Yarn Porn

Look away now people. Actually before I get going the people that do this amazing stuff have a waiting list. If you email them and ask to be put on it they will email you about 24 hours before more stock goes on sale. They are really good about postage too and the yarn was packed perfectly.

Sadly I can't remember what all these are called but baby....who cares....

Coming Pooch's way we have:

Originally intended for Robbie but due to some over zealous knitting (I was enjoying knitting it so much I went a bit crazy on the foot length of my first toe-up effort) for Sian's extra-sized boyf Brown.

Possibly the Robbie replacement is a zingier shade of green....

Or maybe this in blue and pale cream....

And then am I not worth it? One for me....

Oh yeahhhhhhhh baby.

Here they are again all cuddling each other.


There is something really rather dirty about how much I like this yarn. Maybe if I did stashalong more often I'd appreciate all my yarn like this. Speaking of which my sister Sian took the piss at the weekend whenI turrned up with a felted bag on each shoulder and queried why I didn't just make a bigger bag. From the mouth of babes etc etc... So have finally tucked into that stash of DB Maya I got half price about 18 months ago. One large bag in deep reds with metallic threads and sequins woven in coming this way.

I also of course was at Festival Of Quilts on Friday (sorry about not meeting up with the blogger posse but only saw your email on saturday) but will write a separate report about that when have calmed down a bit.

No wait I forgot...

SNAKES ON A PLANE

You just have to go see this movie. It is better than sock-hop-sock-yarn. Maybe.

SSsssssssock-hop sock yarn

I really shouldn’t blog without pics but I’m just so excited. I picked up my order of sock-hop yarn from the post office this morning. Before the bus had come I had opened the box to cop a feel. It is BEAUTIFUL. I can’t remember now which was for who but frankly it doesn’t matter now because it is mine all mine!!!!!! No, not really. This folks is the wool responsible for near bankrupting me but my god it was worth it. Oooooo

WARNING: Do not follow this link if you have similar willpower to me. DANGEROUS_LINK (you'll need to scroll down once you get to the page as the formatting has gone skew wiff)

Every ball of wool starts with a sheep shearer

This is something SPM had in one of her books. You can't get wool without a person taking a sheep and shearing it by hand because there aren't any machines that can do this properly. I think that's kind of nice.

Have a headache today. Still not caught up ons leep from the weekend and work is just one disaster after another. Fortunately I don't mean that what I am doing is a disaster it's just stuff like....

• CEO blaming everyone apart from himself for stuff
• Directors arguing publicly about policy
• Scorecards being actively avoided by senior staff
• Gossip flying about inconsistencies and favouritism
• Bitching in the lunch room
• People leaving phones to ring and ring and ring and ring and ring....

This last one is the most annoying as if there is one thing that annoys me it is ringing phones. Nails on a blackboard? Fine. Ringing phone? Dear God no.

Knitting as always makes everything seem better and here we have the coco bag base with stitches picked up around the edges on something like a 48" denise needle which is blatantly more than twice as long as would be useful.

Now the thing about denise needle sets is that you get lots of different length cords and you get lots of different size needles and you can slot them all together. This all comes in a nice box and everyone who gets one insists they will keep everything in the box and not leave bits lying about to get lost. This is my box.

You will notice the complete dearth of cables, no cable ends (should be 4), no connectors (should be two) and 4 pairs of needle ends missing. Hmph. A quick raid later and the situation was not much improved.

But at least I had a cable suitable for the bag so I did about 20cm of body last night alternating the orange and pink/red wools every 2/3 rows.

Here is a belated pic of the cotton mix socks from the yarn I got in Philadelphia (I think).

Note the pointy toes. I love socks with pointy toes and generally always make them like this. It makes them extra fun! I haven't worn these yet as I've still got to sew up the second one. I'm a bit worried they mgiht be a bit tough on the byrne-tootsies as cotton can be a bit unforgiving but will wait and see.

Now I am being a very good stashalong type person but I was on Taj yarns website (ONLY TO UPDATE MY ADDRESS ON A MAG SUBSCRIPTION) and saw these. Aren't they lovely? Keep scrolling down for the girlie ones but the cats are lovely too.

Stashalong - am so proud

It is all going rather nicely chez stash at the moment. I haven't been tempted to spend at all even when I spied a whole pile of vintage knitting mags at a shop a weekend or so ago. Mind you, having no cash is bound to be some help. However, I do seem to have gained a new compulsion which is signing up for swaps at swap-bot.

