Guitar Hero - enemy of Knitting!

Well I have to confess upfront that since Christmas I have not knitted a single stitch, for shame! This is entirely down to my new Guitar Hero addiction, apparently the rhythmic pressing of buttons on a plastic guitar has the same effect on my psyche as the rhyhmic movement of needles and yarn. Unfortunately it is way less productive and I have very little to show for it, except for loads of pretend dollars with which to buy pretend new shoes for my pretend rock star. Oh dear. So far I have completed the guitar bit on easy and I'm now working through the bass bit on medium. I have had a bit of a go on the drums, but they are quite noisy and if you hit them as hard as you need to it makes your hands hurt a bit. I haven't had much of a go at the singing, I started a career and got hit with a bit of Motorhead and then 'no sleep til Brooklyn' which weren't really ideal, if I'm gonna sing I kinda need a melody! Chris has the hump a bit at the moment cos he isn't doing as well as me and that hurts his masculine pride! He is being silly because he has completed all the songs but can't get 100% on any of them and apparently that is really depressing. Boys.

I am going to try and get on with some knitting as soon as I can drag myself away from the X-Box. I did tear myself away to got to Bluewater yesterday and have a rummage through the yarn sale in John Lewis. I came away with 8 balls of Kidsilk Aura for £22ish, which was a total bargain. I think it will probably become a Wrap Top (image 1)from Rowan Studio 12. I really want to make Sloppy Joe (image 4) from the same collection but I need 9 balls for that. There is a lot of Aura going on Ebay todayso hopefully I will be able to report that I have enough for my Sloppy Joe by tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Now on to the most pressing aspect of the day, it is New Years Eve and while I'm not sure what I am up to tonight I suppose I had better start finalising my resolutions. I'll break these down in to resolutions and knitolutions. I'm having to think extra hard about the knitolutions as I actually achieved 2 of them recently - learning a new cast on and learning magic loop. I guess I should learn yet another cast on and then think of something really challenging to learn. There are a few techniques I feel I should learn to master but haven't really bothered cos I don't want to make anything out of them (hands up entrelac) but maybe I ought to think about fair isle and eeek, steeking! I'm going to have a good think about it today and make a list tomorrow.

Well, that's that for another year

Christmas is well and truly done for this year, but I think we can look back and say it was a good one. Knitted socks we're greeted with enthusiasm, as well as people trying to put in orders for pairs of their own. That was really nice as obviously a fair amount of love and hard work went into them. My food gifts also went down well too, so no time wasted there either! I can finally reveal that I bought my sister the yarn etc to make her own Star Crossed Beret and she seems to have liked that. I got her the Malabrigo Worsted that the pattern called for in a light browny sort of shade which is really nice. Hopefully I'll be able to post a pic of that really soon. Chris absolutely loooooves his Guitar Hero, he is playing right now, and as predicted it was a really good thing to have here on Christmas Day with many people joining in. He claims he doesn't like the drums (I wonder if that is because he can't do it?) but is going great guns with the guitar. I got a few bits I really like too. Chris got me a bread machine which (because I am a total saddo) I completely adore. I also got a really lovely mirror, Loco Roco 2 for PSP, both series of The Tudors and loads of choc. Good times!

Quickest hat ever!

I finished my Star Crossed Beret yesterday, I would estimate that it took around 5 hours of knitting time altogether and I love it. Given that I made it from yarn left over from last Christmas, so was arguably free, I love it even more. I went to see my Grandma today and she commented that it was really nice as well, so am properly chuffed. The mistake I made with the cables hasn't affected that finished product at all, so I'm glad I ploughed on rather than frogging when I realised. I had a touch of difficulty as I came to the end of the hat as I didn't have any dpns the right size and the hat was not going to stretch round any further but as I was using my Denise Interchangeables I decided to attach the longest cable and attempt a magic loop instead. I have never done it before and the cables on the Denise's aren't really flexible enough, but I muddled through and it seemed to work really well. Actually, that was he second 'first' of this project as I used the long tail cast on for the first time as well. Obviously I am glad that I learned these new things and that it went well, but learning those techniques was at the top of my New Years Knitolutions list! Clearly I will have to come up with some more things to replace them in the week and a half until New Year.

As far as Christmas goes, I am very nearly completely ready. All presents are bought and wrapped, I have handed over the ones for people I won't see until after the big day and the freezer is stocked full of party food for Christmas Day evening. I am very excited as there are loads of prezzies under the tree for me and I really can't wait for Chris to open his! That is the big massive one which is literally under the tree! I'm not actually sure what will happen when he does open it - perhaps I'll have to make him unpack the contents and rewrap the empty box or the tree is going to look considerably smaller. We are expected around 9 people (as well as ourselves) on Christmas Day, so we want the place to look lovely so we don't need a teeny weeny looking tree showing us up. To be fair though, I think the main attraction will be what is in that box, so maybe everyone will be too busy playing Guitar Hero to care. Anyway, I'm really not sure how I am going to make it through 2 more days at work when I am this excited about Christmas! I think there will be hardly anyone in the office and all of the Universities have broken up so I think those of us who are gonna be working are just going to be wishing the days away til we can have a lovely week and a half off. Can't wait.

Nearly here!!!!!!!!

19^th December – 6 days to go!!!!! Clearly I am a little childish about Christmas still, but I don't think that is a bad thing. There are shiny decorations everywhere, gifts are given, food is eaten and I get a whole week and a half off work, what's not to be excited about! I am nearly completely ready, I have now made fudge in addition to the peppermint creams and think I will just make one more type of sweet for the sweet treats tins. Originally I was going to make truffles, but the fudge is way chocolaty so I need to find something a bit less so. That will be my task for today as I need to have the times ready by tomorrow evening as that will be the last time I see the recipients before Christmas. I think this is a very realistic goal though so worries there. The only thing which would stop me is that I have completed about ¾ of the Star Crossed beret and I am really itching to get that finished. I can't believe how quickly that has knit up, I started it on Wednesday evening, got a couple of hours in yesterday and all I need is an hour or so to finish it off. Instant gratification! I sort of tried it on last night and I think it is going to look really cool – despite the fact that all the cables are the wrong way round (I'm going to be billing that as a pattern modification rather than a mistake!). Unfortunately I think that the Slouch Cover Up may have to lie fallow until after Christmas. I draped that over myself yesterday and I don't like the way the shoulders have turned out, they are a little bunched up and clearly need some attention. I don't really want to have to rip out the 3 needle bind off due to the fuzziness of the yarn so I think I will leave it out of sight until after Christmas when I will have plenty of free time and I can have a really good think about the best thing to do.

