Knits

Well then… it’s been a rather busy week. I had another trip to Durham where it was absolutely beautiful on the Wednesday (but cold) and a bit yucky on Thursday although it had started to clear up by the time I was headed back south. Unfortunately I didn’t book a seat on the train which was totally crowded so got booted out of the seat I took more than once; it’s not fun having to stand up for 90-minutes in a crowded, hot, stuffy train when you’re hungry and have cramps.

On Wednesday I met up with a couple of Ravelers — stitchwort who kindly helped rehome four balls/skeins of yarn and lucyvanp who oddly enough actually works in the same building as I will be working in; unfortunately she’ll have returned to Manchester by the time I arrive. I made some good progress on my second Marigold sock on the trip up, but due to the train situation described above, I didn’t knit at all on the way down. I’m just about to finish the turning of the heel so that’s something.

I have finished the Fetching gloves for my co-worker. I really like how they came out. I followed the pattern this time (my previous attempt included several more cable repeats since I can’t read, apparently) and you know, it may be a pattern that uses one ball of yarn, but then you end up with “gloves” that only cover the palm of your hand if you’ve got larger hands like mine hence the extension on both the thumb and top of the glove so that they actually cover a significant part of one’s hand. I like this two-tone effect and may make myself a similar pair — just not in hot pink. Yuck.

And yesterday I received my first instalment of the Zen Yarn Garden semi-solid sock club (you people are of no help — I asked for some telling me no, and I got none). It’s more teal than I could get a picture of (believe me, I have 50 pictures that all look about the same, but none of them green enough — and that hot pink doesn’t photograph well either; you can hear the camera say “My eyes! My eyes!”). The band says it’s about 450 yards so it looks like I’ll get some very good boot socks which I will need in the north.

Speaking of which, my contract finally came through. There’s been a bunch of problems at the university end that were totally unexpected and I can’t go into here, but they seem to be resolved now so things are moving forward. I did speak to my current director yesterday and negotiated an end date so I have that now which is exciting and scary. It’s many, many weeks off, but there’s a lot going on between now and then so I need to start planning things out — even begin packing up things that I know I won’t be needing between now and then. I’m so looking forward to moving up there. It’s absolutely beautiful and the people are friendly. I can’t wait.

And no I don’t mean I managed to sit in front of the computer on Ravelry ALL DAY. I actually left the house rather early for a Saturday yesterday, headed to Bristol to Get Knitted and met up with a bunch of other Ravelers. It was my first knitting outing ever (I mean outside of me and fellow ex-pat getting together on our twosome and knitting). There was a pretty large group, but I only met and spoke to a handful since many arrived much earlier and had settled in to their spots.

Get Knitted is fantastic. I’ve ordered from them online several times and always have great service (they even include a pen and lollipop in your order). The store carries so much stuff and it was nice to finally get to see such a huge variety of yarn and get to touch and select a couple of things without having to guess whether the colour is right on my monitor or not. I was really restrained. I only bought three things: 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM since I’ve never tried it and it is very pretty, 1 ball of DB Cashmerino Aran in a hideous colour to make some Fetching for a friend, and ordered some Cascade 220 Heathers as they didn’t have enough in store.

We hung out, we chatted, several of us got lunch, and we returned to the store, but my second visit was very short since the train was really only once an hour back (there were two trains an hour, but they were within minutes of each other). It was great to finally meet erqsome and several others I “know” from Ravelry including Robynn (owner of Purlescence), TussahSilk, ORK, YogicKnitter, and WoollyWormhead.

I even managed to finish sock 1 of the Marigold Socks. Hurrah. It came out quite tall - 10″ from floor to top of the cuff - so I’m quite pleased. I even cast on for sock 2 although I had to cast on four times because I am actually pretty incapable of knitting and carrying on conversation.

I’m really tired from sleeping badly. I’ve got some bad PMS/PMT symptoms going on right now so I’m going to stay in my jammies most of the day (all day maybe) and do some knitting on those Fetching (gotta get that wretched colour out of here!), have a nap, drink tea, watch Dylan Moran again ’cause he’s hilarious, and do some laundry as I think that’s the extent of my household duties that my back can handle today. I’m off to Durham later this week where I’ll meet two more knitters, but of course that’s not why I’m going to Durham — it’s work-related and I’m hoping to have a bit more of a peek around to since I hope to be resident there this spring.