The latest one I have joined is the magic yarn ball which just sounds like an excellent idea. You get a ball of yarn and rewind it wrapping in all sorts of little goodies and fun things. You can see pictures of previous ones here. Aren't they lovely? I love the idea of unwrapping and the before/after usefulness.

In case anyone feels similarly drawn I have also joined...Mark those Stitches (sign up deadline is tomorrow), Felt Pin Fantasy Swap and What's In A Purse. Some are US only but most are worldwide.

The weekend was a little bit oooo, a little bit ahhhhh, but thanks to you all for your comments and emails. Thw weird thing is Pooch and I really love each other and don't mean to keep hurting each other (I give as good/bad as I get, let's be honest). Anyway...

I was talking about stashalong. Last night I delved into the stash and cast on The little Coco bag. Is going to be orange and red striped althought he colours are both cascade 220 quatro so are a kind of plied tweed effect. The stripes won't be that noticeable. Photos soon....

Hum.

Somebody asked CAP whether she ever worried about the ex reading her blog and she replied that she was sure he didn't. However, it is different for me because I know Pooch uses my blog to see how things are with me from time to time. So there are things I want to write about that I don't because of not wanting him to see them. I tried keeping a diary again but it has never really satisfied me and it seems dumb to keep one when the only time you use it is when you have boy-bovver. It's not exactly a good record of your life when that's the case.

From this it might be apparent that domestic bliss didn't last long chez byrnepooch. People who read this keep emailing me to tell me he's basically a shit. But then he gets annoyed about that because he says they only have my side of the story and so it all reinforces however I describe things. Which is fair comment but does assume I'm biased, which of course I am. But am I completely self-deluded as well? Do I really have such unreasonable expectations of behaviour and attitude or is he actually unreasonable? I have been in relationships before where these kind of things wouldn't have been done or tolerated.

Is every relationship a never ending story of angst and emotional suffering where you constantly question whether someone can really think that what they just did/said is reasonable. Do other relationships cause one half to question whether their whole view of life is wrong because if what is being said is true it must be. Or that one person has unreasonable views on what is or isn't acceptable when, applying the usual social norm that it's normal til someone tells you it's weird, no one ever thought so before.

What do you do when your partner thinks you are complete irrational and unreasonable as well as being slightly mental when at the same time you have this tiny fear inside you that maybe you are being totally cuckoo and you just haven't realised it yet. Can I really be being totally unreasonable without realising? Without anyone realising. Without anyone thinking to mention it. Have any of you held back from mentioning it because you thought someone else would have done?

How to look good naked

Did anyone else see this programme last night? It gave me pause for thought. The conclusion of my thinking was rude words in Pooch's general direction.

I am fricking gorgeous and anyone who gets to see me naked is damn lucky.

Love me, love my belly.

If...

If your boyfriend/fiance/husband told you he found you less attractive now than when you met because you had put on some weight what would you do? Do let me know. Am trying to work out what 'reasonable force' would mean in such a situation.

I have been waking up horribly early recently and so was about to witness this little spectacle on the grass outside our living room. It went on for quite some time but I don't want to bore you or anything.

Have been knitting squares for iknit and his river project. Decided to use novelty yarn as I don't normally go near it so here we have...

... top right is some sort of weird eyelash that just has lashes on one side and knits up a bit like velvet. At the bottom is some of your wendy magic or something like that. Then the left is the weirdest one which defies description. But they all knit up pretty quickly and are blue so they meet my requirements.

Xmas and gift knitting continues at a good pace. Here we have three lost of sock yarn. The grey/borwn are for Pooch's Dad. The bright stripe bottom right is a baby cardigan. And then the

Little hint on the top right is some stuff I hand dyed for someone and the second sock of which will be cast off as soon as I finish this blogging. Thanks god. Am quite sick of them. In fact as I mentioned before I was thinking about jazzing things up a bit with some crazy cables and so started doodling.

It's not much to look at but is an idea. I knit my socks flat so from that point of view its easier to plot a design onto them.

I'm thinking about makign my Mum this for xmas but I'm not really sure if she'd like it. Sian - if you happen to be dropping by let me know what you think.

Has anyone else knit it? It's from the Scarf Style book.

I have had some green/blue 4-ply wool from silkwood for about 2 years maybe now - since just after I started blogging in fact. It was also the first time I met nickerjac. I prize this highly as I love the colours but I've never been sure what to do with it. Thinking along the same lines as the woollywormhead hat I have decided on a freeform bag in spirals which I think show the colours off rather nicely. I think I will felt it but I need to see how that turns out first before doing anything hasty.

Aren't they lovely? Well, I think they are!

