What a not so scotsman wears under his......bathrobe?

Well he wasn't wearing his kilt when he tired them on but he has got rather strapping legs for the socks AND they look really good.

When I'd finished Kitchener stitching the toe and sewing in the starting thread I did a wee happy dance all round the flat. I reckon that now I've done kilt socks, all other socks will be a doddle. Even socks for his nibs will be easy in comparison to those monsters.

The pattern is a heavily revised version of the John Anderson kilt hose. I knitted them top down instead of toe up. I used normal dpns and I did different decreases. Neither himself or myself like the v's created by ribbed decreases in some patterns so I did staggered decreasing. I will write up and post the pattern just in case anyone wants it. Although who in their right mind would want to knit kilt hose for a 6'3" rugby player?
Nobody answer that one please.

I've made this sound like a chore and it wasn at all. I liked the interesting cables and once I'd got the leg decreases worked out and done, the repetision knitting was good. The constant row counting between each cable was good to keep the brain active and the foot was really good tv knitting. I watched all sorts of rubbish while knitting the foot on the last sock.

I've now cast-on the jumper for my Mum. I've also frogged it and re-cast-on, frogged and re-cast-on a few times. I actually knitted a swatch this time round because the wool I'm using is not only a different brand but a different weight. The swatch knitted up exactly like it said it would in the pattern then I started kntting in earnest. My gauge was all off so I switched to a smaller set of needles then I couldn't get the right number of stitches cast on. THEN I did the mobius thing again AND THEN I finally got the right number cast-on and discovered that I had the wrong needles again. I decided that sod it, I like a really stretchy cast-on anyway so I started to knit. Knitting kept getting caught on the cable so I investigated to find 3 sets of ickle bunny teeth marks which was catching the yarn. Luckily for her, I was knitting on the knitpicks harmony series and could change the cable. Luckily for her, I still had a spare one of the same size. Luckily for her that she hid under the couch so that wee boss couldn't shave off her fur and take up spinning. As if I could do that to that gorgeous wee bunny.

Brrrrrrrlin

Well its snowing again. I like snow so I can't really complain. I like sitting inside and watching it fall outside. One reason I like it so much is because it extends the knitting season by a couple of weeks. Also people are still using their chrismits and scarfs and it makes everything including that big ugly pick-up truck look pretty.

I don't like it when I step out of the door and fall on my bum because its just covered up a huge patch of ice that even my made for mountaineering boots go for a skite on (skite is scottish word for sliding or high speed. Not to be confused with going out on the skite (also scottish) which means going out with friends to a pub or club and drinking copious amounts of alcohol). Yes, the skiting without the alcohol happened this morning on my way to work and made my jeans rather wet. Not amused

To the left is a bit of a reward for doing all that knitting recently. More Malabrigo. This time pink frost and its lovely. My mum's colours realy as it doesn't, under any circumstances, go with my hair. Red and baby pink do not mix. Also makes me look bluer than I actually am. If I was any bluer, I would be a smurf. All I would need is a white pointy hat and you could call me Smurfette. I got the Malabrigo from our stricktreff 'dealer'. I mailed her to see if she still had the Wollmeise natural lace weight and if she could bring it for me and she brought this too. I'm on a yarn diet!!!!! I will not be lead into temptation. Okay so I dramatically caved into temptation but that's not a bad thing when it comes to Wollmeise or Malabrigo for that matter AND I have been knitting like a fiend recently. have a look at the pickies below and you'll see that himself's aircraft carrier sized socks are almost finished. All I have to do now is the heel and the foot and then Fanny's your aunt, they're finnished.

My trip to the Hague and Paris were both sucessful in certain ways. TH was okay despite the nasty person who decided to express his problem with my weight on a busy shopping street in the city centre.
Unwanted, rude and sometimes downright offensive opnion expressing is a national sport in this country so I try not to get offended. I've been told that the opionee's are just being honest and do this for the good of the opinion receiver's health and looks however, I'm not entirely convinced. Down right nastiness and the desire to make oneself feel good by making others feel bad about themselves seems like a more likely explaination.
The conversation went something like this.

rude cheese head: you're fat
me: excuse me?
rch: you're fat
me: well you're ugly
rch: you're still fat
me: well I can diet but you'll still be ugly.

