Set a knitter to catch a knitter, or sheep.

Baaaaaaaaaa!

First let up reflect on the beauty os sequins. For lo! Is there a sequin that is not as beautiful as a summer's day or as round as a circle. I love sequins but only subtly - not in those sequin cardigans or anything. So in my long-term plan to knit a lengthways scarf I am including beautiful pink sequins. Because, as I might have mentioned, I love sequins.

I might be repeating myself, but I like sequins. Hence my decision to spin yarn with the 'love' sequins in it. And even though it is only in its early stages the hat knitted of the aforementioned yarn is already adorning my head.


It has been a week of good post this week and what could be better than the first parcel form my secret pal arriving after being sent to me, returned to her as undeliverable, and sent back to me. And in it was some divine linen/viscose mix in blues.

Now I know I'm getting obsessed, but does this also say socks to you? Garter stitch or lengthways maybe? But then that would be to hide them away. I know what you're thinking now though - mitred square, dude. I have been meaning to knit one or two of these and make them into a stonking great something for ages but still haven't. Then make the squares into a bag perhaps? Dude, I don't know. But you can be damn sure it'll be good. There was also a chocolate bar!!!!!!! and a lovely notepad with a pencil. I love my pal.....I'm going to find out who she is with the next parcel - can't wait!

Meanwhile my last parcel reached my own pal and she has left a comment here! Here she is...She is very cool - I'm really glad she's liked the bits I've sent. I have of course signed up for secret pal 6 and the new button will be appearing to the left of the screen very shortly. Wooha!

I did say it had been a week of good post because I finally crumbled and bought myself the dolly mixture bracelet and necklace from firefly gifts.

This is just the bracelet but the necklace is just as good. Everyone keeps asking if they are real ones.

I was thinking about patterns today and how everyone else I know seems to have some coherent plan about what they want to knit and when. I just have whims. And I did buy that little red notebook for a reason - my knitting notebook which I do carry with me everywhere but have yet to actually write anything about knitting in. So - reformed as I am - I shall make a list. Tomorrow. Maybe. It's probably a good idea anyway.

Lastly, I promise, I'm sorry some people who read regularly can't coment anymore. It was the spam that drove me to it.

Repeat after me....

"I do not need chocolate. I may want chocolate. I may fear my life will end if I don't eat chocolate very soon. But this is not the case. The desire for chocolate is just that - a desire and not a need. You are a strong and knitterish woman. You do not have to obey every request your body makes. You can say no to this desire."

Or I could say yes - would that make me any less strong or knitterish?

So it would seem SecretPal6 is already getting underway (gah, signup deadline is the 3rd - why don't they tell people these things?!). I don't know though...I have really enjoyed this one but then there is the sock-a-long and christmas presents and so on. But then they do have some good buttons...Ooooo I just don't know (but as with chocolate I know I will do it eventually).

Bashed out a couple more rows on the dreamcatcher cardi last night at golders green group and then sat back to read the next chunk of the pattern. Teva, my dear, what do you think you're doing? I read ahead. I read the damn pattern and noted all the 'AND AT THE SAME TIME' bits BUT I did not expect that 'at the same time' referred to the whole of the rest of the pattern and not just the paragraph it initiated. Jane had an 'at the same time' pattern and it was written much more clearly. Ripped 4 inches and was quite disgruntled.

The Golders Green posse have received an invite to the cast-off-knitted-wedding on 9th Oct and boy am I going. I've also just ordered some white, pink, yellow and green chunky acrylic from Dianne's knitting yarns (link in list on the left) to make a flower garland. May also make some cupcakes. The invite says 'bring your own food because all the food there will be knitted' Ought to knit myself something snazzy to wear to it and I think maybe Picovoli from Magknits might be the answer. I was never particularly aware of magknits but it looks like good stuff and I do like this pattern. Alright goddammit I'll admit that I happen also to have got a ball of gypsy from Dianne too so I thought I might use that round the neck and hem. I can't help it people - I just love Gypsy. I know it's wrong but it's like the chocolate - I am powerless to resist. Ahem....anyway.....

Am going to join Jane on her next Elann order so something else to occupy me later on is choosing what I want - the denise extended cable is a must but I'm sure there are one or two others things I could bear to have in la stash as well.

And finally...there is this. The Dulaan project. I think I might get involved. Will ponder that too. Hey you know whatever happened to my list of words that I like? I'm over using ponder and I'm sure there were other good ones on there just begging to be used. Will dig it out.

Sock Knitting Exchange

Yippee. Go to http://socks2005.blogspot.com

Hum hum hum, pinch him on the bum

Am just watching 'The Sting' on TV. This is definitely one of my top five films. What are the others I hear you think. I can't tell you. You'd stop reading.

So anyway, Pooch and I have had a jolly nice day lolling about and going to Greenwich via a very long route. You see someone had left their pda on the DLR. And I know that if I lost mine I would have to go through some *serious* sarcasm from John, never mind the expense and data loss and stuff. So anyway I ring the person who is marked as 'work' on the PDA address book and tell them I'll leve it at Canary Wharf. So get off at CW and there's no staff anywhere, cause it's the DLR and it's all automated. So then we (I am with the Pooch) trawl all the way across some place and past a load of shops to get to the tube station and give it in. And then we decide to have lunch in this one place called Itsu which is all the way back across the other side and right at the top except we get there and it's closed. So then we go right back to the other side again for italian. I feel like I'm doing laps byt the time we get there. Anyway, enough moaning. As Pooch says it just goes to show doing the right thing has its consequences.

This is the two of us having done 'the right thing'.

