Dying instead of painting

Ok, so since I couldn't paint the kitchen this weekend, once we'd been shopping for some wires so that Boyf could do the wiring for the lights (which is going to be changed now) I decided to join in a dye-along.

I'm in a group on Ravelry called I'd Dye for Britain - it's for British dyers to talk about dying, among other things.
Anyway, they're having a dye-along. So, I decided to join in.
The rules are that you can only use primary colours (red, yellow, blue) to make other colours for your yarn.
I started with some yarn that I got through another group, UKarma.
Then I slapped on the food colour-vinegar-water mix.
Then I cooked it in the steamer.(not shown)
Then I hung it out to dry.
Once it is dry I'll re-skein it.

I'm a Little Plastered

(Another Kitchen Update)
So, the plasterer has finished and we now have to wait for the plaster to dry. Which is going to take a while because it's pretty thick in places. We've got the dehumidifier on in there, but it's still going to take most of the week to dry out. Sigh. (Yes, that's the same corner as last time, and the time before. Boyf keeps taking that same photo, which is great for comparisons!)

There was also a mishap.
(Sorry about all the crap outside, we still haven't taken everything to the tip yet. Perhaps tomorrow if it's dry enough!) Anyway, we're working out what to do about the window. I've already called my insurer and a guy is coming out to us on Monday. Of course they only work office hours, so Boyf is going to be late in to work. Whether they're going to fix it on Monday morning or not is anyone's guess. Shame they couldn't come at the same time as the floor people, who will be here on Wednesday to measure up. After that it's a week for the floor to be ordered. That means I should still have time to paint all the walls before the floor goes down.

Kitchen Update, Part 2

This morning we had removed everything from the kitchen ready for the plasterer. And then he filled all the holes and levelled everything out. Can't wait to see it finished tomorrow! Then it will be all ready to be painted (or, when it's dry it will...)

Seems like Monthly then...

Yeah, I know, no updates for a while. I've been busy!

Anyway, here I am.

So, what's been going on? Well, I went to Woolfest. Around this I wrapped a week away in the lake district. Beautiful part of the country by the way.
We started off going to Cambridgeshire, to visit Boyf's folks and friends. It was Livestock again (I'm sure I've mentioned it before) I thought it was better this year, though that could be down to the cherry beer I was drinking rather than pints o' wine. Anyway...
After that we headed off up the M6. Like, literally the whole way up the M6. We stopped off at Stafford Castle, which is approximately half way. We spent three nights in Bowness on Windermere, which is a lovely little town on the side of the lake. We spent a day in Kendal. I have a couple of points to make about Kendal:

1. The one way system is horrible if you're not big on driving. Take a bus.
2. The Chocolate shop is amazing, go there and have chocolate instead of lunch.
3. The Quaker Tapestry is beautiful. They also have an amazing quilt there, and the garden is lovely and peaceful. You can't take pictures inside so you'll have to take my word for it. Go there. (They do have a cafe which is meant to be good too, but we didn't try it after all the chocolate!)

I'm sure there's loads more to do, but that's my impression of Kendal.

We also spent a day on the lake, on a big tour boat and got sunburned. (No pictures of that I'm afraid)

When we set off for our next destination, we went via Coniston to see the Bluebird exhibition in the Ruskin Museum. That was really interesting. They also had some local lace samples and local wool products available there. (Herdy too, which is a new initiative using Herdwick wool, that's the breed of sheep Beatrix Potter was interested in) and then on to the Bond Museum in Keswick. We also went to the Cars of the Stars exhibition. If you only have time to do one of those, go to the Bond museum. Neither takes more than an hour or so, but the Bond museum is much more interesting, and the staff were nicer.