I did manage to see a few friends there which is always nice and I got to stay in a big posh hotel which was nice too. The best thing about NL is that I can watch BBC1 and 2 there.

Paris was nice too. I didn't get to La Doguerie which is actually good because they have some new books and I would have needed check-in luggage after all. We had fun in the Thistle Bar (one of 3 scottish bars) I know it sounds silly, being scottish and going all the way to paris and then going to a scottish bar. Not living in Scotland kind of makes me homesick sometimes and going to a scottish bar makes me sick of home and anyway, I can buy walkers salt'n'vinegar and irn bru there. Also I wasn't really on a weekend break, I was on national service. We got beat by France but it was a good game and its much better than being beaten by Eng.

Out of Office

I'll be off to Den Haag for a couple of days (work) so my knitting is packed and so is this. Its a birds nest smoke ring in Malabrigo Lace. Its really soft and its a pressie for a friend of mine. I hope she likes it. I really fancy one myself but I'm not sure about the way the colour has worked in. Also its a bit bright in this photo. the real thing has a purple burgandy note to it. I've got enough left to knit another one. Maybe this time with the pico edge. I got annoyed with the last picot edge and frogged it.


I'm not sure if the colours are any better in this close up. A wee bit but not much but maybe I should try without flash next time.

Well I'd bette get going. I've checked in on line so I don't need to get to the airport super early. I've got my pfauenauge clapotis packed and of course some extra yarn just in case I finish everything and have nothing to knit on the train to Paris. I'm going there on Friday. I'm not going for the romantic valentine's weekend for 2. No, I'm off to watch Scotland getting humped by France. Sorry, I'm off to watch Scotland play France at rugby....
Fingers crossed we do better than we did against the welsch.

Quickie

Blogging was invented for rainy wet lunch times when you don't want to stick your head outside and you forgot to pick up your latest knitting project off the couch in the morning rush to get out of the door. Since taking this picture and posting it (record time of 5 minutes. Well its a record for me), the sky has become a deep shade of grey and the rain is bouncing off of the ground.

Oh joy. The weather gods are not on my side today. Not only did I forget my knitting, I also forgot my weather proofs which means that I'll be biking it back on the U-Bahn if this keeps up.

Just to cheer me up though. Here's a shot of Mrs W's shawl. Hope she likes it. If not then I'm sure one of her cronies will.

I'm really getting into my de-stashing or yarn dieting. Once I get back from Paris and before my mum-in-law gets here, I think I'll tidy the stash and see what screams at me next. I'm thinking that the baby pink kid silk night might want to jump onto a crochet hook and become a very lovely crochet scarf/wrap thing for summer.

The scary thing about tidying the stash is even though I only tidied a bit of it (the stuff I could see) I've not sorted the stuff in boxes yet. I'll need to empty out everything and perhaps weigh and catalogue stuff. Now that is scary. Perhaps I'll skip the weighing part. I never had a good relationship with scales anyway.

Back to the grindstone now

Frank's Fuzzy Feet Finished.

Thanks to an ear infection, I've been quite industrious over the past week or so. I was off work for a whole three days and managed to get lots and lots done. Frank's fuzzy feet got finished, laminara got blocked, shawl for Joris' mum got started finished and blocked, birds nest cowl started and finished and I've started a clapotis with the wollmeise pfauen auge or whatever the colourway its called. I bought that particular lace weight ages ago to do the peacock feather shawl but the yarn didn't want to be a peacock feather shawl. I've started various projects with it only to frog after a few centimeters again because the yarn didn't want to be a laminara, a jeanie or anything else I attempted. So this very nice but stubbourn yarn got thrown into the naughty corner and left for a few months to think about its behavior and repent. Last week's bedroom and stash tidying episode brought various UFO's to light and also the naughty corner yarn came creeping out looking very sheepish (pun intended) and calling out 'I want to be a clapotis' so its becoming a clapotis (piccie to follow sometime)




The baby sock in the above photo isn't actually a baby sock, its my size 38s. I've not got tiny feet. They're kind of average but when compared to Frank's titanic sized feet, they're more like wee tiny life boats for one. Okay so the huge sock is not for a giant. Its an UN-felted Fuzzy Foot.




