I think I'm being read.

I do like these posters from the latest Art on the Underground campaign.

Then not in the same series but similarly effective...from a wall in Greenwich.

It's been a funny old couple of weeks. To be honest there's an elephant in the room and so everything has gone to pot a bit. I haven't been doing half as much knitting as I would like to. However, I have been doing some xmas projects, one of which is a Tardis sock. Singular so far but it's pair is on the way.

I've also finally dyed the sock blank I got from etsy. Koolaid as ever and it came out very nicely.

Yum! Even nicer in a ball.

You don't actually have to ball it - you can knit straight from the scarf, but I want to make some stripey socks so it will be easier like this.

I've got plenty queued up to knit now, especially as this little gem has arrived.

I say little, but it is MASSIVE. Stuffed full of patterns and I immediately want to make at least a dozen.

In non-knitting news I've been out and about. 2 nights ago it was Stephen Fry at the V&A. This is the only crummy pic I have to show for it.

It was a Q&A with a BBC interviewer about his America series and book and it was fascinating. He is a charming man, very intelligent, funny, lucid, able to link the most obscure topics together, an excellent speaker. Basically it was brill.

Then last night I went to see Dylan Moran at the Dome. He was very different but also wonderfully brill. He also linked together bizarre subjects but it was, as the Pooch remarked, very well observed. I don't have a picture of him, sadly.

To finish, I give you my entry into the now weekly work bake-off. Ginger cupcakes with lemon icing. Though I say so myself they were rather fine. I'll find out how I fared on monday but I was up against chocolate ones with edible glitter, and edible glitter is a hard thing to beat.

Tagged by Nickerjac

My creation
Originally uploaded by Littlelixie

If you want to play too, type your answer to each of the questions below into a Flickr search. Using only the first page, choose your favorite image, then copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows) at http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php –
The questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

So here’s mine:

A dead fox on the doorstep - a possible good omen?

Last night I was still awake at 1am for various reasons. At exactly 1.00am, according to my ipod, a fox started screeching like a banshee at what sounded like a distance of 2 metres from my bedroom window. For the first ten minutes I assumed it was just getting some stuff off its chest, having sex, marking its territory type thing so I lay there and thought about werewolves and so on. After 15 mins I got up and saw that it was actually standing right in the middle of the road and was looking in my direction (more or less - not actual eye contact). I banged the window and shouted a bit and waved my arms. It moved back about 2 cm and carried on. By now there was similar activity all over the place with curtains twitching and lights going on in neighbouring buildings. At 1.30am I opened the window and threw three potatoes at it. Small potatoes, not baking potatoes. My intention wasn't to hit it, just get it to bugger off. I howled at it once too but it seemed to like that so I stopped and went back to bed. None of this seemed to have phased it at all. I kid you not - it carried on until 2.30am.

I eventually fell asleep about 4, cursing all foxes.

Imagine my horror... when I left for work this morning... and found a dead fox lying on the ground underneath my bedroom window. I haven't felt this guilty for a long time. I threw potatoes at a fox in mourning. This dead one looked smaller and weedier than the howler so it could have been its child or younger sibling. Even worse - what do you do when there's a dead fox on the pavement? This is london, baby. There aren't any badgers or hawks or vultures waiting to clear up, like you get in the countryside or america. It was weedier than the other one but it was still quite big - like an average dog. It turns out that Lewisham Council has teams of people waiting for your call to come and rescue Lewishites from these situations. That probably explains why our council tax is so high.

A friend has suggested it could be a good omen, but I can't help feeling I am in for some serious bad karma. I'm already starting a cold. But that could just be a result of hanging out of the window at 1.30am in my pjs, throwing potatoes. I really do feel awful about that poor fox.

Mermaid Give Away

Yep, I have knitted Hanne Falkenburg's Mermaid, and it doesn't fit me, so I am offering it as a giveaway.

It's just too big. Poo.

Datials - It's knitted from three shades of jaeger matchmaker. Machine washable at 30 and pure wool. Nice stuff. I suspect it would fit a UK 16 or possibly an 18. I was a 16 when I started it. Am now a 12, so I suppose that's a good thing but it is still bloody annoying.

