Aren't I productive?

I have two finished objects to show you, I'm feeling very productive having finished one last night and another this morning before going off to meet my friend for lunch. Very satisfying.

I finished the second Baby Yoda last night. I took the first one to my SnB group on Wednesday and explained how I was going to remove the i-cord ties and replace them with ribbon but they all seemed to like the i-cord and thought they were better than ribbon would be, but I still wasn't happy with the bulkiness of the i-cords, so I decided to compromise. I decided to keep the i-cord on the ties on the outside of the sweater but changed the inner ties for crocheted chains. I think that the crocheted ties work much better and really cut down on the bulkiness of the sweater. Babies don't need bulky clothing! Plus, I felt that the i-cords were likely to come undone when the sweater is being worn because of the thickness of them.

So, now that both the sweaters are finished for the twins, all I need to do now is knit them some booties. I did knit a pair of booties (the Bud booties if you remember), butsince I have nearly a ball left of each of the yarns I used for the sweater, I thought I should make the twins booties to match their sweaters. I'd like to try to get the booties finished by next weekend when dad to be comes to stay for a couple of days.

The other finished object I have is my Mason Dixon Ballband Dishcloth, which I finished this morning. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, now it just needs the test of actually being used. I'm hoping it will be so lovely that it will actually make me want to wash the dishes. Yeah, right! At the least, it might make it a little more pleasurable and has to be nice and more environmentally friendly than using those horrible disposable jay cloths that I've used all my life.

I think that now I have knitted myself a dishcloth, I really should knit myself some washcloths, I only have one and could really do with a few. I have got my eye on a number of patterns so will have to choose one or two, or I could just knit them all!

I Got Carried Away!

Baby Yoda is all ready to be sewn up now, yay! I went to start sewing it up last night but when I joined the shoulder seams I realised the left front was 10cm longer than the rest of the sweater! Doh! I guess I got a bit carried away on the train.

Pictures to follow of the finished item, then I can get on with Mr H's sweater again.

Rain, Sleet & Snow

So, I made it to Paris and back. We were actually lucky we made it, we missed the train from Geneva, it rolled off just as we hit the platform. I won't lay any blame, but I will just point out that I was at the station 10 minutes before hubby, so, you can make your own guesses on that one...

The weather was rubbish in Paris, there's no getting away from it. It was cold, very wet and very windy. We didn't go up the Eiffel Tower because it was so cold and the top was closed anyway because of the wind. If it was that cold and windy on the ground, I dread to think what it was like up the tower, I can tell you, we weren't about to find out. The queue to get up there was massive - tourists are all mental.

During the time there there only touristy things we did were the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe as the weather was so dreadful. At least at the Arc de Triomphe we could shelter from the wind a little, but it was still pretty bad.

We seemed to spend most of our time in Paris on the metro or sitting in cafes sheltering from the rain!

At one of the cafes we sat at, a brass band was setting up outside and no sooner had they set up than a heavy hail shower hit. You really had to feel for these guys. I don't know how they managed to play their instruments it was so cold. I didn't envy them one bit! They were fun to listen to and their set included such brass band as "Rehab", "Boys, Boys, Boys", "Toxic" and "Boys and Girls", there's nothing like a bit of Blur and Britney on brass!

Of course, while we were there I had to find a Parisian knitting shop to visit, so we went to La Droguerie on rue de Jour in Les Halles. It was such a lovely shop and full of people with huge shopping lists! They mainly seemed to sell buttons and ribbons, the like of which I've never seen before, they were absolutely stunning, I really should have bought myself some of their ribbons, but of course I was more interested in looking at their yarns! There wasn't a huge selection of yarn but it was all homespun and hand dyed and all very reasonably priced. I probably spend about half an hour wandering around stroking all the yarns while Mr H disappeared off next door to the Irish pub for a beer. I finally decided to buy a skein of pure bamboo in a lovely warm . I have no idea why I only bought one skein as it was only 4€90, if I had bought another skein I could have knit a lovely pair of socks. Silly me, I'm not sure why I was so restrained, I'm not usually!

