SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS.....

Not much time to blog today but suffice to say I will be casting on for some lovely socks, using my latest aquisition (above), which is Esme from Posh Yarn, in the rather fabulous Theatre Shoes. Kind folk have suggested several patterns for this purpose!!

I also cast on for some Turkish socks from my Socks - A Spin-Off Special book, these are a double-knitting project, and I'm using Manos del Uruguay Clasica in deep red semi solid, and some Elann Peruvian aran in a deep purple.

I'm supposed to be working at the minute; well, we all need a break sometimes! I'm researching funding sources for young people's projects and also resources and activities to spend potential funding on! If only they were yarnies.....

Do watch this space, I'll be back again soon!

THE WEEK OF JOY!!!

So....in the past seven days I have increased my level of joy by around 500%!!

On Friday I had an interview and got the job I need to kick start my career. I am still actually in complete disbelief, even though I do know I really deserve it! I feel like this has kind of just landed in my lap, through chance conversations and being in the right place at the right time and so forth. Nevertheless I have worked hard to get back to 100% health and motivation and I do have all the requisite experience and all that, and some.

On Friday evening I managed to snaffle this from Jo's shop; 100% Merino, "Stupid in Love"

I had also promised myself a yarnie treat if I got the job, and so on Sunday I was ready for the update on the Posh Yarn website, and bought two skeins of Elinor sock yarn. Also 100% Merino, they are "Viva Las Vegas" (top of this post) and "Bazinga!" (below).

All three treats arrived today, so I sepnt a good quarter of an hour sniffing, stroking, squishing, holding up to the light and in general just drolling. The colours of the Posh yarn are simply not done justice by the photos! They are utterly fabulous and as soon as I've finished the second Switcheroo sock I'm knitting in Silkwood Sock Yarn (in 'Firefly) I shall be spending some time choosing which of the Elinors to use for my next sock pattern and also deciding which pattern to knit. I am tempted by Pomatomus and also by Hourglass. Though I think Hourglass might be better for a more monochrome yarn, such as my Knitosophy whereas Pomatomus will show off the variations in colour and shade with really great stitch definition in the Elinor.

At the same time as all this I've just started spinning some LimeGreenJelly Merino/Cashmere/Silk in a gorgeous plum/purple/deep pinks colourway, "A Song for the Lovers". I'm spinning it as fine as I dare and hopefully I'll then Andean-ply it and knit some fingerless gloves (Susie's Reading Mitts) I fully intend to have several more pairs before the autumn comes, and will also be selling/gifting some too. My eventual goal is to be able to spin finely enough to be able to ply it and still have 350+ yards. In my humble opinion, anything less is simply not sufficient for a decent project.

I promise lots of photos next time!!

Hopefully next week will prove to be just as good as last and I can keep this Cheshire Cat grin on my face just a little longer......? Please??!

Hadrian's Wall's Birthday and a Visit from the Dutch

It's so long since I last blogged that I am not even going to try and catch up. Apart from to brag about my perfect 100% score test I took the other day when I went to sign up for my course. No big deal though since it was a basic litercy/numeracy test. I don't know which is worse: the fact the test was so patronisingly simple or the fact I am apparently the only person to score anywhere even near top marks. It wasn't just easy for me, it was primary school easy. Shocking really, and just goes to prove my theory that school is holding kids back. But I will refrain from writing a pro-natural, autonomous learning essay here. (It's all in my book anyway!!)

At the weekend there was a celebration of the fact Hadrian's Wallis now 1600 year old. The wall was lit along its entire length from Segedunum in the East to Of course, living practically on top of the wall itself, and being extremely proud of the Northumbrian fraction of my genes and of living here in the most beautiful part of England, I was really excited at the thought of the wall lit along its length, as if would have been every night hundreds of years ago. To try to get more of an idea what it would have been like back in the days before the National Grid and light pollution, there were calls for households and local businesses along the route of the Wall to power down from dusk, so there would be total darkness lit only by the large flares burning every 150 metres or so along the Wall. This blog, of an amateur photographer,has some great photos, taken I think from Once Brewed. The official Iluminating Hadrian's Wall blog has some too. This video on the Guardian website is pretty good, if a bit too short :-(

Below is a photo of my adorable niece, when my brother and schoonzus were here with her - on a short trip over from Leiden - a couple of weeks ago. It astounded me that at 5 she is so computer-literate - I got her on the Dora site and it very soon became clear she had visted the site many times before!! Here she is playing a very conservation-concious game starring Diego.

