Knits

Well, I had sort of hoped I could finish up something before the new year, but it ain’t gonna happen. My Marigold Socks have been giving me grief. For some reason I keep offsetting the pattern by a stitch or two and at first I thought I could ignore it, but I can’t; at least twice now I have knit two full repeats of the pattern only to go back and rip them out. I really had hoped that I’d push through and then finish these off. It didn’t help that even though I had a solid five days off before heading back to work, three were taken up with Christmas and Boxing Day socialising (not that I wanted to be a total hermit).

I really planned my annual leave badly this year. I don’t really feel like I took any huge amount of time off bar the trip to the US in November (our leave year is from April - March, the fiscal year) so it is disappointing to find out that I only have five days left otherwise for the cost of three days I could’ve had ELEVEN days off (that’s including weekends). Man. Well, next year it should be okay since the university is actually closed between Christmas and New Year. And the five days I have I will have to take before I finish my current job (haven’t officially given notice since I’ve not received an official offer yet) and those days may have to go towards leaving the country to re-enter.

Knitting-wise

Anyway, other knitting related things… I’ve cast on for the Textured Tunic from Fitted Knits. This is my answer to the boat neck sweater I envisioned when I bought the Malabrigo. My gauge is completely off from the pattern, but I already knew that would be the case. I didn’t like the fabric when I got close-ish and because I hear Malabrigo wears better if you knit it at a tighter gauge to combat the pill factor. I’ve separated for the sleeves and started on the chest pattern, but it’s too big. I should have trusted my instincts that the chest fit was right, but I needed more increases in the arms. I’ve left the chest alone for now, but will have to rip it back and add some decreases. I’ve moved on to a sleeve so I can see how the weight of that may pull down on the yoke.

So on the needles I’ve got the Marigold Socks, the Textured Tunic, and a hat I sort of forgot about (and I know I’ll run out of yarn for, but I found someone with a partial ball via Ravelry so yay!). Not bad really. In terms of my knitting overall this year, well I think I’ve done pretty well. I knit my first sweater, a couple of scarves (also my firsts), plus Clapotis, and lots of little things. The total number of finished objects (the list there isn’t quite complete yet) is definitely higher and all of them have been functional versus the handful of disasters I knit last year (hats that could fit a premie when they were supposed to fit me or hats that could fit about seven heads in them).

I’ve definitely become more confident in my abilities, learned new things, made several new e-friends, participated in a few swaps, and Ravelry was invented. For next year I want to try to work through my stash more and not buy things just because without any plans. I will probably go through my stash again and be more realistic about what I’m going to actually use as it’s somewhat deceiving to look at one of the many single balls of yarn I’ve got, browse Ravelry and find a project when it’s not really something I want. It’s only a way to use that yarn up and why have something sit around knitted up that gets no use instead of re-homing the yarn? Part of this is also because of moving — I’ve already started the great pre-move clearout.

Resolution-ish

Non-knitting “resolutions” include being truer to myself. I need to quit questioning my abilities/instincts in everything and just get on with it. I mean it’s probably funny for me to say I need to take more risks (and by that I mean getting out and meeting people so my move north isn’t a repeat of life in Oxford) since I packed up my life and moved to England, but oddly I never really considered that a vast majority of people would never do that — to me it was just sort of natural; it was only after I moved and was here a few weeks that I realised that. *shrug* I just need to treat myself better in general. Relax more (which is hilarious because, in general, I am probably too relaxed), feed myself better (I do fine in the spring and summer, but winter sucks), do the things I want to do, surround myself with supportive people, and have fun. Live. Create things again (outside of knitting). Get out in nature more since I love, love, love it. Make sure I make time for my friends as sometimes I get too hermit-like.

Now, where’s the new year so I can break out the page-a-day knitting calendar my Dad got me for my birthday? (He also sent me two books on digital photography for Christmas so that’s excellent since I want to improve my skills and see if I can’t make a little pocket money. Thanks, Dad.)

Have a great night and see you in 2008!

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.

I’m nearly at the halfway point. Hopefully the TEN TO TWELVE HOURS I have to spend on the train in the next two days will help me get that much closer to 100%. The picture is just after the second straight section, but I’ve now finished 5.5 straight sections.

I am not sure, but my tension changed a bit the other day when I was sat up in bed knitting versus on the couch. I was having a terrible backache so I propped myself up and kept knitting. The stitches I did are much looser. But that could also be because I was on some mild pain killer and was perhaps a little more out of it than I realised hahaha.

