Trip to the Zoo

Sounds nice doesn't it? A trip to the zoo. Now add a class of year 4 (8 year olds) and it's not qutie such nice day out. I went on my daughters school trip to Paignton Zoo today. I had a group of only 4 kids and they weren't too bad I suppose but the whole class were lively and noisy. We were supposed ot keep 'our' 4 kids with us but as we walked around as a class they were all over the place. I've been to this Zoo lots of times before and the last time was in August so wasn't too fussed about missing out on anything but some of the kids were disappointed we didn't have time to look at everything.

I was exhausted when we got back on the busy and even though I've been popping painkilelrs all day my neck wasn't too good either. Fell asleep within minutes of getting on the bus and slept most of the way home. Woke up a few times due to the extreme noise lthough I had my mp3 player on to try to drown it out.

Now my youngest is in bed and husband and oldest daughter have gone to badminton practice. So I've got 2 hours of tv, a big bowl of icecream and lots of knitting to get on with. Not sure whether to carry on with one of my umpteen wips or start something new. Got some sock yarn I'm desperate to get on with. But ought to finish some wips first.

Ice cream, tv and knitting - BLISS & well deserved after a day with 8 year olds. Don't know how their teachers survive.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Mid week blues

Feel a bit weird today. I'm extremely tired after a couple of late nights and waking up at 4am yesterday. It was such a busy weekend and I tried to relax and catch up on Monday and Tuesday. This morning I decided ot just relax. I managed to finish my two entries for the Knitcases competition. One I've been working on for quite a while or rather I did the main work and then finished it off and typed up the pattern this morning. The other one I've been working on for the last week. Not sure if it was really ready to be sent off yet but never mind. Still planning to do some changes to the pattern. I'm not telling anyone what my entries are yet. I'll wait until after the closing day this weekend. Hoping to know results next week but I don't think I'll win. My entries have just been e-mailed off.

having been so busy finishing off these two projects lately I've left all my other wips alone. Now I don't know which one to start with. I did a bit on my Touch wrap earlier as I'm going to spin a yarn on Tuesday and it would be useful to have finished the current hank I'm working on so that I know if I need another one or not.

I also had a go at my Cozy and wished I hadn't. The pattern is easy and repetitive so why do I keep making mistakes. I'm getting extremely fustrated now and if it wasn't for the Knitalong I'd give up but feel I ought to try again. Got some LL Bullfrogs & Butterflies in my stash and thinking of casting on in taht instead to see if it'll get me enthusiastic about it again. Although I love the Silk Garden I'm using, which I originally got for a Clapotis.

Also got two sock designs on the go. One I'm using for socks for Ness but it's too tight around the calf so have to frog it and start again. Would love to finish it by Friday when she comes home from a residential trip with school but I better get going if that's going to happen. Have also done two version of another pattern and don't like either so do I do a third version or give up??? Want to finalise a sock pattern to enter for the Angel Yarns Forum Sock Book so need to make a decison. But having frantically knitted socks for hte last week for the Knitcases entry i could do with a sock break. Also got stacks of other sock patterns I'd like to try.

Tidyed up my stash yesterday and I've got so much yarn I want t oknit with and not enough time.

Oh, and just remembered I need to finish the present for my nephew's birthday in a few weeks. Doing a hat and scarf and maybe mittens to match his socks.

So Anni, stop typing and get on with the knitting.

Hobbycraft Show in Exeter

We managed to get to the show in Exeter this afternoon. Got there about 2pm which seemed like a good time aslots of people were leaving. I enjoyed it but wish there was more knitting stuff as that's really the only craft I'm interested although I picked up some hints on the Felting stand and bought a felting kit. This is proper felting using fleece which I've never tried before. Only machine felted knitted stuff. Will be interesting to try fleece felting. Saw some lovel ybangles which I may try to make.

Was very tempted by some Alpaca but didn't think it feltas nice as the Artesano Alpaca and it was more expensive. The choice of colours was fantastic though. Artesano Alpaca dont do the choice but now that I've hand dyed some I can create any colour I like.
Was also tempted by cones of mohair and had it been 100% mohair I would have definitely bought it but it was only 75%. Was lots of novelty and acrylic yarn there but I'm a bit more fussy about yarn now and only go for expensive luxury yarn.LOL.

The girls loved the Knit n Knatter stand and a HUGE THANK YOU to the ladies there, especially to Sue who taught the girls to finger knit. I didn't know how to do this so I picked up some tips too and have now got some great ideas for scarves. And i can get my girls to do my i-cords in the future. They really enjoyed learning to finger knit. Excellent idea for a show like that.

