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.