Gorgeous Knits

Meet Kermit...

2007-12-05T12:27:00.000Z

It's amazing how repetition aids learning. Yesterday while catching up on ANTM and Heroes, I tried unsuccessfully to learn how to weave in knit stitches on the sampler I am working on from the Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee. I just didn't get what the author was trying to teach me from the instructions and illustrations in the book. Without warning my fingers and thumbs were in a muddle, as I continuously poked them with my circulars and horribly twisted my two strands of yarn. After trying for 80 stitches to weave in my knit ends I sighed loudly with frustration. What did it matter anyway? Knitting was supposed to be relaxing and fun and I was never going to do 2-colour knitting so what use would learning how to weave in knit stitches be to me anyway? So I stuffed my ugly little mutant Kermit sampler into my knitting bag and watched the rest of Heroes in peace.

This morning however I felt uneasy as I confronted Kermit once more. So far I had faithfully followed the workshop in creating my sampler (aka Kermit) to the letter and have joyously learned how to cable cast-on, finally knit a short row, created a neat chain selvedge and a sweater pocket, experimented with increases and stripes, sailed through perfecting my raglan seamline decreases only to get stuck with weaving in knit stitches. No, I wasn't going to be beaten by something that sounded as simple as weaving in a stitch for goodness sake, I couldn't amputate my knitting repertoire of something as vibrant as 2-colour knitting.

So I tried again but still the same problem, the yarn being carried was not being weaved in at the back of my knitting and I just couldn't understand why. Then for some reason I decided to peak around the back of my round and see exactly what was going on to cause my carried yarn to just droop so limply despite my best efforts and I watched those strands as I took the yarn to be carried over the left needle and the yarn to be knit with over the right needle and for some reason I was dropping the carried yarn off the left needle before I could knit the stitch with the main colour yarn. Hence my problem, because I should have been letting the carried yarn drop just as I knit the stitch to give the yarns a chance to intertwine and then as the next stitch is knit the carried yarn is automatically tucked in and weaved at the back of the fabric so the weaving takes place over two stitches not one as I had previously thought. Are you confused yet? Well I was until I watched this yarn dance going on at the back and as soon as I witnessed it the penny dropped and it was so simple and logical and I was so happy I had not let myself be defeated by something which I now know is perfectly simple.

I'll huff and I'll puff...

2007-03-10T11:17:00.000Z

I have been knitting but not with a great degree of success unfortunately. First lets start with the good stuff. I made this bag way back in December, gosh that seems such a long time ago, I can't believe it's March already there are Easter eggs in the shop and tinsel isn't even a distant memory yet. Anyway I made this bag back then and I love it.

It is my new knitting bag and my first foray into felting. I am very surprised by the texture of the bag, I had always imagined that felted stuff would be very stiff but this fabric isn't. It is still soft and cosy even though the stitches have bonded together. I guess I could wash it again to get a stiffer fabric but I like it as it is. I used Sirdar Balmoral which is a heavenly combination of silk, alpaca and wool, which has sadly been discontinued but I am hunting some down on ebay and have my fingers crossed. I will definitely make an item of clothing with the next lot I get. The yarn is cloud soft.

I must admit I am becoming a bit more discerning these days when it comes to my choice of yarn (bad for the bank balance). When I first started knitting again over a year ago now, I really could not understand the anti-acrylic sentiments I would encounter, at the time I was quite contendly clicking away with my 100% acrylics. I would also like to point out that this was back in the days when I knew nothing about yarn weights and why they were important, discovering different needle sizes was a 'eureka!' moment for me, had never met dpns and could not even have fathomed the existence of circular needles. Happily I have moved on a lot since those blissfully ignorant days and though I appreciate acrylics have their place in the world of yarn and don't avoid them completely, 100% acrylic yarn is a thing of the past for me.

Now to the not so good. My other project was this suspect...

This is a pattern from the Rowan Classic Arts magazine called Vanessa and I made it using some DK Oddity yarn in Caramel I found on ebay. It is lovely yarn, though the label just says 'luxury' fibres so I have no idea of the fibre content but I love it anyway and it substitues well for the recommended Rowan yarn.

I am very happy with the way it turned out as you can see it complements the figure of my dummy quite well. Unfortnately I am not the dummy and when I put it on for some reason although it fits it made me look totally out of proportion. The high ribbing just looks wrong on me. I had previously made a vest with a high rib and that looked wrong on me too but I had put that down to my inexperience with design and maybe a bit of dodgy knitting but now I see it wasn't. This style of top just does not suit me one iota, hence the missing arm, I am not completing it. This garment, as pretty as it may seem in my Rowan magazine and on my dummy makes me look like I have been squashed by about 6 inches and I'm not that tall to begin with, it also makes my boobs look like they could give Jordan a run for her money, not the look I was going for. At least I have learned a valuable lesson, there will be no more high ribbing for me. I will stick to the style of garments that are in my wardrobe that I know suit me and not be swayed by some clever posing in a photoshot.

Can anyone tell me why sock yarn tends to be 4-ply? I once swore I would never make socks but I treated myself to The Sweater Workshop by Barbara Walker as I want to try making a seamless sweater. There is a pattern for spiral socks at the beginning of the book that I am suddenly itching to make. I have some 4-ply in my stash but was checking out sock yarn for future reference and noticed the 4-ply trend. I also want to make the socks using 2 circular needles, if anyone has tried this is it just a case of substituting the dpns for the circulars or are there any different techniques to be aware of?

And finally, look what the wind did to my house...

My confessions...

2007-02-13T09:47:00.000Z

This blog is about to take a very different slant on life. I have stopped knitting for a while, at the moment my heart is not into it for some reason, this happened to me last year so I am just going to wait with it until inspiration returns. I got my course but after going over the first module I didn't really like it so I cancelled it.

With this new year I have taken time to do a lot of introspection and taking a lot more time to read. Books are my first love, my passion but I have always been afraid to take it to the next level. I have been working on a novel off and on for years now and I am taking tentative steps with the one I am working on. Progress is slow but at least there is progress.

I am currently reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. I just happened to come across it as I was browsing among the shelves of my local library. The title caught my attention so I checked it out and am glad I did. It is the true story of a man who alledges his job with a company called MAIN in the 70s was to convince developing countries around the world, predominately in the Middle East and Latin America to take on debts they would never be able to pay off in exchange for engineering services that would build up the country's infrastructure and make the leaders of those countries extremely wealthy at the expense of the masses (sound familar?), as a result of their indebtedness America had these countries in the palm of their hand, resulting in a lot of the issues that currently plague many countries in Latin America and the Middle East as well as other parts of the world. I don't know if everything in this book is true but it at least provides a different perspective to the one we are fed daily via the media and gives a lot of food for thought.

It has opened my eyes to a lot of answers to questions I have asked myself over the years as to why things don't seem to be getting better around the world when on the face of it they should be and why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. It has made aware of the histories of several countries of which I was previously ignorant about especially in Latin America and Indonesia, which I will be studying further.

I now better understand the reasons for a lot of wars and unrest and the desperation that forces the people involved to be driven to such measures in their last ditch attempt to protect their families, their lives and their land and the greed and ruthlessness that breeds this desperation. I ask myself what would I do if that was me? This book forces you to think about some very complex issues that plague the world today, while at the same time being fairly easy to read despite the subject matter. Heavy I know but sometimes I think we need to get heavy and I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something with a little substance to their reading. This book also refers to the memoir of Haing S Ngor (among many others) who was one of the many victims of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. I checked this out of the library yesterday and will be reading it soon.

2007 - Go for IT!

2007-01-03T15:19:00.000Z

It really does feel like a new year. I feel up and ready to go and full of optimisim for the new year not that the old one was too bad, it's just that I feel that good things are going to come out of 2007.

I have enrolled myself on a knitting course after spending so many months deliberating over whether or not to do this and then not quite being able to find one that suited me in terms of content, finance or attendance times. I have tried doing it alone but like some people need a personal trainer and some don't I need someone to show me the ropes when it comes to design. I have done a few things myself but have never been completely happy with the results. I also need something that fits into my schedule and I think the C&G 7922 course run by WS Touchbase fits the bill. I booked it on 1st Jan (new year, new beginning and all that), I am impatiently waiting for the first module to arrive.

