and not much yarn left". So I weighed the yarn and it came in at 11.4g, with more than ten 500+st rows to go.
I knit doggedly on (after having PMd the designer) and lo and behold, I have run out of yarn.

That is on hold while I wait for Jon to get back to me.

I think today may be a day for continuing to knit my Orchid Thief. With a fair wind, I may be able to get close to completion.

I am supposed to be knitting a water bottle carrier for the event next weekend. The pattern calls for cotton yarn and so I am double stranding dishcloth cotton with some leftover Rowan Tweed I had kicking around the stash. The truth of it is, though, that I hate knitting with dishcloth cotton, so I am disinclined to do anything to it.
Is having a broken and very sore foot an excuse for knitting exactly what I want instead of what I ought?

First cooking post

The title of the post promises knitting, spinning and cooking and so far there has been a distinct lack of food posts. That is mostly because I have been making old staples, easy food that doesn't take a massive amount of time to cook. In a future post I will link to some favourite recipes (this is another link free mobile post).

About eight years ago I started getting a veg box delivered in a desperate attempt to get myself to eat more vegetables. When I was growing up while my mother loved vegetables my dad only really liked sweet corn, and I think that made it acceptable for us as children to not bother developing a taste for vegetables. I've been trying to reeducate my palate ever since. 

The theory behind the veg box was that the vegetables would arrive and because I hate waste I would be forced to eat them and hopefully over time learn to like them. 

And to a massive extent it has worked. My fidelity to veg boxes has waxed ad waned over the years based on my financial situation at the time, but right now is a veg box phase. 

And cauliflower is the bane of my life. I don't much like it, we often get them, and every time one arrives B suggests cauliflower cheese. The whole point (to me) of eating more vegetables is health, and so to slather the cauliflower in a cheese sauce twice a month kind of defeats the purpose of eating the bloody thing in the first place. I tend to suggest things like a daal with phanch phoran, but we have run out of both the right daal, and the spice mix, and so I had to get creative. 

Thus last night we had roast cauliflower fajitas. I roasted the cauliflower with a chopped yellow pepper and a sliced onion coated with a teaspoon of oil and a generous coating of fajita seasoning. We then wrapped this with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and salad in tortillas. 

The cauliflower mix took about 20 minutes in the oven and I was amazed at how good it was. It's another one for the list of 'dishes where you don't miss meat' for me, and I think it will become part of a regular rotation for us. 

In knitting news things (sock, orchid thief, blanket squares) have been mostly pushed to the side. I signed up to help easyknits make some samples for an upcoming pattern book and the yarn arrived earlier this week. 

The pattern is a circular shawl and this will be the first one I've knitted in fingering weight yarn. It's currently the size of a large doily and over 200 stitches. 

The yarn is easyknits deeply wicked. I am

Not sure of the name of the colour way, but the colour is so bright and vibrant. In the skein I hated it a little but the more I knit with it the more I find it really cheerful. 

I also sneak in a mitred square for the blanket every now and then. They're so little and cute and brainless for when I'm exhausted. 

Startitus

I tried to resist. I really did, but I have somewhat given in to my natural inclination to start All The Things. 

It happened after I blogged on Saturday. I was swatching away for the Ink cardigan (please excuse the lack of links this post, I am blogging on the move again) and my eye fell across a copy of Brave New Knits that my friend lent me. So I idly flicked through to The Orchid Thief, which has been in my queue forever and is beautiful and by Ysolda. Then I casually went across to my stash, and I lazily picked up some yarn. 

The next thing I knew this had happened:

The yarn is more burgundy than this photo shows. But I am now nearly done with the repeats of chart 3, with only (only! Ha! We all know that's where the yardage is) the edging to go. And I love it. 

So I acknowledged my slip and promised myself I would finish the socks. This happened yesterday. 

They don't quite match but considering I didn't try to make them match, it's not bad. This is the fifth pair of socks that I have made for him indoors, and I feel we have reached a point where he is very understanding about my desperate need for more yarn when he is gifted socks fairly regularly. It's a compromise I can certainly live with. 

But on the train I hadn't any other knitting with me, and so I knit a couple of little mitred squares. 