We then spent three nights in Cockermouth, which is where Woolfest happens. More on that soon.
We arrived in Cockermouth on the Thursday night and had plenty of time to check out local eateries. We found a great little Mediterranean cafe for lunch (we had lunch there twice!) and the restaurants were all lovely too! There's a real-ale microbrewery pub called the Bitter End. It's a lovely town, and is central for walking and cycling too. (We didn't do much walking due to it being so hot, and no cycling.)
So, Friday?
Friday was Woolfest
Woolfest is organised by a cooperative in Cumbria called the Wool Clip. It's a place where all things fibery come together under one roof. There were sheep, alpaca, angora goats, angora rabbits, more sheep, spinning wheels and supplies, so much yarn in so many beautiful colours, both dyed and undyed. I had a blast.
I met some other knitters who like Howies clothing.
And I bought a haul! Much fun!

On the Saturday we went for a bit of a walk, and then on to the Jennings brewery for a tour. It was an interesting tour, I'd recommend it. You also get beer, so Boyf would recommend it too.

-o0o-

So, moving on, what's going on now?
Well, I have 10 projects on the needles, officially. I'm only working on a couple though. The one I want to mention is inspired by my haul at woolfest, and also by the Log Cabin blanket that Yarn Harlot is making. I'm using one of each rare breed yarn to make a square-pattern cushion. (a throw is beyond my patience and budget for this yarn!) The lightest one is Wensleydale, the darkest is Jacob, The dark grey is Herdwick and the light grey that's in progress is Swaledale. Cool huh?
I'm finding YH's explanation about the difference between "pick up" and "pick up and knit" to be invaluable, so it's here, if you're doing anything where you need to pick up stitches you should check it out (unless you already know the difference!)

Well, that's all folks.

Geek Love

If you've ever been asked out by a geek, you might have heard one of these:
Twitter to 10 Geek pickup lines

My Favourite is:
Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, All my base are belong to you

(though I think the Joss Whedon one rocks!)

As Promised... Kitchen Update

We're renovating our kitchen, as I have mentioned. Here's how it looked a month ago (we'd removed one door at this point, but nothing more) So, we ripped out that cupboard so that the plumber could get to the pipes to move the boiler... And then, last weekend we finally sorted ourselves out and ripped out everything but the sink. This weekend my folks are coming up to help us with the electrics and plumbing. Then we need to get it plastered, painted, the new kitchen built and fitted, worktops ordered and cut, appliances (we only have some) ordered and delivered, floor ripped up and floor underneath revealed, restored and sorted... not much left then!? Haha.

In the meantime, we're officially on holiday from next Thursday. Depending on the kitchen status we might be in Cambs on the Saturday/Sunday, then we're near Lake Windermere for three days followed by three days in Cockermouth with Woolfest on the Friday.

Finished Sweaters...

I finished Corsica at last. Here it is.
I read that the sleeves run small, and indeed they do. Though it could partly be the fact that I didn't get gauge as well as I could have (it should have been fine after washing...)
Anyway, the pattern isn't to blame, I think. I underestimated the size of my bust, I over estimated the length of my arms and the cast off needs re-doing for stretch. And frankly, I don't like the fit. The V-neck is too high for my liking, the cable band doesn't sit under my bust (because I underestimated the size of my bust, as I said) and though the cables look great, I'm just not happy with the sweater.
So despite the many hours of knitting that have gone into the sweater, I'm going to frog it and knit something else with the yarn. I'm planning to make a top-down raglan and use the yarn at a DK gauge. I'm going to make it up though, so it could be interesting!

I did make a top I'm happy with though, this one:
This is using Rowan Pure Wool Aran leftovers from Boyf's sweater. 6.5mm needles, top down raglan using the Shug This pattern from one skein wonders (and free online)

Busy Bank Holiday Weekend?