I'm off for my 3^rd Christmas bash this evening, which I have been very much looking forward to. The first was last Friday, when I met up with all the girls and guys I used to work with at Medway Council. The booze was most certainly flowing and a good night was had by all (especially Becky, right, and whoever that bloke is)! On Tuesday we had an official work Christmas lunch, which was quite nice and tonight I am off to the Christmas curry night with my colleagues, yum yum yum! Tomorrow I am off for a buffet tea at my parents house to help celebrate my Dad's birthday (actually on 23^rd – but as that is far too close to Christmas we will have a little party for him tomorrow) so I'm hardly having to cater for myself at all at the moment!

Things to do

It's now just over a week until Christmas is here (hoorah!) so it is time to assess how ready I am for the big day. Hopefully if I can put in all down here then I have half a chance of spotting the glaringly obvious thing that I have no doubt forgotten!

Firstly, the things I have done. I finally stopped procrastinating about the slightly too short Fluke sock for my Aunt and that is now finished. It really did take me no time at all, so I don't know what all the fuss was about. I will get those wrapped tonight. I have also bought a couple of large bottles for the liqueur. I will give those away as main presents and divide what is left into tiny bottles to add as extras to other presents. I have begun work on the sweet treats tins for my cousins and my grandma. These are the peppermint creams all done and dusted, I think they look really pretty and they taste pretty yum too. The recipe was from Good Housekeeping Christmas magazine and is essentially a whole load of icing sugar, a tiny bit of cream of tartar mixed with some peppermint essence and a few spoons of evaporated milk. In the magazine they made circular ones but I hadn't got a cutter that size, and besides I like stars better. The mints are faintly green and pink, I would have like them to be a bit of a stronger colour but I got bored of kneading in the colouring. Oh well. My Christmas cake has marzipan on it which has been drying out for a couple of days so hopefully I can get on and ice it tonight. Which brings me neatly on to the things which I still need to do! The cake is going to be a version of the one on the front of the aforementioned Good Housekeeping magazine. I like it because essentially it is really just a tealight holder which will make me feel better when nobody actually eats any of the cake! We also need to go out and buy a whole load of party food ready for Christmas evening when both my family and Chris' family are coming to our house for a buffet tea. Granted everyone will be completely stuffed and no-one will eat anything, but we have to put on a good spread for the sake of appearances! Plus that way we won't have to cook for several days and can live on sausage rolls and onion bhaji's. I also need to get the rest of the ingredients for the sweet treat tins. I think I will put chocolate fudge and chocolate truffles in there, so I need to get all the bits and then get on and make them. I will be seeing my cousins on 23^rd December, so I need to make sure that their presents are ready to take away with them that day. Just to add to things, the reason I will be seeing them that day is because it is my Dad's birthday (how inconvenient). I have got him present but that is not wrapped yet. I'm hoping that he didn't actually spot it last time he came a visiting because it I left it on the coffee table for all to see. Ooops. Hmm, what else. My sis's present is still not completely done, but she reads this so I won't mention that. Other than that lot, I think I'm done. Put down in black and white it all looks perfectly manageable in a week. Obviously I have a full time job and a social life to fit in there too, but we won't worry about that. I'm feeling optimistic.

In non-Christmas news, the Slouchy Cover Up is now mostly done. All the main knitting is completed and the shoulders have been joined, but the next step is picking up stitches for the neck band and I'm sure I have mentioned once or twice how I feel about picking up stitches! I was totally convinced I would have this project done by Christmas but I may yet be foiled by flipping picking up stitches. I will try to just bite the bullet and get it done, but once that is done then I have to do seaming (jury is still out on whether I hate seaming or picking up stitches more) so I'm thinking that there is still a good few days procrastination left in me before this project gets done. To be fair, as listed above I have got plently of other stuff to be getting on with. I also feel the need to be writing angry letters to the builders who are working on the house next door, which will take up some valuable knitting time. I mentioned a little while back how e lost all out power due to workman cutting through our electric cable and how annoyed I was (I think poking knitting needles in people's eyes may have been mentioned). Well, on Friday these workmen chopped through our telephone cable and knocked a big hole in the building that houses the pump for our cess pit. When I got home yesterday they had chopped through the gas pipe, leaving us unable to cook and without hot water and this morning they had completely blocked the drive so I was nearly late for work. I understand being clumsy, clearly I am a very clumsy person, but these people seem very reluctant to apologise, let alone put things right. The gas people did come out last night to fix us up but the workmen were refusing to take any liability. I think a strongly worded letter will certainly make me feel better even if it makes no difference to the situation! Right well, better go and get on with all that needs doing, I hope to be able to say within the next couple of days that all has been completed and that I will be doing nothing but watching Christmas films and knitting until the big day comes around.

Quick update

I don't really have all that much to say today, but I started the shoulder shaping last night for the front of my Slouchy Cover-Up – woohoo! This is the point where I get all excited because I am very nearly done, and also when I tend to find that I slow down a bit because I'm nervous about where I may have gone wrong. I worry if it will fit properly, I worry if the front and back have ended up the same length and mostly I worry about the fact that I will very soon be seaming! I hate sewing up my projects, mainly because I'm not very good at it and I would hate to think that I have spent weeks knitting something and then it looks crap because my seaming sucks. I have tried to prevent this to a certain extent by leaving all of the shoulder stitches on a holder instead of casting off. I will then do a 3 needle bind off so at least the shoulders will look good. I figure that way even if I muff up the sides then all I have too is keep my hands permanently by my sides and no one will be any the wiser! I'm really looking forward to having this done because I think it will be really pretty and I'm hoping it will be light and airy but also quite warm and should be perfect for this really chilly weather we are having.

It was a very picturesque scene this morning as I looked out and everything was sparkling with frost, the puddles frozen and shining. Unfortunately I did not appreciate this to it's full extent when I realised I couldn't go back to bed and was going to have to go outside, brrr! The ride to work was actually ok though. I have really been frightening myself, imagining black ice everywhere and having visions of myself having a nasty accident but the roads have actually been fine. Apparently they were quite bad this morning just beyond where I live but luckily (for me!) the gritters seem to have been doing their job in my part of town. I will probably still ride everywhere at 20mph, just to be safe. Just hope you aren't the one stuck behind me!

