Snoopy says "You're not as slim as you think you are lady":



This is going to be one tight-fitting sweater!!

This was quite fast going considering I also did some gardening on Saturday and was out all day Sunday. My Sunday outing nearly didn't happen as guess who forgot to change the clocks? I spent nearly an hour cursing my friends who I had agreed to meet at 9am to car-share on a journey to Fife. When I got to the rendevous point at 9:06 (yes, I've a very bad habit of never being on time) they had gone on without me. I couldn't believe they hadn't waited for me so I was cursing them like mad as I tried to catch them up, by my reckoning they were at the most 4 minutes in front of me and I can speed with the best of them. It wasn't until nearly an hour later when the DJ did I time-check that I realised that the clocks had changed and I'd forgotten. What an eejit!

2 sleeves completed (sorry for the appalling photo):

I should really be progressing the Balmoral cardigan but I need to knit the second sleeve before I can continue on the yoke. I couldn't face knitting 3 sleeves in a row so I've started the back of the sleek cabled raglan. I'm using the "lazy bitch" technique in recycling the yarn for this sweater. I've separated all the pieces of the sweater I'm ripping out and am knitting the new sweater directly from the old sweater thus missing out the washing and re-skeining (is that a word) the yarn. This technique works fine if you're going to knit a cabled sweater but if you're knitting stocking stitch the fabric will be crinkly. Most of this will come out when I steam block it and what's left will add some interest to yards of plain stocking stitch. Trust me it'll look alright I've done it before.

Finallygot around to sew back on the poppers onto the Grace jacket (remember back to February when I dicovered after sewing it together that one of the fronts was approx 6 rows longer than the other?)

The front looks skewed in the photo but I think it was the way I was standing 'cos it looks alright in the mirror. I think it needs a good steam pressing after it's been folded up any old way in my workbasket for nearly 2 months. I may just take that top popper off firt as I can't see myself buttoning it up to the top.

Done this twice and came up with the same answer both times:


Darling, it seems that you belong in Gone with the
Wind; the proper place for a romantic. You
belong in a tumultous world of changes and
opportunities, where your independence paves
the road for your survival. It is trying being
both a cynic and a dreamer, no?


Which Classic Novel do You Belong In?
brought to you by Quizilla


Ah yes, below this cynical exterior there's a true romantic trying to break free (hmmm....).

Still ripping-along:


This should really be titled why I may never have to buy yarn again.
The bottom right is my current rip-along that's being made into the Sleek Cabled Raglan. The bright red thing is a drop-shoulder huge thing that is very 1980's and hideous - I'm not sure what to do with it 'cos the colour is just so bright and red. Above that is an old blue aran of my dad's which is too big for me to wear. On the left at the bottom is the Kangaroo top which I ran out of yarn for on the sleeves - I've since found at the bottom of the cupboard an extra ball of this yarn so I'm either going to rip and knit another short sleeve top or I'll just re do the sleeves and the armhole shaping. Above that is the first item that I kniited after 15 years of not knitting. I couldn't remember how to do m1 - I was just knitting twice into the same stitch which means that's there are noticeable holes so I never wear it and it's also a bit on the tight side. Not shown is a brown zippy cropped jacket that sticks out at the bottom at the back which is also heading for the frog pond.

For Carolyn:

Do you recognise it?

Why can't TV progammers have original idea? Why is it that when one does come along they all jump on the bandwagon and you end up with pale shadows of the original. And each channel doesn't even stick to just copying the format once they remake it multiple times with the BBC being the worst offender. Take the idea of house hunting introduced by "Location, Location, Location" a couple of years down the line and there's a whole spate of programmes based on the same idea:

Location, Location, Location Channel4
Relocation, Relocation Channel4
A Place in The Sun Channel 4
Safe As Houses (BBC)
Escape To The Country (BBC)
To Buy or Not To Buy (BBC)
Trading Up(BBC)
I Want That House (ITV)
Homes Under The Hammer (BBC)
Living The Dream (BBC)

....there's probably more of these types of programmes around but I'm in a weak signal area for Channel 5 and I don't have satellite tv.

(Can't you tell that I wanted to veg out in front of the TV last night and all I could find was programmes about moving house. Normal knitting service will be resumed tomorrow...)

I've decided on the "Sleek Cabled Raglan" from Interweave Knits Fall 2002 for my 2nd project. I did attempt this once before back in December 2002 and managed one sleeve before realising I didn't have enough yarn. I know I've got enough yarn so hopefully I'll finish it this time around.

Thanks for all the lovely welcome backs - it's always nice to know that you've been missed :-)

Balmoral is becoming very B.O.R.I.N.G. I'm still doing the increasing on the first sleeve. I am one of these people that dislike knitting sleeves and I can now tell you that I hate doing sleeves in the round morethan I do knitting them flat. They seem to be taking an age. I thought knitting them in the round would be more interesting but it's not.

I've decided that I'm in need of a new project and as my last 4 projects have been cotton or cotton blends I need some wool. And to make it more interesting I'm goig to recycle an oversized polo-neck sweater in fishermans rib which I completed a couple of years ago just before I started blogging. I'm not 100% certain yet what I'm going to knit so I'm off to look at patterns

Didn't get much knitting done over the weekend. I spent Saturday at a one day conference and came back home with a stonkin' headache so couldn't face picking up the needles. I couldn't even be bothered with selecting a DVD to watch so I ended up jut watching some crap tv.

Sunday, I spent outside getting absolutely soaked but in the evening I managed to knit up to the start of the armhole shaping on the Balmoral cardigan:

Those are eyelets at the waist for the cord to go through. Tonight I'll cast on for the first sleeve but I really feel like starting another tank.

So, in a fit of the bloggin' blaaahs I deleted my blog a couple of weeks ago. I should have just left the blog as it was and took a holiday from posting but that seemed a cop-out and I was in a decisive mood. So I made the wrong decision and pressed the delete button. I've got over the blaaahs and now I've got to re-build my blog from scratch so bear with me for a while until I get all the links working.

I wish I could say that I'd spent the time doing more knitting and that I had a pile of FOs to show you but I don't. All I've completed is a tank:


The pattern is Tina a Berroco Web Exclusive. The yarn used was Debbie Bliss cotton silk aran. This yarn has got great stitch definition unfortunatley you don't get much yardage in a ball and this shell took ten balls. I would have been happier if it had been a couple of inches longer but I did not have enough yarn and as it was an ebay bargain there was no way that I could have got anymore from the same dyelot.

I've also started Balmoral from Dale Book 115. I did get up to the armhole decreases but then I realised my row gauge was waaaaay out so I had to rip back to just before the start of the increases in the waist- shaping. If you conider that the back and the ronts are knitted in piece you'll realise that was a might bit of knitting I ripped out.

During my blog hiatus I managed to get more reading done. The books I've finished are:

Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer (very dry read but a good insight into the traditions and people of Tibet in the 1940s/50s)
Touching The Void - Joe Simpson (excellent)
A Patchwork Planet - Anne Tyler (good apart from the loose ends at the finish of the story)
Frost in My Moustache - Tim Moore (reminded me of Bill Bryson at his best)

I've also started reading Literary blogs my favourites being About Last Night and BookSlut.