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!

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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!

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...