Christmas Ornament Swap

I always mean to make some and never get round to it. So I thought that if I was in a swap to make them I'd make some extras and get to keep them. Plus the ones others send me. Hoorah! Click on the image below to join in.

Anyone can join in and SwapBot is free.

Knitting bag bonanza

Off I went yesterday, on the bus to lewisham to visit the most amazing fabric shop called 'Rolls n Rems'. There are three of them, I think, in London, but I've only ever been to this one. I really love it. I came out with some clear plastic sheeting, two cottons, a stretch cotton for a skirt, curtain fabric, iron-on interlining, 4oz wadding, buttons and a fabric marker for less than £25. Take a look at the fabric:

and some of the buttons.

These are for my button-up socks as they are all quite small.

Nearby are a couple of charity shops and one had patterns so i got these three.

I also splashed out on a huge bouquet of thistles and these pinky orange things. I can't remember what they are now.

And why was I buying all this fabric? As I said on the podcast (which I know has stopped working again - I am very annoyed with the hosts and have complained again - why do I have to spend so much time complaining? I really hate doing it) I have been spending quite a lot of time thinking about knitting bags. For many years I've been using tesco ziplock type things. They're efficient but not exactly sexy. I also have some drawstring type things that I've sewn in the past or bought. The problem with those is that you can't see what's in them and, if you have such a terrible number of UFOs as me that can be quite a hindrance. So, some thinking and many comments from people later and here we are.

I made 4 prototypes. My frist thought was to make a couple of half plastic and half fabric. These are the ones made of the yellow star fabric. I did wonder how to get these to close since the plastic is a bit thick to ruffle properly. And sure enough, exhibit A.

And exhibit B which wouldn't close properly at all.

I do love the fabric though - £3.60 a metre I think.

So then I moved on to the idea of using reverse applique to create windows. This is the first prototype.

The fabric is furnishing stuff and so quite thick. Not ideal but works pretty well. So being happy with this one I refined it a bit. I wanted to make the edges look neater while not having to do too much fiddling about. Plus I was wondering what would happen with a shaped window. Ta da!

I'm going to write up a pattern for people in case anyone wants to make their own! I'll definitely be making more.

As well as this sudden burst of sewing I've also been knitting away. The Noro socks continue, curse them.

The colours are (mostly) good but the yarn is just horrible. If only there was something like a cross between this and kauni but in sock yarn. Closest I've found is this but the colours get blurred when the plies don't match. I have got some of this stuff, incidentally, and it's pretty nice. Cheap too.

I've also started knitting a bathmat after deciding I don't like mine. I'm using the 10-stitch pattern from an old issue of SlipKnot. Going pretty nicely!

Using some aran cotton I got on ebay, held double. Pooch is very doubtful about this and thinks it will never stand up to his use. I told him that another knitter on ravelry said it was used by her and her husband and their two teenage sons. Pooch says his usage is equivalent to that of 5 fully grown men so I guess time will tell.

Thinking Time

I've been on a flying trip to Belfast. Literally flying actually - first time in about 18 months and the security stuff was rather a drag. Leaving belfast all my stuff got fingertip searched because I'd forgotten a can of deodorant. And then once I'd repacked everything I had to go back through security again. The posters at City Airport had a list of things you couldn't have in your bag and one of them was knitting needles. But during the minute search of everything she rummaged in my knitting bag and never said a word. I knitted on the plane there and back so all was well really.

They say travelling expands the mind, and it certainly gives you time to think. I have been spending much time thinking about the Kauni jumper. I got this lot out of the bookcase and had a rummage for ideas, answers and inspiration.

I ended up finding this in the Designing Knitwear book.

So that gave me the neckline and how many stitches to cast on IF I was going to go top down. But then while I was away I got thinking. It went something like this...

1. I'll knit it top down - then I can try it on as I go.
2. That means I'll need to map out the pattern including the increases from the neck down.
3. Ah. That's quite complicated.
4. Wait, this is a steeked cardigan, so trying it on as I go is going to be difficult.
5. What am I going to do about the arms? Whether I go top down or bottom up I'll need to get the colours to match where the arms join the body.
6. I'll probably need an extra ball to get this to work. But I've got 600g so that might be enough. Maybe.
7. So wait - if going top down doesn't bring the benefits I thought, should I just go bottom up. I've already worked out the waist and bust inc/dec to do that.
8. I still need to map out the pattern, but can play it a bit more by ear with the shaping.
9. If I do a fake side seam of a purl stitch I can use that to disguise mismatches in the pattern. ...Or I could forget that and have the pattern matching all the way round.
10. Oh my god. We're all going to die.