2007 is offically my 'go for IT year'. I spent a lot of 2006 wondering what to do with myself having decided not to return to work after my 2nd miscarriage. But after spending over 10 years working full time in IT and steadily building a career, being a full time housewife left me with a void that no amount of home baking, cooking, cleaning, ironing, gardening or redocorating could fill. I enjoy my time at home but need something else to give myself a sense of accomplishment and validation apart from my family and home, something that defines me, that I can be successful at and proud of. This was a tall order I found which is why it has taken me so long to finally figure it out. I am going to go for something that I totally love and enjoy, seriously studying and designing knitwear and seeing where it takes me.

I am in the middle of turning my spare room into a studio and waiting for the first coat to dry while I post this. I've never found decorating particularly enjoyable but I am really loving painting my new studio. I wasn't sure of the colour, I had 4 tins of paint that I brought back in August when I was going to paint the living room, they were a complete bargain but then my enthusiasm waned as I was striping the stairs and painting the kitchen at the same time, I just couldn't face decorating yet another room. I cracked the first tin open yesterday and was totally dismayed by the colour at first which resembled camamile lotion slapped all over the walls when I first put it on, but once dried it is the lovely ivory colour it is supposed to be. It is such a peaceful room and easy to get lost inbetween the brush strokes while listening to the birds singing in the tree below the window and feeling the wind that rustles through its leaves. I am busy daydreaming about all the wonderful designs that will come to fruition in that room. Coincidentally the paint I am using is called Sanctuary, just perfect.

Colour me grey...

2006-11-28T12:42:00.000Z

This is my first attempt at colour knitting. The swatch is part of a motif I'm thinking of for a project that is currently percolating in my mind. It has come out pretty much how I wanted it to though I am not sure whether or not I should use a stronger colour, I've used light and dark grey for this one and the contrast is not as strong as I had envisaged.

Rianna is coming along nicely. I have finished the front and working on the back right now. The part above the ribbing came out a bit wider than I wanted it to and I'm not sure what the overall effect will be, but I have pinned it up and the contrast of the tight rib and the slightly voluminous top half sort of complement each other as the top 'spills' over the rib. I hope I'm still saying that when the back's finished as I really do like how Rianna is progressing at the moment and looking forward to wearing her.

Well this baby isn't going to knit herself so it's head down and back to clicking for me.

Rianna is born...

2006-11-20T22:17:00.000Z

I've been very busy over the past few days trying to work out the design of my latest project. I've already named it Rianna and I accidentally had to design a stitch pattern for it. The one I had chosen had a different multiple of sts required to the number of sts I had calculated to be used. I don't know how I overlooked this, I was sure I had made accommodation for the number of sts that would be needed but when I checked my notes I couldn't see where I had done this. I had already done 5 inches of rib and was not prepared to rip it all out just to cast on some extra sts but it would have looked funny if I had tried to cast them on 5 inches in and would have ruined the shape of my design so I started doodling and came up with this vertical ripple effect st pattern which I thought looked quite snazzy. I plotted it all out and after doing a swatch and correcting the mistake of not reading the chart from left to right, then from right to left, I had a rather funky little design going on which I am very happy with and proud of.

This sweater has been the bane of my life for the past month at least. I had to rip out it out almost entirely, one sleeve included, because it didn't come out right the first time due to me not checking my design notes and calculations properly. I was heart broken when the end seemed so close but yet was still so far away, I had to leave the sweater to one side for a few days before I could bring myself to rip it out but then I said to myself better for me to spend an extra week or two knitting it again rather than ending up with something that I will never wear because it looks hideous and doesn't fit right. It still wasn't easy though and I had to do a few small projects first (everyone now has a scarf and a hat) in order to restore my faith in my ability to complete a decent project. Then on Sunday, after many, many, many rows and sts and a little ripping I finally finished it and it doesn't look half bad me thinks and it is so lovely and warm to wear. There are a few adjustments that I need to make before I finalise the pattern but all in all I am very pleased with my first sweater design.

This lovely lot of yarn arrived this morning. I am selling it on
Ebay. This is the yarn I used to make this bag and this one, so if any of you buy the yarn, I will send you the pattern free out of the goodness of my heart :) if you would like it. You only need 300g to make it. I have had lots of request for this pattern and will make it available on my new website which is coming soon.

And finally these arrived today. I have heard a lot about Mario Badescu's 'wonder' lotion and yes at the age of 34 I still get spots at a certain time of the month. On Sunday I woke up to find my skin looking like it was all broken out so in desperation I ordered this lotion and mask, even though I have spent the last 10 years and countless pounds searching in vain for a product to do what it says on the tin when it comes to my skin. I had promised myself that I would stick to my current simple routine which keeps my skin calmed down most of the time, but hey I made that promise more than 6 months ago, I was sure time had negated it by now. However as soon as I pressed that little 'Submit Order' button, a little voice inside said 'You shouldn't have done that.' So it was not surprise to me when on Monday I looked in the mirror and realised that I only had one small spot on my cheek and couldn't help wondering what I had made such a fuss about. I realised the state of my skin on Sunday must have had more to do with my late night on Saturday than anything else so I cancelled my order, which lo and behold has turned up anyway. I can't be bothered to send it back and who knows this may be my holy grail though I'm not holding my breath.

When its all about me!

2006-11-17T21:56:00.000Z

I've been doing lots of designing and knitting but not much blogging so I decided to do a meme until I get around to taking some pics of my latest projects so I can blog about them.

1. FIRST NAME? Nikki.

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Can't remember. I feel very blessed to have the life I have now and have nothing to cry about.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Never really thought about it. As long as its legible it's fine with me.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Chicken.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, although I am very comfortable with my own company.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Several.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Hell NO!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Muesli, I like the natural muesli by Jordans but I can only eat it if all the fruit has been picked out, the chill taken off the milk and the muesli has been soaked for 20 minutes and sprinkled with sugar. Lovely!!! I hate eating fruit with anything other than itself.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Of course, because if you don't you know the next time you want to wear them you'll be in a hurry to put them on and the laces will invariably be knotted up.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I know I am.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Vanilla. I don't like all the adulterated flavours you can get today, some things were just not made to be messed with.

14. SHOE SIZE? UK 6.

15. RED OR PINK? Hot passionate RED!

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My sometimes blindsighted strive for perfection in EVERYTHING I do. It makes me stress myself out a lot of the time for no real reason.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? No one.

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Nothing, I try not to eat after dinner.

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Brown trousers, light beige top and white & pink 'Little Miss' socks.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Homemade pancakes and honey I shared with my son after school.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? FBI Files on the Discovery Science channel.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple, but please God don't bring me back as a crayon.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Lavender from my garden but my roses are a very close second.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My darling hubby.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their clothes, sounds shallow I know but since I started knitting I scour people to check out if they are wearing any knitted items.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? I don't really know her, but from what I've read of her blog she seems nice.

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Clipper's De-Stress herbal tea, it soothes the soul and smells heavenly, makes you pee a lot though.

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? Does Yoga count? I started practicing about 2 years ago after years of pounding my body with aerobics, step and weights at the gym and I am now in the best shape of my adult life.

29. EYE COLOUR? Brown.

30. HAT SIZE? Don't know, average I suppose.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? I can't pick just one. I love mangos, red apples, boiled eggs especially when the yolks have just set, rice, fried plantain, homemade cannelloni, homemade sausage pizza, roast corn on the cob, biscuits and homebaked goodies though not all at the same time.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Neither. I like psychological thrillers, comedies and foreign movies with subtitles. Don't really do the Hollywood movie thing anymore, can't remember the last time I went to the cinema.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Definitely Summer! There is nothing better than waking up to warm rays on your face and going out and feeling the heat of the sun on your skin.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs, but kisses are good too with the right person.

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? A hearty homebaked pie or cake with lashings of ambrosia custard, and none of that low fat stuff either. I don't like anything with cream or puff pastry.

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? Left because I don't like sleeping by the window and the left is the side with the extra wardrobe space.

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? I'd be a high-flying career woman, probably travelling the world or with my own business.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? A piece of cake by Cupcake Brown & Fashion design drawing course by Caroline Tatham.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Don't have a mousepad, my laptop has one of those fingerpad panel things.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I'm a Celebrity... and Gordan Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence, laughter and a good story.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Neither, can't stand either of them.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Caribbean, not sure how far away that is.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? My resourcefulness.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a hospital.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Stole it from Kerrie's blog.