Oh Christmas Tree....

It is starting to feel like Christmas round here now, the Christmas tree is up and decorated and I have wrapped some presents so it really feels like I am getting there. I have to add right away that the Christmas tree looks way better in real life than in that picture! For some reason it looks like the Leaning Tower of Piza even though it is perfectly straight and the jacket hanging on the wall will have to be put away as soon as possible. The lights are much brighter that they look as well, I will probably have to take another picture in the dark to show what it really looks like. It didn't take me too long to decorate, Pootle only had a short game of bauble football before I got them all on the tree, but only time will tell if he tries to steal them back off the tree. He did cause a bit of trouble while I was gift wrapping yesterday and I ended up throwing him out of the room, but I think the present I was wrapping was so huge that he couldn't help himself! You can see in the picture that Chris' present is so huge that we have actually decided to put the Christmas tree on it. I had to go out yesterday and buy extra wide paper in order to wrap it ( it was quite a challenge trying to get the roll of paper home from the shops on the Vespa, but I did it!). Anyway, I had finished sticking down one side of the parcel and started to spin the box round to do the other side, only to find Pootle hiding inside the parcel, I shooed him out but not before he had made dozens of tiny claw holes in the paper. Luckily it doesn't notice too much, but I am now hoping and praying that he doesn't decide to try and get back in and shred all the paper. Fingers crossed....

My name is Hannah

Well, even thought I stated that I would feel guilty about keeping Chris' super dooper Guitar Hero set, clearly that was not enough for karma (yes I have been watching My Name is Earl). Yesterday I was well and truly smited. To cut a long story short, I was in a bit of a hurry getting ready for work and to make matters worse my straighteners were on the blink. Unwilling to allow time restrictions to dictate the state of my hair I went in search of an old set I had seen in a drawer. Quick as a flash I whipped them out and plugged them in and YEOWWWCH! Eventually I managed to regain my senses long enough to discover that there had been no backing on the plug I had just put in the mains and had just given myself a nasty electric shock. I was very a big brave girl and finally managed to stop crying about 20 minutes later while Chris phoned work to let them know I would be late. Clearly I am ok after my ordeal, but I will admit to feeling a little out of sorts for the remainder of yesterday.

Luckily my little accident hasn't damaged my hands in anyway and I can still knit. Not much to report really, the lSouchy Cover Up is getting there, I have increased for the sleeves on the front and I am now on the last push for the neckline. I thought I probably ought to throw in a little picture of some socks I have been quietly working on in the background. They are a basic pair of bog standard sock which I have been working on as and when I have no other knitting in the room. The yarn is Regia Galaxy, I do quite like it, the yarn is really nice but I don't seem to have really achieved the 'planet rings' look that is intended. I still like them though, even if they are not quite as 'spacey' as I had hoped. For shame, I still haven't made any progress on fixing that short Fluke sock, unless turning it inside out to look for the woven in end counts! I have however diagnosed that I probably won't get very far like that and it will probably be better to snip across the toe. I have plenty of yarn left so I may as well. I'm not sure when I will get round to it, my little bro and his girlfriend are coming to visit from Manchester this weekend and the annual Christmas Dickens Festival is being held in Rochester High Street as well so there is not much time for knitting left. Unfortunately there is also not much time till Christmas left either so I'd really better get a wiggle on!

A very strange day

Yesterday, for the most part was actually a very ordinary day. I got up, went to work, did what I do at work and then came home again. Chris car is very not working at the mo, so after a quick look in the (very empty) fridge Chris brother very kindly drove us to Asda so we could buy some food. We got all of our food shopping done and bought a couple of baby bits for Chris' new nephew Peter (it took them a few days to decide but the little fella is now Peter Alexander) and on the way to the checkout I spotted some tiny bottles of martini in boxes of 4. It suddenly struck me that these would be perfect for putting my liqueur in. I've been searching high and low for nice bottles and although I've got my eye on some bug one, I wanted a few little ones as well. These were just right and work out cheaper than empty ones! So off we go to the checkout where I get asked if I have any ID. I don't due to the fact that I am 28 and don't really need it. The checkout lady is adamant even when I explain that I have been allowed to buy booze for 10 years now, but apparently because I look under 25 (why thank you!) and have no ID, even though I clearly look over 18, no sale. I make her feel bad by telling her I only wanted the bottles and had no intention of drinking the contents. She looks guilt stricken but still won't sell them to me. She then won't sell them to Chris because he is with me. Little does she know that I called my mum and dad who were on the way to the shop themselves and got them to buy them for me! So I got them in the end, but seriously, who still has to get their parents to buy their booze for them at nearly 30!

As they were dropping round my little martini bottles, my parents also brought the package containing Chris' main Christmas present round as well. I'd had it delivered to their house and had been unable to move it as it was too big to fit on the Vespa. I wasn't actually expecting it to be quite so huge when I saw it the other day, but I was in a hurry and didn't think too much about it. However when my dad handed it to me last night, I could barely carry it and alarm bells began, very faintly to ring. Now, because Chris doesn't read this I can reveal that I had purchased for him Guitar Hero 3 with Wireless Guitar (retailing at around £60). I was fairly sure that I should be able to carry this as I haven't heard of people being unable to play Guitar Hero due to the extreme heaviness of the guitar. I then got Chris to help me carry it and heard a sort of clanking nuts and bolts kind of sound, the alarm bells really started clanging then and I could ignore them no longer. After making sure Chris was definitely in the bath I finally opened the box and was rather overwhelmed by finding Guitar Hero World Tour Complete Band Edition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Worth £150!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! While I have been struggling with my conscience over this, I have decided I will probably get over the guilt when I see Chris' face on Christmas Day!

With regard to knitting, progress continues steadily on the Slouchy Cover-up. I'm optimistic that it should be finished by next week. I'm really looking forward to getting it done, firstly because I think it will be a vary useful piece in my wardrobe and secondly because I'm just about ready to move on to something which does not involve endless and very long rows of stocking stitch. Also my Knit Picks Options kit arrived the other day and it is so shiny and lovely that I really want to get on and knit something with them right now. I'm actually very proud of myself for not going right ahead and casting something on with them even though I have a project on the go. I have always been a bit of a one for startitis and last year I decided to take myself in hand and make myself promise to only have on project and one sock on the go at any one time. I have actually managed to stick to this and even though it has been hard at times, I have noticed an increase in the amount of FO's I have got so I think it is a good thing. I am going to start thinking about some New Years Knitolutions for the coming year and see if I can continue to improve my knitting skills and become even more prolific. Much as I love to knit, the real joy for me is having something new to wear (in that way it is kind of like a really slow shopping process) so anything I can do to speed that process up is a bonus. I think I will try and set myself 5 goals for the coming year knit wise so watch this space.