And I haven’t forgotten… Thank you for sending your thoughts to me about Trigger. It was a real shock to hear that she has cancer, but what sets me off crying is the sympathetic ear. She’s okay right now and there’s nothing different about her. I’ll have to talk to the vet to ask him more about life expectancy, what I need to watch for, etc. I pretty much immediately decided that I wouldn’t take any drastic measures (i.e. going the route of radiotherapy) as I think it would be all too stressful and painful for her and if she’s content with life right now and I can keep her comfortable, that was a much better option.

TO ME! Mwhahahaha.

Okay not really. Although, I’m really not giving anything for Christmas. I gave my sister her Clapotis when I saw her at Thanksgiving and hmm, well I don’t think I gave anything to my mom, but she’s busy spending my inheritance on crazy things anyway. (I’ve asked her to be sure to label the things of value or at least put them all in the same corner so it’s easier to torch the piles and piles of junk she has in her house/garage.)

In the last 10-days or so I managed to finish up 3-pair of Victorian Cabled Wristlets. I am not being patriotic (British or American) in the colour choice, they just happened to closely resemble the colours of the flags.

 
Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran in Peacock for me — Rowan RYC Silk Wool DK in Limewash for me — Lana Grossa Bingo in sexy colour 7 for my friend Louise

I’m spending Christmas with my friend Louise and her family and thought I’d make her something. I hope she likes them — she seems to like sort of quirky things like this. They just need a washing. I actually realised after I’d finished them that the set of DPNs I was using got mixed up. Three of them 4mm and the 4th was probably 3.5mm and much shorter; I only realised this when I put them back in their package (it’s yet another set of needles that aren’t different colours for different sizes and unmarked). They’re a bit tight, but the white-ish ones came out rather loose so I thought I’d use a smaller needle with the red ones (also Louise is really petite).

I don’t think I ever finished listing off the other knitting related items I bought for myself while in the States. I got several books:

• Knitting Nature
• Knitter’s Book of Yarn recommended to me by Ava of TwoBlackSheep. I recommend it to you if you’re not a spinner and probably don’t know much about what the real differences between various yarns are; and I don’t just mean sheep vs alpaca vs cotton, but within sheep for example.
• More Sensational Knitted Socks
• Last-minute Knitted Gifts
• Vogue Knitting The Ultimate Sock Book which I didn’t like as it turns out it’s really just a stitchionary and 95% of the stitches in it are from the first Vogue Stitchtionary so it wasn’t worth me holding on to it. I brought it back because a woman here in the UK wanted it so I sold it on to her.
• Sensational Knitted Socks which I already mentioned since it was a kind gift including beautiful yarn from Ava (I think I may be developing a crush).

I had also bought myself a set of Knit Picks DPNs (very nice and sharp) and Options interchangeables (the metal ones, not the ugly wood ones). I immediately put together the interchangeables to start two socks at once and before I even finished a round, one of the cables came out of the metal-join which was very annoying. I called Knit Picks immediately and they sent a replacement cable (it arrived the day after I left, d’oh). In fact, they sent TWO replacement cables and the stopper thingies so that’s nice. My only complaint about both sets of needles is the fact that the different sizes aren’t in different colours so it is easy to tell them apart. I am not a person who carries a ton of stuff with me; I have my pencil tin that DPNs fit into and I’d rather not have to futz about measuring the DPNs to make sure I have the right set if I’ve tossed in two or three sets. I didn’t buy the tags for the circulars as I don’t feel that’s a satisfactory solution for me.

Tomorrow I’m off to the North again, but for a job interview this time. I’ve kept it quiet because I don’t like to jinx things. Keep your fingers crossed for me come Wednesday afternoon. Again I’ll have a lot of train time to be knitting so hopefully we’ll see some progress on that Marigold Sock(s). Amazingly I only knit one or two repeats on my trip to Manchester the other week.

Hope those of you in truly cold climates are with heat and power! It may not be snowy here, but cycling in near freezing temperatures into 15mph head winds is not the way to end your day.

That is about half of the 150 santa’s entering a pub…

Well, I’m back home. My UK home. Not that I have a house back in the US, but you know what I mean.