This is the after foto. After 2 times in the washing machine. They fit himself extremely well and have been keeping his feet all snugly. I've still got some of the wool left and I would guess that I have enough to make myself a pair but I've got that purple stuff too. Decisions decisions... I'll make up my mind some day.




You may already have guessed since this blog is kind of picture heavy but I have a new digi camera hence another photo of Laminnara. This time while its blocking on top of a towel on my bed. I love it and I've hardly had it off of my neck since it dried. Tis very warm too.




This lovely example is for my friends mum. She used to knit for everyone and however she's now quite ill and unable to knit. She's always cold when she goes to visit so I thought a nice wee wrap, shawl, tuch or something would be good for her. I used a whole ball of some italian kid silk mohair thing. Same stuff as kid silk haze but very much cheaper and in my stash (yarn diet not broken for that) and that was including the frill at the end. The instructions I got were rubbish and in typical brit style, written out row by row. I like charts. Charts are easier to read and you're less likely to loose your place. Why do the majority of UK designers insist on writing out row by row instructions (yes its rant time again) when a chart takes up less space, gives you view on what its supposed to look like without a photo and the only translating which needs done, if you need it translating, is the key. Oh and its almost idiot proof. I ended up charting the thing myself. I also ended up changing a few things and ingoring the instructions on the frill. It turned out really well and will be on its way to NL tomorrow.

Even though its Monday, I'm actually in a good mood. The weekend was good and without hangovers. Shocking considering that this weekend I was celebrating my new job, it was karaoke AND 6 nations. I'm off to Paris on Friday to watch Scotland getting humped again. This time by France. If we win the wooden spoon 3 times in a row, do we get to keep it? Actually I think its time we started selling them back to the rest of the participants. Would be nice if someone else won it for a change.

Fuzzie

Another photo of my Laminnara and the colours show a bit better but not much considering that the wool looks slightly green in the photo and there's no green in the wool. Still using the rubbish phone camera though.
Went up to the Faden Insel at lunch time. Actually I was on another secret errand wthat I don't dare post here just in case the person involved sees even though they're not a very bloggy person and also not really into knitting. You never know so best kept unpublished for now. Anyhoo the Faden Insel was on the way back to work so of course I couldn't resist going in. They now have the new knitpicks tunisian crochet for doing big projects. You can screw one of those cords on and bob's your father's brother, you can do big blankets etc.
The yarn diet was broken only slightly as his nibs requested fuzzy feet last night and I don't have enough feltable stuff to make them for him. I had made a pair for him before but he managed to really felt one so that it fits me (must make myself another one). He was doing the wash so I couldn't shout at him for being careless. At the moment, he's at home nursing a bad cold and would like fuzzy feet to keep his tootsies warm. He insists that he has the flu but he's a guy. What more can I say?
I'm getting sidetracked yet again. Anyway the fuzzy feet. Actually I do have enough feltable wool for his fuzzies. I have purple feltable wool but I don't really fancy making using that for him. Purple is my colour. I bought some manly navy blue stuff for the manly fuzzies. That's really a contradiction in terms but never mind. I bought enough to make a new pair for him. I will just chuck the other black one in the wash some more so that I have a pair and then knit myself another pair of purple ones. Or, I could make a bag out of the purple stuff. Here that would be a good idea. Nice purple cable pattern then felted.
I've taken a couple of hours free this afternoon so I'm off to the bookshop on the way home. I'm on a yarn diet not a literature diet. Oh and I've decided to sign up for the OU english lit course. I'll be doing that soon and then starting in September. I read that much that it makes sence to get some sort of qualification out of it.

Catch up and Australia Day

This is what I managed to get done on my road trip this weekend. its not such a good photo but its a phone camera so what do you expect? I would have gotten more done but I did have to do a stint of driving, partying, meeting new niece and shopping. The pattern is.......yep you guessed it.....Laminara from Knitty and I'm actually enjoying knitting it. The yarn is malbringo baby merino. The colourway is paris night. Unfortunately, you can't really see the colours in this photo (apologies again for my rubbish phone camera). Its a very dark grey with dark lilac and turquoise. Sort of twighlight colours. The best thing about this project is that its for me :o) I'm still on the monster kilt socks for Frank. He has extremely long legs. I've got Charleen's darkside cowl done (one night knit)in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran and of course a couple of wee jasjes (dutch for wee jackets) for my new niece also in cashmerino and something else soft.