Don't forget to K.I.S.S.

2006-11-09T10:18:00.000Z

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and I have decided to make him a scarf. Problem is I only decided this yesterday. So I rushed down to get the yarn first thing in the morning and then rushed head first into making a scarf. Simple enough I thought having procured the perfect yarn but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to get just right.

I got some very pretty chunky yarn which I thought I would have no problems in designing and making the perfect scarf. How wrong was I? I spent Wednesday morning repeatedly working on this dreaded scarf. I must have tried 6 different stitch patterns and was not happy with any of the results, even a few tried and tested st patterns failed to do my yarn justice, so I just ended up ripping it out. Finally around 1pm I managed to find a pattern that looked good but it started to roll and after I had done about 7 inches I took a good look and decided that it looked decidedly feminine. Not what I wanted for my husband, I could just imagine someone enquiring about the scarf and he would have to admit his wife made it for him and they would probably go away shaking their head thinking 'oh poor guy, got to wear the wife's scarf even if it does make him look like a sissy'. The only reaction I want from his scarf is a wow! So this morning I woke up at 7:15 and the scarf was on my mind. I crept downstairs and took a long hard look at it under the first rays of daylight and decided I had to let it go so I closed my eyes and pulled it off the needles. I decided to go for a simple ribbed scarf. I didn't have the time to experiment anymore and this scarf which I want to be around 56 inches long must be complete be tomorrow plus I have to do it in secret as well which turns the pressure up even higher. I should have remembered to KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid and my scarf would have been half done by now.

Naima...

2006-09-25T10:46:00.000+01:00

I've finally finished my scarf. I've called it Naima which is an African name mean 'graceful'. The free knitting pattern for Naima is now available, just click on the 'free patterns' link on my side bar to the right.

I came across a great charity project to give me a break from the sweater I am designing. It's called Supergran and is raising money for Age Concern All you have to do is knit a little hat and send it to Innocent Drinks. Details can be found on the Innocent Drinks website. These are the hats I've made so far...

Don't dread the small stuff...

2006-09-20T11:57:00.000+01:00

It's funny how things that we dread sometimes turn out to not be so bad once you sit your butt down and get on with it. There are a few things in knitting that I tend to avoid like the plague for example cabling, charts and blocking. I don't know why I avoid these things, I've read about them and they don't seem overly difficult but I just think I can't be bothered with all that. Today however I made my first attempt at blocking. I've finally finished the scarf I designed for my sister. I love the result but it curls like hell despite my none-rolling stitches at the beginning and end of each row so I decided to give blocking a go. The stitch pattern I used is quite textured and the yarn label just says 'mixed fibres' so I decided to spritz block instead of wet or steam blocking. I got out my ironing board and pinned the scarf in place using some push pins I had lying around. I thought the process would be very tedious but actually found myself enjoying spreading my piece out and being able to see it in full detail for the first time. After a good spritz to get it damp I am now waiting for it to dry. I felt a real sense of satisfaction as I watched it drying, the satisfaction that comes from one - getting over a silly mental block and two - knowing that you have done something properly.

I am working on a sweater design now and have a few hours of swatching ahead of me. I haven't decided on the stitch pattern or the yarn yet.

I must reduce my stash in time for the January sales so I can stock up again so watch out everyone who knows me, there is a scarf or a sweater coming your way soon!

The beauty of routine...

2006-09-18T11:45:00.000+01:00

Today I am back to my old routine after many months of being run off my feet. I mentioned in my previous post that I have been decorating for a while and this turned my life on its head. My son had to go and stay with his Grandmother for a fortnight as we were sanding and varnishing, the house was full of dust everyday it was terrible. It was so good to get back from the school run this morning and not have to arm myself with a paintbrush or an airgun or a stripper, it was so good to come back and have everything clean and in its place. Everytime I finish decorating I vow I will never do it again and this time is no exception but after a few weeks away I feel plans to decorate one of the bedrooms formulating in my mind and despite my attempts to supress it, I already have the paint and there is a dark oak floor I am practically salivating over that would look absolutely perfect in my living room, but for now I am enjoying wallowing in the comfort of my routine.

Here are the pictures of my latest design...

I know it's just a scarf but I came up with the stitch pattern myself.

It should be finished within the next few days.

I've got a whole load of ironing to get through before I can get to work so that's all from me for now.

Funny how time flies...

2006-09-17T21:57:00.000+01:00

I've been home from Antigua for exactly a week yesterday. It's a very easy habit to get out of.

Funny how time flies when you're not blogging, I can't believe I haven't blogged since June.

I haven't been doing much knitting anyway. Since the last time I blogged, I've been sick twice with some sort of flu bug thing and sore throat, decorated my kitchen, stripped and varnished my downstairs doors and staircase (something I will never do again), as well as spend 17 days in Antigua which was a well earned rest after what was supposed to be a peaceful and relaxing summer at home which turned out to be anything but.

As you can see Antigua is a very beautiful island. It was my second time in the Caribbean but the whole family agreed Barbados is still at the top of our list when it comes to favourite family vacation spots.

This is a shot I took of my son after yet another 'exhausting' day lounging on the beach. I love the silhouette, I think it looks very arty with the sunset in the background, my husband just can't see it though to him it's just another photo, where is his artistic soul I ask myself :)

On the knitting front, I am halfway through a scarf I designed for my sister with some 'oddity' yarn in camel I brought on eBay a few months ago. It is so soft and pretty I am thinking of keeping it for myself (I'll post pictures tomorrow). I really love this yarn and doing my best to track down more of it though I think I have enough to make up a sweater I am designing at the moment.

5 rows and I'm done...

2006-06-24T20:56:00.000+01:00

Today I did maybe 5 rows of knitting. I just am not in the mood for it right now. Sometimes when I'm in the mood for knitting I can think of nothing more than the moments when I get to sit in my favourtie spot onthe sofa and have my needles and yarn making sweet music between my fingers. Then other times I look at my knitting and feel like puking. Just can't stand it then I know that it is time to take a break and do something else. This is one of those times.

On Friday I started reading Designing Knitwear by Deborah Newton. I am reading it cover to cover just to acquaint myself with the whole design process, then I will go over it and study the areas that interest me the most. The 2 chapters I have read so far have been very enlightening. I have learnt about approaching the design process from a totally different angle. Swatch first then match your swatch to the design as opposed to the other way around which is what I have been doing - where I get an idea for a design first then attempting to marry the two, swatching only to obtain a gauge which has lead to some surprising results. The chapter on yarn in this book has shown me that there is so much more to a swatch than how many rows and stitches I get over 4 inches. The book also recommends that you swatch in 2 needle sizes giving you an opportunity to compare the effects of different needles on the same yarn and stitch. My opinion of the swatch has been totally transformed now and I am actually looking forward to making my next one. I will be saving my swtaches and have already got a folder I will be using to file them for future reference.

Please excuse my rolling bottom...

2006-06-21T14:22:00.000+01:00

I finished Saralee ages ago but I wasn't happy with the results

I love the colour but the combination of the rib at the bottom in the two different colours and then the stripes and then the colour block at the top make this top too busy on the eye when worn. So I made another attempt at it and came up with this...

The purple Saralee is an improvement. I stuck to the stripes and made it a bit longer as I don't like short tops. The problem with this one is that the part where the rib ends and the stocking stitch begins just doesn't look the way I want it to. It sort of bunches up and out before smoothing over the chest. It's not that noticeable until pointed out but to me it is glaringly obvious. Not the look that I was going for. I am going to make another one taking my errors into account and hopefully I'll get it right on the third attempt.

To help in my designing quest I ordered 2 books from Amazon. Stitchionary by Vogue and Designing Knitwear by Deborah Newton which arrived today. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet.