I am taking other knitting projects with me for the long train journey. The Charade socks, which are getting closer to being 100%, and an unnamed project as I’m not sure yet.

Oh! The cardigan is done! Washed and blocked and ready to go. I was going to wear it to work today, but didn’t. I need to sort out something to keep it closed since I opted for no button holes. This was, of course, intentional as I want to use a stick of some sort. I dunno. We’ll see how it works out. Anyway, Noro Silk Garden is a bit scratchy when you work with it, but my-oh-my how it softened up with a warm water soak and some rose and mandarin organic hair conditioner (thanks Prince Charles!). I’ll take it with me to California next week so will get pictures there since there’s never any light here these days.

Oh, and I bought some destash yarn from another raveler. It’s not quite the colours I thought so I’m a bit disappointed. I’ll have to take some photos to see if anyone else might like it. It’s not horrible, but not as dusty as I thought. I dunno, maybe in some daylight it will look better, but again, NO LIGHT.

Right, I’m off to bed rather early for once as there’s no snoozing tomorrow morning since I’ve got a taxi and train booked.

Well, I said I had a couple of toddler-sized things to knit. When I went off to spend the night in London for two nights I took a rather extraneous amount of knitting with me and as I stated, I did very little of it. I did cast on for the toddler-sized hat, but once again found that I generally have to start a hat on DPNs and them move to a circular before moving back to DPNs to do the decreases so I didn’t get past the cast-on for that. However, last night I re-cast-on and knit 2/3 of the hat before I had to head to bed. I finished it up this morning in no time. I’ve been sick with a cold since Thursday afternoon so couldn’t be fussed with pissing about with the camera to get more colour accurate photos. Read all the details on the Little Cable hat on it’s own special page.

I’ll probably make another for the other toddler that needs a hat, but I think I will use up the remaining yarn from the above for the ribbing doubled up with white and then double up the white for the rest of the hat. Maybe I’ll be able to knock that one out tonight too.

I finally completely finished that first sleeve of my cardigan and I love it. It’s probably a bit too fitted really, but I kinda love that since I’m past the days where I go out in baggy clothes. It will make it better for laying as the peanut butter of my layer sandwich — a fitted long-sleeved t-shirt inside and a coat on the outside. I’ve also finished the increases on the body and have maybe 2-4 more inches to go including the edge and the second sleeve. Because I briefly had amnesia with the first three balls of yarn, I’ll have a few ends to weave in, but for the rest of it I’ve done the sexy spit-splice. Despite knitting this sleeve three times, I’m really happy with it — it’s my first sleeve ever!

My friend, A, who is in Brussels doing her PhD sent me a belated birthday gift which included Belgian Chocolates (of course, and if she hadn’t she wouldn’t be my friend anymore haha) and a sachet with a lace kitty on it. If you didn’t know, Belgian lace is kinda famous. She also sent this other thing with some cute little apples embroidered on it. I didn’t know what it was at first and a co-worker said a shower cap.

I originally wrote the bulk of this post this past Saturday… and then didn’t post it so I’ve now re-jigged it and added some headers just to break it up haha.

Acquired: yarn

I found a shop here in the UK that had the right dyelot, was £1.05 cheaper than the other place, and included free shipping. I ordered from them (Fabstract); they were fabulous actually. I emailed them to ask about the yarn and quickly got a reply. A number of other places that I emailed I’ve still not heard from. WTF? Who doesn’t want to sell a desperate woman yarn that costs £6/ball? I know that’s not even close to the price of fancier yarns, but still.

Unfortunately the Royal Mail staged yet another postal strike (these have been happening since mid-July). The shop got the yarn out in time and it even made it to my door, but there was a different postman delivering to my house and it got returned to the depot instead of hidden on my porch so I only got it today. =(

Over the weekend I did finish up a sleeve as I wanted to see how much yarn a sleeve required. Unfortunately it came out way too wide since I wanted a full length sleeve (the picture in the pattern shows a 3/4-length sleeve). I ripped it back and added in some decreases in the forearm. I tried it on. Damn, not right. I started the decreases too late and then decreased too rapidly. It looked okay from the front, but from the side it was like a weird wing, so I ripped that out too. I think I’ve got it now, but haven’t had a chance to finish it up — maybe tonight.