Off to do some more knitting now. I've got my entry/ies for Knitcases.com competition to finish as they've got to be sent off this week. Not decided what to enter yet.

Happy Knitting!

My talented daughter.

My girls have been very keen to help me with yarn dyeing lately. but i enjoy it so much I want to do all the dyeing myself. Nasty mum that I am. However, occasionally I let them do some and here is my oldest daughter's dyed sock yarn. Love the colours and how it knits up. I'm knitting the socks using my own design. will do an adult pair after this and then type up the pattern.

Panic over

Had a horrendous week this week. Was desperately trying to sort out the house (which was a real tip) ready for two Ugandan girls to stay with us for one night. They were lovel ygirls and we thouroughly enjoyed spending the daywith them today.

My neck pain was incredibly bad last week too. Kept waking up between 3am and 5am with horrendous headaches and painkillers didn't work very well. most mornings I had to get out of bed as Iwas in too much pain to lye down. it's been much better today and I had a good nights sleep last night and woke up with a normal headache. Have headace most of the time anyway and can cope iwth that, it's only when they become very severe that it affects me.

Not done much knitting either and have got so many projects on the go. Must get some finished off over the next few days. As my house if almost spotless I won't have to worry about housework (as if I would worry about that anyway.LOL) and should have more time to knit.

Hoping to go to the KNititng Show at Westpoint in Exeter tomorrow. Have heard there is an Alpaca stand adn I love Alpaca. Would love to get some natural coloured stuff to dye.

Talking about dyeing brings me nicely to this. My newest dyed sock yarn. Very pleased with this lot.

My new swift

Here is my lovely new swift, a birthday present from my husband. It arrived yesterday and was hand made by ClaireUK's (a forum friend from Angey Yarns forum) husband. I'm very impressed with it. It looks so professional. Perfectly finished. Highly recommended.

As you can see from the photo, my dog likes it too. The yarn on it is Banana Fibre from 'Wooly Shepherd' purchased at Spin A Yarn.

And here is my collection of Touch Yarns, also from Spin A Yarn. I love this wool, it's gorgeous.

WHY, WHY, WHY?????

Why do all my side bar details keep disappearing down to the bottom of the page. This is really annoying me now. Had the problem last week so changed the template and now ti's happened again. Anyone have any ideas or remedies to this problem????? PLEASE, PLEASE HELP.

More hand dyed yarn

This is my latest attempt at hand dyeing yarn. Fairly pleased with it. The two larger skeins at the back are Rowanspun dk wool which I picked up at bargain £2.50 per 100gr hank (200m each hank) from Truro Fabrics last week. Could only see two though. Probably do something felted with these. Thinking of doing a table runner for the coffee table and have also had an ideafor antoher felted bag.

The two smaler skeins in the front are Opal. The purple one actually went wrong. I didn't like the original colours so tryed to overdye it with purple. As you can see it didn't overdye all of it. But I think I like the bits of colour showing through. Will try to knit with it and see how it comes out. If not I'll have to try to over dye it again.

AND SOME MORE FAB NEWS: Spin a Yarn in Bovey Tracey, Devon, UK
(www.spinayarndevon.co.uk)
will now be stocking some of my felted bag patterns. I'm really excited to get another stockists for my patterns. That's two in a week. It's giving me lots of confidence to approach other retailers. Got some more patterns to finish off. Will have to get them done soon.

Absolutely exhausted tonight. Very busy weekend and Monday. Drove all the way up to Bovey Tracey today (nearly an hour) for a knitting group at Spin A Yarn. Met some lovely ladies and had a great time fondling yarn and chatting. Didn't get much knitting done though. LOL. Came home with some Touch Mohair for a Big Lace scarf and wrap for myself. Will post pics tomorrow. The colours are gorgeous. Also got some Banana fibre. Never knitted with it before but it looks very interesting. Not sure what to knit yet. Maybe a bag. Got some sari silk a few weeks ago and don't knowwhat to knit with that either yet.

Any ideas for good Sari Silk or Banana Fibre patterns please let me know.

Nite all. x

Waving socks and Fleece Artist

For some reason I couldn't post these pics in the 'sock wips' post below. So here they are: Waving not drowning socks and some Fleece Artist sock yarn.

Sock WIPS

I've well and truly got bitten by the sock bug now and here are a my current wips and planned socks:


Decided to have a go at designing my own lace socks. This is the lace design I settled on and this is prototype no 1. It's a bit big even for my huge feet so I'm now working on a slightly smaller version. Which I'm struggling with a bit and have decided to abandon the lace pattern on top of the foot so the lace will now finish at the ankle. Nearly finished prototype no 2 now. Getting a bit bored with this sock now.