Finishing isn't perfect and the back of the collar looks a bit scrappy, but apart from that it is pretty nice. Pics on ravelry and a few here.

If you would like it there are some rules...

1. You have to have a postal address in the UK.
2. If you get it you have to promise to send a donation of £20 to medicine sans frontiere. And then register it with Knitters Without Borders.
3. You have to leave a comment on THIS POST (not any other post) saying you want it by 30th November 2008.

I'll pull a name out at random. I want it to go to someone who will appreciate the months of work that went into it.

Onot other things - I have been tagged by Cate. I did this in May 07 but have changed some of them.

The Rules

1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.

2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs

4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

The Facts

1. When I was 3 I got run over by a Lehane 50+ seater coach outside my house. I went between the two back wheels when it was reversing.
2. My left foot is bigger than my right.
3. I think that everyone was born for a reason and therefore has purpose or a role to fulfil or maybe even a destiny.
4. I have been trying to pay more attention to my instincts rather than just doing the obvious/rational/sensible thing. Especially where knitting is concerned. I think that if you are knitting and keep wondering whether it is going to come out too big, then it undoubtedly will. You might as well stop and rip rather than finishing and then giving it away on your blog a few months later.
5. I still have trouble believing that Prince Harry's real name is Henry.
6. I have a Physics degree.
7. I hate the noise of a phone ringing. It's like nails on a blackboard for me. It winds me up at work when people forget to put their voicemail on and their colleagues just ignore it. I often have to walk over to the other side of the office just to answer someone else's phone. Anything to stop it.

7 people to carry on....

Nickerjac, Jane's Probably Knitting, WyeSue, and.... 4 other people. I dunno.

Keep Calm and Carry On

I have always loved this WW2 poster.

So how could I resist when Threadless brought out a t-shirt with the following on it?

It's in the post....And since I'm talking about signs, I saw this when logging into photobucket and thought it was worth sharing.

Knitting has abounded here. I've finished some xmas socks. No blogging about them but they are here on Ravelry. Nice pattern, and free. I've also done a washcloth for a swap. The recipient loves flamingos!

Now onto some serious knitting. The new edition of Twist Collective came out. Now is that a good idea of what. I'm very impressed. There's one item in particular that caught my attention. It is AMAZING. I have nicked the photo from Ravelry but only out of deep respect and to encourage you to pay for the pattern and knit it.

The detail is amazing. This is it on Ravelry. More than 300 people have it queued already, including me. I am in love. Seriously. Gorgeous.

On a slightly less amazing note, but still pretty cool, here is my handwriting.

Not that amazing. But...that is my handwriting as a font. That's a screenshot of what I had typed on the screen. Hoorah! Anyone can do it for just $9 here.

Growing a Mo

More for Erqsome than for me, but one of my mates is growing a Mo for Movember. You can donate by clicking below.

The love of a good mule

I have been raising my spirits with home made mules.

The scissor monster was shocked. Capfull of sugar syrup (from waitrose and probably lots of other places), 2 caps of bacardi, liberal amounts of lime juice and top up with jamaican ginger beer. Mmmm. Feeling good.

I've been having a bit of a book binge on ebay. The latest to arrive was 'French Style - Fashion Knitting' which is an eighties gem full of blocky cardigans and jumpers with puffed sleeves. I was flicking through with a smile on my face when I saw this....

It is horrible. Yep. It is. But think of it as a fitted cardigan with the wave on the back and without the wave on the sleeves. Uhuh? What do you think? I'll probably never do it but I've always liked that drawing so maybe once christmas is out of the way I will get it started. I also like this one, although not with the white.

The colours use dmc tapestry wool. Cunning.

The path to good knits never runs smooth so of course something has happened to upset my step-dad's jumper. The neck is about twice as big as it should be.

I don't know. This jumper is doomed. No it isn't, positive thoughts.

