Giggidy

It's a hat...

It's blocking as I type, over a dinner plate. Was a bit foxed by the instructions becauser they didn't mention any increases after the headband and so didn't understand how it would work. Should have known Interweave wouldn't let me down. Is the december lights tam from the Interweave Holiday mag and uses Rowan something and diakeito something else rather than the squillion colours mentioned in the pattern.

I've also been doing a few rows on the Pi Shawl which at the moment is looking pretty manky, although I do like the way the yarn and the colour is working out.

It's something I've been doing a few rows of in bed. I was thinking about one of the blogs I've been reading where she journals every night. I don't think Pooch would tolerate glitter in the bed and a couple of rounds of knitting is much more 'me'.

I've been trying to be a bit healthier recently and sat down to a really yummy meal of toast and this lot last week.

I can't understand why I never liked raspberries until last year. They are just so good. The texture is good, the taste is good, they look good and they are actually good for me. Goooooooooooooood.

Went and had lunch with sian, mum and rob and drove around in sian's bright yellow car. Torben was lying in a ditch on salisbury plain in the rain. I don't know how they do it. I get hysterical if my feet are wet for more than about 30 mins. Finished the hat on the way back which involved a terribly long train journey for such a short distance. Gave me pause for thought - I have a job interview tomorrow and I keep thinking..."When they ask you 'what is your greatest weakness?', what should you say?" So far all advice is to say something that is actually positive. But the example Dann gave me last night at dinner was one of the ones Sian said not to use under any circumstances, and she interviews grads for a living. I think I'm going to go with the fact that my default facial expression is 'peeved' and that in meetings I have to remember to smile and be facially expressive. I'm very big on giving feedback and expressing things verbally but I know that when you do that but your face says 'pissed off' it makes the person you're talking to uncomfortable. Geez, I'm so fricking insightful.

Another thing I've been thinking about is how to keep ones yarn cake intact. This has been my long-term solution and has been in use constantly since I made it. It's just occurred to me that I need more than one and so am writing a pattern for my own and others use.

It even looks kind of dinky.

So...pooch is lov ely

Pooch just highjacked the laptop and typed that last bit. I'd ignore it if I were you.

Post 2 and a podcast

So the second post in this series, if people have got their breath back aafter that awesome blanket, is to look at my knitting and the most gorgeous baby I know. Knitting first...

Bracket Fungus socks are totally finished. I did them on 2-needles with a short row heel and I *love* them! Wore them on saturday.

And then the december tam from the interweave gifts mag is coming along nicely. I can only do a row or two a night as otherwise my tiny brain gets fuddled.

I'm doing it via the magic loop method and loving it although the contrast between the Rowan (thanks secret pal!) and the diakeito isn't as much as I'd hoped. Is nice though and with the weather getting colder am looking forward to wearing it.

Then I very proudly finished my first real granny square. Not much I know but then I've never done a proper old school one before so thought I'd give it a go.

And then I was doing some other of the blocks from the 200 crochet blocks book and this is my favourite so far. I think it might be called 'spinner'.

The yarn doesn't suit it but you can imagine it in something with long colour changes. I am working up to doing a baby blanket so am trying out the various blocks to decide which to use.

And finally, I know this is what you've been waiting for. Here comes the eye candy...

Isn't he gorgeous?! This is of course Pete and I met up with him, Nickerjac, ProbablyJane and Lucy (who I hadn't met before) at the Romford Starbucks yesterday. He even got left with Auntie Lixie for 15 mins while Nic went to Hobbycraft with Jane. And he didn't cry - proudest moments of my life and probably the most tiring. I don't know how Nic and Andy do it...

Here he is with Jane (I really like this one!)

Oh, OK, just one more (check out the huuuuge knitting needle!)

What a cutie!

And finally, there is a podcast featuring an interview with Alice from Socktopus just waiting to be listened to over here. There's also a competition to win the fabulous stitchmarkers pictured on that site. Here are the ones I talk about on the podcast from Glastonbury Glassworks.

And absolutely finally...Pooch's heavenly evening...

(Hint - count the laptops)

I think I am scared of my blog, or something

I think it's since I've been editing my 2005 entries to make them into a blog book through blurb.com. I keeping thinking about what stuff used to be like and how what is on here has a meaning although I'm not quite sure what that meaning is. It has contributed to me getting 'a thing' about blogging. I used to have a thing about Independence Day (the film). I still have a think about crouching tiger hidden dragon. I have it unwatched. And as a sign of how long this particular thing has been around it's a video. I have to blog to break the 'thing' but I keep putting it off. I'm hoping to fully hammer it to bits by posting two posts at once. Woo yeah!

So this post is going to focus on the amazing blanket the golders green group have given me. Here it is complete...

And here we are looking at each and every bit individually...

Woo hoo!

No diggidy no doubt, no PC no podcast

Hmph. Pooch blowing up the pc has meant I've lost my podcast template. And I can't download my interview with the socktopus. And I can't download blurb.com's software on the mac. Gosh darn.

So anyway, no podcast. Bleh.

Have been knitting like a demon on this hat.

Like a little spiderman. It doesn't look so good on my knee - note to self, have a baby.

Also took some time out to make some button jewellery. Have been cruising craftster.org for inspiration and came up with this:

Which looks odd but I really like it!

Also another plainer bracelet.

Dedicated to CraftyPod

I sometimes think I don't say often enough how much I adore this podcast. It is awesome. In fact I'm thinking of making the tagline to my own podcast "It's not CraftyPod, but I like it".