Which reminds me - remembering my previous post, has anyone seen this? http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

Meanwhile I've been slogging away on the noro socks. I really really don't like the yarn. I had a knot which changed purple to turquoise - and my opposing stripe was already turquoise so it wasn't working on so many levels.

I went to see Tropic Thunder at the cinema this afternoon. It was brilliant. The premise is one that has been done before but they did it well. I do like a lot of Ben Stiller's films and this was definitely his film. I don't mean in terms of screentime because everyone got a good amount, but he directed, wrote, produced, created, thought up etc etc the whole thing, although I did see one of the coen brothers credited for something at some point. They very cunningly got you to watch the end credits by having them accompanied by a dance. Not just any dance either. This is the dance of dances. And the dancer is someone so unexpected - the biggest surprise is that he doesn't just not appear on the posters, even as a name, but isn't menioned on the imdb site either. It's staggering since he's known for having a high profile even though he has gone a bit weird recently. I won't say anymore - but look out for him and his hairy knuckles. I didn't believe it was him the first time he appeared on the screen. Took a few minutes for me to finally believe it. Genius casting. Robert Downey Jr was very good too. I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang the other day too - I really rather like his acting.

The walk back from the cinema was rather lovely as it was just starting to get dark and the dock looked lovely.

It's been a lovely warm day. Guess there won't be many more, although on the plus side this means more scope for wearing handknits!

Podcast Working Now

I dunno. But whatever it was it is fixed now! Here or on Itunes. Hoorah!

Podcast and more

Let us forget about the buttocks and move on...

I had a day off today and spent it in style getting the rather delayed episode 16 of my podcast out. Sadly it's not downloading so you can't actually listen to it. Tsk. Have submitted a plea to the podbean site owners to fix it so will let you know when it is fixed.

I've also been dyeing my hair, catching up on my trash tv and pondering whether a top down raglan fairisle would work. What do you think? I can't help thinking it is chavvy but I can't think what has put that into my mind. I need to do some googling and see what's out there. Now this is nice. And as for this - if Eunny Jang thinks it's ok to do fair isle raglan then it must be ok. OK, I'm convinced. Now I just need to decide on a neckline. Kauni here I come.

My sister Sianybo got me a skein of noro sockyarn for my birthday in July. I finally got on with some socks in it after seeing some nice stripey ones on Ravelry. But...not loving it. The texture is pretty rough and the yarn changes from lace weight to DK with annoying frequency.

I'm glad I've used it though. It's an experience.

After I blogged on sunday I got a bit crafty and finished off my diary cover. This sucker has been hanging around since 2006. It was going to be a tanktop but I ran out of yarn. So some hardcore felting and trimming later...

I *love* it! It's so tactile and gorgeous. Very, very happy.

I also made a needlebook for a swap on swap-bot. The recipient listed daffodils as one of her favourite flowers.

To get my day of rest off to a good start I had a massage last night. This meant I was in Covent Garden so I popped into ArtBox, my latest favourite shop.

I really love the Happy Panda line. Don't ask me why. It just makes me laugh when I see it.

My miss-shapen buttocks

I got this lovely book from a Raveler after asking whether anyone had one to sell on the ISO group.

I got it from america with postage for £5 less than the Amazon UK listed price. I have never made a mobius out of knitting before so I decided to start with something a bit more basic than the knitters bowl that I have my eye on. So I went for the 'Fanny Basket'. Cat Bordhi describes how after she'd made it she realised it looked like a bottom. The result of a few hours knitting, using the aran left over from Pooch's jumper, was this:

Which after a go in the washing machine has ended up as this rather unlovely creation:

It's just not sexy. I might try felting it more but I don't see it getting any better. Ah well, let us not be discouraged. Onwards and upwards!

The SkipNorth website will be going live within the next hour or so. I'll be posting on the Ravelry Group and the Yahoo list when it actually happens. Very exciting!

Edited: Here it is!

SkipNorth 2009

Book Now!

Are we dead yet?

