On Friday last week Polly and I got to meet the lovely Kristine from Norway. She was over for the weekend with her husband. I would post a picture of us with her but I forgot my camera which is just plain pathetic.
We had a lovely time and talked about knitting an awful lot, over a glass of wine and then over a Korean meal (a first for me) where Polly's husband came to join us. The man is a saint, he put up with talk off circular, dpns and various other terms with great fortitude.
Kristine also brought me a present.
Some beautiful Angora Tweed which is really rather special. It's beautifully soft and has some lovely blue specs.
I am making good progress on my sock - although I keep being distracted by the husband's sweater. The warmth of my toes v my lovely husband.
A hard call.
Finally, I have pictures of my sock. Polly, you were the best teacher and this is all thanks to you, so thank you. I would never have attempted a sock if you had not pushed me a little. I think that you might have created a sock monster.
I am very proud of my sock, if only because it is the only thing that I have knitted recently that I think looks really good. But also because it seems like such a difficult thing to knit.
Here it is before I had finished my toe. I got to the end and then Polly, right at the end of an evening at Libertys that I needed to do a Kitchener graft. Thank god for Knitty's instructions on that particular topic is all that I can say. My knitting books are all buried under piles of yarn due to the building work.
And here it is finished and ready to wear (well I need to darn in the ends but you know what I mean).
I got on a lot better with the toe and my kitchener stitch than I thought. I didn't expect it to come out looking quite so good, if only because the instructions seemed rather complicated. But somehow it did (we'll ignore the fact that I pulled it out about 5 times before I decided it looked right).
And finally here's a gratuitous shot of the heel.
By the way, it fits me perfectly and following the Alpaca woman's instructions, I have already cast on for the second one.
Now I need to go and swatch Fruity before Polly disowns me.
I am so so proud of myself. I actually went to Libertys where they were offering 10% in the yarn department and I did not spend a single penny. Are you impressed? Huh?
Well I am. Very. Especially as I was eyeing up some Handknit DK to make the Jenny cardigan.
I already have the yarn for the Jenny top.
And I kind of figure that buying more yarn to stash is a bit silly. If I get around to knitting Jenny, I will then buy the yarn for the cardigan. Are you amazed how reasonable I am being?
I can't seem to find my camera tonight so I can't show you the picture of my sock which is finished. Finito, perfecto, very lovely and I am one very proud sock knitter. I got all sorts of compliments about it tonight.
It's kind of a shame that one needs to knit 2 though.
So instead of my sock, I am giving you a picture of Jacinta's socks.
All compliments about her socks will be passed on :)
Jacinta pointed out to me the other day that I had said, at the beginning of the year, that I was going to cut the stash enhancement. And that since then I appeared to be buying more yarn than ever. I am blushing here as I have to admit that it true, I think that there is something about denial which makes me go completely in the other direction. I keep wanting to be good but there is temptation at every turn. Read on and you will see what I mean...
But of course, it doesn't help much when you get to go to Peter Jones for a knitting coffee morning.
Peter Jones have a rather small yarn department but are rather good at organising knitting events - and the ladies that work there are lovely. We went there last saturday and it was a lovely morning, as it always is when surrounded by knitters. We got to try all of the new Rowan yarns and have a good look through all of the books although most of us had already bought them all and were ranking them by what we were going to cast on this week, next week and so on... (Jane was so good, she hadn't even peeked in the books until then... such restraint!).
We had a good gossip, a good knit and lots of tea coffee and rather very scrummy pastries.
Hugo certainly seemed to enjoy himself, he had 12 or so women absolutely doting on him and he very much took it in his stride.
One of the highlights of going to Peter Jones is the view. The room where these knitting events are held is on the top floor and you really do get a fantastic view over London. I particularly love all of the rooftops and chimneys.
And there was a 10% off voucher at the end of the morning. I stashed but shall tell you all about that later this week.
Oh and just to finish off, Liberty are offering members a 10% off on Wednesday and they just also sent me a £15.00 off voucher. Is there no end to the temptation?
We're having building work done at the moment - they are ripping the kitchen out and repainting all of the living room and replacing the lights. It's proving to be a little trying to say the least. The dust is getting everywhere and I will be glad when it's over - which doesn't look like it'll be any time soon.
This is my kitchen.
This is my living room.
Ah well, at least this came in the post from Get Knitted:
Some balls of the GGH Kid Soft, the Rebecca magazine and a get knitted pen. I shall be casting on shortly for the eyelet wrap cardigan.
The Inland Revenue have decided to ask lots of questions about daft stuff so I am up to my neck in paperwork.
I have done a little bit of knitting recently, mostly on the husband's sweater. It's a gurnsey sweater from the Debbie Bliss simply family book. I think that it is more or less the only man's sweater that the husband is likely to agree to wear. No Kaffe Fasset for him. Clearly the man and I have the same simple taste when it comes to clothes.
The picture is very blurred, I will post some better ones when I have some more time, but at least it proves that I have been knitting A LOT of stocking stitch. It doesn't look like much here but trust me, it's a lot of knitting. I can't believe that Polly made her husband something in 4ply - I am definately finding the DK quite enough.
But I have to say that it really is very therapeutic and I am veryhappy to find that I am enjoying knitting his sweater. I was worried that I wouldn't and that would definately have been bad karma.
I leave you a picture of some lovely cotton glace that I bought in the sale. This is to continue my 'I love colour' theme - I am sure to go back to beige soon but at the moment I am definately feeling colourful. Suggestions as to what to make it with it? It has to be close fitted but that's my only requirement.
Well I tried to resist the song of Rowan 37 but it didn't last very long... It's just like with mermaids, there was nothing I could do and therefore I bear no responsibility whatsoever.
On Saturday, under the guise of having my hair cut, I headed into town and ended up, strangely enough outside Liberty. I was quite pleased actually as there was yarn in the window which made me smile. Clearly their yarn department is not usually one of their greatest selling assets but if you look very closely you will see that there is yarn on the chair in the window. And bamboo needles!
Here's some of the additional stash:
Both of the RY Classic books and some 4ply cotton in shade 130 (Ardour - don't ya just love the name?) a lovely dusty purple which will grow up to be one of these. I would like to add, following discussions with the knitting wizard, that 4ply is a fantastic yarn that should be far more appreciated than it is! I love 4ply.
I also got some handknit DK to make this in duck egg blue with a chocolate trim, having been inspired by Kristine. I keep wanting to make something in those colours and as this is quite small, I thought that I would give it a shot. The plan is to eventually make the matching cardigan in the chocolate blue with a duck egg blue trim but that might just be wishful thinking. As if I knit that fast...
Finally I leave you with a shot of the flower stall outside Libertys to add some colour and cheer to your day. It's grey and cold here so I needed something cheerful to end with.