Glam Knits

I got a text from my sister while I was at work yesterday to say that I had a parcel from Amazon at their house (for reasons of not having a proper letter box at my house all large mail is delivered to my parents house). So when 5 o'clock finally came round I hopped on my scooter and buzzed round there as fast as the traffic and the speed limit would allow. And there it was...101 things to do in a shed! But underneath that was my copy of Glam Knits, thank heavens. I decided not to actually blog about this last night, so that I would have a chance to have a good look through it and really decide what my favourites are in there. There are a good few patterns that I quite like in there, some I don't mind but are not for me and a couple in there which I must have. Now. I really love the Zig Zag Lace Wraparound and the Lacy Dolman is a total must have. Guess it is time to go off and reevaluate that queue again! Actually I am going to try and hold off on starting anything from this book for a little while and actually make the things which I have purchased yarn for already. I figure if I liked something enough to actually go ahead and buy yarn then I should probably just get on with it! This has really set me to thinking about why the hell I need to keep getting more pattern books. I have no end of projects which I want to make from the books I have, if I buy a new book I know I won't get round to making it for quite a while and I am more than well aware that the pattern book will still be available in the shop when I have run out of things I want to make in the books I have. This led me to an alarming question - have I become someone who collects things?

I should probably take a moment to explain that I have always wondered a little bit about people who do collect things. I've always looked upon it as some kind of strange mental disorder, especially when it leads people to fill their houses with thousands of frog statues or to have entire rooms dedicated to a singer or band. I've met people who will just collect anything, I don't think the item really matters to them, just the compulsion to collect something until they have them all. Is this what is happening to me?!?! I have decided not. Mainly because I don't really want it to be true but mainly because everything which I have, from the boxes of yarn to the shelves full of books does have a purpose. Each ball of yarn is a garment or item in potentia and each pattern I like is a part of the wardrobe of my future (or someone else's, but most likely mine). Now is probably the time to add that I was having these thoughts while I was riding to work this morning and at times like that I tend to just follow a vague train of thought which invariably ends up somewhere strange. It was the wardrobe of the future bit that really got me thinking. I'm a bit of a Terry Pratchett fan and I suddenly remembered about the Pork Futures Warehouse, more precisely, if I have enough knitting books and balls of wool, i.e potential clothes, am I going to need to get a new wardrobe in which to keep their ghostly forms until I have actually made them and if so I think it will happen quite soon. Luckily I arrived at work before I could give this any serious thought! Clearly the fact that Christmas is around the corner and I'm not feeling at all organised is getting to me.

On the Christmas front we have, however, finally come to agreement on what we are doing on the actual day. Discussing these things with Chris can be a bit of uphill struggle so I have given myself a bit of a pat on the back. We have agreed that we will each go and have Christmas lunch with our respective families and then we have invited them all to us for the evening. It looks like my family will be coming, but he has yet to ask his. I am quite looking forward to it, but I am very pleased that I won't have to work on Christmas eve so that I can spend the whole day shovelling things in the oven in preparation. I will actually have a nice long break this year for the first time in ages. The University closes on Christmas Eve afternoon and doesn't reopen until 5 January. Bliss! Right I'm off to get some knitting in, the back of the Slouchy Cover Up is very nearly done so I will try and get as much done as I can while I watch Heroes.

Cool..quite literally!

Woke up this morning and this had happened:

I got all excited because I do love a bit of snow, but alas it was all but gone after an hour or so. The pouring rain it left behind it was really quite horrible, but at least we got a little bit of snow to look at for a while.

While I had my camera out I finally remembered to take some photos of the Slouchy Cover Up that I have been working on. Progress seems a little slower now that I have increased for the sleeves but that is just because the rows are now longer. I found a hole yesterday and I have no idea how it came to be there, but I have now sort of fixed it. I can see where it was, but no one else would be able to spot it. Dropping the stitches down to correct it was a bit of a pain due to the fluffy nature of the yarn but it is done now. My main problem I am having knitting with the Kidsilk Haze actually has nothing to do with the yarn itself, I'm really enjoying knitting with it, but my cat Max also loves it. Despite the reputation cats have with yarn, my two are usually not bothered by it at all. Max will occasionally try to catch a needle of the working strand of yarn as it flies past her head (photos) but with the Kidsilk I keep catching her with the entire ball sticking out of her face! I'm working with two strands held together for this project, one white ball and one pink and it is the pink ball I have to keep rescuing so I wonder if there is something super yummy for cats in the dye? That little problem aside, I'm really hoping that this top turns out great, I wasn't sure how the two colours would turn out together but I like the effect. Basically it just looks pink and it is only when you look really closely that you can see the strand of white running through each stitch. I'm hoping that this will just give the finished garment a bit of a sheen which I wouldn't have got if I had just used two stands of pink. We'll see.

I have made a couple of knitting related purchases in the last few days, one is part of a grand plan which shall remain secret for the time being. I have also ordered a Knit Pick Option started kit. I couldn't really justify the entire kit, considering the time of year and the fact that I already have a perfectly good Denise kit. Unfortunately I have found that the although Denise needles are a brilliant idea, but for some projects plastic needles just won't do it. The kit I've ordered has just 3 sets of needle tip and I think 3 cables, but I think it'll be nice to have them and extra needle tips and cords are really reasonable and I only have to pay for the ones that I will actually use. I'll let you know how I get on with them. i have also ordered a copy of Stefanie Japel's Glam Knits and I am really hoping that arrives today. i have seen some photos of the projects in there and they look fantastic. i have purchased some of her patterns from her website before and really like them so I'm quite excited to get this book. The first ever sweater I made was her Bad Penny. I learnt a lot of lessons from that sweater, mainly to do with yarn substitution and how I cannot wear an entire garment made from 100% acrylic! Essentially the neckline was far too wide and kept falling off my shoulder and it could have done with blocking to make it fit better, but obviously acrylic doesn't lend itself to that too well. Plus as a slightly sweaty person, entirely covering myself in acrylic was a recipe for disaster and stinkyness. However the pattern was really easy to follow and certainly made me realise that making sweaters was certainly something I would try again. Fingers crossed that I can write something tomorrow about what I think of Glam Knits.