Mik, El and Saartje were here a couple of weeks ago and I gave Saar her little handspun hat. She did look cute!! She was so happy to see Thom-Cat again, and he was unbelievably well-behaved and as we expected, he went straight into "Devoted Animal" mode, instead of his usual default mode (manipulative, destructive, devious pest!) However, in the photo belowyou can see the look on his face says "See how much attention I'm getting!!"




I recently attended a West End Transition Towns group (and I think the best thing to do here is just have a link to explain it all.) It's like Tyneside roots, all mature and grown up, and indeed a few of the people involved are ex-Tynesdie rootsers. It's all based around Peak Oil and Greening our cities and alternative, renewable sources of energy and so forth. Common sense. They're planning to have a knitting group which will have demos and workshops and so on, maybe coinciding with Time Exchange events. I have been trying to think of something I can do to earn T.E. credits and thought of giving demos in spinning, dyeing and also viola and violin lessons, making small woolen items to sell, such as baby bootees and soakers. I want to earn enough to have my garden completely dug and a couple of raised beds put in; and my hallway floors sanded!

I have also been spinning, spinning, spinning....

I spun the lovely Strawberry Fields Forever merino/bamboo, and am knitting two small things with it: a little bag for Saartje, which I will probably fill with little chocolates and some stickers etc. as a Spring presie; and a small pouch for myself which I will probably make into a Fanny Pack - there! I said it!! Rob was asking me what it was going to be and when I told him, he said "I've heard everything now!!" "What do you mean?" I replied."A KNITTED sanitary towel?" So, yes, he thought I said "pad" rather than "pack".

I also spun the gorgeous A Fine Romance in merino/baby alpaca/silk:

Mm-mmmmmmmm!" It is knitting up into a yummy pair of Toast wristwarmers, which I shall wear with my new tops. I got these lovely v-necked, thin rib, three-quarter sleeved tops in a slub cotton jersey from Next. Perfect for dressing up or down.

It was Mother's Day on Sunday; I got chocolate and - from Josh - the fantastic "Mum" gift box from Lush. I must admit, I had coveted it, even more than I covet the Blue Moon Sock Club. In this lovely box were two types of soap: Miranda and Porridge; Sakura bath ballistic, Happy Blooming bath melt and Dorothy bubble bar; Yummy Yummy Yummy shower gel; Vanilla Dee-lite hand and body lotion!!! The box itself will be perfect for keeping my special yarns, as I am now hopelesly addicted to gorgeous sock yarns!

I bought some Silkie Socks that Rock in The Incredible Shrinking Violet:

Dream in Colour Knitosophy in Strength, and Posh Yarns' Esme in Plaid.(Photos soon)
I have also recently bought more gorgeous fibre from the talented Jo at Lime Green Jelly!! I don't know why I would ever want to buy it from anywhere else!! This was last week's choice:

Sweet Dreams (yes, yes I know: AGAIN! I had to!!) in Merino with 30% silk:


A Song for the Lovers in Merino/Cashmere/Silk:

And last night I grabbed two from the latest update (which appears to have sold out immediately, and the shop is now emptier than I have ever seen it!) I made the choices from the Flickr preview beforehand then as soon as the update was live in the Etsy shop my fingers were flying!!! The one at the very top of this post is One Life Stand, in merino with 30% Tencel, and this one, which I know several people coveted due to the blend of luxury fibres, is Language of Love in merino/camel/silk:


I've also been browsing the Loopy Ewe, and plan on buying some stuff from there as soon as I get some more spare cash. Hopefully I will have a better income in the next couple of months! I am going to start applying for full time jobs, which shouldn't be too difficult. My reward will be the Ashford Traveler spinning wheel I have coveted for the past month or so, or similar wheel which hopefully people at the Centurion group can advise me on. I've been thinking I would really like to start spinning more often, and also start dyeing my own fibre. It would be nice to make some sort of living out of it. I think the difference between some of the hand dyed fibre you see and the likes of Jo's and similar is that Jo's looks like it has been dyed and then over painted with accents here and there. It makes all the difference. you do need an eye for colour, which I have. I got a half pound of merino to experiment with and I intend to give some of the results away for people's reactions.

So...it is almost 1a.m and the Internat students next door are making a racket, so i am going to knock on their door and ask them to keep it down and then I'm off to bed.

