socherryknits

Whoop Whoop! Just got Friday 30th June afternoon off at work so that we can drive down to WOOLFEST !!!! [I think it deserves multiple exclamation marks and caps ...] So excited I think I could burst! Just gotta find somewhere to stay Friday & Saturday night now - although I would be happy in the car / tent outside the venue ... And I got a huge birthday parcel at my work from my friend in Singapore! It's a good day :)

This is how far I've got on the baby blanket. I think that the moss stitch border is more visible in this photo - hardly the most exciting design, but I thought of it myself so I'm pleased. There was lots of oohing and aahing at Sunday's Stitch n Bitch at the beautiful softness of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - which makes this unbelievably 'boring to the point of tears' project more bearable. At moments of extreme boredom a quick fondle can usually give me another motivating boost. I chose it because it is machine washable and also aran weight - thus faster to knit up. Even still it's taking me an age to knit - and the deadline looms large - quite literally. Lookee at the beautiful necklace I got on Saturday at the Miso Funky Market - I've been wearing this ever since I got it - it's utterly adorable and a total turn-around for me - I never used to like hearts ... And I did a trade of some stitch markers with Ysolda for this beautiful hand dyed sock y...

I've had such a good day! Spent the whole of Bank Holiday Monday crafting away making this reversi ble sock knitting on-the-go bag - I just have to get some cord from John Lewis. Above is a shot carrying it like a bag. It has a drawstring to pull it shut and a loop to hold a clip that can be attached to belts or jeans belt loops etc. The pouch can be reversed so the loop that serves to hold the clip on the outer side can be used on the inside to thread the yarn through, preventing tangling while knitting. I made this as a tester for one I'm planning to make for my Secret Pal - It was so hard not to just cast on the sock yarn - I'm dying to start a new project!

Ever the sucker for this type of thing I have applied to join the World Knitting Cup and plan to cast on my delicious Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn to make a pair of socks. Does anyone know of any good online patterns? I'm hoping for something with ribbing and cable. I have from 9th June 18:00 (Central European Time) to 9th July 21:30 (CET) to complete this - which will indeed be a challenge for me! The yarn project ration I hear you say - but this is a BB-style task and also I'm running out of 'simple' projects and need one on the go for holidays, meetups and KIPs... There! Justified!

Yay! Finished this at last nights meet - I wanted a 'fire' scarf, and I think I've achieved that - Its black [Rowan R2 fuzzi felt] with Kool-Aid dyed fire [Rowanspun]. Both yarns have since been discontinued, illustrating how long this has been a WIP! But I'm happy with it and have been wearing all day! Off to update my progress bar!

This is the rabbit I chased for a pic - it was really cute, and a baby - but it ran away :( ... and the baby duck that the boy took a shot of ... I took this of the rain showers coming across the park - just missed this shower.

Behold its delicious beauty! This is my birthday pressie from L - Its all berry colours and I can't wait to knit it up! This project rationing is really starting to bite now :( Thank you very much for my present L :) Watch this space for this on my feet!

Argh!! Just in at Get knitted Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted and Bulky [so long have I coveted these!], cotton fleece and sock yarn! Cascade 220 Peruvian Highland Wool ...is it sad that I am nearly crying with joy at my computer desk at work? Look at all the beautiful Lamb's Pride colours ... oh the felting, oh the colour combos.... Off to look at sock yarns - I didn't know they did sock yarns too!

Finally received my Vogue Knitting International - it didn't take as long as they said it would. Bit disappointed with this one actually. Only a couple of projects really jumped out at me (above) - usually it's a lot more. I was quite pleased to see a column on knitting & the UK and also quite interested by an article on the British Wool industry. "The British Wool Marketing Board operates a central marketing system for UK fleece wool with the aim of achieving the best possible net returns for farmers." it says on its home page. It would appear that this system is not working out very well - and farmers (esp. small or 'hobby' farmers) are facing massive losses on their wool - the article claims that fleeces costing the farmer £50 to shear are fetching them £0.89. (!) The system works like this: All farmers (Shetland farmers are excepted) with 4 or more sheep must, by law, sell their wool to the British Wool Marketing Board who pay the farmers a price bas...

