I love little feet

I have finished the Hedera!

Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A
Yarn: Hand dyed Trekking XXL. Colourway: Summer Pudding
Size: Shoe size 3 (UK)
Knit for: Me!
Comments: My first lace socks and my first attempt at hand dying. I adore these socks even though the heel flap is too long so the fit isn't great. I'm not so enamoured with the pooling of the colours but you live and learn!

Having such little feet has many advantages, one being that socks are fairly quick to knit, another is that you have lots of yarn left over:

How cute are these?

Pattern: Opal Yarn basic sock
Yarn: Hand dyed Trekking XXL. Colouway: Summer Pudding
Size: Shoe size 3.5F Toddler(UK)
Knit for: Beth
Comments: None except I love these! So quick to knit, less than 8 hours total knitting!

Untangled and tasty!

Well here is my spaghetti, hand dyed with Kool-Aid. I have 'designed' (oooh, look at me...'designed'....how posh!) this yarn to self stripe over a 60st sock. Will cast on later so pics in a few days.

Well, hopefully a few days, as I plan on trying 'toe-up' socks!

Spaghetti anyone?

Doesn't look very appetising does it?

I have spent 8 hours, yes 8 hours, today unravelling this bl**dy mess! I had hoped to try dying some self striping sock yarn this afternoon. So last night I set up my skein, 405 inches long, down the hallway, over the stair gate and into the kitchen. yarn everywhere!

Before I knew it there were tangles everywhere you looked. And this is not the first time it's happened!

I NEED A NIDDY NODDY!!! Wouldn't you agree?

All welcome!

0-120 come on in!

I must work harder, I felt sure my blog must be at least a guidance rating!! What's your rating?

Lead us not into temptation!

Be warned, this post is full of temptation!

I have decided that I'm not getting enough traffic through my blog. I also know that I've got a reader in the Chicago area that checks my blog almost daily. So, in an attempt to entice more people this way and to encourage my reader in Chicago to leave a comment saying hello, here are some lovelies:


Is it getting close to bedtime? How about some milk and brownies?




Or is it midmorning where you are? Can I interest you in coffee and cupcakes?

Maybe it's mid afternoon? Any takers for tea and flapjack?

I've been busy baking for Beth's nursery summer fayre! If only all my wip's were so easy to finish and so wonderfully satisfying!!

A Dilemma...

To knit or to blog/read blogs?

That's what I have to choose between each evening and invariably reading blogs wins! I just love to be nosy..peeking into other people's lives. That's why I love the autumn when you walk down the street at dusk before people have drawn their curtains but their lights are already on.

The trouble is that this is supposed to be a knitting blog but there has been little knitting going on:

3 inches of the 2nd Hedera

The booga bag is felted and dried. It's the one on the right and I'm not happy with it. It's too small and I hate hate hate the colours! It's for a friend who loved mine (on the left) but I'm not sure she's going to be pleased with hers.

MS3 Clue 1 is done!! Finally! I'm actually very pleased with it, I think the cashmere really works well and the yarnovers are nice and clear. On to Clue 2 now, hoping I can catch up in the 2 week break whilst everyone else is reading Harry Potter.

Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

Where does the time go? Please, if you know, let me know cos I sure as Heck, don't have a clue! One minute the alarm is going off and next minute I'm climbing back into bed at the end of the day feeling absolutely wiped out! I guess it doesn't help having a 16 month old who has been quite poorly in the last few days (and nights!) but I'm cream crackered!!

Anyways, due to little pickle's illness, work and household chores, I haven't had alot of 'me' time which roughly translates into 'knitting time'.

I have about 12 inches of the i-cord handle to do before I can felt the booga bag.

I have finally, today, cast on for the very lonely Hedera's sibling.

MS3 is going very very slowly indeed! The trouble with it is that I need to be able to concentrate entirely on it. That means if Beth wants to read or Jomp's wants to talk, MS3 is an absolute no-no! I haven't even finished Clue 1 yet and Clue 3 will be released on Friday! It's a little disconcerting when other knitters post 'Clue 2' finished within 3 hours of it's publication. But I keep telling myself that I am slow, meticulous and methodical so I will get there in the end!

Not to be out done....

Everywhere I look (within Blogland!) there are photo's of Alpaca's and sheep. Of course it seems like everyone in the entire knitting world was at Woolfest except me. I know that's not entirely true but I feel left out!

So, I am proud to say that I saw my every own alpaca this weekend. I even managed to get a good photo before it moved.....

..We bought Beth a small set of 'Little People' from Fisherprice. Imagine my surprise when out of the box popped 'Albert the Alpaca'! Jomp's reckons it's 'Larry the Llama' but I think I'm right!