BLUE SKIES,GREEN THUMBS

Today was my first real day working at the horticulture project. I have really enjoyed it! We have been picking beans, a rare variety called Cherokee Trail of Tears. Then took down the plants and dismantled the frame things. By then it was lunchtime and we were cooked a delicious organic vegetable stir-fry with roast potatoes; then a post-lunch tea break at the top of the garden where there is a deck and a pond and a wild area. On to the afternoon's work then,and it was back to the poly tunnels, this time to dig out some weeds and the remainder of the Rocket, then put some slug deterrent down and made a few hanging baskets. Finishing off with moving some summer plants to make room for some winter varieties. The guys I am working there with are Phil, the Manager of the whole project, including the Garden Rooms, and Mike, who has a lot of experience with things like the Healthy City Project and so forth. I've learned so much from him in such a few hours, but he doesn't lecture, he just tells you about things while you're working. I met some of the Residents,who live in the Garden Rooms - although it is meant to be rehab of sorts they are allowed to - and do - drink booze. The main house is undergoing extensive renovations so the men - apart from those in the Garden Rooms - have all moved out, and been accommodated in other places run by the organisation.
It's been a good day to ease into the job - not too cold (though it is windy) and the skies are blue, blue , blue! That gorgeous Autumn sky blue which goes from an almost lilac colour and fades right through to the palest of sky blue.

There are free range hens there, and a little black and white cat comes to say hello.


I got some yarn in the post, some Colinette Hand dyed DK. From eBay. It's gorgeous - lots of different colours, and will make a lovely pair of wristwarmers, from Knitty's later patterns of the season. But now I have to go and mail my own eBay sales, and get some groceries - things I would normally have done by now, but because I was working I have to do them now instead of putting my feet up and knitting.

EATOMOLOGY

For many people, eating insects is a normal everyday occurrence, and in fact some insects are considered a delicacy. But here, the nearest one will get to insect 'delicacies' is this site, Edible.com - whose products I spied in Fenwick's delicatessen last week. That's D's christmas present sorted then. What got me thinking about eating insects was watching Charley Boorman on Beeb 2 in his latest 'By Any Means' series, whilst eating my dinner in a very working class 'tea-on-knee-in-front-of-TV' fashion. My come-uppance for such sloth was to catch sight of Charley putting a deep-fried cockroach in his mouth, just as I forked a piece of pasta into mine.....eeeeurccchhhh! I PROMISE to use the table in future!

D told me a story once, about when he was in Sri Lanka and someone was eating these big crickets. His friend dared him to eat one too. This is D we're talking about, and I shall need to write an entire post about him sometime to really do him - and this story justice - so of course he immediately put this cricket in his mouth and started chewing. When I saw the Edible display - of insects and other assorted products - D was the first person I thought of! I do miss him....

Josh goes back to College tomorrow after his 'Reading Week' and I am going to the horticulture project after my week off sick. I've got so much to do when I get back home after that tomorrow - post some yarn I've sold on eBay, hoover up downstairs, phone the local Council for a bulky rubbish collection, and do the household budget for this month in such a way that we have enough to put into the savings account at the end of November, and still eat and keep warm! It is definitely Autumn now, all of a sudden. It's cold, dark and at the moment pretty grey and damp. In short, typical Northern England weather. I can't seem to remember having a proper Summer this year. It was looking pretty promising in April, really warm, and May was hot, so I thought this was a sign of things to come and we would have a long hot Summer. But then it got humid for a couple of weeks in early June (I think) then that was the end of that. I only hope we have an easy Winter this time round. I don't mind bit of cold, so long as the sky is blue, but if we have cold and damp and sleet and all the really crap things about Winter - again - I doubt I can cope! Snow is all very well and good when you are 6 years old, and then it's lovely to look at when you're older, but apart from that it is nothing but an irritation. And what really annoys and frustrates me is the way every year Britain acts as though we have never before encountered the stuff. SNOW! Oh My God! Stop all the buses and trains and Metros! Close down the schools! And put the gas and electricity prices up!

The only consolation, in a month which is typically pretty miserable and dank, comes on the 17th when the Leonids Meteor Shower comes round again for its annual display of shooting stars. Apparently we are in for a real treat this year, with NASA predicting 'upwards of 500 meteors per hour'! (Which means around 8 or 9 per minute - one every few seconds) More about that on the night. Hopefully.

