A Podcast, a SkipNorth knitting holiday and some knitting

The first two kind of go together because on the latest podcast, featuring the best intro music I've ever heard, Nickerjac and I sit around nattering with her Andy asking us questions about it. It was really good to reminisce about SkipNorths of the past and the kind of shopping frenzies we've seen and also all the stuff we've learnt form other people. We also chatted about which workshops to run (off mic!) and I'll be posting in the SkipHolidays Yahoo group about them soon. Anyone who wants to be kept informed can join the group.

The holiday is excellent fun and I think excellent value too. For £165 you get two nights in the hostel, all meals (and good, locally sourced, huge meals they are too), luxury coach to take you round, specially organised visits to places like the KCG Collection and all materials for the workshops. There's also a cheaper option for people who would prefer to stay in a local B&B. The podcast gives loads more info. You can also find out more and book here: www.proudtobecrafty.co.uk/SN1.html

Oh and the podcast is here! Or you can find it on i-tunes.

So on to the knitting...

The Norah Gaugain sunburst jumper is finished but is in its third day of drying after a good block on friday. Here is yet another pic of it drying:

I am worried it is going to be too big but am saving up my worrying til the weekend when I'll be able to give it full throttle.

There has also been considerable progress on the socks I am making for a friend of mine.

All the details are on ravelry here. I keep going at it in fits and starts and when I really sit down with it the thing shoots along. I'm just about to start the heel of the second one so another few days should see it done.

There has also been some non-knitting going on in the shape of loads and loads of luverly button jewellery. I bought this book recently having shuffled backward and forward between different ones for months. This book is by far the best I've seen and I've already made three things from it. You see, I do love my buttons. This is one I've made as a goodbye present for a colleague. Lots of vintage mother of pearl.

Then this is a cuff using safety pins and buttons with shanks which are always a problem to the button jewellery maker as they don't lie flat.

I'm not actually sure about this one. I love the buttons but it's a bit big. I might put it on etsy instead.

Then in a non-crafty and wholly capitalist move I acted with lightning speed on a comment left on my last entry about duoboots.com. Now I did know about Duo already as a couple of peeps at Golders Green have bought them but what I didn't know is they had a sale on.

Oh yeah. And further more I ordered them friday lunchtime and they arrived at 7.30 AM......AM!! on saturday. Our postman only delivers after 11am on weekdays and suddenly one arrives at 7.30 on a saturday? That's just wrong. But they are good boots. I wore them on sat night and Pooch was very attentive. They are also a perfect fit round the ol'calves.

And finalllllly. Ann sent round this meme...which fibre are you?

Try it yourself here.

I have a theory

When you do a detox, apparently, you body releases all kinds of nasty stuff that would normally be stored within your fat reserves. This causes spots and so on. I say 'apparetly' as detox's are things I only read about never wishing to actually make a practise of it myself. And so my theory is born. I gave up the last of my mirtazipine roughly a month ago (leaving me with just half the prozac). One of the big side effects of that for me was increased appetite and a seemingly unrelenting desire for chocolate. Coupled with a lack of will power this lead to big old weight gain. Since giving up my sugar intake has plummeted, as has my appetite in general. I'm still eating plenty and manage a respectable amount of chocolate but it's not a compulsion anymore. The result is that my loyal fat reserves are slowly but surely being eroded.

Recently I have had a spate of minor niggles such as swollen glands, itchy legs (don't ask me), restless sleep and nausea. It struck me earlier today that this could be all the mank I'd been safely storing finding its way out. So having had a particularly rough night last night there would appear to be only one logical solution.

I have to. It's the only way I'll feel well again.

Believe it or not the Sunburst jumper I blogged about last time is nearly finished. Just goes to show how quickly that bulky yarn knits up compared to the old 4-ply. Its been an interesting knit but I wish they'd found room for a few extra schematics. I've added some notes to the ravlery pattern page to help others out. The front and back are done and look good.