I am so utterly charmed by them. Absurdly charmed. So I plan to knit more, and in a good few years will hopefully have a sock yarn blanket. Eventually. I am not being unrealistic about the fact that this will take forever. 

But I still needed some train knitting. 

Yes. More socks. Yarndale is coming up, and I think more socks will help smooth that along rather nicely. Links to yarn and pattern next post. No one is going to look at this picture and go 'wow, best pattern ever, what on earth is it?' Principally because you can't see the pattern yet. It's a toe. 

When I get back (I am away for three days at a wedding) I will need to cast on a shawl for a sample I am knitting (more details later) and I do want to actually cast on for Ink. A friend and I have agreed to do a KAL for it. So if there is time, I should at least aim to finish The Orchid Thief before I cast anything else on. 

What are the chances?

Lazy weekend

This is a mostly lazy weekend for us. We were at the wedding reception of a coworker of mine last night, and we are attending the weddings of friends for the next two weekends, so we scheduled some much needed down time.

As such, I felt it was the perfect time to start a new project. I've had a 500g cone of King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply in my stash since a birthday trip to Texere earlier this year. It's this lovely shade of grey, and I have been indecisive as to what to use it for.

I finally decided on Ink by Hanna Maciejewska. I bought the pattern and realised that I didn't have needles small enough. The pattern recommends 3mm and 3.5mm needles, and while I have 3.5mm circs, the designer also notes that she is a loose knitter. I am not. I am a ridiculously tight knitter.
Thus today I swatch.

I am not a fan of swatching. Once I have decided on a project I want to be knitting it, like yesterday. But I always end up with sweaters with a mildly disappointing fit, so swatching it is. And maths. And measuring myself. So today I will swatch and wash the swatch and dry the swatch and contemplate the swatch and measure myself and then contemplate the two together. Yes, I am muttering under my breath over here.

In other news the sock progresses, and I skeined some of my handspun.

It still amazes me on every single level that it actually looks like yarn. Real, live yarn that I made myself.

The blue is about 200 yards of roughly DK weight, and that's enough to make an actual something. No idea what yet. I'm happy for it to just sit in my stash for a while looking exactly like proper yarn.

Blogging from a bar

So today I am blogging from the pub. I'm using the blogger app and I hope it works. I want to try to keep up blogging at least a couple of times a week, and that means blogging on the move this week (nice try app, changing the word 'move' to 'love' there, but I caught you).

I have been progressing on the socks. I promised myself that I would pass the heel of the second sock before I cast anything else on, and I achieved that this morning. 

Yes, the red counter top of the bar I'm in looks awful with the sock on it. Needs must, I'm afraid. And you can see still my provisional cast on down by the toe. Still, past the heel. Now hours of mindless 2x2 rib until I run out of yarn. 

I figure this to now be a commuting project, or a project for when I am exhausted and my brain won't function. 

I have been thinking about what else to knit. I want something more complicated, and my current WIPs aren't really speaking to me. I am thinking of a sweater. In fact, I am almost decided on Ink by Hanna Maciejewska (apologies for the lack of link). I have a cone of very pale grey King Cole 4-ply sitting in stash that I think would work very well. I will swatch soon. Yes, I swatch. 

I think I'm also going to spend some time reading Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog which I got a couple of months ago. I see maths in my future, but a sweater that fits well is worth it. 

It occurs to me that I have posted at least one picture of a WIP with a pint and now I am blogging from a bar. Yes, it is true, I like real ale. It has only been a couple of years since I started drinking ale, and I like it a lot. There are so many small breweries starting up, at least two pubs in my town that brew for example. I think it's wonderful, and exciting, and I feel like I could draw parallels between small beer producers and small indie dyers. 

If you also like real ale, I would recommend the app untappd. It's free and lets you log what you're drinking and (if you like) where you are drinking it. It even gives you badges. Incentivised drinking seems silly, but as with everything else I think moderation is key. 

On the subject of ale, I would recommend a project of some friends of mine who are reviewing every bar in Leeds city centre: www.leedsbeer.info

So I shall post this blog and await my other half with my sock and a pint. 

