Long journey home!

Yesterday we left Norfolk at about 12pm and arrived home at 7.30pm - that is the longest time ever it has taken us to make that journey! The reason for this excessive time was the brakes on the car overheated - we had only just had them replaced but one of the rear calipers (the one that wasn't replaced) jammed on. We were picked up by Green Flag and they actually managed to fix the problem at their garage (I think the guy didn't fancy a 9hr round trip). We sat in the waiting room - Lottie, Ted and I while the nice man (watched by Dave) did the work necessary to get us back on the road. I did however do quite a bit of knitting on my 'car knitting' project which is another Sweet Jazz. I managed to knit and hang on to the dog and then carried on once we were back on the road. At the moment it is difficult to take pictures as it is working on ever shortening rows on a circular needle (looks like a bundle of yarn) but I will be able to show you once all of the stitches are picked back up again.

My Pi shawl is mainly plain although I have added a band of lace hearts and will add another once the next set of increases is complete - it is not complicated and is as 'EZ' suggests very easy holiday knitting - I can do this one without looking whilst I am on the plain rounds. It is made from some very soft 'Angora lace' - I love this yarn and am hoping Allison will dye some pink yarn for me?

Today was a bit odd as Dave is away for a couple of days at a show in London and true to form I have wound more yarn and cast on another project (I seem to do that when he goes away). I am doing another 'Amore' shawl, this time for Lottie as she took to wearing mine!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for pictures so more then! Night night, Sx

Norfolk Knitting!

I have to confess there has not been as much as I would have liked owing to the fact that the start of the week was someones birthday and we had a 3 day visit from the 'in-laws'. I am not complaining as it is always great to see them but it does involve quite a bit of cooking so not much knitting was done apart from 4 rows on my 'pagona shawl' which were promptly undone as I missed a vital yarn over and couldn't pick it up! Since then I have been relaxing with my Pi shawl but it would seem not to be very photogenic (Lottie said it looked like a hat!) due to the fact the it has a lot of stitches on the circular needle.

We did however have a lovely visit to the new yarn shop in Holt where I bought some extra knit picks needles and a longer cable (promptly swapping the shorter one on the Pi shawl) plus a pattern book for a Debbie Bliss jacket that Lottie would like. I didn't actually buy any yarn (please sit down) although there was some lovely NDS BFL (my favourite) and Fyberspates yarns and I did look at the pretty Noro lace weight but I managed to resist for now! The lady who owns it is lovely and if you are ever in this part of the world then I recommend a visit.

That's all for now.... back home again soon, Sx

Friday Frazzle!

Hi all this is just a very quick post - we are off on hols for half term as it is 'him indoors' birthday next week!

I have however finished both the bobble socks and the 'Polly Jean' socks this month but have found it hard to find another project to stick with! I have several more pairs of socks plus a couple of shawls but nothing that is grabbing my continuous attention. This is a bit of a problem as I can't decide what to take with me.....

Hopefully I will decide soon and let you know whilst I am away - who knows I might even manage a picture (fingers crossed).

I also had a surprise parcel of bamboo yarn this week and I have a couple of ideas kicking around but more on that once half term is over. All I can say is it is wonderful to have such a generous friend even if she does lead me astray when it comes to joining things.

Happy half term girls!

1, 2, 3, Bobble!

Friday night saw me sat on the hearth rug whilst supervising the fire counting 1, 2, 3, bobble over and over in an attempt to find a missing stitch - this was to provide much hilarity for Lottie as she saw me chanting aloud. Needless to say I couldn't find the stitch and had to undo 2 rounds of bobbles - these little monsters take ages to do grrr!

Also hindering the bobble process was a rather sick and grumpy Dave, he is off to the Docs today for antibiotics as there is no other solution left for the vile tonsillitis!

I really like these cotton socks and have put them aside for long enough - it turns out they were cast on in October 2009 but put aside for other things! I will finish them very soon, I need to finish them to save my sanity. Thank fully I have finished the bobble part and just need to finish the rib and do the heel...... maybe tonight.

Also will someone please do me a huge favour and buy some of the lovely new yarn Allison has just put in her shop as it is taking all of my will power not to go and buy it - especially as I will be needing new sock projects very soon!

Mitten Madness!

Having finished my Sushi shawl last week I then went on to cast off the second pair of fingerless mittens from my lovely red sugar hippo yarn. I had promised these to Lottie but still need to add the ribbon and buttons to them. I then decided that the next pair were for me only this time I have made them using a 4mm needle as I have for Lottie's - the first pair I made grew quite a lot and are quite sloppy now (I only have small hands and feet). Also trying to be clever and speed things along I thought that 2 at a time might be a good solution! Not so for me - it turns out that I can go much quicker on solo items and 2 at a time takes much more than twice the time to finish!

As you can see the first pair are a lot larger than the ones I did on 4mm needles - these are a much snugger fit but are unworn as yet, I need to finish the ribbon and add the buttons. I must also add that I have washed the first pair as they got a bit grubby due to the fact that I wore them for everything including dog walking. The yarn is lovely and very warm and soft, both were from Allison's shop I might add!

I am currently finishing the bobble socks that have been on the needles for well over a year now, the bobbles are fun but a little slow so as an in between I have cast on a Pi shawl using some angora lace weight (my latest purchase from http://www.folksy.com/shops/SugarHippo) it is an amazing yarn - so soft and warm and I can't wait to have enough knitted to show you how pretty it is!

I am hopeful that the socks will be finished this week so that I can pick up another pair and get some momentum on the 'Finish it Feb' goal but I am worried that I may get distracted as I have just found another pair of socks that I really want to cast on and also the Pi shawl is very inviting as well - must concentrate on finishing socks!