Quack!

Chez Byrne has an awesome new shower curtain.

Hard not to feel happy when you've seen that.

I've been knitting away on the same old radiation cardigan from Knitty. I started this in October but had to rip back after the yoke was too shallow. pattern says 6 inches but I found I needed 10.

I had a similar problem with my Henley Cardigan, which I just happen to be wearing now. Starting to think I just have mental shoulders. I've also made the sleeves long and bell shaped. It's the way I roll.

I've signed up for ihanna's postcard swap which should be pretty good. It's mixed media so anything goes. So far I've done a paper weave and printed some photos onto fabric and embroidered one. Even printing and embroidering fabric I tend towards one subject.

Sign ups are open til Feb 7th so hope along there to get involved.

I've been pondering my life over the last week since I've been asked to give the 2010 annual lecture to my old school's sixth form. The topic is my career, secrets of my success etc and it's all supposed to be motivational. There's a suggestion you should also include some pithy stuff about being a woman since it is a girls' school. In among all these thoughts I was reminded of a fragility of life when I heard Les from Silkwood had passed away last week. Les was such a lovely man. He taught himself to crochet and produced beautiful shawls amongst other things, all while wearing dazzling sets of braces. It became a running joke between us and I ended up calling him 'Braces'. I really wish I'd seen him and Tess recently - I think the last time was at IKnit last summer the day my back went south. Whenever it was he'll be remembered with love xx

Tam Jacket

I finally cast on something from the amazing 'Unexpected Knitting' book at the weekend. I deliberately chose chunky yarn so it went quickly.

I really like it! I sewed back the corners of the front to make it look like a little collar.

Next time a baby comes along I'll make one of these in fairisle. Should look beautiful.

I've finally got around to taking some decent pictures of the stitchmarkers I got last year. I had been emailing the creator and asked whether he ever did personalised ones of people's faces - children, partners etc. The conversation developed and I sent him a pic of the Pooch. And look at this!

Isn't that amazing? I also bought a pig, rabbit and black sheep at the same time. He is amazingly talented and the finishing is awesome.

So cute!

Now Pooch and I have a fairly entertaining relationship. There are certain disagreements but they rarely last too long. Tonight, for instance, he wouldn't give me any of his chocolate yoghurt, so I took his glasses and hid them. He went and found his old pair and when I went onto Ravelry this is what I saw.

..............Hmph. Next time I take his glasses, I'm going to take the spare pair too.

More Kanzashi, and a crush returns

I love crushes. I had a couple when I was younger - Ed Lewis and Matt Andrews, ah, where are they now....probably bald... - but having them as an adult is so much more fun. You know it's a crush and you know it's fantasy, and you know you're not actually going to meet them, but it doesn't matter. It's just fun. So as the second series of Being Human has started I can get back into my crush on Aidan Turner. He who must be adored.

Phew. My crush for him after series 1 was great enough to get me to watch several episodes of the weird romantic painter thing in BBC where he played Rosetti with an english accent. Judging by the first episode of series 2 he's buffed up a bit. Promises gratuitous body shots later on in the series. It's only a matter of time before he gets onto GaySpy. Being Human also offers Russel Tovey, frequently completely naked, which is also very nice.

Some of you may now be wondering what GaySpy is. Click on that link. Honestly, it's fine. Your microsoft safesearch is not going to pop up with a warning. It's something young-gay-about-town at work put me on to. I can only assume that I have different taste to young gay men as too many of them are what I think of as sinewy. Like Ronaldo. Never mind all the airbrushing on his face - I just do not think there is one attractive thing about his body. But then there are some verrrrrrry nice ones on there too. David Boreanaz, one of my personal favourites, was on there in his boxers a week or so ago. He's on the list, and if anything he's 1 and Aidan is 2. I tell Pooch he is 3. But he's not really. Just don't tell him that.

Anyway, Kanzashi.

I made the brown one to go with the dress I made - it's the same fabric - and the red one just because red polka dots are brilliant. I wore the dress to the private view of an astonishing exhibition that's on in Ealing Broadway at the moment. It is called "Beware of Embroidery". I've been bigging it up on Ravelry as it really was brilliant. Well worth a visit if you are down that way.

I've also been doing a bit of Debbie New knitting on one of her Tam Jackets. I've been thinking about making something for my physio's impending arrival and so thought I'd try this out. It would work brilliantly with fairisle. This is it pre folding. In the garter stitch version you make 2 of these.

As with all these types of patterns it's really hard to work out how it is going to work until you fold it just right. And when you do you get this:

I should have it finished tonight.