Well, I am now onto the second Express Lane/Hacho sock (that's the completed one at the top of this post - although you can't really see the colours because it was taken in artificial light and it seems to be difficult to photograph those purpleypinks without natural light) and last night I did another dozen or so rows of the Kernel scarf. I've noticed I accidentally missed out the garter stitch section between the two charts....oh well, it will look different from how it's supposed to. I might adapt the chart for the edging a bit and knit it straight after the chart at the other end when I get to it, because if I knit that end without a garter stitch section too there will be nowhere to graft a separately knitted edging section to.

I am not liking the Baktus

I just bought a gorgeous skein of laceweight lambswool/cashmere from Wild Fire Fibres - on Etsy - at what is actually a very reasonable price comparable with, say, Araucania. I'd rather support smaller businesses and have yarns which come in amazing colour schemes. I couldn't resist the colour, a rich deep bluey purple, and its name - Atlantic Ocean. It is so me.

After knitting halfheartedly several rows per day of my Rowanspun Batus, I have decided my heart isn't in it. I don't think it's the Baktus itself, although I do prefer triangular scarves to be made of thin, brightly coloured and patterned cotton or silk fabric rather than yarn. No, I have decided I just don't think that Rowanspun is right for this particular scarf. Also, I think the problem is, since I discovered lace, I need to have charts, charts, CHARTS!!!

So...unfortunatey the Baktus will be frogged. The rest of the Rowanspun is headed for eBay. I am gradually de-stashing my brand name yarns to make room - and cash! - for gorgeous handpainted stuff on Etsy and a few tiny yarn businesses.

I'm almost finished the first of the Mirasol Hacho Express Lane socks. Easy pattern to remember. I added an extra purl stitch at either side of the chart to make 16, as I needed to cast on 64 for a cuff-down sock (I HATE toe-up socks) I am not following the pattern but simply using the chart. The generic sock pattern is adapted from Monkeys. Hacho is turning out to be quite thick for socks, I like Chirapa for ideal-weight socks,but since it is now cold here I reckon I'm going to need thick socks, sheepskin boots or not! Time to put the sandals away. I live in them from April to September - when I go outside, that is, as we are very much a barefooted household.

Tomorrow is Saturday,a very gezelig kinda day, with late coffee-drenched breakfast and the Guardian. I will finish the socks then do a bit more of Kernel - I can imagine making something similar with my Atlantic Ocean yarn....oh,so much yarn,so many patterns, so little time!

I am re-reading "The Road" partly because the film has at long last come out. Not here - yet. But I can't wait. I've seen some trailers and am a bit disappointed,partly because the Boy is older than I imagined from reading the book - just the way he talks and so on should make him about 7, but in the film he looks like 10-ish. And one major difference, which I feel is important, in the book the Father never actually points the gun at the Boy he wonders whether he would be able to do it if the time came - and he does tell the Boy at one point to use it if he has to,and tells him what to do. But it is a major theme in the book that he possibly does not have it in him to do so himself. also, in the book they get out oif the cannibals' house before they come back - in the film they are stranded in the house (leading to the gun-pointing incident) and have to sneak out undetected. Well, it's always the same when you read a book - and particularly when it is a favourite and much read and re-read book - then it is made into a film (or 'movie' - CRINGE) and the film doesn't live up to your images from reading the book.

I have just put a dent in a bag of toffees.......

Socks - yes more....

Another rubbish photo, this time of my partially knitted sock in Mirasol Hacho. Yes, I think it is definitely a bit thick for socks,maybe,but the Winter is coming and we all need nice warm socks in the cold months, right? By the way the colours are far more vivid and much brighter than you can see from this photo. Just think of the fruit part of a delicious mixed berry crumble; it has blackberry, redcurrant, raspberry, blueberry, blackcurrant and just a teensy touch of cinnamon!

I have so many W.I.P's at the minute and I don't know whether to knit a small amount of each every day to avoid boredom,or concentrate on two projects now then when I have completed one, pick up another of the others. This way I am always going to have two on the go. My original idea to have a larger (or more 'tangy') project and a smaller one at all times was probably the best. I am doing some of the Kernel scarf every day and that's great - it will be finished soon and then I will start Cold Mountain. I'm going to finish the socks and the Baktus as my smaller projects.

DREICH!

Before anyone calls the RSPCA, the above is NOT MY FAULT!!!!! Yes, it is a photo of a very wet kitty,but he insisted on going out when it was drizzly, and as soon as it started to rain he was up on the window ledge and I got him straight back in again! Awwwww!!


