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.