Scarf-o-matic

Sock, ladder and cat

Have completed the first sock of a pair! I am using the magic loop method combined with reading The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, which helped me figure out how many stitches to cast on for a lovely fit:

I have not managed to avoid the 'ladder problem' of Magic Loop knitting in this particular sock, so will pay attention to Major Knitter for sock number two. Must cast that one on tonight to avoid dreaded second sock syndrome - but I am curious to see how the second one will pool, so don't think that I am about to fall prey to SSS.  And it is so comfortable! (note to self: why does it drive me mad when yarn pools in a scarf or other knitted garment, but just makes me smile on a sock?).

There is another member of the household feeling smug today. Pocket was supposed to visit the vet, but at the appointed 'catch-cat-and-shove-into-carrier' moment she was nowhere to be seen. It is vaccine booster time, and she must know it. A little while later, I found her relaxing in the study:

Still hooked on Neighbours, and again missing tomorrow's episode. I am guessing from the way today ended on a cliff hanger that there is going to be a totally unforseable twist in the Stingray goes to court plot.... is a certain someone coming back from the dead? (well, when I say unforseable...).

Counting birds and a woolly Lorikeet

This weekend is the Big Garden Bird Watch! So, armed with a glass of sherry each, one pencil and the RSPB birdwatch counting sheet, we sat for one hour and counted: 4 blackbirds, 2 collared doves, 2 robins, 1 dunock, 6 house sparrows, 1 ferral pigeon, 2 chaffinches, 7 woodpigeons, 6 coal tits, and 1 great tit.  I swear that as soon as I submitted the bird count by internet, the number of birds increased (but that may be the sherry!).

The most exotic bird, of course, is not in the garden, but on my knitting needles. The skein of Merino Fibreworks in Lorikeet is becoming a pair of socks - well, sock number 1 at least:

Headache inducing socks? Yeah!

In other yarn related news, we set off in the car yesterday to Olney, to visit The Knit Tin and have lunch. The village, which we know reasonably well as used to take my grandmother there for lunch ocassionally, is a classic English town with a collection of interesting shops, like antique shops and kitchenware. Do make sure you get there before 2.30 if you want a pub lunch, we had got stuck in traffic so arrived too late! The Knit Tin is a lovely little shop, well stocked with British brands, some Alchemy, and a little collection of luxury accessories (lovely knitting needles). I must confess I didn't buy any yarn at all, but The Other Knitter in the House did. I did buy a copy of Yarn Harlot - The Secret Life of a Knitter (hilarious, as all you must know by now... I am fairly late in getting a copy). The yarn? 1 skein of Alchemy 'A breath of fire' and 1 skein of Colinette Silky-Chic in 'Raphael':

Oh, and thanks to Janice and Iris for leaving such interesting comments about recycling yarn in the previous post!

recycling yarn in WWII

When wool was scarce during the II world War, British women were asked to recycle their knitted jumpers. It is fun to compare it with Ashley Martineau's on-line tutorial, don't you think?:

(this particular one is from my mother's collection of women's magazines. She doesn't knit, but if you want to see one of her miniature patchwork quilts, head over to ebay).

wool in the unlikeliest places...

As my sabbatical period is gradually being eroded (back to work on light administration next week, and essay marking), I am in the grips of concluding what turned out to be a massive filing project: I had years and years of hoarded research. Almost all of it has been re-classified, re-filed and a great deal of paper simply junked.  After completing my thesis, I found I simply could not touch that area of my work for a few years, so it has been really liberating to find that my 'thesis pile' - stacks of notes and research, not all of it included in final draft - was full of treasures and ideas for future work.

But, hey, I hear you say? Isn't this a knitting blog? Well, wool does turn up in the unlikeliest places... My thesis was on girlhood, and one of my chapters focused on dolls. So, at the time, I visited lots of toy shops and read about merchandising, and discovered the mania that was Pokemon. The little Japanese critters, and the passion they generated, fascinated me in the late 1990's. I've even got some of the Japanese Pokemon trading cards (though I do not play card strategy games, they do my head in), and on one of them Cleffa is playing with some yarn:

How many of us get that far away dazed look when we fondle our yarn?

not a yarn diet, but....

Joined Weight Watchers again yesterday evening. Although I achieved Gold member status in 2002 by loosing 2 stone, about 10 pounds crept up on me last year, and I need a bit of discipline to keep me on track. So farewell to the following of my favourite things: Cheese, Bread, Butter and Chocolate, and a reduction in wine consumption (Oh, I am not going to punish myself!). That may mean a reduction in the number of chocolate animals that appear on this blog, but no promises there.

I am also going to increase my activity, walking AND knitting. Ok, don't think knitting will gain me any extra points, but I must confess that I hit a knitting hiatus over the week-end. I got totally stuck on the pattern for the multi-diagonal scarf. Thanks to the Multi-directional knitting group on yahoo I should be able to get past the 4th triangle now.

Hey, did anyone watch Neighbours today, with the plane crash in it? Wonderfully bizzare episode. (Oh, darn, just realised I will miss tomorrow's one because I am in my office).

vintage crafting

Finally got round to taking some pictures to be framed yesterday, and took a photo of this one before leaving the house. It is an original pencil drawing of a girl sewing, and although it is badly foxed I still love it. The drawing is probably from the 1940s, and just look at the yarn and knitting needles in the sewing basket!

