Natural Born Knitter

August update

2009-08-25T13:17:00.004+02:00

Thought I'd better write something, it's been so long. As usual, I've been busy with Molly and life in general. Should be working my socks off to try to get my course finished but that's not been happening and I haven't been doing a lot of knitting either. In fact, I'm not sure what I actually do with all my time.

I do have a FO to show off, after months of cursing and listening to Molly cry every time I worked on it, I finally finished her Bergere de France cardigan. It has lots of mistake but I'm happy enough with it, especially since it still fits her despite it supposedly being for up to three months (she's now seven, would you believe?!). Of course, it's been way to hot here for her to wear it, it's been in the 30's lately, phew, too hot for me, I can tell you. Bring on the autumn I say.

I can't believe we're over half-way through August already and I haven't touched any Christmas knitting yet. I think I have it all planned but I think I'm going to keep it down this year. I did have a helping hand keeping the costs down though, I usually say I will only knit from my stash but that never happens as all the yarn I buy, I buy because I like it and I want to knit it for me! So, luckily a lady in Annemasse, just over the boarder in France, had lots of Garnstudio yarn for sale after she had gone out of business and she's moving and needed to get rid of it, 2CHF (£1.15) a ball, wow, that's cheap! I bought 25 balls for various Christmas projects. I would have bought more but only had 60CHF on me and didn't want to go overboard as my stash is big enough as it is at the moment and I really need to stop adding to it. I was very impressed with my self-control!

I am off to the UK tomorrow with Molly for a month and really looking forward to it, although I will miss Mr H. He will hopefully be coming over for the last week of my visit as it will be my birthday. Again, I will have to try to control my yarn urges as my mum keeps getting beautiful new stock in the shop and I always want it. Maybe I can get Mr H to bring an empty suitcase over for me...

The shop is open!

2009-07-14T10:57:00.002+02:00

My mum's online store is now open, so go check it out! www.interknitcafe.co.uk

I know I've not had much to say for myself lately but I've been kind of tied up with the bairn, which hasn't left me a whole lot of time for knitting, so I don't really have a lot to report on that fromt anyway.

I'm in the UK at the moment, staying with my mum but have to go back to Switzerland tomorrow, so sad but I think Molly will be pleased to see her daddy. Can you believe she's 6 months old this week? Where does all the time go?

The Inteknit Café Website

2009-06-24T13:54:00.001+02:00

Hey, I know, it's been a while but between looking after Molly and trying to help my mum out with her website, there's not been much time for much else, plus we've been having some fantastic weather lately, so any free time I do have is largely spent outside.

If you have a chance, check out the new website for my mum's shop, it's close to completion now, I believe the shop will be available to use from 3rd July!

www.interknitcafe.co.uk

Where'd all my time go?

2009-05-04T15:12:00.007+02:00

Wow, who'd have thought a baby would cut into my knitting time so much?! There are so many things I want to knit at the moment, mostly for Molly but I just don't have the time, or if I do have time, I don't feel like knitting. At the moment my time is taken up by Molly (obviously), my Montessori course, housework and working on the shop on my mum's website.

I did sit down last night and finally finish the first wool soaker I've been knitting for Molly. It turned out OK but looks huge. I haven't tried it on her yet. I need to put some decorative buttons on the waistband to cover up a dodgy seam but apart from that it's fine. Now I just have to treat it with lanolin to make it water repellent.

I'm still working on the Bergere de France cardigan for her too. It feels like I've been knitting that forever and I'm still only on the back. I seem to have to pull out every couple of rows that I knit too as I keep going wrong. I blame this on tiredness and that I'm not an expert at working from charts, in fact, this is only the second time I've ever worked from one. Plus, the pattern is labelled as 'expert' in the magazine, so that makes me feel a little better. There is a lot of cabelling to be done too.

Quite selfishly, there are also a ton of things that I want to knit for myself at the moment and my Ravelry queue just gets longer and longer.

I really need to try to get some work done for my mum's online store. She wants it live in two weeks, ohh err. There's still heaps to put in the shop, why does she have to stock so much yarn?! How terribly inconsiderate of her! It is looking good though. My friends have done a great job of constructing the site, especially as it ended being a much tougher job than they had orginally anticipated. Better crack on I guess, but not before I show you another picture of my gorgeous girl!

Are you addicted to knitting?

2009-04-05T12:11:00.000+02:00

You scored 65%. You are a recreational knitter. Although other people accuse you of addiction, you are not addicted. Nope. Knitting is just fun. You could quit any time. Really.

See, now, I disagree. Maybe not a complete addict but if it had asked Ravelry based questions ie, the amount of time I spend on there and what's in my queue, I think it would be higher...

http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/333

Baby hat

2009-03-29T16:42:00.002+02:00

I knit a very cute baby hat for my friend's baby, Rosie. I hope it's going to fit, it's too big for Molly but my friend's baby's only about 3 weeks old, so hopefully it will be OK.

The pattern is Vine Lace Baby Hat from Knitting Daily. I knit it using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino on 3mm dpns. I might knit a bigger one for Molly.

I'm currently knitting a soaker for Molly now that I am using cloth nappies. We seem to be getting on OK with the nappies. So far I have been using terry nappies with Nature Babies wraps. I really like these wraps as all the poppers mean that you can really adjust the nappy to fit properly and so far we have had no leaks, so that is great. I really want to try knitted soakers as I think they might be better for Molly's skin than the PUL wraps. The soaker I'm knitting at the moment is the Wool Diaper Cover from Ottobre Design. I'm knitting it using Rowan Country and Twilley's Freedom Wool.

Good Golly Miss Molly!

2009-03-27T18:13:00.003+01:00

I couldn't resist :-)

Molly Models Handknit

2009-03-23T11:01:00.002+01:00

I thought I should post another picture of Molly in my knitting, so here's a cute photo of her in the Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting.

Mother's Day Monkey

2009-03-16T15:19:00.001+01:00

I'm knitting my mum some socks for Mother's Day. In the UK, Mother's Day falls in March (22nd this year in case you need reminding). I am halfway through knitting Knitty's Monkey Socks. Love them and wish I didn't have to give them away, not an uncommon feeling for me after knitting pretty socks - I always knit far prettier socks for other people than I do for myself. I'm not convinced that I'll get the socond one finished in time, my mum is coming to stay on Friday so I only have 4 more days, I guess I had better get casting on. Too much knitting to do...

The socks are knit in Opal Handpainted yarn, colour 20 on 2.5mm needles.

Some projects finally off my needles

2009-03-15T18:07:00.004+01:00

So, despite having a little baby to deal with all the time, I have still managed to do a bit of knitting and have actually finished some things. I finally got around to taking a photo of my Rowan Iceland sweater, after buying buttons last week.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and think it looks really nice. I was a bit worried that I finished it just in time for the weather to start warming up but I figure I can just wear it over a t-shirt when it's a bit chilly instead of a coat. I can't wear it under a coat because the sleeves are too wide and bunch up under my armpits under a coat, which looks very amusing.

I also finally finished my Wendy baby hoodie, which I was having trouble with due to a very strange looking hood. I thought the pattern was all wrong and was going to frog the hood and knit a new one until my friend pointed out that I simply hadn't joined the top seam so the hood was quite flat. All I needed to do was remove the ribbing on the hood, sew the seam and re-knit the hood and hey-presto, a handsome looking hood, yay! So, I did that last night and found some buttons I had kicking about from a project I never finished and voila, a finished little sweater for baby Molly. No pictues of her in it yet though as it's for 3-6 months.

I need to be knitting some baby things for other babies at the moment, two of my friends have recently dropped baby girls - very cute. I feel the need to spread the knitted love.

Molly is home

2009-03-05T21:58:00.005+01:00

My little baby girl came home a couple of weeks ago. She's an absolute delight, I couldn't be happier!

Yes, that is one of my handknits she's wearing, in fact, that's one I'm wearing too! Mine, you will probably recognise as my February Lady Sweater. Hers is called Elly and is from RYC Classic Baby, knit using 2 balls of Wendy Peter Pan DK on 4mm needles. I knit it a year or two ago, not knowing who it would go to. I was going to give it to a friend but couldn't part with it, just as well really!

Haven't had much news on the knitting front. I have pretty much finished my Rowan Iceland sweater, it just needs the ends sewing in and some buttons. No pictures at the moment.

Nothing much to report, just wanted to show I'm still around...

I will leave you with this interesting piece of information:

Tired

2009-02-03T21:46:00.005+01:00

I'm so tired. Molly is still in the hospital so I've been going back and forth to see and feed her all week, it's really exhausting. Luckily my mum has been here as Mr H is in Canada, so she's been helping me by doing the shopping, cleaning, cooking etc. I'd be in such a state without her here.

I have been getting a little knitting done. I finished a blanket for Molly while I was still in the hospital. It was originally a basket I knit ages ago which wouldn't hold its shape, so I frogged it and knit a blanket instead. I made the pattern up myself. It's knit in Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere but I don't know which colour, and was knit on 4mm needles.

I can't wait to have her back home and in her moses basket where she belongs. I was hoping she would be back before this weekend coming so I could take her to the airport to meet Mr H but I don't think that's going to happen now. I think she should be home fairly soon as she would have been 37 weeks tomorrow, which is no longer considered premature and she's starting to wake up more and has even finished drinking a couple of bottles. She's not sick at all, it's just her eating ability. The paediatrician said yesterday that her tube should be out in a couple of days so they won't force-feed her in the hope that by the next feed she will be so hungry she will eat more. Fingers crossed.

I also started knitting a little baby cardigan in Bergere de France Caline from Knits for Babies. I hope it's not going to be too difficult as it's labeled 'expert', ohh err! I'm sure I'll manage to get through it. I'm doing size 3 months, so hopefully I'll get it finished before Molly has time to grow out of it!

Oops, I seem to have dropped something...

2009-01-26T23:23:00.004+01:00

I had my baby! She came nearly 6 weeks early. I gave birth to the beautiful Molly Lilian on 17 January at 15:17. She weighed 6lbs 3ozs/2.88kg and was 45cm tall. I am now back home as of today and still recovering well from my c-section. Unfortunately little Molly has had to stay in the hospital as she is so young and is having trouble feeding but we hope to have her back with us soon.

I know that I'm her mum and so I'm incredibly biased, but man, isn't she a cutie?! She was instantly cute. Maybe that was helped by the c-section, meaning that she wasn't all squashed up when she was delivered.

We have no idea why she decided to come so early. There was talk that I may have got my dates wrong because she was so big for her age but the obstetrician decided that she was definitely 34 weeks and thinks it was probably my 'unintelligent' uterus (apparently they're not very smart organs) deciding that as baby was so big, it must be full term. Whatever the reason, I don't care so long as she gets nice and strong and I can bring her home soon.

What I've been knitting

2009-01-13T14:08:00.006+01:00

So I shall give you a bit of an update on what I've been up to recently project-wise.

I have almost finished my Rowan Cocoon Iceland sweater, all I need to do now is sew up the seams and knit the welt. Since this involve sewing, it will probably be a fair while before I actually get it finished.

I knit some Mrs B eeton wrist warmers for my mum for Christmas, which she loves. I knit them using Rowan Kid Classic and Rowan Kidsilk Aura. I missed out the beading, merely because I just couldn't be bothered.

I also knit some more Chevron Socks, this time for my dad. I think he liked them, my step-mother certainly did. I also knit some more Fetching using up some Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed that I had kicking about my stash, I think they looked very cute and they were well received.

I'm sure there's more Christmas knitting that I completed but I know I'm lacking some photos, like my mum's Fidget and the hat I knit for Mr H.

Speaking of Mr H, wish him luck as he started his new job today over in Lausanne. I think it's good timing as I feel I may start nesting any time soon.

I can't believe it's only 5 more weeks now until I'm a mummy, how crazy is that??! I'm not convinced I'm going to make it that far, I'm sure bubs is trying to make a break for freedom! My mum refuses to book her flight yet until she's convinced that I'm going to make it all the way. I shall have to wait and see what my obstetrician says when I see him for my final scan next week.

I can't believe how little baby knitting I've done. I managed to finish my Pinwheel blanket after being donated some yarn to finish the cast-off. I also knit a really cute sweater using Araucania Pomaire, copied from a sweater knit by Annelis.

I really want to knit some more blankets and some booties and sweaters and hats and rompers......... Oh, when will it all fit in?

Unravel

2009-01-05T23:36:00.004+01:00

A knitting festival comes to Farnham...

For more info, contact the Interknit Café on 01252 734666 or drop into the shop at 60 Downing Street, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PN.

(I, of course, will not be attending, I expect to be in hospital then with a little baby!)

Just so you know

2008-12-31T19:04:00.003+01:00

I haven't quit blogging or anything. I know it's been a while since my last post and I have no reason or excuse other than I can't be bothered. This is not a good attitude as it seems to have spread to some other things that I really need to sort out, particularly before bubs arrived. Maybe it's the imminent arrival of the little on that's making me feel like this, I don't know and I'm not going to apologise, at least not about the blog anyway. There are some things I should be apologising to people about but I think actually getting these things done would be better than an apology.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Christmas was lovely. I'm in the UK staying at my mum's with Mr H and Trinny (who is causing no end of trouble with my mum's cat and is acting generally like the spoiled princess that she is). I have got lots of knitting done and got some things off my needles. I also received lots of new things to put on my needles in the new year, time permitting. Baby's coming in seven weeks, how crazy is that.

