Tuesday 23 October 2007

Ahoy We have Tidal Waves

Yes, At last I have actually another FO, these are the Tidal Waves that I was making from the yarn that came with the second of the STR 2007 club kit. I really love these, as they are so soft and silky to the touch.




Here is a close up of the patterned cuff


This pattern I would, definitely do again and would recommend to anyone who is looking for something a bit different to a plain sock, but still want to be able to knit without too much concentration or the need to keep frogging due to mistakes on previous rows. For anyone interested here is the link again to the pattern Tidal Waves by Deby Lake

I was rather hoping to show you a few of my purchases I had made over the last few weeks, but I'm afraid I don't have as much too show as I would have liked, as I think I've been hit by the postal strike and am still waiting for some bits to arrive, although I do sympathise with the Postal workers grievances, I can't help wondering how much other companies have used it as an excuse, as lately that is all we have been hearing at work "It must be in the backlog due to the strike"


Anyway as mentioned last post, I have had these two books arrive



The first one, Favorite Socks by Interweave is a classic, there are a few patterns that I would add to my never ending to do list, and even has a couple that I would like to make for DB at some stage, but ssh, don't tell him, as there is an "inverses" on the "at the some stage" bit. The other good thing I like about this book is that it is spiral bound, so will stay home at the correct page whilst in use.

The other book is called Knit,Knit, a interesting but rather unusual book. I bought this purposely for the lovely Bridie by Anna Bell, which is also on my "to do" list and for me the book is well worth having just for this pattern alone and also gives a lovely profile on Anna, which each time I read it, gives me a huge boost of inspiration. The other patterns though, unfortunately are just not for me, some such as "knitted Boxing Gloves, Knitted Shoes, Knitted Bathing Costume, a rather lacy see through mini knitted tube dress, jump in the wall, yes a knitted wall with a jumper knitted in which you wear by standing against the wall etc... but please do not let me put you off completely, the book is full of good reading and gives wonderful in depth profiles of each designer, each one completely different and how knitting has had a impact on their life's, each time you open it, you see something different and is not one that you could appreciate by just glancing through, this is ideal book to perhaps try and persuade your local library to get, that way you can have a good look, before you commit to buy, although at £11.80, it not overly expensive to treat yourself too either.


I also have some more gorgeous STR to show




These are called Saratoga (Top) and Grandma's Flower Garden (Bottom), these strangely enough do look, like you see here, very similar to each other, but when I chose them, they did look more differently on the Blue Moon Website, but never mind, they are both gorgeous and I may use one of them to knit Monkey Socks. Talking of STR, I have now received my invite for next year's club, so that is now all sorted and confirmed, which I am pleased about, as I don't want the same question as last year, will I or won't I get in...

Hopefully for next post, my other goodies will have arrived so I can share them with you.

Not much knitting going on here at the moment I'm afraid, as I have spent a fair bit of knitting time on Ravelry, yes the addictive bug is still with me lol!

Sorry for the shortish post, but over the weekend I have not really felt too well, It started off as a really bad swollen sore throat and tight chest and then this morning I woke up to my face and eyes swollen up to three time the size, Scary eh... I have taken the day off work and did go to see the emergency doctor, who says no doubt I have an allergy of some kind, not really sure what it can be though, as I have not taken anything or used anything differently to normal. The doctor has subscribed some antihistamine's and did say that if it gets worse or the wheeziness in my chest comes back to go to A& E immediately for stronger meds. Although I do feel much better now than I did twelve hours ago, the swelling hasn't gone down much and I do not like the idea of walking around looking like I have done twenty rounds in a boxing ring but hopefully it will all be cleared up soon once these tablets start to work and at least I have my knitting and Ravelry to take my mind of things.

Tuesday 2 October 2007

I'VE GOT MY INVITATION

Good news, I have now received my Ravelry Invite, I was rather surprised how it happened so quickly, about a week ago I was about 2200 in line, then Sunday evening, it came. The fact that it came at about eleven o'clock in the evening though sent me into a tizz, I felt rather like a child wanting to play when really should be going to sleep ready for Monday Morning. And of course being a Monday I couldn't play until after work. :(

I am quite astounded about how clever it all works and what a huge inspiration for ideas, it must be one of the best things to happen in the Knitter's World for a long time, of course most of you reading probably know this already, if you have had your invite . Thanks Roxy for the advice of setting up a flicker account already to use, I did start that last week and it does make things a little easier to be prepared beforehand. My user name is CurlyCable, so if anyone would like to let me know their user id's so I can add you to the friends page. I think it's going to take some time putting everything on there, so I adding bits as and when I think about them. For someone who thought they were quite a good girl with a small stash, when taking it down from all the hiding places, found this clearly isn't the case, I feel a little guilty about adding it all. Even worse, when photographing it all, DB asked "Are you putting all that for sale on Ebay then, What a cheek :) (Wonder how much he likes breathing) ;)


Despite spending a lot of time on Ravelry this week, I have done some knitting, and I am pleased to say The Sublime Cardigan is coming on quite well, with the back and two fronts all done


I am also half way up the first sleeve, so hopefully by next post I shall have all the knitting done.

I have also done a small amount on the second Tidal Wavesock too, the first one of which I finished whilst waiting for the hospital appointment, As ArtyfartyKat and Roxy commented, it does spur some interest, knitting rather than reading whilst waiting. I did get quite a few strange looks, some people even seemed a little smirky, and looked at me as though I had got some weird contagious disease, which in a way put me off, but then again I thought Why shouldn't I knit I am not bothering anyone else. It seems to me these people who mock knitting, miss out on an awful lot don't they and I think all the people who've signed up for Ravelry prove that.

That's really all my news for now, but will probably with Ravelry try to blog more little and often from now on. I have ordered a couple of books Knitknit: Profiles and Projects from Knitting's New Wave and also Favorite Socks by Ann Bud so will hopefully be able to tell you more about these next post.