My lovely Elvincraft 2 ply merino lace est arrivee! Fabulous!! The colour is just divine. Although it's too dull to photograph outside so I had to take the pic in the kitchen and so it isn't really possible to see the true colour and the little variations in shade.I'm thinking actually instead of ruining it by knitting an ambitious lace shawl which has about 4 charts, I might knit another Kernel because I love that pattern; also, I am more likely to wear a scarf than a cumbersome (if fine) shawl, because that's what I like. I just love gorgeous scarves.

However....I have just found - on the fabulous Knitty - a lovely wrap called Cold Mountain, which I can easily adapt (fewer pattern repeats) to make a lovely lace scarf about 150 x 45cm. The colour of my lace yarn and the name really match, and Arthur's Hill can sometimes feel a bit like a cold mountain at times!

Funny, if you go down south, they just do not use the word dreich at all, it isn't in their vocabulary except as something they might read in a book. The word itself means everything at once about a day like today: wet, miserable, drizzly, grey...... I have been interested for a while in the fact that a lot of the language and dialect up the Northern coast, particularly here and further north to Scotland, resembles Scandinavian and also Dutch langauge. Dutch can sometimes sound a bi like someone speaking a mishmash of Germand and Norwegian with a Scottish accent. We talk about 'bairns', 'gannin hyem', 'hooses'....my Grandad used to call me 'lang'en' which is actually Norwegian for 'long [or tall] one'.

I would love to shove the Geordie accent in Nick Griffin's face and ask him if he is going to send us all back to....where? Norway, Denmark, Rome, Holland? Or, as someone on QT pointed out, send us all back to Africa, which is where we began our evolution. After all, white skin and pale eyes are simply an evolved response to the reduced need for melanin, the brown pigment that protects us from the UV rays of the sun in really hot places. A pigment that many white people encourage by going for sun bed sessions to make them look brown.....how ironic is that?

But yeh...you would think people would have realised by now how dangerous and insiduous fascism can be. Propoganda, fear, ignorance....this is a 'good' climate for Griffin's racism to be able to spread, because the uneduacted or simply ignorant just see immigration, migration and asylum-seeking as one and the same, without thinking about the reasons behind why people come here. Can you imagine what would have to happen to you and your family, what would have to be going on around you, for you to even consider leaving everything - literally everything - behind and risking your life to travel halfway across the world (and not in a comfortable plane or ship either); and can you even begin to understand what circumstances would lead to someone choosing to take their children on such a dangerous and uncertain journey, destined for a foreign country, and with no money? We complain about how crap Britain is and how lousy the Government is etc etc but we are actually very well off, in terns of money and other factors. We can go outside without worrying about being shot; our children can go to school - or not - and we do not have to pay for healthcare. we can say whatever we want about the (unelected)Prime Minister, about the way the country is run, we can protest if we are not satisfied and we can teach our children whatever we want to, all without fear of being jailed or tortured or even disappearing. If we are ill and cannot work, we do not starve, and women whose children's fathers are not with them are provided for. Children without parents are given shelter and - in most cases - are protected from harm. We have enough - more than enough - to eat. We have a roof over our heads, regardless of income. Imagine having none of the above. That is why people seek asylum. They are not given hundreds of £ of taxpayers' money per week and they are not given homes which would otherwise be available for British people. The accommodation available for asylum seekers is usually with private landlords who win contracts from the government. These asylum seekers are not allowed to work, so they are not 'taking our jobs'. There are plenty of jobs for British people. If someone is granted asylum and given the right to stay in Britain they have to seek permission to work. The sort of work they do is generally poorly paid and 'casual' - not the sort of work British people would perhaps wish to do, such as cleaning toilets in a hotel or picking vegetables for £3 an hour. They are limited in seeking work by the fact they cannot move around the country as we can if we wish. The people targeted by racists as 'taking our jobs' etc. tend to be people from the E.C who have the right to come where to work, as we do to work in their countries and often do. Does Griffin have an opinion about, say, rich middle class people who drive up the price of housing in idyllic parts of France or Italy or Czech and who have gained skills and qualifications here, paid for by the taxpayer, and who now use those skills to make a living and benefit their new country of residence? And why does he himself look slightly tanned?

