Oi sexy!

I'm the one on the left...

This is moi last night at the annual awards dinner. There are some other photos and I do keep thinking when I look at them that I have really put on a lot of weight since getting ill. It's like with saving though, I need some woohaha type motivation to do something about it. Really MUST do some exercise tomorrow. Sure that would help with the spots too, which are pissing me right off. Looked like I had two extra noses on my chin last night.

The sexier lady on the right is Narinder, my past-side-kick when I had staff and general lovely person. We were both accompanied with our other halves and Mr Pooch did us both proud and looked outstanding in black tie with a little wing collar shirt and the baby pink socks that I got him for xmas. Narinder was there with her HUSBAND...look at her. She is 24. Maybe possibly 25. And she has a husband. I went to her wedding and it was wicked. And look at me...27, NO husband. Pooch. Dude. I'm telling you. That would really be motivation to fit into a nice dress.

So on the crafty front things have been relatively quiet. I did manage to fall for the idea of jean greenhowe's knitted dolls and things - julie had one of her books at golders green. So this caused me to break my savings promise type thing and expend £1.99 including postage on two of her works on ebay. HOWEVER... I did manage not to buy this book. It took a whole lot of willpower though, I'm telling you. I had it in my hand in Foyles and managed to PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND BACK AWAY MISS BYRNE. Had to make do with two on surveys and qualitative research for work.

Pooch and I are doing well on our own version of secret pal. He got me "The Taking of Pelham 123" on DVD which I have just watched this evening and really love. I'm now watching 'Shall we Dance' with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Ahhhh, aren't they lovely? It's been a lovely evening really! Few more bits of patchwork until the bath is ready then an early night.

Frittering

I am a fritterer. I don’t spend large amounts on single items – I spend small amounts on the odd bit or bob here or there. And so. Friends. I have decided to try a new method of saving money.
First of all let us understand the byrne-mind.

1. I love getting things by post (I really really love this)
2. I love frittery-type shopping
3. I love having pretty, nice things around me.
4. My spending is mainly done online while at work.
5. My level of indulgence depends on my bank balance.
6. I rarely spend more than £15 at a time. And often less than £10.
7. Most of this frittering occurs on ebay. Runner up is wool shops.
8. I know I don’t need anymore wool. Or Japanese fabric. Or purses. Or anything else.
9. I want to save money for a really splendid holiday which would involve surrounding myself with a lovely place and probably buying lovely things when I am there.

So…..the plan.

1. Try to stop idle shop-surfing
2. When this fails, carry on but just think about the holiday and go to a holiday site instead.
3. When I see something I *need* think about how much I want the holiday instead and immediately transfer the amount of money it would have cost (plus any p&p) to savings account. Hence bank balance goes down as if the money had been frittered.
4. Think about holiday some more.
5. Continue steps 1-4 ad nauseum, remembering not to actually buy anything.
6. Only ever estimate how much has been put into savings account – do not work out properly as I will then fritter exactly this amount of money.
7. Open a post-office account or get an ISA.
8. Have no cash/debit card for this account.
9. Periodically transfer money saved to this account.
10. Be strong, byrne.

I’m wondering whether I should grant myself an allowance for frittering so as not to have to go cold turkey but then this would be open to abuse as well. I’ll try this for now and see how it goes.

Incidentally this will only actually start on 25th Jan when I get paid. La lalalala

No No NO, bad byrne. Will start today. Even though you kidn of actually maybe sort of did need that fabric you bought on ebay yesterday....you'd have more crazy patterns to choose from in Japan.

Flow

I'm posting int wo halves today because I have two totally different things to ponder. Here is the first....

Do any of you religiously keep up with “Child of our Time” on the bbc each year? It’s like 7-up (the scientific study not the drink) but every year and now the kids are 5-6 years old. It fascinates me.

On the programme last night Robbie Winston was talking about “flow” – when you lose track of time because you are so engaged in a task. This got me thinking – when did I last get flow? I used to be a watch addict. If I couldn’t find my watch in the morning I basically couldn’t leave the house. I put it on before getting out of bed in the morning. When getting out of the bath I would wrap a towel round myself and then straight away dry my wrist to put my watch back on. Then came the madness (historic rather than recent) and my therapist unhooked me from my time dependence. (I won’t go into it but my emphasis on time was a huge factor in my social anxiety). I do sometimes still wear a watch. I took it to Pooch’s parents with me at xmas and then accidentally left it there. Pooch’s mum quickly posted it down to me and did up the jiffy bag very securely with parcel tape. I couldn’t get the tape off at the first attempt so the complete package has been gathering dust for a few weeks now. I’ll get it out eventually.