I've taken a rest from working on my Saralee and had a go with this one which was inspired by a top I saw in a Sarah Dallas book. It has been a pain to make even though the concept was quite simple. Lower half smooth, upper half textured and a ribbon just under the bust. This project has just not gone as easily as it should have. Despite the fact I did a swatch, the yarn I'm using just hasn't given me the look I'm aiming for, plus I forgot how much stocking stitch rolls and did nothing to avoid this so now have a terribly rolling bottom :) The textured half for some reason has gone on forever and ever, I feel like pucking every time I look at the 8 stiches left on the needle for the last remaining arm strap. I took me 2 days to do the first side and it was only 35 rows long and I'm a fairly fast knitter. Funny how the mind can slow down the body when you're doing something you really don't want to be doing though why I hate doing it so much I don't know. I keep telling myself they are only knit and purl stitches but it has made no difference and my motivation levels have remained sub-zero.
The arrival of my books has got me itching to start something else so I will force myself to get it off the needles this afternoon though I do have a feeling that this top will never be completed. I can't see myself going through all this again for the other side and this little piece will be relegated to my pile of projects that were never meant to be and the yarn will become scarf yarn or something.

My darling, Sara-Lee...

2006-06-02T19:47:00.001+01:00

How time flies, I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I've blogged. I have been busy designing and knitting in that time so I do have an excuse :) Here is my latest baby and I love her...

I've christened her Sara-Lee because when I first started knitting her she reminded me of strawberries and with strawberries comes summer and then I thought of summer desserts which lead me to gateau because of the alternating colours and then I thought of who makes gateau - Sara-Lee. Pure logic I thought though hubby gave me a worrying look when I explained the origins of the name. I will be making this pattern available when I have finished. I am thinking of attending a Rowan design workshop called 'Can't find it then design it' on the 14th if anyone has been on this workshop in the past, please let me know how it went.

Today is the first day of the summer reading challenge and I have been very good and got a head start. I started to read 'Their Eyes were Watching God' a week ago but I really didn't like it and gave up after page 70. Usually I give a book 50 pages to warm up before I decide whether or not to carry on reading it and I really wanted to like this one which is why I gave it 70 pages but I found it really boring so it had to go. I am now reading Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen which is showing a lot of promise I am only on page 21 but I hope the beginning is a sign of what's to come...

... and I last thing. I sold another of my bags on my Etsy store this morning which pleased me no end. The bag is on its way to hopefully sunny California as we speak. My green bag that I posted earlier is now available for sale too.

Chocolate Sunday...

2006-05-21T15:55:00.000+01:00

I made a cake today, it was my niece's birthday which gave me a good excuse to make a very indulgent chocolate cake and not be tempted to overindulge as there were lots of mouths to share with. This cake is so light and moist and easy to make. I hate cakes that require loads of preparation as I'm a one bowl kinda gal, I love to just dump everything in there and work away.

This cake is not too bad, just melt butter (so no having to wait for the butter to soften to room temperature) and chocolate in a pan over a very low heat, sift flour and cocoa powder into my trusty bowl. Add eggs, water and the chocolate mixture to the flour and cocoa powder and I always like to spice things up a bit with a generous sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg and this time I added some vanilla extract. Whip it all up and into the oven it goes for about an hour and a half and then out it pops all brown and risen, let it cool and top with chocolate mixture. Delicious! Hubby and I saved our pieces until we were alone and had it with a scoop of Carte D'or Crema di Marscapone Ice Cream. Heaven!

I have done very little knitting this weekend as I decided to take the plunge and do something I have been threatening to do for a while and taught myself to crochet. It was infuriating at first and I kept ending up with a tiny ball of tightly knotted yarn that I had no chance of picking up loops from. So many times I threw the offending result of my efforts across the room in one direction and my book and hook in the other wondering why on earth I was wasting my time but after five minutes I would pick up the book and hook again, start with a fresh piece of yarn and perserve and this is how I spent most of Saturday evening at the end of which I managed to produce a small green square of something that somewhat resembled the image in the book.

I am determined to learn how to crochet, though I must admit I do prefer knitting. Speaking of which, this is my latest knitting project, it's the blue wrap top from Vogue Spring 06 issue. I have been working on it for ages and did put it aside for a while as I was getting bored of it especially as I virtually have to do the front twice as its a wrap over, never thought of that when I choose this pattern. Looking pretty good so far I think. I love making different colours and textures so I made up this stripey pattern from 2 different textures of yarn together.

Rib tickling, not to be missed...

2006-05-17T19:46:00.000+01:00

You've got to see this, my hubby emailed it to me and I have watched it 20 times and its still cracking me up.

Read this first to get the gist of what's going on: the blurb

Then watch this: the clip

Its classic, just watch the guy's face at the beginning of the interview, man I almost wet myself laughing :D Finally something from the BBC that's worth the Licence Tax sorry I mean fee.

Thinking of Summer...

2006-05-17T11:46:00.000+01:00

I've just about finished my latest bag but got some lining to finish off. I alternated the colours on the back and front as the purple was getting a bit boring as the piece got longer I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I am hoping to sell a selection of my bags at a summer festival in July. I have made an application to have a stall but stallholders are selected by the organisers and I won't know if I have been chosen until the end of the month but I've got my fingers crossed and knitting like a maniac anyway to build up stock.

I've also joined a Summer Reading Challenge 2006 which runs from June to August. I challenge myself to read a book a week so that's 9 weeks. So far I have the following books on my list -

1. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
2. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
3. The Concise 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
4. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
5. Morality of Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
6. Out of the Night That Covers Me by Pat Cunningham Devoto
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?

If anyone has any recommendations for the last 3 books, feel free to to drop me a line. I am looking for something funny but with some meaning, nothing too chick litty. I've had loads of books in mind to read and now it comes to making a list I can't remember a single one.

I'm off to make some mango pudding now which I've never made before so I hope it turns out well.

Project Spectrum Entry May 06...

2006-05-14T17:15:00.000+01:00

Finally finished my Project Spectrum bag...

Green bags and chicken...

2006-05-10T11:57:00.000+01:00

This is my entry to Project Spectrum for May. I missed the last one so I really wanted to do something for this month.

I am making a bag, working on a new design of mine which I am very pleased with so far. The loop stitch I am using is creating a nice firmly textured piece. The greens I am using are not as dark as they appear here but I'm too lazy to take my pictures outside right now but I will do when the bag is complete. The best thing about this bag is that the yarn was a bargain. I found them in the odd ball bin when I was shopping last week only 99p per ball as the colours have been discontinued or something. I had to check the price just to make sure they hadn't been put in the wrong place by mistake.

My buttermilk chicken tasted just like regular chicken. I only marinaded it for about 6 hours while the recipe said overnight so I will give it another try and and see if it makes a difference. Dinner was still yummy though!

Spare me the crack on my salad days...

2006-05-05T17:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was so glorious you could close your eyes and pretend it was summer and today is not too bad either. Alas the goodness had to be shattered somehow, a bright sunny day in May? Something must be in the air and it was in the shape of a tiny pebble invisible to the naked eye but potent enough to crack my windscreen.

When I was driving back from my shopping on Wednesday I could have sworn I heard something hit my windscreen but I inspected the area of the sound but saw nothing then yesterday when I went to get Little Man from school the first thing I saw as I prepared to pose in my sunnies was the wickedly evil glint of a huge 10 inch crack snaking its way up and across my windscreen just below the wiper on the driver side. I was so peeved as I sat staring at it, pound signs flashing through my mind as tried to estimate how much this would set me back. I've only just serviced the thing which cost me £600, taxed it in March, MOT due on the 20th, the ever increasing cost of petrol and now this, it's like this car is trying to take me for everything I'm worth.

I phoned autoglass for a quote and they came back with a quote of £204, I had been expecting it to be expensive but I still had a sharp intake of breath when the woman on the line told me how much it would cost me but if I took my car to the branch I would get a 20% discount which still didn't make me feel any better. I told her I would phone her back to make the booking and she was all 'why do you need to call me back?' Like I was doing something irregular, I had only asked her for a quote and I wasn't happy with what she was telling me and decided to get a few more for comparision which she didn't seem too happy about. I tried RAC but their computers were down (of course) and they couldn't give me a quote and then Hubby sent me an email with some local screen fitters details and I phoned two of them this morning and got a quotes of £95 & VAT and £89 & VAT, work guaranteed again another sharp intake of breath but this time out of joyful disbelief. I asked the guy to repeat it like 3 times as I was sure he was saying 189 not 89 but he was saying 89 and then I got so mad at autoglass for their outrageous quote which was double and the £89 quote included them coming out to me, so all I had to do was to wait for a very nice man to come to me, no having to wait around a garage for 2 hours like autoglass would have had me do as they ripped me off. I get so mad at greed like this, shame on you Autoglass, shame shame shame. It just goes to show it pays to shop around, a few phonecalls saved me £100. I now have a nice new shiny tinted windscreen.