Hope you're suitably impressed!!

Stash Diving!

This evening I've been a very good girl! My stash, small as it is, was beginning to peek up from the side of the couch and out of the little 'stash' drawers that I have. Not only was it all beginning to look a real mess with carrier bags all over, I spilt coffee over it the other day! Thankfully most was saved by the carrier bags but there were a couple of fatalities!

So, I was prompted into action. I bought some stiff weaved bags on sale in the BHS kitchen section which are just gorgeous and perfect for the job! (Pics to follow) I have spent this evening sorting through and documenting my stash....Ravelry here I come.... so now I have one large bag full of stash that I have no idea what to knit with, one medium bag full of 'queued' yarn, ie, those that I already have projects in mind, and one smaller bag as my current WIP's bag. All very organised!!

I am a great fan of Sarah's blog. Not only is her writing always cheery, I just love her photos. She seems to have this knack of setting up a beautiful picture whereas I just point and click and forget to look at what I'm actually taking. With this in mind, I've set myself a mini project. I want to design my own blog template and have a picture in the title bar such as this or this blog.

If anyone out there has any handy tips on templates, please send them my way!

The good, the bad and the not so ugly

Hmmmm, I've not enjoyed today.

Even though there are a number of reasons to be cheerful:

1) I only work a half day on Wednesday so I finished at 12.30pm.

2) Beth does a full day at Nursery which means that:

3) I get a whole afternoon to myself!

4) I managed to do a few more rows of MS3. My new Addi Lace circulars arrived yesterday so I tried them out and I love them! They are lovely and pointy (much like my Boyes) but they have a bit of drag to them so the yarn doesn't constantly slip off.

5) I finished the raglan sweater:

Pattern: Raglan Sweater from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss

Yarn: Debbie Bliss cashmerino Aran. Colouway: Kingfisher

Size: 3-6 months

Knit for: Sam (Firstborn of my best mate Sara)

Comments: The third time I've knit this pattern which meant that I was brave enough to try my first ever modification of a pattern! On both previous sweaters, I hated the neckline which jst seemed to end leaving a gaping great hole for the head to go through. So this time, I sewed up all the seams then picked up stitches round the neck. I knit 7 rounds then cast off so that the neck had a nice rolled edge to match the cuffs and hem. I'm pleased with the effect! And pleased that I was able to mod a pattern with no help! Surely that's a sign of my knitterly progress?

So why haven't I enjoyed today?

Because I took our car into the garage this morning as it's been misfiring. The prognosis is poor to bleak as the head gasket has gone! Even I, with my very limited car maintenance knowledge, know that this is fatal. The garage gave us a guestimate of £800 to repair!! Money that we just don't have! This news has wrecked my whole day but I'm sure I'll feel better once I've slept on it.

Hope so anyway.

Building blocks

I really must be becoming a little, just a little you understand, obsessed with this knitting lark!

Let me explain... I hate, loathe, detest, call it what you will, that awful job that starts with an I and uses a hot implement to get creases out of clothes. From here on in, it will be called "The job that must not be named". Because I hate it so much, it also follows that I hate anything to do with it, i.e The Iron and the Ironing Board!

I really must be going mad because our old Ironing Board got thin and wobbly so we bought a new one. Normally I would have taken great pleasure in throwing the old one on the tip but I've kept it to use for blocking! Me?? Block?? Yes, that's right folks, Jane's marbles have left the building!!

Not only that, but the only thing I have to use for spritzing the items to be blocked is the Iron!! I guess it's good that these implements of torture are getting some use!!

Toss me a lifeline

Did I mention in my last post that MS3 is my first lace project? Oh, I did?

Did I also mention that I always know best, no matter who tells me? No? Funny that!

I didn't start my first lace project without doing a fair bit of research first, which included stuff on chart reading and lifelines. I'd also read a number of blog entries where knitters had tried lace and had to frog the whole lot due to a mistake and a lack of a lifeline. But that was ok, because I wasn't going to make any mistakes was I?? So, I didn't need lifelines either, did I? And I certainly didn't need to learn from other peoples mistakes...no, definately not!!

Can you guess where this is going??

Yep, I had to frog the whole damn lot last night! The picture in the last post shows a distinct lack of a lifeline, does it not?

What about this one?

I have learnt my lesson! Well, the lifeline lesson at least!

But, it would seem, not the lesson about getting what you pay for. I bought beads from eBay but the paint rubs off the beads very easily so they end up sort of clear with a hint of shine instead of a lovely copper colour. It seems that in the case of beads, you definately get what you pay for!