I'm on a yarn diet at the moment and its going well. I'm only allowed to buy yarn if I get rid of 500g of stashed yarn. Its called Wollabspecken in german :). I'm thinking of starting up a group on ravelry as I've come up with some pretty cool rules and fun things to help those with yarn dietry issues. Not just me actually. I pinched some ideas from some fellow yarn adicts. So far I've managed to get rid of a few extra gramms of wool and after the monster socks are done, the laminara, the wips, ufos and orphans, I'll be able to buy a few kilos again :o)
Rule so far is for every 500g used. I get to buy 100g. I also get to buy 100g for every 2kg I loose personaly :) Sort of Wollbauchbeinpoabspeckregime (wool-tums-legs-bums-fatloss-regime). Dunno if that will make the next edition of the Duden dictionary but I kind of like it.



Life wise, everything is cool. My new niece (yippee a girl, I can knit wee dresses for her and everything) is lovely and weighs a tonne already. My nephew is gorgeous too and keeps giving his new wee sister kisses and cuddles which is really sweet. Berlin is cold and grey but that's January for you. I reckon that January was invented for knitters. You see the thing is, all those folks who don't knit, crochet, sew, quilt etc etc are absolutely bored out of their minds and hate January. I love it. I get to spend time at home knitting, reading (currently on a non fiction kick) and other indoorsy stuff. I've even heard of some folks who start their christmas knitting in January. If you're that organised then fine. I'm going to wait till summer. the mittens which I didn't get finished this year are up for next year.

And to my lovely Australian friends. Happy Australia day. This time last year, I was in an Aussie bar in Amsterdam with Mess (my twin brother seperated by parentage, a continent and 4 months) getting rather drunk and doing my impression of Shrek by shouting at Donkey (another aussie who's nickname is donkey. I won't say why though) This year, I'll have toast with butter and vegemite. Yumm.

Schwetter Happens

Well at least it didn't get too wet. This happened on the way to work this morning. I picked the worst time to cycle to work and then my carrier bag broke (didn't realise that it was a nice eco friendly plastic bag that disintegrates in rain) and my knitting landed on the ground. Luckily for me, it was so wet that I'd decided to stop, lock up my bike and take the u-bahn so I had stopped at the time and it was on the pavement in a semi dry place so none of my knitting got run over by trams, cars, trucks or nasty white van drivers (white van drivers tend to be much more agressive than other coloured van drivers). I don't think I'm supposed to knit with lacy lamb ever. The last time I started something with lacy lamb a child threw up on me and my knitting on the train. to top it off, the mother refused to believe that the yarn is €17 per ball and left without even saying "sorry well here's a fiver towards new stuff". Hmm I don't think I'll go into that now as I'm relatively calm at the moment and I don't want to ruin the christmas vibe I've got.

I was supposed to be keeping up with my blogging but things have continued to be as hectic as before. What with 2 trips to NL and a visit from Mum and Auntie not to mention various chrimbo parties and get togethers. Those interfering things have also got in the way of my knitting. I've not finished anything for ages. Well, 1.5 socks, a scarf for a friend of mine(that's the long pink thing on the radiator) and that's about it. The lacy lamb project is the swallow tail shawl for my MIL for christmas. I'm just about to start the 14th 'budding lace 2' repeat so I'm kind of on track for having it finished, blocked and packaged for Thursday. Well I would be if I had from now until late wednesday night uninterrupted knitting time but I don't. My friend Julianne (the soon to be owner of a semi-dry pink silk scarf) is coming tonight for a visit then tomorrow I'm meeting another friend for a gift exchange and Wednesday I'll be traveling to NL. At least I've got a 6 hour train ride to get some more done. I also need to package up some presents for himself and neefje steefje.

My new neefje or nichtje (dutch diminuative form for nephew or niece) hasn't arrived as yet. He or she was supposed to say hello to the world yesterday but probably wants to be called Noel or Carol so is waiting for Christmas day. We'll see.

Well I'm off to get on with some work now. Will do some knitting on my next break (hopefully the yarn will be dry by then)

In case I don't get to post beforehand. Have a great Christmas and an excellent new year when it comes and as we say in some parts of Scotland "Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr."