Socks, spinning and why I'm a bad Domestic Goddess

Since returning from LARP, I've been mainly trying to catch up on sleep. The 10am-2am LARP schedule can be quite punishing, and I always have some trouble getting back into a normal sleep routine on my return.
I have, however been doing some knitting and some spinning.

I've finished one of the socks, and have made a start on the second. They aren't going to match, but I was aiming for the longest socks I could get. B tends to wear hand knit socks at LARP, and it is useful when they are long enough to go over the top of his boots. When the ball weighed about 65g I used the balance at work to split the yarn into two and knit the first sock until I ran out of yarn. On trying on the sock it looks like had I knitted much longer I would have had to consider some calf shaping.
I love the yardage on this yarn (it is Wendy Roam).

I have mostly been spinning though. The heat we have been having means my hands are slightly damper than usual (nice, right?) and that makes knitting less comfortable.

I've been spinning the blue/green 70s merino. I have finished the spinning, getting two and a half bobbins of singles.

I've plied one of te full bobbins, getting about 85m of yarn.

My spinning is still somewhat uneven, but the yarn certainly looks okay. I'm hoping to ply the rest tonight, and am hoping for about 200m. Enough to make a cowl or a hat, but in all honestly I think I'll mostly be looking at it for a while. And stroking it. And feeling a little smug.

Next up I am torn between spinning this:

which is 35g of 70s merino from Mill House Designs, or this:

which is 100g of superwash BFL from easyknits and is so beautiful I want to wear it like a crown.
I'd like to try some chunky yarn, so may experiment with the purple merino for that.

I can't actually recommend Jon over at easyknits highly enough. Every time I have dealt with them he has been friendly and professional and his yarn and fibre are simply delicious. If you haven't already, check out the web page.

Today has mostly been a day of domesticity. We have cleaned the fridge, defrosted the freezer and hung some curtains in the living room (thank you Arianwen!). I've lived here for nearly three years and have only just gotten round to hanging curtains. I'm not the most adept of domestic goddesses, it must be said. I have also learned today that when I put things in the freezer, even if I am certain that I will recognise whatever it is when I come to use it, I will not. I have a bag of something that is either cookie dough or mushroom sauce. And that is one of the most identifiable things in there. It is perhaps less than ideal.

I've reread The Millennium Trillogy by Steig Larson recently, after getting copies of the films. I had forgotten how good the books were, and would highly recommend them. As with so many people, it is a shame that Mr Larson died as early as he did.

Live Action Roleplay

I've been a little quiet these past few days, and that's principally because I've been in a field doing another of my main hobbies, live action roleplay, often abbreviated to LARP or LRP (for the traditionalists). LARP is a somewhat nerdy hobby full of fantasy and adventure, and I've met a distressingly large proportion of my friends there.

Photo credit Steve "The Flasher" Mitchell

The system I go to runs four main events per year in the summer, and any number of smaller events through the winter months. It's a fantasy LARP, meaning you might be interacting with goblins, ogres, fae, deamons and various other fantasy races.

Photo credit Tom Hughes

Incidentally, that shawl is Baskerville (link to my project) by Beth Kling. I must get a better picture of it sometime soon.

This past event there was a tea party, there was a rigged election, and my character nearly died. Only the once, though, and that isn't bad going for me.

I'm looking forward to the next event in six weeks time.

In the meantime, I need to get on with the socks I'm knitting, and try not to give in to my tendency towards startitus.

Thoughts on stash

I wonder sometimes if other people (and by this I mean knitters, crocheters and spinners) spend as much time thinking of their stash as I do.

Some days I look at the stash and I think "gosh, that's a lovely lot of yarn" - I have enough yarn that I can make lots of socks. I have at least three sweater quantities of yarn. I can make loads of things with the stash I currently have.

But every now and then (sometimes after looking at pictures of other people's stash on ravelry, or spending time with a friend who has a lot more yarn than I do) I get a vague feeling of panic at the stash not being enough.

It's a silly thought. I could knit quite happily from stash for probably 18 months. Maybe two years. Possibly more. That, by no stretch of the imagination, is "not enough yarn". And in the stash are some beautiful things. I have yarn from a llama. I have hand dyed yarn. I have yarn with cashmere, and yarn with alpaca.
On the other hand, the stash fits into one small bookcase with overflow into a small basket next to the fireplace. I am not one of those people whose stash sort of leaks into other areas of the house.