It was nice to visit with my mom and sister over Thanksgiving and for my mom’s birthday. I even went and saw my dad down in Los Angeles which was quick, but nice. It was an odd sort of trip because I felt tired the entire time no matter how much sleep I got. It ended up that I didn’t do too much at all — no drive down the coast (or up), no real “sight seeing”, not even any clothing shopping like I had planned. I did a bit of knitting and bought (for me) quite a bit of yarn and knitting accessories. Despite not doing much, there’s actually a lot to show and say so I’ll split it up into a few posts.

First, the knitting. I showed you the two completely finished items in my last post — Clapotis for my sister, and Charade socks for me. I still have to write up the full details. I knit another Little Cables Hat for my friend who picked me up at the airport and drove me to my mom’s. I didn’t get to give it to her since she left very early the day after Thanksgiving so I’ll put it in the post (or actually will ask my mom/sister to do so since I left it behind). I also knit one of the Victorian Cabled Wristlets. I could’ve easily knitted both of them, but I’d only brought half a ball of yarn — the other half I had used to make a swatch to decide whether to purchase a sweater’s worth. Hopefully I can knock out the other one this weekend (if I can find the swatch). I love this wristlet — the yarn is sooooo nice and makes me sad I didn’t discover it before it was discontinued. I did buy a sweater’s worth though, heh.

I also started some house socks for my sister - there’s only toes to show so I’m not showing. I also started a pair of Marigold Socks for myself with my Piece of Beauty sock yarn in Sweet Grass. This yarn is so pretty. It’s the newer yarn that she’s dying and it knits up much nicer than the previous yarn. I liked the previous one, but felt like there was no elasticity in it (or I was pulling it all out) whereas this is just right. It also has this nice sheen that doesn’t seem to show until it’s knit up. They’re moving pretty swiftly. Another pair I wish I could’ve done two at once, but as I started them as a project to knit on the plane, I didn’t want to risk losing my cable needles.

Oh, and finally, a picture of my cardigan on me. You only get a picture of the back side of me since I rarely can take a nice picture — I always gotta pull faces or do a stupid pose.

I have lots of stash enhancement to detail, plus books and other related purchases. Plus some photos from the few times I did get out.

I also barely got online (my mom has my old computer which is just dead slow as is their connection) so I am trying to catch up on blog reading which isn’t easy since I was behind before I left! Hope you’re all well.

My knitting-fu is still off. I got the mittens done which are for a one-year old and being handed over today. I knit the largest size in the pattern so the kid could wear them for some time. It’s a really simple pattern, but actually having never knit an entire project in garter stitch, I struggled to get good row gauge. Now the pattern didn’t actually indicate row gauge, but did indicate the length of the finished mitt… I was over 2″ off! I had already started the second mitt on the same needles, but hadn’t got very far so it wasn’t too painful to rip. I ended up going up two needle sizes in order to get the correct finished dimensions lengthwise — I hope the width isn’t too enormous! I added an icord to them for stringing through coats.

The pattern is the Lobster Claw Mitts from Morehouse Merino Farms and came as part of a kit (yarn and pattern). I would never knit with this yarn again; it is awful. It breaks so easily and when you are trying to make sure there aren’t holes in your ‘make one’ increases, it’s difficult since a tug snaps the yarn. If you’re after something to felt, well I suspect that this yarn will do a fantastic job because it is sticky hence the slight pain in ripping out the gloves, but otherwise a big thumbs down from me. No doubt these mittens will become felted mittens in no time.

I ran out of yarn when knitting the second Little Cables hat and I’m debating whether I buy another ball or rip it out and do it the same way I did the first. Very annoying as it sort of leaves me without something to give as a gift today since the mittens are sort of half a gift since I didn’t purchase the kit (not to devalue my time).

I got the yarn for the C. It is very soft. The colours are a bit paler than I expected (not that you can tell from the picture — it’s just been so dark here already!), but I haven’t started knitting yet so we’ll see what happens. Otherwise, no other knitting has gone on. The cardigan still waits to have the second sleeve added and the bottom of the waist. I started the second ball of yarn on My-so called scarf last night, but was obviously too tired to be doing so since I managed to knit two rows and lose half my stitches. I plan to actually focus on getting the scarf and cardigan done, but I will cast-on for the C probably tomorrow night. I’d like to get it done by the end of November, but it might just have to wait until Christmas.