Knitting needles & aircraft So 'N' at BAA Glasgow says that it's "absolutely fine" to take knitting needles on board an aircraft with hand luggage. "Not a problem" she says - apparently I just made it, as they changed the rules a couple of weeks ago. (I was under the impression from my 'Google' research that this changed in April 2005.) Fingers crossed that all will be fine - although I may call again nearer the date just to hear someone else say it. There is no mention of knitting needles on The List on their website. I'm a little alarmed that BAA feel it necessary to tell passengers that fireworks are not allowed in hand luggage... What else? BB News Well - of course me and the boy were in watching the start of Big Brother last night - there is a knitter!! And he's Glaswegian!! And by all accounts so far, an hyperactive pain in the arse ... och well. Knitting news I've been plodding on with the blanket - about 1/3 of the wa...

This is the sky outside my work window at the moment - I'm having to stay late so thought I'd do my blog here instead. By the time I finished typing that the heavens opened - typical Glasgow. Listening to: "Time of My Life" Macy Gray (gonna add these in everytime a new song starts on my iPod) So I admitted publically at Sunday's Stitch n Bitch group that I'm so excited about this years Big Brother - I confess! I love it! The boy loves it! We sit on the couch all summer and watch it together. To me it signals that summer is here. Despite Glasgow insisting on remaining grey and rainy, Big Brother on the TV means that the sun is coming soon and that makes me happy. Also when the boy and I started going out and were still in that uncertain phase it was a great was of keeping in contact without adding any 'clingy / where is this going' pressure. We would text each other latest goss - and news from our respective flats "did you see what X just did?!...

On the needles Baby blanket for work colleague - with 30 cm ruler to see how far I've got! 10 sts moss stitch border with straight knit - this is my 'in public / watching TV' project. Knitting in Debbie Bliss utterly heavenly Cashmerino Aran from K1 Yarns . (I don't know why these pictures are so dark - I'm at work and the camera doesn't like the nasty florescent tube lighting apparently) Listening to A Poem on the Underground Wall - Art Garfunkel

On the needles Branching out from Knitty in Rowan Kidsilk Haze - I am determined to do a pattern repeat a night. I've never knitted with Kidsilk Haze before - a firm believer that mohair and sensitive necks should never mix - but someone at my SnB group had knitted one and Kidsilk Haze is no scratchy mohair! [or if it turns out to be - then it is a gift!] Listening to Don't Let me Get Me - Pink

I was determined to finish my socks by the end of the weekend and I have! Yay! I love them! There is a wee bumpy bit on the inside toe of one sock that is a little bugging but ... I tried to re-weave in the top about 3 times then pulled too far and undid a bit of the cast off row - My completely winging it tie up seems to have lessens the bump but I'm not 100% sure it's gonna stick - soon find out! So - my first pair of socks ... The Good I 'invented' [through pattern mis-reading] left and right socks which feel more comfortable to me than my initial sock with it's centrally-oriented toes. Good knitting karma led to matching striped through absolute accident - I only noticed after about an inch that I had done this. The Bad My first sock - despite very thorough maths [which I detest] was too big with such a long toe decrease that a Stitch n Bitch friend commented that it looked like a condom... It had to be frogged. My first sock 'proper' I made the heel fla...

I think I have blogger fever ... So this Secret Pal 8 is making me think recently about knitting. Thank you Kathleen for you lovely comment - I am starting to realise that knitting (and all creative pastimes) does indeed define and shape us. I recently bought 3 balls of Rowan Kid Classic to knit the Sleeves from Scarf Style again in a deep red this time. I was wearing my sleeves last night as I sock knitted and thinking about much I just LOVE the yarn! So much so I would prefer to knit a jumper or cardi than another sleeves. So I began to briefly search for patterns - I realised this morning (whilst filing an update at work) that the "Under the Hoodie" from the Stitch n' Bitch book is made from Kid Classic. I was honestly so excited I thought I'd explode - I feel like it's Christmas such is my excitement to get home and find out how many more balls I need - and whether John Lewis still has more of the deep red in the same dyelot! I looked around and there was no...

Feeling in a type-y mood. Music : Every Planet we reach is Dead - Gorillaz On the sticks: Lana Grossa socks [70% there] Mood: Tired but happy cos the sun is shining & the work day is over! Spent today gleaning information about my SP spoilee stalker style - have a notebook full of likes, dislikes, ideas for gifts etc. Can't wait to get buying and sending - obviously I can't say too much but yay! This is fun! Listy things First 12 songs to play on shuffle on my iPod Eventually - Pink Guilty Conscience - Eminem The Snow - Audio Bullys Il Tramonto - Ennio Morricone (Love) Crane/White Lightening - The RZA & Charles Be ... Twentyfourseven - All Saints Respect - Pink Face in a Cloud - Audio Bullys By_Myslf - Linkin Park A Good Day - Abdominal & DJ Fase (Love) Putting Shame in your Game - The Beastie Boys Ugly Brothers - Dj Format (Love)