Also started 'Snowflake' socks a few days ago. Think it;s from Magknits or Knitty but can't remember. Done a few more rows now.

Been working on 'Waving not Drowning socks for a few days now. Did 1.5 sock but then mislaid my pattern and started other projects and havne't gotten back to it yet. Only foot left to finish though.

Also got this fab sock yarn to knit socks with plus I've hand dyed some Opal today.

Domestic chaos.......

.....is the only way to describe the state of my home at the moment. Got up at 6.20 today and still this is the state of my house as I write:

• Several shopping bags with drinks, bread and some other stuff (non-perishable) to go in the freezer and overflow cupboard in garage - not bad I hear you say but it was delivered yesterday lunchtime. Excuse: didn't want to carry lots yesterday pm after my lovely, relaxing massage in the morning as it would only bring on the pain again and I was enjoying a few hours of almost pain free existence.
• Breakfast dishes have only just been tidyed/washed up.
• My teeth have not been cleaned, not has my hair been brushed or any make up applied.
• Washing has been on the line for 3 days now. It's gone from wet to dry and back to wet again a few times but hoping it'll be dry by this afternoon. It's only dark stuff, jeans etc so not too worried about it getting rained on.
• Two baskets full of clean clothes dumped on the bed to MAKE me fold them and put it away - been sitting around for DAYS now (can't remember how many). I figure if I leave it in the basket for long enough someone else might do it - no, the laundry fairy doesn't exist.
• Pile of ironing done by my cleaner yesterday to be put away. Not bad - normally it can take up to 5 days to tidy ironing away.
• Ironing basket still full - 6 days til cleaner comes again, but DD1 is keen to earn extra pocket money but has friend coming after school today - wonder if friend wants to earn some extra pocket money.
• The spare room and kids' rooms are in a mess. We are having two African children staying in a week so spare room will need to be 'mucked out' by then. Keep threatening DD2 to put all her stuff in a bin liner if she doesn't tidy up. As I've been threatening to do this all summer I don't think she believes me anymore .... so imagine her shock if I actually did it.(Nasty, mean mother that I am).
• Avon order not submitted - was due 2 days ago.
• A long list of other things to be done.
• And most importantly - a HUGE and evergrowing list of WIPS, ideas to be turned into patterns and yarn to be dyed.

So you ask, what am I doing on here? Well I came on to do my Avon order and have logged in to Avon website and checked it's not too late to submit order and even opened up an order form. So better be off and get it done now then.......... Before coming back and updating you on all my WIPS and then it'll be time for lunch a bit of post lunch knitting. Got to walk the dog at some point, girls home from school about 3.30ish..............................................................................

My daughter's first scarf

My 11 year old daughter had only knitted a small square when she embarked on this scarf. She used 2 balls of Rowan chunky print and one ball of some other chunky wool I had in my stash. Had hoped to do the entire scarf in Chunky Print but it was only 35 m per ball so would have cost a fortune to buy enough balls to knit a long scarf so we improvised and she loves the effec. I'm very proud of her and think the scarf looks fab. Now all we need is some cold weather so that she can wear it.

Sock Designs

First, what am I doing up so late??? I have no idea is the answer. I'm so tired. Had a really busy day. Dropped girls at school, took car to garage half an hour away. Turned out they had two separate garages in this town and I went to the wrong one first. Got directions for the correct location and walked straight into their Body Shop building instead of the Service building. So by the time I found the right reception I was fuming. Got my courtesy car and zoomed off to Truro. Only spent 2 hours there as Iwas tired and in a lot of pain with my neck. Got home eventually but only had 45 mins before collecting girls and then zooming back to garage to collect my car which should have been ready at 4pm. Got there a few mins early only to be told it won't be ready for at least half an hour. I was seeing red by now and made my feelings knows (those who know me won't believe that) LOL. No apologies or anything from the receptionist. Eventually left garage at 4.45pm. 45mins late. Drove the half an hour home. Sat down for 5 mins and then had to go to the station to collect husband. Cooked (well, microwaved) tea. Caught up on e-mails andforums. Got girls to bed and finally sat down to knit.