Life got in the way

I haven't written anything for a few days now due to things kind of getting on top of me. Unfortunately not much of this stuff has been good, however I have finished the Charades, woohoo! They have both turned out the same size and they do look like a pair so I am satisfied. I'm still not entirely sure I like the way they came out but they are not for me so hopefully I am just being fussy. With those done I have now made a start on the Slouchy Cover Up (middle 2 at the bottom) from Rowan Studio 5. I'm already increasing for the sleeves on the back so I'm optimistic that this will be a really speedy knit which will be done long before Christmas. In fact I'm so confident that I'm already picking out m next projects. I'm thinking that one this jumper is done I will make a star crossed beret (Ravelry link) with some left over Brown Sheep Lambs Pride which has been kicking around since last Christmas and then an Olivia from Kim Hargreaves Thrown Together Collection. I have the Correct number of balls of Felted Tweed in my stash which were destined to be this (Ravelry link), but I seem to be favouring quicker knits at the moment and I think Olivia might turn out to be a more 'useful' garment in the end.

So what else has been going on? Well our main news is that Chris has just been made redundant, he is due to finish on Thursday but we complained that he was due an extra weeks notice so hopefully he should receive that. Obviously he is by no means the only person that this is happening to at the moment, the figures for people made redundant in Britain in the last week or so have been staggering. This is a real blow so close to Christmas but hopefully he can find something new. He is a painter and decorator so I think he may have to think outside the box and branch out if he wants to find something, so hopefully this will be a good thing and lead to him finding something else he enjoys. To make matters worse his car broke down at the weekend which really made him feel conspired against! He had to work all weekend so I very gracefully allowed him to use my scooter. The dozy sod then proceeded to take all of my keys without leaving me his so I woke up and found that I couldn't leave the house, well at least not if I wanted to get back in. I guess I ended up with a whole heap of knitting time to use, but I ended up missing the Chatham Knitting group again which was a shame - maybe next month!

Ooh, nearly forgot, my sister has now completed her gloves that she was knitting. She got them done super fast and is now talking about the next pair, so sh has definitely caught the bug. I think I have persuaded her to try the next pair in the round. I think any trepidation that she feels has been overwhelmed by her complete unwillingness to sew seams and quite frankly I don't blame her. I'll have to have a word and get her to put a pic of the FO on her Ravelry so that I can link to it, I'm such a proud sister!

Busy busy busy!

Well I have had a busy week this week, consequently I haven't done ever such a lot of knitting, but I have spent ever such a long time thinking about it. Does that count?

On Tuesday night we went to see Quantum of Solace. I have to say that I did find my attention wandering at times, but it passed the time quite pleasantly. While it had all the action and stuff, I've always liked me a gadget or two, so in my mind it was a pretty good action flick but not so much a Bond film.

Wednesday night saw us shopping til we dropped at Ikea. Mostly we just bought grown up householdy things (there's nothing like a lengthy debate about crockery sets to make you realise it's time to try and recapture your youth!) I also got some nice glass jars which I am going to fill with various homemade sweets and yummy stuff to give away as Christmas gifts. I am trying to make sure I have got plenty of receptacles for this stuff well ahead of time as most of the bits and bobs will have to be made quite close to the day. Obviously I want to be prepared.

On Thursday I had my late night at work, they seriously cut into my knitting time, I haven't managed to persuade anyone that I should be allowed to knit while I sit on the issue desk. Oh well, maybe one day!

Yesterday I did manage to finally turn the heel on my second Charade, so I really feel like I am on the final furlong now. We were at Bluewater this morning, so no knitting done then either, however as Chris was busy waiting in line for Charley Boorman to sign his book I had plenty of time to shop by myself. Heaven. I got loads of bits in Lush so I can feel a nice hot bath coming on later and I spent a nice bit of time browsing the yarn and pattern books in John Lewis, which I always enjoy. I have finally got my hands on Rowan Studio 12, which has loads of stuff in that I want to make, particularly Sloppy Joe, the Bow Cardigan and Wrap Top. Guess I need to get my hands on some Kidsilk Aura or find a decent substitute! I also got Kim Hargreaves, Thrown Together Collection which I have had my eye on for a while. This is a really lovely book, I haven't decided exactly what I want to make yet, I'll have to spend a bit more time perusing it, but there are several patterns I really like.

Now for something i think is really cool, my sis is sitting next to me at this precise moment, knitting her first ever garment!!!! She is making a pair of armwarmers which are a kind of Fetching adaptation. The yarn is a bit thicker than that pattern and I have made it so she can do it flat, but the 4x1 ribbing is there and she actually went ahead and tried cabling and has made a marvellous job. She is just casting off the first one and I'm really proud of her. Her journey to the knit side is complete, mwa ha ha ha ha!!

12 weeks and counting

This is the second and final of my catch up posts, to be fair I probably could have got away with this one but I did write it last week!

This week has been a momentous week. Chris, bless him, is a grumpy boy and mostly I accept this and get on with things but since he stated that he 'doesn't so holidays' I have found myself increasingly annoyed and more and more in need of said holiday. After more than two years together without a holiday I was really thinking that it wasn't going to happen. However, he happened to mention the other day that he had been having a discussion with a friend about Center Parcs and that it didn't sound too bad. Needless to say, I was online within seconds booking us a midweek break in January before he could change his mind! I am now getting far too excited about it, but man I need a holiday. There are a lot of activities that we can book onto before we can go, but really I am just looking forward to getting away and chilling out in the woods in a cabin with a nice fire and a big telly. Perfect for a quiet night and some knitting. As well as sending some time in the pool and the gym, I'm going to book us in for an evening in the spa, where can steam, sauna and footbath ourselves to our hearts content and hopefully by the time we are done Chris will have completely changed his attitude towards holidays. Or we'll want to kill each other, one or the other.


On the knitting front, not too much to report. The second Charade is going a bit slower than the first, but I have been fairly busy recently. I've pretty much finished the leg so hopefully it shouldn't take much longer. Once these are done I will cast on for the Slouchy Cover Up from Rowan Studio, work on that for a few days just so that I can feel that I am doing something for myself and then cast on for the pink and orange socks and work on the two simultaneously. That should mean my Christmas knitting is done in plenty of time and I'll have a jumper for myself before long too.. Right best get on then!

