Cast off cast on again!

Saturday morning brought a swift knock at the door from the post lady followed by 2 sets of feet tearing down the stairs! You guessed it the lovely pink posh parcel has arrived. Lottie and I are chuffed with our Tilia kits and had to inspect them thoroughly before putting them aside and getting on with the rest of Saturday.

I spent the afternoon and evening finishing my forest canopy shawl in 'June wedding' whilst him indoors and Lottie watched 'Terminator'. I was not popular for not 'watching' the film but I am not really into all of that shoot 'em up stuff. Plus I finished the shawl (it only took 3 weeks).

Sunday morning I was awake so early I got up and wound my 'meander' yarn into a ball using the lovely step ladder and tin foil tube - it only took 1 1/2hours to do. But then I cast on. I firstly cast on 57sts and then put a marker in and put another every 50 sts. It made it easy to work out where I was up to. After that once the real work began I removed those markers and put a ring marker in for every pattern repeat and a special on in for the middle stitches. I found that this means I only have to work out where I am on each repeat and not have to keep counting stitches. I must confess I have never worked from a chart but I am finding it a lot easier than I thought it would be. I have completed 7 rows from the pattern so far and am loving it.

Will put some pics up later but have to go and sort Lottie out now as it is the start of her 2 weeks work experience and she is very nervous!

Tilia Shawl

I didn't set out on Wednesday to actually buy 2 kits, I thought that might not leave enough for everyone else who was desperate to buy one! So I logged on at 8pm and managed to buy meander (soft green and silver - according to the description). A bit of distraction was used by my daughter so that 'him indoors' didn't notice and there it was in my basket! At that point I paid for my purchase, did an excited dance and went back to watching River cottage. When I got up on Thursday I checked out the posh website only to find that they still had some left (bit of a surprise given normal sales history!) so I was telling my daughter as she had her breakfast and her eyes lit up when I said this! 'Which colour did you want?' I asked and off we went to shopping land again. So a Cinderella is also coming to live with us (it is prom year next year so I will have plenty of time to complete this project, won't I?). I also had to do a quick shop on ebay for the 3.75mm harmony tips and a long cable (all my cables are in use and I don't have that size tips) otherwise I won't be able to make these at all.

Not sure when any of these purchases will arrive but you can be sure it will be when they will get me into the most trouble! Can't wait.

PS I wound the camel yarn into balls yesterday (swap box goodie) and it would seem that a certain company who we all know through bad experience is truly rubbish at making skeins that will wind into balls easily! I had trouble with both skeins of yarn I bought from them and thought at first it was me but reading your posts and also using skeins from other sources I have found it is not me at all, even with my step ladder and feet methods of winding I have not had nearly as much trouble with other yarns. Sorry just needed to share that with you all.

It is Here!

There was a knock on my door at lunch time (it is aways slower out here in the sticks) and there was the post man with a box for me!

And this is what I chose:

Most importantly a message from Ted: THANK YOU ALLISON!

Needless to say I had to bribe him to take this!

So off to the post office in a bit (it is half day closing here in Audlem so will go to Crewe and post it there when I go to pick him indoors up in about an hour).

Where to next - well a small clue might be that there are only 2 more envelopes left to open now and one of those is a return to sender so if you are patiently waiting then it shouldn't be long now!

Help and Support!

So catching up on a few blogs this morning I have a few bits and bobs to say!

My lovely cardboard tube is from a kitchen foil role or cling flim roll, I have used the tube from kitchen roll but these are much thicker and can be used over and over. Plus you can't squash the end as you hold it (sometimes too tightly) if you are feeling fraught! I really could use a swift but as they are quite pricey I must save up a little. Any way I thought the steps idea was one of my best - don't use them very often and much more convenient than my feet!

The Posh yarn sale - usually it is on a Sunday night at 7pm but this week they are having an extra sale for the Tilia kit. It is on Wednesday at 8pm. If you want to buy something you MUST be there on time. It helps to have worked out what it is you want before hand. Several choices are handy. At the allotted time the buy it buttons appear (you may need to refresh your screen) and you click on the button to add item to basket. If it doesn't say out of stock on the form that appears then hit pay now or it might disappear from your basket if you are shopping for more stuff. You then fill out the form and go through to paypal. You can go back and buy more (second items are not charged for postage you need to hit the postage button on the order form). Hope all of that doesn't sound too complicated - please add any tips that you have Beejay and Allison.

Be warned it is very busy and over very quickly - I know lots of people have been waiting for this sale. Dee at posh yarn is really lovely and I know this will be popular.

Knupps are not that bad (sharp needles are the key really I use harmony and they are ok if you make the yarn overs loose).