I will post properly later, really not in the mood, want to knit some more. I'm currently working on my Rowan Cocoon Iceland sweater for ME! About bloody time!

34 Knitting Days until Christmas

2008-11-20T11:18:00.003+01:00

I can't believe Christmas is so near now. Every time I think I've nearly finished all my Christmas knitting I think 'maybe I should knit something for so-and-so'. I'll never get done at this rate.

I finished my Chevron Socks last night and am really pleased with them. I'm going to use the same pattern for my dad's socks and expect I will eventually use it for myself with my Harry Potter sock yarn, although when will get around to that is anyone's guess.

I promised my mum that I would knit her some Christmas decorations for the shop as she's been too busy to do anything herself. A little foolish, I know but they're only little and shouldn't take up too much time. I should have plenty of opportunity to knit over the weekend if we get the snow we're forecast, although I won't hold my breathe, we didn't really get any in town last year. It's meant to snow Saturday through to Monday, which I am looking forward to, although I'll probably be staying indoors as I'm really rubbish at walking in the snow and I'm sure my ability won't be improved with my ever expanding belly - I seem to have lost my centre of gravity!

Anyway, so, I actually made a quick start on the Christmas decorations last night and knit up a six-pointed sta r. It took me about an hour to knit. I used Martifil Diva on 4mm needles. I had received the yarn from my Secret Knitting Pal on Swap-Bot. I think it looks really pretty, especially with the silver sparkles. I will knit up a few more. There are some other patterns that I'm planning on knitting, including some baubles and some knitted fairy lights, should be interesting!

Meme

2008-11-17T20:24:00.003+01:00

I stole this from Heather and thought it seemed like a little bit of fun...

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"But if any of us were to chronicle the false patterns, the lulls, the storms of perpetual feeding, the general loony and uncontrollable eating behaviour of a new baby, it would be impossible to make a sensible theory out of it."

From How Not to be a Perfect Mother by Libby Purves

I forgot to mention - When in Rome...

2008-11-14T14:07:00.007+01:00

Of course, how could I forget, I visited a yarn store while I was in Rome. Of course, I just had to do my research before setting off, Mr H was very accommodating and led me there to cheer me up on one of my more painful days. The store was called Lana della Vecchia and is at Via del Baullari 3, 00186 Rome.

It was a cute little shop, stuffed to the roof with yarn. The women in the shop were very friendly and one spoke limited English. I think the shop is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the city.

Of course, I bought some Italian yarns while I was in there. I bought two balls of Laines du Nord 'Medifra' in a beautiful reddish colour (possibly going to be a pair of Fetching for myself). I also bout two balls of a yarn I'd never heard of before - Tropical Lane 'Complice', which is a bulky yarn in a mixture of browns and reds. Very cute, although I have no idea of what it is to become.

While I''m here, I can tell you that my Chevron Socks are coming along beautifully, I'm actually quite miffed that I will be having to give them away, I really am that fond of them. I will definitely be knitting the pattern again, quite possibly using my Harry Potter sock yarn.

Catching Up

2008-11-13T15:06:00.007+01:00

Wow, it seems like ages since my last post. Well, I was sick, then I was in Rome (still sick) and then I've just been generally lethargic since I got home.

Rome was really cool, except that I was sick (Crohn's complications - I won't go into the painful detail), so between that and Mr H having a bad back we didn't really get around as much as we would have liked but we still managed to take in plenty. The weather was really great most of the time too, which was a relief as rain was forecast for our whole stay, it only rained twice, the rest of the time we didn't even need our coats during the day.

We also got around to taking some much awaited (so I'm told) "Sarena with Bump" photos. Yes, there is certainly a bump there now and it's not entirely made of chocolate and cake! I seem to be cooking a little acrobat and he's been kicking like mad; I actually saw my belly moving yesterday from the kicks, which was really freaky, I don't know how I hadn't noticed it before! We had the 25 week scan yesterday and everything is looking perfect, so around the 15th February 2009 there will be a baby H coming into the world, eek! I still can't believe that I have an actual person living and growing inside me, that's just so weird.

I have been getting on well with the knitting, despite a very irritating holdup with my Pinwheel Blanket. I decided to do a pointed cast off, like the one on my unfinished Debbie Bliss Circular Cardigan but I managed to run out of yarn for the very last triangle on the cast off, can you believe it?! I was livid! Luckily one of my fellow Stitch 'n' Bitchers has come up trumps and will be donating me a metre or so of the required yarn so I can actually finish it. I love my fellow knitters, I think knitters are generally a lovely bunch of people.

I'm actually really pleased with how the blanket's turned out. I love the colours and think they're a lovely combination and will look lovely draped over little bubs in the pram. I can't wait!

I have also been getting on with my Christmas knitting but it is still far from being finished. I knit Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, using some Grignasco Australia that I had kicking about in my stash. I might knit another pair for a friend of mine but using a lighter coulour as I think the cabling will show up better and there is some reasonably priced Gringasco with an angora mix in the Coop in town.

I am also working on a pair of Chevron Socks for my mother's partner. My only concern is that he is rather colour-blind and so might not actually be able to see the pattern and the colours, hey ho, at least I'll know they're pretty! I will post pictures later when there's more to see.

So, just left is 2 hats, on for Mr H and a friend of mine, something else for my mother that Ican't mention in case she reads this and possibly a pair of socks for my dad. Then I think I'm done. Probably...

More baby stuff and another pumpkin

2008-10-29T11:54:00.006+01:00

But this pumpkin isn't knitted. I got all domestic yesterday and made stew and carved a pumpkin. Cute hey? I was really pleased with how it turned out, except that my knife was a bit big and I ended up cutting off part on the house and have had to stick it back on with sticky-tape, but who would know?!

I won't actually be here for Halloween, we are off to Rome tomorrow, very exciting. I would be more excited if I wasn't poorly and in pain but I am hoping that y antibiotics will have kicked in a bit by the morning and that I will be feeling better. I am also hoping that the weather forecast for the next few days in Rome is wrong otherwise I will mostly be wearing a mac and sporting my umbrella. I guess we shall just have to spend our time hanging out in cute Italian coffee shops, no complaints there!

I have knit a baby kimono from the Mason Dixon book. I really love it, I just need to get around to sewing it up, I don't know why I'm putting it off so much, it's knit in one piece so there are only two seams to sew. I knit it using one ball of Cascade 220 Heathers on 4mm needles. There is just enough yarn left over to sew it up and then I need to find some suitable ribbons for fastenings.

I have also started knitting a Pinwheel Blanket by Genia Planck. I am knitting that using 5 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in browns and pinks on 4mm circukar needles. I just hope that 5 balls is enough. I'm also hoping that it's neutral enough, either that or if I end up having a boy, I may find people saying how cute 'she' is but who cares. Not a very good picture I'm afraid but it's not easy taking a photo of a round, flat item on a circular needle. I'm on to my third ball of yarn now, so not too much further to go. It's not the most exciting knit in the world, just round after round of knit stitch, I think I'm currently on 400 stitches but it actually suits my state of mind at the moment, I really don't have to concentrate when I'm knitting this and can just kind of zone out. I wish I did have it in me to concentrate a little more as I would really like to crack on with my Rowan Iceland sweater but at the moment I just seem to be doing the odd row here and there but I guess it will get done eventually, I probably won't be able to fit into it anyway at the moment with my ever increasing belly!

Cutie Booties

2008-10-18T13:12:00.003+02:00

I knit up the booties for my friend's overdue baby yesterday. Very cute. Knit from Christine's Baby Booties using Lang Bébé on 2.5mm dpns (set of 5).

Baby stuff and another Christmas FO

2008-10-17T13:26:00.007+02:00

I just knit my dad's Christmas present - Skull & Crossbone wrist warmers! Cool hey? The pattern is Skull & Crossbone Wristwarmers by Kara Lyon. I knit them using some yarn from Manor department store (Yukon and Jasmine) on 3.5mm needles. They took me two evenings to knit.

I knit them for my dad because he plays guitar and often wears sweat bands on stage to stop the sweat dripping onto his guitar (nice) so I thought he could do with some funky bands. I'm not sure they will be particularly practical and will probably just go all droopy when they start to get wet but I still think they make a fun gift for him. I might make him something else too, maybe a scarf or some socks or some gloves, not sure yet.

I think I must be getting on well with my Christmas knitting, just my step-mother, Mr H and another gift for my mum for the main gifts (although I might knit up some beanies for my half and step brothers) and if I have time I might add a coulpe of other people to that list. The next project will be Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, just need to choose some yarn, I'm sure I will have something suitable in my stash.

I have nearly finished my baby hoodie, all that's left to do is to sew on the pocket lining, which I'm going to do on the sewing machine (which means it will probably take me forever to get around to doing as I don't really have anywhere to keep my machine at the moment) and then I have to choose and sew on some buttons. It's really cute but the hood is a bit of a funny shape, I think that's a fault in the pattern rather than my knitting. I also didn't do a very good job of sewing up the raglans for some reason but it's mainly the back that's a little messy and I'm not going to undo it now, which is pretty good and relaxed for me, pregnancy must be having a positive effect on me and chilling me out a little. If you said that to Mr H, he would probably start laughing manically, he certainly hasn't been seeing a more chilled me, bless him.

I'm currently on call to go and babysit for a friend of mine who's due to give birth at any moment, she was actually due yesterday and thought she was going to be early so she's pretty fed up at the moment. I really think I should quickly knit up a little gift for the new baby. I think I might make a pair of booties. My friend Annelis made a load of really cute ones and I think I should make a few too...

She knit hers in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino but the pattern calls for 4-ply yarn and I have a load of Lang Bebe in turquoise, so I think I shall use that.

A quick birthday gift

2008-10-10T00:18:00.004+02:00

It's my friend's birthday on Halloween, so I thought, what more appropriate thrifty gift than a knitted pumpkin and here it is...

It was a really quick knit, I knocked it up today. The pattern is Pumpkin by Marnie Ann Joyce. I knit it using some left over orange yarn I bought in Manor last year (used for my knitted carrot for the same friend, I guess I think she has a thing for orange fruit and vegetables!) knit double on 4mm dpns.

I think I might knit another one tomorrow for another friend who's birthday it was yesterday as I know she'll like it.

I have almost finished knitting my Wendy hooded top for baby, I just need to knit the button band and hood ribbing and finish sewing it up. After that, I think I will move onto the Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck as I really need to knit some nice baby blankets to fill the lovely pram we bought on Monday to make it nice and warm and comfortable.

We also had our 20 week scan on Wednesday. Baby is doing absolutely fine and seems to be developing perfectly. We're still holding out on waiting until the birth to find out the sex, which is actually quite difficult but we will try our best not to give in! I have no idea myself, when I first found out I was pregnant, I was convinced it's a girl but then for a while I thought, no, it's a boy and now I try not to think about it too much otherwise I'm sure it will drive me insane!

So, I will leave you with our future bundle-of-joy at 20 weeks...

Productive

2008-09-29T11:24:00.004+02:00

Ohh, another two finished items, aren't I productive? I finished my baby beanie hat. It's knit in Laines du Nord Baby Star on 3.25mm dps. I think it's really cute and I have plenty of yarn left over so I will knit a matching pair of booties.

I also knit myself a pair of fingerless mittens. These were a really quick knit, I did them in two evenings. It was really nice as my mum has been here so we have been spending out evenings hanging out watching trashy tv and films and knitting, it's been very relaxing. She's leaving this afternoon, which I'm quite miserable about and have been trying to convince her to stay but I don't think that's going to happen, she's not happy about leaving the shop for so long. She'll have to get used to it once baby arrives!

Anyway, mitts. The pattern I used was Axel Mittens by Blue Garter. I used one ball of Lang Maxi Tosca on 5.5mm dpns. I'm quite pleased with them, although if I did them again I would make the rib on the cuff a little longer. They're very warm and I love the yarn, especially the colour.

Back to baby talk, baby has been very energetic lately and the movements have been getting bigger. Mr H felt a kick for the first time last night, it was all very exciting. I think bubs is a little dancer. I also have a proper bump now, I was hiding it a bit too much, thinking it was mostly chocolate but I have come to realise that is is actually baby as it's the wrong shape to be pure fat! Ohh, I'm nearly half way through already!

Babies in Yodas

2008-09-25T12:43:00.001+02:00

I just had to post this photo that my friend sent of the twins in their Baby Yoda sweaters. Too. Cute. !

Two Gifts (kind of)

2008-09-23T18:36:00.004+02:00

I have another Christmas present off my needles. I finally finished the scarf I was knitting for my brother for Christmas. It looks pretty good and I'm really pleased with it. I don't particularly like the yarn I used but it is soft and it's meant to be hypo-allergenic, which hopefully means it won't aggravate my brother's eczema.

I knit it using Patons Zhivago and it's the Elongated Cable Scarf by Jenn Nevitt. I used just under 5 balls of yarn.

Now that's off my needles I can get on with some baby knitting. At the moment I am knitting a baby beanie using Laines du Nord Baby Star. It's very cute and I'm about halfway through it. I am also knitting a little hoodie by Wendy in Wendy Peter Pan DK. There are so many things I want to knit for baby and occasionally it makes me want to find out the baby's sex but I'm staying strong and will wait for it to be a surprise.