Kanzashitastic

I am so pleased I finally got on with it and bought the Kanzashi in Bloom book. I've had it queued on Amazon since it came out and finally did it. It arrived this afternoon and now I'm waiting for the glue to dry on my first one. Ta daaaaaaa!

I would strongly recommend this book. The how-to is brilliant - perfectly written and photographed. Much *much* better than the other tutorials I've looked at online. Plus you've probably guessed from my comment about glue, there's only one small step with a needle and thread so you don;t need to be able to sew to make them. There's a website supporting the book and a Flickr group of other people's projects. Just take a look at some of these:

1. Kanzashi Hair Clips, 2. KanzashiDetail,

3. lilac and dark pink hair pin, 4. polka dot kanzashi brooch

Soooooo beautiful. I definitely want to make more. I'll be walking around soon with a bouquet's worth on my head.

My first ever french plait

I've impressed myself with how shiny my hair looks.

Sadly it doesn't look anywhere near that good in real life. C'est la vie.

To cover up my offending hair I've knit myself a new hat today. I daresay most knitters in the UK have been knitting hats, scarves, mittens, gloves, pule warmers, thick socks, extra jumpers and more in the last few days. I had been wearing a beret I made a few years ago but it wasn;t warm enough. in 2008 I made the Jughead hat from Domiknitrix's book and really liked it. So finally I've got one of my own.

It's made from three strands of sock yarn leftovers held together. They were all blue shades so it works pretty well. I only needed 5 segments to get the right size. Should help keep me snug next time I venture out. You can't really see it from the photo but the hem is zig zag and turns up. Like a crown! Princess Me!

Pooch is in flight as I type and will shortly land in the States for his 5 towns in 8 days tour of Sony offices. Bless him. At least it means lots more air miles for our potential holiday. I got a wedding invite today for a friend of ours in australia who is having a castle themed wedding. I should have taken a photo of it. It's really detailed with aged paper with burnt edges and a wax seal. The wedding is 'castle' themed and everyone has to dress up. In one way this is bad as it guarantees Pooch won't go. But on the other hand it seems like great fun. There just aren't enough opportunities in my life for dressing up.

Pooch being away gives me a chance to get my stash out and have a spring clean. I also need to finish the jumper I was making over xmas, illness allowing. (My gastric flu lasted til the 2nd and I was in bed by 10 on new year's eve.) I swatched, I ripped out once because it was too big, I tried it on half way, but no. It's too small. I don;t have enough yarn to make it bigger and it is vintage from the KCG mountain so no chance of anymore.

It's very pretty, although I would maybe do it raglan without the neck cables if I were to do it again.

I love the effect on the hem and cuffs.

To top it off the Radiate Cardigan I was knitting has had to be ripped back to the yoke as I didn't try it on til too late and the armholes were much too shallow. Ah well. Chin Up. At least all this wool will keep me snug.

2009 Round-Up

I've been having my usual look at how 2009 has gone, knit-wise. I've added another 43 finished projects to Ravelry. These have included 10 pairs of socks, 3 adult cardigans and nine presents for babies. I've also got 8 WIPs, 226 things queued and 187 yarns stashed. Quite a few of those are 50g balls but still, that's a lot of yarn. Probably just as well I haven't been able to get to the sales at all.

My greatest triumph was definitely my Kauni which I have been wearing frequently since I finished it. The buttons were definitely a good choice.

I learnt a huge amount from making this and loved it all.

I've also really loved my Kai Mei socks and the malabrigo they were made in.

Even David, the anti-knitting physio, has admired these.

Up until christmas eve I would have said that back-aside, I had had a healthy year. The black dog has been kept at bay even though I changed my anti-d in the summer. Even my back - now that the sciatica is just a painful memory - is on the up. The exercises I've been given and the physio are all helping and the operation itself really couldn't have gone any better than it did. I was lucky I had the healthcare to pay for such a good surgeon.

So what does 2010 hold? For a start it will hopefully hold the completion of my physio and the return of full mobility to my leg. It should also contain some good knitting events with SkipNorth, the London one at UCL and (for others) KnitCamp in Stirling. Personally I have definitely decided against it. It's too far and too much just to get to and stay there, never mind classes or shopping. But if it is run elsewhere in 2011 or 12 maybe I'll make the trek depending on how much further south it goes.

One thing I know for certain is coming up in Feb is a Knicker Workshop at the Make Lounge as this was Pooch's christmas present for me. Expect to see some absolutely scintillating underwear being blogged about when that comes round.

(By Stella McCartney. Pretty cool.)