Stuck for words

Well I was stuck for words and I was being lazy about blogging AND I've also been kind of busy with work, play, visitors and visiting. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

the picture above is of a WIP scarf for yours truly here. I need a new one as my scarf from 2 years ago is getting a bit tatty. Time for a homeless person to benefit from it if they want it that is. Anyway the above scarf is in a fake Noro from Karstadt's own brand. Its a merino and silk mix (no polymide or other plastic in it) and was only 3.50 euries per ball so I bought 5 although on knitting it up, I only think I'll need 3 max but I can always make mitts and a hat to match. The pattern is some sort of multi-coloured brioche stitch. The pattern is called the inside out scarf and you can get it here. I didn't stick to the pattern (as usual) and added a few extra stitches. I cast on 37 in total. I kind of need a nice thick and wide scarf for cycling to work in the mornings.

Other knitting things have happened. Loads of socks have been knitted and sent to their recipients. Including the half pair which was given to my best friend at home in Scotland. She insisted on a full pair until I assured her that the other one was still on the needles and that she would get it very soon so she gracefully accepted one sock and a promise that she would have a full pair before Christmas.

I'm off to NL next week for work. Not looking forward to that but that's another story. Staying with a friend there who wants to knit so at least I'll have some sort of fun.

Will try to blog on a more regular basis. I promise.....Yeah yeah, we've all heard that one before.

WIP Wrestling and Shawl Crawling

falkenberg2
Originally uploaded by BerlinerBabe

I'm signed up for 2 events on the Ravelrympics which is to be honest, a bit over ambitious for me. I've also signed up for the group 'over committed' which appears to reflect my knitting character extremely accurately. Actually not just knitting. I'm over committed to all of my craft projects. At least the ravelympics is kind of keeping me on the straight and narrow for a change although I am still project, social life and gym juggling but hey that's what makes life interesting.

The blue thing in the photo is where I'd got to with the Hanne Falkenberg I bought a while ago before getting annoyed with the german instructions and bannishing it to the naughty corner. Its now decided to behave and now that I've read the instructions about 40, I'm begining to get used to them the jacket is knitting up quite nicely now. I'm on the increases for he back and collar. Looooooong rows of plain knitting which is fairly useful when you're watching the olympics. Its also my WIP Wrestling team project. I've still to start the shawl crawl project but I'm saving that for the final stretch.

My favorite event so far is the swimming. I keep hoping that big headed American, what's his name, no not Bush, Phelps. That's it. That he'll get beaten by some obscure swimmer from a tiny wee country but he keeps winning. I suppose its swings and round-a-bouts. I mean last time round it was the dutch and the aussies who cleaned the medal cupboard out. This time round its the U.S.
I'm quite glad that van der Hoogenband isnt' swiming this year. In 2004 I was geting earache from all of the mispronounciactions of his name. That and Inge de Bruijn. Actually the dutch swimmers should just change there name to something everyone can pronounce. It would make the life of the commentators a lot easier.

I've also been on my travels again and brought back loads of goodies from Liberty's. I managed to get 20 balls of Rowan damask for 20 quid and 10 balls of kid silk night for 18.75 or something equally as ridiculous in price. If that's not enough to make the average knitter jealous as hell. I'm off to Bayern in October for.... well for work really but I managed to plan it so that it coincided with the Wollfest again. Sneaky or what? I've already e-mailed the Wollmeise to warn her of the Berlin sacking of her stall. Well maybe not quite but I do expect to be coming back to Berlin with a trolley case full to bursting and yes I will be bringing back goodies for the stricktreffers so don't worry.

Then to really rub salt into the wounds. I'm off to the big craft fair in Brimingham in November. It should be good. Last time I went in Scotland I came out with nothing. I was really dissapointed so went on a spending spree at John Lewis to cheer me up. The rowan rep there is really nice and she told me about the big fair in Birmingham and that a lot of wool suppliers only go there and don't bother with the Scottish one. Well if Mohamed won't come to the mountain then this Scottish Ben (Scottish for mountain) will go there. Hmph.

Chrismitts

I've finished my first pair of Chrismitts. That's my christmas mittens project. Okay I know that its July and that the temperatures are in the 30's but who cares. If I want to knit everyone mittens for christmas 2008 then quite honestly, I should have started in July 2007. Anyway. I'm well chuffed with the result of these ones. The pattern is from the Selbuvotter book and I really like it. These are knitted in Lang's sock wool and Wollmeise's rhubarb (rabarber in german I think). I like the colour change of the contrast colour. It makes the knitting interesting.