I met a group of mum's to be this afternoon, which was really nice. I put an ad on the expat site here and six of us met up for coffee to discuss our experiences and share stories. It was so nice to meet other pregnant women as I don't know anyone else really here who's pregnant or who has children. Actually, I know one other girl with a child and she's been really great since I told her I'm pregnant and she knits too!

Innocent Knitting for Age Concern

2008-09-21T22:12:00.002+02:00

Last year I knitted some mini hats for Innocent Smoothie bottles. The idea is that Innocent sell their smoothies with your knitted hats on and then 50p goes to the charity Age Concern. I plan to knit a few hats again this year.

If you want to take part, visit the Big Knit on the Innocent Drinks website. They have some free patterns for all levels, along with photos to give you more ideas and you will also find the address to send your finished hats to. So, get knitting to help raise money to keep older people warm this winter.

A room to myself

2008-08-31T11:54:00.003+02:00

I'm finally back at my mum's in Farnham after my two weeks in a youth hostel in York. It was so nice to have a room all to myself last night with no one snoring, jangling keys or getting up every hour to have a swig of vodka (seriously).

I am going to have a very lazy next few days and take advantage of the time I spend with my mum and spend it knitting without Mr H frowning at me because I haven't done the washing.

I am halfway through my Opal socks. I grafted the toe on sock #1 last night and I am very happy with it. I just hope I get to go home with it as mum has taken rather a liking to it. I love the colours, they're so soft. I particularly love the sage green in the sock. It didn't really look like much on the ball and I actually nearly changed it but I'm glad I didn't. I still need to knit lots more socks so I have plenty of yarn for my blanket.

The yarn for the socks is Opal 4-ply in 1917 - Fantasie.

I am now just looking forward to getting back to Geneva and Mr H and Trinny and to getting my 16 week scan, not long now!

The sites and the course

2008-08-23T18:11:00.005+02:00

Here are two photos to quickly show you what's going on up in York. No time to post, gotta go find Mr H...

As far as the Montessori photo goes, don't ask, or maybe you should as I have an exam next week, ohh err!

Up North

2008-08-19T21:05:00.002+02:00

Posting has been quiet and will remain so for the next couple of weeks. I am currently up in York on my Montessori apparatus workshop. The weather here has been abysmal, it's really like autumn. It has been a bit of a shock to the system after 30 degree heat in Geneva to cold, wet and windy in York. I would have some photos to take but I seem to have left my camera cable in Geneva (I hope).

I like York, although I haven't had a chance to look in any of the shops as they're all closed when I'm not on my workshop. It's quite nice walking through the city at 8am when all the shops are getting ready to open. My youth hostel is about a 40 minute walk from where the workshop is held in town. It was interesting to walk across one of the bridges yesterday morning and to see that the river had burst its banks with lots of road, benches, trees and cars under water.

As the weather is so miserable, I felt the need to start a pair of socks. I bought a pair of Knit Picks Harmony needles and a ball of Opal sock yarn from my mum's shop before I came up to York so I cast on the socks on Sunday night. I'm only doing my generic pattern, even though I vowed I would never do so again but I think sometimes a plain sock is called for with certain self-patterning yarns.

I'm also working on a baby sweater for that little baby that you would have seen in my previous post. I'm coming up for 13 weeks now so feel that it's safe to knit. I think I cast on my first baby item on the day of week 12 after I had my scan. For all of you who want to know, I'm due on 25 February but it's more likely to be somewhere around the 1oth as I have to have an elective c-section. We're not going to find out the sex. I think it might be a girl but of course, who knows. Tell me your old wives' tales and maybe I will try some of them out if they're not too wacky!

My knitting sorted for the next few years....

2008-08-13T17:18:00.002+02:00

Finally an FO

2008-08-12T16:46:00.002+02:00

You may (or may not) have noticed that at the bottom of my WIP list there have been a pair of Wendy Fusion socks which have been there forever. Not anymore. Today has been rainy and horrible and I refused to leave the apartment but didn't feel like working on my regular projects, so I decided to dig out these long forgotten socks and work on them. Now, I have a pair of warm, chunky socks, yay!

I must have started working on these about a year ago. I originally knit a pair for my friend who was going back to Canada for college but ended up having to knit two pairs so they would match better as the colour changes are really long, so I ended up with one green sock and one purple sock. I got my friend's pair finished but never finished mine. I'm fairly pleased with them, although one is a bit longer than the other, but who's going to notice?

FYI, they are knit in Wendy Fusion on 5.5mm dpns over 32 stitches.

Have buttons, will travel

2008-08-11T15:04:00.004+02:00

So, my February Lady Sweater finally has buttons. Actually, it's had buttons for a week, it's just taken until today to be able to get Mr H to take a photo of me wearing it.

I'm really pleased with it (have I mentioned that already, I think I have but I mean really pleased with it!). It was fun to knit and I love that it's all done in one piece - I hate seaming and I'm not particularly good at it either and I don't really go in for the old 'practice makes perfect', my ironing contradicts that.

The sweater took me exactly 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. There are a few less rows of garter stitch at the bottom than there should be as I ran out of yarn and wasn't about to go and buy another ball for the sake of a few rows. If I'd done one less pattern repeats on the body or the sleeves I'm sure it would have worked out fine but I can't predict the future. (FYI, I did 25 repeats on the body and 18 on the sleeves).

I also have a photo of my sock yarn blanket, although it's not a particularly good one. It's coming along very slowly, as I've said, due to an actual lack of sock yarn. It will be even slower now that I have frogged my Froot Loop socks due to a mistake I couldn't fix or ignore, grr.

I know it looks a bit of a mess at the moment but I'm sure that it will start to look better as it grows. I will be raiding my mum's leftover sock yarn when I'm in the UK next week, ohh, actually, it's this week I go, very exciting, apart from the bit where I have to spend two weeks in a youth hostel in York, I'm not really looking forward to that. Oh how I wish I was rich and could afford to stay in a hotel for two weeks. I am cursing not doing the London workshop, which then leads me to curse my old boss, but let's not think about him or I might scream!

Pretty Lights

2008-08-10T15:38:00.004+02:00

Last night was the last night of the Fete de Geneve, which meant a huge firework display. We headed down to the lake to make ourselves comfortable (as comfortable as you can be with 10,000 people sitting on rock) and watched the show.
Lovely.

Work avoidance techniques

2008-08-04T14:25:00.003+02:00

I'm on to the next Christmas present. I am knitting my brother's scarf at the moment. I'm not sure if I like knitting with Patons Zhivago or not, it's 50% acrylic, 50% Tencel but it really feels like knitting with just acrylic. I've never knit with Tencel before, so I don't know what that should feel like.

I shouldn't be knitting at all at the moment, I should be writing an assignment at the moment. I'm supposed to have had five done before I go off on my workshop in York next week but so far I've only done two. I've been told I can get away with three so I really need to get my next one done by the end of the week so it can be marked before my workshop starts on 17th. I've written one paragraph. At least it's a start. Technically, I'm not allowed to do the workshop without completing and passing the assignments. Oh dear. I seem to be having a problem with self motivation. I think I should lock away all my knitting until I've completed all my work, and block Ravelry and Facebook so I'm not distraced every five minutes by them too.

Right, I'm off button shopping and then I will sit down and write 500 words of my assignment. Promise...

Cat Mouse Mat

2008-08-03T19:03:00.004+02:00

It just occurred to me that I never posted a picture of my Cat Mouse Mat that I knit for Trinny. I have it down as a finished object although, strictly speaking, that's not true as technically it still needs whiskers and eyes but I came to the conclusion that Trinny would be more than likely to chew both off and she seems perfectly content (if not a little over defensive) of the mat as it is!

I used Baruffa Club yarn for this, which I received in a Swap Bot swap from Diamanterosa (Secret Knitting Pal). It took approx. 4 skeins.

While I'm here, I can quickly say that I have already finished the knitting of my first Christmas present of the year, it now just needs buttons, yay. Now I can cast on my brother's scarf. I'm knitting him the Elongated Cables Scarf by Jean Nevitt in Patons Zhivago. Should be a nice one...

Need buttons

2008-08-03T16:52:00.004+02:00

I finished the knitting on my February Lady Sweater. Best. Sweater. Ever. I love it, love it! I've never been so happy with something I knitted. All I need now is some pretty buttons to finish it off, that and for it to get chilly so I can actually wear it! I'm not sure what colour to go for, I was thinking green, brown or maybe even mother of pearl if I can get away with it. It requires quite large buttons so I will have to make sure I choose wisely, I don't want to ruin it.

I have already started my Christmas knitting! I cast on my first gift last night. I can't disclose any information though as it's a gift for my mum and I know she does read my blog from time to time so no news on that project until after Christmas. I know it seems like Christmas is ages away but I don't want a repeat of last year when I was up first thing Christmas morning grafting sock toes! Plus, I only completed half the gifts I planned on last year so some family members ended up gift-less (I figure it's OK as they live in Germany and I didn't see them anyway). I'm already over halfway through my first gift so I think everyone on my list will get their gift this year...

Mr H and I spent the day in Lausanne yesterday, I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures though. I can't believe we were there for four hours and I failed to find any of the yarn shops. I know they exist there as I went there with my mum around Christmas time and we found two without even looking. Maybe it's a sign that I need to be knitting from my stash and not buying new yarn. I do have in the region of ten miles of yarn in my stash. I find that quite satisfying.

I need to knit more socks

2008-07-29T21:42:00.005+02:00

If I am knitting a blanket out of left over sock yarn, I need to have knit lots of socks so I have lots of left over yarn, right? That is where my plan fails, I haven't actually knit that many pairs of socks so now I have run out of left over yarn. I really didn't think this one through too clearly. I must knit more socks.

Yesterday I cast on some Froot Loop socks from Knitty.com using Regia Bamboo Color. They are knitting up fairly quickly (as I type, they are twice as long as in the photo which I took about three hours ago). I have been doing a lot of knitting today though in place of anything else as I've been in pain for the past couple of days so it's always good to be doing something when I'm feeling otherwise useless. I'm not a huge fan on the colour of this yarn knitted up, although it looks great on the ball. It does seem to have the perfect colours for a Froot Loop project though. I also think the colours will look great on my blanket (still no pictures yet) and will really brighten it up, there's way too much blue going on with it at the moment. I am eagerly awaiting a package from my mum containing some of her left over yarn.

Unfortunately, since casting the socks on, I have been neglecting my February Lady Sweater, actually, I've been neglecting that for a few days now, which is just typical of me when I'm so close to finishing it. All I need to do is knit one sleeve and finish the bottom. I ripped back the bottom of the sweater to add a few more inches on and am leaving it on the needles until I've finished the other sleeve in case I have enough yarn left over to add a bit more length onto the bottom. I vow I will pick it up tomorrow to carry on at Stitch 'n' Bitch tomorrow night, I'm just putting off picking up the sleeves which is ridiculous as it's one of the easiest things ever.

I'm actually impressed I'm still managing to knit in this heat, it's horrible, especially the humidity. We keep having storms but they don't seem to clear the air. I'm not good with heat, copious amounts of iced tea and coffee for me!

J'arrête encore

2008-07-24T10:41:00.001+02:00

I haven't smoked in 4 weeks, 5 days. Good huh? Just a thought.

The World's stupidest needles

2008-07-23T23:09:00.002+02:00

Progress on the sleeves of my February Lady Sweater has been rather slow as I was knitting them on stupidly long double pointed needles. I mean, who even needs 30cm (12inch) DPNs? I only had them because I bought them from a charity shop. Surely if you need DPNs that long you just use a circular needle instead? I finally managed to find myself some short circulars to get on with the sleeves today and progress has suddenly increased tenfold so now I just have one and a half sleeves to knit and I'm done, yay! I can't wait! I love the needles too, their Lang needles but are made by Addi, making them a little cheaper than standard Addi needles but they are exactly the same. I've never really knit with Addi needles before until the past couple of days and I have really fallen in love with them, they are so smooth and comfortable to work with, definitely worth the extra money over any other brands, especially since I really can't get on with bamboo circulars, I always find that they snag where the needles join the cable.

Yesterday I cast on a leftover sock yarn blanket. I'm knitting it in a logcabin style, making it up as I go along. I'm thinking this will be a very long-term project with no visible end date. Unfortunately I made the initial piece rather small, so I'm hoping it won't look strange but it is meant to be all higgeldy-piggeldy and kind of like a scrap patchwork blanket. I will post pictures when I have made a little more progress.

Progress Update

2008-07-14T12:53:00.003+02:00

My February Lady Sweater is coming along nicely. I have gotten used to the gull lace stitch pattern and have managed to get on without making any mistake, which is a relief as I had to do the first repeat twice due to mistakes and figured it was going to be a very long project if I had to do each repeat twice.

I'm really enjoying knitting this, now that I've got the hang of the lace pattern I'm finding it a breeze but the kind of breeze that I still have to think about, which I haven't had in a knitting project for a long time. I needed something a little more challenging, which this is but not so much it hurts. Hopefully this will prepare me for a bit more lace knitting that I have planned, although I'm not sure how much knitting time I'm going to have over the next few months for reasons I can't go into at the moment.

