Saturday 29 May 2010

Tinking

Lately I have spent more time tinking rather than knitting. To the point that some have commented that I am a world class expert on knitting in reverse.

I had got to almost finishing my fifth pair of central leaves on my shawl and I ended up tinking back to the second pair of leaves..

At knit night this week I ended up helping one of the members to tink back her  Lady February sweater to find her problem.  It seemed that anyone who had a problem with a pattern I have previously knitted tapped my knowledge to sort there problems out.  First it was a woman's sized sweater, next it was a baby sweater both having an Elizabeth Zimmerman connection.   I also got hit up to bring my book in for Xmas C who is having a baby.  I think I will be getting my layette patterns out.  I know that she will be doing another baby blanket but I have rave about the blanket she finished the other week - I can see a shortage of Zauberball occurring.  Check this out.   It has to be seen to be believed. It is even more beautiful when looking at it in person.




Today I have got back on track but I am trying to get ahead on my self imposed challenge for 2010.  Yes I signed up for the the 10 in 2010 shawl challenge.  So far I have completed four.  The current Falling Leaves shawl is number 5 for this year and I have a back log of projects lined up.  I have to finish up a heck of a lot of projects and do a lot of paper work for uni this weekend so the long weekend will be a working weekend.  Thank goodness it is a wet weekend so I am not tempted buy the sunshine.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Spinning Swaps

Well | have had a bit of win win weekend . Weekend off work. Time to spin and hubby has replaced my card reader so photos are now getting snapped and loaded at a great rate.

Came home on Friday to four parcels so I have swap goodies. Some photos will be displayed below.
Spinning wise I managed to spin and ply my goodies from Sabo in the Easter fibre swap and I was so thrilled with what I have meterage wise. I am getting better and more consistent and my joining is working well there are few boo boos but that what makes what I have done unique.


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Daughter took the photos so of course there is a cat in them.  She likes the cat more than her mother's yarn.

Daughter being the teenager that she is complained this morning about the noise of mum's spinning wheel treadle waking her up.  The repetitive clunk clunk clunk apparently was driving her barmy.


I opened four parcels on Friday and if we have some decent light I would take more photos but it was a case of what you can get with our current light conditions.

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I got a box of yarn from one swapper yeap a BOX I still have not worked out where to start with that one.  See yah off to breath some more yarn fumes.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

May Day Weekend

After some absolutely crazy weeks were a simple repeating shawl knit which I should of finished in one week took over five weeks. Yeap it has been that insane that I had not had a chance to finish the shawl. You know it is bad when you are that tired at night when you finally get in you go to sleep before you get your knitting out or even worse you fall asleep knitting and have to rescue dropped stitches because of your snoring. I was turning up knit night just for the sanity reality check. We have some lovely ladies and the double entendre and witticisms just come out fast and furiously.

The recent frantic pace a couple of weeks ago we (husbeast and I) decided to make a family trip out of one my excursions. The kids were going to have an inset day (day off school) so why not make a 3 day long weekend into a 4 day long week end. Ding ding the alarm bell should have been ringing at about this point. Of course I should have realised that we were going to jinx ourselves with the weather as we have had some super sunny weeks here in Lancashire. Lancashire is known for its very very damp climate and Cumbria is known for being cold and windy. We left Ormskirk in summer shorts and sunshine and as we drove north we started adding layers. As Lancaster was passed on the motorway we need a cardi and a rain slicker and by the time we got to Carlisle I was looking for my fleecy lined trousers. The sun was out but that harsh, icy cold, braw wind was cutting right through us.

So last weekend I was in the cold north and we had a total cold turkey weekend for the internet, email and my phone. Nope you can ring but I am not sodding going to answer it. It was blissful and I was surprised that I did not go into total withdrawal. The shawl that I was working on was finished and I did not start anything new. I had wool with me but the pattern books that I had with me did not inspire me. You can never be unprepared by not taking a pattern book and have a couple of balls of wool with you on a weekend trip – that would be totally insane. It would be like leaving the medication at home and risking a straightjacket moment with me. We had a great time playing tourists, conversation, laughing and playing as a family together. There were some funny moments and there were some insane moments such as casting a shawl off in the carpark of a tourist attraction cause daughter was demanding a shawl since it was that cold and she had no head covering.
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Back to work on Tuesday was a "Oh I so don’t want to do this" day but I was still totally blessed out by the weekend that I actually only knitted a row of purl at knit night.