I dont want to make this a political blog so I have tried to keep it simple, but there are so many more different things to consider and the majority of Griffin's supporters are, sadly, poorly educated, knee-jerk reactors, who would blame immigrants for a rainy day! They are entitled to their opinions are of course, but I am sure the BNP is well aware that most of the people who agree with them are poorly informed and do not really understand much about the complex issues around immigration and economics and so forth. Racism, however it is dressed up, is destructive for everyone, and it is absolutely stupid to talk about 'keeping Britain British' after 3 or 4 generations of welcoming people from all over the world - people whose descendants have now made their homes here,put down roots, had children and grandchildren - many of whom are mixed race. In my view the UK as a mixed race society is fine.the problems which arise from a multicultural society do not arise specifically from that fact, but from people's attitudes and their unwillingness to co-exist with their fellow human beings. People are people. It is a no-brainer.

KERNEL PROGRESS

Just a very quick update of the kernel progess so far. I've finished the edging and am now about 8 rows into the main chart. It is without a doubt one of the most pleasant patterns I have knitted so far - it just flows very easily from one row to the next.

If I make this my focus for the next few days it will soon be finished, but I only really have afternoons and evenings, and even then because it is Allocations week in our housing co-op two evenings are taken up with meetings. Mik is coming over from Leiden on Friday and expecting me to go out to Lance's new pub with him, so that is going to be another evening of valuable knitting time wasted on social life ha ha!

My toe is a lot better but I still can't really put much weight on it. I am due at the horticulture project tomorrow morning....

Natalie loved her new socks, and as predicted she said they were "made of epic win"....I do wish teenagers would talk properly and appropriately. for example when I tell Josh the dinner is ready, his reply is generally something like "Awesome!!"

It's well and truly Autumn now and with it has come the dreary and dreich weather we have to put up with in the late part of October. Dampness, mist-like rain, chill, foul skies the colour of dirty dishwater....not the lovely blues I normally associate with living up here. Oh well, it's nothing but S.A.D.from now until March! Great.....the only, um, consolation is that I will be spending a lot more time outside. Wonderful.....

KERNEL CAST ON!!

YEE haaa!!!

Kernel is lookin' good!

My toe is a bit better - more shades of purple that I never knew existed! Thom-Cat has been very naughty today, practically destroying the kitchen and the living room. Ten minutes later he was asleep and looking so sweet one would never believe it was the same cat. Aww, but he is a little darling really. How anyone can be cruel or neglectful to kitty-cats - or any animal - is totally beyond my comprehension. It just doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

I have knitters' block..I have absolutely loads of lovely yarn and I have queued stacks of Ravelry patterns as well as bookmarking several dozen from other sources. Last week I wanted to knit everything....this weekend I can't actually think what to knit. Either I find a pattern but haven't got a yarn I want to knit it with, or I really want to knit with a particular yarn and can'tfind a pattern I want to knit it with. For example, I really really want to knit a Baktus, but I can't decide which of my yarns to use. And I have loads of Mirasol Hacho in Double Fucshia, but can't make up my mind even what type of garment to knit. I love making socks but I've made 4 pairs in the past couple of months and at this time of year I am still in sandals so not actually wearing socks yet. (In fact I rarely wear anything on my feet at all, and the sheepskin boots do not come out for another month yet!)

Oh well, it will probably be a scarf knitted with the skein of Araucania Ranco in solid deep purple,because scarves do really make an outfit stand out and you can make a really basic load of long sleeved v-neck t's look fantastic simply using different scarves. I tend to buy layerable tops, from strappy vests through to long sleeved tees with v or scoop necks,and have a few nice blouses and cardigans, and all look nice either on their own or layered, with a scarf. A scarf made from the Ranco, or maybe a Baktus knitted with the 2 skeins of Donegal Aran Tweed....oh I dunno....!

Rob gets in from London this morning at some ungodly hour normal people do not know exist. I think we shall be seeing the Lady Natalia at some point so I'd better wrap those socks up for her.

I'm off to bed now - goodnight!

FINISHED THE ARAUCANIA SOCKS....

....which I've been knitting for Nat. For some reason Ravelry's photograph uploading thing is playing up again. (It won't let me upload anything purple and now it won't even try to upload anything...) So from now on I'm going to put all my relevant photos here.Which I usually do anyway.
Yes it would be lovely to arrange them more artistically and aesthetically attractively (wow! - the alliteration!!) I might ask Rob to make me some of those sock holders out of some of the wood he has clogging up the cupboard under the stairs in the kitchen.