Cursed yarn

Ok, this is the first of my catch up posts. At time of writing we were most of the way through Socktoberfest and frankly things weren't going too well. First there was the debacle with the Flukes, which are still sitting on the coffee table awaiting my attention. The things started to go slightly pear shaped with my first Charade. Without ruining the end, it's ok, it all turned out fine but at that point I was beginning to think that the yarn was cursed. I actually bought three skeins of yarn back in January with the specific plan to make three pairs of Christmas socks. The pink yarn got it's chance first, tricking me into missing two pattern repeats in the second sock.Next up, the green and black yarn worked it's tricksy magic providing such an intriguing spiral effect that I was sent almost entirely bandy trying to find a way to continue this on the instep. This proved impossible, despite several ingenious 'ideas' which caused me to have to rip back, discover that the pattern doesn't really lend itself to being ripped back, retrieve the sock and all the needles from whence they had been thrown and take several deep breaths before finding the lost stitches and continuing on my way. The first sock is now done. I'm not sure if I like it or not but never mind. Once that is done I will have to see if the final ball of this unholy trilogy, the pink and orange, is actually evil as well or whether it will turn out to be the Cinderella to the two ugly sisters it arrived with.


Of course, don't get me wrong. I have not actual complaints with regards to the yarn (except for the tendency of the darker colours to come of on your hand - the recipient of the finished socks will also be receiving some colour catchers as part of her gift!). It is lovely and I'm happy with it. It is clearly just happier being a little ball of yarn that it is being socks and I guess that maybe I would feel the same.

We have the technology!

When I first started this blog I had my PC set up in the spare room and I envisioned myself spending a bit of time in there writing about my triumphs and less triumphant moments in knitting and in life. Unfortunately, about 2 days later we ended up temporarily taking in a lodger so my PC has been languishing in a cupboard ever since. I have been trying to keep up with this blog but I have really only been able to do this in my lunch break at work so I haven't been doing a very good job. However at the weekend I'd had enough, slightly lost the plot and went out and bought a laptop! Consequently I now have no excuse for not blogging, particularly as I really should be keeping myself busy so I don't spend any more money.

The next couple of posts will be a bit of a catch up, I have been outlining my posts by hand but had no chance to post them. I will also be adding in photos to my old posts. My laptop has a super duper card reader in it so I can get my photos off my camera even when I can't find the correct cable (i.e always!)

Flukes finished...well....

They are for the moment. Really they need to be slightly ripped back so that I can include the 2 pattern repeats I forgot but as I managed to knit the toe and sew in all the ends before I noticed I'm considering it to be temporarily completed. Much as I wish I could just rip it back now and get it done, I just don't have the heart. As soon as I had woven in the last end I had mentally moved on to the next project so I have done just that and I'm currently cruising along on my first Charade. I'm planning on getting on and fixing the fluke once I have finished the first Charade so hopefully I'll have forgiven the socks for coming out wrong (it wasn't my fault, they made me do it) by then.

So far I am really enjoying the Charade pattern, it is really easy to memorise and while being more interesting than stocking stitch is really not very much more complicated. I actually started the main herringbone pattern on Saturday evening just after our power went out so it turns out the pattern is easy enough to do even by candlelight! I have to say that it was a very good job that I had some knitting I could do in the dark otherwise I may have been very pee'd off indeed. Our house is an old bungalow which lies between and area of scrubby trees on one side and the site of a new build on the other side. The new build is pretty much complete on the outside and they are now ready to start laying their cables and pipes etc. So on Saturday there was a digger digging a massive trench all the way up the drive for said pipes etc. Despite Chris warning them that there were wires where they were digging, the owner insisted it would be fine and to carry on. Needless to say within a minute or so they had sliced through our power line and water pipe and we were left in the dark (and cold) until 10:30 at night. They did fix the water pipe pretty quickly which was a start but when it got to 4 hours after my dinner time I was beginning to lose my sense of humour a little. In addition, it looks like the area to the other side of the house is being prepped for redevelopment as well. They started removing the trees on Thursday and apparently there will be heavy traffic to the area as of today, so I'm absolutely dreading what I will find when I get home today. I guess it is a good job I'm a knitter, I can just sit down, pick up my needles and let it all wash over me. Unless Mr Next Door Man starts doing whatever he was doing the other day that made my house shake again. If that happens again I'm going round there with my knitting and poking him in the eye with it. There are limits.

Alexandra Palace

I have had a very busy weekend which included my long awaited trip to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting and Stitching Show. I went with one very specific aim in mind, to get some buttons for Brights 1 and I did not come home disappointed! I set out at about 8:30 to meet my sister at her house and then wandered to the train station for 9 ish. We really did not want to set out that early but there is something going on with the trains further along the line so our usual 40 minute journey into London took about an hour and a quarter. When we finally arrived at the venue we had a good slow wander round, taking everything in, thinking about what we might like to get and remembering where we anted to return to once we'd been all the way round. This was not the case when we reached the Button Company stall. We just dived right in and loved every minute of it. The lady behind the counter clearly had a similar attitude to me, she obviously loves buttons and sees them as objects to just have and to look at as well as sewing them on your clothes. They had a good selection and my button tin is now nearing full. it wasn't til I go home that I actually chose which ones were going onto Brights 1 but I chose some really lovely white heart shaped ones which look really cute.



My second objective at the show was sock yarn. I only have a couple of balls in my stash and they are spoken for so I thought I'd pick something really special
.

This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Silver Streak and I love it. i made a scarf for my grandma last year using some Glitter Alpaca in the same colourway and I really liked that so hopefully these will turn out lovely. I like the monochrome effect but there are some nice subtle greens and blues in there which will make the end effect a little less stark. Can't wait to get going with that. I'll have to get get Chris to help me wind it first, luckily he seems to quite enjoy that.

My third objective was to get Jess to buy some yarn. She can knit a bit but she has been resisting any urges because she is worried that she might be turning into me! Jessie is 11 years younger than me but even my dad has his moments when he has to pause a second while he works out which one of us he is talking to. One of my favourite tricks is to go round and visit them and then borrow a jumper off Jess and confuse him even more. The result of this is that we do get compared quite a lot so I can see why she wants to assert her own personality and doesn't want to take after me so much but hopefully the call of the yarn will be too much for her. before we went on Saturday Jess decided she would like to make some armwarmers and we had been most of the way round the show and we still hadn't seen anything she liked. Eventually we spotted something just right and I was really pleased that she had picked something from Aragon yarns. They are a Kentish company, so are fairly local to us and it seemed really nice that she picked it. I'm going to help her devise a really simple armwarmer pattern and really look forward to posting the results when she's got them done.

