here bloggy, bloggy, bloggy, blog

time for feeding!

So, yes, the blog. Well, since I've been away, there's been a earthquake (dudes, how do you in California survive the we'll shake you like you're a lime green jello?), the roof done got broke, and fixed, the boiler done got broke, and fixed, I've had to chase the wheelie bin, and assorted contents, down the road three times 'cos of the wind, wash one of the cat's heads twice, 'cos she has taken to sticking it a local sewer, and you just can't wait for the grooming to kick in, been labelled the spawn of something found on the bottom of a shoe (don't ask, long story, but it may involve meetings about string, but hey, I won), caused havoc at a local quiz group, and we haven't even had the first round yet, bought five pairs of shoes in five minutes (I'm good at shoes), and then spent 3 hours trying to buy a pair of trousers, all from the same shop (repeat until you remember it, you are not the same size you were 20 years ago), finally made a loaf of bread which isn't paving-slab-like, finally managed to find my ear plugs, so I could go to the movies (I'm delicate like that, I am, you know), told off a PhD student for writing about babies growing in women's abdomens, and taken to buying, and wearing, manga t-shirts, because I'm clearly having some kind of crisis about turning 40 this year.

Oh, and I've done some knitting.

A while ago, La (of JenLa) sent me some sumptuous Dizzy Blonde hand-dyed (check it out on Ravelry. See, told you it was good). Too good to go on the feets, so instead, at last, it became something....

Serpentine Mitts, from MimKnits (funnily enough, a kit for her Lightweight Mountain Peaks Shawl also managed to find its way to the house, from Renaissance Dyeing, purveyors of high quality you should be able to eat it yarn). And a treat they are too. And I've got enough yarn for another pair. La, you are a goddess.

And then, to balance out the good, I've been playing fugly...


Which looks better when you make bigger squares...

And is part of a group project for Project Linus. And somewhat stunning, in a I know it is only March, but dear heavens I need a pair of sunglasses now to save me, but hopefully something that boys will like. If it ever gets sewn up into a comfort blanket.... which it will. Because I have decreed. And because I suckered punch Pampootie into being in charge (which she may deny, but I am stubborn, and I will win).

And now I must flee, and save the sewer-headed cat from barfing on the scary fugly yarn (which, truth be told, is actually rather nice knitted up, being a decent superwash and all, and I would tell you what it is, but the rest of the yarn is shut away in a darkened room, for its own safety, and I can't remember what it is called). (As usual, the good pictures come from Puplet.)


Oh, yes, and the last thing I did of any note? Helped to welcome the well-hatted Aran into the world, by getting drunk on the last of my 28 year old single malt.

Aran, son of WoollyWormhead and Mr Tom, you were worth the sacrifice!

cora filed

Finally, at last, the Cora/Neapolitan Ice Cream Shawl is done. Not just done with the knitting, but done with the washing, the blocking, even done with the photo-ing. Done, done, and ready to be done with as I please, and if that means wadding it up into a ball, dumping it on top of the filing cabinet, and forgetting about it for months, it is done to be done with. (The fact that I might just be waiting for an invite to an 'event' - and I'm really not fussy here, any kind of 'event', which involves hanging around until the summer evenings turn cool, and something simple must needs be draped to keep me warm, and I can pretend that I am elegant, really, really shouldn't have anything to do with whether I wear Cora or not, but hey, I'm only human, and I want to show it off at somewhere a little bit nicer than the local pub.)

The facts:

Can't remember when I started Cora, but it was sometime this year, and, even more amazingly, she has only been hanging around since I bought her at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show last November. (The shawl pin, shown below, also came from the same show, but you think I can remember from whom?)

It is, but of course, a Sharon Miller design (though not her colours, which were just a little too pink), goddess of all things lacy.

A remarkably trouble free knit - which is down to two reasons. Shetland wool, baby (Jamieson's Ultra, this time) - my choice of desert island yarn, no matter the weight, because it just grabs me, baby. And the good luck knitting markers from Mary-Lou, which have stuck with this project from the very start (scroll down to seem them in action). Not that I believe in luck, but the lack of dropped stitches, come blocking time, has got to be down to something....

A couple of other thoughts. First, may I never see feather and fan again, or at least for a long, long time. Yes, pretty, yes, effective, yes, simple to learn. But on a round of close to 1,000 stitches, and may the knitting saints forgive me, but more boring that purling close to 1,000 stitches. And second, the shawl is large (just over 5 foot square, and it could have gone further), I am short (just, just over 5 foot, and some people still owe me an eating of their hat, because I broke the 60 inches), so in the triangular shot, the dreaded pointing finger of look, look, large ass(crack) here is avoided. Yippee.

So I leave you with some photos, the obligatory cat claiming ownership;

the laundry line shot;
the close up, with adornment;
and the imagine a person inside the elegant drape shot;

And I think, in honour of the luck that Mary-Lou's stitch markers brought, I shall rename her 'The Wimseycal Shawl'.