Despite this new found freedom from time there do seem to be very few occasions when I lose track of time all together. So I was just wondering – what gives you good flow?

Soho and silk (and cotton, velvet, leather, pvc...)

With the very best intentions I started out for hounslow yesterday, initially meeting Nikki at Holborn. Discovered that as well as the district line being closed (which I knew about) the piccadilly line was also up the duff (which I didn't). Basically meant no way to get to west london. Was rather ticked off but Nikki marched me off to soho and a rather good time was had by all.

I'm not going to list all the shops we went into a that would take many pages (who'd have thought there were so many fabric shops in soho) but there are a few that deserve a mention. The Bead Shop in Covent Garden yielded these:


Nikki knew of this amazing bling jewellery shop which was packed full of sparkle and everything a girl could want in life. I was very restrained and just got these two:

I'm not saying what Nikki got.....

Then the Cloth House just off Oxford Street. I got the top two of these three from there and could have got a whole lot more:


As soon as i got back I started effectively swatching the fabrics I had to see which I'd use in the final thing. I decided against the brown one this time and got going. The hexagons are about 3cm across. I am aware that the overall effect is cute rather than actually attractive and I've just joined a new Yahoo group asking for advice on choosing fabrics and mixing patterns. A major source of inspiration is going to be Yarnstorm. But then that women is just a dude anyway. That squidgy date cake has my name on it.

Anyway, here is what we have so far. I ran out of paper templates which I've done on the graph paper generating website here. I just cut along the lines...

This is destined to be a cushion. But I would like to have a stab at something a bit bigger like these...

• Crazy Patchwork
• 9 block pattern
• 9 block in variegated colours
• Irregular nine block (top one)
• This is my favourite

Maybe start slightly smaller though!

Yoshimi jumper finished

Here is the finished object

The sleeves are supposed to roll up. The pattern is from erika knights special knits book although I added the curly whirly esque edging around the bottom. This is the yellow variegated yarn that I really like. I reall wish I could wear yellow without looking anaemic.

Then I did succumb and buy another skein of cherry tree hill. I love my first pair so much I have cast on another. In fact Gill at Woolly Workshop played a blinder and got it to me in about 17 hours order to delivery. Plus she sent me some gorgeous peace fleece buttons which I don't have to hand to photograph but will soon. Following all that negative publicity for angel yarns on UKHK I immediately recommended her shop to others and also do to you, dear reader.

I thought I would try a bit of a pattern for my 2nd pair (in 'gypsy rose'). The first were cabled so I thought I'd go for zig zag this time.

Pattern goesRow 1: purl
Row 2: k1, inc into next st (knit front and back), k4, s1 k1 psso k2tog k4 inc into next two stitches k4.....
Row 3: purl

So basically it is quite easy to get a grip on. For the first time I am knitting both socks at the same time on the same two needles. This means using the centre pull and external end of the ball I wound from my skein. I am a bit nervous I will end up with a tangle but at least this way I can ideally maximise sock length while ensuring both are an equal length. At least, that's the theory.

Off fabric hunting later on with Nikki. Will report back later when I have a min. It's Pooch's birthday tomorrow and celebrations today so I might not have time. Pooch has also just changed job so went out for his leaving do last night and came home god knows when very very drunk to tell me how much he loved me. He appears to have eaten a jar of rollmop herring after getting home.

Tagged....

I got tagged two days ago by Nikki but can't manage to get the brain in gear enough to get 7 for each category. So here is my slightly amended version.

Five Things to Do Before I Die

1. Go to Japan
2. Go to New Zealand
3. Be clear of depression
4. Have a baaaaabbbbbbyyyyyy
5. Get hitched (big dress)
6. 
   

Six Things I Cannot Do

1. Crawl (swimming style)
2. Any one thing for more than about an hour at a time
3. Sleep-in
4. Leave the house without a book
5. Use chopsticks properly
6. Continental knitting

Three Things That Attract Me to Blogging

1. Sharing what I've done
2. Seeing what others have done
3. Source of inspiration

Seven Things I Say Most Often

1. Dude
2. Knitting
3. Yarn
4. Wool
5. Pooch (in various tones of voice)
6. Bollocks
7. Balanced Scorecard
   

Six Books That I Love

1. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, J Le Carre
2. Small Gods, T Pratchett
3. Thud!, T Pratchett
4. A prayer for owen meany
5. Murder must advertise, D Sayers
6. Murder on a monday, P Branch

Five Movies That I Watch Over and Over Again

1. Mary Poppins
2. The taking of Pelham 123
3. Zoolander
4. Star Trek Insurrection
5. Hellboy
6. 
   

Some People I Want To Join In Too

(Actually i don't want to tag anyone as it's a bit or a marmiter with the love/hate thing. Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to be.)