My knitting is making slow progress, see progress so far is hardly any progress at all. I just can't seem to find time this week to get down to it. Every time I picked up my needles yesterday someone or something would interupt me, either the phone, the door or Little Man and then Hubby came home, there was no respite for me. Today I haven't had a chance to sit down let alone knit so this evening is dedicated to my vest. I had hoped to have almost finished it by now and I'm not even halfway through the back, I think I need to breath deeply.

I have been marinading some chicken in buttermilk with onion, peppers, bbq spices and garlic all day today. I got some buttermilk when I was baking a cake for easter and on the carton it said 'for cakes, pancakes and marinades.' Now I have never thought of using buttermilk with meat but I did some research on the Internet and found it is commonly used for succulent fried chicken. I don't eat fried chicken so I will be doing the oven 'fried' chicken version instead served with salad, a proper spanish omlettee and a lovely French stick from M&S. Yummy! I will let you know how the chicken turns out.

Spring Magnolia...

2006-05-03T20:35:00.000+01:00

Today has been a mad dash of a day. Got up early to take Little Man to school then I posted some books I've managed to sell via Amazon marketplace, to date I have sold 91 books and made £295 minus postage from books that have been lying around my house gathering dust for over 2 years. I also got him some new trousers and school shoes as he manages to wreck all his school stuff playing football at breaktime. Last term was a record he wrecked his shoes in two days and they were expensive too, £25 for plain black shoes that lasted only 2 days by the end of term they were so bad I was embarrassed to be seen walking with him to his classroom, the black polish just wasn't cutting it anymore. Then two pairs of his trousers got holes in them at left knee from when he falls down diving for the ball when he's in goal. The child is just football mad what can I do? Saturday morning I was lying in bed and I could hear him discussing the premiership of all things. Him and his just turned 7 self. I finished off my errands with supermarket shopping and brought remembered to get a postcard for the child I started sponsoring 2 months ago. I got one of the London Eye all lit up at the night as the others were of the royal family and Big Ben, so boring and unsuitable. If anyone knows where I can get nice bright artistic postcards that depict the real London please let me know.

These are pictures of my magnolia tree that I planted last year in a rather neglected spot at the bottom of my garden. In the autumn it looked like it was dying so I put loads of compost and manure down around it, cut off the dead yellowy leaves and prayed it would make it through winter though I didn't think it would. So imagine my surprise this weekend when I noticed a ton of healthy looking purple blooms and today the first one opened and makes its debut on my blog here today. Our garden is undergoing something of a makeover at the moment. We are putting up a new fence, correction, my husband is going to be putting up a new fence over the next 2 weeks or so with the help of his brother and I will be supervising and providing refreshments, I can't wait, finally I will be able to work on my borders without having to bear in mind that anything I plant will be trampled on when the fence goes up. The fence we have been talking about since 2003 is finally going up and I will be able to relax in the garden without being overlooked by the neighbours, not that my neighbours aren't nice, it will just be nice not to see or hear them every time I go out into the garden.

I am working on a new top, it is the blue wrap over one in Vogue that I posted about previously. I have changed the yarn and using a combination of 3 different skeins to create a unique colour - 2 shades of purple and some blue thrown in for good measure. I never would have thought of this combination if I had not noticed the skeins snuggling next to each other in my stash chest.

More flowers, these are from my mother-in-law's front garden. She is in Jamaica at the moment so I came home with a huge bunch and they are so beautiful, I just love tulips and tomorrow is set to be the hottest day of the year so far and I am so looking forward to it. Today in the car it was so good to feel the heat of the sun on my bare arms, it was like embarrassing a much missed friend that's been gone for far too long. The only downer today is that I haven't had time for any knitting, not a single stitch.

I can't believe I forgot about my bag. It is finally complete, ta da!

The jury's still out as to whether or not I like or love this bag. It took ages for me to sew the lining as I was too lazy to get my machine out and I am not the best sewer. I am very pleased with the finish but boy was it hard work.

Walk don't run...

2006-04-30T02:28:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted for a while the reason being the last two projects I have knit have been complete disasters. The first was a v neck vest I attempted, buoyed on by my success with the black and blue number I designed which I was really pleased with. Alas my success was not to be replicated in this instance and the caffe latte coloured top that looked so scrumptious on my needles turned into a complete disaster as soon as I cast off the last stitch and attempted to sew the back and front together. The shape was wrong and the arm holes too short I was so peeved I didn't even bother to sew the seams I just flung it in my knitting chest and furiously began to cast on my next project which was a rowan sweater. I figured that maybe I was getting ahead of myself with this designing malarky and needed to learn to walk before I began to run so I decided to follow a pattern completely and I did, followed it down to the last stitch, problem was the colour I had chosen it was some variegated yarn that looked nice all rolled up in a tidy ball but when it started to self pattern it was nothing short of an atrocity to knitting and me being the stubborn arse that I am sometimes refused to acknowledge what my eyes were showing me until I had completed the front and the back and had started doing the first arm. Only then when I started to imagine what my piece would look like made up and adorning my body did I think 'damn this is one ugly piece of knitting girl' I turned to Hubby with my thoughts hoping that he would dispel them like he usual does but this time he solemnly confirmed them with a sideways pull of the face and a slow but firm shaking of the head. But by this time it was too late, I mean I was doing the arms for goodness sake and I convinced myself that I was being lazy because I was bored with the project by now and itching to start something new and what did my Hubby know about the finer details of fashion and thinking outside the box so I ploughed on but to no avail and when I had made up my little freak of nature I knew I would never wear the monster I had created which is a pity because it fits well and is so warm and comfortable on but it just looks awful. I am toying with the idea of giving it to charity but will have to do it anonymously because I am afraid they will take one look at it and send it back.

I am currently making a bag which I sincerely do like and will post pictures soon. It is a version of the 'boho' bag that became a wrap that I posted about previously, but with different yarn. I am toying with the idea of seriously trying to sell them as I have had so much positive feedback since posting the picture of the poor little bag that languished for so long at the back of my wardrobe just waiting for a chance to shine.

Two become one...

2006-04-24T09:56:00.000+01:00

I woke up to a rainy, overcast day this morning. The easter holidays are over so I was up at around 6:30, did my yoga and got my little man off to school. I've got a pair of new jeans on today, they fit like a glove in the store changing room and they were a bargain RRP £60 and I got them for £9 that's right £9, I must have been way to giddy with the bargain because they are about an inch too long and I never noticed. I wore my trainers this morning and they were sweeping the ground and the hem was all wet and muddy by the time I got back. Wearing them with my boots is not too bad as they have something of a heel but my trainers are so much more comfortable but at £9 I'm not complaining everywhere else they fit perfectly, no lump at the front or gap at the back. I've had to replace all my jeans due to the gradual weight loss I have been experiencing over the past 18 months and all I've been doing is yoga for about an hour 5 times a week and not eating after I've had my evening meal. Prior to this I was nuturing quite a bad habit of nibbling while watching tv and it was just getting out of hand, now I knit and drink herbal tea in the evening and I'm not saying that I am not tempted to dip my hand in the biscuit jar every now and then but I restrict it to once or twice a week and I don't keep biscuits in the house so if I want something I have to beg my hubby to go out and buy it and he is under strict instructions from me not to listen to me when I do this but sometimes he is as weak as I am and when I ask him to go and get something he's like 'ok' putting up no resistance whatsoever, even giving suggestions as to what we should have, but usually he helps curb my indulgences because sometimes I get sugar cravings so bad that I could eat my own fist :)

My husband keeps joking that I am wasting away and although I have never been overweight it's great that I have lost quite a few pounds without having to try too hard, I feel like the shape of my body has changed more than anything with more muscle definition to my legs and arms. I just love yoga and if anybody out there is thinking of trying it just go for it, it may be hard at first but stick to it and it gets easier. I started off with Yoga Journal's Yoga Step By Step, Vol. 1, it's only 20 minutes long and a great introduction though I must warn you if you are not used to exercising it will leave you breathless until you get used to it but once you do its a doddle. Now I use Shiva Rea - Yoga Shakti which is an amazing dvd allowing you to create your own yoga sessions with something for everyone from beginners to the more advanced.