Back, and 6lbs lighter

I had decided to try to drop another half a stone in 2010. I didn't think I'd be doing it in the last couple of days. And I find it hard to believe that anyone has ever visited my MIL's house and left lighter than when they arrived. I seem to have had what I can only describe as gastric flu and have barely eaten a thing since the 23rd. Rather annoying since this year saw a record haul of chocolate and I haven't been able to even think about opening any of it. I also haven't knitted a stitch since xmas day. There. Now you believe I'm ill, don't you. This was me last night on the train home. And this was before it was delayed for an hour.

Fortunately I am feeling a bit better now. As lovely as it is to see my in-laws, it is always so much more comfortable to be ill at home and when we got back last night I nose dived straight into my bed, with my duvet, my pillows, my crocheted blanket. Mmmmmm. Nothing like it.

Before my yuck came on our little nephew, Alfie, spent the day at his grandmas with his mum and dad. He really is beautiful. Such a chubby little face! And he was wonderfully behaved the whole time. Happy to be held by different people and smiley too. Pooch was very good with him although he never looks totally at ease when holding a baby.

I've come back to sad news - Woolly Wokshop is closing. Very sad. I've been using and recommending them for years. My final recommendation is that you get over there for a 25% off closing sale. They have denise needle sets and luxury sock wool as well as clover accessories and your more everyday things so something for everyone.

Neeeeeeoooooooowwwwwww

High speed blog post. I've been horribly busy the last week and no chance to do anything properly other than eat - so now look a bit like I've swallowed a balloon. I was in company with my mum's cat who had had food left out for her when they went away for a weekend. The neighbour was supposed to dish it out and mum had left twice as much as was usual 'just in case'. The neighbour gave the cat all of it and 'pear shaped' would be a polite comment on her shape. She's always been fairly svelte but she's in a new class in the beauty parade now.

Anyway....I am soon to be published in the online magazine SlashStroke.

I made these pulse warmers for their second issue so I'll link here when the pattern goes up. They were very simple with a bit of intarsia but the team behind it are not familiar with knitting and so were pleasurably amazed. Apparently there was a scuffle over who got to keep them after the photoshoot, which is afterall what every knitter wants to hear about their finished objects.

I've also finished my estonian button socks.

The yarn is by Nickerjac on Folksy (nothing at the mo but bookmark for updates) and is really glorious. I have completely failed to get a decent photo of it but I absolutely adore it. I've gone off pure wool sock yarn recently having had a few go before their time at the heels. This has just the right amount of nylon to strengthen it and I look forward to wearing these for years to come.

To finish, I leave you with the most amazing alternative-to-a-nativity I've seen this year. To be found in the lobby of the Luttrel Arms in Dunster.

I'm off to the in-laws today and back on the 27th. May all your pies be mincey.

Christmas Spirit

I have been trying to feel a bit christmassier (is that even a word - it looks weird). So I have invested in a christmas hits album from i-tunes AND I've put the christmas tree up AND I made some decorations. When putting the tree up I came across the two sequin baubles Nic and I made last year and so I made another one this evening.

So christmassy! I love making these. The others one I made were a tesco kit and have come out surprisingly well.

It's all done with glue - no sewing at any point - so I'm not sure how they'll hold up but they should be fine for this year at least.

Two of them star the Pooch, who is as I type freezing his nads off in the Arctic Circle. It's not some sort of penance - it was his choice and one I gladly opted out of. Sadly Norway with 30 mins daylight per day is not turning out to be as entertaining as he hoped but on the plus side there are at least two knitting shops so hopefully father christmas will have lots to haul my way this year!

I finally met up with Nic again today and had a good catch up on news. I was sad to hear Stash has closed. We also had a good chat about forthcoming knitting festivals and holidays, including SkipNorth, mightiest of them all. She also gave me the most AMAZING christmas presents. This is the most wonderful...Meet, Penelope.

Beeaaauuutiful! I absolutely love her. Nic made her herself. I have completely forgotten the name of the pattern designer but she is a genius. Nic also gave me this amazing Bargello book, a lucet making thingamybob and accessories and these gorgeous ceramic buttons.

All of the things are brilliant! I am one lucky bunny.

Flickr as a Resource

I think a lot of people just use Flickr to host photos and don't realise what an amazing resource it is. If I ever had to stop knitting, embroidery would be my next thing. These are just a few of my 'favourites'. Anyone can type in 'vintage embroidery' or 'banana' or anything and find images others have done. There are also groups for sharing. I love "Hoop Love Vintage Transfers" and "Vintage Embroidery Patterns". And of course if I get the urge to do some embroidery all I need is a printer and an iron-on transfer pencil and I'm away.

