Luxor 29C....London -1C

I have been on the most amazing holiday of my life! I've spent a week on a 5 star cruise around the Luxor area of Egypt. Oh my word, it was just incredible.

The boat was beautiful, my cabin was excellent, the staff were brilliant and the sights and experiences were just astounding. I took more than 400 photos during the 8 days but have pared them down to just a sample.

The amazing boat - Regency. My cabin was just on the waterline so I had amazing views.

A lot of my pictures were of the scenary as we mooched past. It was so peaceful, drifting up and down the river. I got lots of knitting done. I started off with the ripple socks I had started before I went.

But I soon cast on some 'Nile Socks' in the colours of the sky and sand. I finished these during the cruise.

There are photos of my WIP at places like Abu Simbel on ravelry. And speaking of which....

We were woken up at 3.30am for a 3 hour coach ride each way to the site. It was worth it!

Philae Temple was probably my favourite. Partly because of the boat rides there and back. Again, the scenary was beautiful.

One place I was always looking forward to was Karnak - mostly because of the scenes shot there in the Ustinov version of Death on the Nile. Classic. It was as good as I thought it would be.

The majestic rams grabbed by angela lansbury playing an alcoholic.

The last thing I did was an optional extra - a sunrise balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. I am *so* glad I did this. It was the most amazing part of the whole holiday. There were 32 people in the balloon but we were all awe struck and when the burner wasn't going it was silent. There were about 20 balloons all together - shows how popular it is. I would strongly recommend this to anyone.

I did, naturally, do a little bit of shopping while I was out there but I think I'll leave that and a description of being a woman travelling alone in egypt until tomorrow.

Nickerjac has a meme on her blog about films you have watched - I have seen 63, of which I would like to commend to you the folowing:

• Hellboy. I've talked about this film before. It's just good. You can learn a lot about life by watching this film. Especially if you can set yourself on fire without actually burning and are having trouble controlling it.
• Team America. I *love* Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Stingray (stingray, dunna daanna daanna), insert puppets here. I also like funny films. So this one combining the two was bound to be a winner. The songs are awesome ("America - fuck yeah!" is one of my favourites) and the sex seen is just brill - you've only seen similar if you have seen Avenue Q.
• Kill Bill 1 and 2. These really are the classics everyone bangs on about them being. They may not be to your taste but they are worth seeing just as a cultural reference point.
• Kung Fu Hustle. This combines some of the biggest names in martial arts with fit bods and hilarious plot and excellent surrealism. It's a film you can watch with your parents or your grandchildren and everyone will be happy. It's feel good without scmaltz and with realism. Good stuff.

A word of caution however. There are two films which should carry health warnings, although actually neither of them are on that list. The first is Pirates of the Carribean 3. This film sees Keira Knightley being elected the pirate king. Nuff said. The second is much more dangerous, because it is longer. Do not be fooled by the innocent title - "The Bridges of Madison County". Oh my god. That film. It lasts for about 6 hours and basically nothing happens except two people who should know better boffing a bit for about 5 hours. Then her husband comes back and the last 10 mins is really heart wrenchingly sad. You go through the whole film and a ridiculous number of shots of bridges, just to have your heart ripped apart in the last scene or so. When I think what I could have been doing during the 8-10 or was it 12 hours that film lasted....

The wekend found me in Deptford where I discovered a new knitting shop. It's not actually new - it looked like it had been there about 50 years and was mainly acrylic, but still, it's all good. The market there was amazing. Half junk...the type of stuff you can not believe anyone will ever pay even 1p to take away, and half amazing piles of veg.

I have been working on a maquette for the last week or so. I have decided that what is missing from my life is a cabled, hooded cardigan. Obviously. And having never found one I was totally happy with I have taken the bold step of designing my own. So the mini version, which will find its way to feed the children eventually, is my prototype.

It started off with the waist band, which is supposed to be empire line although I may move it to real waist. Then I picked up and knitted down for the bottom/peplum. Then I picked up and knitted up for the raglan top. I screwed the sleeves up but I know what I did. Then I added a hood. I love the hood.

I used the EZ percentage method for the increases. It is the first time I have ever done a hood and I like it. I'm now going to have a bit of a post mortem on ravelry and work out what I want to do differently on my one. For instance, I think the asymetric front and the hood aren't going to work together, so I think I'll just go symmetric instead. I've also got to choose the cables and try them out but all in all I am looking forward to it!

Is this good?

I could survive for 51 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

No, no, the weather map is over there, not down there...

I turned on the news and weather the other day to be confronted by these.

Can you believe that? I am a happilly married woman but even I completely failed to notice what the weather was actually going to be. It was on channel five so that kind of explains it, but I was still quite surprised. Mind you, not too incapacitated to grab my camera.