For us it was.
We visited my folks on the Saturday and bought some exciting local food and such while we were there. Smashing black pudding and raisin sausages, Lincoln Blue cheese (yum!) and flour from the local mill (yes, a real windmill!)
Earlier on Saturday I had received a parcel of two sticks.
So we went to B&Q and bought some pots for the sticks (they'll be roses when they grow up).
While we were there I got a little carried away, and we bought compost (we did need that) some lettuce plants and a herb set. (pictured: herbs)
And then, well then I really got carried away... And what did look like this: Now looks like this: On the up-side, there's plenty of room for me to plant more things (the Lettuces are going in next to the rather sad looking flowery thing in front of the ex-bush, but I need to protect them from slugs...)
I think it's lots better, and the garden looks bigger.
This weekend, I'm planting some pak-choi seeds in pots and ripping out a kitchen, or starting to. I'm planning on photo diary-ing the kitchen renovation.

Lost somewhere...

I've not blogged for a while. I can't say I've missed it. I've had lots of fun things (and some not so fun things) to be doing, so that's a good reason for not blogging. It's not like I get paid for blogging! Ahaha.

So, anyway... Check these out: These are 100% natural materials. They're wool on top (wicked tweed, no?) and have coconut husks in them, as well as natural (ethically sourced) latex. Spot on.
They're boyfy's new shoes. He's bedding them in at the moment.

Also... A new FO! These are the VioletGreen waterfalls socks, using VG yarn too! Woo! I'm really pleased with them.
Pattern: Waterfalls, from Violet Green.
Yarn: Violet Green Socrates 4ply
Needles: 2.5mm Modifications: None, really. I did the second sock in reverse colours to the first.

And lots of new yarn.
1. Fyberspates British Merino, 2. VG Lace, 3. Fyberspates British Merino Sock, 4. Fyberspates Nef Lace, 5. Red Handspun

Seriously?

Wow, I had to blog this article
I really hope that this is a tongue-in-cheek sarcastic article (I know, it’s American and they get sarcasm about as well as they get irony, in general)
I love the idea of an organic veggie garden at the White House – that’s what I’d do if I had all that space! No, the article must be a send up. Right?

It's been a while...

...ten days in fact.

I spent last weekend in Bristol for a friend's birthday. Because I hadn't been to Bristol before, and because it was a four hour train journey to get there, OH and I decided to make a weekend of it. He was already on a course in Gloucestershire. He organised the hotel (so I didn't have to worry about it), he told me to get a cab from the station.
So, I had the rudest cabbie in the world! I got in (after my 4 hours on the train) and asked him for the Marriott Hotel, the one near the cathedral. He says, "which one love, you tell me" - I was astounded. I got my bit of paper out and confirmed the address. But seriously, it was right next to the cathedral and it's not like there's more than one cathedral in Bristol! What a pain!
The hotel, on the other hand, was fab. It was beautiful, the bed was massive, the room was nice and well furnished, clean, etc.
Our friend had offered to make us chilli for tea. After all the journeying that was very welcome. We got a bit lost trying to find the flat, but we got there in the end. The chilli was very nice, and we had a lovely chat before heading back for bed.

The hotel breakfast was great! I had full English, croissants, fruit and a smoothie, tea and orange juice!
Since we were in Bristol, I had to make a trip to Get Knitted in Brislington. We got a £3.70 bus ticket which allowed us to travel on the buses all day. Get Knitted was awesome! They have everything! Literally!
I bought some Malabrigo and some Blue Sky Alpacas Silk and Alpaca. This is the Alpaca. The Malabrigo is already on the way to being a VLT scarf. Both are lush. I was tempted to buy so many things, but those really grabbed me!
Bus drivers in Bristol, unlike the Cabbie, were all amazing. They'd tell people which stops were for what, and were chipper in the face of hail storms and rude people. Smashing! Well done Bristol Bus Drivers!

Then we went to the zoo. We met a butterfly with good taste in yarn and saw gorillas and penguins and lemurs. Our camera died so some of the photos were taken with my phone. 1. Pelican, 2. Meercats?, 3. Clifton Suspension Bridge, 4. SS Great Britain, 5. Butterflies, 6. Butterflies, 7. Flamingo, 8. Pygmie Hippo, 9. Penguins

Karaoke on the Saturday night was great! The SS Great Britain and the Clifton Bridge were Sunday visits before our more-than-four-hour train journey home.
I've been a bit under the weather since then, so not much blogging.

