There was a bit of discussion on Ravelry in the Knitting Goddesses group about 'signing' your knitting. This is doing something to it that marks it as unique and shows it was made by you.
Now, I always attach my little labels to items that are intended for someone else, but I also wanted to do something else so I decided to add a bead.
Just one bead, that's all.
I spent ages looking on ebay at beads, I thought of cats, catseyes, stars, all sorts, but they were all too big –- especially as all I seem to be making lately is lace and socks!
Then I found my beads that were left over from MD/AN! – I've got two and a half packets of beads! Another plus: they're purple! If you know ANYTHING about me, it's that purple is my favourite colour!
So here is a bead in the shawl (took me ages to find the damn thing!) and on the cast on edge of my new socks!
I've finished the shawl from hell! I love how it looks, but I really didn't enjoy making it, the yarn really pissed me off! I loved the pattern, just not the yarn and I would make this shawl in a different yarn again and again.
Anyway, enough of that, here's pics!
Pattern: Spider's-web Shawl
Source: Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze
Time: 6-05-09 –- 29-05-09 (with a week out to make the Salami Socks!)
I can now post pictures of the RAK gift I made. It's a baby jacket and I made it for a woman in the USA who is expecting a baby at the end of June. I received a PM from her at the beginning of the week thanking me profoundly for the baby jacket.
I've got loads of sock yarn here waiting to be knitted up. Some I've received from fellow Knitting Goddesses (Ravelry Link) and some I've bought!
I received a lovely RAK from Marie (stashsiren on Ravelry); she sent me some handspun, two little bars of soap and two sachets of SOAK (special stuff for washing yarn)! I'm dying to knit some socks for myself - especially as I haven't actually got any for ME - but I'm being stern with myself.
I've decided that I'm not allowed to start another new project until I get this damn shawl finished!
The Kid Silk Haze is driving me crackers and I'm bored beyond belief with the pattern, but I'm on the final chart now. I've just got to repeat that about 3 more times and cast it off and it's done! I'm not going to put a fancy border on - that will just take ages and REALLY tax my patience with the whole thing.
I sat out in the garden today, the sun was shining and it was roasting, here's a photo of my Mum's climbing rose - isn't it gorgeous?
I courted heat stroke for a couple of hours under all that KSH then came back inside - the bits of skin on show are now pink! In less than 2 hours!!!
We had Knit-A-Lunch on Saturday. It was a lovely afternoon, there was myself, Joy, Rachael, Jan, Sue and Alice (aka Socktopus) was down visiting her in-laws so I sent her a tweet and invited her along.
If you ever get a chance to go to her shop and meet her, then I would say definitely go - she is so down to earth, chatted away like we were all old friends and took a great deal of interest in what we were all knitting. Unfortunately she couldn't stay for the entire afternoon as they were due to catch the ferry to go home, but it was lovely that she came. Also unfortunate; I didn't get to meet Deuce; her little black pug. But we did show each other furry baby photos!
The kids are on holiday for the next week as it's May bank holiday, they go back on 1st June, except for Matt who has now left high school bar his exams. It's a very strange feeling having two children out of school!
We're still not watching TV and it's been great! The only thing we've watched has been WWE and TNA wrestling so that the Sky+ box doesn't get overloaded too much. We also caught up on Medium and Bones this evening - it actually felt quite strange to have the TV on.
I've decided to cancel our Sky subscription, which will no doubt piss Kyle off no end, but I'm sick of paying £50 a month for something I rarely use and can live without! After doing a bit of research we've discovered that we can find the wrestling shows online, we can buy the box office main events through Mum's box (or keep our box for the free to air channels and pay for box office) and everything else we watch can be bought on DVD!
Hmmmmmmmmm that was quite a long post, wasn't it? If I've forgotten anything, do let me know
A few days ago there was a knock at my door. There was a man from the housing authority standing there. He said he was looking for my next door but one neighbour.
All I know about her is that her name is Ruth, she's a widow and she works in a nursing home in Brading!
I also know that her house is falling to bits and that pigeons are living in her loft. I have complained about this to environmental health, but because it's not adversely affecting me, there's nothing can be done!
Here's her house at the front - bloody mess innit!
Can you see the wood covering the pane of glass on the door? I went out there a couple of nights ago because the police arrived. I don't know who called them, but someone obviously did. They hammered on the door for a bit and then forced entry - I guess they thought they'd find a dead neighbour in there, but apparently the place is empty and her mail has been collected!
Yesterday was not a good day for communication :(
I ordered a DVD player months ago, it had extra speakers and a USB reader and card reader too. I thought that'd save wasting a lot of blank DVD's.