I think the next ones will be gloves and at the same time I still need to get Frank's NEC/St Pauli mittens finished. Well I've always got a million projects on at the same time so another one won't make any difference. I know that once I've done those then there will more than likely be a request for another pair for a couple of his friends who are die hard NEC and StPauli fans but they can wait till everyone else has their mittens, socks, jumpers, shawls and a few things which I would like to knit for me.

I've not yet added piccies from our holiday on the bikes but I will try and remember to do that tonight or tomorrow. I also need to update ravelry with some project, stash and other stuff photies. I'm diversing again. We didn't quite make it back to Berlin on the bikes but we did get to the old east/west border and then got the train back from Hizenacker or whatever its called. my achillies got rather sore which is why we stopped there. Otherwise it was straight up the Elbe and then onto the Havel and futher to Berlin but I suppose these things happen. I would still like to do the rest of the journey. Maybe do Berlin Hizenacker or something.

I'm off to Stricktreff now as its Wednesday and its stricktreff and that's what I like to do on Wednesday's.

Kip day

Me on ameland knitting in my rugby gear. Playing again tomorrow and knitting too probably.

Schlepping Projects

I thought I would post my latest schlepping (carry round) WIP. Its waving lace socks from the favorite socks book and its in wollmeise Storm. I frogged the waving lace in wollery dopio (rusty red colour) as I've heard that it shrinks in the wash and I'm a 'if the socks can't get washed in the washing machine then I'm not knitting them' kind of girl so off to the frog pond they went. I think the wool is much more suited to a shawl or even the colour bits in my mittens and gloves for everyone's christmas project. I've still to start that but I intend to while I'm on my hollibags. The holiday knitting should be the above mentioned socks and mittens and maybe if I'm lucky, I might pick up something along the way.

Also I've kind of split my knitting into types of project. Home projects and Schlepping round with me projects. At home there are various things OTN and the little amount of time I've been spending at home lately I've been working on that Anne Falkenberg thing. Its easy knitting especially with the loooooooong rows of knit stitch. I don' t have to concentrate too much. Not like in the begining. And to break up the monotony, I have my schlepping projects.

I know that most folks will be meeting up and knitting somewhere in the sun this weekend however, I'll be on a beach in the middle of a rugby tournament knitting in between games. Should be fun and I will try to keep the sand out of the wool although since I can't keep the sand out of my bag usually I've not got much chance. After that we're off on our bikes again. This time from NL back to Berlin. Should be fun and not very hilly so we might have a chance of actually reaching our destination. We won't be doing the direct route which is a bit boring but the coastal route and well, if we get bored or saddle sore, we can always jump on a train back to Berlin or to somewhere sunny.

I'm still gym bunnying away but the numbers on the scales keep going up the way. Hoping that's to do with the weather and not the increased consumption of ice-cream. Well it is hot

I'm back

Yep its me, in my motorhead baseball hat and the vertrans 10's trophy. I am actually old enough to play the vets rugby now (yes but I look like a wee spring chicken and no arguments about that)but for our tournament I'm the wrong sex so I just got to pretend for a bit.
The tournament went really well. I got 20 womens teams in so I was really chuffed and top notch teams they were too. I got to go on a boat trip with the Mens South African national 7's team which was excellent fun and the lads were really really nice. I also managed to do the announcements for the Women's European Championship games which kicked off on the Saturday night. By the time it had all finished on Sunday I was so tired, i couldn't even drink beer. Actually that's not entirely true. I could drink beer, just not Heineken. I hate the stuff now. I think my tastebuds are now in tune with the more refined german stuff. Anyway, everyone worked really hard and my mates Tessa and Sarah are stars :o) coz they ran me around, put me up and generally just helped me out loads.

I got absolutely no knitting done almost the whole time I was in A'dam. I did knit on the way there though. I started a sock which I had to frog as it was too big but that was it. Before I went I finished the swallow tail shawl in KSN purple stuff with glitter. Photo will follow when I get around to blocking it. I slept near enough the whole way back on the train so no knitting done there but since I've been back I've done 1.5 socks. I've had visitors as well and I do feel that I'm not paying them enough attention if I sit and knit while they're here. This weekend I have some more visitors and I need to get 0.5 of the other sock finished before they arrive as the socks are a sort of belated b'day pressie for one of them. Hopefully I'll get the top part of the sock finished tonight.