Other knits

Saturday morning I woke up at 6.45. I don’t even wake up at 6.45 on days I have to go to work! I didn’t actually get up though, I stayed in bed and snoozed; and despite wanting to snooze more, I couldn’t. I got up an hour later because I had knitting on the brain. I wanted to finish up the sleeve (literally 4 rows and a bind off before I realised I had to rip it out the first time). I was also thinking of all the things I want to and/or need to get started… the C for my sister, a scarf for me, the hat I’ve not finished, at least two toddler sized hats and maybe some booties to go with them, and something like the hourglass sweater. Plus socks. I’ll probably get a start on the toddler-ware today. I really need to clean my flat at some point though.

I went to a work-related conference on Monday and Tuesday and as I was staying over two nights, brought a ridiculous amount of knitting with me which of course meant I barely knit. I started the C and it just looks terrible. I’m knitting it on larger needles than recommended for the yarn since I want it drapey, and it looks good when in stockinette, but there’s something about the way you start C that is just looking really ugly — too loose and messy. I may try less slippery needles and see where I get.

I also tried to start one of the toddler hats, but I always struggle starting a brim up hat on circulars unless there are a ridiculous amount of stitches. I know the circular needle I have will work for the hat once I get it going, but I’ve recast on this evening and after I finish dinner and this post I will get going with it as I need it this weekend (should easily be doable).

Acquired: more yarn

I’ve also bought more yarn. Ugh. Really. I bought some Posh Yarn because the other librarygirl totally tempted me. It arrived and, you know, I don’t know if it’s the colours I chose or what, but I’m not that impressed. The colours look one of two ways: really dull and dirty or too bright, not saturated, but bright. One of the colourways looks okay (the one at the top which is Helena in Poignant), but one is definitely way brighter and more yellow than I like so I might sell that on or return it. I have to decide quick since she only has a 7-day return policy. Maybe it all knits up nicer than it looks in the skein…

 
Emily in Patina (seems okay) — Laura in Holm (don’t like this - anyone interested?)

Trigger went back to the vet because her cheek started swelling again after she finished up her antibiotics. She’s on another course, this time for 10-days, plus some pro-biotics.

I’m still incredibly busy at work and don’t see an end in sight really, but it’s actually somewhat good because I’m enjoying things, just some stuff is falling by the wayside and I feel a bit guilty about it.

Here’s a gross picture… I got some compressed air to clean out my laptop keyboard. It’s still a bit dirty, but not nearly as it was. Mostly it was just matted with cat hair and yarn hahaha.

Oh! I won a blog contest. The funny thing is I didn’t even know there was a contest going on! I left a comment on a science blog that’s part of ScienceBlogs during their 500,000th comment contest. I was one of 50 runner-ups and won a cool beaker mug. It looks like that one minus the DNA logo.

I’ve made risotto for dinner with chorizo. I wondered what else I might put with it so searched for some recipes. I found one that had red wine so I decided to try that and you know, it’s not very good. It’s tolerable, but I won’t make it again — the red wine risotto, not the risotto with chorizo.

Okay, that’s plenty long; I’m shutting up now.

…and nothing to show for it!

Isn’t it frustrating how you can knit and knit and knit and yet you don’t really see any progress? I guess it doesn’t help that I’ve had project ADD this weekend. I’ve mostly worked on my cardigan. I haven’t secured my additional balls of yarn, but I have several good leads. I’m going to finish up the fourth ball and then start a sleeve and see how much cardigan and sleeve I get in order to determine how much yarn I need. I don’t want to get two balls to find out I need three or vice versa. Also, I seriously, seriously need to learn continental knitting because it seems to take me days to purl a row.

I’ve also finally turned the heel on my second Charade sock. This has been sitting untouched for quite some time and I’d really like to get it finished. I need to pick up the gusset stitches and proceed. Hopefully I’ll get most of that done this evening… I’ll first focus on finishing up the fourth ball of yarn for the cardigan as mentioned above.

I also started a hat because it’s hat weather. But you know what, I don’t think I have enough yarn! Argh! I’m using the same yarn I used for the Marigold hat and I’m just shy of 50g since I had to use a bit of a second ball for my sister’s fat head. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a decent sized hat from this even if it isn’t one as long as I’d like. I’m doing another Marnie Maclean pattern - the Lake Park hat. She’s got matching fingerless gloves to go with it too, but I won’t do those.

