NaBloPoMo for me

This blog is a shadow of its former self, so I am declaring NaBloPoMo for April. Let's see if I can post every day for a month and what kind of nonsense I start spouting.

Now back to skipnorth...here's the gang.

There were an epic 42 of us and, at least for me, there was a record haul. The thing is, because I drive about in a car instead of on the coach (in case someone needs rushing to A&E with wool fatigue) people never realise how much I've bought. Including me. Which might explain how this year I ended up with this much.

That's a double bed being obscured by it all.

It includes books and magazines, ribbons..

...more buttons than you can shake a needle at....

Including these beautiful flowers and the coincidentally named 'simon' buttons (The Pooch's Earth name).

The weekend included Texere (off program - on friday morning before we officially started), Coldspring, Winghams, The Skep - with this amazing window display....

...and the KCG where there were a number of notable treasures. Namely a model with her dignity protected by nothing but a well placed hot water bottle....

...and an amazing toilet lady - who wasn't actually knitted but was in the toilet.

The weekend included an amazing yarn swap where everyone brought what they no longer wanted and shared the goodness. The quality finds were donated on the understanding that the recipient would make a donation to p/h op, and from looking at the website it looks like that has raised more tan £190 for MSF - donate using the widget on the right. This is the swap in action...

At one point I launched myself across the pile, landing in an elegant spreadeagle, in order to secure a part ball of regia sockyarn. Yeah baby. Dignity.

The wekend also saw an amazingly large number of spinners. There were about 8 wheels and umpteen dropspindlers - all very impressive.

I'd have to say I thought the weekend went really well - and not least because I got home before 9pm (last year was after midnight). The workshops on Friday afternoon were, by all accounts, pretty darned good and I really want to thank all the teachers for volunteering. If there is another one this year you will certainly be hearing it here and on Nic's blog first.

Before I sign off I'm going to mention something that I am pretty sure most of you didn't know that I was involved with anyway - I have resigned as a Director of the KCG. Meh.

Right, look out NaBloPoMo!

"The cervix is a dark, treacherous maze of uncharted tunnels"

I'm watching the sperm program on BBC Two. I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it but in one of the scene setting shots it shows the billions of sperm waiting for action in the bloke's testicle tubes (I'm not a biologist - I don't know what these are technically called). Each sperm is represented by a person dressed in white.

I'm not kidding - as the camera panned over them all waiting for 'the call'...one of them was knitting.

SkipNorth, incidentally, was awesome. More once I've got my strength back.

I've also added the P/hop (pennies per hour of pleasure) widget to my sidebar. Those at SkipNorth are encouraged to donate in return for the yarn they got in the Friday night yarn swap. But you don't need an excuse to donate - just click and read more on the website.

Lolcat Interlude

Sometimes, you just need a little bit of lolcat in your life. All of these are from ICHC newsletters from recent weeks. Having them arrive in my inbox each morning is really the only way I can face starting the workday sometimes. LOL!

Sign up for the newsletter - you know you want to...

Where to begin

I hadn't realised how long it had been since I'd last blogged. And how has it only been a month since I came back from Egypt? Seems like years ago.

Pooch is now in Tokyo - he flew out yesterday for work. A couple of weeks ago he did one of the most amazing things ever and bought me the Godiva chocs I'd been promised for valentines day (but had then been ill for).

More than a jumper's weight worth! Choosing them was amazing - a real willy wonka experience. Here are just some.

It just goes to show how rich they are - I could only eat them a few at a time so it took 4 days to get through them. Godiva chocolates are just amazing though - every one is a real treat.

Sianybo came to stay last weekend and saw the knitted breasts laying about. It wasn't long before the inevitable happened....

We had a great wekeend with lots of good food, including cup cakes from Greenwich market.

All this eating of sweet things has had the expected effect on my waistline. I really need to get into better habits. I am amazingly unhealthy and heart attack country is not that far away. Sadly knitting has never been touted as a cardio-vascular activity but then again I've never found something that is that I could tolerate. Other than trampolining. And that's not so easy to find around here.

Anyway, the little bit of knitting I have done (and the grams of calories it has burned off) is duly here to be inspected. I decided to see how much sock you can get out of one ball of Opal. It turns out to be this much:

Mid-calf. I really liked this green when I got it - I seem to remember it came from Get knitted when it first opened and was half price. It always reminded me of kiwi fruit. But I was always saving it for something that never materialised. So here they are. I am wearing them today and they're good.

I've also started a little baby wrap in yet more sock yarn. I'm still trying to get around my knitters block and get on with something big but this will do for now.

It's the Drops sock yarn from scandinavian knitting design. It's very cheap and rather nice.

SkipNorth is rapidly approaching which is a bit freaky. Work is now really ramping up since my sidekick's last day was friday and reality awaits me on monday. It will be a relief to only be responsible for 43 knitters for a few days instead of 1300 Landscape Architects.

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home - to my shoes

Shooooooeeeeeesssssssss....

Knitting chat in the workplace

I knitted these three swatches last night. The turquoise in DB Donegal Tweed Chunky. The red is DB cashmerino chunky and the grey is the Rowan Purelife British Breed Wool. All were on 10.5 Denises and all are roughly the right guage for the Sylvi cardigan.

When I got into work this morning I gave them to my worthy deputy, Martyn, and asked him which he thought I should use. He looked at them for about 2 seconds and then said "that one" holding up the grey. He then gave them back to me.