I had a lovely time at yesterday evenings Stitch n' Bitch meet - we were to bring along our favourite knitting books - I brought "At Knit's End" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and " Scarf Style" by Pam Allen. "At Knit's End" always cheers me up as it's full of knitting mediations, quotes and observations about the addictive craft of knitting - I can relate to so much of this book. The boy bought me this for Christmas after reading the sub-title "Meditations for women who knit too much" - he believes for some reason that this is me.... I wondered aloud at last nights meet - why have I not met a knitter who is not utterly addicted to this craft? Why is knitting one of those hobbies where it is all-consuming? I am always either knitting, thinking about knitting, reading about knitting, writing about knitting, shopping for knitting [and knitting related items]. Scarf Style is the book from which I made these sleeves - I have bought t...

This is our shot of the truely spectacular thunder storm on Thursday evening - enough to drive me from my sock knitting on the sofa to watch Mother Nature wreak her emotions down upon Glasgow for over 2 hours. Amazing! Not the usual couple of lightnings, rumble of thunder followed by rain - no - this was positively tropical. Lightening flashing from every direction, thunder rumbling and cracking, torrential rain - all at the same time and all for 2 hours! I grew up in Cyprus - my parents in anticipation of childhood fears positively encouraged me and my sister to enjoy the Mediterranean storms as adventurous and fun - but I don't recall ever seeing anything so wild in Cyprus. ...back to knitting ... So I finished the left hand sock last night [pictures to follow] - left hand? I hear you ask. Surely socks are uni-feet? Yes - but due to my reading the toe bit of the Opal sock pattern whilst watching TV I missed the bit that said 'Rnd 2 - Knit' after the decrease row. Since my...

I'm still feeling pooey but I am ignoring it - I made these this evening [with packet mix but I'm proud!] I had to pick all the dark chocolate chips out of the mix [migraines] and add milk chocolate chips instead ... I'm just about to continue with my sock - but first I need to finish my Secret Pal 8 questionnaire - I noticed that the TwelfthKnit has completed hers - A+ [humpf!] :) Many thanks to my well-wishers - am still undecided whether this is hayfever or a cold but it is not impeding any longer upon my knitting! Oh well - back to the knitty homework ...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Favourite yarns to knit with are; Natural Fibres : Merino, alpaca, cotton, lambswool, silk etc Self-striping variegated sock yarns [washable yarns only] Absolutely do not like; Eyelash, feathery yarns, Acrylics - just not a fan , Novelty yarns, Scratchy wool [guess I am a yarn snob then...] mohair 2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Currently all my straights are all in a pencil case style needle holder Everything else is in varying pencil cases / pouches All stored in a brown paper bag [very organised am I - its a sorry state of affairs really!] 3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? About 3 years Intermediate - keep trying advanced but I end up frogging most of the time! 4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yep - here's the link 5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath ...

So this week I have been knitting more of my sock - and that's about all I've knitting really - my time has been taken up by being ill & 'work crafting' On Sunday I came over 'all peculiar' and felt dizzy and faint. We were due to go through to Livingston for the boy's sister's birthday - in the end I stayed in alone. It was awful, I couldn't knit! Gah! Nor read, nor look at the internet! Usually when I cannot knit, I can at least read knitting magazines & books or go online and surf about knitting in blogs, yarn online shops etc. I watched tv for what felt like my entire life - bored and alone :( And I feel funny again tonight but I am forcing myself to get my blog done - it is chucking it down outside and I have an awful sore throat and headache - is this hayfever, or a migraine coming, or a stupid cold from the students at the library [maxed out on pro-plus and lack of sleep during their exam time]? Blah - all I know is that I can't k...

Writing on my knitting ... Having seen this on Anticraft *explicit* I'm filled with a desire to knit my sentiments / feelings onto something - a bag or a scarf. I'm not sure I have the courage to be this explicit [although in my youth I was never this cautious] but I like the idea - perhaps something more humerous like 'I'd rather be knitting' And on a seperate note - a fantastic new addition to K1 Yarns a limited edition paper yarn [see above - I cannot work photos on blogger ... they just dont go where I want them to!!] It is truely amazing to behold - there are swatches and garments made up and K has even soaked a swatch in soapy water for a time to prove that it will stand up to water, and will not dissolve in a shower - a major worry in rainy Glasgow! [It is bucketing down as I type - hello migraine... *sigh* ] Of the yarn on the left Habu Textiles website writes; "This is a "paper" yarn. A small pieces of linen paper is sandwiched between the...