I purchased my first Posh Yarn this evening. Annoyingly I put the one colourway I wanted in my basket and two others and then decided I didn’t want both of the others so I went back to see the colours to decide which to keep and in those few seconds, someone else snatched up the one I really wanted. Argh. I bought something similar though. I plan on making a mini-scarf with some of it.

Speaking of mini-scarf, have you all seen this? The Pidge. It’s all over the Ravelry knitting forums. Apparently they quickly revamped their website to remove mentions of the actual yarn they’re using (Karabella) and pictures of the people “hand knitting” the items. They are actually knitted on a loom of some sort and, according to some people who are experienced with said loom, the stitch pattern they use is a very basic one and thus it takes maybe an hour or so for someone to “knit” the mini-scarf. I mean, more power to them really since they’re getting press and people are paying several hundred dollars for the convenience of a simple item, but I think their information is rather misleading.

Other things I’ve managed this weekend:

• Photographed & listed several items of clothing on eBay that I decided to get rid of back in August — many of them still with tags or otherwise unworn.
• Baked a butternut squash for the first time. Half of which made it into risotto; the other half will be made into soup this evening.
• Usual household things like laundry although you really probably couldn’t tell since as much as I tidied, I also made a mess.
• Watched Reality Bites for the first time since the mid-1990s. It really made me feel like I was back in Santa Cruz.

Trigger is on the mend. She’s not really amused by the twice-daily antibiotics, but the swelling is almost gone. She is impressed with the high frequency of mushy food and/or food with some chicken broth on it.

Oh yeah, I cut off most of my hair last week. Actually I paid someone to cut it off for me because I’d look bald-ish if I’d done it myself. That’s my signature pose.

I’ve fought it. I really have. I’ve fought this onset of autumn not because I don’t love autumn (it’s my favourite season), but because summer forgot to happen. The most summery weather we had was back in April for a week or two. We had a few days here and there during “summer” that were like summer, but there was never a continuous string of nice days. Now the days are noticeably shorter, the temperature has plummeted, the leaves are falling, and the air is crisp. Ah well…

I had another good week. I went to a staff conference (all of our organisations across the UK and Ireland) and received two mentions in the opening address as well as being asked to stand up. Only one other person got a mention and that was a colleague in my office. We are obviously rockstars. It’s really because I’m heavily involved in the two largest (inter)national projects our parent organisation is doing.

Anyway, it’s been another week of not much knitting. I’m getting close to putting in the heel on my second Charade. I also started Cosmicpluto’s easy raglan cardigan v.2.0 in Noro Silk Garden. This is the first time I’ve actually knit with Noro and it’s a little rough (luckily I’ve had very little straw and *fingers crossed* so far no knots), but it’s not terrible at all. The colours are very pretty, but not as dark as they seemed in the ball which is slightly disappointing, but I’m find with it. I think this will look great with my jeans and chocolate brown corduroy trousers. The only problem is that I think I may be a ball short. I want full length sleeves (the sleeves in the picture on the pattern look to stop mid-forearm) and I want to be sure it’s long enough. I am nearly to the point where I separate out the sleeves and I may very well do those before continuing with the body.

I did do the test knit I mentioned before. It’s a cabled hat and somehow my row gauge went completely bonkers so what should’ve been an adult-sized hat. So now I have a toddler-sized hat which I think I’ll give to my friend for her daughter. I messed up one of rows in the cables early on and didn’t notice for ages. I’m not talented enough to ladder down in a cable so I left it. The pattern is by Amy O’Dell and is now available in her Etsy shop.

Since Jaeger yarns have been discontinued it’s obviously been flying off the shelves since retailers are tending to sell it at about half price. I got a ball of Extra Fine Merino Aran in Peacock and knit up a swatch. It’s held up very well living in the bottom of my backpack the last two weeks. I went ahead and bought A LOT of it, but in Juniper. I also bought some Rowanspun Aran in Hardy which is a nice oatmealy colour. Thanks to the autumnal light, I couldn’t get a true colour shot (I also didn’t try really hard).

It’s my birthday on Monday so tomorrow The Boy is going to take me to Kew Gardens. Hopefully fellow expat and her wee daughter will come along too. Watch out for pictures of flowers and Henry Moore sculptures soon. And hopefully more regular updates. Apologies for the lack of comments and replies to your comments/emails — I’m way behind on lots of things.