I have been spending rather a lot of time with my stash recently - generally sorting and caressing it, as you do. So Pooch resorted to some drastic action to try and get my attention. This is the hound-dog himself cuddling up to a bag of stash with some of it artistically arranged over his head.

I believe his plan was to get me to lie on the bed to hug the stash and end up having to hug him too. He's devious.

Giving blood followed by knitting group tomorrow so another action packed day. Think there might be some work or something to fit in inbetween but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

LOUISE CAMERON - LOVING YOUR STYLE

You see Louise is one of the greatest people ever to have walked the earth as well as my best mate and was joking about how i should write more about her.

On to other news. I have signed up for stashalong. Many of you will think this is well, well overdue. And basically you would be right. So my promise....

Not to buy any yarn, patterns, books, needles or anything knitting or crochet related for 1 month.

I think committing to not buy yarn has got me a bit confused as I have cast on about 4 different things in the last 4-5 days. All small things like socks and baby clothes but still, I have knit anxiety.

No photos today as haven't finished anything. But let us just revel in the fact that I am now a stashalong stashee and repeat after me "It will all be OK."

Stash and cash

Put togethee the new stash box at the weekend and very lovely it looks too. BUT. Not everything fits into it. Man, I have way too much yarn. Was looking at A Mingled Yarn and she showed her stash which was micro. How does she manage that? Because she knits like a dervish.

The blue bag and paper carrier bag are what is left over that won't go in. Here is the box content all snuggled up warmly together.

I've been knitting socks something like a dervish myself recently. Here is a detail of the slipstitch rib pair I made Pooch.

And very happy he is with them too. I dyed the red yarn especially for him. I've also knit one of Tom's pair and almost done one of a pair of xmas socks: probably heading to Pooch's Dad.

This burst of xmas knitting is because I am really enjoying one of SPM's book where she tells a tale about xmas knitting and how desperate it all gets before the deadline dawns. All night knitting and so on. Ghastly. I will not be doing that. Oh no!

The Pooch-Byrne reunion went very nicely on saturday night. We had dinner with friends round and they all welcomed me back. On sunday the two of us conspired to make pot au chocolat which were thoroughly villainous in their loveliness.

MmmmmMmmmm, baby. A Rick Stein recipe and not at all fishy.

Am missing knitting group tomorrow because Freddie and Becky are up. Still no idea what to do with them but I'm hoping they'll have some ideas. I am making up for it though by getting my work colleagues to start knitting. In a terribly tedious tale we have got new phones that are portable and people have asked for holsters (yes, my colleagues are needy and helpless). I've also had requests for knitting lessons so in a slight of hand I have offered lessons that result in your own felted knitting pocket for attaching to a belt or use with a shoulder strap. Isn't life just weird? If only I could actually knit all day and just get paid for that instead of trolling about here with balanced scorecards and similar yuck.

Pah.

The other part of today's title is 'cash' which is what I have none of. I only got paid a week ago and am already worryingly broke. I am such a schmuk. I have downloaded crazy aunt purl's budget and my bank statements for the last 3 months (isn't it great that you can download bank statements and then re arrange them in excel - so handy). The thing is work have jut decided to start offering sabbaticals to peeps such as me and I really think 3 months would be about the right length of time to take off for. But this means I need to save 3 months rent and bills plus spending money. I have always been awful with money but the last couple of months have really brought it home to me. There's so much I could do if I just spent wisely and stopped stockpiling 'stuff'. Pooch got a whopping payrise yesterday and we want to buy a house. Need to get thinking and work out what my priorities are really.

I have a yarn problem

I just found myself on cpu-enterprises stalking sirdar snuggly for a baby blanket. Geez. I did it without thinking.

I was actually thinking about this last night. I buy things in order to do them later. I then end up having to sit amongst all my hasty purchases long after the desire to do XYZ has passed. Doing a bit of self-analysis this could be put down to a couple of different things.

• Addicted to shopping
• Forget already have X zillion things to do
• Bored and entertains me to do this (see 1)
• Fear of having nothing to do

There are probably more. It's the last one that worries me a little. Therapist Louise has gone AWOL so I'm having to do my own diagnosis which is always a bit suspect because my diagnosis is inevitably 'lacking in chocolate'.

Popped in on my SP recipient yesterday and she is very sweet. She has made good use of the bits I sent her last time. I was thinking there would be two more parcels but now I think it will be one bumper one in a week or two plus the big unveiling.

SkipNorth will be 9-11 March 2007. You heard it here first! I will let you know when the website is updated and I have more information. Will be able to take bookings within the next month I should think.