In other news, I’m looking at getting another cat in December. I saw a very nice looking cat on one of the local rescue sites, but haven’t rang yet since I can’t adopt until December. I should ring as they may be willing to hold on to him. Obviously I need to meet him and find out for sure if he’s okay with other cats. He’s not the ginger cat I always dream of getting, but I know that when it comes down to it, I will take any cat that I take a liking to regardless of its markings.

I’ve managed to destash a handful of skeins of sock yarn and hopefully some bulky yarn (my first luxury yarn purchase). I’ve signed up for a secret santa swap (UK-only) to destash a skein and receive a skein. I’ve also signed up for the Socktopus sock club — my first ever club sign up. She’s offering three levels of subscription depending on how many extras you want to receive. It runs for a year with six mailings. She’s also offering a Stitch Marker club if anyone is interested in handmade stitch markers.

Also, The Boy and I split up. No condolences necessary (or whatever it is you give people when they break up). It’s something I’ve been struggling with for a couple of months now and finally came to a decision. He’s a good guy — kind and generous — but at the end of the day we really didn’t have much in common which makes it difficult to maintain a relationship. We’re hoping to come out of it as friends.

Now I’m off to shower and get ready to head to London for a one-year old’s birthday party — Doctor Who themed! Sadly, I don’t think David Tennant will be making an appearance, but there will be Tardis cake.

 
Trigger is vicious. Or maybe doing an imitation of me laughing at her w/ lobster claw mittens.

Okay really the only thing of amusement is this mitten pattern I just found from Morehouse Farm:

Best knitted mitten kit ever.

I also like these:

fingerless Clapomitaines

That is all.

Wow, so it’s not that I haven’t been knitting, because I have, but wow, I am very lazy or something. I can’t believe that it’s actually been over three months since I updated here. That’s absolutely awful. While I haven’t completed a whole lot, I have had several stabs at various things. I am trying to knit nearly everyday lately. I haven’t done well with this so far, but I am knitting four to five days a week so that’s better than not knitting at all!

So I have nearly completed Fetching from Knitty. I say nearly because I get selective dyslexia when knitting and misread the pattern and did too many cables. I ended up actually being quite pleased with this result, but it meant that I had to do a bit more improvisation to the pattern. I finished the first glove with the same number of rounds as the pattern called for. Despite trying it on several times before I got to the bind off row, once I bound off and put it on, I decided I didn’t like the length. It hit too low in my palm so I unbound and added a bit more length. However, I am dumb and didn’t record what I actually did in the end so when it came to doing the second glove, I had to eyeball things (and do some counting), but it came out a bit shorter - hence the ends not weaved in because I need to rip it back and add another 6 rounds I think. Oh also, cables were new for me so I’m not sure if it is because of the all the extra cables, but I ended up needing just over a skein of yarn whereas the pattern says you will use up almost exactly one skein if you use your gauge swatch.

I also a knit a baby hat for a friend. It is the baby hat from One skein by Leigh Radford. I made a few mistakes, but they weren’t too visible. When I first gave the hat to my friend, I think she was tired and not feeling well because she didn’t seem very appreciative. However, a couple weeks later, when it was closer to the due date, she said the bag was going in the bag to take to hospital so the baby could wear it home. In fact, baby wore it when he was only a few minutes old!

I started a second one of these hats, but the needle slipped out during a decrease round and I didn’t notice until it was too late. I tried to salvage it, but it didn’t work so I just ripped it out.

I’ve started on a scarf, but honestly they bore me so much that I put them down as quickly as I start them! I also am playing with some silk-wool blend yarn I got, but it’s fuzzier than I expected it to be so the pattern I was trying to knit with it might not work since it’s got a bit of lacy detail. Started another Nautilus cap too to wear under my helmet when cycling as the weather has finally decided to get cold. My sister has said the caps I knitted her in the spring are beginning to be worse for wear and has asked me to knit some more for her. We’ll go yarn shopping when I visit in a few weeks.

I’d say I promise to update more regularly, but as I don’t think there are any readers of this blog, it won’t matter! It’s for myself really. And I’ll have to add the details about the two items above - yarn, needles, etc. - when I think of it.