It was the gussets that had me worrying and puzzling for a bit but once I realised they went form the underarm to the waist and the silly neckline wasn't in fact the neckline but the raglan shoulders too it all went swimmingly. You can just about see the triangular gusset in the pic below. Short rows and a good idea.

But my god it has used up a lot of yarn. Going to be quite a monster once it's done.

Yesterday saw the last of my xmas parties with 'the gang' showing up chez pooch/byrne.

Good fun was had by all although it did seem a bit much for some people.

ARUN WANTS YOU...

TO SHAVE HIS CREEPY MOUSTACHE OFF

Awooga!

I am so very addicted to the mighty boosh nowadays. I bought series 1&2 on dvd before christmas and pooch and I have watched them all. I watched most of series 3 on bbc 3, watched the live show on tv around new year and have now bought the radio shows form itunes. I can't decide which one I like most but then I remember that I don't need to decide - I can like them both. I think however that I might be coming down on the side of Howard aka Julian. He is quite Pooch-like and rather handsome in a tall, northern kind of way. He's the one on the right below.

Then there is Vince aka Noel. He is a pop-tart who hovers between goth and emo with skinny legs and big hair. He is attractive in a rather more obvious way but that doesn't mean he should be dismissed. He's on the left in the pic above and on the right in the one below.

The Mighty Boooooooosh, the mighty boosh....

Xmas and new year are now long gone and were hugely enjoyable. There were two major parties, one thrown by us and one at Leah's.

This young man excelled himself by pulling on another girl's knee high boots (and doing them up - I need to find out where she got them as I'm too chunky for my old ones and Dann's no flower fairy), donning a bright pink wig and mincing around the room. I was trying to teach him how to walk in heels and he did get quite good towards the end of it. There is a video which I hope to get hold of sometime soon....

I finally finished the hourglass jumper from Last Minute Knitted Gifts at Golders Green on wednesday. I like finishing things there - they are so much more appreciative of the effort involved than the Pooch is. I *really* love the jumper. It fits very nicely and I was tempted to cast on another one straight away.

Instead I have cast on the sunburst jumper from an ancient copy of Interweave. It is a Norah Gaugain and involves medallions on the front and back which turn into a top down raglan type of thing. Photos when it gets a bit further along.

So here I am at work again biding my time. Notice has been handed in and resignations made official. My last day is the 18th and I start the next job on the 21st. Quite exciting. Not quite sure what to do with myself for the next few weeks.

2007 round up

I don't know how common this is but I have an almost physical dislike of numbers that end in a 7. They make me do that thing with my nose that emotion used to make me do in the dim past before therapy stopped it. Seriously. So 2007 never boded that well for me. But all in all I think it's gone pretty well. This year has seen me...

1. Get married
2. Cut 75% of my meds
3. Go a whole year without therapy (first since about 1999?)
4. Get a new job (Yipppeeeeeeeee)
5. Join ravelry, and thereby get a grip on all my WIP, UFOs, stash and queued projects.
   
6. Knit some mighty fine objects, some of which I've put photos for below (in no particular order and largely depending on whether I could find them in my photobucket account)
7. Hosted my first ever baby shower and become "Auntie Lixie" to the cutest baby I've ever seen.
8. Reached episode 13 of the podcast, with a 14th being planned.

And probably more that I will think of the minute I publish this post!

I'm astonished to find that this is just a small part of what I've finished off this year. But it's not just the finished objects that I am grateful for - this year also saw the end to the never-ending-aran-jumper started for my step dad in 2005. Long may it rest in peace. The front, completed and ready to go, will form part of a lovely quilt for feed the children in the near future.


This time last year I was giving voice to all sorts of plans and it is of course the traditional time for resolutions. But I think I'm just going to see what the year brings. Pooch and I have been discussing things to do with buying a flat and I would like to see that happen next year but who knows which way the market will go next.