It occurs to me that instead of justifying that I need more yarn because of some worrisome sheep-disease that will soon mean there is no more wool (yes, I do worry about this), that perhaps at some point soon I need to sort through the stash and remember that there is a lot of yarn there.

And not a lot of fluff, but certainly some.

I think also I need to stop comparing my stash to other people's in some kind of absurd "whose is bigger" game. I like my stash. On bad days there is just enough to build a decent yarn fort, and really, what more can a knitter ask for?

Spinning and stash enhancemet

I am teaching myself to spin. I bought a second hand (third? fourth? who knows) Ashford Traditional a few months ago from a friend of a friend, and she is just beautiful. As I said in my intro post, I call her Alice.

For the first few weeks I was spinning fluff that came with it, but then I decided that I wanted something more colourful so I bought some lovely hand dyed fluff, stocked at my LYS but by Mill House Designs. It's 70s merino, not that I am very sure of what the first part of that means.

Still, it is fun to spin.

Because there were only about 35g I chain plied them. This also keeps the colour changes consistent.

And here are some singles that I am currently spinning, 100g of more 70s merino.

When this is done I'll also chain ply it.

I have some fibre on the way from easyknits that I am excited about.

In terms of stash enhancement, on the way to the BBQ yesterday we stopped for yarn. I was gifted (B is rather good to me sometimes) some sock yarn. It may be possible to see a little enlightened self interest in the gift, but I am not complaining.

It's called Teddy Cozy Toez and it's a 75/25 merino/nylon blend. I have no experience yet of this yarn, but it was very affordable. I got 200g of each in order to make very long socks for B, and the black I want to stripe with some easyknits sock club yarn that I have in my stash. The yardage isn't enough for a decent pair on it's own, but with the black it should look amazing.

At the BBQ last night there were probably the cutest cats I have seen in some time, so I took pictures.

I may be in negotiations with the letting agent about getting some cats of our own. Watch this space.

So what am I working on right now?

Currently I am working to a deadline to get a third haruni made for a friend's wedding. It's in cascade yarns heritage solids quatro colors in a kindof bottle green. There are 4 bridesmaids, of whom I am one, and so I have been bevering away while the bride made the 4th.
Last night was spent this way

I have't reached the 2nd chart yet, so it is more than possible to knit and have a beer at the same time.

I've put down a sock in order to get the haruni done, and am looking forward to getting back to it.

They are a mindless 2x2 rib for B, who has the sad combination of very large feet and a love for handknit socks. I am slowly working on making him a drawer full. This will be pair number five, so there is some way to go. I'm using Wendy Roam which is a lovely hardwearing (if not particularly soft) sock yarn.

I tried to make B a pair of socks using the most beautiful Laughing Yaffle sock yarn, but reached about halfway up the leg of the first sock and realised that there would not be enough yarn for the pair.

Here they are, quite early on. Aren't they lovely?
Still, I have decided to frog them and make green and black striped socks. After the current socks are off the needles, of course.

Today, as it's a beautiful day, I will be having a BBQ with friends.
Feels like summer has actually arrived!

The start of things

An attempt (my second, in truth) to start a blog. Hopefully this time I shall be a more dedicated blogger and not write five posts over the course of two years and then stop, leaving the poor little blog languishing in cyberspace, unloved, uncared for, unwritten.

We will see.

I'm 30. I live in the somewhat occasionally grim north of the UK. I knit (a lot). I started to spin recently on a beautiful Ashford Traditional who I named Alice. Having been knitting for about 8 years now, it is really interesting to start at the very bottom of a skill knowing nothing at all.
I like to cook, and hopefully will be posting about that also. And read. I like to read.

I think one day maybe I would like to learn to sew, but that is on the backburner for now.

The motivation for blogging is mainly a vague sense that it looks like it might be fun.

So here we go. Welcome to my corner of the internet. I will post later about tour de fleece, current WIPs, and what I wish I were knitting if I didn't have a deadline.

Happy Friday.