Dear Sock pal,

I feel sort of slack that I didn’t make a pretty sock band thingie to wrap around your socks giving you lots of detail about the socks. They are washable! I don’t think I remembered to jot that down. It’s superwash wool. I hope you also don’t mind that I didn’t make an extraordinary package for you. I have seen various pictures of other sockapalooza packages (either sent or received) and feel like I may have done bad by you! I hope all the beautifully wrapped packages filled with gifts (and in some cases lots of sock yarn!!) are an exception rather than the rule.

Hope you receive them soon - the post out of Oxford has not been reliable lately. =(

Please enjoy them!

-shannon

Well, I have been pretty good about not adding to my stash, but I did buy some yarn for something for my sister that is hugely popular and starts with C.

It was really difficult to take a truly representative picture - too bright, too dark - you know how it goes. This photo isn’t really representative either. It’s too dark, but getting close. It’s various shades of green with just a tad of yellow and blue thrown in. I had it out to photography and Dakota took a liking to it immediately - rolling on top of it, rubbing his face and body on it, snuggling it - but then I had to put it away because he really grabbed on, face buried in it, and started kicking it. Bad kitty. Maybe I need to make him a mini-skein.

I thought I’d made more progress on my modified-modified Cathode, but I didn’t. I tried it on and was disappointed to see how much more I really needed to do before I separated the sleeves. That’s what I get for having a long whatever-it’s-called between your boobs and shoulders. And I didn’t cast on for the socks, but am definitely planning on that tonight. I need something to take to the work knitting group.

Completely crap picture in many, many ways, but you can see Dakota loving the yarn.

I have been in a really foul mood with people I come into day-to-day contact with all week. Not all people, but a small handful. It’s not pleasant and it’s driving me nuts because I am not a confrontational person and for the most part, the situations wouldn’t even require confrontation. I think it all may be down to PMS. *sigh*

Oh, I think I forgot to point out Domesticat’s Drunken Bee sock pattern. It’s not a full pattern - just the chart and some basic instructions. I really need to do some stash busting so I can get some semi-solid sock yarns into my stash. I may, again, try to sell some of it, or give away some small, spare bits. OH OH, and totally humbling to see THREE people now knitting my sock pattern. Seriously. It feels me with delight and awe that someone would choose to knit something I wrote up!

We’ve had a hot weekend here. Obviously I mean hot by British standards, but they’re also my standards ’cause I do not cope with heat AT ALL. I wonder if this bright, sunny weather is going to stick around more than beyond this weekend. It’s been a terrible summer. We had some really great weather back in April and when I went to Ireland in June, we totally lucked out and had amazing weather; if it wasn’t for that trip back in June, this summer would’ve been a total bust really. It’s a real shame because now that the summer solstice passed way back in late-June, night comes far more quickly and there really hasn’t been opportunity to actually sit out and enjoy the warm, summer weather with a pint or glass of your favourite (alcoholic) beverage.

Well yesterday I managed to get into town to return some jeans that didn’t fit despite being the EXACT same style and size, just a different colour dye, to the one’s I have that fit me perfectly. I was so annoyed as I only have one pair of jeans that fit me. I’ve got a couple pair of cords that I can get away with although they are a bit big. While in town I actually decided to shop for meat and produce at the Covered Market. Let me tell you, I am a convert. I used to always shop for produce at the weekly Farmer’s Market back in Monterey. Oxford offers one twice a month, but it’s at a stupid hour (in the middle of the day like 11-2 or something) on a Thursday so pretty much only those who live or work in the city centre can go. I’m not really sad about it because I did actually happen to pass through it once and it looked awful. Yesterday I bought a ton of vegetables and four organic sausages for about £6. That is dead cheap. I grilled most of the veg and all the sausages up for a late-lunch for me and the boy. I am still stuffed. So I am going to try to haul myself down there every week with my reusable shopping bag(s) and get some fresh produce and maybe some meat.

I also bought this salt and pepper shaker set. I realised I don’t actually have pourable salt and pepper though. BUT IT IS SO CUTE.

I cast on for a modified-modified Cathode. As I was browsing around Ravelry (I swear my addiction is getting less) I saw a version of Cathode sans giant collar and in a solid yarn. I liked it. It actually ends up looking quite similar to the Split-neckline cap-sleeved tee in Fitted Knits. So I am knitting that to look similar to the Ravelry users version, but even further had to modify it because the yarn I’m using isn’t quite as chunky. *fingers crossed* I’m nearly at a point where I can slip it off the needles and see how it’s going.