I tried to start a new blog for my writing but it's hard for me to decide what I should write in my writing blog and what I should write in my knitting blog as they are both an intrinisic part of me so I have decided to combine them so this is now a knitting and writing blog.

I have been thinking of writing a book for about 2 years now and I come up with good ideas and beginnings but when it comes to fleshing out the story I become overwhelmed by the mamouth task at hand and all of a sudden I'm overcome with the need to make bread from scratch or to scrub the kitchen floor and then use the excuse that I am too busy to write and talk myself out of it for a few months until I feel the need to write again and it all starts over, I really don't know what is wrong with me but I do know writing is very hard and I have respect for anyone who has written a book from start to finish.

Don't trash Vogue...

2006-04-10T17:12:00.000+01:00

I opened my Vogue Spring/Summer 06 magazine today. I don't actually know when it arrived because it was hidden at the bottom of a pile of junk mail that I was about to throw away and it was only because I spotted the word yarns through the plastic that I paused to see what it was about. I almost smacked myself when I realised what it was, just lying there by the front door. It was pure joy for me flicking through this edition and I immediately dog-eared the patterns I'll be digging into over the next few months...

I like the design and shape of these 3 but will probably change the colours of all of them...

Everything from the waist down on this model was a huge mistake on the stylist's part. I do however like the shape of this sweater though I will increase the length when I make it and will not have the rings or whatever they are dangling off the edge like a christmas tree. I wish some people would learn that less is sometimes a lot lot more.

I will also be turning my hand to the lovely dress on page 64 by Mari Lynn Patrick. Although I might give the pearls and the umbrella a miss, I can really see myself in this oh so chic little number and I have the perfect pair of shoes to go with it. Next on my just gotta have it list is the wrap sweater pictured on page 69. Now ordinarily I wouldn't have put blue and green together but I just love the way they work together here. Perfect for dressing up a pair of jeans again I think the scarf and the skirt featured do nothing but clash though the bag is cute.

It's a wrap...

2006-03-30T11:29:00.000+01:00

I have finally finished my spring tunic though I did change the stitch used and it turned out as a top in the end, so the only thing I used from the pattern where the measurements. I am very pleased with the results though I may do another and add some shaping to it.

I've also made a wrap out of some sirdar bigga yarn that started life out as a bag for a friend...

...but she didn't like the colour, then I tried to sell it on ebay but that didn't work out either so I slung it to the back of my wardrobe and left it there for almost 4 months until last month when I was doing a tidy up and I remembered how much the yarn had cost me and knew that it was too expensive to spend the rest of eternity gathering dust in one of the darkest corners of my home, so I turned it into this...

I'm not mad, just struggling to photograph myself.

And my neck does not usually look like this, again struggling to photograph myself.

Now I have never been one for wraps. It seems whenever I see someone wearing one they seem to spend forever flailing their arms trying to keep the thing on their shoulders, stand too close and you are liable to receive a black eye courtesy of someone's attempt to keep up with the latest fashion trend and please don't get me started on ponchos. I absolutely hate ponchos. Last year you couldn't peak out the window without seeing someone floating down the street in one. In my opinion there is a way to wear everything even if it is just a piece of cloth that you stick your head through and most people just weren't getting it - horrible colours, muffin tops sticking out the bottom because the poncho is too short, an excuse not to dress properly because some people think we can't see the saggy bottomed jogpants (they couldn't be bothered to change before leaving the house) just because they are wearing their magical poncho, so it put me off for good.

Having made my first wrap, I think I may have judged them a little too harshly. I can't believe how much I love this lovely little creation, it is so snuggly and soft and warm, wearing it is like receiving a cuddle you can just melt into. It only took me a day to complete which is why I love working with sirdar bigga, it knits up so quickly. I just grabbed hold of the yarn and my chunky needles with no pattern in mind. I was going to do it in rib but then luckily my hands said no and fancied it up a bit. The results are much better than boring old rib me thinks :) Though you will never see me in poncho.

I'm so over you...

2006-03-08T14:16:00.000Z

It has been a good week so far albeit a bit gloomy but at least it is not as cold as it has been and we finally have rain, so I'm not complaining.

I know I promised to post pictures of my ongoing tunic project but I have bad news about said tunic, alas it is no longer with us. It was a hard decision to make but I had to dump it. Things just weren't working out between us. The yarn I was using was far to heavy and I couldn't commit to something that was sure to end in a lot of frogging. The last straw came when I sat down with it in my hands on Monday evening and took a long hard look at how far we had come when without warning the pink stripe I thought would look so pretty started to make my eyes itch. There was just no turning back after that, I mean we could never get intimate enough for me to wear what was fast becoming a knitting atrosity. I had to nip it in the bud. The end was swift, a quick push off the needles and it was over. I'm sure it didn't suffer. Here are its last recorded moments...

Going...

going...

and good riddance...

Now I'm not the sort of girl to sit around moping over relationships that just weren't meant to be, so after rummaging through my stash and realising I didn't have any suitable yarn for my tunic I had no choice other than to brave the elements and head out in search of new yarn. I ended up in a little yarn shop about 4 miles from my home which I found out about on the Internet. In the past I had to travel almost 10 miles to buy yarn (and I don't live out in the middle of nowhere). I really didn't fancy doing that on Tuesday so now a bad thing turned into a good thing because I have found a new yarn shop that's almost on my doorstep. I must admit the shop has the typical dowdy image associated with knitting though they do carry a good range of yarn. I have never been to a trendy yarn shop or a knitting cafe I wish something like that was available in my area but I digress, this is the result (so far) of what I found...

it doesn't look this garish in real life. The light is so unflattering you can't see how delicate the violet colour looks in this photo.

I also had a rummage through my favourite - the Odd Ball Bin! I must admit I love a bargain and after many years of honing my skills I can sniff one out at 100 yards. I headed straight for the bin the moment I opened the shop door. I don't know how I knew where it was but my body just instinctively headed towards it. It was like the mothership calling me 'come hither child, come hither child' it whispered seductively as soon as I steped over the threshold I was powerless to resist? So now I'm happy again. I have new yarn, my stash sack is bulging once more, my new tunic is thriving and I'm loving it.

Before I go I must report that my gorgeous top has undergone the wash test and passed with flying colours. I was a bit paranoid about washing it after what happened to my lovely scarf (see previous post).

Now I've got to get back to my sticks :)

Back to the Top...

2006-03-04T14:33:00.000Z

I have finally finished my vintage top though I must admit it doesn't look very 'vintage' but nitpicking aside I am very pleased with how it has turned out especially as it is the first thing I have designed all by myself from scratch, and here it is...

Now I have to decide what I'm going to work on next. I had been thinking of making socks for the first time but now I'm looking at the pattern I don't feel that inspired. I have been toying with the idea of making a tunic, I thought this pattern was pretty: http://www.interweave.com/knit/TSC/Pdfs/Mermaid_Mesh.pdf but I want to change the stitch pattern. I'm going to write the pattern out with my changes and do a few swatches to see if I can make it work the way I envision it.

Race for the finish line...

2006-02-23T12:43:00.000Z

I have not been knitting for about a week as my wrist got very sore and I had to rest it for a while. Luckily it is much better now and I got down to business again yesterday afternoon. 3 days left to go so I should hopefully just be able to finish my vest in time for the Olympic deadline. I have just gotten past the 'I hate it' phase I get with most of my knitting projects when I think what I'm making stinks. I finished the back and held it up to me to get an idea of how it would look when finished and fell in love with it again. I can't wait until its finished now, though I don't know if it will be very 'vintage'.

I am thinking of taking out a subscription to Vogue Knitting, I checked out their website and I love some of the items they have in the latest issue. £16.95 for 4 issues isn't too bad. I've never seen the magazine before so I am still thinking about it as I have a tendency to rush out and buy magazines and once I have looked through at the pretty pictures and absorbed their glossiness and read one or two articles, they get tossed in the magazine rack before eventually being laid to rest in the recycle bin.

I have given up on East of Eden, the book I was reading up until last night. It started off pleasantly enough but what a boring book it turned out to be for me and its 728 pages loooooong. Now I'm not intimidated by an ample sized book but give me strength, something that could have been said in one short paragraph takes 4 pages in East of Eden. The characters are bland and either really really good or really really bad living out in the middle of nowhere on farms or whorehouses. Everything is so black and white and for me the story just seemed to meander round and round with no motivation or point. I endured 292 pages before I called it a day. I just couldn't go on any longer and I am a firm believer that life is just too short for bad books.