My wish to turn into a gym bunny is slowly working, I'm just trying now to work up the courage to get my knitting out while on the exercise bike as I feel it cuts down on my hobby time. I mean I don't mind reading while I'm on the bike but I'm not sure about knitting yet. I have read knitting books and patterns while cycling to nowhere so the next logical step would be to whip out the pins and knit in time to the pedals. We'll see.

Book Quiz and stuff.

Was at stricktreff last night and it was great fun. I did more treffing than stricking as I made a mistake with the swallowtail shawl. Yes I've moved on already. The other stuff has not been forgotten but I'd been sorting out my stash when I came across some lovely kid silk night in a purpley plum colour. It was there sparkling and blinking at me saying 'knit me please' so i did. I'm on the 2nd graph of lilly of the valley lace and I don't like it. I'm glad that there is only a few more rows to go before that stops. I think its the yarn and the needles that makes it all the more difficult to purl 5 together on the return rows.

I'm also turning into a gym bunny (Well I'm trying) I went last night before stricktreff and got myself a new training schedule. This one involves coming to the gym 5 times per week and bouncing around on the cross trainer rather a lot. I did 30 mins on the cross trainer and 30 mins on the bike, sweated like a pig and felt great afterwards. Although my toes did go slightly numb. Maybe once some kilos have gone, they won't go as numb. Also I need to be perfectly honest with myself. I DO have time to go 5 times per week. I mean what else do I do apart from sit at home and knit? And to make it less tedious - yes bouncing around on the cross trainer can be very tedious - I've to break up the training days, so 2 days off per week and not one after the other. This does mean that I have to go to the gym at some point over the weekend. Fingers crossed that I manage to keep it up.

I got this from SaRi's blog and thought that it would be fun. Quite appropriate book concidering the gym bunny stuff and the fact that I do talk about rabbits :o)

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Wips

This is my current WIP. Its Laminaria from knitty. I'm not putting in the link coz the blog police always think that I'm a spam blogger and cut me off for weeks at a time. Okay so that was a slight exaggeration and its normally only for a couple of days at a time but its a pain especially when you're an infrequent blogger like myself. The wool is from Wollmeise in deepest darkest Bayern and the colour is Pfauen fädern I think. They are really pretty colours when in the skein but I'm not so sure about them now that they're knitted. I think this might be a present for someone. We'll see.
I've also decided I like the term Work in Progress or WIP much better than UFO. In that case I have tonnes of them. Another WIP (started yesterday) is the Hanna Valkenberg or however you spell her name's Gloria. Its kind of petroly blue colours and very nice. Its kind of wierd to knit and they didn't have the english pattern so I'm knitting auf deutsch but its going okay so far. Its quite complicated but the woman in the shop was right. Just follow the instructions to the letter and it works. Because I'm having to concentrate on the german thing, I'm not making as many mistakes as I normally would with a new style of knitting so I would strike the 'its going okay' and change it to ' I'm quite pleased so far'. We'll see how far I get with it before i get bored again.
Fank's boat warmers are finished. Well his feet are the size of boats so the socks can be classed as boat warmers.
Off to sort out some 7's stuff now. One cancellation and one other team from the waiting list in, Its going well.

Phone mitten

This is my new phone mit. Most folks have phone socks but not me. I've got a wee latvian mit.
Okay so it was originally knitted for neefje steefje but he won't mind coz he's too big for it already and I only knitted one. I've got a wonderful new phone and I can blog instantly from it so I might just be able to keep this up to date for a change.

What's been happening lately? Too much if truth be told. One funeral after another, one business trip after another etc and not enough time either in Berlin or with the knitting needles

On a more positive note, my Mum retired and had a great retirement party. She got some really nice presents and is so far enjoying every minute of being retired. The first official day of retirement, I dragged her into a bookies to pick up my winnings from the Scotland v England game at Murrayfield (yes I was there and Scotland won). Its the first time she'd ever been inside a bookies in her life.