We both got a few other bits and bobs before heading for the train station, once we were there we couldn't resist a quick trip into Lush where they had just put out all of their Christmas stuff. We both came out loaded with great smelling bath bombs and bubbles and shower gel, lamenting that there would be no time for a nice wallow in the bath when we got home. I got back to my house around 5 and I needed to be at the restaurant for a hen night by 7:30 so I didn't have time for much more than a cursory glance at my purchases before heading out, but I think a good day was had by all.

Et Voila!

Well Brights 1 is finished, I'm really pleased with it, it fits just right and looks nice on which is always a bonus. I think my second greatest fear when finishing a project is that it will just not suit me and I will have gone to all that effort just to look silly. My greatest fear is it not fitting, but I suppose I can do something about that if you want to rip it back and start again. Although I suppose you can do that if it doesn't suit you too, rip it back and make it into something else. Anyway.... I think this will be something I wear a lot, although I will have to buy some buttons and sew them on so that I can actually wear it! The Knitting and Stitching show is this week so I'll get the buttons there, this means I'll have ever such a lot of choice but I will have to wait til the weekend to wear it.

I am also making good sock progress too. I've decided to be sensible and keep working on the Flukes rather than casting on for anything else. I finished the first sock a couple of months ago but they have been hibernating since while I worked on bigger garments. I am now well on my way to finishing the leag on the second sock and I'm hoping the rest won't take me too long. I am really enjoying knitting this pattern. The lace has become pretty intuitive, all I need is a quick glance at the chart at the beginning of each row to remind myself what I'm doing and I'm off. The pattern has only 8 rows and to my tiny mind it seems like I have achieved something every time I finish a pattern repeat. It's quite good cos it breaks the whole thing down into manageable chunks.

I will add photos of me actually wearing this when I remember.

It's Socktober!

Well October has arrived and with it Socktoberfest. Unfortunately I am still working on Brights 1 so I have a choice of whether to go all out til it's done and then get on with some socks. Whether to abandon it all together until november or whether to work simultaneously on it and sock thereby impeding progress on both of them. Things are just never easy!

With regard to this I was going to write about how it looked like the weather was turning and how I could see the long winter nights stretching ahead of my begging to be filled with knitting. However I am sitting next to a window through which glorious sunshine is pouring, which kind of puts paid to that, at least for the time being. Yesterday was pretty grim all grey and brooding and rainy. I was a little unimpressed by that as I hadn't been out on my scooter in the rain before, but I put on my waterproof jacket and trousers and made it to work with no dramas. When I woke up this morning it looked pretty awful too. In fact it was pouring with rain as I was leaving the house, so I pulled on all my waterproofs again but by the time I got my bike out of the garage it had stopped and by the time I had been riding for five minutes it was shaping up to be a glorious day. Needless to say I felt a little conspicuous arriving at work in full waterproof gear! I'm actually quite looking forward to the winter, I like it when the nights draw in and you can feel all cosy indoors. I love getting out all the woolly jumpers and hats and scarves and surrounding myself in snuggly stuff, I guess I was born to be a knitter.

Wheels!

Well it has been a few days since I posted as knitting news is thin on the ground here. I finally received my tax disc on Wednesday so I have spent more time zooming around on that then I have knitting! In addition it seems that circumstances have been conspiring against me to make sure that Brights 1 is not finished before the end of the month. On Thursday I worked a 12 hour shift and pretty much went to bed as soon as I got home (9:15pm). On Friday I had a half day but I had to visit my parents, get ready for a big night out, go back to my parents to retrieve my mobile phone after I forgot it, go back home, make dinner and be out by 6:30. Saturday I spent most of the day wrapped up in a blanket regretting the excesses of the night before. Sunday however felt like a goof day to crack on but then horror of horrors, my row counter had disappeared! After searching high and low with no joy I finally took myself in hand, found another row counter and sat down to work out where I had got to. Feeling all smug I duly got going only to realise half an hour later that I had forgotten that this pattern has an 'at the same time' instruction. Given that I have successfully managed to follow this instruction on the back and the left front with no trouble at all I felt more than a little silly. So you can guess what happened next....rriiiiiipppp! After that I managed to settle down and have now finished the sleeve shaping so it's just the last push now. Socktoberfest begins on Wednesday and I don't think I'll be done by then but I'll just have to get it done as soon as I can so that I can devote as much of October as possible to socks.

Decisions

Alas, still no tax disc so I had to cycle to work today again. It was very windy this morning so the going was quite tough and all I could think was, this would be so much easier if I had a scooter that wasn't stuck in the garage for the want of a tiny disc of paper!!!!! Rant over. (Although id I don't have it for tomorrow I will be super peeved cos I'll have to go to work on the bus - I have a special kind of hatred saved up for buses)

No exciting knitting news for today. Progress continues on Brights one and now it is getting to the point where I'm going to have to start thinking about buttons. I can't decide whether I want just plain ones in the same shade of mauve or whether to get some really bright contrasting ones. I like the idea of the bright ones but I'm worried that this will make it less wearable as the cardigan will match less of my clothes.

I have however made some decisions with regard to my forthcoming knitting. During October I will be making a really good start on my Christmas knitting.

Firstly I will be completing these Flukes which have been languishing on the needles for quite some time.

This

will become a pair of Charades

and this

will be a pair of Spiral Eyelets. I won't make any mention of who the intended recipients are though.

I have also been looking out for just the right baby sweater for my boyfriend's new Niece or Nephew. I have finally settled on Presto Chango which I think is really lovely and such a good idea. I think I'll make the whole thing in a neutral colour and then make an extra front panel in either pink or blue once baby is born. He/she is due at the beginning of December so I'll try and get cracking on that at the beginning of November.

I have to admit to being a bit of a selfish knitter at times and looking at the above list of 4 projects for other people does fill me with regret that I won't be making anything for myself for a while! I do enjoy knitting for others and love giving gifts but I guess that there is so much I want to knit for myself that it's tough to take a break. Oh well. Once all of my gifts are done I intend to start on the Slouch Cover up from Rowan Studio ?. I have a huge stock pile of Kid Silk Haze indoors so I really want to get on and make something with it. Although the new Rowan Studio patterns are all makde out of Kid Silk Haze/Aura so I may have to have a rethink about the destiny of some of the yarn in my stash. Great, more decisions!