Knit-wise I am very happy with the year and with my current stockpile which would see me through at least one nuclear winter. This doesn't mean there won't be a little stash acquisition during the year, especially at SkipNorth which is shaping up to be oh so good. But I no longer feel compelled to buy all I can and am now much more committed to quality over quantity than I was in the past.


So yes, it's basically been a good one, despite the number 7 featuring so prominently in the year. I've got a little something to share with everyone. It is something I filmed Pooch doing about 6 months ago. This is pure gold, with Pooch at his muppet best. For those people with sound he is complaining at first that his 'arms bend back' but it is what happens when he notices what I'm doing that really keeps me coming back to it to watch over and over again....

Happy New Year everyone!

Xmas post

Have had a really rather lovely xmas - just me and pooch at home enjoying ourselves and relaxing. Knitwise it has been rather frustrating as I spent most of the holiday so far making the hourglas jumper from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. This is it when it wasn't wrong - I really like the colours and the yarn and the size and everything but I have completely cocked up the raglan decreases.

I am going to have to rip it back to the armpits which is terribly irritating. On the plus side I have tried it on and know how long it will take to knit and what I need to do differently next time so should have it within a week.

I managed some sale shopping this week and hit both liberty and john lewis on oxford street. As ever they had the same stuff at the same discount - roughly 50% off a load of jaeger and rowan and the DB Astrakhan. Also some Noro at John Lewis which I bought some of for a special project I'll be blogging about on ravelry to keep it out of the way of the recipient's eyes! Liberty's sale was on the whole better if only because they put the prices on things. John Lewis left it for you to guess or deduce. Bit odd. Got two full packs of matchmaker dk at Liberty in two shades of purple. Have done pretty well for purples recently really.

Xmas itself brought lots of goodness. Take a look at this little lot!

Two calenders, domiknitrix and fitted knits, both of which I have been after for quite some time.
My absolute favourite present though comesfrom Nic who made me the *most* beautiful shawl! Pooch agreed to model it for me.

In't it amazing? The yarn is cashmere. It is so lovely to have around my shoulders!

At first Pooch was quite reluctant to model but then he seemed to get strangely into it.

My second favourite present has to be one of the ones from Pooch. How can you not smile at this...

A gift tag sellotaped to a satsuma. Genius.

I've been having a stash clear out and now have a bag of stuff to swap at the yet to be organised yarn swap which I keep thinking I should organise. I had suggested it to a few people who seemed up for it. The Foyles group have had a couple where they have one table for free stuff and one table for stuff for sale which I thought sounded like a good idea. We could have it at Starbucks and people can get their fill of tea and cake at the same time.

With my final day at IOP coming up there are a load of things I need to get sorted before I give back my work laptop. It's amazing how large my 'personal' folder has got in 7 years so there's a lot of patterns and images that need transferring elsewhere. One of the things I started and hadn't finished was the blog book I talked about a month of two ago and on the podcast. I have finally submitted and ordered a copy of "Lixie Knits It 2005"! I had great fun putting it all together and have already started 2006. As I said at the time I was worrying about how blogs are only as permanent as the website hosting them and I didn't want it all just to vanish one day.

Breaking News

I got it!

Hopefully my last day here will be 18th Jan. How happy am I?!!!!

Brrrr

London is fricking freezing today. I still haven't warmed up after my journey in. Plus I suspect Pooch has poisoned me and so keep feeling really sick. Some might say I was in a bit of a grump but that would be a shallow interpretation as I leave that kind of thing to the Pooch. One primadonna is enough in any household.

Through incessant listening to 'Santa Baby' I have kind of managed to get into the festive spirit. Also through intensive staring at our christmas tree which is now surrounded by an embarrassing quantity of presents.

Our families are just so generous! Can't wait to get unwrapping... Have high hopes of a knitting book or two in amongst it all.

We had some lovely news chez byrne at the weekend - a little baby girl arrived to two of our mates (the first baby in Pooch's gang) so of course this prompted some furious knitting. I'd already knocked out the blanket and everton top but these took just a few hours and are so amazingly cute - even more so in the flesh!

