Spring? Seems to be! April 3, 2009

Has it been gloriously sunny there? It has here in Manchester! I love the winter, but I am really enjoying the sunny weather – I feel far more energised and cheerful.

I joined the gym last week. Shockingly, I weigh 15 stones! I’m a size 16, so I’m not too huge, I think the weight is in my boobs as they are particularly big – I’m hoping they’ll decrease along with the rest of me. Anyway, I’m aiming for 3-4 times a week, currently just doing 20 mins a day. Doesn’t sound much does it, but it’s a start and I can already feel the benefits. The gym is literally minutes from our flat which is brilliant. Also, they’re starting street dance classes in the summer, so I’ve signed up.

In other news, Hector, our hermit crab, took a cranberry from my fingers today – yippee! He quickly scuttled off to eat it, making sure there was no chance of anyone nicking it.

In more other news, did anyone see the tea cosy competition in Knitting mag? Well I entered my blackberry tea cosy.. I didn’t hear anything for ages so thought I mustn’t have won anything, but it turns out I did – and my tea cosy will be in the tea cosy book (‘Tea Cozy 2′) later this year, along with a second one that I also designed! I can honestly say it’s the first time in my entire life that I’ve won anything! Seriously! So I’m feeling pretty pleased about that!

Anyway I’ll get onto the knitting. Remember the noro striped scarf? Well here it is! I got chance to wear it (before this great weather) and I think it might be my favourite (I’m fickle like that)! It’s Noro Blossom (2 skeins) and Silk Garden (1.5 skeins in colour 264).

I just love the colours and texture, even though it’s just garter stitch.

Did I mention  Jesien? I’m sure I did. Well here she is. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, it’s a lovely royal blue (not crappy grey, as it appears here).

Your eyes are not deceiving you – I’m now on 8 DPNs, as she’s too small for a circ and too big for three or four DPNs. It’s… fiddly.

I did miss the first lot of double yarn overs and had to unpick and reknit two rows, but now I’ve done that I’ve got the flow again and it’s really addictive despite the fiddliness. I’m already looking forward to my next doily (gulp).

Oh here’s the second tea cosy. A simple slip stitch design using Sirdar Peru, complete with bobble and buttons (Well I need to use up my button stash, I don’t know about you)!

Oh I’ve done tonnes of dyeing this past couple of weeks. I had my sock club dyeing to do, and I got in this new merino sock yarn – Fantasia – which I dyed too.  I’m so in love with this yarn. Well I’m fickle and I say that about them all – I know that, but honestly Fantasia is just so gorgeous – the reason being that it’s similar to Jitterbug and Socks That Rock – do you know what I mean? It’s the total smoothness that they have, and the tight twist, and crispy stitch definition, and really rich colours.

It’s the kind of yarn that no matter how close up your shots, they still look good because it’s so smooooooth.

Anyway, moving on. Sarah of Brownberry Yarns ordered ten skeins of Unicorn Lace, and here they are on my desk. Actually there’s one skein missing from both these photos – it’s bright red. So bright it’s almost dazzling.

Fourth from the left is the new ‘Brownberry’ colourway – unique to Sarah’s shop It’s cream, brown and juicy purple.

I did some crochet this week too. I often have to fudge it as I have no idea what I’m supposed to do or what the stitches are, but it seems to be going ok.

Here’s the Devil from Creepy Cute Crochet.

And hippo from Tiny Yarn Animals. Cute eh!

Oh I also made a teeny tiny sweater. My stepdad’s been on aat me to make him a jumper.. so I did (insert evil laugh) It’ll just about fit his little finger!

Oh here’s some more news – I published my Inside Out socks pattern on Ravelry as a free download.

Done in Bambino – I totally love these socks. I love the texture that reverse stocking stitch gives, and have always wanted to knit something inside out. These were great TV knitting and are fun to wear as everyone says ‘are your socks inside out??’ and you can smugly reply ‘yep, I knitted them inside out’! (another evil laugh could be inserted here).

I have a couple more WIPs as well as Jesien – these are my next TV knitting – another pair of Daydreamer socks, designed by… me! (available as a free Rav download)

They’re done in my BFL sock in Sorbet, they’re very summery!

Oh here’s my final not knitting news – this is the rocket that I’m growing:

And at the back, carrots, at the front, chillis. I don’t know if the carrots will grow in this trough, but I’m happy to try. I have very green fingers so hopefully they’ll grow anyway. The chillis are very happy, and I also have more carrots and some red pepper plants on the way too. 

Oh I thought that was it! Here’s a nice photo of what we call our Cave Dog – he’s not evolved much yet and is quite primitive. For example, he can’t understand that if he carries a stick four times his body length, he can’t get through the gate. In this situation, our much-evolved labradors back home know that they can either sit there and chew the stick on that side of the fence, or they can cleverly turn their heads to fit through, whacking everyone within a 100m radius.

Oh here’s a pretty bud.

 

Oh! That’s it for now. It’s dinner time, and as OH is out tonight, I’m going to devote the evening to Jesien and my stealth lace project and Desperate Housewives. I’m also going to make him a three flavoured jelly as it’s his birthday tomorrow. He’s actually 32 but still wants jelly and ice cream for lunch. Me? Well I’m glad of the excuse, frankly.

Ciao for now folks!