I feel like shit and look like plastic

I've always loved that line. I'd forgotten which song it was from but have just found out it is Middleman by Terrorvision. The wonder of the internet.

It's been a fairly action packed week for me. The result of which is that I am quite amazingly tired. I should have spent the weekend snoozing but instead it was a social whirl. I'll be honest. On saturday, IMHO, I was looking damn good.

I'd got dressed up to go and see Monkey: Journey to the West. It was.....weird. Weird but good. It combined animation with Damon Alban's music and some lyrics in - mandarin maybe? The set up was weird though. It was in a kind of tent just outside the Dome. The thing was it was incredibly windy and hurling with rain so the tent was moving about quite a bit. The stage curtains billowed with every gust and at certain times it did seem like the whole thing was just about to blow away. Also it being firework season there were plenty going off in the vicinity and each bang could be heard during the quieter parts. The choreography was part acrobatic, part shaolin monk and part freak show - think extreme contorshonist (how they hell do you spell that word? Contorshon? Doesn't look right.) There was lots of floating around on wires like whacked out peter pans. A problem was that the subtitles were to the left and right of the stage so you had to physically look away from what was happening to read them. And if you didn't read them it got a bit confusing - I missed a couple. Also they seemed to be happening through powerpoint as someone accidentally right clicked and got the menu up at one point. I wouldn't have minded if I hadn't paid the same for my ticket as you get charged at the Royal Opera House. It was definitely good though and I'd recommend it. Here is the curtain just before it opened.

Didn't sleep at all well on sat and then was off to Nic and Andy's for craft fun and....a roast dinner!!! Andy is the daddy when it comes to both cooking and Pete. The little man himself was in great evidence. He is just non-stop - I don't know how they keep up with him. He sat on my knee and got bounced up and down and whenever I stopped he bounced himself. So much energy! He is just the loveliest little boy. Nic and I escaped upstairs for a few hours and started some xmas decos. Mine had a distinctly 'playschool' feel compared to Nic's but I do like them.

Didn't sleep much on sunday either so spent today feeling bleh. But was remarkably cheered up by the arrival of this:

It's the amazing bag I saw at IKnit and Ally pally and blogged about a while back. The tag inside said it was from Mum. But it's not from my Mum. I've asked Pooch to check if it is his. Quite an exciting bit of intrigue. I absolutely love the bag!! If only it stops raining I'll be able to use it and looking at the BBC tomorrow looks like a good bet - hoorah!

Mittens

I made a mitten. I know it's kind of joining the bandwagon and that everyone is doing it but hell, my hands are cold.

The purple is Yarn Yard and the green is Malabrigo sock yarn. Look awesome together. The text says "That which does not kill us". Here's the palm:

I made up the pattern but having made EZ mittens before you could say it is based on those with a long ribbed cuff and afterthought thumb. The second one is charted and will say "Surely make us stronger" and be green text on the purple background. Yum.

By the way...do you think there is something rather sinister about smiley face potato shapes?

Or is it just me? They're smiling, but are they actually laughing?

Have got jam in my hair. Suprisingly inconvenient.

Pooch receives a text of the title of this post and calls me:

P - what do you mean you've got jam in your hair?
Me - (pause) I'm not sure what else I can add. I've got jam in my hair.
P - how did you get jam in your hair?
Me - I was eating a jam doughnut and the wind changed.

Getting jam in your hair is not something that they tend to deal with in those survival type books. Chewing gum, possibly, but jam tends to be given a miss. To be honest I don't expect there are many situations when a 30 year old, sophisticated lady about town would end up with jam in her hair but nonetheless it happened to me. And it is very difficult. What are your options? Wiping with a tissue, which really just rubs it in. Sucking might get it out. But sucking your hair to get jam out doesn't sit well with the 'sophisticated lady' bit of the description above. In the end I just had to do my best and wait until I got home. But ultimately it was very inconvenient.

Note to self - do not eat jam doughnuts outside when it is windy.