Took one too many pills on Monday (Monday has been one of my cut-down days for 4 months so this wasn't dangerous it was just forgetful) and the impact of having just one pill extra has thrown me back into the forgetfulness again. It seems to be wearing off a bit now but it serves as another reminder how powerful the anti-d's are.

Golders Green last night was really good - lots of chatting and laughing and a new woman came along who was really nice. I finished (bar the edging) Yoshimi's yellow jumper. Would have had pictures but the camera was dead this morning. Am looking forward to my fabric-buying trip on Saturday and Pooch is now indicating he doesn't actually care if I go to Sandown to see Les and Tess (of Silkwood Yarns) on Sunday. I am a little unsure of Pooch at the moment though. He starts a new job (different game, still at Sony) on Monday so has a leaving lunch and drinks on Friday but I'm not invited to either. Then there's football on saturday which he has expressed delight at about me not being there. A group meal in the evening and then I thought we would do something couply on sunday which is his actual birthday. But now he seems happy about me not being there. Ah well. I guess I'm only treading water with Pooch til Nigel Harman comes to his senses anyway. Because a mentally ill, anti-d addicted, sleep disturbed, knitting obsessed, out of shape project manager is just what he's looking for....

Untitled

I just heard this thing on the tv - a trailer for another religion programme. It went something like this:

"Without religion good people would still do good things and bad people would still do bad things. It takes religion to make good people do bad things." (Cue: shot of the blown up london bus.)

You know how most of TV is bollocks - especially at the moment. Just look at the reality shows on at the mo - celebrity big brother and soapstar showstar or something plus god knows what else. It's mainly rubbish. But I have found this comment quite thought provoking. I have had my on/off/off/off/on/off/off flirtation with religion and always end up thinking of it as a sop - something to make you feel better about bad things. But then, as I'm sure I've put on here before, what kind of god lets its believers suffer agonies, genocide and general trauma? Terry Pratchett always has gods in his books and his idea that a god's existence and personal power depends on the number of believers it has always seemed a good one. Anyway, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I think my general reaction to the trailer is "It takes desperation to make good people do bad things". It just seems like this is down to religion a lot at the mo.

So there, I've started on a happy note. Let me get back to crafty pursuits...

Saturday started well with mini-me:

So then I decided to make one for the only other person who seems to appreciate my creativity - Yoshimi (the baby).

The thing is though I did consider that while currently mini-me would seem like a decnt size doll to the sprog in a year's time she'd probably choke on it (mini-me is about 4-5cm tall). So let me introduce you to the two of them standing side by side.

A good bit of work I thought.

I have also been knitting a jumper for her as I got an email from Vitas yesterday saying they were glad to hear the needles have not been idle as you was rapidly turning into a "chubby bubba" so I've made sure this jumper is the next size up from the last lot. I will rave about the yarn when I remember to take a pic as it is divine and washable and bright yet not garish. Perfect for young shimmy. (Anyone else had the line "Can you shimmy like your sister Kate?" pop into their heads?)

Moodwise all goes fairly well although Pooch has twice told me nicely that I had major mood swings. I can't think of anything I've changed recently that would cause them so I'm putting it down to hormones and we'll say no more. Will have to monitor this next week though.

Lastly, I'm kind of putting this on here as a reminder to myself. Check out this online/Hounslow West fabric shop. I keep almost making an order online but I really need to go there in person to see about matching colours for my patchwork *(insert object here)*. So cheap and the stuff looks pretty fab. Possibly next weekend. I was going to go yesterday but il pleut and it's a hell of a long way to go with wet feet.

You wanted pictures?

Actually I don't know whether you did or not but I have been promising them for a while so fear not, this post won't be just yards of text.

I have just been through all the blogs in the 'Blogs I read' list and caught up with what's been going on. I like doing that kind of thing at the weekend because it's like catching up with old friends and hearing their news over a mug of hot orange squash. I actually made a list of the bits that appealed most to me this time. Top of this list has to be this story of enduring friendship. Actually I haven't written where I saw the link to this but I think it was stitchymcyarnpants. I'm going to be adding this blog to my list for future weekend catch ups.

Nownormaknits had a good one. There seems to be some sort of avatar war going on but she had this site and her own icon from it. I tried making one of my own but got all confused and overwhelmed by the silliness! Plus I've got one digi-icon and have been thinking of going back to an actual photo sometime soon. But hell, enjoy yourselves!

This is what I should have joined, if only I hadn't missed the sign up date (curtosy of WendyKnits). I got 10 skeins of maya in reds last year when on the first Pooch-Byrne holiday to Blackpool for a, then, astonishing £4.50 a skein. Now loads has been reduced and I never did knit any of mine and it's just not talking to me. I'm not going to get agitated about it though. I have resolved to leave it in the stash and wait til its day dawns. There are one or two stash bits on ebay at the moment though in case anyone is interested. Plus the stitchmarkers of course.