I sat down at my desk (at right angles to his) and put the three swatches in front of me. The conversation continued thus -

Me: I know what you mean. It's got nice stitch definition. The turquoise one is a bit random.
Martyn: Yeah
Me: I do still need to block them all to see how the gauge changes.
Martyn: Mm
Me: The cashmerino also has good stitch definition and it would be a lot lighter. So the finished thing would probably be lighter.
Martyn:
Me: To buy the wool for the purelife at the cheapest place online with a 10% KCG discount would still be £73.08.
Martyn: What? How much?
Me: 73 pounds odd.
Martyn: I guess you'd probably pay that for a trendy designer type cardigan at somewhere like...someplace.
Me: That's true. Also in the purelife it would weigh 1.4kg. Wow, that's a lot.
Martyn: ...just assume I'm saying yes when you pause.
Me: I guess that includes a hood and long sleeves.
Martyn:
Me: But then with the lighter feel of the cashmerino it would probably be a bit lighter.
Martyn: Uh
Me: But probably still more than a kilo.
Martyn:
(New character) Jac: What are you two talking about?
Me: Which yarn I should knit this cardigan out of.
Jac: What's martyn's opinion?
Martyn: Mm

I can't believe Martyn is leaving - who am I going to talk to about knitting in the future?

Hoorah for Igors!

I got an excellent swap parcel through yesterday from cherryred on Ravelry. It was part of the Igor Swap for the Seamstress Guild Group. So many brilliant things!

First up we have some beautiful crocheted fingerless gloves, some gorgeous sock yarn and excellent knee socks. We had that in common so I sent her some too.

Then there is an awesome felted soap - I've read about these but never actually seen one. I am going to try it tonight. Lots of yummy chocolate - there was more but it didn't make it home. Felted fingers (this *is* an igor swap!), a bookmark and some beautiful stitchmarkers.

Here they are closer up - look at the little feet!

All in all it is an amazing parcel - I just hope she likes the one she has got from me! I am worried it won't hold up in comparison.

Thanks for the kind words about knitters block...I have been trying to swatch for Sylvi and haven't had much luck. I dropped in to John lewis and bought a few trial balls to swatch with. They are all a little bit more expensive than I was hoping for but I'm not getting guage with cheaper stuff. It needs to be chunky and I'd prefer wool. Any suggestions?

A terrible confession

Before I get going I forgot to post the rest of my pics. In essence they were the ones of what I'd bought while shopping. There were essentially quite a few necklaces and these amazing cushion covers:

The man who made them was really interesting and unlike the 'my mother made this' type sales pitch he had pics of himself leading workshops and so on so he actually did know how they were made. You can see absolutely all the photos here or the more friendly, abbreviated set here.

It's hard to believe that egypt was only about 10 days ago. For instance, let's look at what has happened to me this week...

MONDAY - First day back at work. Find out I am not being made redundant, but that 3 others are.
TUESDAY - Two members phone up to complain about different things. One tells me I am lower than a traffic warden and a jobsworth.
WEDNESDAY - Stomach starts playing up again (same as happened in egypt) so in pain and frequently in bathroom.
THURSDAY - Day at home in bed with hot water bottle on tummy. Sidekick from work phones me up to tell me he's had a job interview and they've offered him the job. Asks for advice. Weird situation fo not wanting him to go but thinking he definitely should.
FRIDAY - Stomach still hurting. Sidekick tells me he's decided not to go when get to work. Me and Director spend hour basically convincing him he should because our org is so unstable. By end of lunch he's been offered more money and decided to go. In the afternoon Director tells me we won't be replacing him - which gobsmacks me. Brief freak out as means I need to cancel most of my projects and just do low-level admin for rest of year. Only redeeming feature of the day is babysitting Pete - who is the perfect antidote to any stress.
SATURDAY - Wake up feeling rough. Pooch has got me lovely flowers for Valentine but go back to bed after about an hour.

Supposed to be going to dinner and opera with pooch but feel very sick and exhausted so miss it. Awake for about 4 hours total.
SUNDAY - Pooch made me eat potato and leak soup for lunch. Yuck.

So all in all it hasn't ben a great week. My job title is Head of Professional Development and my scope is making people chartered and then supporting their careers and maintaining their professional knowledge with CPD. My first year was taken up with a big review of the chartership side of things and now there are all sorts of CPD projects due to launch within the next month or two, and I have to sit on them all. Not only that - I have to do all the day-to-day stuff which is not going to be at all interesting. The only positive thing about this is that my job is now relatively safe and the only remaining risk is if the whole org goes under. But still, that's not such a good 'positive' considering how boring it is going to be.

Now so far in this post I have managed to put off saying what my 'terrible confession' is. The thing is...this is so embarrasing...but I think I have knitters block. I just can't seem to get enthused about anything. I've been spending a lot of time working on my hexagon crochet blanket simply because it's so easy and I don't have to really think about it. I've tried to start a couple of bigger things but then I wimp out. I don't really know what to do. I want to do a kauni cardi, an intarsia jumper with a motif, flame socks...and I just can't get started on any of it. Wa!

In the meantime, I have knocked out a few breasts for the SkipNorth/KCG charity knit thing. It's the pattern from the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (no seriously) and is on ravelry here. They take about 90 mins each so necessitate no commitment at all.

Plus we've got people coing round to watch the football with Pooch later and it amuses me to leave them lying about for them to see. Juvenile, I know, but considering my week I think it's allowed.

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!