Pooch is now demandaing some 'thumbs shoes' of his own.

I have also cast on the hourglass jumper in last minute knitted gifts using the yarn I got at ally pally 3 years ago. I've had it constantly on my mind as I really liked the colours and the feel of it but had never come across a pattern that seemed right for it. But...I think I may have cracked it.

It is two different colourways of fibreworks but they share quite a few colours and so striping them is making a rather pretty fabric and using the 4.5mm instead of the 3,75 gives it a nice drape too. Am going to concentrate on knitting this over xmas.

Something I've hesitated to mention because I don't want to jinx it is a job interview I had yesterday. It is for a Head of CPD at a similar org to my current one. I *realllllllly* want this job. Really. I should find out either today or tomorrow. Its been ages since I was in suspense like this - since I started at IOP in fact. I am so desperate to leave this place that it's going to be a double blow if I don't get it - mood and ego!

Goddamn camera nonsense and a podcast

Actually to be fair it is actually byrne-nonsense as I have consistently managed to ensure my camera, the camera lead and a computer have not once been brought into alignment since we got back from Lille. So rest assured there is much to follow and the crappy quality of the photos in this post are because of my switch to my mobile which is not really designed for such things. However it has encouraged some stealth photography as you will see shortly.

(Lu and Lou do not click on this link for another few days) I have just put these babies in the post - the reason I've put a link is so that Lucy and Louise do not click on it as they are their presents. They are the same as the ones my secret pal made me except different yarn, gauge, buttons, most things so obviously are not as quite as good as hers. I was able to tell her in person what a dude she has been at the Romford Knit-in on sunday. It turns out she is Emma from http://erqsome.typepad.com/ and she has definitely been an excellent pal. She handed over my final parcel when we met and I can't do it justice in words so it will have to wait until my camera meets the lead once again. Go to her blog though. She has a very funny exert from the black lace submission guidelines.

There has been lost of knitting going on chez byrne although nothing much I can particularly show off. Just progress on big items really. I did start and then rip the rainbow socks from magknits because once I'd understood the shaping it all just seemed a little bit mundane. I've started another pair with a leaf design which are coming along very nicely and hope to have some decent progress to report shortly. Sadly I have never managed to produce a garment as magnificant as this 'knitted dress' I saw in H&M window. Yes, the blue lurex one.

Knitted? Jaysus. Whoever thought the 80's and early 90's would seriously come back so much. I still cringe thinking about it the first time. But then imagine my surprise when my ickle sis took me into topman and this was standing behind the counter -

I kept thinking to myself. That must be a wig. Surely that is a wig. But why would someone wear a wig like that to work. But if it's not a wig he must have had to spend real time getting to look like that. Dear god, it's not a wig, he actually wants to look like that. I turned to Byrne-junior and made a joke about Wayne's World which got a "What's that?" type response. Honestly, what are they teaching them in schools nowadays?

Or am I the only one who still does the hand movements when Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady comes on the radio? Oh go on, watch it again.

And finally a rainbow from my office window.

Except not finally, because there's a podcast too - last one before xmas. And a humdinger of a competition too!

Yarn Cake Pattern

This is what we're aiming for - it stops your yarn cake falling apart or getting tangled in your keys in your bag.

When reading this pattern keep in mind that I am not built for speed, lettuce or writing patterns and so am not sure whether I am using english or US terms but I know it works for me. Some kind person may leave a comment and then I'll make it better so it makes more sense.

First choose your yarn - I tend to use leftovers of cotton 4-pky or dk. You'll need about 15g. Choose a hook suitable for the thickness of the yarn. In the photos I used DK cotton and a 4mm hook.

Make a slipknot and chain 10. This base chain decides the width of your finished net so if you are using one of those mega ball winders then make this number bigger.