It was working fine up until about a month ago when it just decided it wouldn't read the USB stick or any memory cards inserted in it. So I phoned up and asked to arrange a collection.
The Customer Services Representative asked me my name, postcode, address and date of birth, then she says "And what's the answer to your secret question?" I paused and said "Well, what's the question?" She said she couldn't tell me that!
WTF?!?! "Then why don't you just ask me for a memorable word or phrase instead of asking me to remember a question and an answer?" says i.
She got quite queer at that point and I told her that all I wanted to do was return an item and if she arranged for the collection, she'd verify that I am who I say I am because I live at MY address!
Eventually she gave me a clue and I was able to answer my own secret question!
Then I had to phone 3 to get a PAC (Porting Authority Code) for Matt's phone so that I can move his number over to T-Mobile along with mine, Kyle's and Jessica's (whom I did last week with no trouble whatsoever). So this jerk asks me why I'm leaving 3, I told him that it was because my son doesn't get signal at school (regardless of the fact that he left school today). So this guy starts going on about why didn't I call Technical Support etc etc.
Now apart from the fact they all appear to be Indian or Pakistani and I can barely understand them, the reason I didn't call was because it's not a technical fault, 3 just don't cover that area! I told him that and he sneered and asked if I'd tried other handsets. I said yes and could I have the PAC code please. Then he wanted to know which network I was transferring to. I said it didn't matter and could I have a PAC code please.
Then he started to prevaricate even more and I lost it!
I started yelling at him and told him to either give me the damn PAC code or put me through to someone who could and that he didn't need to try and sell me a whole bunch of their crap. He insisted he wasn't trying to sell me anything and that he was just trying to see if they could save me money.
WTF - again!
"Can I have the PAC code please?" So then he says; "Why are you getting so excited?"
"BECAUSE I'VE BEEN ON THE PHONE FOR TEN BLOODY MINUTES AND I'VE ASKED REPEATEDLY FOR THE PAC CODE WHICH YOU STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN ME!"
Eventually I just kept repeating "Can I have a PAC code please?" and refused to answer all questions - he got the message pretty quick after that!
Funny, I phoned T-Mobile and told them that I wanted to add two lines to my account and when I told the man that they were for my children he said he would get the new sim cards out on Special Delivery so that I'd receive them before 1pm next day, that the accounts could be capped to prevent overspending and that it wouldn't change a thing on the account itself and that he would call me back the next day to take down the PAC codes so that we could transfer the numbers.
I also phoned the physiotherapy department. My doctor referred me weeks ago and I just kept forgetting to call and get an appointment. I got an answering machine!
So today, I woke and packed the kids off to school then less than an hour later a sim card arrived - just one. Oh no, I thought! But then I remembered that he'd had to do them separately so they'd probably arrive separately and - after a disastrous relationship with a postman - I knew that there'd probably be another delivery a few hours later.
Thankfully there was and I had the two sim cards. I put them in the phone and half an hour later the nice man from T-Mobile calls me up and asks if the sims have arrived. I joyfully told him they had, he took down the PAC numbers and told me it'd all be transferred by Wednesday! Shame 3 weren't as efficient!
Unfortunately, I also received a callback from physio - because I hadn't called them to arrange the appointment, they'd bounced my referral BACK to my doctor, so now I've got to go to my doctor and get another referral!
My second son Matt has now officially (except for his exams) left school OMG!
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
I ache today! Last night I went to knit night, the chairs in restaurants are awful for people with bad backs. I was in bloody agony when I came out! I took medication last night, but I feel like a donkey has kicked me today and a migraine is lurking as a secondary pain!
I also spent yesterday tinking back stitch by bloody stitch of my shawl because I had gone about 10 rounds too far. The problem with Kid Silk Haze is that it's mostly mohair and mohair sticks to itself like Velcro, so you can't just rip your needles out and frog back to where you want. You have to undo each individual stitch!
It took me all day! I've got one more round to do and then I can start knitting again!
This morning my mother, who is 67, decided to catch the bus in to Shanklin, pay some bills and then catch the bus through to Ryde to go to Busy Bees garden centre.
The bus that she decided to catch was the 8am bus which meant there would be loads of school children on it. When she got on the bus she saw you sitting in the front seat with your bag on the seat next to you.
She approached you and politely asked if she could sit next to you. You glared at her, but moved your bag.
She sat down and you muttered something so she asked "Excuse me?"
You glared at her again, yanked your coat from where she'd inadvertently sat on it and said "Do you want this seat too?"