Little Man is back at school so the early mornings are back :( He has already had me do a dry run for pancake day and put in his 'order' for the 28th. He has now made up a little song in sweet anticipation of his pancakes and maple syrup. I swear I have never met anyone who loves food like my boy and he is as skinny as a beanpole so I just wonder what he does with it all :)

Half way through half term...

2006-02-15T17:00:00.000Z

Little man and I went out today. Whenever I get the chance I like to spend a few days when I don't have to leave the house and just live to my own timetable. Had to step out the house today to buy that essential known as food. It was terrible trying to park to get my fruit and veg no wonder people shop in supermarkets.

I got a book I ordered off amazon - Learn to knit socks, and I am disappointed with it so far. I have only flicked through but it is more like a magazine than a book and is black and white throughout despite the nice glossy, colour cover that seduced me in the first place. It got good reviews on amazon so I will reserve final judgement until I have tried out at least one of the patterns.

My day in pictures...

2006-02-14T13:17:00.000Z

Here are some pictures of what's going on right now. First here are the flowers I received from my darling hubby for Valentine's day.

I also got some biscuits (it's a long story) and some chocolates (probably because I won't be letting anyone have any of my biscuits).

The sweater that didn't want to be knit...

... has been conquered and is finally complete. Hooray!

My vintage vest so far...

This is the back and it looks small laid out like this but I have done it in rib and it is very stretchy. Can't wait till it's finished. You can't really see how delicate the blue looks against the black in this photo. I have used two different textures of yarn. The blue yarn is extra fine and about half the width of the black. I think used separately the black would have been too heavy and the blue would have been to flimsy but together they even out and compliment each others weaknesses. I am very pleased with the results so far.

Round and round we go...

2006-02-13T23:07:00.000Z

I finished the sweater that didn't want to be knit yesterday and my little man wore it with pride today. I've had a nice relaxing day at home, we had a nice lie in, a late breakfast and sort of lazed the day away.

I started the vintage vest yesterday and have almost finished the back. I am now shaping the arm holes apprehensively as this is the part I am least confident about but so far so good.

I tried to plot the design on some graph paper but it wasn't working for me, for some reason I found it very difficult to work that way and it was easier to sketch out what I had in mind, calculate the measurements and then hold on to the seat of my pants while I wait and see how things turn out. If I like the results I write it down, if not I start over. Not scientific but I sort of like not knowing how things are going to turn out as I knit and then being pleasantly surprised by the results. I will take some snaps tomorrow.

A surprising result of this blogging business is that I have started writing again. Last year I abandoned my writing as I just kept getting stuck and totally frustrated. I needed a creative outlet so I started knitting and then because I was knitting I started blogging and now because I am blogging I have started writing again and so far, fingers, toes, eyes and legs crossed, the words are flowing out of me. I was thinking today how weird it is that my knitting has brought me back to the point I was trying to escape from in the beginning.

I have been trying to write a book for about 2 years now but things always get in the way and now I feel like I can really do this. Even when I am not writing I am thinking about my main character, she is there with me as I knit and I emerge myself in her world and her situation and then I write about it. Yesterday I was writing when I was half asleep and came up with a great scene that just sort of popped into my head. When I woke up this morning it took me a few seconds to figure out where it came from and for a moment I wondered if I had magic writing elves helping me out while I slept :) I was so pleased when I realised I hadn't needed magic, that the scene came from me!

Ding Dong my scarf is dead!!!!

2006-02-10T10:55:00.000Z

I can't believe it. I put my nice new scarf in the wash yesterday at 40 degrees as instructed on the care instructions label and it came out looking like this:

In its heyday it glowed like this:

To say I am peeved is a bit of an understatement. This was my expensive Debbie Bliss yarn that I treated myself to. When I am feeling in a better mood about it I will put it through a reincarnation but for now it will remain buried at the bottom of my knitting box. I will make a new scarf out of some sirdar bigga yarn that started life out as a bag but is now begging for a makeover.

I am still working on the sweater that doesn't want to be knit. I haven't finished the front yet and still have an arm to do, so my olympic start has been delayed a few days. Next week is half term so I will be able to gain lost ground as there is no school run or routine to stick to so I will be able to devote all my time to my vintage vest project. I estimate it will take me 7 days to complete so I am still on track. I am still sort of working on the pattern, it's just I won't start knitting until Sunday. If I put down the sweater that doesn't want to be knit, I know I won't get back round to it and that's just what it wants.

My son had his school assembly this morning which I was able to go to, me being a fulltime mum now and all that. They acted out a story about a selfish wife and an enchanted fish, sang a song and shouted out anti-bullying slogans. Power to the little people! The hall was full of all these little kids sitting cross legged in rows for as far as the eye could see, and my baby and his class were sitting on benches up at the front. He didn't look very impressed by most of the proceedings and kept mouthing the words the others were saying. I've got most of it on video for my hubby who couldn't make it today.

Got to get back to my knitting as I have been doing far too much surfing and tweaking this blog lately.

Ohh! Before I forget I got my burt's bees mask in the post today. I love beauty products almost as much as I love buying yarn. I have been using Liz Earle's cleanser, mask and exfoliator for about 3 months. The mask keeps my skin looking good most of the time but I am still searching for my holy grail face mask. The Liz Earle cleanser is good and I think I will stick with it as I can use it and not get that dry tightness to my skin after washing. The exfoliator is cool too, the bits in it are very fine but when you put it on your face you can feel like something is happening to your skin, but it is not a harsh experience.

Yoga, muesli and knitting!

2006-02-09T12:52:00.000Z

I went to the market to get this week's supply of fruit and veg. It took me ages to park and if not that I am determined to support my local market, I would have hot-trotted over to Asda even though their selection of fruit is pitiful in comparison. After circling the market 4 times I managed to get a spot that didn't mean too much walking with my bags laden with fresh goodies.

Hubby has started a 3 week 'muesli' diet, which is muesli for breakfast and lunch and then a proper dinner. I've suggested he add some fruit and yogurt at lunch time to get a balance of nutrients. He is determined to get fit for the new year and has been going to the gym every day before work for weeks, he hasn't got much weight to lose, just a bit around the tummy. Hopefully he will keep it up.

I have started getting a shooting pain in my wrist during my yoga practice whenever I do upward dog. I got it for the first time a few weeks ago and then got it again on Tuesday. I didn't practice yesterday to give it a rest but today I was afraid to put any weight on my wrist so I couldn't really get into my poses properly because I was worried about hurting myself again. The pain is like a very intense tingling sensation that shoots up the inside of my lower arm. I remembered that in yoga you are supposed to listen to your body and if something hurts you shouldn't do it so I modified my upward dog to the cobra, I think my knitting may have aggravated the carpal tunnel injury I got in my right wrist while working as a vdu operator during my uni days, though my wrist doesn't hurt any other time, just when doing the upward dog, hopefully it will go away now. I can't give up my yoga or my knitting.

Still working on the sweater that doesn't want to be knit. I've finished the back and one arm and started on the front. Hope to finish the front and arm by Saturday so I can start the knitting Olympics.

I have been 'training' for the Olympics. I sat in bed yesterday sketching over and over what I want my vest to look like. I am very pleased with the results though my sketch model looks like an extra from Alien :) I am going to print out some knitters graph paper and 'plot' it out properly.

Still contemplating the knitwear design course at LCF. £305 is not to be sneezed at, I mean just imagine how much yarn I could buy with that money. I really do want to learn how to design knitwear properly though. If anyone out there has attended this course please let me know how it was for you and if you would recommend it. I don't mind paying the money that much if the course will deliver what it says on the box.

Well time to get back to my knitting...

I'm training for the Olympics... well almost.

2006-02-07T14:15:00.000Z

I have decided to join the knitting olympics 2006. My challenge will knitting a black and blue vintage vest which I will be designing myself, and I'm feeling excited already. I saw the vest in a book a while ago but haven't gotten around to starting it yet. I have 16 days to complete what could turn out to be a mamouth task for little old me.