Now onto the knitting - did I mention Pooch briefly took up knitting? He has half made a very wide scarf and in the process bought some chunky alpaca/wool mix in coloours he decided not to use. So having listened to him go on about bed socks in far too much details I banged these out this afternoon. The benefit of using 12.75mm needles and super-chunky yarn is that 18 stitches gets you a sock so they were never going to take long.

In between I have been trying to finish my ripple bag and now just have the handles. The pattern calls for zig zag ones like this:

But....they don't seem right. I'm sure once you put any weight on them they'll stretch out of shape anyway, felted or not, so I think i-cord. I'm thinking a length in each colour twisted together for each one. Only thing putting me off is not having much love for knitting i-cord, but then I don't have love for knitting zigzag straps so swings and roundabouts.

I do also now have another knitting project to queue up - another hat. The slouchy one just didn't look right. The final proof was when I forced it on my ickle sister, and she looked this good in it.

You can't wear a hat again after your sibling looks better than you in it. So, I am on the look out for another one, but I'm not sure what style would suit my moon-face. Some googling later gives me...

Advice One: (If you have a round face) Hats with an asymmetrical or irregular brim and brims that roll away from the face. Steer clear of hats that hug the face or head and hats that have a tailored look or have a round crown. Brimless hats and round crowns emphasize the roundness in the face. Choose soft, medium height crowns and trimmings which direct the eye upward. Avoid brimless hats and low round crowns that emphasize the roundness of the face.

Advice Two: (If you have a round face) Choose hats with high brims and angular shapes, avoid round, circular, or floppy-shaped hats, always choose hats that are wider than your face.

Advice Three: (ROUND) Medium or small brims, neat styles, worn forward or on a sassy slant. Asymmetrical brims will lessen the roundness.

So to summarise,

• Asymmetrical or rolling brim - must have a brim
• Avoid round crowns
• Consider sassy slanting

Knitted hats with brims...um? I need some fuel to power my thinking.

Thank you Greenwich Market.

Snow woe woe woe

Obligatory snow outside the window shot.

It's the snow equivalent of a comb-over. Plus bonus frozen dock shot.

It was only about 60% frozen when I went past, but then it wasn't until about 10.30. Because i am on holiday. Did I mention before that I was on holiday this week? Well I am, and a very stupid time I am having. Largely going on nonsensical trips to places that are closed when I get there. Another one this morning - to the egyptian consulate to apply for my visa. It is the coptic christmas day today and so it was closed. Who saw that one coming? So I went off to the V&A to see the Magnificence of the Tsars. It was really good - even though there was a group of posturing art students draped all over the place. I had a great time wondering around and saw a lot of parts I had never seen before. Partly because I went up to the Members Room for the first time. This is it.

It was very sophsiticated, refined, demure and.... FREEZING. The woman staffing the cafe bit was wearing a hat, a huuuge scarf, gloves and what looked like several jumpers under a coat. I sat there for about half an hour reading the Kaffe Fassett Pattern Book, which they had in their eclectic library, before giving in and going elsewhere for warmth. The Members' Room is through the glass and Archiecture galleries, both of which were stunning. The door is like an optical illusion at one end.

Check me out in my knitted hat, knitted jumper and knitted cuffs (and knitted socks, incidentally). My knitted scarf was in the cloakroom - yes, it's the season of the knit.

'Glass' struck me as the next logical place for an upgrade. This is one of the cabinets - it reminds me of the cases at Stratford Stations full of local resident's collections of objects.

There was a lot crammed in but a few particularly stood out. A gorgeous Lalique vase:

I did a project on lalique at art college and will always have a soft spot for his stuff. I also spotted this gorgeous one. No idea who it is by, but is lovely.

Then also, hanging from the ceiling, was this.

I don;t know what it is. I do know it was horrendous to photograph. There are more photos here. I intend to find out more about it another time.

My last discovery was this enormous church screen, which formed part of the Great Exhibition. It was transferred to the V&A in 2001 and has been completely renovated. It is something like 10x11m in size and is just astonishing. I loved the shadows it cast on the wall almost as much as the screen itself.

Sooooo, tomorrow promises a return visit to the egyptian consulate and then a massage in the afternoon ( well, I am on holiday) but I am not sure of what do in between. One of my abortive visits on monday was to Loop to have a look at the Norah Gaugain books but it was closed (so much for spontinaity) so could go back there again. Or maybe another museum? Who knows...

Brrr

It is fricking freezing here.

So naturally one has to knit hats.

This is the slouchy copy cat hat except I'm not finding it slouchy enough, so I'm doing that block-it-with-screwed-up-carrier-bags-thang.

With the freakin cold continuing I just hope it dries soon.

The afghan continues, and to make it easier to keep it all together I made a bag. It's got a cunning little pocket on the outside to keep my crochet hook in.

Last blanket I made I went through about 8 - I still don't know what happened to them all. This time I want to see if I can do it with one.

In between I've been rippling. First ripple is the ripple bag which I've been working at on and off.

Then there are the socks I just cast on yesterday.