Consider yourself very lucky that it took a moment or two for her to register what you had said and that by the time she did, you had already moved.
Consider yourself even luckier that I do not know what you look like, dear fuckwit, or I would be all over you like a ton of bricks.
How DARE you talk to my mother that way! She was courteous and polite, sitting on your coat was an accident, she didn't do it on purpose and while she may be overweight (I consider us both to be cuddly hourglass figures, dear readers), your crack about her size was completely uncalled for.
If you ever see her again and she's with a younger woman with tattoos and gothic clothing, I suggest you move...fast!
Because if I ever find out who you are, fuckwit. I'll rip you to shreds!
Yours sincerely
One extremely pissed off daughter of the best mum in the whole world!
PS, I hope you enjoyed riding with all the noisy school kids!
I bought Rowan Kid Silk Haze to make my bloody great Spiders-web Shawl with and I'm still not sure if I like it or not.
I'm now on the third ball.
Everyone at knitting group raved about it, they said it was soft, warm and snugly. Personally it feels rather scratchy to me, but I'm hoping that will improve after I've washed it!
Another problem I have is that it's hurting my hand if I knit with it for too long! I tension my yarn by wrapping around my forefinger and the yarn is causing my cuticle to hurt, you can see where the yarn runs over my cuticle.
I don't have this problem with any other yarn –- be they chunky or laceweight. I hope I like this shawl a lot better when it's done, but I don't think I'll use KSH again.
I'm already planning another version of this shawl, but I might use the purple 4ply yarn that I've had for *ages* instead!
A couple of weeks ago I made the prom socks for Matt. A woman saw them on twitter and promptly asked me if I'd make her a pair of socks in return. She has purchased a book from my Amazon wish list in payment for the socks.
And here they are. I've named them the Salami Socks as her username is Madam Salami!
I love ordering loads of stuff at once, it means that you get lots of stuff all at the same time like it's your birthday or something!
Today I received some ink for my printer, Continuous Cables by Melissa Leapman (which I bought) and two balls of sock yarn as a RAK from Claire (aka laralorelei) on Ravelry!
I picked up the Salami sock this evening after my last post and started knitting. I felt pain on my ring finger.
Look at this! I think it's a knitting injury, looks like a blister, but there's no fluid in there.
I knit continental (holding the yarn in my left hand) and the needle I'm knitting from rests across my ring finger – I obviously lean on the finger harder than I thought I did!
We've had a family discussion today and we've decided we're going to have a trial run without the TV.
Just about everything we watch can be bought on DVD except for WWE and TNA wrestling – but there are ways around that. If we can't find the episodes online then I could always get my mother to tape it for us each week.
If this experiment is successful, then I'm going to cancel our Sky (satellite/cable) subscription – this will save me about £60 per month! I wonder if owning a TV, but only watching DVD's mean I'll still have to pay the TV Licence fees...
I rarely watch TV myself, I only watch the odd serial, Medium, Bones, Heroes, Lost, 24, Dr Who, Torchwood (which are all seasonal programmes) and the wrestling (year round) and all of those can be bought on DVD.
I prefer to listen to audio books while I'm doing my knitting.
The kids – except for Kyle – are all agreeable to the idea. Kyle is flipping a little bit about the change, but I'm sure he'll adjust. He's recently discovered youtube and all the videos available there. It helps that his new laptop arrives tomorrow!
We'll keep you posted!
Wow, posting via e-mail works!
So, I posted off the RAK gift this morning - hopefully the recipient will have it by the end of the week!
I also sent off some RAK stuff to people in the Knitting Goddesses (and Gods) group on Ravelry.
I feel all warm and fluffy now LOL
I just sat and looked through my pattern files - I had this brilliant idea that I'd give some of them away, this would help whittle down my queue some. Ummmmmmmmmmmm, I didn't take any out! I like them all too much and I really want to knit them all NOW!
I had my ears syringed this morning. I've been deaf as a post for about three weeks. Everything sounds so damn loud, even my fingers hitting the lappy keyboard!
Right, I must go and get on with these socks, I can't sit around here chatting to you all day! But only because I can't type and knit at the same time!
This is just a test dear readers - apparently I'm supposed to be able to blog via e-mail, so I thought I'd try it before going to sleep!
I'm trying to be good where my WIPs are concerned & alternate every day. Today I worked on my shawl & tomorrow, I'll work on the Salami Socks. I hope I get something finished this week as I'm starting a sock KAL on the 15th. I'll be knitting vortex socks!
Anyway, must sleep!