Fairisle madness

I just did the tiniest bit of fairisle for some socks and now it haunts my thoughts... The following is the result of a particularly painful meeting yesterday plus the investment in a squared notebook. Hours of fun.

It started innocently enough with the idea of a really simple hugs and kisses theme band.

Which became...

Then I started thinking about the short row fairisle in the loop-d-loop book and how cool it looked to see a conventional, familiar design twisted a little. So then I started thinking, as I am sure many have done before me, does the band really need to be straight?

Turn your attention to top and bottom right. Of the two the bottom would be easier but then the top does look rather fun. I guess the answer might be to start with a front and then see how that goes before attempting the back. Any thoughts, wise readers?

I did a bad thing today. Actually this leads on to a bigger issue. My obsession with knitting has reached really quite cosmic proportions. I just don't think about anything else. Maybe this will calm down again once I am returned to the bosum of my stash on saturday but it does worry me a little. You see I asked to be notified when sock hop was back in stock (scroll down the page). Helen had some and that stuff is just beautiful. I got an email last night saying it would be available from thursday morning west coast. I am english, right. I do not know what time a west coaster would consider to be 'morning' although I was hoping it would be about 3am as that is when I first went online to see if the link was live yet. And I refreshed. And refreshed, and you get the picture.

It didn't go live til 3pm.....

By then I was a bit overexcited and let's just say that the issue of whether I am going to splurge on a spinning wheel this month is definitely an issue no longer. Let's also say that I've got the yarn I need for my xmas socks. It's just so darn beautiful. May I be forgiven but just look at this. Handspun, plied, plus machine washable? Who could not fall for it?

My secret pal hostess has posed the following question for us to blog about...

Someone has stolen your stash and all your books: now what are you going to do?

Jesus, Mary and Joseph.....someone stole my stash? Holy crap - call the cops, call the fire brigade, I need 5cc morphine and a chocolate drip STAT.

In fact, and this is even worse, I have the plymouths and some crochet hooks at Alex3's and have some sock yarn from both the sockhop site and ebay, god, AND CPU enterprises (link in menu on left) in the post AND I have three zimmermann books coming my way AND the yarn harlot's book arrived today and I also have vogue-shawls-to-go in the post so I'd be OK for a day or two. You see what I mean about it becoming an obsession. Where is that counter website thing. I'm so going to not spend anything else on knitting until.....after the festival of quilts on 18 August. (I can hear the stashalong people groaning and saying stuff like "big wow").

Take that, knitting addiction!

Feel so lonely now.

Just me and my stash.

If ever I worry about the size of it I just think about Yvonne and her using the space under the bath to store yarn as everywhere else is full. Now that is impressive.

Photo....

Stephanie Pearl McPhee

This post is dedicated to SPM because she is wicked. I am rereading her "At knit's end" which is a fantastic book. Every page bring more truth, humour and knitting reality. For example...

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" (Einstein)

Under this SPM has written a wonderful paragraph about hiding your stash around the house. So true.

Actually in trying to find bits to quote you basically have to copy out the whole page in order to get it to make sense. This is because it is worthy writing rather than some little soundbite thing. Every page makes me laugh. So I have ordered her other two books! In fact I've had a bit of an amazon blitz and ordered vogue shawls to go too. It's that one on the cover - it fascinates me.

I'm finding it really hard to concentrate this evening. The trip to Ikea last night (got a new wool box) only ended at about 11.15 and I didn't sleep well because of the heat. Plus I'm on my second of three potential episodes of murder she wrote - now I remember why I don't have sky. It just wouldn't be safe. It melts the brain. And its so fricking hot! OK, I give in I try not to complain about it being hot because I hate being cold so much but ENOUGH!!!! Jesus H Christ on a bicycle, as my mother has been known to say.

I have seen the photos from the jump on sunday and have one on order so should be able to share it soon. Note to self - sort this out.

I was in bristol today for a meeting and did some shopping for my SP and also my mini sister who is going to be a massive 18 in 2 weeks. I don't know how she got so old (SO old, oh yeah) so quickly. AND she is such a looker, must take after me fnah fnah. But peeps, would anyone out there over 28 and 3 weeks know what rhcp meant if you received it in a text as a birthday present request - wait for it..........
......
.............
red hot chilli peppers. Took me three days. Geez. I'm getting old.

I distinctly recall thinking of loads of pithy things to write here when I was on the air conditioned train but they've melted out of my ears.

Yeah, so. Um. Bye.

Fat free?

