socherryknits

It's been a dreich old day today. So what better to cheer me up than a couple of skeins of old maiden aunt's yummy squashy dreich alpaca/silk blend ? It's not as gloomy as it sounds - the boy says (and I agree) that the colourway looks like the sky with a silver lining - when the worst has passed and it's beginning to hint that it might brighten up soon. I popped along today with a couple of knitty friends to see Lilith in her studio. It was great - I got to watch her dyeing away - a very organised set-up it was too. Hooks above the sink to leave yarn to drip and cool, clothes horses to let it dry. It's given me the dyeing bug again and I'm hoping to get along for one of her dyeing workshops soon. I also borrowed a copy of Stahman's Shawls and Scarves as I'm having a lust for a faroese shawl, and Fenna looks like the just the ticket! I know, I know, what about Rogue? Well Rogue is motoring on - I'm onto the hood now. It's still a great knit, i...

Yesterday I grabbed the nearest scrap of paper to scrawl notes on levelling alchemy on Warcraft (those in the know, you understand. Those not in the know, if you're really interested click here ) which turned out to be a ball label from the yarn I'm using for Rogue. I feel these photos provide a much better description of my free time this week than words ever could - Warcraft and Rogue, with a bit of web design on the side.

We were wandering around Kelvingrove Park this morning taking pictures of all the pretty 'Spring is in the Air' flowers that have burst forth when ... ... ever so quietly, so we never heard them coming ... ... the Glasgow Pigeons re-enacted The Birds . 'Twas a bit spooky. In other news, I am thinking of Christmas already with the arrival of a Bookmooch pattern book. These are so cute, and knitted in a chunkier yarn, so probably the best first attempt at colourwork. If I start now I might be done in time for Christmas! After all, I only started Rogue in Sept 2008 (the second attempt. Prior to that, my first attempt had been around for more than a year.) OK! So really I started Rogue in around summer 2007. And I've now caught the bug - it's a surprisingly quick knit once you get into it. I'm loving the cables - the detail is from the waist-shaping. I'm at the back now and can't wait to see this all come together. The yarn is a lovely boingy Blue-faced Le...

I got home from work tonight to a surprise - I won a competition! A pattern book: Rowan's Organic Wool Collection (Rav link) What a great start to the weekend!! And lookee - a finished object!! Some gloves with Fyberspates Merino/Tencel sock yarn and the Web of Wool glove pattern. I liked it so much, I've started another pair in some more sock yarn - this time dyed by Ysolda. I've followed Julia's knitting rule - you can cast on something once you've cast off three works in progress. I cast off the never-ending scarf, and the gloves, and also Luna Moth shawl in Handmaiden SeaSilk (when I say cast off ... for the last project I actually mean pulled off the needles and made into pretty balls of yarn once more. It just wasn't working, and with the yarn costing £18 a ball I wasn't prepared to let it's destiny be a shawl I merely felt 'meh' about) So where is the never-ending scarf? Well, to be honest, I'm sick of talking about it, and sick of th...

The boy and I have had quite a nerdy couple of weeks ... ... we went to do some stargazing as part of Glasgow University's contribution to Moon Week, 2009 being the International Year of Astronomy apparently. We went to the University's observatory and had way more fun than we were expecting to have. We saw the moon up close and personal - it was like a concrete block really. And we learned that the dividing line between the light side of the moon and the dark side is called The Terminator - nerdalicious! I saw Saturn and it's rings - which was quite unreal. The astronomy guy pointed to a star, and when we looked through the telecope it was Saturn! I never really thought about space before - I mean, sure, it's up there and all. But we don't often see any stars in Glasgow with all the light pollution, so I guess I don't really think about it that much. Then we saw some constellations, and the astronomy guy blew my mind saying that we were viewing a star as it ha...

The boy and I were away last weekend at Loch End Chalets , near Aberfoyle in Stirling. It was so tranquil, and just what we needed. I hadn't realised that I was so stressed until we got there and I felt so relaxed. This was the view from the dining area, and just outside on our wee patio (that's the Loch, right there). We just got the telephoto lens before we left, so there's lots of photos playing with it ahead! We spent the weekend vegging out on M&S food and DVDs at night, and driving around during the day. We went on the Inversnaid RSPB reserve walk - 400 mere metres (!)... very much uphill, with not a bird to be heard. Lots of lichen though - rare lichen apparently. I don't know about that, but I do know that in the spirit of Bill Bryson walking the Appalachian Trail , I spent some time on the ground facedown, in sheer exhaustion with lichen stuck to my cheek examining the lichen. The ducks at Loch End were hilarious - we may have taken quite a few duck shots ...

We got a new toy to play with - a digital SLR (Canon EOS 1000D for the curious), and it has been such a lot of fun! First I read the manual about apertures, shutter speeds (ISOs?) and depth of field. Then I snapped the cat and took what I think is my favourite picture of all time. The detail in his cute little face if you look at the Flickr version is amazing! He looks so peacefully you'd believe he was sound asleep ... which he wasn't. He was closing his eyes to try and avoid the pain of yet more flashes going off in his face. (Just kidding ... or am I?) Then I snapped my knitting, and played with depth of field on a yummy skein of Old Maiden Aunt cashmere (I wasn't very good at it) . Then we went out 'in the field' for some of nature's paparazzi fun. I promptly forgot all about apertures and the like, and took all of the photos below with the auto settings/focus. The camera makes a great kat-shh noise - even if they added that noise in, I wouldn't care! I...