Yummy yarns feature here thanks to yarnstorm. The loveliest colourways I've seen since I was last at silkwood but too pricey for me this month.

As you might have guessed I only started writing things down when I got to 'N' in my list so sorry for the earlier blogs I haven't commented about. I did wonder about doing a podcast about blogs and letting people who do not have time to catch up an overview of what is going on in blogland. What do you think?

Anyway....where are these pictures I hear you mutter.

The monkey was what I did first. It is about 12cm high and I do really like it. The tail is supposed to be longer but I made it this length as I just thought it looked better. The pink blob next to it is the mp3 holder - a view of what I am thinking of as the front. The monkey followed a pattern but I 'designed - ahem' this myself.


Here is the back of both - I love the little heart on the monkey's bottom! It serves to cover up where the tail joins. I'm not so keen on this side of the cover but I always think of these things as learning tools so I still think it's great really.


Very simple and only about 4cm tall, pig, panda and cat. I had enough of doing the animals in 'real' colours hence the cat is purple.

I have really enjoyed making the felt bits - expect more soon although I'd love suggestions for what to do with them. I have also progressed a little bit on the petal shawl.

Slowly but surely - and I'm really looking forward to having it as it's freezing at work - another woman near me is menopausal so having the radiators on is rather unfair on her.

Lastly, this is a catch up from a few weeks back now - the final felted bag.

I am *really* pleased with this as it feels like I've finally found some use for Noro kureyon. I won't be knitting noro myself again. This is destined for Charlie. I am longing to find out how little Yoshimi (the baby) is getting on. Vitas, the brute, promised to send me photos but hasn't so I must ring them this weekend.

Sean got back to the office about 2.45 yesterday and we had our meeting. Got through the main business of Monday and a few outstanding queries before I beat my little fists upon the table and demanded more wok to do. Sean looked a bit shocked and my first thought was 'oh shit, he's going to tell me he expected me to self-start' (which was in the job description but then I have already occupied myself for weeks if not months already) but then he went off at what seemed to be a tangent and after some shillyshallying...friends....I am destined for great things, apparently. All this stuff about succession planning got said and The CEOs vision of the future and stuff and it turns out asking for more work is a good thing. It was one of those conversations I seem to have had at regular intervals in the last couple of years where you get to see a little bit more about how real-life is. During these conversations I tend to say at least once 'but that's terrible' and the person I'm talking to says something like 'listen, babe, that's just how life is' only without the babe-bit. I recall a description in a book about the scales falling from this bod's eyes - might even have been the bible - and that's an excellent description. And in summary what it all goes to show is that when you think you've got a handle on office politics, there turns out to be greater, more devious depths to be plumbed.

Guess what I've been doing?

I'll narrow down the options for you - it's obviously not working.



What do you make of this? Coming soon to a fridge magnet near you. Yes, I have spent my morning (or at least the last 30 mins) crafting my empire and not only am I stitchmaker extraordinaire I am diversifying into magnets and possibly postcards, depending on how I feel.

The other thing I was doing last night was making more of the little felt mascot things - but still no pics. Have started a cover for the mp3 player Pooch gave me so will have lots to show at the weekend. I was looking at the other japanese books the seller has on ebay and saw a couple of images of the inside pages. I am very tempted by the ones containing these pages.



Pooch has been on form recently and following my purchase of a swazzle (many thanks Tracy for saving me the trouble of searching for one) he has got quite excited by the whole thing. Now referred to as "Pooch and Judy" he was a bit upset to find out he wouldn't actually be playing a major role in any of the proceedings although I did offer to let him do the carrying. He has started called me 'Professor' though which is very much in keeping with the thing. Yesterday I found some instructions for making felt puppets and will probably start them this weekend. My book tells me you really ought to have wooden ones - preferably handcarved willow. But I'm thinking that's more of a second-stage thing. Felt should be fine to start with.

Panic over

The problem with having been so mentally fricking weird in the past is as soon as you have a downer you think it's all going to get as bad as it was before again. I now wish to report I am back on form and so you can cease to be concerned. In a large part this was helped by going to knitting last night where there were a massive 12 of us crowded round the little tables in starbucks. We had our secret santa and I came away with some very special chocs and some gorgeous stickers. Been a bit remiss with the cmaera recently so still no photos but will get there in the end.

Have brought my previously begun novel - "The Scientific Knitter" - in to work and will be doing some more of it this afternoon. At least it's typing in word which is almost like working I guess. Am also going to start my MBA research. Wow, so much to do!