I don’t want to be ungrateful but if you buy me an ice cream from the shop on the corner as a surprise please don’t make it a fat free ice lolly. Dude, if you’ve got something to say then just say it... *

;p

I did that crazy 1000ft slide yesterday and got nicely sunburnt in the process. I will have photos but not for a few days as I am off to Bristol tomorrow for the most boring of meetings. One good thing about this is that I will get a chance to catch up on th idiocy that is byrne. I impetuously started a baby cargigan yesterday after seeing Pooch's preggers cousin's wife at the wedding and basically it would only fit an extremely premature baby. Going to rip it on the way home (hello fellow tube travellers - not just knitting on the tube but unravelling knitting on the tube) and redo it on bigger needles and twice the size.

I am very excited because I am off to Ikea tonight with Alex (Alex 3 or Alex Mead as he is known. Confusingly to the gang he is Boy Alex whereas for me BoyAlex is Alex Connor. Despite being Alex 2 he is never referred to as such. I, naturally, do not need a descriptor to distinguish me fnah fnah). Have been trying to think why ikea is so good but it's really just that you can get insanely practical things in weird colours and materials for £2. What more could I want?

Am moving back to the Pooch pad on sat/sun. Got to rush home and make the most of my chill out time til then.

*and it was a fruit derivative - do I like like I eat fruit?

Scorchio!

I love that word. Anyway, before I forget go and look at this. Hilarious. It waa reviewed on the knitters review newsletter. If you're not getting this weekly email you should think about signing up as the woman who does it writes really well and it is always interesting.

OK, to business. Guess who was lucky enough to get another SP parcel?! Oh yeah. Guess who's unlucky enough not to have found their camera? So on the dodgiest 'borrowed' office camera here is what we have...

The labels hopefully say it all. Except they don't indicate just how excellent it all is.

Sun print paper - oh yeah.

Close up of the light-spitting-lizard. I now have this lizard attached to my security fob that hangs round my neck all day at work. It just brightens my day no end having a lizard attached to my neck.

So once again my SP plays another blinder and is to be worshipped from afar. It's just a shame I can't do justice to the things with better pictures.

In other I'm-so-spoilt news look what I got for my brithday. These are really rather special. Like butter. I took them to knitting group last night and a certain lady just sat there stroking them. A - you so have to go buy them. You absolutely deserve and NEED these needles. Just think of the space you'll save when travelling. Many thanks to Tom for these!

There has been quite a lot going on with byrne these last few weeks. Let's just review some of the highlights....

• Pooch and I are more or less sorted out as this break from each other has been really helpful in remembering why we miss each other and why we got together in the first place. I'll be moving back in in a week or two.
• I knitted a pair of socks in a weekend (actually intended for Mr Pooch) and for the first time used 2 colours. The leg part is striped and has a slip stitch rib every 5th stitch which gives them a nice smudged effect.
• Having startedmy journey into 2-colour socks I just turned the heel on another pair which, wait for it, use fairisle around the tops to make little red hearts. They really are rather sweet!
• I counted and if I wanted to go all out I need 12 pairs of socks for xmas. So let's not be stupid and call it 6.
• The epic aran for my step-dad now has half a sleeve and a back (or front, depending on how dedicated I feel). I just don't know if I can face doing a whole cabled front/back again as it took SO much effort and about 11 months of on/off knitting.
• SkipNorth 2007 will be going ahead. We will be back in Haworth and I'm sorting out the date next week hopefully. Nickerjac is co-hosting again. It should be wicked bad and even better than last year. Watch this space for more info on the date and cost. This year will include an 'upgrade' package where you can choose to stay in the hotel across the road instead of the hostel dorms.
• The NWKTog group will be doing the london bridge walk in September. Feel free to sponsor us online! We'll be knitting as we walk. No, seriously.

This weekend I am off to Pooch's sister's wedding which should be rather nice. Looks like it will cool down a bit too which is a blessing as I hear it was 37 degrees here yesterday and of course it has been up to 50 (!) on tubes and buses which is just insane.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Especially my SP who is just fab!

Favourite quote

There is a guns and roses song called 'civil war' from which comes my favourite ever quote. I know, but it just is. As well as the words there is the inflection in the voice when it is said. Ready?

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

It doesn't quite have the same impact written like that, but it does yet again seem to apply. I have been discriminated against. There has been a general misunderstanding. People meant well but assumed wrongly. Because you see..

Lots of the people around me thought my dissatisfaction with my relationship and the resulting troubles were because I was getting depressed again. But no one came out and said this to me, apart from Pooch. It just turns out that when I've checked they mostly say "Yeah, well, I did assume that but if you're not then that's great" or something similar.