There are more socks I want to knit now, Opal have a new range of their Hundertwasser sock yarn and I love it. I will try to restrain myself for a bit but I'm sure it won't be long before I'm over at Tricolaine raiding Annelis' stock!

Ravelry group for Interknit Cafe

2008-07-13T13:52:00.002+02:00

So, I just set up a group on Ravelry for the Interknit Cafe, so feel free to join if you're a member of Ravelry, the more the merrier! The group can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/interknit-cafe-farnham-2

Go Murray!

2008-06-30T22:50:00.004+02:00

So, I've spent the evening watching the tennis and knitting. Very relaxing. The knitting did help to keep me relaxed through the tense Murray match, I was very glad to see him win. Maybe I should go out onto the streets of Geneva and make lots of noise like all the football fans. The Spanish fans were so noisy last night. Apparently the fanzone was packed so I'm glad we gave it a miss, I'm still not feeling 100%.

The doctor has got me on steroids for my Crohn's to try to help the inflammation. I'm getting better each day and have actually managed to get out and do some things, which is a relief to both me and Mr H, although, to be honest, it's kind of too hot to do too much other than strolling in the shade and drinking iced coffee. The good thing about having been ill though is that I've managed to give up smoking again (yes, I failed last time, which was probably obvious by my silence on the subject). Haven't had a cigarette in 9 days and tomorrow is the first day of the public smoking ban in Switzerland.

The February Lady Sweater is coming on slowly. I've not done any knitting since last weekend until tonight so there's not been much to report. I did receive a lovely gift from my mum (it took a week and a half to get here after a detour via Ecuador!). She sent me a copy of the book Tea Cozies and I want to knit all of them! It is such a lovely book and is beautifully photographed, I can't wait to start on a project. My mum wants me to knit her some from the shop and will be sending over some yarn for me when I tell her which ones I will do, very exciting!

Knitting Therapy

2008-06-19T20:06:00.005+02:00

I'm sick. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I have Crohn's disease. It first started five and a half years ago and I've been sick on and off since then but have been pretty symptom free for a long time, except for some complications but now it's back and I'm not a happy bunny. I have stomach pains, no appetite and want to sleep all the time. Luckily the symptoms aren't as severe as they were when I first got sick and I got seen to pretty quickly but I have to wait for more tests before I can start any new medication regime or whatever my specialist has planned for me. My doctor sent me for a CT scan on Monday and that showed inflammation at the location where I had earlier bowel surgery 4 years ago. They did try to hospitalize me when I went down to ER on Tuesday on the advice of my GP but I refused and insisted I go see my specialist first. He didn't seem overly concerned (in comparison with my GP and the ER) and has booked me for more test next week so he clearly didn't think it was an emergency although my pain has increased since then.

So, I am taking it nice and easy and have been spending most of my time watching daytime tv or sleeping. You'd think I would have got loads of knitting done but I haven't as I keep getting tired when I try to concentrate. Of course, I haven't neglected it completely, it was when I first got sick all those years again that I picked up the knitting needles again and it really is a great comfort to me when I'm feeling otherwise useless.

I'm currently knitting FlintKnit's February Lady Sweater in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I would be further on with it but I had to frog it as my increases on the raglan were all different, clearly a lack of concentration! It's starting to come along nicely now and I can't wait to get it finished, if I can only keep myself awake!

Despite being in pain I managed to get along to my Stitch 'n' Bitch's World Wide Knit in Public Day in the park on Saturday for a couple of hours. The weather just about held out for us, although it was a little chilly. It was really nice to sit and have a chat in the park, our local Starbucks usually plays their music a bit too loud for us to be able to have a proper group chat when we're there on Wednesday nights. Hopefully we will have a few more sessions of knitting in the park throughout the summer.

World Wide Knit In Public Day

2008-06-09T15:02:00.004+02:00

For any of you who don't know already, this Saturday 14 June is World Wide Knit In Public Day. Yes, that's when all us knit lovers all get together and sit somewhere conspicuous so lots of members of the public can see us indulging in our favourite hobby.

If you happen to live in or around Geneva, you are more than welcome to come and join the Stitch 'n' Bitch Geneva public display of knitting solidarity. We will be in Parc des Bastions on the lawn in front of the Reformation wall from 14:00 until 18:00 if the weather is fine. If however, the weather reverts back to its gloomy self, we will be in the cafe in the park next to the giant chess boards. (In case you're not familiar with the Reformation wall, here's a photo on the right).

I guess I need to find my motivation so I can get a new project started...

A general lack of motivation

2008-06-08T20:11:00.003+02:00

I have no motivation to do anything at the moment, which is made worse by Mr H deciding to have a clear out today. I can't be bothered to knit, study, tidy or sew and I have been in a foul mood all day for no apparent reason. I decided I should at least post on my blog so I've at least done something creative today.

I finished my string shopping bag a few days ago. It's OK, nothing special but what could I expect from a black string bag? I expect I will knit some more but will make them more colourful, I just have a lot of black cotton that needs using up and I don't really like knitting with it so a quick-knit shopping bag seemed like a perfect project to use some of it up.

I think next time I make this bag I will make it a little deeper as I don't think it will hold too much but it is good as I can just pop it in my handbag or pocket and pull it out at the supermarket.

I don't know what to knit at the moment. I have to restart my Noro socks as I changed my mind about the stitch pattern, but a few repeats into the new pattern I realised that it's really not showing up so I have to choose yet another. I have lots of socks on my list to knit but just don't feel like doing them. I'm really uninspired. There are a few more summer things I'd like to knit but I don't have any appropriate yarn in my stash and am seriously lacking the cash to buy anymore. I keep browsing through patterns on Ravelry that people have knitted with yarns that I have in my stash but I just don't have enough of anything for a whole, decent project.

Euro 2008 started yesterday so Geneva was full of Portuguese and Turkish football fans, all very noisy. I'm pretty glad I wasn't in town and was off in Veyrier babysitting an adorable two year old boy, much better than watching the footie I think! When I got home, Mr H and I decided to venture out into town to see if anything was still going on, we figured that there would be since it was about 1am and the bars are open at least until 2am, so we thought there'd still be a lively atmosphere in town and that we'd go and join some Portuguese fans in a celebratory beer. We were wrong. The fanzone was closed and everyone who was left in town was waiting at tram stops, the bars were empty. We decided this was typically Swiss and that we shouldn't really have expected anything else. Personally, I think it's a good thing that England didn't make it through as I'm not sure the Swiss would be able to handle all the English football fans!

What kind of knitter are you?

2008-06-04T17:54:00.003+02:00

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.

I'm not sure I agree with this but it is flattering!

I discovered a new yarn store in Geneva today and I was very impressed that I actually managed to have a conversation with the owner in French! I think those French lessons must be paying off, I do feel like I have broken through a wall over the past two weeks. The shop is called Claudine Laine & Créations and is on Boulevard Carl-Vogt in Plainpalais. It is a really cute shop and the owner seems lovely and keen to come along to our Stitch 'n' Bitch group. She mostly stocks Lang, along with Filatua di Crosa and some other brands that I can't remember but I will be going back. Apparently she opened a year ago, I can't believe I didn't know this, it's only a 10-15 minute walk from our apartment!

I'm The Knitter

2008-06-02T13:49:00.001+02:00

Five Things Meme

2008-05-31T15:20:00.003+02:00

Heather has tagged me so I am going to play.

The Rules Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:

In May 1998 I would have been sitting my GCSEs at Weydon school in Farnham, not doing a lot of works and having water fights in my garden with my friends with whom I was supposed to be having study groups.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Clean the bathroom.
Vacuum the appartment.
Practise some French.
Find my pins so I can take up my friends trousers.
Finish the laundry.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Hmm, Marmite on toast, biscuits, white seedless grapes.

4. Things I would do if I was a billionaire:

Buy my mum a bigger shop, buy a house in France with a nice garden, buy Mr H a digital telescope, give a huge amount of money to the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's disease, set up my own Montessori school, just for starters.

5. Places I have lived:

Grayshott, Hampshire
Farnham, Surrey
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Geneva, Switzerland

I will tag Annelis, Mousecatfish, Glittrgirl, Ujjaini and Cinnamongirl and of course any one else who feels like it.

Evening Shrug FO

2008-05-30T16:52:00.003+02:00

I finished my Evening Shrug yesterday. I'm really pleased with it, despite Mr H asking if it was actually finished when I put it on to show him, charming! I love the colour, I just hope it doesn't run in the wash as the yarn has dyed my bamboo needles green.

I am now knitting (and have almost finished) knitting a cotton shopping bag called 'Pippa' from Let's Knit magazine, but I'm afraid I don't know which issue it is as I pulled the page out of someone's magazine. It's a really easy and quick knit and will be much better to use than having to remember to take my old paper bags with me when I go to the supermarket.

Fumer tue Péter pue

2008-05-27T16:34:00.004+02:00

I'm still not smoking, despite having felt desperately like doing so all day. It would have been a whole week today except I went out Friday night and with a few beers came the desire to have a cigarette but I didn't let myself feel too bad about it as I haven't smoked again since. I felt fine on Saturday and Sunday but the past couple of days have been pretty ad, especially today. I blame it on French lessons and lack of sleep but then I also blame the lack of sleep on the lack of cigarettes. A bit of a catch-22 I guess.

So, yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. It so doesn't feel like two years, which I guess is a good thing, right? I'd feel a bit worried if it felt like the past two years have dragged by. I knit a washcloth for Mr H as two years is the cotton anniversary. I'm not too pleased with how the pattern on the washcloth turned out, it's certainly not as nice as the swimsuit one I did for my mum. I think it's because I used white cotton so the stitches don't show up so well. It's supposed to be a VW Beetle with a heart on it and says Beebeep' at the top (again, this pattern was from Knits by Rachel and is the 'Luv Bug' pattern). Anyway, Mr H was touched. I also gave him a cotton shirt and some of his favourite chocolate from Mekur, dark chocolate with orange and almonds, apparently it's very nice, which I'm inclined to believe as I've never had a chance to taste it!

We went out for a lovely meal last night at a local auberge, fois gras (naughty), followed by duck (mmm), followed by creme brulee (yummy) and drank some champagne.

So, I need to get on with lots of knitting to keep my hands nice and busy. I've been so tempted to crack today but have just made a point of not leaving the apartment since coming back from my French lesson, despite needing milk but I don't trust myself to go into a shop and my cravings taking over and asking for cigarettes on my behalf. Maybe I should just pop to the chemist for some gum...

The Devil Makes Work for Idle Hands

2008-05-20T12:27:00.003+02:00

Right, I'm determined I'm going to do it this time. I'm going to give up smoking, for good this time. I'm sure knitting will help me through my many hours of need, if I'm knitting, I can't smoke, smoking is a waste of valuable knitting time. Urgh, I wish I'd never picked up a cigarette all those years ago. Today is my first day, I've not been up for long (I'm not lazy, I couldn't sleep last night) so I can't really say I'm doing well, give me a few more hours.

So, I shall be working on my Evening Shrug while I get through the first few days of withdrawal, after that, I have plenty of socks to be getting on with. I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, I'm about 30% into it now. I am wondering if I can knit it in one piece but I'm sure there must be a good reason why it's knit in two, I just don't really like the idea of a seam down the back.

There are so many things I want to knit at the moment and it's all Ravelry's fault! I have to avoid looking at the patterns on there otherwise I end up adding more and more to my queue! I have 23 projects in my queue at the moment, which I don't think is too bad but there will always be things I want to knit that aren't on my queue.

Back From The UK

2008-05-16T15:15:00.007+02:00

I arrived back in Geneva on Tuesday night after a week in the UK. I meant to post while I was there but never got around to it. It was so nice spending time with my mum, catching up and drooling over everything in the shop!

I came back with some Debbie Bliss Prima, some Noro Kureyon Sock and some Araucania Ranco Multy. I have already cast on the Noro sock yarn (I did that while I was in the car waiting to get on the ferry!). I'm going to knit myself a pair of socks in a 1 row rib, 1 row purl stitch pattern. My mum is knitting a top using this stitch pattern and it looks really pretty, so I'll be interested to see how it turns out on the socks. Of course, I will post progress reports.

While I was in the UK I knit Mr H a pair of red and white striped socks for his birthday as he was saying that he's the only person I haven't knit a pair of socks for. I did finish the first in the pair of his green and white socks but didn't take the second ball of yarn with me as I didn't expect to finish the first one. Mr H like the socks although he hasn't worn them yet. He called them 'Happy socks'. They were knit in Regia's Nations Colours which are meant to be Olympic colours (although my mum says they've actually discontinued most of the colours, which doesn't really make sense since the Olympics are coming up), they were knit on 3mm dpns over 64 stitches - my generic sock pattern.

The twins arrived yesterday morning, a boy and a girl as predicted, born at 12:14 and 12:15 am by c-section. They actually went full term and a day, which I find amazing! I haven't spoken to the proud parents yet, which is why I lack any further information, you can't trust a man to get all the vital details! I am washing their Baby Yoda sweaters as I type so I can get them sent off to them. It's just typical that they were born the day after I got back from the UK, I really should have gone to visit the parents while I was over but I refused to drive anywhere! At least Mr H gets to share his birthday with the twins.

I have given up on my Wendy bolero, decided I don't actually like the pattern and I hate knitting in black. I was going to knit it in the Prima but I still decided that the pattern was a little old fashioned so I am going to use it to knit a shrug instead. I just need to get myself some 4.5mm circs to knit it on.