Here are a few of my current faves.



1. WB 003 d, 2. Daphne, 3. Monarch 206 - cat pattern, 4. Super sewing girl! in progress, 5. girl and duck, 6. Untitled, 7. RobotSpring, 8. Birthday Owl Fabric postcard, 9. Y-Yarn, 10. The Acorn Fairy, 11. WB 2-945 e, 12. pink on yellow splat bird

Byrne on Health

Pooch has flu again - the third time in a year. Now Pooch takes care to exercise and eat vegetables. He drinks berocca and consumes fruit for pleasure. I, on the other hand, mainline chocolate and pepsi max like they're about to start rationing and avoid unnecessary fruit and veg unless I have a hankering for some. I have not had flu the whole year. The only real health problem I've had in the last 12 months has been my back and that couldn't have been prevented however many forests of broccolly I had consumed.

So, to summarise my conclusions on this subject:

• The human body is a sophisticated machine. It needs gentle maintenance. Suddenly exercising, especially outside when it is cold, is not gentle. You're going to freak out your body.
• You are self-aware. Your body sends you messages when it's hungry, thirsty, tired etc. And sometimes it tells you it needs fruit or vegetables. Forcing these things on yourself when your body isn't asking for them isn't necessary.
• If you eat something toxic your body freaks out and tries to get rid of it. If you can consume large quantities of pepsi max and chocolate and not feel ill it's a sign it's not hurting you.

Now while I strongly believe all these things I am also aware that I am only feeling the short-term effects of my lifestyle. It could be in a year or two's time I'll have a baby with no head or drop dead because my arteries are blocked solid. But for now...I'm not the one with flu.
Looking after Pooch has at least taken my mind off an outrage I suffered at the hands of Ellery Queen. Look at this book cover.

If you are intending to read this book, skip over this next paragraph.
Wouldn't that cover suggest to you that the murderer is male? It uses two male pronouns. The whole point of the book is on page 177 you are challenged to solve the crime. I'd discounted the women because of the cover. And as you'll already have guessed...it was a woman.
Bah. At least Mum's cardi is continuing nicely.

I've also started wondeirng about what knitting to take to the in-laws at xmas. Going to be lots of time for it but just not sure. I'm only knitting from stash at the moment and god knows I have enough but I just can't decide what to do.

So in conclusion

I have come to a conclusion about several things I've been thinking about recently. Here is one.

Byrne on Infidelity

Once someone in a relationship has cheated, that relationship is over. If both parties are willing to try, and the cheater is really lucky, they can build a new relationship. But if nothing changes after the cheating it's like being diagnosed with a major disease and not seeking treatment. That relationship is inevitably going to die.

One of the both good and bad sides of being on sick leave is that you get a lot of time alone. This can be good for thinking but it can also be bad in the same way. I feel like I've had a good chance to think things through but at the same time I know my limited communication skills have got worse. I suppose this is because I've had the majority of my conversations with myself and as my sister recently said "It's ok for you, you don't care about that kind of thing." and so I've got clumsy when chatting to people about potentially sensitive topics. Plus I'm doing a lot more of that what's-the-word type of thing when talking to others. I guess my internal monologues must have only been using simplistic words.

A-n-y-w-a-y...my other conclusion concerns crushes. But I haven't thought of a concise way to explain it. And maybe I won;t since I am rapidly getting back to proper hours at the workplace of doom. I'll do 4.5 hours on 4 days next week which will include sending out exam results to 120+ people and receiving at least 20 loads of abuse and, if I'm lucky, one brief email of thanks. There's no denying working does use up way too much of my time. I don;t know how I'm going to be able to keep up my knitting output having to work all these hours. How much longer, I keep asking him, is Pooch going to take to get to a point where I can sit about at home and knit all day? Respect to feminism but let's not forget a woman's right to choose and I'm happy to choose to sit and knit full time while someone else earns my chocolate money.

Knitting output is already down as since I finished the Kauni I've only found time to make a pair of socks (xmas present so not blogged), a pair of D(uc)K Feet, a hat and finalise the design and start my Mum's cardi. The hat is something of a dilemma. Here it is.

It's nice and everything, but I'm not sure it's suitable. You see, I got my Chief Exec in the secret santa swap. It's only a £5 one so no one's expecting gold but I'm not really sure it's him. The blue is noro iroha and the variegated is a 50/50 wool mix. The pattern is a free Brooklyn Tweed one I found on ravelry as being specifically 'for men'.

