Last week I received my first package from my lovely secret pal. I didn’t get a chance to look properly until the weekend:
I have notecards, a candle, a stitch holder (it’s true, one can never have too many of these)…
…some lovely soft hipknits yarn (more socks!)…
…the green issue of knit1 – I made seal noises as I flicked through this, because I had no idea that it existed and they’ve really tried hard with the content. Lots of pretty plant fibre yarns to ponder and put on the list for my next trip to the US!
…and finally a broach and clip-on earrings set, which is incredibly clever because a) I only wear clip-on earrings and b) tend to buy sets. I don’t think either of those things was in my questionnaire, so brilliant mind-reading! They’re just the kind of thing I would have chosen myself. I wore them to work today.
Thank you for a brilliant package! Sorry I’ve been a bit absent recently.
I’ve been spending my weekends in nature one way or another, up helping with my grandparents’ garden (2 acres is a huge area when it’s filled with shrubs and flowers that need maintenance) or scrub-clearing with BTCV. For ’scrub’ read ‘blackthorn’, which meant that I showed up at work the next day looking as though I had fallen into a sack of cats. There’s something very energising about cutting things down and burning them!In other news, I have finally got round to blocking my mystery stole. Pictures soon. It’s a monster – nearly eight feet long.
I’m a vegan (see here). I’m taking part in a vegan yarn ball swap, hurrah! Questionnaire answers here.
It is International Blog Against Racism Week. I know that I am privileged as a white person in more ways than I can imagine, and I try to be aware of that as much as possible, but I know that I fail most of the time. Here brown_betty unpacks white privilege far better than I can.
Sekrit whisper to SP11 types – my questionnaire answers are here.
Here’s my final no-sheep-swap package – some lovely Dijon coloured hemp and a very useful tool (one can never too many needle gauges!). Many thanks to my secret pal, whose identity I still don’t know. I’m not sure whether they forgot to reveal themself or I missed something.
In other news, I finished knitting the Twisted Flower socks about two weeks ago, but only just got round to taking a picture. The pattern is just as good as it looks and I had a great time knitting it. I don’t understand all the people who substituted a plain heel – the flow of it is gorgeous and I’ve had no trouble wearing it with shoes. I have horribly bruised legs from climbing in and out of the window all the time (to read in the sun on the roof), so this is the only picture I’m letting anyone see!
Between taking photos of my stash in extreme close-up for Ravelry, I have managed to do some knitting.
As a friend of mine just had a baby a little earlier than expected, I have thrown everything else aside and cast on for a Mason-Dixon kimono, a pinwheel sweater and some EZ stockings. The kimono top is undyed Blue Sky Cotton and is finished but for seaming. I’m planning to thread the ribbon through the eyelets around the neckline, and work crab stitch edging in similar colour floss. Not really sure on the colours, but at least it’s different!
This pinwheel is also Blue Sky Alpacas, this time mainly dyed cotton. I need to pick two more shades for the outer circles. It’s a very quick easy knit, apart from a needlessly complicated bit with provisional cast ons from a second ball of yarn around the armholes. I just used a backward loop cast on and carried on knitting – it won’t look any different in the end.
Stockings in RYC Cashsoft Baby DK, in a shade that wavers between mushroom and old rose. It is a really lovely yarn, but for some reason I’m not terribly interested in knitting them, so I’ll probably finish the other two first!
Incredibly, it has not rained for more than 24 hours, although it is very windy. I can’t complain really, there are still people in Gloucestershire with no running water.
I’m stalled on my mystery stole because Friday’s floods damaged the first floor of the library as well as the second, so I can’t print out the fourth clue. I’m not quite crazy enough to knit a chart that complex from the screen. So, some books.