A Gift For My Mum

2008-05-04T18:05:00.004+02:00

I knitted my mum a washcloth. She says no one ever knits her anything, except for the pair of socks that I knit her for Christmas, so I thought it was about time I gave her a little knitted something back to say a little thanks for all the knitty things that she's sent me over the past year and a half. I think I'm safe in posting this as I'll be back in the UK on Tuesday and I don't think she'll be looking at my blog by then.

I love this pattern and I really enjoyed knitting it. It only took me a few hours and I felt like it was similar to reading a good book as I couldn't put it down as I just wanted to see how it was progressing the whole time and wanted to see what happened next. It kind of makes me want to knit a mystery pattern so I might have to have a look out for a mystery KAL on Ravelry.

The pattern is available from www.knitsbyrachel.com and it is the One Piece Swim Suit Dishcloth. She has some really cute patterns and there are a few more that I have my eye on. I knit it using some handknit cotton from Manor in Geneva but it didn't have a name. They sell lots of it, it's wrapped in plastic and is 2.50CHF/50g (about £1.25) and the pattern took just under a skein, so not bad at all.

I'm driving back to the UK on Tuesday (provided we can get someone to change the tyres on the car tomorrow, we're still driving on winter tyres). I'm going it alone again so it's going to be pretty tiring but at least this time I will have a stereo to listen to. I decided to go Calais to Dover this time as Le Havre is only a little nearer but the boat trip is 4 hours longer and I can't face another 17 hour journey door to door. This time should only take 10-11 hours, I try to stop as little as possible.

Driving aside, I'm really looking forward to going back, it seems like ages since I went back. Last time was in January for my grandmother's funeral so it wasn't exactly a happy visit. This time is purely for pleasure (and to pick up our wedding presents, hence me driving) and I'm looking forward to spending time with my mum and raiding her shop! I will of course miss Mr H. It's his birthday the day after I get back (I get back next Wednesday) so I will have to find him some nice English goodies to bring back for him.

I'm still working on my Wendy Bolero, but after having to frog it due to bad tension and a lack of a gauge swatch, I have very little to report!

And It's Done!

2008-04-28T16:07:00.002+02:00

Mr H's Rugged is all finished now, yay! I am very impressed with it and feel it is my best FO yet! I can't wait for him to get home so I can see it on him, it didn't look so good on me! I will see if I can badger him into letting me take a photo of him in it to post.

T Minus One Hour, I Reckon

2008-04-28T14:01:00.002+02:00

My Rugged sweater for Mr H is almost finished, just one side seam and the arms to sew up, phew! Just typical that it's almost finished just as the weather is getting warmer. I've told Mr H that he has to wear it every day even if the temperature reaches 30 degrees! I will post a pic when it's finished providing my camera cable is still working after my moggy chewed it.

I started knitting a Wend bolero two days ago, it's going well and quickly despite being dk weight yarn, hopefully won't take too long to finish, I've nearly finished the back already. I'm knitting it in Four Seasons Grundl Miami cotton in black, a but dull but I had about 10 balls of it sitting in my cupboard left over from a vest I was knitting and got fed up with (knitting round after round in black stocking stitch just wasn't doing it for me).

We had a bit of drama last week. Mr H woke me up on Thursday morning with his frantic calling for Trinny (the moggy) as we hadn't seen her since around 9pm the night before (this is unusual as she's a house cat and technically has no way of leaving the apartment). After searching through every cupboard and drawer in the apartment (I even looked in the freezer!) we decided she definitely wasn't there so we went looking around the neighbourhood to no avail. Mr H had to go to work, so I went and put some posters up and searched some more. To be honest, I was looking in the streets for squashed kitties, out Trin has never been near a main road in her life. I spoke to my mum who asked if I'd looked in the cave, which I had, but thought I'd have another look on my way out to put up more posters. When I got down there, I could hear her mewing but couldn't see her anywhere, very frustrating. After calling Mr H to let him know that I could at least hear her (and so that he could listen too and confirm that I wasn't going crazy), I worked out that the mewing was coming from the wall. Some of the neighbours clearly thought I was insane when they walked in the building and saw me in the cave, on my hands and knees, talking to the wall! The actually looked at me and closed the cave door before walking off rather quickly! I had to go to the concierge's apartment and explain to her in my bad french that "Mon chat est dans le cave dans le mur!" She looked a little puzzled ("Stupid English!") but came down and confirmed that yes, the cat was in the wall, but that actually it was someone's cave behind the wall so off she went to get the key from the neighbour and we were able to rescue kitty. Poor thing was so scared, dusty and smelly, not to mention hungry. On closer inspection I discovered that she couldn't walk properly and had a puncture wound in her bottom, so I called Mr H and we took her off to the vet who kept he in for a few hours for shock and on our return confirmed that she had dislocated her leg and also had a small fracture. She had clearly fallen off the balcony and climbed through a broken window in the cave. She's doing much better now, she's no longer limping so I guess her leg's gone back to where it should be and she shouldn't be needing any surgery. We were so happy to have her back, we didn't think we would see her again. Needless to say, I won't let her on the balcony unless she's sitting on one or our laps.

Sorry, I seemed to have gotton a little carried away there but my kitty's my baby!

Who Does He Think He Is, Alan Bloody Sugar?

2008-04-23T08:56:00.002+02:00

OK, this isn't knitted related but I've been fuming about this since Friday. I got fired from my job at the school. By text message. It was a really nasty message, telling me I'm fired and not to bother coming back. Anyone would think I'd stolen a child or something! From what I can work out, I didn't do anything wrong except become disliked by the directress and had an operation. I would post the message here, but I'm thinking of things to do with it at the moment and will probably be taking legal advice. So angry.

A Slightly Felted Mess & A Very Clean Balloon

2008-04-15T16:47:00.004+02:00

My mum sent me a kit yesterday to make felted bowls by wrapping wool around an inflated balloon and then putting it in the washing machine. I didn't end up with bowls, just a slightly felted mess.

I put it through two washing cycles but most of the wool just fell off the balloon. I think I will probably try it again but won't inflate the balloon so much next time. I certainly won't be buying the kit as it costs £11.95 and all you get are four balloons and some tights to put the balloon in when it goes in the washing machine.

I was very impressed that you can actually wash an inflated balloon without it popping!

Swapbot Rocks!

2008-04-12T14:03:00.004+02:00

I got another beautiful Swapbot package on Wednesday. It turned up just at the right time as I'd had a horrid day at work, which resulted in me shouting at my boss. Never a good idea. Anyway, the swap was Sock Knitters - embellished and I received two balls of Regia sock yarn with beads and a pattern for the Rolling Thunder socks on Knitty.com, which was actually quite funny as that was the pattern I sent to my partner, who had also sent it to her partner! I also received some beautiful handmade stitch markers, tea and chocolate. I love these packages! I have had to cut down on them though as it costs me 19CHF (about £9.50) everytime I send a package to the USA, which I just can't afford at the moment with my scummy salary. I am trying to keep an eye out for Europe only swaps for handmade items - much easier on the purse.

I have just finished knitting the front of the Rugged sweater for Mr H, although I'm not sure he really deserves it at the moment after rolling in at 2.30am this morning a little worse for wear and then fell asleep on the hall floor! Apparantly it wasn't his fault as his boss just kept buying him drinks! I will be punishing him by making him do the shopping today and then by taking me over to Divonne tomorrow so we can go to the market there which is meant to be really nice.

The sweater is looking good so far. So, all I need to do now is knit the sleeves which have some big cables on them. I was going to make the cables smaller but then I would have to change the ribbing on the cuffs or it will look strange but then the ribbing won't match the rest of the sweater, which would just annoy me, so after explaining this to Mr H, he decided that the cables aren't so bad. He had just better wear it or I won't be amused! At least it's looking like it's going to be a god fit, which is a relief.

I've decided that I am going to have a pretty lazy weekend (is that actually any different to any other weekend?!). I've been so tired lately and haven't been sleeping well so I think I really need to take care of myself. I also really need to get my first assignment written for my Montessori teaching course. It's all started and all I really need to do is fill in the gaps, it's just a matter of building up the motivation again, I'm not sure where it came from last week but I guess I should try to work that out!

Colds and Relaxation

2008-04-07T14:23:00.002+02:00

I can't believe I have another cold. That's three in two months. I'm a little concerned as I'm on drugs that suppress my immune system, so I think I need to have a word with my doctor about it this afternoon. I'm still signed off work but am due to go back tomorrow which I'm quite pleased about as I'm missing my kids! The problem is this blasted cold but I guess it's good I got it while I'm signed off work anyway.

I didn't make it to CERN yesterday, which I was a little disappointed about but I really don't think I would have been able to handle it. A friend of mine went on Saturday (he works there and took his family) and said there was a two hour queue for Atlas by 11am, not really my idea of fun. The boys really seemed to enjoy themselves though.

So, while I have been recuperating, I have been taking the chance to relax a little, try to catch up on a bit of knitting (although not as much as I'd like as I've been in a bit of pain) and trying to write my first assignment for my Montessori course. So far I've only managed to write 500 words of my assignment, oops, I just can't keep up the motivation and I'm too easily distracted.

I've spent most of today so far listening to podcasts. I'm all up to date with the Knitpicks podcast but am still catching up with Cast On, which I have been listening to for a while, starting with Brenda Dayne's first episode which dates back to October 2005, so I still have a lot of catching up to do! I've been knitting away while I have been listening and have almost finished the front of Mr H's Rugged sweater. It still hasn't fully warmed up here yet so hopefully the weather will still be appropriate for him to wear it when I finish and he won't have to wait until next winter!

Four Little Booties

2008-04-05T14:03:00.005+02:00

So, I just finished knitting two pairs of booties for the twins to go with the Baby Yoda sweaters all in time to give to the dad-to-be who is arriving tonight.

The booties are quite cute, but I prefer the Bud booties I knitted, I think it's because these ones were knit in an aran weight yarn so they are a little more bulky.

I had a small operation on Wednesday, so have been signed off work for a week. I'm missing the kids, especially as I just had two weeks off for Easter and was only back two days before my operation. I'm actually looking forward to getting back to school on Tuesday.

I'm hoping that I will be feeling well enough to go to CERN with the boys tomorrow. I've only been having a little bit of pain the past couple of days, so hopefully I will be OK so long as I take it easy. It's the last open day before they start the collider...

Aren't I productive?

2008-03-28T15:12:00.006+01:00

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!

2008-03-27T09:45:00.002+01:00

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

2008-03-24T13:33:00.011+01:00

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

2008-03-19T13:46:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-17T11:41:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-17T09:39:00.005+01:00

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!

2008-03-13T17:46:00.002+01:00

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!

Does the sweater curse apply to married couples?

2008-02-16T17:23:00.003+01:00

So, I am knitting Mr H a sweater. So far, the only other thing I have knitted him is a hat, which he does actually wear a lot. I'm just hoping that the sweater curse doesn't apply to married couples, I don't want to spend lots of time knitting a jumper, only for it to end in divorce!

I'm really enjoying knitting with this yarn. It's Rowan Country in 652 Willow and nice and chunky so it is knitting up quite quickly. My only problem is that I am used to. It's very warm using smaller needles, so I'm a bit cack-handed with my 9mm! Hopefully I will get used to them, although I'm not sure how I will cope if I ever decide to knit anything with my 20mm needles!

I haven't actually been doing a lot of knitting lately. We have had a friend of mine crashing at ours for nearly a week now after she had to leave her room due to an alcoholic house mate/landlord. Don't get me wrong, she's a friend and I'm happy to help, but I am kind of at the point where I will be very happy to have just me and Mr H in the apartment. She's not even here much, but I just get a bit funny about these things. I guess I must be pretty territorial!

My friend is over from Canada at the moment, so I am looking forward to seeing her tonight. We were meant to be going skiing in Les Gets today, but I'm still not feeling too good and have been in pain so decided it was best to just save myself for tonight, so I have been sitting on the sofa, drinking tea, knitting and listening to podcasts, what a lovely way to spend the day when you're feeling a little rotten!

I have finally given up on my Rowan baby jacket, at least I think I have.... I just can't be bothered to finish sewing it up. I sat down about an hour ago to do it, but seem to have lined it all up wrong and am going to have to undo it and I really can't be bothered, especially now I don't know who will be receiving it as I think baby Nola is probably a bit too big now! It's not even difficult and it's quite pretty, I just don't know what my problem is with it, I can't see any legitimate reason as to why I wouldn't like it or want to finish it, I guess projects like that just pop up from time to time.

Baby Yoda

2008-02-11T17:35:00.000+01:00

I finished Baby Yoda #1 last night. I'm very pleased with it! Have to get going on the other one, but I just cast on the Rugged sweater from Rowan 42 for Mr H. Oops!

Too sick to knit

2008-02-09T22:01:00.000+01:00

I've hardly done any knitting this week. I did make it to Stitch 'n' Bitch on Wednesday night, but only stayed for about an hour as I felt dreadful and was sweating like mad. Nice.

I did make it out of the apartment this afternoon to visit the post office, aware that a package for my Baby Yarn Swap on Swap Bot from Italy was waiting for me. It certainly cheered me up! My partner really spoiled me! She sent me two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which is great as I already have one ball in that colour and wasn't sure what to do with it, so now I have three, there is a bear that I think I might knit from the Rowan Classic Babies book.