Sisyphus has nothing on me

Last week I received my copy of Custom Knits by Wendy Barnard. I have been reading Wendy's blog for a while and liked her patterns so I have been eagerly awaiting the day when her new book plopped through my letter box. While I am very pleased to say that the book has not disappointed in any way, it has caused me a problem in another way. I just want to knit the lot! Now frankly I do not have enough time in my life to do that and my knitting queue is already far too long.

To make matters worse the new edition of Knitty is up. Luckily there is not ever such a lot in this one which is for me, but I quite like Camden, Slither and Opart. I have so much stuff on my to do list already and I wish that I could be sensible and not look at any new patterns for a while but I just can;t do it. Another Rowan Studio has just come out as well and I know I'm going to buy it because I love every single pattern in it, I also want Thrown Together by Kim Hargreaves so I guess I'll just keep buying these things and then re prioritising my knitting queue until the cows come home. Apologies to all of those projects which will languish at the bottom for all eternity!

I'm sure my forthcoming trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace next month will really help matter (not!). No doubt I will come back with a whole load of new yarn with no particular project in mind so I'll have to think of even more stuff to knit. Maybe this year I'll have to limit myself to sock yarn (which everyone knows doesn't count) and yarn I actually need for my queue. Hmm, we'll see how that goes.

In 'current knitting' I have now finished one front on Brights 1 and cast on for the second. I'm really pleased with this so far. I got loads done yesterday as I am still sans tax disc for my scooter so I thought it was best to console myself with a bit of knitting. Hopefully the tax disc is currently sitting in my letter box waiting for me to come home and find it. Fingers crossed.

Not much knitting to report, but.....

Wow, have I had a busy few days!

Things are really going mad at work, there are students just pouring in wanting tours and help with this that or the other. I'm actually really enjoying it, I seem to thrive in a busy environment. It is nice to get home at the end of the day and have a sit down though. Despite the craziness I was lucky enough to score the day off yesterday. I got a phonecall on Wednesday from the scooter shop I bought my Vespa from to say that they would like to deliver it the next day! So I managed to wangle the day off and waited impatiently for my new favourite toy to arrive. It got to my parents house all safe and sound about 12:30 and there are no words for how excited I was! I have to say how impressed I have been with the scooter people (Ron Daley's) not only did I get free delivery, a free helmet, free gloves and a free lock and chain, I also got a more expensive scooter than I ordered as they couldn't get hold of the one I wanted and then they threw in a flyscreen for my trouble. Plus they are all really nice, I can't recommend them enough.

Unfortunately I am still waiting on my tax disc so I can't go out on it yet. I did ride it from my Mum and Dad's to my house yesterday just so that I could stick it in the garage, but I won't risk it again til it's all legal! I'm beginning to think that this is probably a good thing though because I seem to be having 'one of those days' today. You name it it's gone wrong! I got to work and started the day doing the banking, none of the machines did what they were supposed to do and nothing seemed to add up. We sorted all that out so I thought, time for a cup of tea. I was recounting an incident last year where I lost my hold on a mug I was carrying and smashed in on the floor and at that precise moment I somehow managed to let go of the bottle of milk in my hand and spill that all over the floor. After cleaning that up I then went to remove the infuser from my cup of tea only to pull out the lid but not the business end with all the tea leaves in - yucky! I have also stood around waiting to give two library tours where no-one has turned up and it's not even 2pm yet. Luckily we are staying in tonight, although I may avoid knitting due to the pointy nature of the needles!

I have got a fairly busy weekend ahead of me now. Got a few bits and bobs to get for my scooter and it is my friend Dave's 30th birthday so we are having a meal out tomorrow. There is a meeting of the Chatham Knitting Group tomorrow morning but I'm not sure if I am going to be able squeeze that in. It would be a shame to miss it as it is really nice to see what everyone is making and to hear about what they have purchased recently. Guess I'll have to play it by ear.

Moving on

It's a typical Monday today and has felt like a really long day at work. I work in a University Library and the students are beginning to trickle back after the holidays, although the main onslaught will begin next week. Whoopee.

For these reasons I have spent most the day looking forward to getting home and cracking on with some knitting. I am currently working on Brights 1 from Rowan Studio 9. I finished the back a few days ago but I had to ban myself from casting on for the fronts until my Crinkle was done. Now I have finished that I can properly move on the Brights cardi. This is such an easy and quick pattern that I am hoping to have it done in a week or so (we'll see how that goes!) My real deadline is October though as I am planning on taking part in Socktoberfest this year. I have planned to give away at least three pairs of socks as Christmas Presents in December and so far I have completed one. One sock, not one pair. The main hold up has been choosing the patterns for the socks, I have done this now so I just need to stop working on stuff for myself for a while and get on with it. I'm hoping Socktoberfest will give me the motivation I need.

Well, here I am!

Ok, it's really difficult to know where to begin so I guess I'll just get on with it. This is really going to be a knitting blog although I obviously will chat about all the other stuff I get up to. I like to share what I have been baking and the kind of silly stuff I get up to but mainly I think I'll go on (and on) about my knitting. The main reason for this is that I don't really have that many real life friends who knit and no-one really gets why I'm so obsessed. Hopefully this is set to change.....

I got a call from my Mum yesterday, she said that one of the ladies she works with has a son who is leaving his job as a chef and is going back to college to do business and fashion or something random like that. I wasn't entirely sure where this was going, but apparently he would like to learn to knit and they were wondering if I could teach him. This is a dream come true! Although I have taught my little sister, Jess, to knit, she hasn't quite got the fever for it so hopefully I have found myself a new victim. Mwa ha ha! I'll keep you posted. I also haven't given up on Jess, there is hope for her yet too.

I'm actually riding quite high today, on the day of my first blog post I have actually got an FO to share. I've been making the Crinkle cardigan from Rowan 39. I finished the knitting part over a week ago, but seaming and finishing are not my strong point and it's not til today that I knucled down and got it done. Anyway, it's done now and I really like it. It is a little bit different and I like that it is kind of 2 cardigans. This is it just normal....


And then you kind of pull on the ribbons and the sides go up like a blind and voila, its a shrug!

I'll save the update on what I'm knitting now for tomorrow.