Knitting in Newcastle and Maine

How cool is this?! As the knitting group at the Forth has been busy in the last couple of weeks, the staff there have taken to reserving the non-smoking area with comfy chairs for us. Glittr took this rather fantastic photo last Tuesday. I think I might print a big copy of it for the wall next to my desk at uni. The pinky purple knitting is my Fyberspates frilly tank that I've been knitting for ages. It's coming along nicely now, although I've decided (with Jeni's permission) that I'm going to add sleeves to it. The question is, how long can I knit a sleeve from about 100m of dk yarn? Answers on a postcard. Oh, ok, just leave me a message :o)

My other dilemma is what to take to the Forth this evening. I could take the frilly tank, but I'm decreasing and have a feeling my concentration won't be too great this evening. Other options are the Loopy and Luscious scarf (started in August...geez); the fyberspates yarn sock (started in October...can you see a problem here...); a top for Leila (started in November...ok, ok, I know); or shall I could start a pair of wristwarmers or a hat from a skein of discontinued Maya.
What do you think? I think the Loopy and Luscious might be the best option. I really should get it finished so that I can wear it. It's really beautiful, probably the favourite thing I've knitted (big effect, little effort!) Let me know what you think...

Also, in a very exciting development, Pumpkin is going to learn to knit! Please leave her words of encouragement :o) I found her a knitting group at the Yarn Sellar in York, Maine, which she has promised me she will be going to this evening at 7pm. Very exciting! Have fun Pumpkin. x

Fundraising Update: £395...donate here: http://lo06.breakthroughweekend.org/site/TR?px=1418005&fl=en_GB&s_tafId=23740&pg=personal&fr_id=1020

Not quite Knitter of the Year

Pumpkin nominated me for Simply Knitting magazine's Knitter of the Year and I found out today that I'm on the shortlist of 8 in the magazine! I think I'm still in shock, ha ha :o)

You can vote for me by calling: 0901 890 4884
Or texting: simply D to 84070

Sorry for the shameless self promotion.

Fundraising update: I've reached £375. Please continue to donate, by clicking here: http://lo06.breakthroughweekend.org/site/TR?px=1418005&fl=en_GB&s_tafId=23740&pg=personal&fr_id=1020

Thank you to all who have already donated.

It's on its way...

I finally had time to make the wrapping for Aloise's cardy. I haven't had time to knit the second bootee yet, but they seem fairly huge anyway, so I'll knit the second one as soon as I have a spare couple of hours and post those too.

For now, Aloise will have to make do with her cardy. I hope it still fits by the time it arrives in New Zealand.

Emilie sent me a recent photo of Leila, looking gorgeous as ever.

It's been a while since I've seen her, she seems to be growing up so quickly. Hopefully I'll be able to visit them in London soon.
Do you remember this tank top that I knitted for her in July?

Well, Em had a little accident involving a washing machine.* The tank top now looks like this...

Oops! Nevermind, I'll have to knit a new one to compensate. One day, when I have the time...*sigh*

* Just wanted to add that Leila has 3 tanks, a cardigan, 2 pairs of bootees and hats, and this is the only thing that has felted. Em is very careful with her knitted goodies :o)

And now for something serious...

UPDATE 25.01.06

To those who have donated already, thank you! Just to let you know, I've raised £220, but I need to raise another £1280. Please click on the link below, and give all you can afford.

http://lo06.breakthroughweekend.org/site/TR?px=1418005&fl=en_GB&s_tafId=23740&pg=personal&fr_id=1020

If you have a blog, please copy and paste the text from the post below, to alert your readers of my fundraising. We can beat this disease together.

Thank you for your support. x


24.01.06
I'll be walking the Aviva Weekend to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, a two-day, 60 km walk through the neighbourhoods of London, taking place 15-17 September 2006.

All proceeds benefit Breakthrough Breast Cancer, funding vital breast cancer research and educational programmes.

My Grandma was lucky to survive breast cancer, but thousands of women are not as fortunate as her.

Help me to help those women who have been diagnosed, and those who will be diagnosed in the future, to have a better chance.

Please give as much as you can. I need to raise a minimum of £1500...but you can help me to raise even more!

PLEASE GO TO THIS WEB PAGE TO DONATE:

http://lo06.breakthroughweekend.org/site/TR?px=1418005&fl=en_GB&s_tafId=23740&pg=personal&fr_id=1020

Thank you for your support.

Alice x

PS. Please tell everyone you think will be able to support me on this venture, and together we can help to breakthrough breast cancer.

It's taken a while...

...but at long last it's complete...woo-hoo!