Things I'd like to do/make:

• Jam Doughnut muffins I've only just found this blog but I really like it.
• Rainbow cake (from the same blog as above. Mmmmm)

Small but steady

Small but steady has been the motto of the last week, at least as far as knitting goes. I've finally started knitting my xmas ornaments for the swap on swapbot. The post date isn't for another 4 weeks but i want to make sure I get some good ones made and have some left over for me too. These are the first three.

I've also been working on the knob socks and my zigzag bag, but the knob socks are a present so I can't blog them anymore and the bag is basically just a zig bigger than it was last time I blogged so not much more to show.

The main excitement of the week has been the boiler. It's been leaking and a kind of soap opera saga has begun revolving around me with the kind plumber, alan, the sinister building agent, Leo, and the absentee landlord in Dubai, Tariq, all pirouetting around me. The plumber knows what needs to be done but the manufacturer just went into receivership and it could be two weeks before anyone can get another one. The landlord is awol and not responding to emails. Leo is freaking out in case the water leaks downstairs and there's another insurance claim. Meanwhile the water keeps leaking and here is what it is doing to the laminate in the front room.

Where you can see the ends of the planks that's where the water has reached and caused them to curl upwards. And there's water seeping out. And any minute now it's going to start smelling really baaaaaaaaaad.

Met up with my sister in Horsham yesterday. Did a good round of the charity shops and came across this:

Very sweet isn't it? But I couldn't help wondering what it was actually for. Bit random, having a knitting sheep holding cocktail sticks. Plus it was £5 so I left it where it was.

That's about it for this week. Work has been dire but that's a whole other blog post. But before I forget I offered some Noro sock yarn and the recipients are....

• Nita
• Daisy - except I don't have your address so email me at littlelixieathotmaildotcom and I'll send it along.

Sew Hip it's not even happening

One of the things I bought at Ally Pally was a copy of the brand new 'Sew Hip' magazine. It's a british magazine brought to us by the same people who bought the dubious 'Yarn Forward' from HipKnits. I had seen some trailers for it online and my eye was caught by the cover project - a heart quilted quilt. You can see pics here. Now bearing in mind that this is a british magazine I would kind of expect it to be full of british goings on. The cover project is not applique or fabric painting as I had assumed it must be - it centres around a printed fabric produced by an australian company without a UK distributor. The fabric is AUD $75 per metre and you need 1.7m to make the quilt. They only sell whole metres so that's 2 x $75 + $33 postage to the UK = $183 which is £73 pounds according to xe.com. £73. Seventy three pounds, for 2 metres of cotton fabric. And that's just one bit of the list of things you need to make the cover project. And that's without the hit you take when customs charge you VAT + handling charge.

In the rest of the magazine there are a few cute projects, a profile of Amy Butler, noticeable not british, and some pattern reviews for patterns from two indie sellers - one australian and one american. There is also a designer profile on the inside back page - of an american.

Now I am not against international magazines - I read Interweave, VK, Knitters, Knit Today etc with reckless abandon. But this is a british magazine created entirely in england. Wouldn't this have been a good opportunity to showcase british talent? To have the cover project using fabric only available via mail order from australia seems demented as even if this is meant to grab the american market as a cutesy-british-thing-but-with-an-international-outlook they are going to be as unimpressed as I am at the postage. And I know I don't sew that much but £30 a metre seems a bit steep for fabric. Especially for an unknown brand. Cath Kidston and Liberty are less than that.

Anyway, as you might by now be able to tell - I didn't think that much of it. The only thing that tempts me is the pillowcase totes but once someone has said to you - hey, you could make a tote out of a pillowcase - you don't really need a pattern to make it happen.

Now here in Maison Doom'n'Gloom there have also been some rays of sunshine as well as me moaning about magazines. There has in fact been a fair wodge of knitting going on. I have started and finished a felted cat basket since I last blogged. It is for my Mum's cat. I have been wondering whether it would be possible to make a me sized one. It's very tempting to try and get in.

I wanted to get that done before I started anything else but the moment it was in the washing machine I cast on a stocking. Not just any stocking either - this is for pete-with-the-dancing-feet. It's going ratehr nicely although I have been a bit worried about my tension. Fairisle on magic loop in cotton mix yarn was never going to be easy but it is working out well and I think blocking will even it out.

