Of course I'd intended the three-quarter-length sleeves all along...

The adult baby jacket is finished. I'm really happy with it.

I was going to pick up at the ends of the sleeves and knit down but I decided I liked the 3/4 effect. The only thing I can't decide on is buttons. Despite having more buttons than sense I don't seem to have the right ones in my collection. Will have to ponder somemore. Am going to declare it finished anyway. Blurry freak shot...

I love making this for babies at it knits up quick and is visually fun without being difficult.

Had a fun sunday being a photographers aide (or an 'umbrella bitch' as my sister lovingly put it) while she who must be obeyed practised her photography. I haven't seen the pics except on the camera's mini viewer but all the changing of lenses and explanation about filters was very impressive. Here we are taking a well earned rest.

We are always discussing whether we look similar or not and I think we definitely do in this one. Last time I posted a pic of Sian someone left a comment asking how I'd lost so much weight so just for clarification I am the one on the right. I have actually lost 1 stone 6 pounds now but she is into all sorts of energetic stuff (comes from having a crazily buff army boy I think - he's a cross between a viking and a brick poo house) so has the edge on fitting into designer jeans.

The aforementioned viking-house will shortly be leaving for a stay in one of the world's less salubrious army destinations where I am told it reaches 52 degrees during the day. Sian therefore tells me I shouldn't send him anything knitted. Can this be true? One small facecloth surely wouldn't hurt? Perhaps I will have to hold out til we declare war on Iceland. Then I'll be in my element.

Bad Cardi Blues

My cardi don't fit me

Armholes are too tight

I worked on this baby

Sometimes real late at night

To make it better

I'd need to rip out the seams

All that fricking mattress stitch

Can't face it again

I've got the bad cardi blues

Cause the arrrrrrrrms are too tight

.....................

Feel my pain. I need to add at least an inch to the left front, right front, back and both arms. At the very least I need to undo the 3 needle bind off on the shoulders and the seams putting the armholes in place.

The armholes are definitely all wrong. The lace pattern is pretty though.

I also finished off another project. Ironically this one is too big. When I started it I was 1.5 stone heavier and I thbink it would have been a perfect fit then. Anyway, I sewed in all the ends and sorted out the collar and fastening.

Fastenign is very simple. Just two hooks.

I am feeling a strong need to finish off some things after ruminating on the 22 unfinished projects on Ravelry. It really is too many!

Lovely stuff

So much good stuff. The most amazing has to be this pillow which was a surprise present earlier this week. It is astonishing.

It's called 'Thoughts and Dreams' and is by the artist Louise Riley, and it was her that gave it to me. I met Louise through working with her mum and she is such an amazing person as well as artist. I was gobsmacked when I saw it.

The first side is dreams...

Isn't it beautiful?

Then naturally the second side is for writing down thoughts. And look at what you write it on...

Isn't that amazing? Look at the detailed sewing she's done to get it to look like a real page.

I just adore it. I keep picking it up and stroking it.

Another present although of a rather different genre also arrived last night. Pooch got me some shoes for my birthday but they didn't fit (not his fault - right size but just too small for some weird reason) and so I finally took them back. I didn't get the same ones but I did get these, which he keeps suggesting might fit him with a bit of 'stretching'. Hands off dude...

What will they go with? Who cares, it was love at first sight!

And as they say on the news, on a happier note, I knocked out one of these little buggers a few nights ago.

It's a free pattern for doing two on 2-needles and then seaming. There is also a pattern on ravelry for doing them in the round but it wasn't working on magic loop and there's no way I was breaking out the dpns after all this time free of them. Plus the seaming went pretty well. The recipient got it yesterday and loves it. She's having a bit of a stress at the moment so I wanted something to cheer her up and remind her she's my best friend x

Yikes, sorry for getting soppy there for a minute. Stiff upper lip, Byrne!

WIP and FO round up

I've been pondering Ravelry and find that I have no less than 13 WIP and 9 UFOs. 22 projects lying around unfinished! That's some serious bad knitting karma. One might think at this point that I wouldn't start a new one but you'd be so wrong. (This kind of thing would never occur to a knitter, but a Pooch might think it.) My best friend has announced her engagement and so the swatching should begin. I'm not going to be blogging about it though so Ravelers will see the action evolving on there.