It will also give me the final push I need for finishing the jumper I have been knitting for my son. I swear, it's like this sweater just does not want to be knit. First of all I didn't like the way I had used the yarn I had chosen, and then I ran out. So I tried to add a little trim around the bottom to finish it off and it looked crap carp CRAP! Then I decided to alternate the two different yarns I had used instead of working them in blocks and it looks much better now believe me...

I produced this by alternating the original multicoloured yarn with the brown I was using to 'pad' it out.

Having thought that problem was sorted I was happily knitting away, determined to finish the first sleeve before bed last night while watching The Amazing Race and was so happy when I cast off the last stitch only to unroll it all out on my lap and realise the sleeve was far too small around the armpit area. I had to read the pattern twice before I realised I had forgotten to do the increases on the sleeeve. I could have beaten myself over the head with my needles! I was so ticked off with myself. How had I missed the increases? How? I was a breath away from screwing up the back I had finished and the offending arm into a little ball and stuffing it at the back of my knitting box when it occured to me that this sweater just does not want to be knit making me even more determined to finish it. So after stretching the arm out in all directions I had to admit to myself there was no way on earth my little one was going to be able to get his arm through it without stopping his circulation, I took a deep breath, straightened my back, cast on 44 sts and began the damn sleeve again. I will not be beaten by a sweater, as God is my witness, I will NOT be beaten by a sweater! I thought knitting was supposed to be calming and meditative!

Just one of those days...

2006-01-16T16:51:00.000Z

I have been very naughty today. From the moment my alarm went off this morning I have been dragging myself around in some sort of daze I just can't seem to shake off. It took me almost half an hour to get out of bed so I missed doing my yoga before the school run. I promised myself that I would do it when I came back and then set down to work. Fat chance! When I got back I was even worse. I got changed and then sat down to check my email and didn't get back up for almost 2 hours. I got some quotes for my car insurance which runs out the first week of Feb, so I wanted to make sure I had enough money to cover it. Then I did an Excel thing for my yoga DVD. The DVD I use most (Yoga Shakti) is really good because I can pick and choose the segments I want to do so I can usually fit it into my schedule and the time I have but unfortunately it doesn't give the timings so I usually have to do this from memory and I have been promising myself I would get the times down in Excel for ages so I can put some workouts together and know exactly how long they will take. After doing my sheet which looks oh so nice now with it's colour codes and links it was almost 12 and I hadn't even had breakfast and only 3 hours before time to do the school run again, so I decided to knock the yoga on the head for today (which isn't like me at all) and had a nice bath.

I still haven't done any knitting and it is now almost 5 in the afternoon and time to start thinking of cooking dinner. I have just let today slip through my fingers.

I have been trying to decide if I should attend a show. The cost of the stall is quite a bit more than I would like to pay for a one day show that I've never been to before so have no idea of likely turnout or the venue or other exhibitors. I have reserved a spot but not sure if I will make a booking. The organisers have sent me some blurb but it doesn't give me all the info I would like - i.e if I spend Â£200 on a stall with you guys am I at least likely to break even? One minute I'm thinking 'go for it' and feeling excited and the next I'm thinking 'look at Miss Moneybags with a few hundred pounds to just throw away.' I keep asking my husband what he thinks like he's some sort of crystal ball, fortunately he is very patient with me.

Since my last post I have finished one bag and have almost completed another. The one I have finished looks like this...

... and I love it.

I have opened a store for my bags at http://gorgeousknits.etsy.com it's got lots of great handmade stuff on there too.

2006-01-09T12:37:00.000Z

I have been neglecting my blog before I have even really got it off the ground. Since my last posting I have been quite busy so I don't feel too bad about it.

I have made myself a nice new scarf with some Debbie Bliss yarn I got from John Lewis. This is the scarf before:

And this is it after:

Since the new year I have completed some other scarves:

And a couple of bags...

I even managed to sell a bag on eBay and a few to friends. I am thinking of attending a craft market in Febuary but not sure I can produce enough stuff to sell by then. At the moment it takes me 3-4 days to complete a bag, what with me playing mummy and wifey and all the other stuff in my life, I just don't have enough hours in the day.

I feel like I'm making progress with my yoga. I use a few DVDs from the yoga journal at least 5 times a day and have definitely noticed changes to the shape of my body that I was never able to achieve with the years of using the cross trainer, step and weights. All my jeans are starting to hang off me. I don't think I have lost a lot of weight, but I don't own a pair of scales so can't tell for sure. I have made it a point not to buy a pair of scales because I know what I am like and I would be weighing myself everyday, I will wait until I have a checkup at the doctor and compare then. For now I will concentrate on stretching further and inhaling and exhaling at the right time. Who knew breathing could be so difficult to master?

I only made one new year resolution for 2006 and that was to sell at least 50 bags. So far I have sold 2 and I'm only 9 days into the new year so I'm not doing too bad. This is a resolution for me because it is hard for me to focus on one thing once things don't go the way I want them to, so this exercise will hopefully teach me patience and focus.

I am going to give eBay another try and stick every bag I make on there for a month and see how it goes. I notice a lot of stuff on there doesn't get any bids or sells quite cheaply, but if I don't try I won't know so I'm going to give it a go. I will also think of ways to promote my website, thinking of trying to get it in a few magazines but want to get more stuff on there first.

It is freezing cold today, I have been cold since I got out of bed. Today was my first day of the new year doing the school run, which I absolutely hate. It takes me longer to get in the car park than it does to make the journey there. My husband did it last week as it is a treat for our son to have his dad take him to work and it gave me a chance to have a week of lie ins. Hubby is back at work now so it's back to the old routine. I am going to put the heating on and warm up this room, my fingers are so cold.

My first time...

2005-12-30T01:27:00.000Z

It is 1:30 in the morning and I can't sleep. My son is with my mother-in-law for the holidays and my husband and I are reverting back to teens that have just left home and eating allowing ourselves to eat junk and sleep when nature dicates as opposed to our alarm clocks, which means hitting the sack in the early hours and not getting up until midday beckons. It has been a wonderful break and we still have 3 days of 'freedom' left before it's time to start thinking of work and school again.

This is my first entry, so I will keep it short and sweet until I get into the hang of this blogging thing. I'm doing a brain dump right now, so whatever comes to mind is going straight on this page but I will try to avoid rambling.

Today I went to the library and checked out all the knitting books I could find that were published in this century, no mean feat for the libraries around here. I got a book on knitting stitches which has giving me so many ideas, a book on crochet (even though I can't crochet, the pictures are pretty and inspiring and I couldn't resist. I am sure I will be able to convert there patterns into knitting patterns) and a book of knitting pretty things. I also got the latest Amy Tan book - Saving Fish from Drowning and a whole heap of other fiction books that I hope to get round to reading at some point. When I got home my husband just looked at me and shook his head - I have been reading Lolita since the end of September and it's not that I don't like the book it's just that knitting has taken over my life and I don't take the tube to work anymore, which used to provide me with 2 hours of indulgent reading time five times a week. So now my reading time has been reduced to 15 minutes a day just before bedtime or when I have a spare 5 minutes waiting to pick my boy up from school.

After the library I went down to John Lewis to take a look at their yarn sale but it was disappointing, the items they had were just as expensive as ever, so I only came back with 2 balls of Debbie Bliss merino chunky in a gorgeous ruby red colour. I've promised to take a break from knitting for other people and make myself a really nice scarf.

I am currently working on an order for a bag and scarf. I completed the knitting this evening but put the sewing off until tomorrow (I hate sewing stuff together - pah!). I must admit the scarf, now finished looks cool. I always go through the 'hating' phase when I'm knitting things. I'll just stop suddenly and resist the urge to rip my work off my needles because I think it looks so crap, but as I continue to work with my new found patience and persistence in tow, I slowly fall in love with my creations. Check out some of the stuff I've done so far - http://www.gorgeousknits.co.uk

I also have another scarf on the go at the moment (picture also coming soon), this one was requested by a friend of mine who bought a bag off me, she loved it so much she asked if I did matching scarves. This has been an idea that I have been toying with - but so little time. But when she asked me I thought 'give the people what they want' so I smiled and replied - 'I do now'. When I post it, you can tell me what you think.

I posted 2 of my bags on ebay today, so I have my fingers, eyes, arms and legs crossed, hoping they will sell and give me a good return on my 91p investment it cost me to list them. Wish me luck.