The other project I have cast on is the ripple-me-this bag from the Fall 08 Knitters mag.

I'm actually a full ripple further on now. It's delightfully simple and is also using the wool I got at ally pally. The colours are jewel-like and yummy. It's going to be a great bag.

I had hoped to get out another podcast this weekend but I've been catching up on sleep for most of it. I have some time off the week after next so hopefully I'll do one then. Meanwhile susetheslowknitter has won the woolmeise - the lucky thing. It is such gorgeous stuff. I've emailed you for your address. I also need to send out the leftover Noro sockyarn. I need to check who asked first so will be in touch with them shortly.

Ally Pally 2008

Torben is going to be ok. They're operating again tomorrow but the outlook is good.

So trying to get back to normality, here is my ally pally report...

Overall it was pretty good. I went on sunday and it was really pretty dead which meant that I could actually get at the stands and fondle things without having to use my elbows (not that I ever do, ahem) and also got to chat to some people I haven't seen for ages. I read Yvonne's post with interest and I'd have to agree - there wasn't that much there that really grabbed my interest. Here is my haul:

I have to admit that my favourite purchase are probably these from Back Door Shoes.

I had a hard time choosing between these and the tomato print. He was a lovely guy and told me they would be producing a wool print one later next year. Am bookmarking the site!

This is the only yarn that I got.

The wool is worsted and for the ripple bag from the most recent Knitters mag. The panda is for a neck scarf like the ripple one by the Clapotis woman. You know the one I mean. However I have determined not to cast on anything else until I have finished the mobius cat bed for Artemis. Apparently she has taken to sitting on my step-dad and manipulating him into her preferred position while not letting him read a book. Mum thinks a bed will stop her as she'll have somewhere else to go.

I also got some lovely beads, buttons and fabric.

I adore the marbled fabric. I love marbling. I want to find out how to do this for myself. Plus check out the little octopus buttons - so cool!

I didn't spend my budget and so when I got home I got ordering some soft touch crochet hooks from web of wool (their stand, incidentally, was pretty amazing - a riot of self-patterning sock yarn - pic below) and some denise accessories from Woolly Workshop.

There is one other thing I have been sorely tempted by. I saw it at IKnit Day too and put it back then. If I've resisted it twice does that mean it isn't meant to be? But then if I keep thinking about it, does that I mean I should?

It is here at Purlescense. Should I.....shouldn't I....? It looks completely impractical.

Outside the main halls there was an interesting display of the hyperbolic coral reef, including this one, made from a crisp packet!

Was very interesting and gave me a chance to chat to Rosie too. She has taken over as Editor of Slipknot and I know is going to do amazing things. I also liked this:

I saw several little-old-ladies having their photos taken under the needles like a woolly guard of honour. There was also the usual sweet stand outside the main hall which brings me to my favourite picture of the day.

I seriously love strawberry bootlaces. When I was living with BoyAlex we used to buy packets from woolworths and eat them til we felt sick. Happy days.

To finish, I finally met up with Alice at Socktopus and as well as exchanging news she gave me to the skein of Wollmeise that was donated as the podcast prize. Isn't it gorgeous?

Seriously, I want it. Would anyone mind if I just kept it and gave some regia out instead? No? Oh. OK then. I'll be announcing the winner soon! And am tentatively planning another episode for next weekend.

Pause for Thought

I was uploading photos to blog about Ally Pally when I got a voicemail from my Mum telling me that my sister's cheating scumbag ex-boyfriend had been ambushed in helman province and was being operated on to remove grenade shrapnel from his leg. He hasn't lost any limbs and his outlook is good but...jeez. It's a real reality check. She's still close to his brother and her wife so she is round there with them. Am really shocked. Will hold off blogging until tomorrow when I should know more.

Chocolate and knitting - perfect combination, and a give away!

Suse asked how the slippers look on...

They're pretty comfy and I think look kind of elfin.