Just because you had cancer doesn't mean that the only reason your hair falls out is because you're having chemo. People go bald the same as 'normal' people get annoyed.

Anyway, normal service will be resumed soon, as soon as I find my camera.

I think I'm going to be away for a while

1. As you all will have noticed Pooch and I haven't been getting on too well.
2. We have talked about it and both think it is mainly down to the other person.
3. I am moving out for a month to a friend's house in Tottenham Hale to see how things go.
4. I still can't find my camera.

Many thanks for the birthday bits and e-cards you sent on Tuesday. I had a nice birthday, all things considered.

Secret Pal - I'll stay in touch via email.

I might be back in a week or a month, I'll see how it goes. Until then...

service is temporarily unavailable

Just moved house so everything is a mess and I can't find my camera and no internet and....



...let us all use the word 'Scorchio' as much as possible...

We hope to resume normal service soon.

Hello. My name is Alex. And I am moody.

Having a few of the old mood swings today. Because the thing is you see I decided, rather rashly, to cut another pill last Tuesday and this is the second tuesday and so I have a headache and am waking up early and am having mood swings. Ugh. This morning was great because I went out shopping for my SP to the bead shop in covent garden. Before that I had a look around Mistress, the most fabulous shoe shop and genuinely couldn't find anything I wanted to buy!!! I was wondering around soho, looking for knitting books in the second hand stores, found a funky stationary shop, had a malt shake and hotdog at Ed's (People - go to Ed's and have a malt shake. Vanilla allows you to experience the sheer bravardo of it to full-effect but they do other flavours too). Anyway. Was doing all this and found myself fricking smiling. Yeah, I know. Smiling in London? I must have looked like such a tourist.

So anyway, there I was walking around enjoying myself like a demented chipmunk or something. And I got to the supermarket on the way home and I put my key in the door lock and kabooooooooom. One peeved person. Ahhh, don't you just love that website?

So anyway. The person I am most annoyed wih is Pooch, and for a reason even I know is a bit tenuous. You see Mr Pooch and I have created a little relationship history recently in that the relationship almost became history. It went a bit like this...

• Beer
• Football
• Football
• Football
• Football
• Unanswered texts
• Beer
• Football
• Arrival home
• Hello
• Football
• Disatisfaction
• Argument
• Lots of definitive statements
• End of relationship and idea that we are moving into a new flat together on Friday.

Now by Monday afternoon it was agreed that this was not the way forward and lots more statements were made. Some of them concerned patronisation. And now he has sent me an email which, even though he goes to great lengths to indicate he is not being patronising but just asking, is patronising. (To me, at this moment.)

Anyway. Shut up Byrne.

My camera has gone awol so I want you to imagine there is a finished pair of socks here in 'beach' from here. Plus also imagine a few more rounds on the never ending tablecloth cardi. I'm thinking of dyeing it blue. Blue and dark brown. Mmmmmm. Nice. Speaking of nice colours (and I actually mean attractive colours not the crap I come up with) look at socks that rock. Banded and moss agate, plymouth rock, sandstone, yeah baby yeah. In fact basically all of them. The pill cut down has wiped out my short term memory again. Was it Helen who introduced me to these? I think she got some from her SP and says it rivals cherry tree hill which would be a bonus as I have grown to hate cherry tree hill for being lovely yet so useless at retaining colour. I hear Get Knitted are to stock it later this year so will be watching with interest.

I am going to wrap up all the little bits I've got for my SP ready to send them off tomorrow which should cheer me up. And then maybe I'll start the fairisle socks I've been thinking about. I think I've just been reading too many fairisler's blogs recently though. It's not like I actually enjoy fairisle.




PS: I just realised it was Soap Fibre Girl who told me about Socks that Rock and she's just posted about her stash of sock yarn. Now that is impressive!!

PPS: What do you think of the new avatar? They didn't have any one-doughnut-too-many-bodies which is why it looks like you could use my legs to knit 4-ply.

Rather a trying day

Let us forget about reality and sink into the fantasy of creation for a while. The cardi progresses.

It takes so bloody long to do a round now but it should be finished this week. I'm really not at all sure about the colours though. When is the Byrne going to learn to go with her instincts? It does look like a 70s tablecloth.

I did some swatches for the felted bag and these are dry. I can't quite decide which to go with. This is the 'front'

and the 'back'.

I think I prefer the back with the 12mm hook and the front with the 9mm. (9mm is on the left in each photo.)