Anyway, I'm off back to my malabrigo now. TTFN.

Stst

Sometimes all you want is stockinette. I have several projects on the go which are complicated in some way (cables, lace and slip-stitch-colourwork).

Although I enjoy knitting these, they’re not really ideal for television-knitting (or pub knitting to some degree). February is now over, and March is not for Finishing. So I cast on some more socks. I decided to use some of the yarn I dyed myself last year. I’ve decided to make plain socks, loosely based on the Yarn Harlot’s sock recipe. I’m using “It’s black, Jim”. I dyed that one using black food colouring (and pink and green) but the black separated out into purples and browns and even electric blue in one place. It’s knitting up into 1-row stripes, if I can find the camera* I’ll take a photo.

OH is off on a course at the moment. It’s very odd having the house to myself. Even though I’m free to play on the consoles or use both computers at once, or whatever, I decided to catch up on my recorded telly and knit the plain sock. I watched Who Do You Think You Are, which was pretty good, then two episodes of CSI:CSI. I’m now caught up, nothing left on the box to watch.

* I remember having it in my bag in Cambridgeshire, and we took it to Edinburgh but failed to use it...

Bad Blogger

Ah, I had a massive post full of stuff to talk about, but it seems a bit old mostly. So, here are some nice pictures for you. To summarise:
I participated in the Igor swap on Ravelry and got really spoiled. P&E's wedding was fun. The shawl looked good. I have new glasses. Progress has been made on the sweater(s) and socks. I cast on some new socks on March 1st. I'm at the heel - they're just plain socks. I can do it from memory now I think. We got a new telly, since the old one blew up. OH got a haircut.
That's it really.

Bother

I was planning on knitting the sleeves for corsica in a magic-loop-two-at-a-time fashion. It's not to be. The circumference is just too small.
And I don't have any 5mm dpns.
Or at least, I can't find any. I have some Brittany ones, but I think they're 5.5mm anyway.
Boo.
So, I am either going to buy some 5mm needles tomorrow or on Saturday. Depending on whether I end up with ten-bazillion meetings tomorrow.

At least I still have other things to knit, it would be a disaster if this were all I had for February is for finishing and I couldn't knit on it!

Presto Chango Finished!

Pattern:Presto Chango
Yarn: Patons UK Washed Haze Aran
Needles: 5mm
Modifications: I made the second panel just plain stockinette.
If I were to make it again, I would probably arrange it so that I could graft the sleeve joins, and possibly knit the rest in the round. But that's just to avoid seaming!
(more updates soon!)

Loads to Blog about

I do indeed have loads to blog about, from my latest Discworld swap to weddings to progress on Corsica.
But, not tonight. It's late and I'm officially on holiday.
Which probably means no blogging until next week, when I'll be back at work and grouchy.
Oh well.

[edit]
February is still for finishing, so I've not cast on anything new despite all the scrummy new yarn. I hope to finish the socks before Feb is out.

Goal Completed

Yes, that's right, I've completed one of my 5 New Year Goals!
Double My Squat Weight: Done!
Today at they gym I did four sets of squats. One set of 8 and one of 10 at 37.5kg, one set of 10 at 45kg, then I was feeling strong! So, I did a fourth set, 10 reps at 50kg! Woo! That's over two thirds of my body weight! Brilliant!
I also did one full push up. Though that seems poor, I haven't been able to do even one before, I currently do "ladies" push ups, on the fronts of my knees.
So, I'm setting myself some more fitness goals, outside of this initial double squat lift. Basically I want to up my Squat again, I'm aiming for about 70 in the end I think (which is what OH currently squats) and also to be able to do one set of 5 full push ups.