In July Pooch got me a voucher for a chocolate making workshop for my birthday. And last weekend I finally went - it was awesome! There was tasting and history and then the making of 4 different recipes and then hands-on decoration. I came out with tonnes, of which these are just a small selection.

A week later they are gone, but by no means forgotten!

I've finished three socks since I last blogged. One pair is a christmas present so are on ravelry but not on here. The third sock is also a xmas present so I won't blog about it too much but seriously, look at this.

Remind you of anything? Honestly, I couldn't knit it in public. I had to wait til I got far enough along to invert the toe inside the rest of the sock and then keep it hidden like that. The finished sock is on ravelry. It looks truly awful until you put it on, then it all makes sense. This is the free pattern.

My final finished object is the bathmat, using the pattern from the previous issue of KCG's Slipknot. It was quite an ingenious pattern which worked out very nicely. I used some aran weight cotton held double so it is thick and pretty heavy but very soft and lovely to stand on.

Part of the reason I got so much knitting done is because I have been to Edinburgh on the train to give another seminar on mentoring. It was the best one yet, though I say so myself, with about 30+ in the audience and very well received. I do like doing that kind of thing - going out of the office and meeting the people I otherwise only email and helping them - making their career development a little easier. Overall I have been enjoying my new job since it began in Jan. There have been a lot of challenges and certainly the current economic shinnanigans are creating some interesting times but it's been pretty good. The only fly in the ointment is my immediate boss who is terribly overworked and also planning her wedding and I suspect is not well and combination of all three is making her a little bit difficult. Mood swings, changing her mind, wanting things now then stressing at you for expecting her to have read them. I really sympathise and I'd love to make things easier for her but she's not an easy person to help and the rest of us are all up to our eyes doing our normal work and keeping up with her demands. It all leads to a situation that takes up far too much of my time - time when I could be thinking about knitting!

Fortunately tomorrow brings a visit to Ally Pally. Like many my budget is less than half what it has been in previous years. Saving for a deposit and the rising cost of everything makes it essential to rein things in a bit. On the plus side I don't have anything particular in mind that I need so the budget I do have I can have fun with. I'm really looking forward to it!

Now finally, I had some comments from people about the noro sock yarn. I have a load leftover from making my socks so I've divided it into two lumps and if two people want to have some to play with just let me know. The only thing is you have to be in the UK. Email me at littlelixie at hotmaildotcom with the address you want me to post it to and the first two will get it. Here are the two batches.

Crazy slippers

I rather rashly offered to knit slippers for a very stressed colleague. I thought I'd give the 8 square ones a go because they looked quite interesting. I guess it was wrong of me to assume that I could work it out even though it was in finnish. I have since discovered one or two things that will help me in future but I kid you not when I say that three competent adults took 15 minutes to work out how to fold them. I'm going to make a video and put it on youtube. The first ones were too small but the second are just right. So the first pair will be for his son. Unfortunately his son is a twin and therefore I need to make another pair for his sister and it would then be mean just to exclude the mum so I've gone from one to four pairs in a very short space of time. At least I'll not be forgetting the folding technique after doing it 8 times.

They're not exactly elegant but they are comfy and a good way of using up leftovers.

I also finished the noro socks. I washed them and they have got a bit softer but not enough for me to think about using it again.

The colours are nice though and I like the long colour changes and it just happened I was on Ravelry (now there's a suprise) and I came across a link to this site. She sells the sock blanks that Easy Knits had on their stand at IKnit Day and you can dye them yourself. So a little purchase later and there is one in the post to me. I shall dye my own long colour changes!

Ravelry really is dangerous. I also saw the most amazing needles on someone's Ravatar and so had to ask where they came from. I haven't splurged yet - I shall wait and see what Ally Pally brings, but I have listed them as another of my many favourite sellers!

Christmas Ornament Swap

I always mean to make some and never get round to it. So I thought that if I was in a swap to make them I'd make some extras and get to keep them. Plus the ones others send me. Hoorah! Click on the image below to join in.

Anyone can join in and SwapBot is free.