It's zero hour at CERN today, and it looks like we're not dead. As a person with a physics degree I've been asked to explain what the deal is with the black holes and stuff. Frankly, I don't know. I did my degree 7 years ago. I just dunno. The point is though, that it's cool. And if they find the Higgs Boson that's good and if they don't there's a whole lot of PhDs to be funded. But more importantly, Google have a good animation for it.

I clicked on it, just for fun, and you know on the right of the screen, where they have the paid for advertising? Well, I saw this one:

Genius.

Yarn Harlot liked my t-shirt

She said if I put them on ebay she would absolutely buy one. Thinks "I should put these t-shirts on etsy".

Anyway...

Yesterday really was brill. The organisation was excellent. Great stands and shopping. Fashion shows and catering. Places to sit. Charity projects. I'm very very happy. I caught up with loads of people I haven't seen for ages, met Gill from WoollyWorkshop and, most exciting, Stephanie Pearl McPhee was awesome AND she liked my t-shirt. It doesn't get much better than that.

I got some lovely things. Sock yarn x4:

Herdy t-shirt and notecards.

Denise organiser - this was my big buy. I told myself I'd wait til I got paid but then it was there and kind of wicked and so I just did it.

The buttons are ones I ordered from WoollyWorkshop for the bad cardi. I'm thinking the green leaf ones will be the best.

Lovely keyrings from the people who did the knitted gingerbread house.

And then there was this...

Yeeha! She was really lovely. And she had something real to say to everyone.

A great day.

Then I got back and last night and this morning I finished off Pooch's jumper. Ta da!

I am very pleased with it. All the details are on ravelry. Got the yarn at SkipNorth. It fits him nicely and the colours are perfect for him. Very happy with it!

A number of people asked me about the podcast yesterday, and have been messaging me about it on ravelry. So....I am going to do another one. I've got a day off in about a week's time so I'm going to plan it for then. It would be good to get back to them again.

Quickie pictures

Had an excellent day at the IKnit event in London. It really was brilliant. Here are a few pics. I'll blog more tomorrow.

Plus gratuitous Pooch shot wearing the bottom half of him jumper. It's a lot further on now - might even have it finished tomorrow.

Pooch's jumper

Not much to report here. Pooch's jumper continues nicely. It was my first meeting as a Director of the KCG yesterday and as the Birmingham trains from Euston weren't running it was 2.5 hours each way plus knitting at the meeting (even though I was taking minutes!). I finished the body and a whole sleeve and started on the second one. But I haven't bothered with a picture since blue and green stripes - well, they're basically just stripes aren't they. I did get a chance to have a good look at everyone else's projects though and a pair of gorgeous cat mittens are hovering on the edge of being added to my ravelry queue.

Next week I'm hoping to get the SkipNorth website up and running and also announce the pricing. It's all coming together very nicely and once again we've been able to keep the price down to a very reasonable amount. More next week though...

Hey Royal Mail, why don't you go screw yourselves?

Fucking c*nts.....I wish, I just wish, there was some alternative. I hate them. I goddamn hate them. Every single chance they get to misinform and waste my time...AAAARRRGGHHHHH!

Happy thoughts. Calm thoughts. Kittens. Balloons. Buttons. Ahhhhhh, buttons.

Look what arrived (at work of course - this is the only place post is getting to me at any more).

Loads of lovely buttons. It is the Ravelry button group travelling button box. I had it once before a few months ago and it has been round the world since then before coming back to me. Anyone can join so hop on the discussion board if you fancy it. These are what I took out:

And what I put in, including some lovely handpainted ceramic ones:

There have been more stitchmarkers being produced too. Green and purple themes. The green ones are as an angel since their real partner bailed on them.

After some frustration and a certain amount of panic (stitch holder sprung open anyone? Eeek)

The bad cardi is done! I've got buttons on order from Woolly Workshop so it won't be properly finished til the IKnit day but the body is all done.

I'm really happy with it!

I've also been working on a present for my sister and a christmas present too! I know it's a bit early but I'm wondering about how many presents to try and knit this year vs buy and thought I'd do this one while I felt like it. I've also started a jumper for Pooch which I've had the yarn for since SkipNorth 2008. I love it and Pooch has solemnly promised to love it too and not tumble dry it. I'll be taking it on the train to the KCG Directors meeting on Saturday.

The green is greener than it looks - a kind of moss green which matches his lovely eyes.