Just briefly - my punch and judy book has arrived and is divine. I can't wait to get making my puppets! Am now on the look out for a swazzle, just in case anyone knows where I can get one.

Headcase

The byrne brain would appear to have entered into something of a decline. And not in a good way. I’ve slept badly the last three nights and so naturally at such times of fatigue ones brain turns its attention to ways it can make things just a bit worse and you start feeling depressed. D.R.E.A.R.Y. Actually maybe I shouldn’t write this blog entry because the one thing more boring than being depressed is writing about it. Or possibly reading what’s been written.

All the way in to work this morning I was trying to talk myself out of it and I have even bought bread so I can go feed the ducks at lunchtime which is my old skool cure from when I went properly loopy. In fact on the subject of trying to talk oneself out of something – ever walked down the street talking to yourself? I have always avoided these actions as signs of stereotypical madness which, you know, just Is Not Cool. But today I let rip and did the two-chairs exercise therapistlouise has taught me while walking from Bond Street to Portland Place. Now this involves walking up Harley Street so you’d have thought people wouldn’t be that surprised to see a fruitloop in the midst of quack-central but no. Their poor little faces when they realised I really didn’t have a hands free set dangling from my orifices. Imagine the scene – a seemingly beautiful stranger – elegant, debonaire, wearing mittens – walks towards you. She clutches a loaf of bread lovingly to her bosom and is eating a bagel. You hear her talking as she sashays closer. She gets within detailed eye view and suddenly she interrupts herself with the other side of the argument. You realise she does not appear to be on the phone. She stops in her tracks, you pause in yours. “No no no” you hear her say in a cross tone of voice. You cross the road. Hahaha.

It could have been worse – I could have let the loaf of bread play the second chair role.

Knit wise I can’t be arsed at the moment. Partly because I got my second book from this seller. The last was crochet toys, this one is felt mascots. I spent last night sitting on the sofa watching vintage Sherlock Holmes dvds while making a really cute monkey. At the moment it just lacks a tail and a purpose, but I am sure these will follow soon. It’s only about 12cm high but is very detailed (pattern provided in the book) and I really love it. I might even photograph it at some point.

I’m actually writing this at work because, yes you know it, I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TO DO!!!!! Boss, how many more times? I’m so bored. I’ve listened to Tom and Doug’s latest podcast, which was excellent and even made me smile and drawn a new flowchart/bubble diagram on the big white board. I’ve emailed 17 people for statistics and it’s 10.30 and that’s basically all my work done for the day. Actually, I was writing that book about “The Scientific Knitter” so maybe I should bring that in and give it another going over. Tra lala BOREDBOREDBOREDBORED

Am sure this is not helping with my mood.

2006 and all that

Let us get on with the knitting content first as that is the point of my blog.

This is the first 33 rows of the 169 rows of the Flower Petal Shawl from Elann. Am doing it in plain old black as that meant I could start it straight away and because I figure that will be the most useful over time. I have fancied doing a shawl for a while and toyed with kiri and a couple of other mainstream ones but I love the shape of this and it is sufficiently engaging to keep the knitting interesting while not requiring much proper brain power. The yarn is RY Cashsoft Aran and what I want to know is - is 'microfibre' the new non-emotive name for acrylic? There's 33% of it in this stuff.

While strumming through my stash earlier I realised there is an extra new year thought I need to add which can't really be quantified but just needs to be born in mind....What you going to do with all those single balls you keep buying 'just to try'? This black was the only thing I had more than about 200g of.

Have been wearing my cherry tree hill socks today and they are just lovely. So luxurious. They are definitely the way forward and I did see that Get Knitted have some reduced to a 'tiny' £9.99. The shade doesn't scream at me though - plus I have a tonne of nice if not quite so luxurious sockyarn. So the sensible thing here, byrne, is to not buy it and put the money you would have spent towards stitches east. There's not much on the web yet except the dates but I have the brochure for stitches west and would really love to go. Looking at flights etc it seems like £300 for the flight, about £50 a night for hotel then there would be the major stash enhancement and registration fees. I'm still in kind of two minds though. It's a lot of money to lay out when I could save it for ally pally. Anyone been to one of these events before and want to give me their opinion?

I have listed some stitch markers on ebay again. They are all here. Postage is free again. This listing is a bit of an experiment as I know we're all a bit broke but they're quite tempting as impulse buys and won't do too much damage to the bank balance. The money from these will go into the america fund.