Have a good week-end!

Celebration trip to Bologna

Thank you to you all so much for the 'congratulations'! They were a lovely surprise on our return from our 'honeymoon', and made us both smile. The registration of our partnership went along fine at the town hall, and - what really made our day - all the 4 guests were able to sign as witnesses. I just remember a ton of paperwork and that we kissed before we were supposed to during the declarations and then got 'told off' by the registrar (no, she wan't very stern and it was funny). Oh, and we had natural confetti because it snowed when we all came outside to pop open our individual little bottles of bubbly!

Again, we needed little excuse to set off on a week-end holiday, and this time chose to go to Italy: Bologna. We arrived in Bologna on Epiphany, and the main square was re-enacting the arrival of the three kings in front of the Basilica:

It was shambolic, but atmospheric, and there were many people re-enacting Bethlehem villagers: carpenters, weavers, shepherds and lots of sheep!

We chose Bologna because we had decided that we should have an 'instructional' trip this time and signed up for a tailor-made cookery course run by Carmelita of CookItaly on the Saturday. Carmelita took us around the food markets:

And taught us many a useful thing, such as fresh artichokes 'sing' when you wiggle their outer leaves (if they don't, then they are not fresh!). Of course many shop windows held such delights as these: trays of fresh pasta.

So what did we learn to prepare?: Tagliatelli with radicchio and pancetta (and we made our own fresh pasta!); sformati of artichoke; rabbit in lemon and egg sauce; mascarpone and orange dessert with biscuits. It was a wonderful course.

It looks like I forgot to take a picture of the dessert! However, don't feel deprived, as here are some cute hedgehog cakes I spied in a shop window:

Apart from the food, Bologna is very beautiful. The walls are painted in a range of reds, there are churches everywhere, and never ending colonades, so we kept getting lost!

And, of course, we bought some yarn souvenirs: (clockwise) Fiorello (Filatura di Crosa); mohair with sparkle (unknown); Fiammetta (Filatura di Crosa); Crazy (Grignasco) and some local yarn Silke Super Lana. The shop was called Casa della Lana (Via Righi 19), and was superbly stocked with all the best Italian yarns, as well as stocking quite a few local products.

Now it is back to work and back to knitting (Oh, and I have quite a few bloggs to catch up on!).

Alchemy and other partnerships

I could no longer resist the 'knit me' cries from the stash and grabbed the two skeins of Alchemy Synchronicity and started 'multi-directional scarf'' from Modular Knits. Here it is in progress... I love the way the colours look together:

 

Talking of partnerships (excuse this bad link), today, at 11.30 a.m., the Other Knitter and I are officially and legally registering our partnership in the town hall. It is our tenth anniversary (we start the count from day one, though I hasten to add that neither of us knew what we were getting into... but I do remember a silly conversation about wearing matching white tuxedos up the aisle in the second month), as well as the 4th anniversary of our commitment ceremony (we had a large event with family and friends when we registered our relationship under the London Partnerships act). As that commitment event is irrepeatable, we are keeping today simple: basic declarations, requisite witnesses with their respective partners, and a nice lunch out. Oh, and fear not, we are not wearing matching white tuxedos!

Knitting the way into 2006...

It is about time I wished you all a happy new year! Just returned from the various Xmas visits to relatives: one stop in Devon and the other in Friesland (Netherlands).

When visiting the Other Knitter in the House's mother for Xmas, we did a lot of cooking and eating (and knitting), as well as present wrapping and unwrapping. The days were spent in domestic bliss, so no photo shoots of the Devon hills or other such rural delights. I am afraid that we didn't even get round to walking our lunch off around the garden.

Then, we set off on the long car drive from Tiverton to Leeuwarden, with an overnight stop in Lille (France)- this is an approximate portrayal of the trip:

As usual, Lille was a pleasure to visit, as they still had their Xmas market going strong (more Glüwein!) and their chocolate shops were as tempting as ever. By the way, did you know where  Father Xmas sends his reindeers when they approach retirement age?:

Aw, no, only kidding. But if you did have about 40 Euros going spare, you could slice up and serve a chocolate and strawberry Blitzen for dessert.

Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland, is where my parents now live. It snowed, which made everything look particularly pretty:

The image in the lower right hand corner is the Fries Museum, where there was a fascinating exhibition of Dutch needlework samplers 'Letter voor Letter': some of the samplers can be viewed online here and there was also a modern embroidery artist's work displayed: Tileke Schwarz. Although inspiring, I will be sticking to my knitting needles, as I spent many years at primary school working on a sampler and do not care to repeat the experience.

I madly knitted my way through the holidays, and was left with only one unfinished present - given that it was the interminable Dr Who scarf, that is hardly a surprise. So what did I achieve in terms of Xmas knitting? A cushion cover; a handbag; a hat; and a pair of socks. All quite time consuming (except for the hat). The Other Knitter bailed me out, and knitted up two pairs of mittens that were also on my list. I'll be adding those images to the completed knitted items photo album soon.

So, did anyone knit me anything? The Other Knitter was adamant that she was not going to knit over the holidays, but I knew she would get fidgety so made sure I packed enough knitting needles. As my mother gave me some cute yarn for Xmas, and I was still madly knitting up a pair of socks, the Other Knitter whipped up this little hat for me:

Now, I had better get back to the Dr Who scarf....