Monkey!

As you can see my Monkeys are finally done. They took a bit longer than expected cos I kind of slacked off and did other things in between, but I've got there and I love them. I think they may be my favourite socks, at least for this week. The pattern was really great to knit, much easier than it looks and I'm really pleased with my choice of yarn too (Regia Colour in Candy). I like how the yarn is plain enough to really show a pattern but has the little colourful blobs just to make them a bit more interesting. Love, love love!

To continue on a theme, Cookie A's book, Sock Innovation, plopped through my letter box the other day and I can see myself trying out some of those patterns very soon. Kai-Mei is a definite favourite and Rick (Rav links) is also a must have for me. Some of the patterns have really crazy looking charts and I think I will need to build up to those but overall it is a book definitely worth picking up if you are a sock knitter.

Leading nicely on from that little review, I also received my first copy of Burda World of Fashion the other day. After having a good look through their archives I decided I would try it and ordered a six month subscription. Although some of the photos leave you guessing a bit there are a fair few things in there I may try. This, this and this are particular faves and I even have some fabric I could use. My main challenge is going to be actually getting on and making these things before the next issue arrives and I fall in love with a load of stuff in that one. One thing I really like about the magazine is that it is just loads of pages with pictures of the projects on, the patterns and instructions in the middle and that's it. There's no fluff. Really it is just like a clothing catalogue, except you get to make the things you like yourself and you know it's going to fit. I bought and British sewing mag recently (for a similar price I might add) and it had a few patterns for small thing a couple of larger projects that I didn't really like and then page after page of waffle and interviews and things to buy that were ready made. I hate to say it but really it doesn't surprise me that most people think of sewing and knitting etc as crafty nonsense for scatty older ladies. That's as deep as that observation goes for the moment, it was just something that struck me!

What I did on my holidays!

I went back to work today after my week off, so it seems like the perfect time to have a little look back and see what I actually achieved. Please bear in mind that this is really just a way of making me feel better about spending most of the week sitting on my behind watching telly!

As I may have already mentioned we spent Monday pottering around garden centres and then planted our spoils in the garden whilst imagining the tasty treats we will be harvesting from the veg patch in the coming months. Clearly we are being a little optimistic as I don't think we managed to grow a single thing worth eating last year, however I think we are better prepared this time around. Chris has planted a whole host of things including squashes, pumpkins and spring onions and is most anxiously awaiting the arrival of fruit on his strawberry plants. I, on the other hand, have thought small and am daily checking for sprouting in what I hope will be my big pot of herbs. So far only the basil has made a tiny green appearance, but I planted that about a week before the others.

I made a fleeting mention of the sock I have been knitting in my last post, but was too excited by my sewing machine to elaborate. Here it is…

I've been thinking about knitting Monkeys for a while and kept putting it off because I had convinced myself there was a problem which meant I couldn't do it. Looking at the pattern I couldn't work out what on earth this 'thing' could be and merrily cast on. I am just about to start the foot and have been enjoying knitting them, particularly as the pattern just seems to fly off the needles. I think I'm gonna like them.

I am still awaiting the printer cartridge I need to print off the sewing patterns I wanna make , but I found this great how-to on the Burda style website yesterday and set about turning a couple of fat quarters I bought months ago into a little bag. As of last night I had produced a rectangle with squared off corners, I had hoped to get further but one hold up was trying to decide which fabric was going to be on the outside as I like them both equally. The main hold up, however, was Pootle, my little feline 'helper'. First he sat on the fabric, then he made merry with the measuring tape which I was trying to measure, then he kept trying to catch the scissors as I was cutting (that was not good for my nerves) and finally went off to sit on the ironing board so I could finally get on unhampered. I'm going to try and get the bag finished tonight and I'll make sure the door of the sewing room is firmly closed to cats!

Last but not least for my week of I have finally achieved running! I have put off going out for a run now for ages because I hate running, but this weekend we had lovely weather so off I went. It turns out that all the swimming and exercise videos have done me the power of good and I can run for much longer than I could last year without dying on my feet. I actually enjoyed my run on Saturday so much that I went out again yesterday and ran for 20 minutes without stopping. I hurt like hell today but I'm feeling quite smug so it's all good. I have also only got 1lb more to lose before I have lost an entire stone and I fit into the pair of jeans I had chosen as my first 'weight loss benchmark'. Woohoo! Looks like I had a fairly productive week off after all.