Last night ended up going very well. I don't often take liquor into the byrne-system and I loathe those conversations that start "I drank so much last night and then I ate a baboon and it was hilarious" but I do feel like showing off as I haven't been that drunk in about 3 years. What is it about being drunk that is so attractive though? It is liberating I suppose and it is quite exhilarating to lose control but it's not something I'd want to do a lot as it's expensive and although I haven't had a bad hangover there's no doubt it's not good for the byrne-physique. It was all very low-key (a phrase that seems to be a good descriptor for my life at the mo, not that I mind) and friendly and nice so the tube strike didn't wreck things really. I still loathe the RMT though.

Tube strike and *that* machine

First things first - did you know the starting salary for trainee tube drivers is more than the average for physics graduates in london? Guys, YOU'RE GETTING ENOUGH MONEY NOW - NO ONE BELIEVES ALL THIS "SAFETY REASONS" BOLLOCKS. At first I was sympathetic. But a strike on new years eve? I don't think so. So my party is ruined. I hope the government do legislate against tube strikes like new york but I know they won't have the balls.

Have been bashing away at the knitting machine again following advice from the newbritknits list. And has it worked? Has it, tubedrivers. Will have one final go tomorrow and then...where's my hammer?

Have spent the day making yet more pompoms for the cat protection league and crafting more of my beady stitch markers. I'll be putting them on ebay again soon so watch this space for new of when they do up. I am pretty chuffed with the star-kittens.

And these ones with their little glass tails!


Well, solitary guest (who lives next door) due to arrive in 10 mins so had better clear enough of the pompoms for them to sit down. See you all in 2006!

Machine knitter in distress

I have put the three images in this post as links so you can see them a a better size - I'd have had to shrink them for blogger.

Photo 1 - Initial cause of distress is that I can't get the machine to cast on. I have tried fiddling with the various settings but it just keeps missing loops. What am I doing wrong?

Photo 2 - These are the settings on the carriage. Can't find anywhere that tells me what the letters mean on the dial top right or whether the slider on the right should be on N or H. Also not sure whether the wheels at the bottom of the carriage should be engaged or not. Don't worry about the wool position - I was just moving it out the way to take the pic.

Photo 3 - I don't know what these two sliders are for either.

As you may have gathered I got the machine second hand and without a manual. I have downloaded the free brother 851 manual from online but despite reading and re-reading can't see where I'm going wrong. It is the casting on (or lack of) that is the main issue, obviously! So frustrating as the first time I got it out it worked fine except the knitting got stuck on the sinker posts. That'll no doubt be my next question!


If anyone can help me please email littlelixie@hotmail.com THANKS x

At last - I'm knitting for cats!

Actually I'm not sure about this claim - does making pom poms count as knitting? I used my pom pom maker that blueadt bought me and that was an SP gift. It all started when I was feeling knitting withdrawal and so bought Jan's Knitting magazine. I don't know why - it's still rubish. There is a pair of shoes that are beyond belief. Anyway, there was an ad in there saying the year of the volunteer had made this month animal month and you could knit cat toys. Off I went to their website. And here is the result:


I'm using up some leftovers and some dye experiments that frankly went soooooo wrong as I'm guessing the cats won't mind that much.

Yesterday was something of a monumental day for me as I ate only fresh fruit and vegetables ALL day. For example - four clementines for breakfast with almonds and raisons as a snack. Lunch was as pictured:

Plus a banana and 2 clementines for pudding. OK there's some dip there but I can't eat celery without some form of lubricant. Then roast aubergine for dinner - divine - and stewed apples with honey and raisons. And can you believe I didn't cheat all day? PLUS I went out running in the morning. So fricking healthy.

In between all this I managed to finish the cursed socks. Here is the patch that I knitted in so that they would actually span my unexpectedly plump legs.

Here is the 'good' side.

And here they are in all their glory.


They are terribly soft and comfy to wear - I'm really pleased with them even though I had to do the whole patch thing. Cherry tree hill on 2.75mm needles.

The other thing I finished in the last few days was the mitred square noro thing I started about 2 months ago. I had thought it would be some sort of modular-knit-esque top but I have realised over time that I really don't like noro yarn. I wish I had realised this earlier as it would have saved me some vast amount of wonga. I had all these squares laying about so I sewed them into a tube, knitted a bottom and i-corded the handles. This is it pre-felting...


I have actually felted it but don't have a pic yet as it's drying so I'll post that tomorrow. It looks pretty effective and I'm thinking it will be a present for Charlie (baby's mother for those of you a post or two behind).

So this means I have two finished WIP in 2 days. Plus the pom poms. And now this leaves me with a leetle problemo. What to do next? I got out the kaffe fasset v-neck yesterday and had a good look at it. The thing is.....I don't like the coloours. Here is a pic from the archives to remind people of it.

What was I thinking when I chose all those pastels? So now what do I do? I've done a fair bit more of it since this pic but still not half-way. I could possibly stop there and make it into a bag or sachet or small cushion. Pooooooooooooo.