1. The library was still open for its original purpose, so I consoled myself with Simon Scarrow’s The Eagle and the Wolves. I’ll read almost anything set during the Roman empire, especially Roman Britain, but I’d been avoiding him because he shares a surname with my worst headmistress. It’s in the middle of a series, because libraries never have the first book, but I enjoyed it anyway. There’s something about military + adventure + history
2. When I got onto the tube today almost half the carriage were reading books. I was surprised and pleased – then I realised that they were all the same book, and that I had forgotten about the Potterdämmerung. I happen to be reading A Hero of Our Time, which eloquently illustrates my opinion of Potter: read dead Russians instead.
3. Just logged into LibraryThing for the first time in months to discover that about a third of my library had spontaneously morphed into German editions (including every single Discworld book, for some reason). At least it’s a language I can read and not Japanese. Can’t be bothered to do anything about it, as a third of my library is more books than I can edit in one go.
4. My knitting reading (audiobook) this week is The Steep Approach to Garbadale. It’s been a bit disappointing so far, with a good third of the story consumed by the main character’s tedious obsession with his cousin, but I expect it to pick up pace in the second half, like The Crow Road. The parts concerning the family business are good fun.
5. Flashman! I’ve finally got round to starting this series, thanks to BookMooch, and it is simply brilliant. In my head I’m calling it Henry Treece for grown-ups, because you go on a rollicking adventure in the past with very accurate people, events and period details. Flashman, damn his impudence, is a rather endearing scoundrel.
Fingers crossed for the return of the IT resource room!
1. While I was away I donated to Claudia’s cycle ride/Knitters against multiple sclerosis. There were some fabulous prizes and I came home to find a skein of Yarn Pirate sock yarn in exactly the colours I would have chosen myself. It’s called “Panama”.
2. Being back in London feels like a prize by itself. My own bed, my own kitchen, my own shops full of vegan food… my stash.
3. Emergency Sock Kit! I was weak and decided to buy one of Cassie’s ESKs instead of making my own. The sewing machine will have its revenge one day.
4. I’ve been shopping on Etsy again, and have acquired these beautiful stitch markers from sunneshine. Fleurs de lys, handcuffs and rockets and spaceships!
My mystery stole progresses at the same pace as everyone else’s, minus the hours sucked away into Ravelry. I love the pattern, but have controversially (and perhaps foolishly) chosen variegated KSH, so it’s rather difficult to photograph. Soon, however, there will be some knitted content!
Belated thanks to my lovely no-sheep swap pal, who sent me some lovely linen yarn and such a pretty little crane. I think it a wonderful idea, and have spent an hour this morning trying to fold a sheep, but have so far achieved only a dachshund.
I’m not sure what I shall do with the linen. It’s one of my favourite colours, and something about it keeps whispering ‘crochet, crochet’.
Starting a blog shortly before going on holiday was obviously a bad idea. I’ve been to several states (conducted myself with great restraint during a visit to School Products) and France (twice) since my last post, and have spent the past month working away from home. When I get back to London in mid July, there will be pictures of my various stash enhancements as well as my lovely No-Sheep-Single-Skein parcels (thanks pal!).
I’m knitting away on a variety of baby-related projects, as my friends seem to have both coordinated their gestations and made a pact not to reveal genders to anyone. Every time I need to look for gender-neutral colours I am surprised by how few there are. Otherwise, I am waiting impatiently for the start of Mystery Stole #3. I’ve chosen Kidsilk Spray, despite three separate vows never to touch KSH again. It’s charcoal/light gray and I hope it will fit in with the planned pattern. My guess for the mystery is something to do with the night sky. Instead of a swatch, here’s a picture of me acting like a fool in an old and much loved Clapotis.
The most distracting webtoy ever prize goes to Ravelry. I received my beta invite a few days ago and have hardly closed the page since. I’m whichit there too.
Part one of a series in preparation for the Knittyboard stash flash on April 1st.
Details and (many) more pictures after the jump.
From my winter stashbusting – a lone skein of Lorna’s Laces sock in Old Rose and some blue cotton of unknown origin make a useful pair of mitts. I chose this photo because I love the accidental inclusion of Diana in the background – I too have bracelets of invincibility!
This is a lovely pattern that would be a good first colourwork project – easy to get into the rhythm of the repeats and no long stretches of only one colour.
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