And this is where I get on to sock design.... Have lost the pattern for my Waving... socks and have gotten to a point where I need the pattern to continue so put those down. Had cast on earlier for Snowflake socks but pattern was too complicated to focus on tongiht when I was tired. So I got thinking about the Design a sock project on Angel Forum. Flicked through pattern books and foundsome ideas in Vogue I liked. Added up lots of numbers etc towork out what would work best in sock design. Eventually settled on heart lace. But it did't work. Then tried anotherlace pattern which looks nice. Only done 2 lace pattern repeats but like it so far. Have another idea I want to try out too.

Got some Regia 4ply stretch yarn which is lovely to knit with. And I like the idea of stretch as my Hedera socks are a bit floppy. So have now got 3 socks on the go. Thinking of designing a sock for the Knitcases.com competition too. Must get around to entering that as I think the closing date is coming up soon.

How come I always get a good idea late in the evening. Didn't want to put it down. Had to come on pc to do my TEsco shopping being delivered tomorrow. And of course I've ended up on forums and blogs.

Must get to bed now or I'll be awful tomorrow.Just hope I can sleep - I'm in so much pain and this isn't helping so GOOD NITE.

Sneak preview pics of socks tomorrow.

Canadian dish cloth

Had a surprise in the post today - my www.knittinghaven.com forum dish cloth exchange dish cloth from Debby in New Foundland. Thank you Debby. It's beautiful. Love the yellow colour. Makes me feel like spring on a wet and foggy English day. Too pretty to use though.

Sock designed by me.

I've knitted a sock for my newphew in the Cashmerino I dyed the other day. Didn't have a pattern for a 2 year old (with huge feet), so had a go at doing one myself. It's just a basic twisted 1x1 rib pattern but I came up with all the numbers (ie st cast one, heel turning etc) myself. I'm very proud. Had to frog it afew times. I know the length should be okay. I just hope the rest of the sock will fit him. he's 2 next month but I've not seen him for over a year so have no idea how big he really is. I'm also doing a scarf and hat in same yarn. Will use twisted rib for those too but may try to add some cables or something.

Getting better at hand dyeing.

After my not 100% successful attempt at dyeing with Kool Aid I decided to have a go at dyeing with food colouring. With help from my friends at AY I armed myself with some Cream Alpaca and DB Cashmerino and got to work. I used condenced food colouring pastes.

The blue ones are DB Cashmerino and I tried to get them all the same colours (two tones - light blue and a darker blue) I've got 2 and 2 almost matching. Love the colour by the way.



The two pink ones are Alpaca. I used Purple Violet and diluted the paler pink more than the stronger colour. Really love this colour. Got some more Merino and Opal to dye too adn will definitely try to copy this colour. Stripy opal in these two colours would look fab.

Tried dying some silk too but colour wouldn't take so kept trying and trying. Well I think I cooked it too much as it's completely ruined and still with only a faint pastel colour. Never mind. Shame to ruin such a lovely yarn but at least I tried.


And here they are altogether.

Hedera finished

Finally finished my Hedera socks this afternoon. I love the pattern and the colour but they're a bit baggy, even for my size 8/42 feet. Don't think it's my tension. Not sure if it's the wool, used Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock and size 2.5mm needles.

BTW I'm not sure what happened to the colour. It looks awful on this pic. The colour on pic in previous post is mor eaccurate. You can spot the bagginess in this pic though.








Have cast on Waving not Drowning socks now and making an effort to knit tighter. This is how far I've got:

I'm using LL Shepherd Sock Black Purl

First Hedera Sock finished

I started the sock yesterday and have just finished it. I love the way it looks. And remember, this is my 2nd sock (not 2nd pair of sock, but 2nd sock) in 20 years. The first one I knitted is still single and probably will remain single for a very long time. I decided after knitting a sock a few months ago that I didn't like sock knitting but after seeing lots of beatiful sock pics I decided to try a lacy variety. Ready to start the 2nd sock tonight and maybe, just maybe, I'll get hooked on sock knitting after all. I need another addiction to add to my excisting knitting obsessions don't I??? The sock pattern can be found on Knitty and the colour is Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock Cranberry.

Photo fun

Had a fun photo session with my oldest daughter yesterday taking photos for my patterns. It was sunny and warm and we had a good laugh. To embarass her I thought I'd put some of the 'messing around' photos on here.











A huge thank you to my friend Clare who came around for a chat and ended up modelling my hand warmers for me. Took a bit of persuation but I think the results were great:

SOCKS

I've given in and decided to have another go at socks. A few months ago I started my first pair of socks in 15 years. Finished one sock and was very proud. did about 5 rounds of the second sock and it's still at the bottom of my knitting basket. It was the basic Opal pattern and I just find it soooo BORING!! But with all the lacy socks I've seen on Angel Forum lately I've been tempted to have a go.

