Gone but not forgotten

Right, I've made the decision. I'm moving to Typepad. Blogger has been great, but I'm finding Typepad easier. I still have to sort a few things out, so be gentle with me for now. Don't be a stranger - come on over. Don't forget to update your bookmarks etc!

An Unfortunate Series of Events

I had a hospital appointment today. The kind of appointment where you just know that you will be waiting for at least an hour after the time it says on your appointment letter. I didn't really mind, as it meant I had the morning off work and I knew I could fill the hour with knitting.

I took along the second sleeve of Hourglass Sweater, which I started last night at my knitting group meeting. (Very good meeting, by the way, our biggest yet). So, I did indeed wait almost exactly an hour past my appointment time, but I was knitting away and reading an old Sunday Times magazine, so I was having fun. I did have to put some effort into blocking out the conversations of other people about what medications they were on, how much they swelled up at night and how much water they needed to drink, but hey, it's a hospital, it goes with the territory right?

Appointment was over, so I went to work. Worked away, then left work. To get home I have to catch 2 buses, which is fine as they don't take long. First bus came and I jumped on. I pulled out the sleeve and knitted away for a few minutes. We got to Brixton, I stuffed my knitting in my bag and got off.

As I got off, I saw my next bus coming. The bus stop for bus number 2 is around the corner from the bus stop for bus number 1. If you walked, it would take about 5 minutes. As I didn't have 5 minutes, I ran. As I was running, I was thinking, 'I'm glad I wore trainers today' and 'I'm pleased I've started going running in the evenings again, I don't feel too out of breath running for this bus'.

I got to the bus stop and jumped on the bus. As I jumped on the bus, I felt a tug on my bag. Because I live in London, my first thought was that someone was trying to snatch my bag. I whirled around, to see nothing, except... a long strand of Felted Tweed hanging from my bag.

It seems that the ball of Felted Tweed had been jolted out of my bag as I ran. I had run, through the centre of Brixton, trailing wool behind me and even got onto a bus, still trailing wool behind me. The motion of the bus moving had then caused the wool to snap. Oh, how Toby laughed (and not in a nice way) when I told him.

If you are passing through Brixton, pause for a moment to remember the ball of grey Felted Tweed. She is sadly missed.

Socks and stuff

So, I got into Sockapalooza after all. Yay! I can't work out how to upload the button, any help would be gratefully received. It's lots of fun thinking about patterns and yarn to use. I've been reading my recipient's blog, trying to get a feel for what they might like. I had a look through my sock yarn stash.


It's mostly self patterning stuff, Regia mainly. This is fine for your every day sock, but I'm thinking I might splash out on some Lorna's Laces for this one. I did a pair of Broadripple Socks in the Mixed Berries shade last year and I love the colours. However, I don't think that's the right pattern, as it really needs a yarn with a little elastic in it. Hmmm, time to get out the pattern books I think!

Before I start, I must finish the current socks, which are for Toby.


They are my second pair of short row heel socks, as I liked the way the last pair turned out. The self patterning yarn has done an interesting thing at the heel. It would have been even better if the stripes were in the same colour.


I'm about 2 inches away from the toe shaping of sock number 1, so really need to crack on so I can start on the Sockapalooza pair.

I've been working hard on Hourglass Sweater too. She doesn't really look that exciting at the moment. The body is done and here's Sleeve number 1 earlier this evening, before ER.


I love ER - today was a very happy day for me, with Series 11 back on Channel 4. We have a strict 'no talking during ER' rule in our house. Toby often goes out on the night ER is on - he's doesn't understand. In fact, he's out tonight.

Excuse the brown mark on the sofa. Digital cameras pick up the strangest things.

Lastly, I'm thinking of moving over to Typepad. Has anyone else moved from Blogger to Typepad? How did you find it?

Lazy Sunday

In fact it has been anything but lazy this weekend around here. As the children are back at school, we have plunged back into their hectic social lives. Josie had a friend for a sleepover Friday night and a birthday party on Saturday. Sam had football practice Saturday morning, went to a friend's house in the afternoon and then a football match Sunday morning.

I went out on Saturday night to have drinks with a friend for her birthday, so I was a little 'tired' this morning. Toby decided to take Sam climbing after football, so Josie and I had a lazy afternoon. We watched 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and then I said I'd listen to Josie read her reading book from school. When she got her book, look what it was.




A book about a swift! How cool is that? The thrust of the story was that no one knew what this thing was, until eventually a lady buys it from them and puts it in a museum. Josie was very impressed that I knew straight away and she wanted to know why I wanted one of my own. This led to a discussion about balls of wool and skeins and how one transforms the latter into the former. Of course, she wanted to have a go. So I found some Magpie Aran I had lying around and we set to work. As we had no swift, we used the back of a chair.




Then I showed Josie another way of holding the yarn.




She started to flag a little, but we persevered.




The final result. Josie felt it was worth it.




I did suggest she could knit something with it now she'd wound it up herself, but she decided to take it to live with her doll in the bedroom. Ah well.

Now we're cookin'

The camera is finally up and running, so there will be a veritable orgy of photo taking chez Wool Palace this weekend.

First out of the traps is Cloud. She never got the attention she deserved, poor thing. I did carry her on my wedding day and she came to Rome with us too, but she was never properly photographed, so her she is.



Folded over, as I couldn't get her all in one shot. The colour is a little lighter than this.




Close up, showing the stitch pattern and ruffles at the edge. This is truer to the colour of the KSH - the shade is called 'Blood'.




Here she is, being modelled by Josie.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern. I love the look of KSH, but haven't got on too well with actually knitting with it in the past. I started Birch, but frogged it and re-knit it with some Donegal 4-ply instead. I started Karis and loved the look of it, but found it such slow going. However, there seems to be something about this pattern that really suits KSH, or maybe I'm finally starting to get the hang of the yarn.

Anyway, onwards and upwards! I have more photos to take, so maybe another post tomorrow.

Busy, busy, busy

I'm having an organising sort of a day, at least over here in blogland. I've sorted out my Bloglines feed and updated my Blogroll. If you haven't done it already, give it a try, it's very easy and saves times surfing through all your favourites to see if people have posted. I'm still planning to put up links to blogs I read, just not today.

In knitting news, I finished Rockstar and he certainly was a lovely furry little thing. I posed fetchingly in front of the mirror and even woke Toby up to take a look at him. So, why no photo? Well, my sister came round last night and I showed her Rockstar in all his furry loveliness... and she fell in love. Couldn't stop stroking him, fondling him. So, I gave him to her. He's gone to a good home. I've told her she has to come back prepared to be photographed with him.

Now I'm feeling the need to get back to large projects. I've still got a pair of socks on the go for commuter knitting, but I need something bigger for the evenings. I'm back on Hourglass Sweater. One of my Christmas presents was a set of Denise interchangeable needles, from here, so I now have the requisite 30cm circulars to do the sleeves. I have been working on the body this evening and have about 1cm to go before dividing for the yoke, so I'm planning on casting on a sleeve before bedtime. I haven't used Denise before so it will be interesting to see how they compare to Addis. My camera should be up and running tomorrow, so hopefully there will be pictures by the weekend.

I'm feeling 2 interests coming on for the New Year. Nancy Bush and beaded stitch markers. I'll say no more for now. Except that I'm gutted I missed out on Sockapalooza - that looks like a very fun knitalong.

Stop press - just went back to check on Sockapalooza - I might get in after all! I'm crossing everything.