AAC (my old rugby team in amsterdam) won the championships after a fantastic final against Tilburg. I even got to run out onto the pitch with the team. Okay so that was by accident and I had a couple of beers in my hand at the time. I also I got rather inebriated during the celebrations and lost my lovely pink phone, hence the reason for my new lovely phone which isn't pink but it does have a phone mitten.

Jules and the Beaniestalk

Once Upon a Time in a land far, far away lived a young (no comments on my choice of adjective here please) knitter named Julie. She loved to knit and had many, many projects on the go at one time. Some might say that she was a project butterfly as she would flit from one to the other.
One fine winter's day while cycling to work, she realised that her ears were frozen solid and decided that she would knit herself some sort of device for keeping her ears toastie warm so that they wouldn't fall off. After finishing her work for the day, she cycled home and looked up patterns on the internet and to her delight she found the pattern for Calometry.
Immediately she cast on the stitches with some very precious yarn and knitted the whole thing in one go, sewed on a button and Bob's your Auntie, she had a headthing that would keep her ears toastie warm throughout the winter. What she didn't realise is that this wonderful yarn was magic and that each time she wore the headthing, it would grow and grow and grow.
After wearing it a couple of times and having her ears kept toastie warm she noticed that she had to use the next button hole along, and then the next and the next until after StrickMittwoch at the Aurum, even though she had her head thing on, her ears were no longer toastie and there was a force 10 hurricane blowing along between the head thing and her ears. This would not do at all and she struggled home on her bike regardless of the cold wind biting at her ears.
Once home and warm she grabbed the magic headthing and wrestled with it untill it started to unravel. She wrestled and wrestled until it was neatly wound into a ball then set about designing a beanie hat with holes in it for her pigtails. That done, she cast on with the magic yarn once again but this time with only 80 stitches in a 2x2 rib in the round and once 2.5 inches (6cm) was knitted, she made 2, 1 row button holes exactly where her pigtails should go. She's now nearly finished the Beaniestalk and is looking forward to wearing it all through the winter, having toastie ears again and living happily ever after with the rest of her projects

TADAAAAA!!!!!

I did it, I got the head thingie done in a one sit knit and it fits and its warm and I've fallen in lurv with Noro Silk Garden.

I bought that skien a looooooong time ago and its been waiting for the right project to grab its attention. I think I bought the skien about 3 years ago and I just bought one for petting purposes as its kind of expensive. Anyway my ears will be toastie on the way to work. I can fit my headphones under the calorimetry thing and I can keep the pigtails. I've got a really nice baker's boy hat but I have to put my piggintails lower than usual and I don't like to. Either that I have to wear my hair down and I don't like that either. I feel already that me and my headthing are going to be very good friends this winter.

Oh and I've made a strange discovery. Well bunny has made the discovery, I just witnessed it. She likes apple and ginger tea. I had a cup of it sitting next to me on the floor which had gone cold. She stuck her head in the cup and started drinking. Strange bunny. Anyway I put some in a wee bowl for her so that she doesn't get her head stuck in the mug. It was bad enough of her doing the superman impression with the paper shopping bag, having to take her to the vet with a mug on her head would not be good.

Shopping around

It really does pay off. I know that you may wonder at the title of the book I just ordered (see photo to the left) but its one of my knitting things so don't wonder too much about it but you can guess what everyone is getting next year for christmas.

Anyway, this little piece of advice covers books and other items which you may want to purchase online. I ordered this from Amazon.com and got it including shipping for €23.35 which in comparison with what I can get it for on the Amazon.uk or .de is a complete bargin. UK want £27 (approx €34) and DE want €35 for it and that's not including shipping fees so I've managed to save myself.....think....think....think....10 beers if buying at the rugby club on a training night, 6 small beers if buying at the Village Voice and 4 large beers if buying at the Oscars.

Its stricktreff on Saturday at the Opern Café and since its like knitting at the cinema (loud and dark) I'll take along some mindless knitting. That way, when I get back home and discover all of the mistakes, I can easily correct them. I'm making it sound like torture which isn't true. The company is good, the cakes are yummy and its a lot of fun.

I've just printed out the pattern to Calorimetry which would make a good one skien wonder project for me. I'll add it to my ravelry thing and tonight I'm gonig to break my 'finish one thing before I start another' rule coz I reckon that I can knit that quite quickly and use it before my ears freeze off.

Right I'm off home to cast on.