She also sent me three balls of Laines du Nord baby yarn, the colours are so pretty! I might have to save these for when I have my own baby, rather than using them for any babies that various friends are having!

I also received some Kwaii goodies, very cute. She also sent me some Japanese sachets to put on steamed rice, yum! (She's Japanese but living in Turin, Italy). She also made me a MP3 CD of JPop. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but will be putting it on my iPod soon so I can listen to it on my way to work.

I love receiving these parcels, I always seem to receive them just at the right time when I'm feeling sick or down.

machine, excellent! There are lots of thing that I want to sew and now IWhile I was out today, Mr H came out and bought me a sewing can! I really wanted to get one soon as I was making a rag ball to knit with and needed to sew all the pieces of fabric together but really didn't want to do it by hand, there are so many strips!

So, my rag ball is made out of a skirt of mine that I really loved but got a cigarette burn in it when I was out at a club. I was going to throw it away, but after getting my Mason Dixon book, I was inspired to make rag balls to knit with, so that's what I have decided to do. Knitting with rags seems like such a great way to use up fabric that you otherwise don't know what else to do with and it looks really effective. In the book there is a log cabin rug which is knit in cotton with rag knitting in between the different pieces and I think it looks great, so I think I will be giving something like that a go as I really want to give log cabin knitting a go, it seems like a great way to use up some of my left over bits of yarn that I just don't know what to do with.

I think I might have to start having a look around the flea market to see if I can find some old rag balls there that I can knit with, according to Mason Dixon, that seems to be a likely place to find them and there is a massive flea market in Plainpalais twice a week, so I might go next weekend if I have the time.

A Pair of Booties

2008-02-05T16:17:00.000+01:00

I just managed to finish a pair of Bud baby booties from Let's Knit magazine, Issue 1. Aren't they cute? I still have another pair to do as they're for the twins.

Lack of motivation

2008-02-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

I can't bring myself to knit at the moment. I want to, but it's just not happening. First it was post-Christmas blues, then my grandmother died (although I did do lots of knitting with my mum when I went back to England for the funeral), then I got a bit sick, then I started a new job and now I'm sick again with some kind of throat infection . I have managed to knit a row and a half of my baby booties this morning though, but with a temperature going up to 39°, I'm not really feeling like doing much.

Serial Project Starter

2008-01-25T10:48:00.000+01:00

I planned on just working on my Iceland sweater but I couldn't help myself! My friend is having twins (a boy and a girl) so I just had to cast something on for them! I am knitting his and hers Baby Yoda Sweaters (the proud parents are big Star Wars fans!). I am knitting them in Patons Washed Haze, each in a different shade of green.

This is proving very simple and quick to knit. There is very little shaping involved, which is great, so hopefully they won't interfere too much with my sweater!

I have also cast on Bud Baby Booties from Let's Knit! Issue #1. The girl's version is knit in Patons Fairytale DK, I'm not sure what the boy's will be in but I think I have a few balls of baby DK sitting in my stash. My friend says she expects knitted booties from me for the twins, so I felt I should oblige! She's 22 weeks gone, since she is having twins, I'm giving myself 10 weeks to get the baby things finished as twins tend to be early. The Baby Yoda Sweaters are rather big, so they might not actually be suitable for the twins from birth if they are smaller than a normal newborn but at least they will have something to grow into.

I haven't made a huge amount of progress with my Iceland Sweater. I was having problems with the stitch pattern and couldn't get past row three. I eventually worked out where I was going wrong (after frogging it 5 times!) and have now completed one repeat of the pattern. I think it's looking good. I'm just waiting for the yarn for K's sweater to arrive (it really should be here by now, I should have just brought it back from the UK with me) but I think I will have to hide it when it arrives as K says I have to knit it fast and I'm not allowed to work on anything else! Right, like that's ever going to happen!

More Swap Bot

2008-01-15T16:54:00.000+01:00

I'm signed up for a few more yarn related on Swap Bot.

I knitted this little cup cozy for my Knitter's Treasure swap partner. It's called Hugger and is from Let's Knit Issue 1.

I have also knitted Portia from Louisa Harding's Venezia recently.

Nothing to report on my Iceland sweater. Hubby now wants me to knit him the Rugged sweater from Rowan 42 and says when the yarn arrives I'm not allowed to knit anything except for that and he wants it done in a week! He'll be lucky. I will have to hide the yarn and say it's been delayed in the post!

Finished!

2008-01-06T17:06:00.000+01:00

I finished my Debbie Bliss Francesca bolero from the Rialto book! I am pretty chuffed with it at the moment. I was a little worried after I finished knitting the ribbed edging as it was bunching up a bit where I picked up the stitches and wasn't hanging properly and I thought I may have to redo it. Then I thought to myself 'hey, I know what I should do - block'. I have never blocked anything before (such a rebel!) and was skeptical as to what effect it would have on my strange looking knitting. I vow I will now block everything!

(Sorry about the picture, I was so excited that I just had to take the photo and get it up as soon as I could).

Now to cast on the Portia hat by Louisa Harding in Venezia.

Lots of Stitches

2008-01-03T13:26:00.001+01:00

My Debbie Bliss Bolero is coming along nicely. I did think that I was almost finished until I realised that I have to pick up 408 stitches around the entire edge and knit 34 rounds of ribbing, that could take me a while *sigh*. I'm determined to get it finished within the next couple of days. The cast off is also really fiddly as I have to cast off with a crochet hook and crochet at the same time (I'm not the best with a crochet hook) to create a picot edge. It does look pretty and I'm glad I've done it as I did consider doing a normal cast off but I think it looks much better this way. I'm just not looking forward to casting off all 408 stitches of the body!

I have some pictures of some of my Christmas presents. Having a mother who works in a yarn store means I always get spoiled with knitting goodies for birthdays and Christmas!

I got this really cute cupcake tape measure. I just hope I don't lose it as I have a habit of losing them all the time, either that or my cat eats them, which is why I have to have retractable ones. There are lots of different types of these. She gave me a sheep one to pass on to the owner of my LYS, Tricolaine, as she loves all things sheep.

Something I got which is more cool than cute are these fantastic Knitlite knitting needles that light up, how cool is that??! I imagine they will actually be quite useful when working with dark coloured yarn. They are surprisingly light but are a bit bendy. I haven't used them yet, they're 5.5mm, which isn't a size that I use that often but I will have to find something as I want to give them a go!

I went off to my Stitch 'n' Bitch group last night, all ready to show off my goodies but I arrived to find that Starbucks was closed, grr. If I had been on time, I probably would have been able to see if they went elsewhere but never mind, there's always next week and by then I should have finished my bolero, yay!

Christmas is Over

2007-12-30T11:39:00.000+01:00

Well, Christmas is over and I managed to get all of my Christmas knitting finished. I was particularly pleased with the Snowflake Slippers. I only finished them yesterday, but they are going back to england with my mum for my brother. I can't remember the yarn I used as I lost the ball band, but it was an aran weight wool from Manor. I used an aran weight on 5mm needles as the pattern was only sized for children or women. The thicker yarn and larger needles worked perfectly. I just hope he likes them!

I was also pleased with the socks I made for my mum's partner, which I designed myself as I sent along. It's the first time I have ever knitted cables and I was pleased with how they turned out and I managed to get them finished first thing Christmas morning after having to undo my toe grafting the night before because I had grafted them vertically instead of horizontally! I guess I must have been pretty tired!

Lastly there were my mum's Synesthesia Socks. They turned out OK but I did make quite a few mistakes on them. I knitted the heel wrong and there seem to be some extra holes in the pattern. Mum mum still loved them and has worn them about 3 times already! I've been trying to teach her to knit socks but she just doesn't seem to have the patience. I know that she can do it but she doesn't seem to see the point to it all! I have to say that I have gone off knitting socks for just a little while!

Now that my Christmas knitting is over I can finally do some knitting for myself. I have started to make good progress with my Debbie Bliss Rialto bolero and I hope to have that finished in a week or so. Also, I finally got my Rowan Cocoon in Shale so I can knit the Iceland jumper from Rowan magazine #42! I have been waiting since before my birthday for this yarn but neither my mum or the knitting shop in Carouge have been able to get hold of it. As soon as I finish my bolero I will be casting that on.

I have a little more time on my hands to knit now as I lost my job a couple of days ago, I was working on a temporary contract and they have decided not to renew it, which is a bit of the pain as I could do with the money but I didn't like it there too much and I have been a bit poorly lately too, so at least now I have some time to get better. If I can get my confidence up enough I will go and teach English for a while as the hours are flexible so I can look after my health and by bank balance at the same time!

Knitting Pal and Knitting Socks

2007-12-09T17:32:00.001+01:00

I got *the* most beautiful parcel yesterday from my Swap Bot Secret Knitting Pal. It came from Italy and contained 17 (yes, *17*!) balls of Italian yarns, a pattern book and some other little things that my partner knew I would adore from reading my profile, I am so lucky! I can't believe she sent me so much yarn! I will have lots of fun trying to think of new projects!

It was so nice to get the package yesterday as I was feeling a little down in the dumps, not to mention a little hungover but I managed to drag myself out of the apartment in the rain to go and collect it from the post office. I was really surprised when I saw how big the box was, so I knew that I was in for a treat.

I also got a good response to the package that I sent out as part of the swap, I'm so glad she liked what I sent her.

I can't believe it's only 2 weeks until Christmas now. I'm still not doing too well with my Christmas presents. I've only done a small part of Nigel's socks, I just hope that I can get them done in time and I still need to finish off my mum's gift. I'm making up the pattern for Nigel's socks as I go along. If they turn out well, I will post the pattern. It's just a simple cable and rib pattern. At least I have the hot-water bottle cover finished so hope to get that in the post next week.

Quick slipper vent

2007-12-02T16:54:00.000+01:00

Ohh, I'm so annoyed, I was just 12 rows from finishing my Snowflake Slippers when I realised at some point during knitting the top of the slipper I forgot to turn my short row so the top of the slipper ended up at the side. I ended pulling out the whole slipper in anger! How irritating.....

One sock, one slipper

2007-11-29T12:03:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm not sure I'm doing so good with my Christmas knitting. I now have one sock, one slipper and a hot-water bottle cover. I wonder how useful one sock or one slipper could be to someone with two feet....

On the plus side, the slipper looks fantastic, even if I do say so myself! It's from Knit: Handmade Style and it't the Snowflake Slippers. The pattern only accommodates a woman or a child's size, so since I am making them for my brother, I used aran weight yarn on 5mm needles and it seems to have worked out perfectly. The other change I made (which was actually an accident) was that I knitted the top of the slipper in stockinette stitch instead of garter, I just didn't read the pattern properly, but I think it makes the slippers look more manly! I will post some pictures soon, I'm at work at the moment. The slipper knitted up really quickly, I started it on Tuesday night and finished it last night (minus the sewing up), so at least I know I will be able to have the pair finished in plenty of time for Christmas. I wonder if I could get away with knitting these for everyone this year? Probably not!

Christmas Knitting Progress

2007-11-25T11:50:00.001+01:00

I don't seem to be doing too well with knitting all my Christmas presents. There are only 29 days left and so far I haven't finished a single gift. I've nearly finished the hot-water bottle cover that I'm knitting from Knit: Handmade Style , I just need to sew it up, which I have just started this morning, but got bored very quickly, which is why I am writing this post - sometimes I think that I have procrastination down to a fine art!

Sorry the picture isn't very good, I was being lazy with lighting, but you get the idea (that's the hot-water bottle cover, in case you weren't sure!). As you can probably see, I am only following the pattern for the actual structure, the colour combination and design is just what I felt like doing at the time. I just hope my friend is fond of green!

I am about 25% into my mum's present, but can't talk about that because she does read my blog from time to time. I will have to take it off my Ravelry project list once her invite comes through, I have been checking the waiting list regularly to make sure I get it off before she's on! I have mad a fairly large mistake with her present, but I am hoping to get away with it as I have neither the time nor the inclination to rip it out, it might just be a bit wonky, I will have to wait and see.

I still need to knit presents for my brother, husband, mum's partner and possibly my dad, but since I don't tend to see him often, that one isn't really urgent, but I figure if I am making him something, I probably should knit my step-mother something too, grr, how these lists grow. I guess I should be thankful that I have such a small family! How I long to be more organised, then I would have made a start on my Christmas knitting in August and would now be sitting knitting my own Debbie Bliss Bolero so I would have that for myself in time for Christmas.

Swap Bot Secret Knitting Pal

2007-11-20T11:42:00.000+01:00

So, I have set up a blog for my swap on Swap Bot for the Secret Knitting Pal so everyone who is involved can post entries and pictures relating to the blog. Within an hour or so of setting it up, three people have posted messages, I was very excited!

If you want to have a look at it, click here.

Packages have to be sent out by 3rd December, I can't wait to see what I get...

Christmas Knitting

2007-11-16T11:50:00.000+01:00

I think I am going to have to start knitting at lunch time, there's only about 38 days left until Christmas and I'm meant to be knitting gifts for everyone, but so far I'm only halfway through one gift and haven't even started any others, ohh err, I hope I can get some things done, otherwise everyone will be getting IOUs for Christmas!