A Happy Mothers Day to my American friends. ------------------
I've purchased so much yarn lately! I've got 6 skeins here waiting to be turned into socks for my feet and about 30 patterns saved on my laptop and some already printed up and put in my bag.
The trouble is, you start yourself off with a few patterns and a few balls of wool. You tell yourself that you're going to knit through all of that before buying anything else.
Then you discover Ravelry! There are sooooooooooooooo many free patterns on that site that it's just not funny! I put in a search for free sock patterns and it came up with 130 pages worth!!!
I think I'm gonna need more than 6 skeins!
Have you noticed the new gadget over in the sidebar? The one that tells you how many meters I've knitted this year? Isn't that cool? I found it on KnitCave's blog and just had to have one! If you click it, it'll take you to the site; just follow the instructions to get one for your blog.
I've decided that I'm going to go for a walk tomorrow. I'm going to wander in to Shanklin to see if I can find some buttons for the RAK and return the extra ball of yarn I had left over. I hope it's a nice day, I really need the exercise and if it's not nice; I won't go anywhere!
So, on the needles at the moment (besides Louhi and the GAAA which are determined to be loooooooong projects), I have a Spider's-Web Shawl. You can find it on page 44 of Victorian Lace Today.
I'm using Rowan Kid-Silk Haze in a sort of plum colour (because everyone at knit night said it was 'me'!) I'm not sure about the yarn; the kids think it's lovely. I don't particularly like holding it in my hands and I'm hoping I'll like it a lot more when it's draped around me. Here's a pic of my progress so far, it's draped over my knitting bag - I've used one ball of KSH so far!
It's a basic pattern - mostly just stocking stitch so I think I might cast on Madam Salami's socks tomorrow, just to break the monotomy (did I spell that right??) because I don't want to get bored with it after spending all that money on Rowan yarn!
I started doing a matinee jacket for one of the women in the Reclaiming the Home group on Ravelry as she is expecting very soon.
Unfortunately I can't give you any more details as it's supposed to be a surprise. Once I've put the buttons on and I know she's received it, I'll post pics!
Now I'm agonising over whether to start another pair of socks (I haven't made me any yet, or the pair I promised Madam Salami!), or whether to start the gorgeous Spiders-web Shawl in Victorian Lace Today...decisions decisions!!
I suffer from psoriasis. It's not chronic...well, not as bad as it used to be. I've just got a few patches on my legs now.
Unfortunately, I also have it in my hair! My head itches!
So I came up with this method.
Get some Johnson's Baby Oil; the one with Aloe Vera in is best. Add to some warm water. Dunk head. Towel dry. Tie your hair up out the way for at least four hours - overnight if you can manage it. Wash it well and use lots of conditioner. Leave it to dry naturally if you can.
I was absolutely gobsmacked! I posted a pic via Twitter regarding Matt's prom socks and Madam Salami immediately asked if I sell them. I told her that it was the first pair I'd ever made and she begged me to make her a pair.
I've decided to make her Hedera (pattern by Cookie A)!
One of the girls who goes to our knitting group knits backwards. Have you ever seen this done? It's really quite clever. They don't turn the work on the wrong side; they just knit back and forth.
I decided this is something I should learn, all skills are handy to have, even if you don't use them.
If you fancy a go yourself, go and have a look at this Knitty article.
I've been having this ongoing problem with Google - I use Google a lot and I found that whenever I did a search, then click on a link - the first link I clicked on wouldn't open that page, it would open MySpace, or Amazon or eBay - some stupid site like that! I was also unable to update Windows Defender, Windows Update or AVG.
I did a bit of research and discovered it was probably due to a virus! OMG, a virus! I've got two virus programs - where the hell did the virus come from?
I created some recovery discs and wiped my laptop. It took aaaaaaaaaaall day!
FGS, they're a dreadful idea! Don't do it, seriously! Someone will suggest a KAL for a pattern you don't have, but you'll think is really cute and before you know it you've committed yourself to 3 KAL's just for May!
On Ravelry, the Selfish Knitters group are having a KAL called Lace and Flowers - basically we can knit anything lace or anything to do with flowers.
Goddessknits is also starting a KAL soon, I think hers starts on the 17th? I'm not sure without checking.
I've got all those socks I've found and the entire contents of Victorian Lace Today to knit. Sooner or later, I'm going to have to make a start on that wedding ring shawl - yes, it's back on, but he's on probation so there's no definitive date yet. But I'd rather have it done and waiting, rather than be tied to a schedule for it!
There are not enough hours in the day and I obviously need more hands!