Diet is a dirty word but someone has to use it! I was thinking that maybe we could all do a diet along as well as all our other 'alongs'. It has helped keep us on track with projects so why not weight loss as well? I need to loose a stone (and a half) perhaps we could do some kind of reward thing - whoever looses the most in a month gets sent small gifts or some thing? Let me know what you think!

Did I miss anything out?

I broke the car!

I went to get into the car the other day and found that I had petrol leaking out from a pipe underneath, I booked it into the garage for today and when they looked at it there was a whole list of other things that needed to be done! Even so fixing it is still cheaper than buying another. Once again I am grounded and forced into house type activity (we watched Stepford wives yesterday - argh!). So in an effort to not do house things I have been watching the posh yarn ravelry site and they are having a sale on Wednesday this week for the Tilia shawl kit (I should keep this under my hat so that I improved my chances of getting one) - but I am so excited I wanted to share!

Think I may need to add a swift and ball winder to my birthday list this year as it takes me hours to wind my skeins at the moment. Currently I have a skein of posh lace weight dangling off my step ladders - it is the only thing I could find that it fitted on. I have been winding this off and

on since Saturday, must try harder!

Just thought you might like to see how crazy I really am.

Thoughts on Lace

It seems that some of us are thinking about lace knitting at the moment, I have a couple of things on the go at the moment and so thought I would share some of my own experience around a bit (please add any other thoughts to these if you would like). Lace does knit up a bit wrinkled and scrappy looking but if you hold it out or pin it out then you can get an idea of the finished pattern.

It is knitted on larger needles than you would normally use for something so fine - this gives the holey or lacy look that you are aiming for (don't be disheartened).

Take great care when winding the skein into a ball, it takes a long time as there is so much yardage in one skein and if like me you do not have a swift please don't be tempted to use your feet (as I often do with sock yarn). I found that it took several sessions to wind into a ball and that made for uncomfortable winding and also a few tangles along the way - try VERY hard not to get tangles in this weight of yarn they are the worst to unravel and it is easy to break the yarn!

The final thought for now is this question - remember last year when we all signed up for the project club and our first one was a lace shawl who actually did the project? I managed to finished in the 2 months that were alotted for it! Did anyone else finish theirs?

The heel has turned!

This is it so far! (Did you have holes like this Allison?) I like the heel now it is done but what a lot of juggling if you follow the instructions! I have done short row heels before and I love them but this method used extra needles and seemed to take forever to do. If anyone is wondering the pattern was in 'The Knitter' issue 4 or the Lucy Neatby 'cool socks warm feet' book although it looks so different in the book you may not recognise it at first glance. Hopefully this should go a bit quicker now but will keep you posted.

Mermaid socks!

So last time I showed you the promising start I had made and I went on to graft the 2 ends of the garter stitch rib no problem! I then picked up the stitches and proceeded with the rest of the sock (here is the problem) I followed the instructions but did not pick up enough stitches to make the sock fit so about 12 rows into the fishtail pattern I tried on the 'sock' and found it was too tight. I frogged the sock back to the garter stitch and I have to be honest I probably would have left it there had it not been for the fact that Allison put up a picture on her blog of how far she had got. So encouraged by her progress I picked up a lot more stitches and began again. This time however it does fit and although I like my socks a bit longer than Allison I am now up to the heel. Fingers crossed I can get that right (must follow instructions carefully). I just wanted to let everyone know that the sock-along idea worked as I felt committed enough to move past the mistake and get going again so thank you Allison for keeping me focused!

Cast off, cast on!

Its been a strange week really, Tuesday we had our stitches and feeding tube out, but as we still have a large hole in our side the cone must stay! I have begun to notice a few paint chips on the corner of the wall beside the dog bed (note to self must cover those up before him indoors notices). The only downside is I have to look out for the other end of the feeding tube to come out as well - mm that's fun!

So I have managed to finish my monkey socks, grafted the toe yesterday and have now cast on for the top of my mermaid socks.

They don't look that exciting yet do they? Have a bit of special grafting to do and then I can start in the round - its a grand prix day today so I should be able to do that whilst we watch.
The plan with the socks was to cast on last night, glass of wine in the garden (Allison and I are having a sock along) but not to be. It was a horrid day and after a quick dash to Nantwich (birthday pressie and outfit for a party - Lottie not me), I then had to drop said teenager off to party and come home again. The weather was not fit to take the dog out for his first short walk in a long time so we watched a film (him indoors, the dog and I) and I cast on for the top of my sock. I had to stop and retrieve Lottie who by now was soaked as they 'had a water fight' - what is it with kids and water fights, we have come home with so many wet clothes recently I am starting to think I should carry emergency clothes and towels at all times. Any way I finished the top of the sock last night whilst watching 'Mr & Mrs' and not sitting in the garden as it was too cold and too wet! I did have a couple of glasses of wine though! How far did you get Allison and did you manage the garden part?
The box should by now be crossing the 'pond' again wonder where it will land this time?