Even setting aside that project I'm wondering what to do next. I'm worried I might have knitting fatigue as I did those socks non-stop over xmas. I'm thinking today I'll have another bash at the knitting machine because that's more of a technical exercise than anything else.

Babies and bad knitting

It's been a while but the blogger is back and so here we go. Last Thurs (22nd) was a whopper of a day. Take a look at the cutest baby ever...

Yes, that is me holding her and what I want to know is, if Charlie gave birth two weeks earlier how come her figure is so much better than mine? I'm sure it can have nothing to do with all the choc I've been scoffing. I held little Yoshimi for about 90 mins and she was amazingly good. And now I am seriously clucky. They loved the little baby clothes I made (fortunately they all fitted) although the hat was a bit big and kept falling off.

Vitas insisted she war it admiral style! I was absolutely consumed by happiness for the rest of the day and had it stopped there that would have been enough to keep me beaming. BUT. It did not end there.

I handed Louise her curly whirly in cherry tree hill peacock and she loved it - she thought she'd set me an impossible task when she laughingly asked for one in all those colours and by coincidence was wearing a fab monsoon top (slightly noro-ish in colours I thought) that went with it pretty well. We had a wicked afternoon catching up on girly chat and news before I headed off to meet el daddyo.

Indeed this was finally the night for the huge momentous family dinner. You see Sian and Dad have only made up this year really. Sian hadn't seen Freddie and P since they left nappies. Moira and el americano family hadn't seen Sian since she was about 10 and Moira hadn't seen Freddie and P since they were v young. So....this might give you an idea of how dysfunctional my family is. You could view me as the family uhu, holding things all together. I used to view myself as the family safety net as everyone would sound off to me about everyone else but then I went mad so that was obviously not a good way of viewing things...

So from front left we have dad, Piers (14 - so hilarious), me, cousin mike (over here for a year so has featured here before), sian, sian's boyf Brown (also called Simon), Poochimus maximus in a rare good mood, Uncle doug and cousin kerry. Freddie and Becky were also there but weren't doing photos. Aunt Moira was taking the pic. It was a really good night - shame these get togethers are so rare. Especially when I hold them up against xmas at Pooch's where we had about 20 family members sitting about at one point who hadn't caught sight of each other since, ooo, at least last Tuesday. Anyway...It is the variety and diversity of the human interaction that makes life so interesting.

Xmas at Pooch's went very well again although I have eaten waaaaaaaaay too much. There is also the issue of the socks. I took my cherry trtee hill from ally pally up to Manchester with me and did some cable toe-up socks on 2-needles. Buggerations though because the leg part is too small. Ah, I can't be bothered to go into it again but I must have had chocolate inhibiting my brain function. Am knitting on a garter st patch which looks rubbish and will serve to remind me of a dumbass thing I once did. No I'm not ripping them. Because afterall then I might forget the lesson.

It would appear I've forgotten to upload the sock picture so here is one of Zoidberg knitting.

Hope everyone out there had a great xmas xxx am starting my new years resolutions early by organising my stash and collating WIP and UFOs.

I appear to have changed time zone

Slightly disturbing - am gooing through a phase of early waking just as I get to the one point in the year when this is not convinient. I guess that's probab;y why it is though. 5.30 today which is the earlist so far. Means I am knackered by 9.30 so while my mornings are elongated it's put a crimp in my xmas socilialising. Not that I'm doing much of fricking that. Bloody thing. I refer of course to the final xmas knitted xmas present - now on a very sort deadline. In fact should stop blogging and get to it.

Not sure if I'll be able to blog again before I disappear ooop north for xmas so just in case happy christmas everyone xxx I'll be back on the 27th.

Lalalalala

Photos

The intrepid gang more or less fill the handweavers studio - Nancy understandably got flustered at having so many customers at once.


Knitting pub-style


Reaping the rewards of Kerrie's clear out - yes that is a full hank of giotto on the left.


The Giotto decidedly didn't want to be a pair of gauntlets - possibly because instead of 8mm needles I was using 4.5...


Roving, roving, everywhere...




Copper bag handles ahoy


Knitting now in the Sunday Times Magazine as well as the National Geographic.


Read for yourself


Pooch at work


Pooch about 5 hours later - note change of position - no carpel tunnel or repetitive strain for that boy.


Actually Pooch was very lovely to me all weekend. The only other news is that I have rushed out and bought a "hot to...Punch and Judy" book from Abe Books. I can recommend Abe to anyone looking for soemthing a bit off beat and second hand. They do cross list on amazon quite a lot but they're still worth a look. I got my copy £5 cheaper than the current bidded price for one on ebay. Yaroo.