The most recent episode was this woman who made her blog into a book. Now for me this is very timely. I have been thinking over the last few weeks how I've stopped keeping diaries in favour of blogging (and also because they were either boring or depressing). But it does mean that the only record of my activities is online and I'm beholden to blogger.com continuing to host it forever more. So I tootled over to her blog and saw that it truly is something worth keeping and also saw a couple more links on craftypod about how to do it.

So the summary of that last paragraph is that I went over to Blurb.com and downloaded their free software which, wait for it, makes a book out of your blog for free. I tried to do the whole blog in one book but it was over 400 pages (!) so have opted to start with 2005 and see how that goes. Is very easy to use and got the hang of it within 5 minutes. I am about 100 pages into my 7x7" blog book. One of the really good things has been re-reading posts past. Certainly lots to reflect on...

Have been doing bits and pieces of knitting this week so not much to report. A belated photo of Pooch's hat mark 2.

And some non-knitting for once. My purse was just about falling apart and so I went on Craftster and found a tutorial for a new one. Minimal sewing and very quick to do. Sewing on the popper took longer than making the main body. Have been using it all week and am really happy with it!

I do really like sewing but rarely do any nowadays that isn't mending. Made a nice change although naturally nothing beats a bit of knitting.

Oh god oh god oh god oh god

Would someone just give me a fricking job based in london that will be even vaguely interesting? Here follow some of the things I am good at but that by themselves don't seem to form any kind of profession:

• Project Management (I am a fully qualified PRINCE2 Practitioner - but this doesn't seem to count as I haven't yet had a chance to work on a PRINCE2 project or one with a budget more than £100k). Good with MS Project.
• Organising things. Anything - strategic overhauls, christmas parties, training courses, holidays, exhibitions, schedules, operational change etc etc
• Getting things done. I am completely A1 at getting things to happen faster than you thought they would.
• Public speaking. Small groups, large groups, auditoria full. CEOs, post-room boys, corporate, academic, not-for-profit. Subjects I know lots about, subjects I know little about, with slides, without slides. It's all good.
• Training - IT, soft skills, anything.
• IT - am the daddy of most Office software. Have developed websites, understand html, at a push can still remember some FORTRAN 90 (anyone who knows what that is can stop sniggering right now - it was useful once upon a time!). Photoshop. My speciality is fixing temperamental office printers/photcopiers.
• Adaptable - can turn my hand to most things.
• Flexible - travel not a problem (more knitting time - right?), hours not a problem (as long as averages as 40ish a week)
• Calm in a crisis. Patient with the passionate. Idyllic with the irritated. Afterall, I have a blog to moan on if someone is annoying me.
• Creative thinking. You want someone to think off at a tangent? That's me.

So come on...surely someone has got a job for me?
Meanwhile, knitting continues chez Byrne.

This volumous mass is the back of the fairisle jumper being knitted with proper shetland and evenything. I think it is waaaaaaaay too big but am going to leave it to 'mature' and then see what I think. Also, in the same way that the-car-behind-you-is-always-closer-than-they-appear-in-the-mirror, I am always somewhat fatter than I remember so you never know. I might have grown into it.
I realise I still haven't blogged about the wondrous UK Stitch and Bitch day last weekend. It was really really good. Much more like a gathering of friends than the mass of heaving shoppers to be found at ally pally. Much kudos to the IKnit boys and associates for their work and I'm very pleased to see they will be doing another one next year.
I spotted some tiny skeins of opal on one stand - I think it was Get Knitted.

Very cute but not quite sure what you were supposed to do with it.
The Shellac Sisters were there playing records (I seemed to know all the music they were playing which was odd). This particular sister was wearing a knitted dress that was just the most amazing thing I've seen. She very bravely submitted to my photographing her for which I'm very grateful!

The Dutch knitters tables were very well attended, in part because of the yummy food they had brought with them. They also had some amazing objects. Look at these mittens in blue and white:

I looked at them very carefully and I swear there wasn't a stitch out of place on either one. They really were beautifully made.
There was an amazing diversity of people at the show - proportionally loads more men than I saw at ally pally and the average age was much lower too. I suspected some were boyfriends dragged along but then saw these two getting down to some stitching and so revised that.

Of course one man was certainly not going to be caught there...he stayed home perfecting his pose for when he becomes a conservative MP.

So what did I buy? Well....I made a major investment in natural dye studio silk. I couldn't help it.

I plan a pacific waves shawl starting with the blue at the top and working my way down through the colours.
Also some lovely vintage patterns from the KCG Stand.

Some ToeFootSies sock yarn for me and my secret pal

And finally what started as this...

With free stitchmarker stuck on with a sticker...how cool is that?

and unwrapped into...

Mmmmm. I also met up with Alice (who I keep thinking of as "The Socktopus" but in a nice way) on the following sunday and did an interview for the podcast which I hope you'll all like (should be out next weekend).
Thought SkipNorth had suffered a set-back when our home PC went for a burton and stopped working at the weekend. Fortunately I've got the spreadsheet back so those who have booked in the last few days will be receiving a confirmation from me shortly. There are still places but book soon to avoid disappointment...
So finally - a double whammy. Cupcake calendar AND a pithy quote.

PS: Don't forget about that job

On a day like today...

This year has been a bit different for me as I now have a soldier practically in the family. It's brought it all much closer than before. So, yes, there is a lot to say about the Stitch and Bitch day yesterday but for today I'm just going to leave people with the image above. If you haven't already done so you can donate to the Royal British Legion here.