I may actually cast on for some Pomatomous socks tonight as I’ve been meaning to for a couple of weeks now. I’m going to do them toe up and, hopefully, two at once. *more crossing of fingers* I’ve also got another ball band dishcloth on the go as I was re-teaching someone how to knit on Friday night and thought that it would be a good project to re-learn on since it is relatively simple and an object can be completed relatively quickly even by a slow knitter.

Hope you’ve all had a good weekend. Mine was good even though this morning as I went to change my bed sheets I found the following:

NOT IMPRESSED. Luckily it was actually between the top sheet and blanket.

I’m just gonna jump in here with this. You know how they say a huge majority of women are wearing the wrong size bra? Well, I thought I was NOT in that category because I had been happily wearing whatever size bra I had, but a couple years ago decided I needed lots of new one’s so off I went to Victoria’s Secret and requested measuring. The girl measured me and it turned out that I was wearing the right size. Awesome. In the last year or so I’ve lost a bit of weight, well inches really as I’m slimmer, but more buff, but the top of me doesn’t really seem much different in size; a bit curvier, but that’s about it.

For months now I’ve been trying to find some bras as mine are definitely in need of meeting the bin. I went to several shops, tried on a bunch which were okay, got home, tried them on again (a couple I’d bought specifically because I thought they’d work well with certain cuts of tops/dresses) only to find that for whatever reason, they were incredibly uncomfortable and ill-fitting so I took them back. Now, in the UK shops don’t constantly have sales - they happen 2-3 times a year and that’s it and every shop does it at the same time. I thought I’d go to this Victoria’s Secret type place and have a nose around. I found two bras in my size and took them to the fitting room. One of them I was spilling out from and the other was baggy. Argh. So I thought “Right, I’m going to get measured and ask for recommendations of bras”. I go out to the attendant and talk to her and she looks at me like I’m nuts and says “Have you ever had a fitting here ’cause we certainly wouldn’t put you in that size”. I hadn’t so I signed up and had a seat for 10 minutes*.

Ladies, go to a REAL lingerie shop and have them fit you. The girl came in and explained that they don’t fit you by using a tape measure - they look at you in your current bra and see how it fits and then decide. The girl looked at me in my bra (admittedly I was wearing an older one that has definitely seen better days and is a bit stretched, etc.), how it fit, and told me how it should fit. I told her about my troubles with finding bras lately - too tight all over, riding up, etc. - so when she said she was going to get a few different styles for me to try on in a different size to what I was wearing I was shocked. See, I’ve been wearing a 38D for some years. She went and got me a 34E. And OMG the difference. I knew I looked a bit saggy which is why I was after some new bras, but I would’ve NEVER have thought to go down two sizes. And yes, they fit and fit well. They definitely feel tighter, but not uncomfortably so. It’s actually amazing the support. She even said that really I should put on a 32 for some styles, but as I was going down two sizes already, I should wait to get used to the difference before going down again.

So what does this mean for knitting? Well, I’ve not knitted tops yet (several false starts), but I am bad and have never actually measured myself - just based what size to knit on my bra size. So now, before I do another stitch on Ms Marigold or anything else that is to go over my chest, I am going to measure myself. And measure again.

In other news - the pic at the top is my finished Tribble. I also took photos of every single yarn I have and plan to knit with to post on to Ravelry. There were some bits of other yarns I had left and some I got for free and I’ve not photographed them. I am going to put them in a bag and offer it up on Freecycle because they’re just sitting there and will never get used. When I photographed my yarn, I did each colour separately when I had several balls of the same brand, but in different colours. It gives me a better idea of my stash and really drives home that I need to reduce it before I add anything else to it. [Although I did buy some Piece of Beauty sock yarn today to knit something for my sister - it will probably become a very popular item.**] I also bought a book that has some very basic patterns in it which I probably have elsewhere, but it actually uses a lot of the yarns that I have in my stash that I want to use up for practical items rather than knitting something to use up stash and then having something that sits around and doesn’t get used. It was also very cheap.

* I looked at some fashion magazine that had Courtney Love on the cover. It was several months old and was all about her losing about 50 lbs (3.5 stone). Dear god that woman has had some BAD plastic surgery and it’s so obvious! It’s like that weird lip curl Meg Ryan and Krista Miller got done that you just look at them and go “Do they think we don’t know they had something weird done to their face?”

** I’m being vague in case she reads this.