I'm already addicted to Ravelry since getting my invite yesterday. I think I will be spending a large portion of the weekend inputting my stash! I think that could take me a while...

And I'm in!

2007-11-15T09:49:00.000+01:00

Hey there,

frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry!

"Here is your invitation! Thanks for your interest in our site.Let me know if you have any questions or problems!

Jess"

Yay! Will let you know what's it's like (if you're not on there already!)

It was snowing this morning, really need to knit me a new hat!

So near....

2007-11-13T21:26:00.000+01:00

You signed up on October 20, 2007
You are #46481 on the list.
632 people are ahead of you in line.
10298 people are behind you in line.
79% of the list has been invited so far

Not long now I hope! I reckon a couple of days.

In further news, I have set up my own secret knitting pal swap on Swap Bot, one of the participants has asked me to set up a blog for the swap so all the other participants can post their photos and stories on there. I'm thinking about it, but I don't want to step on anyones' toes because I know there is another secret knitting pal on Blogspot, so we will have to wait and see.

I knitting progress news, I have very little to say, I haven't really done a lot of knitting in the past week, I have been knitting the hubby a pair of socks, but I'm not too far with that, I'll post pictures soon.

Almost there...

2007-11-05T16:12:00.001+01:00

You signed up on October 20, 2007
You are #46481 on the list.
5637 people are ahead of you in line.
6710 people are behind you in line.
76% of the list has been invited so far

Come on!

Swap Bot Goodies!

2007-11-05T15:44:00.000+01:00

My first package of goodies through Swap Bot arrived today, it was very exciting! I got such a beautiful package, my partner had really gone all out to go through my profile to find things I would love. She sent me two really cute place mats with pockets with a pair of chopsticks in them. I love the fabric, it's a blue and brown retro print - just gorgeous! She also sent me a skein of Knit Picks 'Shimmer' yarn - 70% Baby Alpaca, 30% silk. It's really beautiful and soft, I feel a pair of cabled socks coming along there!

I also got a cute notebook and set of 8 funky pens, some chai spiced tea (just finished a cup, very yummy, especially in this cold weather!) and some cute stickers. I really feel like I've been spoiled! I'm loving Swap Bot! My husband keeps asking me what the point of it is, I don't think he understands why I would want to send gifts to complete strangers, but I think that's the whole fun of it. It's such a nice feeling to read about someone you've never met and then to put together a gift for them, I just think it's so charming!

I have actually set up my own swap now on Swap Bot, it's a Secret Knitting Pal swap, of course, although it won't be very secret as you need to know who sends you your gift so you can rate them, but it's still fun! I'm signed up to a few swaps now. My postcards from the Autumn Postcard Swap are trickling in, I've received two out of five so far, they're really cute, we write an autumn memory on the back of an autumnal themed card.

I'm also signed up to a Secret Sister Swap, where you send your partner a gift every month for three months, there's no particular theme, so you just buy gifts based on your partner's profile. I'm doing a Secret Santa Swap and also a Christmas Card swap, it's all very exciting! (I'm sure I'm repeating myself!).

I had a really nice weekend, my best friend was over from the UK, it was so nice to spend some time with her, although we did have a couple of boozy nights! She actually dragged me to work last night, who goes to a club on a Sunday night???! It's just a good thing that I had a day off work today! I was really sad to say goodbye to my friend, she's like a sister to me. She did make me laugh though because she is knitting a cushion, but she's very much a beginner knitter and had made a mistake ages ago and had to wait until she saw me to fix it before she could carry on! She was very pleased when I sorted it out for her so she could get back to it! We did spend a lot of time sitting around the apartment, knitting and drinking tea, perfect activities for a chilly Genevois weekend!

I'm pretty sure that I'm rambling quite a lot, I am still feeling a little delicate after last night, but I really need to crack on and clean the apartment as it's currently looking like a tornado ripped through it over the weekend, put me and my friend together for a few days and you'd be amazed by the amount of mess that we can create!

Pictures of Progress

2007-10-28T14:08:00.000+01:00

Before I get on with my post, I'd just like to make a comment about the picture at the top of my blog. Some of you may have seen a new knitting magazine this month called Let's Knit and you may have noticed that the picture they use for their feature 'Ask Maggie' is the same picture on my blog. I'd just like you to know that I have not stolen this picture from them and that I bought it from istockphoto just so you know!

Anyway, moving on, I have just taken some pictures like I promised. So, let's begin...

First of all, my birthday. Like I have said before, my mum owns her own knitting shop in the UK, so I was bound to get some lovely knitting goodies, and that I did! My mum bought me two balls of Regia bamboo sock yarn, one skein of Collinette sock yarn and one skein of Artesano Jitterbug DK sock yarn. I cannot wait to try them, especially the Jitterbug, I love the autumnal colours and have never knitted DK socks before. I have also never knitted with bamboo yarn before, so that's another thing that I am really looking forward to. Unfortunately, I have barely made any progress on the socks that I promised my hubby, so will not allow myself to knit another pair until they are finished, unless I am knitting them as a gift.

My mum also came through for me on the Debbie Bliss bolero from Rialto that I have been so desperate to knit. She gave me the Rialto book, and a pack of Rialto yarn in red, I was delighted! if you have read my earlier post from last week, you will know that I have already started knitting this (also evident in the photo), despite promising myself that I would finish off all my current WIPs, but you know how it is, plus, I really needed a break from my circular cardigan, and I only have the sleeves left to do (as you will see later).

I also got some lovely books from my mum: Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation; Naughty Needles: Sexy, saucy knits for the bedroom & beyond by Nikol Lohr; It's my Party and I'll Knit if I Want to by Sharon Aris and Louisa Harding'sVenezia.

I think that was everything from her. So, all in all, I think I was a very lucky girl! It's so great to have a mother who owns her own yarn store!

S0, enough about my birthday and how spoiled I am!

My knitting is coming on fairly well at the moment, although I have hardly done any over the weekend as I just haven't really felt like it, although I'm sure that I will be doing some later in the day...

As mentioned earlier, my Debbie Bliss circular cardigan is almost finished, with just the sleeves left to do, but I am putting that off at the moment as I just got a bit bored of knitting it and wanted to do something new.

That edging really took me a long time to do, I think that's another reason why I feel that I need a break from it before getting on with the sleeves, but I am hoping that they wont take too long to do as it's all just knit stitch until I get down to the cuffs, when I have to do that pointy edge again, but at least it won't be over 544 stitches!

I'm pretty pleased with it, but I'm just not sure of how good it looks on me. I might have said this before, but I'm a little concerned that it makes be look a little bit like a snail when I put it on because of the way that it hangs! It doesn't sit too well on my rather ample bottom! I'm just hoping that with a little pressing it will hang better, fingers crossed after all that work, otherwise I may have to find someone with a smaller bum than mine to give it to as a Christmas present!

I never did get around to knitting that pumpkin hat for my friend who has her birthday on Halloween, oops, but I did get her carrot knitted, although I still haven't posted it to her, so I guess she won't be getting it in time for her birthday, double oops. I hope she will forgive me when she does finally receive it, along with a little Smurf sitting at a computer, which I said I was going to buy her last year, but never did (gosh, I'm starting to sound like a complete flake). The carrot looks a little pregnant in this picture, but I think I just need to prod the stuffing about a bit to get it more even. Apart from that, I think it's a very good knitted carrot!

Moving away from knitting a little. I got my partners for my Swap-Bot swaps early yesterday and then went straight into town to get my supplies and managed to get them all sent off yesterday afternoon (hopefully I'm not sounding like such a flake now!). I won't go into detail about what I sent just in case my partner reads this, I don't want to spoil the surprise for her, I just hope that she likes what I sent. I had a look at her profile and blog and tried to send things that I thought she would like. The other swap was an autumn post card swap, where we send autumn themed postcards to 5 different people and write an autumn memory on the back, which was quite sweet. Hopefully I will be able to get my rating up so I can take part in some of the knitting and yarn swaps and maybe even host my own knitting themed swap.

One last photo for you, and of course, Trinny had to get into the picture, she is such a photo hogger! I don't know if it's just because she's so curious or if it's because she genuinely loves having her picture taken! It took me quite a while to be able to get a picture of the circular cardigan as she plonked herself on it and looked at me expectantly as soon as I had laid it on the floor ready for the camera!

Anyway, I bought this yarn at one of the yarn shops in Carouge (not my favourite, but the other one,which I'm not really so keen on). It was only 5CHF (about £2.00) per ball. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, I'm not even sure how much I like the Plassard! I think that it might make a nice cushion and was thinking about making a drop-stitch scarf with the Gedifra, but nothing is set in stone.

I really need to get on and knit some Christmas presents, there are only 58 days left until the day, pretty scary. I finally started one gift today, but I'm not going to say anything about it, just in case the friend who it's for happens to read this. She is coming over to stay for a few days, arriving on Thursday this week, I am so excited. I have the feeling she may have some repairs for me to make to her knitting, I think I need to teach her how to do these things for herself so she doesn't have to stop every time something bad happens so she doesn't have to wait until she sees me or my mum to get it fixed again!

Secret Knitting Pal

2007-10-25T17:47:00.000+02:00

I just discovered Secret Knitting Pals yesterday, and I really want one! The problem is, I seem to have missed the boat on all the latest ones. Knitty do one through their forum, but you have to have at least 100 posts before you can join a swap. I only joined yesterday, so I think it will take me a while to get there, I don't want to post one word answers to other posts, and they don't like you to do that you get your numbers up.

There is also the Secret Knitting Pal on Blogspot, they are up to number SP11 now, but that is just coming to an end, so I will have to keep an eye out for SP12. In the meantime, I have signed up to Swap Bot, although I can't join any of the knitting related swaps yet as some swaps require you to have a certain rating, I have joined some other swaps, like a Christmas card swap, to get my rating up and also it's fun to send and receive things from complete strangers in the post! Some of the send dates are coming up soon, so I will let you know what I get!

I signed up to Ravelry on October 20, so am eagerly awaiting my invitation to join.

You signed up on October 20, 2007
You are #46481 on the list.
11716 people are ahead of you in line.
2102 people are behind you in line.
69% of the list has been invited so far

I think it could be a while before they get to me. My friend from my SnB group said it took about a month before she got her invitation, I just hope I can wait that long as everyone says it is fantastic!

I'm afraid I still have no photos for you as I am writing this at work (it's very quiet in the office as it's 6pm and I'm covering reception), but I will try my best to get snapping over the weekend and get some pictures up so you can see how I've been getting along with things.

Aren't I Awful?!

2007-10-23T11:55:00.001+02:00

I know, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post, it hasn't been intentional, I promise. It is for two reasons, although neither are very good! 1. Because my circular cardigan is knitted in the round, it was hard to take a picture that shows how much progress I'd made and 2. I didn't want to post without any pictures, but hadn't gotten around to taking any of anything else (and I still haven't). I know, poor excuses!

So, I finished my carrot, but am yet to send it to my friend (I wanted to take a photo first, go figure!). It's quite cute, but very small.

I have almost finished my baby cardigan, I just need to sew it up and do the embroidery, which could very well mean it's another month before I finish it! I think it's a good job that I did the size 3-6 months as it could be that long before poor baby Nola gets it! It is looking very cute though! I really love the colour and I promise to post photos soon.

I have almost finished the circular cardigan! Yay!! Just have to knit the sleeves. I finally finished casting off last night, it took me days to do that as there were 544 stitches and had a pointed edge, which means each stitch had to be knitted up to 9 times in short rows, phew! I am waiting to do the sleeves for a bit as I really need a rest from it, I got very bored of knitting it towards the end. I'm also not sure if I have enough yarn to finish both sleeves, so may have to wait for my mum to ship some over for me. After all that knitting, I hate to say it, but I'm not sure that I like it, I think it makes me look like a snail because of the way it hangs! I'm hoping that once it's pressed it will look better. It also needs a shave as the "Grace" seems to pill really badly, which is really irritating.

So, when I finally finished casting off last night, I cast on my next project, which I have really been itching to knit, which is a red bolero from Debbie Bliss' "Rialto" book. I only managed to cast on and knit two rows last night, but I already think I'm going to love knitting with the "Rialto", it's 100% merino and is really soft. Hopefully this won't take me as long to knit as the cardigan!

I guess another reason why I have been slack with my posts is that I got a job! It's only temporary for now, but I'm hoping they will keep me on, just need to work hard and to try to stop getting confused!

I never even posted what knitting goodies I got for my birthday. The Debbie Bliss book & yarn for my bolero was one part, I also got some beautiful sock yarn & some more books. When I next do a photo shoot I will include some pics in my next blog!

I promise the next blog will have photos and I'm sorry that this one is so lacking in colour!

Knitting in the park #2

2007-09-23T21:05:00.001+02:00

I think I was just being a bit thick earlier with my photo upload! I won't tell you what I did because it's so silly! So, anywhere, here are some more pics of our little bit of knitting in public this afternoon.

My mum seems to be getting along nicely with her Louisa Harding beret, I think if she hadn't taken so long with her cast on she'd be finished before bedtime!

The Kimono angora is so nice, I can't believe how soft it is when it knits up. Mum says it's lovely to knit with too. I am definitely going to knit myself a beret too, probably in the teak colour, it looks very pretty. Mum has promised to send me a ball when she gets some more colours in, hopefully it will take a while so I won't be distracted from my cardigan!