I'm really pleased with this little cardy, which will be winging it's way to New Zealand for little Aloise to wear, as soon as I've made the giftbox to post it in. Cardigan pattern is adapted from the Argyle Cardigan in 'Special Knits', by Debbie Bliss.

Here's the front view:

Here is a close-up of the mouse buttons I found in John Lewis:I know Mumsie will be checking out how closely I matched the stripes. I did my best Mumsie!

Here is one of the bootees. I really like this pattern, adapted from the Fair Isle Bootees in 'The Baby Knits Book', by Debbie Bliss and knitted in the same Baby Cashmerino yarn as the cardigan:

Lastly, here is one of my sexy labels, courtesy of Purlpower: http://www.purlpower.blogspot.com

Finished at last!

I've been tagged, by Purlpower

Four jobs you have had in your life:

Architectural Assistant
Library Assistant
Catering Assistant (I seem to have been doing a lot of assisting)
Sales Advisor

Four movies you would watch over and over:

ah, I have shockingly cheesy movie taste, sorry...
Love, Actually
Finding Nemo
Secretary
Bridget Jones Diary (...'I like you, just as you are'...'I happen to have a very high regard for your wobbly bits'...yeah, right, like any guy would ever say that. But I can dream.)

Four places you have lived:

Northampton
Kingston upon Thames
Newcastle upon Tyne
er, I haven't lived anywhere else yet...

Four TV shows you love to watch:

House of Tiny Tearaways
Location, Location, Location (I want Kirstie's wardrobe...and Phil)
EastEndersCHild of our Time

Four places you have been on vacation:

France (all over the place on family camping holidays)
New York
Rome
Madrid

Four websites you visit daily:

Get Knitted
Yarn Harlot
Purlpower
Woolly Wormhead

Four of my favourite foods:

Avocado
Chocolate (I don't actually like it that much, it has a magnetic pull which I have no ability to resist)
Spinach
Feta Cheese

Fourplaces I would rather be right now:

At home with Mumsie and Dad
In Maine with Pumpkin
In New York
At Get Knitted's warehouse!

Almost finished...

Here's a sneak preview of Aloise's cardigan and bootees. I'm just running into town to buy buttons, then I'll sew the sleeves on, knit the other bootee, sew on all the buttons, make a gift box and post it all on the blog! See you later. *

*UPDATE 9pm: OK, so I haven't quite finished. Actually I'm nowehere near there. I have bought the buttons and the card to make the gift box. I bought brown paper and parcel tape to package the gift. But I forgot to buy sewing thread. Grrrr. I am SO mad at myself. I tried sewing a button on using white thread, but having spent so long knitting the cardigan and bootee (yes, singular, haven't finished the other one yet either) it seems such a shame to ruin the whole gift by using white thread with pink buttons. They are very cute buttons though, with a little mouse face on each. I also remembered I need to sew in a label before the whole thing gets sent off to New Zealand. Yes, I have labels, courtesy of the lovely Purlpower. I post them tomorrow. They will be finished then. No, really they will. With the right colour thread and everything :o)

Fun at The Forth

Having survived the dreaded Construction Process and Management Exam, and the post-exam drinks, I met up with my lovely knitting girls for Miss Spiritual Tramp's Knitting Club. In a change to our usual routine, Purlpower, Glittr, Emily Charlotte and I headed to, ahem, 'Basha' in rhe Bigg Market for a lovely Lebanese dinner. I think this may become our new routine, it was great and very inexpensive. Falafel, tabouleh, mousaka, vine leaves....mmm.

At 7 we headed to the Forth. There were 12 knitters this evening, which is the biggest the group has been for ages. Looking very serious and focussed here:
This is almost the whole group:
Just to prove to Jeni that I've been knitting the frilly tank (and enjoying it!):

Purlpower looking particularly ****ed off here, after ripping out several inches of lace knitting, because she'd used the wrong cast on. Poor Purly. Glittr, in dominatrix mode, soon sorted her out:

A fab night all round, and great to relax with knitting, hot chocolate and great friends after my exam. What more could a girl ask for? Er...a never-ending yarn stash?

Just like me!

I've created this avatar on Yahoo, but I don't know how to make it into my photo on the sidebar, or, how to put any photo over there actually!

Please can someone help me? Thanks!

Exam this afternoon, argh!

Am I crazy?

Have you heard about the Weekend to Breakthrough Breast Cancer? It's a 60km walk over one weekend in London in mid-September. I really want to take part. The catch is I will need to raise the minimum sponsorship of £1500. Eek. Am I insane, or will I be able to raise that amount of money? I know quite a lot of people, and you lovely knitters and non-knitters all know lots of people, so it wouldn't be impossible, right? Hmmm.