I was out a fair bit today and at one point was in Putney. I found the new yarn shop which is of course open Tues-Sat only. It looked quite nice from the outside though. On the other side of the road was this:

Made me smile in an otherwise whit free day.

And then finally, this is what I saw when I looked out of the window last night.

He (or possibly she) sat on top of the car for ages having a wash and brush up while people and cats lived their lives on the other side of the carpark. The foxes here just aren't phased by people at all unless you approach them directly and get to within about a metre.

• Saturday: 6 hours
• Sunday: 1 hour with the football on in the background either on radio or tv or for a memorable while, both.
  

A little piece of beauty

I love beautiful things. This may sound a bit 'dur' but I just love looking at them. I class a lot of wool and yarn as beautiful which I guess is why I have so much stashed away and sometimes just get some out to look at it. Um, yeah, anyway. One thing that is definitely beautiful is Cloisonne by Kaffe Fasset. The first six fabrics on this page are it in different colour combinations (they stock most of his fabrics - I've used them before and the service was pretty good). It is 'moss' that I am currently loving. I found some more crochet hooks the other day and found the pouch I bought in Philadelphia wasn't big enough for my collection. So obviously I needed a new one and I set to it straight away. This is what I have ended up with:

This is it folded in three. I haven't added a fastener yet as I'm not sure what to use. This is it unfolded.

You see, I even managed to get my beloved polka dots in there too! It is the cover though that I really love.

Isn't it just divine? I kept looking at the flowers and thinking they looked like jewels so I decided to accentuate that with beads. It's been ages since I embroidered with beads so I combined it with some quilting (I am still thinking about the Amish quilts I saw in the US and also the needle holder I made my SP recently. Actually I never posted a pic of that so more of that in a min.)

This is a detail of some beads. I just love looking at all the colours and feeling the texture caused by the beads and the quilting. It's one of those things where I do not care what anyone else thinks - I just think it's beautiful.

I said I did one for my pal and she's had it a few weeks now. I'm not on the list of people she reads so I think it's safe to post a few pics here. I did the same kind of thing with the outside except no beads.

This is a different Kaffe fabric from the Cotton Patch website (she prefers softer colours so would probably hate the one I've made myself!). Plus a bit of Louise Harding sari ribbon to tie it up. It was the inside I particularly liked on this one.

I embroidered the american needle sizes on the inside. This one is for circs so the loops are open at both ends.

Anyway. Because of this I haven't done much more on the cardi and I actually haven't done any knitting all week! This is where we were two days ago:

I had just done the armholes so decided to give it a whirl. I'm really not sure about the colours. But I've started so I'll finish.... The Pooch (this is him in a typical pose)...

... has just informed me that up til now he thought it was a tablecloth. This is despite me waving the picture of the girl wearing it under his nose every 5 seconds. Tsk. He has actually just done rather well this morning by joining me in a trip to drop off charity shop things to Lewisham followed by a trawl round the shops. He slightly blotted his copybook by buying me a doughnut, only for me to find it had the england flag in icing on it, but then it was a doughnut so no harm done really.

To keep things up to date I need to finish with,

• Tuesday: 0 hours
• Wednesday: 4 hours (was off work ill for these two days)
• Thursday: 5 hours
• Friday: 0 hours

Just me and my flies

My cold got worse yesterday and turned into another migrane so I came home early, regaining consciousness briefly between 8 and 10pm. Why the hell couldn't I sleep through that pitiful time as well? I had the window open because of the heat and all I could hear was 'ooooo' and 'ahhhhh' and 'goal' although that last one didn't happen often. Have spent today plugged into the beanbag. And this is where the flies come in.

There are flies, circling about a 40cm cube of air in the middle of this room. Or rather there were flies. About 5 of them. I say about as they are hard to count as they won't keep still. There are people out there who would be able to tell you why they occupy this small airspace so rigidly so I won't theorize here. At about 3 I was in the beanbag, as you do, dropping off in front of perry mason (this was one of those zen episodes of perry mason where perry himself does not actually appear). An hour later I stirred once more and there were no flies. Do you see where I'm going with this? How likely is it that all (approximately) 5 flies flew out of their airspace and into my mouth while I was zizzing?

It's all quite worrying. So to take my mind off that I have graphed Pooch's attendance record.

But I found I really wasn't happy with this graph.

Three years....three years studying physics and all I have left are my drawing-a-graph-in-excel-skills and this is the best I can do? Oh no no no! So I had a fiddle.

Art!