This is doubly good because my main project has been the adult surprise and as that has reached these proportions...

It's a like a fluffy lap blanket and definitely not suiting the current climate which is decidedly scorchio. It folds up quite presentably.

It's a definite comfort cardigan!

St Ives

Pooch and I were there last week for 5 nights and it was loooooooovely. The weather was mixed but no out and out rain and we managed to fit in quite a lot as well as some of the yummiest food I've had in ages.

St Ives itself is just magical - all this has been said in a zillion tourist info leaflets but the light is amazing, the weather seems different to everywhere else in cornwall and it's easy to see why it's a magnet for artists. You just gotta love it.

This was our hotel. Dating to 1420 or something.

Visited the Tate and the Barbara Hepworth sculpture garden. That was amazing. So peaceful.

We took a boat trip to see the seals, one of which then followed us back to the harbour.

There were walks by the sea and even paddling.

There was also extensive studying of menus as we both ate tonnes of fresh as can be seafood.

And then we took a trip to the Eden Project, which was a real highlight. This was also the best day weatherwise. It was gobsmackingly great.

The wholeplace was landscaped perfectly. There weren't any screaming kids (something we couldn't avoid in st ives) because there is so much for them to do. And plenty for the bigger kids too.

For me the Rainforest Biome was the highlight. It was huuuuuge. And steamy and boiling hot. And the plants ranged from tiny to staggeringly large and there were birds in there too.

Gratuitous flower pics....

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

So overall an excellent week. The only downside was the screaming kids - one in particular called Olivia particularly sticks in my mind as ruining the most amazing lunch of fresh crab mayonnaise on bread warm from the oven. But then you can't seem to avoid that.

Finally this is a knitting blog afterall...I have ditched the EZ adult surprise plan and instead gone for the Herrick baby coat which should be rights be as famous as the EZ one since it is kind of the same but easier. And free. Here on ravelry.

Give away! All free.

Am having a clear out. Send me an email to littlelixieathotmaildotcom saying which you want. I'll give it til Monday to let people have a chance of seeing the things then if there's more than one for each I'll draw a name at random. I'll only send these to the UK or Ireland though I'm afraid.

First up...t-shirt short-sleeved size L (approx 14).

Black jeans. Size 16 bootcut long length from Next with hand embroidery. Machine washable.

Free sock pattern from Get Knitted plus gift pouch. I don't know where I got these from but I've got two copies.

Random spinning bits - some very bad handspun (probably about 50g) and some bats ready to be spun but not very well made.

I'll post properly tomorrow about St Ives and so on. Woo ha!

One small step for Byrne, one giant mess for Royal Mail

Hey look, my post from the last two weeks...

To my absolute astonishment it actually was at the delivery office when we went to collect it this morning. Then when I got back the postman handed me three more red cards for things they "couldn't deliver". Unbelievable. Actually, bearing in mind that this is royal mail, believable.

On the plus side I basically got a second birthday since I finally got cards and presents! I got some awesome stuff. The big thing was an amazing edwardian glass necklace from my Mum, which can be seen here on top of the cupcake book from my sister.

Sister Sian also got me some lovely Noro sock yarn to try out. I know I always hate noro because of the knots but I thought I'd give it another go.

As well as the birthday presents I got parcels from a few swaps I've been doing. Blue stitchmarkers. These are amazing.

Red stitchmarkers.

Also some books from Bookmooch (see left sidebar). Two japanese knit books and crochet hats.

I can't believe more people haven't joined Boookmooch. I got all these for FREE! Just posted some of my used books off to others who wanted them. Genius.

There were also a few things I got myself as birthday presents. I've been wanting this for quite a while...

Am going to take it on holiday with me next week. Pooch and I are off to St Ives for 5 nights. While away I'll be working on my cable socks for the Ravelry Interweave Group July KAL. I've dyed up this yarn especially since I thought they really needed pink.

My final self-present was 600g of Kauni. All 4 balls are the rainbow colourway. So lurvellllyyyy.

Very finally, I've found a hexagon I like so am thinking of another afghan. Here's the pattern. This is my first attempt.

I like it!