Let me know your thoughts, because if I'm going to do it I need to get off my lazy **** and start walking! Well, as soon as I've finished revising the quite thrilling development market, Private Finance Initiate and Compulsory Purchse Orders :o/

Your MONKEY DAEMON represents a nature that is
admired, detail-oriented, and full of
curiosity. Some people might call you
self-absorbed. You like to plan ahead, and hone
your various talents to perfection.


What Animal Would Your Daemon Settle As?
brought to you by Quizilla

It isn't ALL knitting

These are some of the sketch models I've been working on for the Centre of Constructed Textiles. A bit boring and scrappy at the moment, I'm still just playing around with spaces.

And this is the progress on Aloise's cardigan. It's been neglected for a while, while I've been working on a million other things. I need to finish it soon though, otherwise the wee one won't be wee enough to fit into it!

The front and back are finished, the first sleeve is almost done. Then I'll need to knit the second sleeve, pick up stitches around the collar and down the front and knit the rib, sew it together and add buttons. Should be finished by Aloise's first birthday!

More...for me!

I forgot to add this to last night's post. It's one skein of Colinette Enigma, 18 stitches, knit every row on 7.5 mm needles. The colourway is mist. I'm thinking about knitting the cardigan on the cover of Interweave Knits with this colourway, it's really beautiful. That will have to wait until I've finished all my other projects. ahem.

I'm back...again

I'm back in Newcastle again, after spending a lovely week in Kingston with my parents. I remembered my camera but not the USB cable, so couldn't blog my pics until this evening.

Before I show you what I've been knitting, here's a very blurred photo of the deer, taken while driving through Richmond Park this morning. It was a beautiful, but cold, misty morning. Although London 'cold' and Newcastle 'cold' are two very different things. This is my new hat, yes, it's all mine. It's 'mini' by Kim Hargreaves, knitted with one ball of Big Wool on 9mm needles, because just like Purlpower I'm a loose lady.
Now, this is very exciting (at least to me...I feel like a proud mother): my first sock! On dpns. Oh yes.

Having bought this yarn from Jeni at Fyberspates at Ally Pally way back in the Autumn and starting the sock about, ooh, 3 months ago before leaving it in a box 300 miles from where I am (mostly) living, I finally picked it up and had a sock day yesterday. I turned the heel! I am excited!

Here it is on my foot. (Over another sock, my feet do not have snowflakes tatooed on them.) Sorry about the blurry nature of this photo, think my leg was shaking!
Finally, this is the Fyberspates Frilly Tank pattern, also started about 3 months ago, sadly neglected while babies were born (not mine, I just do the knitting), and Christmas presents knitted and boxes constructed. Oh and essays written, buildings designed. You know, the usual.

Anyway, I've finished the rib so I can finally move onto the top part now. Using 2 circulars...it could get messy.

I've just realised that is a whole THREE knitting projects, all for ME...wow!

oooh, pretty

I've just discovered a new silk yarn retailer online: www.curiousyarns.co.uk

This is the laceweight silk called 'Floss' (could that be anymore perfect?!) in the colourway 'Tired Roses'. I think this would make a beautiful wrap to wear with the dress for Ellie's wedding. It's such pretty colours. They also sell dk and 4ply hand dyed silk, a thicker slubby silk, sock wool (with a mini reinforcing spool...Purlpower would like that) and 'luxury' wools. From pampered sheep perhaps? :o)

I've been in London this week and while I have my camera I don't have the USB connection-duh-back to the Toon tomorrow so normal service should resume shortly. I finished a slinky scarf and have almost finished the ribbing on the Fyberspates frilly tank so I'll post those tomorrow night. See you then.

Sale of the Century

During my work lunch break on Saturday I was killing time wandering around the shops when I saw Monsoon had a half price sale. I thought I might be able to find a nice skirt to wear to Ellie's wedding next Summer but instead I found this:

It has to be the bargain of the century, 70% discount so was reduced from £160 to £48!!! I decided I wouldn't be able to find anything nicer between now and August for that price. Woo-hoo, I love it. Makes me feel like a flower fairy!

Now, I need to knit a shrug to wear over the top, any ideas? I'm thinking Colinette mohair in Moss would be really pretty with this. Or maybe Moss in a different yarn? Or, perhaps a Clapotis? Or a loopy and luscious shawl? Or maybe I should tackle my first lace project?

Hmm, decisions, decisions...