Chain 5 (first treble plus 3ch), 1 tr into 5th chain from end
Chain 2 skip 1 and treble into next chain. Repeat 3 more times. DON'T TURN THE WORK!
Into same stitch ch3 treble, ch3 treble. This effectively turns the corner and enables you to do the same loopy thing up the other side of your starter chain.
Repeat to match first side of chain (where made first treble). Ch3 and join to 2nd chain of first treble.

At this point it should look something like a freaked out sea cucumber, a la picture below.

That's your base done.

Slip stitch across 2 chains - you're now on the peak of one of the little loops. Ch4 and dc into next space. You now repeat this round and round in a spiral.

At the end of the first round you might be tempted to join the end of the round with the beginning at the place the hook is pointing to below.

RESIST THIS TEMPTATION!

Instead make your last ch4 work a little harder and just dc into the next loop, where the yellow arrow is.

Keep going round until the cake holder is a bit shorter than you want it to be (about 9cm unstretched/7 loops high for me with my low tech average size ball winder). It should look a bit flacid and useless, like the pic below.

Now you're going to sort out the top so it can be gathered tighter to keep the yarn cake in it.

From wherever you are on the brim ch3 (first treble) *ch1 skip 1 1tr into next stitch. Repeat from * to end. Join this round to the 3rd chain of your first 3ch. You've created some little gaps like the pillars that held up aquaducts in ancient rome.

To neaten it off do a round of dc around the top. Cut yarn and sew in end. Use approx 50cm yarn to make a twisted cord and thread it in and out of the aquaduct spaces, indicated by yellow arrows.

You've finished! Put your yarn cake in it and tighten the top cord to keep it in. The centre pull end of the cake comes out of the top. Tighten the cord around the top as your cake gets smaller.

The pattern is on Ravelry as 'Yarn Cake Keeper'. Let me know if you spot any mistakes!

THAT wig

Oh yeah, this is me. I'm the one with the chin.

Because of course last night was Grease 2 at the Barbican's bad film club and it was really fun. Not as good as Anaconda - if anything Grease 2 is almost too bad to be shown at the bad filmk club - but still pretty good. And made doubly memorable by the attendance of Alice (aka Socktopus) and Sue from Golders Green. And triply memorable by my winning a trophy the size of my nose for my wig and a t-shirt.

The wig is of course the hallowig from knitty and it was great fun. I can quite see them being great as hat substitutes for bright young things or chemo patients (not that the two are mutually exlusive unfortunately).

Grease 2 brought back many memories, not least of which was thinking of the last time I ever did something like this in a crowd...

Here is my sister trying not to be noticed between Sue and Alice. We all had kazoos, clackers and whistles so we could try and drown out songs like 'Charades'.

It all reminded me of dear old anaconda and I don't think I ever got it together to share this photo of Pooch with a snake on his head.

The sticky up tail rattles. What a boy.

The terribly busy rush in the run-up to xmas has started. Not at work,. oh dear me no, but in my real life. The weekend saw me going out on both friday and saturday night (practically unknown for me as neither occasion involved knitting) and then going to meet my parents and sian at her place in Horsham.

If you ever happen to pass through it is worth stopping. A very nice place with lots of promising looking charity shops. Sadly only one of them was open when we were there. And also containing my sister and her boy's very impressive collection of rocky memorabilia which decorates the whole of their flat. I was wondering whether you can get a rocky doorbell as his xmas pressie...? And if anyone knows of somewhere I can get some rocky fabric let me know asap.

This week I have already been to Grease 2 and am off to Lille tomorrow for an early weekend with Pooch. We'll be away til Saturday and I have a couple of yarn shop addresses pencilled in my diary for when Pooch is looking the other way. Then on sunday I get to have my secret pal reveal....by actually meeting her in person at the Romford knit-in! How exciting is that?!

Job wise I still atrophy a little more each day. I had an interview on monday and got asked back for a second but told them I wasn't interested. The woman I had the first with kept telling me how overworked and understaffed they were and how everyone wanted to work there so they expected a lot from their staff and if one person went off ill everyone else really suffered and basically it didn't sound like a restful environment. Fingers crossed something else will turn up soon.