At moments like this it is important not to run round screaming with your pants on your head

My ongoing saga with royal mail goes on. I haven't had any post since a week saturday. One of the things I am waiting for is a letter from the PO Box division giving me my PO Box details. I had assumed I hadn't had any post because Royal Mail hated me or something. But I've finally spoken to the delivery office (they do this thing of keeping you in a phone queue for ages and then picking up and slamming down the phone as soon as they answer) and the truth is almost apparent.

It turns out that since I applied for my PO Box they have been keeping all my post at the office for me to collect. This is without telling me. One of the things they have been keeping for me to collect is the letter containing the details of my PO Box. Yesterday, after numerous squeaks and complaints from me to customer services, they realised this and the parcels are on the van today to be delivered. Except the building intercomm is not working and so he won;t be able to get in. The intercom hasn't been working for two weeks now. It won't be fixed til Monday.

So...happy thoughts happy thoughts. The acting manager (the real manager is almost always on sick leave poor bugger) assures me I'll be able to pick it up on Saturday if I go down to the office with multiple forms of ID.

Fortunately this is keeping me sane. It's from the Mighty Boosh Festival at the weekend. We were really lucky it didn't rain. Pooch was on good form.

There were loads of colourful characters. He actually kept those heels on for most of the day.

The comedy tent was a bit of a washout - packed, small, one-in-one-out so massive queues and Matt Berry was a let down - very dissappointing. But the music stage was the main focus and had Gary Newman and the Charlatans as well as my personal favourite - Har Mar Superstar. He started the set fully clothed. And ended up....

He was amazing. Truly. If you've seen the modern version of Starsky and Hutch he's the guy in the dance off with Ben Stiller at the disco. The headline act was the Boosh Band. It was just songs from the series but they were pretty good although no 'do you love me' from ol'greg. Julian Barrett showed how good a musician he is. His guitar kept the whole thing going.

There was also time for a little knitting.

You can see all my Boosh photos here.

On the knit front I've been making progress on my Henley. Mine's a cardigan. The back is done and I've started on the left front. The lace is pretty.

Also on the knit front, I'm now a Director of the KCG!

It's my birthday!

Religious Interlude

I am not a religious person. I don't believe in God. I don't think there's something watching over us. I believe that this is it and when you die it stops. However I do recognise that many people do believe other things and while I don't share their beliefs I am interested in them and respect their right to believe.

Once in a while though, something happens that makes me want to spit. This happened this morning on radio 4. There is a big hoo ha from male churchmen in the CofE that women shouldn't be made Bishops. They want some amendment passed that they will be overseen by men and not by women.

I can distinctly remember when the decision was passed for women to become vicars. My step dad's brother's wife was a deacon and was very keen to be ...whatever it is they do to you to become a vicar. I actually had no idea that all that was being allowed at the time was that one step. I assumed that the decision was that the glass ceiling was being removed and women could now join men in the ranks. So when I heard about this latest idiocy I was genuinely suprised.

I hear arguments like "all the disciples were men so god only wants men to be in charge". Now as far as I know none of the disciples were kiddy fiddlers but the church seems to have managed to live with that one without spontaneously combusting. If God was this all caring all giving kind of person, would he really banish 50% of his herd from serving or communicating with him? Would he care at what distance they communicated with him from? Are prayers from women not heard by god, only prayers by men? Can women not hear what he says, only men?

Is God really a sexist? Are you seriously telling me that he might feel threatened by the presence of a woman? Or is this actually a bunch of weeds who currently have all the power not wanting to share? Numbers attending church are at rock bottom. Churches are shutting. They can't recruit enough vicars for the few churches they have. The church's reputation is bad enough without alienating the women and the enlightened men who can accept women in their lives without fearing castration.

There are many reasons why I don't believe in God. The kiddy fiddling is one of them. The idea that God would allow his believers to die in horrible ways in his name is another. His apparent intolerence of women, were another reason needed, would surely be the last nail in the coffin. If he did exist wouldn't he have had a word with the objectors and told them to get real? Terry Pratchett's book "Small Gods" talked about how God's thrived on belief and without belief they became weak and wispy. Maybe it's just that the Church has lost so many people now that he is saying that, it's just no one can hear him.

Here endeth the lesson.

I just want to add that I am not a feminist. I think everyone's equal. It's just a coincidence that in my experience women are generally better at everything.