I did another - um - two rows of Cherie Amour last night. The problem is,it is so boring at this stage,only two rows to remember. And when I follow the chart properly, instead of the way I had accidentally been following it (with the ssk's and the k2tog's swapped round) it actually doesn't look right to me. The lines in the pattern seem to point the right way in the section with the wrong stitches, but after my corrected rounds last night they look odd. So I've decided to go back to the original - wrong - way because after all it is going to be me who will have to wear it.

KNITTING YARNS (OBVIOUS PUN!!)

So...it's the end of another week, and what a week it has been! Plenty of knitting and other things going on.....not least of which is the slow growth of the wonderful Cherie Amour which I have now knitted around 30 rows of. (I'm using Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica) Up until now it has been a kind of back-burner project, with only a round or so each day. But now is the time to pick it up a bit so it will be done for my December trip to Leiden. Sigh...do you ever feel like you have so many things you want to knit at the same time....?


Our Co-op is in mid-allocations mode, with people to visit and shortlist, following an amusing and enlightening meeting. I feel eternally grateful to various fellow co-opers who have been really supportive and this means I find myself now at this point more involved with the running of the Co-op and really getting into my role as Deputy Chair. Thanks, Annie, Jerry and Hev! We still really miss the wonderful Joe, who was very much a stablising and levelling influence.

I went to see the volunteer co-ordinator at the Tyneside Cyrenians about doing some voluntary work with them. They are always looking for volunteers as they have so many projects for homeless and vulnerably housed clients, as well as people who may need support to remain living independently, such as people with learning disabilities, the mentally ill etc. One project I'd love to be a volunteer with is their organic growing which happens at a garden of one of their buildings. They also work with people classed as 'chronically excluded',i.e.people whose lifestyles or problems - drugs and alcohol etc - have in the past prevented them accessing services which could help. I feel like this type of work is what I should be doing; don't ask me why, although part of it is obviously my caring and empathetic nature and my understanding of the way everything is linked to everything else. I start with an induction day this following Monday.

I went to see an advisor who works with people who've been out of work due to disability, or incapacity because of illness. She was extremely helpful and supportive and told me about various schemes and grants available to enable me to get back into work.

NOW the knitting biz....
I received my prize/gift wool from Bonnie over in Massachusetts! Thank you so much, Bonnie!! It is quite simply divine and it is the perfect colour for the Kernel scarf. It's a lovely gold, toffee, honey yellow - yes, a bit like corn kernels, so I can totally understand where the inspiration came from there! I shall be starting Kernel at the weekend.

Anyway, this is the wool, a skein of Handmaiden 'Mini Maiden', which is a Canadian dream yarn. As I call any fabulous handspun/handpainted or unusual or rare yarns.
The photos do not do it justice, by the way. The one in the link (my actual skein before it was shipped here) is a lot better.


I've cast on for another pair of Monkey socks after buying some bargain Araucania Ranco on eBay. Not usually my choice for socks, as I prefer Mirasol (Chirapa or Hacho)
Natalie loved the last pair I made and asked for some in purples and blues, and as the only purple and blue sock wool I had was Wentworth of Yorkshire's Space Dyed and quite itchy I decided this would be a good time to try the Ranco. Here are the results so far:
(Top to bottom: Cuff and beginning of chart pattern; leg and part of foot; close-up of pattern.)


These socks look really odd and lumpy until you put them on, which is when the pattern really shows. This pattern is really great for showing off variegated yarns with many shades - the Ranco doesn't seem to be so bad for colour pooling but I have only used it this once so can't really make a true comparison yet.

I've also cast on for the first of a pair of fingerless mitts - the pattern is Nalu. I'm using my sole ball of Cashsoft and crossing my fingers! This pattern fits my requirements perfectly, i.e. no fingers to knit, but there is a thumb; there's a chart to follow with enough variation to prevent boredom; there are basic cables which give me the chance to use my new no-cable-needle cabling skill (actually less hassle than using yet another dpn while already using 3 or 4!)

I received some Patons Inca, which I got REALLY cheap on the 'Bay specially to make the cats a lovely bed. I wanted a chunky yarn with wool content; I also wanted a compromise between cheap and quality, by which I mean I didn't want to spend loads for something which will, let's face it, be destroyed within 6 months, but at the same time I didn't want to buy some cheap rubbish just because they are cats. I saw the Patons Inca - 4 balls - and decided that was perfect.