Something I'm happier about is Mum's cardi. It's already been through at least 2 abortive starts and this time I've stuck with the DROPS pattern but changed to just the one purple and added beads instead.

I'm using the crochet bead method where you don't string them onto the yarn but add them to each stitch as you go. It's much more time consuming but looks a tonne better. Unfortunately I seem to have sustained a knitting related shoulder injury which is slowing progress but meh, what can you do. I must knit on.

D(uc)K Feet

Duck feet booties in DK yarn. Holla.

Yarn: 40g DK yellow. I used Patons Fairytale but anything would do.
Tension: 5 st to 1 inch in stockinette
Needle: 3.75mm circ/dpns or whatever you need to get guage.
Also need: 1 stitch marker.

I did these as magic loop but you could do 2 circs or dpns. If using dpns then will be easier to use 5 rather than 4.

• Cast on 32st using your favourite stretchy cast on. Join to work in round and place marker to show beginning of round.
• Knit 18 rows in 2x2 rib

Now we're going to do a short row heel over the first 16 stitches. You can change this to a different heel if you want and just pick up the instructions later on. A tutorial on a short row heel can be found here.

• Knit to 2nd to last st, wrap and turn
• Purl back to 2nd to last st, wrap and turn
• K to stitch before last wrapped st, wrap and turn
• P to stitch before last wrapped st, wrap and turn
• Continue til 6 stitches wrapped on each side

You'll just have done your last wrap and turn on the purl side. You'll next be doing a knit row starting in the middle of the heel.

• Knit across and knit the wraps and stitches together a la the tutorial.
• Knit across the other 16 stitches
• Knit across the first half of the heel - knitting the stitches and wraps together - then knit across other side of heel.
• Place marker. This is your new beginning of the round.

So for magic loop I've now got two batches of sticthes - 16 stitches each. The first is the top of the foot and the second is the bottom. If you're using dpns you may need to do some shuffling at this point.

• Knit 12 rounds in stockinette (knitting every row) This will give you a foot length of about 2 inches.
• Increase round: *k1, make 1, k14, make 1, k1* twice (This is the only increase)
• Continue over the 36 stitches you now have in stockinette until the foot measures 4 inches.

Now you need to close the 'toe' of your bootie. I turned the sock inside out and used a three needle bind off. You could also graft or crochet it closed.
Sew in ends and repeat for the other bootie.
They fit a Kermit's feet very well.

Knitting, only knitting.

I have....a Kauni!!!

Those robot buttons really are the business and make it look extra special. It's been an epic journey but I am so thrilled with the result. It's definitely my finest knitting achievement to date.

I went to Greenwich today and I treated myself to a little haul from the button stand in the antique market by the Rivington. Ooooooo.

They were between 45p and £3 per card. These were the cheapest and probably my faves.

Beautiful pale blue with knitted texture. So twee!

I also scored some beautiful trimmings. The middle one is silk and amazingly beautiful. The one on the right is quite wide and really really lovely.

It's all things a woman at the market has had in storage for ever since her mum did a lot of sewing and knitting. Another gem was this, still in its original packaging.

A freebie from an ancient woman's weekly. It's for hanging a ball of yarn from your wrist. At 50p I couldn't leave it forlornly on the stall!

Back to work

My first day back at work was yesterday and it all went pretty well! I didn't manage to get much done because the boys had stuck pictures of a very hairy beer belly over just about everything on my desk and so it took a while to get around that. They'd also stuck my handset to the base of the phone and put a poster of the bionic woman up on the wall with my face on it. Bless them. I think they missed me! It was certainly nice to see them and have some human interaction again. I've promised krispy kremes for tomorrow! It looks like Team Wank are really kicking up a right royal fuss about my project and are going to open a can of whooppee at the AGM but you never know. No point worrying about it yet.

Finishing the Kauni didn't quite happen but I now only need to finish the collar and then sew down the collar steek. Then the last act will be to black and sew on the buttons. I had got some lovely vintage dark turquoise ones picked out but then when I got to work I picked up my Jimmy Beams parcel. Not only did it contain these two:

But also this gorgeous set of buttons.

They were crazily expensive but anyone who is married to a Pooch and loves buttons will appreciate why they had to be mine. But then I looked at them with the kauni and all of a sudden I started thinking....what if?

See what I mean? It's tempting.

Having finished practically everything I've been left with a small pile of steek trimmings.

They look so pretty it seems a shame to chuck them. I wondered about felting them into a ball or something but then what would I do with that?