Day 2

Cake tin, packaging, magazines, notice board, knitting bags, summer hats, sun creams, old nursery paperwork, soup, yarn.

Day 1 of the 10/10 challenge

And today's delights were:

Reading material, old buff puffs and a very old horrid shower gel from the bathroom, a beaker from the kitchen, a bag of charity clothes from my wardrobe, a worn out swimsuit (yes really!), three books refiled, spare kids presents out away, and some yarn 'restashed' (hidden for another day). Roll on tomorrow.

I'm so rubbish at blogging...

...but I am still here! Signed up to a serious challenge - knitting six socks in September (so I should be knitting not blogging, but there you go)






[thanks for pic Beccy]

Other news is that there is now an absolute moratorium on the acquisition of yarn. Strictly swapping only. And lots of people will be getting knitted Christmas presents. 


Off to the Westcliffe in Blackpool in a few days for a knitting holiday - lots of lace and peace and quiet hopefully. 


K borrowed a gorgeous book from the library which turned out to be all about knitting... so she may be getting a knitted armadillo for Christmas. Yes, truly. 

Sir Washie likes the taste of wool...

So, faced with the prospect of an unfeasibly large cone of probably chunky probably wool, I set to work with the niddy-noddy and wound skeins. Then I thought about how long it would take to wash each one by hand. Then I remembered some lovely little net bags I received for Christmas which are meant for fruit and veg... and lo, an Idea Loomed Large.

And the result was this: 

L

Lots of lovely skeins drying in the breeze. They didn't felt, but I think there is some wool in there. Certainly lots of oil and they're a bit stinky yet, but another wash will hopefully sort that out.


Now being knit into an Ariosa short sleeve cardi and working very well.

Lots to report...

This blog is no place to describe the cloud of doom and gloom that appears to be surrounding me at the moment. So instead some success stories.

First, the death of the indomitable Sir Washie. Well he didn't actually die so much as ask to be put out of his misery one Friday morning. After a telephone diagnosis of 'broken bearings' from the local white goods shop I hot-footed it down there to choose a new one. With some help from Tom the new model was selected at 11am, and installed and working by 3pm. Definitely a gold star to the Shop Local campaign.

You might be able to see that he's a Bosch, thus christened Sir Boschie, and a very fine specimen he is too.

Other news is that K1S2 had its first outing to Make, Do and Knit in Liverpool. Lots of lovely things were seen, felt, bought and eaten and we all had a good laugh at the 'fashion' show! Thanks to Catherine for driving or I'd have been even more pooped the next day. Two skeins of sock yarn, one from Krafty Koala and one from Babylonglegs and a book of hats by Woolly Wormhead are now proudly in my possession. And some really special buttons which are going to be attached to some glam gloves using the other half of the Echo self-striping stuff from Fyberspates at I Knit London Day 2008. Incidentally most of the black dye washed out of the shawlet made from the first half, and I much prefer the end result. 

Visit from the yarn fairy...

Thanks to a note handed over the bar where K1S2 meets, I found out about a lady moving house and destashing on an Olympic scale. This was the small part of it that I acquired:

 part of which I have skeined, washed and wound. So far I have explored some cotton/linen mix which is going to be a voile curtain for the back of the bathroom door, some soft but sheddy animal fibre (? what kind of animal) which is probably going to be a scarf, and some very fine probably-rayon-based-on-how-it-burns which is going to be a recreation of the blanket Grandma knit for me when I was born. Working out the pattern for that has been challenging but satisfying. Casting on 389 stitches challenging (!) and so far I'm on row 3...

 The niddy-noddy has paid for itself already.

The obligatory 'baby in its first bath' photo.

She also had a ball-winder from her machine-knitting days which I was only too pleased to snap up. Thanks Irene xxx

Dolly is going sunbathing

I've discovered that there is definitely a place in my life for sunset yellow yarn. I think knitting spring colours may just cause spring to happen? So I've completed the second socks in the sock club:

The circle pattern is lovely and squishy so hopefully they'll be nice and comfortable.

Finally, for this week a new shawlet/scarf using the hand-dyed 4-ply that I got at I Knit Day 2009 and have been fiddling with for ages. It loses dye like nobody's business and the sock I started didn't go round my heel so it has had its own way and is becoming an Ishbel.

It was admired at last week's knitting group and we had two new members. Another person has commented on Ravelry that they might come along so the group is going from strength to strength.

Dilemma of the moment... do I give up knitting for Lent, in favour of crochet and spinning? Comments please.