Pooch had taken me to Greenwich for a shopping trip on him following the ridiculous bonus he got so I stung him for.....£11. What is it with me and taking money off people? I know it is a good thing really but then 'good' has you doing laps of canary wharf. Anyway, it's quality that counts and I came out of it with a lovely felt needlebook which is already housing all the needles that were previously 'put on that bit of carpet for safety' and so on. Or at least the ones I could find anyway...

I also have a heart shaped red felt badge from the same place. And then a red beaded rope necklace and some 'Alex' sequins. Which kind of brings me to....

Handspun stuff with the love sequins. Thought I'd felt the swatch I did and friends, looks yuk. So note to self do not felt this stuff - just knit and go. Also machine washed two swatches using the koolaid-dyed stuff and the darker one came through fine. The one that I've already knitted a sock out of bled a bit. Hmmmmmmm.



Have been feeling a bit lost knit wise - think it is all these socks - so thought I'd whip off a quick needle felted heart for the Poochster. And also maybe it would help to confess. It seems to help Catholics afterall. So....I am being sorely tempted oh knit-god-of-the-stash. I know it is wrong....I know it is wicked....but you see that jumper on the sheet behind the heart? It obviously needs dpn's but despite this I find myself....wanting to knit it. I know I know....what's come over me? I also want the circular cardigan on the cover of Vogue knitting. What has happened to me? Afterall, we all know my life mantra - 2 needles good, four needles bad. Perhaps this is a midlife crisis?

So anyway, like, whatever dude. Had something really important to share but can't think what it was now. So this is not goodbye, it's aurevoir....

Pondering....

I have had quite a lot of time to think today...because the fricking cricket has replaced me as Pooch's main love. We were going to go out this afternoon but then we started bickering at lunch so we both decided we shouldn't go out in case one of us got annoyed. I am quite pleased about how we handle stuff like this.

So I have had lots of knitting and internet time. I have set up a shop at spreadshirt.net, done all sorts of things with socks and wrapped up parcels for my secret pal and my secret-pal-angel-style-person who got neglected the first time round. Been meaning to post stuff for a week already.

So with the socks...I went off the red/green dyed wool this morning so decided to swatch it and wait til I had put it through a machine wash before forming a conclusion.

So then naturally about 2 hours later later I decided I couldn't wait til tomorrow to see how the swatch turned out and knitted a sock with it. Is really cool stuff although I have had that problem where the repeat length means the colours don't distribute that evenly. I remember this from my 'spinning designer yarns' book so slap wrist byrne for not thinking of that. This is the private side of the sock that has the seam.

I would like to point out that the seam isn't that visible, is smooth and doesn't stretch apart when worn. Feel my seaming has really come on leaps and bounds this weekend. Then this is the right side.

Needless to say I totally love the colours some 10 hours after going off them.

So what has Pooch been doing today? Well, you know how glass is a fluid at room temperature and does flow very very slowly which is why really old windows are thicker at the botom than the top (seriously, I'm not making this up). In the same way Pooch has assumed his liquid form and he and the beanbag are becoming a single entity.

I believe that might actually be shane warne on the tv.

I have been giving some thought to the whole thing about using dyes (feel weird writing the word 'dying') and feel I have concentrated too much on the act of changing the colour of the yarn rather than considering what colour I am actually changing it to. So the byrne head will be more given to colour than conquests when it comes to using dye in the future. Or that's how i feel at the moment. Give me 10 hours and I might have changed my mind.

There is something else that I have been giving a lot of thought to but it's kind of hard to write about without giving the wrong impression. I have met a man, although he's only 22 so more like a boy, who I really like and we have loads to talk about but it's a platonic friendship in its early stages rather than anything remotely sexual. This is quite a weird thing for me because platonic stuff with men of my own age (or about an aeon younger - I am now feeling all of the 27 years. I think maybe my body never meant to make it this far so it's experiencing some sort of culture shock that those chocolate biscuits don't get metabolised as they used to. Anyway I digress...) Where was I? Ah Yes "...platonic stuff with men of my own age...." never used to happen. This may sound weird but it's all part of the madness and so I'm not used to being friends with a guy without either fancying them or thinking they fancy me. And I'm quite big headed so this was never an issue before (Think "you're annoying/upsetting me but then you're ugly so maybe you can't help it" and other such twisted thinking). So anyway this guy is called Samir and he's just started work at the Institute. He has an afro which I think is very cool because he's half arabic or something like that so hasn't the appearance one would normally associate with such a hairdo. We had a long chat on Friday and his tag name is Afronaut which others gave him because he did physics with space science or something at Uni. I think this name is wicked. Anyway, apart from the platonic nature of this being new I am also curious to see whether he's actually playing me in some way. He has this whole shy-thing he does and it could so easily be a ruse. So another first is the fact that I am entering this friendship with a healthy disregard for any exclamations of truthfullness or innocence he makes. I must remember to tell therapist Louise what an excellent job she has done.

Another thought that has been bugging me is this - you know in cartoons when someone has a raining-cloud over their head....if they put up an umbrella would the cloud move under the umbrella with them and carry on raining? Yes I know, there's more to life than trying to find logic in cartoons but I can't stop wondering about this one.

Can hear another sock calling to me and surely...but surely...the cricket must end soon. I wonder what Daniel's up to. Haven't seen him for ages and he's another young man I have a platonic friendship with although that didn't happen til we'd done all the naughty stuff first. He reminds me of Keanu Reeves although he would be outraged to hear me say so. If I catch up with him I will take a pic to show you all!

And Pooch, I know you'll read this, the toothbrush is still in the boots bag in the front room and you are the bestest boyfriend ever and not even Keanu himself could tempt me away x