When we were in the park, some policemen came along and said "Bonjour petites tricoteuses!" That's hello little knitters, we thought it was quite sweet! I was thinking they might tell us off for knitting in the park, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Swiss had a strange law about knitting in public! It would go with their law that prohibits you from flushing your toilet after 10pm and stops men being allowed to go to the loo standing up after 10pm! (I have to say that me and hubby are complete rebels and pay no attention to these silly rules!).

Here's a nice photo of me knitting on the park bench. Still working away at my cardigan. It's really growing now, I have armholes and everything, it's all very exciting. It's definitely the most challenging project I've worked on so far. I just wish there weren't so many stitches! I think I might have to get myself some longer circular needles as I still have another increase to do, taking me up to a total of 544 stitches! I do think I knit more quickly in the round though.

It's a bit difficult to see how far the cardigan's got because of it being on circular needles, but I promise you that it's getting there! It's starting to get quite heavy, but it's very warm and keeps my lap warm while I'm knitting it!

Hubby was very pleased that Man U won the football today, so everyone is contented in the apartment, mum's knitting, hubby's listening to music and the cat is curled up on the duvet on the sofa bed. We are all nicely full too after my roast, which I have to say was very yummy, it's only the second one I've ever made, the potatoes were particularly delicious, even if I do say so myself!

I think we will go off to Nyon for lunch tomorrow and then maybe on to Lausanne if we have time. I plan on having a lovely, relaxing birthday. I'm very excited about the presents I might be getting, I'm pretty sure they will all be lovely, I am a very lucky girl. I'm sure I will have lots of photos to post of all my new goodies!

Knitting in the park

2007-09-23T19:30:00.001+02:00

My mother is here at the moment, which is lovely, lots of knitting to be done!

We spent the afternoon today in Parc des Bastions doing some knitting. It has been such a nice day today, so we thought it would be a good idea and would also help to get rid of my hangover!

My mum is currently knitting a Louisa Harding beret from the Venezia in Kimono Angora, it looks like it will be really pretty. She did have a bit of trouble doing the picot cast-on, I think she was a little brain dead this afternoon, perhaps it was all that Rose we drank last night, or maybe it's all that fresh Swiss air! She got there in the end though, but it took a long, long time!

She says that the yarn is really soft and lovely and that she wants to wrap herself in it! I am thinking I will have to knit myself the beret too.

I am still working on my Debbie Bliss circular cardigan, I think it could take a while before I get it finished, I wish I was a faster knitter! I estimated it could be 6 weeks before I get it finished, I hope I can get that time down as I really want to be wearing it! Plus, there are tons more projects that I want to do, but I refuse to start anything new until this is done. I expect to have some new projects tomorrow as it's my birthday and I suspect I may be getting some knit-related pressies!

I have more pictures from today that I want to post, but for some reason the image uploader seems to have stopped working, how irritating. I will try to post them later, but right now I have a roast dinner I need to finish making, especially as I told hubby not to be back late from watching the football!

Finishing Off

2007-09-14T18:44:00.000+02:00

I have given up on my orange socks, they are insanely boring to knit and so I have decided to knit my friend a carrot with fangs like in Duckula! Have nearly finished that already so will have it in the post to her next week, she will be very happy. If I'd carried on with the socks, she probably wouldn't get them for at least another month, which would be rubbish as it's her birthday on Halloween and I want to knit her a pumpkin hat (I have lots of orange yarn to use up!)

I was very excited today when I went over to Carouge to the yarn shops and found a ball of Debbie Bliss cotton Cashmere which I need to finish a basket I started ages ago. I never thought I'd get it as a girl at knitting had bought the last lot and it's been discontinued, but I found one lone ball in Tricolaine which had been returned, result! I thought I would either never finish it or have to finish it in a different colour, which I really didn't want to do. I have to say, I think a cotton cashmere basket is a little extravagant, but hey, never mind, it's nice to knit with and I liked the colour for a basket!

I have been out and about in my lovely new tank top today, which was much admired by my friend at lunch and the owner of Tricolaine, I felt very proud! It's just a shame that the weather has suddenly got much warmer, but I was determined to wear it anyway! At least I know that it's very warm!

Just a week now until mummy comes, yay!

One down, 4 to go!

2007-09-13T13:55:00.000+02:00

After knitting furiously yesterday and sewing up all morning, I finally finished my Freedom Spirit vest! Yay! and it fits me! Double Yay! I am very pleased with it. I even managed to do a nice neat neckline, not bad for my second go! I think I could have done with maybe making the vest a little longer, I made it much shorter than the original pattern as I didn't want it going over my thighs, but I might have shortened it a bit too much, but I don't know yet as I haven't tried it on over a shirt, which is what I knitted it for....

Now I can concentrate on some other projects. I really should finish both my pairs of socks, especially the Wendy Fusion ones as they're so close to being done, probably just an hour or so, but I seem to have second sock lethargy! Plus, I'm still obsessed with trying to get my Debbie Bliss circular cardigan done, oh, so many projects, so little time!

I made it to Stitch 'n' Bitch last night after so many weeks away, it was really nice to catch up with all the girls over a knit and a coffee and to see what everyone is working on.

My mum is coming a week tomorrow, I can't wait, I think I will have to try to make a nice itinerary for us, especially as the hubby will be working that weekend, boo. He's away at the moment actually, which is good in a way as I don't feel so guilty for spending my time knitting instead of doing something useful, like working, cleaning, shopping or job-hunting. I need a bit of self-indulgence once in a while!

I'm off to Carouge tomorrow for lunch with a friend I haven't seen in ages. I think I will have to pop into Tricolaine while I'm there, but will do my best not to buy anything, unless she has a ball of yarn I need to finish a basket I started ages ago, but didn't buy enough yarn for, I suspect she doesn't have it though as I know that one of the girls from my knitting group bought her last lot of it, so unless she's got more in, I'll be out of luck so might have to finish it in another colour...

Working Through the WIPs

2007-09-12T14:45:00.000+02:00

Well, I have now almost finished my Freedom Spirit tank top. I can't believe it took me so long, I started it in February! I guess that's what I get for being impatient and starting new projects all the time, nothing gets finished!

I'm pretty pleased with it, I just hope it's going to fit, I might have to get back on my diet! All I need to do now is sew it up and knit the neckline, which I'm not looking forward to, I've only ever knitted one neckline and it turned out all wonky, so I will have to really make an effort to get this one right.

I love the colour of this yarn, it's so warm and vibrant. It was fun to knit with too because of the stripes it creates. The yarn is Freedom Spirit by Twilleys of Stamford in colour 502 - Fire and the pattern is from 'Knitting' Magazine #34, Feb 2007 (although I think it might also be in one of the Freedom pattern books, but I'm not sure).

I'm determined to get this finished within the next couple of days so I can move on to another UFO! I'm still itching to knit my circular cardigan, but may hold that for a bit while I finish off a couple of pairs of socks, especially my orange ones as they are supposed to be a gift.

I'm going to my Stitch 'n' Bitch group tonight, I haven't been for ages and I really miss it. It will be good to catch up with the girls for a gossip and to see what everyone's working on at the moment!

I think that's all I've got to say for myself right now, I want to be knitting, not waffling!

Frogging is so hard to do

2007-09-10T12:44:00.001+02:00

I'm back to not working for a bit, well, I will be working freelance for reasons I won't go into right now, let's just say I'm keeping my options open on the job front.

Well, at least that means I have plenty of time to do more knitting (well, in theory, I actually need to be building a website for my mum's new online shop...)

I decided that I have been doing too much knitting for other people recently and that it's about time I got on with some of my own projects, especially now that it's getting colder. I picked up my Debbie Bliss circular cardigan (from Out of Town) yesterday and got on with knitting that, only to have to rip out a ball and a half's worth of work when I realised I'd been following the wrong size, I was so angry. I did think about leaving it, but then it would probably be too small and I'd never wear it, which would be insane as it's going to be so beautiful.

The whole cardigan is knitted in one piece on circular needles, leaving spaces for the sleeves, which are then knitted into the main piece. I'm knitting it in Louisa Harding's 'Grace', colour 09. It's such a beautiful yarn to knit with as it's 50% Merino wool & 50% silk. I quite often have problems with yarns drying out my hands, but I have none of this with the 'Grace'.

I really want to get on and finish this as I think it will be so warm and perfect for these chilly days in Geneva, especially now that the wind is picking up from the lake, it's called le bees (although I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling) and it can be really icy and evil!

I also started my amigurumi doll,I'm quite please with how easy I've been finding it, although I'm not too happy with how it's looking at the moment, but then, it is my first attempt, so I can't expect it to be perfect.

I did start out following a pattern, but then kind of went off at a tangent and have been making it up as I go along. I did kick myself though when I realised that I have a lovely pattern for an amigurumi robot in an old copy of 'Craft' magazine, so I will probably give that a go when I'm a little more confident with my crochet technique. The good thing about these dolls is that you only need to be able to double crochet in a spiral to make them, so that makes it nice and simple for anyone who doesn't know how to crochet very well (ie, me!).

I'm really excited that my mum is coming over next weekend, especially since now that I'm working freelance I won't have to work on my birthday, so we can spend the whole day exploring and looking for more knitting shops. I think we will head over to Lausanne, as I'm sure there'll be a shop there somewhere and I've never really been there, except to a concert once. I know there's a shop in Nyon somewhere too as I drove past it last year on the way to see a friend, but I can't remember for the life of me where it is. If anyone is aware of any good yarn shops in Suisse Romande, please let me know! I know there are two in Carouge that I have been to, including the lovely Tricolaine and there is also a small one up the road from me called d'au d'argent. If we had more time I would take us over to Zurich, but I don't really think it's worth it unless we stay the night,

I saw these cute little chaps last weekend when we went to a little festival in Carouge, I really wanted to shear them and spin their fleeces, they look so lovely and warm!

I have some lovely Garn Studio alpaca that I want to knit some socks with, I think they will be perfect for the Swiss winter, I hear alpaca is extremely warm.

Knitting in the UK

2007-09-01T14:57:00.000+02:00

Been busy again with not a lot of knitting time, except for last week when I was in the UK hanging out at my mum's yarn shop, so lots of knitting done then!

I decided to knit a pair of chunky socks for my friend who's going back to Canada next week, I finished them last night.

As you can see, they didn't really turn out to be a pair because the colourways in the balls of yarn are so long, so I have had to knit another pair so I can get matching ones! At least that means that I get a pair for myself, they're super warm and comfy and the cat seems to like them too! They were knitted in Wendy Fusion, but I can't remember the colour, sorry.

I loved making these socks because they were so quick to knit, you can knit one in an evening, no problem. I knitted them on 5.5mm dpns over 32 stitches if you fancy giving them a try yourself.

I really want to learn to crochet at the moment, especially with all the pictures of amigurumi dolls that I have seen lately, I desperately want to make some, but my crochet leaves much to be desired, but then I have only ever crocheted one edging on a baby cardigan and that's it, I guess practice makes perfect.

I love this doll on the right, it's so cute, in fact, I think all amigurumi dolls are cute. This one is from Gourmet Amigurumi.

Talking of cute things, my hubby bought me this cute Japanese cat on the left as a "good luck" gift for my new job. I love it, it's fantastic!

What with the new job and not getting home until 7.30-8pm every night, I'm not sure when I'm going to get time to learn to crochet properly, especially with all the knitting projects that I want to tackle. I got a copy of the new Rowan magazine when I was in the UK and I think there's about ten projects that I want to do. At least now that I'm working I will be able to buy some yarn and won't have to wait until I go to the UK to work in the shop and be paid in yarn! Plus, it's my birthday in 3 weeks and I'm pretty sure that I will get a few gifts from my mum's shop stock! Very exciting!

There's some beautiful things in my mum's shop at the moment, I'm loving this weaving mesh. In this picture it's had Louisa Harding Sari Silk woven through it, it's so beautiful. You just need 1-2 metres of mesh and one hank of silk (although you can weave whatever you like through it), I am very tempted to make one for myself. The mesh comes in different colours, I'm tempted by the cream and weaving a champagne coloured silk through it, very elegant.

Busy Busy

2007-08-20T11:27:00.000+02:00

I've not had a lot of time for knitting the past couple of days, and won't do for a few more days.

I spent yesterday struggling away trying to build a new website for my mum's shop Interknit Cafe
(that's not the site I've been building, mine isn't finished yet, she might not even like it!).

Been viewing cars and am off to get my Swiss driver's licence today, very exciting! We have to do it this week because if you leave it longer than a year you have to take a test. Then on Wednesday I get to drive all the way from Geneva back to Farnham. The drive to Le Havre will take me about 7 1/2 hours, then I have a 4 or 5 hour boat ride before arriving in Portsmouth. Phew! It will be a very dull drive, especially since I have no stereo in my car as some kids stole the front of it, along with the gear stick knob! Little scoundrels!

I am looking forward to getting back to the UK though and seeing my mum and raiding her shop! She says she has loads of new stuff in and that the shop is bulging at the seams! So hopefully lots of knitting to be done!

My orange socks are coming along nicely, nearly finished the first one. I have to say that they are rather boring to knit as it's all one colour, but they are going to be a gift and there is a reason why they're orange!

Not sure red was the best background, but I couldn't be bothered to move off the sofa!