This is the sock blank I dyed a while back. I'm going toe-up so I can decide which ripple stitch to use on the main part. I just got the Jan Eaton book yesterday and keep changing my mind.

A mildly peeved start to the new year.

I should have known. The year does, after all, end in an odd number. The website where I have got my blog converted into a book for the last three years is now no longer interfacing with blogger. I either have to use an inferior one where you can't edit, or manually copy and paste all the text and photos from the whole year into one of their template. Pleh. Think I'll just sulk about it for a few weeks before doing anything about it.

Also, the party of the century last night didn't exactly go as planned. For a start we were only expecting 6 people. We got tonnes of food, including the trifle of the year, which Pooch's Emu liked:

Have I already explained why Pooch has an emu? It's a stupid story anyway.

So three people pulled out with flu. One had buggered off with their floozy without telling us but fortunately one hardcore guest did the decent thing and turned up. I force fed him trifle until the other two arrived. They had always been intending to only stay a short while before going on elsewhere. However, when they left the poor solitary guest, possibly envisaging a night alone with Pooch and I, not to mention emu, left with them. So Pooch and I were left to wait out new year surrounded by a ridiculous amount of beef, about 4 pounds of cheese and half a trifle. We had beef sandwiches for lunch. It will be beef for dinner too. And possibly breakfast tomorrow. Beef beef beef.

Being true to my word I have already cast on with some of my sale yarn. It is a pattern I got at Ally Pally, designed for the Escape I just used for the baby blanket. I was never going to actually make it with that though. Instead I'm using the Tapestry in the antique colourway. It's very hard to capture the colour, but it is a kind of velvety purple brown that changes to caramel. Good stuff.

I've also got a start on the hexagon blanket.

I'm sure there should be an easy way of estimating how many hexagons I'll need, but I can't think what it is. If anyone knows one let me know!

2008 Review

One of the good things about Ravelry is it makes this kind of thing so much easier. According to the numbers on there I have made 62 projects. 6 have been frogged, 8 are in progress and 8 are hibernating, although to be honest half of those could be frogged.

Out of the 62, 32 were made for other people. I'm quite surprised at that as I always feel like I am always knitting for myself and should do more for others. My favourite projects from the year are....

• Gary and Wendy's baby blanket - just finished last week

• Pete's stocking

• The tardis socks

• Meaningful mittens

• Felted diary cover

• Henley cardigan - despite having to take it apart and practically redo it

• Pooch's jumper

• Yellow crosswalker socks - which I'm wearing right now

• Mermaid scarf

• Louise's starghan

• Lucy's wedding blanket - which I never managed to take a finished picture of

My favouite yarns for the year have been the henley cardigan one, which was phildar lambswool, and the mittens one, malabrigo socks yarn. I haven't washed the mittens yet so I am not sure how it will bare up but the henley has worn really well. I've worn it a couple of times a week for the last few months and it hasn't pilled or gone baggy.

Non-knitwise the year has been a mixed bag. Started a new job, which has been OK. Met new people, which has mostly been fab. I'm fulfilling a dream and going to Egypt in a few weeks. But then balancing that is the elephant, which we don't discuss. So overall maybe not the best.

And what does 2009 look like bringing? There is another wedding afghan to be made. I am determined to make Sylvi, from the Twist Collective. Dad very kindly gave me the money for the wool for it for xmas. There's the swirl pullover which I just can't decide on the yarn for, and the meaningful cushions I have in mind - like the meaningful mittens but in DK+, and lastly the crochet hexagon blanket which I have just started in the last few days. I have decided to go with the star motif until I get bored of them. I can always mix in another hexagon pattern later on before I put them together.

Happy new year everyone!

A Sale Frenzy

I have to admit it - I am to blame for the deflation thingy the government has been going on about. I saw things I wanted in the shops and then deliberately waited until the sales to buy them. For instance, this coat...

Caught my eye a few weeks ago. Today it was 50% off. Score!

I also got a pair of jeans and this top/dress.

Normally I hate buying jeans as they never fit right, but the woman in the shop was SO nice. Really helpful. Not patronising. Not too in my face. Awesome. There is a website here and the shop in London is just off Carnaby Street. I will definitely be going back.

Now for the good stuff.... I've always liked Rowan Tapestry but hated the £4.50 ish price tag. I found myself liking the 50% price tag. Woo hoo! I ended up with three packs from John Lewis. I know three is quite a lot, but I plan to cast on a jumper in one lot tomorrow so I will definitely be using it all up soon. I got the rainbow, antique and highland colourways.

The last one, the highland, is rather lovely and seems to be a semi-solid colour. Didn't know they did that.

I also got a pack of 4-ply soft from Liberty - also half price.

I intend making this.

Both Liberty and John Lewis had similar yarns. Some scottish tweed aran. Some little big wool. Some biggy twist. All 50% off. But take abook - the queues were huge!