In knitting news, the first waterfall sock is finished. I'm calling the project falling down, a bit like the film (I often feel like that) and also because the stitches look like they're falling down.

Last day at work before my holiday tomorrow. It will probably be hectic, it usually is just before a holiday. Then I have a week and a half off! Woo! Into that time we are packing: OH birthday (same day as Darwin's, only OH is not that old), visiting OH's family, visiting a relative we didn't know about before, a wedding, sightseeing in London (hopefully including some ethical fashion, ethical eating, yarn and Darwin), visiting my parents, a trip to the Yorvik centre, at least one other day-trip somewhere, and finally a trip to Edinburgh to see friends. We had intended to shoehorn a trip to Amsterdam in there too, but I don't think we can manage it, so we might have to re-plan that one. Phew!

589

Other than the baby jacket, which I have photographed but not uploaded, there is not much knitting news.
In fact, there’s not much news at all. I am very close to meeting my target of doubling my squat weight, as I said in this post my previous best was 25kg. I am currently on 45kg. I think that’s pretty good!
I’m doing less well on the “lose girth” objective, as I’ve not lost any girth, and in fact may have increased of late. This makes me sad. I guess I need to change something else; eat less or go to the gym more, for example. Ho hum.

I’ve not knit much on the sweater (goal 4) since I last mentioned it because last night I knit on a travelling scarf! I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, it looks funky. So, that one will be going in the post around the 23rd I think. (I’m a bit ahead of schedule!)
And, I took Mum’s cardi to knit-night, which was a good idea! I got quite a bit done, and it was simple enough to knit and talk at the same time. That’s good news for the cardi!

Also, I did collect my specs, I didn’t organise a photo of me in them yet. I’ll talk nicely to OH sometime.

PS. This is my 589th post, so in 11 posts time I will have made 600 posts on this blog. Since I have no idea how far my readership spans (there may only be one of you out there – hello Sis – or several, or many) I probably will not have a contest, as much fun as that might be. If you have an idea how I could commemorate the milestone (or if you think I should wait for 1000, or a blogoversary) then stick in a comment.

27 days and counting...

Yikes! You wouldn’t believe how much I want to cast on something new! It’s madness! It’s not like I don’t have enough to knit, and yet I find myself surfing my queue on Ravelry trying to find a sweater pattern (or cardi, shrug etc) for my Noro Kureyon (8 balls, 880 yards) and wondering whether it’s cheating to cast on a new pair of socks. The odd thing is that I actually like all of the things I’m currently knitting!

My Yarn Harlot “Never Not Knitting” Calendar today talks about Groundhog Day, and how progress on a sweater can be likened to Groundhog Day. By this reckoning, and based on the progress of the sweater, I can predict that there will be six more weeks of winter (during which time I will not have finished the sweater and will therefore be cold)

I am thoroughly enjoying the waterfall socks pattern. Sadly, it’s not really easy enough to knit on the bus (which leads me to want to pick a new sock pattern for bus knitting… sigh) but it’s spot on for lunchtime. I get somewhere between six and ten rounds done at lunch, depending on how fast I eat (which leaves me differing lengths of time to knit) and on how much I’m concentrating. Also if someone talks to me I tend to slow down or stop.

And the snow is mostly melted, on the paths at least. All that fuss… I guess it must be much worse everywhere else, right?

February is for Finishing (again)

Last February I took part in February is for Finishing. I'm doing the same again this year. I've got a few projects on the needles at the moment, so here's what I'll be working on.

Mum's cardigan in James C Brett Kool Kotton in turquoise.	The Mittens, alpaca yarn in charcoal and pink
The "Falling Down" socks in Violet Green merino using the Waterfalls sock pattern.	Corsica sweater in Noro Cash Iroha in green.

In the unlikely event that I finish all of those items, there's always the blanket which I will one day finish.
So, wish me luck!