Dreams, punch and judy, handweavers...just so much!

I think I need to do this starting from now and going backwards. I seem to have woken up ridiculously early at 6am but don't mind as I woke up at the end of a great dream. HHH and I were both extras in Emmerdale and to cut a long story short he gave me a hug when I told him I thought he was great! Woke up all smiley. NO THIS IS NOT REALLY SAD.

Was in canary Wharf doing some last minute shopping yesterday on the way back from the item I will get to in a minute. Was all ready to go home when I heard a Punch and Judy show round the corner. DUDE! I love Punch and Judy. And from all the adults sitting around it looks like it really does hotwire straight to your childhood. I was laughing so much. The crocodile was there stealing the sausages and the policeman was trying to catch Mr Punch. Mr Punch was telling the children (and me) that the crocodile was as gentale as a pussy cat and would thenstroke the crocodile which would purr and meow. Then everytime Mr Punch looked away the crocodile would open his mouth almost 180 degrees and be about to eat Mr Punch when all the children (and me) would shout "He's behind you" and then when Mr Punch turned round the crocodile would be acting all cutesy again. Then, in a stunning plot twist, the crocodile did bite Mr Punch but he just got him by the nose - that was a stroke of genius frankly. I heard the words "Oh no he wouldn't" and I drew a really deep breath to shout back "Oh yes he would" when I realised I am 27 and really shouldn't do that anymore. I wonder whether you can train as a punch and judy artiste?

So getting to the main bit I just have a small confession to make - have left my camera cable at work so there are no pics - sorry. We had a wicked UKHK trip to the Handweavers studio in Blackhorse Road. It was me, Ruth, Nikki, Ann, Sue and Gill and we had a ball. We definitely managed to boost Nancy's usual Saturday takings. I will post photos on Monday but for now you'll have to make use of your own imaginations! Lots of stuff to dye and lots of copper bag handles - circles and squares - as I want one of those bracelet handbags and now have enough bracelets for about 8! But will be covering them in fabric and wool and yummy stuff. We had a lovely pub lunch afterwards and Ruth was kind enough to share a stash clearout Kerrie from hipknits had given her. I have a whole skein of giotto in red plus a cone of machine knitting yarn to learn with after xmas. Hoorah hoorah.

Hair, sock, mental birds and more

Well where to start? I guess with the hair - yes that's right, it's that time of year when Byrne gets a haircut. The lucky salon this time was J-hair with the frankly very easy on the eye KD at the wheel. It is, as some of you may have guessed, a japanese salon and is all funky but let's cut to the good bit - excellent haircut, wonderful wash, condition, head massage and highest level style and finish for....wait for it....£25. And they give you a card so if you get 10 haircuts you get the next one free. I highly recommend the place - and if you admire the snake-hipped-cutely-smiling-male ask for KD.


But enough of these fripperies, let's talk socks. I was sorely tempted by some shiny sock yarn about 2 weeks ago and it has arrived and, frankly, I'm rather disappointed.

It's sock yarn, it's got some lurex in it....

...but the colours are very flat and the texture isn't that nice. Slap wrist for impulse buying.

And talk about impulse buying. Let us consider what I was thinking when I purchased this:

I started crocheting it into a 3rd jumper for the Vitas baby but then must have woken up or something because, dude, all it is saying to me now is "sanitary-towel-advert". Bit of a whoops there. Will be ripping that any minute now.

FRED FRED FRED looky here:

I LOVE the colourway. I finished this one at the golders green group last night and decided on a whim to i-cord the toe and make it all pointy. I think it is terribly cute. Have already cast on the second one.

So what have I got to finish with this time? The MOST exciting news - Tom and Doug have started doing podcasts. You remember them....Tom and Doug. The Tom and Doug. The writers and performers of Gansta Knitter. This is quite possibly the best music video ever made. To cut a long story short I have ended up with Professor Doug (he actually is a professor - of child psychology as it turns out) as a penpal and we have been emailing back and forth for about a year (maybe?) now. Just every couple of weeks and writing silly emails where I'm hoping mine make him laugh as much as his do me. I know I've missed the last posting date for xmas but I have got these together rather last minute to send to the intrepid duo.

The crazy orange bird is a pen, obviously. Then there are "zip-pals" - one each for Tom, Doug (Cool dude) and Doug's little daughter. (special little girl). I fear Doug will try and keep the girlie one and give his daughter the cool dude one but then that's a man's right to choose.

Right, must go and get ready for work. Pooch woke me up early so that he could get in at 8 to right the wrongs of programming so I thought a little blogging would be good. On saturday there is the group visit to the handweavers studio so expect a smidgen of stash enhancement news on sunday. Seasons greetings to y'all xx