Just to keep my hand in I frogged and then did a bit more of the crochet cardi. It's looking rather impressive now though I say so myself. I also finished the hat AND did a couple of swatches to felt for the bag made out of the stuff my SP sent me. The hat is not quite the thing of beauty that Ruth produced as it looks more giant's causeway than pixie but I am still pretty chuffed with it. There would have been a picture but La Pooch has nicked off with the batteries again. That boy....

How have I contained my excitement this long?

I felt I had to put that rubbish about meringues first before being able to do justice to..... my second secret pal parcel! I am so spoiled! Such an amazing mix of colours too. Plus I really think my pal is trying to completely convert me to crochet.

Feast your eyes...

A crochet scarves book and another wicked crochet mag. I have only had a quick flick through these but this one immediately caught my eye:

Pooch does rather love his argyle patterns (they make him feel closer to the golf he feels he ought to play).

Then there is a gorgeous pink t-shirt.

I am a bit confused here though SP. B is for Byrne - sorted. Plus it says "soft as a grape" under the B which strikes me as particularly random and wonderful. But it also says it is official baseball wear and I am ashamed to say I just don't know which team it refers to. Should I know this? Am I just embarrassing myself?

And as if all this wasn't enough, look at this amazing stuff....

It is every different colour you can think of and....it felts! AND she sent me a hat and bag pattern with it and there is enough to make either. So now I am in a conundrum. Or I have one. I'm not sure right now how to use the word and I'm too excited to care. Do I frog the crochet cardi and go with the bag? Or frog the cardi and then redo it. Or stop starting other projects when I've already got about 20 on the go and finish the hat? I need guidance here folks - help me out.

On the Pooch front I have to revise Thursday to one full hour because I forgot we had lunch. So that is...

• Thursday (revised): 1 hour
• Sunday: 5 hours (I was tricked into eating there in the evening which is undoubtedly where the crochet went wrong)
• Monday (today): 0.1 hour.

That's right peeps...Pooch popped in for a quick 6 mins (I timed it so this tally could retain statistical validity) after I got back from work during half time of the 5pm game.

Poo - half an hour more cursed tidying before slumping in front of the really appalling yet addictive Rosemary and Thyme on TV. Such hammy acting although I always end up feeling sorry for Pam Ferris. At leat she pretends to be doing it a bit seriously where as that woman from that 70s thing about the self-sufficient people living next door to Margo and Jerry just mucks about being totally over the top all the time.

Um. I just critiqued Rosemary & Thyme? Wow. I really am willing to do anything to avoid the tidying. That's the problem with moving. You can't move a mess - you have to at least put it in a box first.

Mmmmmm

First the good bit: Who says I can't cook? When it comes to puddings I am unrivalled. I got a sudden urge for meringues this evening and found some suitable eggs. They're in the oven as I type!

Now the bad news: I have got this far with the crochet cardi I wasn't going to start til I'd finished the hat.

Thing is, it all started going wrong about round 4 and by this point I have 21 loops instead of 20. Peeps, I'm going to have to frog it. But, BUT it just goes to show. At least I know I can read a crochet pattern even if I'm not too good at the execution.

Warning, hat in progress

Why get up to look in a mirror when you've got a camera next to you on the sofa?

Pooch says it is my finest creation yet and I have to say I am rather pleased with it. I might finish it tonight although it's not exactly the weather for it. I love the design though and plan to have many more crochet spirals featuring in my future.

I know I said I would leave the squares afghan til the winter but... BUT. You see I've had £50 in my paypal account for a week and decided I would save it for woolfest but now of course I can't go and Tom is coming over next weekend and so...it kind of seemed like a little splurge at elann.com was in order. I bought the wool I'll need for the afghan - about 21 balls for about £30! The exchange rate just makes it madness to buy in the UK even if you do get stuck with the import tax. I know this is extremely disloyal and unpatriotic but there are still some things I *need* from the UK (Silkwood sock yarn I think...).

Breakfast this morning was a joy. None of that health nonsense about food colouring. Nobody does cerial quite like the americans. Look at these colours...

I am behind with my hour logging so here goes for the rest of this week:

• Thursday: 0.5 hours
• Friday: 0 hours
• Saturday: 7 hours (I went to Joe's for lunch and stayed crocheting my spirals for the first half of the 2pm game until I ran out of wool)

It's Sian's birthday next weekend so have been busily filling a box with goodies for her. When we were little Mum used something called "the good little pogie's prize" as a good conduct award for the week and it was always a higgledymix of little things rather than one big thing. I LOVE presents like that where there are lots of mini thngs and have always got Freddie ones like that. This one for Sian is like that too so I hope she likes it (and I know she's been reading this recently so am cunningly building up a bit of pre-birthday excitement!).