We arrived back in Geneva yesterday afternoon to snow, which I guess makes a change from the rain we had in Paris. It was actually nice to get back home, especially as we had left Trinny at the apartment with a friend of mine coming to feed her while we were away. Poor Trin, I could hear her mewing when I go to the lift! She was very excited to see us, bless.

At least I got a good chunk of knitting done while I was on the train and I now only have to knit one sleeve of Baby Yoda before I can sew it up and they're both done. I'm going to change the i-cord ties for ribbon though as I think that the i-cords are too bulky for the sweaters. Now, if only I can remember where I put that last ball of yarn....

Tea and Babies

My mother is the best, my box of tea arrived from her today. I have to say that I felt rather guilty when she told me how much it cost to send, it would have been much cheaper for me to just drive over the boarder into France to go to the British market, oops. Mum's are great! I do feel a little better as I actually sent her some yarn for a change and I know she will love it when it arrives - I forgot to take a photo, but it's Lang's Aura, very pretty.

Baby Yoda #2 - Her's is coming along nicely. I just need to finish one front side and knit the sleeves, so there shouldn't be a problem with getting it finished before the birth of the twins. The father-to-be is coming to visit us on April 6 for the CERN open day, so they can't be born before then, I think there are actually a few weeks left to go, but I'm not taking any chances with twins! I might try to get the other pair of booties knit for when dad comes over so he can take them back with him and then send on the sweaters in the mail as a surprise. Yes, I think that would be nice.

I am off to Paris tomorrow for three days. I have to go to see a specialist at the hospital there so we decided to have a weekend break while we're there and are coming back on Sunday. I shall have to take some knitting to keep me occupied on the train, although, knowing me, I'll fall asleep within 10 minutes! I'm not very good at staying awake while travelling! We are staying 2 nights in the Marais district, which I hear is very nice, so I am looking forward to that, plus, I've noticed that there may be a good knitting shop there for me to visit. I will have to convince hubby that he need to buy me lots of yarn to cheer me up/celebrate, depending on what I'm told at the hospital! Any excuse hey!

I suppose I had better go pick up our train tickets as we're leaving at 7:15 tomorrow morning, urgh!

Swap Bot - Yarn Junkies

I just received three skeins of this beautiful yarn from my SwapBot partner. Yummy! It's Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets - Sapphire in colour Hesper. I love it! It arrived just as I was starting to loose faith in Swapbot as I haven't received anything in ages! I'm off out now to buy the rest of my goodies for my Magic Yarn Ball Swap...

My Discworld Character

I've been reading a fair bit of Terry Pratchett's Discworld lately, so here's a bit of fun...

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Gytha (Nanny) Ogg You are Nanny Ogg! A talented witch, able to make yourself at home wherever you are, and insist that Greebo is just a big softie. You enjoy drinking, a lot, and singing about a hedgehog. You have a huge family, and get your daughters-in-law to do most of the housework. You are kind and gentle, and help put people at ease. Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 75% Rincewind 63% The Librarian 50% Death 44% Carrot Ironfounderson 44% Commander Samuel Vimes 44% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 44% Lord Havelock Vetinari 31% Greebo 25% Cohen The Barbarian 19%

I'm still here!

I know, it's been a while but I've been busy/sick/busy/sick! Am working at the Montessori school and am training to be a teacher so have lots of work to do and have had two colds in 4 weeks, which hasn't been too fun. I have barely touched my knitting recently, I did take some socks to school one day and will probably do more knitting there again as it really interested the kids.

I did finally make it to my Stitch 'n' Bitch last night, the first time in ages, so it was really nice to catch up with everyone. Have been working on the girl's Baby Yoda as I'm sure the twins will be arriving shortly and I really want to make sure the sweaters are finished in time!

My mum sent me two balls of Regia Softy this week, it's very nice and I will be making myself a nice warm pair of socks, but not before I get some other projects finished. I don't think Mr H will be wearing his sweater now until next winter as I think spring may be on its way and I've not touched the sweater recently, so there's no way it will be finished before the weather warms up, unless we have another cold snap, but judging by today's glorious sunshine, I'm not sure that's likely.

I learned a valuable lesson at school today - it's not easy trying to control 30 odd children who have all been eating chocolate eggs!