Printed off the Hedera patters from Knitty. Got some lovely Lornas Laces at GK on Saturday and started this morning. And I've nearly finished the cuff already, just look:
Hoping to finish the first sock tonight. Maybe I'll get bitten by the sock bug after all.












My other major project is a lace stole from 'Lavish Lace' knitted Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream. This pattern is lovely but takes a long time to knit so I'm making slow progress.

Hand-dyeing fun

The kids had fun dyeing wool with KoolAid. Not sure about me. The girls did a fab job. The blue ball and blue/green skein is dyed by my youngest daughter and the red/pink in the middle is my oldest daughter's work. The two on the sides are mine. Look okay in the photo but I'm not sure about them. I tried to be clever and it didn't work. I did one skein that looked awful. Mixed too many colours. I've just tried over dyeing it with purple food colouring. Not sure yet whether it looks okay or not. It's drying outside anyway. May just chuck it or dye it black. Fancy trying more though. Got 2 more skeins to dye and am going to order some more Kool Aid. Although I've got lots of food colouring and some Dylon hand dye packets so may use those.

As for WIPS I've got a stole on the needles. It's a lace one knitted in lace weight yarn and I'm making slow progress but I do like it although it'll take me a while to finish. Still winding up my CTH skein. It's just so long (2400yrsd). Wind a few rows every time I pass and I may get it finished one day. NOt sure what to knit yet either. Nearly finished a new bag design - Circular cotton bag- and it won't be felted. doing the strap at the moment. Still doing the i-cord for the DB Soho bag. Nearly finished. DD2 wants me to start knitting her and her friend some hand warmers (from the blue wound wool in the photo) and DD1 wants me to knit her a cushion cover from her wool. Also keen to start some socks again as I've collected several lovely lace sock patterns. And need to decide what to knit for my nephew's birthday and get started on it. Birthday is in about a month so running out of time. Better get back to my knitting.

Couldn't post any mor epics below so here they are:

Cherry Tree Hill











Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed














Cotton stash














Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream













Koigu

Get Knitted Open Day

After waking up very early yesterday, probably too excited, we left for Bristol at 7.30 am hoping to beat the holiday traffic which we did but the weather was awful. Finally got to Bristol and found Get Knitted (GK) quite easily. It was smaller than I tbought it would be but the selection of yarn was fantastic. Spent 1.5hours browsing and chatting to friends from the Angel Yarn forum and Knitting Haven Forum. Lots of knitters of all ages there. Even a little 3 year old girl (your daughter is lovely Alicat) who is receiving early training in the art of yarn shopping.

I was armed with a shopping list and a budget. Had been browsing their website all week and thought I knew what Iwanted but once I saw al the beatiful yarn I just went all weak and wanted to buy everything (and very nearly did). Had lots of difficult decisions to make but eventually made my selection. And here is what I got:













Here it is broken down into sections:

Lornas Laces (the blue/green/lilac one is Lamb & Lion which I've decided to knit a jumper with and will thereforeneed to order more as I only got one skein)








Got some Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace and started winding it into a ball last night but gave up as I was just too tired. Knitting soemthing from 'Lavish Lace' with it. NOt decided what yet.

This is the Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed to knit something for my nephew. Not decided what yet but it's his birthday in a month's time so better make a decision.

Got some cotton from Debbie Bliss and some Cotton Fleece. The blue cotton will defintely be a bag - a new very exciting design, but not decided about the other ones yet.

Loved this Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream and I'm planning to knit a stole from Lavish Lace.

GETTING READY FOR GET KNITTED

Off to Bristol for the www.getknitted.com Open Day tomorrow. So I've been warming up today (well, you have to warm up when you are going to look through an entire warehouse full of yarn) by having a look in Derry's yarn department (which is closing in November!!!!

In the picture are the 4 balls of Rowan Big Wool & 1 ball of Rowan Biggy Print (hat for daughter to match the scarf she is knitting herself) & some needles and bits & pieces from Derry's. And then there is the exciting bit - my order from Bright Dyes with some Opal sock wool, Merino 4ply and Merino dk and lots of lovely Kool Aid for me to play with. Planning to have a go at dyeing some of it on Monday with the girls. May have a go on Sunday by myself to practice as I've never done it before. Promised the girls we'd dye some yarn during the school hols but havne't gotten around to it yet, so we've got to do it on the last day of the summer hols (Monday). Leaving things to the last minute is the story of my life.

So now do you think I'm ready for the shopping challenge at Get Knitted? Anyone else going? Hope to see you there!